Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of Unplugged. She's damned as
Speaker 1: she does, and she's damned if she don't. Let's take
Speaker 1: a second right now to have a moment of silence
Speaker 1: for Washington Mystics owner Shelley Johnson, who suggested that the
Speaker 1: WNBA as a whole should have been on the cover
Speaker 1: of Time magazine instead of just Caitlyn Clark, who graced
Speaker 1: the cover last week, which is probably some of the
Speaker 1: stupidest shit I've ever heard. And that's no disrespect to
Speaker 1: the ladies in the league, and we'll get to that,
Speaker 1: but the Twitter community was quick to remind Shelley that
Speaker 1: a majority of their success as far as attendance, came
Speaker 1: from the Caitlyn Clark effect. Over thirty one percent of
Speaker 1: the Mystic's entire attendance was in two games the Caitlin
Speaker 1: team played against the Mystics. The Sparks, the Aces, the Mystic,
Speaker 1: the Dream all moved games when Fever came in town
Speaker 1: because of the attention that Caitlyn and her teammates have drawn.
Speaker 1: That last season, Fever's jersey sales was up one thousand
Speaker 1: percent and attendance was up two hundred and fifty percent
Speaker 1: and they had the largest attendance on average per year,
Speaker 1: just over seventeen thousand per game. Let me say this,
Speaker 1: Kaitlyn Clark deserves all the flowers. I think she took
Speaker 1: a lot of shit and and a lot of skeptics
Speaker 1: coming into the LIGA. She should like she had to
Speaker 1: really prove herself, missed out on the Olympic opportunity, and
Speaker 1: really had a lot of hard knocks early on in
Speaker 1: the season where she was getting beat up and her
Speaker 1: teammates were just watching her. I think the comraderie that
Speaker 1: locker room grew and that team started playing together and
Speaker 1: made the playoffs, made a nice little run and had
Speaker 1: a solid season. In the article the Time article, Caitlin
Speaker 1: obviously accepted the you know the honor, but Austly was
Speaker 1: quick to pay homage to the black women of the
Speaker 1: w's past who helped pave the way for herself today.
Speaker 1: So Kaitlin is someone who has, if you look at it,
Speaker 1: done everything you're supposed to do and has been criticized
Speaker 1: along the every step of the way. Again, she's damned
Speaker 1: if she does and she's damned if she doesn't. While
Speaker 1: the NBA's ratings continue to drop over thirty percent as
Speaker 1: they try to figure out who is going to feel
Speaker 1: the shoes of Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry.
Speaker 1: The WNBA has a golden goose sitting in their league
Speaker 1: and has done it's gotten better, but has done everything
Speaker 1: to kind of discredit the momentum and eyeballs she's brought
Speaker 1: to this game. And I'm not saying her alone because
Speaker 1: there's a lot of talented players. She is not the
Speaker 1: best player in the in the league. I think obviously
Speaker 1: that goes to Asia Wilson, who is a three time MVP,
Speaker 1: and there's a ton of other very talented players. But
Speaker 1: Caitlyn has brought a ton of new opportunity, a ton
Speaker 1: of new eyeballs, and more money to the sport. So
Speaker 1: instead of downplaying the magnitude of who she is and
Speaker 1: what she's brought, enjoy the ride and take advantage of
Speaker 1: the ride, and do everything you can do to show
Speaker 1: the fan base why they should have been watching before
Speaker 1: Caitlyn came. Along with that said, let me welcome to
Speaker 1: the show, my guy, Trevor Reza Trevor thoughts on the
Speaker 1: impact that Caitlyn has made.
Speaker 2: On the WNBA man first of all, she's she's unbelievable talent.
Speaker 2: You know, the things that she's doing is is great
Speaker 2: in her own right. She's creating her own space, her
Speaker 2: own she's doing her own thing. But if we had
Speaker 2: to compare from what we've seen from the NBA, it
Speaker 2: would in her effect probably something similar to Larry Bird.
Speaker 2: And you know, people want to bring race into it
Speaker 2: or whatever. So if that's the case, I think Larry
Speaker 2: Bird would be the best.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there has been and and and we can
Speaker 1: tap into it enough to cut you off, but there
Speaker 1: has been because obviously, you know, Angel Reese also deserves
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, salute and respect for you know,
Speaker 1: her finding, her laying and the audience and eyeballs she's brought.
Speaker 1: But Angel has spoken up and talked about the racism
Speaker 1: she's faced, you know, and I think there and I
Speaker 1: think what's made this great crevice. Their storyline started in college,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean when they played against the National
Speaker 1: Championship and Angel did her thing and and and held
Speaker 1: the ring finger up and got a bunch of shit.
Speaker 1: But it was just ship talking back and forth. Neither
Speaker 1: of them, you know, had hard feelings of that, but
Speaker 1: you know, Caitlyn. I think they set the record with
Speaker 1: nine point nine million, So I mean, I think they
Speaker 1: started back in college, you know, with the National Championship
Speaker 1: game in twenty twenty three, nearly ten million viewers. The
Speaker 1: Iowa South Carolina game was the first time the women's
Speaker 1: game has ever had more eyeballs than the men's game.
Speaker 1: You know, So this is something and what's made this great.
Speaker 1: And I think what the NBA lacks the storylines. And
Speaker 1: obviously Caitlyn coming in has a storyline, Angel coming in
Speaker 1: has a storyline, and then as you follow the storylines,
Speaker 1: you start to see all the talent in this league.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they're doing an amazing job with, like
Speaker 2: you said, telling the story and the players are actually
Speaker 2: doing their thing when they get there. Yes, you know,
Speaker 2: like you mentioned these couple of players, but Caitlyn being
Speaker 2: the one that we're speaking about right now, she is
Speaker 2: kicking everybody's ass really or I won't say kicking everybody's ass,
Speaker 2: but she's doing her things.
Speaker 1: She told her as she's definitely holding you know, holding
Speaker 1: her own her I mean, you look at it, and
Speaker 1: it's similar to the stuff effect, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: the ability to shoot the ball, from anywhere is always
Speaker 1: gonna gain eyeballs. And I think, you know, obviously the
Speaker 1: W is taking a hit because the the I want
Speaker 1: to only say lack, but just the athleticism isn't there
Speaker 1: like it is on the men's side. You know, although
Speaker 1: there are some you know women dunking now, but the
Speaker 1: ability to shoot that ball from deep has captured all
Speaker 1: basketball by storm.
Speaker 2: Well she's you mentioned Steph, and it took Steph a
Speaker 2: couple of years to get to that point, yep, and
Speaker 2: she's coming in and doing it as a rookie. So
Speaker 2: you know, her following the machine of college and everything
Speaker 2: that she's bringing to the game has been great for
Speaker 2: the game, especially because years prior to their league wasn't
Speaker 2: doing as well as far as revenue, and now it's
Speaker 2: starting to catch up and do the things that you know.
Speaker 3: We hoped that it would do.
Speaker 2: As we all now we're starting to support women's sports.
Speaker 1: When you see the people say it's not just her,
Speaker 1: there's other players, and again we're not destructed. We understand
Speaker 1: that the depth of talent in that league, but when
Speaker 1: you also see the numbers that back up the fact
Speaker 1: that Caitlyn has a huge effect Kaitlin Clark is responsible
Speaker 1: for nearly twenty seven percent of the WNBA's league wide
Speaker 1: activity in twenty twenty four, including attendance. One in six
Speaker 1: tickets sold to the WNBA arena attributed to Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 1: TV viewership was up three TV viewership was up three
Speaker 1: hundred percent with Caitlin Clark. The league's merchandise sale jumped
Speaker 1: nearly five hundred percent with Caitlin Clark ranking number one.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously surrounded with all the hype and all
Speaker 1: the talent and all the hate, do you see any
Speaker 1: similarities of when Caitlyn's come in the league to back
Speaker 1: when Broun. I think you were in college back then, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was in college. Roan came into you. But
Speaker 2: we're the same high school years. So Bron has been
Speaker 2: he's been, This has been who he's been since high school. So,
Speaker 2: you know, not as timing. Know now that social media
Speaker 2: is like huge, I think it makes it really, really
Speaker 2: really big, But that was like a legend because it
Speaker 2: was TV, right or news newspaper. Yeah, you know, so
Speaker 2: it's different. So I believe Bron's thing was a bit
Speaker 2: you know, bigger, because it's more like a.
Speaker 3: Legend old school. Yeah yeah. And with the.
Speaker 2: Social media thing it, you know, everybody could just pick
Speaker 2: their phone up. Everybody has the phone, everybody has social media,
Speaker 2: so you know, and whatever that engine is, you can
Speaker 2: just click on it it or show up in your algorithm. So,
Speaker 2: you know, I think that the push is different, maybe
Speaker 2: the different eras, but I guess it would be.
Speaker 1: The same, similar, similar to just the manitude and the
Speaker 1: attention the game has brought, probably the hate both of
Speaker 1: them have faced. But you know, I wish you're nothing
Speaker 1: but the best. I wish the league nothing but the best.
Speaker 1: I think they're on a great although they still lost
Speaker 1: money this year. I think that is going to start
Speaker 1: to change as the game continues to grow. These players
Speaker 1: be continue to get more attention and obviously honoring the
Speaker 1: women that came before the sheryff swoops to Tina Thompkins
Speaker 1: and Lisa Leslie's, you know, the Don Staleys, all these
Speaker 1: ladies that kind of helped put this women's game on
Speaker 1: the map professionally in the United States. And this is
Speaker 1: where the Angel Reeses and the Caitlyn Clarks and you know,
Speaker 1: you look at the great Diana Tarassi, you know, Asia
Speaker 1: Wilson who just signed a nice, big old deal with Nike. Congratulations.
Speaker 1: You know, they continue to push the game to the
Speaker 1: next level, you know, and you look at where the
Speaker 1: NBA was and now where the NBA is at now,
Speaker 1: and although everyone doesn't agree with the style of play,
Speaker 1: these guys have taken it to the next level as
Speaker 1: far as the business of basketball. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what Caitlyn will affect as the business of women's basketball. Man,
Speaker 1: So we wish them the best. Uh, definitely excited to
Speaker 1: see uh these upcoming seasons and these women continue to
Speaker 1: do their thing. We had Keyon Dooling, one of your
Speaker 1: former teammates on the show last week, and he just
Speaker 1: had a crazy, crazy interview overall, but his story about
Speaker 1: this NBA health health healthcare fraud that happened and he
Speaker 1: had to sit down for a minute. We just saw,
Speaker 1: you know, Glenn Davis, you know, just sat down and
Speaker 1: I think he's down for a little over three years. Uh.
Speaker 1: Let's take a look at this clip. A bunch of
Speaker 1: NBA brothers went down with the health insurance situation. Our
Speaker 1: brother Glenn Davis, yeah, just sat down and a few
Speaker 1: other people. But talk to us about how that came
Speaker 1: about across your plate and and why you chose to
Speaker 1: participate in it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So, you know, I try to be very clear on
Speaker 4: the fact that it was just a bad judgment. It
Speaker 4: was a mistake, it was greed, It was trying to
Speaker 4: you know, navigate in a in the wrong way. You know,
Speaker 4: I didn't wait on God for opportunities, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying to open up for me. I saw not
Speaker 4: even an opportunity. I won't call it an opportunity, you know,
Speaker 4: I saw a lick, so to speak. Right, Obviously, we
Speaker 4: had the supplemental supplemental Benefits card. You know, if you
Speaker 4: played long enough, you have a lot of money on
Speaker 4: that card. And that's supposed to be for you know,
Speaker 4: medical dental vision.
Speaker 1: Not only you, but your family, yep, and your.
Speaker 4: Family, and you know, if you don't use it, you
Speaker 4: lose it. And I saw it sitting there, and I saw,
Speaker 4: you know, it's a it's a it's a brotherhood.
Speaker 3: Lead or whatever.
Speaker 4: And I'm not pointing a finger at anybody, but I
Speaker 4: got exposed to it. You know, cash was moving around
Speaker 4: doing that, and I decided to do it. And man,
Speaker 4: one of the worst, not one of the worst the
Speaker 4: worst decision I made in my entire life, and you know,
Speaker 4: I embrace it. You know, I'm apologetic for it, and
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Like, that's why I'm open
Speaker 4: to speaking about it, right, because I don't want anybody
Speaker 4: else to put themselves in harm's way. I don't want
Speaker 4: anybody to bite that apple from that tree in any way,
Speaker 4: shape or form. And so I decided to do it
Speaker 4: and made that mistake, but I did my time for it.
Speaker 4: Did eighteen months in federal custody, ten months in six
Speaker 4: months halfway house, two months home confinement, and I'm here right.
Speaker 1: So, Trevor, you know, we've heard the horror stories of
Speaker 1: back when we were in the league, and you know
Speaker 1: how older players have, you know, mismanaged money and not
Speaker 1: done well for themselves. And I think as the game
Speaker 1: has progressed, the business of basketball has grown, financial literacy
Speaker 1: has grown, and now obviously the money these younger players
Speaker 1: are making, they have to find something to do with it,
Speaker 1: you know. But our era was I think I want
Speaker 1: to say the last air because I think every air
Speaker 1: is going to have a few people. But you know,
Speaker 1: guys hit hard times. You've been someone who under the
Speaker 1: radar has been very active in investing and taking care
Speaker 1: of your money. And what am I resisting temptations? I'm
Speaker 1: not saying you haven't have fun, but you've been really
Speaker 1: smart with your money. What if some advice you would
Speaker 1: give to younger players or even older players that are
Speaker 1: on their way out that didn't really catch this wave
Speaker 1: of crazy money, right?
Speaker 3: I guess the advice that I would give.
Speaker 2: Again, everybody has their own lane, everybody has their own
Speaker 2: things that they believe in, what they principled in. But no,
Speaker 2: it's the most important word.
Speaker 1: Even to your family. And that's the hardest know you
Speaker 1: ever have to say.
Speaker 2: For sure, not just you know, you got to teach
Speaker 2: people exactly what money means and how to use it.
Speaker 2: I would know who would guess, but you know, kind
Speaker 2: of You don't have to impress nobody. Nobody is wanting
Speaker 2: to be impressed. Anything that you want comes with hard
Speaker 2: work and how you treat people. Actually, money really doesn't
Speaker 2: really do anything. It's the relationships that you build and
Speaker 2: how you know, how you manage and take care of
Speaker 2: those relationships.
Speaker 1: I think you touched on something which is huge today
Speaker 1: is trying to impress people. We live in a social
Speaker 1: media world where you see a lot of fake. The
Speaker 1: fake is real, and the fronting is real, and the
Speaker 1: bullshit is real, and people are chasing after something that's
Speaker 1: not even true.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: So yeah, all you guys, man, it was up and down.
Speaker 1: You know, my first handful years, I spoke on this openly,
Speaker 1: like I was broke at the end every summer. And
Speaker 1: it wasn't even that I was doing crazy shit. I
Speaker 1: just wasn't really making the money you think we That
Speaker 1: shit is forty percent off the rip, especially if you
Speaker 1: live in Cali. They taking that shit, So it's not
Speaker 1: necessarily what you see. So man, take care of your money,
Speaker 1: understand your money, make your money work for you. And yet,
Speaker 1: like Trev said, one of the most important things is
Speaker 1: being able to say no, and that shit ain't easy.
Speaker 1: Trav Zion, the word is trade talks are on the table.
Speaker 1: For Zion, six year in New Orleans, has played under
Speaker 1: thirty games the last three seasons. He's on pace to
Speaker 1: do that again this year. They're five and twenty two.
Speaker 1: They were projected to win forty six games this year.
Speaker 1: Dyson Daniels was recently traded to the Atlanta Hawks, and
Speaker 1: he said that organization is cursed. I'm so happy I'm
Speaker 1: not there anymore. You played there. Thoughts on the organization
Speaker 1: and is it time for Zion to just get a
Speaker 1: new start. And we're not saying that the organization is
Speaker 1: the reason why he's not playing, but sometimes people need.
Speaker 3: A fresh start.
Speaker 2: It is probably time for fresh start for him, you know,
Speaker 2: like you said that he hasn't played over thirty games
Speaker 2: and all three seasons.
Speaker 1: But it's crazy to think that this is your six.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so half of his career he's been. He's
Speaker 2: played under thirty games, and you know, for competitors or
Speaker 2: people that I love to play the game, which I'm
Speaker 2: sure he is, that's got to be frustrating for him.
Speaker 2: So a fresh start, fresh medical staff, a as training staff,
Speaker 2: new people that you see every day, that could reignite
Speaker 2: something for him.
Speaker 3: Because we expect a lot from.
Speaker 2: Him as fans, as you know, colleagues of his, we
Speaker 2: expect him to, you know, to do great things in
Speaker 2: this league. And you know, although we've had small sample
Speaker 2: sizes of what he can do, we expect more and
Speaker 2: for more games.
Speaker 1: How much of this is on him, though, obviously we
Speaker 1: can say because you know, Baron Davis played there nearly
Speaker 1: twenty years ago, and he said, you know, they don't
Speaker 1: care about winning or the health of their players. They're
Speaker 1: kind of like the JV team. They share the same
Speaker 1: resources as the Saints and you know, the Pelicans to
Speaker 1: get the leftovers. With that said, because I played for
Speaker 1: the Clippers when the Clippers were a dog shit organization.
Speaker 1: We used to practice Southwest College and we used to
Speaker 1: leave the back doors open so people wouldn't break in
Speaker 1: our cars. Like there's the organization is supposed to supposed
Speaker 1: to set the tone, but when they don't set the tone,
Speaker 1: it's a different story. But how much is obviously him
Speaker 1: kind of really locking in and buying it. I mean
Speaker 1: this this off season, we saw he had slimmed up
Speaker 1: and it looked like he was really in shape. But
Speaker 1: I mean, how much is this is on Zion too.
Speaker 1: You got to get on the court and find a
Speaker 1: way to stay on that court, right.
Speaker 2: He definitely has to take accountability of, you know, taking
Speaker 2: care of his body or taking or using the resources
Speaker 2: that you know are available to him, especially the older players.
Speaker 2: When you see players like you know that have the
Speaker 2: bigger bill, that's able to play for a long, long
Speaker 2: period of time, and then we got anomaly in bron
Speaker 2: who's played for ever and he has played know over
Speaker 2: way over thirty games and.
Speaker 3: You know, high minutes.
Speaker 2: So you know, he got to take responsibility and not
Speaker 2: using his resources and finding out what he needs to
Speaker 2: do to get himself better. And since I've been you know,
Speaker 2: I've played in New Orleans for two seasons and we
Speaker 2: used to play at the Ilario Center, which was trash.
Speaker 1: It wasn't up to par for NBA standards for sure,
Speaker 1: nicely put.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so.
Speaker 2: When I guess I was a part of the team
Speaker 2: that the owner lost the team, so we were owned
Speaker 2: the team owned by the NBA. Right, So, yeah, the
Speaker 2: team has gone through some struggles and it's had some
Speaker 2: fuckedi times, but once the Benson family got a part
Speaker 2: of it, that the stuff got better.
Speaker 1: And the Benson family is a team that owns.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what's going on with them now, but yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, when I was there, I've seen the transition.
Speaker 1: I hope. So man, again, like you said, we've seen
Speaker 1: flashes of Zion's greatness and you know, the double double
Speaker 1: machines and the records and the field goal percentages he
Speaker 1: was breaking, and we just haven't got to see enough
Speaker 1: of him, so we hope that he can either figure
Speaker 1: it out there. But again, like Tramp says, sometimes a
Speaker 1: chain of scenery is needed. And now that he's on
Speaker 1: the trade table, man, there ain't no telling.
Speaker 2: Sorry to cut you. But I think and I feel
Speaker 2: like a lot of teams are missing. It's really good
Speaker 2: vets b been through experiences and has been around the
Speaker 2: league for a while or seeing what other players have
Speaker 2: done that are similar.
Speaker 1: And even if they can't contribute on the court, they
Speaker 1: contribute so much off the court. I mean, you saw
Speaker 1: what Miami did with you Donnas and obviously what Golden
Speaker 1: State did with you know, Iguodala. Outside of letting them
Speaker 1: go then coming back, that's are important. And I think
Speaker 1: the league is so young now that you know everything
Speaker 1: is you know, must perform type situations. But when when
Speaker 1: I came to the league, there was thirty seven, thirty
Speaker 1: eight forty year old dudes that some played, some didn't,
Speaker 1: but they were so instrumental to the team and helping people,
Speaker 1: being bridges between the coaching staff and the players and
Speaker 1: just kind of giving you game and life and breathing
Speaker 1: on you as they would saying I definitely think the
Speaker 1: league as a whole. Uh missus that if they designated
Speaker 1: just one more roster spot to vets, but.
Speaker 3: They better fucking figure it out.
Speaker 1: They got to shit, the got too. They got to man.
Speaker 1: The ratings are down people, you know, they think it's
Speaker 1: bad basketball. You have to jump on every streaming service
Speaker 1: to catch different games, or just they make it hard
Speaker 1: to watch basketball and hard to like the game, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, I love the game, but I'm be honest,
Speaker 1: I really haven't really been paying attention that much this season.
Speaker 1: I'll start paying attention a little bit later. Obviously I
Speaker 1: follow sports and I'll catch a game here and there,
Speaker 1: but I haven't really been locked in on it, just
Speaker 1: because it's not exciting to me right now.
Speaker 2: What's the storyline? Yeah, what's the drama? What's the feel
Speaker 2: good stories? Worthy things?
Speaker 1: Who's next?
Speaker 3: Who's next?
Speaker 1: Like, who's gonna step out there?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 1: Ant?
Speaker 3: Is it? Jie?
Speaker 1: Is it?
Speaker 3: Is it? Luca? Is it?
Speaker 1: Tatum? Is it? By committee?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 1: There's just so much unknown to a game we loved,
Speaker 1: in a game where it was so popping back when
Speaker 1: we played it. It's crazy I saw stat was it?
Speaker 1: Did anyone else see it?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: Since twenty twelve, viewership is down like in the forties,
Speaker 1: like forty percent overall game.
Speaker 3: Who's the villain back to the community is shit.
Speaker 1: I was a villain right now.
Speaker 5: League is the new ship, the ship that we loved
Speaker 5: and grew up and was by committee. We didn't start
Speaker 5: putting like these seven stars or like the face of
Speaker 5: the league like he used to be one or two.
Speaker 3: It used to be about.
Speaker 5: Teams, Yeah, Bulls, Lakers, Celtics, and they had their individual personalities.
Speaker 3: Now I feel like it's more individual.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's because I think, not to cut you off,
Speaker 1: I think it's because there is no stars are freedom
Speaker 1: to move, and I think Aman Shepard spoke on this
Speaker 1: in someone's podcast the other day, and I don't know
Speaker 1: the exact words I'm paraphrasing, but he said something to
Speaker 1: the fact that you know that the bron I don't
Speaker 1: know if you said ruin, but he's the first superstar
Speaker 1: obviously to jump to make other stars think it's okay.
Speaker 1: So to your point, it's not like you root for
Speaker 1: teams anymore because guys aren't there long enough to really root.
Speaker 1: There's a handful of that. You know, you look at
Speaker 1: staff obviously, and and Tatum on his and but stars
Speaker 1: are moving around, which is in some aspects cool, but
Speaker 1: in some aspects kind of lose your I'm I'm a
Speaker 1: Cavs fan because Bron's been there his whole career. I'm
Speaker 1: a Laker fan because Kobe's been their his whole career,
Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. That you just don't
Speaker 1: really have that no more. Well, someone that will be
Speaker 1: the number one pick, not this draft, but yeah, in
Speaker 1: two years, ajdbansa n I l crazy bag seven million
Speaker 1: to go to BYU. He'll only be in school for
Speaker 1: probably four to six months. Trevor, I know you've seen
Speaker 1: him play, but thoughts on on on just can you
Speaker 1: imagine going you could use only UCLA for one year?
Speaker 1: Could you imagine for the six months use at UCLA?
Speaker 1: If they gave you seven minut to go there? Man,
Speaker 1: would you have made it? I for sure would have
Speaker 1: made it.
Speaker 2: But man, that's a good point you bring up, because
Speaker 2: I guess it all just depends on what your goals
Speaker 2: are and what your focus in your circle. In your circle,
Speaker 2: and if your goal is to max out in the nil,
Speaker 2: then you know you're selling yourself short, especially if it's
Speaker 2: only for one year. If you have potential to be,
Speaker 2: you know, make seven million dollars in one year, that
Speaker 2: means the potential of the crazy that you are crazy
Speaker 2: you making a million dollars, fifty or sixty million dollars
Speaker 2: a year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: And again when you look at how much money the
Speaker 2: players are making and where you know the salary cap
Speaker 2: is going and where the max is going. Players got
Speaker 2: a chance to make seven hundred million dollars, So that
Speaker 2: would be That's the goal I would try to push
Speaker 2: to my kids.
Speaker 3: That's in that space.
Speaker 1: I mean as a father, as who has a son
Speaker 1: who is one of the top ten juniors in the
Speaker 1: country who I'm sure nil is. How do you keep Taj?
Speaker 1: I mean we've heard Gil with Arena speak on this
Speaker 1: and how he's kind of keeping the nil away from
Speaker 1: Elijah and then trying to keep that focus. Sometimes that's
Speaker 1: easier said than done. How have you been able to
Speaker 1: help Taj navigate you know what this new basketball because
Speaker 1: the startom is starting so much earlier now and obviously
Speaker 1: the money is pouring in now.
Speaker 2: Too well as as like Taj experiences journey, he's starting
Speaker 2: to experience more and more people pulling at him. My
Speaker 2: message is always going to be the same. Shut everybody out,
Speaker 2: focus on your goals, focus on getting better every single day.
Speaker 2: Only work on your game, and work on and pay
Speaker 2: attention to school. Everything that you want will come with
Speaker 2: you putting the work in to what you're doing, the
Speaker 2: things that you love to do. You know, try to
Speaker 2: sharpen up on your tools and your skills, make yourself
Speaker 2: a better person. And by time you look up, you
Speaker 2: don't even know what's going on. You already killing the
Speaker 2: game doing things that you just love to do. But
Speaker 2: just pour it into yourself, point to the game and
Speaker 2: everything else to take care of it.
Speaker 1: So keep the first thing first. Yeah, if for guys
Speaker 1: that and I think you funny. It was interesting what
Speaker 1: you said, you know, max out in the nil space
Speaker 1: for these guys that don't have guidance and leadership. You know,
Speaker 1: I didn't come from a family had any money, so
Speaker 1: you know most of us came from that. So you know,
Speaker 1: can these kids keep the focus, the drive, and the
Speaker 1: dedication they need with no real guidance around them. You
Speaker 1: got to think I remember getting the little twenty five
Speaker 1: hundred dollars pail grand three thousand dollars grand in West.
Speaker 1: But you and you couldn't tell me nothing, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So I couldn't imagine having a half
Speaker 1: a million, you know, one point two one point three
Speaker 1: as a seventeen, eighteen, nineteen year old kid with no
Speaker 1: real guidance, Like I wonder that the long term effects.
Speaker 1: Are we going to see a lot of burnouts? Are
Speaker 1: we going to see a lot of bus because everything
Speaker 1: that these kids are getting now we had to fight
Speaker 1: for and didn't get to the league. If we got
Speaker 1: it before, we risked our whole careers.
Speaker 3: Well, we've seen it with some players.
Speaker 1: Mike we see them. I think Mikey was one of
Speaker 1: the first imani Bates. Some of these guys were some
Speaker 1: of these first nil guys and you see his talented there.
Speaker 1: They still haven't really cracked that and got to that
Speaker 1: next level obviously. Then is in the G League.
Speaker 2: We also seen players get to get the money and
Speaker 2: do well too, like LaMelo. You know LaMelo, I remember
Speaker 2: bro driving Lambos and all that grade or.
Speaker 1: Or you know that whatever years he was driving, was
Speaker 1: moving very professionally and he's murdering Pops was on his
Speaker 1: ask though. Yeah, guy, Plus he also have brothers. You
Speaker 1: know that was paving the way for him. So it
Speaker 1: just depends on again, what your goal is, who are
Speaker 1: you competing with? And you know, like Doling used to say,
Speaker 1: what's driving you? What is your what is your driving force?
Speaker 1: I just wonder what the future college basketball is going
Speaker 1: to because it used to be muskwatch TV, march manags
Speaker 1: used to be the shit, and it's still cool, but
Speaker 1: it's just not what it was because there's so many
Speaker 1: other avenues now for kids to be one and done
Speaker 1: or go overseas for a year and get to the league.
Speaker 1: I think everyone's in such a hurry to get to
Speaker 1: the NBA when they're not necessarily ready. But on the
Speaker 1: flip side, I fought the NBA because it used to
Speaker 1: be a little bit of potential and a lot of talent.
Speaker 1: Now it's purely potential. They draft off like they're drafting
Speaker 1: kids that are averaging six points and five rebounds in
Speaker 1: the top ten now, or they've played overseas and it's
Speaker 1: certain like they haven't proven it yet, And I think
Speaker 1: everyone in such a hurry to get there when they're
Speaker 1: not ready. And that's why I feel like, and I
Speaker 1: say there's all due respect, because there's a ton of talent.
Speaker 1: I think this generation will be the biggest bust because
Speaker 1: a lot of these kids are going too early and
Speaker 1: then they can use another year or two under their belt.
Speaker 1: You know, you look at Bronnie and I'm not saying
Speaker 1: Bronnie's going to be bust. We don't know what Brini's
Speaker 1: going to be. But Brinnie could have definitely been in
Speaker 1: front of it from another year at USC or even two.
Speaker 1: Amani Baits could have spent some more time, you know.
Speaker 1: So it's just like there's a lot of these kids
Speaker 1: that are so fast to get there, and the NBA
Speaker 1: is a welcoming matt and then at once you get there,
Speaker 1: you were like, oh shit, this is real. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: no one can hold my hand no more.
Speaker 2: Nah, No one definitely is holding your hand because everybody
Speaker 2: is professional, so everybody is competing for those spots, and
Speaker 2: if the turnover is so fast, you're not getting a
Speaker 2: chance to actually get a chance to develop because potential
Speaker 2: only lasts for so for so long. And these young
Speaker 2: boys are you know, they're they're they're coming in really
Speaker 2: young with the young mentality, and once you come to
Speaker 2: a professional space, nobody is really holding your hand like
Speaker 2: that no more.
Speaker 1: They're gonna let you fuck up until you fuck yourself
Speaker 1: up exactly.
Speaker 2: So just getting people around you in your corner that's
Speaker 2: going to keep you accountable to to growing and growth
Speaker 2: is uncomfortable all the time. So if you stay in
Speaker 2: a comfortable space, you're not really growing.
Speaker 1: Trip, man, We appreciate your time. Thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: We'll catch up with you.
Speaker 3: Soon for sure.
Speaker 1: Yep, right now, I love to introduce mss Bella Ivory.
Speaker 1: She's a teacher at Beverly Hills High School. Her lawyer, Brad,
Speaker 1: and a concerned parent. They had an incident about a
Speaker 1: month ago, now six weeks ago.
Speaker 6: It's been a little bit over a month.
Speaker 1: Yet a little bit over a month ago that I
Speaker 1: saw on social media when Trump was declared the next president,
Speaker 1: and it was probably leading up to this is just
Speaker 1: what I saw on social media. Kids were storming the
Speaker 1: halls with Trump flags and harassing, intimidating, shouting slurs and
Speaker 1: really kind of just running amok. And I saw it
Speaker 1: on social media and I sent it to my assistant
Speaker 1: and I was just like, I need to find this
Speaker 1: teacher and shout out Pharah. Within like three hours, she
Speaker 1: had found some information on her and we connected. And
Speaker 1: I think the reason why this touched me was because
Speaker 1: you know, I've talked about BEFOREMS on my shows. I
Speaker 1: faced a lot of racism in high school with the
Speaker 1: KKK burning down bathrooms and hanging mannequins and swastika. So
Speaker 1: I have a soft spot in my heartfor situations like this,
Speaker 1: and when I saw this situation, I immediately wanted to
Speaker 1: connect and help any way possible. So we're here today
Speaker 1: to kind of let my audience know and put more
Speaker 1: light on what's been going on pretty much right under
Speaker 1: our nose. So Bella, I want to give you the
Speaker 1: floor and just kind of explain what's been going on
Speaker 1: that day, if there was stuff leading up to that,
Speaker 1: and currently what's going.
Speaker 6: On well leading up to it. It's been a problem.
Speaker 6: It was already a problem at the school February twenty
Speaker 6: twenty two, I had students with me being the only
Speaker 6: black female teacher at the school, and it's been like
Speaker 6: that whole time I've been there since twenty twenty. But
Speaker 6: in twenty two I sent an email to the principle
Speaker 6: and I told them we have a diversity issue because
Speaker 6: the kids were coming to me there were, you know,
Speaker 6: disclosing things that was happening to them within the classroom
Speaker 6: and just around campus. So it's been going on. It's
Speaker 6: been lingering for a while. It's just gotten progressively worse
Speaker 6: and leading up to the fifth of November, that's when
Speaker 6: the incident happened with me and I had seven other
Speaker 6: black kids in the room with me, and I guess
Speaker 6: there was some type of Trump rallies or whatever going
Speaker 6: on campus. I was not privy to that information. I
Speaker 6: didn't know that was going on. So me and the
Speaker 6: seven black students were sitting in my classroom.
Speaker 1: Is this lunchtime or during class?
Speaker 6: Okay, during lunchtime, so we were sitting in they were
Speaker 6: having lunch.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty common thing. Like we talked off camera
Speaker 1: that very few black teachers there, but you're one of
Speaker 1: the ones they feel safe and comfortable with. So your
Speaker 1: room is kind of a hangout spot.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, okay, and not just for the black kids, but
Speaker 6: for all kids, but in general. But I was I
Speaker 6: started heading the VSU, which is Black student union, last year,
Speaker 6: so this was my second year doing it. So of
Speaker 6: course I've gotten a whole lot more close with those kids.
Speaker 6: So they were they came in. They had a little
Speaker 6: pot luck the week before. I was not there. I
Speaker 6: was sick. They were telling me what happened. So during
Speaker 6: the potluck, while they were having their potluck, it was
Speaker 6: kids coming in. Just they came in, they bombarded their potluck,
Speaker 6: was taking their food. And so I told all the
Speaker 6: other students, Okay, we're going to have a conversation. I'm
Speaker 6: going to close the room off and let's talk about it,
Speaker 6: and you guys tell me what happened. I saw closed
Speaker 6: the door. When my door was closed, it all the way.
Speaker 6: It locks. So we're in there talking and all of
Speaker 6: a sudden, close to the end of lunch, we started
Speaker 6: hearing noise outside the door, and I was like, what's
Speaker 6: going on? So I ran to the door because where
Speaker 6: my desk is, I can't see the door. There's a
Speaker 6: window in the door. Ran to the door and I'm
Speaker 6: looking out the door and I see a bunch of kids,
Speaker 6: a bunch of white faces outside the door and they're
Speaker 6: just screaming, you know, f kamala. And someone banged on
Speaker 6: the door. That's what really got me to get up
Speaker 6: and say what's going on? After I heard the voices,
Speaker 6: soone banged on the door. Then I heard someone try
Speaker 6: to open the door to come in. So I ran
Speaker 6: to the door to look what was going on and
Speaker 6: it was just a bunch of kids, a mob of
Speaker 6: kids outside my door. And so the kids that was
Speaker 6: with me in the room, I did not realize that
Speaker 6: they came and ran behind me and was looking outside
Speaker 6: the door too, and so we heard another pale on
Speaker 6: the door. So I was holding tightly onto the handle
Speaker 6: of the door, and one of the girls said miss pella,
Speaker 6: miss pella, please don't open the door. So when I
Speaker 6: turned around, I saw the kids behind me and I said, okay,
Speaker 6: I said, I'm not going to open the door, don't worry,
Speaker 6: and she yells out, oh my gosh, they look like KKK.
Speaker 6: And I said, don't worry. I'm not going to open
Speaker 6: the door. And so the kids start walking and I'm like,
Speaker 6: and I'm looking out the door, I'm like, what is
Speaker 6: going on? I saw a teacher, I saw security guards,
Speaker 6: and at the end behind the mob of kids, I
Speaker 6: saw the principal. So I'm like, what in the world
Speaker 6: is going on here? So after that happened, if you
Speaker 6: see the footage, the camera footage, because there's a camera
Speaker 6: a security camera right above my door. I waited for
Speaker 6: a minute. I opened the door for a second. I
Speaker 6: looked out of closed the door again because the kids
Speaker 6: were like, please, don't open the door. I said, you
Speaker 6: guys are gone. I'm gonna outside and see what's going on.
Speaker 6: So I went outside. There was another student out there
Speaker 6: and he was recorded. I asked him, I said, did
Speaker 6: you see what happened? He said, I recorded. He said,
Speaker 6: do you want to see me? I said yeah, I said,
Speaker 6: can you send me that to me? And so that's
Speaker 6: what happened that day.
Speaker 1: So you saw a teacher, you saw security, saw the
Speaker 1: principal behind the kids. You've obviously taken your issues up
Speaker 1: with the school, and you've spoken to administration and kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, said what you've been seeing and feeling, and
Speaker 1: how's that been met?
Speaker 6: There was nothing. It was dad silence from twenty twenty
Speaker 6: two up until the school year. So I don't nobody
Speaker 6: approached me, nobody said anything about it. I said something
Speaker 6: about it again. Actually last year, at the beginning of
Speaker 6: the school year. Last year, I bought it to I
Speaker 6: actually first told him man. I bought it to the
Speaker 6: attention of the district. The following year. I mean last year,
Speaker 6: at the beginning of last school year, still nothing.
Speaker 1: So these aren't necessarily isolated, and so this kind of
Speaker 1: seems like just the environment you're in. I mean, we
Speaker 1: were talking before and one of my producers, his son
Speaker 1: has faced this, and he's been talking to us in
Speaker 1: a group, and I learned like there's nigger passes, Like
Speaker 1: they go around asking black children, can I have a
Speaker 1: nigger pass? And most of them kind of unreally knowing
Speaker 1: what it is or not wanting to stir stuff up,
Speaker 1: kind of nod the head. And now these white kids
Speaker 1: and Persian kids are freely just saying nigger anywhere. There's
Speaker 1: swastikas found in the bathroom, and what it was?
Speaker 6: A swasaga on my desk.
Speaker 1: A swaska on your desk.
Speaker 6: I wanted, not my desk, but one of the in
Speaker 6: your classroom, one of.
Speaker 1: Those tables in right now, I want to bring a
Speaker 1: concerned parent who has a student at the school who
Speaker 1: has obviously faced some of this, and told me a
Speaker 1: very interesting story about polling middle school kids and who
Speaker 1: they voted for and if you voted for if you
Speaker 1: didn't vote for Trump, it was an issue, So speak
Speaker 1: to kind of the experience as a parent, someone who
Speaker 1: actually graduated from the school in the late eighties, but
Speaker 1: now as a parent with a student there and your
Speaker 1: concern level.
Speaker 7: So at the middle school, it has been brought to
Speaker 7: our attention that kids were polling as they were coming
Speaker 7: to school after election to see who voted for Trump,
Speaker 7: and if you said anything other than Trump, the kids
Speaker 7: were kicked, slapped, they were basically assaulted. Some kids in
Speaker 7: fear of seeing what happened to the other kids lie
Speaker 7: so that they wouldn't get hit. But then there was
Speaker 7: also the whole isolation. Oh, you can't sit here, you know,
Speaker 7: just total, total, just chaos and these kids can't even vote.
Speaker 7: Is coming from that home, This is coming from the household,
Speaker 7: and it seems to be okay. It's common nature as
Speaker 7: we see that incidents are happening at both the middle
Speaker 7: school and the high school, and there are some rare
Speaker 7: incidences even at the elementary school.
Speaker 1: So this is a district. This is a district, So
Speaker 1: this is bigger than just these three middle school, elementary
Speaker 1: and high school. This is a bigger issue overall.
Speaker 7: You feel it's a Beverly Hills community issue, It's a
Speaker 7: PD issue. Brad can speak to that. But there are
Speaker 7: over one hundred concerned parents of all races that have
Speaker 7: come together and addressed the district in a letter, and
Speaker 7: we're still waiting for a proper.
Speaker 1: Response, Brad. So now this has turned into a case.
Speaker 1: I know Bell and I have been speaking a little
Speaker 1: bit of at the journey of the case and the
Speaker 1: school's stance on her and really trying to discredit everything
Speaker 1: she's seen and heard and the students have said, So
Speaker 1: speak to me currently where you guys are at and
Speaker 1: kind of your guys's plan of action.
Speaker 8: Sure, we start with a governmental claim that's the precursor
Speaker 8: to a lawsuit. We filed that. I now have three
Speaker 8: different black teachers who have come to me for representation.
Speaker 1: From the school from Beverly Hills High School, and there
Speaker 1: isn't too many black teachers there right, I have most
Speaker 1: of them, more than half.
Speaker 8: And about the parents of about ten different black students
Speaker 8: have also spoken to me about the problems that their
Speaker 8: kids are facing, being called racist terms, being physically attacked
Speaker 8: and threatened as well. So this is a very serious problem.
Speaker 8: The school has been aware of this for many years,
Speaker 8: and the district has been aware of it, but they
Speaker 8: don't take any action. So what happens is it keeps escalating. Now,
Speaker 8: schools are where children learn how to behave as good
Speaker 8: model citizens. You would think that Beverly Hill's school district
Speaker 8: would want to teach their children. You don't say these terms.
Speaker 8: Everyone is equal. Racism is wrong. But when they take
Speaker 8: no action, when they deny it, the school is saying
Speaker 8: everything is okay to do racism, and it breeds hatred
Speaker 8: and it turns children that could be saved into racist adults,
Speaker 8: which has all kinds of problems for society.
Speaker 1: It's so wrong. I mean, I think, obviously we all know,
Speaker 1: being parents and teachers, this is a learned trait. Just
Speaker 1: as love is taught, hate is taught well and obviously
Speaker 1: I think it starts in the home, and then, like
Speaker 1: you said, if it's not met with any kind of repercussion,
Speaker 1: it continues to fester until it really turns into something
Speaker 1: a belief. Again, I wanted to have you guys come
Speaker 1: and speak today because there needs to be something done
Speaker 1: about this.
Speaker 8: And you know, it's not just the school in the
Speaker 8: city of Beverly Hills. I happen to be representing one
Speaker 8: thousand and eighty five black individuals that have been racially
Speaker 8: profiled by the police department too.
Speaker 3: I'm doing that Hills.
Speaker 8: We have two different class actions now. And what happened
Speaker 8: is ninety two percent of the people arrested on this
Speaker 8: task force were black in a city that's less than
Speaker 8: two percent black. Wow, and you've got one thousand and
Speaker 8: eighty eight black people were arrested in a two year period.
Speaker 8: Only three of them had any criminal conviction or plea deals.
Speaker 8: So everybody else was arrested, put in jail for a
Speaker 8: driving wall black and then they were just let go.
Speaker 8: So it was clearly an attempt by the city.
Speaker 1: To keep black black people at it right.
Speaker 8: And the school is just more of that same symptoms.
Speaker 3: So it's a big problem.
Speaker 8: That's why this is we're so passionate. My law for
Speaker 8: Brad Cage law is so passionate about going after them.
Speaker 1: I got to connect with my guy. I always filmed
Speaker 1: the police and he's been Uh, he's actively in Beverly Hills,
Speaker 1: white guy who is debunks everything. He's talking shit to
Speaker 1: police in their face and not even in a negative way,
Speaker 1: just kind of reminding them like what you're doing is wrong.
Speaker 1: He's always filming them and it's a really interesting guy
Speaker 1: who's drawn a lot of attention, so we definitely have
Speaker 1: to talk to him. But Bella, before we get you
Speaker 1: guys out of here, how has this been for you personally?
Speaker 1: Obviously teaching is something you love to do with your passion.
Speaker 1: You told me you're not sure if you're even gonna
Speaker 1: most likely return there. So what has this been like daily?
Speaker 1: Since it's really kind of hit and went public.
Speaker 6: It's been hard. It's been really hard. It's I've been
Speaker 6: attacked like endlessly, emails and emails. I've got a death
Speaker 6: threat in my school email address. It's been very hard.
Speaker 6: Would I go back if it was just going to
Speaker 6: be me and the kids and doing what I've been doing?
Speaker 6: Of course, I love what I do. I'm not a
Speaker 6: teacher by trade. I didn't go to school. I went
Speaker 6: to school to be a fashion designer. So that's what
Speaker 6: I've done. And so then I bought the fashion design
Speaker 6: program too, I wrote I started that program. Everything before me,
Speaker 6: it was no fashion design program at Beverly Hill. So
Speaker 6: it's my baby. But because the climate is it's.
Speaker 1: So dire, I just to the point where it's unsafe.
Speaker 6: It's very unsafe. My son. He's in the middle school
Speaker 6: and he's been homeschool now because I'm afraid for his safety.
Speaker 6: So I just feel like, if they can't protect the
Speaker 6: kids that I love at the school that aren't my kids,
Speaker 6: but there are my kids because I love them, how
Speaker 6: are they going to protect my child as a parent.
Speaker 1: Who still has a young son there, Like, what are
Speaker 1: your guys' conversations day to day? Is he scared?
Speaker 7: Like, So we've talked about leaving the district because we're
Speaker 7: new to the district and I would have never enrolled
Speaker 7: my child if I had any inclination that this was
Speaker 7: the climate that I was bringing him into. In fact,
Speaker 7: I asked the principle, how many you know black parents,
Speaker 7: how many black kids? How many black teachers? And I
Speaker 7: feel like I was misled in that in that I
Speaker 7: was told by even the parent ambassadors who do the tour.
Speaker 1: All your kid will be fine.
Speaker 7: I made it very clear I am concerned about my
Speaker 7: kid being in a diverse and inclusive environment. I'm okay
Speaker 7: with him being a minority as long as this a
Speaker 7: collective environment. And I think I was misled, completely misled.
Speaker 7: So we've been having conversations about what it looks like
Speaker 7: to you know, to go somewhere else.
Speaker 1: His grades dropped.
Speaker 7: Even his algebra teacher said that she saw a decline
Speaker 7: in his grades. And it's not just my child, it's
Speaker 7: all the kids that are struggling fight or flight. There's
Speaker 7: kids who have been physically attacking or hiding in bathrooms
Speaker 7: because they don't want to engage, or they'll go to
Speaker 7: get counseling, but the counselors don't look like our kids.
Speaker 7: So it's a constant conversation. It's the middle of the
Speaker 7: school year. We just want the district to do what
Speaker 7: the district is supposed to do. And Bella's program is
Speaker 7: a shining program. They use her program to recruit families.
Speaker 7: Like when I toured the school, every time I toured,
Speaker 7: they went to Bella's classroom. She has a capstone program,
Speaker 7: and so I feel like they need to do more
Speaker 7: to protect her and to protect her program.
Speaker 3: It's just bad.
Speaker 7: You don't want to be here. But then you're also like,
Speaker 7: if I don't and fight for a change, what's going
Speaker 7: to continue? So maybe maybe this is why we're here
Speaker 7: to make a change.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like I said, that's why I stepped in, was
Speaker 1: to help make a change, bring more attention to it.
Speaker 1: You know, I've already talked to Tamika Mallory, I know
Speaker 1: her names have been mentioning this. I'm going to reach
Speaker 1: out to Angela Raie and any other activists or just
Speaker 1: concerned parent.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not just about black and brown, It's
Speaker 1: about everybody, because this is an environment that our children
Speaker 1: are living in. So I'm going to definitely keep you
Speaker 1: guys updated on what's going on, get the NAACP involved,
Speaker 1: and really just go up there and kind of see
Speaker 1: what we can do. I know you guys had a
Speaker 1: a a gathering last week or is it two weeks
Speaker 1: ago press conference conference, some of the.
Speaker 8: White students trying to heckle us at the event at
Speaker 8: the event, and it made me realize. Between that and
Speaker 8: I've had death threats over this case and so much
Speaker 8: hate mail that you can't believe it, it makes me
Speaker 8: realize how widespread this problem is. I feel so bad
Speaker 8: for Bella and my other clients that I represent, because
Speaker 8: these are good people that deserve to be treated well
Speaker 8: and they're only going through this because they're black. And
Speaker 8: you know it's offensive to me. I'm a white man,
Speaker 8: but it's offensive to me to see white people or
Speaker 8: anybody going against someone else based on their race. And
Speaker 8: that's why this is so important. I want to bring
Speaker 8: this darkness out into the light and sort of help
Speaker 8: to eliminate it so that other folks don't have to
Speaker 8: put up with what we're seeing.
Speaker 3: Here right now.
Speaker 1: Well, you guys have myself and my platform, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to bring a lot of my friends and we're
Speaker 1: definitely going to make some noise and hopefully bring more
Speaker 1: light to this situation and come to some sort of
Speaker 1: understanding or conclusion because what's been going on and how
Speaker 1: it's been swept on the rug, just like it was
Speaker 1: swept on the rug in my high school in Sacramento,
Speaker 1: is unacceptable. And like you said, if you leave, you know,
Speaker 1: you're you're you're leaving the door open for the next
Speaker 1: set of you know, young kids that are going to
Speaker 1: come into this environment. So thank you guys for coming today.
Speaker 1: We would make sure we stay in touch and and
Speaker 1: and keep you guys posting on the progress of the situation.
Speaker 1: No problem. I want to welcome back to the show
Speaker 1: the neighborhood hater.
Speaker 3: What's up man? How about you?
Speaker 1: How? How was the hate on Instagram, Ben, are you
Speaker 1: getting used.
Speaker 3: To it yet?
Speaker 8: No?
Speaker 3: Actually, man, she's hurting my feelings. You guys. Fuck all,
Speaker 3: y'all know.
Speaker 1: You got some new found I mean, your your followers
Speaker 1: have grown, know you. You've got some new fans. But
Speaker 1: maybe they're just becoming fans to talk ship to you.
Speaker 9: Yeah, they just want to hear it though, you know
Speaker 9: what I'm saying. What do they call that ship that
Speaker 9: they do? That's what they are.
Speaker 1: You're too old to understand that I am. I see
Speaker 1: that new DJ Kelly Die has got your beer?
Speaker 3: You like that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they might need to get you a little
Speaker 1: deal with that.
Speaker 3: I want my face on the box like.
Speaker 1: People don't know. You want your face in a box
Speaker 1: like normal people don't know, Like if die it shit
Speaker 1: is all gray right here though, right? But what's the
Speaker 1: what's the color called? You got?
Speaker 3: I think this? What is this? Good? That midnight cocoa bean?
Speaker 1: She looked good on you both? He look good. Well,
Speaker 1: let's get back to why you're here. Man tenth in
Speaker 1: the West fourteen and twelve on the season had a
Speaker 1: nasty loss to the Blazers, UH one beat the trail
Speaker 1: or beat the Timberwolves, while Lebron was out uh beat
Speaker 1: the Grizzlies just the other night. What's up with your team?
Speaker 1: Bron took a little time away from the team. Uh
Speaker 1: AD's having a career year. Lakers said they have no
Speaker 1: rop was a quotea by Rob Polink. I think they
Speaker 1: came out with something today that said they have no
Speaker 1: interest in trading eighty or Lebron, but if they requested,
Speaker 1: something could happen. They got some pieces that we've been
Speaker 1: talking to D'Angelo Russells and the Hachi Moras and a
Speaker 1: couple other guys. Where are you guys at currently? I
Speaker 1: think we're a little bit of over a quarter of
Speaker 1: the way of the through the season fourteen to twelve fourteen,
Speaker 1: and to us or it was a quarterway through the sea,
Speaker 1: or we're our quarterway through the season. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: normally we say let things play out. It's still early,
Speaker 1: but Laker fans don't like to let things play out.
Speaker 1: You guys want ship now. So what's happening with y'all?
Speaker 3: I mean we're kind of stagning right now.
Speaker 9: All the all the headlines talking about this person's trade, this,
Speaker 9: we're gonna get traded to hear when are we gonna
Speaker 9: do something like I mean, I saw the Golden State
Speaker 9: Warriors just you know, put a deal out. Not that
Speaker 9: that's going to actually help them, but at least they're
Speaker 9: trying to make a move and make their team better.
Speaker 1: Picknis Schroeder absolutely bad. Solid Lakers are ready to give
Speaker 1: him some bread a few years ago. Real Brillian, Yeah.
Speaker 9: You know, and I'm glad we didn't give it to him.
Speaker 9: Question that's okay though, But still we're stagning right now.
Speaker 9: They're talking about the Lebron trade and Lebron and ad
Speaker 9: nobody's taking a forty year old and given us back
Speaker 9: anything for it. You don't think so to take a
Speaker 9: forty you out right now, in the twilight of his career,
Speaker 9: to give us actually back something ABOUTUE.
Speaker 1: I think the only team that would do that is
Speaker 1: Golden State because they're going to try to maximize steps
Speaker 1: run where you could possibly get some quality piece, young
Speaker 1: pieces back. But I mean, I don't disagree anyone else.
Speaker 1: I mean, what did you think about his first game
Speaker 1: back foot injury, came back eighteen eight and eight, you know,
Speaker 1: five turnovers. I think the unfortunate thing with Lebron is
Speaker 1: we live in one of the best things that happened
Speaker 1: was social media, but one of the worst things that
Speaker 1: also happened with social media because now obviously at forty,
Speaker 1: mother natures just eventually starts to take over, and we
Speaker 1: see it with all of our great heroes and players
Speaker 1: are just they slowly start to get old, and we're
Speaker 1: seeing Bron do stuff we've never seen. You know, the mislayups,
Speaker 1: I think is one.
Speaker 3: Thing.
Speaker 1: But what are your thoughts on just you know, he's
Speaker 1: not going to be able to gracefully age out of
Speaker 1: this game. Although there was a bunch of hate before,
Speaker 1: he's always been able to shut that shit up with
Speaker 1: great play and I know he still has more left
Speaker 1: than the tank. We're going to see a lot of
Speaker 1: spectacular spectacularness from Bron this season, but he's not going
Speaker 1: to be able to age out of this game gracefully.
Speaker 3: No, he's not.
Speaker 9: And I think it's about time for us to start
Speaker 9: bringing out the rocket chair for Lebron.
Speaker 3: That the farewell for Lebron, Oh the tour? Yeah?
Speaker 9: Absolutely, I mean, are we really going to win a
Speaker 9: championship this year or next year? It's not looking too
Speaker 9: good for us for that man, And but Laker fans
Speaker 9: you know how it goes.
Speaker 1: I don't know. That's why you're like, I want you
Speaker 1: on this show because I was a Laker, was a player.
Speaker 1: I think from the fan perspective, was also think from
Speaker 1: a basketball player's perspective, but also think from a business perspective.
Speaker 1: You're a strictly LA sports hater fanatic, so you have
Speaker 1: a lot of people that think the crazy and wild
Speaker 1: and drastic shit that you do. That's why I think
Speaker 1: you know, you being on this show and you popping
Speaker 1: your ship. It's not just on some that a lot
Speaker 1: of people think and talk as reckless as you do
Speaker 1: when it comes to the Lakers.
Speaker 3: But there the Dodgers.
Speaker 9: But they also think I'm a Lebron hater, which I've
Speaker 9: never been a Lebron hater until he kind of put
Speaker 9: on our jersey.
Speaker 1: Oh you hated him once he got here, so you
Speaker 1: loved him before he got here.
Speaker 3: That's a weird thing happening right now with that.
Speaker 9: Like, really, now that he's put on our jersey, I
Speaker 9: have a different perspective on him. Eight years one chip
Speaker 9: like which will basically be what it is after he's
Speaker 9: done here.
Speaker 1: I mean, some teams haven't won a chip period yeah,
Speaker 1: but with the Lakers, you're different. Come on the forum
Speaker 1: Staple Center parades. He's been here for eight years?
Speaker 3: When this is year seven right now?
Speaker 1: Is it so?
Speaker 9: It'll be eight years? Next year, the last year of
Speaker 9: his contract, it'll be eight years one chip.
Speaker 1: Do you think this he does the Kobe farewell uh situation?
Speaker 1: Or do you think Bron will be someone that just
Speaker 1: says enough is enough, I'm done.
Speaker 9: If he has on our jersey, do us a favor, bro?
Speaker 9: Let right, don't take us through this ship next year?
Speaker 9: Like I can't take it.
Speaker 1: Bro, We love you?
Speaker 3: Do you? Do you? Really? Though? Ron?
Speaker 1: That doesn't sound like love you just get right there?
Speaker 1: That sounded like some sassinessas ridiculous. I mean we talked,
Speaker 1: I think we talked with Brandon Jennings about does he
Speaker 1: deserve a statue as a Laker. Let me just name
Speaker 1: some of the people who have statues around the Staples Center.
Speaker 1: Oscar de la Hoya, Raing, Gretzky, Jack hern elgend Baylor,
Speaker 1: Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Shaq, Kareem Cobe.
Speaker 3: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 1: Does Lebron fit there? I mean, like you said, when
Speaker 1: it's all said and done, he'll be have been here
Speaker 1: eight years. We got got y'all, but he still got
Speaker 1: y'all Chip, and arguably top two or three could be one.
Speaker 1: In a lot of people's opinions, players.
Speaker 3: All ship but participation in trophy.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what they say. Man, we can go
Speaker 1: back for I mean to me, I flipping and say
Speaker 1: that's probably the most difficult.
Speaker 3: And championship you.
Speaker 1: I'm just sat with the Yeah, who's saying that?
Speaker 9: The people, the haters that don't like the Lakers ship
Speaker 9: Bubble Chip, Cracker, jack box Chip, I can't take that ship.
Speaker 9: She would have a toned for one. Then we will
Speaker 9: be talking about him having a statue outside.
Speaker 1: So you don't so the only way you think he
Speaker 1: can get a statue if he would have got.
Speaker 9: To multiple chips. Absolutely, we at least be not hating
Speaker 9: on it. You know what I'm saying, Like, does he
Speaker 9: deserve to be out there with Bean the logo elgiin.
Speaker 1: I'll masking, this is your this is your franchise, Sha
Speaker 1: chick hearn.
Speaker 9: Come on you guys, let's let's put his jersey up. Okay,
Speaker 9: Let's have a Bible knight form biblehead knife for him.
Speaker 9: You said give him a free parking spot.
Speaker 1: Jersey and the Rafters, b I p part forever. So no, no,
Speaker 1: no statue.
Speaker 3: No chance. Bro.
Speaker 9: I'm sorry, Bron, but no, But you're gonna get to
Speaker 9: Cleveland and Miami. They got you set up already.
Speaker 3: Damn you.
Speaker 1: So the Lakers will not be unveiling Lebron's statue in
Speaker 1: the next twenty.
Speaker 9: Years unless he wins us a chip Man. And I'm
Speaker 9: not saying it can't happen this year.
Speaker 1: You sounded like you can't, though, but you sound hurt
Speaker 1: a miracle and I am. Bro. There's a little bit
Speaker 1: of like, if we keep talking, I might see a
Speaker 1: tearful and then I'll see the beard dye drip onto
Speaker 1: your sweater.
Speaker 3: The mom's like that though.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I told you, Bro, if you didn't, if you
Speaker 1: just were Captain Gray Beer, you'd have so many of
Speaker 1: these older Cougars may mountain lions.
Speaker 9: I'm making them feel like Cougar's now, even though we're
Speaker 9: the same age. You dig know what I'm saying, Well.
Speaker 1: She's the same age as you, She's she's close to
Speaker 1: mountain lion, like Cougar than mountain Lion.
Speaker 9: I'm still on though he's definitely still cracking I'm still cracking,
Speaker 9: So that's that matter.
Speaker 1: Like you said, put your face on the box or
Speaker 1: in it box, whatever it takes. Hey, bro. One of
Speaker 1: the hottest topics of late has been Travis Hunter and
Speaker 1: not a play m but it's fiance.
Speaker 3: Hmmm.
Speaker 1: It's tough because he's been such a spectacular player, winning
Speaker 1: several awards, obviously taking home the Height has been in
Speaker 1: salute for that, but all this outside noise getting in
Speaker 1: the middle of his relationship with his lady him in that.
Speaker 1: But that's what happens.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: People say he's too young, he's twenty. We shouldn't be
Speaker 1: talking about this, but it's out there. It's a topic.
Speaker 1: I think it was on ESPN today, it's everywhere. What
Speaker 1: have been your thoughts on just kind of the dynamic
Speaker 1: between him and his fiance overshadowing the praise he should
Speaker 1: be getting for a great season he's had.
Speaker 9: It's sad because he's a one in a lifetime town.
Speaker 9: Oh man, He's like he's on some different shit out there.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 9: I hate to see a relationship bring that to an
Speaker 9: end or a close or even have any effect on
Speaker 9: it at all, because he hasn't even gotten drafted yet.
Speaker 9: He hasn't played one down in the NFL, be a
Speaker 9: top three pick, and you know what we always talk about,
Speaker 9: I think until you're twenty four years old, we should
Speaker 9: be out there doing your thing anyway. And I'm not
Speaker 9: saying that you shouldn't be out of your relationship, but
Speaker 9: still your first it's just tough.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I think what I saw was
Speaker 1: obviously they've been together for five years. Even if she
Speaker 1: had been the picture perfect image of a girlfriend and
Speaker 1: done everything right fiance, excuse me, everything right. Being a
Speaker 1: top pick and going into the NFL or the NBA
Speaker 1: married or engaged is a tough heel to climb. And
Speaker 1: we don't even need to get into the eighty percent
Speaker 1: failure rate of relationships when it comes to that, but
Speaker 1: it's probably even higher when you're younger. You know, there's
Speaker 1: just some shit. He's gonna be a top two or
Speaker 1: three pick, maybe number one. A lot of shit is
Speaker 1: coming his way, and it's going to take a really
Speaker 1: strong woman to be able to hold that down. And
Speaker 1: we've seen situations where we're into into women's credit. All
Speaker 1: women got fucking attitudes, period, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So she's not even out of pocket for what's been
Speaker 1: going on, because we don't really necessarily know the dynamic.
Speaker 1: But my whole thing is just like, and I don't
Speaker 1: even want to say this because we're older and we've
Speaker 1: been there, but you're almost setting yourself up for failure
Speaker 1: when you go into the NFL or the NBA at
Speaker 1: late teens or early twenties.
Speaker 9: Married Christians have to say the Christians.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think. I don't think any ethnicity is immune
Speaker 1: to this professional sports life and getting in there and
Speaker 1: just the crazy shit you're gonna.
Speaker 3: See that baby daddy life is crazy.
Speaker 1: It was expensive, so it's a it's expensive.
Speaker 9: And I don't want them to I don't want him
Speaker 9: to have to deal with that, but he has to
Speaker 9: go through it, dud his twenty early twenties.
Speaker 1: I think that's the best. The best lesson is is experience,
Speaker 1: and you can tell we've all been in relationships where
Speaker 1: you can't tell me if I'm in love, you can't
Speaker 1: tell me shit.
Speaker 3: And I've never told you shit. You haven't never once,
Speaker 3: But you.
Speaker 1: Can't a young man. You can't tell him nothing about
Speaker 1: his life, and it's gonna make them. I'm sure this
Speaker 1: drama has hopefully drawn them closer, you know, But when
Speaker 1: you see him having to explain and then her trying
Speaker 1: to get out and explain and start crying, it's just hard.
Speaker 1: And I feel bad because they are such babies, But
Speaker 1: I think they're going to have to take this head on,
Speaker 1: and and and and and try and experience this and
Speaker 1: and and hopefully wish them the best.
Speaker 3: I hope this ship doesn't like mess with his draft sat.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's too good yea, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: he's too good, uh for this to mess with his
Speaker 1: draft side. But to me, it's it's the mental side
Speaker 1: of it. You know, what are guys. You know a
Speaker 1: lot of bad games, injuries, a lot of ship has
Speaker 1: gone on because you're not fully focused on that field
Speaker 1: or that quart or that diamond. So I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that's going to be the issue, but it's just we've
Speaker 1: we've talked to guys, we've been a part of that
Speaker 1: ship and known that when that that home life gets rocky,
Speaker 1: you know, our our game is mental. Once you get
Speaker 1: to the top, it's ninety percent mental. So to be
Speaker 1: able to keep his mental focus, but I mean, we
Speaker 1: wish I wish you the best. I wish you know,
Speaker 1: you're you're you and your fiance the best and you know,
Speaker 1: a happy journey. It's just gonna be tough, bro, And
Speaker 1: and and make sure you know you're not afraid to
Speaker 1: reach and lean. I mean, you got one of the
Speaker 1: persons give you the most game and coach Prime Tree.
Speaker 1: He's already done that. But there's gonna be times during
Speaker 1: this journey where you're gonna need to reach out to
Speaker 1: somebody and really lean on on how to figure and
Speaker 1: navigate this shit out. And I hope you do that
Speaker 1: because we all want to see the best for you,
Speaker 1: and we all want to see the best of you.
Speaker 1: So we're definitely looking forward.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: Congratulations on the Heisman. Good luck in your guys's bowl game, Man,
Speaker 1: and we can't wait to see where you land Draft day. Bro.
Speaker 3: He deserves to be the number one pick him a
Speaker 3: shador Yeah, one and.
Speaker 1: Two for sure, Shador up there. I'm excited.
Speaker 9: So, Matt Man, what advice would you give Travis Man
Speaker 9: to resolve this situation?
Speaker 1: But you know, I'm the last motherfucker that should be
Speaker 1: giving any relationship advice. If I'm just being honest with you,
Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily give you a relationship I could just
Speaker 1: give you some og. I'm about to be forty five advices.
Speaker 1: This shit's gonna be a tough. It's tough when you're single.
Speaker 1: It's tough when you got a girl, But when you're
Speaker 1: married going into this space, it's very tough and it
Speaker 1: takes two understanding, committed people to make it hopefully work,
Speaker 1: you know. So just the numbers are stacked, But to
Speaker 1: think the numbers have always been stacked against his kid,
Speaker 1: you know, and for him to be here now and
Speaker 1: be winning the Heisman and being one of the most
Speaker 1: electric college players we've ever seen, and we hopefully that
Speaker 1: translates to the NFL. But yeah, I'm probably the last
Speaker 1: person to really be given relationship advice. I just wish
Speaker 1: you the best, bro and and and make sure you
Speaker 1: reach out to people if you need help, because sometimes
Speaker 1: that should get heavy.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Well, Gino, man, we appreciate you. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: could obviously be someone you can reach out to. I
Speaker 1: can give you a little bit of a game on this
Speaker 1: ship because I didn't been through it, like you said,
Speaker 1: that baby Daddy game. It's crazy.
Speaker 3: It's expensive, man.
Speaker 1: You know how much money I would have if I
Speaker 1: didn't let's not even get into that shit. Gino. Man,
Speaker 1: we appreciate you and your hate. I'm disappointed that you
Speaker 1: said that that La doesn't feel like bron deserves the
Speaker 1: statue at Staples.
Speaker 3: And if you stop playing that, we'll whack out your mural,
Speaker 3: baby boy. So come on playing man.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for your time, sir. I just got
Speaker 1: those shoes. I didn't know I was gonna be copying you.
Speaker 1: I like them.
Speaker 3: I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Before we get out of here, let's get my picks
Speaker 1: for the week, brought to you by DraftKings. Three and
Speaker 1: one a week ago, two and two last week. Right there,
Speaker 1: this point spread, I'm used to just picking the teams.
Speaker 1: The point spreads by kind of been fucking me up
Speaker 1: when I'm learning this space. But I know football and
Speaker 1: I'm getting to it. So this week we got Saturday,
Speaker 1: Steelers at the Ravens, the Ravens minus six. It's getting
Speaker 1: down to crunch time. I like the Ravens, man, I
Speaker 1: like the Rains. I like the Steelers. Steelers off a
Speaker 1: tough loss last week. I'm gonna take the Ravens at
Speaker 1: home minus six. Sunday Vikings at Seattle. I'm voting against
Speaker 1: any NFC West teams, although there's no hope for the Niners.
Speaker 1: I just I'm a behater. Very few times I'm a behater.
Speaker 1: I'm just so sad about what happened with my Niners
Speaker 1: and the just the implosion. Dude, any want to play
Speaker 1: left the game in the third quarter. We didn't even
Speaker 1: get to that. But that's bananas. I'm gonna take the
Speaker 1: Vikings in Seattle minus three and a half Eagles at Commanders.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be a good one. I think the
Speaker 1: Eagles have found a little rhythm. Big win last week.
Speaker 1: Commanders are looking you know, they're in the playoff hunt.
Speaker 1: It's the Commanders at home minus three. Shit, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go ahead and take the Eagles plus three at the
Speaker 1: Commanders and the stunner of the week, but it's not
Speaker 1: much of a stunner since Mahomes is out. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take the Texans minus two and a half to go
Speaker 1: into Kansas City and get that done. Appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: from following. Make sure you guys tap in next week.
Speaker 1: You can catch this on the DraftKings Network and the
Speaker 1: All the Smoke Productions YouTube. See y'all next week.