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00:00This is Steph Curry. He was kind of asked about tanking, but I was more interested in where the conversation
00:04went next,
00:05because we don't have a tanking team here in town. But listen to Steph talk about the league.
00:09How many teams are tanking right now? Even the teams that are in the play-in chase?
00:13The third of the league, so 10 teams? Is it really that big of a problem? I'm asking.
00:19We feel like there's obviously a lot of competition. It's something I'm sure every year the NBA wants to address
00:26why the play-in tournament exists.
00:27Things evolve, problems arise, and everybody wants to shine a spotlight on all the negatives of the league,
00:33but let's focus on the positives of how great the competition is at the top.
00:39There still is relevancy regular season-wise of the seeding and playoff chase.
00:43I know there's a conversation around how many games we're playing.
00:46That's probably where I would focus more, the attention.
00:50But let's not forget the league is in a great place overall in terms of the attention,
00:55the skill level, the global reach, all of that stuff.
01:00Every year you'll address the issues. I don't have those answers, though.
01:03I mean, I hope it doesn't sound like that.
01:04I wonder what he was saying when he talked about the number of games we're playing.
01:07Is he saying we're playing too many games?
01:09Yes, that's how I took it.
01:11Okay, then...
01:12Which, again, does not land well with fans.
01:14It doesn't, especially when you're making $60 million a year.
01:17So, all right, Steph, you want to go ahead and cut that baby down to 72 games?
01:22So, you're going to take 10 games off the 82, which is about 12%.
01:26You go ahead and give up $9 million.
01:28How about that?
01:29I mean, who knows?
01:30Steph, did we lose you?
01:32No, he might. He's the kind of guy, he might actually be like, okay.
01:35Right, so you cut it down to 72, and now he's going to play 50 of 72 instead of playing
01:4160 of 82.
01:42The problem is all the same.
01:44Of course, but you know my take whenever someone brings up fewer games.
01:47It's just like, it's not going to happen.
01:49Like, never in the history of ever has a sports league come forward and been like, we've got the fix.
01:53We're not going to play as many games.
01:55Right.
01:55It's more games.
01:56It's more teams.
01:57It's more rounds.
01:58It's more.
01:58It's more.
01:59It's more billionaires.
02:02More, more, more.
02:04That's all it ever is.
02:05But the key, and this is where the NBA players have figured out the hack, the hack is we don't
02:10have to play those games.
02:11And now we have the doctors who say, you know what, load management, man, you've played a lot of games
02:16and back-to-backs.
02:17You're an older guy.
02:18You can't go back-to-back, and we've got to limit your minutes.
02:20We've got to limit your games.
02:22Limit, limit, limit.
02:23So if you're Steph, and I'm not saying this for him, but a player like Steph, you're the top-earning
02:28guy in the league.
02:30You don't have to play all 82.
02:32Nope.
02:32You don't have to play 70.
02:33You have to play 65 to qualify for awards, which he won't this year.
02:38And so I wonder how many guys are actually going to play 65 and be eligible for the all-defense
02:44team or the all-NBA team and all the rest of it.
02:47Yeah, I don't know.
02:49It seems like it's going to be a sliding scale, a smaller number every year.
02:53I was just, like, it caught my attention that Steph seems to be striking the chord of the league's in
02:58a really good place.
02:59And I don't think the league is in some disastrous place.
03:03Like, I don't want it to sound like that.
03:04We love these games.
03:05We love the NBA.
03:06We love the Warriors.
03:07I'm watching every single game, and when we have a whole week like this where there's no games, I miss
03:12it.
03:12So he's not, like, sitting here in the middle of Wrongville.
03:16I'm not saying that, but I really would love to hear from fans on that idea, the general state of
03:26NBA basketball.
03:27Are you feeling good about it?
03:29Are you feeling valued?
03:31Are you feeling like your dollar is getting you what you want when you choose to spend it, however you
03:39choose to spend it?
03:41SF Bay Drummer in Houston.
03:43Hey, Drummer, what's going on?
03:44Thanks for calling.
03:47Yeah, what's up, Morgan?
03:49What's up, Dan?
03:50You know, I'm not really happy with the state of the NBA right now.
03:56You know, it's just like you try to support the team and make, you know, points.
04:05Well, not make points, but just spend your money to go.
04:07And I went last year, and it just wasn't good.
04:13And I think the apron had messed up everything for everyone in the NBA.
04:23And so we have this bad product now.
04:26And that's what I don't ignore.
04:28Boy, SF Bay Drummer, you just nailed it.
04:33You just, I think you just nailed it.
04:35This is the thing, everybody's distracted with tanking and load management.
04:40I think he just nailed to me what is the worst part of the NBA right now.
04:45Well, the apron?
04:46The apron.
04:47Yep.
04:48Because here's why.
04:49Here's why.
04:50And I know a lot of people are like, and even myself, I couldn't sit here and explain and do
04:55a good job.
04:56Mark Cuban had a couple of great tweets, and I read it three times, and I still didn't fully understand
05:00what he was saying.
05:01Right, which is why he's a billionaire and we're not, but like, he was talking about the negativity of the
05:07apron.
05:08Kevin Love did this recently, talking about the negativity of the apron.
05:12I think a Warriors fan can really understand it this way.
05:15Here's the big problem in the NBA.
05:17We're all talking about tanking, and that's how losing is incentivized.
05:24Here's the other problem the NBA's got.
05:27Winning is penalized.
05:29So that's your phrase.
05:31That's your motto.
05:32Losing, incentivized.
05:35Winning, penalized.
05:37And that's, to me, very, very troubling.
05:40We've talked about this a number of times this year.
05:42What's about to happen over the next three years with Oklahoma City?
05:45They're going to either win this year or come close, and then next year they're going to start the sell
05:50-off because Jalen Williams' contract kicks in, Chet Holmgren kicks in, Shea Gildas Alexander kicks up.
05:58And so all these great guys, for example, Hottenstein, I think it's a team option, he's gone, and Lou Dort,
06:06he's gone.
06:06So the sell-off begins in July this year.
06:10There's no way they can win three in a row, let alone two.
06:13And what did J-Dub and Chet Holmgren, to me, have in common that makes their situation so special for
06:20Oklahoma City?
06:21They were drafted.
06:22They were drafted there.
06:23And they were good.
06:24Drafted and good equals, well, that won't last.
06:27You should be celebrated.
06:29You should be awarded.
06:31You should be put up on a pedestal.
06:33And it's no different than what all of us experienced here with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.
06:42Drafted here, stay here.
06:45Win here as long as humanly possible.
06:49Well, thank God Steph Curry got hurt.
06:51Yep.
06:51I mean, he got hurt, and he only was worth four years and $44 million.
06:56I mean, he's probably worth more, but they got him for that, and that cleared the decks for everything.
07:01That allowed them to augment, which I don't know.
07:04You know, you could debate what would have happened to Warrior Basketball if you didn't ever get Kevin Durant.
07:09They were already elite, but they were able to even go get Andre Iguodala because of what you just brought
07:15up.
07:16So you're able to augment.
07:17I'm not saying that that's a bad thing.
07:20I want teams to be able to go out in the free agent world and do some things.
07:24But when the core of your team is drafted and developed right there in your building, never, ever, never, ever,
07:34ever, not for a second, should you be penalized for that.
07:37And I believe these teams are being penalized for that.
07:40This is a super, like, sort of layman's way of saying it because they do have what's called bird rights,
07:47and that allows you to go over the cap.
07:50Right.
07:50I would push it even further.
07:54Like, if you drafted them, you developed them, and then you win with them, your salary ain't got nothing to
08:01do with the cap at all.
08:03Like, nothing.
08:04I don't, like, you are not.
08:05Maybe half the salary, you know.
08:06Or whatever.
08:06Sure.
08:07Like, that's why I call it a layman's take.
08:09Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:09Find a way so that not only are you allowed to keep them by going way over the cap and
08:17way over the tax mark, then don't tax them the same.
08:20Not those contracts.
08:22Not those contracts.
08:23Those players should never have a wandering eye, in my opinion.
08:29They should get everything they're worth, and they should be able to stay right there.
08:34And if they don't, it's because the team chose to not keep them.
08:38Or the player chose to go play somewhere else.
08:42But Oklahoma City, they should be allowed to keep Chet Holmgren and J-Dub as long as humanly possible and
08:50not have those very, very large salaries force a breakup.
08:56To me, that's a much bigger problem.
08:58For me, the even bigger problem than that is players are not incentivized to actually play unless you're in a
09:06situation where you think you can win.
09:07And you look at some of the highest paid guys.
09:10Joel Embiid is a guy making 56.2, and he doesn't play a lot of basketball.
09:17Zion Williamson is going to be a free agent, and he doesn't play a lot of basketball.
09:21Anthony Davis is never healthy.
09:23These guys don't actually play basketball, and now Giannis, making 54, he's, I guess he's hurt, or he's not hurt,
09:31and he's not going to play because they want to trade him, or he wants to stay because, you know,
09:36stars attract, they don't chase, whatever that is.
09:39But these guys don't have the same incentive to go out there and play as lesser players.
09:43So you look at this Warrior team right now, you've got Pat Spencer, you've got Gee, you've got GP2, you've
09:50got Pods, you have all these guys who are not making generational wealth yet.
09:55I mean, they're making nice money, but they're not making this kind of money, so they have to play.
10:00They have to go out there and still try to earn and, you know, earn their stripes and earn their
10:04dollars.
10:04But the big money guys, you don't have the same level of incentive, and so why play?
10:10Well, and I do think that, like, there's always, there's always nuance.
10:14If LeBron James and Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler and players like that need a day off here or there,
10:21well, yeah, you're over 35 years old.
10:24And especially with their playoff success, these guys have logged thousands and thousands of miles and minutes.
10:32But they're also role models, and it trickles down.
10:35Like, I, why the hell does Shea Gilgis-Alexander need a day off?
10:42Why?
10:44I mean, he plays a lot.
10:45So do his teammates.
10:48So do his teammates.
10:50Like, the guys who come in off of the bench, sometimes they're playing 30 minutes too, just like the Stars
10:56are.
10:57Nobody ever, right?
10:59Kavon Looney didn't play a lot of minutes.
11:01He didn't get banged around down low.
11:03Like, I just, why are the young guys doing this?
11:08That, to me, and again, it's because their role models are saying and doing X, Y, Z.
11:14Yeah, and the science tells you too.
11:15And the science and the health.
11:17And so, like, I'm certainly willing to meet them halfway.
11:21They know what's going on more than we do.
11:23But, as always, you've got to know your audience.
11:27And I think that these players, this league, more importantly, needs to realize how all of this lands with fans.
11:34It's my number one issue with the NBA.
11:36No matter what it is they're doing, from Dame Lillard in the three-point contest, to load management, to tanking,
11:44to the NBA Cup, where the only change is that the floor is painted and players get extra money if
11:50they win at the end.
11:51And all the way down to everything that we're talking about here.
11:56Like, let's admit something to the NBA.
11:58We're just fans.
11:59We don't know what's going on behind the scenes.
12:01All I can do is tell you how this lands with us.
12:05When you have all of these problems and you walk to the microphone and go, too many games.
12:11Like, you're just, you're kicking the fan in the teeth.
12:15That's how they're going to take it.
12:17Whether it's rational or not, that's how they're going to take it.
12:19So, tickets as low as $152 for the Warrior game.
12:22So, you want to bring your wife and your two kids $600 for the worst seat in the house, plus
12:28$75 for parking, about $80 to $100 for food.
12:32You're looking at $750, and obviously, no Tatum.
12:36He's hurt.
12:37Steph, maybe.
12:38Porzingis, no.
12:40Jimmy Butler, no.
12:41So, you're going to lay out $700 to $800 to watch, you know, pods take on Jalen Brown?
12:46That's a big ask.
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