Dave McMenamin: Hope the NBA AllStar Game isn't a joke like last year

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Rich Eisen Show with guest host, Anthony Siciliano, Andrew Siciliano. I have a man crush on one Andrew Siciliano.

Hey, hi! Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. If they had won, would Steve Wilkes still be the DC today? I think there's a strong chance that Kyle makes a change anyway. Today's guests, pro football focus analyst, Brad Spielberger, ESPN NBA reporter, Dave McMenamin, NFL Network analyst, Bucky Brooks.

And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Andrew Siciliano. Because, hey everybody, it's the weekend. It is almost the weekend. Actually, do we call this the weekend on a Friday? Yeah, because it's a holiday weekend. It's President's Day weekend, right?

Right. I'm the guy that never remembers things like President's Day weekend or other holiday celebration weekends. Regardless, we're happy that you're here on a weekend broadcast of the Rich Eisen Show. I am Andrew and I am in for Rich today, who is back on Monday, hopefully feeling better.

I'm told he is feeling spry and already back at it. Coming up a little bit later, Bucky Brooks, my good friend from NFL Network, has his player rankings. Player rankings on and up on NFL.com for every position in the draft. Bucky Brooks is a Tar Heel. I should tell you this.

An hour in advance of his appearance, he played for Mac Brown during the first Mac Brown administration in Chapel Hill. You're going to be surprised where he has Drake May. You're going to be surprised. Bucky coming up in an hour. Also coming up later, Jason Kelsey responds to a kid in Dallas who says, give me back my mask.

Give me back my mask. The headline I never knew I needed. Yes, in the most local news story of all time.

That is Chris Brockman. Good day to you. What's up, Andrew? Mike Del Tufo, it is a pleasure to see you on a Friday.

Always, Andrew. TJ Jefferson, it is always a pleasure to see you. Acknowledge me.

Acknowledge me. Roman. Also coming up in about 20 minutes, a friend of the program, Dave McMenamin from ESPN Live from NBA All-Star Weekend. Right now as we speak, the rookies, the future whatevers are on the court practicing. The future whatevers.

The future whatevers. We opened the show an hour ago with breaking news from the National Football League. Our friend Ian Rappaport at NFL Network reports that Jimmy Garoppolo has been suspended for two games for violation of PED policy.

Don't know what it was. He allegedly took, but he's been suspended, which means there are salary cap implications. There is only one person to speak to when it comes to salary cap implications and free agency. His top 150, I believe, is up on PFF right now. Pro football focus of the would-be free agents beginning March 13th and the beginning of the new league year. Brad Spielberger on the Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you.

Good to see you. It's not good for Jimmy Garoppolo today, however. So a two-game suspension, which means the Raiders can void some guaranteed money. Brad, how much is this two-game suspension going to cost Jimmy Garoppolo?

It's massive. A little bit over $11 million. $11 million for a two-game suspension. Yep, because there is contract language that if he fails the PED testing and is suspended for that reason, they can then void these guarantees. They obviously were going to move on this offseason regardless and avoid another $11.25 million payment in a roster bonus. So, yeah, what could have been $22.5 million is going to be zero. Okay.

So that's expensive. I hope he had a note. Well, clearly he didn't have a note from the doctor. If he had a doctor tell him that it would be okay, that would be a fascinating legal battle.

But we'll save that for another time. He is not on your top 150 because he was still under contract. Brad, where would Jimmy Garoppolo go on your top 150 now that, as Ian says, he's going to get cut because they're out of the guarantees? Yeah, we probably will get some cap casualties on there in the near future.

Chuck's core form in Pittsburgh might hop on there in the next update. I mean, look, he's actually a pretty good class at quarterback, which is a very rare thing to say. You have Kirk Cousins, you have Gardner Minshews, you have Baker Mayfields, you have Ryan Tannehills.

So maybe he's in that range. QB 5, QB 6. But, you know, I liked your Kobe Brissette, some of the other options as well, not even that high for a guy that's been a starter for a very long time.

All right. So Jimmy Garoppolo is going to slide his way onto the top 150, which you can find right now on PFF. Before we dive into the top 150, and by the way, Chris Jones is number one, the Chiefs defensive tackle, who played on that reworked one-year deal and hit a lot of those incentives, including a million for making it to Vegas with the Chiefs and making it to the Super Bowl.

Yesterday, Cody Whitehair, Eddie Jackson out. A couple of days ago, the Steelers started making their cuts. Who are some other notable names?

And we realize that, Brad, the combine is coming up in two weeks, and sometimes agents and GMs can sit down and rework deals. But who else could be a big name cap casualty? Yeah, I think some big names that are also interesting because of potential draft implications. Like one that jumps out to me is with the Arizona Cardinals and DJ Humphreys did tear his ACL at the very end of the season.

Not why I'm saying that. I also think just with the Paris Johnson selection last year, his play kind of fallen off a little bit on a third deal. Maybe he was a name, and now if they do move on, do they – I know everyone thinks Marvin Harrison Jr., but maybe they go out and get a Joe Ault, get an Olu Feshanu, go a different direction.

So he's interesting to me. The running backs are always going to be interesting. We talked Joe Mixon pre-show in Cincinnati. Maybe it's a pay cut, not just a straight-out cut like we saw with Aaron Jones the last couple of years with Mixon himself. But those running backs are always interesting. And then of course the other quarterback, we're all waiting for the domino to fall with Russell Wilson in Denver. Seems like the writing's on the wall. They obviously have the whole back and forth and the debate – you know, speaking of grievances and legal battles and all that, I think he is still the name to watch before March 13th in Denver.

All right. There's also David Bakhtiari. His number is like 20, but the question with him is can he still play? Does he have to retire? Does he just go play with Aaron Rodgers? Do the Jets even want him? But what about – and this one's interesting because he got paid two years ago coming off an injury – what about Michael Gallup?

Yeah. He's a very interesting one. They go out and make the trade for Brandon Cooks. Like you say, he did get paid on that torn ACL. And I actually love the thought process there, the idea of, you know, take care of a homegrown guy that had been a very good player, a good deep threat, good body control, you know, and footwork near the sideline. You just haven't seen that same explosiveness from him. So, again, a guy for me where I think maybe it's just a, hey, we'll give you a pay cut.

We want you to rehab in our building and build up your strength in our building. And they're not great at receiver. Like I love Brandon Cooks, but he's now more of a number three. Obviously, C.D. Lamb is C.D.

Lamb. But, yeah, he is a guy that I'm sure when you – look, when you got to pay Dak Prescott 50-plus, C.D. Lamb maybe 30-plus, next offseason, Michael Parsons might be the first 40 million per year defensive player in NFL history.

Everyone else is on notice. 9.5 is what the post-June 1 cut would be for Michael Gallup. Right now, he has like a top five cap hit at wide receiver considering they're about to bust into the big money part of that deal. There's also the interesting Nick Chubb situation because Nick and I had this conversation back in August. His cap number this year was going to be like 14, 15, 16, somewhere in that neighborhood.

And I said, Nick, have you thought about this? You're going to be like 27 next year. If you have another 1,500-yard season, you're a fascinating test case.

What do you do? Because you'll still be at the top of your game. However, your age will be getting up there and your number will be getting up there. And he nodded like he knew where I was going.

Yes, he had thought about it. But then the catastrophic injury, week two. The Browns have said that they will try to do everything to keep Nick Chubb there. It just don't know what that will look like because you can't pay a guy coming off that injury 15 million. But he means so much to your locker room and to your city.

But I digress. All right, Brad Spielberger, PFF, let's get to your top 150. Chris Jones seemingly, and he's number one on your list, was on stage Wednesday agreeing to a three-year deal. Not really, but he said he's not going anywhere. His agent, all the while, is tweeting beer emojis saying, cut these guys off and get them off stage. Yeah, it reminds me of Mike Evans, I think, offering to take a pay cut on the middle of a boat ride when Tom Brady was drinking some tequila in the background.

So, yeah, never the favorite day of the agent. Look, I mean, I think he is clearly looking to become one of the highest-paid players at this position. But last offseason, at least in my eyes, a little bit underwhelming, you know, guys like Quinnen Williams and all the players, Jeffrey Simmons, Dexter Lawrence, got good deals, no question. But you still have Aaron Donald way up there above $30 million per year. And, yes, he's Aaron Donald. He's in rarefied air.

But I thought that gap would be kind of, you know, met closer to the middle. And then Chris Jones probably wants $27, $28, $29 million a year. For my money, he's worth it. I know he's 29, going to be 30, but you saw this past year, he's lining up as a, like, stand-up 7-Tec outside linebacker and winning and getting the edge against good tackles. He is still, in my eyes, one of the best defensive players in the entire NFL, and I think there's still good football in there for a couple more years. Well, let's go down your list here and try to figure out where there's actual movement.

Because, Brad, you and I know that, you know, when we get to the 11th, that Monday when the window opens, tags will be used and a lot of these guys won't have the ability to actually move. So, after Chris Jones, there's Kirk Cousins. He's going to hit free agency. Do we think he actually goes anywhere? I'm starting to lean toward it as a possibility.

Really? What Chris Jones does at 11 is interesting. Can they trade up in that top five, top six range, get the fourth quarterback, we think, off the board? I think Atlanta's interesting. I think Denver's interesting. Maybe Las Vegas now. Like, I just think there might be enough suitors that entice him to lead, but I'm sure he'd love to stay, and I'm sure Kevin O'Connell would love to have him back.

All right. So, in Jacksonville, they've already said, Trent Baalke said a couple of weeks ago that they're going to tag Josh Allen. So, he's third on your list. He's not going anywhere. T. Higgins, they've got to pay Jamar.

I mean, they can't pay him both, right? T. Higgins is gone, isn't he? I think he'll get tagged, but there's an outside chance at the tag and trade, more likely play on the tag, you know, kind of Jesse Bates route, and then see where it goes from there. Brian Burns at five?

I think that's a very interesting tag and trade. I think you and I get to India in a week, and we're going to hear a lot of scuttlebutt about, you know, our team's going to try to pry Brian Burns away from the Carolina Panthers this offseason. Justin Madubuike had a huge season in Baltimore. Can they pay him? They can, but they have so many massive contracts, and also that entire defense has so many good players, you know, coming up for new deals. Both the Edgerushers they added in August, and Janavian Clowney and Kyle Van Ooy. Obviously, Patrick Queen, I think, becomes a top ten, maybe top five paid linebacker in the NFL.

Geno Stone led the NFL in interceptions for a long time this season. So, I think they are going to bring Madubuike back on a big number, probably 20-plus million per year, but he might be the only one they can afford. Christian Wilkins isn't getting out of the building in Miami. I doubt it. I can't see that. Yeah, me neither, but yeah, Robert Hunt, him, Connor Williams, they are getting expensive there in Miami. They are.

All right, so he's seven. Antoine Winfield is an interesting one, because he was a second round pick, so he was hitting free agency earlier. Also because, Brad, the last couple of years, and you mentioned Jesse Bates, he got a nice deal, but generally speaking, safeties don't get paid.

They don't get the huge deals, so what do the Bucks do? I can't imagine they let Antoine Winfield go scot-free. No, it's a great shout. It is a position that it's tough to do well in free agency, except for the occasional Jesse Bates deal. I think Winfield comes back on a franchise tag, but I also think Tristan Wurf probably becomes the highest paid tackle in the entire NFL history this offseason by a comfortable margin, if I had to guess. So I think it's a tag, and you probably want to get a deal done, but he is repped by the guy that reps pretty much every top safety in the NFL, including Jesse Bates.

It's not going to be an easy conversation, because he was remarkable this past season, good ball skills, good down in the box, good against the run. I think you're looking at a top of market deal, and maybe a tag is how 2024 goes. All right, then we get to the corners here at nine and ten. This is Brad Spielberger's list, PFF, top 150 free agents, and free agency, the window opens on the 11th, and then the deals can be done on the 13th. It is a really good year for corners in at least the top half of the draft. Wiggins, Arnold, Mitchell, take your pick here.

There are others as well. You have corners at nine and ten. You have Jalen Johnson from the Bears at nine, and Lageria Snead from the Chiefs, who we just saw put on a virtuoso performance down the stretch in the postseason. At ten, Lageria Snead has already said like, pay me, I want to get paid. And you have to factor him and Chris Jones together here, right?

How do they work this in Kansas City? Jalen Johnson at nine has made it clear going back to last year in camp that he wants a new deal. But Brad, there are others who turn on the tape and say that Jalen talks a bigger game than he plays. The Bears have a good, young secondary. Do they pay Jalen Johnson? And I think you saw they feel that way to a degree, at least going to the deadline, letting him talk to other teams. Obviously, they didn't make a move, and Ryan Foles came out and said he wanted a late first, early second, a pick that gets him a player of that caliber, which didn't come about. So, I think it's a franchise tag, and I think Johnson himself recently said on the radio in Chicago he wants to be the highest paid corner in the NFL. I'm not sure the Bears view him in the same market.

I don't think they do. Yeah, I'm with you. That one's going to be fascinating.

And then, Lageria Sneed, to me, is a fundamental Chiefs philosophical question. I mean, look at the guy they just played in Charvarious Ward. He was in the same situation a couple of years ago in Kansas City, but they drafted a guy named Lageria Sneed. So, now you drafted Josh Williams, Trent McDuffie, Chamari Connor, who played some safety this year. That's what they do. They churn these day three, late day two defensive back picks.

And I think they want Sneed back, but I wouldn't bet on it. I'm not going to go through your whole list because there are 150 names, but number 11, because we did the top 10. Number 11 to me is really interesting, and I talked to him last week as well. That's Michael Pittman of the Colts, who has come on. I mean, he put up a season this past year, and he's a second-round pick. He still has that second-round pick chip on his shoulder, understandably. All of them do, but he put up a season that is up there with Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, his coach, and T.Y.

Hilton when it comes to Chiefs' all-time history at that position. And the wide receiver position, Mike Evans probably doesn't go anywhere. Like, is Stefan Diggs cut loose?

He's older. Justin Jefferson is going to get a deal. You'd have to think this offseason.

Regardless, he can't walk. Where does Michael Pittman fit in all of this? I think he's viewed kind of just that tier below. You mentioned the second-round draft pedigree. He also didn't test very well, and it's interesting because, okay, he still gets 100 catches and 1,000 yards, seemingly every year, but he has a fascinating profile. He's this ex-receiver outside guy with an average depth of target, like nine yards beyond the line of scrimmage. It's just not really a profile we see very often, but almost never drops the football, extremely sure-handed, big catch radius, and this past year, you saw it better after the catch, making players miss in space.

I don't think he's viewed in that tier-one receiver echelon, but just right below those guys, I still think his deal probably starts with a two. I just don't know if he gets in the DK Metcalf, Deebo Samuel, $22, $23, $24 million per year. We all saw last year, but I don't know. At the same time, two guys you mentioned, Justin Jefferson, C.D. Lamb, you got Brandon Iuke. That market went down last year.

I think it's going to be trending positive again this year. Right, but the other guys here that could truly be free, T. Higgins might stay. I mean, Hollywood Brown, I'm sorry, he's not going to get that kind of money. He's not a one.

And then you're looking around for names. Do you want to be in the Calvin Ridley business? As you point out, that is a true one-and-done deal there. At Jacksonville, they gave up draft capital. He was hit or miss.

He was either big game or totally on the side of the milk carton this year. Does somebody get in the Calvin Ridley business? It's fascinating. And there will be other names here. Other guys will get cut. Like Michael Gallup, we mentioned. I don't know that he is going to get cut, but I went to the combine a couple of years ago, certain that Amari Cooper was going to get cut.

He didn't. He hung around another year, and then the Cowboys flipped him to the Browns, and the Browns are thrilled that they have him. There are so many moves that happen in the back of steakhouses in Indianapolis coming up in two weeks, and we are all here for it. In the meantime, go to pff.com and check out Brad Spielberg and his great crew, the top 150 for NFL free agents. We haven't even hit Derrick Henry.

Like, Brad, real quick before I let you go. Derrick Henry almost went to Baltimore at the deadline last year. They have JK Dobbins coming off of another major injury. He wanted to get paid last year.

He didn't, and then the injury right out of the gate in September. Do they have money for Derrick Henry? Is Derrick Henry a cowboy? Like, play the game.

What do you think? It can be fascinating because they also, Gus Edwards is now a pending free agent. You mentioned Dobbins, a pending free agent. They could find a way. You know, like we said, you let a lot of those defensive players go and hope the new defensive staff can just get everything out of the guys they currently have.

But adding that rushing element, like imagine zone read with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry and what defenses are supposed to do to try to defend that duo. Good luck to those defenses. Yeah, good luck, and good luck to everyone for free agency. Brad, travel safely. Feel better from Vegas.

It's finally I know. We're all getting back to health. I will see you in Indy, sir. Sounds great.

You too. Brad Spielberg, everybody. Speaking of Indianapolis, what a couple of weeks they have this weekend. NBA All-Star Weekend.

The great Dave McMenamin from ESPN, from Indy. Coming up next, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about DoorDash, people. We are a huge DoorDash family in my household. As a matter of fact, my wife loves DoorDash so much, she almost named one of our kids Door and the other one Dash.

I'm serious. We got everything DoorDash to the house. Kind of like what we saw during the big game, right? DoorDash went all out for game day, and DoorDash stuffed from all the ads to one lucky winner. Cars, snacks, even tax software. What a football game that was, for sure. It was one heck of a delivery for the winning team. And whatever watch party or anything party you've got coming up, get it delivered to DoorDash.

You're going to love it. We sure do in my house. Football season may be over, but we are still in the thick of basketball games.

The school year, and let's face it, winter. I can think of a million reasons daily to order DoorDash. So hop on the app and make your day a little easier.

Get dinner for tonight, groceries for the week, or a consolation prize for your sad friends in San Francisco. All on DoorDash. DoorDash, your door to more. Head to the DoorDash app to get everything you need delivered. Good morning.

The podcast, available wherever you listen. When was the first time you met Jordan? When was the first time you met him, shook his hand, covered him, or something like that? The first time I met him was at that Midsummer Night's Dream game out there in L.A. And that was a time where guys would play in these All-Star games during the summer. And it was a real game. It wasn't like they were out there like Globetrotters or something. They actually really were playing with egos involved. So that was the first time I had met him then, and we just sort of met after the game, talked and exchanged phone numbers and saw the rest. In terms of how our relationship developed, it developed from that. Well, I mean, if there's one thing that anybody learned from this documentary is that anything that Jordan ever played in wasn't just a regular game.

Right? I mean, that was a real, you know, that's one thing that I'm sure if anybody needed to be introduced to Jordan, and there's a whole generation that did, they just learned that. Did you learn anything from The Last Dance, Ahmad Rashad? No, I didn't. I didn't because I think, you know, just like you said when you introduced me, I had a catbird seat to all of it. And it was one of those different sort of, I've never sort of been in a situation where I had sort of free access to the locker room, you know, to the training room, to their buses, I was just there.

So I got a chance to see a lot of those things. I was glad that people got a chance to see the human side of Michael and you see how much, how competitive he was and how demanding he was. And I think what I take from that is if you think Larry Bird wasn't like that and if you think Magic Johnson wasn't like that, then you're not really thinking the right way. So it wasn't just Michael that was just, you know, win at all costs, put your foot on the guy's neck kind of thing.

All these guys were able to do that, but Michael, what separated him was his athletic ability was way above anybody's at that point. The Rich Eisen Show coming back in on the Roku Channel. Andrew Siciliano sitting in for Rich on the Roku Channel. Conversation there, Rich and Ahmad Rashad telling Michael Jordan stories back in the day in the 90s when yours truly was a very, very, very, very young reporter covering those Chicago Bulls, Championships 5 and 6. Michael Jordan used to drive from the North suburbs and swing by Michigan Avenue and pick up Ahmad Rashad at his Miracle Mile Hotel and then carpool to the United Center.

True story. We're at the Rich Eisen Show Desk. It is furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call or click grainger.com or just stop by. There are reporters who cover the NBA and know the NBA and then there is Dave McMenamin because he's above them all and not just because he went to Syracuse and he's celebrating the victory over North Carolina a couple of nights ago but because he's on the phone and he's joining us live after the rookie practice live in Indianapolis, the center of the sports world the next couple of weeks. ESPN's number one reporter and number one fantastic beard, Dave McMenamin, how are you?

I'm doing well. Andrew, did you pick up Brockman on your way to the studio in your Ferrari? Yes, back in the day. Dave, I drove in my electric vehicle from the South Bay and Chris drove from the Valley with a car seat in the back seat, I'm assuming, and we did not pick each other. Are we going to do this another time, though? We can, yeah, sure. We might go to Riviera, though, after this. Dave, it's a shame you're not in town. Together but separate.

Exactly. Dave McMenamin, how is India as an all-star town? It's a great walkable city and just in terms of trying to get to the logistics of event to event, definitely two thumbs up.

A little colder than many of the people here would like but suck it up. There's 30 NBA teams that are going to be in some cold cities every once in a while. I'm just hoping that Sunday can be better than Sunday was last year. The all-star game was an absolute joke in Salt Lake City to cap a pretty good weekend. I hope, from Adam Silver's comments, certainly it was identified by the league that it needs to be better. I hope the Players Association and really the player leaders take that to heart and we get a little bit more of that competitive edge, kind of what we heard in that promo spot, Rashad talking to Rich about MJ back in the day. The player prize is what's going to change the all-star game.

You don't have to treat it like Game 7 of the NBA Finals, but also don't treat it like Game 4 of the preseason. You said you hope. I think we all hope, but do you think it actually will be better? If so, put a number on it.

Is it 10% better? As you said, going to see Game 7, that's not going to happen. Game 7 is not walking through that door, but what does walk through that door? I think you need to have some semblance of, we're going to shelf the idea of we're not going to play hard until the fourth quarter. You can't go through three quarters and then expect everybody just to flip the switch. Now, okay, are you going to be closing out on a guy and potentially have your foot be below them when they land on a three-point shot? No, but also at the same time, let's not just play Ole defense and just allow everything be a traipse to the lane for a wide open dunk or a wide open kickout for three. Take some pride in the product, and again, it will come down to the players. There was a reason why when Michael Jordan wasn't the best player in the league, the games looked a certain way. When Kobe was the best player in the league, the games looked a certain way.

Guess what? Where LeBron, KD, and Steph are, they are beyond the point of needing to be. They are still the faces of the game, but we're talking about guys in the year 17 and 18 and 21.

It should be their responsibility to be the guys who set the tenor. I need guys like Nicole Jokic and Giannis and Luka Doncic, them to be the guys who set the standard of what this game should be. You mentioned LeBron there, talking to Dave McMinnman from ESPN Live from Indy here on the phone as we are into All-Star Weekend for the NBA. Dave, you know the Lakers as well as anyone that we could get on this show. How would you, at the break here with the Lakers sitting in ninth in the West, how would you characterize the relationship between LeBron and the Lakers?

It's a business relationship. LeBron coming to Los Angeles, it was always a bit of a mercenary role. He was coming to be able to live his overall 360 life for him and his family and his business interests and align them all with a competitive basketball atmosphere.

He was taking a team that had missed the postseason for six straight years and was kind of wandering out in the desert leading him back towards the oasis. He's already had a championship. He's had several postseason appearances in his time in L.A. His goal is to be able to play competitive basketball for the rest of his days in the NBA. That generally aligns with what the Lakers' goal is. The push-pull will be, will the Lakers continue to be willing to put all their assets to the center of the table to make the team as competitive as possible in the time that LeBron James is in uniform? If LeBron starts to get the hint that that may not be the case, and I'm not saying that won't be the case. I've reported that the Lakers have, even though they didn't do anything as a trade deadline, they were very much looking forward to the possibility of what they could acquire this summer armed with three first-round draft picks, armed with amenable contracts, and also swaps, draft swaps going forward.

Can that get you a player of the ilk of Donovan Mitchell, Atray Young, and Mikhail Bridges? If the Lakers show that, they are committed to do that while LeBron is still in uniform, there's no reason why LeBron won't retire with the Los Angeles Lakers. Your colleagues at ESPN had that wild Warriors called about LeBron story at the deadline. Did he even, from what you know, begin to entertain that? Did it ever get to him?

By my understanding, it did get to him, and in the same breath, by my understanding, there was no entertaining, other than maybe a bit of flattery, that the guy who was... You look back at LeBron's career and it's really been shaped by two players when it comes to NBA Finals. It's Tim Duncan and Steph Curry. So, one of the two guys, the principal nemesis, nemesci...

I've heard it both ways. Would want to team up with him. That's a nice little ego boost, right? But beyond that, quite frankly, in my opinion, it never should have gotten to the point where it did. Included in that story from Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski was the tidbit that Darryl Morey called about trying to trade for LeBron, and Rob Palenka, who took the call in that instance, said, yeah, we can talk if Joellen Bede's available, which immediately stops the conversation. When the conversation happened between Joe Lacob, the Warriors principal governor, and Jeannie Buss, the Lakers principal governor, Jeannie's response was, oh, you should probably talk to LeBron's agent. What Jeannie should have said is, is Steph Curry available?

And then it would have stopped there. Right. Klay Thompson might be available, talking to Dave McMenamin. Klay moving to the bench, obviously, we're all close with Klay's dad. I used to work with him every day, the great Michael Thompson, Laker broadcaster.

Remember when Klay was a kid coming into the 710 ESPN studios downtown in Los Angeles, and now here he is, champion, one of the greatest of all time. But he's coming off the bench and it is a different world. He is set to be a free agent, right? This is the end of his deal. Yeah, he's, you know, that's an additional layer to the pressure he's put on his shoulders this year, not just trying to get the Warriors back to the standard they've established over the last 10 years, but also play at a high enough level to secure himself his last big contract, really. So, but this is it, right? I mean, we're seeing the end of Klay Thompson, one final run here with the Warriors.

I would believe so. Now, you hope that he can reinvent himself in this role and establish value where you're not just kind of paying him for previous service. If you actually look at what he's doing on the court right now, you know, he's maybe a full taxpayer, mid-level exception type of player. If he can reinvent himself, and he mentioned the name manager nobly as someone he wants to embody in the six man role moving forward, then perhaps he would be worthy of the type of contract. But, you know, he wants to get paid the way that Draymond Green was paid last summer. And, you know, you talk about all the faults that Klay's had this year for the team. He's been available, unlike Draymond. And, you know, if you want to play the comparison game, then wouldn't he also be worthy of getting that one last big contract to be a part of whatever Mike Dunleavy can do to allow Steph Curry to try to make one last bite at the apple? Because four championships is one conversation and, I mean, no one's going to take anything away from your career. But if you get to five and six, I mean, you are in really hollowed ground in NBA history.

And rarefied air, obviously, here. Alright, you mentioned Joel Embiid. Joel Embiid here, Dave McMenamin. What is his timeline? Do we have any idea when he could be back?

So we're, you know, obviously the NBA schedule is just a vortex and it's hard for me to remember days sometimes or what city I'm in. But I think we're roughly two weeks removed from the meniscus surgery that he underwent. And so we're talking about an update about a month from now. You know, let's say things are looking good at that point.

You assume at least the two week ramp up at that point. So if everything goes as well as can be, he could return to the court with about three weeks left to go in the regular season, which one would think would be enough time to get your rhythm back and kind of acclimate himself to some of the new pieces that the Sixers picked up at the trade deadline and be in a decent place heading into the playoffs. But again, if things don't look good, if things aren't coming along as the team would hope, you almost have to wonder, because we've seen teams do this with stars in the past, where they think it's not worth it. And we're going to try to allow the player to have the full, you know, offseason to rehab it as well. And the Lakers, excuse me, the Sixers just kind of punt on the season and wait for next year.

I was going to ask you an MVP question, but let me do this final question here. Let's say that does happen. Is there any league concern in a day and age in which we're concerned about players and load management taking nights off? If a player comes back or he should be back from an injury and they just decide to shut him down in this day and age?

It's a fair question. I think this is kind of the slippery slope the league has created for themselves in managing injuries. You know, how are you actually to tell a team's medical staff that you don't believe them or that their information isn't as good as your information when you're the outsider at the league? And so I have a hard time believing, considering that we know that for sure, in this instance, there was a medical procedure that happened, that the league would have any jurisdiction to, you know, point to an accelerated timeline for an injury recovery, right? Maybe if there was no surgery or, you know, it was just a rest situation, perhaps the league could have a leg to stand on. But I think considering that, you know, he went under the knife, it's kind of all bets are off and you have to wait to see how his body will recover at response. Yeah, it's a fascinating situation because if a team is in a position where it's like, listen, I mean, we're not going to make the playoffs. Sixers aren't in that, right? But like, we're not going to make the playoffs.

Why risk further injury? Let's give this guy an offseason. Let's shut him down.

It shouldn't be a big deal, but in the same age, it's viewed a lot differently. Regardless, McMenamin, it was an honor to have you as always, but more importantly, I know you're a busy man and we're juggling schedules here. So thanks for hopping on the phone. Don't have too much fun in Indianapolis. And tell the NBA to, you know, to make sure it's still there when we roll in for the NFL in two weeks. I will like hide something in St. Elmo's for you. Oh, amazing. Ooh, Dave McMenamin hiding a bottle of cocktail sauce, maybe downstairs in the private room, because I have no doubt that you're a private room at Elmo's downstairs kind of guy. Well done.

We'll see what type of table loads he gets for us. OK, there you go. There you go. Thanks, Dave. Have a good time this weekend. See you, pal. Thanks, guys.

Dave McMenamin from ESPN. Going back to the injury thing, I hadn't thought of that, but like, let's say legitimately, let's say it isn't the Sixers, because let's check the standings here. Sixers are in the East. I mean, they're not out of it, obviously. They are. They're five, OK? They're in it. They're above the cut line. I mean, they're fine above the playoff line, the playing line, whatever. But let's say, let's say he played for Brooklyn, right?

And they're not in it, but you come back or you could come back like you are well past the normal recovery period for an injury. And the team just goes, hey, he's 32. You're making up a number here.

Random player, player X. He's 32, right? We're just going to shut him down. There's no need to force him back. Does that run afoul of the NBA's new world and new concern and new rules about load management and shutting people down and giving fans what they paid for?

How would that factor? Because like Matthew Stafford two years ago, interesting conversation, he could have come back. They weren't tanking, but the Rams made the decision.

Hey, like, we're not going anywhere. Matthew is what, 30, whatever he was at that point. His body has taken a beating. He has never had a like a full extended offseason where he can truly get healthy. Truly, we're going to give it to him. And look, it paid off. Look at what a healthy Matthew Stafford did last year.

He's balling. Great draft class as well. You know, rework the coaching staff, great management, great coaching.

Everyone had a hand in the Rams revival in a year in which everyone thought they were tanking. You hit on Puka, that helps. Absolutely. You hit on Puka, Steve Avila, Byron Young, Kobe Turner, you hit and hit and hit and hit in the draft. Absolutely.

Less need, you get credit. Sean McVay, you get credit for coaching those guys up as well with your new staff. But would Matthew Stafford have been that rested and ready and good in 2023 if he had limped his way through week 18 last year?

I don't know. It paid off for the Rams. Nobody from the league office was thinking, uh-uh, uh-uh, you're messing with it.

You can't do this. Right? NBA and NFL are different sports, I realize, but some of the same things apply. It would be an interesting case study here if an NBA team decides to shut down a big name player just because they are totally out of it. And this guy's body can't take it anymore. But he's not really injured.

Anyway, I digress. Coming up in 20 minutes here on the Rich Eisen Show. Today, not starring Rich Eisen. Bucky Brooks will be here. NFL draft analyst from NFL.com and NFL Network.

You're going to be surprised where he has the quarterbacks. On the BiggerPockets real estate podcast, co-host David Green and Rob Abasolo interview real estate investors and entrepreneurs about successes, failures and hard earned lessons. Joined by author Dave Meyer, who wrote a book. I did write a book. It seems like you're coming out with a book every four minutes. You are one to talk. You've released two books this year. I've done half as many as you.

It is more about strategy than it is about just finding whatever the new buzzword happens to be. BiggerPockets real estate podcast on YouTube or wherever you listen. And thanks for listening. Wherever you listen.

What do you say, Larry? First of all, where is the wedding? How far is it?

Another country. OK. You don't even go. You don't go. You don't go.

But it's a close family friend. I don't care. I am not flying 14 hours on a plane to somebody's wedding. I'm not going to do that.

What the distance from your house that you now and a half by car. That's it. Here's social situation number two for you, Larry. So you're going into somebody's house for, let's say, the fight, the Mayweather McGregor fight.

This happened to one of our producers, Ken Tullo. OK, they brought desserts, fight ends. Nobody's touched the desserts. They like these desserts.

Is it OK to take the desserts home? It's still you're you're bringing it to the host, right? That's true. The host saw it.

It's different. The host can see that you can sneak out. So if the host never saw it on the table and there's no note. Yeah, that's when you could take it.

If you think if you think you're not going to get caught. Yeah. Then you could take it. Last one for you, Larry. L.D., shoes off on a plane. Do you have a problem with somebody on a plane? I have a big problem with it. Yeah. Yeah.

Keep them on. OK. You know, don't make yourself. It's not your house.

All right. You're outside. You're in public. I don't want to I don't want to see your socks. And God forbid you have a little odor down there who needs that. Right.

And I don't even want to know if you do have it. Exactly. It's close quarters. Come on.

Take a couple of minutes. Keep your shoes on. Good stuff on the TV there from L.D. from from Larry David.

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Lowest price guaranteed. So when Larry David was coming back there, Rich, when Larry was in studio, was going through some social situations, faux pas, thing like that, things like that. And one of them was feet off or shoes off on a plane. I was coming back from Vegas. Now, full disclosure, this was Sunday morning. I had to come back and do a studio thing for NFL Network here in L.A. So I shipped out on a six a.m. Sunday morning, Super Bowl morning from Vegas, United, Vegas, back here to LAX.

Now, the person that we're about to show on the screen, because I put this on the Twitter and on the Instagram, did not take their footwear off. But I think I crossed countless lines. I'm going to paint the picture. I was in the first row of coach, row seven, right behind first class.

Did not get upgraded. Mildly disappointing, but it's only a forty one minute flight. Mildly disappointing. It's OK. It's a forty one minute flight. I am not one of these people that needs first class on a forty one minute flight or needs it in general.

It's always preferred. But I bought my own ticket. Right. I'm not buying first class for a forty one minute flight.

I thought as a one K and as a million mile flyer, I might get it. I didn't get it. It's fine. I digress. Are we status flexing right now? That might have been a flex, but it wasn't a flex.

It was more like I would have liked it. It's OK, because at six a.m. when you're boarding at five twenty five, like just I'm going to sleep. Right. Yeah. I was in the front row of coach on the window with the bulkhead, the extra leg room, extra leg room.

Keep that in mind. Because I need extra leg room, clearly. So I get on the plane, I am on the window. There is somebody. Only person in the row there in the middle seat. Here's what I see. Go put it on the screen. That's what I see.

So. When I am about I'm like, excuse me. So now she's on the aisle because when the door closed, she switched from the middle to the aisle.

And this was before we took off. But this is what I see. Exact same pose in the middle seat. I'm on the window and I say, excuse me. There's a drawbridge there, obviously. So the bridge goes down. Now, I am assuming that when I take my seat on the window and she's still in the middle because that's her assigned seat, she would keep her feet down. Right?

No. I sit down on the window, the feet go exactly right up there. And I'm thinking, this must be like a teenager. It's a woman.

She's pretty tiny. She's wearing baggy, baggy sweatpants that seem to be a man's sweatpants like they're falling off her. And she's wearing this massive Chiefs hoodie, massive hood pulled over her head and just on the phone.

Like up, up, up, up to her face. I mean, they look like those are Uggs slippers. They stayed on the whole time.

They stayed on the whole time. But like so far, like, do you realize how low she has to be in her seat to get your feet that high? Like she is in a pike position in gymnastics. She is jackknife to get her feet all the way up that wall. This is completely BS.

This is shame. Okay. Now I thought again, when I sat next to her, she would put the feet down. She didn't. She put them up. As soon as the flight attendant, you hear the flight attendant close the door, meaning no one else is getting on. Everyone can take it. You know, you have to sit next to the person.

If there's an empty seat on the other side, she moves to the aisle and puts her feet back up on the wall. And I'm thinking, this must be like a teenager. Right?

She's got to be a teenager. And this offended you why? It didn't offend me, but it's, it's like, have some class.

Yeah. I mean, come on, like take your feet off the wall. Now, if it had been barefoot, it would have been the end of the world. But like you're in public, your feet are three quarters of the way up the wall. There are other people around you. Now, I thought it was a teenager. Excusable.

No, it's one point. She turned her head like, like this girl was in her twenties, by the way, hot too. If I might add, she had the fake eyelashes and I'm thinking maybe she didn't go home. Maybe she didn't go home. Maybe somebody suggested like my text chain with my friends might have just come from work. I understand. Thank you.

I know you understand. Don't too far might have just come from work, which for those of us that have in our younger years gone back and forth, LAX to Vegas on that early six AM flight on Sunday morning, like when you never got a hotel room, you just flew out Saturday afternoon. And then you showed up at the airport at four and you had the six AM Southwest and you just slept at the gate.

And then you heard the noise and you got on the plane and flew home and went to bed. Like, you know, you've seen people like that. Nothing wrong with that. I think like this woman's like in her mid twenties, like in your mid twenties. How are you like doing this?

No slippers. I think you got a beef, but like that doesn't affect you in any way. Who cares? It doesn't affect me. It's just rude.

Yeah, it is just so rude. Like it is so like you're in like, do you not have were you not raised better or you're not raised better? How do you know she didn't have a torn or twisted ankle and she she was not she was not elevating her ankle for an injury.

Ice compression. It was it was not it did not look like a rice situation. I'm far more offended when out of, you know, one hundred and twenty seats on the plane, the one person who decides to recline is in front of me.

No, no, no, no, no, no. All the seats recline. It doesn't matter. All the seats recline.

I'm much more offended by that. There's a button on the chair. It works for a reason. All the seats. You're five seven. Why would you need to recline in my lap?

You could recline in the next person's lap. That's me being an a-hole and I try not to. No, it isn't. Everyone's got the button. It's like my dad who thinks that when the red when the when the light turns from red to green, everybody should simultaneously hit the gas pedal and there should be no waiting. Everybody leaves the red light at the same time. That's not realistic. But what is realistic is that everybody on the plane can hit the button and move their chairs back.

So when you sit in the last row, like Brockman and I got stuck in once. Well, no, the map better. OK, no, the map. There's an app.

There's an app. You can move your seat. Our flight got canceled. We were going to Canton.

We were lucky to get on the only flight. Well, sometimes that happens. Sometimes that happens.

She was not nursing an injury. Would you do that in a doctor's office? Your feet on the wall like that? Yeah, probably. OK. In a coffee shop. Yeah.

All right. If you would not do that in a coffee shop, would you walk into a restaurant and put your feet on the wall like that? That's a little different, though, guy.

Why is it different? I'm eating on a plane sometimes. Were you eating at this in this particular case? More importantly, I'm in an enclosed space where I can't like like what? No one would do that in a public setting. Other like.

No one. Thank you. I agree. That's animal to me.

That's exactly what I say. You're on your own on this one. No, I'm with Andrew. I think the shoes were off. The shoes are off. Shoes are off.

It would be a little bit different. Was she like that for the whole 40 minutes? Yes. Am I offended as if it's like the end of the world? No, I'm not.

But I had to take the picture because I knew we would talk about it on the show this week, which at that point I did not know that I was doing. But that's irrelevant. You would not do it in a coffee shop. You would not do it in a restaurant. You would not do it in a doctor's office. You wouldn't do it at work unless it was like behind the door of your own office.

Like if you had your own space, you wouldn't do it there. Airplane etiquette is good content. Always. Just saying. Just saying. I don't know. My friends had fun with it.

I can't repeat most of the most of the texts on my group chat with my friends when I sent the picture chats. We get it. Including one friend who who sent his address and said, please, please give her my address. See. Oh, yes. Uh huh.

That would be an adult to phone. That was probably me. No, wouldn't you?

Although it would have been you. I didn't even at the time I didn't love my music. I was like, I'm in a room with all these artists and they all respect each other. No one respects me. Rolling Stone music now, wherever you listen.