October 23, 2025 • 44 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses Victor Wembanyama’s utterly dominant performance against Anthony Davis, Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks, and quickly previews tonight’s Thursday Night Football clash between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Minnesota Vikings. Later, longtime NBA writer and author Yaron Weitzman swings by to discuss his new book, ‘A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers’. During the interview, Weitzman tells us how things went sideways so quickly with LeBron and Russell Westbrook, the ebbs and flows of LeBron’s relationship with AD, what’s next for LeBron in Los Angeles, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up Straight Fire, Fam, It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Fayer for Thursday, October twenty third, and we have
a phenomenal interview. Today. I spoke to Uron Whitzman, former
Fox Sports NBA writer. He writes about the NBA for
a lot of places. He wrote this big time book
(00:32):
on Lebron. His book is the one that generated all
that Russell Westbrook buzz about the Will Smith story. It's
great stuff. You're gonna love our chat. Well, we spoke
for a long time early on Wednesday, and then you know,
I went to my daughter's middle school volleyball game. They're undefeated.
I drove my kid to a chess match, and then
(00:54):
it settled in to watch Victor Webbin Yama. And I
think I told you guys yesterday I was going to
bet on the Spurs plus two and a half. First
of all, that was easy money. They won by thirty
or whatever the score was. But a lot of stuff
happened in the NBA last night. And we're not gonna
I'm not gonna do NBA every night. It's the first week,
so just let me cook, Okay, The Knicks and Cavs
(01:16):
played an interesting game, a lot of injuries and you know,
Nicks come out on top. It was it was fun.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
The Orlando Magic looked pretty good. Charlotte Hornets, oh my gosh,
they are dynamic, LaMelo ball blah blah blah. But uh
oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
VJ.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Edgecombe, who I think I mentioned on this preview pod
about how good he is for the Sixers, had thirty
four in his debut. He was phenomenal. Sixers win at Boston.
I think I told you, guys, watch out for the Sixers.
But everything Cooper Flag's debut, it was whatever. You know.
Cooper Flag's debut for the for the Mans was fine.
Ten points, ten rebounds, first starting point guard have zero sists.
(01:51):
Not great. He was a minus twenty nine and thirty
two minutes. But again, it doesn't really matter. As a
matter of fact, nothing matters, guys, because what Victor went
ben Yama did last night for the San Antonio Spurs
felt like a seminal moment in the NBA. And this
is not hyperbole. If you're just waking up and you
haven't seen the highlights, Holy hell, Victor Weemnyama is different
(02:14):
as the kids like to say, Okay, so it's starting
to make sense why Victor Wemnyama last year only he
shot a ton of threes. He would hang on on
the perimeter and it didn't make sense. They're like, oh,
he's soft, he's a typical Euro blah blah blah. So
last night against the MAVs, he scored forty points on
twenty one shots. He shot two three pointers. That's it.
(02:37):
He was one of two from three, and it was
pretty phenomenal. One as he got fouled on the play
was crossing up. Derek Lively went behind his back. It
was filthy. It's like, what the hell. And Victor Wemanyama
shot eleven free throws. So everything he did last year
and you thought, oh he's soft, he's a year he
wants to hang on a printer. Uh. He was smart
about it. He wasn't ready to go bang inside last
(02:59):
night after hanging out with the Shaolin Monks this offseason. Okay,
Victor Wembanyama is built for the moment, folks. I've never
seen anything like it. And it was forty points, fifteen rebounds,
three blocks. At times it looked like you know, your
sixth grade kid or your six year old son has
(03:21):
a birthday party, right, and your six year old son
and all his friends are playing basketball, and the dad
goes out there and he's just swatting shots like it's
a comedy act and just dunking on kids at times.
That's what wee ben Yama looked like. But here's the thing.
He was doing that against Anthony Davis, one of the
better defenders in the league, an All NBA player. He
(03:42):
made Anthony Davis look tiny and folks, again, it's one
game you don't want the hyperbolee. But I put this
on social media last night. All I want for Christmas
is Victor Wee bann Yama to have a healthy career
because what I saw last night that's unstoppable. And on
the heels of watching show Heyo Tani with the Dodgers
do some transcendent stuff again Otani, and we didn't talk
(04:05):
about this enough last week ten strikeouts pitching and hit
three homers at the plate, and I saw all these
goofy Instagram videos by like you know, content creators about
oh time traveling to talk to Babe Ruth about this
guy show Heyo Tani. It is somewhat funny, but then
you have to just step back and be like, Holy cow,
(04:27):
the stuff Otani's doing is that hasn't been done in
like seventy years, eighty years now. I don't even know
Babe Ruth in the twenties, and he's doing it way
better than Ruth. What I saw last night from one
Mian Yama, and I'm not kidding, looked to me like
some transcendent basketball talent. He looked like he's redefining the
(04:51):
sport of basketball. And what's possible. I mean, Otani is
potentially gonna usher in an entire new era of basketball
of baseball players. So Tony's gonna usher in a new
era of baseball players that basically think, why can't I
pitch and bat? Why not just because nobody did it
for for the longest time? Oh TONI did it, Why
(05:12):
can't I try it? And I believe Wembin Yama is
going to potentially I mean, he's Yannis with a three
point shot, and oh, by the way, he's like five
inches taller and Giannis is pretty dominant. Okay, what we
saw from women Yama last night was just unbelievable stuff.
(05:34):
I mean, his leap from year two to year three
just all I want is him to be healthy. That's it.
I mean a lot of people think Jordan's a goat.
I'm on record as Lebron I'm not ready to say
wen Ben Yama is going to be the goat, but
the potential for him to be the greatest basketball player
in the history of the sport is without question there.
Like Cooper Flag's awesome. I think Cooper Flag can be
(05:55):
an All NBA player. I think Cooper Flag could be
an MVP. Nobody can be the has the potential to
be what Victor Webbinyama can be Nobody just because of
his size. I mean he's getting the ball in like
the the middle of the lane is just going up
and dunking it. And again, the MAVs have seven foot
of Derek Lively who's a shot blocking machine, and Anthony Davis.
(06:18):
They have some of the best interior defense in the NBA.
And Wemby abused them, folks, he was fifteen of twenty one.
Like if you look at his shot chart, you go
to like the ESPN box Score and you go look
at the shot chart, you could see where all of
webmbin Yama shots are and you're like, oh, so last
year it was a lot of spraying from around the perimeter,
(06:39):
and at the time, you know, people were ribbing him.
Oh he's soft, he doesn't want to smoke inside, he
can't handle it. Blah blah blah. Folks, It's it makes
sense now. He was not ready, he was not strong enough.
He would have gotten seriously injured. I'm looking at his
shot chart. He hit that one three that ended up
being a four point play, and a lot of the
rest of his shots are in the lane. He did
(07:01):
hit one outside the paint, two three outside the paint,
everything else at least one foot in the lane. So
Wembin Yama is basically saying I'm strong enough, I'm ready
to do what Yannis is doing. And late in the game,
I watched the Spurs start to double team him, and
that's just good luck with that. I mean, he brings
the ball above his head. He's he's like at that
(07:23):
nine foot mark. But practically, you know, I mean, it's like, nobody,
you're not stealing, you can't double Wembin Yama. He's gonna
easily make the right pass. And it's like, that's kind
of scary. Now, I don't want to get up make
any quantum leaps about the Spurs winning the title this year,
although not gonna lie, nothing's off the table. Okay, what
I saw last night is, you know, it was kind
(07:45):
of trippy. If you had done mushrooms, been in a
we'd been in a como for three years, done mushrooms
and you just came woke up, that sounds kind of
somewhat far fetched, and you were just watching this, you'd
be like, who is this alien on the basketball court?
What is happening right now? I mean, guys, I'm I'm
just telling you. Even if you don't like the NBA,
(08:06):
I don't, I don't really care. You know, watching Wembin
Yama is that's that's an out of body experience, like,
oh my gosh, I've never seen anything like it. And
again a lot of people think the Mads are gonna
be good. PJ. Washington's a good wing defender. They started
him on Wemby, it was like, that's not go bar.
Then they put Ad on him. Yeah, he's taken Ad off.
(08:27):
The dribble from the three point line, not happening. Derek
Lively crossed him up behind the back, three splash and
the foul. Again. I'm in awe of what I just saw.
And I've never really been a Spurs fan. Honestly, I
thought the Spurs were boring. Obviously I completely respect Parker Ginobili,
Duncan Robbinson, all those guys, tremendous talents. Just never was
(08:51):
a Spurs fan. And there's a guy online on ig
who I've been talking to for a few years. He's
a He's a big Spurs fan. He follows and cox
it closely, and you know he's like, come come to
the dark side, Spurs, not Anna lie. I want to
see the Spurs on TV every week. I want to
see Wemban Yelma. I have peacock, so you know I'm
gonna be locked in. Guys, I got buddies with season
(09:12):
tickets to the Lakers. I'm just gonna ask them, can
you circle this Wemby dates? And can I get to
the front of the line, Like I need to see
this guy in person. I mean, I'm just blown away
by what he was able to do. Now, it is
just one game. You don'tant to overreact, but it's hard
not It's not like he's a rookie. This is year three,
and the thing is he looks totally different. He's not
(09:35):
this wiry, sheepish guy. He's confident, he's swagged out. He's like,
I got next that hell I got now, I don't,
I don't. I'm so fascinated to see how teams are
going to defend him. So up next, where's their schedule?
Up next? They are at Zion on Friday night, and
(09:57):
then there are against Brooklyn. Oh, shoot, there here against
the Lakers on November fifth. Let's just check the old calendar.
See what I got on November fifth. Oh, I'm gonna
go ahead and get that on the calendars. Try to
try to beat the wife to it so I can
get a hall pass and go to hopefully see Wembin
Yama against Luka Danciic. We don't expect Lebron back by then. Honestly,
(10:22):
I don't have any money Thursday night football real quick
before year on Watsman. I have zero dollars on this
game as of now. Frankly, the NBA kind of threw
me off, so I haven't looked at the line. Let
me call it up right now, I think I saw
Chargers three. We pretty much know what the deal is here, right.
The Chargers offensive line continues to crumble Minnesota wants to
(10:45):
bring pressure. The Chargers just got cooked by Daniel Jones
and Jonathan Taylor's run game. Jordan Mason, is he gonna
go wild? Total forty four and a half. I would
look to the under. We have seen dog doing fairly
well on Monday Night football, Carson Wentz against Jesse Minter.
(11:06):
I mean, then again, I hype Jesse Winter's defense and
that quarters look last week, and Daniel Jones had no
problem with it, mostly because Jonathan Taylor is just opening
massive holes. The Vikings run game is not as formidable.
I'll go the under. I'll go seventeen thirteen Chargers. Given
recent Thursday night games, it seems like it's going to
(11:27):
be more high scoring than that. But you got a
great coach in Harball. You have a really good offensive
mind in Kevin O'Connell. It's too bad JJ McCarthy isn't playing.
That's Harbo's old guy. I mean, I'll go under forty
four and a half. No significant play for me, It's
not a contest play. These lines this week are wacky
and there's so much happening. Unfortunately, you know, Victor Webber
(11:48):
Yaba just stole the show. I mean, i haven't even
talked about this. Lamar Jackson kind of sort of returned
to practice, but it didn't look like he was gonna play.
I don't know what to do with a lot of
these games because the lines are huge. Survivor is hellish.
So I'm gonna let this stuff marinate and then we'll
come back Friday with picks and all that fun stuff.
(12:08):
Up For now, I want you to enjoy a very,
very fun interview I had with your own Weitzman, NBA
writer who wrote the book a Hollywood Ending the Dreams
and Drama of the lebron Lakers.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. You know, Jason likes to think he knows
everything when it comes to sports.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I know what sports fans want, but for.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Everything he doesn't, he knows the guy who does.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows the
guy who knows another guy.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
All right, let's welcome back to straight fire Boy. This guy,
he's all over the news. You write a big time book,
you get all these great story reason anecdotes Iran Weitzman,
author writer. He's written for Fox Sports. The book is
called a Hollywood Ending The Dreams and Drama of the
Lebron Lakers. By the way, Uron, obviously, welcome back to
(13:13):
the pod. I'm just curious, are you getting just are
Lakers fans coming after you? Does it feel like you're
under attack?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Hasn't been so, I'm not looking we are phrased. I
scan the mentions. I'm very vain. I'm not cover tend
like I don't look at the mansions. I obviously do
anyone who says that they're lying, right, Okay, it's a
lot of these, some of the like the aggregating accounts
that pick it up like you can't really look at all.
Then it's this a lot that's going on there. I
haven't seen. I've got a few. I got a few.
I got a few dms.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yeah, if I ever come at Lebron again, I'll weep
you up. Someone you know, nonsense. I posted some someone
said it's always the jew reporters who are doing that.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I like that one.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Oh gosh, they got that. That's iggressive.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
They were like, you're on to me, Yes, that's it.
So honestly, I haven't been Yeah, I don't know. It's
been a little weird, but I haven't been too bad.
I don't think we see.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So I loved I love this topic. You know, I
had it several book ideas I got close to and
then I'm like, this is a lot of work. I
don't I got to ask how long did this take?
And I guess, b did you try for any cooperation
with Lebron? And what was that?
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Like?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, so it took it basically three years basically the
whole process start to finish. Right, Oh my goodness. Yeah,
pretty wild. I mean I spoke to like, I mean,
I can go into it for a little bit, but
I viewed like nearly three hundred people the way I
read everything like literally basically any like news article, feature
from the past whatever, ten fifteen years like all nowadays
(14:39):
it's it's a gold mine, but adds a lot of work.
There's so many podcasts and so many player podcasts, and
like again, it's overwhelming this. You can find gold in there,
especially if you like, you know what you're looking for
and you kind of quotes that don't stand out, but
if you have another anecdote, you kind of connect them,
so but just go through all that. It was a
lot Lebron. Yeah, Lebron, I mean I always want particip
(15:00):
I knew he wouldn't not because then, like Lebron deservedly
so has decided like he doesn't really do long form
introduce it downs anymore unless it's for his own Why
would he give his story to me if he can
make it a Netflix documentary? And I begrudge I do
not begrudge him at this at all. Like I thought,
maybe when we get the fact shacking at the end,
maybe they'd want to engage it in. But again he's
reached that point man, like God bless you, he doesn't.
(15:22):
So I tried, but he they weren't interested.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
What about like a Maverick Carter people in his orbit,
Rich Paul, did they? I mean, I'm assuming you tried
to talk to them face to face via text email?
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Yeah you do? You know, no, I engage nobody. Nobody
in his orbit wanted to have on the record conversation.
Some you have people, some people you do stuff with.
You know, and I'm not saying specific, but some people
you talk to on background or off the records, they
can help with notes. Nobody wants to do on the record. Again,
also in the NBA world today, just very few people
like you get. You'll get like people who refuse to
(15:55):
put their name. It's become accepted to not put your
name on something, even if it's irrelevant, like it just
you can't keep names on it, like the bar, and
it's hard to fight against that. So just to go
with that sometimes.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Well, I guess at that point it's like, I don't
even want people knowing I talked to this guy. Correct
then it's out there and then it's like, oh, maybe
he's the leak for that story and you kind of
get shafted. So I totally get that. So that's makes
it an uphill climb. However, you're able to score some
major antidotes. You're all over the Daily Mail. I mean,
you had, like probably the definitive NBA storyline before the
(16:26):
season is Russell Westbrook thing. Now, I do want to
ask you. I'll be upfront. I am a lebron guy.
I do think he's the goat. I think he certainly
passed Jordan with the title over the where he went
to the Lakers. I've been over this a lot. That
being said, well, i'll call him out when he's wrong,
I do need to ask in this Russell Westbrook encounter
with the will Smith situation. So the one nugget that
(16:49):
I found fascinating was Darvinham left to go bring back
Lebron and ad okay, And I don't know if we're
we know what Darvin Ham said. Maybe he said nothing,
but yeah, yeah, is there a world where maybe Darvin said, Hey, guys,
I can't believe you walked out? Can you act? Can
you get in there? I don't give a crap if
you don't hear like Will Smith, act like you're engaged.
(17:10):
Ask questions and Darbendham says that, and then Lebron goes in,
and that leads to the questions, is there a world
where that happened or not? It's not even possible.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
No, for sure, I genuinely do not know what was.
Like I've joked a few people, I don't know what
Darbenham said. And like I saw someone again talk about
checking the mention someone was making fun of like Darbendham leadership.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I was like, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
That seemed like the opposite. Yeah, he was able to
get them back in the room, Like god, well that's
pretty impressive. So I don't know what he said what
he said the part like not you people miss out.
I'm sure like the main subjects are going to misinterpret
it like this that part and the that Stuff' written
the book well for two reasons, right. One it's to
show what Westbrook felt about Lebron, which is really important, right,
(17:49):
It's really important. It's not me saying as the phoney
and I, by the way, I agree with you. Like
the part that I've found so interesting is again look
at like the response and I've all these mentions go
again him team Russ, team Russ, Bronzo phony. Fine. We
talked about that a second. The idea that the Westbrook
experience in LA went poorly, The notion that that went
poorly because Lebron might be fake sometimes is so detached
(18:13):
from reality is insane. It was Westbrook, right, and it's
just kind of telling the show how people feel about
Lebron and specifically in LA that people would latch onto that.
But it was all Westbrook and Lebron being a phony
or not. It's irrelevant to how to how the Westbrook
experience played out. That said, like writing about Lebron, Lebron's
a really important seminal, not just figure in American sports
(18:36):
or American culture, right, And I felt like having even
if I didn't get the Westbrook anecdote, right, even if
I didn't get the will Smith one, I think it
would have been important to put the parts about sort
of the movie quotes and the books and whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Like.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
I think that that's part of his personality. If we're
talking about Lebron as a person, that stuff needs to
be included. But it doesn't. But I'm with you, Yeah,
I'm with you on this.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
So I'm looking at Russell Westbrook. He's been on six
teams in seven years. Yeah, right, exact, and suddenly this
is about Lebron. And I'm not criticizing you were it's
the narrative around, like the story because oh you're right, yeah,
team Russ. Actually, I don't know, Guys, he's been on
a different team every year practically for seven years. Like
that's maybe it's it's like when everybody, Man, I can't
(19:19):
believe everybody hates me. Why are all these people being
mean to me? Hey man, maybe you're the asshole. Maybe
it's about you, you know, Like, I don't know. I'm
not bashing Russ. I know people love to pile on him.
I don't know, to talk to me a little bit
about the process, like being around the Lakers that often.
I'm assuming you maybe went on the road with them sometimes,
I don't know, Like what was it like being in
(19:41):
the Lakers orbit? You know this is basically, you know,
the Dodgers and Yankees rolled into one, so I did.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
It was so it's funer, it's funny as all. I'll
get to that a second. I did spend time with
them early on. I live in New York, and I
actually I'll answer that, like, I think that I think
that was helpful in a way. I think being an
outside sometimes allows you to write about things and subjects
and teams from a different perspective and like and not
that I want to burn bridges, but I'm also not
(20:07):
like I don't get credentials in the Lakers, Like that's
not my home NBA city. I don't need that for
my day to day job. And I'm not getting Lebron
interviews vaguely, so again, like it doesn't mean I'm trying
to like I'm saying bleep them like I don't care,
but just means I don't have to manage relationships, and
I don't bet grudge of people will do like if
you're a beat writer, that's that's an essential part of
the job, and that's that your job is different when
you parachute in and I have a different job and
(20:28):
the ability to look at things from an outsider. So
then I would start being around the Lakers a little
more at the beginning, but early on it was clear
that they weren't thrilled at me being around, which was fine.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And wait, wait, is that the players or the team
or the own the team?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
The team players didn't care the ownership. The ownership ends.
And there's a member of the pr staff wasn't so
great to me, which is whatever, okay.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Cool, well, hold on, hold on, define not so great?
Speaker 3 (20:52):
You would like I would go up to a player.
They would tell players she specifical whatever they excuse me, sorry,
would tell what tell people players don't talk, don't talk
to him. Even though even if that wasn't I don't
even think sometimes I was coming down from the organization, right,
I think that was sometimes just going rogue. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Wait, I just was in front of the players and.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Like after whatever, like you know, when I'm not there, right,
like if you know, or'll say yeah and just whatever.
So all that combined with the notion that when I
started this, like a lot of these players were younger.
I realized, my brother's with me, butter not necessarily being
around the team regularly. Now it's good to check in,
but like you know who's on the teams. Gabe Vincent,
(21:31):
he knows Lebron, He's not him and Lebron not best friends, right,
These guys who are barely there, Jared Vanderbilt, like these
are guys. I didn't need to get these guys to
get these this Lebron perspective. What I will say is
being around though, Like I went to a game on
the road of Miami and I'm there and it's get
like an example, so the media Lebron made, wait, don't
do his media. I don't remember it, but basically someone's talking.
Let's say it's Austin Reeves and he goes in a
(21:53):
Separd room at the locker room. All the Beat reporters
have to go there because they have the job, and
I'm hanging back and it's basically Anthony Davis, Lebron, Vanderbilt,
and a couple of staffers and I'm just there, just
like you know, you never know what happens. And this
is the prologue in the book, but Lebron. They start
talking about contracts and Lebron's asked, you know which contract
meant the most to you when you literally put pen
to paper, And it evolves into this conversation about like
(22:14):
Anthony David saying, Lebron, what do you think you would
be worth? You should get paid if you weren't, there's
no salary cap, and then having this conversation about it.
It's like being around that and I'm just I'm just
like a fly on the wall. I'm not saying anything.
I'm just listening and like taking notes and it's just
fascinating here. And Lebron's answer is four years, five hundred million.
He's talking about how much value he brings to the organization,
(22:34):
to teams and cities and how he always wins a
championship after two years, and it was such a revealing glimpse.
And honestly, I looking back, I remember being like, I
think he under it. I would have thought he would
say a billion, right. I was a little surprised, like
four for five hundred, it's kind of low. Shay Gildris's
alm was there right like, so, so I could have
gotten higher, but it was just around the team. So
some moments like that, it's good to be around the team.
(22:55):
But I realized I was gonna I was going to
get most of my value talking to former people or
other people or secondary characters.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
You know. In talking about Lebron's with the Lakers, I
feel like, obviously, listen, he's gonna get a lot of
the criticism and he's gonna get a lot of the props.
They win the title. Hey, Lebron built his team. They
don't get anywhere. Well, Lebron wasn't great. He got hurt.
You know, it's weird. Anthony Davis was a seminal figure
in the Lebron in the Lebron era. I'm just curious,
how do you think what's his legacy? Like, couldn't get
(23:25):
out of the second round in New Orleans, goes to
the Lakers, awesome, wins the championship. I don't know, is
he gonna get out of the second round ever again
anywhere else? Like, I mean, on some level, when do
we have to applaud Lebron for that?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
You know who he reminded. It's funny. He actually kind
of reminds me. It's like a it's paw gasol ish
kind of similar. Not just Lakers, but just like ultimate
number two. Right, I'm over simplifying it, but number two, yeah, right,
and just fits that role and maybe not number one
for different for and sometimes that's not just about skills,
that's also about disposition. Like you know, in the book,
I dive into Anthony Davis a lot and talk to
(23:57):
high school coaches and people grew up with him, and
he just wasn't in alpha like that, which is not
an honestly, probably makes you a better like person I'd
rather be friends with, right, But in terms of being
on the court, it just he wasn't built that way.
And that's fine and even and Lebron. I mean, that's
one of my favorite random stories in the book is
after the trade, Anthony Davis comes and he's coming in
(24:17):
like that first off season there and he's coming in
let's say it's nine thirty or something every day and
he's getting there the first week and Lebron's always done.
He Anthony Davis goes to Lebron, I thought you said,
if I come here, we're gonna work out together. And
Lebron goes, yeah, but you have to do that. You have
to get here, you have to get here earlier than
this to do that. And like it was such a
telling little moment from both sides, right, and Lebron really
took upon himself to be a leader of Anthony Davis
(24:38):
and kind of bring him along to a level where
they could win a title. So for sure, Yeah, it's
funny you say that.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
So I talk about my men's leagues, various basketball leagues,
and we have a guy on our team who played
quarterback at Notre Dame. And then you know, he tells
me he works out at like five thirty in the morning.
I'm like, oh, I'm in. I'm in totally. And then
I go to a five point thirty workout. I'm like,
oh man, this is freaking earlier.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I can't handle this thing.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I lasted like maybe two or three weeks and then
that was it. And hearing this from yeah, Lebron, he's
a grinder's and Anthony Davis kind of not right.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
It's I wouldn't even say not not because I hear
I would flip it. I think it's Lebron. It's that
like that's a superpower, like the ability. It's the ability
to do to the next level. And honestly, that's the
thing that like, that's what separates him. Obviously the gifts,
the physical all that stuff unbelievable, but like the stuff
that he's doing that anyone could work that hard that
(25:30):
others don't, and that's what separates him in the greats.
And like, it was one of the things I want
to dive into is just what that actually looked like.
I thought it was important. Dude, we all know the cliches.
Yeah he works hard, yeah, blah blah blah, but like,
what does that actually look like? And I got so
many great anecdotes. You know, people would joke that he
has his trainer, Mike Mancias, and that they're sitting around
playing poker, and like he pops out of a trap
door with like Lebron's two eighteen salmon and kinwah. Right,
(25:51):
It's like everything is so regimented and just we haven't
mapped out hour hour. Michael Beasley told me he knows
if Lebron for years, and he's like it looks like
a bleep in NASCAR pit stop there sometimes just like
he's doing space jam line he's got massages going on,
Like literally, the amount of energy and effort that it
takes to be that great for that long is something
that separates him. So yeah, Ad, he's not wired like that.
(26:13):
It probably hurts him, But it's more that Lebron is
so like that, he's so special in that regard.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Well, it's funny in men's leagues and pick up. One
of the guys is a body double for Lebron and
a bunch of commercials okay, and he's like that guy
never eats anything without permission from his trainer, and he
gets a massage every day, every other day, and I'm like,
he wants to be the best. Now, I am curious
when you started you obviously had a perception of Lebron.
(26:43):
By the end of the book, did that perception or
view of Lebron as the goat or I don't know
where you rank him, Did any of that change, because
I mean, you talked to three hundred people about somebody. Listen,
you talked to three hundred people about me. You're probably
gonna find some guys who say some really bad stuff
about me. Now, I don't think many. I like to
think I'm a nice guy, but I mean, it's a
lot of people to interview.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Ah By inside of the fire. I guess the fire
trucks are coming as we're talking. I uh no, it
is fascinating, right, So the goat stuff, to me, it
was more the personality and the legacy stuff I was
diving into and like that I found interesting. How do
I phrase it? I left me it's not a great answer.
I left being a little more confused by him, which
(27:24):
is almost ironic because you would think it's like you
have more clarity as we dive in than something and someone.
But just I have trouble Matt wrapping my arm around
what he wants, what his goals are. His Lakers tenure
has been really strange, really really strange, just in terms
of we come in, we say we're okay not winning
a title right that year one, we're not contending, We're
(27:45):
joining the young guys, Lonzo and Brandon Ingroom and all
those guys, and then very quickly we blow that up
and say, not that's okay, that I want Anthony Davis.
We win the title, and then he's giving the Lakers
all this latitude they never gave other organizations before in
terms of not wanting being okay, not being a championship contender.
And you know, the one thing I can't get over
is the like, the Hennessy Ad has made me think
(28:06):
about this a lot, right, the recent Hennessy aad. So
the part about that that i've again the same work,
confusing and the strange, right, and this is almost answer
put a bone on the cou answer like to find
cash out, you know, make your money. I don't care whatever.
But the idea that Lebron when he comes into his
Lakers tenure, one of the things he's most known for
is ushering in this era of player empowerment and I'm
(28:27):
the boss, and you run things, and and that not
just on the court, Like we run our own businesses,
me and Mike Maverick Carter Rich, like we have our
own agency, our own businesses. If we have an endorsement,
we're taking points on there, right, Like different all that
is dipping our toes in political orders at times, right, Yeah,
especially around twenty twenty. I dove into a lot of that.
And now we're the Hennessy Ad. And what we're doing
is we're leveraging our ability to capture attention in the
(28:51):
zeitgeist for the purpose of helping a brand. We have
nothing to do, nothing to do with sell some alcohol. Right,
So again, like I'm don't care. But it's a strange
journey and honestly one that usually we see the other way.
Usually you see like kind of like those decisions early
in life and careers and later on people aside. You
know what, I want to start going, Uh, I want
to make my own thing. I want to be more serious.
(29:12):
I want to talk about politics. I want to build
whatever it is. Right, And it almost seems like we're backwalking.
So they answer your question, I'm just like, yeah, he
confuses me. He confuses me.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
But let me let me ask you. Maybe I missed
something on the Hennessy ed. Is it his brand of
like is he an?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
I don't think as far as I know, no, maybe
I'm wrong right, As far as I know, no, as
far as I know, it's no different than like the
DraftKings commercials. Maybe I might be wrong, right.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Obviously he's paid handsomely by him correct, correct, but how
handsomely we don't know. But yeah, if he has like
an equity, if hey, we'll give you an equity stake,
do a big blowout, you know, Like I don't.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Know right that that could be for sure, that could be.
I feel like if that was the case, we might
have learned about that. But maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Possible.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it's it's funny because it's it's
a weird, like it's hard to explain to people, like
where it's a weird line to draw. We're like, no,
the DraftKings ad So again, I find a little weird.
I don't care. I find a little weird to just
be chilling like that if you're him.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Okay, so I'm gonna peel back the curtain now. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Please.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
I haven't revealed a lot of this, but you know,
I started at Fox twenty sixteen, and then in twenty
I think it was twenty seventeen. They came to me
and they're like, hey, we've got a partner. I'm not
going to say the company. Would you be willing to
fly to New York host this thing?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
You know?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Uh, and then we'll fly you back first class all
that and we'll give you X amount of money. And
I was like, you're giving me that much money to
do that? Of course I'll do it. At a heartbeat,
aren't you kidding me? Like, oh, I tell the wife
were celebrating and it's not even that much. It's not
even that much money, but it was like the fact
that I would be willing to do it for that
little amount of money, like you know, a big time
(30:47):
person probably would not. But I mean, I'm assuming Lebron
got a lot of money, and what did it take
for him to do a Hennessy ad You're on like
maybe a day.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
This is where I so I don't disagree it. That's
why I was saying, I kind of all at my line,
my weird line, but to me it makes sense. Is
the teaser tweet? Right, And I know it sounds crazy.
It's like again you're leveraging your fame and your image
and you're and you're making fun of the decision beforehand
in a way like that to me is like where
(31:17):
it's different. Well then it's no longer. Yeah, sure, I'll
set a couch for a I'll set a couch and like,
or I'll shoot I'll shoot commercials with Kevin hard for
four hours and get you know, seven figures on that.
And again, I know it's a weird line and some
people don't agree, but to me, it's just it's just
different and it's fine. I just again, like I feel
like that tweet ten years ago would have been for
(31:37):
the launch of Uninterrupted that he owns, or the launch
of Clutch Sports, which which is doing, or like something
like that, or I prop the I promised school or
I don't know, calling down Trump a bum I don't know, right,
something like that, like like just different and it's not
and maybe it could be like just older and like
cool whatever.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
You just mentioned it getting older. As you're explaining that,
I'm like, what if Lebron realized, Hey guys, this is
the last time I could get one of these paydays,
could be for for Hennessy, like you know, when I'm
retired for three four years from now, I'm not doing this.
If I'm the owner of like the Las Vegas NBA team,
I'm not doing this crap. Let me just take it,
you know, pay for this that and the I mean,
I don't know, I sound very defensive of Lebron.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
No, it's it's it's I find it an interesting conversation,
I really do.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
How did anything get left on the cutting room floor
that you really wanted in any anecdotes that the book
was like, we're going to have to pull that.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
No, so I'll give you an answer. So anything that
I've like, I'm pretty big on. If I haven't verified,
and it's there, like and I think it's good, it's
going in right, and if like otherwise not the thing
I try to hone in on and I couldn't quite
get there. I wrote a lot about Rich Paul. I
find them interesting, really interesting, and clutch sports is a
big part of this.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Now he is he the one dating Adele?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
That is correct? Yeah, okay, it's a hell of a rise.
So Rich Paul started his UH and his first job
in the industry was at CIA for Leon Rose now
the president of Nicks and world famous world Wide West
now the Knix. I don't know whatever executive I whatever's
title is, but he's the famous world NBA power broker.
And they had some falling out at some point, the
CIA people and Rich Paul. And this is documenting, like
(33:12):
there's stories about this and well told and the New
York Post has writen about this because it's impacted mixed
free agency stuff and it's a lot of he said,
he said, And I tried to nail down and really
get like, okay, what actually happened here? And and the end,
I just couldn't get it there where I basically just
took like two thousand words exit out and basically YadA YadA.
It over five years, right, I just like didn't feel
(33:34):
comfortable about it. So that's I know, it's like, that's
the best answer I can give us something where like
I felt like I was almost there and something that
would have been really interesting and a really revealing look
into the universe that sort of surrounds the NBA, right
this ecosystem, and just like one person would tell me
something that call the other person that doesn't check out
even though it's about them, and it just became a disaster.
I just had to care rid of it.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
So I'm looking at the Lakers history with Lebron Yeah, okay,
we'll skip over the Lonzo stuff because they were refixing
the rosters. So then they go to the Bubble, win
the title or they beat the heat. Okay, the next year,
if memory serves, they were like a top three seed.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Yeah, so I can't yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
On one, and then Anthony Davis gets hurt.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Right, yep, and Lebron I believe that Series two.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
And they lose. They were up to one and I
think they were leading in game in Game four. I'm
not one hundred percent on that final thing. So then
Ad hurt, Lebron hurt. So the next year they don't
make the playoffs. That was the year Lebron was hurt.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Right, That was all they trade for us. So this
is almi solid. This is they trade for Russell Westbrook
after that year. And to me, this is this is
a huge mistake. This is a huge moment, and I
don't think it's enough. Uh, people don't look at in
the proper way, right, so everyone focuses on the bubble
and that, And I think the real the season that
was truly impacted by COVID was the year after the bubble, Right,
(35:04):
That was the season that was bananas, right, That was
guys are in and out. Some of arenas have fans
somes don't you know if you're exposed about two weeks,
So just the whole thing was crazy. That was the
year Giannis One probably had COVID, right, we all think,
but he won any they won the title, and the
Lakers had seventy one days between the end of that's
title before the start of the next season. And they
(35:25):
come out great. They come out great. They start that
that's year they have Marcus soul and then it shoot,
they start things go where they start out really strong
and they just fall apart. I should say fall apart.
It doesn't. They don't finish strongly. Guys get hurt and
for and I they react very strongly. The Lakers and
Lebron right, both sides wanted to add somebody. They react,
they have they react to that loss, where in hindsight,
(35:47):
it should have just been you know what, this was
some crazy shit like this was. These were the crazy
eighteen months we got out of bubble. We got hurt, Like,
let's just reset, let's run it back, Let's not do
anything rash and see what happens. Let's keep Gruso called
the Pope. We're gonna keep go Alow. Lebron in ad
we don't need to make any rash decisions. And Lebron
and Rob Polinka's front office, both independently and together, decided, no,
(36:08):
we need to add a star, we need more help,
and they overreact to that loss. And I think that's
if we're talking about like Lebron's tenure, I think that's
the mistake that gets overlooked, like that offseason.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
That Okay, so they missed the playoffs. I looked it up.
Lebron played fifty six of eighty two.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Right, it's Westbrook's first year there, right, which was disaster.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Eighty played forty, so eighty missed half the season. Westbrook
played seventy eight. They had Carmelo Anthony at.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
The Yeah, they put together it's awful. Rod. This hilarious
roster of like you know, guys Dwight Howard, Jean Rondo.
I think this I have in the book. There's like
Rob Polinka in the first meeting of training, kid walks
in and goes, there's more collective Hall of Fame talent
than any room. Emverer and I guess he might have technically,
like there's a bunch of Hall of famers there. He's
probably technically a monk.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
But yeah, so they missed the playoffs and then next
year they get to the conference finals. Now there was
some luck involved, No, No, they beat the Warriors. They
had Warriors at Curry. Yeah, so they get to the
conference finals. They lose to the Nuggets. That was like,
weren't the first three games kind of close? And then
Denver just pulled him out?
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Yeah, Denver was better. Like that was a uh you know.
That was the first time, probably second time. It was
like the Delva Doova Finals year where Lebron against the
the Durant Curry Warriors and this group where it was
like they were almost like the plucky underdogs. It was
just but yeah, they were overmatched.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
It hurt was twenty three twenty four because I think
that was a series Jamal Murray hit two game winners, right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
so they were they were not that far behind the Nuggets.
I mean they were close. Would you would you not
agree they were close?
Speaker 3 (37:37):
They were closed? Yeah, I think they were overmatched, but
they did. Yeah. I mean listen, they were by by
literally by the score. They were close right now, Like
I think typic Man at ESPN that always makes the
joke about like hang the banner for the sweep, like
close to sweep in history, right, which I think is
a good joke.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Yeah, we had them on the podcast, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Yeah, which I respect. But they were close, but they weren't.
It wasn't it. I think most people if they had.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
But it was close. It wasn't like the gap was massive.
This wasn't like the Lakers with Phil Jackson getting swept
off the floor by the yellow ender back in the core.
It wasn't like that. And then last year, I think
Luca Reeves and Lebron played like twenty games together.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Maybe yeah, then the roster was up ended. It was
a trade that it was a trade that would make
them more. Like they knew it, I mean, I don't.
I assume they like it. Probably you up endo the
roster in the middle of the year for a move
you have to do, right, Like it's a no brainer obviously,
But if i'd be if you're asking them, like, you know,
if you don't win a title this year, you guys
are all killed, what are you making the trade or not?
They might maybe they say no, right, I don't know
if just for that one year, I'm making this up,
(38:38):
like in terms of do you have more were they
more likely to win a title before the trade by
keeping some continuity, right, I don't know, but for that
just last year, But obviously it's a great trade, you know.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
So and then that brings us to this year. And
I mean again this is more guessing than anything, but
based on three years of reporting being around you know,
the Lakers and Lebron and people around him and who
know him, are you of the belief he finishes the
season with the Lakers or do you think he tries
to force his way out because he's never been traded technically,
(39:07):
I mean sign and trade. You know that he wanted,
but it's tough for me to envision the Lakers moving
off him. It's also tough for me to envision Lebron
going to the Lakers and saying, can you please trade me?
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Yeah, I don't think he's good. I don't think he'll
be traded also just for those reasons and also for
like the sentimental reasons, and it's the you know, political reasons,
but also he's got a he's got a huge stalary
and just salary cap reasons. It's really hard and nobody
you know, who's the team would be the Calves, right,
that's the team. And they're not trading, like, they're not
giving up Jared Allen and you know Garland or Garland
(39:38):
for Lebron, and you need those contracts to match that.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
I don't even know if I'd want them for Lebron,
because then you're left in with them for years.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Yeah, I mean, but he there so yeah. I mean, listen,
if if the Calves came and offered Jared Allen and
Garland for Lebron, the Rob Polink could be like, I
got another one of these steals. Oh my god, please wait,
you you really think so? Yeah? I think so. I
think so.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
Hold on, let me let me let that marinate. So
you'd have Luca, Reeves, Garland eight and.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
You'd have to make some something, you have to make
some separate stuff.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Alan, Alan, I just think the only problem is that
locks in pretty much your roster with Luca for like
the next three years.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
So that's interesting, Okay, that's and that brings us to
the so asking what happens. I think we're at a
fascinating point. And I don't think he knows, right, I really,
I could be wrong. No one's told me this. I
don't think he knows.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
I would agree.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Yeah, what he wants, how he wants this to play out.
And I think he's adjusting too, for the first time
in his life in twenty five years professional life, certainly
not being in control right He's a expiring contract literally
has never happened before in the NBA and for him
in his NBA career. I listen, I don't know that
he wanted to get an option picked up on the Lakers.
(40:52):
I can assume he would, because why would you want
an expiring contract. Rob Polinka was asked on media Day
about Lebron's future and said, we love then to finish
his story here, which is a beautiful answer that also
doesn't answer the question, right, Like does that mean I
joke that, like, we love the Lebron to finish his
story here parentheses and that better be after this year, right,
Like that's kind of how it seems. So I don't
(41:16):
And he's also in the past, he's been big on
since the Miami days, I don't take pay cuts anymore.
He's got to balance a lot of things here, and
I think he's trying to figure that out. And there's
also le BRONI aspect you all forget, like this is
Bronni's last guaranteed year with the Lakers, So I yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Oh, so the Lakers could move off both of them?
Yeah right, wow, let me ask you this, So let's
just spin it out. Let's just hypothetical Lakers win the championship,
blah blah blah. Lebron's now a free agent. You win
the title with Lebron, do you say, hey, thank you
for your service, Pal, you were amazing. We'll catch you
on the flip side, or do you think like they say, hey, Lebron,
(41:51):
I'm not asking you to play for the minimum? Can
you play for twenty five? When he said a hell no.
And then but then the question is who's gonna pay
him fifty mil for a guy who's going to be
forty two in December twenty six.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
So this is the thing, right, the money part, it's
part of this is for him to decide what he's
willing to do contract wise, like if he was going
to take a you know, not minimum, mid level whatever,
mid level okay for sure, not me in a mid
level and the Calves like they would take him a
second it would be a great fit, right, and it
would be it would be he'd fit in. And the
part about Lebron that I thought want to make clear
because sometimes we talk about him an ending like he's
(42:25):
still awesome and even last year he was second team
All NBA. So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's not like
a top five guy anymore, which got whatever. He is
still an awesome, awesome player right at the minimum in
All Star Like, what's gonna be a bad year if
he has a bad year for him twenty five and
five with a fish and shooting and great passing twenty
five games like, that's like, that's fantastic. So there's that part.
(42:47):
The part about the Lakers, which is sort of it's
a question hanging over all this is they're also in
the middle of an ownership change, and yeah, it's going
to impact and I don't I don't Honestly, I don't
know much about the new owners. I know them as
like the Dodgers owners. I don't know how they operate.
I don't know. Yeah, that'd be a decision that would
be up to them at some point, right, if the
ownership change happens, Like what do we do we want? Oh,
(43:07):
do we want the first major move we're doing to
say bye bye the Lebron Maybe they don't care. I
don't know, right, And that's an interesting aspect to all this. Yeah,
I'm again it's an answer. I don't know because but
I said I don't know because I know so many
of the figures here and I have so much insight
into them, and I'm just fascinated to see we have
like all these all these things meeting it ahead that
(43:30):
don't always drive together. And something's gonna have to break,
and I don't know what it's gonna be.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
All Right, He is Iron Whitzman, the Hollywood ending the
dreams and drama of Lebron's Lakers. Hey man, congrats on
the book three years. That's amazing. It just came out
this week, get out Amazon, Kindle. I'm an audiobook guy. Yeah,
I mean it's better driving out here in La. I'm
just coming home from work, driving to work, you know,
(43:54):
forty five minutes and I listen to books. So it's awesome. Man.
I'm happy for your success and uh, congratulations.
Speaker 3 (44:00):
I appreciate it a lot. Thank you so much
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up Straight Fire, Fam, It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Fayer for Thursday, October twenty third, and we have
a phenomenal interview. Today. I spoke to Uron Whitzman, former
Fox Sports NBA writer. He writes about the NBA for
a lot of places. He wrote this big time book
(00:32):
on Lebron. His book is the one that generated all
that Russell Westbrook buzz about the Will Smith story. It's
great stuff. You're gonna love our chat. Well, we spoke
for a long time early on Wednesday, and then you know,
I went to my daughter's middle school volleyball game. They're undefeated.
I drove my kid to a chess match, and then
(00:54):
it settled in to watch Victor Webbin Yama. And I
think I told you guys yesterday I was going to
bet on the Spurs plus two and a half. First
of all, that was easy money. They won by thirty
or whatever the score was. But a lot of stuff
happened in the NBA last night. And we're not gonna
I'm not gonna do NBA every night. It's the first week,
so just let me cook, Okay, The Knicks and Cavs
(01:16):
played an interesting game, a lot of injuries and you know,
Nicks come out on top. It was it was fun.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
The Orlando Magic looked pretty good. Charlotte Hornets, oh my gosh,
they are dynamic, LaMelo ball blah blah blah. But uh
oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
VJ.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Edgecombe, who I think I mentioned on this preview pod
about how good he is for the Sixers, had thirty
four in his debut. He was phenomenal. Sixers win at Boston.
I think I told you, guys, watch out for the Sixers.
But everything Cooper Flag's debut, it was whatever. You know.
Cooper Flag's debut for the for the Mans was fine.
Ten points, ten rebounds, first starting point guard have zero sists.
(01:51):
Not great. He was a minus twenty nine and thirty
two minutes. But again, it doesn't really matter. As a
matter of fact, nothing matters, guys, because what Victor went
ben Yama did last night for the San Antonio Spurs
felt like a seminal moment in the NBA. And this
is not hyperbole. If you're just waking up and you
haven't seen the highlights, Holy hell, Victor Weemnyama is different
(02:14):
as the kids like to say, Okay, so it's starting
to make sense why Victor Wemnyama last year only he
shot a ton of threes. He would hang on on
the perimeter and it didn't make sense. They're like, oh,
he's soft, he's a typical Euro blah blah blah. So
last night against the MAVs, he scored forty points on
twenty one shots. He shot two three pointers. That's it.
(02:37):
He was one of two from three, and it was
pretty phenomenal. One as he got fouled on the play
was crossing up. Derek Lively went behind his back. It
was filthy. It's like, what the hell. And Victor Wemanyama
shot eleven free throws. So everything he did last year
and you thought, oh he's soft, he's a year he
wants to hang on a printer. Uh. He was smart
about it. He wasn't ready to go bang inside last
(02:59):
night after hanging out with the Shaolin Monks this offseason. Okay,
Victor Wembanyama is built for the moment, folks. I've never
seen anything like it. And it was forty points, fifteen rebounds,
three blocks. At times it looked like you know, your
sixth grade kid or your six year old son has
(03:21):
a birthday party, right, and your six year old son
and all his friends are playing basketball, and the dad
goes out there and he's just swatting shots like it's
a comedy act and just dunking on kids at times.
That's what wee ben Yama looked like. But here's the thing.
He was doing that against Anthony Davis, one of the
better defenders in the league, an All NBA player. He
(03:42):
made Anthony Davis look tiny and folks, again, it's one
game you don't want the hyperbolee. But I put this
on social media last night. All I want for Christmas
is Victor Wee bann Yama to have a healthy career
because what I saw last night that's unstoppable. And on
the heels of watching show Heyo Tani with the Dodgers
do some transcendent stuff again Otani, and we didn't talk
(04:05):
about this enough last week ten strikeouts pitching and hit
three homers at the plate, and I saw all these
goofy Instagram videos by like you know, content creators about
oh time traveling to talk to Babe Ruth about this
guy show Heyo Tani. It is somewhat funny, but then
you have to just step back and be like, Holy cow,
(04:27):
the stuff Otani's doing is that hasn't been done in
like seventy years, eighty years now. I don't even know
Babe Ruth in the twenties, and he's doing it way
better than Ruth. What I saw last night from one
Mian Yama, and I'm not kidding, looked to me like
some transcendent basketball talent. He looked like he's redefining the
(04:51):
sport of basketball. And what's possible. I mean, Otani is
potentially gonna usher in an entire new era of basketball
of baseball players. So Tony's gonna usher in a new
era of baseball players that basically think, why can't I
pitch and bat? Why not just because nobody did it
for for the longest time? Oh TONI did it, Why
(05:12):
can't I try it? And I believe Wembin Yama is
going to potentially I mean, he's Yannis with a three
point shot, and oh, by the way, he's like five
inches taller and Giannis is pretty dominant. Okay, what we
saw from women Yama last night was just unbelievable stuff.
(05:34):
I mean, his leap from year two to year three
just all I want is him to be healthy. That's it.
I mean a lot of people think Jordan's a goat.
I'm on record as Lebron I'm not ready to say
wen Ben Yama is going to be the goat, but
the potential for him to be the greatest basketball player
in the history of the sport is without question there.
Like Cooper Flag's awesome. I think Cooper Flag can be
(05:55):
an All NBA player. I think Cooper Flag could be
an MVP. Nobody can be the has the potential to
be what Victor Webbinyama can be Nobody just because of
his size. I mean he's getting the ball in like
the the middle of the lane is just going up
and dunking it. And again, the MAVs have seven foot
of Derek Lively who's a shot blocking machine, and Anthony Davis.
(06:18):
They have some of the best interior defense in the NBA.
And Wemby abused them, folks, he was fifteen of twenty one.
Like if you look at his shot chart, you go
to like the ESPN box Score and you go look
at the shot chart, you could see where all of
webmbin Yama shots are and you're like, oh, so last
year it was a lot of spraying from around the perimeter,
(06:39):
and at the time, you know, people were ribbing him.
Oh he's soft, he doesn't want to smoke inside, he
can't handle it. Blah blah blah. Folks, It's it makes
sense now. He was not ready, he was not strong enough.
He would have gotten seriously injured. I'm looking at his
shot chart. He hit that one three that ended up
being a four point play, and a lot of the
rest of his shots are in the lane. He did
(07:01):
hit one outside the paint, two three outside the paint,
everything else at least one foot in the lane. So
Wembin Yama is basically saying I'm strong enough, I'm ready
to do what Yannis is doing. And late in the game,
I watched the Spurs start to double team him, and
that's just good luck with that. I mean, he brings
the ball above his head. He's he's like at that
(07:23):
nine foot mark. But practically, you know, I mean, it's like, nobody,
you're not stealing, you can't double Wembin Yama. He's gonna
easily make the right pass. And it's like, that's kind
of scary. Now, I don't want to get up make
any quantum leaps about the Spurs winning the title this year,
although not gonna lie, nothing's off the table. Okay, what
I saw last night is, you know, it was kind
(07:45):
of trippy. If you had done mushrooms, been in a
we'd been in a como for three years, done mushrooms
and you just came woke up, that sounds kind of
somewhat far fetched, and you were just watching this, you'd
be like, who is this alien on the basketball court?
What is happening right now? I mean, guys, I'm I'm
just telling you. Even if you don't like the NBA,
(08:06):
I don't, I don't really care. You know, watching Wembin
Yama is that's that's an out of body experience, like,
oh my gosh, I've never seen anything like it. And
again a lot of people think the Mads are gonna
be good. PJ. Washington's a good wing defender. They started
him on Wemby, it was like, that's not go bar.
Then they put Ad on him. Yeah, he's taken Ad off.
(08:27):
The dribble from the three point line, not happening. Derek
Lively crossed him up behind the back, three splash and
the foul. Again. I'm in awe of what I just saw.
And I've never really been a Spurs fan. Honestly, I
thought the Spurs were boring. Obviously I completely respect Parker Ginobili,
Duncan Robbinson, all those guys, tremendous talents. Just never was
(08:51):
a Spurs fan. And there's a guy online on ig
who I've been talking to for a few years. He's
a He's a big Spurs fan. He follows and cox
it closely, and you know he's like, come come to
the dark side, Spurs, not Anna lie. I want to
see the Spurs on TV every week. I want to
see Wemban Yelma. I have peacock, so you know I'm
gonna be locked in. Guys, I got buddies with season
(09:12):
tickets to the Lakers. I'm just gonna ask them, can
you circle this Wemby dates? And can I get to
the front of the line, Like I need to see
this guy in person. I mean, I'm just blown away
by what he was able to do. Now, it is
just one game. You don'tant to overreact, but it's hard
not It's not like he's a rookie. This is year three,
and the thing is he looks totally different. He's not
(09:35):
this wiry, sheepish guy. He's confident, he's swagged out. He's like,
I got next that hell I got now, I don't,
I don't. I'm so fascinated to see how teams are
going to defend him. So up next, where's their schedule?
Up next? They are at Zion on Friday night, and
(09:57):
then there are against Brooklyn. Oh, shoot, there here against
the Lakers on November fifth. Let's just check the old calendar.
See what I got on November fifth. Oh, I'm gonna
go ahead and get that on the calendars. Try to
try to beat the wife to it so I can
get a hall pass and go to hopefully see Wembin
Yama against Luka Danciic. We don't expect Lebron back by then. Honestly,
(10:22):
I don't have any money Thursday night football real quick
before year on Watsman. I have zero dollars on this
game as of now. Frankly, the NBA kind of threw
me off, so I haven't looked at the line. Let
me call it up right now, I think I saw
Chargers three. We pretty much know what the deal is here, right.
The Chargers offensive line continues to crumble Minnesota wants to
(10:45):
bring pressure. The Chargers just got cooked by Daniel Jones
and Jonathan Taylor's run game. Jordan Mason, is he gonna
go wild? Total forty four and a half. I would
look to the under. We have seen dog doing fairly
well on Monday Night football, Carson Wentz against Jesse Minter.
(11:06):
I mean, then again, I hype Jesse Winter's defense and
that quarters look last week, and Daniel Jones had no
problem with it, mostly because Jonathan Taylor is just opening
massive holes. The Vikings run game is not as formidable.
I'll go the under. I'll go seventeen thirteen Chargers. Given
recent Thursday night games, it seems like it's going to
(11:27):
be more high scoring than that. But you got a
great coach in Harball. You have a really good offensive
mind in Kevin O'Connell. It's too bad JJ McCarthy isn't playing.
That's Harbo's old guy. I mean, I'll go under forty
four and a half. No significant play for me, It's
not a contest play. These lines this week are wacky
and there's so much happening. Unfortunately, you know, Victor Webber
(11:48):
Yaba just stole the show. I mean, i haven't even
talked about this. Lamar Jackson kind of sort of returned
to practice, but it didn't look like he was gonna play.
I don't know what to do with a lot of
these games because the lines are huge. Survivor is hellish.
So I'm gonna let this stuff marinate and then we'll
come back Friday with picks and all that fun stuff.
(12:08):
Up For now, I want you to enjoy a very,
very fun interview I had with your own Weitzman, NBA
writer who wrote the book a Hollywood Ending the Dreams
and Drama of the lebron Lakers.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. You know, Jason likes to think he knows
everything when it comes to sports.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I know what sports fans want, but for.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Everything he doesn't, he knows the guy who does.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows the
guy who knows another guy.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
All right, let's welcome back to straight fire Boy. This guy,
he's all over the news. You write a big time book,
you get all these great story reason anecdotes Iran Weitzman,
author writer. He's written for Fox Sports. The book is
called a Hollywood Ending The Dreams and Drama of the
Lebron Lakers. By the way, Uron, obviously, welcome back to
(13:13):
the pod. I'm just curious, are you getting just are
Lakers fans coming after you? Does it feel like you're
under attack?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Hasn't been so, I'm not looking we are phrased. I
scan the mentions. I'm very vain. I'm not cover tend
like I don't look at the mansions. I obviously do
anyone who says that they're lying, right, Okay, it's a
lot of these, some of the like the aggregating accounts
that pick it up like you can't really look at all.
Then it's this a lot that's going on there. I
haven't seen. I've got a few. I got a few.
I got a few dms.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yeah, if I ever come at Lebron again, I'll weep
you up. Someone you know, nonsense. I posted some someone
said it's always the jew reporters who are doing that.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I like that one.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Oh gosh, they got that. That's iggressive.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
They were like, you're on to me, Yes, that's it.
So honestly, I haven't been Yeah, I don't know. It's
been a little weird, but I haven't been too bad.
I don't think we see.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So I loved I love this topic. You know, I
had it several book ideas I got close to and
then I'm like, this is a lot of work. I
don't I got to ask how long did this take?
And I guess, b did you try for any cooperation
with Lebron? And what was that?
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Like?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Yeah, so it took it basically three years basically the
whole process start to finish. Right, Oh my goodness. Yeah,
pretty wild. I mean I spoke to like, I mean,
I can go into it for a little bit, but
I viewed like nearly three hundred people the way I
read everything like literally basically any like news article, feature
from the past whatever, ten fifteen years like all nowadays
(14:39):
it's it's a gold mine, but adds a lot of work.
There's so many podcasts and so many player podcasts, and
like again, it's overwhelming this. You can find gold in there,
especially if you like, you know what you're looking for
and you kind of quotes that don't stand out, but
if you have another anecdote, you kind of connect them,
so but just go through all that. It was a
lot Lebron. Yeah, Lebron, I mean I always want particip
(15:00):
I knew he wouldn't not because then, like Lebron deservedly
so has decided like he doesn't really do long form
introduce it downs anymore unless it's for his own Why
would he give his story to me if he can
make it a Netflix documentary? And I begrudge I do
not begrudge him at this at all. Like I thought,
maybe when we get the fact shacking at the end,
maybe they'd want to engage it in. But again he's
reached that point man, like God bless you, he doesn't.
(15:22):
So I tried, but he they weren't interested.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
What about like a Maverick Carter people in his orbit,
Rich Paul, did they? I mean, I'm assuming you tried
to talk to them face to face via text email?
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Yeah you do? You know, no, I engage nobody. Nobody
in his orbit wanted to have on the record conversation.
Some you have people, some people you do stuff with.
You know, and I'm not saying specific, but some people
you talk to on background or off the records, they
can help with notes. Nobody wants to do on the record. Again,
also in the NBA world today, just very few people
like you get. You'll get like people who refuse to
(15:55):
put their name. It's become accepted to not put your
name on something, even if it's irrelevant, like it just
you can't keep names on it, like the bar, and
it's hard to fight against that. So just to go
with that sometimes.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Well, I guess at that point it's like, I don't
even want people knowing I talked to this guy. Correct
then it's out there and then it's like, oh, maybe
he's the leak for that story and you kind of
get shafted. So I totally get that. So that's makes
it an uphill climb. However, you're able to score some
major antidotes. You're all over the Daily Mail. I mean,
you had, like probably the definitive NBA storyline before the
(16:26):
season is Russell Westbrook thing. Now, I do want to
ask you. I'll be upfront. I am a lebron guy.
I do think he's the goat. I think he certainly
passed Jordan with the title over the where he went
to the Lakers. I've been over this a lot. That
being said, well, i'll call him out when he's wrong,
I do need to ask in this Russell Westbrook encounter
with the will Smith situation. So the one nugget that
(16:49):
I found fascinating was Darvinham left to go bring back
Lebron and ad okay, And I don't know if we're
we know what Darvin Ham said. Maybe he said nothing,
but yeah, yeah, is there a world where maybe Darvin said, Hey, guys,
I can't believe you walked out? Can you act? Can
you get in there? I don't give a crap if
you don't hear like Will Smith, act like you're engaged.
(17:10):
Ask questions and Darbendham says that, and then Lebron goes in,
and that leads to the questions, is there a world
where that happened or not? It's not even possible.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
No, for sure, I genuinely do not know what was.
Like I've joked a few people, I don't know what
Darbenham said. And like I saw someone again talk about
checking the mention someone was making fun of like Darbendham leadership.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I was like, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
That seemed like the opposite. Yeah, he was able to
get them back in the room, Like god, well that's
pretty impressive. So I don't know what he said what
he said the part like not you people miss out.
I'm sure like the main subjects are going to misinterpret
it like this that part and the that Stuff' written
the book well for two reasons, right. One it's to
show what Westbrook felt about Lebron, which is really important, right,
(17:49):
It's really important. It's not me saying as the phoney
and I, by the way, I agree with you. Like
the part that I've found so interesting is again look
at like the response and I've all these mentions go
again him team Russ, team Russ, Bronzo phony. Fine. We
talked about that a second. The idea that the Westbrook
experience in LA went poorly, The notion that that went
poorly because Lebron might be fake sometimes is so detached
(18:13):
from reality is insane. It was Westbrook, right, and it's
just kind of telling the show how people feel about
Lebron and specifically in LA that people would latch onto that.
But it was all Westbrook and Lebron being a phony
or not. It's irrelevant to how to how the Westbrook
experience played out. That said, like writing about Lebron, Lebron's
a really important seminal, not just figure in American sports
(18:36):
or American culture, right, And I felt like having even
if I didn't get the Westbrook anecdote, right, even if
I didn't get the will Smith one, I think it
would have been important to put the parts about sort
of the movie quotes and the books and whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Like.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
I think that that's part of his personality. If we're
talking about Lebron as a person, that stuff needs to
be included. But it doesn't. But I'm with you, Yeah,
I'm with you on this.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
So I'm looking at Russell Westbrook. He's been on six
teams in seven years. Yeah, right, exact, and suddenly this
is about Lebron. And I'm not criticizing you were it's
the narrative around, like the story because oh you're right, yeah,
team Russ. Actually, I don't know, Guys, he's been on
a different team every year practically for seven years. Like
that's maybe it's it's like when everybody, Man, I can't
(19:19):
believe everybody hates me. Why are all these people being
mean to me? Hey man, maybe you're the asshole. Maybe
it's about you, you know, Like, I don't know. I'm
not bashing Russ. I know people love to pile on him.
I don't know, to talk to me a little bit
about the process, like being around the Lakers that often.
I'm assuming you maybe went on the road with them sometimes,
I don't know, Like what was it like being in
(19:41):
the Lakers orbit? You know this is basically, you know,
the Dodgers and Yankees rolled into one, so I did.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
It was so it's funer, it's funny as all. I'll
get to that a second. I did spend time with
them early on. I live in New York, and I
actually I'll answer that, like, I think that I think
that was helpful in a way. I think being an
outside sometimes allows you to write about things and subjects
and teams from a different perspective and like and not
that I want to burn bridges, but I'm also not
(20:07):
like I don't get credentials in the Lakers, Like that's
not my home NBA city. I don't need that for
my day to day job. And I'm not getting Lebron
interviews vaguely, so again, like it doesn't mean I'm trying
to like I'm saying bleep them like I don't care,
but just means I don't have to manage relationships, and
I don't bet grudge of people will do like if
you're a beat writer, that's that's an essential part of
the job, and that's that your job is different when
you parachute in and I have a different job and
(20:28):
the ability to look at things from an outsider. So
then I would start being around the Lakers a little
more at the beginning, but early on it was clear
that they weren't thrilled at me being around, which was fine.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And wait, wait, is that the players or the team
or the own the team?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
The team players didn't care the ownership. The ownership ends.
And there's a member of the pr staff wasn't so
great to me, which is whatever, okay.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Cool, well, hold on, hold on, define not so great?
Speaker 3 (20:52):
You would like I would go up to a player.
They would tell players she specifical whatever they excuse me, sorry,
would tell what tell people players don't talk, don't talk
to him. Even though even if that wasn't I don't
even think sometimes I was coming down from the organization, right,
I think that was sometimes just going rogue. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Wait, I just was in front of the players and.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Like after whatever, like you know, when I'm not there, right,
like if you know, or'll say yeah and just whatever.
So all that combined with the notion that when I
started this, like a lot of these players were younger.
I realized, my brother's with me, butter not necessarily being
around the team regularly. Now it's good to check in,
but like you know who's on the teams. Gabe Vincent,
(21:31):
he knows Lebron, He's not him and Lebron not best friends, right,
These guys who are barely there, Jared Vanderbilt, like these
are guys. I didn't need to get these guys to
get these this Lebron perspective. What I will say is
being around though, Like I went to a game on
the road of Miami and I'm there and it's get
like an example, so the media Lebron made, wait, don't
do his media. I don't remember it, but basically someone's talking.
Let's say it's Austin Reeves and he goes in a
(21:53):
Separd room at the locker room. All the Beat reporters
have to go there because they have the job, and
I'm hanging back and it's basically Anthony Davis, Lebron, Vanderbilt,
and a couple of staffers and I'm just there, just
like you know, you never know what happens. And this
is the prologue in the book, but Lebron. They start
talking about contracts and Lebron's asked, you know which contract
meant the most to you when you literally put pen
to paper, And it evolves into this conversation about like
(22:14):
Anthony David saying, Lebron, what do you think you would
be worth? You should get paid if you weren't, there's
no salary cap, and then having this conversation about it.
It's like being around that and I'm just I'm just
like a fly on the wall. I'm not saying anything.
I'm just listening and like taking notes and it's just
fascinating here. And Lebron's answer is four years, five hundred million.
He's talking about how much value he brings to the organization,
(22:34):
to teams and cities and how he always wins a
championship after two years, and it was such a revealing glimpse.
And honestly, I looking back, I remember being like, I
think he under it. I would have thought he would
say a billion, right. I was a little surprised, like
four for five hundred, it's kind of low. Shay Gildris's
alm was there right like, so, so I could have
gotten higher, but it was just around the team. So
some moments like that, it's good to be around the team.
(22:55):
But I realized I was gonna I was going to
get most of my value talking to former people or
other people or secondary characters.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
You know. In talking about Lebron's with the Lakers, I
feel like, obviously, listen, he's gonna get a lot of
the criticism and he's gonna get a lot of the props.
They win the title. Hey, Lebron built his team. They
don't get anywhere. Well, Lebron wasn't great. He got hurt.
You know, it's weird. Anthony Davis was a seminal figure
in the Lebron in the Lebron era. I'm just curious,
how do you think what's his legacy? Like, couldn't get
(23:25):
out of the second round in New Orleans, goes to
the Lakers, awesome, wins the championship. I don't know, is
he gonna get out of the second round ever again
anywhere else? Like, I mean, on some level, when do
we have to applaud Lebron for that?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
You know who he reminded. It's funny. He actually kind
of reminds me. It's like a it's paw gasol ish
kind of similar. Not just Lakers, but just like ultimate
number two. Right, I'm over simplifying it, but number two, yeah, right,
and just fits that role and maybe not number one
for different for and sometimes that's not just about skills,
that's also about disposition. Like you know, in the book,
I dive into Anthony Davis a lot and talk to
(23:57):
high school coaches and people grew up with him, and
he just wasn't in alpha like that, which is not
an honestly, probably makes you a better like person I'd
rather be friends with, right, But in terms of being
on the court, it just he wasn't built that way.
And that's fine and even and Lebron. I mean, that's
one of my favorite random stories in the book is
after the trade, Anthony Davis comes and he's coming in
(24:17):
like that first off season there and he's coming in
let's say it's nine thirty or something every day and
he's getting there the first week and Lebron's always done.
He Anthony Davis goes to Lebron, I thought you said,
if I come here, we're gonna work out together. And
Lebron goes, yeah, but you have to do that. You have
to get here, you have to get here earlier than
this to do that. And like it was such a
telling little moment from both sides, right, and Lebron really
took upon himself to be a leader of Anthony Davis
(24:38):
and kind of bring him along to a level where
they could win a title. So for sure, Yeah, it's
funny you say that.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
So I talk about my men's leagues, various basketball leagues,
and we have a guy on our team who played
quarterback at Notre Dame. And then you know, he tells
me he works out at like five thirty in the morning.
I'm like, oh, I'm in. I'm in totally. And then
I go to a five point thirty workout. I'm like,
oh man, this is freaking earlier.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I can't handle this thing.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I lasted like maybe two or three weeks and then
that was it. And hearing this from yeah, Lebron, he's
a grinder's and Anthony Davis kind of not right.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
It's I wouldn't even say not not because I hear
I would flip it. I think it's Lebron. It's that
like that's a superpower, like the ability. It's the ability
to do to the next level. And honestly, that's the
thing that like, that's what separates him. Obviously the gifts,
the physical all that stuff unbelievable, but like the stuff
that he's doing that anyone could work that hard that
(25:30):
others don't, and that's what separates him in the greats.
And like, it was one of the things I want
to dive into is just what that actually looked like.
I thought it was important. Dude, we all know the cliches.
Yeah he works hard, yeah, blah blah blah, but like,
what does that actually look like? And I got so
many great anecdotes. You know, people would joke that he
has his trainer, Mike Mancias, and that they're sitting around
playing poker, and like he pops out of a trap
door with like Lebron's two eighteen salmon and kinwah. Right,
(25:51):
It's like everything is so regimented and just we haven't
mapped out hour hour. Michael Beasley told me he knows
if Lebron for years, and he's like it looks like
a bleep in NASCAR pit stop there sometimes just like
he's doing space jam line he's got massages going on,
Like literally, the amount of energy and effort that it
takes to be that great for that long is something
that separates him. So yeah, Ad, he's not wired like that.
(26:13):
It probably hurts him, But it's more that Lebron is
so like that, he's so special in that regard.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Well, it's funny in men's leagues and pick up. One
of the guys is a body double for Lebron and
a bunch of commercials okay, and he's like that guy
never eats anything without permission from his trainer, and he
gets a massage every day, every other day, and I'm like,
he wants to be the best. Now, I am curious
when you started you obviously had a perception of Lebron.
(26:43):
By the end of the book, did that perception or
view of Lebron as the goat or I don't know
where you rank him, Did any of that change, because
I mean, you talked to three hundred people about somebody. Listen,
you talked to three hundred people about me. You're probably
gonna find some guys who say some really bad stuff
about me. Now, I don't think many. I like to
think I'm a nice guy, but I mean, it's a
lot of people to interview.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Ah By inside of the fire. I guess the fire
trucks are coming as we're talking. I uh no, it
is fascinating, right, So the goat stuff, to me, it
was more the personality and the legacy stuff I was
diving into and like that I found interesting. How do
I phrase it? I left me it's not a great answer.
I left being a little more confused by him, which
(27:24):
is almost ironic because you would think it's like you
have more clarity as we dive in than something and someone.
But just I have trouble Matt wrapping my arm around
what he wants, what his goals are. His Lakers tenure
has been really strange, really really strange, just in terms
of we come in, we say we're okay not winning
a title right that year one, we're not contending, We're
(27:45):
joining the young guys, Lonzo and Brandon Ingroom and all
those guys, and then very quickly we blow that up
and say, not that's okay, that I want Anthony Davis.
We win the title, and then he's giving the Lakers
all this latitude they never gave other organizations before in
terms of not wanting being okay, not being a championship contender.
And you know, the one thing I can't get over
is the like, the Hennessy Ad has made me think
(28:06):
about this a lot, right, the recent Hennessy aad. So
the part about that that i've again the same work,
confusing and the strange, right, and this is almost answer
put a bone on the cou answer like to find
cash out, you know, make your money. I don't care whatever.
But the idea that Lebron when he comes into his
Lakers tenure, one of the things he's most known for
is ushering in this era of player empowerment and I'm
(28:27):
the boss, and you run things, and and that not
just on the court, Like we run our own businesses,
me and Mike Maverick Carter Rich, like we have our
own agency, our own businesses. If we have an endorsement,
we're taking points on there, right, Like different all that
is dipping our toes in political orders at times, right, Yeah,
especially around twenty twenty. I dove into a lot of that.
And now we're the Hennessy Ad. And what we're doing
is we're leveraging our ability to capture attention in the
(28:51):
zeitgeist for the purpose of helping a brand. We have
nothing to do, nothing to do with sell some alcohol. Right,
So again, like I'm don't care. But it's a strange
journey and honestly one that usually we see the other way.
Usually you see like kind of like those decisions early
in life and careers and later on people aside. You
know what, I want to start going, Uh, I want
to make my own thing. I want to be more serious.
(29:12):
I want to talk about politics. I want to build
whatever it is. Right, And it almost seems like we're backwalking.
So they answer your question, I'm just like, yeah, he
confuses me. He confuses me.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
But let me let me ask you. Maybe I missed
something on the Hennessy ed. Is it his brand of
like is he an?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
I don't think as far as I know, no, maybe
I'm wrong right, As far as I know, no, as
far as I know, it's no different than like the
DraftKings commercials. Maybe I might be wrong, right.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Obviously he's paid handsomely by him correct, correct, but how
handsomely we don't know. But yeah, if he has like
an equity, if hey, we'll give you an equity stake,
do a big blowout, you know, Like I don't.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Know right that that could be for sure, that could be.
I feel like if that was the case, we might
have learned about that. But maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Possible.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it's it's funny because it's it's
a weird, like it's hard to explain to people, like
where it's a weird line to draw. We're like, no,
the DraftKings ad So again, I find a little weird.
I don't care. I find a little weird to just
be chilling like that if you're him.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Okay, so I'm gonna peel back the curtain now. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Please.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
I haven't revealed a lot of this, but you know,
I started at Fox twenty sixteen, and then in twenty
I think it was twenty seventeen. They came to me
and they're like, hey, we've got a partner. I'm not
going to say the company. Would you be willing to
fly to New York host this thing?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
You know?
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Uh, and then we'll fly you back first class all
that and we'll give you X amount of money. And
I was like, you're giving me that much money to
do that? Of course I'll do it. At a heartbeat,
aren't you kidding me? Like, oh, I tell the wife
were celebrating and it's not even that much. It's not
even that much money, but it was like the fact
that I would be willing to do it for that
little amount of money, like you know, a big time
(30:47):
person probably would not. But I mean, I'm assuming Lebron
got a lot of money, and what did it take
for him to do a Hennessy ad You're on like
maybe a day.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
This is where I so I don't disagree it. That's
why I was saying, I kind of all at my line,
my weird line, but to me it makes sense. Is
the teaser tweet? Right, And I know it sounds crazy.
It's like again you're leveraging your fame and your image
and you're and you're making fun of the decision beforehand
in a way like that to me is like where
(31:17):
it's different. Well then it's no longer. Yeah, sure, I'll
set a couch for a I'll set a couch and like,
or I'll shoot I'll shoot commercials with Kevin hard for
four hours and get you know, seven figures on that.
And again, I know it's a weird line and some
people don't agree, but to me, it's just it's just
different and it's fine. I just again, like I feel
like that tweet ten years ago would have been for
(31:37):
the launch of Uninterrupted that he owns, or the launch
of Clutch Sports, which which is doing, or like something
like that, or I prop the I promised school or
I don't know, calling down Trump a bum I don't know, right,
something like that, like like just different and it's not
and maybe it could be like just older and like
cool whatever.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
You just mentioned it getting older. As you're explaining that,
I'm like, what if Lebron realized, Hey guys, this is
the last time I could get one of these paydays,
could be for for Hennessy, like you know, when I'm
retired for three four years from now, I'm not doing this.
If I'm the owner of like the Las Vegas NBA team,
I'm not doing this crap. Let me just take it,
you know, pay for this that and the I mean,
I don't know, I sound very defensive of Lebron.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
No, it's it's it's I find it an interesting conversation,
I really do.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
How did anything get left on the cutting room floor
that you really wanted in any anecdotes that the book
was like, we're going to have to pull that.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
No, so I'll give you an answer. So anything that
I've like, I'm pretty big on. If I haven't verified,
and it's there, like and I think it's good, it's
going in right, and if like otherwise not the thing
I try to hone in on and I couldn't quite
get there. I wrote a lot about Rich Paul. I
find them interesting, really interesting, and clutch sports is a
big part of this.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Now he is he the one dating Adele?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
That is correct? Yeah, okay, it's a hell of a rise.
So Rich Paul started his UH and his first job
in the industry was at CIA for Leon Rose now
the president of Nicks and world famous world Wide West
now the Knix. I don't know whatever executive I whatever's
title is, but he's the famous world NBA power broker.
And they had some falling out at some point, the
CIA people and Rich Paul. And this is documenting, like
(33:12):
there's stories about this and well told and the New
York Post has writen about this because it's impacted mixed
free agency stuff and it's a lot of he said,
he said, And I tried to nail down and really
get like, okay, what actually happened here? And and the end,
I just couldn't get it there where I basically just
took like two thousand words exit out and basically YadA YadA.
It over five years, right, I just like didn't feel
(33:34):
comfortable about it. So that's I know, it's like, that's
the best answer I can give us something where like
I felt like I was almost there and something that
would have been really interesting and a really revealing look
into the universe that sort of surrounds the NBA, right
this ecosystem, and just like one person would tell me
something that call the other person that doesn't check out
even though it's about them, and it just became a disaster.
I just had to care rid of it.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
So I'm looking at the Lakers history with Lebron Yeah, okay,
we'll skip over the Lonzo stuff because they were refixing
the rosters. So then they go to the Bubble, win
the title or they beat the heat. Okay, the next year,
if memory serves, they were like a top three seed.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Yeah, so I can't yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
On one, and then Anthony Davis gets hurt.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Right, yep, and Lebron I believe that Series two.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
And they lose. They were up to one and I
think they were leading in game in Game four. I'm
not one hundred percent on that final thing. So then
Ad hurt, Lebron hurt. So the next year they don't
make the playoffs. That was the year Lebron was hurt.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Right, That was all they trade for us. So this
is almi solid. This is they trade for Russell Westbrook
after that year. And to me, this is this is
a huge mistake. This is a huge moment, and I
don't think it's enough. Uh, people don't look at in
the proper way, right, so everyone focuses on the bubble
and that, And I think the real the season that
was truly impacted by COVID was the year after the bubble, Right,
(35:04):
That was the season that was bananas, right, That was
guys are in and out. Some of arenas have fans
somes don't you know if you're exposed about two weeks,
So just the whole thing was crazy. That was the
year Giannis One probably had COVID, right, we all think,
but he won any they won the title, and the
Lakers had seventy one days between the end of that's
title before the start of the next season. And they
(35:25):
come out great. They come out great. They start that
that's year they have Marcus soul and then it shoot,
they start things go where they start out really strong
and they just fall apart. I should say fall apart.
It doesn't. They don't finish strongly. Guys get hurt and
for and I they react very strongly. The Lakers and
Lebron right, both sides wanted to add somebody. They react,
they have they react to that loss, where in hindsight,
(35:47):
it should have just been you know what, this was
some crazy shit like this was. These were the crazy
eighteen months we got out of bubble. We got hurt, Like,
let's just reset, let's run it back, Let's not do
anything rash and see what happens. Let's keep Gruso called
the Pope. We're gonna keep go Alow. Lebron in ad
we don't need to make any rash decisions. And Lebron
and Rob Polinka's front office, both independently and together, decided, no,
(36:08):
we need to add a star, we need more help,
and they overreact to that loss. And I think that's
if we're talking about like Lebron's tenure, I think that's
the mistake that gets overlooked, like that offseason.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
That Okay, so they missed the playoffs. I looked it up.
Lebron played fifty six of eighty two.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Right, it's Westbrook's first year there, right, which was disaster.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Eighty played forty, so eighty missed half the season. Westbrook
played seventy eight. They had Carmelo Anthony at.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
The Yeah, they put together it's awful. Rod. This hilarious
roster of like you know, guys Dwight Howard, Jean Rondo.
I think this I have in the book. There's like
Rob Polinka in the first meeting of training, kid walks
in and goes, there's more collective Hall of Fame talent
than any room. Emverer and I guess he might have technically,
like there's a bunch of Hall of famers there. He's
probably technically a monk.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
But yeah, so they missed the playoffs and then next
year they get to the conference finals. Now there was
some luck involved, No, No, they beat the Warriors. They
had Warriors at Curry. Yeah, so they get to the
conference finals. They lose to the Nuggets. That was like,
weren't the first three games kind of close? And then
Denver just pulled him out?
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Yeah, Denver was better. Like that was a uh you know.
That was the first time, probably second time. It was
like the Delva Doova Finals year where Lebron against the
the Durant Curry Warriors and this group where it was
like they were almost like the plucky underdogs. It was
just but yeah, they were overmatched.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
It hurt was twenty three twenty four because I think
that was a series Jamal Murray hit two game winners, right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
so they were they were not that far behind the Nuggets.
I mean they were close. Would you would you not
agree they were close?
Speaker 3 (37:37):
They were closed? Yeah, I think they were overmatched, but
they did. Yeah. I mean listen, they were by by
literally by the score. They were close right now, Like
I think typic Man at ESPN that always makes the
joke about like hang the banner for the sweep, like
close to sweep in history, right, which I think is
a good joke.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Yeah, we had them on the podcast, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Yeah, which I respect. But they were close, but they weren't.
It wasn't it. I think most people if they had.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
But it was close. It wasn't like the gap was massive.
This wasn't like the Lakers with Phil Jackson getting swept
off the floor by the yellow ender back in the core.
It wasn't like that. And then last year, I think
Luca Reeves and Lebron played like twenty games together.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Maybe yeah, then the roster was up ended. It was
a trade that it was a trade that would make
them more. Like they knew it, I mean, I don't.
I assume they like it. Probably you up endo the
roster in the middle of the year for a move
you have to do, right, Like it's a no brainer obviously,
But if i'd be if you're asking them, like, you know,
if you don't win a title this year, you guys
are all killed, what are you making the trade or not?
They might maybe they say no, right, I don't know
if just for that one year, I'm making this up,
(38:38):
like in terms of do you have more were they
more likely to win a title before the trade by
keeping some continuity, right, I don't know, but for that
just last year, But obviously it's a great trade, you know.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
So and then that brings us to this year. And
I mean again this is more guessing than anything, but
based on three years of reporting being around you know,
the Lakers and Lebron and people around him and who
know him, are you of the belief he finishes the
season with the Lakers or do you think he tries
to force his way out because he's never been traded technically,
(39:07):
I mean sign and trade. You know that he wanted,
but it's tough for me to envision the Lakers moving
off him. It's also tough for me to envision Lebron
going to the Lakers and saying, can you please trade me?
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Yeah, I don't think he's good. I don't think he'll
be traded also just for those reasons and also for
like the sentimental reasons, and it's the you know, political reasons,
but also he's got a he's got a huge stalary
and just salary cap reasons. It's really hard and nobody
you know, who's the team would be the Calves, right,
that's the team. And they're not trading, like, they're not
giving up Jared Allen and you know Garland or Garland
(39:38):
for Lebron, and you need those contracts to match that.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
I don't even know if I'd want them for Lebron,
because then you're left in with them for years.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Yeah, I mean, but he there so yeah. I mean, listen,
if if the Calves came and offered Jared Allen and
Garland for Lebron, the Rob Polink could be like, I
got another one of these steals. Oh my god, please wait,
you you really think so? Yeah? I think so. I
think so.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
Hold on, let me let me let that marinate. So
you'd have Luca, Reeves, Garland eight and.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
You'd have to make some something, you have to make
some separate stuff.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Alan, Alan, I just think the only problem is that
locks in pretty much your roster with Luca for like
the next three years.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
So that's interesting, Okay, that's and that brings us to
the so asking what happens. I think we're at a
fascinating point. And I don't think he knows, right, I really,
I could be wrong. No one's told me this. I
don't think he knows.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
I would agree.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Yeah, what he wants, how he wants this to play out.
And I think he's adjusting too, for the first time
in his life in twenty five years professional life, certainly
not being in control right He's a expiring contract literally
has never happened before in the NBA and for him
in his NBA career. I listen, I don't know that
he wanted to get an option picked up on the Lakers.
(40:52):
I can assume he would, because why would you want
an expiring contract. Rob Polinka was asked on media Day
about Lebron's future and said, we love then to finish
his story here, which is a beautiful answer that also
doesn't answer the question, right, Like does that mean I
joke that, like, we love the Lebron to finish his
story here parentheses and that better be after this year, right,
Like that's kind of how it seems. So I don't
(41:16):
And he's also in the past, he's been big on
since the Miami days, I don't take pay cuts anymore.
He's got to balance a lot of things here, and
I think he's trying to figure that out. And there's
also le BRONI aspect you all forget, like this is
Bronni's last guaranteed year with the Lakers, So I yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Oh, so the Lakers could move off both of them?
Yeah right, wow, let me ask you this, So let's
just spin it out. Let's just hypothetical Lakers win the championship,
blah blah blah. Lebron's now a free agent. You win
the title with Lebron, do you say, hey, thank you
for your service, Pal, you were amazing. We'll catch you
on the flip side, or do you think like they say, hey, Lebron,
(41:51):
I'm not asking you to play for the minimum? Can
you play for twenty five? When he said a hell no.
And then but then the question is who's gonna pay
him fifty mil for a guy who's going to be
forty two in December twenty six.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
So this is the thing, right, the money part, it's
part of this is for him to decide what he's
willing to do contract wise, like if he was going
to take a you know, not minimum, mid level whatever,
mid level okay for sure, not me in a mid
level and the Calves like they would take him a
second it would be a great fit, right, and it
would be it would be he'd fit in. And the
part about Lebron that I thought want to make clear
because sometimes we talk about him an ending like he's
(42:25):
still awesome and even last year he was second team
All NBA. So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's not like
a top five guy anymore, which got whatever. He is
still an awesome, awesome player right at the minimum in
All Star Like, what's gonna be a bad year if
he has a bad year for him twenty five and
five with a fish and shooting and great passing twenty
five games like, that's like, that's fantastic. So there's that part.
(42:47):
The part about the Lakers, which is sort of it's
a question hanging over all this is they're also in
the middle of an ownership change, and yeah, it's going
to impact and I don't I don't Honestly, I don't
know much about the new owners. I know them as
like the Dodgers owners. I don't know how they operate.
I don't know. Yeah, that'd be a decision that would
be up to them at some point, right, if the
ownership change happens, Like what do we do we want? Oh,
(43:07):
do we want the first major move we're doing to
say bye bye the Lebron Maybe they don't care. I
don't know, right, And that's an interesting aspect to all this. Yeah,
I'm again it's an answer. I don't know because but
I said I don't know because I know so many
of the figures here and I have so much insight
into them, and I'm just fascinated to see we have
like all these all these things meeting it ahead that
(43:30):
don't always drive together. And something's gonna have to break,
and I don't know what it's gonna be.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
All Right, He is Iron Whitzman, the Hollywood ending the
dreams and drama of Lebron's Lakers. Hey man, congrats on
the book three years. That's amazing. It just came out
this week, get out Amazon, Kindle. I'm an audiobook guy. Yeah,
I mean it's better driving out here in La. I'm
just coming home from work, driving to work, you know,
(43:54):
forty five minutes and I listen to books. So it's awesome. Man.
I'm happy for your success and uh, congratulations.
Speaker 3 (44:00):
I appreciate it a lot. Thank you so much
Host
Jason McIntyre
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