Nick Wright breaks down everything you need to know about the rift opening up between the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James and what it means for his – and Luka Doncic’s – future in LA. Then, Nick discusses Kevin Durant’s comments about Michael Jordan and what it means for the GOAT debate. Later, Nick weighs in on the WNBA’s newest rivalry between Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever and Paige Bueckers of the Dallas Wings. Finally, as always, Nick answers your questions. #Volume
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in What's Driving Nick Wright Episode three forty eight.
This episode, as always brought to you by our friends
at boost Mobile. This episode, What's Right Nick Wright just
told you brought to you by boost Mobile and straight
to the voicemail, which we'll get to in a moment, is
also brought to you by boost Mobile. A few programming notes.
We're on today on Monday because I am doing first
(00:22):
things first and then I'm flying to Las Vegas to
broadcast the World Series of Poker Final Table. We will
talk about that on the back end of the pod.
I was up until three thirty in the morning last
night watching the live stream of the Final Table. I
then finally had to wave the white flag, got up
(00:44):
at seven thirty this morning, and there was still two
and a half hours that I hadn't seen yet of
the to get down to the final nine. So if
you're a poker fan or a poker buff, we will
recap some of that on the back end of today's pod.
Also demands not on today's pod, not because he was
(01:04):
out partying for his birthday, but because as a wash
twenty seven year old, he decided he just needed to
do his day job today and he has Tuesday mornings off,
doesn't have Monday mornings off, so he's at work at
Fox right now. So I will carry us through the
next forty five minutes or so. Speaking of straight to voicemail.
Brought to you by Boost Mobile. Cooper Flag after an
(01:26):
awesome second game of Summer League, struggled a bit in
his first game, shut down for the rest of Summer League.
Chelsea wins the FIFA Club World Cup, and then one
of the most awkward lingering trophy presentations with them in
the present and something that I was unaware of, but
the producers just sent me the link to Drake covered
up his Lebron tattoo with an SGA tattoo. Listen, I
(01:51):
am not going to get into the Drake Lebron relationship.
What I am going to get into is this. If
I were in Drake's inner circle, which I'm not, and
he's like, you know what, I gotta cover up this
Bronz tattoo, I might say, Hey, maybe not another NBA player,
maybe not. Maybe let's maybe let's learn our lesson that
(02:15):
that getting tattoos of people you loosely have relationships with
because they are fellow celebrities and in this case also
Canadian that might one day lead to a triple cover up,
because who's to say that in six years, Drake and
(02:35):
Lil YACHTI aren't gonna get into a beef and SGA
is gonna pick Little Yachti's side. I'm just saying, all right, reminder,
like rate subscribe, review, free advice if you wanted it, Drake,
Uh like rate subscribe review, to the YouTube channel, to
the podcast feed on Spotify and iTunes, watch this or
like this on YouTube. All that stuff. We appreciate it. Okay,
(02:57):
So the summer of Lebron continues a bit and there
was a very seemingly interesting article written by Ramona Shelburne
and Brian Windhorst that kind of set off a lot
(03:19):
of conversation over the weekend and it dropped I think
Friday Friday morning, yet we weren't on TV, and then
there was a Dave mcminnimon report, and then there was
an article edit that I find the whole thing fascinating.
(03:41):
So I'm not going to go through every single stanza
of this article, but I am going to go through
it considerably because I actually in credit to Chris Broussard,
who on our first Thing's first morning meeting. Just a
moment ago when we were talking about doing this topic,
he was like, how much of the audience do you
think actually read the article? I was like, Oh, that's
(04:02):
a good point. Brew. So the beginning of this article
is incredibly detailed about a May third meeting at Craig's
Restaurant on Melrose in West Hollywood, a place I have
been to I think once in my life with my
buddy Colin Cowherd, and where they where Ramona and Wendy,
(04:25):
and this feels like Ramona's side of it. They're just
because of the LA based reporting, but I don't know
detail a meeting between Luca Plenka Reddick and Luca's manager
Laura Lara Beth Seeger where we find out what doors
they went in, what wine they drank, all of this,
(04:49):
and it's incredibly detailed and it talks about that meeting,
but that is not what people are people's takeaway or
the throat of the article is because the article's headline
even Lebron James Luka Ancic inside the most delicate superstar
transition in NBA history. So the reason for that scene
(05:13):
setting it would appear is that Luca was at this
meeting and Lebron was not, which I don't find odd
at all personally, because the Lakers' first order of business
this summer, and they treated it as such, was to
(05:35):
cement and secure their relationship with Luca because they desperately
need him to sign a contract extension this summer. Now,
whether that's a four year deal or a three year deal,
he can do four for two two twenty three or
three for one sixty. The reason for doing the three
for one sixties, the article lays out, is it might
(05:57):
set up better more money long term and future. But regardless,
they need to make sure lucas locked in, and they
need to do everything possible to get Luca locked in.
And if I were running the Lakers, I certainly wouldn't
be like, well, anytime we're meeting with Luca, Lebron has
(06:17):
to be there because these are the Lakers. Attempt to
compete this season is in one bucket. The Lakers playing
over the next three, five, ten years is in another bucket,
And both of those buckets necessitate a locked in, dialed in,
(06:38):
committed Luka Doncic. So that is priority number one, and
I think Lebron understands that the single most important thing
for the Lakers this summer is to get Luca resigned.
So I wouldn't have viewed that as scandalous. Oh, the
Lakers had a meeting with Luca without Lebron there, but
(07:01):
it was treated like it was in this article, like
it was a fork in the road where the Lakers
are going down the Luca path rather than the Lebron path.
And again that is it is incredibly logical, and I
(07:21):
anybody that thinks Lebron is put off or yeah, is
bothered by the fact that the Lakers priority number one
is making sure Luca is a Laker long term. Doesn't
know Lebron James and doesn't understand the way he views
(07:43):
Luca and what he understands about the NBA. Now it
it is absolutely fair to say. And then I'll get
back to the article that Lebron feels like, all right,
while trying to get Luca locked up long term, we
(08:05):
should try to win right now because we were the
three seed last year. Because I'm still playing at a
undeniable top ten level, Luca is going to go into
next year as one of the three biggest favorites to
win league MVP. That's a team that, if you make
the right moves, can compete for a championship. But those
(08:27):
two things not only are they not mutually exclusive, they
are not in conflict at all. There is nothing better
for Luca's long term future with the Lakers than him
stacking awesome seasons with the Lakers starting immediately. So then
the article goes on to discuss, you know, it talks
(08:48):
about that Lebron released the statement, and again I think
the statement is worth, even though it's now a few
weeks old, worth reminding people exactly what it's said. We
understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the
future is from Rich Paul. We do want to evaluate
what's best for Lebron at this stage in his life
(09:09):
and career. He wants to make every decision he has
left count and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and
want what's best for him. I looked at that statement
as very clearly saying listen, it would seem what's best
(09:29):
for all parties is continuing this partnership and trying to
win a title right now. But if you guys, for
some reason or another, think that you either can't win
a title right now, or making moves to try to
(09:49):
win a title right now while you still have Lebron
James at an all NBA level, is actually going to
hurt your chances of winning multiple titles down the road
with Luca. Well, if that's if that's how you feel,
and that's the road you're gonna take, then we should
(10:12):
discuss whether or not you want me to be I
want to be a part of this and you want
to be a part of this. That to me was
very very straightforward and again not scandalous, and I think
the way most people, if they were advising Lebron James
would would see it as well. And then the article
(10:36):
gets a little confusing because it it then just quotes
anonymous Western Conference executives on their opinions. One Western Conference
executive chalked it up to an elaborate pout because the
Lakers hadn't offered James a new contract extension. More on
(10:58):
that in a moment. Another Western Conference executive felt it
was an attempt to press the Lakers front office to
go all in on building the team this season and
away from its strategy to keep the cap sheet as
clean as possible for the summers of twenty six and
twenty seven after James's salary comes off the books. So
(11:19):
I care less about the Western Armage executive's feelings and
more about if that is the Lakers strategy, that we
are certainly out of the Lebron business after this year,
and we think we are going to be better positioned
(11:45):
to win titles by getting out of the Lebron business
and using his fifty two million dollars on free agents X, Y,
and Z. That's an interesting opinion. I'm very cure us
what free agents they think they are going to get.
(12:05):
And this is an important point here because I don't
know if you guys have noticed, but free agency isn't
what it once was in the NBA. And I'm not
talking about second Apron stuff. I'm talking about the fact
that guys over the last decade have transitioned from letting
(12:29):
contracts expire and hitting free agency to signing extensions as
early as possible, and then if they want to leave,
simply demanding a trade, and the Lakers plan of well,
(12:54):
we're just going to sign. I'm curious again who it
is they think they're going to sign. Now they're the Lakers.
Lebron chose to save them after six years in the Desert.
Lebron then greatly helped them get Anthony Davis, and then
(13:15):
Nico Harrison gifted them Luke ad ancicch that they were
only able to get because they had Anthony Davis. But
they don't have this cupboard of when they traded for
a d they had multiple former number two overall picks
(13:37):
and the number four pick of that draft they were
able to include in that trade. That's not there. And
I just don't see this. Oh my goodness, Jannis is
a free agent in a year and if you have
your cap sheet open, he'll pick La So's It's curious
to me, But a lot of the moves the Lakers
have made her curious to me. And then there's this.
(14:04):
The Lakers had made their statement in not offering James
a contract beyond this season. It was abundantly clear that
the twenty one time All Stars time has face. The
Lakers had for the first time a planned end date,
even if James's record setting NBA career did not. And
this is where the reporting gets interesting to me, because this,
(14:29):
to me feels Ramona is incredibly plugged in with the Lakers,
and for reasons I don't totally understand, and we've talked
about me not understanding it. Wendy and Lebron have had
something of a falling out, it would appear, and so
I think it's safe to say the info on this
(14:52):
is Lakers info. And then Dave mcminnimon, who is pretty
plugged in with Lebron and said he's you know, it
was not quoting anonymous people close to him, was quoting
Rich Paul directly. Dave mcminnimon then reports during Summer League
two days later, oh, by the way, look, we didn't
(15:17):
ask for nor want a contract extension. And then there
is the other reporting, which is to me interesting because
the article initially said that when the Bus family agreed
to sell a majority stake in the franchise Mark Walter
(15:38):
on June eighteenth, Doncic was given a heads up and
notably posted congratulations on social media. Lebron James was given
no heads up. The article was then edited and it
writes now, after the publication of this article, sources said
James was notified of the sale via his representation, but
(15:59):
he did not post any public acknowledgement. And then it
has the part then, of course, the coup de gras
the Lakers, by not offering James extension, indicated they were
comfortable having him on the roster's inspiring contract, a rare
position for a superstar player of his caliber. So I
(16:19):
don't there is there are pretty clearly at this point
it is a less than a happy marriage, and it's
for reasons. And this is the part that I've spent
(16:43):
a good deal of time thinking about. But I just
can't totally understand why. And you might say, ah, Lebron
is Lebron's doing this? But here is to me a
(17:03):
like a fair and Lebron is obviously doing a lot
of this, But is there reason for it? As and
is are there reasons for the Lakers doing what they're doing?
So let's just go through the blow by blow of it.
Is there a reason to believe that Lebron is not
(17:27):
okay taking on a secondary role within the organization, not
that I've seen. What I saw was for four years,
Lebron all but begging Anthony Davis to take the car Keys,
an ad god love and future Hall of Famer great player,
(17:50):
couldn't quite do it and wasn't willing to do it.
They then trade for Luca Lebron correctly does not ask
Luca to change his game at all. Lebron changes his
game massively and all of a sudden turns into maybe
(18:14):
the Lakers' best defensive player is far and away their
best defensive player and arguably their best overall player in
the postseason, and greatly changes the way he's playing while
doing nothing but support Luca, who famously Lebron's on the
(18:37):
record that the only guy he ever tried or wanted
to get to be a Lebron athlete, wearing like the
way Jordan has Jordan athletes at Nike, A Lebron spinoff
sneaker was Luca, a guy who Luca who modeled his
game after Lebron and was his childhood idol. So the
(19:00):
idea that, well, these guys just won't fit that has
not been the case at all. And then there is
the well, we just don't think we can compete with
these guys. I think that is a loser mentality, and
(19:21):
I think it is beyond optimistic that again, if you
simply remove the name and the age when talking about
Lebron and say, hey, what is the likelihood over the
(19:45):
next four years if the Lakers were to move Lebron
move on from Lebron and they don't. They This article
talks about they don't want to trade him, They want
him to just leave in the offseason, either into retirement
or free agency for nothing. Who is the guy? How
(20:07):
are they replacing second team all NBA production? Where is
that coming from? And why would they not say, right now,
this moment, we have something an asset we're not going
(20:27):
to have we're not guaranteed to have at all three
years from now, which is two top ten players, So
maximize this window. I think that's foolish. But I also
if I were running the Lakers, wouldn't go three straight
off seasons without making a single trade. If I were
running the Lakers, there are a lot of things I
(20:49):
would not have done that Rob Blinka and the Bus
and Rambis family have done. But that's what they've done,
and so I do. And I know this for a
lot of you guys are not gonna be surprising coming
from me. But I I do understand lebron side of
the frustration. I don't understand the Lakers side of the frustration.
(21:17):
And if it's that, and if it's that, well, you know,
Lebron's a lot to a lot to deal with. Yeah, man,
every all time great athlete ever is a lot to
deal with in one way, shape or form, And people
keep saying nothing tougher than dealing with an all time
(21:41):
great who's not great anymore. And that's that's the part
of this that I find so puzzling. It's almost as
if the Lakers are frustrated that Lebron hasn't fallen off Lebron.
(22:02):
The Lakers post Westbrook debacle, which obviously Lebron had influence on,
have treated every year as if, well, Lebron's not going
to be that good and therefore it wouldn't make sense
for us to leverage everything to try to win at
(22:25):
this moment. And then each year Lebron shows up on
the All NBA team. Each year Lebron comes to work
and gives you twenty five, seven and seven, it's like, okay,
what do you need? And now, like I understand why
(22:46):
Lebron might say, you know, I don't want to sign
an extension because maybe I do want to hit free
agency and then in my final year go back home
to Cleveland or may find a way to play with
staph and under the new CBA me making fifty million
(23:07):
dollars doesn't make a lot of sense. And next year
there could be teams with some cap space more than
the minimum that I wouldn't mind going to play for.
I understand why Lebron might say I don't want the extension.
I don't understand why the Lakers wouldn't say, hey, you
(23:30):
want to tack one more year on this. So a
lot of this is just to.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Me more.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
More evidence that when the Walter family does come and
take over and they do a true audit of the
decisions and decision makers, that the people in charge of
the Lakers should be anxious. And I understand that all
(24:07):
the reporting is Genie bus can run the team for
the next five years. Let's check back in four or
in three and see who's running the Los Angeles Lakers.
And let's also check back in four or three and
see if this cap space of twenty twenty seven played
(24:31):
out the way they hoped it would. But I cannot
imagine this article landed softly on Lebron's desk, where it
is a lot of innuendo and a lot of Lakers
(24:54):
pretty naked Lakers personnel whispering the ears of Ramona and
Wendy about essentially how eager they are to get out
of the Lebron James business. Me personally, if I'm trying
to win NBA championships, I'd love having two top ten
(25:18):
guys on my team. It doesn't seem like the Lakers
necessarily feel that same way. All right, folks, something special
is about to happen in the Big Easy, one of
my five favorite cities in the country. UFC three eighteen
coming to New Orleans, and it is absolutely stacked. Drafting Sportsbook,
the official sports betting partner of the UFC, has all
(25:40):
the action you need. We're talking Holloway Poyer three, the trilogy,
BMF's titles on the line. More than that, it's Dustin
Pourier's last fight. That's it, the final walk, one of
the all time greats. You taking Holloway's volume or Poitier's power.
If you've never bet UFC DraftKings, don't worry. Just pick
(26:02):
something simple, like a fighter to win, and make your
pick straightforward and easy. Like I told you last week
with the boxing, it's again. I'm not acting like picking
the right side is easy, but it is. You don't
have to be an expert on rear naked chokes to
know I got to pick a winner here and you
can do it that way. Check this out. New customers
(26:23):
who bet just five bucks get one hundred fifty dollars
in bonus bets instantly, a huge boost to get started.
Do not miss Poyer's final fight. Download the DraftKings sportsbook
app right now and use code right that's code WRIGHD
for new customers to get one hundred thy dollars in
bonus bets instantly when you bet just five bucks only
(26:44):
on DraftKings. The Crown is yours.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York
called eight seven seven eight open wire text hope and
wy AT four six seven three six nine In Connecticut,
help is available for a problem gambling called eight eight
eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit
CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothilka
Cinnamon Resorting Kansas twenty one on over agent. Eligibility varies
by jurisdiction Voyd and Ontario. Bet must win to receive
(27:10):
reward minimum minus five hundred odds required. Bonus bets expire
one hundred and sixty eight hours after issue. In four
additional terms and responsible gaming resources see DKNG, dot co
slash audio.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
All Right, the other piece of this is is Luca
gonna sign this extension? And my answer to that question
three weeks ago would have been, obviously, the Lakers have
built in inherent advantages. They now have one of the
(27:41):
richest ownership groups in the league. Luca really likes being
by the ocean, he said, as much. I would imagine
for international players, big cities are always preferable because you're
more likely to have a real community of Slovenians like
(28:03):
and again I don't know how much Luca cares about that,
but it's obviously easier to find a thriving you know,
Slovenian or Serbian or Nigerian or any of you know,
any international community in a place like New York or
LA then it might be in Milwaukee or Cleveland. And
that again, that's not an indictment any of those places.
(28:26):
That's just the reality of geographics and demographics, or not geographics,
but demographics. So I would have said very and Luca's
statement about being excited to win championships with the Lakers
and Mark Mark Walter and all of that, I would
(28:46):
have said, the odds of insigning since in the summer
like ninety five percent. I think the way the Lakers
screwed up the Dorian Finney Smith thing is potentially troubling,
and I think the way the Lakers are not so
(29:07):
subtly dissing Lebron James, who, again as a reminder, the
Lakers were in the midst of the worst six year
stretch they had had in the history of their franchise
in the total wilderness, a bottom two record in the
entire NBA over the half decade before Lebron got there.
(29:27):
Within two years, within one year, he delivered them Anthony Davis.
Within two years, he and AD delivered them a championship.
And then because they had AD, they were able to
get Luka Ancic and he's still performing at a six
in the league in MVP voting level. For them to
(29:50):
lucas not an idiot now be leaking stuff to ESPN
about how excited they are to be done with Lebron,
I can't imagine Luca's happy about that. And again, the
(30:10):
Dorian Finney Smith thing really matters because of the relationship
he had with Luca and the fact that the team
gets a touch worse going from Dorian Finney Smith to
Jake Laurravia. So I I would have said it's ninety
five percent that Luca will re sign this summer. I
(30:35):
now will say it is seventy five percent. I still
think it is overwhelmingly likely, but I would say it
is not a lock, and I would have thought it
(30:59):
was a lock before. So I think that that is
and I know that. So let me because the producers
just asked me, if I don't see him signing with
the Lakers, where would I see him going? So let
(31:20):
me just take a quick look at right now, who
is slated to have cap space next offseason? And the
answer is, once again, not many teams. I mean, Brooklyn
again is slated to def some and then everyone else
is in the negative. But you, of course, like I
haven't really dove in to who has the most flexibility
(31:45):
and the ability to create cap space or move off
guys things like that. Obviously, it would Daniel be thrilled
with this. There's a lot of folks that have wanted
to see Luca and Joker together. I think that is
(32:06):
probably easier said than done. And I also think it's
kind of a weird fit because Joker has you know,
Joker is their point guard, and Luke is the point guard.
There is the thing that I would think would utterly
(32:30):
and thoroughly terrify the entire league, and that is Luca
going to San Antonio, which san Antonio I think, if
they wanted it, would have a ton of cap space
(32:52):
next year. Wimby hadn't been paid yet, Fox is on
and expiring, Barnes is on an aspiring and so they
could certain like they could flat out just afford him.
And so let me just sort by what would be
active cap uh next year. Yeah, so that was the
(33:17):
better way to look at it. Chicago is not to
me a likely destination, and there's the so let me
look at this again. Hold on, sorry, I'm trying to
figure out for the the teams that will you know,
(33:41):
practically have cap space, and and so it again, I
think Luca resigns. But the fact that we're even having
this conversation, if I were the if I were the Lakers,
(34:17):
I would be a little anxious about it. And again
we're not going to find out for a while because
he can't sign the extension until August. Second, but because
he's playing EuroBasket with Slovenia, you know, fat lazy Luganancich,
who all he does every summer is just play basketball.
He he might not uh, he's probably not going to
(34:40):
do anything until the Eurobasket's done. All right. I do
want to talk about what Kevin Durant said last weekend,
but first let me remind you, guys that this is
a message that applies to ninety nine percent of you
listening right now, because that's how many of you can
be covered by fast and reliable service on the Boost
Mobile network with ninety nine percent nationwide coverage. And if
(35:04):
you don't think you deserve a deal, listen up. You've
got another thing coming right now. When you switch to
boost Mobile, you can get iPhone fifteen with Dynamic Island
and a forty eight megapixel main camera for ninety nine
ninety nine. That's ninety nine dollars and ninety nine cents
for iPhone fifteen on a nationwide five G network. This
(35:27):
may only apply to ninety nine percent of you, but
I am one hundred percent positive Boost Mobile just gave
all of us a really freaking good deal in store
credit thirty five dollars. Device setup theme may apply requires
credit qualification, ID verification and activation on a six dollars,
plan taxes, extra five G speeds not available in all areas.
(35:50):
All Right, this I meant to talk about last week,
and I screwed up and I forgot. But Kevin Durant
was on Mine the Game with National Lebron and he
was talking about longevity and while we can just play
it for you courtesy of our friends at Mind in
the game. By the way, I have not asked, and
(36:14):
I don't know if the producers have asked if we
can play this, but I know some of the people
at Uninterrupted I think will be Okay, let's go ahead
and roll it.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Yeah, I'm ten twelve years in, I got full MVPs
of faux championships. Like, but do I still want to
do this shit? You know what I'm saying. Some people
say I don't want to go play baseball, yeah, and
they don't want to come back. Well, some people say
I'm gonna go twenty two straight.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
One of the lines in there is some people say
I want to go play baseball and some want to
play twenty two straight. And I I don't think this
is a controversial or hot take, guys, And yet somehow,
(37:09):
and this is this is one of my and if
you think about this, it really will maybe reframe how
you view some of the Lebron Jordan stuff, which is
(37:31):
so of the myths that exist in NBA history, the
vast majority of them serve one of one or two purposes,
either tearing down Lebron or building up Michael. So like,
(38:01):
in no particular order, I think here's a myth that
just everyone believes. Man, the nineteen eighties were just the
peak of NBA physicality and tough defense, when in reality,
(38:23):
up until the twenty twenties, the nineteen eighties were the
highest scoring decade of post sixties NBA basketball. Now, there
were more flagrant type fouls, but it was running gun
high scoring era. Another one, you know, on the flip
(38:47):
side of that is like one of the most just
up is down, black is white myths is eh Lebron
great player, not that clutch when he has more playoff
game winners, regular season game winners, all of that at
(39:08):
a higher efficiency than any other superstar. Ever, just on
its face, incorrect facts. And the Michael Jordan quit the
sport because of the tragic murder of his father and
(39:29):
therefore it's almost a third rail to discuss him walking
away is just a myth. And the reason I know that,
and the reason you guys know that is because Michael
and Ahmad Rashad told us in the Last Dance if
(39:53):
there was ever any question that I don't know which
episode of the Last Dance, but where Ahmad said, you know,
Michael was telling me essentially for months that he was
going to walk away. And now if you believe, as
(40:14):
I think is a totally legitimate belief, that Michael looked
at it as I beat the game. I did something
no one's done since Russell's Celtics. I have nothing left
to do here. I'm not enjoying this scrutiny and this
and all of it. And then if he was, you know,
(40:37):
on the edge the tragic murder of his father, was
like all right, I need a fresh star on everything.
And then it is even like, so wildly impressive that
he came back and after half a season where they
(40:59):
couldn't get it done, he then rips off another three
pet and that is part of his absolute legend. That's
totally fair. I shouldn't even just say it's fair. That's
my opinion that I think that is a remarkable feat.
But the number of people that think what Durant said
(41:25):
was a hot take rather than an objective fact. That
is how we would evaluate literally anyone in any field ever,
which is, you certainly don't get extra credit for quitting
(41:50):
the thing that we are grading you on. And Kevin
Durant's point not only was it not a hot take,
it is damn near tautology, which is, if we are
discussing the greatest career or greatest player in the history
(42:11):
of the NBA and we say, well, one guy after
a little more than ten seasons, after a dozen seasons,
said okay, this is not even a dozen seasons of
my apologies, I'm gonna step away now after ten seasons,
(42:38):
pardon me, and then quit the game and then came
back two or a year and a half later. That
that year and a half certainly doesn't help his basketball career,
(42:59):
because there was no basketball career. And that if at
least in the consistent year after year after your excellence,
the guy who never stepped away and played at a
(43:20):
top one level as long as any player in the
history of the league, has a top three level longer
than any player in the history of the league has,
and a top five level twice as long as any
player in the history of the league has that. That's
at least a check mark in that guy's column. Now,
is that the whole column? No? Is that the only
(43:40):
thing that matters? Of course not, But is that obviously true? Yes?
And people saw it and were like, oh my god,
Lebron's brainwashed. Another one as opposed to, what are you
guys talking about? If Patrick Mahomes quit this offseason to
(44:05):
go play baseball and two years later came back and
was awesome again, we certainly wouldn't say that time off
helped his quest to catch Brady. And that's all Katie
was saying. But because there's been so much mythology associated
(44:30):
with this person and this career, things that are just
obvious in literally any other mad lib style, remove the
proper nouns and say, in Nick Wright's quest to be
(44:50):
an all time broadcaster, did the two years he took
off to go try to be a professional poker player
before returning to his broadcast career those two years did
that help or hurt his quest to be an all
(45:14):
time broadcaster? We'd be like, well, they certainly didn't help,
probably hurt. And so it's just it was very informative
to me the way people got angry at that take
(45:35):
when it's the most obvious take anyone's ever had. That
being excellent at something for a span of time, with
no break and no years you weren't excellent. That is
a different type of accomplishment than being excellent taking a
(45:56):
year and a half off from it, being excellent taking
three years off from it, than being okay, Like, that's
just obvious. So another take of Kadi's I agree with,
how about that unbelievable by the way, summer's coming in hot. Literally,
(46:17):
there's one thing I'm not messing around with this summer.
It's deodorant. Mando deodorant sweat control built for this season,
blocks odor all day, controls sweat too, and that can
be good. Actually, while I'm doing the pod, like we're
gonna talk about all these different things you can do
when you're sweating. But this room in my house actually, sometimes,
especially in the summer, can get very hot. Sometimes you
(46:39):
guys see it, I'm sweating over it. So Mando's helping out.
So whether I'm doing the pod or grilling in ninety
degrees or heading to a baseball game like I did
yesterday with Andy Parkins, was wonderful son owen or going
for a run. Mando keeps you fresh, all and dry
all day. It's one of the worst feelings when you realize, wait,
does that smell me? With me? Zero concerns because you
(47:02):
know you'll smell grade into the last all day. Mando's
Starter Pack is perfect for new customers. It comes with
the solid stick deodorant, cream tube deodorant, two free products
of your choice like mini body washer deodorant wipes, and
free shipping. And as a special offer for our listeners,
because let's be host, some of you all probably little stinky.
New customers get twenty percent off site wide with exclusive
(47:24):
code use code right at Shopmando dot com for twenty
percent off site wide plus free shipping. If you missed
it the first time, let me tell you once more
so as because this is our first at our first
partnership with Mando. Special offer for listeners. New customers get
twenty percent off site wide with our exclusive code use
code right at Shopmando dot com for twenty percent off
(47:48):
plus free shipping. That's s h O P M A
N d O dot com. Please support the show and
tell them we sent you. That stuff really does help
so if you're just thinking about buying or try out
our friends at Mando use code right helps out a ton.
Mando's got you covered perfect for your pitch. Smell grate
doing it all right. I want to talk a little
(48:10):
w NBA here, uh, and then we'll probably get to
listen or some World Series of Poker and then listener questions.
So Caitlin and Page played in their first pro matchup yesterday.
Caitlyn has not been playing great since returning from her
quad injury. Last night, she was decent in that game
and Page is spectacular. So that has been like and
(48:34):
Page is again. Page was supposed to be Caitlin before Caitlin.
Very different personalities and very different player types. But this
like superstar transcendent guard talent probably for you know, doesn't
hurt their white girls in the marketability piece of it
for big portions as has been a huge discussion point
(48:57):
surrounding Kitlin. But Caitlyn's general excellent and the fact that
she plays like Steph Curry's what really makes her as
marked well as she is far more than her race,
but sidebar to any of that. But then Paige blew
her knee out and it kind of got stalled a bit.
We were kind of deprived of an unbelievable final four
(49:18):
finished a couple of years ago when they called that
what was an off ball foul or whatever it was
when it was Yukon Indiana. And but Paige is going
to be a superstar and Caitlin, despite this little dip,
is a superstar. But I want to talk about for
a moment here, the young lady who was assigned to
(49:43):
be Caitlin's rival because of the college history between them,
and because of some really bad actors on both sides
of this. And I never both sides anything, but there
are some really bad actors on both sides of the
Angel reies Caitlin clerk thing. And no, I'm not going
to talk about the meme that no one saw until
(50:03):
one person tweeted it. I want to talk about Angel
because I said a month ago or maybe longer, that
if Angel and Caitlin are going to be a rivalry,
Angel's got to hold up her end and play better,
and that Angel's celebrity was outpacing her productivity, and that
(50:29):
at the time she was a very very famous rebounder.
Well for the better part of the last of the
last month it's clicked in for Angel Reese June twenty fourth.
I don't need to tell you the dates, but dating
back to June twenty fourth, in a win against the
(50:50):
Sparks eighteen seventeen, six and four, and this is important,
on fifty percent from the field and eighty six percent
from the line. The next game against the Valkyrie seventeen
and eighteen on forty four percent from the field, one
(51:11):
hundred percent from the line. The next game against the
Sparks twenty four sixteen seven, one and two on fifty
three percent from the line and from the field, pardon me,
and one hundred percent from the line. The next game
against maybe the best team in the league, Minnesota sixteen
(51:36):
seventeen and six on forty four percent from the field,
one hundred percent from the line. The next game against
the Mystics twenty two fifteen and four on fifty six
percent from the field and twelve of fifteen from the
line to eighty percent. The next game against Dallas fifteen
(51:57):
and eleven on sixth sixty percent from the field and
the line, And the next game against Minnesota again nineteen eleven,
four and two on fifty seven percent from the field,
seventy five percent from the line. Angel Rees is making
her bunnies, and Angel Reese is playing efficient basketball, which
(52:21):
makes Angel Reese because of her impact on the game
defensively and on the glass and her underrated passing. The
way she's been playing the last month, she's top fifteen
player in the league. And that's awesome because it was
(52:42):
weird for a player who I think was number two
recruit in her class two page and I think it
was to page, a player who was pre Caitlin and
all of that, nanimous first team All American and one
(53:05):
of the best players in the country. It was odd
to me that her sophomore season didn't pop, and now
it's popping, and now all of a sudden, it is
the Skier, a team that, again the WNBA's weird is
(53:28):
the wrong word, but it's different because there's so few
teams that you really do have the ability to pull
yourself to find a way into the playoffs, so to speak,
that you otherwise might not be cause eight make it,
(53:50):
and there's only fifteen teams in the league. Four are
gonna make it out of the East. Right now. The
Sky are in fifth and they're listen, there are ways
back there three and a half back. But if the Mystics,
who are playing really well right now, trip up the
(54:11):
sky could catch him. And I have really tried to
on this show at least when we talk about basketball,
to talk about basketball. And it is really nice to
(54:32):
see Angel Reese, despite all of the noise around her,
to be playing the best basketball she's played as a pro.
It's been great, all right, very quick tennis corner. I
obviously was very bummed that Alcarez didn't win Wimbledon. Janick
(54:53):
Center good for him avenging his French Open loss. The
producers are asking to center Alcarez have the potential be
an all time rivalry and the answer to that question
is no, uh and it listens. Center is really good
and I and he's also like Alcarez young. I don't
(55:15):
I think it is. Here's why my answer is no.
I think we were spoiled by the Big Three era,
and because of the Big Three era of these all
time historic legends playing simultaneously, that we expect that to
(55:44):
happen again. I think Alcarez is that all time historic
legend level. I don't listen, Center's young, and he's got
four majors, so maybe I'm maybe I am selling him
a bit short, but I think he is a tier
(56:10):
beneath where Alcarez is going to be. I think he's
probably closer to the Augusty tier than the Joker Federer
adult tier when it's all said and done, and I
(56:34):
think Alcarez is close to the Joker Federer and adult
tier than the Augusty tier. Now again, maybe I'm being
unfair to Center. He's only twenty three to twenty four.
He's now in the last two years, won four Majors
and final to French. That's the only reason I don't
have the career Grand Slam. But I'll still I'll still
(56:57):
be a I just don't know that Carlos is going
to have a true one for one rival. All right,
before we get to the listener questions, World Series of Poker,
A lot of legitimate controversies, controversies Kassouf and one Chip
stalling and all this stuff. I'm going to talk about
a lot of that on the broadcast, and I don't
(57:18):
know how much this audience cares about that. And if
you do care about it, you'll get it on the broadcast,
and maybe I'll do it on Thursday. A bit I
do want to talk about this final table, however, because
the final table is set and the story is For
the first time in more than thirty years, there is
(57:43):
a woman at the final table. She was the last
woman standing at the World Series Main event sixteen years ago.
She is from Spain. She is absolutely delightful. Her name
is Leo Margetz. She is dead even in chips with
fifty four million, and her winning this tournament would be
(58:08):
the greatest thing to happen to poker since Chris money
Maker won the tournament and it's in play, she absolutely
can win. She yesterday twice, i think twice, got her
money in on coin flips, which you have to do.
That's not an indictment at all. You have to do
that in this tournament multiple times. But the reason it's
(58:30):
noteworthy is both times she got out flopped and then
both times hit runner runner to win the coin flip.
So it's twice she has had it in you know,
pair versus two overcards or two overcards versus the pair
and gotten cracked on the flop to where it looked
(58:51):
like she was dead and then hit perfect perfect or
something close to it to stay alive, which has been amazing. Theater.
She would be unbelievable if she won this thing, and
it's already unbelievable that she's this far. I think she
has to get to fourth to be the best finish
ever for a woman in the main event. I think
(59:12):
she already has locked up the most money any woman's
ever made in the main event. The other story, obviously
is Michael Msrocky, who won the most prestigious tournament of
the summer, the fifty Kay Poker Players Championship, for the
fourth time. And this is an old school gambler, literally
(59:35):
as an ace tattooed up his sleeve, has stuff tattooed
on him, does not do the gto stuff, talks, gambles,
drinks at the table. It's awesome. It's also unbelievable that
he four times has won the most prestigious tournament at
the World Series and now is second in chips at
(59:58):
ninety three million, when early yesterday he got it all
in Ace Jack versus Ace Queen lost and was down
to three big blinds, And to now have more than
fifty to be in second, to build it up from
(01:00:18):
there and to have a chance to go fifty KPPC
and ten thousand player injury main event. It would arguably
be the single greatest summer in the history of the
World Series of Poker. The other folks at the table
of note John Waznak, who's just an amateur player, a
(01:00:38):
family man, incredibly likable. He is the chip leader with
one hundred and eight million. Watching him yesterday was unbelievable.
He was just He played incredibly tight, picked his spots,
kept getting it in good, kept winning. There was also
a moment where he had Ace King. It was so
(01:01:00):
it was so fascinating. It was someone three bet with
Ace Queen. He four bet with Ace King, pocket Jacks
then folded. Ace Queen called it off. It came all
low cards had pocket Jack's called Ace Queen would have
(01:01:21):
folded for sure, and Wasnock would have been out like
thirteenth place. And I forget who it was with Jack's
I think it's the guy who came in tenth would
have had huge chips instead Jack's fold, Ace Queen gets
it in, He's out. Wasnock now ends up spinning up
(01:01:44):
to one hundred and eight million. There's a bunch of
other great players, and then there is the guy I
bet on who oddly and I found this out yesterday.
There is out there in the universe producers. If you
guys can buy check on eBay it might be this
might be a good investment. The one of one, I
(01:02:06):
think is on eBay. There is a poker trading card
signed by three people. One of them is me and
the other one is Adam Hendrix, who is seventh right
now in Chips. He is in my opinion, either the
best or the second best player left at the in
the field. And he has forty eight million, which is plenty.
(01:02:29):
I think it's thirty bigs and he's he was my
bet to win it. I bet yesterday going into day
eight I with a friend I like, I told them
they could have the chip. We just it's I ain't.
People ask me because I tweeted about this, what odds
I get? I didn't get odds. There's twenty five people left.
(01:02:51):
What I said was to my little gambling consortium, if
anyone wants the chip leader, who at the time was
Kenny Hollert, who's still in it. By the way, he's
fourth in Chips with eighty million. All take Adam Hendrick's
even money and I, you know, seemingly I was getting
(01:03:13):
the bad side of that because Hollert was the chip leader.
But I think Hendricks can win. But right now gotta
be rooting for Leo and for the Grinder. So I
fly out there tonight. It will be it will be
absolutely thrilling. The one you guys are putting in the
(01:03:36):
chat is the one of four or the in the
I think on there is a one of one autograph.
Maybe it's my one of one. Whatever it is, I'm
not sure. It doesn't matter, don't worry about it. But
it's just I if this guy ships the main I
just think you guys should maybe buy uh oh, the
(01:03:58):
one of one that's up for me does not have
Adam Hendrix on it. I'm just telling you I think
those Adam Hendricks signed cards could be worth something. That's
all all right, the I appreciate everyone for listening. Evan asked,
would I ever do a top twenty tennis players ever?
Like your Top fifty basketball? Probably not quite enough of it,
(01:04:21):
not Probably definitely not enough of an expert on that
to really do that list. Justice Dave asked, is this
actually live or pre recorded? No? This is actually live.
We tell you if it's pre recorded, but this is
actually live. The producers asked, who know is coming to Vegas?
Kind of which board games would you win the most
money playing. I don't know about which board game, but
(01:04:44):
I'll play high dollar Dominos against anybody. I'll do that.
I would like to say I would play high dollar Spades,
but that's so partner dependent. But the reality is I'm
I'm good at those types of games if you just
(01:05:05):
I just need to know the rules and watch it
played once, and I'm pretty good at that stuff. Demanse
would be Demonse's great at Monopoly, and I've considered staking
him in some real money, semi high stakes Monopoly games.
I might do that one day. All right, like rate,
(01:05:27):
subscribe review, I'm headed to Vegas. We'll be back on Thursday.
Thank you de Mando, Thank you to DraftKings, thank you
to the volume, Thank you guys, so many people we
gotta think. Thanks my friends at Blue Duck, uh, thanks
to our friends at boost Mobile. Thank you to all
of you guys. More than anything, poker. Go to watch
the World Series main event Final Tale will be on
(01:05:49):
the call and FS one to watch us all back
on TV regular two hour show today three to five.
See you guys there. We'll trade m alright, yep, alright,
(01:06:11):
I'll see you guys. Alright bye,
Welcome in What's Driving Nick Wright Episode three forty eight.
This episode, as always brought to you by our friends
at boost Mobile. This episode, What's Right Nick Wright just
told you brought to you by boost Mobile and straight
to the voicemail, which we'll get to in a moment, is
also brought to you by boost Mobile. A few programming notes.
We're on today on Monday because I am doing first
(00:22):
things first and then I'm flying to Las Vegas to
broadcast the World Series of Poker Final Table. We will
talk about that on the back end of the pod.
I was up until three thirty in the morning last
night watching the live stream of the Final Table. I
then finally had to wave the white flag, got up
(00:44):
at seven thirty this morning, and there was still two
and a half hours that I hadn't seen yet of
the to get down to the final nine. So if
you're a poker fan or a poker buff, we will
recap some of that on the back end of today's pod.
Also demands not on today's pod, not because he was
(01:04):
out partying for his birthday, but because as a wash
twenty seven year old, he decided he just needed to
do his day job today and he has Tuesday mornings off,
doesn't have Monday mornings off, so he's at work at
Fox right now. So I will carry us through the
next forty five minutes or so. Speaking of straight to voicemail.
Brought to you by Boost Mobile. Cooper Flag after an
(01:26):
awesome second game of Summer League, struggled a bit in
his first game, shut down for the rest of Summer League.
Chelsea wins the FIFA Club World Cup, and then one
of the most awkward lingering trophy presentations with them in
the present and something that I was unaware of, but
the producers just sent me the link to Drake covered
up his Lebron tattoo with an SGA tattoo. Listen, I
(01:51):
am not going to get into the Drake Lebron relationship.
What I am going to get into is this. If
I were in Drake's inner circle, which I'm not, and
he's like, you know what, I gotta cover up this
Bronz tattoo, I might say, Hey, maybe not another NBA player,
maybe not. Maybe let's maybe let's learn our lesson that
(02:15):
that getting tattoos of people you loosely have relationships with
because they are fellow celebrities and in this case also
Canadian that might one day lead to a triple cover up,
because who's to say that in six years, Drake and
(02:35):
Lil YACHTI aren't gonna get into a beef and SGA
is gonna pick Little Yachti's side. I'm just saying, all right, reminder,
like rate subscribe, review, free advice if you wanted it, Drake,
Uh like rate subscribe review, to the YouTube channel, to
the podcast feed on Spotify and iTunes, watch this or
like this on YouTube. All that stuff. We appreciate it. Okay,
(02:57):
So the summer of Lebron continues a bit and there
was a very seemingly interesting article written by Ramona Shelburne
and Brian Windhorst that kind of set off a lot
(03:19):
of conversation over the weekend and it dropped I think
Friday Friday morning, yet we weren't on TV, and then
there was a Dave mcminnimon report, and then there was
an article edit that I find the whole thing fascinating.
(03:41):
So I'm not going to go through every single stanza
of this article, but I am going to go through
it considerably because I actually in credit to Chris Broussard,
who on our first Thing's first morning meeting. Just a
moment ago when we were talking about doing this topic,
he was like, how much of the audience do you
think actually read the article? I was like, Oh, that's
(04:02):
a good point. Brew. So the beginning of this article
is incredibly detailed about a May third meeting at Craig's
Restaurant on Melrose in West Hollywood, a place I have
been to I think once in my life with my
buddy Colin Cowherd, and where they where Ramona and Wendy,
(04:25):
and this feels like Ramona's side of it. They're just
because of the LA based reporting, but I don't know
detail a meeting between Luca Plenka Reddick and Luca's manager
Laura Lara Beth Seeger where we find out what doors
they went in, what wine they drank, all of this,
(04:49):
and it's incredibly detailed and it talks about that meeting,
but that is not what people are people's takeaway or
the throat of the article is because the article's headline
even Lebron James Luka Ancic inside the most delicate superstar
transition in NBA history. So the reason for that scene
(05:13):
setting it would appear is that Luca was at this
meeting and Lebron was not, which I don't find odd
at all personally, because the Lakers' first order of business
this summer, and they treated it as such, was to
(05:35):
cement and secure their relationship with Luca because they desperately
need him to sign a contract extension this summer. Now,
whether that's a four year deal or a three year deal,
he can do four for two two twenty three or
three for one sixty. The reason for doing the three
for one sixties, the article lays out, is it might
(05:57):
set up better more money long term and future. But regardless,
they need to make sure lucas locked in, and they
need to do everything possible to get Luca locked in.
And if I were running the Lakers, I certainly wouldn't
be like, well, anytime we're meeting with Luca, Lebron has
(06:17):
to be there because these are the Lakers. Attempt to
compete this season is in one bucket. The Lakers playing
over the next three, five, ten years is in another bucket,
And both of those buckets necessitate a locked in, dialed in,
(06:38):
committed Luka Doncic. So that is priority number one, and
I think Lebron understands that the single most important thing
for the Lakers this summer is to get Luca resigned.
So I wouldn't have viewed that as scandalous. Oh, the
Lakers had a meeting with Luca without Lebron there, but
(07:01):
it was treated like it was in this article, like
it was a fork in the road where the Lakers
are going down the Luca path rather than the Lebron path.
And again that is it is incredibly logical, and I
(07:21):
anybody that thinks Lebron is put off or yeah, is
bothered by the fact that the Lakers priority number one
is making sure Luca is a Laker long term. Doesn't
know Lebron James and doesn't understand the way he views
(07:43):
Luca and what he understands about the NBA. Now it
it is absolutely fair to say. And then I'll get
back to the article that Lebron feels like, all right,
while trying to get Luca locked up long term, we
(08:05):
should try to win right now because we were the
three seed last year. Because I'm still playing at a
undeniable top ten level, Luca is going to go into
next year as one of the three biggest favorites to
win league MVP. That's a team that, if you make
the right moves, can compete for a championship. But those
(08:27):
two things not only are they not mutually exclusive, they
are not in conflict at all. There is nothing better
for Luca's long term future with the Lakers than him
stacking awesome seasons with the Lakers starting immediately. So then
the article goes on to discuss, you know, it talks
(08:48):
about that Lebron released the statement, and again I think
the statement is worth, even though it's now a few
weeks old, worth reminding people exactly what it's said. We
understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the
future is from Rich Paul. We do want to evaluate
what's best for Lebron at this stage in his life
(09:09):
and career. He wants to make every decision he has
left count and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and
want what's best for him. I looked at that statement
as very clearly saying listen, it would seem what's best
(09:29):
for all parties is continuing this partnership and trying to
win a title right now. But if you guys, for
some reason or another, think that you either can't win
a title right now, or making moves to try to
(09:49):
win a title right now while you still have Lebron
James at an all NBA level, is actually going to
hurt your chances of winning multiple titles down the road
with Luca. Well, if that's if that's how you feel,
and that's the road you're gonna take, then we should
(10:12):
discuss whether or not you want me to be I
want to be a part of this and you want
to be a part of this. That to me was
very very straightforward and again not scandalous, and I think
the way most people, if they were advising Lebron James
would would see it as well. And then the article
(10:36):
gets a little confusing because it it then just quotes
anonymous Western Conference executives on their opinions. One Western Conference
executive chalked it up to an elaborate pout because the
Lakers hadn't offered James a new contract extension. More on
(10:58):
that in a moment. Another Western Conference executive felt it
was an attempt to press the Lakers front office to
go all in on building the team this season and
away from its strategy to keep the cap sheet as
clean as possible for the summers of twenty six and
twenty seven after James's salary comes off the books. So
(11:19):
I care less about the Western Armage executive's feelings and
more about if that is the Lakers strategy, that we
are certainly out of the Lebron business after this year,
and we think we are going to be better positioned
(11:45):
to win titles by getting out of the Lebron business
and using his fifty two million dollars on free agents X, Y,
and Z. That's an interesting opinion. I'm very cure us
what free agents they think they are going to get.
(12:05):
And this is an important point here because I don't
know if you guys have noticed, but free agency isn't
what it once was in the NBA. And I'm not
talking about second Apron stuff. I'm talking about the fact
that guys over the last decade have transitioned from letting
(12:29):
contracts expire and hitting free agency to signing extensions as
early as possible, and then if they want to leave,
simply demanding a trade, and the Lakers plan of well,
(12:54):
we're just going to sign. I'm curious again who it
is they think they're going to sign. Now they're the Lakers.
Lebron chose to save them after six years in the Desert.
Lebron then greatly helped them get Anthony Davis, and then
(13:15):
Nico Harrison gifted them Luke ad ancicch that they were
only able to get because they had Anthony Davis. But
they don't have this cupboard of when they traded for
a d they had multiple former number two overall picks
(13:37):
and the number four pick of that draft they were
able to include in that trade. That's not there. And
I just don't see this. Oh my goodness, Jannis is
a free agent in a year and if you have
your cap sheet open, he'll pick La So's It's curious
to me, But a lot of the moves the Lakers
have made her curious to me. And then there's this.
(14:04):
The Lakers had made their statement in not offering James
a contract beyond this season. It was abundantly clear that
the twenty one time All Stars time has face. The
Lakers had for the first time a planned end date,
even if James's record setting NBA career did not. And
this is where the reporting gets interesting to me, because this,
(14:29):
to me feels Ramona is incredibly plugged in with the Lakers,
and for reasons I don't totally understand, and we've talked
about me not understanding it. Wendy and Lebron have had
something of a falling out, it would appear, and so
I think it's safe to say the info on this
(14:52):
is Lakers info. And then Dave mcminnimon, who is pretty
plugged in with Lebron and said he's you know, it
was not quoting anonymous people close to him, was quoting
Rich Paul directly. Dave mcminnimon then reports during Summer League
two days later, oh, by the way, look, we didn't
(15:17):
ask for nor want a contract extension. And then there
is the other reporting, which is to me interesting because
the article initially said that when the Bus family agreed
to sell a majority stake in the franchise Mark Walter
(15:38):
on June eighteenth, Doncic was given a heads up and
notably posted congratulations on social media. Lebron James was given
no heads up. The article was then edited and it
writes now, after the publication of this article, sources said
James was notified of the sale via his representation, but
(15:59):
he did not post any public acknowledgement. And then it
has the part then, of course, the coup de gras
the Lakers, by not offering James extension, indicated they were
comfortable having him on the roster's inspiring contract, a rare
position for a superstar player of his caliber. So I
(16:19):
don't there is there are pretty clearly at this point
it is a less than a happy marriage, and it's
for reasons. And this is the part that I've spent
(16:43):
a good deal of time thinking about. But I just
can't totally understand why. And you might say, ah, Lebron
is Lebron's doing this? But here is to me a
(17:03):
like a fair and Lebron is obviously doing a lot
of this, But is there reason for it? As and
is are there reasons for the Lakers doing what they're doing?
So let's just go through the blow by blow of it.
Is there a reason to believe that Lebron is not
(17:27):
okay taking on a secondary role within the organization, not
that I've seen. What I saw was for four years,
Lebron all but begging Anthony Davis to take the car Keys,
an ad god love and future Hall of Famer great player,
(17:50):
couldn't quite do it and wasn't willing to do it.
They then trade for Luca Lebron correctly does not ask
Luca to change his game at all. Lebron changes his
game massively and all of a sudden turns into maybe
(18:14):
the Lakers' best defensive player is far and away their
best defensive player and arguably their best overall player in
the postseason, and greatly changes the way he's playing while
doing nothing but support Luca, who famously Lebron's on the
(18:37):
record that the only guy he ever tried or wanted
to get to be a Lebron athlete, wearing like the
way Jordan has Jordan athletes at Nike, A Lebron spinoff
sneaker was Luca, a guy who Luca who modeled his
game after Lebron and was his childhood idol. So the
(19:00):
idea that, well, these guys just won't fit that has
not been the case at all. And then there is
the well, we just don't think we can compete with
these guys. I think that is a loser mentality, and
(19:21):
I think it is beyond optimistic that again, if you
simply remove the name and the age when talking about
Lebron and say, hey, what is the likelihood over the
(19:45):
next four years if the Lakers were to move Lebron
move on from Lebron and they don't. They This article
talks about they don't want to trade him, They want
him to just leave in the offseason, either into retirement
or free agency for nothing. Who is the guy? How
(20:07):
are they replacing second team all NBA production? Where is
that coming from? And why would they not say, right now,
this moment, we have something an asset we're not going
(20:27):
to have we're not guaranteed to have at all three
years from now, which is two top ten players, So
maximize this window. I think that's foolish. But I also
if I were running the Lakers, wouldn't go three straight
off seasons without making a single trade. If I were
running the Lakers, there are a lot of things I
(20:49):
would not have done that Rob Blinka and the Bus
and Rambis family have done. But that's what they've done,
and so I do. And I know this for a
lot of you guys are not gonna be surprising coming
from me. But I I do understand lebron side of
the frustration. I don't understand the Lakers side of the frustration.
(21:17):
And if it's that, and if it's that, well, you know,
Lebron's a lot to a lot to deal with. Yeah, man,
every all time great athlete ever is a lot to
deal with in one way, shape or form, And people
keep saying nothing tougher than dealing with an all time
(21:41):
great who's not great anymore. And that's that's the part
of this that I find so puzzling. It's almost as
if the Lakers are frustrated that Lebron hasn't fallen off Lebron.
(22:02):
The Lakers post Westbrook debacle, which obviously Lebron had influence on,
have treated every year as if, well, Lebron's not going
to be that good and therefore it wouldn't make sense
for us to leverage everything to try to win at
(22:25):
this moment. And then each year Lebron shows up on
the All NBA team. Each year Lebron comes to work
and gives you twenty five, seven and seven, it's like, okay,
what do you need? And now, like I understand why
(22:46):
Lebron might say, you know, I don't want to sign
an extension because maybe I do want to hit free
agency and then in my final year go back home
to Cleveland or may find a way to play with
staph and under the new CBA me making fifty million
(23:07):
dollars doesn't make a lot of sense. And next year
there could be teams with some cap space more than
the minimum that I wouldn't mind going to play for.
I understand why Lebron might say I don't want the extension.
I don't understand why the Lakers wouldn't say, hey, you
(23:30):
want to tack one more year on this. So a
lot of this is just to.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Me more.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
More evidence that when the Walter family does come and
take over and they do a true audit of the
decisions and decision makers, that the people in charge of
the Lakers should be anxious. And I understand that all
(24:07):
the reporting is Genie bus can run the team for
the next five years. Let's check back in four or
in three and see who's running the Los Angeles Lakers.
And let's also check back in four or three and
see if this cap space of twenty twenty seven played
(24:31):
out the way they hoped it would. But I cannot
imagine this article landed softly on Lebron's desk, where it
is a lot of innuendo and a lot of Lakers
(24:54):
pretty naked Lakers personnel whispering the ears of Ramona and
Wendy about essentially how eager they are to get out
of the Lebron James business. Me personally, if I'm trying
to win NBA championships, I'd love having two top ten
(25:18):
guys on my team. It doesn't seem like the Lakers
necessarily feel that same way. All right, folks, something special
is about to happen in the Big Easy, one of
my five favorite cities in the country. UFC three eighteen
coming to New Orleans, and it is absolutely stacked. Drafting Sportsbook,
the official sports betting partner of the UFC, has all
(25:40):
the action you need. We're talking Holloway Poyer three, the trilogy,
BMF's titles on the line. More than that, it's Dustin
Pourier's last fight. That's it, the final walk, one of
the all time greats. You taking Holloway's volume or Poitier's power.
If you've never bet UFC DraftKings, don't worry. Just pick
(26:02):
something simple, like a fighter to win, and make your
pick straightforward and easy. Like I told you last week
with the boxing, it's again. I'm not acting like picking
the right side is easy, but it is. You don't
have to be an expert on rear naked chokes to
know I got to pick a winner here and you
can do it that way. Check this out. New customers
(26:23):
who bet just five bucks get one hundred fifty dollars
in bonus bets instantly, a huge boost to get started.
Do not miss Poyer's final fight. Download the DraftKings sportsbook
app right now and use code right that's code WRIGHD
for new customers to get one hundred thy dollars in
bonus bets instantly when you bet just five bucks only
(26:44):
on DraftKings. The Crown is yours.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York
called eight seven seven eight open wire text hope and
wy AT four six seven three six nine In Connecticut,
help is available for a problem gambling called eight eight
eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit
CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothilka
Cinnamon Resorting Kansas twenty one on over agent. Eligibility varies
by jurisdiction Voyd and Ontario. Bet must win to receive
(27:10):
reward minimum minus five hundred odds required. Bonus bets expire
one hundred and sixty eight hours after issue. In four
additional terms and responsible gaming resources see DKNG, dot co
slash audio.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
All Right, the other piece of this is is Luca
gonna sign this extension? And my answer to that question
three weeks ago would have been, obviously, the Lakers have
built in inherent advantages. They now have one of the
(27:41):
richest ownership groups in the league. Luca really likes being
by the ocean, he said, as much. I would imagine
for international players, big cities are always preferable because you're
more likely to have a real community of Slovenians like
(28:03):
and again I don't know how much Luca cares about that,
but it's obviously easier to find a thriving you know,
Slovenian or Serbian or Nigerian or any of you know,
any international community in a place like New York or
LA then it might be in Milwaukee or Cleveland. And
that again, that's not an indictment any of those places.
(28:26):
That's just the reality of geographics and demographics, or not geographics,
but demographics. So I would have said very and Luca's
statement about being excited to win championships with the Lakers
and Mark Mark Walter and all of that, I would
(28:46):
have said, the odds of insigning since in the summer
like ninety five percent. I think the way the Lakers
screwed up the Dorian Finney Smith thing is potentially troubling,
and I think the way the Lakers are not so
(29:07):
subtly dissing Lebron James, who, again as a reminder, the
Lakers were in the midst of the worst six year
stretch they had had in the history of their franchise
in the total wilderness, a bottom two record in the
entire NBA over the half decade before Lebron got there.
(29:27):
Within two years, within one year, he delivered them Anthony Davis.
Within two years, he and AD delivered them a championship.
And then because they had AD, they were able to
get Luka Ancic and he's still performing at a six
in the league in MVP voting level. For them to
(29:50):
lucas not an idiot now be leaking stuff to ESPN
about how excited they are to be done with Lebron,
I can't imagine Luca's happy about that. And again, the
(30:10):
Dorian Finney Smith thing really matters because of the relationship
he had with Luca and the fact that the team
gets a touch worse going from Dorian Finney Smith to
Jake Laurravia. So I I would have said it's ninety
five percent that Luca will re sign this summer. I
(30:35):
now will say it is seventy five percent. I still
think it is overwhelmingly likely, but I would say it
is not a lock, and I would have thought it
(30:59):
was a lock before. So I think that that is
and I know that. So let me because the producers
just asked me, if I don't see him signing with
the Lakers, where would I see him going? So let
(31:20):
me just take a quick look at right now, who
is slated to have cap space next offseason? And the
answer is, once again, not many teams. I mean, Brooklyn
again is slated to def some and then everyone else
is in the negative. But you, of course, like I
haven't really dove in to who has the most flexibility
(31:45):
and the ability to create cap space or move off
guys things like that. Obviously, it would Daniel be thrilled
with this. There's a lot of folks that have wanted
to see Luca and Joker together. I think that is
(32:06):
probably easier said than done. And I also think it's
kind of a weird fit because Joker has you know,
Joker is their point guard, and Luke is the point guard.
There is the thing that I would think would utterly
(32:30):
and thoroughly terrify the entire league, and that is Luca
going to San Antonio, which san Antonio I think, if
they wanted it, would have a ton of cap space
(32:52):
next year. Wimby hadn't been paid yet, Fox is on
and expiring, Barnes is on an aspiring and so they
could certain like they could flat out just afford him.
And so let me just sort by what would be
active cap uh next year. Yeah, so that was the
(33:17):
better way to look at it. Chicago is not to
me a likely destination, and there's the so let me
look at this again. Hold on, sorry, I'm trying to
figure out for the the teams that will you know,
(33:41):
practically have cap space, and and so it again, I
think Luca resigns. But the fact that we're even having
this conversation, if I were the if I were the Lakers,
(34:17):
I would be a little anxious about it. And again
we're not going to find out for a while because
he can't sign the extension until August. Second, but because
he's playing EuroBasket with Slovenia, you know, fat lazy Luganancich,
who all he does every summer is just play basketball.
He he might not uh, he's probably not going to
(34:40):
do anything until the Eurobasket's done. All right. I do
want to talk about what Kevin Durant said last weekend,
but first let me remind you, guys that this is
a message that applies to ninety nine percent of you
listening right now, because that's how many of you can
be covered by fast and reliable service on the Boost
Mobile network with ninety nine percent nationwide coverage. And if
(35:04):
you don't think you deserve a deal, listen up. You've
got another thing coming right now. When you switch to
boost Mobile, you can get iPhone fifteen with Dynamic Island
and a forty eight megapixel main camera for ninety nine
ninety nine. That's ninety nine dollars and ninety nine cents
for iPhone fifteen on a nationwide five G network. This
(35:27):
may only apply to ninety nine percent of you, but
I am one hundred percent positive Boost Mobile just gave
all of us a really freaking good deal in store
credit thirty five dollars. Device setup theme may apply requires
credit qualification, ID verification and activation on a six dollars,
plan taxes, extra five G speeds not available in all areas.
(35:50):
All Right, this I meant to talk about last week,
and I screwed up and I forgot. But Kevin Durant
was on Mine the Game with National Lebron and he
was talking about longevity and while we can just play
it for you courtesy of our friends at Mind in
the game. By the way, I have not asked, and
(36:14):
I don't know if the producers have asked if we
can play this, but I know some of the people
at Uninterrupted I think will be Okay, let's go ahead
and roll it.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Yeah, I'm ten twelve years in, I got full MVPs
of faux championships. Like, but do I still want to
do this shit? You know what I'm saying. Some people
say I don't want to go play baseball, yeah, and
they don't want to come back. Well, some people say
I'm gonna go twenty two straight.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
One of the lines in there is some people say
I want to go play baseball and some want to
play twenty two straight. And I I don't think this
is a controversial or hot take, guys, And yet somehow,
(37:09):
and this is this is one of my and if
you think about this, it really will maybe reframe how
you view some of the Lebron Jordan stuff, which is
(37:31):
so of the myths that exist in NBA history, the
vast majority of them serve one of one or two purposes,
either tearing down Lebron or building up Michael. So like,
(38:01):
in no particular order, I think here's a myth that
just everyone believes. Man, the nineteen eighties were just the
peak of NBA physicality and tough defense, when in reality,
(38:23):
up until the twenty twenties, the nineteen eighties were the
highest scoring decade of post sixties NBA basketball. Now, there
were more flagrant type fouls, but it was running gun
high scoring era. Another one, you know, on the flip
(38:47):
side of that is like one of the most just
up is down, black is white myths is eh Lebron
great player, not that clutch when he has more playoff
game winners, regular season game winners, all of that at
(39:08):
a higher efficiency than any other superstar. Ever, just on
its face, incorrect facts. And the Michael Jordan quit the
sport because of the tragic murder of his father and
(39:29):
therefore it's almost a third rail to discuss him walking
away is just a myth. And the reason I know that,
and the reason you guys know that is because Michael
and Ahmad Rashad told us in the Last Dance if
(39:53):
there was ever any question that I don't know which
episode of the Last Dance, but where Ahmad said, you know,
Michael was telling me essentially for months that he was
going to walk away. And now if you believe, as
(40:14):
I think is a totally legitimate belief, that Michael looked
at it as I beat the game. I did something
no one's done since Russell's Celtics. I have nothing left
to do here. I'm not enjoying this scrutiny and this
and all of it. And then if he was, you know,
(40:37):
on the edge the tragic murder of his father, was
like all right, I need a fresh star on everything.
And then it is even like, so wildly impressive that
he came back and after half a season where they
(40:59):
couldn't get it done, he then rips off another three
pet and that is part of his absolute legend. That's
totally fair. I shouldn't even just say it's fair. That's
my opinion that I think that is a remarkable feat.
But the number of people that think what Durant said
(41:25):
was a hot take rather than an objective fact. That
is how we would evaluate literally anyone in any field ever,
which is, you certainly don't get extra credit for quitting
(41:50):
the thing that we are grading you on. And Kevin
Durant's point not only was it not a hot take,
it is damn near tautology, which is, if we are
discussing the greatest career or greatest player in the history
(42:11):
of the NBA and we say, well, one guy after
a little more than ten seasons, after a dozen seasons,
said okay, this is not even a dozen seasons of
my apologies, I'm gonna step away now after ten seasons,
(42:38):
pardon me, and then quit the game and then came
back two or a year and a half later. That
that year and a half certainly doesn't help his basketball career,
(42:59):
because there was no basketball career. And that if at
least in the consistent year after year after your excellence,
the guy who never stepped away and played at a
(43:20):
top one level as long as any player in the
history of the league, has a top three level longer
than any player in the history of the league has,
and a top five level twice as long as any
player in the history of the league has that. That's
at least a check mark in that guy's column. Now,
is that the whole column? No? Is that the only
(43:40):
thing that matters? Of course not, But is that obviously true? Yes?
And people saw it and were like, oh my god,
Lebron's brainwashed. Another one as opposed to, what are you
guys talking about? If Patrick Mahomes quit this offseason to
(44:05):
go play baseball and two years later came back and
was awesome again, we certainly wouldn't say that time off
helped his quest to catch Brady. And that's all Katie
was saying. But because there's been so much mythology associated
(44:30):
with this person and this career, things that are just
obvious in literally any other mad lib style, remove the
proper nouns and say, in Nick Wright's quest to be
(44:50):
an all time broadcaster, did the two years he took
off to go try to be a professional poker player
before returning to his broadcast career those two years did
that help or hurt his quest to be an all
(45:14):
time broadcaster? We'd be like, well, they certainly didn't help,
probably hurt. And so it's just it was very informative
to me the way people got angry at that take
(45:35):
when it's the most obvious take anyone's ever had. That
being excellent at something for a span of time, with
no break and no years you weren't excellent. That is
a different type of accomplishment than being excellent taking a
(45:56):
year and a half off from it, being excellent taking
three years off from it, than being okay, Like, that's
just obvious. So another take of Kadi's I agree with,
how about that unbelievable by the way, summer's coming in hot. Literally,
(46:17):
there's one thing I'm not messing around with this summer.
It's deodorant. Mando deodorant sweat control built for this season,
blocks odor all day, controls sweat too, and that can
be good. Actually, while I'm doing the pod, like we're
gonna talk about all these different things you can do
when you're sweating. But this room in my house actually, sometimes,
especially in the summer, can get very hot. Sometimes you
(46:39):
guys see it, I'm sweating over it. So Mando's helping out.
So whether I'm doing the pod or grilling in ninety
degrees or heading to a baseball game like I did
yesterday with Andy Parkins, was wonderful son owen or going
for a run. Mando keeps you fresh, all and dry
all day. It's one of the worst feelings when you realize, wait,
does that smell me? With me? Zero concerns because you
(47:02):
know you'll smell grade into the last all day. Mando's
Starter Pack is perfect for new customers. It comes with
the solid stick deodorant, cream tube deodorant, two free products
of your choice like mini body washer deodorant wipes, and
free shipping. And as a special offer for our listeners,
because let's be host, some of you all probably little stinky.
New customers get twenty percent off site wide with exclusive
(47:24):
code use code right at Shopmando dot com for twenty
percent off site wide plus free shipping. If you missed
it the first time, let me tell you once more
so as because this is our first at our first
partnership with Mando. Special offer for listeners. New customers get
twenty percent off site wide with our exclusive code use
code right at Shopmando dot com for twenty percent off
(47:48):
plus free shipping. That's s h O P M A
N d O dot com. Please support the show and
tell them we sent you. That stuff really does help
so if you're just thinking about buying or try out
our friends at Mando use code right helps out a ton.
Mando's got you covered perfect for your pitch. Smell grate
doing it all right. I want to talk a little
(48:10):
w NBA here, uh, and then we'll probably get to
listen or some World Series of Poker and then listener questions.
So Caitlin and Page played in their first pro matchup yesterday.
Caitlyn has not been playing great since returning from her
quad injury. Last night, she was decent in that game
and Page is spectacular. So that has been like and
(48:34):
Page is again. Page was supposed to be Caitlin before Caitlin.
Very different personalities and very different player types. But this
like superstar transcendent guard talent probably for you know, doesn't
hurt their white girls in the marketability piece of it
for big portions as has been a huge discussion point
(48:57):
surrounding Kitlin. But Caitlyn's general excellent and the fact that
she plays like Steph Curry's what really makes her as
marked well as she is far more than her race,
but sidebar to any of that. But then Paige blew
her knee out and it kind of got stalled a bit.
We were kind of deprived of an unbelievable final four
(49:18):
finished a couple of years ago when they called that
what was an off ball foul or whatever it was
when it was Yukon Indiana. And but Paige is going
to be a superstar and Caitlin, despite this little dip,
is a superstar. But I want to talk about for
a moment here, the young lady who was assigned to
(49:43):
be Caitlin's rival because of the college history between them,
and because of some really bad actors on both sides
of this. And I never both sides anything, but there
are some really bad actors on both sides of the
Angel reies Caitlin clerk thing. And no, I'm not going
to talk about the meme that no one saw until
(50:03):
one person tweeted it. I want to talk about Angel
because I said a month ago or maybe longer, that
if Angel and Caitlin are going to be a rivalry,
Angel's got to hold up her end and play better,
and that Angel's celebrity was outpacing her productivity, and that
(50:29):
at the time she was a very very famous rebounder.
Well for the better part of the last of the
last month it's clicked in for Angel Reese June twenty fourth.
I don't need to tell you the dates, but dating
back to June twenty fourth, in a win against the
(50:50):
Sparks eighteen seventeen, six and four, and this is important,
on fifty percent from the field and eighty six percent
from the line. The next game against the Valkyrie seventeen
and eighteen on forty four percent from the field, one
(51:11):
hundred percent from the line. The next game against the
Sparks twenty four sixteen seven, one and two on fifty
three percent from the line and from the field, pardon me,
and one hundred percent from the line. The next game
against maybe the best team in the league, Minnesota sixteen
(51:36):
seventeen and six on forty four percent from the field,
one hundred percent from the line. The next game against
the Mystics twenty two fifteen and four on fifty six
percent from the field and twelve of fifteen from the
line to eighty percent. The next game against Dallas fifteen
(51:57):
and eleven on sixth sixty percent from the field and
the line, And the next game against Minnesota again nineteen eleven,
four and two on fifty seven percent from the field,
seventy five percent from the line. Angel Rees is making
her bunnies, and Angel Reese is playing efficient basketball, which
(52:21):
makes Angel Reese because of her impact on the game
defensively and on the glass and her underrated passing. The
way she's been playing the last month, she's top fifteen
player in the league. And that's awesome because it was
(52:42):
weird for a player who I think was number two
recruit in her class two page and I think it
was to page, a player who was pre Caitlin and
all of that, nanimous first team All American and one
(53:05):
of the best players in the country. It was odd
to me that her sophomore season didn't pop, and now
it's popping, and now all of a sudden, it is
the Skier, a team that, again the WNBA's weird is
(53:28):
the wrong word, but it's different because there's so few
teams that you really do have the ability to pull
yourself to find a way into the playoffs, so to speak,
that you otherwise might not be cause eight make it,
(53:50):
and there's only fifteen teams in the league. Four are
gonna make it out of the East. Right now. The
Sky are in fifth and they're listen, there are ways
back there three and a half back. But if the Mystics,
who are playing really well right now, trip up the
(54:11):
sky could catch him. And I have really tried to
on this show at least when we talk about basketball,
to talk about basketball. And it is really nice to
(54:32):
see Angel Reese, despite all of the noise around her,
to be playing the best basketball she's played as a pro.
It's been great, all right, very quick tennis corner. I
obviously was very bummed that Alcarez didn't win Wimbledon. Janick
(54:53):
Center good for him avenging his French Open loss. The
producers are asking to center Alcarez have the potential be
an all time rivalry and the answer to that question
is no, uh and it listens. Center is really good
and I and he's also like Alcarez young. I don't
(55:15):
I think it is. Here's why my answer is no.
I think we were spoiled by the Big Three era,
and because of the Big Three era of these all
time historic legends playing simultaneously, that we expect that to
(55:44):
happen again. I think Alcarez is that all time historic
legend level. I don't listen, Center's young, and he's got
four majors, so maybe I'm maybe I am selling him
a bit short, but I think he is a tier
(56:10):
beneath where Alcarez is going to be. I think he's
probably closer to the Augusty tier than the Joker Federer
adult tier when it's all said and done, and I
(56:34):
think Alcarez is close to the Joker Federer and adult
tier than the Augusty tier. Now again, maybe I'm being
unfair to Center. He's only twenty three to twenty four.
He's now in the last two years, won four Majors
and final to French. That's the only reason I don't
have the career Grand Slam. But I'll still I'll still
(56:57):
be a I just don't know that Carlos is going
to have a true one for one rival. All right,
before we get to the listener questions, World Series of Poker,
A lot of legitimate controversies, controversies Kassouf and one Chip
stalling and all this stuff. I'm going to talk about
a lot of that on the broadcast, and I don't
(57:18):
know how much this audience cares about that. And if
you do care about it, you'll get it on the broadcast,
and maybe I'll do it on Thursday. A bit I
do want to talk about this final table, however, because
the final table is set and the story is For
the first time in more than thirty years, there is
(57:43):
a woman at the final table. She was the last
woman standing at the World Series Main event sixteen years ago.
She is from Spain. She is absolutely delightful. Her name
is Leo Margetz. She is dead even in chips with
fifty four million, and her winning this tournament would be
(58:08):
the greatest thing to happen to poker since Chris money
Maker won the tournament and it's in play, she absolutely
can win. She yesterday twice, i think twice, got her
money in on coin flips, which you have to do.
That's not an indictment at all. You have to do
that in this tournament multiple times. But the reason it's
(58:30):
noteworthy is both times she got out flopped and then
both times hit runner runner to win the coin flip.
So it's twice she has had it in you know,
pair versus two overcards or two overcards versus the pair
and gotten cracked on the flop to where it looked
(58:51):
like she was dead and then hit perfect perfect or
something close to it to stay alive, which has been amazing. Theater.
She would be unbelievable if she won this thing, and
it's already unbelievable that she's this far. I think she
has to get to fourth to be the best finish
ever for a woman in the main event. I think
(59:12):
she already has locked up the most money any woman's
ever made in the main event. The other story, obviously
is Michael Msrocky, who won the most prestigious tournament of
the summer, the fifty Kay Poker Players Championship, for the
fourth time. And this is an old school gambler, literally
(59:35):
as an ace tattooed up his sleeve, has stuff tattooed
on him, does not do the gto stuff, talks, gambles,
drinks at the table. It's awesome. It's also unbelievable that
he four times has won the most prestigious tournament at
the World Series and now is second in chips at
(59:58):
ninety three million, when early yesterday he got it all
in Ace Jack versus Ace Queen lost and was down
to three big blinds, And to now have more than
fifty to be in second, to build it up from
(01:00:18):
there and to have a chance to go fifty KPPC
and ten thousand player injury main event. It would arguably
be the single greatest summer in the history of the
World Series of Poker. The other folks at the table
of note John Waznak, who's just an amateur player, a
(01:00:38):
family man, incredibly likable. He is the chip leader with
one hundred and eight million. Watching him yesterday was unbelievable.
He was just He played incredibly tight, picked his spots,
kept getting it in good, kept winning. There was also
a moment where he had Ace King. It was so
(01:01:00):
it was so fascinating. It was someone three bet with
Ace Queen. He four bet with Ace King, pocket Jacks
then folded. Ace Queen called it off. It came all
low cards had pocket Jack's called Ace Queen would have
(01:01:21):
folded for sure, and Wasnock would have been out like
thirteenth place. And I forget who it was with Jack's
I think it's the guy who came in tenth would
have had huge chips instead Jack's fold, Ace Queen gets
it in, He's out. Wasnock now ends up spinning up
(01:01:44):
to one hundred and eight million. There's a bunch of
other great players, and then there is the guy I
bet on who oddly and I found this out yesterday.
There is out there in the universe producers. If you
guys can buy check on eBay it might be this
might be a good investment. The one of one, I
(01:02:06):
think is on eBay. There is a poker trading card
signed by three people. One of them is me and
the other one is Adam Hendrix, who is seventh right
now in Chips. He is in my opinion, either the
best or the second best player left at the in
the field. And he has forty eight million, which is plenty.
(01:02:29):
I think it's thirty bigs and he's he was my
bet to win it. I bet yesterday going into day
eight I with a friend I like, I told them
they could have the chip. We just it's I ain't.
People ask me because I tweeted about this, what odds
I get? I didn't get odds. There's twenty five people left.
(01:02:51):
What I said was to my little gambling consortium, if
anyone wants the chip leader, who at the time was
Kenny Hollert, who's still in it. By the way, he's
fourth in Chips with eighty million. All take Adam Hendrick's
even money and I, you know, seemingly I was getting
(01:03:13):
the bad side of that because Hollert was the chip leader.
But I think Hendricks can win. But right now gotta
be rooting for Leo and for the Grinder. So I
fly out there tonight. It will be it will be
absolutely thrilling. The one you guys are putting in the
(01:03:36):
chat is the one of four or the in the
I think on there is a one of one autograph.
Maybe it's my one of one. Whatever it is, I'm
not sure. It doesn't matter, don't worry about it. But
it's just I if this guy ships the main I
just think you guys should maybe buy uh oh, the
(01:03:58):
one of one that's up for me does not have
Adam Hendrix on it. I'm just telling you I think
those Adam Hendricks signed cards could be worth something. That's
all all right, the I appreciate everyone for listening. Evan asked,
would I ever do a top twenty tennis players ever?
Like your Top fifty basketball? Probably not quite enough of it,
(01:04:21):
not Probably definitely not enough of an expert on that
to really do that list. Justice Dave asked, is this
actually live or pre recorded? No? This is actually live.
We tell you if it's pre recorded, but this is
actually live. The producers asked, who know is coming to Vegas?
Kind of which board games would you win the most
money playing. I don't know about which board game, but
(01:04:44):
I'll play high dollar Dominos against anybody. I'll do that.
I would like to say I would play high dollar Spades,
but that's so partner dependent. But the reality is I'm
I'm good at those types of games if you just
(01:05:05):
I just need to know the rules and watch it
played once, and I'm pretty good at that stuff. Demanse
would be Demonse's great at Monopoly, and I've considered staking
him in some real money, semi high stakes Monopoly games.
I might do that one day. All right, like rate,
(01:05:27):
subscribe review, I'm headed to Vegas. We'll be back on Thursday.
Thank you de Mando, Thank you to DraftKings, thank you
to the volume, Thank you guys, so many people we
gotta think. Thanks my friends at Blue Duck, uh, thanks
to our friends at boost Mobile. Thank you to all
of you guys. More than anything, poker. Go to watch
the World Series main event Final Tale will be on
(01:05:49):
the call and FS one to watch us all back
on TV regular two hour show today three to five.
See you guys there. We'll trade m alright, yep, alright,
(01:06:11):
I'll see you guys. Alright bye,
Host
Nick Wright
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.