Speaker 1: Let's get to the NBA, please, where Lebron James is
Speaker 1: playing in this twenty second season and is about to
Speaker 1: turn forty in just a few weeks.
Speaker 2: The Lakers superstar already has four rings.
Speaker 1: But my friend and colleague Michae Wilburn from ESBN thinks
Speaker 1: he's got the perfect place for Lebron to end his career.
Speaker 2: Take a listen. Is Golden State just one player away
Speaker 2: though from doing that? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, the player plays right across the street, around
Speaker 3: the corner, right here.
Speaker 2: Lebron James.
Speaker 3: Let us cut to the chase with this. All those
Speaker 3: assets are great. If Steph and Draymond were thirty one
Speaker 3: and thirty two years old, you could sort of wait
Speaker 3: on them, and I love Kamena, But they're not thirty
Speaker 3: one and thirty two years old. The Warriors, you said it, Malika,
Speaker 3: you're talking about maximizing now tonight. They're not catching Oklahoma City.
Speaker 3: They're not catching his Perko sockets some cinemiam PTI two
Speaker 3: days ago.
Speaker 2: They're not catching Dallas.
Speaker 3: They're not with the personnel they have currently a symbol.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure they can catch those two teams with
Speaker 3: the person I'm saying either but if you tell me,
Speaker 3: if anybody watched the Olympics Brian Windhors this summer and
Speaker 3: you saw Lebron James and Steph Curry play together, how
Speaker 3: can you not want to see that.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying it's easy.
Speaker 3: Wendy will tell us how possible, if it is at all,
Speaker 3: But you tell me at this point the Lakers stink.
Speaker 3: All right, let's just the Lakers are not gonna do anything.
Speaker 2: The Lakers are not any good.
Speaker 3: You have Ad and Lebron playing ninety percent of the
Speaker 3: games and there are seventh and eighth seed at best
Speaker 3: in the West.
Speaker 2: Is Lebron gonna ride out another season like that? Why
Speaker 2: would he? Why does he need to?
Speaker 3: If Lebron James decides he wants to contend this season?
Speaker 3: You know what Wilt once did? He lived not once
Speaker 3: he lived in la but he played in Philly.
Speaker 2: So Lebron, how fantas is it? How long ta get
Speaker 2: G six to get from San Francisco?
Speaker 3: You'd probably know you can't play in San Francisco and
Speaker 3: live in Los Angeles if you want to.
Speaker 2: This is Taylor made for.
Speaker 3: Those two guys to play together and finish your careers.
Speaker 2: Okay, No, disagreement there.
Speaker 1: It would be nice to see Lebron James.
Speaker 2: With Steph Curry.
Speaker 1: It would be nice to see one of the top
Speaker 1: three players in the history of basketball playing with unquestionably
Speaker 1: the greatest shooter God has ever created. And it was
Speaker 1: nice to see them during the Olympics. Lebron James was
Speaker 1: the best player for Team USA from start to finish,
Speaker 1: and Steph Curry was clearly the best player for the
Speaker 1: semi finals and the finals when he hit seventeen to
Speaker 1: three pointers in two games. It was absolutely sensational to see.
Speaker 1: I get all of that, but allow me to say this,
Speaker 1: Lebron doesn't deserve it.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I know that's sacrilegious to say, I don't give a damn.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna call it like I see it.
Speaker 1: He doesn't deserve it because of the mess that exists
Speaker 1: in LA and it's primarily because of him. Now, when
Speaker 1: you look at Lebron James, clearly I'm not talking about
Speaker 1: his game, because the dude is still all world approaching forty.
Speaker 1: It's phenomenal to watch. But they want a chip. During
Speaker 1: the bubble, they had Kyle Kuzma, they had Alex Caruso,
Speaker 1: they had a Kentavious Calwell, Pope. They had those cats, okay,
Speaker 1: and you traded a few of them along with a
Speaker 1: pick to get yourself. Russell Westbrook. Now, not the Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook we saw with the Clippers. Not that Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: we're seeing with the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about the worst version of Russell.
Speaker 1: Westbrook that ever existed was when he was wearing a
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers' uniform. He was better in Houston. He
Speaker 1: was damn suore better in Oklahoma City. Those are the
Speaker 1: two places where he was a Hall of Famer. Clearly,
Speaker 1: we looking him with the Clippers and the Denver Nuggets,
Speaker 1: and we know there's still a role for him in
Speaker 1: the NBA, but as a Los Angeles Laker, we won't repeat.
Speaker 2: What they were calling him.
Speaker 1: I was just at a Lakers game against the Denver Nuggets,
Speaker 1: and even them with him in a Nuggets uniform, where
Speaker 1: he helped slay the Lakers that night. By the way,
Speaker 1: they were begging for him to shoot. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the crowd because that's how bad it was for Russell.
Speaker 2: Westbrook when he was a Los Angeles Laker. Why was
Speaker 2: he there? Lebron got him there? Lebron got him there.
Speaker 1: Now, Lebron isn't responsible for every decision, every bad decision
Speaker 1: that has perplexed Laker fans all over the place. Rob
Speaker 1: Polinka owns that, I understand that Chavino, you know, bringing
Speaker 1: along Austin Reeves and this clear fetish with him and
Speaker 1: all of this.
Speaker 2: I got that.
Speaker 1: But we can't ignore what role Lebron played in as well.
Speaker 1: Because when you just want to check and then you
Speaker 1: come off of that and you get to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: even though you lost the first round to the Phoenix Suns,
Speaker 1: the fact of the matter is you didn't have to
Speaker 1: just throw everything aside. You needed additional bodies for additional mobility,
Speaker 1: so you could acquire the assets needed in order for
Speaker 1: him to continue to compete.
Speaker 2: And that's not what happened. Then let's take let's not
Speaker 2: forget Darvin Ham.
Speaker 1: Darvin Ham, in his first year as the head coach
Speaker 1: for the Los Angeles Lakers, got them to the guided
Speaker 1: them to the Way Conference fidos, where they got swept
Speaker 1: by the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 2: The following year, they losing five games to the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 1: But what precipitated that Lebron, James and folks hinting that
Speaker 1: Darvingham needed to go thereafter starting a podcast with JJ
Speaker 1: Reddick and ultimately JJ Reddick becoming the head coach for
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Lakers. I don't want to hear shit
Speaker 1: about Lebron James and the Los Angeles Lakers or offering
Speaker 1: the job to Danny Hurley. When you offered them the
Speaker 1: job at eleven million per it was still about six
Speaker 1: or seven coaches that were going to be paid more
Speaker 1: than a two time national champion who would be giving
Speaker 1: up everything to come and coach the Lakers. If you're
Speaker 1: wanted them bad enough, you could have made a better offer.
Speaker 1: So since you didn't make the better offer, that means
Speaker 1: you didn't want him bad enough. Is it possible that
Speaker 1: you didn't want him bad enough because you really wanted
Speaker 1: JJ Reddick all the law and you just wanted to
Speaker 1: create and manipulate a narrative where that's not what it
Speaker 1: is or that's not how it looked. And I'm not
Speaker 1: throwing any shade on JJ. I'm rooting for the brother
Speaker 1: used to work with me at ESPN. I'm not rooting
Speaker 1: against him. I'm not rooting against him at all.
Speaker 2: And it ain't as fault for taking the job.
Speaker 1: Dann Wrighty should have took the job, and it's fought
Speaker 1: for having a podcast with Lebron James. Damn right, he
Speaker 1: should have had a podcast with Lebron James. If I
Speaker 1: had a basketball podcast.
Speaker 2: Who would I want more than Lebron James. I got it.
Speaker 2: But in the end, you're Lebron James and you want
Speaker 2: to walk around.
Speaker 1: Like you the modern day basketball version of Gandhi, acting
Speaker 1: like you had nothing to do with it. All the
Speaker 1: things that happened, we were born at night, not last night.
Speaker 1: Of course you had something to do with this. So
Speaker 1: why should you get to leave to go join Steph
Speaker 1: Covey and Golden State?
Speaker 2: Why should you do that? Oh, by the way, just
Speaker 2: as an aside to end this all.
Speaker 1: I know people like rich Paul want to swear up
Speaker 1: and down that nobody gives a damn about the goat conversation.
Speaker 1: That's a damn lie. Ignore Chris rich Paul's ass.
Speaker 2: On that one.
Speaker 1: I love my man Ridgeport, very proud of him in
Speaker 1: clutch sports and what he's done with clutchports. But that's nonsense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: people care about that goat conversation and young Whipper snappers
Speaker 1: with their breath smelling like Sema lack.
Speaker 2: Wet behind the ear is don't know a damn thing
Speaker 2: about Michael Jordan. Will let me tell you soning.
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan got drafted by the Chicago Bulls with a
Speaker 1: third overall pick in nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 2: He retired as a Chicago bull.
Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety eight, and the only reason why he
Speaker 1: went to Washington, the nation's capitol, was because he was
Speaker 1: trying to become an owner, and the owner at the
Speaker 1: time a Poland.
Speaker 2: Insisted that he'd be a participant on the.
Speaker 1: Basketball court, somewhat like the New York Knicks should have
Speaker 1: insisted about Phil Jackson being the head coach of the
Speaker 1: Knicks instead of allowing them to be the president of
Speaker 1: the basketball operations. See, Washington was smarter. They said, Michael Jordan,
Speaker 1: get your ass on the court, and that's what he did.
Speaker 1: But be very very very very clear, Michael Jordan wasn't
Speaker 1: all over the place. Michael Jordan played and starred on
Speaker 1: one team in his Hall of Fame career. Lebron been
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, Miami, back to Cleveland, then to La Okay,
Speaker 1: won the championship.
Speaker 2: D wayde Bosh pat.
Speaker 1: Riley ray Allen won the title again, same crewe of dudes.
Speaker 1: Then after that goes back to Cleveland, you got Kyrie
Speaker 1: and Kevin Love, and then you go to LA and you.
Speaker 2: Get a d.
Speaker 1: Yes, Scottie Pippen is an All world player, but Scottie
Speaker 1: Pippen was groomed and nurtured and elevated by the presence,
Speaker 1: the push and the constant tutelage of Michael Jordan.
Speaker 2: Lebron James had some finished products. Just start. I throw
Speaker 2: that out there in case y'all in no. So, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it would be great for basketball to see.
Speaker 1: Him with Steph Curry. It would be very entertaining andre
Speaker 1: Mond Green. Let's not forget that, because even with Lebron
Speaker 1: and Steph, you ain't winning without Draymond Green.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's true.
Speaker 1: It would be great to see, but does he deserve it?
Speaker 1: Would LA looking the way that they looking, Nah? If
Speaker 1: LA made these decisions all by their loansome, that would
Speaker 1: be different. But you're gonna get them to make decisions.
Speaker 1: They stick up to join and then you skip town.
Speaker 2: Nah. I ain't down for that. I ain't down for that.