Transcript of The Love Doctor Is IN | Hour 1 New

This is the Dan Levitard Show with the Stugatz Podcast. This episode of the Dan Levitard Show is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours.

Oh, he's the host of FS1's First Things First, also What's Right with Nick Wright, the podcast. He joins us. Hello, Nick, how are you? Good to see you.

What up, everybody? How's it going? Zazz, Damashek, I'm not sure who else is there. I'm only seeing one camera right now, but go Well, I mean, I see that.

Oh, we got Tony. Say hello to Tony. Go ahead, say hello to Tony.

Pulitzer Prize winner.

What up, Tony?

What up, man?

Where's the Pulitzer Prize winner? Oh, oh, Amin.

What up, man?

How are you? Congratulations.

Thank you. It's pronounced Pulitzer.

We got Roy here. Say hello to Roy, Nick.

I don't need to say hello to the whole room.

Oh, all right.

I mean, I like—

not good enough.

It's weird that we stopped with Roy, but anyway, uh, last night, Nick—

why is it weird we stopped with Roy? Go ahead.

There's only one more.

Why did you tell me?

I thought you were an owl.

I didn't say hi to Mike either.

Yeah, I had to remind you to say hello to me. It's just a bad look. What's wrong?

Mispronounced Pulitzer?

Good.

I—

Jesus Christ, I'm delighted to be here. Also, by the way, I— you know, let's just lean all the way into it. I had no idea Dan was not going to be here today.

Uh, what does that change?

Let's see how this goes.

Okay, so that seems like a note for our guest bookers that he just gave over the air.

Yeah, great start.

All right.

All right, Nick, is Luka coming back? Does LeBron need Luka? Does Luka need to come back? Because fans seem a little frustrated at this point.

Listen, he had a tough— I think we all maybe overestimated the impact of Spanish medicine, as it turns out. You know, the— as we approach America 250, maybe a rare moment in 2026 of patriotism because Anthony Edwards stayed domestic. He's back in 6 days. Austin Reeves, who doesn't appear to have a 1% of muscle definition anywhere on his body, he stayed domestic, he's back early. Luka, he goes overseas, he seems to be behind schedule. So I don't know, but since you started there, Mike Ryan, I do have a question for you. Did you happen to catch an interview Mike Breen did recently and what he said about LeBron James and his longevity?

What'd he say?

Did you—

did he say that he's gonna be an All-Star at age 50?

Well, he said he would— could play at 50. He is. So Mike Breen, the voice of the NBA, he goes to the Finals every year. He was not asked whether it'd be an All-Star or not, but he said— Mike Breen, unbiased journalist Mike Breen said LeBron could play another 8 to 9 years. Well, he's 41. 8 to 9 would put him at 50. I'm simply saying, because the odds are LeBron won't play until 50, to settle who was right on our wager— would LeBron be an All-Star at age 50 or not— we're just gonna need to kind of, you know, context clues. And I would say that's another one in my favor.

Are they going to win any games this round?

Maybe one, maybe one. And then listen, I'm sure Zazz and, you know, folks of your ilk will move the goalposts this round the way you did last round, where it went from the Lakers have no shot, they're going to get swept, and then in a few days it was actually change of heart, uh, the Rockets are awful, I just wasn't paying attention all year, no one would get swept by this team, and this means nothing. And then 2 days later, you know what? Third change of heart. The Rockets no longer awful. In fact, the Rockets might have a chance to be the first team ever to come back from 3-0 down. And if LeBron does that, holy shit, what does that mean for his legacy? And then 2 days later, after the Game 6 masterclass, no, no, no, the Rockets are awful again. It's all Kevin Durant's fault. So right now we're at the spot of the series of the Lakers are probably gonna get swept. And are, you know, deserve to be swept probably given the talent disparities. But if they get one single solitary win, the conversation will go to, ooh, Oklahoma City overrated?

Because that's kind of what folks need to do as we see a 41-year-old being the story of the NBA playoffs.

Nick, how surprised were you that LeBron after the game when asked like, hey, how can you guys fix your offensive issues He immediately just said, well, we're missing Luka, as opposed to kind of the usual playoff speak we hear. Well, it's next man up and we just got to be better, whatever. He immediately went to, well, we're missing a 35-point-per-game scorer, so that's it.

I mean, I didn't— I mean, I think that's— isn't that correct?

It's correct, but I, I've never thought I'd hear LeBron speak in that way because that, that feels a little nihilistic, to be honest with you.

Oh, I mean, I don't— I mean, it didn't— LeBron at this stage of his career has usually been pretty honest about where his team is. That— do you— was it, was it this year? I mean, it was either— I think it was this year after a game. It might have been last year after a game against the Celtics. One of the last two years. Sorry, I don't need to get bogged down in the details. The Lakers got clocked by the defending champ. So it was either this year against the Thunder or last year against the Celtics. And he was asked about— and he was like, well, they're a championship team and we're not. Like, flatly, like, they're a championship-level team and we're not. I don't— and he is correct that the only, you know, real fix would be get— getting Luka back. With that said, I If I'm the Lakers and they don't— I mean, they are going to need 15 things to go perfect to win this series, but one of them is, and maybe one of the hardest to accomplish, is doing what they did last night to SGA multiple times. I mean, the fact that he—

the—

I thought the SGA thing was really interesting, and listen, The guy's about to be a 2-time MVP. He is already one of the 35 greatest players ever. He's a champion. He also can be maddening to watch. And I do think that it is noteworthy that in the first quarter, on 3 separate occasions, he tried to do his, you know, just utter nonsense of I have no hope of even getting a— making a basket here. I just have a hope to flail and get to the line. The refs didn't give it to him, and it led to the fewest points he has scored in a calendar year. Like, and it led to him turning the ball over. I do think part of what makes SGA so special and so unstoppable is he sets the tone with defenders early of You better not even get close to me or I will end up at the line. They then adjust how they feel they can guard him, and then he scores 30 points. Last night, the refs weren't going to be tricked by it early. They did get tricked by it once or twice, but it threw him off his game a bit.

That has to happen. Bron has to do what he did last night, which is everything offensively with efficiency, which is going to be hard every other day. And then obviously they need Austin Reeves to play better. But Reeves is, you know, right back off an injury. He's going to be up and down a bit. They need all of that to get one game, much less to get four. They're probably going to lose the series. I mean, there's a reason that the Thunder were -3,000 for the series.

Nick, what did you make of Jaylen Brown's postmortem, especially the next day when he was on the stream and what he was saying about Embiid, about him, you know, wanted to be the— go ahead. Yep.

No, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I, I thought the Embiid stuff was the least objectionable of it all.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I thought the— no, I mean, you say right. A lot of people, that's what they focused on.

I know the Embiid stuff was certainly accurate. Yes. No, I agree with you.

That's the thing, that it's a little sore loser-y, but it is accurate and fine. Like, guys talk trash to each other a bit— they talk trash, however you want to put it, you know, point those things out with each other. That's one thing. Um, the other stuff was bananas, and I really do think it was. So here is where I've landed on this, because Jaylen Brown is such a unique personality in the NBA because he is so incredibly thoughtful, so obviously bright. It does, you know, does really important good work outside of basketball. And so it doesn't seem like he would do anything impulsively. And so him saying with those fellas— that's his crew— with the glasses— I don't know if that's his crew, man. I can't believe one of those guys is Twitter guy. No, one of them, because one of them is a guy from Celtics Twitter who tweeted about it and was like, it was such a thrill to be there and share. So like, I don't— whatever, I don't know. Um, but him saying this was basically my favorite season of my career, because he's such a smart, thoughtful guy, to me he knows how that is going to be perceived.

Like, wait a minute, The year where your wingman was out recovering from a torn Achilles and you guys not only didn't win a championship, but for the just the second time in your whole career got popped in round 1 and you did it in mortifying 3-1, uh, collapse fashion. That was the favorite year of your career? To me, if he were a dope, you'd be like, ah, he doesn't know what he's doing. Because he's such a smart guy, isn't that him signaling to the team, I'd like my own team? And so I don't, you know, do you consider it that this has maybe been an awesome 10 years, but if you end up deciding that, hey, Atlanta wants me, you want Giannis, and Milwaukee wants their pick back from Atlanta and some other stuff, I'm time amenable to that. And by the way, that could be a win-win-win trade. I think Jalen Brown with Jalen Johnson and that Atlanta team is interesting. Atlanta's got the right contracts and the right draft picks to send to Milwaukee, and Giannis could maybe help stymie Boston and Missoula's fetishes. How do I say it? I mean, fetishization. How do I say it?

Thank you, I mean, well, why do you ask?

I mean, is that because he's a Pulitzer— like, he's the only one who would know?

I mean, of— I mean, if I have to go to Amin or you for pronunciation, I'm going to Amin. I would have maybe gone to Damashek, but I don't know if Damashek is even talking to me. Did that make Damashek mad because I made fun of the Steelers yesterday? I don't know what's going on.

Oh, listen, I'm more than happy to jump in on making fun of the Steelers right now too. I don't know if you heard, they're waiting on a 43-year-old man. No, I know.

Can we just finish? Let me finish my Missoula thought. And if we could talk about that, the— if— and getting Giannis could help stymie Joe Missoula's— now say the word for me, I mean, because I can't say it— fetishization of the 3-point shot.

I could have done that.

Good teamwork, Nick.

Before I let you do it—

no, you do it.

Fetishization.

Almost nailed it.

The other night I was staying in. At least that was a plan. Then the text from my buddy Eagle Eye comes in. Mike, we've got the games on. I say, yeah. I grab a pack of Miller Lite and immediately my plan's gone. Now it's playoff basketball. Every possession feels huge. Baseball's on another screen and I, I somehow care about that too. Everybody's got takes flying. Nobody's watching just one thing and we're all way more into it than we ever expected. It was one of those nights that you take a sip, you look around and you think, yeah, This was the right move. That's why I reach for Miller Lite. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, brewed for taste with simple ingredients. Just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs. The original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories. 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. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

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Da Libertad! Is there Back in My Day?

There is, actually.

What?

Were you not going to tell anyone?

It's Tuesday!

Wait a minute.

You guys—

guys, it's a Tuesday. Stugatz!

Here's your guy, Greg Cody, with Back in My Day.

Shit, I hope I heard it. Okay, here it is. Sorry.

Adultery! That a—

oh yeah, wait a minute, that is—

waiting for this one.

This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stugatz. Nick, before we let you talk about the Steelers, you're in luck because we have the love doctor. The love doctor is here. He is ready. He is in his office right now. Dr. Greg Cody getting everybody ready for Mother's Day this weekend. And we have questions. The love doctor is going to have the answers. Who's up first?

I know a lot of people are going to come to you and they're going to want to know, how do you keep it interesting? Me, I'm not interested in interesting. So how do you keep it predictable? How do you keep it ho-hum? How do you just let it just be?

Was that Jason Tatum asking that question?

Young lady, you are my kind of gal. That's my lane. That's my lane of romance. I invented predictable. Nobody has perfected the art of dull routine like yours truly. As a matter of fact, a little inside information here, my wife and I schedule our naughty time months in advance. Like doctor's appointments. Quite often she'll have to cancel because she said something came up. Unfortunately, sometimes I'll have to cancel because something didn't come up. That kind of thing. It's been good for us.

Do we have another question for the love doctor here after such great advice with Chris?

With Chris Listo?

We're doing it, baby.

What are you guys doing, man? Oh, you want question number 2?

Yeah, let's go question number 2. Oh yeah, great.

Hey man, I need your help, man.

I'm out of town for Mother's Day, trying to figure out what can I get my girl for Mother's Day in another city.

Oh wow, buddy, I'm worried about this. Uh, not one but two of the Love Doctors' marriages began rending like cheap fabric when Greg was either out of town at a sporting event were away at a doctoral conference and the exes were doing the clandestine bumpy bump behind my back. Jack, I suggest you get your girl what she'd never expect— a private eye to keep an eye on her randy ass.

You know about that randy ass, Nick?

I don't like this at all.

Thank you, love doctor. Don't go anywhere, we may go back to you. Appreciate you.

I don't like this at all.

Somehow the least embarrassing Cody on today's show.

Wait till Nick finds out that Chris, with Greg sitting nearby, admitted about half an hour ago that when he's having a hard time becoming aroused, he thinks of his wife's twin sister to get in the mood.

It was a shocking revelation.

That's what happened, Nick.

Shocking. That happened.

Yeah, he did.

No, he did.

Yeah, he did.

Yeah, he did.

He did.

It was shocking.

Unnecessary also.

I don't like—

I, I—

this isn't— again, I might need a meme here— this isn't kayfabe. Kayfabe?

Which is it?

I don't know.

Kayfabe. Wrestling nerd here at your service.

This isn't—

could have helped.

Mike Ryan, this isn't kayfabe. I don't like this at all, and I would appreciate if you guys turn the music off. This is not great.

So the Steelers—

Aaron Rodgers doesn't need any relationship advice apparently because he's happily married and happily married. He's keeping his eye on that.

Do you think maybe he and his wife, maybe we'll finally see them out together on Valentine's Day? That'd be nice. Go ahead. Sorry.

Well, no, listen, he loves ball. You know, that's the thing. That's what you learn when you're around Aaron Rodgers, when you share the football building with him. He's all about ball. Also, you got to kiss his ass all spring long for him to ever show up. Explain to me from a more objective point of view what the thinking is here in the quarterback league that you're waiting out a guy that no one else wants. Omar Khan, the general manager, knows ball better than the other 31 franchises.

No, listen, Dave, I think it's— I think it's inexplicable and it's mortifying for prestige franchise. And if I were a Steelers fan, I would be pleading with ownership to recognize we are not— and Dave, you can tell me if I'm wrong, but I bet I'm not— we are not as emotionally wrapped up in this meaningless haven't had a losing season streak as you guys are. We are totally fine with doing what basically every successful franchise has done at some point post-Hall of Fame quarterback, which is get our teeth kicked in for a season with young guys and reset the thing. If they want to trot out Drew Aller, if they want to trot out Will Howard and see if they got a Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott style mid-round diamond in the rough, fine. And if you didn't, then, then use the bad season next, or so next year you can finally start over at quarterback. But the idea that the Rooney family would work on this guy's timeline— it would be embarrassing if he were the 8th best quarterback in the league, but since he's closer to the 28th best quarterback in the league, It's inexplicable, and I don't know why they are— they are still treating him as if he is just awesome, and we have no evidence for 4 years dating back to his final year in Green Bay that he's awesome.

So I don't— I, I just don't get it. I don't get it at all.

It does feel suspended by the name brand that is Aaron Rodgers, which is in deep in the rearview mirror at this I don't necessarily hate, as a fan of the Steelers, them attempting to fuel the plane at 30,000 feet instead of taking the step back. They are now jammed up though. There is nowhere to go. They have left themselves— they didn't chase Malik Willis, they didn't chase Kyler Murray. They could have chased Sam Darnold harder a year ago. They could have taken Jaxson Dart or Tyler Schutt. They instead act— they could have tried to trade up for Ty Simpson. They instead act precious. They go to— you like to head out to Vegas. They seem to perceive themselves to be someone in a position still able to make sober place bets at the craps table and try and work that way. No, no, man. You missed the boat repeatedly on quarterbacks. You now have to go to the roulette wheel and put it all on a number and spin it and hope it pays off. You need to be taking swings until you get the quarterback position solved. You need to be drafting. Jackson Dart?

Meh, we don't think he's a fit for us. You aren't in a position, you're not in that position of luxury, you're not a contender, you're irrelevant until you solve the only position that really matters in the QB.

But so listen, I agree with all that. What I— but you're saying that, you know, they've basically left themselves boxed in. And what I'm saying is, listen, maybe it is, uh, you know, a very small likelihood dart throw, but why can't what you're saying about Jackson Dart just apply this year to Drew Aller? And just be like, listen, you're starting, kid. Third-rounders started before.

I, you know, in the last half decade or so, I think there's a decent case to be made that the progressive play caller, the offensive coach, has now outstripped the value of the guy at the trigger. I mean, look around, look in, look at Ben Johnson in Detroit, what he did with Jared Goff. Ben Johnson then fixes Caleb Williams. Look at Brock Purdy. Who would you rather have if you're a Niners fan, Kyle Shanahan or Brock Purdy? Who's more, who's more significant? They're examples of that through the league. And if you buy that Mike McCarthy, who's a little long in the tooth compared to the so-called QB whispers, that peer group, he has developed consistently for a quarter century QBs. He must like Drew Aller. They do not make that pick in the third round if he is not into Drew Aller. I'm with you. I, I— he is a flawed product. It is a long shot that it's going to work out. But also, for what it's worth, 20 years ago, Aaron Rodgers coming out of Cal, another high pedigree guy, was, was obviously deeply talented, but he also held the ball up by his ear.

Do you remember that with Jeff Tedford, his college coach? Then they had to get him out of that. They had to fix him. Go fix this guy now. I know it's a longer shot than Aaron Rodgers.

Of course it's a long shot, but here's the thing. Here is what is 100% certain. There is a 0% chance, 0%, that 3 years from now Aaron Rodgers is the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It is a non-zero percent chance that 3 years from now Drew Aller is.

That is so exactly right. This is a road to nowhere. This is a one-off.

It's a road to nowhere.

That you know, Nick. He did it already. That you know, Nick.

Doesn't—

that's exactly right. You have the evidence. You've gone to TJ Maxx and found some brand name steals in Russell Wilson, then Aaron Rodgers.

You're parking your cars in the same garage.

You're going to go back to that well when you know that the result— the evidence has already told us whatever he does is not going to end in a Super Bowl trip. So then why would you go down that path? There is no value in a one-off season for Aaron Rodgers. Instead, though, let's move to the AFC.

Now we got to let him go. We got to let him go.

He's got to go.

He's busy.

We got to go. Go. What were you going to take a shot at the Chiefs?

Not a—

not a shot. I find it a fascinating three-horse race between the Chiefs, Chargers, and Broncos. Good luck figuring out who emerges from that trio.

Well, I'll tell you who will. And I do have to go, but I'll say this. The Broncos, they won 14 games. Bo Nix outplayed Josh Allen in a playoff game. I will begrudgingly— Sean Payton called his shot— begrudgingly give him respect, give them their respect. It is not a 3-horse race. The Chargers are an idea more than they are a contender, and they are— every single year I hear about what a sick roster they have, and this is the year, and then every year when they fall flat on their face, I hear how Justin Herbert needs more help. The Chargers are not a consideration. The Chiefs and the Broncos should be fun. I do have to go. It is great to see you guys. Chris Cody, you've used some of that gambling money I sent you to pay for therapy, bro. I'm sorry you went through that.

Nick, say imply to Roy?

You know what, I have a great relationship with Roy. I get all of my hockey knowledge through Roy. I'm not gonna allow you to imply what you're implying. I'm good with Roy. I'll talk to you guys later.

See ya, Nick.

FS1's First Things First, what's right with Nick Wright? Thanks, Nick. Oh, no, he already left. All right. Don Lebatard.

What do we got here? I got a Magnum condom. Um, we won't get that out.

That's shocking.

Stugatz.

Here's a picture of Christopher when he was like 3 years old, right next to the condo.

Yeah, as a little reminder.

Yeah, never forget.

This is the Don Levitar Show with the Stugatz.

By the way, the Broncos, I think, as Nick kind of hints at, I don't think we're talking enough about that. They're the prohibitive favorite in the AFC, right? I mean, they would have gone to the Super Bowl 6 months ago if Bo Nix isn't hurt. Then they get Jalen Waddle. This is the team to beat in that conference, right?

I know it's the Jalen Waddle in the conference.

Yeah, in the conference.

There is nothing more confusing to me than analytics people caping up for Jalen Waddle. I just have never seen it. I've seen, you know, I always have a TV locked on to the Dolphins so I can talk about the Dolphins.

Got a lot of balls in his rookie year.

He was good in his rookie year, no doubt. And I know he's good going deep. The numbers suggest that. You watch the games, though, and you see him run to the sidelines a half a dozen times a game, sometimes never to return. I, I don't get it. Now, Denver, great spot because I don't believe them to be a number 1. And that's already was a solid wide receiver court that was really good at throwing the ball deep, often drawing penalties, which is baked into their game plan. Waddle will certainly be more useful there, provided that he's healthy. But this notion that the Dolphins are going to miss Jalen Waddle— I saw over the last few seasons they missed him because he was never on the field consistently.

That's a fair point. I think context obviously matters. And you drop him into a borderline powerhouse Denver team, he's going to be a different player and better for it. I mean, the Jalen Waddle deal— I, I, you guys have gone over this ad nauseam, but a couple months after the fact, why the hell did they sign Malik Willis? It makes no sense. If you're going to be trading away Jalen Waddle, it seems clear that they're trying to set themselves up for next year. All you're doing is hanging Malik Willis out to dry this year.

I, I don't think what you're saying is unfair, but the, the gambit is you assume that Jalen Waddle is good. And I don't think Jalen Waddle is a difference maker for Malik Willis. So I think what they did was probably had the same eval and said, let's get a couple of picks for this guy because I don't think he's gonna help us figure out if Malik Willis is a good quarterback or not.

They sold high. They sold high. Like, they got a good deal for him and you move on because the reality is your season is going to be shit. And so regardless of whether 7 grams of shit or 6.5 grams of shit, it's still a lot of shit on your plate.

Well, look, let's see if we can get an answer from the love doctor. Love Talk with Dr. Greg Cody in the house. Should the Dolphin fan feel remorse about losing Jalen Waddle?

Uh, he's a good number 2 receiver. I don't feel too— they, they made a good trade. They got a lot in return. For him, including their second first-round pick.

So Malik Willis disagrees.

Malik Willis knew that when they signed him that they were probably going to trade Jalen Waddle. Malik Willis is a stopgap. They hope they can be bad enough to get the number 1 draft pick or at least a top 3 draft pick to go for Arch Manning or the kid from Oregon next year. So, you know, I don't think Malik Willis makes them a good team. I think he just gives them a little bit of insurance in case they win 6 games and they don't get the quarterback of their dreams next, next draft.

This is like when the doctor knows I'm in sports media and he gives me his take while I'm there.

Dude, this is what happens.

Yeah, no, yeah, I like Malik Willis, so I think it's a good play.

I am not hard at all.

Mike, I got something that might work because what happens there, Tony, is they're not actually interested in hearing what you think. No, they just want to tell you their take. 100%. That's it. Awful.

You're like, oh, that's good. I didn't think of that one, actually.

Yeah, but do they let you book, like, get out of the appointment queue? Like, hey, I need—

oh, no, he takes care of me.

Yeah, there you go.

That's all. That's the quid pro quo, man. I got that with my—

we do a private show.

Yeah, we're like, oh, what do you think about that?

What do you think about this?

I give my dentist 15 minutes a show, man.

Why do you think I have the Dolphins on one TV? It's for when I go to appointments and they ask me about the Dolphins. I'm like, man, I really don't care genuinely, but I got to fire off something here.

All right, well, while we have the love doctor here, Let's— we got a long line of listeners who have questions, need advice, Mother's Day advice for the Love Doctor. Let's get in another here.

Hi, I have a question for the love guru, Greg Cody. So it's coming to be like the start of draft season. Football has started. As a sports girlfriend, we have only gotten really like maybe one month off, a couple weeks off from the sports craze. So my question to you is, as a guy and a sports guy, what can I do as a lady to get some attention back and away from the TV?

Wow, that's a losing battle. I gotta be honest, uh, with sports, you can't beat them, you gotta join them. So what I recommend is you bring the games into your love life. You need to blend these two things in the throes of passion. As you're about to cross the goal line, if you feel me, lean in and whisper sports updates in his ear. For example, why does baseball need ABS, baby? They can come to me and I'll tell them what a ball looks like. That kind of thing.

I'm with Nick Wright.

Gross.

Oh man, we got like 8 minutes left in the segment.

I want to get— I want to try at least.

Can we get back to that Jaylen Brown?

Yeah, I want to try and get back to Jaylen Brown here.

Look, we, we wanted to start this and we wanted to be the first to have this Jaylen Brown for Giannis conversation, and I got into the studio and I saw Wind Horse has already gotten the ball.

Oh yes, like I Okay, so, so I will tell you, I heard this about a month, a month and a half ago, that the Celtics— I don't remember where it came from— but that the Celtics are a team to look out for.

They mentioned it on the show.

Mark Stein was the first one.

I thought about this a decade ago, that the Celtics are a team to watch out for with Giannis. And the fact of the matter is, okay, they're not getting Giannis, unless they're willing to give up Tatum or Brown. So something has to happen for the Celtics to feel that, okay, we'll trade Tatum or Brown for Giannis. And I would say that the something that has to happen might actually be happening now. So we had all the stuff from Jaylen Brown a couple of days ago, and specifically the one that grabbed a lot of attention was this was his favorite year. Not when they won a championship, not when he won conference MVP, uh, playoff conference finals MVP, not when he won finals MVP. No, no, this year where Tatum was not playing and he was an MVP candidate was his favorite year of his career. And now you have— so Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter do a show called Cousins, great name by the way, and Tracy McGrady is apparently very tight with Jaylen Brown. Give this a listen.

His frustration lies deeply within the organization and other things that—

of course, of course, we don't really have the details to—

there's just been a lot of stuff, you know, that I've been hearing just going on with the Boston organization, with JB. You know, so I think part of him is like, I showed you guys more of who I am as a basketball player, not only just, you know, what I did on the basketball court, but the leadership that I displayed within, you know, this team. And you've seen that not having our, you know, best player in JT. You've seen a different side of me and what I am able to bring to the game of basketball. So all that stuff you know, I think just came into play with him and, uh, his frustration.

So this is a really interesting thing, even beyond the Giannis part. We can get to the honest part in a second, but people— how could you say that? How could you say that this is your favorite season? Why would you want to be somewhere else? You just won a championship there a couple years ago. And it reminds me when Kyrie Irving left Cleveland. There was a— how could you leave LeBron? How could you— you guys won a title and The big— best title ever and all that. How could you leave? And the reality is when you are that good, winning is cool, but sometimes you wanna find out, like, look, could I do this if I were the lead dog?

Well, and most of these guys have the ego where they believe, "I can win there too." Well, it's not just ego.

It's also like an intellectual curiosity. I've told this story before, but years and years ago when Mike Brown was the coach of the Lakers, There was a game where Andrew Bynum's in the game, and Andrew Bynum's still kind of a young player fighting for minutes or whatever. He's getting better, but he's not the Andrew Bynum from when they won the title yet, right? So he gets the ball with like 10, 20 on the shot clock, and he takes a 3 and he misses it. And the coach pulls him out and chews him out like, "Ah, what are you doing, da da da." And after the game, the media all rushes to Kobe's locker, 'cause they're like, "Oh, Kobe's gonna rip this kid a new one for," taking that dumb shot or whatever. Hey Kobe, what'd you think of that shot that Andrew Bynum got benched for? And Kobe sat back and he said, sometimes you have to test the limits of your greatness. Kobe's like, I understand exactly what he's thinking, and I know how much work he's put in, and he wants to know, can I do this? Am I capable of doing this in a game situation?

And so that's the kind of a side of the pro athlete that sometimes we don't acknowledge or understand, because in our minds, like, if you're winning, let's just keep doing whatever we're doing, and everyone just can be the same forever. And so So from that standpoint, I understand what Jaylen Brown's thing is because winning a championship and even being Finals MVP, I was good for a week, 2 weeks in June. I was good for a couple weeks in late May as well for the Eastern Conference Finals MVP. But this year he had to be good every single night for a whole year. And is it possible? Am I really good enough to make a team win? Not just win, not be above.500, but I'm talking about one of the best teams in basketball. And the answer was yes. So to have that validation, I understand. Now, having said that, I believe based on what I'm hearing from Tracy right here, that maybe that stream was a little bit of the, all right Celtics, you gotta shit or get off the pot. And the other part of this, now we can bring the Giannis part. Celtics have new ownership.

You gotta remember, in their mind, we didn't win the title, the old guys won the title. So we've got to do whatever it takes to get our titles and let everyone know, hey, we did everything we could. We did things here that led to a title.

Same goes for the Bucks too.

Same goes for the Bucks, although Edens is still there, but, uh, Haslam is the new guy, so he obviously feels like he's got to do stuff. So if you are the Celtics, here's the interesting question. Let's play this game. Let's just assume they would be the front-runner for a Giannis trade because they can offer an All-NBA caliber player. The question is, which one do they offer? Dun dun dun.

Well, I think the one they would offer would be the one who pretty much just told us he wants to be the man.

But he can be the man in Boston.

Exactly.

And if you're Boston and last season was a data point, you can't ignore that. They defied expectations. And when the other guy came back, the season went south. Now, to his credit, I think he was better than we anticipated coming off of that injury. We knew it would take some time. I think we're all a little stunned that it was a first-round exit. But if I'm looking at it, Jaylen Brown was my Finals MVP, not Tatum.

But Tatum has to have a no-trade, right?

That's not how that works, buddy. No, it's not. It's not just negotiated in automatically.

Oh, okay.

All right.

I'm an ignoramus.

You have to be of a certain age and with the team for a certain number of years.

I think— I mean, what you get at is a thing that I come back to all the time that you have to kind of keep in mind. These are high-end athletes and it's fun to watch them try to win against high-end competition and we get into the drama of all that, but if it were business rather than basketball, you would be a tremendous asshole to comport yourself like the best guys do in high-end sports. You're an asshole. The distinction between the really talented guys and the guys who are the champions are that they— is that Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan and all the rest of them are assholes. They are killers, as they say, but this is par for the course. I mean, Shaq and Kobe and Pippen and, and Jordan, and I think McJesus and Drysidle are on their way to a divorce too.

This is it.

But for all the talk over the years where the media is trying to form a schism between Tatum and Brown, Jalen did it himself. Now for the first time, it feels like that could actually be a real thing. What the fuck?

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