PMS 2.0 1314 - THE LEBRONVERSATION: 72 Minutes With LeBron James LIVE In The ThunderDome Uncut & Unfiltered

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome, on this LeBron-versation Wednesday, March 26, 2025. This program starts now.
Big day! That it is. Obviously, we are incredibly lucky that we get to talk about the sports world every single day.
We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this. It is literally a dream job.
And just yesterday, we got a chance to catch up with a dream guest. Ladies and gentlemen, this is something that I think a lot of people have been seeking or hoping for for a long time.
If you host a talk show, having conversation with notable human beings is like a part of the gig. Getting a chance to talk to these greats is a dream part of the gig to get to learn from the people, to get get to kind of meet the people that you know and the people that kind of make the world run and the sports world kind of drive day to day.
We are incredibly lucky that we get to chat with these people. And we take every single opportunity and we try to hold it with the most amount of gratitude and appreciation that could possibly be had because not everybody just has time to come talk to a bunch of dumbasses.
Like, for instance, for LeBron here. He's playing the Pacers tonight, and he'll get to the arena shortly here, and we'll learn about that in the conversation we had with him.
He flew in yesterday after the show ended, drove from the airport to the Thunderdome, which is like our drive because we're on the opposite side of where the International Airport is. So flight from wherever comes in, long time, hops in a black SUV, drives an hour around the city to get to where we are, and then comes in here and spends two, three hours, an hour and 15 minutes chit-chatting with us on the show.
And I saw a bunch of people say, well, it live why is that he's in the middle of a basketball season he's got a game tonight against the indiana

pacers and the fact that he took any amount of time out of his life at the this stage of everything

to come chat with us incredibly thankful we covered damn near everything damn near everything

in this chatter and obviously uh we're gonna run it just straight through so it's an hour and about

12 hour and 15 minutes uncut uh there's some pictures that have been put on top of it

Thank you. Obviously, we're going to run it just straight through.
So it's an hour and about 12, hour and 15 minutes, uncut. There's some pictures that have been put on top of it.
But I think this is going to be a convo where you're going to learn more about a man who has been a superstar since he was a kid than maybe ever. I don't want to do too much, but I think we learn a lot about this guy, and we're so incredibly thankful.
The Talks to Table is here. Bruce Brown sitting in for Boston Conner, who traveled back home with Talk for the rest of the week.
Send some love to Conner and Talk for sure. At Ty Schmidt here.
Ty, it was a big convo. Yeah, unbelievable.
I mean, you mentioned it. We've done so many cool things, but for whatever reason, and you didn't even get, like, he was so comfortable when he got in here, which was so awesome, but, like, you didn't even have the chance to really be, like, starstruck.
Like, I mean, you said it. Been watching LeBron since, for my entire adult life, since I was, like, 12 years old.
It was incredible. It was by far one of the coolest things we've ever done.
I've seen him on the court, obviously. I've seen him on TV.
I've seen him play much taller than yeah for sure he's so tall yeah nine-year nfl vet dari uh darius jay butler is here he's so tall yeah and i think you you kind of you go watch the games and all the nba guys are standing next to the guys you know and we talk about how big lebron is like on a lebron 6'8 6'9 this guy's huge then he walks in and it's like oh yeah he is fucking gigantic, this guy is a tall lad, also just like the way he operated was like so cool, like just human, you know, and I thought that was incredibly impressive of him because he's walking into a building he does not know into a bunch of people that he's never met before and he was welcoming and cool with everybody everybody and it did feel like from moment one it was like oh we're gonna have a great convo here great convo like you said super comfortable almost like you were in a locker room or a barbershop just shooting the shit more open than i've really seen him uh on any platform that uh outside of any platform that he's on you know obviously the shop and other things like that he's mind the game and things like that you hear him speak you know with no cut so that was great so i mean i can't wait to re-watch it because having the conversation was one thing but now i've been able to re-watch i'm sure i missed some things and you mentioned it we kind of hit on on most things that you know you would ask if you had a conversation with braun and he was pretty open about it you mentioned he's been you know spotlight since he was 15, 16 years old. And he's kind of around our age, but he's had to deal with so much before us and be on such a bigger stage.
So it's going to be dope to see. I think it'll be dope for the people to see, and I think it'll be a lot of things taken from it going forward.
Yeah, I think there's going to be a lot of reaction. I think that's safe to say.
Yeah. Yeah.
I think the Internet is about to uh eat because of uh everything that happens here now before we get to that couple quick nfl notes let's go to one half of the hammer down cowboys ap tone ap tone you know how i know russell wilson isn't going to be the quarterback for the pittsburgh how's that because russell wilson is now a member of the new york football giant unbelievable 10 and a half million dollar guaranteed on a one-year deal up to 21 million in incentives obviously we saw a rebirth of russell We Football Giants. Unbelievable.
$10.5 million guaranteed on a one-year deal, up to $21 million in incentives. Obviously, we saw a rebirth of Russell Wilson in Pittsburgh last year.
It didn't end the way anybody wanted it to end, but I think he showcased the fact that he still got it. Dayball not only brings in Jameis Winston a couple weeks ago, now brings in Russell Wilson.
They were in on Matthew Stafford. They were in on Aaron Rodgers.
The New York Giants understand the situation over there. We've got to win now.
We need a veteran quarterback that's going to be able to do so. They have two in their quarterback room with Tommy Cutlitz also hanging out as a third stringer.
Good luck to Dayball. Good luck to Russell Wilson.
Malik Nabors has a new quarterback in the building and actually a couple of them. Also news, Stephon Diggs takes a trip up to New England.
He is now a member of the New England Patriots. Last year was on the Houston Texans.
Got injured. But I guess he's back fully healthy, they're saying.
Well, I would say fully healthy. He is moving.
Moving well. Running routes.
Pulling sleds. Doing full workouts down there with Dr.
Reeve. He trains down in South Florida.
He's always been a worker. He's always been a grinder.
And Drake May. Who was he compared to during the draft process coming out? Like a lot of young, big athletic quarterbacks are compared to Josh Allen.
And obviously Stephon Diggs played a huge role in Josh Allen's development to become the MVP quarterback that he is now. So I'm sure Mike Grable wants to see that same jump with Drake May's play.
So getting a professional wide receiver who's used to being the guy, getting open, catching balls in big moments, I think this is a pretty good move from New England. And salary-wise, it kind of looks like a one-year deal if they want to get out of it after one year.
And also good money for Stephon if he can make it work and stay there in New England. In a variable culture, we assume Stephon Diggs will be able to just jump right in.
I think a lot of people in Houston, his teammates, have come out and said how much they enjoyed being his teammate whenever the conversation, obviously, with Buffalo went the way it did. Minnesota went the way it did.
Teammates have come out and said positive things about Stephon Diggs. And obviously, as a football player, he is an absolute dog.
But Russell Wilson goes to the Giants. Stephon Diggs goes to the Patriots.
Who's the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tone? Right now, it's goteed Mason Rudolph, and we are just, you know, waiting on Aaron.

Okay, all right.

Obviously, Aaron Rodgers

still making his decision.

Let's assume that that comes

at some point relatively soon

because it's going to have to.

Speaking of all of the soonness

that needs to take place,

we need to showcase

the greatest conversation

we've ever had.

Ladies and gentlemen,

we got a chance to catch up

with the King yesterday.

It is time for the debut

of the LeBronversation. Ladies and gentlemen, we got a chance to catch up with the King yesterday.
It is time for the debut of the LeBronversation.

Ladies and gentlemen, GOAT.

And I would say child stars.

Okay?

Nobody ever talks about that.

Been famous since a teenager.

Basketball, obviously.

And life as a whole fucking dominating through and through.

Just a kid from Akron.

Ladies and gentlemen, LeBron James. LeBron James! I appreciate it, man.
Definitely been seeing you guys up in here, man. So it's great to come here and be in the studio with you guys.
I told you, as soon as you pulled up out there, I walked outside. Black SUV pulls up, turns around.
Your door opens, and literally I go, holy shit, you're actually here. I thought this was all bullshit.
Thank you for taking time and coming and visiting and chatting with us. We're obviously massive fans, dude.
I'm 37 years old. Obviously, you're a little bit older than me, but watching you, because I have, you know, because my demo in high school was the one that was watching you dominate.
You actually came to Pittsburgh, beat the Pennsylvania All-Stars, which is your high school team. And that whole story.
So I've followed your entire career. Massive fan of yours.
Thank you for doing this. Yeah, I appreciate it.
I appreciate you having me, man. It's going to be fun.
Let's talk about it. You're 40 years old now.
Yes, sir. You've been in the league 22 years.
Longer than you were not in the league. You're in the league.
And you're playing like you're one of the best seasons you've ever had. Why is that, you think? Is it comfort? What is it about this year? I mean, I think, think uh obviously i've been in the game for a while so i kind of know what to expect and um you know obviously one you got to take care of your body but more importantly you got to take care of your mind you know being a professional athlete if your mind is not as sharp as possible or as clear as possible then you're not going to be able to perform at a high level um you know i think you know seeing what our team is capable of doing um you know, even before, you know, the big acquisition of picking up Luka, I thought we had a good chance of making a good run.
So I wanted to make sure that I was there not only physically, but also mentally and just give to the season. But I felt pretty good, man, throughout the whole season.
I know I had a little small injury that kept me out two weeks, you know, two weeks ago, but I'm back and I feel great. We watched you do the sprint down the court thing.
It was hilarious. You're just like 40 years old doing the same thing you were doing whenever you were 18, 20.
We'll talk about the Luka trade. We'll talk about the Lakers, but you talked about having clarity in mind and feeling good going into the season because you knew you could go on a run.
There was that saying you spent like a million bucks on your body or something. Man, I don't know where the hell that shit came from.
That's a very fair assessment. Yeah, I don't know where that came from, but I mean, listen, man, I do take care of my body, but I have no idea where the amount of money came from.
But I do invest in my body for sure, you know, trying to do a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Obviously, a lot of soft tissue work, a lot of massages, a lot of hyperbaric chambers, ice tubs, ice baths.
Whatever I can do to continue to play at this level, man, I'm going to continue to do what I'm playing. You've committed your entire life to ball, right? You've got safe to say? Yeah.
And you love the sport. Is that your drive, is how much you love the sport? Or why do you think at this age you're still going as our job? Listen, there's no way I'd be still playing at this level, Pat, if I wasn't in love with it or didn't commit to it um you know i've had an opportunity to be able to be blessed with a with a crazy god-given talent

and um a lot of us are to be completely honest when you become when you find your niche in sports

you know there's a lot of people that's born with unbelievable talents but it's literally the ones

that like really commit to their craft and literally commit to the sport in general being

able to pour yourself into it um is what you're going to get out of it too so i figured

I'm going to go craft and literally commit to the sport in general being able to pour yourself into it um is what you're going to get out of it too so i figured shit when i knew i had a gif at like 13 14 that i was out there on the court and i was running past guys and jumping higher and you know making passes and doing things that the other 13 14 15 16 yearolds wasn't doing. I was like, oh, shit.

This could be it?

This could be it.

This could be it.

And, like, I'm living in, you know, Section 8 housing.

It's me and my mom.

You know, we're trying to figure it out.

And I'm like, oh, shit, if I commit to this, I can figure it out.

I can figure it out for not only myself but for my mom,

get out of the inner city and make something out of it. So, you know, big time for sure.
And your friends. You've taken care of everybody.
And I think that is one of the you know out of the you know the inner city and make something out of it so um you know big time for sure and your friends you've taken care of everybody and i think that is one of the things that i love the most you know we have rich on here um multiple times we love i love rich man he's been very good to us but just like the way you take care of your people the way you've kind of done everything is uh admirable it never gets talked about obviously i appreciate it and. And the chatter that's around you, since you have been a guy since you were 13,

and I remember the Hummer story and the shooting deals and everything.

What's going on now with the NIL?

I mean, it's completely different.

Right, right.

I mean, I could imagine if NIL was around when I was in the NIL.

I'd have loaded up.

I'd have loaded up big time, for sure.

Well, I think you already were, which is part of the problem.

Right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But literally, since you were a superstar, since you're like a teenager, as soon as you get in the NBA, obviously the chosen one, here we go, this is it. You're in Cleveland.
You immediately start getting compared to greatest of all time. Yeah.
And as a person that's in sports, and we are all sports fans, we saw that happen. I assume at the beginning, massive compliment.
Is that a massive compliment is that a massive compliment it was it was i can remember like my first my first game you know when i watched the replay my first game on national television it was like will he be one of the one name guys that ever played this game it was like he's like will kareem magic bird jordan all these first name guys and then at the end it was like lebron and i'm like fuck i'm 17 years old i was like what the hell is this why you guys you guys are giving me this already it's like i haven't done anything and it's like it was a compliment to be able to be you know in the in the names of those guys. But it was also, like, super fucking scary and intimidating, too.
It was like, I'm just a small kid from Akron, Ohio. I don't even know what the call to happen.
Well, very tall. And at that point, I think you were a little bit more jacked at the time because the game called for it.
But whenever you talk about it being a scary situation, you never let that image out publicly. And I think none of us ever saw you being scared.
None of us ever saw you like kind of flapped at all. You were an unflappable force.
And you've been in the public eye for so long. I think you would probably admit that you probably fucked some things up on the way, but you haven't really.
You're like the, and I said it earlier, child star, like most people, especially you talk about section eight housing, coming from nothing to everything, being in the public eye eye at some point that is going to collapse a human yeah for sure for you it feels like it hasn't and there's been a lot of things said there's been a lot of fires that you've been put into either you walked into yourself or thrown into why do you think that is the case do you think it's because your mom do you think it's because i mean obviously i obviously I give her a lot of credit for the way she raised me,

the way she taught me, the things that she was able to instill in me.

It was also me also just looking at her, the way she moved and the way how determined she was to be able to make my life better,

even with the circumstances that we were growing up in.

So I give her a lot of credit.

I have some little league coaches too that, you know,

taught me about not only just, you know, playing the game

and teaching me the game of basketball, but also being a young man, you know, throughout my small adolescent years. And then just like, to be completely honest, like, I didn't want to fuck my opportunity up.
Like, I knew that the statistics for an inner city black kid to be able to be in a position that I was in, especially my hometown shit it never ever happens never it never never works out it never happens and if it does happen it never works out you know um and you know it was a i mean i don't like i want to throw him under the bus but the only inspiration like we had was was like jerome lane the guy who like dunked and shattered the backboard that played for piss bird he was from akron ohio like we saw that and we was like oh shit that's the inspiration and then i went through high school and all my boys know this too like i went through high school and we was playing against the inner city kids because we went to an all catholic high school and fucking jerome lane was like hating on us i was like oh this motherfucker like like he's back in akron hating on us like going against us and I'm like oh shit you was like our only inspiration we like looked up to you and I was like you know what I can't I can't fuck this opportunity up man if I get the opportunity to make it I gotta do what I have to do to put my city on to represent my last name on my back man my family my friends and and also like it also, like, it's sport. You know, sport has given us so much.
I mean, I look around here. I mean, looking at baseballs and NFL helmets and basketball jerseys.
Yeah, luchador masks. Like, seriously, like a putt-putt thing.
Like, seriously, like, it's given us so much. So, like, I couldn't mess the opportunity up.
Well, you've done – hey, I think you figured it out. You've done good.
Now, we'll see what's left, you know. Now the conversation is how many years is he going to play.
You look like he could probably play forever. Deebot has a question for you.
Yeah, so kind of on that note, and one of the things people got on you about was when you went to Miami. You made me sit and go to Miami.
I know some great things behind that as well. Me, lifelong Miami Heat fan, I loved it.
But what was it like coming down there, winning winning your first championship and what was that kind of low lift off your back you talk about being amongst the one name guys championships obviously got to come with that so what was that like going down there and getting that done yeah i mean listen um my aspiration was a lot bigger than just you know winning mvps and you know being an all-star and you know whatever all the individual things is i'll i'll before i even got to the nba i've always won and and it doesn't matter which level you win on if you're in a winning environment that shit carries on throughout the rest of your life my first year ever playing organized sports i won a little league football championship that year and then it backed it up with a basketball championship Undefeated season my second year we did the same thing, you know, and I was league MVP in basketball and football Through middle school championships through high school. I won three state championships You know, like I was just always born winner and I knew how to win because of the culture that i was around i knew how it was supposed to be done um and at that moment you know my seven years in cleveland i had some good years obviously some great years one i was able to take the team to the nba finals i was 22 years old i had a moment in detroit where I went insane, 25 straight, 29 out of 30,

you know, and took a team that you look back at our roster, you're like,

what the hell?

How would that even possible?

There's a lot of those, brother.

We don't want to dive into all of them.

You were like the finals, like 45 straight years. You know what I'm saying?

So like, but it got to the point that that final season, I was like,

I've maximized this potential.

Yeah.

I've squeezed all the juice out of this damn lemon here. And I know it.
And in order for me to get to where I want to get to, I have to make a choice for my career going forward. And Miami was the best choice at that moment.
I felt like it was the best choice for me. The conversation I had with D-Wade, had with had with Bosch had with you, Don is has them, you know, D Wade and UD have been there.
They had one, one had beat Dallas. Um, they had been in some, some, some, some big, uh, you know, playoff matchups with, with Detroit where Detroit beat them.
And then they beat Detroit, you know, things of that nature. And then you look at the big four that Boston had, you know, everybody talk about the big three, but everybody always decides that for some odd reason that Rondo wasn't as great as Rondo was.
It's always just the big three. He's from Boston.
They say the big three, but fucking Rondo was when he was a dog. He brought it all.
He made it all work with those guys because Ray wasn't bringing the ball up. You had Ray flying around.
You know, you had Paul when he get it at a certain spot, and Paul was a killer. And then you had KG was anchoring the defense, and also, you know, you throw it to the low post.
But it all started with the mind, and that was with Rondo. So for me to go down to Miami, man, one, it was a terrifying experience for me.
You got to think, I don't know a lot of people, it's the first time I ever left my hometown. I was 25 years old.
My first seven years, even though I played for Cleveland, I still lived in Akron. You know, so for 25 straight years, I was comfortable.
Awesome house. You had an awesome house.
We've seen that. Oh yeah.
That's a great house. Yeah, so I'm comfortable.
That is my comfortability is being in Akron, Ohio. You know, I drive, you know, 30 minutes to Cleveland, play my games, and then I shoot right back down to Akron, and I'm good.
So, for the first time, it's like, I've always used the analogy like, I felt like this was my college moment. You know, I didn't go to college, so like, going to Miami was my moment to basically get out the house with my parents.
You know, I was going off to college, and I learned a lot, man, and shit, two championships, four finals appearances, you know, two more MVPs, you know, and things that I can just, I can always look back on and say it was a hell of an experience. And you guys were the Heedles.
You know, that was, yeah, you guys were selling out everywhere. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Well, while we on that, while we on that, you mentioned you didn't wait and I forget which one of them it was, but they told a story about Pat Riley fucking with your cookies. Yes.
Is that a true story? Is that a real story? No, it's a true story. Okay.
It's a true story. Now, like, Riles wasn't like, it wasn't like Riles was on the plane and I was about to get my cookies and Riles snatched them out of my hand.
You know how stories can become a little bit. They kind of build to Sasquatch at some point.
But there it is. I mean, I was, you know, there was a time where everyone knows I love fucking love chocolate chip cookies.
It's like my

biggest vice.

No, it was literally the plane that we

were getting on, the ladies

on the plane were making chocolate chip cookies.

Oh, holy shit.

Yeah, so they knew.

Yeah, so they were making them and bringing them because we had

the same, with the same ladies all the time.

You know, it was a, you know, party of six.

You know, they were rotating every time

they knew I loved chocolate chip cookies. So they would get on and I would

Thank you. and bringing them because we had the same ladies all the time.
It was a party of six. They were rotating every time.
They knew I loved chocolate cookies. They would get on.
Soft. Soft with a little crispy edge.
Perfect. I would get on and they already knew.
They'd bring me two cookies and I'd get to gambling with the guys and I got my cookies and we good. Then one flight I got on, I looked at them and they looked at me and I'm like, that look didn't look familiar.
And I asked him, I was like, he was like, no, we're not allowed to, no more cookies on these flights. What? And we all know where it came from.
I looked at D-Way, D-Way looked at me, he was like, basically, without even saying, he was like, fucking Riles has done it again. Riles strikes again.
I was like, damn. So what was it like down there? Because they talk about the mighty heat culture and Pat Riley and obviously him just saying no more cookies.
Oh, it's LeBron's cookies. Yeah, he don't give a fuck.
One thing about Riles, he don't give a fuck about nothing. Listen, if it ain't about that heat shield and covering that heat culture, I mean, we see what's going on now.
Well, not anymore, but we see Jimmy and, you know, and it was at one point where even I left and it was time for D-Wade to get paid and he didn't want to pay D-Wade and D-Wade left. I was like, oh, when that happened, I was like, when Wade County had to leave and go to Chicago, I looked at the cookie situation.
I was like, oh, shit, maybe it wasn't that bad. He lost a it wasn't that bad.
I was like, okay, fuck it. I mean, D-Ways millions in my cookies.
I was like, okay, maybe I made it. I was like, okay, it wasn't that bad.
Let's talk about the cultures. You know, because Cleveland, you talk about getting your career trying, making, feeling like you had to go to Miami.
You obviously do that. You go back to Cleveland, win one.
Hey, there you go. That parade was bananas.
Yes, sir. And then obviously out at L.A., what is it about J.J.
Reddick's culture that you have felt, experienced, and obviously a couple games have not won, but fourth in the West still on a playoff push. What is it about J.J.
Reddick and his culture or what you guys have right now that you like? I think the best thing about J.J. is that he's just a great podcaster.
Yeah, he is. Yeah, he is.
We learned a lot, brother. You guys were talking about, like, when we fucking doubles here, do we round here, do we need to go under this? He's just a podcaster that, for some odd reason, became a head coach and all because of me.
It's just the weirdest thing in the world, and those conversations have died down. But, no i think uh one thing about jay man he he bleeds the game and he breathes the game of basketball every single day he's one of those guys that um it's kind of just like me like if we if we lose a game or we didn't play up the par is there's no such thing as sleeping that night there's really there's no such thing of sleeping into the next match, until the next game.
And he's just determined to like... He's a...
He's a dickhead. Yeah.
Gotta be. And I love it.
And I love it. And when I was a kid, I used to watch Duke.
Now I realize it. I hated Duke when I was growing up.
Still, yeah. And then when I got a little older and I started playing with Coach...
I, I played with him for Team USA. And I was like, okay, I see why he's great.
I see why he's great. I see why I hated J.J.
Redick. I see why I hated Shane Battier.
And then Shane came over to us in Miami and helped us win a championship. I was like, I see it.
He's like the greatest guys slash dickheads that you ever meet. And I love k you think jj has a lot of coach k absolutely absolutely absolutely absolutely he's just um he's meant for it you know and there's just some things that can't be explained but when you got the it factor it's just like oh yeah he does he still shoot ever absolutely yeah yeah absolutely absolutely he'll let us know Yeah, okay, let's talk about a guy who made a shot the other day in warm-ups that was, I don't know how, it defied physics, I think.
Luca, he did this, he did this shot up, over. From the complete opposite.
Yeah, and then it, I don't know how that works, actually. Like, science, I don't know how.
But then he'll do one off the fucking Jumbotron. Yeah, here it is right here, here it is right here.
You've seen this, obviously, I assume. Yes, I've seen it.
He probably does this type of stuff every single day. What has it been like being his teammate? And I think it was the first game.
There was, you guys were calling it up or whatever. And you looked at Luka, and it was a big deal because you said, you don't change a damn thing.
We'll change for you, actually, is what you said. And then it broke down.
I think it was a big deal for people to hear you say but also obviously Luca as well what has it been like and why do you guys have such good chemistry uh I mean his name is uh Luca Magic for a reason and you see that you see his play on the on the game um he's a very transcendent player and uh and if you talk about that moment that moment you got you got to think um you know I I can't put myself in his shoes because I've never been traded before, but I can have a sense and be a human being to know you commit to a franchise for seven years and you feel like, you know, this is the place where I'm going to be. This is my comfort.
You know, I talk about my comfort before I went to Miami. And then out of nowhere, bam, you just get traded.
I don't give a damn where you're going. It doesn't matter who you're pairing with.
That is a shock to your system. It's a shock to your system.
And even though he was ready to play, that moment I feel like that had to be said because he is still that guy. In order for us to reach our potential, he has to be that guy.
He has to fit out, and we'll figure it out. Let us figure it out with you, because we need you to be who you are.
But it's definitely – I lost a dear friend and a great friend and a champion duo with AD, missing him to death. But we was able to gain Luka magic, and I think both sides will.
A lot of people thought you two wouldn't be able to work together because ball dominant, you know? LeBron James, too much of a prima donna. Not going to let Luka come in and do the Luka shit.
Yeah, and he won't be able to figure it out. Yeah, it must be the idiots that don't know the game of basketball.
Oh my goodness. There's so many of those guys out there right now.
I would say your league, you, you, and your league has the most absurd chatter. Oh my goodness there's so many of those guys out there right now i will say your league you're you you and your league has the most absurd chatter oh my goodness it really is every single day and then you realize you was like i'll be looking at and i hear it i'm like you know those guys just a lot of those guys that played the game or did not play the game it was just they played the game while they were talented.
I don't think they ever thought the game. I don't think they were ever smart.
I just think they were bigger and stronger and maybe faster at the time, and they dominated. And when it was over, it was over.
You know, they don't – that's why I'm able to still play at fucking 40 years old. Well, that's what everybody talks about.
My mind is just like I can play the game because I can outthink the guys out there. And as my athleticism has went down a notch, not a lot, but a notch.
Don't you look slow, don't you look fat? You know, as my athleticism has went down a notch, like I'm able to still bring up other facets of my game to be able to still, you know, do what I need to do every single night. But the talking heads of our sport, oh, my goodness.
It's a lot. It's a lot.
Especially for you. I mean, you're in a much different situation than maybe any other human in history of sports, if I had to guess.
And like I said, at the beginning, it's a compliment, though. Like, they're immediately telling this teenager that we need to talk about him as if he is Michael Jordan,

who obviously transcended the sport, changed the sport forever, and everything like that.

But then it gets to the point where it's like, hey, this is a real conversation.

And it almost immediately becomes divisive.

So this is an interesting concept here.

You probably lost a lot of trust in media, I would assume, because of the things that happened. Not just just what was said on tv but what it led other people to probably think they should say yeah for sure yeah i mean it all started with the decision it all started with the decision the decision really like had me like sit back and like because people literally like i give a i give a moment so the decision you know it was brought to me to be able to, you know, do something cool on TV, you know, do a kind of college style.
Like I said, never had went to college. I was like, you know, this would be pretty cool.
Make the decision, put the hat on. But also, you know, raise $2.5 million for a great cause, you know, and also be able to, you know, make it, make it cool.
Um, and the funniest thing is from that moment, it was December 2nd, 2010 was my first game back to Cleveland. So, um, I stay at the hotel, stay at the rich downtown in Cleveland.
And, uh, this one, I knew that it was, um, people did not even really care or didn't even understand the situation. They just wanted to be a part of the nonsense.
I hit the elevator to go downstairs to the bus, catch the bus, to go over to I think it was the Q, the Quicken Loans Arena then. And the elevator opens and there's two guys, random guys on the elevator.
You guys can always pull this up. They used to have these F-U-K-L-B-J T-shirts.
Okay. Black T-shirts, red letters.
And I see the two guys. They see me.
They say, oh, my fucking God. Oh.
No, listen. This is, man, we love you so much, man.
We're just here for the spectacle, man.

We're just here for the spectacle.

Like, seriously, we love you, man.

And have a good get in the door, in the elevator door post.

I was like, oh, yeah.

Those are two white dudes, by the way.

Oh, for sure.

I didn't want to say it.

I didn't want to say it because we're outnumbered right now.

Not wrong.

It was like, oh, my God, man, we fucking love you, man. Like, oh, shit, don't in the elevator post.
I was like, my god man we fucking love you man like oh oh shit don't in the elevator clothes i was like you know what this is all part of the spectacle and it's about to go it's about to get haywire so the decision you think is whenever the conversation kind of changed a little bit about yeah because they just needed something they needed something everything was so positive you know and I gave him no reason to make it negative.

It wasn't fucking up, but they needed anything.

You know, I'm doing everything I need to do on the court.

I'm not out on the streets.

I'm not doing I'm not being caught in all the bullshit that doesn't respect the game and respect my craft.

It was like, oh, you decided to go on TV and make a decision for your career. We got you.

We've got it.

We'll be right back. and respect my craft it was like oh you decided to go on tv and make a decision for your career we got you we got it we finally got it we finally made a little chink in the armor we got something we got something it's selfish oh it's selfish selfish mother yeah and then that caught a little bit of fire right because a lot of people uh don't like seeing people that are successful and anything especially if somebody is taking happiness from them and their team, which you were doing, obviously, with the Cavs.
And then that just got – you're saying from that moment is winning. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Until – which leads, obviously, to you and Stephen A. Hey, legit, that feels like a moment that had been brewing for a long time.
He's like on a Taylor Swift tour run right now. Oh, yeah.
Yeah, we're watching it. We're all seeing it.
Oh, yeah. You're seeing it as well.
No, he literally, it started off with, I didn't want to address it. Yeah, sure.
I didn't want to address it. I wasn't going to address it.
But since the video came out, I feel the need to address it. You wouldn't be not to talk about it.
Are you kidding me? If there's one person that couldn't wait to the video to drop so you could address it, it's your ass. Seriously, he completely missed the whole point.
The whole point. Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport, criticize players about what they do on the court.
That is your job to criticize or to be in a position where, okay, if a guy's not performing, that is all part of the game. That's all part of the game.
But when you take it and you get personal with it, it's my job to not only protect my damn household, but protect the players. And I think a lot of the media, including him, and I know he's going to be happy as hell.
He's going to be smiling from ear to ear when he hears me talking about it. Oh, my God.
He's going to get home and grab some ice cream out of the fucking freezer and sit in his chair in his tighty-whities on the couch. I hope at some point you two do get a chance.
Yeah, like, relax, bro. Like, relax.
Like, seriously. Just, you know.
How do you feel about the way the game is covered and you players are covered? Because this is a big topic of conversation with the NBA. We have Tyrese Halliburton.
We love Tyrese. Tyrese loves you too.
Tyrese is great. I love that guy.
So Tyrese gave me the heads up. Like, hey, LeBron coming on your show is a massive ordeal.
Because everybody in the NBA does look up. LeBron is our guy.
I think Pat Beverly told the story down at the bubble. Whenever everybody was like, we need to take a stand and yada, yada, yada.
And then I think he was the person who went up and said, hey, you, if you're fucking playing, we're all playing. If you're not playing, we're not playing.
But I think that's how everybody in the league feels about you. So congrats on that, by the way.
Respect amongst your peers. No, no, for real.
Yeah, I had a respect for my peers. That means a lot.
And I carry that, man. And I take that with a lot of responsibility

because there was...

Too many years went by when players

did not have an opportunity to just speak

and their voices to be heard or allow

the narrative to get

so much outside of sports.

Like, if I listen, if I miss

a game winner or

if I don't show up in the finals, you know, like I was supposed to versus Dallas in year one in Miami, you can say whatever the fuck you want. You know, I should have been a lot better.
I know. But like, don't don't take it to, you know, my household or take it to what was going on and other guys.
Like I've seen something with Embiid where a reporter came into the locker room and started speaking about, like, I think his brother or something. Yeah.
Like, how weird is that? Like, that's so weird. Like, why are we taking it to that point? And we're taking it to that point because people have gotten too comfortable.
I think people in the media have gotten too comfortable, especially with our sport. They got too comfortable where, you know, back in the day, like, for sure, you would never bring up Charles Oakley's brother.
Charles Oakley will smack you through his brother. All right.
Yeah. Mad Max.
Like his name was Mad Max for a reason. It wasn't because he picked you up 94 feet.
It was because if you said something about Mad Max, like he's going to separate your jaw. And there was no repercussions from that.
Like we they got to the point where they knew like oh you know these guys can't really do anything to us anymore because there would be a fine suspension and you know or or and don't embarrass yeah yeah don't embarrass the league or or you know you're now here come your sponsors they're coming after us or coming after you and they're gonna be like what are, what are you doing? That's when they decided they could, you know, thought.

They thought.

So the conversation about old school basketball is a real thing.

Because that's the new narrative now is like it's a nostalgia issue.

Like a lot of people who grew up in a different era of basketball

and get introduced to basketball, they're going to like that era

regardless of no matter what happens in the future.

You've played through what now?

Three years? Yeah? Three years?

Yeah.

Three years?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Back whenever Koozie was doing no-look pass.

Oh, easy.

Yeah, the first ever no-look pass.

Yeah, Koozie.

He's a dog.

Hey, he was an exciting white, wasn't he?

He was an exciting white.

Koozie had game.

Koozie had game, for sure.

Boom.

Thank you.

Koozie had game.

Yeah, but we're watching these highlights, and I'll speak for you.

For that era.

Exactly.

Thank you.

You don't have to say this. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
I'll say this. I'll say this.
Yeah, again, for that. I grew up in Pittsburgh, so we didn't have an NBA team.
So I was more an NHL guy, but I would watch the Lake Show at night because I couldn't sleep. So I did know the NBA, but I didn't follow it as closely.
When I watched The Last Dance, I was watching a lot of highlights, and I was watching people dribble a ball like this. And I was like, I don't know how that works in modern basketball.
I think you guys have played a couple of different sports. I think there was a koozie era of sports where a no-look pass, holy shit.
Then there was an era where people were starting to get like nasty. There's some more.
Yeah, you had some pistol Pete Maravich. He started coming in and started, you know, getting a little bit in that.
But then the ball was hitting off guys' heads and stuff. So they looking at him like, what are you doing? Never see those lowlights, though.
Only see the highlights. Highlights are the only bangers survive.
Then obviously Jordan comes in and transforms everything. Him dunking from the foul line, massive ordeal.
He made a whole fucking brand off it. He's flying.
Now kids are dunking from the three-point line in high school. It's just like the game has evolved so much, I think.
there is like a nostalgia combo that takes place with you guys this modern era yeah do you feel that how do you address no no no i definitely feel it and i think um you know we just have to recognize that evolution is just a part of life man like you know shit you look at the the hummer from the 1970s to the hummer of today it's like it's you're gonna be, you might be nostalgic about it. You loved it in the 70s, but do you really want to drive that every day right now in 2025? You're going to get out the car and your goddamn neck and your back is going to be hurting so bad.
Like, seriously, you're going to be hurting so bad. You're going to be like, okay, you know what? This might be just a Sunday chill car.
Like, I drive it up the street, get some ice cream, some ice cream come back home but i can't refill it because it gets too much exactly i gotta just start it up let it just just crank the crank the gas for about two hours just to make sure it's still running but like you know like we have to understand that there's there's players and errors and things of that nature like we get it but like you know i you watch some of the you know you watch some of the nfl games as well from the 70s and the 80s and you got like you know jack lambert and those guys like coming through like completely decapitating people you know like murder ronnie lott like ronnie lott tore his pinky off and then went to the sideline was like just tear the rest of it off i'm getting back out there like like i i I get it. Like, those are nostalgic moments.
But, like, the game is different. And we should respect all errors in that era.
You know, we can't be saying, okay, just because Wilt was great in the 60s and 70s, that he'll be great now. And we also can't say to some of the guys, now it'll be great.
It is what it is. Respect that era, and we move on.
But the whole every single day that he's better, he's not better, he wouldn't. You trying to tell me Giannis wouldn't be able to play an NBA game in the 70s? I think it's a hint.
He wouldn't be able to do it. Neither would you.
Neither would you. Giannis and the cupo would have 250 points in a game in the 70s.

250.

Is that Kuzi?

When was Kuzi playing?

50.

Dude, Kuzi's blocking a fucking Giannis.

He's saying 70s, not 50s. And that's no disrespect.

Like, it's no disrespect.

But, like, seriously, like, Kyrie Irving.

They would have called him a witch.

They would have called him a witch.

No, no.

They would have told Kyrie, you're not.

You know how they used to tell Luau Cinder at the time that he couldn't dunk in high school games? They would have told Kyrie, you're not allowed to dribble anymore. That's what they would have told him.
Dribbling is out rude. They would have seen that.
So how tall are you? I'm 6'9". And how heavy are you? I'm give or take in between 215 to 280.
I don't know. Depends on the day.
Depends on if you're giving my cookies or not. Pat Riley's like, we're tipping too close to 280.
LeBron, the needles are becoming a heavyweight battle. So, 6'9"? Let's say you're too...
You look very thin right now. I feel good.
6'9", 220. Could easily get to 260, though.
I think that would play in a lot of different eras. Yeah, come on.
I could play. I would be able to play in any era.
It's funny you hear some of them older guys like, LeBron James couldn't play in this era. Never been fouled by Bill Ambeer before.
Yeah, yeah. I think I've seen Dennis Rodman say that one time.
He was like, LeBron James, not skilled enough.

Yeah, not big enough.

He's not, nah, doesn't weigh enough.

He's not strong enough.

Can't handle it.

Nah, I'm like, okay.

Okay, let's talk about you flopping all over the place.

Yeah, yeah.

That's why people get mad.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah, I know.

Now, why do you do that?

Patrick Mahomes does the same thing.

He's the greatest of all time for us.

In a conversation, the greatest of all time. The rules indicate that if you're to hit him, he gets 15.
No doubt. Is that the same thing for you? I wish.
I wish. Because I am, like, literally over, like, the last five, six years, why everybody's been claiming I flop all the time.
I'm not going to bottom half of free throw attempts per game. Oh, they won't give you the whistle.
You don't get the whistle. No.
You don't get the superstar treatment? You know the funny thing is, I have a lot of teammates that be like, they come to the Lakers, and they be like, man, when I used to play against you, I used to think you got every goddamn call, and I hated it. And now that I'm your teammate, it's like, oh, my goodness, you don't get any calls.
I'm like, hey, you know, don't worry about it. Just keep playing.

No, just wait until you see me in the third quarter.

I got to go flop. I practiced on this

one last night because there's a video from the last dance where I think

the ref says to Michael

Jordan, he goes, I didn't see it, Michael.

I am so sorry. I would never do it to you.

I believe you, Michael. Yeah, I believe you, Michael.

Yeah, that's the clip. Oh, yeah, I saw that.

I saw that. And Michael's like, I'm a goddamn

man. Yeah, I saw that.
Oh, we. Okay, so you and Michael at a good spot.
Who, me and Michael? Jordan? Yeah, we're at a good spot. We don't talk.
Why not, you think? Because I'm still playing. I think I'm still playing.
I'm still focused on my craft right now. When you're done, you think you two will be the only two that can have a conversation? I hope so.
You know, the the funny thing is, me and Kobe, besides our, you know, the late great Kobe, obviously, me and Kobe never had a real relationship either until we was on the Olympic team. We had a great relationship there.
Olympic team 8, Olympic team 12. But it was always competitive between us.
We were always like, I was on the East Coast, he was on the West Coast. And it was like, even you know oh nine and didn't beat Orlando and I think it was oh nine didn't beat Orlando and didn't get him an opportunity to play him in the finals but like and until I became a Laker and then he retired that's when our relationship like became really really good yeah you know he like welcomed me called bro, anything you need in LA, like I got you.
You're a Laker now, you family, you know, and we would have multiple conversations. He was obviously you got to solve him coming to a lot of games and things of that nature.
And when I, when I passed him in the scoring record in Philly, you know, I think he had a tweet out there, like, keep on going, like keep transcending the game, keep going. Like, and that shit like meant so much to me.
So like. I think it's because I'm still playing.
MJ, we all know MJ. Even if you don't know him personally, he's one of the most ruthless competitors there is.
Until I'm done and he doesn't have to look at me run up and down wearing the number 23 and every time my name is mentioned is mentioned with his. He's like, I don't want talk to you yeah i'm on a golf course don't talk to me right now i'm on the back nine do not call me it was great to see y'all at the top 75 oh yeah that was dope yeah that was dope that's that's straight that's straight respect admiration and just like you know me for sure i mean shit i like i said, I wear 23 because of MJ, you know, and that shit.

The inspiration that he gave me as a kid at Akron, Ohio,

that don't have much inspiration in your hometown.

You look at something.

It's got to be somebody in sports, somebody in music,

somebody on the TV screen.

So, like, Will Smith on Fresh Press of Bel-Air,

Michael Jordan playing for the Bulls, Jay-Z, Biggie, and Tupac. That was like, that was my inspirations.
You know what I'm saying? I needed that because I didn't have, like... Lange.
Yeah, I couldn't be fucking Jerome Lange. He's like, they know me and shit.
So, like, you know what I'm saying? Kind of on that note, Bronny, your son, he's obviously had that inspiration in the home.

And you've talked about it since years ago,

wanting to play long enough to play with your son. So you obviously visualized that.
How was the real moment with that happening? Because I know me seeing it, you know, seeing the Griffys there, like that was just an unbelievable moment. So what was that like for you really actually being in it? Like you know seeing seeing that that that pop fly head towards uh ken griffey senior and then see junior over there right before the ball got to his glove and he snatched it out the air and run back to the dugout like laughing at his pops like that was a cool ass moment and um and for that moment that game that home opener versus Minnesota, and then just over there and see Griffey Jr., man, the kid, and seeing his pops over there and us getting that picture at half court and then us going out on the floor and having that moment.
It wasn't even – I wasn't – physically, I wasn't even there. I wasn't even there.
You're floating. I'm floating.
Dad, that's dad right there. I can only imagine where Bronny was.
I don't know. We haven't even talked about it yet.
At some point, we will. But I wasn't even there.
Like, I was so, I wasn't, I might have been in the rafters. I might have been at home.
My body may have been at home watching the game, watching the moment. I completely was not there.
But damn, that was an unbelievable moment, man, for me to be able to have that dream, be able to speak it into existence, for it to come to fruition, for my mom and my wife and my daughter and my youngest son to be there. It was like, you know, I started thinking about everything from what the hell he went through less than a year before with his cardiac arrest, man.
That came out of nowhere. That came out of nowhere.
It was a birth defect that, you know, quite honestly, if he never played sports or he never, like, started and run fast and all those stuff, we probably would never have to worry about it. But as he got stronger and things of that nature, it was just something inside his heart that was just pounding at his heart and pounding at his lungs that, unfortunately, we had the incident.
And thankfully, a lot of these kids we've been seeing a lot lately in sports, not only in basketball but in football. And unfortunately, we was able to catch it.
And to all the families out there that haven't had the opportunity to catch their kids before it gets to the point where they're not here anymore. Like, to see that happen to Bronny and for him to be able to play that same year after that happened you know at usc and then uh less than a year later be drafted by the lakers and then in that fall we go out there together so that's why i wasn't there yeah yeah like i was we walked in together but i was not there that's a dad moment that's really cool people forget uh you know you're only one name now lebron but you're uh still a human too and i assume for sure you know your baby boy yeah you're gonna experience a dream and then obviously that led to the thing with uh steven a talking about him and how critical everybody has been a brawny and i think that's a pressure that a second generation star has on him his whole life he's had that it feels like he is very i mean a 55-year-old, it looks like the way he kind of handles it all.
And I think you've even said that as well. But how about his development? We had Rich Paul on the day after the draft.
Because there was a bunch of rumors about Rich Paul was telling teams, hey, you draft him, we'll send him to Australia. There's a lot of those types of things happening.
Allegedly, the Suns were involved. There was a chance they could get you.
But he ends up with the Lakers with you. And obviously, it's a whole storm.
Like, LeBron James is bullying, blah, blah, blah. The way it always goes.
Of course. This guy's not good enough.
This guy's not this. He does start out a little bit rough NBA-wise.
But now, I mean, he just dropped 39 last night in the G League. I think he had like a double-double or something.
He had his best game in the NBA last week. He's obviously getting better and better.
You have to be loving every moment and how proud of Bronny are you for what he's going through? Listen, for me as a dad, shit, it doesn't matter if he never scores ever. For me as a dad, I'm just super proud of him, period, as a young man.
For me as a mentor and as a teammate of his and that wants to see him thrive because I've seen the work he's put into the game I am super proud of his development to where he is now from the moment that you know he was drafted in June of 2025 to us being now in March of 2026 his development is skyrocketed you know and I just think I had a good friend of mine um you know who went through a cardiac arrest as well and um and he told me that you know it took him and he played basketball as well and back then when it happened to him in the early 2000s um they didn't they didn't they wasn't with um going back to performing it was like if it happened it's over with what does it not roll the dice yeah we're not rolling the dice there was not enough data on it it's like you have a cardiac arrest it is over we don't want this on our resume they was not going back to performing uh perform the play and he told me he was like man i'm gonna be honest it It took me about two and a half years to finally get back to just normalcy. Like my body, my mind.
And, you know, he said what happened to me. I was 23 years old.
Bronny was 19 years old, you know. And he's like, it's going to take a little time.
And I reason with that. But also, he's doing things right now less than two years.
Yeah. And it's because of his determination and his will to want to get better and his will to like, I don't really care what y'all saying.
I hear it. He did an article the other day.
He was like, yeah, I hear the noise. I use that as motivation.
But I also know what I'm capable of. And I've always told my kids, like all of them, they they all play sports two basketball players my youngest son going to arizona i'm on a full ride my daughter what is he seven foot tall that came out of nowhere bryce right he's like he popped up out of nowhere because we follow your family on the internet obviously uh we see it all and it's like brownie okay and then little bryce little bryce with the glasses right exactly and then all of a sudden one video popped up of one video popped up of an Aussie.
And Bryce is taller than Brian. Wait a minute.
Wait a minute. So he on his way to Arizona.
My daughter, you know, she's playing 12 and under volleyball. She just turned 10.
So, like, and I just tell him, like, it doesn't matter about the noise. That's going to happen.
It's only about, like, if you love it, go out and practice. If you think you want to, if you fall in love with it, you only can fall in love with the process.
Don't worry about the outcome. Fall in love with the process, and that shit will take care of itself.
So super proud of Bronny, man. I know very long-winded.
When you talk about the kids, I just start thinking about him. But super proud of his game and where he is today.
You know, starting off the G League season with, like, you know, just trying to figure it out. And now, like you said, last night, 39.
And more than anything, when I talked to him, he was more pissed off at the technical free throw that he missed. More than anything.
He's like, I could have had a 40 early. He said, I could have had a 40 ball and I missed that day of technical free throw.
So man, the kid, he's awesome. He's been fun to watch.
And the story has gotten so loud. And I think that's why listening to you talk and you say you get long-winded about the kid, it's like, well, that's why everything happened.
That happened a couple weeks ago. But, like, you playing with him, obviously, it was a dream.
You said that years ago. Bryce now, though, I mean.
Very possible. That is.
Oh, don't do that to me. Yeah, yeah.
Oh, my goodness. You said you're 215, nowhere near 280.
You're the best shape. The best shape you've been in.
That conversation's loud about now. About how many more does LeBron James have? I think fans, I think the league, I bet you Adam Silver is wondering the same exact thing because of what you've done for the league, for how long you've done it.
That convo pops up every year. Is it for you too, or is it just for outside people? No, no, it's popping up more and more every year because obviously I know I'm on the other side of the hill than the previous side.
So I've done this for a long time, and then obviously I know it started like, okay, now you get to the top of that roller coaster, and it's like, okay, damn roller coaster gonna go down kennywood yeah you know like so i understand that so um i don't know man it's it's all about for real for me it's my mind if i could if i could continue to i am all about the process like i am all about the process and if it gets to the point where i don't feel like showing up to the arena five hours in advance or i don't feel like training or i don't feel like studying the scout sheet of guys like when if it gets to that point like i know like you know what brah it's a wrap yeah you kind of you'll be able to tell yeah you'll be able to tell. Yeah, you will be personally.
Five hours before the game, we're showing up every day? Yeah, 7.30 the game. I'm usually around 2.15.
What do we got? We got a cold tub. We're putting some wine on our feet.
What are we doing? We're doing a little bit of everything, for sure. I'm drinking a little wine, too.
I saw you walking to the game. Remember Big Booze Bell? Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that guy was walking with the wine to the game. Yeah, I remember that.
Mailed it in. LeBron's quitting.
Showing up drunk. Everything you do is talked about.
Yeah, I had one former Laker. I wasn't even playing.
It was preseason. I had worked out before the game.
I wasn't playing in like a former Laker. I was on the bench, like, you know, eating fruit.
Like, you know, I worked out. I had, okay, I got a shower.
Let me get out here to watch the guys, support the guys during a preseason game. It was like year fucking 20 for me probably.
Why am I even going out here for a preseason game? But I'm a good guy. I love my teammates.
I'm a good teammate. So I go out there and the next day I wake up as a fucking Laker guy playing for the Lakers.
I know you guys are going to look this up. It's like, yeah, look this up.
Like, that's very selfish, LeBron. Why is he over there eating fruit? What are you doing? He could have did that in the back, or he could have had that at home.
I'm like, bro, I'm literally just trying to, like, replenish everything I just lost in my workout in the weight room and in the back that you didn't see, but you

worried about me about a damn bowl of

fruit. You're not being

committed, is the conversation?

LeBron James, this guy's not committed.

Yeah, like I had a steak and eggs over there

or some shit. I don't know that.

Something to think about.

Give him something to really think about.

A little protein in there. Connor, massive Boston Celtics fan has a question for you.
Yeah, yeah. Who's Boston Celtics fan? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
If you can, you know, who knows? This might not be the year. But looking at the league and looking forward, the big convo is, you know, once LeBron is gone, who is the face of the league? Everyone's talking about the face of the league.
You know, as a Celtics fan, of course, I say, like, why doesn't Jason Tatum get more love? But even talking about the future, when for you did you become the face of the league you know as a Celtics fan of course I say like why doesn't Jason Tatum get more love but even even talking about the future when for you uh did you become the face of the league like what what year was it obviously right away you're getting talked about as you know a one name guy but when did you feel like okay this is officially my league like I am taking over this entire you know what I never had that notion I never had that notion and never like woke up like i thought i brushed my teeth like yeah this is my league you know i'm the face of the league

i'm gonna shine these up but i did know there was a responsibility uh put on me uh to carry the

league in a certain fashion you gotta you gotta think that um like before i entered the league

and like right after

mj retired after he came back the third second or third time yeah he came back and he was done

with washington there was a big like you know a fan uh player separation with our league you know

um they just wasn't resonating with a lot of the players or you know a lot of guys was you know

didn't really didn't really care you know or whatever the case may be and i felt like

Thank you. wasn't resonating with a lot of the players or you know a lot of guys was you know didn't really didn't really care you know or whatever the case may be and i felt like i felt like you know in order for you know myself to make a name for myself obviously i knew the play was going to take care of myself because i knew how much i committed to it but also had to i wanted to handle the responsibility you know of showing a face of the league in a sense of like a modern citizen, being a role model.
We have guys who didn't want to be a role model to the sport or didn't want to be a role model to the game, didn't want to appreciate the game or commit to the game. And I felt like I had an opportunity to not only play the game that I love but also I wanted fans to follow me I wanted people to follow my journey and what came out of that was me kind of being I guess people say the face of the league yeah that's bright commercials you know like you know I'm saying so like I never went out to be like I want to be the face of the league league.
I've seen a lot of shit, too. I've seen Brian Winhurst on one of these shows not too long ago.
Wendy. Yeah, you played on basketball.
Wendy, you guys played together in high school. He was on your high school.
Yeah, this guy says he's like my fucking best friend. These guys are just weird.
Wait, Wendy. Is that real? Isn't that real? That's not real not real.
It was our enforcer, huh? Knew it! He went on his show and said, don't let LeBron fool you. He wears number 23 because of Michael Jordan.
Okay, that's a fact. He signed with Nike because of Michael Jordan.
It's like, no the fuck I didn't. I signed with Nike because I got a hell of a signing bonus and they gave me a seven-year, $90 million contract.
And I moved my mom out of the hood the next day I signed that contract. And ultimately, my whole thing is like, what do I want to wear off the court? I was like, I want to wear fucking Nikes.
I want to wear Jordans. I want to wear pennies.
I want to wear Bo Jackson's.

I want to wear Air Max's.

Primes.

What are we talking about?

I knew there was a responsibility for sure.

Listen, man.

During the ball drop,

during the lottery drop,

Cleveland got the number one pick. I just don't think that was it.
Whoa, what are you saying? Don't you see this? Wemby with the Spurs. Oh, my God.
Let's keep LeBron home. You know what, Patrick Ewing to the Knicks.
You know, Derrick Rose to the Bulls. I understand the assignment had to make sure that, you know, I had to do my part.
I didn't want to be a fuck up. I just didn't want to be a fuck up, man.
Like I said earlier in the show, like, no one gets this opportunity, man. There's zero to none, and I couldn't be a fuck up.
So that's what came with it. You've done a great job representing it all.
Do you feel like we are at a phase, though, and you talked about before you got in the league, there was like a potential disconnect between the players and the fans. Yeah, yeah.
Felt like that was almost starting to happen again until, I don't want to say, back half of this season. Mm-hmm.
Feels like most momentum you guys have had in a while. Do you agree with that? Yeah, I agree with that.
You know, I agree with that. I think it's all just understanding, you know, understanding, you know, from a player perspective.
And also, we're getting closer to playoffs. You know, it's a long-ass season, man.
You know, the difference between us and the NFL, man, there's so much excitement, but it's one game a week, and you get an opportunity to get excited. Like, you know, that's Sunday or, you know, you've got Thursday night games now.
Monday. I mean, shit, even occasionally Saturday.
Christmas. It yeah Christmas yeah I was like okay fucking Grinch like but in all seriousness like you know it was one game a week so you like you know the excitement you know is there so you know you have us you know we just we just came out of playing six games in eight days you know six games in eight days is like oh man and three sets sets of back to back so um but the playoffs is on its way the weather is getting better the excitement is getting you know the crunch time is like you know in the west is you know you got four or five teams one or two games from behind each other you know so i think that's the connection is coming back everyone loves it and now you got march madness going on in college? I'm going to be honest.
No. I don't follow, man.
I don't do the brackets. I love the sport.
I watch occasionally some games, but it's hard watching college basketball for me, man. Different sport.
Yeah, it's a different sport from when we play. And, you know, every time a kid drives, you know, a kid can just come out of nowhere and slide up underneath him, and it's always a charge.
You can't do a Eurostep. It's a travel.
Well, Derek Queen, actually. Yeah.
Kid from Maryland. I don't know if you saw that.
Gather step. I love it.
Pick that ball, gather one, two, off glass. Game time.
You know, I just don't, you know, you shouldn't need 35 seconds to shoot the damn basketball. Got it.
You know, but it's the game. I hate two halves.
Why is that a thing? Yeah, the only sport, right? The only level of football. I think women's went to four quarters, right? Yeah.
What do we want two halves for? It's long. I don't want to watch one half.
Yeah, it's too long. It's too long.
It's long. It's long.
And then they got to stack the timeouts because of commercials too whenever the game of commercials too whenever the game play. I think the four quarters kind of helps TV as well.
It does. And it helps the players too.
It's four quarters and it's too long. You get a kill who gets two fouls in the first half.
You can't play again. You're sitting over there for an hour of real time.
It's like you don't want to see your favorite player in college. that's what the game is built on.
You get your favorite player. If Cooper Flagg right now gets two fouls in the first half, you're like, I don't want to watch this Duke game anymore.
Do you feel like this next generation? Because Wemby is obviously. Oh, he's a stud.
He's unbelievable. He's unbelievable.
But this is, I mean, Joker is also, what, 6'11", whatever it is. KD obviously says he's not 7'0".
Feels like he is foot and then he's always taller than everybody at the also weekend photos for some odd reason but he obviously uh whenever he came into the league and I think Dirk also big shooter but like the tall uh multi-faceted player is the next generation right yeah that's their inspiration their inspiration is you know Dirk Their inspiration is, you know, Dirk. Their inspiration is KD.

You know, their inspiration are those guys

who, like, you look at KD, you know,

like, you know, 6'9 to 7'0,

depending on what he wants to tell you.

You know, that great handle, the smoothness,

to be able to, you know, shoot off the dribble

and also be able to catch and shoot

and be able to look silky smooth out there while being the tallest guy on the court. They're doing koozie stuff.
Exactly. Somehow I don't know how you're doing.
I don't know how you're doing. You know, so Katie's big time inspiration to guys like Wimby, to guys like Cooper Flagg who's coming in.
You know, you have a lot of these guys. Chet.
Chet has a thing. Chet as well.
This Derek Queen kid, 6'10". Yeah.
He's in the – I don't know if you heard about him saying, give me the motherfucking ball. Yeah, I'm from Baltimore.
Yeah, that is absolutely fantastic. I'm from Baltimore.
One of my best friends from Baltimore, Carmelo Anthony, so I gets it. I get it.
I get it. Give me the damn ball, and he wanted the ball.
That's what I told him in the conversation. I was like, Baltimore is one of the cities where if you give an answer on why are you a confident human, I'm from Baltimore.
Everybody's like, oh, okay. There's no follow-up question to that.
Okay, got it. I got it.
Ty has a question for you. So, obviously, you could play another 10 years if you really want to.
I mean, it really does seem like that. But as you've gotten older, I mean, you have all this other shit off the court.
You have the production the production studio the podcast all that kind of stuff that you're doing all these different business ventures how hard is it focusing on a lot of that stuff and not letting everything you have to do basketball wise kind of suffer because i see i mean you don't seem like the kind of guy where it's like you're going to start a production studio and just be like fuck it you guys handle everything you know attach my name to it but like how difficult that balancing those two? Because this is obviously some stuff that you seem like you're passionate about. Yeah, for sure.
For sure. I definitely got some great people in place.
My right-hand man, Maverick Carter, he's unbelievable. Dog, huh? He's a dog.
And the greatest thing about him is his ability to create relationships that last long. And we've never been just one off guys.
Like we want to be able to create partnerships, you know, and not like endorsement deals. Like that was like a thing of the past.
That was something that we didn't want to do. So the trust that I have with him, I allow him because of shit.
I've been knowing him my whole life, you know, and when you have that type of chemistry and you have that type of brotherhood and that type of trust you allow him to do it But also he's always checking in with me like hey listen This is what we have going down the pipeline yay or nay, you know This is what I why I feel it would be beneficial to us and but also me like do you want to do it or not? you know, so like in this instance like you know got to the point where you know you brought that up and why i started you know the podcast mind the game with jj you know last year it was like it was a a looseness of the sport being covered and how the sport should be covered it had got away from the essence of the game of basketball of why i fell in love with game, why I teach the younger generation the game, why I am in the position that I am in. And we have that conversation.
Me and Matt was like, okay, I got what you're saying. Okay, let me go figure it out.
And he goes to figure it out. I learned so much from that show.
I legitimately did. Now, obviously, looking back on it, jj yeah that entire thing but i i assumed jj was going to become a head coach after that show regardless uh because the way you guys talked about it to your point about never hearing it be discussed like that legitimately as a football person as another sport person never played basketball whenever you guys were drawing up plays plays and why you do this and debating on how to cover and all that, I felt like I got smarter as a basketball fan.
First of all, I'd like to thank you for that alongside JJ. Also, congratulations.
Season 2. Season 2.
Wow! It's back! I haven't clapped all night, but I'm going to clap all night. Season 2, man.
With? Steve Nash, man. Okay.
Come on. The great Steve Nash, man.
So he's been a coach before, obviously. Yeah.
And obviously he's played a long time in the NBA. I had one chance to interview Steve Nash, and I learned about him in real time.
And I think he played a lot of years. Yeah, for sure.
Legend. Two-time MVP, right? Yeah-time MVP, yeah.
I looked at him and I said, you played blank amount of years?

And he goes, yeah.

I go, holy shit, man.

I literally learned it in real time.

Legend out there.

Absolutely.

But also loves the game, obsessed with the game,

which feels like why it could potentially be a great fit for season two of Mind the Game.

Absolutely.

We're looking forward to it, man.

We got two episodes in the bank.

We're going to get a couple more soon,

and we're going to just continue to preach the game.

I have a question. We're looking forward to it, man.
We got two episodes in the bank. We're going to get a couple more soon, and we're going to just continue to preach the game, how it's supposed to be taught, how it's supposed to be viewed.
We understand that some of the other things that's going to be said, it sells for them, but what we've grown to love, why me and JJ did it in the first place while me and and steve are doing it now is because this is how we grew up loving the game this is what brought us together this is what the essence of the game should be talked to to not only the generation that's playing now but the generation that's going to come up after us so um mind the game season two coming y'all, man. Can't wait.
Congratulations.

Can we talk about a couple things real quick that we have to cover? Absolutely.

Taco Tuesday, you thought that?

Is that real? It's today Tuesday.

Yeah, it is. Oh, today is Tuesday.

Oh, my goodness. Taco Tuesday!

That was quite a situation.

That was quite a situation.

Barbershop, another one.

Oh, yeah, man. The shop.
Oh, yeah.

I grew up in it. That was easy.

Thank you. That was quite a situation.
That was quite a situation. Barbershop, another one.

Oh, yeah, man, the shop.

Oh, yeah.

I grew up in it.

That was easy.

That was easy.

That was another easy one, man.

It was like too many conversations that's going on right now.

That's not the essence.

That's not the essence.

Man, I remember getting dropped off as a five-year-old mom.

Drop you off.

She go do what the hell she had to go do, make her errands. She talked to the guy that's cutting you.
How many he's behind? About three or four. Okay, about three hours.
Shit. Getting there about three hours.
And I got to wait there and sit there and wait my turn. And in that moment, that's when you hear everything.
You start hearing about the best MC that's going on right now, the best hair product, the best beard oil, the best people in sports. Music.
Your music. It's everything.
Drama. Everything.
Yeah, yeah. Every single thing goes on in a barbershop.
So, you know, for us to be able to create that platform, the shop, to be able to bring on all the beautiful minds that we've we've brought on to the shop men and women it's been um it's been a pleasure it's been an honor and we're keeping that thing going man because it's like it's a comfort place i'm you know i went to the barbershop from when i was like five all the way through high school and you know to be able to have that sense of like truth it's the one place of truth where you can go out there and be like, this is who I like. Alright, that's who you like and we're going to fight to the battle about it.
And it'll be a new topic the next day. I think it's pretty cool.
You guys did a couple watch-alongs too for Thursday Night Football? Yeah, man. Oh, that was dope.
I mean, you guys know my love for the sport of football. So to be able to do that...
You wouldn't be able to take a shot though, remember? Yeah, 6'9", 250 pounds, wouldn't be able to handle full-time. Yeah, man, you know, I wouldn't be allowed to do a lot of things, they say.
Oh, they got a little high school highlights up there. First Benedictine.
That's where Rich Paul went to high school, by the way. Really? Yeah, yeah, I was playing against Rich Paul High School there.
One of the greatest American hustlers of all time. Yeah, for sure.
Legit. I think the record will state that Rich Paul may be one of the greatest hustlers of all time.
You're from Ohio, so obviously football state. Yeah, man.
Obviously basketball as well. You love the game.
I think you've talked openly about how much you love ball. Yeah, for sure.
For sure. Football was my first sport, man.
My first love. I grew up big-time, prime-time Deion Sanders fan.
Big-time Eric Metcalf fan, too. Growing up in that, you know, growing up in Akron and seeing him up in Cleveland, seeing Eric Metcalf do his thing up there, too, man.
You know, Seattle's finest, Eric Metcalf. And, you know, just grew up just always loving the sport, man.
Like, you know, seeing, you know, Jerry Rice and, you know, seeing some of the old of the old clips of Walter Payton's sweetness and seeing Barry Sanders. That was another topic of conversation in the barbershop.
Barry Sanders versus Emmitt Smith. So you hear that conversation.
I remember my mom buying me a pair of Barry Sanders sneakers. I was like, oh man.
You felt so quick. Yeah, I felt so quick.
Elusive as shit. You know, they had – it was like – I don't know if they was one of the first teams.
Obviously, I don't know that for a fact. But, like, seeing Barry Sanders on turf, you know, wearing sneakers, you know, that was super cool as a kid.
So, yeah, it's a great sport. I mean, I love it.
I love football, and I love the new guys now. Like, they're super cool.
My favorite guy, Derrick Henry, went out of, you know, seeing Saquon, like, out there. And I got guys, like, wearing my shoes now.
You know, when Saquon did that move where he, like, turned backwards and did a pirouette backwards and jumped up in the air, and, like, he had my kicks on. I was like, oh, my goodness.
I didn't know those were yours. They were sick.

He had the LeBron retro fours on in a spike when he did that.

Spin move nasty.

Oh my goodness.

Those were in the bronze.

Yes.

I was super.

I was going crazy.

I couldn't believe it.

I didn't even know that.

I love it. Okay, let's talk about something else that we have to address uh the olympics you saw your eyes blink sideways what was that all about what was that what the fuck was that hey i need to know what happened is that always happen your eyes always blink like that or is that just uh at the olympics uh i don't know that was probably like my uh michael jackson thriller video uh moment when he went from like, you know, he kind of turned into that beast of his.
I don't know, man. I saw that and it kind of freaked me out too.
I missed that. Okay, so you also saw it and thought the same thing everybody else did.
Yeah, there was people like, oh, my God, he's actually there in Paris and he may be at his home in California at the same time. This guy's not a human.
This guy's not a human. That's real.
That was a real conversation that was happening. Oh yeah.
And I watched it a couple times. I was like, hold on.
I'll tell you what. I mean, I can't sit here and say that it was not real.
It was not. We'll just leave it at that.
We'll just leave it at that. Fair enough.
Okay, when you think about the rest of the season and you think about this Lakers team, you guys will have success if what? Wow. Well, obviously, we could go without saying any team.
Health. Health.
That's the most important for our team. We are not in a position where we can afford anybody to go down.
And then after that, Luka, myself, and AR-15, we got to be all clicking at the same time. And we know there's going to be games where that happens throughout the course of a playoff game where you know i may not be making my shots or whatever or ar is not making the shots or luca might not be making the shots but as far when i say clicking we have to be in tuned on what we got to do every single night because we got to we got to make sure everybody's in the right place every single game you know the playoffs is literally one possession to have you losing a series.
One possession can make you lose a series, and it's up to us three. Obviously, I know my voice and what I command out of guys.
That's going to be her. Lucas play.
Some people lead by example. And the way AR, his affections play, we have to make sure we have everybody in tune because we know that our coach staff is going to give us the game plan.
JJ is not going to send us out there on a wild goose chase. Nope.
He and his coach staff, they're going to make sure we know what the hell we need to do in order to get the job done. And it's up to us to go get it done.
You guys are going to mind the game. You guys are going to mind the game.
Always do. Bug.
Season two, Steve Nash. Season two.
Available soon. We can't thank you enough for stopping by.
No, I appreciate it, man. Yeah, dude.
Legitimately. You're awesome.
I appreciate you boys over there, man. I didn't know we were snapping after.
I feel like I missed it. Yeah, when I found out you was a Celtic fan, I thought you were going to throw a beer on me.
Like, what happened? No, no. What is that? What's the one? Yeah, after I went for 45 in there, you there.
That threw a beer on me on the way out.

I also do have one

kind of mythological

whatever the word is question.

You don't read those fucking books before the games,

right? All those books.

You open it to the first page and then you

don't read those fucking books ever again.

Great robot.

I actually have finished those books.

Oh, hold on.

Like, if you were to hold this,

people say you would say you read it.

This is how.

Someone take a photo.

All right, take the photo, please.

Pat, take the photo.

Yeah, we got it.

I'll take it from Miss Angle.

You probably read Rich's book.

Yeah, first page.

Wow, holy shit.

Bron read it.

And then that's it. That's it.
I didn't even talk to you guys this whole time I was up here. All I did was read the whole book.
That's like Meteor, man. That's it.
That's it. Meteor.
Everybody might not know that movie, but. It's a classic, by the way.
It's a classic. So you get.
Talk about the books. Music.
Music's another thing. Books, music.
Did you see the future of music? Acting. Acting.
Yeah, everything. Who's next in the music world if you had to give a prediction? Wow.
Yeah, because we've heard you say when I heard this guy, I knew. You know what? I don't know, man.
I don't know. That's a good question.
I literally go to when it comes to the new generation now, this is the best thing about having teenagers as well. You can literally go to them and get the whole like.
The scoop. Yeah, the scoop.
But I don't know, man. I don't know who's next up.
But I do love music, though, man. But I've definitely been listening to it.
I got ready for the game yesterday listening to Eric B and Rakimim man like i'm i'm an old school guy too so but we'll see we'll see music and sports go hand in hand so so much no for sure and no question about it your knowledge of it has certainly been something that people have shared about yeah i appreciate it hey you mind the music as well that's right mind the books do you mind the game mind the tacos yep tuesdays only on mind the movies yeah you mind the movies as long as they As long as they don't take away my mind the cookies, we'll be fine. Dang.
Matt Riley said fuck the cookies. Yeah, we'll be fine.
The heaters are done. Still love.
The heaters are done. We'll be back.
This guy doesn't have any fucking cookies. It's over.
We'll be back. It's over with, man.
We still got Spoh. We still got the...
Look, we good. I don't know.
People are saying the D-Wade cursed statue is now carrying on forever. It's a bad statue.
I haven't seen it yet. Oh, well, in person.
You don't want to. I've seen it on...
Yeah. I love my guy.
Hey, when you get your statue done, just let's make sure it's a good one. Check it before.
I'm not going to unveil it to the world. What do you mean? Got to.
That's what a fucking statue is. No, no, fuck that.
No, no, no. You're going to put it in your bed? If I need to see it multiple times.

Before we let it out.

Yes.

Because if not, that'll happen.

Yeah.

What the hell?

I mean, Wade saw his, he said.

Yeah, he said he saw it.

He liked it.

Yeah, but I think he was just sticking up for the person.

Yeah, him and his son.

Artistic expression.

Good teammate.

Looked like they didn't like it.

Yeah, he's a good teammate.

I remember that moment, though.

Yeah, when he stood on the table.

Well, I see.

Yeah. All right, LeBron.
we appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, go – yeah, okay, we're clapping.
I'm clapping for y'all. Ladies and gentlemen.
I'm clapping for y'all, man. LeBron James.
Hold on. I'm clapping for y'all, man.
I'm clapping for y'all, man. Yeah, we're snapping.
I appreciate that. I appreciate that, man.
You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, LeBron James.
All right, Steve. That was obviously an incredible honor to get a chance to chit-chat with LeBron.
I hope you had a chance to learn some things maybe you never knew about. Why don't you go ahead and use the hashtag TheLeBronversation on X and let us know and we'll read some of the reactions on the other side.
Shout out to ESPN moving this break that we were supposed to have about 25 minutes ago this long into it. It was unfiltered, unedited, and raw on youtube espn plus and tick tock live which you can certainly go back and check out and uh we can't wait to hear your thoughts on it all tax act knows filing your taxes can be complicated and that's why we have live experts to help you with any questions they can hold your hand through the process beginning.
Metaphorically, of course. I mean, they can't actually hold your hand in person.
I suppose you could hold your computer mouse while you chat with the expert about capital gains or whatever, which is sort of like holding hands. Sorry, point is, our tax experts can make filing easier.
Tax Act. Let's get them over with.
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Big day! It has been a big day. Yeah, huge.
That was a big conversation. Cannot wait to see the big reaction coming from it.
Obviously, there's been a lot of parts of that that I don't think any of us knew about. And then some stories that were confirmed true.
You know, that cookie one, nine-year NFL vet, Darius J. Butler.
I guess from the responses and reactions that I'm seeing on X and on social media, I guess the Miami media said that that story was not true. I guess that is what a lot of people down in South Florida were saying on X.
I don't know if that's true or not, but I guess it was reported that the cookie story blown out of proportion. And then right there, good journalism, we confirmed that those crispy-edged, soft, home- home baked cookies were certainly a part of the real story down there yeah you know some people call the pat riley petty or is it just you know heat cultures it just the the top the pinnacle of discipline but uh one thing i think we can all agree on you take away man's soft baked crispy edge chocolate chip cookies i mean any consequences that come from that, you better be ready for it.
You understand.

Yeah, that's right.

I got a little bit more clarity on it, the entirety of it all.

The Talks at Tables here, Bruce Brown and Ty Schmidt.

Boston Conner traveled back home alongside Talks.

Send positive things to Boston Conner.

He'll be back next week.

Ty Schmidt, what a moment there for the program.

And we let off this show.

We talked about Russell Wilson, Gavin of the Giants. Congrats, Russ.
Giants fans are saying, let's ride already. Very excited.
Stephon Diggs, $26 million going to New England. Also huge.
Huge. Trey Hendrickson, I guess they're Cincinnati's trying to get a deal done with he.
Okay, good luck there. And then we also said like, yeah, there's some things that we get to do that are outrageous.
Talking to him yesterday was an absurd thing. And then watching it back, like, I literally watched it, I think, probably just like everybody else did.
That's the most I've ever heard out of LeBron ever. And while, as soon as it ended, okay, as soon as it ended, and they filmed an episode of Mind the Game Season 2 with Steve Nash.
Steve Nash was here too afterwards. We did not know that was happening.
Another legend. We had no idea Steve Nash was going to be here.
And then all of a sudden Steve Nash walks in and it's like, holy shit. Steve Nash was here too.
We did not know that was happening. Another legend.
We had no idea Steve Nash was going to be here and then all of a sudden Steve Nash walks in and it's like, holy shit. Steve Nash is here.
And Steve Nash then I mean absolutely beat the living shit out of me and Foxy. Okay.
He didn't miss a shot. Didn't miss a shot.
I don't think he missed one shot. He said he hadn't shot in 11 years since he retired.
He's in incredible shape. He's playing tennis for single day.

He was in TST.

His form was absurd.

He started with a couple warm-ups, you know, and he was like,

I don't know.

And he rims in, okay, first one, from like, let's say, four or five feet.

Then he backs up to six feet and then splash.

Then he backs up to seven feet, splash.

Eight feet, splash.

Ten, splash.

And then he goes back to three, splash. And then the game is shooting from all five spots.
Eight feet, splash. Ten, splash.
And then he goes back to three, splash.

And then the game is shooting from all five spots.

Splash, splash, splash, splash, splash.

Gets come back around.

Splash, splash, splash, splash, splash.

It was absurd.

And then, you know, Ty, you walked out there and you go,

it's a multiple-time MVP.

Yeah, there's levels.

There is multiple times.

So Steve Nash was here. It was awesome.
But literally sitting over there, we sat there for probably three, four hours. We were here until about 8 PM last night.
Watching them record, do their thing. They took over a shot to Jason and uninterrupted.
He was a little bossy. A little bit, but hey, you got to do that.
He was a producer. He had to do what he had to do.
And Kevin came through and worked and you know, it was great, but we were chatting over there and we all thought it was pretty surreal. And then it back it's like he was so cool to us like i can't believe he did that now granted there's some internet chatter happening about maybe the reasoning on why he did it maybe okay and there's been a lot of places that have certainly been wanting to chit chat with lebron james for a long time like that and those people are probably going to be uh uh haters uh of some of the things and how we conducted conversation.
If you would like to ask the questions, do it. Get a conversation and have it your way.
But everything we talked about, I feel like we addressed a lot of outstanding things. And he blessed us with a lot of fucking answers.
And I'm very thankful for that. You know, we've been doing this a long time.
Yeah. Remember, we're in the back of a box truck down in Louisiana with no air conditioning, 135 degrees.
Correct.'s crashing but we got to go live we've been through that moment is a wild one for us and uh i i enjoyed the fact that we enjoyed it last night afterwards yeah and i think we should have because you know i mean we were even saying right up to like when you know we're okay we'll believe this when he actually shows up you know because like it's happened plenty of times you always talk about hey we don't really promote stuff for the show because there's a chance like you book someone and then you make a big deal about it and then 20 minutes before they're supposed to come on something falls through and it doesn't happen and then we're kind of just sitting here with our dick in our hands like we look like ass yeah exactly exactly but for him to come in and it i don't know if it really you know like you you could tell in the interview he literally walked in and we got right into it. Like there was no preamble, like him kind of feeling it out a little bit, seeing like, oh, okay.
So, like, yeah, people can say what they want about the reasons he decided to do it here. But regardless of that fact, like there could have been multiple moments in that when we did it when he was just like, nah, stop.
Like cut that. Like I don't really want to discuss that.
I don't really want to do that. Which a lot of people were saying was going to happen.
Exactly. As soon as we announced it, there was a lot of, nah, stop.
Like, cut that. Like, I don't really want to discuss that.

I don't really want to do that. Which a lot of people were saying was going to happen.

Exactly.

As soon as we announced it, there was a lot of people saying,

like, LeBron's, yeah, pre-recorded.

It was like, yeah, he's in the middle of an NBA season.

He's got a game.

He's flying in from the West.

Like, there's a lot of moving pieces and a lot of things happening.

So the fact that he even made time was awesome.

Then he added an extra two hours of travel.

Right.

To come here to do the entirety of it all.

And, yeah, a lot of people thought it was going to be at it. We ran it.
Yeah, exactly. That was literally the entirety of it.
And that's what a lot of people are saying. Like, you know, why is the audio dropping out? It's like because he was real.
He was dropping F-bombs. Like he was super comfortable, which, you know, I just, I don't know.
It's crazy because, like you said, you know, for him to come in and guys are professional athletes. That's one thing, but the amount of people that want to talk to him or have opinions about him or have said out-of-pocket stuff about him, for him to just sit in the pocket there with me and Connor up here too and just whatever, I'm going to go with the flow, I'm going to have fun with these guys.
It surpassed my expectations of what it was going to be. I'll remember yesterday for the rest of my life.
That was insane. There were some LeBron haters in the Thunderdome.
There were some LeBron haters in the Thunderdome. And then immediately afterwards like...
He did a lot there for us. He seemed cool too,'t he funny human charming charming i got texts from people that are in the beers this is a fascinating conversation what do you mean a fascinating conversation like lebron was just like kind of it did feel like lebron was just hanging yeah it literally felt like that it was the most candid that i've seen him like i said i've even I've even seen him on platforms that he owns.
And obviously, they probably have pre-production and know what they're going to talk about. Like you said, walking in, just sitting down.
And you know how free-flowing the show is. You didn't even know necessarily what we were going to ask when you went to us.
So for him to be that candid in that moment in the middle of the season, to take the time out, all the things that you mentioned. And he is a person that you know with all the deals and things that he has partnerships and things you want to you know protect that in some sense so for him to go into detail and talk about certain things like it was huge things i know even like when i asked him about the bronnie thing like i kind of forgot about bronnie's heart which that's huge like that's a huge thing and for him to even go in detail about that and And then why these moments mean even more to him, because you do we do, you know, especially in the media.
Now we talk about athletes and sometimes even as former professional athletes, you forget about the human aspect side side of it, the family side of it. So I see him going in detail about that and clear up some other stories.
The cookie story, obviously, a lot of people from home are pissed off about pat riley and how that all went down but um yeah it was dope million dollars on the body yeah because he was probably in his head like something more yeah yeah well never added it kind of undercutting like i took a couple trips did this at his stage 40 years old you know he is a physical specimen yes and when he walked when you forget that i think yeah i'm just on tv i think you forget that he like almost hits his head on the exit when he's walking in here you know in the pictures like it was funny whenever we lined up for the photo uh that we showed there he was like i'll get in the back he like looked around and was like i'll get in the back i. I don't want to block anybody.
And Gumpy, you know, Gumpy's 5'10", we'll say. Okay.
We'll do that. He's the one.
10? Yeah, he's the one right in between. That's a very good day, brother.
Yeah, he's 5'5". This guy, he is a little fella.
In his shoes somehow. He's got these cute little shoes.
It is unbelievable. It is unbelievable.
One of the greatest humans and hardest working humans of all time obviously a canadian but lebron literally looks right at him he goes i'll get in the back and gumpy goes oh no it's your show pile and gumpy just pokes his head around there and lebron looks down at him one time and just like shakes his head and it was like uh i assumed that he had never been in a room like what we had you know and uh i'm appreciative of him knowing our program Because when he sat down he said I've seen this place so many times I had no idea what it looked like which is what a lot of people say So the fact that he's watched is very cool to think about because as I said at the beginning like I'm 37 He's 40 so I've what like and I'm a sports guy and I like people that are like I've always been infatuated with the greats always have been. Always want to know what makes the greats great.
Always want to know how they tick, you know, the work ethic. And there's always going to be things that come along with greats now, you know.
And if you pay attention to the greats, you'll find those. There's always going to be some sort of flaw or offset because you have to sacrifice something to get to a level that nobody else has ever been.
So, like, nobody at the been perfect nowadays everybody's been covered uh more so now even more so than whenever lebron came out of uh high school in the early 2000s or whatever because how much social media is but his entire life has been documented you know and it's like for him to now granted he's pissed off people with his politics uh he's gone public with his politics which is going to happen anytime you do politics he's taking stances for things that i thought some people think uh a portion of people think like this guy shouldn't be talking about this he has no idea but then he's also done like so much good and like the way he worded that is just not wanting to fuck it up yeah that's an i think that was like the most human thing that i i think i've ever heard out of like a lebron lebron like a lebron james like there was an actual fear there like hey there's a lot of stories in the past of people having this type of opportunity and ruining it i don't want to be somebody that does that that was cool to hear the reason like his that felt like his why you know and uh i don't think i'd heard it before and the way he laid it out i was like there's a reason this guy is the one yeah there is a reason why he's been able to do it And you look around now and I don't think I'd heard it before. The way he laid it out, I was like, there's a reason this guy's the one.
There's a reason why he's been able to do it. You look around now, and I don't want to do...
Paul Skeens feels like a similar situation with baseball right now. This doesn't happen often.
Him understanding the assignment he said. He talked about the lottery.
Cleveland. Okay, lottery.
Scratch off. I understood the assignment.
And it's like it takes that, I think, to – and I bet you the league is very thankful for everything LeBron. And it's probably why LeBron has so much sway amongst players, amongst the league, because he has been it for 22 years.
day one he's guy yeah when you talk about expectations and i know skeins is a guy and we've had other and now with the media that we have like expectations are larger for a lot of different individuals but to go back to you know when he was 16 on the cover slam magazine or whatever it was his like at that point already being compared, okay, is he going to be the next Michael Jordan? And for him to, you know, live up and surpass those expectations, I know, you know, Luau Senda Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was before our time, but he kind of had those same expectations. Like before social media was really a thing, like LeBron, everybody knew who LeBron was.
Everybody expected him to be kind of what he became. So I couldn't imagine the pressure it is to kind of live up with that and him growing up, you know, saying that he, you know, didn't have necessarily those role models around him and then to become what he's become and then be that role model for so many young kids, you know, young boys in his house, first and foremost.
Like, that's just dope to see. $2.5 million was raised in the Boys and Girls Club in there.
Built a school. I didn't believe it.
We got a school. And people, to your point, people are always going to be, especially people that are viewed on the mountaintop or as the greats, people are always going to be on both sides.
We speak very, very glowingly about Michael Jordan now, but when Michael Jordan was in his heyday, a lot of people hated MJ too. A lot of people spoke on his weaknesses or whatnot.
Everybody, you go up and down the list, it's always going to be people on both sides. Just like you said, it may have been some LeBron haters in the building.
It's definitely LeBron lovers in the building as well. And that's going to be in every building, every barbershop, every group track.
You're going to have those conversations. it's kind of what comes with it when you when you kind of enter that mount rushmore conversation not only in basketball but just in sports in general business you name it yeah human yeah you you like everything when you get to the top of the mountain a lot more people know you yeah i think you know and this is gonna sound so narcissistic to bring up like our story but like the more people that know us you know and the more people that get introduced to us like the louder it gets i i think uh i don't know if it was herb she told me he was like but as you climb up the mountain the windier it gets you know like that is uh real life and that is how it all is you know but the height comes a lot of benefit but the negative is it gets louder too the more people that know you the more people that are going to like you but the more people that are definitely going to hate you.
LeBron's been known by, and you talked about it before social media. That was flip phone era.
Everybody remembers him at the WWE, the WWF at the time, I assume. And in the front row with his little flip phone, it's like, you didn't need social media to know who the hell LeBron was.
The whole world knew who LeBron was. And the way he has operated, I think he should be incredibly proud of himself.
Legit. And coming in here, and he's forever there's going to be some story or controversy.
He's a human. You know, like things do happen.
But it's like what he did here for us, I will forever be thankful for. And that was very, very, very cool of him.
Especially because we're football defenses. You know? I think we had some good NBA questions in there.
Big there big time i think we did journalism i think we did a little journalism there's people doing emergency broadcast right now to respond and then we we yeah yeah sure we we did expect that as in the conversations that we were having there afterwards as they were filming uh there was a lot of like who i wonder if insert name here knows that there's something. And then, oh, I wonder

if definitely they know.

They would know that something is.

And then, oh, kind of a ricocheted

a couple of those. But other than

that, I learned a lot about

LeBron James and the human he is.

He's got the Pacers tonight on ESPN.

I'll tell you what.

We FaceTimed Tyrese Aliburton immediately after

the conversation and said, look out, bub. Look out.
He's locked in right now just want to let you know they're they're figuring it out and tyree said so are we i don't want to hear you know tyree's doing his uh his thing but it's uh it's nice to get to know these nba dudes that was great he was uh it was awesome to hear him just as a a human a lot of times like even him bringing up the the finals against dallas or that series against orlando and like saying like hey i fucked those up like that was cool of him to hear and just being a human talking about brawny and then i love like you talked about i love hearing the greats talk about the greats and like the conversation about him and kobe not being super tight and kind of a robbery even during those u.s olympic teams until he became a laker until ko Kobe was retired. And then talking about how that's probably what's going to happen with MJ just because, like him saying, he's definitely tired of seeing me running up and down the court wearing that 23.
Him talking about that stuff was just awesome. Well, and then in that same sentence he mentioned, since I'm in high school, they've been talking about my name with this guy.
So he could see how George... And we all know Mike.
And even if you don't know Mike, you know mike and it was like oh i guess we could see how that could be true and i wonder if lebron's gonna have to deal with the same oh yeah you know whenever it happens i wonder if he's maybe if there's another one well you know we can take this over to football because like brett to aaron rogers and then how aaron wanted to do jordan love yeah i wonder if there will be a way that LeBron, like, for the next, whoever it is, is it Wemby potentially? Vastly different player. But whoever it is next, I do wonder how that relationship will go.
Yeah, it'd be interesting to see. And these guys are.
How long is this guy going to play for, too? That's the first question. But the Michael, we all know him.
You know, just I would say him and LeBron lebron just me outside looking in are different when it comes to to that i feel like you know everything yeah a lot of things a lot of things for sure kobe was more similar to michael when it came to that so um i think he'll be more open and you mentioned it being around so long like he's playing with his son but he's faced like i don't know how many players now he's like I played against your dad I played against your uncle I played against I've coached you know Steven he played against Nash he played against Redick like Redick has come up after him retired went on TV now become a coach all while he's still playing so I think he'll definitely have that type of mentor relationship with whoever the next person is Steve Nash and LeBronron James, season two of Mind the Game, debuting on Tuesday, April 1st. I do believe it is an Amazon property, but I think you can see and watch it everywhere.
We talked to Steve Nash off air, and I assume he thought it was off the record. But we're definitely going to say it because it was a great line.
He said that all the people that didn't think LeBron and Luka were going to work is because they thought that, you know, a star, whenever he's not getting the ball and he's used to getting the ball, can sometimes paddle a little bit. You know, like that's a real thing that can can happen.
You know, humans, egos, pride, everything like that could take place. So I think the people thought that they weren't going to be able to work because one of them wouldn't be able to buy into the other one being star.
Normally, it's like people take turns. is kind of how like that would would work and he said instead it feels like what he's watching is lebron's taking advantage of the fact that luca is getting a lot of the attention to being a ball so he's able to do stuff he's never been able to do before cutting backdooring being able to kind of do the off the ball that i assume he's been wanting like others to do you, like everything that he has maybe wanted and he's fully committed to that.
So I think that goes into it even more of a conversation of like, maybe this guy isn't just a prima donna prick, you know, like maybe, maybe he has been painted into a, an image that, you know, a couple of different things that have happened. And people just automatically assume the absolute worst.
It's like, this dude's willing to give up like his ego in his 22nd year in los angeles with him already being a goat for another guy trade he wasn't even if you listen to all reports right he was not talked to about he talked about how much he likes anthony davis and it's like he's just like yep and he's called uh jj reddick what a dickhead so it's like there's obviously coaching happened It's like I feel like I have a much different perspective of LeBron after talking to him, and I just keep saying I can't take him enough for it. A lot of people would take shots at him early on, even in high school.
Like he was always more passive. People would say like, hey, you know, take the shot.
Take the last shot every time. I don't care if you double team.
Don't pass it up to the better shot because that's kind of who he was as a player was, hey, I'm going to be a team player. I'm going to get the best shot.
I'm going to put my players in the best position to succeed. And people wanted him to be the Kobe who's going to take the final shot, be the MJ who's going to take the final shot.
So once you're in that position, you're never going to make everybody happy. I feel like he's definitely stayed true to himself.
And that's that's what i also admire well to your point like i think he's just like at peace with everything now like he does he doesn't give a shit about the you know argument between him and lebron because like when you get to his level like in his head it you're never gonna win that anyway you know like he probably thinks he's the best of all time he should but and you know like it doesn't matter what he does at this stage of his career. The Lakers could win the next two NBA finals, and that's not going to sway how anyone who is on the Jordan side thinks anyway.
So like you said, he's at peace with it. It's like, you know what? My resume is signed, sealed, and delivered.
It's set in stone. So if it takes me just sitting in the corner and hitting open threes or cutting to the basket and dunking and I can kind of pass the torch on to Luka to be the next star of the Lakers, I'm good with that.
People are going to say what they're going to say regardless. He was awesome.
Thank you, Brawny. Foxy, you've been a Brawn enthusiast your entire life.
As soon as it was over you and Mitt oh man who's a big Bron guy we're like that was awesome so mind blown so he mentioned that night in Detroit where he scored 25 points I was probably 12, 13 years old and ever since that night I'll never forget it I was like this is the guy so I've been on this lebron journey ups downs championships losing championships all this stuff the whole time and countless countless countless lebron jordan arguments i mean you have to do that but to see him in the flesh like ty said didn't know if he was actually going to come i didn't want to get my hopes up and then to see him we do the interview immediately i couldn't have got out of this seat faster walked out there immediately legend dapped him up he was so cool he was so nice i'll literally never forget did you guys snap after the dap up no snap from him or me so we were kind of on the right page there that was interesting he dropped that in there out of nowhere you know because he's got handshakes for everybody so i didn't know what to be honest might be your handshake. Yeah, I think it is.
Okay.

I didn't get a snap either.

The rhythm of the snap was something

I've never experienced before.

It was very quick

after the...

You know,

usually there's like a boom

and then like a little...

Like a little...

Oh, we're doing a little...

Boom.

And then instead it was like...

He's got those massive hands.

They get there just right away.

You know?

Boom.

Big fingers.

You know, it's like...

Well, because he probably

doesn't want to take them away.

That's a long trip.

Exactly. We've got to get back.
away. That's a long trip.
Exactly.

We're going to get back.

Yep.

So.

Huge.

He's absolutely huge.

He had a couple of bars in there too.

Everything becomes Sasquatch.

I think was one of the things that he said.

It was like, oh, I bet you he explains that about a lot of stories about him.

How about the two kids, two guys, Caucasian gentlemen who are outside the elevator the elevator oh my god it's LeBron oh oh I didn't what a moment F-U-K-L-B-J he's heard a lot of that throughout his life and we're thankful that he stopped by I don't know what the hell we're going to talk about uh nobody there's gonna be we would be wasting every conversation that now. For instance, for instance, Trey Hendrickson in Cincinnati might get done.

Oh, wow.

Oh, yeah.

Maybe.

What makes you say that?

Well, there's been a report, you know, a little latte, a Starbucks Air and Starbucks Jouster.

Yeah.

Basically saying that they're looking to basically complete a sweep of paying all of their players. This has kind of been the M.O.
or the statement coming out of the Bengals since the beginning. They said they want to be able to pay Jamar Chase and T.
Higgins. Everybody said that's not possible.
Remember, he said ideally we'd keep both Jamar and T. They did.
Congratulations. And then as he spoke about Duke Tobin, spoke about Trey Hendrickson, would like to keep Trey Hendrickson here as well.
Didn't think it would be possible to be able to pay both wide receivers and Trey Hendrickson. Didn't think it would be possible to pay one of the wide receivers and Trey Hendrickson and pay the other wide receiver.
But now it's being reported that they're going to try to do it. So I'm not going to doubt them just strictly because they dunked on me pretty good for not thinking that they'd be able to get both wide receivers done.
But if they're able to get all three of these guys done, gonna have to hit on the draft like that is gonna have to be the case but other teams have been able to do it yeah but other teams have been able to i mean what a lot of the good teams that people always refer to the eagles being one of the examples one of the best i would say the best example to defend the super bowl champs is they pay their guys early so they don't but you know when you get to this point and now the market it jumps up year by year by so much you know put yourself in this situation we talk about it all the time when you when you're not on when you're not with the quarterback that's not in their rookie deal so joe burrow has already been paid you paid your two receivers and now you're going to pay uh the the reigning sack king right now it's like hey it's going to be a tough time filling out the rest of that roster maybe bring in you know the thunderome squad. We can get some shit done.
Yeah, yeah, we do got some. It'll be interesting to see how Duke Tobin gets this done, but obviously he is one of their best players.
I'm bummed out to hear this as a Colts fan. I was hoping some way, somehow, we got him back with Lou over here with our defense.
But most importantly, I hope Trey gets his well-earned money because he's been a dog since stepping foot in the league. Yeah, Trey's been good to us, obviously.
And what he said on our program at Radio Row was kind of the big, like, well, wait a minute. Are they going to be able to get Trey done? Are they trying to get Trey done? And Trey's like, I love Cincinnati, but, like, also, at some point, I need to be given what I'm worth.
There's been a couple years now where they've kind of extended it. Hopefully he's able to make his money, get his money, and if they're able to keep him in Cincinnati, that's phenomenal work by Duke Tobe.
We'll see how it all goes. Go ahead, Ty.
Ultimately, are they going to have to meet in the middle somewhere? I understand they're trying to get it done, but if they come back to him and they're like, how does $32 million a year sound? It's like, well, I'm the reigning sack king, and you've got guys making $39 million, $40 million a year. So do I need to take a hometown discount? I know he said he loves Cincinnati, but the proof is still going to be in the pudding.
Is that necessarily fair that because they've already paid those two guys, they want him to stay? That doesn't necessarily mean that he should have to take a big pay cut for what he thinks he's truly worth. Okay, I don't know if it's a pay cut or not.
Russell Wilson last year was getting paid $1 million by the Pittsburgh Steelers and like $36 or $40 or something from the Denver Broncos. Yesterday it's announced he signs a one-year $10.5 million guarantee up to $21 million in the one year.
They obviously signed Jameis Winston to a four million per year job

a week ago or whatever. And they got

Tommy Cutlets in there. Dayball

was obviously on a mission this offseason

to get a veteran quarterback, understanding the situation,

especially what has happened over the last couple

years, and understanding that Hard Knocks

offseason basically showcased the

Saquon Barkley decision, and then

Saquon goes on to be the Offense Player of the Year and

MVP, basically, and have the greatest

season in the history of any running back.

So that's tough. But now,

we got a chance to win. They bring in Russell Wilson.

Let's go to New York Giants

football fan, Bruce Brown.

You guys going to Super Bowl or what?

I don't know about the Super Bowl, but...

I'm fired up.

It seems like Giants Nation is

a bit torn, and to all the Giants fans that are

upset about us signing Russell Wilson

I would just say who do you think we are

like we tried to get Matt Stafford

he stayed home he didn't want to

move across the country. 100 million guaranteed

you guys were going to get him. Yes exactly to come be a New York

Giant I would imagine we offered Aaron

Rogers much more or at least

a few million more than what the

Steelers are offering but obviously

he would probably rather be a Pittsburgh

Steeler. We are what we are and we got to build something here to attract future free agents that might want to come here and just put a respectable season together and I think Russ is a great uh you know first really second step um the behind Jameis you know coming as a as the backup uh you know towards that goal.
I think our roster is a lot better than a lot of people, you know, might think, especially on the offensive line end of things. But, you know, still certainly holes to fill and steps to take.
But I think it's a great first step. And, you know, now looking at the draft, we could still go Shador 3 and have him sit behind Russ for, you know, maybe eight, nine games and then let Shador go out there.
Or we go Travis Hunter, maybe Trey back in, Jackson Dart. Okay, here we go.
Now we're working. Now we're wheeling and dealing.
More options on the table for the draft. And I'm pumped up about it.
I love to hear that. And Russell Wilson's post, obviously, he won the Super Bowl there, but they beat the Broncos.
So he says, I know this place pretty well. He goes, this is the place where Zito took the top off an RV right outside.
Yeah, that's right. A lot of people saying he's the first guy to ever be excited to go to MetLife Stadium.
See, that's not good. But it's a shithole.
That's what I'm saying. Eternal optimist.
He is. He loves going to MetLife.
MetLife Stadium. That quarterback room.
Let's ride. Is he going to let's ride? What do you think it's going to be? He didn't do anything with the Steelers, right? No.
I tried riding it. No.
And maybe that's why he lost the juice in the last half of the season. He hopped off the penny.
Yeah. But fun fact, ESPN bet came out with their win total for the NFL.
Giants are the lowest at three and a half. So they don't believe.
With Russell Wilson? What was it before? 3.5. Yeah, Russ changed now.
Obviously, we have our division, then we play the entire NFC North and the Chiefs, pretty much. Yikes! I can find, let's see.
The Raiders, Saints, Patriots. That's a tough schedule.
Maybe the Bears. Maybe the Broncos.
Man, the Bull, your head coach, looking at this thing going, what did I do? Yeah, what the hell did we do to deserve this? They better not be on prime time, that's all I think. They will.
Five straight weeks of it, brother. Oh, yeah.
Five straight weeks. We're going to be forced to watch it.
Good luck to Russell, man. Good luck, Russell.
Congratulations to Stephon Diggs. Obviously, he has a leg injury.
He secures another $26 million in another prove-it type contract, which he certainly can and would be able to with Drake May. That's a huge deal for New England as we have about a minute here debuts.
Yeah, good deal for New England. I think a great deal at this point in his career for Stephon Diggs.
He's made a ton of money in his career. He knows what it's like to be a number one receiver.
From what I've seen online, at least from Dr. Reif and him and his posts, he looks like he's trending in the right direction health-wise.
So I'm looking forward to Drake May getting another certified weapon on offense. This makes the draft even more exciting for what the Patriots do at the top.
Oh, Travis Hunter and Stephon Diggs. Oh, wow.
That'd be pretty great. But the way those first four picks are going, literally anything can happen right now.
Especially with what the quarterback stuff happening. And then there's some Browns quarterback

conversation happening. There's a lot going

on. We'll continue to cover it

all every day

that you'll allow us. We can't thank

LeBron enough. It's been LeBron-versation

Wednesday, March 26,

2025 here on ESPN. We roll

on on YouTube, ESPN+, Disney+, and

TikTok Live. We'll see you tomorrow.

Be your front, tell your friend something nice. It might change your life.
Goodbye. That was a pretty good sign-off.
I felt pretty good about that one. Nailed it.
Felt pretty good about that one. People are not happy about the muting of the swear words on ESPN.
Yeah. We should have put on the bottom, unfiltered on YouTube.
They should know at this point. A lot of people do not know our show or watch it.
A lot of people know LeBron. They were tuning in.
Have you just looked at the amount of followers you have? Yeah, he's got a lot. I checked that out last night.
You know, because we started talking about it. We're like, this is the biggest.
This is by far the biggest that has ever been on the program. By far.
Like, Aaron Rodgers is a megastar. Yeah.
Peyton Manning. Insanely famous.
What about Dewey? It's the thing, though. The Rock.
Dewey. That's the thing.
that's the thing like football obviously America but these basketball it was like James Harden Steph Curry like these like U.S. you know numbers wise probably not even the top three when it comes to like actual people not money wise yeah but soccer soccer players same thing so yeah when you get those big time, their brands are so, so wide.
It's crazy how many people follow them. We're getting quoted in different languages, obviously.
Oh, yeah. And I hope they, if they do a lip dub of me, I hope it's a good one.
I'm sure it will be. I hope in their language they got a little pizzazz.
You know, I hope they get it right. Because I've been've been dying this international road before sure it was not for a conversation with lebron james it was for a conversation with rogers during a time where there was a shot you know yeah and won't he was he didn't want he was not no he was never going to wasn't getting it was doctor not doing it he consulted with dr jo at the time.
Also, like three other actual doctors. Nobody talks about that.
Had a 500-page report. Boy, I was getting murdered in different languages.
I mean, just the entire planet was just burying me. Look at the flappy arms on a guy next to him.
This fatso is going to be on a conversation about health. I don't think so.
Jesus, what language is that? And I'm asking the internet to translate. And I'm like, stop translating, please.
It was better when it was just a bunch of letters and I didn't understand what it was saying. Let me get out of here.
Let me keep it moving. I assume the same thing here.
Miles teller saga. Oh, that's a whole other animal.
Yeah. Different languages.
Yeah, exactly. Buried.
Swedish tabloids tell me I'm the worst human of all time. Can we translate that?

This piece... The Swedes?

I think so.

Come on.

I'm telling you, I think it was them.

I forget who it was.

But LeBron here, he certainly...

I assume shows are going to use that for the next year.

Long time.

Year?

Long time.

So he put that in the bank for the next decade, I think.

Be okay.

Quotable moment.

Rapper Sean Diddy Combs was a kingmaker.

He had wealth, fame, and power.

What's up? Welcome to New York!

Until it all came crashing down.

Federal investigators raiding two homes owned by hip-hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs.

I'm Brian Buckmeyer, an ABC News legal contributor. As Diddy heads to trial, we trace his remarkable rise and fall and what could be next.
Listen to Bad Rap, The Case Against Diddy, a new series from ABC Audio. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
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Whatever you do, do it for less at Harbor Freight. Big day! It has been, and what an honor it has been to be here.
The Talks to Table at Bruce Brown and Ty Schmidt looking fantastic. Opening day tomorrow.
Oh, God, I cannot wait. Opening day of the baseball season is tomorrow, Ty Schmidt.
And I'll let you two Yankees diehards know, tomorrow on the program, Derek Jeter. Oh, my God.
What? The captain. Holy shit.
Oh, my God. Yeah.
I'd take a bullet for Jeter any day of the week for the rest of my life. Well, you wouldn't be.
You're just saying. That would be the last day of my life.
Yeah, you wouldn't be able to do it every week But you're saying if a week comes If like Jeet's 95 years old Living in a nursing home And some like Colombian hitmen in Miami Decide hey we gotta get rid of this guy And I get wind of it I'm down there I'll take every single one of them For your captain He'll be on tomorrow What captain, my captain, yes. He'll be on tomorrow.
Hell yes. Talking about OKC.
Fucking go. What are the storylines? Are the Yankees going to win this year or no? We'll see.
That's what's kind of tough is because, as you know, the baseball season is so fucking long that, like, there are storylines, but, I mean, we are... Nothing matters for the next, like, month and a half.
You know what does matter? What's that? Shohei Otani's back on a bump. Yeah.
Shohei Otani, last year, end of season. Now, they would go on to win the World Series and all that.
He was taking pitching sessions. Never played, never pitched.
We were hoping that there would be a moment where he would come out and maybe close the game out, whatever it was, because Shohei is obviously a phenom. It is a one-of-one, in every single sense he's back doing it so we got a chance this year we're going to see the Shohei Otani experience you know people chit-chatted about Babe Ruth was basically the last guy who pitched and hit as well as he did but inevitably would just go on to to hit there normally if you're as good of a hitter as Shohei Otani is we're not wasting any of that in a chance to ruin it with.
And if you're as good of a pitcher as you are, Shohei Otani, we're not going to blow any of that with having you hit. So he's the first guy, offense, defense, special teams, he's playing every single position on the field.
And there was a conversation that maybe he would never get back to pitching because how good he did hitting, how much money they paid him, how well the team did. This feels like maybe he is going to get back to pitching.
And how do the baseball people feel about Shohei Otani's ability to be able to do both of these things? I mean, it definitely can be. I'm of the thought that the Dodgers pitching staff is so deep.
They went out and got a bunch of starting pitchers. So they don't really need him to pitch per se and i just always worry when a guy has had issues before like it would suck if shohei does something to his elbow that kind of to the point where like he can't even hit and they lose him for a season and we potentially like start to you know not not saying like what could have been because what he's already done in his career is you know like, like will probably never be replicated.
But I just worry because they're so deep, like he's unbelievable, obviously. So it's kind of like, I mean, are we really going to, you know, limit what this guy can do because he's unbelievable.
But it's also like he is so good at the plate, too, that do we even want to take the risk of him potentially getting hurt because we have the best pitching staff in baseball, too. We went out and spent a bunch of money on that.
They don't necessarily need him to do it, but it's one of those things where you've got a guy throwing 100 miles an hour. He has nasty stuff.
As a competitor, I'm sure he wants to continue to pitch. So you two are Yankees, guys.
Yes. Okay, as the coastal elitistness has made its way out here to the Thunderdome and I hate that we're just part of the problem.
You know, just pushing the agenda of the Yankees. Because you know what I heard, D.
Butch? What's that? Well, the Mets run New York now. I heard those.
Start spreading the news. No.
We'll see. Gaines left yesterday.
There is no Sinatra at Citi Field, but they did have... I saw Jerry Seinfeld there.
He is a Mets fan. Yes.
Yeah, I've seen him there. I've seen the trumpets there.
They also got. He's back.
The Rizzler was there. The Rizzler.
Shit. What did I? Was the Rizzler there? The Rizzler was full of Mets here.
That's it. That's it.
The Rizzler don't know shit about sports. You see his bracket.
Everyone said, oh, no. He was four or no.
Oh, yeah. He picked St.
John's to win the national championship. They didn't even make it to the fucking Sweet 16.
Wow. Come on.
Come on. Yeah.
So did this show. Yeah, we did, too.
We bet pretty heavily on that. So us and the Rizzler are seeing the field the same damn way.
Yeah, we didn't have Yale in the Final Four. You know, come on, Rizzler.
He's trying to get an education. He understands.

He's working.

He's working a little bit.

I don't give a shit if the Rizzler's a fan of the Mets

because, once again, once we do the blood sacrifice

of Big Boom AJ and his son,

the Yankees are back.

Big time.

Who else got a shot outside of the Yankees?

Dodgers.

Pirates.

Red Sox loaded up for the first time in a while.

Phillies will be good.

The Braves are always tough. Pittsburgh Pirates.
Yep. They could be a dark horse.
Yeah. The pitching staff.
They can stay healthy. Great pitching staff.
Yeah, if they can stay healthy, they will be a dark. Skeens, a lot of people picking him to win Cy Young.
So, yeah, for the first time in a long time, you might be keeping a close eye on the Pirates. Pittsburgh Pirates come September.
Paul Skeens does that to a city, to a franchise, to a team, to a league. Paul Skeens is coming there, humble.
Super humble. So much moxie.
Military, man. Understands exactly who he is, what he can be, and I think he understands what he means to the sport of baseball.
Definitely to Pittsburgh. He gave a promo in a press conference, I think, last week that was like, the city of Pittsburgh deserves our team to be good.
We're all getting excited about a wild card win. I think we won a wild card game a couple years back.
Kutch was on the team. He was awesome.
He was like, the Pittsburgh fans still talk about the wild card game being the thing. He was like, I respect that.
I appreciate that. But that can't be what the standard is.
Like we need to do this. He gave like a motivational speech to the city of Pittsburgh.
Love that. And I think it's radiated through the Pirates kind of organization.
Now the ownership, always going to take money. Okay, always going to take the money.
But I think they're being like publicly forced to kind of do a little bit more maybe. And his other hundo boy, Jones, they feared for the worst.
Turns out he's going to be able to get back. The pitching, not only Skeens, they got some pitchers.
They got some people that can hit. Look at the Pittsburgh Pirates with the best ballpark in the damn league about to do the damn thing with Paul Skeens.
I cannot wait until we can get Skeens and some pinstripes. Right? I mean, I wish he could just say that's the important thing about this MLB.
He's got to spend six more years in Pittsburgh. He can turn it around.
He can turn the franchise around, you know, pitching. What do they pitch? Once every five, seven days? Once every five days.
I hate that as well. But, yeah, I'm wishing you guys the best, but that shit ain't happening.
How are your Marlins looking, D-Los? Just as bad. Probably 10 times worse.
They got the Buccos game one tomorrow.

Oh, okay.

Big game.

Make sure you guys ask the captain about the Marlins

and how shit went down there and why he got the Marlins.

Yeah, he loves it down there.

What happened?

A lot of people say that he was like a sleeper agent for the Yankees

and kind of got in there, got rid of all the Marlins' best players,

traded him to the Yankees, kind of set him back like 15, 20 years.

It's not.

And then fucking got out of Dodge.

It's not true. He was in a can't win situation.

It is not true, but that's what a lot of people feel like.

Listen to the Yankees fans go,

our captain.

Want to another team to work for us.

Yeah, it was awesome at the time.

Now, you know, Giancarlo, Jesus.

Can't use his arms.

Yeah, can't use his arms.

The guy can't hold a fork.

The most jacked guy in the history of humanity. And he fucking, yeah, can't un use his arms.
Yeah, can't use his arms. The guy can't hold a fork.
He's the most jacked guy in the history of humanity. He fucking can't unzip his pants.
Having trouble drinking a cup of coffee. He needs to have surgery on both of his bionic elbows.
He's got a hammy problem now, too. He swings the bat like five miles per hour faster than anybody else in Major League Baseball.
I think O'Neal Cruz was second highest and now he just can't even... Why? What are you talking about? His arms are...
He squeezes the bat so tight that now he can't straighten his arms. That was the report this offseason.
When he makes contact, he hits it like 10,000 miles an hour and hits a homer every time he makes contact, but when he doesn't, he usually strikes out and tweaks something. You don't want to see that guy rounded third on his way to home either.
He's so injury prone that they told him last year not to run fast, so he was just jogging around. It's basically like, hey, if you don't...
This guy's too strong. Can he not dial it back? Has anybody talked to him and just said, hey, bud, let's...
He's too strong. They tell him not to run.
Can't really put the genie back in the bottle. No, I mean, we're talking hitting bombs out the center field that, like, care him off the wall, and he just, he'll jog the first and just stay there.
We don't need you legging out a double. God forbid you try to get to third.
We don't need you pulling a hammy. He's healthy to start this season? No.
He can't use arms. Squeezing the bat too tight.
He can't pick up a grain of sand right now. Hey, Jean, we hope you're okay.
We hope you Godspeed on the way back. He just stands.
He worked too hard. He was too strong.
Yeah. Too explosive.
Was dealing with it in the playoffs and just kept mashing dingers anyway. Really just need him for the playoffs.
Total. He's an absolute dog.
With that being said, all this comes from the amount of hard work he puts in. Yeah.
You know, you don't sweep that fast just because you woke up that way. Exactly.
Granted, there is a gift, but then he's got to work. He's just too jacked, you guys say.
Yeah. You guys have a player that's too jacked on the Yankees.
You have Aaron Judge. Yep.
He was MVP last year? Yeah, he's won MVP, too, the last three years. A lot of people are thinking he may win MVP again because he is unbelievable.
The season hasn't even started. What are they talking about? They have no idea.
Kind of the same thing. We think there's a good chance Paul Skeens wins Cy Young.
We know that's going to happen. We'll see.
Skeens is a favorite. We know Shohei is going to pitch and hit, right? That's going to be sweet.
And we know that, inevitably, Pittsburgh Pirates start spreading the news. Are they in the same as the Yankees? No, it'd be the World Series.
So you guys would have Russell Wilson? I believe. Holy shit.
Yankees Pirates, I believe, are in town when we're in Pittsburgh for Big Night Out. That? That week, I believe the Yankees are in town.
Okay. So we'll try to make that happen for sure.
That would be sweet. You think Russ plays or no? I'll tell you what.
We need a third baseman. That's what I'm saying.
He lives in New York now. Utility guy.
He can do this finally. This is something.
Maybe this is why he chose the Giants. Maybe there's conversations elsewhere.
I don't think there was convos elsewhere. Hasn't been done since prime.
I mean, I saw on the internet, you guys are in a bind now since he signed with them. So there were conversations.
I don't know what you're privy to. You're in the bind and way behind.
I'm privy to that the Steelers did not want Russell Wilson back. He wanted to be a Steeler until, you know, he said, well, Giants are really the only team left that wants me.
So when you say the Steelers didn't want him back, that's the fans you're talking about? No. We're talking about the organization, the fans.

Jeez.

I mean, Caboli wanted him back, it seems.

Well, yeah, Caboli did.

Scored too many points against the Bengals, and Artie Smith said,

hey, stop Ottawa and hit the line of scrimmage.

Tone it down.

Hand it off to Naj.

Let's talk about the Steelers quarterback situation.

You know, the Ohio State Pro Day is happening.

Mike Tomlin, Omar Khan, and

Arthur Smith all in attendance. Guess who they're

watching? The running backs.

Of course. And also

national champion

quarterback, Will

Hyde, who's being compared

to... Seven?

Big Bang Rol. Yeah!

Yeah, he is. Yeah, they went to dinner last night

with two running backs, Trayvon Henderson, Quinshaw, Judkins, and a quarterback, Will Howard.

Love that.

Where'd they go?

Somewhere in Columbus.

Probably Chophouse.

Probably Urban's Chophouse.

Nobody was dancing, though.

Nobody wanted to dance for it.

Stayed away from them.

But, no, they took those three to dinner last night.

It was reported.

Huge pro day today.

They've brought running backs in.

They're going to bring both those running backs from Ohio State, I believe, in for a top 30. And it feels like Will could be on the board.
And I'm pretty pumped about that. I'm down to two quarterbacks that I would potentially want for this draft.
Number one was Jackson Dart. Number two was Will Howard.
And if there's anyone other than that, I'll be pissed. Quinn? Quinn's a good guy.
He's got a great arm. He's got moxie.
He's not a Steelers quarterback. What team is Quinn you're as good for, you think? It's not the Steelers.
Like a McVay offense, like a KOC-type offense. Dolphins? Great with the fence.
That's what you're talking about. Pittsburgh Steelers, we got play action.
We got to be a big boy. We are in the AFC North.
We're driving the ball through the wind. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
Yeah, we're driving. Now, Will Howard's going to have to throw the ball today.
Yeah. Like, most pro days, nothing bad can happen.
Right? Most pro days. Yeah.
It's like, hey, this is a choreographed workout. Exhibition, yeah.
This is a routine, basically, that has been practiced. But with what happened at the combine, the way people were talking about that, Will Howard should throw the ball well today.
To his people that don't know, he will throw the ball well. But also, like, kind of has to.
Yeah. Yeah, I think, like, kind of.
And if he does, I think he quiets a lot. That happened from the combine.
But if he has a day, like, I think the NFL posted Quinn Ewers throwing a duck.

Did you see that?

Yeah, they posted a bomb, and then they said, look at the gun.

And it was, I mean, it went far, but it was not a spiral. That was a wobble.
That was safety corner. We talk about this literally all night.
We talk about this all the time. Social media person just sent Quinn Ewers into a fire.
Like, literally into a fire. Didn't know ball in that moment.
Like, yeah, traveled far, but that thing, that looked bad. I think Quinn Ewers did not win from that particular clip, but nonetheless, they say Quinn is a guy and can spin it.
We all agree that he can. But Pro Day, I think, matters more now.
Yeah, they posted that. Oh, shit.
I mean, that's a long throw. That's a long throw.
It looked like a punt. I didn't know it was that.
Did you see it? No, this is the. I didn't know it was that a warbler.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, especially with the white backdrop.
I mean, it looks like it was a punt, you know. It got there, I guess.
You know, Peyton used to throw some ducks that got there. There were a lot of touchdown wobbles, too.
Exactly, yeah. Long time they get there.
Yeah, you're right. I agree.
But who knows if he's throwing every ball like that or if that's just the one ball. Texas put out another deep throw that was a nice pretty spiral.
Yeah, because Quinn has that.

He's got that. Quinn's got a good

release. Will Howard, though, I think needs to show

that he can throw the NFL ball, I think, personally.

Big, big pro day for him. Obviously, we talked

to him after the National Championship

so he didn't go to the Senior Bowl

to compete and throw throughout

that week in front of evaluators and coaches.

So, big, big pro day for him.

One of his receivers also, Ibuka, he ran a pretty good time. I think it would help him probably sneak into that first round, running a 4-4.
So, big, big day for those Buckeyes. We're getting some footage here.
This is from Chase Brown at Chase A. Brown underscore.
We'll hire the Brandon Innes, and that is in a bucket. Okay.
Big boy throw. Tight spiral there, too.
You know, we were actually in a room that was right over, attached to this facility that has, like, ten recliners, six TVs. It's that window up there.
Yeah, it's right on the, yeah. There's a basketball court down there.
Very kind. And there's trophies from the 1910 all the way through now.
Yep. Littered through that building.
They have a showcase room that has, I don't know, a thousand trophies. Give or take.
A thousand trophies. That's my quarterback.
That's why we're, I mean, that's a hell of a ball. That's a big deal for Will Howard, man.
Especially, like, the only reason why I know that is because how loud I was about Will Howard after watching his playoff run from the sideline and being like, there's a guy. He's big.
He can run. His teammates like him.
He's making all the biggest plays in the biggest moments. I mean, 3rd and 11, I understand Jeremiah Smith's wide open, but still got to make the play in the national championship to win the game he did.
How much football he has played has been something that a lot of people talk about over the last couple years for rookies. How much ball do they play in college played a lot of football um so i was a big fan i was very loud about hey why is nobody talking about will howard love the cam ward conversation love the chador sanders conversation jackson dart came into the convo a little bit more we were missing out on that i think as well but i just want to know why nobody was talking about the national champion will howard who just had a run that was phenomenal i know he's throwing two great wide receivers but he was putting the ball in places and when the lights were the brightest he played his absolute best so i i thought this is a guy is a guy and then the comment happens everybody's like just like we fucking said yeah nobody's talking about him today can change all that and i think when draft comes somebody's gonna love to love Will Howard.
I think somebody's going to love Will Howard.

Agreed.

You saw what Hall of Fame quarterback, quarterback guru,

guy knows quarterback.

Kurt Warner said that was the greatest four-game stretch

he's ever seen in his entire life.

No, I think he said of the season.

I don't think he said of the entire life.

Maybe.

He said any quarterback from the entire season, I think.

Well, okay. He might have said it.
He said it was great four games. Well said.
Will. Well said.
Oh, so you think Will Howard's going to the Pittsburgh Steelers? Signed, sealed, delivered. He's ours.
Okay, because they went to dinner last night? Yeah, and they're just standing right behind him saying they're basically running his workouts. Oh, so you say it's like whenever Urban Meyer was with Trevor Lawrence.

Yeah.

And when the Chicago Bears were with Caleb.

Yeah.

You're saying like this has been decided.

Yeah.

Hey, picture this.

Graduation.

This QB room.

Raji, the goatee, Mason Rudolph, and Will Hire.

Will Hire.

Rejuvenated. Go win a Super Bowl.
Win a Super Super Bowl And then you got the future Years to come Will Hire Bang I think he'd be a good Pittsburgh Steeler too I think he would too He was throwing 11 o'clock at night In the parking lot Cold Oh he likes to throw To good wide receivers We got him You do And one changes number Because the other one's Going to wear the other number. Everybody thought maybe that wouldn't be a tandem or a duo.
Sounds like it might be. 14 is GPs.
That's his legacy. I'll make mine in four.
That's what DK Metcalf said. After getting paid $30 million a year for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Rich Eisen mentioned it to Cam Hayward. It's a great take.
If we were told you 13 years ago that the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to pay $30 million a year to a wide receiver that has never played for the Pittsburgh Steelers before, what would you say? And Kevin Harris was like, we know. We know that it's time.
So we've got a lot of vets here. They're trying to change it.
They're trying to attack it. They're trying to go get it.
That's why the Aaron Rodgers conversation is so loud because it's like you listen to any player talk about Aaron Rodgers and they say, yeah, would be able to go win right now if Aaron Rodgers. You listen to media people talk about Aaron Rodgers, they say, is it worth the poison? All that.
That's how media, and a lot of fans, you know, think that as well. But you listen to any player, it's like, get Aaron in here, game's going to be better.
Like, that's just how it's going to go. Minnesota still in the game with Aaron Rodgers.
I guess. Really? The Pittsburgh Steelers still in the game.
I don't know. That's what Kweisi, who's the general manager for the Minnesota Vikings, had a press conference today, and he was asked about Aaron Rodgers.
And he said, I never want to be a thousand percent on anything or yada, yada, yada. But then, yeah, here it is.
Vikings GM Kweisi Adolfo Mensah confirmed coach Kevin O'Connell talked with Aaron Rodgers and then Rodgers was a consideration. A player like him is always going to be in those conversations, but from our delineations at that time, we're happy with where we are going forward.
Obviously the caliber of player he is, it had to be a part of our conversation. Then Adolfo Mensah added right now, we're happy right now is a big one.
We're happy with our quarterback room on JJ McCarthy. He said at every checkpoint, whether it was the draft process or practice until the injury or the offseason now he's met the bar so at right now and uh delineations at the time you know it's like we talked about it we certainly did we moved on but never says absolutely not because i guess there is a moment in time where it could happen and you don't want to have her have to put your foot in the mouth or have one of those moments but it's like is aaron just waiting on pittsburgh steelers and potentially retirement is there another team that we haven't heard about potentially that aaron wants to what is going on you think and people are going to ask us to tell them i have no fucking idea i have reached out we are we are in the dark but also we understand that he's got a lot going on probably mentally, thinking about everything, how it was the last couple years, what his career was, how Green Bay ended, what he's accomplished, how much money he's made, his philanthropy that he's doing.
Obviously, he's award-winning and giving back. His experiences, we all know he likes to travel, get out of the country, go do stuff we've never heard of and everything like that.
So I wonder what all is being contemplated right now. I mean, the graphic, I was just upset.
Then there was two, but obviously that was probably put together before the Russell Wilson signing in New York. So I can't think of another place outside of Pittsburgh where he'll end up.
I know Kwesi, you know, didn't really speak in like, hey, we're absolutes. But, you know, it kind of feels like that's J.J.'s job.
J mccarthy you know i saw him yesterday on my timeline draining a big clutch but yeah it's all dano talking about how just impressed he's been with his presence around uh out there in mexico so um i think it's jj's job he drafted him in the top 10 he was obviously look at this look at this but what a read wow got in him. Good thing.
That was a good – Stance was interesting, but he got the job done. But I think they'll start their clock with J.J.
McCarthy and see if that's really your guy for KLC and the Minnesota Vikings. Excited to watch it.
And the thought of J.J. McCarthy being the starter for that Vikings team, it's like, welcome to the NFL, and this is a good situation.
And J. and JJ McCarthy in good situations has performed very well yes delivered he has always delivered high school I

think he did college he obviously did dropped in as a freshman then he gets given the job over

another quarterback who took Michigan to the college football playoff like in real time so

he's always been a guy and you listen to like Herbstreit talk about him you listen to other

people talk about him they're like he's he's a guy and he needs to be talked about as if he's always been a guy. And you listen to like Herbstreet talk about him.
You listen to other people talk about him. They're like, he's, he's a guy and he needs to be talked about as if he's a guy.
It's like, all right, I'm excited to watch if that's the case, especially with Kevin O'Connell. Big time.
I mean, it is a lot like Will Howard coming out. Like he had that run to win the national championship.
I think the one thing that he might be ahead of, of Will Howard is on the accuracy side. Like he, he's always, you know, kind of putting it where he wants it, at least in the college game and what we saw in the preseason.
I'm excited for him to get this opportunity. I personally believe in J.J.
McCarthy and think that he will win at the NFL level, especially with all the talent around him. What about, like, backup and all that, though? Like, are they looking for yeah they didn't tannahill's name was yeah it was last yep when you were in glasgow we we talked about it a bit uh with yeah schultz he's saying um schultz he's saying that ryan tannahill's name they've checked in on him it's like where'd flacco son nowhere he hasn't yet he was with the giants for a second he visited yeah i mean flacco with kevin o'connell Brissette sign? Nowhere.
He hasn't yet. He was with the Giants for a second? He visited.
I mean, Flacco with Kevin O'Connell. Brissette sign? Jacoby? Where did Jacoby? No, Jacoby's still a free agent.
Okay, I remember it was conversations. Yeah, wasn't there like seven? No, New England, right? No, that's Dobbs.
Josh Dobbs, yeah. And Milton.
Jacoby, where was Jacoby?'t there was it Colts? He was linked somewhere

and had conversations somewhere. I've just

Cardinals? We just pulled

some things up. I guess the Cardinals? Was it the Colts?

He signed with the Cardinals.

Oh, okay.

I missed that one.

I thought we talked about him.

What was that?

That must have been

that week, free agency week. Go down.
Scroll down. March 11th? Yeah, two weeks ago.
We should have known this. Hey, Jacoby, we appreciate you, man.
Good luck over here in Arizona. Beautiful city over here.
Phoenix? Mm-hmm. What a place.
Okay, Russell's there. Stephon's there.
LeBron Versation's out. Trey Hendrickson.
Mm-hmm. TGL, Billy Ho in Atlanta.
Atlanta, yep. Big putt.
Congratulations. Got a championship? Yeah, he did.
That was awesome. Congrats to them.
They had their championship. Now, we don't know how the ratings did throughout the entire season, but we do know whenever there's big moments and a big play is made, we will celebrate the hell out of that.
Look at that celebration. First ever TGL champion.
Are you not entertained? Love the juice. Are you not? I'm the fucking guy.
Congratulations to Atlanta getting a huge win. What a putt.
Yeah. You know, you never do that on an outdoor, in actual golf.
You know, you never have a full throw and a hat toss. I'm the fucking guy, you know, anything like that.
It feels like in that arena, in that setting, there is a little bit more juice, a little bit more electricity. You watch every single week.
Not every single week. You watch every single week.
It was tough to keep up because they changed, you know, days of the week and the times. But I'll tell you what, when it was like, you know, a random Tuesday night or even last night, like it was electric.
I think this is kind of what golf needed, a part of what golf needed. Obviously, we need the best players playing against the best players more often.
But for this to be something, especially for somebody that's new to golf, you know, I've only been watching it and playing it for two years, like just the pace at their play. You talk about the personality, seeing more of their personalities, more the juice, more shit talk, you know, because obviously these guys all know each other.
So the way that they talk, but most importantly, the pace of playing in the moments, you know, the heightened moments, the people in the crowd. I think it will continue to grow.
This is the first year I'm sure the ratings, you know, they've been probably down since that Tiger-Rory matchup. But I think if they get a schedule and we know the teams and the plays, I think it'll find some legs for sure.
I was just reminded, you know, Billy Ho drains that massive putt for that big moment to, you know, kind of put a stamp on the end of that TGL first season. Do you know that Billy Ho had Ty Schmidt blocked on Twitter? Oh, I forgot.
Long time. Long time.
I forgot about years. What happened? This was years, yeah.
You and Billy O got beat? I think Ty's tweet was that he always pisses down his leg. Something like that.
In the big moment. And he blocked you? He blocked you.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
With the quickness. He said, I don't got time for this shit today.
Fuck this guy. And, you know, rightfully sue.
But we put that to bed. And then he put it to bed when he came on the show.
But him making that massive line right there. Nick obviously was at the back going, hey, do you remember Billy Ho had tie blocked for saying he always chokes or whatever? And then literally I was remembering you guys did put that to bed.
And he unblocked you, right? He did unblock me. Okay.
He was kind of telling me some of his stories. So I became even more of a fan of...
Yeah, blue-collar dude, blue-collar golfer. I didn't know any of that stuff either at the time.
I just figured out this is prep school rich prick. Fuck this guy.
Fuck this guy. And then he comes on the show and is like, you know what? I shouldn't have been hating this guy.
May 21st, 2017, Ty Schmidt says, Hey, Riggs, what are the odds old Billy Ho shits down his leg and chokes

down the stretch today?

Simple question.

Six retweets at the time.

Simple question.

19 likes.

Billy Ho saw it and said, fuck this guy.

Bingo.

I think Billy Ho bookmarked it.

He might have.

He might have.

They were able to put it to bed, though.

I love it.

And by the way, Billy Ho, complete opposite last night. Yeah.
Championship put last night yeah championship pot yeah good for him yeah he was good on the show um because that was whenever live was making massive offers for people yes and he stayed with pga and we learned his story it was like hey you're like a blue collar dude like 100 million dollars like and he talked about like legacy he wanted to play in the best tournaments and everything like that like loves the game i think very think very appreciative of the game. So him having that moment last night was dope.
That was cool. I haven't followed as closely because to your point, when's it on? Like when was it on? Foxy probably watched a little more than me.
He watched that. Yeah, so the issue is we didn't know when it was on.
And then if you guys remember at the beginning of the season, all of them were blowouts. The first like three weeks, it wasn't even a close match every single time.
And what they did is they changed the hammer rule before the hammer went back and forth and like, it didn't really do anything. Then they changed it mid season to where each team got three hammers and it changed everything.
Every match after that was very close. Exciting.
I enjoyed it. But to your point point it was very hard to find sometimes it was

on espn2 sometimes it's at nine o'clock seven o'clock it was very random so yeah i there was moments which i think all you're looking for in sports the i'm not gonna get into it now it's not time yeah it's a great day here it is a great day it's great just i know what you're gonna say I'm bummed out about it too, to be honest.

They throw Matt Berry in just like one man. What sport have you ever seen just one person up in a tower being able to just...
Very difficult task. Impossible.
You're throwing Matt Berry in a tower. Then they had Marty...
I'm not getting into it all, but I think there's a lot of opportunity with TGL. I hope they continue to do it.
I hope that is the case. And I hope they, like you said, they change the hammer rule.
I think they were trying to figure it out, too, throughout the season. So good luck to all parties down there.
TGL. Ovechkin's only six goals away from catching Waino and breaking Waino's record.
How many games are left, Nick? I believe he has 11 left for him to be able to pull this off. 11 games left.
Needs to score six after scoring another goal. Aleksandr Ovechkin, an absolute dog, goes by Ovi.
And also is going to be remembered as the greatest goal scorer in the history of the NHL. Has to score six more times in 11 games.
For people that don't follow hockey, would be a very impressive run and yes he would be able to accomplish that he's already had a couple of those runs this season a lot of people thought him catching this record would take multiple years and instead he just showed up and just scored basically every single game that he played to start the season then he was out for a couple weeks and then he got right back into ripping ripping net and uh this is history in the making wayne gretzky obviously the greatest of all time he has the most goals in the history as well and then assists as well so he just was great at everything ov will go down as the greatest goal scorer of all time and uh six goals from now it'll be justified nick how's everybody kind of covering this capital is also number one in the east too right i mean their team also going to go on and win this whole damn thing potentially yeah and it's crazy because this is kind of overshadowed the team's success not in a negative way but the team is dominating they are they are cruising through this regular season and it reminds you the capitals teams of old they always finish first they get these president's trophy runs and they had these early bow outs in the playoffs but this team feels different They're inspired by this OV magical run here. And if he pulls's Trophy runs, and they had these early bow-outs in the playoffs.
But this team feels different. They're inspired

by this OV magical run here. And if he

pulls this off this season, and then they

go into the playoffs, they're going to be really hard to beat.

Tom Wilson, still on their team?

Yeah. Still a menace.
Still a problem.

Tom Wilson's a problem.

Tom Wilson's a problem. Always has

been. So handsome, too.

Just like so, so

handsome. And then just well, I hate that guy if you're on any other team.
But if you're the Capitals, gotta be the most beloved player. Probably in their building.
I mean, Ovi, I would assume. Everything he's done.
But Tom Willis has to be beloved by that entire place. He's a problem.
He's a menace. And he'll stick this right in your hole.
A little chicken wing. You'll have to rethink about that for the entire game.
What was it, the fight? Who was the full fight? Was it the Capitals? Or was it the Bolts? Who was the team that Rangers, maybe? Or the Islanders? It was Rangers. It was the Rangers and somebody.
It was definitely the Rangers. They all dropped minutes right at the start.
Yeah, they had to fight. Remember, something happened.
Yeah. I think Tom Wilson was just embarrassing our entire franchise, so we just took a stand and dropped the Mitz all at once.
Who was it? Devils and the Rangers. Okay, so it wasn't Tom.
So it was Devils, Rangers. That happened with the Devils and the Rangers.
This also happened with the Capitals and the Rangers because of Tom Wilson, what he did to the bread man, Artemi Panarin. Okay, remembering and then you know guys just kept lining up and he kept knocking them down yeah yeah it turned into tom wilson show yeah when really it was supposed to be a get back by the rangers yeah and everybody just had to be like i gotta go fight this guy they went and signed ryan reeves like a big enforcer dude just to combat tom wilson and then they built rempy in a lab so now we're good're good forever.
How's Rempey doing? Hasn't been a lot of Rempey or State Building conversations. He's trying to play real hockey, you know, like pass the puck, shoot the puck, stand in front of the net, and maybe deflect it in a little bit, but he still gets penalties just for being gigantic.
He'll just be skating around, minding his own business. Maybe his elbow gets up a little bit, and he just nails somebody right in the mouth.
And then he gets suspended for eight games and shit. So he's working through it.
He's got to get the target off his back a little bit more, I'd say. That's never going to happen because how we got introduced to him, and I think a lot of people are introduced to hockey maybe for a while, is that this guy in Madison Square Garden, since he's beginning of being a Ranger, would stand in the middle of MS, and he would throw bombs at people.
And it was like, we love this guy. He was a great fighter.
He was built for it. He's big.
And a lot of attention was drawn to him. So that got every other fighter on every other team go, oh, you're the, oh, the Rempire State Building, huh? Okay, I know you had a fight last night.
Well, guess what? There's another one coming tonight. And it became must watch, must see-see, and I haven't heard about as much of it this year.
Makes sense he doesn't want to just be known as the face-mask-whacker guy. Yeah, well, he just can't be in the penalty box giving up power plays every time he steps out there.
Also, I think he spent this offseason actually just boxing and fighting. All the fighters do that.
Yeah, yeah. So now I think people are a little wary about about trying the young lad let's understand though that there is still one name synonymous with greatness in the nhl yeah and although the team might not be having his best year sydney crosby's still doing it 37 years old uh pittsburgh penguin legend first in the nhl in five v five score so whenever everything's fair, he's better than everybody.
Did you know that? Of course I did. No.
You haven't been talking about it enough. Two points away from a record-breaking 20th point per game season.
Are you kidding me? Close to 57% from the face-off dot. What? 57%? A little respect to you, bud.
You shitting me? Yeah, like fine wine they're saying here at Bleacher Report, which we couldn't emphasize more. Oh, that's what we should have.
We should have asked LeBron, hey, maybe put some money into the pens. Penway Sports Group.
Next time. Will there be a next time? Fascinating question.
You guys still packing out the house? Yeah. The Penguins? Yeah.
Sell it every night. It was the last highlights we shoot with.
Don't you worry. They got a lot of draft picks.
It's going to be a big offseason. Oh, draft picks.
You can trade those picks for players. Okay, you need to stop.
Yeah, I said it. It's big night out, and they're still filling it up.
They're still filling it up. Another late season melt by the Red Wings, unfortunately.
We just keep losing and losing and losing. They get our hopes up.
They say, we're making the playoffs first time since like 17. The first 23 years of my life, the Red Wings made the playoffs every single year.
It's one of the longest active streaks in any sport ever. And then they haven't made it back since and now they're not going to make it again because they keep losing.

It's insane.

I thought you guys were back.

Remember Stevie Ives?

Stevie Ives.

The eyes are black.

I love him, so he can stay as long as he wants.

They fired the coach really early in the season,

and then they went on this run.

They won a million games in a row, and then they stink again.

Oh, so Hockey Town is currently floating around.

It's terrible.

But where is it at right now? Washington, I guess. Maybe.
The Bruins. The Bruins are horrendous now.
What are you saying? South Florida? Yep. Atlantic Division, Atlantic Ocean, right down there in that area.
Not without Chuck E. Cheese.
There are some rumblings. Brad Marchand will make his debut for the Florida Panthers on Friday.
He hasn't played yet? No, he's been hurt. I thought I saw him skating on Boston's ice.
Just had a skate with the boys just practicing, warming up and stuff. Oh, so he has not played for the Panthers? He has not played yet.
Oh, my. They said he jumped into group chat and just started roasting people.
That's what he does. He's going to be a great piece.
Classic Marshy. Are you saying you guys are hockey ton? Yeah, right now.
Hockey beach? Yep. Hockey Beach is pretty cool.
I like that. Hockey Beach is pretty sweet.
Going down to Hockey Beach down there. Sunrise, Florida? Is that the area? Sunrise, Florida, yep.
How's that go? Miami? Lauderdale? Yep. Sunrise? Sunrise is kind of in.
Sunrise would be like Carmel, Lawrence, you know, in Indianapolis. Of Lauderdale? So Fort Lauderdale would be Indianapolis.
Carmel would be like sunrise. Miami's down at the bottom.
Miami's at the bottom. Fort Lauderdale upright.
Yep, that's Broward County, so that's Fort Lauderdale. Let's say Hollywood, like Fort Lauderdale Airport.
In between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. So Miami, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, then let's say like Boca, Palm Beach, Jupiter.
and it's in sunrise so it is still uh so it's a little west South Florida yes kind of the ownership group exactly so if you look in Fort Lauderdale Pompano Beach kind of that area and just head a little west yeah I got it okay and that's hockey time that's hockey time hockey beach hockey beach well that's inland brother yeah so they just hopped on sunrise boulevard took it all the way east and then you run right into elbow room i miss i miss really i miss elbow room did you go who so i went three days in a row you said you didn't think you were gonna go because it was so packed out yeah night one i took that picture put it on the story you you d. You DMed me.
I said it was too packed to go in. Night two, three, four.
Or not, day two, three, and then yeah. Yeah, it's always packed, brother.
That's elbow room. Yeah.
You just got to get in there. We got there early.
We posted up, yeah. Yeah, smart.
You get your play. Yeah.
Yeah. And then everybody's joining your party.
Come on in. Yeah.
Welcome to the elbow room. Love it there.
Did you tell them, did they know who you were? No. Okay, so you were able to just do your thing in there.
I bought some merch, even though they sent us a bunch. But I bought a new hoodie down there, yeah.
That became the hockey room. Yeah, it did.
It became the hockey room. Here's a live cam down there at the elbow room.
Obviously having a good time down there. I'm surprised Lord Stanley isn't in that man's pocket right there walking through.
Congrats to all the boys down there having a day. Having a day.

All right.

The LeBronversation Wednesday that we had here

will be one that we talk about for a long, long time.

Shout out to LeBron doing that.

We're going to gather the LeBronversation tweets.

We realize that that would have been an impossible task to do during the break,

so we'll run those tomorrow.

Okay.

And that will help us out for tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, opening day for the MLB, we'll have Derek Jeter joining us.

Let's go.

We'll also be chit-chatting about everything else that's happening around sports.

In the back, great work, boys.

Good work, boys.

Graphic department, way to go.

Way to go.

Good work, boys.

Boys, good work.

Hell yeah.

Good work, boys.

Good work, boys.

Good work, boys.

All right.

We'll see you tomorrow.

Be a friend.

Tell a friend something nice.

It might change your life.

We're in this thing together.

Team on me.

Team on three.

One, two, three.

Team.

Thank you. All right, we'll see you tomorrow.
Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life.
We're in this thing together. Team on me.
Team on three. One, two, three.
Team. Goodbye.
Hey, I'm Brad Milkey. You may know me as the host of ABC Audio's daily news podcast, Start Here.
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