The Ringer NBA Show: Real Ones Episode: LeBron’s Streak Ends. Plus, CP3’s Turbulent Ending With the Clippers.
Date: December 5, 2025
Hosts: Logan Murdock & Raja Bell

Episode Overview

This episode of "Real Ones" dives deep into two of the NBA’s most talked-about stories of the week: the end of LeBron James’s legendary double-digit scoring streak and the messy, emotional fallout from Chris Paul's departure from the Clippers. Logan and Raja unravel the sporting, cultural, and business significance of these events, tackle player workload and youth specialization, and finish up with their signature “Real One of the Week.”

Key Discussion Points & Insights

LeBron James’s Streak Ends – Legacy, Self-Awareness, and His Laker Fit

[02:48–13:57]

• LeBron’s 1297-Game Double-Digit Streak Ends

  • LeBron failed to score 10+ points in a regular-season NBA game for the first time since January 2007 (~13 years), ending the NBA's longest such streak.
  • The streak ended in a characteristically LeBron way — with a game-winning assist to Rui Hachimura, not a basket for himself.
  • Significance of the streak: nearest active player (Kevin Durant) is over 1,000 games behind, a truly historic, likely unbreakable mark.

• Physical and Mental Attributes Behind the Streak

  • Raja: "He could physically get out of bed in a league where you're playing against the most, you know, elite level athletes on the planet... and could roll out of bed and get you double figures." [04:58]
  • The combination of his physical gifts and cerebral game allowed LeBron to maintain this level for so long.

• Self-Awareness and Team Dynamics

  • Both hosts agree LeBron’s willingness to defer to teammates and play a “role player” style shows huge self-awareness as he ages.
  • Logan: "He has said everything the right way... I am a guy that is one of the smartest players that's ever played the game. I do know my role, and I will play my role to the best of my ability." [10:47]
  • Raja: “He’s been the ultimate professional in that space. I mean, it’s been, hey, I’m here to help. How can I get plugged in and, and, you know, accent what we already got going on?” [11:57]

• Challenges of Muting a Superstar

  • Can LeBron, so used to being ball-dominant, maintain efficiency in a reduced, more limited role? Raja notes it's not simple and depends on finding new rhythms and efficiencies.

• Historical Context

  • MJ's second-longest streak: 866 games.
  • Durant’s current streak: 267 games — nowhere near LeBron’s feat.
  • Fun pop quiz by Logan with cultural trivia pegged to 2007, when LeBron’s streak started. [18:36–20:43]

Notable Quotes

• Logan: “This is probably one of the league’s most unbreakable records... Kevin Durant wouldn’t catch up until he’s 50!” [03:38]
• Raja: “He had the self-awareness to not do that. That’s exciting... I think that self awareness lends itself to him being able to do that.” [06:10]
• Raja: “If you ask him to essentially be a very, very efficient sniper... that’s just not what he’s used to doing, and that’s really not his skillset.” [13:57]

Chris Paul & the Clippers: A Toxic Parting

[22:19–43:51]

• Chris Paul’s Unceremonious Dismissal

  • Early-morning Instagram post: Chris Paul says he was “sent home” by the Clippers just weeks after announcing his retirement.
  • The Athletic reports: Paul's “constant criticism internally had been the root of the perceived problem.” He held teammates accountable — perhaps too vocally for this group.

• Franchise Disfunction & Cultural Impacts

  • Jamie (Packwatch Segment): Clippers called out for being “just failure after failure after failure,” mishandling stars again and again, and lacking a loyal fan culture. [22:19–25:54]
  • Logan: “The Clippers have no draft picks...they are banking on Giannis...You think that Giannis doesn’t see how you treat your stars? Why would he want to come there?” [34:19]
  • Previous star mishandlings cited: Blake Griffin traded after an extension, broken promises to Russell Westbrook, etc.

• Players’ Diminishing Influence with Age

  • Logan outlines the pattern: "You are afforded some leeways when you are the best player in the face of the franchise that you were not afforded when you were no longer that..." [31:21]
  • Raja shares his own story of being “too honest” as an aging vet in Utah and how it cost him his spot. [28:03–29:15]

• Big-Picture Fallout

  • Logan: “You need to allow your greats to be celebrated and they’re not allowing their greats to be celebrated.” [35:07]
  • Raja: “For them to still come to the conclusion that this had to be done...it had to be utterly toxic.” [37:19]

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Jamie (Packwatch): “You can take the bad man out of the Clippers, but you can’t take the Clippers out of the bad.” [22:49]
• Logan: “Clip gang, don’t bang around here, you feel me? But at the same time, you strip it away... it’s sad. It’s so sad. For multiple reasons.” [25:03]
• Raja: “If I'm being honest with the audience and myself, I would have liked for my last year to have been in a locker room with guys and enjoying that...” [29:15]
• Logan, on Clippers: “This was so short-sighted by the Clippers and it was the most Clipper shit of all time.” [36:38]

Superstar Workloads, AAU Culture, and the Modern NBA Grind

[44:00–68:41]

• The NBA’s Growing Injury Challenge

  • Study: Average NBA player now misses 24 games per season, way up from 10 games in the 80s/90s and 14 games in the 2000s. [46:17]
  • Raja: “...the body again has only got so much in it. It’s like a car... when you’re expediting... you’re going to wind up with people that have these soft tissue injuries, you know, a lot sooner...” [48:09]

• Load Management, Pace, and the New Normal

  • The only true fix would be to reduce the NBA season — but financially that’s not happening.
  • Team sports science leads to more targeted rest, not fewer games.

• AAU/Youth Specialization Issues

  • Overtraining of kids, lack of multi-sport athletes, and unhealthy parent-driven competition discussed in depth.
  • Raja: “It’s the parent in a lot of these instances that I find when I ran youth organizations and I’ve been in these gyms, it’s the parent that can’t distinguish between what is play for a kid...and what is...work.” [50:28]
  • Raja repeatedly counsels parents: “Let them go play something else.” [53:33]
  • Logan makes the NIL/college connection, with parents seeking monetary returns from their kids’ sports from a very young age. [54:31]

• Player Tracking and Unsustainable Pace

  • Teams now run more (e.g., Indiana Pacers 19.1 miles/game vs. Spurs 17.8 a decade ago) and that’s impacting both style and injury risk.
  • Logan: “You can’t afford the Jason Tatums getting out because they’re running their bodies into the ground.” [57:45]

• Potential Solutions?

  • Raja: Real change might only come if the game is forced to slow down by the re-emergence of dominant big men, but as long as “big” players are developed as wings, it’ll stay a guards’ game.
  • Raja: "The way it goes back is for the big to come back into...The big that is just the punishing interior presence..." [59:10]

• Cultural Differences in Football & Basketball Recruiting

  • Raja notes football coaches value multi-sport athletes, basketball coaches do not — furthering specialization and overuse in hoops. [67:15]
  • Logan: "I'm not hearing any more stories very rarely about the player that played three sports anymore..." [62:58]

Real One of the Week

[69:26–72:41]

• Logan: LeBron James, for ending the streak with grace, humility, and a game-winning pass — the GOAT of longevity, recommitting to selfless basketball. [69:31]
• Raja: Lane Kiffin, for his boldness (or something else) leaving abruptly in college football, and coaches who lobby for the College Football Playoff. [70:31]
• Logan: Honorable mention to Diabell (Raja’s nephew) for committing to the University of Texas. [71:38]

Important Timestamps for Segments

• LeBron’s Streak & Its Legacy: [02:48–20:43]
• Chris Paul & Clippers Fallout: [22:19–43:51]
• Workload, Youth Specialization, and Injuries: [44:00–68:41]
• Real One of the Week Awards: [69:26–72:41]

Notable Quotes

• Raja Bell [06:37]: “He’s done that over the course of his career. He’s caught some stuff for it. I weirdly heard people debating it this morning, which I thought was asinine. Like it was a great pass, great shot BY Rui.”
• Logan Murdock [34:19]: “You think that Giannis doesn’t see how you treat your stars? Why would he want to come there...?”
• Raja Bell [50:28]: “It’s the parent in a lot of these instances... can’t distinguish between what is play for a kid... and what is work. What is time spent doing something because someone else’s kid is doing it.”
• Logan Murdock [57:45]: “You can’t afford the Jason Tatums getting out because they’re running their bodies into the ground.”
• Raja Bell [59:10]: “The way it goes back is for the big to come back into… the basketball. The big. That is just the punishing interior presence that we can…put it inside to somebody that’s going to score 47 every night at the rim.”

Episode Tone and Style

• Honest, self-deprecating, NBA-insider talk
• Equal parts in-the-weeds analysis, storytelling, and cultural critique
• Friendly, loose, sometimes comedic banter but deeply informed by player and media experience

This episode is a can’t-miss for fans interested in the nuances of aging superstars, franchise culture wars, and the big-picture evolution of basketball—from the NBA all the way down to the youth level.