Casuals with Katie Nolan

Episode: Merry Christmas! Two Truths and a Lie for Every NBA Franchise
Date: December 25, 2025
Host: Katie Nolan, with Isabella, Chris, Brady, and others
Theme: A festive, basketball-themed Christmas episode featuring a massive NBA "Two Truths and a Lie" challenge

Episode Overview

Katie Nolan and the Casuals crew throw a holiday party for the ears, taking listeners on a hilarious, trivia-packed journey through NBA lore. With Christmas famously belonging to the NBA (while Thanksgiving is for football), this episode forgoes news to play an epic game: for each NBA franchise, Katie, Chris, and Brady present Isabella with two real and one fake outrageous story—her job is to spot the lie. Along the way, the team shares laughs, wild facts, and memorable NBA moments, achieving exactly what Casuals is all about: making sports fandom feel like recess, not homework.

Episode Breakdown

[03:41] – Email Bag and Warm-Up

• Chris reads a listener email from “McKinley” about how listening to Isabella changed his fantasy football fortunes. The group celebrates Casuals helping fans embrace sports in non-intimidating ways.
• Katie, energized for Christmas, reaffirms the show’s core value: “It’s proof of the concept of the show—that a casual sports fan is leaning into it more and going to a women’s professional hockey game…this is exactly—oh, I’m so excited.”
  (05:11)

[06:17] – NBA Christmas Day Game Schedule

Chris, the NBA expert, announces the Christmas Day NBA lineup for listeners, setting the festive sports agenda:

• 12pm ET: Cavs at Knicks
• 2:30pm ET: Spurs at Thunder
• 5pm ET: Mavericks at Warriors
• 8pm ET: Rockets at Lakers
• 10:30pm ET: Timberwolves at Nuggets

[06:41]
Chris: “First game of the day, Cavs at the Knicks. That game is at 12pm Eastern on ABC, which means—can pop a noona.”

Katie: “Hopefully you guys are already a couple nooners deep by…”
[06:27–06:32]

[10:41] – The Game: Two Truths and a Lie, NBA Edition

Katie introduces the premise:
“For Christmas, as our gift to you, Isabella, we are going to tell you three of the funniest, weirdest, most absurd things that have ever happened to each and every team around the league. But there’s one catch. One of the three stories is completely made up.”
(11:25)

Goal: Isabella must spot the lie for all 30 franchises.
Brady tracks her score. She aims for 16/30 correct.

[13:02] – The Challenge Begins: Highlights by Teams

Detroit Pistons

• Lie: “Had to forfeit a game because a Model T got stuck on the court” (Katie’s fake)
• Real: “A player (Isaiah Thomas) broke his own hand punching a teammate” [14:25];
• Real: “Fans so quiet, the team had to have a meeting about Jumbotron etiquette”

Toronto Raptors

• Truth: Rapper Master P did play in a preseason game for the team [15:09]
• Lie: Bouncy castle seating for fans (Brady’s fake)
• Truth: Two players discovered they were cousins

Isabella nails it: “It has to be the bouncy castle one.”
(15:28)

New York Knicks

• Truth: A player chased the team bus after Honey Nut Cheerios trash talk;
• Truth: Coach quit via fax (Pat Riley);
• Lie: First NBA team to use a three-point line in 1964 (Katie’s fake)

Katie on the Cheerio incident:
“So... Carmelo Anthony at the time was engaged to Lala. Kevin Garnett... his trash talk was telling Carmelo that Lala tasted like honey nut Cheerios.”
(16:37)

Miami Heat

• Truth: Cardboard cutout of the owner during COVID bubble (Brady)
• Truth: Player (Tyler Herro) “doesn’t believe in history before 1950”; [18:41]
• Lie: Player/dentist
• Quote:
  Chris: “I don’t believe in anything that happened before 1950. I don’t believe in history.” (18:59)

Orlando Magic

• Truth: Mascot almost drowned during unveiling (Katie)
• Lie: Player traded for appearing on Scooby-Doo
• Truth: Drafted a Spanish player who never came to the NBA

Boston Celtics

• Truth: Coach known for lighting cigars on the sideline;
• Truth: Paul Pierce left in a wheelchair during Finals and “pooped his pants” conspiracy [23:04]
• Lie: “Boston Tea Party” ejection game (Brady's fake with alliteration)

Katie: “It's just crazy to have like an amazing story and then have the running narrative be that, no, actually, you just pooped your pants...” (23:42)

Cleveland Cavaliers

• Truth: Player (Andrew Bynum) shot every time he touched the ball in practice;
• Truth: Soup throwing incident (J.R. Smith, tortilla soup) [25:55]
• Lie: Player swap with the Browns

Brady: “I thought this was Damon Jones. All right... Damon Jones was the assistant coach at the time.” (25:58)

Atlanta Hawks

• Truth: Slam Dunk Contest winner at 5'7" (Spud Webb);
• Lie: First ever 10-year contract, player retired after 65 games (Chris fake);
• Truth: Players fined $500 for rooting for Larry Bird on opposing team (1985) (28:31)

[29:08–36:25] – Deep Dive: Philadelphia 76ers Burner Account Scandal

• Lie: Hosted NBA “Furry Night”
• Truth: Hired a coach via help wanted ad
• Truth & Main Discussion: GM’s wife ran Twitter burner accounts, criticizing players and defending GM Brian Colangelo [Dramatic reading of burner tweets ensues]
• Great Quote:
  Katie: “Just so funny... these burner accounts also retweeted something about Matiah Colangelo... only ever defending the gm. Who else would possibly retweet that?” (34:42)
• Brady: “The one that really slipped him up was when he tweeted directly at Gabrielle Union: ‘I sat next to you and Dwyane Wade at Beijing Olympics and saw you both being rude...’ Maybe don't put yourself physically in places where only you would be.” (36:35)
• Chris: “Easily the best night on Twitter that I've ever had.” (36:09)

[39:43] – More Notable Team Highlights

Milwaukee Bucks

• Truth: Sam Cassell’s “giant balls” NBA celebration, fined $25k [37:43]
• Truth: Giannis’s “sex bell” for Valentine’s Day
• Lie: Cheese championship rings

Chicago Bulls

• Truth: Human vs. bear wrestling match as a promo event—in 1975 (bear was muzzled) (41:48-41:59)
• Truth: Carlos Boozer’s infamous “shoe polish hair”
• Lie: Built with Al Capone family money

Brooklyn Nets

• Truth: Traded superstar for cash, which bought a copy machine
• Lie: Signed an openly communist player
• Truth: Almost rebranded to “Swamp Dragons"—voted on and only vetoed by their own owner last minute

San Antonio Spurs

• Truth: Star point guard’s affair with a teammate’s wife (Tony Parker)
• Truth: Released a draft pick for exposing himself to a therapist
• Lie: Karaoke/Evanescence suspension

Golden State Warriors

• Truth: Player (Latrell Sprewell) choked his coach and was suspended for the season [69:05]
• Truth: Player parked car in front of team bus to fight opponent
• Lie: Steve Kerr drunkenly admitting “I stopped drawing up plays two years ago”

[81:43] – The Finish Line: The Final Teams

Sacramento Kings

• Truth: Purple laser beam after every victory [80:30]
• Lie: Center court “starfish” protest by a player
• Truth: Player developed tendonitis from Game Boy overuse

New Orleans Pelicans

• Lie: Past minority owners included the creator of Magic School Bus (Joanna Cole)
• Truth: Fan sneaked onto the court to warm up with the team [82:22]
• Truth: Mascot is “King Cake Baby”—giant, topless, scary baby with crown and bib

[84:03] – Isabella Hits Her Goal

Katie: “She got 16 of them correct. Yay. Shout out Isabella. Also the baby—I never want to see that dude.”
Chris: “Great job. At the buzzer, five of six for the winner.”

Notable Quotes & Moments

On Christmas and Fandom:

• Katie: “Whatever you celebrate, I hope you’re celebrating it hard. The Casualties, of course, are here with us.” (02:59)

On The 76ers Burner Scandal:

• Katie: “He is too classy to even engage. Worked with him. He’s a class act.” (37:14) (mocking a burner)

On Paul Pierce “pants pooping” legend:

• Katie: “It’s just crazy to have like an amazing story and then have the running narrative be that, no, actually, you just pooped your pants…” (23:42)

Important Timestamps

• [03:41] – Emails and show’s proof of concept
• [06:17] – NBA Christmas game schedule
• [10:41] – “Two Truths and a Lie” segment begins
• [29:08–36:25] – Deep dive: 76ers burner account story
• [54:09] – Start of Western Conference teams
• [80:30] – Final two teams, the suspense for Isabella’s score
• [84:03] – Isabella reaches goal, celebratory wrap-up

Tone and Vibe

• Warm, goofy, quick-witted, and friendly—Holiday cheer infuses the competition and banter.
• The group leans into the “casual” in “Casuals,” with jokes and genuine curiosity: “You know, sometimes athletes have weird nicknames...” (71:10)
• Playful skepticism (“That has to be the lie!”/“No, it is not.”) keeps the game sharp.
• Educational but never pedantic—a fun sports history crash course for listeners of all knowledge levels.

Listener Takeaways

For NBA diehards:

• A deep cut tour of league oddities (from Honey Nut Cheerios to burner accounts, a suspended mascot to “King Cake Baby”)

For the new or casual fan:

• You don’t have to know it all to join in. The NBA is as weird, funny, and unpredictable as any sitcom, and this episode proves it.

Holiday message:

• No matter what you celebrate, the joy comes from being together, laughing together, and being part of the story—even if you don’t know every detail.

Episode Wrap-Up

• Personal Christmas traditions are shared: road trips, pajama parties, Italian-American feasts, Charlie Brown soundtracks ([89:25]).
• Katie closes with:
  “Happy holidays, happy everything. Thank you for spending some of it with us. We love you, we mean it, and we will see you...on Tuesday.”

Contact:

• Email: casuals@katienolanmail.com
• Voicemail: 646-801-0043
• IG/TikTok: @casualsthepodcast

Happy Holidays from the Casuals crew!