The Ringer NBA Show - 'Sources Say' Summer Special: Pelinka's Power, Kyrie Rumors, and Sports Dad LeBron (Ep. 135)

Episode Date: August 3, 2017

The Ringer's Chris Ryan and Juliet Litman discuss the ridiculously wild NBA summer, including CP3's trade (4:00), Rob Pelinka's press conference parables (11:00), LeBron's interesting summer (21:30), Kyrie's personality (24:00), and what's going on with the Banana Boat crew (29:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We want to say something. Yeah. We're here. And love that. You feel me? We're back in the building. We're back, baby. It's time for sources say on the ringer NBA show.

I'm Juliet Litman. I'm managing editor of the ringer. I'm Chris Ryan. And I'm just a fan of Juliet. Shut up. Well, if that's the case, I hope you're listening to Bachelor Party into Jam session. Of course I am. And House of Carps.

Yeah. This is my one true love, NBA gossip. I love discussing it with you, Chris. Thank you. It's your OTP. This is my OTP. This is my OTP. This has been an unprecedented summer for sources and for NBA gossip.

No off season. There's been no off season. We thought that we would get to July, like, 8th, and we'd be like, oh, we're going to go to Vegas for Summer League now. It's all wrapped up. Just go chill. No, that's not what happened. This has been the interminable NBA season, and you want to know what? I'm loving it.

Yeah. It's good for my soul. I love the NBA. Every major character in our soap opera has been. been involved in some way. No one's safe. No one's safe. We're going to get into some really meaty stories and like some real like personal passions.

I can't wait to discuss mine. But like what for you was like the highest source moment of, and not even like the best source, but like what was the most ridiculous like sources say? Yeah, I want to go back to the beginning. Oh. And I want to self-depth. Okay. When I willed Chris Paul to Houston with my own brain.

You did. Like the main character of Legion. I haven't watched. that show, but I believe you. You wrote a piece for the ringer.com. That was like, was like Chris Paul conspiracy. And you were, you, you heard Darrell Mory say, we've got a plan. Yeah, it was an exact piece.

Like, Darrell had said that, like, the Warriors are going to make us raise our risk profile or something VC-ish like that. And I was just like, this seems just too weird. And, you know, there's this thing in television and movies now where, like, you'll be like, I really wish the show would come back. And it's just like, if you, it seems like. if you just wish things hard enough, they happen. If you were just like, I want George Clooney and Julianne Marguerese

to come back and do the Carol and Doug show. That sounds great. I bet you can make it happen with your brain because anything is possible. I'm Tony Robbinsing this. That's true. That's kind of like how I got to meet Chandler Parsons. Exactly. I just made it happen.

And now you guys are friends. Now we're friends. Shout to Chandler. Hope his rehab's going well. Not a lot of rumors coming out of Memphis. I just want to say. No. Pretty quiet.

Which is surprised because in other slower summers, Robert Perra wearing like a full arm sleeve and playing pickup against guys who were recovering from injuries

would have been like a big story. Did that happen? A couple years ago. Tate did not happen once? Yes, that did happen. I thought it happened this summer. Wasn't he like making Tony Allen play him like with one arm tie

behind his back or something? Yes, he did. So that used to be like summer stock, you know? And now it starts with Chris Paul engineering his own trade to Houston. And then no sources on Paul George being traded to Oklahoma City. Like a real G.

That was a wild one because there were so much chatter around Paul George and Oklahoma City was never on the table. I keep forgetting Paul George went there because it almost wasn't a story. I know. And then all these guys and they're all like, like, what's Danny ain't you going to do? What's Danny going to do? All these assets. What's the big move? How does he get big three team USA guys on the same team?

It's just like, no, man, Presti came through. Seriously. All it took was Oladipo. All it took was Depot. Two notes on that. A, personal anecdote, went out for a lovely dinner by myself last week, was having, I was reading my book. Once you shout out to get your favorite restaurant, you can shut out.

Maybe you'd get sponsored by them. I was at True Food Kitchen in Santa Monica. Did you have the turkey wrap? No, I had fish tacos. Did you have the kale and avocado dip that's got great food in it? I was so loud, so I couldn't go for an app and a main. But I did go for fish tacos, which is what someone. and two seats overordered.

And that person was Andre Robertson with his teammate, Stephen Adams. They were just having dinner literally next to me. I was elbow to elbow with them. And I was like pretending to read my book because I was trying to play it cool and like seem cool. Unfortunately, I couldn't really hear what they were talking about, fortunately for them. But then I did introduce myself at the end, like a real loser. And I was like, hey, I'm big fan.

And they didn't believe me. They were like, I was like, I'm a big thunder fan. They're like, you are? They didn't believe you? Did you tell them what they mean to us at the ringer? I was like, yeah, I love basketball. I cover it for a website. The single most divisive player in the history of Internet?

I wasn't like we ride or die for Russ except for one person here. But it was exciting. So that's my personal anecdote related to that. But the thing is, this has been a summer of both of us, but for the most part, you, being in the orbit. Like, L.A. has become, like, the gathering. It's the burning man of the NBA. Yeah, it's true. And everybody comes here.

And then also, like, just like, the West in general. I would say, like, you know. Yeah. Shout out to Sam Shepard, the True West. It's true. One other thing related to that, like, Presti thing, though, is, like, it's so funny. That's, like, that's probably the biggest move of the off season. I think that's, I think Paul George going to Oklahoma City is bigger.

It's also the most unconventional one because we talk all the time about, like, what's your five-year plan, bro? What are you going to do in 2020? And he's just like, let's just see what we could do here. My Presti stock was already high with me based on how he dresses, which is very similar to the many men I work with. and I like him even more now. I think it's a cool. I think it's like very like bold, dope move, and I like it. Yeah.

But all this is to say, that's the biggest move of the summer, in my opinion, bigger than Chris Paul. And like, just so infinitely more important than Gordon Hayward ruining everyone on July 4th by taking forever to sign with the Boston Celtics, which is like the grand inevitability. Because he was fixing his player's tribune piece. Yes, because he was not done with doing edits. Yeah, exactly, going through notes. To me, that was kind of the biggest source moment of the summer. The sort of, you know, shout out to Krisby Haynes and his Hulk Hogan memes. That was great.

Even though people were doubting him. It's been the summer of Shams. So, yeah, seriously, the summer of Shams. Shout out to Shams, Chirarnia. I don't know how to say it correctly. I'm sorry, Shams. Shout out to Shams. Yeah, it's just been like, that was so wild and it feels so long ago.

I mean, it was technically one month ago now. But, I mean, today's August 3rd. But yeah, it's just been like a, it's been wild to watch us unfold. And we did go to Summer League for 30 hours. 30 hours in Vegas is all I need. Perhaps even a tad too long. It was awesome. I was there for literally 24 hours and it was the perfect experience in Vegas.

And it was really, you know, I don't want to sound like too like Pollyannish about it. But it was kind of cool to see the energy around the NBA because we went to the Lakers Celtics game with Alonzo. And it was like 18,000 people and it was packed. And, you know, I think. this is probably as good a time of any to lead into the Lakers. Yes, I was happy. Becoming a personal project for you. Just the vibe around what is essentially like a meaningless exhibition game

that was mostly focused on Kyle Kuzma. Yes. Became this like a rock concert. And it was really awesome. It was like watching Lonzo versus Tatum. It was sold out, 17,000 people capacity at the Thomas and Mac Center. Did you say 17 million people? I said 17.

I may have. I meant to say 17,000. felt like $17 million. The passion for Alonzo is so strong. Side note about that also. We went on Saturday morning. The Friday night before, Lonzo had been playing.

LeVar Ball was at that game on Friday evening. And then we get to the airport, like 10 o'clock on Saturday morning. Burbank Airport, which is the goat airport of the Los Angeles, Southern California area. And he's on our flight. Yeah.

Like he had just come back for like something in L.A. To shoot a Facebook video with Kevin Hart. I think we figured that out. Yes. He was shooting something with Kevin Hart. And then he was on our flight back to Vegas. He was commuting this summer. You know who else was on that flight?

Who else? Shirley Manson from garbage. Yeah. I just want to say LeVar had like two people with him. He was wearing triple B slides and a triple B shirt, duh, taking pictures with anyone who asked. And I don't know, like there's just a lot of energy around the Lakers, obviously because of Lanzo. And also Kyle Kuzma in my mind is doing a lot for the full body tattoo look. I just think he wears it well.

So what's his tattoo? Is it like a mural? Or is it like one, like he has a bird that goes from the top to the bottom? No, he's just got a lot of them. Yeah. It's just a full constellation. Whereas Kevin Durant has hid his. Yes, that was a big revelation.

In a different era, that would have been like nothing. But that was like a big revelation that Kevin Durant had always in like a Jersey formation basically. Anyway, a lot of energy around the Lakers. And for me, the center of gravity is with her GM. One of my favorite things about Juliet is that she. has her passions and that she finds these characters and she sticks with them she's incredibly loyal I am so among those people include Chandler Parsons yeah Clay Thompson Clay Thompson I'm like I'm seriously forgetting his name the coach of the Nuggets because it's so it's so ridiculous

wherever I stand I stand with Mike Malone is it anything beyond that do you just like the way that sounds and you so you say it once every two weeks or do you actually like Mike Malone I thought that his 11 game stint in 2014 or 15? In charge of the Kings? In charge of the Kings was really... When they were like six and five? Yes, it was really positive. And then Boogie got hurt and he got fired or something?

It was really, yes, that's exactly what happened. I thought that was really positive. I just saw a lot in him. I don't know if Nick Stauskis would have been tortured for a full season. He'd been there. But now you have a new passion. The fifth member of my squad is the one and only Rob Polinka. Rob Polika might have had...

There was a lot of huge, huge stories. A lot of things happened. But the best moment might have been Rob Polinka introducing Cantavius Caldwell Pope at his introductory Lakers press conference. Let's run the clip. I guess I'll start, as I often do with the story. I think I would venture to guess there's people in the room that are familiar with the stories in the book of Genesis. where there was a time when the Israelites were wandering in the desert

and all of a sudden bread came down from heaven. That's kind of what today feels like for us to have KCP join. Okay. So Mike Malone is a little bit opaque. That's a little hard to understand why you're so into him. Can you tell me what's so cool about Rob Polinka aside from his kind of loose grasp of biblical narratives? Yes, as noted in the ringer office afterwards, the story he tells actually from the book of Exodus, not Genesis, but that's okay, Rob. That's fine. You can go back and study to any point.

La Hym. Le Hym. I love the way Rob speaks. He just speaks with so much confidence, the man who's been making millions off of people like Kobe Bryant and James Hardin. He was on the Fab Five, which I also just feel like is really important to understand. He's in the Fab Five doc. Yes. He's boys without friend of the ringer, Jalen Rose. He speaks with so much command and so much confidence that he just like, I just feel like he invented this, the secret. Like he will will will things into happening. And I just feel like the energy around the Lakers is so much more positive.

If nothing else this summer, he's made people be like, yeah, the Lakers. And like, while they won't make the playoffs, there's so much excitement. And of course, that's from magic too. And you can't, like, not give ones a ball of credit. But I just feel like Rob's already cultivating like some kind of new culture around them, which he's saying he wants to do explicitly. but he's made like a bunch of small moves and parlayed them into like this is the start of something new

that I just really admire plus he also dresses like Sam Presti and the men of the ringer which is really funny and it looks like Roblo and he looks like Roblo the interesting thing about him is that if you thought about magic

coming in for Jimmy Bus taking over the sort of being in charge of basketball ops or whatever being the president of team with Jeannie and then you know Luke who is this protege of Steve Kerr and has this offense, this ball movement offense, and has like the baby warriors thing going.

It was kind of like what's Rob going to do, right? I mean, obviously he would probably do a lot of the day-to-day stuff. Magic's got a lot of things going on. But for Rob to catapult himself into such like a charismatic role with this team is basically being the spokesperson for the team despite Magic Johnson being. That's a lot. And it's funny.

And also they're together a lot, and they're for themselves as partners. And Magic usually starts off any press conference with like his introductory statement. And then he'll be like, and I want to, now I wanted to turn it over to my partner, Rob. Like he's always like my partner Rob. Yeah. And Rob calls him Irvin. I love seeing Magic interact with other basketball people because who calls him Irvin versus who calls him Magic is just so fascinating.

And obviously there's like a certain level of trust they have there. And another thing that's just been fascinating is someone who grew up firmly in like the Kobe era is I now feel like I understand Kobe better. and when Kobe gives his long speeches and speaks in his hushed voice to explain the muse cage, I'm like, oh, you're parroting Rob. Like, this is where you learned it. And he doesn't do it. Interesting. It doesn't do it as well.

I think that, you know, when we were at Summer League, we saw a bunch of GMs. We saw a lot of, like, a lot of, like, agents and a lot of, like, hangers on to the basketball. Blown away by Sean Marks. Just blown away. We can get to Sean. But you always hear people in any profession talk about how they just want to feel wanted. And you want to be made to feel important, which is like a really natural human desire. When you watch Rob Polinka at this KCP press conference, like KCP is fine.

He's good. Rob Polinka makes him sound like Oscar fucking Robertson. Yeah, it's like they've, it's like they have signed a top five player. Yeah, and it's just like the revolution starts now. KCP is like rushing the barricades in Leib Miz. Yeah. And you are just like, what the hell are you talking about?

This is a guy that Stan Van Gundy essentially was like, I don't want you back. I can't deal with you. Yeah. It's incredible. And they are like, he is going to be the focal point of like what we want to do defensively. And it's like, it is a gift from God that we got KCP on the Lakers.

Yeah. I mean, another, like, one of the things that's so funny is like we're focusing so much on this KCP moment, that speaks to how they've already kind of like neutralized the Lonzo buzz as a part of their team. It's almost like the ball family as a star is almost separate from the Lakers at this point. And I think part of that is because Rob and Magic don't let it become an issue. When they had the press conference introducing their rookies, most notably Lonzo, they just Rob told the really long story about going to see LeVar coach the AAU team and spending time

with their family. And he just kind of made them seem like very regular and sort of like a regular basketball family and it's almost like I think it's because he's an agent. Well, that's what I was going to say. He has so much experience with these types of characters. Yes. So when you talk about like a personality facelift for a team or whatever, like there were stories I think about how during free agency in years past, like Mitch Cupchak would like literally wait until like the

legally allowed time that you were allowed to be like the Lakers or would like to call you. 12.01 a.m. and collect call from. Guys were like, yeah, this has sort of been in motion. You know, it's like, who's the first person Rob Polinka talked about during the KCP press conference? The first person he thanked was Rich Paul. Yes. Who is the head of Clutch and LeBron James' agent as well as Eric Bloodsoe and John Wall.

And he was like, hmm, hmm, he also was like, thanks to Rich and Farah, they really understand salary cap negotiations. Rich texted me and said, I see. what you and Magic are doing, how you're handling your cap space. And I think it's really interesting. They get it. Yeah. Let's play that clip too. I'll tell Magic, as Magic said too, I think Rich Paul and Farah from Clutch are here today.

And I think just their understanding of sort of the free agent market and cap space and all of the things that come into play when Rich texted me and said, hey, I see you and Magic have been really, really careful with your space. you're being very patient, let's talk. It was like, you know, a lightning bolt hit us. And we said, gosh, this has to be our focus. We got to find a way. So I want to thank Rich, his partner, Mark Termini, and Farrah for your guys' efforts and making this happen too. So the big thing that we're going to be here next year talking about is like,

who are the Lakers getting? Yeah, absolutely. And whether it's LeBron. And Rob is working on that right now. Or Paul George or some full house of clutch assets. I just think that that is inevitable. I don't necessarily buy, and you know what, like, I'm kind of like ambivalent about whether or not, like,

the NBA should be dominated by big market teams. And I obviously, like, have a lot of sympathy for teams that are sort of in middle market, mid-sized media markets or even small media markets, being able to sustain themselves. Philadelphia is in some ways one of them because basketball is not super popular in Philly. Like, it's just nowhere near as popular as the Eagles. Mm-hmm. But the NBA is definitely more exciting when the Lakers are good.

And it's definitely more excited when the Knicks are good. And probably would be, too, if the Bulls were good. It's like when you think about all the sleeping giants in the NBA, it's kind of wild how popular it is. I know. Also, like, even a team that's, like, much smaller but has been relevant. Another pet interest of mine is, like, it was fun when Miami was, like, chasing the playoffs at the end of the regular season.

Like, it is good for casual fans to have, like, these teams to grab me to George. Which is no disrespect to, like, Indiana or Utah or whatever. but there are certain legacy teams in the NBA, the same way that people want to see the Steelers, the Cowboys, the Cowboys, the Yankees. They want to see the Bulls, the Lakers, and the Nicks. Yeah. I do.

I do as well. So Rich Paul's biggest client is LeBron James. Yes, I've heard of him. And before we go, LeBron's had like an interesting summer. A lot of ups and downs for him. To say the least. So I think that they, Cavs had obviously been in play for Jimmy Butler. One of the rumors was that the calves told Jimmy Butler don't go to Cleveland.

Like, Cavs play at LeBron and Kevin. Kyrie and others were like don't come here. That, yeah. I think ultimately, I just don't even know what to believe anymore. Well, I want to go back to that one, actually. I'm just starting to connect the dots right now myself. One of the rumors about Kyrie, so obviously if you're listening to this podcast, I assume you know Kyrie has requested to be traded.

And one of his, allegedly one of his targets is Minnesota. And that comes, like, that came out a couple weeks after we heard that Jimmy Butler was told don't come to the Cavs. So it's stand. And if you go back to the summer of 2016 and you watch some tape of Team USA hanging out on the tour bus in Rio, you can see Jimmy and Kyrie singing Vanessa Carlton together. So it stands to reason that maybe one of the reasons Jimmy Butler didn't want to go to the Cavs and would not resign there because he knew his palis Cairo was leaving. Yeah. I mean, I think that it's so hard to tell now also like what teams are actually offering.

And Palo wrote a really cool piece for the ringer about like these like new untouchables. and in all the Kyrie rumors, it'll be like, Kyrie to Denver, but Denver doesn't want to give up Gary Harris. Is Gary Harris good? Well, that's the thing. It's like these superstar trades are creating really out of whack trade markets. Because, like, nobody wants Kevin Love, but the Nuggets won't deal Gary Harris. Like, you know what I mean?

Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. Yeah, so it's just like this. And, you know, Devin Booker, who's like, really good. Yeah. Also, like, would you make Devin Booker? Would you trade Devin Book for Kyrie Irving? If you could. I think Devin Booker is coastbound, if he doesn't stay in Phoenix his whole career.

Well, how come? I just think he just wants to be famous. I think he like, I think him, to me, the two young guys who were like, yes, put me on your magazine. Booker and Janus for sure. I feel like dudes really like are like playing in Phoenix, though. Yeah, I could see him staying there. Like if he was like a career or Phoenix player. Because you can get to L.A. pretty easily.

Good weather. Yeah. There's just like, I think there's like a party scene there. It's like not. A lot of clubs. Yeah. Right. Although you would say that, you would say that about Orlando too.

It's good weather, a lot of clubs, right? I mean... I don't know. I don't think people... I don't think it's the same. I think the desert heat is more appealing than like the swamp of Orlando. That's an interesting point. Like, I just think that people...

Listeners hit us up. What do you like more? Arizona or Florida. That's like, that's really an impossible choice for me, personally. Because you don't like either? Yeah, it's not really my scene. You don't like Miami? I like Miami.

That's number five in my list of cities willing to live in. Oh. partially because I love the heat so much. Can I guess the others? Sure. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago. No. Cities that you're willing to live in globally?

Yeah. Oh, New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Miami? London's on the list. Too much rain. I've had to eliminate it. I thought London was your spiritual homeland. No, it's Portugal and Paris is number three. Number four is Seattle.

Also a lot of rain, but a really good summer. Going through a really bad heat wave. Yes, I know. I'm aware. Thanks. Back to this podcast. Devin Booker, I think, just really wants to be a star. So I think that he, like, can shoot, like, Steph Curry and is more charismatic like Kyrie.

One thing about Kyrie that I just feel like we haven't really been able to access, and I would like for him to be the one, is, like, aside from his bullshit take about the flat, the earth being flat. And aliens being real. Those are alarming thoughts. Kyrie is, like, definitely a friggin subreddit come to life. Yeah. I would love if he was, like, a Reddit.

A reddit. I think he's smart. One thing that I have like a, I had like, and we've kicked this around a little bit on the site, but the possibility that Kyrie at any given moment might pop up and just be like this was actually all just like a thought experiment for the lame stream media and like how you guys will believe anything you see. You know, so we obviously like Kyrie, the Kyrie story is inextricably linked with LeBron. Yeah. And LeBron's had this interesting summer. Before we go forward with talking about LeBron summer, let's talk about LeBron's week. Okay.

And the Captain Morgan moment of the week. And that is LeBron James Sportsdad. It's LeBron James Sports Dad. It's actually the second incident of LeBron James Sports Dad this summer. But there's video on YouTube, then picked up by TMZ of him at Bron. Great sourcing. Great way to Dap YouTube. Thanks.

It's my favorite website. LeBron was at his son's AAU game. By the way, the real story of the summer is AAU. Like a million people watching Lamello versus Zion. Yeah. So Brony Jr. was playing. I forgot the name of his team. And LeBron is like on the sidelines with Savannah.

And I think Bryce is there, but I didn't see Zuri. And he's just like yelling at the at the 12-year-olds. He's like using expletives. Like he's like and he was like sit up. He was like, what do you say? Is it getting that ass? Getting that ass. Like a bicycle without a seat.

That's what he said. And we know LeBron likes to bike from his days in Miami when he used to bike to the stadium to the arena. That's inappropriate for 12th. That's like Will Ferrell character at a at a sports match. I'm into it. I like when athletes lose their cool.

LeBron is such a controlled image. He's always like, look at me, I'm listening to this song, I'm drinking rosé, you know, like I'm getting motivated. Zero Dark, 23, 30. It's cool to see him just be like, I'm a dad, I can't control my emotions. Right. And so then imagine what he was like with Kyrie on team. I know.

I will say right after the finals, after they lost, after they had lost for his younger son, Bryce's birthday. They had a big blowout, like, a field day, or they played all these games. And LeBron is so competitive that he couldn't even let, like, the 10-year-olds, like, throw a water balloon at him. He was just, like, attacking him with water balloons and, like, won all of the field games. It was amazing. LeBron James, Sports Dad, that's our Captain Morgan's moment of the week, no matter how

you live like a captain. Captain Morgan reminds you to please drink responsibly. That's Captain's orders. You got it, Captain. Cool stuff. Also, Sports Dad, interesting to me, is that... I'm very closely following the sports careers of the banana boat second gen. Who's the best player?

I've heard that Kayan Anthony is the best banana boat second gen player. I have a hard time believing LeBron can accept that. I wanted to ask, this is something, this is a pot exclusive in the sense that we have not personally talked about this. State, play an air horn. What is the state of Carmel Anthony's relationship to the other banana boat guys and also. Furthermore, the spouses and significant others of the other banana boat guys, because I was wondering if all the drama coming out of Carmelo cheating on Lala affected his relationship to say Savannah or Gabby Union or what have you. Yes. Great question, Chris.

Thanks for asking. No banana boat vacation this summer. I can only assume. Jimmy Butler, when he found out he was traded to Minnesota, was playing spades with Gabrielle Union, Dwayne Wade. And Mello. And mellow. So there is still some interaction. Sure.

So that was draft night. So that was June 22nd. I just think they can't hang out as a group. It's kind of like, did you have you ever had a big group of friends? And there's been a breakup within it. I've never had a big group of friends. You know when there's a breakup, you have to like choose sides. Yeah, sure, of course.

I think that's what happened here because Lala is legit good friends with Gabrielle Union and Jada Paul and Savannah Brinson. Like, that's real. So it like, it ruins the. The group. Yeah. It's tough. Are Lala and Mello done? Because she went on Wendy Williams and she was just like, he wants to get back with

you and he's like, he should. He wants to get back through. The rumor completely unconfirms that he impregnated the woman in Chicago. So I would assume that would make it hard for Lala to just go back to the way they were. No athlete in pro sports history has ever gotten someone pregnant that they didn't mean to. Well, at least not. Well, yeah, I can't go there without getting in trouble. So to answer your question, there's been a lot of kind of one-on-one or like with the kids.

Yeah, different combos. Yeah. So part of it is of the Panada Boat group, I think the closest friendship is between Savannah Brunson James and Jada and Jada Paul. Okay. I forget her. I made a name. Those two are really, really good friends. So Chris Paul's kids were at Bryce, Chris Paul's son, Chris Jr. was at Bryce's birthday,

and then out here in L.A., the James' and the Anthony's. went to like a trampoline park in the valley. Oh. And there's like a lot. I think Greenwald went there. Oh, cool. Maybe his kids can get in the mix too. Yeah.

Maybe Andy Greenwald should join banana boat. That'd be hilarious. He'd be like the skipper. I mean, he'd be like the Gilligan of the group. So there's a lot, they're still hanging, but they just can't hang as the group is kind of the conclusion. But I also just think it's a weird offseason for LeBron. I think it's just been like all this drama. And then he like obviously is just doing.

his weird passive aggressive Instagrams and whatnot. I will say I'm going to like stake out the beach because Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade are staying in Malibu and they're just going to go to the beach for a couple weeks. Limit number of homes they could be in, you know? The LeBron thing that has been definitely a big talking point over the last couple of weeks is whether or not LeBron is getting his due respect. So whether or not Steph is mocking him, whether or not Katie is mocking him.

Katie didn't really mock him as much as he just kind of gave a sort of bratty answer to a question. What was the question? Somebody asked Kevin, like, something about LeBron, and Kevin was like, I'm not thinking about that. I don't think about him. He's a good basketball player, but, like, I'm not trying to, like, worry about him. I think...

Do you think Steph Curry likes LeBron? I do. I think so, too. Of all the times, like, somebody does something, and then they kind of, like, not get caught, but, like, it turns into, like, a viral moment, and they have to, like, walk it back a little bit. Steph's explanation for, like, what happened,

so Steph got, was filmed at... Which wedding was it? We can wrap things up with weddings because I know this is a number. He was at Harrison Barnes's wedding. Which also is just like. Hashtag HB-E-E-2017, HB-2017, H-B-2017. And so he was there and what's the song LeBron likes dancing to? It's, T-T, what's that called?

It's like a T-shirt thing. It's T-Grisley. Okay, so. Tea Grizzly. And so LeBron always, like, does dances to it in his Instagram stories. And I guess, Steph, people thought were mocking LeBron. Right. In mocking, like, his workout videos or something.

And Steph was asked about it, and he was just like, Didn't mean any disrespect by it. Honestly, I just associate LeBron with that song. I do that dance all the time. Like, it just gets me fired up. And it would be kind of like the equivalent of being like, this is the dance I do because I watch the music video all the time. And whenever the song comes on, I like imitate the music video.

Yeah, it's like doing the soldier boy or the dougie. Yeah, exactly. When I do the dougie, am I making fun of John Wall? No. I'm celebrating John Wall. No, exactly. But Steph's explanation for it was really, really reasonable. And I feel like, weirdly, it's.

been like a good summer for Steph. I was going to say great summer for Steph. I am not a, I'm a Steph hater. I'm not anymore. I like him, I guess. But great summer for Steph. Made fun of China Clay. Yeah. I mean, China Clay. We could just do a whole other podcast on that. She's at me if you want to discuss it. He did, he made fun of China Clay. He was, went to a house party after HB's wedding and like spilled, spilled beer all over his shirt. Yeah. He is like playing golf. Didn't go to Vegas. Didn't go to Vegas on the Warriors trip. I think people were like, that's whack. And now By people, do you mean me? But I also think that that's like, do you, man.

Don't pretend like, Kevin Durant was like, I signed with Golden State because I wanted to have a cool vacation in Vegas. I know that I'm maturing because I used to make fun of Steph for being so, like, attached to his wife. But now I'm just like, yeah, you're a family guy and you're putting your family first and I support you. Yeah. And that's what, and he's been like having a good time. He went. Oh, this is a hot topic I want to talk about. He's golfing today.

He's golfing today. He's playing golf because he can. One thing that I feel like Steph, he's like, I won two championships. My ankles can't hold me back. I'm really worried he's going to have an ankle injury I'm hoping I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. They are doing injury. How do you feel about Draymond's somewhere? He's been very visible.

He was really big in Miami for the L. Classico. Yes, and he's just been photographed with a lot of non-basket players. Spent a lot of time with Drake. Spent a lot of time. Yeah, he's with Drake. With Namar. There's a new court case against him. Namar then upended the soccer world after hanging out with Draymond. I'm not saying I blame Draymond for it.

But you're not saying you don't? Well, I just think that There is like, player power is like a thing, the cross sports. And I think that guys like see other guys do things and they're like, you know, you can do what you want. You can go to the team you want. You can go play where you want. Nike's got your back. I like Jarmond. Although I don't know, there's new like assault case coming against him, which is a little weird.

Can we talk about one of the things related to Steph Curry? He's gone on a lot of trips this summer. He's been, he went to Hawaii with his family. Then he went on a sibling trip to Turks and Caicos. So it was him. Seth. It was Sibs and Sigs. So it was Steph, his sister, Sidel, and her boyfriend, his wife, Aisha.

Yeah. His brother, Seth. Yes. And Seth's girlfriend. Cali Rivers. Doc Rivers' daughter. Yes. Ex-girlfriend of Kyrie Irving.

And Paul George. And is it allegedly Tate object of Draymond Green's mockery during Clippers' Warriors games? Like Drayman would. She also got the call up to attend. the Curry Brothers Tour Asia trip. Interesting. With Under Armour. So a lot of Cali this summer

and I just want to say I got into the NBA gossip business because of Cali so I'm glad she's back. The gossip business? Yes. That's a big one that's not really being discussed. It's also not confirmed but it was a Sibs and Sigs and Significant Others trip. She was there with Seth per the pictures. I don't know.

That's a big union. Big deal. Yeah. Particularly because the Clippers and the Warriors used to have a feud, but now the Warriors... Do you think Chris Paul was at the center of that? Who's the... I got the impression that Blake didn't like Draymond. I'm sure that's true.

And then, is Steph still with State Farm, by the way? I don't know. Because there was a minute when Steph... It was like 2014-15 right before they won the championship. Do you think that there's insurance beef between teams? I think there might be, because remember the commercial that was... Chris Paul was in DeAndre and, yeah. And Steph's never in the commercials of their guys, right?

There was the Chris Paul, Dame Lillard, Steph Curry, Swin-Cat. I think it was Swin Cat. Oh, yeah, with all the twins, right? Yes. And I don't think we've seen Steph in a state farm commercial ever since. I can't. I don't know. I can't confirm.

I had you saying. So there's that. But, yeah, that's probably one of my favorite summer developments. And your other favorite summer development has been the NBA nuptials. Yes, the NBA nuptials. You wrote a great piece for the ringer.com. You're sort of the Zadie Smith of NBA weddings. That's the nice thing you could possibly say to me.

Yeah, one night we had H. HB and his bride, and we also had Trevor Arisa and his bride. What was the better attended wedding? Or what was the more like all-stars at the wedding? More all-stars was Harrison Barnes, but I think the bigger flex was Trevor Arisa. Okay. Trevor Risa had Travis Scott, which meant he also had Kylie Jenner. So that just opens up people's eyes to who you are because it taps into a different audience.

One thing that's also been happening, Chloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson house hunting and Calabasas. Is everybody going to play in Los Angeles? Should there only be two teams? Kardashian Kirst, man. Do you agree? I don't think it exists. Okay, Jeff Van Gundy. It's been a delight to be back on the source of Say, Mike.

We'll do this again, I think. I hope so. Chris, as always, we're office roommates, so I'll see you in 10 minutes. Thanks for listening. This has been Source to Say. I'm Juliet Litman. This is Chris Ryan. Bye-bye.