Speaker 1: A recap of Chris's trip to Milwaukee, fresh turmoil and
Speaker 1: tumult in Golden State, surrounding Draymond Green, the latest on
Speaker 1: the sale.
Speaker 2: Of the Minnesota Timberwolves, that is now the non sale
Speaker 2: of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the afore mentioned Chris Haynes.
Speaker 2: He's got stories for us, involving Malik Beasley, involving Lebron James,
Speaker 2: and involving home life. All of that is next. You're
Speaker 2: on the latest edition of This League Uncut.
Speaker 3: Welcome to this league cut in the rule of twenty
Speaker 3: four hour NBA.
Speaker 4: News You, Chris Hanes. Let's go time, Cork time, Chris time.
Speaker 4: This leaguean cut is underway in fire. It should be
Speaker 4: a good one.
Speaker 2: Hey everyone, welcome in to another edition of This League Uncut.
Speaker 2: Mark Stein here with Chris Haynes. We are recording late
Speaker 2: Thursday night before a pretty stacked Friday schedule of games
Speaker 2: in the NBA. But honestly, this whole week, as tends
Speaker 2: to happen this time of year, it's been pretty chaotic.
Speaker 2: There's been crazy stuff happening day after day after day. Thursday,
Speaker 2: even with only two games on the schedule, a very
Speaker 2: eventful Bucks loss at New Orleans and Atlanta with another
Speaker 2: win over the Boston Celtics, this one in overtime and
Speaker 2: another crazy ending forty four shots for Dejonte Murray en
Speaker 2: route to forty four points. But the Hawks will take
Speaker 2: it another victory over the Celtics with.
Speaker 3: No Trey Young.
Speaker 2: But first, I think before we proceed into all of
Speaker 2: the madness happening around the league, Chris Haynes, Welcome back
Speaker 2: to Sacramento. You are home in time for a Friday
Speaker 2: night quite a quite a Friday night game in your
Speaker 2: home city. The Kings will be playing host to the
Speaker 2: Mavericks in the second half of a two game baseball
Speaker 2: series after the MAVs probably played their best game all
Speaker 2: season running away from the Kings in the first game
Speaker 2: Tuesday night. We'll see how the MAVs coped with two
Speaker 2: nights of Sacramento nightlife because there's this two day break
Speaker 2: in between the games.
Speaker 3: All Right, I babbled on too long. How was you
Speaker 3: were in Milwaukee for most of the week? How was it?
Speaker 5: Weather was Okay, it didn't snow, so no complaints there.
Speaker 5: But obviously that was a great game, double overtime. It
Speaker 5: looked like we were head to triple overtime at one point,
Speaker 5: but Lakers came back. I believe they were down by
Speaker 5: nineteen in the second half, came back and got that
Speaker 5: huge victory on the road with no Lebron James. That
Speaker 5: was definitely a fun night. Fun night for sure, good
Speaker 5: atmosphere to be a part of in Milwaukee, and it's funny.
Speaker 6: So Steyne.
Speaker 5: So I've been a couple of last couple of games,
Speaker 5: I've actually been sitting depending on the arena. So sometimes
Speaker 5: you know, they'll have the sideline reporters sitting at the
Speaker 5: scorers table, but some arenas they'll have you like tucked
Speaker 5: in a corner where it's like a bad view. And
Speaker 5: when that happens, typically I'll I'll get a seat and
Speaker 5: I'll sit next to the broadcast crew, which was last game,
Speaker 5: it was Spiral Deats and Reggie Miller. So I'm sitting
Speaker 5: right next to Reggie, and it's it's funny and interesting
Speaker 5: to see Reggie do his thing, like sitting right next
Speaker 5: to him. He's standing up, he's getting up like he's
Speaker 5: he's pointing, he's doing it all. He's like he's real
Speaker 5: theatric uh when he's calling the game. And then you know,
Speaker 5: at a certain point, Like so, now I'm sitting there
Speaker 5: to his right, and so when there's like a big shot.
Speaker 6: About the there's about.
Speaker 5: To be a big moment, he's grabbing my shoulder and
Speaker 5: squeezing it hard and getting up and he's just using
Speaker 5: me as a prop. And so it was just cool,
Speaker 5: cool to see the game up close and personal.
Speaker 6: You know. Ass he's calling the game, So that was
Speaker 6: a treat.
Speaker 2: So they don't mind when you slide a chair right
Speaker 2: next to the right, next to their little table.
Speaker 3: They're good with it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I do that. You know, I do that
Speaker 5: occasionally throughout the season. But you know, I'm not right,
Speaker 5: you know, I'm you know, so like if sometimes you know,
Speaker 5: the camera shows a two shot of the broadcast crew.
Speaker 5: Some you know, I make sure I'm out of sight
Speaker 5: where you can't see me there. But yeah, for the
Speaker 5: most for you know, sometimes I say on the side
Speaker 5: of them, and it's just cool to watch them in
Speaker 5: their element do their thing.
Speaker 2: What was the mood in that building when the Bucks
Speaker 2: let a nineteen point lead slip. This hasn't been you know,
Speaker 2: they had turned things around. They were playing really well,
Speaker 2: and I think in the grand scheme of things. They
Speaker 2: still are in a much better place than they were
Speaker 2: before the coaching change. But to lose such a big
Speaker 2: lead to the Lakers when Lebron James is in street cloths,
Speaker 2: you know, that certainly raises some eyebrows and gets people
Speaker 2: chattering about the Bucks potential shortcomings and vulnerabilities. What's the
Speaker 2: mood around that team right now?
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, they just lost Thursday night. They lost to
Speaker 5: New Orleans in New Orleans. You know, that was a
Speaker 5: game they that they were well with it, that was
Speaker 5: well within their grafts. So it's not looking good right now.
Speaker 5: The mood in that locker room, what was that Tuesday night?
Speaker 5: You know, it was what you would expect. It was
Speaker 5: very quiet. You know, guys had scattered out. There weren't
Speaker 5: many in there to begin with, you know, when the
Speaker 5: media was allowed in, you know, you know, of course,
Speaker 5: you know, I talked to Dame after the game, and
Speaker 5: you know, he said it was one of those games.
Speaker 5: He had an offshoot night. So that's just one of
Speaker 5: those games.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 5: You gotta look, you gotta quickly look to the next
Speaker 5: turn the page. And uh but yeah, I mean I
Speaker 5: think overall they haven't lost confidence I think they still
Speaker 5: believe that they're forced to be reckoned with come playoff time,
Speaker 5: but they definitely need some more time to come together,
Speaker 5: and particularly the big three of Dame Giannis and Chris Middleton.
Speaker 5: Those those three haven't had a lot of time to
Speaker 5: play significant minutes together, so this is going to take
Speaker 5: some time.
Speaker 2: Well, the good news for the Bucks is despite all
Speaker 2: of these ups and downs through the regular season, they're
Speaker 2: still the number two seed. I mean, both the Bucks
Speaker 2: and the Celtics lost on this Thursday night that we're
Speaker 2: recording on, so the Celtics still have an eleven game lead.
Speaker 2: The Celtics are obviously going to win. They've already clinched
Speaker 2: the top seed in the East, and I do think
Speaker 2: the Bucks hang on to number two, though the Knicks
Speaker 2: are within a game and a half. Even though the
Speaker 2: Knicks have had their share of injury woes with Julius
Speaker 2: Randall being out so long and ogn and Obi clearly
Speaker 2: still plagued by an elbow issue, I think the Bucks
Speaker 2: are going to hang on to that number two seed
Speaker 2: in the East.
Speaker 3: The Knicks could move up.
Speaker 2: Cleveland's done a really good job dealing with injuries for
Speaker 2: the bulk of the season, But now that we get
Speaker 2: near the regular season finish line, I think it's been
Speaker 2: harder for them, and they've you know, they it's been
Speaker 2: harder for them to win shorthanded recently, although it sounds
Speaker 2: like Donovan Mitchell is going to be back as early
Speaker 2: as Friday for them, which they obviously need.
Speaker 3: But yeah, look the East.
Speaker 2: We focused so much on the West, but the East
Speaker 2: it really is just as interesting with you know, we
Speaker 2: talked about this the last time we did this pod,
Speaker 2: and you basically said you didn't think that Miami or
Speaker 2: Philly could. I think he just said Philly that you
Speaker 2: were doubting Philly could get out of the play in zone.
Speaker 2: And the Sixers still stuck down at number eight, fuming
Speaker 2: and with justification it would appear about the way their
Speaker 2: loss to the Clippers ended and the officiating in that game.
Speaker 2: Kelly Oubre certainly made his feelings known in a way
Speaker 2: we won't soon forget. I guess the ray of hope
Speaker 2: for the Sixers, you know, Nick Nurse said he does.
Speaker 2: I think very good likelihood was the phrase he used
Speaker 2: to describe the idea of Joel Embiid making it back
Speaker 2: into the Sixers lineup.
Speaker 3: Before the end of the regular season. Only nine games to.
Speaker 2: Go though for the six Ers to work Embiid back
Speaker 2: in before the play in. But yeah, just looking at
Speaker 2: the standings to see Miami in seventh and Philly in eighth.
Speaker 3: And Indiana hanging on.
Speaker 2: At number six. I mean, if Miami and Philly end
Speaker 2: up in the play and that's just crazy. And look,
Speaker 2: the Hawks, the Hawks are starting to put things together.
Speaker 5: So the Bucks have the Hawks Necks on their three
Speaker 5: game road trip, and there's a chance game might not
Speaker 5: play that game, potentially for personal reasons.
Speaker 6: So that's something to look out for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So look, there's tons in the East as well
Speaker 2: as the West if we're going to do scoreboard watching,
Speaker 2: if we're going to analyze the standings. But one of
Speaker 2: the other major developments this week that crazy Wednesday night
Speaker 2: for the Warriors in Orlando, the night you were in Milwaukee.
Speaker 2: The Warriors won in Miami, but the Heat were severely shorthanded.
Speaker 2: So second night of a back to back, the Warriors
Speaker 2: are in Orlando, Draymond Green gets tossed inside five minutes,
Speaker 2: the second first quarter ejection of his career, which, if
Speaker 2: my memory is right, that's never happened I don't know
Speaker 2: where exactly you works. I know yesterday was a travel day,
Speaker 2: but I'm guessing you saw the clip of how emotional
Speaker 2: Stephan Curry was when Draymond Green was ejected. He pulled
Speaker 2: it together by the end hit the dagger put him
Speaker 2: to sleep shot. But what was the Chris Haynes reaction
Speaker 2: when you saw that clip of Steph struggling to contain himself,
Speaker 2: let's say, right after Draymond Green got ejected.
Speaker 5: Yeah, honestly didn't know what to make of it when
Speaker 5: I initially saw it. Definitely raw emotions. I don't think
Speaker 5: I've ever seen that type of display, not just from Steph,
Speaker 5: from any player in a situation like that. There's Steph,
Speaker 5: you know, he kind of addressed it after the game
Speaker 5: and saying like, you know, this is an important time
Speaker 5: right now. We need all of our guys into the
Speaker 5: fold because we understand what we're up against right now.
Speaker 5: So I just looking, you know, looking at those raw
Speaker 5: emotions and the way he just left it all out there.
Speaker 5: I think it details exactly the urgency and the struggle
Speaker 5: that they're up against.
Speaker 6: And then to Draymond, you know, you just wonder, like
Speaker 6: when it's enough enough. It's tough. You know, the.
Speaker 5: Warriors, they know him better than than anybody else, and
Speaker 5: you know they want to make sure that Draymond doesn't
Speaker 5: lose his edge. You know, he plays with edge. You
Speaker 5: don't want to take that away from him. But that
Speaker 5: edge has also gotten him in the team in trouble
Speaker 5: and put them in compromising situations. It wasn't a good look.
Speaker 5: It wasn't a good look considering the circumstances. So you know,
Speaker 5: it's just tough. It's like you just wonder, like when
Speaker 5: is enough, Like is there something else that needs to
Speaker 5: be done?
Speaker 6: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And look, it was so shocking, and it's hard
Speaker 2: because you don't want to try to step into Stephan
Speaker 2: Curry's head and say definitively, yes it was about A,
Speaker 2: B and C, because really only Steph knows, and he
Speaker 2: didn't expound on it that much. But just if we're
Speaker 2: going to try to observe it and play armchair psychologist,
Speaker 2: I mean, to me, it just looked like the enormity
Speaker 2: of the season, the occasion, how much pressure that these
Speaker 2: repeated Draymond absences and situations, how much tougher that has
Speaker 2: made it for the Warriors, who are now. I mean,
Speaker 2: it was only a couple of weeks ago the Warriors
Speaker 2: were hoping that they could still get into the mix
Speaker 2: for a six seed. Right now, they are hanging on
Speaker 2: for dear life at number ten in the West because
Speaker 2: the Houston Rockets absolutely refuse to lose a basketball game.
Speaker 2: Ten wins in a row for the Rockets, eight of
Speaker 2: them without Alpa and Shengoon, who is widely considered the
Speaker 2: Rocket's best player, although the way Fresno's Jalen Green has
Speaker 2: been playing, I don't know, we might have to revisit
Speaker 2: that description because Jalen Green continues to play the best
Speaker 2: basketball of his career with Houston playing faster. They got
Speaker 2: Jabari Smith Junior back from suspension to step into the
Speaker 2: five for Shengoon and man emeo Odoka. This is only
Speaker 2: Emo udoka second season as a coach.
Speaker 3: In the NBA.
Speaker 2: In March of his one season in Boston, the Celtics
Speaker 2: went eleven and three. In March of his first season
Speaker 2: in Houston, the Rockets are eleven and one. There is
Speaker 2: no coach in America, college or NBA who likes March
Speaker 2: better than Ema Udoka. So tons and tons of pressure
Speaker 2: on Golden State to just hang on to a playing
Speaker 2: spot at this point, because the Lakers have won five
Speaker 2: in a row and have put some distance between them
Speaker 2: and the Warriors. Lakers at the nine seed, Warriors at
Speaker 2: the ten seed. And look, Stephen Curry's care factor is
Speaker 2: fifteen out of ten, and I think we all saw that.
Speaker 2: But man, this is just this has been seventy two
Speaker 2: games in for the Warriors. This has been a really, really,
Speaker 2: really long season. And even if they are able to
Speaker 2: hang on to a play and spot at this point
Speaker 2: and hold the Rockets off, I mean, how far are
Speaker 2: they really going?
Speaker 6: How far are they really going?
Speaker 5: You say, if they're able to get into the playoffs start,
Speaker 5: is that what you're saying?
Speaker 2: They got to secure the play in spot first, And
Speaker 2: just yeah, you know, we always do this every time
Speaker 2: we get together and just talk about it. You know, again,
Speaker 2: going into Friday's play you got Phoenix at seven, Sacramento
Speaker 2: at eight, Lakers at nine, Warriors at ten. If Sacramento
Speaker 2: beats the Mavericks at home on Friday night, Sacramento jumps
Speaker 2: back into the top six and the.
Speaker 3: Suns are all over the place.
Speaker 2: But just as we speak, as we stand, I mean
Speaker 2: you're playing matchup. The Warriors are going to have to
Speaker 2: beat the Lakers and then play the seven eight loser
Speaker 2: just to get to the playoffs.
Speaker 3: I mean that is a that in itself is a
Speaker 3: tall order. And then you know, if the Warriors do
Speaker 3: all that, they're.
Speaker 2: Probably looking at the Nuggets because I think the Nuggets
Speaker 2: are going to win the West, so just getting in
Speaker 2: the playoffs it's brutal. And yes, I think the Warriors
Speaker 2: are a sneaky, tough matchup for the Nuggets. I don't
Speaker 2: think the Nuggets particularly like having to defend the Warriors
Speaker 2: with all the movement that Stephen Curry imposes on another
Speaker 2: team and forces them to deal with. The Warriors actually
Speaker 2: are not afraid of that matchup. But you know, is
Speaker 2: that how you would want to start a playoff run
Speaker 2: if you're the Warriors. Great got to win an away
Speaker 2: game against the Lakers, and then beat the seven eight
Speaker 2: loser and then likely first round series against the defending
Speaker 2: champions with four of the seven games in Denver's altitude,
Speaker 2: I don't know, not a very appealing roadmap.
Speaker 5: It's not definitely not the way you want to go
Speaker 5: into the postseason with those type of obstacles ahead of you.
Speaker 5: But Golden State and the Lakers are two scary teams
Speaker 5: that I would think will pump fear in most teams
Speaker 5: in the Western Conference. Not to say that the Warriors
Speaker 5: or Lakers will be favorite favorites in any matchup, but
Speaker 5: just the fact that there's history, there's championship pedigree, there's experience,
Speaker 5: and those factors I would think would instill some fear.
Speaker 5: So I would I would still think they will be
Speaker 5: a scary out.
Speaker 2: Well, the thing I feel most confident about when we
Speaker 2: talk about the Warriors, like you knew this was going
Speaker 2: to happen, and look, there is no defense.
Speaker 3: Draymond cannot be getting kicked out of.
Speaker 2: A crucial road game that the clock hasn't even reached
Speaker 2: the five minute mark. I mean, it's unacceptable on a
Speaker 2: lot of levels. But like anyone who thinks that this
Speaker 2: is some sort of last straw or the Warriors are
Speaker 2: going to get sick of him him, or.
Speaker 3: He's gonna lose, like he ain't gonna lose.
Speaker 2: Stephen Curry's support Draymond Green to me, is going nowhere.
Speaker 2: And you know, in the moment, was there considerable frustration
Speaker 2: from Stephen Curry and Warriors coaches.
Speaker 3: I'm sure there was tons, but like.
Speaker 2: I really am not looking at this as some sort
Speaker 2: of last straw.
Speaker 5: Moment of all the potential last straw moments. What just
Speaker 5: happened in Orlando is not to compare to what we've
Speaker 5: already witnessed. We've seen some real situations with dray Bond
Speaker 5: that you probably would think should have been the last
Speaker 5: straw moment. Getting ejected in Orlando in the first quarter
Speaker 5: doesn't even qualify as some of the real potential last
Speaker 5: defining moments.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're in agreement on that one. All right,
Speaker 2: Let's shift gears to another headline grabbing story. It emerged
Speaker 2: Thursday that the Minnesota Timberwolves in the end are not
Speaker 2: going to be sold to Mark Lauri and Alex Rodriguez,
Speaker 2: so says longtime Timberwolves owner Glenn Taylor. The Wolves had
Speaker 2: basically it was an end of March deadline for Mark
Speaker 2: Lare and Alex Rodriguez to make the final payment needed
Speaker 2: to assume majority control of both the Timberwolves and the
Speaker 2: WNBA's Minnesota Lynx.
Speaker 3: But well it's in dispute, of course.
Speaker 2: The Lorre Rodriguez side said they did meet all the requirements,
Speaker 2: the Glen Taylor side insisting they did not meet all
Speaker 2: the financial requirements. But look to be honest, and it's
Speaker 2: funny this week helping us. Actually, for the last two
Speaker 2: weeks Minnesota Tim has been pinch producing for us, and
Speaker 2: he is a long time Wolves fan and not the
Speaker 2: only Wolves fan in our organization. But I think even
Speaker 2: pinch producing Tim, like me, was not at all surprised
Speaker 2: by these developments. Honestly, from the moment this arrangement was introduced,
Speaker 2: was it two years ago? Glenn Taylor struck me as
Speaker 2: a reluctant seller of the team then. I don't think
Speaker 2: he really wanted to sell the Timberwolves then. And there
Speaker 2: have been questions and doubts about the Lori Rodriguez side
Speaker 2: of this being able to finance the purchase of the team.
Speaker 3: I mean, there have.
Speaker 2: Been doubts for ages and from the lore and Rodriguez side.
Speaker 2: They came out today and said that seller's remorse on
Speaker 2: Glenn Taylor's part is at the heart of all this.
Speaker 2: And yeah, the value established when this sale was agreed
Speaker 2: upon was only one point five billion. That's way low
Speaker 2: for an NBA franchise sale. So even though Glen Taylor
Speaker 2: was adamant in speaking to multiple media outlets Thursday, Glen
Speaker 2: Taylor said, over and over to anyone in the Minneapolis
Speaker 2: media who would listen, that the team is not for sale.
Speaker 2: He doesn't want to turn around and sell to someone else,
Speaker 2: and now he wants to keep the team and run
Speaker 2: it and retain his majority ownership. The suspicion is there's
Speaker 2: certainly a curiosity. Let's say, there's a lot of questions
Speaker 2: percolating wondering was the real motivation here that now Taylor
Speaker 2: wants to sell at a much higher valuation, because obviously
Speaker 2: the Wolves, had they gone on the open market today,
Speaker 2: would be valued in a lot more than one point
Speaker 2: five billion. So that's the long background of all this.
Speaker 2: But you know, then there's the question of here are
Speaker 2: the Wolves in the midst of arguably the best season
Speaker 2: in franchise history, and now they've got to deal with
Speaker 2: this potential distraction. How do you think the team will
Speaker 2: deal with these kind of headlines in this kind of story.
Speaker 5: Honestly, Stein, I don't think it matters much to them.
Speaker 5: Doesn't change what they do their preparation. You know they're
Speaker 5: trying to No, I don't see it being a distraction
Speaker 5: at all for the team. Does a Ross still come
Speaker 5: to game? Does he still have that court side seat?
Speaker 5: Is he still a Timberwolves fan? What did things stand
Speaker 5: with him and his fan hood?
Speaker 6: Know?
Speaker 7: Stan, Now, I'm hoping you've got a Wolves game or
Speaker 7: two left on the schedule so you can track him down,
Speaker 7: because I think if they want to make people think
Speaker 7: that they did everything right and had the money they
Speaker 7: needed and still want this team, I guess he still
Speaker 7: has to go.
Speaker 6: You know, that'd be awkward.
Speaker 5: That'd be awkward, you know, because he was sitting in
Speaker 5: those seats with the thoughts that he would be the
Speaker 5: owner coming up soon. Does pride getting you away from
Speaker 5: here on out? Like? You know, I could see him,
Speaker 5: you know, taking off from here. But I will say
Speaker 5: to Stean, throughout this process, the selling process, you know,
Speaker 5: I kept hearing rumors about like payments being laid, you know,
Speaker 5: giving Alex and his team a little bit more time
Speaker 5: to come up with a payment. You know, I was
Speaker 5: hearing rumbles like I don't know if that's something you
Speaker 5: were hearing as well, but I was hearing rumbles like
Speaker 5: about that throughout the process. So if those were concrete rumbles.
Speaker 5: Then that means that this final straw was just that
Speaker 5: that it had to been other instances of Glenn Taylor
Speaker 5: just feeling like this process was going playing out way
Speaker 5: too way too you know, too long, longer than expected
Speaker 5: or anticipated. He probably felt like he's given many opportunities,
Speaker 5: he's given a couple more extensions, and he probably felt
Speaker 5: like this process wasn't going the way it should have been.
Speaker 5: And then to your point too about the evaluation like
Speaker 5: that he probably could get more now on the market.
Speaker 6: You know, maybe that does play a factor as well.
Speaker 5: But yeah, I mean I'm not I wasn't surprised when
Speaker 5: I when I heard the news of this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And look, Sid, I don't think there was much
Speaker 2: surprise around the league about this. I think it's kind
Speaker 2: of been There have been suspicions from the start that
Speaker 2: this would be potentially what happened here, because again, you know,
Speaker 2: I think the initial kind of talk was that.
Speaker 3: Glenn Taylor.
Speaker 2: Was initially looking for a buyer because you know, he's
Speaker 2: obviously getting up there in age, he's been running this
Speaker 2: team forever and reportedly there wasn't any significant interest within
Speaker 2: his family for taking the Wolves over. So meeting a
Speaker 2: succession plan. You know, he had been seeking new ownership
Speaker 2: struck this deal with Lori and Rodriguez. But again, from
Speaker 2: the minute this deal happened, there were questions about the
Speaker 2: Lori Rodriguez tandem and whether they would be able to
Speaker 2: meet all the financial stipulations of this agreement.
Speaker 3: And I guess it's three years, almost three years now
Speaker 3: that it's that this has been percolating.
Speaker 2: And you know, when you read some of Glenn Taylor's
Speaker 2: statements Thursday, it's clear why he doesn't want to step aside.
Speaker 3: He wants to.
Speaker 2: Keep running this team. And again, this Wolve's team. It's
Speaker 2: arguably the best team they've ever had. As we've talked
Speaker 2: about on this podcast before, both with Chris Finch and
Speaker 2: Mike Conley recent guests, in thirty four previous seasons of
Speaker 2: Timberwolves basketball, only one of those thirty four teams has
Speaker 2: ever gotten out of the first round. In two thousand
Speaker 2: and four with KG and Sam Cassell and your beloved
Speaker 2: Latrell Spree, well, they got to the Western Conference finals
Speaker 2: and that's it. That team won two playoff rounds, lost
Speaker 2: in the conference finals. No other Timberwolves team has ever
Speaker 2: won so much as a first round series. And then
Speaker 2: there's this team with the Anthony Edwards still winning games
Speaker 2: without Karl Anthony Towns, one of three fifty win teams
Speaker 2: in the West, one of only four to fifty win
Speaker 2: teams in.
Speaker 3: The whole league.
Speaker 2: And you know, they've led the West for nearly one
Speaker 2: hundred days during the season for a franchise that has
Speaker 2: I think it was ten days. They had held the
Speaker 2: number one seed as a franchise only ten days in
Speaker 2: thirty four years coming into this season. So they have
Speaker 2: this really good team, and I look, I tend to
Speaker 2: agree with you. I don't think it's going to cause
Speaker 2: an immediate distraction. I don't think this current team is
Speaker 2: going to get too hung up about this. But in
Speaker 2: the offseason, I mean, the Wolves have major, major, major
Speaker 2: financial decisions to deal with with how expensive this team
Speaker 2: is getting, and so they need clarity on the ownership
Speaker 2: situation sooner rather than like, so, yeah, short term, is
Speaker 2: it really a big deal for the players who have
Speaker 2: had such a great season.
Speaker 3: Probably not, But I think.
Speaker 2: It won't be long before this does become a pretty
Speaker 2: significant story.
Speaker 3: Any more, Wolves on your schedule.
Speaker 5: So my final two games of the regular season next
Speaker 5: week I have the Kings at the Knicks next Thursday,
Speaker 5: and then the final regular season game is a King's
Speaker 5: home game. They play let me see, they play New
Speaker 5: Orleans Pelicans. So those are the final two games in
Speaker 5: the regular season. But I do have I do have
Speaker 5: the first playing game for the Western Conference, whichever matchup
Speaker 5: that is.
Speaker 2: And I think you said you will be representing this
Speaker 2: league uncut as opposed to a TNT assignment. But Friday
Speaker 2: night King's playing host to the map Rick, you are
Speaker 2: going to represent this league uncut at that game with
Speaker 2: huge playoff implications at Golden One Center.
Speaker 5: No, that's that should be a really good game. The
Speaker 5: Kings are looking for a bounce back performance. No, I'll
Speaker 5: be there.
Speaker 2: How much trouble you think the MAVs got into these
Speaker 2: last two nights in Sacramento.
Speaker 5: In Sacramento, yeah, you act like you act like we
Speaker 5: in Miami.
Speaker 6: So I think they are fine. Yeah, I'll think a
Speaker 6: lot of room service.
Speaker 3: I think I think they're fine.
Speaker 6: I think.
Speaker 2: Before we go and look, you know there's another huge
Speaker 2: you know, speaking to the Timberwolves, there's another huge game
Speaker 2: Friday night Minnesota at Denver, the first of two more
Speaker 2: games where the the Nuggets are hosting the Timberwolves before
Speaker 2: the end of this regular season, so I know the
Speaker 2: focus is on the college game right now. The college
Speaker 2: game has invaded my city. Spoke to your colleague Grant
Speaker 2: Hill today. Of course, by the time this pod airs,
Speaker 2: Grant will probably be heading to the arena for Houston
Speaker 2: against Duke on Friday night, huge game here in Dallas.
Speaker 2: He was disappointed with me to hear that I will
Speaker 2: not be attending Houston against Duke.
Speaker 3: I am not going to make it there.
Speaker 2: I will be feverishly preparing for my Saturday morning radio show,
Speaker 2: which there will be some NCAA coverage since we've got
Speaker 2: Sweet sixteen and the Elite eight here in my city.
Speaker 2: But man, there's just the focus.
Speaker 3: Is on the colleges right now.
Speaker 2: But the NBA, the night tonight madness, chaos, jockeying for seeds.
Speaker 3: I think it's pretty wild myself.
Speaker 5: Before we get out of here, Stein, let me empty
Speaker 5: the clip a little bit. This is something I didn't
Speaker 5: get to bring up.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 5: It was a cool It was a cool family oriented
Speaker 5: story that I didn't get to mention. During the broadcast
Speaker 5: of the game. I was working the Bucks Lakers game
Speaker 5: last Tuesday. So on Tuesday, Malik Beasley's son, Micah, that
Speaker 5: was his birthday. On that day, he turned five years
Speaker 5: old and the one birthday present he wanted from his
Speaker 5: dad was for his dad to hit five.
Speaker 6: Threes for him in the game.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they hit five threes for the game.
Speaker 3: That's a high bar.
Speaker 6: Yeah, is a high bar.
Speaker 5: At Malik got test fifth three in the second overtime
Speaker 5: period and at one point star At one point during
Speaker 5: the game, Maleek had looked over to me because again
Speaker 5: I'm sitting over there by Reggie.
Speaker 6: He looked over to me. He said, what I got?
Speaker 6: What I got? What I got?
Speaker 5: And I had to I had to point he had
Speaker 5: he had four at the time, So I had to
Speaker 5: point four figures throughout it at the time. But uh,
Speaker 5: you know it was a losing effort, but uh, that
Speaker 5: was pretty cool. He was able to get his son
Speaker 5: the birthday gift he wanted his son, his son, Micah
Speaker 5: turned five, he was able to get make five threes
Speaker 5: for him.
Speaker 2: So you're playing scoreboard for Malik Beasley, You're texting Lebron.
Speaker 3: You were active on tam.
Speaker 5: Oh Lebron Lebron that came about so okay, you know,
Speaker 5: so Lebron, we knew Lebron wasn't playing that morning, Tuesday morning,
Speaker 5: and so I go to shoot around and Lebron is there,
Speaker 5: but you know he's in He's in street clothes, you know,
Speaker 5: sweats and stuff like that. Wouldn't say street clothes, but
Speaker 5: sweats and everything. You know, he didn't he didn't participate
Speaker 5: in shoot around and and you know he was he
Speaker 5: wasn't available for media, and so I asked him out,
Speaker 5: you know, you know, you know how I go pull
Speaker 5: Bron to side, Hey, Bron, man, come on, man, you
Speaker 5: know I need something on you.
Speaker 6: Help a brother, I need something on you. You know.
Speaker 5: He started laughing and everything, and we was talking for
Speaker 5: a little bit. But he was like, I'll get something
Speaker 5: for you before the game. I'll get something for you.
Speaker 5: So that's what he said. So I'm like, okay, all,
Speaker 5: I appreciate it, Bron. So I'm thinking that, you know,
Speaker 5: I got to try to find him. So, you know
Speaker 5: how with star players like well Stian, you know, so
Speaker 5: let me explain for everybody else, like when star players
Speaker 5: aren't playing that day, but they have to be in
Speaker 5: the building, they have to sell on the bench now,
Speaker 5: but they can show up at the arena whenever they
Speaker 5: want to. There is no obligation, no stupid so they're
Speaker 5: not coming in with the team. And so my thing
Speaker 5: was like, damn, So you know, I have a lot
Speaker 5: of obligations. I got people to talk to before the game,
Speaker 5: and so I'm like, Damn, Now I gotta i gotta
Speaker 5: chase Lebron.
Speaker 6: I gotta figure out when he's gonna come to the arena.
Speaker 6: You know how I'm gonna catch him.
Speaker 5: You know, team officials they don't like you talking to
Speaker 5: a star player when he's not playing because he's he's
Speaker 5: supposed to be unavailable to media. So I'm just like, man,
Speaker 5: I you know, I'm just I'm not stressing, but I'm
Speaker 5: just trying to figure out when I'm running to Bron,
Speaker 5: when I'm a bumping to him, when he's gonna show
Speaker 5: up at the arena.
Speaker 6: We're doing our our meeting.
Speaker 5: It's a meeting we have, we have an addressing room
Speaker 5: with TNT, meet me, Reggie Miller, Spiro Deep.
Speaker 6: Sponge, the game producer.
Speaker 5: And I just get a text out of nowhere is
Speaker 5: from Lebron, and it was in that text he was
Speaker 5: detailing like his approach to this this stretch, at this
Speaker 5: end of the season stretch and how he's approaching his
Speaker 5: ankle slash foot injury. And I was like, WHOA, Okay.
Speaker 5: I appreciated that because he didn't forget about me, you
Speaker 5: know what I mean. He didn't forget like this is
Speaker 5: Bron here, Like Bron is a guy that is pretty untouchable.
Speaker 5: You know, you hear about guys and like, trying to
Speaker 5: get in contact with him, you got to get through.
Speaker 5: You know, there's usually a force field around Bron. There's
Speaker 5: people you got to go through to get to him.
Speaker 5: So for him to like not just keep his word,
Speaker 5: but you know, he went the extra mile and just
Speaker 5: text me because I wasn't expecting that.
Speaker 6: I just I thought I was going.
Speaker 5: To run into him and then he'll remember then you know,
Speaker 5: at the arena and then you know, give me a quote.
Speaker 2: But I thought you guys were going to get together
Speaker 2: and trade podcasting strategies.
Speaker 3: But I guess that's for down the road.
Speaker 5: Listen, start, do not make me ask him to do
Speaker 5: a swap a podcast swamp.
Speaker 6: He'll come on our podcast and then won't come on
Speaker 6: him to him and.
Speaker 3: J what's the harm in asking shoot your shot?
Speaker 5: Shoot your shot, Come on, Dal, Yeah, that's one.
Speaker 2: That's one I think we can probably safely assume would
Speaker 2: be a hard No.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't like and I don't like rejections just
Speaker 5: to hear it, you know what I mean. Like it's
Speaker 5: enough for our job, but rejection is part of it,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean. But you shoot your shot.
Speaker 3: You miss the shots you don't take.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but then there.
Speaker 5: Are some shots you just know you're gonna miss, and
Speaker 5: there's no there's no need of going down that road.
Speaker 5: We already got some rejections coming up anyways, you know,
Speaker 5: let's not add an extra one just to add it. Stein,
Speaker 5: Before I let you go, I need to tell you
Speaker 5: about something.
Speaker 3: Sty I'm afraid. Go ahead.
Speaker 5: I'll tell you about some sty. So I remember Stein,
Speaker 5: and I think a lot of men can relate. Maybe
Speaker 5: some women I don't know, but me and in particular Stein,
Speaker 5: I remember whening me and my wife before when we
Speaker 5: were married. You know, we were nineteen eighteen around that age.
Speaker 5: You get into arguments, right, You get in arguments, and
Speaker 5: you see it on TV, see it on movies when
Speaker 5: you know certain women do this. But you get in
Speaker 5: an argument and my girlfriends, you know, is my wife,
Speaker 5: my girlfriend in town. She had a habit of when
Speaker 5: we're driving, we're getting an argument. It doesn't matter where
Speaker 5: we're at, where we're at, she'll get out that car
Speaker 5: and start walking. Let me out the car, let me
Speaker 5: out the car, and she'll get out the car and
Speaker 5: start walking. And Stein, at that point, you have a
Speaker 5: decision to make. You either gonna drive away. Oh you
Speaker 5: got out the car. Okay, go ahead. You ought to
Speaker 5: gonna drive away, let her walk, let her find a
Speaker 5: way home or whatever. Or you're gonna do what I
Speaker 5: think what most men do, and you go pull up. Baby,
Speaker 5: come get in the car. Come on, baby, stop it,
Speaker 5: stop it, Come get in the car. And every time Stein,
Speaker 5: every time she pulled that wanted to get the car
Speaker 5: for a argument. Back in our teens and young twenties,
Speaker 5: I had to pull off to the side.
Speaker 6: Baby, come on getting a car. Come on, but let's
Speaker 6: talk about this. She'll get in the car. Stein every time.
Speaker 6: But Stein. Two days ago, we.
Speaker 5: Were at the drive through and Popeye, Stein, me and
Speaker 5: my wife got into it. Stein and I had enough.
Speaker 5: I got out the car. So I got out the car.
Speaker 5: I was like, this is the let me out. I
Speaker 5: got the car, and now, I mind you our home.
Speaker 5: Our home is three miles from where I got off at.
Speaker 6: So I got off and start walking.
Speaker 5: And while I'm walking, I'm thinking in my head, why
Speaker 5: in the world did I do this?
Speaker 6: This was stupid.
Speaker 5: But I'm walking, and when I'm thinking back to the
Speaker 5: moment of times that she used to do that way
Speaker 5: back in the day. So I'm thinking, Okay, I'm walking
Speaker 5: a little bit. She's still at Popeyes, and to drive through,
Speaker 5: she's going to have to drive by me, and she's
Speaker 5: gonna come over and and try to talk to me,
Speaker 5: talk some system to me, and get into the car. Stein,
Speaker 5: don't you know, she just drove right past me. She
Speaker 5: drove right past me, and I was so heated. U'm like, no,
Speaker 5: she didn't just drive past me. All those times back
Speaker 5: when we were younger, I would pull over to the
Speaker 5: side and Mabbie, come on, get in the car, and
Speaker 5: she would get in.
Speaker 6: She'd drave I walked three miles, three and a half miles.
Speaker 3: Okay, time out, time out? Time out.
Speaker 2: First of all, yes, based on my very rough math,
Speaker 2: what I really took from this conversation is she has
Speaker 2: put up with you for more than twenty years.
Speaker 3: I guess I have that.
Speaker 6: Right, yes, but you can say it's vice versa as well.
Speaker 6: But go ahead.
Speaker 2: Second of all, in your teens or your young twenties,
Speaker 2: as you put it, there was no uber.
Speaker 3: Why didn't you just uber?
Speaker 6: After?
Speaker 5: I felt like I thought about that, but I felt
Speaker 5: like I had to see this through.
Speaker 6: I had to walk the hole.
Speaker 3: You walked the full three miles home.
Speaker 6: Walked through full three and a half miles home.
Speaker 3: I feel like I had your food like I was
Speaker 3: in her car.
Speaker 6: Food was what.
Speaker 5: She didn't even order my food. It was that she
Speaker 5: got that mad. I got out the car. I ain't
Speaker 5: I ain't get any food. So I get home no food.
Speaker 5: And so when I got home, I said, oh, so
Speaker 5: you you wasn't going to he didn't think the stop
Speaker 5: by and pick a brother up. She said, you gott
Speaker 5: the car, that's on you. I figured I figured to
Speaker 5: give you time to cool off. I'm like, ain't this something?
Speaker 6: All this all that?
Speaker 5: All those times she used to just get out the car,
Speaker 5: get out. I'm walking and I'm I'm the gentleman. I
Speaker 5: come over.
Speaker 6: I pull up to the side. Baby, Come get in
Speaker 6: the car. I open up the door.
Speaker 5: Come get in the car. We'll work this out. We'll
Speaker 5: work this out. And when it was my turn, she
Speaker 5: just drove right past. That's something, boy, that's something.
Speaker 2: He didn't specify what the dispute was, and that's probably
Speaker 2: too personal, so we don't need to specify. But just
Speaker 2: let's just let's just mean whose fault was it?
Speaker 5: I swear I don't remember. I swear I don't remember,
Speaker 5: but I'm gonna tell you right now, Stan, I felt empowered.
Speaker 5: I had, like I said, I couldn't uber at this point,
Speaker 5: I ran towards the smoke of getting out the car
Speaker 5: and looking at it.
Speaker 6: Three and a half mile journey in the sun I
Speaker 6: had now.
Speaker 3: Three and a half. It started out three miles, now
Speaker 3: it's three and a half.
Speaker 5: Oh, it took me a long time three and a half.
Speaker 5: It took me a long time to get there, Star.
Speaker 5: It took our thirty minutes to get home. I had
Speaker 5: to do it, and I felt empowered. But start, I'll.
Speaker 6: Tell you this.
Speaker 5: I'm not doing that again. I'll wait until we get
Speaker 5: home to pitch a fit.
Speaker 2: Something tells me a listener or two might just want
Speaker 2: a weigh in on this tale and share their opinion.
Speaker 3: So we'll see. We'll see what kind of reaction this gets.
Speaker 2: Chris unscripted script Steine check us out, because listen, listen
Speaker 2: when the shoe was on the other foot.
Speaker 5: Ladies, y'all way in listen. I know it's a lot
Speaker 5: of husbands or men who have significant others out there.
Speaker 5: Y'all been in these situations. And you know, when they
Speaker 5: get out that car, Stein, you know, if you just
Speaker 5: take off, even though they jumped out the car and
Speaker 5: I don't want to take this anymore.
Speaker 6: I'm getting out.
Speaker 5: I'm walking, even though they stepped up the car style.
Speaker 5: You know, if you leave and go home, the relationship
Speaker 5: is over. It's over. Even though they stepped out the car,
Speaker 5: it is over. If you leave home, go ahead and
Speaker 5: think she's just gonna be all rational when she gets
Speaker 5: back from that three mile walk.
Speaker 6: Hey, y'all just go work it out. It is over.
Speaker 5: So you have to go to the side and say, baby,
Speaker 5: come on in. But it doesn't work that way for us.
Speaker 5: If we get out the car, we are walking. That's
Speaker 5: just the way it is.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 2: Indeed, if you listen to This League Uncut regularly, you
Speaker 2: know that this is really two podcasts in one. This
Speaker 2: League Uncut, which covers the NBA twice a week, and
Speaker 2: Chris Haynes Unscripted, which you never know what kind of
Speaker 2: tales you're gonna get.
Speaker 3: And I promise you this one was not on the rundown.
Speaker 3: I did not know this is where we were going.
Speaker 2: I kind of knew we were going to talk about
Speaker 2: the lebron Tech situation, did not know about the Malik
Speaker 2: Beasley story, and I certainly was not expecting life advice
Speaker 2: from Chris Haynes. And again, well, we will see something
Speaker 2: tells me, we will see what the audience has to
Speaker 2: say about the choices.
Speaker 3: That you made.
Speaker 6: I'm here to help, that's all.
Speaker 2: Here to help others and maybe get yourself in trouble
Speaker 2: along the way. Okay, that is going to do it
Speaker 2: for this edition of This League Uncut. As always, please
Speaker 2: follow the show, rate the show, review the show. We
Speaker 2: would love a five star review.
Speaker 3: Chris Haynes deserves.
Speaker 2: A five star review for repeatedly baring his soul and
Speaker 2: taking us deep inside what's going on. What's going on
Speaker 2: in the life of Haynes. He alone, that kind of
Speaker 2: candor alone merits a five star rating. All right, that
Speaker 2: is going to do it for This edition of This
Speaker 2: League Uncut Again taped late on Thursday night out Friday.
Speaker 2: Chris and I will be back together again very soon.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for listening everybody.
Speaker 4: And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
Speaker 4: This League UNCUTTA is an iHeartRadio production.
Speaker 3: SCA Loka, Chris
Speaker 4: Haynes and Mark Stein