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Now. On with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Double play to end the game. Victory for the New York Yankees.
There will be a game three. The Rich Eisen Show. Earlier on the show. Seahawks wide receiver Jackson Smith and Jigba. Coming up.
Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy. NBA on NBC Insider Chris Mannix. Actor Charlie Sheen. And now, it's Rich Eyes and That's correct. Here I am.
Welcome to hour two of this Thursday edition. We just chatted with Jackson Smith and Jigba of the Seattle Seahawks. Charlie Sheen in studio and hour number three. We'll talk NBA shortly with Chris Mannix. But let's be fair and balanced.
We talked with one of the hot young receivers in the NFC, Jackson Smith, and Jigba. Joining us now to kick off hour number two is exactly that in the AFC back from. A few games off due to injury. Xavier Worthy of the Kansas City Chiefs back here on the franchise show. Great to see you, Xavier Worthy.
How are you? Good, how are you? I'm better for seeing you. Last time I saw you was on the turf in Brazil before the game. And now here you are coming off of an excellent game.
Uh for the Chiefs and we all know what happened on that. night in Brazil. Can you walk me through what that night was like? For you. Xavier?
I mean, um, just I just I ain't gonna lie, just the play it happened. I didn't even know what happened when I was on the field. I just remember just being hit and I felt like my shoulder felt weird and trying to get up. And when I tried to get up, I just couldn't. And I had one of the teammates help me up, and I got up, and my shoulder fell away, and they popped it back in place.
We went back, tried to run some tests, tried to see if I could go and I couldn't. And I mean, that was it. I mean, I really just, that was my first time being injured, so I didn't know how to react.
Well, I'd imagine that was my next question.
So, you didn't know how to react just in terms of. How severe it was, but you knew pretty much right away that your Bra Brazil night was over. Yeah, good sword.
Okay. And then what was it like, uh, trying to get back on the field for you? Then I feel like I was a man on a mission. Coach Reed probably said it the best. I had my rehab probably, I probably was rehabbing like three times, two times a day, just to be able to get back on the field.
And was there a time where, I guess, surgery was considered? For you, Xavier? Nah, for me, I never wanted if if I had to get surgery, it was something that would have had to be done. But if it was the option, I wasn't under the surgery option.
Okay, so now here you are, and how how does it feel playing football? That feels good. I mean, I've never missed a game in my life, so just missing those games, I feel like it just kind of made me appreciate the game even more. Never, never in high school, never in Pop Warner, never in college, never. Never, never, ever.
How'd you deal with that? Oh man, I was. I mean, I had talked to our mom. I just always, I mean, I just wanted to work my way back just to be with you guys. I mean, I feel like I'm kind of like the energy guy just to speak.
Spark the guys up to get the handshakes going, the dances. I feel like I just want to be there for the team. And if they need a play, I'm betting the guy to make the play. At any point in time, were you consoling Kelsey? Travis?
At any point, Yeah, me and Trav definitely talked about it. I mean, Trav's my guy and Trav knows that, like, regardless, it it's it's football, it happens, so. Never want to put that on traffic.
So it's just always good to have somebody like that in the corner. Of course. I mean, that's why I asked if you were consoling him, because I'm sure he was inconsolable at some point over this moment, Xavier. And then now we saw what you looked like in this game, in this past game against the Ravens. Is this the the Xavier worthy we were going to see that night?
In Brazil, in terms of the game plan and your involvement in it, and what we're going to see. from the Chiefs' offense moving forward. Xavier? Yes, sir. I definitely hope so.
I mean, I worked so hard in the offseason. My receiver coach, Connor Embry, I feel like he just gave me the tools and what I needed to work on to be able to become the player that I'm trying to become now. And I feel like I worked on it and I feel like I excelled in those things in all season. If you wouldn't mind being more detailed, what did you work on? Like, what has.
been an emphasis for you. Xavier. One one is getting stronger. I gained nine pounds in the offseason. And then just the route running and understanding leverages and understanding coverages.
I feel like with our offense, it's more just understanding like where you're at on the field and understanding space more than anything. And who to whom Or have you been speaking about that other than your coaches? Trav is a great guy for that. I mean, he's probably the best tight end in space in NFL history.
So, I mean, I have the key to the system right there. Yeah, he's the king of footwork and noticing space and obviously being on the same page as Mahomes.
So he, can you walk me through what those conversations sound like, you and Travis Kelsey talking about this sort of thing? Xavier? I mean, you could probably see it throughout the end of my year last year, just understanding what Pat likes to do. Me and Trad, we'll run a play and he'll just give me like a little tip, just like, hey, on this, you could use this release and do this. That would see it like this.
So I just kind of like took that in my mental, and just everything he said. Towards the end of my last, towards the end of my rookie year, I just took it into this year and worked on it all season. What about Mahomes? What are your conversations, ball talk like with him, Xavier Worthy? I mean, we just kind of talk on the field, but he just, if it's a route that needs to be fixed or that he would like to ran a little different, he'll just tell me, like, oh, you need to just run it like this, or if you see this, run it like this.
I mean, just it's just common football talk.
Okay, and then the sense of urgency that might have been around your team last week, taking on a Ravens team. Equally in one and two. Don't want to go one and three. Two and two can not only redeem. the first quarter of a season, but springboard things into a better rest of the regular season.
What was it like around that facility? last week before that game. Xavier? Oh man, just here, I mean, I feel like everybody just stayed level headed level headed and calm. Everybody nobody stresses out.
I mean, it's football at the end of the day. You don't treat no game bigger than the next.
So, I mean, if if it's a regular season game, if it's a Super Bowl, it's football at the end of the day. You grew up playing your whole life.
So just Go out there and have fun, let it loose. I mean, Coach Rhys says it all the time, I'll treat you to a cheeseburger after the game.
So what, say, say that again, Xavier? What is that? Coach Rhy says, I'll treat you to a cheeseburger after the game. Just show your personality.
So, I mean, that just shows like the. The kinda The joy we have around here playing a game. Is that how you gain the nine pounds? Better than just a cheeseburger, is what you're saying. Regain nine pounds of muscle, is what you're saying.
Okay. Now, but he says that to you or to everybody? He says that to everybody, like after meetings before the game day, like Coach Reese says, I'll treat you to a cheeseburger and show your personalities.
Okay. And so how does that? How does that calm things? Do you think? I mean, it just shows like we have a player as coach.
I don't hear a lot of coaches say, like, show your personalities. And when he says, show your personality, it really means it. Like, the dancing we do, like, you see, like the touchdown dances, like, that's really like just us having fun. We do that in practice.
So, I mean, it just carries over. Does he, when you do it in practice, give you coaching tips on that, or he just lets that savior? Nah, he kind of getting into it now. He was doing a little dance in the meeting this morning. What?
Say that again? What? What? You know Tyq our TQ's dance when he went like this? He did that this morning.
Oh, he did it. What, in a hallway with you? In a hallway? In the whole he did it in the meeting. Yeah.
Okay. Well, that's one way to keep things loose, to say the least. Um and is Rashi back in the building? Right now, it's good to have Rashid back. I mean, just his poise and what he brings to the room.
I just having him back, I mean, you could learn from him. He could help the younger guys and help us, obviously, what he sees on the field, too.
Okay, so Rashid's back in the building. You're back feeling you're feeling yourself, pretty much, we can say that. Right now? Yeah.
Okay. You're back feeling yourself. Tyquan Thornton caught a touchdown last week. Juju Smith-Schuster is. Juju Smith-Schuster.
Mahomes through for four touchdowns. Um Kelsey is in the building being the goat. Have we turned a corner here? Have the Chiefs turned a corner on offense, do you think? Xavier Worthing?
Um I feel like we just getting started.
So there's no corner turned. You're just beginning to get started. That's the way you're terming it.
Okay. Started f started for where? What are we starting? Then I feel like there was no corner that needed to be turned. I feel like it was just like we just needed to settle down and just get it going.
It was never like what needed to be fixed. It was just always just self-errors.
Okay. And what about your goals? Do you have them? Are they written down somewhere? Xavier?
I had this goal. I had talked to my therapist, and my goal was: I feel like just writing down personal goals was kind of like something that kind of just made me focus on just not my teammates and not being a team player. I feel like my main goal this year is just being the best teammate I could be and being the best person I could be. Interesting.
So you don't, you thought writing down.
Something to I guess uh put on paper something that is a personal goal for you. Didn't make you the best teammate. And so you stopped doing it. You willingly are not doing that. Yes, sir.
Do you want to Put a little bit more onto that one? Like, why does that? work for you. Do you think? I feel like just if I'm going out there and to be the best player I could be and being the best teammate I could be, then everything that I want and that I need.
And that's going to come to me is going to happen.
Okay. That said, Monday Night Football, what's going to be going on in your mind? As you're in the tunnel there. against a Jaguars team that would love To put a chief's pelt on their wall, Xavier. What's going to, do you think, going to happen?
on Monday night for you. Man, I can't wait for a Monday night matchup. It's always fun just playing a Monday night matchup. It's a blessing. Everybody can't play on a Monday night football game, but the Jaguars unit, it's a good unit.
They have, what, the most turnovers in the league right now.
So they're playing really good football in there at their high.
So it's going to be a good one. Did you play against? I don't know. Did you ever play against Travis Hunter? I don't know if Texas and Colorado ever played.
No, I never played against Travis Hunter.
Okay. What are you seeing on film? Out of him when he's on the ball. Yeah, Trav's a really good player. I mean, I watched Trav in college.
He probably has one of the best ball skills I've ever seen. He's a really good player.
Okay. So what are the challenges that the Jaguars present? They take the ball away quite a bit. And they've done that to every team that they've faced multiple times this year. Xavier.
Right. I feel like they're just a good unit all around together. They play together. They play sound and tips and overthrows, they make sure they catch them. You just got to be technically sound playing against them.
Okay. And are you the fastest player on the field? Hand up. Yeah.
You didn't stutter. Please not.
Okay. You know. You know, because I got Travis Etienne on Friday's show. Um you know Travis Hunter and he didn't run at the combine, you did. You set a record.
But You you unequivocally. You're the fastest guy on the field. Yes, sir. Okay, just want to repeat that. Before I let you go, what's your favorite Mahomes story?
whether it's in practice in a huddle. throwing to you. Maybe saying, if you do this, I'm going to find you. And then he does anything? You got a good Mahomes story before.
I let you go on your Thursday, Xavier. I wouldn't even say story, it's just like. It just shows like the greatness between him and Trav. It was a play that we had, and Traff. Trav, they kinda, he has a little bit of freedom.
So it's this route where Trav kinda goes in and he comes back out and Tr and Pat threw it before he even can turn around and all Trav did was stick his hands out and the ball hit him in the hands.
So it just shows like the greatness between them two and their chemistry. Does that leave you wanting to have that relationship with Mahomes? Oh, 100%. If I could have had that chemistry rocket stick, my hands out and catch the ball. Yeah.
No, I'm just saying that, you know, obviously Mahomes is going nowhere. You're just in year two. And that, you know, you keep playing your cards right. You keep doing what you're doing. You keep keeping your mentals right.
You keep keeping your body right. that you would have an opportunity to one day to have that second Sense. connection to Mahomes. That's what I'm saying. Does that enter your your realm at any point in time.
I mean definitely. I mean I feel like with any player right now that's in the league, I feel like if you got drafted within like kind of like a couple years, Pat for a couple years, I mean Pat's one of the greatest, going on pace to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
So just having that and having chemistry with him and playing with him, I mean it's just a blessing.
Well, Xavier, I really appreciate the time here. It was great seeing you for just a brief bit in Brazil. And unfortunately, seeing you for just a brief bit. in a game that I was calling. But it's great to see you back at it because I was concerned.
I was concerned for your 2025 season.
So to see you. Smiling and balling out like you did, leading the team and rushing and receiving last week and just your first game back. It's great to see, and I'm happy for it. Yes, sir. I appreciate it.
Always good to see you, Xavier. Thanks for the time. Yes, sir. Appreciate you. That's Xavier Worthy of the Kansas City Chiefs getting set to appear on ESPN and its family of networks.
On Monday night football to wrap up week five, Chiefs. And the Jaguars. Rashid Rice back in the building. After this game, it's only one more, and then he's back on the field. You really asked him if he's the fastest guy out there.
I like asking questions to see if somebody still feels that way. I mean, yeah, of course. He didn't even hedge it. 100% is what he said. You asked me that question.
Are you the fastest uh guy in your field? Than profession. In my profession? Yeah.
Absolutely not. Did I stutter? You didn't. He did not. Hey, but the logo looks great.
Look at it.
Okay, logo. You couldn't take Torico? Oh, I think I could. There you go. I mean, I mean, today with your back, you're in a bad.
Not today. He rehabbed his Achilles. Oh, good. I haven't spoken to Mike in a while. Good point.
Good point. Scott's tall and lean. I don't know if you're getting Scott. Pam Pelt? Yeah.
He looked pretty spry on the streets of New York earlier this week. Um Good chat. All right, Chris Mannix is going to join us next. He Disney Plus on ESPN, the app everywhere, and ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. Let's talk a little bit of basketball before we return to game three, Zapalooza, week five in the NFL that starts tonight, and Charlie Sheen in studio.
The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. As many of you know, supporting pediatric cancer research is something I care deeply about. That's why I'm proud to share what Hyundai is doing through Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 27 years, with every Hyundai sold, they've helped fund pediatric cancer research. Alongside over 850 dealers, they've raised more than $277 million, helping over 25,000 kids and supporting more than 1,400 research grants at 175 institutions nationwide.
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Visit HyundaiUSA.com and search Hyundai Hope on Wheels to learn more. Back on the Rich Eisen Show Simulcast, Disney Plus, ESPN, the app everywhere, and ESPN radio presented by Progressive Insurance. This man is now another. Hyphen it. He does boxing for Dazone, but of course you know him best for his basketball coverage for Sports Illustrated.
And now. Mr. Roundball rock himself, ladies and gentlemen. Chris John Tashmanix here on the Rich Razzett Show. Good to see you, sir.
Love the introduction, Rich. I appreciate it. The only way I can do it. Yeah.
Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I'm looking forward to NBC World. I grew up on that stuff.
Like Ron Ball Rock. I mean. The NBA at NBC in the 1990s, it was awesome. I know. All due respect to you, Mike Del Tufo, and everyone at Fox.
I know. But when I think of Round when Round Ball Rock comes on, I just think of the aerial shot of either Chicago Stadium or the United Center as it's just freshly built. And Costas is getting everyone ready for a big game, or Marv's voice, you know, getting ready for yet another Michael Jordan beatdown of anybody fill in the blank. I miss the Costas monologues at the beginning of these games. I always thought they added some context to what you were going to see.
And I grew up reading Peter Vesey in the New York Post and watching him as an insider on TV.
So I'm excited to be even a small part of that. Fantastic. Will Jason Tatum be a part of this season, sir? What a segue. Just jumping right into it.
Just get right to it. This man over there and all the Celtics honks are seeing him. Looking pretty spry on a practice court right now. What do you think? Is there any possibility?
It was.
So that was like a six-minute YouTube video that Tatum uploaded that. Really, 12 seconds of it captivated everybody. And that was the time he spent on the court in Boston.
Now, he did his first. On-court workout about a week ago, Monday now.
So that was the first time he got back on the court. I was in New York with him last week, and he said that was the first time he's felt like a basketball player again. That said, I didn't expect to see that. I didn't expect to see the cutting, the movements, all the things that you see Tatum go through. In a normal workout.
So it was incredibly encouraging. But when I talk to people that are close to Tatum and people around the Celtics, They're pumping the brakes pretty hard on the anticipation game. Because they know this injury is a tricky one. It's a tricky one to fully recover from. And even when you feel like you're fully recovered, you don't want to be kind of overcompensating in other areas to protect this type of injury.
So they're excited in Boston that he's doing all this, but nobody out there is, you know, stamping the all-star break or March as the time to bring him back.
Okay, so he is still human. He's not an alien. Yeah, I think the other variable, too, in this is. You know, the Celtics, this is a gap year. There's no doubt about it.
Like, maybe they can make the playoffs. But they're not competing for anything this year.
Next year, 26, 27, is when they're back in the mix. And what's the best thing that could help them in that year? That's probably having a lottery pick. Like they control their own draft pick in this next June's draft. I don't think it would bother too many people in Boston if they wound up slipping into the lottery and are able to use that pick to get another cheap, controllable player or trade that pick to get a veteran that helps this mix.
All right, let's talk about a lot of the news that came out of this past week of media days from coast to coast here. You were at a couple of them. Which ones were you at? I went to Philadelphia's, which was early, and then the Clippers, which was on Monday. All right, let's take it one at a time.
The Sixers, which one, what do you take away from the Philadelphia 76ers? Anxiety. Oh, wow. There's a lot of anxiety. Maybe it was coming from me, because I.
Flew into New York and took the train down to Philadelphia. The second I landed in New York, I pulled up the old gambling app and I saw the Sixers, 42 and a half on the Sixers over under, hammered that. Hammered that rich. Like that, I am all in. I was all in on the 76ers to get like 48, 50 wins this season taken off.
I looked at the roster, the fact that the Eastern Conference stinks, and I thought they were going to take off. Then I get to Media Day. I'm saying, then I get to Media Day, and Joelle Embiid sits down and has the cliche book right out, going one day at a time, going to listen to the doctors, taking it step by step, got a lot of boxes to check. That made me incredibly nervous because it felt a little bit like deja vu, like where we were last year, where Joelle Embiid was not ready for training camp and was not talking about being ready for the season opener. Maybe he will be.
Maybe in a few weeks' time, we'll see Embiid out there on the floor for the 76ers. But. His status and the uncertainty around it that made me nervous because everything else is just gravy, right? It's like Paul George, yeah, you want to get him back into the mix. Jared McCain, want to see him back.
They need Joellen Bede playing 55 to 60 games to give them a chance to compete in the conference.
Okay, so there's that. And then the Clippers meeting. Was that all about Pablo Torre finding out or what? It should have been. It wasn't.
Okay. Look, I thought it was the Clippers. They whisked him in and out of there at about seven minutes. Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi Leonard, they're saying they got him in.
Like Lawrence Frank answered some questions about it, but the Clippers. did everything they possibly could to avoid Getting putting Kawhi in a position to have to answer some tough questions. He did answer some questions from Ramona Shelburne from ESPN. I was at the media day, I was trying to ask some of those questions. I was not.
Given the opportunity to do so.
Now, nobody cares how the media does its job, but I thought it was noteworthy that they were not calling on people that they knew were going to ask. Those particular types of questions. Because look, there are a couple of, like Kawhi. He's obviously decided. That He's gonna play the fake news.
Angle, right? Like, this is a conspiracy theory. This is clickbait. He's going to say it's nothing. He called it old news.
It's not old news. This is an alleged case of CAP circumvention that could hurt the Clippers this season and cripple them for years to come if it turns out that they did this. The question that Ramona asked, where she said, she said to, and I'm paraphrasing a little, she said, hey, People are assuming you didn't do Any promotion for this company aspiration. Effectively, you did nothing to earn the $7 million per year that you were getting. He said that wasn't entirely accurate.
The question I would have asked, and still hope somebody asks, if not me, is that can you point to one thing, just one thing? Like, if you put out a tweet, if you showed up at an event, hell, if you planted a tree in your backyard and said you were in favor of carbon neutrality. Go aspiration. That would have been, that would have gone a long way towards getting the Clippers off the hook. But he has not provided any evidence that he did anything to live up to or.
Earn the money that came from this contract. And until he does, this thing is going to hang over the Clipper's head like a cloud. But Clippers are adamant, nothing happened. untoward happen. And Cuban has has tweeted out in support.
I don't know what he's doing.
Well, I don't know. I mean, he was. It's not his team. I know that. And his point is: like, you know, I would love to point out that they cheated.
You know, I would love to, you know, that that would. Potentially look back and help them average. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, that's been his.
Approach that you know that if they did anything untoward to any other franchise, including the one I used to own, he would. He would want to point that out.
Okay. I mean, when I talk to different ownership sources, the Thing I hear the most is that this could potentially open a Pandora's box because Giving players extra benefits is not It's not uncommon. It's just to the degree of the benefits. You give your star player access to your private jet to take him to Dubai. Like that could happen.
You give your mansion in Palm Springs. I was making stuff up at this point, but you give them little things. What's made this story so big. Is the number attached to it, the 28 million dollars that's attached to it?
So there is definitely some anxiety amongst some owners in the NBA that if the NBA believes that the Clippers circumvented the salary cap and they come down on them hard, well, then you start looking around at other teams and other pieces. And look, Steve Ballmer. Does he take this? If it does go that direction, does he take it lying down? Does he start fighting back and pointing fingers at other teams?
Like, there is just a whole lot that could come from a conclusion drawn by the NBA that the Clippers did this. Sports Illustrated in NBC Sportses and DeZones, Chris Mannix. A lot of slashes right here on the Rich Eisen show. Down the street, the Lakers had their media day. J.J.
Reddick said that LeBron is not going to be taking part in. Practices and things of that nature just yet. Said it was a nerve irritation in his glute, which is an interesting way of calling LeBron a pain in the ass, don't you think? Um, without really doing so. Uh, but in all seriousness, what are we making of this?
Is there anything there there? This isn't a late September, early October story we're not going to talk about. What is this? No, I don't think there's anything to be overly concerned with physically. In fact, I think the Lakers.
are showing signs now That they're going to do something smart with LeBron, which is scaling him back. LeBron last year played 70 games. He averaged 35 minutes per game in his age 40 season. You cannot possibly expect a player, even one as great as LeBron, to be at full strength going into the playoffs when you have that kind of workload. This is a guy that needs to be scaled back to like the 60-game per year range, to the under 30-minute per game range.
It's not easy to do. Like superstars, they want to play. They don't want to take time off if they feel like they're healthy. But for the... For the Lakers to have the best chance of succeeding in the postseason, I think they've got a good chance.
Like, Luka Doncich owns the Oklahoma City Thunder, you know, whether it's in Dallas or Los Angeles. He has played extraordinarily well against Oklahoma City. And that was prior to men's health, Luca. Prior to Skinny Luca, you know, the new version of him. Right.
So he, like, I mean, he plays well against Oklahoma City. He can't do that alone, though. He needs LeBron at the closest to 100% that he can possibly be. And you're not going to get that version of him if he's going 70 games at 35 minutes per game.
So my hope, and I'm sure all the Lakers fans hope, is that this foreshadows Some load management for LeBron James this year that still gets him into the games like 60 times per year, but keeps that workload down so he's in a better position in the playoffs. And Zion managed his own load, it looks like, huh? What's going on? What's going on there? It's like, we're giving like golf claps for guys to come into shape and camping shape, like you're getting paid max money.
Well, it's more than golf claps for them. Like, I know, I was excellent. He was a standing O in New Orleans. I was excited to see him in shape because it's not that long ago that Zion was great. He played 70 games two years ago.
Like, he's shown that when he's healthy, he's a dominant player. We just finished our NBA preview, and I talked to a lot of scouts and coaches about Zion. They're like, look, he's as close to unguardable as there is in the NBA. When he's at his best and he's healthy, we don't know. Do you stick a big guy on him?
He just goes around him. You stick a smaller guy on him. He just powers right through him. He is extraordinarily tough. When I saw him at Media Day looking like he did, sounding like he did.
It told me maybe that Joe Dumars might have gotten through to him a little bit. Like Joe Dumars, the new president of basketball operations GM in New Orleans, has a lot of respect from a lot of players league wide that dates back to his playing days. Joe has made getting through to Zion a priority, understandably so. And when I see Zion sitting there looking like that, sounding like that, it gives me some optimism that, hey, this guy can get back on track to being the franchise player we thought he was. Let's talk about the Warriors a little bit, Chris Mannix.
Interpret this Steve Kerr soundbite at his immediate availability this week after he said. that he does not intend to sign a contract extension. during this season. He's in his walk year. And he basically said, let's see how things play out.
I don't anticipate any any negotiation and and you know Who knows, maybe something, maybe it all comes up at some point. They come to me, whatever. But I'm not the slightest bit concerned about it. I don't think about it. I just think it makes perfect sense for all of us.
I've said this before, I think, but.
However this ends, it's gonna be um it's going to be done in a really Um Quality way. It's going to happen the right way. If it's meant to be for me to keep going, then I'm going to keep going. And if it's meant to be for you know, the team to move on to somebody else, there will be You know, nothing but gratitude and appreciation.
So, this makes it easy for everybody. We just let's see where we are at the end of the year. You want to interpret that for me? I think it's a reasonable take. I mean, Steve Kerr.
has Incredible job security, contract or no contract. He is inextricably linked to. to Steph Curry and Dream Mongreen. As long as Steph Curry and Draymond Green are in Golden State, Steve Kerr is going to be there. But this is, look, and those two guys have two years left on their respective contracts.
But this is an interesting year for Golden State. You've got the mix of players that should be pretty good, but they're all the top guys on the older side. A couple of them have been injury-prone in recent years. Should this go south this year, really south, where they're in the lottery at the end of the season? Then maybe Golden State says, you know.
We might have to reboot this thing a year early. We might have to look to trade Draymond Green or move off of Jimmy Butler. And then, if you're Steve Kerr, you probably don't want to be part of a rebuilding situation in Golden State. When I saw that presser, I mean, your antenna goes up when you're talking about a coach in his walk year. And for most coaches, that's a difficult place to be, but not for Steve Kerr when you have the total allegiance of the two biggest stars on the team.
Okay. A couple of things I want to hit with you before I send you on your day. The WNBA. And this is getting particularly dicey. you know, Nafisa Collier coming out and ethering.
The commissioner of the WNBA, just absolutely. I mean, what's the phrase you used on the That Kathy Engelberg has not called, like, doesn't call her, doesn't reach out in a way that her husband, who's running on unrivaled. Um does for other players when they're hurt or you need to be they're seeing some of the Business at hand that she sees from. Um From that side of the family? that it doesn't happen here.
Does the NBA reach out and step in here in this contract collective bargaining agreement negotiation that does appear to be spilling out in many different ways because it's not? Moving in a direction that the WNBA players like? Is that basically the question? Or am I asking the wrong question? No, I mean, look.
I mean that was I've never seen anything like that. for an active player to come out And In a prepared statement, Just Napalm's the word. Just napalm your boss, basically, the person running. Your league. I'd never in my life seen something like that in sports.
Some of the stuff I thought was a little over the top, like, Kathy Engelbridge didn't call Collier when she sprained her ankle. Like Adam Silver doesn't call Collier. Players when they have relatively minor injuries. Like that, that doesn't happen. Does Roger Goodell?
Call a guy when he's turned his ankle or pulled a hamstring or something. That stuff just doesn't happen. I also think there's. It's a dangerous Place to go to be revealing private conversations, like which I'm and I don't know if Kathy Engelbert said the things that Nafisa Collier said. Let's assume for the sake of argument that she did.
I think if you're trying to negotiate a CBA extension. Showing that you're willing to reveal anything that's said at any given time is not a great thing. All that being said, I think Kathy Engelbert, the WNBA commissioner, is very bad at communicating, like very, very bad at communicating.
So, does Adam Silver step in in any way, shape, or form? Because they own a piece of the WNBA. Like, their NBA is in WNBA. I mean, it's brown, too. They're not in.
Look, I don't know if Kathy Youngbert survives all this. There's been some reporting out there that once the CBA is done, that she would step aside and somebody new would take over. I don't get the sense that the NBA thinks that she's doing a bad job as commissioner. Like her communication skills clearly suck. But I don't think that the NBA believes she's horrible at her.
Job. Like, this whole, like, this is all, everything traces back to the CBA, and like, they're barreling towards a work stoppage that seems inevitable at this point because these two sides, it seems like they're really far apart. I think that. The WNBA and the NBA to an extent has a point where the WNBA came in. And Their initial ask was to look for a piece of the pie.
They were talking about splits, like revenue sharing, that kind of stuff. The stuff that the NBA players get. The NBA players get 50% of the revenue from the NBA.
Well, you can do that in the NBA, where you have a. Total revenue of like $11 billion. You can do a 50% split. The WNBA's total revenue is like. 400 million even with new television contracts?
That's with it. Like 500 million, if you want to say. If you ask for, let's just say a 50-50 split, that doesn't. You can't run a league with like $250 million. It's just apples and oranges in some ways.
I think what the WNBA and their players should. Should be emphasizing, and this is where you can win over a lot of the public sport: is that hey, $70-ish thousand dollars for these salaries is nowhere close to being enough. Let's get that up over $200,000. Let's get max salaries well over a million dollars. Those are the things that I think people can get behind because the WNBA is growing as a sport, it is growing in popularity.
I think we're just headed towards a nasty, nasty work stop. But it's there. It's there. We haven't stopped working. I think when you get to the end of the month, You know, and I'm not a diligent WNBA reporter on all this, I'm sort of learning in real time, but.
It doesn't seem like anything that will stop this from being a shutdown.
Well, we've been through labor negotiations as people who have covered sports. And this. absolutely uh screams lat lack of Um progress this screams lack of trust The screams, as you said, work stoppage. We're obviously not, we're still playing games. But I just wanted to ask you about what the NBA thinks about that.
You go back to the, and I covered the. The David Stern Labor negotiations back in the day. There's some nasty things said about David Stern back in those days as well. It always gets said, but I'd never like for someone to come out. I mean, that was a coordinated attack.
Like, someone to come out, and I'm not saying it was a bad thing, but to come out and read a prepared statement that said those things. And then, like, I think the union came out right after that with their own statement and player, player reps for teams ready to go with their responses. This was a negotiation, man. Like, all hands on deck. It's all hands on deck in a CBA negotiation.
And this is money, and it gets really intense and emotional. And this. It spills out in many different ways. Let's keep chit-chatting, man. Great to see you.
Congrats on the NBC gig. And then we'll just keep an eye out for all of your great reporting and then your podcast work as well. Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated is here on the Rich Isen Show. We'll be back with more of your phone calls in a moment. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
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Battle after another, now playing only in beaters. Experienced at an IMAX, radiidar, under 179 a minute without parent. You can't hurt. ESPN Radio. uh uh live stream along with Disney Plus and ESPN and I was just talking about my opinions on What's going on with the collective bargain agreement?
conversations with the WNBA and their commissioner. Again, I think SVP said it expertly on his show and his one big thing. You can't If if Commissioner Engelbert said Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn't make anything. She completely missed why Caitlin Clark is filling up the buildings in the WNBA. If she really said this, Nafisa Collier, who's.
Rightfully Outing her. for that sort of thing. Especially if they're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars at the table trying to figure out a collective bargaining agreement. And this is front and center of a WNBA finals that's about to tip off. Um It's going to get uglier.
I went through the lockout with the NFL. It's exactly what it sounds like. You know, union goes at the commissioner, players go at the commissioner, and at some point, You know, Robert Kraft and Jeff Saturday got together and solved a lot of issues. I don't know who those people are going to be right here for the W. But Man, there is a vote of no confidence in the Commissioner right now.
That I don't know if it's going to help at the collective bargaining table, and certainly not once the deal is done, and there's some kumbaya that happens. Wouldn't it also help their case, though, if their biggest star in the league had something to say other than no comment about? All this going on, too? Like, what do you mean?
Well, that was Kate when asked about the feces statement. Caitlin was no comment. Like, she didn't want to speak up on it.
Well, at this point in time, I don't. It's bigger than all of this. I'm telling you, this is about the collective bargain agreement not being done and the ugliness behind the scenes and just spilling out right now because it's go time. At the end of this month, something's got to get hammered out. All of this is coming from a collective bargaining agreement.
negotiation that hasn't gone well at Oh. And there's some distrust and mistrust in the room. It's exactly what happened. I was sitting there in the spring of 2011 wondering how in the world was this not going to wind up with. A playing season wiped out.
I was wondering if I had to start, you know, figuring out what happens. That's how I wound up on David Letterman's show on late night. He wanted to know what it's like to host a draft. During a lockout. Other than that.
They was Huggy Dory. Everyone's wondering, like, what's going on? And we were wondering if it was ever going to come back. That's how bad it was getting. Yep.
Let's get the lawyers out of the room. That's what everyone was saying. But it's all being laid bare right now. And I I hope it all works out, obviously. 844-204 Rich number to Donald.
Jason in New York, you're here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Jason? Hey, how you doing, Rich? Wanted to talk about the uh game tonight, um the two managers. Obviously, you got Boone and you got Cora.
Alex Cora. Cora, yep. Alex Cora. And obviously, every Boston fan, and quite frankly, most of the New York fans are going to say that Cora is a better manager. But yes.
You got he's rolling the dice with a 23-year-old today with four games of major league experience. Has never pitched in a major league stadium on the road. And I say that because he's only pitched against the A's in Sacramento and the Rays in Tampa. It's an elimination game. You know, it's the playoff lives.
Is Cora a genius? Is he crazy? Is he trying to make a bunch of people? Let me tell you this, Jason. And Cora.
He's trying to make Boone be Boone. What's he doing? Core is an outstanding manager. Every button he's pushed in the first two games has worked, with the exception of maybe keeping Whitlock in. Longer in the eighth inning, but you had no other choice.
You wanted to get him through it, and then you go to Chapman and see what happens in the extra innings. I mean, can you even fault Cora for making that move? No, the only thing about yesterday that I was surprised at is that, you know, Bayo didn't have his A-plus stuff, but only 28 pitches. But he was managing like this was game seven. For sure.
For sure. And and so you put all his eggs in the basket.
Now the Now that there's a third game, his bullpen might be a little bit unsettled. The Yankees have a better bullpen-rested situation, I'd imagine. Although they'd have to throw Bednar on a third straight day tonight. Right. Whereas Chapman didn't pitch last night.
Jason, I don't know, but crazier things have happened. that you know this kid Both kids for the Yankees and the Red Sox tonight could pitch the games of their lives, and we wouldn't bat an eye. And both of them could, you know, do what to the bed, and we wouldn't bat an eye either. And now it's a bullpen war. And who's going to actually, and thanks to the call, who's going to, who's going to make it's, it's all about, that's the playoff baseball thing.
It's incredible. It's all about the small moments. Last night When they brought in, when was it Wilson that he brought in for Bayo, right? Yeah.
And it was second and third, infield in, Cody Bellinger up. I turned to Cooper and I'm like, Coop, this is it. Yeah.
Because. Core has made a move that could be second-guessed, and I'm sure there are Red Sox fans second-guessing it right now. And it could be real iffy to take your starter out and put your closer, put not your closer, put your reliever in right now. And the infield's in with two runners on. I don't know if Cody Bellinger is going to have a shot like this the rest of the game.
And he didn't, and he didn't get it done. Yankees still took it down. The Hyundai Palisade, all new hybrid. What makes it an incredible SUV? Is it because of the spacious interior, the capability of going off-road?
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