Speaker 1: China. Yes, you heard that right, China.
Speaker 2: I wish I had like one of those buttons where
Speaker 2: I could make my voice lower.
Speaker 1: China.
Speaker 2: Uh, well, China end up owning multiple NBA teams. Probably yeah,
Speaker 2: probably lost in the shuffle this past month is a
Speaker 2: decision that Adam Silver and the NBA made about who
Speaker 2: can own an NBA team. The NBA Board of Governors
Speaker 2: made a rule change that allows sovereign wealth funds. Anytime
Speaker 2: I hear those three words together, I start freaking the
Speaker 2: fuck out. Sovereign wealth funds I don't know, like Saudi Arabia,
Speaker 2: and let's just look that up for a second. Endowments,
Speaker 2: pension funds all can buy stakes in NBA teams. Why
Speaker 2: is this important? Well because sovereign wealth or offshoots of
Speaker 2: foreign governments. And the NBA now becomes the first pro
Speaker 2: sport in America to allow foreign governments to buy into
Speaker 2: the league. Are we gonna have some fucking international warfare
Speaker 2: inside the NBA? WHOA could you imagine which team would
Speaker 2: it be? I mean it's gotta be the Brooklyn Nets,
Speaker 2: right like Josi, Josi, we know how he connected?
Speaker 1: He is. China just made it up the top of
Speaker 1: my head, probably true. Who else would it be?
Speaker 2: Tilman for Tidda of the Houston Rocket seems like he
Speaker 2: would be open to selling the share to Saudi Arabia. Listen,
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna slander anybody else, but I'm sure there's
Speaker 2: a few people who would do it. They could take
Speaker 2: positions also in up to five teams at the same
Speaker 2: goddamn time. If you think tamprings a issue, now imagine
Speaker 2: if let's say Saudi, let's say Russia. Russia owns five
Speaker 2: NBA teams five Imagine what kind of trades are we
Speaker 2: gonna see, What kind of free agency situations are we
Speaker 2: gonna see? I mean, the opportunities for chaos are limitless, limitless,
Speaker 2: And I don't mean the Bradley Cooper film. I mean, like,
Speaker 2: literally expand your imagination to how bad this.
Speaker 1: Can be, and let's just go through it.
Speaker 2: Why is this a problem, Well, let's say the Chinese
Speaker 2: government buys a twenty percent stake in five NBA teams.
Speaker 2: We know for a fact that the Chinese government can
Speaker 2: just randomly decide to ban an NBA team if they're
Speaker 2: doing something they don't like. We saw that happen right
Speaker 2: with Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets. They did this
Speaker 2: to the Celtics over the enis Cant freedom situation. So
Speaker 2: the question is what does Adam Silver do when there's
Speaker 2: China owning teams?
Speaker 1: How does he deal with that? Does he take a
Speaker 1: stance Probably not.
Speaker 2: Like what happens when more problems arise with China when
Speaker 2: they own the equivalent of the entire NBA team.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about other prominent sovereign wealth funds.
Speaker 2: Countries like Cutter host the World Cup right now, Ask
Speaker 2: what's been going on?
Speaker 1: And Cutter do a quick little Google search.
Speaker 2: Uh, did you see any of these football players putting
Speaker 2: their hands to their mouth because they've been silenced by
Speaker 2: the government about the atrocities that took place just to
Speaker 2: build those fucking arenas. Imagine, imagine the type of things
Speaker 2: that could happen on our own soil if Cutter owned
Speaker 2: the fucking I don't know Seattle SuperSonics, be honest, I
Speaker 2: don't know Las Vegas Rattlesnakes.
Speaker 1: That would be fucking wild.
Speaker 2: They could put themselves in position to own and influence
Speaker 2: the league in ways that probably no foreign nation should.
Speaker 2: Here are the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world.
Speaker 2: Let's just go through them. One China Investment Corporation one
Speaker 2: point four trillion dollars.
Speaker 1: I think they could buy.
Speaker 2: A couple of teams, maybe the Phoenix Suns. I don't know,
Speaker 2: it's hot there. Norway Government Pension Fund one point one
Speaker 2: trillion abu Dabi Investment Authority.
Speaker 1: Look at their human.
Speaker 2: Rights called situation right seven to ninety billion Kuwait Investment Authority.
Speaker 1: Are you starting to get the chills? Seven hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty billion dollars?
Speaker 2: Shout out to Norway being probably the only one that's like,
Speaker 2: I'm accepting that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's let them be the only one.
Speaker 2: But eleven of the thirteen largest sovereign wealth funds in fact,
Speaker 2: are either Middle Eastern or Chinese.
Speaker 1: Boo, folks, folks, I don't.
Speaker 2: I know, it's not a political podcast. You don't need
Speaker 2: my political takes. But I don't see how letting governments
Speaker 2: that are knee deep, like I mean, like like armpits
Speaker 2: deep in human rights abuses, having oh, any influence at
Speaker 2: all in this league like none. It's not a good idea.
Speaker 2: I don't Adam Silver is becoming very unlikable, is he not?
Speaker 2: This is something David Stern would never allow and Adam
Speaker 2: Silver just wants to do everything he.
Speaker 1: Can to grow and expand the.
Speaker 2: Revenue of this league. And I tell you what, I'm
Speaker 2: not fucking here for it. Am I too cynical? Am
Speaker 2: I too cynical? Let me know your thoughts. I'm not
Speaker 2: one to hit the panic button. But is the NBA
Speaker 2: headed for a lockout? Way sooner than anyone expected? Because
Speaker 2: rutt Row, everyone knows that the current CBA is set
Speaker 2: to expire at the end of the season. What most
Speaker 2: people don't know, however, is that there is a super
Speaker 2: secret opt out agreement from either side that actually the
Speaker 2: timetable on is December fifteenth. That is, folks, seven days
Speaker 2: from when this episode is being recorded, an early warning
Speaker 2: that yeah, we're done on the year. This is it,
Speaker 2: like after this season? Uh, time for us to start
Speaker 2: renegotiation right, not this not next season, but this season?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Mark Stein broke it down perfectly. He said, an opt
Speaker 2: out from either side in the next nine days will
Speaker 2: sound immediate alarm bells because A it essentially breaks the
Speaker 2: contract effective at the end of this season, and B
Speaker 2: it's a measure that instantly makes the threat.
Speaker 1: Of a lockout tangible.
Speaker 2: Tangible means you can feel it in your hands, means
Speaker 2: actually is real. According to reports, the NBA and the
Speaker 2: NBPA are nowhere near a deal and there could now
Speaker 2: be big time warning signs that all is not well
Speaker 2: in Adam Silverland. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The issue right.
Speaker 2: Now is that the un owners have started taking a
Speaker 2: very hard look and stance on what they call the
Speaker 2: upper spending limit, just another fancy term for a hard
Speaker 2: salary cap, right and there is no way, no way
Speaker 2: that the NBPA is going to allow that, none.
Speaker 1: Zero.
Speaker 2: There are other issues as well on top of that,
Speaker 2: how moving the age limit back to eighteen will affect
Speaker 2: rookie scale contracts, but all that ship pails in comparison.
Speaker 1: To the hard cap. Honestly, let's be honest.
Speaker 2: This is about our Warriors. They don't want that shit
Speaker 2: no more. No, no, no, no, you can't do that anymore.
Speaker 2: Joe Lacup Lake Ups are fucking this up. The Warriors
Speaker 2: are projected to have a team payroll right now, including
Speaker 2: the luxury tax of four hundred and eighty three million
Speaker 2: dollars next season, and is forcing nearly every owner in
Speaker 2: order to compete to keep up.
Speaker 1: Which listen, as a.
Speaker 2: Fan, I'm fine with fine, Just make the rights deals
Speaker 2: go up more, make the TV contracts go up more.
Speaker 1: I'll pay more for League Pass. You can pay those
Speaker 1: players more.
Speaker 2: And as a result, me as a media member, my
Speaker 2: paycheck goes up too. So I'm not mad about that.
Speaker 2: And I love the player empowerment era. I love them
Speaker 2: getting as much money as they can in life changing
Speaker 2: generational wealth even though they don't pay anything except for
Speaker 2: their team issued gear that they take.
Speaker 1: Go on like, I'm fine with that. I'm fine.
Speaker 2: But here's a shocking step. According to spot track, only
Speaker 2: five teams in the end entire NBA are currently under
Speaker 2: the salary cap.
Speaker 1: Take a guess at who they are. Take a guess.
Speaker 1: Take a guess. Take a guess.
Speaker 2: Orlando, Detroit, Indiana, San Antonio, and the only one that
Speaker 2: shocks me is Memphis. Why why does that happen is
Speaker 2: because John Morant is still currently on his rookie deal,
Speaker 2: even though he's already signed his extension. The other twenty
Speaker 2: five teams ranged from twelve million dollars over to seventy
Speaker 2: eight million dollars over the salary cap. And this is
Speaker 2: what the owners want to shut down.
Speaker 1: They don't want that. Do you think they want to
Speaker 1: pay extra.
Speaker 2: No, they do not, even though they end up getting
Speaker 2: more from the rights deal. I don't know what it is.
Speaker 2: They just don't like paying players. At some point, one
Speaker 2: hundred million dollars per year is what they're gonna have
Speaker 2: to pay. We're up to like sixty six for Damian
Speaker 2: Lillard or something like that. Two years for one hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty seven million dollars. That's where we're up to.
Speaker 2: When I talked to Jerry West, he said there will
Speaker 2: be a time in our lifetime. So he said, in
Speaker 2: his lifetime, someone's gonna get a hundred million dollars a year.
Speaker 1: MVPA.
Speaker 2: They're gonna want to protect that. They want their players
Speaker 2: to get paid. They want their players to get paid
Speaker 2: with their worth. And the NBA continues to get more popular,
Speaker 2: it expands, sovereign wealth funds start to buy in, and
Speaker 2: you know what, anything's possible when it comes at So
Speaker 2: I don't think either side is stupid enough to fuck
Speaker 2: this up. With media rights coming up in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, the year after the new labor.
Speaker 1: Agreement would go into place.
Speaker 2: But listen, if the owners stick to a hard cat, folks,
Speaker 2: we might reach NBA arm again sooner than later. Joe
Speaker 2: Missoula maybe the most interesting coach in the NBA right
Speaker 2: now outside of like, did you guys see the Royal
Speaker 2: family quote that he had.
Speaker 1: We didn't even talk about that.
Speaker 2: Holy shit religion and the oh God can't do it anyway.
Speaker 2: Missoula gave his first interview to Mark Spears about the
Speaker 2: Emi Udoka drama. It is a fascinating insight into who
Speaker 2: is running the ship there. Let's face it, there was
Speaker 2: no way Missoula thought he was gonna be a head
Speaker 2: coach this early in his career, at least in Boston.
Speaker 1: He admitted this.
Speaker 2: He was like, yeah, I've always had faith I was
Speaker 2: gonna be an MBA head coach. I believed in myself,
Speaker 2: but I didn't know what was gonna happen this fast.
Speaker 2: I didn't know what was gonna happen in Boston. There's
Speaker 2: probably some sort of like thank God for this thing,
Speaker 2: like Jesus is supporting me and looking down on me,
Speaker 2: But how did he find out about the e May's situation.
Speaker 2: Everybody thinks, by the way, Real Side wrote, everybody when
Speaker 2: things happen to them, that's good. It's like God did
Speaker 2: this for me, So he did this against the other
Speaker 2: people too, Like it's like.
Speaker 1: God wanted us to win.
Speaker 2: There's like some divine lord's plan for why the Boston
Speaker 2: Celtics made it to the final or why you ended
Speaker 2: up being the head coach?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, did.
Speaker 2: God step in and have em Udoka fuck somebody on
Speaker 2: the team so you get this job? Is that God's will?
Speaker 2: Get the fuck out of here? Anyway, Let's keep going
Speaker 2: before I get canceled. How did he find out about
Speaker 2: the e May situation? And what were ain't Joe's thoughts
Speaker 2: when this came up? It was like, it is what
Speaker 2: it is. There's nothing I can do about it. The
Speaker 2: only thing I can control is how I just go,
Speaker 2: just because I know that for my wife and for
Speaker 2: my family, we're supposed to be here.
Speaker 1: We're supposed to God's will for us.
Speaker 2: Faith is really important, and we felt like we follow
Speaker 2: God's plan to.
Speaker 1: A t as where he wanted us to be.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, this is ridiculous and it wasn't even a thought.
Speaker 1: You don't have time to contemplate.
Speaker 2: Man, no way, him reverencing his wife and being a
Speaker 2: family man and being a man of God is not
Speaker 2: like a direct shot at Emai Udoka.
Speaker 3: Siner, sinner, shame shame, Like if Joe Mizula had to
Speaker 3: stone email Udoka to death for this job, would he
Speaker 3: do it?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Probably, let's be honest. Additionally, he says he hasn't communicated
Speaker 1: with Ema.
Speaker 2: Of course, he hasn't commune unicated with I may think
Speaker 2: he's willing to turn his back on the guy that
Speaker 2: made him an assistant coach because why sinner sinner?
Speaker 1: Anyway?
Speaker 2: Uh, he said he hasn't talked to him because after
Speaker 2: he got suspended, it was like, we're not allowed to communicate.
Speaker 1: Does anybody believe that? Shit? Really?
Speaker 2: Does anybody believe you can't communicate with your colleague to
Speaker 2: be like yo.
Speaker 1: Big ups man, Like I hope you're doing okay.
Speaker 2: Nope, he's like willing to throw the stones and get
Speaker 2: ahead because it's predestined.
Speaker 1: Missoula, let's move on.
Speaker 2: Has one hundred percent taken advantage of this opportunity.
Speaker 1: He has made the Celtics a really good team. He's
Speaker 1: a very good coach.
Speaker 2: There's no share to him because he has been doing
Speaker 2: a good job in times of turmoil. They're clearly top
Speaker 2: two team in the NBA. They pounded the Suns by
Speaker 2: what forty two nights ago forty They are a favorite
Speaker 2: to win the title.
Speaker 1: But he is a fascinating dude.
Speaker 2: I don't know where we're at in society where this
Speaker 2: is like it's starting to come front and center, you know,
Speaker 2: his sovereign wealth funds like or the doc's religion, Like
Speaker 2: this is starting.
Speaker 1: To get crazy. He was asked last week what it
Speaker 1: was like to play.
Speaker 2: In front of royalty because the Prince and Princess of
Speaker 2: Wales were in attendance, and he said the only royal
Speaker 2: family he acknowledges is Jesus, Mary and Joseph. That was
Speaker 2: not ironic, by the way, Like that was like dead
Speaker 2: ass serious And he looked at him like why would
Speaker 2: you even question that? And I'm fine with anti royal
Speaker 2: family rhetoric, totally fine with that given all the human
Speaker 2: rights abuses they've been up to, but like, the only
Speaker 2: only royal family I acknowledge is Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Okay,
Speaker 2: what else would you expect though? From a branch off
Speaker 2: of the bub Huggins coaching tree. When asked what advice
Speaker 2: Huggy gave him, Missoula said, don't fuck it. Up.
Speaker 1: That's it. Just don't screw it up. And that was it.
Speaker 2: But the reason I think he's successful is, like, honestly,
Speaker 2: is his philosophy. And it's not rocket science. This is
Speaker 2: what he told Spears. The NBA is a league. It's
Speaker 2: just a basketball league. The Celtics, if you take away
Speaker 2: all that, it's just basketball leadership and management. And so
Speaker 2: the same kind of systems, conversations, environments that you're cultivating
Speaker 2: at the division at any level, is the same that
Speaker 2: you have to do here. There are just more people
Speaker 2: paying attention. And you know what he's got, He's got
Speaker 2: my attention right now, Like.
Speaker 1: We gotta keep an eye on him.
Speaker 2: He's still got the interim coach title attached to his name,
Speaker 2: so we'll see how that goes. And it's a shock,
Speaker 2: probably considering how well things have gone in Boston that
Speaker 2: it's still the interim title.
Speaker 1: But one thing is for sure. If Boston doesn't lock
Speaker 1: them down
Speaker 2: In the long term for Brooklyn, that smite