THE HERD - Hour 2 - Nick Wright stops by The Herd

Summary

Podcast Summary: THE HERD — Hour 2 — Nick Wright Stops By (May 19, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this thought-provoking episode of The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Colin is joined by Nick Wright to break down the seismic impact of Victor Wembanyama’s historic playoff performance and its implications for the NBA’s balance of power. The duo engage in a high-energy, insightful discussion that draws connections to past legends, debates MVP standards, explores roster-building strategies, and considers the consequences for contenders and rivals across the league. The conversation is animated, passionate, and marked by sharp analogies, memorable moments, and side-by-side comparisons of basketball’s transcendent talents.

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Main Discussion Points & Key Insights

Wembanyama’s Emergence as the NBA’s Next “Face”

• Wemby’s Defining Game: Both Colin and Nick argue that Victor Wembanyama’s performance against OKC marks his true arrival as the NBA’s best and most unique player—a “LeBron 2007 moment.”
  Quote, Nick Wright (07:32):
  “May 31st, 2007, 22-year-old LeBron. ...from that moment forward until he tore his groin...that guy was the best player in the world. ...It felt like a different 22-year-old in the Conference Finals had that moment last night.”

• Changing the MVP Conversation: Colin dubs Wemby the league’s “WEM-VP” going forward, questioning the traditional MVP narrative and its tendency to spread awards rather than reward true value and uniqueness.
  Quote, Colin Cowherd (03:22):
  “On this show, The Herd, no more MVPs — just WEM-VPs. He is the most valuable player in the league for the next decade.”

• Historical Uniqueness: Both highlight Wemby’s “otherworldly” skillset, placing him in a short list of all-time NBA phenoms who “just look different.”
  Quote, Colin Cowherd (03:27):
  “There are six players in my life that just look different...Doctor J, Magic, Shaq, LeBron, Steph Curry, and officially, Wemby. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Comparing Generational Talents & Historical Parallels

• The LeBron & Wemby Parallel:

  • Both Nick and Colin argue Wemby’s game and impact evoke memories of young LeBron taking over the 2007 playoffs before ever winning an MVP or NBA title.
  • Nick adds nuance: Wemby, like 2007 LeBron, may not have “deserved” the regular season MVP, but in the playoffs, he’s clearly the best player.

• Akeem Olajuwon Reference: Nick draws an evocative parallel to Akeem Olajuwon’s response to not winning the 1995 MVP, linking it to Wemby’s dominance post-award snub.
  Quote, Nick Wright (25:14):
  “The player he’s always reminded me of...Akeem Olajuwon. ...May 25th, 1995...Akeem sat across from David Stern as he handed David Robinson an MVP trophy. ...Thirty-one years later, nearly to the day, Wemby did the same thing.”

• Colin on Artistic Greatness:

  • Colin celebrates the NBA as “the most artistic” of American sports: “Every great player had his own game...Basketball: every great player is different. Some are just different and otherworldly.” (04:03)

Wemby’s Impact on NBA Team-Building & Arms Race

• The “Giannis Solution”:

  • Colin and Nick agree: Wemby’s arrival means teams like the Lakers or Thunder must consider major moves to stay competitive, with Giannis Antetokounmpo identified as the only realistic physical counter.
    Quote, Nick Wright (13:47):
    “Giannis...man, that’s one of the only guys in the league that has the requisite athleticism, strength, and length to give [Wemby] a little bit of trouble.”

• Thunder’s Dilemma — Go Big or Go Home?

  • The discussion turns hypothetical: Should OKC leverage its vast assets and depth to swing a trade for Giannis and challenge Wemby’s Spurs?
    Quote, Nick Wright (15:26):
    “Could all of a sudden one of the teams in the Giannis sweepstakes be Oklahoma City?...That is a fascinating, at least, hypothetical.”

• Colin on Asset Use:

  • Colin challenges the Thunder specifically to avoid hoarding picks and depth for their own sake:
    Quote (16:56):
    “You can’t take it with you. ...At some point, you want to go on some nice trips and...use them.”

The Evolution of NBA Contenders

• Spurs’ Young Core Ascending:

  • Nick ranks San Antonio’s supporting young big three (Wemby, Harper, Castle) above OKC’s, suggesting the Spurs are “the team to beat next year” regardless of this postseason (11:30).

• Depth vs. Star Power:

  • Both discuss whether OKC’s impressive depth matters against a singular force like Wemby; Nick speculates that only injuries or wear could bring the Thunder’s advantage into play (17:42).

• Knicks’ Surprise Opportunity:

  • Nick flags the New York Knicks as winners if the Western powerhouses exhaust each other, referencing their historical success against the Spurs this season for added intrigue (17:42–20:02).

Notable Rookie & Role Player Performances

• Dylan Harper & Stefan Castle:

  • Colin heaps praise on rookie point guard Dylan Harper: “The best rookie point guard in a big game I’ve seen since Magic.” (20:37)
  • Both hosts agree Castle’s toughness and “bully” mentality gives the Spurs rare flexibility and backcourt muscle (21:09).

• Alex Caruso’s Impact:

  • Nick lauds Caruso as “the best player on the Thunder yesterday” for his two-way impact and tells the story of how the Lakers undervalued him, referencing a now-poignant appearance on JJ Redick’s podcast (21:09).

Modern MVP Debate & Superteam Building

• Debating SGA vs. Wemby for MVP:

  • Nick: “I thought Shai deserved to win league MVP...But he’s not the best player in the world.” (09:44)
  • Both discuss how regular-season awards often fail to reflect playoff dominance.

• Trading for Giannis — What Would it Take?

  • Leigh Steinberg (segment host, 38:46–39:47): Advocates for trading OKC’s package of Holmgren, J Dub, and picks for Giannis, seeing it as a potential win for both OKC and Milwaukee.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Wemby’s Uniqueness:

  • Colin: “Wemby, last night, I’m like, okay, there are things here...literally, the Spurs lead the NBA in three-pointers from the corner...He is so unique and I think those kind of legacies last...” (23:50)

• On Asset Accumulation:

  • Colin: “What are you going to do with all those draft picks? Go get another guy from Santa Clara?...At some point, you gotta use [them] because next year’s draft stinks.” (49:17)

• On Spurs Thunder Rivalry vs. Magic-Bird:

  • Colin: “First of all, it’s...different. Magic and Bird were great because Magic was the smile, the personality...Bird was Boston, feisty, tough. ...This is just two great players.” (36:12)

• On NBA Turnover & Overreaction:

  • Leigh: “I’m old enough to remember when the Nuggets won the title...and every podcast and radio guy was saying this is the start of something.”
  • Colin: “Let’s just, let’s take a deep breath. Wemby and company, they’ve got some runway, but...I got Spurs winning the series, I said six.” (38:04, 38:29)

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Important Timestamps

• 03:13–07:32 — Colin’s opening monologue on Wemby’s impact and six all-time “unicorns.”
• 07:32–08:51 — Nick Wright’s LeBron comparison, “same take” synchronicity with Colin.
• 11:30–13:47 — Spurs’ young core vs. OKC, future team-building implications.
• 15:26–16:56 — Discussion of OKC trading for Giannis in response to Wemby’s dominance.
• 17:42–21:09 — Spurs’ role players (Harper, Castle), Caruso’s emergence, Knicks’ potential edge.
• 25:14–27:21 — Nick recounts the 1995 Akeem-robbed-of-MVP parallel with Wemby.
• 36:12–39:47 — SGA vs. Magic/Bird, Thunder’s post-series direction, the Giannis trade package.
• 47:47–49:17 — Colin’s reiteration on the “2007 LeBron moment” and organizational urgency.
• 49:17–51:16 — Repetition of “use your assets” theme, referencing various NBA teams’ urgency.

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Tone & Style

• Energetic and Playful: Colin and Nick engage in friendly banter, “stealing each other’s takes,” and one-upmanship.
• Nostalgic and Reflective: Frequent references to NBA lore (LeBron’s ’07 run, Akeem’s MVP motivations, Magic vs. Bird).
• Analytical but Accessible: Deep dives on roster construction, MVP voting history, and the practical impact of transcendent stars.
• Awe and Respect: Unified admiration for Wembanyama as both a transcendent talent and “game-changer” for the league.

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For Listeners: Key Takeaways

• Victor Wembanyama is redefining what a franchise player looks like and singlehandedly raising the bar for how teams and rivals must build for championship contention.
• The “generational moment” narrative is strong: both hosts place his impact on par with the greatest debut seasons in NBA history.
• This year’s playoffs could force a seismic trade or shift in the NBA power structure, as rival executives may now realize depth and prospects only go so far against true unicorns.
• Supporting players like Dylan Harper, Stefan Castle, and Alex Caruso are earning significant praise as part of this new NBA landscape.
• The episode is a must-listen for those interested in star power, league dynamics, and how player movement and breakout moments reshape the NBA’s future.

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Transcript

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[Colin Cowherd]

for listening to the herd podcast be sure to catch us live every weekday on fox sports radio and noon to three eastern nine am to noon pacific find your local station for the herd at foxsportsradio dot com or stream us live every day on the iheartradio app by searching fox sports radio or fsr now let's get this party started you're

[The Herd Announcer]

listening to fox sports radio

[Colin Cowherd]

here we go it's hour two what a classic last night you know what is it seven straight years with a different champion we went into the season thinking well okc they're gonna they're gonna be a two time champ san antonio wemby not so fast you know how about a new rule just for our show going forward on this show the herd no more mvp's just wem vps he is the most valuable player in the league for the next decade i know i know media love stories you'll give it to other guys lebron should have won it every year for ten years so michael jordan should have won it every year michael was the most valuable player and everybody knew it you know but you got to you know you got to placate appeal you know players league wim bp it's really interesting there is six players in my life that just look different now larry bird was great but i saw seventy five eighty percent of that with rick barry mj was great but i saw about seventy five percent of that with david thompson mj was obviously better bird was better but doctor j i'd never seen anything like that magic johnson six nine and a half point guard i'd never seen anything like that shaq's power lebron speed chasing people down and blocking shots off the backboard steph curry shooting range and officially wemby i've never seen anything like this and we said it all year they were putting him on kind of minute restrictions and i said going into the playoffs what's going to be fascinating is when they play him thirty eight minutes because they played him like twenty seven twenty eight san antonio from day one's been very smart about this he's seven feet four you know he's been banged up a couple times and so you know just i worried about wimby going to a second tier second rate operation and they're desperate and they're playing them forty minutes a night i'm very thankful he went to smartly owned smartly run san antonio popovich still giving wisdom and seeking the player so san antonio is a great place for him they know what they're doing i've said this before you know as great as mahomes is what if he went to cleveland you're not stacking trophies you know andy reid the hunts brett veach you know they've they've draft they develop you know it matters wemby landed in a great spot he's going to flourish but they're very rarely in my life in basketball of all of our sports is the most artistic that's why i'm not a fan of basketball analytics because the three point shot ant should be driving and dunking i don't want to see ant take eleven three point shots i don't want to see wemby take taking a lot of three point shots i love the artistry of the nba it's our most every great player had his own game not every great baseball player had an incredibly unique batting stance i mean golfers all look a little different but a lot of it's similar like basketball every great player is different some are just different and otherworldly i don't know who wins the series but it's just and i said this a couple years ago generally speaking when the media goes gaga when tiger woods was coming up people were saying tiger is going to be arguably the greatest golfer ever the media was right bryce harper sports illustrated sixteen years old lebron james best prospect they were saying a year before wemby came out i remember a year before the draft we said next draft is the wemby draft boy is he delivered nick wright first things first is joining us live on a tuesday so i said i remember two thousand seven it was late may lebron twenty five twenty five

[Nick Wright]

straight this is the same take i did this on the volume podcast network two hours ago hey i gotta check i gotta check your streaming history you might have stolen my take colin god dog it that's what i was about to say to you may thirty first two thousand seven twenty two year old lebron and i was like he's just the best player in the world that's right kobe fans get mad at me they're like how was kobe never the best player in the world when he won the mvp in zero eight the title in zero nine the title in twenty ten i'm like well because that happened after i saw lebron do that and from that moment forward until he tore his groin on christmas his first year with the lakers from may thirty first two thousand seven until december twenty fifth twenty eighteen that guy was the best player in the world he just was and it felt like a different twenty two year old in the conference finals had that moment last night so we have the exact same take on this i think and again lebron at that moment colin had never won an mvp had not played in the finals game i wimy hasn't won an mvp and i don't know if they're going to win this series but that was his moment last night where he told everybody i'm better at this than everyone else i just am and i give him massive credit for it go ahead didn't mean to jump you i can't believe we're in the same spot no

[Colin Cowherd]

i mean i remember lebron was twenty two lebron was on the road lebron facing a great defensive team that was a number one seed lebron had previously beaten an old veteran team it's the same thing the difference is i mean this is what i love about the nba every single star magic staff lebron bird they they're all it's an art it's an artists league which is why i don't like repetitive three point shooting let the athletes be great athletes i'm okay with you know the guard shooting threes but you know here's the other thing that jumped out to me i said this months ago wemby changes the calculus on both ends sga is great he doesn't did this validate my opinion which is it's called most valuable player lebron should have been at fifteen years in a row wemby's the most valuable

[Nick Wright]

player in this league well he certainly looked at last night listen i have to be fair i thought i think mvp has to be given out based on the season you had with the only potential you know addendums being i do think it should be harder to win your second than your first and your third than your second like it should get increasingly difficult but shay's numbers were what they were his team's record was what it was when we missed time at the end of the year thirty two a game on fifty five percent efficiency i i thought shay deserved to win league mvp but he's not the best player in the world and he might have had i think going into the playoffs colin most people myself i thought joker was the best player in the world same and then given what happened to joker in round one and given the fact that he hasn't been to forget the nba finals the conference finals in the last three years it felt like all right that door's open and and then wimby throws that elbow he misses a game shay sweeps the lakers even though he's not brilliant in the series and it felt like yesterday around eight pm eastern shai gilgeous alexander became the best player alive he was handed his second mvp trophy his team was undefeated in the playoffs they were the huge favorite to win the championship and then by about eight fifty five pm eastern it's like nah he's not even the best player on the court and i i i don't think so i don't think wimby got snubbed just like in two thousand seven lebron didn't deserve to win mvp of the league even if in the playoffs he showed you he was the most valuable player and best player in the league i also i thought so much of last night was so fascinating and i don't want to over i'm not i don't think any of the stuff we're saying about wimby as prisoner of the moment i do think if people are saying the series is over that's prisoner of the moment i think okc absolutely can still win it yep this might feel prisoner of the moment colin but one of my biggest takeaways from last night is the take wimby and shea out of it the best big three on the court last night was in san antonio yeah i like dylan harper moving forward more than i like chet and i like castle moving forward more than i like j dub and so when you have that and then also i think wimby is just going to get better it does feel like even if they don't get it done this year san antonio it's weird there's a scenario where okc wins the championship it's second straight our first repeat champion in a decade and the team to beat going into next year is not them it's the spurs i think that's really

[Colin Cowherd]

on the board so it's interesting i had something else i thought of and i remember talking to bill polian years ago and he said we knew when we had peyton manning we were going to lead in the fourth quarter in most of our games so we wanted to get edge rushers yep and i thought that's pretty smart i can remember talking to a gm it's like when you played brady you had to have a pass rush you had to get to tom early because he would lead late and they'd run the ball in belichick's defense and so the really smart teams can see years ahead i am watching him last night and if you're the lakers new owners bringing the band back is not competitive i thought to myself the answer is giannis for about three years that's it luca and austin reeves are not competing again this is not the nets this is the lakers it's about titles i thought he was so impactful last night that he is going to everybody else seemed inconsequential in the league would this not make you if you're the lakers thinking lebron if you're coming back we have to get

[Nick Wright]

bigger so i think for the lakers and for everyone in the league you are looking at it and saying okay at we are if we're in the west we're going to have to go through him to get to the finals and if we're in the east we you know a lot of the time we'll have to go through him in the finals so how do we counteract him and that to me was it's less about the lakers and more about giannis like i think giannis over the last few months his trade value seems to be dipping because it's like oh his age yep the injury history but i have watched healthy giannis matched up with wimy and i'm like man that's one of the only guys in the league that has the requisite athleticism strength and length you're right to give him a little bit of trouble to where if i feel like i have like joker obviously can do it but joker's not going anywhere so if i am right like i do wonder if the spurs become the standard instead of the thunder does giannis become more even more attractive listen and then the new go

[Colin Cowherd]

ahead i think milwaukee was the second team to win last night i there's no question watching that game i thought i believe to giannis going down and i thought oh oh no no no no no that is giannis i i think giannis is one of the only bigs that's strong enough to compete with him i thought the milwaukee strong enough

[Nick Wright]

and long enough and make him work on defensively to where he has a little less energy offensively listen the nuclear level take is this colin if what we saw last night and again i don't think it will i think this series is going to go seven same i think okc is going to get there blows in but let's just say this is just wemby runs roughshod and chet is a shell of himself and they are guarding wemby with alex caruso because he's the only guy on the team up for the challenge even though he's a foot shorter than him again this is i'll whisper this but not actually the nuclear take is could all of a sudden one of the teams in the giannis sweepstakes be oklahoma city could they be like we have all the assets they are we have all of this if we have to go through that guy yeah i know that's kind of very anti what presti would do historically but san antonio's now beaten them five out of six yep if they and again i'm not predicting this but if they go on to win this series in five and it's like we played this team ten times they beat us eight times and our super tall skinny guy seems to have offended their super tall skinny guy in a previous life and he just eats his lunch every single game they play does that make giannis more attractive i think that is a fascinating at least hypothetical

[Colin Cowherd]

well they always say for for rich people you can't take it with you you got to enjoy some of it while you're here and my take is you can't use your seventh eighth ninth tenth best paler and all these draft picks okay what are you going to do with them at some point you can't afford them use them give them give them four maybe give them a starter three benches three picks and chad holmgren i mean again having the deepest roster can't once you've won a title and then you see this enforcer down the road it's like okay we've got all this you know lack of a term money we've got all this draft capital it's time to use because i think i think the depth of okc is wonderful against everybody not named wemby

[Nick Wright]

and listen we'll see like there is you know we'll see the injuries that happen maybe the depth plays a bigger factor there there's i'm not again i don't want to they were massive favorite twenty four hours ago to win the whole thing yeah and the san antonio it's so crazy the way this is what i love about sports wimby stat lines on the screen forty one twenty three and three yeah with twenty seven seconds left in overtime he had twenty nine points and they were going to lose and then he hit a thirty footer lit him on fire and double overtime and now we're like do the thunder need to make massive changes that's how thin the margins are i want to throw something else at you since evidently you and i are of total like mind on what we were watching last night maybe we're not on this one biggest winner last night's obviously wimy and by proxy kind of the league because after the last three years were like anthony edwards john morant jayson tatum who's the face of the nba after lebron it's this guy so wemby and them are the biggest winner you said giannis slash the bucks second biggest winner third biggest winner again maybe and maybe this is a little too galaxy brain ish might be the new york knicks if we're right that this series is going to be a seven game war okc golden state twenty sixteen style where whoever wins it comes out of it a little less than whole and a little worn out meanwhile the winner of the east had been resting for a week i and keep in mind the knicks beat the spurs in the nba cup the knicks beat the spurs at msg one of the last games the spurs lost in the regular season that when we played i do wonder if there is if the knicks feel like man if we can keep on this role and dispatch of cleveland quickly and these two guys are throwing absolute haymakers for two weeks does that give us a chance to jump on whoever wins this series in game one again probably the nba finals is playing out right now in the west but i do think that there could be a little bit of damage done to each other in that series and if the knicks can get out of the east quickly it opens up a small window for

[Colin Cowherd]

him it it does feel a little seahawks rams like whoever wins this game those are the two best teams and good luck new england you know i think i think the knicks are here's the problem with the knicks if they face san antonio stefan castle takes jalen brunson and it's just a really he that kid is a bullied unbelievable oh

[Nick Wright]

my god castle had the best eleven turnover game i've ever seen in my life yesterday how about this i heard them say on the broadcast they're like that was his eleventh turnover i was like it was i didn't even realize but he was still impactful how about

[Colin Cowherd]

this dylan harper he's the best rookie point guard in a big game i've seen since magic he is unfazed seven steals one turnover twenty five this is the best defense in the league he's on the road it's his first start he's an ins to me i always thought it was wemby and castle i think i think this kid in wemby could be first team all nba and castle second team and becomes their bully he becomes their backcourt bully well and

[Nick Wright]

it also makes them have a lot of flexibility with the aaron fox down the road if they want to use some picks and a big contract to add another piece themselves i dylan harper finding out an hour before tippy starting and responding with twenty four points eleven rebounds like you said one turnover seven steals in a western conference finals at twenty years old was absolutely remarkable i thought he was spectacular i thought obviously in a losing effort but the best player on the thunder yesterday was alex caruso who was up for the challenge on both ends of the court and was sensational and colin you'll like this you could maybe have your producers pull it at some point there's a great clip floating around today of caruso from five years ago after the lakers let him walk where he's on a podcast and he's laughing about how the lakers low balled him after he won a championship with them and prioritized taylor horton tucker and that's why he ended up with chicago yeah and the host of the podcast can't believe it and is cackling about the mismanagement of rob pelinka the host of that podcast is jj redick he's it's a nice little snapshot to twenty twenty one caruso and jj laughing at pelinka's expense now of course jj and pelinka have a bit of

[Colin Cowherd]

a working relationship one more thing well i gotta ask a lebron question reports yesterday from shams blake griffin be nice to shams come on blake contenders are pursuing lebron you buy it yeah well

[Nick Wright]

yeah i mean i think that i think every single team that matters has reached out i would imagine i'm not reporting this at all i haven't talked to anybody but this is what i would imagine has happened every single team has reached out to rich paul and said hey if the reports are true that lebron if he leaves the lakers would take the mid level maybe even the minimum yeah we'd like to be in the lebron james business if we can get lebron james you know lebron james on the team for what isaiah joe makes you know what sign us up i do imagine that is true that every that i think the nuggets i think the celtics i think every single team that is trying to win the title next year that is trying to find out is it true we can get lebron you know for ten cents on the dollar if so you know consider us we we'd like to have a meeting i imagine that is

[Colin Cowherd]

true i i want to end with this i said as great as larry bird was i'd seen about eighty percent in the seventies as a kid it was rick barry i'd seen michael jordan be great but i saw about seventy percent of that called david thompson i'm showing my age but there are six players that have in my lifetime they are just different doctor j's highlights today would be as spectacular as any in thirty years magic a six nine point guard never seen it steph shooting range shaq's power and lebron at six nine and a half his speed to literally beat guards off the dribble shut down derrick rose chase down elite athletes and block the shot i've never seen anybody i mean he could be an nfl all pro tight end i don't even think we dispute that that's given and then wemby wemby last night i'm like okay there are things here literally the spurs lead the nba in three pointers from the corner people think he's a defensive player it's like folks you can't i mean he i think he's you don't have to be the league's never needed a face of the league but he's not only great he is so unique and i think those kind of legacies laugh last for i don't think there's that many players that literally are their games are unique i think he's one of six i really do well

[Nick Wright]

the thing is so here's i don't know if this is agreeing with you or disagreeing with you but there was some real poetry in last night because the player he's always reminded me of and the player that i have always felt before he tries to chase down lebron and jordan the guy the first guy he wants to check off the list is akeem olajuwon the best international player ever is akeem wemby's coming for that the best defensive player since bill russell is akeem wemby's coming for that and then once he passes akeem then you then he you know tries to move up the list to become one of if not the greatest player ever and akeem was while he didn't shoot threes because back then you know only a handful of players shot threes he was the best mid range shooting big man ever he was the best defender in the league while being able to give you thirty a night wimby has taken all of that added seven inches of height and twelve feet of range and has been a different player but the reason last night was special was because we talked about a day in may in two thousand seven well may twenty fifth nineteen ninety five akeem olajuwon sat across the court from david stern as david stern handed david robinson an mvp trophy that akeem was damn sure belonged to him and hakeem said to kenny smith and anyone that would listen i'm going to show the world who the mvp is tonight and thirty one years later nearly to the day wemby did the same thing akeem that night had forty one points sixteen rebounds four assists two steals three blocks wemby last night had forty one points twenty four rebounds three assists one steal three blocks thirty years thirty one years almost the day later two guys international unprecedented big men saw someone else win an award that they actually didn't really deserve but they thought they did and then they went and embarrassed that guy on their home court it's pretty special it is

[Colin Cowherd]

nick wright i almost stole his opening line good good thing i just got out of the way i mean it's

[Nick Wright]

unbelievable i mean it's unbelievable i do it like i literally you know by proxy made you money giving that take two hours ago on the volume and now you're now i can't even use it to open the tv show see

[Colin Cowherd]

you later pal all right nick wright yeah you know who i was thinking of last night a little bit and most people did not see this i didn't see it you know milwaukee with lu alcindor won a title in seventy one was it seventy one seventy two he was there a total of like three years in milwaukee i forget what it was but if you took last year of ucla milwaukee bucks career and maybe the first two years in los angeles like a six year span of kareem when he ran the floor better now he became more of a you know low post guy but his last year at ucla early milwaukee when he was really running the floor at a really high level oscar robertson in milwaukee and then he goes to la now again most of you remember the sky hook he's you know back to the basket but there was a time there's old footage of when he was running the floor and filling the lanes and and i don't know how long that lasts that i would guess five years you know the old timers would know that but when i watched wemby i thought is there any player ever that would give him issues and i'm like well kareem would have scored on him kareem would have done the skyhook and score kareem scored on wilt he scored on everybody it didn't matter but i felt like he got a little bit of a little glimpse of that milwaukee version of you know the scoring camp until lebron surpassed him one more herd

[The Herd Announcer]

the herd streams twenty four hours a day seven days a week within the iheartradio app search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like hey

[Ben Maller]

it's ben host of the fifth hour with ben maller would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey you're asking what in god's name is the fifth hour i'll tell you it's a spin off of the ben ma show a cult hit overnights on fsr why should you listen picture if you will a world where we chat with captains of industry in media sports and more every week explore some amazing facts about human nature and more listen to the fifth hour with ben ma on the iheartradio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast

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public huh i wonder if this can beat the market everyone's talking about the nasdaq one hundred but let's get more specific software actually too broad how about software that's already profitable companies that beat the last five quarters oh and i want founders who are marathon runners that's discipline yeah let's see what that looks

like with generated assets on public you can turn any idea into an investable index just enter a prompt and watch the ai screen thousands of stocks in seconds you can then back test your index against the s and p five five hundred make adjustments refine your criteria and when you're ready invest in what you've built go to public dot com and build your own index with generated assets plus earn a one percent uncapped match when you transfer your portfolio public investing for those who take it seriously

[Public Investing Disclosures]

ad paid for by public holdings brokerage services by public investing member finra sipc advisory services by public advisors sec registered advisor sample prompts are for illustrative purposes only not investment advice all investing involves risk of loss see complete disclosures at

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[Colin Cowherd]

partner of the voluum podcast network you know it's a little you know you have all these great players in baseball rookie betts bryce harper paul skins bobby witt junior you have all these great players and then all of a sudden otani ends up with the dodgers and you're like well that's not fair he could be he could be a cy young winner and the best hitter and for average and for power there's a little bit of that with wemby you're like okay he could have twelve blocks in a game and you'd be like he can take rudy gobert off the floor oklahoma city is like let's put alex caruso on him like you do with wemby and ohtani these international players it's a big planet and you know that those european academies are so that infrastructure is superior to ours you know au tracksuit tony wants to get the bag how about develop players thank god the nil now the last couple of drafts the nil is keeping kids around for another year of good great coaching at the college level they play in packed arenas there's pressure you know like like college basketball like college football those are nba environments and those are coaches that is hard coaching and so i think nil has is really helped the i mean college football has always been great but college basketball dipped it's been on about a four year run where it's like man you're i mean michigan had two guys that would have been in the nbv nba from their previous schools they would have been in the nba second round picks yaxel and a borg and adai mara those guys they would have been drafted late first second they come back they went in natty those guys are going to be top fifteen picks so the nil is helping college basketball which i think i mean one of the great things in america you know march and early april it's like march madison of the draft so but you you start watching wemby and it's it's got a it's got an ohtani feel you're like man this i'm not sure you know you think oh lebron's the greatest ever michael's the greatest ever you know it's just like oh johnny bench willie mays it's like can willie mays did he have a split finger that he throw ninety six i mean it's just a different ball game j mac with the news no no no turn on the news this is

[The Herd Announcer]

the herd line news let's jump right

[Leigh Steinberg]

back into spurs thunder and the awesome performance by victor wembanyama i'm not sure how much i believe this but a scout has come out and said that wemby versus sga this is the start of another magic versus bird i'll let you take this one first colin i don't know who will be magic or bird in this scenario no first of

[Colin Cowherd]

all it's one was eastern conference one was west that was also glitzy la and hardcore sports mecca boston they had totally different games you know i mean bird was scrappy and the perimeter player and the passing and magic was freewheeling and that was one of one those guys they came out at the same basically the same time we watched them play in college together that's a whole different ball i mean you had like literally the two biggest iconic sports franchises you know outside of maybe the yankees in the country at the time and they the two stars ended up in the okc san antonio has a great history but these guys are different courses different player and also magic and bird were great because magic was such a the smile and the personality and the laugh and then bird was kind of like typical boston feisty tough that was such the juxtaposition of those personalities with boston and la it was so perfect this is just two great players i mean if you told me to rank all four of those players in order right now i'd say magic and then it's like magic bird wemby sga i sga is a really good player you start talking larry bird magic come on man you're talking arguably on the all time starting five yeah we got all

[Leigh Steinberg]

these guys on the internet trying to put sga hey look at his stats compared to kobe for this three like

[Colin Cowherd]

that and to stop guys there's no

[Leigh Steinberg]

hand check now yeah i don't want to hear sga in the same sentence as larry bird and i'll just say this i know we're excited about this rivalry in the series and the potential colin i'm old enough to remember when the nuggets won the title a few years ago they went sixteen and four and every tv podcast radio guy was saying this is the start of something

[Colin Cowherd]

that's what i said that's what i said i was and then guess what

[Leigh Steinberg]

the celtics win the title with holiday and brown and tatum who's taking these guys down let's just let's take a deep breath wemby and company they've got some runway but you know listen i like to give some credit to people and i talk to him talking to martin during the break and he's like is the thunder window closed and i was like oh my i perked up i was like that's not bad i'm just telling you right now i got spurs winning the series i said six

[Colin Cowherd]

initially nick wright said it there's no you know listen sam presti's brilliant but you don't have all these future picks to just you like i'll give you an example i would keep sga i would keep one of my bigs but i could live without lou dort and

[Leigh Steinberg]

i also yeah dort's i think a

[Colin Cowherd]

free agent him and hartenstein and everybody loves j dub but j dub played at santa clara he's not he's a really he's a bully he's a little like oh gee he gets that butt in front of you he gets the angle he's a strong guy but i if you're telling me i could get giannis and i could give up homegren j dub a pick and two strong bench guys that would start for milwaukee i would do it in one second

[Leigh Steinberg]

when i mentioned giannis yesterday i was watching you and you perked up and then the game happened and i'm just telling you this giannis stuff is real if the books give me chet and j dub and three picks i'm doing

[Colin Cowherd]

that in a heartbeat the winners milwaukee because houston will go like jabari smith shane goon a draft pick reed shepherd so oklahoma city has got to go okay we'll give you because they have so many draft picks we got to give you a starting five basically they could give you a starting five holmgren j dub your top two bench players well i mean what do you do with aj mitchell i mean that's who they're going to want so i think

[Leigh Steinberg]

they want picks too because again i don't do you think j dub is even a good i mean he was a number two on the thunder last year i'll remind people they needed seven games okay to get by the nuggets and the pacers let's just stop putting them in juggernaut category sga is not in the bird class all right let's let's move on i feel like i'm bashing sga i don't really mean it let's go to the nfl and apparently you know the staff knows that you like the new york giants so we're now contractually obligated to talk about them four times a week they had a town hall last night i didn't know that was a thing and cam scatter boo was a big talking point people are geeked about cam scatter boo i will say i love his story remember he had one scholarship offer for d one at a high school sacramento state goes there and i'll never forget i read an article i think it was bruce feldman wrote it cam scatter boot they could not tackle him in practice as a freshman they were like oh my god who is this guy he goes to arizona state now he's in the nfl did have a nasty injury he says he'll be ready to go for week one colin your thoughts well

[Colin Cowherd]

i don't think he's a fifteen year nfl running back style stylistically you're going to get about six years out of this guy it's going to be awesome and i think he's an absolute weapon i think he gives your offense a physicality that you can't do remember a peyton hillis oh you know he kind of he kind of gives you that physicality that just it doesn't matter how tough you want to be you need tough players he is going i mean jackson dart he likes to run scatter boo i mean they are going to be their offensive line actually he's got some it's got some dudes so i think he's a very unique player he is so great for new york he's just a tough head down little bit of an underdog i think he's great

[Leigh Steinberg]

so it's interesting i just thought about it listening so dart kept getting hurt last year in the blue tent scoo got hurt and neighbors got hurt yeah so the big three went down we'll see i don't i just i like their guys i don't know that i love it so we in the nba we're talking about you know like what's the superpower of sga what's the giant superpower cone great coach is he i mean the ravens just cut him loose i think he has the most double digit blown leads in the last like five years that may not be it might be four years whatever it was the ravens just let him go is he great or was he great i don't know what the giant superpower is i'll let you marinate you know on your vacation next week come back fresh

[Colin Cowherd]

and you can pump up your your

[Leigh Steinberg]

giants let's wrap up with usc colin and your guy lincoln riley listen hey they got to get to a college football playoff he says it's time to go do it the program's ready for it he loves the recruiting class the depth chart and i was just looking at the schedule i know you're a big schedule guy in college football and jeff schwartz yesterday was on usc is going to be thousand percent four and oh heading into that oregon game the

[Colin Cowherd]

question yeah i mean listen they they get oregon and washington at home let's say they split that penn state's kind of in a rebuild oh wait did

[Leigh Steinberg]

that they got a million transfers matt campbell brought him that's not going to

[Colin Cowherd]

be an easy game no i think the key is can they split with ohio state net indiana can they split

[Leigh Steinberg]

there wait you had them beating penn

[Colin Cowherd]

state for i think at this point oregon beats him with dante moore and ohio state beats him even if they lose close to indiana they may get in but the bottom line in two wins for usc with that schedule they're into the playoff three it's a game

[Leigh Steinberg]

day decision yeah so so you're conceding the oregon game let me just quickly

[Colin Cowherd]

i'm not conceding it i'm just saying oregon's really good and dante moore is back and they recruited a high level

[Leigh Steinberg]

yeah by the way what what do you remember from seeing dante moore last against indiana you remember that was a no mas roberto duran i'm good i'm good guys i like dante moore i thought he was ticketed to my jets

[Colin Cowherd]

it's like not so much okay j

[The Herd Announcer]

macronuts well that's the news and thanks for stopping by the herd lie news

[Colin Cowherd]

it's the herd

[The Herd Announcer]

be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon eastern nine am pacific brought to

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you by apple card apple card users get two percent daily cash back on purchases made in store and online whether it's for big ticket items or everyday purchases when they use their apple card with apple pay now that's a benefit that's just too good to pass up you could be earning two percent daily cash back when you use your apple card with apple pay to buy turmeric for your signature curry two percent back on flights to visit the family in tucson and even two percent back on your kid's new tuba you might even be able to get two percent back on a tuba tutorial not an apple card customer you can apply in the wallet app on iphone subject to credit approval apple card issued by goldman sachs bank usa salt lake city branch terms and more at apple co benefits support

[Public Investing Advertiser]

for the show comes from public huh

i wonder if this can beat the market everyone's talking about the nasdaq one hundred but let's get more specific software actually too broad how about software that's already profitable companies that beat the last five quarters oh and i want founders who are marathon runners that's discipline yeah let's see what that looks like with

generated assets on public you can turn any idea into an investable index just enter a prompt and watch the ai screen thousands of stocks in seconds you can then back test your index against the ai s and p five hundred make adjustments refine your criteria and when you're ready invest in what you've built go to public dot com and build your own index with generated assets plus earn a one percent uncapped match when you transfer your portfolio public investing for those who take it seriously ad paid

[Public Investing Disclosures]

for by public holdings brokerage services by public investing member finra sipc advisory services by public advisors sec registered advisor sample prompts are for illustrative purposes only not investment advice all investing involves risk of loss see complete disclosures at public dot

[Electric Vehicle Advertiser]

com disclosures imagine never buying gas again ev's are as easy to charge as your phone and perfect for everyday life drive daily with confidence everywhere you go most americans drive forty miles a day most ev's are equipped with two hundred to four hundred miles of range they've got fewer parts fewer repairs and fewer headaches with hundreds of new and used ev models available today there's an ev to fit every lifestyle and every budget i love my electric vehicle it's easy no more gas stations the way forward is electric learn more at electric for

[Colin Cowherd]

all dot org innovation is what gets

[Wasabi Advertiser]

your business to the big leagues and wasabi is designed to give every business a shot at competition break free from skyrocketing storage costs unpredictable egress fees from old and top heavy legacy providers you know the big guys wasabi is the world's hottest cloud storage company and the go to provider for professional and collegiate sports teams and leagues around the world and here's why innovation from wasabi's ai enabled intelligent media storage wasabi air to the industry's only cloud storage service with triple protection against cybercriminals data deletion and ransomware wasabi has taken the lead in big league data storage remember wasabi is up to eighty percent less than the other guys and doesn't charge a cent for businesses to access their own data wasabi is another chance championship story check them out free at wasabi dot com wasabi hot cloud storage proud partner of

[Colin Cowherd]

the volume podcast network we've got more

[Leigh Steinberg]

united football league action coming up this weekend and the push for the playoffs is on first fox ufl friday features the dc defenders against the orlando storm at eight eastern then on sunday it's the dallas renegades and the louisville kings at four all on fox

[Colin Cowherd]

so i was saying earlier i felt watching last night took me back to two thousand seven we had videotape where twenty two year old lebron facing a number one seed had just beaten older veteran teams is on the road against the great defensive team and lebron in two overtimes just like last night at twenty two on the road faced the number one seed scored twenty five points in a row and they beat detroit the more experienced team in double overtime and that game is just i mean lebron did everything it was beating guys off the dribble slam dunk three point shots mid range left hand right hand you just i remember watching it thinking okay that's the i've never seen i've never seen anything like that and so wemby doing this last night and when i brought nick on he literally said oh my god that's what i saw lebron at

[Nick Wright]

that moment colin had never won an mvp had not played in a finals game wimby hasn't won an mvp and i don't know if they're going to win this series but that was his moment last night where he told everybody i'm better at this than everyone else i just am yesterday around eight pm eastern shea gilgeous alexander became the best player alive he was handed his second mvp trophy his team was undefeated in the playoffs they were the huge favorite to win the championship and then by about eight fifty five pm eastern it's like nah he's not even the best

[Colin Cowherd]

player on the court yeah it was something else you know you don't want to be prisoner of the moment i really don't know who's going to win the series i picked the spurs but i think it's a i think it's a seven gamer but i does i do believe you know sam presti's super smart you can say well don't overreact and go get giannis all right well what do you have all those draft picks for going to get another guy from santa clara i mean that when you see wemby what are you going to do those draft picks because next year's draft stinks you know like like you can wait to do things i mean i remember when tom brady went down to tampa first thing they did is got tristan wilfs they had a tackle issue he brought gronk like tom was playing leonard fernet tom's not wasting any time they went out and they had like tampa had like three little holes solve solve solve tom's like what are we waiting for let's just go do it and i and i watching that game you can sit around and go well giannis folks at some point you gotta use you can't take it with you i'm not saying you have to go out and have a bentley collection but at some point you want to go on some nice trips and you you know what i mean some nice vacays and i think sam presti's watching that and again if it goes seven maybe not but what if it's a five game series what if it's a six gamer and like minnesota you're you're like i mean minnesota's moving off julius rand randall dante divingo they're like we like ant but rudy gobert can't stop wemby so we gotta we gotta find other issues here i think houston minnesota and oklahoma city i think the milwaukee bucks hmm good night for milwaukee oh you want giannis two more players three more picks

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[Electric Vehicle Advertiser]

buying gas again ev's are as easy to charge as your phone and perfect for everyday life drive daily with confidence everywhere you go most americans drive forty miles a day most ev's are equipped with two hundred to four hundred miles of range they've got fewer parts fewer repairs and fewer headaches with hundreds of new and used ev models available today there's an ev to fit every lifestyle and every budget i love my electric vehicle it's easy no more gas stations the way forward is electric learn more at electric for all dot org wasabi

[Wasabi Advertiser]

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[Colin Cowherd]

of the volume podcast network hey guys it's us the jonas brothers i'm joe i'm kevin and i'm nick and guess what we created our own podcast called hey jonas we invented a podcast well we didn't invent it we we just contributed to it first people to do

[Public Investing Disclosures]

podcasts we get to ask other people

[Colin Cowherd]

questions because we're sick and tired of

[Leigh Steinberg]

being asked questions well sick and tired

[Colin Cowherd]

is a strong way to put it but you know tired and sick tired and sick listen to hey jonas on the iheartradio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts just listen we

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don't care where you hear it this is an iheart podcast guaranteed human