What's Wright - Best Of - Nick Wright LIGHTS UP Stephen A. Smith for Jaylen Brown threat, Wemby OFFICIALLY BEST PLAYER in the world, SGA Top 5 guard in NBA history?

Summary

The Herd with Colin Cowherd

"What's Wright - Best Of - Nick Wright LIGHTS UP Stephen A. Smith for Jaylen Brown threat, Wemby OFFICIALLY BEST PLAYER in the world, SGA Top 5 guard in NBA history?"

Date: May 23, 2026
Host: Nick Wright (with co-host Damanze)
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume

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Episode Overview

This "Best Of" episode of what's Wright with Nick Wright focuses on three main stories dominating the NBA conversation:

• Victor Wembanyama’s (Wemby) breakthrough performance and Nick Wright’s bold claim that he’s now the best player in the world.
• The evolving beef between Stephen A. Smith and Jaylen Brown, including Wright’s sharp critique of Stephen A.'s approach to athlete commentary.
• Debates on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s (SGA) historical standing among NBA guards following his second straight MVP.

Wright, in his usual candid, unapologetic style, weaves together in-depth sports history, current events, and piercing media commentary. Several segments reference memorable postseason moments, rivalries, and the shifting landscape of NBA stars and the media.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Victor Wembanyama: Officially the Best Player Alive

[02:37 – 12:55, 12:59 – 18:13]

• Wemby’s Coming Out Party:
  • Nick Wright lauds Wemby's double-overtime playoff performance, drawing a parallel to LeBron James’ 2007 Eastern Conference Finals explosion.
  • Highlights Wemby's 44+ minutes logged against the reigning MVP (Shea Gilgeous-Alexander) and defending champion, noting he “dominated and was the best player by a mile.”

“I am watching Victor Wembanyama and I’m saying that guy is the best player alive.” – Nick Wright [04:16]

• Historic Comparison:

  • Draws direct lineage between Wemby and LeBron (“a phenom who ... stared across the court at a champion and a multi-time MVP and said 'I got something for you'” [07:10])
  • Cites Wemby's performance as “a line-in-the-concrete moment,” indicating a new NBA era where Wemby will be the championship gatekeeper for years to come.

• Competitiveness and the Akeem Olajuwon Parallel:

  • Wright discusses Wemby’s competitiveness and the significance of replicating Akeem Olajuwon’s 1995 feat: responding to an MVP snub with utter domination.
  • Both Akeem (1995) and Wemby (2026) watched their rival receive the MVP trophy and each immediately produced a 41-point, all-around, historic playoff win.

“He went into the building of the up to this point in the postseason undefeated defending champs … and then said … I’m going to make it absolutely unequivocally clear who the best goddamn basketball player walking the planet is.”
— Nick Wright [10:00]

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2. Wimby vs. Chet Holmgren: NBA’s Most One-Sided Rivalry

[20:22 – 25:07]

• Wimby’s Drive Against Chet:

  • The rivalry's roots trace to U18 international games; Chet got MVP over Wimby, despite Wimby outplaying him. “Wimby’s just like disconsolate,” recalls Wright [21:06].
  • The rivalry “might be one-sided, but Chet’s got to get himself amped up for his own side of it.” Wright agrees with Dom2K’s take: “He’s going to have to participate in whatever this is Wimby got going on with him.” [23:14]

• Alex Caruso’s Defensive Impact:

  • Praises Caruso as “brilliant on both ends,” noting irony that Caruso can frustrate Wemby more than the much taller and more hyped Chet.

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3. SGA’s Performance, MVP Status, and All-Time Guard Ranking

[27:25 – 34:36, 58:30 – 65:42]

• SGA’s Underwhelming Game:

  • “It wasn’t good,” says Wright, assessing SGA’s 7-23 shooting night despite a double-double in a marathon game.
  • Notes how Dylan Harper filled in unexpectedly and delivered an outstanding box score (24/11/6/7), shifting the momentum for the Spurs’ supporting cast.

• SGA’s Place in NBA History:

  • Wright lists his top-ten NBA guards, ranking SGA 9th—even comparing favorably with Dwyane Wade, but cautioning against overinflating regular-season stats relative to legends.

“He is without a doubt one of the ten greatest guards ever. … If a month from now he’s also a back-to-back champion, he jumps Wade.” – Nick Wright [59:50]

• International MVP Streak:
  • Notes SGA is the eighth-straight international MVP, with the last American MVP runner-up being LeBron in 2020, foreshadowing Wemby’s impending MVP dominance.

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4. Celtics, Jaylen Brown, and the Stephen A. Smith Beef

[43:34 – 58:30]

• Beef Breakdown:

  • Damanze recaps Jaylen Brown’s critique of Stephen A. Smith: “You’re not using your platform to do real journalism. … Tell this guy to retire.” [43:42]
  • Stephen A. retorts with veiled threats to "report" locker room dirt on Brown.

• Wright’s Response:

  • He blasts Stephen A.’s “mob boss” approach, stating that holding info as blackmail is antithetical to real journalism.
  • Emphasizes that players are and will always be the main event, with media as “the ring toss and the dunk tank at the circus. But we’re not the lions jumping through flaming hoops.” [51:14]
  • Advocates for humility and proper roles for media personalities, warning against escalating on-air feuds with players.

“If you have real information that is not public … you should report it. … But these last few years … Stephen A. has convinced himself that we … are equal stars to the people actually playing – and that’s delusional.”
— Nick Wright [44:21]

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5. The Spurs vs. Thunder: Emerging Stars & Franchise Setups

[35:23 – 38:33]

• Dylan Harper’s Breakout (Spurs):

  • Called “spectacular” after stepping in for De’Aaron Fox and posting a dominant, stat-stuffing performance at just 20 years old [36:39].
  • Wright and Damanze discuss the Spurs’ remarkable prospect haul, even hypothesizing that Harper and Castle may be preferable to the Thunder’s Chet and J-Dub, aside from Wimby/SGA tilt.

• Alex Caruso’s Journey:

  • Recaps Caruso’s decision to leave the Lakers after being lowballed, stressing his crucial defensive role and leadership.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Wemby’s Breakthrough:

  “It is going to be much like, in my opinion, LeBron took that title late May of 2007 … It’s going to be hard to wrestle this thing out of Wimby’s hands.”
  — Nick Wright [11:35]

• On Media vs. Athlete Roles:

  “We are the ring toss and the dunk tank at the circus. But we’re not the lions jumping through flaming hoops. We are added benefit to the main event.”
  — Nick Wright [51:14]

• On SGA’s Place in History:

  “The accolades are going to really need to outstrip the eye test in order for me to move him ahead … I do think historically Dwyane Wade is more his peer than Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant.”
  — Nick Wright [31:55]

• On Chet and Wimby Rivalry:

  “It’s the … Might be a one-sided beef, but Chet’s got to get himself amped up for his own side of it.”
  — Nick Wright [23:14]

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Important Timestamps

• 02:37 — Start of Spurs-Thunder/Wemby discussion
• 04:16 — Nick claims Wimby is now best player alive
• 12:55 — Damanze questions if Wemby’s competitiveness is his greatest trait
• 13:53 — Nick compares Wemby’s conference finals to Akeem Olajuwon’s legendary run
• 20:22 — Chet Holmgren/Wemby rivalry history and dynamic
• 27:44 — SGA’s performance analyzed
• 31:55 — Nick’s all-time NBA guard rankings
• 35:23 — Dylan Harper’s breakout and Spurs/Thunder prospect comparison
• 43:34 — Jaylen Brown vs. Stephen A. Smith beef
• 51:14 — Wright’s “ring toss and dunk tank” analogy for the sports media
• 58:30 — SGA’s all-time ranking and international MVP trend

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Structure & Flow

• The episode moves fluidly from on-court analysis (Wemby’s rise, SGA’s shortcomings, team matchups) to broader context (NBA history, player rivalries, team building) and then pivots to sharp meta-commentary on sports media and the nature of athlete/commentator relationships.
• Nick Wright uses comparisons (LeBron, Akeem) and anecdotes (Caruso’s Lakers exit), maintaining an energetic, occasionally irreverent tone that welcomes debate and challenges sports media orthodoxy.

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Summary

This episode of The Herd/What's Wright delivers a layered, insightful breakdown of the NBA’s present and near future. Nick Wright lays out the torch-passing moment from SGA/Joker to Victor Wembanyama, contextualizes the Thunder-Spurs series in NBA history, and shrewdly positions himself and other media members as supporting cast in the entertainment ecosystem of sport. His critique of Stephen A. Smith’s tactics brings an earnest reminder of what commentary should be, all while celebrating the flashes of stardom from established and emerging players alike. For listeners seeking a mix of cutting-edge basketball insight, historical resonance, and meta-sports critique, this episode is essential.

Transcript

[Nick Wright]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human

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[Damanze]

All?

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[Nick Wright]

Welcome to the Best of the Week for what's Right with Nick Wright. The best takes and moments from this week on the show. Enjoy.

[Damanze]

All right, so we witnessed some cinema Last night between the spurs and the Thunder, somebody finally gave a Thunder a run for their money. So coming into the series, a big question was Victor with Manyamo, would he be tired? Would he be able to balance in these games? Went to double ot. He obviously was not tired. Should we overreact to this game? Where are we at right now?

[Nick Wright]

I don't think, listen, it's overreacting to the game would be saying the series is over. I don't believe that is the case. But I want to talk about Wimby for a second. It'll be more than a second. We're going to talk a lot about Wimby today. But couple weeks ago on this podcast during one of our mailbag episodes, I was asked the question, what's the greatest a player can be all time, rankings wise, without ever actually being the best player alive? And I called my shot on it. I was like, well, whenever I give this take, people get very, very mad. But I explained how I have Kobe Bryant firmly in the top 10 all time and I don't think he was ever the best player alive. And that of course makes people very, very angry because they bring up the fact that Kobe Bryant in 2008 was the league MVP and in 2009 and 2010 won the championship and was the finals MVP and therefore he must be the best player alive. And I understand people having that opinion. But the reason I don't feel that way and the reason I feel they are wrong is In May of 2007 I watched 22 year old LeBron James score 25 consecutive points, 29 of 30 in the Eastern Conference finals against the Detroit Pistons to take control of that series and to without at that Moment in time, LeBron James had never won an MVP, had never played in a finals game, had none of the pelts on the wall that typically you would need to be the best player alive. But I watched the fucking game and I said that guy in this very moment is better at this sport than anyone currently playing. And 19 years later I am watching a Western Conference finals game with a different 22 year old who has never played in the finals, who has never won a league mvp going up against the two time defending league MVP and the defending champion. And I'm watching Victor Wyama and I and I'm saying that guy is the best player alive. And if people are a little stunned hearing me make a LeBron Wimy comp, me too. And I'm not very, I'm not as interested as the Internet seems to be in is Wimby going to make the LeBron Jordan debate obsolete. We should check in on that in, you know, 10 to 20 years. That's not that, that is not in the short or even medium term achievable. That's a separate, that's a long term discussion. But what is a discussion in the immediacy right now is you have a phenom who arrived at the conference finals, stared across the court at a champion and a multi time MVP and said I got something for you. And to demand his point, he's a guy who as of yesterday had only played three games in his entire career where he touched 40 minutes, had played zero games his entire career where he touched 44 minutes, went into double overtime at 44 minutes, played the entirety of the double overtime and dominated it was the best player by a mile. And, and I thought, listen, I was live tweeting at the end of regulation that I thought the Thunder and we'll discuss it when we get to the play by play stuff. I didn't mind them getting a bad shot at the end of the shot clock when it was tied, not at the end of regulation but at the end of the first overtime because I thought Wimby, even though he had just hit the three was just going to be spent. He channeled something extra. And that shot he hit from almost the exact same spot on the court that Steph Curry hit, the most iconic shot of his career that happened to be in the regular season. But it was a Thunder warriors game 2016 en route to the unanimous MVP in 73 win season when Steph also pulled up from right around 30ft and jarred it. Wimby, who had only taken one three all game, who had done all his work on the inside because Chet refused to garden and instead he had J Dub or Alex Caruso. And we'll get into Alex Caruso, who was brilliant. Wimby pulling up with 30 seconds left, down three in overtime, jarring that shot and then in double overtime adding nine more. It is quite simply the type of performance you remember forever. And. People that are high volume enough consumers of the content I produce I think have a very good handle on what my Wimby criticisms have been or haven't been and how most of them have been more media criticisms than the as a player criticisms. And most of my pumping the brakes has been about concern, like just a long term injury concern because of the body type and height and history of all of that. Which it's not to say I didn't take, I think a Strong run of them. For the elbow to Nas Reed and some of the, you know, disagree with him on defense is 50% of winning an MVP. Those things are on the record and I stand by. But I have been not as quick as others and this can be a compliment or an insult to me. It's just what the record is to anoint him. And it's because I really believe in sports, the all time greats, the true legends anoint themselves. And that is what he did last night. He went into the building of the up to this point in the postseason, undefeated defending champs, watched their best guy win the award he wanted and then said, for these next three hours, I'm going to make it absolutely unequivocally clear who the best goddamn basketball player walking the planet is. And that's what he did. And it is going to be much like in my opinion, LeBron took that title late May of 2007 and held that title until Christmas Day of 2018 when he tore his groin and then briefly snatched it back the following season when they won the title again. And then he got hurt again. And he hasn't been the best player in the world since then. But LeBron essentially held that title uninterrupted for more than a decade. It's going to be hard to wrestle this thing out of Wimby's hands. And it doesn't mean, by the way, they're going to win the championship. It doesn't even mean they're going to win this series. It does mean that last night was. A line in the not sand. A line in the concrete moment where Victor when Benyama officially made it clear to every team in the league that wants to win a championship. In one way or another, you're going to have to go through me. And that's going to be the case for the rest of this decade and a good part of the next one.

[Damanze]

Do you think his competitiveness is his. Is his best attribute?

[Nick Wright]

No, I think probably 76 is his best attribute, but I think competitiveness is up there. I think, I think that. And on the competitiveness side, it was perfect how he followed in Akeem's footsteps. So a quick history lesson for the kids out there. Akeem Olajuwon in 1994 had arguably, and nobody says this, but it's certainly arguable had arguably demons a the greatest individual season any player has ever had in the history of the sport. He won defensive player of the year. He won league mvp.

[Damanze]

Oh, wow.

[Nick Wright]

He won Finals mvp. He won the championship and he did it with zero teammates who were All Stars. He did it with Mario Ellie and Robert Horry and Kenny Smith and Vernon Maxwell role players. And Akeem saying, what if I'm the best offensive and defensive player in the league and we win the title? That was 1994, 1995. The Rockets is defending champs, had a very mediocre season. They ended up trading for Clyde Drexler at the deadline because it did not look like they were going to defend their championship. And it looked like this was going to be David Robinson and the spurs year the spurs were the number one seed. They were five and oh in the regular season against the Rockets. And the Rockets in both of their first two playoff rounds faced elimination and then surged back to get to a conference finals. Robinson vs. Akeem. With Michael Jordan having returned and having been dispatched by Shaquille o' Neal and Benny Hardaway and Shaq looming in the finals. And Akeem is that not only defending champ, but defending everything. Defending champ, defending finals mvp, defending defensive player of the year, defending league mvp, all of it. And before game two of that series, Akeem Olajuwon stood on the court and watched the NBA give the MVP award to David Robinson. Forget the fact that Akeem was nowhere close to winning MVP. He got one first place vote. His team was the 6 seed. There was at no point in the year when anyone thought Akeem was going to win mvp. But you know who thought he should have been the fucking mvp? Akeem. And in that game, Akeem Olajuwon, to steal a quote from Michael Jordan, took that personally. And David Robinson, who's one of the 35 greatest players of all time, got absolutely annihilated to the tune of akeem putting up 41 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks. Again, 41, 16, 4, 3 and 2 in a road win to take control of the Western Conference finals. That was May 24, 1995. And on May 18, 2026, Victor Wembanyama watched SGA be handed the MVP award. An MVP that Shea was winning all year and that Wimy, now that the votes were are in, we saw, was never actually that close to winning. But you know who thought he should win it? Wimby. And Wimy responded with his own 41 point masterpiece. AE had 4116, 4, 3 and 2. Wimy had 4124, 3, 1 and 3 and a nice 30 foot three to force double overtime. It's so crazy. Wimby, when he launched that three pointer demons a, he had 29 points in the game. He was having a really nice game, a good game. They were pro. They were going, you know, they looked like they were going to lose.

[Damanze]

It's like a heat check from three type shot and.

[Nick Wright]

Right. Except he had a heat check when he, he hadn't made a three all game. Yeah. And it was. There were 30 seconds left in overtime. He had 29 points. He finished with 41. And much like Akeem, he was universally regarded or is universally regarded as the best defensive player in the world. And much like Akeem, when he has it going like that offensively, there is something, nothing you can do with him. Akeem was at the time, in my opinion, the greatest mid range shooting big man of all time. Wimby is a, you know, just different in all of it. And you know, Akeem six, ten and a half. Wimby seven, six. But this is why I love sports history and this is why I love watching guys go on the journey of realizing their full potential. And it really is something else that Akeem, who I think it's fair to say has helped mentor Wendy Akeem right now is universally regarded as the greatest. Well, I shouldn't say universally because some people have joker ahead of him. They're wrong, but that's fine. Is widely regarded as the greatest international player of all time. Widely regarded as the greatest defensive player since Bill Russell. And Wimby's coming for all of that. Wimby's coming for greatest international player of all time and maybe more. Wimby's coming for greatest defensive player since Russell and maybe more. And the fact that they both in a conference finals, watched someone else win a league MVP and then went and said, nah, it's a goosebumps type of thing. All right, let's talk a little chat here to Monz.

[Damanze]

Oh yeah. So him and Chet, him and Chad kind of have a rivalry. Is it a little bit of a throwback to you having two players with actual beef, considering it's not. It's rare these days?

[Nick Wright]

Well, I don't know. It appears it, it, it's one sided.

[Damanze]

I was just about to say it seems like Wimby just.

[Nick Wright]

I don't think Chat's done anything to him. Yeah, I do think like there was like an under. I'm gonna get the details on this wrong, but like an under 18 Olympics type of thing.

[Damanze]

And, and Chet got the award. I don't know if it was like it. And Wimby did not like you could see.

[Nick Wright]

Outplayed chat. Wimby outplayed Chat. But fouled out the US beat France and chat got MVP with like 10 points. Wimby had like 20 and somebody's team lost. And I was watching the clips of it this morning. Wimy's just like disconsolate. Yeah. I also think there is a, there can be only one like super tall, skinny.

[Damanze]

Yes.

[Nick Wright]

You know, shooter the. All of it. And Wimby just wants to, just, just wants to destroy him.

[Damanze]

Yeah.

[Nick Wright]

And. And up to this point Chat game for. I mean listen, we're going to talk about Alex Crusoe during the show. Alex Crusoe was brilliant on both ends and you know how much I care about athletes getting in the gym and getting strong. Alex Crusoe being as strong as he is gives him oddly a fighting chance to disrupt Wimby. Yeah, like we've seen Caruso, I mean again when we scored 40. I'm not. But we've seen Crusoe guard Joker and give him a little, again, a little bit of trouble. We see him guard Wimby and at least give him a little bit of trouble at times. Cruz is a foot shorter than Chad. Like the, the fact that they, they don't feel comfortable putting Chad on. Ry Chat finished second in the league in mvp. I'm sorry. In defensive Player of the Year. Like it's. So Chat's going. There was a wild. Sent me a tweet that I want to credit the. Let me see if I can find it real quick. This first, let me. This is from Dom, underscore 2K. Who's I guess a you. Wow. Quarter of a million followers. So NBA TV association guy. YouTuber. So he's a big, He's a big guy on NBA Twitter and Twitch and all that. I, I don't say that dismissively at all. I just didn't. When I, I didn't. I wasn't familiar with him. So my apologies. I probably should have been. But he wrote, I understand Chet just want a hoop, but unfortunately he's mentally going to have to participate in whatever this is Wimby got going on with him. That's correct. Like it's the. Might be a one sided beef, but Chad's got to get himself amped up for his own side of it. Dom went on to write, never going to match him as a player or physically. But the energy can't constantly be like Wimby just openly being like, yeah, that's lil bro. Gonna have to participate in the rest of this eventually. That's correct. That's a great take. And that is correct. That is absolutely correct. Like, I don't know what chat needs to do the but he's got a. He's got a Find a way to hate Wimby as much as Wimby hates him. Even if he's like, I didn't do anything to make you hate me, bro.

[Damanze]

Yeah, like after he got the, I mean, the block, if the game would have ended like right after, that would have been awesome.

[Nick Wright]

But so that was the thing. And I tweeted it. I said that was the best moment of Chad's career. Dot dot, dot. Maybe his life. Like the chat, getting that moment on Wendy in that time and had they, you know, had they won, that would have been. Who cares about the. Yeah, point totals or whatever. He came through when it was big. But aside from that, chat was out of sorts.

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[Nick Wright]

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[Nick Wright]

I'm gonna add something else here. See, I don't know where you stand on this. And again, maybe this is a little reactionary. Well, you know what? Let's. Let's do the next two questions, then I'll give my potentially hot take. So let's talk Shay SGA played 51

[Damanze]

minutes, went 7 of 23 from the field. What did you make of his performance?

[Nick Wright]

It wasn't good.

[Damanze]

You looked out.

[Nick Wright]

Now I will say Stefan Castle had the. Hold on. Don't look at the box score. How many turnovers do you think Stefan Castle had?

[Damanze]

I'll go five.

[JJ Redick]

11.

[Damanze]

Oh, Jesus.

[Nick Wright]

Savon Castle had the quietest 11 turnover game I've ever seen. Like when I say quiet, I mean it was. I was watching the whole game obviously, and I. And then I heard Tarico just say as an aside and in one of the overtimes, that was Castle's 11th turnover. It's like.

[Damanze]

And double OT. But I, yeah, I don't feel like turnover.

[Nick Wright]

Usually when a guy has eight turnovers, it's one of the focal points of the game. It's like, oh my God, that guy can't. It was. But it went hand in hand. Dylan Harper had seven steals. So I guess. But. So that's sidebar. It was just when I say quietest, like somehow Stephan Castle had 11 turnovers and I didn't think he played bad. I've never seen that before in my life. Shay, on the other hand, had a 20 point double double with 12 assists and I thought was really bad. And yesterday on the TV show when we found out Shea had won mvp, I gave my list of the nine greatest guards in NBA history in order. And unlike when I did this a month ago, I didn't forget Steph Curry existed. And so the list went. Now I'm doing off top of my head. If I don't count up to nine here, I'm going to be very upset. The list went Michael Magic, Kobe, Stephen West, Isaiah Oscar, Dwyane Wade, Shea Shay at 9 with 10 being either Bob Koozie or Chris Paul. Choose your flavor. And I said if they win another title, if they win this title, he has to at the very least jump D. Wade and you can talk. If they win back to back titles and he's finals MVP again and you want to say that the five greatest guards ever are Michael, Magic, Kobe, Steph, Shea, it's at least a legitimate argument that he jumps not only Wade, but Oscar, Isaiah and Jerry West. It's a legit argument if they win the title. But I was not yet ready to put him ahead of Dwayne Wade. Even though he has two league MVPs and Dwyane Wade has zero. Even though he has four seasons averaging 30 plus. I think Wade has one because. The accolades are going to need to really outstrip the eye test in order for me to move him ahead when I do feel like he is an all time great player who gets more of a production bump than any other all time great player I can remember from his hijinks with the officials. And once again last night he wasn't quite getting those calls. He was guarded more honestly if you will. And he just didn't have it. Now he's a great player. So some nights he won't get the calls, he'll get the exact same looks less with his real quick, just, just, just real quick. Some nights he won't get the calls, he'll get the same looks as last night and he'll be 15 of 23. It's. I am not saying that without the calls he's, you know, that he's fraudulent or he's not great. But I do think historically to Monze he is more in line with Dwyane Wade, one of the 30 greatest players ever than he is with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. But the numbers say he's eye to eye with Kobe and running down Michael and he's not. And so now what were you saying about the antics? Go ahead.

[Damanze]

No, I mean I just, I feel like he's a little less comical. He was a little bit less comical last night and has been since. I don't know.

[Nick Wright]

I agree.

[Damanze]

But yeah, it is a different game.

[Nick Wright]

I think the I, yeah. So I think people feel more comfortable guarding him. I thought yesterday to the ref's credit, the refs let both teams guard very physically. It wasn't a one way street and I think Shay got a little shamed. Yeah, like I, I, honest to God, I do. I think Shea, you know, remember when he did the I Don't need it. I think Shay strikes me as someone who is, who is quite online.

[Damanze]

Right.

[Nick Wright]

And I think he's. Even if he's not, he was aware of what was being said and he's like, all right, I'm gonna show you guys which credit to him for cutting down some of the grifting but does make him a little less unstoppable. Now, I would expect him in game two to come out and score 35. He's a great player. All year long. I said he was the mvp, so I don't want to get this shit twisted, but he needed those overtimes to score 20. And I made this point for. I'll make it again. For a guy that for two straight regular seasons has scored 20 every single time and was this close to having his fifth postseason game in the same time frame not scoring 20, it's noteworthy. I also think Shay might have just had the shortest tenure of best player alive in the history of any sport. It really felt like it was from the. Well, I mean, because it was. I think most people felt it was Joker going into this postseason. Right?

[Damanze]

Yeah.

[Nick Wright]

And then Joker loses and it's kind of like for grab there. Well, it's kind of up for grabs. And then Wimby has his bad moment with the elbow. Shay gets announced as mvp. And it felt like the moment like he was handed the trophy. It's like, all right, he's the two time mvp. They're the defending champs, they're huge favorites. Sh. Congratulations, you're the best player alive. Might have been like 15 minutes, bro. And by, and by the end of the first quarter it's like, nope, it's the other guy. And so I don't even know how that, how that works out. All right, let's talk about who I thought was the second best player on the spurs last night. Yeah.

[Damanze]

So, Dylan, how Harper found out that he's going to be starting an hour before the game. Do you think that de' Aaron Fox got Drew Bledsold?

[Nick Wright]

I don't know if he got Drew blood, so. And I think they're going to keep taking, putting, you know, taking Harper off the bench when Fox gets back. Here's what. And this is the pr maybe prisoner of the moment take from me to Monse. I would rather moving forward, have the Spurs Big three over the Thunder Big three. And it's not close. Yeah. What?

[Damanze]

No, no, easy. Just, I mean, just honestly for me, just because Wimby's in there, like you add the two.

[Nick Wright]

Okay, so let's do it like so let me ask this though, let me ask this though, because maybe the Wimby part is too tilting right. Remove Wimby and remove Shay Harper and Castle versus Chet and J Dub. Yeah, man. Dylan Harper is 20 years old in his first playoff run ever. What did he. I know he had seven steals. What did he have? Like 21? Four. Seven and seven. Something insane last night. I'm going to look real quick. 24. No, I, I shortchanged him a lot.

[Damanze]

Comfortable.

[Nick Wright]

24 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 7 steals, 1 turnover. A plus 14.

[Damanze]

Biggest game of his life. Found out he was starting an hour before the game.

[Nick Wright]

Man, he was spectacular. And so, I mean that is found gold for a team that moved way up in the lottery last year. And you know, I was, we, we discussed for this midway through the year because remember he went to and Con Caniple went three and the spurs didn't really have enough shooting. We thought maybe that. Oh, would the spurs have. If they had do it over again, would they flip flop it? And the answer to that is no,

[Damanze]

they would not hit a shot too.

[Nick Wright]

Yeah, the. And so. And then the other story of the game obviously was Alex Caruso who Rob Polinka wants. There's an unbelievable clip going all around of Alex Caruso on a podcast discussing the Lakers lowballing him to keep Taylor and Horton Tucker and that's why he went to the Bulls. No, that is true. That is true. After they won a championship with Cruz. So they lowballed him to keep Taylor Horton Tucker and he's, you know, he is kindly but pretty clearly ripping Rob Pelinka for what he did on this podcast. And the host of that podcast who is cackling along with him, J.J. redick. That's true. Yeah. Holy crap. Remember J.J. reddick hosted the old man in the three podcast.

[Damanze]

Yeah.

[Nick Wright]

Before he goes to the podcast with LeBron. So Crusoe is telling a story about how the Lakers screwed it up and how Blinka screwed it up and, and JJ's just laughing about it now. JJ, it's pretty good. All right, let me. This is what I want to do because it was such a great game. I want. There were 15 critical moments, sliding doors, moments. I want to get into all of those. But first, let me remind you, today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock bet. Florida's sportsbook. The NBA playoffs are here. The lights are brighter, the pressure's higher in every possession and can change a series. And on Hard Rock bet, every night is your shot to score a major bucket with win or go home energy on the hardwood. I love building same game parlays. You might like the hot hand to drop 30, the big man to control the glass with a double double, the point guard to dish out five assists. However you draw it up, Hard Rock Bet gives you tons of ways to stack your picks into a same game parlay built for the playoffs. If you're ever late to tip off, don't worry. Hard Rock Bet lets you live bet all game long from the first bucket to the final buzzer. Try your first bet on Hard Rock Bet today and you can score $150 in bonus bets. If you win, just place a $5 bet and if it hits, you get not only your winnings but also an extra $150 in bonus bets. But the welcome offer is just the beginning. Hard Rock Bet has new promos daily, so open up the app right now to see what promo you've got today. And sure, Hard Rock Bet is Florida's only legal sportsbook, but you don't have to be in Florida to join the party. Hard Rock Bed is also live in Arizona, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, Colorado and Michigan, with more states on the way. Download the Hard Rock Bet app today and get the party started.

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[Jacob Goldstein]

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[Nick Wright]

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[Nick Wright]

All right, Damanze, go ahead and set up the beef we didn't know we needed Jalen Brown against Stephen A. Smith

[Damanze]

Confrontation between Jaylen Brown and Stephen A. Smith's been brewing. After a few comments back and forth, Jaylen said on Sunday, you want me to be quiet and stop streaming? Well, I want you to get off the these networks because you're not using your platform to do real journalism. You're using your platform to do clickbait. Tell this guy to retire. Said something else and then Stephen A. Stephen A. Responds Jalen Brown, be careful what you wish for. You really want me to Start reporting on that level, locker room, how the organization might feel about you, how Jason Tatum might feel about you. You're on Twitch trying to do what I do. It makes no sense. What is your take on this story?

[Nick Wright]

Okay, first of all, let me just answer Stephen A's question on Jalen Brown's behalf. Yes, please, please. If you, if you have real information that is not public that you can credibly report about Jayson Tatum's feelings about Jaylen Brown, you should report it. If you have real information about the Celtics organization, how they feel about Jaylen Brown that you're just sitting on, yes, you should report it. Like, once upon a time, Stephen A. Was a legitimately great reporter. And I have for years defended Stephen A. When people act like he didn't put the work in. This guy put every level of work in imaginable to get to the top of the field, then had it taken from him. Kind of had a huge show on ESPN back when I was interning at ESPN Radio in New York when he had a show there too. The quite, quite frankly lost that and then built it all the way back up to where he's the biggest name in the space and still works as much as anybody in the business at all times is working. So there are. There's a lot of Stephen A. That I think is admirable and young people can learn from. But these last few years. Where he has convinced himself, it appears that we the commentariat, we the critics, we the people who give opinions on the actual games are equal stars and equal of importance to the people who are playing the actual games is delusional. And Stephen A. In this rant, one of the things he throws at Jaylen Brown is you. You're on a $300 million contract. Let's unpack that just a bit to just level set the way this thing is supposed to work. Jaylen Brown is, I don't know, let's call him roughly the 10th best player in the NBA. I think that's probably about right. Thereabouts, he is as the 10th best player on a $300 million contract, Stephen A. As the number one guy in the entire industry of what we do is on. And I only know this because he made sure everybody knew it is on a $100 million contract. So while God bless him and credit to him and I appreciate the rising tide raising all boats, that is a little reminder that no matter how big the commentator gets, he'll never be quite as big as the people he's commenting on. If the 10th or 11th best guy in just one of the sports you cover is by your own metric, 3xing the salary. It's a good idea of where we stand in the marketplace, which is why. And this is the thing. And I don't even really care so much about the. On court or in stadium. Walk inside where they. They present Stephen A's arrival as if he is Chad Holmgren. That is fine. I. That's fine. It's kind of charming. It's. It's. Some would call it cringe. Some would call it funny.

[Damanze]

It's funny, whatever it is.

[Nick Wright]

Right? It's funny. And so like that. And there's no actual harm in that. There's none. But talking to these guys like you're a mob boss and they better watch what they say. There's harm in it. And I am not. I am. I. I am very rarely in feel like I am in position to give any senior journalists, journalists or commentators or opinionists who are older than me advice. I try. I give it to younger folks if folks ask for it, but I will. And listen, maybe he'll be mad, but this is good advice, man. This is the way this has to work. And the only way it works. We can say whatever we're going to say. While understanding that it is oddly probably good for us professionally in the attention economy if folks fire back, but also having the understanding that if they fire back, that kind of ends it. Like, I. I'll give you my own. And I might not have explained that perfectly, but let me give you my own little instance here, right? I had the unintentional controversy of calling Lamelo Ball a clown, right? He didn't fire back, but his friends and family and everyone around him did. And you know what the response to that is? Hey, stand by what I said. But I understand why you guys have his back. Not. You know what? Not all of a sudden. Let's escalate this war.

[Damanze]

Yeah.

[Nick Wright]

And the reason for that is. And this is where the. I think it's good advice. The audience appreciates us as side attractions to the big tent they came for. We are the ring toss and the dunk tank at the circus. But we're not the lions jumping through flaming hoops. We are added benefit to the main event. And if anybody ever gets it a little twisted that, no, actually I'm the main event. In my experience, the audience, even if they think Jaylen Brown's twitch streams are absurd, which I think most people do, even if they think that Jaylen Brown has handled his off season poorly the way I think many people do, are going to see this and be like, wait, what are you saying, bro? Are you, are you telling, are you telling this superstar athlete to stay in his lane? Are you, you know, late 50s, early 60 year old man getting in a war of words with a 29 year old? Is that what's happening? And it makes all of us look bad, man. And also, here's the other thing. You're the only guy who does it. Like, there's like some of the former athletes turned commentators will get in this T with the athletes. That'll happen, but nobody else is just constantly using their platform to run back the same playbook that if we're being totally honest, we saw you run on Kevin Durant, I want to say, almost a decade ago, where you stare down the barrel of the camera and you're like, don't make me report what I know. It's like, bro, if you know, report whatever you want. But these veiled. You don't know how much power I have threats like, come on, like, really, like what? Like, what are we doing? And again, I'm not. I, you know, I have my own foibles and flaws from ego or as a broadcaster or whatever it is. But I can promise you this, I promise you this, that I understand one of the taxes of being the style of broadcaster that I am, which occasionally ruffles some feathers, will occasionally rise to the level of the awareness of the people you're talking about, is that when they fire back, even if it is, in your opinion, inaccurate, misleading, unfair. The answer is not to go to the mattresses and escalate. The answer is to stand by what you said, have a smile on your face and recognize people are here to see them. They. The, they are so popular and so important in the cultural zeitgeist that we make a king's ransom with our only value being talking about them. That's the, that's. And if, if you want to change that paradigm, then you have to move from commentator to actual performer to the, you know, to use the. Teddy Roosevelt or Franklin Roosevelt. I always get this wrong. Producers check me on this. Which Roosevelt is, I want to know. But it's the LeBron quote that he loves so much. You've got to actually be the man in the arena. Tatty Roosevelt. Thank you. And if you're not, you're always going to look a little foolish trying to go bar for bar with the guys who are. Like you. It's also one of the reasons bigger picture take then we'll move on. I said five minutes. It's been 10, maybe longer. I do think fans like media on media beefs. I don't think it makes people feel uncomfortable. I don't think people get like turn away cringeworthy whatever it is. I do think people for some reason or another are it's a little reality TV ish. They are a little interested in that because we're all swimming in the same lanes. But I just, I can't. I can't wake up another morning and be scrolling Twitter and see the latest superstar athlete that Stephen A. Has issued a veiled threat to via the A block of first take. I just can't believe it. I just. Can you imagine for real if after, if after the Lonzo stuff, if instead of the next day I came out wearing a clown wig or nose, I was like, you don't want me to pull your driving records from Slovenia, where? Lithuania, when you were overseas. You don't. You don't want me to dig into the HOA violations from that house you put the go kart track on the roof of. You don't want me to do it.

[Damanze]

I know stuff, man.

[Nick Wright]

I know stuff. I know technically it's my job to report the things I know, but I know it and I keep it in my back pocket in case I ever have to use it. Like the big joker in a spades game. Give me a break in news that was, you know, embargoed for weeks and then broken hours early. Shea is a back to back mvp and even if I spend a lot of my time when discussing Shay talking about how some of his hijinks irritate me, his effectiveness and brilliance as a player is undeniable. And his arc of being a Where Was he the 11th pick of the draft? Being a lottery pick but not by no means being thought of as a sure thing to being one of the key pieces of the Paul George trade to being the leading scorer on a bad OKC team where they even Amidst a tank one year shut them down to now four straight years. Four straight averaging 30 plus back to back years winning league MVP going away and this season doing it on 55% from the field. It is offensive production by a guard that puts him in absolute rarefied air. And because of that here is where he stacks up at this moment. Historically there are only four guards that you can say without a doubt. Inarguably, undeniably there is no case to be made against it had better careers were better than him. Michael, Magic, Kobe, Steph now in My opinion Jerry West, Oscar Robertson and Isaiah Thomas. And I'm not going to argue with folks on the Internet about Isaiah Thomas when you compare their numbers. Isaiah Thomas was not a numbers guy. He was a I played in one of the hardest eras ever and I beat everybody that mattered guy and that dated from college to the pros. But West Oscar, Isaiah to me are also ahead of him and he is eye to eye now with Dwyane Wade. So he is without a doubt one of the ten greatest guards ever. In my opinion he is right now 9th. If they win the title, he'll leap weight and be eighth. But if somebody wants to sit here and make the case he's fifth, you can make that case. I think West Oscar and I Weston Oscar certainly. And also I would argue Isaiah better, but that's where he is undeniably one of the 10 greatest guards ever. You could argue the fifth greatest guard ever. I think he slots in eight or nine with it being Michael, Magic, Kobe, Steph, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Isaiah Thomas, Dwayne Wade and then him. But if a month from now he's also a back to back champion, he jumps Wade. And. A few weeks ago I made the point on TV that when he's, when he's getting the calls that he gets in the regular season, he's Michael Jordan level statistics. And when he doesn't, I said he drops to peak Dwyane Wade. And I think that was misconstrued as, I don't know, maybe insulting to both guys. Insulting. Dwight, I you're going to find very few people that have Dwyane Wade ranked higher historically than I do and the amount of respect I have for him as a player. My point wasn't that being peak Dwayne Wade is a bad thing. My point was that being peaked Dwayne Wade is unbelievable. And about how I see SGA as a player even though they're very different in how they go about it. And so he was all year long we talked about MVP and I would be making the case for Luca or we'd be talking about Wimby. All of it was who deserved to be second on people's ballots. Because SGA clearly basically wire to wire deserve to be first and he's the rightful winner. And as far as the international stuff goes, SGA is the eighth consecutive, is the eighth straight year in an international player, is one league MVP. But it goes further than that. This is the sixth straight year international guys have gone first and second and it is the fifth straight year international guys have gone first, second, third. The last American to finish top two in MVP voting was LeBron James in 2020. And that wave is not yet crested, as Wimby appears to be ready to take it over. And if right now you had to rank who's the likeliest American to win, who's the next American to win an MVP? I think think I would rank it. Ant1. Tatum 2 and then Cooper Flag 3 and the the answer might be the that I should have Cooper flag ranked higher because WIMBY is about to rip off a bunch in a row. But we'll see.

[Jacob Goldstein]

This is Jacob Goldstein from what's yous Problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform. In a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at Odoo. That's o d o o dot com.

[Nick Wright]

M&M's popped caramel do sound different. Oh, no. People are gonna be obsessed. What do you mean? People hate the sound of chewing. Maybe they won't like the crunch. Maybe we're saved. Wait a minute. Yellow. Have you been eating them this whole time? Mmm. So tasty. Hands off us. M&M's popped caramel. It's more fun together.

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[Nick Wright]

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[Nick Wright]

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