April 10, 2025 • 7 mins
Join hosts Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray as they navigate the emotional return of Luka Dončić and the marketing frenzy surrounding his latest ventures. The team dives into one of the most emotional nights in DFW sports history—the return of Luka Dončić. With 45 points and an incredible performance, Luka's presence at the AAC was nothing short of magical. The hosts explore the intense atmosphere, the loud "Fire Nico" chants, and the marketing powerhouse behind Luka, including his appearance at Dick's Sporting Goods and the debut of his new shoe, the Luka 4.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Last night one of the most emotional nights in DFW
sports history, the return of Luca, the prodigal son returns
and man, the emotions were high at the AAC. Luca
had an incredible game, forty five points. I think everybody
in the building was cheering for him. Lakers got the win.
Lucas still in town. He's had a Dick's Sporting Goods
(00:21):
right now doing something with the Luca four, which I
believe is the newest version of his shoe.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Right So that's not what he was wearing last night,
at least not what I noticed. And I didn't even
notice if he changed his shoes or whatever. But we're
seeing all that branding today, and we're talking earlier about
those posters that were outside the arena for the what's
it called the Trial of Bad Luca, Bad Luca.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, yeah, they're.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Leaning into everything. They're leaning in with the jumpman the
Jordan stuff, like, oh, yeah, you had to trade him
because he's a bad guy.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Huh, Let's investigate that. He's not that. Anybody said that.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
There's just going on with that narrative. Okay, let's talk
about him being a bike. Let's put him on trial.
And that's just gonna be awesome.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And then that commercial is so funny because there's just
a random little girl on the stand and she's wearing
glasses looking around like what.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
And then the Trader one for Gatorade where he's got
the Gatorade spelling of the word to where looks like
it says Trader and he's staring at the camera dribbling,
and then it ends and it says one journey fuels
the next. So the Luca marketing engine is perring right
now and that's magical. But we do have some audio
from last night, anything else, we should take a skin
(01:28):
You were right there in the mix. There's pictures of
Nico watching the game from the tunnel and or video
and there's the loudest fire Nico chain I've ever heard,
which has to be awkward for everyone who works for
the team, you know, And yeah, there you are in
that shot. I'm like, it's all over my timeline and
what was the vibe?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Like? It was just really intense, man, just really intense
the whole time. And you know, I know there was
a moment where Luca's team, but like his marketing people,
they were with Rob Polinka, his agent, after Luca got
this because you know, JJ Reddick put him back there
just to get a.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Standing ovation, which was amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And then when Luca went back to the bench, his
team got up and walked down the tunnel, and so
they walked right by the MAVs front office, like and
they did win at the end of the game, before
the game was over, oh even before it was over.
And and so you know where I sit to his team,
meaning his marketing, His marketing people are Laurabeth Seeger, Rob
(02:23):
Polinka was with him and his agent, Bill Duffy. They
passed Nico, they walked, They might have even bumped shoulders,
they were so close. And what happened was where I
was broadcasting. I you know, Nico's been behind me for
weeks now, and so when it happened, I saw them walking.
But I'm calling the game and going, oh, this is
going to be intense. And then all the media stood
(02:44):
up and started looking because they knew what was about
to happen. And I talked to a couple of people
out there, like, man, I didn't get to see it
in time. I don't know what it was like. So
there interaction, I would imagine they all looked away. I bet,
I mean, I bet, Rob Polinka and Nico probably hey,
you know, shook hands or whatever, or maybe they just
ignored each other all together. But that's the sort of
intensity that was in the building. And then by that
(03:06):
point it wasn't a game anymore, and Luca was just
getting his flowers and it was like, is he gonna
get fifty? You know? And he ended up with forty
five and was really good six of eight from three
in the first half.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
First half. He was so good last night, dude.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I think it's one of the greatest performances I've ever
seen because of the emotion of it all.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Wow. But why don't we hear some of the audio
of this Which one do you have?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
First?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
This is him with Lisassaulters at ESPN right after the game.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Everybody saw me the way I erected to the video.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You know, all these fans.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I really appreciate it, man, all the teammates I had,
you know, everybody had my bag. I'm the happy you
know this guy. I love these fans, I love the city.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
But it sounds to the wat what was it like
for you sitting there watching all that love, watching that
video preview so.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Many Emoss can't even explain it.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
You know, brought tears to my eyes.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Like I say, I came as a as a young
kid here every day team or not knowing we walked
this back from NBA.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Hey, you know they made me feel like home.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Man.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
It's just a lot of Greg Gray memories.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
How are you able to not be too emotional to
still come out and play and perform the way he did?
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I know how I did it because when I was
watching that video, I was like, there's no way I'm
playing this minutle.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Wow, that's that's the line of the night. Dude.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
He was crying and his lip was quivering. Dude, he
had to stop watching and put his face in a towel.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
That's like I didn't think that was, Like I said,
when it happened, it hit me way harder than I thought,
you know, and obviously watching a grown man cry like
it hits you and the intensity of the situation. But
that's why I didn't think he was going to go
have the game that he had because I was like,
he's going to be too physically and mentally tired to
do the stuff that we've seen him do. But that's
why he's Luca, and he did have forty five despite
(04:54):
having thoughts on the bench of man, I can't play
this game.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I saw Trey Young retweet the video of Luca crying
during that and said he was never gonna leave. Like
so many people watch that are like, Okay, clearly he's
gutted because he was never going to leave Dallas.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Well, uh, he's you pointed this out.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
He's in Dallas right now, still doing marketing, and they
have a game in La To Marna.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
This is why I've been saying. This is last night
I think was actually good for me. This is what
I'm was saying. I've been avoiding all Luca content. You
just gotta feel bad. You're never gonna feel better about this.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It hurts. No fix to this, there's no there is
no fix to this. It will never ever ever feel better.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
That's why I'm not watching Laker games. I'm not I've
been staying away from it. But all that I didn't
want to feel what I felt last night.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
That sucked. I know it sucked. It was so painful.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But I do love basketball, and I love the way
he plays the game, and so I love watching him
play the game. I love watching him make trick shots. Yeah,
it sucks that he's not in a Maverick unifor him.
And now all these people in LA are talking about
the Luca Magic and they're like, wow, we had.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
No idea, Like we know, we've been watching this. This
is what he does, that's who he is.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I mean, it's just right now, it's still so raw
and so last night was super emotional.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
But y'all are going to get over this. I don't know.
I hope. I hope I didn't get to watch the
Lakers next year.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I know, But dude, that happened two months ago. Like
people have divorces and get remarried, Like you didn't get
your arm chopped off.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You're gonna be able to use both arms, I hope.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So, but watch like that, you trade a twenty five
year old global icon, like we we gotta go watch
and play in another team. I mean, the Mavericks would
have to be so good and get another global icon
for me to get over it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Like, I don't know, I don't I don't see the
route out of this yet. I hope you're right. I
don't see it.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Right. By avoiding it, I'm getting over it. That is
called denial, and all that does the other problems stay
in denial, right right, Yeah, no one ever stays in
denial that it manifests itself in horrible.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
We had another clip that was kind of talked about
it's got to move on.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Let's hear it right quick.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Okay, it's a hard question. I mean, for sure, it
is a little bit more. Uh, you know, talking about
closure sometimes hard because, like I said, I spent a
lot of time here, great moments, but it's like I said,
it's getting more and more and I got to focus
(07:19):
on different things. Now that's one rather and.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
That's all I've been doing, focusing on different things, the
right approach.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
But he admitted he said it's time to move on,
but then admitted.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It's hadn't He has not moved on. Yeah, all right,
there you have it. There's some some Luca audio coming
up next. Two crazy stories from New York
All right.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Last night one of the most emotional nights in DFW
sports history, the return of Luca, the prodigal son returns
and man, the emotions were high at the AAC. Luca
had an incredible game, forty five points. I think everybody
in the building was cheering for him. Lakers got the win.
Lucas still in town. He's had a Dick's Sporting Goods
(00:21):
right now doing something with the Luca four, which I
believe is the newest version of his shoe.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Right So that's not what he was wearing last night,
at least not what I noticed. And I didn't even
notice if he changed his shoes or whatever. But we're
seeing all that branding today, and we're talking earlier about
those posters that were outside the arena for the what's
it called the Trial of Bad Luca, Bad Luca.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, yeah, they're.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Leaning into everything. They're leaning in with the jumpman the
Jordan stuff, like, oh, yeah, you had to trade him
because he's a bad guy.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Huh, Let's investigate that. He's not that. Anybody said that.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
There's just going on with that narrative. Okay, let's talk
about him being a bike. Let's put him on trial.
And that's just gonna be awesome.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And then that commercial is so funny because there's just
a random little girl on the stand and she's wearing
glasses looking around like what.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
And then the Trader one for Gatorade where he's got
the Gatorade spelling of the word to where looks like
it says Trader and he's staring at the camera dribbling,
and then it ends and it says one journey fuels
the next. So the Luca marketing engine is perring right
now and that's magical. But we do have some audio
from last night, anything else, we should take a skin
(01:28):
You were right there in the mix. There's pictures of
Nico watching the game from the tunnel and or video
and there's the loudest fire Nico chain I've ever heard,
which has to be awkward for everyone who works for
the team, you know, And yeah, there you are in
that shot. I'm like, it's all over my timeline and
what was the vibe?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Like? It was just really intense, man, just really intense
the whole time. And you know, I know there was
a moment where Luca's team, but like his marketing people,
they were with Rob Polinka, his agent, after Luca got
this because you know, JJ Reddick put him back there
just to get a.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Standing ovation, which was amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And then when Luca went back to the bench, his
team got up and walked down the tunnel, and so
they walked right by the MAVs front office, like and
they did win at the end of the game, before
the game was over, oh even before it was over.
And and so you know where I sit to his team,
meaning his marketing, His marketing people are Laurabeth Seeger, Rob
(02:23):
Polinka was with him and his agent, Bill Duffy. They
passed Nico, they walked, They might have even bumped shoulders,
they were so close. And what happened was where I
was broadcasting. I you know, Nico's been behind me for
weeks now, and so when it happened, I saw them walking.
But I'm calling the game and going, oh, this is
going to be intense. And then all the media stood
(02:44):
up and started looking because they knew what was about
to happen. And I talked to a couple of people
out there, like, man, I didn't get to see it
in time. I don't know what it was like. So
there interaction, I would imagine they all looked away. I bet,
I mean, I bet, Rob Polinka and Nico probably hey,
you know, shook hands or whatever, or maybe they just
ignored each other all together. But that's the sort of
intensity that was in the building. And then by that
(03:06):
point it wasn't a game anymore, and Luca was just
getting his flowers and it was like, is he gonna
get fifty? You know? And he ended up with forty
five and was really good six of eight from three
in the first half.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
First half. He was so good last night, dude.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I think it's one of the greatest performances I've ever
seen because of the emotion of it all.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Wow. But why don't we hear some of the audio
of this Which one do you have?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
First?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
This is him with Lisassaulters at ESPN right after the game.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Everybody saw me the way I erected to the video.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You know, all these fans.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I really appreciate it, man, all the teammates I had,
you know, everybody had my bag. I'm the happy you
know this guy. I love these fans, I love the city.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
But it sounds to the wat what was it like
for you sitting there watching all that love, watching that
video preview so.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Many Emoss can't even explain it.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
You know, brought tears to my eyes.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Like I say, I came as a as a young
kid here every day team or not knowing we walked
this back from NBA.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Hey, you know they made me feel like home.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Man.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
It's just a lot of Greg Gray memories.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
How are you able to not be too emotional to
still come out and play and perform the way he did?
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I know how I did it because when I was
watching that video, I was like, there's no way I'm
playing this minutle.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Wow, that's that's the line of the night. Dude.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
He was crying and his lip was quivering. Dude, he
had to stop watching and put his face in a towel.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
That's like I didn't think that was, Like I said,
when it happened, it hit me way harder than I thought,
you know, and obviously watching a grown man cry like
it hits you and the intensity of the situation. But
that's why I didn't think he was going to go
have the game that he had because I was like,
he's going to be too physically and mentally tired to
do the stuff that we've seen him do. But that's
why he's Luca, and he did have forty five despite
(04:54):
having thoughts on the bench of man, I can't play
this game.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I saw Trey Young retweet the video of Luca crying
during that and said he was never gonna leave. Like
so many people watch that are like, Okay, clearly he's
gutted because he was never going to leave Dallas.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Well, uh, he's you pointed this out.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
He's in Dallas right now, still doing marketing, and they
have a game in La To Marna.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
This is why I've been saying. This is last night
I think was actually good for me. This is what
I'm was saying. I've been avoiding all Luca content. You
just gotta feel bad. You're never gonna feel better about this.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It hurts. No fix to this, there's no there is
no fix to this. It will never ever ever feel better.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
That's why I'm not watching Laker games. I'm not I've
been staying away from it. But all that I didn't
want to feel what I felt last night.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
That sucked. I know it sucked. It was so painful.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But I do love basketball, and I love the way
he plays the game, and so I love watching him
play the game. I love watching him make trick shots. Yeah,
it sucks that he's not in a Maverick unifor him.
And now all these people in LA are talking about
the Luca Magic and they're like, wow, we had.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
No idea, Like we know, we've been watching this. This
is what he does, that's who he is.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I mean, it's just right now, it's still so raw
and so last night was super emotional.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
But y'all are going to get over this. I don't know.
I hope. I hope I didn't get to watch the
Lakers next year.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I know, But dude, that happened two months ago. Like
people have divorces and get remarried, Like you didn't get
your arm chopped off.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
You're gonna be able to use both arms, I hope.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So, but watch like that, you trade a twenty five
year old global icon, like we we gotta go watch
and play in another team. I mean, the Mavericks would
have to be so good and get another global icon
for me to get over it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Like, I don't know, I don't I don't see the
route out of this yet. I hope you're right. I
don't see it.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Right. By avoiding it, I'm getting over it. That is
called denial, and all that does the other problems stay
in denial, right right, Yeah, no one ever stays in
denial that it manifests itself in horrible.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
We had another clip that was kind of talked about
it's got to move on.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Let's hear it right quick.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Okay, it's a hard question. I mean, for sure, it
is a little bit more. Uh, you know, talking about
closure sometimes hard because, like I said, I spent a
lot of time here, great moments, but it's like I said,
it's getting more and more and I got to focus
(07:19):
on different things. Now that's one rather and.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
That's all I've been doing, focusing on different things, the
right approach.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
But he admitted he said it's time to move on,
but then admitted.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It's hadn't He has not moved on. Yeah, all right,
there you have it. There's some some Luca audio coming
up next. Two crazy stories from New York
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