The Ringer NBA Show - Real Ones x Ringer-Verse: Heroes and Villains Edition | Real Ones

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

Logan Murdock is joined by Van Lathan and Jom Adeniran of the Ringer-Verse for a special edition of Real Ones: Heroes and Villains of the NBA. Which NBA star that switched teams this offseason could be entering his hero era? Which NBA team owner should be embracing their villain era? Plus, has analytics ruined NBA discourse?(00:00) - Heroes(59:53) - VillainsHost: Logan MurdockGuests: Van Lathan and Jomi AdeniranProducers: Logan Murdock, Victoria Valencia, Clifford Augustin, and Ben CruzStudio Production: Chris Thomas, Jamie Yukich, Jonathan Ratliff, and Chris WohlersProduction Supervision: Jack Wilson and Conor Nevins Show Art: Neil Francisco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's popping? Real ones. We are live from Los Angeles and Sycamore. And I have entered the ringer verse. I have my guy Van Lathen. I have my guy, Jomey at dinner round. And we are here to play a game of heroes versus villains.

Ringer NBA edition. Now, this is a pretty easy thing. We're going to each pick our team of five players of heroes and villains. Right. And we're going to do a round Robinstile. we have a list right here that I've made with the help of Van and the help of

Victoria as well of just potential names that we have that we can use for that. And we also have an extra set of blank slates that Van has and that we can add for the time being. Are you guys ready to do this? It's really happy to see. Are you

you guys doing okay? Are we doing good? I'm great. Thanks for letting me into your home. I feel great. I feel great. Let's start the show. Before we start, we start, I just want to give a quick shout out to our guy, Jamie, here. He is going to be our official picker for this show for the next couple of hours. Okay, guys, I've seen you guys' work. Let's chill out.

I'm the host here. Let's relax. Okay, we're going to start with Van. We're going to start with Heroes. Who is your first pick for Heroes? My first pick for Heroes is Anthony Edwards. Yeah, yeah. All right.

I think he's one of the biggest heroes in the league. Do I go over here and put it over here? No, no, our guy Jamie is going to be the official picker. I think he is one of the people that we all want to take the reins. Yes. I think this year with a different supporting cast, if upgraded the team a little bit, it's going to be a very fun season for him. Now, do you believe that the moves that the Timberwolves have made are actually upgrades,

or is it going to lead to hubris? I think they're grades. Whether they're up or down, we have to see. Depends how everybody, but they grade and like a motherfucker. No, he was absolutely on my list, too, as a hero. I think with the addition of Lamello, he get dubious handles out of there and replace him with Jonathan Kaminga. There's a chance, like, he has an opportunity to do what nobody's ever done in Timbo's history

and get him to the final now. Is it going to be, like, impossible? Maybe, kind of. But if he could do it, right, he's the man, man. He's to mends himself. We want it for Ant. We really do. Do we want it for Ant too bad, though?

No, we want it for Ant. That's another reason why. chill out just you know don't make it hard for yourself man I'm not gonna get a person just don't are you gonna are you bringing higher learning

into the ringer in the A feed is that what he's doing it's like I know it's like you know just you know just keep you know keep the main thing the main thing I think that he I think as for a person that has all of the stuff around him that you are alluding to

I think he does the best job of like handling that once he's on the court I have made this point a lot during my time in Los Angeles that Anthony Edwards should be known as a guy that, you know, similarly how we look at Lucas, similarly how we even look at Wendy. That's the one guy that can elevate a team

that you can just pencil his team in to a certain point based on the fact that he is on the roster. And I think he has been able to do that over the last few seasons, despite all the hubas around him. So I think that is a great, all that to say, I think that was a great pickup by you. I'm actually jealous.

This is my hope for Ant that he continues to elevate to that elite level. My brother said that he is essentially Spider-Mitchell with Good Market. That's insane. That's so disrespected. By the way, it's disrespectful to Spider who I actually love as a player, right? But I love Spider. That's disrespectful to Anthony. But it's disrespectful to Anthony.

But I will say this, for all of his prodigious talent, putting it to all together in the playoffs. on the team and becoming that elite top five player is something that he still has to do to stop people from hating on them like my brother hate. Well, I think, you know, with this team, I think he could submit himself as a top five player if he gets this team.

I think he is a top player. You don't think he's a top five player? No, I said submit. Submit himself as a top five player if he gets this roster to a conference finals. Right, yeah. Absolutely, he will be one of those dudes. Okay, my turn, I am going to go

taking a look at this one. Dalin Brown. Halen Brown. As my hero pick, by the way, we are, this is just, we are doing it in the prediction market. I think that this is going to be, I think he is going to,

has a chance to be a hero, because I think he's already come out of hero in Boston based on what has happened. I think so. And the way he has been traded. Black man leaves Boston, heroic. And goes to Philadelphia? That's an upgrade to me.

This is an upgrade to me. As a black man, that it seems like an upgrade to me as well. Yeah. But not even only that. Like, I think that, I will just say this, one of the, I don't know who's going to pick this, but analytics is on the board for heroes and villains. And I think in Jalen Brown's world, analytics have been a big villain of his career, right? There has been a dissonance between the winning that his teams have done and the individual

analytics that have taken him down. Wasn't somebody, I forget who it was when the whole, like, trade talk was going down was like, people view him as like one of the. like they could be the seventh best player on the Celtics or something like that. Yeah. Which is ridiculous for a finals MVP and an Easter conference final. What is the only metric that matters, winning? His teams win.

I thought analytics were supposed to explain why you win. Interesting that analytics explain, it's interesting when analytics explain why winning isn't quite enough. Right. Which is odd to me. But I thought analytics were supposed to explain why and how you win. He's winning. If the analytics don't match up to that, it's kind of like fuck the analytics. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

I think that plus he's going to play with a team that's loaded with talent. I think this is a big opportunity for him to tailor his game to within the confines of another team. I think that will give big stripes to him because I feel like there's been a narrative on him that he's won his own team. He is fed into that narrative. But I think that like ultimately he wants to win. I think that he like every other player he has egos, but like the proof is in the pudding, he has been able to show that he can, you know, fit in. instead of, you know, being a guy that is just like this diva that they're portraying.

I imagine we'll talk about the Sixers in a larger context later, but for Jaylon Brown specifically, what does he have to do in order to, like, be a hero in your eyes with him? Continue to do what he's doing. I think he may not, I think one thing he is going to have to do, he's going to have to recognize that this is not his city. This is, it's not even LeBron's City. This is Embed in Maxie City. This is a bead in Maxie City. Yeah.

Just be a support role. I think a lot of things that, the thing that NBA players get wrong, and this is an ego thing, is they try to make it theirs, and they think that when something being theirs is going to get them everything I want, they want,

when in actuality, what gets you what you want is just playing your role to be back. Play his role to perfection, be a scorer, help bring the young guys along, take pressure off of LeBron, take pressure off of Vassi, take pressure off of Embed,

and just be a winner. I think that he'll be able to do that. So now who is your here? First pick? I mean, this is obvious. You know, I got to be done. I mean, get my guy up here, man. Luca? Luca Donchich. Luca Donchich, ladies and gentlemen.

First of all, have you seen the pictures coming out of Slovenia? Do you try, hold on. I have a question, no. And me and Victoria were talking about this offline. Do you trust Skinny Luca? Okay, because we've never actually seen Skinny Luca. Because even when he was a teenager, he was skinnier, but he still was a little husky, Bruskey as a as a 19 year. So like this is the first time we have ever seen him in this great of shape before. Do you trust it even though you've seen the proof in the pudding that analytically speaking, Lucas probably done better with with less, right?

Let's see what happened. I need somebody could put a picture of Luca. World Sexiest Man, first of all. Wow. Extremely attracted. Okay. Like you see the hair. Okay.

You see the body. He's killing it. Right. That's one. And I think that kind of confidence is going to bring itself to the court. Do you have a crush on Guinea-Luc? Absolutely. doesn't. I like Skinny Luca because... Do you trust Skinny Luca?

I do. Like, I think Skinny Luca, if this does really add athleticism to him, I mean, he's got, he's had some injuries. He's a little older now, but like, Gini Luca used to get busy in a way that Husky Luca didn't. Now, Husky Luca, still a bucket. But Skinny, but Skinny, but Skinny Luca, like, to me was still, it was a little bit more dynamic. And maybe this indicates how the Lakers are going to play this year. I would hope so. I know, like, part of the reason, like, he's not going to go into the basket as often as he did when he was young, young, right? Part of that, the soft tissue injuries, like his drive rate has gone down. But legitimately, though, this season could be the year that Luca finally breaks through

and gets to that, like, top three MVP. This is how I feel. This is how I feel. I, I'm high on the Luca Lakers right now. I think conference finals is in the conversation here because, and I've said this already, you guys will see the previews, the NBA previews as you go. I think this guy we're doing hottest takes early right we're doing hottest takes early the reason why is because I think more than skinny Luca I think that camaraderie Luca and the roster around Luca is is is Taylor made for this I would and I think that he can do it I would need to see the full roster come opening day or come down I even surprised you I even surprised you now being him are in a group a Lakers group chat and he is the most optimistic person I have ever seen and I'm very

I'm very surprised. I wouldn't be mad that you were surprised this. I'm very surprised at this. So here's the thing, right? I believe, Luca, I believe in Luca. I believe in Arthur Reeves. I believe in JJ. Okay. I believe that they have a system into Waste Lakers. Like, even like Lucas first year, Lucas second year, they're like a perennial, like, third, fourth seed in the West. Yeah. They can win those type of games. Let me, let me just add to that. I think they're the right side of the bracket conference finals contender, right? If things break right, 2011 Mavericks. I mean, look, y'all, y'all believe in white people. And that's, that's, as opposed to, as opposed to what?

I'm just, there's a lot of belief here. All right. That's a fair for me. Jerry Vanderbott, man, you got me. Bandell, I love you. But to me, to me, that this is going to be an exciting regular season team that's going to really give us a lot of great members. Okay.

All right. Okay, how about this? They went 55. And the thing about Lucas specifically. 55 is in play. 55 is going to be tough. 55 in play. 55.

55 is playing. I'm saying right side of the bracket. And honestly, and honestly, shit, by the time we get to the playoffs, we'll even know, it might just be who's left. That's the way things are going. That's how it's usually gone. Yeah. My thing is like, at some point, this guy has got

to be like... He has to be him. He's got to be him. He has to be him. He's got to be. The time is ticking for him. I mean, they finally have the roster that is that he built around him. Hey, man, he won at a certain point, you know, Lucas been to the finals, but the MVP dominant Lucas season

where he comes along with a big playoff run. It has to have. It has to happen this season. If that happens, conference finals is in play. Your second pick for hero. Jalen Brunson. That was right there. It was staring you in the face. It was staring you in the face.

Jalen Brunson almost probably should have been. I don't know. He should have been first pick. He should have been first pick. So like my bad to New York. Sorry, Ben. I apologize. I think that Jalen Brunson, and I'm not trying to do a max thing right here,

I think that Jalen Brunson is actually the biggest hero. in the history of the game. In the history of the game. Let me tell you why that I've been watching. Jalen Brunson legitimately is the Batman of the NBA. Wait, biggest hero, like over 2016 LeBron? Yeah, but let me tell you why, though. 2011, there?

Can I tell you why? Why I think so? 80 magic? So I tell you why. Let me tell you why. A team like the Lakers can't have the biggest hero. I disagree. The reason why a team like the Lakers couldn't have the biggest hero

is because there's too much tradition. This team had never, ever won the championships since 1972 in the biggest market in the entire media world, right? To me, Jalen Brunson takes two or three generations, two or three generations of Nick fans and delivers them something like that the entire city got behind. How does he compare to Pete Dieter?

To Pete Jeter, it's the Yankee. Yeah, so what I'm saying is like... No, no, no, no, too many World Championships. To his point, though, they've got, they got 27 of them things. It's the Yankees. You can't be a bigger, a bigger hero than Babe Ruth. You can't be a bigger hero than, like, whomever is the Yankees.

It's like, in this situation, the Knicks actually, although the Knicks have a tremendous amount of culture, the Knicks did not have a lot of basketball greatness to really look. They have an amazing culture. But to have somebody come along and captivate an entire city, that entire city, that city that is different than Cleveland, that city is different than,

and delivered that for them in the way that he did it, I think is one of the biggest hero stories, if he's not the biggest hero. in the history of the NBA. He's a mayor of New York. I mean, after the finals, people were talking about him, like he can walk in anywhere. Have you guys been in New York since that happened?

Yeah, I haven't. What's New York like? I wish. Going crazy. Is it, okay, okay. Do you think that my question is before I get to mine, do you think that the beauty will wear off? Do you think that the beautiful stench winning will ever wear off?

You got to think about it, right? The Patrick Ewing and him, they didn't win. They went to finals. And they're beloved. They're beloved. Jaylen Brusset could go anywhere in New York. He'd a man. But I think about this, the same way I think about the idiots in baseball.

The same way I think about what it must mean for you if you are a long-suffering Boston Red Sox fan and Euclis and Milar and Pedro and Poppy with the way that they did it coming together to deliver that franchise something. I'm not saying that the curse was on. the same level for the Knicks, but I am saying with how much they love the Knicks and he galvanized, brought together and almost started like an insurgency of basketball in New York. And they got their championship. I was legitimately happy for them.

Okay. I think I'm going to take a zag. And I don't even know if I necessarily believe this, but I would like to have this conversation and just kind of maybe do a big yoga stretch. My next hero, potential hero, if he plays this right, maybe. And again, I don't know if I believe. I think we'll go Steve Ballmer. Okay.

Yeah, you're not being serious. I think I'm going to try this. I think I'm going to try this. Hey, thank you guys. It's out of mud with Rashop McHan. I think I'm going to try this. I don't know if I believe this here. He was my number one villain.

You were going to, I'm going to try this. I'm going to try it. Go for it. What if he leans all the way into the hubris? Like, you know what, y'all? Look, look. No. No?

All right, cut. All right. All right, cut that out. All right, cut that out. No, wait, no, that stays in. What you mean? That's what I'm saying. The kid's the name and the picture.

I'm just saying, all right. All right, you guys are pushing me back. I'm probably not right. Like, I'm probably not going to hear this because like. But this is the thing. Like, if he, I'm trying to explore if there's a pathway that he could end up being a hero. Well, this is the way. That's what I'm trying to frame it as.

I'm not trying to explore this. Can he, like. How would he do that, right? If he, so Bill and Nick Wright did a pod and you call it marrying the nanny, right? Right at the end of the day, you just like bet this is my life now. We're going to, this is what we're doing. Listen, I did it. I was doing this to try to win.

I was trying to get the Clippers of the championship. I didn't know what I was doing. And then like he just builds like a groundswell somehow. Is there a play in that? Is there a way that he can do that? Got to bounce with a big dog. I don't see it. You don't see it.

Okay. Because you got to think about it. You do all that. loses five first round. Yeah, it's tough. Now, they get some back in the, the quiet trade to Toronto. However, the team,

you built a brand new stadium, all them seats, all them toilets, and the team is going to be bad. That's not a good basketball team. Not even, like, I tried. There's not even an I tried here. Here's the thing,

let's not even, like, play around them. If they somehow made, like, the playing game, or, like, found a way to get a new game, they see. Yeah. They should raise the banner that, hey, we made the playoffs this year. That's true. That's a, Tailu's a great coach, but the talent on that team is not there. So if they were to make something happen, you got to remember, he's suspended this year.

He's not even going to be in the bill. Hey, Jamie, can you do a, can I get that pin real quick? Can you put just the asterisk on that one? Just put an asterisk. He can be on there. You know what this is? He can't take him down. Put an asterisk. That's a Joyne of the Ford's. That's a Joyne LaForge. That's a Joyne LaForge, what's that? What did I do? Tell me what happened. So a couple of years ago, we did a black superheroes draft, and we all drafted fucking Black Panther, Blades, Stone. Yeah. And Steve drafted Jordan LaForge from Star Trek, man.

With the flu, play with the plume. This is Steve, Steve, but play with a plume by the Marlbord. We hit with the girls. And we was like, and we was like, yeah, good pick, good pick. And then it was like, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I'm feeling that right now. I'm feeling that right now.

But I wanted to have a conversation. Let me make the case. Let me make the case. Let's make the case. This is the case. Okay. Okay. So there's one way he can become a hero.

And that is to make a cultural push with the clip. Yes. The basketball push, not going to be able to happen for right now. They're going to have to get a little creative. Right. But the cultural push. Don't leave the family because the family, because the family is dysfunctional.

Stay and weathering. Yep. Galvanized. Who is going to be the person, the figure from the clippers that says, we are the clippers. That says we are a team that has a history, that has a culture,

and even if we don't, because none of that's true. But you know how you do that? But you know how you do that? The next five years or however long, you go to Chris Paul, you gravel. You say, I apologize. I wouldn't even talk about that.

Yeah, but you know what? No, but like, hey, hey, if Petty could go over there with Kanye, then that's not to make this happen. But here's a deal, though. Here's a deal, though. Here's a deal, though. You can't even actually do it with one player. No, I'm saying all of them. Like, I listen. I know. Like, Gryffin, you get all in the room. Like, I apologize. I'm building statues for you. I probably

will take that jersey up. But I am going to I'm going, this is actually yours. I apologize. I don't even know why we did that. But to me, all of that stuff, the clippers have to wipe the slate. and start. This is year zero. Yeah. It has to start now.

And if he continues to be dedicated to building there, I think in 10 years, you could look back on it and go, Steve Balmer didn't cut and run. Yeah. He didn't leave his family. He stayed there and looked at the Clippers now. And you know what?

Still my network. All right. I tried. Give it a shot. I gave it a shot. And that's where he lived at us, man. You know what? Hey.

Nice work. Um, this is not a Homer pick, but, I mean, you might know this, but. What you doing? Oh, my man. Oh, yeah, always. Man, big Steffulis right here, baby. Put that to the camera? Can you put that to the camera?

Can you put that to the camera? has this time and a day career, right? I think the crazy thing about Steph was he had the coming out party at MSG, right? We're all looking to him. It was like, wow, man, this guy, he could really be next up. And they win, they win chips, right? KD comes, it's all gravy. Then he gets hurt, right?

And now we're looking around like, man, maybe this is Steph's little years. But then, 2022, it all comes together. They get that one chip. One of the most important championships ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. And now this is the time in Stepp's career where we're looking around like,

ah, yo, your ownership, not really looking out for you right now. Yep. It's the perfect. It's the perfect time. But how does he do that within the season? It just be Steph? Just be Steph. Just be Steph.

Remember that, 2021. I want to say, or. The 2021 season when he kind of got them to like a seventh seat or something and they got into the plans. They ended up losing the job, but it was a great step season. But he was the man. that's the kind of stuff I'm thinking about I know he's older

I just don't know if he has the legs to pull that off I tell you what there's one way that stuff stays the hero is the hero and stays the hero just never let us see you in another jersey that is exactly but I don't think I don't think that's going to happen I don't think that's not going to happen either

that's not going to happen though you hear the rumors just do this man it's not happening the thing about Steph was that sometimes the game makes you choose especially nowadays when players have such distinct styles. Sometimes the game makes you choose between joy and winning.

Sometimes you have to watch players that aren't that much fun to watch. Sometimes you have to watch players that are hell of fun to watch, but they don't win. So a lot of times the game makes you choose between joy and winning. Steph never made us shoot. It was a joy to watch him and he won. So right now, even if he don't win, man, have fun, man. That's what I'm saying.

You know what I'm saying? Have fun. If we can get one, if we can get one, like, I want to get the fucking Twitter. I'm not on Twitter, but I want to get the text that goes, are you watching right now? Yep.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. It's one of those nights where you got to like, it's third quarter man. Step just said, how many nights is he like four this whole season though? Because he might not be able to do it on a nightly basis. He can't do it on a nightly basis like four or five. But if we can get like once a month,

once every two months. Okay. And by the way, can't tell you another thing that Steph did that I always were respected him for? What's that? he shut Innes Canter to fuck up. I want you guys to go back and watch that fucking 30-footer at the end of the OKC game.

In 2016. Now, I want you guys to watch this. Pay close attention on the sideline to Ennis Cantor. They do have a timeout. Decide not to use it. Curry. Way down to a shot from Curry. Steph shoots the ball.

And as soon as the shot, goes up in his character goes he was a he was a visionary when he shoots right not when the ball goes into the basket when with this is like how the fuck did we let this guy shoot the ball like he comes he shoots and and in his character goes like this and it goes in shut him the fuck up walk your dumb ass off the court a similar story um shout out my guy Daniel jude he's a big warriors fan and we have connected like especially 22 against the Celtic hours we believe Warriors, brother, those two weeks. It was crazy.

But the gold medal game against France. That was, yeah. You see, man, you watch him pull those threes. And to your point, and his character, watch the last two French coaches on the bench. When he hits that shot, they cannot believe what they're watching. They literally go back in the chair like, like, what are you supposed to do? Double team, fall away, two seconds left on the shot clock. That's supposed to be a miss.

That was just like last year. Like, that he can still do that. He could still do that. He could still produce moments of magic. And that's what I want to see for me this year. They don't need to win no games. They need nothing. So I need, I'm going to need you to do before I get to Van.

I need you to stop sending me edits of Jeff Curry and Lakers. Well, I mean, I can't do that. You just stop doing that. This conversation just ceased doing that. Van, who is your next hero? Lamello Ball. Damn, I was hoping to get him. You should have got him.

You should have got him. You should have got him. You should have got to get stuff. You should have got to get stuff. La Mello ball. Lamello ball is my next hero. Yeah. Like, I tell you guys something.

I'm gonna tell y'all how I know that La Mello Ball loves hoop more than anything. Okay. He loves basketball. I think of you know this story. I was at Lamello Ball's 16th birthday parties. That's right. Why?

Because, so, so because. Hey, man, why were you at the 16th year old birthday party? Because back in the day, there was a guy that worked with them that worked with the big baller brand who don't work with the big baller brand no more. But he got the interview where LeVar Ball says, Steph Curry, Lanzo Ball is not going to be as good as Stead Curry.

He's going to be better than Steph Curry. The interview that kind of started that whole thing. He was actually talking to me. Oh, okay. That was an interview I did for TNsys Sports. So I had done a couple of interviews with LaVar Ball and had a relationship while I was doing stories for the family. So they wanted us to cover.

the 16th birthday party, which was this big deal for Lamello, right? Lavar. It was a big deal for Lamello. He was already a big deal of high school basketball. Lanzo was already in the league, right? They were already established as a ball family. No, I think Lanzo was in... Was it UCLA?

I think it was a UCLA. Okay. But they were established as the ball family. Yeah, like the Chiaels. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because before, they were like local stories about how crazy they were. Then those stories became national stories when Lanzo got to UCLA.

Then when Lovar's assent started, they became even bigger. Yes. So went to the, to the birthday party to cover it. Now you go to the birthday party way out hot as fuck. You go to the birthday party. People don't realize how far Chino Hills is from Los Angeles. Yeah, not close.

It's not even close. Yeah, me and Kulika went out there. And it's like a celebrity type thing. Sure. It's like people there and stuff like that. Like it's a deal. It's like Lamello's 16th. They're positioning him as a star.

All of this stuff is happening. People are talking. People are like making deals and there's people around and everybody's there. LeMello and his friends the whole time. The whole time. Like the kids there are are playing knockout

on the basketball court. Everybody's trying to get him to come say hello to people. Everybody's trying to get him to come come over here and take pictures. Come over here and do this. Like be a young celebrity basketball influencer the entire time

they do not come off the basketball court. They lower the rim and then have like a dunk contest. Like he wasn't above the rim yet. The whole thing. I was like, I remember leaving the party on the seven-hour drive back to regular Los Angeles. And I remember leaving the party thinking, for everything else that they say about these kids, they love basketball. Yeah, yeah. They love to play basketball.

So if he gets this right and he is just the formidable number two behind Anthony Edwards, is this still Anthony over? show and he is the guy man that will that will change so many so much on our perspective of him as a basketball player right that's the big thing right because i mean in charlotte people would like you know again you'd hear stories like i lamello's not a winner he does not committed to this in minnesota though their big problem was they didn't have a second ball handle yeah right my conno is getting up there and so you double team and he doesn't know where to pass the ball pass the ball nobody else can make a play. Yeah.

Right. You put Lamello in that situation. You take some pressure off at it. If Lamello can produce there and play some, like, not that they weren't doing, having winning basketball on Charlotte, but, you know, it is what it is. If you can go to Minnesota and produce a winning ball and get them a top four seed, even a top six?

Yeah. Right? We start to look at Lamello differently. History will, this is a very big opportunity. That's a one last day. It's the big one. Do you drink? No, take a little rosé here and there.

Yeah. A little brunch black. You drink? We know about you. Yeah, you like to remove the Blue Lagoon's. Oh, that was a good time. Hey, okay, okay. That was a good time.

There's nothing wrong with drinking, but you have to drink responsibly. Yeah. There's nothing wrong with being a hooper. Got a hoop responsibly. But you got a hoop responsibly. Or drive responsibility. No, get a driver, bro. It's fine.

Like, you know, like, it's a new terrain. It's really, like, I'm in California's, really hard to drive in Minnesota all that ice and stuff. You know the real winners. People of Charlotte. Yeah. They don't, Lamello's not on the streets no one. Yeah, it's tough. But he just got a hoop responsibly when he up there. Let him be the same hoop herself, but understand that there

is a different call to play winning basketball. Yeah, absolutely. But if he shows that off, they can, with him and aunt, they can figure something out. Brother, we're talking about a special combination. We're talking about the Timberwolves, Lakers Conference Finals. Joel Embed, for me, as a hero. Okay.

Huge opportunity for Joel and not the hater, Joel, that is on Ringer tailgate with. Why are you, he not a hater, man. Y'all just don't understand Joel. Anyway, so I just think this is a huge opportunity for him to. And I think there's a lot of, a lot has been overblown with the fact that, like, he hasn't talked all offseason of the fix. Or about the pickups, about the LeBron pickup. He doesn't have to talk, man. He just needs to play.

It needs to be figured out on the court. the thing that Embed has dealt with over the backstretch of his career is just trying to figure out his new self within the confines of his new body, right? The ones with the injuries and all those things. If he just takes his foot off of the gas and let everybody else figure it out during the regular season, get himself right, play within, you know, this, it's such an identity crisis when stars have to not be stars. and if he can just be in a star whatever his new role is be what Patrick Ewing should have been in the backstress of his career

right? Be, you know, just this is the best chance you have to win. Embrace it. Do what you have to do on the floor. I think he can figure it out. He will be a Philly legend. Don't worry about the credit.

Just do what the team. This particular team needs you to do. You will be submitted as a legend. I think the math for them is obviously health. But if they let's like, Let's put on our, like, super duper positive hats right now. And if they can figure out to even get to the finals or win the finals. Ambide is the hero.

Yeah. Right. Even if, like, it's Max, he was finals MVP or whatever. He said he's Joel the process of Embed. He was there from the beginning. To see that. What is he only need? He'll use one game.

He'll need one time. To see that. To see that moment pay off. To see him holding a six of fans, see Joel Embed holding Delirio Brian. that would mean something for everybody. Right. So to your point, man, they can get it done in this year,

even with Braun, even with Jalen Brown, even with Jalen Brown, even with Tariqq, he's the avatar. Right. He's the person who's going to, like, be the person leading that ship. So it would be, it'd be great for him. Yeah, Joel Embedd, yeah. You don't like it. I do.

You don't like it. I do. I don't know at this point in his career how to feel about Embedd. What do you mean? That's fair. No, that's fair. Because, like, M.B. is incredibly accomplished.

He's a league MVP. Yes. He's in the pantheon of NBA players who have ever lived. He's had both this incredibly accomplished career that still feels like a disappointment. Like, there's not. It's because of the playoffs and the injuries. And the injuries.

But my thing is this, man, you knew the job was dangerous when he took it. It's not like he didn't have injuries coming into the draft. He did. Based on his injury history coming into the draft, it's actually pretty remarkable that he's played this. And so for me right now, it's almost anything that Joelle and B does, I'm happy for it.

You know what I think in a weird way? Like that Boston series kind of like, it might have started the chains of discourse on it because he tried. He did his best. That meant something to me, man. I know it meant something to me. That was beautiful.

That was amazing. Him, yo, Maxie and that game seven. Boston got it down. to like, what, like five or something, that Maxie said. Shut it down. I'm going to really enjoy watching this Sixers team. Yeah, man.

Are you high on the Sixers team? I love all of these guys. I love watching these guys. I can't wait. Can I get the pen, please? Okay, we got the pin. We got the first use of the pen today. Chuck Wacken, Hal Jordan.

Who we got? Somebody. Kind of scared. I'm kind of scared. is scared. Uh-oh. Pat, right.

Wow. Pat, big Pat. Let me tell you why, man. There have been conversations not on this particular podcast, but people feel like, yo, Pat Riley lost his past.

Oh, is he washed? Does he not have it anymore? The guy is one of the greatest basketball minds of our time, but he couldn't land any of the big fish he wanted to land. Yeah. You could make the argument.

Got the biggest fish out there in Yonis. Maybe three years too late. Maybe three years too late, still got them. Now, the heat will be good. I believe that. Okay. I believe that. Defensive, they'll be one of the best teams defensively. Yes. That we may have ever seen. Yonis, Bam, Dave, Beyond Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins out there. It's going to be hard. It's going to watch any two games of slog ball. That's the issue. That's the issue. I feel like Jomey's going to be like, you know what? I can see that you guys are going to be good. I'll see in May. I will see you in May. I will see you in May. I will see you in May. I'll see you in May. I'll see you in May. I'll see you in May. I'll see you in May.

The whole issue is... My question to you, though, is, if they make it to the conference finals of the finals, how cold is Pat Riley's Pimp Walk on me? Walking into the arena. How cold is it going to be? He's going to be the tailored suit, slicked back here. How old is Pat Riley?

Like 87? 87. I don't know if he's 80s. He's probably like, he's like 82, 83. Okay, if he's that, we shouldn't concentrate on the Pimp Walk and just concentrate on the walk itself. Anybody that's walking straight like that at 82,

two. You got to give it to him. You know what I'm saying? No, but the fact of the matter is he needed to have one more swing after all the misses, and he finally landed Yannis. You can argue how many years too late, but that team is still going to be a good team, and he's the architect of it. So he's a hero.

I would like that. I would like to see that. You know, one more moment. I love Miami. I'm a Yonis guy. Pat Riley has always been somebody that, to me, represented the best of what goes on in the NBA, playing the game the right way. sacrificing for the game, building the culture.

It would be great if he was a hero this season. I'm happy. Your turn. Club 520. Oh, God. So I don't know we're not going to give props to other pods. Look at the camera. Where's his camera pointed to the camera?

Club 520. I'm going to tell y'all right now, if y'all not listening to Club 5.20. The single funniest person on the entire internet. Be hit. Be hit. No, when he went at KG and just stood on his square. The single funny person, I gotta be real with you. Let me tell, even if the guys from Club 520 don't know why they're so popping,

the reason why Behan and the rest of that is so popping, every single person that's from a town anywhere that has a crew knows a guy just like B. here. And here's the thing, in the old days, those dudes never got a chance to shine. You know who free dates that I would have a take? Who? Levar Ball. Nah, not to me.

It predates it. The guy that says that, like, I can bust your ass in these shoes right here. Levar, Levar, different because Levar is the type of, everywhere I will go, like, when you start to, like. LaVar is also like my uncle. Yeah, like, you start to get, you start to get, like, stuff starts to happen in your career. And people say something and say, oh, you're funny or you're this or you're that. And you always go, yo, it's a guy that I know.

If y'all think this guy is funny, ask a comedian who the funniest guy is. He's always going to say some guy that he grew up with, that is the man that just is funny in every situation and smart and all of that. And in the past, that dude always had to be anonymous. The guys that I grew up with Baton Rouge, that's really the funniest guys I ever been around, my cousin Rara when I see B. In, that's why I remind it up. So I love watching the Club 520, all of it.

I could think of 10 or 15 different bits. Do you do you take time? Bro, come on, man. Watch that like, you know, like, you know, that's not, like, you know, like, you're not supposed to be able to do that. Br, it's like, you know what I'm saying? And also, shout out to them for not toning it down. No. But going in when it's time to go in.

I can't, like, I watched the show in the offseason, but I can't wait for the NBA to come back to watch. I mean, B-Head's obviously hilarious, but Jeff Teague. Jeff Teague. Jeff Teague keeps it real. Like, when he's going down, man, there's so many teak stores. But the one that always six to me is the one where he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, he's, uh, reviewing Damien Lither. He's talking about how him and Damon Westbrook just to go at it.

Yep. And how, like, you know, he didn't really talk to Jeff Teague, you know what I'm saying? And then Jeffty. Westbrook was trying to talk to Jeff Teeth. Jeff Teague was like, man, care about that. And then Westbrook would be like, well, that's your problem. That's why you're not like that. And I was just like, and like he's at-

anyone in the league that is Westbrook to a deal. But like, like at every moment at NBA history, it's like a black and white photo. And you see like Jeff Teeth back there. Because he's in like every single. He's the forest gump. He has a little Roger in him. He's the forest gump of NBA history. The whole pot is fantastic.

That's a great thing. Salute, salute. Salute. Um, okay. All right. There's some names in here. What am I going to go with? I'm going to go with.

Go with. Come on, man. I know where you want to go. I know where you want to go. No, that's where you're going to pick next. I do it. I'm going to go to one Shed Holmgren. Oh.

Let me go with Shed Hongren. Oh. As a hero. As a hero. I think he has a potential to be a hero. It's what we predict It's what we predict Lock me, lock me

Are you No, I want to hear this If I just this is This is the way I think this is a way for me To say how he could become the hero Okay, this is what he needs to do To become a hero

He needs to stop with all the like You know what I'm bigger than bad I'm bigger than this matchup Between me and Wemby I'm just here as a team I need to do this He needs to just say

You know what fuck I'm tired of this I'm tired of this I'm tired of getting pushed through the basket on every possession, and I'm going to stand up. So that's a really good point. And all I'm going to do, all I'm going to do is play defense. I'm going to let Shay handle the scoring.

I am just going to foul him at every turn, and I'm going to see, I'm just going to get up off the mat. And you're going to be really upset with this. But if he is 09 pal, if he's 09 pal, you remember you, you know how you felt in 08 when KG did what he did to pal. I did. I don't know how you felt. I don't even know your allegiance.

I wanted Powell traded multiple. Right. What did Powell do for you? No. He stepped up. If he can do that, if Chet can do that over the next two seasons, it doesn't even matter to the stat line. If the, if the motor just goes in a different way, he can have that type of impact and he can be the hero this season. I see the vision.

Two things. Number one, I know what I saw. Took two shots in that game seven. You're supposed to be the man to pay you all that money. That's how you're going to do it. All right. He saw Wendy coming when he got scared. I gave you the blueprint.

I gave you the blueprint. Okay. Two more importantly, we, Wembe hates him on a level that we cannot comprehend. What have you hated on that level of the way that Wembe hate gets? I honestly, I've been honest with you. I don't think, maybe Brady only. Maybe Brady only.

Alabama football. Yeah. Alabama football for you? Alabama football. What year of Alabama football did you hate as much of Wimby? Oh, yeah, that's like, like, like, I hate them. I hate everything that they got going on.

Yeah. The colors. Those gold palettes. Shout out to everybody. I want everybody family to be healthy and happy. So I don't wish no bad on nothing. Tuscaloos have been through a lot. Shout out to all of them people.

But if they never won another game, I would laugh. Yeah. I'll be very happy. That would be great. Do not. It would be like a tear come down your face? I just don't fuck with him in any way shape or form. Like he's like, there's nothing to be.

But like that's a type of level where it's at. So Chet has a long way to go to get. to reach that hate. They're like, and I don't know if Chet got that dog in them like that. That's what I'm saying.

But there's a difference between the, the, the Pau thing as well. There's no Kobe over there. No, there's no Kobe over there. That's going to go. Okay, C,

that's saying, guess what? My legacy and your legacy are intertwined. And if you don't do your job, I can't say that, uh,

I got one more ring in the shack. So if you're going to be here, you got to get, your fucking thing going. There's no analytics for that. So the question is, who are his teammates in OKC going to hold him accountable for the fucking no-show? Getting outplayed as one thing.

Yes. But you can't give somebody your heart out there on the sports arena field, basketball court, tennis court, fucking javelin throwing Olympics. Fair point. He put 41 and 20 on him in game one. Wimby did. But to be honest with you, I actually agree with Logan.

I think you got to come out there and deliver a hard file. Like you got to deliver a file like they would have delivered. We got to pretend like his glory road. Hey man, if he delivers that foul and just gets like a suspension, like the first matchup, five minutes in the game, he just levels them, right? I mean, just deliver a file like, deliver a file like Winby trying to be the first black player in the league and it's 1963. Like, deliver one of them. Here's the thing.

Here's a thing. We all watch the finals, right? what did the Knicks do to Wembe? They just beat them up. They literally just beat them up because Wemby and the Spurs in hindsight basically felt like the OKC series in hindsight.

They did not take the next. It was crying. So what I'm saying is there is an impression around the league right now that if the spurs get punched in the mouth, they might fold. Very young team, I think they maybe did. But also like early on,

Kat just provided a unique puzzle for Wimby to try to solve. I was very, I was like, oh shit, cat, like, boom, boom, boom to the bassist. Like, Wimby didn't know what to do. Cat has only played that way twice is, well, twice on the biggest stage of his whole career. That series against Denver.

Yes. With him, when they went crazy, him in 2014, or 2020, 24, 2024, he went crazy on Yokos. Yep. And that, in that series. I mean, he was great the whole playoffs. Yeah.

But that particular. his, I particular match up. Had Yolich gassed. Had the Yokage going crazy and had Wemby. Wemby could not figure it out. They ended up figuring out a way to deal with Kat. He tailed off a little bit, but that bought them the time that Jeline Brunson wasn't playing. To get back into his game. All right.

You guys got the blueprint. Chet, this is what you need to do to become a hero. Who's your hero? Ah, this is easy. Let's go with the one of the Kevin DeWant. I don't really have much to say. Logan, is there anything you like to say about Kevin Durant? Why do you do that?

You got anything to say. This is your moment. You got two minutes. I honestly actually agree with you. I think that he has the opportunity to be a hero. He has to do everything that he didn't do last year. What didn't he do last year? You know, he can't do the burner stuff.

The burner stuff can't happen. He has to be, this is the opportunity for him to have a moment in the sun and be the leader that we all, at least I guess, hope a superstar of that Acumen will be and carry this team. make sure that our man is getting what he needs to get in his shine, making sure the addition of Fred Van Bleak back into the lineup is seamless, be the leader that we all hope is starting. Do not know, like, that's, I guess maybe a big ask, but, you know,

do that and figure it out. And I think he has an opportunity. One thing that KD needs, he needs a star of that caliber needs is a moment in the sun at this. He needs to earn. It's a really big. It's really proud of you. Wow, you really pulled that together. You know what I like, man?

Why are you trying to incite this is, this is my problem. This is my problem. I like regular niggas, man. Yeah. I like people that don't understand. I like regular. I like, I like,

because they just talk shit, like two people, and they don't get that they're the biggest fucking star in the NBA or the second biggest star in the NBA. Like, I'm gonna just talk to you. I'm gonna just go get your deals and I'm gonna talk you like adorable person.

Yeah. You know what I've made the argument, though. I will say this. made the argument that I feel like he is the most normal superstar, it's normal athlete we've ever seen. Even if he's not normal, he does. Normal in the sense of like,

yo, if somebody, if you put us in the, well, you don't count. You know, and you are in the fish bowl. But I'm saying like,

if you put me and Jemmy in the fishbow or put somebody in the fishbowl of being Kevin Durant, there is a chance we might creep into somebody's DM and be like, yo, what are you getting to me like that? To me, that is still. That's a very human thing.

To me, it's still endearing. It's like, you say, you go to Kevin Durant and you say, fuck you. And he goes, nah, fuck you. You haven't done anything that I've done. You only know me because I hover over. I get all of the stuff that happened last year. And if you believe that that is him on those burners. Allegedly.

Allegedly. Yeah, yeah, if you believe it. But at the same time, I don't know, man. Like one time, he came into my comments. This is what I posted. I posted. What's the best type of pie? And he said, Apple pie.

is undefeated. And somebody commented under winner, win a real ring. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like,

I can't even talk about Apple Pie. I actually kind of for the first time I actually understood it. Yeah. He can't even talk. He's like,

somebody, Apple Pie, go watch him tell him. He goes, Apple Pie undefeated. They win a real ring. I'm like, what the fuck,

bro? By the way, and this is like part of the thing, I don't know if you guys watched that Lakers Rocket Series where Katie only

only play one game. And you go back, you look at all the burner, texts and stuff that he sent other people. Was it wrong? That's not the point, though. That's not the point.

That's not the point. You can't do that. You can't do that. I'm not saying, I'm not saying. I'm not saying. I will say this though. Adding to that, like, if it was, if it was him,

if it was him, that just demoralizes the rest of your team, bro. You know, like. But to be like, to like, you know, like close the hero point, if they keep, he can come back and, Obviously, they've said that they're not talking about the burn or stuff.

But if he can come back, reintegrate Fred Van Fleet, A man, got that big contract. They can come and put together something. I don't even-in-law. I just think they're old, man. I mean, but again, like, that was not a bad team. But here's the other thing, man. It's not even just the ability, man.

What happened against the Lakers was an embarrassment. You don't, that just... He won't different. Luke Conard was the second blessed player on the team. I know you had a great time. That missed. I don't know what I meant to you. But that can't happen is the bigger point, right?

And they're a year older. They're not a young team. They're not a young team. You have Ben Lee who's coming off of a major injury. That's what I'm more concerned about. I don't disagree with you. However, I think if Kevin Durant, to your point takes ownership and goes, I'm going to be a leader. Yes.

No, it's a long of the tooth for him. But if I'm going to be leader right now, I'm going to do what I can to lead this team. I think that's a thing. I'm going to say that stuff not on burners to random people. I'm just going to like maybe. peeled my teammates up. Allegedly. You got it, man.

Anyways, your last year. Speaking of seeing gold. This is a crazy. Hey, hey, hey, play stop the cap.

Play stop the cap. This is, hey, this is lies. Lies. Don't let him fool you. Go read the tweets. I'm going with Nicola Yonkish. The Joker.

It's incredible cap. I'm going with the Joker. And let me tell you why. This is the, the first time that a certain joker-loving entity that I work for

Joker dick riding entity you're gonna say any names almost everybody it don't really make any sense to single anybody out okay wait you made him a hero to disson no this is the first on the board for that this is the first time

this is the first time this is the first time that Yokic has been in my opinion by the people that love him seriously criticized and doubted. With the way that they went out, there was no way to argue.

For a while, there was only Joe that was doing this. There was no way to argue that it was anybody else's fault. Right. Because normally, Yolkich wins. Yonj is the greatest. Yokis loses. It's like, it's somebody else.

Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray. It's like, yeah. Irrigorda was healthy. I am going to have a lot of fun watching him this season. Y'all getting me so excited for the NBA. season. I'm going to have a lot of fun watching him this season because I'm going to watch him, I think, really respond to the fact that some people feel like his legacy might have took a hit

in the playoffs, no matter how great that he has been in the playoffs over the course of his career. But in that situation, that was a very embarrassing loss. And I think that he is probably going to be one of the more funner, fierce competitors to watch this season. He is that every year, but I think this season is going to be special. I think this year, like, means a lot too because obviously like they had to get rid of Payne wanted. Yeah. Because of all the CBA stuff. And so he could elevate the nuggets with the roster not being as it is.

That's a lot to ask. That's a lot to ask. But he's one of the, he's one of three best players in Lee. But like what's the ceiling on that, right? Like we've seen that, right? When, what was it, 2025? When he almost took the, uh, 2024 are two examples, 2022 and 2025 are two examples where they just ran out of gas.

The nuggets ran out of gas. Yeah, but a few demand, though. No, but in 2020, in 2025, he had not a similar roster, but he had a roster where it was just him and by and large, DeMont Martin Ponce. But this is worse. And this is worse, right? So what I'm saying is he could have the career year,

he could ball out. I don't know if that's enough. It might not be. The other thing that I was thinking was, like, last year was such a, it was probably the last best shot of the nugget. It was probably the last best time. Because I always make this 50 cent, the wimbia analogy.

He's here. Now he's here. Now Get Richard Dry Trying is coming out. There's nothing you can do. It's over. It's over. I'm going to have OKC as well. I don't know if his brilliance can overcome just the lack of moves made by the Nuggets for him.

I just, I don't. And that doesn't mean he can't be a hero. No. That does not mean he can't be a hero. To me, he's going to be a hero no matter what just because the skill set is so uncanny. Yeah. I thought you're going to say because he's white. I mean, maybe, you know what I'm saying?

Put them things together. Don't get me on my shit. Me and Joel already did ring. Third eye stays open. But what I'm saying is in this, I'll be more watching how Yokic competes if and when they make the playoffs, like how he scratches and claws

and how he responds to actually some criticism. I think it'll be with great basketball and incredible competitive intensity. I hear that. All right, I think you've got my last hero. Oh, okay. Brought to you by Polymarket Cali-Chi.

Cali, my bad. Don't worry, we'll get to that. Yeah, we'll get to that. Yonnas, I did a cumbo. The Greek freak. I think we talked about, we talked about the pimp-limp that Pat Raleigh's going to have. If they go to the finals.

Now, if Yannis takes this roster to the NBA, I don't, I don't think, I don't think, I don't think no, so win it. But if he does, there's a real opportunity. here. No, I think it's finals or bust for him, right? It is finals or bust. This season? This rain.

Oh, this rain. This Miami team has to be successful. Yeah. It has to be successful. I don't think this season they have to go to them. They don't have to go to finals. But he has an opportunity to lay the groundwork. You know, don't just go to Brickle, you know.

Go to Little Haiti if you need to. But ingratiate yourself to the Miami to Miami. To be a Miamiian. Now, the math on him and that team specifically, leave, and we alluded to earlier, is they got to score the bat. They have. Right, and we don't know how they're going to do that.

You don't think they can be the O-4 piston? I'm sorry, I know that's a sore spot. I mean, if you're the O-4 Pistons, you have to play defense at like an all-time level, and you have to have the versatility of some players, like Wallace, you have to have... Ben Wallace? You have the best defender of his generation.

You have to have versatile plays. That was a very, very uniquely constructed team. Right. And this one, like, and they had a clutch performer. Johnson. Yeah. What about if Kyrie gets straight and then it's easy? I mean, we'd have to see what that looks like.

We do. That would be crazy. That would be exactly what they needed. But the thing like, this is a team that you need to look for at the deadline. If you, oh, I believe about Clay Thompson was over there. Yeah, he is. Oh, and also I think you're going to have, you're going to have a better version of Clay Thompson just by simply the proximity to him.

That's true. Could be. The thing with Yonis in particular is like, You take away the 2021, which is like one of the best game, like game six performance you've ever seen. Like a closeout game, 50 points. Like that submits you all time regardless. You take that away. You look at his resume outside of that.

It's looking. His playoff success, yes. But he's not looking. No, it's not a lot of highs. But the exit to the heat of the next year. They just need it. Hey, hey, they just need them to be. They just need one game.

Just need one day. I do think like there is a chance like next year he could be a hero but to your point they don't have to win next year but at some point they have to figure it out they got to figure it but he can lay the groundwork to be a hero right here yeah right now your last hero

I got some ops I'm curious to see who you are going to pick wow wow man big Jim I believe you did this my man big Joe don't ever look at me for picking yoke's this might be this might be a Steve Balmer level pick this might be a Steve bomber level pick right here Shout out to James right here, bro. You, I've heard the taste.

This is insane. Pick up his, hey, put his social media's tweets or something alongside it. His worst James Hardin. Do not search James Hardin. Search it right now. Victoria Cliff, whoever's in charge, put it right there right next to it. Now, explain your case. Give the damn thing to Jamie so he can tape it.

I mean, it's a simple point. I hate him. Getting the bag. I'm, okay, go. Getting the bag MVP. One of the greatest getting the bag guys we have ever seen. in our entire lives. But, you know, I can't say something, bro.

It's like, yeah, he's a good, get the bad guy. That's a fucking phenomenal basketball player, brother. That's a phenomenal, but he, you know why he gets, James Hardin gets the back? James Harden is a really, really good basketball player. Available? A great, yeah. Durable.

Yeah. Like a regular season performer, like, we've never seen before. Yeah. Right. MVP, six men, scoring champion, assist champion. Like James Harden, don't get it twisted while we are... The analytics love them.

While we're in the Twittersphere. Yeah. James Harden is a badass motherfucker historically so. He's the man. And you just hate him being just... Yeah, I can't be the guy to do it. But, and I saw a tweet that was really funny. I can't remember who said it.

But this is a guy who always gets out right before it all goes crazy. Yeah. Right? He sees the right. Amazing foresight. Just like, all right, it's time for me to go. Even if it's his fault that it's all fucked. He still gets out of there.

he goes a new situation for like a year or a year and a half. He's like, you know what, I think, I'm in LA. You know what I think I might, you know, I think I'm going to Brooklyn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Y'all don't want to give me an extension. All right. Go to Cleveland. Now look at what, right.

The Nets was like, ah, yeah, Houston, damn. You know what? I think I want to go to Brooklyn, you know. You know, like when it's time for him to go, y'all, man, when he went, he was in China, he was like, Darryl Morey is a liar. That's an all-timer, bro. Darryl Morey is a lie. And also, to that point.

he was saying that whilst getting the bag. And talking to children. Talking to children in China. Let's not talk about his playoff. Well, that's the thing that's going to make him a hero, Joe. I mean, that's what undercuts your whole thing is the fact that he's going to be a hero this season. He has all the individual accolades. The thing that will make him a hero is actually showing up in the playoff when it matters the most.

Are you confident even in that? Well, so here's the thing. Because if you're not, why the hell did you pick him? He's playing on a team with Donovan Mitchell. Okay. and the really funny thing is that we've over the last what, last year at least, we were looking at the team,

we go, man, we're laughing at James Harden, but the real, the real choker, the guy who's supposed to be the number one dude who's not doing his thing, is D Mitch. Think this is the year where we start to put the microphone. Why wouldn't it just be both?

Why wouldn't it just be both? That's how it works. Nah, it's usually. You're a fraud, dude. You're a fraud. Okay, let's go. I got to sell my point, man. Okay, yeah, that was insane.

That was... You picking Steve Ballmer with the fifth pick? That was insane. I took him to the last... Okay, that's fair. That was your second pick. That's fair. That's fair. That's fair.

That's fair. I know, but I'm saying it's on the level. It might be on the level. No, it's not. Because it's nonsensical. Nah, it's not. Let's take a quick break and we're going to go to villain. All right, and we are back.

This is the moment that Van has always been waiting for. In fact, he was real... I saw it in your face as you were upset with that I went here. first. You really wanted to go villain. I know where you're going to go. Just go pick it right there. You already did it. Just go pick it. Just go ahead and pick it. You wrote it. Let's look at this penmanship. Victor Wimbenyama. Let me tell you why Wimby is a villain.

Wimby's a villain because I need it. Because you're a hater. Joel, you are officially off the hook, my friend. I'm going to tell you guys straight up right now. I love the fact that Wimby is going to torture all of the people who don't fuck with him for years. Y'all think this is bad.

This is healthy. Y'all think this is hate. This is love. The Wimby era is coming. There's nothing any of us, non-Wimby people can do to stop it. The rest of you guys that somehow got glamored into rooting for the Spurs because Wimby plays for them, I have never rooted for the Spurs and I'm not about to start now. But I am happy that he continues to ascend up the rankings of greatest athletes in the world

because he is the most worthy villain in all of sports right now. What makes him so worthy? He's many reasons. Number one is going to happen. He's going to be the best player in the league. That's number one. If it hasn't already happened. Number two, he's legitimately an asshole.

Yes. Like he's legitimately an ass. Is he? Is he or is he just French? On that basketball court, Wimby is a player that when you're on the other side, you want to hate him, which is good. And the last thing is what makes him to me a great villain is that you can't hate him off the court. No, you can't. So this is what I'm, some might argue you could.

You can't hate him off the court. This whole villain hero thing is where it only gets toxic. when it becomes personal. And races. When we start combing through people's personal lives and inventing real reasons to hate them as human being, there is absolutely nothing wrong with hating somebody as a basketball player or as a competitor.

So in that regard, Wimby is the perfect villain because he's a villain that you do not want him to win, but you don't hate it when he does. I see that. That's a good point. Some people might argue Remember when he was playing chess In the street senior?

And people were calling it fake Calling him a frog Said he's doing it for clicks He's not a cliques guy man That dude was up in the mountains Trading with the Monks Yeah We didn't have to drop the pick though

I mean there's an argument to me That he could just want up to the mountains And no one even know I feel like if a 7 foot six French man Went into the mountains And didn't get a picture That's more shocked Man but look

Nigger Kareen was doing karate With Bruce Lee on the movie Could like Corrine I never That y'all Y'all need to go watch

Go go Go if y'all haven't seen Game of Death It's a weird movie Because Bruce Lee wasn't around For the whole of it But like if y'all If y'all haven't watched Game of Death before Go watch right now again

Watch Kareem in a fight with Bruce Lee Watch the way Kareem is moving How in the fuck could anybody fuck with him And they couldn't Watch the way Kareem is moving in that scene By the way Bruce Lee

He's Stokelian legend That's true That's true That's true Okay, I think it's my turn. Yeah, there's a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of options. A lot of, a lot of, a lot of, let's get this way. You know, this is a personal thing.

Oh, damn, I wouldn't expect, okay. Okay, wow. All right, what you, why do you feel that way? And I'm not mad at, I'm not mad at the math that goes into analytics and the hard work that a lot of people do within the front office to make sure that we have the best information possible, and the teams have the best possible. Maybe I should add something.

Let me see that real quick. Let me see that. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Sorry, it is the analytics discourse. What's the analytics discourse? Because you can make numbers, whatever you want them to be.

Right? And also, man, I mean, me and Van Derrick, right? We don't drink like that. We're at the wine bars, chilling. Right, right. But, you know, when you're at the bar, do you want to hear, like, oh, man, this dude, you know, one of your favorite players,

you know, one of your favorite players is Kobe, right? You want to go to a bar and just hang and they're like, yo, man, who do you like? Kobe. Well, like, you know, analytically speaking, da-da-da-da-da. It's like, I can't even believe that you would even think that. It's a shooting percentage. It's effective field goal rate.

You have no business even liking it. Five-time champion league MVP, 30,000 points score. Go fuck yourself. How about those analytics? I'll give you some numbers. Like, but you get what I'm saying? I'm just like, I just feel like the discourse is like, it makes it not fun sometimes, man. There is a little bit of like.

It's a bit of highbrass. I know what I saw. It's like I know what I saw, but also, dude, we're watching sports. Yeah. We're watching sports, man. Yeah. Okay, let's just have some fun. I'm not saying it.

I'm not saying it from the professionals that do it and, like, give great information and get like diamonds in the ruffs and stuff like that. I am saying just the average discourse, yo, man, I like this player. Why the hell do you like this player? It's really, really crazy that you would even think that because this, this such and such, he's actually ass. I'm like, dude, we're having fun. You know what it reminds me of?

I have friends, and they would. was singer, right? And they would talk about who was the best singer. Yeah. And they would be like, yo man, I can hear somebody and they got like a 12 octave range and they can go. Whitney Houston. Or settle, all of that stuff. But I heard

though, because when I would come back, they would talk about all of these things. And then I'd be like, man, what them records at, bro? What them wreckus at? What them slaps? Yeah, what I'm saying? It's like, hey, because we're sitting around, we're talking, and this was the 90s, so I'm not going to mention the people that we were talking about were the best in R&B because some of these names are to

Oh, yeah, we know who we're doing. But people would be, people would be like, yeah, but my boy, Ian will come in, like, yeah, but I can tell you somebody right now. And they sing way better than him. I'd be like, yeah, what the record's that, man? Show the record's that, man. Yeah, I get that they could do all the technical stuff and all of that stuff. What a record's at, man? What a record's at, what a, what a joints?

It's like people today being like, yeah, but he sold how many albums in a week. Like, bro, we're not trying to hear that. We're not trying to hear that. How good is the music? How good is the music? The analytics matter only if the music is good. So if you're, if, if it's going to enhance the winning, then they matter. But Kobe fucking won.

Go fuck yourself. And that 83 point game is bullshit. Okay. Hey. Okay. You know what? Oh, shit. He took your turn.

He just took your turn. Man took the turn. Oh, shit. Hold on. Okay, okay, okay. Oh, do you add that? We're just going to add that. All right.

We're dealt with that one. Who is your villain? Who is your first villain? My first villain, I mean, it's got to be. Oh. Oh, damn. Thumbs down a ward? Well, so here's...

So here's the... I didn't give it to them. You didn't give it to them. Yeah, I'm using this as an avatar for the whole NBA media. Daff record label on a motherfucker. Yeah, all of it. We talked about this yesterday. NBA media is in the dirt.

It's bad. Football came back last week. And I'm watching football, and they would never say a bad thing about the Shield. Oh. Yes. There is nearly a soldier in that army that I go up and say, I didn't like this. This was bad. Even if there's supposed to be a level of honesty, don't like couch it as much as they can.

Hey, you know, I love the game, but this right here is not how I'm supposed to go down, whichever, whatever. Every single day in the NBA media's field, there's a conversation of whether this game is good. They're arguing, like, we don't talk about, we don't break down coverages. We don't break down what this team would look like Come on forward. We're like, yeah, man. Kenny's guys, there's always drama. There's never real conversation about the hoops that we're watching. It's always ancillary stuff.

That doesn't happen over there. I don't even think there's a sport where that actually does happen. Baseball, soccer, football. There's a love of the game. There's a love of the game that the media has in those sports that doesn't. And I want to add to that. And I know when you say there's a love of the game, I don't mean people have to be like homers and like, you know,

biased towards all. I mean, I guess former players can be biased, right? But what more of it is, is it's like, it's having appreciation for the support. But there's like there's an overall discussion problem.

Like, in terms of. Like you don't have to have a take. I feel like, I feel like, and I'm not even talking, I'm not even putting any names out there. I'm not even putting the name that you put.

I just feels like I'm not going to do that. I'm not, those are Vanswaters or they're not my waters. What I'm saying in, I didn't do it What did I do? Because I'm just saying He just did a higher learning topic

That I am not ready to fully indulge. But I just feel like the NBA of all places The most internet-pilled discourse of all. It's not actually rooted in anything Other than like, yo man, I'm bored today Let's just throw a take out there. Let's see what happened. I also say something else

Is that the intergenerational competition in the NBA is, it's bigger than it is in any other sport. Absolutely. So the intergenerational competition in the NBA exists in a way that it just does in another sport.

Like, you don't really hear Troy Aikman on broadcast talking about whether or not he thinks that he could throw for 50 million yards in this potential, in this NBA, when he, in this NFL, when he was more of a pedestrian thrower of the ball because he had in the Smith

and because all of this stuff like this. It's just, it's different. And when you hear a lot of guys talk about the league now, they're actually not even critiquing the basketball as much as they're critiquing the culture and structure of it. They're critiquing the, they think what they did was superior. Yeah. And they have to, like, let people know that.

And sometimes it's funny. Like sometimes, like sometimes, like, sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it's funny. Like when Charles Barkley said, if I play today, I show up in a spaceship. It's funny. That's funny. But because this game is so individualistic, the legacy that you leave is tied to you as a person.

Yeah. I also say this too, man. Like, there's always the critique about from former players to people that didn't play the game, oh, you wouldn't understand. You never played the game. But one of the things that I see from former players is just all y'all doing is settling scores, right?

Like, you're settling scores with other players. You're yelling at them for what they didn't do. Actually, you know, I don't like, or if somebody don't return your text, you're going to go on the internet and be like, yo, man, I don't like this do it. Like, it's never like the, you're never analyzed in the game. Like, yo, man, like, that's what I love about Roger. I'm going to give a plug to Roger Bell. It's like, whenever he is in front of a mic, he's really just talking about the game.

Yeah. It's never anything personal. And I feel like with the influx of, you know, I know we talk, we've shouted out some player pods, but even like with the, with the uptick of player pots, it's now been like, okay, how can we do a take that's clipable? How can we do all of that? That's like the goal here.

All right, let's show on clips. Specifically in the NBA. Specifically in the NBA. Some people have jobs to do. Let's calm down. Got to get my clips out of the time. I'm not talking about you.

I'm not talking about you. I'm just saying just what, what the incentive structure in the NBA is what I see relative to the other way. Okay, that's all. I mean, I'm talking like, for me, like,

specifically it's, it's like ESPN. It's like the people who, like, are supposed to like cover the sport and like really push it forward. And they're holding it back with all these type of conversation. Hmm. Who's next? It's fans turn.

Vance to. Raupilinka. You did this to incite him, did you? It's true, though. It's true. Rob Polinka. Are you going to get through this little? Just let him talk.

Just let him go. Just let him go. I don't have any words. I have got no words. Rob Polinka is basically the tiger of GM. The tiger of GMs. Are you calling them AI? No, this is what I mean.

Like, I wake up in the morning and, you know, I get ready to different songs. What songs do you get ready? It's different ones. Lately, it's been. Got a little Nita Baker? Taste. Nah, hell no. I got to get ready for the day.

I love Anita, but Nita's for the evening. That's fair point. Yeah. So Tase by Tiger has been coming on. I love that record. Okay. You like that shit? I love that record.

That's a good-ass record, right? Like, Rack City. That's a great record. That's a good-ass record. Even that Lime and the Coconut shit that he's on, I like when that shit comes on. What I'm saying is the reason why Rob Polinka is the tiger of rappers, of GMs, is because the consistency is not there.

But every once in a while, he hits with a crazy move, right? So every once in a while, Rob Polinka makes a move that's really good. LeBron. But LeBron. Luca. A.D.

A.D. Okay. Giving him Luca. But when Nico Harrison said, hey, man. Also giving him AD, what our coworker literally orchestrated that. That's fine.

But what I'm saying is, what you really want out of a rapper is for the quality of every song to be at a certain level. And Tiger never really did that. But every time somebody would say, Tiger sucks Tiger would come with

an undeniable ridiculous hit He got like four of those In his entire career I will say On the Tiger Point Hotel California came out I thought he was gonna be the man Bray

He got the joint with Two Chains He had Don't get his copyright Streg I'm just saying I'm just saying I'm just saying

I thought I thought he was gonna have So do you So do you think The comparison is disrespectful to Huayga or to Rob Polina? It's disrespectful to Rob Polinka. I have some shame.

It's definitely not. I know it's not. You're on the money. I think the Rob Polika thing is tough because he should not have this job. Yes. By all means, he should not have this job. And in a serious organization, would have let him go years ago, right? But because Jeannie is like that got that family, that familial tie with him being

Kobe's agent, he's never going to leave the job. So if you're a Lakers fan, you have to understand that until that ownership situation is sorted out, he's the guy. That's the problem. And also that man, when you about to get him out of here, I'm going to just say it's something about sticking around. And man, that Luca, that's a rack city, bro. That's a hit, bro.

The thing, the thing particularly, didn't this runoff as fine Austin Reed? Even if you went like, oh, the 2019, the 2019-2020 chip, that would say he put that together. got AD signed Danny Green This and that brother He did that by accident

You and I both know this Well who did well by accident Like Austin Reeves Rob Polink here The 20 the 2020 chip But I give them credit for stick I do give the organization credit for sticking We're Austin Reeves

And like recognizing his talent Absolutely I mean shout out to Reggie Berry I just think that In a not an ideal But like in a normal situation He'll have been gone Rob

After after this summer But obviously that's not going to happen. So you're stuck with the guy who teams or teams don't like to call and make deals with him because of the age and stuff, whatever. It's just like, this is 2026. We should be past this. We should be in the past the Roppelink era. The outlasted, what's it called? Joey and Gene. I mean, kind of Jeannie. Kind of a little bit. He actually did.

Outlasted magic, right? Remember, the whole thing, the whole thing started because they were beefing. And Max said, I'm not working with this dude no more. What do you say at the conference? I'm not going to be there. You know? It's just I, I, you're right. He's a supervillain.

And until he's gone, I don't know. The Lakers don't have a starting four. Guys, guys, the Lakers don't have a starting floor. It's September. The goddamn finals. He happened. I didn't say that. I didn't say that.

I said, right side of the bracket. There's a chance. And you know what, fuck you. Because you kind of agree with me. You said, you know what? knows in May. Who knows in April? Everybody could be injured and it could happen.

I believe you did say that. I think that there is a viable path to the Lakers having a much better season than people think that they would have. With this roster as it stands right now? Long season. Walker Kessler. I love Walker Kester.

Don't do that. I was on the, but you know I was on a Walker Kustrae early. I just don't understand some of the stuff that they do. Like I don't understand not bringing back players that were really successful for you. Marcus Smart. Like I don't get not bringing

those guys. Luke Kinar. Knaar and Smart. Canard won a series for you. Carnar is smart. I just don't feel like, I'm looking at it. You know what the team is shooting. Like, Conard Smart and Rui have to be on that team.

That's the way I look at it. The Rui thing was truly headscrothed. I could not believe it. I mean, all he does is shooting doesn't rebound or play demons, but that's like. Your turn. I'm going to go Tom Dundon. El Chippo. Tom Dunn.

Thigh out to my man, Anthony and Stella. You love El Chippo. Just one of the worst people in our league right now. Or the best, depending on how you look at it. In terms of saving money? I'm not to say Fuck y'all They're gonna play with

Safeway patches and shit Fuck you guys I think they're gonna give a fuck, bro. Like, y'all gonna go to the stadium in Portland

and they're gonna have lunchebles Here's the thing I want to say this stuff bro, I've never seen this before you got doesn't give a fuck,

bro. This guy doesn't give us. Oh my God. I'm telling you, man. It's like, this is the one.

This is the one for me. No, you're absolutely right. Just, the NBA wants to keep basketball in Portland. Have you been to Portland with basketball? Dog. Oh, is it for a, I never been. Yo, go to a Portland game.

This is what I'm going to. You guys are over in Portland. They're like the early April. Honestly, maybe October in the beginning, right? maybe if you can maybe a 2.30 start. Beautiful. Motor Center isn't bad either. You got good basketball.

You got a great fan base. And they know the thing that I love about their fan base is their very knowledge. There's something to be said about the love that Portland has four displays. And that can't be replicated no matter where else you go. You try to take them somewhere. It just cannot be replicated. I think that, I mean, OKC, notwithstanding. No, they love their basketball.

They love their basketball team. They just don't take. And also, man, and there's a chance, like, I know there's a big decision coming up in December about the arena, but like, this is not how you, this is not how you make a good impression on a team like this. It's not. And it's just, it's tough.

The guy, the guy stinks. He's, like, having a hang about keeping a team of Portland, brother. That city loves. And also, like, secretly one of the foundational teams in NBA. It most certainly is. I couldn't agree more. You can't not have basketball in Portland. You have to.

You have to. It's not serious. And just to abandon the entire Pacific Northwest, there would be no team, obviously, in Vancouver. There's no team in Seattle as it stands right now. Then no team or it would make no sense. You have to keep that team there. And you have to take ownership, literally of that city, of that team, brother. You literally put the roots down, man, and stop all this.

You know, the city. It's just ridiculous. I'm off. Okay. Your turn. It was going to have to happen at some point. Okay. I just want you guys to know that I am brave, I am bold.

I'm my own man and I have to do this. Okay. Oh, that's not up there. Oh, okay. LeBron. Are you in your feelings right now? Not about the Lakers stuff. All that's fine.

I understand that. The Polly Market stuff is tough, brother. That's hard. You hate to see that from one of your greats, man. Somebody who, you know, we've talked about it on our podcast, on this podcast, on many podcasts all the time. I find out as my personal goat. But to wake up on a Saturday morning

and the first thing you see me on Instagram, Brian and Polly Market. Oh, you're not fucking winning. I don't really, nah, dog. He don't need that money, man. LeBron James, of all people, don't need that money. Yonnas don't need that money. None of these guys need the prediction market money, man.

And here we are. That's tough. The reality is this. I'm not going to get into a whole lefty thing here. You can. But money is not to be needed once you get to a certain point to be grabbed. And the system that we're in, it says grab whatever you can hold and hold it as long as you can.

So you wouldn't even think about not doing something for money because endless growth is the point of the system. And that's not just with the economy itself, it's also with the decision. So it's just a tough look when I'm seeing my guy who, you know, hopefully he plays a lot of games, you know, at his grand old age. And he's like, yeah, man, that was great. You know, it's really good. Polymarket, go. I'm just like, nah, man, I don't want to see that. I don't want to see couchy.

I don't want to see none of those things on my sports. Like, I just, I'm sick of it. I think there's also just the change in, like, LeBron, just off the court in the last, and I would like to get your opinion. Certainly. There's been a change in the way LeBron, I feel like, has looked at himself.

I would say over the last six years, right? And I don't want to get into the politics of the polymarket necessarily. but like 2020. I want to go back to 2020. Remember 2020? Yeah. Great year for everybody.

Remember when he was just trying to be at the forefront of social change? And he was read. Not even just that, but not, yeah, but like I'm not even, I'm going to give him a bill. I'm not even talking about it. I'm more so talking about like campaigning for a while, a Raphael. Right. Doing more than a vote. Yep.

really trying to make the world, or in his eyes, a better place. Now, was he gonna be Muhammad Ali, not necessarily, right? But he at least portrayed himself as a moral authority with the movie. Yeah, right? And over the last few years, you see subtle changes from that.

You see he's stepping away from more than a vote. He's given that to the neck of the movement. Right. He, it was another instance that I thought it was like a watershed moment. I was actually in Vegas when this happened. It was when Kamala Harris came to go see Team USA, right? And you know, LeBron, whenever he sees a political figure

that he seems to be somewhat aligned with, right? Like, I don't know his personal, personal politics. But like, he tends to be in the front, right? Like, he campaigned for Hillary Clinton, you know, he, but when Kamala came, he really just stayed out of the way. He stayed in the back room. And I thought that was really telling. And I've just seen a subtle, I don't know what it is, I don't know if he wants to,

he's trying to just build up capital to own an NBA team because I know that was a goal of his and, you know, teams of, the market for teams of skyrocketed since even he has expressed interest. But like, I just seen just a change in this guy that was like, I am going to be, now am I going to step in front of everything? No, but I am going to be the moral compassing. And I feel like that's changing. A couple of things. Number one, I think LeBron John James and his want to, I think he's want to be an NBA owner is interesting because that's something that he could far and away do better and say that he did it better than Michael Doer. So like being an NBA owner and controlling players and like building an organization and all

of that stuff, you can do that and you can say, hey, this is something that nobody can argue I did this better than Michael Doer. So I think that that would end up happening for him. I honestly have almost zero critiques or criticisms of LeBron James off of the court. I think that off of the court, my criticisms for LeBron are the same as the wimby thing. It's the same as the wimby thing. A player that I cast as defoyle to Kobe Bryant, partly because of marketing and stuff like that. So my entire career has always been a little thing where I wasn't a LeBron guy.

But I think three things when I think about LeBron James. I'll come back to some of the things that you said a second ago. Number one, I think of the I Promise School. And when I think of the I Promise School, when I think about the school, is that, man, having a charter, and he's not the only person that has had a school, Jalen Rose. Yeah. Other people have schools for, you know,

getting to a whole conversation about school choice and all that stuff is different. The I Promise School was a comprehensive scholastic experience for people. Mm-hmm. For their parents, a pantry, for people, so they will have to go to school, like, hungry. When I think about stuff like that, I think about the tradition of the Black Panthers and the breakfast program and what it meant for kids to have some food in their bellies when they go to school.

I think about all the activists that lay down the blueprint for someone to be able to understand that. I think about taking a stand during the NBA, during his most popular days in the NBA, against police brutality, supporting Trayvon Martin against the president. This might be somewhat controversial for people to hear from. me. LeBron is in the twilight not just of his NBA career, but also

in his relevance as an athlete. Which means earning power. Which means earning power. I am actually less concerned with what he does now. And more thankful for the fact that when he was

at his most powerful, his most influential, the peak of who he was as an athlete and a cultural figure. When he had the most to lose that he was clear about who he was. That doesn't mean that I don't care now. Yeah. That doesn't mean that. That doesn't mean that everything that you just said isn't true. As far as like him and which political people that he supports, I think that's an interesting

observation. But for me, like, I have to look at where I've sort of evolved too politically and maybe he was more excited about politics in general than he might be now, right? Don't know. but I will say that like at the peak of who you are because there's a lot of people that do the inverse there's a lot of people that at the peak of their popularity they shrink and then at the end when they need something to continue their relevance they go on to social issues

or they go on to political issues or they go on to things like that not that's ever not but then you could look at it as cynical I mean if you wanted to also make the comparison like Muhammad Ali did you know after what he did did sit, go to the White House with Reagan. And I'm not saying that this in apples apples comparison. Like, LeBron

has never killed that. But there is, like, even with our heroes, sometimes, it gives, like, a little... Well, you get older. Like, Muhammad Ali's legacy is un-touchable. It is unimpeachable to me as well. You get what I'm saying. Yeah, but so, so to me, when I look at with LeBron James, Gus, I look at LeBron

2012, 13, 14, 15, 16, when he was most needed. Yeah. He was not just available. Add 17, 18, 19, and 20. Yeah, well, he was not just available rhetorically. He was available to feed children, get them to school. He was in lockstep against what this president is into. There's, like, I don't have very many, I think LeBron James as a man, as a father, and as a social figure.

There's some other things that we could talk about. Like, there's some other stuff. Man, father, and social figure. I think he's been nothing short of a revelation. And I really give credit to him and really the whole team on that. There's some shit that he's done that I've been like, I've scratched my head and be like, why the fuck you're doing that? You know, but like, as far as that's concerned,

I think his life off of the court has been, has been really, really phenomenal. Yeah. All right. Now, who is your villain? Chey Gildre's out, Alexander. I'm surprised it took a slight long to get there. Oh, look. Look, look.

Hey, hey. What? Hey, man. Thank you. Hey, man. Farber's got to stop. Hey, man. She just go out there and get these buckets, bro.

Some of the con job. Like, you know, like, it's, She has become, saying the thunder themselves have become sort of the mascots for, like, what the problems people have with the basketball right now. Here's the particular problem about Shea. He's been waiting for. You hate them.

You put me on this. I used to fucking like to watch it. And now I can't. watch it because like when I look at it all I see and that's a bad motherfucker but when I look at it all I see is what you say. Remember game seven when he was literally just him out there? He was like I'm gonna get these buckets. He stopped the flopping

and he was scooping. We were like man if you can do that what's all the need for the and like here's the other thing not for nothing like he has had like signature games where he has gotten buckets. I think about the Indiana Pacers. That nigga coal is shit. He's so good. Also, he doesn't need to do the insurance fraud. Even with all of the shit that we said right here, I would say he's still worth the prizes of admission because he's that good.

Yes. But he doesn't need to do the insurance fraud. We know how good you are. We've seen it with our eyes, brother. You don't have to, uh, uh, uh, ref, where's my call? You don't need none of that. Hey, man, I'm next. Wait, you're next?

No, you're next. I'm next. Oh, I see what you did. Yeah, that's a good. That's a good reference. Sick reference, bro. But seriously, though, the guy is so talented, so amazing. You can even ignore it.

that he's kind of corny off the court. But kind of, why is he for it? Why is he? How do niggas call niggas corny? I don't think he's corny, bro. I want to push back. What's corny about having, having, like, swag? Like, I mean, like, he got all kinds of different.

What's corny about it? It's not like super duper, like big time, what's a little bit? You don't respect his Pinterest, Pippen? You're not too big. Too big for the program. It's a little bit about you hate. What do you mean? You know how I'll push back on that?

If he was too big for the program, his teammates would hate him. He's beloved in that locker. You know what he had? What I saw him? What you had? In the height, in the height, height of the West Coast Canadian hip-hop beef. I saw this man with a Toronto Blue Jays jacket on it. The one I'm 20 yesterday.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember that commercial he did with Chet two years ago? It is, but it is. Come on. It is what it is, dog. It's a little bit of like, all right, bro, come on, man. Let's open that up a little bit. You don't got to.

But you know what? Can I say something? I blame with all of these dry-ass commercials that these niggas is doing in these commercials, fuck. All right. I blame, I believe, like, like, it's not good. Bro, I'm just going to be honest, bro. We had commercials back in my day. What?

We had Little Penny. We had the fucking puppets. We had George and Spockets. Yeah. We had George and Spike Lee. We had the Charles Barkley as the game show host. Hell, we even had Kobe jumping over cars with Adidas, like jumping like full court. We had a Sprite cipher, but that where people were rapping about Tim Duncan.

We had a Nike cipher. Yeah. Kobe Bryant, slam dunk, giant. The KD one. No, the KD was. We had him. Bo Williams. I do you guys say, quick.

Copper rising. Every day. I got to say, y'all are just dropping the ball. Do you remember the command? commercial with the dudes and they was like street ball players dribbling the ball and like the best commercial ever when they was at the airplane hangar all 12 of the the Nike guys yes all white we Kobe Nash all man y'all y'all I don't even blame these players bros these commercials are not bringing the heat nah and in Christmas I fuck with it it

it was cool yeah like these commercials are not bringing the heat like they used to a lot more herbs. That's what I'm saying. I'm just going to be honest. I know the OGs at the sneaker industry. We're not as big. I'm just saying like put these players in a... And you know what the other thing is?

You know what the other thing is? All the, and you guys, you guys know this. You live in L.A. All the creativity now is just retrip. It's just like a homage to other people. We're so in love with it. Yeah, I mean, I'm saying like, put these guys in a position to succeed in these commercials

with what they look cool. Do Jordan playing again And also helped that Jordan was the coolest Motherbacher and the lead Jordan playing against

the younger version of himself it's just a good commercial bro it's just a good commercial Bird magic everybody's shooting it's just a good commercial

man I don't know All right Is it my turn? Yeah man Yeah Speaking of insurance Rod

insurance fraud Yeah I'm gonna give the floor to you I thought he was gonna change my life and then it turns out that he did change your life Mark Walter did change your life for like five seconds and then it turns out he's going to super prison

if he can't return to my question for you question for you and I think I know the answer to this was that Dodgers that last Dodgers world series worth for you what do you mean last? The last one that they had brother we went in again no but I'm saying the last one on a record would that have been worth it if he does go jail uh yeah if Mark Walter he's not going to fuck whether he go to jail

or not? Yeah, like, yeah, it's goddamn you right, is worth it. Are you kidding? Game 7 against the Toronto Bulljay? They can get that nigga 50 years.

Like, I don't give a fuck whether he's, I'm going to put money in his commissary. You go to jail. Yeah, like, good for him. Like, I'll go,

like, but you just, no, hold on it. I'm just going to say, you see him fake in real time. You were just about to this roast or something and then you'd like convince yourself.

I'll go, no, no. That was great. Because the Dodgers got the job done. Miguel Rojas. Yeah. Right, that's the difference. Okay.

We're talking about NBA right now. We're talking about NBA right now. I thought he was going to fix my life. It turns out he was doing some little, you know, some some 419 on the side, right? You can't do that. I don't even know what that. Nigeria.

Nigeria scams. I'm a Syrian prince, man. You'd be acting like you don't know about shit. Did I ever say I didn't know about that? You try to act like I shouldn't bring it up. You bring it up, you know, we send me your email.

You're like trying to act like you don't know about it. Hey, V, we're my wallet. But seriously, though, he buys the Lakers, they make that big trade for Walker Kustler, right? You send all those picks. And you're like, this is a direction of the team. And then how many months later,

they're sold again, right? And so if you're the new owner, right, you come back, you don't have all the, like all the picks like all the stuff that you need to that you would like to have you would like to have a clean slate going into a new team

man pick one pick the thing though meet that last one right Vivek? Yeah Ramaswamy no no

Rana Dibe I know I mean this is basically just the King's organization as a whole are you not excited about this Ben Simmons edition would you be excited

about the Ben Simmons edition I'm not I don't think anybody would be It's a thing And this is something Like me and Rob have talked about Like in passing And that

I mean the entire organization Is the fairerer? But like Is that gonna mean Is it making how much money? Oodles. Oodles and Oodles of money And is doing what exactly?

Not winning. Four and 25 again. Good for him. If you score, they got to pay you. Yep. Right. But you also have to win basketball.

This is so bad. If you score like, I don't know, man, I like that. I like it. Fuck, please these in the motherfuck.

Listen. Like, if you, yeah, yeah, I'm not mad at that. I'm not mad at that. If you,

if you're pocket watching now. With the owner, with the owner, you want some different shit. Hey, hold on other things. I know you, dog.

If you, if you score, they got a pay. It was so, it's so bad in Sacramento that they offered Russ a chance to shoot probably shots of season.

Some of the season. And he was like, no, I'm not going back to sack. I'd rather retire than go back to sack. I'm good. Cool.

That's a basketball Graveyard right there, unfortunately. They don't have any plans of what they, their features look like, people would argue. Such a great fans to assess. Great fans. I mean, you get A Cuff, you have some bonus there. And they have all their picks, too.

Even with all, they have all their picks. What, who's, did they sign up? What's the name? The dude who's been on all the teams, German. Dennis Schroeder. Oh, Schroeder. He's not going to, he's not going to do it. Is that like his fifth stint?

I feel like you played for the king ready. I don't think so. But you, like, legitimately, you look at that team and you go, you can look at pretty much all the other 2019s NBA, but, like, those guys want to win, those guys want to tank, this and this. Look at that team. That's a team that, like, they will tell you,

I mean, every team tells you want to win. But you talk to Vivek, you talk to all these guys, like, yeah, this is all year, man, we're going to do it. And then you look up in January, and it's like, oh, you guys are 14, 15 games below 500. Get ready for a lottery again. Congratulations. And this happens year after year.

after year after year. You have that act? It looks like action now, uh, 2023, right? Where they, uh, three C and we're looking like,

yo man, they turned it around. They did it. Hey, and I will say this, I was, I was, I was at that series,

Sacramento. Oh, yank. Game. Game, those is lighting that being, man, the fans want a winner so bad. And they deserve it.

They deserve it. And if you give them one, they will come out there and support. Yep. They never trade a reeds, though. Who's your villain? Um,

Whoa. Whoa. Wait, hold on. I'm going to say, hold on. Before you get to that, Jason Tatum, you have been writing villains down

and you've been pump faking on the village. A lot of game with. Because I'm trying to be like, I'm trying to be like not emotional. Some of y'all, as I don't like y'all. Say how you feel. Yeah,

do the one's real. Yeah. Damn out of bio. Thank you. Yes. It's, it's nothing but dick riding, though.

I don't like. how you broke the record. I don't like it. And it wasn't even a record. Joe, Joe was very funny about this. Joe was like, it's funny that Kobe's number two.

Now he's number. I don't like that, bro. I don't like, I, how much of your Kobe stand-om is in this? It's 100%. That's all of it. All Kobe standard.

I want you guys to understand the relationship I had with Kobe. Kobe was two years older than me. Also a lot, you know how I knew that, where you go? You know I knew that the Lakers had a big stamp on Louisiana? All I kept seeing from Boosie when I was growing up, like talking about it.

I feel like every time he went to New Orleans or in Louisiana, he was beloved. Why is it? Well, some of it was Shaq. Some of it was Shaq. Like some of it was Shaq. LSU, Shaq leaves Orlando and then goes to the Lakers. Some of it is similar colors. You can have your same color palette

And shit like that Some of them Some omegas Some omegas over there too For me For me The first basketball A basketball game I ever saw

Was in the form Oh wow Yeah So like we were out here We lived here for a couple years So the first basketball game I ever saw was in the form And then later on

It's a lot But for me Kobe is Just a unique athlete for me To ever have followed Because when Kobe's coming out of high school He's not a post player He's a guard.

It seemed like Kobe believed too much in himself. It seemed like he came out and everybody was talking about how good he was, but he wasn't the 7 foot 1, 6, 11, whatever, but he meant that you could see how he was going to dominate the league. He was going to have to figure it out. And then he comes out and he gets there and it seems like he's not at first. And then I watch every dribble Kobe ever takes. I watch him use his athleticism.

yes, but also will himself into one of the best players in the league. I watch it every step. It's a unique connection with him. Anybody who fucking threatens that, you fucking piss me off. Here's a problem, though. So me, the reality is anybody that came along... It's not BAM's fault. It's not BAM's fault.

It is BAM's fault. How the BAM's fault? How the BAM's fault? Because if BAM was out there hitting 17-footers, higher hitting threes, was going crazy on them, on the Wizards, and the game finished like 158, to 1 56, I'd be like, hey, man, you did that thing, brother. Hey, I'm going to be mad about it, but I can't hate.

Okay, you know what? No, no, no, no, no. Man, is supposed to score as many points as he can at the same time. The free throw game, that's garbage, man. I'm supposed to be like, yo, man, stop. Come on, man. I'm supposed to hate it. Come on, man.

I saw him found out. No, I'm hate. No, let's get, no, let's do it. I'm watching. Listen, hold on. I'm watching the fourth quarter, brother. watching for a quarter i'm like okay he might get there then they start the the foulling man the whole team helping the whole team helping them that's that's shameless okay that's not shameless

this goes to mine next one other ones that i was going to do but that's not shamed that's that's that's what i'm talking about this is my villain you've been going crazy this is retailing it's actually right i believe this doesn't even round on my team i'm just gonna i didn't know if i was going to do it just for that thought there's going to be so much hating on the timeline this year with this dude it's just going to be just so much nonsensical back and forth and And roller coaster bullshit. Yeah. A lot of line.

It's going to be a lot of just lying and gloping. And a lot of just hate you. That's my favorite part is the line. That's my favorite part. Because people will be like, people pull out receipts. And then you just lie about it. You just be like, nah, that was a different time. And Lakers Twitter in general, it's going to be you.

It's going to be Ryko. It's going to be this all of you guys. Shout out Ryko. What did Ryko? That's a crazy straight. I'm just saying all of the Lakers. I love Lakers Twitter. I love Lakers.

You know who I also like I like snoddy dripping. You're just snotty? I like him, I like him. I love NBA Twitter. He was Kobe meet me and Temeanor, right? Yeah. But I'm just like, yo, dude, like, just things used to be better, bro. Just be better.

No, I'm not going to be a better man. I'm not going to be a better man. You know, and let's see your villain. Okay, we got time, we got shit. We got to do. Who's your villain? You're my villain. Matt.

Oh, Lakew. Yep. Lake him. Yep. Joe Lakeum. Yep. I mean, we talked about a little bit in the Steph situation. My thing with you is like, how do you, how do you balance, like, loving Steph with

Flander in the void? I feel like it's a delicate balance. That's pretty easy, actually. You go bad, man, stuff's really good, but the team stinks. And so it's sound like Lakers problem. Steve Kerr has two more years, right? He's signed for two more years. Everybody's getting checked.

Everybody's bad. But I'm saying Steph is out into, I'm saying, I'm not. I mean, somebody's got to pick him. But he, uh, Draymond is gone. Do you want to do a package deal? I don't know. Are you, were you going to pick Draymond? I'm going Jason Taylor.

Okay. Do you want to pick Draymond? Just do that as a little thing. Right. Right. Low package deal. A little package deal. Draymond.

Jaymond. I put Draymond up there. Because here's the thing, right? Eventually that team's going to, you know, those guys are all going to get old. It's the same that, uh, clays, they're going to get up.

They're old. You mean like they're eventually going to be out of it. They're eventually going to be out of them. And Joe Lakers will be holding that team. They got that nice, nice arena. Hey, man. And what are they going to have to show for? Valks.

Vox, baby. Vox might have a title this year. That's, uh, no, no, wait, wait, wait, hold on, player. That's not my fifth pick, bro. I still got one more, man. We're just going to put them underneath. We're going to put them underneath. It's a package deal.

That's a Lake Oak Joe McGrath. Really, this is the Warriors hate fest in the sense of they wasted the end years of Kirt on, like, two-time-like stuff. You had the check. Every player gets their end-year-old. And I said that with Curry, but here's the thing, though. you don't normally they don't have another two pick in the draft right to go and get like a lamello or a tyree saliburton instead you pick james wisman how'd that go poorly right and that you could that was a

basketball decision right you can put that on the shoulders of uh bob bob Myers as well but joe lake but joe lake was it that the right draft pick for them though no i mean it wasn't the right draft pick in retrospect but in the moment no well well in the moment They could also trade it. They could have traded it, but in the moment, if you weren't going to trade it, weren't you going to grab somebody in the post being that you were set with the Splash Brothers in the backward? Nah. So you go, so you go get Lamello?

Go get Lamello. I don't know if Lamello. I'm not, I'm a step. You go get Tyrese. That could have been great. Like, Tyrese could have been great. That is a different brand of basketball. Also, we didn't know Tyrese is going to be this.

Right. He, at the, if I recall, at two, it would have been a stretch to draft him. Maybe at, maybe at two. But could have traded it. Maybe you should have traded the pick. Maybe you should have traded the pick. Maybe they tried to have had it both ways. Howard Beck has said you should have traded all of it.

All the young guys, Moody, back your stuff. That's what Beck says. But he's the expert. But it's in a similar vein of the Pat Riley stuff, pre-honest, where, ah, man, trying to get AD. They're always in conversation to trade for another big fish. This is the thing about the warriors and the NBA at large. And this new day and age, you need to be willing and motherfucking dealing around.

Yeah. Yeah, it's the lesson that everyone needs to know, and he did not do that. I'll say something else about just the holding on to the glory day. In 1990, I guess, eight it was. I can't remember when the last Bulls championship. 98. 2010-98, the Chicago Bulls won their last championship. That is a team that featured Dennis Rob and Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen.

And since then, Chicago Bulls have not in any way been a team. when you are in your golden era when you are in the golden era of your franchise and you know it's your golden era and this is clearly the golden era of the warriors right the golden state air the golden state area when you are in that era and you know that you are in it

you squeeze the light out of it and the words of YG brothers said they made me will make another me well you I'm telling you it happens for the legacy franchising yeah but the warriors are not a legacy It is much more difficult to pull off than what you think.

Now, the question is whether or not they even did a good job of that because you can't have it both ways. If it's all about Steph, Dre, and Clay, then you trade everything around them to make sure. But the Bulls cut that off. It was like, hey, let's go, youth movement, Tim Floyd, all of this stuff happening, and then that was it. Yeah.

And they've had, they fluttered with it. You know, they've flirted with it, but it hasn't been back. Also, Brayvon is there because, you know, you know. I want to say this because, you know, he's full. Right. You know, I mean, I'm in various. For like five minutes. No, no.

For like five minutes. You keep saying that. He was, he was ready for Draymond on the mid-level exception. And like 20, 22, 20, 23. No, he was like, young, men, the Mloves to AD, we'll take him off your hands. That's what he was saying. That's not what I said. That's not what I said.

Matter of fact, we're pressed for time. Go ahead. Draymond Green is one of the most valuable players in NBA history. Absolutely. But it's your turn. Who was your, Jason Taylor? I think that'll be good for him. A hot take.

Jason he wants to turn heel I think that'll be good for him Jason Tatum gotta be the villain now Gotta be It's actually a positive well yeah Is it light skin dark skin war? Who? Between him and we're all one dog let's not do that let's not do that No what do you mean?

Him we got three different shades we got all the way a little bit And bleakety bleak okay Okay so so What? Well we got this is what this is the we got the diaspora We were already the higher learning of the ringer NBA feed. Now we're just like,

that is stamped. So what I'm saying is Jason Tatum, bro, if you don't ball out this year, dog, you're going to annoy the shit out of me. All of this shit we've been going through. Because everybody was saying that Jason Tatum was the one, he's the one you always pick. He's the one you always do.

If there was ever a chance to put him up, that's who you pick. Yeah. The Payton Pritcher error begins now. No, I'm just joking. But you're not actually. You might have to. Right.

But I'm saying Jason Tatum, this is his, this is his time. He got to do it. I, for some reason, can't quite get there with Jason Tatum, but this is a season to me that's going to make them. What does he have to say in the press?

What does he have to do for you like you to be impressive? What do you want to see? I don't think. It's such a great question. Yeah. It's just I can't, and maybe I'm not a smart enough basketball guy,

there's something missing. Yeah. It's, there's, I don't know how to articulate it. There's something missing. Yeah. People see it all the time. Like, there's, for whatever reason,

you see, You watch him hoop and you feel like, okay, this is a complete basketball player. He scores. He rebounds. He defends. But to your point, there's a reason he's not in like MVP conversations. Right? He can play on his best days.

Be one of the top five guys to the league. But maybe he's not stringing enough together to the point where we're like, yes, we got a champion of him. Think about it. It comes out two years later. And we're already like, asked the best two guard in the league. Yeah, I think we're already like past that. I think there's also something instead of just like the marketing apparatus around him.

He's not like very interesting. He has all the wins. He has all the accolades. He doesn't have an MVP. But he has all the alcalades. He has the championship. He has a lot of stuff that Ant doesn't have. But Ant has the race.

But Ann's the best. But who's the best American player? You go, eh. In real, like, is it? Is it? And got time on that team USA? Okay, my turn. I think that's my time.

I think that is my turn. I think we just have to discuss it. Adam Silver. I was going to go there. You were going to go there? Adam Silver. Where is that? I'm just,

this is some of the discussion point. Where is Adam Silver in the discourse between you guys? Where do you guys feel Adam Silver is, is it? Adam Silver is like, she's got two wins and like a million losses. And both of his wins have come against the Clippers and the Donald Sterling debacle and the Steve Balmer thing. Outside of that, one of the worst commissioner sports has ever seen. Why? Why?

Why? So he gets the layup, right? in 2014. His first year as commissioner, David Stern, rest of peace, retires. And he comes out and he's like, I talked to David Stewart on the phone.

Really? How was that conversation? Man. So we used to have this system at TMZ to where we could look a phone number. I did not. There are two people that I called. There are two people that I called.

And they were legitimately like, yo. The hell you get to. Yep. One was the owner of the Seattle storm. I called her for, I can't remember which one of, I think it's three ladies that own the team or something like that. And I called,

called somebody for comment on something. And she said no comment, whatever, then she goes, can I ask a question? How in the heck did you get this number? And I was like, oh,

we have a thing that we do. That sounds like what I think the PR person for the Seattle, Seattle store. No, this was one of the owners of the store. Yeah, that's that exactly what I mean. And so during this entire thing,

like the entire, Donald Sterling thing, which TMZ was on the forefront of, like the forefront of, we broke it. Yeah. Looking for David Stern, looking to talk to David Stern. And I use the service and I see a number. I call David Stern. He answers the phone. Like he's on the other end of the phone.

Hey, Ms. Van Leithen from TMZ, blah, blah, blah. It's like, whoa, wait, what? How'd you get this number? And I'm like, well, we have a service that we use a bomb a lot. He was like, oh, okay. He's like, all right, what do you want? Yeah. And I was like, well, I was wondering what you thought about Adam Silver and he talked to me.

He goes, I'm not going to give you a comment. Right. Because there's a new commissioner and this commissioner is fully empowered to handle this. He's a great guy for the job. And he gave this like glowing statement about Adam Silver. Talked about how Adam Silver get it done and all of this stuff. But he's like, you can't use any of that. Right.

Because I'm not talking to you. But he just said. But he gave you a compliment. But he gave me, I think it was maybe like two or three minutes of it. And then after I said that, they were like, type it up, let's run it. I was like, no. He said that he wanted to call, call him on the phone. He talked.

It was like at his house, like a landline. That's crazy. Yeah. Would name like something that Adam Silver is done that played the league better since he's been made money. Made money for the, for the owner. That's who he works for. Literally his job. Yes.

And you know what I mean. So like, I'm not, I'm not, I'm just being for real. Like what do you, what do you gauge as, as a, what would a good owner do? Like, Roger Good owner is the comp, right? Right. Like, what would a good owner do? What would a good, not owner? What would a good commissioner do?

Good owner would, like the opposite of Kathy Engelper. A good commissioner, not owner. Commissioner, good commissioner. What a good commissioner do? A good commissioner. He stirred them through a pandemic. The bubble is a, the bubble is a gigantic achievement. I'm not caping for.

You guys are absolutely saying like worse in history? I'm asking you what makes him so bad. Actually, my mind of it might be true. Gary Batman is also terrible. Oh, that motherfucker is the poster child. Gary Batman's bad. For bad commissioners. I would argue that the MLS commissioner is also terrible.

Man. Roger Goodell is also awful. But who's made his bosses a ton of money? Roger Goodell. That's true. I mean, but I'm not capable for that. I'm talking about my game basketball. Okay, so what's the metric, though?

The math for me is that in the 30 years that David Stern was the commissioner of the league, grew, I know it's like it's different errors. He grew the game, you know, what do you call it? Can't believe I'm blanking on the word. Expansion. Yeah. Right. Right.

Like, he lost. Move teams from Vancouver to Memphis. I'll say he lost this. He lost the son. Moved Charlotte to New Orleans. And all that stuff. But legitimately, when I'm like, the NBA Cup. is a cool, it's like,

like, if that's your big idea. You don't like some of the, some of the, I don't like, I don't like, I don't like a lot of stuff. And some of the stuff. You're talking about as a fan, as a fan, like,

and as a fan, like, and this is like really stupid and really silly, but logos, the NBA logos used to be different. Yeah. Right. Now, if you want to redesign your logo,

it has to be a circle because he wants it like soccer five. Yeah. Right. Everything is optimized. Everything is optimized, not for the fans. The answer of the decision.

Yeah. Okay. It's for, it's because of branding. It's for money. The owners are making all the money. The owners are looking at this like, yeah, Adam Silver, he's been great for us.

But for the fans, when you guys think about the game over the last 12 years, has the game improved? It's become more optimized. All of these criticisms or criticisms of late-stage capitalism. Maybe. Yeah. But he's the post-trial for that.

So I don't know what you guys want me to say other than like, I'm watching the games, I love, I love basketball. Basketball is my first sports love. I love the Lakers. I love basketball. This is my everything. Right. And when I look at the, and I know I'm going to sound really, oh man, when I say this, no, I just turned 30, but this is a real old man stuff right now. It's not my game anymore, brother. It's not, it's not for the love of the game. It's all about the bread now. And I think that's that, he's part of that. He's part of that. Yeah, sure and yeah. Oh, one more. I got my last one.

Oh, man. I was getting... You're going to end it on one. Does the CBA count as Adam Silver? Yeah, but that's not him. That's actually, you know, that was a great negotiation. Yeah. Oh, in that case, they're actually...

Yeah, right. Dejia McCollum. Wow. Wow. Seed McCollum, what you did to my league in defensively. He was the... Was the one of the NBA Players Association when the new CBA was ratified and what you've done to my league.

which is like the CBA for teams like talk about what happened to Boston right they win the championship in 2023 you got to disperse the whole team because the tax bill is too high you can't play those guys under the new CBA same thing happened with Denver right it's going to happen to OKC at some point sooner actually okayC might be fine and the spurs in the future

it'll come for everybody essentially you build a good a good team you can't even build teams any more the way you used to. And I will add to that. Basically, like, crunch the numbers, so, like, it's hard for players now to get.

Like, he kind of just, he messed it up for both, like, teams and players at the same extent. The middle class is squeeze now. Squeeze. These are restricted free agents used to get braced. Hard. Tough.

Jalen Dern, I'm sorry, brother. It's not, it's not happening for you. It's not if you, but dog, either take the money, actually, Phil and Dern. While I got a second,

brother, how you doing? man like you good everything's good take the money take the money because that 9.6 you're going to play on this year brother it's not worth it to go to sacramento no less brother take the back but part of that is the cba and where it's that and it's not actually cj mccullin's fault but like he is the child for that so but at the end of the day man you look at the league and how it's built people like say parody is good for the league no it's not dominant every every league has gotten bigger and better because the team starts winning.

We start hating and then it just cycles over and over again. This one, like what, since 2019, a new team was won every year. That's fun. Everybody feels like they got a chance, but the end of the day, that's not growing the game. And so they need to figure that out. Sorry, you have to wear a CJ. They need to figure out how to consolidate talent and power to a couple of different franchises. Just the Lakers, real.

That's all of my life. Yo, man. It's been a pleasure, man. You know, I love you guys, man. Thank you guys so much. gentlemen, Adoneron. That is the

Van Lathen. And this is the beginning of real ones. 2026, 27th season. We have a whole bunch of programming

coming your way in the coming weeks. And then me, Raja, and Howard fucking Beck. We're going to take the reins and

hold it down. It's going to be a great season. Thank you all so much. Holla. Peace. Bye. Yeah.