Damanze (16:25)

So again he's a real standout.

Nick Wright (16:27)

Seventeen, no doubt. Hall of Famers, two borderline hall of Famers and Haydu. So shout out to my guy, Haydu Turkoglu. I don't know why he's my guy. Who knew so many people gave two shits about Norman Powell making the All Star game? And the answer is they didn't. The idea, the amount of people that were tweeting about Norman Powell because if LeBron had bowed out a week early, Powell would have gotten the spot. The Venn diagram of people who, two weeks ago, Damanze were like, these Pro bowl alternates. It's such a joke. Drake may gets to call himself a Pro Bowler when he didn't actually make the team. And then tweeting this week, why aren't people thinking about Norman Powell? The fans in San Francisco definitely wanted to see him play. It's disingenuous nonsense. And the idea that there was any way for LeBron to thread this needle and not end up being criticized is just disingenuous and not true. So if he would have a week ago said, I'm not playing, the media cycle would have been, this is why nobody takes the All Star Game seriously. This. This is, you know, people are excited, and the face of the league doesn't do it. LeBron gave it to the last possible minute to figure out, can I play? And it's not so much can I as much as it is, should I? Like, if it were a playoff game, would LeBron have played? Of course. Does that mean that when he clearly believes this Lakers team has a real chance to do something, and this Lakers team, because of the California Wildfires, has the shortest break of any team. Well, them and the Hornets, because they play Wednesday and the rest of the league plays Thursday, that he was like, you know what? Not going to push it on this ankle. That makes total sense to me. And the number of people who fail to acknowledge the following truths. Okay, first of all, is this. Has anyone given more time, effort, sweat, energy to All Star Games in the history of basketball than LeBron James? The answer is, of course, no. He's played in 20 of them. Kareem played in 18. The next closest are Kobe and Duncan at 15. Has LeBron consistently shown up to this event More than any player in the history of the league? Yes, by a massive margin. This broke his streak. And the other reason that people are just so out of their damn minds about this is one criticism of LeBron that I don't even look at it as a criticism, but is true, is the guy cares about streaks and records and accolades. He does. And he would have liked to keep this thing going. 21 straight all star appearances. Because the record prior to LeBron playing in 20 in a row, again, 20 in a row, was held by John Havlicek and Bob Cousy, who both played in 13 in a row. That was the record. So LeBron set the record for Consecutive All Star Game appearances back. Let me do them. Before he was a Laker when he was with the Cavs. Midway through his second sit with the Cavs and has just been spreading it out. Of all the active players other than LeBron, Durant is the only one who has played in 10 of these in a row. He did that pre Achilles. The new active streak for consecutive All Star games played is Joker at seven. So this is the guy that we're going to say owed it to everyone to play. To play. The guy who's played in 20 straight of these. The oldest player in the league. A guy who has literally played more professional basketball than any human being ever to live. We're like, give us more. And if you don't, you're selfish. It's just so ludicrous. And then there's this piece of it and I'll get to the picture stuff later. There is so Nick Friedle, who I really like, I really like him. He was with espn. I, I think, I don't want to speak for him, but the way I understand it, I think he was absolutely, foolishly a part of their layoffs months back. He is a great NBA reporter, opinionist, Chicago guy. Love Nick. Nick quote tweeted it and said, there is just absolutely no way MJ would do this. He always understood what his presence to the game meant, guys. Michael Jordan at this point in his career had quit the game three times. It meant his presence to the game meant so much that he quit the game. He went and played minor league baseball, then he came back, then he quit again, then he came back, then he quit again. Do you know the most consecutive years that Michael Jordan played in an All Star game? Seven. Seven years. The longest streak of consecutive All Star appearances Michael Jordan had was seven. There's no way MJ would do so. This is where the criticism, people just lose their minds. So if LeBron had just retired four years ago, no problem, no problem. You win your championship with the Lakers, you've played at that point 18 years. You know what, you've given a lot to the league. But because he keeps playing, because he's good enough to be a deserving top tier all Star, he then to these, and I'm gonna talk about Nick here, talking about the folks at large, folks that have just become entitled that no, you owe us this. He, he's not allowed to be cautious with an angle ankle injury. Nick, where'd this injury come from? From Solomon Hill three and a half years ago. The only real injury he's ever suffered his entire career, that ankle and foot have been messed up since then. He's. And if you're. If you watch the Lakers, LeBron all the time pops up on a morning of injury report because the ankle tightened up on it. And do I imagine that in the days leading up to the All Star Game, he actually took some time, maybe didn't do his regular everyday cryogenic chamber treatment that he would do if they had actual games coming up. So it was more likely to tighten up. Of course. Of course. The. This being such a universally criticized thing that even Shannon and Kendrick and guys who are normally, you know, on LeBron's side on sufferers like, ah, this was. This is a bridge too far for me.

Damanze (24:41)

What are we talking about? Yeah, I've seen fans go as far to say it's like LeBron's ruined the game. Well.

Nick Wright (24:48)

Oh yeah. Well, that's the other piece of it. The other piece of it is the. The. The fall of the All Star Game is at. Laid at the feet of LeBron James. I mean, it's just again, the all star game in 2020 was awesome. The all star game in 2022 was awesome. And this is just. It is just an entitlement from fans and media that a guy. Can you imagine any of these conversations existing around Tom Brady? Honestly, could you that if Tom Brady, his second to last year with Tampa was like guys. Which he did do, by the way. I know I was named a Pro Bowler. I'm not gonna play. And it's not because I'm hurt. It's just because. Not interested. It's exactly what happened. Was there a. Could you imagine how stupid folks would look if they went on TV and they're like, Tom Brady. This is why it's a flag football game. Now see this guy? Look at the direct line of the Pro Bowl's popularity with when Tom entered the league and where it is now. Blood's on his hands. And then we get to the photo stuff. Guys, there's like, this is all documented injured players still are in the photo. Oh, they don't have to be at the middle. You guys go look at the picture of Yao when he was hurt. And obviously the middle of that picture has to be LeBron. Steph, KD just has to be. Those are the guys you and people acting like. Oh, they'd have criticism if he was off to the side. What'd you say?

Damanze (26:43)

Could have put the jersey on you.

Nick Wright (26:45)

Damante. First of all, first of all, the injured players when Kobe was injured, he didn't suit up when other guys were injured. They don't suit up, but everyone is lying if they are acting like if LeBron had suited up for the picture, there wouldn't be this exact criticism. It would just be the exact opposite.

Damanze (27:09)

Why was he suited up and not.

Nick Wright (27:11)

Why was he suited up? Why? Oh, he wants people to think he played. This guy's ankle so hurt you don't he. Again, none of this is logical. It's just, it's LeBron. I'm going to attack it. If he'd have suited up, he'd have gotten roasted for it. Giannis suited up and again, Anthony Edwards, who in the meantime, he didn't play either. He gave less notice than LeBron. We found out during the game. Anybody crying for Norman Powell with Anthony Edwards? No. Anthony Edwards allowed to be injured. Why, why is he. Because he's 23, at the peak of his powers, Young, athletic. No, it's so dumb. This whole thing is so stupid and it is. I, I don't understand how people call this selfish. I, I, I, I don't get that.

Damanze (28:13)

I know the dude doesn't really have to be playing right now. It is, it is crazy for him to get criticized on anything that he doesn't do because any extra time at this point, he's in year 22.

Nick Wright (28:26)

He has now played more minutes in years 21 and 22 than every other player in the history of the league who made it to year 21 and 22 combined. So let me, let me say that again. As of two years ago, if you said give me all of the minutes, all of the points, all of the assists from every player ever in year 21 and 22 and put it in a bucket. That bucket is now doubled just from what LeBron's done the last two years. And for, it's just folks say, oh, he's the face of load management. The guy has, is going to play more games in more minutes than any player in the history of the league. And he's the face of not playing. I mean, give me a fucking break. This stuff's people are out of their mind. And I again, I mean Kendrick saying, put your damn uniform on. He messed up the whole picture again. Where was this for Kobe or for Yao or for Shaq?

Damanze (29:40)

His greatness at the end of the day, though, is really what it is, I feel.

Nick Wright (29:44)

What do you mean?

Damanze (29:45)

People want to see him play. People are outraged. It's like, I don't think it's, I think people just want to see Braun.

Nick Wright (29:51)

Oh, I, I agree with that piece of it. But the. The criticism about the picture and about again, I. LeBron cares about these records and also he likes the accolades of winning and he knew I have the best team by a mile. Like they won it without it.

Damanze (30:15)

Right.

Nick Wright (30:15)

So. And it's two games to 40. He could have like he, he going into Saturday night, I truly believe did not know if he was going to play or not. Then woke up Sunday mornings like, I'm not doing it. And so I just find so much of this to be just insane. Now let's talk about the Luca piece of it Demons. I think he's legit sad and I think he is really unsettled by this. He looks so unsure of himself. Go ahead. Yeah.

Damanze (31:00)

Oh, just like the trade in general. Yeah. Okay.

Nick Wright (31:02)

Yes. I think that he is still in a state of shock that this happened. And I don't think it's about wanting or not wanting to be a Laker. I think it's more about this team than that. He looked at himself as the leader of obviously the best player this franchise that I think he truly believed he might be able to do what Dirk did and play with one team forever. That they traded him in under the dark of night and then have done everything they can to just tell the world, we don't believe in you. We thought you were a bad leader, a mediocre teammate, out of shape, all of it. He seems less confident on the court than at any moment of his career. And Luka is at his best when he's like a snarling, angry monster. But he also has to have that kind of swagger and confidence and I just haven't seen it. And I don't know what, how long this is going to. This is going to take, but he looks, he looks relieved when he makes a shot. He looks unsure of what he wants to do with the ball. And it's not. Again, I'm not sure how many people stayed up late to watch the entirety of Lakers Hornets. I oddly did late in the game. He like there was. I forget. I think maybe Bron shot it. I'm not sure. There's a missed shot and Luka is down fighting on the offensive glass. Gets a rebound and gets a put back is to tie the game. It's a huge play. Um, and you saw a shot of him after that and it was. It wasn't even like it didn't. Again, I'm not a body language expert, but just from watching this guy every step of his career, it wasn't excitement as much as it was relief. Like, I finally made a play, and I don't know how long this is going to last. My hope would be the Mavs game next week. Snaps him out of it. That there is that. Seeing like that. That is. I'm. Because the Lakers host the Mavs on Tuesday, so they have the Blazers tonight.

Damanze (33:49)

A couple games in between that.

Nick Wright (33:51)

Nuggets Saturday. Yeah, correct. Right. And. And I would imagine LeBron's not playing tonight, so maybe tonight, like with Luca just running the full show. But. So I'm not. I'm not as worried about what these losses mean for the Lakers in the standings because I know we talked about, could they climb. Could they catch Denver, climb to the three and, you know, put Denver and OKC on the same side of the bracket. Losing to Utah and Charlotte probably made that. I don't say unrealistic. Cause they could beat Denver on Saturday and then just be a game back. But I now look at it more like just stay in the 4, 5, don't fall to the 6 where you might have to play Denver in round one. That sounds awful. Stay in the 4 or 5, and then you theoretically get Houston or the Clippers in round one, and then take your chances with okc. And again, OKC is a great team. Great team. But I. For a team that young, I think they're, you know, playing Luca, who beat him last year in the playoffs. And LeBron could be tough, and then, you know, see what happens with Denver. But Luca is out of sorts. Like, really truly out of sorts. And he seems like he is not yet fully dealt with or is consistently still dealing with the trade. There's also evidently some breaking news to Monza. You want to share it with the audience? Yeah.

Damanze (35:33)

Bobby Portis has been suspended 25 games for performance enhancing drugs.

Nick Wright (35:39)

Yeah.

Damanze (35:40)

The last four games of the season.

Nick Wright (35:43)

So, yeah, I mean, there's only 29 games left in the Bucks. Need him. Let me. I just saw someone tweeted that his agent. So what? His agent is saying that Bobby unintentionally took a pain medication called Tramadol thinking he was taking a pain medication called Toradol. Toradol is approved. Tramadol is not approved, which is recently out of the band substance list. Tramadol. I feel like I've taken Tramadol.

Damanze (36:14)

Yeah, I've heard of Tramadol before.

Nick Wright (36:17)

Yeah, I think Tramadol. So it's a painkiller. Maybe I was wrong. I thought tramadol was like an anxiety thing, so maybe I haven't taken it. Toradol. We all know Torah at all. A lot of football players take Tramadol. Oh yeah, Tramadol's a super strong painkiller. It's an opioid. So I listen. Everybody always takes steroids by accident. We all know this. Like, nobody's ever actually intentionally violated the performance answering drug policy. I don't know. You know, the. So people can decide whether or not they want to believe Bobby Portis's agent. That's fine. What does matter. Is this bad for the Bucks is bad for a Bucks team that is trying to climb the Eastern Conference standings. Now? They. I think it's more important for them to, to just stay where they're at in the 45 line rather than move. They're not going to move up there. There's six games behind the Knicks, so they're not going to catch the Knicks for the three. But what they don't want to do is fall to the six and then end up having to play the Knicks in round one. Like there's clearly three teams in the east in Boston, Cleveland and New York that seem that are considerably better than everyone else. With Milwaukee lurking because of Giannis, Milwaukee doesn't want to have to face one of those three in round one. And you traded Middleton. You. I know you have Kuzma now. Kuzma, though. Shout out Kyle Kuzma. Good for him, buddy.

Damanze (37:50)

Congrats.

Nick Wright (37:51)

Engaged. Winnie Harlow. Unbelievable. I know they've been together for a long time, but the. Listen, I. Kyle, Kyle was once upon a time a real pro for that Lakers team. He was a real pro as the year they won the championship. Did the dirty work, rebounded, defended, did all that stuff, then went to the Wizards and just played nonsense basketball for three years. But maybe now that he's with the Bucks, he'll be a real pro again. But Milwaukee needs to stay where they are in the. In the bracket. They can't drop down to the six self appointed all star czar Draymond Green, who had, I mean, just a treasure 12 of quotes this weekend. Go ahead.

Damanze (38:39)

So do we. Do you want me to just go through all of them and.

Nick Wright (38:41)

Or I want you to go through all of them and then I'll. And then I'll respond to each of them.

Damanze (38:46)

So. So Drayvon, you know, was talking to him getting a head coaching gig. He said, I've already been offered the Golden State warriors head coaching G job when I'm done. He also said they were going to win a title. He said, quote I said, I think we're going to win a championship. But I lied. We are going to win the championship. That's what's going to happen. And he called out the Rising Stars game, and he said that there's some team that no one wants to see. And his thoughts on the new format, 1 through 10 was a zero. It sucks. This ain't basketball.

Nick Wright (39:17)

Okay, so Draymond Green being the head coach in waiting for the Golden State warriors is news, and it would be treated as news if I think people took that seriously. The warriors winning the championship once again. Draymond is writing checks that Steph is going to have to cash. I don't. I. I like Jimmy and. But Draymond is nowhere close to the player he was at the peak of their dynasty. And Steph is not quite the same player he. Now. He came on strong at the end of the. Before the break, but I would be. They are far, far more likely to lose in round one than they are to reach the finals. And now let's get to the other stuff. He's right about the Rising Stars shouldn't be playing Sunday night. I actually think that is correct, and that is a tweak they should make. I get why they did it. To make it to where there was a real pressure on the Stars, like, we can't let these kids beat us, but it should be a privilege. But as often happens with Draymond, he. While being correct, his delivery of the information is so poorly done that it's lost. And being on the pregame show for an event, I felt so terribly for my dear friend Adam Lefkoe, who is the one who asked him the 1 to 10 question. And then Draymond says, A zero. This sucks. That. Buddy, your. Your job in that moment is to create excitement for the event. Like, that's people like, oh, I applaud the honesty. I do not. If you do not take that gig, if that's how you feel, I mean this sincerely. Like, let's say I thought pickleball was the dumbest sport ever. And then someone comes to me. They're like, hey, crazy thing, man, they're asking you to be a part of the pickleball world championship broadcast. It would be my job to be like, you know what? Probably not the place for me not to be. Like, yep, I'll take it. So I can tell all these people who are tuning in to watch it how much this sucks. It's just. That's just rude. And it's.

Damanze (42:20)

They probably, like, they. They reached out to Draymond, like, hey, do you want to do this? How would it like, if Draymond has those thoughts in his mind, he knows that's how he's going to talk. You're saying he should just not do.

Nick Wright (42:28)

It because you'd be like, no, I. I don't. I think that if. When. Listen, he works for tnt. He does stuff for him, right? I think that when they're like, hey, just like the vast majority of years in your career, you did not make the All Star team. So you're available this weekend. Would you like to do this? I think that if you'd have been like, well, I. I think that if he had been like, sure, but just so you know, I'm gonna tell the audience how much the game sucks. They might be like, ooh, all right, maybe we'll find something else. And this is the other piece of it that I find really galling. Why is he the.

Damanze (43:21)

The spokesperson on the All Star Game?

Nick Wright (43:24)

Yeah, like, I. Why So of NBA history, Draymond green, there are 147 people who have played in more All Star games than Draymond Green. 147. Like, was Chris Weber on that panel? I can't remember. I don't think he was. May. I'm not sure because Chris Weber's one of them. Karl Anthony Towns, who was in the game, is one of them. Kevin Love, who seems available is one of them. Like the. Vince was on the stage. Vince has played in double the All Star Games as Draymond Green. Like, who. He is not the, The. The arbiter or the czar of All Star history. He's. He just isn't. And the idea that he. I just found it really. I'm going to use a nerdy word. Uncouth. It would. You would not have before. I mean, Stephen Durant are there and playing in it. They are taking it seriously. And for you to be like, this sucks. It's not basketball. I. Would he be feeling that way if he had been selected? Maybe. I don't know.

Damanze (45:05)

It's like. I just know that O'Neill Brown taking his. His jersey off and running off the field. It's just a little. I feel like.

Nick Wright (45:13)

Well, no, no, it's. It's not that. But it would be. I'm trying to think of a good comp for. Would be as if. Who is a. Like a really good but not all time great NFL player. If Brandon Graham before this year's Pro bowl was like holding court about the way football must be played in a game that had all time legends playing in it. Like, buddy, you have less experience with the all star game than DeMar DeRozan. Like, I'm not the. You. You. You need to make one more for your career total of All Star appearances to be the same as Al Horford or like. Like what? I'm just saying. Those are five time All Stars. Like, I. I mean, I'm just. I'm not taking my All Star history lesson from a guy who has the same number of appearances as Otis Birdsong. I'm just not. And so you can go somewhere with that. And if you want to do it, that's what the pod is for. That's what the pod is for. Not for the game broadcast.