NBA Playoffs Game 1 Recap, Lakers vs TWolves, and the Disaster in Dallas | 4.21

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Right Time with Bomani Jones

Episode: NBA Playoffs Game 1 Recap, Lakers vs TWolves, and the Disaster in Dallas | 4.21
Date: April 21, 2025
Host: Bomani Jones
Co-host/Producer: Sean (and guest producers)

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Overview

This episode kicks off the NBA playoffs with Bomani and Sean recapping Game 1 action, highlighting the Rockets vs. Warriors, evaluating the Lakers vs. Timberwolves, and diving into the chaos surrounding the Dallas Mavericks (“the disaster in Dallas”). Jones mixes basketball analysis with trademark humor, pop culture, digressions, and listener call-ins about wild coach stories. The hosts unpack what’s happening on the court and behind the scenes, mixing thoughtful commentary with banter and memorable quotes throughout.

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Main Topics and Key Insights

1. NBA Playoffs: Game 1 Reactions

Rockets vs. Warriors

• Bomani starts out tired but jazzed for playoff basketball:

  "It is the NBA playoffs and that is the most wonderful time of the year..." (01:25)

• Rockets are getting by "on tough guy stuff." Bomani credits their effort and physicality but questions reliability, especially with Jalen Green:

  "[Jalen Green] just strikes me as being unreliable in every walk of his life." (03:40)

• Comparing “old man” teams, Bomani humorously questions whether the youthful Rockets can “old-man” their way past the truly veteran Warriors:

  "Young guys…expected to play an old man game, except they are playing the most battle tested old dudes that this postseason has to offer." (05:02)

• Rockets' cultural adaptation & NBA's cultural exchange:

  "One of my single favorite things about the NBA is the idea of the cultural exchange." (05:11)

• Notable Side Note: Bomani does not root for the Rockets but roots against his Houston friend Joel D. Anderson, who hates Jimmy Butler:

  "I'm not rooting against the hometown. I'm rooting against Joel D. Anderson." (08:08)

Weekend Game Recaps

• Sunday games were mostly non-competitive blowouts, except for the primetime game.

  "Every other game was a blowout and even Rockets Warriors, I was able to really turn it off at a certain point because I knew this game was over." (09:44)

• Saturday’s slate—much more entertaining, especially the Clippers, Nuggets, and Pacers.

2. In-Depth Game Analysis

Pacers

• Surprised by the Pacers’ improvement, crediting Halliburton and Siakam, and questioning whether their run is sustainable:

  "The Pacers did something though, that doesn't happen very often, which is they started off bad and turned out good." (11:26)

Clippers vs. Nuggets

• Kawhi Leonard’s continued dominance and health (with playful superstition about “jinxing” his knees).
• James Harden’s playoff narrative:

  "James Harden is not useless in the playoffs. James Harden is useless in the last game of the season." (13:57)

• Clippers’ “old man” squad depth (Batum, Harden, Zubac) discussed humorously as a unique facet of their playoff viability.

Nuggets Superiority

• Jokic labeled "the best player on earth":

  "What they got to deal with is the best player on earth. Earth, Sean, the best player on earth." (15:20)

• Michael Porter Jr.’s struggles and coach’s public criticism prompt team commentary:

  "If you can't focus, maybe you're playing the wrong sport." (from Jokic, 18:03)

3. The Lakers, Timberwolves, and “The Disaster in Dallas”

Lakers vs. Timberwolves

• The Lakers' inability to protect the rim; Minnesota's hot shooting unlikely to be sustainable; and early warning signs for L.A.

  "They shot…21 for 42 from three. That's not going to happen every night...that was largely anomalous." (24:45)

• Anthony Edwards labeled as future superstar—this playoff run is his proving ground.

The Dallas Mavericks Situation

• Bomani is reading Tim McMahon’s book on Luka Doncic (“Wonder Boy”) and references a bombshell ESPN article about the Mavericks’ dysfunction.
• Patterns of Luka’s conditioning, defense and front-office turmoil dominate the segment:

  "Not playing defense and being in poor condition are running themes in this book about dealing with Luka." (28:35)

• Nico Harrison’s handling of the training staff, injuries, and trade fallouts is discussed:

  "If the word is your strength and conditioning team is getting guys hurt, then you can't work there anymore." (31:24)

• Mark Cuban's visible distancing, and even Dirk Nowitzki’s detachment, signal that the Mavericks’ leadership is in crisis:

  "Dirk and Luka ain't even like, they cool, but they not like freaking frack...To lose the…the...when you think Dallas Mavs, you think Dirk." (36:49)

• Jason Kidd is ensuring the blame doesn’t fall on him.

  "If it does, it ain’t gonna happen to him all by himself." (34:05)

• Bomani’s assessment: The situation is so bad that it's overshadowing the actual playoff series.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Jalen Green’s reliability:
  “He just strikes me as being unreliable in every walk of his life.” – Bomani (03:40)

• On rooting against Joel, not the Rockets:
  “I want Jimmy Butler to whoop Joel’s ass. Not like a literal ass whooping, but, like, in the sense that the Joel roots for that is what I want to happen.” – Bomani (08:27)

• On old teams in the playoffs:
  “The Clippers got a bunch of old ass dudes…They're not doing this to you with youth.” – Bomani (14:01)

• On Russell Westbrook’s streaky shooting:
  “When he hits it, he'd be like, hell, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. And they're like, no, no. I mean, that may be what you talking about, but that'll be what you be doing.” (17:06)

• On the Mavericks’ disaster:
  “I have never seen a situation where somebody has to be fired…it doesn’t matter whether or not he was right about the trade because you’re not going to find out…for years now.” – Bomani (31:24)

• On Dirk Nowitzki’s distance:
  "Dirk is like, nah, homie, I'm not even like, Dirk and Luka ain't even like, they cool, but they not like freaking frack." – Bomani (36:42)

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Important Timestamps and Segments

• Open: Playoff fatigue and allergy jokes (01:25–03:00)
• Rockets/Warriors breakdown and cultural exchange in NBA (03:11–06:48)
• Bomani’s Houston fandom and Joel Anderson rivalry (07:00–09:05)
• Weekend playoff games, schedule complaints (09:30–11:00)
• Pacers improvement, Siakam discussion (11:15–13:21)
• Clippers/Nuggets, Kawhi, Harden, Porter callout (13:27–18:28)
• Lakers/Timberwolves tactical analysis, Anthony Edwards focus (22:06–25:54)
• The “Disaster in Dallas” segment—book, report, dysfunction (28:15–38:01)

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Listener Call-Ins: Wildest Coach Quotes

Funniest “Things Coaches Said” Stories

• Caller 1: Coach said, "You really fucked the dog on that one" (54:21)
• Caller 2: Art Briles offers a recruit at dice game—"That's the kind of players we need" (56:22)
• Caller 3: Legendary (and disturbing) story: coach after “We Are Marshall” game, says, "I wish it had been you motherfuckers on that plane instead." (58:32, 59:35 replayed)
• Bomani's shock and laughter provide memorable responses, especially to the last story.

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Off-Court & Culture Segments

If You Haven't Heard:

• College students and the grind of Wall Street jobs (46:12–47:45)
• Modern grandparenting expectations vs. reality (47:45–51:08)

Producer Goodbye:

• Touching on the departure of a beloved show producer (51:08–53:01)
• Bomani: "If you’re good enough to work on this show, you’re probably too good to work on this show..." (51:45)

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Tone and Style

• Conversational, sharp, and playful. Bomani delivers pointed sports analysis mixed with self-deprecating humor, banter, and cultural references.
• Frequent asides, in-jokes, and direct addresses to the chat/listeners.
• Bounces from sharp basketball insight to laughs-to-keep-from-crying about front office disasters.
• Memorable interplay between Bomani, Sean, and producer/co-host.

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Final Thoughts

• Best Quote to Close:
  "I'm inclined to believe you are a hater and I'm glad you weren't on that plane. Take it easy." – Bomani (61:01)

Summary:
Essential listen for NBA fans wanting more than just scores and stats—this episode blends playoff breakdowns, league gossip, and real-world asides, all with Bomani's signature perspective. The “disaster in Dallas” unfolds as a cautionary tale, while the playoffs themselves remain the main event.
Recommended for:

• Listeners who want rich hoops convo, off-court drama, and unfiltered laughs, with plenty of fan interaction.

Transcript

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[Bomani Jones]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Right.

[Sean]

Time, A Wave Original presented by Perplexity. My name is Bomani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube, subscribe like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater.

[Bomani Jones]

Sean.

[Sean]

I can hear myself back in the headphones. It is the most wonderful time of the year. It's also the most terrible time of the year because while most of this time that we was late getting it cracking, it was because of technical difficulties. Then there was the part after that where I kept sneezing all the goddamn time because of allergies. That is not the wonderful time of the year. However, it is the NBA playoffs and that is the most wonderful time of the year. Which is a big part of why it is that I am so sleepy. Trying to figure out how to budget like energy expenditure and all of that is a little bit difficult. Yesterday was the worst kind of situation. Yesterday being Sunday where it was three cheeks games all up in the afternoon and then at night we get the game we actually want to see. But man, I ain't really got it in me to be making it like it's my fault. I had room to take a nap and I did not take a nap. It's my fault. Oh, shout out to Obvious Solution guy in the chat. The guy's like Zyrtec, my boy. You don't even know how to spell the shit, Donovan. Yeah, thanks.

[Bomani Jones]

Thanks.

[Sean]

Thanks for your brilliant idea. My allergies are messing with me. Have you considered medicine? Oh, shit.

[Bomani Jones]

Wow.

[Sean]

What would I ever do without you? Anyway, we got the Rockets and the. And the Rockets. I mean. See what I'm saying? I'm really sleepy. The Rockets and the Warriors. How about that one? That will be the game. Shout out to everybody who has been pretending that they have watched the Rockets play this year. And you know goddamn well that you have not. I have not been pretending that I watched the Rockets play this year. I actually have seen the Rockets play this year. I saw them play a game in Madison Square Garden. Sean, the sound is back, right? I saw them play a game in Madison Square Garden. I don't watch that. Boy. I'm in. Do a couple things, however. Was my. My guy named Shangun, man, he could have robbed me on 125th street and I would not have been able to get the police very, very much help up until that game last night. Let me tell you what I find interesting about that game. The Rockets are out here getting it done largely on, like, tough guy stuff, right?

[Bomani Jones]

They play really hard. They go muscle you. You got dudes like Dylan Brooks. They got irritants.

[Sean]

They are, as far as I am concerned, a little bit too dependent on. On the reliability of Jalen Green, who I know this might sound unfair. He just strikes me as being unreliable in every walk of his life.

[Bomani Jones]

I don't have. I don't have a great deal of evidence to indicate this, but I look at him and you know what he looks like? He look like he about to be 15 minutes late. If it's 15 again, I don't know.

[Sean]

If I'm being entirely fair, but anyway.

[Bomani Jones]

The reason I bring them up is for them to win. It feels like they're gonna have to get it done with a certain, like, old Manish force of will sort of way in order to win that even Shangun, who people call Baby Yokage, I don't think their games are that similar.

[Sean]

I just don't think Shangun is especially athletic. And they both from. You know, I don't even know Sean.

[Bomani Jones]

Shangun is from Turkey, but that don't mean he from Europe.

[Sean]

Know what I mean?

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Yeah, correct. Correct.

[Bomani Jones]

I don't even know if he wanted him.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

No, no. I think he's. He's lived in Houston long enough that he's actually one of them. You know, like, that's.

[Bomani Jones]

I gotta say, I Would I need to hear his voice?

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Because I'm a Rockets fan. So if you hear him in these, like, Instagram videos and stuff, I was like, oh, he's been hanging out with Jalen Green a little too long, you know?

[Bomani Jones]

Okay, okay, okay. No, no, no. Not long enough. Well, maybe Dylan Green, he might be.

[Sean]

Hanging out with a little bit too.

[Bomani Jones]

Long, but, like Fred and them boys, maybe he can hang out with them. Like, we gonna get to the place where we can ask him who got the best verse on Still Tipping. Okay, I see that, Sean. I don't know if we really talked.

[Sean]

About that this much on this show, but one of my single favorite things about the NBA is the idea of the cultural exchange. I love nothing more than these cats.

[Bomani Jones]

That learn to speak English in the NBA. Like, I didn't watch the whole thing, but one of those podcasts had Marcus all on.

[Sean]

Oh, yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

I think it was like the Grizzlies dudes. And you have to remember that when Powell went to Memphis, they brought Mark over there. So Mark went from Spain to Memphis.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

And Mark sounds more Memphis than anything. Like, his. His accent is just more Memphis than Spanish or broken English. He's like a fully Memphis dude.

[Bomani Jones]

Yes. And that is a conceptually wild thing. Like, they said that boy came from Spade and they had him in the Frazier. And you may be asking yourself, what's the Frazier? Is something they call the the, right? Like. Like whatever it is they call it the The. The. It might be a thing about it. Anyway, the point that I was gonna make is the Rockets need to get by with old man game. Except the warriors have all of the old man wisdom, right? They've got Steph Curry to pull out what it matters. They got Jimmy Butler to pull it out when it matters. They got Draymond Green to do Draymond Green kind of stuff. Right? I cannot think of a situation with young guys who are being expected to play in a lot of ways an old man game, except they are playing the most battle tested old dudes that this postseason has to offer. I need to be honest with you, though. I'm in a trick bag with this series. I am not a Rockets fan and.

[Sean]

So I can explain this to you guys.

[Bomani Jones]

I grew up in Houston, but we moved to Houston when I was seven.

[Sean]

By the time we got there, I.

[Bomani Jones]

Already had teams, so it was not.

[Sean]

Time for me to switch up teams.

[Bomani Jones]

So I do not root for the Rockets, but I do not root against the hometown, especially out of the Astros.

[Sean]

And the Braves don't play in the Same league, right?

[Bomani Jones]

I do not root against the hometown.

[Sean]

That's not what I do.

[Bomani Jones]

But there is somebody in my hometown that I do root against fervently.

[Sean]

And you guys know who that is, is Joel Anderson.

[Bomani Jones]

And so Joel hates the Warriors. Cause he lived in the Bay for.

[Sean]

A long time, and they were playing against the Rockets.

[Bomani Jones]

Perfectly reasonable. Um, Joel hates Warriors fans. Even more reasonable. And as many of you know, for reasons that I don't quite understand and.

[Sean]

Don'T really make a lot of sense, Joel really, really, really hates Jimmy Butler. He really, really does. I love Joel being wrong about Jimmy Butler at every turn.

[Bomani Jones]

Of course, the problem is the way Joel's game is.

[Sean]

Until Jimmy win a championship, he's always right.

[Bomani Jones]

Nothing matter. Joel, Joel. Old last laugh, right? Like, that's just kind of how he gets down. Anyway, I want Jimmy Butler to rub.

[Sean]

Joel's face in it.

[Bomani Jones]

I'm not rooting against the hometown. I'm rooting against Joel D. Anderson. And the only reason I'm not saying his middle name is because I don't know if he wants you to know.

[Sean]

What his middle name is.

[Bomani Jones]

That's the only thing that's sparing us.

[Sean]

Under these circumstances right now.

[Bomani Jones]

Somebody in the chat talking about Joel catching strays. This ain't no straight. What are you talking about? I'm shooting dead at him. Ain't no straight. The hell you talking about? A stray? Oh, I want to be very, very clear, because apparently I'm not being as direct as I thought I was being. I want Jimmy Butler to whoop Joel's ass. Not like a literal ass whooping, but, like, in the sense that the Joel roots for that is what I want to happen. I want a man who idolizes Jim Harden to lose. That's what I want. Is that enough for you, Leonard? Anyway, watch some of that game.

[Sean]

Sean was a very interesting collision of events on Sunday. I didn't really do much celebrating either, but it was four Tweester on Sunday.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Yeah, it was. He has risen. And we have also risen. One of those days.

[Bomani Jones]

Yes. It all. It came together. Did I ever send you my four Twister playlist? I need to send that to you.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

I think I got to hear this.

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, I think you'll. You'll enjoy the four Twister playlist a great deal.

[Sean]

I'll send it to you. You can just look at it and you'll be like, oh, okay, I see what he's talking about here.

[Bomani Jones]

But them other games are so whack. I saw that schedule, Sean. They were all like, Double digit favorite games. I scheduled a photography lesson for Sunday afternoon. I was like, I ain't watching that shit. What are you crazy? I'm not watching these.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

I mean, I was like, you know what? I can, I can map my whole day around making sure I'm on the couch at 6:30 for Rockets Warriors. And luckily it worked out. Where every other game was a blowout and even Rockets Warriors, I was able to really turn it off at a certain point because I knew this game was over.

[Bomani Jones]

We knew they were going to be blowouts before the game even started. What I'm asking for under these circumstances, if we only got one game to watch, could you not put that at late night? Right? If we only got one game to watch, could you please put that at 3:30 or maybe the six, the six o' clock game, right. That, that window right there I feel like would be perfect for everybody. Instead they put in late. Man, I saw some of the game, right? I mean, I saw how it ended. I knew how it was going to end. All of that. Hey, and Rich reloaded in the chat room. Stop saying I'm advocating violence against Joel. We don't advocate violence here. I just want them to feel bad. It's not the same thing. But anyway, the day before the Saturday games, okay, we were cooking with gas.

[Sean]

On the Saturday games.

[Bomani Jones]

I mean it kind of went like you probably thought it would be Milwaukee before Dame Lillard. They got their doors blown off. But Sean, you see that day, Lillard had a lot to say to them boys on that other team. I, I enjoy NBA players sniping. They're not gonna fight. I understand that. That's not they fault, right? Y' all won't let them fight.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

I, I love how it's a classic NBA fight where Dame Lillard says, I'm gonna put you not come see me outside after this game. You know, that's the state of the NBA we're in.

[Bomani Jones]

That is where we are. The Pacers.

[Sean]

Ah. I realized last year when I watched the Pacers in the playoffs that I had not watched them play for many years prior to that. And I realized when I watched them play on Saturday, I had not seen them. It's been a long time since I've seen them play a game with Tyrese Halliburton.

[Bomani Jones]

The, the Pacers did something though, that doesn't happen very often, which is they started off bad and turned out good. Like generally what you see from a team after about 20 or 25 games.

[Sean]

Is what you're gonna see out of that team, you know what I mean?

[Bomani Jones]

Like, that's generally going to be it. The Pacers, it turned out not to be that. And to be fair to the Pacers, they got to the conference finals last year and they played it tough against Boston, and they just didn't have their best player in the end. Like, in theory, they got a champion Siakam. Like, in theory, they should be able to make some stuff happen. On the other hand, bro, they got so many players I ain't never really heard of. I don't really know how to speak.

[Sean]

On what they situation gonna be.

[Bomani Jones]

I'll be lying. Don't y' all worry. Give me about two weeks. I'm gonna be up to speed on everybody. I'm gonna do my little crash course. What they was doing in November don't even really matter.

[Sean]

No way.

[Bomani Jones]

You know what, Sean? Does that sound like a plausible story? Does it?

[Sean]

I don't know.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

I think it does.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

I think especially with, like, the stars on the Pacers, like, Tyrese Halliburton has not been playing well to the start the season, and now he's heating up just in time for you to know exactly who those nem hards and whatever players are on the Pacers that you always mention of. Like, who's this guy? You know, now you'll start to be like, oh, I. I know him.

[Bomani Jones]

But Siakam, to me is the interesting one, because I thought that Siakam in 2019 showed the potential to, like, really, really be that. Look, he's been an all NBA cat, so I don't want to pretend as though he hasn't really got it, but at the same time, are they going to go to the conference finals again on the back of Tyrese Halliburton and.

[Sean]

Pascal Siakam, I guess, is my question.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

I will say Kevin o' Connor tweeted during that Pacers game. He's like, this is the version of Pascal Siakam that everyone knows and loves, but he's like, this is the version that can take them in a deep playoff run. So, you know, this matchup right now seems favorable to them, but when they face the Cavs or the Celtics, I think it's a completely different story.

[Sean]

You know what I love about Pascal Siako? It always looked like he about to elbow somebody.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

He's got those.

[Sean]

Yeah, I'll be terrified of guarding him.

[Bomani Jones]

Like, it always looked like you about.

[Sean]

To have to get some teeth replaced.

[Bomani Jones]

Like, that is always on the board.

[Sean]

When you're out there against him.

[Bomani Jones]

But the other games, did you Watch. Clippers Nuggets. Kawhi Leonard looks like Kawhi Leonard. Like, it doesn't matter if he's not as strong as he was, but he still looks like that dude and he's got that six super tight handle. You're not taking the rock from Kawhi Leonard.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

I mean, he'll get a shot at will. And the whole, the entire game, the broadcast kept commenting on his health and how healthy he looks. And every Clipper fan on my timeline was like, stop jinxing this. We know he's healthy. Do not ruin this for us. We can have a really good Kawhi playoff run.

[Bomani Jones]

Well, the other thing with the Clippers, look, James Harden. What is tricky about James Harden is James Harden is not useless in the playoffs. James Harden is useless in the last game of the season. If it's not the last game of the season, he can still give it to you. And he looked good in that game. Like, look, man, the Clippers got a bunch of old ass dudes out there. Nick Batum, I want to say, has been playing for 17 years. James Harden is in his 16th season. Kawhi Leonard is in his 14th season. Like, they're not doing this to you with youth. What's his name? Zubots. Zubot's old enough that they got. He got traded there by Magic Johnson.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

And, and he's got all this playoff experience still. Like, regardless of what he's done, he's got playoff experience.

[Bomani Jones]

How many teams, and this is a. A legitimately fair question at this point. We'll talk about the Lakers a little bit later. I guess they're the team that you would say their onew is up there.

[Sean]

With Kawhi and James Harden.

[Bomani Jones]

But how many teams that we have in this postseason are we sure that their top two are better than the top two that the Clippers are going.

[Sean]

To trot out there?

[Bomani Jones]

Like, we're 100% positive. I can't say that about Boston. If they putting a needle in Jalen Brown's knee.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

And I, I mean, Boston won convincingly, but Tatum and Brown both had really bad games in that game. 1.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, I'm a little unsure of them, but, like, is this Steph and Jimmy, right? Like, is that who we're talking about? Like, this is. If they can get going, we'll see. Because on the other side, what they got to deal with is the best player on earth. Earth, Sean, the best player on earth. What are they supposed to do with him? I mean, that was such an incredible game to watch. And I'm really looking at the Nuggets, and it really just is, oh, you guys had the best player on earth.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

I mean, they should have.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

They should have lost that game. And Nicola Jokic kind of took over and he's got to carry, you know, Russell Westbrook, who doesn't make the right plays a lot of times.

[Bomani Jones]

Yo, my fault. How did I let this go so long? Before we talk about, like, the last seven minutes of game action being the top to bottom Russell Westbrook experience, and you gotta understand, those of you who listen to me consistently or watch me consistently or whatever, you guys know this. Those of you who are new here may not know this, okay? I love Russell Westbrook. Russell Westbrook is 101 of my favorite basketball players of all time. And the biggest reason that he is one of my favorite basketball players of all time is I have never rooted for the team that he plays for. I can simply observe from a distance and appreciate the fervor and passion with which he plays and the unreal athleticism. But did you see that play? I think it was at the end of regulation where Ty Lu, who coached Russell Westbrook for a couple of years, ran the whole defensive scheme around the idea of, don't you worry, Jokic is going to pass the ball to the open man and making sure that that open man was Russell Westbrook. And he got the ball and that.

[Sean]

Shot went up and it was like, all right, cool. Overtime. Like, we ain't even like, you know.

[Bomani Jones]

That shot where Larry Bird, the three point contest, throw it up and just points his finger and walk away. It was. It was a different sort of situation. Like, once Westbrook put that shot up, everybody could have started stretching, except he had another one of those threes that he messed around and hit. And when he hits it, he'd be like, hell, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. And they're like, no, no. I mean, that may be what you talking about, but that'll be what you be doing.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

It's great because, like, he's got the short memory of most athletes. Should have, but everyone else remembers. So it's like, hey, Russ, we have all these receipts. And on the flip side that Jokic also has to deal with right now is Michael Porter Jr. Who hasn't been playing well. He who even got called out by his head coach being like, hey, if you're not going to do what we ask you to do, you're not going to play, Yo.

[Bomani Jones]

And the thing is, I typically cut Porter some slack because I think his body is so Cooked that. I am inclined to say that that's what the problem is. But you saw what Yoga said about that. He was like, hey, at this point if you can't focus, maybe you're playing the wrong sport.

[Sean]

Tough.

[Bomani Jones]

How about this? How crazy is that? Mike Malone is gone and somebody still gotta hit you with the uncomfortable truth. You know, like I love that, that the, the Nuggets are like, look, we were tired of that guy, but somebody gotta say it.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

It's incredible that he's been the head coach of the team for less than two weeks. It is already coming out on press and saying this and you know, it's a real problem then.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, but what you know is it's one thing when the guy that everybody who got tired of had been saying it and then everybody can kind of stop listening. But then a guy who's here and you know, he knows and he's like, all right, but for real, like, can you, can you help us out here? Can you lock in a little bit? Cuz look, if Porter plays well, which I guess I've given up on the idea that he will consistently play well, if he consistently plays well, then Champion, right? I mean that's basically what we saw two years ago, is that if you got a consistent Michael Porter, what are you going to do with them? Like Murray was out there on the two man game like you need him to be. Then, then, then what is it at that point that you're going to do? What is it? And so we'll see. Last thing I'll say before we move on Knicks Pistons is going to be.

[Sean]

A really, really, really good time. And I think, Sean, that it is a matter of time before the Pistons fully and transparently resort to trying to make Carl and Anthony Towns cry.

[Bomani Jones]

But if they don't make him cry, there is a good chance that he will eat them alive. He had 23 points on 14 shots in that game.

[Sean]

Right?

[Bomani Jones]

And the big one is this. He didn't foul himself out the game. He only had three fouls. Like what you can get Taos to do is to foul himself himself out of the game. Even if he doesn't foul out, he'll foul himself out of the game. They could not do anything with him. Yo, Goofy air coming up doing, you know, looking all weird, making the strange faces, but he getting buckets. So everybody's gonna have to like let it go. Like at some point if the Pistons are going to do this, what they got to do is just batter him like that. That's going to be the thing that they have to try batter him and wear the team down overall.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

And they have Isaiah Stewart, who's the perfect player for this. That's pretty much his only job in the NBA. Get into a fight or annoy an opposing player.

[Bomani Jones]

He had five fouls in 19.

That's. That's what this is. That, that's the thing that you forget about with a dude like that where it doesn't even really matter if you foul out. He out there to do it. Like, like that's, that's what, that's, that's it. He out there to do it. The other thing that was very interesting about them is that Kate Cunningham is obviously the best player and Kate Cunningham is a distributor. But a question that you asked about a team like Detroit is do they have a guy that can go out here and get buckets? And Tobias Harris believes that they have a guy who can do that and that that guy is Tobias Harris. Tobias Harris. Did you watch any of the first half? I have never seen Tobias Harris be that aggressive on a basketball court in my life. Maybe he does that all the time with this team. Right. But Tobias Harris, he who has made a quarter of a billion dollars without making an all NBA team or an all defense team, I have never seen.

[Sean]

Him ready to show them. What.

[Bomani Jones]

Show. Show the world where he.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

About the Internet's always like, Tobias Harris is the LeBron James of. Tobias Harris is. Because you don't. You don't really understand what his value is. And then some way or shape or another, he did. He brings that value.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, but his value is he's 610 and he can get buckets. Right. Like he is not quite a number two, but being a number three is probably an overqualification. He doesn't know what to do. But as I talk about him looking so aggressive, and he did in that first half. 8 for 13.

[Sean]

That's it.

[Bomani Jones]

Just 13. 8 for 13. Like he's made one quarter of a.

[Sean]

Billion dollars and we still like. Yeah, but.

[Bomani Jones]

I want to talk about the Lakers.

[Sean]

And the Timberwolves and then get to this article that Tim McMahon of ESPN put out here on Monday morning.

[Bomani Jones]

I'm also pretty deep into McMahon's book.

[Sean]

Called the Wonder Boy about Luka Doncic.

[Bomani Jones]

So I was reading that on Sunday.

[Sean]

After I watched them play that game on Saturday. And then McMahon's story about the Mavericks organization and Nico Harrison that came out on Monday morning. So this all comes through at the same time.

[Bomani Jones]

First, about the game, I think something that can be kind of easy to.

[Sean]

Forget and I think is interesting as.

[Bomani Jones]

It relates to this game, is that Luka Doncic. I don't know how he views the Minnesota Timberwolves, but I imagine that the.

[Sean]

Minnesota Timberwolves view Luka Doncic as the.

[Bomani Jones]

Dude that put them out of the postseason. I have not seen but so much coverage that's probably that is locked in on the idea that our guy, the Ant man, wired as the Ant man.

[Sean]

Is looking at Luka Dodget on the other side.

[Bomani Jones]

That sounds like some motivation, right? Okay, not only does it sound like motivation, I would love to be put.

[Sean]

Into a situation where I feel as.

[Bomani Jones]

Motivated to try to get my lick back as I would if I were Anthony Edwards. And that the person that I personify as the dude from whom I need to get my lick back from, what if he can't guard anybody? And I feel like I saw a lot of that in the Timberwolves Lakers game. A lot of they were hunting Luca.

[Sean]

Cause Luca is food.

[Bomani Jones]

They also did something interesting which is Luca is food. But you know who Luca looks at like being the most food? Rudy Gobert. You may remember when he put that shot in Rudy's eye last year and hit him, cussing at him and everything else. They ain't really get Rudy with so much burn in that game.

[Sean]

Sean.

[Bomani Jones]

I think Rudy played something like 24 minutes or whatever it was in that game. By and large, Minnesota can go small and spread you out, but keep Nas Reed in the game. And that's what they did.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

And it's the perfect matchup for the Lakers, who always play a little smaller. You know, they'll. They'll shell out four guys who are above 6 7, but no one's above 6 11. So it's like that perfect matchup that goes against actually what the Lakers do.

[Bomani Jones]

Well, and they don't have in. The Lakers don't have anybody that can.

[Sean]

Protect a rim, right?

[Bomani Jones]

And Jackson Hayes, the closest thing to it, played a whopping eight minutes in that game. Like JJ has done a very good job of scheming up defense for them. Can you get by in the playoffs? Scheming up defense in spite of your.

[Sean]

Personnel becomes the question, right?

[Bomani Jones]

Like, is that an 82 game strategy that proves to be sustainable in a seven game series? We don't have that answer also though, to be fair to the Lakers, I mean, they shot Minnesota shot 21 for 42 from three. That's not going to happen every night, right? Like that was. That was largely anomalous. And the Lakers themselves couldn't really Get. Get any buckets. But I think we may.

[Sean]

A lot of us did.

[Bomani Jones]

May have rather gotten just a touch ahead of ourselves. And what we think this Lakers team is going to do because they have.

[Sean]

La LeBron and Luca.

[Bomani Jones]

They have them two dudes at the top of the game. We totally 100% get that. We see that. But if Anthony Edwards is a star in the way that we have talked about him becoming, right? And last year was a big step in him becoming that guy. And I think we looked at the Olympics, that he played pretty well in the Olympics, and he looked like he was still making that progression. If he wanted to show me that he was making that big step, getting this to seven or winning this series, that's when you. So that. That's when we really, really see it. Like, I am really looking forward to seeing them play this game.

[Sean]

I guess they play again on Tuesday.

[Bomani Jones]

Night, because if somehow they take that back to Minnesota up like that. Ooh, the Lakers got issues. Now, speaking of the Lakers issues I.

[Sean]

Just mentioned, one of those issues is that Luca.

[Bomani Jones]

Luca got buckets. But Luca is food, okay?

[Sean]

It's just what it comes down to. Luca is food.

[Bomani Jones]

If you're Nico Harrison, Sean, you have to hope that, like, Luca is food.

[Sean]

In every game and that every time they play on television.

[Bomani Jones]

Because I. Look, Lucas put up all these numbers and done all these things over the years, but I don't know how much most people have actually, like, league pass guys.

[Sean]

Yes.

[Bomani Jones]

Have watched Luca play a lot of basketball, but I don't know how much, like, the median basketball fan has truly watched him play. And so he's become way more famous since this trade. Cause this was so big, and the.

[Sean]

Noise around it was so big.

[Bomani Jones]

Right? If you, Nico, you want Luca on TV every game on skates, right? Yeah.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

All you're hearing in your head is that same line you've been telling reporters for weeks is, defense wins championships. And if the Lakers, like you said, have an early exit and a majority of the reason why is because they put Luka under terrible matchups all game, then maybe Nico Harrison was right.

[Bomani Jones]

Right? Because, God, he needs it so bad.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Shaw needs it so bad. So the guy's down so bad, he.

[Bomani Jones]

Needs his so bad, he's losing. I'm gonna get to something. Back to that right fast. A buddy of mine hit me up about Rudy.

[Sean]

I want you to stick with me right fast, Sean, because I feel like you can help here. Like, Rudy got to give more credit. And I feel like I was just being too hard on Rudy.

[Bomani Jones]

Looking like, eating Rudy up. But the truth is, I don't think people give Rudy enough credit for moving his feet nearly as well as he does on the perimeter when the Cats be trying to get Rudy on skates. Rudy is, what, like, 7:2?

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Yeah, he's 7:2 and lanky. But, like, it's funny, the.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

The.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

The meme of him when Luca, you know, spun him around, and then they, like, show the replay over and over again.

[Bomani Jones]

The footworks.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Footwork's honestly not bad for a guy that big.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

Like, that's not. Like, people just don't want to like Rudy. That's just really what it comes down to.

[Sean]

People.

[Bomani Jones]

People like. Like Rudy, Pepe Le Pew coming over here for France Breaking Bad with your queen. You know what I'm saying? Like, they just. They. They. We want. Everybody wants the bad news for Rudy. But, no, I want to make sure it doesn't sound like I was just knocking Rudy. But anyway, back to the.

[Sean]

To the. To the Mavs and that boy Nico.

[Bomani Jones]

I don't know what's gonna have to.

[Sean]

Happen at this point to. To help this out with Nico.

[Bomani Jones]

Like, I'm reading McMahon's book about Luca, and the tone of the book is fairly neutral.

[Sean]

Right.

[Bomani Jones]

Like, it's got a bit of a Joe Friday, just the facts sort of.

[Sean]

Situation in the way that it talks.

[Bomani Jones]

About all the things. But one thing that is a recurring theme, and, you know, this book was certainly mostly finished, if not all the way finished, before this trade. I haven't gotten to where the trade.

[Sean]

Would happen, so maybe I'm off there.

[Bomani Jones]

But the things that you're hearing about Luca, they come up in the book. Like the. The conditioning issues, for example. Right. Just kind of, you know, him coming back and never being ready and not being in shape in the ways that they have covered for the fact that he hasn't been in shape. There's also a discussion in the book about just talking about Nico in general, about Nico and his willingness to make moves that are not like a caution to the wind sort of thing. Like, there. There's signs here that you could see some of what ultimately happened. Could you? I would not say that you could see it coming from the book, but you could see the factors that we heard being discussed later. Yeah, some of those things, those kind of come up in the book, but not playing defense and being in poor condition are running themes in this book about dealing with Luca. And so if you're Nico, all you got left at this point is hoping that the Minnesota Timberwolves feast on Luka Doncic. And then at the very least, somebody maybe, just maybe could understand what it.

[Sean]

Is that you was doing and what it is that you were talking about.

[Bomani Jones]

Except the story comes out on Monday.

[Sean]

Morning and Sean, you read the story, right?

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Yep.

[Sean]

Did you have, did anything jump out to you?

[Bomani Jones]

No.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

I mean, it was just this. Pretty much the reporting that we've all heard. I think the closed door meeting that happened recently, knowing Tim McMahon was in that closed door meeting and was the one who was asking Nico to elaborate on things and didn't get any answers, was like kind of reveal.

[Bomani Jones]

But we all knew that he ran out that staff and then hired two guys to. But he hired the guy that would run the whole thing after he hired the guy that would work directly below them. And these guys can't seem to agree on anything. And so now this is, this has been a season where players have felt like they have been brought back from injury too soon. And you saw that we watched that entire team break down for a stretch at the end of the year. And one of those people being Anthony Davis, who was coming back off of an injury that he seemed to re aggravate. And so Nico on one hand makes the argument in the piece that the injuries that they have dealt with, and this is from the closed door meeting, but the injuries that they've dealt with have been largely contact. But there have been a lot of re aggravations that have taken place with injuries on this team. I say that, to say that part of why. The part of the argument behind why getting rid of the previous staff, the thought was that they were too close to Luca.

[Sean]

Right.

[Bomani Jones]

And there's all been all these things.

[Sean]

That we've seen in time about Luca's.

[Bomani Jones]

Relationship with the physical, the physical people of the team, basically, and whether they have been doing right by him, wrong by him or whatever it is. But the argument that Nico Harrison had after that trade, I think to try to help him out is, well, look, everybody got hurt. How terrible is our luck that everybody got hurt. We haven't had a chance to see what this team is going to be because everybody got hurt. But if everybody's getting hurt because you did a bad job of hiring the team that takes care of their bodies. Oh, buddy, you've got to go. Like I have never seen a situation where somebody has to be fired. It doesn't matter whether or not he was right about the trade because you're not going to find out whether or not he was right about that trade. Probably for years now. You'll find out he was wrong about the trade if the Lakers win a championship this year, for example. Right? Like, then, okay, then you're like, oh.

[Sean]

Yeah, it really doesn't move there.

[Bomani Jones]

But otherwise, he was making the long bet. And another thing that comes up in the book, by the way, is different trades that teams made about picking up like first round picks from the Mavs in like 20, 30 or stuff like that, which is in part a bet that Doncic won't play for them anymore. Like, people are making a lot of very interesting bets about whether or not he would be on that team or what that would mean for the Mavericks and everything else. But the bottom line is, if this was a bad long term move, we're only going to know it in the long term. That's it. So he was always playing on that delay, which meant that you had to have something going for you in the short run. And if the. If the word is your strength and conditioning team is getting guys hurt, then you can't work there anymore. After you traded Luca, the fans have turned on you. It's not certain that the players can trust their bodies with you. And. And this is this. This just happened. Sean, I sent you this link. I have not read the story. It is at what Dlls Sports. You know, that them websites that can do city sports, but they take all the vowels out. All right, so anyway, Tim Cato writes for them. And this is the headline. The headline is Inside the Mavericks Nico Harrison decision, which might be more complicated than it seems. One point that was made about this when I saw the link initially, Sean, was that Jason Kidd, Let it be, Let it be said Jason, kidding, was so exasperated by the trade at one point that he skipped out on a press conference. Now, Sean, wow. Yes. I don't know how much you know about Jason Kidd, but Jason Kidd, this ain't gonna fall on top of him.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

No, no.

[Bomani Jones]

And if it does, it ain't gonna happen to him all by himself. So we have reached the point of this program where Jason Kidd wants people to know, hey, man, I don't really.

[Sean]

Think that this is my fault.

[Bomani Jones]

You know what I mean?

[Sean]

And.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

And that's to me, way more of a reveal than anything in the big man story, because I mentioned to you, like, Tim Cato has been with the Mavs for over a decade. He's actually tapped in and he's got legit sources. So this kid reveal is actually the biggest thing from that week of. Of reporting of whatever that presser, Nico Presser was.

[Bomani Jones]

Here's a Quote.

[Sean]

While Kidd was understandably frustrated this season with the team's injury crisis, he also resented the front office's mid season Dodgers trade.

[Bomani Jones]

Multiple team and league sources say, even if he shared some of Harrison's frustrations with Dodgy, that led to his trade of him. So on one hand, he's like, yo, yo, I get it. But at the same time, I was, you know, I was willing to kind of work, try to work through it.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Jason Kid's like, yeah, defense wins championships. I'm with you, but at what cost? You know?

[Bomani Jones]

Yes, yes. Like, this is. There's no winning. There's no way that this can turn. I think where Nico really, really messed up in this, where he was just like, I don't worry about the fans. My job is to do what's best for the Dallas Mavericks. That's not how this game works. Like, yes, you are correct in the macro, but you do have to care about the fans because they spend money and stuff. Like, you can't say that they are never coming back or coming back around on you. And so you have lost the fans. Mark Cuban, all the way all out here on his it wasn't me program, right? So you got to deal with that part. And now you got Jason Kidd making.

[Sean]

Sure that everybody knows that, you know.

[Bomani Jones]

It wasn't him that would do that. That means that this man, he has nowhere to turn, nowhere. You're done here. But he ain't gonna quit, because then he don't get his money. When he and the Mavericks, everybody just got to look at each other and.

[Sean]

Just say, hey, man, it's not going.

[Bomani Jones]

To work, but you got to do it. You might as well do it now. There's no point in waiting. All you're going to do by waiting is make everything way worse. Y' all need to hurry up and.

[Sean]

Y' all need to go ahead and.

[Bomani Jones]

Y' all need to get this done because Luca is out here getting cooked. It won't matter. He can't play bad enough defense for.

[Sean]

Anybody to understand where exactly it is that y' all was coming from.

[Bomani Jones]

It can't be done. Sean, that story say, Dirk don't even kick it with them no more.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Yeah, that was another reveals like, Dirk is pretty fed up with the championship and it makes sense why he was at Luca's.

[Bomani Jones]

The. The.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

The Laker game, the Dallas return, and, like, why everyone's like, why would Dirk be at the Laker game, home game?

[Bomani Jones]

They're at the wrong side of the guy literally everybody likes. He's got a statue Everybody likes Dirk, right? He got his people. People who play with the team, not with the team. Everybody likes Dirk. And Dirk is like, nah, homie, I'm not even like, Dirk and Luca ain't even like, they cool, but they not like freaking frack right.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Exactly. And it's like that to lose the. The. When you think Dallas Mavs, you think Dirk Nowitzki, right? It's like it's so synonymous with him. And to lose him.

[Bomani Jones]

Yes, yes, yes. Like, this could be. It's all the way done. All the way done. And what's terrible for Nico, and I know that people say this kind of stuff is wrong with the NBA and I'm doing this right now, but I don't think I'm wrong with it. But it's the truth. It's so bad for Nico that two months after this trade, it is still more interesting to talk about what a terrible situation the Mavericks have than it is to talk about a playoff series that could actually prove to be Nico's vindication. That's how bad he messed this up.

This episode is presented by Perplexity. Perplexity is an AI powered answer engine that searches the Internet in real time to deliver fast, clear, high quality answers.

[Sean]

Unlike legacy search engines that respond with.

[Bomani Jones]

A list of links, Perplexity skips straight to the answers you need explained in everyday language that's easy to understand with sources and citations. Now, Sean, how do you use Perplexity when it comes to the right time?

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

You know, Bo, if you're a loyal.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Listener or viewer of the show, you're already aware that we use it throughout the show on Mondays, especially when you need a question answered or stats confirmed. But Perplexity is great because, you know, say you're curious about a specific topic from our show, like, you know, what is Luca Doncic's playoff record against the Minnesota Timberwolves? You can see just how quickly Perplexity can get you that answer. And that answer is 4. 1. After their Western Conference Finals matchup last.

[Sean]

Season, we'll see how that record stands after round one.

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[Sean]

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[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

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[Bomani Jones]

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[Bomani Jones]

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[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

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[Sean]

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[Bomani Jones]

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[Sean]

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[Sean]

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All right, Bo, here's the first one of the day.

[Emily Brownstein]

Hi, I'm Emily Sprounstein and I'm a reporter at Business Insider. I just wrote a story about what's motivating college students to pursue Wall street jobs. I wanted to understand what they really want out of these careers because breaking into the industry is so notoriously difficult and long. I also wondered how Gen Z reconciles with some of the harsher realities of the job, like stories of junior bankers fainting out of exhaustion at the desk and in some cases even dying. So I surveyed 150 college students, mostly in campus finance clubs, and I interviewed about 30 from some top universities. Most students want to do investment banking right after college as their first jobs. A lot of them said banking is simply ground zero for every other job in finance. It gives them the skills and maybe more importantly, the connections to move into other parts of the industry after a couple of years. And in our survey, compensation and exit opportunities were the top, most important qualities in a first job for them. Some first year analysts get paid about $110,000 in base salary alone, not including bonuses. They're paid so much for a reason, though, and that's because they're known to work 80, 90, 100 hour work weeks sometimes. We asked them to rate their level of concern with five topics related to a finance career, and long hours and high stress had the highest average concern ratings. Students seem to know what they're signing up for. They've heard the horror stories, but really interestingly, they're still mostly pursuing the jobs anyway. One person said they plan to set boundaries, others said they think they can handle it. And some are actually excited about pulling all nighters, or so they told me. They all believe if they work really, really hard at a young age, they will be rewarded in some way down the line. And they're also sort of resigned to their fate, that if they want this prestigious lucrative career in finance, they don't really have a choice but to accept it.

[Sean]

So I thought her observations there were interesting. But Sean, in the end I came around to why are they doing this? The same reason that anybody has ever done that godforsaken job. They just want to get paid, get.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Rich, you know, get money, have, have a good life of, you know, you. I've realized now people are like in the Let me work in the trenches until I can retire early, which is the previous generations mindset as well. And no longer people doing kind of, I guess, cool jobs, quote, unquote.

[Bomani Jones]

Well, the problem is this man is.

[Sean]

Going to be hard to like get money doing something you like doing.

[Bomani Jones]

Like I think that era might be.

[Sean]

Over because getting money, doing just about.

[Bomani Jones]

Anything or getting enough money to feel like you got money is kind of going away.

[Sean]

Right.

[Bomani Jones]

And so on this one, what is the job? The job is making money. Like that's what you do, right? Like I do a job that people then in turn try to make money off of.

[Sean]

Okay.

[Bomani Jones]

Their job is literally making money.

[Sean]

Right.

[Bomani Jones]

Why do they want to do the job? They want to get money.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

It's funny, you know, Chico on the chat says I blame industry. On hbo, which is another great TV show. And two back to back weeks we have two articles about Gen Z trying to get into these medical fields. The last one was about kind of more internal medicine or emergency doctors, which the pit describes very really and viscerally industry the same way. And it's like, well, they're showing these jobs because there's a lot of drama and stress around.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean]

But not people.

[Bomani Jones]

These are all jobs people have always wanted to do because they wanted to.

[Sean]

Make a lot of money.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Exactly. Plain and simple. All right, here's the next one.

[Faith Hill]

Hi, I'm Faith Hill and I'm a staff writer for the Atlantic. I recently wrote a story titled Grandparents are Reaching Their Limit. I started reporting this piece because I kept hearing the same complaint that today's grandparents are slacking. A lot of young parents feel disappointed that their own parents aren't helping more with childcare. They want to know what happened to a village raising a kid. But when I started researching, I learned that modern grandparenting is actually really involved, even more so than it's been for much of this country's past. In early American history, grandparents tended to act as respected authority figures. Eventually, the Great Depression pushed more families to live in three generation homes. And older adults were often seen as burdens. And later, grandparents came to be associated with the fun and delightful parts of child rearing. None of these roles necessarily involved running around changing diapers or helping with homework. But today a lot of seniors are acting as co parents. A few changes have led here. The number of single parents and working mothers of young kids has increased and the cost of childcare keeps growing. But U.S. federal law still doesn't guarantee paid parental leave or paid sick leave. On top of that, intensive parenting is now the norm, which means more time and energy being spent watching kids around the clock. Parents are overwhelmed now. Grandparents are, too. Quality time together can be deeply meaningful for older adults and their grandkids. But even when you love someone, being there for them can be an imposition. Many grandparents are still in the workforce. Some of them are using up their retirement savings providing for their families. And the bulk of the work tends to fall to grandmothers specifically. American society has made progress towards accepting that mothers have value beyond their caregiving abilities. But that should apply to older women as well as younger ones. Maybe if a stronger social safety net existed or childcare was more affordable, families could be present together in ways that aren't all about labor and sacrifice. For now, the chances for disappointment are high.

[Bomani Jones]

Grandparents don't want to raise their grandchildren. They just want to hang out with them and dote over them and buy them stuff and hug and kiss them. You're out here. Awesome, y'.

[Sean]

All.

[Bomani Jones]

Can you feed them and stuff? Do all this stuff while I'm out doing something else? They're like, no, that's not. I did that already.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

It's so funny when my wife and I hang out with our parents and they're both like, well, we're gonna babysit when we want to or when it's like a two hour, three hour thing. We're not taking care of your kids. We're not, you know, and I think that's the norm for more people my age who are starting to have kids where their grandparents are involved just enough, you know?

[Sean]

Right.

[Bomani Jones]

But I mean, there is. And I get it though.

[Sean]

Like, and I'm only gendering this because this is how people talk about it.

[Bomani Jones]

But like, mama got to have a life too.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sean]

Right?

[Bomani Jones]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Sean]

That is a fair point. But the vast majority of that is.

[Bomani Jones]

Going to involve this kid. That's. That's kind of how it like you.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Made it, you know, it's like, okay, maybe the grandparents could take him to Disney. That, that. But that'll buy the parents sometime, you know?

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. And I see that for the grandparents, though, being like, hey, hey, hey, hey. You, you, you, you try to play in my face right now. Like, I didn't realize how many y' all was out here trying to get over on your parents like that. I ain't even know.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Yeah. Pretty wild faux for this last.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

If you haven't heard, we had a.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Submission not drop in and it kind of works out. Because if you haven't heard for mainly the. The right time audience, this will Be.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

My last week producing the podcast and.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

My last week as well at the company Wave, mainly. Just wanted to give a shout out to you, Bomani. This has been one of the, you know, best career aspects that I've had so far in my professional life, working with you and getting to know you and even, you know, hanging out with you outside of this, this podcast studio. But it's been a blast. Shout out to the right time audience. They've been really supportive and I just, I feel honored to be part of this world and you've really built a great one.

[Bomani Jones]

No, thank you. I appreciate that.

[Sean]

And as I've said before, I said this when Gabe moved on to something, the thing about this show is, chances are if you're good enough to work on this show, you're probably too good to work on this show, which means that somebody is going to come around and offer you something that we, for whatever reason, are not going to be able to do. So I thank you sincerely, because what I look for and always hope for with somebody, with this is somebody that can help advance what we're doing. And so, like a lot of our music content and things like that, these are your ideas and put them on the road. And so I thank you for. You know, the thing I say about Lance that is most important, I feel also with you, is that you treated this show with the care and concern that I would expect that you would have if it was your own show. And that is not something that you.

[Bomani Jones]

Are obligated to do.

[Sean]

And so I appreciate you treating my dream of sorts with that level of care and concern. So I thank you.

[Bomani Jones]

I wish you the best.

[Sean]

We got a couple more days with you, but no, your impact on what we do here has been felt and greatly appreciated.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Yeah, I appreciate Bo and I describe for the audience what Beau has been like in this industry. He's like the Greg Popovich of it all. And you see the coaching tree of the former producers or co hosts that have worked with you, and it's like everyone's on to doing great things, and it's because they came from your lineage. So, you know, truly a wonderful experience.

[Sean]

I appreciate that. And, you know, now we just gotta get a new producer. How hard could that be?

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Something I've noticed in the time producing this is, you might have a problem, a repeat prompt, but because your audience is so good and has so many great stories, we get fresh stories every time. So let's start with this first one.

[Caller 1]

Hi, Bomani, I'm calling about the funniest thing a coach ever said to me. So when I was in college, I decided to try out for our FCS football team. And long story short, I didn't make it. But I was in practice one day, and the offensive coordinator was reviewing film. He's highlighting the read that the quarterback made, and he's talking about, oh, this isn't right. This isn't right. And he. He just turns and looks at the quarterback who made the wrong read, and he goes, you really fucked the dog on that one. And instead of being a teachable moment, everybody just stopped and started laughing. And somebody asked, coach, what does that even mean? And he was like, oh, it's like, screw the pooch, but much worse. And everybody just started laughing all over again. Completely derailed the film session.

But the punchline to this story is that that coach is now the offensive coordinator for the New York Jets. Love the show, Bo. Been listening since the morning Jones days. Love the show.

[Sean]

Hold on one second. I'm doing a little Googling.

[Bomani Jones]

Ah, that.

[Sean]

That's funny.

[Bomani Jones]

I love, though, the idea that you guys actually had the courage to ask, what does that mean? As opposed. Like, when I heard the coach say you could hit a. You said you could hit a bullet ass with a pineapple. We didn't understand what that meant. We just acted like we did.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Sometimes it's better not to ask, right? You know, so to keep that myth of that world or that phrase, let's.

[Bomani Jones]

Just get it out of here.

[Sean]

Let's just keep this thing moving.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

All right, here's our next one.

[Caller 2]

Hey, yo, what's going on, Bo, we got a quick story for you about a funny thing I heard a coach say. So this was back in December 2008. We was in high school, had just lost in the playoffs, and it was heavy recruiting season, College coaches coming along all the time. So when we lost, we used to be outside in these portables where all the players would just huddle up, all the seniors would huddle up. And have college coaches coming in and out all the time, and coach looking for him and calls out for him. We'll just say, john. Coach calls out for John. John isn't in the room. So he tells the college football coach that he's probably next door on Gamblers Anonymous, having a big old dice game, going, shirts off, you know, money, passing around, you know, the things. So coach goes over there and he calls the player, kicks him out. He comes on over and comes out with a fistful of cash. No shirt on, pants bag and everything. Coach says, huh, son? Looks like he got the hot hand in there. That's the kind of players we need on our team. We would love to see you wearing the green and gold. And I'm just looking at this like, what is going on? Coach offers the player on the spot. He commits that. Coach Art browse. And that's when I learned that college coaches don't care nothing about character or anything at all.

[Caller 1]

The show.

[Caller 2]

They just care about, can you help me win? Because they want to play with the hot hand on a dice game.

[Bomani Jones]

All right, man, let us know.

[Caller 2]

Keep doing what you do.

[Caller 1]

Thank you.

[Bomani Jones]

Yo, Art Br. He's like, that is not to be fair. I give credit in that case to Art Briles for keeping his eye on the prize. Right. That should not have been a bit of disqualified factor. But to spit it ads, we need a boy with luck like yours. That's wild.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

This gives perfect opportunity to look up Art Bryles career across prize picks. You know, transformative impact on high school and college football. Built multiple dynasties. University of Houston and Baylor revived struggling programs. This is all in incredible and you know, a couple scandals here and there, but hearing that voicemail is just quite, quite funny.

[Sean]

The.

[Bomani Jones]

The new level of this that these guys are telling us stories about coaches we've heard of.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Isn't that crazy? That's the. That's the timeline we're on now. One's the OC for the Jets. What is Art Brian?

[Bomani Jones]

Our brials. He said, we need. We gonna need somebody like you with degree to go. He called it Gamblers Anonymous, which is crazy enough, right? Like, I thought that was going to be the story.

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

Absolutely insane. And yet this last one is the craziest. So here we go.

[Caller 1]

Hey, Bo. Hey, Sean. I coached high school football for over a decade and our head coach, who was a legend, and our oldest assistant coach, who was a legend, I could feel your show just with things they said. But the craziest thing I ever heard a coach say, I did not hear directly, it was our head coach telling us the college story. Everybody remembers that movie. We are Marshall loved it. Celebrated. Nobody thinks of the other side. My head coach was on the Xavier squad that Marshall famously beats in the big conclusion to the movie. He said that when they lost and they're in the locker room, their head coach didn't come in for a little bit. And when he finally came in, he looked around the room, made sure all their eyes were on him and said, I wish it had been you mother on that plane instead.

Yeah. Wish this whole team was dead. Have a good one Bo.

[Sean]

Sean, do you have some DraftKings picks for the people?

[Producer/Co-host (possibly Lance or another producer)]

I sure do. Thanks to DraftKings for their pick six. As you know, if you put in any money, you can get up to $50 in bonus cash. Let's start NBA playoff basketball game 2 Pistons Knicks I like Kate Cunningham to have more than 27 and a half points. He only scored 21 in the first game. I think he bounces back. Kawhi Leonard, 24 and a half. We talked about how good he's looked. I think he has more there. Nikol Jokic, the best basketball player in the world. 27 and a half points against the LA Clippers. And Avisa Zubac could be all NBA player this season. 12 and a half rebounds. I'll take more. And yes Bo, I know you're still reacting to that voicemail.

[Bomani Jones]

I'm going to ask if you can.

[Sean]

Do something I've never asked before.

[Bomani Jones]

Can you play that? Can you play that again? Please do.

[Caller 1]

Hey Bo. Hey Sean. I coached high school football for over a decade and our head coach who was a legend and our oldest assistant coach who was a legend, I could feel your show just with things they said. But the craziest thing I ever heard a coach say I did not hear directly. It was our head coach telling us a college story. Everybody remembers that movie. We are Marshall loved it, celebrated. Nobody thinks of the other side. My head coach was on the Xavier squad that Marshall famously beats in the big conclusion to the movie. He said that when they lost and they're in the locker room, their head coach didn't come in for a little bit. And when he finally came in, he looked around the room, made sure all their eyes were on him and said I wish it had been you mother on that plane instead. Yeah, wish this whole team was dead. Have a good one, Bo.

[Bomani Jones]

Ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on the Right Time.

[Sean]

We do this here three times a week. That's Sean. You he handles everything behind the scenes. Thank you sir. Also thanks.

[Bomani Jones]

Sorry if you haven't heard Contributors thanks to Emily's Brownstein Brownstein of Insider. Check out her story on the Wall.

[Sean]

Street career path and his brutality on the youngsters@insider. And thanks to Faith Hill of the Atlantic.

[Bomani Jones]

Check out her story on grandparents reaching.

[Sean]

Their [e-mail] Remember, subscribe to the Right Time. Follow the Right Time. Subscribe like Rate us, Review us. Give us five stars. You only give us four stars.

[Bomani Jones]

I'm inclined to believe you are a hater and I'm glad you weren't on that plane. Take it easy.