Nightcap Hour 1: Suns EMBARRASS Lakers DEFENSE + Luka Doncic WHINES too MUCH + Son Knueppel BREAKS ROOKIE 3PT RECORD + Hawks hosting MAGIC CITY Night + NFL Team REPORT CARDS + Nahir Albright JOINS Nightcap

Summary

Nightcap – Hour 1 (Feb 27, 2026)

Hosts: Shannon Sharpe & Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson

Episode Theme:
This episode features Shannon and Ocho’s unfiltered reactions and analysis to the Suns’ 113-110 win over the Lakers, the ongoing defensive woes in LA, Luka Doncic’s controversial style, rookie Son Knueppel’s record-breaking 3-point shooting, the Atlanta Hawks’ Magic City Night, the latest NFL Team Report Cards, and a live interview with rising boxing star Naheer Albright.

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Suns vs. Lakers: Defense Breakdowns & Roster Issues

(07:46 – 26:25)

• Suns Upset Lakers: The Suns, playing without top players, defeat the Lakers despite a 41-point effort from Luka Doncic.
  • Shannon breaks down the critical late-game play: “They get broken down off the dribble and once you get broken down now you’re in a scramble for the remaining of the possession...” (07:46)
  • Shannon on defensive woes: "The problem that befalls the Lakers every single time, they can't guard anybody off the dribble." (07:46)
• Lakers' Team Construction Flaws:
  • Ocho: "Not only do they not play defense, the bench, they're not getting enough of their bench." (09:25)
  • Grayson Allen scored 28, more than the entire Lakers bench by himself.
• Pick & Roll Struggles:
  • Lakers repeatedly targeted in pick and roll, especially Luka. Shannon: "They keep Luka in the pick and roll no matter...they try to hide him...You just can't." (10:16)
• LeBron’s Diminished Role:
  • Shannon worries LeBron is being underutilized: “He stands in the corner or he gets the ball at the horn...it's just bad basketball.” (10:38)
• Deandre Ayton Underperforms:
  • Shannon: “23 minutes, two points. If you're trying to win a championship...he's not your guy.” (09:22)
• Roster, Contract, & Future Concerns:
  • Discussion on the flawed idea that LeBron’s departure would “fix” the Lakers. Both hosts doubt this, citing lack of depth and bad contracts.
  • “If you think LeBron leaving and they load up on the back court with Austin Reeves and Luka Doncic...championship contending team—they’re not,” – Shannon (13:11)

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Luka Doncic: The Scoring, The Complaints, The Fit

(14:12 – 26:25)

• Defensive Problems, Despite Scoring:
  • Luka puts up numbers, but his defense hurts the team: “A lot of time, Luka's numbers don’t correlate to winning.” (14:32)
• Constant Complaining:
  • Shannon: “Every time he’s arguing with the ref, he’s doing this. He’s looking for a call.” (15:08)
  • Ocho on Luka: “That’s a habit he’s been doing since he left...Slovenia. That's going to be hard to break.” (17:35)
  • Shannon on NBA analyst Zach Lowe’s comments: “Are you playing one on one with the refs or are you playing the game? If every single possession now is completely out of control...it’s just unwatchable.” (15:24)
• Fit Within the Team:
  • Ocho points out both Luka and LeBron are “ball dominant,” making it tough to maximize both.
  • Shannon: “LeBron needs to have the ball in his hand, for you to get the maximum bang for your buck. Same token, Luka needs to have the ball. So really, three guys [including Austin Reaves]...” (19:20)
• Championship Outlook:
  • Both agree Lakers are “handicapped,” with little hope of contending due to salary cap, lack of defense, and play style:
    • “They’re going to be...handicapped because...you’re going to have two guys on the max contract and neither one can play defense.” – Shannon (22:45)

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NBA Rookie Son Knueppel Smashes 3-Point Record

(26:32 – 27:57)

• Historic Season:
  • Knueppel, the 4th pick out of Duke, breaks Keegan Murray’s rookie 3-point record, sinking his 207th in just 59 games vs. Murray’s 80 games.
  • Shannon: “He broke this record in 21 fewer games. This is unprecedented.” (27:33)
  • Discussion on the league’s 3-point volume explosion: “On average, [teams are] getting up somewhere between 60 and 70 threes a game.” (27:15)

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Atlanta Hawks Host Magic City Night

(30:12 – 31:44)

• Unique Promotion:
  • Hawks will celebrate Magic City (iconic Atlanta strip club) during a home game March 16th vs. Orlando Magic.
  • Features include TI halftime show, Magic City’s famous wings, and limited-edition merchandise.
• Ocho’s Curiosity:
  • Ocho: “I want to be able to sit courtside...just so I could taste the wings, not only taste the wings, but obviously get a chance to see what Magic City is all about.” (30:41)
  • Shannon on Magic City: “It’s iconic. It’s probably the most recognizable strip club—adult entertainment gentleman’s club—in America.” (31:27)

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NBA/Player Development & Jonathan Kuminga’s Emergence

(32:53 – 35:23)

• Kuminga’s Breakout with Atlanta:
  • Kuminga scores 27 in his Hawks debut; followed up with 17 in his second game, after limited opportunity with the Warriors.
  • Ocho questions the Warriors’ usage; Shannon says it’s about system fit:
    • “The Warriors system is predicated on ball movement. Kumingas predicated on having the ball in his hand...right player, just wrong system.” (34:37–35:23)

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NFL Team Report Cards: Transparency & Facility Gripes

(35:25 – 56:50)

• Leaked Report Cards:
  • Despite NFL’s attempts to block the annual team/player facilities report, notable rankings get out:
    • Dolphins #1 for 3rd year; Vikings #2; Commanders up to #3 (from dead last); Steelers now last (32nd) “by a wide margin”.
    • “Steelers locker room...failing grade. Owner...ranked last for willingness to invest in facilities.” – Shannon (36:25)
• Player Perspective:
  • Shannon and Ocho emphasize the disconnect between billionaire owners and players’ daily realities.
  • “The objective is to make as much money as I possibly can while spending the least.” (38:03)
  • Ocho relates tipping habits and support for service workers back to his upbringing and empathy for people in lower-wage jobs.
• Personal Anecdotes:
  • Both hosts share stories of humble beginnings, working minimum-wage fast-food or tough manual labor jobs pre-NFL.
  • Shannon: “I never thought a job was beneath me.” (44:19)
  • Ocho: “I can’t remember what minimum wage was back then...my check had to go straight to grandma.” (42:03)

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Boxers’ Interview: Naheer Albright

(57:03 – 73:34)

• Big Fight Recap:
  • Albright, fresh off a hard-fought draw with Frank Martin, joins the pod.
  • On the outcome: “I felt like I definitely pulled it out by a round or two...but I can’t be too mad—it was close.” (57:27–57:40)
• Room for Improvement/Fight Details:
  • Admits starting slow; says more pressure could’ve yielded a KO.
  • Drama over his mouthpiece: Had to use a last-minute Walmart version after losing his custom one.
  • “It was a Walmart mouthpiece...last minute.” (58:47)
• Future Ambitions:
  • Looking for a world title shot; open to all comers at 140, including Richardson, Hitchens, Shakur Stevenson, and Gary Russell.
  • “I want a world title shot...I’m ready right now.” (61:03)
• Boxing Politics:
  • Agrees that boxing “business” and team interests often block fan-desired fights.
• Legacy vs. Payday:
  • Albright: “You gotta have it in you also to build a legacy, give the fans what they want to see...When you take shortcuts and just try to chase the money, that’s...block your blessings.” (65:02)
• Rapid Q&A:
  • Inspirations: “All the Sugars—Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Shane Mosley...that explosiveness, that smoothness.” (66:17)
  • Picks Floyd to outpoint Pacquiao in their (exhibition) rematch.
  • Next fight: "Scheduled for May 16 at RDR Promotions card in Newark.” (67:56)
  • On recovery: “I just take off a week...I go get a massage, I'm soaking, resting, spending time with my daughter." (62:21)
• Fun Moment:
  • Albright ends with a soulful rendition of “End of the Road” for the ladies. (71:44–72:55)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He came in the game like a black dog in a meat house. He smelled meat, he can’t see nothing.” – Shannon Sharpe (11:53)
• “You let a team get up 53s...They make 22 of them. You’re probably gonna lose.” – Shannon (24:31)
• “Luka’s numbers don’t correlate to winning. A lot of time, Luka’s numbers don’t correlate to winning.” – Shannon (14:32)
• “[Lakers] are bad. They’re a bad basketball team.” – Shannon (13:11)
• “Not only do they not play defense, the bench, they're not getting enough of their bench.” – Ocho (09:25)
• On working minimum wage: “I never thought a job was beneath me, man. I ain’t doing that.” – Shannon (44:19)
• “If you don’t get the people what they want, soon enough you’ll be out of business.” – Shannon, on boxing matchmaking (65:28)
• “You gotta have it in you also to build a legacy, give the fans what they want to see too.” – Naheer Albright (65:02)

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Key Timestamps:

• Suns vs Lakers breakdown: 07:46 – 26:25
• Luka Doncic criticisms: 14:12 – 20:58
• Son Knueppel rookie 3PT record: 26:32 – 27:57
• Magic City Night – Atlanta Hawks: 30:12 – 31:44
• Kuminga/Hawks debut: 32:53 – 35:23
• NFL Team Report Cards & money talk: 35:25 – 56:50
• Naheer Albright boxing interview: 57:03 – 73:34

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Overall Tone & Style

Casual, brutally honest, plenty of laughs, and authentic athlete insight. Hosts draw from both personal anecdotes and savvy sports analysis, punctuated by good-natured trash talk, wisdom for listeners, and a blend of nostalgia and humor.

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For New Listeners:

• Expect direct, locker-room style conversation from two authentic, accomplished athletes.
• This episode’s highlights: Lakers’ defensive woes, NBA three-point revolution, behind-the-scenes NFL business reality, and an in-depth look at boxing’s challenges—plus surprise singing!
• No filler, no sugarcoating—just real talk.

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Transcript

[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Podcast Announcer]

The countdown is on to our 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards live from south by Southwest March 16th. We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative, talented creators in the industry. It's truly a who's who of the podcasting world. Creativity, knowledge and passion will all be on full display.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And the winner of the iHeart Podcast Award is.

[Podcast Announcer]

See all the nominees [e-mail] PodcastAwards Audible

[Audible Sponsor]

is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts and originals all in one easy app. Audible there's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free [e-mail] shoot

[Shannon Sharpe]

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For more information, go to for the people.comnightcap, that's f o r the people.comnightcap. or you can dial pound law pound 529 from your sale. This is a paid advertisement. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. And thank you for joining us for another episode of Nightcap as you watch the Suns take down the Lakers without their top players and they still beat the Lakers and overcome a 41 point effort from Luka Doncic, 1:13 to 1:10. Y' all know who I am. I am your favorite unc. That is my partner and co host, that guy from Liberty City Bingo's ring of Fame honoree, a former Pro Bowler and an All Pro. That is Chad Ochocinko Johnson. Please make sure you hit that subscribe button. Please make sure you hit the like button and go subscribe to the Nightcap podcast feed wherever you get your podcast from. We'd like to thank you for your support and your continued support. Make sure you check out Shay by Laportier if you're looking to purchase a bottle, head over to laportierconjac.com if it's not currently unavailable in a state or city near you. It is a premium VSOP cognac. Remember we have the OG bottle which is the 750. Now we have the Junior which is the 375. It is the same great quality, same great taste, just in a smaller version. Try it, compare it against other cognacs and you'll see we have the best tasting, smoothest cognac on the market. Please drink responsibly and be safe. And make sure you check out Ocho's latest new soccer podcast, the Late Run. That link is pinned in the chat. The first episode dropped today. Ocho, tell the people what they can expect from your new endeavor.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Obviously, most of you in the chat you you can tell how much I've I love the Beautiful Game. So I thought about starting my own production company and obviously I started off with Ocho Cinco Productions. And what's the one thing that I'm passionate about and I'm enthusiastic enthusiastic about that I can talk to from top to bottom, whether it's the 80s and 90s or current or the current game in itself. And obviously it's soccer is soccer is becoming growing much bigger here in the States. And obviously I have something that's somewhat bridging the gap. One of the few people that played American football that loves the beautiful game in itself. So why not start a show about that passion I love, I do have for the game. So I created the Late Run with a good friend of mine by the name of Rahimovich or Raheem. He loves soccer as well. He's of of Jamaican he's from Jamaica, of Jamaican descent. So we're Having a great run. Our first episode dropped today with Bert Kaiser. Am I, am I saying the comedian's name? Kreisler. Krazer Chrysler. Yeah. So there's some really, really good episodes we have with some former players, Rio Ferdinand, and we have us regular folks and trying to get them involved in why they should be, why they should love the beautiful game in itself, especially with World cup coming here to the States in about three more months. So do me a favor, like, and subscribe. Hey. To the Late run.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yep, that's a first episode dropped today. So make sure you check out Ocho's latest adventure. The Suns beat the Lakers 113 to 110. The Lakers led with 525 left in the third quarter by 12 points, 7 to 58. The Lakers tried to mount a comeback. They fell behind by as many as what, 10, 12 maybe in the fourth quarter. But they was able to cross claw the way cloth awake. Claw. Excuse me, their way back into the ball game tied it up late on Austin Reeves 3. But again, the problem that befalls the Lakers every single time, they can't guard anybody off the dribble. If you notice tonight they put off. They put Luca in the pick and roll. Yeah, that's what everybody does because so now when they go by him. So just like that last play of the game, they have Luca one on one with Grayson Allen. Grayson Allen beats him off the dribble. Now LeBron comes to help. He passes to the guy that LeBron's supposed to be covering, Austin Reeves. Rotate. Now he leaves Royce o' Neal wide open for. Yep. And boom, there you go. And that was the reoccurring theme all night long. They get broken down off the dribble and, and once you get broken down now you're in a scramble for the remaining of the possession. And even if they force a miss shot because you're scrambling, they get the long rebound that until. Look, the Lakers. And the Lakers are not going anywhere. And I told you that. Oh, Aiden, Aiden. Deandre Ayton is not a good. He. He's not good. If you're trying to win a championship, right. If you want to fill out a roster and have a seven footer, he's your guy. 23 minutes, two points.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Two points. Hey, and, and obviously from, from, from watching the game, a little bit, a little bit of knowledge I do have with my knowledge really growing with the game of basketball. Not only do they not play defense, the bench, they're not getting enough of their bench. If you, if you're not getting, they got.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What did they get tonight? I mean, they got, they got, they got 25 points tonight. But you look at Grayson Allen, he outscored the bench by himself. He got 28.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, so, so that, that, that alone in itself, if you're not going to play defense, at least something has to make up for it in other areas. Especially with Luca getting beat the way he does, you know, in, in that pick and roll. So that's the formula to beat the Lakers from now on. You know, keep the gate, keep the game close if you can. If not, run away with it. But obviously know the game is all about swings and momentums. But every single time, because they lack defense and they don't have depth on the bench, this is going to happen to them damn near every game.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It happens every game. Austin Reeves, Luca get broken down off the dribble. Everybody's compromised from that point on. If you notice, they keep Luca in the pick and roll, no matter. And they try to hide him because at first he was up at top. They tried to play a zone, right? Well, now you can't because if you play him in the zone, they're gonna come pick him. So now they try to pick, put him in the back, right, to try to hide him, and you just can't.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

You can't.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He's out there. He's out there. And yeah, those 40 with those 41 points and those points when you don't play defense. And it's not that somebody might be getting 41, but the guys that he's guarding when they put him in the pick and roll, right? I don't like the way they use LeBron. LeBron stands in the corner or he gets the ball at the horn. So in other words, if Marcus Smart or Austin Reeves have the ball, he'll come pick, gets the ball at the middle of the free throw line at the top of the key. That's what they call the horn. So he gets the ball there and he looks to make up that. Yeah, it's just bad, it's bad basketball. They, they, they, they just. I, I don't know. I, I just don't, I don't see it getting any better. They just don't have guys, the guys make bonehead plays. Marcus Smart has the ball, he's walking it up like he has 30 seconds, bro. You know, you only got 80 seconds to get the ball cross goddamn half court. You walk the ball up. Vando comes in the game and he like a blind dog in a meat house. He jumping, he, the Guy fakes him up. LeBron, why you leaving? The guy's terrible. He can't even make free throws. What makes you think he's gonna make a three? You filed him on a three point shot. Luckily he missed two of the three. Hey, the shots.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Hold on, hold on, hold on. You gotta rewind that. He came in the game like a black dog. What?

[Shannon Sharpe]

In a meat house. He smelled a meat. He can't see nothing. And, and the thing is, is that because you compromise the defense, y' all see it. I'm not. Look, look, the thing is, is that when, when you play, when you have three guys really, that can't play defense, it's hard to win games because the team's gonna get great shots every time down the court. They don't have to take a bad shot because all you got to do is just swing it once, you're gonna get a great look. Swing it twice, you're gonna get an even better look. Swing it a third time, you've got a great look. And that's what we see all the time.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I mean, the, the way obviously the Lakers are top heavy with their, with their best three players, obviously LeBron Luca and Austin Reeves. So in order for them to win games, because they're so bad defensively, they have to be super duper efficient on offense. Yes, super duper efficient because of their compromise on defense. No matter what you try to do, you say they have Luke up top, they put him in the pick and roll, they try to hide him in the back, and, and they, I mean,

[Shannon Sharpe]

it's, it's, it's still fine. Yeah, yeah.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

They still find him. So I'm not sure what they gonna do. They don't have enough depth also on the bench to obviously help with the scoring and also play defense.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No. In order for them to win games, they're gonna have to. Luke is going to have to do what Luca normally does, but Austin Reeves and LeBron is going to have to be somewhere in the mid-20s, also with the other guy, somewhere around 18 to 20. When you get Luke at 41 and you get Brian 15 points, you get Austin Reeds 14 points, you get Deandre A. And got two points. No blocks. You play. You don't. I mean, you're seven foot tall, you're the tallest guy on the court. You got out rebounded, you got out assisted, you got, you got out shot blocked. I mean, you don't. You got. They stole the ball better than you did. It's just. They just. They're bad. They're bad, they're bad basketball team. Now, I know Everybody's saying, well, LeBron needs to leave, but if you think LeBron leaving and they load up on the back court with Austin Reeves and Luka Doncic, if you think the Lakers are championship contending team, they're not a championship contending team. Don't get me wrong. They're not a championship contending team with LeBron. They're not, they're not going to be a championship contending team without LeBron.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I have a question. And who's, whose bright idea is to say LeBron leaves and that fixes the issue that they have.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oo is that Austin Reeves is going to be a free agent and so you're going to have to max him out. You already got Luka on the max contract. Austin reed's gonna get $200 million.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Is it gonna be there? Is it gonna be with the Lakers?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Obviously, I, I, I don't think they let him go. I don't think you can. Now you got, you got, you got Luca. I mean, you got Luca. But a lot of time, Luca numbers doesn't, doesn't correlate to winning. When a guy has 41 for 41, 8 and 8, you like, damn. He only had three turnovers, which is, which is, I mean, he leads the league in turnovers, but, you know, he had a couple of steals, but he just can't play defense. Ocho. He just can't. He's never, and he's never going to be able to play. Tonight was a little better as far as arguing with the refs, because every time he's arguing with the ref, he's doing this. He's looking for a call.

[Naheer Albright]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Calls and he can, but that's who he is. So we might as well move on past that. Say, Luca, stop arguing. It's not gonna happen.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

It's not. And he said, well, I need to stop arguing with officials. You can't. That's who you are. That's your makeup.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

That's him. Right? Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Huh? Oh, okay. NBA's analyst Zach Lowe recently called out Luca over his constant complaining with the ref, saying, are you playing one on one with the refs or are you playing the game? If every single possession now is completely out of control, it is back to the Dallas level. It's just unwatchable. This comes in the even Luca is leading the league in scoring 32 and a half points per game and getting to the line almost 11 times per night, which is the most in the NBA. I mean, I, I I don't get it, bro. So what, you want to shoot 23 throws a night?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I mean, that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

That's crazy for, for whoever just wrote that and said that that is becoming unwatchable. Watching one of the greatest players, obviously, in today's game and saying he's unwatchable simply because he argues with the refs.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's all he does, though. Ocho, you can't every time you miss a shot, say, I got five. That's the reason I missed.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

If you watch. If you watch Luca, he turns to the official every time.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, I mean, I guess this is

[Shannon Sharpe]

the biggest night in podcasting.

[Podcast Announcer]

The countdown is on to our 2026 I Heart Podcast Awards. Live from south by Southwest, March 16th. We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative, talented creators in the industry. It's truly a who's who of the podcast world. Creativity, knowledge, and passion will all be on full display.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And the winner of the iHeart Podcast Award is.

[Podcast Announcer]

See all the nominees now at iheart.com podcast awards.

[Audible Sponsor]

Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free [e-mail]

[Shannon Sharpe]

turns. Yeah, bro, you can't. They can't. I mean, the guy. The game. The game's already let long enough. If they call the file every time you want it, one hell, the game be four hours.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, I, I, I get it.

[Naheer Albright]

I get it.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

But that. That's him, Monk. He's been doing. He's always. He's always done that. I'm, I'm sure that's. Yes, that's a habit of his that he's been doing since he left wherever he was. I mean, where, where, where did he play before? Over in.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, he's Slovene.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

On.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Slovenia.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Slovenia. Yeah. So that. That's the habit that's going to be hard to break. You. You almost have to. Have to not to care. You know what? I don't care no more if I miss. If I miss. If they call it. They call it forget. I'm just gonna play ball.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't think he can. No, Joe. I think he's been doing it this way for so long.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Long. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And, you know, he's hunting calls, so if I don't get this call, I'll put the birdie in his ear to make them look a little closer. Maybe they give me the next call.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Well, obviously, that. That might piss the rest off. That might piss. And they're.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They're.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

They'll be a little bit more reluctant not to give you the call because you always complain about them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, they're just. At the end of the day, all that being said, they're not a good team. They're not a good team. Their best players. I mean, LeBron is. I mean, he's averaging probably 20 points a game. He. I mean, he's been under 50% the last three or four games that I can call. His three ball is completely abandoned. Him. You can tell he's not being aggressive because guess what? He's Tattoo. He had two free throw attempts. Two.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

So do you think LeBron, LeBron should assert himself a little bit more?

[Shannon Sharpe]

He can't. Luca has the ball. Luca, at least LeBron is somewhat a viable option without the ball in his hand.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Luca cannot play without the ball. He has to. He's ball dominant. He leads the league in usage rates. He has to have the ball.

[Naheer Albright]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And when he doesn't have the ball, AR normally has the ball. That's why I'm saying you get basically getting nothing out of LeBron because he stands in the corner, he gets the ball at the horn.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

But see the.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The nail.

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

The thing, the good thing about LeBron is, is he is versatile, being able to play off the ball. So he. It's not like he's handicapped in a sense. I mean, to. To me, at 41, 42, whatever it is LeBron may be, I mean, he's still one that can give you what he needs to without having the ball in his hands.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, but that's not his. That's not his style of play. He's had the ball in his hand for the. Until Luca got there. He had the ball in his hands for 22 and a half years. For 22 and a half. He has the ball. Yeah. Can he play? Yes, but that's not his game.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, right, right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But he's Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant has really never primarily had the ball. He's always had other guys to have the ball in the right. He can play like that. LeBron needs to have the ball in his hand, but for you to get the maximum bang for your buck.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Okay, okay, I understand.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The same token, Luca needs to have the ball. So you got two. Really, three guys. Because AR Needs the ball also.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Either all. AR had a great look. I love the call. I mean, we see that a lot. That slip where, you know, Officer Reed's fake like he Coming forward and you goes back, they swing the ball over the top. LeBron says a great pick, he has a great look. He just didn't knock it down. But at the end of the day, they're not, they're not, they're not a good, they're not a good defensive team because they don't have good defensive players. And the guys that can play defense, they're an offensive liability. So now you're basically playing 5 on 4 on the offensive end. Mando, I mean, he'll knock down a corner three here and there, but it's not enough to play him substantial minutes. I mean, he played six minutes tonight and he had the worst plus minus on the court at minus 15. And he only played six minutes. DeAndre. No, excuse me. DeAndre Ayton had the worst plus minus. He played. He was minus 24. He played 23 minutes and gave you and gave you two points. But somehow he needs like, somehow, you know, he's like, oh, he's going on the max contract.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Well, he'll probably get it. He just probably wouldn't get it there. Hey, how long, how long would it take for the Lakers to, to rebuild and make the right decisions up top to, to, to get themselves back to being able to contend not just in the west, but in general, where they actually have a chance? Coming to a season when they had the, when the Lakers had Shaq and Kobe, you knew, you know what? They got a goddamn chance every single time they were there. When Kobe was there by himself, based on the team that was constructed, you knew you had a chance until obviously after the injury or, or some, the injury when, when they were just really, really bad and was only just Kobe. How long you think? Another five, Five years.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It's hard, it's going to be hard to get somebody to play with Luca because he's so ball dominant. He basically just needs a big to roll to the rim. He's not going to throw you the ball so you can pose like a yic. Like you can post like an embiid or post like a big can. That's not what he is. And deandre Ayton is not that type of big. And they don't really run plays for da everyone. Every once in a while he'll slip. He'll set the pick and slip and roll to the basket, right? They'll throw him a lob, you know, LeBron, go get going downhill, he'll throw him a lob. Luca throws him a lot. Ar throws him alive. But it's going to Be tough. It's going to be tough. Luke is so ball dominant and he's a phenomenal player. And I don't want people to misconstrue this. He is a absolute phenomenal player, but it's kind of hard to win with that stuff. That's a James Harden style. Plays just like James Harden did. And James Harden within his absolute apex prime at Houston.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right? So basically, even as great as he is, that mean the Lakers are basically handicapped for a while and trying to actually contend for a damn title.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, they're gonna be. They're gonna be. They absolutely. They absolutely gonna be handicapped because look at, look how, look how young OKC is, right? Minnesota, you got the Nuggets. I mean, Nuggets got two of their key pieces out. They get those guys back with Jokic and Murray and you get Gordon and Watson. They're gonna be tough to beat. It'll be tough to beat. And then you got the East. I mean, look, it's gonna be a minute. It's gonna be a minute. And they about to be handicapped because you're gonna have two guys on the Mac. You're two backcourt guys on a max contract, right? And neither one can play defense. So basically you have top tier guys up here and then everybody on medium salaries, right? It's kind of hard to win like that.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Ah, well, hold on, wait a minute, wait a minute. Well, you got Shay and Jay will on top 10 salaries, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. But you got those guys on rookie contracts. All those guys are young guys, okay? They got Chad on the max contract. They're gonna have to do something because they're in the first apron. They're going to be in that second apron. Then you have to make a decision,

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

right, on who to keep going for

[Shannon Sharpe]

it every year and have to fork over $100 million, right? $150 million. Are we. Is that what we're going to do? Yeah. Cause you got Shay, you got J Dub, and you got Chat. So. Yeah, they're gonna have to make. They're gonna have to make some decisions coming up, but they're not a good team. They're not. There's. There's no other way around it. They're just not a good team. You can't lose to a team without two or three of their best players. No book tonight. No Dylan Brooks tonight. And you still lose. You still lose.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You let a team. You let a team get up 53s. You let a team get a 53, they make 22 of them. You're probably Gonna lose. I'm surprised they didn't lose by more. When you got our shot, they doubled you up in you, they double you up. So in other words, they got 33 more points from the three point line than you did. And you only lost by three. It took a. A three point shot with. Point with, you know, three seconds on the clock in order for you to win.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

So when in hindsight, when you think about it, right, with everything Nico Harrison had to. Had to do, then. Does it look that bad and let Luca go? Based on what you're telling me, yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

When it's all said and done, Ocho, we'll find out. Because if he doesn't win a championship, then what? Because the whole thing was. Go back and look at when Luca got to the finals. Look at what happened. He had the guard, they put him in the pick and roll. He couldn't defend Jalen. JB picked him up, made him shoot. He was inefficient, right? Not rocket science.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Damn.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, like I said, I just don't like the look. Like I said, LeBron is not a guy to stand in the corner. The guys had the ball for, you know, 90% of his time in the league right now. It don't bring the ball up anymore. That's Austin Reeds, Luca, Marcus Smart, he runs to the corner. Austin Reeds, Marcus Smart gets the ball, but he'll come set the pick, they'll give it to him at the nail. He tries to make a play, he'll pass it off, right? They'll do the weave, he gets it, pass it off. No, it's. It's not conducive that. That style to what they have right now. Where are they? Fifth in the west. They want it done.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

That's it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't think they don't match up well with anybody.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And Charlotte Khan. Canepo reached another milestone in his great rookie season for the number four pick out of the Duke. Out of Duke. He broke Keegan Murray's NBA rookie record for three pointers made. He's making this 207th on Thursday night. Canuppo connected on five threes in the first half and then broke the record in the third quarter. It took Murray 80 games to do it in 22, 23 to establish the record. Canepo just broke it in 59. Steph Curry holds the single season record with 402. The way they shoot the threes now,

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I mean, it's not only the way they shoot it, but how efficient he's shooting it at.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, I mean, I Think the thing is, I mean, think about it, Ocho. They got. I mean. I mean, they got a fifth. Phoenix got up 50 threes. The Lakers got up 29. I mean, the two teams on average getting up somewhere between 60 and 70 threes a game.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

That's. Man, that's crazy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes. I mean, think about it. Dude. It took the. Dude, he. He broke this record in 21 fewer games. This is unprecedented. Steph. Steph didn't really start shooting volume threes until the problem was like, it's fifth, sixth, seventh year in the league, right? These guys are coming into the league now shooting volume threes.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

So this is the way the game. The game has evolved. This is what the game is now, though.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It's a three point. Yeah, guys are just running. I mean, guys don't even. They run to the three point line. Everybody's stepping back. Everybody. I mean, they sit in the pick so high and. And we talk about. We're still in the Lakers, Ocho. They going up, bro. They shooting. They shooting the. They shooting the lights out of the building and you still going up under the screen. Laravia, you going up under the screen. Luca, you're going up under the screen. Jackson, Hayes, you gotta get picked at the top. You not gonna show. So you will let this. So you gonna let the guy. Then you come running out there with your hand up, bro, it's too late. Mark Jackson said, hey, hand down, man down. It's too late when I got picked. You gotta show right now. Yeah, you can't be late. Guys are too good now. I mean, guys for the other team. You ain't got to do that with the Lakers. You ain't got to do that. They. They can't knock down threes. And LeBron's three has abandoned him tonight. Arkansas struggle struggled the last couple of games. His three ballers abandoned him. Luca was. Luca was sensational tonight. He was 12 or 21 coming off of. What was he, 8 or 24 last. Last night? If he was that. This is the biggest night in podcasting.

[Podcast Announcer]

The countdown is on to our 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards. Live from south by Southwest, March 16th. We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative, talented creators in the industry. It's truly a who's who of the podcasting world. Creativity, knowledge and passion will all be on full display.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And the winner of the iHeart Podcast Award is.

[Podcast Announcer]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

he was like two or ten from the three. He played much better tonight. But they're going to have to do a better job at defensively. They just. They just. I just don't understand what they think can happen playing defense the way they play.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ocho. The Hawks are hosting Magic City Monday honoring the iconic Atlanta strip club at their March 16th game against the Magic TI. Will perform in half. The Hawks will serve Magic City world famous Wings at the game.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

And.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And there will be limited edition merch available.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He. I need to get something. Hey, hey, Lou, if you get any money from them. Lemon pepper. Yeah, shoot your boy something. Go ahead. O.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Hey, I'm glad you said that. Now me and Joe, we talked about. I've been. I've been asking Joe. I want to come to a game. I want to be able to sit court side, so obviously, un. Why don't I take the opportunity to use that game March 16 as the one to get tickets to. To sit court side with Joe just so I could take. So I could taste the wings. Not only taste the wings, but obviously get a chance to see what Magic City is all about. Because I. I hear about it all the time. You tell me about it. You know, people.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, you ain't gonna be able to see what Magic City is about at the game. You would have to go to the.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I'm talking about after. I'm talking about after the game.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I'm gonna ask Joe. I'm. Tell Joe to go with me. I don't know if Joe can get permission to go out after the game, but if he. If he's allowed to go, I mean, I would love to see what Magic City is all about because I keep hearing about it. And the fact that the Atlanta Hawks partner with Magic City. That says a lot.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, that. That says Magic City is iconic. It's probably the. The most recognizable strip club. Okay. Adult entertainment gentleman's club in America. There might be some that make more money, but I'm talking about just on name recognition.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ain't nothing touching it. Nothing. Nothing. Area 21, whatever. They got the cabaret endowment in Miami.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

As far as name recognition.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

When you hear. When you hear Magic City, you already know what it is.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I can't wait. I'm excited. I'm excited. Hey, speaking. Speaking of. Speaking of. Speaking of adult ballet, you know, I'M you know, I leave. I leave for Houston tomorrow. I'm going to watch my baby run at College Station. Obviously, it's SEC championship. That's what it was. I couldn't think of what. What it was. SEC championship. It's outdoor right now. At. At. At College Station. But I'm.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Indoor season.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Indoor. Indoor. Oh, it is indoor season right now, right? Yeah. So I'm going to go there, and if I'm not mistaken, we have nightcap Saturday night, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

We got nightcap Saturday. Yeah.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, we're debating.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Okay, well, let me know, because if we do have it, I'm gonna do nightcap from Area 29.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Speaking of the Hawks, it took Jonathan Kaminga 175 regular season games with the Warrior to record his first performance in which he scored at least 27 points in his Atlanta Hawks debut. Kaminga did that in his first game on Tuesday night. Kaminga dropped 27 points in 24 minutes, and tonight he dropped 17. If Kaminga continues to play like this, what do you think, Ocho? Does that look. Does that look bad on Steve Kerr? Because for whatever reason, he. He wouldn't let the young man play a whole bunch.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I don't, I don't know why he wouldn't let him play Unk. I mean, everyone said it. Those that I know that watch the game of basketball said how good Kaminga was. But obviously it's a pecking order. There's always a pecking order. That's why I always ask you and Joe and is there a certain, a certain, certain individuals that are allowed to have the green light? We talked about Cade Cunningham and the amount of shots he would. He put up. And obviously, offensively, everything runs through Steph Curry. So I said, I asked you and, and, and, and Joe before, well, how come as good as Kaminga is and as much as he wants the ball and wants to assert himself offensively, why are they not allowed to allow the offense to run through him?

[Shannon Sharpe]

And I step Curry on the court.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I see that. That's what I'm saying. Knowing. Knowing that he is a. He's an offensive juggernaut just as well. Why not? You have two people that can score, you have two people that can get you points. I don't see what the problem is. But he goes where he goes now, and he's putting up points like this. 27 one night, 17. And next. And this is probably now that he has the green light to be able to play as freely as he wants to. This is what you're gonna get the

[Shannon Sharpe]

warrior system is predicated on ball movement. Kaminga is predicated on having the ball in his hand moving. So he needs to take it. He needs to take the ball. He needs to have the ball and take you off the bounce. Where Golden State is a. Is a hot potato type of team.

[Naheer Albright]

Right?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I mean, okay, you're right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And he's like, look, this style has won four championships. It's going to six NBA Finals.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right? Okay, now I got you. I got you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I got Durant fit perfectly in this system.

[Naheer Albright]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'd be damned if I didn't change my system for Kevin Durant. I be damn if I'm going to change it for something that's not the equivalent of Kevin Durant.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I got you. I got you. All right. It makes sense. It makes sense. So right. Right player, just wrong system.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I got you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes. While the NFL won the grievance against the NFL PA to prevent annual release of teams report card it wasn't enough to stop the leak. The Dolphins ranked number one in the report cards for the third consecutive year, according to the report. The Vikings ranked second. The Commanders rattled out the top three after Commanders at one point in time was rated dead last. But The Steelers checked in 32 for the first time on the report cards. For your history, Steelers receive low marks, especially facilities. Arnold owner Art Rooney iii, I think or the second. Okay. Second ranked last for willingness to invest in facilities. No surprise dealers are cheap. Steelers locker room, which also had a failing grade. This t is the Steelers rank last by a wide margin on the field, highlighted by the need for more investment to increase the standard. Acrisure Stadium grass turf was subject of a discussion after it was particularly torn up during week six between the Steelers and Browns. Ocho.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yes sir.

[Shannon Sharpe]

NFL won the grievance. They're like, you can't release this because you're releasing this in bad faith and you're bad faith and you're trying to make our team look bad.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But why can't. But I'm just saying what's. You don't want the player's opinion. You got all these sites that have an opinion, they grade the players which is third party.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yep.

[Naheer Albright]

That's.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And a lot of people base that their grades and how they play players on those grades. So a player that actually plays there to see it day to day say, you know what the training facility is not up to start. Right. To par the. The craft services, which is the food is not up to par. Right. The li. The family. Where the family reside is not up to par. Right. I mean, I'm. I'm confused. Why O.J.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

yeah, listen, that. That's a. That's a good thing. And obviously you think about it too, right? You think about the owners and, and what they choose to invest in. I mean, what, what. What's most important to them. Obviously, everything starts with the product. The product you putting on the field. Obviously, along with the product, you want to have the best services for said players to keep everyone healthy. So strength and conditioning, nutrition, some of the things that, that, that come. Come to hand right away, obviously, outside. Outside of that, all the other amenities, I think most owners don't see it as. As important as. As said players. Which is why those that have bad grades, they have them for a reason. Oh, yes, sir.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The objective is, is to make as much money as I possibly can.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Talk to me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

While spending.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Talk.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I look at roi, which is return on investment.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Investment, yes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I invest a little. I get maximum in return. Hey, upgrade my facilities. If I give you the. If I get a new weight room, if I give the facilities where families can come and the kids can come.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's money. I gotta pay for that.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Talk to me now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, no, no, no, no, no. I want y' all to them same dilapidated facilities.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I expect you to win.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

While we get 400 million from TV revenue. Remember the caps only 305 million, so that's 95. You're 95.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Mm.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Already united 5 up. You haven't sold tickets, you haven't sold concession, you haven't sold parking, and you haven't sold merchandise.

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And you haven't sold local TV and broadcast.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You're 100. You're 95 now. Okay. You pay your coaching staff. Let's just say for the sake of argument, Ocho, you all in on your coaching staff. At 30 million, you still got 65. Plus the five things that I just left added. So at worst case scenario, you probably coming home with 100 mil. Yeah, that's worst case. Cowboys, you're probably coming home with 300 miles.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Mm.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But even the worst franchise is coming home with 100 mil. After they pay all the players, after they pay. After they pay other coaches. That's what you're coming home with.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yep. I mean, that, That's. That's always been the, The. The owner's mindset. That's always been the model for any business, especially absolutely an entity of this magnitude. Roi. Can I, can I, can I, can I, can I pay less but maximize more? Always. That's always. That's Always been the model.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It is. Because guess what it is, Ocho, as we see food prices, where you go these restaurants where the prices are going up.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Guess what's not going up? The employees wages.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Aha.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So while the prices goes up, we're gonna make more. We paid them the same. See, that's how you do it.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Been a business model for a very long time.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Somebody gonna need. Somebody gonna need the jobs.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Now there are some jobs and the people like, well, why they coming across here? Why they coming? Because they're doing jobs you don't want to. All I know is when I'm driving side the road and I'm seeing people clear weeds and doing all that manual labor.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yes, sir.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Don't really be looking like me. And they don't be looking American to me. Right. Because when they be showing them clips of people in the fields.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I've done that type of work.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

As a kid. It let me know I didn't want to do that as an adult. When you go to the hotels, Ocho, who cleaning the rooms?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Oh, yeah, it's not us.

[Shannon Sharpe]

When you come to the. When you come out here to on the strip rooms.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, not us.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So there's always going to be someone in the fast food industry that wants those jobs, even though they're. I don't know what to make. I mean, I see sometimes I go see, I pass the paying 15 an hour. We're paying 17 out. So I don't know what they. I don't know what the average is. Chad, y' all would have to tell me what. What you make at a fast food restaurant, because I don't know. 316 and a half. Okay. 16 and a half an hour. You work eight hour shift. I guess they work. You think they work eight hour shifts, Ocho?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, that sounds. That sound about right, huh?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, look, that's 120, 128. 128. Not about 100, 130, 334 a day.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, I mean that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's. That's my little check. Boy, I can imagine what I could have done with 134 a day.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Can you imagine? I'm trying to think. You know, uncle, I used to work at McDonald's. Obviously it was. It was my freshman year, my freshman year in high school. There was a McDonald's in Liberty City on 62nd street, right by the highway, maybe about 15 blocks away from. My grandma stayed. I worked there my freshman year in high school at. Obviously at McDonald's. And I can't Remember what minimum wage was back then? And this is way back in 1990. 93. 92, something like that. Hey, hey, boy. And, you know, I. You know, my check had to go straight to grandma.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Piggy bank. You got to put this up in your bank. You got to put this in. Hey, I got to teach you how to save seven night.

[Shannon Sharpe]

725. Yeah, yeah. Somebody say, hey, okay, millionaires. But you see, you look at Ocho and I. Now, you didn't say that when we was coming up. Wait, so hold on. Wait. They thought it was Ocho and Shannon Sharp from the ages of five until we made it to the NFL. Why? I didn't make that kind of money until, like, 94. So I'm just trying to say because, see, and that's the thing. Everybody look at what they see now, Ocho, but they don't see where we came from. I did everything. I see y' all be talking. I did my resume. My working in the fields is documented.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I got. I got a question, too. Not only did you work, we all. We all know your story because you talk about your story all the time. I mean, do people think. Are we forgetting? I worked at McDonald's when I was in Santa Monica UNC. I worked at Kukaroo. I work at KB Toy Stores in Fox Hills Mall. I worked in men's land at Fox Hills Mall. Like, I literally had. I had no choice. My grandma, she. When. My grandma, when she hit me with that. When I got thrown out of Langston and I came back home and she looked at me in my face with tears and said, I've done all I can. I. I washed my hands and I had to go live with my. My mom in la. I had no choice. I had to survive at that point.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Were you a grown man? Oh, so you think you're grown? I see grown man things, education. And you still want to do it your way. You know what? You got to go to your mama. So I had to get a job. Well, Hurricane ain't play that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But guess what, Ocho. You nor I thought we were too good to have any job. I didn't. I never thought a job was beneath me, man. I ain't doing that.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Never that. Never that. I had to work. I didn't have a choice. I had to. How I was gonna eat. I noticed my home.

[Shannon Sharpe]

See what you want to shift for a fat age. Anybody know? So how long does. How long do you work? How long do you guys work in the fast food? So is it like, you work six hours, you work eight hours, you work 10 hours. What's a, what's a shift at a fast food restaurant? Somebody, somebody that, anybody that's, that's worked there, that knows anything. Cuz I have no earthly idea, huh?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Eight hours.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Eight hours, okay. Cuz you working in the fields. It was no eight hours. It was no eight hours, I promise you that.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Well, you got to work longer or shorter. Hey, you work longer than eight hours.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We got to the point. We got to the point. Oo, if you finished, if you like, we, we. It go by the barn. If you finished, you could get off. That was, wasn't always like that. We would just start, right? So we would start, say 7 o', clock, and we knock off around 6. You get an hour, you get an hour. So from the time he dropped you off at home, whatever time that was, they were going to come back, pick you up to go back to the field. So from 7 to 12. So we probably get off about 12. It all depends. We try to finish at one end or another. Well, we tried to finish on the end. This area that's closer to the truck, we didn't want to finish. Have to walk way down here and walk. So we, you know, even if we like, say it's 12 o', clock, I remember Mr. Joe, like, guys, we can make it. And you know, you get an extra, you know, that's an extra 15 minutes. Lunchtime, okay? Our lunchtime, scarf the food down and me and my cousin, my brother, we out there playing basketball.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So it wasn't like no rest. My grandma like, boy, y' all come out that sun, y' all gonna have a heat stroke. Did you not see us just come out the field?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You ain't say nobody stroke, but playing basketball, you will have a heat stroke. So that's when I'm like, I tell, I tell kids today, Ocho, work a lot of jobs because it'll let you know what you don't want to do when you get old, get older. You can't do it when you young and spry and vibrant. You damn sure not going to do that in your late 20s, your 30s, your 40s, and you damn sure not want to do it when you're in your 50s or 60s. Yeah, so work some things. Work. Let you know what, man. Man, ain't no hell where in hell I want to work 12, 14 hours a day if I'm working 12, 14 hours as a kid. But you know, young adult, you're a teenager, you're in your early 20s. Nah, this, this ain't, this ain't what I'm trying to do. Right? This ain't what I'm trying to do. Now everybody, everybody, hey, everybody's not going to be able to, to parlay and, and flip that into something right. More prosperous. Yeah.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I mean, and you know, you know, you know what's funny too is most of the time you think about it, we, we all have to have a plan B. We all have our plan A. Our plan A is what we actually want to do. And the fact that I, I think about, let's say if football didn't work, if football didn't work out, you know, obviously I still have the discipline, understanding. I still have to make a living. I still have to eat. Hold on. I still have kids. So I still would have the structure and discipline to go out and get a job. It might not be the one thing I want to do. It might not be. Yes, but it, but even if it's not, I still have the ability to go and get a job. I don't see working as being beneath me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Absolutely not.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I, I just don't. Because I had no choice but to do it growing up and I, I did it at places that people would somewhat frowned upon. Maybe I ain't working in no fast food place, but hell, I started at McDonald's. Hell, I, I was at. Dude, I did Christmas season at KB

[Shannon Sharpe]

toy store and that have been nice to work in air conditioning.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I'm working. I work in the clothing store at Crenshaw Mall and Fox Hills Mall. Men's land. I wonder if Sam's still there. Anybody in the chat that's from la. I mean, you know what I'm talking about, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Six hours. They said he worked six hour shifts at restaurants.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Oh, that's not bad. That's not bad. That's not bad.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, here's the thing though. Ocho door is not bad. But when you only making $10 an hour. Let me get all the Bibles. Let me get, let me get 10, 12 hours.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I don't like that. I don't like the part and I don't like the part. Now you get a better understanding is the shifts are so short and they don't make enough. Now you get a better understanding of why I've been tipping the way I do the past 20 years every time I go out. It's ridiculous.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, it's tough. And look, I understand because I've been there. I've been there, been dirt poor and, and you know, you got to make ends Meet, you know, we. We work, me and my brother, we take half our money. You know, we got to buy school clothes, right? But we got to help granny pay bills. You know, light needs to be on. Telephone bill got to be paid. Gas bill got to be paid. Sometimes we run short of money in the winter because we not really working like that. Yeah, Ocho. Hey, we got to pull that. Hey, we got to open that fireplace up. Boys, your granny short this month. We're going to have to use the fireplace. Okay.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It wasn't like. Oh, man. Man, this is. This is the bird. This for the birds. No. Yeah.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

You ain't had no other way.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Doing the best she can, that's what. And boy used to break my heart every time she was sin. She would send. Because, you know, Ocho, they sent cash. You ain't have nobody have no checking account. We have no money order. Grandma would send cash. Liberty to send me cash in Savannah State. But she would put it in newspaper because, you know, people go, hold it up to the light.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, they got money in there. You never see it. You never see it, right? So my grandma would have my sister put it in the newspaper. My sister put a note. Granny say, this all she. It ain't much, son. That's all I got. It's $5, Man. That's all I got is $5 on your.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, she'll give me a spaghetti. Say, well, here. Here, boys. Here's some money. Here's a piece of money. She gives $5. I get 250. Spanky get 250. Well, Spanky go hold on to his. Not Shannon. Shannon's gone. Back then, sodas was a quarter. Honey buns were a quarter, bag of chips. And back then, bag of chips filled all the way up to the top, not half the chips. And then the rest of the half is air. Yeah, that bull job they be pulling on us now, Ocho.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Oh, yeah, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I get me three sodas, three honey buns, two bags of chips. But I tell people all the time, Ocho, the easiest job I've ever had playing in the NFL. Because you know why, Ocho? Because that's something I really wanted to do.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Wanted to do. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I ain't want to clip no damn onions. I ain't want to catch chickens. I ain't want to crop tobacco. I ain't want to bail hay. I ain't want to goddamn low watermelons. I ain't want to do none of that.

[Naheer Albright]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The only thing I ever wanted to do was play in the NFL? Cause it looked fun. And they. When I saw they was making fifty thousand. A hundred thousand dollars in the late seventies. What. Do you know how much money that is from a kid from Georgia that's living on the shotgun shack? A hundred thousand dollars, Ocho?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah. Big money boy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What? You know what, Ocho? I would take you down. I would let you do some of the jobs that I used to do.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Come on. Hey, come on, man. Come on. Bring me down there. Hey.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But is it catching chickens have gotten a lot of ease, Ocho, because now what I hear is they got. They got the coops. They got the. The chicken cages in. In. In the house. See, we used to have to catch the chickens. We open the back door, we take a flashlight because it had to be dark. Cause the chickens are huddled up, and we just have a light, a flashlight standing up. So you can just barely see the chickens. And you catch three in one hand, three on the other hand. Yeah, walk them out. You walk them up. You hand them to the guy, he takes them. Hand them to another guy that was stacking them. Now they got him in there. You ain't got to do nothing. They take a forklift and do all that.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Hey, I want.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What kind of bull job is that? Hey.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Hey. I need you to take me out there, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

And have them out there in the field. Wow. Have them out there while I'mma put on some cleats.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, no, no. They in. They're in the chicken house. They're in a. They like. They might be 8, 10,000 chickens in the house. You have to go. But now.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I wanted the way you did it. I wanted the way you did it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's the way I did it.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Oh, okay. It was in the house. Okay, okay. Okay. Yeah, that's too easy, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, okay. I don't know, Ocho. Now your back gonna be on fire. Because you got to realize that's a lot of bending over. Yeah, I mean, my back was hurting. Hell, I'm 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

My back hurting.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So I can imagine what a grown. A grown person.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That ain't you, boy. You might be in traction, man.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I'm ready, boy. I'm ready, boy. Set that up for me. Set that up. Get the cameras ready.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The NFL, the GM report cards, a grade with the Dan Morgan of Carolina. George Patton for the Broncos. Chris Ballard, less need, obviously. Adolfo Mensah. He got an A and got fired. John Schneider and Adam Peters, A with Dacosta. A minus was the Costa. Brandon Bean, Ryan Poles, Brad Holmes, Nick Casario, James Gladstone, John Spycheck, Chris Greer. He got fired too. Derek Moogie, John lynch and Todd and Jason Light. B plus was Terry Font. No. Brian Gudicus, Brett Veach, Joe Hortez, Elliot Wolf and Mike Borgonzi. But here, the D plus, Joe. Sean. Sean, Joe Shown. He was the, the Giants GM.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

And you notice the GMs. The GM, the GMS, they got great good grades.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Jerry got a B. Jerry gotta be. Jerry gotta be. Jerry got A beat. Jerry got his players. G. Well, that's the gm. But Jerry. What did. What else did Jerry get a B for?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Hey, hold on. Who. Who did the grays, though, on the players?

[Shannon Sharpe]

The players. The players.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Okay, okay, okay. Hey, that. That's. That's amazing. I. I've never. I've never seen. I've never seen actually where players get the grade, you know, the GMs. I. I've never heard. I've never heard that before. That's. That must be something new.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, they get. They give them. No, they give them every year for the. They've been doing it for like the last four years where they can't do it anymore.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Okay. Hey, I know some GMs, especially those that got bad grades. They probably pissed these SAP suckers. They didn't gave me a D. And I'm the one, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. Brett Beach. Brett beach got a B plus. Terry Font. No, Gunnakens. Brett beach got B plus. Omar Khan. I don't know how he got a C plus from the Steelers because he ain't found a quarterback yet. Duke Tobin got a C. Andrew Barry. I don't know how. Andrew Barrett. Well, I mean, considering he had a defensive rookie of the year and he found a Hal Fanning Jr. We'll see what. We'll. We'll see what? Shador. If Shador is able to parlay the last half of the season and turn that into something positive moving forward, then I can understand why he got the grade that he had. But what about all those other grades? He been there for a minute. This ain't his first year. But. But that's it. Oo. You won't get no more GM grades moving forward. Where's how? Roseman. They better. How he should have got an eight. Oh, how he got to be. He got to be. Yeah.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Who? I mean, how many. How many. How many DMs got?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Florida Saints. He gotta be some of these guys. I don't know. I don't know who. Obviously. Eric DaCosta is with the Ravens, right? Chris Greer was with the. The. The Dolphins. Brad Holmes is with the Detroit. Nick Casarios is with the Houston Texas Ryan polls. He's with the Chicago Bears. Less need is with Less is with not Kansas. No, no. He with Seattle in less Seattle. Seattle. Or is that John Schneider with Seattle?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

That's Snyder with Seattle.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay, let's need it with the Rams then.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Spy Tech is with the. The Raiders so. But there goes your grades. No more grades. I'm sorry.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

But.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, we got a special guest joining us now. It's time to welcome Naheer Albright. He had a great 10 round bite brought about with Frank Martin that ended on the draw. Did you thought, did you think you had done enough to. Well, first of all, thanks for joining us. We really appreciate that. Did you think you did enough to get the win just to eke out a narrow victory?

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah, I did. I felt like I definitely pulled it out by like a round or two. I mean I knew it was a close fight. So you know what I'm saying? Like when they announced it I was like, all right, I can't be too mad but I felt like, I felt like I won.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You bucket him early though. You called him early. I thought, I was like, damn, he might get old boy up out of here.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, obviously I'm sure you watched the fight by now and looking at some of the things you could have done and not allowing it to go to the judges scorecard, I'm sure there will be a rematch. I'm not sure if you guys have talked about it. What things do you do based on what you've seen, watching what you did in the past fight, do you think you need to do in the next one if one comes about that where it doesn't have to end up in the judges judge's scorecard or actually in the judge's hands where it won't be a draw and it goes in your favor.

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah, I feel like I started kind of slow. I feel like, you know, if I put pressure on them earlier, I'm saying I could, I could have definitely got the knockout.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Let me ask you a question. What was going on with the mouthpiece? Because I felt that you was giving him an opportunity with the mouthpiece. You were stopping the fight and getting him a chance to break. I was like, man, back down to the mouthpiece and keep the pressure on him.

[Naheer Albright]

I know, yeah. So like I had like a, a cheap mouthpiece because like my, my. I had like a Walmart mouthpiece. I had Bo.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I was gonna say you with the dicks. He Got a mouthpiece, bro.

[Naheer Albright]

It's a.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It was a.

[Naheer Albright]

It was a Walmart mouthpiece. And it was last minute. My. My other mouthpiece, I had lost it. So I hurried up and grabbed the mouthpiece, boyed it down, and I was like, all right, I'm gonna feel me go fight. And then, yeah, Tim Brown came out. I'm like, damn. You know what I'm saying?

[Shannon Sharpe]

What happened to, don't y' all have custom mouth pieces at least? I mean, you get a custom mouthpiece for a couple, for a little. Another year, you'll get a couple of mile pieces for like 250, 300.

[Naheer Albright]

I know, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Definitely. In the future fights, I'm ahead.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah. Also, I have a question. At your guys level. I, I, obviously the elite level, when you think about your game plan, going to the fight and saying, well, maybe if I did this, say, let's say, you want to say, you know what, Maybe if I press him a little bit more, doesn't that put yourself at risk, you know, being able to take chances like that, pressing the fighter, knowing that he can.

[Naheer Albright]

He.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

He can exchange and punch through punches. Do you ever think about stuff like that? And you, where you started off slow, were you a little bit more cautious because you're not tired yet. Everyone is fresh now.

[Naheer Albright]

You're right. Like, you know, you definitely gotta be strategic and things like that. But it was a lot of openings. Like, when I went back and watched it, it was a lot of openings that I saw, you know, that I could have exploited. And so that I'm saying in that aspect, I could have still started early because I saw, like, certain openings that I could have did, you know what I'm saying?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't think you ever felt. I don't really felt that you felt like, like, oh, but he got power. I can't come in here. I mean, you walked in the front door. It wasn't like he hit you with anything that. That really got your attention.

[Naheer Albright]

Nah, he called me one good shot, probably in like, I think it was round five. It was like towards the end. Yeah, he caught me with a good shot. Feel me? It buzzed me a little bit, but I. I didn't mind that. I'm like, this is my opportunity. So, look, he gonna have to do more than buzz me, and I'm gonna keep coming all night. Like, that's my opportunity. So, hey, it's gonna be what it's gonna be like. That's my mindset, right?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

So I. I'm not sure. I don't Know if you can tell us. But obviously, superb, superior fight, great performance from you. And with you having a performance like that, I think you should be able to get the fights you want to, especially depending on who you want to call out or who you want to fight. Is there anybody in mind if you don't get a rematch right now with Frank? Is there anybody you'd like to fight next?

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah, to be honest, I want a world title shot. Like, feel me. Richardson, Hitchens, Shakur, Stevenson, anybody like Gary Russell, like all the champions. That's in my wig, right? I'm saying I'm trying. Yeah, I'm trying to fight them. I'm ready right now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

As Ocho mentioned, you said, okay, those are the guys that you want, so you want those guys. Are you willing to buy. So are you looking to bypass the rematch? I don't know if there's a rematch clause or anything. I don't know if they're. They're clamoring for it. But you say, I want a title fight. So are you looking past a potential rematch in order to move forward?

[Naheer Albright]

I mean, if the. If the rematch is there, we could run it back because the fans. The fans want to see that, like, feel me. And I'm saying, I'm trying to. I'm saying entertain the fans and things like that. So I'm gonna get the fans what they want. Feel me, man, Frank could run it back, but if that's not there, yeah, I would love to fight for a title or, like I said, a title eliminator.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

How much time you take off, take off from the gym before you get back in there? Obviously, you want to give your body a chance to recover, you know, for whatever. Now, I'm not saying you're injured, but obviously after a football game, you sore, you know, you banged up. And so when it comes to boxing, after a fight like that, 10 rounds, how much time do you get yourself off to relax, take a vacation before you get back in the groove of things?

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah, I just take off a week and. And that.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

That's it.

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah. But, like, when I come back, though, I'm not, like, going crazy hard.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah, I'm going through the motions and stuff like that, but I take off a week where I'm like, I go get a massage, I'm soaking, you know, I'm saying, resting, spending time with my daughter, things like that. Okay.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

That's why.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How so are you after a fight? I mean, obviously. I mean, you're somewhat sore. You don't got punched in your Face. You got punched in the arm, you got punched in the chest. So if the sword is. Are you more sore after the fight or. Or say, maybe the next couple of days?

[Naheer Albright]

N. It take, like, two days to hit you. Like, the first night. First night, you feel it a little bit. You feel me a little, too. But two days later, you feel like a car hit you, bro. I promise you like, you like, Dang, I thought I was good. Like, but n. It sneak up on you, like, definitely, like, two days later, right? Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You. You familiar with the Davis brother? Do you see yourself in a situation fighting Keshan?

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah, I've been told Kishan. Let's run it again. Like, I've been told he's showing. Let's get it popping. But I don't know. I guess his team, like, oh, it seemed like his team telling him not to fight me or something like that. I think he want to fight me too, but his team, like, nah, I just stopped mentioning his name or something.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Hey, it. You know what?

[Shannon Sharpe]

We.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

We always talk about it. Uncle and I. We always talk about it. Obviously, me being a boxing enthusiast, do you think there are too many people in the way where fans want to see certain fights and boxers actually want to make those fights happen, but they have too many people that, in a way, of great fights actually happening?

[Naheer Albright]

Oh, yeah.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

It seems like the team is in the way of the fans getting the fights that we want to actually see.

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah, absolutely. It's a lot of, like, business that goes into the boxing world, and it definitely do, like, block mega fights and

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

stuff like that, Right?

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You notice. If you notice, Ocho, I don't know if you. And you let me know what you think about this. Everybody talks about how they want to fight. Everybody. I fight everybody. Everybody. Until they get the belt, and then they want to pick and choose who they fight. They don't want to fight everybody no more. Everybody says that because it sounds good. Yeah, I fight anybody. Whoever's at 140, who's at 145. 130, 135. I fight anybody the moment they get a belt. No, I'm good.

[Naheer Albright]

Right.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

But. But. But now here, Mr. Albright, isn't it. Doesn't it become a business at that point once you do get a belt or whoever you do fight has to make sense from a business perspective and being able to maximize as much as you could, you can make. Because it's called prize fighting for a reason.

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

And once you get that belt, you. You're able to command a little bit more Than normal, huh?

[Naheer Albright]

N. Yeah, that's true. Like, you will want to make the mega fights instead of, like, fights. That's not going to bring in as much money.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Right.

[Naheer Albright]

But I'm saying, I feel like you gotta. It's like you gotta have. You gotta have it in you also to build a legacy, give the fans what they want to see, too. Like, you know what I'm saying? And I feel like when you fall in love with the sport like, that that's gonna bring the biggest money. I'm saying when you really. When you take shortcuts and, like, just try to chase the money, I feel like that's. It's going, like, block your blessings for real. But. Right. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Would that Andre War say, my legacy is what I'd leave for my family. That's my legacy.

[Naheer Albright]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But here's the thing, Ocho. You know how business work. If you don't get the people what they want, soon enough, you'll be out of business. People want to see people. People want to see fights. And if the fights that work, if the fights with you and Keyshawn or the fights with you and Shakur or the fights with you, hey, fight. Hey. Let's. Let's get it on. Because like you said, Ocho, it's what people want to see. They're going to watch it and people

[Naheer Albright]

will pay for sure.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Most definitely. Who are your inspirations? Growing up, I'm sure you've been boxing for a very long time. Obviously, watching your performance, you were sharp as hell. You able to fight on the inside, sitting in the pocket. You were able to fight at distance. So you. You have to have some inspirations that you look at, that you study to be able to perfect your craft and stealing bits and pieces from them and add them to your game.

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah, for sure. I like Sugar Ray Leonard. I like Sugar. I like all the sugars. I like Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Shake Mosley. Like. Like, film me. They all got that. That explosiveness to smoothness.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah.

[Naheer Albright]

So. Yeah, like. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, I'm sure you've heard the news by now. We're not breaking news to you, but in September, I think September 16th, Floyd Mayweather will take on Pacquiao. Pack Pacquiao too early prediction what you think of how this thing gonna play out. Both of they're pretty much past their prime. Is what, 48, 49 years of age. Two guys. It's on Netflix. It's gonna be, you know, what you thinking?

[Naheer Albright]

I'm thinking I think Floyd gonna do what Floyd do. I Think Floyd gonna leave off right where he left. I think he gonna pick Manny apart. That's my prediction. I think Floyd is a master crack. Like he. He a master at his craft, and he gonna pick up right where he left, left off.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Look, a lot of people said, man, I don't want to see that. I want to see Shakur and, And. And Keyshawn. I want to see Shakur and, and. And Tank or. I want to, you know, I want to see fight like that. Why we got to get guys. We got guys in their 20s that we should be that got belts that we should. We shouldn't have to wait for guys that's in all damn near 50 years old, about to get an ARP car to fight. You said you'll fight. Hey, hey. The man said you said you'll fight.

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah, yeah, like give me a title shot now. I need a title shot now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So when are you looking. What are you. Okay, you just fought last week. So when are you looking to fight again?

[Naheer Albright]

I think I'm. I'm actually scheduled to fight May 16 on RDR Promotions card. That's my current promoter already our promotions. So it's going to be in Newark at the Provenance Center.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

So I don't have.

[Naheer Albright]

I don't have an opponent right now, but they're looking for somebody.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Obviously, if you come off a fight against Frank Martin like that, when you fight again, you know, and you said in May. Yeah, May 16, would a fight like that be a tune up for a bigger fight? Maybe before the end of the year? Yeah. Do you pick someone of the same caliber as. As like a Frank Martin?

[Naheer Albright]

Nah, it's gonna. I think it's gonna be more so of like a tune up to stay sharp. Yeah, yeah. Just waiting on either, like I said, world title or. Or Frank Martin again. I'm saying my prediction is I think me and Frank Martin gonna end up on the Fl. Floyd Vers Pacquiao card. Look, I'm putting in. Yeah. 20, 26. I'm putting in the air. Me and Frank Mar gonna be gonna be on Netflix fighting on the undercard of Floyd and Pacquiao.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I like that. Hey, can you imagine in Vegas, huh? Mr. Albright. Frank Martin Albright, too. At the. At the Las Vegas. Spear. Spear. How you say it?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Spear. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I forgot to put.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How many times have you fought three times in a year? Because if you fight, you say you got a potential tune up. May 16, and then again, you'll flip it around and do it again on September 16th. That'll be your third fight. How many times? And say, the last three, four years. Have you fought three times in a year?

[Naheer Albright]

All right, you got. Look, you got me there. It been a couple years since I fought, like, feel me consistently like that, But I feel like the more you active is, the sharper you're gonna be, though. So, like, that's working in my favor. Like, so. Yeah, it's never a bad thing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you remember the guys that you mentioned, guys used to fight back in the 70s, 60s, 70s. Guys used to fight three, four, five times of the year.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Naheer Albright]

It used to fight, like, every other month. For real? Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But I think the thing is now is that the payday is so big because they weren't making the money like you guys make now. And so you. Now you can fight once or twice and get the money that they were getting, and they'd have to fight six, seven times to make the money that you guys are making, fighting once or twice. So I get it if I don't have to take that unnecessary risk by fighting multiple times. Three, four times in a year, because that's Floyd. Floyd normally fights he Cinco de Mayo, and then he fights in the fall. That's it.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, Yeah, I like it. Where you train at? What. What. What stage you in?

[Naheer Albright]

I'm in Jersey.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, yeah?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

You right down. You right down the street. You right down the street. I'm gonna have to. I'm have to come down and get some work with you, man.

[Naheer Albright]

Oh, yeah, for sure, bro. You trying to spar?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, I mean. I mean, if that's what you want. I only use my jab hand, though.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, hey, hey. Don't. I mean, don't. Don't do it. Too bad. Just hit him in the body. Don't. Don't. Don't mess this up. Just hit him in the body. Don't. I mean. And take a little something off it. You ain't got to put that Barbie. Don't put that barbecue sauce. Don't put that. That. That barbecue sauce that sweet and sour on it.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Hey, it's good. It's good. I like chicken nuggets. Huh? Whatever he bring, it's gonna get blocked.

[Naheer Albright]

Okay.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, we.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We good?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, Working. Well, I want to say congratulations, but that was a great fight. It was a draw. Really good to get the outcome that you wanted.

[Naheer Albright]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You didn't lose, so that's not here. Albright. Good luck down the road, man. And so hopefully I have another tune. If you have the tune up in May, come back and talk to us.

[Naheer Albright]

All right. For sure. Can I. Can I sing a song for the ladies on this joint?

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yeah, hold on, hold on, hold on. Sing that thing, bro, you know I sing, too. We could do it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Naheer Albright]

All right.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I'm let you go. Go ahead. Go ahead.

[Naheer Albright]

All right. Ready? We belong together and I know that I'm right why do you play with my heart? Why do you play with my mind? Said we be forever Said we never die how could you love me and leave me and never say goodbye? Although we come to the end of the road Still I can't lady go is so natural. You belong to me I belong to you

[Shannon Sharpe]

all right. Thank you, bro. Appreciate that.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

I appreciate it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, but you got.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

You got pipes on your butt, huh? All right. Yeah. Yeah.

[Naheer Albright]

One last thing. Shout out to my little brother, man. He next up, too. Isaiah Johnson. He's so Paul, man. Y' all gonna. Y' all gonna see him. And my cousin, Quadir Albright, another knockout artist on the way. Y' all gonna hear about him.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Yes, sir.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Appreciate it, man. Thank you, bro.

[Naheer Albright]

I appreciate y'.

[Shannon Sharpe]

All. Hey, hey. Y' all make sure y' all clip that. That we don't lose monetization, y'. All. Y'. All. Y' all couldn't no cut that down to, like, 20 seconds. We. I think. I think if we cut it down, we clip that to 20 seconds.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Hey, hey. But he. He got. He got a voice like me, huh?

[Shannon Sharpe]

We only lose monetization if YouTube thinks it's the original person singing it. Oh, no. Well, we good.

[Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco)]

Hey, why. Hey. What he got? I can't believe that. Why? We belong together.