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00:00All right, are you starting to feel like LeBron's coming back?
00:03I have tried my best to not get carried away.
00:08Damn it, were you doing the thing where you are trying to –
00:11See, you talked me into it.
00:13I know.
00:13You talked me into not being excited.
00:15And then there was like a two-hour window yesterday
00:18where it seemed like, oh, he's definitely coming to Cleveland.
00:20And then, you know, you got a little further away,
00:23walked away, and went into the night, and you're just like,
00:26all right, well, LeBron's going to get his week-plus of speculation.
00:31I guess he deserves it, right?
00:33I know some people are like, I'm sick of this stuff.
00:35It's like, I don't know.
00:36He was with the Lakers for eight years.
00:39I know a couple times there were some flirtations,
00:42but, you know, he's been with the Lakers so long.
00:44Like, yeah, he gets to do this on his terms, right?
00:47This was his league for many years for how many Hall of Fame careers?
00:52I think Tom Haberstroh said he'll be working on his fifth Hall of Fame career.
00:56Like, this has been such an amazing career.
00:58He's been great.
00:59And the difference between this and the other times is
01:02the league is not really waiting for LeBron.
01:04Yeah, there are a few teams that are kind of waiting,
01:07but it's not like he's holding up business for the whole league
01:10where it's obnoxious.
01:11I'd argue there was the bigger holdup was Giannis,
01:15you know, the behind-the-scenes stuff.
01:17It was everybody waiting to see where Giannis would end up.
01:20With LeBron, yeah, there's a few teams involved.
01:22I mean, Golden State, the Cavs, the Heat,
01:27and I even heard the Wiz, the Wiz, the Wiz.
01:31Okay, nobody beats the Wiz.
01:32The who?
01:33The Wizards?
01:34Yeah, it was a big clutch thing because, you know,
01:37the clients, the Rich Paul clients were all in Washington.
01:40I'm just saying, like, there aren't a whole bunch of teams involved.
01:43Watch them go there and you're going to, I mean,
01:44it's going to be the whole time.
01:46Yeah, oh yeah.
01:47I gave you that look for the people who was watching on YouTube Live.
01:51The Wizards, I mean, yeah, I guess, like, he wants to see everything there.
01:57There's one thing he's doing that is going to really bother me
01:59if he doesn't come here, and I'll get to that here in a second.
02:02There's two places that do make, I guess the Heat makes sense, too.
02:07I mean, they're kind of a third candidate in there, possibility,
02:10third possibility.
02:11He said he was going to take offers from basically every team
02:15that was interested in the league.
02:17I think every team, you've got to make a call.
02:19It's part of your job.
02:20Yeah, Windhorse brought up the nuggets, too,
02:22but it just seemed like it really boiled down to Golden State.
02:28Yeah, but, you know, if he's willing to go to Golden State,
02:31doesn't that mean he might be willing to go just about anywhere?
02:33I mean, seriously, seriously.
02:35Like, if Golden State is the odds-on favorite right now,
02:39and they are, according to Vegas,
02:41then shouldn't that be a signal to everybody
02:43he's willing to just go anywhere and none of this matters?
02:45None of the, like, the legacy stuff we make a big deal about.
02:48Like, I had people go, oh, it's going to kill his legacy.
02:49I'm like, not really.
02:50I used to think so.
02:5220 years from now, I don't think we're going to be saying nasty things
02:54about LeBron if he ends up in Golden State or wherever.
02:58I don't know if that matters.
03:00So I think he's willing to,
03:02I think he's willing to hear offers from just about everywhere.
03:04I wonder if he's willing to hear offers from the Clippers.
03:06Like, we've been told for 20-plus years now, absolutely not.
03:10Not a chance.
03:10He'd never play for the Clippers.
03:12Well, Steve Ballmer is certainly different than Donald Sterling.
03:16That's for sure.
03:17Now, the Clippers have liquidated assets.
03:19Kawhi Leonard demanded to play for the Toronto Raptors,
03:23which, yes, everybody has their FBI jokes,
03:25which is like, well, he still is going to play 40-plus games in the state.
03:29Yeah, they'd have their opportunity.
03:31I guess they could wait on him in the airport if they really want to.
03:35But for Kawhi, okay, that sounds like a nice thing.
03:39You can go up there.
03:39They seem to leave him alone, and they're nice to him.
03:41And, okay, good.
03:42Congratulations.
03:43So I think anybody, I think everybody's on the table.
03:46I really do.
03:47If you're willing to stare the history right in the face and say,
03:53doesn't matter, I'm going to do what's best for now and for the future,
03:57and go to Golden State, fine, Denver, make the call.
04:02Portland, it seems like their owner wants them out of there
04:04on the first thing smoking.
04:05Make the call.
04:07Kings, make the call.
04:08Everybody you would never think, make the call.
04:11Go ahead and make the call.
04:12Well, what throws a wrench in all of this is he's still really good.
04:15It'd be one thing if –
04:17If he was just at the end of the roster.
04:19Yeah.
04:19At the end of the bench, no.
04:21You know, if it was like the Kobe situation after the surgery,
04:24like LeBron is still looking insanely in shape.
04:28He's ripped.
04:29He had an incredible series against Houston where he was the best player
04:34in that series.
04:35Like that's just ridiculous at his age to be able to do that.
04:39So that's what kind of muddies this a little bit is he is so damn good,
04:45and it's tough.
04:46Where does he fit in in the confines?
04:48Because he wants to compete for a championship.
04:50And I know it's easy to dismiss, oh, wherever he goes,
04:53are they really going to have a chance to win a championship?
04:55But we just saw the Knicks win a championship,
04:56a team that nobody thought was going to be able to win the championship.
05:00We've had eight winners in eight years.
05:01Like you don't think in LeBron's mind he thinks he could win a championship
05:05somewhere?
05:06He can go out there and be the ninth winner in nine years.
05:07Yeah.
05:08I think that he believes it's on the table.
05:10I think that anybody who calls believes it's on the table.
05:12I think that they look at him as he might be the final piece.
05:16Now, there are hoops that you have to jump through,
05:18but I also think that there are some of these moves that the Cavs are making.
05:21And by the way, I didn't mean this as a knock on Chris Haynes yesterday
05:24because it's his job.
05:26Somebody has to report it.
05:27But anybody saying, well, the Cavs are interested in LeBron.
05:30Well, they couldn't say that when he was a member of the Lakers
05:32because that's tampering, quote unquote.
05:34But now you could say it.
05:36Obviously, everybody's interested in LeBron.
05:37And certainly the Cavs are interested in LeBron.
05:39Saying you're interested in LeBron is like saying you need air to breathe.
05:43You know, the sky, you hope that the sun rises in the morning.
05:47Yeah, we all do.
05:47Like that's kind of the way it goes in the NBA with LeBron James
05:51because there's obviously a lot more to the money that's made to it for a franchise.
05:57But any team that wants to do something, yeah, you consider him.
06:01And the tea leaves are there.
06:04Like Keon Ellis, there were a lot more people upset about Keon Ellis leaving
06:08than I thought.
06:09A lot more people like sad it seemed that Keon Ellis was leaving.
06:13Dean Wade overnight, that was almost celebrated from what I woke up to.
06:16Even though it's funny, this is how it works sometimes in sports.
06:19Like Wade was the one that earned big-time playoff minutes
06:22for a team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals.
06:24And Keon Ellis was not part of the rotation.
06:26So it's funny that you saw that reaction.
06:28Why are we in mourning about the guy that couldn't crack the rotation?
06:32You made a trade during the season to bring in Keon Ellis.
06:35Then Keon Ellis is gone halfway through.
06:37And so it's like, well, we didn't even get to see really Keon Ellis
06:40because he was hidden on the bench during the postseason
06:42where Dean Wade had to go out there and contribute significant minutes.
06:45And no, he's not a scorer, but he is a defender,
06:47and they'll miss that defense.
06:49But when you move on from Dean Wade, how can a fan not start to think,
06:53like, okay, they're making moves to try to see if they can bring this guy in
06:56and bring him back and have the whole history back again?
07:00So, yeah, the interesting thing is –
07:01You can't fault them for doing it.
07:03They could have found a way to retain either.
07:07The fact that they let both of them go,
07:09it got a lot of people speculating that much more that,
07:13oh, they have something in the mix here,
07:15as quiet as they were for the last week and a half, two weeks.
07:20Now it gets interesting.
07:22Kobe Altman has been a bit of a creative thinker on the fly.
07:26He's had to do that in the past.
07:28How do you think they protect themselves if he decides to play elsewhere?
07:33Because I think that these moves are being made to make space for him
07:37and to try to create something that would bring him in.
07:42And that can be a great plan for everybody.
07:45However, he is his own man.
07:47He's a sentient being.
07:49What if he decides that he wants to play at Golden State
07:52or he wants to play in Miami?
07:53What do you do then if you're the Cavs?
07:55Because this is still supposed to be a competitive basketball team.
07:57Yeah, well, a lot of it just hinges.
07:59And Dean Wade is a little more –
08:00I think Dean Wade, he's not the cog that changes everything,
08:04but I think he is a little bit more important than we want to realize
08:06because he's the only one who seems to play defense.
08:08He started for him.
08:09He was a starter.
08:11Yeah, that's –
08:11Well, I mean, somebody had to play the defense,
08:14and you have Evan Mobley who will play the defense,
08:17and then you had Dean Wade out there on the perimeter
08:19as a wing who could play the defense.
08:21Well, now he's no longer there anymore.
08:22And, hey, if you get LeBron and there's other moves that might need to be made,
08:26it makes sense.
08:27But if you don't get LeBron, now I've got to figure out what I'm going to do without him.
08:31Well, how interested were you in the stories or reporting that was done yesterday
08:36that James Harden, the reason we don't have the restructuring of his new deal
08:43after he tore up the player option,
08:45how interesting is that to Cavs fans that we haven't had any numbers divulged,
08:52and it's leading many to believe that it's all with James doing everything he can
08:57to facilitate another big move or two for the Cavaliers.
09:01Well, I think that all that stuff is in play.
09:05I mean, I – and that would be for a guy who's seen as selfish,
09:13for a guy who's seen as he's going to do his own thing, mercurial,
09:18that would be a hell of a team move.
09:20Brian Windhorst kind of threw that about on ESPN yesterday.
09:23Here's Brian Windhorst, local guy, on ESPN, on NBA.
09:27I think it was NBA – was it NBA Live or inside the NBA?
09:30Here's Brian Windhorst on one of their NBA shows on ESPN
09:34mentioning James Harden, kind of helping the Cavs look into Jalen Brown
09:37and LeBron James.
09:39Hit it.
09:39The league changed this afternoon with LeBron coming on the market,
09:43and not only that, but basically announcing that he's available
09:45to just about everybody.
09:46And so start your engines on how you're going to retrofit.
09:49That is a curveball that affected the whole market.
09:52So now let's talk about Jalen Brown.
09:53Jalen Brown has not found a home.
09:55The Celtics have not found a home.
09:56After they tried to send him to Milwaukee for Giannis Tenecumpo over the last week,
10:01they have talked to a number of other teams.
10:02They have failed to get traction on a deal.
10:04Cleveland Cavaliers learned today that LeBron James will be willing to play
10:07for less than his market value salary.
10:09That changed everything.
10:10So how does Cleveland get LeBron James' attention?
10:13Do they show him their beautiful brand-new practice facility they're building?
10:17It is awesome.
10:18I saw it this week in Cleveland.
10:19But that is not going to impress them.
10:21What's going to impress them is when they do something with their roster.
10:23What can the Cavs do?
10:24James Harden opted out yesterday.
10:26He is willing to partner with the Cavs to figure out a way how to improve the roster.
10:30If Jalen Brown is out there, can the Cavs make a move for Jalen Brown,
10:35then come to LeBron and say, how do you feel about us now?
10:38That's the type of move that you're going to do to get LeBron James' attention.
10:43So you're throwing a lot of trust into people that you don't always trust.
10:46I mean, James Harden is a person that no fans trust as far as they can throw him.
10:51And you're hearing that about James Harden.
10:52There's a lot of things that can click into place.
10:54Because one of the things that I could think about here, if we're saying doomsday scenarios here,
10:58I'm not trying to scare everybody, but you have to take this into account.
11:01He could say, yeah, I'm willing to restructure all this and take this pay cut in order to bring in
11:07LeBron.
11:08If LeBron doesn't choose the Cavs, then what's James going to do?
11:11Now, I don't know what agreements have been put in place.
11:16Maybe there is a legal agreement that if James were to walk away from something here,
11:20there's a penalty of some sort.
11:22I have no idea.
11:24It just seems to be, hey, we're in all good faith here.
11:27And yeah, I know Carlos Boozer's history is out there.
11:30I get it.
11:31But we're all working in good faith here that we're going to do this
11:34and we're possibly going to bring in LeBron.
11:37To me, that means that Donovan Mitchell's history or future here is solidified.
11:43It means that there's a sincere possibility you can get Jalen Brown here.
11:47It also means that Evan Mobley's days may very well be numbered.
11:50This is an organization that loves Evan Mobley.
11:53I have heard several times over over the last few weeks, forget it.
11:57They are not moving on from Evan Mobley whatsoever.
12:00That has been said to us.
12:02You've gotten the same text.
12:03They are not moving on from Evan Mobley.
12:05You are wasting your breath.
12:06But when it comes to LeBron and now this guy saying it,
12:09what have we learned with the whole Miles Garrett thing?
12:11What have we learned in 15 years on the fan?
12:14Everything's not true until it's true.
12:16Everything's true until it's not true.
12:18It's also very different from what happened with Jalen Brown.
12:21Obviously, if you have a chance to get Giannis, you're going to float somebody like that.
12:25It's going to be obvious who they were going to be giving up.
12:27The Cavs have been completely the opposite.
12:30They have not allowed Evan Mobley's name to really come out there outside of just sports talk speculation.
12:36Nothing is attributed.
12:38And you're right.
12:39Right now, the belief around the league seems to have been that, no,
12:43the Cavs are the staunchest supporters of Evan Mobley.
12:46But it also makes you think because one thing is undeniable.
12:50Jalen Brown is better than Evan Mobley right now.
12:52That is undeniable.
12:53I'm willing to bet that this is – I don't think it's going to happen today.
12:56I don't know if it's going to happen tomorrow.
12:58I think it might – these things tend to happen – when did it happen when he came back in
13:022014?
13:02I remember it was a Sunday night when he left.
13:04When he left, it was a Sunday night.
13:06I think a lot of things are about to happen very, very quickly.
13:09If he comes here, it will be LeBron James is going to the Cavs.
13:14Because James Harden has restructured his contract.
13:16And Evan Mobley is being traded to the Boston Celtics for Jalen Brown.
13:20Yeah, I remember it was the –
13:21Does that make sense to you?
13:22Yeah, it was the Jarrett-Jack move that precipitated everything.
13:26That's right.
13:27It was like reading the T-Lit.
13:29Why would they do that?
13:30Why would they – that makes no sense.
13:32And then it all came into play very, very quickly after that.
13:35All right, do you – have you talked yourself –
13:39are you starting to feel like LeBron is coming back?
13:422-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-92.
13:44Lyme, are you there yet?
13:46I'm trying not –
13:47You're closer than where you were.
13:48But you can hear me.
13:49I'm trying not to commit.
13:51I'm trying not to allow my head because then come the emotions of if it doesn't happen.
13:56Am I going to fly off the handle?
13:58Am I not going to watch the Cavs this year?
13:59Am I – I'm doing everything I can right now to closely guard my feelings.
14:04Now, the one thing that he's doing that kind of bothers me and rubs me the wrong way,
14:09all these Instagram stories and all these videos that he's putting out there,
14:12like he's in Akron singing about going home, buy his pool and his house and bath,
14:17that whole thing.
14:19You keep putting these videos out there, and if you choose to go to Golden State,
14:22I'm going to be bothered by it.
14:23Because you're sucking people back in.
14:25Because you have talked me into, like, Kenny, like, eh.
14:28And there's a lot of people who are – like, I saw Schwab yesterday.
14:31He was saying congratulations on the Emmy, by the way, from Mark Schwab.
14:36Schwab, he said yesterday, he's like, I think he's going to Golden State.
14:38And I think a lot of people think he's going to Golden State.
14:41And I think that we've also said these things to do the Lima
14:44and to protect our excitement from getting out of hand here.
14:47Because the last time in 2014, that was such a wild scenario that played out
14:53that a lot of us – I don't know if we have the energy for it yet.
14:55And we're all in different places in our lives, including LeBron.
14:58And I think that when he's doing these things about Cleveland and Northeast Ohio,
15:03it gets you excited again.
15:05And if he just goes, like, yeah, I love home, but I'm going to go to Golden State.
15:08I'm like, come on.
15:09Why did you get people's – I mean, there are people going, Kenny, you're wrong.
15:12He's coming home.
15:13He is home.
15:14There are people, like, making these arrangements here.
15:16I got season ticket holders texting me going, this is going to be amazing.
15:20And I'm like, guys –
15:21I woke up this morning, Kenny.
15:22There's no ink on any paper yet, man.
15:24You've got to be careful.
15:24But he's getting people's hopes up.
15:26Somebody tagged both of us that knows Savannah through her company that she had founded in L.A.
15:32and said she's taking some time away to potentially travel.
15:36Like, they're starting to try to connect the dots again.
15:40Yep.
15:40And you got people's excitement going again.
15:43And if you get their hopes up and you don't come here,
15:47am I going to be a majorly bastard to him for the rest of my life?
15:51Probably not.
15:52But I will admit –
15:53Yeah, he doesn't owe us this.
15:54That is the one thing about this.
15:56He does not –
15:56He already delivered the championship.
15:58He doesn't owe us one last swan song.
16:01But I'm a little annoyed.
16:02I'm a little annoyed.
16:03Yeah, I'm with you.
16:04If he doesn't come here.
16:07The Ohio State cleats, that's different.
16:09Ohio State put out the cleats.
16:10And, of course, he –
16:11because he's a major benefactor of the Ohio State University sports programs.
16:17But he's just putting these videos out.
16:21I'm like, man, I'm getting these vibes again.
16:23And I hope he doesn't decide to go, yeah, I'm going to go to Golden State.
16:26Because then it's like, you didn't need to make all those videos
16:29if you decided to go to Golden State.
16:30You could have taken your time and then still decided to go to Golden State
16:33and everything had to be fine.
16:34You didn't have to show videos of you playing golf
16:36and hanging out by your pool and singing about going home
16:40and all those other things.
16:41You didn't have to do that.
16:42You didn't have to get our feelings going again.
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