Nick Wright: Lakers SOLD With $10B Valuation! Caitlin Clark Is BETTER Than Advertised, OKC’s Relentless Defense, What’s Missing From NBA Broadcasts

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Herd with Colin Cowherd Episode: Colin Cowherd Podcast - Nick Wright: Lakers SOLD With $10B Valuation! Caitlin Clark Is BETTER Than Advertised, OKC’s Relentless Defense, What’s Missing From NBA Broadcasts
Release Date: June 19, 2025

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1. Lakers Sold for $10 Billion

Colin Cowherd opens the discussion by announcing the sale of the Los Angeles Lakers for a staggering $10 billion valuation. He emphasizes that this figure aligns with his longstanding belief that major sports franchises are significantly undervalued.

[04:54] Colin Cowherd: "Historically sports franchises have been undervalued. I wonder if we are now getting to where $10 billion seems a lot."

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2. Comparison to Other Franchises

Nick Wright compares the Lakers' valuation to other iconic teams, highlighting the Boston Celtics at $6 billion and the Dallas Cowboys at $7 billion. He underscores the economic disparity between city economies and franchise values.

[06:47] Nick Wright: "The Celtics sold for $6 billion. The GDP of Boston is a trillion, making the Los Angeles economy the 20th biggest in the world."

Colin Cowherd further discusses the Lakers' brand strength in contrast to their spending, mentioning that despite high expenditures, the Lakers haven't maximized their market potential.

[07:11] Colin Cowherd: "If the arena's worth $2 billion, it's not just $6 versus $10. The Lakers are the biggest brand ambassador."

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3. Impact on NBA and Sports Franchise Valuation

The conversation shifts to the broader implications of such high valuations on the NBA and other sports leagues. Cowherd draws parallels to historical company valuations, suggesting that franchises like the Lakers may be positioning themselves for long-term economic benefits.

[10:17] Colin Cowherd: "The NBA franchise values are skyrocketing. Ten years ago, a team in a top market was $2 billion. Now, it's exponentially higher."

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4. Oklahoma City’s Defensive Prowess in NBA Finals

Nick Wright praises the Oklahoma City Thunder's aggressive defense during the NBA Finals, noting their ability to stifle opponents' scoring through relentless perimeter pressure and turnovers.

[36:25] Nick Wright: "The Thunder's defense is so intense that teams without multiple ball handlers are at a severe disadvantage."

Colin Cowherd compares their defensive strategy to historic teams like the 1990s Chicago Bulls, highlighting its uniqueness in modern basketball.

[38:37] Colin Cowherd: "Their defense reminds me of the '90s Bulls, able to swarm and trap opponents effectively."

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5. Caitlin Clark’s Performance in the WNBA

A significant portion of the discussion centers on Caitlin Clark, a standout player in the WNBA. Both hosts acknowledge her exceptional skills, comparing her impact to legendary athletes like Michael Jordan and LeBron James. They also touch upon the challenges and controversies surrounding her rise in the league.

[92:02] Nick Wright: "Caitlin Clark is like the best case scenario for the WNBA. Her swagger and performance are unparalleled."

Cowherd appreciates Clark's aggressive playstyle, noting that it enhances the competitiveness and viewership of the WNBA.

[34:16] Colin Cowherd: "She is already one of the four best players in the league and is significantly impacting winning."

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6. Critique of NBA Broadcasts

The hosts express dissatisfaction with the current state of NBA broadcasting, particularly criticizing ESPN's handling of NBA coverage. They lament the lack of engaging pregame and halftime shows, comparing them unfavorably to more dynamic broadcasts like Mike and Tony or Steve Snapper Jones and Bill Walton.

[54:24] Colin Cowherd: "ESPN has struggled with NBA pregame and halftime shows, lacking the chemistry that makes other broadcasts great."

Nick Wright echoes these sentiments, advocating for more in-depth player profiles and engaging storytelling to captivate audiences.

[57:45] Nick Wright: "I want to see Amazon and NBC bring a fresh approach, with deeper player stories and better production."

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7. Future of Sports Broadcasting and Franchise Valuations

Both hosts speculate on the future trajectory of sports broadcasting and franchise valuations. Cowherd hints at the potential for franchises like the San Francisco 49ers to join the $10 billion club, especially with strategic ownership and premium stadium assets.

[15:27] Colin Cowherd: "The 49ers, with SoFi Stadium and Sean McVay, are undoubtedly worth over $10 billion."

Nick Wright discusses the strategic moves by ownership groups, such as Mark Walters with the Dodgers, and how aggressive financial strategies are reshaping franchise values.

[19:44] Nick Wright: "Ballmer paid $2 billion for the Clippers, a true steal in the LA market, setting them up for future valuations to soar."

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8. Conclusion

The episode concludes with both hosts reflecting on the evolving landscape of sports valuations, the impact of star athletes like Caitlin Clark, and the need for more engaging sports broadcasting to match the growing economic stakes.

[90:44] Colin Cowherd: "Having lived in various cities, I see how cultural and economic factors influence sports and broadcasting. It's an exciting time for the industry."

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Notable Quotes:

• Colin Cowherd on Lakers’ Financial Strategy:
  “Los Angeles Lakers is not maximizing the market and the brand.” [07:33]

• Nick Wright on Caitlin Clark’s Impact:
  “Caitlin Clark is like the best case scenario for the WNBA, raising the league’s profile.” [92:02]

• Cowherd on ESPN’s Broadcast Challenges:
  “ESPN has struggled with NBA pregame and halftime shows, lacking the chemistry that makes other broadcasts great.” [54:24]

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This episode provides a deep dive into the financial dynamics of major sports franchises, the rise of standout athletes in emerging leagues, and a critical examination of current sports broadcasting standards. Colin Cowherd and Nick Wright offer insightful perspectives that underscore the evolving nature of sports economics and media.

Transcript

[Colin Cowherd]

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[Nick Wright]

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[Unknown Voice]

Oikos presents 15 Seconds of Strength.

[Jim]

Here we go. Steve's got a trunk full of groceries and no one to help him.

[Unknown Voice]

Oh, that's tough, Jim. Looks like a five trip load.

[Nick Wright]

At least.

[Jim]

He grabs the first bag the second Bob. It looks like he's trying to do.

[Colin Cowherd]

It all in one trip.

[Jim]

He shimmies the door open, steps over the dog. Oh, and he stumbles.

[Unknown Voice]

Oh, right into the kitchen without missing a beat.

[Colin Cowherd]

Jim.

[Unknown Voice]

Now that's a man who eats his protein packed Oikos with 15 grams of complete protein in each cup. Oikos Triple Zero can help build strength for every day. Oikos stronger makes everything better.

[Nick Wright]

The volume. The NBA playoffs are heating up. But if you want to catch the action in person, and I know you do, and I do go to game time make getting tickets faster and easier even for hard to get playoff tickets. Prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets the tip off. So last minute deals killer. All in prices, views from your seat, lowest prices guaranteed. Game time is great. It takes the guesswork out of buying professional basketball playoff tickets and you don't want to go there guessing they have zone deals. You can save even more when you choose a section. Let game time choose the seats and with game time ticket coverage, your price is covered with the most flexible customer service policy in the entire ticketing industry. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account. The code is Colin for 20 bucks off your first purchase terms apply. Again create the account. The redeem code C O L I N 20 bucks off. Download the Gametime app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. All right, we get Nick Wright for an hour and it's a, it's a news breaking day. The Lakers just sold for a $10 billion evalu, which I've believed for a long time. Nick, all these sports franchises are undervalued whenever they say the cowboys are worth $7 billion. My take is if somebody in Saudi Arabia had a good month with oil, they buy them for 13 billion because you don't know if Google is going to be around in 20 years or Microsoft. You know the Dallas Cowboys are going to be around in 20 years. In fact, I remember reading a story years and years ago they went back to like 1980 and they took 30 leading companies on the Dow Jones and 25 years later only one was still like a really, it was like Chevron or something. And so my point is the Mark Walters group is the Dodger owner. It's a really good group and it does make me think, okay, the mom and pop Lakers are over because that's been the big knock in LA is that I mean people forget little old family Gilbert could buy the bus family four times. They've been one of the poorest NBA ownership groups.

[Colin Cowherd]

Correct. And one of the poorest from a net worth perspective. And I would argue that they haven't. They have been one of the more poorly run organizations in the league and I know that's weird because they have the second most championships and they just got Luka and LeBron went there but I think that they have squandered a lot of opportunities. I think that since Dr. Buss passed, they have. There are very few things you can say the Lakers do top notch in the league. And while they have been, you know, willing to spend, I think they've, you know, last decade they've spent like the seventh most money. They should be they the seventh most for Los Angeles Lakers is not maximizing the market and the brand. I understand it's not baseball. So there is a cap like and in the new NBA with the aprons just spending recklessly can really hamstring you. But this is a massive net positive for the Los Angeles Lakers, for their fans. In my opinion, you should not have. They're in a weird spot where, similar to the Cowboys where ownership's primary source of income is the team. And that's one of the reasons I think the Cowboys don't necessarily spend the way they should. And that's how I felt about the Lakers. So, so listen, I don't know much about Mark Walters. I know that he bought 26% of the team from I think an shoots or whomever with the guarantee. Part of that was if the buses sell, I get the first opportunity and now he's in. Now I, I agree with you. Historically sports franchises have been undervalued. I wonder if we are now getting to where 10 billion, $10 billion. Kind of like that's a lot.

[Nick Wright]

Think about money. So the Celtics sold for 6 billion. The GDP of Boston. The gross domestic product is 600 million annually. It's a trillion. In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles economy would be the 20th biggest economy in the world. Meaning it would be bigger than about 185 countries. So. And so.

[Colin Cowherd]

And they own the, the Lakers own their arena. So that's an important. So like you just if the arena's worth 2 billion given where it is in the real estate and whatever. So now it's not 6 versus 10, it's 6 versus 8. And you take the fact that LA is a bigger market and you know, as much as this will pain our buddy Bill Simmons, the Lakers are the biggest brand ambassador.

[Nick Wright]

Listen, like Celtics were in the finals two years ago. It didn't get a good rating. It didn't get a number. I mean when the Lakers are in the final, regardless of who the star is, it generally gets a much bigger rating.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, yes, it's also true. The Lakers have never been in the finals without one of the biggest stars in the league. Well that's like oh, that Lakers time they made the Finals with that scrappy, underachieving team. No, it's LeBron or Kobe or Shaq or Magic or Kareem or Will. But still your point stands. Yeah, no, they are the. The. This is a fun one because you did your mount. What was it? Mount.

[Nick Wright]

Mount. Just more.

[Colin Cowherd]

Just more because they're just more than everyone else. If we were to do. God, this is. This is corny. And make funnable content. It also I'm sure will crush on Tik Tok or something. If we were to do the Mount Rushmore franchises in American sports four to me, there are three no brainers and then people would argue about the four fourth. But the three no brainers are the New York Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys and the Los Angeles Lakers. Those to me. Do you think I'm missing anything there? I think those are the three brands that are truly every corner of the world there. You know, somebody's walking around wearing a T shirt even if they've never heard of the team.

[Nick Wright]

I think I will say this. I think the LA Dodgers, because of the Walters group, perfect spring, summer, fall weather. Ohtani now is, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Dodger games are now an event. There are fans from the Pacific Rim every home game. Road attendance for the Dodgers is number one in the league. They played the Yankees, I think it was last year. It felt like 25% of the crowd was Dodger fans. They travel incredibly well. I think the Dodgers, over the last eight since they've been purchased from the Mark Walters group, I think they have become. And I'm. And I mean this, I think they're a step ahead of the Yankees. They don't have all the pennants, they don't have all the titles. But this ownership group is much more. It's got deeper pockets, it's more aggressive. I mean the way they are pushing contracts down the road, they are a revolutionary franchise.

[Colin Cowherd]

But they're not a bigger brand than the New York.

[Nick Wright]

I think they're getting close. I think Ohtani changes it. I really do.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, if the idea is like Ohtani brings in and in a whole similar to. I understand one.

[Nick Wright]

I think he brings in the Pacific Rim.

[Colin Cowherd]

What? Like what? Yeah, like what Yao Ming did for the Houston Rockets where all of a sudden it's like you have this whole new market. But if so the. Because I really. The Maybe eventually the Dodgers get there. If it's Yankees, Cowboys, Lakers is the three. The teams across sports competing for that fourth spot. Dodgers definitely are in the contention. The Celtics are the Warriors. No, probably not because that's Good. The warriors are like the Chiefs in that it's the supernova of the moment in Momes or Steph Curry. But they don't have a history to where they're this big brand. So do you think. You think the Dodgers now have surpassed the Cubs.

[Nick Wright]

Yes.

[Colin Cowherd]

As the second biggest brains in baseball.

[Nick Wright]

Yes.

[Colin Cowherd]

Okay.

[Nick Wright]

Because again, remember, Chicago wanted the Olympics. Why couldn't they get them? Because they were not considered a global city. They were considered maybe our there, like Chicago is one best North American city seven years in a row from Conde Nas architecture. It's an unbelievable city, but it's not viewed as an International City. D.C. san Francisco, Louisiana. New York, Boston, similarly is not necessarily seen. It's seen as kind of provincial, parochial. So I think they've surpassed. And the Cubs, the Ricketts family, which, by the way, they live about five minutes from where I'm sitting right now. They are. It seats 36,000. Their revenues just don't. They're not close. They're just not close anymore.

[Colin Cowherd]

So.

[Nick Wright]

And I think the Cubs are historic and they matter domestically, but I don't think they pull a big number that might be right. I.

[Colin Cowherd]

And it also might be a lot of the benefit of the Cubs win away. Or benefits. The wrong word. But brand recognition, for lack of better term of the Cubs had to do with. If you're a millennial, when you were growing up with, like, basic cable, for some reason you got the Cubs games because of wgn, so you could, like, watch your team and the Cubs. And so they. They had that. And now people can watch whatever teams they want. I just saw the who. Who do you. Sorry for this slight detour. Who. You do. But after the Cowboys, what do you think the biggest brand in football is? Like, I. I hesitate in the moment. It's obviously the Chiefs, but you wonder, like, if Mahomes retired.

[Nick Wright]

Like, it's an interesting story.

[Colin Cowherd]

Everyone.

[Nick Wright]

If you.

[Colin Cowherd]

Nobody cares if you bought the Chiefs today.

[Nick Wright]

Well, you would have to consider Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes part of the buy. So this idea. Well, the brand. What is the brand right now? Jerry Jones is 80. They're dysfunctional. Their roster is bad. There's value to it. But Kansas City's got the best quarterback in the league for the next 10 years. So, I mean, when LeBron James went from the Miami Heat back to Dan Gilbert and Cleveland, I talked to somebody.

[Colin Cowherd]

In the equity space.

[Nick Wright]

He said, that was a $400 million day for Dan Gilbert. The Cavs without LeBron, even with Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell. LeBron changed the. It was a paradigm shift economically for Cleveland, literally. Ken Griffey saved baseball in Seatt. LeBron James changed the economy. Taylor Swift's tour, I'll give you an example, made $2.1 billion, sold 10 million tickets. That is double the next biggest tour ever. So it's only big because of one reason, the artist. So if you count. I mean, let's be honest. If you bought a soccer franchise 10 years ago and Ronaldo had an eight year contract, it would make it worth half a billion dollars more. So I think the Chiefs with Mahomes, that adds to me, that adds half a. Somewhere between 500 billion and a billion dollars. They go from 6 billion to 7 because of Mahomes.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, so that's the other piece of this. The other piece of this is if the. If the most valuable team in the NBA is now worth $10 billion, what is the most valuable team in the NFL worth? Is it 15 billion? Like, honestly, like what is. If this is the new. Because you can't tell like as much as. As big of a brand as Lakers are. And I understand the NBA's new TV deal. I get all that. There is nothing. That is the machine. That is the NFL. So if the lake. If we now have Lakers 10 billion, Celtics 6 billion, you know, as the metrics than the. If. Forget the Cowboys. I'm trying to think of a good, you know, a good. If The San Francisco 49ers.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

Were for sale. Are they a $10 billion franchise?

[Nick Wright]

I'll give you. I'll give you one that is undervalued. Stan Kroenke owns SOFI Stadium.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, yeah. The Owning the stadium is.

[Nick Wright]

So if you bought the Rams, I get SOFI Stadium, which can house 100 concerts a year and the Chargers and the Rams. So you have to consider that when you buy the Rams. So I would say in the number two market in the country, I get Sean McVeigh, I get a well run operation. I get SoFi. I'm sorry, but that's over $10 billion. I mean it's got. It has to be.

[Colin Cowherd]

It just has to be. If they. Now that the lakers are worth 10, the biggest NFL brands have to be worth more. You know what? I.

[Nick Wright]

It just.

[Colin Cowherd]

It just has to be. And to your point. And then we can move on to other things. I'm sure just because this makes me laugh so much that so. And I looked this up the other day. This is why I have it. When David Glass bought the Royals. Hold on the. Which was. It wasn't a lifetime ago because he sold them for a billion dollars six years ago or whatever to John Sherman. So David Glass, by the way, this is to your point that franchises at one point were undervalued and I understand it's the Royals. I understand small market. I get it. It's still one of 30 Major League Baseball teams and it's a team that has some history, had won a World Series. He bought the royals not in 1954. He bought the royals in 2000. And you know, like how did David Glass get the money for buying the Royals? And it's. Well, he was the CEO of Walmart, which obviously is a high paying job but usually like CEO is not high paying enough to buy professional sports team. Except for the fact that in the year 2000 the Kansas City Royals were sold for $96 million.

[Nick Wright]

Crazy.

[Colin Cowherd]

Like can you believe it? Like can you believe it? 2000 quarter century ago, a professional baseball team. Like what's it worth? I don't know. Certainly not a hundred million. That's crazy. And like the, it's, it is. The Royals were sold for slightly more than Juan Soto will make in a year. It's just banana. And then he sold it for a billion six years ago and now they're probably worth two. Just because the like you're saying the price of these franchises. It's also why for the cheap baseball owners, I've always been frustrated because they're like, well, you know, you know, we don't have to make money but we can't be losing money. I'm like, man, the money you are making is on the eventual cash out in that you are going to 10x this with inevitability and the value of the sports team is the fact that there are. Every super rich guy in the world can buy a yacht. Every super rich guy in the world can buy the sick house and the fanciest cars. All of it. The, the exclusivity of. You want to, you know, sit courtside at the NBA games as the team owner. You want to be in the luxury box as the team owner. You know, at a football game. Well, there's only 30 spots or there's only 32 spots. That's what people are paying for.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah, I've always thought this stuff is undervalued and that's not a shot. When I talked about the Celtics going for 6 billion, I think if I have Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown and the best young GM arguably outside of Oklahoma City and Brad Stevens, that has to be considered all of it's. Considered. And it's. I mean, a company's as valuable usually as their technology and their people. And so when you have, you know, when you have stars in their prime, that adds value to it. I mean. Right, Right.

[Colin Cowherd]

But it is, but it is crazy. And then we can move on. How quick? When Ballmer bought the Clippers 10 years, people freaked out.

[Nick Wright]

It was 2 billion. And I remember going on the air saying, exactly right. It doesn't matter that he overpaid. He paid cash, so It's a true 2 billion. Secondly, he's never selling it, so it will be worth 10 billion in the future. He'll make five times the money. And as long as it works on an operating level, on a positive, cash flows a dollar a year. It's a steal at $2 billion in the LA market. And now you play in the same. Now they built their own arena now. But also, you have to remember about Ballmer. I read a story once about Steve Ballmer's net worth. He makes. I swear to God, he makes a billion dollars a year on his Microsoft dividends. Oh, I love his dividends. So it's like, guys, if the, the idea that these guys, like Mark Walters doesn't know what he's doing, like, they know what they're doing.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, the. And again, it's just the, the NBA franchise values going like this, this quickly. Where 10 years ago, 2 billion for a team in the number two market that at the time had stars. You know, it's not like the Clippers were. That was the Lob City era. And then a couple years ago, the hornets sell for 3 billion. And it, like. And now the, and the prestige franchises. Here's the other interesting angle to this man. LeBron has always said, I want to buy a team. I'm going to buy a team. I'm going to buy a team, man. The expansion fee is going to be $6 billion.

[Nick Wright]

Yes.

[Colin Cowherd]

Like, no matter. I know LeBron has done incredibly well and all that, but, like, he doesn't have no billions with a plural.

[Nick Wright]

Also, how much? I mean, the truth is, when Mark Cuban bought the Mavericks, he only owned 51%. So none of these guys own all of it, right? Yeah, I mean, it's, it's Elon Musk. When he bought X or Twitter, he had, he had Saudi money. He had also. He didn't buy all of it. He's not going to spend all his $44 billion. He didn't have $44 billion of cash. Everything. The smartest people in the world get good rates everybody. I mean, you know, when I hear people pay off their home, that's what normal people do. Rich people don't pay off anything. They don't pay off anything. Right. Like every.

[Colin Cowherd]

What do they do? Share the secrets. People aren't supposed to pay off their home. What are you supposed to?

[Nick Wright]

Well, I mean, it's just when you can make 9% in the your rates.

[Colin Cowherd]

And your three and a half percent. Okay, sure.

[Nick Wright]

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[Nick Wright]

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[Unknown Voice]

Oikos presents 15 seconds of strength here we go.

[Jim]

Steve's got a trunk full of groceries and no one to help him.

[Unknown Voice]

Oh, that's tough. Jim looks like a five trip load at least.

[Jim]

He grabs the first bag, the second.

[Nick Wright]

Bob.

[Jim]

It looks like he's trying to do it all.

[Colin Cowherd]

One trip.

[Jim]

He shimmies the door open, steps over the dog. Oh, and he stumbles.

[Unknown Voice]

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[Nick Wright]

Okay. Caitlin Clark, obviously a huge story and the controversy around it. You know, I was thinking about, I was pretty hard in the WNBA when Caitlin Clark came in and I, and I thought, guys, you can't open up with a New York Liberty in the Connecticut Sun. You want to groove her into some wins because remember she went from the final four into camp into playing. She and the wnba, they probably knew she would be good. They didn't think she'd quite be this good. But it's getting to be a little bit like MJ is that. And they've done a better job this year. They had an easier schedule. They've put the games on television. So the WNBA took a lot of heat. A lot of heat. And Val Ackerman, the commissioner's like, okay, we got ourselves a complete Taylor Swift and tennis shoes rock star. And they've done a much better job this year. The officiating's not great, but the league's now just starting to make real money now. Right. Like so it's the officials. Maybe the last part, you know, it's.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, yeah, I wonder with it and I don't know, I'm not educated enough on this about what the hierarchy of officiating is, but obviously the best basketball officials in the world or in the NBA want to officiate in the NBA that let's just, I shouldn't say the world just. Let's just do the U.S. i assume the second best like men's college basketball. Well, yeah, I, I would imagine the third best might be women's college basketball because up until recently that was a far bigger industry than the wnb. Like so has the in. And again I'm, I am just speculating here, but is the WNBA simply not.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

Picking from the, you know, the are the people who are the best officials are like, well, it's way better jobs in officiating than I can get. They flew so I assume that's going to.

[Nick Wright]

They flew commercial airlines a year ago.

[Colin Cowherd]

And I, Yeah, I mean the NBA.

[Nick Wright]

Moved out of that in like the 80s. So it's like it's, it's just a different ball game. But, but I was thinking about this. Most of the time the media gets it right when it predicts an all time star. In fact, I would argue and I think people listening to this would push back that we undersold Tiger. Nobody thought Tiger was going to have the lowest scoring average ever. Was going to have the tied for the most career wins ever. Has the greatest earnings ever. Nobody, not even Nike would have guessed that.

[Colin Cowherd]

No. And within five years have the scoring record at all four majors. I mean the Tiger, you know, the Tiger slam. Yeah, no, no, you're right. Tiger was Tiger, LeBron, Serena, LeBron. I would argue all the all time greats that turned into all time greats also actually kind of exceeded expectations.

[Nick Wright]

Most of the time. I think Bryce Harper at 16 was considered arguably the best baseball prospect ever. He's turned out eight time All Star, two time National League MVP, 340 home runs plus. That is a. If you would have said that when he was 16 on Sports Illustrate. He's going to be an eight time All Star, two time MVP. Be like, yeah, for the best prospect ever. That, that, that, that's, that's in that elite class.

[Colin Cowherd]

Sure.

[Nick Wright]

But I think Caitlin Clark, LeBron and MJ, I think they're better. And I, I thought Caitlin was going to be good. But Gino Oriemma, UConn's coach came out and said and this guy knows basketball. He's in. He's the best recruiter in the history of the sport. He's like this idea she's going to walk into the WNBA and crush.

[Colin Cowherd]

I know but that was. So here's the thing. All the Yukon folks had like the you former, the legendary Yukon players who were then in media and then Gino, they all kind of in my opinion had a bias of man, this was supposed to be what everyone was saying about Paige Beckers a year ago but Paige had blown out her knee and she missed time and that and all of that. And so they, I think that they, and they also underestimated what a badass Clark was going to be. And I think they also looked at it and said well she's great and going to be great but she's not better than Brianna Stewart or Diana Tarazzi. And they, you know, if they had a transition, she will do. And the answer is she's at. She is already one of the four best players in the league.

[Nick Wright]

Oh yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

She is already an absolute. And I say this in the kindest words, an asshole on the court. Like the way you kind of need, you don't need to be. But it's something people historically like in their athletes. Like a trash Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, a trash talker, you know, hard ass. And she is already impacting winning. I think she has the best per game plus minus in the league of everyone that's not on the New York.

[Nick Wright]

Liberty, Liberty or just cross 10 years ago. Except they lost. So the quality of WNBA play in the last 10 years has improved more than any league anywhere. The players are. The nutrition's better, the strength is better. You go YouTube and WNBA game 10 years ago they did not pass like this. Candace Parker ten years ago led the league in assists at five and a half a game. A game. Not only is Caitlin Clark the best shooter, the best guard, the most influential she's also dealing nine assists per game. So what she's done is she's really changed the tempo. She's doubling these all time assist numbers or close to it and giving you threes and shooting nine feet beyond the arc. So I mean as much as I liked her and I thought she would be really good I remember saying on the air she's going to be. She'd be really good top 10 player really fast. Yeah I didn't think she'd be this.

[Colin Cowherd]

No I listen she. I agree with you that I do think she is and in contributing to winning.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

Exceeding expectations. I also think that and maybe eventually we'll get there but there so much in my and I don't know what you said on the air about this today because I missed it but so much of the social media pearl clutching of basically we need to protect Caitlin Clark. I just think it's so. I think it's patronizing and I also think it fails to recognize this is in my opinion the best case scenario for the league. The fact that she is has this swagger that there and Brew made this point and I thought it was a really good one. The fact that yesterday's altercations primarily happened with Caitlin against other white players was actually a really nice thing because it removed any of the bullshit like oh do the are the black players don't like. No. You know who doesn't like Caitlyn?

[Nick Wright]

Everybody.

[Colin Cowherd]

Most of her opponents. You know you know who historically is not that popular in sports. The young awesome swaggery trash talking player. That player usually has allies on their team and their Larry Bird.

[Nick Wright]

That's it got choked by Dr. J.

[Colin Cowherd]

Everybody hated Larry and so and so that's awesome. Here's another thing that's awesome. This is only going to make Caitlyn better and tougher and stronger. That's great. The fact that it is hard and that like because the idea because some of Caitlyn's like like there is a real lunatic fringe on the Internet about this conversation and and I hate doing in life. I don't actually really think both sides are a problem very often in the Caitlyn Clark thing.

[Nick Wright]

It is both sides.

[Colin Cowherd]

It is people on both ends of the spect out of their minds. And the biggest Caitlyn fans are like the league. This is the league's cash cow. And if they, they, if they're not suspending these other players that she could get hurt. Like give me a break. It was a light shove. She fell down. She's going to be fine. The fever are going to be in big games for a long time. It is. She is sustainably drawing eyeballs and I do think it is. Notewile people pointed out correctly. Oh man. When she was out, the ratings dropped. The, the other piece of this is the ratings dropped, but we're still higher than pre Caitlin Clark WNBA which means while yes, some people are just showing up for her. Some people showed up for her and were like, oh, I like basketball and this is a pretty good product. I'll stick around even if she's not there. At least some people did. It's the best thing imaginable for the league. It's the best thing imaginable her and it is for us. You know, here in hockey ended last night. Basketball probably ends tomorrow in the NBA. It'll be nice to have like a captivating sports story for the summer other than baseball. So I'm excited about it.

[Nick Wright]

All right. One quick note on the NBA Finals that I don't know why this popped into my head, but I was watching just the relentlessness of OKC's defense and how they were just blocking every shot and creating turnovers. And I thought to myself, I bet if you took the college basketball national champion, they could not score 20 points on Oklahoma City's defense. And I also thought this. If you took the Ewing, John Starks, you know, was it Anthony Mason, Charles Oakley? Yeah. They don't score 40 points in a game. And you think I'm crazy. They were held at the 70s by the Pacers. If you don't have four ball handlers against OKC, you are effed. That's why when Halliburton's hurt, it's over. The series is over. Is their defense, their perimeter pressure picking up the ball at half court they don't even need to trap is so intense that the only way to beat them is to try and spread the floor, have multiple three shooters or have a kind of transformational Halliburton turkey jerky, long weird stop start guy. This defense, if you, if you would have put Oklahoma City's defense against a magician and we all know players are now more skilled, they, I mean Seven foot guys now handle the ball and shoot three. Sure. Nobody. The Knicks never had a jump shooter. A consistent. Starks was an inconsistent jump shooter.

[Colin Cowherd]

No, Starks was an undrafted player.

[Nick Wright]

If you put Oklahoma City, including Jordan's team, if you put Oklahoma City in that era, I'm not saying they beat him. They would be holding teams, Michael's teams to the 70 point range. They don't have enough shooters and ball handlers back then.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, well, so they are. I don't think this Oklahoma City team is like one of the three or four best defenses in the history of the league.

[Nick Wright]

It's really unique.

[Colin Cowherd]

Great defense.

[Nick Wright]

It's really unique.

[Colin Cowherd]

Exactly what I was going to say.

[Nick Wright]

Crazy.

[Colin Cowherd]

But almost all of those teams that you consider the best defenses ever had as a common denominator, a dominant rim protector.

[Nick Wright]

Right.

[Colin Cowherd]

So people bring up like oh the 04 pistons defense. You had four time defensive player of the year Ben Wallace. They, you know, the 08 Celtics are not an all time defense but a really good defense. You had Kevin Garnett down low. And I'm not act. Listen, chat does a good job and Hardenstein does a good job. But they are a great defense. That is because of what it does to you on the perimeter. And the team that it does remind me of is the 90s Bulls. The second three Pete Bulls who did not have a dominant rim protector. What they did have was Pippin and Rodman and Michael who could just swarm you and get to you like make it so hard to get across half court. Yeah. And trap you and those things. And so that's what's so unique and special about this team. And it is the fact that the guys who come off the bench for them are. It's such an interesting and I think smart thing Presti did which is most teams like their seventh or their eighth man. It's a guy like Campaign who is on your team because hey, he might be able to hit a couple threes, right. He might give us a burst of offense. And Presley was like, you know what? We're going to have enough offense. What if the guys we have who come off the bench are just more. They are defense not only but mostly guys. And so that way you never get a breath. You are just up you for 48 minutes. If you're a perimeter player on the other team, brutal. Your night sucks. Because it goes from Dort to Caruso to Wiggins.

[Nick Wright]

And that's my point. They wouldn't beat the Bulls, but they are so uniquely built to stop the 70s, 80s, 90s era where your forwards and centers couldn't handle the ball. They would be just in. They would be. I mean again, Michael was never a great ball handler. He wasn't. And Pippen. What Pippen was great in transition. Kobe was a better ball handler than Michael. And so I'm not saying Michael and those guys wouldn't win and Michael wouldn't score, but this team more than any defense.

[Colin Cowherd]

Oh, it'd be.

[Nick Wright]

It would. Those games would be like bulls 78. You know, okc 70. It would be.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah. Oh, it would be like what. What you're just. It would be like what a lot of the Knicks Heat playoff games in the 90s looked like, where it's like going into the fourth 61 to 58. Like for real.

[Nick Wright]

No question.

[Colin Cowherd]

I'm not even knocking it. I grew up on that basketball. Yeah. And. But that. That's what it was. And that was for different reasons. But. But yeah, I am. I am really. And one thing that I have been all. Admit it shocked by. I was shocked by Jalen Williams scoring 40 in a finals game. Like in the history of the NBA. Colin number two options to score 40 in a finals game. Kyrie did it twice. Chris Middleton did it oddly. And gosh darn it, there was one other one that now I can't remember. James Worthy did it. But James Worthy did in the game. Magic was out injured. For Kobe scored 40 in a finals game once his whole career and it was in 09. So it wasn't when he was the number two option to Shaq a guy as the second option. Only 30 people ever have scored 40 in a finals game.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

And 25 of them are some of the greatest players you've ever seen.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

And so for Jalen Williams to do that in a game that shea still had 30, that was. That was remarkable. And it made you think about what this team is going to be long term.

[Nick Wright]

And his. Both his parents were in the military. Name the last athlete who had both parents in the military. I got Jalen Williams, Santa Clara. I think I looked it up online. But when I watch his game, you know what I see? I see parenting grinding. Literally. It's seven a game at Santa Clara. 11, 18, 14, 18. You can see the time he's put in the gym. You can see his discipline. He has the. I said this today to J. Mac. He's a better offensive player now than Scottie Pippen. His you can to be a good.

[Colin Cowherd]

Should rev career high in the. In the playoffs.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

With on The Bulls was 32.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

I his career I covered him in 32.

[Nick Wright]

I never trusted him on jump shots ever.

[Colin Cowherd]

Sure.

[Nick Wright]

Jalen Williams, when, when I see a player, you see this with LeBron that can go to his offhand off the glass with touch over Miles Turner. Do you know how long you have to work at that in the gym? I mean, do you know it's one thing if some guys, some, you know, a lot of bigs, they work on their low post games. The Pete Newell camps when I was a kid growing up. But when I see perimeter players, the first sign a guy's put a lot of time in the gym is often when they play bigger than their size. Dwyane Wade, Jalen Williams is 6 5. He plays like he's 68 and a half. He plays incredibly big. That is discipline. That dude is put. And if you look at all his, you know the last thing he got good at in basketball, Scoring. Yeah, he was good at.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah.

[Nick Wright]

He defended, he rebounded, he could handle the ball. Like I went back and I looked at his career. I'm like the last thing he got good at was scoring. And that tells you his mindset. It wasn't about what the bag is. His mindset was be a great basketball player.

[Colin Cowherd]

No, it's. Yeah, it's unbelievable. And this, if there was any like that 40 point finals game was a quarter of a billion dollar game for him. Not that he wasn't going to get a ton of money. But now in two weeks he's going to get the max. He'll get five years, 250 and he'll just be like. And they'll resign. Chat. He's going to get the max. Shay's going to get a contract that's going to make people eyes bleed by the way.

[Nick Wright]

He's. You're not going to have any bench. There's no way you can afford no bench.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, but that's why you're not going to have. You're not going to have a bench of second contract guys. But that's why we're press. He's been good as they sell of all those extra picks.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

So what your bench is going to be guys you draft that are on their rookie deals.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

You know what I mean? And that you cycle through essentially. And that's sharp like that's the only way you can do it in okc.

[Nick Wright]

But you know what?

[Colin Cowherd]

That'll.

[Nick Wright]

That'll what that'll make you do. And this is not a bad thing. He will draft older college players, players he wants guys that can come in and play immediately he doesn't need because all his guys are young. So Presti's going to draft like Villanova guy or guy that's been three years. Yeah. Like that's the way you do it now. Is is okay, let's we need a two year college starter who can come in and give us 13 minutes off.

[Colin Cowherd]

The bench as a rookie and so and so he's but they are listen, I've said this to you and we can leave it at this. Every time for the last five years when a team's won a title, people have been like, well they're about to win a bunch of titles and every time that team has gotten clipped in round two or earlier the next year. So I'm not like the dynasty stuff. I think we get to I don't think we are in a dynasty era. I do think that if the Oklahoma City ownership is willing to do something it wasn't willing to do 15 years ago and pay a price, they are as they are incredibly well set up. With Shay being 26 about turn 27 with Jalen, with J Dub and Chet both in year three this year and that's just going to be their team and we'll see how long they can run it.

[Nick Wright]

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[Nick Wright]

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Here we go. Steve's got a trunk full of groceries and no one to help him.

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He grabs the first bag the second. Bob. It looks like he's trying to do it all.

[Colin Cowherd]

One trip.

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[Nick Wright]

Now it's time for power players brought to you by BMW, the ultimate driving machine. This week it's Jalen Williams who dropped 40 points in game five of the NBA finals. He becomes the third youngest player to score 40 plus points in a finals game. One win away from the title. Thanks to Jalen Williams. What is it that sets apart these power players from the rest? Bottom line attention to detail, innovative playing styles and a relentless effort for performing at the highest level. The same goes for BMW IX Everything you love about the ultimate driving machine Electrified okay, here's a topic and I don't do this a lot. Like I don't talk about other announcers. I just don't. I don't get into it. I don't care. I think it's hard to do.

[Colin Cowherd]

I do sometimes.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah, I don't. But I will talk about this is that I think I can say this because of my Sports Nation days. I've had multiple co hosts on the Herd. I think. Not that I'm exclusively or even primarily qualified to talk about it, but I think I've earned the right to talk about chemistry. Not talent chemistry. I don't like the chemistry on the ESPN NBA broadcast. It's not the people, it's the chemistry. As you know, there's a reason Mike and Tony have been a hit show for 25 years or plus. Their chemistry is amazing. There is a reason Buck and Aikman went Fox to ESPN together. They have tremendous chemistry. Madden and Summer all. It's really, really hard being talented. Look at you. You worked for years. The chemistry on your show beyond talent, the chemistry is really what makes the show. Jeff Van Gutty, Mark Jackson and Breen had remarkable chemistry. And for 24 years or however long ESPN's had the NBA, they have struggled with pregame game shows. The perfect pairing and they had it. And then they blew it up. My guess is that Van Gundy could be critical of the league. There was David Stern from time to time, pushback on critical interviews by Bob Costas or others which needed to be done. And this is one thing that I wonder about the NBA. I don't think broadcasting crews change ratings. But as now the NBA moves to other networks, I am really interested to see it at Amazon and see it at NBC because ESPN does a lot very, very well in my Opinion. I think they're so good at the Little League, World Series, SportsCenter, the NFL Draft, Scott Van Pelt Show, Mike and Tony, they're just a lot of really talented people there at a college game day. They've just built really, really solid foundational pieces of broadcasting. I have great admiration, sure. I do not think they've been good with the NBA now. I think Mike brains as good as anybody, including Marv Albert I've ever heard do basketball. But I think for 20 years and I don't do this, I think they've under produced and underdelivered with the NBA.

[Colin Cowherd]

So. All right, so I am. I seems like a much bigger fan of the actual booth, the Breen, Doris and RJ than you are and maybe other people are. I know there have been reports about ESPN once again changing that. You know, I mean they, they one of if it's very interesting. Reportedly one of the reasons they initially shook up Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy was because they didn't like the fact that I think it was Mark, maybe it was Jeff, but I think it was Mark was always like his was in coaching searches and they were like, no, you know, we don't want you flirting with other jobs. And then the two guys, they brought in one guy in Doc Rivers to, to replace him and then during the season he took a job and then they put in JJ and then JJ right after the season he took a job. And so they've obviously moved it around a lot. I under. I do understand that any group and I don't remember the first year of Brain Van Gundy and Jackson, but I'm sure it wasn't as good as the fifth year, the tenth year. And hand down, man down and mama, there goes that man and those guys. And for me the best broadcast crew ever was growing up with Steve Snapper Jones and Bill Walton when I was a little kid on NBC because of the chemistry between them and the chemistry between them was actually it seemed like Steve Snapper Jones wanted to kill Bill Walton every single day. And so it was like, it was great. So I. So I am far less critical of the actual game like the play by play color commentary than I think others because I actually like it. I also am really, I think fairly critical of Reggie on the TNT broadcast. So I think the ESPN actual play by play in color is. Is good. The overall presentation of everything though, I think it is totally fair to criticize and I think it is totally fair when people say you need to show me with how you present this that this is a big deal and the lack of pageantry. Yes. You know, it's like. And I know, let's how about this?

[Nick Wright]

Why don't I know more? Why pre game, post game. Remember Rune Arledge on the Olympics, up close and personal. Like, I want to know the players more. I want cameras in their house. I want to go deep on the players, not just this superfluous eight second halftime show. And by the way, no, There have been 15 different halftime, pre game, post game. A couple years ago, they didn't talk. It was a series of commercials. And I'm like, this is not a criticism of the company or the individuals. I know the guy that directs it. He's a great guy. Gone out to dinner a few times, Ann and I with his wife. Great guy. But I just think, I thought before Buck and Aikman, ESPN underserved the NFL and so did the NFL. I think Fox, NBC, cbs, they could.

[Colin Cowherd]

Seem like a big deal. Like, so that's so all. Again, I'm gonna sound like a company man here and I don't mean to, but I'll just use company man and self serving. Kind of a double dip of annoying. I'll be for a moment. Did. Did sending first things first to the Indy 500 draw, you know, more people to watch the Indy 500. I don't know, maybe I saw the number and it was like, whatever it was, it was like an E. It was just call it 8 million. I have no idea what the number was, but I know at the end of it there was 50,000. It was like 8,050,000 or 4,050,000. And I joked wild and bro, I'm like, hey, that 50,000, that was awesome. Like we did like that. So I don't know if it actually drove audience, but they made it feel big. Correct. It made. It was a signal that, hey, you know what I mean? We are, we're sending a show that never talks. Indie. Indie, right. We're gonna make it feel big, like an event. And I think so. When I saw. I don't know if it's NBC or Amazon, whichever one just announced, hey, guess who's going to be part of our basketball coverage? Michael Jordan. I know some people are gonna are like, like, well, how much did you spend on that? And like, is that gonna actually draw more people? It will make it feel important.

[Nick Wright]

Yes.

[Colin Cowherd]

And so like I do when people, when Twitter says, you know, why aren't there pregame introductions? When they haven't shown those, by the way, in 12 years. But all Of a sudden it's like, where'd the trophy go? On the floor? And the final script. It's little things. And here's where I'm surprised the NBA drops the ball a bit. They clearly think some of those things matter because they do them for the fucking commission. The cup like the, they're like, oh, I know this is a in season tournament game because the court's different. Like so they're like we're going to key for the audience. This is important for the end for the Commissioner's cup and the NBA Finals. It looks like a regular like, so that those types of things. Yeah, they could do better. The other thing is, and this was, you know, famously, you know, this was one of our pal Bill Simmons biggest, you know, frustrations when he was part of the pregame halftime, post game is there's just so much they use that and listen, I'm not a businessman and I'm sure it's smart business. It's about commercial inventory load for the halftime show in particular. Okay. So that's, that's totally fine. If you've like crunch numbers, that's the.

[Nick Wright]

Way to do it.

[Colin Cowherd]

But it's in it. I would say if that's going to be the case instead of having four people give 40 second opinions.

[Nick Wright]

Yes.

[Colin Cowherd]

Then that's the spot for hey, here's a really, really well produced four minute feature.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

You know, a special interest or a personal interest or whatever it is. And I also, again, I'm, you know, I'm a Bob Costas. Stan. I met him when I was 12 years old. He was incredibly kind to me. I, I think he's the goat broadcaster as far as all things. But I miss the like many essays.

[Unknown Gaming Voice]

Yes.

[Colin Cowherd]

That he would give in the lead up to a finals game where he's like setting the table for the stakes of the event. And, and so yeah, I do think that that type of thing could be done better. And I also think that I do, I think there is real value to, for the finals, for your major events, for your major contributors, for that to be their signature event. And by that I mean like. So you brought up Scott Van Pelt. Scott Van Pelt, you know, does an amazing job on his show. He also has a signature event which is the, the golf he does for espn.

[Nick Wright]

Right.

[Colin Cowherd]

And it's like that's, that's his thing. Each year is the major tournament on ESPN or the majors on espn. I think that if you're, if you are. And this isn't because I have recently, you know, I think fairly, you know, take. I don't know if taking some shots is the right word but it voiced my frustration with some of the things Stephen A. Has done. This is not about Stephen A individually but if you use Stephen A for all of your big stuff then it, if everything is dilute, it dilutes feel special.

[Nick Wright]

Right.

[Colin Cowherd]

It delights it.

[Nick Wright]

It's why former President Obama will not endorse every Democratic candidate or will not run to a microphone. He doesn't want to dilute his opinion. He is the, he is the most popular Democrat and his take is always everybody's like where's Obama? Well, he doesn't want to latch himself onto the crazy lunatic fringe wing of the left. He's not going to endorse losing candidates. And you can't have an opinion on every time Trump offends you because he offends you seven times a day. So he makes it a two to three time a year strong opinion. And I, and I think that and this is again I, Stephen A. Smith is a friend. I text him reasonably regularly. Regularly. That's not it. And this is not in any way I'm not harboring ever any resentment at espn. I have friends there. I really respect it. I really do. I talk to people there all the time. But I do think they make the SEC championship feel like the effing Super Bowl. If you're watching Fowler and Herb street.

[Colin Cowherd]

Right. Saban, what I'm talking about.

[Nick Wright]

No, Saban, McAfee, Herb Street. It feels big in the NBA. It's like you had a great crew, you blew it out. The chemistry with this is eh. Your halftime shows, musical chairs. It just doesn't feel big enough And I don't think this about them often. That's back to my initial point why I want to see Amazon and NBC. I'm fascinated to see their presentation because I think NBC has a history Olympics, Sunday Night Football. NBC's always made things feel big in my lifetime and I think they're going to make Jordan is a classic NBC move is I'm all turn in, I'm going to watch Jordan.

[Colin Cowherd]

Of course. Of course. And it's in a very fractured attention economy.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

Making things feel like events is so wildly important and a lot of that really is to do with again the fluff, the pageantry, all that stuff. And I think your point about the SEC championship is a great one. It's obviously it's obvious that they can do this and they can do it very well.

[Nick Wright]

Oh my God.

[Colin Cowherd]

And they understand the importance of it. By the fact that they paid whatever they paid to get Buck and Aikman. Because Buck and Aikman, it was like that stamps us as, as we are taking this seriously. We have these two super respected voices and so it is odd, it just odd that they have been a little adrift on this.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah. No, and again, I've always thought game day and SEC championships. I mean, I think ESPN makes the Little League World Series feel gigantic.

[Colin Cowherd]

And, and I think I told, I.

[Nick Wright]

Told our boss, Eric Shanks when I first came. He said, what would you take if you could take anything from espn? And I said the draft would hurt their soul. And I want a couple weeks off in August. Go get the Little League World Series.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah, that'd be perfect for you. Yeah, that'd be really good. That's a fun one. Did you, you know, this is. I keep sidebarring your podcast, but this would be a fun podcast to do a draft of like the coolest events to broadcast. We don't have to right now, but like down the road like that. And the other the, the you mentioned, you know, our biggest boss, Eric Shanks. I, I don't know if Michael Mulvihill is a. Like our. One of our bosses, but he's certainly one of the smartest people at the company. He's been on your podcast or on your TV show. The draft that they do an actual draft of college football games that the different networks is fascinating. Not only. Not only do I want to one day be in the room for it again. I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here. I'm a little offended that no one wants. Has been like, hey, Nick, you got a, you got a mock you want to send over? Like, we'd love to pick your brain on it. Like if there's anybody that can 5D chess, the rating and the window and the weather and all of it, like, I. Fellas, I'm available. Just another. Another brain in the room for you if you want it. Like, that would be so. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, the different networks, it's like, okay with the first pick. And again, I don't have in the.

[Nick Wright]

Big Ten, it's always Ohio State, Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan.

[Colin Cowherd]

And then who has the second pick? And that's how, that's how for the games that could go to different networks, they have an actual draft draft. And a couple years ago, I know like Fox traded a pick.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

They're like, we'll trade you the third pick for like the eighth and the ninth, it's super fascinating. That'd be super fun.

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[Nick Wright]

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[Unknown Voice]

Oikos presents 15 seconds of strength Here we go.

[Jim]

Steve's got a trunk full of groceries and no one to help him.

[Unknown Voice]

Oh, that's tough, Jim. Looks like a five trip Load.

[Jim]

At least he grabs the first bag, the second bob. It looks like he's trying to do.

[Colin Cowherd]

It all one trip.

[Jim]

He shimmies the door open, steps over the dog. Oh, and he stumbles.

[Unknown Voice]

Oh, right into the kitchen without missing a beat.

[Colin Cowherd]

Jim.

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[Nick Wright]

I will say, in terms of big events, I go to about four UFC fights a year. And that's why Dana White, among other things, brings Trump. He wants it to feel big. He gets a reaction, it makes the news. It's all over cable television. So like him or not, it's smart. I think the ufc, of all the events I've been in my, I've been doing my life, I've been to, I've been to everything except the Kentucky Derby. And that's just been a time issue. I just, I'm always doing something at that time of the year. UFC does a great job on site.

[Colin Cowherd]

I.

[Nick Wright]

So every time I go to a UFC fight, I take a new friend to introduce him to the sport. All of them are like, can I come again to this? Can you get more tickets? Dana's always understood the value of that. And there was a run. Not that they're in a slump now, but without Conor and Jon Jones, there's always great fights.

[Colin Cowherd]

They don't have, they don't have a megastar right now. They don't have a crossover.

[Nick Wright]

But it's such a well run company and event. It's like wrestling right now. You get a Hulk hogan once every 15 years. Right. You just don't. And so WWE, similarly, Roman Reigns, you know, he was, he was good. He looked the part, but for a while, I don't think they felt like Roman Reigns was quite it. So Nick Khan. That's right. So Nick Khan and, and, and, and I mean, and Dana White, you, you. I don't care how well you're running, both the WWE and UFC are brilliantly run sometimes. I mean, who could have guessed the Rock would have been the biggest star in Hollywood? Right?

[Colin Cowherd]

Right.

[Nick Wright]

Some of it's just, you know, crazy luck.

[Colin Cowherd]

So.

[Nick Wright]

But I think the UFC does a. I mean, every time I go to the UFC fight, never not had an A plus plus plus time, love the environment, love the people, everybody. And it's cool because you' sitting by A listers. I get good seats and they're all in T shirts and jeans. There's Nobody's precious. Nobody's.

[Colin Cowherd]

That's something that I, and this is, I have never been to. To. That's not true. I went to a UFC fight when I was a teenager, like when the company was kind of in its infancy. Yeah, that I think in Atlantic City. I don't even remember why I was there, but as an adult, I've never been. And the other thing. And I'd love to. And the. This is me saying, you know, I'm one of those friends you should invite, basically, if you can't pick up on it. The other, the other thing is I, I would love. Now that I make decent money, I would love to have six seats to a big boxing match. Oh. So I've been to, I've been to boxing.

[Nick Wright]

UFC is better than boxing because I be. I'll tell you why. Because you, you can get. I went to, I went to seven Pacquiao fights and I went to Hagler Hearns and I went to Ty a lot of Tysons.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah.

[Nick Wright]

But the undercard nobody gave a about since the women's division has exploded.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, UFC will be a better, a better four hours, there's no doubt about it. Because you have a bunch fights on fights on fights. Oh yeah. I still. A huge boxing match to me is still as cool of a thing as there is in sports. There aren't many of them these days.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

But like six seats to a big time fight, be sick. But there, it's also. That's another East coast, west coast thing where so much of it disproportionately is in Vegas. It's so much easier if you're in LA to shoot up to Vegas than if you're in New York. I am in Vegas pretty often though, so I guess I could ago.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah, I never outside of the U. Only thing that gets me to Vegas is ufc and I go there, I fly in probably four times a year. I love it.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, it's harder for you now, now that you're Chicago and.

[Nick Wright]

No, it's not.

[Colin Cowherd]

How's that going?

[Nick Wright]

Oh, I love Chicago. It's. I mean, the weather's, you know, you.

[Colin Cowherd]

Get lightning storms, weather's great right now.

[Nick Wright]

Humidity. And you, you have weather here. You don't have weather in la, you have weather here, but you're still liking.

[Colin Cowherd]

It, still taking the train.

[Nick Wright]

Oh, I love it. I love it. The traffic, by the way, this is just my take. Traffic's worse in Chicago than la and it's not close because. Yeah, the north suburbs into the city and downtown, the Airport is worse than anything LA produces.

[Colin Cowherd]

Oh, hold on. I have to push back on you for a second. You are, as the kids would say right now, your privilege is showing. You are only saying that because of where you lived in LA in relation to where you. You worked and where you would go, if you like. For you, the traffic in la, you, you lived on close to the beach and you worked in west la. So you avoid. You never got snarled, you were never like, oh, man, I'm coming from the Valley, I've got to go through downtown. Now, you live in a nice, cushy suburb. If you're coming into the city, yeah, you're dealing with it. You're in it, buddy. Yeah, you're. You're in it. I'm in the. But it's similar. Like, Manhattan, where I live is very. People talk about New York traffic, but I don't think they totally understand. Like, I live in Harlem, which is upper Manhattan, and I work in midtown. And it takes me 18 minutes during rush hour, 28 minutes work to home or home to work. And it's not because traffic in Manhattan is not bad. It's because the worst traffic in Manhattan is not going north, south, it's going across. It's going east, west from the east side of the west side of the west side of the east side. Or it's lower Manhattan, where Wall street and SoHo and all those places are. That's where you can be just taking hour to go two blocks. And so it's very. For me personally, traffic's no problem at all. For a lot of people, it's a huge part of their life. You now in Chicago are dealing with it, but Ann's loving it.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah, I mean, it's Chicago's. I think Conde Nasta said it's. Did I say this earlier? It's the best city in North America. Seven straight years. I read a piece in the New York Times yesterday. They were talking about mayoral candidates and the New York Times acknowledged New York's not the same, it's declining. Bill de Blasio was a really bad mayor. K through 12 regressed. There's a sense the schools aren't as strong. I have a friend that goes there on a twice a month basis and he said it smells like pot everywhere. Everywhere.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, that part. Listen, I think the downfall of New York City is greatly overstated. I also think the New York Times, what they've done in this mayoral election is a little cowardly. But we don't have to get into it. Nobody cares about my thoughts. Thoughts on the New York mayoral race, or maybe people do, but this isn't the platform for it. What is true is, yeah, it does smell like weed everywhere. That part, that part, that part is undeniable. And what's also true is as a guy who doesn't smoke weed but does occasionally like to bum a cigarette from somebody, because I don't like to buy cigarettes, but, you know, occasionally I like to smoke a cigarette is maddening. To walk outside and to walk a few blocks and come across a dozen people smoking and not a single one of them are smoking cigarettes. I'm like, I, I, I, I. There's no one to bum a cigarette from. I could easily ask, can I hit your joint? But there's no one to bum a cigarette from these days. So that part, the fact that, the idea that the city smells like weed, that part's true.

[Nick Wright]

And I'm very smell influence. I'm weather and smell influence. I, Some people smell really affects me. Like I don't like to be in places. I'm very sensitive to smell.

[Colin Cowherd]

Listen, the true legalization of marijuana here, I don't know if it's had many actual like negative impacts on this, on society or how people act or anything like that. It certainly is true that it smells like weed all the time. That's, that's not. And that would just not deniable.

[Nick Wright]

That would drive me crazy because downtown Chicago doesn't. LA doesn't. I was in Boston recently, Boston doesn't. I'm trying to think of the last. I mean, I've, I haven't been to New York in two years, but I have heard. It's just at times, it's just, listen.

[Colin Cowherd]

There'S, there is a lot of people smoking weed. That part is.

[Nick Wright]

And there's garbage on the streets in New York. In Chicago, they put it in the alley.

[Colin Cowherd]

Always been the case.

[Nick Wright]

So now I get.

[Colin Cowherd]

And by the way, we just got bins. We just got bins. A new thing in New York. We just got bins. So the, the again, nobody really cares about my take on New York mayors. I will tell you, I don't think the one we have right now is that great. One thing it seems like he did a decent job on of is I think he was really good at corruption and getting rid of rats. And so, and, and by when I say good at corruption, I don't mean like rooting out corruption. I mean like he's skilled at corruption. He got rid of rats. That was good.

[Nick Wright]

You know, it's, I joked when I. People think la is Looney Tunes. But when I was and I remember moving, there's always been a reputation that, you know, LA is hippies and crazy and drugs and, you know, unethical behavior and affairs. I never forget moving out east. The governor of Connecticut got thrown out of office for building a hot tub on state money. There was Elliot Spitzer. The New Jersey governor got run out of office for a controversial relationship. It was an S show. Politics in New York, Connecticut and Jersey were just an insane unethical.

[Colin Cowherd]

Right now, one of the guy who's probably going to win, probably is going to win the race for Maris Cuomo, who was the governor. Yeah. But he got, he got run out. Out, you know, not exactly in glory. Yeah. And I do think multiple affairs, senator harassment. I do think this. The longtime United States senator from New Jersey just Yesterday started an 11 year prison sentence.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

Because when the feds raided his house, he had literal gold bars. I gotta tell you, that's kind of awesome. Like not the, not the bribe, but I do think that like if of all the stores of value one could have. If I, if I went to someone's house and they were like, hey, here's my flash drive of crypto. I'm like, okay, you go to someone's house and they're like, hey, here's my gold bars. I'm like, that's sick. Like, that is like the gold, the gold, the gold bars being. How am I gonna hide this bribe? What if I just take it in gold bars? That's pretty awful.

[Nick Wright]

Awesome. Well, it's just interesting because as somebody that now lives, who grew up in the west coast, traveled a decade in the east coast, now live in the Midwest. I lived in all four corners. Now I've lived in everywhere in the country. The Midwest, the corners, everywhere. Is that it was interesting, the perception of la. It was that it was just hippies and everything was a P. Diddy party. The corruption in the Northeast, politics is. There's nothing like it. It is wild. And I think I've said this before, the Northeast is really intense. Like Chicago is a big city and they've had corruption and politics. But people here, like in the northern part of town, it's all golf courses. It's very recreational. You have a beach on the city. In New York, even to go to the Hamptons is hard. New York is. It's a grind. And what that grind, what the grind creates, Work hard, play hard. And in New York there's a sense I have a harder life. The weather, the taxes, the rent, the intensity the competition, I'm going to reward myself for that. And it often becomes bad behavior. Think about the West Coast. Seattle's on the water, San Francisco's on the water, San Diego's on the water, Louisiana is on the water. Water you can work 60 hours a week, you're on the beach like, well.

[Colin Cowherd]

So that's our mutual. One of the, One of the, I thought smartest things I've heard about the difference in New York and LA was from our mutual friend Maverick, who lives in LA and is, he's from the Midwest that's lived, yeah, has lived in my, it lived a bunch of places but seems to really love la. And, and he said to me, he's like, there's no Sundays in New York. And I'm like, what do you mean? He's like in LA on Sunday, if you didn't know what day of the week it was, but you woke up and you looked outside and you listened, you can, Sunday just feels and sounds different. It's quieter, there's less going on. It's Sunday. He's like, there's no Sunday in New York. He's like, you what? You wake up in New York and you look outside.

[Nick Wright]

Every day is intense.

[Colin Cowherd]

You know what I mean? It's intense. And, and I was like, oh, that's like, that's a very interesting but I think smart way to put it. And that is true. But I, I have, I listen, I went, here's the places I've lived. 0 to 18 years old, Kansas City, 18 to 22, Syracuse for college, 22 to 27, back to Kansas City, sitting 27 to 32, 31 Houston, 31 to 32 LA and 32 to 40 New York. I, when I first moved here, I did not like it. I felt overwhelmed by choice. It was like there's so many options. I, I, I, there's nothing, there's so much to do. There's nothing to do. Whatever it is. I now feel like having lived here for as long as I have, there are very, very few cities in the world I could ever live again because I've become so spoiled by the food, theater, culture, event options that like, like I, I, I think in the US I could live in LA or Vegas, maybe Miami, but Miami would have to be like for retirement and anywhere like else I go, it just feels a little, I don't know, slow now maybe again, I'm 40 and I'm in the midst of like the grind of my career. Maybe when I'm 50, I'll be like, man, I want, I want something different, slower, you know what I mean? Whatever. But I. After a Midwest kid that never thought he'd live in New York, I now feel like this is probably where, you know, I could live for a very, very long time.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah, I. Going back to what you said, you felt overwhelmed and what Maverick Carter said, there is no Sunday. That is at the heart of why I've always theorized there are more affairs in Northeast politics. There is no stepping off the treadmill. The richest people in California, let's go to Montecito. It's a one hour drive up the road every time. It's amazing how often, like Hollywood, how often do you work, you have a movie a year. Like the industry in New York is paper. Wall street, venture capitalism, it's art. In la, it's all art and creation. That's a more joyful experience than trading paper. I mean, think about West Palm beach is the richest area in the Hamptons or the richest areas kind of in the East Coast. The people that live there, litigation, the biggest attorneys, they're fighting constantly and you're on Wall street without intensity in clients. The richest people on the west coast can live in Beverly Hills. They're in entertainment, they're in, they're in, I mean, Netflix and you know, like, like, like a lot of what it is.

[Colin Cowherd]

A lot of the other group is tech in the. Yeah, Silicon Valley, but that's creation.

[Nick Wright]

That's a more joyful experience than fighting people in court or fight. So I've always said a 55 year old in New York looks 59. A 55 year old guy in LA looks 50. And there's a 9, 10 year swing there in, in New York. The more money you make, you buy a nicer tie in la. Once you make money, you no longer have to wear a tie. It's a different culture when you're.

[Colin Cowherd]

That's a great coward line.

[Nick Wright]

When you're rich in la, you don't see Bob Iger wearing a tie. You don't see Steve Ballmer wearing a tie. Donald Trump always wore a tie. Mike Bloomberg always wears a tie. It's a different culture. It's way more intense.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah, well, that ain't good for me, buddy, because I looked, I didn't look exactly great before I moved to New York. Now you're saying, you know, I said I, I talked for the first time ever, I talked to, I'd never talked to him in like actually we texted or DMed, but I was on with Levitar today and on the show with him. Was Tony Reali. And I'd never talked to Tony Tony.

[Nick Wright]

I had always.

[Colin Cowherd]

I had always, you know, kind of admired him from afar. And one of the, I gave Tony a very big compliment about kind of his run on around the Horn. But then I told him I was like, with all that said, I fervently believe that if I had gone through my end because, oh, this is what it was because he is a very positive person and kind of exudes positivity. And they were giving me a hard time for being a little more, more, I don't know, jaded or negative on certain things. And I said to reality, I'm like, well, yeah, man. I was like, when you walk around for 40 years or however old you are looking like you do you think the world's great, right? I was like, you're just. Everybody's nice to you. You're always a handsome guy. I was like, when you walk around as Nick Wright, you have a little bit of more of an edge to you, don't you? I was like, we, we switch bodies for a month. I think doubt you're quite as positive as you are right now, buddy.

[Nick Wright]

You look like if I would have said in the history of movies, you would have been in a movie. You are built for uncut gems. You look like a guy who is behind the scenes going to a jewelry store, making bets. You're on the go. You've got to smoke.

[Colin Cowherd]

You are a little stressed out. I'm a little stressed out. I'm the, you know, I probably have, have, you know, between five to $10,000 in my pocket, but it's also possible that's my total net worth. Like you never know. Like there's. Yeah, absolutely. That's the aesthetic not only I'm going for, it's the authentic one. So thank you for that. I appreciate it.

[Nick Wright]

Nice job, buddy.

[Colin Cowherd]

Great to see you. Talk to you soon, my friend.

[Nick Wright]

The volume.

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[Nick Wright]

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[Colin Cowherd]

This is an iHeart podcast.