WEBVTT - Nick Wright REACTS: Lakers SOLD, what’s going on in LA? Russell Westbrook RETIRES, NFL deep sleepers 0:00:02.320 --> 0:00:05.520 Welcome in What Driving Nick Grade? Episode four ninety. This 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:08.080 episode of What Driving Nick gred is presented to you 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:12.039 by boost Mobile. We really are getting close to episode 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.600 five hundred. Appreciate all of you have been with us 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:18.880 for any part of the ride. If you're new, please 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:27.360 subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and YouTube. Pardon me, Oh, 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:30.520 and we're approaching to undred fifty thousand subscribers. That's pretty cool. 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:32.920 You don't get a plaque for that, but you get 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:34.720 one for one hundred k. You get a really sick 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.120 one for a million quarter a million, no YouTube platform, 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:40.159 but still would be really really awesome. So maybe we'll 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.880 h two hundred and fifty thousand subs on YouTube right 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:47.160 around the time we get to our five hundredth episode. 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:50.559 Also speaking to the episodes, another again, just quick scheduling 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:54.000 reminder for everybody. I am off the following two weeks. 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:57.080 My wife and I are going to Europe, just the 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:01.480 two of us. It is my first time with consecutive 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:06.920 weeks off since the show started, so since the summer 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.959 of twenty seventeen would have been the last time I 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.720 had more than one week off in a row. So 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:16.399 very excited for that. Ty Butler and Damon Bruce instead 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.280 of us going dark, Ty Butler and Damon Bruce are 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:23.720 going to be filling in for me those following two weeks. 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:27.680 Demanse thought those two weeks started today. That may or 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.840 may not have been my poor communication. Regardless, it is 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:34.959 just me today and we have a bunch to get to, 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:37.480 so we will jump to straight the voicemail brought to 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.960 you by Boost Mobile. Kyler Murray is going to be 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:43.399 quarterback one for the Vikings. More on that in the second. 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:48.600 Leo Messi unsure about his future. I mean, I don't 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.760 think it's crazy to say, especially because Argentina is going 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:53.920 to get to host at least one World Cup game 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.880 next rotation, that Leo Messi might find a way to 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:00.840 be a deep reserve four years from now, when Argentina 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:04.680 gets to host a World Cup game and Jaden Daniels, 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.200 super pissed that they let a kid on the team, 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.960 switches number from number three to number five files a season, 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:17.320 desists saying they can't use his nil anymore. I I 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.400 am a little I brushed up on this story a 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:22.400 little bit right before the pod, because that's when it 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:27.720 broke right was right before the pod. I I understand 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:31.120 Jayden feeling like I won the Heisman Trophy. There should 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.880 at least, you know, be a bigger gap between when 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.480 I wore the number and the next person wearing the number. 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:41.800 I understand that. I think it seems like a lot 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:43.920 of the bitter, not bitterness, I don't know if that's 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.680 the right word, but anger about this is because no 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:51.359 one has worn Joe Burrow's number nine, who also won 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.400 the Heisman. Yes, but while they both won the Heisman, Burrow, 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:00.000 you know, had an undefeated national championship season, so you 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.880 understand why, you know, his number might be a little 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.280 more sacricanct but Jayden Daniels, you know, not hearing it 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.440 quickly before we get to the Lakers. On the Kyler 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:17.400 Murray piece of it, I was pretty adamant that once 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:22.680 the Vikings acquired Kyler Murray, the earlier they named him 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:25.359 the starter because they were always going to name him 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.080 the starter. The better because I don't think with a 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.760 new offense with a quarterback who's fighting to you know, 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.760 keep his career as a starter alive, splitting reps in 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:39.080 training camp is a good idea, and I do think 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.080 Kyler is the better of the two quarterbacks. So I 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.480 think just ending the quarterback competition, which was probably never 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.200 really going to be a full blown competition, was the 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.720 smart thing to do. I do not think anything else 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.720 the Vikings have done in this process qualifies as the 0:03:54.760 --> 0:04:01.520 smart thing to do. I to draft a quarterback at 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:08.080 ten when you have Kirk Cousins because you want higher 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:16.240 ceiling than you previously had to Then a year later, 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:21.839 let Sam Darnold walk after fourteen wins and four thousand 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:27.320 yards because again you want the higher ceiling, reset the 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:32.640 quarterback salary clock, all of that, and then ten games, 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:36.640 granted they were bad, bad games, ten games into that 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.360 player's career being like, all right, he's not the guy. 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:44.120 The process there is just brutal, and you can't draft, 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.920 in my opinion, one of the youngest players in the 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:52.680 entire draft, with as few throws as he had at Michigan, 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:55.920 and then ten games into his career be like, he's 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.960 not the guy. Again, I'm not a JJ McCarthy got. 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:03.000 I didn't like to pick at the time. I didn't 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.120 understand it. But the process, and I know they have 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:10.120 a new GM, that process is so flawed, and I 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.080 think you have now once again attached your wagon to 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:18.880 another low ceiling quarterback. Like I know, people think Kyler 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:22.640 is something Kyler's not. People trick themselves into thinking Kyler 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:24.400 Murray's going to be a different quarterback than he's been 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:26.920 almost every year of his NFL career. So I am 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.520 not as high on the vikings as some people, and 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:34.039 I'm really not high on the process, but the big 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.720 and also, you can email us for mail bags, which 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:39.320 we do. I was calling it semi monthly. At this 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.679 point it might be monthly. We've been doing regular Friday 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:45.320 shows instead. What's Right mailbag at gmail dot com. But 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:51.080 the shocking story from yesterday morning is the Lakers got 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:57.280 house flipped by Mark Walter and he bought them just 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.919 around a year ago for ten billion and just flipped 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:06.640 them to Josh Kushner. Yes, that Kushner family. And Bob Iger. 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:09.880 Yes that Bob Iger, the guy that ran Disney forever. 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.560 Boughtom for ten sold them for twelve and a half. 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.680 I am going to machine gun my takes at you 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.920 on this and they are not in order of importance, 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.200 and they're just as they I you know, I know 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.159 what my takes are. Pay no attention to the order 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:35.479 of them take one, man, oh man, those Bus kids. 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:42.360 I don't know if a team could have made more 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:49.479 or a family could have made more consistently bad, step 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:55.800 by step decisions than the Bus kids made after doctor 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:58.800 Jerry Buss passed and they took over the team from 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:01.760 the infighting within the siblings about who is and who 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:05.680 isn't running the team and the excommunication and the embarrassment 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:10.080 of Rob Polinka and Magic Johnson and I'm not let 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:13.560 me rephrase that, the embarrassment of the Rob Blink of 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:18.600 Magic Johnson relationship falling apart like that, to Linda Rambiss 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:23.360 being a huge part of the brain trust there to 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:30.080 not so quietly whispering behind you know, Lebron's back, about 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:33.840 how sick of the Lebron tenure you are up to 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:41.440 and including, as we learned yesterday, getting ten billion dollars 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:45.280 for a basketball team that evidently was worth far more 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:51.320 than that. Because you can't convince me that if the 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.640 Lakers are worth twelve and a half billion today that 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.560 a year ago when Lebron was still on the team, 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:02.400 mind you, that ten billion to the top of the market. 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:08.640 I mean, it's either either the Bus family sold low 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:14.440 more on that soon or Cushner and Eiger way overpaid 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:23.600 seems unlikely. But so that's that's take number one. Take 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:31.440 number two, it is not. You don't have to be 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:37.959 a conspiracy theorist to find the timing of this and 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:44.440 the people involved in this to be incredibly odd and 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:51.600 to raise a lot of questions. So Mark Walter, who 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:55.760 we found out over the last month under investigation by 0:08:55.800 --> 0:09:02.960 the FBI for practice related to his real businesses and 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:06.080 whether or not he's gonna have to payback loans, and 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:10.200 I'm not listening. I am not a business reporter. I don't. 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:12.920 I don't not only do I not write for the 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.520 Wall Street Journal, and I'm a big newspaper guy. I 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.200 don't really read the Wall Street Journal much. So I'm 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:23.440 not going to act as if I have that story clocked. 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:30.640 What he is, you know, being potentially accused of what 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:33.920 the government's investigating him for. What I am going to 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:38.000 say that I feel pretty comfortable from the research I've 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:40.400 done in the last twenty four hours. What I am 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:44.480 comfortable saying is seems like there is a possibility that 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:50.120 Mark Walter is going to need a grip of liquid 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.559 cash in relative short order. And this is a hell 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.079 of a way to free up a bunch of money 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.360 and make a twenty five percent return in one year. 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:05.360 But I don't think Mark Walter bought the Lakers with 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:09.920 the expectation or with the plan of yeah, you know, 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.880 it's a buy and hold for eighteen for twelve to 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:17.200 eighteen months. I think he bought the Lakers for the 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:22.160 plan of owning the Lakers, and he wouldn't have done 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:28.240 the made the different moves that he made as far 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:32.320 as potentially trying to meld the Dodgers' brain trust with 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:36.600 the Lakers' brain trust if he thought he was gonna 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:39.080 sell one of them and keep the other, which right 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:42.640 now is what they're doing, keeping the Dodgers selling the Lakers. 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:48.600 So the specter of this investigation hangs over the entirety 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:59.280 of this sale. Ramona reported that he was approached by 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:05.679 Kushner and on Sunday, and this was done Wednesday. I 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:14.000 find that almost impossible to believe. And again, I'm not 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.280 a businessman. I don't claim to be a businessman. I 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.760 haven't had the last, the closest thing to a real 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:29.640 job I've had since I turned sixteen years old, was 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:34.480 door to door stake salesman. So I don't have a 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:37.760 finance degree. I don't claim to be a you know, 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.760 a sharp Wall Street guy or day Trade or any 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:48.920 of that stuff. But the idea that you could on 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:53.240 Sunday morning not even be thinking about selling the Lakers 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:57.320 and by Wednesday morning it's been reported you've sold the 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:09.280 Lakers really tests the limits of plausibility. So there's that 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:15.440 piece of this story that I don't totally understand. There 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:26.960 is the undeniable blend of politics here where Josh Kushner 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:31.440 is the money man behind this, because listen, I'm sure 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:37.240 Eiger did great at Disney, but you know he doesn't 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:42.280 have billions of dollars. But Kushner and his fund who 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.680 were just involved in trying to buy the World Cup 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:52.680 and that thing blowing up that they do. And Josh 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:58.560 Kushner is Jared Kushner's brother. Jared Kushner is the son 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.640 in law of the President of the United States. Jared 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:08.240 Kushner arguably is about as politically powerful a private citizen 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:14.360 as there is. And folks who want to look a 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:21.920 scant at the timeline of Mark Walter being investigated by 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:27.400 the federal government as a happy coincidence In the midst 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:31.559 of that, Mark Walter and his Dodgers have a trip 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:34.040 to the White House a couple of weeks ago for 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:39.400 the ceremony, and then a couple weeks later, the president 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:45.160 son in law's brother buys the Lakers in one of 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:52.120 the most shocking sports transactions ever. Again, I don't even know. 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.319 You know, it's kind of choose your own allegation. You 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.880 could make there. It'd be like, oh, was there downward 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:05.400 pressure because he's under investigation to cut Kushner a sweetheart deal? Well, 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:07.040 that doesn't totally make a lot of sense, because this 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.559 doesn't feel like a sweetheart deal. Was you know, he's 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:15.680 paid twelve and a half billion dollars. Hell, a ten 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.679 percent return in one year would be a great profit. 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:23.080 Eleven billion it would you like worth ten a year ago, 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:25.360 paid twelve and a half. So that doesn't mean it 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:30.960 was did he get you know, heads up, hey man, 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:37.480 this investigation ain't looking great for you. You're gonna need this cash. 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:41.680 I I I don't know. I just know the timing 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.480 of it, the people involved, and the fact that we 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:54.200 do appear to right now be in an era of 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:58.720 how illegal is the illegal stuff certainly gives you pause, 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:11.600 So there is that piece of it. Simmons reported that 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.640 Kushner and Iiger were hoping to get the Vegas team, 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:29.720 but the Vegas team's expansion fee was going to be 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:33.600 a minimum minimum of seven and a half billion dollars 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:39.480 and maybe upwards of nine. And in that case, well, 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:41.640 if you're gonna pay nine for a new team, why 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.920 not pay twelve twelve and a half for the best 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:50.280 brand in basketball. I do understand that logic. It seems 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:57.680 absolutely bananas to me that the Vegas expansion team could 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:03.680 be worth. It was crazy when they were talking. I 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.320 thought it was nuts. It wasn't that long ago that 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:08.840 we thought the Vegas that the expansion fees were gonna 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:15.040 be four billion dollars. Then we started hearing six. Now 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:16.800 all of a sudden, it's seven and a half and 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:24.920 maybe more. That shit. The the Timberwl sold for a 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:34.080 billion five a few years ago. It was utterly stunning 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:40.240 and considered a shocking overpay a decade ago when Balmer 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:46.080 paid do you pay two billion for the Clippers? Franchise? 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:54.000 Sales prices the I'm trying to see the what the 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:58.400 these teams have gone for, Like I know the Celtics 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:03.800 just went for six, but that was recently. I mean 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:09.359 the Mavericks three years ago. We're three and a half 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:16.320 billion post COVID Mavericks three years ago, three and a 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.800 half billion, big market. I don't know if they own 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:26.040 their arena or not. I now an expansion team is 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:30.280 going to be around eight that's kind. I mean, that 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:36.200 strikes me as crazy, which does bring me to another 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:44.800 point I have about this, which is and I talked 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:53.119 about this briefly on the TV show yesterday, but I 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:59.120 do wonder if we are going to in twenty years 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:08.040 think it was quaint and a relic of the past 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:17.000 that families that individuals owned pro sports teams, And are 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:23.640 we going to yearn for the day of the quirky 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:30.360 Jerry Jones almost mom and pop style family business. Because 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:39.080 once you get to these teams being all of them 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:45.359 multiples billions of dollars, and now the Lakers are in 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:52.040 the Decca billion category twice in a year, which means 0:18:52.040 --> 0:19:00.040 you've got to think that cheapest NFL team is a 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:09.440 approaching seven eight billion? Are you know in twenty fifty 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:17.760 and are we gonna have all of our pro sports 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:29.200 teams just owned by entities, private equity, hedge funds, foreign 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.560 wealth funds. I know right now, I don't think all 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:35.960 that's allowed, but you're running out of human beings who 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:40.320 have the money. Even in an era of this type 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:45.520 of wealth discrepancy and more billionaires than ever, the amount 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:48.679 of people that can just write a check for multiples 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:55.720 of billions of dollars is not a long list, and like, 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:03.800 I don't think that good for sports. I you know, 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:08.720 I'll tell a I'm gonna leave a lot of the 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:13.199 details out of this story, but I will tell a 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:20.600 one true story from the last month. I was, i'll say, 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:24.119 at an event with a guy who seemed like a 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.080 nice enough guy and we just got to chatting and 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:30.360 there were you know, might have been cocktails involved, and 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:34.359 I asked the guy what he does for a living, 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.439 and he was explaining it to me. I didn't totally 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:42.000 get it, and then he basically bottom lined it and 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:48.200 he's like, he basically works at a fund whose businesses 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:54.800 investing in sports teams, you know, private equity or head Again, 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:58.000 I don't know this world. A group with a bunch 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.040 of money, their whole businesses, they invest in different sports teams, 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:06.640 and the potential you know, baseball work stoppage came up, 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:12.160 the NBA salary cap came, a bunch of stuff came up, 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:14.800 And at one point I said to the guy, I 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:16.400 was like, I hope you don't take this the wrong way. 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:19.120 There's probably no right way to take it. I don't 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:23.119 think your job should exist like I don't. I was 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:27.320 saying how I didn't like I didn't like the idea 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:35.560 of just nameless or faceless financial entities owning a piece 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:39.399 of American sports teams because I view American sports teams 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:43.919 as kind of legalized monopolies, and and they're a bit 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:47.560 of a public trust. They very often have a lot of, 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:52.119 you know, real public dollars that help support them, and 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:54.960 I don't think they should be run like a typical 0:21:56.520 --> 0:22:00.720 you know what do they always say widget factory where 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:03.320 the goal is just turning it? You know, can we 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:08.840 turn a profit this year? And you know, he handled 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:11.040 me saying that I didn't think his job should exist 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:13.040 better than I probably would have if he had said 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:15.080 the same thing to me. So credit to him. But 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:17.400 I look back on that conversation just a month later, 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:21.959 and I realized how naive I sounded, because it's not 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:25.880 only that his job is going to continue to exist. 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:35.760 His job might have to exist for any sports team 0:22:35.880 --> 0:22:40.520 that's sold in the future, you might simply have to 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:51.480 have these big institutional investors. Because if if Joe Lakab 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:52.800 were to say, you know what, it's been a good 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:57.720 run steps retiring, I'm gonna sell the Lakers or sell 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:06.480 the Warriors, who not a bunch of people that are like, Okay, 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:10.399 here's the ten billion. And I think it's one of 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:13.760 the reasons probably bron who had always been serious about 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:17.320 getting in the NBA ownership, doesn't talk about it anymore, 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:19.040 And when he was last asked about it, it seemed like 0:23:19.080 --> 0:23:21.600 he said he had moved on from it, like it 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:31.640 the idea of Okay, I've done amazing professionally investing all 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:37.359 of it. I have one billion dollars Austin power style 0:23:37.440 --> 0:23:44.439 one billion dollars liquid, and I'm gonna take half of that, 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:49.080 half of my liquid net worth five hundred million, and 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:52.640 put it towards a sports team that doesn't even get 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:56.919 you on the trophy stand on the podium if they 0:23:56.960 --> 0:23:59.480 win the title these days. Oh you, oh, you have 0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:03.720 five hundred million in it. Okay, We're happy for you. 0:24:03.720 --> 0:24:07.760 You you own five percent of the Golden State Warriors 0:24:07.760 --> 0:24:10.840 that just sold for ten billion, you know, in this 0:24:10.920 --> 0:24:17.639 theoretical universe. So you know, that came to mind. And 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:19.760 the last thing that came to mind for me was 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:25.439 because we now have this story about Matti Ishbia. Again. 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:28.480 I'm not a cnbcre at Wall Street Journal guy, but 0:24:28.520 --> 0:24:30.679 it seems like his mortgage business might be in a 0:24:30.680 --> 0:24:37.080 bit of trouble. I'm not sure the NBA has crushed 0:24:37.119 --> 0:24:45.200 it with the latest round of owners. So everybody loved 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:48.720 Mark Walter coming to the league. Less than a year later, 0:24:48.880 --> 0:24:52.680 he's under federal investigation and he's out. So that one, 0:24:53.160 --> 0:24:54.760 I don't know if anybody saw it coming, but that 0:24:54.800 --> 0:24:59.920 one didn't go great, Tom Dundan. Nobody's accused him of it, 0:25:00.359 --> 0:25:04.320 you know, criminal malfeasance or fraud or anything like that. 0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:07.439 Just seems to be like wildly cheap and holding the 0:25:07.480 --> 0:25:14.479 Blazers hostage. Not great. Ishbia takes over the Suns, starts 0:25:14.520 --> 0:25:17.719 meddling with everything. The saving grace was yeah, but at 0:25:17.760 --> 0:25:20.600 least we have another super crazy rich owner that will 0:25:20.640 --> 0:25:22.840 spend a bunch of money. You know, do all these 0:25:22.840 --> 0:25:26.959 different do all this stuff? Well, we'll see what his 0:25:27.040 --> 0:25:31.680 financial situation is. The Adelson family that bought the MAVs, 0:25:33.800 --> 0:25:37.560 the beginning of their tenure went so disastrously some people 0:25:37.640 --> 0:25:42.639 believe to this day they were doing a ownership version 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:45.960 or a modern basketball version of Major League where they're 0:25:46.000 --> 0:25:49.560 trying to submarine the team's popularity locally so they can 0:25:49.640 --> 0:25:55.000 move the team. That was an ideal. I'm not saying 0:25:55.040 --> 0:25:57.960 Kushner and Eiger won't be a good group, but there 0:25:58.080 --> 0:26:05.679 is undeniably, deniably now a direct line political component to 0:26:05.760 --> 0:26:11.680 the ownership of the league's premier franchise. I'm not sure 0:26:11.720 --> 0:26:19.280 about that new guy that bought the champion Celtics again. 0:26:19.320 --> 0:26:20.640 I don't know if he's going to be a good 0:26:20.680 --> 0:26:22.600 or a bad owner. I do know that as soon 0:26:22.640 --> 0:26:25.280 as he got the team, they started tearing down the roster. 0:26:26.280 --> 0:26:29.280 That's probably not ideal. Hell, he's not even that new 0:26:29.320 --> 0:26:30.639 of an owner at this point, but it's in the 0:26:30.720 --> 0:26:33.800 last decade or so. Steve Balmer, he seemed great. They 0:26:33.880 --> 0:26:36.640 built an arena, put all this money into the Clippers. 0:26:37.000 --> 0:26:39.040 I don't know if you guys have been checking out, 0:26:39.200 --> 0:26:41.760 you know, Pablo's podcast, but seems like he might not 0:26:41.800 --> 0:26:48.600 have been doing everything on the up and up and listen, 0:26:49.080 --> 0:26:58.520 this is this isn't a eat The rich billionaires shouldn't 0:26:58.600 --> 0:27:07.560 exist common here. It is to me a pretty obvious one. Though. 0:27:09.320 --> 0:27:16.920 It's very very very difficult to make billions and billions 0:27:16.960 --> 0:27:25.360 of dollars, you know, totally one hundred percent, never coloring 0:27:25.400 --> 0:27:30.080 outside of the lines, not saying it's impossible. This is difficult. 0:27:33.240 --> 0:27:36.960 And if all these pro sports teams are gonna cost 0:27:37.880 --> 0:27:41.159 multiples and multiples of billions of dollars, are we going 0:27:41.240 --> 0:27:45.320 to have more of these stories down the road? And 0:27:45.440 --> 0:27:48.679 are we you know, we're gonna sound crazy telling our kids, like, 0:27:48.720 --> 0:27:51.040 you know, you know who used to own the Pittsburgh 0:27:51.040 --> 0:27:56.600 Steelers a family the Rooneys and the Giants rown by 0:27:56.640 --> 0:27:59.840 the Mars, and the Chiefs rown by the Hunts, and 0:27:59.880 --> 0:28:03.840 the Cowboys were owned by Jerry Jones. By Jerry Jones. 0:28:05.000 --> 0:28:08.160 She's gonna be like, oh, yeah, that's the the Chiefs, 0:28:08.160 --> 0:28:10.840 who you know, have a guy that runs the team, 0:28:10.920 --> 0:28:14.960 they call them, you know, the CEO. But they're owned 0:28:15.040 --> 0:28:19.720 by you know, this capital firm and they've got I 0:28:19.760 --> 0:28:26.240 don't know, so brave new world of sports ownership. And 0:28:26.320 --> 0:28:33.240 I am really interested in if we get real deep 0:28:33.359 --> 0:28:38.560 reporting on what the hell actually happened where Mark Walter 0:28:38.800 --> 0:28:46.560 buys the Lakers, plans to meld them essentially organizationally with 0:28:46.680 --> 0:28:51.960 the Dodgers, and a year later flips them for twenty 0:28:51.960 --> 0:28:56.000 five percent profit to a family you know, member of 0:28:56.000 --> 0:28:58.040 the president and the former guy, the guy who used 0:28:58.040 --> 0:29:04.000 to run Disney to really it's it's one of the 0:29:04.040 --> 0:29:10.280 most shocking high level sports event transactions in my life. 0:29:12.800 --> 0:29:15.400 And then a couple hours after that, Russell Westbrook retired. 0:29:15.400 --> 0:29:17.360 We'll discuss that in a second, but first, the NFL 0:29:17.440 --> 0:29:20.080 season it's about to kick into full gear, which is 0:29:20.160 --> 0:29:22.320 why I want to give you a huge shout out 0:29:22.320 --> 0:29:25.520 to the sponsor of today's video, seat Geek. 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