The Ryen Russillo Podcast - More Luka Trade Fallout! The Pulse of Mavs Fans with Will Cain. Fox to the Spurs. Plus the LeBron, Klutch and Lakers Plans with Jovan Buha.

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

Russillo starts the show by once again trying to make sense of the Mavericks trading Luka Dončić (0:40). Then, he’s joined by Will Cain to gain a fan's perspective of the Luka trade and discuss the differences between ESPN and Fox News (16:02). Next, Ryen shares his thoughts on De’Aaron Fox being traded to the Spurs before Ceruti joins to determine which teams wouldn’t have been interested in trading with Dallas (51:38). Next, Jovan Buha explains how the Luka deal materialized, what this means for LeBron’s future, and whether the Lakers will make any more moves before the trade deadline (69:44). Finally, Life Advice with Ceruti and Kyle (96:40)! How do I get my daughter out of watching a neighbor's cat? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, live streams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Ryen Russillo Guests: Will Cain and Jovan Buha Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Big basketball podcast. Let's do it. Luca to the Lakers. Everything that I've been able to piece together and why I think one part of this I will never be okay with. We've got Will Kane, politics and pick and roll. Probably more just on Luca. D'Art Fox also on the move to San Antonio, so a few on that.

Serene and I run through the no list of Luca trades and the Lakers future with Yovon Buhha and Life Advice. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. You know, Amazon Prime is not just a shipping subscription, right? Amazon Prime isn't just one thing, but a collection of excellent services. Amazon Prime offers a range of services, including Prime Video, Amazon Music, and Prime Fast Free Shipping.

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The only investigating I'm doing these days is who shit their pants. Killer messaged you yesterday. This is so dangerous. I got to get out of this. On Saturday night, Luca was traded to Lakers. Bill Simmons, Rob Mahoney and I, we all did a emergency pod because this deserved an emergency pod. It's one of those trades. It's the biggest trade of my MBA lifetime. It's the kind of trade or news that I'll remember exactly where I was. Saturday night, not very wild, back home, laying in bed, Paul catch fire on TV, excited about it. And then you see the first piece of news start traveling in, your phone starts blowing up. Is this real? What are you talking about? And, um, and then you see Shams tweet that Luka

Dodgers has been traded the Lakers for Anthony Davis. And I, like everybody else was like, this doesn't make a lot of sense. Um, and Shams had to say, this is not fake. Like I haven't been hacked. And Bobby Marks had to be like, he's not hacked. That's how unbelievable this trade was. Call bill feels like, I guess we do an emergency pod, but it's not like, he's not hacked. That's how unbelievable this trade was.

Call Bill feels like, I guess we do an emergency pod. I'm like, yeah, I think you have to for this one. And we did it, we sorted through it. And I was hoping by Monday morning of this taping that I would have more info for you. Um, so let's just try to work through it a little bit. Cause, uh, the league is still shocked by all of this. So I think it still works today. My reaction was like everybody else.

Why would you trade someone like Luka Dacic at 25 years old? He's already made five all NBA first teams by 25. His range is probably at best, the second best player in the world, at worst, the third best player in the world. I think he's better than SGA. I'm sure there could be an argument. So let's say the worst you could rank, Luca today is the fourth best

player in the world at 25 years old. Guys like this do not get traded. And again, it's the most stunning trade of my lifetime. So since Saturday night, I probably just because people can't stop talking about this, maybe half the teams, someone for half the teams in the league. Because you keep trying to put this together. And now I don't know that there's much more of a mystery. It's like, have you heard from anyone that knew that he was available?

Did you hear from any team where Nico just kicked the tires and like, hey, what would you do in theory if we were willing to trade Luca Doncic? Because a lot of times this is how all this stuff happens. These guys talk to each other nonstop. They know which front offices like their players, which players that they don't like, who could be available, who might not be available. It's just a big, big run of months and months

of dudes on phones talking about hypotheticals. They do it in their own front offices where they rank all of the players and then they revisit those rankings, they argue over the rankings just because they want to know how their group sees the value around the league in comparison to maybe how another team would see the value. Right? So there was speculation that there was this one other mystery team

that was at least asked about what they know, what they could do for Luca in a trade. I don't know who that team is. And Tim McMahon does a great job. VSBN.com covers basketball nationally, but very plugged in with the Mavs said in his piece, quote, they did not discuss potential Davis trades with any franchise other than the Lakers. So that feels like maybe there's this one, we'll hear something later on like, oh, they actually kind of called, but like, who knows?

Because apparently this wasn't like a two day thing. It goes all the way back to like prior to January 7th and then Nico and Rob Blink met up January 7th when they were both in Los Angeles. So if there's one constant that I can, which you already know, but the constant is that Nico Harrison loves Anthony Davis. Loves him. And I get it.

80 is awesome. He's 31, 32 in March. He's been great again this year. All NBA second team last year. I voted him as an All-Star starter this season. Last season though was his first year at 70 games since 2017-18. He wants to be a power forward. Cool.

He's a lot better and more valuable as a center. If you start trying to map out what the rotation will be, maybe how they would close playoff games. I do worry a little bit of like the power forward center, non-stretching the floor, two bigs Cleveland thing that I kind of worry about at times, even though Mobley has just been lighting it up. So you understand what I'm saying? Like the two bigs that don't really stretch the floor.

Maybe it's just about defense and providing two incredible interior defenders behind your perimeter guys. But now you're moving PJ Washington to the three where he's probably better as a four. And then I don't know what you do with clay who's been starting because he probably shouldn't be guarding two guards. So I guess you could say this is where the max Christie piece comes in and maybe they close with max Christie defense. He's been pretty good lately.

And then you have Kyrie at the one. I thought this Dallas team with Luca was a pretty good team. Okay. See on to me, it's a toss up. If everybody were right and everybody were healthy. Luca was a pretty good team. Okay, see on to me, it's a toss up. If everybody were right and everybody were healthy, that's a big hit because Kyrie's got a back issue. PJ's got a knee issue.

I've Gafford, you know, missed a game recently, not that big of a deal. Lively's out and definitely with a stress fracture. So maybe it works or maybe they never get fully healthy and we can't judge Dallas on this trade anyway. I think all of those possibilities are on the table at this point. I also worry a little bit about the dynamic of Kyrie as the true one. I think he loves the role. I think he likes being miked up. I think he likes it kind of being his team, despite staying all the right things and playing some really good basketball and being drama free here for two years.

But the weird part about Kyrie's playoff run last year is that when it was great, it was just using universally praised as great. And when it was bad, it didn't really matter because Luca was there. Where Kyrie could have bad stretches and big playoff moments that just kind of became hidden because he was the two and not the one. And the one gets the brunt of all that criticism. When you're the one and your team doesn't win in the playoffs in the NBA, it's like, oh, what's wrong with this guy? And Kyrie is able to avoid a lot of that stuff because Luca was there. Now he won't. And to be honest with you, it's not going to be because AD can overshadow Kyrie is the focus of

attention here because AD is kind of the same way. As great as he is, he's a deferential personality. He probably works better with somebody else who's perceived more as the face of a franchise, a popularity superstar like a LeBron James, despite the fact, look, the last two years, Anthony Davis was the better basketball player between the two guys. For the Lakers, it's a franchise reset and it should be. Who cares about 2025? I don't like their defense on the perimeter right now. Who cares? Uh, because once Luca becomes available to you, you trade for Luca and you worry about the rest of it later.

Some of us said the Lakers got sick of LeBron and clutch. Okay. I'll hear you out, but you know, you, you were so sick of clutch and LeBron that what you gave LeBron a two year, a hundred million dollar extension with a player option. You drafted his son. You hired another new coach this time at being JJ Reddick. And I don't want to be dismissive of JJ by saying, Oh, you hired his podcast co-host because I love the JJ Reddick hire.

And again, I'm biased. I like JJ Reddick, but recent history tells us you weren't that sick of them. So this week you got sick of them. You got sick of AD, you got sick of LeBron, you're gonna take some power back. No, you can say those things to people. Like, ah, you know, there's starting to get a little, little old here inside the building.

No, Luca was available and that's why you did this. Because play it out on the other side. What if everybody get along? What if the Lakers or the front office and ownership and everybody was like, we love clutch. It's awesome. No complaints. You would have turned this offer down. Of course not.

You would have traded for Luke because you can't believe Luke is available. And available only to you. Why would Dallas do this? Sure. We can talk about his conditioning, his injury history. Fine. You can talk about his conditioning, his injury history, fine. We could talk about the contract. He was eligible for five years, 348 million super max. He's not eligible for that now that he's been

traded. There's a way if you were to opt out after 10 years in, he can make some of that money back. Did they maybe offer him less? Did they kick the tires on like hey, since we can pay you more than everybody else, could we potentially do some of that kind of stuff? Did Lucas say that he didn't want to sign it? Did he hint at not wanting to be there? Like none of that's really come out. Right?

Did new ownership think this contract could be potentially a bad deal? Man, it's not like any of these new owners are broke. And if the first thing you would want to do, like the transition of power from Cuban to the new group, like, yeah, let's get rid of Luca. I can't believe a new ownership group would even sign off on something like this. I still can't believe Nico didn't talk to other teams. would even sign off on something like this. I still can't believe Nico didn't talk to other teams.

I can't believe he brought up that he was worried about other teams loading up for Luca. Because if there's one thing that I keep reminding you about, like think of all of the players, but you know who the heat are going after. Let them worry about their cap space that doesn't really work out. Run through the rest of this year, call other teams, see potentially what could happen this summer. Dallas had to be so sick of him, man.

They had to be so sick of him. And Nico had some telling quotes in his availability. He said, quote, as we turned the page, I think it's important to know that Jason Kidd and I, we've had a vision and the culture that we want to create since we've been here, the players that we're bringing in, we believe exemplify that we think defense wins championships and we're bringing in one of the best two way players in the league. That translates as we're really sick of Luca.

And maybe it's a bit like that relationship. Like they broke up. It's like, you're not, you're not living with that other person. You don't know what it's like. Maybe all of us on the outside who are not living with Luca don't know what it's like. But here's what I don't do. It's not great basketball business to get sick of guys like Luca Donchich at 25 years old. Nico also said, quote, I don't do anything scary when he's talking about transactions. You traded for Kyrie two years ago. That was the single most available scary transaction to make in the league at the time.

But it worked. And I think that's another important thing that we're talking about Nico here. Cause there's a lot of quotes from like, God, they must have just hated Luca. People around the league think Nico's terrific. They think this front office is terrific. It's been nothing but praise and a consistent deal of Nico loves Anthony Davis and the relationship keeps going back. I get it, but I still can't believe they didn't at least call other teams.

There is a, there is a, there is a, there is a, there is a, there is a, I get it, but I still can't believe they didn't at least call other teams. There is a kind of like, as everybody agrees, like, I can't believe this trade happened. I can't believe this is the way that was executed. Why would you do this? You don't want to trade a guy like Luca. This is a generational talent. You've helped out the Lakers, all these different things. I guess there's a version of this that ends up on like some page.

It was like, look at all these idiots getting this thing guess there's a version of this that ends up on like some page. It was like, look at all these idiots getting this thing wrong where if everybody's healthy and the mass makes some kind of run and say, they get to the NBA final say, or they win the whole thing. And it's like, look at you morons. Niko was right. You're like, yeah, maybe. But you know what they never do?

You know how like when they'll show a playoff panel, it's a pregame show and you show all the studio hosts, they show all their picks. They put up the little helmet. It's like, man, everybody picked that team on Monday night or everybody picked that team for the playoff game and everybody got it wrong. And then everybody posted like morons, you know,

they never do. They never post it when everybody picks it right. It's just like, yeah, I think the chiefs are going to be at the Texans in the playoffs chiefs, chiefs, chiefs, chiefs, chiefs. You never see that one posted. Um, everyone's still stunned. How do you not call Boston at least make them say no about Tatum? How do you not kill Milwaukee and be like, is there any part of this where it makes sense for you to move off of it?

I mean, those are a little bit more difficult because they're guys that are in-house and they've won championships with already. I don't know how you don't call Ann. I don't know how you don't call Houston, San Antonio and the picks, but maybe if you're Dallas, you're like, look, we're not in the pick business right now. But the way the rest of the roster shapes out, we're not doing a reset. We think we're right back in the hunt here in the West. So I don't want to hear about all of Houston and San Antonio's potential picks.

I guess you would look at it and say, well, Booker isn't as good of a fit as AD is with this roster. I just don't understand how you don't call. Because usually these negotiations all start with an absurd request, something so tilted in your favor as a general manager It's almost embarrassing to make that offer this trade Started with the other GM laughing

With polinka being like you're wait, are you serious? I Also thought it was hilarious hearing about polinka was able to keep this quiet. Like no shit, really? He didn't want to tell other people that Luca was for real available. Because I've heard some people in the media talk about how like, well, once it gets out, then Dallas loses their leverage. You don't lose leverage when you're potentially trading Luca Doncic. The market increases your leverage. So even if there's an outcome from a team success standpoint, where

months from now or maybe a year and a half from now we'll be looking at this going, man remember when everybody felt this way and crushed this thing and now look at the maps. Yeah, I do think that that is a potential scenario, but what I'll never defend is the execution. To talk to one team, that part of this will forever be indefensible. The fan duel kick of destiny is back and this time it's every manning for himself. This Super Bowl two legends will take the field in a sudden-death field goal showdown. Peyton versus Eli live from New Orleans.

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perhaps his most depressed weekend of his fandom, but it's Will Kane, who by the way, you can see weekdays every single day on Fox News, the Will Kane Show, 4 p.m. Eastern. Will, it's good to see you again, man. What is up, Rosillo? This is interesting. This is fun. I appreciate the invitation.

I am honored, I'm flattered. No, this is I'm excited to be with you again, man. What's up? All right. So before we get to this Lucas stuff, this tariff stuff is wild. Yeah, man. No, no, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. All right. Look, I just, I went through the open and we've talked about this already. I did the pod.

I just wanted your perspective as a lifelong Texan, lifelong Mavs fan. I know that you've been super into it. It's been a couple of days. Luca is gone. How do you feel? Just so bummed. Just so crestfallen. I mean, I feel awful and it doesn't get better. I was

breakfast with some of my buddies this morning and they're like, why do you care so much? I'm like, what happened to you? When did you lose your humanity and your passion? This is what I sign up for, man. Like we all have the way that we come through, you know, loving sports. Mine is through the prism of fandom, Rosillo, and it is fandom through the channels that were a birthright that I was born to. You know, that's the Texas Longhorns, Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, Dallas Stars, and Dallas Mavericks. And that's the way it has been. And I never made a choice. And to see one of my loves gutted, 100% gutted, the spirit and soul ripped out of it, it's just, it just feels like a real loss of hope. Wow, that was intense and efficient.

Oh, what bothers you the most? Okay, what bothers me the most is that whoever made this decision and I always respect it, you know Even when we were together you talked about I have sources Meaning you have sources for Cillow. You don't do this through like I do the prism of the fan but on this one I do I do know some things and What I have been told and led to believe is this was really heavily, if not exclusively, driven by Nico. So, you know, I don't want to focus all my fire on Nico Harrison, because I don't think it can be completely true that he does a decision like this.

We know that there had to be sign off, but as far as driving the decision, what has me most upset is there is no understanding from whoever made this decision will presume Nico Harrison. That the role Luca played in the Psyche in the city of Dallas and it's singular and it can't be replaced. And I posted this on X yesterday. It's the type of thing that a championship

doesn't just replace. So if I even accept the most, you know, superficial rationales that, oh, this makes us a better basketball team. Charles Barkley says it makes Dallas perhaps the second best team in the West. If I even cared about the X's and O's of that right now, and it worked out in the most optimistic manner possible and they win a championship this year, I don't think it's enough. I don't think it replaces having an iconic figure

who's not just the face of the franchise, but I think, you know, the face of the league, if not the face of the league now, with some certainty the face of the league within five years. And to rip that out, who's a homegrown dude that we brought over, that had doubt around it. I debated Stephen A. and Max on whether or not

they should, you know, they should take Deandre, or whether or not Deandre Aitin's a a better pick or I don't even remember the name of the dude that Sacramento picked second or third. From Bagley. Bagley. That was the type of debate we were having. And it was like, no, no, no, we got Luca. We pulled off a heist somehow.

The basketball gods gave us this unicorn and he proved to be everything that you ever wanted. And he just represented more. Honestly, we're still, he represented more than championships. And I will say this, this is like the Mavs trading Dirk in 2006. And if the Mavs had won the championship in Oh seven and Oh eight without dirt, it wouldn't mean as much as winning in 2011 with dirt. Yeah. You touched on a bunch of good things there.

Um, the ownership part of this, cause none of this stuff happens. Like the number of times that you'll hear about something and then, you know, like a week later, somebody's like, wow, the owner, you know, data didn't want to do this. Like there's just so many deals that either happen because the owners like behind it or a deal that doesn't happen because ultimately everybody in the basketball side, the coach, the front office are like, we want to do this. The owner goes, you know what, we're not doing that. And that's it. Like ultimately you work for the owner. Even if we believe there's some sort of

fake hierarchy of like the GM can tell the guy that actually owns the team that writes his checks that he is going to do something that he doesn't want to do. Maybe early on with owners, and maybe that's the lesson in this. Maybe that the new ownership part of this, even though that whole Cuban timeline has been so strange where it was, wait, you sold the team, but you get to keep running it?

Like that doesn't really ever happen. And I don't know that that's even necessarily true, or maybe they were being nice to Cuban for the year or whatever, but it, it's the opposite of what a new ownership group would want to do in their own backyard. You would think even if Nico's convinced them, hey, he doesn't get it and he's going to age fast and we don't want to pay him all of this money and all these things. I would think most ownership groups in this situation be like, you know what we can't do though is we can't trade this guy right now. We can't do this because every sales guy is motherfucking the organization right now. All such a way, like their approval rating, which again, all that stuff can be totally bullshit. And if they have a deep playoff run, maybe it doesn't really matter.

I think I saw something where the Instagram page for the Mavs lost hundreds of thousands of followers. I don't know if that was real or not, but the thing that influences so many basketball decisions, the thing that influences so many basketball decisions, the dynamic that I kind of despise is usually the kind of thing though that would prevent an organization from doing something like this because it is so immediately unpopular. Okay, so from the ownership side of this equation, I'm going to tell you what I think I

understand. And that is this. This is an organization, the new ownership, that allows its managers to run their businesses. Whether or not that's the casino business, the hospitality business, and maybe now the basketball business. This is also, I think, something that has taken everyone, shockingly, Rassila, I'm telling you this is true, taking everyone by surprise. They did not expect this level of backlash. One more just to do away with the conspiracy theory, the Mavericks are not moving to Las Vegas.

This ownership group, by the way, is largely divested from Las Vegas. They don't own the Venetian. They don't own casinos in Las Vegas. And trust me when I tell you that there is a belief widespread that Texas, forget Dallas, Dallas versus Vegas isn't even a comp. No business owner goes, I think I'm moving from Dallas to Vegas. No, that's not a comparable market decision.

But the idea of Texas is a big time investment. You will see gambling legalized in Texas. You will see casinos built in Texas. You will see the Mavericks somehow tied in to all of those things. So that's just that's not happening. I don't think there's any way this is tied to moving the Mavericks to Vegas. And the NBA was doing them a solid, you know, get Luca to LA and help out our ratings and you can move the franchise to Vegas and the NBA was doing them a solid, get Luca to LA and help out our ratings and you can move the franchise to Vegas.

No, that's not real. Rosillo, people name their dog Luca here. There's not a comp, man. Here's the best I did. I try to think about this. And because me on my thing saying, a championship doesn't heal this wound I don't know just two or three championships

Well, the closest comp I can come up with besides the hypothetical of them trading dirt is Jerry Jones firing Tom Landry in 1988 into 1989 89 that was a big deal like there are old head and We're you and I are old heads now, but cowboy fans who never forgave Jerry Jones, despite the dynasty of the nineties just did not forgive him for doing that to an icon. Now the difference is Tom Landry was really down. Like the Cowboys were not good in those two or three years leading up to Jones's purchase of them. Luca is like right now entering his prime and they just came back from the

NBA finals. So even that comp falls short. I don't know how from a PR perspective you recovered and maybe I'm wrong. And I guess I hope I'm wrong. Like maybe three championships and I know that sounds ridiculous. Maybe two championships heals this, but I don't want two championships right now. You know what I want? I want Luca to be a Dallas Maverick.

The other thing that I have a hard time with is, like you want to say Luca, like, oh, you know, he's gotten all these stats, whatever. Like there's so many other players that have huge numbers and could potentially obtain all these individual accolades. There's going to be a couple of guys that make the Hall of Fame where I go like, I'm cool. The fact that you would had this finals run just a couple of seasons after the

Western Conference finals run where that team wasn't that good. All right. But they knocked off a really good Phoenix team. It had just been to the finals. You look at the Phoenix suns turned that regular season and for whatever reason, they just took their souls. They take their souls in that game seven. They had no chance to the finals. You look at the Phoenix suns turned that regular season and for whatever reason, they just took their souls. They take their souls in that game. Seven.

They had no chance against the Warriors. I was going through the other offensive options there and you're like, Luca dragged this team and I do think there are conference finals appearances that can be fools gold and maybe gets a team thinking about themselves in a way that they shouldn't be thinking about them says really, Hey, you guys actually aren't that close and you're not as good as you think you are. Even though it says you're one of the final four teams still standing. Um, but Luca getting to the finals again, with a different

roster that quickly after getting to that Western conference finals appearance, like tells me that you actually are close. And again, this isn't some empty stack guy. This isn't just the most talented guy in the league that even with his deficiencies on defense, there wasn't enough happening negatively with his game that put a ceiling on who you were where I think there's like five to seven other guys in

the league where I'm like, Oh, cool. He had 30 again. Yeah. I mean, let me know when they're out of the plane. And that's the part with Nico where it's very clear. They were completely over him and wind horse. When he did his rant last year during the playoffs and just, I mean, that was like vicious. He made a point today where he's like, you know, what's crazy about that?

He's like, nobody, or maybe I just saw the clip again. He's like, nobody from Dallas called me to defend their God. So I think what we're, we're putting together here is that whatever the day to day Luca dynamic was, it was still so egregious to Nico and the rest of the group that they were willing to do something like this where on the outside you're going, you're complaining about this dude as the face of your franchise. Because you actually have team success. I granted not the title, but like real runs

in recent seasons to point to is this guy is not somebody that gets in the way of a team success despite his flaws. So what's wild about that, and he's completely validated today, but is the idea that Nico Harrison is bigger than Luka Doncic. Clearly he is bigger than Luka Doncic. Clearly, he is bigger than Luka Doncic because he did this. And if that's because ownership believes in him so much,

or this is their style of management to allow people to make decisions, it's shocking whatever justification Nico runs out that it's what's sold. Let's do a couple of them. So the defense thing, that's total nonsense. And I know a lot of fans are going to say, they go, Will, I've watched him get destroyed on the I don't care.

They were number three in the league in defense last year after the trade deadline. After they got gaffered in Washington, they were third in defense. Does that make them perfect? And Lucas, not a liability on defense in the finals? No. By the way, Boston was better than Dallas. That's the end of that story. I don't care about Dallas. It was also a bad basketball matchup too

with like the way they would execute. So sorry, I interrupted, but keep going. No, but the point is that doesn't cause you to Naval gates. That's not a long look in the mirror. You ran up against a really good basketball team in Boston. So I don't buy the defense thing whatsoever. The conditioning thing, here's the only way. I loved what you said with Bill this weekend. You said, I repeated it at breakfast. I don't care if he's smoking cigarettes while bringing

the ball up the court. He's Luka Donchich. I mean, that's perfect. I don't care about his conditioning right now. Now, I do think they worry about his long term, how he wears long term. I do think they think, okay, we're one year away from the super max, $70 million a year. He is clearly not that dedicated to getting in peak physical condition. How does that play? I don't know. 30 is still five years away. So for me, I'm like, it'll play fine.

I don't care about what he is at 30. But are they worried he's not going gonna be good at 27, 28, and you're sitting on this deal? I'm curious what you think about this, Rasul, because one of the only things I could come up with, and again, I posted on X is, you know, you love the NBA. A lot of people think that I won't because of my politics, but I love the NBA.

Specifically, I love the Mavericks. So I don't have a vested interest. I don't have a political desire to kick the NBA in the crotch. But I do, I am capable of reading facts and the ratings are not good. Quite honestly, I rate higher at four than the NBA does in prime time. And they may be in the demo, but I'm gonna be honest on that as well. Not by that much. So the point is the ratings are not good for the NBA. Okay, all the people go, well, kids consume the NBA different tick tock.

You don't monetize social media in the same way you monetize a TV contract. So you have to ask at some point, is there a correction in the TV revenue market? Like the NHL had a reset in the mid 2000s when their salaries got out of control. And you say, okay, well, if that's coming for the NBA, are these supermax deals at $70 million a year unsustainable? If the current economics of the NBA don't continue? Maybe they do continue, maybe they don't. ESPN has an endless appetite for live sports programming. So I don't know, but that's the only thing I can come up with, but even at that, Rosillo, this ownership group is loaded.

Like they've got a lot of money. So I don't think they're a penny pinching ownership group worried about the, you know, the black and red of a financial spreadsheet into the future. I have more work to do on the ratings thing. Cause I think at times the way the ratings cycle gets treated is there'll be this downturn, right. And then that downturn is supposed to tell you the future, right?

Cause remember when the NFL had, had a dip, it was, well, it's concussions, right? Concussions were going to end football and no kids were ever going to play football again. I think you and I were doing shows back then. And I was like, any of you ever been to the South? Okay. Like I think people are still going to play football. Um, and then it was cause it was Kaepernick, right? And then it was because it started to become like a bit of a, a political divide where

if you were on the right, you wanted to see the ratings go down a little bit because it kind of justified some of your political beliefs. And I just felt like that kind of falls to this like polling of one stuff that'll happen. You're like, oh, my uncle doesn't watch it anymore. Both sides though. You remember. You remember both sides because you remember the debate about, oh, the NBA is going to

replace the NFL. It became a proxy cultural debate. But all I'm saying is on this- That was another Cuban thing. That was another Cuban thing. Cuban was trying to say that. Yeah, he did that. Yeah, he drove that, so it first take.

So like when we look at the ratings part of it, I need a little bit more data, but ultimately, because I am working on something on this, and I'm not done yet. And it sounds like as an MBA guy, I could potentially be pushing it back against the idea that there's declining ratings. But here's what we do know. Any declining rating or any declining rating forecast is irrelevant to the

bigger business deals because you could have, as long as you have the live rights program and you have all of these games, you can say, all right, year to year, like this is where we're at, go back 10 years, this is where we're at. And like, okay, why would you invest this? They just did the TV deal. So to me, the TV deal and the ratings and the fact that it's been renewed,

it tripled again, and it was beyond the projections because there was a long time where we were like, why are some of these teams changing hands? Oh no, is the TV deal coming in way lower than they thought? Or some of these guys deciding to get out now? Because this is the decline the the franchise acquisition bubble is finally starting to happen And then none of that happened because the TV deal came in massive So the reason I think it's important to go through all this stuff is okay fine

Maybe it is a declining product in the way that we equate like what is successful and what is not successful based on, I think at times some very outdated and domestic television numbers, but I can't sit here and say that anybody's wrong. That's looking at that way. The point is, is 350 million to Luke is irrelevant because the money's already backed in in four years from now of whatever that extension would have been. Luke is making less the same way the quarterback renewal cycle happens. We're like, I can't believe Jared Goff is making all of this money. Look at that guaranteed money.

And then three years later, you're like, that contract isn't even that bad anymore. At 25, whatever your concerns are about Luca, there's no financial conditioning argument that I would hear. Here's the thing thing then you could just trade them. So I don't know if you want to follow up on that because I still have a couple other questions. All I would say is I think ultimately I'm in the same place as you. I'm spitballing trying to find a rationale that's for something that is on its face, unjustifiable and irrational. The money side of it all and you're right., well first of all, the league's primary revenue source is TV contracts. So if viewership goes down, you

would think at some point the value of those TV contracts would go down, but it hasn't happened to your point. They keep going up. And that's in part because TV itself, cable is declining, and live sports, and to some extent news, are the last holdouts. And so kind of their land grab becomes more valuable as everything else goes down. You do wonder at some point, does it catch up even to those highest points on the mountain?

But again, this is why I don't disagree with what you're saying. Luca's $350 million deal would be within the scope of a current TV rights deal. So you're not going to pay bad for it. You've already got that revenue baked in. So I'm with you. Again, it's going to take me back to, I think Nico, I'm going to let you take this where

you want. It's clear that Nico saw Luca as two things. I think you're right. He saw him as a problem. Okay. I don't think everything was as hunky dory behind the scenes as you'd want to believe. Whatever that means, how you manage a star, your relationships with stars, even Lucas relationship with other stars. I'm not suggesting there's anything bad there, but maybe I've been led to believe it's not as rosy as it

always looks. And secondarily, then Nico saw Luca as an asset, not as an icon. And there's a difference. And so that asset, he was willing to flip. And maybe he's right. Maybe they're now better on defense. And maybe they have a two to three year window where they're, you know, the Mavericks aren't gone. They're going to be very competitive, presuming these 31 year olds don't get injured. But I don't the problem is he's not an asset. He's not just another player, even a very good one. He's an icon and I don't think he's just an icon in Dallas. I think he is a league and that's obvious now look, he's going to be the face of the league because he's a Laker even more now, you know, and

you just trade it away. the icon of the NBA. Two things that we finish up here. What I cannot understand is if you were going to make them available, why you would make them available to only one team. And the answer to that, as I've talked to enough teams and I talked about in the open is that Nico Harrison looked at Anthony Davis as like the guy he wanted more than everybody else, but it still does not justify like you couldn't get another pick. You couldn't, you couldn't figure out a way to like, Hey, I need just a little bit more, I need a sweetener here.

I'm going to get destroyed. I'm trading this guy. Like give me, give me a little something here. If you had heard, I already know the answer to this, but if you had heard he had canvassed the league for a couple of weeks and we had the normal cycle of a Shams or a Winnhorst up on TV going like, there are rumblings that Lucas available, then we get like the two week runway

to talk about all the different hypotheticals. Like you almost get to like have an appetizer to that moment on Saturday night where you're bracing yourself for it. Like a content appetizer. If you had known that this wasn't just about one team you negotiated with, which I can't understand, would you feel better about it today?

Well, the one team thing feeds the conspiracy back to the ratings. Oh my God, we gotta get ratings up. Make Luca a Laker. I don't generally believe, well, do I believe in conspiracies? I'll let the audience decide whether or not I believe in conspiracies the the You want to do 30 minutes on that for a minute or so? Should we just dig into a few?

We're gonna make that a YouTube only. Okay, subscribers. That's for subscribers You have to really want this content. I guess, you know, like, like intellectually, like theoretically, yeah, that would have gone down easier. But in the end, I wouldn't have wanted and that would have also, that wouldn't have been any good either. If you had said they, I literally, this is kind of personal to me. If you had said they I literally this is kind of personal to me if you had said they have traded him to Milwaukee for Yanis Maybe maybe I could get behind that Eventually, maybe that is the one because I really like Yanis. I Just don't I don't there's nothing else. I don't care how many first-round picks. He's Luka Donjic

I don't, there's nothing else. I don't care how many first round picks. He's Luka Donjic. Last thing. Um, as we said at the beginning, we'll be on everyday Fox news for Eastern. I was with you early in the ESPN days. Like who's this fill in? You know, we've told the story before, like full head of hair. Shit.

He's pretty smart. I think he's smarter than I am. Uh, and then we became friends and we did a bunch of shows together and who knows, like things have gone a different way. Maybe we would have done shows together for a long time, but we, uh, we both had goals, we both had goals and you know, I'm looking at you realizing that you're reaching a goal, you know, something you're like, am I one of these guys? Like you have those moments.

You're like, could I potentially, and then once you decide like, yeah, I think, am I one of these guys? Like you have those moments where like, could I potentially? And then once you decide like, yeah, I think I can be one of those guys. Well, you have now become one of those guys. What does this mean to you? Well, I don't I kind of know what you mean by I've become one of those guys. I mean, I can I'm not doing faux humility when I tell you I've never thought about it in that way. And I'll be personal with you and the audience.

And you and I texted and I said, look, to do what we do, you have to have a combination of a couple of things, which is narcissism, insecurity and ambition. But, you know, I'm of course, I'm ambitious. And to have my name on a show and have my own hour on Fox News is incredibly flattering. And it's somewhat of a celebratory

moment. But the real celebration for me is that I've been making a commute. Dude, I haven't unpacked my Dopp kit for nine years. That includes my time back to ESPN when I would go spend two or three nights in a hotel in the Homewood Suites in Bristol. I guess technically at Southington. But I have lived out of adopt kit for nine years, except for the one year of COVID. And I moved back to Texas five years ago, where I'm from. And I live in Dallas and this is my life and this is where I'll die. I'm never moving, at least not as a primary residence.

And to get to do this from Dallas is the real victory for me. That's what it is. They made my dreams come true when it comes to, I get to get to do this from Dallas is the real victory for me. That's what it is. They made my dreams come true when it comes to, I get to go to my son's Friday night football games. I'm not missing soccer games anymore. I'm not commuting to New York. That's it. Everything else for Cilla is icing. And as for our friendship, stick around because maybe I'll put you in my cabinet. Maybe you have bigger aspirations than I thought. Maybe I'll, I don't know.

I might have to get some sort of hair updates, some transplant. I'm thinking secretary of commerce. That's where I'm leaning right now. Secretary of commerce, Ryan Rosillo. I don't know. What does that guy do? Something big, tariffs.

What is, last question. What's the biggest? What's the biggest difference between ESPN and Fox News? You know what's interesting? This came up this weekend. I was at one of my kids soccer games and somebody brought up hate and vitriol and I was like, you know what, man, I've got pretty thick skin at this point. The most I ever got is not in politics and not at Fox. It's an ESPN. And that's by nature of a lot of things and topics and times that we were all going through from 16 to 20. But I think, you know, what's the biggest difference? From an audience perspective, there's an alternative media to what, you know, what I have to say on Fox, who will really, really

nefariously cut what you have to say and recharacterize it. But you just let go. I'd let go of that. I had friends at ESPN. Everybody wants to think that I didn't, that everybody hated me. Maybe they did behind my back. Nuts my face. I had friends at ESPN. I loved my five years at ESPN. I loved working with you.

My favorite thing about what we do is when I have a relationship off camera, when the microphones go off, do we have more to say? Do we have more to hang out? Saruti will testify this. Every commercial break, I went into the control room. So did you. I remember this. I'd hung out with the guys.

Nuno, Bubba, Saruti, we talked. I loved being the control room. So did you, you know, and I remember this. And I'd hung out, hang out with the guys. Nuno, Bubba, Saruti, we talked. I loved being with the fellas. I have, I certainly had that at Fox, but now most, a lot of my connections have gone on to run the secretary of defense or the department of transportation. But it's been real similar at Fox.

I have great relationships at both places and that's my favorite thing. It's LeBron and D-Wade and Chris Bosch in Miami. I now know the value of working with your friends. So maybe I should have asked this in a better way because I think it's the headline of like, oh, what's the biggest difference? And I think that the difference,

at least the way that you're treated, is that if somebody's watching you on Fox News, they want to watch you on Fox news. Where I felt like, and I even warned you against this, the role that you were being teed up on at ESPN at first take, I was like, Hey, just be careful. Like you can't go on and be the actually isn't racist guy every day of the week. Like, cause then it becomes like, hey, because I just know how, because they did it to me one time. They were like, hey, this Yawkey Way thing, do you want to defend them keeping the name of the street Yawkey Way? I was like, no. I was like, I don't give a shit. I was like, why would I? And they were like, really? They're like, you're from Boston, the Yawkeys.

I went, well, I'll go on. And then I was watching it happen. And I was like, oh no. And then we talked about it a little bit, but you're so good on the show and it's this massive platform. So I think when the setup is, hey, we're gonna roll out Will Cain for this, there's no way anybody's gonna like you. There's no way anybody that's watching First Take regularly

is gonna be like, I like him, okay? So you know what I mean. I mean, I'm not saying you have zero approval rating, but you're digging yourself out of a hole at the start of every single segment, I think. And maybe it looks like you still want to disagree with me, but that's fine. No, no, I don't.

My wife used to tell me, hey, she used to say to me, why don't you start? Because also there's the design of first take, which is, the design is get to the disagreement. The first take is not fake, except it does away with the pleasantries of normal conversation that you could call fake, that most of us do. So in other words, like, don't go, well, I see your point. You know, honestly, Max did too

much of that. And that's why it didn't work for Max on first day. I see your point, get straight to the part where you don't see their point. My wife used to be like, why don't you just say like at the beginning of some of these really contentious conversations, you know, I see your point or I get that and here's where I agree and then go in.

And I'm like, no, like I'm going straight for the counterpunch to the nose, right off the bat. I mean, because I do have a deep disagreement and so we might as well get to it. I actually liked that. And I think that a deep disagreement, and so we might as well get to it. I actually like that, and I think that's why the show and the dynamic works. But I think the question I'd like a better answer on, because I didn't ask it the right way,

is that are there more similarities perhaps? Are there more similarities navigating the dynamic of becoming somebody who's a regular part of the television rotation? Is it just like every other place in TV? I'm gonna answer that two ways. You're gonna find both unsatisfactory because I think I know what you want,

but I don't think I can give it to you. I have a lot of, I think I have a lot of self-awareness. I know you do. Boy, you think about this stuff a lot. You think about it too much. But I think about it a lot too. Like, how does this work? How did I do?

Why did that not work? Which is good. It's like watching game tape of yourself, which I don't. I don't think you do either. I don't watch game tape, but I do think about what I said and how I played and these kinds of things. But I don't change.

So that's the problem. I listened to, by the way, the other day I mistakenly hit play on one of my own episodes and it had been a really long time since I'd listened to myself do an entire show. So I was like, you know what? It's been a long time. Listen to the whole show. And then I got done and I went. I was like, I'm fucking awesome.

The funny thing is I don't know if I believe that or not. It's hard sometimes with Rassillo's sarcasm. Was he super hard on himself or was he super proud? The thing about it is though, at the end of that, I know this sounds like I'm patting myself on my back, but I just know myself at this point. I have one currency. One, it's authenticity. Believe it or not, I don't wanna be the smartest dude.

I don't wanna be, I just wanna be real and I wanna be me. So I'm gonna do that in both places and that's the same. And that's just the way it is. Let the chips fall where they may. You're also asking about something else is behind the scenes stuff. I was never more laid back Rosillo than I have been. When I went to law school, Rosillo,

I stopped caring about grades. And it was the most liberating three years of my life. And I learned more. I just stopped. I didn't want a big law firm job. I wasn't trying to make 150 grand. My first year out of law school, I didn't want that. So there was no point in me trying to be law review. So I didn't. And I learned so much when I got to Fox.

I have not. Of course, I'm ambitious. So I'm not going to pretend like I didn't have conversations or like, where is this leading and do I have a path? But I didn't angst about it. I was pretty laid back about I'm doing this. I'm enjoying my job. We'll see where it goes. And, um, and there's a lot of reasons decisions are made to your point. Um, I don't know them all. And I was as surprised as anybody when this came down, but it really helped being laid back and not trying to white knuckle the steering wheel.

That ended up being a great answer because I, I don't know if it's something where it is the surrounding area, you know, not, not really nailing the terminology here, but you could say like, is it the dynamic? Is it the setting? Is it the setting, is it the people, or is it where you're at? And really the answer is usually like where you're at. Because for me, ESPN was an Anx-filled experience. And is that specific to them or is that about your own security and kind of where you're at in your own head?

And it kind of mirrors your law school thing of like just the Zen moment of, all right, I'm not going to worry about any of this stuff anymore and I'm going to be fine. And it's an awesome place to get to. It usually takes a little bit longer and it usually takes even longer if you're going to try to be on TV in front of everybody. Right, well, it took a while. I mean, I'm no overnight success. I've been doing this for 14, 15 years.

I'm 49 years old. Are you 50? You're 50, that's about to suck, sorry, man. No, your birthday's right after mine, I think. We're real close. Are you April? August. August.

See, we don't know each other that well. I just knew it started with an A. So I'm a little older. Close. You get two choices. But I'll tell you two things that seem to work against one another. One of my friends told me one time, hang around the hoop. Hang around the hoop. See what kind of rebound bounces your way.

Most people take themselves out of the game. Most people strap on their own suicide vest and blow up their own opportunities. And I think that's true. I think that's really true. So hang around the hoop. The second is you and you and I talked here and there about you're an inspiration and in that you're an example of what is increasingly true for everyone who does what we do. You don't have to white knuckle this. You don't have to worry about backroom politics. You don't worry about who likes you everyone who does what we do. You don't have to white knuckle this. You don't have to worry about background politics. You don't worry about who likes you and who doesn't like you. You don't worry about the tap on the shoulder because you can go build out there on your own

like you have done at Spotify. Yeah, but again, it wasn't gonna happen until I've gone through all the other stuff to go, okay, well, this isn't the way to do it. And then you wanna blame everybody else and all these different things. But look, none of that, we've talked about that. We don't need to share that a ton with the audience

because I think I've done a million versions of it already. But I'm really happy for you. You deserve it. You're terrific on television. Like I said, I'm happy and I'm also biased because I got to know you personally. So thanks, man. Well, thank you, man.

So let me just say, don't let there be any riots in the corridors of The Ringer. We're just friends who talk sports next time on the YouTube special We will talk about how to address the Mexican drug cartels the you know, what the legislature will do with the tax rate And you know cutting the deep state we'll get into all of that But so save your angst for that episode of I do yeah, no, I have notes I have notes I'm not they're not fully formed yet. Not 100% sure where I I do. Yeah. No, I have notes. I have notes, but I'm not, they're not fully formed yet. Not a hundred percent sure where I'm at yet.

Thanks, Will. Thanks, Ryan. Another piece that I want to just spend a few minutes on, and we're going to bring Saruti in here, but. Darren Fox on the move here. We had heard that's how trades are supposed to work rumblings that he's available Sacramento exploring opportunities. on the move here, we had heard that's how trades are supposed to work. Rumblings that he's available. Sacramento exploring opportunities.

Other teams listed as potentially monitoring the situation. So De'Aaron Fox to San Antonio, Sacramento gets Zach Levine from Chicago. They get a first round pick in 25, top 14 protected. A 25 second round pick, 27 first round pick from San Antonio a 28 second round pick from Denver and then they get their 28 second round pick back So we're looking at a couple first and three seconds the Bulls moving Levine out End up with Zach Collins Trey Jones Kevin Herter

sad day sad day for us on the pod. And a 25 first round pick, which is their own pick back this year that remember was out at San Antonio. It was top 10 protected. So they get control of their own pick back. So, um, you know, Sacramento once Fox was going to do the extension, they were stuck and they want to get in front of this now. It would be great if the player wasn't Zach Levine that they were getting back. And, you know, some of you are going to think I'm nuts.

Some of you are going to see the scoring, the first step, which is incredible. The three point shooting, how steady he's been. He's been healthy this year and you like him. That's fine. I don't, I think he's a losing player and I'm not going to move off of that. I think there's tons of evidence in my favor, but he's probably going to score like 48 one

night and then people are going to tell me that he's awesome. So I think Sacramento was stuck, but that's the saddest thing I think out of all of this is just Sacramento's window of, of like, look at what Sacramento is doing. Like they're doing a good job, but putting together a really nice starting five.

And then maybe a couple of years ago, when you look at a really high seating in the West, it's like, well, they were the healthiest unit. Their top five played this percentage of possible minutes, like it's off the charts, incredible health luck, um, but good for them, you know? And now it just feels like they're moving further and further away from all that stuff.

I don't have a problem with the DeRozan thing at all. I've said numerous times, like if you want to close a game with Harrison Barnes or Demar DeRozan, although I really do like some of the Harrison Barnes stuff, believe it or not, with San Antonio. Do you want to close with DeRozan with the four other guys, with Sabonis, with Keegan, with Monk and with Fox? Or do you want to close with Barnes? Well, no, it makes sense.

It makes sense to have DeRozan in there. Maybe DeRozan, despite getting up there in age, a bit of an insurance against something like this once they could kind of read the tea leaves on the future with the Aaron Fox. So San Antonio gets somebody real. They also have to move Castle, which I don't think he was even,

I don't even think there was any way any of that was even gonna happen, even if a lot of us are probably overrating Castle today. But that's what we do with guys who are 40 plus games into their rookie season or NBA career in this case, same thing, redundant, but didn't profile as like this massive offensive guy. And I think from what my expectations were from him,

from what I saw offensively of him at Yukon to where he's at now, like I think it's, it's really nice. And it's not a guy that you run be in business or trading on top of being in the rookie contract, everything else. So I just liked the Aaron Fox. And sometimes I just want to be allowed to say, I like a player. So yeah, he's not a bunch of other guys and yeah, he's not perfect. And two years ago was filthy how nice he was.

And there's some numbers that you could go through and be like, well, is he ever going to be that guy again? My guess would be maybe not accounting stats, but the efficiency and the fact that you have some defensive options, including the best defensive, defensive option in the NBA and when Benyama behind him. So I, I think it, it does a lot of things with San Antonio where even though Chris Paul has been so good at like dictating a lot of the stuff they can do. I mean, there's only so much tread in the tire there. Um, he can be limited at times offensively. So now you're adding in somebody who De'Aaron Fox, like when he's going,

he's just really, really tough to deal with. Um, and you have a financial commitment coming up here, but like waiting around for perfect waiting around for the person that's better than De'Enron Fox hoping that some guy in his thirties is going to want to play in San Antonio, Guam, and Yama. Like, does that even make sense for them? So I like the trade Bulls fans though, probably looking at this collective group and saying now after trading the Rosen, Caruso and Levine, uh, that's

zero first round picks coming back. Technically they do get control of their own back, but it's not like adding an extra first. So I like the trade for San Antonio. I understand it for Sacramento. They're picking a guy that I don't like and then they're Chicago. And all you really need to understand here, if that's what Chicago got back, like that's how bad the market was for Levine. So I think the market backs my feelings about the player.

I want to bring in Saruti here really quick because it's one final exercise in this Luca thing, which I could probably do a Wednesday pod on it too, but we will not do that. We'll be back to football Superbowl week. Did not expect to do it on a Monday NBA podcast, by the way, the week leading up to it. So as I've said, and it feels like it's been backed up, it's just Nico Harrison wanted Anthony Davis so badly. You didn't even want to know who else was available.

So if we did the just hypothetical here, like where do we draw the line? Like are there no's are there no's where Nico calls the other team and offers Luca for that other team's best guy, how many teams are actually saying no? Which is again, why I think this entire thing was ridiculous to do it this way, to have a market of one team. Maybe Nico didn't want to get a yes from some of those other teams that have to have the internal debate of this guy over clearly one of his favorite players in the league in Anthony

Davis. So what do we got, Sarudy? Yeah, I was just thinking like as a Magic fan, and now we're going through our shit right now, it's just different story for a different day, but like, you know, hypothetically, if they call the Magic, we're like, hey, if we offered you Paulo

and picks and players, like, would you say no? We'll get to that in a second. I kind of want to work our way down though. So it's essentially like, does the other team say no, Luca trades? I'll start with Wemby. That's a no, right? Like there's no way they're trading Wemby.

The Spurs are trading Wemby for Luca. Yeah, that's a no. No, easy enough. Nuggets, 29 year old Jokic, I still think it's a no. I think it's a no. SGA? Okay, C, just straight up. Yeah, yeah.

I think it's a no. Okay. Because it's a health thing. And even though I, you know, I don't think there's a good day. I've thought SGA is better than the Luca, but it's he's the next guy on the list. Right. So SGA is healthier and that group, like you would be disrupting this group. Then when they get shut back. Like we think they can win an MBA title with that group, like you would be disrupting this group. Then when they get shut back, like we think they can win an MBA title

with that group right now. And so then you're thinking about Luca and you're going, what am I bringing in? If these guys are trading, I'm like, what's the stuff that I don't know about Luca. And meanwhile, like this thunder team acts like a high school team. They seem like they love each other. I've spent what three different segments this season, just raving about the personality of this team and the buy-in and everybody understanding. So I think it's a no only because there's a disruption part of that that you're not sure about.

You can't, if you're pressed to you, you couldn't say, Hey, if we bring Luke in, all of it's fine. It's awesome. He picks right back up. Uh, even though I believe Luke is the better player and the health part of it, that's why I think it's a no. Do you disagree? I agree.

I don't think, I don't think they do that. Now I saw some people being like, you know, could you get funky and say, what about Jalen Williams chat, throwing some other fillers, some good players, a bunch of draft picks, like would you, would okay, see say no to that. I actually think they'd still say no. I think they're perfect. Like I don't think they want to screw with what they have right now.

Even though like obviously, Luke is a better asset. Yeah, that's a different conversation. Because then you could also look at it from the Dallas side of like all of these teams that I can't believe they didn't reach out to. And you're like, well, right, but Dallas clearly didn't want to just reset and rebuild and then picks and they've got to move these other guys and all this stuff.

Like they were not in the deal of like, let's get a marginal player and some contract filler, but now we have control of your next four drafts. What I would say is get a swap in there, get a swap or maybe get a second first. If you're trading somebody who, when we heard it, no one believed that it was actually true. So ask for a swap. I just would love the idea that Palenka is like, no, sorry, deal breaker. Can't do a swap. I just want, yeah, I wish we would have known what those conversations were like, because I honestly think you could have asked for four and are you still saying no for Luca? Like I think the Lakers still say yes.

I think you have to do the trade. So I think about it all the time. Like just the hypothetical, if you had that job and the other guys like, all right, we're still, you can have Luca, but I need, and I, you know, you say no at first, you try to figure out like where the middle is. And then he's like, okay, well you say no at first, you try to figure out like where the middle is. And then he's like, okay, well I need the two first. Sorry.

Okay, well when I say no, like you're not getting Luca. Yeah, no problem with that. We're good. I mean, credit to Polenka, man. Or he's like, yeah, so who I'm not bidding against anybody and you're thanking me for keeping a secret. This is, I was trying to think of like what the equivalent of this would be. Would you feel bad, because

they're apparently friends, they're buddies. Would you feel bad just fleecing your friend? No. I'd feel bad fleecing a friend in a fantasy trade, let alone- I think I'm an incredibly loyal friend, but if your friends was somebody in the NBA and you're worried about their feelings, then you shouldn't have the job. Yeah. Like I think those guys all understand that ultimately they're all competing. Like there's guys that are really good friends with each other, guys that can't stand each other. Um, but you, you can't,

I don't think you, when you're given the, the honor really, I mean, it's like, you're this elected official, but you're not elected and all of the millions of people care about the outcome of these games. Like you owe it to them to do the best and at times the most ruthless version of the job. I just think it's funny. Like if, because if say Polinka was the GM of like the Hornets, right.

And he goes to Nico goes to him and goes, Hey, I've got this deal. You know, it's Luca for AD. Like, what do you think? Point goes like, you're an idiot. Absolutely not. Absolutely. And Nico had no friend, nobody. I mean, I don't, maybe he did.

And he still didn't care and was just stubborn about it. He had nobody in his life that was like that. He could run this by and be like, this is a horrible idea. I just, that's, that's another sad element. It's worth, it is worth repeating as I did in the open, just in case, you know, you're driving around and you could miss it. People rave about Nico. Okay. Yeah. This is not the GM where there have been guys over the years and there's just not that many of them anymore. I don't even know who like the top of my head of who I would think of is like the GM everybody else makes fun of

But Nico is praised Okay, and I do wonder like if the of the the mob moving all in one direction Like is there any scenario where this dude at the end of it all goes? I was right. I Still can't imagine only calling one team and then being like, I'm psyched. The polinka kept us quiet. And the Nico thing that may all be true, but he still has the, like the, the Steph Curry Nike pitch, right? That everybody likes to throw in his face too. So it's like, well, that made the rounds too.

Yeah. That wasn't great. That was a long time ago. Not a different job. Um, so, all right. I look, I still can't stop talking about the trade. I've done like four segments on it. All right, let's go. Let's go back to it.

Yeah. Bucks straight up. I think the bucks say no, cause I think, I think like you don't lose your guy unless you absolutely have to. And that's, that's their guy, Yanis. That one might be closer to a yes only because like the irony of the Yanis,

Luca thing is that Yanis has been somebody now for like two plus years where others can be like, watch out for that one. Like pay attention to what's going on there. Oh, the reason they did the Dame deal is because of him and like, you know, ownership didn't want, and she's like, okay. All of the things that have been theorized, like behind the scenes with Yannis, that just happened with Luca. So, and we've never, we had never heard any of those things.

So it feels like a bit like the Tatum one. I don't know if Tatum's next. So it might be a no cause he's their guy, but would you be trading Yonis uncertainty for Lucas certainty? It would depend solely on like, no, how a conversation you'd have to be like, we have to make sure that we're going to be able to sign him. Is he going to be able to sign him? Is he going to be able to sign him? Janice uncertainty for Lucas certainty, it would depend solely on like, no, how a conversation you'd have to be like, we have to make sure that we're going to be able to sign him.

Is he going to be happy here? Is he going to go like, I don't want anything to do with this place. So yeah, I think he's operating out the assumption that that's a yes. Like that. He would be like, all right, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll play here and sign a deal. If it's a yes, if, if it's a yes, that Luca would be there longterm, then I think Milwaukee would do it. Even if the honest is like, yeah, I'm here for five years too. Oh, that's different then. That's different. I'm,

I'm dealing with like uncertainty and made up certainty. So, yeah. And it might be made up uncertainty too. The next one is, is the late is the Celtics and uh, yeah, Tatum, I mean, cause that was, I, I still think I'll let you talk first, but w would, would they, would the Celtics go? Yeah. We'll give you Tatum for, for Luca right now, straight up. Because they just won and he plays every game and.

Like, this is the most fun I've ever had watching Tatum. I mean, what he was doing last night, granted that Sixers team super beat up, but they had to come back from 26 down. I mean, he's playing point guard. Nobody really seems that he doesn't get like talked about enough nationally that he's basically their point guard. And then he's playing center defensively against Dallas. Um, you don't have to deal with any of the conditioning injuries stuff.

You don't have to deal with any of those things and you just want it with your guy. So Luca is the better player. Um, but I, I think they'd say no. I think age would have said, yes. I think age would have gone, thanks for the championship. Bucket. Cause he was a better player. I think you're probably right on age. All right. This is where it gets interesting.

They call up the T wolves and say, we'll give you Luca for ant. Straight. I mean, you have to make the salaries work. So they have to be other people. Yeah. and say, we'll give you Luca for aunt. Straight. I mean, you have to make the salaries work. So they have to be. Yeah, sure. We're just, we're just having fun here. You don't have to worry about trade machine grade. I would do it if I'm going to, so that wouldn't have to think very hard about it. I think I would too. I think I would too. So that's kind of,

I don't know. There's many people that like and as much as me, and I don't even have to think about it. I Mean again Lucas 26 like it's not like he's in his late 20s like you're still you're still getting Ideally, you know, however many years left I go bear would probably be excited about that. So that's a yes All right. So that's like kind of the first. All right, there's the line in the sand But I have another teammate that can't stand me This is the one that kind of got me thinking as a Magic fan. Like, Paolo, you know, I'm sure the Magic would do Paolo for Luka straight up, but I was like, take it even a step further. Like if the Mavs really wanted to, like, we're getting other offers from teams and you really

had to like make an offer for him to get him and beat everybody else out. Like, would you offer Paolo, Anthony Black, Jonathan Isaac, Picks, like would you do that? Like is Luca that much better now and then whatever the next five years, whatever years, then what you think Palo's ceiling is. And I think the answer actually is yes. Yeah. I would say whatever you guys want to do. Would you do Palo and Suggs and then figure out the rest?

And then I get, I get the Euro connection of, of Luca and Franz and make the other pieces work. I think I would do it. I think I would. What if it was Franz and Paolo? I don't think I'd do that. I don't think I'd do that. No.

Cause I just think that's, you're talking like two potential, like one top 10 player and another top 25 player. Like I think Suggs isn't Suggugs isn't, I think I would do it. If it was Sugs and Apollo, I think I don't know if I do it was France. Like, all right. I know you guys like centers. Can we interest you in a little Wendell? Yeah.

Action. Goga. We heard you like defense. You want Jonathan Isaac. Yeah. That's going to be the line. Cause from here on out, it's all yeses. Yeah.

Cause I wrote down like the calves for Mitchell. Yes. Nick's you can get, you know, get Brunson back, you know, reunite them like Kade. You're doing that. So that's it. It wrote down like the calves for Mitchell. Yes, Nick's you can get there, you know get Brunson back You know reunite him like Kade you're doing that. So that's it It's basically like that would Nick's fans to do Brunson and cat like if the money worked Brunson and cat and then you get Luca. How would you not? Oh I don't know. I think Nick's fans love this fucking team. I I get why they do and I this funny I watched the big bomb video. They like why they do. And it's funny, I watched the bink-bong video. They like the original long version one.

That video is so great. The original one's unbelievable. I could watch those guys. I was mad I ran out of videos from those guys. I wanted more. So I can- You know what my new one is? I was on Instagram.

Cool. And there was this guy that was just posting his VR chat visits to everybody. I got, I got caught in like eight or nine of those. It was unbelievable. All right. Anyway, back to reality. No, I think that's it. Yeah. I think I, the line is basically ant pollen. So if you go down like Bill's trade rankings, trade value rankings, that's like, you know, right around seven, eight, nine.

So the nose or what? So the nos are Wemby, Yokich. SGA. SGA. That's like the hard nos. I still think SGA is I gotta think about it, no. Yokich is a hard no. Wemby's a hard no just because of the possibility and where you're at and the timeline

and all that kind of stuff. I wonder if I'm doing- The what mood I'm in are the Celtics and Bucs. So it's like a maybe and then the yeses are and Paula. I think that's right. I think we did some good work there. Yeah. He covers the Lakers.

I see him every time I go to the games there. I've seen him around LA for a while. He does a great job on the NBA. Jovan Buhha joins us from the Lakers. I see him every time I go to the games there. I've seen him around LA for a while. He does a great job on the NBA. Jovan Buhha joins us from the athletic, who covers, as I said, the Lakers. Again, Buhha's block, his podcast, which I was checking out clips of this morning. So Saturday night, all of us, are you serious?

This is happening. So like normally I would ask why, well, that's an easy yes, it's Luca. How? I think we know those pieces, but I'll ask more Is there anything that you've been able to learn? Gather like a piece that you've put together since late Saturday night till today It gives you a better understanding of this deal

Well, it seems like this was the rare trade going back to like old-school MBA days where the two GM's just kept this between themselves and Talking to people around the Lakers organization that I consistently talked to in different segments of the front office or the organization. These people legitimately did not know that this trade was coming and had no idea about the inner workings of it. I think this was like the rare trait. Like we've seen a few of these throughout recent NBA history, but I think nothing quite to this magnitude.

So the fact that they were able to keep this between them, not let it leak out, not let the agents know, not let the players know, I think that's pretty rare in 2025. I think there's a lot to get into with this. I still don't understand it. I mean, I listened to your reaction with Bill right after it happened and it was like,

I'm totally in agreement with you. Like there's just so many parts of this I still don't quite understand. And I think from the Lakers, I'm like, they now have a golden parachute into the next era of, you know, post-LeBron and now it seems like they're far better position than they were looking to be as recently as a couple of days ago.

Yeah, maybe that's the most interesting part of this because I've spent so much time on the Mavs thing. It's pretty clear. It resets 2025. It probably changes what you're capable of doing. They've been playing better, but it's just a reminder that when somebody like this becomes available, none of your 20, 25 plans mean anything. And it's, it's a shift into whatever the Luca phase is. And maybe there's some other little piece here at the trade deadline, but, you

know, on the perimeter defensively between LeBron Reeves and Luca, it was like, Oh my God, but it's like, well, you can't, no one would ever go, well, you know what, I'd say yes, but I don't like our perimeter defense. And now we only have Jackson Hayes at center. So this doesn't make basketball sense right now. It speaks to just hit the reset button because you would hope to get one of these granted Lakers is a little bit different with their history. But as I've said earlier, but franchises could go 25, 30 years and never

get somebody like this and they just got. Yeah. It feels like they've always... You could go Luca, LeBron, Kobe, Shaq, Magic, Kareem, Baylor, West, Chamberlain. The Lakers have a history of getting generational superstars and often trading for these guys in ways you wouldn't quite expect. And I think to your point, the kind of crazy thing was like the context of this night was the Lakers are coming off of one of their best wins of the season. I would say, to me it was right up there with the Celtics win because you win at MSG without Anthony Davis.

And as you just said, like Jackson Hayes started at center and they went through half of that game playing centerless and playing these small ball looks. And so they complete a four and one Grammy trip. They've won eight of 10. It looks like they're finally finding this identity. And at the time, the intel I was getting, and I know you and I spoke a little bit about this

at the Laker Celtics game was like, they're looking for something along the margins. Maybe they're gonna add a big man, that a a couple second round picks, a couple first round picks, like nothing seismic. And then all of a sudden, we're in the media room typing away on our post game stories and this tweet drops and none of us believe it. And we had to wait for shops to confirm it again and then start immediately calling and texting people.

So I think for the Lakers, this was a situation that obviously Dallas approached them. They did not think Luca was available or that they could get him for that type of package. So this was a situation where they just had to alter course in terms of, I think ideally they would have just kept things together and made a couple of small moves. But when this opportunity presents itself, you can't say no. I look at the LeBron piece of this and we talked about it on Saturday a little bit and I've seen it discussed like,

oh, well, LeBron is so great on the ball, which is true. I mean, he's brilliant. And it's one of my favorite things about his entire career. And it's kind of funny where it's like, well, some of these stupid podcasts, it'll be like, well, he doesn't actually have the scoring mentality of like, whatever you're like, dude, whatever, you know, just the guy's a brilliant, brilliant basketball player.

Um, and he's put up plenty of scoring numbers. It would tell you he's a score, but he's just such a terrific passer and his vision, all these different things, like that's the bonus on top of everything else, right. Um, but with Luca now at this phase, like I think if That's the bonus on top of everything else, right? But with Luca now at this phase, I think if LeBron stays for a couple more years, and granted like the other day,

I think it was last month, they were like, how much longer could you play? And he was like at a high level, it was like five to seven years. I mean, it was insane, but whatever. I would expect him to answer it that way. So if he looks at his window with the Lakers and says, okay, this actually makes a little bit more sense. I think this is, this is actually a really good

basketball fit now for him with where he's at his career because like Austin Reese has been running point guard, even if I probably like the LeBron stuff. Now the next thing was a little different because OG hurts his foot. So he's out. So now Josh Hart is on LeBron. LeBron was brilliant in his execution late in that game and Hart was also physically just overmatched on top of everything else. So there's all these LeBron on ball initiating the offense possessions that I love, but it was just a lot to ask of him to do that at this stage of his career. So that's why Reeves

is doing it so much. So I do think that there's a basketball fit that makes way more sense as opposed to like LeBron and Luca in his prime. So there's another part of the LeBron future that I'm gonna ask after that, but from like the basketball standpoint, I know it's an incomplete roster and everything, but would you agree that it actually is an assist to him

as opposed to being redundant early in his career? I think so. And I think both players have now had the experience of adjusting to playing with co-stars, with LeBron obviously going back to the Heatels, with Wade and Bosch, and Cleveland with Kyrie and Kevin Love, and then now in LA with AD, and then Luca with Kyrie.

The one interesting part to me is that they both have always been the Batman in that situation. It's always been more so the other stars adjusting more to them rather than them adjusting to them because they've clearly been the best player in those situations. This is kind of the first situation where they could look at each other and say like they can make the case for why they're the better player or the better fit, whatever. And then they could also make the case for the other player to kind of take more control.

So I do expect like Luca is 25. He's not even yet in his prime. I think he's obviously the better player between the two right now. So I think Luca should be the primary ball handler and point guard. And you'll see a lot of Luca LeBron two-man game. And we saw it with Team USA

when he played a bit more off the ball. It basically was like in the Draymond role with Steph. And Luca and Steph aren't the same type of player, but you can imagine LeBron screening for Luca and hitting him in the short roll. And then now you have LeBron with a four on three advantage. He can either get downhill, get to the rim and finish,

or he can drive and kick to shooters in the corner, cutters, whatever. So I think there will naturally be a learning curve here Hill get to the rim and finish, or he can drive and kick to shooters in the corner, cutters, whatever. So I think there will naturally be a learning curve here and adjustment period for both guys in terms of learning to play with each other. They are both supercomputers. So there's going to be a bit of some growth and learning there. But I think ultimately, these are two of the smartest players in the league, two of the

best passers in the league. There's a lot of similarities between them from a skill and playing style perspective. So I think I don't want to overcomplicate it. I think these two guys will figure it out, but you can go one four pick and roll, four one pick and roll. You could have Luca screening for LeBron and popping, or also getting hit in the short roll and then making decisions. So I think those two are going to have a great chemistry.

Again, I think it's going to take some time, but I think offensively this team has a high ceiling. It's as you've alluded to the defensive side and having Jackson Hayes as your starting center that that's where my questions begin. Okay. Uh, two LeBron questions there. Is he still on the Lakers at the end of the week? Yes. Uh, that, Yes. That's my understanding. He's not going to, I mean, he has a no trade clause. So he would have to okay any trade. Like I guess technically that there's a possibility here in the next three days,

but as Chris Haynes reported, LeBron does not intend to ask out or, you know, so I think he's going to stay, uh, through the deadline. Okay. Do you think that he opts out and then wants to do an extension with the Lakers this summer? I do. Uh, I do. Uh, now he, so he has a player option for, for next year. And as I reported along with Shams at the end of last season, the intel we were getting

was that he was likely looking at one to two more years, which would bring him to the end of the 2025-2026 season. I think that's still the general operating assumption around the league right now is that he's going to play one more year and likely retire at the end of 2026. But as you said, he's talked about, I can play five to seven more years, but we'll see what happens with Bryce James in terms of him being an NBA prospect and his timeline. So there are a lot of other factors that could come into play here. But I do think LeBron, whether he just opts into the player option or tries to sign an extension and then

eventually, like the weird thing with signing an extension would be if you were going to play one more year, it wouldn't really make sense. Like I guess you could get that number a little bit higher, but it wouldn't really make sense to like sign an extension and then say I'm retiring. So I think he's going to have to decide what he wants to do next year. But I do think that the operating assumption has been he's going to play one more year. Okay. I touched on this in the open too, where I've heard it said, uh, whether it was. You know, in, in reports or people talking about it on shows or just phone calls that you're making, it's like, oh, the Lakers, you know, starting

to get sick of this whole clutch thing. And my point would be like, well, yeah, they got sick of it to get Luca. Like this is not, I don't think that that's the time. Like you can tell me that they're tired of clutch. This is not a great example to show that they now have this backbone where they're going to push back against all of this stuff. And that's why they traded Anthony Davis. They traded Anthony Davis because they just got Luka fucking Donchich. Right.

But what is, what is accurate about that dynamic, the angst that goes along with it? Because some people are kind of going back and replaying it of like, well, when Anthony Davis asked for help and then you know that's LeBron 101 and then this trade deadline, all the passive aggressive stuff

that you know that you're signing up for here, which I think ultimately is like really easy to ignore and super pointless and we make a big deal out of it. I think the people that do it for a living are like, oh cool, you want us to trade for a better player. Awesome, thank you. Awesome, we'll see you with seven 10 for tip. What do you think is fair about that dynamic?

I certainly think it has been a bit strained through the years, maybe to say the least. I think going back to the Russell Westbrook trade, that is a sliding doors moment in this whole LeBron 80 era and just the dynamic between Clutch and the Lakers. And if you look at, but whenever I do national shows and I get asked about how much control LeBron has, the thing I always say is, yes, there are examples we can look at, obviously, drafting and signing Brawny to a four-year deal. But from an opportunity cost perspective, he's making less than a typical vet minimum guy. So the Lakers are actually saving money

on the back end of the roster. But Brawny thing aside, obviously, that was in part a favor to LeBron and what he wanted. And then they'll often have several clutch guys on the roster. But again, those are often minimum guys, or at most it's been like mid-level type guys. But again, relatively low opportunity cost. If LeBron had his way over the last few years, they would have traded for Kyrie.

They would have traded for Dejante Murray. They would have traded for Zach Levine. LeBron has wanted a third star next to him in AD and primarily a third ball handling slash perimeter guy type star. He's wanted to redo the Westbrook trade, but do it with a better fitting third star. Lakers have not done that. Then even looking at AD, where, you know, AD's often been more the quiet guy, you know, he's not really making the passive aggressive remarks. AD wanted James Borrego going back to the summer. He was back, like Borrego was his guy. He was the guy that he was backing.

They end up, you know, signing or agreeing to terms with JJ Reddick. And that's to say nothing of like previously when LeBron had wanted Ty Lue and Monty Williams and they get Frank Vogel. And then you go the last few years, AD has wanted to play power forward. It's been like the worst kept secret that AD prefers to play power forward compared to center. He's just had to play center because the Lakers have not prioritized adding a center. And it's been, if you look at from 2021 on, it's been a revolving door of vet minimum

centers who are all like fringe rotation players. If you look at from 2021 on, it's been a revolving door of vet minimum centers who are all like fringe rotation players. So naturally looking at the roster, you have to shift AD up to play center because the options are guys who probably shouldn't be playing in like a team with championship aspirations. So I think if you look at just like, take all the words and whatever, put that to the side,

just look at the actions. The Lakers have not really done what LeBron and AD have wanted for several years now. Or if they have, it's been very small opportunity cost type situation. So I think really since the Westbrook trade, we can trace back the relationship fraying a little bit. And it felt like at some point here, it was going to come to a natural conclusion. And I do think, I'm not going to say like a clutch start will never be a Laker again, because I think certainly possible.

But once LeBron is done being a Laker, I think that relationship has kind of run its course. Yeah, that's why when you were talking about the price stuff, I'm like, are we going to do this all over again? Well, maybe someone else, right? Like I mean, could be, but yeah. Yeah, that's why I talk. And we don't need to stay on that because I, you know, we're talking about somebody in high school where I think it's just entirely different. Like once you have an NBA jersey on, you're getting a contract.

You're part of the conversation now and we're going to talk about it. But I did think after that Philly disaster, it was nice to see JJ Reddick get him out there within the MSG game. I thought it was really smart by Reddick to just do it so quickly. Like, Hey, get another game. They had taken control. It was really phenomenal Laker performance from start to finish their defense and everything. And the crowds chanting.

And I think other coaches would just be defiant. Be like, Oh, you're going to make a mockery of this whole thing. Like you're chanting brawny. We're not going to put him in. And instead he puts him in. And again, the basketball part of it's fairly irrelevant because he probably not an NBA player right now. All right. That's all I want to do on that. So I don't even want any follow up to any of that stuff. Let's stay in the AD thing.

Cause you know that he wants to play power forward. And it's funny because in theory now with the roster with Dallas, granted it depended upon, you know, Gaffer and what lively his availability could be if he's even going to be available towards the end of the year, that there are centers on paper that he should be playing with. My guess would be Dallas and Jason Kidd will close with him at center the same way the Lakers did when they told him he wasn't really the center, but it just made way more sense. And if you look at that heat finals, when they won it five years ago, I'm just going through the minutes this morning, LeBron led the team in minutes of two 36 Davis played two 29.

The only other big that's on the radar here is Dwight Howard at 71 minutes, uh, in that series in particular. So I understand his point and some of it's a bit like I've had these injuries. It's like, dude, you've had injuries at wherever you want to pretend that you were aligned and how you were introduced and everything.

You were around them for years. What is this about when every number tells you? And the reality is like Dallas is going to close with him at center, I bet, in playoff games. Even if they have the options of Lively and Gaffer. Yeah, I mean, Anthony Davis is a center. Like, let's make no mistake about it. I'm just like sharing that that is what he's wanted. And if we're arguing that like they've catered, like, because I just think there's a narrative out there that they've completely catered to Lebron

and AD's wishes and whatever they want. And I'm just pushing back a little bit against that, because I think there's been some very clear things that they've wanted that they've not gotten that maybe in other situations they would get. But 80 is a center. By the way, Jovan, I'm glad that you gave us that timeline because the examples that you're using are really easy to forget, especially if you want to push the idea that they've only gotten what they've wanted. I guess in the post-Dodgett's trade stuff that I don't really have a ton of time for is that all of a sudden it's like, this doesn't work anymore. When it's like, dude, you gave three things in seven months that I can point to that are

fairly in Clutch's favor. And it says, this trade has nothing to do with the relationship, is my point. Yeah. And to your point, they've all, I mean, they have given them like whatever contracts they wanted in terms of contract structure. So that's certainly an argument against that as well. But in terms of AD, I think the one thing that has been true and I think the one thing that he feels is like, I think he likes when playing next to another big

and having that guy be the primary center defender and then he can roam defensively. And I think going back to the 2020 title year, when you had JaVale or Dwight on Nikola Jokic or whatever other big man that they were running into, AD liked being the roamer who could be the low man, be helping rotating out the shooters, and just kind of manning, quarterbacking the defense in that sense. So I think for him, one constant thing

that the teams try to do against the Lakers when he's at the five is you just try to get them out of the paint. And Steve Kerr has talked about Golden State's entire offense when they play the Lakers is trying to find and come up with ways to get Anthony Davis away from the rim. And they feel like if they can get 80 out of the away from the rim, it's going to be a layup line or an offensive rebound line or party, whatever. So I think that's like that's 280s, I guess, argument. I see the value in that. And the Lakers, even the last couple of years have tended to play better when they played

bigger lineups. Not even necessarily another center out there, but when they play their big wings and they're going LeBron, a big guy, 6'8 or 6'9 and above, NAD, those lineups have played really well. It's just been because the roster has been so structured towards guards and perimeter guys that they typically play these three guard lineups that haven't been as good defensively. So I get where Adi's coming from, but ultimately he's a five and I think Dallas is going to figure out with their roster like him closing at the five is the best option. Yeah, when I was running through those minutes too, Javille didn't play, but his numbers as far as like his playoff log, even for that year when they won it, is like, you could point to like, well, AD played more because Javale wasn't available and they were only playing Dwight and all

this different stuff. But like Javale was declining minutes, um, as those playoffs kept going the entire time, whether it was health or just the fit and all that stuff. So I think what they'll have to do is AD will play, he'll be next to center. Everybody's going to be all smiles. He's going to talk about how awesome the whole thing is. And then I can't wait to see him in the playoffs when it's like, all right, here's the six minutes to go group.

Like we need more, like we need more spacing and we're good enough defensively with just AD depending on this matchup. But look, Dallas with, with two guys and AD against Joker and, and then playing off of Gordon, cause Gordon doesn't provide any spacing kind of like what we saw with the cat Rudy dynamic with Minnesota. Like there's something there for Dallas. But I have to finish with LA just because, you know, that's the perspective that you're giving us here on this.

What do you think of this team now for this year? I think it depends on what they do in the next three days here because if they stand Pat with the current roster, as you just alluded to earlier, like Jackson Hayes is starting center. I think he's more of a fringe rotation player rather than a starting rotation player. So that's, and again, I think it's going to be more like the Knicks game where they go with like Dory and Finney Smith at the five or Jared Vanderbilt at the five and they play these wing heavy lineups.

And I know JJ Redick likes that. He likes the more modern kind of small ball type lineups. But I think this group just has too many holes defensively. Like I think Max Christie has been an afterthought in this trade. But he had kind of become the Lakers fourth best player over the last like month and a half. He was, they were 16 and eight with him in the starting lineup.

He was shooting 40% on threes, averaging between 11 and 12 points a game. So Max Christie had become a reliable two-way wing for them. And I think they lost two starters, and they really added one. And of course, Lucas is better than AD. And again, you make the trade 10 out of 10 times. But from a short-term perspective, this group took a step back defensively and took a major step back in the interior. They already needed a second center.

Now they don't really. They might need two centers, honestly. So I think depending on what they do in the next three days, I've heard that they're trying to be... The one big thing here is they've shifted from... There was this notion of the LeBron 80 timeline of you have maybe 18 months to try and maximize this window. They've shifted away from that and now they're on the Luka timeline. So I think any move they make, if they invest that 2031 first round pick or a pick

swap or even any of the younger talent, it's going to be about getting a guy who can fit now and longer term with Luka. So I don't think they're going to make some type of win now move in terms of like, here's a first round pick for a 30 year old center, a 33 year old. I think they're looking at guys in their late twenties and younger and guys who can play with Luca longer term. So if they do make a bigger move here, I think it'll be for a younger player. But I would temper expectations a bit and probably look at maybe them trying to find a bargain center and then just going forward

and seeing what you can do with this group. But they're certainly, defensively, they're relying on Jared Vanderbilt, Doryn Finney-Smith, and Gabe Vinson. I like each of those guys individually. But to have those be your top three defenders, I think there's a clear limitation there. And then size-wise, specifically at the center spot, it's problematic.

The only reason he was even available is clearly Dallas, Nico Harrison. They had to have a under, I would say like not understood level of disdain for Lucas entire thing. Whether it was a conditioning, injury projections, personality. Like look, it got pretty rough on the court at times. I can't imagine factoring in how often he complains. There'll be a reason why you don't want to give a guy a five year extension when he's, you know, arguably at best, the second best player in the world. But is there anything that you've uncovered and it's early here where like the

Lakers, because everybody does this. Like there's all these Pelicans players where other teams would be like, if I can just get that guy into our system and their track record, just, you know, all these different things. Where, whether it's a wake up call to Luke himself and all the motivation he needs,

or I think there's another part of it where it's like, maybe it just doesn't matter for this guy. And you can worry about that like North of 30. But is there anything you think is interesting that you've uncovered about like the preparation of the only reason he was available is because of some of these longer term concerns? Yeah, I mean, it feels like to me that this is sort of like a breakup and one side trying to get out and explain the reasons why they broke up with the other person. But it just hasn't really carried much weight. No pun intended here.

As you said, Luca could be smoking a cigarette on the court. You give that guy the Supervax and you figure it out later. I don't understand it. I've heard similar things, weight conditioning, work ethic, leadership, attitude, mindset, like all those things have been floating out there. But I also think from the Lakers side, like they're optimistic that if there is one player

that can maybe change some of those things with Luca, and to your point, maybe he just is who he is and none of this is gonna change, but like, he loves LeBron. He said it in his rookie press conference, like LeBron is his idol. LeBron is a guy he's looked up to. He's tried to model his game after. So learning from LeBron, the athlete who is arguably taking the best care of his body in history, you know, invests a million dollars every summer in his body. Like That's a guy that I think the Lakers are optimistic. If Luca can learn from that example, and we've seen even Kyrie and AD have their quirks, what we'll say. Those guys have talked about learning from

LeBron and the impact he's had on them. So I think the Lakers are optimistic that Lucas still 25, he's not even yet in his prime. And if he could have a couple of years with LeBron and seeing what time he gets to the practice facility, like how much he's investing pre and post-practice into his body in terms of all the different things he's doing, like that can have some sort of impact on him. But even if it doesn't,

you have a 25 year old generational star Who has already led teams to the finals conference finals? Third in regular season scoring all time in terms of points per game second in the playoffs Like don't overthink it that this guy is going to be could be the best player in the league as soon as like next season Arguably and it's just I still can't believe that this trade happened. I can't either man. Enjoy though. It's gonna be a lot of fun. If you want to check out more from Yovon you can check out his work on the athletic again his podcast, Buhas Block. Thanks man. Thank you. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine.

And best of all kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Voltron man, we're back. Fully formed here. You've got Saruti back from Mexico, Kyle Wargon hanging out in the shadows. Around the rim, Will Kane style perhaps. And my name's Ryan, I'm your host, it's LifeAdvice, lifeadvicerr at gmail.com.

Some are surmising that I'm just happy to have Sarudy back. Do you have any statement? No, I mean, I listened to the pods. You were accurate in that you sent me kind of like a bigger picture show thing, and I was like, it's like a Wednesday. I'm sitting on the beach. I'm reading the second Dune book. Like, I'll answer this when I get back.

I don't really feel like diving into the work stuff, so I appreciate that. But I did miss, I did miss the show. I missed, I didn't think I was gonna miss a ton, and then I got back Saturday night. I was like, let me go to the Magic Lost, and I was like, God, I don't even wanna deal with anything. So let me go to the early I got back Saturday night. I was like, let me go to the magic lost. And I was like, God, I don't even want to deal with it. So I'm like, which night really?

This is Saturday night. Um, your squad struggling, dude, not good yet. Maybe something for a later date. But then I wake up at three in the morning to take a piss. And I'm like, why did bill release a pod with Ryan? What's going on? And I saw the trade and I was like, oh shit. All right, I guess I'm back.

So it's good to be back. It's good to have you back. Um, we saved a couple for you. We saved a couple. So it's good to be back. It's good to have you back. We saved a couple for you. We saved a couple. Oh good, okay. Because you didn't want to read these. Calling teenagers virgins, six foot, 230,

huge ass and barrel chest, player comp, Bruce Brown. I'm 38 from the Maryland DC suburbs, have two kids. I want to give feedback on a recent discussion about insulting minors. I'm a commander's fan, went to Philly for the NFC championship game. Fans were tough and mean, but fun for the most part. After the game, my friend and I were walking away from the stadium and a large group of mainly Eagles fans, we started getting pushed repeatedly and pretty soon

were surrounded by about six 16 year olds. They were at an age, a nightmare. Yeah. Where they just went through puberty. So we're pushing five, 10. And, uh, so these guys are pushing five, 10 had half grown in mustaches. Yeah. So they're describing a gang of 16 year olds for the most part.

They weren't strong, but excited about their new pubes. Uh-oh. The loudest of them grabbed my shirt and got nose to nose with me. Uh-oh. The loudest of them grabbed my shirt and got nose to nose with me. I shoved him off and told him to get your virgin hands off of me. That's great. And then I told his friends to get ahold of this dork virgin.

This sent him into a rage repeatedly yelling at me that he was not a virgin. At that point, the argument is over. His friends knew it and pulled him away. I will attest that calling an aggressive 16-year-old a virgin is the best thing you can possibly do. Really nice field test there. That's good. It all sounds good in theory until there's six of those dirty little guys around you

and you don't know what to do. I'm glad that that worked. Six of those dirty guys around you. It's kind of the perfect scenario actually. Yeah, because then you're like, because that's the one thing they're all very insecure about. They're all in front of their buddies.

Oh yeah. One guy's been lying about it. She goes to a different school, right? And now it's just out on Front Street. That's awesome. Like if you call it, if you call it, somebody call it be a virgin. Like, you know, there was a road rage incident

or something like shut up virgin. I don't even know how to react to it, but the like the 15, 16, like all the way up to like maybe early college that's about the most insulting thing you could say to somebody who actually feels like they're cool yeah I think in a road rage incident you would just start tying laughing like you in particular because of you I get mad road rage I don't know how I would react to that I'm mostly calm except when I'm behind a wheel. Yeah, what is that?

What the hell is that? Getting those four doors and you're a different guy. It's weird. I mean, I've caught my legus and I'm not hopping out of the car, but I've, you know, like, wow, did I just yell that at that guy? What the hell was that? I would never do it. It's like, all right, let's just focus back up, get where we're going.

But it's crazy. Like, little inconveniences, like rage is the word. I don't know what that's about. I have the least amount of patience in the car than I do in any other place. I know, because you're so laid back in so many other things too.

All right, well, speaking of conflict, I lived in Wyoming my whole life, that's not the reason. I'm in my 40s, six foot five, two sixty. Wow. I own a deli slicer and can touch the net. All right. Whoa. Slicer dude. Where do you fit? Will it fit in the kitchen? That meat. Just made a roast last night and I was cutting it by hand like a caveman. You made a roast? Yeah. Nice. Like a hot roast?, I mean like you know I put it, I just I make my own roast beef now. That's that's one of the things that I do and yeah I just get a

big roast and you know slice it as thin as I can and you know got a knife sharpener because it's just not not slicing it thin enough so we're working on it. I like it. Keep us updated. On a recent ski trip with my family, we found ourselves waiting in line with a large group of people. I started helping my eight year old daughter and get a few things organized. I accidentally bumped into a guy standing nearby and knocked his gear over. Watch what you're doing virgin. I heard from behind me.

I told him I was sorry, but he could settle down with a virgin stuff. I gestured toward my daughter and told them that my daughter was proof that I had sex at least once. He responded that she must be adopted because there was no way any woman female would let me touch her. Oh man. By this point I was taking off my watch. Through the red mist of my rage, a glimmer of recognition shone through. Could it be was this guy a fellow Rassillo fan? I knew that I had to test the theory with a reference and only a true Rassillo fan would understand.

That's big talk coming from a guy with Shamit face. I said to him, with a knowing look in my eye, the instantaneous connection we had in that moment as Roscillo fans melted away any hostility between us. He said we were cool, we could keep it moving. I said it was a simple misunderstanding. We should just charge it to the game. We had a laugh and parted in good terms.

Thank you, Roscillo. Thank you, Roscillo Show, you're solving problems and helping dudes find good terms. Thank you for solo. Thank you for solo show. You're solving problems, helping dudes find common ground. I don't think that's necessarily real, but I hope it's real. Yeah. The try the deli slicer, the charge it to the game thing makes me think it might not be.

Yeah. Okay. Let's do two quick ones. Basketball comp, Ludoor, six foot, 200 pound. Ludoor with no three pointer, but I'm a menace on the defensive end and will drive through your chest. Sounds like you're terrible to play with. This might be a little touchy for you guys,

but I have an interesting dilemma. For the past month or two, there's been a special needs guy that has started coming to my gym. He gets dropped off. He's typically there for an hour and a half, then waits outside to get picked up. The problem is that he spends his entire time on his iPad in the locker

room, never comes close to a dumbbell or treadmill. He looks to be in his mid to late 20s and is definitely overweight. Should I continue to do nothing or should I approach him and offer to walk the treadmill with him? Wow, what a great guy this is. Without his parents supervision, this is clearly a window for playtime for him. This isn't meant to be a God complex thing for me or anything like that. I just feel like he might need someone to give him the push rather than leave it to himself. Would you feel any compulsion to help the guy out? I probably won't end up doing anything, but I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

If your suggestion is to say something to his parents, I don't really care enough to go out of my way like that. I love that this guy has a really, he's got a streak of a heart in him. The idea of having a good heart is strong. Yeah, the concept. But ultimately he knows. I don't really want to do any of that. Yeah, because that's like, we really want to game this out. Like if I'm, you know, we full transparency on this pod, I think it's a really

incredible thought, are you willing to fuck up your routine for this? Because it's, it's be so nice if you were like, Hey buddy, I don't know why I just started the sentence that way, but I think everybody, you know, Hey buddy, I don't know why I just started the sentence that way, but I think everybody, you know. Hey buddy, you know, you want to go on the treadmill with me and you want to, you know, maybe try a couple of machines with me. You know, you're deciding and you know, look man, it'd be unbelievable. Like I'm going to, it's just a day. I'm going to give up my day for this guy to give him a little bit of direction. I think you could probably, you know, worry potentially about the long-term things. Like this guy, I think I'm working out with him

every day. Um, then you're coming home and your wife's like, you gaining weight? Like I got a new, I got a new gym partner. Uh, yeah, I think what you're asking here is incredible, but I think anybody that is like a normal gym routine person You probably and I don't know that it's selfish but in a very practical way of like talking about all the potential scenarios here Are you willing to sign up for something?

That is way more than you actually want to sign up for yeah The snitch route here is way less work if you want something to be done, right? It's way less work. I think maybe what I would do, if I was gonna do anything, would be like maybe meet him in the locker room, like, hey, what's up, I'm John, whatever.

Just talk to him. Don't necessarily suggest that he should go do it with him. But like you get to know him a little bit and then maybe one day you see his parents, you're like, hey, I met John a while back. I don't know how much you know, but it's a big iPad guy in the locker room. Just wanted you to know, I don't know if there's a training thing.

You might get a pro bono session if you think about it or whatever. But if you think he's coming here to bust his ass, it's just not true and he just might need a little push. But I wouldn't do it without meeting the guy first instead of just walking past him. Plant a seed of fitness. Right, so I don't know. Or just be a friend.

Yeah, you could be a friend and not have him work out. Maybe just make him feel like a little bit more part of the community at the gym. Maybe he's intimidated because he asked nobody to talk to you so he doesn't want to use any of the equipment. Yeah, peanut butter shake after the gym. Maybe he's intimidated because he asked nobody to talk to you. So he doesn't want to use it. You know, after the, after the run. Yeah. So I, it doesn't exactly, it doesn't have to be like you giving him a workout

regimen, just like, maybe not peanut butter. I would just, I would actually get probably jazzed up about rather than the, uh, the fat burner one or whatever. You have grilled cheese protein? Nothing else? Well, I would say too, are we sure the parents don't fully know what's going on here? Maybe they just are like, hey, we got to get them out of the house for like an hour. Like, which is, this is a good piece.

I'll tell you what, they're probably psyched to get the break. Yeah. So, you know, I don't know that they'd even be blowing up his spot. Like I'm, you know, I don't know. even be blowing up a spot like I'm, you know, I don't know. Like, they might be parents that are actually worried about him. Like, you know, he's turning into whatever version of a person he's going to be as an adult and we want to get the weight thing under control.

You know, maybe it's that and they're like, they're really just hoping he's at least walking slowly while looking at the iPad and maybe, maybe just that would, you know, if he's like, Hey, can we just get you to walk, walk while you're doing this? Playing, you know, ninja fruit, ninja or whatever you're doing, like maybe. Yeah, you could do that on the treadmill. That's a great call. Dial up some of these apps, you just start slicing away and you know,

you get the treadmill at a two, five, two, eight. Right. Maybe just that. Cause they could just be really concerned. They're like, we gotta do something. I don't know how overweight he's talking, but you know, could totally see that being a real, they're like, all right, at least he's's got this and it turns out he doesn't have this

might be worth just letting them know I don't know but again you would notice though like you pick him up and he's got no sweat stains his shoes aren't scuffed at all like there are signs I guess maybe they're just like you know yeah whatever like get him maybe he could make make a friend or socialize you can maybe be that friend but yeah I don know if you have to put them through a workout regimen. I think what Kyle said is the right move. Hey buddy, what's going on? What are you doing today?

You know, if you ever want to go walk on the treadmill with me, let me know. Uh, it also probably wouldn't be the worst idea to ask some of the trainers. You know, some trainers are like, absolutely not. If I can't sell them three sessions, I got, you know, I got sessions to sell. There's probably somebody else considering that trainers are usually people that want to help people. Um, that's something in their core. You go up to one of the friendlier trainers and be like, Hey, have you

noticed this guy, he just kind of like chilling. Maybe he is to your point, Kyle, like to be dropped into that setting without any background, without any like warmup to it and just now you're, you're at the gym and he doesn't have any idea like how to use anything and it's all probably like super intimidating, but I'm sure he's just fucking pumped to be on his iPad too for 90 minutes unsupervised. So I do think, yeah, but I think your original thing, like there's probably some version of this where there's a compromise where the emailer feels like, Hey, at least I did something here,

which I think is the most important lesson in all of this is that you're thinking about it, but I also think like a lot of people, regular gym routine people, like I get in and get out to do my thing and I, I don't like, I want to help, but I don't know how much I can help. And, you know, I'm not going to have like a new gym partner the entire time. So yeah, I think the hello, how's it going? Ask about the treadmill thing. And then maybe there's a trainer that's like, oh, I didn't even realize this guy's sitting in the locker room the whole time.

Yeah, absolutely. Like I have a little window here and then somebody else or next thing you know, you get a team of people. Right. Yeah, right. You're the Wednesday warmup guy, but you're going to do treadmill for 90 minutes. I do it for five and then I lift weights and then I'll see you here. I'll see you at the gym. And you're just the Wednesday guy, right? Yeah, right. You're the Wednesday warmup guy, right? You're gonna do treadmill for 90 minutes.

I do it for five and then I lift weights and then I'll see you here in 90, buddy. Right, I'll do my last five with you. That's perfect. Yeah, hope that iPad's charged. Okay. That was a good advice. I feel like we left there with actually something.

There's so many we leave and I'm like, wow, that was 10 minutes of nothing, huh? Yeah. I love those 10 minutes. We have real actionable stuff there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. Long time listener going back to Toreco and Van Pelt. We're still over at Place Toreco and I learned to appreciate the dulcet tones of Ryan's voice while driving around in my service rig. 48 years old, no gym stats. As I am self-employed in an extremely physical job repairing broken swimming pools in the Sacramento region and going to the gym would feel like torture. Yep.

Look, man, you know, anything that has anything to do with concrete stone, you know, you guys are that is you're in the gym every day, man. Yeah. Super sets. How long did you work out today? Eight hours. Uh, all right. Basketball comp, the guy or female who wipes the floor after one of the

Sacramento Kings hits the deck. Like the beam. All right. Big Sacramento guy. The names have been changed. So far away. The problem stems from my neighbor, four houses away here in an older part of Sacramento.

Tyler and Kristen were an unmarried middle-aged couple living down the road. Tyler's a very nice guy. He does not work due to inheriting Silicon Valley money from his father years ago. I want Kyle. I would love that for you. That would be sick. If you were.

Just find out I actually am related to Michael Crichton. How about that? We just do that. Fully blown younger Rich Kyle would be like one of my favorite characters ever. But, um, all right. So this guy's got that kind of cash. Rich Kyle would be like one of my favorite characters ever. But All right, so this guy's got that kind of cash inherited from the father years ago owns a house in the Bay Area But currently rents it out as these live with Kristen here in Sacramento Kristen works from home in a lucrative commercial real estate job She generally sucks and some of the neighbors have a difficult relationship with her as a result. I like this straight to the point, kind of like the first take thing.

Will Kane was saying, just take start at that start at the conflict. I've always got along with her due to my ability to get along with most assholes. It's a gift. Yeah. I think people, oddly enough, like the rough edge construction, home services that kind of like you're interactive with so many different people. And I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. And I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point.

I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point.

I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point.

I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. I think that's a really good point. They probably are more conditioned to deal with so many different personalities because of their background. Eight months ago, Tyler and Kristen took an extended vacation, if you wanted a mini rant on the laborer personality. Eight months ago, Tyler and Kristen took an extended vacation in Colorado as they are outdoorsy types and the terrain around the region was enticing them. During this vacation, they employed my 12 year old daughter to take care of their two socially awkward cats. Interesting description. Do you guys know a lot care of their two socially awkward cats. Interesting description.

Do you guys know a lot of non socially awkward cats? Yeah, they're out there. I know they exist. I just don't know how you get one like that. Like I, I don't know how you win the cat lottery to be fucking normal. I don't know how it works. I have a cat. There's some days I don't even see it.

I just, you do have a cat. I forgot about that. Yeah. When I tell people, I forget that I have it half the time. He's pretty low maintenance. There's some days I don't even see it. I just do. You do have a cat. I forgot about that. Yeah, when I tell people, I forget that I have it half the time. He's pretty low maintenance. What's his name? Ollie. That's a good cat.

Is it skateboarding? Good dog, dude. Oliver North. It was just, we got it. That was his name. We didn't change it. He's pretty chill. He just kind of hangs out.

I don't, again, there are days where I just don't see him. As long as you feed him water, all that good, he's fine. Not a cat. Yeah, that's fine. Not a cat. Yeah, that's the part about cat. Yeah, not a cat guy, but there is something to be said of an animal that's like, I don't need you right now. I'm surprised, people are probably surprised I don't have a cat.

I don't know about that. Yeah, I don't think you have to worry about that anytime soon. All right, considering this couple has no children, they treat the cats as if they are children. My wife and I, along with our daughter, I had to go over to receive specific instructions on the care and maintenance of these cats

while they're gone. They agreed to pay my daughter $10 per day to go over and feed, care, and spend time with the cats along- Your daughter's getting hosed, first of all. Feels low, yeah. Check wag, dude. There's gonna be, it's gonna be 40 bucks a day, come on. I think $10 is so low.

We're all in agreement here. Yeah, that's 1999 money we're talking for, like a chore like that, come on. If you want to just go over there and feed them, like to spend time and like play with them, what are we doing? They probably think they're doing her a favor by like, they probably think very highly of the cats.

She needs a CBA. She's a union? Yeah. It's like, this is ridiculous. Let me see here. All right, so they agreed to pay my daughter $10 a day, feed, care, spend time, along with picking up the mail and packages.

Upon returning from Colorado, the couple decided to start looking for homes as they fell in love with the area. Ultimately, Kristen bought a home that needed some work and began to make plans. The problem started when Kristen started fucking the electrician she hired and thus ending relationship with Tyler. Tyler returned to Sacramento brokenhearted, but made the best of it. He's continued to live in the house. He shared with Kristen, who is actually the owner because his house is currently

rented in a long-term lease Tyler now travels extensively and is frequently gone, which leaves us to the cats. You could do worse than banging an electrician though. I've got like two plugs that don't work. My daughter and that's my wife and I are now the main caregivers to the cats. Tyler continues to pay my daughter whenever he has gone and we dutifully send her over once a day to feed and give attention to the cats along with cleaning litter boxes and doing the occasional laundry as the cats are

sometimes incontinent. Recently, Kristin decided to show up at the home. We were excited to finally get the cats out of our lives, except she didn't take them back to Colorado with her. My question is, what do I do? We are generally tired of taking care of these cats, but our daughter has amassed a small fortune for a 12 year old, literally over a thousand dollars so far in cash payments. Do we tell Tyler to figure something out? While he's truly a good and decent man, he does not care about the cats because

they and the house are a reminder of his broken relationship. Do we continue to let him help fund my daughter's college fund in middle school? he's truly a good and decent man. He does not care about the cats because they and the house are a reminder of his broken relationship. Do we continue to let him help fund my daughter's college fund and middle school lifestyle? I love middle school lifestyle. Fruit roll-ups on me. Pogs from the group. Damn girl.

He wants hot lunch. Like, what is that? 10 bands? Yep. All 10s. Do we try to contact Kristen and tell her to deal with the goddamn cats? Do we start stealing some of the better artwork

and decor from the house out of spite? I'm joking, but they do have some sick antique stadium seats in the house that I would gladly take. Any advice would be appreciated. Shout out to Steve, Kyle, and Morgan. Go ducks. Damn. Yeah. Look, I think we've all agreed right now, collectively on your behalf. We've been your own union here. You're going to go, Hey dude, this cat thing kind of annoying.

Um, 50 bucks a day. So is that then worth it to your daughter? Can you stomach it? Um, $10 a day is nothing. You're right. That's nineties wages. That sounds like something when I would go over and like check on some dude's house when I was in high school. I'm like, okay, we're gonna pay you $10 a day buster. Uh, I think you raised the price or he gets, you know, he's, look, when

dudes are this devastated, they don't care about this stuff. This is the first thing they don't care about. And again, to your point, they're not even his cats. But you know what? When I got dumped, the bank didn't stop sending me a mortgage statement. So like deal with your shit. And I think you go to them and say, this is brutal. She doesn't want to be there every day. It's turning into like a care thing. I understand you're going through a ton of stuff, but like, you need to come up with a solution that has something to like, and then, you know, whatever. Everything's got a price.

If he feels like he's being shook down at a time of despair, fuck it, man. Welcome to the world. So you'll be like, in 10 bucks is just low. Like 10 bucks is fine. It was kind of like a neighborhood, like daughter down the street thing, but it's turned into way more work. We're doing laundry. No one cares for the cats anymore. So like, maybe there's a number, maybe there's a number he'll understand if he inherited all this money. His dad was a Wheeler dealer putting on Trump YouTube

videos, be like one day son. So yeah, you've got to, um, you've got to get a bit aggressive with him to shake him out of his funk because he will continue to do this day after day after day. Because this right, cause this is the least of his problems right now is this cat deal. And you were just a simple solution to it as he

tries to work his way towards wherever the next chapter of his life takes him. Yeah. mean you could even if it's not about the money and you're just like listen a thousand dollars that's impressive you this was a cool you know remember that summer you made a thousand dollars or however long it's been like cool but you could just be like hey you know my daughter's starting field hockey or hey she just got elected student government like she's got other stuff going on so I think you know I my daughter's starting field hockey or hey, she just got elected student government like she's got other stuff going on. So I think, you know, I think she's had a bank roll her campaign too.

Yeah, like I think we should start thinking about maybe alternatives, just putting it out there. Like there's a thing coming up in her life that might make this a little bit more difficult. One day I just wanted to give you a heads up. You know, I don't think this is going to work so much anymore. So you know, maybe on the weekends or something. But you know, I think by and large, we're going to have to find a new schedule

or you got to find a new way to do this. So you just, I think you just put it that she's got something coming up that's going to make this more difficult. And that's not you digging. He might be like, all right, what about $25? Or he might be like, okay, yeah, sure. I'll get on that.

It's 25 bucks. Like maybe he's interested, I don't know, every day, just to do that. It depends on what the time is I mean the good thing for you is yeah I think what Kyle said is correct like that's an easy excuse just hey she's busy man unless she can't do this anymore what's the guy gonna do and it's not like there aren't viable replacements you mentioned there are multiple apps where you could just find somebody to do this you never have to speak to anyone actually want to do this yeah who like so I don't I don't I don't

think there's any issue and you just being like, hey, this can't be a longterm thing even no matter what the price is. Like I don't know what they're charging on like Wag or Rover or whatever for this. Maybe it's way more expensive and he doesn't wanna do that. And maybe he thinks he's taking advantage of, he probably is of the situation,

but hey man, that's his thing to figure out. I think you just say, hey, she's got friends, she's got a life, she's getting older. Like she can't just be your personal cat person. Yeah, I'm looking it up here right now. Yeah, wag is, wag is serious. It's pet sitting prices on wag vary by location, number of pets, the type of pet, for example.

Pet sitting typically cost 50 to 110 per night. So look, this guy, this guy understands tech. Look at his dad. Start pointing out some prices. You can give him the low end because it's not. Yeah, but with dogs, it's a little different. Like, you know, we did it for rabbits and you know, you just got to kind of get. How much is that cost? Yeah, not great. Rabbits should be more, right? Just because it sucks. It sucks. But yeah, I think it was like. Dogs fun. Yeah, like we didn't, you can ask them

to come in and spend time. You can come ask them to just come in and put new food in. And then we just kind of did the bare minimum, you know. You know, with rabbits, it's like taking your two year old to Disney World, they're not gonna remember anyway. So just, yeah, put the water in and you know, whatever. Make sure the window's open.

But. You find the receipt and it shows that your wife is like, will you read Alice in Wonderland to the rabbits? She has an insane laminated instruction thing that she leaves outside so the person can read all the things and it's just like, and this one is a little more nice than that one and this one is a little shy and it's like,

no one get that, they're there to refill the water water bowls come on survive literally just survive but yeah if you're if you're not asking them to spend time with them like there's different kinds of experiences i guess and you know the bottom rung is is you know if it's just open the door feed them lock the door um that's like 30 bucks and then you know you expect a tip like with any of these these things so it'd be like 40 bucks a day and you know we haven't come every other day. Maybe you should come every other day. I mean, do cats really even need somebody every day of the week? I don't think so.

Ten is low. You're getting a host. Your daughter's getting a host. Totally. And you were trying to be nice. It was convenient. Something for the kid to do activity, saving money, learning about responsibilities, all those things.

Triple it, at least. Invest in a deep seek. Just kidding. things. Triple it, at least. Invest in a deep seek. Just kidding. Listen to a lot of New York Times plots lately. Good for you. I like that. Well-rounded. Thanks. Appreciate it. All right. That'll do it for us today. Thanks to Wargon. Thanks to Kyle. And a big welcome back to Saruti. Normal schedule, I guess, this week. We're just going Monday, Wednesday, Friday and then I'm not doing trade with Bill because they're doing a special show in LA.

Okay all right so I'll do my trade recap stuff on Friday which already started obviously with the huge news this weekend and then the Aaron Fox spurs deal late on Sunday night so check out our YouTube page and as always subscribe to Ryan Rosso podcast. Must be 21 and older, present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in DC gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.