December 10, 2025 • 29 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses Rich Paul's eye-opening podcast on LeBron James and the current state of the Los Angeles Lakers, specifically the narrative that Austin Reaves would be better suited as a Sixth Man, that the Lakers roster isn't good enough to be considered contenders in the Western Conference, whether we can expect The King to finish his NBA career in Los Angeles, and why LeBron's influence over the franchise isn't what it used to be.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up drap Fire BAYM It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Fawyer or Wednesday, December the tenth. Obviously, no more
midweek college football podcast for a couple days weeks, maybe
until the playoffs begin. Obviously there's a lot of NFL.
(00:31):
It's wacky. There's five, maybe six double digit spreads this
week in the NFL. Uh. Not a great Thursday night
game Tampa Atlanta. I think Drake London is trending toward
maybe playing. This was the game last year where Kirk
Cousins went off. I think he had like five hundred
yards passing. It was actually a good game. I just
don't have a ton of interest. Last week Dallas Detroit
(00:53):
locked in. Next week ram Seahawks locked in. But this
one outdoors in Tampa. And by the way, the Bucks
just cost us in Survivors. So I really just dislike
them greatly and do not have any interest in watching
those bumps. So NFL's kind of quiet right now. The
Philip Rivers stuff is insane. He's signed to the practice
(01:14):
squad and it sounds like it's gonna be Brett Rippon
or Philip Rivers this week. I joke that Philip Rivers
going into Seattle off his He was on a sofa
a week ago watching highlights probably have his son high
school football to facing the Seattle Seahawks defense. He's forty
(01:36):
four years old, he's been out of football for five years.
This is insanity. This is Apollo Creed coming out of
retirement to fight Ivan Drago in an exhibition and getting killed.
Rocky for is one of my favorite movies. I've seen
it a billion times. I just don't like this For
(01:57):
Philip Rivers. He's immobile. The Seahawks defense swarms at home.
This is what the market's telling you. The line is
thirteen and a half. They don't know who's starting. They
don't care. Now, Yes, Seattle has the Rams on deck
in that huge Thursday night football game, so they will
win this. Maybe Jonathan Taylor breaks along TD run, maybe
(02:18):
breaks two. But this to me feels like a twenty
seven to nine twenty something thereabout. So the Seahawks just
put it in cruise control in the second half and
the Colts can't do much a total of forty two.
I would lean under on that, because honestly, Seattle is
probably gonna not want to put anything on tape here.
(02:41):
Obviously there's a full season of Sam Donald, but you're
not using any of your best plays. You're not you know,
you probably have some good stuff cooked up. You're not
burning that right. You can go with a vanilla game plan.
And the Colts defense, by the way, is just not
very good. Trevor Lawrence went up and down the field
against them. Obviously, the turnovers really hurt hurt the Colts
(03:01):
last week set set the Jags up for easy scores.
But you know, even looking at like no Sauce Gardener
with the calf, I just I don't see that game
being competitive. I did bet it. I don't endorse a
double digit bet thirteen and a half. What's even funnier
is so I did bet college basketball last night Michigan
at Michigan was hosting Villanova. The line was sixteen, and
(03:23):
I was like, holy smokes. I mean, I know Michigan's
been murdering teams by like twenty five. So I was like,
let me just see what Ken Palm has. Ken Palm
had it as fifteen. I was like, I'm betting it
just for fun action play, and Michigan wins by thirty.
They are a truck right now. There's no way I'm
fading them. And as a matter of fact, it could
just be a fun exercise. I might just bet Michigan
(03:45):
until they don't cover. I mean, the lines are going
to keep going up. But holy I did not realize
they were as good they are loaded. But anyways, I
do want to make this podcast about basketball, just not college.
By the way, great night in college basketball. Oh my
goodness BYU winning at the buzzer, huge comeback against Clemson.
AJ Debantsa is looking like a Tracy McGrady type player.
(04:08):
Oh my gosh, thunderous dung. I mean, he was out standing,
totally led them back from down. I think it was
nineteen or twenty against Clemson and they get to win
at the buzzer and then the Florida Yukon thriller. You guys,
pretty good. Florida team's fun. They got some big they
just they're missing wings. It feels like they have bigs
(04:30):
and I like their guards, but they just don't have
that wing caravan. Just yea. Man, that guy's a night.
He's he's like the quintessential college basketball player. Yukon's holdover
from the from their title teams. But I don't want
to talk college basketball. I want to talk NBA because
and this is the new like NBA media, right, Somebody
(04:52):
relevant in the NBA goes on a podcast says some
somewhat inflammatory stuff and it becomes a brushfire. So we
have former players like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Gilbert Arenas,
they're all in the podcasting space just created content. A
lot of it is barkley ish where you just take
dumps on the current players. It's not as bad as
(05:14):
Barkley and Shaq and Kenny, but you know, there's plenty
of negativity to go around. We all know negativity cells, obviously.
And then Rich Paul went on a podcast with this
boxing commentator Max Kellerman, and Rich Paul decided to kind
of unload some stuff on the Lakers. Now, let me
preface this by saying, the Lakers play tonight against the
(05:37):
Spurs in an NBA Cup quarter final matchup. It's a
big one. So the Cup quarterfinals were last night and tonight,
and on Tuesday, the Magic beat the Heat to advance
to the Semis, and the Knicks beat the Raptors to
advance to the Semis. Nice win. For the Knicks. We
(05:57):
were quietly seventeen and seven. Magic are starting to fight
and they're footing after a rough start. Tonight Spurs Lakers
and Suns Thunder. How about the Suns, man, you want
to guess the line, You'll never guess it. Thunder fourteen
and a half. Now, I will say I am really
geeked for Las Vegas and this semi final on Saturday,
(06:21):
and I will say the NBA Cup did a great
job lining it up. Saturday. No college football other than
Army Navy. Saturday is a great day if you haven't
already to get your Christmas tree, get your garage done,
and then there's NBA from Vegas at two point thirty
will be Nick's Magic and then the primetime game will
(06:42):
hopefully be Lakers Thunder, which is gonna be a great game. Now,
Wembin Yama is not expected to play. I think you
know they they brought back Castle, but it doesn't They
were going to try to give it a go for
Wemby as as we record this now, I don't think
he's gonna play, So I if you feel like betting it.
That's the only thing I've seen is no wheen Minyama
(07:03):
Lakers five and a half. Lakers will have their full
arsenal of stars as the best I can tell, Luca,
Lebron and Austin Reefs. And I say Austin Reeves is
a complement of stars, because it's very clear if you
listen to any of this Rich Paul podcast. Now, I
did not listen to the podcast, but I was on
social media and saw the clips. Rich Paul, who's Lebron's agent,
(07:27):
he's been with him forever, just set some out of
pocket stuff that it took me a while to formulate
a take as to why the hell he's saying this stuff.
I'm not going to cover all of it, just the highlights,
or I guess I should say low lights. So he
says the Lakers, who remind you, are seventeen and six,
currently second in the West. The Lakers are not built
(07:50):
to get to the Western Conference finals. They're not good enough.
That's one of his hot takes. And as you know,
when you take shots at the Lakers, that's going to
travel well on social media. Actually when you're Lebron's guy.
He went on to say, the Lakers are not built
to get to the finals. You saw what happened last year,
they weren't athletic enough on the wing. That's very coded
(08:11):
for Austin Rivers. Got Austin Reeves, sorry, got cooked by
Anthony Edwards. And Austin Reeves couldn't do anything against Anthony Edwards. Okay,
neglect the fact that Austin Reeves had a significant toe injury.
And I know we can scoff at a tow injury,
but when you look at the NFL this season and
how significant toe injuries have been, you're like, oh, well, now, okay,
(08:33):
toe injury serious. I don't know what Austin Reeves was.
Was he seventy five, fifty eighty? I have no clue,
but he clearly was not doing anything close to the
dominance that he's putting forth this year. And for Rich
Paul to say that, I'm I mean, my thought is like,
holy smokes, what is why is he doing this? And
(08:54):
there's a couple theories. Okay, So one would be, well
Rich Paul trying to get the Lakers to trade Austin
Reeves for Yannis. Okay, the Lakers have said they do
not want to give him up for Jannis.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
They don't want to give him up.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
But actually, I take that back, there was a report
that they would only trade him for Yannis or Jokish,
not that that's even in play, but that there was
a report that that was the situation with the Lakers
and Reeves.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
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Speaker 2 (09:34):
Rich Paul saying this that they're you know, they're not
athletic enough, blah blah blah. To me, that's like, well,
there's not a lot of ways to get better. You
ain't trading Luca. Lebron has a no trade. As he
reminded everybody, You're not gonna all of a sudden get
much better when if you moved Ruey and gave Vincent
and Marcus smart Like, that's not gonna make a material difference.
(09:57):
So all that's left is reefs. So that to me
is very clear from Rich Paul, who's reminder, Lebron's guy. Okay,
So then he's like, well, you know, I guess if
I'm looking to trade somebody for Giannis around the league,
I would look to Atlanta, which I guess he listened
to this podcast, but then he said I would go
(10:17):
after Jalen Johnson if I was Milwaukee. Yeah, there's no
way Atlanta is parting with Jalen Johnson, who looks like
a big time star right now. Okay, the Hawks aren't
close to anything. Why would you give up Jalen Johnson?
And then assets and then he goes, oh, well you
get Jalen Johnson's my client. You have frickin' moron. Come on,
what are you doing pumping up your client and trade?
(10:39):
What are you saying Jalen Johnson? What's out of Atlanta?
Well he's from Milwaukee, Okay, And I just thought that
was weak. But what he missed and this is, you
know again, I'm happy for the boxing guy Max Kellerman
to get a podcast, but this is what's weird. There's
really no pushback or challenge or sparring. And I get it.
(11:03):
You know, Hey, I'll come on your pod. Just don't
ask me any hard questions, don't put me in a
bad spot, you know, don't challenge any basically, don't challenge anything,
because I would ask Rich Paul. Well, wait a minute, Rich,
what was Luca's most successful team ever? It was the
team he went to the finals with a couple of
years ago. That team was Luka Doncic and his wingman
(11:24):
Kyrie Irving, and then around them they had a bunch
of role players, a constellation of perfect fits. A Derek
Jones on the wing, a defensive wing who don't need
the ball, but if he's open, he'll hit threes. They
had PJ. Washington, a small forward who could goggle up
to a four. He could play, he could defend up,
he could be shooting guard if you need him to.
(11:45):
He was a quintessential like number three, four or five player.
You had the rim running centers who were rim protectors
in Gafford Lively like they were perfectly built. And however
much Nico Harrison did that, congratulations well done. He took
he rolled the dice with Kyrie Irving and it worked.
(12:07):
So if that was Luca's best team, if you're the Lakers,
wouldn't you want to try to recreate something of the sort. Okay,
so you have Luca obviously, and I'm not going overboard here, guys,
but I don't think the Austin Reeds we're seeing now
is that far behind the Kyrie we saw in Dallas
(12:29):
with Luca two years ago. Again, I'm not saying prime Kyrie.
By the way, Prime Kyrie never won anything anywhere. Okay,
he didn't win anything anywhere until he was Luca's number two.
Then he went to the finals. Yes, he won a
title in Cleveland, but he did not do that. That
was Lebron James at the height of his powers. Okay.
(12:49):
Obviously Kyrie is a great player. But when I say
Austin Reeves could be like Kyrie in Dallas, I don't
want you yelling at yelling in your car or walking
your dog like, I don't think that's crazy. Austin Reeves
is that good this year? Guys? He is. I'm not
even kidding. And if fine, if he's not gonna be Austin,
(13:10):
he's not gonna be you know, Kyrie with the handle.
But I'll tell you right now, Austin Reeves a better
defender than Kyrie. He's longer. I would I don't have
the three point numbers in front of me, but I
guarantee you the shooting's not that different. Obviously, Kyrie a
better playmaker, Austin Reeves less headache, Like, I don't think
it's that different. If I told you Austin Reeves this
(13:31):
year is ninety five percent of what Kyrie was two
years ago. You probably would agree with me. Maybe you
go ninety ninety five. Ninety five is the number I
would do. And then you look around and you're like,
all right, well, who's their PJ. Washington kind of crickets
And I now float Ruey Hachi Mora, and you'll scoff.
(13:53):
Ruey is a little bigger. He could play a small
ball five. PJ could maybe stints if you needed to.
Ruy goodshooter, just like PJ. Washington. I think PJ a
little more aggressive with the drives. Rui's a little less athletic.
But again, Ruey, come on, you're telling me can't be
seventy percent of that PJ. Washington, come on now, center
(14:18):
is the issue. DeAndre Ayton is not a rim runner
like Lively. He's probably he's definitely well, he's better than Gafford.
He's in between those two. Now, I guess I'm doing
a projection with Lively, who I just love. He just
can't stay healthy. I mean, it's really sad. He just
keeps getting hurt. So Ayton, it is something of those two.
(14:40):
And then you look around and you're like, all right, well,
what are we gonna get from like Jake la Ravia.
And by the way, he's not terrible, and I'm not
being a Laker homer, but bottom line, you can see
where I'm going with this. But I left out one thing.
This Laker team, yes, it kind of sort of does
look like that Dallas team. I left out one thing.
The highest paid Laker this year wasn't even mentioned among
(15:03):
any of those guys, and that's Lebron James at fifty
two million a year. So what exactly are we doing,
Rich Paul? The Lakers are seventeen and six, Lebron is
barely played, Austin Reeves playing out of his mind, Luca
is on a major heater. What do you mean they're
not close? Yes, Oklahoma City blasted them, they weren't at
(15:26):
full strength. Hopefully they meet again Saturday. Is Oklahoma City better? Yeah,
they're better on paper? Sure, I don't. If I'm the Lakers,
I'm not afraid of those guys.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I don't want to face them in the first roundt
of playoffs or the second. I'd love to face them
in the finals. But again, I just look at that
Dallas team. Luka had a couple other guys I'm seeing
in the stats Tim Hardaway. Let's see here, Tim Hardaway,
you know, noted chucker, but he could delivered. Oh no
wait he was no, no, he yeah, he was there
(15:59):
in the play He didn't play much, twelve minutes a night,
but like Josh Green, was solid. I'm just telling you,
the Lakers are recreating that team Luca two years older.
And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, but
we also have Lebron and I know, you know, Denver's
really really good. Aaron Gordon's out now, so the Lakers
hopefully can get some separation between those two. And I
(16:23):
don't think they're that far off. Now, some of the
advanced stats don't say that the Lakers are amazing. Obviously,
offensively they're terrific, but the defense is just not good
at all. And I don't know how they stop Oka. See.
But guys, how many times have we seen wacky shit
happen in the playoffs? And I'm not saying just injuries,
but just crazy stuff. Are we forgetting this? OKAC Juggernaut
(16:47):
needed seven to take down Denver and needed seven to
take down the Indiana Pacers. And if Tyrese Haliburton doesn't
get hurt. I don't know what we're talking about. Now, Yes,
Oka see right now is a machine. I mean twenty
three and whatever the number is really strong team. But
I go into battle with Luca Reeves and Lebron all healthy,
(17:09):
I'm taking I like my chances. I'm not saying her favorite, obviously,
but I just think that's a great mass. So I
don't know what Rich Paul's talking about. So I'm sitting
here thinking about this, and then it hits me, why
is he saying all this stuff? Is he taking jabs
at players? Is he trying to talk to Laker management?
(17:30):
And then it hit me. Do you remember in the
off season when Lebron made it clear he wanted a
deal and he didn't get any kind of pouted and
went quiet, and the Lakers turned to Luca and they
took him out to dinner, wind him, dined him, and
next thing you know, it's like, this is Luca's team,
(17:50):
and we're gonna build around Luca. We're gonna take his advice.
And so I'm not saying the Lakers tuned out Lebron,
but it's pretty clear that Lebron's last significant move with
the organization was Russell Westbrook right, and it's spectacularly badly
And next thing, you know, it's like, oh boy, what
(18:14):
are we doing? What on earth are we doing? We're
not listening to Lebron anymore. We're gonna listen to Luca.
And so if you're Rich Paul, the agent for Lebron,
and remember everything Lebron's done in his career has kind
of worked. He's pushed all the right buttons. But now
he's forty one and they're not listening to him. And
(18:36):
if they're not listening, I mean, hypothetically in my case,
you know, if let's just say it, I'm making this
up Fox, you know, and I were in a contract
situation and I wasn't getting what I wanted and I
could kind of see the writing on the wall. Would
one of the cards that I play? And this is
not really my style, but you see this with a
lot of media members. I mean it's very clear if
(18:58):
you just open your eyes, one of the cards you
play is I'm gonna go to the media and voice
my concerns and let my side be heard. And when
my side's heard, maybe that'll sway public opinion. I wonder
if Lebron and Rich Paul are not happy that the
Lakers aren't listening, and now they're like, ooh, what if
(19:20):
we want on podcasts and air at our side? And
obviously Lebron's not gonna say anything out of pocket. In
his he's still a Laker. He does have a no
trade cause, so he'd have to wave it to get
dealt this year. But to me, it's just signaled frustration
maybe from their camp he don't have a deal. He
obviously would love it if they could get Giannis. They're
not listening to him, and so he sends his agent
(19:43):
to go on this podcast, and this agent now puts
out the talking points, Well, we're not good enough. We
need to make a move right.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
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Speaker 2 (20:03):
I almost feel a little bad for Lebron. You guys know,
I'm team Lebron. I think he's the greatest player in
the history of basketball. I don't think there's much of
an argument against him. I understand people are really, really
pot committed to Michael Jordan, and they love what he did.
He had an amazing career. It's I don't think it's
a slight at all to say he's the second best
player in NBA history. But if we're being honest, I
(20:26):
think Lebron in his camp, their requests or suggestions are
kind of falling on deaf ears and this is their
way to get their side out. Now where it gets
really interesting is and I just noticed this. Lebron actually
recorded a podcast with his guys Steve Nash. You see
how this is ow podcast everything. He recorded a podcast
(20:48):
with Steve Nash this week and he's gushing about Anthony,
about Austin Reefs, just gushing, Oh, his role is picking
up his usage rate. I mean aar loves basketball, does
is played golf and basketball. His confidence is through the roof.
It's interesting. So here we have Lebron gassing up Austin
Reeves and he's been doing that forever. He's a huge
(21:09):
Austin Reeves guy. But then on the other side, you've
got his agent going on a podcast saying, well, we're
not athletic enough on the wing. Who are the wings
on the Lakers' Austin Reeves? Jake Larabia now Jake Laaravia.
I believe shares an I think Jovon Bouja had this
on the pod. Laaravia shares an agent with Luca. I'm
(21:31):
pretty sure, or maybe it's Austin. No, I think it's
Austin Reeves actually, and the Lakers love Austin Reeves. Guys.
I'm just I'm just telling you. They think he can
be Kyrie to Luca. And if you've got that, I
don't understand why you would not say, you know what,
we're gonna, We're gonna, we're gonna keep this together and
Lebron thank you. Uh, we'll decide in the offseason. And now,
(21:55):
in all honesty, we're we're setting up. And I saw
my guy, Danny Green had this take that this is
Lebron's final year. I'm gonna get Danny Green on the
podcast soon. He lives near me. We hoop together whatever.
It's interesting because I can see a world where this
is Lebron's final year. Think about this. The Lakers aren't
offering him a big bunny contract. No matter what happens
(22:18):
the rest of the way. He's not getting a forty
to fifty million dollars. It's just not so who's doing that.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Nobody?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I mean Obviously, Lebron's really really good. Does he put
you over the top? Maybe, but not at forty mili.
He ain't gonna go out like Patrick Ewing wearing a
Sonics jersey. He's not going out like Elijah Water in
a Raptors jersey. It's just not happening. So then it's like, well,
is Lebron gonna play for the mid level exception? Wow,
that would be amazing on a team, you know, like
(22:50):
that's a steal because Lebron can bring a lot to
the table. He's probably gonna miss some games, load management, health,
he's old, but yeah, Lebron would be skial. Hell, how
much does he love the Lakers? They did draft Bronni,
they keep Bronny. What if Lebron played for the minimum?
And again I'm not suggesting that, I'm asking what if
(23:11):
he did? I think that's wrong for me to ask that,
given he's the goat now, it would be a smart
move on his part, right, Oh, if I play for
the minimum, we'll have a stacked team. You all of
a sudden that fifty million, that space is wide open.
You could go get somebody amazing and then Lebron on
(23:32):
a minimum. But I don't. I don't. Actually, I don't
know if the players Union would even allow that for
a guy who's all NBA like two years removed to
be playing on the minimum. It just doesn't send a
great sign. Hey, you've made five hundred million in the NBA,
play for the minimum. Help your team out. I mean,
I don't know. It would be interesting, but it's like
those are the options. Like if you're the Lakers, I'm sorry,
(23:54):
I don't think you're giving Lebron forty or fifty mili
next year, even thirty. I mean, let me look at
It's some salaries for the NBA year. So I'm just
looking at highest paid players for twenty twenty five, twenty
twenty six. All right, So Lucas at forty five this year? Okay. Lebron,
(24:20):
by the way, is the fourteen tiest paid player for
fifty two mil. Holy she's Some of these guys make
it more. Bradley Beale fifty nine mil. Oh my gosh. Okay. Anyways,
so I said, would Lebron play for forty mil? These
guys are making around forty mil. Sabonis forty two, og
Nnobi thirty nine, Zion thirty nine, Jamran thirty nine, Darius
(24:43):
Garland thirty nine, Harden thirty nine, Scottie Barne thirty eight,
Franz Wagner thirty eight. The production they're gonna give versus
Lebron next year is dramatically different. All right, So now
let's go to the lower thirties. Tyler Hero thirty one,
Julius Randall thirty, de Janta Murray thirty, Porzingis thirty. CJ.
(25:07):
McCollum thirty. That's a lot of money on guys who
are hurt or really not carrying their weight. Jalen Johnson thirty.
What a steal that contract is with the Hawks. You're
not trading him? Hartenstein twenty eight, Andrew Wiggins twenty eight.
Can Lebron give you that kind of production? I don't know. Again,
we're talking a year from now, guys. So then you
(25:29):
start looking down and you're like, what about twenty mil?
Jared Allen's at twenty mil? Yaka bertle Josh Hart. I mean, now,
I guess you're talking. But as Lebron all of a sudden,
remember Michael Jordan at the end got real greedy in Chicago.
I need to be the highest paid player. I think
it would be a bad look for Lebron, like, think
(25:49):
about this, Klay Thompsons making sixteen mil. That's a horrible contract.
Look at how he's aged Caruso eighteen mil, amazing contract.
And so figuring out where Lebron fits money wise next year,
I don't have an answer to that. I don't think
anybody can say with any certainty what's gonna happen on
his money front. And I think your default should be, well, yeah,
(26:11):
this is probably his last season. I mean, unless I'm
missing a team and the Chicago Bulls say, oh, we're
gonna dump all these guys and we want Lebron for
his final swan song. Do you see that happening? What
are the Do you think somebody's just getting into Lebron
business to get more TV games, sell some more tickets.
I kind of think we're beyond that now. I don't know,
(26:35):
it's gonna be really interesting with Lebron. You guys know,
I'm a fan. I've articulated that well, I just don't
want it to get ugly, you know, and things can
get ugly at the end. This has happened in Major
League Baseball, This has happened in the NBA, NFL at
the endings are never the Hollywood script you wanted to be.
(26:56):
They just aren't. Remember Michael Jordan went and played for
the Wizards and was fighting with Kwame Brown, the guy
he drafted. It was ugly, really ugly, and you just
don't want that for Lebron. So like Jordan doing that
and dealing with it, it wasn't as bad because there was
no social media to document everything. Now, Oh my gosh,
(27:21):
I mean, look, how many people have podcasts. So I'm
in a tough spot with Lebron. Obviously I'm a bit fan.
He don't need advice for me. I would just say
a rich no more Laker talk, bro, Let's do it
in the off season. I don't think the Lakers are
that far off. If you asked me, who are the
six best teams in the league right now? I mean,
(27:42):
I assume you guys have looked at the East right
there ain't nobody good there right now. Like the Knicks
are good. Okay, the Pistons are nineteen and five, but
do we think that's gonna contint? Are they a sixty
win team? I don't think so. The Calves are falling
back badly. It was clearly last year was fools. Gold
you got Celtics are coming on strong, starting to play better,
(28:05):
but I mean they're playing dudes who you're like, they
would get obliterated by OKC and Denver and the Lakers
who did play Lebron or Luke against them last week
and lost like Orlando just lost Wile Wagner to injury. Like,
I don't see anyone that good in the East. I
think if you said j MC, are the Lakers a
top five team in the league right now? I would
(28:25):
say undeniably yes. Now to wrap up, I'm gonna look
at the Draft, Kings, NBA futures, and I'll let's see
where the Lakers fall in terms of chances to win
the title. Oka see is obviously the favorite. Uh yeah,
here we go. NBA Finals winner OKC plus one forty
five so one hundred and forty five of one hundred wins,
(28:48):
one hundred and forty five bucks, the Nuggets plus six
hundred Rockets plus one thousand, Lakers plus twelve hundred, so
the top four teams for the NBA Finals are in
the West. And I'm just saying, you know, SGA injury,
all of a sudden, it's wide open. Something happens to Yokic.
(29:11):
It just crossed the Nuggets off the board. I think
as long as the Lakers can stay healthy and in
the mix, they can have a fighting chance.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
I know that was very homery of me. But that's
all for today. I can't wait to read your dms
on Instagram social media. See you tomorrow.
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up drap Fire BAYM It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Fawyer or Wednesday, December the tenth. Obviously, no more
midweek college football podcast for a couple days weeks, maybe
until the playoffs begin. Obviously there's a lot of NFL.
(00:31):
It's wacky. There's five, maybe six double digit spreads this
week in the NFL. Uh. Not a great Thursday night
game Tampa Atlanta. I think Drake London is trending toward
maybe playing. This was the game last year where Kirk
Cousins went off. I think he had like five hundred
yards passing. It was actually a good game. I just
don't have a ton of interest. Last week Dallas Detroit
(00:53):
locked in. Next week ram Seahawks locked in. But this
one outdoors in Tampa. And by the way, the Bucks
just cost us in Survivors. So I really just dislike
them greatly and do not have any interest in watching
those bumps. So NFL's kind of quiet right now. The
Philip Rivers stuff is insane. He's signed to the practice
(01:14):
squad and it sounds like it's gonna be Brett Rippon
or Philip Rivers this week. I joke that Philip Rivers
going into Seattle off his He was on a sofa
a week ago watching highlights probably have his son high
school football to facing the Seattle Seahawks defense. He's forty
(01:36):
four years old, he's been out of football for five years.
This is insanity. This is Apollo Creed coming out of
retirement to fight Ivan Drago in an exhibition and getting killed.
Rocky for is one of my favorite movies. I've seen
it a billion times. I just don't like this For
(01:57):
Philip Rivers. He's immobile. The Seahawks defense swarms at home.
This is what the market's telling you. The line is
thirteen and a half. They don't know who's starting. They
don't care. Now, Yes, Seattle has the Rams on deck
in that huge Thursday night football game, so they will
win this. Maybe Jonathan Taylor breaks along TD run, maybe
(02:18):
breaks two. But this to me feels like a twenty
seven to nine twenty something thereabout. So the Seahawks just
put it in cruise control in the second half and
the Colts can't do much a total of forty two.
I would lean under on that, because honestly, Seattle is
probably gonna not want to put anything on tape here.
(02:41):
Obviously there's a full season of Sam Donald, but you're
not using any of your best plays. You're not you know,
you probably have some good stuff cooked up. You're not
burning that right. You can go with a vanilla game plan.
And the Colts defense, by the way, is just not
very good. Trevor Lawrence went up and down the field
against them. Obviously, the turnovers really hurt hurt the Colts
(03:01):
last week set set the Jags up for easy scores.
But you know, even looking at like no Sauce Gardener
with the calf, I just I don't see that game
being competitive. I did bet it. I don't endorse a
double digit bet thirteen and a half. What's even funnier
is so I did bet college basketball last night Michigan
at Michigan was hosting Villanova. The line was sixteen, and
(03:23):
I was like, holy smokes. I mean, I know Michigan's
been murdering teams by like twenty five. So I was like,
let me just see what Ken Palm has. Ken Palm
had it as fifteen. I was like, I'm betting it
just for fun action play, and Michigan wins by thirty.
They are a truck right now. There's no way I'm
fading them. And as a matter of fact, it could
just be a fun exercise. I might just bet Michigan
(03:45):
until they don't cover. I mean, the lines are going
to keep going up. But holy I did not realize
they were as good they are loaded. But anyways, I
do want to make this podcast about basketball, just not college.
By the way, great night in college basketball. Oh my
goodness BYU winning at the buzzer, huge comeback against Clemson.
AJ Debantsa is looking like a Tracy McGrady type player.
(04:08):
Oh my gosh, thunderous dung. I mean, he was out standing,
totally led them back from down. I think it was
nineteen or twenty against Clemson and they get to win
at the buzzer and then the Florida Yukon thriller. You guys,
pretty good. Florida team's fun. They got some big they
just they're missing wings. It feels like they have bigs
(04:30):
and I like their guards, but they just don't have
that wing caravan. Just yea. Man, that guy's a night.
He's he's like the quintessential college basketball player. Yukon's holdover
from the from their title teams. But I don't want
to talk college basketball. I want to talk NBA because
and this is the new like NBA media, right, Somebody
(04:52):
relevant in the NBA goes on a podcast says some
somewhat inflammatory stuff and it becomes a brushfire. So we
have former players like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Gilbert Arenas,
they're all in the podcasting space just created content. A
lot of it is barkley ish where you just take
dumps on the current players. It's not as bad as
(05:14):
Barkley and Shaq and Kenny, but you know, there's plenty
of negativity to go around. We all know negativity cells, obviously.
And then Rich Paul went on a podcast with this
boxing commentator Max Kellerman, and Rich Paul decided to kind
of unload some stuff on the Lakers. Now, let me
preface this by saying, the Lakers play tonight against the
(05:37):
Spurs in an NBA Cup quarter final matchup. It's a
big one. So the Cup quarterfinals were last night and tonight,
and on Tuesday, the Magic beat the Heat to advance
to the Semis, and the Knicks beat the Raptors to
advance to the Semis. Nice win. For the Knicks. We
(05:57):
were quietly seventeen and seven. Magic are starting to fight
and they're footing after a rough start. Tonight Spurs Lakers
and Suns Thunder. How about the Suns, man, you want
to guess the line, You'll never guess it. Thunder fourteen
and a half. Now, I will say I am really
geeked for Las Vegas and this semi final on Saturday,
(06:21):
and I will say the NBA Cup did a great
job lining it up. Saturday. No college football other than
Army Navy. Saturday is a great day if you haven't
already to get your Christmas tree, get your garage done,
and then there's NBA from Vegas at two point thirty
will be Nick's Magic and then the primetime game will
(06:42):
hopefully be Lakers Thunder, which is gonna be a great game. Now,
Wembin Yama is not expected to play. I think you
know they they brought back Castle, but it doesn't They
were going to try to give it a go for
Wemby as as we record this now, I don't think
he's gonna play, So I if you feel like betting it.
That's the only thing I've seen is no wheen Minyama
(07:03):
Lakers five and a half. Lakers will have their full
arsenal of stars as the best I can tell, Luca,
Lebron and Austin Reefs. And I say Austin Reeves is
a complement of stars, because it's very clear if you
listen to any of this Rich Paul podcast. Now, I
did not listen to the podcast, but I was on
social media and saw the clips. Rich Paul, who's Lebron's agent,
(07:27):
he's been with him forever, just set some out of
pocket stuff that it took me a while to formulate
a take as to why the hell he's saying this stuff.
I'm not going to cover all of it, just the highlights,
or I guess I should say low lights. So he
says the Lakers, who remind you, are seventeen and six,
currently second in the West. The Lakers are not built
(07:50):
to get to the Western Conference finals. They're not good enough.
That's one of his hot takes. And as you know,
when you take shots at the Lakers, that's going to
travel well on social media. Actually when you're Lebron's guy.
He went on to say, the Lakers are not built
to get to the finals. You saw what happened last year,
they weren't athletic enough on the wing. That's very coded
(08:11):
for Austin Rivers. Got Austin Reeves, sorry, got cooked by
Anthony Edwards. And Austin Reeves couldn't do anything against Anthony Edwards. Okay,
neglect the fact that Austin Reeves had a significant toe injury.
And I know we can scoff at a tow injury,
but when you look at the NFL this season and
how significant toe injuries have been, you're like, oh, well, now, okay,
(08:33):
toe injury serious. I don't know what Austin Reeves was.
Was he seventy five, fifty eighty? I have no clue,
but he clearly was not doing anything close to the
dominance that he's putting forth this year. And for Rich
Paul to say that, I'm I mean, my thought is like,
holy smokes, what is why is he doing this? And
(08:54):
there's a couple theories. Okay, So one would be, well
Rich Paul trying to get the Lakers to trade Austin
Reeves for Yannis. Okay, the Lakers have said they do
not want to give him up for Jannis.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
They don't want to give him up.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
But actually, I take that back, there was a report
that they would only trade him for Yannis or Jokish,
not that that's even in play, but that there was
a report that that was the situation with the Lakers
and Reeves.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Rich Paul saying this that they're you know, they're not
athletic enough, blah blah blah. To me, that's like, well,
there's not a lot of ways to get better. You
ain't trading Luca. Lebron has a no trade. As he
reminded everybody, You're not gonna all of a sudden get
much better when if you moved Ruey and gave Vincent
and Marcus smart Like, that's not gonna make a material difference.
(09:57):
So all that's left is reefs. So that to me
is very clear from Rich Paul, who's reminder, Lebron's guy. Okay,
So then he's like, well, you know, I guess if
I'm looking to trade somebody for Giannis around the league,
I would look to Atlanta, which I guess he listened
to this podcast, but then he said I would go
(10:17):
after Jalen Johnson if I was Milwaukee. Yeah, there's no
way Atlanta is parting with Jalen Johnson, who looks like
a big time star right now. Okay, the Hawks aren't
close to anything. Why would you give up Jalen Johnson?
And then assets and then he goes, oh, well you
get Jalen Johnson's my client. You have frickin' moron. Come on,
what are you doing pumping up your client and trade?
(10:39):
What are you saying Jalen Johnson? What's out of Atlanta?
Well he's from Milwaukee, Okay, And I just thought that
was weak. But what he missed and this is, you
know again, I'm happy for the boxing guy Max Kellerman
to get a podcast, but this is what's weird. There's
really no pushback or challenge or sparring. And I get it.
(11:03):
You know, Hey, I'll come on your pod. Just don't
ask me any hard questions, don't put me in a
bad spot, you know, don't challenge any basically, don't challenge anything,
because I would ask Rich Paul. Well, wait a minute, Rich,
what was Luca's most successful team ever? It was the
team he went to the finals with a couple of
years ago. That team was Luka Doncic and his wingman
(11:24):
Kyrie Irving, and then around them they had a bunch
of role players, a constellation of perfect fits. A Derek
Jones on the wing, a defensive wing who don't need
the ball, but if he's open, he'll hit threes. They
had PJ. Washington, a small forward who could goggle up
to a four. He could play, he could defend up,
he could be shooting guard if you need him to.
(11:45):
He was a quintessential like number three, four or five player.
You had the rim running centers who were rim protectors
in Gafford Lively like they were perfectly built. And however
much Nico Harrison did that, congratulations well done. He took
he rolled the dice with Kyrie Irving and it worked.
(12:07):
So if that was Luca's best team, if you're the Lakers,
wouldn't you want to try to recreate something of the sort. Okay,
so you have Luca obviously, and I'm not going overboard here, guys,
but I don't think the Austin Reeds we're seeing now
is that far behind the Kyrie we saw in Dallas
(12:29):
with Luca two years ago. Again, I'm not saying prime Kyrie.
By the way, Prime Kyrie never won anything anywhere. Okay,
he didn't win anything anywhere until he was Luca's number two.
Then he went to the finals. Yes, he won a
title in Cleveland, but he did not do that. That
was Lebron James at the height of his powers. Okay.
(12:49):
Obviously Kyrie is a great player. But when I say
Austin Reeves could be like Kyrie in Dallas, I don't
want you yelling at yelling in your car or walking
your dog like, I don't think that's crazy. Austin Reeves
is that good this year? Guys? He is. I'm not
even kidding. And if fine, if he's not gonna be Austin,
(13:10):
he's not gonna be you know, Kyrie with the handle.
But I'll tell you right now, Austin Reeves a better
defender than Kyrie. He's longer. I would I don't have
the three point numbers in front of me, but I
guarantee you the shooting's not that different. Obviously, Kyrie a
better playmaker, Austin Reeves less headache, Like, I don't think
it's that different. If I told you Austin Reeves this
(13:31):
year is ninety five percent of what Kyrie was two
years ago. You probably would agree with me. Maybe you
go ninety ninety five. Ninety five is the number I
would do. And then you look around and you're like,
all right, well, who's their PJ. Washington kind of crickets
And I now float Ruey Hachi Mora, and you'll scoff.
(13:53):
Ruey is a little bigger. He could play a small
ball five. PJ could maybe stints if you needed to.
Ruy goodshooter, just like PJ. Washington. I think PJ a
little more aggressive with the drives. Rui's a little less athletic.
But again, Ruey, come on, you're telling me can't be
seventy percent of that PJ. Washington, come on now, center
(14:18):
is the issue. DeAndre Ayton is not a rim runner
like Lively. He's probably he's definitely well, he's better than Gafford.
He's in between those two. Now, I guess I'm doing
a projection with Lively, who I just love. He just
can't stay healthy. I mean, it's really sad. He just
keeps getting hurt. So Ayton, it is something of those two.
(14:40):
And then you look around and you're like, all right, well,
what are we gonna get from like Jake la Ravia.
And by the way, he's not terrible, and I'm not
being a Laker homer, but bottom line, you can see
where I'm going with this. But I left out one thing.
This Laker team, yes, it kind of sort of does
look like that Dallas team. I left out one thing.
The highest paid Laker this year wasn't even mentioned among
(15:03):
any of those guys, and that's Lebron James at fifty
two million a year. So what exactly are we doing,
Rich Paul? The Lakers are seventeen and six, Lebron is
barely played, Austin Reeves playing out of his mind, Luca
is on a major heater. What do you mean they're
not close? Yes, Oklahoma City blasted them, they weren't at
(15:26):
full strength. Hopefully they meet again Saturday. Is Oklahoma City better? Yeah,
they're better on paper? Sure, I don't. If I'm the Lakers,
I'm not afraid of those guys.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I don't want to face them in the first roundt
of playoffs or the second. I'd love to face them
in the finals. But again, I just look at that
Dallas team. Luka had a couple other guys I'm seeing
in the stats Tim Hardaway. Let's see here, Tim Hardaway,
you know, noted chucker, but he could delivered. Oh no
wait he was no, no, he yeah, he was there
(15:59):
in the play He didn't play much, twelve minutes a night,
but like Josh Green, was solid. I'm just telling you,
the Lakers are recreating that team Luca two years older.
And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, but
we also have Lebron and I know, you know, Denver's
really really good. Aaron Gordon's out now, so the Lakers
hopefully can get some separation between those two. And I
(16:23):
don't think they're that far off. Now, some of the
advanced stats don't say that the Lakers are amazing. Obviously,
offensively they're terrific, but the defense is just not good
at all. And I don't know how they stop Oka. See.
But guys, how many times have we seen wacky shit
happen in the playoffs? And I'm not saying just injuries,
but just crazy stuff. Are we forgetting this? OKAC Juggernaut
(16:47):
needed seven to take down Denver and needed seven to
take down the Indiana Pacers. And if Tyrese Haliburton doesn't
get hurt. I don't know what we're talking about. Now, Yes,
Oka see right now is a machine. I mean twenty
three and whatever the number is really strong team. But
I go into battle with Luca Reeves and Lebron all healthy,
(17:09):
I'm taking I like my chances. I'm not saying her favorite, obviously,
but I just think that's a great mass. So I
don't know what Rich Paul's talking about. So I'm sitting
here thinking about this, and then it hits me, why
is he saying all this stuff? Is he taking jabs
at players? Is he trying to talk to Laker management?
(17:30):
And then it hit me. Do you remember in the
off season when Lebron made it clear he wanted a
deal and he didn't get any kind of pouted and
went quiet, and the Lakers turned to Luca and they
took him out to dinner, wind him, dined him, and
next thing you know, it's like, this is Luca's team,
(17:50):
and we're gonna build around Luca. We're gonna take his advice.
And so I'm not saying the Lakers tuned out Lebron,
but it's pretty clear that Lebron's last significant move with
the organization was Russell Westbrook right, and it's spectacularly badly
And next thing, you know, it's like, oh boy, what
(18:14):
are we doing? What on earth are we doing? We're
not listening to Lebron anymore. We're gonna listen to Luca.
And so if you're Rich Paul, the agent for Lebron,
and remember everything Lebron's done in his career has kind
of worked. He's pushed all the right buttons. But now
he's forty one and they're not listening to him. And
(18:36):
if they're not listening, I mean, hypothetically in my case,
you know, if let's just say it, I'm making this
up Fox, you know, and I were in a contract
situation and I wasn't getting what I wanted and I
could kind of see the writing on the wall. Would
one of the cards that I play? And this is
not really my style, but you see this with a
lot of media members. I mean it's very clear if
(18:58):
you just open your eyes, one of the cards you
play is I'm gonna go to the media and voice
my concerns and let my side be heard. And when
my side's heard, maybe that'll sway public opinion. I wonder
if Lebron and Rich Paul are not happy that the
Lakers aren't listening, and now they're like, ooh, what if
(19:20):
we want on podcasts and air at our side? And
obviously Lebron's not gonna say anything out of pocket. In
his he's still a Laker. He does have a no
trade cause, so he'd have to wave it to get
dealt this year. But to me, it's just signaled frustration
maybe from their camp he don't have a deal. He
obviously would love it if they could get Giannis. They're
not listening to him, and so he sends his agent
(19:43):
to go on this podcast, and this agent now puts
out the talking points, Well, we're not good enough. We
need to make a move right.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the Eye Radio app. Search FSR
to listen live.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
I almost feel a little bad for Lebron. You guys know,
I'm team Lebron. I think he's the greatest player in
the history of basketball. I don't think there's much of
an argument against him. I understand people are really, really
pot committed to Michael Jordan, and they love what he did.
He had an amazing career. It's I don't think it's
a slight at all to say he's the second best
player in NBA history. But if we're being honest, I
(20:26):
think Lebron in his camp, their requests or suggestions are
kind of falling on deaf ears and this is their
way to get their side out. Now where it gets
really interesting is and I just noticed this. Lebron actually
recorded a podcast with his guys Steve Nash. You see
how this is ow podcast everything. He recorded a podcast
(20:48):
with Steve Nash this week and he's gushing about Anthony,
about Austin Reefs, just gushing, Oh, his role is picking
up his usage rate. I mean aar loves basketball, does
is played golf and basketball. His confidence is through the roof.
It's interesting. So here we have Lebron gassing up Austin
Reeves and he's been doing that forever. He's a huge
(21:09):
Austin Reeves guy. But then on the other side, you've
got his agent going on a podcast saying, well, we're
not athletic enough on the wing. Who are the wings
on the Lakers' Austin Reeves? Jake Larabia now Jake Laaravia.
I believe shares an I think Jovon Bouja had this
on the pod. Laaravia shares an agent with Luca. I'm
(21:31):
pretty sure, or maybe it's Austin. No, I think it's
Austin Reeves actually, and the Lakers love Austin Reeves. Guys.
I'm just I'm just telling you. They think he can
be Kyrie to Luca. And if you've got that, I
don't understand why you would not say, you know what,
we're gonna, We're gonna, we're gonna keep this together and
Lebron thank you. Uh, we'll decide in the offseason. And now,
(21:55):
in all honesty, we're we're setting up. And I saw
my guy, Danny Green had this take that this is
Lebron's final year. I'm gonna get Danny Green on the
podcast soon. He lives near me. We hoop together whatever.
It's interesting because I can see a world where this
is Lebron's final year. Think about this. The Lakers aren't
offering him a big bunny contract. No matter what happens
(22:18):
the rest of the way. He's not getting a forty
to fifty million dollars. It's just not so who's doing that.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Nobody?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I mean Obviously, Lebron's really really good. Does he put
you over the top? Maybe, but not at forty mili.
He ain't gonna go out like Patrick Ewing wearing a
Sonics jersey. He's not going out like Elijah Water in
a Raptors jersey. It's just not happening. So then it's like, well,
is Lebron gonna play for the mid level exception? Wow,
that would be amazing on a team, you know, like
(22:50):
that's a steal because Lebron can bring a lot to
the table. He's probably gonna miss some games, load management, health,
he's old, but yeah, Lebron would be skial. Hell, how
much does he love the Lakers? They did draft Bronni,
they keep Bronny. What if Lebron played for the minimum?
And again I'm not suggesting that, I'm asking what if
(23:11):
he did? I think that's wrong for me to ask that,
given he's the goat now, it would be a smart
move on his part, right, Oh, if I play for
the minimum, we'll have a stacked team. You all of
a sudden that fifty million, that space is wide open.
You could go get somebody amazing and then Lebron on
(23:32):
a minimum. But I don't. I don't. Actually, I don't
know if the players Union would even allow that for
a guy who's all NBA like two years removed to
be playing on the minimum. It just doesn't send a
great sign. Hey, you've made five hundred million in the NBA,
play for the minimum. Help your team out. I mean,
I don't know. It would be interesting, but it's like
those are the options. Like if you're the Lakers, I'm sorry,
(23:54):
I don't think you're giving Lebron forty or fifty mili
next year, even thirty. I mean, let me look at
It's some salaries for the NBA year. So I'm just
looking at highest paid players for twenty twenty five, twenty
twenty six. All right, So Lucas at forty five this year? Okay. Lebron,
(24:20):
by the way, is the fourteen tiest paid player for
fifty two mil. Holy she's Some of these guys make
it more. Bradley Beale fifty nine mil. Oh my gosh. Okay. Anyways,
so I said, would Lebron play for forty mil? These
guys are making around forty mil. Sabonis forty two, og
Nnobi thirty nine, Zion thirty nine, Jamran thirty nine, Darius
(24:43):
Garland thirty nine, Harden thirty nine, Scottie Barne thirty eight,
Franz Wagner thirty eight. The production they're gonna give versus
Lebron next year is dramatically different. All right, So now
let's go to the lower thirties. Tyler Hero thirty one,
Julius Randall thirty, de Janta Murray thirty, Porzingis thirty. CJ.
(25:07):
McCollum thirty. That's a lot of money on guys who
are hurt or really not carrying their weight. Jalen Johnson thirty.
What a steal that contract is with the Hawks. You're
not trading him? Hartenstein twenty eight, Andrew Wiggins twenty eight.
Can Lebron give you that kind of production? I don't know. Again,
we're talking a year from now, guys. So then you
(25:29):
start looking down and you're like, what about twenty mil?
Jared Allen's at twenty mil? Yaka bertle Josh Hart. I mean, now,
I guess you're talking. But as Lebron all of a sudden,
remember Michael Jordan at the end got real greedy in Chicago.
I need to be the highest paid player. I think
it would be a bad look for Lebron, like, think
(25:49):
about this, Klay Thompsons making sixteen mil. That's a horrible contract.
Look at how he's aged Caruso eighteen mil, amazing contract.
And so figuring out where Lebron fits money wise next year,
I don't have an answer to that. I don't think
anybody can say with any certainty what's gonna happen on
his money front. And I think your default should be, well, yeah,
(26:11):
this is probably his last season. I mean, unless I'm
missing a team and the Chicago Bulls say, oh, we're
gonna dump all these guys and we want Lebron for
his final swan song. Do you see that happening? What
are the Do you think somebody's just getting into Lebron
business to get more TV games, sell some more tickets.
I kind of think we're beyond that now. I don't know,
(26:35):
it's gonna be really interesting with Lebron. You guys know,
I'm a fan. I've articulated that well, I just don't
want it to get ugly, you know, and things can
get ugly at the end. This has happened in Major
League Baseball, This has happened in the NBA, NFL at
the endings are never the Hollywood script you wanted to be.
(26:56):
They just aren't. Remember Michael Jordan went and played for
the Wizards and was fighting with Kwame Brown, the guy
he drafted. It was ugly, really ugly, and you just
don't want that for Lebron. So like Jordan doing that
and dealing with it, it wasn't as bad because there was
no social media to document everything. Now, Oh my gosh,
(27:21):
I mean, look, how many people have podcasts. So I'm
in a tough spot with Lebron. Obviously I'm a bit fan.
He don't need advice for me. I would just say
a rich no more Laker talk, bro, Let's do it
in the off season. I don't think the Lakers are
that far off. If you asked me, who are the
six best teams in the league right now? I mean,
(27:42):
I assume you guys have looked at the East right
there ain't nobody good there right now. Like the Knicks
are good. Okay, the Pistons are nineteen and five, but
do we think that's gonna contint? Are they a sixty
win team? I don't think so. The Calves are falling
back badly. It was clearly last year was fools. Gold
you got Celtics are coming on strong, starting to play better,
(28:05):
but I mean they're playing dudes who you're like, they
would get obliterated by OKC and Denver and the Lakers
who did play Lebron or Luke against them last week
and lost like Orlando just lost Wile Wagner to injury. Like,
I don't see anyone that good in the East. I
think if you said j MC, are the Lakers a
top five team in the league right now? I would
(28:25):
say undeniably yes. Now to wrap up, I'm gonna look
at the Draft, Kings, NBA futures, and I'll let's see
where the Lakers fall in terms of chances to win
the title. Oka see is obviously the favorite. Uh yeah,
here we go. NBA Finals winner OKC plus one forty
five so one hundred and forty five of one hundred wins,
(28:48):
one hundred and forty five bucks, the Nuggets plus six
hundred Rockets plus one thousand, Lakers plus twelve hundred, so
the top four teams for the NBA Finals are in
the West. And I'm just saying, you know, SGA injury,
all of a sudden, it's wide open. Something happens to Yokic.
(29:11):
It just crossed the Nuggets off the board. I think
as long as the Lakers can stay healthy and in
the mix, they can have a fighting chance.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
I know that was very homery of me. But that's
all for today. I can't wait to read your dms
on Instagram social media. See you tomorrow.
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
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