KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS: How I Survived the Hardest Year of My Life

This espresso is extremely hot and we're gonna fight. We're fighting. Don't bend your tongue. Take a bit. Yeah, do no bend your tongue. If the alcohol I do it is not going to do it this way, I can tell you that. Hey, it's Jay. I don't know what your day's been like, but I was just thinking about you for a minute. And I hope you're being a little patient with yourself because you deserve it. And yeah, I'll talk to you soon. Carl Anthony Townes, welcome to On Purpose. What's up, man? What's up? Huge congratulations. Everyone in the world is talking about this moment. I feel like even my friends back in England, people are messaging me. I love it. I love it too. New York looks crazy. I was at game four. Oh, okay. MSG. Yes. 29 points down. Yes. How do you remember that night? Well, I appreciate you staying in your seat because it was a tough game. But I remember that night just, I remember looking at Jordan and my fiance and just telling her before the game, I feel really good about tonight. And I had a really good energy about it. I felt really good about our team. We lost game three in a heartbreaking fashion. I felt really good about us responding. Saw the shoot around. We looked very focused, prepared. I felt really good going into game four. Obviously, it did not look good at halftime. I remember looking at Jordan. I was like, maybe I was wrong in the game. But halftime just rattling in the troops, telling them, we've done this before. Experience teaches you a lot in life. And a lot of times when you're young, you always see people who are older than you, your elders, and who have had experiences. And you say, well, that was yours. That's not mine. You realize we're all a lot of like. And I was just leaning on that experience of last year against Boston coming back multiple times by 20 at their house. I was telling our guys, like, think about it. We've been in this situation before and an opponent's house. We got our fans behind us. And we have a chance to still swing for the fences and trust our experience. And we found a way to get the job done. I'll never forget OG tipping the ball back in. Right hand to God, man. Was it a relief seeing him do that? Was that like, no, it sounds like you watched a game. He tipped it in. I was ready to dunk it. So we had two offensive rebounds ready to happen. And OG, man, he's just special. He's always been special. And I always tell him even games not going his way. OG and an OB always in the fourth quarter finds a way to make his presence known. And he did exactly that. But when you were saying that at half time, were you saying that to each player looking in the middle of the house? You know, you know, you're in the hotel. You get in the locker room and just speaking out loud and everyone just looking at me and just talking, you know, just understanding the situation is down 29 plus point, you know, down 25 plus points, 29 points. It can't get any worse. And at the end of the day, we had the experience of being down 24, I believe in Boston and coming all the way back and getting in the game. So it's going to take that one special play at the end of the win the game because once you fight back, you still got to make that one play last year. Both games was Michele Bridges getting a stop, getting a steal. And this year it was offensive play. OG, you said this, this idea that this is such a life changing moment. Yeah. Unbelievable accomplishment. What's the most surprising thing about being a champion now? What is the most surprising thing about this moment that you wouldn't have known until now when you're living it? When I said earlier hearing that champion, that champion, like, I don't even know how you want to say a moniker, you want to say whatever like that, like to hear that next to your name is something, you know, I ever think you're going to hear in your life. Not me as a competitor. I felt my championship was always on the way, but I thought it was going to be on my timing. It was on God's time and when I got my championship, when I say that when I was younger, you never think you're going to make the NBA. You never know if you have a chance. I was just hoping to get a college scholarship. That was always the goal. Just get a college scholarship and find a way to save my parents all that money in college and find myself here. The thing that's so surprising with winning a championship is something life has taught you and I think you'll understand this is your whole life. You see something and you see this goal and you set this goal and you run towards this goal with all your might, all your will, all your strength. And then you finally get to it and the moment goes by so quick. And next thing you know, you're like, what's next? We won the championship on Saturday. We flew back, we were back home Sunday morning. We flew right after the game and by Sunday afternoon, I'm like, what's next? You know, what's what what are we doing here? Like there's no more basketball to be played. I still worked out after winning the championship. I was like, I can't stop. Like there's no way you could tell me after being so locked in and turned up about playing basketball that I could just turn down and unlock myself back to the real world. It was something I can't comprehend. Any NBA player, basketball player, football player, professional athlete, I think they understand what I'm going to say, which is it's that first week out of competition that is so tough because you got to, in essence, find yourself again. You know, it's not as easy as it sounds. It just, oh, well, just going vacation is the vacation. First two days it feels awkward to be there because maybe it's like a first, it's an all-star break. It's a two day break, you know, sometimes in a regular season you get three days between a game and maybe you're like in Orlando, you're in, you know, you get to go to Disney World with your family and stuff where you're in Houston and you get to go golfing and you get to go enjoy some sun or something like that. Like the first couple of days, it's very, it's very weird and I haven't even really started my off season because yesterday was the parade. Yeah, exactly. But you know what I'm trying to say? So I feel for me on Monday, I'm going to really have a tough time not waking up to go to the court to play basketball, not waking up to go lift heavy in the weight room. Not used to seeing my teammates, my brothers. You know, we have accomplished the highest goal possible, but now we all have to separate to go live our lives, you know, and take care of our kids, our family. You're so aware of that, though, I feel like some people win or go through that and athlete stuff, spoken to, they think about it years later. Yeah. But you're so aware now, how are you trying to slow it down, experience it, celebrate, be still for this moment, right? Well, I mean, anyone who watched the parade, you see I was definitely in the moment and I was living in it. But I do think even with the parade, like there's a difference between living in the moment and getting lost in the moment. And I found myself living into the point I lost myself in the moment. I was having so much fun. I was enjoying the moment, seeing the crowd, seeing the jubilation of the fans, seeing a lot of people too, like finally give me the greatest currency in New York, which is respect. And just seeing them being able to give me that respect at the pinnacle of the mountain. I was losing myself in the moment, just watching these people and just being so happy that, you know, as any person you at the top of the podcast game, you just want to be respected for what you do, you know? And to finally get that respect, to finally have people appreciate my craft. It was a really cool feeling. I got lost in the moment because that respect for my craft hasn't always been there in my career. And these are one of those few moments where I get to really sit back and allow the fans to show me the love and respect I've worked for so hard for. This episode is presented by StateFarm. We spend so much energy becoming the best version of ourselves, building better habits, showing up more fully, embracing mindfulness. But sometimes the most purposeful thing you can do is just handle the thing you've been putting off. If getting your insurance sorted has been living on that list, StateFarm is there to help you choose the coverage that's right for you. Go online at statefarm.com or use the easily accessible app to get help from one of their over 19,000 local agents like a good neighbor, StateFarm is there. Living in the moment, lost in the moment, I'll never forget that. And yeah, you deserve the respect man. As we do on this podcast, I love going backwards because I'm fascinated by how people became who they are. And I wanted to ask you, what's the childhood memory you have that you think defines who you are today? I had to go on a walk with my dad. First of all, that is not normal. So I was like telling my dad, like, I'm a young kid. I have the whole world behind me in basketball. This next basketball prodigy, I've been on covers of magazines and everything. And I remember where there was a guy. He had acts to work me out and drove down. He's one of the top gurus of workout trainers in the world. And he was working me out. He was working me out and he was trying to mold my game more into the traditional sense of a big man back in the day. Back to the basket, get to these elbows, boxes. Really that's it. Well, me and my dad understand the vision I had for myself and my dad had the vision and wanted to do that because this whole model was, I want to make sure you have all the skills that a coach can never sit you. He was the coach. So he was like, I'm going to give you the skills and make sure I can never not play you. You know, working on my guard skills, shooting three ball, you know, dribbling, being able to recognize different defenses at different places on the court, being able to be a three-level score. That wasn't something at my size. People were supposed to be doing. You're supposed to be back to the basket. Hook shots, you know, maybe a fade away if you're like super talented on KG, Tim Duncan off the backboard, Durk and Vitsky with the one leg. And I can see his game was trying to model me more after that. And I had a vision for myself that I would be the first of my kind. Well, and I'm a young kid. I think I was seventh grade, sixth grade. And I remember telling my dad one time, like, let's take a walk. It's the same house my sister lives in now. And then we took a walk around the block and I know how my dad is a very prideful man. He's the head of the household. and everyone's intimidated by him, except my mom didn't give it in. And I just took a while with him and I was like, "Dad, listen, I appreciate you wanting to do the best for me. I know this guy has accolades in the credentials to say he would be better than you training me, but he wants to work out with me, he wants to work me out as a player because of the time we put in together." Because he sees something special in what we've done. I don't think he's demand for the job because no one understands the vision I have for myself more than you. And I think that we've gotten here and been highly successful doing it to the world together and I don't see why we should stop doing that when you're the one who got me to this place and you're the one that understands and believes in the vision that I have. And I remember walking my dad and I didn't know he was going to react. He could be very like, "No, this guy is the one. He's this and this and this and this and that." But my dad looked at me and I felt like I'm older now and obviously the vision we had was the right vision. I think he just looked at me and was so proud because one, I was willing to have a tough conversation with him, of all people who everyone runs away from having that combo from Coach Towns. But I think he could see that I was very serious that I believed in him more than I believed in anyone else. And I think when he saw that, he was like, "You don't have to say anymore. I'll take it from here. Call the guys like, "Hey, I appreciate you working my son out giving him a chance to see what you're doing stuff but I think we're going to go a different direction." How old were you? I think I was seven grade. Wow. Yeah, I was like seven grade and I was just like, "I seen it and look at it now. If I would have done that, I don't know if I would have been the player I am today. I've done something and NBA has been done before and shooting wise and with guard skills and those skills and that vision has led me finally to a NBA championship." So that was big. And the small moment I always, I think, I've never said this before but my mom was big into birds. She was big into parakeets. It's a small story but it means a lot. I remember one day she was cleaning the bird cage and everything like that and the bird cage was open. And she said, "Hey, don't close the door. I'm young. I always listen but you know how it is. I can see the bird. The bird's never going to be that much quicker than me. I'm cat, cat like reflexes. I never thought of that. And I remember that I opened the door to go outside just to run around. And the door opened and the bird flies out. I said, "Oh my God, I led down the one person in the world. I never want to let down, which is my mom. Love my dad at the death but my mom is everything." And my mom looked as she goes, she didn't show not one sense of anger and was like, "Ah, the bird had better places to be anyway." Wow. And that's beautiful. And I felt upset because I didn't want to let her down and that's how even today I never want to let my brothers down, I want to let my teammates down. My mom approached that situation with such calm and relaxed and forgiveness that one moment showed me a lot about, especially doing this job, this craft. It's okay to forgive people. It's not okay to forget. But it's okay to forgive people so they do not own any capacity of your life. And doing that when she had that story, I learned how important it is to not hold the grudge and that you truly control how much the situation dictates your life. And it has something small and something so it was seem so insignificant. But that led to the conversation about losing material items. She was telling me how my grandfather gave her a watch and it was a gold watch. She didn't care about the brand, which was nice. She was just like, "I want to go to the beach. I put the gold watch down on the thing. I went to the water. I came back. The town and everything was there. But the gold watch was in the sand and they couldn't find it." And she said that my grandfather had told her like, "If you have ever lost something, it's not meant to be yours." And she was like, "I've always believed that instead of me crying and getting upset about losing something and everything like that, it just wasn't meant to be mine." And she wasn't meant to be what it is anymore. And I just saved myself a lot of anguish and pain and things like that by just simply letting it go. You got the mong background. You know what it is. No, it's powerful. I didn't realize you were a philosopher too. No, it's powerful. I love it. I mean. I'm a man. I'm just a man walking the path. I'm walking the path, man. No, but you're walking it noticing. I've been thinking a lot about that recently. We talk a lot about presence. We talk a lot about being in the moment, but really it's people who notice things. At these small moments, these small things, people say, "The little thing that your mom just said to you on the side, but it becomes something that you carry in your heart." What do you do now when you feel like you're letting people down? Like whether it's your teammates, people that you love, do you even go through that or do you feel free from that? I just do everything in my power to capitalize on the present. You know, I think when you let people down, it's because one, it just wasn't your day and every one of your brothers and everything will notice that. But two, it's more of the fact of. Sometimes people get caught up in the future and the future never happens without the present. And the past is already done. Say, "I ain't nothing to get back from it." So I always just stay in the present. I'm big about staying in the present. Coach Calapari always told us when we were there at college, we were one of the greatest college teams ever assembled those. You would never have a room of talent like the way I have the talent in this room right now. You will never have an error. When you guys go to the NBA, you'll never have this amount of talent in one room ever again. So enjoy this moment, capitalize on this moment. Don't let it slip by without being thankful for this. And I've always thought of that. I've always thought of that. And then goes back to what you said. Just noticing things and actually listening, you know, I've really listened to what people say in the way they act, the way the energy they present to us, to me, my wife. And it's so powerful when you stay in the present. You have a very hard time of letting people down because you really were there and you were giving everything you had to make sure that present was taken care of and then the future would be taken care of. So I just always stay in the present regardless of this conversation. It's me, brunch with my fiance wife. I like saying wipe. The answer just sounds we got to get past that part with my wife just having brunch or being with my dad, being with my sister, her niece, my niece and nephew being at a baseball game, with his baseball games and stuff. Like, I'm real present about putting the phone away and everything and really truly enjoying family time. I still grew up on appointment TV time with my family and my sister. So I appreciate those moments of pure silence because my life is full of noise. So I appreciate those moments when I get to really just disconnect from the world and truly have that one-on-one time. Yeah, I love that. I can tell. You can see it just in your presence when the moment you walked in the room, you can feel that when someone comes in and I think slows down around them. They're really where they are. I feel like athletes have to have it to be a successful experience. Yeah. Everyone's so wired differently. You know, and I think a lot of times when people misunderstand people, they keep saying they have to believe in exactly what they believe in. If they don't believe in that, they're wrong. They're not wrong. They're just wired differently. Why do they believe? I'm a man of people. I'm a man on a mission to just spread love to everybody, not because people believe in New York Knicks basketball or because they believe in how I feel about politics and stuff. I actually have had some of the best conversations with people who don't agree with what I think. Just being able to sit like this, no mics, no cameras, no lights, I just want to hear them out. I think it's fascinating to hear why people think the way they do. You'll find a lot of times where a lot of like and they just haven't had a person who has a different mindset or a different approach to the situation to just calmly speak to them in a loving manner of just having a simple conversation and you find a lot of things are miscommunications in the world that just are being refused and be talked out. I fully agree with you. I think that the challenge we've created in the world is we judge before we ask, we assume before we reflect, we choose to make a conclusion on someone before we even have the context of walking a mile in their shoes and it's so easy to live that way but actually create so many complexities moving forward. So you, did you ever doubt yourself on the way to the NBA? Was there a moment of insecurity, a moment of I might not make it? To be honest, my confidence was always driven by my support system and my family. I never thought I was going to make it. I always believe that anything that the success I would have while making it would be determined by how much I wanted to work. So I wasn't going to allow anyone to outwork me because I've seen how my parents struggle that I've seen how they worked nine to five and was able to put food on the table. I always, you know, I'm blessed that maybe I didn't have millions of dollars growing up at a silver spoon but what I did have was a ton of love and that's more currency than anything you could get in the family. You know, I had so much love in my family. family that that's that's all I ever needed. I felt to be wealthy was just just love and I never doubted myself at all. Not one bit. Yeah. Even to this day, I never doubted the championship wasn't coming my way. But like I said, I thought the championship will come on my time. Yeah. And it was going to come on God's time. What was your time? This was the first five years I would have loved it. I thought I could get one of Minnesota right away. And I thought on my time, I would be getting this championship and God had on the plans. And I had to slow down and trust his timing. And once I slowed down and said, I'm on your timing, I'm not going to push what I want to happen. I'm sitting here now with the championship moniker and it's pretty cool. Talking about family, you've spoken about how important is to you. I also know and I'm so sorry for your loss, but you lost eight family members during COVID and you were even hospitalized yourself. And my dad, my dad actually survived with my mom. So how did you even begin to process that? What was going through your heart and mind when you were going through it? I mean, I think the whole world was going through a epidemic we've never been through. I've never seen New York have nobody in the streets. You know, nobody was, you know, the pictures were insane and looked like I am legend. Shrewfully. Yeah. I just feel like my life has built me up to be so mentally tough. And it was never about raw raw and screaming and yelling of people. I've always felt my leadership style was serving leadership. I'm here to serve others. That's literally when I'm at my best. Because when I get to serve others, whether that's with kindness, love or a basketball being able to give them an assist, to be able to pick them up, be able to score the basket. So whatever mistake they made has covered up. Like I've always felt my style of serving leadership. I was just built up mentally to be able to withstand these kind of punishments. And nothing could have prepared me for that. And watching my mother lead the household and watching my father demand respect and gain respect. And being able to be tenacious with his competitive attitude, competitively. I knew I could go at this challenge of stepping into the head of the household, stepping in to take care of my father, stepping into her shoes. As a competitor, I wanted to do the best job I could do to match her. It's because I never thought I could win. But I never thought I was going to lose. So I was just more of like, I could do this. And I knew from watching her so close for all these years, I knew how she approached different situations, how she took care of people, my grandmother, her mom, my father, my sister in certain situations. And being able to understand the meaning of love from her, I was able to appropriately show that love to people, show that love to our family and stepping into her shoes of taking care of the household. Being the head of it. And I feel like I'm doing a great job. I feel like I'm making her proud. And I just continue to stay in the present. It's a challenge every day. It's a challenge every single day to make sure everyone is feeling out their best. You tragically lost your mom at that time. And I wanted to ask, like, did you, because of his COVID, I lost people during COVID. I couldn't even go back to see him. Did you get any last moments with her? Were you able to be there with her? I got to talk to her home FaceTime before I had to make that decision of pulling the plug. I definitely, I went and saw her personally with the hazmat's hoop and saw I walked in the room. I fixed her hair. I made sure her toenails look good. She looked fabulous for a number of eyebrows right before everything. And yeah, just washed her face and just make sure she was comfortable as possible. And I had my final conversations with her and talking to her and everything like that. And it was a crazy feeling. It was crazy because it was, you know, I felt we had real conversation. She didn't say a word back to me, but I felt like energy always, always travels, you know. And I just remember being there right before there. I remember being on the phone with my fiance now, my wife and Jordan and asking her what to do in these situations, like when she was with her father. And she gave me kind of like some tips and just kind of like letting me know it's going to be okay. And that's when I went upstairs in the hospital and saw her for the last time. It was one of those things that like I didn't get lost in the moment. I was living in the moment, but the moment was very, it was heavy. It was a very heavy moment, especially it was COVID. So they didn't allow my father to go up there and allow my sister to go up there. I was only one person. They all picked me to go. It was one of those moments I, it was tough conversations had. And it was like conversations that I appreciated that I was always talking about staying in the present that I got to tell her a bunch of things alive when she was cognitive about a lot. So we talked about everything. There was only one thing we really never got to talk about. And I used that moment kind of to talk to her about it. And I'm glad I didn't. It worked out. Can you share what that was? I actually told her. I said, you know, I have this friend of mine. She's been helping me with all of this stuff. I'm never introduced you properly to her. I know her friends. I don't know what life has for us. But, you know, let me know if this is supposed to be something that is going to happen or will happen. But I know when you step into that next life and that next realm, you'll look out for me and you'll let me know if this is the right situation to come into my life possibly. What? What is it? Seven years later, you're getting married this summer. And you felt like it in a and I know I just my gut has been so good at telling me about life and I feel because I've lived the right way messing on perfect and any sort of fashion. But I've tried. And that's more than enough than what God asked for all of us is to try and I try. I don't know. I just felt like I didn't want to leave any stone unturned. So that was the only thing I feel like we never got to talk about. And even like her opinion just like, you know, friends, like, you know, just to meet her and say, hi, because me and Jordan had never been in that level ever. And it was like weird for us to hug even if we're like two and a half years. So like I said, I didn't want to leave anything unturned. You live in the present. Don't think about the future. I just I'd rather let you know and you'll let me know if this situation is something. And I guess you was pushing it to happen because everything aligned up perfectly and now we're getting married. So obviously it's the right one. I can't imagine how hard it is also to make the decision. I think when we're losing people we love, we want to hold on to them. And so as you said to pull the plug and let go of the person you love, that must be like a terrifying decision. How did you even make sense of it? I didn't. I don't know if I did. I tried everything. I tried every other route than that. I would have taken her in any condition. It didn't matter if we needed to change our lives around for her or whatever the case. Maybe I would have done anything. But I don't think there was a way she was going to have a meaningful recovery. I don't think that she was actually going to make it regardless. So it's tough when you have to make those really tough decisions. We're not talking about either going to vacation here or there or do you eat this or that for dinner? I'm talking about the true life and death decision. Either you have to be willing to have death of your ego or you got to have a death of opportunity. I picked the death of my ego for the best of her. You said that your mom always knew how to make this celebration special. The big moment. Yeah, she did. What kind of things did she do? My birthdays was one of them. She made them feel so grand. It was so simple but it was just so much because of the energy she brought to it. Yeah, she did an amazing job of just making all those moments feel so special. Now with Jordan, we try to mimic that energy for a lot of things especially and that's how we approach people's birthdays. She has nephew and Lake that we love to celebrate. My niece and nephew, I love to celebrate their birthdays and special moments and stuff like that. I'm just fortunate. Now, especially winning a championship in New York that I get to be closer to my family. She might need some nephew, my sister. It gets a little easier to do something when they're growing up and stuff. I see it was easy to show up at the Little League baseball game. It's easy to show better dance recital. It's easy to do that. I'm just trying, like I said, I'm just stepping into her shoes, trying to do as much as I can that she would done for us. I can relate to her saying, "My mom used to, I remember we didn't have a lot growing up on my birthday. I'd get to one thing I wanted." It has a surprise or a Christmas, the one thing I wanted. It's probably one of my favorite memories with my mom of just like how she'd know exactly what I wanted. She'd figure it out. She'd find a way to surprise me. I wanted to ask you, what do you think your mom would say to you if she was here right now and seeing you become the champion that you are? Well, I think first you would say, you didn't drink more. She would be so happy. She would just be definitely hugging me up, kissing me a ton, just saying how proud of she is of me and how awesome this is. I don't know. I just feel like it would have been really cool to see how she would have reacted at the parade. I feel like she would have ran off the float. I started running with the people. I feel like she would just be super proud. I feel like she would be emotional. I feel like a lot of it would just be her. are crying and being super excited and just enjoying these moments of, of, I laugh when I say it, but it is funny and my sister hearing this with laugh when she'll be like, "You didn't drink more?" It's a celebration. We got to go even harder. You got to find a way to do more. I found more happiness with this championship and game one before the game started. I found more happiness than, than I found in the rest of the series. Really? Why? Because I felt her presence so strongly and I, and I yearned for it so bad. That was probably the best moment. And you would think it would be the moment right after winning, celebrating, screaming and stuff. You would think it would be the right hand tip in by OG. I, I think it was before game one started in the 10, in the 20 minutes on that court, before we had to go back to, uh, to do the national anthem. I felt such a presence that it was just so obvious that it had to be her and I've yearned for that moment ever since she passed more than the championship. And when I got that moment, I felt so at peace and I felt, I just kept smiling because it was something I, I feel like we were having our own like dance, but we weren't saying in the words. And I just felt the presence and it was, when I said that at the end of game one, it was real. Like I just was having fun. I know I got competitive. You may not see me smiling a lot, but I felt very comfortable. I felt very at peace. And that was one of those moments. And I don't want to diminish the value of winning a championship. I mean, it's the one of the best feelings ever, but like, that's supernatural. That's something that I can't explain the value behind that. Like when you say it's one of the best feelings in the world, there's a value associated. There's no as priceless. Like that's so rare. You get one of those moments as like her appearing in a dream. I'd wake up and cry after that. And they have that moment of feeling of that presence. Like that was special. How did you notice and feel that presence? It was so calming. It just felt like the music felt like the best music ever. dribbling the basketball felt just so youthful. Like it felt like I had just played basketball for the first time. I fell in love with it again. And her presence was felt. I just, it was, it was cool. The music felt like the best music I ever heard. I felt like tame and pollen. Black coffee came together. And it was, it was amazing. You've talked before about this idea of survivors guilt from that time. How is that changed over time? This is different. I mean, I feel like there's always survivors guilt. You know, it's one of those things that if my mom didn't get in, I got it early on. Maybe I would have done better, you know, younger athlete. Maybe I would have, you know, had a better chance. And all the family that haven't been able to see it. I think more of my survivors guilt comes from more of the family and my mom not being able to see these moments, the championship, getting engaged. I already did. Yeah, like kids, you know, not having kids now, but like, you know, in the future having kids, like being there for that process and everything, like, you know, I feel that's more of like the guilt I have because I know these are moments she would really want to experience. And it wasn't God's timing. It wasn't my time for her to see that, you know, she got to see my sister. Have the kids live her life ups and downs. Like she got to see that. And for me, you know, she got to see me reach to pinnacle of basketball, which is make the NBA, make all-star game, make another one. You know, it was like one of those things. You see me, but that never really defined me as it always defined me as my whole entire life. Like I said, since I was young, I was told to be a basketball prodigy. And as life goes on, an experience, an experience, an experience goes by. I realize it never defines me about who I am. And I'll leave you with this quote, what I do gets more attention than who I am, even know who I am is more important than what I do. For the agree. And I just, I believe that. And over years of years of being told you're this basketball prodigy, you really got a bass while I was like, is that it? Is that all you get from doing this is being told you're good at basketball? What about like how many communities have, I hope, how many people have I? Five serves. That's your leadership style. You got to live by that too. So it was something that I realized basketball didn't define me once I went through experience and experience got an MBA, did some of the things I've dreamed of, seen the hardships that come with it. And then when I lost to it, then come closer to defining me anymore. I realized it didn't mean as much as I thought it did. Yeah. What you just said is the exact reason I started this podcast. I wanted a space that people could come and talk about their purpose, talk about who they were more than what they did and talk about the human behind the high performance and talk about the heart behind the championships and the wins. And I actually saw an interview I was about to go on stage. This is eight years ago before I launched the show. Tom Brady was speaking before me and he was being interviewed and I was backstage waiting to go on stage. And the interviewer just kept, he kept trying to talk about meaningful things and the interviewer just kept saying, talk about the rings. Tom talked about the rings and you could tell that Tom was trying to talk about meaningful things and he just wasn't allowed. And I was like, oh, got it. We just want people to be this way. What we think. What we think is 2D version of who they are and not letting them be there. So I appreciate you opening up so much because as I'm listening to you, I'm like, this is why we started this podcast for you to be able to say that. Yeah, yeah. And it's going to help a lot of people too. A lot of times, mental health is real and I also think a lot of times people just want to be heard and they never really feel heard because people are never willing to actually say the real things. They want to come out and podcast and stuff like that and be cool. What is cool, cool, cool. You know, don't care. Relax, chill. Oh, yeah. You know, I'm going, Jay, you know what I'm trying to say. I do this. I do that. That's it, man. And like, nah, like we really people and we really have different ways we got to this point to the story and all these seats have stories and all these seats have a reason why the person is the person and just takes a little bit of time just to be able to like let them open up and explain why they are the way they are. You've talked before about this idea of how you didn't want to go to therapy because you weren't ready to talk and then you just be sitting there as your view on that change. Is that help? I think therapy is great. Just think that for me therapy wasn't what I needed in the conventional sense. Yeah. I got therapy looks different. Yeah, I got therapy in a different way. I got therapy in someone I really trust. Someone I call like a sensei Arnie Candor. He's the head of magic of the Orlando Magic Health Sports side. Oh, cool. And they're PT, you know, the health and strength and conditioning. He's the head of there and he's always been like a sensei to me. He was best friends with my mom as well. My dad, they talked all the time. He's always been like a second father to me. I just kind of leaned on him for those really hard hitting questions because I'm able to be open with him. I'm able to tell him any little thing in my life and feel it's safe. And I didn't think I needed the conventional of getting a therapist in the city in Minnesota sitting down doing that when I could just go in my office call Arnie and allow him to like hear my thoughts and give me honest feedback and maybe things. And we've had really deep conversations. Some really dark, some just saying how I'm doing like, I think really good. And he's been vital for me just in my life because he was doing this before anything. Even when she was here. I didn't think therapy, the conventional way was good for me. I didn't think it would be as beneficial as having already someone I trusted that I was willing to really spill my heart out too and understood that my heart was not going to be the cup was going to be given to someone else for their benefit. It was a true, I'm going to hear you out like a son and I'm going to give you an unbiased opinion and I'm going to give you a monk opinion as well. So I was I was appreciative. I'm always appreciative for him. I talk to him a lot. He's like a second dad to me and it's it was one of those things. So I think therapy is great and I think a lot of people miss the opportunity to really step outside with less baggage. The opportunity to speak to Kobe Bryant, Kobe we talk about Phil Jackson and it's like that kind of mentorship. It's actually quite a special to sport. Yes. I find that athletes when you find like the right coach. Yeah. They even the way you're speaking about your coaches and PTs like what you've learned over time. It's a special relationship and I think the majority of the world who don't have coaches or people in their life that they look to for guidance like in other careers you don't have that. Yes. And that's why I think it becomes a therapist is a great option because like you said, there's certain people you run into in life that are just wired differently and able to do some special things. They have special talents. That's why we're all the top of our game and they have special talents that utilized in the right way can take you to another level. I feel like Arnie Specialtala was relationships and his ability to listen and come back a different mindset and he's very, you know, he spent time with the monks. He's been, you know, has the Catholic background, Christian background, Buddhist background, very like natural based everything like the ground is that the soil like everything's like a lot of you got to be very respectful of everything. When I leave, I use the reason when I leave hotel rooms, I think the hotel room for allowing me to live in the hotel room. Like, little things. like that mindset and I just, I'm forever grateful for him. - When I love about that, you just wanna expect it. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Now that's surprising. You've been grateful to her hotel room. - Yeah, that's it. - Literally. And Jordyn, when she was like, when we first went to her hotel, she was like, "Who are you talking to?" And I was like, "No." - Oh, you're saying it out loud too. - Yeah, yeah, I say it out loud. So, you know, thank the room. I thank it for allowing me to live in here, thank you for blessing this energy and this time and I walk out and close the door. - Let's talk about Jordan. - Okay, so you're mentioning the whole time. - Oh, God, yeah, yeah. - Let's talk about how you met. How did you actually? - Over Uno. - No way. - Literally. - And I like. - Just you two? - Yes, it was me, me, her and my friend, Chucky. - Okay. - I'd be bovroom and let her win one time. - Has she beat you since? - No comment. - Who made the first move? Who was like? - She's gonna say in a way it was me and I was, and she knows damn sure it was her. She made the first move. So obviously it was, I guess in a way it was mutual. - You were talking about earlier before when we started this idea of how, you know, you don't see relationships lost that long always. - Yeah. - Especially like NBA player with a woman that's heavily involved in Hollywood and everything like that doesn't ever seem like a recipe that works. - What makes it work for you guys? How have you found it? - 'Cause we wanted to work and our whole relationship was based off a friendship of two and a half years of no romantic, no anything. It was just strictly platonic. Like how we're just great friends. We vibe with each other. We know that we're here for each other. I think just for us it's always fun. We truly do enjoy each other's presence and we do love hanging out with each other with doing nothing, you know, simple. And I think that's what makes a special relationship when you truly enjoy each other's presence. But it's more of a friendship. Like I enjoy just hanging out, doing nothing. We don't even have to say a word to each other. But she could be watching TV. I could be on my phone playing a game or she could be on her phone playing a game. And I'm watching YouTube and none of us complain about anything. We're just happy to be next to each other. So it's pretty cool. - What's one thing she's taught you and one thing you've taught her? - She taught me a lot. And I think one of the greatest things she taught me was how good she is. But I would say from a real aspect of emotional everyday living, she really taught me how boundaries can be safe. They don't have to be so aggressive. When you hear the word boundaries, you think of it as an aggressive block. But she makes it seem that you can have healthy boundaries that work for everybody and make you feel good as well. I think I'm a patient person. I feel like she's helped me understand patience as a good thing as well. 'Cause sometimes I am very patient and she's very patient. So we both could kind of like it. So it allows me to like take that competitive edge of when she gets unpatient and be like, it's okay, just relax. - Yeah. - I think for me to her, I believe she would say just through all the bad that the life throws at you and all the obstacles and the trials and tribulations, she always talks about how I bring that youth into an energy and to a room where it doesn't seem like things are so bad and just kind of keeping very cheerful and positive and youthful. I think that's really what she loves is that, you know, I kind of make her bring that inner child back out even at the age that we are now where it doesn't have to be so serious like we're in target. Let's go have a lightsaber fight around target. Like why? - You don't have to look. - How can you get away with that? - Minnesota is not New York. So we doing stuff like that or putting her in a care and shopping cart in target and just doing laps around target. Just stupid kid stuff you would do. And you know, now that we finally found each other in this world and we found each other at this time, we don't have to act older because we met older. - Yeah. - You know, we can still bring that youth back into our lives and just little things like that. - I love hearing that by the way, I mean, it sounds beautiful and I'm so happy that you guys get married too. - Yeah. - It's huge. - You're like her orange bag became its own old stuff. - Oh yeah. - That's the greatest, that may be the greatest clothing article ever. That may be one of the greatest things. In New York history for sure, as to be the greatest bag ever made, the greatest piece of article of clothing ever. I mean, it must be up there with like George Washington coming to America, establishing a United States. It's something special. It needs to be in a museum here. - In a museum? Is she willing to give it up for a museum? - Yeah, I mean, that's like one of the greatest pieces ever. So I mean, what, Guggenheim has to do it, I would feel like Guggenheim has to be the best place. I mean, Smithsonian is like up there with like dinosaurs and stuff. - How did you feel when she couldn't get it in to the game? Well, obviously Trump came. - You know, I knew it was real when my teammate said, is she gonna still bring the bag? - No way. - My teammates were still asking about the bag. So. - Did it feel hard that day when she couldn't bring it in? - It was just off. The day was off. You don't see the bag, you know, you can't really drive into MSG. You gotta go to a hotel and then drive in with a bus and you're used to just driving yourself into MSG. So it was just a weird day. It was different. - It's crazy that the bag had that much power. - Right, the bag. The bag has all the power. I'm giving all credit to the bag. With my Jordan bag, got it done. I'm not gonna lie to you. Tell me another piece of clothing, right? Article of clothing that you ever seen have that consistent of a result. Like, I don't know. - It's true. I can't think of anything. That's what I'm saying. But that was by Jordan Bag, went through the greatest comeback in finals history. It went through in the Eastern Conference Finals, came back again from 20 plus, which is the largest comeback, I think. - Yeah. - It went 13, what, 13, well, if you count the game, the game we lost, she didn't bring the bag. So what, that's 15 games in a row. One, still counting with the bag there 'cause next year we go and do it again. - I'm glad your teammates agreed too. That's the part that was funny. You know how crazy it is to get men to agree on a woman's bag being that lucky? Like that never happens. Like JB, JC, OG, Josh Hart, everybody was like, yo, is the bag gonna make it? Like, we gotta find a way to do this. - Where's the bag now? Is it safe? - That bag is restin'. Jordan says it's a sea. She's resting. She's right now gonna enjoy her offseason. I think she's gonna retire. I think she's gonna retire on top. She's gonna hand a memo in like Michael Jordan's just be like, I'm done. It's over. - We have to find a new one for next year. - I know, I know. - This episode is brought to you by Amazon Health AI. We've got to talk about those panicked internet searches. You know the ones that I'm talking about when something about your body just doesn't seem right. So you search and search and scroll and scroll and trying to figure out your body by endlessly looking for answers. Thankfully, now there's Amazon Health AI. It can connect your symptoms with your medical history and it can even get you care 24/7. So call off the search. Amazon Health AI is here. Health care just got less painful. How did it feel when you were actually being traded from Minnesota to-- - Well, well, it was a wild moment. That was a wild moment, especially when I seen everybody that morning. So it was a wild thing. I would say the honest feeling at the moment was I was shocked that my career in Minnesota ended like that. Like no warnings, no signs. No one in NBA knew it was not a murmur, a whisper, or nothing just in the dark happened. And usually you think you're a see the ending. You'll see the end of the book. I didn't know the book was ending on me and I was the one that was part of it. I thought I was the author and I became the character in the book. So I was kind of shocked at my career. And I remember being told to my house that I go to my office, I see my achievements in Minnesota and I was like, that's just how it ends. It's just snap of the finger you done by gotta go. And that's why it was a weird feeling. And I look back at it now and of course, I wanted to win a title there. I wanted to be there to rest in my career. I made it clearly known that I wanted to do that. But maybe I had to go and get traded somewhere else. Maybe I had to go somewhere so I could show my true value and true worth to the world. And I'm just honored that New York gave me a chance to do that and I'm glad I was able to repay that belief with a championship. Yeah, we always hear that phrase like rejections as redirection. And I'm like, you're living it right now. Like to go through that moment of feeling like, I love what you just said, like from going from being the author to being the character, but then the character gets to go and write a new story. And the character found the, he got a sequel to the book. And if I wasn't gonna be the author, I wanted to make sure I was the main character and the character was actually driving the story. And I thought it was, it's a humbling thing. It's a humbling thing to be able to look back at it now and smile about what happened. Got the championship. I was able to be back home. I was able to be with my mom's mom and stuff like that. But I would be lying if there's not a bit of sweet feeling that it wasn't at Target Center, holding that trophy, having the parade down first half over there and seeing the Minnesota fans I raised me since I was a kid, and to see me now as a man, not be able to bring that to them, that does bring me some pain inside. - Maybe one day. - I don't know, I don't think so. I don't know what life got for me. I really say it's on God's timing. I don't know. I'll see what he has planned for me. - Tell me about who made you feel most welcome at the NICS. - JB and everyone really welcomed me a lot. OG was very welcome. I remember he was the first person. I got to like, he invited me over to his house and I was able to like talk to him. So I was not aware OG didn't talk 'cause my first day with OG, we had a great conversations, we were laughing and talking and I only realized when we got the training camp, I was actually to be like, "Wow, he does not talk." (laughing) But he talks to me a bunch, so. They were really welcome to me. Me and and I think what was also great was, you know, earning a respect of them as a man and as a player from afar, I was able to walk in and be myself right away and I feel like I had to be like, I was stepping on toes or anything like that. But obviously it's an adjustment. I didn't know everybody there. I had an alley new Matt Ryan was the only teammate I had and Minnesota, so we had familiarity with each other but everyone else was new to me. TJ Warren, I've known a while, so I kind of felt familiar but I never really got to know Josh Hart for Josh Hart and I never knew got to know OG and never jailing in me have a lot of ton of respect from far away, not actually as teammates, as hanging out. So it was great. It was great to like feel that welcome energy and it was great to be able to be allowed to affect change right away, especially with the way my season started last year. - We have a fun game we made for you. - Okay. - This is called the court side stress test. - Okay. - But you're not a stressed out guy, so it might be called the court side excitement test. - Okay. - So what you have to do is on a scale of one to 10, you have to tell me how stressed or excited you were to have this person court side next to you. - Okay. - Oh, this is a good one. - Yeah. - Okay, good. Mariska Hagerte. - I see her and start smiling, so I probably would say like a seven or six 'cause right when you see her you go, "Dun, dun, dun." But it was cool to understand how close everyone is to. - Okay, so Adam Sonler. - I would say eight. - Spike Lee. - Eight. Eight, nine. - Fat Joe. - Come on, I was a fat Joe. But he's not fat Joe anymore. He more like skinny Joe. - Okay. - I'll say more like seven. - Timothy Schalleman, Kylie Jenner. - It was great to see Timmy. I love seeing Timmy. I get more like Lafay. What Timmy and I see Timmy and Kylie's awesome. So I, seven. - Sydney Sweeney. - Seven. - Tina Fey. - Tina Fey is funny. I love Tina Fey. - We were a game four together today. - Eight. - Eight. - Okay, very cool. Ben Stilla. - Nine. - Tracey Morgan. - Nine. - Taylor Swift. - Eight, seven. And I'm saying eight, seven 'cause I mean, you're genuinely excited just to see anyone who comes new to the game. - Larry David. - Oh yeah, eight. It was awesome. - Jerry Sinfout. - Eight. - Donald Trump. - He wasn't quartile. So that was a trick question. - Jimmy Fallon. - Oh eight. - That's awesome. - You did great. - All these people are great. I just feel like those nine's is like, Ben is such an iconic Nick's fan. And also he's such such an amazing guy. So I feel like he's a nine. I feel like Spike Lee's a nine. I'm gonna give him a shout out. I'll Pelagonia's a nine. - Okay, he knows exactly why. The only person I would be a 10, I get excited about is Jordan. I only get excited. I get a 10 for Jordan's the only one who gets a 10. - That's beautiful man. I love that. - I'm just happy my dad's there. So I'm super happy. I would say he's a 10 too. My dad, but in Jordan, I'm blessed to say this. And I had a guy who told a friend of mine who told me that he's a pastor. And he said, I love how normal it is for you to see your dad. That's something I never got to live. So I think for me, it's a, I would say I'm more grateful as I add a 10 to see my dad at the games. I'm always excited to see him at the games, but I love and I'm blessed that it's a normal thing. And to see Jordan at my games, it gets me really excited. I mean, that's my best friend. So that's only when I get to 10. - What a great answer. I'm glad I asked you all of that. Only you would take it to that. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Now you get to know you a little bit today. I'm like, only you would take it that way. I want to focus the last few questions on mindset. When you're in the playoffs, when you're down and out, it felt like every game you guys with underdogs. - Yeah, every series. - Every series. - Every series. Like you guys are behind, you're coming back. How do you like from a pure mental performance perspective, or even a, I mean, you're a philosopher. So go there if you want to go there. But how do you find that gear? When you're down and you're the underdog, what are you doing? Where are you finding that extra gear? - Just competitive nature. Just not wanting to lose. Not wanting to let down the city, these fans. I mean, when I said it before, after the game too, like they're putting their nine to five life savings, they think it's a joke. They're kids to wishing online to watch this play at MSG. You don't want them to go away and not feel like they got a show, or at least had something to cheer for. It's our duty as players, as our job as players, to make sure that we continue to give them some of the cheer for. And as men, as competitors, you know, every day in New York, your respect is online. And you have to continue to earn it every single day. They don't care about what happened last game. They care about what's happening today. And every day you got to go and earn your respect. - Yeah, the tough times. - Oh, that's the best fans. And look what those fans did for us now. Every day, that kind of, I would say positive fear makes you get on that court and do everything you can to earn their respect. And then doing that, you get 1% better, you get 1% better, you get 1% better. And now you're sitting at a parade yesterday. You know, and our fans always show up. If they see the work and effort you put in every single day, they're gonna make sure that you feel welcome. Then you feel, you feel special. - Everything I've learned from you today, I'm like, you're so present, so intentional. What does your prep look like for a big playoff game? What is your morning routine, evening routine? Walk me through how you're-- - I'm not gonna lie to routines the same regardless. Even in playoffs. - What is it? What does it look like? - I need the first one at the gym. If we have shoot around at 11, I'll be there at seven, work on my body. - Wow, was it? - Yeah, work on my body and stuff like that. Turn the lights on in the practice facility. Maybe get a lift, go and shoot on the court before shoot around, do the shoot around, shoot a little bit after, go back home, have some pasta, have a smoothie, get sleep, wake up an hour before I have to leave, shower up, get relaxed, play some music. Get dressed head out to the game and the game's what a 730. I'll usually get there around like 430, 415. I'll be the first one there and just work on my body again, get treatment, get warmed up, feel good, mentally be engaged. Before the game, honestly, I can be doing anything other than basketball. It's always like everything but basketball. Like, you know, when I'm there in that time, I'll watch the tape, make sure I understand my opponent's a little better, maybe a little things that I could pick up on the court to help lead us on defense and offensively maybe see little things I change up so kind of coaching on the court as well. Relaying back to the coaches, hey, they're about to be in zone. They're about to be a man, they're about to trap. They're about to do this and how do we want to adjust to that, helping JB out as much as possible in doing all the logistical work out there. Yeah, and after that is really such different things in basketball, could be looking at sports cards, could be looking at trading cards, could be talking to Jordan about something completely different than basketball. It could be watching YouTube, I could be watching highlights, YouTube golf, I could be watching the podcast, you know, so I could be doing a lot. So I do everything other than the basketball part and just kind of give my mind away because I'm gonna have enough time to be in the present because once I'm locked in, I'm locked in. And Jordan says, this is the first year of all my years and I have actually acknowledged her in the game because I'm so locked in that you're talking about, you know, what was the game about the celebrity role? I don't see anybody. Yeah, yeah. I don't see anyone on the court. I don't see the fans. I don't see none of that. It's all just shadows to me. And all I see is this court that's lit with 10 people on it are playing basketball and that's all I see. So there's people you were saying there. I was like, I don't think they come. Like great story is we're playing in San Antonio and Timmy, Timmy is my guy. Timmy is like my white brother. I didn't know I had. So I'm talking to Timothy Schalleman. He's, he was like Carl, you are so locked in all the time. I know you don't be seeing me. And I said, yeah, so Timmy, I didn't know you were in San Antonio. (laughs) Timmy goes, Carl, I was one, one see away from you in Chromeheart, jeans. And you didn't even notice me. And I was looking at you and screaming and you were so zoned out. I said, Timmy, I swear to God, I didn't even know you were at the game. Timmy was like at the end of our bench, there's a seat right here. He's literally right next to me in every photo. He's right next to me. I have no idea Timmy is there. And Timmy told me after the game, Jordan calls me. She was like, hey, did you and Timmy talk after the game? And he was at the game. I said, what game? (laughs) I was like, what are you talking about? And we have a group chat and Timmy's like, yo, I was right next to you, bro. I promise you, I was right next to you. He shows me a whole getty image. We're next to each other and I'm like, oh my God, I'm so sorry. And what should be like, he's like, bro, no, I know that. We see each other all the time. We're having dinners and stuff. He always brings up. He goes, I've never realized how locked in someone could be until I've been with you. And you're like, literally, when you say you don't see anybody, you see nobody. That's awesome, man. You see nobody. And the only person I've ever seen on the court on the sidelines is Jordan. Other than Jordan, I see nobody. And Jordan will look at me and I'll look at her and she'll be like, you're doing cool. Yeah. And I'm like, maybe I'm not doing great. She's like, you're doing great. I'm like, no, I'm not. I'm not doing that good right now, but I'm going to pick it up right now. So she's always a sense of encouragement for me or also saying that I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to do, stay in this mindset. I love that visual. You're just painted of how you see nothing else. Apart from 10 guys, I see nothing but the corpse. That's it. The light on the court. Yeah. That's good. And 10 people. And then the court feels like, so you know, it feels like a massive court to start the game. And then as the game go, it gets, it gets shorter and shorter. And then all of a sudden, I feel like, you know, it's not that much of runs that we're doing as the game goes along as you get more in a custom. You know, we say we get comfortable into the game. You ease into the game. We love seeing you in a next jersey. But I know the Dominican jersey means a lot to you. Yes, it does. It does. How much would it feel to put on that jersey and take it to the Olympic? I would love it. That's one of my dreams, man. I just was able to accomplish my dream here in America. I won an NBA championship, but to be able to take the Dominican team to the Olympics would be one of my greatest honors. It'll be amazing to see you do that, man. Like I said, it's on God's time. But I feel our time is coming. I feel that the island deserves to see themselves on that Olympic floor. Yeah, I wanted to ask you also about someone that you knew well. People loved him for his music. You knew him as a person. Mac Miller. Yeah, my brother. Yes, I love him. Was there anything he said to you? Anything a lesson, a message, a conversation you had with him that stayed with you because you noticed so much about these people and carry them in your heart. He was really my favorite artist of all time. Wow. Of all time. And before I even knew him, he was my favorite artist. I bought the merch. I went to Spencer's. I went to Hot Topic. I had pictures of my mom wearing his merch. You know, maybe it was something he said. If you're asked, there's a bunch of things. He just taught me how to just live life be yourself. People always will appreciate that from you because he always, you see when he passed, everyone had good things to say about him. He was just so genuine and his approach to people. And I remember he was showing me, you know, music he had been working on and unreleased songs. I still haven't seen the light of day and I knew it was showing me I'm like, man, this is great. Man, this is so good. It could be taken as a way of thinking about life, but he was only looking at at the music. He has, he goes, man, everything sounds good, loud. But when there's no noise, how does it sound? And I think in a way of life, the thing for me is like when you're in front of the cameras and there's a bunch of, you know, noise and cameras and reporters seeing you do these amazing things. Like, of course, everyone wants to say it's awesome. It looks great. But when the camera, there's no cameras there when the noise is low, are you willing to still be that person? Are you willing to still do those things for people that people say you do even when there's not reported and you get none of the shine or none of the marketing from it or anything? Like, are you really this person that they say or not? Maybe he was on to something. I'm just thinking about it now. I'm sitting down. I'm sitting down. I'm thinking about you. It could be taken as a life lesson. I think that's a great life lesson. I think that's the most important one. I just got a message from someone that when I first started my career, they had a big radio show and they invited me on in London. And I was like, just starting out. And he just messing me and I was, I was helping him out with something now. And he goes, dude, the reason why I love you is because you still remember how I helped you out back then. And I was like, yeah, man, how can I forget? Like, you know, for me, that was one of the biggest moments in my career. And so to me, that's what life is made of. It's like those memories, the moments of where you built with people and they stayed with you when you had nothing and they'll be with you when you have everything. Oh, man, nothing again. For sure. When I was coming up, I remember being on the newspaper where I'm from. And Mr. Haley, and they're forget. He texted me the other day and he was telling me about how it was awesome to see your journey when you were like growing up, covering my dad in his high school when he was playing and then covering my dad again as a coach. And now got to cover me as a player coming up under as his son. John was just talking about it. And he was just saying like after the thing, you know, he would never expect me to reach back out to him. And I was like, no, it just text me and I appreciate you. And I just thank him for giving me those chances because at that time, like you said, it was the biggest moment in my career to be in your city's newspaper, to be in that newspaper and central jerseys. I was like, man, I'm on top of the world. So I never forget that. Cole, I could talk to you for hours. Honestly, you're my type of human. I appreciate you, man. I mean, the death, the thoughtfulness, the reflection, the amount you've learned from every single person in your life is it's really unbelievable. I can't wait for you to write a book one day. Don't go into all of this. I'm being serious. I'm going to have a few words from you to that. I'm right there to come on. Honestly, I feel like you have so much to offer, so much to give. I'm so excited for all the young people that look up to you and admire you and can learn from you and all facets of life. But we end every episode of on purpose with a final five. These questions have to be answered in one sentence maximum. We ask it to every guest on the show. Okay. So five questions and one sentence. Yeah. Carl Anthony tells these are your final five. The first question is, what is the best advice you've ever heard or received? Living a president because the future is not guaranteed. Second question. What is the worst advice you've ever heard or received? You can't do this without me. That's a great one. Who said that? Can you tell us? A lot of people name one. That's a great answer. Question number three. What's something that you used to value that you don't value anymore? I thought money would solve all problems and it would make me the happiest version of myself. I got the money. Didn't save my mom. Didn't save my family members. So what good was it? The money never brought the happiness. It was the fact that the money bought the vacation to bring the people. So if you think about the people was bringing the happiness, never the money. Realize it didn't mean that much. And it really never did. It has always been about people. Humans have always came from interaction. We've always found wealth in that. And somewhere in the line we thought currency was going to change the value of human interaction. And it's always going to be the number one thing you could do in your life is listening, talking, interacting. Question number four. Dis about overthinking. Repeat after me and complete the sentence. I think too much about. I think too much about the things that I can't handle or I can't control. Fifth and final question. We ask this to every guest who's ever been on the show. If you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be? Treat people the way you want to be treated. Simple. If you do that simply, we should be just fine. Yeah. I don't know where along the way. We started adding all these stipulations and stuff. But it was just a simple rule, simple law. Treat people how you would like to be treated. You're all being a better spot. Amazing. I have something I want to gift to you actually. Oh, it's it. Oh, it's it. We have a special gift from Gatorade. Hey, I don't think you've seen this. No, I have not. So I will eliminate. That is my favorite. Actually, you're telling me you're guava earlier. Yeah. Who is it that got you on the guava? Uh, Jada Pigasmo. Yeah. Auntie Auntie Smoon. Auntie Jada. Yeah. Carl Auntie, champion. Appreciate you. Congratulations. Thank you, man.