The ultimate Knicks-Spurs preview with DeAndre Jordan, Monty McCutchen, and Will Reeve from the first-ever NBA Finals Podcast Row (Part II)

Oh, wait. We'll do a high shirt like a back. We're back. That's our test. Okay. Okay, great. Yes. Hi, Charlotte. Hello, Madeline. We're back with another episode sports gossip show presented by eBay Live coming to you from the NBA finals in San Antonio after game one. Is this crazy? We're at the scorers table. We are. And then on the other side is this court. We're keeping a sports gossip score right now. What are keeping a sports gossip score right now? Oh, score is table. Right. Actually, um, well, I'm excited. Here's the thing, folks. We forgot to record an intro. Yeah, we're a Friday episode. Yes, we did. And we thought, well, why don't we do a little game one recap for the intro of the Friday episode? Then we thought, why don't we just go live on YouTube? So we did that. I'm starting up. She can listen or watch that. Yeah. Um, and now we're going to tell you what you can expect from today's very special episode. We have some fabulous guests lined up up. First, we have Deandre Jordan, NBA player, NBA champion. He was, he was really fun. And he saw him actually tonight. Yes. And he was doing a hit for the broadcast. He was on and he looked over. And then we made eye contact. And then I was like, no, it's Deandre. And then we, and he went and he pointed at us and waited. It was very cute. It was very nice. Thank you, Deandre for the shout out. Love chat with him. Really fun. Also, these are, these are the, this is part two of our NBA first ever podcasts. Ro series of interviews, which we were so grateful. The NBA invited us to be a part of it. Really was unbelievable. Everyone was so great. So great. Who else did we have? Well, we had a nice head referee. And who was that, Charlie? Mr M&M, Mr M&M. I could have talked to him about repping. Oh, well, a little tease. He may have invited us to potentially get a little more inside scoop on repping, but you'll have to listen to your view to find out what he had to say. And the offer that stands, which we will take him up on. Tees in the biz. Well, tease in the biz. Um, and then last but not least, we have Will Reeve who is covering the final for Good Morning America. You can catch him there. Really fun interview with And, um, yeah, we also pitched ourselves to Good Morning America, and this episode, we may have been listening. Hey, come on the pod and let us come on your pod, which is live television. What is it? You miss 100% of the shots. Well, and we are at a basketball arena right now. Even the hockey player, I'm going to think about. Well, something to really consider. Think about it. You know, I think I could think about it all day. Well, um, all right. Well, enjoy this fabulous interview. And thank you again to the NBA for inviting us to participate in the incredible first ever podcast road. Truly was an unbelievable experience. Without further ado. Okay, enjoy. We are thrilled to welcome to the show Deandre Jordan, an NBA all star NBA champion. Uh, you play for the pelicans. You are known throughout the league as being an amazing teammate. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. I appreciate you. Was that a, how was that for an intro? I thought that that was good. It was good. Yeah, I thought it was. I thought it was good. But yeah, maybe a couple more fun facts. What are fun facts? We should have thrown in there. What would you have thrown in from like a Wikipedia personal life section? I mean, Wikipedia can be wrong sometimes. That's true. I like long walks in the forest. Oh, some forest bathing. Yeah, because I mean, everybody says beach. Yeah. Long walks on the beach. I'm really bad. Dare to be different. Yeah. I mean, why not? So okay, we'll add that next time. Yeah, we are thrilled to welcome to the show. Deandre Jordan. He loves walking through the woods. Forests. Yep. See, even then. Um, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you guys for having me. I appreciate y'all. Where do you want to start, Madeline? Well, I want to start. You've been known as being a really good teammate. We've heard a lot of great quotes, including one from Blake Griffin. Um, he won't read the whole thing, but he said off the court, he's one of those people that brings people together. He keeps everything light. He's has incredible empathy and EQ. How do you bring people together as a teammate? Because we talk a lot on our show about vibes and how important team camaraderie is. What do you think about when you're entering a new organization and trying to make sure that there's good vibes between you and your teammates? I mean, it's, it's funny just because you play against these guys. I played against a lot of these players for, obviously, 18 years. And, um, I kind of take it as like, I'm going into a new school, but I grew up in the neighborhood that everybody isn't. You know, I kind of, I, I gauge it from that point. But also, I'm just like, that's my personality. Um, I have three younger brothers. So ever since I was young, I was like, entertaining and doing different things. And I kind of do it like that. My personality is for me to host, for me to host dinners, movies, card games, whatever it is. And I think that the more time you spend with each other off the floor, the better it translates to you guys playing well on the, on the floor. So I think that that is a, it's huge. And I feel like sometimes it gets overlooked. Yeah, I mean, we often feel that the most important thing you can have is team camaraderie. And I'd love to know what you think the balance between, like, let's talk about the Knicks and the Spurs for no particular reason, just for a reason. When you look at those two teams from the outside and, and maybe you know players on the, you're more acquainted with the actual inner workings of these two teams. How do you think they match up in terms of teammates camaraderie? Well, I mean, just, I'll start with the Knicks. The relationship that goes back to college with Josh and Jalen and McKeele, I think that that's awesome. They obviously get on each other's nerves, you know, so that's really cool. As old friends do. That's really cool as other players. And also as a fan to see, like, oh, this is a, I get to relate to these guys on a human level. I think that that's really cool. And then you adding guys like Kat and Mitchell Robinson and Landry Shannon, Jose Alarado, who is a ball of energy in himself. You know, I think that that is, that's cool because these guys really, really get along and play jokes in each other during Clarkson's been around for a while. So you see that with him. And then you move to the Spurs and then these guys are young up and coming players who are all hungry. So they are the same generation. And then you mix in guys like Harrison, Barnes, and Luke Cornett, and Bismek, Bianbol. So you see the care that they have for each other. And it's teams that are here in the situation. That's not, that doesn't just happen by chance or they're fortunate like these guys really do like each other. And you can kind of see their relationship and bond on the floor as well. Yeah. You talk a lot about the mental aspect of the game and how important that is. We think about Victor-Women-Yama. He, I feel like he, not saying no shade to next players, but he is the most locked in, I think, players in the fight. Like just mentally, his aura around him, you can feel it. Mentally, he seems so locked in. How, as someone who plays professional basketball, how important is the mental aspect of the game? And what are you doing to work that muscle in the way that you work in the body on the court? Yeah, I think it's, I think it's huge. I do love Victor's journey. How he was in Asia and he was meditating and he was training with the monks and he was doing all these different things. I think that that is cool because you kind of can separate yourself from basketball and just kind of hone in on to one thing. And that's like my mental preparation when it comes to regular season off season training. And then now, you know, the moment they've been working for the entire lives, I think it's, it's, it's amazing. And just to see his focus, even when he answers a question. You know, I think that he sits and he doesn't, he'll take 10, 15 seconds to kind of really be present and think about his answer. So I really love that. And you can tell that he is present in every moment. And that's why he feels the love and like every emotion after every win. Like he saw how emotional he was after game seven. And even when they, you know, clinched the playoffs, I thought that was really cool. It's kind of see that passion from a player. Yeah. Are you close, particularly close with any of the players on the mixer this first? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which, which ones perhaps? I mean, a few of these guys in my teammates and a lot of my friends after friends. So it's kind of tough because I cause I'm like the soccer mom who wants everybody to win. You just hope everybody is fun. Yeah, I hope everybody can get a trophy. You want to ever get an orange slice and a free song? I'm like, if I didn't have any friends on, I want this team to win. Yeah. So it's tough now. So I'm just looking forward to a great series and some great basketball to watch. Yeah. What is it like changing teams? You talked about, it's like you're from the maybe the same neighborhood, but it's a different school. I want to understand the logistics. We talk a lot about logistics of professional sports on the show. Is there like an orientation for when? Oh, no, it's like, what are they? That's high by fire. You don't have like an orientation leader? No, you could call it where you just got traded. You're going to meet us in Boston and we're playing tomorrow. That's just kind of what it is. So I think when you be traded or when you enter a new season with a different team, it's just kind of like, hey, this is my routine. I had a couple days off now. I got to get right back into it. And I think it's that kind of it can be beneficial when it comes to like the emotions of the game. And it's like, oh, hey, I got to play. I don't have time to think about me being traded or. What about my place and wherever I just got traded from? Where am I going to move now? You have to focus on this and that kind of helps us. Do you think the spontaneous aspect of like, you know, to your point, your point of Boston tomorrow night. Do you think that helps at all in a finals environment? Just being able to kind of like we're working on your feet, you're adapting to a new environment. Obviously, the finals, yes, it's another basketball game, but it's not, you know, that you're able to kind of use that flexibility and, you know, yeah, that flexibility to be able to play in this environment. No, obviously, the nicks could have been in the finals usually last year, the spurs are an up and coming team. I think that they are ahead of everybody else's schedule, what they would have, you know, seen for the spurs. And I think that that's great. But I also think that once you get to this point, yeah, it's a huge moment in your sports journey and to, you know, make the history books, I think. But once the ball tips up, it's just a basketball game, you know, and the guys who, you know, obviously take it seriously and we don't put too much pressure on themselves or the ones that are going to be successful. And it's fun to see that change, that environmental, that intensity shift when it comes to the finals. Yeah, what does it feel like to win a championship? Oh, oh, it's an amazing feeling that I still can feel, and I can go back to it like a thousand. Yeah, like because I would manifest, I would watch, this is kind of strange, but I would watch the last 25 years of champions, like the last minute, 30 seconds. There's a video on, you guys can check it out. And you can kind of see like their reactions and when they knew they were going to win it and benched the arena, the coaches, everything. So I kind of, I would watch that throughout the journey of our playoff run, and I would kind of be like, okay, well, where's my family going to be sitting when we win? Are we going to be in Miami? Are we going to be in Denver? Yeah. Where are my kids going to be? What's the arena? Am I going to smell popcorn? Am I going to be in the game? Am I going to be crying on the sideline? Am I going to be, and you know, a lot of those things, I was like, okay, well, this is what's going to happen. I'm going to feel this emotion. I'm going to see this. Some of those things happened. Some of them didn't, and it was every bit of an amazing experience. So it was great. Did you find your family? Were you able to-- Yeah, I was right away, right away. And it was really, really cool. So I will say this, my oldest, who was six at the time. He was in the family room, in the kids' room playing. And when they grabbed him out of the back, when we were going to win, he came out. He was crying, because we took him away from the other kids. Oh, come on. [LAUGHTER] And I was like, we're about to win a championship. He was like, well, my friends were back there. And I'm like, don't worry, they're going to be on the court and like, 30 seconds. You're like, wow, he's only six. And he gets the intensity of the moment. And he's like, I have the legos. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean, yeah, it was fun, but funny. Well, Deandre, we ask every guest the same question, which is, what is your favorite sports gossip story of all time? Oh, goodness. To end the interview. But to give you a second to think about that, you mentioned like playing tricks on each other. Is there any particularly like incredible prank that you witnessed-- Oh, man. --be executed against a teammate? Well, I mean, for me, when I was a rookie, they made us come in like these tuxedos the first game of the season. Stop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just the rookies. Just the rookies. And then-- And I got to ask, were the tuxes long enough? Or were they trying to-- Well, let me show you. Let me tell you, the tailor comes in. They fit us, you know. We're getting fitted. Everything is perfect. So like, well, leave them, you know, and you guys wear them to the arena. But you have to wear the tux. That's OK, cool, fine. That's fine. I'll do that. That's fine. I get home. I get it in the bag. I don't even try it on. It's snow. I'm putting it on before I leave for the game. And everything is like six inches short. No. Two short, yeah. So they were like little capris. Yeah, my sleeves were up here. And I had like a pink shirt, baby blue vest. Oh, my god, no. It was-- it was pretty bad. And I had like a white one wearing white shoes. Was everyone's tuxed too short? Yeah, Eric Gordon got to the arena like four or five hours early, so nobody would see anybody here. And I was like, you know what? If I'm going to do this, I'm going to embrace it. And I'm going to walk in like boom. What arena was it? Stable center home game. Rookie year. Also in LA. Yeah. So that's rough. I mean, I feel like that. I can get away with it. Yeah, it's like a fashion. Yeah, that's what I'm saying, yeah. But back then, it was like, what? It's OK. Yeah, right. It's like, if you think about when Kyle Kuzmo wore the oversized pink sweater, that looked like a prank, but it was. It was a fashion thing. So I think the inverse of that. It's the inverse of that. Well, my God, you walked so that the pink sweater could run. Yes. Well, you were a trailblazer. Yeah, I already said. Maybe not even a trailblazer, actually. Yeah, but, you know, as far as the league goes. All right, favorite sports gossip story. Oh my gosh, sports gossip story. It can be anything off the field, off the court, in any sport. Oh my gosh. Maybe, I don't know, maybe when I was going through the free agency stuff in 2015 and all the stuff that came from that, like, people were outside my house searching for me and all these, I got locked in. Just like the stories that you get from different people are crazy. Do you have to, like, go in Cognito? No, I just kind of went along with it when people say, I got kidnapped. I was like, yeah, and it was a crazy experience, you know? So I just-- yeah, yeah. I probably said that. That was pretty-- So you wore a sports gossip story. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, wow. Well, we're honored to have a real life sports gossip story on the sports gossip show. Yeah, Andre, thank you so much for joining us. Enjoy the finals. Yes. And unfortunately, this was fun, so you're going to have to come back. I can't wait. Yes. Love it. Or two. We are so thrilled to be joined by Monty McCutchen, head of referee training and development at the NBA. And many people have told us the best dress man in the league. It's a low bar. But, you know, I'll take the compliment. Referees don't get many of them. You look phenomenal. I got to ask, how'd you pick your office tonight? What were you going on? My wife would say that it's random at best. How I come up with these things. But I like color so this was the choice to have it. Well, you just said, referees don't get many compliments. And that's where we want to start. Because referee-- you can't play basketball without referees. Yeah. And yet, it is really-- like, sometimes I'm worried they're going to have to enter witness protection programs in the cities they play in. What made you want to be a ref with knowing that that is sort of the public reaction to them? Well, when you get started, you don't know to the level that it becomes, of course, you know. You love the game, of course. I played at an incredibly small level. And love the game. And as you age, you start to realize that your talent is not going to allow you to keep playing. And, you know, I was paying for my own college. And this was a way I could supplement some, you know, some discretionary funds. And once you start taking on refereeing, it touches something inside you about integrity and character and creating the right-- and refereeing at its best is a service industry in which you put others first. You create an environment for players and coaches. And they're, you know, their themes and their schemes and their, you know, strategies coming to fruition. And if you do it right, you've created an environment where their hard work gets to compete against other people's hard work. And you're creating the proper boundaries for those talents to be seen. Yeah. What is it like interviewing to become a referee in the NBA? Do you do a practice game? Do you have a resume with where you work? Like, because I mean your job is-- it's so physical and in person. You're not, you know, making PowerPoint president. You might be, I don't know. It's not remote, though. It's not remote. It's not remote work, very present. And you, you know, a referee lives in the historical record. And so you have to have a certain characteristic to be able to have your decision scrutinized, discussed by others the following day, even in real time with our, with our announcers. And so you have to become trained. And so we send out 35, we send out a scouting department to look at around 3,500 officials a year. Oh, wow. And like college and high school and wherever we can find them and international as well. And then from that 3,500, they'll give us their top 100 over the course of that year. And then it is. We will watch them. We're in the middle of those camps now where we go from a grassroots camp to a mid-level camp to an elite camp. So 100 referees will get went down to 48, down to 36. And out of those 36, which will be happening while the finals are happening right now in another week or so, we'll meet the Players Association has a top 100 high school players. So in the past, Cooper Flag, DJ, Biansda played in it. All of these different players get a chance before they're known in our draft. Our top 36 candidates referee them. And then out of that, we then pick into the G League for our minor leagues out of those 36. That's incredible. Do you-- oh, my God, I just had the best question. And I forgot it. Monty-- That's all right. Oh, how do you decide-- there it is, we got it. How do you decide who wraps the finals? So we have a really vetted process about that. So every decision and every material non-decision is graded by a referees. And by that, I mean, a decision, obviously, when they blow their whistle. Now, they don't get credit for a good no call every time someone bounces the ball. But we do have good no calls where there's a meeting at the rim on a verticality play. And there's a lot of physicality. And there's some of that that's legal. And if they make a good decision not to blow the whistle, They get credit or they get. you know, a ding for it, if you will, they get an error if they should have had a whistle and didn't blow a whistle. So every official has tens of thousands of decisions graded every year, and that then creates a play-calling profile. Sorry, is someone, is a person doing this? Like a team of people. A team of people, every single call. Every single game. It takes about nine hours to break the game down. That's it, it isn't a caucus, and we have a team of about 15 people who do that, and they break the game down the next morning. And, well, morning and day, and that creates that play-calling profile. Then our teams all rank the officials, so 30 teams give us feedback all year long, they have two times a year that they give us a comprehensive feedback. But every coach, the next morning, can give feedback and a coaching text-back program that we have. And that gives us an accumulated view of how our stakeholders view the work of our 74 or five officials. And then our management team, myself, Joey Crawford, Bennett Salvatore, Mark Wunderlig, Ryan Kernie, EF Rush, they will then rank the officials. And those three groups give us a comprehensive view that we think protects blind spots, so that it's not a good old boy system in which, oh, I worked with this referee, therefore they get these opportunities. And that will give us a ranking of the top 36 officials, and those are the ones who work the first round. And then we move from 36 to 28, 28 to 20 for the conference finals, and then 20 to 12 with alternates for the finals. And so it's not just Monty McCutchen making that decision, it's a really comprehensive program that gets the best people referring to the best games of the year. Wow. What would you say are the most important traits or characteristics of a good ref? The will to eliminate outside noise, the ability to apply training, and the integrity to admit when you're wrong, and apply standards under difficult conditions. So we're looking for the following things. We're looking for courageous, strong people that aren't arrogant because that's a bad combination. You don't want that. We want humility without weakness, and people can confuse weakness for humility. It's not the same thing. We want people that have the ability to hold lines, boundaries, but the humble enough to admit that, okay, I'm a human being, I make mistakes here, and this may be one that I made here, and I need to listen to that. And then we want people who are good teammates and good communicators. And if we find that in a combination, man, woman, someone from a different culture, someone from a different country, we don't care. We want those characteristics on our NBA floor. You know, we talk a lot on the show about how leagues and sports teams are companies, and it sounds like the NBA has put in place a pretty rigorous rubric for employee selection. Sure. Really? Or, you know, it's like, I think that a lot of companies could probably learn from the hiring process. It takes to be an NBA ref, which is just really cool. Well, we have a saying in the NBA referee department, pressure breaks pipes. And the idea is to put enough young people in pressurized situations through these camps and things that we can apply that pressure enough to see how different people respond to them. As I said earlier, NBA referees live in the historical record. When you make a decision on the floor, and it's wrong, and it affects an outcome. People talk about it. And they may talk about it three years from now when the next referee mistake makes, they may, it's a big or even longer, and people still talking about certain World Series decisions 20, 25 years later, and I think that it takes a certain type of person to work under the bright lights of that. And I don't think that that's a bad thing. I think that the commitment that our teams and our players put into this, the franchises believing, the fan bases believing as much as they do, the money they spend to come to games, it requires accountability, and it requires that we put the right people to live up to these historical moments. Yeah. We read on the internet that you were a substitute teacher. Is that true? I was. How did your experiences as a substitute teacher help you as a ref? Well, it immediately toughened you up. Yeah. Or are the reps the substitute teachers of the NBA? They're kind of like, hey, knock it out. Yeah, definitely. There are some moments there. You know, I love teaching, and they had this not worked out. I most certainly would have enjoyed being a teacher for many, many years. Um, I think substitute teaching taught you one thing. One, you had to be quick on your feet, and you had to be able to process information at really fast speeds for a good referee. They process a lot of information in very, you know, finite amounts of time. Uh, it allows you to learn names really quickly, which is important because if someone makes a long to an NBA floor, whether it's a 10 day contract or not, they deserve the respect of knowing them. Yeah. And I think that it also there wasn't being a substitute teacher put you in different environments every day. You don't get the continuity of being the teacher. You're you're moving from suburb to, you know, different city environments to, you know, different classes. And every game is slightly different that way as well. And so it allows you to both apply a standard, but be malleable enough that you have nuance to your wisdom as opposed to just straight knowledge. Yeah, we also read this was from a article in referee magazine in 2009. So we did a long time ago, we read that you almost got a degree in folklore and mythology. Well, is that true? I was accepted to the program. I didn't almost get the degree. I want to be a disservice to the people. Well, it just strikes me as like the sports in the NBA are built on folklore and mythology. Yeah, I believe that we live our lives narratively. And that story has a deep impact that most certainly has in my life. And so one of the great disappointments of my life is that I got the opportunity to be into that program at UCLA. The same year, I was offered my first opportunity to be in the minor leagues, which at that time was the Continental Basketball Association, not the G League. And I had to make a choice as to whether to pursue refereeing. And I figured that degree would always be there if I want. But it is it's somewhat sends me that I didn't get that that they lined up in that way and I didn't get that. Would you ever go back? Yeah, that's what I was going to say. You know, that's an interesting question. Most certainly. Oh, uh-oh. Our table. Well, referees involved. Yeah, you can blame me. Yeah, I don't know. You're there. We go. I think we just moved it too many times. No, it wouldn't be the sports gossip show. It's going to happen. Come this way. We're still rolling. I hope I hope so. This is the good stuff. I gotta keep this in. This is the good. I have the right to use the punches. This is the substitute to look out. Yes, yes, sure, sure. Yep. Monty is the calmest one. So you can tell he's right. Well, did we fix it? I've messed up a lot. I've messed up in front of millions of people. Sure, so this is nothing podcast. Well, we asked this question to all of our guests on sports gossip show. What is your favorite sports gossip story of all time? To be any off the field story and any sport of any size. Oh, that's a great question. You know, it would be basketball related for me in the sense of of how much I have followed basketball over the years. Most certainly the gossip around our lottery has always been something that and I think in general referees, NBA referees live in a very conspiratal soup. And it's, you know, I'd love to sit down with you all one time and watch a game and when someone is accusing us of, of, oh, they're calling it because that player is involved. And then I could show you where all the referees heads were pointed in a different direction where they should have made me been looking there, but they're human and they chose to look at this thing over here. And then it really had nothing to do with the players involved. Their head was in the wrong place and break that down when I break that down for people to understand. We're really just most of our areas are really mundane. Yeah, and they're really sort of a lack of fundamentals that don't get applied at the right time. And all the conspiratal nature of refereeing and how we want big markets and things like that, when you live on the inside, it's always a little hurtful to hear that because you realize, nah, I'm just trying to get my kids through college just like everyone else is. The only way I can do that is to get plays right. So I think some of those conspiratorial that when you're on the inside that you know are just foolish, whether it's the lottery, you know that's foolish when you're on the inside. And when you're a referee and you know that's foolish on living on the inside, those are the ones that are, by default, become my favorite because I have to live with them every day. Yes. And I'm getting a pause. And we couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more. They're clapping for money. No, I don't think I'm quite certain of that. Oh my God. That's a great answer. Yeah, that was a really good answer. Yeah, it's fascinating sort of where we are as a culture too in the sense that like that, you see that applied to politics, you see that applied in really frustrating ways and it has seeped into or maybe sports cultures seeped into politics. I don't know what we used to know what truth was. And you know now the flood of information while it educates as confuses us almost simultaneously, most certainly in refereeing, we get that. Well, you have not confused us at all. Thank you so much. It was a true pleasure to have you and we one time I think during press conference, Adam Silver said, "I invite anyone to come to our facilities in Chicago and see how a game is rough." And I think I tweeted, like, @MBA, I'm ready. And I clearly didn't have the reach that we had been in. >> Get all the Tim Frank, I'll sit with you all and watch you game one night. >> All right, we would love that. Thank you for having me. >> Thank you for having me. >> All right, now a nice speech, thank you. >> Okay, all right. We have our very fun eBay Live Fashion Mailback segment. >> Woohoo, and we have a very good NBA final seam question. And the question is, what do you think is going to be the biggest fashion trend we will see at the NBA finals? >> I have an answer. What? >> And it is actually perfect for an eBay sponsored segment because I think that the trend we're going to see between both Nick's fans and Spurs fans and celebrities at Celebro is a ton of vintage stuff. >> Oh, yeah. >> From the 99 finals for the Knicks, from the Kauai Spurs, Tim Duncan, like they're just so many, and Greg Popovich, a former coach, there's so many icons. Next, Patrick Ewing, you've got Alan Houston, like there's so many people, there are t-shirts of those people. >> Oh, yeah, I would agree with you and I would add on to it that I think we're going to see some deep cut references and people's outfits. Maybe that is using vintage pieces, but some like references to like the 90s final. You know what I mean? That's my prediction. >> I love it. I love it. Well, I can't wait for us to be right. And we will dissect how right we were on the next segment. Exactly. So thank you to our mail back sponsor, eBay Live, Camp Miss Live Streams, Heart Pounding Auctions, Iconic Fashion and Collectibles, whatever you're into, you can bring it home right now. Don't miss another second at ebay.com/ebaylive. >> We are thrilled to welcome to the show National Correspondent for ABC Notes, Knows. >> Well, they know that. Well, you know, thank you. ABC News, you see them on Good Morning America. Will Reeve, thank you so much for joining us. >> Thanks guys. You're doing a cool mic thing. I want to -- >> You can do it. I'm like, I can't not touch the mic. >> Charlotte on the mic. It's a huge problem. >> You ever see Wendy hold the mic? >> It's crazy. >> This would look like a shot glass. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. It would be tiny. >> I'll put it back. You guys set it up so nicely. >> You know, well, you're such a pro. You probably wouldn't have botched your own intro. >> I've done that. I botched things all the time. I'm on live TV every day. >> Yeah, but there's a lesson there. I don't know what it is. >> No, the lesson is it's not that big of a deal. >> Go with it. >> Yes, Andy. Our table was falling earlier. >> No. >> But we fixed it. We think. We think. We think. We'll see. Okay, we're at the NBA final. >> Sure are. >> How are we feeling about either team? Do you have a favorite? What are you feeling about the vibes? We talk a lot about vibes on this show. >> I feel like the vibes are great. The vibes couldn't be better for this matchup, right? >> Yeah. >> You got. I'm thinking of it as like wimby against your text, but the spurs are so good that it's, it's the whole spurs. But in terms of a drawing casual or even non basketball fans, this is about as good of a matchup as you could probably ask for unless like LeBron was in it. >> Right. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I'm a New Yorker, so I have a rooting interest. You can guess what it is. >> Spurs. >> No, yeah. >> It's wimby. >> I do have in Brooklyn, so there are probably a lot of spurs fans in Brooklyn. >> Yeah, yeah. >> They got a, you know, one of the cool, do the color logo version. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> Starter Jack is at a vintage shop, but no, I'm impartial in terms of my job on GMA every day, but I mean, if I could pick who I'm in my soul is Orange and Blue. >> Yeah. I also feel like this is such a good court side wag, like for the casual fan. >> Are there any court side appearances you're looking forward to seeing? I mean, personally, I'm very excited to see Spike Lee, obviously. >> Yeah, but that you can see Spike Lee in a February game against jazz. >> True, true, true. >> You do want to see Spike Lee in a mix game, just watch a mix. >> True. >> This will be, I think this is the toughest ticket to get. Even here in San Antonio, I think plenty of New York fans will fly and people fly in from all over the country just because it's so big, the mix being back in the finals for the first time in 27 years, but I don't know. I think the fact that Jalen Brunson listens to Justin Bieber before every game, you got to get Bieber's court side, right? >> I didn't even think about Justin Bieber making an appearance. >> It has to do. >> Do you think, do you know something we don't know? >> No, I don't. I don't at all. >> I was like, are you a believer? >> No, I am a huge believer, and I also believe in the fact that the nicks have not lost since Bieber Chela, so there's vibes. >> I thought people have been saying they haven't lost since Crawley and Thinny Towns made an appearance in the Devil Wars Prada 2, but Believer Chela was before that. >> People are saying they haven't lost since April 23rd. >> Wait, wait, wait, wait, this is huge. >> Coachella right around that, right? So the nicks haven't lost since April 23rd, and it was either before the first weekend of Coachella or in the middle of the two weekends. >> Bieber Bieber's, he's got to be, I feel like he'll be in a match. >> If I could pick anyone to see Courtside of the Garden, it would be Justin and Haley. Talk about sports gossip. I did hear or maybe I saw on Instagram that Haley Bieber sent Allie Brunson, Jalen's wife, what's it, Road? >> Road, yes. >> Skincare package. >> You know, Allie Brunson has the Allie Brunson method, just like Pilates, a workout. >> Are you accolades? >> We want to do it so badly. >> I feel like that's a very doable thing. >> Is it a private, what do you mean? >> We don't know. >> We want to do it. >> I think she also teaches classes. >> Yeah, and I'm Westchester. >> And I think I simply haven't looked into it. We just got to do it. >> I feel like I did. >> Would you want to come to an Allie Brunson? >> For sure. >> All right, now let's test it. >> Can we do this for Good Morning America? >> Yes, can we come up? >> Yeah, 100%. >> Great. >> You're like 100%. >> If I call my boss, >> On a slow day, on a slow day. >> Like this summer is slow once the finals are over. If I were to call my boss and say hi, we've booked Jalen Brunson's wife to run us through the Allie Brunson method. What that is, we're not sure, but just go with it. >> Yes. >> They're in. Or they would say, can she come to the studio? >> Yeah, and you'd say-- >> And you'd do the class. >> And you'd do like these two twists, they're these two gals. >> Yeah, but it's gonna be-- >> And they want to be there. >> And they're gonna be there. >> They're gonna be there for an incentive. >> Look, you just, it's always, always a production. >> Yeah. >> Right, just gotta be sure. >> Life is a one long pitch, right? >> It is. >> Wow, it is. >> Makes you think. >> Yeah. >> I'm on Google Meet. >> Well, so-- >> No, it's way worse than-- >> Oh my god. >> I said it way back to you. >> It's a Skype part. >> All right. >> All right. >> Mine is more poetic. Here's more real. >> You're on live TV. >> Oh, please. >> Well, this is your sixth finals? >> In a row, yeah. >> In a row, yeah. >> Yeah. >> It's my summer at my annual tradition. >> What has been, what's been the most exciting game you've seen? >> Oh, man. I mean, game one last year, Halliburton's last second shot against the thunder on the road. >> Oh, right. >> It was remarkable. But maybe that's reason. See, by seeing Steph go off for what, 43 in that clinching game six against the Celtics. >> Right, you see. >> A few years back, Jan is going for 50. I think that was to close out the suns. Those stick out, those are probably like on my medal stand. And then, hopefully, those are all surpassed by every game in this series or at least one, right? >> I don't think that's going to happen. >> No, so either. I think that's ending. >> Yeah, it's just been absolutely amazing to watch the city come alive with these names. Like, truly, have you seen any signs or any bootleg merch? >> Yeah, it's really stuck in your mind. >> Hundreds, so I mentioned that I live in Brooklyn. And- >> We do too, by the way. >> And I was about to say we're in Brooklyn, but then we'll all get done. >> So, we'll all find about that. >> I live in the Manhattan, Brooklyn. >> I think I can guess where that is. >> Yeah, we know. I can guess. >> It's as clear. >> Yeah, exactly where that is. There's a pool. >> There's like a dog watching. >> Yeah, there's an Apple store. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> There's a Trader Joe's in the bottom. >> Yes, exactly. You know where I live, but you don't. In any case, your question was. >> Oh, just bootleg. >> Yeah, the vibes. >> Not the vibes, the bootleg stuff. So, when the Knicks clinch to make it to the finals in Game 4 against the Cavs, my wife and I had been watching the game. At a bar, we brought our dog. Again, we live in Brooklyn. >> Yes, if we can, is it a doodle? >> It is a doodle. >> Of course it is. >> Of course. >> It calls the male engagement ring. >> Of course. The guy on live TV has a doodle. >> Well, she had the doodle before. >> It lives above a Trader Joe's. >> I don't live above a Trader Joe's. >> I live near one now. >> You live above a whole thing. >> Now, I live a couple blocks from it. >> No, we live above a bodega, but it looks more like a store. In any case, we were watching the game at a bar, and we had our dog with us and we're like, all right, the nicks have this in hand. It's late. It's a Monday night. We're going to go home. I have GMA in the morning. Like, no need to push it on a Monday. When we come home and we're like, you know what, the nicks are about to make it to the finals. And this hasn't happened in a long time. And although they are really good these days, you never know year to year what could happen. This might not happen for a long time. Certainly not at this stage in our life, where it's just us and the doodle. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> So let's get back out there. And as the clock ticked down, with like seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, we went to another bar near us just to feel the vibe. We didn't have like a drink or anything. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> And then the clock hit zero. And everyone's celebrating singing New York, New York, and Go New York go. And that's a really fun vibe. And yes, I might root for the nicks, but I think that anybody rooting for any team has, like, that's what makes sports so great. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Those sort of communal experiences, those memories that people have with their spouses. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> And that's all that stuff. So that's what we're in for community. >> Exactly. >> Especially in these times. >> It's a real thing too, which I think community has become like a weird buzz word. >> Yeah. >> And much in the way that like, performative or problematic or some other word that doesn't start. with P has become a buzzword, but community is a real thing that sports is one of the last islands that haven't been overtaken by the water of whatever is flooding us all these days. When sports are their best, it is when a team has been bad for a long time. I've said this on the show a thousand times. When a team has been bad and then it starts to be good and then all of a sudden it's really good. There's this sweet spot that as a fan, it is a feeling like I'm from outside of Austin, when the Red Sox won in 2004, we skipped school, went to the parade. It's one of the most joyful memories of my life and even them just making it. It feels like Nick's fans have won, obviously they wouldn't agree with me, but the fact that they're even here feels like this monumental connection to each other. Let's also not forget in that exact same vein, the spurs. They haven't been here in over a decade or a decade, they haven't won in over a decade. That's real for them. They were terrible. Then they got wimpy and then they got Dylan Harper. Now they on their first playoff run together are looking close to unbeatable. It's crazy. The Dylan Harper is a rookie. I forget that. That's crazy. When I was 19, forget about it. You don't know what I was saying to Charlotte was none of these players can rent a car. No, this spurt other than deer and Fox. Other than deer and Fox, the spurs starting, deer and Fox has to drive the spurs. Yes, in a rental on vacation. That's how they get here. Yes, they do. It's a mini thing. No, it's actually a stretch because wimpy has to fit. No, I saw this video of wimpy. He's like in a sprinter van alone. It looked like because he's so tall. I didn't think about he's in a truck. He drives a sprinter van from the back. Honestly, he was. I picture that, I picture that. But yeah, that's like how young this team is. Yeah, they can't rent a car. No, it's incredible. They don't need to. If you had to predict how the series will panic, of course, Nick's aside, Nick. No, I'm sorry. This is putting on my actual journalist. If you're putting on your journalist hat, you're on live TV, you have to make your prediction. What's your prediction of how the series is going to fall? I think that Nick's will steal a game in San Antonio, which one that is. I don't know. I think that the garden on game for game three will be one of the most unhinged atmospheres. It's crazy sports memory. I will be there. I will be there. You will be there. We'll be there. Amazing. For better or worse, everywhere. It's so great. No, it's really exciting. What a time. If he bears there, we have to. We got to go talk to him. He'll be like one day. No, I actually hear he's really nice. But anyway, I think the next steal one here, then I think as crazy as the atmosphere will be in MSG for game three, I think this spurs will somehow win that one. I think it'll be almost just going to go back and forth. And then I do think that Nick's can win this in six games. And the reason I say six is because the odds of the NBA finals going seven games and back-to-back years is like basically zero. Oh, wow. I mean, they hadn't had a game seven until last year since 2016 and prior to that. It was like a decade prior to that. Right. Good point. Game seven finals doesn't really happen. But if it does, yeah, Wendy also doesn't happen. And here it is. That's a great point. But yeah, I get just nix and six because it's like the vibey thing to say. Although I did love, I saw one of the best like memes going around that you may have seen. I feel like it fits this show. Oh, it probably does. Whatever it was. It was like a New Yorker saying our mayor is Muslim, our bagels are Jewish, our Christian is de your nix and four. Yes. And that's incredible. Yes. And that's community. That's what makes New York so great. That's all true. It's true. Okay. I have a task for you that I need you to do right now. Okay. For me, whether you really like it or not, I need you to draw your prediction for NBA finals MVP. And before you say you can't draw Gary Peyton did it. I know. Yeah. It's in trouble. No, no, whatever you want. You just can't write anything. You just have to draw who you think is going to be the MVP. No, no. This is no hand. I'm going to describe for audio listeners. Okay. Oh, so Will's holding up three fingers. Yeah. You know what, I'm not going to split. You got to go to YouTube for this one. Okay. Hold it up for the camera. Okay. So that's Jalen Brunson's hand missing two fingers. Yes. There you go. Does this? It's a three. Please sign your art. It looks like a turkey. It looks like a turkey you do in school. And you bring it home and your mind goes, I'm so glad I have this. Thank you so much. And I'll never throw it away. Okay. Well, before we let you go. Yeah. And you're probably going to have to come back because this was really fun. Okay. So as a New Yorker, I'm keeping it local. It is not even gossip because it was proven true and from page news back in the 70s, actually, the year the next last one, the title 1973, two Yankees pitchers swapped wives. I knew you were going to say this. The story is easy. Yes. Yeah. Can you say more? Yes. They were married to other people. And they had ingest over the years as teammates on the Yankees said, Oh, what are we swap lives? And then one night they did. And then they everybody enjoyed it. So they did it again. And then they ultimately swapped lives in the sense that like picture A's kids then became picture B's kids. They moved houses. One of the couples stayed together. The other ended up getting divorced. And you're a Boston gal. Matt and Ben were going to make a movie about this stop. But the picture whose life didn't turn out as easily was like, I want nothing to do with it. Okay. That is the gossip part of it. Oh my god. It was going to be a movie. But the fact that two Yankees pitchers, I think it was Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekech. And Pete Fritz Peterson. Yeah. That's right. I want to talk to the kids. Yeah. I'm like, what was it like for the kids? I think we probably as is off in the case with gossip and rumors and news stories generally, like the people talking about it from some version of a remove, find it interesting, fascinating, whatever. Maybe not the same experience for the people who went through. I would imagine. So to anyone who was negatively affected by this story from 50 something years ago. We're so sorry. It is interesting. And it's guy, that's the gossipiest thing I can. Oh, that's a great story. Well, that was a great selection. Thank you so much. Thank you guys. This was such a pleasure. What a treat. And now we'll see you at the workout with Ali Bronson. Yes. And you can see me on Good Morning, America every morning. Yeah. We're gonna be able to find you. Where are you on the GMA ABC news? Wherever you get your ABC news, which is everywhere at least. Okay. Perfect. Yeah. Thank you, Will. Thanks guys. Thanks. We hope you enjoyed those conversations. They were all so great. And thank you to everybody who has hung out this this week. We will be back on Tuesday after game one. Yeah. I mean, game three. And you know what? I just also thank you to everybody for just sharing with us. Yeah. It's it's 11 30 and we're and it's we're insane right now. We're a little silly and have a case of the giggles. But it's fun. It's fun. Well, as always, please rate and review. Like and subscribe. It makes a huge huge difference. You can follow us on Instagram @sportsgossip and TikTok @sportsgossipshow. You can subscribe to the SportsGossip Show on Subsec @sportsgossipshow.com. And I need to go to sleep. Okay. Bye.