NBA Insider on Betting Scandal, Chauncey Billups Poker Games, & Next Star Traded

Hello everybody, and welcome to Flagrid today. We're joined by the leak legends Okay, more scoops than a basket robin Now tell us how the mob is infiltrate the NBA. I don't want to go there yet All right, it's just so too soon too soon. No, no, but let's get it. We'll get that. I'm more jelly But surely I'm more just want to understand like since it's an insane story Yeah, like can you at least break down like what people are saying what what the idea is obviously I've done some research Do whatever but like I'm curious. What is the allegation? So let's go back 2024 John tape porter. Yes to my contract on the Toronto Raptors. Yes, he essentially gets charged first He gets a huge on investigation. Yeah, then he gets banned. Yeah, and then he gets formally charged Yeah with essentially gambling, but you know, it's it's different names in the in the in the FBI world It's like wire fraud Laundering this game. It's like shaving point. It's it's it's yeah exactly. It's that Yeah, but basically it was a group of like a handful of people Essentially, it's a network of people with him They were basically getting information whether he was gonna sub himself out Yeah, so then they just go all in on the unders and they're putting like hundreds of thousands of dollars Like you look back on it and you're like if the sportsbooks or people saw like three four people are going like hundreds of thousands of dollars in Doesn't it make it so obvious, but these people did it. Yeah, obviously once it happened the sportsbooks They pick it up like I get immediately like immediately so yeah, and the leak flags it so the moment that happens The league basically at the time. I'll never forget it. They listened him out as personal reasons Yeah, and at the time everyone started to hear it was because He's being investigated for for gambling essentially on his games or giving inside of information and that was the first of its kind that it never happened before Those same people there they get charged everything with the FBI with the feds These are the mob guys you're saying. No, these are both these are these are the betters These are the betters and I think his buddies or they because I thought at that time he was kind of like he was texting with them There were threads on it. I think I think it was like discord channels like They didn't know in a way that like it ended up getting out there and people would see the messages and it's like you could have done That's smarter if you're gonna do it, but basically it's a group of these four or five people and Once they get charged what happens when these people get charged by the feds someone snitches Eastern District of New York So those four or five people lead to after a year and a half later last week 34 new arrests. Wow, but it's all from that origin OBS day start snitching on other people involved I'm not saying I'm not saying S word. I'm saying to cooperate see the last week. I'm doing TV I just like you know the feds are waiting to see who these 34 people are gonna cooperate right on right when they cooperate with so off Those handful of people that you multiply by six you end up with what we got last week, which is 30 plus Yeah, but that also includes what we saw with the poker the illegal poker scanner So it's two different scandals right now and those people are not connected the poker people in the game The people there's three or four people that are connected with both They're involved on both and that's why the FBI is going is they're like a whole Rico Including Damon Jones would we'll get there. So basically there's two separate cases System coach the Lakers for anybody. Yeah, Damon Jones former NBA player. Yes, he made a LeBron. He made a LeBron famously Yeah, I mean they played several years together in Cleveland. Yeah, that was the most time he'd spent on one team Other than that, he was a journeyman player, but he spent a lot of time in Cleveland Yeah, he was really close to LeBron, which Shaquille O'Neill like the list goes on and on on yeah, and then he was a coaching Cleveland unofficially on the Lakers 22 20 23 file bankruptcy a few times a few times Yeah, he's sent a couple text message. He essentially he's been living in Vegas. Yeah, for the last several years as someone who doesn't Doesn't have a good food The are you know the wind go back and forth So basically there's two different scandals right now. So one is this illegal poker rigging scandal that includes Damon Jones That includes Chauncey Billups, but it also is being led and fronted by Mafia mafia members and mob members and that is the Italian mob. I think what Cache Patel Cache Patel said On it in his press conference was essentially like four of the five big Italian, you know mob families that mafia families are I assume Italian. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So racist And so That is the backdrop. So those Individuals are basically Damon Jones, and also the face cards what they call it. So they're the celebrities that are being Essentially thrown and flaunted. Yeah to the fish is what they call that the people are supposed to go there Yeah, and then lose their money because they're being played because there's the X-rays in a way There's these there's these different sunglasses sunglasses where you can see the cards. Yeah, that's sick by the way That's insane club insane. So so now that we've like that's one part of the scam We're just waiting everybody. Yeah, we're not even we're not even at the terror of zero double Yeah, yeah, we're just wetting beaks. We're just wetting beaks right now because I want people to understand who you are and why you have perspective on all this stuff Okay, so You are the top insider in the NBA right now Which means that you have access to probably the most information that nobody else has access to You get paid the big bucks Okay, the box won't you about a retired watch. Yeah, you had to put it up and he had a little salty ass message when he retired Did you see that? No, I didn't see that I'm like I'm a whole lot for him. I'm a lot of people I hope he can have the career I had or something like that. We worked together for two plus years Nothing but respect. He gave you the Trump. I wish him well. No I hope I can have the career. Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, okay, but you are and I think a lot of people know this But like you guys are the high the insiders of the highest paid people in Entertainment maybe outside of like a steve and a smith or something like that But what you have is incredibly valuable and that works understand that so these relationships you have are incredibly valuable So even talking about something like this Probably terrifying for a guy like you for sure, but it's like I just think to the facts As long as I stick to the facts. Yeah, and I stick to like every side every every side of the of the of the equation Is being accounted for. I mean, that's my job. That's how I go to sleep at night and yeah, I feel like I I handle the worst when you feel like you handled things the wrong way or didn't show someone side or you treated someone You know unfairly because that's not the job the job is There's a lot of hard conversations. I have every day. I mean, I have to job is just deciding when is the time to report something It might have I You know reached out to the many people as I can on this do I have enough sources on this right that's like literally all the job is Like right now I'm sitting on four or five different things. I'm just deciding when is the right time drop that I give us the right time Like this is the right time right now. Give us one actually something today earlier before I got here Which would be a pulling chauncy bilbs and taros your salaries. Mm-hmm taros yours making 26.6 million dollars Chauncy bills is making seven million dollars a season. Oh 33 million dollars being pulled frozen They're not going to see the money. Oh the only way taros here sees the money is if he's innocent After a year of this or two years or three and however long this goes chauncy bilbs if this goes the full year He's not going to see any of his money and the investigation is going to go wow. It's gonna go wow It's gonna go least serious. That's why he showed up in the clutch hoodie the I'm gonna be surprised if that's if that's because you think about it You're getting picked up at six in the morning, right? You've got to have on your car in the morning Yeah, I'm the first thing you grab. Yeah, he's walking. That's what I would grab That's what I would grab on chauncy. I ain't going down alone, bro Rich I ain't going down alone. I know where the bodies are buried I don't know who to call Where he knows in this hoodie when he sees it. It's a great hoodie. Yeah, it's great. I covered it. Hi Quality why do you have stuff? Not yet. I'm not not of trouble Paul from the gambling ring I hope not. I hope not. I hope not. I think there's an interesting thing though about About what has happened with gambling that has made This more possible for players Like David Stern I think never wanted gambling involved in the NBA as far as I was my understanding initial initially That was it's taken the once Adam silver started You know, I think speaking about how can we regulate it? Right legalized gambling is good for the game right and then now the NBA I think they've been at the forefront of this right as far as partnering with legalized gambling But let's make some of my last partnerships. No, no, I'm not crazy. I'm not sure The reason why and there is like you know some wisdom that would say like Not not being associated with the gambling creates a little bit of separation from things like this happening Well, JB Bigger stuff the pissence coach. He said not all money is good money So there is that that school so so there so some of these people are now The other argument is people are gonna do it anyway So like there you're gonna do with some guy that's wearing a leather jacket in a bag of an alley or they're gonna do it You know online some professional thing whatever the point that I'm trying to make is the game has changed in a way The game of gambling in that you can do all these like prop bets Those are the killers and those are the killers because before you had to actively throw a game. You had to make sure your team lost. Now you've just got to make sure you get less than eight rebounds. And it's easy to get less than eight rebounds, well less than six assists, when you just sub yourself out, because your toe hurts. So you get your little four assists, your team might be up by 10. You go, okay, my team's not going to lose. I'm not going to have negatively impact my teammates. And I know that I haven't gotten, I'm not going to cover the spread. And then my boys or the mafia, whoever it is, can make a bunch of money and nobody gets hurt. I least imagined that under on points, I just pass. It's like the most charitable way to do it. Well, now I'm getting you the open buzz. But what I would say is that certain people are like paid to score. So you really need to remove yourself from the game in order to not hit those problems. But would that be a fair description? Well, 100%. But that's why you think about the terror reserve situation in 2023. So we always talked about Johnson Billups. His, the FBI ledges that he knowingly participated in rigging illegal Mafia-led poker games. That's one situation. The other situation is terror reserve. That started in 2023. Same characters as the Jante Porter situation in 2024. That allegation is that he told his friend, a guy named Deniro, which means money, right? Yeah, he does. I, I, I didn't, I failed out of Spanish. Yeah, that's how I think senior. Yeah, yeah. So Deniro white people. Deniro over here, he, I guess, as the, as the allegation goes, he gets the information from Terry Rozier that, hey, like, you know, the Charlotte Hornets at this point in the season, March, I think it was March 23, 2023. They're, we all know where the Charlotte Hornets are at at that point of the year. They're probably ending up shutting it down. They're, they're playing for a lot of us, a lot of us. How story goes? He tells his boy tanking as well. Yeah, tanking, tanking is the two right. Actually, tanking is the word they use in the indictment. So actually, I'm saying it's a tanking. Yes. He tells his boy, Deniro, I'm shutting it down the night. I'm just going to play a couple minutes and I'm out. Yeah. The story goes, then his boy tells, like, other members of this same network of a handful of people, they all bet hundreds of thousands of dollars on the unders. They all win. But again, when this happens, it gets flagged immediately. Yep. And when it happens, the NBA launches its own investigation. Yep. The NBA can do one thing. Few things. They can take his phone, which they did. They can interview him, which they did. Then they can ask to talk to other relevant people on the team, get medical records. See, it was really hurt. Whatever they find out he was. There's nothing on his phone that implicates him. All right. Cool. They let him play. The FBI, I mean, was investigating the hell out of this. They're talking his boy, Deniro, probably. They're talking to all those other friends. Yeah. And they come up with the assertion that Tero Zero was in on it, that these guys, Deniro, these other guys allegedly went to his house with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from the winnings and gave it to him. That's in the allegations. Woof. So damn. The team making 26 million, like, he's making 26 million dollars. He had just sign a four-year, $97 million. I think what a lot of people realize is how many NBA players are degenerate gamblers. Degenerate gamblers, like constantly gambling. Not so much. You get this about golf too, a lot. Phil Nicholson is rumors. They're on the flights. It's gambling, not so like, games on flights. That happens. Yeah. You're not gambling for the money. You're gambling for the thrill of gambling. You're the competition. I mean, I heard with Terry, they didn't actually catch him because they waited for him to do it a second time. So with Johnny, they flagged the first one because these crazy bets that came in on something that's kind of obscure. And they're like, "Ooh, we think there's something up here." And then he did it again. Johnny. Yeah. Yeah. So the second time, they're like, it's confirmed. So I heard with Terry, they did it the first time and they were essentially waiting for him to do it again, but it never came. And that's one example. Exactly. One example. Now, how did they get to the point of two and a half years of investigating him? And then we're putting him in cuffs. It's because of all. They clearly feel like they have enough evidence from his friend, from those other people in the network. So there's a group of guys. If you go back and read the, if you read the indictment, it's dozens of pages. It's guy named Eric. There's guy named Shane. There's all these guys that allegedly are the network. So this guy, De Niro, tells Eric, Eric tells Shane, and Shane tells Marvis, or whoever, they're just going around and they're sharing this information, this inside information, and they're gambling it away. Now, Terry Rosier's perspective is, I'm just, and this is the other issue that the NBA has. Yeah. And I know, I think you might know where I'm going with this. Players in the league, this is like not abnormal. They tell their boys and these people around them all the time. So they're talking about playing them all. Exactly. Like LeBron, so the other part is LeBron James. So Damon Jones is another guy, but he was involved in both. He was doing the poker and he was doing, and his was more flagrant. Damon messages just broke. And he said it. He said, I don't really. He's broke and hang around rich people. And that shit got to be painful. You said it. I didn't say anything. Yeah. So what if you deny that? What if you knew the big man wasn't playing because he told you we're in the shoot. So there were texts where Damon Jones is telling these same network of people, like, you know, put the, you know, put the house on the walkie. Make sure your guy D Jones eats to essentially is what he said. But he, again, how is he getting that information or a big player? Is it playing for the Lakers, put the house on the walkie? So he doesn't explicitly say, but we know later that day, LeBron James gets declared out with an ankle injury. And that's who the player he was referring. And that's the guy who he was with in LA. So the question, the question is, is it I'm not trying to like, it is a problem for the league, but again, how do you, how do you just stick that? It's going to seem like I'm running defense for LeBron here. And I'm really not. But like, the point I'm trying to say is, like, is LeBron going to risk a billion dollar empire? So Damon Jones can you tell Grant, right? Like, it's cheaper for him to just give Damon Jones money. We gave him an assistant coaching job. So that's what I've asked about this tear rose here thing. Like if your boy wants money, just give him, if he wants to make a hundred grand, but it's like, then what I get responsible with is he didn't know he was taking that information to sell it to network of gamblers. Exactly. So how many players in the league today do that? I think a lot. A lot of guys give information to people around them. So real quick, before the question. So it's like, it's not, if the idea is, are they giving information so their boys can make money? Or they simply having a conversation about what happens in their life, which is instantly. And then that guy takes that information, which is inside information. Think about this. Think about like this, Al. You just, okay, go, go. So I can see that point of view. But how do you know ahead of time that you're going to get injured? Because they're going out with injuries. No, no, there is no. No, no, no, it's definitely not around there. No, no, no, no. LeBron James is right though. Like LeBron James essentially, like in this example, as it's alleged, before the public knew that he was going to be out with an ankle injury, Damon Jones tells a group of betters. Yo, LeBron's out. Bet on Milwaukee for this game. He's out. And then six hours later it comes out. That's it. But Rozier, it has happened where players are going into the game and like, they're going to play this game and they're out. You know, like, this is the game. I know of at least a few examples of time ahead where I'm like, this guy's going to play this game and then he's going to have to have surgery. You know, I'm not, yeah, there's nothing I'm doing with that information. I'm a reporter. So if they tell their, their camp that it's like, now it's like our player is going to program themselves differently. Like, do I not tell my best friend? Do I just leave it to just telling my trainer and my agent? And are you going to impose punitive damages on players for sharing information? Like with your, even your trainer, can you tell your trainer ankle hurts? Because your trainer could tell his boy, yo, put everything on. I mean, you have to tell your trainer, but it is different though. It is different. And it does look a little different. And again, the FBI is alleging that Terozier was in on it. Like, let's be clear here. The FBI is fully alleging that he was in on it. Right. That he was getting the proceeds of the, of the, of the winnings. Yeah. Terozier is like, yo, I just said it to him. This is a friend. What he did with the information. That's on him. Yeah. Which again, that does happen all the time. If all these players had people around them that were just betting with the information, we'd be seeing this all over the league. Yeah. But I think a lot of, I think we've had a couple bad apples. I think the NBA has had a couple bad apples. And now from here, what more can be unearthed? I think the fact that it got from like a handful of these guys in 2024, tower at over 30. It's already multiplied by six. Also check it. We're talking about like mob guys who put crazy money on these profits. How many of like your friends just put five K down 50, 50 bucks. You're 50 bucks. And you just made some quick. How many of your friends? Like you knew LeBron is going to be out busy. He was hobbling around. So it's the janitor who's cleaning up the floor. All the sudden goes, Hey, I bet you 100 that the Lakers lose today. Like this information has always swirled around. It's just a way to make crazy amounts of money on it. So now you're doing illegal things within legal parameters. Also before it was all illegal. Yeah. Now gambling is legal. We're just doing illegal things with it. And it's just a little bit marketer. And it's like who's doing the illegal thing? Like it's not illegal for a player to say how they feel to their friends. Or do you make that illegal? But if the friend takes that information and then puts the house down in the words of, well, I guess the text said that. And then you also tell a network of gamblers. That's fucked up. Yeah. I'm saying that's fucked up. But I'm like, how much can we blame the players like he's getting the stick. It's getting a scrape. Like, do we literally tell the players you're not allowed to talk to anybody during the season, you're not allowed to have conversations with people. - That's not realistic. - It's exactly. - So it's like if Lebron's kids know if his fucking ankles fucked up, all it takes is one of them being like, man, did you see Dad hobbling around? Then his friend tells somebody, his friend comes over and sees Lebron hobbling around. Says, you know what? So do you just get rid of prop bets? Again, I will say this, I didn't really start getting to the nitty gritty of betting until last week when I knew I had to talk on TV about this. I know what the under, I don't know what any of this meant, but it seems to me like, - God, he didn't. - Where'd you get that nice ass Jack? - It seems to me. (all laughing) - It's the big bucks, my God. - It's so good. - What was paying for it? - Could you explain prop bets? - I don't gamble at all. What is a prop bet? - We were explaining it before. It was basically betting like, it's the under, right? - It's kind of betting you were a bet. - Under eight revolvers, over six assists. - Yeah, so they're like, - It's like specified. - It's not like when you're losing the game. - Got it, got it. - And that's where a lot of guys will go, that's where if a guy's purposely missing shots or in baseball, they're purposely, I don't know, like creating errors or something like that. - Striking out. - Yeah, this is weird. Striking out is almost understandable because it's so hard to hit a fucking baseball, but with basketball, these prop bets, anybody can go, okay, what am I at, seven rebounds? Watch me get six rebounds and nobody will even notice. And the second I get six, I can pull myself out of the game. That's the thing, we can't force players to play. - So at any point in time, they can just say, I'm hurt and then they're a hundred million dollar investment from a franchise, they go, well, don't play 'em because we don't want to hurt 'em more. - Well, the fact that it's regulated to the sports books, if someone places a crazy bet on a super, - They're gonna pick it up. - Neat, it's gonna get flat. - They're gonna pick it up. - But what if you put them out? - Yeah, exactly. What if it's a thousand bucks? - Well, they just have to have a threshold. - They probably, but this is the other thing, the envy I would pay my side, bitches. (laughing) - Just know the number that gets flagged and just that one dollar on that. - Just a little one. - Yeah, I mean, that's the thing that the NBA and these sports books are, I know they're having conversations right now, they have to figure out how do you better regulate and deal with these, I think specifically, the prop bets are a hundred percent big issue. Like I've heard some people say, just eliminate them. Like, take it off the board. - Yeah. - You know, but they need to figure out how do you do that and how do you do it in a way that it's really regulating this process. - 'Cause these sports books are picking it up. Like if a group of like six people are going like, you know, I don't know the number, but if they're going all in on one specific thing and it's like very niche and it's weird. - And I think the one thing on assists, the one thing that they have then, I think if they've removed like two ways, I think they're either in the process or they're gonna remove the two ways. Two way players. So it's not like standard contracts, but two way players. I think that might be a first step. 'Cause you're thinking about it. Who's really betting on two way players? That's what Johnny Porter was. - Yeah, two way players. - That's a great piece. Also there, the idea is you're making so much money as an NBA player that you wouldn't risk it, Terry Rosier, on making a couple bucks. - Johnny Porter. - Two way players make it down to four. - 500K, they need that. - That might be a thing. But they need to figure that part out. And the other thing that I know the league is trying to figure out is injury reporting. So injury reporting, essentially, guys will be listed doubtful, then questionable, then they'll play or some guys might be listed doubtful or out and then they'll suddenly play or the reverse. They'll be out and then they'll play. And that'll mess up the deal, bless you. - It's tricky for the gambling companies. You make so much on profits. So I'm cutting a huge revenue stream because some people fix it. That's, I gotta lose all this money. 'Cause some bad actors. And then the NBA, you know what I mean? How do you, what is the dollar amount? If we let that leak, then you're gonna see a bunch of bets right under that threshold. Now do we flag that? You have to keep that number internal as well. You can't tell anybody what's the threshold is. You gotta keep that quiet. And then we just watch. - And the profits are fun. Like it makes you want to watch throughout the game. 'Cause before when you just bet on the outcome, then it's like, ah, whatever. I'll just wait and see who wins. - Dude, in the Super Bowl, what color is the Gatorade? What's the fucking color? How long is the National Anthem gonna go? These are bets that everybody gets in on. - So again, I don't know the solution, but I know for sure the NBA's got somewhat of, I mean, they're in their own words. This is a dire problem. There's a dire risk that comes with the gambling. And so they're really trying to get on the same page with the sportsbooks and trying to figure out how do they come up with the right measures? Because that's what this is, is like, because people were able to bet on these two-way players with the Johnny Porter thing, that's why that popped off. And so is there like a threshold of player, you just eliminate from those prop bets? Do you just leave it to the upper class of players? I don't know what the solution is, but that's on, you know, the Lee's gotta figure that out. - Sorry, and you might not know this, and I would love if you'd even just speculate. How does the Mafia get involved? Like how does the Mafia get to Chansey Billups? How does that whole thing happen? - So that's the illegal poker games. So in those games are like, I think it was like, I think what Cache Patello said was 11 states. It was, the stuff was moving around. So you tell me what we're talking about. There were games in New York, games in Vegas, games in LA, games, I mean, all these different states. And yeah, I mean, I think what they did is they made a connection with Chansey Billups, Damon Jones and Chansey Billups. They have a relationship. Like going back to their playing games, coaching guys. - Kailu too, like all of a sudden. - There's a network of all pierced tie. - Kailu too, religious to get caught up in this. (laughing) Essentially, there's a bass card. They call it a bass card, right? - Yeah, like. - See, but there's never seen it showing up and playing and knowing. But if you show up. - What the FBI is saying, you could be the mark. The FBI is a, think about it from this perspective. The Chansey Billups shows up in plays, but has no idea that this game is being run by the Mafia. - Yeah. - And that he's being used as a bass card. What if he just got presented a deal? A pierced fee of $50,000. Show up, play this poker with these bunch of random people. - Bring your friends, like you 10,000 dollars for your friend you bring. - They don't know what's new. - And you leave. - And he has no idea. - What's he winning every go-go? - But what the FBI is alleging is that he was in on it, that he knew everything was going on and that he was purposefully going about cheating the game and cheating, you know, the fish as they called it. That's the allegations. Now the FBI is going to have to prove that in court. Chansey Billups' camp and Rozier's camp for that matter. - They made it clear they were innocent. - You saw that professional poker player? - They came out. - He came out two years prior. So was it one of those things? - So let's say in the world Chansey Billups' innocent. - Yeah. - So everyone with the professional poker player said real quick? - He said that he was, essentially, I'm paraphrasing, paraphrasing here. He was told about these poker games for multiple times, but he knew that it was a rigged game, that was a cheat game. - Yeah. - And he bypassed participating multiple times. - Oh yeah, that's the guy right here. - Oh yeah, that's it. - And then he went on a McAfee show too and basically gave the whole breakdown. - Oh no way, recently. - But like two years prior? So everyone in the poker world knew that these games were fixed. - I mean, this is something for some reason. - Who wants to play poker with Chansey Billups that bad? - I love Chansey Billups too. I love Chansey Billups. - He's all the famous. - Are they about to strip that shit? That's gone. - I was all built around Chansey Billups, but I had some friends who went and played it, both in LA and Vegas. And it obviously was for sure confirmed to be cheated. People who clearly didn't even understand the rules of no limit hold 'em are just jamming hundreds of big blinds in with a gutty. - What are big blinds? - I'm just really angry. - Only the pros are losing. - What's tough to do whenever you deal with somebody like high profile like that? Because. - There's a little bond. - They carry a lot of weight and hold a lot of power. So all you can do is kind of unite together and threaten the publicly out him or store him in some sort of capacity. - So there's a big blind and little blind in no limit poker and hold 'em poker. So basically it's two players have to put money out on the table before cards even. - Before cards join. - And then what you can do is other people can match the big blind if they wanna see the cards that come out later. Remember on the river you ever watch poker where you see them fold the three cards out and everybody shares those cards in the middle. So if you see your cards and you see everybody else's cards 'cause that's how the glasses work. Basically you know the hand that everybody has. Not the full hand but you know that point. So what you would do is like bet tons of money on the blind. If you would match the blind and then you would maybe raise it because you know that you have pocket aces and everybody else has shit. So you have a lot of confidence and what he's doing all in. But he's not even all in but what he's saying is like they were betting in ways that you don't really understand the game because like if you did have a great hand you would probably slow play it. Make you think you were gonna win. - Yeah. - You know what I mean but like the guys were so bad that it actually convinced the good poker players to be like not I was pure luck. There's no way. - Yeah, great. - Oh my god. So again there's two different, you know the FBI's got to prove it but they're alleging that Charlie Bilps was in on it that he knew that this game was being cheap. And what is the economy that's connected to the mafia and how the mafia's involved in all this? I mean obviously they're fronting this. They're the leaders in this. They're, I assume profiting gaining some profit from all of this taking money from all these people and then paying up front to Damian Jones and Charlie Bilps. To, now again why are these people coming to, I can't answer that. Why are these people coming to play with Damian Jones and Charlie Bilps? I don't know. Yeah, well I guess there's some people that are like they love playing poker and I guess you can play with an NBA player. But then there are a group of people that did show up and would just be there, stand there. Like Kevin Garnett was, to my understanding he showed up to a game thinking it was a party that he was invited to but it was poker and I guess he doesn't play poker. So he just left. So how many of those guys did that? But like, are you involved in that? - You get a lot of insider information. Do you ever have to protect certain people because they tend to give you a lot of insider information? - Yeah, be honest, bro. - Players, maybe not a play poker. - Plush, plush, plush, plush, plush, plush, plush, plush, plush, plush, plush, plush. - Where's your buddy, no, I know you got a hoodie, bro. - So, for me, my job is information, period. So like, whether it's about this person or that person, I think at this point, I think I've built a reputation that I'm going to have to do my job. Now, the one thing I try to always do with any type of information that I have, whether it's league-related, player-related, team-related, like, I'm going to reach out. I'm going to do all the reach-outs necessary. Like, I'm not just going to put it out without you knowing that it's coming out. Unless, I mean, I really have to. Like, if it's bang-bang, the guy's getting arrested, and I know it, and I don't have the time to reach out to whoever it is from whatever team or play a representative, like, I'm going to do my job. I've got to do it. But, no, I mean, I think, I think I have a job to do. I'm always going to do it to the best of my ability. I don't look at it as protecting or not protecting. I think about it. How do I do it responsibly? How do I do it fairly? And at the end of the day, accurately. That's the biggest thing. I think I'll give you information over and over again with the idea implied or, say, explicitly that, like, if some shit comes bad about my guy, maybe keep that quiet because we keep feeding you information. Well, I think the relationship allows for context, and for me to, like, listen to that side, that other side. But I think, at this point, I've reported on so much positive, negative, and in-between. I think everyone has just realized that, like, I'm going to do my job. Have there been situations where you burned a bridge or somebody got pissed off at you or whatever? I mean, there's hard conversations every day that I have to have. You know, if there's something I'm reporting that someone doesn't want, report, I mean, that's a hard conversation. If there's something that, you know, if I have the truth of a story, and the other side is, like, no, no, no, that's not what it is, but I know that's what it is. I'm going to stand on it. I mean, it happened last year with Jimmy Butler. I don't know how much you guys followed the Jimmy Butler situation. But essentially, yeah, the one when he was trying to get out of Miami, when he did eventually get out of Miami. So there was a period of weeks where I reported he was open and trade talks. He was open to leaving. These are the teams he wants to go to. Pat Riley came out with a statement so that we're not trading Jimmy Butler. Yeah. Like, but again, that's his perspective. So if I called the heat, and they said, we're not trading him. But I know where this is at. I know the truth on this. Yeah. Either I'm going to trust my sourcing, which I did. I take their position in the context. I'm sure in our ESPN news story, we put this what Pat Riley said. Yeah. But I'm standing on the truth. So to answer your question, long story short, like, there's always going to be those conversations to make sure I get the perspective in the context. But I don't look at it as protecting is not protecting. I think I'm protecting someone if I'm giving me, like, if I'm writing a bad, let's say I'm writing a story that I know is bad toward you, right? Let's say, like, I'm going to call you before that story comes out, I'll get your perspective. But like, and then it's on me to figure out, how do I want to handle it? Do I do I want to add perspective itself? Do you ever have people like what I would do is if I was in the league is I would call you and I would feed you information to shape a narrative before another one could take hold. You know, I'd be like, oh, this is this is what happened. I'm going to give this to you right now. And now we're getting ahead of the narrative. So how do you defend against that? I mean, I feel like that does that has to happen eventually to whether it's at any level of this, whether you're reporting on a player or team, whatever. What I try to do to ambassadors like that or deal with situations like that is like, I think it every perspective. So if I'm getting a perspective about a certain team or a player or a situation, you know, like league issues are different though, right? Like if you're if, can I can we pause here? Yeah, go. Yeah, I'm in a podcast saying it's taping something urgent. Yeah, they just texted me too. What is it? It's just the appeal. Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. Okay. All right. Wow. So I heard right. So LeBron is retiring after this. I just heard that. So what was that? He's locked in. Give me a second. All right, tweeted. We're back. Yeah, we're back. Well, what's the question? I don't remember the question. I forget what the question is, but I went back to social base of the NBA. Yeah, the players union is is going to appeal and challenge the NBA's decision to take Terry Rosers pay while he's on this level. Yeah, they got a fight for the player snap. Yeah. Okay. All right. So here's the thing. We've learned so far that people with access to information, close to players can are targets of corrupt individuals trying to make money. Have you ever been targeted by the mafia? Never. Never. They never tried to like cozy up or not even the mafia like degenerate gamblers. They're never like, you'll give me something. Never. I mean, you'll have the occasional person to like, you know, man, it's this guy playing. Yeah, where's this guy going? I feel like you must get that every day jokingly at least. I always went. Where's this? The one I really get a lot is where's this guy going? Yeah, this guy can ask for a trade because we're going to ask you that. Yeah, we'll get there. I usually the thing that I get most is like trades signings like if like LeBron like LeBron next year is a free agent. The question I'll get in the lead up. Where's LeBron going? That's what I get. People don't necessarily ask me is this guy sitting or is that the point? Yeah, like maybe that, you know, that's a good thing. Hopefully this podcast doesn't start that. I feel like I am pretty good though at like just smiling and like laughing and like moving on about my day. I don't. Yeah. Cause my job, like you'll read it on my Twitter. If I have something, you'll read it on my Twitter. Like I'm not going to give you my information. Oh, like that's not going to happen. Well, that's a good question. Has there ever been something that was like so potentially destructive to a player or the league where you couldn't release it? That I haven't that I never did. No, because everything that I've got that like if I felt like it rose to the level of like, yo, this is a big deal. I have to do the job. I mean, I'm doing the job. So it's 10 times I'm doing the job. Have you ever had people pressure you though? Like agents and shit. Don't do this. Hey, please don't do. We'll give you another piece of information or we'll give you another leak over here if you don't release this. I mean, those types of tradeoffs, I feel like the tit for tat that happens all the time. But at the end of the day, if I feel like I need to report it. Like whether I'm reporting it in an hour or I'm reporting it in a day, like I'm reporting it. So you might give them 24 hours. You might give them time. Like I'll give you a great example. Yes. Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID. Now think about that. Think about the impact that I don't believe. Think about the impact that I had in real time. What occurred after that? And like I sat on that for like an hour and a half, you know, like because not only internally. I can't say that. At the athletic, we had, I was working at the athletic at the time. We had a group of lawyers and like this is the first time COVID had been reported on in sports. Yeah. Like an hour or two later, like I think Tom Hanks tested positive with his wife. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And like it had just started trickling. And then Rudy Gobert hit and it was like. Boom. Yeah. Yeah. Like I was on CNN that next night. At that night, the next day, I was on CNN. Like a dozen times that year, just because the intersection of like social justice, health. But like I had to sit on that not only internally for lawyers, but like it was such a sensitive thing with player, team, league, like all of that combined. The U.S. economy crashed the next day. Those two Tom Hanks and then Rudy Gobert and went from I dropped everything shut down. Everything stood there. But at the end of the day, this is how I look at it. They're not always going to like it, but they're going to respect it. Right. And that's how I move. And I feel like at the end of the day, like relationships are the biggest form of currency for me. Like that's the biggest thing you've ever been threatened with relationship or they ever like, if you release this, then don't ever come to us for a leak. We're going to somebody else. We're going to some young new kid. You get that. But at the end of it, you got to stand on business. But then those same people you saw the interact with. Have you ever gotten a negative response where like you call someone up, you're like, hey, I need to get your side and they just cuss you out? That's happened plenty of times. Really? That's how I'm playing it. But again, it's, I viewed as part of it. Right. If you're not willing to have hard conversations, like the one thing about me, I feel like I'm very accessible. Like you can always reach me. I'm always going to answer. Like I'm here for the, for the hard conversations. Now, the, the people that I reach out to that don't want to have those hard conversations. I'm a report. I'm going to do the job. They don't want those hard conversations. I do. Right. So, I mean, I, I feel like if, if you're doing this job at a high high level and you're not having those hard conversations, I think you're, you're not, either you're not doing the job at a high level or you're not doing the job the right way. What's the specific name? What's the craziest thing someone said to you on the phone? That's funny. Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. That one. That's fun. What everyone just came to your head right there. I would say that one. Right there. I'll just say, you know, threats of physical violence are always up there. But I haven't been assaulted yet. Who are you? Some was like, if you release this, I'm going to beat the shit out of you. Yeah, but like, again, people in the state of where they're at. Anything come out of their mouth. God, it got it. So they're just acting emotionally. Yeah, but like again, I'm someone that I feel like people who know me who are going to end up watching this. I think of myself as a pretty like easygoing, like I'm not an emotional state of my person that like everything you say, I'm going to like take the heart and then I'm going to like come on the defensive and I'm going to take the heart. Yeah. I know how it is, especially with news that's like negative, if you're a, if you're a team person, I'm reporting about a coach or something happened or if I'm talking to an agent and something happens with the player, like, and if it's negative and you don't want it out, they're like, I understand. Like, I'm putting myself in their shoes and I'm here for the conversations. I understand any sense of emotion people are feeling. Well, there are any topics you stay away from because we had Steve and A here and he was like, he'll get scoops about personal stuff, but he never takes any personal information to the air. He keeps a basketball. Yeah. I feel like I, I, I keep a basketball, like if it impacts basketball, like a player having a birth of a child or a player like, you know, having a, you know, you know, that I know I'm going to have to report on. That's going to be like, if a guy misses a game or misses on court stuff because of that, that's when I have to touch on it. But for me, I, I stay away from like a cheating scandal's not something you're interested in. Yeah. The most TMZ I've gone is the email you doke a situation when that was going on. That was why unbelievable. Knee along. And, and I, you know, I got the proper confirmations report about the relationship he had internally with the staffer, the improper relationship that he had and that, you know, end up leading to his ouster in Boston, now he's in Houston, by the way, amazing, doing amazing, he's in Houston. He's got a massive new extension to soft season. Keep your wife away. He's a big love. Keep your wife away. He's a big love. He's cracking someone's wife. Right. It was somebody's wife. He was cracked. A player's wife. Allegedly. I don't know. I don't think it was a player's wife. It wasn't a player's wife. No, no, no, no. Staff member. Yeah. Staff member's wife. Yeah. He was using his staff member. Peace out. Yeah. What was the bubble like, man? The bubble was wild. There were shorties in there. How do they sneak the shorties in there? Like, that's what we need to know. Were they making them work? I didn't have to clean the rooms or something. I didn't see any. You didn't see any drowsiness. No, I saw none. You saw none? None. Zero. Oh, wow. Everything I saw was being delivered outside my room when I was in quarantine. Female and male. I didn't even tell you. You can't leave the room until the food is already there. You hear it fall. I mean, these are alpha, alpha, alpha males, full of testosterone. You can't have balls that inflate it. You know, they need to get you to let it out. They need to let loose. They didn't just have some come in for like a week or two stint, just to drain them. They need to inflate you. They must have set a few and they're just as deflated. They must have. They must have. I don't know about that one. I didn't see any. Now they might not have wanted to wander where I was at, the hotel area I was at. Yeah, yeah. It's probably the stay away zone. Fair enough. Fair enough. The only thing I saw with the players was that there was a restaurant a lot of guys would go to. Yeah. The center of like a lake. And then you would see guys like Anthony Davis and LeBron, like riding bikes, okay, across to the restaurant by the lake to the restaurant by the lake. So maybe the restaurant by the lake was the big dates. Yeah, media couldn't go in. Was it even a lake or just women dripping on a cloud? Oh, it was a alligator. It was a alligator. It was a alligator. I never seen that. I get a chump. That was something they didn't know. They never let go. Never let go. Never let go. It's crazy in the bubble. You see, I'm just just being cold over here. That's it. We didn't see anything. You want to tell us what he heard. He even tells us what he know. I heard a lot of stuff in the boat. I heard a lot of stuff in the bubble. What did you hear? I mean, my first week there's a player's boycott. There's a boycott. Remember when the player's boycott of the games. I'm talking about. No, no, no, no, no. Why do you think that was boycott? Oh, okay. They said in the only fans and all of a sudden they wanted to play basketball again. They were the only fans there. You got to leave. You got to leave. What do you mean? If they actually did bring them in, you know, you give them a little excursion. Wait, you could take them out. You could get out of the bubble. I thought you can't get out of the bubble. You can't get out of the bubble. No one got out of the bubble. But they had to be people that got into the bubble. You sneak them in. That's like a cafeteria. I wasn't there. I didn't see that happen. No, I know you didn't. Did you notice that the staff was like inordinately hot? Yeah. Like the cleaning lady. Barely. There's barely any people there. There's just some dogs in there. So if they did it, if they did it. It was. They went back. I was vintage. I didn't see anything when they used to have to work for it. What happened to it? Reporting. The facts, Shannon. What happened to the facts? I thought you were reporting back. But I don't see it. I don't see it. - Players popular? (laughing) - That's a great question. - That's a great question. - I mean, you gotta think about it. - I mean, we're trying to think about it. - We're trying to think about it. - We're doing that thing in a circle? (laughing) - You gotta drink a water. (laughing) - These are some hot topics. - I mean, are your DMs just constantly, I saw this person here, like are there people trying to, people trying to give me tips on stories? - Is that common? I mean, I would say sometimes, fun fact, my brother actually runs my public Instagram. - No. - Any DMs? - Yeah, I love it. - Yeah, yeah, keep it in the family. - That's the only guy I trust. - Yeah, yeah. - Was that who we met just out there? - No, no, no, no. - No. - My little brother. - Who was that? - That's Indian. - That's Indian. - And he passed the study. - That was an Indian dude. - Oh my lord. (laughing) - Oh fuck. - No, I'm just telling you now. - But do you relate it at all? - I know, I didn't know that he was Indian, you know. - Yeah. - But, okay, so you're not related to that guy at all? - No, I'm not related to him, but my brother, Marsha's my Instagram. - I was about to say, handles that. I don't see any DMs. - 'Cause you absorbed the fuck out of the good-looking jeans if that was the case. (laughing) - I got his hands on me. - I'm talking about boys. - They got like six more. - Six more. - Six more beautiful bads. He's very handsome. Come on in here. - Carly hair. - Get your ass in here. We have the bubble, baby. (laughing) - I got to sneak a minute. - I sneak a minute. - No, that's your PR guy. - That's the ESPN PR guy. - Oh, that's the ESPN PR. - Yes. - What's his name? - Rontz. - Rontz. - Yeah, he's getting the shout out. - Yo, Rontz, shout out. - Rontz. - Rontz. - Rontz is a legend. - I heard you was cleaning up in the bubble, my boy. (laughing) - Was he down in the bubble? - I didn't see him down there. - Yeah, I didn't see him. - I didn't see him. - He didn't see much of nothing down there. - I saw what I needed to see. - I saw the games. - Yeah, yeah. - I heard you were back in the day. - You know, I do have some NBA ties and you know that I beat Jay Williams in a 101 game. - Wow. - Did you not know this? - I saw some footage. - This is a thing of legends. - This is OG stuff. - I let him, I let him think that the game was going to be close and then when it came down to it. - I didn't ask for six. - But they spotted you six. - He said, I gave you six points. I was like, that's the dumbest thing you ever done outside of getting on a motorcycle. - Oh, shit. - I remember this. - I remember this. - I remember this. - Oh, shit. - So, but you just got to go to the end. - Oh, that's a young Chelsea. - Yeah, look at me. - Let's go. - Okay, look, he got some pull off my head. - Yeah. - Try to pull up on me. Not going to happen. - Oh, I've got to renounce. - Okay, so. - I pull up, obviously, missed on purpose. - Re-bounce. - Re-bounce. - I'm amazing. - You got that rebound on it. - Come on, bro. He's not going to box me out. - Okay, look at me. Go right at the ankle. I'm going right at the ankle. I said, CEO. - Oh, my God. - You put a move on him for real. - And then. - He recovered to be honest with you. - He covered fastest. - Did you make this? - Oh, wow. - Of course I made it. - Oh, it was. - But that was your only point. - You only needed one point. - I only scored it. - It was not that I needed. - It was six. - I said, "Hello." He tried to beat you on that. - Oh, that's disrespectful. - Yeah, he tried to. - That's what he gets. - But I don't lose. I've never lost a game one-on-one. We got to play it next time. - Oh, do you like it? - I can hoop. - Can you really hoop? - There's some footage of me shooting. He looks like he'll be able to find it. - Did you ever play with the NBA team in the city? - No. - Not like an actual NBA team. Like the league team that plays in like the. - I was called Suburbs. - Suburbs. - I played middle school, high school. - No, no, no. - I was watching like the NBA association plays in a league in the city. - But you live in. - Chicago. - I'm in Suburbs. - Chicago. - But I never. - No, I didn't play in that. - Okay. - Yeah, no. - All right. - All right. - There's. - There's just footage of my jumping. - Hold on, hold on. Let's get some footage of my jumping. - I want you to rate this jumper. There's gotta be some footage. - All right. - What's the hierarchy of like where you get most of your scoops? Is it coming from players, execs, a friends of players? - I said this to people. - Like, everyone. - Like, anyone you can think of that's associated with the league. Like, sometimes, my favorite is when people guess, like, when I break something, people are gonna guess, where did you get this from? - Mm. - 'Cause they have no idea. - Okay. - I mean, it could be anywhere. You think about the areas, right? League, team, players, anyone else around any of those areas, basically. - You ever got to be a security guard? - Yeah. - I have been asked that, but it's always hypothetically 'cause they know I'll never say. - So what is the way that they ask? - I know you won't say, but. and it's like, you answered that, I won't say. - Yeah. - Okay, what do they think? - Yeah. - You ever get winded and done? Does anyone ever take you out and like maybe give you a little gift for Christmas or something? Just to get something. - You got the clutch hoodie. That's your jumper right there? - That's my jumper, but there's more footage, man. - Yeah, very sure. - There's more. - Oh, here's one. - Okay. - No, look at that. - Hey, that's not bad. - With wise shoulders, too, Dan. - Yeah. - No, no, come on. - Yeah, you were a transformer. - There's more, there's gotta be more. - Oh, no, this ain't it. - What's this one? - Oh, actually, there is, yeah. That was with a man in a star Thompson. - Oh wow. - What WNBA player do you think you'd be 101? - I think I would get cooked by any professional athlete. - After seeing me beat a professional athlete. - I think I could beat you, though. (laughing) - But I beat an NBA player. - Can I take advantage of you six? Can I take advantage of you? - No, but he wanted to do that, I didn't want to pick. He wasn't number one pick. - And he was maybe one of the best. He's 41, it's over. He's almost 42, his ankle's a fuck. It's over. - But I feel like you still got it, though. - No, I think he's, when I played him, he was nice. He was nice. - If I needed, if I needed, what I didn't do on Jay, 'cause I feel like it would be two disrespectfuls, I didn't want to dunk on him. - But if it was, no, I didn't want to dunk on him. - Could you dunk back in the day? - I saw him dunk on a kid, five, three. - Jay put it on him. - Left hand though. - On him. - On is different than just having a clear lay. - It's different. So I'm saying, so Jay, what am I going to do, humiliate him? I kept the game close out of respect for him. This is a person that I like, I respect, good guy. - Yeah, yeah. - So I keep the hook. - He never told us. - He never shut up. - Oh, there's footage of you dunking this. - Now this is me old, guys. This is me old, oh, with the left, oh, that's light. It's just easy. - Oh, it's easy. - And you got a post video? - Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. - Looking at the camera, you can see this. - You got the tower on his neck. (laughing) - Oh man. - This is me dunking on the Saturday. - Oh, look at this. - Come on, man, what did you think? - You had a different flow back then. - Back in the day was crazy. - Propecia did wonders for me. (laughing) - Okay, so did you always think that you were going to be the insider, you thought you were going to be like a, just like a, what is it called? Like an op-ed journalist talking about the game. What, when does this happen where you go? I'm the information dude. People like talking to me and, yeah, I mean, I think it came kind of on accident, but it also came like, I love news. So I love like the trades, signings, free agency, like all that stuff. I grew up like being obsessed with, you know, at the time, you know, going up in Chicago, you're like, who are the bulls going to trade for? Who are they going to sign with? What's going to happen here? What's going to happen there? What's going on in this locker room? When is this coach getting fired? When is this coach getting hired? Like the decision when the Bronn almost went to Chicago, I'm doing the math. You were like 18 at the time. - That was a big time for me though, 'cause I think that's when, I think I started a Twitter then. Like I started to like really get involved in like trying to pay attention to what's going on with these teams and where's this player going? And I think player movement, team decisions, things like that, I started getting obsessed with. And so I played then, once I got cut in high school, it's like, all right, I have to, if I'm gonna stay around the NBA, I have to do something, whether it's being an agent, whether it's being on the team side, whether it's writing, whether it was, you know, anything I wanted to do. 'Cause as Akash knows, Akash knows, you know, For me, it's like lawyer, doctor, accountant. Like that's what I think my mom really wanted me to, my mom really wanted me to get out of healthcare. (laughing) - Yo. (laughing) - It's like a view to it. - No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, - No, this is actually from a video, this is 9/11 joke. - He's a pilot, great, then. - No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. - Oh my God, you gotta bring this up. - I'm just kidding, I don't understand. - That's where this is once you shoot a video, yeah. - This is a Pakistani school. - It's a Pakistani school and it's the kids are coming up and saying what they want to be when they're older. So each kid has their own thing. - So I always wanted to be an NBA player. - Right, so for me, that was like my number one thing. Then once I realized I couldn't do it, it's figuring out how can I stay close to it. - How can you be around the game? So my sophomore year of high school, my English teacher goes, you should just write. You're really good at writing and you love basketball, combined with passions. That's what I did. - Oh wow. - You didn't write for the school newspaper, then you write for a bull's blog, then you write for another website realgm.com. I don't, I don't know. - I know realgm.com. - You have to be like nitty gritty NBA basketball. - I know what realgm.com is, it's a rumor site. I used to be obsessed with it, and I would just like refresh all day, that in hoop type, and just like hoop type, to follow everything, and I was obsessed with that. - This is a year before it's Twitter, when we actually had to go to like website. - Yeah, this is like 20, this is between 2008 to like 2014. - All right, here we go. - Go back to the beginning of it. - Yeah, I haven't seen this. - I cannot believe as a Pakistani man. - I haven't seen this. - You haven't seen this. (singing in foreign language) - Yeah, he's a pilot, great. (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) - Oh, that's touching. (singing in foreign language) - How many times have you seen this? - There's brown people love this one. - My wife said I've called this all the time. - So that's what I want to be pilot is. - Oh, you've never heard that? - No. (laughing) - See, I'm like NBA. - We're beyond racism. - Okay, on the NBA. - I'm like NBA, he's all NBA memes. - God, okay, okay. - All right, let me ask you another brown question. I love brown love, I do. But I have to ask, what's up with you and K Adams? - Great friend. - Oh, this was, I think we're great on TV. I worked with her at great chemistry. - Great chemistry. - She'd be giving you great on TV. - She does throw you some rhythm, bro. - I don't blame her, you know. - I've really enjoyed working with her on TV. It's been fun. - I mean, you powered through that unbelievable. - That was fun. - I mean, that was fun. - That was amazing. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - That's professional, 'cause you both work, you know, at the company. - But like we work together. - Exactly. - We work together, we have to do that. - No, there's no such thing as work, as work, as work, as ever, in the history of work. - But she's actually like genuinely a good friend. - Good for a friend. - So nothing else going on. - No, no, no. - But if there was a time in the future where you guys weren't both working at the same organization, you know. - Yeah, I mean, for me, I'm so work focused. - Yeah. (laughing) - I'm sorry, Kay. - I'm sorry, Kay. - My whole days are just absorbed by this. - Yeah. - What I'm doing on a daily basis. - And so. - She's a beautiful woman. - I don't mean that. - Talent's just back to. - Super talented. - Super talented. - And her ability to like. - Care is mad. - See, for me, I'm a very, the stuff that I talk about is really serious. I feel like it would be very serious at different points. Like her Pat McVee, they do a great job of bringing personality. You got like doing this podcast. Pretty different personality, yeah. - Right. - Maybe people don't see all the time. - She brings out the joy of you, brings the personality of you. - Yeah, yeah. - She, her Pat McVee do a great job of that. - Yeah. - But also just her as well. - Yeah, you don't need to put a panties. - Pat really got nothing to do with it. - Yeah, you did that. - Pat's actually a whole different sport, really. - Yeah. - Yeah. - But similar. - No, not. - No, no. (laughing) - I'm really sorry. - I can't see a similarity between Kay and him. - Not at all. - I'm really sorry. - And that's the reason. - It's different, they both know where sleeves. - It's different zones. - Different chromosomes, you mean? - It's different zones, but different sides of my personality are able to be unlocked on both. - Okay. - That makes sense. - Which side is unlocked with Kay, with the medium? - What are you trying to say? - We gotta flip it on. - You gotta go on the off side. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - I know, I know. - You guys need to like this girl a lot. Do you guys have like a crush on her or something? - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, crush on this white woman. - Yeah, dude, I'm listening. - I'm listening. - You got a ring on, you got a ring on, you got a ring on. - I'm just saying my life, I never had milk in my life, but some of these girls is ice cream. - He isn't scooping it. - I'm not involved in this, I'm not involved in ice cream. - I'm not involved in ice cream. - I'm not the root of this, bro. - I'm not the root of this. - You got the root of this. - I'm a brown man, but I just objectively noticed that you can't call some of the milk, they've transcended it. - They transcended it. - Vanilla scoops. - The vanilla scoops. - Yeah, but you can turn that shit into a slender. - You can be the caramel topping. - It's just sour. - I got nothing there, but she's a great friend, great person. - I think we have, when we work together, we make great TV. - Yeah. - It's fun. - That's good, man. I look forward to more that in the future. - Yeah, it'll be fun. - Yeah, it would definitely be fun. - Jokes aside, what was that? We would see in the internet take that whole thing and it was like a thing for like a couple of months. - Yeah, I mean people, people love good TV. - You know? - I think people love good TV. - I was saying people love great TV. - That was my first one, that was my first one. - That was my first one. - I know. - I'm saying people love great TV. - I think that's what. - I think people, like, couple of you guys. - Yeah, they created a romantic connection, obviously it was never there. - And obviously it was never there. It was not Sham God. It was somebody who's, no, Sham, there is, there's, there's, there's, there's Mass or some shit like that. - What was it? You know what he's talking about? - Yeah, what was the nickname? What was the moniker they gave you? - So what the people said. - Yeah, what do the people say? - Oh God, it's gonna last. - He's talking about the people. - You're just gonna have to say it. - He's got, he's good to go. - He's good to go. - He's good to go. - I don't really have, you know, I don't have game like that. - I'm honestly like, I'm a shy person. - Just shy. - No, you're not. - No. - I'm addicted. (laughing) - I'm married. - You're all trying to be what you're at, man. - Married. - I'm trying to get you. - I'm trying to do your Rista right now. - Send it up. - But there's a little scuba ice cream. (laughing) - You're stuck on the vanilla, man. We're talking about sundaes already. - I'm not. - I would love if you got what the brown girl would be so happy. - Wait, what do you want sundaes? 'Cause you got a banana in it. (laughing) - Wait, can you get rid of me? I'll be very thrilled. I'll try to set you up one. What you looking for? You want a smiley girl? Is that important to you? - Man, listen, right now work is important to me. - I like that, I focus on work. - Let me call your mom, we'll set this shit up real quick. 'Cause I'm tired of your politicking. - Don't you want me to focus? - Doesn't your mom want you to get, you know, me the nice lady? - I mean, my mom wants me to focus on work. - Oh really? - She done your 31 on light of me, you know, proud of me? - No, because this thing, when you're around your family, they see what this is like more than anyone. And so they know like how much I care for it, my passion for it, the time. And I think, you know, growing up, it was like, all right, if, you know, doctor, lawyer, accountant, and the medical field, that would be amazing. But once I found this and, you know, my mom knows how passionate I am about it. She's like, spend all the time you want on this and like, make it your number one. - Let me tell you why I know you're lying. This is a personal story. - It's facts. - My mom went to, my mom went to the hospital and she had a like a neuro scan or some. I'm freaking out of I'm in New York. I'm doing something, filming something. I can't get back to see her. I start crying on the phone with her. I'm like, I need you in my life. I can't lose you. I'm 31 years old, exactly as old as you are right now. And she goes, oh God, get a girlfriend. (laughing) And she said to me, she was like, I'm not shut up. She was like, I saw it wasting everybody's time. So I know brown moms. Your mom is not like, hey, you're 31. Stay focused on your career. She's like, give me a grand date. Sometimes, but most of the time it's focused on the job. - I like that. Have you ever gotten information from a wife or a girlfriend or an ex girlfriend? - Oh, and you hand some. They're probably giving it up. - Woo, a side chick. - Can't upset. - Let's go. - No, a side chick is upset. - I mean, listen, I'll just say every area, every domain you could think of. - That's it, yes. - You've been hunting, Pate? Any domain you can think of, you've been hunting? Probably got an information from any domain you can think of. Did you stuff dick? - Jesus. - No, you can't ask the whole lot. - No, 'cause he's cute. - He's a real professional. - He's a real job. - That's not a legal one. - That's not a professional one. - That's not a real job. - What a rig, what a hell. - Not illegal to do that. - Did you hold it? - Did you hold it? - You could have said to do that. - To do what? - Stuffed coping miles would do. (laughing) - But in all seriousness, like, that's not illegal. They were gonna do that. If they were trying to bribe you with that. - I apologize, man. - It's your turn. - No, no, no. - You're like, "But." - I need to do something. (laughing) - I can't ask that, bro. - No, no, no, no, you guys. - For real. Did it grow to a hot pocket? (laughing) - What does that mean? - The hot pocket. - For what? (laughing) - What do you want? - Come on, you know what? - What is a hot pocket? - The hot pocket. - In this context, I'm trying to understand. - Oh, you're not doing this. (laughing) - I'm trying to understand. - A girl wants you to put a story out about like a player that she like really just doesn't like, you know? Because maybe they had like an amazing few sexual intercoursees. - But why is that a story for me? - But she's like, "I want you to say that he's a bad guy." - And you're like, "I'm not." - And you're like, "I'm not a story." And you say that. Why is that a story for me? And then she's like, "Well, how do I make it a story for you?" (laughing) - Maybe she told her, he's disgruntled with his team, he wants out, he's beefed with his teammate. And she wants to get that information to-- - If that were to happen, now that's what we call a tip to a story potentially. - Now, did you get her a tip? - No, no, I can't. - I just set it up for that. (laughing) - Can I just get to it? - I don't know on the opposite end of this. There's nothing you'd say that he can't flip. - Yeah, I know. - So he's like a Jiu-Jitsu master of-- - He's like a Jiu-Jitsu master of martial arts. (laughing) - All right, what about all the Achilles injuries? - It's a lot. (laughing) - There's a lot of Achilles injuries. - What do we think Achilles is doing, doing a report about that? - Oh really? - Looking into, so we have Jason Tatum, Damien Lillard, Tyres Halliburton, and the car roving is ACL, but he's gonna be out, your maverick, he's gonna miss some time, it's over here. - How does Aniko Harrison still have a fucking job? Please explain this to me. (laughing) And how upset, you know the city of Dallas was-- - I mean, he broke the news. - You broke the team, yeah, I truly believe, if have your producer, here's a fun exercise for you guys, have the producer pull up that tweet. - Pull up that tweet. - He's not gonna-- - That's just the exercise. See if you can pull. (laughing) - I want you to see, it's still jarring to me. How much, like I knew it was a big deal when it happened, but how big it became like-- - I remember, so people outside of Dallas understand how much we loved Luca. We didn't need him to win yet. We were like, we'll take time 'cause we worked out with Dirk. And we felt like we got it again. And it was awesome. So trading him, truly, they would have lost the team if they didn't get Cooper flying. - I truly believe the lottery was rate for that reason, 'cause the Mav's would have left. - 110.7 million-- - Holy shit. - Views. - How long did you have this information before you two-- - Seven minutes. - You got seven minutes to confirm that it was true fun. - Five different sources. So I got a heads up, first heads up. Maxi, first heads up with Mark Keefe Morris is being traded to the Lakers. Second heads up. Mark Keefe, Mark Keefe Morris being traded to the Lakers. Second heads up. Maxi Kleiber being traded to the Lakers. I'm like, what is going on than I get another source? Three team deal. Lakers, Mavs, Jazz. Jail Huchofino is going to Utah. I'm like, what is this three team deal? These are a bunch of guys that are on contracts that are, they're just trading small salaries for small salaries. And then the fourth person tells me, look a dodge itch. For Anthony Davis, these are all the parts. - Fifth person. - The whole deal. I got the whole deal. And I'm like, am I being cat-fished right now? - That's what I'm trying to say. - Is this person's phone hack? I got to call this person. Call them. Hear their voice. It's real. I'm like, holy, and like my hands are literally shaking. I'm like, so, and mind you, the context of this, it's like 11 central time. I'm in Chicago. - Yeah. - The Lakers had just beaten the Knicks by a lot in New York at the garden on a Saturday night. My hair was all down, my glass is on. I was getting ready to shut it down for the night. And, and I'm just like, my hands are trembling. Like I'm just like, this is unbelievable. I call the fifth person. I actually call someone else. The phone didn't even ring. It didn't even go, so I'm like, this person's definitely dealing with this right now. I call another person, the person picks up. I'm like, there's no way this shit is fucking real. And the person goes, yeah, it's real. Next thing you know, that's that, the seven minutes. - Whoa. - The fourth person that you get on the phone and actually hear it from, are you convinced by them in that moment? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Okay, so I know they're not, they're not, there's none of my tellers. And there's no, and I get them not asking sources, but like they've never led you astray in the past. - No. - This is something that you can trust. - Yeah. - Because if you go out with this and then it ends up not happening, I'm sure you're considering how that makes you look. - Is that why your hand is trembling? - Yeah, about everything. It's that, it's, is this all accurate? Making sure it's all accurate? And then this is something like very minor on the, like getting, like I have no typo in this. I just, like it's like the, I think it's probably my most perfect tweet. 'Cause I make sure, this is the one tweet, you can't have a typo in, like you can't get a detailed round. You can have first, you know, 20, 29 first shot pick, but it's really 20, 26 first shot pick. Like, every detail has to be right, 'cause you know it's gonna be a big deal. Not it, I think it would be this big girl, God, I'm getting PTSD looking at this. - Look it, look it, I'm sorry for doing that. - Look at the first reply. - Nico, fucking loser. - Bro, I had to check 10 times to see if this was a real account. - Yeah, my phone blew up because everyone thought out, I got hacked or it was fake, or that my safety was under concern. So my phone was blowing up. My phone, I'd never had that many calls. And it's one of those things where it's like continuous calls, right? So it's like, are you answering any or do you just shut it down? - I answered like five, five people. One was like the late night sports center guy, 'cause I'm like, I know, I know why he, you know, he wants to make sure it's real. - He wants to make sure it's real so we can cover it. Couple other people, I think I picked up Stephen A's call, Pat McVee's call, two other people. And then, yeah, that night was wild. - Did you sleep, sorry, sorry. Do you sleep at all? - I slept like one and a half hours. - Okay, so you stay up throughout the night. - I stayed up to like, I sports in her head at like six in the morning. I think I slept at like four, got up at like five, 15, did my sports center hit and the day was on and popping. It was funny, I had a seven amp flight to Bristol for the trade deadline. I'm like, all right, I'm gonna be coming Jimmy Butler, deer and fox getting traded this week. - And yeah. - I need to know how this happened. - Okay, okay. - What's going on, what's with Nico? Why does he do this? It can't possibly be, he thought they made this, this made them a better team. - It's key. - He genuinely believed that Anthony Davis, who we call street close as a nickname. - Was a better championship fit, better for their culture and defense. Like, again, this is in real time. Back then, this is what he believed. Now, he might still believe this. I don't think anyone's gone up and asked, do you still believe this? but out. as of, you know, even training camp. This is what they believed. Anthony Davis being a better fit to a championship quality team, then Luca Doncic and whatever concerns they had about Luca. So you go out and make this trade. Now again, on face, you know, Anthony Davis above 30. You have Luca Doncic, who at the time of the trade, 25, all NBA for four, five straight years. So worse trade in sports history. Anthony Davis is, you know, Anthony Davis is top 75 player. He's an all NBA, all star. He's a Hall of Fame player in his own right. Luca Doncic is obviously Luca Doncic. I can barely watch sports anymore. I hear the exaggeration. I hear the broken people in Dallas. I hear that a lot from people in Dallas. But how does Nico here? So I think your question is how does Nico here? It's not a job. I mean, the reality is the roster he's built, went healthy, the Mads, Nico Harrison, that ownership, Patrick Dumont, the new owner there. They believe it's a championship quality roster. If they say healthy. And if I could, you think it was a good trade. See, it's not my place to say whether it was a right or wrong trade. I, I, you want to happen. I saw why Dallas did it. Again, does that justify it? Now, if you ask me to the vast majority of people, I speak to him. - No, I'm saying do you think it's a good trade? - I mean, for the, it's not on me to decide. That's not my place. - I'm just saying, your opinion. - Your opinion, what do you, you can't give a opinion? - I think on face, of course, when you trade a guy like Luca Doncic, I just look at it from a position of, he's 25 years old. - I mean, you can, it's a bad trade. - For the next 10 years. - You can, you can build around him. But again, time will tell on this. - Is that because you're a journalist? You're not really, you don't like to give your opinion. - Yeah, it's not my place, but it's also like my job is to take perspectives and information, insight, and present it in the most responsible and fair way. Like Nico Harrison and the Mavericks had their reasons, even at an ownership level. They had their reasons to make this trade. They felt it was going to lead them to a championship. But again, the Lakers, since this trade, they lost in the first round. The Mavericks, they lost in the first round, right? - No, they didn't make it. - They lost in the play in tournament. - Yeah. - So they lost in the play in tournament. So I'm not saying neither side has, we don't know what's happened, but the goal is to win a championship, right? So I'm just saying like this, let's say the Mavericks this year, next year, when a championship of the Lakers don't. So are we going to say this trade was success? - Yeah, that's true. It's true. We can speak in impossibilities all we want to show. - Who do you think is the next NBA super-star to get traded? - Because I'm honest, I felt would be the one, but he's at like 99% on college, he's standing in Milwaukee. So I just checked that a little bit just to see, 'cause I just want somebody to share my misery. - Yeah, I think the next guy to keep, I mean, next couple guys keeping on, probably, are Yannis still? I think you have to monitor that situation. Big win for them against the Nix, your Nix. There was like a two-week period. - What was that? - What was that? - Your Nix, I mean, your Nix. - But why did you say like that? - Because they got, do you see the score last thing? - Well, why are we even talking about old shit? (laughing) - It happened 24 hours ago. - I'm just saying, like, it was an away game. - It was an away game either way. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - What do you mean? - What do you mean? - What do you mean, what do you mean? - Yeah, there was other things going on. We have to give a full sense of security. - Oh, yeah, who won? - There was a two-week period with the Nix. - It was a good. - New that Yannis and the couple wanted to play there. - How did the Nix, how did the Nix fuck that up? - Wow. - How we fucked that up? - A two-week period where they knew they had conversations, offers were made. - What did we have to offer? What did they want? Did they want JB? - No. - You probably want the. I don't even think you got to a point. I think it's like, make the best offers you have. - And? - What did they offer? - Offers were made. - Can you tell us what they. - It's not out there in the world? - Bridges? - Can you give me an allegedly? - Bridges was not eligible to be trade at the time. 'Cause it's on the extension. - Bridges would be, if they want to run that bag, Bridges would be, that'd be a piece. - How much can you angle your mic up with you? - Sir. - Cat was offered. - I think you have to keep it on, Yannis still. I think the first 20, 25 games, I mean, they're off to a great start. I think the three-in-one Milwaukee is. We'll see how they do this year, how they do in the playoffs. His next year, he's in the end of the last year of their deal, of his deal. And in the NBA, everyone knows that's the point you have the most leverage. So how far they go, how far they don't go, that could impact where he's at. And potentially 20, 25 games in, we'll see. But right now, they're off to a great start, as we see, right there. Who's got, who's got, who's got, the next last year? - Fuck you. - Who's got the best scoops? Which player, active player, has the most information? Meaning like other players can fight in them, and they're just a source for everything. They really know what's going on in the league. Who is that? Who's the you in the league? - I don't know. - Man, get out of here. - I don't know, I don't. - You won't say. - I don't talk to whoever that is. I need to find out, that's a good question. - I gotta get on that, huh? - What's the craziest place you've ever had to step out of in order to post something, or get some hands in it everywhere? - You've been like a funeral. - Been in like your mom's birthday. Something crazy, we're like, hey, this is a bad look, but I need to take this. - Yeah, I mean, that's, yeah, funeral will be tough. - funeral will be tough. - But, no, he would step out. - He ain't gonna be more dead. (laughing) - I would step out for just about anything. - But have you had to step out? - I think religious gatherings, I would say, definitely birthdays, family birthdays. - What about a date? - All the time. - Yeah, I put it. (laughing) - Like, but like, let's say you're hanging out with family, or you're hanging out with a girl you might be seeing, or whatever, like there are always gonna be moments where you might have to step out for a call, or whatever, and it's, is that person understanding? Like all those different kinds of girls that's not understanding it. - About it? - I think people in life, you've run into friends that are understanding it. - But that's why like, maybe dating somebody that's awesome of all the sports might be good, because they would understand your priorities, like what you do for a living better than people outside. - You guys can talk about life at work. - It's possible, never know. - Have you ever had to stop mid-session? - Oh my God. - Yeah, I have to pull your bang out. (laughing) - It's sweet, 'cause that's dedication to the game. - That is dedication to the game. - I'll just say this, I've had to step out of the shower plenty times. - With whom? (laughing) - I've had to pause workouts, all kinds of workouts. - Yeah, yeah. - I've had to pause. - His biceps, triceps. - Oh, yeah, yeah. - A bar? - A bar? (laughing) - A bar. - A bar. - Class was the toughest for me though. When I went to, that was the hardest part, you know, that example you gave, and the other examples I gave, like those are, they're tough to do. Like if you're at a, your mom's birthday, or she's birthday, like, you don't want to leave, you know, during the celebration, they're blowing out the candles, the cake, and you're having to step out, because you have to take a call, like, about a buyout of a player, right? You think about that in grand scheme, like, that's tough. But class was the worst. Like when I was, when I was in college, I would literally leave classes, like 40 minute classes, and I'm leaving for like 30 minutes, 35 minutes. And I'm coming back at the end of class, and the teacher's looking at me, 'cause at the time she didn't know what I was doing, they don't know, everyone probably looked at me, like I was insane. It's this guy doing, this guy, which is weird. He must have issues, or he's on his way to greatness. Which referee is the most corrupt? - If you had to guess, which one would you point to? Whatever ref was doing the one, the game that you were playing against Jay, that's the ref, that's the ref, that's the ref. - Is he going to Jay get away with the taunting? Is that what you're saying? - No, no, no, he let Jay follow you too much. - I agree. - I think the fact that he got to six six, was an issue. - Yeah. - You weren't guessing the right calls. - Yeah, you weren't getting the right calls. - You should have a line. - I should have a line, dude. - I 100% believe that. - I think that you're right. - Do you want to play over under on his screen time? - Yes. - Oh, we got to do that. - Did I answer your Nico question? I'm not saying it's right or wrong. 'Cause listen, I get that from Dallas people. - There's a video that people were upset about where some guy saw Nico out to dinner with his family. He goes, Nico shakes his hand, he goes, everybody's still fucking hates you. And then walks off and people were like, how could you do that? Do a guy who's at dinner with his? And everybody from Dallas was like, to do that shit again. (laughing) They should again and again. - He can't go anywhere, really. - Fuck that guy, yo. - What about them getting the lotto pick? - Well, I think that was rigged. He will never admit it. But I truly think they were gonna lose Dallas. - Was that rigged? - Was that rigged? - Was that rigged? - Can we do that? - It's so hard to rig. I've seen it. I know how it's-- - It doesn't mean it's impossible. - Yeah, it's impossible. - That's a full sentence. - All right, what about Kauai? What about Kauai? - What's up with Kauai? - Oh, that's fun. - What's up with Kauai and his uncle? - It's last week. - Damn. - God, damn. - How many hours? - No, no, no, no. - Oh, yes, yes, yes. - You know what it's up? - 12 and I saw. - 12. - That's crazy. - 12 is my guess. - That's crazy. - 16 and I remember just on Snapchat. That's crazy. - Yeah, who's snap? - Oh wait, no, wait, no, wait, no, wait. I was like, wait, is that a nickname? - No, wait, no, wait. - Kauai, let's go to Kauai. - Give us the real about Kauai. - Kauai, I'll give you this. I'll give you this. What do you got? Let's go the two-day span of the arrests. Can you guess what the screen time was for those? - This is over two days. I-- - Wednesday and Thursday. - I mean, I saw, like I think it has to be-- - If he's pushed on 16 on a regular basis. - That's what I'm saying. It has to be 40 hours. - It's 40 hours in my guess. - That has to be 40 hours. - Per day. - Per day 20 hours. - Oh, 20 hours. - It's actually less. - Wednesday? - 17 hours and 50 days. - Oh, that's a lie. - How do you move a lie? - It's a Thursday, it was a wild day. So this is Thursday. - Yeah, he really might be focusing on work. - 18 and a half, yeah. - No, but how do you focus on life? - Yeah. See, see, now, now you guys understand? You guys are asking all these-- - No, we get it. - Dating questions. - It's not about that. - It's about the work, it's about that, right? - Talk about dating. - Talk about dating. - Dating, dating. - He's on my mid-session. - Come on in. - Yeah, you know what I was talking about, bro? - That was a good one. - You know what I was talking about, bro? - Okay, that was a quiet Leonard. What do you guys want to know? - I want to know if he's asking for a little extra on top. I want to know if the uncle is saying, listen, we know what the salary cap says that, you know, we can be paid, but we need a little more than that. So that's the allegations that that's what his camp has asked for. And that's been like, you know, there's always these things that circulate in the NBA community. - Yeah. - And it's on my job, can I confirm it? Is there something like that is so nebulous because someone could mention it to someone. - Yeah. - But you know, I can, you know, someone can mention, you know, like a player can mention to a team like, hey, like we need this to sign with you. But if the team says, no, we're not doing that. And if the player signs there anyway, like what's the story that this guy made the request? - Well, sometimes it leaks, sometimes it doesn't. Didn't he go on, going, going. So my point is there's, it's been in the nebulous for a while that like, you know, a quiet Leonard is a free agent, 2019 is gonna sign with you. There's gonna be these requests. The NBA did its own investigation, they found nothing. It's never been, never been, no way. It's never been on, you know, the record. There's nothing been something for them. But it's been in the space for a while. - Yeah. - So there's, there are, you know, there's a reporting that came out that he had a deal with aspiration, this company called aspiration. That was also a sponsor of the Clippers at the time. The owner had invested in that company as well. And there was a side deal with quiet Leonard to be sponsored by the company. It's supposed to be sponsored by the company, but that's, there's nothing like legally. That's within your, like, that's fine. So there are deals that happen between companies and teams and their players. So the owner of a team can also own, let's say Adidas, and then choose to have one of their athletes or one of their players be sponsored by Adidas. Well, they're not choosing, that company's choosing it. - Technically, right. - What if the owner is invested in that company? - Well, that's the thing. That's the line that the NBA, so now the NBA is investigating all this. - And is it even a real company? Didn't it file for bankruptcy? So there's a lot of, I mean, I don't have to hide it. There's a lot of shady things. A lot of corrupt things that happened with this company. So now the league, so there's a lot of circumstantial stuff, right? Like, there's gonna be a money that's put into the company then the money might go, you know, at the same period. But again, if companies are paying and doing things bi-weekly, and it just so happened, they got money, you know, but overall Steve Balmer put in $131 million into this company. This company put in X amount of money into the clippers. Kuala Lennard, I think, saw between 10 and $20 million out of a $28 million deal. So if one plus one is supposed to equal two, - In this situation. - In this situation. Steve Balmer put in $131 million. Kuala Lennard saw 10 to 20 million of that. So are those both correlated? Like are they both tied together? That's what the NBA has to figure out. Is there a hard evidence? Is there a or a circumstantial evidence? Or is all of this combined? Is there a lack of transparency issues? There a lack of moral issue? I think that's all what the league is determining right now. And that investigation started about a month ago. So they're gonna be going through all these guys emails, text messages, all their files. That's the people that got in trouble already that are bankrupt. Steve Balmer, Kuala Lennard, his uncle, his entire camp. - Is there precedent for this of what would happen in possibly like Balmer or Kuala? - So if the allegation is capture convention, I mean, it's suspension for ownership. You can avoid contracts. - Whoa. - You know, you can avoid it. So this happened with Joe Smith. - Yeah. - It was a timber wall. - Yes, yes, yes, yes. - Gland Taylor was suspended. Kevin McCale, the GM was suspended. They lost buy first round draft picks, right? They were lost a ton of first round picks. Joe Smith's contract got voided. And so yeah, that's all potentially on the table, right? But with that situation, there was a paper trail. There was a sign sheet of, I think it was like on a paper towel or something, it was like a napkin that they wrote the contract like, you know, after this, you know, we're gonna give you this max contract or whatever. Here, so far there has not been proof of a paper trail. It's not like Steve Balmer. There's proof of Steve Balmer, someone with the clipper saying, hey, sign Kawaii Leonard to this deal. This is what they have to do. If the clippers are alleging that this was all in the up and up, like we also got defrauded. Like Steve believed in them, he invested in them. They invested in the clippers. They were on our Jersey patch. They asked to be connected to Kawaii Leonard and we connected them to Kawaii Leonard. That happens throughout the league. Sponsors of teams asked for players all the time. - Yeah, that makes sense. - All the time. And so, we'll see if there's gonna be enough of a paper trail. I mean, putting in a buck 30 and then just getting rents for it, it just seems peculiar. Like this is a good businessman, you know? - That's a big investment. - That's all the money to give to Kawaii off $130 million. - Yeah, that's, I mean, if that's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. Is that washing money? Like, I don't know what, like what is that? - Yes, the thing that just seems so odd about it, like to give Kawaii 20, you gotta spend 110, but does that sound right to you? I don't know, it doesn't, it doesn't at all. But it also, I don't feel like somebody like that would make that silly a business decision. - Yeah, and again, he's come out and he said like, I got defrauded, like I got scammed. Like I was, I was a part of getting, you know, defrauded out of my money. - Yeah. - Yeah, okay. - And you said these types of deals are common. Is this just a common way of getting around the salary, okay? - No, I mean, I said in this situation, it's common hearing that like, you know, people around Kawaii Leonard might have asked for this. It's been in the nebulous for a while. You know, obviously the NBA investigated it. They didn't find anything. It's not like they're gonna come out and say, yeah, we asked for this from all these teens from Toronto Lakers, the Clippers, like this type of stuff, like getting stuff on the books. Like, we're gonna pay this guy on a side deal. I think there's so much to lose. I don't hear about that as much. Now, the stuff that does happen a lot is like a player will get a sponsorship deal with the same sponsor of a team, right? And like Mark Cuban, I talk to Mark Cuban all this, you know. - Yeah, he was defending Bomber. - And Mark Cuban told me there's been a lot of moments where like, when he was at his peak as an owner of popularity, like these companies would come to him and be like, hey, can we talk to this player? Can we talk to that player? And he will basically help set that up. And so is that like, but that's legal. So in this case, if this company aspiration went to the Clippers, said, we want to meet with Coli Leonard. And all they did was give the contact information. Now again, is there a paper trail where there was, there was something more nefarious going on. That's what the NBA investigations trying to find out. But that's, I mean, there's so much at risk for these teams. If they were an adventure at that, at that realm, that's the cardinal sin of the NBA. - Back to the gambling scandal. Do you think, because I don't think you can like undo what has been done unless you just take away prop betting, which I don't think the casino companies are gonna take away? Do you think people lose faith in the game and stop watching? Like, do you think it can actually hurt the league? I mean, I think the integrity of the league is very important. And if this becomes like more wide ranging, like if there's all these dots across the US map, where this is all popping up, with this split, of course, it's become the major issue. But right now, we've seen two examples of it. You know, one, the jury's still out. You know, he has a tiros, he has not gone through his trial yet. We don't know his, you know, what's he's gonna be charged with. But I think the integrity concern is real, like right now. And I think the league knows it. I think they even said in their release, like this is a, this is a dire state, you know, like trying to get to the bottom of how can they regulate legalized gambling? Yeah, they got to figure something out. They got to figure something out with that. 'Cause it just feels so easy. I just feel like you can't fix that. You don't wait to fix that. I mean, again, unless you're getting ready to take away prop bets, unless you're finding a way to tear system it, unless you're trying to get more, unless you're able to get more information accessible to the fans and the betting public. Do you think there's a publicity to this so that other players stop doing this? Or just do it smarter. Yeah, I mean, I think the, I think the FBI doing it when they did it on opening week, I think that alone raises enough alarms to not only the league, but fans in just the sports world in general that like raising this awareness of what this is, I think the timing of when that happened, I think that alone raises the awareness. I mean, this is in the hands of the feds at this point. This situation that's going on right now, this is not even the NBA's hands per se. I mean, and this must be happening in other leagues too. Like I'm sure this is a shock wave to everyone. The NFL, there's been multiple players that have gotten suspended. So what the NFL does is they suspend players for I believe it's a, maybe you can pull it up. I think it's like a dozen, it's like half a dozen games. players are getting suspended. Now in the NBA, if you're caught in these activities, you're just banned. Johnny Porter was banned, if Rosir is found guilty in this, he's going to be banned. Obviously, there's a lot of other things he, you know, with him and Johnny Porter. But the NFL has had a few of these scandals and it's been a suspension. It's so weird that you would just suspend. Yeah. Like, maybe one player in the NFL just has a six game to the death. Yeah. This game's in definitely banned. Yeah. Jamie St. Williams, I forgot about that. So do you think the number of people that are implicated in this at the present moment will stay that number? Do you think it'll increase in the coming weeks? I, I think that the fact that we already went from five people initially to now 30 plus in the span of a year and a half, we have one more current player. We have, now again, these two situations, they're two different cases, right? There's a legal gambling, illegal, yeah, once a legal gambling inside an information case, the other is an illegal poker rigging case. Now I think we're going to get potentially more names in both. But the fact that it's already gone up six, I mean, multiply by six times in the span of a year and a half. Now you have 30 more people. How many more of these people are going to cooperate? And our boy, where are we going to go? We've got to really distract from the fact that he's not doing anything on Epstein. So he's going to drag this into investigation. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, I, yeah, that's an interesting situation. I got a lot of tweets at me that day saying, why don't you release the list, the other list. Do you know who's on that one? I think they think you're, you can't put down a different, you probably figured out though. You probably get that list. You can, yeah, do you ever get inside or shit about non-MBA stuff? I've gotten, oh, oh, here we go. We got something. What do we got? Oh, wow. Oh, did you leak that? You were the first one. I mean, I don't know. Is that what the people say? I just know where I was when this happened. I was in the bubble. So you dropped that? I mean, it says that. Yeah. Hold on a second. You don't reveal your sources with the NBA, that guy said, but other rumors. I was like, yeah, like, I would just say that year was an interesting year because sports and politics and social justice, health, it all intertwined and like, there were, there were all these sports, sports board and this commission. Yeah. And that was the most, I think I've like, like, delved into like the political world and like trying to reach out and email people and reach out to people and so. The way that you see sports media and like, you're rolling it. And does it affect how you see other media, like looking at just like political news and stuff like that? No, I mean, I watch from afar, like I'll watch everything from afar, see how, like, you know, see how this person is reporting that, like, like, what's their methodology when they're trying to report this story? And again, you can't, not everything is Apple's Apple's Apple, right? It's like different in that, in that world. But I definitely pay attention to how they're sourcing it, how they're going about reporting it. You know, are they breaking it? Are people breaking it? Are they just like, you know, just doing it when these people say it, say it publicly? Right. Like, when there's an announcement publicly. Yeah. And you're not breaking it. Yeah. It's kind of retweeting. So I'm like, definitely, like, just a competitor and me is like, oh, does this person break this? And I'm like, you know, as if I'm going to like get into this. The break is where you get off. Yeah. Has there ever been a story that you got that you sat on because you weren't sure and then someone else broke it? Ooh. And you were like, oh, man. I should have pulled Trader on it. Yeah. I mean, that, that happens. That happens all the time. Can you share with everyone? Um, honestly, it's probably happened so much in the past. I don't even remember it. Is there a big one, like a big one where you were trying to confirm it and all of a sudden you saw it got posted? I have to think. Think about some of the biggest deals the last like 10 years. And I'll tell you, LeBron go on to Cleveland after we mind me. That was announced. He announced that I sigh. The people were saying that day he's going to go to Cleveland. Yeah. Um, I feel like I've been on a lot of it. I feel like I've been on a lot of it. I'll give you an example of one that like, you know, things that eat at me is like, if I'm on a family trip and the like 20 minutes, I'm spending not on my phone or if I'm, you know, let's say I'm at a dinner and I'm not on my phone or I'm in the water and I'm not on my phone. And I miss news and that has happened before. What'd you miss? I don't know if I want to say it. Just say it. It's already out there. That's your limitation? Yeah. It's been enough time. Yeah. So Taylor Jenkins. Coach of the Grizzly's. Uh-huh. Got fired. Okay. I was on a family trip. It was away from my phone for lunch and I think we were gone for like five, six days. And um, the 20 minutes, I wasn't on my phone. You can miss that one. Yeah. It was a big deal. There was three weeks left in the season. A coach getting five that late in the year. To me, it's all a big deal. If it's big news, small, like you actually, everything with the same amount of, you know, if you're performing in Times Square, you're performing at the comedy club. Shout out. Tommy Invincible, bro. Same thing. Every show is the most important. Same thing. So even the way he's describing me really shows his commitment to it. Yeah. Because that's not the way I thought you were going to go. I mean, I like sometimes going to family trip, man, and it eats me up that I missed a scoop. I was like, that's not what I thought you're going to say. You're going to talk about the family part. What's up? Why can't John do the gun stuff, man? What's up with that? On the celebration? Yeah. Like, we used to be a country. Yeah. They grenade it. I think they just grenade it as far. I mean, he's not, he's not getting control for that. Okay. Good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. They have that into that. That's fire. Yeah. We like guns in America. Why is it such a big deal? Yeah. I mean, gun I think with him, it seems like it's the history, but it seems like he's in a great place. What is the history? Yeah. I didn't beat up like a 14-year-old play. Take off with him. Oh, I don't know. The recall moments he got, this is a couple of years ago now, flashing a gun allegedly on its own. Yeah. Flash the gun at the opposing team boss. Is that illegal to flash a gun? Yeah. Is that illegal to do that? Yeah. Is that illegal? Yeah. You knew the legal part? Yeah. Yeah, everything is on the opposite. I don't call it garnishing. You can't. Oh, yeah. Look. I knew it. I can't. I was right off the dome. Right down. There's fire. Fire, bro. That's great. That's what you stole it from him. Exactly. Yeah. I got stole it. Hold on. So, wait a minute. He can't even just post that he has guns on Instagram. I don't think that would be something that he would do right now. No, I don't think so. What if he got a deal with Smith and Westman and he was like a sponsored athlete by Smith and Westman? Would you advise him to do that? He would. I mean, it depends the bag. No. No? Two hundred fifty million. He's got one of the grizzlies. So, he's good. Yeah. So, he's real good. He's real good. So, then, yeah. Get out there. Start bucking. I'm in defense of an American, a free American. There's the right to, you know, show the shit that he bought. There's the right to flex. It's a good idea. Why can't you go on this? Why can't you brand this? Why can't you do all that? I don't understand why that that's bad. It makes the league look bad. There are a bunch of gambling degenerates. Get paid off for the Italian mob. And this guy can't point a pistol in the air. When a stripper is not dancing fast enough, she was dancing slow. I mean, that goes that. I don't know. Did they have it in the bubble? I don't know. Bring it all the way back. Oh, wait, Michael Jordan. Did he get suspended for gambling? Oh, great. This story. I was one year old when he retired. Yeah, I'm sure. You got it. He was 94, right? 94, I think. Yeah, 94. Yeah, 94. Yeah, 94. Yeah, 94. Yeah, 94. Yeah, 94. Yeah. Yeah, I get the scoop, man. We want to know. I just know the, the word, whatever, if there is an alternative version of the story, I don't have that. So, so, so David Stern wasn't trying to, you know, impose some punitive measures. Now, listen, if I worked back then, if I was, let's say we flipped the years, I would have, I would have given you guys. You would have known. Yeah. And you would have dropped it. But you think you would have got frozen. I like sports illustrated. If I had it, congruent, I would have dropped it. But then what if MJ never gave you anything again after that? I would have to do my job. Let me ask you a question. When Charles Barkley kissed that referee on the mouth, why didn't you leak that? What was that? That was like 2007? Yeah. I wasn't able to do it. You were in the game. 20, 20, or so. But if you were in the game, would you have leaked like today, there will be a sexual action. Would you have, would you have leaked that? I think that was an endearing moment. That was a heartwarming moment. It was adorable. Charles is the goal. Charles is the goal. You got the Charles Barkley. I thought Jimmy was the dream guest. Jimmy was also a dream guest. Charlie is also a dream guest. Charlie is probably Barack and Charles Barkley for me. To me is Charles. Yeah. To me is Charles number one. And shit. Yeah. Yeah. I can be cold. I put Charles on that shit though. That's the thing. He got opinions on everything. Funny. Got that Southern Drolls. Everything just comes out smooth. What era would you want to cover in if it couldn't be right now? Ooh, that's a good question. Ooh. I mean, you always think about the '90s, but what about when they let them go? black people in there. That would have been tried. I feel like right now. I feel like right now is the best time. You think they're letting him cover? Right now is the best time. I probably wouldn't have given you any of the information. But that would have been scoops for days. I think right now is the best time. Yeah, because of access to media and like you have so much more power as an individual, whereas before as a reporter, they could probably leverage social media back then. Yeah, I'm sure I got no notice because you would have had a newspaper or something. The game's about to get so much better. Yeah, it's like two day wait for news. Wait until 24 hours. Can't do it. Anyway, my boy, can you give us one thing before you leave? Give us what drop just one thing? What do you need? I need one. So once we give us the look at Yannis, okay, Tray Young. I think keeping out on his trade, keeping out on his trade coming to New York. No. Tray didn't extend his contract in the off season. He's got one year left. He's a free agent next summer. Okay. And he can hit free agency potentially if he opts out. Where do you think Tray is going? I mean, he could stay in Atlanta, but he's going to have a market. Oh, yeah. We'll talk about Tray Young here. Yeah. So Yannis, Tray Young, and then as the season goes on, there's always guys that will pop up. And we still don't know where LeBron James is going to be. Is he going to finish his career with the Lakers? Or is he going to be somewhere else? I think it's very much up in the end. You think he would change teams? I mean, I think that he, I'm not sure that he knows exactly how the end is going to play out. Could it be with the Lakers? Sure. But he's a free agent at the end of the season. So if he's going to continue to play, there's clearly a chance. He's somewhere else potentially move your whole family. I mean, but again, he could stay with the Lakers. I'm just saying. Yeah. Your wife and her friends and all the activities that they do. For the local right. Yeah. Just for the fact to fall off from your whole family too. Your wife's activities. It's pretty easy, bro. I'm trying to think of any other player situations to monitor. Is there anything that you're going to drop this week anyway so you could just tell us? Nothing right now. Nothing. You would have dropped it already. Yeah. I would, I would, I would hint to you something. What's the story you're working on? Yeah. Give us something to work on. I mean, I'm definitely tracking this case. Yeah. Really heavy. But I don't know. I don't know when we're going to have updates on it necessarily because it's all on arrangements, charges, things like that. I mean, this will play out over over the next year. Will you be at the trial? No plans to do that right now because we don't also know the dates. We know the arrangement dates though. Then late, late November and early December for billups in Rosia. So we're going to see this soon. Yeah. This is going to plan your arrangements. These are the season arrangements. But still, so after you do the arrangement, how long until you start? I don't know. I don't know. I was acting like I knew it was the trial. I think they tell you what they figure out what the charges are. Yeah. Several weeks to a year it could take. I'm a crazy kind of like league conspiracy. Okay. Tell me if I'm crazy for this. Yeah. But I've heard that Dwight Howard is actually straight. I have never heard that. I don't venture into that. No. That's never even come across. Hold on. Yeah. What? People said he's actually straight guy. No way. He loves one. What's your source on that? It is as local. You are from Orlando. No, extremely low. Is there any evidence to back this up? Any data? What was the question? Into what personal side? Oh, the personal side. But it affects the game. It doesn't affect the game. It can be so. There's all these different things that was going to affect. He did have back surgeries when he was in Los Angeles. No. He's suffering from back injury in the locker room. Chemistry in the locker room. Yeah, that's it. I mean, if he's got the source, he's like, he's the source. Yeah, you got - I'm just gonna have to get five retreats on that. - I'm gonna buy one. - I'm gonna buy one. - I'm gonna buy one. - That should be what's like on Twitter. - Yo, post that right now. Watch that now. - That would be your number one to be ever if you posted that right now. - I don't think people would unfollow. - Dwight Howard. - Breaking news. - He was a credibility. - Breaking news. - Dwight. - Dwight. - Dwight. - I'm gonna let the local source get. - Stop it, stop it. - What if you did? - Dwight Howard. - Breaking news. Dwight Howard confirmed straight. - I don't know how that works. - You would get more calls about Jesus being true. - Your phone would be blown up. - It would be blown up. - I'm worth it in safety. - More than, more than Luka trade. - More, yeah. - Way more than. - The Luka trade is believable. (all laughing) - No, no, no, no. - I'm looking at you. - Yeah, we love you, Dwight. - I love you, Dwight. - You're superman. - You're superman. - Damn, right. - Hey, let's see. - You know, don't do that. - Don't do that. - That's literally superman. - That's fun as mature adults. - You just have fun as a child. - You're not your business. - Yeah, I love doing everything. - You guys got mad kids. You got to be a little. - Sure. - Got to be a little straight. - Yeah. - Okay. - Shit. - Shout out to Dwight, dude. - We love you, Dwight. - We love you. - Guys. - First of all, thank you so much for being here, my brother. - Appreciate you. - I appreciate you. - This is awesome. - This is awesome. - Thank you for all the excuses, man. Congratulations, and everything you've achieved is a very difficult position. There's really like one of you at a time. It's kind of a crazy-- - The pope. - It is like that. - Yeah, it is. - It's a lot of response. I feel like I'm a servant to the audience. Like I feel like it's a responsibility to deliver. - Yeah. - And so that's every day. - You are a public servant in a lot of ways, bro. I feel like I'm-- because the audience is all the ones that drive-- - They need information. - They need to know what's going on. - Facts. - So it's my job every day to deliver. I could honest first information. - That's-- - This guy's media training-- - Real news. - Masterful right here. - That right there was-- - Yeah, man? - Yeah, sir.