Speaker 1: Come on, come on, come on, come on.
Speaker 2: On this episode of the heat Chet, We're going to
Speaker 2: spend time, just a little bit of time breaking down
Speaker 2: All Star weekend. But the one thing that we could
Speaker 2: take away from the weekend, from the festivities, from all
Speaker 2: of the gravi toss that this particular event held, given
Speaker 2: the fact that it was top seventy five players of
Speaker 2: all time, given that it was Lebron James back in
Speaker 2: his pseudo hometown where he played for multiple different eras
Speaker 2: in the Cleveland Cavaliers history, all the shade thrown at
Speaker 2: GM Rob Polinka, the tension, the bombshell reporting this statement
Speaker 2: about his son and him playing with Bronnie James, to
Speaker 2: winning the All Star Game on the last second double
Speaker 2: team fade away jumper, Oh my god, we must get
Speaker 2: into Lebron James him of course dominating every single highlight,
Speaker 2: every single headline of any so drop that.
Speaker 3: I'm perfect right my last night, like do.
Speaker 2: You think mother reread likes that gets excited still by
Speaker 2: chains And I'm certain, right, I'm certain, it's just certain
Speaker 2: and a current like an occurrent, as my grandma would
Speaker 2: have said, Welcome.
Speaker 4: To the heat Check.
Speaker 2: It is happy Chris Middleton Day two to twenty two.
Speaker 2: Just like the All Star Game, this episode of the
Speaker 2: Heat Check has been hijacked by Lebron James. Lebron James
Speaker 2: the All Star Game both shockingly good while unbelievably bad
Speaker 2: at the exact same time. So let's talk about the
Speaker 2: good because we're pushing Pe. Apparently everyone's pushing p at
Speaker 2: the All Star weekend too. That thing went viral as well.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that I made it viral, but it
Speaker 2: did get played acoustically at the halftime show. I think
Speaker 2: I was watching that at the same time I was
Speaker 2: watching Daredevil Confession.
Speaker 4: My interests were split.
Speaker 2: Marvel has Marvel has dominated my brain.
Speaker 4: A new format of the Rising Stars Challenge.
Speaker 2: That we talked about was, as I foretold, absolutely delicious.
Speaker 2: Dope needs to be how it is moving forward seeing
Speaker 2: young guns out there dazzling one another, the best of
Speaker 2: the best. Thank god we got to see some extra
Speaker 2: guys brought into the Rising Stars Challenge after the fact, right,
Speaker 2: it was musty TV. Musty TV, and if you haven't
Speaker 2: seen it, go back watch it. Skills Challenge shockingly fun.
Speaker 2: I went from hating that event to being like, well,
Speaker 2: isn't this just a little delight seeing Evan Mobley like
Speaker 2: have to win on a half court shot, Evan Mobley
Speaker 2: seven footer half court shot to win it against the
Speaker 2: Giannis Antetukompo brothers like, who are just somehow in this
Speaker 2: event because of their relationship to Giannis, which is shockingly
Speaker 2: eerily similar to where we're going with the rest of
Speaker 2: this show, Nepatiz, as my mom would call it Nepatiz.
Speaker 2: Of course, the game itself, with the elm ending that
Speaker 2: has to stay that everyone put shade on for many
Speaker 2: months after the first time we saw it amazing, like
Speaker 2: a blast mega wattstar power to the level that even
Speaker 2: a MVP like Nikola Jokic did not get a minute
Speaker 2: of time in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4: That's how good that was.
Speaker 2: Steph set a record of threes set in an All
Speaker 2: Star game, and of course the game was won by
Speaker 2: Lebron James on his we'll call it pseudo home floor
Speaker 2: which used to be called the Q which is now
Speaker 2: the Rocket Mortgage Field House, and he won on a
Speaker 2: turnaround fade away covered like slathered by two defenders.
Speaker 4: More of that later. The bad the weather.
Speaker 2: Like Cleveland should never host an All Star Game, ever,
Speaker 2: no cold weather city, including New York City, should host
Speaker 2: an All Star Game for the NBA. We cannot be
Speaker 2: having these games in these shitty cities in the middle
Speaker 2: of winter. We need a respite. Like let me just
Speaker 2: say this, do you want to keep like big time
Speaker 2: players in your city and not just have them legitimately
Speaker 2: sprinting to their pjs forty five minutes after the All
Speaker 2: Star Game is over? You host it in a warm
Speaker 2: weather city like Miami, which is where they all are
Speaker 2: probably right this very second. Do not lost it in
Speaker 2: cold weather towns. We are talking Boston twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Fuck that for so many reasons. You're talking about a
Speaker 2: cold weather city which has also been like low key
Speaker 2: known for being racist, hosting an exhibition game where definitely
Speaker 2: that will come up. I am certain, Bill Russell, excuse me,
Speaker 2: Marcus Smart, excuse me. People will come out from the rafters.
Speaker 2: Kyrie Irving might be vaccinated by then, folks, who knows,
Speaker 2: or he might be retired one of the two. No, folks,
Speaker 2: we do not need Boston in twenty twenty five. We
Speaker 2: need Miami, We need Los Angeles, we need Phoenix, we
Speaker 2: need anything below the frost line.
Speaker 4: That's what we need.
Speaker 2: We do not need to be worried about rocking our
Speaker 2: new Jordan Ones and getting them fucked up because there's
Speaker 2: salt on the ground and you have to literally sell
Speaker 2: them on mrcary used and used Jordan Ones fresh from
Speaker 2: the All Star Game. Anything must go mrcary dot com.
Speaker 2: Like that's where we're at on this. And the worst
Speaker 2: of all, you guys already know what.
Speaker 4: Time it is. It's the Dunk Contest. This thing needs
Speaker 4: to change.
Speaker 2: This probably needs to just get put down to sleep
Speaker 2: while like night Night sleep mask like ethanize the Dunk Contest.
Speaker 4: The Dunk Contest is that.
Speaker 2: Dog that you loved and you've been with, You've had
Speaker 2: him your entire life, and like you either take him
Speaker 2: to the vet or he runs away to die, like
Speaker 2: and you know you'll never see him again. But it's time.
Speaker 2: It needs you need a new puppy and there needs
Speaker 2: to be a new event. And the Dunk Contest is
Speaker 2: not that. Because when the best part of the Dunk
Speaker 2: Contest is a regular dunk in Tim's in Timberland boots,
Speaker 2: which the most impress the thing is that he decided
Speaker 2: to bring out the most iconic color that everyone hates
Speaker 2: to get scuffed, and it's like, oh, how could you
Speaker 2: be so brave Cole Anthony, multimillionaire that you would wear
Speaker 2: a pair of one hundred and fifty dollars Timberland boots
Speaker 2: ah and dunking in them.
Speaker 4: Excuse me, excuse me.
Speaker 2: We have legends in the building, and you guys knew
Speaker 2: for months legends were going to be in the building,
Speaker 2: all of them in one place watching you. I get
Speaker 2: terrified of failure when no one's watching, when I don't
Speaker 2: even know who's watching. If there was Bill Russell, or
Speaker 2: how about all of them, just Kareem abdulje Bar, Michael
Speaker 2: Jordan Shack, and you know there's gonna be commentary on
Speaker 2: what you've done. They're sitting front row, some of them
Speaker 2: like doctor Dre actual or doctor Dre Doctor j that
Speaker 2: was an invisiline flub, a doctor j holding up signs
Speaker 2: of your score. And your best move is putting on
Speaker 2: a New York knickt jersey because your father played there
Speaker 2: in Timberland boots to give homage to the New York market,
Speaker 2: which you don't even play for because you play for Orlando.
Speaker 2: And then literally you're pandering to the greats. And you've
Speaker 2: got doctor Jay with the sign up watching you and
Speaker 2: all you can do is a regular little dunk and
Speaker 2: Tim's excuse me, we've jumped the shark. This is we've
Speaker 2: got legends of the game. Kareem Abduljabar legitimately grabbing his
Speaker 2: coat and dip setting in the middle of the dunk
Speaker 2: contest that went viral.
Speaker 4: Excuse me?
Speaker 2: What are you should be embarrassed? Like you should be embarrassed,
Speaker 2: NBA embarrassed. There should have been a new bar set
Speaker 2: for this event, which is you cannot compete unless you're
Speaker 2: in the All Star Game. That's the only way you
Speaker 2: can compete is if you're actually an Austar one Toscano
Speaker 2: Anderson nice kid, loved the little Mexican flag. Kobe Bryant
Speaker 2: shoes love that, love his story.
Speaker 4: He's a fucking G.
Speaker 2: League player on a two way contract who got a
Speaker 2: full contract this year. Like he was a nice story.
Speaker 2: And we can't even get Gary Payton the second up
Speaker 2: in the year. Are you kidding me? If we're gonna
Speaker 2: get random like this isn't the Rising Stars dunk contest.
Speaker 2: If we want to do that, that's cute, and that
Speaker 2: would be a Rising Stars contest. We need real stars
Speaker 2: in the Dunk contest. Michael Jordan competed in this thing.
Speaker 2: Dominique Wilkins competed in this thing. I've gotta watch Anthony
Speaker 2: Simons a year away last year from anywhere near what
Speaker 2: we would call like mediocre stardom or like Jupiter em
Speaker 2: like he's not even a star, He's just like some
Speaker 2: random thing.
Speaker 4: We've got one Toscano.
Speaker 2: Anderson, We've got Cole Anthony, We've got Opie topping for
Speaker 2: the second time, literally just trying to get minutes as
Speaker 2: much like cam time is possible because Tis hasn't hidden
Speaker 2: in a closet somewhere. This is not the Dunk Contest
Speaker 2: I grew up loving.
Speaker 4: We are all like burning this thing down to the ground.
Speaker 2: It's like shame, shame, shame. That's where we're at, Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: But what stole every headline after that long side road
Speaker 2: of a rant that I did not even anticipate going on,
Speaker 2: the main topic of our Star weekend was everything about
Speaker 2: Lebron James.
Speaker 4: It was drama, all encapsulating.
Speaker 2: Of leverage and posturing and subtle remarks designed to send
Speaker 2: warning shots and then responses from agencies and front offices
Speaker 2: and the media the world trying to dissect, deconstruct and
Speaker 2: make sense of what the fuck is going on with
Speaker 2: Lebron James and the Lakers right now because it feels
Speaker 2: like things have gotten kind of awkward really fast. We
Speaker 2: are going to be dealing with this aftermath until Lebron
Speaker 2: James is at a point where he can sign his
Speaker 2: extension in August, and it'll get really loud if he doesn't.
Speaker 4: That's where we're at.
Speaker 2: There's going to be pieces written about this from now
Speaker 2: until free agency.
Speaker 4: The magnitude of.
Speaker 2: What Braun is saying, not only directly, but indirectly in
Speaker 2: so many ways because he said so many things during
Speaker 2: the course of.
Speaker 4: The All Star Game.
Speaker 2: He gave a one on one to Athletic The dropped
Speaker 2: in the middle of All Star weekend when he has
Speaker 2: absolutely zero relevance in terms of his team right now,
Speaker 2: and that is what he is known for. It all
Speaker 2: began during that interview with Jason Lloyd where he was
Speaker 2: asked in a joking manner. It was a total throataway
Speaker 2: comment about Lebron James, who played for the Cleveland Calves twice.
Speaker 2: They're a fun young team, huh ever think.
Speaker 4: About coming back to Cleveland. Ha ha ha, right, ha
Speaker 4: ha ha.
Speaker 2: And the answer sent ripples around the league. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: doors not closed on that. I don't know what my
Speaker 2: future holds. Pause excuse me, hold on? Did he just
Speaker 2: say he was open to coming back to the Cleveland
Speaker 2: Cavaliers for a third time. Isn't he under contract for
Speaker 2: the next two years? What are we talking about here?
Speaker 2: As it turns out, that was the first of a
Speaker 2: number of shots at Rob Polinka, multiple even Rich Paul,
Speaker 2: the leader of Clutch Sports, which represents Lebron James cod
Speaker 2: Stras just for no reason. Bron then went on to
Speaker 2: talk about the current Calves in a way that also
Speaker 2: seemed like shade thrown at Rob Polinka.
Speaker 4: This is what he said. I think Kobe and those guys.
Speaker 2: Have done an unbelievable job at drafting and making trades.
Speaker 2: I think the big fella, Jared Allen the acquisition for
Speaker 2: it was amazing for them to make that trade. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Darius Garland is a big time player. I think the
Speaker 2: role that Kevin Love is playing right now has also
Speaker 2: uplifted those young guys. Seeing a veteran that could sacrifice
Speaker 2: a champion that has won a championship. Pause, any champion
Speaker 2: has won a championship. I just want to say, you
Speaker 2: don't need to say that. It's like ATM machine, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, all the things that he's done
Speaker 2: to come off the bench and play his role. I'm
Speaker 2: not surprised by anything they're doing right now, and that's
Speaker 2: a lie.
Speaker 4: We all are.
Speaker 2: Everyone is not only surprised, we're shocked. They have shocked
Speaker 2: the fuck out of us to the point where we
Speaker 2: are now questioning our own reality. Because there is a
Speaker 2: scenario where the Cleveland Calvin are the one seed in
Speaker 2: the East. Without Lebron James on that team, that is
Speaker 2: banana Land. No one could foresee that, not even Lebron James.
Speaker 2: So shady, so shady he is, and I fucking love it.
Speaker 2: The next day, things went into overdrive when Lebron unprompted
Speaker 2: completely out of the clouds dropped this.
Speaker 4: Just as it for no reason.
Speaker 2: Nobody's asking about his son, nobody's asking about Lebron James
Speaker 2: Final tour, farewell tour, no one, not one person. Maybe
Speaker 2: he's just reflective in that moment, but I don't think so.
Speaker 2: I think everything Lebron James does is extremely calculated. This
Speaker 2: is what he said, because he did this. He's been
Speaker 2: doing this since he was sixteen years old. He's been
Speaker 2: in the limelight of the media, knowing exactly what little
Speaker 2: buttons to push and how to a little like Pinocchio,
Speaker 2: a marionette of the Meatia.
Speaker 4: This is what he said.
Speaker 2: My last year will be played with my son. Wherever
Speaker 2: Bronni is at, That's where I'll be. I would do
Speaker 2: whatever it takes to play with my son for one year.
Speaker 2: It's not about money at that point. Whoa We all know, Yeah,
Speaker 2: Washington Go go, g league ignites anyone, uh, Shanghai Sharks, anyone, yo,
Speaker 2: that would be crazy.
Speaker 4: We know how much lebron James loves China. We do
Speaker 4: know he's a fan of China. We knew exactly.
Speaker 2: What this would do. He knew exactly what this would do. Chaos,
Speaker 2: mass fucking chaos.
Speaker 4: Chaos.
Speaker 2: That has the random fan of the NBA with no
Speaker 2: affiliation to lebron James legitimately googling YouTube highlights of Bronnie James,
Speaker 2: people creating new mock drafts about where Bronnie James would go.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about pushing buttons to the point where the
Speaker 2: entire landscape has shifted, like a seismic shift in the landscape.
Speaker 2: Who we're all thinking about matching Lebron James Junior, Lebron
Speaker 2: James Senior, Jerseys shoes, content, series of Father Like Father,
Speaker 2: Like Son, A Tale of two Bronnis. You know what
Speaker 2: I mean, all of this money, money, money, to the
Speaker 2: point where even I think this motherfucker might go number
Speaker 2: one overall.
Speaker 4: I'm pretty sure he will.
Speaker 2: For no reason other than the fact that Lebron James
Speaker 2: contributes to more wins at this age in half a
Speaker 2: season than most top eight picks in the lottery contribute
Speaker 2: in the course of their entire first cart in a
Speaker 2: half of a season, contributes to sixty five million dollars
Speaker 2: in additional revenue just for that team alone, let alone
Speaker 2: for the community that he ends up affecting from the
Speaker 2: people who go to restaurants and bars, et cetera, et cetera,
Speaker 2: et cetera.
Speaker 4: He knows exactly what he's.
Speaker 2: Doing, absolutely unreal and again warning shot to Rob Polenka.
Speaker 2: He's saying, you think, just because I love La, I
Speaker 2: won't leave La. You think I'm just gonna stay here
Speaker 2: for no reason at all, just because of some sunshine.
Speaker 2: I lived in Cleveland, Ohio. You think I'm not willing
Speaker 2: to do what it takes.
Speaker 4: You think I'm done moving.
Speaker 2: I've moved a million times in my NBA career. I
Speaker 2: went from Cleveland to Miami, to Cleveland again.
Speaker 4: To la You think I wouldn't do this shit again? Sheesh.
Speaker 2: I left my best friends d Wade and Chris Bosh
Speaker 2: and Miami, where I drove my bike to work every
Speaker 2: day on the beach, and I went back to that
Speaker 2: shithole where an owner told the world to burn my jersey.
Speaker 4: You think I won't leave the Lakers, You.
Speaker 2: Think get me a winner? Right fucking now, I'm out.
Speaker 2: I am the Golden Goose, and I will be taking
Speaker 2: my talents to whatever place I deem it important.
Speaker 4: Not sure you could.
Speaker 2: Say anything bigger than this to hijack the news, And
Speaker 2: of course a dozen stories end up dropping after that
Speaker 2: about how unhappy Lebron James was with the trade deadline,
Speaker 2: about how he was definitely not co signing the lack
Speaker 2: of moves with Rob Polinka. As Rob Pulinka tried to
Speaker 2: pedal to the world, pieces that don't just get written overnight,
Speaker 2: pieces that have been held for a moment when it
Speaker 2: makes sense to drop them, which is right on the
Speaker 2: heels of Lebron James sending warning shot after warning shot.
Speaker 4: He followed that up Lebron.
Speaker 2: With effusive praise for another GM not named Rob Plinka,
Speaker 2: Sam Presty. Yeah, this MVP over here is Sam Presty.
Speaker 4: He's the MVP. Josh Giddy is great, Sam Presty.
Speaker 2: I don't understand this guy's eye for talent. He drafted KD. Russ,
Speaker 2: Jeff Green, Serge ibaka, Reggie Jackson. I mean the fact
Speaker 2: that he has this roster of names just in his
Speaker 2: head boom boom boom, boom boom, is like he scripted this.
Speaker 2: This guy is pretty damn good. Bron, says rot Row
Speaker 2: Rob Polinka. You know who has a shitload of draft
Speaker 2: picks that they could trade and a lot of cap
Speaker 2: space for a guy just sitting there waiting in the wings.
Speaker 2: That's the Oklahoma City thunder Folks. They could very easily
Speaker 2: trade for Lebron James with no issues immediately, with ready
Speaker 2: made stars willing to pass Lebron James the ball in
Speaker 2: angles that the mind has never even conceived. Lebron is
Speaker 2: not listing your draft pick since you got put in
Speaker 2: charge in twenty nineteen. Because there's only one and it's
Speaker 2: Taylor Horton Tucker, a guy that you miscalculated in terms
Speaker 2: of his value to the marketplace when he wanted Kyle Lowry,
Speaker 2: and you decided not to trade for Kyle Lowry because
Speaker 2: of your little golden goosher, one little measley ass, dusty
Speaker 2: ass draft pick in Taylor Horton Tucker that you took,
Speaker 2: I believe, either in the late first round.
Speaker 4: Or the second.
Speaker 2: And that is when the think pieces started to come out, folks.
Speaker 2: Then Tom Ziller, Mark Stein, Jason Lloyd in the most
Speaker 2: damning piece of all, the guy who's been following Lebron
Speaker 2: James since he was in high school, my guy, Brian Windhorse,
Speaker 2: Wendy mckwinderson, knowing where the winds are going.
Speaker 4: Tom Ziller summed this up pretty nicely. He said, the
Speaker 4: short version of all of this.
Speaker 2: Through all of the fog, Lebron James made a push
Speaker 2: to trade for Russell Westbrook in the offseason. That acquisition
Speaker 2: has not helped the Lakers at all. The Lakers are
Speaker 2: again at risk of missing the playoffs. Lebron is mad
Speaker 2: about that and mad the team made no moves at
Speaker 2: the deadline to shore up the roster.
Speaker 4: Here's my thing, the Lakers aren't that interesting.
Speaker 2: Lebron's position in all of this is completely unflattering, and
Speaker 2: this is deep on the undercart of what's actually fun
Speaker 2: about the NBA right now. And trust me, no one
Speaker 2: finds Laker dysfunction more fun than me.
Speaker 4: Nope, that's a lie I do.
Speaker 2: I find Laker dysfunction to be an unfillable well of joy,
Speaker 2: joy upon joy upon joy. And that's with me trying
Speaker 2: to push P as hard as I possibly can for
Speaker 2: my own mental welfare and appreciation of the world around me.
Speaker 2: Gratitude like only Aaron Rodgers could find after a thirteen
Speaker 2: day cleanse of just a butter diet and force vomiting.
Speaker 2: That's the level of gratitude I'm trying to be on.
Speaker 2: And yet nothing makes me happier than Laker dysfunction as
Speaker 2: a Portland Trailblazer fan, I mean, basically, this is how
Speaker 2: the second act of Cleveland went, coming off of a
Speaker 2: championship loss and trying to get to the Caves to
Speaker 2: go all in one more time, even if it might
Speaker 2: put the franchise in a deep hole.
Speaker 4: Mortgaging the future.
Speaker 2: That they couldn't get out of for a very long
Speaker 2: period of time, that would take them maybe a decade
Speaker 2: to get out of, to crawl out of. So they
Speaker 2: did the unthinkable. You've already got your chip, they told Lebron. No, Nope,
Speaker 2: not gonna do that. We've got plenty of picks. We're
Speaker 2: not trading them for you.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: This is the quote.
Speaker 2: The Cavaliers did not trade future picks that became Darius
Speaker 2: Garland twenty nineteen, Isaacacorro twenty twenty, and Evan Mobley twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one. I'd say that was pretty smart for a
Speaker 2: franchise known for making pretty dumb moves.
Speaker 4: They didn't trade their twenty twenty two pick to appease Lebron.
Speaker 2: Instead, they traded it in the first James Harden deal
Speaker 2: to land Jared Allen, four of their five best players.
Speaker 2: That Lebron James is basically slathering praise on about how
Speaker 2: good this franchise has been doing since his absence, and
Speaker 2: yet that the only reason they had the opportunities to
Speaker 2: make those moves is because they told Lebron James absolutely
Speaker 2: fucking not, we are not doing what you want us
Speaker 2: to do because you are going to leave anyway, and
Speaker 2: you might even have us make moves that we end
Speaker 2: up not even getting pieces that put us over the
Speaker 2: hump anyway. So now, against the all odds, the Calves
Speaker 2: found themselves all the way back before the Lakers were
Speaker 2: back after they won it all. So now the Lakers
Speaker 2: are finding out something that Cleveland found out a long
Speaker 2: time ago, that Broun as a GM. Bron as a
Speaker 2: GM cripples your franchise for a very long time. And
Speaker 2: if you give him what he wants, that might actually
Speaker 2: expedite the process of him leaving because he doesn't make
Speaker 2: good decisions. And now not only have you made decisions
Speaker 2: that end up forcing him to leave, now you have
Speaker 2: nothing to build your franchise after he leaves in the
Speaker 2: wake of him piecing out for some other desirable location
Speaker 2: that he on a whim decides to go to. There
Speaker 2: are risks for not only allowing Lebron to get his way,
Speaker 2: but there are risks for not allowing Lebron to get
Speaker 2: his way, And you have to decide you can't be
Speaker 2: half a gangster. You have to either go all in
Speaker 2: in the Lebron James business or, like pat Riley decided,
Speaker 2: from the very beginning. You have to say him no
Speaker 2: every single say no to him every single time, because
Speaker 2: if you give him what he wants and then he decides, well,
Speaker 2: I know, I said I wanted Russ, but now I'm
Speaker 2: deciding I don't want Russ. And then you say no
Speaker 2: the second time. Now it's like, well, you said a precedent.
Speaker 2: You're giving the kid candy every time he asks for candy,
Speaker 2: every time he cries for candy, and now the last
Speaker 2: time you think you can just say no, the tantrum
Speaker 2: gets even more absurd.
Speaker 4: And now the consequences of that chaos.
Speaker 2: Wendy wrote this, the Lakers have a flawed roster, Yes,
Speaker 2: but Lebron played a large role in putting it together.
Speaker 4: But that doesn't mean he isn't ready to divorce it.
Speaker 2: Oh, but they have options Russell Westbrook if he picks
Speaker 2: up his own player option, it will be on a
Speaker 2: forty seven million dollar expiring contract.
Speaker 4: After only being able to trade their twenty.
Speaker 2: Twenty seven first round pick, which the Lakers decided not
Speaker 2: to trade it the deadline, in part because they still
Speaker 2: owe to future first from their Anthony Davis deal, which,
Speaker 2: by the way, which isn't in the quote Lebron James
Speaker 2: forced them to do as well, another clutch client as well.
Speaker 4: Rules will then allow the.
Speaker 2: Lakers to trade their twenty twenty nine pick as well,
Speaker 2: being aggressive and further mortgaging the future will be painful
Speaker 2: and risky, but James is making his feelings clear. I
Speaker 2: don't care. I want to win now, like Verruka Salt
Speaker 2: and Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory. Like just throwing
Speaker 2: an absolute temper tantrum. He says, do it, and they
Speaker 2: get more than new players. They will keep James deeply invested.
Speaker 2: That's something no team has ever been able to say
Speaker 2: no to.
Speaker 4: Which is a lie La Heat did.
Speaker 2: In the wake of the news that Braun is getting
Speaker 2: tired of the Lakers, new stories came out that the
Speaker 2: Lakers actually are just getting tired of Braun. More posturing,
Speaker 2: more teams trying to get leverage. You got the bron
Speaker 2: side trying to get leverage. You got the Lakers being like,
Speaker 2: we don't care if you leave with a purple and gold.
Speaker 2: This is what mark Stein wrote tremendous article. It's equally
Speaker 2: fair to wonder how much Lebron James is alien alienating
Speaker 2: the Lakers in the process.
Speaker 4: Hmmm, Polanka has.
Speaker 2: The unwavering support of Lakers owner Genie Buss, and it's
Speaker 2: fairmly entrenched as a pillar in the club's four prong
Speaker 2: brain trust, alongside Bus and the power couple of Kurt
Speaker 2: and Linda Rambis.
Speaker 4: That is a sentence, isn't it? Wow? For all of
Speaker 4: the just I mean, what so, it's so the brain trust?
Speaker 2: Really quick before we keep going back to this quote,
Speaker 2: the brain trust is as follows, Rob Polinka, Genie Buss,
Speaker 2: Kurt Rambus, and his wife Linda Rambus. And we're calling
Speaker 2: that a brain trust. Jesus Christ, is that not one
Speaker 2: of the most overestimated I don't even know. That could
Speaker 2: be a whole other, separate comment another time. That's more
Speaker 2: than we need to dig into right now, because I'm
Speaker 2: just processing this in real time. Put a pin in
Speaker 2: that we'll go back to that, we will return back
Speaker 2: to that.
Speaker 4: Linda.
Speaker 2: I didn't even know Linda Rambus was in the picture
Speaker 2: for her to be a part of the brain This
Speaker 2: is just so much of a departure from the episode.
Speaker 4: Got to keep going for.
Speaker 2: All of the justified credit James deserves for hauling the
Speaker 2: Lakers out of the worst period in franchise history, Linda
Speaker 2: Rambis stealing them through the tragedy of Kobe Bryant's death
Speaker 2: and delivering a championship after a hard to believe six
Speaker 2: straight seasons out of the playoffs. Continued shots at Polinka
Speaker 2: might not be so swiftly forgotten.
Speaker 4: Remember this is important.
Speaker 2: Remember this is an organization that cut ties completely with
Speaker 2: Lakers icon Jerry West, who has a legit claim to
Speaker 2: greatest Laker ever status.
Speaker 4: He has a fucking statue.
Speaker 2: Outside of Staple Center Crypto dot Com Arena, and they
Speaker 2: wouldn't even give him season tickets. They stole his season
Speaker 2: tickets away, and they're saying, Yo, you think we know
Speaker 2: you don't think we know how to.
Speaker 4: Be gangsters over here? The greatest Laker in Laker.
Speaker 2: History hates our fucking guts player GM has a statue
Speaker 2: outside like one of the greatest human beings to ever
Speaker 2: walk in purple.
Speaker 4: And grow like the fucking logo.
Speaker 2: We have turned our backs on him. If you don't
Speaker 2: think we will turn our backs on you, you're crazier than Crack.
Speaker 2: Holl me like crazier than Crack, they said, if West
Speaker 2: can be if you want to fuck with Linnarels.
Speaker 4: That's where we draw the line. Excuse me.
Speaker 2: We mentioned strays and Rich Paul got caught in one.
Speaker 2: Amidst all of the Lebron James drama, News broke that
Speaker 2: Rich Paul was very upset with the Lakers for not
Speaker 2: pulling the trigger on Russ and the Lakers' only first
Speaker 2: round pick for.
Speaker 4: Clutch client John Wall.
Speaker 2: I mean, it just gets weirder and weirder, doesn't it
Speaker 2: in a desperate effort to bowl salvage anything from the season,
Speaker 2: but also salvage is a client, his client's career, because
Speaker 2: John Wall is sitting on ice where the Houston Rockets
Speaker 2: are saying, we are not playing you, We're playing all
Speaker 2: young guys, and John Wall is just disintegrating into over there. Typically,
Speaker 2: things did not, as you might imagine, go well for
Speaker 2: Rich Paul after that story came out, given the fact
Speaker 2: that probably Lebron James is looking around saying, this is
Speaker 2: a whole lot of shit stom I'm involved in, and
Speaker 2: now more news that puts me in a bad light
Speaker 2: when my legacy is very clearly on the line because
Speaker 2: Lebron at the All Star Game is trying to get
Speaker 2: into that rare fight air of Michael Jordan, which he
Speaker 2: will probably never ever get into. But it was so
Speaker 2: bad that Rich Paul had to get to the point
Speaker 2: where he had to back channel to guys like Steven A.
Speaker 2: Smith Yes, to try to force the narrative that listen,
Speaker 2: none of that is true. I didn't want us to
Speaker 2: get John Wall because he's my client.
Speaker 4: I want us to get John Wall.
Speaker 2: Because, well, excuse me, it's not us.
Speaker 4: I don't work for the Lakers. I don't know what
Speaker 4: you mean.
Speaker 2: I wanted the Lakers to get John Wall not because
Speaker 2: he was my client, but because the best thing for.
Speaker 4: The organization and for my clients.
Speaker 2: As the Athletic noted, the marriage between the Lakers and
Speaker 2: James is in a precarious spot. You fucking think, I mean,
Speaker 2: this is so bad. The relationship between Clutch Sports, led
Speaker 2: by James's agent Rich Paul, and the franchise is at
Speaker 2: its lowest point. Decisions made in July August and the
Speaker 2: head of the February tenth trade deadline have led to
Speaker 2: a dysfunctional situation, and it's becoming increasingly clear that the
Speaker 2: Lakers need to come to terms early with James August fourth, specifically,
Speaker 2: or part ways oh my god. That is when James
Speaker 2: is eligible for a two year extension that could max
Speaker 2: out at ninety seven point one million dollars through the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four twenty twenty five season.
Speaker 4: All of this, folks, just think about all of this news.
Speaker 2: That took me thirty minutes to give you, all of
Speaker 2: this to process, all of this happening in the middle
Speaker 2: of the All Star weekend, all of it on not
Speaker 2: just the All Star weekend, though, the seventy fifth anniversary
Speaker 2: of the NBA, where we are celebrating the seventy five
Speaker 2: greatest players of all time and the seventy five best
Speaker 2: individual performances. And Lebron James says, you know, I get
Speaker 2: all that, as Steven nismanth and I get all that,
Speaker 2: but this shit's about me. No one was more aware
Speaker 2: of the moment. If you're thinking, well, maybe Braun was
Speaker 2: just like not really thinking about all that. You know,
Speaker 2: he's answering questions on the fly. I mean, that's a lie,
Speaker 2: but he's answering questions on the fly. But no, no
Speaker 2: one more aware of this than Braun, who said more
Speaker 2: things about himself as you might imagine. I've held the
Speaker 2: title of ambassador for the NBA for a long time.
Speaker 2: Nobody told me to do it.
Speaker 4: Pause. Actually, no one asked you to do it either.
Speaker 4: No one asked you to do it.
Speaker 2: It's just like he's just like you walk into someone's house,
Speaker 2: you start cleaning it. No one told me to do it,
Speaker 2: but who else was gonna do it? He says, no
Speaker 2: one told me to do it, but I felt like
Speaker 2: if I wasn't gonna do it, who was. So I
Speaker 2: took that responsibility and I'll continue to do it till
Speaker 2: I'm done playing the game. Sam, We'll move on. There's
Speaker 2: so much here it's exasperating. And it was a huge
Speaker 2: weekend for Braun personally. First, he got the chance to
Speaker 2: settle rumored beef with Michael Jordan. I don't actually know
Speaker 2: if it was settled, but he thinks it is. Quote
Speaker 2: Braun says this, I did not want to lose the
Speaker 2: opportunity to shake the man's hand that inspired me throughout
Speaker 2: my childhood. I haven't had much dialogue with him in
Speaker 2: my twenty years or nineteen years in this business, but
Speaker 2: part of me wouldn't be here without MJ's inspiration. I
Speaker 2: wanted to be like him growing up. I didn't want
Speaker 2: to waste this opportunity just because we're not in and
Speaker 2: he wanted to say in a great place, but he
Speaker 2: said not in the same building. Literally, there was an
Speaker 2: ellipses just because we're not in Hash. We're not in
Speaker 2: the same building a lot, and haven't been in the
Speaker 2: same building a lot throughout my career. But it meant
Speaker 2: something to me that paragraph right there. Also we could
Speaker 2: put a pin in and dissect and explore another time.
Speaker 2: I mean, people forget like there was no relationship between
Speaker 2: the two of those guys because one Lebron James was
Speaker 2: anointed the next Michael Jordan from the time he was
Speaker 2: probably just dropping his balls. And two they never played together.
Speaker 2: They never played against one another or on an All
Speaker 2: Star team together in the NBA. As soon as Michael
Speaker 2: Jordan retired was the next year, three months later Lebron's
Speaker 2: rookie year. And people forget that because there was like
Speaker 2: such a small crossover where that time that era they
Speaker 2: were both around the league.
Speaker 4: So what did all of this?
Speaker 2: Uh oh yeah, By the way, Broun did hit the
Speaker 2: game winning shot in the All Star Game, which I
Speaker 2: mentioned earlier in the show, a turnaround jumper fade away
Speaker 2: against the double team all Lah Michael Jordan fashion, and
Speaker 2: then said that after his fade away was inspired by
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan, to which I reply, if you were to
Speaker 2: say that to Michael Jordan's face, Michael Jordan would say,
Speaker 2: everything you've ever done in your entire life is inspired
Speaker 2: by me. Like so this All Star Game fade away,
Speaker 2: thank you very much. But your movie career, your shoe career,
Speaker 2: you're twenty three plastered on your jersey for almost your
Speaker 2: entire everything you've ever thought about doing around the game
Speaker 2: of basketball, globally, locally with Nike, all of that was
Speaker 2: inspired by me.
Speaker 4: And that would be the fucking truth.
Speaker 2: So nice try Lebron, But like n tell you say
Speaker 2: that you're not going anywhere with Michael Jordan. So anyway,
Speaker 2: what did this Braun drama do this weekend? One, it
Speaker 2: solidified the fact that the problem the Lakers are not
Speaker 2: going to make the playoffs. Probably the Lakers are in disarray.
Speaker 2: And as much as we want to let this moment
Speaker 2: and all these quotes and all these headlines go to
Speaker 2: the wayside, I think we all sort of in the
Speaker 2: heart of hearts, know that this relationship is irreparable. There
Speaker 2: is too much smoke, too much further to not be anything.
Speaker 4: And even if Lebron stays.
Speaker 2: In LA, who knows there's a certain head coach that
Speaker 2: he wanted to coach the Lakers that is over in
Speaker 2: LAS as well for the Clippers, and the Clippers with
Speaker 2: Jerry West, who would love to fuck the Lakers in
Speaker 2: every way possible. They've got picks, yeah, picks, but they
Speaker 2: have Paul George, they have Kawhi Leonard, who knows if
Speaker 2: Lebron James decides he wants to go to the Clippers,
Speaker 2: he will be in a Clipper uniform. So I think
Speaker 2: that is going to be an interesting storyline to watch
Speaker 2: going forward. And as much as it's like over now,
Speaker 2: it's really not over now. It's just bubbling underneath the surface.
Speaker 2: And second, yeah, it's just now beginning. And second, I
Speaker 2: think it's the first time that we can all be
Speaker 2: philosophers about what it means to be in the Lebron
Speaker 2: James business. I don't think any of us thought there
Speaker 2: were until now, because there's been multiple times, in multiple
Speaker 2: teams and multiple situations that he's done this with coaches,
Speaker 2: with drafts, with picks, with trades, all of that, him
Speaker 2: forcing and exerting his will after he left Cleveland the
Speaker 2: first time, because he didn't do a lot then until
Speaker 2: he went to Miami. That getting into the Lebron James
Speaker 2: business comes at a cost. It does, and we're starting
Speaker 2: to see what that cost is is you might be
Speaker 2: a contender for two to four years, and when he leaves,
Speaker 2: you are completely rebuilding your franchise potentially for the next decade.
Speaker 2: If you allow him to do everything he wants you
Speaker 2: to do, he will empty empty out every single bit
Speaker 2: of your cupboards and coughers for him, which is why
Speaker 2: he tweeted a fusive praise for GM less Sneed, who
Speaker 2: drated every single thing under the sun for von Miller
Speaker 2: and OBJ and Matt Stafford and so on and so
Speaker 2: on to win right now. And he showed a photo
Speaker 2: of less Sneed at the parade that said fuck draft,
Speaker 2: Fuck your draft picks, and he said, legend, that's the
Speaker 2: kind of man. I like, Holy shit, that's what it
Speaker 2: means to be in the Lebron James business.
Speaker 4: Is it worth it?
Speaker 2: Is? The amount of money that you make from him
Speaker 2: being with your franchise, is the amount of drama that
Speaker 2: comes along with him, is the amount of contention and
Speaker 2: time in the playoffs. Is it all worth it well,
Speaker 2: now that he's on the wrong side of thirty and
Speaker 2: almost to forty, I think that the answer probably is no.
Speaker 2: And we see how perilous it is to give him
Speaker 2: what he wants, and we also see how perilous it
Speaker 2: is to not.
Speaker 4: Give him what he wants. The drama now has shifted West.
Speaker 4: It's done.
Speaker 2: Harden, Simmons, Kyrie done everything. Now, all of the drama,
Speaker 2: all of the strife, all of the question marks surround
Speaker 2: Lebron James and his extension and relationship with the LA Lakers,
Speaker 2: and I promise you there will be peace after peace
Speaker 2: after peace, written created for video, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2: Around Lebron it is not even close to over and third,
Speaker 2: since he says he wants to play with Bronnie and
Speaker 2: he'll do anything that he wants that he will do
Speaker 2: anything that he can to play with Bronnie, regardless of
Speaker 2: how much money he ends up making, which will probably
Speaker 2: be a veteran minimum, a Lebron James on a veteran
Speaker 2: minimum to play with his son, who is probably not
Speaker 2: a caliber of talent that will be taking very taken,
Speaker 2: very highly without Braun in the picture. I think we're
Speaker 2: all started thinking, starting to think about a world old
Speaker 2: post Lebron James and a world where he bullies another
Speaker 2: team again in his final act. Nobody more than Adam
Speaker 2: Silver has been thinking about this more than him, I guess,
Speaker 2: he says this.
Speaker 4: I want to be absolutely clear.
Speaker 2: This is like one of those no One colon situations
Speaker 2: where it's like no One and then you see something
Speaker 2: it's like no One, and then Adam Silver.
Speaker 4: I want to be absolutely clear.
Speaker 2: I am not prepared to talk about the post Lebron
Speaker 2: James era. No. I mean, we didn't ask you if
Speaker 2: you were, And I don't think it's because I'm in denial,
Speaker 2: he says.
Speaker 4: He said this.
Speaker 2: I don't think the reason I'm not prepared to talk
Speaker 2: about it is because I'm in denial. He won a
Speaker 2: championship less than a year and a half ago. From
Speaker 2: my standpoint, Lebron James is still playing at the very
Speaker 2: highest level in the league. At some point, a new
Speaker 2: player or players will emerge, I think to take that
Speaker 2: leadership mantle in the league. It seems that they always do.
Speaker 2: But I'm just not prepared, even in the slightest to
Speaker 2: start thinking about the league without Braun. Actually, Adam Silver,
Speaker 2: I think that's pretty much the textbook definition of denial.
Speaker 2: Like I know, you know, as soon as someone says
Speaker 2: it's not because I'm in denial, they are actually because
Speaker 2: in denial. Bronnie James though, for anybody who's looking for
Speaker 2: the shred of good news, Bronnie James will not be
Speaker 2: in the NBA before the twenty twenty four twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five seasons. So we know we have at least three
Speaker 2: more years of the Lebron James era and the Lebron
Speaker 2: James trauma.
Speaker 4: That's all the time that we have for the Heat Check.
Speaker 2: We'll be back Friday with a new episode. Please do
Speaker 2: not forget to download, subscribe, tell all your friends and
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Speaker 4: I'm perfect last names. I can't come on b