Transcript of BLOCKBUSTER TRADE: Brady Tkachuk Joins The Florida Panthers | Local Hour

Sehr gut, sehr gut, sehr gut! Sehr gut? WISO Steuer ist sehr gut.

Das sagen ganz viele.

Cool, wer sagt das?

Stiftung Warentest, Computerbild, Focus Money, Chip, Finanztipp.

Such dir was aus.

Mega, aber das ist doch bestimmt kompliziert.

Nö, einfach Foto von der Lohnsteuerbescheinigung machen und fertig.

Klingt sehr gut. Ist sehr gut. Hol dir dein Geld zurück mit WISO Steuer. Iconic Vibes zum besten Preis. WOW geht mit Euphoria in die dritte Staffel. Ein paar Jahre nach der Highschool wusste ich nicht, ob das Leben so war, wie ich es wollte. Stream ab dem 13. April parallel zum US-Start, wöchentlich eine neue Folge. Das Problem ist, wenn du einen Pakt mit dem Teufel schließt, gibt es kein Zurück mehr. Freu dich außerdem auf weitere Highlights wie House of the Dragon und Wicked, alles ab nur 2,98 € im Monat. Streaming war noch nie so wow.

Greg, I am under the weather, and as our expert on words and usages of words, do you have any idea why we say someone under the weather? Because I don't know why that is. Do you?

I do not. No, I can't even begin to know, and I don't think anyone knows. I think it's one of those things we've all been saying our entire lives and nobody knows why.

Respectfully, Dan, you were walking around here earlier when I was trying to come into the shipping container.

It's a good question.

And I held my breath around you. Respectfully, I'm sorry, but when, when somebody's sick, I tend to hold my breath around them because I think scientifically, if I don't breathe in what you're breathing out, I can't get sick.

That's a good point.

Uh, Dominique is here with us. This is a very exciting Monday where we've got Greg Cody and Dominique. And how would, Dominique, you describe your relationship with Greg Cody at present? Because it has been all over the place over the years, but where is it now?

I mean, I'd say we're partners. Like, it's gone— it was a rocky start, but then we've come to the realization that we can't fight each other, we gotta gang up on you. Yeah, that's the move. And I realized that I pointed out to Greg something this morning that he didn't realize, is that Greg is an aging an aging shield. So you bring Greg around to throw him out so that whenever he coughs or whenever he has a bad arm day, everyone's like, "He's so old!" And then in comparison, you look young and virile.

That's right.

Same thing I did with my dad. And I don't have right now a suitable replacement on the bench. If something happens to Cody, I'm in big trouble. Azad, your relationship with Greg Cody has changed the same way that Dominique's has, right? Where originally you sort of didn't understand and found kind of disrespectful respectful that Cody refused to learn any of the basic rules of broadcasting, but now you've come around just like Dominique has, so the entire experience for everyone here is gang up on me.

Yeah, I mean, I, I still— it's not like I now understand that not doing radio properly is good. I, I still don't agree with that. He's not there yet, but I understand.

You can hear that he's not there yet.

Seriously, come on now.

Oh, I just got the hand.

You got the back of the hand. He waved the back. Even though we're not visual right now, he just gave you the back of the hand. It's the equivalent of getting slapped in the face with a fencing glove.

All I'm saying is if I— if you gave me 20 years, you just threw me into newspaper, all right, threw me into print media, 20 years later, I'd have mastered that shit by now.

Well, you'd bother to learn some things. If you hadn't mastered it, you'd be someone who didn't make the most basic of errors.

20 years.

No, you don't learn to be a great writer. You either are or you aren't. Whereas everybody and their mother has a podcast and leans into a microphone. Zazz always acts like it's some mysterious science, what we're doing in here. You lean into a microphone and you talk. That's what's called—

You still haven't gotten that part. Don't lean into the microphone.

Well, I'm trying. You know what? I'm a real guy. I'm a man of the people. I always say that. I'm a small private individual. You know, every once in a while I'm going to be a foot away from the mic. So what? You can hear me. You know, it's like when the parrot goes, "Very good!" You know, he's, he's way in the distance, but you still hear him.

We recommend that you don't do that, by the way.

Why is that?

Because we can barely hear you.

Very good.

Being a radio professional, not easy.

Per Farmer's Almanac, under the weather means feeling slightly ill. It's Sailor slang. Crew or passengers who became seasick went below deck during rough weather, literally taking shelter under the weather. And that's worth a toast.

Mike Ryan.

Jonathan Sassalo.

Greg Cody.

Roy Bellamy.

Jeremy Tache.

¡Tony Colareño!

Chris Cody.

Dan Levitar. In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mics up, cue. This is the Dan Levitar Show.

Pretty rare, I would say, for a Sunday to get a hockey headline because of a transaction. So I want to ask you guys about what happened here with Brady Tkachuk, because I think Panther fans, after not making the playoffs, after winning 2 titles, are excited about this for very obvious reasons and should be. All in, all the way, in a way that's hugely aggressive. Doesn't think about 5 years from now, doesn't think about 3 years from now. Their goalie's 38, Marchand's 38. Like, they they need to do it for this season. But, uh, Zazzle Roy, help me as our hockey experts, and I'll go to Dominique for his hockey expertise in a second as well. Uh, does any other team in the league trade 3 ones and a 2 for Brady Tkachuk, somebody who's not a superstar, uh, forward really, but gives them the strongest forward group in the entire league? I think the Panthers might be the only team that make this trade. Does anyone else trade 3 ones and a 2 for Brady Tkachuk?

I don't know if other teams trade that much. Let's also add context. One of the ones was Mackie Samuskevich. All right. They traded Samuskevich to Seattle. So it's really two ones and Mackie Samuskevich that they traded. And but what I will say is they traded three ones yesterday. Yes. Yeah, but not—

not—

anyway, you're getting lost in the minutiae.

You did that. I didn't do that. You did that. They traded three ones yesterday.

One of the ones they got was from the Mackie Simmons Scavengers.

That's what I'm saying. Yes.

Did they or did they not trade 3 ones yesterday?

It's essentially a 3-way deal.

All right, did they or did they not trade 3 ones yesterday to make this trade work? Yes or no?

Fine, fine, that's what they did. The part that gets me—

you corrected me and then I corrected you correcting me.

I'm just trying to move past it.

All right, you Got us stuck here.

Zaslo, not a professional broadcaster.

I know, that's a— yeah, you did throw the minutia out there, unnecessary minutia. It's like when the Rams made that trade, they was like, it's like they got him for free, they got Simpson for free. No, they gave him a first round pick, just like in this trade. But I— it's time for my analysis, you guys hush up. Here we go. It's brothers on the team. Oh yeah, I like brothers. They're brothers.

Not enough brothers in that league.

The part that I like the most is it seems like these teams keep wanting our players in trade and the Panthers are just like, "Nah," and they still get the guy they want because apparently Ottawa, like, they wanted Anton Lundell and Billsy was like, "Nah," and they wanted Carter Verhaeghe and Billsy was like, "Nah," and they still got Brady Tkachuk.

Well, the other thing about this trade is, uh, right now the Panthers They don't have a goaltender and they just took on an $8.2 million cap hit. So it's going to be a lot tougher to sign Sergei Bobrovsky.

I'm worried about that. Right. They're strong up front, but they are now officially weak in the back. Bobrovsky at 38. You're asking a lot from him at 38 years old.

Yeah, but the return of Barkov gives them a real presence defensively as well. He's a true two-way player. I think that's a big deal.

I prefer my rosters the other way. I like them a little weak up front, strong in the back.

Strong in the back.

Gotta go strong in the back.

Yeah.

Uh, the problem with what Greg Cody is saying is I don't assume— perhaps you guys do— I do not assume that Barkoff will return to the exact same form as before off injury. I don't think you can assume that. I don't think the Panthers are assuming that, which is part of why it is you make this deal. Because if you were staying with what it is that you thought was good enough to win 2 titles and you didn't think that the aging process was going to weaken your team, this isn't a deal that you make. I want to go back to what it is that we were saying though. Ottawa missed the playoffs 7 straight years, okay? Brady Tkachuk is not a superstar forward. He is somebody who is very good, and I'm excited about this, and they don't need him to be a superstar forward. They just need him to fit here and make them strong, and they'll be stronger than any team in the league at forward. The idea, though, that the Kachucks now become the most formidable brothers we've ever had in this town. You're talking about the Berets, the, the, the, the, the Drogages.

You're talking about the— who else you got?

The Blackwood brothers. You struggle again on that second one.

The Blackwoods. Yeah. There aren't many. There aren't many good— there aren't any. How many good brother tandems do we have in the history of South Florida sports?

Coral Park High School, the Conseco brothers.

Brian and Benny Blades.

That was— yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thank you for rescuing me. That's a better team of brothers than what it is I've presently put in front of you.

So we used to do fines around here when people had to clear their throat. What about if you just sound awful every time you speak? Is there a fine for that? Also, is there a fine for sweating on the microphone? If so, you're going broke today, big dog.

I'm sick. What do you want me— you're going to fine me for being sick?

Yes.

Hey, the great ones, you know what the great ones do?

Show up to work on Monday.

And they say, not today.

They say body. Not now.

Thank you. Professional.

The great ones don't get sick.

Woo!

Put it on the poll at @LeBittardShow. Do the great ones get sick? @LeBittardShow. So your thoughts, Roy, when you hear this trade come through and the Panthers are playing clearly for win now. This was something that caught all of the NHL by surprise, okay? Because Ottawa had been denying that Brady Tkachuk was available. He's got a no-trade clause and 2 years left on his contract. He could, uh, decide where he wanted to go, and he gave them a list of 4 teams that he wanted to go to. Ottawa was not in any big hurry to allow Florida to get better. And the idea that you're trading that hall— because while they didn't trade players, you're basically saying in a way that's not totally normal, we're playing for this year, not 2 years from now, this year.

And we're seeing across the league that player empowerment, by the way, is getting to the levels of what the NBA was last decade. I mean, everybody's running out. Dylan Larkin was out of Detroit. Darnell Nurse was out of Edmonton. Seeing the Panthers front 9 forwards right now, they're about as deep— they're probably the deepest in the league right now. Their scoring 9 is just incredible. To correct you, by the way, Ottawa lost in the first round to the eventual Stanley Cup champions in this playoffs, by the way.

I think Dan is underestimating how good Brady Tkachuk is. I think you can make an argument he's as good as his brother. And to Roy's point, when you have two Kachucks, a Barkov, Bennett, Marchand, Reinhardt, and Verhaeghe as 6 scorers, that's gonna be tough to outscore.

Am I wrong in saying he's not a superstar forward? I don't even mean it as an indictment. He's plenty good.

You are correct in the sense that if he were a superstar, if he's the best player on Ottawa all of these years, Ottawa should have been better. I would say the correct way to put it is Brady Tkachuk is not your team's best player, but if it's your team's third or fourth best player, like he's going to be on this Panther team, that's really good.

Think about this. Hold on. Second line: Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Brady Tkachuk. They're going to lead the league in penalties, man. It's going to be awesome. Wasn't the issue with the Panthers before that their strategy for winning was not a playoff strategy for winning? Is that they wanted to outscore everyone. Then they switched to a more playoff style of hockey. It sounds like this trade and not having the stability at goalkeeper, at goalkeeper, shifting them to back to that like non-playoffy aggressive style of hockey.

I would take a step back. What you're saying is right.

So should I take a step back?

No, no, I would just take it.

No, no, no.

You're okay.

You know what? Take a step forward. Yeah, because so far You've been pretty strong on the hockey, all right? You even said it right from the get-go, they got some brothers on this team, all right?

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Take a step forward, come on now.

Definitely add the R. Drop the R, we need it.

They do.

Seth Jones.

I would— oh, that's true, that's true.

Seth Jonesy.

I would take a step back though on the whole they're gonna be weak in net right now. It's not like the general manager knows they need a goalie. Like, they're not just saying, hey, let's get a bunch of scores and we'll figure the goaltending situation out. No, there's a plan. Now maybe the plan is to bring back Bobrovsky, which I would be okay with. Or while it seems that Connor Hellebuck is out of the question now because financially the Panthers would have to move some other pieces to make room for him, and that seems like a tall task, but I think at this point we know Bill Zito knows what he's doing. There's definitely a plan of what they're going to do in goal.

Well, will he get the Brad Marchand treatment? I mean, usually what he does is you got a base salary of $1 million and on the front end you get the signing bonus.

Bonus.

So does he get that treatment? Does he get the Sam Bennett treatment?

I think Sergei Bobrovsky has earned the right to get a new multi-year deal. Do I think it should be 6 years? No. But I think that he deserves to get a new multi-year deal and to prove that he can still be a winning goalie when he's got a great defense in front of him. He was bad this past year. He had a terrible defense in front of I— and by the way, no Barkov, who's their best two-way player anyway. I think he deserves the opportunity to show he could still be that guy.

I worry about everything happening there, his age chief among them. His age combined with how bad he was last year. When I just simply say, Greg, to you, because you're saying Dan is underestimating Brady Tkachuk, yes, they went to the playoffs this year and lost in, in the first round. They went 7 years without making the playoffs with him as their captain and number one forward, generally Generally speaking, if you're a superstar in this league, that doesn't happen.

Generally speaking, I still think— am I alone here? You can make an argument Brady Kachuk is as good as Matthew Kachuk, and I've heard that argument made. I've heard that argument made. He's a good— he's a really good player.

I don't think I'd make that argument.

A notch below, like a slight notch below.

A slight notch below, okay? A slight notch below means he's really good, okay? And you can argue he's not a superstar, whatever you think a superstar is.

I just told you though what my definition 7 years in the playoffs. He's their best player.

Flu Game Dan is on fire, man.

You are doing the damn thing.

I thought you were sick, but you, you may not sound right, but Flu Game Dan is on his shit today. Hang in there.

I'll tell you though, not that the Panthers were some kind of likable team to people outside South Florida. Everybody hated them anyway. Between Matthew Kachuk, who is very hateable if you're not a Panther fan, Sam Bennett, who is very hateable, Brad Marchand, who is very hateable. Now, not just adding Brady Kachuk, who does all the sneaky dirty stuff that Matthew Kachuk does also,. But we're talking about here a player who it's being said was not quite the same after the Olympics. The captain of Ottawa was not quite the same in that Ottawa dressing room when he returned after the Olympics, which is going to fuel the fire that he knew right there he didn't want to play for the Senators anymore.

Uh, can I ask you guys, because I can't believe we're still doing this after this much time, uh, Greg, Marshand or Marshand?

I say Marshand.

So do I. Uh, Tony, Marshand or Marshand?

Marshand.

Uh, Roy, what do you say, Marshand or Marshand?

I say Marshand, but, uh, Goldie says Marshand.

Okay, so that means Goldie knows because he's asked him how he wants it to be pronounced. Uh, still not as bad as Charles Barkley pronounces Bobrovsky. Sergei Bobrovsky. Sergey Bababka.

For 22 years on this show, we've debated the greatest athletes of all time. Who's the GOAT in football? Who's the GOAT in soccer? Who's the GOAT in hoops? One thing that we all know is Dan's the GOAT of finding the worst possible take. But there's another kind of MVP slash GOAT that doesn't get enough credit: the friend who knows to show up with enough Miller Lite, plus extra ice, because they just know the one who already has seats at the bar when you walk up. That is a Miller Time MVP. I've been on this show long enough to know that Dan is going to make everything about his feelings and Jeremy is going to push back on whatever I just said. But here's something nobody on this show will argue with. Miller Lite is the summer beer, the original light beer since 1975. This summer, recognize your MVPs. We all have that one friend who makes every game better. Now it's time to give them their moment. Head over to Miller Lite's social media pages to learn more about being a Miller Time MVP. 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 and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

Hello, listeners.

I know you know this, but the cup, yeah, it's taken over the US and only DraftKings Sports has you fully covered. The DraftKings Sports app is now available in all 50 states, giving you access to every market and keeping you in on the excitement at the speed of sports. Sweat all the matches you love, all in one place with one app. New DraftKings customers sign up with code DAN, spend $5, and get $200 in rewards within 21 days. That's code DAN. In partnership with DraftKings, the crown is yours. Bet with DK Sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER, 1-800-MY-RESET. New York, call 877-8-HOPEN-Y or text HOPEN-Y. Connecticut, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas, bet text pass-through may apply in Illinois. 21 and over. Void in Ontario. Event contract trading with DraftKings predictions involves risk of loss. Sportsbook bonus bets expire in 7 days. $50 in predictions dollars issued weekly for 3 weeks expire in 1 year.

Redeem 1 non-withdrawable reward. Availability varies.

Predictions offer void in New York. Ends June 28th. Terms at dkng.co/audio.

Dan Levatar!

Ah, baby!

Jonathan Sasselow!

Thank you.

This is the Dan Levatar Show!

Switching gears here to— Sergei Bobrovka! What is all over the televisions is—

Otto Lopez?

The, uh—

Lolo!

No, Jeremy, Otto Lopez is not all over the television.

You know where he is all over?

The hits lead in Major League Baseball.

What's all over the televisions is Giannis Antetokounmpo, uh, talk And I want to play this windy sound, and I want to remind you about something that happened here last week because I can't unsee what just happened here. I really can't unsee it. Okay, we were talking last week about how Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst were reporting very strongly, very credible people, that Jaylen Brown was not being shopped by the Celtics as part of that Giannis trade. Now, it seemed pretty obvious that their source was Boston, and it also seemed very obvious that Boston is incentivized to lie to them. And so now listen, after this was— as Mike Ryan was telling you, hey, I'm hearing Jalen Brown is indeed being offered. So we had Mike Ryan on one side and all of these credible people on the other saying Jalen Brown's not being offered, including Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. But clearly their sources were in Boston. Clearly Boston is incentivized to say that. So it seems like they're being lied to if you hear what Windhorst said this morning on, on Get Up. It's not because— it is not because all of a sudden Jaylen Brown became available this weekend.

It's because the reporters were wrong last week.

The Celtics are stone cold sober, think they're not as good as the Knicks, they're not sure they're going to be as good as the Pacers next year when they come back fully healthy, and they believe they need to upgrade their team. And I am now speculating that if Jaylen Brown doesn't get traded for Giannis, they may trade him somewhere else.

So that is one of the things that emerged.

Now Miami understands this. Miami understands that, that Jaylen Brown is in there. They can't match that. Miami in recent Phoenix Suns in the last couple of days has gone out to try to recruit third and fourth teams to improve their offer.

What do you guys think of the conversation from last week where we were talking about Zaslo saying specifically none of these reporters know what they're talking about, none of them are credible, and we all agreed Ramona and Brian Windhorst and Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe are credible? Mike was the only one reporting saying, hey, Jaylen Brown's involved in this deal, and now everyone's conceding, yeah, Jaylen Brown's being offered to Milwaukee. Milwaukee. What, what's interesting, if you're watching the details on this, on some of what's happening, is the semantics that the reporters are playing with here make it obvious to me that Jaylen Brown's only being offered to Milwaukee so far because Boston's worried about if they start shopping for a third team, then everyone's going to know he's available, and then Jaylen Brown's going to get really pissed off when they can confirm that everyone in the league is talking about Jaylen Brown's available.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's interesting to talk about the way reporters operate. Because if you understand, and the more time you spend in this business, and I've started to get a better understanding of like, it's somewhat, it's, it's horse trading, it's favor doing, it's conversations. It's reporting is like that, especially if you're on a specific beat all the time. And so I think Mike Ryan has the advantage of when he has a story, he comes out and he shares it. There's no expectation for Mike Ryan to continuously come out with new information. So if you're someone who has to have new information all the time, that means on occasion you're going to have to do favors, share reporting that someone wants you to get out there. So I think that happens, or keep reporting quiet that someone wants you to keep quiet in order to get access to more information. I think that— I, I don't know. Well, Mike wouldn't consider himself a reporter. I think he's someone who knows people. When he hears things, sometimes he shares it, sometimes he doesn't. And I think you could also obviously look at Mike Ryan and say that you would guess that his reporting is from, uh, local sources, and they would have different incentives the same way that these other reporters have different incentives.

But my guess is Mike would say that he doesn't need to share the stuff that he thinks might be a favor to someone else. Other reporters, I think, sometimes do.

This is what I know though. Mike Ryan, when he's reported things on here, he hasn't gotten anything wrong, not once. And it's not just local sources because he, uh, he has— he He— Mike Ryan really likes the whole deal-making, moving and shaking, and being more than a reporter, being in rooms where information is trafficked. And he hasn't gotten anything wrong yet. But, Greg, you mentioned last week you're saying that a reporter is only as good as his sources. I do believe Mike Ryan is reporting. I don't know the classification you're making or the distinction you're making when you say he's not a reporter, but he is reporting.

Listen, when a reporter talks to a source, whether it's an agent, whether it's somebody connected with a team, whether it's somebody on the periphery, that source has a vested interest. He has a reason for sharing this information. It might not always be accurate information. He may be trying to mislead. He may be trying to protect Jaylen Brown's ego by saying, no, we have— we're not going to include him in any trade talks. The Hawks when that isn't the truth. So I think you take everything with a grain of salt at this point. The decision is going to happen, right, in 24 hours or less, probably. So right now it seems to be two teams.

The distinction that I'm making—

oh my God, breaking news!

Brian Winhorst on Get Up just said Giannis Antetokounmpo to be traded before the draft.

Oh, so Greg Cody just reported in the next 24 hours—

I broke that story.

Yeah, apparently he broke the math line up though. Tomorrow the draft is at what, 7 o'clock, 8 o'clock?

Is— are we at 20? Probably 8 o'clock. You want to get as much audience as possible. That means 5 PM out on the West Coast, probably 8 o'clock.

Yeah, so 36 hours. The distinction I was making is that on some of these people who are reporters, like, they make their living reporting. And when you make your living reporting, you need relationships and information. And in order to maintain that, occasionally things are— and if you're reporting constantly, occasionally things are going to be wrong. Or you're gonna sit on things that you don't wanna share for fear of ruining a relationship that will have more value later. And I was saying, not in a diminishing way about Mike, but I don't think Mike would call himself a reporter. He doesn't make his living breaking news. He occasionally, and I think to some degree you could argue that that makes the things that he says a little bit more credible, 'cause it's like, look, I have no reason to share this. If I have any questions about it, I'm not going to share it. If I know something to be sure, I could care less whether these relationships are there or not because his livelihood is not dependent on having these people still speak to him. I think ultimately someone who does reporting all the time is going to be like more valuable as a reporter because they are a reporter.

But I think you're right. When people pop up who understand how this industry works, have connections and say, look, I have no reason to do this. I'm not getting a bonus. There's no bump for me. No one— this cachet is not valued to me. They pop up and say, I kind of know this to be true. We should listen to Mike and beyond.

I want to ask you, as somebody who both understands business and understands the feelings of athletes and where it is athletes get their feelings hurt in business, we were making the distinction last week whether or not Jaylen Brown has the right to be hurt, insulted. And the distinction I was making between those two things is that there are any number of times that you can be hurt without being insulted. But if you're insulted, then you're likely to be hurt. Does Jaylen Brown have a right to feel hurt or insulted that the Celtics would be shopping him to anybody?

So word choice matters a lot in this. So the right— I would push back on that even as a framing. Feeling hurt and insulted, it ain't up to you. It's not up to the person who is hurt or insulted. It's not up to the people who are trying to protect someone's feelings whether you're hurt or insulted. Like, I can think of of a number of times in my life, inside and outside of work, where I knew what the person was doing. I knew, or what the company was doing. I knew what I signed up for and what risk I was exposing myself to. And still, when it comes around and it's thrown in your face, you can't control the fact that you're being hurt. Every relationship that you get into, romantic, professional, or otherwise, there's a risk that you could be hurt or insulted by something that someone does. And you know that it could happen. And when it happens, you don't know how you're going to respond to it.

I'm not making those things synonyms though. Hurt— I'm saying he's got a right to be hurt but not insulted.

Yeah, um, okay, I guess. I, I, I, again, I don't necessarily understand the distinction. Like, he has— and I, I wouldn't use the word right. Like, he's going to be hurt and insulted. All of us would be. Any professional person would be if someone said there's someone out there more valuable, we'll give you away. Especially in sports, because sports sports, and I— probably not just sports. I spent my life in sports, so I feel that way. I feel that it's kind of unique in this way where there's an emotional connection. There's a 'we're a family' thing. There's a 'we're brothers, we're going to do this together, we're going to go through this.' Like, it's something that's preached over and over again. I'm sure when they were on that run to the championship and when he was the MVP of the Finals, there were a number of times where 'we all we got in this room, no one believed in us, we gotta stick together.' Okay, I believe it. Uh, beginning last year, Tatum's We're gonna put all this on you. We need you. You're our guy right now. We're gonna build this around you. We need you to keep us afloat.

We love you. We care about you.

A couple months later, eh, when you put it like that, it's kind of insulting.

Yeah, eh, no, Giannis is available. Maybe we'll shop that ass.

Dan Levitar, the Packers win or the Bears lose. Jonathan Sasselow, shit, do you want to know how that— what were the kids doing?

This is the Dan Levitar Show.

The reason though that I think that insulted is not the way that Jaylen Brown should feel is because empirically any of us can put those two players side by side and everyone would say Giannis is a better player than Jaylen. I don't know if Dominique believes anyone in this industry is better than he is, but if I were to— that ESPN is trading you because they have somebody, whoever they think is— most people would think is better than you at this. I think you can be hurt by that. I don't think you can be insulted by it. I think it's a compliment.

Can I say, it's like, again, it's to my point, it's about the relationship. There are people who are more attractive than I am. I still would be hurt and insulted if my wife was like, let me trade up. Like, yeah, he's, he's handsomer, but I thought we had something here, baby. Like, that's the same situation.

Oh, but I won you a championship. I'm not your baby.

I won you a championship.

That is not the same.

He's right. Good analogy.

No, it's a terrible analogy.

Okay, here we go, here we go. How about this analogy? There are some things that are factually true. If someone told me, hey, you're a little slim, I would be insulted if they said that to my face. Or like, hey, you look a little fat there. I'll be— whether it's true or not does not mean that it can't be an insult.

You can be insulted be insulted if your wife says that she is trading you for a handsome player to be named later. That you can be insulted by. You cannot be insulted by she's replacing you with someone as handsome as Giannis. Like, that's, that's not an insult to Jaylen Brown.

You're—

look at how valuable Jaylen Brown is. He gets you one of the top 50 players of all time.

You, you cannot tell me that it's not an insult to feel like you've done everything that an organization could want from you. You've done it all. You were the MVP of their most recent championship. You just— they lost their best player. You put the team on your back and you made this team— not just their best player, they got rid of Holiday, they lost Big Zingaling, they lost a bunch of the most influential or impactful players on that team. And you know who stood up? Jaylen Brown. And he made this team a top-ranked team in the East, and they were competitive. And then immediately after Immediately after that, they're like, hey, you know, this kind of perpetually injured guy who has— hasn't won a championship as recently as you have, let's give that a spin. It's going to be insulting. And you're saying empirically, empirically, empirically. This is not about empirical data. It's about relationships.

I said this already. I'll say it again here, and I'll use the example you gave, Dan, where you don't expect Alexander Barkov to immediately come back next season and be the guy that he was. I think part of what Jaylen Brown can be frustrated with is, why is it definitely me you're trading and not Jayson Tatum?

The thing that I'm objecting to when Dominique says, and you guys say that it's a good example— guys, this isn't real love. Like, what are you doing? It's business. Like, what are you doing? It's not your wife or spouse. And so like It's business!

You of all people, you're trying to argue for me that somehow it's easy to disentangle relationships from business? You?

Yes.

What?

Because I was hurt by ESPN. I was not insulted. I understood what they did. It's a business move.

I don't understand how you're making that distinction, but maybe it's minutiae. You can be insulted and hurt. I guess I don't understand the difference necessarily. And just because just because you can understand the argument for— or the rationale for a decision doesn't mean that it doesn't still feel like an insult.

But I think it's a two-way situation, particularly in sports, I think, with Jaylen Brown as a great example. The insult and the hurt goes in both directions. If Jaylen Brown is leveraging his power to try to get out of Boston, to try to be traded elsewhere, he has a right to say, "Nothing against Boston. It's business." When the opposite is true, If the Boston Celtics think that they can get better by trailing— trading Jaylen Brown, that's business, right?

I think that we often want to make these distinctions and make someone right and someone wrong in these conversations when it's not necessarily true. I think Boston is completely justified in doing that, just like I think players demanding a trade are completely justified. I think Giannis saying I'll only play in these— in these places, completely justified in doing it. I think LeBron saying I'm going to do a press conference and raise money for the Boys and Girls Club Girls Club only to spurn the team that drafted me. He's completely within his right to do it, but pretending like because he's within his right that the person on the other side is not going to be hurt, to me seems silly. Like, I don't understand why we can't accept that there's a diff— that it's okay for both things, for both people to be justified and hurt and insulted. That's all I'm saying is, yeah, they're right, it's business. He knew what it was when he got drafted. He knew what could happen the whole time. Still don't mean it's not gonna hurt. And I think the Celtics are looking at it from a perspective of, all right, we got two guys.

One guy seems to be bought into what it is that we're doing here as an organization. One guy seems to be bought in on what he's doing outside of the organization, right? You, you, you look at what the smoke that's been there with Jaylen Brown, the Nike deal that went awry, the reason why he wasn't on the Olympic team. Like, there's stuff in his past that's there that maybe the Celtics know a lot more about, and they're like, ooh, we got to get rid of this thing, right? And I think from his side, he would say, I've done the things that I'm supposed to do and I'm still not getting the rewards that I expect. And while I get what you're saying, it's like, how can I not be on the All-Star or on the Team USA? Like, I've done it all. Like, how can I not be the one that you want to build around just because I wasn't drafted high enough? Like, I played just as well as you could have expected Jayson Tatum to play. I am healthier. Why am I the one that's on the trading block? Like, I understand all the decisions in this.

What I'm pushing back on is just because you can, you can point to reasons why, uh, Jaylen Brown is less like likely to be that guy doesn't mean that in his head, in his experience, he's not justified in being like, but why me? What more do I have to do? And I think a lot of the things that people point to as reasons why they wouldn't want to stick with him are easily like defensible based on the way that he, from his perspective, he's been being treated, he's been being talked about. He was the one that was being shopped and then went on to be the best player on team in the Finals. They were shopping him before. Like, can these guys coexist? Who's the one that they were always going to move? The lower— well, not even a lower draft pick, but the guy who was not the number one option that they wanted to keep. I just— I get where he's coming from. And I also recognize that just looking at their raw ability, like Jason Tatum, a healthy Jason Tatum is probably more likely to build around. And given his persona, he seems like an easier one to work with.

He's a better player. Just knock it off. Like, off an Achilles. Jaylen Brown couldn't go to his left.

Off an Achilles.

We spent an entire series Where they lost to the Celtics.

Giannis couldn't shoot free throws.

Where they lost to the Heat.

You act like everyone— there's not flawed people. Oh, we get ESPN. You want to first— we get first take.

Tatum is a better player than Brown. Like, knock it off, man. Jesus. Like, he's a better player. Hard stop. Like, he's just better.

When you factor in the health issue though, that's a question mark. That makes them more even. I still think Tatum's better than Jaylen Brown.

So this is what I would say to you. Is like, you may be right. However, how many players would you say that same thing about when talking about Jalen Brunson? And Jalen Brunson was clutch in these moments, but there are lots of players in the league where you would throw your hands and yell, he's just a better player. But in the moment when you needed him, who stood up? If I'm Jalen Brown, I'm like, look, you can say all that stuff about him being better. I'm not saying this is true, but how could you not be the person who was the MVP in the most important moment, moments, and say like, yeah, you can say all this stuff about that guy, but you know who had it when you needed it. And I get it, it's a result of Tatum taking some of that attention. I get all of that. But the fact of the matter is, I get— and I'm not arguing against you, I'm not saying that Tatum or that Brown is better. I'm saying that if I'm Brown, I'm like, I'm better, I'm the guy.

That's fine. All NBA players feel some form of that. It's how they got to where they are. The thing that this ignores is Giannis is better than both of them. Like, it just sort of skips right past that part. It doesn't matter, hurt or insult either one of them, what you'd be getting back is better than both of them. But it can be downgraded because you fear the injury and the age if you want to do that. But Giannis is better than the both of them. And, uh, now Jaylen Brown is available. And I think it's, uh, interesting that everyone got this wrong, that the reporting on all of this was wrong.

I I mean, the reporters that I believe are credible, the ones you mentioned, Ramona Shelburne, Brian Winters, Gary Washburn, ironically, they're the ones who ended up having this wrong.

But we're assuming they had it wrong and they just were— well, they were saying what they were being told, and things change as they go along. So like, I—

oh, but you're saying that things change when it's— when in reality might just be like, nah, Boston didn't want anybody.

No, it didn't change, Dominic. It was floated and then Winhorst and Ramona were sent out there with what those sources said to say it's not true, to protect, protect Jaylen Brown's feelings. And now we know, now, now as it gets close, everyone knows, oh no, Jaylen Brown is on the table, we don't have to protect his feelings anymore. The information wasn't accurate, it was meant to protect Jaylen Brown from discussing with his family all the shit we're discussing right now, which the Celtics don't want around their team.

Yeah, because if Jaylen Brown comes back and the trade falls through, they don't care about his feelings if the trade works out. I get all of that, that makes sense. My point is, when you have relationships with people and organizations and you, you ask them a question, they tell you the answer to the question, you then— you can't then go and say the opposite. That goes back to original conversation is like those relationships matter. Even if you do further reporting and you find out that what they're telling you is not true, you cannot say anything. But you can't then go out there and say like, yeah, what this person just told me, completely false.

I—

it's just the way that the business works. We can be naive about it if we want to, but like not every business is going— not every industry is going to be, um, completely beyond reproach.

I would, if I were Jaylen Brown, I would have a talk with my own ego and I would say, look, it's obvious I'm way better than Tyler Herro, and that's the reason I'm good enough to leverage Boston getting one of the best players in the league. That's pretty good. Like, there's nothing for Jaylen Brown to be hurt or insulted about in that context.

Jaylen Brown does not even think about him in the same category as Tyler Herro. Like, I I think so.

But the Bucks do.

No, but saying that I'm better than Tyler Herro is not— I think where the hurt and the insult comes from is from the team, the Celtics, that you're on, that you've worked for and that you've played for, you won a championship for. Them saying that I'm fine shopping you, that's where the hurt comes from. And you can logic it all you want, Dan. I see you getting upset and getting all worked up again.

I'm not getting all worked up because of this. I'm getting worked up because 10 minutes ago I wanted to go to some Zlatan shit and we're still here. That's what I'm getting worked up about. Because we're having this conversation of various form that we already had last week, reheating it again.

That's so not Max Meyer.

That's, that's why I'm bothered, because I want to get to this Zlatan Salah.

The only person more bothered than you, Dan, that they haven't gotten— we haven't gotten a Zlatan would be Zlatan. Zlatan knew that 10 minutes ago you were going to start talking about it, never got around to it. Who's Zlatan?

Zlatan Ibrahimović is, uh, one of the most charismatic personalities in the history of sports. Good looking And he doesn't want to be. He's even better looking than he used to be. See if you guys can find me some video and pictures of what Zlatan looks like now with his shirt off, because he's more fit now at 41 than he was when he was playing in a way that is fairly absurd at that age.

So wait a second, you saw him on the World Cup coverage in a suit and you said, let me Google him with his shirt off now?

No, I just got an algorithm just started sending me top 10 Zlatan plays.

And mine's because of the stuff.

Once I clicked on that. Yes, I do.

I always love figuring out what your algorithm thinks of you. It's never shown me a topless picture of Zlatan. It's sending them at you. It thinks something about you.

Because I kept clicking on Zlatan top 10 plays and they don't know yet whether I'm a man or a woman. And so they throw that in there just in case I've got some other interests in Zlatan behind— beyond the goal scoring, maybe a scoring of another kind. And so I can't blame them for doing that. And I was not—

it doesn't matter whether you're a man or a woman.

Woman.

I was not upset that they did send that to me. I was very happy. It does— for to the algorithm, it does. No, it doesn't.

Happy Pride Day.

I believe— no, I believe the algorithm does care whether you're a man or a woman and starts feeding the tastes of men and women, the appetites. It absolutely does pick by—

it cares what you're interested in. It doesn't care what you are.

You need some tips on how to get that good algorithm?

I'm not gonna have time here to get to the damn Zlatan stuff.