Transcript of Kylian Mbappé Is The Greatest World Cup Performer EVER | Hour 1

Meditieren, Yoga, Joggen— nichts entspannt mich. Echt?

Mich entspannt meine Steuer total.

Steuer? Wie Finanzamt? Die Steuererklärung? Ja, ich hab ganz locker über 1.000 € zurückbekommen. Hast du geheime Connections oder Excel-Superkräfte?

Nö, nur die WISO Steuer App.

Wow, und das ist einfach? Klar, die macht fast alles automatisch. Ich fühl mich plötzlich so entspannt.

Hol dir dein Geld zurück. Abgabefrist: 31.

Juli.

Was?

Schaffst du ganz entspannt mit WISO Steuer. Ach ja. You are listening to the Dan Lebatard Show in partnership with the DraftKings Sports App, now live in all 50 states.

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Jeremy's upset because we didn't get to the Marlins. Yeah, dude. Maybe, maybe that's because even though we're done with the local hour, maybe the Marlins are a national story.

They are a national story.

Okay, alright, so calm down.

The best team in baseball.

Alright, so calm down.

You know, this is the best 20-game stretch they've had in franchise history. They've won 16 of their last 20. It's unbelievable.

They won 16 in Washington. Like they never did that in '97?

Nope.

I mean, I know they— people think they were incredible in '97 when they won the World Series. They won 91 games, not like they were a 100-win team. And they were a wildcard team. Like, they were— matter of fact, in '97, going throughout most of that season and going into the postseason, they were considered an underachieving—

they've never won a division.

Yeah, as a franchise, 2 World Championships, 0 division titles.

It's incredible. And, and right now they sit, I believe, 3.5 back of the division. They're tied with the Phillies, who— God, the Phillies, I mean, they're 20 games over since they fired Rob Thompson and hired Don Mattingly as their manager. That series down here, I like Mattingly, man.

I always like Mattingly.

Oh man, the idea of, of like the Marlins and Phillies squaring off in a wildcard series where it's Mattingly against Clayton McCullough.

Like, look, this team has been in Mattingly's favor.

This, this team has been spectacular. And it's fun watching the rest of the MLB, like, media catch up on it. And you're— you watch MLB Network. They're doing all these breakdowns, not just of Otto Lopez, but of all the things that are going right.

I know, I know you got a lot. Remind me to get back to it.

Okay.

I mean, you got a lot. I know you got a lot.

Okay.

Yep.

I watched you last night. I had the Marlins on my monitor while I was on ESPN last night. I'm watching the Marlins game.

See that shoe story there?

And I was waiting for you. You were talking to Otto Lopez. I was waiting to see if you were going to dap him up. You did not.

What did I do?

You shook his hand.

I did.

You shook his hand. You did not dap him up. Alright, remind me to get back to it. I know you got a lot to say. Alright, let's get to— what are you laughing at? Let's get to the World Cup.

Alright?

Right? Let's get to the World Cup already. So yesterday, finally, the World Cup is back. I mean, we had to go Wednesday with no World Cup. What are we supposed to do to pass the time? Reconnect with our family? It was weird not having the World Cup on Wednesday. So the World Cup, they return yesterday and we get France just— they really pummeled Morocco. Like, we get to the 60th minute and Mbappé finally scores to make it 1-0. And at that point it was like, yeah, it feels like the floodgates are about to open because they were dominating the whole game. And then finally Mbappé broke through.

You know what, Chris Cody? I think Kylian Mbappé is worth a toast.

Worth a Toast is presented by Cuervo. Keep it fun, keep it Cuervo.

Let me tell you why Kylian Mbappé is worth a toast. Gents, Kylian Mbappé is the greatest World Cup performer of all time. And it's not even close.

Well, who would have been if you weren't making this statement right now? Like, who, who was the greatest World Cup performer?

Well, there's Pelé. I think, I think a lot of people, especially with his World Cup in Qatar would say Leo Messi, but Messi has had some high-profile slip-ups. It took him a while. Yep. To get going in the World Cup. There's only been one performer that has been scoring at this clip from the jump. Mind you, he's already a World Cup champion. Kylian Mbappé is only 27 years old because they won 8 years ago, right? Yes, they won the World Cup. He was part of that. He had a hat trick in the final where they just fell short. And for my money, the greatest single sporting match ever. Any sport. It's, it's what we show the aliens and say, this is what sports is all about. That France and Argentina final, Mbappé—

which was won in penalties, right?

Yes. Mbappé had a hat-trick in that. Messi was brilliant. And the two best players being the best players, it was just phenomenal. Mbappé is not stopping. And Mbappé had a disappointing season for Real Madrid, injured. This guy, he's always questioned a little bit. PSG starts stacking up the elusive trophies when they get rid of him and he forces his way to Real Madrid and it doesn't go the right way. And he gets to the friendly confines of the World Cup and he's scoring at an insane clip again. The absolute worldie that he scored yesterday. His motor is unbelievable. He gets really fiery in the World Cup. It's a different type of Kylian Mbappé.

He got stuffed on a weak penalty.

Yeah, he was very smart in what he did on that penalty. Everyone was saying it's a dive. No, it's, it's— you have the player exposed already who didn't hit the ball, you drag your feet a little bit, and you force the penalty.

No, but I'm saying his penalty attempt was—

yeah, it was, and he kind of got frozen out, and there were already all the conspiracy theories with the Argentinian refs. But what— how he drew that penalty is a lot like a great shooter pump faking like D-Wade. Getting the defender to jump in the air, you're dead to rights at that point. Mbappé has been so brilliant. This French team has proven they can beat you in many, many ways. They can blitz you with their attack. Dembélé is a former player of the year in that sport, and he hadn't gotten going until this World Cup. I believe France has the first pair of teammates that have scored at least 5 goals in the same World Cup since Otu, Rivaldo, Ronaldo. Dembélé is finding his form right now. France seems inevitable. Now we'll see what happens between Spain and Belgium. Spain have not conceded this entire tournament. Styles make fights, right? But the problem with France is they can fight you any style.

I feel like France kind of— because remember, they were coming off the game against Paraguay where they only won 1-0. It was a penalty by Mbappé. And, you know, let's not forget the US kicked the shit out of that Paraguay team. And I feel like yesterday France kind of announced to everyone, hey, like, we're, we're still France.

They've played in all sorts of weather so far this tournament. They, they have been all over the map. They, they are just a machine. They seem inevitable. But that is not what this sport is. You can get dragged in the mud. A call can go the other team's way. Right now they are heavy favorites. On DraftKings Sports, I think with good reason. Mbappé flatly seems unstoppable. And there's a reason for that, because he is. In the World Cup, he's unstoppable. No one can stop him. Even in defeat, you cannot stop Kylian Mbappé. We are seeing in this World Cup, more than any that I can ever remember, the superstars living up to the billing. And that is so great for the sport. Erling Haaland has become one of the most famous people in America. And it's not just how he looks. Yes, he's a curiosity, no doubt. But it's because he's awesome. There's a lot of fun stories in the World Cup, a lot of personalities that people are drawn to. They're also not just kicking ass left and right at the World Cup. And for Mbappé to do what he's doing, for Messi to do what he's doing, you look at the leading goal scorers in this tournament, they're all recognizable names to casual sports fans.

So who are we rooting for this weekend?

I think we want to see Spain beat Belgium because Spain has not conceded this tournament.

So if we're saying Kylian Mbappé is unstoppable, yeah, can you score against these guys?

That's, uh, you know, that's today.

That's today.

Immovable object. I want to see— and those are two big-time brands. And then the last double matchday of the tournament is on Saturday.

Yep.

Where unfortunately Colombia didn't make the party. The Swiss versus Argentina, a lot less compelling than that would have been.

I mean, you remember I poured one out for the Colombian fans.

Good fans.

Dave, they got really good fans, Colombia. We're going to miss them.

I am fascinated by Norway-England. Dave, you and I spoke a little bit about a Mexico-England match that, while I don't think I completely hit it pitch perfect in terms of the theater and the drama, it was pretty damn close.

Oh, I think you did. Maybe, maybe there was a, maybe there was a hint of some hyperbole when you said the biggest event in the history of sport, but it definitely was hyped up and exceeded the expectations. By the way, that's my big takeaway above everything else about this World Cup. After seeing the atmosphere and how hyped it was and how it lived up to it, the NFL needs a team in Mexico City. Mexico City needs to be in the NFL. It's more plausible too than a team in London or somewhere in anywhere in Europe.

Team London is so stupid.

I mean, you can kind of do the math on it, especially as they get back to supersonic jets or whatever you call it. What was that, the Concorde? Remember they had the Concorde? Maybe you guys are all too young to remember that. I don't know why it went away. Well, it was dangerous is why it went away. But why we can't update the technology to make it a little bit safer to get across the Atlantic in a couple hours? Either way, yes, Mexico City needs a team. And the thing that I have— let me be ugly American. Go on. As a response to Mike Ryan, I contend, and I'm not somebody— I'm including myself in this group. I have no ability. I've watched football my entire life, devoted my career to it and otherwise. I have no ability to divine who's a good offensive lineman and who isn't individually. I love when people weigh in on Anthony Munoz is the greatest left tackle of all time.

Good place to plug Football America. Go ahead.

Larry Allen is like— you have no idea. You've just heard a lot of experts say it a lot. And how do I know that it's— I feel comfy being in this group is because ask NFL players who play on the outside. They don't know either. The only people who know are the offensive linemen, are the linemen themselves, and the running backs. They can figure out who actually is doing their job well. I think this obsession with the World Cup this time around, and it has deserved all the buzz that it has gotten because it has been fascinating to watch as a novice taking a look at it. I think most people who watch soccer, I think they want to be a part of the community and I get it and it's cool to watch Premier League early in the morning to go to the bar, drink pints and pretend that you know something about Liverpool or otherwise. I think if you took the score bug off, I don't think people would be able to divine which team is good. I don't think it'd be like, "Oh, obviously France is obviously so much better than Switzerland." You wouldn't know that.

You need the announcers to tell you, "Oh, that's the best player right there." And that's how we track it. True or no?

Well, okay, but the funny thing is, and the younger audience, like, you know, Chris, certainly Jeremy, may not remember this, that's how we used to watch sports. There was—

Right.

There were no graphics on the screen. But whatever sport we're watching, in basketball, they're scoring, the score changes every 30 seconds in basketball, but it was never on the screen. You had to just like—

Really?

You had to just like know that the Heat are up by 6, and when the other team scores, like, all right, I think the lead's down to 4 now. And every couple minutes they would pop the graphic, the score graphic, and the time by the way, Up on the screen.

I remain resentful of the imposed yellow line showing you where the first down is because my eyes can pick up where the, where the yards, where the hash mark thing. But now I can't think of what those are called. The chains.

The—

again, Dave hosts Football America. Continue.

Well, we've updated the technology. I've washed away the past. But yes, that yellow line and all that tache, believe it or not, it was nonexistent to us. This is, this is why Zaz and I are so deeply informed about this and have such a deep understanding of sport.

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John. Can you rate my Al Pacino from that billiard scene in Carlito's Way if I do it for you? I think it's pretty good.

Yeah. Jonathan Sasslow.

You think you're big time? Well, you're gonna die! Big time!

That is, on my infamous scale of 1 to 10, that's a 7.6.

Solid.

Good job, Dad.

Good job, Dad.

That's a Sui nominee right there.

Good.

This is the dilemma.

Avatar Show. How about baseball? In baseball, you had to know, okay, I think the count's 2-1 now. You had to keep— really?

Yeah, man.

Graphic. I seriously, like, I get— I remember in baseball, obviously they didn't have like the strike zone on the screen. That's a recent one. I feel like I remember the first down line potentially becoming a thing. But the idea that you didn't have scoreboards— no, like that, dude, it blows my mind.

Dude, umpires used to, as an aide, hold up the count.

Oh yeah.

Watching at home and they had the little clicker where they would keep track of the count.

That's how you would know.

They still have that.

But it's weird that they have that as a backup. So there's still like an analog failsafe. Oh yeah.

No, there's still the umpire over at first base, I believe, still keeps track of pitches. Like, I know coaches do that. They'll hold like the little clicker to keep the pitch count. Where's my click click?

Yeah, in case everyone in the building has forgotten the count, the home plate— Hey, I got my thing here.

Yeah, I like the umpire holding up 2 and 2. That was great. Let's bring that back.

It's really a tough thing. I can really advocate for doing away with replay because of— because it delays the euphoria, the instantaneous euphoria of a big moment. And that kind of sucks. It's like, wait, no, no flags, right? No, no. Can we celebrate? All right, touchdown, kind of effect is weird. But go back and watch old football games. That will be so jarring to your young eyes. The way Dick Enberg or otherwise goes like, they'll show the replay like, ah, look like that ball hit the ground. Okay, second down here. Like they just go on with the play. They go on like, it's maddening. Like he dropped the ball.

How can you continue with the game?

Clearly the ball hit the ground, but they just move on with it. And that was just a matter of course back in the day.

Football America does such a great job with alternate timelines and what if this thing happened. You need an episode where technology changed, or the lack thereof, changed the course of history. Down here locally, Natron Mean stepped out of bounds, right? That, that was a game-changing play that altered that Super Bowl. There were probably dynasties built on— yeah, they didn't have the technology. I remember there was a Seahawks-Jets game that was impacted, that if they merely had instant replay, it would have changed the entire playoff.

There's no such thing as the Tom Brady, all the Lombardis and everything else. If not for the tuck rule, the Raiders advance and, and go to Pittsburgh for the title game the next week. And in— and although if you talk to the Patriots on that team, they will tell you everybody outside of Drew Bledsoe understood by the end of the season that Tom Brady was the better quarterback, but money plays. And it is plausible that over the course of the offseason they might have said, we better go back to Drew Bledsoe now, he's the one who's getting all the coin for us, as opposed to the way it rolled.

Um, right, but the, the Tuck rule is obvious though, Dave. Everyone knows that. That's a, that's a top-shelf example. I'm talking about the Natron Means types example where Marino could have made it to another Super Bowl if they just merely had instant replay.

Listen, I can go on and on with all these examples, of course, playing this game. You know, we just talked about, as a matter of fact, on the New Football America upcoming in a matter of minutes for your ears and for your heart, 1972, the Immaculate Reception. If they did reverse that somehow, the Dolphins maybe are imperiled. Their undefeated season is imperiled by the fact that they In a bizarre thing, a quirk from that era was they went to— the Dolphins did, undefeated though they were, went to Pittsburgh to play the title game because they rotated who had home field. And the Raiders would have gone to— Really? Yes. Miami, right. And so, yeah, that game was in Three Rivers. Fortunately for the Dolphins, it wasn't chilly out. It wasn't what you would expect in January for Pittsburgh. So instead they go back to Miami to play the Raiders. They would have done that and it would have been a home field disadvantage probably because Snake Stabler and Cliff Branch and otherwise like to sling the ball all around on that AstroTurf of the Orange Bowl versus the Dolphins who wanted to ground and pound.

You might be able to make a pretty good case that the Raiders win that game. I mean, the Steelers almost beat them and they had no business even playing the Dolphins at that point.

It has to be such a weird thing if you're a young listener. And when I say young, I'm talking, I don't know, 25, 30. If you're a young listener and to just think of the concept of watching sports and the score and the time, not the inning, not the count, not always be on the screen where you just have—

Legitimately blows my mind. I, I, I, Obviously, this had to have happened. It makes sense. Graphics change the way that TV works, change. We see so many different things now than we saw 10 years ago. But the concept of having to watch this game and simply rely on whether or not the play-by-play broadcaster was updating me frequently on television or radio—

every couple minutes, that's why they had it— score on the screen.

This makes sense.

Vince Scully always talked about how he had like a little timer and he would flip it over And the moment that the sand ran out, he would update the score. That was just how he went about doing the game.

That's still kind of—

Daz and I, brain muscles, our brain muscles were trained like, like building a bicep. We got good at keeping track of the score. You kids don't know how easy you have it. Yeah, right. But by the way, Mike, to your point, we can do recent history, the 2020, the critical play of last football season is the 2-point conversion up in Seattle. If they don't convert that, the whole playoffs in the NFC side arrange differently. I mean, you know, that the Seahawks probably don't go to the Super Bowl.

Soccer is made so much worse though by the technology. Look, you have the hand of God, I get that. Again, like, what up, play? Top-shelf example of why you need to review. But offside in particular, there is no discernible advantage that someone has by having, you know, a toe over.

It's It should be your feet being behind, right? Like if your shoulder or head are over, who gives a shit, right?

I don't like how precise it is.

I think it should be—

I'm with you.

But where's the line there?

Well, the line is the line. The last defender. That's the line.

That is the first line.

But like where's the line on the body?

But like the—

I think if your feet are behind it, that's all that should matter.

I'm sure if you go through history, you can cite egregious examples where a goal was allowed where the player was offside and it was obvious that they were.

Definitely.

But here's a good one for you, Mike. I'm going through them. I have dozens. I can sit here and do this for the next 3 days and do this. How about, as a longtime Browns fan— this probably is prior to you tuning in— but are you aware of the drive? John Elway and all of that. They go to overtime and Rich Carlis, barefoot as he was, which is one of the great chapters in sports history, that for a decade at the start of the '80s They go, let's, let's make our white golf balls orange and let's have our place kickers take off their shoe and sock. Why? I have no idea. And okay, maybe it would work in Miami or LA, but, but in January in Cleveland, Rich Carless, is that definitely in the mud and cold? In other words, that's your best bet to have your stinking toes out there kicking the ball? And he kicked the ball, and if you watch the replay, it sure looks like it would have hit the upright. And not gone through, but they say it's good and the Broncos go on to the Super Bowl. The Browns could have been in the Super Bowl if we had replay looking at those.

By the way, back to my— back to my, uh, my fix for the goalposts. Let's just complete the rectangle. Let's put a crossbar at the top too. Then you got to make it through the rectangle. Now no guesswork, and it raises the standard for place kickers. Now it's not just getting it through those things, but into the square, into the rectangle.

The hardest was like baseball was the hardest without the graphics because not only did you have to know the score, not only did you have to know the inning, not only did you have to know the count, but the only way that you knew if there were base runners is if the guy was on second. You could see the guy chilling on second, but like, I think there might be someone on third. I'm not sure, you know, like You didn't know how many baserunners were on.

Marlins always have baserunners on.

All right, give me, give me a little bit. Go ahead. Give me a little bit more on the Marlins.

You know, they've got the most sweeps of anyone in the National League tied with the Dodgers. They've swept 7 different teams, including back-to-back sweeps. They've won 6 in a row. It's unbelievable. Otto Lopez just set the record for the most hits before the All-Star break in team history. And the bigger one, he's got 40 multi-hit games in the first half. The last guy to do that before the All-Star break was José Altuve in 2014.

All right, let's— I'll get I'll get back to you on the Marlins stuff. I know you got a lot. All right, I'll get back to you. I don't know if you guys saw this, right? A video went viral yesterday of— so it's this video from like a basketball, like a youth camp, all right, a basketball camp. And you have the basketball coach and the kids are all sitting on the court and they're watching and the coach is teaching them how to defend one of the other youths, all right? And, you know, the kids dribbling and the coach is teaching them how to play defense. This video went viral yesterday because NBA players, current and former, they're like all responding to it. And give this a watch and tell me what you think they're responding to. Watch my footwork.

Go, go.

What did I do with my feet? I turned and Foot over foot. I get here before he does.

What do I want him to do?

Cross. I want him to change directions.

Can he keep going? No, sir.

Why not?

Because it's out of bounds.

Because there's an out of bounds here.

That's my helper. That's another defender.

So I got to get to another defender as fast as possible so he has to change. If I don't get there, watch what happens. Oh, oh, he's gonna beat— Guys, I know you guys have other coaches teach you this. Is this good? Yes, it is good.

Is this efficient?

That's been taught since, I don't know, 1897.

Does it work?

It does work.

I actually—

this is insane.

I hadn't watched this full thing. I didn't think— he's at least acknowledging the proper way, right?

Like, he's saying everyone else is wrong, I'm right.

To me, that's better than I'm teaching it the right— I thought it was going to be, this is the right way to do it. At least he's acknowledged— this is a little better than I was expecting because he's at least—

I think it makes it worse.

No, he's at least acknowledging this is what people say. I thought he was just like, no, this is the right way, and it's clearly not. I, I actually feel better about it at the end with the—

I think it's worse like that.

It's terrible. This is a Key Peele sketch, is it not?

For people who are listening, Mike, like, describe for people who don't see the video.

He's turning his entire hips and running like in a sprint.

He's crossing one foot over the other.

Yeah. And he's saying like, hey, he's not wrong, use the, the out of bounds defender, and he's saying— the most insane part to me is he's saying like, you want your def— you want the person you're defending to cross and go in the other direction. Well, that puts you at a severe disadvantage if your hips are turned to the other. All he has to do is cross and leaves you in the dust.

You might actually break your ankle if the, if the guy crosses you over.

The still shot we have right now is so perfect of like, it's the worst defensive position you could be in.

Like, all you have to do is cross the ball to your left hand there and you take it straight to the cup.

And so like, this isn't just a bunch of, you know, out of shape dudes who are busting on this coach and his defensive, you know, lesson here on the coach. NBA players are all responding and, and, and being like incredibly critical of what's going on here in this video.

That's awful. We don't need to do the thing where you and I haven't put our hand in the dirt and we need the NBA players to chime in on this because we haven't played the game. We've played the game enough to know. We've watched the game enough to know. I don't need to be Jaylen Brown to know that's not how you defend.

It's— yes, you defend by sliding your feet. And is it hard? Yeah, because defense is hard. Yes, but the way to defend, you can't like run to the spot you think he's going to.

Tony, you know that moment at a party or a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks?

I know it well.

It's usually when I show up, everybody goes crazy.

Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it, but it's because Tony usually walks in with Cuervo. I walk in like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuervo is the thing that turns hanging out into this is the night. It has that effect on people.

It does.

You usually take the credit for it, but again, it's the Cuervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering. Keep it Cuervo!

Keep it Cuervo, baby!

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Dan Levitar! Hey, uh, Damachek, you know about that Jadakiss?

Dave Damachek?

No, I don't.

Okay, I figured.

This is the Dan Levitar Show. Dave, have you ever seen anything like this?

Zaz, you know help defense? You know how to—

you know what you're doing?

I mean, I played basketball in high school. Like, I know how to play.

All right. All right. Yeah, no, I think it's crazy. But what it is making me think, just to devil's damoshek it a little bit, what other things in sports were like, well, that's how you do it, and then that was blown up? It's like, well, now we do it this way instead. You mentioned, Mike, put your hand in the dirt. Wide receivers, you can go back and watch old tape. The receivers would be in a 3-point stance coming off the line of scrimmage.

Really?

Yes.

It's bizarre to look at. Yeah. In our lives, there are guys, you'll see them lined up that way. It's that— I'm trying to think of— I mean, imagine Tashae, the first guy who— Brian Downing is a name that I could— that I summoned from my youth who had that wide open, that ridiculous kind of state. Well, Tony Fernandez was— you guys got to watch him, right? Like, they basically They look like they're just standing at the plate facing the pitcher.

I miss those guys.

As he winds up, he digs in. That's why. Why are you doing that to yourself, man? It's like Ricky Williams playing high. Isn't that— isn't that making the sport harder for you to have to stand like this? And then when the pitch comes, now you lean into it. Weird.

I miss the guys who had the crazy stance. Like, who was it? Was it Euclides? They used to keep his one hand, like, in, like, on the top of the barrel.

I think it was like before the pitch, his hand would kind of just be like Yeah, his hand would be like resting at the top of his other hand.

It was like this.

He would stand here, right?

And then he would hold the bat.

Yeah, yeah, he'd hold his, his upper hand in the middle of the barrel.

We need better batting stances. That way we need, we need the return to the day when you had the Cobra. Dave Parker was the Cobra because, because his bat made like a cobra, made like, made like a poisonous snake about to strike. Like this, it would go around. And then if you were unfortunate enough to be out there on the hump, you got, got bitten again by the Cobra. Now a Hall of Famer.

All right. Give us a little bit more on the Marlins. It's a good opportunity on the Marlins here since we're mentioning baseball. Go ahead, Jeremy.

I mean, Joe Mack, they're 26-14 since he got called up and started as a catcher. Every game that he starts, they're better. They went from the bottom 5 in baseball in defensive metrics to right near the top. And that includes how good their pitching has been. But offensively, I mean, what they've been able to do. Owen Casey was on a tear before he got sent to the I.L.

Okay, I know you got a lot on the Marlins. All right, I'll get back to you.

You know, Heriberto Hernández is the 4th best OPS baseball player right now.

Marlins are bad for baseball.

Marlins are bad for baseball!

What is wrong with you? All right, Jeremy, remind me. I'll get back to you. Okay, I'll get back to you. So, big news yesterday with the NBA. The Kawhi Leonard trade is now officially on hold. Kawhi Leonard was traded for Brandon Ingram and Grady Dick and a first-round pick swap, and I think two other first-round picks. And that trade is now on hold pending the findings of the NBA's investigation into the Clippers and Kawhi and Uncle Dennis and Aspiration. The Raptors were warned that they would have to assume if they make this trade that they would have to assume responsibility for whatever penalties are assessed. So you would assume that means, okay, if we decide to suspend Kawhi Leonard for 40 games, he's gonna have to sit it out for you. Like, are you good with that? And so the Raptors said, okay, let's chill. We're gonna wait until this investigation concludes. So my first question here is, Pablo broke this story. 10 months ago. 10 months ago. And the NBA still said this could take another few weeks. Another few weeks? This was, this was 10 months ago. I gotta be honest, at that point, once Pablo started coming out with all the details, how has it taken more than a day to figure out what we're gonna do about this situation?

Put somebody in a room, give them all the documents that Pablo's uncovered, give them a few phone numbers of the parties who need to be spoken to. You got till COB. That's close of business. You got till COB. Come up with a resolution. We're 10 months later and we don't have an answer to this situation yet? The hell are we doing, Adam Silver? What are we doing?

I just was hoping there would be one more go-around from Zazz to see if he could achieve an even higher octave. But, uh, listen, yeah, you're absolutely right. This is a classic case of just hoping it goes away. Let's just ignore it long enough and then, and then it'll just vanish. It's sort of my strategy if I were on the cut line on an NFL team and they were like, hey, take your playbook and go see coach. I would, I would just forget my playbook conveniently, and they'd be like, we need that playbook before we let you out of the building. And then I would just never return the playbook. And then it'd be like mid-September and be like, oh, he's still on the team, he never turned in his playbook. Yeah, this is, this is crazy stuff. But that's just the tip of the iceberg with, with what's going to be with Kawhi. This ugliness is now staining the entire league, obviously. And the long and short of it is there's no way the Clippers can move Kawhi, right? There's not a single team out there that would be desperate enough. I mean, with the Miami Heat to take your team?

Would the Heat be willing to take that risk with Giannis at his age and you want that as ripe as they feel right now? Is Kawhi some— a swing you would advocate for?

We figured out JFK in under 10 months. We closed that case.

No, we didn't.

We're still on Kawhi.

We didn't. It's cute though. Yeah, I think that the headline here is that this trade could be totally undone. That, that is undone.

It could be on hold.

It, it's on hold. And I still think many people would—

welcome back to the team, Grady Dick.

I think many people would handicap it that no, this trade will eventually get done. But from the statements now, it appears the Toronto Raptors reserve the right to walk away from this deal. Hey, man, that's really cool. I wish other teams in the NBA had something like that afforded to them. But okay, maybe we're in an unprecedented time here, but it's not a foregone conclusion that Kawhi is reuniting with the Toronto Raptors. This is a pretty big deal. And from what we've learned from Pablo's, uh, reporting is that a lot of the finger-pointing was in the direction of Kawhi. That's the way that this investigation appears to be slanted in, because as you know, in the NBA, this isn't an impartial investigation. The Clippers and Ballmer himself are paying for this investigation. They are incentivized to point the blame elsewhere.

So here's, here's what's gonna happen. Kawhi is definitely still going to be traded to the Toronto Raptors.

He is?

Why? Well, I mean, do you think Kawhi's— like, what could the punishment be?

You think the compensation's gonna look the same?

No. Well, that's what's gonna change.

Well, that's a slippery slope, my friend.

That's what's gonna change. And of course what Mike is referring to here is It'd be nice if there was a precedent where like a team— I don't know, let's, let's pick any random team.

The Heat are close by, let's use them.

Let's, let's pick the Heat, okay? And if they made a trade with another team for a player who that player's team— let's pick another team.

They played the Hornets in the play-in.

Hornets, fine. The Heat wanted to make a trade for a player on the Hornets, and the Hornets knew that the FBI— and the league also knew that the FBI were investigating said player. It'd be nice if the Miami Heat in this made-up instance were told, hey, something's happening here, so you can make this trade, or do you want to wait until there's a resolution? Because otherwise you're gonna have to assume responsibility for, you know, if the player is arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Didn't that happen with Terry Rozier?

Wow. Wow. Give yourself a hand. I mean, you're an effin' detective, look at you. Look at you, Sherlock Holmes over there. Good for you. So—

But that opens a door. If the compensation changes, the entire composition of the deal does, and that allows allows other teams to be like, well, we can top that.

Well, that— well, the deal has not been canceled, it's on hold, so I don't think other teams then would be able to jump in.

But if the compensation changes, I do think the compensation will change. Stands to reason. Maybe they come up with a deal where the Raptors reserve the right of first refusal. But that— this is, this is potentially seismic, and it's the first open acknowledgment that, you know, Kawhi might be on the hook for some of this, because we all thought Well, this is an awfully convenient landing spot for Kawhi. You get the feels, you get the nostalgia. That seems to be the good place for him to end up. And now this gives more credence— not that the Pulitzer didn't, by the way— to the reporting of Pablo Torres.

Here's what's gonna wind up happening. Like, if they wind up suspending Kawhi Leonard, maybe it's 30 games, maybe it's 40 games, the Raptors are not gonna have a problem with that because Kawhi's gonna miss those games anyway because of injury. So that's not an issue now. The Raptors are now not gonna have to pay Kawhi for those missed games, when otherwise they would have to pay him if he missed the games for injury. So they're not gonna care if Kawhi is suspended for a part of the season, but they're then gonna go to the Clippers and say, yeah, those first-round picks that we were gonna give you, we're pulling one back.

Also, in the Clippers' statement, they continue to play the, the role of victim. We were victimized, we were taken advantage of, scam artists. Whereas Pablo Torre finds out reporting suggests that the Clippers had certainly knowledge of how they were trying to circumvent, allegedly, the NBA salary cap. And it still is curious to me, especially considering Pablo Torre Finds Out won a Pulitzer for their journalism on this matter, which kind of is a tough thing to buck up against. They're still maintaining that, no, we were, we were taken for a ride just like all the other victims here in Aspiration.

How in the world are we still doing this. I can't believe it, although I kind of can believe it because we know the commissioner is on nothing. All right, this Adam Silver is on nothing, as evidenced by everything that has been in front of these last few minutes.

And you, you've made this situation, which should have been a good way to get away from the controversy post-discipline, and you've made that a bigger mess because you didn't have any of this stuff resolved before the transaction. Think about what that did to the trade market, guys. I'm sure there were a lot of teams that would have been curious to see how they could fit Kawhi into their plans, but many teams didn't even kick the tires on it because this thing was hanging over it.

It is very clear how this thing should— I don't know if it will— it's very clear how this thing should end with Kawhi Leonard, Aspiration, the Clippers, the Raptors, and that's the NBA and the Hornets giving the Miami Heat their first-round pick back.