Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, and Jerry Jones are back in the spotlight

I wonder in today's realistic lobster.

What's your favorite Lamon? Absolutely Can they be a contender in the east? No, I like Brooklyn, but Boston is the best team in the league right now. And then on top of that you still have Milwaukee and Giannis, who is the best player in the league right now. That like, I like what Brooklyn that says Brooklyn is going to go through one or one of or either both of Milwaukee and Boston to get to a NBA finals.

I'm sorry. You are high. Maybe you feel like Polisic did when he crashed into the Iranian keeper Kanata Edwards at not to describe on Twitter is joining us. Certainly Luka Doncic feels like Giannis is the best player in the world. Did you have a problem with him saying that I heard some people like my buddy Jay Williams on ESPN didn't didn't want to hear that.

I'm like, I don't know. I think that Giannis is the best player in the world. Giannis is the best player in the world. But at the same point, we're not we're acting like Giannis didn't say this about LeBron and Durant and all this like that may be just how these European players get down and they actually give credit. How how dare we how dare we admire someone else's work? How dare we that is such a horrible horrible thing to do.

I guess horrible. Maybe it comes down to this because I remember I'm old and oh, you may not be old enough to remember this. Well Charles Barkley back when when everybody was at Barkley was playing Jordan was there all playing and Barkley said I have to think that I'm the best player in the world. And even though he wasn't and I think he would probably readily admit that he wasn't better than Jordan. But there is there is a mindset and I'm going to bring it up in golf terms because it's easy analogy to make everybody on the planet knew the Tiger Woods was the best player in the world. But the margins are so thin that these guys also know that hey if I do what I'm capable of doing I can beat him.

I know I can beat him. So I think there is a difference between Luka Doncic saying that Giannis is the best player in the world and Luka Doncic believing that his best can be better than Giannis isn't there there is there is a different there there is that we can make that difference and I truly do believe that we can honestly make that difference and give and also if he's saying yo Giannis is the best in the world doesn't that also kind of give him something to strive for? Yeah, like let's think let's think about it like that. Like if it gives them something to strive for then we're all good about this then we're like, okay, we have that naturally competitive rivalries that we seem to be seeking for in the NBA all the time. Maybe okay, we have to chase like if Giannis has if Luka has something to chase. I don't see that as being the worst thing in the world, especially for a guy that has at times not come into the season starting off in the best of shape. That that is true.

Speaking of best of shape. This is not physical for Luka Doncic. Why are the Mavericks outside of even the play in range right now? It's amazing what happens when your second best player goes through the Knicks for a hundred and ten million dollars.

It's amazing what happens when you don't necessarily replace that. It's also amazing that they think that Kemba Walker on maybe one good leg can somewhat replicate that. No, like there's there's a lot of this that felt like this was arrogance on the part of the Dallas Mavericks in not giving Luka some help.

And now we are now in that nice little time loop. I like to call insert superstar heat here needs help and now we can throw Luka Doncic his name in that sentence that lovely little Mad Libs because clearly Luka needs help. Yeah, clearly this team is built poorly and we haven't even gotten into the whole Christian wood and thinking that JaVale McGee had something left in those legs to actually be a starter. There's a lot of these decisions that have been bad and now the consequences of their actions are now starting to haunt them.

It just happens to be in December and not in March April. I wonder if JaVale McGee is sort of connected to several bad decisions over the course of the last five or seven years in the NBA. All right, back to the Kyrie thing.

And this sort this this gets us into LeBron James. In fact, the Lakers are actually playing some halfway decent basketball right now. Russell Westbrook is contributing and I think has been a positive especially in the role. They've got him now running a bench unit.

I think he's played pretty well. But after the game the other day LeBron after the press conference chastised the media for not asking him about a picture of Jerry Jones at a North Little Rock High School in 1957 when there was protests about segregation or desegregation. And I read an article in The Guardian about this and I didn't read the Washington Post article that I think LeBron was referring to but I read an article in The Guardian about this issue. And I'm just going to let you start and then we'll go from there about like it it just came off as very forced by LeBron to me. So what are your thoughts on LeBron chastising the media for not asking him about the Jerry Jones photo?

My pro and as you've probably seen I've had to fish a whole lot of garbage out of my mentions on this. So I would first say that if LeBron is bringing up solely the photo it is a disingenuous conversation to start because quite honestly if you're not if you're bringing up the photo you're not and you're not bringing up the article that comes with it then quite honestly, there's no just conversation to be had right if you read the article the article is largely about white men billionaire white men with the chance to do something and he does nothing right more importantly he impedes progress. That's the problem with asking the question with saying why don't you ask me about the photo because the first question you have to answer back is yo, did you read the story if you did not read this story?

I'm sorry. I can't have this conversation with you and more importantly all we're doing is asking him about a photo with no sort of context and that's sort of the that's the kind of sort of ladies lazy journalism that we always get killed for doing if I'm not mistaken. So why would we continue that pattern with Jerry asking him about a Jerry Jones photo more importantly when he says you guys felt comfortably enough to ask me about Kyrie.

Kyrie at at the worst is a peer at best. It's a personal connection. So I kind of had a problem with this whole thing because these are much more of an apples and oranges situation and LeBron's trying to make fruit salad out of this and it doesn't work. I think if he wanted to say something about it, he should have just said it rather than chastise the media about it. I mean, he could have said what he wanted to the problem is that he wasn't there really wasn't an issue for him there because he had no idea what the article was about. He just saw a picture now because that issue it's it's a big issue, right Jerry Jones in 1957 65 years ago, by the way, but it's it's still a big issue. Why was he there all of that and questions can be asked and maybe answered or ducked if you are Jerry Jones because he has had many opportunities to to do something positive for inclusion equality all of that. He could have supported Colin Kaepernick, but he obviously did not but that's that's a separate issue. How about the reason why nobody asked you about Jerry Jones is because you play in the NBA and this was about a former teammate and possibly a future teammate and you are also kind of the face of the league. That's why they asked you about Kyrie Irving.

I would have never thought to ask LeBron James about a photo of Jerry Jones in 1957. Wingstop's doing what they do best taking flavor to the next level. So when chicken sandwiches only came in spicy and plain Wingstop said nah, make it 12 flavors. Lemon pepper chicken sandwich. OG hot mango habanero.

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See additional terms at one Peloton.com. I kind of get it though. Like I can't this is where I don't necessarily blame like again, LeBron's famous Cowboys fan.

So I get asking for it. But at the same time like it just keeps coming back to did you actually read the article right? And if you're going to actually read the article, the article spells out what Jerry Jones is. And mind you this is an article with Jerry Jones on the record.

Let's not forget about that part. Jerry Jones is very front and center about hey, I could have done more. I don't do more.

I am who I am. That is a very like no matter how you slice that that is how he looked at this. That is how we chose to do this. That's what it's very fairly cut and dry. So if you're going to go about this, like why don't you ask me about it? Because again, the piece says everything you need to know. All it takes is to read the piece.

And I think the biggest problem I have with this and you kind of highlighted earlier. This is LeBron James. He has an Instagram account. He has a Twitter account. He has a TV show on HBO called The Shop, one that he could have brought this topic up on and we could have, he could have had a full conversation. Hell, he could have invited Jerry himself and they could have had this conversation.

I would have been an awesome conversation. You need to get the fact that he feels like the press needed to ask him about this kind of disingenuous as well. It's like LeBron sets the agenda. He doesn't need us to set it for him. And the fact that he felt like we needed to, it's false equivalency. If you want to say, why don't you treat me like white athletes and why don't you ask me the same questions as white athletes? Yo, cool, fair play.

But the way you went about it is sloppy at best. And quite frankly, I expect better out of LeBron for that. Let me ask you one more thing before I let you go. Kanata Edwards at not to describe on Twitter. And this is about Kyrie. I look what regardless of what you feel about the video, the movie that Kyrie promoted and he can say he didn't promote it, but he did because he put a link to it in his social media. I was a little, I was uncomfortable with what the NBA demanded of Kyrie in order to come back to the league because I don't believe they would have demanded anybody else go through, jump through the hoops that they made Kyrie go through in order to get back. And I felt that, look, you're going to suspend him for five games or whatever. I thought the apology when he finally did own it was good. Had he done that initially, there wouldn't have been a five game suspension. That Kyrie's biggest problem was refusing to back down from an uncomfortable position and continuously digging a deeper hole. If you want to get out of a hole, stop digging.

He kept digging. So I was uncomfortable with that. And I think some guys around the league also were uncomfortable with that. LeBron was, I think Chris Paul was. Well, how did you think about that? Like there was one, I think we have to stop and recognize that where Kyrie plays has a massive factor in this discussion.

Like playing in the second or biggest enclave of Jewish American people in this country matters. So I can understand why there is going to be a shopping list of things you need to do before you get back and making amends being one of them. The other thing is we got to remember he doubled down twice. Yeah, so it's really hard for me and I believe we talked about this earlier. Like it's really hard for me for someone to set himself on fire, put the fire out, set himself on fire again and be like, oh that poor guy. He's got to deal with the consequences of third-degree burns. I'm sorry.

I can't feel sorry for you on that. But what the problem was and I do understand this point. There were some folks that were trying to make careers out of this like some reporters some folks dealing in bad faith that we're trying to make careers in trying to make him bow down. There was a point where I have even felt uncomfortable in this but I'm not going to sit in and stand in the way. I also understand that depending on like how hurt you feel how close you are to the situation I cannot say when there's enough when enough is enough when there's been clear hurt given and I think that's the bigger thing for me is it's uncomfortable, but there was clear harm done and if there's clear harm done and I functionally don't understand it even though I can somewhat I can absolutely sympathize and empathize. I'm not going to be the one to say hey stop. That's enough. Even if I feel uncomfortable with it.

Kanata Edwards, my friend at not of the scribe on Twitter USA Netherlands who wins. Oh, give me the Dutch. Oh get out of here. I can't help it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I can't help it. I love you. Anyway, man, take care Kanata Edwards. He's the best until that prediction. I have no time for that Wingstops doing what they do best taking flavor to the next level. So when chicken sandwiches only came in spicy and plain Wingstop said nah, make it 12 flavors lemon pepper chicken sandwich og hot mango habanero you get the picture every famous Wingstop flavor now on the new Wingstop chicken sandwich try all 12 and find your favorite at Wingstop where flavor gets wings.