PTFO - Fowl Shots: We Investigated an NBA Conspiracy

Summary

Podcast Summary: PTFO - Fowl Shots: We Investigated an NBA Conspiracy The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Release Date: April 24, 2025

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Introduction

In the April 24, 2025 episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, hosts Dan Le Batard (Pablo Torre) and Amin Elhassan delve into a peculiar phenomenon disrupting NBA games: the "Bricken for Chicken" promotion. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Downtown Miami’s Elser Hotel, the duo embarks on an investigative journey to uncover how this promotional gimmick may be influencing game outcomes, player performances, and even the broader basketball ecosystem.

The Bricken for Chicken Promotion

Bricken for Chicken is an NBA arena promotion where fans receive free chicken when the opposing team misses two consecutive free throws. The premise is simple yet effective: every time a player fails to convert two free throws in a row, the crowd is rewarded, thereby galvanizing fan support and adding an extra layer of excitement to the game.

Notable Quote:

Amin Elhassan (02:29): “Only way we can figure out if you're handing out chicken as an opposing player is if you are converting on chicken eligible shots.”

Impact on NBA Games

Le Batard and Elhassan explore a critical game moment where the promotion seemingly altered the course of the match. During a tense game between the Sixers and the Heat, Sixers fan-favorable misses turned the tide from an 80% win probability for the Heat to a surprising Sixers victory, all credited to the Bricken for Chicken promo.

Notable Quote:

Elhassan (04:23): “It's insane, and yet it's undeniable what happened there.”

The hosts argue that such promotions don't merely serve marketing purposes but may inadvertently (or intentionally) influence player behavior and game outcomes. They highlight how this intersection of marketing and sports operations could represent "business nirvana" for the NBA, creating win-win scenarios for fans, sponsors, and the league.

Key Players and Incidents

Several NBA players and moments are scrutinized under the lens of this promotion:

• Marcin Gortat: Celebrated as a fan favorite who enthusiastically engages with the promotion by dancing with a catered chicken party when the promo activates.

  Notable Quote:

  Lou Stredler (08:32): “Marcin Gortat, as soon as this happened, would stand up, grab a towel off the bench and start shaking it over his head to bring the crowd support.”

• Spencer Dinwiddie: Acknowledged for his candid admission on social media about missing free throws intentionally to trigger the chicken giveaway.

  Notable Quote:

  Dinwiddie (15:26): “Miss the second one on purpose. Wanted everybody to eat like the squad. 🤷‍♂️”

• Giannis Antetokounmpo: Central to the conspiracy theory, Giannis is portrayed as allegedly missing free throws when chicken is on the line, raising questions about his motivations and the authenticity of his performances during these critical moments.

Developing Metrics: Chicken Eligible Shots (CE) and Chicken Conversion Rate (CCR)

To quantify the promotion’s impact, the hosts introduce two new metrics:

1. Chicken Eligible Shots (CE): Free throws where a miss would activate the chicken giveaway.

2. Chicken Conversion Rate (CCR): The ratio of missed CE shots to total CE attempts, indicating a player's effectiveness—or lack thereof—in activating the promotion.

Notable Quote:

Elhassan (25:06): “CCR is the rate at which a player will miss a free throw with chicken on the line.”

These metrics reveal startling statistics, particularly spotlighting Giannis, whose CCR is alarmingly high at 80%, starkly contrasting his general free throw performance.

Investigation into Giannis Antetokounmpo

The investigation intensifies as Elhassan attempts to interview Giannis Antetokounmpo. Facing resistance from Giannis and his team, the hosts pivot to speak with his brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, for insights.

Notable Quote:

Thanasis Antetokounmpo (40:08): “One of my nicknames is Truth Teller, because if you don't tell the truth, if you don't say that the way it is, they won't listen to you.”

Through Thanasis, the podcast uncovers Giannis’s deep affection for chicken and questions whether this personal preference influences his on-court performance, especially under the Bricken for Chicken promotion.

Key Points:

• Giannis's CCR under the promotion is significantly higher than his average free throw percentage.
• Instances where Giannis is seen enthusiastically engaging with chicken giveaways suggest a personal stake in the promotion’s success.
• Thanasis refutes intentional misses, attributing the high CCR to Giannis’s unyielding focus rather than any conspiratorial motive.

Conclusion

The episode culminates in a blend of humor and investigative intrigue, asserting that while the Bricken for Chicken promotion adds a whimsical twist to NBA games, its true impact on player performance remains a murky blend of coincidence, player psychology, and perhaps, unintended marketing consequences.

Notable Quote:

Elhassan (46:32): “We have any hot sauce? We’ve been starving.”

Despite the lighthearted approach, Le Batard and Elhassan leave listeners pondering the delicate balance between sports entertainment and genuine athletic competition, all stirred up by the tantalizing allure of free chicken.

Final Thoughts

This episode of PTFO - Fowl Shots: We Investigated an NBA Conspiracy masterfully intertwines investigative journalism with sports commentary, delivering an engaging narrative that challenges listeners to question the intersections of marketing gimmicks and athletic integrity. Through clever metrics, player interviews, and playful banter, the hosts paint a vivid picture of how a simple promotional stunt can ripple through the high-stakes world of professional basketball.

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For listeners seeking a blend of sports analysis, pop culture insights, and original content, this episode stands out as a compelling exploration of the unexpected influences shaping NBA games.

Transcript

[Pablo Torre]

Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out I am Pablo Torre. Today's episode is brought to you by DraftKings. DraftKings. The Crown is yours. And today we're gonna find out what this sound is.

[Amin Elhassan]

That's why I signed in Milwaukee, so I can get free secret for life.

[Pablo Torre]

Right after this ad.

[Amin Elhassan]

You're listening to DraftKings.

[Unknown]

Foreign.

[Pablo Torre]

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[Amin Elhassan]

8 billion. I don't know. You know, I thought I. I had a cure by opening a second window for the overflow. Now I have like several windows of a million tabs.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, the old, let's just throw all my laundry in a different room.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

When your tabs look like LeBron James's Instagram stories after he wins a championship, it's time to acknowledge you have a problem.

[Amin Elhassan]

I can't believe my life is like this.

[Pablo Torre]

I can't believe you've been on this assignment for us. That your life is like this, by the way.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yeah. No, you know what, man? Sometimes there's like a calling that happens. I imagine this is what those pigs they use to find truffles.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah.

[Amin Elhassan]

This is how they feel, right? You get that scent. And now I can't stop. I keep going deeper and deeper and deeper.

[Pablo Torre]

We've been arguing already about, can we even show the footage that you've collected that I have not even seen yet? And I don't know if legally we're allowed to, but we'll get to that, I guess. But like, we're talking about blurring and voice modulating and this is sensitive in a way that I did not presume when we assigned you this.

[Amin Elhassan]

This is one of those things. I remember the. In the Wire, they said you follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers, but you start to follow the money and you don't know where the it's going to take you. I felt like I followed the chicken and I ended up some weird places. Most importantly, places where nobody wants to talk about this.

[Pablo Torre]

Your enthusiasm to Talk about Bricken for Chicken.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

And the resistance you have faced around the sport that you know as well as anybody. Explain why you've been eager to talk about this for people who don't know what any of this even is.

[Amin Elhassan]

Truth be told, you could be a huge NBA fan, watch tons of games on tv, but if you've never been to an NBA arena, you may not even know this promotion exists. Kings fans, they show em how loud we begin right now in the fourth quarter or in the second half of games, depending on which arena you're in. When the opposing team is at the free throw line, if they miss two free throws in a row, everybody in the building gets free chicken.

[Pablo Torre]

Bricken for chicken.

[Amin Elhassan]

But there was one moment on national TV that happened where the announcer let the viewers at home know, hey, this is why everyone is going crazy.

[Pablo Torre]

All right? It's that time for chicken.

[Amin Elhassan]

Free chicken. This is a playing game. The winner plays against the Knicks as the seventh seed.

[Pablo Torre]

I remember this acutely.

[Amin Elhassan]

Right. The loser then has to go and play against Chicago. So you might not even make it to the playoffs.

[Pablo Torre]

This was deep in the third quarter. The Sixers, I remember, had blown away.

[Amin Elhassan]

They were awful. They were awful. They were getting booed at home.

[Pablo Torre]

And boos raining down here in the first half from the frustrated Sixer fans.

[Amin Elhassan]

And then midway through the third quarter, the heater up 11. Caleb Martin, who is usually a dependable free throw shooter, misses one and then.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes. And the crowd explodes. My, oh my, it's so easy to make people happy.

[Amin Elhassan]

Apparently the chicken is very good.

[Unknown]

They don't spot.

[Pablo Torre]

I felt that in Mike Breen's loins, by the way.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yes, yes. But the crazy thing here is they've done the charting of what the win probability was for the Heat at that moment in time. It was upwards of 80%. It was in the bag. And that moment is the moment where everything changed. And you see the win probability descend, descend, descend, descend. Until all of a sudden you got a Sixers win. That promo Pablo saved them.

[Pablo Torre]

So the argument you are making here is that Bricken for Chicken is changing meaningfully the course of basketball games in a way that has even exceeded the whole novelty marketing, sponsorship kind of design of it.

[Amin Elhassan]

I'll take it one step further. Dan Levitar thinks it saved the Sixers organization as a whole. This organization was ready to crumble last night. And then Free Chicken arrived. Yep, Chick Fil A. And it made everything better.

[Pablo Torre]

It's an actual nightmare. Like the idea that Chick Fil A is what did this is just. It's unfathomable.

[Amin Elhassan]

There's the graphic right there. Look at it.

[Pablo Torre]

The inflection point, the cliff. Clearly the cliff that the heat fall off is directly overlaid onto the moment when chicken was up for grabs.

[Amin Elhassan]

It's insane, and yet it's undeniable what happened there. And so this is one of those moments, I think, where you got something that you want from the marketing side, right? You got something that you want to galvanize the fans with, and then you got something that basketball ops, right? The coaches, the front office are like, hell yeah, this. This can help. When you get all three of those things in the same place, that's business nirvana.

[Pablo Torre]

Business nirvana for the NBA also, I am told, reliably a business nightmare for Meadowlark Media, which has funded truly a new high when it comes to the. We paid Amin what to investigate what.

[Amin Elhassan]

The F graph, Pablo, Like I told you earlier, you follow a chicken, there's no telling where you might end up. And where I ended up was in some weird places investigating one of the 75 best players of all time, right? And in the process, completely ruining my reputation in the NBA, which already wasn't stellar to begin with.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was. That was a risk that I was expecting to have. Didn't expect it to get this dangerous this quickly, though.

[Amin Elhassan]

For the truth, it's all worth.

[Pablo Torre]

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[Amin Elhassan]

Well, as with a lot of conspiracy theories in this country, it starts in our nation's capital.

[Lou Stredler]

Well, I'm vice president of Global Partnerships At Monumental Sports and Entertainment. My name is Lou Stredler. I started here way back, 1982. So this is my 43rd year.

[Amin Elhassan]

So this is the man behind this promotion, the man who thought it up. He is the big wig exec for the Washington Wizards who in essence makes the partners, which is the corporate sponsors dreams come true.

[Pablo Torre]

Which is a hard thing to do over 43 years when you're selling the Washington Wizards.

[Amin Elhassan]

And he's been tasked with coming up with a promotion that helps the local Chick Fil A franchisees get more foot traffic in the door. And that franchisee was a man named John Natoli. What John Natoli said was, hey, what we found is, for most people, if they try our chicken, they come back. But how do we get them to try it? So Lou says, I got it. We'll run a promo where we give away ticket when some sort of event happens. Now, what kind of event could that be? Could it be when the Wizards make two free throws?

[Lou Stredler]

And then we said, wait a second. That could be negative. Our players could get booed. If they go and make the first free throw and miss the second, they'll get booed for missing.

[Amin Elhassan]

So we've got to do something where everyone is incentivized to keep rooting for this right. No matter what.

[Pablo Torre]

Where the business side, where the basketball of the Wizards lose side is protected. And also the Chick Fil a side gets what they want.

[Amin Elhassan]

Gets what they want.

[Lou Stredler]

I said, wait, let's concentrate on the visiting team doing something that'll generate excitement for Mars.

[Amin Elhassan]

This is the brilliance of it. This is almost, in a way, recession proof. Hey, what if we're down 50? They still can miss two free throws in the fourth quarter. So it is something that has repeatable. It's repeat. Yeah. So there's no point in time where you're like, well, that promotion's over up until literally the final buzzer.

[Pablo Torre]

It's funny just to remember how, like, golf works and golfers hate when the crowd is interfering with their rituals. How their sport has always operated.

[Amin Elhassan]

How.

[Pablo Torre]

How did the NBA react to. Yeah. A bold stunt like this?

[Amin Elhassan]

Well, it was an instant hit, Right. And it should come as no surprise. Fans love it. Of course. I got free chicken. Chick Fil A. The sponsor loved it. Hey, we got the thing that we wanted. We wanted people walking through the door.

[Pablo Torre]

But the players, though, how did they feel?

[Amin Elhassan]

Well, according to Lou, the Wizards players loved it. Including one guy in particular.

[Lou Stredler]

Absolutely. The name comes to mind real fast. Marcin Gortat for the Wizards. Marcin Gortat, as soon as this happened, would stand up, grab a towel off the bench and start shaking it over his head to bring the crowd support. Marcin Gortat was so great that they called. They kept calling and saying, ask Marcin when he wants us to deliver sandwiches.

[Pablo Torre]

Did Martin Gortat actually get the chicken he was promised?

[Amin Elhassan]

He get his ticket? They threw him a party. It was catered and everything. John Natoli, that Chick Fil a franchisee, was there. Lou Rler was there and Marchin Gorat was there.

[Pablo Torre]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Amin Elhassan]

Well, you guys got everything I asked for. You caused a big hubbub. Listen, all I know we got, we got to come up with a different rule.

[Pablo Torre]

Two free throws, two miss free throws.

[Amin Elhassan]

It's too much. Two misses too much. And the Chick Fil a cow.

[Pablo Torre]

Of course.

[Amin Elhassan]

We'll come back to that a little later.

[Pablo Torre]

So I do want to point out something about pro athletes, which is, yes, all of them can afford lots of Chick Fil A.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yes.

[Pablo Torre]

But there is something about watching a Polish born NBA player with like a zangief mohawk just like enter into a room in America full of free chicken that feels like kind of the dream he was promised.

[Amin Elhassan]

And then like a real American feel entitled enough to say, the threshold is too high, too misfitos. What do we do? What is this, communist Russia? No, it needs to be a turnover. Right.

[Pablo Torre]

He's consistently campaigning to lower the threshold to get more free chicken.

[Amin Elhassan]

More free chicken. And at one point, John Natoli even promises him, hey, we'll have the cow.

[Pablo Torre]

Bring it down the locker room.

[Amin Elhassan]

All right, we got it. We got it. We'll do that.

[Lou Stredler]

So any home game now?

[Pablo Torre]

Any home game.

[Amin Elhassan]

You guys, do we have, do we.

[Pablo Torre]

Have Chick Fil at the arena?

[Amin Elhassan]

Yes.

[Pablo Torre]

Perfect. Can we have someone from the staff bringing gold box?

[Amin Elhassan]

We'll bring it down.

[Pablo Torre]

Just little Chick Fil and maybe like you know, 10 sand with just number four with pepper jack cheese.

[Amin Elhassan]

Absolutely. And if you guys get up by enough points, we'll bring it to you on the bench while they're shooting the free throws. That's what I'm talking about. And this phenomenon was such a, a transcendent moment that as tends to happen in our league, copycats start happen across the league. Because the league has this group called Teambo, Team business operations. What they do is they take best practices and they spread them to everybody. So they're like, hey, this promotion in Washington works really well. Everyone else should do it. And so what you see now is across the league. Almost half the league has a chicken giveaway based on missed free throws. So much so to the point, Bobble that that now the Wizards are being targeted for it. They are now, instead of being the beneficiaries of this great promotion, they are now the victims. Just the other day in Philadelphia, a young Wizards player named Colby Jones received a new nickname from his teammates because of his exploits during the giveaway. Why do they call you Chick Fil A?

[Unknown]

I sold.

[Pablo Torre]

When we played Philadelphia, I missed two free throws. I four straight.

[Amin Elhassan]

Four straight.

[Unknown]

I think I fed the whole city of Philadelphia.

[Amin Elhassan]

So Pablo, you might detect a certain note of joy coming from Kobe Jones.

[Pablo Torre]

He has a new nickname. He has a new identity that I now will think of every time I think of Kobe Jones.

[Amin Elhassan]

But the crazy thing is I listen to that sound, I don't hear the talk about the nickname Chick Fil A, Nacho. Whatever it is. What I hear is I think I fed the whole city. Right? I think I fed the whole city. And that's what got me thinking. Wait a second. What if this isn't just guys getting rattled at the free throw line? What if there are guys out here who are doing a solid for the road crowd?

[Pablo Torre]

Hold on. So you are. You are alleging that these NBA guys, because of this incentive structure with free chicken, are betraying their franchise by taking free chicken and giving them to the people?

[Amin Elhassan]

Ok, two things. One, I'm not alleging anything. I asking questions, Pablo. And two, I'm not the only one asking these questions. Take a listen to Chris Miller and Drew Gooden on the Wizards broadcast talking about Tristan Thompson at the free throw line in Washington D.C. last year he.

[Pablo Torre]

Shot 29% from the free throw line and couldn't think of a better person at the free throw line. Cuz if he misses this, all the fans are going to get some chicken.

[Amin Elhassan]

Oh, purpose.

[Pablo Torre]

Fans are happy. But the Cavs get the basketball back.

[Amin Elhassan]

Did he do it on purpose?

[Pablo Torre]

I wouldn't be surprised.

[Unknown]

He's the man. The man of the people.

[Amin Elhassan]

The man of the people. Look, that's someone asking the question that I was asking. But you don't have to take it from me or Drew Gooden or Chris Miller because Spencer Dinwiddie owned up to it. Take a look at this tweet exchange. So fan tweets to Spencer. I hated watching you miss these fourth quarter free throws, but thank you for lunch tomorrow. And this is what Spencer says back. Miss the second one on purpose. Wanted everybody to eat like the squad. Shrug emoji.

[Pablo Torre]

Okay. Now, in the case that I know you are trying to build, there is clearly also just some guys trying to spin their own failures into something positive that they can then, you know, make jokes about.

[Amin Elhassan]

I thought you might say that. Right?

[Pablo Torre]

So I thought you might say that. You thought that I might say that.

[Amin Elhassan]

We could do this all day. But I have prepared evidence of a player not only claiming it but but claiming it in the moment. I present to you exhibit C. Bon Maranovic fans are getting excited here. There might potentially be some free chicken on the board if he misses the second free throw. Oh, man. Free chicken on the board. Yeah. So that's why the fans are getting a little. Little frothy. Oh, they're pointing to. He think Bon's playing with the crowd. Say, you want chicken? Here's your job. He gave him chicken. He's a man of the people. He's a man of the people. He did that on purpose.

[Unknown]

He did.

[Amin Elhassan]

He gave out free chicken.

[Pablo Torre]

I'd forgotten about that.

[Amin Elhassan]

Goosebumps.

[Pablo Torre]

So I. For people who forgot about this dude, that's an eight point game with four minutes and change left in the fourth quarter. And Bobon actually did very clearly say I'm going to miss this and then missed it.

[Amin Elhassan]

If you are one of the people who's listening and not watching the video. He is pointing at himself. I'm gonna miss it. And he's looking at the crowd. He's. I'm gonna miss. He tells his team.

[Pablo Torre]

Such an insane video.

[Amin Elhassan]

A build up to it. It's not just like. It's not the Spencer Dinwiddie where he misses. I meant to do that. He is calling his shot like Babe Ruth pointing to the outfield. Right.

[Pablo Torre]

He's like the opposite of Babe Ruth.

[Amin Elhassan]

Well, yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

All of these guys on a relative basis are themselves like sideshows. These are relatively speaking scrubs. Kobe Jones, Kristen Thompson this season, Bobon. These are. These are a circus acts in a circus promo. Just having fun off to the side, basically.

[Amin Elhassan]

I thought you might say that. And this is the whole point of my investigation. Follow me if you will. Right. What if I told you that the guy that this story is really about isn't a sideshow or a scrub as you very, very disrespectfully call those fine young men.

[Pablo Torre]

Do you want to apologize?

[Amin Elhassan]

What if I told you actually this guy is a former mvp? No, a former two time mvp. You might know him by his own nickname. That wasn't given to him by his teammates after failure. No, it's given to him because this guy is a freak of nature. The one and only Giannis Antetokounmpo. First of all, I supposed to be in Vegas right now.

[Unknown]

I supposed to be in Vegas right.

[Amin Elhassan]

Now, you know, partying, but I'm here already. Chick Fil A. Can I have a 50 piece? Sorry, I will put you.

[Unknown]

Can I put your camera?

[Amin Elhassan]

Do you mind, or.

[Unknown]

No, sure.

[Amin Elhassan]

I just. There's 150,000 people watching you right now.

[Pablo Torre]

Really?

[Amin Elhassan]

Yes. So can I. Can I have, please, a 50 piece Mac minis? 50. Exactly. Not 51, not 49. Chicken minis. Yes, 50. And let me have a large drink, no ice, half Sprite, half lemonade.

[Unknown]

Thank you.

[Amin Elhassan]

So you might be asking yourself, how much does Giannis Antonokounmpo love fast food chicken? And the only answer I can come up with is, as much as any human being has ever loved anything in the history of mankind. Are we getting free Chick Fil a for life Now I want free Chick Fil a for life.

[Pablo Torre]

There's no way.

[Amin Elhassan]

That's why. That's why I sign in Milwaukee, so I can get free Chick Fil a for life. So there's all of these documented instances of Giannis professing his love for chicken. Like, there's a time he showed up to a press conference with a bucket of chicken wings. There's a time where he tweeted about Roscoe's and how much he loves Roscoe's and wishes they would open one in Milwaukee. There's the trip to China where he goes and he professes love for chicken feet.

[Pablo Torre]

Is there anything you want to try but not try yet?

[Unknown]

I don't know.

[Amin Elhassan]

Can you guys recommend me something?

[Pablo Torre]

We try the chicken feet.

[Unknown]

I love chicken feet.

[Amin Elhassan]

You love chicken feet.

[Unknown]

I love chicken feet.

[Amin Elhassan]

Okay.

[Pablo Torre]

I now am remembering how Giannis, you know, won All Star MVP and decided to celebrate in the way that you are alluding to.

[Amin Elhassan]

So. So what's it feel like to finally. To finally win this thing?

[Unknown]

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

[Pablo Torre]

And yet none of this has to do with the promo that we're talking about. Amit. So this is his love of chicken in general, but what about how he's interacted with the incentives that we're dissecting?

[Amin Elhassan]

Okay, so here's a video of him at a Milwaukee Bucks game where there's a chicken giveaway while the opposing team is in a chicken scenario.

[Pablo Torre]

Speaking of wings, everybody gets wings. Free wings from Wingstop. Redeemed.

[Amin Elhassan]

Look at Giannis. He's scanning it.

[Pablo Torre]

He's capturing the moment. He's getting the he wants to get the QR code to get his free wings.

[Amin Elhassan]

He's on the bench, obviously it's the end of the game and he pulls a phone out to scan the QR code for the free chicken giveaway that they're giving to the fans. He's so enthusiastic about chicken and about the promo, he wants in on it like everyone else in the arena.

[Pablo Torre]

It's such ridiculous video that I'm overlooking the fact that Giannis just had a cell phone on the bench.

[Amin Elhassan]

By the way, you never know. You never know when a QR code might pop up.

[Pablo Torre]

Pablo but okay, so granted, fair. But in terms of his personal at the line performance, not as a spectator. Right, Right. Not as Marine Goet, but as somebody with something to lose or in this case win.

[Amin Elhassan]

How does he do so in essence, Pablo, what you're asking me is we've seen him be the marching gortad of this, kind of rooting for it for the home crowd, but have we ever seen him be the bobon where he's.

[Pablo Torre]

On the road and he's yes, that is the investigation.

[Amin Elhassan]

Okay, this is what I'm gonna tell you right now. When it comes to chicken eligible free throws, Giannis Antetokounmpo is the Robin Hood of chicken giveaways. Foreign.

[Pablo Torre]

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[Amin Elhassan]

Yeah, what. What I found, Pablo, is when you are investigating ground that has not been sullied by human feet, right? This is fresh snow. This is untouched by humanity. You have to create metrics to measure the things that no one even considered. And so we came up with this term, chicken eligible shots, because. All right, the way the promo works, in case you haven't figured out by now, you miss the first free throw, you miss the second free throw. Everyone wins free chicken. If the opposing player makes the first free throw, guess what? We don't care what happens on that second free throw shot. Right?

[Pablo Torre]

Right.

[Amin Elhassan]

So the only way we can figure out if you're handing out chicken as an opposing player is if you are converting on chicken eligible shots. So that's the second missed free throw after you missed the first one.

[Pablo Torre]

Right. You've created a helpful graphic here. Chicken eligible, parentheses CE any free throw where a miss on that individual shot would result in the activation of a chicken based promo.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yes, precisely. We have another term we need you to understand.

[Pablo Torre]

Why?

[Amin Elhassan]

Because metrics. We have to build metrics off of this. It's not enough to say, hey, how many chicken eligible shots did he take?

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, sorry, you're moving us from counting stats now to efficiency, which is the.

[Amin Elhassan]

Key to any good metric, is we want to know how efficient you are.

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, my God, of course, of course. I must agree with this.

[Amin Elhassan]

And here's the graphic. The chicken conversion rate, which is your chicken eligible misses, divided by your chicken eligible attempts. In essence, this number gives you the efficiency you have at providing chicken to 20,000 people.

[Pablo Torre]

So just to over explain this, CCR is the rate at which a player will miss a free throw with chicken on the line.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yes.

[Pablo Torre]

And so Giannis Antetokounmpo, when it comes to his conversion rate when he's chicken eligible, I mean, is What?

[Amin Elhassan]

So his CCR over the last two years, 80%. 80% of the time he's got an opportunity to get you chicken, he comes.

[Pablo Torre]

Home with it 8 out of 10 times. Giannis is converting free chicken for the crowd.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yeah, he's shooting 20%.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, that's pretty bad.

[Amin Elhassan]

It's awful.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, but he's also a bad free throw shooter though.

[Amin Elhassan]

Sure, yeah. I mean, look, he's not great at shooting free throws, right? Overall in his career, he's in the 60 percentage spot. But here's the crazy part. When you look at his quarter by quarter free throw percentage for this year, let's say, right, he shoots 64% in fourth quarters of games, he's a pretty like for his standard, pretty good free throw shooter. The only time we have a drop is when he's shooting free throws versus when he's shooting free throws with chicken on the line. And then that drop goes from 64% all the way down to 20%. Pablo, that is the difference. That, that delta that we have there is the equivalent of Steph Curry shooting a free throw versus Shaquille O'Neal. You're telling me that this guy who's not a great free thr.

[Pablo Torre]

I mean, famously, people count down, crowds are mocking him by pointing out how long he takes to shoot a free throw. Just the one assist, and now you've got a sign for Giannis in the.

[Amin Elhassan]

End zone and he hits the free throw.

[Pablo Torre]

Even that guy, you're saying, becomes that much worse when there is this incentive at stake.

[Amin Elhassan]

It strains credulity. I don't know if I'm saying that word right.

[Pablo Torre]

I think stunningly, you might be okay.

[Amin Elhassan]

It strains it though.

[Pablo Torre]

It strains my credulity that, you know, to pronounce credulity.

[Amin Elhassan]

So it strains credulity to believe that someone who is bad at free throws is magically, horrendously worse. Only when there's a chicken giveaway.

[Pablo Torre]

But this is where I just need to continue to channel the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference and point out that the theater, and it is convincing theater, graphical theater, full of lots of terms. The theater you're giving us is kind of small sample size theater. Like I'm looking at the graph when you say 80% and I say eight out of 10, I mean, we're talking about 10 shots here. That's not a lot.

[Amin Elhassan]

It's 10 shots for chicken, right? Because here's the crazy part. When it comes to giveaways, any other sort of variety, pizza, ice cream, hot dogs, whatever it is, he shoots his regular free throw percentage, but when it comes to chicken, he shoots the absolute worst. And Pablo, this is where all of that context we ran through. We were like, why are we seeing all these videos and clips and stuff? That's why. Because this guy has a demonstrated connection with a love for fast food, chicken. I wish I had a Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia bulletin board here where I could have some strings and attach all the connecting factors here. He loves chicken, and he wants to share that love with everyone.

[Pablo Torre]

What does Giannis have to say about all of this?

[Amin Elhassan]

Well, Pablo, I had the same question, so I went home to Phoenix to see the Milwaukee Bucks play the Suns, to ask Giannis myself.

[Pablo Torre]

So you land in Phoenix, you land back home, and the Bucks are visiting. They're the road team. There is chicken in the air. Yeah, but you want to go ask questions, journalistically responsible questions of the person that we are theorizing about. How hard was that?

[Amin Elhassan]

You know, it wasn't easy. Right. Because I don't know if you know this NBA shootarounds, what they do is they do their practice, their little morning walkthrough on the day of the game, but then they don't let the media in until the very end, which allows for players to escape without talking to media if they don't want to. And I had been warned that Giannis notoriously does not talk to media.

[Pablo Torre]

He has a reputation, if you're not familiar with the reputation that he doesn't for all the videos we played, doesn't actually like giving time to us journalists.

[Amin Elhassan]

And yet I saw him and I try to catch up with him.

[Pablo Torre]

This is a video of you running through the tunnel. That's that patented amino acid sprinting speed.

[Amin Elhassan]

Just missed him. Just missed him. We'll get to the bottom of this. They're trying to sneak him out the back way, but we're going to get to the bottom of this.

[Pablo Torre]

That was an episode of Severance. You're running down hallways that don't go anywhere.

[Amin Elhassan]

And so I'm trying to catch up with Giannis, but he's a big guy with big strides. So I did the next best thing when I got to the game later that evening, I. I went to locker room availability and I tried to talk to one of his teammates about it. I don't know if you've noticed this. You know, some of these arenas have a free giveaway if the opposing team misses two free throws. Right. Sometimes it's chicken, sometimes it's pizza, something like that. Even though Giannis shoots better in the fourth quarter on free throws, when it's the chicken giveaway, he tends to miss those. Why do you think that is? I don't think there's any reason for it.

[Pablo Torre]

Shots going or shots don't go in.

[Unknown]

This is.

[Pablo Torre]

I mean, to clarify why the thing we alluded to before we actually did need to do here, the doctoring, the voice modulating, the blurring of this secret video. Why is this so secret? Why? Why aren't we seeing and hearing what you heard and saw?

[Amin Elhassan]

Because the moment I asked the question, I was asked politely to leave. They didn't want any questions about this whatsoever.

[Pablo Torre]

The question you asked, as soon as you articulated which we did hear, the implication becomes, wait a minute, I should answer this very carefully. And perhaps not at all.

[Amin Elhassan]

There was a weird energy around this, clearly, from the approach on Giannis to entering the locker room, to the conversations afterward. All of it felt like the Bucks wanted nothing to do with this. And we reached out to Giannis directly through his agent to talk to him. That was rebuffed as well, right? I mean, we've tried even the beat writers, by the way, guys that cover the Bucks on a day to day basis. When I tried to talk to them about it, everything was like, nope, don't want to be involved in it. Because they were worried, I think, like, how that would reflect on them. This is the part where I said, I'm risking my reputation here. No, for you, for your show.

[Pablo Torre]

This is where, as I was hearing what was transpiring, I was like, oh, so the. So the Giannis that is the most vocal global ambassador for chicken in this regard is the exact opposite.

[Amin Elhassan]

Right.

[Pablo Torre]

And the general, by the way, the flavor around even the champions of chicken. Like, I mean, it's worth pointing out too. Eventually we here at Pablo Torre finds out. We reached out to Marcin Gortat and his response was, what? How would you describe that?

[Amin Elhassan]

I won't describe it, I'll just show it to you on the screen. And so this is his response to our request for an interview quote, sorry, guys, but don't really see that laughing.

[Pablo Torre]

Emoji with the, like, sweat bead.

[Amin Elhassan]

With the sweat bead on it. Exactly. Me talking about chicken.

[Pablo Torre]

Gritted teeth, emoji, gritted teeth, Pablo, that's.

[Amin Elhassan]

Not the response of someone saying, hey, man, I don't feel like talking about this.

[Pablo Torre]

That's not the guy we saw in the video who was, like, having a chicken party, right?

[Amin Elhassan]

Like, who was requesting that the threshold be lowered on what the chicken giveaway is. This is someone, again, who does not want to be on the record on this. And you know what it reminded me of, Pablo? It reminded me of a prior episode of PTFO when we went to go see the Haunted Hotel in Oklahoma City, remember? And Nate Robinson who had experienced supernatural activities there. When we reached out to ask him, and he said, no, I don't want to talk about that. And he texted something very similar. Right. Like you can pick up the telltale signs of someone who feels disincentivized to have anything to do with this conversation.

[Pablo Torre]

So Giannis doesn't want to touch this. The people that we think would want to touch this actually do. Not at all. But there is a game that night.

[Amin Elhassan]

Yes.

[Pablo Torre]

And so what happens when the ball is tipped? An NBA heavyweight matchup highlights the bill on this Monday night with two teams in full fight mode down the stretch. It's a soldier Bucks here in the PHX on Arizona's family sports.

[Amin Elhassan]

So fast forward to the fourth quarter, because that's the only part that we anyone cares about, right? It's the chicken giveaway, which in Phoenix, by the way, it's called a foul shot.

[Pablo Torre]

Right.

[Amin Elhassan]

F O, W. Yeah, see, it's a double entendre. So suns are up two. Giannis gets fouled about 2 minutes, 19 seconds left in the game. He goes to the free throw line. He misses the first one, and then this is what happens on the second move.

[Pablo Torre]

Oso's got to secure that inside possession.

[Amin Elhassan]

You hear that, Pablo? They're not counting like they usually do. They're not booing. They are going nuts. And in the corner, I don't know if you saw it, the little chick fil. A cow.

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, I saw.

[Amin Elhassan]

Oh, the same cow. That was a marching goat losing chicken party. Yep. Is back dancing its ass off. God, it was. It could not have been scripted any better.

[Pablo Torre]

I mean, again, rational brain wants to enter the conversation. Okay, so as much as it's a signal that something that is total proof of your theory is happening, I mean, like, it was a. That was a two. I'm looking at the score. Yeah, that was a two point game. The Bucks badly needed this, right? The whole theory that Giannis is being incentivized because of his love of chicken and because of his love of, frankly, humanity. The theory that he's doing this on purpose. I mean, again, they need these wins. I mean, why. Why would he do this?

[Amin Elhassan]

Well, why would he do it in general? Regardless of whether the game is on the line or not? It's a lot of things. Like, maybe it's. Again, he loves chicken. He wants everyone to have it. Maybe it's because he, hey, this is my weakness that everyone jeers and mocks me for. That turns into something that makes me a little bit more affable, right? Maybe hey, guess what, Pablo? Ever look at the All Star voting? You know who's number one? Not Steph Curry. Everyone's darling. Not LeBron James, the greatest player ever, according to some people. Not Victor Wembanyama. This phenomenon. The number one All Star vote guy in the league is Giannis Antetokounmpo, who plays for Milwaukee, where it's not like everyone in Wisconsin turned out to stuff the ballot boxes.

[Pablo Torre]

Wait, you're saying that Giannis Antetokounmpo has been using chicken the way Elon Musk has been using money to win elections?

[Amin Elhassan]

I mean, look, what I'm saying is this guy's really popular.

[Pablo Torre]

It's a quid pro chicken.

[Amin Elhassan]

He's really popular. Pablo. More popular, arguably by the metrics than Lebron.

[Pablo Torre]

It is a shock. I did not realize that. That is actually quite shocking.

[Amin Elhassan]

And on the other hand, he loves chicken. Right? And you bring these two things together. I'm giving opposing fans. Opposing fans. It's one thing to win over 20,000 people in Milwaukee. It's another thing to win over 20,000 people in 29 other NBA arenas campaigning, cross the aisle. Yes, that's basically what he's doing. He's reaching across. And it's working. It's working.

[Pablo Torre]

We're now we're firmly in the realm of trying to climb into the mind of someone who does not want us to see inside.

[Amin Elhassan]

You know, Pablo, there is one person I didn't talk to who could address those things. The inner psyche of Giannis Anetokounmpo, who knows him better than anybody on the face of the planet. It's his brother. I know you're going to have to talk to Tenasses Ano.

[Pablo Torre]

I mean, I. I guess I can totally believe that you have dragged me to this point, but it's time for us to make one more call.

[Amin Elhassan]

The missing child is Lucia Blix, 9 years old. Please let her come back home safely.

[Pablo Torre]

Thursdays, the kidnappers plumbed it meticulously.

[Amin Elhassan]

If money is what it takes to.

[Pablo Torre]

Get her back, we're gonna pay it. The secrets they hide. You can't talk about this. You can't write about it. Are the clues. The mother's hiding something. I know it. To find her, tell me where she is. The stolen girl. New episodes, Thursdays stream on Hulu. So the very first thing that you need to know about the guy I'm about to call here is that he is Giannis's older brother, one of five Andokounmpo brothers in all, four of whom, by the way have made the NBA, which is its own incredible story. But Thanasis Anadokounbo, crucially, is the only Anetokounbo brother to have played alongside Giannis. Thanassis was a third stringer when they won a title together in Milwaukee in 2021. And the two are so close to this day that Thanassis still lives and works in Milwaukee right alongside Giannis, whom he calls his best friend and his partner. And so while Thanasis two time MVP winning brother would not take a call from Pablo Torre finds out, most especially during these ongoing NBA playoffs, Thanasis, I was told actually would, because Thanassis and I also happen to share something very important in common. An incredible affection for the truth.

[Unknown]

One of my nicknames is Truth Teller, because if you don't tell the truth, if you don't say that the way it is, they won't listen to you.

[Pablo Torre]

And this is a lesson. It turns out out that Thanasis has been heating at home with Giannis and in locker rooms around the NBA and also now on his own podcast, which he titled Thanalysis, which is, you know, a pretty good name, gotta admit. And so at this point, I just decided to ask Thanassis straight up about the truth behind Bricken for Chicken.

[Unknown]

Is that the one with the free throws or. They miss free throws, you get the to the chicken.

[Pablo Torre]

Bricken for Chicken.

[Unknown]

Bricken for Chicken.

[Pablo Torre]

Wow.

[Unknown]

You know, one time we actually was looking at, was trying to get our phones to get the, the scanner to get the, the same discount too, which.

[Pablo Torre]

You may now recall from earlier in this episode with Amin, when we talked about that game where Giannis somehow had a cell phone on the bench, was trying to scan that QR code off the Jumbotron to get free Chicken alongside everybody else in the building. And this memory got Thanasis thinking about a different game actually from a few years ago in Atlanta.

[Unknown]

You want to hear a story? We come in and this guy had to be 2022 or 2021. One of these years we come in third unit, third string. We come in, you know, trying to finish the game. You know, it's not the best. You know, sometimes it's sloppy, sometimes it's okay, you know, just not the best time to be in. But I'll take it, you know, I'm blessed. I'll take whatever I can get.

[Pablo Torre]

11 different Atlanta Hawks players have scored here tonight. Thanasis going for his first points.

[Unknown]

So I'm shooting the free throws and I missed the first one and everybody's going ballistic. And I'm like, what? I look around, I'm like, why is everybody so hyped?

[Pablo Torre]

And as you can hear, it's getting very loud because it is foul all the time.

[Unknown]

And then, you know, I hit the second free third. I hear this, oh, deflation.

[Lou Stredler]

No chicken for you.

[Amin Elhassan]

Sh.

[Unknown]

And then I asked the. I was like, why is everybody. What did I do? Why is everybody. Was everybody, like, boring and yelling? He's like, no, it was free food.

[Pablo Torre]

That's why. At a kubros depriving these Atlanta people of much needed nourishment, was any part of. Of you thanasis?

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

If you were aware. If you were aware of the free food you could have given that city.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

Is there any part of you that was like, man, I wonder what it would feel like if I missed the second one?

[Unknown]

No. A part of me would have said, make both and I'll buy you guys dinner. I'm not missing a free throws, man. Dinner's on me. It's okay. You know, I rather make my free throws.

[Pablo Torre]

Well, this is. This is the thing I'm fascinated by, is that the crowd is trying to root you on.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

But the opposite, right? They're trying to. They're. They're actively trying to get you to miss because the free food thing is a magical lure. What I'm curious about is whether you're aware of how much free chicken your brother Giannis has won people around the NBA.

[Unknown]

So I'll tell you this. They usually free throws. Those free throws come in the clutch. In the clutch. He makes them like he's never. He doesn't miss in the clutch. Maybe in the beginning. They don't have that offer in the beginning in the game. So I don't know specifically, but I would assume these are definitely giving out, like, food. Definitely.

[Pablo Torre]

This is the funny thing, okay. In the past two NBA seasons, Giannis has had 10 chicken eligible free throws.

[Unknown]

Okay?

[Pablo Torre]

Okay. So this is the second crucial free throw with chicken on the line. We call them chicken eligible free throws.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Pablo Torre]

And he's had ten of them, and he has missed eight of them.

[Amin Elhassan]

So.

[Unknown]

What do you mean, so? He gave eight of them. He gave chickens, chicken, bacon, chicken to people. Oh, that's a. He's a philanthropist. That's good. That. That's. That's amazing, man. Who doesn't love a free chicken?

[Pablo Torre]

He is the league leader in chicken eligible conversion rate. No one has given the NBA more free chicken in that way than your brother. He is the Robin Hood of free chicken. Wow.

[Unknown]

That's good. I'm telling that. I'm telling them telling that. But, you know, I'm afraid if I tell him, he's going to not miss now. He's going to think about it and not give no more free chicken. So I'm not going to say anything. I'm just going to Lady Rock. I'm just going to lay it right.

[Pablo Torre]

What's just funny is that, like, the love you get, though, like the. So we went through and just watched what it's like when you miss the second free throw and you. And you do when your brother does what you refuse to do because you sank that second one, man, it is like they would have voted him for president.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

It's just. It's an amazing thing.

[Unknown]

Even though he's not American. Even though it was crazy.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, we can get. We're living in crazy times, man. That doesn't really matter anymore. We can do whatever we want. But here's. Here's. Here's the funny thing. I am now curious. Do you think there's any part of your brother, in his mind, deep in his brain, that is hearing the applause and is thinking to himself, maybe I should just miss the second one?

[Unknown]

Oh, no, I don't think he's just like me. No, he's not missing anyone. I'm not going to lie to you. He's just like me. I don't think he thinks that. He's so zeroed in, and when I say zeroed, he's so laser focused that he's thinking like, I'm going to make two free throws. And it is what it is. I'm going to do my best in my ability to make him.

[Pablo Torre]

The statistic I have to follow up on that, though, to continue this investigation, is that we also tracked Giannis's free throw percentage when it came to other types of food that were on the line in promotions. Okay, so the non chicken foods. Okay, non chicken food eligible free throws over the past two seasons.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

With non chicken eligible shots, he made five of eight.

[Unknown]

Five of eight. He doesn't want to give people bad product. He want. He only wants to give them. They're what they want the most. They want chicken. That's what they want.

[Pablo Torre]

I don't think there's a bigger truth you could tell, Thanasis, than what you just said, that people want chicken and we gotta give the people what they want.

[Unknown]

That's how you build your legend. That's how you become this phenom. Just give people what they want.

[Pablo Torre]

Thanasis Aradokumbo, a true truth teller. Thank you for solving a mystery that I can now finally have some peace about.

[Unknown]

Put the rest. Okay, man. Thank you so much, Mama.

[Pablo Torre]

Thank you.

[Unknown]

Thank you, brother. Thank you. Anytime.

[Pablo Torre]

And at this point, there was only one thing for us left to do. It was time to summon our intrepid correspondent back into our studio for a piece of something else. So, me and Alhassan, I just have one last thing to tell you, which is that thank you for not bricking this assignment. And as your reward, we got chicken.

[Amin Elhassan]

Okay. All right. So this is the part where I have to admit it's not just Giannis who's crazy about chicken and free chicken giveaways.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah. The least shocking twist of this story is that both of us, honestly are starving.

[Unknown]

Bones.

[Amin Elhassan]

Ooh. Honestly Flavorful.

[Pablo Torre]

I get it. I get it.

[Amin Elhassan]

Be honest. I don't know if you're doing it on purpose or not, but it's worth it.

[Pablo Torre]

Sometimes all we got to do is say thanks.

[Amin Elhassan]

We have any hot sauce?

[Pablo Torre]

This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out a Meadowlark Media production, and I'll talk to you next time.