Transcript of Hour 2: Keep Your Third Lie Open (feat. Amin Elhassan)

This is the Dan Levatore Show with the Stugats podcast.

We've got an update to get to on the doomsday clock. It should be bigger news than it is. But before we do that, some more important news on Yannis Antetokoumpo. What a bullshit report here by Brian Windhorse, where he says he's leaning 51: 49, 51: 49, that Antetokoumpo will not be traded this week. He says the are in a better position to trade this summer than they are now. The offers will be better. But the leaning 5149, that seems a little bit flimsy. Also, Barry Jackson is saying that the Heats offer, according to a source, is widely expected to include Kalil Ware, Tyler Hero, Terry Rozier's expiring contract, another young player, and more, as well as first-round picks in 2030 and 2032, and possibly first-round pick swaps in '26, '29, and '31. Looking forward to what Amin has to say, whether he thinks that is the best offer that's going to be available for Giannis onto Tukumbo or not. What do you think there before we get to the less important news of the doomsday clock being moved up a few seconds?

Yeah, I think it's a strong offer for sure when you think about what the other teams involved have to offer. I think Golden State, they come in with Kominga and perhaps Jimmy Butler, although we've heard them walk back that part as well. But it really It comes down to, if you're Milwaukee, what do you value? Do you value the picks? Do you value young players who have already been in this league and have shown an ability to play? Do you value the ability to clean up my books some? I heard you guys talk earlier about Miles Turner could usher or shepherd in Kael wear and teach them about the league. If I'm the Bucks, the whole reason I got Miles Turner was to appease Giannis to let them know, Hey, we're doing everything we can. Once Giannis is out the door, why am I paying $100 million for Miles Turner? You got to take him, too. If I'm them, I'm trying to dump salary as a part of this. And so if you can combine salaries enough to help them out clean their books in addition to giving them young players, in addition to giving them pics, I think that's the best package that Milwaukee can hope for.

I thought Jeremy made a good point earlier with the Warriors, apparently walking back the Jimmy Butler contract part. Does that mean if we're reading between the lines that the Buc said, No, we're not interested in that. And Milwaukee, I mean, excuse me, Golden State wants to make sure they don't sour the relationship with Jimmy moving further.

We're in the liar zone right now. People are saying anything, and none of it should we deem it to be true, especially if it's, Well, this team feels this. They are openly lying at all times because they're positioning themselves, they're posturing, and maybe they're trying to CYA on the back end as well. The reality is, again, if I'm Golden State, the strongest offer I can make is not just, here's Jonathan Kamingo. We think he's pretty good, just not for us. The strongest offer is, what's your bad contracts? What salaries are you trying to shed? How can we fix your books? Because this guy right here, he won't play until January or maybe even February of next year at best. But I'll tell you what he's going to be, an expiring contract for $50 million a year from now. That gives you some flexibility and leeway to do some other things down the line.

Going to get to Stugatz's, I'm sorry, a means weekend observation. It's okay. We're all right. Going to get to a means weekend observations in a second. No one noticed. I swear to God. But what did you make of the Paul George suspension?

I'm going to address it a little bit in the weekend observations, but the thing that was most shocking to me, Dan, was they never told us what the substance is. I've never seen that. I've seen guys get suspended for diuretics, for stimulants, for all types of different PEDs. I've never heard the league say, Yeah, he got suspended for something. The only reason we know that it's because it's something he took for mental health purposes, as he claims, is because Paul George was the one that told us. I am very curious as to why the league has deemed that this is one where we're not going to be 100% transparent on what he tested positive for.

What are your thoughts?

My It's like, Yo, it happens. I had this conversation with Henry Abbott years and years ago because I used to say, I don't think basketball players do PEDs. It just doesn't help or whatever. Henry Abbott looked at me and said, I mean, every single sport on the face of the earth has performance-enhancing scandals. You think basketball is just this charmed sport that doesn't? They're above it. But track and field and swimming and football and baseball and rugby, all the other ones do it. But this one sport is the one safe haven for it? It doesn't make sense. From that perspective, yeah, I feel like it has to happen. But for whatever reason, we don't have that many positive tests. But when you have a positive test, it's pretty obvious the guy I asked you a bad question because I'm still reeling from calling the weekend observation, Stugatz.

The way that I meant to ask you that question is, what would be your theory on why the NBA wouldn't tell us what the drug is or what the suspension is for? You say you've never seen that. I've also never seen the excuse of mental health medication.

Well, let me talk about the excuse first. It's, what would it mean to say That's definitely some bur to signaling right there. The idea that, Hey, what's one way I can cop this and no one will point a finger at me? They'll all be very simple. Oh, the poor guy. I'll blame it on mental health. I'll remind you, Paul George was the guy that during the bubble, played awful and said, Yeah, I've been having mental health problems. Then he had a good game. He was like, My mental health problems are done. They're cured. I'm like, That's not how that works. It's not like, Oh, I had a bad day at work. Must be my mental health. Good day at It's all work. Oh, guess what? It's all cured. That's not how it works at all. Whether he does or doesn't is irrelevant. At the end of the day, the thing that everybody on the show said correctly is, it's not like you and me. I went to the doctor and he prescribed me this. What? It's like, no, you don't do that as a professional athlete. There's no doctor that you see outside of the team construct.

Anytime you're about to take any medication that is prescribed to you, it goes through the team, the trainers. Everyone has to check for it, not because of an invasion of privacy, but because of this very situation right here.

Again, though, a theory on why the NBA wouldn't give us details.

I don't know. Okay. I'm like Brian Wendhurst with the 51 49. He gave that answer because he doesn't know. We don't know, but you guys are like, No, you have to know. You got to know. I don't know.

I don't know is a good answer. But when faced with unprecedented things, I generally want theories that people have who are more informed than I am about why it is that you're seeing something. You're a veteran of this league. You're seeing something you haven't seen before.

I don't know. It hasn't even been talked about. That's always a weird thing to me. It's one thing that they didn't say it. It's another one. I read report after report from ESPN, The Athletic. Everybody obviously wrote about it, and no one said, curious enough, they never mentioned what it was. That's the part that's weird to me. It's not that they didn't say it. It's that no one's asking why it wasn't said?

Tony, how much has the doomsday clock been moved by these doomsday scientists?

Yeah, Dan, I'm going to read you a little blurb, and then I'm going to toss to a sound that I thought was very impactful. On January 27, 2026, the doomsday clock was set at 85 seconds to midnight, the closest the clock has ever been to midnight in its history. So according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Science and Security Board, which sets the clock, called for urgent action to limit nuclear arsenals, create international guidelines on the use of AI, and form multilateral agreements to address global biological threats. With all that as the framework, here's the video for them turning the clock to 85 seconds to midnight.

It is now 85 seconds to midnight. This is the closest the world has ever been to midnight. Look at me, Louie.

It's the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life. Look at me, Louie.

Again. Look at me, Louie.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. I have one message for you. It's the bullshit. What? It's the bullshit, Dan, because we're never going to get to zero. We're never going to get to midnight. It's always going to be, We're just there. We're right there. Why? Because the funding will stop if we do.

You think this is a funding concoction? It's the bullshit. Of course, man. What?

Dan, everything is a funding concoction. Have you not realized that?

Put it on the poll at Levatard Show. Thank you, me. Is everything a funding concoction? Have you not realized that? Yes or no, it's America. It's America, Jack. What do you think of Tony's contention earlier in the show that no good movies are being made now?

No, I actually had this conversation, believe it or not, last night. I was talking about I've been watching starting to bone up on the Oscar nomination. I watched one battle after another that everyone kissed it as, It's amazing. Paul Thomas Anderson, he's a genius. I watched it. It's not a bad movie. It's a good movie, but it's not this, Oh, my God, how could... No way. As I said to my friends last I said, Put it up against Pulp Fiction that did not win Best Picture. No, it's not even close. Pulp Fiction is a million times better as a movie, and that's one of our losers. This one is one of the lead contenders to win Best Picture? Come on, man. These movies are okay at best. Although, I will say, Dan, I enjoyed the Glenn Powell Running Man. I was pleasantly surprised. Not bad. Again, not a great movie. What? Not a great movie, but it was all right. It was entertaining.

How you felt about One Battle After Another is exactly how I felt about Sinners. Sinners is a good movie, but I was expecting the Sinners. It was going to change my life when I sat down and watched it.

That's my point. It's a good movie. That's my point, though. My point is there's no movies that we're going to look back in 50 years and be like, Wow, this is the most incredible movie of all time. We don't have that. The Godfather is 55 years old, and we say that's the best movie of all time.

Yeah. No, it's tough. Now, I will say this year, I don't know if it was nominated or not, Mike mentioned Sing Song Blue. That's a great movie, dude, because it went one way, and then it made a a left turn that reminded me of From Dust Till Dawn.

Really? It's like that?

It's not the same content matter, but just the idea of you're watching From Dust Till Dawn, and it's like, Oh, they're doing a heist. They're trying to get across the border. Like, Oh, I know what this movie is about? Okay. Then they end up at the strip club, and all of a sudden, the vampire spoiler had come out and like, Oh, my God, what? I didn't see this coming at all. That's what Singsong Blue was like. You sold me. I'm going to see it now. Oh, you'll love it.

I'm going to see it now.

Wait until Zaz finds out that the twist is that Eddie Vedder's in Get the hell out of here. There's a guy that... I swear to... Hey, I'm Eddie Vetter. There's a guy that plays Eddie Vetter.

I'm going to watch it now because I had no interest in that movie.

There's a guy that plays Eddie Vetter in it poorly.

Before we get to your weekend observations, I want to play for you a couple of different sounds.

Zaz, do you have any opinions on the sound we're about to play of LeBron James saying basically that he did not think about the All-Star Game in any way?

Oh, my God. Yes, Yes, I have opinions about it. Yes.

Did you think that this All-Star streak was in jeopardy?

I'm going to be honest, I really didn't think about it. To be honest, it wasn't a goal of mine to come into the season, miss the first 14 games and say, Okay, I need to be an All-Star. I just wanted to get back to playing the game at a high level I knew I was capable of once I worked the rust off of missing preseason, training camp, my summer workouts, which I've never done in my whole career. I didn't really even... I don't think about the All-Star game, to be Does everything have to be a lie?

Does everything that he gives an opinion on or has asked about have to be just a blatant lie? I mean, over a week ago, two weeks ago, the All-Star starters were announced, and for the first time in his career, he's not going to be an All-Star starter. He's going to say, and he preface it with, Honestly.

Honestly? No, he said three times. Let me hear how many times he said, To be honest or honestly. It reminds me of every time Stugats uses, quite frankly. Did you think the this All-Star street was in jeopardy?

I'm going to be honest, I really didn't think about it, to be honest. It wasn't a goal of mine to come into the season, miss the first 14 game and say, Okay, I need to be an All-Star. I just wanted to get back to playing the game at a high that level, I knew I was capable of once I worked the rust off of missing preseason, training camp, my summer workouts, which I've never done in my whole career. I didn't really even... I don't think about the All-Star game, to be honest.

Does everything have to be a lie?

Well, when you say, To be honest, three times. You really aren't using very good camouflage. What are your thoughts there, Amine?

Can I present a different hypothesis? Maybe he's saying to be Yannis. He's answering it as Yannis Anuncumpo, not as LeBron James.

Third eye.

That's right.

Or I probably go to the observations.

It's a means.

Third lie. Not third eye, third lie. I'm not going to the observations yet. I want to get to this Reggie Miller sound before I get to the observations that are very much means. Let's listen to- Cool. And then yell at everybody when we run out of time. This is the move. Wait a minute. Wait. See, the boy- Don't react to me. No, I have to react to you when you're not being me anymore. It's just you. No, it's just you. No, I am being you. It's you as my inner monolith. No, you got to be even. You stay in character as me if you don't want me to react to it. Don't just- You get mad at the clock. Running out of time, Dan. We're not running out of time. A means observation. We are not. We'll get to him in a second. Give me the of Reggie Miller talking about Kaitlyn Clarke, please.

I know you guys have seen Kaitlyn play. She's a one of ones, but is there a comparison of somebody that you played with that you guys watching the game right now that reminds you of the young lady to your right?

I like Peyton Richard from Boston, the way he's able to handle the basketball. He makes big shots when the shot clock's running down. A lot like this young lady right here isn't afraid of the big moment and is a champion like she's soon to be.

Is he crazy? Is Reggie Miller a crazy person? The NBA has been trying to prop up the WMBA forever. She's the most popular player ever, maybe.

She's insulted by that. Look at her face.

Yeah, hey.

You should watch her. They're the most popular player in the league. It's just like a guy who comes off Boston's bench Change.

Play the video again, but zoom in on just her face and watch the light in her face go from, Oh, all right, they're going to do some... Is it going to be Steph Curry? Or is it Kevin Durant? I wonder who they're going to compare me to? And he says, Peyton Pritchard, and watch her face change. I know you guys have seen play. She's a one of ones. But is there a comparison of somebody that you played with that you guys watch in the game right now that reminds you of the young lady to your right? I like Peyton Pritchard from Boston, the way he's able to handle the basketball. He makes big shots when the shot clock's running down.

Her face is so good there. I think Payton Pritchard is actually starting for them now. I don't think he's coming off the bench.

He's been very good for them, too, by the way.

He's an excellent.

By the way, Carmelo was then asked about it, and he said Luka Donchik. So somewhere in between.

Your thoughts there, Rameen? Any thoughts?

I love it. I just love to see the light disappear from someone's eye as everything they were high for comes crashing down in this moment. And shout out to her. She kept her composure. I don't know if I would. I was like, really? I would have hit him with that. But she kept her composed. She sat there and just took it like a champ.

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Don Lebetard. It doesn't matter anywhere. We could do it in Buffalo or Baltimore, either. He said you could do it where? Anywhere. Oh, that's crazy. That's crazy. That's crazy. He said he could do it anywhere. That's crazy. Murder. Tell him.

Stugatz.

I had no idea if Mena had that in his locker.

That might be his best. I'm not kidding. That's crazy, killer. It's two Americas dead. You don't get This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugats.

It is time for-I mean. To share his game notes. No one in the media will tell you what happened better than my voice. I mean.

Weekend Observations is brought to you by Miller Lite. Legendary moments start with a light or a lie this week. Then there's three types of people in this world: Super Bowl week people and Trade Deadline Week, people. And I'm a Trade Deadline guy. The Cleveland Cavaliers. Good to know that everyone was paying attention. The Cleveland Cavaliers. Complete the blockbuster acquisition. I said three types of people in this world. I named two, but nobody even flinched.

I'm holding three fingers up asking, and Chris Cody's looking at me like, What are you doing there?

I'm trying to lay out. It's his observations.

I'm holding up three fingers. I'm like, Where's the third observation?

I was looking at Payton Pritchard stats. 17 points a game, Sass.

He's He's killing.

That's the best player in the... That's the face of the WMBA.

He's comparing her game. A game.

They're not talking about- It's embarrassing.

Stature. There's 3,000 people in this world. Super-old, weak people, trade-the-line, weak people. I'm a trade-the-line guy.

The third?

Oh, people in the Epstein files. The Cleveland Cavaliers. Complete the blockbuster acquisition of Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroeder for DeAndre Hunter. And Dan Levatard said no big deals would go down. Come on, man. Speaking of big deals, the question on everyone's mind is, where will Yannis end up? Golden State, Atlanta, New York, Miami. My dark horse pick, Harvard Medical School. See him diagnose his own calf injury, 4-6 weeks, a soleus strain. Then I'll be back around late March. That was amazing. Got to see a doctor. Congrats Miami's Norm Powell for being named a first-time All-Star. It has to be extra sweet that it will happen in the building of the team that traded him away. He was on vacation when he got traded. He didn't even know he was coming. Lebron, pretending that this might be his last year without actually committing to it, thus getting him named to the All-Star Game because this might be his last one. Heady play. Jarell Miller got It hit so hard, his hair flew off. Does that come with a warranty? Does he go back and say, Guys, it wasn't good, and they cover it within 30 days, or is it, once you walk out, it's yours?

I love it on the seat.

It's just so good. I'm telling you that there's no funnier way. It flying off and spinning like a frisbee onto someone else's head is the only way it would have been funnier than the way that it happened.

I can understand I understand the shame of being a bald boxer. Oh, my gosh. Think of what everyone would say. They found out he was bald as a boxer. Never seen one of those. Basketball Illuminati. We interviewed TipperNotSports. This is the man who makes the lip reading videos. I don't know if you guys have seen these. Me, Tom Habishow. It's produced by Anthony Mays. Wherever you get podcasts, keep the third eye open. It's a fun episode. Check it out. Miss Connection. You are the Uber driver with the pretty smile who picked us up from the casino. I was the drunk asshole in the back, loudly demanding you take us to the casino. Don't look now. Here come the Clippers. Paul George doesn't deserve a suspension. He deserves a refund. Really? Peds? You missed 17 games. You're shooting 42% from the field. This is with the PEDs. Jesus. Jeremy, hypothesizing that maybe Paul George took a Xanax. Tell me you've never popped a Xanax without telling me you've never popped a Xanax. Dude, Xanax? He'd be sleepwalking out there. He has been.

I didn't say he'd take it for the game.

I once took a quarter tab of Dan X from Michelle Beatle on a flight because she doesn't like to fly. I said, Oh, let me try it. I was in a coma. They had to shake me awake when we landed and say, Look, the plane's almost empty. Imagine taking that and play basketball. Oh, my God. Why do we say get pinched when it comes to getting caught doing PEDs? Get pinched. Why don't we just say he was caught? He's found guilty. We say pinched. Only for PEDs, though. Nothing else. Can you guys take a pinch down?

Can you look that up for us? Well, getting pinched is also something that happens if you're jailed, if you're imprisoned or arrested. But I don't know where the expression comes from.

I use it if I'm not entirely what the punishment was, if there was an appeal process. I just know that someone got their name dragged in the stuff. So you got pinched, right?

Come with me. Death. Taxes. And the Levatard show narrating word for word a clip and then playing the clip. Did it earlier today with Reggie Miller, his comments on the Dan Patrick show. You guys literally said word for word what he'd say. Let's listen to the clip, and then you just played the clip. Pick one. Yep, agreed. Is it just me or does the wait stat you go, In your heads, too? Hot take. The Australian guy who threw that chair. Good teammate. Everyone's laughing at him because he hit his buddy. But guess what? Came to the rescue. And by the way, this angle doesn't show us the look on his face. Yeah, there you go. The faceball. He knew he made a mistake. My bad.

Yeah, he looks like Rick That was on me.

That was off me, Coach. But it's like he was trying to do the right thing, trying to stick up for his buddy.

I mean, did you also see that they're wearing the exact same outfit?

That's what you do sometimes.

Both guys are wearing blue shirts with khaki pants.

In Australia, that's how they do, man. We go to the strip club. What do you want to do? Blue shirt and khie pants. All right, let's go. And you throw right in. And then all the strippers like, Oh, my God! They must be money because they're dressed alike. Because who else would do that? Classy Australian guys. That's who? There it is. Look at this. Tell me that's not a good teammate. They try to stop it. No, my mate needs me.

We have cameras everywhere. The way that guy falls is funny every time. I'm so thankful. Well, but here, just play the two different camera angles because I'm telling you, this is better than the Running Man that had a $110 million budget. This here is better than CGI in terms of having enough cameras from every angle.

Guys, sidestepping it.

It's just so good as video from every angle. That guy walking down the street, looking back over his shoulder while drinking a cup of something. God, Lord.

He looks back the way that dude looked back at Dominic Foxworth. You know the picture I'm talking about where Dominic just got burned and he's on the ground and the guys looking back at him? Yes. Perfect. Cinephope episode 298, Trippen, starring Deon Richmond, Donald Faison, Guy Tori, Anthony Anderson, and Countess Vawn. Fun fact, despite playing high schoolers, most of the cast was in their mid-20s, and Guy Tori was almost 30 when they shot this. Zaz. Yo. Was that the K-Rod Lincoln-Kennedy interaction? Is that true? Yeah. Did you go to the FHM party that night? I did. How was it?

I don't know, man. It was 20 years ago.

Dude, come on, man. It's the FHM party. You remember these things. Maxim, FHM, King magazine. Playboy. You all had parties, man. Yeah. It was cool. Have you ever been to the Playboy Party? Yeah.

Went that week.

How was it?

That was good. I saw Mike Tyson.

Darren Peterson versus AJ DeBança. Preview for the next decade. Congrats to Carlos Alcaraz. Youngest to complete career Grand Slam. Shout out to the guy who tweeted, I never pass on a chance to make $200 in sleep, along with a screenshot of his $2,600 bet on Yannick Sinner to beat Jokowitch. He followed that up with, The only way his center losses, I think he meant loses, is via injury, and it'll void if that happens, so there's no way I can lose. Famous last words. He went straight to bedding hell with that one. Speaking of hell, Art Bryals. And those are the weekend observations.

I noticed something from that Australia video though, I had not noticed before in the breaking down of the assortment of things that we did in that clip. Can you guys take a look at the second bouncer after his mate lands on the floor? I had not noticed how happy the second bouncer was while laughing at the guy who was holding his head in his hands. Look at the second bouncer just taunting him, holding his hand over his mouth and pointing at the guy. He's like, You're an idiot. You, moron, you've knocked out your mate.

I just noticed the first time that he goes before throwing the chair to pick up the stanching thing that's holding the rope. Too heavy. He's like, I'm going to hit you. Oh, too heavy. I'll go get a chair.

Don Levatard. Chris Cody does an impression. Just be careful.

Dangerous game. This is a dangerous game.

I don't want to play this game.

No, he was saying, Man, I could do such a great Kendra's.

I don't want to play this game. He's like, Man, I can talk to you. I just like him. This is who we're going to trust with this.

I mean, you do it. Let's let Amine do it, I think.

I think you could do it, Chris, because you did a great Charles Barkley. You're one for one there.

Did no one just hear the segment we just did with Amine? We cannot be taking- Amine's judgment is not the best. Council from the local drunk on whether or not you should do the impersonation of a black man stumbling over his words. You don't see the bad judgment in that.

There was. Moza Moody, Moody Moody? Moody Moody? Moody Moody?

It sounds worse.

Chris, be careful, man.

We cannot do this. It's too close to the line. This is where the line is. Something legitimately funny can't be funny because we're scared our ginger is going to do something racist by accident.

Carry the hell on, Dan. Rachel.

Dan, the line is where we feel alive, though. This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stukatz.

Amine, I saw last night I was watching Oklahoma City Everybody knocked out Denver, Denver at home. Oklahoma City seems still to be overwhelmingly better than everybody else. But do you think there's a shot of Giannis ending up there? Nobody's talking about that as one of the possibilities.

No. I think Sam Press is someone who's very averse to midseason deals. He's a guy that only does that when he has a guy who is coming up on free agency, and he doesn't want to lose them. That's typically what they do. But in terms of just rearrangeing the deck chairs, not really an MO of Oklahoma City. That's not rearrangeing deck chairs to add Giannis to a team that's the defending champion.

That's not a rearrangement of deck chairs. That is, you have the young pieces that you need, and you have the draft picks to make the best offer, and this player is available. If you want to hit the league in the face with, Yeah, we're than you. Watch this. Yannis isn't going to make him worse, is he?

No, he's not going to make him worse, but he might slow down whatever progress they have for this season. There's a big chance that they're going to win as is. You bring in Yannis, that's a lot of change. That's not someone who just plug and play. You have to change a lot of things in order to make it work. You might be jeopardizing a title this year for the hope that you can win a couple in the future. The other part of this is there's a lot of financial things happening with Oklahoma City I don't know how it's all going to play out because right now it's easy. Everyone's on their rookie deals for the most part, other than Shay and a couple of other guys. But you've got... Isiah Hartstein is going to be coming up on his deal, not this summer, but the following summer. Then obviously, Jalen Williams and home, we're going to both hit max money next year. Oklahoma City's financial situation is going to be really upside down very quickly here. So they've got to figure out, if they do make a Yana's deal, how do they make it so that their salary does not explode and go to a crazy place?

I mean, Star Wars: Episode 5. What was the title of that one? Star Wars: Episode 5.

The Empire Strikes Back.

The Empire Strikes Back. Adam Silver struck back, and I feel like he sent the atomic clock, and he set it to midnight for the Clippers because Kawhi Leonard has been playing incredible basketball, and suspiciously, not an All-Star at the Intuit Dome at home in Los Angeles, maybe feels like the aspiration situation. Adam Silver made a call and said, Hey, look, not happening. Not this one. But that's all he'll get. All he'll get is Kawhi missing the All-Star game. There's going to be no penalty further after that.

Yeah, the fact that the Clippers don't get an All-Star despite playing objectively great basketball here over the last 10, 15 games or so. I mean, everyone thought their season was over. That pick is going to go to Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City is going to get a top three pick. Quietly, as kept over the last 15 games. They're tied for the best record the entire NBA with the Detroit Pistons. They've been winning, and Kua has been playing, and he's been amazing. I saw them last night here in Phoenix, and Phoenix has been playing well and winning as well. But they came in and Kua Leonard put his stamp all over that game. He's incredible. He looks every bit as good as he was in San Antonio and Toronto. For him to be left off, and again, I hate to keep harping on it, but because we think this might be LeBron's last one, that really didn't sit well with me, particularly because over in the East, Pascal Pascal Siakam got in and his teams, they've won 13 games. The Clippers have won almost that many games in the last 20 games. They won 13 all season long, but Pascal Siakum gets named to an all-star game.

But I'll tell you guys this, and this is really the big problem. It's not that LeBron is maybe or maybe not retiring. It's not that, Oh, the Clippers are getting punished. It's at this format where we have USA versus the world. We have now earmarked eight spots for international players and 16 spots for American players. Now we're trying to fill these quotas, and that is what's creating some of these issues. It's like, Hey, we can't have this guy here. Then we'll have too many American players. We need an international player. They're trying to do the math behind the scenes, and the reality is this. If you're complaining about it, guess whose fault it is? It's you, the players. It's your fault. We have to come up with gimmicks because you didn't take it seriously. And so now this is what happens.

In a normal world, Kawhi would be in over Dennyadvia.

Well, I wanted to give- He's been great, though. He's been great this season. He's been great continuously, the entire season. The entire season. I think he deserves to be an All-Star. To me, the guy is LeBron. And not that LeBron hasn't played well. He's played well, but he hasn't played better than Kawhi, and he missed by his own admission, 14 games. I don't think he was actually lying in that clip. I missed 14 games. Why would I be an All-Star? You got those rusty games trying to get back into the swing of things. He's played well recently, but again, as an all-star, look at the body of work through the first half of the season, I think we would all agree that LeBron doesn't have that body of work. But if it's his last one, we're like, Well, we don't want to disrespect him. We want him to be there. But if it's not his last one, we just took a spot from someone probably more deserving.

Zazel, quit looking at boobs on the internet. Amin just said of what you said about LeBron that he wasn't lying. He disagrees with you. You said flatly that he's lying, and Amin just said you were wrong.

I I think he's happy. You're telling me there was not a moment where LeBron's sad circle goes, Man, I wonder if I'm not going to get voted this year. No, not a moment. Not a moment that he thought that. I mean, seriously?

I would say that for the vast majority of the season, he probably assumed, I'm not going to be an All-Star. So he thought about it.

Okay, he thought about it, but didn't think about making the game. You're playing semantics there. You're calling him a liar. You're calling somebody a liar for something that is fairly benign, and you're saying it again and again.

Well, I'm saying it because it's like everything that he says comes off like that, that he's not being truthful, that he's not being honest. It's not an isolated thing.

I think you're doing a thing here, man. I think you're doing the talk radio thing where no matter what he says, he's wrong.

Let's play for a mean, a sound of Jason Kidd that I will not paraphrase exactly what it is that he's talking about here, as I always do.

Coach, you got a lot of national criticism for playing flag at Point Guard.

But for the last two I don't give a shit about the criticism.

Criticism, that's your opinion. You guys write that. I've done this. I played this game. I played it at a very high level, and I know what the I'm doing. But I don't give a fuck what you guys write because you guys have never played the game. And so I've built players, so I know what the I'm doing. So to take criticism, it only makes me better. Because if I wasn't doing right, you guys wouldn't be poking holes in what I've done.

That's it.

He walked off there like, That's it. No more questions.

If I wasn't doing right, meaning if I was doing wrong, you wouldn't be poking holes in what I'm doing?

I stopped there as well, but I think what he's saying is if he wasn't doing his job correctly, he wouldn't have a job where he's making the decisions that get to be criticized.

For the record, I agree with him about how he's used Cooper Flag. I agree with that as a development thing. He's not lying when he says, I built players. He's talking about Yannis. Yannis, as a young player, he put him at point, and people were like, He's not a point guard, but it's like, you know that those skills will later on help him in his career and make him into a better player. I agree with Jason Kidd on all that. Part I don't agree with this. First of all, it sounds like he was saying that the guy was doing the criticism. He was like, Hey, I'm going to ask you about The other places. Why are you talking about me? Hey, you guys, you guys, right. Then the other part is just like, I played this game, you haven't. So tired. It is a lazy thing to fall back on because there are plenty of guys who play the game, don't know what the hell they're talking about. There are plenty of guys who didn't play the game were really, really astute at what they do.

We have a couple of more questions. Jeremy has one, and I wanted to revisit something we asked last week. Who's Dwyane Wade or Yannis Antetokoumpo?

That's a good question. I would say Yannis has the higher peak for sure. He won MVP, and that's something Dwyane Wade can never say he did. Yannis has put together, I think, a longer resume because he hasn't been hurt as often as Wade was. I think when you look at that championship in Milwaukee, we all recognize that's Yannis. That's not just Yannis in those finals. Remember, Remember, he was coming on off a knee injury that we thought he might miss the finals. And by the end of it, he's scoring 42 in a closeout game. Wade had the luxury of playing with Shaq. And even though he was great in the finals, he didn't have to carry that team to the season or even the play-off.

So you're saying that Giannis would be the second best player that he'd have ever had because Shaq, by the end, wasn't quite what Shaq was in his prime?

Shaq, when he got to Miami, was still pretty good. It wasn't It was a long window, but it was 0405, 0506, those two years, he was really good.

Better than Giannis? Are you saying that Giannis is not the second best player the Heat will have ever had behind LeBron James, that Shaq was the second best.

He has an opportunity because Shaq was only great for two years. Giannis has an opportunity to become the second best. But in terms of arrival, he walks in the door today. No. At this At some point, arriving as a Miami Heat player, LeBron James was the best player that he'd ever had. Shaquille O'Neill was second best, and then I'll put Giannis third.

Fifteen seconds or less, Jeremy. Get us out of here.

You run the Bucks. Which offer you take in, Warriors or I think I do the...

Again, counter offers have been-Time's up. Okay.

Mike, you know I have one rule to live by, right?

Don't place parlays on multiple long shots. Don't say a game is one when it hasn't hit triple zero.

Always drink your Jägermeister ice cold. That's the rule. Everything else is merely a suggestion.

Everything else?

Everything else.

Wearing clean underwear every day?

Well, that's just a personal decision.

Brushing your teeth?

Obviously smart, but not a rule.

Never PP on an electric fence.

Okay, maybe there are two rules, but the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Jägermeister must be drank ice cold. Or don't drink it at all. Damn, that's cold. Exactly. You're finally starting to get it.

Drink responsibly. Jägermeister L'Core, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by Mass Jägermeister US, White Plains, New York.