Vinnie Goodwill on Kevin Durant-Rockets Struggles, Why LeBron shouldn't leave Lakers, NBA Expansion | 03.18

Summary

The Right Time with Bomani Jones

Guest: Vinnie Goodwill

Episode: Kevin Durant-Rockets Struggles, Why LeBron shouldn't leave Lakers, NBA Expansion

Date: March 18, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Bomani is joined by Vinnie Goodwill to tackle hot NBA topics, including the Houston Rockets’ limitations, Kevin Durant’s situation and legacy, LeBron’s future with the Lakers, the realities of NBA expansion, and broader shifts in the landscape of pro basketball. With trademark candor and insightful banter, they break down why certain teams can't get over the hump, the underrated evolution and decline of superstars, and debate some underlying assumptions about season length and league structure. The tone is witty, frank, and sometimes nostalgic, as they weave personal anecdotes into big-picture analysis.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Rockets’ Recent Struggles & Long-Term Ceiling

• Lack of a True Point Guard
  • Bomani sets up a discussion on the Rockets' deficiency: "They don't have a point guard. Therefore they don't have a chance." ([04:45])
  • Vinnie agrees, pointing to the severe offensive limitations and how even across different teams, Coach Ime Udoka's offense often sputters late without a true floor general.
  • "You know who would really work with Ime Udoka right now? Chris Paul, five years ago." – Vinnie ([06:53])
• Great Defense vs. Offensive Order
  • Rockets’ defensive excellence is masking their late-game flaws. Missing Alperen Sengun is a factor but not enough to overcome lack of offensive structure.

Kevin Durant: Accountability, Team Dynamics, and Injury Legacy

• ‘Get Off My Dickerson’ Saga
  • Bomani questions whether locker room trust issues still linger after Durant’s infamous burner account incident:
    "Is it possible that Get Off My Dickerson has gotten Kevin Durant into a little bit of trouble?" ([10:45])
  • Vinnie considers the idea that teammates might be content to “let KD have it” and disengage at crucial moments ([11:57]).
• Durant's Place in NBA History & "Always Something" Narrative
  • Bomani rejects the idea that KD is always the problem, reminding listeners that context matters—especially issues with teammates in Golden State and Brooklyn ([15:03]).
  • Vinnie: "The things happen around him, not necessarily that he is a party to it… it has colored the way we think about him." ([16:05])
• Physical Decline Post-Injury
  • Both highlight how KD's Achilles and other injuries transformed him from a physical marvel to just an extraordinarily gifted scorer, masking slips in defense and athleticism.
  • Vinnie: "I was looking at film once of Kevin Durant scoring 54 in 2014...it looked like a podcast on 1.5 speed." ([21:36])

Superstar Aging: LeBron, Luka, and the Lakers

• Lakers’ Winning Streaks and Defensive Woes
  • Lakers’ three best players don’t play defense, but they’re the best clutch team in basketball due to elite decision making ([35:03]).
  • Strategic shift: LeBron playing small-ball 5, offense catching up to compensate for poor rim protection ([37:02]).
• Is There a Better Place for LeBron?
  • "No, there's never been any better place to end his career than Los Angeles...That was the whole point of going there in the first place." – Bomani ([37:20])
  • The crew discusses LeBron’s stamina and ability to make deep playoff runs at his age. Stamina becomes a "skill" in the postseason ([38:23]).
  • "He ain't run out of gas. It was like the wheels were flying off on the freeway." – Bomani, on LeBron’s playoff exhaustion ([39:48])
• Legacy, Fit, and Sentiment
  • If LeBron is considering leaving LA, neither host thinks other contenders (Warriors, Cavs, etc.) make sense for his final stop.
  • "LeBron ain't took less since the Miami contract." – Vinnie ([51:43])
  • Both agree the Lakers marriage has produced results (one title) but feels surprisingly unsatisfying given expectations ([55:34])

NBA MVP Race & the Ascendancy of Victor Wembanyama

• MVP Top Five Debate
  • Luka is (deservedly) entering the MVP conversation with a hot streak ([24:46])
  • Jokic, SGA, and "Big Slim" (Wembanyama) round out the upper echelon. Vinnie: "You just know it when you see it." ([26:56])
  • Anecdotes about Wembanyama’s unique presence:
    "If you've never seen Big Slim in person...he’s like the Loch Ness monster. He's like Bigfoot..." – Vinnie ([28:47])
  • "Get a playoff win now, cherish it. Cause ain't gonna be much of it in the next decade." – Vinnie, foreshadowing a Wembanyama dynasty ([31:01])

Season Length, Injuries, and the Basketball Industrial Complex

• Debate: 82 Games vs. Shorter Season
  • Vinnie is adamant: "It ain't supposed to be easy. How can we accept that every other professional sport is supposed to be a battle of attrition, but somehow basketball is supposed to be easy." ([43:05])
  • Highlights root causes: excessive AAU/early-age play, lack of true practice time, faster offensive pace upping injury risk, modern shoe equipment failures.
  • Reality check from Bomani: "72 games ain't never gonna happen. Hard stop." ([43:28])

NBA Expansion and Conference Realignment

• Las Vegas, Seattle, and the West/East Shuffle
  • Bomani walks through the financial upside: $8B per franchise fee, but also how Vegas can be a tough "home" market ([44:46])
  • Who moves east? Bomani sees Timberwolves as the best candidate, affecting Anthony Edwards’ career path ([46:55])
  • Vinnie pushes back: Eastern Conference is quietly strong, and there aren’t as many “bum franchises” as expected ([48:51])
• Institutional Shifts and History
  • Discussion on why the West has dominated: Lakers, Spurs, OKC roots cited as the "three small things" that led to three decades of dominance ([47:30])

The Lakers Front Office and Magic's Return

• Magic Johnson’s Shadow
  • Bomani breaks down Magic’s persistent influence in the Lakers’ hierarchy, despite public drama: "Magic never had an office cleaned out…Magic never left." ([58:16])
  • With Magic ally Lon Rosen taking over under new owner Mark Walter, Rob Pelinka’s job security seems shaky.
  • “They said Magic just be in that office watching Family Feud…just watching his man Steve Harvey…” – Bomani, on Magic's legendary downtime ([58:48])

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Memorable Quotes

Rockets/Rockets Offense & Ime Udoka

• "They don't have a point guard. Therefore, they don't have a chance." – Bomani ([04:45])
• "You know who would really work with IME Udoka right now? Chris Paul, five years ago." – Vinnie ([06:53])

On Kevin Durant, Team Dynamics & the Burner Controversy

• "Is it possible that Get Off My Dickerson has gotten Kevin Durant into a little bit of trouble?" – Bomani ([10:45])
• "The things happen around him, not necessarily that he is a party to it." – Vinnie ([16:05])

On Superstar Physical Decline

• "I was looking at film once of Kevin Durant scoring 54 in 2014... it looked like a podcast on 1.5 speed." – Vinnie ([21:36])
• "We treat Kevin Durant as though he came back from the Achilles tear and he's been the same player...I don't believe that to be true." – Bomani ([20:16])

LeBron Legacy & Lakers Fit

• "There’s never been any better place to end his career than Los Angeles…" – Bomani ([37:20])
• "He ain't run out of gas. It was like the wheels were flying off on the freeway." – Bomani ([39:48])
• “LeBron ain't took less since the Miami contract." – Vinnie ([51:43])
• "What a fascinating marriage of convenience." – Bomani, on LeBron and the Lakers ([55:07])
• "If you were a Lakers superstar, you got at least three. He got a." – Bomani, on the one LA title ([55:41])

On NBA Expansion, West/East Politics

• "For reasons I don’t have an answer for, the West has clearly been the best conference since Jordan retired." – Bomani ([45:14])
• “You asked why the West has gotten so much better…Three reasons. Sam Presti, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant. That’s it.” – Vinnie ([47:30])

On Victor Wembanyama's Emergence

• “If you’ve never seen Big Slim in person… he’s like the Loch Ness monster. He’s like Bigfoot.” – Vinnie ([28:47])
• "Get a playoff win now, cherish it. Cause ain't gonna be much of it in the next decade." – Vinnie ([31:01])

On NBA 82-Game Grind

• "It ain't supposed to be easy. How can we accept that every other professional sport is supposed to be a battle of attrition, but somehow basketball is supposed to be easy." – Vinnie ([43:05])
• "72 games ain't never gonna happen. Hard stop." – Bomani ([43:28])

On Magic’s Lakers Influence

• "Magic never had an office cleaned out…Magic never left." – Steve ([58:16])
• "They said Magic just be in that office watching Family Feud…just watching his man Steve Harvey…" – Bomani ([58:48])

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Important Timestamps

• [04:45] Rockets' lack of point guard; Ime Udoka scrutiny
• [10:45] Kevin Durant’s struggles, ‘Get Off My Dickerson’ legacy
• [20:16] Durant’s post-injury evolution
• [24:46] Luka’s MVP run; Wembanyama hype
• [35:03] Lakers’ clutch offense vs. abysmal defense
• [37:20] Why LeBron should finish in LA
• [38:23] The playoff "skill" of stamina
• [43:05] The 82-game season debate
• [44:46] NBA expansion, Vegas/Seattle, and new East/West realities
• [55:07] The “marriage of convenience” of LeBron and the Lakers
• [58:16] Magic Johnson’s continued influence in Lakers HQ

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a masterclass in NBA analysis, blending deep basketball intelligence with sharp, relatable dialogue. Bomani and Vinnie tackle not just what's happening on the court, but why—from invisible locker-room tensions to the economics of league expansion. Whether you want context for KD’s latest narrative, an honest view on LeBron’s twilight, or a primer on expansion roulette, this episode delivers—funny, pointed, and always insightful.

Transcript

[Steve Smith]

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[Bomani Jones]

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[Bomani Jones]

our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks. Ugh.

[Steve Smith]

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[Bomani Jones]

Hey, still got my hoodie?

[Steve Smith]

Nope. But I've got tonight's dinner paid for. Start selling on Depop. Where taste recognizes taste list. Now with no selling fees, payment processing fees and boosting fees still apply. See website for details.

[Bomani Jones]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Right Time. A Wave original. 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. It is that time of week where we have a guest join us. You can catch him on get up or first take. Somewhere around nine times a week these days covering the NBA. Vinnie Goodwill. What's going on?

[Steve Smith]

What's happening, man?

[Bomani Jones]

Hey, man, we got to take a vote and we got to come up with some consistency on what it's going to be. You Vince over there, you Vincent somewhere. Half the time you Vinnie over here. Sometimes during their shows they go with Vinnie. You gotta. You gonna have to make a decision about, like, what your name is in front of the world. Like, I ain't coming off Vinnie. I'm gonna be like the people that know you since, like, since the third grade. But you know, you're gonna have to come with some sort of standardization on this now that you becoming a big old TV star.

[Steve Smith]

Well, x nay on the TV star stuff, but.

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, no, no, no, no. We know you a TV star. Cause who sent a text to. To. To a chat this week, last week, saying that you was a star.

[Steve Smith]

Who was that?

[Bomani Jones]

The biggest hater that any of us know.

[Steve Smith]

Joe catches trays.

[Bomani Jones]

No, he ain't catching no straight. Joe called you. Joel called you a star. I assure you, he does not say that stuff willy nilly.

[Steve Smith]

Well, Joel caught TV on the day that people just lost their minds because they didn't hear everything properly. So, yeah, I'm sure that's. I'm sure that's what that was.

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, okay. I see what you say. Joel could appreciate you're Spiting your peers.

[Steve Smith]

Yes. Joel. Joel is. Is known for stirring things up on purpose. I stirred things up by accident. Yeah. You know what I mean?

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. And by the way, I don't feel bad.

[Steve Smith]

What's that?

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, go ahead. No, you go ahead.

[Steve Smith]

No, I was going to say to the name thing, I've known, you know, the host of First Take since, you know, 2006. That's when I was Vinnie. There was no Vince. Damn sure was no Vincent. So when he calls me that, everybody else was like, well, Steve calls Vinnie. I can call you Vinny. Well.

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, you. Oh, you. Okay. You one of those. You tried to age out of Vinnie. I didn't realize that. Like, I can let you grow up. You can be Vince. You know what I'm saying? I didn't realize that. Okay. All right. We all. We all cut up now. For example, Dan Lebatard used to be Danny.

[Steve Smith]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, he was a young Danny. Like, Wilbon is good to call him Danny. Every now and then, Gonzalo would call him Danny, like he had to become that. And I get it. Cause I get the idea that Danny feels a little younger. But Vinnie don't feel younger. Vinnie just feels familiar. You know what I mean?

[Steve Smith]

Yeah, to y'. All. You know what I mean?

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, I guess I forgot. The other part is you a junior. Yes, it all comes together, but I'm

[Steve Smith]

not gonna stop anybody that. I don't stop anybody who knows, like, my friend. Like, you know, my friends, my homies, they ain't gonna never call me Vince. Now, if they're like, reservations for. Who's the reservations name? And they gonna say Vinnie, you know what I mean? Like that they know when to use it and when not to. So, you know. Yeah, Bo, you've been my friend for 15 years.

[Bomani Jones]

It's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Steve Smith]

You are in the cluster. You don't have to call me by my birth name or nothing like that.

[Bomani Jones]

It's all good. Look, man, if you ever lose your ID at the club again during All Star, they call your name on the microphone. We was at All Star Houston one time, and they called. Somebody lost their I.D. is Vincent Goodwill Jr. Here? And then he tried to be all slick and go to the front. I'm like, he's right here. Vinnie's right here. Right here. All right. I'm just standing here and pointed down, you know, But I get you. Basketball.

[Steve Smith]

Yes.

[Bomani Jones]

The. The. The Lakers beat the Rockets the other night, and there's stories of both teams. Right? But I want to Start with the Rockets because I feel like we're almost being unfair to them in that we have all fought throughout this year. They don't have a point guard. They don't have a chance. It didn't. I don't know what they could have done during the regular season that would have changed the idea that they don't have a point guard. Therefore they don't have a chance. They could finish the regular season 65 and 17 and we would still say okay, but the issue is they don't have a point guard. Like that's going to come up when you got to play a best of seven series. But the way they've looked lately brings us back to, at least for me, couple of things. One of them, I remember all the love that everybody had for Eme during that year that he was coaching the Celtics. Now I think a big part of that is white folks get off on the idea of somebody coming in and calling these dudes. Right. Like they love the, like he holds those guys accountable. Right. People love that stuff when they hear it. You usually when it's from a white man, but they'll settle for a Nigerian in a pinch. Right? But at the same time they went to the finals and they won that Game 7 against Miami. But they were in the process of one of the great collapse collapses in the history of the NBA playoffs. Jimmy Butler walks into that three and makes it. That's an all time choke. And that year was full of blown leads in third and fourth quarters. Them just coming apart. It's like they don't know how to run an offense. Suddenly now again, to be fair, another team that did not have a point guard, but we're seeing it again like this is IME as tactician seems to raise or at least his offensive tactician seemed to raise some questions. I will stop there and get back to the other one. But I wonder if, I wonder what exactly you got to get, what combination of players you have to have to really make it work with him. Because I'm not saying he's a bad coach, but I am saying that there are holes in his game.

[Steve Smith]

This is going to sound hilarious coming from me. You know who would really work with IME Udoka right now? Chris Paul, five years ago. You have.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, because he can run the offense.

[Steve Smith]

You run the offense. I'll take care of everything else. Like he needs discipline in the order on offense. I can't blame IME when you get Reed shepherd and Amanda Thompson as your point guards and Amen Thompson, who's Used to handling the ball, maybe not being a point guard, but used to handling the ball and being the best athlete in basketball, that's a lot to put on a guy in his third year. But they look so inept. Like I saw KD in that fourth quarter, he had a 8 second violation and a backcourt violation, all because the lakers just put two dudes in his face 50ft from the basket. Like, this is so, I won't say elementary, but this is something that you learn at a very early stage of basketball. There's two guys on the ball, far away. What do you do? You put somebody in the middle, you get the numbers and someone makes a decision because you've got two defenders on the backside, somebody in the corners, somebody go to the dunker and you figure it out. The fact that JJ Redick was like, they can't do anything against this. We're going to unleash this in the fourth quarter of a game that we're trailing and we're going to be able to come back with Luka Doncic on the bench. Lets you know everything about how the league feels about Houston's fourth quarter offense. Like we're talking as if Houston also. And this is the crazy thing, Bo, Minnesota, Denver Lakers, Houston. Houston has the biggest single deficiency out of any one of those four teams and yet they are, what, a game behind the Lakers by virtue of that one loss. Like they can still get to three, which lets you know how incredible they are in other places where. Because if your fourth quarter offense is that in depth and teams know that they can just come and get you, that means nine times out of 10, you are blowing their asses out in every other aspect of the game so it doesn't get to a fourth quarter collapse. And that's why in part, I can't blame Eme. Eme is a great defensive coach. So if you're going to ask him to lean on his instincts, he's going to put out the best defensive unit, not the best unit that's going to give him fourth quarter order and everything else. And they didn't have Alperent Shangun, who's also a defensive liabilities, shall we say? He is.

[Bomani Jones]

Look, the Rockets, I feel like, are the only team in the west that we know can't win the West. I think that I don't, I do not think Minnesota will win the West. In fact, I'll go so far as to say they won't, but I'm not saying that they can't. There's a world where you can show me where Minnesota can win the West. I don't really see the world where Houston can win.

[Steve Smith]

So. Wait, wait. Let's. Let's back this up. There's a world where you can see the Lakers winning the West.

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, I'm sorry. No, my bad. Forgot about that.

[Steve Smith]

Hey, Ryan. Ryan. Leave that in. Ryan, leave that in. Let's just. Let's. It was gonna be.

[Bomani Jones]

It was gonna be. It was gonna be left in. Let me tell you this, partner. I understand you've been on TV for a while, but you ain't got to produce this show. Oh, boy. We got this under control. You know why? I didn't think of. Honestly, you know, I didn't think of the Lakers on that, and we'll get to them in a minute. I did not think about the Lakers because I do not think about the Lakers like they. In the group of teams that I'm thinking about for the west, they weren't actually in it, but this thing happened where they got to three. But I want to stay. I want to stay with the Rockets. Let me. I'm g. Get back to the Lakers. I'm g. Stay with the Rockets. Because you saw after that Lakers game where Durant talked about how he just had the ball too much and how he needed. You know, maybe the problem was him. And I. I think he was saying that in earnest, right? Like, I don't. I did not feel that that was him being passive aggressive in that moment. However, just going to ask the question, is it possible that Get Off My Dickerson has gotten Kevin Durant into a little bit of trouble? Like, we have just assumed that everything was going to run smooth after Get Off My Dickerson got caught sending all them crazy tweets. And again, I don't know exactly who get off by Dickerson is, but correct me if I'm wrong, but no one has heard from Get Off My Dickerson since that whole thing came up, right? You hear people talk about they sitting around watching Kevin Durant now when he has the ball. Is it possible that some of them cats are doing exactly that because they like, yo, what you got, Right? I'm not saying that. That. I'm not saying Kevin Durant is Get Off My Dickerson. I bet you they think he is, though. Like, we just assumed that that just went away, and that's not how humans work.

[Steve Smith]

No, no, no, no. I had this. Funny. I hadn't considered that element of it, that. Hey, partner, you want all of this? You got it, right? I didn't. I didn't consider that Katie turn Lee Watson. You know what I mean? Out here just doing whatever I. But maybe that's what it is. Like, a lot of those dudes may feel a certain way and feel like we gonna catch the blame one way or the other, whether we win or lose. So you know what? How about we just chill? No, I. I never thought about that.

[Bomani Jones]

No, I mean, I mean, I'm just asking this. How many people do we know that would have just let that slide?

[Steve Smith]

Hardly anybody. Look, we know.

[Bomani Jones]

I know one guy. Yeah. Kevin Durant. I tell you this, imagine if he still played with the triple with. If, if, if, if Kevin Durant were. Get off my digger center. If the team believe that, if, if people believe that thing, I bet you the triple Double Cocaine Bear will never let that slide. And I thought they had got a little better.

[Steve Smith]

I forgot about that line. But I mean, here's the crazy thing with the triple Double Cocaine Bear and all of his madness working work in this Houston. Like, there's so many different iterations of players who Kevin Durant has worked with that you're like, man, if only he had this guy right now, like, this would turn out to be something. I'll tell you the funny thing for those people who say Kevin Durant is never happy or never satisfied. Katie says something about, know, maybe I should just stand in the corner. I remember at one of these previous stops, Kevin Durant saying, man, he just sit me in the corner. That. It's, it's. It always sounds like nothing is ever quite right with Katie. It's almost like the set of the Entertainer line when he talks about Luther Vandross and that curl just not being quite right. Something's always off. And it's not necessarily Kevin Durant's fault. It could be. Get off my Dickerson's fault. It could be somebody else. Like the fact that they don't have a point guard in Houston. I mean, not Houston. In Phoenix, it was just a jumbled mess of a roster. Then the Bradley Bill trade happened in Brooklyn. It was Kyrie Irving going full Kyrie. And then James Harden doing James Harden. Does all those things in theory have nothing to do with Kevin Durant's singular excellence? He's gonna be 27, 7 and 5, no matter what situation we put him in. And he's 37 years old, right? Or is he going to be 37 years old? One of the two. I lose track of these old dudes after a period of time. Like, they just.

[Bomani Jones]

Old.

[Steve Smith]

Yeah, right, but. And you can't put Any of these singularly on him. You're just like, man, how can you be so snake bitten? Like.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, well, I push, I push back a little bit on the narrative of Kevin Durant. Something's always wrong.

[Steve Smith]

Okay.

[Bomani Jones]

We only really talked about something being wrong with Kevin Durant in the 2018, 2019 season. We were not saying that the first two years he was in Golden State, right? No, we were saying that the last year, as is often the case with somebody, is in the last year of a contract. And if I had to guess, whatever wasn't great with him did not have that wasn't about basketball. Right. Like, I don't think it was entirely. There's the Drake, you know, and by the way, what wasn't right in Golden State? Draymond called him a in front of everybody and acted like it was cool. Like, I don't, I'm not inclined to blame. I don't know, it just seemed like something ain't right. Yeah, I'll tell you exactly what wasn't right. That right there, right now, I don't know how those guys up there, like, everybody in the organization feels about him. That's a different discussion. But that one, I'm kind of like, I'm not sure. And then all he did was go out there and play until his Achilles snapped. So like, I, I, I, I'm, I'm kind of like, I don't know about.

[Steve Smith]

No, but what, what I'm saying is the things happen around him, not necessarily that he is a party to it. Like, I'm not saying that James Harden going, James Harden going Tiger going Tiger is his fault. Cuz that wasn't his fault. And Kyrie, and everything that Kyrie was going through at the time wasn't his fault. It just happens to be around him and it has colored the way that we think about him. That's what I'm saying.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm with you there. Okay. So, yeah, we're on the same page. But I think it's important, like, when you really walk through it, like, what happened with the Nets is very obvious what happened with the Nets. Kyrie wouldn't get that shot. And in a tense time in America, everybody had had enough. The. I tell you, my favorite, the only thing I'll ever remember that James Harden ever said, I'll give him the shot myself. That's the only thing that. Look, James Harden won a lot of respect for me in that one. He was the only person saying the thing like, what is this? This is ridiculous. Right? Everything Everybody has ever had to say about James Harden. James Harden was the one that was like, dog, you'll get this shot, come out here and play basketball. What are you talking about?

[Steve Smith]

He's the voice of reason. James Harden is the voice of reason. When has that ever happened?

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. And then when it fell apart, Durant was like, okay, get me out of here. He got to Phoenix. Now, this is where you can start saying, maybe it's always a thing. He and Devin Booker were not a fit for a number of reasons. One of those things is there is skill overlap, right?

[Steve Smith]

Like.

[Bomani Jones]

Like there are two guys whose job is the same job. They're not the same player, but they do the same job. But what. What didn't go right in Phoenix wasn't Durant's fault. And my recollection was it was them that wanted to move him, not vice versa, you know? And so now he gets here, and, I mean, look, get off. My. Dickerson seems to have a whole lot to say, but I didn't really detect there being a thing until recently, actually, like, now.

[Steve Smith]

Now.

[Bomani Jones]

Now that we're in this. So I feel like you're right. There's a thing everywhere. But I think the thing that makes him tricky is there's so many Wes such that we have a everywhere for a guy this good.

[Steve Smith]

It's the wild thing to me is because for every macro, there's a micro, Right?

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Steve Smith]

And you can't put any of the micros on him. Maybe the biggest micro that you can put on him is choosing Phoenix. Right. Cause in Brooklyn, before Kyrie's ankle snaps or it lands on Giannis, and before Harden's, you know, hamstring goes, you know, boom in the night, that was one of the best teams we'd ever seen. Right. That was the most explosive offensive team this side of Kevin Durant's Golden State team that we have ever seen in modern basketball.

[Bomani Jones]

And.

[Steve Smith]

And they were going to win the title easily in 2021. Even with all that stuff happening, maybe choosing Phoenix and trying to replicate whatever that was. Oh, put me next to another guy who can score and can handle Da D D da like, that's the thing. I don't think Houston was a bad pick for him, because at least you had the thought of, okay, you got Eme Udoku, who handles the defense. You got these young studs who we still going to keep. You got Freya Van Vliet. You got Alperin Shingon. Like, it makes all the sense. It makes too much sense. But maybe he should have picked San Antonio. All right, cool. You know what I mean? But getting back to your original point, neither one of us here is blaming Kevin Durant for the circumstances that Kevin Durant is in. Maybe you blame Get Off My Dickerson for how some things look. Well, we're not blaming Kevin Durant.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. I was about to say, if it is possible that this time it is the fault between Kevin Durant and Get Off My Dickerson. It is the fault of one of, like, I don't know. Right. But I don't think it's messy to ask the question about whether or not something like that has lingered, because I remember that first game after that happened, Kevin Durant looked like the greatest teammate of all time. He was out there giving hard dap. You know what I'm saying? That.

[Steve Smith]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

Like, dude, it was just a layup shit. You know? Like, he. He was out there. I think about this, too, about 2021. I feel like we treat Kevin Durant as though he came back from the Achilles tier, and he's been the same player that he was before that. And I don't believe that to be true. Like, I think he's still been incredibly effective, but I also think that we're in an era of stat inflation and so his ability to continue to put up those point numbers. And look, his. His percentages are good, all of this. But I say that to say, for those who do not remember in the 2021 playoffs, that was the best version of Kevin Durant I feel like I've ever seen. Like, if he makes that shot where he doesn't. Or his foot doesn't go over the line. Cause he wears his shoes one size too big, they're still rolling. He was so good that that postseason, as is often the case with guys who suffer an Achilles injury, they could really make it crack. That first year after. And then after that, it's not quite the same. Right. Like, he's not. He had one. He hasn't played that many games in most of these seasons. But two, he had become such an impactful defensive player before the Achilles injury took place. And he's not nearly the defensive player that he was around them. He's just a scorer from God.

[Steve Smith]

Yeah. No. Well, the crazy thing is, go look at Kevin Durant film from 2014. Like, before the. Before the list Frank injury. Like, we forget. He had the list Frank. He had the Achilles. He had the MCL when he was in Brooklyn. That cost him time. Any one of those three things, honestly, can change the trajectory of somebody's career. The Liz Frank cost Bill Walton his career. Right. One of the MCLs cost Derrick Rose. Derrick Rose's remaining explosiveness even. Even after the ACL. The MCL was what screwed Derrick Rose in 2012 or 2013. Excuse me, when he came back. And Kevin Durant's, like you said, the fact that he can play the game as well as he can play the game masks some of these other things. But I was looking at this. I was looking at film once of Kevin Durant scoring 54 in 2014. It might have been against Golden State. And it looked like a podcast on. On 1.5 speed. Like, how quick he was going to. How fluid he was. Like, now he gets to the spots, right? He gets there, but it's. He used to blow by dudes without having to go low. Like, his handle used to be a lot tighter than it is now. Like, now he's drip. Like, it's just a certain amount of fluidity that you lose when you have an Achilles injury. And you can't really blame him for that. But, yeah, I feel like to some degree, his basketball greatness has obscured the fact that there has been slippage, natural slippage that you're going to have after one, if not two or three of those damn injuries.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, no, it's. It's going to be interesting to watch what happens with that team. We didn't even. Wait.

[Steve Smith]

Have people forgot how good he was? How great he was? Have we reached the point or have. Have people forgotten that Kevin Durant used to be a physical marvel on top of the crazy skill set?

[Bomani Jones]

I don't know if people have forgotten how good he was, but I think that we overstate is. I don't think it's a matter of forgetting how good he was as much as it's so impressive that he is what he is at 37, that it's easy to lose track of the difference between this and even five years ago. It's like when somebody, for whatever reason on the Internet, drop some clips of LeBron at 25.

[Steve Smith]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

And you're like, oh, like, whoa, man, that's. That's right. I got. It's like going back and listening to one of your favorite records that you ain't listened to in a long time by your favorite artist that's still putting out, you know, still putting out songs. Still putting out, you know, still got some heat. But them jams was on them other tapes, right?

[Steve Smith]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

It's. It's kind of there. But speaking of LeBron, he Get back to the Lakers. Lakers winning some games, man. Luca apparently had been going through some things, shedded them things off his back. And look, nothing about the way that he plays basketball indicates that he's the sort of dude that just pushes through chaos and other facets of his life, you know what I mean? He, whatever was going on with the situation with his wife and kids, there seemed to have been some measure of resolution that at least is giving him some peace. And he out here killing people.

[Steve Smith]

Did you see the numbers? I think in his last and during his winning streak, he's like 38, 9 and 10. Like, I'm not saying he's elbowing his way into this MVP conversation, but we have choices to make now as far as who our top five is going to be. I think we always knew who our top five was going to be up until this. And if the Lakers wind up bound winning 50 plus games. Right? And I think they still can, they can win 50 plus games. Third seed in the west as the most flawed team amongst the remaining post. San Antonio, Oklahoma City. It's not that I'm saying I would vote for him for MVP or I would even have him on my ballot. I'm saying it's now the conversation to have him on the ballot. I think it's clear. We know who's going to win MVP and we know who's going to finish second. It's 3, 4 and 5. That makes things a little bit tricky now.

[Bomani Jones]

And I think, I think three is solid.

[Steve Smith]

You think three is solid?

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, I think one, two and three are locked in.

[Steve Smith]

You think big Slim?

[Bomani Jones]

Yes, that's three.

[Steve Smith]

Okay. No, I, I can't argue. And I haven't done like the deep dive. And I know that, you know, first take and get up. They make you answer these very, you know, direct questions. Who's your MVP right now? And then they, and then they expect you to hold yourself to that for the remainder of time. You know what I mean?

[Bomani Jones]

Like, right.

[Steve Smith]

There was a moment, there was a moment where K. Cunningham looked like the guy who could win it because he was the best player on the best team. Didn't have another guy out there that was helping him create shots. And that tailed off. And then Jokic came back and became Jokic again. And then Shay came back and became super Saiyan SGA. And then Vic, who's not even playing 30 minutes a night doing what he's doing, y', all, I just, just go look at what he's doing. And the crazy thing is like he's not even if I remember correctly, but I haven't looked at it recently. He's not even like the advanced stats marvel that you feel like he's going to be later.

[Bomani Jones]

Nah, nah.

[Steve Smith]

You just know when you see it. You just know it when you see it. Like I don't need, I don't need some things to tell me everything. I can just see it when you're shooting a 40 footer like Darius Garland did the other night, who's one of the best off foot finishers that we got in the league because he's quick as all hell and he can jump off the left foot and do stuff that you're not supposed to do. And he's like, you know what? I'm not trying that I will settle for this 40 footer and be happy as hell that he got it outside of his outstretched arms. That lets you know something.

[Bomani Jones]

Well, hold on. How about him getting switched on to Darius Garland, chasing him everywhere and then pitching his.

[Steve Smith]

That was later. That was later in the game. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

What do we like if you're one of these. So one thing that the podcast space has done that I think is important and noteworthy and one thing that's effective and it's a, it's a game that the athlete always gonna have the advantage on over the rest of us who do this is the athlete can tap into, which is the greatest thing that always works and that everybody wants to hear that is excellent players, excellent athletes, excellent rappers, whatever it is. Talk about that time they walked in and were wholly humbled. Right? Like, like, like, like, like you're welcome to the NBA moment type stuff or whatever. People love hearing the best of the best. Just talk about how somebody gave it to him. Like they didn't know it was possible that happened every night. Somebody play against the.

[Steve Smith]

Yeah, look, what did you. What was the line that Harrison Barnes told you?

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, yeah. No, he didn't tell me. John Hinson tweeted that. He said how did Harrison look at. Yeah, John Hinson tweeted he said how Harrison as a. How Vic look it runs. He was like, like wilt

[Steve Smith]

if you have. If you've never seen Big Slim in person, like I urge you, like he's just one of those guys. He's like the lock. He's like the Loch Ness monster. He's like Bigfoot is like one of those things that if somebody told you I'm trying to. It's trying to make an analogous comparison. It's like having the fat back TV that was like the Status symbol, right? Oh man, you got the big. You got the big 50 inch TV. And then you go straight from that to what we got now and it's. Wait a minute. How is this TV so flat and so light?

[Bomani Jones]

So light.

[Steve Smith]

And it's.

[Bomani Jones]

And it's only $400.

[Steve Smith]

And it's. And it's sitting on the. And it's sitting on the wall with these screws attached. What. What are we. What are we. What are we doing here? It's like you going from 1996 to 2016 with like being in a coma and waking up and then every seeing everything change. That's what it's like watching this dude and those dudes know, like watching him play. You ever seen him play possum? You ever seen that? So no, no. So there's this thing that he does where if you're coming down the lane and they're trying to highway screen you, which is pretty much a big man getting in the lane and kind of, kind of screening Big Vic out of the way. So he cannot get in the way of you getting the layup. Right? It's a highly illegal offensive play that nobody calls. But Vic will allow himself to be screened. He'll just get low and then all of a sudden, like some Bruce Lee flick, he will crouch up as you are taking a layup and send it back to the fourth row. But you don't see him because he's low. He has made himself small. He has shrunk himself from seven foot foe to being smaller than your center. So you think you have a highway and next thing you know, he's blocking your shot with one of his hands. Which hand? Who knows? Because he can block it with both hands. That's the problem. And he's nowhere near, and he's nowhere near even a hyper actualized version of himself. Get a win now. If you get a playoff win now, cherish it. Cause you ain't. Ain't gonna be much of it in the next decade.

[Bomani Jones]

Think about it like this. Our plan was to talk about the Lakers, but then Vick come up and you can't help but stay on that. So coming up next, we'll get back to talking about the Lakers and also a little NBA business. Ever wanted to go to the NBA Finals? Well, now's your chance, courtesy of FanDuel. All you have to do is use your profit boost on an NBA future and you'll be entered for a shot to win an NBA Finals trip for two NBA futures. Let you lock in your pick for who you think will go all the way. Whether it's a team to win the championship or a conference title. Visit FanDuel.com Bomani to get started, play your game with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and present in D.C. kansas, Wyoming opt in requirement awards are non withdrawable. Restrictions apply including bonus and token expiration leg requirements and max wager amount e [e-mail] gambling problem call 1-800- gambler or visit rg-help for.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chatinconnecticut visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text hopeny in New York is the biggest time of year for college basketball. The tournament teams face off against each other until it's down to the final two. Along the way, there are surprises, comebacks and upsets. It's anyone's game. Well, regardless of who makes it to the final round, one thing's for certain, it takes the most talented people to build these incredible teams. The same goes when you're hiring. If you want your business to be at the top of its game, you need the best people on your team. The place to find them. ZipRecruiter and now you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com Bomani ZipRecruiter Smart matching technology immediately finds qualified candidates that check all your boxes. ZipRecruiter recommends screening questions you can easily add to get the highest quality applicants. Score the best for your team with ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com bomani that's ZipRecruiter.com bomANI Meet your match on

[Steve Smith]

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[Bomani Jones]

My day kicks off with a refreshing Celsius energy drink. Then straight to the gym, pre K pickup back home to meal prep. Time for my fire station shift. One more Celsius.

[Steve Smith]

Gotta keep the lights on when the three alarm hits.

[Bomani Jones]

I'm ready. Celsius Live fit. Go grab a cold refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate [e-mail] all right, we are back with Vinnie Goodwill. So with the Lakers and with Luca stepping it up, I mean, they still just have this great issue which is their three best players don't guard people. Like that issue seems to be a bit intractable that their best three players don't guard people. However, it can be fun until they lose.

[Steve Smith]

Well, the question is, how much do you believe in the fact that they say to themselves, we can defend you good enough. You can't keep up with us scoring. And we have three really good decision makers at the end of games. They're the best clutch team in basketball. They're like 196 or 26 the last time I checked. And I think that part is real, Bo. Like, even when they were bad, even when, you know, you only had two or three, you know, big three or whatever you want to call them playing together, like, they were always a really good clutch team because you got, you're at least going to get a shot on goal. And I think that's the thing that separates Denver, Houston. Boston is not a really great clutch team. Like, and those are really good teams that you think about in terms of. Oh yeah, of course they got, you know, maybe with the exception of Houston, you think of, think of Golden State, you know, when Steph was playing as a team that was going to get a shot up that other team that was going to make the right decision, even though Steph can throw the ball around a little bit. But you think of those teams as being well coached and organized and yet the Lakers are the team which we don't necessarily think of as being the most organized because of how they play on defense. That thing translates and I don't know what to do with that against this 22nd ranked defense that they're playing with. Their offense has seemingly caught up with, okay, our offense is our superpower. They could just never access the superpower. They could never be great at. At the thing that they were good at to offset this Being a really poor defensive team and a team that is not great at protecting the rim. Now they are starting to figure out, okay, that the net rating between LeBron Luca and Austin Reeves is climbing up in a way that it wasn't before. Like, they were a minus 10, you know, early on in the season. Now they're climbing up to be, you know, roughly league average. Like that means something. And if you notice, they're putting LeBron at small ball five now, and I don't know.

[Bomani Jones]

He's going for it.

[Steve Smith]

Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, part of me thinks Bo, and not to hijack it, is there a better place for LeBron to spend his final year if this. If next year is going to be his final year? Is there a better place for him to spend it, franchise and team, than where he's at?

[Bomani Jones]

No, there's never been any better place to end his career than Los Angeles. That was the whole point of going there in the first place. I love the idea that he's getting. He's going all along with being small ball 5. It's the full transition into being Kareem. Except if Kareem was just much more explosive and athletic at this point in his career. Like, look, let me tell you something. If 1988 Kareem had LeBron James money, there would have been no 1988 Kareem. That wouldn't have been it. He needed that bread. I don't mean to laugh at his misfortune because somebody stole from him, but he was not out there for the love of the game. He was out there because the bank said so. So it's not exactly the same LeBron being there. I think, though, the part we can't undersell, once it comes to the postseason, we all. I feel like we take for granted to a degree how well LeBron has held up over time, but we've seen it happen. When you got to play every other night, we asked for something different out of his body every other night. And you need a little more like 38 a night. Hey,

[Steve Smith]

this is. This is why I love 82 games. Because during the playoffs, you find out how much of a skill stamina is, like, you find out, you know, both on the young side and on the old side, because you're going to see some of the young players you're going to see. Find out from Vic. Okay, Vic, that 29 minutes got to go to 35, 36 may have to go to 40. And you got to play every other ninth post the first weekend of the playoffs. Cause they Just stretch everything out. Once we get past the first four games of the first round, where you go from maybe game one on Sunday, then game two on Thursday, you get that long break. Then after that first weekend, you going Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, you gonna go. And then you gotta travel in between. Then the old guys think they know they can handle it. Cause they've handled it before. The young guys think they can handle it because they got the young legs. And in actuality, none of them can handle it because this is a damn marathon. And you go and it. And it. And it hurts. And you think about it. LeBron. The last time we saw LeBron make a deep playoff run, which was 20, 23, they went to the Western Conference finals. They beat Golden State in round two. They played Denver, and they got swept in large part because LeBron went out, ran out of gas. And that was three years ago. How much gas is he gonna have left now?

[Bomani Jones]

Well, he ain't run out of gas. It was like the wheels were flying off on the freeway. Like them lug nuts got loose. I mean, you remember him just sitting down, like, taking off his shoe in the middle of a possession because his foot was in such terrible shape that year. And you're right.

[Steve Smith]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

That was three years ago that. That happened. You. You hit on something. I want to stay with you on because I've seen you, and I have talked about it, and I've seen you talk about it. Steve Kerr has been the voice for. We need to shorten the season to 72 games. I think I saw our buddy Nate Jones make the point online that it's not that you need to shorten the season. Is that. And I agree with Nate on this. The rules need to be changed so that the game doesn't move so fast. Because we have created a game that is unsustainable for the players. And. And no. No administration or coaching staff has the discipline to reign it back. You're going to have to do it by the force of rules. But you are an adamant proponent of 82 games.

[Steve Smith]

Yes, yes. Like, hey, dog, it's. It's so many different things that come up that people do not give credence to. For one, Bo, you talk about this. We talked about this just in general in our own conversations. 80s kids are playing too much basketball at an early age. Like, you think, man, it's too much basketball for 82 games because these dudes are getting hurt. The odometer starts when you start playing basketball. It don't start when you get to the NBA and Sign a damn contract. That's why I think Steve Kerr is missing. Yeah, the kids in AAU are playing too much basketball. Secondarily, like you said, the game is too fast, right. Where it's too many possessions, there's too much space that you actually have to cover the, the skill set of the players. Think about a game that you saw in the 90s, there's only so much movement that you have because so much of the game was free throw line down, right. So yeah, it's more bumping and banging and bruising and everything else but there's less wind up now. There's more wind up and more impact like more of a high speed car crash than a, you know, a crash where you're going 25 miles an hour. It's more 80 miles an hour car crashes. Yeah, it's going to be, you know, paying like that. The other thing for me, Bo, is and I've heard this from team doctors and even Stan Van Gun has brought the second point. Team doctors have told me we don't practice enough. So when you don't practice enough, your only version of high impact is during the games. Your body isn't prepared for it. And Rick Carlisle, coach of the Pacers brought this up last night and he's, he likes the idea but he says when you get rid of back to backs like the league in three and fours, you also, that means you also get rid of the practice days in between where you can go hard and you can recharge the body and you don't have training camps as long as training camps used to be so you can prepare the body for the grueling 82 game schedule. Now it's just you got to get these 82 games in into these days and you got these breaks baked in with all star break. And now you got have a week for play in because you got to get the league done by June 21st so you can have the draft the next day or whatever it is. There's just not enough days on the calendar for what Steve Kerr I think is talking about. And the equipment is trash, which we don't talk about as much anymore. All these, I think the sustainable shoes and everything else. Why are you seeing so many, you know, soft tissue injuries is because I don't know if the shoes are made now for the way the basketball needs to be played. It's so many things that go beyond 72 damn games in the. Add to the fact that BO, it ain't supposed to be easy. How can we accept that everything Else Every other professional sport is supposed to be a battle of attrition, but somehow basketball is supposed to be easy.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. I tell you this too. Here's the biggest thing about 72 games. It ain't never going to happen. Hard stop. No, no. There's no. Literally nobody involved is going to campaign for this. As much as I get frustrated in the NFL with Thursday Night Football and all of this stuff, the league clearly tells you, hey, it's going to be more money. And they all go, all right, you know, and then they, and then they go out there and do it. These cats don't want 72 games so bad that they are not going to play 82, you know, that they going to give back the money on the 82. It's, it's, it's not going to happen.

[Steve Smith]

Speaking of the money, wait, here's one last thing. Bo, if you. So what? You tell me. Someone tell me. If you scale the league back to 72 games and you give them all these breaks in between, these same dudes gonna stay out the gym.

[Bomani Jones]

Right.

[Steve Smith]

Because what. That's basically what you're asking them is play fewer games, stay out of the gym. Aren't we in the age of over training and everything else. And every time you look up, you see a guy getting in the gym. Basketball never stops. And everything else. These dudes aren't going to stay out of the gym because it's how they, it's their instrument. They gonna keep working. Yeah, they're going, they're going. They're going to grind it down because that's what they've been trained to do. Maybe that's a problem with how we've. The basketball industrial system. Sure. But they're not going to stay off their feet.

[Bomani Jones]

No, it's a, it's a, it's a very complex issue. I want to ask you about this while we got you. We're hearing that it's going to come to a vote about expanding the NBA, perhaps bringing two teams in Las Vegas and Seattle. I don't care. But so much about the money end of it. I think we'll see if it happens. If it does, it's because they think they could probably get $8 million. $8 billion. Excuse me, per team as a franchise fee, which would mean 16 million. There we go. $16 billion distributed between the 30 current owners. The trade off, obviously is rather than getting a 1 out of 30 slice everything, they gonna get a 1 out of 32 slice of everything. I, I think the example of the Las Vegas Raiders has pointed out the trick bag about putting the team in Las Vegas is will the home team feel like the home team? You'll always. You'll. Well, in the past, at least, we could have assumed you'd always have people who wanted to come into Las Vegas just to find an excuse and they'd come to watch their teams. But as you can see, Las Vegas is not cracking like it once was. I don't, you know, I don't know exactly how that plays out. To me, the most underrated part of this is the scenario that we just outlined means somebody gets to go from the west to the East. And you hear people talk about that a lot. To me, there's only one team that it truly makes sense. There are only three candidates for the move. The two that are candidates, but I don't think it really works, are Memphis and New Orleans sitting right there on the Mississippi River. The one that I think ends up making the move is the other team that sits on the Mississippi river, and that's the Timberwolves. And taking the Timberwolves from a team in the east to a team team in the west to a team in the east, because for reasons I don't have an answer for, the west has clearly been the best conference in the league since Jordan retired. I don't know how this is held as tight as it has, but that's just what it is. In college basketball. Every team for the last couple decades and change has been east of the eastern part of the country. Right. But if Minnesota gets to go east, boy, Anthony Edwards. Life gets a lot better, doesn't it?

[Steve Smith]

Oh, well, are we sure it does? Because there's multiple points here. One, we're about to go into a recession, and then we're going to put a team in Las Vegas. Stick a pin in that. When we go down there for the NBA cup and you see what the sparse crowds look like. That. That's a. That's a weird. That's a funky thing for me. And you're saying you're going to have 41 home dates when the Raiders have eight home dates. And everybody can make a trip out of going to Las. Hey, we can make a weekend out of going to Las Vegas and we

[Bomani Jones]

can see, you know, they've sold hockey tickets up there. The one thing I will say is they have sold hockey tickets.

[Steve Smith]

No, and I'm sure that Adam has done. Done the numbers and everything else. Like, I don't think he's a fool. And just looking at it from the standpoint of, you know, we're going to get this, this windfall and then it's going to be something that's not sustainable. Like I'll give Adam all that credit. I'll get, I'll give Adam the benefit of the doubt. So stick a pin in that. You asked why the west has gotten so much better than the East. There's three reasons. Sam Presti, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant. Yeah, that's it. Sam Presti going in Oklahoma City gave them a sustainable sort of small market thing where now they're, they're just who they are. Tim Duncan going to San Antonio, begat Kawhi Leonard, begat the International explosion, blah, blah, blah. Kobe Bryant kept the Lakers sustainable for almost two decades from the point that he was drafted, even though he wasn't that guy when he first got there. But, but the Lakers became a team that was in the wilderness before 1996 to a team that basically became the Los Angeles Lakers again right after. Crazy how only those three small things can lead to three decades of just sheer dominance. But to your question about ant man, are we sure that the road is easier? Because I feel like the east quietly has been better than the west all season long. Indiana will be better next year when Hal Burton comes back. Plus a draft pick.

[Bomani Jones]

Right.

[Steve Smith]

What if Atlanta gets stuff cracking? Cuz they look like they got it cracking right now.

[Bomani Jones]

They won't.

[Steve Smith]

They won't.

[Bomani Jones]

They won't.

[Steve Smith]

Right, they won't.

[Bomani Jones]

But you're. You know what though, you're right though.

[Steve Smith]

Like it's Detroit, sustainable. Boston is sustainable. New York is sustainable. Like it ain't no easy sledding over there in the Eastern Conference. In the west you just got two behemoths that you just going to have to see every damn year that you just not going to be able to get through. And that's the problem. So yeah, Ant in the East. Yeah, I'm with that.

[Bomani Jones]

You raise, yeah, you raise a good point. Because the east really only has like what I would say three consistently bum franchises right now.

[Steve Smith]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

The Wizards, the Nets and the Bulls. Bums all around. Right. They will find that's found a way to be bums with three no brainer hall of Famers now. I don't think Utah is going to be bums forever. Like it, I mean it's, they have to start trying to win games. Right? Right. They, they, they, they have to. Sacramento, that's bums. Memphis, they haven't always been bums, but I think they're about to be in a nice long stretch of buminess. I mean, although I guess they get all those Desmond Bang picks, but I still think they're in a stretch of Bummer. The Pelicans, I think that's going to be Bumminess for. For. For a stretch. The Trailblazers emerging out of Bumminess. And I'm telling you, one day, that big old dude from China, if he ever figures it out, whatever. I. The. The. The. The Chinese dude that play like Jokic.

[Steve Smith]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

It may not be for another five years, but I'm still paying attention. The warriors headed toward bumness.

[Steve Smith]

Yes, yes.

[Bomani Jones]

The fact that good players are old.

[Steve Smith]

I mean, look, the fact that they're saying, you know, we're old, and that's one of the teams that we're hearing of adding LeBron James is going to fix it. Another old.

[Bomani Jones]

Am I the only person that hears that? It's like, what are you talking about? I. I asked this question sincerely. They're like, oh, well, maybe LeBron comes and wraps up his career in Cleveland. Is that going to help?

[Steve Smith]

I don't know who that helps.

[Bomani Jones]

Right. Like, I just. I don't if I am. It's not exactly the same, but Barry Bonds was a top 10 player when nobody would take him. And I understood the argument that many teams could have, especially if he didn't want to go to the American League, where all he'd have to do is be a designated hitter. I see the argument that a lot of guys just be like, that team's just like, nah, man, we don't feel like doing this. I don't feel like add LeBron at this point. Like, when you used to add old Shaq, you were getting a very clear, defined thing out of old Shaq. Like, okay, yeah, we can do that. And old LeBron is not playing for the prices old Shaq was willing to play for.

[Steve Smith]

That's the question. How much cap space would you have to carve out? Because LeBron ain't took less since the Miami contract.

[Bomani Jones]

Since Miami, never again.

[Steve Smith]

Which y' all, cover your ears. He made the decision to go to Miami 16 years ago.

[Bomani Jones]

It's crazy.

[Steve Smith]

16 years ago.

[Bomani Jones]

16 years ago.

[Steve Smith]

There's people in high school that have no idea that LeBron James played for the Miami Heat. They. When they see the highlights, they're like, oh, no, that's got to be AI. And you're like, children. There's a time when LeBron was not just a myth, when he was the best offensive player and defensive player in the game and the best athlete, and he still had strides to grow as far as, you know, you know, some of the clutch stuff and some of the long range shooting, like, like lock. That's Loch Ness monster. That's like, wait a minute.

[Bomani Jones]

It's been 10 years since he pinned Iguodala's shot against the glass.

[Steve Smith]

Amazing. Amazing. Like, and then he's going to play. And then he's going to play another season. Something maybe somewhere else. And who. Let's just say. Let's just say LeBron wants to go somewhere else for his last year. There's going to be a documentary. So you're adding the LeBron circus on top of the film crew. And LeBron isn't going to a bum franchise just to do it. He's got to go somewhere where there's some stakes in the ground or whatever the case may be. And then how do you sell that to the people who you already have, who have the pressure of trying to win? Like, I don't see. And it's not necessarily quote unquote, LeBron's fault, but it makes for an awkward circumstance if it were to happen. You mean to tell me LeBron gonna spend his last year playing in San Francisco on Stephen Curry's team?

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. And did you read. What was the name? Hollywood ending the. The. The. The Lakers book?

[Steve Smith]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

One thing LeBron ain't doing is showing up and just fitting in with what you. What you about to do. Like LeBron is LeBron.

[Steve Smith]

Yes.

[Bomani Jones]

Like, that's, That's. You know what I mean? That's. That's his. It would be interesting to make that decision. So, like the idea of Golden State, which already had the issue of trying to bring another superstar in who had to make peace with the fact that it wasn't his team. Right. LeBron has had to make peace with the fact that this isn't his team.

[Steve Smith]

Can you imagine, and this is just a random question, imagine what LeBron and the Lakers look like right now if they were not gifted. Luka Doncic 14 months ago.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. And Anthony Davis just over there looking fresh.

[Steve Smith]

Can you imagine what the Lakers would be? They would be exactly where they were during Kobe Bryant's last year is when we said the Lakers had lost their way. It was just that they were gifted. A generational superstar. Because you'd be asking LeBron to carry in a way that he's not physically fit to carry anymore. Like, just, just think about the road that we were headed on before. They were gifted. Luka Doncic, what we be saying. Anthony Davis is broken again. LeBron is breaking what are we doing here? Crazy.

[Bomani Jones]

What a fascinating marriage of convenience. This has proven to be, by the way, a marriage of convenience that has now been going on for eight years.

[Steve Smith]

Longest single stretch he's had in his career.

[Bomani Jones]

Longest single stretch he's had in his career. And I don't know if anybody's really been happy with it. They got a championship.

[Steve Smith]

Does it. Does it feel satisfying?

[Bomani Jones]

Lakers fan? There's never been anything like this. I think it's the best way to put it. There's never been anything like this. But the thing is, they got a championship. A. A only A. Right. In the last 50 years, that hasn't been how it's worked. If you were a Lakers. Lakers superstar, you got at least three. He got a. And it's not surprising. I'm not blaming him.

[Steve Smith]

Right.

[Bomani Jones]

But it's not what we thought it was going to be.

[Steve Smith]

I'm surprised. No, I would tell you this. When he made the decision to go over there, I wasn't thinking, oh, man, he going over there and they about to win. I didn't think that. I thought he was going over there to make a lifestyle. End of my career move. I didn't know how many years he was or wasn't going to play, but I didn't think they was going to be able to get it cracking for one year, to be perfectly honest.

[Bomani Jones]

Well, I thought it would at least be more interesting. Right. And I think, like, when they got Anthony Davis, that team was really good that year, that won that championship, but that is the only really good team they've had. And I think that's the part that's the most surprising.

[Steve Smith]

Yeah, I'm with you on that one, but. Yeah, but how competent have the Lakers shown themselves to be as a conglomerate?

[Bomani Jones]

This is true. This is true. I just, I still. I just thought that it would be more fun. That's all right. Like, I was really excited about the idea of it when it happened, and I just thought it was gonna be a little bit more fun.

[Steve Smith]

Oh, it's about to be more fun now. Cause Irv about to walk back into that building, baby.

[Bomani Jones]

That's right. And for people who don't know, they got like, Magic Johnson walked away. And a big part of why Magic Johnson walked away from that team was he and Rob Pelinka couldn't get along. He wasn't having a great time. All of this stuff, right? And we got all these stories about Rob Palinka running Magic down behind his back. Magic came and sat on first take and sat everywhere. Tell the world about how he felt like Rob had mistreated him and everything else. And this is something that I don't think people realize happened when. When the buses sold the team to. I forget my man's name. Mark Walter.

[Steve Smith]

Mark Walter.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, Mark Walter. The guy that owns the Dodgers. Magic is part of the ownership group of the Dodgers. And who have they put in charge of the Lakers? A gentleman named Ron Lo. Ron Loan. Lon Rosen. Got him. Old Lon Rosen. And some of you may be like, oh, that name sounds familiar. Who's Lon Rosen? Lon Rosen was Magic's agent, which is to say Magic is back running the Lakers. Even if he ain't running the whole thing, his guy is running it. And I don't think Rob Palink is going to have that job very long.

[Steve Smith]

Well, Magic Johnson never had an office cleaned out of that building in El Segundo. Even when he. Even when he did the. I'm not going to be here. Magic. Magic never left. Magic is tight with Genie. Still tight with, you know, in partnership with the new ownership, one of his best friends is now the head of the Los Angeles Lakers business operations. And you think Magic ain't gonna be back in that building?

[Bomani Jones]

All right, hey, he'll. He'll be back in there. And you know what you'll hear blaring through the office? Duh, nuh, duh, duh, nuh duh duh duh duh. They said Magic just be in that office watching Family Feud. All that was it. That was in yards watching his man Steve Harvey, you know what I'm saying? Because Magic was doing all the other stuff Magic does.

[Steve Smith]

Can you imagine hearing Steve Harvey's voice Blair through

[Bomani Jones]

draft night? Hey, look, man. Now look like Magic is playing the Feud. That is what that is. That is Vinnie Goodwill. Check him out all over espn covering the NBA. My brother. I appreciate you.

[Steve Smith]

Hey, appreciate you, dog.

[Bomani Jones]

All right, ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on the right time. We do this four days a week. Ryan Brumley handled everything behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Remember, follow the right time. 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. We'll talk to you guys in a couple of days. Take it easy. Two teams, one cup. The primetime stage is set for the TGL. Presented by SoFi. Los Angeles Golf Club versus Tigers.

[Steve Smith]

Jupiter Links. Keep up.

[Bomani Jones]

It's playoffs. Tune in. Monday, March 23, 9pm Eastern on ESPN2. And Tuesday, March 24, 7pm Eastern on

[Steve Smith]

ESPN and on the ESPN app.

[Bomani Jones]

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