June 26, 2025 • 59 mins
On this week’s filibuster, Jemele takes a deeper look at Tyrese Haliburton’s devastating injury and whether the number of ACL tears suffered by NBA players this season is an aberration or a sign of something more. Then, Jemele has a special conversation with 12-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul at the prestigious American Black Film Festival in Miami. Chris shares whether he plans to play next season and how he’s approaching his free agency this summer. He also discusses why he’s chosen to pivot into film, television and production work through his production company, Ohh Dipp!!! Entertainment. Chris shares his successes and challenges in that space.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what's up everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Jamel Hill and welcome to spolitics and I heard
podcasts and unbothered production time to get spolitical. Given the context,
I'm struggling to think of an injury under the circumstances
(00:22):
that was more devastating than the one Tyrese Haliburton suffered
in Game seven of the NBA Finals. Now, Halliburton tore
his ACL, and unfortunately, this NBA season has been marred
by big names going down with the same injury.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Jason Tatum also.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Went down with an ACL tear during the playoffs, and
a few months ago, Kyrie Irvings ACL tear torpedoed the
Dallas Mavericks chances to make any headway whatsoever in the
NBA playoffs. Now, overall, there has been a record eight
achilles tears this season, but Halliburton's injury was the one
that has really invited the finger pointing. Some believe players
(00:57):
are getting hurt more because the playoffs are too.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Money's not the problem. We got seventy six billion. Comment like,
money's not the issue. The owners are all billionaires. Let's
protect the players. There's no reason for seven game series
in the first two rounds.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Meanwhile, Cameron is blaming the shoes.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Some also are blaming it on the wear and tear
that starts at an early age and the pace of play.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
I think it's more the wear and tear. These kids
are playing way too many specialized sports at a younger age.
Like I don't even think it's close how much they're
playing compared to my era. I played four different sports
in high school, football, baseball, basketball, track. I probably say
the grassroots basketball development, if you're lucky enough to get
(01:41):
to the league, will probably.
Speaker 6 (01:42):
Put five years on your body. And that's just a guestimate.
Speaker 7 (01:46):
So since twenty twelve and now in twenty twenty five,
the average NBA team runs an extra two hundred miles
per season.
Speaker 6 (01:58):
What does that mean?
Speaker 7 (01:59):
Well, then, of those extra two hundred miles is the
burden is on the starters. Load management is the era
that we are in, and all teams have to work
to try to balance out those minutes across the entire rosters.
But without question, if you compare the days of Michael Jordan,
(02:19):
Charles Barkley, and Patrick Ewing, all those days, that was
a half court offense, and now we are in space
and pace, and space and pace has increased three pointers,
fast breaks, and now the total mileage.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
The reason is offered by Colin Cowherd, former NBA player
Matt Barns, and CBS sports injury expert Marty jarr Millow
are reasonable and makes sense. Though, Sorry, Killer Cam the Shoes, Nah,
my man, that's not exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
What the research tells us. Is the NBA season too long?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yes, the regular season is eighty two games, It could
easily be sixty five and start closer to Christmas, which
would make having seven game playoff series seem less taxing.
Speaker 6 (02:57):
But let's be real.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
The NBA just signed an eleven year, seventy six billion
dollar media rights steal last October that was contingent on
the current structure. Television networks don't want to lose games,
and neither do owners, and for sure, players don't want
to give back any money. So less games sounds good
but not remotely realistic. But a lot of this could
be put under one big umbrella, because there is only
(03:21):
one thing that can be blamed for what we're seeing now.
It's gross capitalism. Now, we're not that far away from
an NBA player getting a half billion dollar contract like
Major League Baseball players the cost of doing business in
sports isn't lowering, it's rising. With so many billions in
the pot, that means nearly every kid with a basketball
is thinking that one day it can be them, which
(03:43):
is why you see such alarming trends at the youth
level when it comes to players' health. Parents are willing
to pay thousands of dollars to scammer trainers and brokers
in hopes that one day their kid will somehow be
able to cash in. Take someone like Zion Williamson, who
has struggled to be healthy in his whole professional career
(04:03):
now wait issues aside. Zion started playing travel ball at
age five. According to a series done by ESPN's Baxter
Homes in twenty nineteen, Zion spent most of his youth
playing five or six games a weekend on the AAU circuit,
in addition to a full high school basketball schedule later
on and other basketball camps and obligations.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
In this same story, Baxter highlights.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
A case where a doctor is repairing a torn acl
of a nine year old while cuddainly, there are kids
playing basketball just because they love it and not because
they have any NBA aspirations. The truth is that most
do have NBA hoop dreams. And when that level of
desire meets a system oozing with money and everybody having
so much financial skin in the game, what's a few
torn acls among superstars. The business of sports requires young
(04:46):
players to play and train all year round. The business
of sports means low management. The business of sports means
more games on a bunch of different networks and streaming services,
and more money that fans have to shell out in
order to see their favorite teams and players. The goal
is not simply to make money. The goal is to
make as much money as possible. The goal is to
(05:07):
be disgustingly rich, not just rich rich. So no, you
aren't going to see fewer games. You aren't going to
see athletes that choose their bodies and health over the
game and what it has brought them, be that financial
or competitive comfort. Everybody loves a gladiator sport, they just
don't love gladiator consequences. I'm Jamel Hill, and I approved
this message. Today's episode of Politics is special and unique. Now,
(05:32):
I believe this is the first episode of Politics that
I've done on location. I was recently invited to the
American Black Film Festival in Miami to host a special
conversation with one of the greatest players in NBA history,
twelve time All Star who was named as one of
the seventy five greatest NBA players, who many affectionately refer.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
To as the Point God.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Now he's doing some exciting things in film and television,
but before he becomes even more immersed in that world,
he has a big decision to make about him free agency,
because this could be.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
His final year as an NBA player.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Coming up next on politics, my conversation with Chris Paul
at ABFF in Miami, and please now get a more
involved vierator from the sports journalist jimml Bill.
Speaker 8 (06:34):
Hello, Hello everybody, Okay, some relatives and years, Okay, thank
you so much for joining me here.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
For this wonderful conversation that I'm about to have in
a moment with Chris Paul.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I'm just so proud to once.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Again be able to be a part of ABFF for
another year.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I don't know if this is my fourth year or
fifth year.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
But every time that I come to this civil I
leave with the same same energy and the sense of
that I feel affirmed, I feel renewed, and even though
I may be here in professional capacities where I'm having
conversations with people, are moderating with someone, or moderating a
panel or a conversation, I feel so poured into just
(07:21):
all over and around this atmosphere. You know, a lot
of us are pursuing things creatively throughout the year, and
before we come here we're getting told Noah lot.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
And then when you come.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Here, you hear other people's stories who are going through
relatable challenges, and more importantly, you're seeing the successes. It
just allows me to feel even stronger in my purpose
than before I came.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
So I just thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
All and thank ABFF for just giving me that energy
and pouring into me so that when I go back
into the.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Mean streets of the creative world, I feel like I
have a different or heavier coat of armor. With that
being said, I'm even more.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Happy that the fact that ABFF, every single year that
I've been here has increasingly been diving deeper into the
world of sports, which is my domain. And so to
be here and leading another important conversation that merges together
sports and entertainment, I'm very excited to be a part
(08:21):
of those kinds of conversations and the show that that
convergence is just naturally and has always been there. So
today I get the honor of having a conversation with
Chris Paul. Now we know some of the metrics. Twelve
time All Star, I think he's made All NBA eleven times.
I mean, an incredible player, one of the greatest point
(08:41):
guards of all time. He also makes me feel seven
thousand years old because I remember when he was playing
in college and to see him now, you know, still
playing at a very high level, is very encouraging. And
now I can say that I have something two things
out in common with Chris Paul, and he and I
(09:04):
are both bowlers, Like it's one of those I always
thought the only people in the Midwest bowl, but apparently
people in the South do as well. So when you
live and I'm from Detroit and when you're in Michigan,
you got to have something to do when it's cold,
and so we bowld.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
That's what we do. And recently me and my husband
have taken up golf.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Chris is also a fantastic golfer, So I can say, like, hey,
I got a couple things in common with a twelve
time NBA All Stars. So looking forward to our conversation
asking him about his entertainment company where he's doing film
and production work, and y'all know, because I'm nosy, of
course I'm gonna ask him about where he's playing next year.
So absolutely that's on the table, right, Please, welcome to
(09:43):
the stage, Chris Paul.
Speaker 6 (09:56):
Are you I'm doing well?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Listen to jump right into it, Chris, because everybody wants
to know. In about three weeks you are going to
be an unrestricted free agent officially July first.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
I'm putting you on the high steam right from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
We ain't no warm up for nothing, no softball question anything.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
So what's the move?
Speaker 1 (10:15):
What's the plan?
Speaker 6 (10:16):
I honestly don't know. Seriously, I don't. I don't.
Speaker 9 (10:20):
It's actually a weird place to be in because from
my entire career I pretty much always know. I mean,
last summer I was an unrestricted free agent too, But
for most of my career I've always had an idea
where I was going to play the next year.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
But no clue, no clue.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Okay, well, let's start with the most basic questions. So
the plan is to play.
Speaker 9 (10:42):
The plan is to play Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Many people are quite aware of the fact that you
just happen to be really good friends with Lebron James.
The Lakers baby could need a point guard.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I know they got Luke, but yeah, you know, I'm
just saying you live in Los Angeles. I'm connecting some
dots here.
Speaker 6 (11:05):
I do.
Speaker 9 (11:05):
My wife and my kids are in LA. And I mean,
I say this is just about every time I talked,
But the past six seasons I've played in where I
was in Oklahoma first, then Phoenix for three years, Golden
State four year, and then San Antonio last year. My
wife and my kids have been in LA all six
of those years. So that's that's tough. I love to
(11:26):
play basketball, but I love my kids and my family
more so that that is going to weigh a huge
part on my decision on what happens next year.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Paiging Roye Polinka, piging Rode Polinka.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
But that being said, I mean, I think it's fair
to say that, even though you are playing at a
high level, that you're in the twilight of your NBA career. Yeah,
so how much longer do you intend to play?
Speaker 6 (11:52):
How much longer do I tend to play? At the
most of the year.
Speaker 9 (11:57):
You know, I just finished my twentieth season, which is
a blessed itself. Yeah, I've been in the NBA for
more than half of my life, you know, which is
a blessing. But it's definitely these years you do not
get back with your kids, with your family. I'm born
and raised in North Carolina, So my granny, who watches
(12:18):
every single game that I play, every single night, I
just those moments.
Speaker 6 (12:23):
I just don't get to see.
Speaker 9 (12:25):
Her and hug her along with all my uncles and
nunts as much as I love Tom.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So okay, and most of a year, yeah, lot to you.
I'm not gonna hold you do a worry about it
if it wants it being longer well, but surely though,
when you look and see that some of your peers
have retired. You see d Wade is retired, Carmelo's already retired.
Lebron don't know how much longer he will play. But
looking around and you see guys that you played with,
(12:54):
you know, having left the game, and young people. You
were telling me the story backstage about how you knew
Jalen send any places for.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
The Knicks when he was.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
In middle school and now he's one of the league's
top players.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Do you think like what happened to Tome?
Speaker 9 (13:09):
Yeah, I honestly think about that a lot. You know,
a lot of times when you're in it, you just
I'm so competitive, right. I have a grassroots AU basketball
program out of North Carolina.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
Right, anybody here know what AU basketball is.
Speaker 9 (13:23):
Yeah? Yeah, So I have my own program. Me and
my older brother we grew up playing since we were kids.
We were in those vans, twelve hour rides and all
that stuff. So as soon as I got to the NBA,
I started my own program. I have thirteen of my
kids that came out of my program that play in
the NBA right now, right, that I have seen since
(13:44):
they were ten years old, fourteen, fifteen years old. But
when we step on the court, oh that's out the window,
you know what I mean. We got to get to it.
But it is a privilege to still be able to
play and to still be able to impact their lot.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
A lot of athletes you've run across this throughout the
course of your career, they don't start thinking about what
they want to do when their career is over until
after their career is already over, and it seems like
you have clearly been intentional about thinking about what your
next pivot is, and that seems to be film and
television production. So give me the origin story about how
(14:19):
odip entertainment came about.
Speaker 9 (14:21):
Right, So what happened was and the reason why I
wanted to get involved in film and TV was I'm
a consumer, right, I'm a consumer.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
I tell you any former.
Speaker 9 (14:32):
Athlete or any athlete that you talk to, there's actually
a lot of idle time, right, A lot of idle time.
On a game day, you wake up, you go to
shoot around. Some teams in NBA don't even do shoot
around now, but you get up and you go work
out and train, and then the game is later in
the evening. So when I got into the NBA, I
started watching TV shows, started watching TV shows.
Speaker 6 (14:55):
I'll watch everything.
Speaker 9 (14:56):
I mean, I will tell you some of my alias
is all my this is off from TV shows. But
I remember me and my brother being in Oklahoma my
first two years, we watched the Wire. We watched the Wire,
and so being a consumer and being a creative, I
saw an opportunity. It was like, man, I watched it
with a totally different lens, and I said, I wanted
(15:18):
to get involved in film and TV.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So where did the name O Dip come from?
Speaker 9 (15:25):
Man? So we watched I watched movies, I watch everything.
So I felt like, oh Dip would be a lot
better for my parents than oh shit. Right, And I say,
any of y'all in here seeing the movie Welcome Home
Roscoe Jenkins, right, So I want to say, me and
my brother caught one of the episodes that was on BT,
the edited version, right. So there's a point in that
(15:47):
movie when Mike Epps he said, oh shit, the Negro Olympics,
right before the families fight or whatever.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
So I think they said old Dip on that, right.
Speaker 9 (15:56):
So for since we were kids, since that movie came out,
me and my brother and our homies, every time something happened,
we always say, oh Dip. And if anybody in here
has a company or anything that they started.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
One of the hardest things to come up with is
a name. Right. You can have all these ideas and whatnot,
and then somebody be like, what you gonna name it?
You'd be like, oh, hell, I do not know, But
I don't know why.
Speaker 9 (16:19):
That automatically came to mind when me and my brother
talked about it. But O, DIP is something that our friends,
my homies like me and Russell Westbrook are really good friends,
and something happened or whatnot in the game and he'll
text me, He'll say, oh, DIP, you know what I mean.
So anybody who knows us knows it. That's what we say.
I mean.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
CP three Productions that never.
Speaker 9 (16:41):
Yeah, no, no, no, no no. And you know what,
It's interesting you say that because I think there is
a time and place for that name recognition. But I
think the production company is bigger than just me, right,
And I think when we show something or tell someone's story, that.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
Doesn't need to be what you see, right CP three.
Speaker 9 (17:01):
When I hear that a lot of times, I think basketball,
you know, and I say this all day long that
US athletes are way more complex than just that. So
I actually I'm glad that you don't see CP three
when you see ODIP.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
You mentioned that part of your motivation is starting ODIP
was what you saw as a consumer. So as a consumer,
as you were thinking about starting your own film and
television production entity, what did you notice was missing from
you know, based off what you were consuming.
Speaker 9 (17:32):
Yeah, what's interesting is I wanted to be able to
tell stories like in the black and brown communities, right,
not just about sport.
Speaker 6 (17:43):
Like I'm big into comedy.
Speaker 9 (17:45):
I like all types of things, stories of entrepreneurship, whatever
it may be. And at ODIP, I tell you what's
really cool is that we're not like just based on IP, right,
it's not just from a book or something like that.
Speaker 6 (17:59):
We're big in the right writers.
Speaker 9 (18:00):
We're big into trying to elevate their voices and hear
their stories because you can learn so much.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
I've learned so much in this space. Right.
Speaker 9 (18:08):
Obviously I train and I play basketball, but I always
say basketball.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
Is what I do, is not who I am. Right.
Speaker 9 (18:14):
So we've told stories of lacrosse team. I didn't play
lacrosse growing up, know nothing about lacrosse, but we told
a story that was very inspiring about a team. We're
doing a story right now about cricket.
Speaker 6 (18:30):
Right about cricket.
Speaker 9 (18:31):
I'm actually part owner of a cricket team, the Rogasteran
Royals over in India.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
Right.
Speaker 9 (18:36):
So there's a lot of storytelling and a lot of
different things that you wouldn't know. That this guy plays
the piano, this guy does this thing. And I tell
you what really got me going into all of this,
what's kind of the commercials that I used to do
for State Farm, right, because you know, shooting those commercials
(18:59):
year in and year out was something that was new
for me. I think the first commercial we shot see
was twenty eleven, twenty twelve, right, so it's thirteen years
of those commercials, and people at here that no production
is tough, and so I think I've always paid attention
to all the details.
Speaker 6 (19:18):
And so during those commercial shoots or whatnot, I was
the talent.
Speaker 9 (19:22):
But as I was the talent, I was paying attention
to everyone. The first ad, I was paying attention to the.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Client.
Speaker 9 (19:30):
I was paying attention. And anybody in here ever been
to talent? Yep, So y'all been to talent. I'm gonna
tell you right now. My biggest pet peeve is when
they want you to change something and the people come
and tell the person who's standing right in front of you,
they like, we just really wanted to put his right
hand up, And I'm like, I can hear you, just
(19:51):
tell me. You're standing right there, you can tell you
tell me. But in that it really got me intrigued
into being able to tell these stories.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
And I tell you, I look at film. I look
at shows.
Speaker 9 (20:04):
I look at everything now from a producing standpoint, right,
any of y'all in here seeing centers?
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Oh yeah, yeah, you've seen centers. So what was it
smoking stack?
Speaker 9 (20:14):
So I went into the movie theater and when I'm
watching it, and I tell you, because when I had
to be Chris and I had to be Cliff, like
I had to have a mustache one day that the next
day I didn't, and I had to be in the
same spot or whatnot. So I actually, I mean, it
wasn't Ryan shooting it.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Don't get it twisted, but you could relate to me.
Speaker 9 (20:36):
Yeah, I'm not him by no means, but I've had
to do something similar to that.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
You talked a second ago about your friendship with Russell Westbrook,
Russell Westbrook, Steph Curry, Carmelo, I think Kevin Durant, all
of a lot of your basketball piers. A lot of
athletes period now have production companies and are getting into
film and television. Why do you think the film and
television space is appealing to athletes?
Speaker 9 (21:03):
That is a great question. And I tell you exactly why.
It's very appealing to athletes. When I was leaving the
Los Angeles Clippers to go to the Houston Rockets. That
was the first time my production company did anything. And
I tell you how it came to be. We ended
up telling a story called Chapter three. And anybody in
here who watches Networks, you watch TVs, everything pops up
(21:25):
on your phone, every like talking head now is gossiping.
This is what he's gonna do. This is what he's
gonna do. Then they gonna tell you why he did it.
I said, I want to tell my own story, but
the way it happened.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
I love pictures.
Speaker 9 (21:39):
I love documenting things because I feel like I've been
blessed to live this crazy life where I'm traveling and
the only way that I can remember things is pictures.
So I wanted to remember how I ended up getting well,
end up making my decision on if I was going
to stay with the Clippers or if I was going
to leave. So a good friend of mine, Jay z Right,
(22:02):
He was actually in the casually heard of him.
Speaker 6 (22:06):
Z right.
Speaker 9 (22:07):
Right, We're in the same fantasy league or whatever. So like, okay,
many follow up questions, But luckily over my career he's
been somebody I could call lean on and talk to
about things.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
Right.
Speaker 9 (22:19):
So Jay was actually at the time, UH making his
album for four four, So I would go over to
the studio all the time. It's when I'm in LA
and I would just sit in the studio and watch him.
So I hit Jay one day and I was like, Jay, man,
I want to talk to you about this decision that
I'm trying to make to go to go or stay.
And then this is always a tough question then y'all know,
(22:41):
like when you got homies and whatnot. And I was
like Jay, I was like, I want to bring a
camera just to capture it for myself, just so years
years from now when I'm thinking about what decision I made,
I want to I want to be able to rewatch it.
Speaker 6 (22:56):
So Jay said cool.
Speaker 9 (22:57):
Me and my brother went over to the studio, had
vib my camera guy, come over there.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
We was there for like.
Speaker 9 (23:02):
Four hours, four or five hours, talk talked it through.
Then I went and had lunch with Eiger. I went
had lunch with Eiger and asked him if I could
bring because I really just wanted feedback from people. I
talked to some of my family members and I was
filming it. So what actually happened is Bob my shooter
right Bob actually put together like a little sizzle, right,
(23:26):
just a little sizzle just for whatever. I sent it
over to Jay, right. Jay hits me back and was like, this, dope,
you're gonna put it out. I was like, hold up,
this ain't profit, you know, because you never know how
people want to be shown or something like that, especially
somebody with that profile. Same thing with Iiger, and they said, absolutely,
(23:48):
go ahead.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
So our first project that we did was Chapter three.
Speaker 9 (23:51):
We started our company, We went to the different networks
and sold it. And this was the first opportunity that
I didn't have to worry about what somebody was saying
on Twitter. I didn't have to worry about what somebody
was saying on Instagram. They could go on TV and
say whatever they wanted to. But guess what, I got
a chance to tell my own story. And so that
(24:12):
I think is what has driven athletes and everyone to
be able to control their own narrative, right, Like you
can't you can make up whatever. And that's that's how
you know you've been in how media changed. Right, anytime
a guy announces that he's going to a new team,
now usually they're doing it on their own platform. And
so that's what started it for me and made me
(24:35):
want to be able to tell my own story.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
And for those out there listening, when you refer to Iiger,
he meant by Biger as in the chairman of Disney,
not a bad person.
Speaker 9 (24:44):
And the other thing too, Jim, I'll tell you is
what's wild is the different leagues, right, Like the NBA.
Of course, amazing wouldn't be here without the opportunity. But
they have NBA Entertainment, right, NBA Entertainment. So every time
you go anywhere, I mean, I'm telling you, All Star Weekend,
USA Team, all this different type stuff. They got cameras everywhere.
(25:08):
Everywhere you go, it's.
Speaker 6 (25:09):
Cameras, right.
Speaker 9 (25:10):
They own all that footage, right, they own all that footage.
So in order to do things, a lot of times
you got to go ask them, right. So this was
about being able to control your own there.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, and you know a lot of people, of course,
I mean, how many of you guys saw the last
dance of Michael Jordan's documentary Rights one of the greatest
sports documentaries we've seen. But part of the reason it
did so well is because Jordan had his own footage.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
He had things that we had not seen before.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And so that was smarter you to take that footage
of your process in terms of how you made that decision.
You know, you said you pitched that to different you
know networks, and you know to get it out there.
So when you're in these pitch meetings, how do you
present yourself? Because everybody knows who you are as an athlete,
(26:01):
but how do you get them to see you as
a serious content maker?
Speaker 6 (26:06):
That's a really good question.
Speaker 9 (26:07):
Fortunately, I have an amazing team around me, right, And
that's the thing that I've learned in sport is that
you can't do everything right.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
Luckily I've been on a team sport.
Speaker 9 (26:17):
I don't play tennis, I don't play golf professionally, none
of that. But I just try to show up as me,
as authentic and myself right. So on these calls, I
give my point of view, my experience because even though
I've been in the NBA for the last twenty years,
(26:38):
I grew up in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
Speaker 6 (26:40):
Right, I'm as regular or normal as they come.
Speaker 9 (26:43):
I have definitely a very abnormal job, but I am
always say whenever I leave the arena, I don't get
in the car and drive around with my Jersey on
I get pulled over by the police just like anybody else.
I'm a black man right in America. Who I have
two children. I have a beautiful black wife. My children
are sixteen and twelve. And I see the world through
(27:08):
the lens that I did my first nineteen twenty years
when I was a went to middle school, high school, two.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
Years in college, and then been in the NBA.
Speaker 9 (27:16):
So I have a lot of different stories that I
would also like to tell because it's a lot of
funny shit to go on in my life too, you know, seriously,
Like I have kids that showed blackish right, Like I
thought one day my son was going to ask for
bro mensa straight up, you know what I'm saying. Like
being out there in LA like, you see a lot
(27:36):
of different things, and I'm grateful that I'm grounded around
my family that we can see abnormal stuff and we
laugh about it.
Speaker 6 (27:45):
We joke and laugh about it.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
How has been in the profession of basketball and the
training and the discipline that requires to be a professional,
How has that How have those skills transferred into how
you run this production company?
Speaker 9 (28:01):
Yeah, I think it all comes down to the details.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
Everything. I'm a firm believer.
Speaker 9 (28:07):
In this quote that says, how you do anything is
how you do everything right. So this morning I was
at the gym working out at six am, right, and
I just really believe in that keep stacking days, keep
stacking days, stay true to who you are, especially what
our company o dip.
Speaker 6 (28:26):
Right.
Speaker 9 (28:26):
We don't just go out looking for stories because of
the economics, right, We really want to storytell. We really
want to make sure people's voices are being heard. And
when you do that.
Speaker 6 (28:37):
I think it makes it fun.
Speaker 9 (28:38):
It makes it really fun and you can be proud
of what you're doing and what you're building.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
You know, you're known as being one of the most
competitive people to ever play in the NBA. So how
do you channel that competitiveness when it comes to your
you know, content creation, your film and TV production work.
Speaker 9 (28:58):
Yeah, that's that's really interesting because it's very competitive. There's
a lot of production companies that want to do this
and want to do that.
Speaker 6 (29:07):
I want to dive into one. I mean it.
Speaker 9 (29:10):
Gets really tricky out there at times, right, because relationship
building matters. But depending on what project it is, where
you're taking it, what pitch you have. I think one
of the things that I learned when I first got
to LA, and I tell anybody this, and it taught
(29:30):
me a real, real lesson. Got out to LA twenty eleven,
twenty twelve, thirteen, something like that, CJ. We went over
there and pitched that show to ABC. You know, I'm
just now getting into LA. We pitched a show to ABC,
and then next thing, you know, a variety like posted it,
like on Instagram or something like that, that we might
(29:51):
be getting this show.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
And so think about it. I'm playing basketball.
Speaker 9 (29:54):
I think the pitch went well and then showed up
on Instagram and I got life going on and this stuff,
and then a bunch of time went by.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
I asked my brother, I said, Yo, what what's up
with that show? Did we we pitched? And if they
put up on Instagram?
Speaker 9 (30:08):
I learned in Hollywood that ain't not nothing until they
get green lit.
Speaker 6 (30:12):
Till they get green lit.
Speaker 9 (30:13):
That taught me real quick, don't be don't be announcing nothing,
don't be posting nothing, don't don't do none of that
until it's green lit. That was a rude awakening for me,
But I learned that real quick. Shut up, shut up
talking about it, because then you're gonna look crazy when
you go somewhere and people start asking you about like
I've seen that project you posted words.
Speaker 6 (30:35):
It's still where it is.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Yeah, well, not only that, you'd be surprised how much
or how often it happens where they do green light
stuff and then they pay.
Speaker 6 (30:47):
You not to do it. Yes, I know, yeah that
too too.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
You know you you mentioned that like you you wanted
to tell certain stores and it not always be about
the economics.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
So you know, for you, how does a story register
with you?
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Like?
Speaker 1 (31:06):
What what makes you say, yes, I want to jump
in and do this.
Speaker 9 (31:10):
Man, that's a good question. I think I've done it
from different aspects.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
Now.
Speaker 9 (31:14):
Obviously with our production company, we get a chance to
tell stories from the ground all the way up. I
also entered a project called Origin on the investment side.
Now that was different, right, that's different because yes, yes, yes,
it's an amazing story, and you like, yes, I'm investing it,
(31:35):
and then you you know, figuring out the financial, financial
aspects and all of that. But I think I think
for me, what makes me want to lean into the
story is the storytelling, right, how it's being told, who's
telling it, where is it going to go or whatnot?
Speaker 6 (31:51):
And like we said, everyone has.
Speaker 9 (31:54):
A story from a different dvantage point, and so I
think once I hear it or see along with my team,
we sort of go from there.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
So what did you learn about the industry and the
business investing in origins? Like from that perspective, what did
that teach you?
Speaker 1 (32:12):
That experience, Man.
Speaker 9 (32:17):
It taught me about the process, right, the unbelievable process,
the vision, the traveling, how things change, that's what really happens.
Things change really quick in production and how it needs
to shift and you may have to invest a little
bit more here, I tell you, it's crazy. I'm thinking
about it. I played, you know, my first six years
(32:37):
in NBA, played for the New Orleans Hornets my rookie
year though Hurricane Katrina happened a month before, a month
after I got drafted. So I played my first two
years at Oklahoma City. Then I went back to New Orleans.
And this is what I learned as a young kid too.
I didn't realize they shot a lot of movies in
New Orleans, right, I was twenty something years old. I
(33:01):
was like, why did shoot movies here in New Orleans?
And then I heard because of the tax breaks and
all that. So any y'all remember a movie called Hurricane Season. Yeah,
so Hurricane Season was Tim's story shot. I used to
get out of practice and me and my brother would
go sit over there on the set. We would just
go sit over there on the set and watch and
see how they made the movie.
Speaker 6 (33:20):
Wayne was in the movie. I think bow Wow was
in it. Who was the coach? Who? Yeah?
Speaker 9 (33:28):
Yeah, yeah, forts was the coach? Taraji was in it.
And we would I would just go over there every
day and sit and watch them make that movie. And
so all of that has always stuck with me. And
so there was a guy who was like the director
of the basketball being played in it. Right, you know,
anytime that there's a commercial or something, there's somebody there
(33:49):
to direct and make sure that the basketball looks like basketball.
Some of these shows it don't look like basketball. Some
of it it don't look like football.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 9 (33:57):
What's crazy is the guy who was directing then for
the basketball in that movie, his daughter and my daughter play.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
On the same basketball team now in La. Yeah.
Speaker 9 (34:06):
It's crazy how it comes around full circle. But at
that time in my life, I was just going to
hang out with way Ain't and Bao out them, but
not realizing the whole time that someday I would have
my own production company.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
All right, we're going to take a quick break and
we have more to come on politics. Well, so far,
you guys have been able to make some great content.
But what have been some of the challenges that you
faced as you tried to build this company up?
Speaker 6 (34:41):
Man, some of the challenges.
Speaker 9 (34:45):
Some of the challenges is obviously sometimes there are really
important stories that you're really passionate about, and you have
to understand that everyone is just not going to be
as passionate as you are, right, Like that is real.
Like some stuff you know you're telling people, man, this
is they will love this, They will love this or whatnot,
(35:06):
but they may not. Right So, I feel like we
made some very meaningful projects already. Not one is more
important than the other, because every story is different. I
think probably one of the most challenging that we would
love to tell, or I know I would love to tell,
is a story of a story called sixty one, right,
(35:28):
And that's a story that's very meaningful to me. And
it's about my late grandfather who was murdered when I
was seventeen years old. And what's amazing about it is
we have a script, we have a writer. We went
through the whole process with I can say it with Disney,
went down the road with him, everything like that. I
(35:49):
was so excited or whatnot. And it was like this
supposed to be greenlit or whatnot. And it didn't happen, right,
And I wrote a book. I actually wrote a book,
sixty won Lessons from Grandfather, from Grandpa. My grandfather had
the first black owned service station in North Carolina. So
I grew up working at a service station. Anytime I
wanted Jordan's kicks, anything like that. My granddaddy, he used
(36:12):
to walk around with a big wad of money in
his back pocket. Papa had a bank roll right right,
But like anytime I wanted something, he wouldn't just give
it to me.
Speaker 6 (36:23):
He make me and my brother come work. He make
us come work.
Speaker 9 (36:26):
And I always say that taught me so much because
as a kid, you think like now as an adult,
when you hear someone own something, you think that everybody
else works for them.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
Right.
Speaker 9 (36:40):
My grandfather owned this service station and it was a Chevron,
and every time you answered the phone, you had to
answer you had to say Jones Chevron Jones Chevron. The
phone number was seven two three two two three two.
That's crazy, I still remember that. Yeah, but that's that's
where I worked at during the.
Speaker 6 (36:57):
Summer, right with my grandfather.
Speaker 9 (36:59):
And so I wrote a book about, of course losing him,
but all the life lessons and.
Speaker 6 (37:06):
My grandfather.
Speaker 9 (37:08):
I signed my letter of intent to go to wait
for US November fourteenth, two thousand and two. The very
next day, my grandfather was murdered by five teenagers. November nineteenth,
two thousand and two, was his funeral, And the very
next day was the first game of my senior year.
I scored sixty one points in that game, right, I
(37:29):
had fifty nine, drove to the lane, showed the float,
shot a floater and got fouled, had sixty one, went
to the free throw line and threw the ball out
of bounds, And I remember walking off and hugging my
dad and my family. And it's the most meaningful game
that I've ever played in. And yeah, I would love
to tell that story about family, about perseverance, life. I
(37:54):
remember I did Good Morning America after that. I was
on there stuttering like crazy. But all the those life
lessons that I learned growing up in the South, being
at church four or five days a week, you know
what I'm saying, Like, seriously, I was a church all day,
all day. But those those stories. If not for that,
I'm not who I am.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
So what happened with Disney? It just kind of went away?
Speaker 9 (38:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we need to figure out how we're
gonna revive.
Speaker 6 (38:24):
We gotta figure figure something out.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Well, I think everybody in this room just hurt a
heck of a pitch. So I'm sure thank you. If
not Disney, it will be you know, someone else.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Uh you said that no project that you've done is
more important than the other one, but I'm sure there
had to be one or two, maybe even more than that.
Were you after it was done with? Like, I can't
believe we actually pulled that off. So what among your
mini projects would you would you put.
Speaker 6 (38:54):
In that category? That's a that's you're right.
Speaker 9 (38:58):
We did blackball, we did the day the day sport
the day sports stood still, and you guys remember the
pandemic very vividly in here.
Speaker 6 (39:06):
Huh Yeah.
Speaker 9 (39:07):
So I was actually I was the president of the
Players Association for eight years, right, So that's meetings, all
this different type stuff, And that was actually my game.
It was an NBA game when like the pandemic stuff happened.
We were playing against the Utah Jazz. Person ran across
the court stopped the game. And I'm gonna tell you
(39:27):
the way my mom worked. Right, we were literally about
to do the jump ball. Guy named Donnie Strack, who
worked for the Thunder came running to the court to
the referees and I'm talking my jersey and I'm what
the hell going on?
Speaker 6 (39:40):
Right?
Speaker 9 (39:40):
That was my initial reaction, and I started looking around
because whenever I see some somebody start panicking in a
lot in a crowded arena, I'm looking for an active shooter.
Speaker 6 (39:51):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Somebody entertainer say, because we run, because we run, run, ye,
we ain't gonna talk about it.
Speaker 6 (39:58):
Get up right now, all gone, don't.
Speaker 9 (40:00):
Get moving, Jamay, I'm gonna tell you to kick your
shoes off, and you better catch up your husband someone
you better grab them because I'm gone, I'm gone save yourself.
But but that that game, right, so I remember everything.
So then they made us go back to the locker room. Right,
(40:21):
we had to take our uniform off everything. Because this
is the beginning of COVID. Everybody don't know what all
of this is. They made everybody on the team go
back to their own like apartments.
Speaker 6 (40:33):
Or houses or whatnot.
Speaker 9 (40:35):
It's funny because Shae and Shae was a second year
player and Darius basically was rookies.
Speaker 6 (40:41):
Because I had a chef. They came to my house,
so they broke the rules to begin with.
Speaker 9 (40:45):
But as we got back to my house, my like
producing hat immediately went on.
Speaker 6 (40:51):
Right.
Speaker 9 (40:51):
I started filming things right. I remember the flight that
it took me like six days to finally get a
plane that would take me back to be with my family.
While I'm sitting in the car, I'm video on, I'm filming,
I'm capturing all this content because I immediately started thinking
this will be a great story to tell. And sure enough,
we made a film called The Day Sports Stood Steal.
Speaker 6 (41:13):
So that was very meaningful.
Speaker 9 (41:14):
Along with the projects that we did Why Not Us,
which was highlighting HBCUs and being able to tell their stories.
We told a story about North Carolina Central University and
how their team is always one of the best teams
every single year is at HBCU and they only have
two goals, right, so they practice where they play. You know,
(41:36):
you going to any of these facilities. Now is basketball
goals on the wall?
Speaker 6 (41:40):
They got eight eight.
Speaker 9 (41:43):
Baskets so guys can practice free throws. They got two
baskets and they make it work.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
So, since you clearly have established a pattern of recognizing
a good story and starting to shoot your own footage,
are you doing that in terms of you know your
own career? Because when you think about when it is over,
are we capturing ourselves and especially with this maybe being
your last season?
Speaker 9 (42:07):
Yes, I would like to write if I play another year,
And that's the hardest thing for me.
Speaker 6 (42:12):
Right.
Speaker 9 (42:12):
I've done that when I did Chapter three. But everybody
around me they always saying you got it. I'd be like, man,
I don't want them cameras around me. But I also
see the bigger picture, right, because there's a lot of things.
Whereas guys see the games, right, they don't see us
going to pick up our kids from school. They don't
see us right there doing homework with them. They don't
(42:33):
see the heartache and the pain from calling granny or
the voice notes of not getting a chance to see
your family, not getting a chance to see your friends.
Speaker 6 (42:43):
Right now, don't get me wrong, I love what I do.
I love it. I love it. I love it.
Speaker 9 (42:48):
I'm not complaining, but there is a human aspect to it.
And that's why the mental health that a lot of
guys talk about, I tell you, as much as I
love to play basketball, this past season was extremely tough
for me on my mental because I go play a game, right,
a very highly competitive game for two and a half hours,
and I would go home to an empty house and
(43:10):
a lot of people.
Speaker 6 (43:11):
I'll tell you this because I didn't heard it.
Speaker 9 (43:12):
They say, oh, well, you tripping, that's your fault because
you should have just flew your kids and your wipe
them out there to live with you or whatnot. But
I actually my kids had been to five different schools,
six different.
Speaker 6 (43:24):
Schools in six consecutive years. Right.
Speaker 9 (43:27):
So thankfully my parents, me and my brother we had
the same friends growing up.
Speaker 6 (43:32):
We still got a group chat with our homies that
we grew up with. Right. We go on a trip
once a year with the homies that I grew up with.
Speaker 9 (43:40):
And so I wanted my kids to have some sense
of normalcy, right, And that is why they stay where
they are now. And if it's got to be hard
on anybody, I don't want it hard.
Speaker 6 (43:49):
On them. I'd rather it hard be on me.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
I just wanted to get everybody a hands up.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
In about ten minutes, we will have since Q and
a period, so you all can ask Chris.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
Whatever you would like.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Make sure you keep throwing Lakers questions, and I'm sure
he really enjoys that. You know, I know that when
you're still playing, it's often difficult to think about your
legacy and to reflect because you're still very much in
that mode. But you know, nevertheless, when you think about
your career as a basketball player, even the things you've
(44:25):
been able to do outside of it, like how when
you whenever that time comes when you do leave the game,
how do you want people to remember you?
Speaker 6 (44:34):
Man?
Speaker 9 (44:34):
That's that's a really good question too, because I don't
think about it that often actually, because I'm just I'm
in it, right, I'm so I'm so in it that
what I've learned is that.
Speaker 6 (44:48):
Some people don't like you, some people not right.
Speaker 9 (44:50):
And in the position that I've been in, I have
always had to be okay with not being liked.
Speaker 6 (44:56):
It's a whole bunch of people that don't like me,
and I'm cool with it. I'm cool with it.
Speaker 9 (45:02):
One thing that I learned and being the president of
the union, right because I was the president for eight years.
I was on the executive committee for seven years. And
that job is not paid or anything. You represent four
hundred and fifty of the most famous people in the world.
Speaker 6 (45:17):
Right. That's the thing about our sport.
Speaker 9 (45:19):
We don't wear a helmet, so everywhere we go, everybody
knows who we are, right, and guys have big voices
and big platforms. One thing that I've learned about being
the president, or if you're the CEO, the boss, or
it's like somebody being the head coach, is that you
don't get a chance to say, man, I should have
did this. So you got to be a decision maker, right,
(45:40):
You got to be a decision maker. So when we
decided that we were going to go to the bubble, man,
I wish y'all knew how many guys was talking so
crazy to me, talking so crazy?
Speaker 6 (45:49):
Share with the class. No, no, no, no, no no. We'll
do that storytelling at some point.
Speaker 9 (45:54):
But I've always said, in that position as president of
the PA, it wasn't C three LLC.
Speaker 6 (46:02):
Right.
Speaker 9 (46:02):
I had to be the boys for all the guys
that played in the league, Right, a lot of the
young guys when the pandemic happened, they didn't see that coming, right,
So if we don't go and try to do the
social justice and all the stuff that we did in
the bubble, it would have been a huge setback for
them financially, certain guys who may have got their MoMA
home or something like that. And so you got a
(46:25):
lot of the big money guys who like.
Speaker 6 (46:27):
Man, we'll chill, we cool.
Speaker 9 (46:28):
But the league represents everybody, the middle class, the young guys,
and the vets. So when I'm done, I hope that
I just remember that I competed, that I played hard.
Speaker 6 (46:41):
And then there was a shift in the mindset of
the players.
Speaker 9 (46:44):
It was a huge shift in the mindset of the players,
and that the way we look at ownership, the way
guys think about their mental health, their family, their finance.
There been so many jokes over the years about guys
going broke. Right as they see a professional athlete go broke, everybody.
Speaker 6 (47:02):
Be like, man, how the hell he blow thirty million?
Speaker 9 (47:05):
But it's easier than you think, especially in our communities
where a lot of times we don't talk about money,
and we don't talk about finance and so yeah, I
think that's that's a big thing. I hope that guys
continue to lean on each other and talk to each other,
because it's really hard. You're set up and you're built
(47:27):
up your whole life, and then it just sort of stops.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Speaking of the bubble, you know, there was obviously a
moment where the players took a pause and didn't play
after Jacob Blake what happened with him being shot by police?
How close were you all to not resuming the season?
Speaker 6 (47:50):
Very close?
Speaker 9 (47:51):
And man, you just taking me all the way back
there because I felt it.
Speaker 6 (47:57):
Was some of the toughest things, right.
Speaker 9 (48:00):
Like I remember being on the bus and my phone
rang and it was Damian Lillard. Like we were on
the bus headed our game against the Houston Rockets, right
and Shay turned around and said, Yo, see Milwaukee ain't
come out.
Speaker 6 (48:11):
And then I went into.
Speaker 9 (48:13):
I'm not now a player getting ready for a game.
My phone rung and it's Damian Lillard. He's yo, see
what we're doing? Bron called Adam Silver called right, So
now I got to figure out to navigate what we're
gonna do.
Speaker 6 (48:25):
We canceled that game.
Speaker 9 (48:27):
Now I had to call the lady that was running
the property for us and get one hundred and something
chairs put in a ball room so that we can
meet and talk about what we're going to do.
Speaker 6 (48:36):
Then I actually got on the phone with Jacob Blake's dad.
Speaker 9 (48:39):
Who was going to address all of the players before
we had this big meet, which, ironically enough, Jacob Blake's
dad had spent time in Winston Salem, North Carolina and
knew my grandfather's service station, which was wild. But yeah,
it's a lot of stuff and a lot of stories
that for a lot of years. You know, I just
(49:00):
been hooping and playing and I know a lot but
don't tell a lot. But I think some of these
stories need to be told. Obviously, the situation with Kobe
and me going to the Lakers, right, there's a lot of.
Speaker 6 (49:12):
People who say what what happened or what they think? Knew?
I lived it, so I think I know a little
bit better than some of these other people.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
Are the conspiracy theorists right on that one?
Speaker 6 (49:24):
Or which one? Okay, so it was.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
I mean this was somewhat reported that Dan Gilbert had
a lot to do with why that trade didn't happen,
that the forces that other owners basically shut that down
because they didn't want to see the Lakers, you know,
you and Lebron join and thus another super team. They
wanted to shut down player empowerment period by sending the
(49:49):
message that no, y'all don't get the orchestra where y'all go.
Speaker 6 (49:52):
Yeah, that was part of it.
Speaker 9 (49:53):
I was on the executive committee, so we just came
out of the CBA negotiations. But obviously me and co
we got on the phone right like we thought it
was happening, and one day I talk about the conversations
we had.
Speaker 2 (50:06):
Okay, but yes, that was I can't wait till that story,
as told, I can't wait till that documentary comes out
about why you didn't wind up playing with him. So nevertheless,
as we talked about the trend of athletes sort of
jumping into this arena of film and TV work, what
would you say to those athletes who want to do
(50:27):
what you have been able to do.
Speaker 9 (50:30):
Yeah, I would say, first and foremost, I don't think
everyone has to start.
Speaker 6 (50:35):
Their own production company, right.
Speaker 9 (50:37):
I think that guys also need to be comfortable with
doing things together, like collaborate. I think sometimes there's a
me too thing where this guy, Like, Oh, he doing that,
I can do it too, where sometimes you're stronger together
and the way we've been sort of.
Speaker 6 (50:55):
Portrayed all this time. I say this all the time.
Speaker 9 (50:58):
If you pick up the TV, if you pick up
the turn the TV on, sometimes it's not even gonna
say Oklahoma City versus Indiana paces. It's gonna say Shay
versus Halliburton. Right, So, I don't care who you are.
That's sort of kind of programming. So it tries it
almost makes you always be like, it's me against him,
it's me against him, it's me against him, instead of
really understanding that you can collaborate on certain things and
(51:22):
tell tell the tell the stories that you want to tell.
Don't let somebody else tell you what you want to do, right, Like, So, I,
like I said, I'm a consumer, right I I also
want to tell stories of black families. Right any y'all
in here watched forever? Oh yeah, yeah, like and yeah, Mara,
(51:43):
who did that? She believe I don't know she here,
but shout out to you listen.
Speaker 6 (51:47):
But but what's.
Speaker 9 (51:48):
Amazing about that, right is I have a bunch of
shows that I watch when I'm on the road by myself, right,
like Beauty and Black was not going to watch with
my kids, right, y'all see that?
Speaker 6 (52:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was wild. Yeah.
Speaker 9 (52:05):
But like I said, I watch everything, and so it
was so dope for me to get a chance to
watch forever with my kids, right, to actually have a show.
It's only a few shows I've ever been able to
And I'm not saying like why, but I'm just saying,
like shows to watch with your kids. And we watched
that show and I'm still at that point too, where
(52:26):
the little sex scenes I'm looking over at my daughter.
Then now I get you uncomfortable as a parent, right
because my daughter looked down at her phone out like
she ain't looking.
Speaker 6 (52:34):
I'm like, well, mean, you see the TV. You see
the TV.
Speaker 9 (52:38):
But it was so dope to watch because in these shows,
if y'all see y'all y'all seeing it, you see the
living rooms, right, you see the black art showing up, right,
So just like a different world and these shows the
Cosby Show when you was growing up or whatnot, I
think it's really dope that the black art and the
culture is being integrated into these TV shows.
Speaker 6 (52:58):
So I want to continue to elevate and do that.
Speaker 9 (53:01):
Because I'll tell y'all because any Jeff, your kids go
to Campbell Hall. So in that show, which was crazy
to me, I didn't realize that one of the kids
went to Camden Hall, right, that was the school he
went to. My kids go to Kimball Hall. The school
that they was playing against was something would is it?
Speaker 6 (53:23):
I don't know, brook it was Brooke Wood.
Speaker 9 (53:26):
The school out there is Brentwood, you know what I mean.
So the connectivity, and I think that's really important for
kids is to be able to see themselves. Right, If
kids can see themselves and some of these shows or whatnot,
that's what we all do as humans. We try to
see how we relate to these characters.
Speaker 6 (53:43):
And I enjoy that part of it.
Speaker 2 (53:47):
In episode four you might hear familiar voice, oh yeah,
which was phenomenal me. Judy Bloom is one of the
greatest authors ever and so to see that being done
in that way was incredible, truly exceptional work. So we're
gonna go to questions in a in a second here,
but before we wrap up our conversation, since you mentioned
(54:10):
that you watch The Wire, I think The Wire is
the greatest television drama ever made. You know, debate you, auntie,
So you have to give me what is your order
in terms of best seasons of the Wires. So for me,
it is I think it's season I go three three
(54:31):
one or not three yet? Three one four or three
four one two five?
Speaker 6 (54:38):
You damn damn you know it. Listen. Let me tell you.
Speaker 9 (54:41):
You know what's interesting is when I watched the Wire,
people try to tell me that I didn't need to
watch the season at the Docks. Y'all ever heard that
people be saying that you don't have to watch that.
Speaker 6 (54:51):
Yes you do, yes, yes you do.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
It ties everything together.
Speaker 6 (54:54):
It's the Bridge season. It ties everything together.
Speaker 9 (54:57):
And for me, right like anytime I'm somewhere in whatever city,
it is like when I go to Baltimore and whatever
and I see all of the shipping containers or whatnot,
I think.
Speaker 6 (55:06):
About the Wire.
Speaker 9 (55:07):
If I'm out in l A and I ride out
the Long Beach, That's how I mean. I'm a conspiracy theorist.
I'll be like, man, what they got in them? I'd
be like, what they got? But all that comes from
from watching no show?
Speaker 1 (55:19):
So which one was your favorite season?
Speaker 6 (55:22):
Oh?
Speaker 9 (55:22):
Man, I don't know, I say, I probably the Docs.
Speaker 6 (55:25):
Then I like the Docs season yeah, not season four
with the kids.
Speaker 9 (55:30):
Man, I don't remember it all like that, but to
watch it every year, I mean that's well. I like
it enough that my my my Uber I said, my
Uber alias is Avon Barsdale.
Speaker 6 (55:44):
They pull up, they'd be like, Avon Avon, that's my
that's my aliens.
Speaker 1 (55:49):
Okay, now now all the uber drivers know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (55:52):
I might have to switch it up, string a bell
or something.
Speaker 2 (55:57):
One more segment to go coming up next, the final Spin.
Time down for the final spin the topic, Zorn Mamdani
wins the New York City Democratic mayorial primary. The spin
(56:21):
New York City is the clearest warning yet of what
happens to a society when it fails to control migration. Now,
if you think that sounds racist and xenophobic, it is,
But let me tell you who said it. Those were
the exact words of Stephen Miller, Donald Trump's Deputy chief
of Staff for Policy and Home Land Security advisor. He
is the mastermind of the mass deportations that you are
(56:41):
seeing now. The truth Republicans and Democrats are both frightened
by Mamdani's stunning victory. Why because it's deeply upsetting to
the establishment. Mandanni is a Democratic socialist, and he's labeled
Israel committing a perpetual genocide. He's young, he's principled, He's
not influenced by big money because they didn't have any.
It said everything that both Trump and establishment Democrats endorsed
(57:04):
Andrew Cuomo. It also says something that young people and
progressive said not today. Andrew Cuomo has been accused of
sexual harassment numerous times by numerous women. The reason Democrat
approval ratings is in the sewer is because they don't
seem to get that their base wants significant regime change.
They don't want undying, unchecked loyalty to Israel, and they
(57:24):
don't want somebody who feels Republican life. Despite Mundigning being
far left, the reason he won is because his economic
message resonated across the board. White people, black people, Jewish people,
everybody rent as toudamn. High businesses and billionaires need to
pay more taxes.
Speaker 3 (57:40):
Why is this even remotely controversial?
Speaker 2 (57:42):
Democrats have been running campaigns on old rules and old
methods that don't work, and they wonder why they get
malliwobbed in national elections or key elections despite having more
popular policies. Mamdani feels relatable, he has authenticity, and authenticity
will be big money every single time.
Speaker 1 (58:01):
All right, That.
Speaker 2 (58:01):
Concludes another episode of Politics. Make sure you get at
me on social media or email. I'm at Jamail Hill
across all social media platforms, Twitter, Instagram, Fan based, Blue Sky,
and threads. Please use the hashtags politics. You also have
the option of emailing me as Politics twenty twenty four
at gmail dot com. You can also video me a question,
but please make sure it's thirty seconds or less. Don't
(58:23):
forget to follow and subscribe to this Politics on iHeart
and follows Politics pod on Instagram and TikTok. Politics is
spelled s PO l I t I c S. A
new episode of Politics drops every Thursday on iHeart Podcasts,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is
politics where sports and politics don't just mix, They matter.
(58:46):
Politics is the production of iHeart Podcasts and The Unbothered Network.
I'm your host Jamel Hill. Executive producer is Taylor Shakogin.
Lucas Heimen is head of audio and executive producer. Original
music for Spolots provided by Kyle VISs from wiz fx
Speaker 6 (59:05):
M
Hey, what's up everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Jamel Hill and welcome to spolitics and I heard
podcasts and unbothered production time to get spolitical. Given the context,
I'm struggling to think of an injury under the circumstances
(00:22):
that was more devastating than the one Tyrese Haliburton suffered
in Game seven of the NBA Finals. Now, Halliburton tore
his ACL, and unfortunately, this NBA season has been marred
by big names going down with the same injury.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Jason Tatum also.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Went down with an ACL tear during the playoffs, and
a few months ago, Kyrie Irvings ACL tear torpedoed the
Dallas Mavericks chances to make any headway whatsoever in the
NBA playoffs. Now, overall, there has been a record eight
achilles tears this season, but Halliburton's injury was the one
that has really invited the finger pointing. Some believe players
(00:57):
are getting hurt more because the playoffs are too.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Money's not the problem. We got seventy six billion. Comment like,
money's not the issue. The owners are all billionaires. Let's
protect the players. There's no reason for seven game series
in the first two rounds.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Meanwhile, Cameron is blaming the shoes.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Some also are blaming it on the wear and tear
that starts at an early age and the pace of play.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
I think it's more the wear and tear. These kids
are playing way too many specialized sports at a younger age.
Like I don't even think it's close how much they're
playing compared to my era. I played four different sports
in high school, football, baseball, basketball, track. I probably say
the grassroots basketball development, if you're lucky enough to get
(01:41):
to the league, will probably.
Speaker 6 (01:42):
Put five years on your body. And that's just a guestimate.
Speaker 7 (01:46):
So since twenty twelve and now in twenty twenty five,
the average NBA team runs an extra two hundred miles
per season.
Speaker 6 (01:58):
What does that mean?
Speaker 7 (01:59):
Well, then, of those extra two hundred miles is the
burden is on the starters. Load management is the era
that we are in, and all teams have to work
to try to balance out those minutes across the entire rosters.
But without question, if you compare the days of Michael Jordan,
(02:19):
Charles Barkley, and Patrick Ewing, all those days, that was
a half court offense, and now we are in space
and pace, and space and pace has increased three pointers,
fast breaks, and now the total mileage.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
The reason is offered by Colin Cowherd, former NBA player
Matt Barns, and CBS sports injury expert Marty jarr Millow
are reasonable and makes sense. Though, Sorry, Killer Cam the Shoes, Nah,
my man, that's not exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
What the research tells us. Is the NBA season too long?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yes, the regular season is eighty two games, It could
easily be sixty five and start closer to Christmas, which
would make having seven game playoff series seem less taxing.
Speaker 6 (02:57):
But let's be real.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
The NBA just signed an eleven year, seventy six billion
dollar media rights steal last October that was contingent on
the current structure. Television networks don't want to lose games,
and neither do owners, and for sure, players don't want
to give back any money. So less games sounds good
but not remotely realistic. But a lot of this could
be put under one big umbrella, because there is only
(03:21):
one thing that can be blamed for what we're seeing now.
It's gross capitalism. Now, we're not that far away from
an NBA player getting a half billion dollar contract like
Major League Baseball players the cost of doing business in
sports isn't lowering, it's rising. With so many billions in
the pot, that means nearly every kid with a basketball
is thinking that one day it can be them, which
(03:43):
is why you see such alarming trends at the youth
level when it comes to players' health. Parents are willing
to pay thousands of dollars to scammer trainers and brokers
in hopes that one day their kid will somehow be
able to cash in. Take someone like Zion Williamson, who
has struggled to be healthy in his whole professional career
(04:03):
now wait issues aside. Zion started playing travel ball at
age five. According to a series done by ESPN's Baxter
Homes in twenty nineteen, Zion spent most of his youth
playing five or six games a weekend on the AAU circuit,
in addition to a full high school basketball schedule later
on and other basketball camps and obligations.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
In this same story, Baxter highlights.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
A case where a doctor is repairing a torn acl
of a nine year old while cuddainly, there are kids
playing basketball just because they love it and not because
they have any NBA aspirations. The truth is that most
do have NBA hoop dreams. And when that level of
desire meets a system oozing with money and everybody having
so much financial skin in the game, what's a few
torn acls among superstars. The business of sports requires young
(04:46):
players to play and train all year round. The business
of sports means low management. The business of sports means
more games on a bunch of different networks and streaming services,
and more money that fans have to shell out in
order to see their favorite teams and players. The goal
is not simply to make money. The goal is to
make as much money as possible. The goal is to
(05:07):
be disgustingly rich, not just rich rich. So no, you
aren't going to see fewer games. You aren't going to
see athletes that choose their bodies and health over the
game and what it has brought them, be that financial
or competitive comfort. Everybody loves a gladiator sport, they just
don't love gladiator consequences. I'm Jamel Hill, and I approved
this message. Today's episode of Politics is special and unique. Now,
(05:32):
I believe this is the first episode of Politics that
I've done on location. I was recently invited to the
American Black Film Festival in Miami to host a special
conversation with one of the greatest players in NBA history,
twelve time All Star who was named as one of
the seventy five greatest NBA players, who many affectionately refer.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
To as the Point God.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Now he's doing some exciting things in film and television,
but before he becomes even more immersed in that world,
he has a big decision to make about him free agency,
because this could be.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
His final year as an NBA player.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Coming up next on politics, my conversation with Chris Paul
at ABFF in Miami, and please now get a more
involved vierator from the sports journalist jimml Bill.
Speaker 8 (06:34):
Hello, Hello everybody, Okay, some relatives and years, Okay, thank
you so much for joining me here.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
For this wonderful conversation that I'm about to have in
a moment with Chris Paul.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I'm just so proud to once.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Again be able to be a part of ABFF for
another year.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I don't know if this is my fourth year or
fifth year.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
But every time that I come to this civil I
leave with the same same energy and the sense of
that I feel affirmed, I feel renewed, and even though
I may be here in professional capacities where I'm having
conversations with people, are moderating with someone, or moderating a
panel or a conversation, I feel so poured into just
(07:21):
all over and around this atmosphere. You know, a lot
of us are pursuing things creatively throughout the year, and
before we come here we're getting told Noah lot.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
And then when you come.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Here, you hear other people's stories who are going through
relatable challenges, and more importantly, you're seeing the successes. It
just allows me to feel even stronger in my purpose
than before I came.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
So I just thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
All and thank ABFF for just giving me that energy
and pouring into me so that when I go back
into the.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Mean streets of the creative world, I feel like I
have a different or heavier coat of armor. With that
being said, I'm even more.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Happy that the fact that ABFF, every single year that
I've been here has increasingly been diving deeper into the
world of sports, which is my domain. And so to
be here and leading another important conversation that merges together
sports and entertainment, I'm very excited to be a part
(08:21):
of those kinds of conversations and the show that that
convergence is just naturally and has always been there. So
today I get the honor of having a conversation with
Chris Paul. Now we know some of the metrics. Twelve
time All Star, I think he's made All NBA eleven times.
I mean, an incredible player, one of the greatest point
(08:41):
guards of all time. He also makes me feel seven
thousand years old because I remember when he was playing
in college and to see him now, you know, still
playing at a very high level, is very encouraging. And
now I can say that I have something two things
out in common with Chris Paul, and he and I
(09:04):
are both bowlers, Like it's one of those I always
thought the only people in the Midwest bowl, but apparently
people in the South do as well. So when you
live and I'm from Detroit and when you're in Michigan,
you got to have something to do when it's cold,
and so we bowld.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
That's what we do. And recently me and my husband
have taken up golf.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Chris is also a fantastic golfer, So I can say, like, hey,
I got a couple things in common with a twelve
time NBA All Stars. So looking forward to our conversation
asking him about his entertainment company where he's doing film
and production work, and y'all know, because I'm nosy, of
course I'm gonna ask him about where he's playing next year.
So absolutely that's on the table, right, Please, welcome to
(09:43):
the stage, Chris Paul.
Speaker 6 (09:56):
Are you I'm doing well?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Listen to jump right into it, Chris, because everybody wants
to know. In about three weeks you are going to
be an unrestricted free agent officially July first.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
I'm putting you on the high steam right from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
We ain't no warm up for nothing, no softball question anything.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
So what's the move?
Speaker 1 (10:15):
What's the plan?
Speaker 6 (10:16):
I honestly don't know. Seriously, I don't. I don't.
Speaker 9 (10:20):
It's actually a weird place to be in because from
my entire career I pretty much always know. I mean,
last summer I was an unrestricted free agent too, But
for most of my career I've always had an idea
where I was going to play the next year.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
But no clue, no clue.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Okay, well, let's start with the most basic questions. So
the plan is to play.
Speaker 9 (10:42):
The plan is to play Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Many people are quite aware of the fact that you
just happen to be really good friends with Lebron James.
The Lakers baby could need a point guard.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I know they got Luke, but yeah, you know, I'm
just saying you live in Los Angeles. I'm connecting some
dots here.
Speaker 6 (11:05):
I do.
Speaker 9 (11:05):
My wife and my kids are in LA. And I mean,
I say this is just about every time I talked,
But the past six seasons I've played in where I
was in Oklahoma first, then Phoenix for three years, Golden
State four year, and then San Antonio last year. My
wife and my kids have been in LA all six
of those years. So that's that's tough. I love to
(11:26):
play basketball, but I love my kids and my family
more so that that is going to weigh a huge
part on my decision on what happens next year.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Paiging Roye Polinka, piging Rode Polinka.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
But that being said, I mean, I think it's fair
to say that, even though you are playing at a
high level, that you're in the twilight of your NBA career. Yeah,
so how much longer do you intend to play?
Speaker 6 (11:52):
How much longer do I tend to play? At the
most of the year.
Speaker 9 (11:57):
You know, I just finished my twentieth season, which is
a blessed itself. Yeah, I've been in the NBA for
more than half of my life, you know, which is
a blessing. But it's definitely these years you do not
get back with your kids, with your family. I'm born
and raised in North Carolina, So my granny, who watches
(12:18):
every single game that I play, every single night, I
just those moments.
Speaker 6 (12:23):
I just don't get to see.
Speaker 9 (12:25):
Her and hug her along with all my uncles and
nunts as much as I love Tom.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So okay, and most of a year, yeah, lot to you.
I'm not gonna hold you do a worry about it
if it wants it being longer well, but surely though,
when you look and see that some of your peers
have retired. You see d Wade is retired, Carmelo's already retired.
Lebron don't know how much longer he will play. But
looking around and you see guys that you played with,
(12:54):
you know, having left the game, and young people. You
were telling me the story backstage about how you knew
Jalen send any places for.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
The Knicks when he was.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
In middle school and now he's one of the league's
top players.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Do you think like what happened to Tome?
Speaker 9 (13:09):
Yeah, I honestly think about that a lot. You know,
a lot of times when you're in it, you just
I'm so competitive, right. I have a grassroots AU basketball
program out of North Carolina.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
Right, anybody here know what AU basketball is.
Speaker 9 (13:23):
Yeah? Yeah, So I have my own program. Me and
my older brother we grew up playing since we were kids.
We were in those vans, twelve hour rides and all
that stuff. So as soon as I got to the NBA,
I started my own program. I have thirteen of my
kids that came out of my program that play in
the NBA right now, right, that I have seen since
(13:44):
they were ten years old, fourteen, fifteen years old. But
when we step on the court, oh that's out the window,
you know what I mean. We got to get to it.
But it is a privilege to still be able to
play and to still be able to impact their lot.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
A lot of athletes you've run across this throughout the
course of your career, they don't start thinking about what
they want to do when their career is over until
after their career is already over, and it seems like
you have clearly been intentional about thinking about what your
next pivot is, and that seems to be film and
television production. So give me the origin story about how
(14:19):
odip entertainment came about.
Speaker 9 (14:21):
Right, So what happened was and the reason why I
wanted to get involved in film and TV was I'm
a consumer, right, I'm a consumer.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
I tell you any former.
Speaker 9 (14:32):
Athlete or any athlete that you talk to, there's actually
a lot of idle time, right, A lot of idle time.
On a game day, you wake up, you go to
shoot around. Some teams in NBA don't even do shoot
around now, but you get up and you go work
out and train, and then the game is later in
the evening. So when I got into the NBA, I
started watching TV shows, started watching TV shows.
Speaker 6 (14:55):
I'll watch everything.
Speaker 9 (14:56):
I mean, I will tell you some of my alias
is all my this is off from TV shows. But
I remember me and my brother being in Oklahoma my
first two years, we watched the Wire. We watched the Wire,
and so being a consumer and being a creative, I
saw an opportunity. It was like, man, I watched it
with a totally different lens, and I said, I wanted
(15:18):
to get involved in film and TV.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So where did the name O Dip come from?
Speaker 9 (15:25):
Man? So we watched I watched movies, I watch everything.
So I felt like, oh Dip would be a lot
better for my parents than oh shit. Right, And I say,
any of y'all in here seeing the movie Welcome Home
Roscoe Jenkins, right, So I want to say, me and
my brother caught one of the episodes that was on BT,
the edited version, right. So there's a point in that
(15:47):
movie when Mike Epps he said, oh shit, the Negro Olympics,
right before the families fight or whatever.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
So I think they said old Dip on that, right.
Speaker 9 (15:56):
So for since we were kids, since that movie came out,
me and my brother and our homies, every time something happened,
we always say, oh Dip. And if anybody in here
has a company or anything that they started.
Speaker 6 (16:08):
One of the hardest things to come up with is
a name. Right. You can have all these ideas and whatnot,
and then somebody be like, what you gonna name it?
You'd be like, oh, hell, I do not know, But
I don't know why.
Speaker 9 (16:19):
That automatically came to mind when me and my brother
talked about it. But O, DIP is something that our friends,
my homies like me and Russell Westbrook are really good friends,
and something happened or whatnot in the game and he'll
text me, He'll say, oh, DIP, you know what I mean.
So anybody who knows us knows it. That's what we say.
I mean.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
CP three Productions that never.
Speaker 9 (16:41):
Yeah, no, no, no, no no. And you know what,
It's interesting you say that because I think there is
a time and place for that name recognition. But I
think the production company is bigger than just me, right,
And I think when we show something or tell someone's story, that.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
Doesn't need to be what you see, right CP three.
Speaker 9 (17:01):
When I hear that a lot of times, I think basketball,
you know, and I say this all day long that
US athletes are way more complex than just that. So
I actually I'm glad that you don't see CP three
when you see ODIP.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
You mentioned that part of your motivation is starting ODIP
was what you saw as a consumer. So as a consumer,
as you were thinking about starting your own film and
television production entity, what did you notice was missing from
you know, based off what you were consuming.
Speaker 9 (17:32):
Yeah, what's interesting is I wanted to be able to
tell stories like in the black and brown communities, right,
not just about sport.
Speaker 6 (17:43):
Like I'm big into comedy.
Speaker 9 (17:45):
I like all types of things, stories of entrepreneurship, whatever
it may be. And at ODIP, I tell you what's
really cool is that we're not like just based on IP, right,
it's not just from a book or something like that.
Speaker 6 (17:59):
We're big in the right writers.
Speaker 9 (18:00):
We're big into trying to elevate their voices and hear
their stories because you can learn so much.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
I've learned so much in this space. Right.
Speaker 9 (18:08):
Obviously I train and I play basketball, but I always
say basketball.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
Is what I do, is not who I am. Right.
Speaker 9 (18:14):
So we've told stories of lacrosse team. I didn't play
lacrosse growing up, know nothing about lacrosse, but we told
a story that was very inspiring about a team. We're
doing a story right now about cricket.
Speaker 6 (18:30):
Right about cricket.
Speaker 9 (18:31):
I'm actually part owner of a cricket team, the Rogasteran
Royals over in India.
Speaker 6 (18:36):
Right.
Speaker 9 (18:36):
So there's a lot of storytelling and a lot of
different things that you wouldn't know. That this guy plays
the piano, this guy does this thing. And I tell
you what really got me going into all of this,
what's kind of the commercials that I used to do
for State Farm, right, because you know, shooting those commercials
(18:59):
year in and year out was something that was new
for me. I think the first commercial we shot see
was twenty eleven, twenty twelve, right, so it's thirteen years
of those commercials, and people at here that no production
is tough, and so I think I've always paid attention
to all the details.
Speaker 6 (19:18):
And so during those commercial shoots or whatnot, I was
the talent.
Speaker 9 (19:22):
But as I was the talent, I was paying attention
to everyone. The first ad, I was paying attention to the.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Client.
Speaker 9 (19:30):
I was paying attention. And anybody in here ever been
to talent? Yep, So y'all been to talent. I'm gonna
tell you right now. My biggest pet peeve is when
they want you to change something and the people come
and tell the person who's standing right in front of you,
they like, we just really wanted to put his right
hand up, And I'm like, I can hear you, just
(19:51):
tell me. You're standing right there, you can tell you
tell me. But in that it really got me intrigued
into being able to tell these stories.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
And I tell you, I look at film. I look
at shows.
Speaker 9 (20:04):
I look at everything now from a producing standpoint, right,
any of y'all in here seeing centers?
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Oh yeah, yeah, you've seen centers. So what was it
smoking stack?
Speaker 9 (20:14):
So I went into the movie theater and when I'm
watching it, and I tell you, because when I had
to be Chris and I had to be Cliff, like
I had to have a mustache one day that the next
day I didn't, and I had to be in the
same spot or whatnot. So I actually, I mean, it
wasn't Ryan shooting it.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Don't get it twisted, but you could relate to me.
Speaker 9 (20:36):
Yeah, I'm not him by no means, but I've had
to do something similar to that.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
You talked a second ago about your friendship with Russell Westbrook,
Russell Westbrook, Steph Curry, Carmelo, I think Kevin Durant, all
of a lot of your basketball piers. A lot of
athletes period now have production companies and are getting into
film and television. Why do you think the film and
television space is appealing to athletes?
Speaker 9 (21:03):
That is a great question. And I tell you exactly why.
It's very appealing to athletes. When I was leaving the
Los Angeles Clippers to go to the Houston Rockets. That
was the first time my production company did anything. And
I tell you how it came to be. We ended
up telling a story called Chapter three. And anybody in
here who watches Networks, you watch TVs, everything pops up
(21:25):
on your phone, every like talking head now is gossiping.
This is what he's gonna do. This is what he's
gonna do. Then they gonna tell you why he did it.
I said, I want to tell my own story, but
the way it happened.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
I love pictures.
Speaker 9 (21:39):
I love documenting things because I feel like I've been
blessed to live this crazy life where I'm traveling and
the only way that I can remember things is pictures.
So I wanted to remember how I ended up getting well,
end up making my decision on if I was going
to stay with the Clippers or if I was going
to leave. So a good friend of mine, Jay z Right,
(22:02):
He was actually in the casually heard of him.
Speaker 6 (22:06):
Z right.
Speaker 9 (22:07):
Right, We're in the same fantasy league or whatever. So like, okay,
many follow up questions, But luckily over my career he's
been somebody I could call lean on and talk to
about things.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
Right.
Speaker 9 (22:19):
So Jay was actually at the time, UH making his
album for four four, So I would go over to
the studio all the time. It's when I'm in LA
and I would just sit in the studio and watch him.
So I hit Jay one day and I was like, Jay, man,
I want to talk to you about this decision that
I'm trying to make to go to go or stay.
And then this is always a tough question then y'all know,
(22:41):
like when you got homies and whatnot. And I was
like Jay, I was like, I want to bring a
camera just to capture it for myself, just so years
years from now when I'm thinking about what decision I made,
I want to I want to be able to rewatch it.
Speaker 6 (22:56):
So Jay said cool.
Speaker 9 (22:57):
Me and my brother went over to the studio, had
vib my camera guy, come over there.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
We was there for like.
Speaker 9 (23:02):
Four hours, four or five hours, talk talked it through.
Then I went and had lunch with Eiger. I went
had lunch with Eiger and asked him if I could
bring because I really just wanted feedback from people. I
talked to some of my family members and I was
filming it. So what actually happened is Bob my shooter
right Bob actually put together like a little sizzle, right,
(23:26):
just a little sizzle just for whatever. I sent it
over to Jay, right. Jay hits me back and was like, this, dope,
you're gonna put it out. I was like, hold up,
this ain't profit, you know, because you never know how
people want to be shown or something like that, especially
somebody with that profile. Same thing with Iiger, and they said, absolutely,
(23:48):
go ahead.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
So our first project that we did was Chapter three.
Speaker 9 (23:51):
We started our company, We went to the different networks
and sold it. And this was the first opportunity that
I didn't have to worry about what somebody was saying
on Twitter. I didn't have to worry about what somebody
was saying on Instagram. They could go on TV and
say whatever they wanted to. But guess what, I got
a chance to tell my own story. And so that
(24:12):
I think is what has driven athletes and everyone to
be able to control their own narrative, right, Like you
can't you can make up whatever. And that's that's how
you know you've been in how media changed. Right, anytime
a guy announces that he's going to a new team,
now usually they're doing it on their own platform. And
so that's what started it for me and made me
(24:35):
want to be able to tell my own story.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
And for those out there listening, when you refer to Iiger,
he meant by Biger as in the chairman of Disney,
not a bad person.
Speaker 9 (24:44):
And the other thing too, Jim, I'll tell you is
what's wild is the different leagues, right, Like the NBA.
Of course, amazing wouldn't be here without the opportunity. But
they have NBA Entertainment, right, NBA Entertainment. So every time
you go anywhere, I mean, I'm telling you, All Star Weekend,
USA Team, all this different type stuff. They got cameras everywhere.
(25:08):
Everywhere you go, it's.
Speaker 6 (25:09):
Cameras, right.
Speaker 9 (25:10):
They own all that footage, right, they own all that footage.
So in order to do things, a lot of times
you got to go ask them, right. So this was
about being able to control your own there.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, and you know a lot of people, of course,
I mean, how many of you guys saw the last
dance of Michael Jordan's documentary Rights one of the greatest
sports documentaries we've seen. But part of the reason it
did so well is because Jordan had his own footage.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
He had things that we had not seen before.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And so that was smarter you to take that footage
of your process in terms of how you made that decision.
You know, you said you pitched that to different you
know networks, and you know to get it out there.
So when you're in these pitch meetings, how do you
present yourself? Because everybody knows who you are as an athlete,
(26:01):
but how do you get them to see you as
a serious content maker?
Speaker 6 (26:06):
That's a really good question.
Speaker 9 (26:07):
Fortunately, I have an amazing team around me, right, And
that's the thing that I've learned in sport is that
you can't do everything right.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
Luckily I've been on a team sport.
Speaker 9 (26:17):
I don't play tennis, I don't play golf professionally, none
of that. But I just try to show up as me,
as authentic and myself right. So on these calls, I
give my point of view, my experience because even though
I've been in the NBA for the last twenty years,
(26:38):
I grew up in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
Speaker 6 (26:40):
Right, I'm as regular or normal as they come.
Speaker 9 (26:43):
I have definitely a very abnormal job, but I am
always say whenever I leave the arena, I don't get
in the car and drive around with my Jersey on
I get pulled over by the police just like anybody else.
I'm a black man right in America. Who I have
two children. I have a beautiful black wife. My children
are sixteen and twelve. And I see the world through
(27:08):
the lens that I did my first nineteen twenty years
when I was a went to middle school, high school, two.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
Years in college, and then been in the NBA.
Speaker 9 (27:16):
So I have a lot of different stories that I
would also like to tell because it's a lot of
funny shit to go on in my life too, you know, seriously,
Like I have kids that showed blackish right, Like I
thought one day my son was going to ask for
bro mensa straight up, you know what I'm saying. Like
being out there in LA like, you see a lot
(27:36):
of different things, and I'm grateful that I'm grounded around
my family that we can see abnormal stuff and we
laugh about it.
Speaker 6 (27:45):
We joke and laugh about it.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
How has been in the profession of basketball and the
training and the discipline that requires to be a professional,
How has that How have those skills transferred into how
you run this production company?
Speaker 9 (28:01):
Yeah, I think it all comes down to the details.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
Everything. I'm a firm believer.
Speaker 9 (28:07):
In this quote that says, how you do anything is
how you do everything right. So this morning I was
at the gym working out at six am, right, and
I just really believe in that keep stacking days, keep
stacking days, stay true to who you are, especially what
our company o dip.
Speaker 6 (28:26):
Right.
Speaker 9 (28:26):
We don't just go out looking for stories because of
the economics, right, We really want to storytell. We really
want to make sure people's voices are being heard. And
when you do that.
Speaker 6 (28:37):
I think it makes it fun.
Speaker 9 (28:38):
It makes it really fun and you can be proud
of what you're doing and what you're building.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
You know, you're known as being one of the most
competitive people to ever play in the NBA. So how
do you channel that competitiveness when it comes to your
you know, content creation, your film and TV production work.
Speaker 9 (28:58):
Yeah, that's that's really interesting because it's very competitive. There's
a lot of production companies that want to do this
and want to do that.
Speaker 6 (29:07):
I want to dive into one. I mean it.
Speaker 9 (29:10):
Gets really tricky out there at times, right, because relationship
building matters. But depending on what project it is, where
you're taking it, what pitch you have. I think one
of the things that I learned when I first got
to LA, and I tell anybody this, and it taught
(29:30):
me a real, real lesson. Got out to LA twenty eleven,
twenty twelve, thirteen, something like that, CJ. We went over
there and pitched that show to ABC. You know, I'm
just now getting into LA. We pitched a show to ABC,
and then next thing, you know, a variety like posted it,
like on Instagram or something like that, that we might
(29:51):
be getting this show.
Speaker 6 (29:52):
And so think about it. I'm playing basketball.
Speaker 9 (29:54):
I think the pitch went well and then showed up
on Instagram and I got life going on and this stuff,
and then a bunch of time went by.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
I asked my brother, I said, Yo, what what's up
with that show? Did we we pitched? And if they
put up on Instagram?
Speaker 9 (30:08):
I learned in Hollywood that ain't not nothing until they
get green lit.
Speaker 6 (30:12):
Till they get green lit.
Speaker 9 (30:13):
That taught me real quick, don't be don't be announcing nothing,
don't be posting nothing, don't don't do none of that
until it's green lit. That was a rude awakening for me,
But I learned that real quick. Shut up, shut up
talking about it, because then you're gonna look crazy when
you go somewhere and people start asking you about like
I've seen that project you posted words.
Speaker 6 (30:35):
It's still where it is.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Yeah, well, not only that, you'd be surprised how much
or how often it happens where they do green light
stuff and then they pay.
Speaker 6 (30:47):
You not to do it. Yes, I know, yeah that
too too.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
You know you you mentioned that like you you wanted
to tell certain stores and it not always be about
the economics.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
So you know, for you, how does a story register
with you?
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Like?
Speaker 1 (31:06):
What what makes you say, yes, I want to jump
in and do this.
Speaker 9 (31:10):
Man, that's a good question. I think I've done it
from different aspects.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
Now.
Speaker 9 (31:14):
Obviously with our production company, we get a chance to
tell stories from the ground all the way up. I
also entered a project called Origin on the investment side.
Now that was different, right, that's different because yes, yes, yes,
it's an amazing story, and you like, yes, I'm investing it,
(31:35):
and then you you know, figuring out the financial, financial
aspects and all of that. But I think I think
for me, what makes me want to lean into the
story is the storytelling, right, how it's being told, who's
telling it, where is it going to go or whatnot?
Speaker 6 (31:51):
And like we said, everyone has.
Speaker 9 (31:54):
A story from a different dvantage point, and so I
think once I hear it or see along with my team,
we sort of go from there.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
So what did you learn about the industry and the
business investing in origins? Like from that perspective, what did
that teach you?
Speaker 1 (32:12):
That experience, Man.
Speaker 9 (32:17):
It taught me about the process, right, the unbelievable process,
the vision, the traveling, how things change, that's what really happens.
Things change really quick in production and how it needs
to shift and you may have to invest a little
bit more here, I tell you, it's crazy. I'm thinking
about it. I played, you know, my first six years
(32:37):
in NBA, played for the New Orleans Hornets my rookie
year though Hurricane Katrina happened a month before, a month
after I got drafted. So I played my first two
years at Oklahoma City. Then I went back to New Orleans.
And this is what I learned as a young kid too.
I didn't realize they shot a lot of movies in
New Orleans, right, I was twenty something years old. I
(33:01):
was like, why did shoot movies here in New Orleans?
And then I heard because of the tax breaks and
all that. So any y'all remember a movie called Hurricane Season. Yeah,
so Hurricane Season was Tim's story shot. I used to
get out of practice and me and my brother would
go sit over there on the set. We would just
go sit over there on the set and watch and
see how they made the movie.
Speaker 6 (33:20):
Wayne was in the movie. I think bow Wow was
in it. Who was the coach? Who? Yeah?
Speaker 9 (33:28):
Yeah, yeah, forts was the coach? Taraji was in it.
And we would I would just go over there every
day and sit and watch them make that movie. And
so all of that has always stuck with me. And
so there was a guy who was like the director
of the basketball being played in it. Right, you know,
anytime that there's a commercial or something, there's somebody there
(33:49):
to direct and make sure that the basketball looks like basketball.
Some of these shows it don't look like basketball. Some
of it it don't look like football.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 9 (33:57):
What's crazy is the guy who was directing then for
the basketball in that movie, his daughter and my daughter play.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
On the same basketball team now in La. Yeah.
Speaker 9 (34:06):
It's crazy how it comes around full circle. But at
that time in my life, I was just going to
hang out with way Ain't and Bao out them, but
not realizing the whole time that someday I would have
my own production company.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
All right, we're going to take a quick break and
we have more to come on politics. Well, so far,
you guys have been able to make some great content.
But what have been some of the challenges that you
faced as you tried to build this company up?
Speaker 6 (34:41):
Man, some of the challenges.
Speaker 9 (34:45):
Some of the challenges is obviously sometimes there are really
important stories that you're really passionate about, and you have
to understand that everyone is just not going to be
as passionate as you are, right, Like that is real.
Like some stuff you know you're telling people, man, this
is they will love this, They will love this or whatnot,
(35:06):
but they may not. Right So, I feel like we
made some very meaningful projects already. Not one is more
important than the other, because every story is different. I
think probably one of the most challenging that we would
love to tell, or I know I would love to tell,
is a story of a story called sixty one, right,
(35:28):
And that's a story that's very meaningful to me. And
it's about my late grandfather who was murdered when I
was seventeen years old. And what's amazing about it is
we have a script, we have a writer. We went
through the whole process with I can say it with Disney,
went down the road with him, everything like that. I
(35:49):
was so excited or whatnot. And it was like this
supposed to be greenlit or whatnot. And it didn't happen, right,
And I wrote a book. I actually wrote a book,
sixty won Lessons from Grandfather, from Grandpa. My grandfather had
the first black owned service station in North Carolina. So
I grew up working at a service station. Anytime I
wanted Jordan's kicks, anything like that. My granddaddy, he used
(36:12):
to walk around with a big wad of money in
his back pocket. Papa had a bank roll right right,
But like anytime I wanted something, he wouldn't just give
it to me.
Speaker 6 (36:23):
He make me and my brother come work. He make
us come work.
Speaker 9 (36:26):
And I always say that taught me so much because
as a kid, you think like now as an adult,
when you hear someone own something, you think that everybody
else works for them.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
Right.
Speaker 9 (36:40):
My grandfather owned this service station and it was a Chevron,
and every time you answered the phone, you had to
answer you had to say Jones Chevron Jones Chevron. The
phone number was seven two three two two three two.
That's crazy, I still remember that. Yeah, but that's that's
where I worked at during the.
Speaker 6 (36:57):
Summer, right with my grandfather.
Speaker 9 (36:59):
And so I wrote a book about, of course losing him,
but all the life lessons and.
Speaker 6 (37:06):
My grandfather.
Speaker 9 (37:08):
I signed my letter of intent to go to wait
for US November fourteenth, two thousand and two. The very
next day, my grandfather was murdered by five teenagers. November nineteenth,
two thousand and two, was his funeral, And the very
next day was the first game of my senior year.
I scored sixty one points in that game, right, I
(37:29):
had fifty nine, drove to the lane, showed the float,
shot a floater and got fouled, had sixty one, went
to the free throw line and threw the ball out
of bounds, And I remember walking off and hugging my
dad and my family. And it's the most meaningful game
that I've ever played in. And yeah, I would love
to tell that story about family, about perseverance, life. I
(37:54):
remember I did Good Morning America after that. I was
on there stuttering like crazy. But all the those life
lessons that I learned growing up in the South, being
at church four or five days a week, you know
what I'm saying, Like, seriously, I was a church all day,
all day. But those those stories. If not for that,
I'm not who I am.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
So what happened with Disney? It just kind of went away?
Speaker 9 (38:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we need to figure out how we're
gonna revive.
Speaker 6 (38:24):
We gotta figure figure something out.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Well, I think everybody in this room just hurt a
heck of a pitch. So I'm sure thank you. If
not Disney, it will be you know, someone else.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Uh you said that no project that you've done is
more important than the other one, but I'm sure there
had to be one or two, maybe even more than that.
Were you after it was done with? Like, I can't
believe we actually pulled that off. So what among your
mini projects would you would you put.
Speaker 6 (38:54):
In that category? That's a that's you're right.
Speaker 9 (38:58):
We did blackball, we did the day the day sport
the day sports stood still, and you guys remember the
pandemic very vividly in here.
Speaker 6 (39:06):
Huh Yeah.
Speaker 9 (39:07):
So I was actually I was the president of the
Players Association for eight years, right, So that's meetings, all
this different type stuff, And that was actually my game.
It was an NBA game when like the pandemic stuff happened.
We were playing against the Utah Jazz. Person ran across
the court stopped the game. And I'm gonna tell you
(39:27):
the way my mom worked. Right, we were literally about
to do the jump ball. Guy named Donnie Strack, who
worked for the Thunder came running to the court to
the referees and I'm talking my jersey and I'm what
the hell going on?
Speaker 6 (39:40):
Right?
Speaker 9 (39:40):
That was my initial reaction, and I started looking around
because whenever I see some somebody start panicking in a
lot in a crowded arena, I'm looking for an active shooter.
Speaker 6 (39:51):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Somebody entertainer say, because we run, because we run, run, ye,
we ain't gonna talk about it.
Speaker 6 (39:58):
Get up right now, all gone, don't.
Speaker 9 (40:00):
Get moving, Jamay, I'm gonna tell you to kick your
shoes off, and you better catch up your husband someone
you better grab them because I'm gone, I'm gone save yourself.
But but that that game, right, so I remember everything.
So then they made us go back to the locker room. Right,
(40:21):
we had to take our uniform off everything. Because this
is the beginning of COVID. Everybody don't know what all
of this is. They made everybody on the team go
back to their own like apartments.
Speaker 6 (40:33):
Or houses or whatnot.
Speaker 9 (40:35):
It's funny because Shae and Shae was a second year
player and Darius basically was rookies.
Speaker 6 (40:41):
Because I had a chef. They came to my house,
so they broke the rules to begin with.
Speaker 9 (40:45):
But as we got back to my house, my like
producing hat immediately went on.
Speaker 6 (40:51):
Right.
Speaker 9 (40:51):
I started filming things right. I remember the flight that
it took me like six days to finally get a
plane that would take me back to be with my family.
While I'm sitting in the car, I'm video on, I'm filming,
I'm capturing all this content because I immediately started thinking
this will be a great story to tell. And sure enough,
we made a film called The Day Sports Stood Steal.
Speaker 6 (41:13):
So that was very meaningful.
Speaker 9 (41:14):
Along with the projects that we did Why Not Us,
which was highlighting HBCUs and being able to tell their stories.
We told a story about North Carolina Central University and
how their team is always one of the best teams
every single year is at HBCU and they only have
two goals, right, so they practice where they play. You know,
(41:36):
you going to any of these facilities. Now is basketball
goals on the wall?
Speaker 6 (41:40):
They got eight eight.
Speaker 9 (41:43):
Baskets so guys can practice free throws. They got two
baskets and they make it work.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
So, since you clearly have established a pattern of recognizing
a good story and starting to shoot your own footage,
are you doing that in terms of you know your
own career? Because when you think about when it is over,
are we capturing ourselves and especially with this maybe being
your last season?
Speaker 9 (42:07):
Yes, I would like to write if I play another year,
And that's the hardest thing for me.
Speaker 6 (42:12):
Right.
Speaker 9 (42:12):
I've done that when I did Chapter three. But everybody
around me they always saying you got it. I'd be like, man,
I don't want them cameras around me. But I also
see the bigger picture, right, because there's a lot of things.
Whereas guys see the games, right, they don't see us
going to pick up our kids from school. They don't
see us right there doing homework with them. They don't
(42:33):
see the heartache and the pain from calling granny or
the voice notes of not getting a chance to see
your family, not getting a chance to see your friends.
Speaker 6 (42:43):
Right now, don't get me wrong, I love what I do.
I love it. I love it. I love it.
Speaker 9 (42:48):
I'm not complaining, but there is a human aspect to it.
And that's why the mental health that a lot of
guys talk about, I tell you, as much as I
love to play basketball, this past season was extremely tough
for me on my mental because I go play a game, right,
a very highly competitive game for two and a half hours,
and I would go home to an empty house and
(43:10):
a lot of people.
Speaker 6 (43:11):
I'll tell you this because I didn't heard it.
Speaker 9 (43:12):
They say, oh, well, you tripping, that's your fault because
you should have just flew your kids and your wipe
them out there to live with you or whatnot. But
I actually my kids had been to five different schools,
six different.
Speaker 6 (43:24):
Schools in six consecutive years. Right.
Speaker 9 (43:27):
So thankfully my parents, me and my brother we had
the same friends growing up.
Speaker 6 (43:32):
We still got a group chat with our homies that
we grew up with. Right. We go on a trip
once a year with the homies that I grew up with.
Speaker 9 (43:40):
And so I wanted my kids to have some sense
of normalcy, right, And that is why they stay where
they are now. And if it's got to be hard
on anybody, I don't want it hard.
Speaker 6 (43:49):
On them. I'd rather it hard be on me.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
I just wanted to get everybody a hands up.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
In about ten minutes, we will have since Q and
a period, so you all can ask Chris.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
Whatever you would like.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Make sure you keep throwing Lakers questions, and I'm sure
he really enjoys that. You know, I know that when
you're still playing, it's often difficult to think about your
legacy and to reflect because you're still very much in
that mode. But you know, nevertheless, when you think about
your career as a basketball player, even the things you've
(44:25):
been able to do outside of it, like how when
you whenever that time comes when you do leave the game,
how do you want people to remember you?
Speaker 6 (44:34):
Man?
Speaker 9 (44:34):
That's that's a really good question too, because I don't
think about it that often actually, because I'm just I'm
in it, right, I'm so I'm so in it that
what I've learned is that.
Speaker 6 (44:48):
Some people don't like you, some people not right.
Speaker 9 (44:50):
And in the position that I've been in, I have
always had to be okay with not being liked.
Speaker 6 (44:56):
It's a whole bunch of people that don't like me,
and I'm cool with it. I'm cool with it.
Speaker 9 (45:02):
One thing that I learned and being the president of
the union, right because I was the president for eight years.
I was on the executive committee for seven years. And
that job is not paid or anything. You represent four
hundred and fifty of the most famous people in the world.
Speaker 6 (45:17):
Right. That's the thing about our sport.
Speaker 9 (45:19):
We don't wear a helmet, so everywhere we go, everybody
knows who we are, right, and guys have big voices
and big platforms. One thing that I've learned about being
the president, or if you're the CEO, the boss, or
it's like somebody being the head coach, is that you
don't get a chance to say, man, I should have
did this. So you got to be a decision maker, right,
(45:40):
You got to be a decision maker. So when we
decided that we were going to go to the bubble, man,
I wish y'all knew how many guys was talking so
crazy to me, talking so crazy?
Speaker 6 (45:49):
Share with the class. No, no, no, no, no no. We'll
do that storytelling at some point.
Speaker 9 (45:54):
But I've always said, in that position as president of
the PA, it wasn't C three LLC.
Speaker 6 (46:02):
Right.
Speaker 9 (46:02):
I had to be the boys for all the guys
that played in the league, Right, a lot of the
young guys when the pandemic happened, they didn't see that coming, right,
So if we don't go and try to do the
social justice and all the stuff that we did in
the bubble, it would have been a huge setback for
them financially, certain guys who may have got their MoMA
home or something like that. And so you got a
(46:25):
lot of the big money guys who like.
Speaker 6 (46:27):
Man, we'll chill, we cool.
Speaker 9 (46:28):
But the league represents everybody, the middle class, the young guys,
and the vets. So when I'm done, I hope that
I just remember that I competed, that I played hard.
Speaker 6 (46:41):
And then there was a shift in the mindset of
the players.
Speaker 9 (46:44):
It was a huge shift in the mindset of the players,
and that the way we look at ownership, the way
guys think about their mental health, their family, their finance.
There been so many jokes over the years about guys
going broke. Right as they see a professional athlete go broke, everybody.
Speaker 6 (47:02):
Be like, man, how the hell he blow thirty million?
Speaker 9 (47:05):
But it's easier than you think, especially in our communities
where a lot of times we don't talk about money,
and we don't talk about finance and so yeah, I
think that's that's a big thing. I hope that guys
continue to lean on each other and talk to each other,
because it's really hard. You're set up and you're built
(47:27):
up your whole life, and then it just sort of stops.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Speaking of the bubble, you know, there was obviously a
moment where the players took a pause and didn't play
after Jacob Blake what happened with him being shot by police?
How close were you all to not resuming the season?
Speaker 6 (47:50):
Very close?
Speaker 9 (47:51):
And man, you just taking me all the way back
there because I felt it.
Speaker 6 (47:57):
Was some of the toughest things, right.
Speaker 9 (48:00):
Like I remember being on the bus and my phone
rang and it was Damian Lillard. Like we were on
the bus headed our game against the Houston Rockets, right
and Shay turned around and said, Yo, see Milwaukee ain't
come out.
Speaker 6 (48:11):
And then I went into.
Speaker 9 (48:13):
I'm not now a player getting ready for a game.
My phone rung and it's Damian Lillard. He's yo, see
what we're doing? Bron called Adam Silver called right, So
now I got to figure out to navigate what we're
gonna do.
Speaker 6 (48:25):
We canceled that game.
Speaker 9 (48:27):
Now I had to call the lady that was running
the property for us and get one hundred and something
chairs put in a ball room so that we can
meet and talk about what we're going to do.
Speaker 6 (48:36):
Then I actually got on the phone with Jacob Blake's dad.
Speaker 9 (48:39):
Who was going to address all of the players before
we had this big meet, which, ironically enough, Jacob Blake's
dad had spent time in Winston Salem, North Carolina and
knew my grandfather's service station, which was wild. But yeah,
it's a lot of stuff and a lot of stories
that for a lot of years. You know, I just
(49:00):
been hooping and playing and I know a lot but
don't tell a lot. But I think some of these
stories need to be told. Obviously, the situation with Kobe
and me going to the Lakers, right, there's a lot of.
Speaker 6 (49:12):
People who say what what happened or what they think? Knew?
I lived it, so I think I know a little
bit better than some of these other people.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
Are the conspiracy theorists right on that one?
Speaker 6 (49:24):
Or which one? Okay, so it was.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
I mean this was somewhat reported that Dan Gilbert had
a lot to do with why that trade didn't happen,
that the forces that other owners basically shut that down
because they didn't want to see the Lakers, you know,
you and Lebron join and thus another super team. They
wanted to shut down player empowerment period by sending the
(49:49):
message that no, y'all don't get the orchestra where y'all go.
Speaker 6 (49:52):
Yeah, that was part of it.
Speaker 9 (49:53):
I was on the executive committee, so we just came
out of the CBA negotiations. But obviously me and co
we got on the phone right like we thought it
was happening, and one day I talk about the conversations
we had.
Speaker 2 (50:06):
Okay, but yes, that was I can't wait till that story,
as told, I can't wait till that documentary comes out
about why you didn't wind up playing with him. So nevertheless,
as we talked about the trend of athletes sort of
jumping into this arena of film and TV work, what
would you say to those athletes who want to do
(50:27):
what you have been able to do.
Speaker 9 (50:30):
Yeah, I would say, first and foremost, I don't think
everyone has to start.
Speaker 6 (50:35):
Their own production company, right.
Speaker 9 (50:37):
I think that guys also need to be comfortable with
doing things together, like collaborate. I think sometimes there's a
me too thing where this guy, Like, Oh, he doing that,
I can do it too, where sometimes you're stronger together
and the way we've been sort of.
Speaker 6 (50:55):
Portrayed all this time. I say this all the time.
Speaker 9 (50:58):
If you pick up the TV, if you pick up
the turn the TV on, sometimes it's not even gonna
say Oklahoma City versus Indiana paces. It's gonna say Shay
versus Halliburton. Right, So, I don't care who you are.
That's sort of kind of programming. So it tries it
almost makes you always be like, it's me against him,
it's me against him, it's me against him, instead of
really understanding that you can collaborate on certain things and
(51:22):
tell tell the tell the stories that you want to tell.
Don't let somebody else tell you what you want to do, right, Like, So, I,
like I said, I'm a consumer, right I I also
want to tell stories of black families. Right any y'all
in here watched forever? Oh yeah, yeah, like and yeah, Mara,
(51:43):
who did that? She believe I don't know she here,
but shout out to you listen.
Speaker 6 (51:47):
But but what's.
Speaker 9 (51:48):
Amazing about that, right is I have a bunch of
shows that I watch when I'm on the road by myself, right,
like Beauty and Black was not going to watch with
my kids, right, y'all see that?
Speaker 6 (52:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was wild. Yeah.
Speaker 9 (52:05):
But like I said, I watch everything, and so it
was so dope for me to get a chance to
watch forever with my kids, right, to actually have a show.
It's only a few shows I've ever been able to
And I'm not saying like why, but I'm just saying,
like shows to watch with your kids. And we watched
that show and I'm still at that point too, where
(52:26):
the little sex scenes I'm looking over at my daughter.
Then now I get you uncomfortable as a parent, right
because my daughter looked down at her phone out like
she ain't looking.
Speaker 6 (52:34):
I'm like, well, mean, you see the TV. You see
the TV.
Speaker 9 (52:38):
But it was so dope to watch because in these shows,
if y'all see y'all y'all seeing it, you see the
living rooms, right, you see the black art showing up, right,
So just like a different world and these shows the
Cosby Show when you was growing up or whatnot, I
think it's really dope that the black art and the
culture is being integrated into these TV shows.
Speaker 6 (52:58):
So I want to continue to elevate and do that.
Speaker 9 (53:01):
Because I'll tell y'all because any Jeff, your kids go
to Campbell Hall. So in that show, which was crazy
to me, I didn't realize that one of the kids
went to Camden Hall, right, that was the school he
went to. My kids go to Kimball Hall. The school
that they was playing against was something would is it?
Speaker 6 (53:23):
I don't know, brook it was Brooke Wood.
Speaker 9 (53:26):
The school out there is Brentwood, you know what I mean.
So the connectivity, and I think that's really important for
kids is to be able to see themselves. Right, If
kids can see themselves and some of these shows or whatnot,
that's what we all do as humans. We try to
see how we relate to these characters.
Speaker 6 (53:43):
And I enjoy that part of it.
Speaker 2 (53:47):
In episode four you might hear familiar voice, oh yeah,
which was phenomenal me. Judy Bloom is one of the
greatest authors ever and so to see that being done
in that way was incredible, truly exceptional work. So we're
gonna go to questions in a in a second here,
but before we wrap up our conversation, since you mentioned
(54:10):
that you watch The Wire, I think The Wire is
the greatest television drama ever made. You know, debate you, auntie,
So you have to give me what is your order
in terms of best seasons of the Wires. So for me,
it is I think it's season I go three three
(54:31):
one or not three yet? Three one four or three
four one two five?
Speaker 6 (54:38):
You damn damn you know it. Listen. Let me tell you.
Speaker 9 (54:41):
You know what's interesting is when I watched the Wire,
people try to tell me that I didn't need to
watch the season at the Docks. Y'all ever heard that
people be saying that you don't have to watch that.
Speaker 6 (54:51):
Yes you do, yes, yes you do.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
It ties everything together.
Speaker 6 (54:54):
It's the Bridge season. It ties everything together.
Speaker 9 (54:57):
And for me, right like anytime I'm somewhere in whatever city,
it is like when I go to Baltimore and whatever
and I see all of the shipping containers or whatnot,
I think.
Speaker 6 (55:06):
About the Wire.
Speaker 9 (55:07):
If I'm out in l A and I ride out
the Long Beach, That's how I mean. I'm a conspiracy theorist.
I'll be like, man, what they got in them? I'd
be like, what they got? But all that comes from
from watching no show?
Speaker 1 (55:19):
So which one was your favorite season?
Speaker 6 (55:22):
Oh?
Speaker 9 (55:22):
Man, I don't know, I say, I probably the Docs.
Speaker 6 (55:25):
Then I like the Docs season yeah, not season four
with the kids.
Speaker 9 (55:30):
Man, I don't remember it all like that, but to
watch it every year, I mean that's well. I like
it enough that my my my Uber I said, my
Uber alias is Avon Barsdale.
Speaker 6 (55:44):
They pull up, they'd be like, Avon Avon, that's my
that's my aliens.
Speaker 1 (55:49):
Okay, now now all the uber drivers know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6 (55:52):
I might have to switch it up, string a bell
or something.
Speaker 2 (55:57):
One more segment to go coming up next, the final Spin.
Time down for the final spin the topic, Zorn Mamdani
wins the New York City Democratic mayorial primary. The spin
(56:21):
New York City is the clearest warning yet of what
happens to a society when it fails to control migration. Now,
if you think that sounds racist and xenophobic, it is,
But let me tell you who said it. Those were
the exact words of Stephen Miller, Donald Trump's Deputy chief
of Staff for Policy and Home Land Security advisor. He
is the mastermind of the mass deportations that you are
(56:41):
seeing now. The truth Republicans and Democrats are both frightened
by Mamdani's stunning victory. Why because it's deeply upsetting to
the establishment. Mandanni is a Democratic socialist, and he's labeled
Israel committing a perpetual genocide. He's young, he's principled, He's
not influenced by big money because they didn't have any.
It said everything that both Trump and establishment Democrats endorsed
(57:04):
Andrew Cuomo. It also says something that young people and
progressive said not today. Andrew Cuomo has been accused of
sexual harassment numerous times by numerous women. The reason Democrat
approval ratings is in the sewer is because they don't
seem to get that their base wants significant regime change.
They don't want undying, unchecked loyalty to Israel, and they
(57:24):
don't want somebody who feels Republican life. Despite Mundigning being
far left, the reason he won is because his economic
message resonated across the board. White people, black people, Jewish people,
everybody rent as toudamn. High businesses and billionaires need to
pay more taxes.
Speaker 3 (57:40):
Why is this even remotely controversial?
Speaker 2 (57:42):
Democrats have been running campaigns on old rules and old
methods that don't work, and they wonder why they get
malliwobbed in national elections or key elections despite having more
popular policies. Mamdani feels relatable, he has authenticity, and authenticity
will be big money every single time.
Speaker 1 (58:01):
All right, That.
Speaker 2 (58:01):
Concludes another episode of Politics. Make sure you get at
me on social media or email. I'm at Jamail Hill
across all social media platforms, Twitter, Instagram, Fan based, Blue Sky,
and threads. Please use the hashtags politics. You also have
the option of emailing me as Politics twenty twenty four
at gmail dot com. You can also video me a question,
but please make sure it's thirty seconds or less. Don't
(58:23):
forget to follow and subscribe to this Politics on iHeart
and follows Politics pod on Instagram and TikTok. Politics is
spelled s PO l I t I c S. A
new episode of Politics drops every Thursday on iHeart Podcasts,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is
politics where sports and politics don't just mix, They matter.
(58:46):
Politics is the production of iHeart Podcasts and The Unbothered Network.
I'm your host Jamel Hill. Executive producer is Taylor Shakogin.
Lucas Heimen is head of audio and executive producer. Original
music for Spolots provided by Kyle VISs from wiz fx
Speaker 6 (59:05):
M
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.