On today’s episode, Jason discusses the wild rumor that Klay Thompson is dating pop star Megan Thee Stallion, why LeBron James has refused to shut down the speculation surrounding his future with the Los Angeles Lakers, which of the 4 reported teams who want to trade for LeBron (Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers) makes the most sense in any potential deal, whether The King's 3 NBA Finals MVPs with 3 different NBA franchises is really as impressive as it sounds, and if we should be concerned about Caitlin Clark's ongoing shooting slump.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, straight bar faym, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fire for Monday, July fourteenth. It is Major League
Baseball All Star Week. You got the home run derby,
you got the All Star Game. Everybody fired up about
some of these All Star picks. Oh my god, sorry, guys.
I looked at the uh, looked at the roster, said
(00:31):
I don't think I can offer much to add to
the MLB All Star rosters. But luckily Rob G and
I reunited. We haven't actually chopped it up in a minute,
because you know, I was out of town and he's
obviously always busy. Robbed you with the two kids under
three years old, that's always difficult. But he is joining
(00:51):
me today and now you know he got some decent
Nothing amazing happened over the weekend. I know you guys
want the transition of football badly, but I mean, I'm looking,
there isn't Jack Squad happening, you know, Patrick Mahone saying
some stuff like there just isn't a lot going on
in the world of NFL. There is, however, huge news
(01:13):
involving Klay Thompson dating a celebrity. Oh yeah, that was
like the biggest thing I saw on my feet all weekend.
Clay Thompson now dating Meg the Stallion. I mean, I'm
dimly familiar with her work, and I guess they went
Instagram official. So shout out to Clay Thompson, who, now
I guess uh is dating Meg the Stallion. I don't
(01:35):
really know where to go with that, rob g, but
you could probably build at least a thirty thirty minute
segment out of can Meg the Stallion do for the
Warriors what Taylor Swift did for the Chiefs, obviously taking
them over the top into Super No, she didn't do that.
I mean, come on, it was a fun run they had.
I think it's over you guys don't my take on
(01:56):
the Chiefs. But yeah, it was just it was one
of those slow weekends, and honestly, if we're being real,
the biggest news involved the NBA Summer League, not anything
that happened on the court, but something that happened court side.
Lebron James showed up to watch his son and Dave
mcmanhaman who was on the podcast shoot I think last
month goes up to Lebron Hey Lebron was wondering if
(02:19):
you'd want to talk about the summer and your future
plans with Lakers, and he's like, I don't have anything
to talk about. And that was that, and of course
this got robbed g a little nervous Laker Nation. Oh no,
Lebron's pissed. I don't know, it's July. He's letting his
son have his moment right in the Summer League. Cooper
(02:39):
Flags now been shut down after he went postal in
the second game, and it's like, you know, my guess,
Rob is this is much ado about nothing. This is
Lebron just letting it be known that he's angry. But
I ultimately just I've looked at trades from every direction.
I don't see anything potentially materializing.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, me either. It's just well, first off, shout out
to Clay Thompson man. I saw someone say on Twitter
over the weekend that in the Klay Thompson sign Introdus
in Golden State in Dallas, the real big winner was
Klay Thompson because now he's with Cooper Flag obviously, and
then he upgraded and he's able to hook up with
someone like making the Stallion and it's all good. It's
like the trajectory is just going up right now. We
(03:19):
thought Clay was on the downworrdy, but apparently he's coming
back up. See the way City boys we up, you know.
But with the Lebron James situation, what really surprised me
is that he went on the record himself, like and
Dave mcmanhiman shout out to him. He's one of the
few guys who talked to Lebron directly. You know. Most
people just go through Rich Paul for a lot of stuff,
but he's one of the guys who can get Lebron
(03:42):
to put something on the record for things, And even
as simple as I ain't got nothing to talk about
really speaks volumes. Because Lebron James, if he wanted to,
could have shut all of this down immediately and said, Hey,
I'm a Los Angeles Laker, I'm excited to run it
with Luke. I think we can unfinished business, point blank, period.
(04:03):
And he could still move behind the scenes and try
to orchestrate his way out of town or try to
figure out some kind of way to power play his
way somewhere else. And he didn't. He just kind of
let it float off into the Ether, and then in
the midst of that same report, Rich Paul lets it slip, well,
we had four different teams reach out to see about
(04:24):
trading for Lebron number one. That is tampering. That is
flat out illegal in the NBA. So I'm surprised that
an agent of his stature would just kind of let
that slip out, like, yeah, I know that he's currently
under contract, but four different teams already said he likes
trade for him, and they've talked to me about his
interest in joining the team. And it's like, well, I
can't really do that. But thankfully, because it is Lebron
(04:46):
James and it is Rich Paul and Clutch Sports, and
they have a lot of people around the league that
they talk to. Even if Lebron doesn't talked to him,
Rich Paul talks to damn near everybody. I can tell
you that for a fact. And Scoop Bee, who's been
on this show before a couple years ago, went on
the record. He says, Hey, I know who the four
teams are that reached out and talked about Lebron, Dallas,
(05:07):
Golden State, Cleveland, and the Clippers. So Jam, I'm gonna
running back to you Number one, do you believe that
those four teams did reach out? And yes, whatever the
answer is, do you see any realistic avenue for any
of those four teams to get the King?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So let's go through them. Okay, So right out of
the gate, everybody's been speculating Dallas because of the Kyrie
connection and Ad. Obviously the Lakers just did le Luca
deal with Dico Harrison at Dallas. They absolutely pulled off
a heist in that trade. Everybody agrees, regardless of what
has happened since it was a heist. There's no way
(05:46):
the Lakers are going back to that deal. They're not
giving up Cooper Fly. The Lakers have no interest in Clay.
They're not giving up Ad. They're not giving up Kyrie.
He's injured. So what are you getting?
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Do you really think the.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Lakers are giving up a second team All NBA guy
and Lebron for like Daniel Gafford and Klay Thompson and hey,
you could take back super Max Christy and then here,
I don't even know what the map is draft. There's
no way the Lakers are doing that. I don't see that.
And you could dream all you want about flag, There's
(06:19):
no way that they're not trading Cooper Flag. So then
it becomes would they trade ad And I'm like, back
to the Lakers, the Lakers traded into None of it
makes sense to me. Is there any world I would
give Dallas zero percent chance to get Lebron zero percent?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
I gotta go a little bit in that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
What do you have it at two?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Somewhere in the ten to fifteen percent?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
What?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Now, again, you got to factor this in that I've
said on the record, what is about three weeks ago
when this whole thing first started a bubble over that
I were to put the chances of Lebron actually changing
teams at ten or fifteen percent. So ten to fifteen
percent of ten to fifteen percent is what like two percent? Whatever?
I'm not a math patition, but and we'll get to
the other teams here in a second. If you just
(07:03):
look at the salaries and you know this apron bullshit
that we keep having to deal with, when you factor
all that kind of stuff in, Dallas is one of
only a couple of teams that actually could make the deal.
Now it might not be a great deal, but they
could cobble together the aforementioned legend. Klay Thompson, Hey man,
(07:24):
make it still to come to LA. You know, you
can put Clay in, Gafford in Washington and.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Hold on, hold on, I just looked it up. Gafford's
making fourteen mil next year then eighteen eighteen eighteen. The
Lakers don't want to be taking on salary, like.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I agree, I agree with you.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
PJ. Washington is expiring though, but Clay sixteen, Gafford fourteen,
you know, plus whatever, So that thirty one. Essentially between
those two PJ. Washington fourteen, you're only up to forty
five mil Lebron, so you still need another seven mil.
Max Christy, Max Christy, maybe Nauseie Marshall whatever. That that
does nothing for me a bunch of let's a you know,
(08:00):
I hate to use the word poop pooh platter here,
but Rob, is that not the definition of poo Clay Gafford,
PJ and Max Christy.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
It's not ideal. And even if from the Dallas perspective,
you know, Kyrie realistically is out till February or March
next year. So even if you were to make a
deal like this and the Lakers somehow said yes, you're
talking about ad Lebron James, D'Angelo Russell and uh Derek
(08:31):
Lively Derek Cooper Flag. So basically you're talking about the
the Los Angeles Lakers moving to Dallas from two years
ago and just adding Cooper Flag, a rookie Cooper Flag
and Derek Glavely missed most of the last season with
an injury. Like is that team a championships? Probably not,
you know, so like what are we doing here? And
that's a joy?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
So okay, So let me just ask you Clay Gafford,
PJ and Max Christy over under half an All Star
Game combined for them in the rest of their careers.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Oh? Under?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yes, zero. So I don't know where you're taking on
Gafford's bad deal. Yeah, I don't see it happening, So
let's rule them out. So MAVs were one who was
the second list on the second team on Scoops one
Golden State. So that's the one where it's like, okay,
do you just want to swap Jimmy Butler for Lebron?
And I like Jimmy Butler as much as anybody, but
(09:25):
I'm not doing that. I'm sorry, I'm just I'm not
giving up Lebron for Jimmy Butler. I don't Does Jimmy
Butler work with Luca? I don't know. I mean, we've
seen Lebron and Luca do fairly well outside of the
Minnesota series. I don't know. Is that an upgrade? Are
the Lakers better with Jimmy Butler than they are with Lebron?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
No?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Okay, so she could we cross the off the list?
Ok So what's number three?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
It's so then you move down the list. Now Cleveland,
And that's the one that's been speculated about since Lebron
put out this passive aggressive statement through Rich Paul, and
we talked about it about this podcast ad nauseum because
we thought, hey, he's going back home. It's perfect sense,
you know, all this synergy. Lebron the King returns to
Cleveland for the farewell tour and it sounds great. And
(10:11):
then Bobby Marks ESPN, you know, Capologist basically shoots down
the entire thing. Any imagination, any images you had of
Lebron and the return. You're like, well, they have to
cut like sixty million dollars in salary just to even
have a negotiation because they're so deep in salary. Cap Hell,
you can't even do it. And you're like, oh, well,
(10:34):
that's not fun, Like like we can't even theorize the
idea of Lebron and not of in Mitchell net Like no, no, no,
you can't because they got to just to even have
a conversation, just to even open the trade docs. You'd
be like, hey, someone has to take DeAndre a hundred
for nothing, so we've gotta take Max Strews for nothing, basically,
and it's like, well, who's taking on forty million dollars
for nothing?
Speaker 1 (10:55):
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Speaker 2 (11:08):
I didn't realize it was that bleak. And it's not
like they could just they wouldn't do this. But Evan
Mobley is an ascending player. I think he was All
Defensive Player of the Year. I mean, he's gonna be
making a lot of money for a long time. He's
probably got another fifteen years, ten to fifteen years in
the league. Lebron's not like one or two. You're not
giving up Evan Mobley, right, I don't think you're giving
(11:28):
up Donovan Mitchell. But it sounds like you don't even
think or Bobby Marks doesn't even think that's feasible.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
No, Like at the time, the popular trade package that
people floated out was Alan and Garland for lebron.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Al Jared Allen and Darius Garland.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
I need ways more than that, and those I mean,
those guys in the vacuum are good players like that,
those two alone, I think is better than anything that
Dallas could offer. But then the problem is, like you mentioned,
you're taking on what is that one hundred and forty
undred thirty million dollars Darius Garland, You're taking on sixty
eight one hundred and twenty million dollars of Jared Allen,
and then on top of that they'd have to offload
(12:06):
like thirty million dollars in salary for nothing.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So this is where people were saying that the new
CBA like killed free agency. My guess is, and this
technl is a free agency. This would be a trade.
But this is kind of what they were meaning, Like
all the excitement of ooh, could this guy ask out?
Could he go here? It just gets so complicated now.
And the last team was I think you said the Clippers.
(12:29):
I just don't envision any scenario where Lebron decides I'm
going to go across town to play basketball, Like why
inferior everything except maybe arena, which is really nice? And again,
riddle me this, how on earth are we getting Lebron
to the Clippers? Like what are the Clippers giving back?
(12:50):
Zubach Bogdanovic, John Cott, I don't know whatever it is, like,
it just doesn't make sense. And I don't know, Rob.
It's almost depressing to kind of think about this stuff
because people are like, well, Lebron wants out. It's just
not happening, right, I mean, is there a world where
he just says I'm walking away from basketball? Do use
second t bawl NBA last year?
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Why would he do that? I don't know. And you
know what's funny is there's this weird narrative that reputable
sports media NBA insiders like, well, what if he just
gets a buyout from Lakers? Like why on earth would
the Lakers give Lebron the favor of yeah, well, we'll
eat fifty two million dollars against the cap to you know,
make sure you're happy like that. That just doesn't make
(13:34):
any sense. It's not like Lebron James and this might
be an issue that he's gonna run into, or has
run into a little bit in his career, is that
outside of Cleveland, and even then it ended poorly the
first time, Lebron doesn't get that same goodwill with fan
bases that you know, Kobe God, that Dirt God that
Tim Duncan got, you know, like Steph Curry currently gets
(13:58):
Joannis currently gets because Lebron James made himself a mercenary
similar to what Kevin Durant is doing right now. It's like,
you show up places, you know, post the first Cleveland stint.
You show up places you try to dictate the terms
of what's gonna happen around you. You try to strong
(14:19):
arm the organization into getting your coach, your players, your system,
like everything has to evolve around Lebron James. And on
top of that, he's gonna put pressure on you based
on either the way that he does these passive aggressive
tweets or statements or whatever, or as simple as I'm
only signing one plus one deals so that I'm always
putting my finger on the button so that if you
(14:40):
don't do what I want, I'm gonna eject ocdo out
of here, and you're gonna to figure it out. And
when you do stuff like that, even though it works
at the time, now that Lebron is gonna be forty
one years old, he doesn't necessarily have like that goodwill
built up with the Lakers, like, hey, we're gonna do
you as solid because everything you've done for us. It's
like no, no, no, working that way with you.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I guess my only counter is his strategy works. It's
not like one of these and I don't want to
invoke Richard Gear from Pretty Woman, but there's a lot
of other examples of these business guys, these tycoons who
just buy a business, take it over, chop a bunch
of heads, change a couple things, and then sell it
(15:23):
and make a profit. Sure, because of all the changes,
Lebron says, I can come in, you guys can operate
around me. I'm the son of your solar system, right
and make moves and we'll win championships. And it worked
when he went to Miami, it worked when he went
back to Cleveland, it worked when he went to Lakers. However,
he's now forty years old, well forty and a half,
(15:46):
and you're looking around and you're like, well, nobody's really
gonna do that anymore unless some you know, you can't
use Orlando anymore. But like, I don't know, Rob could
could Charlotte think, you know, let's just forget this LaMelo
ball experiment. Not not this year right now, obviously, but
what if we just built around Lebron and Brandon Miller
(16:08):
will have sold out arena every night? Hey, come on, Bronni,
you come with come with Dad. You know we'll put
you guys. I mean there's teams that are desperate around
the league, just completely desperate to be relevant and pack
their arena. And then maybe you get to the playoffs
in the East and you host to you know, host
a couple of playoff games, maybe you win a playoff.
I mean, you don't think, Rob, You don't tell me
(16:29):
the Chicago Bulls wouldn't kill to get Lebron and Bronni.
I mean they're an awful spot financially, their rosters crap.
I can't tell you. The last time they want a
playoff series might have been like with Leuell Bang and
Joe Kim. Noah, they haven't been anything for fifteen years. Lebron,
I guarantee. I don't know if the salaries would match up,
but if you take Lebron and Bronni, forget Bronnie. If
(16:53):
you just put Lebron on the Chicago Bulls, I would
guess that they'd be top eight in the East. I
was just a guess that might be a bit of
a reach, like a Josh Kitty Kobe White.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
You know, well, I.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Technically I don't think they have Josh Kitty right now. Yeah,
restricted free, but yeah, yeah, just give me some shooters,
give me some defense. Oh, actually their team is quite bad.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well see, going back to your original point, I think
that is why. And this goes back to the podcast
we did when all this first happened. The first team
that you and I both addressed was Cleveland because of
the homecoming, but the one right after that was the Knicks.
And it satisfies a lot of the things that you mentioned.
Number one is, hey, if we get Lebron and we
(17:35):
have the biggest star of the sport playing at the
mecca of basketball, and it's just becomes a a I mean,
they don't have problem selling tickets anyways, but it becomes
a moment in time. Man. You got Lebron at Madison
Square Garden on a Saturday night, hosting the Lakers or
whatever it is, Like it's a storyline, it's something that
people are gonna care about. And James Dolan is one
(17:58):
of those guys who cares about the headlines. And that's
part of the reason why I think he moved off
of Tips is because he's like, hey, I wanted to
win the offseason kind of a thing and this guy
is just not doing it for me. Didn't work out
for him, But like he's one of those he's a
Jerry Jones type where he just likes the idea of
his team, you know, being you know, notable, like people
want to talk about him, but you also consider your point.
(18:21):
The Eastern Conference is really watered down. There are avenues
where you could add Lebron James and still keep a
really strong roster around him, and you would think that
that would make sense. But then the what people don't
even realize is Mike Brown gave an off the cuff
interview to some one of his friends that he knows
on his way out the door heading into New York,
(18:42):
say hey, what about these rumors about Lebron and the Knicks,
And rather than laugh it off or just kind of say, ah,
you know what, I wonry about my team, he says
directly to this guy, and it's been reported, Yeah, I
traded my wings for it for Lebron like crazy. And
as soon as you put that out there, it kind
of pours water on it because I'm sure if I
saw it, I bet you Lebron saw it or someone
(19:03):
in his camp saw and it's like, well, oh, they
don't want me there either. Now what.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
It's a listen man. It's never easy when you get older,
you know. I think even in the NFL, Joe Montana
was the superstar and then he got injured and Steve
Young kind of takes the spot and where's Montanagal and
he goes to Casey He was fine. I'm pretty sure
they made the playoffs, but like that was it, you know,
even something like Cam Newton, like nobody wanted that guy
at the end. Now, Lebron's at the height of his power,
(19:30):
is still at least ninety percent of what he used
to be, would you say or is that too high?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I think that kind of short changed how good he
was during like the heat and the second Calves era especially.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah, actually, you're right. He went to the finals eight
years in a row.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Kick out, he's probably like seventy five eighty percent, but
the way the way the league has shifted, he still
is as effective or almost as effective as ever.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, whereas a guy like Cam Newton just fell off
a cliff. You know, he goes to the Patriot and
had like a couple of moments they didn't make the playoffs.
Then I was like, yeah, it's Mac Jones is gonna
be the guy. And then you know Cam's bouncing around
and there's nothing like Lebron is doing things that are
just insane and it's crazy. Somebody had posted this stat
(20:15):
on I don't remember where I saw it, but they said,
you know, Lebron was the MVP of the Finals for
three different franchises. Just think about that for a second.
A lot of guys you just want to be the
Finals MVP once. Imagine doing it twice, going to two
different places and doing it. Then think about a third.
So I just poked around real quick, and nobody has
(20:38):
been a World Series MVP for three different teams. Okay,
this stuff just doesn't happen. It definitely has not happened
in basketball. And I could not find three different MVPs
in Super Bowls, And I I'm not sure, rob I
don't think Tom Brady was the MVP when he went
to Tampa in the Super Bowl. I think it was
somebody from the defense because they just destroyed Patrick Mahones
(20:59):
with a bunch of sacks. But it was like, do
you actually know how hard that is to win a
championship somewhere, be the best player in the championship, then
go to another team, get to the championship, be the
best player there, and then do it a third time.
And I think, like, again, people don't take that into
consideration when the goat topic is up. Oh well, Michael
Jordan wanted six times. Jordan got in a great perfect
(21:21):
spot in Chicago. The magic Larry Isaiah faded out. There
was really nobody to challenge him unchecked. He never even
won seven games in the finals and just rolled it
for the first three quits, comes back, wins another three
with a really, really good team, and it's it's just odd,
(21:43):
Robbed that Lebron doesn't get more credit for doing that.
I mean, honestly, part of me, yeah, there's a little
part of me that would love to see him have
a fourth chance to be a finals MVP for a
fourth Francis, I think that's impossible. But given what we've
seen for Lebron on over the last twenty years, I
don't think you'd rule out anything, can you.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
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Speaker 3 (22:15):
Going back to Tom Brady, he did win Super Bowl MVP,
and that he did. Okay, he, even though he was
very didn't have to do a whole of a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
How was he in that game?
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Final numbers look not too bad, twenty one of twenty
nine for two hundred and one yard three touchdowns. But
you know you recalled it.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
But okay, that's fine, that's true. I was, yeah, that's fine.
So I was wrong. So Tom Brady won it with
the Yeah that Patriots and.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Bucks the defense blew the doors off of that in
that game. He didn't really have to do ahole of
a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Okay, Well, Tom, come back and go win it with
a third team. Sure, Well, okay, so would be the
equival Lebron. Here's the thing with Lebron, and this is
I agree with you the general sentiment. I guess to
play Devil's Advocate. Just to further the conversation, could you
almost argue that him winning an MVP or winning a
championship with three different teams is almost I can call it negative,
(23:00):
but it is not as impressive when you consider any
player worth their salt is not bouncing around like that.
Like if you look back at some of the greatest
players ever, they're one team for most ninety percent of
their career, especially during their prime years, because they are
just gonna keep going at it, like, Hey, I'm gonna
if I don't win it this year, I want to
run it back and I'm gonna try to do it again.
(23:22):
And Lebron's attitude has for basically the last seventy percent
of his career has been if I can't do it here,
I'll go somewhere else and do it someoney's gonnave me
a better chance. And that's a different outlook than what
you had guys like Jordan, Magic Bird, Duncan, Kobe, you know, Haquem.
(23:42):
I guess Shaq would be the closest comparison because Shaq
hopped around a little bit. But like this idea of
guys changing teams not just like to chase a ring,
but to do it in the middle of your prime
is a relatively new thing. Yeah, I don't. I wonder
Ifu'll see that anymore, Like, well SGA just get bored
(24:02):
in OKAYC and say, you know what, I'm out. I
wanna go win a championship somewhere.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Else, like I'm gonna go partner up with Polo Benko
or something like that.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, I mean, I like an applaud what Lebron has done.
But I did see an interesting stat up. I don't
know it exactly, but I guess the majority of people
in America end up moving like less than one hundred
miles away from where they grew up, and that's where
they end up like living and raising a family. And
it's because a lot of people are just kind of
(24:33):
either afraid or cautious or they want to stay around
the known as if they're the unknown is fearful, and
the majority of people stay close to where they grew up.
And and maybe this is why I'm so pro Lebron.
You know, I packed my Some of my family did
think I was a little crazy when I was like, yeah,
we're moving to Los Angeles, you know, and what you
(24:56):
don't know anybody out there. O God, I am TV Opportunity.
Can't turn that down, you know. And it's risky. It
was risky, this is now you're nine here, close to
signing a new deal which would take us for a
few more years. So I think a lot of people
are afraid to do that. And it's similar in the NBA,
(25:18):
Like you're drafted, they have you for five, six, seven years.
You put down roots, right, maybe you meet a girl,
you get married, the community loves you, your jersey sales.
It's tough to walk away from that.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Man.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I think it's tougher to walk away than it is
to stay. Yeah, and for like Kevin Durant to leave
OKC and all that venom, he was just bring all
the smoke. I don't care, Lebron, I don't give a shit.
I got to do what's best for me. And that's
why I applaud these guys for jumping around. I mean,
it's so easy for Devin Booker to be like, yeah,
I'll take seventy two and a half million dollars. Sure,
But if Devin Booker really looked in the mirror and said, well, shit,
(25:53):
I'm not winning anything here. We cooked I'm not top eight.
I don't think I think we're playing in the next
couple of years. It's tough to do that and then
say I want out. A lot of people don't want
the hate and the venom. They don't want to wear
the black hat. If you will and be disliked by everybody,
and it's not just the people in your community, then
(26:14):
it's everybody in the country. Rob, All other fans are like, wait,
remember when Paul George asked out of Indiana. He was
like sad admitting that he wants out, he wants to
go west, and everybody's like, you're a loser, you just
want to go.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Well, it led to him reupping in Oklahoma City. It did,
That's right, Like he was so worried to the blowback
is I'm just gonna reup and get unfinished. And then
not even a year later he's like, I'm gone. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I mean, Kawhi asking out of San Antonio is very strange,
ends up in Toronto for a year, and you know,
nobody hated him for leaving. I guess because he won
them a chip. But like, this idea of sticking around
is just so much easier than it is leaving it
and that, I guess my long way of saying to
your point was, yeah, I don't think it's a knock
(26:58):
on Lebron that he's moving around all the time. It's
like Jim Harball, is there is there a similarity. Jim
Harball kind of wears people down. He goes to stand
for for a few years, Wins, moves on, Niners for
a few years, Wins, moves on Michigan, Wins moves on.
Is there a similarity there? I mean, it's different because
(27:18):
it's a player versus coach, but some people are just
built to bounce around.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, it's just it's it is a weird or not weird.
It's an unusual thing historically from what we're used to
because nobody impacts their sport more than an NBA player,
I guess than NFL quarterbacks. Yeah, like that's the otherwise.
You can you can be a fantastic wide receiver and
it won't really matter because you need a lot of
(27:45):
things to happen for you to have any kind of success.
A quarterback is the only guy who touches the ball
on every play, so he's the one who that's why
they have wins or not a quarterback sat or they
are quarterbacks back because they're the ones who most directly
impact winning. And that's how it is in the end,
Na Whare if you are a great player, no matter
what you have going around you, you impact the game
(28:06):
more than everybody else. Yeah, Like that's just kind of
the way it is. So I guess, I mean, like,
who's someone who if with like Aaron Rodgers. But Aaron
Rodgers has moved around at the end of his career.
It's not like he was, Hey, we're not working. Bj
Rodger's like slowing down. It costs too much. And Jody
Nelson's slowing down. So I want out, like you know
what I mean, Like it's it's it's a weird thing.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Farf did something similar right for the Jets. Yeah, doing
it in the prime. It would be if Josh Allen
or a home Like, what if Josh Allen doesn't win
the Super Bowl this year? We can't win here, guys
that demand a trade?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I'm out. Joe Burrow's pissed off at the Bengals for
not signing defense.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
I would totally I would back him on that, wouldn't you.
They haven't. They haven't fixed the coach the rosters not great. Yeah,
if if Joe Burrow said I'm out trade me, I
would back at one hundred percent, would you not?
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Yeah, I think I would. It's just it's it's just
so it's not the norm. Like great players are great
in their their space wherever they are, Like, that's what
we're used to, and so to have a guy like
Lebron and Kevin durand obviously the two biggest examples where
they're just like, no, you know what, I'm good, I
want out, I want to go here, and I'm gonna
(29:18):
ring Chase here, and I'm gonna go to the next
best situation, the next best situation, And it's like there,
I understand this sentiment was like at some point, like
don't you want to just Hey, even if we don't
have the best team, I think I'm that good where
I can overcome.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, I know Otani couldn't do it himself. But like
you could argue he stayed too long in the with
the Angels, right, sure, I mean they didn't make the
playoffs with him, right, no postseason.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
No, never, Mike Trout made the playoffs once.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah, it's just it's a little disappointing. Somebody who is
gonna make the playoffs, Kaitlyn Clark. It's funny they're calling her.
I don't know if you saw the same day, b
Rob Kaitlyn Klank, because she's just continues to miss a
billion shots. So six games, three before the injury, three
after the injury, she is a combined six for forty
(30:07):
two on threes. Nothing's falling now. She made her first
Sunday against Page Becker's and of course, you know, she
looks up, thank you, oh my gosh, and they roll
to victory. The thing that jumps out about Indiana that
I'm starting to see people pick up on Rob is
Clark is not playing well and they're kicking some big
(30:27):
time ass and it's like, oh wait, so they've figured
some things out because with Clark they play it like
a different tempo when teams in the WNBA just aren't
built for it. And once she starts hitting, if she
gets back to being normal Caitlin Clark, you're probably looking
at a top three team in the league right now.
They're not. I mean, I don't know, I'll check what
(30:48):
the standings where they are. I think they're like sixth,
uh one two three, Yeah, they're sixth but again, they're
not playing great with Clark. She's gonna be fine. She's
a the WNBA All Star Breakers, I guess next weekend,
so she'll be back in action soon. Like fully healthy,
(31:10):
one would assume, I don't know what, are you more
excited for? NBA sorry, WNBA All Star Weekend or MLB
Home Run Derby? And I only asked that because everybody's
expecting Clark to be in the three point contest. I
don't know if it's official or not yet. And then
of course there's Clark versus Rees. You know, I can't
(31:33):
imagine an issue at an All Star game, but I
wouldn't put anything past Angel Reese, who's now wearing T
shirts with her face and name on them. Have you
seen this?
Speaker 3 (31:41):
That's next level. I don't know why you don't do that.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
I'm not doing that. That's really lame, bro. I think
it's cooler to just wear like an NBA jersey, like
a Dwayne Wade jersey from like two thousand and seven.
I mean, I don't know, do you wear jerseys by
the way, like NBA?
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Not regularly? No, do you own any? Oh? Yeah, I
have all they're all throwbacks. And I learned that lesson
a long time ago. I don't get current player jerseys.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, because there's too much movement. But so but do
you wear them in public.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Once every three or four years?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Three or four years does the wife say anything like
it's got.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
To be like, oh, I'm going to a game, or
I'm going to the beach and I want to represent
an old Kobe jersey I have, or you know.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I got to rep the Momba.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Yes, But as far as the All Star for that
reason you mentioned, yes, the WNBA game, I'm more interested in. Yeah,
because there there could Based on the way that even
Kaitlyn Clark is admittedly shirggling, she still gets fouled like
seventy percent more than the next closest player, it looks
like you just don't call it. So I wonder if
that might pop off at an All Star game.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
The only MLB aspect is the Pirates. Pitcher schemes him
facing Otani and Judge perhaps back to back could be
super interesting because I don't think they're going to leave
him in long right, it's usually an inning.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Well, he wouldn't, hope because they're in different leagues, so
he wouldn't face both of them, he faced one of them.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
He oh, I'm sorry, Judge. You gotta face Judge for sure?
Who would bat probably third? I just want you want
to see the best against the best.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Right Yeah? And like that's why I think the Baseball
All Star Game is objectively the best all Star game
in American pro sports, because even.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
I don't even think the NFL ones happens.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
It doesn't exist anymore. The NBA one is just, you
know it struggling and baseball at least, even if it's
only for two a third of an inning or whatever
it is, you're getting the best guy giving his best
effort for ten pitches, right, you know what I mean?
Like I would rather see that than some of the
other stuff we got going on.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Yeah, all right, So that's a lengthy Monday podcast. If
you're at the end, I might as well toss this
out there. I will be hosting the Herd again today. Yes,
cow heard had some travel issues, but I'm in. They
went to the bullpen again. He's going to be back Tuesday.
I know you guys are panicking, but it should be
a good one and we have a couple of good
guests lined up this week here on the pod. So
(34:01):
it's gonna be a good one. Keeping locked back tomorrow
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, straight bar faym, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Straight Fire for Monday, July fourteenth. It is Major League
Baseball All Star Week. You got the home run derby,
you got the All Star Game. Everybody fired up about
some of these All Star picks. Oh my god, sorry, guys.
I looked at the uh, looked at the roster, said
(00:31):
I don't think I can offer much to add to
the MLB All Star rosters. But luckily Rob G and
I reunited. We haven't actually chopped it up in a minute,
because you know, I was out of town and he's
obviously always busy. Robbed you with the two kids under
three years old, that's always difficult. But he is joining
(00:51):
me today and now you know he got some decent
Nothing amazing happened over the weekend. I know you guys
want the transition of football badly, but I mean, I'm looking,
there isn't Jack Squad happening, you know, Patrick Mahone saying
some stuff like there just isn't a lot going on
in the world of NFL. There is, however, huge news
(01:13):
involving Klay Thompson dating a celebrity. Oh yeah, that was
like the biggest thing I saw on my feet all weekend.
Clay Thompson now dating Meg the Stallion. I mean, I'm
dimly familiar with her work, and I guess they went
Instagram official. So shout out to Clay Thompson, who, now
I guess uh is dating Meg the Stallion. I don't
(01:35):
really know where to go with that, rob g, but
you could probably build at least a thirty thirty minute
segment out of can Meg the Stallion do for the
Warriors what Taylor Swift did for the Chiefs, obviously taking
them over the top into Super No, she didn't do that.
I mean, come on, it was a fun run they had.
I think it's over you guys don't my take on
(01:56):
the Chiefs. But yeah, it was just it was one
of those slow weekends, and honestly, if we're being real,
the biggest news involved the NBA Summer League, not anything
that happened on the court, but something that happened court side.
Lebron James showed up to watch his son and Dave
mcmanhaman who was on the podcast shoot I think last
month goes up to Lebron Hey Lebron was wondering if
(02:19):
you'd want to talk about the summer and your future
plans with Lakers, and he's like, I don't have anything
to talk about. And that was that, and of course
this got robbed g a little nervous Laker Nation. Oh no,
Lebron's pissed. I don't know, it's July. He's letting his
son have his moment right in the Summer League. Cooper
(02:39):
Flags now been shut down after he went postal in
the second game, and it's like, you know, my guess,
Rob is this is much ado about nothing. This is
Lebron just letting it be known that he's angry. But
I ultimately just I've looked at trades from every direction.
I don't see anything potentially materializing.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, me either. It's just well, first off, shout out
to Clay Thompson man. I saw someone say on Twitter
over the weekend that in the Klay Thompson sign Introdus
in Golden State in Dallas, the real big winner was
Klay Thompson because now he's with Cooper Flag obviously, and
then he upgraded and he's able to hook up with
someone like making the Stallion and it's all good. It's
like the trajectory is just going up right now. We
(03:19):
thought Clay was on the downworrdy, but apparently he's coming
back up. See the way City boys we up, you know.
But with the Lebron James situation, what really surprised me
is that he went on the record himself, like and
Dave mcmanhiman shout out to him. He's one of the
few guys who talked to Lebron directly. You know. Most
people just go through Rich Paul for a lot of stuff,
but he's one of the guys who can get Lebron
(03:42):
to put something on the record for things, And even
as simple as I ain't got nothing to talk about
really speaks volumes. Because Lebron James, if he wanted to,
could have shut all of this down immediately and said, Hey,
I'm a Los Angeles Laker, I'm excited to run it
with Luke. I think we can unfinished business, point blank, period.
(04:03):
And he could still move behind the scenes and try
to orchestrate his way out of town or try to
figure out some kind of way to power play his
way somewhere else. And he didn't. He just kind of
let it float off into the Ether, and then in
the midst of that same report, Rich Paul lets it slip, well,
we had four different teams reach out to see about
(04:24):
trading for Lebron number one. That is tampering. That is
flat out illegal in the NBA. So I'm surprised that
an agent of his stature would just kind of let
that slip out, like, yeah, I know that he's currently
under contract, but four different teams already said he likes
trade for him, and they've talked to me about his
interest in joining the team. And it's like, well, I
can't really do that. But thankfully, because it is Lebron
(04:46):
James and it is Rich Paul and Clutch Sports, and
they have a lot of people around the league that
they talk to. Even if Lebron doesn't talked to him,
Rich Paul talks to damn near everybody. I can tell
you that for a fact. And Scoop Bee, who's been
on this show before a couple years ago, went on
the record. He says, Hey, I know who the four
teams are that reached out and talked about Lebron, Dallas,
(05:07):
Golden State, Cleveland, and the Clippers. So Jam, I'm gonna
running back to you Number one, do you believe that
those four teams did reach out? And yes, whatever the
answer is, do you see any realistic avenue for any
of those four teams to get the King?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So let's go through them. Okay, So right out of
the gate, everybody's been speculating Dallas because of the Kyrie
connection and Ad. Obviously the Lakers just did le Luca
deal with Dico Harrison at Dallas. They absolutely pulled off
a heist in that trade. Everybody agrees, regardless of what
has happened since it was a heist. There's no way
(05:46):
the Lakers are going back to that deal. They're not
giving up Cooper Fly. The Lakers have no interest in Clay.
They're not giving up Ad. They're not giving up Kyrie.
He's injured. So what are you getting?
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Do you really think the.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Lakers are giving up a second team All NBA guy
and Lebron for like Daniel Gafford and Klay Thompson and hey,
you could take back super Max Christy and then here,
I don't even know what the map is draft. There's
no way the Lakers are doing that. I don't see that.
And you could dream all you want about flag, There's
(06:19):
no way that they're not trading Cooper Flag. So then
it becomes would they trade ad And I'm like, back
to the Lakers, the Lakers traded into None of it
makes sense to me. Is there any world I would
give Dallas zero percent chance to get Lebron zero percent?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
I gotta go a little bit in that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
What do you have it at two?
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Somewhere in the ten to fifteen percent?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
What?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Now, again, you got to factor this in that I've
said on the record, what is about three weeks ago
when this whole thing first started a bubble over that
I were to put the chances of Lebron actually changing
teams at ten or fifteen percent. So ten to fifteen
percent of ten to fifteen percent is what like two percent? Whatever?
I'm not a math patition, but and we'll get to
the other teams here in a second. If you just
(07:03):
look at the salaries and you know this apron bullshit
that we keep having to deal with, when you factor
all that kind of stuff in, Dallas is one of
only a couple of teams that actually could make the deal.
Now it might not be a great deal, but they
could cobble together the aforementioned legend. Klay Thompson, Hey man,
(07:24):
make it still to come to LA. You know, you
can put Clay in, Gafford in Washington and.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Hold on, hold on, I just looked it up. Gafford's
making fourteen mil next year then eighteen eighteen eighteen. The
Lakers don't want to be taking on salary, like.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I agree, I agree with you.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
PJ. Washington is expiring though, but Clay sixteen, Gafford fourteen,
you know, plus whatever, So that thirty one. Essentially between
those two PJ. Washington fourteen, you're only up to forty
five mil Lebron, so you still need another seven mil.
Max Christy, Max Christy, maybe Nauseie Marshall whatever. That that
does nothing for me a bunch of let's a you know,
(08:00):
I hate to use the word poop pooh platter here,
but Rob, is that not the definition of poo Clay Gafford,
PJ and Max Christy.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
It's not ideal. And even if from the Dallas perspective,
you know, Kyrie realistically is out till February or March
next year. So even if you were to make a
deal like this and the Lakers somehow said yes, you're
talking about ad Lebron James, D'Angelo Russell and uh Derek
(08:31):
Lively Derek Cooper Flag. So basically you're talking about the
the Los Angeles Lakers moving to Dallas from two years
ago and just adding Cooper Flag, a rookie Cooper Flag
and Derek Glavely missed most of the last season with
an injury. Like is that team a championships? Probably not,
you know, so like what are we doing here? And
that's a joy?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
So okay, So let me just ask you Clay Gafford,
PJ and Max Christy over under half an All Star
Game combined for them in the rest of their careers.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Oh? Under?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yes, zero. So I don't know where you're taking on
Gafford's bad deal. Yeah, I don't see it happening, So
let's rule them out. So MAVs were one who was
the second list on the second team on Scoops one
Golden State. So that's the one where it's like, okay,
do you just want to swap Jimmy Butler for Lebron?
And I like Jimmy Butler as much as anybody, but
(09:25):
I'm not doing that. I'm sorry, I'm just I'm not
giving up Lebron for Jimmy Butler. I don't Does Jimmy
Butler work with Luca? I don't know. I mean, we've
seen Lebron and Luca do fairly well outside of the
Minnesota series. I don't know. Is that an upgrade? Are
the Lakers better with Jimmy Butler than they are with Lebron?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
No?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Okay, so she could we cross the off the list?
Ok So what's number three?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
It's so then you move down the list. Now Cleveland,
And that's the one that's been speculated about since Lebron
put out this passive aggressive statement through Rich Paul, and
we talked about it about this podcast ad nauseum because
we thought, hey, he's going back home. It's perfect sense,
you know, all this synergy. Lebron the King returns to
Cleveland for the farewell tour and it sounds great. And
(10:11):
then Bobby Marks ESPN, you know, Capologist basically shoots down
the entire thing. Any imagination, any images you had of
Lebron and the return. You're like, well, they have to
cut like sixty million dollars in salary just to even
have a negotiation because they're so deep in salary. Cap Hell,
you can't even do it. And you're like, oh, well,
(10:34):
that's not fun, Like like we can't even theorize the
idea of Lebron and not of in Mitchell net Like no, no, no,
you can't because they got to just to even have
a conversation, just to even open the trade docs. You'd
be like, hey, someone has to take DeAndre a hundred
for nothing, so we've gotta take Max Strews for nothing, basically,
and it's like, well, who's taking on forty million dollars
for nothing?
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 2 (11:08):
I didn't realize it was that bleak. And it's not
like they could just they wouldn't do this. But Evan
Mobley is an ascending player. I think he was All
Defensive Player of the Year. I mean, he's gonna be
making a lot of money for a long time. He's
probably got another fifteen years, ten to fifteen years in
the league. Lebron's not like one or two. You're not
giving up Evan Mobley, right, I don't think you're giving
(11:28):
up Donovan Mitchell. But it sounds like you don't even
think or Bobby Marks doesn't even think that's feasible.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
No, Like at the time, the popular trade package that
people floated out was Alan and Garland for lebron.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Al Jared Allen and Darius Garland.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
I need ways more than that, and those I mean,
those guys in the vacuum are good players like that,
those two alone, I think is better than anything that
Dallas could offer. But then the problem is, like you mentioned,
you're taking on what is that one hundred and forty
undred thirty million dollars Darius Garland, You're taking on sixty
eight one hundred and twenty million dollars of Jared Allen,
and then on top of that they'd have to offload
(12:06):
like thirty million dollars in salary for nothing.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So this is where people were saying that the new
CBA like killed free agency. My guess is, and this
technl is a free agency. This would be a trade.
But this is kind of what they were meaning, Like
all the excitement of ooh, could this guy ask out?
Could he go here? It just gets so complicated now.
And the last team was I think you said the Clippers.
(12:29):
I just don't envision any scenario where Lebron decides I'm
going to go across town to play basketball, Like why
inferior everything except maybe arena, which is really nice? And again,
riddle me this, how on earth are we getting Lebron
to the Clippers? Like what are the Clippers giving back?
(12:50):
Zubach Bogdanovic, John Cott, I don't know whatever it is, like,
it just doesn't make sense. And I don't know, Rob.
It's almost depressing to kind of think about this stuff
because people are like, well, Lebron wants out. It's just
not happening, right, I mean, is there a world where
he just says I'm walking away from basketball? Do use
second t bawl NBA last year?
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Why would he do that? I don't know. And you
know what's funny is there's this weird narrative that reputable
sports media NBA insiders like, well, what if he just
gets a buyout from Lakers? Like why on earth would
the Lakers give Lebron the favor of yeah, well, we'll
eat fifty two million dollars against the cap to you know,
make sure you're happy like that. That just doesn't make
(13:34):
any sense. It's not like Lebron James and this might
be an issue that he's gonna run into, or has
run into a little bit in his career, is that
outside of Cleveland, and even then it ended poorly the
first time, Lebron doesn't get that same goodwill with fan
bases that you know, Kobe God, that Dirt God that
Tim Duncan got, you know, like Steph Curry currently gets
(13:58):
Joannis currently gets because Lebron James made himself a mercenary
similar to what Kevin Durant is doing right now. It's like,
you show up places, you know, post the first Cleveland stint.
You show up places you try to dictate the terms
of what's gonna happen around you. You try to strong
(14:19):
arm the organization into getting your coach, your players, your system,
like everything has to evolve around Lebron James. And on
top of that, he's gonna put pressure on you based
on either the way that he does these passive aggressive
tweets or statements or whatever, or as simple as I'm
only signing one plus one deals so that I'm always
putting my finger on the button so that if you
(14:40):
don't do what I want, I'm gonna eject ocdo out
of here, and you're gonna to figure it out. And
when you do stuff like that, even though it works
at the time, now that Lebron is gonna be forty
one years old, he doesn't necessarily have like that goodwill
built up with the Lakers, like, hey, we're gonna do
you as solid because everything you've done for us. It's
like no, no, no, working that way with you.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I guess my only counter is his strategy works. It's
not like one of these and I don't want to
invoke Richard Gear from Pretty Woman, but there's a lot
of other examples of these business guys, these tycoons who
just buy a business, take it over, chop a bunch
of heads, change a couple things, and then sell it
(15:23):
and make a profit. Sure, because of all the changes,
Lebron says, I can come in, you guys can operate
around me. I'm the son of your solar system, right
and make moves and we'll win championships. And it worked
when he went to Miami, it worked when he went
back to Cleveland, it worked when he went to Lakers. However,
he's now forty years old, well forty and a half,
(15:46):
and you're looking around and you're like, well, nobody's really
gonna do that anymore unless some you know, you can't
use Orlando anymore. But like, I don't know, Rob could
could Charlotte think, you know, let's just forget this LaMelo
ball experiment. Not not this year right now, obviously, but
what if we just built around Lebron and Brandon Miller
(16:08):
will have sold out arena every night? Hey, come on, Bronni,
you come with come with Dad. You know we'll put
you guys. I mean there's teams that are desperate around
the league, just completely desperate to be relevant and pack
their arena. And then maybe you get to the playoffs
in the East and you host to you know, host
a couple of playoff games, maybe you win a playoff.
I mean, you don't think, Rob, You don't tell me
(16:29):
the Chicago Bulls wouldn't kill to get Lebron and Bronni.
I mean they're an awful spot financially, their rosters crap.
I can't tell you. The last time they want a
playoff series might have been like with Leuell Bang and
Joe Kim. Noah, they haven't been anything for fifteen years. Lebron,
I guarantee. I don't know if the salaries would match up,
but if you take Lebron and Bronni, forget Bronnie. If
(16:53):
you just put Lebron on the Chicago Bulls, I would
guess that they'd be top eight in the East. I
was just a guess that might be a bit of
a reach, like a Josh Kitty Kobe White.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
You know, well, I.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Technically I don't think they have Josh Kitty right now. Yeah,
restricted free, but yeah, yeah, just give me some shooters,
give me some defense. Oh, actually their team is quite bad.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well see, going back to your original point, I think
that is why. And this goes back to the podcast
we did when all this first happened. The first team
that you and I both addressed was Cleveland because of
the homecoming, but the one right after that was the Knicks.
And it satisfies a lot of the things that you mentioned.
Number one is, hey, if we get Lebron and we
(17:35):
have the biggest star of the sport playing at the
mecca of basketball, and it's just becomes a a I mean,
they don't have problem selling tickets anyways, but it becomes
a moment in time. Man. You got Lebron at Madison
Square Garden on a Saturday night, hosting the Lakers or
whatever it is, Like it's a storyline, it's something that
people are gonna care about. And James Dolan is one
(17:58):
of those guys who cares about the headlines. And that's
part of the reason why I think he moved off
of Tips is because he's like, hey, I wanted to
win the offseason kind of a thing and this guy
is just not doing it for me. Didn't work out
for him, But like he's one of those he's a
Jerry Jones type where he just likes the idea of
his team, you know, being you know, notable, like people
want to talk about him, but you also consider your point.
(18:21):
The Eastern Conference is really watered down. There are avenues
where you could add Lebron James and still keep a
really strong roster around him, and you would think that
that would make sense. But then the what people don't
even realize is Mike Brown gave an off the cuff
interview to some one of his friends that he knows
on his way out the door heading into New York,
(18:42):
say hey, what about these rumors about Lebron and the Knicks,
And rather than laugh it off or just kind of say, ah,
you know what, I wonry about my team, he says
directly to this guy, and it's been reported, Yeah, I
traded my wings for it for Lebron like crazy. And
as soon as you put that out there, it kind
of pours water on it because I'm sure if I
saw it, I bet you Lebron saw it or someone
(19:03):
in his camp saw and it's like, well, oh, they
don't want me there either. Now what.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
It's a listen man. It's never easy when you get older,
you know. I think even in the NFL, Joe Montana
was the superstar and then he got injured and Steve
Young kind of takes the spot and where's Montanagal and
he goes to Casey He was fine. I'm pretty sure
they made the playoffs, but like that was it, you know,
even something like Cam Newton, like nobody wanted that guy
at the end. Now, Lebron's at the height of his power,
(19:30):
is still at least ninety percent of what he used
to be, would you say or is that too high?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I think that kind of short changed how good he
was during like the heat and the second Calves era especially.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah, actually, you're right. He went to the finals eight
years in a row.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Kick out, he's probably like seventy five eighty percent, but
the way the way the league has shifted, he still
is as effective or almost as effective as ever.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, whereas a guy like Cam Newton just fell off
a cliff. You know, he goes to the Patriot and
had like a couple of moments they didn't make the playoffs.
Then I was like, yeah, it's Mac Jones is gonna
be the guy. And then you know Cam's bouncing around
and there's nothing like Lebron is doing things that are
just insane and it's crazy. Somebody had posted this stat
(20:15):
on I don't remember where I saw it, but they said,
you know, Lebron was the MVP of the Finals for
three different franchises. Just think about that for a second.
A lot of guys you just want to be the
Finals MVP once. Imagine doing it twice, going to two
different places and doing it. Then think about a third.
So I just poked around real quick, and nobody has
(20:38):
been a World Series MVP for three different teams. Okay,
this stuff just doesn't happen. It definitely has not happened
in basketball. And I could not find three different MVPs
in Super Bowls, And I I'm not sure, rob I
don't think Tom Brady was the MVP when he went
to Tampa in the Super Bowl. I think it was
somebody from the defense because they just destroyed Patrick Mahones
(20:59):
with a bunch of sacks. But it was like, do
you actually know how hard that is to win a
championship somewhere, be the best player in the championship, then
go to another team, get to the championship, be the
best player there, and then do it a third time.
And I think, like, again, people don't take that into
consideration when the goat topic is up. Oh well, Michael
Jordan wanted six times. Jordan got in a great perfect
(21:21):
spot in Chicago. The magic Larry Isaiah faded out. There
was really nobody to challenge him unchecked. He never even
won seven games in the finals and just rolled it
for the first three quits, comes back, wins another three
with a really, really good team, and it's it's just odd,
(21:43):
Robbed that Lebron doesn't get more credit for doing that.
I mean, honestly, part of me, yeah, there's a little
part of me that would love to see him have
a fourth chance to be a finals MVP for a
fourth Francis, I think that's impossible. But given what we've
seen for Lebron on over the last twenty years, I
don't think you'd rule out anything, can you.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 3 (22:15):
Going back to Tom Brady, he did win Super Bowl MVP,
and that he did. Okay, he, even though he was
very didn't have to do a whole of a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
How was he in that game?
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Final numbers look not too bad, twenty one of twenty
nine for two hundred and one yard three touchdowns. But
you know you recalled it.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
But okay, that's fine, that's true. I was, yeah, that's fine.
So I was wrong. So Tom Brady won it with
the Yeah that Patriots and.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Bucks the defense blew the doors off of that in
that game. He didn't really have to do ahole of
a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Okay, Well, Tom, come back and go win it with
a third team. Sure, Well, okay, so would be the
equival Lebron. Here's the thing with Lebron, and this is
I agree with you the general sentiment. I guess to
play Devil's Advocate. Just to further the conversation, could you
almost argue that him winning an MVP or winning a
championship with three different teams is almost I can call it negative,
(23:00):
but it is not as impressive when you consider any
player worth their salt is not bouncing around like that.
Like if you look back at some of the greatest
players ever, they're one team for most ninety percent of
their career, especially during their prime years, because they are
just gonna keep going at it, like, Hey, I'm gonna
if I don't win it this year, I want to
run it back and I'm gonna try to do it again.
(23:22):
And Lebron's attitude has for basically the last seventy percent
of his career has been if I can't do it here,
I'll go somewhere else and do it someoney's gonnave me
a better chance. And that's a different outlook than what
you had guys like Jordan, Magic Bird, Duncan, Kobe, you know, Haquem.
(23:42):
I guess Shaq would be the closest comparison because Shaq
hopped around a little bit. But like this idea of
guys changing teams not just like to chase a ring,
but to do it in the middle of your prime
is a relatively new thing. Yeah, I don't. I wonder
Ifu'll see that anymore, Like, well SGA just get bored
(24:02):
in OKAYC and say, you know what, I'm out. I
wanna go win a championship somewhere.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Else, like I'm gonna go partner up with Polo Benko
or something like that.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, I mean, I like an applaud what Lebron has done.
But I did see an interesting stat up. I don't
know it exactly, but I guess the majority of people
in America end up moving like less than one hundred
miles away from where they grew up, and that's where
they end up like living and raising a family. And
it's because a lot of people are just kind of
(24:33):
either afraid or cautious or they want to stay around
the known as if they're the unknown is fearful, and
the majority of people stay close to where they grew up.
And and maybe this is why I'm so pro Lebron.
You know, I packed my Some of my family did
think I was a little crazy when I was like, yeah,
we're moving to Los Angeles, you know, and what you
(24:56):
don't know anybody out there. O God, I am TV Opportunity.
Can't turn that down, you know. And it's risky. It
was risky, this is now you're nine here, close to
signing a new deal which would take us for a
few more years. So I think a lot of people
are afraid to do that. And it's similar in the NBA,
(25:18):
Like you're drafted, they have you for five, six, seven years.
You put down roots, right, maybe you meet a girl,
you get married, the community loves you, your jersey sales.
It's tough to walk away from that.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Man.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I think it's tougher to walk away than it is
to stay. Yeah, and for like Kevin Durant to leave
OKC and all that venom, he was just bring all
the smoke. I don't care, Lebron, I don't give a shit.
I got to do what's best for me. And that's
why I applaud these guys for jumping around. I mean,
it's so easy for Devin Booker to be like, yeah,
I'll take seventy two and a half million dollars. Sure,
But if Devin Booker really looked in the mirror and said, well, shit,
(25:53):
I'm not winning anything here. We cooked I'm not top eight.
I don't think I think we're playing in the next
couple of years. It's tough to do that and then
say I want out. A lot of people don't want
the hate and the venom. They don't want to wear
the black hat. If you will and be disliked by everybody,
and it's not just the people in your community, then
(26:14):
it's everybody in the country. Rob, All other fans are like, wait,
remember when Paul George asked out of Indiana. He was
like sad admitting that he wants out, he wants to
go west, and everybody's like, you're a loser, you just
want to go.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Well, it led to him reupping in Oklahoma City. It did,
That's right, Like he was so worried to the blowback
is I'm just gonna reup and get unfinished. And then
not even a year later he's like, I'm gone. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I mean, Kawhi asking out of San Antonio is very strange,
ends up in Toronto for a year, and you know,
nobody hated him for leaving. I guess because he won
them a chip. But like, this idea of sticking around
is just so much easier than it is leaving it
and that, I guess my long way of saying to
your point was, yeah, I don't think it's a knock
(26:58):
on Lebron that he's moving around all the time. It's
like Jim Harball, is there is there a similarity. Jim
Harball kind of wears people down. He goes to stand
for for a few years, Wins, moves on, Niners for
a few years, Wins, moves on Michigan, Wins moves on.
Is there a similarity there? I mean, it's different because
(27:18):
it's a player versus coach, but some people are just
built to bounce around.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, it's just it's it is a weird or not weird.
It's an unusual thing historically from what we're used to
because nobody impacts their sport more than an NBA player,
I guess than NFL quarterbacks. Yeah, like that's the otherwise.
You can you can be a fantastic wide receiver and
it won't really matter because you need a lot of
(27:45):
things to happen for you to have any kind of success.
A quarterback is the only guy who touches the ball
on every play, so he's the one who that's why
they have wins or not a quarterback sat or they
are quarterbacks back because they're the ones who most directly
impact winning. And that's how it is in the end,
Na Whare if you are a great player, no matter
what you have going around you, you impact the game
(28:06):
more than everybody else. Yeah, Like that's just kind of
the way it is. So I guess, I mean, like,
who's someone who if with like Aaron Rodgers. But Aaron
Rodgers has moved around at the end of his career.
It's not like he was, Hey, we're not working. Bj
Rodger's like slowing down. It costs too much. And Jody
Nelson's slowing down. So I want out, like you know
what I mean, Like it's it's it's a weird thing.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Farf did something similar right for the Jets. Yeah, doing
it in the prime. It would be if Josh Allen
or a home Like, what if Josh Allen doesn't win
the Super Bowl this year? We can't win here, guys
that demand a trade?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I'm out. Joe Burrow's pissed off at the Bengals for
not signing defense.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
I would totally I would back him on that, wouldn't you.
They haven't. They haven't fixed the coach the rosters not great. Yeah,
if if Joe Burrow said I'm out trade me, I
would back at one hundred percent, would you not?
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Yeah, I think I would. It's just it's it's just
so it's not the norm. Like great players are great
in their their space wherever they are, Like, that's what
we're used to, and so to have a guy like
Lebron and Kevin durand obviously the two biggest examples where
they're just like, no, you know what, I'm good, I
want out, I want to go here, and I'm gonna
(29:18):
ring Chase here, and I'm gonna go to the next
best situation, the next best situation, And it's like there,
I understand this sentiment was like at some point, like
don't you want to just Hey, even if we don't
have the best team, I think I'm that good where
I can overcome.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, I know Otani couldn't do it himself. But like
you could argue he stayed too long in the with
the Angels, right, sure, I mean they didn't make the
playoffs with him, right, no postseason.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
No, never, Mike Trout made the playoffs once.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah, it's just it's a little disappointing. Somebody who is
gonna make the playoffs, Kaitlyn Clark. It's funny they're calling her.
I don't know if you saw the same day, b
Rob Kaitlyn Klank, because she's just continues to miss a
billion shots. So six games, three before the injury, three
after the injury, she is a combined six for forty
(30:07):
two on threes. Nothing's falling now. She made her first
Sunday against Page Becker's and of course, you know, she
looks up, thank you, oh my gosh, and they roll
to victory. The thing that jumps out about Indiana that
I'm starting to see people pick up on Rob is
Clark is not playing well and they're kicking some big
(30:27):
time ass and it's like, oh wait, so they've figured
some things out because with Clark they play it like
a different tempo when teams in the WNBA just aren't
built for it. And once she starts hitting, if she
gets back to being normal Caitlin Clark, you're probably looking
at a top three team in the league right now.
They're not. I mean, I don't know, I'll check what
(30:48):
the standings where they are. I think they're like sixth,
uh one two three, Yeah, they're sixth but again, they're
not playing great with Clark. She's gonna be fine. She's
a the WNBA All Star Breakers, I guess next weekend,
so she'll be back in action soon. Like fully healthy,
(31:10):
one would assume, I don't know what, are you more
excited for? NBA sorry, WNBA All Star Weekend or MLB
Home Run Derby? And I only asked that because everybody's
expecting Clark to be in the three point contest. I
don't know if it's official or not yet. And then
of course there's Clark versus Rees. You know, I can't
(31:33):
imagine an issue at an All Star game, but I
wouldn't put anything past Angel Reese, who's now wearing T
shirts with her face and name on them. Have you
seen this?
Speaker 3 (31:41):
That's next level. I don't know why you don't do that.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
I'm not doing that. That's really lame, bro. I think
it's cooler to just wear like an NBA jersey, like
a Dwayne Wade jersey from like two thousand and seven.
I mean, I don't know, do you wear jerseys by
the way, like NBA?
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Not regularly? No, do you own any? Oh? Yeah, I
have all they're all throwbacks. And I learned that lesson
a long time ago. I don't get current player jerseys.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, because there's too much movement. But so but do
you wear them in public.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Once every three or four years?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Three or four years does the wife say anything like
it's got.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
To be like, oh, I'm going to a game, or
I'm going to the beach and I want to represent
an old Kobe jersey I have, or you know.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I got to rep the Momba.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Yes, But as far as the All Star for that
reason you mentioned, yes, the WNBA game, I'm more interested in. Yeah,
because there there could Based on the way that even
Kaitlyn Clark is admittedly shirggling, she still gets fouled like
seventy percent more than the next closest player, it looks
like you just don't call it. So I wonder if
that might pop off at an All Star game.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
The only MLB aspect is the Pirates. Pitcher schemes him
facing Otani and Judge perhaps back to back could be
super interesting because I don't think they're going to leave
him in long right, it's usually an inning.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Well, he wouldn't, hope because they're in different leagues, so
he wouldn't face both of them, he faced one of them.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
He oh, I'm sorry, Judge. You gotta face Judge for sure?
Who would bat probably third? I just want you want
to see the best against the best.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Right Yeah? And like that's why I think the Baseball
All Star Game is objectively the best all Star game
in American pro sports, because even.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
I don't even think the NFL ones happens.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
It doesn't exist anymore. The NBA one is just, you
know it struggling and baseball at least, even if it's
only for two a third of an inning or whatever
it is, you're getting the best guy giving his best
effort for ten pitches, right, you know what I mean?
Like I would rather see that than some of the
other stuff we got going on.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Yeah, all right, So that's a lengthy Monday podcast. If
you're at the end, I might as well toss this
out there. I will be hosting the Herd again today. Yes,
cow heard had some travel issues, but I'm in. They
went to the bullpen again. He's going to be back Tuesday.
I know you guys are panicking, but it should be
a good one and we have a couple of good
guests lined up this week here on the pod. So
(34:01):
it's gonna be a good one. Keeping locked back tomorrow
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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