Transcript of Timothee Chalamet's New York Knicks | Hour 1 New

This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stugatz Podcast.

This episode of the Dan Levatar Show is presented by DraftKings. DraftKings, the crown is yours.

Put it on the poll. Does the MLS stand to gain if Leo Messi took 10 minutes every week to chat with the big dog?

Oh, that's a good poll question. That's a good poll question.

I don't know if this is a poll question, But I mentioned to Zazz and to Greg—

What'd you say?

That I think that we're inside of 10 years at this point from every American home having what the Levitard studio has, which is one of them fancy drink dispensers, carbonated, whatever your pleasure.

Any flavor.

Any, oh yes, any of your favorite sodas available, a soda water, a seltzer, a flat water.

I got one of those in my house. You do? Yeah, yeah, but it's just water, but I got one of those in my house.

Well, that's what I was curious about is, so I mentioned this and Zazzlo said, I have one of those machines in my house. Is it a machine? A water dispenser doesn't count as a machine. And then he said, no, the dispenser is—

It's a mansion, by the way, but go ahead.

Right, your mansion. But he said, no, the dispenser is just what you have in your refrigerator.

Right.

And I say, no, no, that's a machine. That's the machine. That's a part of a— that's a small part of a larger mechanism. A machine.

No, I I have a water machine.

No, you have a dispenser.

No, the dispenser is in the fridge, okay? The fridge has an ice and a water dispenser, which I don't use.

You got that crushed ice?

I could do crushed or I could do the big cubes.

No one— who goes crushed? That's Monster baby here.

Yeah, I don't do crushed because when I'm drinking, I don't like to get with my beverage— I got these little ice chips. I might choke because I'm not expecting that. I just want the liquid.

Sometimes with my fridge, it'll be set to big cubes, but I get crushed.

Oh, well, you gotta get a new fridge.

That's not okay.

That's not good. No, no, I could do either setting I want, but Dave, I never put the crushed for the exact reason I said. I don't want— it makes me feel weird when I'm drinking something and then I get part of an ice cube in my mouth. I'm not trying to chew, I'm trying to swallow.

You're a man of the people. You're not precious eating the crushed ice, requiring crushed ice. Has any human being ever died on ice, though? You don't want to choke on it. Nobody's ever lost their life in a battle against a large ice cube.

Knock on wood.

I mean, I don't know, you swallow that big cube that they put in my whiskey, if that goes down my throat, I could die.

I feel like you could Heimlich it out of there.

Really?

Yeah, I think so.

Could you Heimlich the fancy bar?

Yeah.

The smart cocktail, the big square, the big thing.

Love that.

If that got lodged in your throat—

You're screwed.

Greg Cody, you submit, somebody could purge that from you with a Heimlich before you pass.

They could Heimlich it out, and you also have to consider that the ice ice is melting by degrees.

Yes.

If you hold your breath and it's warm in your body, if you hold your breath for 20 seconds, the ice cube in your warm throat all of a sudden—

you think you could just wait and that big cube is going to— is going to dislodge from melting?

What a gamble to take with your life. Like, no, I don't need the Heimlich, right? I just need 20 seconds.

Let's feel it melting now. The key is to stay calm as you're— as you're dying with a giant cube in your mouth.

I love olais.

So last night—

calling them nice now—

the NBA playoffs round 2 got started for a couple of series, and the first game, the Knicks— the Knicks blow out everybody now— the Knicks beat the Sixers last night by 1,000 points. The game was not close, and, and if I could show you here how excited Knicks fans are All right, because after every Knicks game, you gotta go outside and you gotta celebrate like you won the Finals.

7th Avenue, baby.

Every single game, 7th Avenue is packed. And they were so excited that it doesn't even matter that it's J.R. Smith, former Knick. I'm not gonna say Knick great, we have to have some standards here. But he gets trampled by Knicks fans! Look at these Knicks fans! They're trampling him! He can't even get up! He fell down here. He's on top of other people who have fallen over.

It looks scary.

It does look scary.

You know what, J.R. Smith, maybe don't go on 7th Ave. Because they got a separate celebrity—

cigarette in his hand—

they have a celebrity entrance. Probably not a cigarette. There's a separate celebrity entrance on the corner of, I want to say, uh, 33rd and 8th. That's where all the celebs go in. You You see a lot of like, you know, viral video shot of like people, hey, Ben Stiller, say something cool, whatever. They all come in through there and you get picked up and you go out. So for him to go to 7th Ave where that is, right where the marquee is, he wanted the smoke. He wanted the people's love and attention. Guess what? You found it, J.R. Smith.

And then you also have— all right, so look, you're being a little bit daring if you're a Sixers fan. You know, you're a Sixers fan, you're going to the game at MSG and you're wearing your Sixers jersey. So you're asking for a little bit of trouble potentially, especially if after the game you're walking outside on 7th Avenue. And there was a— I don't know if you guys saw this clip, but there was a Sixers fan who's walking by himself. That's also a brave move. By himself. And he was attacked by Knicks fans. They're trying to rip the jersey off of him after the game. That's a dangerous scenario outside there, 7th Avenue MSG. What are you doing? These Knicks fans, man.

I don't see Ben Stiller in the mix there. I did see photos of him. He had Knicks colors on. Where is he in this?

He was at the Met Gala, wasn't he? I don't think he was at the game.

Oh, wait a minute. What?

Why?

Wait, Nick, the Knicks superfan who tweets after every game, gets into, gets into rows with, with White House officials about what the meaning of his Knicks-supporting tweets really mean. He wasn't at this, this pivotal game. That's a married man right there.

I'm beginning to think that Dave knew that all along. That whole setup was just conjecture.

Well, a lot of people are very upset about this, but I get it. Chris Cody just said it, right? This is a guy who —almost, I think, because, you know, I enjoy reading. If I see an Us Weekly, I love to grab it and see what's going down in showbiz. Ben Stiller and his wife, I think, were at minimum separated at one point, but then they reconciled, and I suspect that this was a put the foot down, we're going to the Met Gala, I don't care about the Knicks.

Now he's usually at the Knicks games with his wife. What's her name?

I don't want to shortchange her.

Christine Taylor. She's an actress.

She's a very incredible actress.

She's got her— she's very accomplished.

Play Marcia in the Brady Bunch. That's right, she's great.

He's usually at Knicks games on celebrity row with Christine Taylor, right? They're at the games.

Has a review of her physical appearance.

Go ahead. I do not. Oh, she's very pretty. Uh, I gotta tell you something.

Look good.

This is a terrible job by Ben Stiller. The Met Gala is every year the Knicks in the playoffs with a— with their best chance to win a Finals in the last quarter century. Never happens. And he's at the Met Gala trying to tell you what a massive Knicks fan he is. Why are you shaking your head, Roy? I'm just saying, if you put a lot of money for a seat at the table at the Met Gala knowing what date that is and not knowing when the Knicks game is going to happen beforehand, I would go to the Met Gala. It's a fundraiser. He's Ben Stiller. Still paid money for this. It's a fundraiser, so you donated to the fundraiser. Go to the Knicks game. Right. What, you think Ben Stiller's gonna have to get a second— he's gonna have to drive Uber to make up for the money they lost?

What do you prioritize more, sports or your relationship?

Sports! How do you think I got here? Look how great I'm doing. Clearly I'm making the right choices.

Remember when Uncle Jew said he couldn't sell it, he wanted Tony to get whacked. Richie Aprile wanted to— he went to visit Uncle Jew. —And why do you call him Uncle Jew?

It's Uncle June! It's not Uncle Jew!

It is in the Damaschek house.

It's Uncle June. I like to imagine he's Jewish. I'd like to imagine he's on my side. Yeah, Richie Aprile tries to get Uncle June's sign-off. "I'm gonna go kill Tony," and he doesn't. And then he leaves. Richie Aprile leaves, and he says, like, "He couldn't sell it. He couldn't sell it." Ben Stiller can't sell it? Come on, what are we doing? This is troubling to me. He can't sell the importance? We have the 76ers at MSG. I'm sorry, we'll go to the Met Gala or I'll, you can go. That's really the thing, what it comes down to. And I don't want to be too, too, guys versus women, whatever. Go on. But why do I have to go to the Met Gala? If it's important to you, I want you to go there and I want you to be happy and I want to be there and support your interests if that is your interest. And it's my interest too, and it's a charitable event, and so I want to be there for all of it. But come on, we're playing the 76ers. It's the second round. This is a special season for my beloved Knickerbockers.

Surely you understand and want me to be happy and be courtside in my seats watching this special event.

So Greg, I'm curious your opinion. You're the sage elder in the room right now. What would you do? You had courtside tickets to a playoff game. Or the Met Gala with your lovely wife, what would you do?

In which you made an expensive donation to attend, right?

Well, theoretically, you make a donation for the cause, not so you can dress up and be photographed by paparazzi. And the paparazzi are thinking, what, what has become of my life? I could be in, in Africa, you know, taking photographs of wildlife and doing stuff that's great instead of—

why is it an either-or? That's what I would imagine.

Every paparazzi—

I would imagine the paparazzi is celebrating on Met Gala night.

That's like their night to make money. Yeah, look at this. Look at, look at—

what is that person? It's an asshole.

You're right, exactly. I wouldn't— no, I wouldn't go to the Met Gala. It's up to the Met Gala today. It's up to the Met Gala to switch their date. Interesting time to go gala, you know, the FBI gala, you know, that kind of thing.

I got— I'm down on this Ben Stiller. You saw I'll tell you what, Chalamet might be number one Knicks fan.

Two years running, he's made the choice. Yep, Chalamet.

So the word was he needed to go this year to Met Gala to kind of, uh, make up for all the missteps in Oscar season. So this is his way to kind of re-ingratiate himself with the establishment. So him doubling down and saying, no, I'm going to the game again, yep, might be bad for his career, man, let me just tell you.

And you saw he sent the Jenner girl to the Met Gala and he went to the Knicks game. Oh, the Jenner girl, man, what a show today. He sent her.

He sent the Jenner girl. He dispatched her. No, no. What, are we going to the— is it time to go to the game, Tim? No, no, we're not going anywhere. There is that one. Hit the gala, lady. Oh no, there's not.

She's a billionaire. 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.

The NBA playoffs are here, and DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA, brings excitement to every game all postseason long. When the lights are brightest, the best players in the world show you exactly who they are. Playoff stars turn it up round by round, and DraftKings turns it up with them from the first round through the finals. Bet player props, bet live, and stay in the action the entire time. New DraftKings customers bet just $5 and you'll get $100 in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code DAN so you're ready for the moment. That's code DAN. Turn $5 into $100 in bonus bets instantly in partnership with DraftKings.

The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET. New York, call 877-8-HOPE-N-Y or text HOPE-N-Y. Connecticut, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas, wager tax pass-through may apply in Illinois. 21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bonus bets expire 7 days after For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see sportsbook.draftkings.com/promos. Limited time offer.

Don Lebatard! 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.

Shut the hell up. Okay, here it is. Sorry. Adultery. That one.

Yeah, wait a minute, we're waiting for this one. This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stew Gods.

Jeremy, even things out for us here. You have a top 5 from the Met Gala last night?

Oh, I do. The top 5 looks that stood out to me from the Met Gala.

You guys want to hear about them?

I can give you the background. It's really exciting. So number 5, Sabrina Carpenter. Yes, Sabrina Carpenter, uh, wearing Dior by Jonathan Anderson. This was made out of film from the 1995 movie Sabrina. So if you, if you check it out, there's literal film that makes up this dress, and it has all of the different scenes from Sabrina for Sabrina Carpenter. Now what's really interesting about that is she also said that her favorite movie while on the Met Gala was Shrek 2. So she's a woman after my own heart.

Can we zoom in a little bit more on that? Film dress.

Let's see, let's see if we can get that back up on the screen.

Let's get a little zoom, a little closer, a little closer, get a little tighter, just a little tighter please.

I think we should move on.

All right, let's move on here. Yeah, there's, there's film there. You can see it's from Sabrina. So it's a great look. Number 4, uh, Rachel Zegler using the art piece The Execution of Lady Jane Gray. Now if you look at that piece, what Lady Jane Gray was all about— I saw this, right? I saw this recently. I saw this recently at uh, the National Gallery in London when I was there. And this is a really spectacular, uh, piece of artwork because what this depicts is a moment where Lady Jane Gray, who was the Queen of England as a 17-year-old for just 9 days before Mary Tudor, one of her cousins, basically created a faction that went after her because they said there was going to be a, a death of Catholicism, uh, if she remained queen. They end up executing her just 9 days into being queen as a teenager. And the reason Rachel Zegler has this, of course, a wrongfully scapegoated, executed teen, which works for Zegler if you know her.

Wrongfully executed teen, but, but tarted up a little.

She looks like Sandra Bullock in Bird Box.

You have the blindfold on Zegler with a gown akin to what's going on in the execution of Lady Jane Gray. It's a really beautiful tribute and Using fashion as art. It was costume art. Fashion is art. That is the theme of this gala.

We didn't notice you almost saying death of capitalism.

Well, I wish. Bad Bunny. Bad Bunny dressing as an old man.

That's Bad Bunny. That's Bad Bunny.

And the reason he did it, his publicist put out, the choice of an all-black timeless silhouette is intentional. The suit doesn't age. He does. This is Bad Bunny's most conceptually ambitious Met Gala appearance to date and one of the most thoughtful responses to a Met theme in recent memory.

He looks like he's going to a funeral on a plantation.

Oh, he was one of the best ones we had. I'm gonna miss Heidi Klum.

Now she was dressed as a real-life marble statue. This looks wild. If you, if you find the pictures of it, if you're just in the audio audience, picture Heidi Klum but as a marble statue. Now, this included draped robes, facial prosthetics, and a floral wreath. It was inspired by the Italian artist Raffaelli Monti's Veiled Vestal sculpture.

Fun fact about marble statues: when they were made, they were painted. They had lipstick and eyeshadow and colorful hair and stuff. Over time, the paint erodes, and so we get the marble statues, but people are— we've learned to say, oh, that is nice and tasteful art. It's a marble statue. It's all white, but it wasn't white when they made it.

How fascinating. And specifically for Heidi Klum, this is an example of someone who really took this to heart because she walked around the Met and said that this is ultimately what inspired her and she went with the outfit. But the number one outfit from last night, wearing a blue and black striped shirt at Madison Square Garden, not white and gold.

It's Timothée Chalamet. That's right.

A tribute to basketball being its own art form. As he cements himself as the number one living Knicks fan. Timothy Chalamet.

I thought it was going to be Carson Hosovar, first NASCAR driver since 2010 to attend the Met Gala.

Also an OLI, one that made me really happy was Nicole Kidman just wore like a pretty normal red dress and her quote about it was, fashion is art and I wanted something red because I wanted to embrace the way in which red has been used in art throughout the years. Super thoughtful. All right.

Where's Spike Lee in this conversation about greatest living—

He went to the Met Gala last year.

He went last year instead of a Knick game. That's a big strike against Spike Lee. He voted for Chalamet.

Chalamet is number 1. Number 1? He might be.

Him or Woody Allen. Gonna go Chalamet.

That's back-to-back days with a Woody Allen reference. Oh man, what a show this is.

So the Knicks crushed the Sixers. There's Carson Josefvar last night.

He's gonna be a star.

Like, I mean, are the Sixers in big trouble? Because the Knicks here, like, it's what, 4 straight games now that the Knicks are just kicking the shit out of teams? And if we want to actually give it some more context, the only games the Knicks lost this postseason, they lost by 1 point each of those games. Like, it's—

they lost by a CJ McCollum jumper.

Yeah, it may not be a stretch to— I mean, I know what Oklahoma City is doing. They've only lost 1 game so far this playoff.

No, they haven't. Oh, I'm sorry.

That's right. They swept, of course. So the Thunder have not lost a game yet. But I don't know. Is it crazy to say the Knicks are playing the best of anyone in the postseason so far?

No, the Thunder are playing the best of anyone. But the Knicks have been very, very impressive as well, as I foretold months ago. But the big thing you said, oh, they crushed the Sixers. You know, the last time a team lost by 30-plus and still won the series, I don't know, it was the Sixers in the 2026 NBA playoffs first round against the bum-ass Celtics. Because Captain Creative decided, oh, I'm gonna start 3 of my scrubs. Oh, let's take a different look. I cannot believe— I've been canvassing media for days now. NBA Radio, ESPN, all the different shows. No, they're talking about, oh, Jaylen Brown, does he complain too much? They're making this always—

is Jason Tatum getting hurt? Right, Jaylen Brown really bailed out Mazzulla.

Absolutely. Mazzulla should be getting crushed Every single day. There's two things about me, Zazz, that I will not let go. Number one is George Sidano's ridiculous commercial that we showed yesterday, and I hope we show it again today. Him in a bathrobe. That was wild. And number two is that Joe Mazzulla ruined the Celtics season by trying to be some smart guy instead of just doing the obvious.

Now, you have to update that. Those are not the two things to know about Amin. Now you have at least three. You're a Pulitzer Prize winner. This is something that you need to involve in every conversation for the rest of your life. Now, the other thing you deserve credit for, and I gave it to you yesterday and I want to do it again more properly, you said about what, 2.5, 3 months ago in this very space, I said, oh, come on, Jason Tatum's gonna come back, that team is going to represent the East. When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong. The Knicks appear destined to do that, and you deserve your flowers for that. What doesn't happen— when was the last time History, history, 30 points down and coming back and winning the series. This is every NBA series now. This is what I was talking about yesterday. Every game is a blowout one way or the other except for last night. Wemby with 12 blocks, that's the exception that proves the rule. And I would be sick in my balls were I a Spurs fan today that Wemby had 12 blocks and my team lost.

How about Anthony Davis?

Where would you be sick? And his balls. Basketball.

You know about that ball sickness? No.

You know about that, Anthony Edwards? You ever—

you ever catch a graze? You know, we get the graze and you know that, that sickness.

Oh, like the stomachache you get after you're sick and it feels like in your throat. Oh yeah, of course.

I thought you meant like graze down there. And I did find one yesterday. I was kind of freaked out by it. It's just there. It's like, hey guy, what's up?

This is a Pulitzer Prize winner, dude.

I've been thinking about this the whole time. I've been thinking about this the entire time, the idea that like, wait, so we were joking around, say, wait, you mean Cortez is a Pulitzer Prize winner? And he's like, yeah. Then I was like, are other Pulitzer Prize-winning like journalism teams, do they have a Cortez? Do they have an Amin? Like, this guy gets to walk around and say he's won one? It has to be, right? They can't all be serious people.

Is Cortez the most sus Pulitzer Prize winner?

I'm standing right here, sir.

Well, I mean, you know, as far as that goes, if As I have long said, if I ever got into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which I may or may not, I don't know, time will tell, but if I do get a gold jacket, I will wear the gold jacket at least once a week out to dinner. Yeah, the idea that people get Spartan with the use of their gold jacket— oh, that would be, uh, that would be untoward to wear the green jacket out if I won the Masters. Not, not for Dave. Dave would be out and about wearing the— oh, oh, this old— yeah, yeah, yeah, did I not— yeah, I won the Masters last spring, did you not I'd say that, yeah.

Shane Battier used to wear a green jacket during the Masters all the time. This is back when the NBA had the dress code. Like, if he showed up to the game, he would be wearing a green jacket, and no one knew. He was like, it was like a handful of writers were like, oh yeah, that's for the Masters or whatever. And I just kept thinking to myself, what do you think? You think someone's gonna stop and be like, did you win the Masters? Like, no, I just kind of am a big fan. So I would imagine the same thing, Dave. If you won the Masters and you wore that green jacket out, passed a month after the Masters, people would just say, look at this jackass with a green jacket. They wouldn't think like, oh my God, you're such an incredible golfer.

I don't know about that. So cynical. Yeah.

And by the way, I don't give a good goddamn. I'm wearing it anyway because it's my great achievement, as would be a gold jacket. Of course, Zaslo gets that right. He and his backwards hat would, would, would dress it up with a gold jacket.

Right. Why didn't they call Wemba Nyama for those goaltends last night? He was goaltending all over the place. He's hitting the ball off the backboard and shit. It's a block.

It's on the way up. He's wimby.

That's not a rule in the NBA, is it?

That's only college. Uh, it's on the way up. That's an NBA rule. Even off the backboard? That's an NBA rule? It only has to— if it touches the backboard first, then it's a goaltend.

Okay, so what are we talking about?

Well, he pinned it.

Eh, now you know there were a couple that were clean off the backboard that he goaltended.

Why did they call it? It's fun. It's fun to let him do this.

That's really what was happening. Just let him do what he wants. 7, 8, man. I mean, it's amazing. It's amazing. 12 blocks, NBA playoff record, triple-double. Nobody else doing it with blocks. But like, and Chris Finch was frustrated after the game too. He's like, hey, you know, a couple goal-tens, would like those points, but it's what it is.

Do you guys like the not calling a timeout down the stretch, just letting them play?

Uh, it's a— I mean, it depends. Like, it, you know, the, the way You know, I certainly wouldn't want to do that after the ball goes through the net. After the ball goes through the net, I want a timeout. But they gotta stop, so you get to try and sprint up the court. Like, I'm okay with them not calling it last night.

I don't know, man. I'm a— look, I think coach— people say, oh, he's a good coach, he's a bad coach. The reality is the only thing you can see on the court that's like actual coaching is substitutions, lineups, and ATOs, like the plays we draw up outside of timeout, after a timeout. If your team is better off just playing, "Oh, let 'em go, loosey-goosey, what could go wrong?" Then that's the kind of thing where I'm like, "Yeah, you're probably not really confident in your ATO." I don't know. Or maybe you're just supremely confident in your players, but to me it's always, "Hey, let's get a good one here," as opposed to just go— instead of Julian Champagny taking a 3. Like, you tell me my best player doesn't get to touch the ball?

Well, I think it all depends on— for me, when I'm watching, it depends on who has the ball, who's bringing it up court, if they're building a head of steam.

Gotta be careful though, because if you don't call out immediately puts that ball down one dribble, you don't get to advance the ball, right?

Be careful. With Wade, it was— you always knew the shot that Wade was going to take coming out of a timeout. So it all kind of depended on whether or not he was building up ahead to see him. And most of the time I just wanted him to go because I just hated the shot that Spo would call out of a timeout.

I mean, the Heat's general philosophy is to go and not call the timeout in that spot.

I definitely— to answer Amin's question— I say go, don't call the timeout. The pressure is on the defense. To adjust. They're the ones on their heels. Yeah, you're the one with the ball.

Edwards came off the bench, man. Uh, I love watching Anthony Edwards. Like, Anthony Edwards, like, last night was a really cool reminder of all the things that I think, uh, all the really good things that he represents with the NBA, where I don't think there are very many star players that are just willing to come off the bench in a playoff game. And Anthony Edwards came off the bench last night, who cares? And, and even postgame last night, he was like, instead of taking credit, what have you, like, he was bemoaning the turnover he had late in the game and that he, he didn't play well the last couple of minutes. Anthony Edwards plays, man, and no one expected him to play last night. This is an injury that was supposed to keep him out for a little bit. That dude plays like he's one of the guys in the league that you look at like, wish there were more guys like that.

And he, by the way, he clearly was not 100%. Like, he went out there less than what his normal self is. Awesome. But he found a way to make an impact. And they had to— part of it was it's not just like a pride thing. The Timberwolves, obviously, DiVincenzo's gone for a long time, but then Ayodasumu has been hurt too. Remember, he didn't play after he had that huge Game 5. Yep. Game 6, he didn't play. They finished off the Nuggets without him, without really any backcourt presence out there other than like Terrence Shannon Jr. or whatever. So it's almost like a necessity, like, hey, we really need you out there. And so he went out there and he was the difference maker for sure. Don Lebatard. If Daniel Day-Lewis did it, you'd be jerking off all over yourself. Oh, come on.

Yeah, I would be aggressive.

I mean, what is it? What is that? I'm just saying. No, that's me. You're just saying what?

That's me. Daniel Day-Lewis does something. I see that photo of Daniel Day-Lewis looking like Lincoln before he's about to start filming Lincoln, and you know what I do, Amin? Stugatz! I jerk off all over myself. That's what I do.

Lincoln, who you outed the other day.

Don't make this a rejoin. This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stugatz. Guys, I pride myself on being emotionally mature enough to admit when I'm wrong. This one hurts. I don't want to have to admit I was wrong about Rudy Gobert. No. Yeah, he's been unbelievable. Did you see that box score from Wemby? Like, he is being bothered. And it's— this is nuts.

Yep. It's why they traded for him.

Like, when they made that trade with all those picks, it was originally for Jokic. Now it's for Wemby. And it puts them in a position where they can defend these transcendent offensive players and gives Anthony Edwards an opportunity to be that guy.

I have a theory that if Victor Wemby was literally any other nationality, he would have bust Gobert's ass. But because he's French, Rudy— Rudy is big brother, right? He's played together. That's the guy. This is OG and stuff. And so there's a little element. And also Rudy is a big guy who's very long. If you're Victor Wembanyama and you're at practice, you're like, I need to go against someone who can give me a challenge. It'd be Rudy, right? So it's like maybe Rudy has been stunning him this whole time. Rudy, who we don't think of as a guy who can play mind games. This is the one opportunity he has in his life. There's no other player in the league who could be like, "I own you." Like, "Oh, he's right. I remember that time in practice where he busted my ass and he dunked on me. Oh, how can I ever do it?" It's like Alonzo with Patrick Ewing, right? If Alonzo Mourning went to any other college than Georgetown, he would have busted Patrick Ewing's ass. But because it's big brother, he's like, "I can't. I can't disrespect.

I must bend the knee." Magic head coach Jamal Mosley was fired yesterday. Some people were very fired up about it, but maybe none other than Christopher Mad Dog Russo. Christopher Mad Dog Russo on his radio show yesterday on Mad Dog Radio on SiriusXM, uh, he may have gotten a couple of cliché sayings mixed up together when talking about the Magic firing Jamal Mosley. And you're up 62-38 and you can't throw the ball in the ocean, your team looks discombobulated offensively, a deer running around without his head, And you're gonna sit there and now moan and groan that he got fired? Uh-uh-uh. Doesn't work that way. Why does the deer not have a head? Where did the deer's head go?

Well, it got discombobulated. Yeah.

Discombobulated offensively. A deer running around without his head? That'd be crazy to see a deer running around without his head.

Especially after it was discombobulated. Discombobulated offensively.

He is the greatest. I mean— and company. I, as an NHL, as an NHL fan, and Roy gets this, I feel like we must champion our sport a little bit more than anyone must champion their other— the other major leagues a little bit, a lot more. And so there's a conversation always about what would be best for the league, what matchups in the Stanley Cup Final would be best. Amin and company, what is the dream for the NBA right now? Obviously the Knicks, New York City from the East. But who's the best rep? The Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron and Luka and company? Is it Wemby, who then sets up the next decade at least of the star of the NBA, his first chip potentially? Or is it the reigning champs? Because as I always say, whether people acknowledge it or not, dynasties are good for leagues. I know people think parity is— trust me, over the long bend of time dynasties are what will win out in terms of fan support.

I 100% agree with you on dynasties. Dynasties is always good for business. But if you ask me what the dream for the NBA is, I must quote the late, great David Stern, the former commissioner of the league, when asked, is Lakers-Celtics like the dream matchup for you? And he said, no, the dream matchup is Lakers versus Lakers. Hmm. Like if we're talking about like the number one profit driver If you have Lakers versus Lakers, you can't get better than that.

It's a great—

unfortunately, there's 0.0% chance of that happening, would you say? Or would you give them a puncher's chance?

You don't want to say 0%, anything could happen. You give like 1%. Uh, Greg, I want to make sure— I don't know if you heard the show at the end of last week, on Friday last week, because Thursday last week the Edmonton Oilers were eliminated from the playoffs, and on Friday we celebrated you. All right. We celebrated you on Friday with the Oilers season ending.

You didn't face Kachuk, then you couldn't beat the Ducks.

Yeah, you still look overrated to me.

And then you got Dreisaitl and McDavid speaking like guys who really don't know what the future holds. Did you do a victory lap in your home?

I did. Yeah. Yeah, we, we had Anaheim Ducks fan Brad Williams, the renowned stand-up comic on our show, because Anaheim of course eliminated Edmonton and made me look even more right than I've looked for the past 3 years being ahead of that. Yeah, I mean, the best matchup in the NHL is Buffalo against anybody. I'm so rooting for the Sabers right now. In the final? Yes.

No, it's Montreal. No, well, I think Buffalo is—

Buffalo's never won in 55 years.

I'm with Greg. You're thinking fan interest more than what the league wants.

Yes, I am. You're going to go with Buffalo? You're going to go to Buffalo with Bernie Parmley? No, I love getting behind the Sabers. In the NBA, it's simple. You want the Knicks and the Lakers. You want the team that hasn't won since 1973 in New York versus LeBron James, 1,000 years old, getting back to the final without arguably their best player. You can't do better than Knicks against Dallas-Lakers is a dream match.

Do you hope that McDavid requests out? I—

he almost has to, right? He— because they have two of the top five best players in the league and they're not winning.

They're going backwards. As Troy Seidel said, we've taken steps backwards as an organization, right?

Greg, I feel like you're being a little too modest here. You were the first one to let everyone know, hey, your golden boy is just spray-painted with gold. He's actually lead underneath. And you said it, and you were ridiculed by some people, some of the hockey elite. Greg! The intelligentsia tried to make it seem like Greg Cody's just an old man who doesn't know what he's talking about. But you were first at it. You called him out. You saw it. You saw the wolf in sheep's clothing. You said, "That one right there is a sheep in wolf's clothing." Thank you, Amin.

I didn't win a Pulitzer for that, but maybe I should have. I don't know. I, you know, I'm not saying that. It's what people are saying. You know what many are saying, right?

I'm gonna give my Pulitzer, right? It's official. I just won it. I've only had it for a day. I am bequeathing it to Greg Cody. I don't believe you.

I know he said that aloud, so now legally it's on tape. I think he's obligated. Do you actually— I was gonna ask you this. I mean, it's almost as good as a Peace Prize in a situation like this. Does the show get one Pulitzer, which winds up on Pablo's dining room table, or do you and Samson and everybody affiliated with the show also get a Pulitzer?

I don't know what it looks like. I mean, I know that's the, like, the logo we have in the background over there, but I don't know— is there, like, a trophy? Is it a certificate? I have no idea. Again, Greg, up until I was told I won a Pulitzer, I'd never in my life imagined that I win a Pulitzer. It's like when people say, oh man, how did you get into like media? Like, did you like want to do this? I never thought about it until the day ESPN said, do you want to work in the media? I'm like, I guess it's like someone coming from NASA said, do you want to be an astronaut? I'm like, I'm not doing anything better. I'll go. So I know precious little about the Pulitzer itself other than I know the long list of illustrious people who won it.

I'll tell you what, very similar to, you know, when, when a sports team wins a championship, you know, the owner— and in this case it would be the founder— uh, gets championship rings made for the winners. I mean, do we not believe that Dan should not have a, a, a ring made for the Pulitzer Prize winners?

I like this a lot.

I should spend more money on that show. In all seriousness, I do want to give Dan Le Batard his flowers here because And there was like a blurb last week that I found funny from Colin Cowherd that said, you know, we tried to get Pablo Torre, but he was too expensive. As if the Volume hasn't spent loads of money on talent. But it was kind of good for us that that was out because Dan, who's always said repeatedly how important journalism is, literally put his money where his mouth is. He bet on Pablo Torre. He bet on Amine El Hassan. He bet on David Sampson. He bet on Pablo's entire team. and Pablo Torre finds out, to basically invent this whole new audio investigative, sports investigative journalism genre. And it paid off in a big way.

Yeah, I mean, I think the important thing— and we're gonna talk to Pablo in the next hour or so— but the important thing to realize is I've been asked this question before this about people, "Hey, do you think the other, like, basketball journalists are jealous that you guys got this story and they didn't?" I said, will know because their jobs are so different. Their jobs are so chasing after the ephemera.

Would someone else have gotten the story?

No, that's the point. Because in order to get this story, you had to do— he had to do 7 months of digging and FOIA requests and like getting people to talk on the record, even sometimes modulated or whatever, and getting those documents, those internal emails. Like, this is a long-term process that takes way more actual reporting than, "Hey, the Giants are trading a second-round pick for, you know, a kicker or whatever," you know, stupid transactions.

That's a terrible trade.

Yeah, depends on the kicker. A 2 for a kicker? Depends on the kicker. So, you know, what Mike is saying, "Hey, he bet on Pablo and he bet on me," you know, like, it's not the talent. It's also— investing large amounts of money for a staff to do this research and to go after this. You're very proud. I, I'll be honest with you, Zazz, it's happened to me about maybe 3 times in the last 24 hours. I stop and I think and I get emotional, dude. Like, it's weird. Like, I have feelings like a 14-year-old. Like, you guys get those?

I take my feelings, I shut them way down for them to never come up.

I get hungry. Yeah, listen, you should be legitimately proud, obviously. Let's say it were awarded though, like Academy Award style, you just won Best Picture. Pablo, I think, would speak first, or maybe Dan would speak, and then be like, okay, get off the stage already. It means like, I just wanna— I just wanna say something real fast. What would you jump up at the mic and say? You have 15 seconds.

Absolutely playing you off. I wouldn't see a thing.

I would be in the background. I'd be in the background just mouthing, "What the fuck?" the whole time. I'd have sunglasses on. I'd be hugging everyone else on the stage. Like, Pablo would be talking. Let's say Mike's Pablo. I'd just be over his shoulder like, "This guy!" Like, I would be the absolute biggest clown I would want it to be imminently.

I've done my own journalism here.

You apparently get a coin. It's a singular coin. However, I can report trophies need to be made on their own and perhaps will be.

Whoa, I get a trophy? I get to walk around? I mean, you know what, Dave, I'll go around New York City with that trophy, put it on the table with me like, hey, a table for two, me and my good friend.

Or like Two-Face, just go around flipping your coin everywhere.

I'm just happy for you guys that you had an opportunity to like take a moment like this, take a program like this and run with it. And as one of the people that was one of the original journalists on this show finding the origins of the phrase, let's go. I take a lot of pride in what you're doing.

Sedona wore a bathrobe. That was great.

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.