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Robin Lopez
Exclusions apply.
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Brook Lopez
Everything's on the table.
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Interviewer
And the slam.
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Interviewer
Welcome. I am very happy excited to talk to both of these guys about their relationship. Robin Lopez, Brook Lopez, you you know how many years you have in the league together, right? Do you know the combination number of years in the NBA? Do you know the number?
Robin Lopez
I was always a fuzzy so I left all the math stuff up to him.
Interviewer
He's 16 years. He's 18 years. It's a remarkable story. Twins, congratulations on all your success. I know you guys want to talk about comic books and Disney. We will get to that because I suspect you're overgrown toddlers in this way. Your love of Disney is very strong. I haven't seen a lot like it. We'll get to that in a second. But I wanted to talk to you first about your so Robin, what would you tell me is your relationship with Brooke? How would you articulate it to somebody who's a stranger?
Robin Lopez
How would I articulate it? I would say it's very active. Through Facebook messenger we have, we don't have our own one on one. We do have our one on one chat because everybody, you know, everybody has chats. But the most active chat we have is a group of three or four friends. We don't really Message each other one on one. But through that group chat, we rib each other. There's nothing super genuine exchange. I don't think anything needs to be, but, yeah, that's what I would say.
Brook Lopez
Yeah. I mean, it's funny because like he said, it's never really direct. Even if he's in the chat in and I need something from him or I have to say something to him, it's hey, Ryan, or hey, David, how about this idiot over here? Can you tell him this, or I need this guy to do this. Why won't he listen to me? You know, stuff like that. For some reason, of course, we're closer than close can be, but we just. We also don't really speak to each other that often.
Robin Lopez
It just kind of makes us out to be cowards, I guess.
Interviewer
I don't think I'm understanding, though, like, because insults are the language of intimacy among men very often I don't. Are you guys. I don't understand why you wouldn't be talking directly to each other.
Brook Lopez
I don't know. I guess you're gonna get some exclusive stuff here because this is exclusive to even the two of us. We can really air it out right now. Like, what's the deal, Robin?
Robin Lopez
What's the deal, Robin? I've been waiting years to hear that.
Brook Lopez
Wow, A real non answer. Not even an answer, just a non answer. I. I don't know.
Robin Lopez
Maybe.
Brook Lopez
Maybe it's just that I don't ever want to seem like, you know, I'm asking him for something or bothering him, so they're being a burden at all. You know, we. We always know that we'll be there for each other. We got each other's back at a moment, so it's drop of a hat if anything needs to be done, anything needs to be taken care of. You know, if something were to go down and, you know, us two kids grew up in North Hollywood and then have pretty much, you know, had silver spoons. The rest of our. Not silver spoons, but we've been comfortable. We've. You know, we.
Robin Lopez
Copper spoons.
Brook Lopez
Copper spoons, yes. Yes. Our mom, you know, sacrificed everything to, you know, make our lives comfortable and to make ends meet. But, you know, if we were to somehow end up on the streets, somehow, and it went down, we'd be there for each other. That's what I'm trying to say.
Robin Lopez
What it kind of reminds me of, because definitely growing up, I think you were the aggressor. You were the bully.
Brook Lopez
Yeah.
Robin Lopez
Doesn't deny it. What it reminds me of is made with children. I think somebody, a creator on that show, like, succinctly summarized the family saying, they're always at each other's necks. And of course, I'm paraphrasing. They're always at each other's necks. But when somebody attacked the family, the family would respond, you know, as a whole.
Interviewer
Yeah, but even though you're one minute younger, you are the little brother in this.
Robin Lopez
I'm the baby brother in the whole.
Brook Lopez
Yes, the dynamic. Yeah.
Robin Lopez
To my mother, to my older brothers. Yes.
Interviewer
And so how does that work? Take me through the earliest forms of this. Like, when you're the little brother growing up, how does that. I mean, you're a minute younger. You're not really the little brother.
Robin Lopez
Right. Well, I think
Brook Lopez
I would say there were just certain situations, like, I guess, like, socially, for example, like, I was the one who kind of spoke for us or spoke first in certain situations. Right. Like, you were the more meek one, the quieter one. And if we were friends, I would speak first, you know, And I did. I felt even though we're twins, I felt like I had to do certain things for him, you know, being the big brother. And then I learned he'd been taking it and using it to his advantage for a long time around. It must have been seventh or eighth grade even, maybe, where for the longest time, he would have me. And this is an example of everything. He would say. He didn't know how to hook up the Sega Genesis. We played Sega. We were Sega to kids growing up, and we had Genesis. For the longest time, he didn't know
Robin Lopez
how to hand me down from our brothers.
Brook Lopez
Yes, hand me down. He didn't know how to hook up the Sega Genesis. Couldn't figure it out. Brooke, would you do it? And so I would always set it up. Yeah, sure. Little brother. My twin little brother. I got you. Lo and behold, I have to stay home and stay at school one day a little longer than he does. I come home and this guy's playing Sega Genesis all by himself. I'm like, okay, so he knows how to do it. He's just been taking advantage of this little brother aspect we have. Even though we're twins. Older brother, younger brother totally took advantage of it.
Robin Lopez
Baby, the baby. The little brother.
Interviewer
What did the fights look like growing up?
Robin Lopez
Oh, they never got too physical. They're usually throwing shoes, throwing basketballs.
Brook Lopez
I don't know how many coaches, professional players, like GMs, like. Like, guys we looked up to in the league. Growing, like, growing up. When we finally got in the league, they'd be like, oh, yeah, I remember you guys.
Robin Lopez
You guys.
Brook Lopez
You'd be at the say no Classic, you know, and you'd be under the bleachers throwing shoes at each other. Like, time and time again. I was always throwing shoes.
Robin Lopez
We were on leashes when we were younger. Our mom had us on leashes.
Brook Lopez
Yeah. She said we would get in the gym or get wherever we were going, and we immediately run in opposite directions. So the leashes were the only answer. Wait a minute.
Interviewer
How old are you? You were on actual leashes? Because she had to control the amount of adrenaline and hyperactivity that was going on. So what's the age?
Brook Lopez
I mean, we were toddlers. At least we got off the leashes. Obviously, eventually.
Robin Lopez
Eventually we managed to take the steps in life necessary to get off the leashes. Yes.
Brook Lopez
But we were still terrors. We were still absolute terrors. I don't know how many mascots I remember chasing when Alex was at University of Washington. I remember chasing the husky up the stands and pulling his tail so much, it got to the point where the husky turned around in. Number one mascot rule. You can't talk. Number one mascot rule.
Robin Lopez
I pulled this guy's tail so much, it turned around.
Brook Lopez
Hey, kid, stop pulling my tail. So we were just. We were running around all these arenas and, you know, gyms just like we owned the place. It was a disaster. So we needed the leashes.
Interviewer
But not a lot of terrible fights, me and my brother. There's a story of me chasing my brother. He pulled a knife on me. I chased him across the street in my underwear. I was. You know, you guys have to have
Robin Lopez
some family, memorable story clothed in public. I think I remember. I think we got in very physical altercations, like, twice. And there was maybe one punch exchanged.
Brook Lopez
Yeah. I was lying on my bed one time. I must have said something. I must have mouthed off. And he came over.
Robin Lopez
You would never mouth off.
Brook Lopez
Yeah, thanks. He came over and just square socked me in the face, and I didn't even respond. Really? I was more stunned than everything. I was like, what are you doing? That's not how we play. That's not how this thing works. Like, I couldn't believe it. It. Yeah.
Interviewer
At least in part, because that's not how the little brother. I mean, you. I. I don't know whether you winced when he said meek when he described you as.
Robin Lopez
No, no, no. I immediately thought of Dorothy. Gale described Dorothy. Dorothy described herself as meek. And look where Dorothy ended up.
Brook Lopez
Okay. Yeah.
Interviewer
And so he's Surprised that you're hitting him in the face just because that's not something that you had ever summoned. The. It's not just not how you play. It's also not your dynamic that you're the one punching him in the face. Correct.
Brook Lopez
Right. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. That's definitely true. And we also had one of those things, I'm sure as many brothers do, you know, we grew up together and we may end up like as little kids wrestling or pulling each other's hair or whatever it is, but then it's the end of the world. But then a minute later, it's back to normal, you're best friends. And our mom never had to solve the problem because we just solved ourselves, you know, we didn't know anything else.
Robin Lopez
All the brothers would have us box for. Box for their amusement.
Brook Lopez
Yes. Yeah, they. They that maybe that's how we got some of that, you know, so that's why we didn't fight is because they would put us in a little makeshift ring in their room and. And they would put on like, you know, they'd give us our walkout music even, you know, they were old, like 80s, you know, early 90s, like wrestling fans, you know, and we'd be. And they'd give us our walk in music and, you know, mine was Speed Demon by Michael Jackson on Bad. And then his was another part of me on Bad. And they would have us both walk in and they'd give us their old. Their old like, you know, arc, the, you know, AAU rec league thing out here, their knee pads from it. And we'd use those gloves and they'd
Robin Lopez
have us go at each other.
Brook Lopez
These are older brothers, all role models. Everyone we looked up to, they just have us fight in this makeshift boxing ring.
Robin Lopez
Isn't that life, though? That's life.
Interviewer
I would assume that you guys fought playing basketball. I would assume that one on one things would get competitive enough that something would rise up.
Robin Lopez
Our mom would have to run out to the driveway. Yeah, absolutely. Definitely. Oh, yeah, she'd be. Yeah, she'd be in the kitchen window or something. The way our house was oriented, she'd see it from the kitchen dining room window. There are temperature rising and she'd have to run outside to mostly protect her garden.
Interviewer
But even, even as pros, you guys would play one on one in the off season, Correct? Like even long in. Deep into your career, who's. Who's got the upper hand there in the history of you two playing in
Robin Lopez
terms of fiery tempers or.
Interviewer
Well, I just mean winning the games, winning the games.
Robin Lopez
I mean, I would say that Brook probably won more, but I do remember he never liked when I won. So, like, even as a pro, so there must have been times that I won.
Brook Lopez
It was.
Robin Lopez
There must have been times that I won.
Brook Lopez
That's. Yeah. It's funny because, like, I, obviously, I don't take losing well. I don't enjoy losing. You know, I'm, I, you know, can't imagine many pros do, you know, you can't get to that level, at least some level, you know, but. But it's different. Absolutely. Playing against you, you know, like even, even like at Stanford practice or, you know, when, when we were on the Bucks together in those practices, in, in games, you know, in actual NBA games, when we would play against each other, I feel like there was always an understanding between coaches or teammates or refs or whatever it was, and it always got a little extra. They kind of just let us go at it almost, you know, it was like, I don't know if it was for their amusement, like it was sport within a sport, but we. It would definitely be a little extra thing than normal just, you know, winning and losing a game. In basketball, folks, listen up.
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Brook Lopez
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Interviewer
How many times did you guys play against each other professionally? Have you actually played against each other very often?
Robin Lopez
At least twice a year.
Brook Lopez
Yeah, because we were. We were in different conferences for the longest time.
Interviewer
So are there any memorable stories in there, in the playing during NBA games against each other?
Robin Lopez
I remember the first time it happened. I think we were both rookies. Brook was playing for the New Jersey Nets. I was on the Suns. We had traveled to. Where was the stadium. We had traveled to New Jersey. We were both coming off the bench. And the second that Lawrence Frank told Brooke to walk towards the table to check in, Terry Porter turned around and said, robin, you're in immediately. Because like Shaq and everybody, like Shaq and Amari, they were all placing bets, you know, who was going to score first, who was going to score more points and everything. That's kind of the way it stayed throughout our careers, honestly.
Brook Lopez
Absolutely. Like teammates and coaches, they loved watching us play against each other. No question.
Robin Lopez
The NBA season can be kind of monotonous. You know, you have back to back games in January. You're looking for something to kind of differentiate it or motivate you. And that was unusual enough to be
Brook Lopez
fun, exciting, and it didn't have to be good basketball. It just had to be ridiculous. And we're wonderful at that.
Robin Lopez
We have the monopoly on ridiculousness.
Interviewer
I want to get into your ranking of your best rivalries with mascots in a second. Speaking of your ridiculous. But how would you articulate for me, Brooke, what the twins connection is? The connection of being so biologically connected that you're twins.
Brook Lopez
Right, right. You know, they always talk about that twin telepathy. And, you know, I'm not sure I've ever had an experience where, you know, I can validate that. But there's no doubt that so much of our life we've experienced together, and especially formative years, you know, from when we were babies to what, 18, we lived in the exact same room. You know, we were everywhere together in the same place. And so, so many of our experiences, if you were, you know, we, we go certain places and we instantly think of the same Simpsons quote or, you know, something like that from the same. From the same experience. And we don't have to be at the same place to do that now. You know, it's just. We immediately have the same thought about the same thing. And it kind of sounds simple, but, like, we're really, like that mentally connected. And of course, when we. The one place it was bad for us is because then we usually pull out those Simpsons quotes and get someone to laugh, and they don't know that, you know, we're ripping off the most popular TV show of all time usually. But that really. That backfired. When we went to the Simpsons table reader realized we couldn't have a normal
Robin Lopez
conversation with any clips. All the jokes are just ripping off the Simpsons.
Interviewer
Tell me about the Simpsons table read. I mean, you've ended up in some pretty, I guess, literally cartoonish circumstances because of where your interests lie.
Robin Lopez
That was incredible. It was. What was the name of the episode? It was the. The King who Came to Dinner or something. Yeah, it was King and Code as they Go to See Their Planet. It was one of the later season episodes, but it was an incredible experience. The entire cast was there except for Marge wasn't there. Yes, Julie. Julie. Yeah, Julie Kavner was. Was on the phone. Matt Groening was there. I was excited to meet Tress McNeil because. Trust McNeil. I mean, they all voice a litany of, you know, not so much. You know, Julie. Julie Kavner doesn't so much. Yeah, but Tress McNeil, she voices so many different cartoon characters. The one I was excited about was Gadget Hack Wrench from Chip and Dale, Rescue Rangers. But just that whole. That whole afternoon whenever it was, was so surreal because to see them turn
Brook Lopez
it on and off, it was like a live episode.
Robin Lopez
It was.
Brook Lopez
It was like watching a live episode. You could close your eyes, you know, and just see the episode in your head as they were actually doing it live. And it was cool. As an added bonus, there's no way this was planned. No way they could have possibly known you. I don't think they would have known, you know, how into theme parks and Disney we were then. But. But the beginning of the episode, if you're not familiar with that one, is the Simpsons going to Itchy and Scratchy Land. And it has a number of parodies of, you know, different Disney attractions. You know, Mr. Toad's wild ride. Like, there was a Jabba the Hutt thing. Just so many different things. It was like, wow, this is like a little cherry on top. Like, this was absolutely meant to be.
Interviewer
Can you guys Explain to me, before we get into the obsession with both comic books and Disney, what are the roots of this love of animation? Like, where does this start?
Robin Lopez
I would say that. So first of all, our family, of course, our older brothers, they both loved comic books. They loved animation. They loved James Bond movies, the novels as well. We had aunt who was an architect, and we would usually spend Thanksgiving at her house, and we'd be able to draw on her, drawing on her. On her drawing board and everything. Our grandma would send us an art box.
Brook Lopez
That was our famous favorite Christmas present.
Robin Lopez
She would send every Christmas. They'd have markers, construction paper, colored pencils, and everything in it. So we loved. We just. Because of all that, we just love drawing and love writing and stuff. But I think the time we grew up into. We grew up once again in Southern California, North Hollywood, the Valley, in the early 90s. So you had the Disney Renaissance going on. Warner Brothers was doing its thing with, like, the Batman, the Animated series, Animaniacs, tiny Toons and all that. Then you had the Disney Afternoon, which is really big for us, Saturday morning cartoons. He's wearing. I don't know if he meant to do that, but he's wearing a tailspin shirt right now. And then we would go to the parks, you know, once or twice a year. And I think for regular people, you know, that would, you know, maybe, you know, do you develop a love based on that or at least an appreciation? But because we were twins, we both encouraged it in one another.
Brook Lopez
It was. It was an echo chamber. Like, yeah, these are our formative years, you know, when we're. When we're growing up and learning what the world is and what our place is in it, and we're experiencing it side by side every step of the way. Like I said before, we're talking about
Robin Lopez
how Talespin is awesome, how Wildcat on Tailspin, how much we love him. And we don't realize how unusual that is because it's completely normal to each of us. That's the baseline.
Brook Lopez
Yeah.
Interviewer
What would be your answer to the roots of that?
Brook Lopez
It's growing up in that era, in this setting, in this place, and being able to go out and be where so much of this is created. And then going to the parks with our family, I think that's such an important part, too, doing these things with our families. And then we'd go back home from whatever movie we saw or whatever TV show we just watched, or going to the park and we talk about, oh, man, that was so cool. And then what if they did this or what if they did that or. You know, I can remember being a little kid when the Batman Batman animated series episode Heart of Ice premiered, you know, on one of the Saturday mornings, you know, when we first saw that. And then after that we went to go see the Queen Mary and I remember like that whole, that whole tour of the Queen Mary. You know, we were obviously invested in that too, but we were also talking about that episode and oh like that was so cool. Like what if they did this, you know, with Mr. Freeze or Da da da. And that was like our whole life.
Interviewer
Oh, so you guys are both creatives trapped in athletes bodies then is what's happening, correct? You guys are just.
Robin Lopez
We like to think so, yeah.
Interviewer
You're just, you happen to be in sports, which doesn't necessarily reward that. I don't know that many coaches have any interest in your creativity. Like I don't know the meticulous military nature of what it is that you do for a living. It's, it, it's funny to think that, well, you were given these seven foot bodies and so you go out there and play basketball. But it sounds like there are animators trapped somewhere in there.
Brook Lopez
No doubt. There's no doubt. I mean maybe like someone like, like Jokic or you know, a big point guard trapped in a Big's body could use that creativity to, you know, help create something. Maybe Joker's, you know, some bridge to that.
Robin Lopez
Joker's talented enough on the floor to be able to express himself in. That
Interviewer
is true. Can you explain to me though? Because the obsession specifically with Disney is something that I believe I haven't seen in a whole lot of places. You have a property. How did it come to be that you have land on Disney World property?
Brook Lopez
You know, it's obviously, I'm sure that's like every little kid's dream, but you know, it was never necessarily a plan of mine, you know. And you know, I always imagine, you know, I'm born and bred Cali guy. Like we said, we grew up in la, we did middle school and high school in Fresno, we went to Stanford. Like we're all up and down like doing through Cali guys. So I, I never really imagined, you know, having a place in Florida or living out there. But I remember it was, it was during an all star break. It must have been my fifth or sixth year in the league and I was injured, you know, so I was, I was visiting my girlfriend in North Carolina and we were hanging out and my, my older brother Chris like sent me a Yahoo Article. He text me a Yahoo article and said, hey, like bro bear, they're, they're building property, they're building houses at Disney World. You should check this out. And I was like, oh, that's cool. Like, you know, I was again, like, I was in my fifth year in league. I was like, I don't know, you know, if it's realistic to buy something like that. But like I'll, I'll look at the link and you know, I looked at the link and it was just the coolest like virtual walkthrough of houses. Like it's literally, it's, it's just to the, it's just by Fort Wilderness, you know, Fort Wilderness Resort and Campgrounds.
Robin Lopez
Everybody knows exactly where that is.
Brook Lopez
I know, I guess. Yeah, Magic Kingdom. It's down the street from Magic Kingdom.
Robin Lopez
Yeah, they talk about, yeah, the North Star, you know, the Pacific, the Atlantic, Fort Wilderness. That's how people navigate the globe.
Brook Lopez
Right.
Robin Lopez
It's Polaris and Fort Wilderness.
Brook Lopez
Right.
Robin Lopez
Cape Horn, the Panama Canal.
Brook Lopez
What was. I think I, I was trying to bring everyone up to our level. That's right, for the content, obviously.
Interviewer
You know where, you know where everything is. The point, the point is though, you're close to everything. How does that come to be?
Brook Lopez
Yes.
Interviewer
And how do you deliver the news to him? Hey, you're not going to believe this because I imagine it brings you right back to childhood. But I have the ability to make all our dreams come true. I have the ability to get land on our most magical space.
Brook Lopez
Absolutely. Absolutely. So my, when I find out about this, I again, I reach out to my financial guy, RIT and you know, RIT is, I guess he's two for two on these irresponsible decisions I've made. He said yes to me. I don't know if he agreed with them, but we go down, we tour the development and we find a plot of land because there's pre built houses and there's plots of land where you can build. And like RIT and I talked about it like, oh, we got to do this. We gotta, we gotta build. And so here, like I tell Robin, and it immediately half becomes his house too. You know, he's absolutely in on it. And what was so fun with the house is having it on Disney World property. It gave us a chance, you know, to flex some of those imagineering muscles that we'd, we'd.
Robin Lopez
He always talks about like when you come home from Disneyland, you know, wouldn't it be cool if they did this? Wouldn't it be cool if they did that.
Brook Lopez
Yeah.
Robin Lopez
So he kind of looked at it as like if I were designing something in the parks, you know, this, this
Brook Lopez
is what I do with the house. And so the main section of the house is. I try to keep it pretty traditional, pretty, you know, classy, you know, but once you get into different rooms, I figured I was like, all right, I am a Cali guy. Disneyland's my home park. I want to bring Disneyland to the east coast theme. Each room after a land in Disneyland, you know. So I have my Adventureland lounge, my Toontown suite, a couple old Tomorrowland and new Tomorrowland suites. Gotta do. There's so many different versions. Tomorrowland gotta have multiple Tomorrowland suites. The guest house is Critter country and Frontierland still Critter Country.
Robin Lopez
The Frontierland room is my.
Brook Lopez
Yeah, he. He really went into the. So he really took the theming to. I mean I went all out. But this guy, he went even further. He was in there, he was putting arrows in the walls, like actually creating holes. Like he pretty much put bullet holes like in the walls of that room. Like he wanted to get it as authentic as possible. And so it was just, it was a lot of fun to put together. And I hope it can be at least also a bit of a resume for my post post playing career. You know, maybe Disney Imagineering will. Will take a little walk through and look at and say, hey, there might be a little something.
Interviewer
Any secret passageways, compartments or what is the pro. Yes. Yes.
Brook Lopez
Is the answer that question. Absolutely yes. Go on, go on, go on. Oh man.
Robin Lopez
Well, there's a secret room, there's a secret passageway.
Brook Lopez
Yes, I would. There's absolutely a few secrets and I would love in some capacity. It doesn't even, not even charge or anything down the road. But I just, I want people to be able to experience it at some point. Like I tell our friend Brandon all the time, like what the end goal like is with the house. I mean, other than just being a beautiful place to live and raise my family, I would love to be able to finally create this experience of having an escape room like experience, but the whole house with a story, with multiple stories. So you go themed room from themed room, experiencing all the little secrets in each room and all the secret tunnels or hidden doors, whatever it may be. And so then at the end, once you solve all that stuff, you get to get to the big secret reveal at the end of it.
Interviewer
You said your financial advisor said yes to two financial risks. What was the other one?
Brook Lopez
Oh, it was the other Disney house in Anaheim. Of course.
Interviewer
The other Disney house.
Robin Lopez
Okay, Mills Warren. That one's Mills Warren. The other one is Lucky Samson.
Interviewer
The other Disney house is a funny phrase. What are the details of the other Disney house?
Brook Lopez
It's, it's, it's. It was, it's. It's all about location for that one. That one was a pre built home. We, we, as a lot of us, when, when Covid hit, a lot of us were at home by ourselves and we were, you know, doing our online shopping. You know, that was a way to kind of, you know, still feel good about yourself, keep with our interests, you know, kind of just take care of ourselves mentally. I. And this, this is all making me sound so like ridiculous with my money and here. But anyway.
Interviewer
No, it's not. You're saying there are two. You've played 18 years in the league and you bought two homes because you want to be near Disney. It's important to you to be near Disney.
Brook Lopez
Absolutely right. That's right.
Interviewer
So you've treated yourself after 18 years of physically torturing your body. I can't imagine what the fe of you two are like. Just your feet. Because of what it is that you've given to the game. These are your rewards. You've bought yourself two homes very well on property.
Brook Lopez
Yes, practically. Obviously there's nothing on property in Anaheim, but we did the next best thing. And pretty much, you know, that the same verse that we did in Orlando written I did. We just did it during COVID and we, you know, we found a place online, did a little virtual tour. We flew out safely during COVID checked it out, you know, did a little walkthrough, loved it. And I've loved it ever since. And we're like, this is the one.
Interviewer
Well, you gotta give us some tick, some tips and hacks, some do's and don'ts. Like, you guys are veterans. You're masters. You've got to tell people how to properly do Disney and how not to properly do Disney.
Robin Lopez
You want me to do that? You there? You're there almost every day.
Brook Lopez
I might be. My perspective might be so warped. I want what's something like. Because I can't. I'm fortunate enough where I can go in and I love it. My wife and I will be like, hey, you want to take Julian and go do the Haunted Mansion real quick? And we'll literally go in and do one ride and be like, all right, let's go home and get him down for nap or whatever. I'm so fortunate. So it's Like a dream come true. So you take this. You feel this one.
Robin Lopez
We get there at the. You know, just about one park opens and we're there till park closes. I'm actually really impressed that Julian. When Julian's in the park, he doesn't complain at all. How old is he now?
Brook Lopez
He's just over two months or two years?
Robin Lopez
Just over two years. Just over two years and he doesn't complain at all. Like, we're there for a very long time. I think that's the best way to experience it because. Especially at Disneyland now because it's so. So many people come like after five, after work. So you have so many locals coming to the park.
Interviewer
Aren't there rides you guys don't fit on?
Robin Lopez
You would think so.
Brook Lopez
So there's one ride where technic. One Disney ride where technically we can't even do. It's in Tokyo at Tokyo Disney Resort in Tokyo Disney Sea. Their second gate. It's called Raging Spirits in the Lost River Delta area of the park. And it's a roller coaster. It's the same.
Robin Lopez
It's a lift of.
Brook Lopez
Yeah.
Robin Lopez
Indiana Jones on the Temple apparel from Disneyland Paris.
Brook Lopez
The same track layout and everything, but. But the. What is the height limit there? 170 centimeters, something like that. I know. It's like. It doesn't matter. We. We can't do it. We're like, what, 2, 210, 213, something like that, right, Chris. Chris might be able to do it. He might be close.
Robin Lopez
He's.
Brook Lopez
Or you know what? I think. I think we might have even tried to get him to. We might have brought him up because he was like, if you guys can't do it, I don't want to do it. But we tried to bring him up and they might have got him right at the. Yeah. This. This is what they do everywhere we go in Tokyo. They see us at every ride and they go, no, you can speak Japanese. Yeah, yeah, I can. I've been learning it. So I can. So I can tell them, yes, we can ride this ride.
Interviewer
You met your wife at Disney World, right? What is the backstory there?
Brook Lopez
We. When we got in the league, we would. We would pretty much. We started going every summer because we'd. Again, Disneyland was our home park. We went once in 1990 as a family. And there's like, little, like tiny. Some of my first memories are of Disney World.
Robin Lopez
There was a basketball AU national champ au Nationals were in New Orleans, right?
Brook Lopez
Yeah. And so our mom drives everywhere. She loves driving. Great driver. So we drove from La to New Orleans. And she figured since we did that drive, we'll just go all the way and she'll take us to Disney World. And so that's what we did. And so after we did that, we always wanted to go back. Obviously, we just. We couldn't afford it. We couldn't afford doing it. And so one of the first things we did when we got drafted is we went right back there. I mean, we did all the international parks, treated ourselves a little bit, but so every summer we would go back and we'd bring friends and we'd do Disney World, and we'd stay at a different resort. And on one of those trips, I met her at Animal Kingdom, just off a passing glance in a store. And she was on vacation, too. She's from North Carolina. And so for them, it's, you know, still they're drive. They would drive down all the time, but, you know, that's her home park. And so, you know, it met from there. I just gave her my number, you know, asked if she wanted to hang out at all or anything like that. And it went from there. You know, we first hung out first night, I think in.
Robin Lopez
Let me think.
Brook Lopez
Oh, she's gonna kill me for this.
Robin Lopez
It's not good.
Brook Lopez
I'm trying to think if it was studios. I think it was Magic Kingdom first, actually, because I remember we had a great time. Like, we went on Splash Mountain, which, you know, favorite attraction. Like, it was just. It was a dream, and it just went from there.
Interviewer
She also has to understand your Disney obsession. Correct. That's a deal breaker if she does not. It has to be accepted. It has to be loved. It has to be.
Brook Lopez
It is. It is. It's not at the. It's obviously. I mean, I don't know anyone who's. Who's, you know, at our level, but she's on board with it, for sure. She's accepting, and she's very understanding when it comes to certain things. Like, I couldn't have gotten more lucky.
Interviewer
What is the number of days a year. I'll leave this questioning alone in a second, but what is the number of days a year that you will go to one of the Disney parks? Both of you?
Robin Lopez
Once again, our answers are probably different because Brooke does live right by there. I have an app that tells me how many theme parks, and I track all the rides and everything. So let's see the stats for once.
Brook Lopez
He. While he pulled his app up, I. I was actually good this season. You know, I tried to be responsible a little bit because, you Know my teammates and, you know, they depend on me actually showing up for games. So I ended up going about once a month this season, you know, which, you know, all things considered, that's restraint for you.
Interviewer
Proud of yourself?
Brook Lopez
Yes, exactly. I'm very proud of myself. You were.
Interviewer
You are a disciplined professional about your work life, and you didn't get tempted by the literal cotton candy over there right near your house.
Brook Lopez
Exactly.
Robin Lopez
You are a good big brother.
Brook Lopez
We finally grew up, right?
Interviewer
You're going to give us some stats there?
Robin Lopez
I'm trying to. Yeah, I'm trying to pull up the 20, 25 year interview.
Interviewer
All right, we'll. We'll wait for you. That's fine. I've got. I've got plenty more questions here as we wait for that. Give me your mascot rankings in terms of your favorite beefs rivalries. Like, you've got. I don't know how many you have. What is the total?
Robin Lopez
I think I fall with all of them, except.
Brook Lopez
Battled them all.
Robin Lopez
Except for Crunch the Wolf from the Timberwolves.
Brook Lopez
He's a lone wolf.
Robin Lopez
He is, yeah. He does his own thing and I admire it. I think number one would probably have to be Benny the Bull, just because I got to play in Chicago as well. So not only was he one of the first mascots that I feuded with, but we also got very close, we became best friends, and then that was all ruined again, you know, once I had to leave the team. So. That one's very personal. Who else would I put that. I'd probably put the Raptor. The Toronto Raptor would be on that list. Hooper, the Detroit Piston was the first. He was the first mascot.
Brook Lopez
Was that Silly String attack.
Robin Lopez
Yeah, that rounded out. I'd say stuff the Magic Dragon from Orlando, and I'd say Rocky from the Denver Nuggets.
Interviewer
A good solid top five, I think. So what's. How has the wolf escaped your gaze? What has happened with the wolf?
Brook Lopez
Why.
Interviewer
Why will the wolf not engage with you? You might. If there's a blemish on your resume. Why have you not. Why have you not. Why have you not found a way to unretire?
Brook Lopez
You gotta find a folding chair, brother.
Interviewer
Right, but why is there only one that you haven't feuded with? I would think that you would be obsessed with feuding with the one you haven't gotten.
Robin Lopez
The opportunity just never came up.
Interviewer
That's too bad. I'm sorry about that.
Brook Lopez
You have to buy some Timberwolf season tickets. See if your luck changes.
Robin Lopez
Then
Brook Lopez
Marvel Television's wonder man an eight Episode series now streaming on Disney.
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Interviewer
Not exactly what we'd expect from an Oscar winning director. Excellent. Simon Williams auditioned for Wonder Man.
DraftKings Network Announcer
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Interviewer
I'll never work again. If anyone found out.
DraftKings Network Announcer
My lips are sealed.
Brook Lopez
Marvel Television's Wonder man.
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Interviewer
of the things that people wouldn't understand that are just daily inconveniences for you that come with your physical size, that the world is just not built for you?
Robin Lopez
That's a good question. Because everything seems kind of normal to us because we've been this tall for so long. I think the, the biggest one for me is just flying. I've always got to fly first class or business class. It's more of a, you know, well,
Interviewer
but I would assume that there you can't go to a normal hotel and just shower. Like, you can't. The, the shower head's not going to be where it needs to be.
Robin Lopez
Big deal. Unless you're on a cruise or something. Something.
Brook Lopez
I mean, you have to remember too. You have to remember too. Like we're, you know, we've been this tall for what? I think, I think we were 6, 7 our freshman year in high school. And then we had a, you know, growth spurt from 6, 7 to 7 foot between freshman and sophomore year. And I can remember coming into the same classrooms at San Joaquin Memorial and hitting my head on the doorway, you know, first day back at school. And I never did that again after that, you know, that was it. Like, I've ducked ever since then. I know, right? Like, but that taught me that was it my body, like, immediately adapted. It was kind of crazy.
Interviewer
You only have to concuss yourself one time, right?
Brook Lopez
Yeah.
Robin Lopez
Mm.
Brook Lopez
I mean, I guess not to get back to theme parks, but like, like you mentioned earlier, like, trying to fit on rides. Like, there's like. It's funny because there's kind of an art to that for us. Like, we know which ones. Like, they're always saying, cross your legs and do this and do that. But for us, like, we've. We've kind of figured out, like, how to, you know, how exactly we have to position ourselves to get on each attraction. You know, it's a little tight fitting and I think, I mean, obviously day to day life is the same way.
Robin Lopez
People ask about beds. You know, I usually curl up anyway, so I'm not all the way extended.
Interviewer
Kids. Kids are always looking to sort of fit in. I remember having a conversation with Kevin Gar, Kevin Duran, excuse me, who said, like in fifth or sixth grade, he was praying that he would be shorter. He didn't want to keep growing. What was it like to be a 6, 7 freshman in high school when you're just sort of trying to figure out testosterone and everything else?
Robin Lopez
I think in that regard, we were fortunate to have older brothers because we want. We always wanted to be like them, even when they were younger. I know. I think they picked up basketball probably like our oldest brother. Oldest brother probably picked up basketball sometime in elementary school or something. But we'd been playing basketball as long as we could remember because we would go to their games, like. Like we watched them play. We wanted to be like them. Some of our earliest memories, I remember going to the Campbell hall gym.
Brook Lopez
Yeah.
Robin Lopez
And watching Alex play basketball.
Interviewer
So it wasn't awkward. It was. No, it was your normal. Because your older brother sort of pioneered you in and so it wasn't something that was abnormal.
Brook Lopez
Yeah, yeah, totally. Like, I can remember. Oh, man, it broke my heart. I remember our niece Aleya, like, she's tall as well, you know, Alex, his eldest daughter. I remember. And she's tall. I think I just. She's tall as well.
Robin Lopez
You said that.
Brook Lopez
Yeah, but I mean, I'm just.
Robin Lopez
I'm just.
Brook Lopez
I wasn't sure because I, like, I'm just trying to say, because the story, like, she. I remember when she first got taller than her mother and she was still. She was still, you know, kind of little and, you know, she was. She was crying because I don't want to be taller than mommy. I can't be taller than my mommy. Right. Like, and I was like, I was thinking about that, like, man, like, you know, it's. That's something I never thought about before, right? Like, that's the person who takes care of you, raises you, you know, like, and, like, to be bigger than your mom, like. And so it's like, it is something that's very interesting, but, yeah, I don't think we ever really had, like, an issue with that. I don't know if it was. Cause we were just like introvert, dorky too or something like that. And maybe we weren't aware, but like, I think we were pretty, pretty comfortable for some reason. I don't know.
Interviewer
Your mother was a swimmer, correct? Like, where does the love of sports in the house come from?
Robin Lopez
Probably mom and dad. Like on her dad's side, I think there was a pitch. One of his. One of his brothers was a pitcher for the Orioles or something in the 70s. But definitely like our mom, it helped that she knew exactly what we were going through. It was both a blessing and a curse because, you know, when you have those morning practices in high school and you don't want to get up, she would be able to counter, you know. Well, we would go through those torturous swimming practices. If you ever seen a swimming practice, those things are brutal. Yeah, they're swimming, you know, back and forth, lap and lap, getting out of the pool, doing crunches, push ups and everything.
Brook Lopez
She would talk about getting up early in the morning and doing it, then coming back late at night, you know, getting back in the pool. And we, it's. It's our mom's side of the family in general.
Robin Lopez
We had no quarter. No, no, no.
Brook Lopez
We had no chance. She's more intelligent than us too. You know, she swam. Our grandma was a gymnast. Our grandpa on our mom's side of the family played basketball as well. He. Let me see if I can get this just right. He played a bit. Was it the Steel league, like in an industrial league? Yeah, some industrial league in the Midwest. And he played for Allen Bradley, which was where he worked, you know, of the Bradley Center. And he got an offer to join up with the NBA when it first started, but he didn't pay enough at the time. You know, he had his family to support, so he couldn't do it. But years later, I was, you know, when I first signed with Milwaukee, I was reminded of all this and it was very cool because I got to, you know, I went around the city with a mom and she pointed out, you know, the hospital she was born at and where her grandma used to take her walks through the park and all the, you know, different Polish neighborhoods, German neighborhoods, everything like that, which was. It was cool, you know, a kind of full circle moment to see all this, you know, obviously where I come from, history in general, but sports history as well.
Interviewer
Do you guys have much knowledge or connection to the Cuban parts of your history, the Lopez part of your history?
Robin Lopez
Not a lot, honestly, no. Our parents divorced when we were, I think Even before kindergarten. So, no, you know, I, I respect it. I enjoy being Cuban. You know, I actually went to Havana after Covid, when the NBA started, kind of doing some of those baseball style trips where you'd be in, like, Miami for three, three, four nights. On one of those days, I flew to Havana for the day, which was kind of cool.
Interviewer
How was that?
Robin Lopez
That was something I'd always wanted to do, so even to be there for, you know, I was probably there for 12 hours or something. That was really cool to see.
Interviewer
What do you guys remember in terms of the challenges in your upbringing? Like the obstacles that had to be overcome to get to the things that
Brook Lopez
you wanted to get to, you know, growing up again? Our parents divorced when we were very young, but our mom was a public school teacher and she had the four of us boys to feed, four of us big boys to feed. But, you know, I think she sacrificed so much and worked so hard. We never really felt like there was anything to want or need. You know, we felt like we had everything we had. I mean, she was, she was, you know, teaching full days at school, coaching, swimming. Later on, I can remember going to some night classes with her, you know, when we were really little. And at the same time, you know, ferrying four boys around, you know, getting, getting Alex to his practices and getting Chris to his practice. Two of them on leashes, right? Two of them on leashes, yeah. Doing literally everything. And I mean, she, she, she made it. I mean, I just listed off all of that, and she made it seem effortless, you know, I mean, she, she got it all done for us again. We, we didn't worry about anything.
Interviewer
How did she do that, Ro?
Robin Lopez
Oh, I, I think part of it, you know, I, I was gonna go to our oldest brother, Alex, who's probably 11 years older than us 12.
Brook Lopez
So, yeah, he's 76 and then we're 88.
Robin Lopez
Yeah, right. Is he not 77? It's not Star Wars 76. Okay, whatever. But having him as an older brother, you know, he was old enough where he could kind of help, help out around the house too, he and his friends. But also, as far as basketball goes, he was somebody, you know, I think had the position, had the roles been reversed, had we been the older brothers and had he been the youngest, I think he would have been in the NBA because he was somebody who, you know, he was trying to, they were trying to figure out, what do you do when you want to play professional basketball then with him, he was the first born, so, you know, it was like, how do you get. How do you go about getting an agent, things like that, you know, how do you go about joining a summer league team?
Interviewer
So he was just too soon. It was just. He didn't have any of the map laid out for him. Why couldn't he have been the pro? 11 years doesn't seem like that long a time.
Brook Lopez
I think it was just, you know, we didn't really have the connections for some reason. It just, you know, it. I don't know, it didn't work out. You know, I think absolutely some of those mistakes and misses. I wouldn't say mistakes, but misses, you know, on, you know, our family's part, just not knowing of being ignorant ended up benefiting us.
Interviewer
I'm not understanding, though, mistakes just in terms of what it takes to get all the way to the pros, what it is that you have to do, how meticulous and against the odds it is to get up there.
Brook Lopez
Yeah. I wouldn't say again, I feel like mistakes is just the wrong word. It's genuinely not knowing the process. Cause it's not like, you know, all love. It's not like, you know, he's a can't miss prospect or anything like that. Right. It's just understanding, you know, how to. To access, you know, some of these. The things that we needed or he needed to help him get to where he could have been.
Interviewer
One of the things that's happening throughout the sport is that a lot of players are getting hurt because of just how taxing it must be to defend the way the game has spread out and the way they've changed pacing and everything else. It's not a normal thing for people your size to take 16 and 18 years of punishment to the limbs of jumping and running and stuff. What are the physical manifestations that people wouldn't understand about what has happened to your body over the last 16 years and 18 years in that regard, I've
Robin Lopez
been very fortunate because I remember having a conversation with Dwyane Wade when we played for one year together in Chicago, you know, know, talking about, he always has to be really careful with his ankles, you know, taping them and everything. And I stupidly chime in, like, you know, I never hurt my ankles or anything. And he's like, yeah, you're never. You never move. Making fast, you know, quick moves out there on the floor. So I'm. I'm, you know, I'm relatively lucky. I hurt my back, like I pinched a nerve in my back maybe my second year in my career, and that it Affected the nerve going up and down my right leg. So I kind of had to, like, like, relearn how to play basketball with my athletic without athleticism, because I think I was told by the training staff it took like 6 or 7 inches off my vertical or something. Something stupid. So from that point on, I just didn't rely on athleticism. I tried to, you know, rely on intelligence savvy, things like that.
Interviewer
It's a hard way to do it.
Robin Lopez
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, especially when you're as dumb as me, but. So I was fortunate that regard. I never really put myself in any super dangerous situation because I always had a solid base.
Interviewer
So your feet, when your knees are fine, like, I would think it's the. I would think the feet would be the thing.
Robin Lopez
I got a plate and six screws in my left foot. That's also from, I think, my second year in the NBA. So I hope I came out unscathed. As far as I know.
Brook Lopez
Yeah, I had a number of foot surgeries on my right foot. I must have fractured that thing three or four times at least. And I had a screw put in there again four times on the fifth metatarsal, all the way on the right edge of my right foot on the outside. And it just. The screw kept bending because enough blood couldn't get to that exact spot to help promote the healing, you know, so it just. It kept bending, it kept fracturing until they finally, you know, like the fourth or fifth time in, went into the inside of my foot and the arch and they like, cut a piece out essentially from just, you know, a few inches up from my big toe and lowered the arch on that side of the foot. And that changed everything and fixed it. You know, I still occasionally get a little like, you know, phantom feeling, pain or something like that, but. But I know it's all good now. And then, obviously, I've had my back stuff too. You know, I. I hurt my back at Stanford. I did my back again a few years ago with the Bucks, and.
Robin Lopez
And
Brook Lopez
fortunately, both times the surgeries were super successful. And I immediately felt better, literally coming off the table, standing up. The sensation you mentioned down my leg was gone. But it's absolutely just constant maintenance for me every day, doing my core exercises when I get in the weight room, getting through my workout, getting in the pool, doing my swimming, making sure, you know, I get my stretching and, you know, even when I sleep, just trying to sleep in the right positions, getting into bed, sitting down, then laying on my side and then rolling over on my Back, you know, doing everything I can to make sure, you know, I don't mess up anything in my back or, you know, try just back pain is the worst. Oh, my goodness.
Interviewer
And it'll just cripple everything. It'll just debilitate even your happiness if
Brook Lopez
you're in back pain. Yeah, absolutely. And like, I. It's funny cause, like, I. Again, like, I'm fortunate. Like, I'm completely good in the back, but there's still times where, like, I'll feel something and, you know, immediately, like, if it's, like, bad bad, or if it's like, just. But, like, I'll get up and I'll be like, oh, man, it's a, you know, little rusty today, you know, and, like, I gotta go in and get my work and, you know, get it all loosened up and everything. Cause it's. Whew.
Interviewer
What kind of meticulous do you have to be, like, every day? You have to spend how many hours on this, the precise maintenance, care of your body to make sure that everything's humming, man.
Brook Lopez
Now, I just finished year 18, I'd say. Let's see. I mean, I can just go through my routine from the past season. Coming into the facility, I get in my red light. I do 12 minutes red light pre practice, Then I go get on the table, get my back work done, get my hips worked on, get in the cage, do some stretching in the cage, help again, loosen up the core, everything in there. Then I go through my weights workout. Then usually encore, whatever we have on court, practice shots, whatever it is. Then we're done, probably back on the table, get everything, like, kind of loosened up from the work. And then I'd say, cold tub. And then more red light, do red light again. And then that's not including, obviously, back home, you know, doing back exercises or Normatec or, you know, Venom or all that other stuff, whatever it is, hyperbolic chamber boring.
Interviewer
You get tired of it, or it's just. It's your life now.
Robin Lopez
It's.
Interviewer
It's your craft and it's what you have to do.
Brook Lopez
Exactly. It's exactly that. You know, it's. It's. It's what I have to do. And, you know, I think about the alternative of not doing this or, you know, not playing this game at a great level. And, you know, it's an easy decision,
Interviewer
but it's a lot of work for what is what amounts to 30 minutes of action every couple of days. It's a lot of.
Brook Lopez
It really is. It's hours.
Interviewer
I have been told you correct me if I have this wrong, that you went from hothead early in your career, that you had some temper issues to by the time in Chicago at the end, you're preventing a mutiny because you're the reasonable voice in the room. Do I have that?
Robin Lopez
Yes.
Interviewer
Do I have that? Okay, so take me through, take me through that timeline. What you did to become a savvy veteran after being immature at the beginning,
Robin Lopez
it just extended the fuse. You know, I think I was fortunate to be drafted by the team and organization I was drafted by. I got drafted by the Phoenix Suns. You have a lot of veteran laden teams, Steve Nash, Grant Hill, guys who have been doing it forever and doing it forever intelligently. But Steve Kerr was in the front office when he drafted me, and Steve Kerr was a big part about, you know, help me with my mental game and everything, helped me develop that. And I think, you know, it's just also the natural progression of the game. Learning what helps you out there, you know, figuring. I think part of it was probably, especially very early on, it was just, you know, frustration because you come to the NBA as a rookie and everybody, everything's moving faster, but their brains are moving faster. They're making better decisions at a faster clock, and you're kind of trying to keep up, struggling to keep up. That can be infuriating if you're not at the same clip. But like I said, I had great, great vets around me, I had great staff around me, and that's why I'm very thankful.
Interviewer
So your. But your temper was born of the frustration of it's hard to keep up?
Robin Lopez
Well, I think not necessarily that. I always had a temper and part of it was competitiveness and I think part of it, yeah. And something like that's not going right. You know, things aren't going right.
Interviewer
Right.
Robin Lopez
And so once you, you know, you figure out how to control that, to kind of harness it. You see guys now, they harness it.
Interviewer
But how did you figure that out? How did you.
Robin Lopez
A lot of talks, Just a lot of, you know, a lot of talks with guys, you know, kind of figuring out what exactly your role is on the team, like. And, you know, Phoenix, my Phoenix years were kind of tumultuous, you know, with injuries and roster, you know, coaching changes and stuff. But I wouldn't change it for anything because it prepared me for the rest of my career. You know, once I finished those four years, I felt like I had seen, you know, just about, you know, everything, you know, everything you can see in your career.
Interviewer
So what are the details of you making sure that there wasn't a mutiny. Like how did you, how were you able to talk everyone in on that one?
Robin Lopez
That was just. I think. So let me think. But I had four years in Phoenix, year in New Orleans, two years in Portland. So that's seven, right? That's seven right there, right?
Brook Lopez
I don't know. I'm not helping you.
Robin Lopez
I told you that. I told you I'm a fuzzy eight with New York. And then by the time I got to Chicago, you know, it was 10 or 11 years at that point because it was, it wasn't my first year in Chicago. So Jim Boylan had just become the head coach. How did you look at me like that?
Interviewer
That's that twin telepathy.
Robin Lopez
Yeah, right.
Interviewer
Whatever his thoughts were there, that would get him in trouble.
Brook Lopez
He say that?
Interviewer
Yes. He looked at you, but you, you know what I'm talking about, right.
Robin Lopez
I showed that restraint that Steve Kerr taught me. So Jim Boylan had become the coach. I think Fred Hoiberg had been, I think unfairly fired early on in the season because we had a young team who had a lot, had a lot of injuries. Larry Martin and wasn't playing regularly yet. Zach Lavino wasn't playing regularly yet, but that was a while ago. So anyway, so Jim Boylan had just become head coach and, and his idea to try to bend the young fellows to his will was shock and awe. So the first practice he controlled was a shoot around in Indiana. And typical shoot arounds, you know, they can go for like 30 to 45 minutes or something. That shoot around was two hours and people were doing push ups during the shoot around and everything. And I don't think it had too immediate a result because three games later or something, it wasn't too many games later. We played it back to back. And the second part of the back to back was at home. We got absolutely waxed by the Boston Celtics. We must have lost by 40 or 50. It was the big, I think it was the biggest loss in Chicago Bulls history. And you know, after that, you know, after that, you know, you kind of as NBA player, you're kind of like 50 point loss. You know, there's things to learn from that. But it's one of those nights I go home, you know, I get my food, get my, you know, stuff done at the arena. I just head home. And I don't know if you notice I have an Android which is going to be pertinent to the story because I'm at home, I'm watching I don't know, Frasier, or I'm watching the 10 who dared or I'm watching Notorious or something. And I get a call from Justin Holiday and he said, robin, the guys and I have talked and we're not going to show up for practice tomorrow. Wait, back up what happened? And I guess everybody in the NBA, they're always team chains, but I'm rarely in them because I don't have an iPhone.
Brook Lopez
The green bubble, they always complain about
Robin Lopez
the green bubble double.
Brook Lopez
You're the lone wolf.
Robin Lopez
So. Yeah, I suppose so. Makes you think. But so I get that call. I'm like, okay, hold. We can't not show up. Just not showing up is like incredibly, you know, unprofessional or so we have to at least, at the very least, like, if you guys are, if you guys want to do this.
Interviewer
Brook so professional. His body language has gone to. He's squirming around the. All of this. He does not like any of the. This a mutiny.
Robin Lopez
So I tell them, like, if we're at least going to do this, we've got to show up to the practice facility and say, this isn't a practice day. You know, it's a back to back. We've got to show up and, you know, say, we're not. We're not going to be on the court. We're going to be getting work at the facility. And I eventually talked them down to that. I think Lowy Markin was also in agreement with me on that. But the problem was like, we got there, we got there the next morning. We were in the parking lot just outside the practice facility and we had said it was going to be like, you know, at 8 o' clock was when we were supposed to show up. We were all going to come in the practice facility. Some guys had already got in the practice facility. It was just, you know, very young team, very young.
Interviewer
No solidarity even on what. Whatever the unity had today.
Robin Lopez
Some guy had already gone in the facility. And so we went into the, we went into the film room, I think, and I don't know if Jim Boyland called, you know, changed his, you know, got to line of scrimmage and changed his, you know, his read or whatever and we weren't even going to practice today.
Interviewer
So the big uprising and coach, coach wasn't coming in either way, we suppose.
Robin Lopez
Yes, that's what you said. Yes. But yeah,
Interviewer
yeah, I'm going to wait for you to see if you can find that Disney ride because I do want those metrics, but I want to Ask you guys some rapid fire questions here. Just fill in the blank on some rapid fire questions. The best teammate you've ever had is blank.
Brook Lopez
Ooh.
Robin Lopez
Giannis kg, Wesley Matthews.
Interviewer
That is two. I'm going to allow it. That's okay. The toughest teammate that you have ever had.
Robin Lopez
Toughest in what sense?
Interviewer
Toughest? Like. Yeah, no, no. Not challenging somebody who you admired his pain threshold or how, how, how physical he was. Whatever it is that you admired about getting on the floor.
Robin Lopez
That also might be Wes.
Brook Lopez
Honestly, Reggie Evans.
Robin Lopez
Good answer.
Interviewer
The best Disney IP there is.
Robin Lopez
The best Disney IP there is. Okay. That's a great question. Because I think the best IP has been their most neglected. And it's not the sense that I think.
Brook Lopez
I know you're gonna answer.
Robin Lopez
I think one of the most unfortunate, like one of the most. I mean, I mean, obviously it's a fortuitous. Mickey Mouse blew up and he became huge, right?
Brook Lopez
Yes, yes. Yeah.
Robin Lopez
But I think that's a double edged sword because he can't have any character. And there was a point, you know, like in, like in the early, late late 20s, early 30s, he was a rap scallion, he was a rascal. But if you read some of the newspaper comics from like the, from like the 30s to the 50s, he's like a globetrotting adventure. Like, he's, he's, he's, he's like, I can't believe I'm blanking on this, but he's such a, he's such a fascinating character that, you know, he's an action hero. He's battling spies and Nazis and he's battling mutinies, like, and he's, he's such a wonderful character.
Interviewer
It bothers you that he became so big that he lost what would be the richness of a multi layered character.
Robin Lopez
I think there's so much you can do with that, like Mickey and his world with Donald Duck, because that also intersects with Donald Duck in his role. And Donald Duck is still able to kind of be Donald Duck for the most part.
Brook Lopez
For the most part.
Robin Lopez
But you also have like Uncle Scrooge in that world and there's so many wonderful characters in that universe. Wonderful storytelling devices.
Interviewer
I aired so terribly because I wanted to do it rapid fire and I did Disney and I can't. Once I get you guys started. What was your answer to that?
Brook Lopez
Well, my answer was Duck and Mice characters.
Robin Lopez
The Duck and Mice characters, they're, they're not neglected, but they're not what they can be because it's just like Superman or Batman. You have, you have the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, but you also have these Batman cartoons. Like there's a Batman show where they're all caught, where it's about Batman, the Batmobile, the bat playing. They're anthropomorphic, they're talking and everything. You have a. You have an Adam west series with Dietrich Bader is voicing Batman in the vein of Adam West. Like, you can have all these different versions of Batman and there are some different versions of Mickey, but I don't think they go to the degree that they can.
Interviewer
I love how much you guys love this. I genuinely do.
Robin Lopez
That's something we really want to do. And it's not just with Disney stuff. We've all we still. You want, you know, we want to be able to tell stories. I think that's what we love about the parks, about movies, cartoons, comic books and everything. It's those stories, you know, there's. They resonate with us so much. They resonate with everybody so much. They're cathartic for us. They're cathartic for the people to write them. And that's something that we wanted. We want.
Interviewer
You want to do it with the next career. That's what the goal is. To be able to retire from basketball
Brook Lopez
and then tell stories, whether it's in
Robin Lopez
the theme park medium, television, movies, cartoons, comic books, whatever it may be. That's the dream.
Interviewer
You're going to keep playing?
Brook Lopez
I do. I still want to play a few more years. My goal was always 20, the way I feel, you know, knock on wood. Like, we'll see. Pass. I would love to play till the Sonics come back. I want to play one game, you know, in Seattle. Either there or against Seattle.
Robin Lopez
I always told myself that too. I know, but we thought Seattle was going to come back in like 2012 or something.
Brook Lopez
My biggest fear. So when we got drafted, we got drafted in 08. That was first year of the Oklahoma City Thunder. First year, no Sonics. My biggest NBA fear is that I'm going to retire and the next year the Sonics will come back in that like 20 years or whatever will be the dark and the dark ages of the NBA. The Lopez era without the Seattle SuperSonics.
Interviewer
Why. Why the obsession with playing in Seattle or against Seattle? What is the.
Brook Lopez
I actually, I neglected to mention earlier on our little timeline, there was about a year and a half, two year period when our brother, I did say he ended up going to the University of Washington to play basketball. And so he got a little homesick when he was there. So Our whole family moved up to Whidbey island, which was like an hour's, you know, an hour's ferry ride from Seattle. And it was just the most beautiful situation ever. It was gorgeous. And so at that time, you know, that was the year the Sonics went to the Finals. The Mariners had Griffey, a Rod, Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez. I mean, we can go down the whole roster or look at his hat. Like, it was, like, a lot of exciting stuff was happening. And so, you know, we still have a lot of fond memories of that.
Robin Lopez
Doesn't help that as great as the Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Thunder have had so many amazing, incredible players, but they've also had terrible uniforms. They have a terrible, like, logo and everything.
Brook Lopez
The branding. It's night and day.
Robin Lopez
Yeah.
Brook Lopez
Yeah.
Interviewer
Why a goal? I'm sorry.
Robin Lopez
Oh, no. I was just gonna think the person I was trying to compare Mickey Mouse to was Jimmy Stewart. Because you have Jimmy Stewart, like, in Winchester 73, and he's completely different. He's completely different from, you know, Jimmy Stewart and, like, Mr. Smith goes to Washington or something, or Harvey. So that's. That's.
Interviewer
If you and I had comedic timing, we would have walked out and just allowed him to keep talking just by himself here, just talking.
Brook Lopez
Unfortunately, we're no Mickey Mouse.
Interviewer
You said, though, and I'll let you go after this. You always had had the goal of playing 20 years. What kind of go. Like, that's crazy. What. That's not a normal goal. Like, to get to the league is one thing. To play for 20 years.
Brook Lopez
I. For me, I think it was just seeing so many players that I grew up idolizing play for, you know, right around 20, like Tim Duncan, Kobe, Vince, you know, KG. I'm pretty sure he was up there at 20, I think, you know, all those guys got there and I was like. Like, you know, I want to get there, too. I think that's really cool.
Robin Lopez
I thought I was going to play. I was stupid. I thought I was going to. I got. I remember I got to the. I remember I interviewed with Steve Kerr. I remember he said, how long do you want to play in the NBA? I'm going to play for seven years. I'm going to retire. I'm going to be doing, you know, movies, television, cartoons, whatever. That's what I told him. Yeah, I swear. I remember that. You didn't get cut, even though he drafted me.
Interviewer
Seven years. He wants to play 20. You wanted to get back. You wanted to get into the cartoon life after basketball. You guys have been stuck in these Athlete bodies for a while. Go play with the cartoons. Thank you guys so much for being on with us. I really did enjoy this. Did you find your metrics?
Robin Lopez
I did, yes. So I spent 24 days at parks at 16 different parks. Let's see, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disneyland, Alton Towers, Universal Studios, Hollywood Epic Universe, Disneyland, Enchanted Forest. That's a great park outside of Portland. Like a little lone family.
Interviewer
So we'll fill in the blank here. The best of the parks is blank.
Robin Lopez
I, I still think Disneyland or Disneysea. Disneysea is like the popular answer.
Brook Lopez
I'd say Disneyland, yeah, Disneyland, but Tokyo Disney Seas right there. If Disneyland didn't exist, I know people
Robin Lopez
have the argument with Disneyland versus Disney World, but Disneyland, like just beyond even having Walt's touch, it kind of, it was once again a double edged sword that it couldn't expand for, you know, what, 50, like 45 years or something.
Brook Lopez
DCA opened in 2001.
Robin Lopez
2001. So because they couldn't expand, they had to figure out how to take all that land and put like all these wonderful latent hidden surprises like around every corner and nook and cranny. And you don't quite get that. Any other park except for Tokyo Disneysea,
Interviewer
the best of the rides. You already said Splash Mountain. Is there anything better than that?
Brook Lopez
Splash Mountains it for me.
Robin Lopez
Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland, Indiana Jones Adventure, Tower of Terror at Disney World.
Interviewer
You have a problem with this list?
Brook Lopez
No, no, I love. Because I love the Indiana Jones pick specifically, but obviously pirates too, because Indiana Jones for me and I love Rise of the Resistance. The Star wars ride in Galaxy's Edge. The new, the relatively new one, like incredible experience. Three different ride systems in one. Obviously the characters in it are an issue, but, but like I absolutely knocked it out.
Robin Lopez
Easily fixable.
Brook Lopez
Yeah, yeah, totally. But to me, to me the like, the like the combination of a thrill ride in those ancestor attractions of pirates at Haunted Mansion, like the all time, two stone cold theme park attractions. Like pretty much everything derives from inside in some way. Like Indiana Jones is like that combination. It's such a perfect package. You actually believe they built that temple.
Interviewer
You have an authentic lightsaber, do you not? Do I have this right? Do you have a collectible lightsaber?
Brook Lopez
That would be.
Interviewer
Am I wrong about this?
Robin Lopez
You don't have an movie used lightsabers. We do have. What movie props do we have? We have Sark from Tron.
Brook Lopez
We have a couple astromech droids. R2 units.
Robin Lopez
Yes, those were used at the parks. Yeah. CTPO was used for what is the most prized.
Interviewer
What would be the most prized possession from among these that you have that.
Robin Lopez
So the two that I would pick, I would say either Jose from the enchanted Tiki Room, the lead tiki bird. And then the other one is the Captain EO costume Michael Jackson wore in the 3D film music video. Captain EO.
Interviewer
We didn't even talk about Michael Jackson. I mean, you guys said it was your walk in music back when you were. But then we didn't even talk about your Michael Jackson obsession.
Robin Lopez
As far as I know, there are three costumes. I know that Disney has one, Lucasfilm has one, and then we have ours. Ours is the only one with the cloak that he wears in the movie, and ours is the only one that lights up.
Brook Lopez
Do you know, Captain?
Interviewer
No.
Robin Lopez
This is the.
Brook Lopez
This. Yeah, I know, right? That's what I said when I started talking about Fort Wilderness. You deserve. You earned that.
Robin Lopez
I remember that Michael Jackson costume.
Brook Lopez
Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson. Did you say shame on you to me?
Robin Lopez
Directed by Francis Ford Popla, produced by George Lucas.
Interviewer
So sorry.
Brook Lopez
Why are you shaming me in front of the people?
Robin Lopez
Whose show is this?
Interviewer
Thank you, guys.
Brook Lopez
We're gonna talk more about Mike, about
Robin Lopez
Mickey Mouse and Jimmy Stewart.
Interviewer
Thank you, guys. I appreciate it.
Brook Lopez
No, thank you. This is a blast. You know, we had truly a great time. Truly a great time.
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Release Date: June 4, 2026
Setting: Live from the Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami
Guests: Brook Lopez (Milwaukee Bucks), Robin Lopez (NBA veteran)
Host: Dan Le Batard
In this South Beach Session, Dan Le Batard hosts NBA twins Brook and Robin Lopez for a wide-ranging, funny, and insightful discussion about brotherhood, their unique twin dynamic, NBA careers, comic books, animation, and a passionate obsession with Disney. Equal parts nostalgia and sports talk, the episode explores how formative childhood experiences have shaped the Lopez brothers’ personalities, competitiveness, and off-court passions.
Communication Style:
Sibling Roles:
Childhood Antics:
Fighting and Competition:
Playing Each Other as Pros:
Injuries and Longevity:
Maturity & Leadership:
Mother & Family Support:
Physical Size & Life Challenges:
Cultural Heritage:
Origins of the Obsession:
Property on Disney Land:
Two Disney Houses:
Theme Park Mastery & Tips:
Mascot Rivalries:
On the Best:
Michael Jackson & Theme Park Memorabilia:
NBA Career Goals:
On Twin Bond:
"For some reason, of course, we're closer than close can be, but we also don't really speak to each other that often."
— Brook Lopez ([03:18])
On Competition:
"Winning and losing against you…there was always an understanding between coaches or teammates…always got a little extra. Like it was sport within a sport."
— Brook Lopez ([13:01])
On Creative Obsession:
"You're just, you happen to be in sports, which doesn't necessarily reward that. I don't know that many coaches have any interest in your creativity."
— Dan Le Batard ([23:41])
On Disney Dream Home:
"Each room after a land in Disneyland…my Adventureland lounge, my Toontown suite…"
— Brook Lopez ([27:57])
On Mascots:
"We have the monopoly on ridiculousness."
— Robin Lopez ([16:48])
On Maturing as a Pro:
"It just extended the fuse…fortunate to be drafted by the Phoenix Suns. You have a lot of veteran-laden teams—Steve Nash, Grant Hill…"
— Robin Lopez ([58:07])
On Parental Sacrifice:
"She made it seem effortless…we never really felt like there was anything to want or need."
— Brook Lopez ([48:12])
The conversation is playful, filled with warm teasing, deep nostalgia, and a geeky reverence for storytelling and pop culture. Brook and Robin’s rapport is endlessly entertaining—balancing self-aware humor, candid insights about life as pro athletes, and passionate monologues about Disney, comics, and the creative life they still hope to pursue after basketball.
Brook and Robin Lopez are far more than just NBA twins. This spirited conversation with Dan Le Batard reveals them as creative souls—storytellers, Disney dreamers, and affectionate brothers—whose bond and quirks make for one of the NBA’s most unique sibling success stories. Their journey, from bickering on leashes to building Disney-inspired homes, is a celebration of family, fandom, and finding joy off the court as much as on it.