Michael Duarte | NBC LA Reporter

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Terms apply. We are so excited to welcome our friend Michael Duarte from NBC LA. It feels like forever since we've talked to you, Micah. How you been? Amy, it's been a while. I know you are just less than two weeks away from your nuptials and this flower drama is more controversial than Shohei Ohtani's free agency.

So I'm excited to see how it ends as well. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Please be rooting for me. I've learned my lesson. I'll never rely on the U.S.

Postal Service to send a box when it needs to go somewhere. In fact, I think I could have driven it to Texas quicker than it's lost somewhere in the great Lone Star State. But I appreciate that. So Michael, let's talk about Lakers first. Does it seem like the intensity inside the arena against the Suns is worthy of something special as in this brand new gimmicky tournament? Yeah, it is a little bit of a gimmicky tournament.

You talked about it. The kids in their new court. But it goes beyond that. They get to wear these cool new in-season tournament jerseys and I'm sure those are selling off the shelves like hotcakes, which the NBA loves. And what I was excited about in speaking to LeBron James after the game, as we were kind of walking out to his car and to his family area, I was like, I can't remember a time outside of the preseason where, you know, a game took place.

And obviously we're talking about like the trips to Europe and Mexico City, you know, exempt. But during the season where you're going to a neutral court to play for a cup, a trophy, you know, and something that's highly competitive like this. And he agreed.

And for him, he was talking. It's more about the competition and it's more about him and A.D. leading the rest of the Lakers and their team by example and saying, you know, this is what we do in purple and gold. This is what we do in L.A. and Lakers. If there's a trophy to be won, if there's a championship to be crowned, a champion to be crowned, it's going to be us.

And so he wants to set that example throughout the franchise. And he talked about the fact that the Lakers brand getting to be on national TV for this tournament in Las Vegas, for people to get to kind of see it across the globe, see what the Lakers are about, see him in A.D. is more important than any cash prize. And they just gave themselves they just got one hundred thousand dollars richer by just making the semifinals and then possibly half a million richer if they were to to win the whole thing.

But that's what he was saying to me after. And then for me personally, Amy, being in the building, especially when that whole drama between Devin Booker and Austin Reeves and LeBron James time out and wasn't it time before the ball was loose or not? The crowd was going crazy.

It definitely felt like a playoff atmosphere inside. And I've seen this throughout all these in-season tournament games, throughout the entire group play, I guess is what they've been calling it, that the intensity has been ratched up because it doesn't just mean a half million dollars for a drop in the bucket for a guy like A.D. or LeBron, but guys at the end of the bench, the Max Christies, the, you know, guys of that ilk who maybe are on two way contracts. That's a lot of money for them. That's maybe more money than they're going to make all year.

And so you've got to think about that as well for some of these guys. That bag at the end, as Darvin Ham likes to say, it could be life changing for some of these guys that may never, you know, play big minutes in the NBA. Austin Reeves gets the last laugh with the huge three that gave them the final margin. And then, as you point out, we're talking about a huge game from LeBron as he sets the tone. 31 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds, 5 steals.

My goodness. And he's in year 21 in the NBA. His son was in the arena tonight. I saw the camera was on him a couple of times. How would you describe the way he's come out of the gate in this year, this season? Yeah, you know, I saw Bronny as well as I was heading back to the locker room and kind of said it's Sunday the day he's supposed to make his collegiate debut with USC this Sunday against Long Beach.

So that would be pretty exciting. And I'm sure if LeBron can win the in-season tournament Saturday, what a great prize that would be in addition to the money and the trophy to go watch your son make his college debut the following day. But as far as LeBron James in year 21, this guy's like an Amex black card as far as his talent.

It never declines. He just dominates despite all of the miles. And he just recently passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in total minutes played. So this guy has now played more minutes than anybody in NBA history. And he's still playing at such an elite high level. It's absolutely remarkable talking to him after the game in his postgame press conference. We asked him about that, how he's able to do that for so long. He said it's definitely more mental than physical at this point in his career. Having to be able to, you know, we saw this with Brett Favre back in the day. He didn't want to go through training camp. He didn't want to go through the OTA's and all of that stuff. He just wanted to go out and play.

But that's not what the game is about. For LeBron, it's like mentally like what I have to do to keep my body in shape, to keep everything fresh, to get to the arena ahead of time. The mental aspect of the grind of the NBA season is what's more important at this point in his career than that. But he started to talk about those Father Time commercials that we all saw through Nike last year and beyond. He said, Father Time for so long has been undefeated.

He's just trying to be the first person to hand him his first loss. And I thought that was a very good quote by LeBron there at the end. But absolutely, if you look at the numbers of guys his age who've been in year 21 and higher, he's absolutely just tripling the amount of points per game, assists, rebounds that these guys are doing when they were at the same playing time in their career. Guys like Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, etc. So what he's doing is remarkable and it's not going to last forever even though he wants it to.

So we all need to kind of stop and appreciate greatness when we see it. Yeah, it was similar at the end of Tom Brady's career where almost every time he stepped on the field there was some type of record that he was eclipsing or extending. And you marvel at the fact that he was not just out there on the field at his age with so many years under his belt, but that he was still playing at a very high level. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio.

Michael J. Duarte is with us from NBC LA. Fresh off the Lakers game, while we're talking about old dudes because we think the old dudes in sports really rock, he's not as old as LeBron. However, Matthew Stafford is 35 and he's got a lot of years under his belt. He looks real healthy to me now starting to play at a very high level. What's changed with the Rams, Michael?

Yeah, that's a great question, Amy. Especially focusing on Matthew Stafford because this was a guy before the season. I think you even asked me this question. Is Matthew Stafford going to retire? You know, this was what the conversation was about heading into the offseason.

There was a lot of people who kind of had, after the injury-prone year he had last season, had kind of scratched Matthew Stafford off, left him for dead to get picked apart by the Vultures. And I have had a lot of fellow colleagues of mine in the press box at SoFi Stadium for these Rams games week in and week out tell me they need to tank. They need to go get Caleb Williams. They need to move on and hit the rebuild button. And I said, not so fast. You know, they called this, General Manager Les Snead called this a remodel, not a rebuild.

And I would say if you call your contractors, the remodel is a little bit ahead of schedule at this point. I don't think the Rams, anybody had the Rams fighting for a playoff spot or I think their over-under in Vegas was six and a half wins. They've already hit six with five games to go, so it looks like the over is going to hit. And you can really point to Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford particularly because these guys, I think we thought the offense was really good, but these guys are clicking. You know, I was talking to some of these players about last season and Sean McVay really had a really bad season. He wasn't used to losing that much. He wasn't used to going from Super Bowl champion to worst record post Super Bowl champion in NFL history at five and twelve last year.

And it really kind of got on him and it got on the players just by the way he was trying to lead them. He's been, the players have told me this year, he's a lot more open this year to hear Matthew Stafford come in his office and say, I think this play is going to work and let's run this play. And you were talking right before this about that 70 yard pass to Puka Nakua, which he just, Matthew Stafford thread the needle on that particular play. Sean McVay told me after that game, that was a Matthew Stafford check call, audible at the scrimmage, has nothing to do with Sean McVay. That was all Matthew Stafford seeing something as far as the defense and a linebacker trying to drop back in coverage and being able to think he could hit Puka there in stride, which he did. So this is what Matthew Stafford is able to bring.

And so I think, and we're going to jump ahead of ourselves here a little bit, but I think if Matthew Stafford's willing to restructure his contract at the end of the season, because that almost close to 50 million albatross numbers could be, you know, breaking the back of the Rams bank next year. But this year was very interesting and keep in mind, they lost Taylor Rapp, Nick Scott, Bobby Wagner, Leonard Floyd, Greg Gaines, Jalen Ramsey, seven starters on defense, and really went with the young guys, the draft picks, the, the undrafted free agents, all these guys coming in and they're finding talent. They're finding everyday NFL starters on this team.

Ernest Jones is a guy that comes to mind. Kobe Durant. So Aaron Donald's playing at a high level. This team has held their last three opponents under 21 points.

That's very good. The offense is rolling. They've scored over 30 points, which was what they were averaging in those, that Super Bowl year. They've now done that back to back games. They've hit, they've hit pay dirt with Puka Nakua, as we just mentioned, a fifth round pick. So you can kind of see that if we can kind of get Matthew Stafford's deal down and add some pieces in the off season, this team could be a wild card team this year, but potentially take that next step and be a Super Bowl contender the following year.

And so what they're doing is ahead of schedule as far as the remodel like we talked about. Is Puka healthy? Did he get hurt this past weekend? I never did hear any resolution when he walked off the field.

Yeah. So he was diagnosed with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder. My guess is during that halftime, they popped it back in and gave him a quick little injection and let him come back out. Cody Ballinger, I know we'll probably be talking about the Dodgers here soon. He had sprained AC joints throughout his shoulder, pops out, they pop it back in.

It's not painful per se, but it kind of can be nagging. He's not expected to miss time. He's expected to be good to go in this matchup at Baltimore coming up this Sunday against the Ravens.

That's going to be a tough game for the Rams who are trying to stay in this playoff picture, but he is expected to play and he should be okay with that AC joint. Puka Naku, I might say, he is always banged up, Amy. Every time I go in the locker room after games, he's got ice on all parts of his body, but he's just such a gamer. He plays through energy. He's such a tough guy and doesn't whine or complain about it or drag or limp around. He's jumping around, spiking balls. He's just always so happy. I love his energy that he spreads throughout the locker room.

Oh, very cool. Michael Duarte with us from LA. Yeah, so much to talk about. Even getting a little bit of brawny intel and the Lakers, the Rams, now the Dodgers. Right now, Brain Trust is in Nashville for the winter meetings, but Dave Roberts kind of dropped a bombshell on Tuesday. He's the first to really acknowledge that the team has met with Shohei Ohtani. Not just that, giving a few details about the fact that they talked to him just in general about the way that he does his routine and conducts his business and his comfort zone and all that jazz.

What did you take away from what we heard from the Dodgers manager? My takeaway was knowing Dave Roberts extremely well and having a very good relationship with him over the years is that Dave's not a guy that if you ask him a direct question, wants to be dishonest with you. This is kind of why Dave has been so successful as a manager. Everyone loves him. Everyone trusts him. And Dave goes the extra effort to, whether it's the superstar player on the team like Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman or the old veteran in Clayton Kershaw, or the team equipment manager cleaning uniforms in the locker room, or someone like me in the media.

He will put his arm around everybody, ask you how you are, get to know you, find out about your family and your life, and really make you feel special. Like an individual. And that's what he does. And that is just something about his personality, his temperament, and what he does with his players.

He puts his arm around every single player and makes them feel special to the point where they're going to go out there and give 110% and to not let him down. And in this case, that personality trait maybe hurt him in this case because he didn't want to lie to all these people in there. Now, yes, he could have said, you know, I don't want to talk about it, but instead he was honest when they asked if he met with Shohei Ohtani and said, yeah, we did meet with him.

And I thought it was a good meeting. And I commend Dave Roberts for having the courage to break this whole shrouded of secrecy, which has got more twists and turns in this free agency than a roller coaster right now, to actually just come out and show the courage to be honest. And I think my personal opinion that Shohei Ohtani is really fumbling an opportunity to make this free agency really about the sport of baseball, talk about the teams that he's meeting with, talk about their culture, their history, what's special about them, their players, their managers, instead of all this secrecy to the point where he won't even tell us the name of his dog and he hasn't spoken to the media. To me, the Shohei Ohtani free agency sweepstakes are getting more annoying than a fly in the kitchen at this point because the whole world is waiting for his answer so that the rest of the dominoes can drop and the rest of these free agents can sign and figure out what they're going to do because every team is being held hostage right now by Shohei Ohtani. So to your question, I commend Dave Roberts for the courage to talk about it, despite the referendum from his team, Ohtani's team and his agent, Nez Ballello, to keep everything private and everything secret and don't make anything. So I do commend Dave for coming up and saying what we all know, right? That the Dodgers, the team with the most money to spend, the team who has been wanting Ohtani since he was in high school, actually met with him and is interested in him. God forbid we talk about that here. Why would he not share the name of his dog? Everyone loves dogs.

I 100% agree. That's something you'll have to ask Ohtani. That's what I'm talking about with his secrets. He actually says, no, I'm not telling you the name of my dog. So when he won the MVP award, everybody saw, you know, he was live on TV, won the award with his dog. Everyone loved it.

The memes and stuff went viral. So media outlets reached out through his camp, through his agent, through his team to find out the name and they were told he doesn't want to give the name. He wants to keep it private. And to me, that's just so, so silly.

And if you wanted it private, don't put your dog on national TV when you win the award. So that's my two cents on that. Interesting. OK, so before I let you go, because you're there in the market and you certainly understand he he picked the Angels the first time.

Right. So you point out the Dodgers have wanted him for years for whatever reason, he picked the Angels the first time. And there has been these type of reports and I think more and more people are leaning toward him staying with the Angels simply because they allow him to do whatever it is that he wants to do in order to maintain his routine to both pitch and hit. Though, of course, he won't be doing that in 2024. From what you know of the Dodgers, would the Dodgers also be willing to allow Shohei to stick to whatever routine and whatever comfort zone fits him if that means that he would sign with them instead of the Angels? Yeah, great question.

And there's two things I can add to that. First of all, obviously, you remember the article I wrote about six months ago, how was a perfect fit? I think I went on your show right after that. And so, yes, I do think they'll give him the autonomy to keep his routine. And outside of the Angels, you know, the Dodgers just a few miles down the five freeway from the Angels Stadium in Anaheim, allow him to kind of keep all of that still routine, live in the same house, same routine, same people, same everything. Plus, his doctor, who has now done two surgeries on his UCL and his elbow, Dr. Neil Elitrosh, is the Dodgers team doctor and team surgeon.

And he's here in L.A. So I think that's an important factor. But look, I knew that Shohei would want to keep everything private once the World Series ended and the official free agent sweepstakes began. So I started reaching out to people in his camp, people that he knows that are close to him from Japan that I know back in September.

And they told me kind of the same thing you're thinking, and this is why I'm leaning it to. It's going to be really hard for him to leave Anaheim. First and foremost, it's everything he's known. And in my business, in my time covering players in this business, it's really difficult to leave the team that first signed you, first drafted you in some players case. Everything, you know, change is scary.

People are afraid of it. And they think that because of the autonomy, because of his routine and how happy he is and how everything is here and the fact that Artie Marino, the owner of the Angels, knows how valuable is. We'll write a blank check for whatever it costs to bring him back. But it's going to be very, very difficult for him to leave Anaheim.

And I agree with it. There's another thing in Japanese culture that they said, you know, he may consider and leaving one team to go to their kind of rival team or the inner city team, in this case with the Angels and Dodgers, would be equivalent to like having an affair with your neighbor's wife. No way. A betrayal. Are you serious? Wow.

That's what they told me in Japanese culture. So I really hope that someone in his camp is telling him, you know, this is business and don't worry about those things and is giving him advice to those things. And the last thing I'll kind of say about that. So I'm kind of leaning he might go back to the Angels as well for these reasons, they said. But look, he's got a great poker face as Dave Roberts mentioned today.

He really hasn't said about what's going on. But the one thing he has said consistently is he wants to win. So if you want to win Shohei and you want to talk the talk and walk the talk, then there really is only one team, in my opinion, of the four or five or six that are left in the sweepstakes. And that's the Dodgers. You know, they've gone to the playoffs 11 years in a row, winners of 10 NLS titles.

They're going to get you to the dance each and every year. And if you can elevate them to win a championship, then you're going to have many, many opportunities in the years to come. The Angels pitch I've heard from sources is if you stay, look at what the Rangers were did as far as being able to do a rebuild very quickly and win a World Series within a couple of years from losing 100 games.

We can do that here. And if you stay, then all the years you missed the playoffs and all the years everything went wrong and all the years they said we wasted you and Mike Trout's talent, you will become a legend in Angels history, arguably the greatest player in Angels history. If you can stay and win it here, that is the Angels pitch to him. And we'll see if that motivates him more than being able to play in the postseason in October each and every year.

We'll see. And, you know, I was told about this Blue Jays meeting late Monday night as well. It really feels like they're moving up in the chances of having a chance at him as well. I'm just not sure if he goes to Toronto, but it's going to be very interesting regardless. But I do think the Dodgers check all of the boxes, including wanting to win. Whereas that might be one that would be questionable with the Angels. But I still kind of feel in my gut he may end up heading back. We always get information and intel from Michael Duarte that we just don't get anywhere else.

So this is good stuff. Even now, as I look up, I'm seeing Otani walk across my TV screen, got the MLB network on. It is the big question, as Michael points out, and really holding hostage the rest of Major League Baseball.

We didn't even really hit on Juan Soto, though we know the Padres are still trying to woo him and want him to stay. So find Michael on Twitter at MichaelJDuarte from NBC LA. I ask him this all the time, when he takes time off, and his answer is, what Mike? When do you take time off?

Never. Right after I get off the call with you, I'll be packing to head to Vegas. And I was actually hoping, and I wanted to talk about this with you, Amy, I was actually hoping to head to Columbus this weekend. I was actually kind of hoping maybe the Lakers would lose to the Suns so I could go watch the MLS Cup Championship. By the way, LAFC is looking for their back-to-back title. First team to do it since the LA Galaxy.

The other team here in LA, I might add, in 2011 and 2012. So for all your soccer fans out there listening, that's a big game this Saturday that could be going on at the exact same time as the in-season tournament. So it never stops. I never take a break.

But get to travel sometimes for sports. I almost feel guilty for taking time off to get married because you're a machine. Yeah, I've been looking for the invitation in the mail, by the way. I still haven't seen it. You don't have time.

You do not have time. It's an NFL Sunday. Would you even be available to go? No.

Well, the college football championship's in Houston, so I don't know. Maybe I can make it a longer trip. Oh, see.

No, that's really sweet. This year we'll definitely see you in Vegas. Definitely.

Exactly. I'll be there. This time I'm going on Radio Row and we'll get to do this in person. I know how long you've been waiting for these nuptials. I am so, so excited and happy for you. I can't wait and I can't wait for you to post all the pictures and photos and I can't wait to see your reaction and the honeymoon.

I know Granny's going to be watching, smiling, so I'm just really excited and happy for you. Thank you. Well, you know what? Since we're friends, you don't actually have to see the photos on social.

You can get them, like, for reals yourself. I like that. I appreciate that. I appreciate it. All right. We'll talk to you soon. If I don't talk to you, though, before Christmas, Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you and hey, Amy, if the flowers never arrive, get some people on the ground, go to the flower shop and just start making bouquets right there on the spot. There we go. See, I like that. That's a good backup plan.

See? Another reason we're friends. You're good under fire. Thank you, Michael.

You're welcome. Have a good show. I'm Snoop Dogg and I'm giving up smoke.

I know what you're thinking. Snoop, smoke is kind of your whole thing. But I'm done with it.

I'm done with the coffin and my clothes smelling all funky. I'm going smokeless. Solo Stove Fix 5. They took out the smoke. Now you can have a nice blaze without any clouds ruining your day. Go smokeless.

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