← Payne & Pendergast
Payne & Pendergast
Rockets Need a Good Offseason but Haven't Caught a Break + LeBron Watch is Upon Us
00:34:54
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- [00:00]
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- [01:05]
Sports Analyst 1
I painted Pendergast with you on a on a Wednesday Astros win last night. We'll talk about them a little bit more later. Six to four. If you, if you missed it, us playing in the World cup tonight. Lot going on for July 1st, by the way. July 1st also, Seth. This happens every year. It's a tradition like no other. Adam Schefter tweets Happy Bobby Bonilla Deferral Day. Oh, Bobby Bonilla, former third baseman for the New York Mets, set to collect another 1.193 million from new York Mets today, as he will every July 1st through the year. 2035. Bobby Bonilla ahead of his time, man, he's probably the most famous deferral salary taker in the history of baseball.
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Sports Analyst 2
He to an extreme degree, yeah. Like even, even by modern standards, there's very few people that defer it as long as he's deferred.
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Sports Analyst 1
He signed it like in the early 90s with one of the things that
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Sports Analyst 2
ended up breaking the family that owned the Mets. Yeah, they had like all these. It was remember because Bonillas it was when they went bankrupt. Can't remember the name of the previous owners when they went bankrupt. That was one of the things that people were curious about was like, oh, wait a second, is this going to affect money as payments? And it did not.
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Sports Analyst 1
It is not payment. It is not.
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Sports Analyst 2
But what a smart, not a great look. Like people are going to tell you like, like when you factor in inflation. It's actually a dumb move. Look, it's only a dumb move. It's only a dumb move if he handled all of his other money brilliantly. I always advocate young athletes do something that does. Do something that's way too conservative with at least part of your thing that makes sure that you're set for the rest of your life, you know, even, okay, oh, no, I didn't earn my maximum. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Just shut up and take your steady dose of how much per year?
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Sports Analyst 1
1.193 mil, 1.2 mil.
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Sports Analyst 2
But the inflation, it's not that much. You got that piece, you can make as many mistakes as you want elsewhere and you're going to be just fine.
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Sports Analyst 1
Peace of mind is a big deal, man. Yeah, peace of mind of one point of a check. I'd like to think too, Seth, that back when he signed this deal, you probably. That was probably back in the time where you actually got a physical paycheck. I like to take the. Bobby Bonilla gets a check for 1.193 million or, you know, with taxes taken out or whatever, whatever the net is. I like to think he walks out to the mailbox and gets that check on like, you know, July 3rd. It gets cut on the 1st.
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Sports Analyst 2
I like to think of it as that. It's more he receives it. It's in his contract that like an old. A guy dressed up like an old time telegram boy has to ride up on a bicycle. Yes, like an old timey bicycle with his hat on and everything. Yeah. And he rings his bell and he hands Bobby Bonilla the check.
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Sports Analyst 1
That's something I would put in the contract for sure. Yeah. So congrats.
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Sports Analyst 2
That's also being smart with your money.
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Guest/Contributor
Yeah.
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Sports Analyst 2
You can't put a price on frivolity. You can't.
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Guest/Contributor
No.
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Sports Analyst 1
Frivolity is big for the, for the Rockets. Not a real frivolous off season so far. I was thinking about this yesterday. I'm like, man, I'm trying to think of. I'm trying to think it's. Anything that's happened good for the Rockets so far this off season. Only because as I'm sitting there yesterday at Avalon Diner, eating my omelet and I'm watching the news of free agency start to roll in here, the big one is LeBron James not going back to the Lakers. That was the, that. That was the big news yesterday. Somebody not going back to their team. We'll get to that in a. But I'm like, man, I feel like as a Rockets fan. You're watching these trades go on. Seth. You're watching free agents, like, big ones, are going to start either resigning or signing with other teams. And I feel like. Like Charlie in the first 10 minutes of Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory when he's got his face pressed up against the window.
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Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
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Sports Analyst 1
And all the rich kids are inside, like, eating all the free candy. Like, the candy man in there is, like, giving them chocolate and they're all like, you know, got strings of hard candy. And Charlie's got his face pressed up like, man, that's what I feel like as a Rockets fan right now.
- [04:58]
Sports Analyst 2
You're like, enjoy your diabetes in the future. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's. That's how I'm trying to handle.
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Ad Host
Enjoy.
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Sports Analyst 2
I'm looking at all these other teams. Yeah. Enjoy your luxury tax issues.
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Ad Host
Yeah.
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Sports Analyst 2
What not.
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Sports Analyst 1
Yeah.
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Sports Analyst 2
We're being fiscally. We're running it back.
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Ad Host
Yep.
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Sports Analyst 2
We even put a hashtag in front of it. Everybody's working up about it.
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Sports Analyst 1
That's right.
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Sports Analyst 2
They were chanting it just randomly in the streets the other day down on Kirby.
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Sports Analyst 1
Yep.
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Sports Analyst 2
The Netherlands was doing their march or whatever, and a bunch of Rockets fans were assembled yelling, run it back.
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Sports Analyst 1
Yep.
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Sports Analyst 2
Run it back.
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Sports Analyst 1
Quite hear it because of all the Dutch people. But yes.
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Sports Analyst 2
Oh, and over the screams of Fred Van Vliet in his most recent knee.
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Sports Analyst 1
Well, that's where I wanted to go. I. And I'm curious. I. There were three things that, to me, that just jumped right to front of mind as I'm watching the off season. And for the Rockets, I'm going to count the off season as the. The day they lost to the Lakers is when it started for the Rockets. That's when they. When they were still, you know, several teams playing in the playoffs. The Rockets were in their off season.
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Guest/Contributor
The.
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Ad Host
Let's.
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Sports Analyst 1
Let's talk about Fred Van Vliet first. So how do each of these things make us feel about the Rockets right now? Just to reset. This was Fred Van Vliet on his podcast saying that the. His knee injury was worse than we had initially heard.
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Sports Analyst 2
Dr. Low did it. So I end up. And then what was up.
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Ad Host
What.
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Sports Analyst 2
What probably never was disclosed was I did ACL and both meniscus. So my whole knee exploded. All right. But you go come back. Better to watch for sure.
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Ad Host
I've been.
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I've been working.
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Sports Analyst 2
I've been grinding low.
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Ad Host
Cold.
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Sports Analyst 2
Okay.
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Sports Analyst 1
He's gonna come back as Dr. Lowe.
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Sports Analyst 2
Cold. I feel like you're saying that my knee blew up and then also just saying. Yeah, Dr. Lowe's got me. I feel it puts a lot more pressure on Dr. Lowe than it should.
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Sports Analyst 1
Yeah.
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Sports Analyst 2
Than he is. If his knee did indeed blow up, I just, I do think, I think that Fred Van Vliet was speaking a little bit colorfully there, I hope. Now, depending on what his meniscus damage was to both menisci. Like that could be really, really bad or it could not necessarily be all that big a deal at all. It's kind of. Do you remember when Javion Clowney, remember, it was disclosed that he had micro fracture?
- [07:05]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah, I remember being like, this sucks.
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Sports Analyst 2
People freaked out. And I like, it was really. It was an annoying year for me because I tried to explain to people because I've been through a bunch of surgeries. The micro fracture, it got a bad name because so many old athletes were trying to do it just to salvage their last couple years. So people would hear about a micro fracture and it was usually with some 35 year old who was trying to get one or two more years and they thought, oh, it never works out where. No, it's actually relatively common. It's just that you haven't heard it used in this context. So people thought the Clowney was done for back in 2015. He's still playing football right now. Right. So I think likewise with like Fred Van Vliet says his knee blew up. It's like it's meniscus damage and it happens a lot. It's not all that uncommon except that it's, it's, it's unique to each individual injury exactly how bad it is.
- [07:58]
Sports Analyst 1
No, I get what you're saying. I'd rather not heard that from Fred Van Vliet, but I get what you're saying. Like you're, you're, you're saying it's, it's quite possibly this is not anything to worry about.
- [08:08]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah, it might not. We just have no idea.
- [08:10]
Sports Analyst 1
Right.
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Sports Analyst 2
We don't have any clue right now.
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Sports Analyst 1
We're just.
- [08:12]
Sports Analyst 2
I mean, Fred Van Vliet will make some bold statements at times. Yeah. Like, like the spurs aren't. Haven't proven anything. Which, you know, ultimately, I guess, sure. They proved a hell of a lot more than the Rocket.
- [08:21]
Sports Analyst 1
That was a bad take by him. I forgot about that. Like, yeah, like the, the spurs who ended up making it to the NBA Finals. So. But, but as far as this offseason goes, it's certainly not something that makes me feel good hearing that from Van Vliet. And I think we're looking at the moot. The initial Moves that have been made by the Rockets. One, I'll count the Bruce Thornton, the trade up to draft Thornton out of Ohio State, an older collegiate point guard, and now the signing of Marcus Smart. I, you know, on the one hand you're like, oh, look, they're making all these moves for point guards. It's right after Van Vliet says this about his knee. I'm sure the team knew about the severity of his knee injury, the stuff we didn't know about it. But on the flip side, I'm like, well, yeah, this is what we were asking them to do regardless. It was to go get some depth at the point guard position and not cobble it together anymore.
- [09:07]
Sports Analyst 2
We'd want them to do that if you had traded for Antetokounmpo or just there are a bunch of moves that you have to do with or without a big move.
- [09:17]
Sports Analyst 1
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Sports Analyst 2
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Sports Analyst 2
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Sports Analyst 1
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Sports Analyst 2
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Ad Host
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- [10:17]
Sports Analyst 1
I think, I think even if we hadn't heard that cut from Van Vliet, these are things we would've wanted them to do. Like, they just, they didn't have. They didn't have good backup point guards last year.
- [10:25]
Sports Analyst 2
Right. Yeah. They had no options. It just. You were left and you did nothing about it. You just utilized like, oh, boy. Turns out we were in a really precarious position. Let's just stay exactly where we. In our. In our worst possible scenario.
- [10:37]
Ad Host
Yep.
- [10:38]
Sports Analyst 2
What do you think? The. Just as far as. Just to frame it.
- [10:40]
Ad Host
Yeah.
- [10:41]
Sports Analyst 2
This year compared to last year. Because largely. Okay, let's say, let's say for the sake of argument, okay, Fred Van Vliet's going to come back and he's going to Be just fine. Yeah. Okay. So how. How are they different now, if you, like, compared to a year ago or a little. Little less than a year ago after they had traded for Durant. Yeah. And let's assume Fred Van Vliet, for the sake of this exercise, is going to be healthy, like, and all of your young core of players are a year older.
- [11:08]
Guest/Contributor
Yeah.
- [11:09]
Sports Analyst 2
Like, where should they be? Should you regard them? And if you could ignore everything that happened, you know, in the playoffs and everything.
- [11:17]
Guest/Contributor
Yeah.
- [11:18]
Sports Analyst 2
Would you. Would you still say, okay, they've got just as much of a likelihood of
- [11:21]
Sports Analyst 1
winning the championship we felt a year ago. No. I mean, if. Think about it.
- [11:26]
Sports Analyst 2
So were we dumb a year ago?
- [11:28]
Sports Analyst 1
No.
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Sports Analyst 2
Well, we were. Because if Fred Van Vliet had played the whole year, do you think that just there was no chance of them winning the championship?
- [11:34]
Sports Analyst 1
No, no, no. So a year ago, I actually wrote about this for the Houston Press today. A year ago, we were 10 days removed from them trading for Kevin Durant.
- [11:42]
Sports Analyst 2
Right.
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Sports Analyst 1
A year ago we were talking about them being a legit NBA title contender, that they had this young core, then all of a sudden ascended to the two seed. And you added Kevin Durant to that.
- [11:52]
Sports Analyst 2
Right.
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Sports Analyst 1
And now I don't feel that way at all.
- [11:54]
Sports Analyst 2
I know you. Yeah, right. I know you don't feel that way now. But I'm saying, like, what if you. What on paper is different about this team now compared to then other than like, like, if we just make that, make that little leap and say, okay, if Fred Van Vliet's going to be healthy and play like his normal self this year.
- [12:10]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah, I get. I mean, they. On paper, the only thing different from a year ago is they just signed Marcus Smart.
- [12:15]
Sports Analyst 2
It's the same team, and they're actually right. So we were errant and. Well, of course, no, because then Fred Van Vliet doesn't play. So, like, so you think. You think even if Fred Van Vliet had been healthy, that this team wouldn't have done anything impressive in the playoffs?
- [12:27]
Sports Analyst 1
No, I don't. Because there became. Because Fred Van Vliet was around the team all year. This is where I'm going with this, Seth. My feeling about the biggest difference with this team now compared to a year ago, everybody a year ago was talking about, oh, this chemistry is amazing. Boy, you blend in. KD and he's getting along with everybody. There was a lot of chemistry talk with this team a year ago about how good things were, and somewhere along the way, it deteriorated. That was a big topic with The Rockets. So that's my biggest question about them now compared to a year ago, is how much does this team like playing with each other?
- [13:02]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah. And I, And I guess some of that it's always dependent on, you know, when things are going well on the court. It just tends to. Everything else tends to look a little bit better off the court.
- [13:11]
Ad Host
Yeah.
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Sports Analyst 2
And vice versa. There's a chicken in the egg dynamic. I just want to like. So right now The Rockets are plus 4500 to win the championship.
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Sports Analyst 1
They were like plus 1500 a year ago.
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Sports Analyst 2
They were. After the signing of Kevin durant. They were plus 850.
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Sports Analyst 1
Plus 850. So I was waiting. Yeah. So I mean, they're. The experts are saying 8 1/2 to 1 a year ago and they're saying 45 to 1 now.
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Sports Analyst 2
Yeah. I mean, it's a big difference and like a lot of it. And I, And I guess that's where I'm just trying to check myself that I'm not being drastically, you know, reactionary to just the fact that, okay, in the playoffs without Kevin Durant on the floor, without Fred Van Vliet the entire season without Stephen Adams, that, yeah, you're gonna, you're gonna look like a drastically different basketball team. And including during the regular season without. And I knew, and I know we talk about it so much and we lived with it for so long, you feel like, okay, look, I can't just sit here and act like losing an above average point guard and Fred Van Vliet, but not a great point guard made that much of a difference. But it had a trickle down effect to every area of the roster. It did that. It's a drastically different basketball team without Fred Van Vliet.
- [14:19]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah. Yep. I think the big. To me, the other thing, you know, because I'll. So I'll cite the chemistry of the team and the question marks there. The other thing is, and this is another, to me, another thing that, that is not broken the Rockets way this off season. And I'm defining the off season for the Rockets as the second they were eliminated from the playoffs. The San Antonio spurs got in the HOV lane when it came to their rebuild.
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Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
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Sports Analyst 1
The Spur, like we most fans of Western Conference teams not named the OKC Thunder, thought, okay, that's. That's the team, that's the dragon we've got to vanquish is okc. They won a title with a bunch of young guys and they've locked those young guys in for the next several years, as it turns out. Victor Wembanyama, who we knew this was going to happen eventually, that he was going to become this alien. It just happened. That whole thing, that whole core they put together with Castle and. And Dear. And I know Darren Fox had a bad playoff, but that core they put together, obviously focused on Wemby got great way sooner than anybody thought they would.
- [15:22]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
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Sports Analyst 1
And that's a problem for the Rockets. I think a lot of that. I think that's baked into them being 45 to 1 right now is they're not only nowhere near okc, they're not near San Antonio. You got two teams you got to get. You just lost to the Lakers with no Luka Doncic, granted, without Kevin Durant. But I think that's. To me, that's the biggest thing. And throughout the course of the season, not having a real point guard and then whatever was going on behind the scenes with this team, which was discussed enough around the league to make me think there was something to it. And we know the Burner account thing with Durant, that felt like there was something to that. That's the biggest question to me because on paper, with Van Vliet coming back, they're. They're very similar to what they were a year ago. But the feels on that, the vibes on them are just way, way different.
- [16:08]
Sports Analyst 2
We might have to take it in our own hands and just try to somehow sabotage Wembanyama in San Antonio. Yeah. Just make him demand a trade. At some point. You go back to bring a drink, bring up a bunch of the old headlines about anti French sentiment after 9, 11, we'll educate him about freedom fries. Yes. And San Antonio is leading the charge on calling them freedom fries instead of French fries. Yeah.
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Sports Analyst 1
Ye.
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Sports Analyst 2
This is how you. This is where you want to represent your country, San Antonio.
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Sports Analyst 1
That's poison the water. It's funny.
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Sports Analyst 2
Houston has always loved the French.
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Sports Analyst 1
Yep. This is. This is how fast a track the spurs got on this year. You just mentioned the Rockets odds were what, eight and a half to one going into last season to win the NBA title.
- [16:48]
Sports Analyst 2
On average. Yeah.
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Sports Analyst 1
On average, the Spurs, 65 to one. 65 to one. So people just weren't counting on that, you know, And I think that's a big thing. I think the other thing, too, if you're a Rocket fan, for some Rocket fans, I think there are Rocket fans that are cool with running it back and seeing what this team can do. But if you're a Rocket fan that was looking for a big swing this off season by the front office, the Names are all flying off the board. You know, the Giannis to Miami, Kawhi to Toronto. I know there's a few Rocket fans out there that would have been interested in John Morant. I'm not one of them, but he went to Portland. Even LaMelo Ball some would have been interested in. He went to Minnesota. Jalen Brown's the only one. It feels like it's still out there. That's sort of a trade candidate. And reportedly the Rockets don't want Jalen Brown, so. So if you're someone that was looking for some sizzle this off season, like some move to make it feel like they move the needle with this team and get off of being there's, like, this is not going the way they drew it up when they traded for Durant. They're 45 to 1 to win the title right now.
- [17:48]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah. And. Well, and I think the signing of Marcus Smart pretty much precludes them going after Jaylen Brown, if only because, all right, they're hoping that Fred Van Vliet's going to be the starter. They don't want to be caught with their pants down again this year if they don't have him. But now you've. Unless something weird happens with Fred Van Vliet, which I think might be actually impossible at this point from a contract standpoint. Yeah, that's. They're going to run it back.
- [18:11]
Ad Host
Yep.
- [18:12]
Sports Analyst 2
It's funny, though, their odds last year before they got Durant to win the championship were still better than where they are right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think.
- [18:19]
Sports Analyst 1
Because I think people were looking at the team going, okay, they got knocked out in the first round, but it was by Golden State, who had a lot of old heads on there with playoff experience. They went to seven games in that series, and the biggest thing was the regular season. They'd gone from being literally a.500 team the year before when they were 41 and 41, to the 2 seed in the West. So I think it was easy to look at them and what were their odds, actually, what was the actual number?
- [18:43]
Sports Analyst 2
It was before they were about 12 to 1.
- [18:47]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah. Before the Durant. I mean, they were viewed as a kind of fringe contender before that trade. So. Yeah, yeah, that's. Boy, that is a 45 to 1.
- [18:56]
Sports Analyst 2
Now, remember is the only thing about the Jalen Brown. And again, okay, the reports are that the Rockets are. Don't. Don't want or have any interest in them. I went back and looked yesterday, and kind of leading up to the Durant trade, it was in the few weeks before it, there were a couple of reports and anonymous sources that said that whatever interest there had been had cooled.
- [19:14]
Ad Host
Yeah.
- [19:15]
Sports Analyst 2
And that Durant actually isn't interested in. So I try to take all of those with a grain of of salt, but I just, it does feel, it doesn't feel like they're going to have to. Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart might be the most notable thing that happens.
- [19:30]
Sports Analyst 1
It might be that. That might be. Yeah, it might be the most notable pickup that they make.
- [19:35]
Sports Analyst 2
So.
- [19:35]
Sports Analyst 1
So that's kind of like the just things. Just if you're a Rocket fan looking for some reason to believe that 45 to 1 to win the title is just flat out wrong, there's not been a lot that the basketball gods have given you to move off of that. It's just, it's unfortunate.
- [19:49]
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Sports Analyst 1
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Sports Analyst 2
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Sports Analyst 2
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Sports Analyst 2
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- [22:04]
Sports Analyst 1
LeBron James announced yesterday he will not be returning to the Lakers next season, but he is going to play next year. Will tell you who the favorite heavy favorite in the clubhouse is to land him. But this is Brian Windhorst of ESPN saying that LeBron is looking for happiness, not money.
- [22:19]
Guest/Contributor
Rich Paul has made it clear that LeBron's number one priority for this season is happiness. Happiness. It's not money. So you don't. I mean, we're going to count the money, we're going to figure it out on the salary sheets and whatnot, but it's not going to be necessarily who's got the most money to offer. So now you're going to your follow up question. Matt is, well, how do you define happiness? Well, how does anybody define happiness? It's fluid, so I'm not sure he's got his mind made up here. It may take him a period to decide what his happiness is going to be. And there's several teams that are going to probably try to present their version of what his happiness can be. And we'll see how that process plays out.
- [22:57]
Sports Analyst 1
There's something about Windhorst's squeaky voice talking about happiness that he's just trying to be happy.
- [23:05]
Sports Analyst 2
Like we're all of a sudden got into a philosophy, YouTube or something.
- [23:09]
Ad Host
Yeah.
- [23:10]
Sports Analyst 2
How did Brian Winhorse or Alan Watts.
- [23:11]
Sports Analyst 1
When I heard that, when I heard that cut and, and I heard Windhorse ask rhetorically, like, how does he define happiness? I'm like, oh, I can't wait to hear the answer. And then his answer was, how does anyone define happiness?
- [23:23]
Guest/Contributor
How does anybody define happiness?
- [23:25]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [23:26]
Sports Analyst 1
Fair question, I guess.
- [23:28]
Sports Analyst 2
I asked Chat, how do you define happiness?
- [23:30]
Sports Analyst 1
What did the chat tell you?
- [23:31]
Sports Analyst 2
Chat told me I define happiness as a durable sense that your life feels worth inhabiting.
- [23:38]
Sports Analyst 1
You think LeBron has that or you
- [23:39]
Sports Analyst 2
See, a little too low a bar for LeBron. I feel like LeBron feels like the entire world feels like his life is worth inhabiting and that he is the crown prince.
- [23:50]
Sports Analyst 1
Yes.
- [23:50]
Sports Analyst 2
So I think. I think he's got a higher bar than that. Okay, so peace, meaning connection. Yeah. Agency.
- [23:58]
Guest/Contributor
Yeah.
- [23:59]
Sports Analyst 2
And gratitude.
- [24:00]
Guest/Contributor
Okay.
- [24:01]
Sports Analyst 1
These are. What are this? The five elements of happiness that you're
- [24:03]
Sports Analyst 2
reading to me right now. Some combination of these things. I think he'll be at peace, not at war with himself, as long as he goes to a team that's competitive.
- [24:11]
Sports Analyst 1
Right, right, right. The favorite in the clubhouse is Golden State at minus 1,000. So 1 to 10. They're a. They're a heavy favorite to land him, but Sham Sharanya says any contender could be in on LeBron.
- [24:26]
Sports Analyst 2
Like Perk said, he just listed a couple teams.
- [24:28]
Sports Analyst 1
Like Denver is a team that makes
- [24:29]
Sports Analyst 2
a lot of sense for LeBron. I wouldn't rule any team that goes into next season that feels like it has a legitimate chance to contend and have interest in LeBron James as a suitor here because he's a free agent and so. And.
- [24:42]
Ad Host
And there's.
- [24:42]
Sports Analyst 2
There's not a ready made spot for him necessarily.
- [24:47]
Sports Analyst 1
Okay.
- [24:47]
Sports Analyst 2
The.
- [24:48]
Sports Analyst 1
The other favorite, Golden State's the heavy favorite right now at minus 1,000. You got to risk. You got to risk $1,000 just to win 100. The other teams that are sort of, you know, hanging on the front, the Cavs, are easily the next closest. For him to go back to his home state of Ohio and play for the CAVS again is 2 to 1.
- [25:04]
Sports Analyst 2
And then the meaning part of happiness.
- [25:06]
Sports Analyst 1
That would be the meaning. Yeah.
- [25:08]
Sports Analyst 2
Like your days connect to something you value.
- [25:10]
Sports Analyst 1
Yep.
- [25:11]
Sports Analyst 2
He values Ohio.
- [25:12]
Sports Analyst 1
He does. He does. Yeah. Celtics 8 to 1. I don't know if any of these teams bring any of the elements you're talking about, Seth.
- [25:18]
Sports Analyst 2
Celtics. I feel like. I don't know, that might be the gratitude. Maybe like appreciate that chance to play for that. That of the, like one of the old. Old guard.
- [25:30]
Sports Analyst 1
He said some of his.
- [25:32]
Sports Analyst 2
In the NBA, he's had some of
- [25:33]
Sports Analyst 1
his greatest games in his career against the Celtics in the postseason. I know that The spurs are 10 to 1, and then the Miami Heat would be the other homecoming. That would be 12 to 1 for the Miami Heat.
- [25:44]
Sports Analyst 2
That would be meaning and connection. If you went to the Heat.
- [25:48]
Sports Analyst 1
Yes.
- [25:48]
Sports Analyst 2
Agency. He has, like, literally. He has agency. Yeah, he. He literally has free agency, so. Agency. Agency. One of the five factors here. You feel you have some say in your life. Yes, I feel like he has that 100% to an extreme degree, both in basketball and life.
- [26:05]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah, yeah.
- [26:06]
Sports Analyst 2
It might not matter where he goes as long as he has that agency.
- [26:10]
Sports Analyst 1
If any contender could be in on LeBron, I was just like in my head, like, you know, just sort of fantasy booking this thing. Now the Rockets, for what it's worth, are 66 to 1 to land LeBron.
- [26:20]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [26:21]
Sports Analyst 1
Be kind of fun if the LeBron accepted like the mid level exception to come to come play here. I just, you know, I, I don't know that Durant is the superstar that people want to gang up with. I don't know how many, I don't know how many friends Kevin Durant has among that amongst that aging superstar ilk.
- [26:39]
Sports Analyst 2
You know, that's the tough thing. It's like, all right, look, we knew, we didn't, we didn't expect Durant to come in and provide vocal leadership or anything.
- [26:45]
Ad Host
Yeah.
- [26:45]
Sports Analyst 2
But now I'm at a point where I'm actually entertaining the thought of, hey, maybe, maybe LeBron would really be able to get and motivate this 35 year old to be the best version of himself or this 37 year old. How are 38. How old is Durant now?
- [27:01]
Sports Analyst 1
He's going to be 38. I think he was 37 last season. Yeah. Yeah.
- [27:06]
Sports Analyst 2
So, yeah, that's, that's. It just doesn't feel like a good fit.
- [27:09]
Sports Analyst 1
Can I tell you a pet peeve also of mine that. That is. It's in this statement from the. From Jeannie Buss to LeBron after LeBron announced he's not coming back to the lakers. It says LeBron James is one of the greatest athletes in history. Okay. I have no problem with that. We will always be thankful for his eight years with the Lakers. Okay. Including the title he led us to in 2020. Sure. Under the toughest imaginable circumstances.
- [27:37]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [27:38]
Sports Analyst 1
Including the title he led us to in 2020. Under the toughest imaginable circumstances. These teams that won Covid championships.
- [27:46]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [27:47]
Sports Analyst 1
Acting like Covid was something thrust upon them and not everybody else.
- [27:53]
Sports Analyst 2
Right, right. And that they had to go. No, they had to go live in a luxury hotel and play basketball.
- [27:58]
Sports Analyst 1
There's players from the Lakers who've said it was easier to focus on.
- [28:04]
Sports Analyst 2
Sean. It's all, man, the. Remember the metrics we got from all the body tracking?
- [28:08]
Ad Host
Everything.
- [28:09]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [28:09]
Sports Analyst 2
That, that was like the fastest version of basketball we've seen in the NBA because guys were fresh. They were undistracted. Like it was, if anything, while everybody else was locked up in There, like. And all the other people locked up in their own crappy apartments, some of them with spouses they despised.
- [28:27]
Ad Host
Yeah.
- [28:28]
Sports Analyst 2
Meanwhile. Yeah, the NBA players had to go live in a luxury hotel and play basketball. Those were the toughest possible imaginable.
- [28:34]
Sports Analyst 1
With no travel, they were literally living in the Grand Floridian at Disney World. Like, it was. It was bubbles in Orlando, right?
- [28:42]
Ad Host
Yeah.
- [28:43]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah, it was.
- [28:44]
Sports Analyst 2
No, no. Yeah. I count myself amongst the people that during the shutdown was like, oh, I've got no obligations to leave the home. This is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. You can miss me with. These were the toughest imaginable circumstances.
- [28:57]
Sports Analyst 1
And I'm not even. And if you're accurate, I'm not even talking about whether it's true or not that it was tough. I'm talking about, like, yeah, the toughest imaginable circumstances for all the teams.
- [29:08]
Sports Analyst 2
For all the teams. Exactly the same situation.
- [29:11]
Ad Host
Like.
- [29:11]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah, I.
- [29:12]
Guest/Contributor
That's.
- [29:13]
Sports Analyst 1
That is a pet peeve of mine. Because you know what? It is.
- [29:16]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [29:17]
Sports Analyst 1
The fact of the matter is that people don't view that title as a real NBA title.
- [29:22]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [29:22]
Sports Analyst 1
It was the only one that LeBron won while he was with the Lakers. In fact, LeBron had. LeBron had way more disappointing seasons as a team with the Lakers then he had seasons that met or exceeded expectations there. He missed the playoffs a couple of times. He got knocked out of the first round three times out of the eight seasons he was there. So whenever teams do this, I always feel like it's them trying to prop up a title that nobody wants to prop up. Yeah, we won the COVID title. It was the toughest. I don't even heard. It was during a pandemic, like. Yeah, a pandemic that was not exclusive to the Lakers.
- [29:57]
Sports Analyst 2
It was. Everybody was playing under the same circumstances.
- [30:01]
Sports Analyst 1
Mad. Talking about it.
- [30:02]
Sports Analyst 2
No, no, no, no. It. Like, you know, I don't like putting asterisks on championships or anything, but for, by and large, you know, Lakers fans, if you had asked them in the year. Let's say. Let's say if you'd asked them just the beginning of 2019. Okay, what's your, you know, what's your expectation on number of championships that you're going to win over the next few years? Yeah, they probably would have. 3, 4, 5.
- [30:28]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah, yeah. With LeBron, they would have said multiple. For sure. For sure.
- [30:34]
Sports Analyst 2
What LeBron did was led them from a period of, what, six or seven years where they weren't in the playoffs at all.
- [30:40]
Guest/Contributor
Yeah.
- [30:41]
Sports Analyst 2
He let them out of the dark and Within a couple years got him to an actual championship. But then after that it's largely been a disappointment in terms of just what he's not going to be.
- [30:52]
Ad Host
He.
- [30:52]
Sports Analyst 2
I would have guess in Lakers fans minds. Yeah, he's way down on the mural, right.
- [30:57]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [30:58]
Sports Analyst 2
He doesn't even come close to the, the actual mainstay Lakers legend.
- [31:03]
Sports Analyst 1
No, no. Kobe, that. I put it out there on Twitter yesterday and did get some replies from Laker fans who kind of. Some said it in a gentle way, some said it in a much more harsh way. It's just like, yeah, he's just not. He's not one of us is kind of what it was, you know, like he, he, he has been a somewhat hired gun throughout his career. I, you know, I know going back to Cleveland had some. Had some emotional feel to it, but it felt like, and I know it was eight seasons there, so he was there for a good long time. But you know, just announcing, hey, I'm not coming back yesterday was. That's just not, you know, in general, like, especially when you compare it to Kobe, who was there his whole career. Magic, who was there his whole career. Kareem, who was there in the second half of his career but retired a Laker.
- [31:47]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [31:47]
Sports Analyst 1
You know, Shaq might be the closest thing to LeBron because he played for so many teams, but Shaq is just beloved there.
- [31:53]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah, no, no. You did the old thing where you're like, hey, here's six guys in a boat. Which one are you pushing out? I think 99% of Lakers fans are shoving LeBron.
- [32:02]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah. And I'm not even bringing up guys like, you know, Jerry west and Elgin Baylor.
- [32:05]
Sports Analyst 2
And guys, that's what I was wondering with Elgin Baylor, that would be the one that would test, that would test whether you're a ball knower or not. If you're a 24 year old who's like, who's kicking Elgin Baylor out of the boat.
- [32:16]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [32:17]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah. Murderer.
- [32:18]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah. And he did go run the Clippers for several years right across town. This was funny yesterday. I'm still trying to find out why Kendrick Perkins was so mad at Rich Paul. LeBron James agent. This was Kendrick Perkins yesterday as the news was coming out that LeBron was not going back to the Lakers.
- [32:36]
Sports Analyst 2
Rich Paul, okay, Rich Paul, little turtle
- [32:39]
Ad Host
head, snotty nose ass called me all throughout the season. Every time I'm on tv, I get
- [32:45]
Sports Analyst 2
a text message from him.
- [32:46]
Ad Host
I've been calling them for two days now and he'd been ignoring me.
- [32:50]
Sports Analyst 2
We got a problem.
- [32:55]
Sports Analyst 1
Help me out Text page. Why is Kendra, is Kendrick Perkins mad at Rich Paul? Because Rich Paul was kind of doing that thing where he's sort of using perk maybe with.
- [33:06]
Sports Analyst 2
He was mad that. Yeah. He couldn't get a hold of him when he actually needed him. He was kissing up to Kendrick Perkins all season long. But then now when he would really like to maybe have a conversation or get some information or whatever. Giving him the stiff arm.
- [33:20]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
- [33:21]
Sports Analyst 2
That is kind of. It feels to me he's like. He's kind of calling him phony.
- [33:24]
Sports Analyst 1
He got used. It sounds like he got used. Like, you've been calling me all year and now when I need you, where are you at? Yeah, you ghosted me.
- [33:31]
Sports Analyst 2
I also feel like there's a 50% chance that Kendrick Perkins told Rich Paul he was going to say that. I don't know. His might be a work wwe.
- [33:40]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [33:41]
Sports Analyst 2
Did you call him? What was the insult?
- [33:44]
Sports Analyst 1
Snotty knows. Hey, Ben, can you play the beginning?
- [33:46]
Sports Analyst 2
Rich Paul. Okay. Rich Paul. Little turtle head. Snotty nose, ass.
- [33:51]
Sports Analyst 1
Okay. Rate that.
- [33:53]
Sports Analyst 2
The turtle head. You know what? I kind of see it because there's always like, Rich Paul has a lot of pictures. He doesn't smile in his pictures very often. And it's. There's one of those cartoon cartoon turtles that always has kind of like a. It might have been from Looney Tunes. I can't place it. Who always had kind of a mopey look on his face. Everything. I think that's where he might be getting the turtle headed.
- [34:16]
Guest/Contributor
Okay.
- [34:17]
Sports Analyst 1
Okay. Did you happen to see that that Freddie, German soccer superfan, shut down his Twitter account? You were spot on about this, I guess.
- [34:28]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah. I must see it. I had seen something about how he had planned on shutting it down when all of this was over.
- [34:33]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [34:33]
Sports Analyst 2
And I thought maybe I just got. Maybe I got a bogus account. But they are within six hours of me bringing that up. He did actually shut down his account.
- [34:41]
Sports Analyst 1
He shut down his account. And then I saw something that looked like a statement from him later on last night. And I was outside. I forgot to bookmark it or whatever. But where he explained, like, didn't know it was going to go this way on Twitter. It took longer than I thought for it to go this way with Freddie. Freddie.
- [34:56]
Sports Analyst 2
Somebody actually found out his actual identity.
- [34:58]
Guest/Contributor
Well, I don't.
- [34:59]
Sports Analyst 1
They found out his identity, but they found some tweets on his timeline from several years ago.
- [35:05]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [35:05]
Sports Analyst 1
Where he had actually been to the United States before.
- [35:08]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [35:09]
Sports Analyst 1
He'd actually eaten raising canes before.
- [35:11]
Sports Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [35:11]
Sports Analyst 1
You know, Freddie, the, the character of Freddie over the last couple of weeks, this GE was, was this kind of doe eyed, naive, roaming the countryside, foreigner here in America, seeing all that's good in America for the first time.
- [35:27]
Sports Analyst 2
But I guess as I understand it though, it's not like he ever claimed that this was his first time in America. I think people just assumed that.
- [35:35]
Sports Analyst 1
Okay.
- [35:35]
Sports Analyst 2
And he said he'd been to some of the big tourist destinations before, but he'd never just gotten out and amongst the people and out in the country and driven it all like the, like he has before. So I, I stand by Freddie on that part of it. I don't think he was fraudulent in that regard.
- [35:50]
Sports Analyst 1
Here's Freddie explains why he deactivated his account documenting his World cup travels. He said, hey everyone, just want to let you know why I deactivated my account. I've seen multiple people post this. I'm assuming this is him, but it's social media, so I'm going to caveat here. He said, one, this was the plan all along, before we even started the World cup trip, deactivating it as you just said. Two, too many people seem to have a problem with us having a genuinely good time here in the country and this is ruining the fun a bit for us because we really just wanted to document our road trip and never expected that people would have a problem with it. People are digging in my 22,000 posts to find a handful of, in their opinion, controversial posts and post them without zero context to make me look like a bad person. He goes on to say several more things, but it's a combination. It sounds like Seth of him A, planning to do that anyways, but B, also getting a real feel for what it's like to be an American icon, which is getting built up to get
- [36:47]
Sports Analyst 2
torn down right now and especially on social media. You know, it's almost like he's kind of gone through the Arian Foster experience. Remember Arian Foster when he first emerged, he was just like, oh wow, this media darling, everybody loved him and everything. And then as soon as Arian Foster maybe just spoke his mind about a couple of things, all of a sudden it just turned drastically and Aryan got very disenchant very quickly because you do, you see like, oh, that was all just. You know what, it's tough because it wasn't all fake love. The problem is that in the early stages you get nothing but the positive people, but the more notoriety you get, then the negative people jump in.
- [37:26]
Sports Analyst 1
Oh yeah.
- [37:27]
Sports Analyst 2
And it's hard. It's hard because it feels like been one big wall of humanity when in fact a lot of the positive people are still out there being positive, but they're shouted down by the extreme cynics and negative nellies and whatnot.
- [37:40]
Sports Analyst 1
Yeah, they're, they're, yeah, it's just a way louder voice, right? And it's a voice that, it's the louder voice and it's the one that makes you feel bad.
- [37:47]
Sports Analyst 2
It's the one that gets your attention most easily.
- [37:49]
Sports Analyst 1
Yep, yep.
- [37:50]
Sports Analyst 2
I saw, you know, Benjamin Solak when he was on Garrett Williams podcast. He was talking about how, you know, I was lucky. I got into, I was doing a lot of film analysis and everything on Twitter back before Twitter got so toxic. And I'm like, when was that? He said 2020. I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no. This is what happens. This is what happened, Ben. So like it's when you have a certain number of followers, when you only have a few, it's a pretty fun place. It's like once you reach a tipping point of a certain, I don't know whether it's like 10 or 20,000 or whatever, all of a sudden that's when it's like you can't say a single thing without you can't go on and tweet I like dogs. Without somebody just somehow trying to call you a war criminal because of it.
- [38:29]
Sports Analyst 1
Yep, yep, yep. That's why you got to stay out of your mentions, man. As best you can, stay out of your mentions. All right, so, so there you go. That's, that's the latest with Freddy the, the German super fan. All right, coming up next, let's circle over to football. Uh, NFL.com the eight last place teams last year we were part of one of these a few years ago. Texans did a worse to first under D'. Amico. Ryan's back in 2023 and they've been a good team ever since. Who's got the best chance of pulling one of it? Feels like one team does it every year. Who's got the best chance this year of the last place teams in the NFL to go from worst to first? We will, we'll dig into that coming up next.
- [39:14]
Sports Analyst 2
1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4. Give me a break, give me a break Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar Give me a break give me a break Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar the chocolate crispy taste gonna make your day and wherever you go you
- [39:33]
Sports Analyst 1
hear the people say Give me a
- [39:36]
Sports Analyst 2
break, give me a break. Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar.
- [39:41]
Sports Analyst 1
Have a break. Have a Kit Kat.
- [39:44]
Ad Host
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- [40:43]
Sports Analyst 1
I'm Toba Neath.
- [40:44]
Ad Host
And I'm Kristen Press. We're World cup champions, Olympians, and the hosts of the Recap show. Week in and week out, we sit down with sports legends, cultural icons and global change makers to talk everything from clutch games to causes that matter. This is about creating the future of women's sports. A future that's honest, inclusive and real. Join us for our reimagined journey. Follow and listen to the recap show. Wherever you get your podcasts.