Transcript of Nick Wright Takes Down The Oklahoma City Thunder | Hour 1 New

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This is the Dan Levittor Show with the Stuckaz Podcast.

This episode of The Dan Le Batard Show is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours.

The 2026 NBA playoffs are the most watched playoffs in the last 28 years, according to NBA PR. I don't know what's accurate there. I'm going to assume that with streaming and social media, they can funk up all of the numbers there. But Nick Wright is very excited about the basketball. So who's going to win this series, Nick?

The Knicks, the, the— it's been 9 days since we saw them play, which I think has, you know, quieted a bit of everyone's excitement about them. But the last time we saw them play, they had just finished what was, by a statistic— any statistical metric— the most dominant month of basketball in the history of the NBA playoffs. They They— all they do is blow people out. Mitchell Robinson's right pinky notwithstanding, they are incredibly healthy, they're incredibly rested, and they are one of the few teams that actually gave San Antonio real trouble this year. You add to that that San Antonio made it pretty clear, you know, they won their championship and celebrated as such a few days ago. I think the Knicks win tonight and steal home court, and I think that you— that the 2-month playoff slog for the Spurs of a 5-game series, then a 6-game series, then a 7-game series, and all these additional minutes which are already showing up greatly in Wimby's rebounding numbers if nowhere else, he has— he is wearing down. And I think you saw that at the end of the Conference Finals. And I think the Knicks are going to be the champions, which is interesting because we seamlessly transitioned as a collective in the media from the Thunder are going to be a dynasty to something I've never seen before, which is fretting about the Spurs dynasty.

Typically, we at least wait till they win their first championship before we are preemptively anointing teams as dynasties. This one, we didn't seem to even wait for that.

Nick, that's not fair though, is it, that they already won their championship? Like, the Spurs are allowed to be thrilled with a grueling 7-game series win on the road at the champs, right?

No, they're certainly— they're allowed to do whatever they want, but in my analysis of it, I think that was a cathartic emotional moment, and you saw them react as such. And I think that has a knock-on effect to the Finals. The Knicks, maybe because it was a sweep, maybe because the Cavs flat quit, maybe because they weren't fight— playing it on the road against the defending champs, they were very, very businesslike in their— in the reaction to them winning their conference. And I think that actually has a potential impact. I The comp I would use, I guess, and this is a theoretical one, but if I were a Buffalo Bills fan, I would— I imagine if there is a day, and there likely will be at one point, where the Bills finally beat the Chiefs in the playoffs, that the emotional toll of that would be bad for them in their next game. In that hypothetical, they at least would have a week or two before the next game The Spurs had 90 hours, and so I, you know, we'll see tonight. Now, the last time the Knicks had a massive period of rest, they came out in the first 3.5 quarters of the next game and played terribly.

They ended up— that was Game 1 against the Cavs— they ended up furiously coming back down 22 in the final 8 minutes. If they won't be able to do that against the Spurs if they come out the way they did in Game 1 of the Conference Finals, but I don't think they will.

So Nick, how do you explain San Antonio being a— not a huge betting favorite, but a fairly clear betting favorite?

Yeah, listen, I think that the, the bettors in Vegas— and it is a pretty significant favorite, not, not overwhelming but massive, uh, not overwhelming or massive but significant— I think that the Knicks are just wildly underrated and that Vegas all year long has looked at the Western Conference Finals as the championship. And to be clear, or to be fair, going into the playoffs, I thought the only team that would have a shot against anyone coming out of the West would have been the Celtics, and they lost in round 1. But it denies the reality of what the Knicks have been doing. It denies, in my opinion, the reality of the utter domination of what we've seen for now almost 2 months of basketball from the Knicks. The Knicks are 2 CJ McCollum buzzer— not buzzer beaters, but last seconds-ish shots away from being undefeated this postseason. They have— they went a month by where 10 of the 11 games they won by double digits. 3 consecutive series they imposed their will on their opponent to such a degree that their opponent gave up in the elimination game. They beat the Cavs by 37 in their elimination game, and it lowered their average margin of victory in elimination games this postseason.

It was 51, and then 40, and then 37. And so I just think right now, starter for starter, I think the Knicks have the better starting lineup. I I think the Spurs have the more reliable bench, but I also think it's a lot of youth there. So I, I, I have put my money where my mouth is on this one, and we'll see how it works out. But I, I bet the Knicks to win the title a week and a half ago. Right now I think they're a +170, +160. I have them at +250 because I just liked how they looked against either the banged-up Thunder or a Spurs team that I was at MSG in March where when they gave Wimby absolute fits, they were— there was about a 6-week period of the regular season where the Spurs with Wimby only lost one time and it was to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden when the Knicks basically dominated that game.

Jeremy, can you go out to the whiteboard please and assemble for Nick and for us a list of which team here is more likable more unlikable. I'd like some details, uh, on this as we head into a fairly anticipated, uh, NBA Finals. Uh, can we play the sound of Tim Legler talking about Chet Holmgren? Because one of the things that Amin and others were saying is, well, the Spurs don't have any playoff experience, don't have any playoff experience. You know who did? Chet Holmgren. He's a champion. And what did he do with that playoff experience? He was more scared than I can recall an NBA player ever looking.

And here's Tim Legler talking about that because there is no denying he was shook.

He was rattled. It affected the way he was processing the game, and it completely took away his aggressiveness. He started to look like a guy that was afraid of failure.

Yeah.

And when you start to play that way as a professional athlete, that's exactly what it's going to look like. You don't take chances anymore. You'd rather play it safe and disappear than to try and have it not work out. Drive at Wemby and have him block your shot. Um, try to get there in time to stop Wemby at the rim and you get dunked on again. It's better not to try than to have that happen again. That's exactly what he looked like.

Nick, when was the last time that you can recall seeing a player that America knew was scared while they were playing an NBA basketball game?

Man, that's a great question. I don't— there, there have been moments where obviously Harden has looked, you know, like he was just not there and that the moment was too big. I don't remember a player that— an All-NBA player, an All-Star, a guy on a max contract from the beginning of the series just being so psychologically beaten by his counterparty, who I think in Chet's mind hates him for no reason. Like, I— this was not a war that Chet opted into. And if you're the Thunder, this is a terrifying turn of events because there is— if you bring Chet back there is nothing that can give you confidence that this wouldn't happen again, short of, I guess, him dominating Wimby in a couple regular season matchups. Because this was not— this was not a player who— if you bring Chet back and he comes back next year and actually has a couple pounds of muscle on him and his defense, which is great, is even better and his shooting, which is very good, is even better. You will still— it will all feel meaningless against 28 other teams because he was excellent against 28 other teams all year.

And I do worry the comp that I go to, and this is, you know, for I guess the older people my age or older in the audience, the comp I go to is Is this series— could it be for Chet versus Wimby? Nick Anderson at the free throw line. Nick Anderson missed 4 free throws in a row to win Game 1 of the '95 Finals for the Orlando Magic, and the rest of his career was a bad free throw shooter. It was purely, unequivocally mental. He never got over that moment. And if I were a team in the East, Chet Holmgren is potentially hyper valuable to me because it's like, well, even if Wimby just owns him, we'd have to get to the Finals in the same year they get to the Finals, roll the dice with that. But any team in the West, I think Chet's value has plummeted because you do worry that— I mean, People said all, all week he didn't take any shots in the second half of Game 7. That's accurate but misleading. Chet took 2 of the first 3 shots of the game. He made their first basket. He took 0 shots in the final 45 minutes of that game.

I've never seen anything like it.

Tim McMahon says the idea it's time to pull the plug on Chet Holmgren in OKC, I can promise you this, Sam Presti will not be taking that advice. You don't believe Chet Holmgren will be with OKC? You believe OKC.

What do you believe about OKC?

I think that our bowing at the altar of regular season metrics has made us dumber than we should be. And that applies to how we evaluate their superstar player, who is a superstar and was awesome in Game 7. And all these folks being like, oh, you guys complained about him all series, but you want to give him credit for Game 7. Well, yeah. 'Cause all series he was missing shots and falling on the ground, and in Game 7 he made shots and stayed upright. There would have been no complaints about Shea had he played the way he played in Game 7 throughout the rest of the series. But set that as— that's not even my point. I think that Oklahoma City is an absolute— the way they are built is perfect to be a regular season juggernaut. Absolute juggernaut, and I think there's data to back this up, and to be a good but not great postseason team. Why would that be? Well, what are their biggest strengths? They have 12 capable NBA players, all of whom are either dogged defenders, great defenders, or at least very capable defenders. Okay, in the regular season, that is a massive asset.

You are sometimes playing 12 guys. Your bench unit will play— plays big minutes and will dominate the other team's bench unit. And if you are a defense, defense team, you are more likely over the long course of a regular season to have teams just be like, you know what, this is a pain in the ass. We got another game in a couple of days. We'll get them.

It's a weird thing to say, though, Nick, given that they're the actual defending champions.

The last time—

it's not that weird at all. But it's not that weird at all. But they won.

Nick, they're not just a defending champion. They didn't have their second and third best player and lost in a Game 7 at home to the, to the, to the best.

What do you mean they didn't have their second and third best player?

Ball handlers. Sorry, ball handlers.

Like, no, okay, well, that's the other thing. I thought you were saying Chet wasn't there. No, I wasn't trying to— yeah, but yeah, I thought the— I mean, Chet kind of wasn't there.

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Summer always hits different once the big game starts stacking up. Now you've got finals games on every other night, baseball's rolling all week, racing on the weekends, and suddenly everybody's looking for an excuse to get together. The other night, a buddy texted me, we've got the game on, come through. I figured I'd stop by for maybe an hour. That was optimistic. Next thing you know, everybody's locked into the game and we're all part of the coaching staff. Somebody's yelling at the ref, somebody else is suddenly an expert on pitch strategy, and nobody's even pretending they're leaving early anymore. It's one of those nights where you take a sip of Miller Lite, look around, and realize, yeah, this is exactly what summer is supposed to be. That's why Miller Lite is always part of these nights for me. It's clean, refreshing, Easy to drink when it's hot outside and perfect for long nights hanging with friends, watching games. An all-American summer starts with an all-American beer. Miller Lite. Go to MillerLite.com/Dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly.

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Don Libertard!

The elephant went into a 7-Eleven and bought a pack of cigarettes. But my question to Ron is this, Stugatz, that joke didn't really land the way you wanted it to, did it?

We all just stared at it all.

This is the Don Levitar Show with the Stugatz.

So, okay, let me give the evidence for it and then I'll respond to that rebuttal. By the way, they didn't have Jalen Williams all year and it didn't matter. This— and AJ Mitchell, makes the same amount of money as Bronny. The idea that AJ Mitchell is now all of a sudden— he's a good player, but that, oh, how are you going to win without AJ Mitchell? They didn't— that he was their third— they— okay, but I— let me, let me make my actual point with the evidence of it. 3 years ago, or 2 years ago, pardon me, this team was the number 1 seed, a regular season juggernaut, and in round 2 got clocked by a made-on-the-fly at the trade deadline Dallas Mavericks team that aside from Kyrie Irving also had very little playoff experience and no championship experience and had a rookie starting center. 2 years ago they played well below their seed. Last year they were a— what was it— 68-win absolute juggernaut. And they went to Game 7 in Round 2 and Game 7 down at halftime in the NBA Finals. This year they were a 64-win, 65-win regular season juggernaut and they lost in the Conference Finals.

They— and if we want to play the 'yeah, but they didn't have J-Dub' game, that's fine. Give them this championship and take away last year's when in Game 7 against the Nuggets Aaron Gordon's walking around on one hamstring and Tyrese Halliburton's out for the game. So I think the— if we want to say injuries cost them this year, then you got to play the game of did injuries give it to them last year. They are an excellent team, but they are— the historical comps that we were getting were Jordan's Bulls, just like the regular season historical comps we were getting for Shay was Michael Jordan. And the reason I know that's wrong is because every single person who was presenting those comps would do it apologetically. They would be like, listen, I'm not saying Shay is Michael Jordan, but here's the numbers. I'm not saying this Thunder team is the greatest team of all time, but here's the numbers. And my point is They, just like some teams, we see it all the time in reverse and nobody has a hard time accepting it. That the Shaq-Kobe Lakers near the end, or the 2018 Warriors the second year with Durant, or the 20— what year would that have been?

2017 Cleveland Cavaliers, that the teams that are in third gear in the regular season and have an extra playoff gear Everyone accepts that that's a thing in the NBA. What I'm saying is I think the Thunder might be a bit of the inverse of that, that their regular season makes them appear to be a historically great team, and in the playoffs they are a very, very good team. They were being comped to the greatest teams ever, and Shea was being comped to the greatest, greatest players ever. And what I'm saying is they have a hell of a lot more in common with the champion 2021 Milwaukee Bucks or the champion 2023 Denver Nuggets, teams that have one all-time great top 25 player but not inner inner circle Hall of Famer, like all-time legend I should say, not top 10, not top 8 all-time guy, no other superstars on the roster but a nice supporting cast that won a championship, and that's awesome. Yeah, but I—

it's a good argument.

No, no, it's a good— it is a good argument you're formulating, but they're like one ball handler away from being the defending champs, like twice the back-to-back champions.

They— in a Game 7— I know that that's not what happened in Game 7, but they got—

they got— they got there. This is— this is where You and I will just disagree on some of this stuff. You're focused on the fact that Game 7 was somewhat close late. You know the other thing an all-time great team might do? Not get the shit kicked out of them in Game 6.

Oh no, but that was not true. No, but there would have been no close games in these playoffs. All the games are like this. Like, whoever wins is going to win by a lot.

Because there are no all-time great teams! You are correct, Dan.

They ran into Wemby! Nick, they ran into a guy that we all know plays basketball. Ball differently than anyone we've ever seen.

Wimby was not special in Game 7.

He was in Game 1. He was in Game 1, the other— the only close game in the series, he was in Game 1.

He was unbelievable. And an all-time great team would overcome that. They are a really good team, but I don't think they are some— I don't think all of a sudden the Thunder, it's like, all right, this is a blip, and now— no, because They, the, they are the— we are in the second apron world. We are in the— oh, Clay Bennett has a history of not wanting to pay a super high tax bill. Hartenstein's got a team option. Dort's got a team option. I think Chet, I personally, if I were them, would rattle the cage on if Chet is the centerpiece of a Giannis trade, what does that do? I just— we— how many years in a row Are we going to say the team that just won is just gonna keep winning and then they don't even make it back to the Finals before we recognize what— whether you want to say it's what LeBron did for a decade or what Steph and the Warriors did for half a decade— the reason those things happened was because LeBron at that point, Steph at that point and the teams around them are simply drastically better than any of these teams we're seeing right now.

Now, Wimby might enter that pantheon, but what is so mystifying to me is not only are peo— no one learning seemingly from the mistakes of, oh, who's gonna stop the Nuggets, who's gonna stop the Bucks, obviously the Celtics are just gonna keep winning, they've hacked basketball. I don't know how many times I heard on this show and others, "Ah, the Celtics and math, the Celtics and math, grab out your TI-82s, they can't be beaten." And then it's like, no, actually, the flip side of the math is they blow more 20-point leads than any team in playoff history. But it's neither here nor there. And now we're not even waiting to do it with the Spurs. They haven't even— they have won nothing, and we're like, well, I mean, maybe try to compete in 2032 because it's, it's just over now. And I don't even think they're gonna win this championship. So I— and I'd be— and it is critical for the Spurs, oddly, they do win this championship because again, folks that care at all about the what's happened in the history of this league saw Hakeem Olajuwon in his second year with the Rockets shocked The Los Angeles Lakers in the Conference Finals and make the NBA Finals.

Of course they're gonna be there every year. Doesn't make it back for 8 years and in the middle has a trade demand. 22-year-old LeBron James shocked the Detroit Pistons in the Conference Finals, makes the Finals. Well, of course they're gonna be there for the next decade. He didn't make it back to the Finals with Cleveland until he left Cleveland. We have seen guys make— like Giannis was— what was Giannis, 24? Was Giannis 25 when they won? Well, of course they're gonna be back. They haven't been close. Joker, well, of course they're going to be back. They have not been close. Every single time you can win a championship might be the last time that group of guys can win a championship. I get it. It's all going to be different this time. This time it's different.

Just the—

this time with the Spurs, it's the distinction I'm simply making with you, and I'll get off this in a second, is that you're saying that Denver and Milwaukee never got close again. And I'm saying OKC just got close again.

They just ran into winning the championship.

Nick.

No, they didn't. Nick.

They didn't.

Nick. They're, they're going to finish the— I mean, what? Denver and Milwaukee both got to Game 7s of round 2. And you're saying that's not close? But games—

you're saying it's not close? You're saying it's not close?

No, I, I thought you were agreeing with me on that. True. Yeah, I just, you know what I think is, I hear, I listen, I'm, I'm a Neanderthal. I'm a weird guy, I guess. I don't think any team that didn't play for the championship was close to winning the championship. I think in order to be close to winning the championship, you have to play for it. I guess I'm an idiot. I'm just a dumb guy.

Okay. No, just game close. Were the—

how close was Lamelo this year? Okay. Playing game away.

Yeah, it's totally the same thing.

A play-in game away.

You're absolutely right.

You got me. I put my sword down. It's the same thing. No, no, you're right. You're right.

No, I just—

I just— Lamelo and Wemby, same thing.

We want to take it.

Yeah.

No, I just— how far do we want to take it?

It's Game 7 of— they were about to play for the championship in the fourth quarter and Hardenstein and it got decided by Hardenstein and Cornette at the rim.

No, it didn't. No, it didn't. It was, it was, it was a 6-point game.

Let's go out to the whiteboard now.

We got to get Nick out of here. He's the host of FS1's First Things First. What's Right with Nick Wright is the name of the podcast.

Game 1 of the NBA Finals starts tonight.

Uh, Jeremy, go ahead and include Nick on your conversation.

Who is more likable, the Knicks or the Spurs?

We're trying to figure that out right now, and I will be taking suggestions from everyone here. What I have so far, just the basics. What makes the Knicks likable? You got Jalen Brunson, you got no finals.

Can you write smaller, please?

Can you write even smaller, please?

For TV, you did great there. Good job, Jeremy. We can all— you— why'd you even write it, bro? You could have just said it. If it's not gonna be legible. Um, so this is a disaster, so can I just answer this? The Knicks are the more likable team by far. There's nothing not to like about the Knicks right now.

What do you agree with on that list there, Nick?

What? What? I mean, I'm— I— so hold on, let me get closer. Let me see.

Fly to Miami so you can see it.

Uh, I mean, I don't know. The Knicks, the Knicks' best player didn't cold cock an opponent and then skip out on media after the worst game.

Is that on the list, Jeremy?

He says, he said, one too much since '99.

I mean, I, this is, I can't read anything. Uh, we'll come back to Jeremy in a second.

He was setting that up for 30 minutes.

Come back to Jeremy in a second. See if we can find a magnifying glass. See, that would work.

Hey, Jeremy, guess what? We know what you're writing now. You know why? Because it's not in size 10 Arial font.

Uh, let's play for Nick Wright, Amin's assessment of, uh, we came so gloriously close to Nick Wright at the Sports ESPYs having to hand Pablo Torre some sort of Emmy, uh, and it didn't happen. And there have been some accusations allegations that you went rogue and didn't read what was on the card and just took Pablo's name off.

Yeah, go find that out.

Let's, let's hear from Amin though on what he thought.

And this is going to be insulting to Nick because, uh, his, his wife is his stylist and she's very good at it.

But here is— oh, I fucking dare him.

Uh, well, unfortunately he's been dared and here he goes.

Top 5 things Nick Wright looks like. You'll love this, Dad.

Willy Wonka. He looks like he's in Hamilton.

Oli, he looks like Willy Wonka, the harder years.

This is an amazing picture of Nick Wright. How have I not seen this?

Number 5, because you don't follow me on Twitter or Instagram or anything else. Number 5, he looks like one of those AI reimaginings of a live-action Grimace. That's Grimace from McDonald's, if you don't know.

As opposed to Grimace the Attorney.

Yeah. Number 4, he looks like he's got an interview with the vampire in Detroit. Number 3, he looks like a failed magician hired for a company retreat in Reno. Number 2, he looks like the same failed magician in Reno has another gig across town as a Prince impersonator. And the number 1 thing Nick Wright looks look like on the Sports Emmys night in his outfit is he looks like he's threatening to blow up Gotham if The Batman does not reveal his true identity.

I mean, I'm sorry, I did not know you were there, so I will ask these questions honestly.

Were you with Pablo?

Did we come— did Metal Ark Media come inches from Nick Wright having to hand Pablo a Sports Emmy?

Dan, you know me, I have a podcast called Basketball Illuminati where we keep our third eye open. There is a very strong conspiracy theory that we had a La La Land Moonlight situation where Nick Wright just read somebody else's name out of spite so that we wouldn't win.

Wow, that can't be a real conspiracy.

Why not? That would be great work from the Joker.

Uh, not a single smile or even a smirk. There wasn't a muscle that moved on Nick Wright's face during any of that.

No, I don't— I'm not, you know, This, this would be listening to Amin and you give fashion tips to me. It would be like you listening to someone, uh, you know, someone who's 50 years sober tell you what's the best tequila. Not interested in either of your guys' opinions on it. And I'm surprised Amin— I'm glad you guys showed Amin the picture because I did see him in person, but the eyes were so glassy in cocktail hour, I didn't know if he knew what color I was wearing. I will say this, um, I was prepared and I assumed I would be handing Pablo— or what's that, what's Skullduggery? Matt Sullivan, the guy who does all the work. I thought I'd probably give him the actual Emmy, but regardless, um, I don't know that, uh, because I saw the group photo after, that was a small— that's a small theater. Fuck, you know, First Things First, which was nominated, we had 5 tickets total. Metal Ark brought 30 folks to watch. I guess they did see history of the first time ever a show has been double nominated in the same category, and yet shockingly, the prestige journalism actually won.

Who could have seen that one? You mean E60? Wait till next year. Wait till the Emmys get a hold of the O's episode. Oh man, could be triple nominated. Good to see you guys. That suit, by the way, I got married in, so you all can go to hell.

See you later, Nick. Nice to see you as always, sir.

Don Lebatard.

I want to address Tony and all men who would wear that shirt in public.

Stugatz.

Don't do it.

This is the Don Lebatard Show with the Stugatz.

Sid Rosenberg liked the suit.

Yeah, I was going to— I have said—

so did Crown Royal.

I have Sid Rosenberg up in queue so that you guys can see. I was going to play it for Nick, but he wanted his dismount. He wanted to get out of here the way that he wanted to get out of here. But I was left reeling by the realization that this is the color that Sid Rosenberg was going for. I do believe that Mike Ryan has this correct when he says that that Sid Rosenberg is trying to get to maximum tan, and that's the reason that he is the color that he is here. Can you guys put that on the screen for me so that we can see the shade of purple that Sid Rosenberg is?

I, I—

That is ridiculous.

Well, but Chris, we put up an assortment of pictures next to Sid Rosenberg yesterday of Hellboy, of Grimace, None of them were as purple as Sid Rosenberg.

People who were wearing costumes, people who were wearing makeup and were painting their skin, people who are famously purple and characters that are famously purple, none of them as purple as Sid Rosenberg. That can't be natural, correct? That has to be—

Why do you think?

Somewhere that he was incubating and he fell asleep in a hermetically sealed tube that has just a bunch of ultraviolet rays that are meant to make him the color violet, correct? Like, that's—

if I was that shade, I would not leave the house, let alone go on TV. Seriously, he looks so unhealthy and so ridiculous, I, I still can't believe it's real.

Now we're too close.

One of the things that was funny about Nick Wright not taking, uh, style advice from, uh, me and Ameen—

how about Sid Rosenberg taking health advice from somebody who came to the microphone after coughing for the last 10 seconds before it is that we went to him? At least I'm not purple. Well, you were while you were coughing though. You were having trouble breathing. You don't know what color you turn when you start laughing and coughing.

Yeah, I know.

And this is, honest to God, I don't know that we have a lot around here or on the Greg Cody Show featuring Greg Cody that is funnier than some form of Greg Cody starts laughing and I see in his son's eyes, sometimes he just speaks it, here come the coughs. There's a cadence to it when he starts laughing, particularly at something that he's done. It's, it's you. It's not something— it's not usually something we've done. It's something that is a reference to him. He will start laughing so much that he coughs. Don't get so far away from the microphone. You're further than you've ever been.

I'm back on roids, so my coughing should be taken care of in the next week or so. Fabulous. What can I tell you?

Is Jeremy okay?

He said he fixed it. I think he's ready for another update.

Staging himself.

All right, because Jeremy took a beating in that last segment. The writing was way too small.

I don't know why he decided to write it that small. None of us could see anything that was on the board. He was there for a half hour.

Hey, that's not a nice thing to say about him.

Fixed it.

Come on. Oh, for the love of God. Now it's even smaller.

All right, Jeremy, go ahead and take us through what it is that, uh, that people are feeling about the Spurs.

So as is obvious, as you can see clearly right here, what makes the Knicks likable is Jalen Brunson and the fact that they haven't won since 1999. Now, on the unlikable category, it's Knicks fans themselves, the fact that they're the Knicks, and that Dan likes them too much. So as is made really clear, right, because they're like— no, you like them too much because you're a Knicks fan. Then the Spurs, we can make it abundantly clear right here, um, as you can see right here in parentheses, I think Wemby is likable, right? But over here, Tony thinks Wemby is unlikable. And then, um, they beat Oklahoma City and they've won too much since 1999. So guys, I'm willing to take other options. It's why I left a little bit of room on the board so that we could add a few more here. I was a little bit concerned, um, that this would be a bit too big. Um, but as they say, it's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean.

Do they say that?

You've left so much board.

So many board.

I'm good at this. I've won Emmys. Just sayin'.

Yeah, thank you for that.

I believe—

the color of this jacket—

that it is rare—

let me just interrupt you real quick. You guys all are claiming, you know, you're Pulitzer or whatever. Win an award yourself. That's all I'm saying. I'll see you guys later. Wow.

Woo!

He's won Emmys.

Shots fired. Wow.

The question of which team is more likable, I don't have a lot of what I'm about to say to you in terms of seeing what we're going to see tonight, which is the team that is obviously more likable to me, obvious without a question, is not the team that America is rooting for. I believe San Antonio, because of the star, because of our love of the star, because he's a novelty, because he's a freak, because he's, uh, kind of representing everything the NBA would want represented, cares deeply, uh, is, is sort of impeccable with his public postures, uh, represents spectacularly well whether you're selling basketballs or sneakers or the sport of basketball. I believe that New York is the owner of the most lovable team that franchise has ever had of any kind, and yet they're not as lovable as the other guys in the eyes of America.

So they get to have the double— the combination that all fans want, which is, I really love these guys and their grittiness, and nobody believes in us. Like, they've got, they've got that, which it makes it, it makes it already to me the most special Knicks team that there's been since the one that won the title in 1973. And I just think America's on the other side of this where they don't agree with what I just said.

Oh, you think so? You think most of the country, not talking from a gambling perspective, you think most of the country is rooting for San Antonio?

I think most of the country may be rooting for New York.

I think people are getting swept up. It's the big city, it's flashy. You got the celebrities. They haven't won in forever. I think most of the country might be rooting for New York.

How can you not root for the franchise that hasn't won anything in more than half a century?

Everybody can relate.

This is the new and unimproved Don Levitan Show with the Stugatz. Gamble on by DraftKings.