Speaker 1: Welcome to this League Uncut in the rule.
Speaker 2: Of twenty four hour NBA News.
Speaker 3: This is you, Chris Haynes. It's time, work's.
Speaker 1: Time, it's so time. This League Uncut is underway and
Speaker 1: on fire. This should be a good one.
Speaker 2: It is going to be a good one.
Speaker 4: A different kind of show, a different kind of this
Speaker 4: league Uncut. Mark Stein here with Chris Haynes. Back here
Speaker 4: with you, recording on a Sunday night for a Monday
Speaker 4: morning drop. A little bit closer to the usual schedule
Speaker 4: this time of year. Of course, the vagaries of Chris
Speaker 4: Haynes's travel schedule. He's got to do sideline. He's going
Speaker 4: from series to series to series. So we're back on
Speaker 4: our normal track, able to get together here on this
Speaker 4: Sunday night. We're gonna start off with some playoff talk,
Speaker 4: but also we do have an interview with Dink Pate,
Speaker 4: Dallas based six ' eight point guard, seventeen years old,
Speaker 4: huge newsmaker because he's foregoing his senior year.
Speaker 2: Of high school.
Speaker 4: He's a junior in high school right now, but he
Speaker 4: is basically he's committed to a two year deal with
Speaker 4: the G League Ignite for next season and the season
Speaker 4: after not eligible for the NBA Draft until twenty twenty five,
Speaker 4: but he has basically committed his next two years to
Speaker 4: playing for the G League Ignite, as Scoot Henderson did,
Speaker 4: but even younger than Scoot as he makes this jump,
Speaker 4: so he's not going to college, not even going to
Speaker 4: finish his senior year of high school, going to go
Speaker 4: right to the pros with the G League Ignite. We
Speaker 4: have a fun conversation with Dink to kind of get
Speaker 4: his story, get his perspective as he makes this very
Speaker 4: early move to the pros at the age of seventeen.
Speaker 4: But like I said, we will start with the playoffs.
Speaker 4: The first week of the NBA Playoffs hasn't been the funnest.
Speaker 4: So many big injuries, so many significant injuries, so much
Speaker 4: focus on officiating, and look, that always happens in the playoffs.
Speaker 4: Of course it does. We know that injuries impact every postseason.
Speaker 4: Officiating controversies are always in the headlines. It just feels
Speaker 4: like this year it's that way from the jump because again,
Speaker 4: just so many you know, Job missing a game, giannisnd
Speaker 4: Decumpo and Kawhi Leonard missing two each, Joel Embiid missing
Speaker 4: a game, Tyler Hero with the broken hand and then
Speaker 4: the awful Victor Oladipo scene Saturday night that really tough
Speaker 4: to watch him just drive down, you know, drive into
Speaker 4: the paint and his left knee just buckled. It was awful,
Speaker 4: awful to watch. So I mean, you know, we're recording
Speaker 4: this now on Sunday night. The Sunday games have in
Speaker 4: you know, much better. I think, you know, I think
Speaker 4: we we can rightly get excited about the scenes that
Speaker 4: we saw, you know, Nix and calvs.
Speaker 2: Game four.
Speaker 4: A lot of stakes there, obviously New York seizing a
Speaker 4: three to one lead, and we know what happens when
Speaker 4: teams go up three to one.
Speaker 2: So big performance for the Knicks to win that game.
Speaker 4: For huge decision from Tom Thibodeaux to go away from
Speaker 4: Julius Randall in the fourth quarter. Tom Thibodeaux, who's really
Speaker 4: seen as one of the more rigid coaches in the NBA,
Speaker 4: and he totally goes away from the script with Toppin
Speaker 4: and Hartenstein out there with Jalen Brunson and Josh hart
Speaker 4: a combination that he hasn't been using in the Knicks
Speaker 4: pull away in the fourth quarter and win that game,
Speaker 4: and then Warriors Kings. The series that Chris is headed
Speaker 4: to for Game five, Warriors down to one, They're getting
Speaker 4: Draymond Green back.
Speaker 2: They pull that thing out.
Speaker 4: Chris Haynes, are you ready to step into the cauldron
Speaker 4: that is going to be Warriors at Kings Game five
Speaker 4: in your home city where you now reside. Chris Haynes
Speaker 4: gets a home game this.
Speaker 3: Week, first time, Yeah, first time. I'm excited because I
Speaker 3: haven't experienced that atmosphere yet, that playoff atmosphere with the Kings,
Speaker 3: and I feel like I'll be missing a little bit
Speaker 3: of the real, true, authentic atmosphere because they've banned the
Speaker 3: cowbells now, so I won't get I won't get to
Speaker 3: hear that now.
Speaker 2: I didn't even know that they have.
Speaker 3: They have, So I'm gonna tell you why. I'm glad
Speaker 3: you asked that. Stun So. There was a video of
Speaker 3: a fan who was sitting right behind Bob Myers and
Speaker 3: while the Kings were beating up on the Warriors, He's
Speaker 3: just rigging this bell right behind Bob Myers's head, like
Speaker 3: he's right behind him. The bell is like a few
Speaker 3: inches from Bob Myers's head and he's just banging that
Speaker 3: bell banging that bell, and it was it was you know,
Speaker 3: that wasn't right, that was disrespectful, just doing too much.
Speaker 3: And so after that, the Kings the band, so they
Speaker 3: banned the King Kings fans for bringing in the cowbell
Speaker 3: So what I will say is this, I was told
Speaker 3: by Raymond Ritter, the Warriors pr ficionado, one of your
Speaker 3: best friends, Din one of my good friends as well,
Speaker 3: that the NBA had outlawed for all NBA teams that
Speaker 3: they can't bring any noises, they can't bring any type
Speaker 3: of contra yeah noise, yeah, noise making devices. So that
Speaker 3: was already a law within the NBA, but they allowed
Speaker 3: for Kings fans to continue that because that was always
Speaker 3: a tradition with the cowbells. So that fan pretty much
Speaker 3: messed it up for everybody.
Speaker 4: The thing about that video, though, like what little we
Speaker 4: saw of it, Bob Myers was so stoic, like he
Speaker 4: wasn't even reacting to the noise.
Speaker 2: So I guess, like I said this, I totally missed.
Speaker 4: I didn't see the announcement that the cow bells will
Speaker 4: not be allowed for Game five. And like you said,
Speaker 4: on one hand, it's always been a feature of Kings games.
Speaker 4: But don't anyone get mad at the messenger. We have
Speaker 4: to be honest here. It's the first time in seventeen seasons.
Speaker 4: Remember it was a sixteen year playoff drought. First time
Speaker 4: in seventeen years that we've seen the Kings in the playoffs.
Speaker 4: So what was maybe the passable norm in two thousand
Speaker 4: and six and the years before, not necessarily the norm anymore.
Speaker 4: But that's really interesting that this in series change is
Speaker 4: gonna happen. It's still gonna be plenty loud. I mean,
Speaker 4: we know that Sacramento crowd is absolutely gonna go nuts there.
Speaker 4: I mean the question is did they I mean, you know.
Speaker 3: Have they Yeah, they missed a golden opportunity in Game
Speaker 3: three style, they missed a golden opportunity with Raymond being
Speaker 3: out that hurt.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because look, I think the Warriors really made it
Speaker 4: a priority. In Game four, They've really gone after Sabonis. Now,
Speaker 4: I think they've found something there. We saw Draymond's impact defensively.
Speaker 4: I mean, the guy is an absolute game changer at
Speaker 4: that end. Two late stops that were really momentum shifting
Speaker 4: and despite all of the Warriors crazy mistakes in the
Speaker 4: last minute. I mean I never would have imagined calling
Speaker 4: Steph calling a timeout when they didn't have one and
Speaker 4: everything that went down. But yeah, now that that thing
Speaker 4: is two too. I mean, you know, this is a
Speaker 4: must win, must capital m must win Game five for Sacramento,
Speaker 4: and the fact that it's Wednesday, you know, gives the
Speaker 4: older team a little extra time to recharge. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, I still keep believing even though this Warriors
Speaker 4: team has been so bad on the road all season long. Again,
Speaker 4: they've got that NBA record twenty seven playoff series in
Speaker 4: a row with at least one road win. I came
Speaker 4: into this series thinking Warriors and six. I mean that
Speaker 4: this is the big you know, this is the biggest
Speaker 4: playoff game possible for Sacramento to really validate this season
Speaker 4: they've had.
Speaker 2: They can't they can't lose this Game five.
Speaker 3: And this where pressure comes into play. Are the Sacramento
Speaker 3: Kings for real? Yes, we know they're for real, we
Speaker 3: know they're They're not the team that they used to be,
Speaker 3: but now their backs are against the wall. And one thing,
Speaker 3: I think, the one thing that we all have kind
Speaker 3: of favored is that the Golden State Wars have history
Speaker 3: on their side. They have a DNA on their side,
Speaker 3: so you give them the benefit of the doubt, and
Speaker 3: you picked the Wars at six done. It seemed like
Speaker 3: like it seems like you still feel pretty good about
Speaker 3: about that, you know, I.
Speaker 4: Say, I think they already the Kings already showed us
Speaker 4: something winning the first two. I mean, look, not that
Speaker 4: my predictions are worth anything. I thought gold I didn't
Speaker 4: think there was any way the Kings go up to ZIP.
Speaker 4: I thought Golden State was for sure going to find
Speaker 4: a way to win one of those first two games
Speaker 4: on the road, and that quickly the Warriors would have
Speaker 4: snuffed out all the talk about how bad they've been
Speaker 4: on the road this season if they get one of
Speaker 4: those first two and they couldn't. I mean, the Kings
Speaker 4: have already, you know, acquitted themselves really really well in
Speaker 4: this series, and you're gonna be right in the heart
Speaker 4: of it. It's gonna be I mean, that is going
Speaker 4: to be a game of just massive interest. I think
Speaker 4: this series has been the spiciest of the first rounders
Speaker 4: and the one that you know, it had the most
Speaker 4: potential going in, and it's living up to it so far.
Speaker 3: Yet too well so. The Kings and Warriors series had
Speaker 3: some competition initially, the Clipper Sons. They were on part
Speaker 3: right there with them. Man, you probably could make an
Speaker 3: argument it's probably even more intrigued until things happen over there.
Speaker 3: But this King's Warriors game right here, man, it's going
Speaker 3: down to the wire. It's going to be tough. It
Speaker 3: has the potential to go games, to go seven games.
Speaker 3: But you just the war is they've been here, they've
Speaker 3: been here, and this is where the inexperience could play
Speaker 3: a factor. You know, we'll see the Sacramento Kings are
Speaker 3: proven teams wrong. Mike Brown said on this very pod,
Speaker 3: remember when we were talking about when we shared it
Speaker 3: with him that you know there are teams that are
Speaker 3: aiming for them, and he said, okay, well that's good,
Speaker 3: and he played that. He played that SoundBite to us.
Speaker 3: He played it to his team. He said, because if
Speaker 3: we're as good as we think we are, we're going
Speaker 3: to show as whenever up to oh you couldn't argue
Speaker 3: at all, but it takes two more to advance. So
Speaker 3: I can't wait. I'm looking forward to that atmosphere again
Speaker 3: for my first time working a TNT game at home.
Speaker 3: So it's going to be cool. I'm actually not going
Speaker 3: to a hotel. I'm going to my house. I'm a
Speaker 3: stay up. I'm gonna stay at the house.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: I don't know if that's a mistake or not, but
Speaker 3: I've got because I don't want to set the president.
Speaker 3: I don't want them to be like Chris, you know what, man,
Speaker 3: We're gonna send you, send you to covering all the
Speaker 3: Kings games. We're like, okay, but yeah, you gotta stay home.
Speaker 3: I don't want to set that precedent, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, Because I might I might be in trouble
Speaker 3: at the house. I may need that hotel from time
Speaker 3: to time, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Well, since we're living vicariously through you, before we even get.
Speaker 2: To all of those difficult decisions.
Speaker 4: So you got Lakers Grizzlies Game four Monday?
Speaker 3: Correct, That is correct, that Monday, So that would be
Speaker 3: that'd be tomorrow when it's pod drops. Yeah, so yeah, the.
Speaker 4: Same day as this is when this pod drops. But
Speaker 4: I want to go back to the series that you've
Speaker 4: been You've done three of the four games in the
Speaker 4: Sun's Clippers series. Obviously, Clippers get the game one win
Speaker 4: even without Paul George, but now Kawhi Leonard has missed
Speaker 4: the last two games, Phoenix has seized a three to
Speaker 4: one lead. I do think, you know, look, the Suns
Speaker 4: are gonna win this series now. I mean, I can't
Speaker 4: see them letting a three to one lead slip. I mean, well,
Speaker 4: let's start here. What what can you tell us about
Speaker 4: kawhi situation? Is there any hope for the Clippers to
Speaker 4: get him back on the floor in this series.
Speaker 3: I don't see it. I don't see it. Even if
Speaker 3: the Suns were to extend I mean, excuse me, even
Speaker 3: if the Clippers were to extend this series to Game seven,
Speaker 3: I don't see it. You know, I reported yesterday that
Speaker 3: during the game broadcast that you know, he experienced swelling
Speaker 3: after Game two, was prompted him to get evaluated, and
Speaker 3: after that evaluation, he was recommended that he's sit rested,
Speaker 3: wait till the swelling goes down. And as of yesterday,
Speaker 3: I was told that there was still swelling in the knee.
Speaker 3: And so it's a tough situation for the Clippers, definitely tough.
Speaker 3: This is not something I know for sure. This is
Speaker 3: not something that is milking. This is not something that
Speaker 3: uh that Kawhi had a had a call on it
Speaker 3: was he was advised to let this rest to prevent
Speaker 3: further damaging that knee. And so it's a tough situation.
Speaker 3: But no, I don't expect them even if they did
Speaker 3: extend it to Game seven.
Speaker 4: Man, it's awful because this is year four of this
Speaker 4: and it's just no matter what happens one way or
Speaker 4: the other, the Clippers can't get their full team on
Speaker 4: the court. And you know, the natural question is going
Speaker 4: to be where do they go from here? And it's
Speaker 4: it's you know, it's not a clear answer because you know,
Speaker 4: they gave up all those picks and shake Gil just
Speaker 4: Alexander to bring Paul George in. Uh, you know, Paul
Speaker 4: George obviously needed the Clippers to get realistic. Paul George
Speaker 4: needed the Clippers to at least reach the second round
Speaker 4: to have any shot to play in these playoffs. And
Speaker 4: the question is, you know, I don't have the answer
Speaker 4: today on you know, we're recording this on Sunday, but
Speaker 4: it'll be April twenty fourth when this thing drops. I
Speaker 4: can't tell you on April twenty fourth what the Clippers
Speaker 4: are going to do. But a lot of people around
Speaker 4: the league are going to be talking about it, because I.
Speaker 2: Mean, do.
Speaker 4: You keep the Kawhi Paul George tandem together and try
Speaker 4: again to refresh the cast around them and see if
Speaker 4: you can get them both right for playoff time? Are
Speaker 4: they going to look into Paul George's trade market again?
Speaker 4: I don't know the answer to that at this early juncture,
Speaker 4: but I mean, we know Steve Balmer will spend anything
Speaker 4: it takes to win. We know they've got this amazing
Speaker 4: new arena coming and by all accounts, anybody who's seen
Speaker 4: any of it says it is truly amazing. But you know,
Speaker 4: what kind of changes can the Clippers make after a
Speaker 4: season like this?
Speaker 2: Because to go.
Speaker 4: Out like this again, not being able to have their
Speaker 4: two stars in the court, dispiriting to stay the least.
Speaker 3: And one thing that complicates matters I wouldn't say use
Speaker 3: comp maybe that's the wrong word, but you have to
Speaker 3: remember the the Clippers are going to open up in
Speaker 3: that new arena for the let me see, it would
Speaker 3: be the twenty twenty four season. So they want to
Speaker 3: open that arena up with some star power. They want
Speaker 3: it to be a main attraction. They're trying to take
Speaker 3: over the city of Los Angeles, and the last thing
Speaker 3: they want to do is start start off in that
Speaker 3: new arena with a lackluster team. So Kawhi Leonard and
Speaker 3: Paul George, you know, might be their best options to stick,
Speaker 3: you know, stick, stick, see it through. I should say,
Speaker 3: I remember when the Golden State Warriors went through that,
Speaker 3: you know, that was always that was always a tough
Speaker 3: year for them to go and open up Chase Center
Speaker 3: and they weren't hold. Klay Thompson had his injury, Kevin
Speaker 3: Durant left and it took them out of championship contention
Speaker 3: and it suffered. You know, they suffered for the first
Speaker 3: couple of years. So you know that's that's one thing
Speaker 3: that's going to be on Steve Barmber's mind. You know,
Speaker 3: he wants to have a title contending team to open
Speaker 3: up that building. So he's going to definitely he's going
Speaker 3: to urge the front office to see what they can do.
Speaker 3: But I don't know, I don't know if they'll be
Speaker 3: able to do better than what they have right now.
Speaker 3: As far as the star players that they have.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean you said that the twenty twenty four
Speaker 4: to twenty five season, that is when the Clippers are
Speaker 4: scheduled to move in to their new into It Dome
Speaker 4: and I'm not even sure, but it's in Englewood, and
Speaker 4: you know, obviously they've poured bazillions into this thing. One
Speaker 4: point two billion, I think is the last figure.
Speaker 5: So it's you.
Speaker 4: Know, it's gonna be state of the art, and you're right,
Speaker 4: Ballmer's gonna want a state of the art team in there.
Speaker 4: I mean, having done that series three of the four
Speaker 4: games to this point, what's what's the vibe around the Clippers?
Speaker 4: I mean, how would you describe it being close to
Speaker 4: that team? And I mean again, they started so well
Speaker 4: with the game, you know, they steal Game one, and
Speaker 4: then the way it's just gone now, I mean they
Speaker 4: must be they must be down.
Speaker 3: The way I would describe it is basically like, here
Speaker 3: we go again. Yeah, that's that's it. Here we go again.
Speaker 3: It's par for the course. You know, it seemed like
Speaker 3: there's always something that just falls from up under them,
Speaker 3: you know, at the wrong time, and I guess there's
Speaker 3: really not a right time. But yeah, I mean they're
Speaker 3: they're accustomed to this, unfortunately, And you know, the bright
Speaker 3: thing about this this run or this playoff serious Stein
Speaker 3: is the player Russell Westbrook. Man, Oh, he's been phenomenal.
Speaker 3: He's been phenomenal. I know people wonder if he still
Speaker 3: had it, still had it on that level. Man, he's
Speaker 3: been keeping this team aflow. Even that game won when
Speaker 3: he shot atrociously and we talked about it. He made
Speaker 3: key plays, great plays down the stretch, defensively setting his
Speaker 3: teammates up offensive rebounder. But he's been torturing the Suns
Speaker 3: right now. He's been there long. Him and Noman Pal
Speaker 3: I should say, been really good. But it's just not enough.
Speaker 3: It's not enough, and they're deeper. They're still deep. Well,
Speaker 3: they're one of the deepest teams, the Clippers in the league.
Speaker 3: I mean, you take KD and Paul George, that kind
Speaker 3: of dampers that a little bit, but it's still they
Speaker 3: can't combat the sons of KD and Devin Booker, who
Speaker 3: are playing amazingly. Chris Paul got his rhythm back offensively
Speaker 3: in Game four. The Sons still don't have a bitch.
Speaker 3: They're relying a lot on their starters. But we even
Speaker 3: with all that said, Bea said, Clippers don't have enough.
Speaker 3: I don't expect it to go beyond Game five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, you said it. That has been the one
Speaker 2: silver lining.
Speaker 4: You know, the Clippers were so roundly second guest for
Speaker 4: even wanting to bring Russell Westbrook in. You can't even
Speaker 4: imagine them now if they didn't have him. I mean,
Speaker 4: he's been huge in this series, and I think a
Speaker 4: lot of people are happy for us that he's, you know,
Speaker 4: finding some measure of redemption in this postseason, even though
Speaker 4: again it's you know, it's not gonna be enough to
Speaker 4: get them to the second round. I think the other
Speaker 4: big storyline here is you know, you said it. I mean,
Speaker 4: Kevin Durant and Devin Booker are They're playing a lot
Speaker 4: of minutes, like I have to think the Denver Nuggets,
Speaker 4: who as we're taping this, Denver is early in its
Speaker 4: game in Minneso. So it's, you know, as we're taping this,
Speaker 4: we don't know if the Nuggets are finishing this thing
Speaker 4: off in four games or if they're gonna have to
Speaker 4: close it out in five. But I think Denver has
Speaker 4: to feel really good looking at the demands that many
Speaker 4: Williams has to put on Kevin Durant and Devin Booker
Speaker 4: just because they they don't have a bench.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's gonna be. You ain't gonna be able
Speaker 3: to change that during the playoffs. There's no there's no
Speaker 3: transactions you can make during the postseeds. So they're gonna
Speaker 3: have to deal with it. And you know, MANI Williams said,
Speaker 3: you know, guys, don't you know? We talked. I talked
Speaker 3: to him before the game, before Game four, and he said,
Speaker 3: he knows that's getting a lot of tensions the minutes
Speaker 3: that he puts on the start and five. He said,
Speaker 3: but look if you compare the guys in the eighties
Speaker 3: and nineties where they played the same amount of minutes
Speaker 3: and they practiced two hours a day. Said, we don't
Speaker 3: practice like that at all, he said. So he say,
Speaker 3: feels still feels like he has some cushion, But it's
Speaker 3: going to be you know, you just you just hope.
Speaker 3: I don't want to see any more injuries, man, I
Speaker 3: don't want to see any more injuries. It's it's been
Speaker 3: a brutal postseason thus far to seeing guys, seeing guys
Speaker 3: go down.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the only depot thing was awful.
Speaker 4: I mean I I rattled my whole house and made
Speaker 4: some kind of noise of just shock and uh, you know,
Speaker 4: it was awful.
Speaker 5: It was just awful.
Speaker 4: Oladipo has been through so much injury wise these last
Speaker 4: couple of years. Just sickening to see that. I mean,
Speaker 4: in Milwaukee, how bad must the back be for Giannis
Speaker 4: to miss too? I mean, Jis does not miss, sure
Speaker 4: for him to miss, I mean for him to miss too.
Speaker 4: And Milwaukee, who really was the closest thing to a
Speaker 4: favorite to win it all, is you know, down to
Speaker 4: one as we speak, with Jannis not being able to
Speaker 4: play two of the three games. So I mean Joel
Speaker 4: Embiid situation, that's yet another one where we've got Doc
Speaker 4: River saying, you know, a Philly Boston matchup is still theoretical.
Speaker 4: Boston still needs one more win to finish off the Hawks,
Speaker 4: but as we were recording this podcast, the Celtics go
Speaker 4: up three to one on the Hawks with a Game
Speaker 4: four win in Atlanta. Boston only needs one more home
Speaker 4: win obviously to finish that thing off, but that series
Speaker 4: wouldn't even start until Saturday. But even that might not
Speaker 4: be enough time for Joel Embiid to be back in
Speaker 4: the lineup, according to Doc Rivers. So it's just been
Speaker 4: one thing after another and again, injuries always impact the postseason.
Speaker 4: That is nothing new, but to have so many injuries
Speaker 4: of consequence this early, it's rough. So as we speak
Speaker 4: now again we're recording this on Sunday night while the
Speaker 4: Nuggets and Wolves are locked into a game for Denver
Speaker 4: going for the sweep here.
Speaker 2: But as we speak, the.
Speaker 4: Only series that's over is Philly Brooklyn. And I'm sure
Speaker 4: you saw this. Chris Haynes, a player that I think
Speaker 4: you know pretty well, Chris Haynes. Damian Lillard of the
Speaker 4: Portland Trailblazers suddenly appeared courtside for Game three of that
Speaker 4: Sixers Nets series, And of course that sent NBA Twitter
Speaker 4: into a tizzy because naturally there was a lot of
Speaker 4: conclusion jumping.
Speaker 2: Does Dame want to be a Sixer? Does Dame want
Speaker 2: to be a net? Why is he courtside?
Speaker 4: He loves McHale Bridges like, what is he doing there?
Speaker 4: Can you and obviously I was understating it before. Can
Speaker 4: you the NBA's foremost Dame ologist, can you explain? Can
Speaker 4: you shed any light on why Damian Lillard all of
Speaker 4: a sudden appeared at a NETS Sixers playoff game in Brooklyn?
Speaker 3: So all of this because he went to a game.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's what we do in the that's what we
Speaker 4: do in the media. We blow things out of proportion.
Speaker 3: Okay, so listen, I pretty much knew the reason he went,
Speaker 3: but I made a call. I made a call to
Speaker 3: Damien Little himself before we started this podcast, and and
Speaker 3: just wanted to get get it clear, get it straight.
Speaker 3: He told me he went there for some meetings, and
Speaker 3: he went there for some projects. He's some musical projects
Speaker 3: he's working on, and he wanted me to announce that
Speaker 3: he's dropping his new album next month. He didn't give
Speaker 3: me the name. He didn't give me who's being featured
Speaker 3: on it as of right now, but he's dropping his
Speaker 3: new album next month. Also, Michel Bridges, you know, that's
Speaker 3: a really good friend of his. And he said he
Speaker 3: went out there support him. And this was his first
Speaker 3: NBA game attending as a professional player. He's never attended
Speaker 3: another NBA game since he was drafted in two thousand.
Speaker 2: So his fan debut court sid.
Speaker 3: Exactly. It's fan debut. And I know people making the
Speaker 3: connection and all that stuff, trying to connect dots. There's
Speaker 3: no dots to be connected right now. But I will
Speaker 3: add this. Stein, he told me this. He also tried
Speaker 3: to get a court side seat to the Knicks game,
Speaker 3: but they couldn't accommodate him. They didn't have a ticket,
Speaker 3: they couldn't get him a ticket for the seat that
Speaker 3: he wanted. And the Brooklyn Nets were the only team
Speaker 3: that was able to accommodate him to get a court
Speaker 3: side seat. So you actually would have seen him at
Speaker 3: a Nets and the next game, but he couldn't get
Speaker 3: the CD wanted and Styn.
Speaker 2: Don't look at now. I will just say this.
Speaker 4: I will just say this, court side seats at Madison
Speaker 4: Square Garden right now have to be very, very very
Speaker 4: in demand.
Speaker 2: The Knicks are as.
Speaker 4: Hot as they've been for ten years, twenty years. I
Speaker 4: mean the two games there this weekend, the raucousness of
Speaker 4: the crowd, the.
Speaker 3: Hey, you're saying this wise steincause.
Speaker 4: I'm just saying, Oh, I'm saying all that, but I'm
Speaker 4: saying but that was kind of my lead in to say,
Speaker 4: if Damian Lillard wants a court side ticket, somehow I'm
Speaker 4: finding a way to get him aside ticket, no matter
Speaker 4: how in demand it is.
Speaker 3: Stein. Look, I've watched you know, I watched those next games,
Speaker 3: especially in the playoffs, and they always show the stars
Speaker 3: and the celebrities that are there, and I'm like, come
Speaker 3: on now, I'm seeing some of these people and I'm like,
Speaker 3: come on now, you got them, Dame, Dame. You couldn't
Speaker 3: accommodate Dame. It's not like he's asking for a discount.
Speaker 3: He's going he's going to pay the money, Dame Lillard.
Speaker 3: But yeah, the Knicks couldn't have come there. They couldn't
Speaker 3: get them in. So Dame was not able to sit
Speaker 3: courtside of the Necks game.
Speaker 4: Interesting, not the content, not where I thought this story
Speaker 4: was going. But that's where that's why we that's why
Speaker 4: we consult the NBA's foremost damologist for the real for
Speaker 4: the real story.
Speaker 3: Will you be buying Dame's latest album Stein?
Speaker 2: I will be waiting for the media review copy.
Speaker 3: Okay, Well, so you're gonna wait for me, that's what
Speaker 3: you said. That's what you said, wait for me to
Speaker 3: tell you how it is.
Speaker 4: Okay, But you know, if you want to do a review,
Speaker 4: if you want to do a formal review, you know
Speaker 4: we should.
Speaker 2: We should do that. We should, we should let you
Speaker 2: give it a formal review.
Speaker 3: I've gave Dame some suggestions on which way he should
Speaker 3: go with this next album. I want to see if
Speaker 3: he follows suit.
Speaker 2: I've actually been and what's your gut? Will he listen
Speaker 2: or is he No?
Speaker 3: No, I don't think he'll listen. No, I don't think
Speaker 3: he'll listen. But I gave it anyway. So I've actually
Speaker 3: been in the studio with Dame a few times. And
Speaker 3: I remember one time when to the studio. We're in
Speaker 3: LA this off season, probably about five years ago, and
Speaker 3: he said, come up to the studio. I forgot where
Speaker 3: the studio was at, but I went, and it's funny.
Speaker 3: It gave me see start this is the state. I'm
Speaker 3: not gonna put your business out there, but you you
Speaker 3: know a little bit about man. Yeah, okay, okay.
Speaker 4: I am not qualified in any way, shape or form
Speaker 4: to me.
Speaker 3: You have. Yeah, you're associated somehow, You're associated somehow with
Speaker 3: this feel. That's all I will say. But it's really
Speaker 3: interesting how the the process of coming up with ideas
Speaker 3: and stories in the studio. It's it's it's interesting how
Speaker 3: it comes about. So I was in the studio and
Speaker 3: it's Dame and there's a producer, you know, at the
Speaker 3: desk and he's playing Dame songs, playing them songs, and
Speaker 3: they just excuse me playing them instrumentals. They just keep
Speaker 3: going over instrumentals. So this process is about it's ours.
Speaker 3: You're playing, you're playing different instrumentals. You're seeing what sticks in,
Speaker 3: you know, and that's what it's about. So there's food there, everything,
Speaker 3: you're there, you just kind of want to stay in.
Speaker 3: As an artist, you just stay in the room and
Speaker 3: you just see what creative juices start to flow. And
Speaker 3: so Dam's doing this for a few hours and then
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, Too Short comes in, and I'm like,
Speaker 3: what in the world. Too Short comes through? So Too
Speaker 3: Short comes in and I'm like, wow, this is crazy.
Speaker 3: So Too Short sits there and they just start listening.
Speaker 3: And so there's like no plan for those two to
Speaker 3: collab and do a project, but they just listening to
Speaker 3: see if there's a track that they both can vibe to.
Speaker 3: And while I was there because I had to leave,
Speaker 3: I'm like, man, no music being made. I'm gone. So
Speaker 3: as I leave, here comes Lil Wayne comes in. Then
Speaker 3: I stay. I'm like i gotta stay for this. Little
Speaker 3: Wayne comes in. Same thing. Music is being played, so
Speaker 3: there was nothing done on that day that I witnessed,
Speaker 3: But it was just interesting to see how the process
Speaker 3: of creating music goes and how, you know, how each
Speaker 3: artist goes about it.
Speaker 2: So this was all in La.
Speaker 3: This is all in LA about four or five years ago.
Speaker 5: Quite a life.
Speaker 4: You lead, Quite a life.
Speaker 3: Stein. One day, I'm gonna get you to reveal your
Speaker 3: real life. You like, you'd like to keep it all hidden,
Speaker 3: but people will be very soil life.
Speaker 2: It's so boring. Nobody wants to hear about my life.
Speaker 4: But next we are going to throw it to the interview.
Speaker 4: We promised you. We have Dink Pate who just signed
Speaker 4: a contract that will make him the youngest known American
Speaker 4: born professional basketball player.
Speaker 2: In the NBA.
Speaker 4: Let's check out our convo with Dink right now.
Speaker 3: You know, I think it's important on occasion to highlight
Speaker 3: some of the up and coming players that you're going
Speaker 3: to see in this league, and this is one right here.
Speaker 3: He pretty much made history, and we're going to have
Speaker 3: him on the episode. He's actually in Stein's own backyard.
Speaker 3: This brother right here goes by the name of Dick
Speaker 3: pay DP. He just signed with the G League Knight
Speaker 3: and he made American history because this kid is seventeen,
Speaker 3: but he reclassified. He's really from the class of twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four of high school. Reclassified twenty twenty three. He
Speaker 3: entered the Pro Arena G League Knight, and so he'll
Speaker 3: be eligible for the NBA Draft in twenty twenty five
Speaker 3: and he'll get a chance to play with the G
Speaker 3: League Knight for two years prior. And so that's the
Speaker 3: youngest American professional basketball player that we know of DP.
Speaker 3: Thank you for coming on, man, I just want to
Speaker 3: ask real quick man, what has it been like since
Speaker 3: you made your decision to reclassify and ultimately sign with
Speaker 3: the G League Knight.
Speaker 5: You know, it's been crazy. You know, the Internet, every
Speaker 5: thing is been everything's been blown up since that day.
Speaker 5: But you know, trying to stay off of that and
Speaker 5: keep my mind focused on my main goal, which is,
Speaker 5: you know, going to the G League and getting ready
Speaker 5: to play against pro level guys. Is that's my main
Speaker 5: focus right now.
Speaker 4: Obviously you probably had a zillion colleges coming after you.
Speaker 4: How long have you been thinking about going this route
Speaker 4: instead to basically make a two year commitment with the
Speaker 4: G League to Night because obviously you don't have a choice.
Speaker 4: You're not draft eligible till twenty twenty five because the
Speaker 4: NBA rules, Like, how did this even come into your
Speaker 4: thinking of this is the option I need to take.
Speaker 5: When I was younger, I was always you know, before
Speaker 5: I even knew what Overseas was or the G League,
Speaker 5: I always told myself, like, I'm just not gonna go
Speaker 5: to college basketball wise, I always my mindset has always
Speaker 5: been pro and I always just think I'm just gonna
Speaker 5: go straight to the league.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: So when I got this, when I was present with
Speaker 5: this opportunity, you know, of course it was you know,
Speaker 5: we we didn't, we didn't, we let it sink in
Speaker 5: for a little minute. But when we started thinking about it, like,
Speaker 5: this is what I've been saying ever since I was
Speaker 5: Jay high. So you know, this is just it's a
Speaker 5: it's a dream come true, and it's also a blessing.
Speaker 3: So dp there there was there was a possibility in
Speaker 3: this this last of CBA agreement that they would potentially
Speaker 3: allow for kids to go straight from high school to
Speaker 3: the NBA again, and that that did not happen. They
Speaker 3: didn't change that, and that kind of shocked a lot
Speaker 3: of people. Was that something you were looking at were
Speaker 3: you hoping they would change that? How how how closely
Speaker 3: were you following.
Speaker 5: That I would I wouldn't at all, you know what
Speaker 5: I'm saying. I wouldn't just try to be one of
Speaker 5: them type of players that just get to the league.
Speaker 5: You know, that's not my main goal. Of course, I
Speaker 5: want to get to the league, but I want to
Speaker 5: be one of those all star top guys, one of
Speaker 5: the one of the greats that's talking about, such as Lebron, Kobe, Shag,
Speaker 5: all those type of names. You know, getting to the
Speaker 5: league is just not I'm not there yet.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: When I get to the league, I don't want to
Speaker 5: just be one of those players that's just I can
Speaker 5: say I'm in NBA. You know what I'm saying. I
Speaker 5: want to be one of those players that you know,
Speaker 5: playing twenty plus years, just like what Lebron is doing
Speaker 5: right now.
Speaker 2: Dink peate with us.
Speaker 4: This is a fascinating story in the world of basketball.
Speaker 4: Just seventeen years old. My neighbor here in Dallas. He's
Speaker 4: committed to play the next two years with the G
Speaker 4: League Knight. He's not draft eligible until twenty twenty five,
Speaker 4: but he already knows what he's going to do with
Speaker 4: the next two years of his life, play with the
Speaker 4: G League Knight to get ready for the draft, instead
Speaker 4: of going the college route, instead of going to Australia,
Speaker 4: instead of doing all these There's a variety of options
Speaker 4: now that players have, but so unique to make this
Speaker 4: decision when you're a junior in high school. I'm curious
Speaker 4: because you're in Dallas. Jaden Hardy, of course with the Mavericks,
Speaker 4: he's been a huge success going from the Ignite to
Speaker 4: the Maverick slip to the second round of the draft,
Speaker 4: but had a great rookie season here in Dallas. Have
Speaker 4: you had any chance to get to know him and
Speaker 4: kind of quiz him about what life with the Ignite
Speaker 4: is like?
Speaker 5: Not really, you know, I just know people that know him,
Speaker 5: like School Henderson, when having a conversation with him, you know,
Speaker 5: because I'm doing basically doing the same thing he did.
Speaker 5: You know, he was the youngest to do it. My
Speaker 5: birthdays in March is in February. That's why I am
Speaker 5: the youngest as of right now. So you know, when
Speaker 5: talking to him and seeing what Ignite has done with him,
Speaker 5: he's number He's gonna get drafted.
Speaker 4: What basically has his message to you been what advice is?
Speaker 5: Just like yes, he was, just like, you know, you
Speaker 5: can do the same thing I can do. You can
Speaker 5: do the same thing that I'm doing right now, which
Speaker 5: is because he made history and now that I'm making
Speaker 5: it for him to do the two year deal and
Speaker 5: me to do it now, you know, I think it's
Speaker 5: an opportunity that might come around, maybe even more often
Speaker 5: met and other places. You never know, you know what
Speaker 5: I'm saying. So just looking far ahead right now. Of course,
Speaker 5: the G League for me is the reason why I
Speaker 5: took this route is the development process. You know, me
Speaker 5: coming out of high school. That's why I was telling
Speaker 5: you earlier. If I was presented to just go to
Speaker 5: the league right out of high school, I wouldn't you know.
Speaker 5: I can see myself right now. You know, I'm not
Speaker 5: there yet for me to go out here and get
Speaker 5: better and go to this development process like people what
Speaker 5: people tell me out the time, it's scary to see
Speaker 5: what the outcome will be.
Speaker 3: Okay, DP, Now I gotta put you on the spot
Speaker 3: since you opened that door. You want to get to
Speaker 3: the league, that's the ultimate goal. But you said the
Speaker 3: G leaguing Knight presents the opportunity to be developed for
Speaker 3: those two years, so I wouldn't want to say this.
Speaker 3: So if the G League Knight didn't exist, and you know,
Speaker 3: I'm assuming college would probably been the alternative DP. What
Speaker 3: do you think you would have What do you think
Speaker 3: you would have had it? What college would have got
Speaker 3: DP if you had to go to college?
Speaker 4: I hope cal State Fullerton is the answer.
Speaker 5: You know, it would have been a real big toss
Speaker 5: up between Arkansas and Alabama. But if I had, if
Speaker 5: I had, if it had to come down to the wire,
Speaker 5: I would have been with the roll time. I would
Speaker 5: have went to Alabama, you know. Having a having a
Speaker 5: relationship with Coach Oates and Coach Bryant, who is now
Speaker 5: the head coach at Arkansas State. You know, Coach Brian
Speaker 5: is me and his relationship is like how me an
Speaker 5: assistant coach at Pinston relationship is. You know, I can
Speaker 5: come to him for anything and he just he's a
Speaker 5: cool coach. But I think coach Coach Oates is also
Speaker 5: one of the great coach you know, he came down
Speaker 5: to the school a couple of times, came to some
Speaker 5: games just to show how down the earth he is,
Speaker 5: and I think that's why the main reason why I
Speaker 5: would have went to Alabama and saying what they'd have
Speaker 5: done with Brandon Miller. And when I went on a
Speaker 5: on a fisher out there, you know, I was talking
Speaker 5: to Brandon, he was just like, man, it's just it's
Speaker 5: just work. All work is easy work, as he was
Speaker 5: what he was basically telling me.
Speaker 4: So from what I've read about you, you like to
Speaker 4: pattern your game after Penny Hardaway. It's been a long
Speaker 4: time since Penny Hardaway played in an NBA game. Obviously,
Speaker 4: I know there's YouTube video that you can study, but
Speaker 4: how does how does the idea to even try to
Speaker 4: pattern yourself after Penny? How does that even get on
Speaker 4: the radar for someone your age?
Speaker 5: Just the whole big guard situation that I that I
Speaker 5: got going right now, of course, Penny t Matt Tracy,
Speaker 5: m I mean, Magic Johnson, just all type of big
Speaker 5: point guards that I that I like to watch, like
Speaker 5: Paul George watching somebody like him, Kevin Durrant. But Penny Hardaway,
Speaker 5: he's just you know, he was bringing the ball up
Speaker 5: the floor and doing the same thing that I'm doing.
Speaker 5: I'm doing the same Let me rephrase that I'm doing
Speaker 5: the same thing that he was doing. So you know,
Speaker 5: when I was talking to Penny, it was just like
Speaker 5: I'm actually talking to him. I'm this is one of
Speaker 5: my favorite points guards of all time. So I'm just
Speaker 5: do I ask this? Do I want to ask him that?
Speaker 5: You know, I don't want to. I ain't want to
Speaker 5: miss nothing up, especially being on the phone with him,
Speaker 5: just like I don't know what to ask. But he
Speaker 5: is a down to earth person. You know, he don't
Speaker 5: think he's he's Hollywood too much above himself. But for him,
Speaker 5: he's just I think he's a great player, and I
Speaker 5: think he should be talked about a lot more.
Speaker 2: Have you watched the movie Blue Chips yet?
Speaker 5: I've seen Blue Chips maybe a long time ago. I
Speaker 5: ain't seen it recently because actually one of my other
Speaker 5: AAU coaches, George Lynch.
Speaker 4: He was in that movie, George George Lynch Man. I
Speaker 4: covered George Lynch as a Laker beat writer many many,
Speaker 4: many years and pounds ago, and that's what I mean.
Speaker 2: That's the thing.
Speaker 4: You know, George is part of this amazing, you know,
Speaker 4: Dallas basketball scene that we have. There are so many
Speaker 4: high level players here. Ralphae Albarlow, who is a fantastic
Speaker 4: draft analyst and someone who is also in the Dallas community.
Speaker 4: I mean, he told me that there are you know,
Speaker 4: six seven local players who are draft contenders in this
Speaker 4: upcoming draft, in the twenty twenty three draft. What is
Speaker 4: it done for you to be surrounded by all this
Speaker 4: good competition and what has it done for your game?
Speaker 5: Of course, it's got me better. I've always been playing
Speaker 5: up my whole basketball career so far, so playing against
Speaker 5: other top guys, I think the exposure part is good
Speaker 5: for it. But when sticking is just when you sticking
Speaker 5: strictly to basketball and you see nothing but you and
Speaker 5: your defender and your eyes, it's a different mentality that
Speaker 5: you get in your in your body. You get that
Speaker 5: feeling like it's that time to hoop. So you know
Speaker 5: it's when it's that time to go. You know, it's
Speaker 5: always to kill MO from from now on, especially with
Speaker 5: me playing against guys that's been in the NBA and
Speaker 5: playing with guys that's played in the league, taking advice
Speaker 5: from from my teammates that that has already been chopping
Speaker 5: it up with me, It's gonna be a great experience.
Speaker 5: I'm ready for it.
Speaker 3: This is impressive. Again, we're talking with dink pe DP.
Speaker 3: He just reclassified, graduated high school early seventeen, signed with
Speaker 3: the G League. Knight is going to be with them
Speaker 3: for two years before he is NBA draft eligible in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five. This kid is talking about studying tapes
Speaker 3: of Penny Hardaway. Penny Hardaway, man, that's crazy. So for
Speaker 3: those who don't know, please go do your research on
Speaker 3: this kid. Look him up. He's a six to eight
Speaker 3: point guard, six eight point guard, athletic point guard. So
Speaker 3: that's why he's talking about Penny Hardaway, t Max, some
Speaker 3: of these big guards. So DP, when you think about
Speaker 3: when you think about your development as a point guard, right,
Speaker 3: there are a lot of players that come into this
Speaker 3: league and they get put into other positions. I remember
Speaker 3: when I interviewed Jah before he declared for the draft,
Speaker 3: but he wasn't drafted yet, and I asked him, I said,
Speaker 3: what is your natural position? And he said, I'm a
Speaker 3: point gud. I said, okay, so you're a point guard
Speaker 3: he said, he said no, no, I'm a point god.
Speaker 3: So he was already committed to that role, you know.
Speaker 3: So for you, you know, I know a lot of
Speaker 3: players like to say, you know, I'm a basketball player. First,
Speaker 3: I'm hooper player. I could play anywhere. What is your
Speaker 3: natural what do you see your natural position being in
Speaker 3: the league.
Speaker 5: Playing that point guard position? That point guard is what
Speaker 5: I play. I play on the ball. The main reason
Speaker 5: is I can make the right decision in the most
Speaker 5: humblest way. I'm saying it as possible. I feel I
Speaker 5: can make the right decision and the right play, and
Speaker 5: I'm all about winning. You know, stats is cool, Getting
Speaker 5: twenty is cool, but that comes with winning. You know,
Speaker 5: playing as a team, you never know how many points
Speaker 5: you count in your head what some people do when
Speaker 5: you just all about winning.
Speaker 4: Obviously, for you, a decision like this, it's not without sacrifices. Obviously,
Speaker 4: Now you're not going to go to a school like
Speaker 4: Alabama or Arkansas with the huge crowds they get. Obviously
Speaker 4: they get much bigger crowds than the Ignite are going
Speaker 4: to play in front of no nil no McDonald's game
Speaker 4: next year, because you're again you're only a junior next year.
Speaker 4: I'm sure you would have been in that McDonald's game.
Speaker 4: How hard was it to kind of leave all those
Speaker 4: things behind it and choose this route.
Speaker 5: Uh, it's a big sacrifice, you know. But some of
Speaker 5: the things that I've seen that there's been a lot
Speaker 5: of McDonald's all Americans, that's been them top guys in
Speaker 5: high school, and when you're trying to go somewhere far
Speaker 5: in the league, they're nowhere to be found. But you know,
Speaker 5: the decision that I made. You know, I really don't
Speaker 5: put my mind on them type of politics, political things,
Speaker 5: my bad, those type of political things, because those are
Speaker 5: people's opinions on who should be this and who should
Speaker 5: be that, you know. But when I'm playing basketball, I
Speaker 5: think that probably would have came with it. But for
Speaker 5: me to get going to this development process that I'm
Speaker 5: going to go to right now, the McDonald's, all that,
Speaker 5: the Joining Classic, all that stuff is behind me right now.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: My mindset is pro right now, being a pro, being
Speaker 5: a better pro, and once I get to that big stage,
Speaker 5: you know, just to show up and do my work.
Speaker 3: DP. You talked about some of those players playing in
Speaker 3: the McDonald's on America. You don't see them. You don't
Speaker 3: see them. A lot of them. They don't make it
Speaker 3: to that point, and that's a that opens up a
Speaker 3: good segue for a topic. Something that I've noticed, I
Speaker 3: would say probably over the last six years with the
Speaker 3: rise of social media and so dp what I've seen
Speaker 3: you could tell me, tell me your perspective, because you're
Speaker 3: in it. So I've seen a love kids, right, they
Speaker 3: are top some of the top players in high school,
Speaker 3: and they already got close to a million followers on
Speaker 3: social media, whether that's Twitter, ig, and they're already considered star.
Speaker 3: They're already considered public figures. And what I've noticed just
Speaker 3: from watching, because you know, I've seen some of these
Speaker 3: players coming up, is that that drive they lose a
Speaker 3: drive because they feel like they've already made it because
Speaker 3: they got the popularity, you know what I mean? So
Speaker 3: what what is? What is the role of social media?
Speaker 3: How was that play? Because you kind of grew up
Speaker 3: in it for us, we got used to it over
Speaker 3: the last ten fifteen years before you grew up in it.
Speaker 3: Have you seen a negative effect with the rise of
Speaker 3: social media and popularity with players as you're trying to
Speaker 3: come up and reach your goals?
Speaker 5: Yes, sir, of course, I'm kind of technically how how
Speaker 5: my my personality is I'm really a nineties baby, you know,
Speaker 5: my favorite rappers, Tupac so him. I think I think
Speaker 5: social media kill reality. Social media kill reality because everybody
Speaker 5: wants this this cloud everybody that everybody wants clout. You know.
Speaker 5: For me, I stay off of social media. I think
Speaker 5: social media would would would not have me in a
Speaker 5: position that I'm in right now. I don't. That's why
Speaker 5: I don't pay attention to all types of like rankings
Speaker 5: and all types of other stuff. I keep my mind
Speaker 5: just strictly on basketball. That's my main thing. That's why
Speaker 5: I listened to a lot of Tupac. Tupac kept it
Speaker 5: real one hundred every percent. Social media is just especially
Speaker 5: like Instagram with all the followers and stuff like that.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's cool to have fans, yeah, but you
Speaker 5: know when people take it to another level. Uh And
Speaker 5: and I don't want to go to the gym, man,
Speaker 5: I got to go see some people. I gotta go
Speaker 5: do this for my social media, for my followers and
Speaker 5: stuff like that. That is what's killing a lot of
Speaker 5: people today. You know, the social media. It ruined a
Speaker 5: lot of reality.
Speaker 3: Stein this kid wasn't even born with Tupac died. He
Speaker 3: wasn't he wasn't born with and he was playing.
Speaker 4: What I was gonna say, Tupac and Penny. He's an
Speaker 4: old soul for a seventeen year old. Tell us what
Speaker 4: what is your summer look like from here? Because obviously
Speaker 4: the Ignite season doesn't start until October ish, So what
Speaker 4: you know, what are the next several months look like
Speaker 4: for you?
Speaker 5: Getting in a gym, getting in a gym, getting bigger.
Speaker 5: We travel to Vegas in a few weeks, so getting
Speaker 5: down there and starting early, getting ready to meet the guys,
Speaker 5: and getting ready to start my development process. You know,
Speaker 5: for the next two years, I plan to I plan,
Speaker 5: I plan to show people, improve to people what I
Speaker 5: can do DP.
Speaker 3: So you're going to be around NBA players once you
Speaker 3: get to the G League night and eventually you will
Speaker 3: be in the NBA as well. But what's one player
Speaker 3: or or a few players that you're just most interested
Speaker 3: in getting in front of, whether that's on the court
Speaker 3: or whether you just want to just have a talk
Speaker 3: with them. What's one player that one or two players
Speaker 3: that come to mind.
Speaker 5: Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant is one of my favorite players
Speaker 5: to watch right now. Kevin Durant, Paul George and Lebron
Speaker 5: of course, you know Lebron, you better listen to what
Speaker 5: he tells you because if not, you missing out. Dylan
Speaker 5: Brooks ain't listening, DP, Dylan Brooks ain't listening. You mentioned
Speaker 5: you mentioned KD.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you saw the game last night,
Speaker 3: but uh, I was on the on the sidelines interview.
Speaker 3: I interviewed k D after the game? Did you see
Speaker 3: that on T your T d P?
Speaker 5: I seen. I think they won yesterday?
Speaker 3: Did they were?
Speaker 5: I was watching a fight I had to watch.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, I just stood understood that. Yeah, h yeah.
Speaker 5: So after after the game, Uh, I think I think
Speaker 5: we cut the TV out.
Speaker 3: You cut the TV at the most important time. Listen
Speaker 3: what I'm doing the games, d P. You can't be
Speaker 3: cut the game off, really, man, you gotta one to
Speaker 3: see who I talk to? Man now I know now
Speaker 3: it's all good. Hey, I Bena, get you a one
Speaker 3: last one, then we're out of here. DP. When when
Speaker 3: it's time, when it's twenty twenty five, when it's time
Speaker 3: to make your make your name known, when you hear
Speaker 3: your name called in the NBA draft, and then when
Speaker 3: you know you got you know, as of right now,
Speaker 3: some of the guys that's going to be in that class.
Speaker 3: How do you feel you stack up with the rest
Speaker 3: of that class when it's twenty twenty five, Like, I
Speaker 3: don't want to say rank yourself, but how do you
Speaker 3: feel you stand out in that class?
Speaker 5: I feel I stand out because I can do almost
Speaker 5: everything well more height, most people can score only, most
Speaker 5: people can maybe dribble only, most people can maybe shoot only.
Speaker 5: I feel like I got that in in in the
Speaker 5: bag and everything. So you know, my main goal is
Speaker 5: to be the number one overall pick in the class
Speaker 5: of twenty twenty five. And I'm gonna keep telling myself
Speaker 5: that that's just that's the confidence level I got. And
Speaker 5: I'm not gonna never be be little on myself or
Speaker 5: never think, never be afraid to say that I want
Speaker 5: to be the number one overall pick, because that's what
Speaker 5: that's what I want to do, you know, And I'm
Speaker 5: gonna work for I'm gonna work hard for the next
Speaker 5: two years and improve that to everybody and to myself.
Speaker 3: Number one pick.
Speaker 4: Six seven or six eight. What should we tell people?
Speaker 5: Hopefully, I say by six eleven.
Speaker 4: So you you're still growing.
Speaker 3: Then he's seventeen, he's still growing. He can grow up
Speaker 3: till twenty twenty one. Maybe to that star. His pops
Speaker 3: J Moss told me, man, he listened to Tupac nineties soul,
Speaker 3: some rock and roll motel. This kid's all over the place. Man.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I can listen to every I listen to everything
Speaker 5: every now and then. But if I'm getting ready to
Speaker 5: play that All Lies on Me album, it's on. It's
Speaker 5: on repeat. Man, come on now, come on.
Speaker 3: Now, this kid man all sy You don't know that
Speaker 3: about to All Eyes on Me Star. That's that's that's
Speaker 3: what Tupac got out, went to death ro Come on California.
Speaker 5: Longs sold five million copies right there, man, and and
Speaker 5: Denny and Denny dropped that.
Speaker 3: Hit him up then, job, oh my goodness, hit him up.
Speaker 3: What sign see DP We gotta I gotta get you
Speaker 3: on again. We're gonna talk nothing but nineties hip hop. Man.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you want me to, you want me to log off,
Speaker 4: and you guys can do a music pod without me.
Speaker 3: No, this this is about hoop right now. But this
Speaker 3: this dude is fascinating, man, So you check him out.
Speaker 3: If he got an old soul, you know he's gonna
Speaker 3: come correct with game preparation. And you know he got
Speaker 3: his mindset social media. Like what he said about social
Speaker 3: media really stands out, man. So I want to give
Speaker 3: your shout out to you. Man. First of I want
Speaker 3: to say congratulations again brother for making this move and
Speaker 3: uh making history. And I'll be following you, bro, We'll
Speaker 3: be following you man. Hopefully this won't be your last
Speaker 3: time on this podcast. Man. We want to see you
Speaker 3: do great things. Brother.
Speaker 5: I appreciate it man, whenever, whenever, and whenever I can
Speaker 5: get on here, please, I would love to get back
Speaker 5: on here.
Speaker 3: That's dope again. This was dink Pate just signed with
Speaker 3: the G League Ignight. Graduated early from high school at
Speaker 3: Seventeen's going to do the two year program with G
Speaker 3: League Knight before being eligible for the NBA Draft in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five. You heard it right here on this podcast,
Speaker 3: on this League Uncut. He wants to be the number
Speaker 3: one pick twenty twenty five. The guests that we've had
Speaker 3: that come on this show, they always have good karma
Speaker 3: from there on out, so you know, watch out for
Speaker 3: DP dink Pate. Appreciate you again, brother.
Speaker 2: Thank you, good luck to you.
Speaker 4: Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2: Mature young man.
Speaker 4: Right there, Chris Haynes, seventeen years old making some major
Speaker 4: life decisions.
Speaker 2: Glad we did that.
Speaker 4: That was interesting to kind of hear his perspective on
Speaker 4: a path that's still really really new when it comes
Speaker 4: to making your way to professional, making your way as
Speaker 4: a professional in this sport. That is going to do
Speaker 4: it for another edition of This League Uncut. As all always,
Speaker 4: please review the show, rate the show, subscribe to the show.
Speaker 4: This is dropping again on a Monday morning. Chris on
Speaker 4: the sideline in La tonight for Grizzlies at Lakers Game four.
Speaker 4: He and I will be getting together again soon to
Speaker 4: record our next episode. Everybody, thanks for being with us.
Speaker 2: Talk to you again Mary soon.
Speaker 1: And that'll do it for us.
Speaker 2: See you next time. This League on Cut is and
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio production Chris Haines and Mark Stein