What’s Next for LeBron? The Whiteboard Returns! Jaylen Brown Traded to Philly, and Can the New-Look Lakers Compete? | Game Over

All right, Rich. The whole sports world is on fire with LeBron anticipation. Where he's going to wind up and we're going to have to talk about that today. Do we have to Max? Of course. Are you ready? First of all, you're looking very crispy in this Wimbledon's get up. I just got back. Just got back from Wimbledon. I was there. I have to show from there. Mm-hmm. Have a good time. I talked to you. You may have a good time. You interrupted my time. LeBron interrupted my time. I did see some good matches, but I imagine these people are like, what? Who is this guy on the phone talking to through four straight sets? If only you knew some British person with influence over there, you'd have been covered. I mean, I was covered. Okay. But the point is, I have the headphones in my ear. I'm working. Listen, let me tell you something about the Wimbledon. The Wimbledon is if the Kentucky Derby and the Masters had a baby. Okay. Because when you think of, first of all, you go into a little town called Wimbledon. All right. That's number one. Nice homes. I would live there, by the way. Nice homes. You might. Then when you get there, when you get there, Max, hey, you get on these grounds just like at the Masters. I've only seen the Kentucky Derby from TV, but everyone speaks highly of it. But everything is manicured. Obviously, you know, I found the Ralph Lauren store and a beautiful Ralph Lauren store to on campus. The pams and the strawberries and cream, you would have had to, you know, your whole diet thing would have been screwed because of the the strawberries and cream. Oh, you could do strawberries and cream. Why not? That could be on a table. Okay. Well, you would have been great. A few pams. We had a few pams. It was great. And it was great. You dress fly is tennis. So that's great. Tennis is a great sport. And the way they have it set up is all these different courts. So you can pretty much, I had seats in a court, thanks to my, my partners at New Balance. But you can also walk around to the different courts. So Georgia was with me. Her mouse fair was there. I took Irene, another colleague from our music department. It was great. Now I really enjoyed it. But with all that being said, Max, at the same time, I just have a feeling most of the people listening right now, watching right now, a little less interested in Wimbledon. But it was Volly and no, a little more interested in LeBron James. Serena was playing. Yeah, that's great. Serena's back. I get it. I guess she lost, you know, but she'll be fine. I ran into Taylor Townsend. She had on the clutch athletics AC runners. Yeah, that's good. We'll get to it. Max. No, this is no, no problem. I'm here to answer whatever questions you may have. By the way, since we were last on air, G even Brown was traded. He's a sixer for a ham sandwich. I don't know about all that. You can't listen. Why would you want to disrespect PG? Well, right. PG is six times. I'll tell you why. PG, when he is on the court is still an excellent player. Yes, yes. But his contract, and we see this a lot now with the second apron, aging stars on big contracts because of the second apron have negative trade value. In other words, if you want to move Paul George, you need to attach picks to get him out. Right? What would you say about a first round pick? Like it to move Paul George out of your organization costs the first round pick. Yeah, that's Jalen Brown, because of his age is value. The trade was around Jalen Brown. That's the trick. Going to the sixers is tough, man. All right. We got to get into all this. Yeah, we have to game over with Max Kellerman. Game over spotify.com. Please subscribe. We need you guys to subscribe. Thank you. I am a big why not? I'm not big time. You got to see. I'm too proud to beg clutch sports. Yes. All right. The entire world rich. And I'm I gotta tell you what a thing that LeBron James has done that in the year 2026 because the sports world in cap leagues and the NBA is now a hard cap. Yes, it's a harder cap league than the NFL because of the second apron. There's no sentimentality in those kind of leagues and the NBA is finding this out now. You know, older players getting big contra. Uh-uh. People are careful. No one cares that his name is LeBron James if he is not producing. No. So the fact that in the year 2026. This is going to be his 24th. Fourth. Yes. Season in the league. I think of people in idea like Nolan Ryan who was throwing a hundred miles an hour still in his 23rd or fourth season, whatever was had a career like that. But as great as Nolan Ryan, the picture was he was never maybe one or two years in his career considered the best pitcher in baseball. He was just, you know, top of the rotation pitcher for all that time, very famous, through harder than anyone. But he was not the LeBron James of baseball. LeBron James has been doing it at this level for 24 years. It's insane. It is insane. It's insane. It's insane. And what it says to me, Max is you remember I talked about there's no way I'm letting this guy out of my organization and it had nothing to do with money. But what he brings in the locker room to the organization enterprise value. Yeah, I get it. Older guy. You probably don't want to commit certain, you know, high dollar amount. I get that. But man, I got to figure out a way. I'm not letting that fruit. That fruit has that that that juice is too sweet. I can't, I can't let that fruit out of my fruit basket. Just that he has now come out and you have said money will not dictate this. Yes. Now at this moment, LeBron James is one of the hottest commodities ever because you could argue getting LeBron James for much less than a, than a max contract. There's more value in that or close to as much value in that as when he was in his prime getting him for a max contract. You're getting him because you're getting he is in other words, he's his value is closer to his peak value on the court than his money is closer to his peak money, right? In the contract. Yes. You're getting even more value. That's why every team in the league is interested. Yeah. I don't think he's ever played where there was equal value. No, never because he's never played because when he got the max, he's worth three maxes exactly. And what it does to your, what it does to the business side of an organization for you, you can't even, you can't equate. If I could, I would have been charging, I would have wanted a piece of parking pieces that, you know, when the butter goes on the popcorn, I want a little piece of that, you know, you know what they said to Joe to Maggio when Joe, they asked Joe to Maggio someone signed a contract for like, I don't remember what it was, a million dollars or $500,000 a year back in the 70s. They asked Joe to Maggio, what would you have been paid if you were a free agent today? He said, I would have walked into Steinrenner's office and said, how you doing partner, right? Right? That kind of thing. And LeBron James had enough value to be partners in the business. Yes. And it comes with the, and by the way, now when you're done playing, hey, here is, we have an open door whenever you want to come here because we want you in that room. We want you in that room as we evaluate talent. We want you in that room as we talk to younger players about what it takes to really be great and to win and how to create great habits and discipline and all those things. He is human resource. This is the Lakers. When the Lakers stop being the Lakers, it's when they started letting the human resources out of the building. First Pat Riley in New York and then to Miami, the Nick Scott to be a powerhouse almost won the title Miami. One, what is it now? Three titles since he's been there. Then Jerry West goes up the 405, the Warriors become champions. Then he goes to the Clippers. The Clippers become a powerhouse. They, you don't want to let that human capital out of the building and LeBron is one of those guys you'd like to keep in the organization, but it's not, it didn't happen. All right. Rich. What is the latest? What's the latest with LeBron James? There's a lot of reports, you know, Cleveland or, or the Warriors, right? My sense right now is if this is going to be his last year, he's going home. That's my sense. Yeah, but nobody knows who says going to be his last year. Well, he has a documentary crew following him around. He's had that for the last four years, Max. All right. Yeah, it's a no way. You know what? You know what? 25 is a better number than 24 anyway. First of all, he should be done with his 25th year before no one said this is going to be his last year. No one said that. Also, once he got the green light from Savannah and Zuri, 'cause then it only was left in the house, once he got the green light, -Go anywhere. -You can do whatever you want to do. Okay. So, what do we know? What's the latest? What can you tell us? I can tell you that every morning he's golfing. Max, that's what I can tell you. Let's talk about his basketball at all. Which teams have reached out? Max, I'll tell you this. It's pretty admirable. And let me tell you why. I was thinking about it. I've heard from the other day I said 10 to 12 teams. I counted today. Outside of one organization, maybe two. I've heard from every organization in the league. Every other organization. So 28 teams. Or no, well, the lake is 27 teams. Yes. -20 plus. -Yes. -And me? -Yes. Okay, it's a lot to say about that. And here's the thing. Whether it was just checking in, we had Rich. We have to call. And I enjoy talking to the guy. You know, this is fun. I enjoy talking to the guys. Yeah, I enjoy talking to the guys, right? And Max, let me tell you something. I knew how eager you were going to be to talk about this. Yeah. So guess what? What? I'm bringing the whiteboard back. Oh, what's the return of the whiteboard? Yeah. I have to go to the whiteboard for this because I just need. I just. You know, the visuals. The visuals, but this is. I want to take you inside of what my office looks like. Okay, so this is great. Because the magic of television or streaming or potting or whatever this video audio content is, allows us to really whiteboard? No, whiteboard. Okay, so all we have to do is this. Max, I was prepared for you. Yeah. So I'm gonna take you. I'm gonna take you on the inside a little bit, right? Because we talk about this all the time. But I wanted you to see it. All right. And so here's. And when you talk about what we talk about, here's my thing. As you're going through this process, and I'm saying to the brown like, you really have to think this through. Because as you know, if you're looking at a calendar, right? And the porch on the calendar looks great, but you have to live with it. Everything looks great in July. Everything looks great on paper. But you've got to be very careful with that. Now, the way the league is going right now, we thought Yannis was going to be the biggest news at a summer. And now it's. It's been bananas. Right, and now it's changed. You don't even remember that Lamello got traded. Jod is. It doesn't even pop up on the radar. Exactly. It's crazy. And so when you think about that, and then you think about Mellow, and now Jaylen Brown. Right? So I prepared this board just to take you through a little bit of it. But again, you know what's crazy, Rich? I'm sorry to interrupt. The biggest story is still LeBron. Yannis won a championship. It's worth the most in terms of trade value, as we saw everything play out. And that was a giant story. Jaylen Brown just now has a big story involving one of the traditional great powerhouse franchises. Really two of them in major Eastern Seaboard markets. But the LeBron story is the biggest basketball story of them all. Yeah, he's still the face of the league. Yeah, it's crazy. And again, because of the way he's played it too. Yeah, I mean, and again, being 42 and still playing at this level is insane. And again, the, the, the, when you think about what's admirable, having all these people call, and I said to Silverbrice, listen, I'm going to tell you this because I think sometimes you can be so good at something and you just don't take it all in. And he's never been that type of person. But I said to him, I said, you know, it's these calls that I'm getting is a true testament to how you have respected this game. Is your, is your 24? In other words, it's not just like Kevin Durant, the rumors wanted to maybe play for the next. The next were the ones according to reports that said no. Yeah. If you talk to Nick's fans and I have, what do you think of that? I don't want Kevin Durant on the team. Now think about this. Kevin Durant, still playing at a very high level, is an unstoppable weapon. But the nicks have a perfect situation right now. Don't mess it up. Don't bring in anything. But if you ask a nicks fan, would you like LeBron James? They'll all tell you how, yeah, I want LeBron James. Because all these 27 organizations see that he will enhance the value of the team. Absolutely. I don't just mean in terms of the money, which he will. But in terms of the way that he functions, how he plays, how he leads the whole nine. So look, you see I have it. New York is right there. Yeah. So when you think about the board, Max, take a look at this, because I want your opinion here. Okay. Right? Philadelphia, everything changed. Do they have his attention as Windhorst is reporting? How could you not have the attention when you have Maxi, Edge, Cone, Brown, and B? They're missing all they really need here is a power forward who can think the game and shoot. That's why he's in the middle. But think about it. So what's what is the he loves Maxi? So we don't even have to talk about that. I think VJ, he helps VJ understand really how to play the game. VJ is a baby and he's already. Super talented plays both ends of the floor plays hard every night. The benefit that he gets, he should, I mean, it would be ridiculous. Obviously, Jalen Brown, right? I'll tell you something else how he would help the sixers. Brown, when Stephen A comes out and says, Jalen Brown needs his own team, blah, blah. He's not picking that out of the air. He's talking to people either in Jalen Brown's camp or Jalen Brown. Like, that's how the game works. If Jalen Brown has that kind of ego, he wants to be the guy on the team. But he's joining a team with Maxi, who's at least as good as he is, in my opinion. He's an edge comb who's more pure talent. He's got him both beat. And M.B. who, when he's on the floor, is better than all of them. M.B. and his health inhabits. If the health inhabits of M.B. are there, but what I mean is the team and the guy to come in and make that by itself doesn't necessarily work. If you add the right guy, the broad James is the one guy who might be able to unlock that and get that to be a team. Yeah, he enhances everything. He unlocks everything there. Now you go down south, Mitchell, Wiggins, Yannis, Bam. Plus Pat, plus Spoke. First of all, at LeBron's age, the funny thing is he can still play defense here and there. When it matters, when it matters. High-lampage. But at 42, he does not have the energy to be carrying the offensive load he carries. And I don't just mean scoring, right? And playing defense on every possession like it's 2012 in Miami, right? What he needs is the guy like Bam on his team, a guy like Yannis on his team, who can, a guy like Wiggins, who can defend the perimeter off night, same thing. It's kind of defensively, it's perfect for him. And then LeBron can shoot from his spots. They need some shooting on that team. Let me give you an X-Factor about the Sixers though. We forgot about something. Jamir Nielsen is a part of the Front Office X-Player. Mike Gansy, you know Mike Gansy's a Ohio guy. Played against this in high school. There's a pitcher floating around that Mike Gansy's brother put out of Mike Gansy and LeBron that were a part of the high school Ohio, all Americans for the season. Does LeBron remember guys like Gansy? Absolutely. Like I don't just mean running to them. You know what he gets? He remembers, in other words, it continuously the whole time. Absolutely. Let me tell you, he remembers every. No, I'm not saying, of course he knows who he is now. I'm saying, but in other words, it was, it was never like, oh yeah, you were the guy from Westerplay. He's just known him the whole time. He knows Tony Stockman, Andrew Lavender, Mike Gansy, Mike Woods. He knows everybody. Emmanuel Smith may rest in peace. He knows everybody. Now let's go up here to the Sea Town. Mitchell Harden, Moby Allen. You know what was nuts when I was hearing when they looked like they were in on Jalen Brown and they were talking about, yeah, Evan Moby would have to be in that deal. Wait, why would they give up? You want Evan Moby, if you-- They wasn't giving up Evan Moby. Right, you had to worry about that. But here's it again. LeBron fits perfectly on that team. Oh, perfectly. Well, this is why I'm asking you, and we'll get to the end. Dan and Grant, which is the Gilbert's, plus Colby, he was there when LeBron won there. Big, big, big X-Factor. Then we talked to you about Brandon Wings. Brandon Wings is basically LeBron's brother. I don't know if you knew that. Now he worked his own way. Nobody gave him anything. He's earned it being the front office of the--of the--of the caps. He was a grad assistant in Kentucky, Oakland, LaSalle. He did everything on his own. He worked his own way there and we're extremely proud of him. But that is a big feather in the cap. Big feather. - And Cleveland. - Big feather because of Brandon Wings. Now, don't get me wrong. Dan and Grant and Kobe, we know them. I miss my guy Nick Gilbert. I can only imagine what Nick Gilbert would be saying to me right now. Talk about the best guy to talk to, the best. Now, negative is, and this is no offense to Harden. No garland because he loves garland like he loves Max. - You know, on the other hand, I didn't like that trade when they made it. But there's something to be said, like, Harden's never won a chip. And Harden's a great offensive player. - And he's a good friend of mine. - And James Harden, and I actually find Harden easy to root for. I just don't think his style of play results in a championship. Or it hasn't so far. Although it got real close to beating what I thought was an undefeated Warriors team, an unbeatable Warriors team, real close. And they just had the worst shooting night ever in game seven. But when I look at that lineup, you add LeBron and people stay healthy, including LeBron who'll be 42, not wood. That is a lot. - That's a lot. - Okay. Now, let's get over here to the mile high, right? Murray, Johnson, Gordon, Jokic, they got one big hurdle. They still got Peyton Watson, who's a restricted free agent, right? Cronkey family, we're close to. So ownership. - He's got the might as touch too, Cronkey. - He's wanting everything. Josh Harris and Blitz, love those guys. - Let's go back to Denver for a second. - Now you got Cronkey. - Denver is Denver actually a legitimate destination. - It wouldn't be on the board. - Okay. Now, here's what I think about Denver. On the one hand, mile high, I don't know if I'm 42, I want to play in the thin atmosphere. It really does make a difference. - Just guys and pecs. - It never, nevertheless. It is like, that's the reason what Masai did. It was so smart way back in the day before they had star players. He made them 10 deep and then ran everyone out the gym because the air was getting to people. That said, the reason I would want to see that is in terms of basketball geniuses. To me, there are two that are different than everybody else in the game. There's LeBron and Yokech. If you just measured basketball IQ, Yokech's brain is in a different galaxy. It's different than everyone else's. He sees things, no one else sees. The only comparable guy to him is LeBron. Watch, that would be like watching in terms of the IQ. If Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were on the same team, that's what that would be like. Just the basketball genius of it would be something that I would want to see. - Okay. Now, let's get to Minnesota. If you want to, you got an, you got Lamello. You remember when Ant said, it's okay. We got Jay McDaniels. It's okay because we got Jay McDaniels and then you have Go Bear plus Tim Conley and that ownership group. - To me, let me tell you why that's the most interesting one. This is why I said McDaniels was the key guy in that match up with Denver. He locked up Murray and Murray, who's a great player off performer, always great player performer, did nothing because he had a freak, a physical freak on the whole series. Who also has an offensive game, a shop blocker who defensive player of the year can, until Wembee came along every year. He's a defensive player of the year, a candidate. Ant is a superstar and now Mellow in the back, where the only thing Mellow needs is a mentor. If he has LeBron James there, that team, and what I love so much about it, Rich, is if LeBron were to go to the Thunder or even the Spurs. People like me, it's not exactly like Katie going to the Warriors. It's not that extreme, but it's like, come on, Bronn, you went to a ready-baked situation. This team was in the finals, they had a lead in every game. This team won the finals the year before, but if he goes to a place like Minnesota and who keep running up against the wall in the Western Conference finals and puts them over the top, there's a different level of achievement and credit that comes with that, so I love that. He's also more of a missing piece on this team than I think he is on any other team. Okay, so you spoke about Mesa. Dallas and Mesa. Now in Dallas they got oil, they got golf, you got Macau in the Sands group, and then with Mesa, you got the whole continent of Africa. That comes with Dallas and Mesa. Okay, do you see Steph and Dre up there? Don't forget about what Steph and Dre have. Here's what's great. Okay, so this tells me a lot. Just until you hit it. You're paying for four-dimensional chess right now, or you just tip your hand. No. I will say why. All I'm doing is showing you the board. Hi, that's everyone. I will say why. Ready? Go ahead. Everyone's reporting, and I know you say what did they know. It's Cleveland or Golden State. Golden State was a big one. But you have all these things. You just have this golden state up in the corner. So either you're doing that purposely to throw us off the scent, or Golden State really is not as much of a front runner as people think, or not as much in the lead as people think. You could think whatever you think. This is just my board. You decide what you want to think. But we know Steph and Dre are Hall of Famers. So that's clear. How much would he want to play with those guys before he retires? Because he did it. One of the things I never understood about the criticism in Miami was, like I said this on CNN the day it broke. And there was a little crusty writer, forgetting who it was, who was so upset about it. And I was like, time out. The dude wants to go to South Beach and play basketball with some of his best friends. You got a problem with that? That experience must have been incredible. Him and Steph, who have been like if there's a face to the league that's not LeBron, it's been Steph. For him to play with those guys and Dre, how important would that be to him? Is that for him like something he's really thought about through the years? I mean the golf would be tremendous with those guys. What about playing basketball with those guys? Oh, I mean, come on Max. What do you tell my, is Steph and Dre? Does he jealous at all when KD went to Golden State and he got to play with Steph? Does it has, you know, I think sometimes how Michael Jordan said he watches LeBron and thinks how he would have guarded him. Did LeBron ever watch them play and think this is how I would play with Steph? I don't know the answer to that. But what I will say to you is, Steph and Dre obviously you get four time champions like you are. You get some of the highest IQ basketball. You get a guy in Joe Laker who I've told you just the whole time wants to win. He's not, he wants to win with any great business mind at that. And so you can buy into whatever you want to buy into but Steph and Dre, do you got Brad and Tatum, right? Down there. You got the Brown and Tatum no more. You got the Spurs. And so what I heard, the reason why I wanted to make this board Max, I love this board, is because first of all, what I've heard you say is the complications of this entire situation. Consistently you said, wow, I would love to see that team. I would love to see that team, that team, that team and that team. So you basically said you would love to see every team on the board. I got one more. Go ahead. I have said that the next, it would be weaker because not the team, but they just won the championship. And if LeBron goes there to a team that just smoked everybody, it's like, however, because Jaylen Brown got traded to the Sixers who just knocked off the Celtics. The Sixers are now perceived as much stronger. Those Kawaii Leonard got traded to Toronto. Back to Toronto? Back to Toronto, where he's won a championship. And you start to look at that Toronto roster. Toronto has gotten stronger. Because Yannis got traded to Miami from a non-contender, Miami got a lot stronger. Yes. I think, I, I, I, I renounce my throne. I retract my previous statement about, about, he can't go to the next, because it would be perceived as weak. I don't think anymore. Everyone is tooling up. And because the whole conference got better, I think, and the next lost Mitchell Robinson, by the way, to the Celtics. I think the next are more reasonably on the board. In terms of the way the public would perceive it, then they would have been. Well, I look, I think, um, I think it's difficult, right? Because the last thing you want to do is mess up something like that, right? The mix has a good thing going, you know, that'll be, if the mix hadn't a won, he, this wouldn't , there would be no board. He'd be going to the next. Interesting. But the fact that they won, I always thought that eliminated them. But the more I think about it, Rich, well, you just, it's, see, it's a player thing, Max. The next can only afford vet minimums right now. They got rid of Mitchell Robinson because James Dolan, in spite of the fact that it took 53 years to win a championship. And the reports are his front office wanted them in the second apron for Mitchell Robinson, refused to go there and he signs away with the Celtics. The nicks are have their hands tied by the second apron. They need cheap contracts. The rest of the conference got better. They have gotten a little worse. Nicks are weaker than they were. By the way, do they win that game if Mitchell Robinson doesn't get that offensive rebound, right? They don't have him anymore. They don't have his backup center anymore. They've lost stuff. I think it's a little different than it was. LeBron's always judge different, don't max. I understand what you say as a fan of the nicks and as you know, someone who has been around sports forever. But he's just always judge different. And those are, that's a very fragile thing. And he's been a part of championship teams. And you've never been up. Here's the thing. He's been a part of a championship team with people coming onto the team. When LeBron comes onto your team, I don't care if you just want a championship. I don't care if you've been the best player. It's different, man. His enterprise value and what he just carries is, it's different. And I respect the fact that my brown knows this. And I respect the fact that he wouldn't, when you guys wouldn't want to mess that up for the next. Jaylen Bronson would literally have to pick up the phone and say, hey, man, it's no issue with me. It's no issue with me. Jaylen. Balls in your. And I'm not saying that that would, that would, I'm not saying that that would make it make it, but at least it would put him on the table. Yeah, because because you got to respect that. Have the next call. Yeah. Next track. I've been checked in. You know, you, the one thing for sure, you want to respect what those guys have built. And also, it's Jaylen Bronson show. You want to respect that. He's earned that right. He's performed well. I hear what you're saying about Jaylen Bronson making the call. But I just saw LeBron. LeBron's problem has never been that he shows up and he needs to take over. No, it's the opposite. He shows up. And eventually the teammates have to come to him and say, you got to do more. Max is not just about basketball. You've never been in locker room with this guy. Just ask anybody, ask any player. It's not just that in New York City. Yeah. This guy. It would take it. Here's the thing. If you talk to Nick's fans and say you could have Kevin Durant, they will tell you no thanks. If you say you can have LeBron James, they say, yes, please, we want LeBron James. That's what they'll tell you. Do you realize doing the next play high IQ basketball? Absolutely. Mike Brown would be the coach. They didn't do. They have a coach who's coached LeBron James. Yes, they do. But here's one. Has he ever played in the world's biggest market? He's like, only visiting only visiting. Why is he here? And once a year since he's been in the West, in the Western Conference. But remember, part of his whole thing, even like at night, he would have shoes. He would make a special shoe just for when he played in New York. He had the taxis. He had the big apples. I remember he debuted the graffiti's there. So there's always been something. But Jalen Brunson picks up the phone. I don't know. Is there a chance that game over is based in New York next year? No, I'm not moving. I live in LA. Does it have a chance? No, there's no chance. There's no chance of Rich Paul leaving LA. Oh, I'll be here and I kept my Laker tickets too, because I'll be at Laker Games as well. What if both LeBron and Adele had reason to be in New York? They had to live there. Come on. I'm the only other partner you got that I go back there. You're all alone. So Max. So what do you think about the board? So we can move on with the show. The board is awesome. Was it helpful for you? Yeah, I think it's just awesome. And I would say what you said about the Nick's and Jalen Brunson picking up the phone is significant and looking at the board. And the nuggets I wasn't really thinking of. And that would just be something to see. But looking at the board, I doubt he'll wind up in Minnesota because in the end. How many teams do you see on this board? Sixers, I think, are realistic. I didn't say, I know that's not what I asked you. I said, how many teams do you see on this board? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten teams. Ten teams. Yeah, me too. We're talking about ten teams. Amazing that it's even that it's that many. But the one that from a pure basketball point of view, I kind of just wish instead of in Minnesota, they were in, you know. San Diego? Yeah, they were in like, I wish that was the Golden State Warriors right there. I wish the Minnesota T-Wols were the Golden State Warriors because that would just be something to see. But like they'd all be something to see. He'd be great and would enhance every single one of these. Some of that, as we look at this board and I know, you know, everyone's going to speculate. There's been speculation. There's been sarcasm. There's been conversations about, you know, LeBron from obviously, I don't think actual LA fans or, I know, the real LA fan and organization and things like that, the appreciation. And you know, it's a tough spot to be in when a guy is this age and still this good and we've never seen it. But when I look at this board and as I go through things every night and we go through text messages and calls and things like that, I become even more appreciative of LeBron because I've been there. I've been there every step of the way. I've been there in the dark days. I've been there. Working out in the morning, shooting jump shots, rebounding. I know the sacrifices, Bay, I know the discipline, I know the sacrifices, family made. And when I got the calls and I'm talking about owners, I'm talking about players, I'm talking about people that you would think, oh, maybe they had an issue with it or not an issue with all that stuff is out the window. The calls that I've gotten has been such an admiration and for me to be a part of it. I'm just appreciative, man, because you've been there. I've never seen nothing like it. I can't think of one either. At the end of a superstar's career or toward the end, there's a certain toxicity that comes with it sometimes because they're used to being the man. They're not as good as they used to be. They can create a distraction, as you said, LeBron and Alok are in New York City and all this kind of stuff. I have to get a call from Jay. LeBron have to get a call from Brunson. And I think about the end of Kobe's career. He's scored because he's Kobe Bryant. He dropped 60 in his last ridiculous. But it wasn't good. I think about the end of MJ's career. MJ was still great when he was 38, 39. Then he heard it. Then he had an injury. He came back still good, but he wasn't great anymore. And by his last year, I was there in the locker room because I was based in DC at the time for around the horn. I was the original host of around the horn. And I would not say that that ended well either. He averaged 20 points, but I didn't feel like it was a great influence in the in the locker wall that stuff. The fact that LeBron James is 42 and not only playing the way he's playing, but is the kind of player and person who's not only not toxic by this point in his career, but he is desired by every team in the league because they clearly think he will help their organization on the court in the locker room, et cetera, et cetera. He won't be a disruptor. He'll be an enhancer. To me, that's the greatest commentary about his legacy. You're right. You know what the day is looks like in Minnesota going forward. The playing rise, the prep practice. You know what? You know what he does for Coach Finch in that group. Coach Finch, I guarantee you, Coach Finch will have a edible arrangement every day in his locker. I know what this looks like. I've seen it, right? Sixers. Obviously the calves. Denver is just. With that Minnesota team, man, I just watching Mellow and the other thing about LeBron is you think because he's old. Well, it slows you down. It does not slow you down. LeBron can run up and down the floor still. Well, it's two seasons. There's a regular season which you got to get through. Right. Right. And then there's the playoffs in which the playoffs slows down. The game slows down. Everything possessions matter more than anything. But that Minnesota team could still play fast and win the playoffs. Oh, absolutely. No, you have to play fast in moments of the game in general. Without LeBron, his potential influence on Mellow and having aunt there and what that even melt, even if LeBron doesn't go into Minnesota, to me, there must see TV this whole season. LeBron there. Oh, my God. No, I'm listening. It changes everything, Max. And it has. And here's what I'm telling you. when I talk about Jaylen Brunson calling, it's not like calling begging from somebody to come to a team. So I want to clarify that for the viewers. - No, what you're saying, Jaylen Brunson would have to give you his okay. - Yeah, Jaylen Brunson said yes, I want LeBron here. It's not a problem. - Yeah, what he's saying is, I got no issues man. I would have no issues. Because that's what men should do. When you should pick up the phone and have a conversation about things. That's what men do. - I mean, I just think that the possibility if Jaylen wants it is open because of the loss of Mitchell Robinson in the conference because of the fact that they can only afford vet minimums basically at this point. And because of the fact that the East has retooled and these giant like think about the player move in the Eastern Conference. - I said again, Joe Dumars, after going to six straight Eastern Conference finals, however many Eastern Conference finals they went to, this always stuck with me. He said, Rich, we're walking out of the back tunnel and at the queue, at the time it was the queue. Now it's the Rocky Morgge. He said, Rich, every year you have to get better. I don't care if you win, you have to get better. - And the sleeper to me is Boston. That's the sleeper because they just lost a forward, a guard forward, whatever, but that's a, they could use someone who, I mean, they have Paul George who knows if he remains on the team we'll see. - He'll be there. - Paul George would be there. - By the way, by the way, - You have Derek White. - Paul George. - Pritchard. - Tatum, Tatum. Mitchell Robinson, Pritchard. - That's, yeah, if LeBron goes to the Celtics, they might be the favorites to the subcomics season. - Well, that's the thing. Everybody becomes, wherever he goes, they become the favorite. Let's talk about Christmas Day games. - Who plays on Christmas? - The East, I don't know if the, like the Nixor a lot, even without Mitchell Robinson, the Nixor a lot, but if he went to, if he went to looking at just the fit and the, and the, I think if he goes to the Celtics, that's the biggest impact move. - You think so? - I think so. - Okay. - I think so only because I have changed your mind like seven times. - No question, but, no, I'm saying in the East only. Only in the East. - Only in the East. - Okay. - The, the, the impact move on the Nixor's harder to gauge because they just won the championship. So if they win it again, how it's harder to say what the impact is. - Right. - Filly, M.B.'s health, I don't trust. So that, and that's a giant piece. You don't know if he's gonna be a red. - That's a fair point. - Health and habits, that's a fair point. Miami not only has he done it there already, there's not a lot of shooting on that team. - They have to run hard away, Junior now too. - Yeah, but still not a lot of shooting. - Yeah, there's a way to go. - But in terms of the, how it would all fit together, and the, and the, it's called marginal utility, really. Like, how much does it add by adding a unit of this? Adding a unit of LeBron to the Celtics is a lot more. - Okay, Max, then why don't you? There's also the roster in October, and then there's the roster in April. - Yeah. - Right, so what other assets do the team have to make moves at the next month? - Yeah, because you have to, you know, who do you believe in? And obviously, you believe in everybody on this board. They prove it. Sixers got Bob Myers. You got Kobe, he's a champion. You got, now I'm being in John Wallace in, in, in, in, in Denver. Now they, they're new, but the, the Nuggets as a whole, you got Joe Kitching, you, I mean, that's, that's the experience they coach, there's a lot of experience there. - They also have a crazy on the Nuggets, like I think, - And Ryan Gordon, when he got his money, when you say, what do you do, forget about it, practice at home? When Aaron Gordon got his money, the first thing he did was bought a gem, so he could live, literally live in the gem. He lives in the gem. - Yes. - Which is why all of a sudden, he doesn't start to shoot great by accident, right? Like you see the improved, so there are players on the Nuggets with that kind of mentality. - Hey man, listen, now you, I just wanted you to, to have a glimpse inside of my world, so you can see how difficult this stuff is. - Man, that's an interesting world. - Okay, whiteboard out. - Jaylen Brown traded for Paul George, two first round picks, two second round picks, right? But to get out of Paul George's contract would cost, - At least one first. - At least one first. - Yes. - So, at least one first. So really the return for, by that, - Jaylen Brown was the first and two second. - First and two seconds. - Yes. - When they traded, what's his name? They got, who's Jayme McCain? - McCain, they got a first and three seconds. They got more from McCain. - All trades aren't created equal. - Clearly. I know, I'm just saying. - I mean, so this is what's weird for me. And I wanna hear what you have to say about this. I understand the second apron is causing a lot of kind of irrational moves, the seem irrational. This is the thing though, and it's not that the marketplace is never wrong. But like, as I was saying about, hey, KD wanted to join the Nix and reportedly, the Nix said no, and KD is still bawling, but Nix fans don't want him. Most, but most of the Nix fans, you talk to say, no, don't want, I'm good. The chemistry's right, the whole thing. - Not one KD. If I have a basketball team, I won KD. - You won KD on it, yeah. - Absolutely, yeah. The marketplace tells you stuff though. When it came time to trading Yannis, an agent, player, who's not quite the same defensively, who doesn't play full seasons anymore. - Well, that trade probably should have happened two years ago. - It should have, but still the marketplace spoke. Many teams were interested. There was a bidding process and they got a haul. Jalen Brown apparently was shopped around. And when I see Jalen Brown, you and I watched Jalen Brown lead the Celtics past the Lakers on Pat Riley, you know, night. On the night they gave Pat Riley a statue and handed out Bobo Hebson. We were sitting right next to Pat Riley in your seats. You know, watching this game, and I remember, and I told you, you know, watching the game, I said, rich. - Jalen Brown. Jalen Brown is more of a championship player than Luca. You know, even though Luca has more skills that you can measure, I would rather have a guy who plays like Jalen Brown. So I'm a fan of Jalen Brown. Two-way player, I like him a lot. But the marketplace spoke. The NBA, all the analytic stuff, I know you'll whistle analytics, who says, say he's not a top 10 player, he's more like a top 20 player. Although, like the marketplace treated him that way. They did not treat him, the market did not treat him like a top 10 player. - Yeah, but do you understand why? That's what I'm saying. I suspect it's because he's not a top 10 player. - No, that's not true. That's not true. - He's a finals MVP. He was had a great season. He led a team without Tatum, you know, to the playoffs. I get it, but. - Let me let you in on the little secret, Max. Here's how this stuff works. One, Boston has new ownership, right? And so, like you said, we're hard-capped. That's a big number. He got three years left. - Ownership is stretched thin. - Yeah, he has three years left on his contract. Paul George, after this year, have one year left, maybe it works out. - And as I recall, ownership, when they bought the team, I forgot what happened, but it was like a private equity deal where they actually didn't have the cash that they were supposed to have. And I don't remember the details, but I remember thinking. But also, they're leveraging what they have in order to get this, but do they really have the, you know, it's not like if you look at the Dodgers, the Dodgers have deep pockets to address the team. The Celtics do not seem to have the same thing. - But Brad Stevens is no dummy. Brad Stevens is no dummy. He's a very smart guy. And when you are making an organizational decision, it's not just for the moment. You have to, you have to, you know, you're thinking, out, years out. And so, you have to let that play out. The second thing is this max. And I would put my GM hat on, but I'm just put the GM hat here. - Yes, too crispy. - The outfit needs to stay. The Wimbledon outfit needs to stay. - Yeah, I can't change it, but. - Very crispy. - So, but the point I'm making is, if I'm the GM, right, a pretty good life, man. Got a pretty good life. The one thing you're trying not to do is make your job harder than what it already is. And so, you know, hey, man, my wife don't work. My kids are in private school. I make pretty good money. I got a great situation going. The reluctance comes from the risk factor. - So what reluctance? - The reluctance of trading for any player in this case. - Because there's risk involved. - There's a risk factor. - So, how high is that risk of ruining my position? And you have to decide. Now, it also comes from how settled in your job argue? - Brad Stevens is quite settled. He has a lot of equity. - He's protected. - He coached the champion. - He's not going anywhere. Sam Presses protected. He's not going anywhere. When it was Bob Myers, he was protected. - Leon Rose is now a made man. - We don't have to do what he wants. Pat Riley, we know, could do what he wants. - Right. - So when you're protected like that, you could take bigger risk. Now, who's in the Sixers front office? Yes, it's Mike Gansy's new on the job. And yes, Jamir Nelson's been there. You also have Bob Myers. - Gold state, yep. - Yeah. But he's now with the Sixers. - But I mean, he has a lot of money. - Tracker. - Yes. So that protection allows you to take a bigger risk. Now, I think Jayden Brown is a hell of a ball player. I think Jayden Brown is a winner. He plays the right way. - Both ends of the floor. - Yeah, and sometimes things run its course. At the end of the day, Jason Tatum is the face of Boston Celtics that was gonna never change. Never change. - So Brown wanted his own team. - Well, but again, remember we talked about this when we shot New York. It's not your own team because now you go into the six years, that's Tyree's Maxi's team. - Right, that's what I'm, but yeah, but, - So it's not about that. - But it adds up to inevitably. And I don't think in this case, you're in a position. - And when I say it's Tyree's Maxi's team, I wanna be clear because we had that the other team. - Yeah, that's the owners team. - Yeah, it's the owners team, but Tyree's Maxi. - The governor's team. - It's the governor's team, but Tyree's Maxi has now taken over as the leader of what this culture and what this organization is being. - But now in finals MVP is coming to the team. - Fair. - Tyree's Maxi and there have been a finals MVP. - He's never been a finals MVP and that's fine, but he was drafted to the six years. - Okay. - So, but there's some things about Jaylin Brown and the reason the analytics community is not in love with him, and you could say, well, analytics, but analytics is a tool. If you wanna say-- - It's a mechanism. - If you, right, it's a tool, it's one of a bag full of stuff. You can apply to understand what's happening. - Fair, 100%. - So if someone were like the analytics say, Jaylin Brown's the 52nd best player in basketball, I'd be like, well, because they're not, the analytics are failing to see the whole picture, but I wouldn't just dismiss that in the sense that, I does raise my eyebrows. Wait, is he not as good as I thought he was? So this is what I dug in a little bit and found, that his true shooting percent, basically how efficiently he scores, considering his volume of scoring, which he was forced into more without Tate and Ed as year, is not elite elite, it's good, it's really good, but it's not, you know, like the top, top guys. And in addition to that, he turns the ball over more. For a guy, now Jaylin Brown's not a point card. Jaylin Brown was forced into a role that's really not, he's really a wing, a two, three type guy, right? So I get that, but there is enough evidence to suggest, maybe he's not a top 10 player. And maybe not top 10, that's not for me to decide, but what I'm telling you is he's impactful in the floor. Yeah, you want to manage, of course. Coming to the Sixers, when you talk about, that's why I said, Brad Steve is no dummy. They may have seen that him and his team, Mike Zarein, those guys, they're smart. So you're looking at it, style of play, what work, what didn't work, and probably, so you know what, we need to play a different style of basketball and it looks like this, maybe Paul George and his number shape. Kate Richard, we want to take the next step. A little bit more of a row. There's only one basketball. Yeah, we get all of that, right? Tatum's going to get healthy and that dude is the man. Yes, but now coming to the Sixers for Jaylin, okay, and Nick had a job to do, Nick Nurse. How do you make all these guys fit? You have to still find a role to play and it's not a lesser of a role. When I talk about a role, it's the type of basketball you want to play, right? And so where do we have the advantage? How do we put these guys in position to where it's just not ice-so-basketball? Ice-so-basketball all day long builds bad habits. I can't guarantee it. It never works. Especially when you get to the playoffs. Now, the difference between a regular season to play all season is when the shot clock comes to be the guy who can go get you a buck. You can go get you a buck. Yeah. And that's important. And so I'm sure they'll find different spots for Jaylin Brown to play on the floor. They'll stagger guys, especially Jaylin and Tyrese because you need someone carrying the load offensively. But if him beats there, if him beat is there, now you can always have two of those three guys on the floor all the time. The reason I don't believe in the Sixers is because of him beat. And beat if he somehow stays healthy at the right time and has enough continuity so that they adjust to the way they're going to play with him, then they could be unstoppable, right? But it's such a crap shoot. It is. And the thing about Mbid is it's always something else. It's not even a recurring injury. It's the back, it's the knee. It's the this, it's the this, he got sick, it's his face. It's, you know, it constantly new things. And maybe, but if so, it's like, it's such a boomer bust team. They need 55 games out of Mbid. And at the right time. At the right time and then the playoffs. Because one of the things I felt that hurt the Sixers is, he comes back, they have to figure out how to play with him. Then he, he wins because they're playing great. Then he's clearly gasped because he's such a big force and a big body on the floor. It's hard not to throw him the ball. Right. But in order for them to be successful, you gotta allow Tyrese to lead that office. Right. And Bid can shoot it from distance, but he's not great at it. But you want to be, you, you, you, you, you got a role on that screening role. You got a role because you got to get that pocket pass. He got enough touch and he's such a big force to that. He don't have to work as hard. Right. Jump hook action, post move counters. He's got such a great touch around him. Both ends of the floor. He's the most complete ever at the position. If he just duck, what Shaq used to do, right? Shaq was the king of ducking in. He duck in and get you on his back. You're done. Done. You're done. And so some of these things you have to simplify to play the game the right way. And when you talk about what's in my bag, there's, there's different parts of the season that I need different groceries in that bag of yours. Right. So, October to December, you can have our fruit snacks and shit. You can have all of that. Come, man. Bring out that steak. Yeah. Some protein in there, some vegetables, and a cool glass of water. Right. Because we're trying to win. That's it. You know, it's funny. I just real quick aside, Shaq, to me, Shaq, brought him up. I always thought of him as an underachiever because if he would have had Kobe's motor or, or kind of internal drive, he would have been the best player ever. He was just unstuck. But I'll say this about Shaq. What's incredible. And you think back to the finals that dude used to have. He net in the finals. He used to put up games that were like, insane, under 38 and 16. That's why you can't like a guy like M.B. who's so well rounded. He could do something Shaq. Making key free throws down the street. You can't compare these guys to Shaq. Like you can't, by the way, the funniest line I've heard all years is the line of the year. Unless this was made up on my reels, Chet Hohmgren said something about how he and Shaq would cook Shaq and Kobe. Nobody said that. That's not true. He couldn't have, right? That's not true. And then if this is real at all, I just hope it's real because it's such a great line. Shaq said the quote that I saw in the real was, "Have mercy on yourself." You look like my X-ray. I don't believe that. You look like my X-ray. I don't believe it either, but I want it to be true because that is the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life. A very underrated thing about NB. Really good free throw shooter as a bitch. Yeah, absolutely. He can shoot period, but especially from the stripe. Also, Jalen Brown, I hope he said this too. All I get is probably misinformation from some way. Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about with the myths. Probably I get just misinformation from social media. This is why people think that they don't need vaccines and stuff because everyone's getting misinformation. At least my misinformation is about free throw shooting, but Jalen Brown, apparently the quote was that he thinks he's smarter. He thinks he's always the smartest guy in the room. The quote, "I saw from Jalen Brown is, it's sports. It's a low bar." Which by the way, that would be genius. By the way, right. He apparently is the smartest guy in every room. That's a bar. That's a bar. Listen. You can't be intimidated by a guy. See, here's the thing. Here's the problem I have with that. Smartest guy in the room thing. By the way, Jalen, I agree with you. I've been in sports all my life. It's low hanging fruit. These are not geniuses in this industry for the most part. I disagree with the smartest guy thing because you would not say that comment to an executive. Don't say what you won't say to an executive. No, no, it's not that you haven't said it. I know who said it. I know who said it. But what I'm telling you is, don't say what you would say, but you wouldn't say to an executive, to an athlete. Just because he plays basketball, don't mean he wasn't smart. My high school team had a 3.8 accum in a high school where a 92 is a beat. We were smart. Apparently it's not a very good high school. 92 is an A minus. No, it's not. We were a very smart team. And Jalen Brown is a very smart guy. There's a difference between being smart and being a know-it-all. So I'm both. And I hate. And Jalen Brown, maybe Jalen Brown's both. And I hate when people say, oh, you know, he's our articulate. What a lot of times, what do you don't suppose to be our articulate? Well, there's a lot of coded language. Yeah. You know, this is classically about a black, by the way, not just player, person. You would hear a white person say he's so articulate and that's coded language because what they're saying is articulate parentheses for a black person. black people are not usually articulate, et cetera. Yeah. But, and there is, and there's, I don't know how much of that is, if not racist, racial, the fact that that's being, yeah, I'm not playing, I don't know. That's going around social media, but it's impossible to know how much of its racial, but I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, race has some influence in this country and a lot of our interactions that we are not even aware of, and maybe we are aware of it in this case. But, but in this case, the smartest guy in the room thing, like I've heard that said about James Dolan in an unflattering way. James Dolan thinks he's the smartest guy in every room and he's the dumbest guy in every room. I've heard people say that to me. More than one person has said that to me, and he's not an athlete and he's not black. Fair, but what I'm telling you is, and I don't know, I don't know. But it may, but I'm not arguing the point that it is coded language. Yeah, but what I'm saying, and I'm not even saying that, I'm not playing a race car here. I'm just saying whether you a black athlete, white athlete, whatever, don't say what you wouldn't say to an executive, to an athlete, period, because that just don't make sense to me. The point is, we all have a little bit of know it all in us. That's part of every human. We have know it all in us. Yes, you have to, you have to monitor your know it all, miss. Because it rubs people the wrong way. So whether you're an athlete, whether you're an executive, it don't matter. You have to monitor your know it all in this period. You think that you're not saying Jaylen Brown has that, but no, I'm saying we all have to do that. Yeah, we all have to do that because it, because you're, if you're know it all meter is high, it could deter an opportunity for you, right? That doesn't mean you're not smart. That doesn't mean. Rich, does Jaylen Brown, I don't know Jaylen Brown, I've never talked to Jaylen Brown. I've never met him. I know Jaylen Brown very well. Although if that thing he said is real about how it's a low, it's a low bar, then I really do want to, I really want to talk to him, but because that's funny, but is it, you know, so what I said, it's a great tribute to LeBron that at the end of his career, very close to the end, even if this is not the last year, I mean, 25 is a nice round number, not 24, but every 27 teams are calling Rich Paul his agent checking in on him. That's a great tribute also rich to his personality because that, before you let that personality in the building, when he's 42 years old, you want it to rub people the right way. Yes. And so, and so it's possible that Jaylen Brown, one of the things that affected his trade value, which did not seem to match his actual value, is that there's concern about his personality. Okay, listen, that's not in a position to say that that's the case because I don't know it. Yeah, but that's guess what? That's part of the process and the evaluation process for everybody, right, for everybody. And in the event, things need to be worked on. You, first of all, you have to be self aware. That's number one. And if you're self aware, then you can work on things if that's the case. Again, I've been around a lot of people in my life and titles and things like that, money, all those things give people different types of positioning. And the thing I've always focused on is to not to focus on any of that. If you're a good person, be a good person. No matter what. The Lakers used all of their draft assets forever, like until the year 3000. You Lakers have no draft picks. The Lakers, the Lakers, if there is like a nuclear war, and eventually we like crawl out of the depths and reestablish society and rebuild culture and civilization and recreate the NBA. And finally they start playing in the Lakers still will not have any draft picks. They're not going to ever have a draft pick again. And what they were, what they wound up with, they got a sign in trade for Walker Kessler, nice player, good, like they need a defensive player. Well, here's the thing. What do you value more? A wing or big depends what I need on that team on that team. You need both. You need a big on that team. They absolutely need a big I value the wing more for the Lakers for any. But for this Lakers team, your money is being spent in a back court of Luca D'Agentian Austin Reeves. You must have room protection. You need to have someone back there to make up for the fact that these guys are going to get cooked. Yeah, but let me explain something to you. The wing is such an important position in our league. You seen it. I'm old. Right. The next one with what? The next one with everything. But the interior defense is coming from the wing position. You don't consider the starter. Yeah, on the starter. Yes, on the starter. O.G. Macau Josh Hart, right? The spurs were in the finals. You had Castle. Yes, but you also have Wembee. Yes, don't get me wrong, but what I'm saying is, yes, the spurs, by the way, the spurs defense is the most underrated thing about them. That team is Luca went to the finals. Savage defensive. Luca went to the finals in Dallas with Rookie, Derg Lively and Daniel Gaffer as lob threats and shop don't even have that. No, I'm just saying they were in a tough spot because you have to make a choice. Okay, I would say. All I would say is I would probably value the wing a little bit more. Okay. But Castle or Hunter? Castle is a good player. They got a sandwich. They got a sandwich. They got a sandwich. Yeah, he came from, he came from, he came from Toronto. Four years, 52 million. Shot it well in Toronto. I thought Colin Sexton and Quentin Rhymes are nice little pickups for them. Yeah. Those are, you know, I mean, Colin's a good player. He's going to come off the bench. He's going to give you, you know, when you said you need a guy who can go get a bucket. He's dead. Yeah, Sexton is a guy who in the playoffs, when things get tough, you have a guy who can give the ball to say get, get a bucket. I thought he was a good fellow. They could for years actually. He was just, he was just under, he was just under a big contract. I do not see this team as being competitive in the West. They'll make the playoffs. They could maybe play off serious. They're perks saying they're going to have their best offense in the league. I don't see it. I mean, Perk knows more than me about how that would work, but I don't see it. So I would say, Lucas style of play is not conducive to having the best offense in the league because he, he, you know, dribbles the air out of the ball and guys stand around getting cold. Yeah. The athletic big with Luca is extremely important at which they don't have. Well, now they do. Now they have a guy who can have a really big guy, but I'm saying in addition to that, I'm just saying I don't, I don't believe in the Lakers next year. Not in the Western conference. I think not when LeBron just left the team and is going to maybe wind up on one of their rivals. Yeah, I think they'll be. They'll be, you gotta see, gotta see how they play. Gotta see how they play. I think they'll, they, they, they'll be competitive. They'll be competitive. I don't know where they finished. Where do you think they finished in the West? I don't know. At best. At best, that's the best they could hope for. Oh, for best, best they could hope for. At best for it. Oh, at best for it. Are they going to have to finish ahead of the spurs or OKC? Are they going to finish ahead of Minnesota? No. They're not finishing ahead of those three teams. So that's four. They might not finish ahead of you. Minnesota lost a lot though. They lost Nasrid. They lost Julius Randall. So no, Julia, listen, again, the league speaks, right? Like the market speaks. He used to be healthy. Julius Randall's not valued by the marketplace. Portland is going to be good. Portland. Portland is going to be better. Phoenix. Although that's a lot of guards. They got a lot of like like usage heavy guards. They'll be OK. I'm going to tell you a team that's going to be, well, let's see what happens in New Orleans. Oh, super interesting team. You know, you know who no one's thinking about in the east, but might come out of the east. Who? Indiana. Oh, Indiana's back home. Indiana was a nightmare matchup for the Knicks. The new year before and like not only did they bump out of the Knicks who won the championship the next year. Yeah. But they were tied at half time against OKC. Yeah. Like Indiana is as good as any team. Yeah. In the game seven, they game seven on the road tied at half time. Then you then you lose your best player to injury and then you lose the game. Who's to say they wouldn't want that game? They might have won the game. They might have won the title. Here's what I was saying. It was like I said last year and to be good at a year, I said if there was a year to win it, it was this year. It was this year. And the Knicks did it. They did it right before the spurs really get cooking. They did it right. Like you said, everyone's getting better. All right. Don't sleep or team in the east if they stay home. Washington. Mark my words. Sleeper. I'm not sending them make the finals. I'm just telling you. All right. Washington. The Pacers are somehow a sleeper team. There's no one, but only because no one's thinking about it. They add a zoo bit. What you hear is. You hear now Philly just got jailed about obviously the next or the champs Boston made moves by Emmy gets Yannis like all these things are happening. No, it's thinking about what you can't forget about Atlanta Atlanta was by the way Atlanta won two games against the next. No one else won two games against the next All right, it's gonna be good. This is a great league. Uh What's what's gonna be the Christmas Day matchups? Who do you think in a crit let's let's go to the you know Tyrese Tyrese max United Is the other day let's go through the let's go through the 10 teams That you think plays on Christmas Day. Okay. Well, let me hear let me hear the candidates from you so Okay, see yep spurs nicks. Yep LeBron right whatever team he wants every team he goes to so that's four You have to add everyone he's not going to the nicks spurs or okay, see you have to put you have to put staff Yeah on TV. Yep, right so go to state. So that's five five or Could be four The T-Wool's get some love because of the mellow trade. I think so man. I keep telling you Max And I told you just before the mellow ball. The mellow Anthony. Listen mellow Anthony the mellow balls Relatability to the you is so important To our league. I'm telling and I told mellow this Matt bar and I said it to Matt and I'll say it again now It is being underplayed this move by Minnesota because of the market Whatever people think about the level that they'll be competing at and it's a very competitive team There maybe has never been a back court like this You think of like the all-time showtimey back courts magic and his various partners that he ran within the back court and And a lot of them were all star level players Walt Frazier and Irleman row like you could take whatever two you want to talk about has there ever been a back court in terms of the showtime of it all Where there's a point guard like the mellow ball who's six seven and does who can shoot like him pass like him and with the with the Pizzas right with the flash yes next to an a complete player who's also a sick athlete like Anthony the last time we had a six seven point guard and a six five shooting guard Well, yeah, but then who could jump out the building they wasn't equal because although penny was Penny yeah, but it was Nick and no Nick Anderson is not on the left Nick and she's a nice player not on the Live is in when he first came out even six seven, but not on the level these guys had nobody else Sean lives in nice player not on like I'm just mean this not just the level they'll compete at but the style of play is gonna be insane with no I agree and they have a good coach in Chris French although they lost their assistant so she it there's their so she had head coach and Went to Portland, but yeah, they did gain lamello ball though on the other hand. They did. Yeah, they did But they lost read any loss Random yeah, so yeah, okay, so so but okay, do they count because of those two guys or the market? I put a asser is okay, okay Just filly Philly yes Boston yes Miami and bossing on play each other on right Miami. Yes We're up to nine well first of all the next compay to spurs kind of all the wrong destination the next compay to spurs in New York on Christmas day, right okay Then you have I don't know does go to state play Denver or the Lakers on Christmas day. You gotta put the Lakers on Luca and the Lakers. Yes, Luca and Lakers are in Does Detroit make it does Cleveland make it maybe Cleveland maybe Cleveland not Detroit no Detroit, but maybe Cleveland That's Not Portland Denver Denver maybe yes, not okay, so we said okay, so I'm watching to Atlanta Orlando no no Okay, let's go through our list Okay, see Spurs Warriors Lakers Nick's Celtics sixers Lebron those that's eight that's eight unless seven because he's my Emmy nine Miami nine for sure and So it's either eight or nine because Lebron could be on one of those teams well, it could be odd Right, so but I'm saying so if Lebron's on one of those teams now we're down to eight and I'm not we're up to nine right and then he the candidates for that final spot are Cleveland Cleveland Denver Minnesota you put in Joker John put Joker. Okay. Yeah, so those are 10 Denver. Yeah, so Cleveland might be the odd man out Well, I'm just telling you if Minnesota can do what I think they can maybe do yeah Cleveland the season people are gonna be losing their shit. No, Cleveland Minnesota probably have eight eight to ten Actually, 10 of eyes games, but but Cleveland Cleveland and Minnesota are in the pool of honorable mention. Yeah, Christmas day games. Okay good. All right, there's Christmas Yeah, there's Christmas day Merry Christmas everybody and max Tomorrow's the 4th of July. It is the 4th of July. No. Yeah. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yes Yeah, 4th July. Yeah. Well, it'll be today when the show comes on it'll be today's the 4th of July. Yes. Yes. Tomorrow's the 4th of July. Yeah, tomorrow's the 4th of July Do you have any plans? I don't have any plans actually all my kids are scattered all over the world doing their thing this summer Okay, well you can come hang out with Dean and I That means there's gonna be good food. That'd be great provisions good. Good wine provisions Great provisions because you know Dean Dunshop anywhere unless the food is top-notch Well, that's because he over did it now he's got Oh, oh wait a minute wait a minute He's gonna be at this restaurant at whatever great restaurant He won't be he can't really he Oh my god, that's the entertainment but listen just watching him look at the food is the entertainment max the fact that he went home and overheated It's the fun. It's the I wish I was there to see him Try to start his car at overheat I mean Not funny, but it is funny. It is funny. That's that's right. That's gonna be that's we we you know We need to do us some BTS on just Dean looking at everyone eat food He's gonna be so mad All I can think about it's what I used to have a 086 skylight man and you You like you just slide the The the heat on and next thing you know you think you got the heat on and the whole radiator starts run out of Anti-freeze you just grab some water it's Whoo well max. I'll tell you man. I am You know, I don't really get tired and you know, I don't really sleep But I'm not going lie these last three weeks. I don't even know what time zone I'm on yeah, well you're finally home Finally home. Yes, but I feel like You remember that pop-highs mean where they were outside they were And I think I was outside or I think it was maybe a lady she had her smock on and she just had her head down like man It's been a hell of a day been a hell of a month. Yeah, I mean, you know just I had to make a I had to make a real decision and you know things you do man um I had to fly cross country The text messages and phone call I couldn't ask for the phone. So now I'm hoping to play The playing speeds up to land in time to call people back because I like to try to call people back in a timely manner and um Wasn't anticipating, you know, just the the No, we don't have any free agency anymore. So yeah, the second apron really needs to be changed Our free agency man, although although here's the flip side of that When has there been this much player movement in an offseason? Well that well I am for the wrong reasons. They're still I am thankful of that because I like I said before Free agency the draft the trade deadline Those are such important assets to our ecosystem of the NBA and our business You like to grab us to the to the brand of the NBA you're making a great point the NFL Took the draft and turned it to a huge thing and so the NBA looks and goes okay We'll make our draft the huge thing, but you just can't the same way because the nature of the beast There are more positions and the NFL is just different well, I was the NBA can do Which you just pointed out is the NBA as a different animal has different things that would pop and and The equivalent of the NFL draft would be what you're talking about start of free agency all that if they did that as an event in Vegas or whatever It would have the same Sense it would do for the NBA what the draft does for the NFL should do what Fanatics fest is for fans with The free agency But we don't have any free agents anymore, but you remember it's such a it's such a huge asset for us. Yeah, that gets viewership up that gets New fans from across the world when all these deals are popping and money's flowing and so on so what's the biggest free agent? experience ever was LeBron 2015 going to Miami. Oh, that was the biggest in terms of yeah, you think about that and the NFL is king and it's the biggest I thought you told my as a collective no, I mean, I mean the biggest free agent that was in the history of American team sports and there been some big ones the Yankee sign Reggie Jackson in 1977 and that was a huge deal like there are huge deals. There was never Been no football. No nothing has ever touched LeBron James's decision. That was the biggest deal ever. Yeah, no, I listen, I just I remember 2015 obviously the money was going up and all that and it was just money flowing out looking at it the other day. And I'm not sending it selfishly for the money. I'm saying for the engagement the fan engagement of free agency is through the roof. This is why LeBron's decision look at everything that's taking places. It's all everyone's talking about because it shows you. So imagine if we had that rolling, you know, but I'll talk to your boy, Ruben. No, you have to talk to Adam silver. Ruben doesn't run the NBA. No, that's true, but he can, you know, oh, yeah, I mean, we can put the production on. Yeah, 100% and I think Vegas is the right place. Vegas. And here's another thing. The reason why free agency was so great was because once you had free agency, you had to get past a moratorium. Once you get past that, now we're all in Vegas and all those guys have to come to Vegas to sign the contracts. It's a beautiful thing. Yeah, you can. There's beautiful content that can come out of that would that would grow the league. It's a beautiful. Yeah, beautiful thing. Okay, you know, I'll talk to Adam about that. Yeah. Yeah. But Max, great. Sure. I'm glad to be back. Yeah. Back in studio back home got the band back together got the band back to Michael and Dean in the studio over here. Yes, the band is back together. And, you know, look forward to the next show and everybody enjoying their fourth be safe. Don't try to light any fireworks. You know, seriously fireworks thing. It's out of control. Seriously. The fire people losing fingers and stuff just come out. I'm not a fireworks guy. Put the fireworks in the middle of the ocean or Lake Erie. If you're from Cleveland or any other Midwest cities like Michigan Lake Huron Lake Ontario, you know, all the ways like superior. Yeah.