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Now, on with the show. Let's do this. Let's do this. This is the Rich Eisen Show. With guest host, Andrew Ceciliano.
The kick is. Me too. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show. 49ers quarterback Mac Jones.
Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins. Coming up. Two-time U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark. And now, sitting in Barich, it's Andrew Ceciliano.
Now what a fun show today. What a fun show. Kirk Cousins, Mac Jones, were both here. Brendan Soursby is not going to get a supplemental draft. Wow.
That just went down. Giannis got traded last night. Oh, by the way, the NBA draft is this evening. You can't think there was anything to talk about. Gambia draft is this evening.
So much for Slow June. Ronaldo has two goals. Two goals.
Okay. Would have had three, but they used them as a decoy. Decoy, yeah. Would have had the hat trick. Chris Brockman, Michael DeTufo.
Andrew. T. J. Jefferson. He has two goals.
Wyndham Clark has two U.S. Opens. Look at you. Look at you. Turning from.
Don't look at me. Look at him. Let's give a round of applause. Yeah, Wyndham. Let's get a round of applause here.
Joining us now on the Rich Eisen Show, your U.S. Open, two-time U.S. Open champion. Two-time Wyndham Clark. Sir.
How the heck are you, Wyndham? Ah, couldn't be better. I mean, you could. You can get a third. I mean, that would be better, right?
You're not wrong. Best things come in threes, but I'll take two for right now. But two is pretty good. When they were checking you in, and we appreciate you doing this, I was told you had a cup of something. Are those grapes?
Yes. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah, I expect. We have a little sanser white grape right now. Oh, lovely.
So, cheers.
Well, cheers. I will. Hey, you got to celebrate, right? I mean, it's not very often you win the U.S. Open.
No, you should keep on celebrating, even on a Tuesday. I'm going to toast you back with black coffee from a Keurig, which is like a sanserre, but different. With some Baileys in there, maybe. Give me like an hour.
Okay. You said that after the first open, it was Screaming Eagle, tip of the Cap to Stan Cronky. What kind of grapes did we crack open this time? Sunday? It was a 95 Sazakaya, so some Italian wine.
It's actually my favorite wine.
So it was. No offense to Screaming Eagle. That is unbelievable, but this is my favorite.
Well, well deserved. What was that party like? Yeah.
Well, it was in the Hamptons with a bunch of friends. It was at a beach club, which was epic. They had food out there for us. Open bar Everything was flowing, friends, family, some people I didn't even know. And, you know, we were just passing the cup around.
Everyone was drinking out of it, talking about fun moments, smiling, laughing. We ended up playing my brother and I, and people played ping pong. We got competitive. It didn't end until 5 a.m.
So it was quite a night. Wait a minute. Did you play wine pong? No, my brother, there was a ping-pong table in that beach club. And for some reason, my brother's playing people.
And then everyone's like, Wyndham, you got to come over and beat your brother. No one can beat him.
So I went over there. I will say Some things were against Me and that, and the fact that we'd been drinking out of the cup a little bit at my peak performance, but we had a lot of fun. And my brother got the best of me, which I hate to even admit, but whatever. That's what brothers are for. We're talking to U.S.
Open champion Wyndham Clark, not Wyndham Supreme, like Marty Supreme. You were beaten. in ping pong. Table tense. It doesn't happen often.
But my brother is kind of my like. Yeah, no, I get it. And hand eye coordination after that much After that many grapes, I can imagine would be a thing. What was it like having your dad Randall there? Because Tom, because Dan Hicks kept saying during the broadcast, during the final round, like dad's here, dad flew in from Denver, but he doesn't know that dad is here.
And then the cameras and the microphones picked it up there. After you won, you're like, oh.
Well, hey. Hey Dad! The celebration afterwards with Dad, how was that? Oh, it was amazing. Yeah, I really didn't know.
You know, my dad hasn't been able to watch me win one of my five tournaments and to win that championship on Sunday, Father's Day, and to have him there in person was amazing. And he really did, it really did catch me off guard. And I was just so happy I could share that with him. It's a super special moment. And then, you know, the celebration after, he was exhausted because he took a red eye.
So we got him some espresso and he got to drink out of the cup. He got to hang with, you know, my brother was there and my sister.
So he got to hang out with all his kids. I'm pretty sure he was in, you know, dad heaven. It was pretty cool. Yeah, I mean, it is pretty cool. It's worth taking a red eye.
I hate red eyes. I take them all the time, but you have to chase it when you land. You have to either A, take the nap or decide I'm going to stay up the entire time. I think watching your son win the U.S. Open is worth staying up for.
I think so. Yes, I think so as well. Wyndham Clark joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show. Andrew Ciciliano sitting in. Wyndham, I got to ask you.
Two days later, I'm sure you've had one or two, maybe not, quiet moments to try to process The reaction of the crowds and everything you heard. People got kicked out, people openly rooting against you. I don't want this to be the entire story, but you know it is part of the story. Two days later, how do you feel about it? Honestly, I love it.
I think it adds to kind of the drama of the tournament. I think I also hopefully won over a lot of the fans, especially the New York fans and other people watching, that I kind of battled one of the toughest golf courses and a crowd that was openly against me. And I don't know, I think I don't know. I think it was also something that I really will lean on in the future: of kind of having everything against me and being able to pull through and win. You know, if you can overcome that, then what can't you do, especially in golf?
So it was a, I look at it as a positive thing. You know, I try to always turn any sort of negative thing into a positive, and that's kind of how I'm looking at it. And I thought your answer on the podium, and you had plenty of questions, obviously, about this on the podium when you won on Sunday, was great as well. They weren't, you know, they were rooting against me, but maybe they were rooting for Scotty, right? Maybe they were rooting for the career grand slam.
And that's what I have to, in my head, do is take that negative, turn it into a positive. How difficult is that, though? You've spoken openly about mental health. You've spoken openly about trying to channel negativity into positivity. And you said on the podium Sunday, like my anger issues, I think they're gone.
How do you stay In that moment, because I'll be honest with you, like the average person can't. Like, I was sitting on the couch going, like, just shut up. Like, I wanted to mute my TV, and I'm 2,500 miles away. Yeah, I mean, it was difficult. I definitely, there's some training.
You know, I used to be my worst enemy with allowing my negative thoughts to get in my way. And that's even before 23. And as I started working on my mental game, I learned to replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts. And, you know, it doesn't happen right away. You know, the mental game is definitely takes time to train your brain and to get better.
And, you know, I've had, what, two and a half years to kind of prepare for a moment like this where I have everything going against me. And sometimes even your own mind says negative things like, oh, I'm blowing this lead or, or whatever, or they hate me. Why do they hate me? You know, whatever it is. And then the training kicks in and your brain says, no, you're great.
You can do this. You've done this before. You can win. You tell yourself positive things. You either pray or you breathe and meditate.
And those really help get you through those moments. And That all really, really helped me. And then, you know, I thought if I could show them kind of kindness and love and the person that I really am, I think I could ultimately win over the crowd. Which was great. And you did, I think, at the end.
I hope certainly you did. And we kept hearing, and the great NBC mics are picking this up: good process, good process, good process. There have been many who have suggested that the good process now would just be to take these events out of New York. Like, you know, if you were, for example, in Minnesota. You know, the the great fan the Minnesota Nice.
As you like to call the great fans up there, that it wouldn't have been like that. I mean, you would have heard something, but not like this. What do you say to that? I disagree. I think New York's one of our best cities in the world, and especially in the U.
S. And I think the fans are passionate. They love their city. They love our country. It's a little shocked they're rooting against me.
I'm an American. Boy, I played on the Ryder Cup team. I was in the Olympics.
So I love all the same things. But. Um, you know what, they're they're just passionate. And I think I think tournaments here in the future is a necessary, it's a need. Just maybe, hopefully, they start rooting for people or rooting for success, then maybe against people.
So, I think golf needs to always be in New York. I'm with you, man. And you know what? You're keeping it in the fairway here, and that's a horrible golf analogy. But seriously, tip the cap to you because I think a lot of other people would have not.
um reacted the same way and would have been more like, Hey, Right back at you. And they would have celebrated that way, like Randy Moss, Moon in the Crowd at Lambeau. But you did not do that. I got to ask you about this, Wyndham Clark. Obviously, massive news today.
In the PGA, for the PGA, not until 2028. The Championship Series and the Challenger Series, basically the top 90 guys are on the top tier. You can get relegated like it's the EPL here. You can lose your card. What do you think of basically turning the PGA Tour on its head in two years?
I think it's the necessary and best changes. You know, I think. What was it in 2020 or 21, whenever Live came to be, I think shook up the golf world and I think for the better of the game. And I think this is one of those things. Brian Rilap and his team and the advisory board have done an amazing job looking at the future of golf and saying, okay, we need to plan to make this the best we can possibly make it for the future.
And I think this is one of the first big steps, you know, having the top players play in all the events, or at least most of them, and having it be easier for fans to follow. And then I think the relegation thing is awesome. I think it's obviously worked in soccer and it's going to be great in golf. And I think the biggest thing for golf is when people turn on the PJ Tour and they're watching the Champion Series, they know they're watching the best players in the world compete on top courses in major cities. And yeah, I think that's the best thing for it.
And then, you know, the match play is going to be a lot of fun. I think the. You know, the fans are going to love it. It's going to be fun to be going head-to-head against Scotty Shuffler or Rory McElroy, whoever it is, to try to come down and win the tour championship. And I think that's going to be great for TV.
The relegation thing, going back to that, that really is the hook. From the way I see it, hey, tune in Sunday to see if somebody loses their card, right? Tune in Sunday to see if somebody gets bounced. Like you mentioned with soccer, the drama at the end of an EPL season. If a team can't get a point, if a team can't get a victory at the end of the year, a team at the bottom of the standings or the table, as they call it, I mean, that is the draw because, not to make this all about shame, like the shame of your team getting knocked down.
is is just massive. And That to me, obviously, look, match play is a big thing, but the relegation thing, I don't know that we can overstate how big that is. Yeah, I think it's huge. I mean the great thing is There's going to be relegation and promotion now in two tours.
So you have the champion series, you know, guys are going to be relegated, but then you're also going to see in the challenger series. Uh, you know, get promoted, and so it's going to be exciting for fans to see both of those tours grow. I mean, it's the same tour, but both those series, you know, you see guys coming up and guys going down, and I think it's just going to be the better for the tour.
So now, guys are watching, you know, guys win the tour championship and keep their card, but also guys, you know, getting relegated and promoted. And I just think it's the best thing for golf. And I think what Brian's done is an amazing thing. And I think golf's in a great place, and it's going to continue to be, especially with him at the head of the PJ Tour. Wyndham got a question from Chris Brockman over here.
Yeah, Wyndham, first off, congratulations. You won an amazing tournament going wire to wire. Very happy for you. On Sunday, were you scoreboard watching at all on the front when things got a little close there? And if so, how were you able to stay in the moment?
and focus on each shot. Yeah, not really. I was trying not to look. You know, maybe I saw it once or something, but I really started looking more on the backside, kind of right around 12, because we had six holes left. And I wanted to know: hey, do we need to be more aggressive?
Do we need to make sure or be conservative and not give anything back, etc.? And You know, it's hard to do that. And especially if you're not playing good and you hear groans and people talking about it and they're, you know, ruined against you and whatnot, it's hard not to scorebird watch and be like, oh my gosh, my, you know, my lead is dwindling. And but I tried to stay as much as I could within myself and focus on what I can control, which is what I'm doing, you know, my game, my process, etc.
So I didn't really look to the back nine. How bad was that lion 12, by the way? On twelve. 12. Oh, you mean not 16?
I'm 16. I'm sorry.
Sorry. That's what I was going to say. 12. Not 16. 16.
Bones made me look better than maybe what it was. It was a bad lie. I'm not going to deny that. But I was able to get the club on the back of the ball, which is huge when you're coming out of the rough. If there's tons of grass between it, it's really hard to hit it far.
But the fact that I could get to the back of the ball, I knew I was going to be able to hit it out. And that's why we work out in the gym and try to have speed. Not just to hit it far, but to be able to hack it out of the thick rough. Yeah, Bones made it sound like the worst lie of all time. Yeah, the broadcast, Bones, didn't do you any favors.
Have you gone back and re-watched it at all? No, I haven't had time. I've been either celebrating or doing interviews and press conferences, et cetera. I mean, that is as big a first world problem for sure of old. Yeah.
Yeah.
I've no time to watch or anything. Yeah.
I've been partying and doing interviews too much. We'd be remiss because we're kind of a football show here, Wyndham. If we didn't ask you about your Denver Broncos. Um Any anxiety here about a Bo Nicks Week One return? How you feeling about the coming season?
Yeah, I mean, we made some incredible moves in the offseason. I think getting waddle was huge. I liked our draft. Our team last year I thought was good enough to win it. Unfortunately, Bo got hurt.
I think that was the difference from us being in the championship, and you never know in one game. We we could have potentially beat the Seahawks. It uh yeah, I'm a little concerned about Bo. I mean, obviously, his ankle is a huge question, but I also know the guy's resilient. I mean, he got beat down at Auburn, came to Oregon where I graduated from, and had an amazing year.
And he's done amazing in the NFL for our team.
So, if he's healthy, I think we can be back in a championship game, hopefully.
So I'm pumped. I'm friends with a lot of guys on the team and the ownership and the coaches, et cetera.
So I have to be optimistic about it. You got to be optimistic. It's the middle of the summer. Everyone's optimistic about their team. I'm trying to think, what could the Broncos do?
To celebrate you. Like in Seattle, you know, blow the horn. I'm sorry, in Minnesota and Seattle, they do, what do they do?
Something, right? Yeah, look, every team's got their thing. Cleveland, they break the guitar. Right? Like, could Denver have you ride in on the horse?
Like, what could the Broncos do? I was thinking I get to put on a uniform and maybe do like the first kickoff or you know, run a couple routes.
Okay, that's what I was thinking. Do you have a leg? I I mean Yeah, I could maybe kick it 30, 40 yards, but it would be like one of those squib kicks. Could you kick a 30-yard field goal? Oh, 100%.
I'll prove it. I'll post it and send it to you.
Okay. This is a bit of a water boy and I'll carry around the U.S. Open trophy with water. There you go. I like that.
Yeah, like that. We don't want to do something demeaning, like your little kid that runs out there and picks up the tea after the kickoff and then runs it back. You're not that guy.
So we got to do something. I like the field goal. The field goal water boys. Only it's when we're up like you know 31 to 3 and there's five minutes left. I don't want the pressure, even though I handled the pressure this weekend.
I don't want the pressure of missing a field goal and having the Denver fans hate me. I can't, I don't want any more hate in my life, right? Yeah, right. It's the preseason, man. Like, it doesn't matter.
Although Sean Payton takes the preseason pretty seriously. I've done some Sean Payton preseason games over the years where he's coaching the fourth quarter as if it's January.
Well, that's why the guy's he's goaded. That's why he's won championships and is going to take us to one this next year. There you go. All right, Wyndham, I'm going to raise my coffee mug one more time. Let's see that sense air.
There it is. Cheers. Amen. Congratulations. Congrats, Wyndham.
Thank you. Appreciate it. That was awesome, Dave. Two-time U.S. Open champion.
Window. Clark. Yeah.
Pretty great. He was great. He had such a phenomenal turn. Handles it the right way. Yeah.
And he's doing it with class. I don't know that I would take that. I mean I don't know that I. Take that back. I think I would.
Show that level of class, but it would be hard. It'd be hard. It would be difficult. I mean, you've seen Rory chirp back at guys and other players, you know, kind of let it get in their head and. In that tournament where people are just constantly yelling, you know, get in the bunker and cheering when you miss short putts, like that's tough.
I hope there was a moment in that party. where he just yelled out a Yeah. You know what, to the world. F him, yeah, for sure. He earned it.
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NMLS six nine six eight nine One. Coming up. James Jackson, how exactly that Giannis trade went down? Uh The Rich Isis Show Podcast. Rich Eisen here.
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Next starts now. Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA. Back of the Rich Eisen Show. Hi, Andrew Ciciliano sitting in for Rich. We just did the TV bit with Jay Billis getting ready for the NBA draft.
you know, talking about guys like Jimmy Chipwood and Teen Wolf. Sydney Dean. Coolidge. Saw James Jackson from the Athletic Hero on my cameras. He's joining us now live on the show, kind of nodding and laughing.
What's up, James? How are you doing, Andrew? I'm doing well, man. How about yourself? What up, James?
Pretty good, man. Great week. Great week to be in South Florida. Yeah, nothing going on. Let's get to South Florida.
We'll get to the draft in a second. You are a Florida guy. I am. Right. You kind of wrote your piece on the athletic today from the buck side of it.
Inevitable, disappointing. They got their championship. We'll do that in a sec. Miami gets Ka-Chuck. Gets Giannis.
Um we're a football show gets Malik Willis as well. Take this from the heat perspective. Good deal or bad? Because you got two, you know, you got Bam and Giannis, but then, but then what? They have.
It's a great deal, in my opinion, honestly. They've wanted Giannis for a few years, like a lot of teams have wanted him. But Miami has obviously been looking for a big whale, so to speak, for a while. And Jimmy Butler was here for a while, obviously. But in terms of like a trade acquisition, that established championship piece, a person who can bring that level of prestige to the franchise.
Pat Riley said last year that he was not giving up, that he was not going to retire, that he was still going to stay at it of having one last window of contention for the Heat. And to your point, Andrew. Yes, they have two guys in Bam and Giannis who thrive closer to the paint, but they also have two guys who can operate as offensive hubs, high post action. They can get smart cutters, smart shooters, get a lot of people just to get easy baskets because On one hand, Bam Adebayo score of 83 points in a game a couple of months ago. Yanisana de Cumpo, one of the most efficient scorers of all time.
So you're going to find a way to be able to make that work. But to your point of concern, though, it's shooting that I'm more concerned about than just mere death because they have a lot of front court pieces: Nikolai Jovich, Bobby Portis, Andrew Wiggins, if they can figure that out as well. But you're going to have to get shooters and people that can get the ball out of Giannis and Bam's hands for easy shots. Yeah, James, you mentioned Wiggins. He's a free agent piece here.
Build, be Pat Riley, be Eric Spolstra here. Build the rest of this team. Where do you think they go? Love for them to look at some shooting. If you can get creative with guys like Chris Middleton, who got bought out from Washington last year, ended up going to the Mavericks.
Duncan Robinson played for the Heat for a few years. He has a partial guarantee with the Pistons, where the Red, I think he's on the hook for 16 million next year, and only 2 million of that is guaranteed. If they can find some shooters to go along with not even just a potent defense, because Davion Mitchell at the point of attack, and Norman Powell, if they can figure that out, Pella Larson, too, honestly, a very good championship-level role player who can slash. He's tall. He does a little bit of everything.
He does whatever it is that Spo's going to need. And so, to your point, I think it's less simply about what specific pieces they need, and it's more about trusting the stability that he already has. They have shown over the recent years: Caleb Martin, Max Struss, again, aforementioned Duncan Robinson. Players who you can just maximize with smaller investments. Even a player like Drew Smith, honestly, he's going to be their fourth guard now, but he's really active on defense, makes great hustle plays.
So if they're able to get some guards around the perimeter, you can have a pretty strong starting lineup of Bam Adabayo, Yanisana Decumbo, Andrew Wiggins, Norman Powell, again, if they figured that out, Davion Mitchell with some shooters. Nikolai Jovich, he had a pretty rough year last year, but he's a good catch and shoot option. And he's honestly a really committed player who really gets hard on himself when he's not performing up to it for his teammates because he loves his teammates. But Spole stayed on him last year. He's really confident in him.
And again, with players like Pello Larson, Bobby Portis, you already have a top eight. But if you get some floor spacing, I really think that could come. Dr. James Jackson here covers the NBA for the athletic. James, we'll throw one more piece in there for you because Brockman's stirring the pot over here.
Just looking at the socials. What you got? Lebron?
So, yeah, I was poking around about that one too, and all we can say is not yes, not no, you just, you never know. You never know. Like John Hollinger at the athletic, honestly, he used his boards formula last week to show in one of his pieces to show like LeBron isn't necessarily, in terms of encore production, not necessarily going to be up for the max. And so it will be interesting how that can play out because you're talking about a player who, yes, he's still productive, still has all-star caliber production, but. There is no precedent for a player entering his age 42 season, as John pointed out last week, and what that can mean.
But if you can get someone again that can get the ball out of these cats' hands and get them in driving kick opportunities. Yeah, that'd be fun. That'd be fun.
So, James, you're telling me there's a chance? Yes. You know, we'll we'll see. We'll see how that goes. Wow What would that be like?
That'd be honestly a blast. I honestly, you, as you mentioned, I'm a South Florida guy, but I, when I was in college, I was actually barely missed the Heatles years.
So it'll be fun for LeBron, you know, in theory at least, double back a little bit. He talks highly about Miami. Pat said earlier this year, too, that he wishes that he and LeBron actually, you know, they kept things going a little bit longer, that he had a dynasty in mind that just didn't really pan out. But even beyond LeBron leaving. Contract dispute with Dwayne Wade as well.
Like, those are the only two things that ended the big three era. Like, Chris Bosch had to preemptively retire because he had the blood clot issues and everything like that. But, you know, if you can get a forward who can create easy offense for folk, who can get driving kick opportunities, who can get little dump offs to Giannis and Bam and stuff like that for about $25, $26 million, and he just so happens to be LeBron James, it's not a bad idea. Yeah, no, it's not a bad idea at all. It would sell a few tickets.
Talking to James Jackson of the Athletic, not as if the heat are going to have trouble selling tickets.
So let's rank these possibilities here, James. Um, I'll give you three teams. The Lakers?
Okay. The calves The heat, rank them in likelihood. going one to three. Of LeBron James playing this fall. This is just Mila's?
Yeah, you're you're. I said Lakers. He's worked very hard to build the stability he has there with opportunity for his family. The heat, I could see that just because, again, he's talked highly of being down here in Miami, what it meant for him. And again, going back to the comments with Pat.
Spo honestly, just everything. That would mean they won a gold medal together just in twenty twenty for in Paris, he and LeBron. And then I will go Cavs. Partially though, because LeBron did joke earlier this season that he doesn't even like playing in Cleveland and such like that. And also too, practically speaking, The Cavs, like, should they re-sign Donovan Mitchell, give him X amount of dollars and figure things out with James Harden and stuff?
Like, how much money can teams even have? In this apron era, now teams are really having a hard time, not only just making moves for the now, but like in two years, does this buy this in the behind?
So I would go Lakers heat cast for that list. Yeah, I would say the same. I think he stays in L.A. If I'm him, I stay in L.A., assuming that all parties are involved, want him to stay in L.A. To me, that is the obvious one.
Look, I'm a Cavs fan. Going back to Cleveland would be great, and they do have to shake that thing up, mix that thing up somehow. I'm not a fan of the James Harden piece, but I think you might be stuck with him regardless, regardless. LeBron came back and won. I don't know that he needs to do it again unless you absolutely unequivocally find that in your heart, like, that's what you want to do.
And if that's the case, hey, man, come on down. Like, we'd be happy to have you. But I don't think. I don't think it has to happen, and I wouldn't be disappointed if it does not. Miami, like, I like, look, to your point earlier, asking, like, what would the Heat have to do in order to, like, you know, round out some.
You get LeBron with like some shooters and stuff, a Clay here, a Chris Middleton there, a dude off the street, or a random person if their name is Brian Williams or something like that. If you just tell LeBron, yo, we got shooters and we got drivers and stuff like that, that could be intriguing. Because I think, also, more to your point with LeBron, there's really not anything for him to play on. Like, he. He's created his own legacy.
I think largely at this point, what's interesting with him is he's played basketball since he was three years old. You know, so this is a person who he really gets to choose his out with it and he's done a wealth of things with it. But I don't really think there's a wrong choice for him to make necessarily. I know, even more to your point, for a while, the Knicks were a team that are just like, could LeBron go there? But they just want a title.
They don't even need him.
So I don't really think there's anything he's more pressed to do either than to stay in Los Angeles or Miami, which now that I think about it, it sounds like the best warm weather city might win. Yeah, definitely. Just for the record, we don't have humidity here, it's illegal. In California.
However, in Florida, they don't have state income tax. Yeah, there's that. There's that. Florida has hurricanes. We have earthquakes.
How do you do it? You guys have a lot of bugs. We don't. We don't. And we have no humidity.
Not to your point, no, no. Do you remember about the story Delaney Wade had where they were on a boat? And LeBron refused to pay for data roaming because he did not like to waste money.
So the tax laws, you know, who knows, you know. But yeah, the I was born in California, actually.
So just to that point, I wouldn't be, it's still on my bucket list to actually see a pro like a proper Laker game in person, everything of that sort. I've seen LeBron like a couple of times on the road, but just there's a different prestige of just being able to finish your career with the Lakers because the Lakers also really take it seriously of treating their stars well through the end of their careers. That's why I could see it where he just ultimately stays. There's a lot of different things that he wants to do, but he's also considering creating another basketball league with Matt Carter and stuff as well. I think.
In general, the reason why it's so hard to predict what LeBron ever does is because his mind is already so bad and his influence is already there. But in the end, I ultimately think he stays with the Lakers. Talking to James Jackson of the Athletic here, James, is Jalen Brown. A Celtic on opening night. I doubt it.
I don't even, the question might be: does he want to be? Because just everything that's been happening over the last couple of weeks, the Giannis rumors, like if Giannis is on the table, you got to get into that. But understandably, things have just reached an odd tipping point, especially because when they won the championship a couple of years ago, he was the finals MVP and he was the person that carried them while they were waiting for Jason Tatum to come back.
So it won't surprise me if he's not assaulted, quite honestly. And that just says more about the business. He braces himself for these types of things too. Jalen knows how businesses work. He knows that it's a tough game.
And he also just accepts that there's always going to be a challenge for him to be able to take on. But now you're just talking about. You know, do you even want me here? And quite honestly, I don't really know how much you can even personalize that. Because even going back to the point of business, you're talking about a two-time league MVP in Giannis, a former finals MVP.
He had 50 points in a title clincher a few years ago. It's just. I just But again, like you get to the NBA because of your confidence. You get there because you know that you can do things that other people can't do. And so in Jalen Brown's case, I don't think he's going to be a Celtic, but most likely because they've been here enough times where I'm pretty sure he just wants to embark on his own challenge.
Yeah.
I mean, we could even make the question tighter and go, is he a Celtic tonight? No, probably they would not even surprise me. Like, because if you're like, if you if you dangle it, um, one of my favorite Twitter accounts, Dragonfly Jones, he just suggested dangle at the Minnesota. Just because the thing is, is with trades, That I'm finding, like, Andrew, you've been in the game. Like, I don't want to age you a long time though.
No, age me. It's okay. But it's just to say, man, like, it with players, man, like, it's less about how valid and good a trade is because everyone's just always like, no, like, who won this trade? Who lost this trade? But really, man, it's just really about, hey, I dangled this trade for five seconds and they bit.
If you dangle a trade for five seconds, the rationale goes out the window. And so see what you can get because a player like Jalen Brown, mid-prime, finals MVP, good in the community, too, quite honestly. Whatever people would say about. I know his attitude and like him being too smart, this, that, and third. Loves the community.
He's a deeply curious person. And he's a person who he can acclimate himself into a franchise pretty well, but. You know, if you can see what you can get for what, like a Wimby, like to pair him alongside a Wimby or something like that, and maybe get some younger pieces, you'd have to get creative. But the Celtics need depth in order to not only ensure like they can contend, but how's Jason Tatum going to look next season coming back from his Achilles rupture?
So they got some decisions to make for sure.
So I'm looking at Dragon. Hey, James, I'm looking at Dragonfly Jones' tweet right now. Why would Minnesota do that? No, they wouldn't. No, not a smart Minnesota.
Right. Yeah, not a smart Minnesota. No, not a smart Minnesota. But that it's just to say, though, like, it's. Maybe you dangle the trade at two in the morning.
Maybe is that like a you up text? Yeah.
Maybe you dangle it at two in the morning. But you don't send it. You don't send the trade like at the start of business hours, though. No. Yeah, like a late at night after.
You know, maybe on a Friday night, sure. Yeah.
Or you look at the tech Saturday morning. You're like, did I really send that? Actually, and to his point of asking that, just in that tone, that inflection, like, remember that shot Steph Curry hit against the Thunder where it's like 40 or something like that? My first thought when I saw him take, why would he take that shot?
So it's just to say, you'd only do it because if you're the Celtics, it's just like, this dude is so pissed off right now. You still have a window. And I think even taking it from the Celtics situation with Jalen Brown just now, this was also inevitable. A couple of years ago, the Celtics, the ownership had to shift. They had to shift their ownership because they were concerned about teams being so expensive and the payoff and such like that.
And so I think this is also a byproduct of the era of the NBA. Like if you win a title, you have two to three years after that to really figure your stuff out. We've seen that with the Nuggets. We've seen that. We're seeing that inevitably with the Thunder because Hartenstein and Lou Dort, they're going to be up.
So I think it's less just about how much they do or don't like Jalen Brown. And also, too, man, you've got slim margins to maximize these expensive rosters. Yeah, very slim. NBA offseason. Fascinating.
Yes, sir. Draft tonight. Giannis traded last night. Read James Jackson's piece. I know, so we're going to get to the Bucs.
How did Giannis and the Bucs reach this point, a timeline, or the fallout? You do have it meeting by meeting, interview by interview. How we did eventually get here. Real quick, James, last thing. You said it was inevitable.
Was there a moment that broke them? And Was there any way out of this? Was there any way to mend fences? Or between the bugs and Yannis, I think. Uh, I won't say that there was not a chance, but I would say the flip or flop nature of things.
It's a slow drive. Like on one hand, you know, Giannis is saying he would never demand a trade to get out. And ultimately, that is technically true. But on the other hand, the Bucs still had to figure out, like, you sound you signed Miles Turner last year to a $108 million contract. You had Damian Lillard, but he ruptured the Skee Lee's.
You were slowly running out of things that really even bridge the gap towards something else. If you take what the Bucks situation is, kind of compared to what the Clippers are actually doing right now, they still have Kawhi. They are trying to get the Marta Rose in the last I saw about an hour ago, but they also have the fifth overall pick in this NBA draft. That's a bridge for them. You know what I mean?
You have a team where it's like you don't know how much longer Kawhi Leonard is going to play, but you do have a young player that if you decide we're going to rebuild, you can start over. The Bucks didn't really have that unless they traded Giannis. They went decades without, I won't say being irrelevant, but they went 50 years between championships before Kareem Abdul Jabbar let them. There. And so it could have happened, but one day Giannis was saying he wanted to stay.
Another day they were entertaining offers.
So I think it's less about there being one moment and then more about it just being a lot of cracks in the concrete that just, you know, just led us here. And now the Bucs are sitting here with 10 and 13 this evening, night number one of the NBA draft. James Jackson from the athletic. By the way, great wall behind you, man. I appreciate you doing this, man.
Talk soon. Appreciate you. Likewise. All right, James. James Jackson, everybody.
10 and 13. The NFL 10 to 13 is exciting. Sure. NBA draft Uh although Giannis was picked fifteen. Right.
Unknown flyer. The Joker was not number one overall. Just during a Taco Bell commercial. Correct. Jalen Brunson.
Joan Brunson. It's so funny, the NBA. We see countless stories of of guys coming from nowhere. And At the same time, the average NBA panel. And they're right.
We'll say those picks are worthless. They're not. 10 and 13, certainly not, obviously. But the further you go from number one, Obviously. And that was the similarity, Giannis and Miles Garrett: the teams that would trade are not giving you top five picks.
Right? Like the Celtics. Hey, we got Jalen Brown, huge piece. MVP caliber piece. Yep.
But you're picking 27. Hmm. Right. Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. Coming up, we will uh Take this thing home. Who's going number one tonight? Brockman will tell you straight ahead. The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast.
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Visit stream.espn.com slash mlbtv for more information. You see, there's a clock here on this show. We got to stick to it. Stick to the clock. There's no stoppage.
The wheel of extra time. We should have show stoppage time. We should. Show stoppage time. Hey, it's Andrew sitting in for Rich, by the way.
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LinkedIn. dot com slash Eisen. Terms and conditions do apply. Where they uh An actual time limit on this. We're going to go to the phones here.
I'm looking here at the desk under my laptop. Manny in El Paso. Hey! Gentlemen, how are we doing? Greetings from 170-degree day in El Pesos, Texas.
Dry heat. Yeah, it's a hot one. I need my hydration break.
Okay, so, first of all, Mr. Brockman, I think I should apologize for my friend's marriage advice. I don't know if he was reading some dark poetry at the time, but hopefully it makes sense to you. But my real question is for Mr. Del Tufo.
Yes. We all know Mr. Del Tufo. You are the king of the mixed massing sound. He's good at it.
You're also the king of swag. But Why have you not hooked up a boy there in the studio with some caps, some shirts, some jerseys? You brought him a trophy. Or maybe even some tickets to a game there in SoFi. Hook it up, Mr.
Hook it up, my tickets. You're on a phone forget she. Come on. Whack. Thanks, Manny.
Yeah, Del Tufo. Yeah, where are our tickets? I mean. By the way, I'd have to give a kidney away to get a ticket for the. You've got two.
I know. You only need one. I do have a credential, but I can't go to any matches, which kind of stinks. Like, 'cause I have to mix the matches, which I'm very jealous of you because I would love to go to one. Jealous of me?
Oh, yes, I went to a game myself. I saw the Switzerland victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina. Our colleague in the back went to see the match at SoFi the other day. I'm jealous. 'Cause they gotta be insane in person.
Well, you got a chance on Thursday to go. No, I mix it from Fox. Oh, you got to work. You got to work. Five-Nothing Portugal.
Five-Nothing Portugal. I would love to go. Teacher, you're going to try to go? Man, we were talking about this yesterday. Oh, God.
Andrew, you'll love this. Back in Pittsburgh at the Civic Arena once, I snuck into a Bone Thugs and Mary J. Blige concert. And I said, maybe I should try that here at SoFi. I knew one person's name, I knew Bone's manager's name.
Talk myself in. I've got in a prayer circle with them, snuck into the concept for free. I love it.
So maybe I'll try that here itself. You should. But you're the same guy that wouldn't go to a Cowboys game if they were here. Yeah, but this World Cup's different, man. This is like once every few years.
I can see the Cowboys whenever. Yeah.
We should try to go. Can't see. Definitely try to go. Thursday, USA Turkey. But see, the way my bank account is set up, that's a lot of fun.
I'm still mad that I kind of sort of turned down a chance to go to the USA Opener. Oh, man. It's a long story. It was like juggling between friends. It was.
You should have went. It's a little more complicated than I thought. Are you going? Again? Right now I'm not.
No. USA though.
However, if Del Tufo. Hey, hook it up, Mike. We're at offer it. I mean, you got friends. You can sit in the booth with me while I'm mixing it.
Tom Pellicero sitting in this chair. Tomorrow, the Rich Eisen Show of Manders is Ciliano Salong, everybody. Boom though. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show Podcast. You can watch and listen to The Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app, The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
