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June 28, 2018 39 mins

Doug Gottlieb is in for Colin Cowherd today and he thinks that Paul George is the most important free agent this summer and explains why. He thinks that LeBron is going for a "Hollywood ending" and it doesn't quite feel right. Plus, Fox Sports NBA Insider Chris Broussard talks about the rumor that LeBron is recruiting Kevin Durant to come to Los Angeles with him. Presented by Perky Jerky.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Colin out. Here's Doug job what up. Welcome in.
This is the Herd wherever you may be listening, however
you may be making a part of your day. Thanks
so much. I'm Doug Gottlie filling it for Colin Calherd
Live from a Sonny, Los Angeles, California. Potentially the new

(00:22):
home of not War not too maybe three or maybe
no NBA stars come to lost On All right, welcome in.
If you're just joining us, that's good because we just started.
The Lakers and the Celtics have engaged the Spurs in

(00:46):
trade talks have reopened some trade talks between those two
teams and the San Antonio Spurs for Kawai Leonard, which
of course comes on the back of the news overnight,
which is not surprising that Paul George is going to
opt out of his contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder,
making him a free agent, which is of course financially

(01:08):
wise to do. Why would you take and even we're
gonna stay in Oklahoma City, why would you take you know,
more than ten million dollars less just to stay in
a place where you can sign a long term deal.
So the the news isn't surprising in regards to Paul George.
It's not terribly surprising in regards to Kawaid Leonard. This

(01:29):
whole idea of no, really, we could keep a player
who only played nine games for us and said he
was hurt. We don't know if he really is injured.
We could keep a player for an entire year only
to lose him because we kept him out of spite. Oh,
we could keep and we can hold onto him. That

(01:49):
relationship is done. They are moving on. They will move him,
and the team with the best assets is the Celtics.
But why would they use their best assets to trade
for a guy who has apparently told everyone around him
he wants to end up on the other side of
the country. Which brings us to the most important free

(02:12):
agent in this entire thing. It's not Chris Paul who
could be a free agent. It's not Kawai Leonardo is
not a free agent. It's not even Lebron James. The
fact is that Paul George has suddenly been thrust into
this most important free agent in recent history of the NBA,

(02:34):
and not just because of his own talents. There's two
parts to it. First, there's the idea of getting Paul
George if you're the Lakers, or getting Paul George if
you're the Thunder. If you're the Lakers, you get Paul
George the senses that probably cements that you'll get Lebron James.

(02:55):
And if you can get those two, do you have
to move mountains to get Kawhi Leonard. You could keep
your young core intact and then have Kawhi Leonard potentially
side as a free agent next year. It's a double
win for the Lakers. If Paul George remains in Oklahoma City,

(03:16):
it's a win not just for this Thunder team, but
for any team that chooses to take on a player
who has one year left in their deal and has
told people he wants to end up somewhere else. The
Paul George thing is big because he told everybody I
want to be a Laker. The season went okay with
Oklahoma City, and now he still may stay with Oklahoma

(03:37):
City again. It's not just about these two teams, or
about landing Lebron James, or about how it affects the
landscape of the West. This could completely and totally change
how we look at guys who say I don't want

(03:57):
to be there, remember, Chris Weber famously said he didn't
want to be in Sacramento, and that ended up being
probably the best spot of his entire career. Other players
have held teams hostage and they've gotten their way. In
this particular case, Paul George, who by some reports could
have been a Cleveland Cavalier Lebron James, had simply said

(04:19):
he was staying. Paul George, who some people believe the
Indiana Pacers should have traded to the Boston Celtics instead
out of spite, they traded to the Oklahoma City thunder
Paul George, who, let's just be honest, Indiana seemed to
win that trade. He didn't want to be there. It
was a declining asset. They got a Victor Oladipo, the
league's most improved player, and they got Domas Sabonis as well.

(04:44):
Two starters are starter and a half for a guy
who was going to leave at the end of this
season anyway. But we've gotten to this weird place to
where the best player is not the most important free agent.
The as free agent is the best player, but it's

(05:05):
not the one that changes or at least temporarily changes
much of the landscape of the sport. I mean, think
of it in kind of all that in levels of importance.
I don't know which ranks where, but I would say
for the Lakers, any sort of confidence or even arrogance

(05:29):
about getting Kawhi Leonard next year suddenly becomes tension and
pressure because well, now you're not gonna get Paul George.
Here's ESPNS agent war Zanowski on what's changed with Paul George.
Potentially stay in Oklahoma City. He's become comfortable in Oklahoma City.
He liked playing for that organization. He liked He really
likes Sam Presty, the GM, Billy Donovan, the coach. He's

(05:53):
really gotten along and enjoyed playing with Russell Westbrook. It
takes a while to adjust playing with Russ and uh
while they were disappointed to get knocked out early in
the playoffs against U tak Um. You know he can
run it back there, make more money in the short term. Um,
you know, do a short deal, a long deal in
Oklahoma City, and then get back out on the free

(06:14):
agent market here again during the prime of his career.
And there are other situations. Philadelphia is going to recruit
Paul George hard. They have a max slot available. Um,
so he's got a lot of options. A year ago
this time he thought he was going to the Lakers.
His thinking has changed. His mind is much more open. Yeah,
I mean, like, listen, his mind is open. Aselznowski just

(06:36):
tweeted out Boston's extremely cautious on Leonard front. There's so
much uncertainly with Leonard's future, health, free agent desires, et cetera.
Will Leonard be the same players hard to tell. Celtics
don't have to make risky trades, have no intention of
doing so. It's an interesting dance. Like so much of
this is about leverage for the Spurs. They don't really

(06:58):
have any right. The best leverage they can have is, well,
we'll just give him away, or we'll sit on him
for a year and we'll offer him more money that
he can make elsewhere. But when a guy doesn't want
to work at a place and no one wants to
pick up the tab for a guy to to, you know,
to get his services because of health, future, personality, all

(07:20):
those different quirky, quirky things to him, all Boston is
doing is dumpster diving, dude. This is what they did
last year. They're sitting there going like, let's find something
that's of great value and pay as little forward as possible.
That's what they did with Kyrie Irving. That's what they're
gonna try and do with Kawhi Leonard. But it feels

(07:43):
like the re engagement tells you all you need to know.
The Spurs are trying to drive up the price, knowing
ultimately the one who can pay, the who is willing
to pay and has the reason to pay the highest
price is the is the Lakers. That feels like a
deal that's gonna get done, which brings us all the
way back to Paul George. If Paul George stays in

(08:09):
Oklahoma City, and I don't think he does the short
term deal for a guy who broke his leg in
half on national TV, I'm just guessing he's gonna take
the long term, long term contract. That's a guess. But
if he stays, it hurts the validity of of Magic

(08:32):
Johnson's ability to say he's a closer, a great recruiter.
It changes the thought of any of star players wanting
to play with Lebron James. But maybe most importantly, it
could potentially change this whole idea of hey, don't take
a guy with one year left in his contract because
he's gonna want out anyway. Because if Paul George from

(08:56):
southern California wants to be a the Laker, and the
Lakers want him, and he spends nine months or eight
months in Oklahoma City and suddenly he's like, hey, you
know what, that's fine, but I'm going to stay in
the Sooner state. Doesn't that change how we look at
pending free agents. I didn't say he was the best
free agent. He's the most important because he has the

(09:22):
lynchpin to the ultimate plan as well as potentially a
changer of narratives about players controlling where they want to
be fascinating fascinating times in the NBA. The problem with
chasing the Paul George stuff is really simple. It's a

(09:43):
lot like steroid guy in baseball or steroid guy in football.
You know, this is the Julian Edelman and Julian Edelman
saying I don't know what I tested positive for and
oh yeah, by the way, they screwed it up in
a chain of custody like chain of custody that that
sounds like Ryan On who ultimately did it, and the
I don't know what I took just rings cold. Why

(10:05):
do we not believe any guy who tests positive for
p E d S because so many other guys have
tested positive for d e p d S, denied it
and then proven to be liars ultimately right. The same
could be said for Paul George. No matter what he says,
or how comfortable he appears to be, or the things

(10:27):
that are leaked out from his camp. Kevin Rantley led
everyone to believe that he was coming back, including Russell Westbrook,
and yet the entire time, in the back of his
mind was the Warriors, and ultimately he chose to go
with the Hampton Five. No matter what we hear from

(10:47):
Paul George's camp, were still left with the thought of
he's going to end up a laker because that's what
he's always wanted, and he's just trying to make a
nice exit from town, saying all the right things, but
ultimately saying he wants to go home. It isn't a
knock on Paul George to call him a liar because
we assume that everybody's lying to us. What's what's the

(11:07):
reward for telling us the truth? This is the Herd Podcast.
If Lebron goes to l A. It will be something
he'll be doing something in his career that he has
never done, and it's it strikes I don't know, it
strikes all of us as odd if you really stop

(11:28):
and look at the potential ramifications for his remarkable career
if he ends up in l A. Here's what Chris
Manno's Yahoo NBA Insider also you can hear him weekends
on Fox Sports Radio had to say about small market
teams getting gutted because of player movement. Now, let's say

(11:49):
everything comes together with the Lakers. They're able to acquire
Kauai and they get Paul George and Lebron to go there.
That's three big time A list stars that go from
small market teams to the big market team, and that
would go against everything that Adam Silver has been trying
to accomplish over the last few years. So if that happens,
you know, be prepared for a you know, a firestorm,

(12:11):
you know from these small market teams. But finding new
ways to fix the system. That's Chris Mannix earlier today. Yeah,
they're gonna try and fix the system. The problem is
if you fix the system to make it harder for
players to move, if you've gotten in under the wire.
You're good, right, Like that's that'd be actually good news

(12:33):
for the Warriors, and good news for the Lakers, and
good news for the Boston Celtics, for example, who might
have their own homegrown talent. But there's a way in
which guy, it's harder and harder and harder for players
to leave financially or simply impossible a hard cap, because look,

(12:53):
this is a hard ish cap. You know what this is?
This is like, um, Google, you probably know what's that
stuff called that. We used to have it when I
was a kid on top of ice cream and it
creates a shell. It's like chocolate syrup, and then it
creates a shell on top. Yeah, once it gets something cold,
it hardens. Yes, yes, any idea what that is? Ryan Music?

(13:17):
You have no idea what that is. You've you've heard
of it, but you don't know it, so that means
you don't know, right, you know It's okay, I mean
like this this is kind of an old school type
of thing. Man, somebody tweet me at Gotli Show. I
forget what it was called or is a It's basically
like chocolate syrup you put on the top of an
ice cream cone or on top of a bowl of

(13:39):
ice cream, and then it hardens and becomes like a crust.
The magic shell is one kind of it. There are
several different kinds too. The point is this, that's what
that's what the luxury tax is right now in the NBA, Like,
it's not a hard cap, but it's hard ish cap.

(14:02):
The Oklahoma City Thunder, if they resigned Paul George to
a Supermax extension and assuming they have Jeremy Grant on
the roster, their roster because of not just luxury tax,
but because of repeater tax, will be in the neighborhood
of three hundred million dollars. It's a hundred and something

(14:23):
like a hundred eleven million dollar cap. All the rest
will be paid in Texas. So that's not a hard camp.
It doesn't mean you can't do it. It just means
it makes it really, really, really painful and really expensive
to do it. It's like a magic shell. It's kind
of it's like magic said. You're like, oh, no, that's hard. No,

(14:44):
No it's not. You can still break through it, right,
you still get goole when you get an ice cream cone.
Do you have a do you have a way in
which did you bite the ice cream? Do you do
the lick all around in the circle thing? Do you
what do you do with the bottoms? Do you do
the napkin on the bottom? Like? These are all things
that everyone does individually. You don't have a pattern for this.

(15:08):
I would say I'm more of a biter. Biting is uh,
it goes fast. You also get a little brain for
a little more likely for brain freeze. But I do
feel like you really bite into the ice cream, you
really get a sense of the ice cream, whereas if
you're licking and you're just making sure it doesn't drip
like you don't you don't like drips anywhere you're licking.
You get the taste, but you don't get the overall

(15:28):
feel of ice cream going into your mouth. I I
understand why you're a biter. By the way, this just
in John Goulas a biter, a liquor. I'm a liquor.
John Glaze a bier. Andrew said there's a Hershey's shell,
same type of deal, but magic shell I think is
the proper answer. My thing is this, if you get

(15:51):
in under the wire before they put in a hard cap,
if they can get a hard cap think about what
the Lakers or the Celtics or the Warriors could look like.
Catch the from noon to three Eastern on I Heart
Radio and f S What I was thinking about Lebron
James to Los Angeles. Do you know why it makes sense?

(16:12):
It makes sense because we've seen this before, right. We
saw Wilt Chamberlain forced his way out of Philadelphia and
make his way to the Lakers, and ultimately, though it
took a long time and it was it was not
pretty for a long time, ultimately he won one NBA
title with the Lakers. We saw it via um, we

(16:39):
saw via trade with the Milwaukee Bucks. Crime Abdul Jabbar
won a championship in Milwaukee and then was moved to
the l A Lakers, where he was part of four
NBA title teams. We saw it with Shaquille O'Neil, who
began his career with the Orlando Magic and he won
three NBA titles with the Lakers. We've even seen Karl

(17:04):
Malone and Gary Payton, though they came up short, title chasing,
ring chasing late in their careers. We've seen players Metal
World Peace one one NBA title, finally making it to
the Laker Blue and gold because we've seen it before
makes me think it's a really weird ending for Lebron

(17:24):
James's career. Think about it. The reason it makes most
sense to us is because it is it is in
reality a Hollywood ending, especially if he wins an NBA title.
Now you can almost play that that's seen from Pretty Woman.
What's your Dream? What's your dream? You know it's Hollywood,

(17:51):
What's your dream? Hollywood endings are kind of cliche, right,
Hollywood endings are ah, it's it's almost too good to
be true. And if you think of Lebron James's career,
he's going to leave or at least to this point,
the most unlikely of desk of of legacies for a

(18:17):
guy who has Look, Lebron's a guy who comes from
single parent home, didn't know his dad, and yet has
a has a remarkable value for education and for family.
I think all the kids he's putting through school in
spite of the fact that he came from uh an

(18:39):
upbringing where he only had his mom raising him. He's
never got into even a hint of trouble, right, Like,
look every different marker for when you're more likely to
get into trouble and not value. Education comes down to
what your background is, one year level of education, your
parents level of education, if they're together or not. He

(18:59):
goes against every trend and then oh yeah, by the way,
after getting close in Cleveland, he leaves for Miami, which
is kind of an unlikely destination. And then he's able
to do in Miami. Not exactly what he laid out for,
but in four years, four NBA finals to NBA titles,

(19:20):
mission accomplished. But then we'll wait. Anyone else could have
retired in South Beach. That's what people do. That's cliche.
You play out your string, you make more money because
there's no state tax. You love the weather, and that's
where you that's where the part two of your life

(19:41):
begins and sometimes ends. I mean that there are parts
of Florida they call Heaven's waiting room. So instead he
turns tail and goes back and goes to Cleveland, where
nobody wins. Who goes to Cleveland? Who moves to Cleveland?
Who's says, you know what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna
go back to Cleveland. Mob he does that? What does

(20:05):
that Lebron did? And oh yeah, by the way, he's
been there for four years. He's been to three four
NBA type NBA Finals, and though he's only won one,
he did so an incredible fashion, coming from three games
to one down to a team that won seventy three
games the regular season. He's had a completely unconventional path

(20:28):
to this point, and it does feel like this is
kind of the cliche, cheesy ending if he goes to Lakers,
doesn't it? Like, aren't the best movies the ones with
the plot twists? M Night Shaloman right, um shalamalan. I
didn't know that Bruce Willis was dead until until everybody

(20:53):
knew Bruce Bruce Willis was dead. Now there are other
people in the theater, and I know there's some of
you that are driving arounds and they're going like I
knew the whole time, the whole time, um, and most
of you are lying. My wife did so first time
we watched. I remember in the movie theater we watched
and she's like, I think he's dead, Like, what are
you talking about? Didn't make any sense all the time? Backfires, right,

(21:18):
I'll give you Daddy's right there. He's on screen. Um,
you know Falling that Denzel Washington movie, That one is creepy,
But that one has a plot twist. What's the one
with Edward Norton where he's accused of being a serial killer?
And I think it's like the Corridord psychologists down there

(21:41):
and you're like, no way, no way, and then at
the very end of the movie you're like, oh, he's
he's a sociopath. He's a psychopath. Primal fear. I believes
the movie. There's nothing better than the plot twist at
the end. Usual suspects, right, like oh oh Kaiser's sosay,

(22:04):
oh oh oh, did not see that one coming? Wait,
he's walking normal? He was gimpy a minute ago. What
did happened to Kevin Spacey? Anyway? The point is that's

(22:27):
kind of been Lebron James's career now ending his career
in l A with the Lakers playing for a Magic
Johnson led team. That's as cliche as the end of
Mighty Ducks. That's you know what that is? That's like
double O seven? How many different double O seven's have
there been? Seven? Seven Double O sevens? Seven James Bonds

(22:50):
and no matter who it is, all my personal favorite
is Sean Cornery. Right, that's what people always say. I mean,
Daniel um uh, Daniel Craig probably the best one, right.
He actually looks because he's all shredded up and I'm
not sure if he's doing that fasting diet whatever he's doing,
because he's all shredded up. He actually looks like he

(23:12):
could be like he could pull off some of those stunts.
No disrespect to Connery. Connery looks like he could have
pulled all the ladies right, like that one I get.
But Daniel Craig actually looks like he could do some
of the stunts that they have. But the fact is
that Double O seven never dies hail of gunfire. Somehow

(23:34):
he always makes it. He always pulls It's like Rocky,
he always pulls it out in the end, and we
always it's always Double O seven with a beautiful woman
fade to black in a scene which clearly goes n
see seventeen as soon as the credits start rolling, right,
that's every Double O seven movie ever created, and we

(23:57):
sign up knowing it, signed up knowing it. But that's
not what Lebron has been. Lebron hasn't been Double O seven.
Lebron has been plot twist after Lebron has been a
little bit of like pulp fiction, right where you're putting
together kind of all these stories and they're kind of
all going together like oh oh, oh oh, who's choppers this?

(24:26):
So I'm not saying that the cliche enning is bad, right,
but it's a lot less interesting. And here's a really
interesting fella, Lebron James, could hear you want interesting? He
may well go down as the greatest score in the
history of the NBA. It's out there for him to

(24:48):
score more points than anybody who's ever played in the NBA.
And yet reputation wise, Lebron James isn't really seen as
a score, right. He'd even tell you I'd much rather
I I like when when I like setting my teammates up.
That's his favorite thing to do. And yet he could

(25:09):
go down as the leading score in the history of
the NBA. That's interesting. He he could never play for
a Hall of Fame coach, and yet everywhere he goes
when from Cleveland to Miami to Cleveland to l A

(25:31):
like the l A thing. I guess building a new
team in l A would be interesting. But we've kind
of seen it before. We've seen Lebron James Lee before.
We've seen l A and Super teams before, and we've
seen players go to Los Angeles to end their career before.
It would be a fairly conventional end to an unconventional career.

(25:58):
Maybe that's what makes it more interesting. Maybe that's what
makes it more interesting. So, I mean, look, I'm just
as intrigued as all you are. And I love the
person's like, well, you know there's a lot of lebron
and you're talking. Have you been on the streets? This
is not just in Los Angeles, But I can tell

(26:21):
you that in Collins on vacation where in Utah this week?
I guarantee when he goes to where rich people hang out,
because Colins rich and he's hanging out with rich people
are hanging out right, They're all they they they all
ask him Colin, where's it going? Colin? Tell you when
I go get coffee, coffee bean, Like, hey, Hurd, saw

(26:41):
you on the herd? Where's he going? Is he coming?
They're not coming. It's so different the East Coast. Really
amazing thing. You know. Um, speaking of Hollywood endings, here's
one that I never understood. You know, the the movie
The Natural Robert Redford. Yes, Okay, so what happens at

(27:05):
the end of the movie. He hits a he hits
a home run, it hits the light pole right, or
hits the lights and all the lights shatter. It's like
the perfect Hollywood ending. Did you know that the book
has the opposite ending? And true, the book has an
opposite I know this because I had to. I read
the book in high school. He now he struck out,

(27:27):
but he threw the game and gets thrown out of baseball.
It's a way better ending. It's a plot twist that
does not happen. Sounds like a huge bummer ending. It
is a huge but but that's that's the difference in
a Hollywood ending and a real ending. Right. In real endings,
sometimes the guy throws the game. It is it is
a I know this because I read the book. And

(27:49):
in high school, one of my best friends, getting Raphi
La las Arean. We were getting ready to turn in
our paper you can run on anything you want, any
topic you know, and any any topic at all about
the book, and he wrote about the ending, and he's
like describing it, and it was a beautifully written piece.

(28:10):
And I was like, hey, dude, you gotta go home.
I was like, why It's like I said, English, this
third period, you have two periods to completely rewrite your
paper because he strikes out and throws the game in
the book Like no way. I was like, I'm just
telling you. Yes, Bernard Malamud wrote the wrote the text.

(28:35):
It is an ultimate plot twist. This is The Herd Podcast,
bringing Chris Broussard and be a insider, longtime NBA scribe, analyst,
radio host everything for us here at Fox Sports one,
Fox Sports Radio. Chris, what are you hearing in regards
to uh Kawhi Leonard? Well, just I mean what you said. Um,

(28:56):
the Lakers are obviously trying to get this thing done
as soon as they can. Uh. They want to get
Kauai because they believe in getting Kauai. It's not only
getting Kauai, as great as he is, it's getting Lebron James. Um.
They don't, you know, they don't want to take the
risk of trying to see if Lebron will go there

(29:18):
by himself. Um. You know, so they want to go
ahead and get that free agent locked in, especially with
the talk that Paul George may stay in Oklahoma City.
So they're trying to get it done. The question is
will San Antonio play ball with them. We know that
their stance has been they don't want to trade him

(29:40):
to the Lakers. They don't want to trade him in
the Western Conference. And I think at the end of
the day, though, you have to make the best move
for your team, what makes your team the best, And
the Lakers, obviously, I think, can put together a really
nice package that it will be tough for another team
the cop especially if that other team thinks they might

(30:02):
be a one year rental for Kauai. Here's the thing, though,
if you're the Spurs, you can take that deal later
in the summer, or you can take that deal during
the season or at the trade deadline in February. Um.
Their goal is not just to keep Kauai Leonard from
the Lakers. It's also to keep Lebron James from the Lakers,

(30:23):
at least as long as they can. You know, so,
I if I'm the Spurs, I'm not in a rush
to trade Kauai Leonard. And uh, they got plenty of time.
He certainly got leveraged ultimately, but they got plenty of
time right now before they have to pull the church
you have it, do they actually? Because like, look, if

(30:44):
your Lakers. You're super motivated to get it done. Now.
If it doesn't get done, now you just sit there
and go like, all right, we'll just you're gonna be
like that. We'll wait and we'll get him as a
free agent, which takes your primary bitter away. Well, they
did that, they did that with Paul George, and now
they may not might not give which is which which
it's interesting because I said this to start the show.
Christopers are joining us Fox Sports U NBA Insider and

(31:08):
of course has his own radio show on the weekends
as well. Um I said to start of the show,
he's not the best free agent, but he's maybe the
most interesting and impactful free agent in Paul George, because, uh,
if he goes to the Lakers, you would think that
Lebron will join him. And they don't actually have to
move heaven and Earth to get kawhile although they still

(31:30):
may they may want all three, it may not matter,
but they don't have to. But it also has to
change how we look at guys with when you're remaining
saying they want to go elsewhere where, you take that chance,
and you may be overpaid because you can convince him
to stay. I mean, it's an Oklahoma City team that
didn't gel well, they get bounced in the first round
of the playoffs, it didn't even go seven games. Mellow

(31:53):
doesn't want to accept any sort of different role there.
They'd be in complete cap hell and unable really to
fill out the boy to the ride like. It's not
a great situation. Billy Donovan got re upped, but it
wasn't It wasn't met with great fanfare, and that's all
it took to resign Paul George that. I think that
would be huge. That's why he's so impactful, even more so,
maybe even than Lebron Well the one. I mean, you

(32:17):
said a mouthful there, and I agree with most of it.
Um So I'm still not convinced he staying. I mean,
I know that though we'll see what happens. If he stays,
I would be impressed, because you know, I'm not critical
of the guys that want a super team and the
guys that you know, want to join the best possible
players they can k d Lebrons, I'm not critical of that,

(32:39):
but there is something I admire about the guy that
just grits his teeth and say, you know what we
can get it done here. And if George feels like
he and rest Brooks and that crew and okay see
can get it done, then I'm impressed. I'll applaud him. However,
I don't understand why he would stay. Other than that,

(33:01):
I don't understand why in the world he would say
Los Angeles is a better city, it's your hometown. If
you play with Lebron, you got a chance, a better
chance to win the championship. Then you have playing with
Westbrook which you probably don't have any chance of winning
the championship. Um, I don't know why he'd do it.
I mean, if you want to say money, you know
that fifth year he can get five years from okay See,

(33:25):
four years from the Lakers. The major difference in the
money is that just that. Okay, so he can give
him an extra year when he's thirty two or thirty three.
At the end of the deal with the Lakers, he
probably probably not for certain, but he probably will be
starting another max contract or at least a two or
three year MAX contract at thirty two thirty three years

(33:47):
of age. So I don't understand why he would stay,
But if he does, I'd be I'd have to applaud
him and being pressed Yeah, but then then you'd have
to ask yourself why did he leave Indie? If you're
you know, totally agree, well, let's and let's go here.
If if it's not just about going home to l A,

(34:08):
then I'm if I'm Paul George, I got to look
at Philadelphia. I mean, if it's just now about basketball
where you think you can win and look, I don't
know this, but if he you know, if you play
with Lebron, you're a distant second, right, You're not You're
not a close second like he is in in Oklahoma City.

(34:30):
You're a distant second star. You win a title is
gonna be all about Lebron? Does does George think about that?
I don't know. But if you if you just want
to uh play in a great basketball situation there, then
look at Philadelphia. You stay in the East, you go
to the Eastern Conference, You're gonna make the All Star

(34:51):
team without question. There's a big question whether or not
you'll make them. In the West. You have a chance
to go to the championship multiple time. You would be
the second scorer, if not the leading score in Philadelphia
with Joe l m b. You gotta pass first point
guard in Ben Simmons, and he would fit in seamlessly

(35:14):
to that situation in Philadelphia. As far as his game,
I think he has to look at that if Now
it's not just about going home in l A. That's
the voice of Chris Brussard, who joins us here. Uh
in the herd. I'm Doug Gottlie filling in for Colin.
All right, what about Lebron? Where are we on Lebron Watch? Well?
I think it's all about you know where who who

(35:36):
would go to l A with him? Now? Where did
he go to l A by himself? I don't think
you take that off the table, but I think it'd
be a wasted year to go there by himself because
you'd have no chance to win the West. Um, you know,
does he think maybe I go there by myself and
then at the deadline the Lakers trade for Kauai? You know,
I don't know, But I just think even though that

(35:59):
team in Cleveland would not be the favorite in my opinion,
in the East, they would still have a pretty good
chance to win the East just because of Lebron. You
gotta figure they make a couple of moves to improve
the team and they have a shot. And look, once
you get to the finals, you take your chances. That's
a better chance of winning it than you'd have in

(36:20):
l A, just because you're in a different conference. So
I would think if nobody else goes the l A
with him, stay one year in Cleveland, one more year,
and then you can go to l A. You know,
see what this landscape is like in you go there
with Kauai or at Clay Thompson or Jimmy Butler, you know,
and then you also get another year to see what

(36:42):
these other Lakers can do lines O ingram Umkus. Look
are they really good players? You know, see how they improve.
So I think that makes a lot of sense for him.
And even on a family level, his son, his oldest
son is going in the eighth grade this upcoming fall,
so you know, if you want to make a move,

(37:02):
I doubt he wants to move his son from the
different high schools so you can still go to l
A and enroll him in a new high school for
you know, for all four years. So I think that's
a factor to stephen A reported or actually it was
he did something weird. He didn't report it, Okay, But
what he said was he got two calls in the

(37:22):
middle of the night that said Lebron reached out to
Kevin Durant try to get him to join him in
l A. Um. I've been I've been told that's not
true from somebody close to the situation on Lebron's side.
In fairness to stephen A, he's been told the same

(37:44):
thing from Lebron's side that it's not true, But stephen
A still believes it, So you know, I don't know. Look,
it would make sense. I mean, that's the real power
move for Lebron if he could go to l A
with Kevin Durant. I mean, now you're really talking about
a team that could win it next year with those two.

(38:06):
But you know, I think Durant's going to sign with
a Golden State on a short deal. I think if
you're Kevin Durant, and you know there have been rumblings
that he's not the happiest camper in Golden State, he
should be. I'm worried about him if he's not. But
if he isn't, and it's and if it has something

(38:27):
to do with the fact that, look, it's never gonna
be your team because it's Steph's team or people think
you got it easy and you bought these rings. Going
to play with Lebron doesn't solve any of that. It's
gonna be Lebron's team. And if and if you play
with him, the best player in the world, and you're
the second best player in the world, then it's gonna

(38:49):
you know, people are gonna say you took the easy
route out. Again. So if I'm Kevin Durant, I want
to win more rings than Lebron. I don't want to
help him win more and so I wouldn't do it
if I were him. That's the voice of Chris Brus. Sorry. Okay,
as of right now, As of right now, if you
had to guess, uh where who ends up where? Again,

(39:11):
this is just as of Thursday at ten thirty on
the West coast, one third in the East coast, go
I would say Kauai remains in San Antonio, just you know,
for the time being, because I don't think they'll take
make a move. Um And I'm gonna say I'm not
saying with a ton of certainty, but I'm gonna say

(39:33):
that Paul George and Lebron go to l A. Chris
Brus Sorry, check them out weekends here on Fox Sports
Radio and see them on all our Fox Sports One shows. BRU,
have a great weekend, thanks for joining us. All three
hours of the Herd are always streaming on the Herd
channel on the i Heart Radio app
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Host

Doug Gottlieb

Doug Gottlieb

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