LeBron James LEAVING Lakers? Warriors & Knicks LANDING SPOTS? Mahomes NFL’s best QB? | Nick Wright

LeBron James LEAVING Lakers? Warriors & Knicks LANDING SPOTS? Mahomes NFL’s best QB? | Nick Wright

Welcome in What’s Right with Nick right episode 346. This episode of What’s Right with Nick right is brought to you by Boost Mobile. Fresh off vacation enjoying some watching some Wimbledon. Wearing my vintage Wimbledon shirt uh that I I still never gone but I wear this while I’m watching. I feel like I’m more into it. Also, Damonz, I you know, I have a two-piece, a nice little matching two-piece outfit that I wear whenever I go to the US Open that has guys playing tennis on it. It’s just like cartoons of people playing tennis that I wear it. I Your mom had it squirreled away in a giveaway bag of clothes. She was like, “You can’t wear this again this year. You have your Wimbledon shirt.” I’m like, “I’m not wearing my Wimbledon shirt to the US Open. Do you know how ridiculous I would look? I’m wearing my tennis outfit, but there’s so much to hit Goodwill. No, it was about it was for real. She was going to get rid of it without telling me. Um, a ton to do today. Great to see you. We got some good family time. Deontz was on our family vacation with us. We’re back from Hawaii. Uh, my sleep schedule’s all screwed up. You guys don’t care about that. Uh, so let’s get right into it because we have a ton to do. We also have a three-hour TV show today. shows from 2 to 5 right after soccer. So, uh on FS1 and there is a lot I want to discuss, not the least of which should be one of the funny what I think will be one of the funniest stories in the history of this show and that has to do with what one of the hosts of the show came home to after a 10day vacation. So, we will discuss all of that, but first, thanks to our friends at Bro Boost Mobile, we can bring you straight to voicemail, which is basically what we’re not going to have time to get into today, which is the US loses to Mexico in the Gold Cup final. Not great. They didn’t play great. They could have won, but they didn’t deserve to win. Um, Bronnie had a nice little highlight play in summer league. And more importantly, I also think that Bronnie’s quote about, “Listen, there are guys in this league that can give you 15 to 20 points. I’m not one of those guys right now. I’m not going to be one of those guys. I’m have to make it work on defense.” I thought that was a great quote. I also thought Bronnie had a hilarious quote when they asked him about the rumors surrounding swirling around LeBron James and he’s like, “Yeah, I try not to pay attention to that stuff.” Like, buddy, that is your dad. Like I would I like it’s I understand you’re like I don’t want to comment on another teammate’s business, but like you guys live in the same house. Um and then also uh do they live in the same house? That you know what? I don’t know the answer to that. Did Bronnie move out on his own? He might. He’s got an NBA contract. Maybe he does. Um probably. You know what? Again, I’ll stay out of the the young man’s business. But if there’s if there’s anyone in the world that could all of a sudden be making a million and a half bucks on their own and the house that they can afford is a massive massive downgrade from what they’re used to living in. It might be Bronny. So I maybe would, you know, stay at home as long as I could. Uh, and Joey Chestnut wins the hot dog eating competition. This is a story the producers love that every year I remind them I do not like Joey Chestnut. I am not interested in Joey Chestnut. And this little photoshop of me holding up Joey Chestnut’s arm actually I find offensive. But it’s it’s well done. Mustard belt though. I didn’t even know that’s what it was called. The the mustard belt that you know you know that’s the problem with today’s sports. It’s you know it’s too much belt culture. Um all right like rate subscribe review. Uh and do give us some likes. I listen to my friends on Poker Go. By the way, oh man, I do have an announcement coming up that I think I can make. I got to clear it with everyone. I think I can make on this podcast on Thursday. Major announcement about me and poker and things going on. I have to make sure I’m okay to announce it. But on Thursday, we should do that. But my point is, my friends on Poker Go, whenever they do a YouTube stream, they’re like, “Slam that like button. Do the like button. Give us the thumbs up.” So, I’m going to do the same thing. uh rate to the rate the podcast five stars. We would appreciate that and subscribe of course. All right, Deontz, let’s get right to it. And this first segment might be 45 minutes long. Let’s see about it. Uh so LeBron opted into his $52 million contract and then came the trade rumors. Um Rich Paul came out with a statement and said LeBron knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning all. Um you thought that they were going to come away with a center. Um they ended up getting DeAndre Aiden who was a center but something about this whole process has been peeing you off. Do you care to share with the audience? Yeah. So, I have just been mystified at the combination of misinformation, disingenuous commentary, and almost huffing and puffing from the media like, “Ah, I guess we’re forced to talk about LeBron again. What the [ __ ] else has happened in free agency? The Kevin Durant trade that all of us knew was coming that we that we talked about that. That was awesome. That was exciting. Other than that, it’s been the deadest free agent agency imaginable. One team had cap space. It was the Nets. They they decided to use it just to take other teams bad contracts. the Shams was telling us a month ago this could be the craziest off season ever. Nothing’s happened other than the Durant move. The most notable move is Norman Powell getting traded to Miami. Norman Powell, who by the way, oddly enough, the the only time Norman Powell’s been discussed on uh regularly on podcast and TV shows, aside from ones focused on the Clippers, was a different LeBron James thing when people were like, “Ah, what would anyone think of Norman Powell and his all-star spot if LeBron knew he wasn’t going to play?” And so, but I but I’m listening to and reading folks basically be like, “All right, I guess we’ll feed the content and engagement monster and have the boring tired discussion of could LeBron James be traded? You mean the greatest player of all time?” or you know what to not argue with folks. The at worst second greatest player of all time who’s never been traded, who is open now potentially to being traded. That’s a boring discussion. We’d rather talk about the the Pacers losing Miles Turner because they don’t want to pay the tax because Hallebertton got hurt. That’s what we’d rather talk about. Cam Whitmore for two second round picks. Like, what are we doing? This is, and it’s not lost on me, today, this very moment is the 15-year anniversary. I didn’t know that until I saw some I saw an article written about it this morning. Today’s the 15-year anniversary of the decision, which means we’ve had 15 years of enhanced, more roundthe-clock, more 12 month a year, 365day NBA transaction interest from player empowerment to the owners trying to rustle it back, super teams, homegrown, all of it, it came because LeBron and Maverick put together a TV show and changed the whole paradigm. And 15 years later, he’s still one of, if not the most interesting person in the league. And folks who cover the league for a living seem almost resentful that this is a story. So, I don’t understand that. But that’s, I guess, a matter of taste. That’s a personal preference. So be it. But then there is what I consider the outright misinformation might be too strong, especially in today’s climate, but just misleading and incorrect, I guess, opinions on LeBron’s money and LeBron’s value and LeBron’s impact on winning. Cuz here’s what I know. Last year, we played we had an off season, by the way. We’re in the Olympics. They had a whole all the best players in the world came together in Paris to play a basketball tournament. And then they voted on who was the most valuable player in that tournament and it was LeBron James. Now, I argued you could have gone co- MVVPs because LeBron carried the team up until the final and then Steph was so utterly brilliant in the semi-final and the final. If you want to split the baby, so be it. That’s fine. But he won the MVP of that. Then this year we had a whole NBA season and then the entirety of basketball media voted on awards and after this season if your name was not Shay Gilis Alexander, Nicola Joic, Giannis Antono, Jason Tatum or Donovan Mitchell basketball media said you were not as valuable as LeBron James. Those are the five guys that finished higher in MVP voting. Those are the five guys who received more first team AllNBA votes. That’s the entire list. Not Steph, not Kawhai, not Durant, not who’s the younger guys that I’m leaving out. Not Cade, not Hallebertton in the regular season. He obviously came on huge in the postseason. None of those guys. We had an awards. We had a season. sixth most first team allNBA votes, sixth most sixth in the MVP voting. And the reason I bring that up is then the discussion around LeBron James make being the 13th highest paid player was, well, doesn’t LeBron understand that a huge impediment to winning is his salary? In what world? In what world is the league’s, I don’t know, I’ll be conservative, eighth best player, being the 13th highest paid player, an impediment to winning. We we just saw the Golden State Warriors trade for and then extend Jimmy Butler. And the narrative surrounding that is that opened Steph’s championship window. Jimmy Butler makes more money than LeBron and is worse than LeBron. Say it again. Well, but no, I’m talking about the right now. The right now because I, by the way, I would bet LeBron’s got as many AllNBA caliber seasons, more AllNBA caliber seasons left in him than Jimmy Butler does. Jimmy Butler’s done being an AllNBA player. LeBron was last year. and Steph and LeBron probably have about the same amount of seasons left, give or take. And I’m talking about the here and the now. I’m People thought that the Warriors made a great move giving Jimmy Butler that money. And it’s a touch more than LeBron makes. And he’s a worse player. Great player, but a worse player. He like in in what the in what universe is LeBron James making less than Carl Anthony Towns and the same as Paul George a bad contract not a world where he was second team AllNNBA and sixth in MVP voting. So, there’s that piece of it that if you’re the seventh or eighth best player in the sport and you’re the 13th highest paid player in the sport, you’re on a bargain contract. Then there was this piece of it. Well, if he was really focused on winning, he should have taken less to help the Lakers. And that was that is a understandable opinion by fans and a just abhorrent job by the media in perpetuating that because LeBron James if he had cut his salary Deontay from 50 if he had opted out of the 52 and said you know what I’ll play for 20 you know how much cap space that opens up for the Los Angeles Lakers. ers zero dollars, not a penny, because they’re that far over the cap already. If LeBron James had said, “I’ll go from 52 million to the league minimum,” it would have opened up roughly $10 million in cap space for the Lakers. 10 million bucks. So this idea that the Lakers could have been these major players in free agency if LeBron had simply taken a discount is belied by just the facts. And it’s also it’s also a and we all know this is true a disingenuous discussion because had LeBron let’s say LeBron opted out and said I’m going to be a free agent and guess what guys I’m going to play for the minimum. the entire conversation would be about stacking the deck, unfair fake ring like that. So, there was him simply saying, “I don’t know. I’m the 13th highest paid guy in the league. I’m probably pretty underpaid.” And that’s even before you consider all of the off-c court stuff that I bring to the table. So yeah, I’ll just play for my 50 million is more than totally reasonable. Was there like he did he have to but he opted into the contract? Like what what would have his other options have been? You know, he could have opted out and been a free agent. He could have opted out and been a free agent and signed anywhere for the literally anywhere for the league minimum and leave 50 million on the table or a lot of places for the mid level which is about $14 million bucks and the only team that could have signed him for more than $14 million would have been the Nets which would have made no sense. So those were Go ahead. And why did he not do that? Are you saying like because he thought the Lakers were going to do a better job with securing a better Well, I I mean I think that there’s I think it’s uh I don’t think there is a perfect solution here for you know what they’re trying to accomplish all these things and I’m a big um believer of you can’t have everything you want in life and sometimes like you you know you have to make trade-offs. I’m not sitting here arguing that the Lakers owe him something more than they owe Luca, which is to try to win a damn championship this season. And I’ll get to the Lakers piece of it in a minute. I’m not saying that there is a perfect solution for what he’s trying to accomplish. What I’m saying is the narrative that a a huge impediment to winning is, you know, when you pay a player way more than he’s worth, that’s going to hurt you. Like the the example people use is, you know, Kobe at the end. when LeBron was, according to NBA voters, which I am not, was the sixth best player in the league last year. Right. So, so, so that part is to me just erroneous. Then there is the okay, you’ve made over a billion dollars. You want the Lakers to be more competitive, take less money, Dirk style, and give them flexibility. when you look at it that him taking less money would not have given them any flexibility. And then there is this other part of it which I mentioned on TV yesterday and it was the way it was captioned made it seem like more of a shot at Durant than I wanted it to be. But I said what I said which was and this is the part to me demand that I find no one can explain this to me correctly. Nobody do who do you think right right now this moment and there’s no wrong answer here to Monz because you might disagree with me. Who do you think right now this moment is better Durant or LeBron? And do you think it’s close in either direction? Offensively, I’ i’d say Kevin Durant, but as far as initially, who’s the better player? The better player like just Yeah. better all around. I’d have to give it to LeBron. But it’s either way it’s pretty close probably. Right. Exactly. Like the like if one guy’s the eighth best player in the league, the other guy’s the 10th best player in the league or nine and 12 or whatever. Right. So I and despite the age I think we can agree that LeBron is the more durable player has been like you know what I mean LeBron is less likely to miss 30 games with an injury. That’s just that’s not a matter of opinion. We just we just know it. Okay. So here’s what I don’t understand. Kevin Durant was available for trade and the media lost its mind. Who should go after him? These are the teams. Durant doesn’t want the Minnesota should Minnesota trade for him anyway. If you trade for him, do you just do you want to just give him a contract? The Rockets were the two seed. gave up their leading scorer, a valuable defender who I don’t like in Dylan Brooks, and the 10th pick of the draft. And everyone’s reaction was like, “What a great job by the Rockets. They might win the title.” A guy who at the very least is as good as Durant and I think a touch better is available potentially. And the same media is like, “Who’d [ __ ] want him?” I mean, really, like it doesn’t make any sense. That’s what I don’t understand. Like last year, last year, LeBron was better than Steph. They are similar. LeBron’s older, but again, like at kind of similar port places in their career. Steph’s team was 24 and 25. When they traded for Jimmy Butler, you felt like it made them contenders. They lost to the Timberwolves in five in the playoffs. LeBron’s team was hanging on to the three four seed. They trade for Luca. You felt like it made them contenders. They lost to the Timberwolves in five in the playoffs. That’s like they had inc after very similar Olympics, very similar seasons. They LeBron finished higher and MVP in all NBA voting, but it was very close, right? If Steph Curry had released a statement like I don’t know about the future of the Warriors and people thought he might be available, it would be a full stop freak out about what teams should package what things to try to get him. And the and we just saw it happen with Durant when last year LeBron was better than both those guys. And the the collective reaction is, well, I guess maybe maybe a team or two should make a courtesy call and a collective eye roll of I can’t believe we’re having this discussion. Has everyone lost their mind? Like if you if you are the New York Knicks right now in a wide openen Eastern Conference and you just hired Mike Brown who has I don’t know been to a finals with LeBron. You’re not having a very long meeting about Carl Anthony Towns for LeBron James and how that works and then calling the Lakers and seeing if they’re interested. And the Towns for LeBron thing, Deontay, here is the pros and the cons of it. The cons for the Knicks obviously are guy’s 10 years older than the other. That’s con number one, right? Your team dynamic changes considerably. That’s potentially potentially con number two. The pros in my opinion are oddly by adding a guy in year 23, a 40 guy who’s going to be 41, you actually get better defensively for two reasons. One is it’s more Mitchell Robinson minutes instead of Town. So that definitive, you know, that helps you a lot defensively. But also, as LeBron showed last year, once they got Luca, if he’s not the primary offensive creator, he still has the ability to be a good, not great defender like he once was, but good defender if that’s where he can put his energy. The other sneaky pro for the Knicks is, do they actually want to move towns before he’s he wants this next mega extension when they traded all those picks for Bridges and you’re going to have to extend him and you’ve already extended OG and you’re obviously in the Jaylen Brunson business. like does the fact that LeBron would be shortterm act is that actually a positive because you don’t want to you know have the big money associated with Carl Anthony Towns when there are I think legitimate real concerns of if our two best players are Brunson and Towns are we good enough defensively ever to win four rounds. I think those are all real legitimate discussions and then it’s like right now this moment as crazy as this is because he’s going to be in year 23. But is LeBron better than Carl Anthony Towns? My answer to that question is yes. If if you feel differently then you don’t make this trade. But if you think the answer is yes, does the 2025 2026 season have more value than future seasons have? Let me rephrase it. Does it have oddly what’s the right word? I’ll just say it though instead of trying to say what I was trying to say exactly, I’ll just explain it. Because the East is so ripped away due to injuries, does getting 10% better for this upcoming season ma matter more than it would in normal years? because it’s like, man, the Celtics are off the chessboard. The Pacers are off the chessboard. The Bucks don’t know where they are on the chessboard. We’re already the favorites in the conference. We haven’t won a championship in 52 years. What if we go for it? It certainly is a worthy legitimate conversation just like it. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily want this if I were LeBron, but you know another team Deontz that should at least discuss it. Golden State. Oh, Jimmy for LeBron. the Lakers get younger and add, you know, a guy who doesn’t need the ball at all, a guy who’s, you know, more about intangibles and defense and stuff like that at this point of his career. And you put Steph and LeBron together and be like, “All right, you know, let’s see.” Like, now if I were LeBron, that’s not that interesting to me because I actually think the position he’s in right Luca I feel is better than Steph. And so at this point and so I don’t think that Golden State would be a you know that you’d be in a better position to win. But go ahead. Right. With all this stuff going on like what about Luca who has like the player option next year and also like how likely do you even think that it’s that it is that LeBron will be traded? What what team? Well, I don’t think it’s I don’t I don’t think it’s likely but I don’t at all think it’s fantasy at this point. That’s the first point. The second point is and I tried to be very and I will again try to be very cautious about how I word of this um and this is this is a good reason right here to like rate subscribe review to check out the podcast because this little piece right here we also won’t like you know specifically push out on its own um on socials because I don’t I I don’t want this to be aggregated incorrectly. Um, but I told you guys two weeks ago that I thought, and this was what I would call very in a very informed opinion, that these finals specifically were difficult. not being in the tournament late into this tournament didn’t had not sat well with LeBron at all and that the itch to have one more run was as strong as ever. And I I said that then I went on vacation and then shortly thereafter Rich Paul released that statement and it felt very in line with what I knew to be true which was LeBron is not saying I can’t win with the Lakers. What LeBron is saying is if your focus is not winning right now, then maybe we’re not a great fit anymore. And that’s reasonable. Why did he come out and say that, you know, after LeBron? I think Well, I think there’s two reasons. So, I think there were two reasons. One was to put I I think there were potentially two positive outcomes. One was shake the trees of the league to see if a team like the Knicks did want to inquire about his availability. The other one was to try to shake Rob Belalinka into being aggressive. And when I saw Dave McMinan report that the Lakers are focused on having max cap space in 2027. I I wanted to throw my phone that forget LeBron. You’re gonna next year you’re going to have 27year-old Luca Donuch who by the way has not signed an extension yet. you you know when your window is right now every year. And and I just I also I I’ve also heard the be like, “Well, listen, if Luca and LeBron aren’t good enough to win a title, then how much of that is on Luke and LeBron?” And the answer to that is yes and no. Because this is how I felt at times when I was frustrated with the Lakers when AD was still there. when it’s like, okay, if it were a twoon two tournament, would the Lakers, when it was LeBron and AD and the rest of that mismatch supporting cast, would they have a better chance of winning the NBA title if the league were set up as it is right now if it were two on two? And I felt for a number of those years, probably two on two, like their top two guys against anybody else’s top two guys, take your chances. And it’s the supporting cast that is not especially in the new NBA with a weak link era where you know where you need five legitimate guys. And that’s how I feel right now. If it were two on if it if it were LeBron and Luca against Joic and Murray and I guess Giannis and Miles Turner now, which would be an awkward twoon two game and Steph and Jimmy and Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns. I like their ch. I like you know what? I like the Lakers chances. Um Katie and Shenon. Oh, that’d be fun. Um but it’s not that. And so rounding out the rest of the roster, I and by the way, I I don’t hate the Eightton move. I’ve never liked Dayton and Deontz if you remember. I don’t know if you saw it. Sidebar from all the the stuff. Okay, I’m so glad you remembered that. So, a year ago, two years ago, however long ago, DeAndre Aiden got traded to the Portland Trailblazers and played terribly at the start of the year. And then he did an interview and one of the things he said was, “Yeah, like you know, everything’s been off, including, I’ve been sleeping on an air mattress.” And I said to Deonz, and I don’t know if he thought I was being unfair or not, that that right there, that one statement is such an indictment on Aton’s professionalism and maturity that it’s not acceptable when you’re a professional athlete who’s been paid, who was on a near max contract to be like, “Well, [ __ ] my bed hasn’t been delivered. So I guess for 6 weeks as a 7 foot tall NBA center I’m going to sleep on an air mattress. It’s just not acceptable. It’s not it’s no it would it’s it’s in the same like you just can’t have it. What do you do in that situation? You like sleep in a hotel room or like are you could have got a bed expedited is what you’re saying. Like it’s like you can get I could get I could get if you’re if right now like the nicest bed at mattress firm no free ads but I’ll just shout them out. The nicest bed all of it. It’s like they’re expensive. Bed’s going to be expensive. Like 12 $15,000 if you call mattress whatever bed company X mattress firm if you’d like more of these plugs you need to talk to our sales department. be like, “Hey, what’s the biggest, nicest bed you have in stock?” Okay. How much does it cost? Okay. All right. Listen, what’s your name? Marcus. All right, Marcus. How are you doing today? Today’s your lucky day because you answered the phone. Here’s the deal. I need that bed or a faximile of it at my house by the end of the day. I do not care what you have to do for it. Here’s the deal. I’m gonna give you my credit card. You pay whatever extra fees there are. And when it gets done, I’m having someone come down to the store and give you $5,000 cash. Call me back in a half hour and let me know how it’s happening. That would get done. And you pay a $5,000 I need my bed now tax and you don’t and you have a good NBA season. So point was I said that guy’s not to be taken ser not to be trusted. He gets traded from the Blazers and the reports are oh my god this guy he’s late for meetings he misses treatment he’s a pain in the ass. I’m like yeah you know how I knew cuz he was sleeping on an air mattress. That’s how I knew. It’s just I mean and so you have all that said Oh, go ahead. With all that said, I don’t for eight million bucks, he’s worth a flyer. I’ve never been a DeAndre Aton guy, but he’s worth a flyer. There are other moves I would have liked more. Um, but worth a flyer. I just think I think the Lakers manage Rob Belalink has never been good at his job. And I understand he was the in that analogy I just made, Marcus, the mattress salesperson who a guy called him up and was like, “Hey, lucky day. I’m going to buy your best bet and give you $5,000 tip for your trouble.” He was the Marcus in that analogy. and the guy calling him was Nico Harrison. And instead of $5,000, he offered him Luca Donuch. But that didn’t make Marcus the world’s greatest mattress salesperson. And that didn’t make uh Rob Belalink a great GM. It was just like, a [ __ ] lucky day. And so I I think alienating Dorian Finny Smith when Luca loves him and Luca hasn’t signed in his extension yet is worrisome. It’s not nothing. I And so I would I just I don’t think the Lakers are drawing dead. I don’t think they are they have put themselves in the best position. And if they don’t want to contend this year, if they’re like, “No.” And by the way, it also doesn’t like I don’t know why Rob Pelinka would be trying to save cap space for 2027. Rob, you’re not going to be in charge in 2027, buddy. Those new owners are going to survey the landscape and be like, um, so where are there inefficiencies in this league? Oh, unlimited budget on front offices, coaching staffs, trainers, scouts, those types of things. No salary cap there. Well, what if we upgraded at that spot? And so I just that there it is. I said it might be 40 minutes. It was 30. That That’s my Lakers LeBron rant. I hope you all enjoyed it. Uh I have a less I have a I have one I’m almost as passionate about football-wise that we’re going to do in a second. Um, but first I got to remind you guys for the first time ever, we have a full-blown all women’s boxing mega event and it’s going down right here in New York City. Two title fights, same night. And if you’re like me and love the action, DraftKings Sportsbook is where it’s where it’s at. Katie Taylor versus Amando Serrano. The trilogy fight. It’s the third one between them. Absolute legends. Katie’s putting her super lightweight belt on the line and you know Sorrano is going to bring the heat. Don’t sleep though on the co-main. Alicia the bomb bomb gardener. I love that. Explosive power taking on the undefeated WBA WBA interim champ Jennifer Miranda. That one’s going to be fireworks. If you’ve never bet with DraftKings, super easy. Pick who you think’s going to win. Yeah, betting again, you know, gamble responsibly, all that type of stuff. But betting boxing is pretty straightforward. If you just want to bet a straight winner, it really is that easy. Check this out. If you’re new to DraftKings, throw down five bucks. Boom. $150 in bonus bets instantly. Bet $5, get $150 in bonus bets instantly. Again, Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano in their trilogy fight. And then also co-main event, Alicia the Bomb, Bombgardner against Jennifer Miranda. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app right now. Use promo code write, writ. That’s code write for new customers to get $150 in bonus bets instantly when you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings. The crown is yours. All right, Deontz, before we get to what hopefully is one of the well, I not hopefully what I think will be one of the funniest stories we’ve ever told on the show. I do want to talk a little bit about Patrick Mahomes. First show back, gone for 10 days. Two things happened while I was on vacation. both your guys attacked. I was just walking around, walking the beach, listening to things on on trying I didn’t really I wasn’t on Twitter much. I read three books. I did the New York Times crossword every day, but then I’d walk the beach and, you know, listen to things and I just heard the worst takes and they were centered around my two guys, LeBron James and Patrick Mahomes. So, let’s get to the Mahomes piece of it. Yeah. So, Mahomes wants to get past that Super Bowl loss and get that nasty taste out of his mouth. And he’s he’s also getting tired of all the talk, saying that he wants to just settle all this on the football field. Um, this this was another thing that really annoyed you, which I’m I’m curious what the angle is here. What what what peed you off about? Well, it’s not No, no, no. His comments didn’t annoy me. the last week which was So here’s the deal. If someone wants to have the courage to come out and be like, you know what, you know, here’s a take, free take for someone who wants it. Okay? Like it’s just sometimes sometimes I’m disappointed in uh my industry because there are these I I can see these I’m like, “Oh, that would be a good take. I don’t believe it.” But no one has made had this take and it’s right there and I know it would cut through the noise and it you could establish yourself with it and no one no one no one has said it. Now I don’t believe this. This is not my take. So consider this like the the sports take version of developing some type of uh vaccine or cure for something and be like we’re not patenting it. Anyone can copy it. Free for the world public use. Here’s a take. The last few years, Patrick Mahomes has pretty clearly not been judged based on his numbers. He’s been judged based on the fact that his team wins, that he is a leader, that he plays his best in the biggest spots, and that is how he has held on to the best quarterback alive. moniker despite the fact that his two biggest conference rivals Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson have both won league MVPs in this sta in this time. And if that has allowed Momes to climb to the top of the quarterback mountain, then the exact same standard should be used to evaluate Jaylen Herz. and Jaylen Herz, who’s never missed the playoffs, whose team wins double- digit games every year, who’s been to two Super Bowls, been awesome in both, some would argue outplayed Momes in both, certainly in this last one, and has done it with what, you know, let’s call it a polarizing coach and a polarizing receiver in a tough city and now is coming off, you know, leading an offense to damn near 100 points combined in the conference championship game in the Super Bowl and puts his body on the line, doesn’t care about his passing numbers for the most unstoppable play in football. That player, the defending Super Bowl MVP, he’s the best quarterback alive. End of take. That take is again I do not believe it, but it doesn’t have a ton of logical holes. if someone wanted to have it. Instead, these dopes want to knock Mahomes off his perch of best quarterback in the league. And they are doing it for one of three quarterbacks, really one of two and mostly one of just one, who’s never once outplayed him in a big spot. That it’s it the majority of quarterback rankings list right now have Josh Allen number one, which is hilarious and indefensible. and is not an allowable take until one time in a spot that matters. He It’s not a quarterback wins thing. He outplays Patrick and the last two years, one in his building, one in the Chief’s building. He’s had the ball in his hands, chance to go do it, and it couldn’t get 40 yards either time. So that’s not allowed. Lamar can win every MVP from here until retirement. And until he wins a single big game, it’s obviously not allowed. And Joe Burrow had outplayed Patrick in a big spot. Had a chance to really put a stake in the heart of the Chiefs through fourth quarter interception the conference championship game. Lost and hasn’t been back to the playoffs since. And the amount of people trying to argue any one of those three guys has ascended past Patrick because Patrick got beat by jail and hurts and they played poorly in the Super Bowl. It’s the dumbest [ __ ] I’ve ever heard. You then combine it with this whole ooh is the Chiefs era over based on what? That they were just the second best team in football last year. Based on the fact that they just completed the best three-year stretch in the history of the league and are tied for the best five and sevenear stretches in the history of the league. What is the what is the piece of evidence you have of like oh this might be the Broncos or Chargers year? There is none. And so the again the Eagles have bragging rights and Jaylen Herds has bragging rights and the Eagles have it because they won as a team and Jaylen Herds has it because individually he played you know he was the best quarterback on the field that Sunday. But these AFC also rans that are being elevated because of what I just I can’t I can’t deal with it. thinking. It’s just one time thinking one time. Can I just see? It’s what I said to that guy in Hawaii. Think this guy I’m walking I I I’m walking with the family down the boardwalk in Honolulu and this guy walks up to me and he’s like, “Hey man, this is Bill’s country out here.” In my in my head, I’m like, “No, it’s [ __ ] not, man. We’re in it’s it’s actually I’m not sure there’s a place in the United States that is that is further removed literally geographically, but also spiritually from Buffalo, New York, as the boardwalk in Honolulu.” Like, first of all, it’s just a bad take. Second of all, get a life. I think I had a few drinks, but I didn’t I didn’t say I didn’t say any of that. I’m like, “Okay, nice to meet you.” Like five minutes later, he runs me down and was like, “Hey, man. I’m so sorry I said that. Can I please get a picture?” And I’m like, “Sure.” So, I take the picture. He’s like, “Yeah, man. Thanks. Sorry about that.” I’m like, “It’s all right.” But then I couldn’t resist because I was like I’m with my wife and kids like so I was like I was like hey and listen man one day you’ll win a big game and I saw a look on his face and it stung. You know why it stung? The same reason why when people put up that picture of me and Mahomes a couple parades ago where I’m smiling and my nose is casting a shadow on my teeth. It stings because I know it’s true. I’m like, damn. Like, that is weird. That is like a thing that most people like it shouldn’t be physically possible, but I It’s a picture. It does cast a shadow. It does cast a shadow. Like, that sucks. Um, but that’s what it stung him because he knows it’s true. And so I just don’t that I it is it’s really beyond dumb to me the every other let me add one other thing and I said this to cow herd and he just laughed because he knew I was right? not just like this year, but basically for all of modern NFL history, if there is a team in a division that everyone agrees the same team has the division’s best quarterback and the division’s best coach. that team will be the pick to win that division if there’s no debate like if it just like so I’ll give you an example in FC West there’s a debate is McVey or Shanahan the best coach and I guess for some there might be a debate is Perie or Stafford the best quarterback not to me but what like there’s it’s not often there that it is crystal clear on both but when it is uh that team is everyone’s pick to win the division and the amount of people this year that are going to pick [ __ ] Bo Nicks sorry for all the curse words today to win that division or Justin Herbert who again I I don’t I don’t know if he’s won a big game since high school and I have to look at the high school. I don’t think he did at Oregon. Um I it’s just it’s just dumb. You know what? I just I just um People get fickle with the greatness. I don’t know. People just don’t Yeah. Sometimes you just don’t Oh, and I don’t know if you heard it, but they think we have the next Trent Williams and Josh Simmons. Oh boy. Oh boy. Now that might be a little strong. Trent Williams, one of the greatest players of all time. But if they just if Josh Simmons just ends up being the 10th best tackle left tackle in the league, slightly above average, it is such a I mean Mahomes been to five Super Bowls. He had a different starting left tackle in all five. It would be just such a massive massive that can be the case O line situation yet, right? course of the No, the thing is what what’s weird is the Chiefs had a really good guard center guard O line this year. The tackle it was the worst tackle play he’s had and it previously they had they had been bad up the middle but good that like and so it it got really shaky by the end of it. All right, real quick. This is a message that applies to 99% of you listening right now because that’s how many of you can be covered by fast and reliable service on the Boost Mobile Network with 99% nationwide coverage. And if you don’t think you deserve a deal, listen up. You got another thing coming right now. When you switch to Boost Mobile, you can get iPhone 15 with dynamic island and 48 megapixel main camera for $99.99. That’s $99.99 for iPhone 15 on a nationwide 5G network. This may only apply to 99% of you, but I’m 100% positive Boost Mobile just gave all of us a really good freaking deal. Into storere offer, $35 device setup fee may apply. Requires credit qualification, ID verification, and activation on $6 plans. Taxes extra 5G speeds not available in all areas. All right, Deanz, we How should we do this? Uh, yeah. You know what? It’s time. It’s time for the snake pit. So, here. What a what an amazing image. Um, snazzy. Uh, all right. I mean, there is actually some real, if we think about it, we that’s actually, again, the producers do a great job, and I’m rude. Um, but narratively it doesn’t really make sense that Deman’s a lover and breeder of snakes would be wearing a snake skin suit. The homies, right? That’s kind right. That’s kind of I mean that’s kind of sacriiggious. So again, maybe maybe a slight just again if you’re watching on YouTube, you see it. It looks cool. Um, but okay, the All right. So, I want to give Can I give the setup here? Do you care? Do you mind if I kind of lay the foundation? Set the scene. Yeah. All right. I’m going to because as my dad used to say, you ask Nick what time it is. He’s going to tell you how the watch was made. I am going to give a full background here. Damonz for a couple of years has been trying to figure out can I successfully breed these exotic snakes and put a lot of time and a lot of money and a lot of time learning into can I figure this out on my own? Can I go to enough shows and read enough forums? And you know, correct me by the way if anything I’m saying is wrong. And there have been more than a couple times where Deonz has asked or not or told me or his mom or my mom actually, who seems to be your snake confidant, my mother. Um, uh, you know what? I might give up. I might, you know, I might just keep, you know, you know, one pet snake because I but I I’ve spent so much money. It’s so much time. It’s so frustrating. And a month ago, he was on the verge of another one of those. I don’t think this is worth all the time and effort. And literally two days later, six eggs show up in the ch what’s the tank with the mother snake. Um, and then there is some real and I really I totally empathized and I took it totally serious, but I also was like charming some real anxiety surrounding every single decision Demz was making from there forward because it was all right, I could leave the snakes in there or the the eggs with the mother snake, But they the better chance of success if I put him in an incubator. I have a guy who will do the incubating for me. Oh man, I actually want them in my house. But then I’ve already given them to him. Now I have to buy an incubator. Now I have to transfer them again. Am I doing so all of this? And then there is the realization, oh no, I’m about to be out of town for 10 days and the eggs are back in my house. I’m sure there was some real thought on, you know, should I have just left it with these people until I get back? What if there’s a power outage? All these things, all of that. Um, but all of it seemingly was fine. You got him back. The incubator worked. It was set up. You sprayed them for mold. I guess you it did all those things you had to do except for one small part. Yeah. Which didn’t really have anything to do with the eggs. Had more to do with the other snakes. And there I’ll let you take over the story with I might add a bit on my own. Yeah, they let me down. Um, I’ve got like five five groanish snakes or whatever and I was trying to feed a rat. I brought in two or three rats. Two of them got taken. Try to feed this last one to one of the other hungry snakes. They did need it. So, I put it back in the box. Um, I was planning on returning it to the store. That’s just how I do it. I go back and I get a little store credit for whatever size rat it was. And also, let me add something there. That is that’s that’s tell me if I’m wrong less of a you’re trying to get the 12 bucks or whatever and more of a rat out of my apartment, right? And not just release it or kill it on your own or whatever it is, right? There’s a humane piece of it as well. So, okay. So, you bought three rats to two of the snakes ate them. One wasn’t eaten. You put it back in the box. This is last two Fridays ago before before we leave for vacation. All right, go ahead. Keep going. So, put the rat back in the box and you know, I’m a late Packer as well. Like I probably started packing like Thursday. So, like just got a lot of stuff on my mind. Um I think it was when I got to Sacramento that I realized that I left this rat inside of the box. And um it was just it super super stressful for a couple of reasons, but yeah. Uh, and then I didn’t have my my homie go over there and check it until about two days after that. Okay, so this is so this is if I can jump in for a second. So, I realize Sunday something is a miss because Deman’s like I on the phone a bunch and I’m like I’m like so something’s going on and then he tells me what the deal is and one of the first things he says is do don’t rats chew wires? Yeah, rats chew wires. So Damonte has created a vision in his head where this rat has chewed its way out of this box and then has eaten has somehow the wires in the apartment the power cord for the incubator. And so now he I’m listening to him call the apartment, get authorization for someone to be led into his apartment, but that person’s not going to be there till Monday. Shout out to Tar. So now, so, so, so, okay, so now Monday comes around, your buddy gets to your apartment and tell me, you know, set the scene. It’s bad news. Um, so yeah, they they will sit in there for a little bit. Like there’s been times where I have had to keep them in there overnight and like if I hear them biting at the box or whatever, I’ll go over there and I’ll nudge it. Like I’ll push it like a little aggressively to where like they’ll calm down and they won’t be trying to get out. They’re like, I don’t want to go out to what’s out there. Um, yeah. And yeah, so Tara gets there and I can tell when he first gets over to the box that the rat is definitely not in there because he’s tapping on it. And he doesn’t hear any like squirming or anything inside of it. And the rat had eaten eaten out of the bottom uh bottom bottom of the box and had been out. And I had Tar look around. Was nowhere to be found. Nowhere to Nowhere to be found. He thought that he was he thought that he was hearing it behind the oven. I asked him to pull the oven out a little bit. He seemed like halfway uncomfortable with like like all the stuff. Yeah, of course. Of course. You’re having him search your apartment for a loose rat. This your buddy doesn’t think that like potentially that this favor could end with him needing rabies shots. Yes. Then then Deonz I want to add this part again because at his core Donz is an animal lover. One of the reasons like Deontz has talked to me about you know the the the push and the pull of the snake of the breeding snakes is the some sadness associated with feeding them. And even though that’s like literal nature just buying an an like picking out this animal that’s now going to die like having real quite So Deontz has his friend leave a a a a saucer of water. Yeah. For this rat. So which honestly I I suggested I was like have him go get a rat trap and some poison and put your and and be put at ease. I was like no I think the exact quote was the rat didn’t do anything wrong. So now now it’s Monday again. It’s Monday. Deontay is not going to be back in this apartment until late Sunday night and is trying to I guess create a sustainable environment for this rat. Had him shut all the doors. Yeah. Yeah. Shut all the doors. And so that then sets us up to around midnight LA time Sunday night when you come home. And this part of the story I don’t know. So go ahead, man. And I open the door and it’s like you just knew that there was a dead rat inside of there. Like there you just knew there was no way the rat was alive. Um dude, was the smell? Yeah. I I swept and mopped my floor like really good right before I left and there was no remnants of pine saw cuz it smelt like pine saw when I left. And like obviously I hadn’t been in there the whole time. Yeah. And it smelt like death. Like it it just smelt like death. And I I walked around. I go in and I turn over to my dishwasher and there’s the rat on the ground dead. But like the tricky part was it looked like it was just it was dead for a couple days, two or three days. I go to pick it up and there were 50 maggots. Maggots. Like 50 maggots just right under it. And I I sprayed those things with Tilelex. Like I those animals I don’t love. I stomped on them. I Yeah. Um I was It was It was honestly the most disgusting thing that I’ve seen in a really long time. Like it’s I I feel I felt bad for sending it to the group. Like I thought about deleting it, but it got too late. We were on an even longer flight. So Deonte Damonte’s flight from Honolulu and our flight from Honolulu left oddly within five minutes of each other. But he’s flying to LA. We’re flying to New York. So this all happens. 4 hours later, we land and in the group chat is a video that is just horrifying of Damonte’s kitchen floor and that. So, um, so Mary in the chat says that apartment’s the maggot house. Well, it’s you just know they were only there for the rat. So, like I don’t have any any thought that like they’re going to infest my apartment. Um, but it is crazy how many there were. Like I don’t know how long it was dead there, but I just think it’s insane how that type of stuff finds it. Yeah, that Yeah, it’s like fruit flies. Like I don’t totally understand it either. Strange. Um, but most importantly, as Vic asks, the eggs are Yes, Victor. The eggs are perfect. I will not know anything for sure for another like two weeks. But like the big things that could have happened over that week that I was gone did not happen. Like that stuff would be very obvious. But there’s still like two more weeks where you start to see if they’re really forming. But but the power never went out. The rat didn’t chew the cord. He did not chew the cord. And that was like a real thought of mine. Like I was like, “Dude, he’s going to get out and like start biting the wires.” I had him put my freaking controller charger up for my PlayStation. was like, “Dude, I don’t need any wires on the ground.” Yeah. All right. Well, there’s that. All right. Um, everything else we’re going to get to on Thursday. I got to go to work. That was that story overd delivered. Um, listener questions. Let me let me get to these real quick. Um, producers want you to weigh in on the Joey Chestnut versus Usain Bolt debate. Who could eat a hot dog and run 100 meters faster? must swallow hot dog before starting to run. I I oddly think. So you understand the idea what the question here is. Deonte, the question is this is the contest. The contest is you must eat a hot dog and then run a 100 meters because Joey Chestnut was just doing but then Usain Bolt would like eat it like an actual hot dog. I think the answer either way. Yeah, I understand. I think the answer oddly is I think Chestnut’s a big favorite in that. Yeah, because what can a regular what can a regular human being run the hundred in? 15 seconds? Like you know what I mean? So like the is is it’s going to take Usain Bolt like 4 seconds to eat that hot dog. At least 4 seconds if not more. If he has to swallow the whole thing if not more. Right. Yeah. Um do we have an update on your ball boy try out for the US Open this year? Not trying out this year. Uh, I’ll be traveling sadly. Um, what are your book recommendations? I listen. Um, this is going to sound funny, but Yeah, this is going to sound funny, but I So, as part of my, you know, eternal quest to always be a better parent for the next kid than I was to the previous kid, I am fully I am I uh I decided to uh do my daughter, my youngest daughter’s summer reading with her this year. And so her summer reading book was The Hunger Games, which I’ve never seen the movie, never had no familiarity with. So I brought the Hunger Games book with me and then we bought the trilogy. There’s three of them for each of us in case we liked them. And she and I were supposed to read like, you know, alongside each other so we could discuss it or whatever. And I brought with me the second Hunger Games book because I was like, “Ah, these, you know, it’s kids book. It’s still long. It’s like 400 pages, but if I finish it and I like it, maybe I’ll want to read the other one.” I finished the first Hunger Games book a day into vacation. finished the second one early enough into vacation that I had time to go on Amazon, order the third one to the hotel we were staying at that I got upon arrival at the because we’ve stayed in multiple places upon check-in was waiting for me and read that one too and I got to tell you great thousand pages those three books thoroughly enjoyed it excited to watch the movies. Now, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now, again, the idea was to be able to discuss them with Deanna, but Deanna’s 40 pages in. And so, there’s like she really needs to catch up and then read a bunch more. But, um, but so there’s, you know, there’s my answer. All right. Like, rate, subscribe, review. Great job, Blue Duck Volume, DraftKings, Boost. Great job, Demanz. Not a great job by that rat. Talk to you guys on Thursday. See you guys early show today on First Things First 2:00. What’s right? Heat. Heat.

Nick Wright breaks down all the news out of Los Angeles with LeBron James and the Lakers in a standoff over the future. Then, Nick reacts to all the other big moves throughout the league, from Kevin Durant’s trade to the Houston Rockets, to the Bucks releasing Damian Lillard to help maximize Giannis Antetokounmpo’s time in Milwaukee. Later, Nick discusses what to expect out of a reinvigorated Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Finally, as always, Nick and Damonza answer your questions.

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Timeline:
0:00 – Straight to Voicemail – presented by Boost Mobile
4:34 – How long does LeBron stay a Laker?
40:07 – Is Patrick Mahomes still the best QB in the NFL?
53:41 – Snake Pit with Damonza
1:06:22 – Listener Questions

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