Jason McIntyre (2:43)
I actually vomit when I see other people vomiting, which is similar. Yeah, let's not start. Let's not start the show with vomit. Let's start with the tears, because the tears were flowing, and then the points were last night in Dallas for Luka Doncic. My man. You know, this is real. Honestly, guys, I'm not, like, a starstruck individual, but I did run into Steph Curry a couple years ago. I was like, steph, I got to get a photo. You know, there's only a handful of athletes I do that for, and Luka Doncic is right there at the top. I am so in awe of this guy. To watch him crying pregame back in Dallas last night, sitting on the bench, and then he comes in and just starts dropping threes. Folks, it was a phenomenal event last night in Dallas. You don't see this often. And I'm so happy for Luka Doncic. You guys know I'm a Laker fan, obviously, but watching him watch that tribute video. And P.S. there was a lot of skinny Luca in that tribute video. He has put on some weight. No doubt about it. We'll get to Nico Harrison and why he traded him shortly. But then Luca just comes out. Look at him cooking. Step back. 3 AD. How you like that? It was a master class from Luca. 45 points. His, I guess you'd say his best game as a Laker. It's only game 27, folks. That's like one third of a regular season with the Lakers. Luca was cooking all night. Lakers get the win. And I believe last night's game was pretty much a blueprint for what we'll see in the playoffs. Luca early set the tone. He's fresh. Nobody can guard him. I'm sorry. Even though he's heavier than he used to be, Nobody can guard Luka Doncic. And then, you know, Luka gets his rest. LeBron comes in late as the closer. 14 for LeBron in the fourth. Lakers inch closer to that coveted third seed. And if you look at what Luca did in the first half, he had 31 points. The Mav starters had 35. Luka was phenomenal. And after the game, here's Luca talking about the tribute video and his return to Dallas. So many emotions when I was watching that video, I was like, there's no way I'm playing this game. But, you know, all my teammates have my back. They were really supporting me. So I really appreciate that, folks. It was an event like we haven't seen before in sports, okay? Most of these guys who leave their franchises do it willingly, voluntarily. I want out. LeBron departs Cleveland from Miami. I'm taking my talents to South Beach. Well, when he went back to Cleveland, the vibe was hostile. The environment was tense. It was like, oh, this could get ugly. Let's not anybody do anything stupid. And it was just like, not a great atmosphere, okay? And then Kevin Durant, right, starts his career in Seattle and then Oklahoma City, and then he decides, I'm out. I don't want to be here anymore. And it was a smart move by LeBron to go to Miami. We agree it was a smart move by Kevin Durant to leave OKC for Golden State. Many of you disagree. I think that was a genius move by Kevin Durant. I totally agree with it. I've defended it for years. But when KD went back to Oklahoma City, he was met with venom, bile, anger, all the cupcake nonsense started by his frenemy, Russell Westbrook. Folks, this is something we haven't seen before. Luca was met with an applause the second he walked into the arena. You saw Lakers Luka jerseys on Mavs fans. It was a crazy setting. And again, I mean, I can't even think of anything across any sport where we've seen this before. And for Luca to thrive in that environment after crying, I will say I loved that. J.J. redick had them give the take foul late in the game with about 90 seconds left, just so they could sub out Luca. And then it was a round of applause, right? Every whole arena standing ovation for Luca. He gets to the bench, and LeBron is leading the. Luca. Luca, like Austin, Reeves, LeBron, the whole bench, they're fired up, standing up, and the arena's backing Luca. This is Dallas. It was just a scene. We haven't seen that before. I don't know that we'll see one of those again. And we'll get to why shortly, but I want to hear. I want you to hear JJ Redick talk about everything that encompassed Luca going home. This is great. The. The moment with the tribute video and him sitting by himself and getting to actually live that and live in the moment and allowing himself to be vulnerable and his teammates support. Some of his teammates got emotional Some of the coaches got emotional. It was a beautiful moment. Thought the video was great, but I think just his ability to then go perform, lights turn on. He's, you know, he's teary eyed still as we walk out on the court for the tip ball, to have the emotional resolve to then go put on that kind of performance, it's, it's superhuman. That's a great way JJ Redick is so good by the way, as a Lakers coach. Love him. And I saw interesting stat from espn. Last night was the first time Dirk Nowitzki attended a Dallas home game since the trade. Okay. He went to Luca's first game with the Lakers. Okay. He's now. This is his first game at a Dallas, at the arena since they dealt Luka. What does that tell you? And this is the other angle I want to get to. I talked earlier this week about I'm a risk taker by nature. Whether it's moving my family across the country, quitting my job to start a website. You know, obviously I like gambling. I enjoy going to Vegas. I, I don't know what word I would use to describe my sports gambling habits. I like prolific, but, you know, not every season is winning. I'm a risk taker and I think a lot of people in this industry are. You kind of got to, you put yourself out there. I'm on national TV talking about how I love Steph Curry and Luka Doncic. Like, this isn't normal behavior. Nor is what Nico Harrison did in Dallas, trading Luka Doncic. Now we drilled down on this in the morning meeting, trying to figure out like a, can they rebound from this and be like, where do you go from here if you're Nico Harrison? And, and I started thinking about it. I, I was going to have my morning donut, but it didn't show up in the dressing room this morning. I don't know, I guess they forgot it. You know, I've been needing some sugar energy to get fired up for the show. Cowherd's on magnesium. I've been using donuts. And I just wonder if Nico Harrison has such a bad spot right now for himself. There were fire Nico chants throughout the arena last night. It's like, luca, Luca, we love you, Nico Harrison. Fire Nico and that people. And then they have the video of him in the tunnel just standing there stone faced, like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do to dig out of this hole? I don't know that they can get out of it and stop with the hey, Kyrie's Gonna come back from the acl, maybe by the All Star break next year. It's gonna be fine, folks. They've got Kyrie and AD as their. As they're like their nucleus. Those are two guys who are often injured. They've played together for 25 minutes. That's it on the court since the trade. And I. I started to have this moment of clarity, and I'm like, wait a minute, Wait a minute. Nico Harrison has been a big swing guy. He took a big swing for Kyrie, and it worked when he was opposite Luka Doncic. Then the next year, he goes out and gets PJ Washington and. And Daniel Gafford, and everybody's like, I don't know about those guys. They haven't done anything. Those swings worked. Dallas got to the finals. Then he took a swing he didn't need to. Shipping Luca to the Lakers. Lakers fans, by the way, haven't been this excited about a star coming to town since Pau Gasol was gifted to them. Didn't we get the Statue of Liberty from, like, Paris or something? Gosh, I probably butchered that. But it felt like that's what their teams are just handing the Lakers stars. Here's Pau Gasol, here's Luka Doncic, and I don't know if Nico has any way out of this. If this morning, I'm sure he's looking at some of the videos. I'm sure he could say I'm not paying attention. There's a video of Mark Cuban when the fire Nico chants are happening. Fans near Mark Cuban have a camera on him, and Mark Cuban's just like, what if. What. What have I. What. What has happened since I left this organization as the owner? I mean, he looked like a emperor of Rome who had, like, stepped down, and now Rome's got this new emperor, and it's just not going good at all. I mean, they were in the finals less than a year ago. And I keep coming back to this. When you are a big swing guy by nature, and now your last swing is starting to be compared to the Babe Ruth trade, which is, you know, over the last hundred years and change in sports, considered the worst trade ever. Okay? I think the Red Sox were cursed for, like, a hundred years. You have to sort of wonder, how does he get out of this? And it's not going to just be, oh, Kyrie's coming back. And I started to look at the salary cap and the draft picks. Dallas does have three draft picks in the first round this year. They're obviously not going to Be great picks. But you start to wonder who was Kyrie's guy who followed him to Brooklyn. Kevin Durant. And I wonder if Mr. Big Swing, Nico Harrison. Hey, man, we got to do something. Do you make a move in this off season for Kevin Durant? Now, you could be compounding your mistake. You know us investors, we love compound interest. Nico Harrison is the gambler who's down big and decides, hey, can I get the. The car? My. The title to my car. Let me toss that in there. Here's my watch. And he's just trying desperately to dig out of a hole. I wonder if he makes a big swing here and goes after, say, a Kevin Durant. Hey, kd, you just want to hoop. We got kyrie, we got A.D. can you come on down? We'll give up everything not bolted down. And all the draft picks give us Kevin Durant. They. They need to do something because at this point, this has to be a franchise low for the Mavs since, you know, the Roy Tarpley days back in the 80s, that was a mess. I won't even get into it, but I, I've, I've always been a Luka Doncic fan. And to see him cry on the bench because they traded him. It's very clear, people, he did not want to go. I'm not saying he didn't want to go to the Lakers, but he loved it in Dallas. He was Mr. Dallas. There's videos of him with the cowboy hat on. Howdy, partner. Like he had embraced his new city. They loved him. And then one guy or the owner, some debate as to who was driving force, but it was pretty clear, like, hey, let's get rid of Luca. And I, and I get it on some level, he does, does look heavier than he did in his first three years when he was cooking everybody in the league. But folks, historically, this is going to go down as one of the biggest screw ups in NBA history. I mean, you could deny it all you want. If Luka's able to stay healthy, he's on track to be a top 10 player all time. That's just a fact. If you look at the numbers, he is on track to be a top 10 player all time. Now, obviously, will the titles come with them? We'll see. I think they're going to the finals this year. I think the lakers with Luca, LeBron, Austin Reaves, they're looking at the number three seed. And I'm sure you guys saw what else happened around the league last night. Golden State warriors lose at the buzzer and now in the play, in. It's almost like the stars are aligning for Luca and the Lakers. So, Alex, you cried last night.
