Transcript
Colin Cowherd (0:00)
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Find your local station for the herd@foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. All right, here we go. It is a Tuesday. We are live in Los Angeles. It is the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, thanks for making us part of your day. Nick Wright one hour from now Peter Schrager giving us Some updates on NFL stories. The Steelers, the Jets, the Giants, all sniffing around at quarterbacks. Raiders as well. J. Mack. Sad story this morning. Kyrie Irving tears his acl. He got hurt last night. Bad news. And so he's out for the year. And it's over for the Mavericks. Done. Done. Over for the Mavericks. So we thought there was a chance if AD Got healthy and lively, came back. There was a chance. When I got this news 15 minutes ago, it made me think about. So LeBron needs one more point to score 50,000 points. Obviously, he's the most productive player in NBA history, one point shy from 50,000 career points. Nobody's ever done that, right? But one of the things LeBron has, and I've never seen anything like it, is intuition. If he was a sea captain and he. He was in control of the Titanic, it would have never hit the iceberg. I've never seen a guy that can see problems before they happen. The biggest mess in the NBA is now the Dallas Mavericks due to injuries, an awful trade, protests outside the arena. Prices are down 40%. Fans just sick to their stomach. Now you add on an injury, they are. You got a head coach that doesn't trust the GM Fans who can't stand the gm. Dallas is a complete mess. The Kyrie thing just adds to it. Awful injury. Awful. And yet simultaneously, man, Luca's starting to really look good. And the Lakers are in the championship bubble. I mean, think about the timing of LeBron. It's always come in different forms and shapes. But think about this for a second. He bailed on Cleveland. He said, I've been here seven years. You can't get me another player. He leaves. He was right. He go. He wins titles, goes to four straight finals, and Cleveland becomes an even bigger mess. He was right. Then his best friend's D. Wade. He gets to four straight finals, but D. Wade is struggling to play back to backs. And like a good investor, LeBron is always a year early, better than a year late. He leaves Miami, they fall off a cliff. He goes to Cleveland and wins. Then Kyrie gets in his fields. He carries, you know, J.R. smith and some quirky guys. Hard to convince other pros to come to Cleveland. He bails. Cleveland goes into the tank again, and LeBron goes to Los Angeles. And in Los Angeles, people say, oh, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, they got Brandon Ingram, but they had really good young players. LeBron gets them out, gets AD wins another title. He's right again. And then over the last couple of years, as LeBron ages, LeBron privately, he did. And, you know, it was concerned that AD could not get him easy baskets. AD was a good teammate. They worked together, but they weren't perfect as LeBron aged. And LeBron looked around the league and thought, who can get me easier baskets? The two best outlet guys are Jokic. He's locked up in Denver, and Luca. And he gets Luca. And the Lakers are now on fire. A.D. immediately gets hurt. The entire organization's a mess. Now, I'm supposed to believe that LeBron didn't know. I find that very hard to believe. And you can call him selfish, but here's something you have to call LeBron as well. Right? He is always right. I've never seen anybody with this kind of intuition. Everybody told him, be loyal to Cleveland. He was right. How can you bail on your Buddy D. Wade? He was right. You're going back to Cleveland. Cleveland can't win. He was right. Los Angeles, it's a broken franchise. Well, at least you got good, young teammates now. He was right. AD was the star that just needed help. And then AD's played a couple of really good years, and he stayed mostly healthy. And you know what that means. It was time to sell the stock. You got your title. He was finally consistently healthy. He was older. And LeBron's like, I'm still a top five guy in the league. And I think privately, LeBron had said, He's a good fit. He's not the perfect fit. And I watched the Dallas Mavericks become a mess over the last three weeks. And, you know, some of it's just bad luck. But in my life of watching professional athletes, I'll say it again, like, it's. He's a good investor. He's like Warren Buffett. He's a year. He may be a little early, but he's never late. He always knows when it's time to move off. And it was funny when. When. When Luca came here. And again, AD was really good for him, but he was 32 years old, and every Laker fan would watch AD and be absolutely honest. Weren't you always holding your breath? Weren't you always holding your breath? Of course you were now. And LeBron does this. When he went to Miami the first time, people said, hey, it's not going to work. It's clunky. You don't have a center. It's not always pretty. For LeBron, when he first goes to a place, it's not always pretty. It's a little clunky. But he made Miami, right? Oh, Kyrie's a Boss, nobody can play with him. He brings over Kevin Love. He's a stat patter, not a winner. Took a, Took about a year to get it right. He got it right. Then he brings over. AD had to get rid of the young kids, little bumpy early, and then he got it right. So I don't know if Luke is going to win the first year, but every time LeBron hits this crossroads like, like Wade Bosch and LeBron, they were still good, and the Cavs were still good, and LeBron and AD were still good. But LeBron seeks great. And I do believe he may have been given a day or two heads up, but I think he had grumbled privately that as he aged, AD Was a good fit, but not a perfect fit, that LeBron still had to always be the initiator of the offense. And LeBron knew I'd rather be a receiver on some nights, not just the quarterback. So as I, as I watch this just sad mess in Dallas, it reminds me a little bit of the mess in Cleveland and the mess in Miami and the mess in Cleveland. And nobody avoids stepping in it like LeBron. It's not always perfect. The takeoff can be bumpy, always makes the landing. I mean, the Dallas situation now between ticket sales, the lack of trust, I mean, Mark Cuban, ask yourself this. Mark Cuban a year ago said, I'm gonna sell the franchise. You don't think LeBron James looked at that and thought, Luca may be available? I really believe this. I, I absolutely believe this. I believe every time LeBron was around Luca. Remember when Luca came into the NBA first year? Go back and look at the tapes. Kid was 20 games in. LeBron's like, that kid's great. I, I, Lebron's like a talent scout. LeBron's like, that guy's great. He just makes sure everybody around Luca knew that LeBron thought you were great. He tried to get Steph Curry a couple years ago. Steph's like, now I'm a warrior. Remember? He kept saying nice things about Steph. What Steph do? Steph can initiate the offense. LeBron can play off ball. LeBron can get easier basket. So initially he wanted Steph, and Steph wasn't available. Steph pushed back. Then he moved to Luca slowly, saying nice things, keeping in contact with Mark Cuban. Cuban leaves the Mavericks. You know, Cuban and Luca, they were tight. What does LeBron see when Cuban leaves? An opening. An opening. You lost your, you lost your owner. New people in the building may not trust him. LeBron saw it, made sure the right people knew, and he Ends up playing with them. I don't think it's a conspiracy theory. Too much of this stuff is public and well known. But how does LeBron end up once again? He tried to go Steph two years ago. I mean, good God, that was a two year rumor. He made sure he knows hang out with Steph and see Steph and talk about Steph. And Steph was great. That was what he wanted to do. And Steph's like, I'm gonna stay up here. Then he moved through the channels in Mark Cuban. Cuban sells. LeBron sees a moment. I'm gonna go get him. And it took a year of working the channels behind the scenes, but the idea this was a big surprise caught everybody off guard. I don't buy it. I don't buy it. LeBron is his intuitiveness. You call it selfish. I call it right. I've never seen a guy that. I mean, stuff just implodes. And LeBron's like, oh, what happened back there? Boy, did I get lucky. Wink, wink. I avoided another disaster. Nah, it ain't luck, man. I think he had this Luca thing planned out the minute Steph said officially. No, I think he had this Luca thing planned out the last year and a half. I really do. I'm. I absolutely do. So we. We started hot take happy hour here on. It's not even a hot take. No, no, no. This. This should be tin foil hat Tuesdays, because that is deep.