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00:00But I've been thinking this for more than just the weekend.
00:01I've been thinking this now since last Monday.
00:03And so one thing we do know about this LeBron sweepstakes is that
00:07everyone that thinks that they know something doesn't actually know anything.
00:11And I heard Windhorse describe it this way, and I think it's really clever,
00:15and I want to give him credit.
00:16Windhorse described it, and by the way, our opening credit,
00:19pardon my take, Bill Simmons' podcast, and Windhorse was on,
00:21pardon my take, earlier today.
00:22The idea was is that the people nearest to LeBron aren't speaking.
00:30They're not saying anything.
00:31Now, Rich Paul is going on podcasts, so I could directly refute his line of
00:34thinking right here, but that's more as a podcast host than it is a
00:36I'm LeBron's agent.
00:37That's at least how I see when he goes on this and does the stupid whiteboard
00:40thing that gets everyone in a tizzy, that's as a podcast host.
00:43That's not really as Rich Paul, I'm representing LeBron James,
00:48and this is all that.
00:48That's him filling out content the way me and you are filling out content,
00:51okay?
00:52But when we go down this road and we think about it and everything is coming
00:57down with this stuff, I just, I find myself thinking it could happen at any
01:03given time and any given moment.
01:05I really do.
01:06Why do you not feel that way?
01:08Because I think I know how LeBron likes to operate.
01:11You think LeBron's going to be overshadowed by the 4th of July?
01:14Like, America's 250th birthday versus LeBron going somewhere.
01:18There's at least competition there.
01:20We had the Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey, but I don't think that really would have
01:24stopped him, but let's just say that's on the docket as well.
01:26It might have stopped him.
01:27That, by the way, did not get nearly the amount of attention that I thought it
01:29would.
01:29I thought it would have been.
01:30I mean, maybe it was just because nobody could see a single thing that was
01:32happening.
01:32I think that's the biggest reason why.
01:34I think it's because we watched the celebrities go in and then that was
01:37really about it.
01:39Great.
01:39Adam Sandler was the officiant.
01:41I look forward to watching it on Netflix three years from now.
01:43Yeah, literally.
01:44That feels like what it's going to be.
01:45It's going to be like, oh, it's all calmed down.
01:46Yeah, now here there's probably a documentary filmed about it.
01:49Definitely was.
01:50Yeah.
01:50So, I mean, maybe that was enough.
01:51It was that combination with the 4th of July, just like I am waiting for it.
01:55Maybe it's this week, right?
01:56I don't know.
01:57Maybe it is that we just have a Lola news training camp hasn't started in the
02:01NFL.
02:02LeBron will make it.
02:03I just felt like we had too much happening this weekend that LeBron wasn't
02:06going to try to sneak one past us.
02:07But he's not going to keep us interested that long.
02:09The miscalculation in LeBron in this, this right here, is that now I've been
02:14talking about this.
02:15We started last Monday and then we've just been going all the way through.
02:18And because of that, I've been living obsessed with it.
02:21I've been living and dying with updates and notifications to my phone and all
02:24this other stuff from people like how Windhorse describes it, where the people
02:28closest to him aren't saying anything about it and everyone else is really just
02:31guessing, right?
02:31So, I'm doing that as well.
02:33It's all just one big guess.
02:35We don't actually know what's going on with LeBron.
02:37But I've been doing this now for a week straight.
02:40And we've been doing hours and hours of content.
02:42And if you believe Rich Paul in the Game On podcast with Kellerman, he didn't even talk
02:48to LeBron this weekend.
02:50He didn't discuss any of it.
02:51I don't know if I believe that.
02:52But according to him, he was like, no, it's the 4th of July weekend.
02:55We'll just let him go play golf.
02:56Let him enjoy his time.
02:57Maybe visit the golf galaxy in Fairmont, okay?
03:00But I can only do so much with this story.
03:04It happened at a great time for us to care.
03:06It's July 6th.
03:07I mean, I'd much rather be doing this than breaking down little brown stories that we'll
03:13be getting through later on within the day.
03:15And I'm not going to just throw down a topic to go ahead and make this one seem more worthy.
03:19But the reality is, he's got our attention and the media cycles attention because nothing
03:23else is happening.
03:25This World Cup might even take over tonight, all things concerned.
03:28But the biggest thing he's going for us is he did it at a time when nobody cares.
03:33In a couple days, people outside of Cleveland, because I think Clevelanders will still care,
03:38but even here with us, in a couple days, we are going to be like, all right, LeBron, make
03:43your decision.
03:44You're a great basketball player still to this day.
03:47I would still put you top 20 in the league.
03:49Where you go matters.
03:50This decision matters in a great deal.
03:52I can wait on it.
03:53I can.
03:54But I can't do wall-to-wall coverage for another two weeks.
03:57I can't be living and dying with sources slash breaking news to my phone for another two
04:02weeks.
04:03Like, at some point, I'm just going to think you're the boy that cried wolf.
04:06Yeah, I mean, we probably get a decision, like I said, in this week.
04:09But the fact that LeBron's going to stretch that out, going to get as many people talking
04:13about it for as long as he can to then drop the news, which means we all take a step
04:17back,
04:17Cleveland or not, and probably have another, I mean, bare minimum, couple of days worth
04:21of content off LeBron being somewhere else.
04:24He knows how to keep the media coverage involved.
04:26Like, we're still invested right now.
04:28We're talking about him to lead off the show, and we're getting to that point where it's
04:31uninteresting, but we'll either get LeBron or somebody close to LeBron, Rich Paul, have
04:36another whiteboard incident or something of that like, to continue the conversation, to
04:39buy it a couple more days, then we'll get the news, or LeBron will get the news.
04:43Again, I'm getting to the point where it's like, eh, I'm invested, but yes, I get very
04:49close to, okay, let's make the decision.
04:51Like, I'm not as invested in this as I was Wednesday of last week.
04:56I've already started to move fast.
04:57I know, me neither.
04:58And that's the problem I'm having with this, is that I'm not at the point where it's like,
05:03make up your mind, LeBron, I don't even care anymore.
05:04No, I care greatly.
05:06My next year, your next year, our fans next year, as far as the Cavs fans are concerned,
05:11you guys, your year, your next year is shaped so heavily off of this decision.
05:16Because if it's not LeBron, we don't have many aces left up our sleeve, okay?
05:19We're looking at, like, sixes up our sleeve, not aces.
05:22They don't have many moves to make.
05:24So our entertainment value and whether or not this team could actually be a title contender
05:28is probably hinging on what happens.
05:29So I'll give it the space, and I'll give it the time to breathe, but it does get to a
05:33spot where you're just, all right, all right, LeBron, I'm going to have to turn the page
05:37and then, kind of like a Miles Garrett trade situation, if it happens, then all right,
05:42I'm here.
05:42We'll talk about it.
05:43But at some point, we do just have to turn that page and think about other topics and other
05:47things.
05:47We're not there yet, obviously.
05:48We got a lot of LeBron conversation today, but I'm curious as to where you guys, the
05:52fans, are at when it comes to the wall-to-wall coverage and how much this has dominated.
05:56I mean, I think part of this is also, it matters so much because we're banking on it, but I
06:01think, at least in my brain, like, I was, last week before Monday, and specifically before
06:07Tuesday, I was like, LeBron's not coming back.
06:09He's going to end up back in LA.
06:10If not, he'll pick somewhere else.
06:12And with every day that we got last week, it was, it feels a little bit closer that LeBron might
06:16come here, feels a little bit closer to the point where I think I've just accepted the
06:20idea that in my mind, LeBron is coming here and I will be massively disappointed by anything,
06:25any other result that we get.
06:26Which is crazy, considering that was six days ago you thought differently.
06:29And I, by the way, I thought differently as well.
06:31Uh, but six days ago, you thought differently.
06:34We've gotten nothing to really give you that thinking that it's going to be us outside of
06:39just a bunch of rumors and a bunch of reports from people that have openly admitted they
06:43don't really know what's going on.
06:44And, and so like, I, I, I understand I'm in the same boat you are and that I've gotten
06:48to a spot where I think it's going to happen and I've convinced myself that it's going to
06:52happen, but I don't know what that's actually based off of because it's all trying to figure
06:56out what is in LeBron's brain.
06:57Yeah.
06:58How do we do that?
07:00Well, I agree.
07:01I'm open, open conversation for people that like want us to do our job today.
07:05How do we do that?
07:07How do we put ourselves in, in LeBron's brain and tell you, this is what he's thinking as
07:12if we know him intimately.
07:13We don't know what he's thinking.
07:14I didn't know what he was thinking when he went to Los Angeles outside of this is a good
07:17business proposition.
07:18I don't want to make space jam two, which I would have told him was going to flop and a
07:22bad idea, but he didn't want to hear that.
07:23Like, I, I don't know what he's thinking, Jack.
07:25Yeah.
07:26I mean, it's in my mind, I try to go back to what LeBron has prioritized in his career,
07:30which has been trying to win a championship in every stop that he's gone.
07:33LA is the one questionable one, but obviously he won one.
07:36So it wasn't like that wasn't top of mind either.
07:38They were the worst team in the NBA for five years leading up to him going there though.
07:42Hey, and then they turned it around and won the championship in the bubble.
07:45I think when you break it down, I don't think LeBron's going to play for a veteran minimum.
07:49I never thought that was going to happen.
07:51Still don't think that's going to happen.
07:52I've watched the way the other teams have moved.
07:55It makes sense that the calves are the front runner.
07:57Like when I use logic, golden state has moved very odd in a way that I don't know.
08:00They get LeBron.
08:01Philly is sitting there with, Hey, we can give you a veteran minimum, but that's about
08:05it.
08:05Do you want to play for Philly?
08:06And there's other reasons why I don't think it's going to be Philly mostly because they
08:09might boo him on his way out, which I don't think LeBron would like very much.
08:12And then I just don't see Miami as a Miami as a competitor.
08:16Even if he goes there, it just leaves me with Cleveland.
08:18And I don't think he's going to ring chase to New York or San Antonio.
08:21So I think I've tried the logic my way there, but I'm also biased.
08:25I want him to be here.
08:26So I logic in a way that makes sense in my brain for him to end up here at the
08:29same
08:29time.
08:29LeBron fits perfectly on that team.
08:32Perfectly.
08:33This is why I'm asking you and we'll get to the end.
08:35Dan and Grant, which is the Gilbert's plus Kobe.
08:38He was there when LeBron won there.
08:40Big, big, big X factor.
08:42Let me talk to you about Brandon Williams.
08:44Brandon Williams is basically LeBron's brother.
08:47I don't know if you knew that.
08:48Now he worked his own way.
08:50Nobody gave him anything.
08:51He's earned to be in the front office of the Cavs.
08:54That is a big feather in the cap.
08:57Big feather because of Brandon Williams.
08:59Now, don't get me wrong.
09:01Dan and Grant and Kobe, we know them.
09:03Negative is, and this is no offense to Harden, no Garland.
09:07Because he loves Garland like he loves Max.
09:10That was Rich Paul and the game over.
09:13I keep wanting to call it the game on podcast.
09:15Want to know why?
09:16Because they didn't know the podcast existed until a week ago.
09:18That's why.
09:19Kellerman on that podcast, by the way, people find him incredibly annoying.
09:23Whatever.
09:23I like Kellerman.
09:24Like a hot media take.
09:26I always thought Max Kellerman was pretty good at this stuff.
09:28Yeah.
09:29I mean, maybe we're both in the hot day.
09:31I don't really pay attention to what people think of Max Kellerman, but I always thought
09:33he was like, I mean, I didn't think he was like amazing, but he was never bad.
09:37Like he never really bothered me.
09:38Thought he was the more likable on the duo shows that he's done.
09:41I'll say that much for sure.
09:43Well, yeah, but that's not really a high bar to clear.
09:45It's not a high bar.
09:47And I don't think it's like his overall stick is like necessarily being likable.
09:51It isn't.
09:51It's just, he's always been paired with the least likable people.
09:53So it just kind of works for him.
09:55But Rich Paul, so I mean, he really made the Weems part of this go incredibly hard.
10:01And it was like, all right, that's fine.
10:03If at the end of this, people want to just gloat and talk about how Weems is the one that
10:06got the job done, then okay, fine.
10:08I do whatever victory dance you want to.
10:09I also thought it was weird.
10:10The Garland thing out of that podcast was weird as well.
10:13Trying to prop up Garland when you're the one that told everyone that Garland was not
10:16going to be with the Cavs long term anyway.
10:18There were some weird elements to it, but now we've listened to two podcasts and another
10:22one since that podcast came out.
10:24And I mean, Jake, as far as the Rich Paul part of this is concerned, I told you last
10:29segment, I believe it to be true.
10:31He doesn't represent LeBron James when he does those podcasts.
10:34That is a podcast host right there.
10:37That is a content creator more so than it is anything else.
10:40And so I'm not really taking much of what he has to say seriously in that respect.
10:44Yeah, I mean, I really, I saw this happen over the weekend and I was kind of almost
10:48just like weirded out by it was like a weird way to say it made me feel uncomfortable.
10:53Like if this was, if you were doing this as the representation of LeBron James to be
10:57like, here's his entire line of thoughts and here's what he's deciding between what he
11:02likes, what he doesn't like.
11:03I'm like, you wouldn't go on to a podcast and openly do that for the client that you
11:07represent, not just a client.
11:08It's not like, oh, that's one of the guys who might be on a veteran minimum.
11:11It is the biggest client that you could possibly ever have in LeBron James.
11:16You wouldn't do that.
11:17LeBron wouldn't allow that if it was like, yes, please do regurgitate every single one
11:21of my thoughts on a podcast for everybody to see.
11:23He also wouldn't make the Dallas stuff the way that he did.
11:27LeBron is too aware just to be like, ah, oil, oil, positive, positive oil over there.
11:32McCall, like, I mean, okay.
11:34Which by the way, incredible place, all things considered incredible place, but like what?
11:38And then, and then it's a, it's like oil money, golf, McCall, and something else that
11:42I forget.
11:43And it's like, I, the, like the, the inroads to Africa.
11:46And it's like, what are we doing here?
11:47Like, how did we not, how did we not all pick up on what's happening here?
11:50This is ridiculous.
11:51But I do agree with what I think your sentiment was in the first segment and two, one, six,
11:54four, seven, four to below 92.
11:56Are you getting your hopes up for a LeBron return?
11:57I think it would be wild to be a Cavs fan right now and not have your hopes basically
12:03about as high as they've ever been about him returning.
12:05Yeah.
12:05I think part of this too, is just all the teams who are widely thought to be in the sweepstakes,
12:10right?
12:11Like you have the big four teams, the Warriors, the Sixers, the Cavs, and the Heat.
12:14When you've watched how all of them have moved, like the Sixers have gone out and made moves
12:18and tried to make their team better aside from LeBron.
12:20The Warriors have in some ways, like I thought re-signing Kristaps is really interesting because
12:25that was basically your roadblock to saying, we're not getting Anthony Davis.
12:27That's not happening.
12:28And we don't have the money to go LeBron.
12:30They're just operating as if he's not going to be there.
12:33The Heat are the one team that's like semi on pause other than go get Giannis, which they
12:37needed.
12:37I don't think he's going back to the Heat because I don't think it's that attractive.
12:41The Cavs have been the one team that are like, we have paused everything we're doing.
12:46We have not made a single move.
12:47All they have done so far this offseason is lose Dean Wade and Keon Ellis and be like, we'll wait
12:53the decision.
12:55Also, the biggest part of this is I don't think that LeBron is holding everybody in.
13:00Oh, I really don't know what I'm doing.
13:02Like I am really taking these days to decide LeBron has the answer in his back pocket and
13:06is just sitting on this, right?
13:08Like, do you feel like LeBron is using these days to truly make his decision and decide
13:11or do you feel like he's already made this up?
13:13No, I think he can be swayed.
13:14Hmm.
13:15I don't, I don't think he's already made it.
13:16I think he can be swayed.
13:17I think that LeBron, uh, at the heart of LeBron is a need to be desired and a want
13:23to be desired.
13:24And so there are, I think there's certain like check marks that you have to cross off
13:27in trying to get LeBron and trying to maintain the attractive nature to LeBron.
13:31And he almost puts you like some tests.
13:33It's like when you first start dating a girl, they put you through these little tests and
13:36they just want to make sure that you pass them to make sure that you're an all right
13:38guy essentially.
13:39And to make sure that, all right, this is okay, good.
13:41Like, all right, I can do this with you.
13:43Like I, I, LeBron does the same stuff.
13:45I think, I think he's constantly putting people through these little checks and, uh, and you
13:49know, I, I, I, yeah, I think he can be swayed.
13:51I do.
13:52I think he can.
13:52And there's a reason why Mike Gansey, who's here and knows, knows LeBron about as well
13:56as you can know LeBron.
13:57The moment they traded for Brown in Philadelphia, as he's now running Philadelphia, he was like,
14:02all right, uh, well, how do we, how do we get LeBron now?
14:04All right.
14:05Cause like, he knows, like if you, there's certain things you can showcase to LeBron and you can check
14:09off.
14:09And as evidenced by what happened with the Lakers this off season, LeBron can be swayed.
14:14He can be swayed pretty easily.
14:16Uh, so yeah, no, I, I don't know necessarily that he has made up his decision.
14:19I think most people think that he already has, and we're just waiting on this like yourself.
14:23I don't know.
14:24I don't necessarily know that now.
14:25I think it's, I think it's interesting that he hasn't taken any other offers or meetings
14:28with people.
14:29Like if you're, if you're really interested in, in shopping yourself around, Jake, wouldn't
14:33you be getting on flights to go see the 76ers and to go hang out in, and maybe you don't
14:38need to hang out in Miami.
14:39Cause you know them and you know, Riley and you know, Spolstra, but like, wouldn't you
14:42be going to all these different places or is he just so familiar with these spots?
14:45Like, I don't, I guess I don't really need to see Steve Kerr.
14:47He was my coach for team USA.
14:48So maybe I don't need to do that at that point.
14:50Yeah.
14:50But isn't there still a conversation of like, here's what we're offering you.
14:54Here's, here's why we're likable.
14:55And here's what we can, we think pitch you an idea.
14:58Like miles Garrett wanted to be pitched an idea on the quarterback spot.
15:01It was a big spot for a, why I'm going to turn around.
15:03He did it for the money at the end of the day, but that was his claim.
15:06Isn't everybody out to make their pitch for LeBron?
15:08He, okay.
15:08So he had to be pitched on, on the Browns, but miles Garrett never had to be pitched
15:11on the Rams.
15:12Yes.
15:13Like he was able to just look at the rosters, see Sean McVay, see Matthew Stafford, see
15:16a team that was in the NFC title game last year and say, okay, good enough for me.
15:20Like I, at some point, I think between Rich Paul and LeBron, and this is not, I'm going
15:24to describe it as arrogance, but I think it's, I think it's deserved.
15:26And I think it's rightful.
15:28They look at this, like, I know better than whatever you're going to tell me anyway.
15:31Like I, I I've seen all the angles.
15:33I've looked at all this.
15:34There's nothing new.
15:35You're going to be able to sell me on nothing new.
15:37You're going to basketball way of basketball reason.
15:39Gansey is going to tell me that this is going to be a nice fit.
15:41Like, no, I've already looked at the roster.
15:42I'm LeBron James.
15:44I can figure out what I'm going to do here.
15:45And so maybe that's just part of that as well.
15:46I mean, maybe it is.
15:48And listen, like LeBron has obviously made good decisions in his career so far on where
15:51he's decided to go for himself.
15:53He's won a title every time he's left somewhere and gone somewhere new.
15:56So like props to him.
15:58I, I don't know.
15:59It just feels odd to me.
16:00I would still want to hear, want to know what's going on.
16:03Want to know the thought processes and I want to be pitched on something, but if he doesn't
16:08need that, then by all means, I still think, I mean, everything we're getting, which can
16:13just be everyone guessing.
16:14But I think everybody has gotten closer to the idea that this is going to end up being
16:18the Cavs.
16:18I think that's because it makes the most sense for a lot of people.
16:20Yeah.
16:21You know, I think at the end of it, we're just trying to, we're trying to describe what
16:23his happiness is.
16:24And so I think at the end of this, you, everyone just goes back to that road of when
16:28nothing's happier than going home by going home is typically the most happy you can be.
16:32And I coming from somebody that, uh, I'm not from here, obviously, as you know, going home
16:38to myself is not the happiest I can be where I'm happiest is right here.
16:42Uh, you know what I mean?
16:43Like this is, this is it.
16:44Now, a lot of that is because the people that I love the most, they're happiest here
16:48and their home is here.
16:49And so like, there's, there's some webs attached to that, maybe that probably sinks that in.
16:53But if you give me the option to do this job or go home and do a job in Chicago,
16:57I'm doing
16:58this job.
16:58This is the job I chose.
16:59This is the job I want to be at.
17:00This is the job I hope to die in the city.
17:02Okay.
17:03Like, like everyone, everyone has this idea that like going home is the only thing that
17:07matters and the biggest part of all this.
17:08And maybe, maybe it ends up being there, but he also seemed pretty happy in Los Angeles.
17:12That was my big point.
17:13LeBron can make himself happy in a lot of places.
17:16I would imagine a lot of places I can imagine.
17:18Like, I don't know that going through the streets of Akron, which by the way, he does every
17:22summer anyway, but I don't know that that's going to necessarily be the one that gets him
17:25over the top.
17:26Yeah.
17:26I don't know.
17:26Maybe the coming back to Akron every single summer is part of this in reading into, oh
17:31no, LeBron is happy here.
17:32He does make a point to come back here every year.
17:34He clearly likes it enough, but I would make the claim.
17:37His family's probably happy and out in LA, right?
17:39Like that seems where they've settled down.
17:41They like to be, at least it seems like Savannah really likes it, but it seems like she's the
17:45one that loves that the most.
17:46But that's the other thing he made his claim already.
17:48Like he's not going back to the Lakers.
17:50I'd be stunned if he went to the Clippers.
17:51No, but that's why the Warriors were always interesting though.
17:54Cause you're just a, you're just a quick private jet flight away from San Francisco.
17:58And that's why that was always one that was, I think somewhat appealing all things considered.
18:02But ultimately the reality is, is we're just, we're trying to get in his brain and we can't
18:06do it guys.
18:07Like we can't, I, I, this job makes us be definitive with our claims and makes us be bold about
18:13our
18:13claims.
18:14I can't definitively tell you what LeBron James is going to do in this.
18:17I don't know.
18:18Does it seem likely at this point that he's going to be with the Cavs?
18:21Yes.
18:21If you made me go through after analyzing this every single way I could for now a week straight
18:26and tell you what I honestly think is going to happen, I believe he'll end up with the
18:30Cavs.
18:30I really do believe that.
18:32But I, I can't say with utmost certainty that it's going to happen because LeBron's a wild
18:37card in all this.
18:38Like, how about the idea that on that Rich Paul podcast, he said, if the Knicks hadn't just
18:41won a title, he'd go to New York without a question.
18:44So what does that tell you?
18:45What does that tell you, Jake?
18:46It tells you something obvious.
18:48He's not, he doesn't need to necessarily go to Cleveland to end this chapter.
18:51Doesn't need to.
18:52He'll be, he'll be happy going somewhere else as evidenced by that statement from Rich
18:56Paul.
18:57Yeah.
18:57I mean, he's willing to do other things.
18:59Tells you he doesn't have to go back to a team he's already played for, right?
19:01He's willing to exercise the idea.
19:03I'm going to go out and find something different.
19:06I, I, maybe part of this for at least me is also not watching the Cavs operate.
19:10It feels like a necessity.
19:11Like I need to convince myself LeBron is coming back because if not, I don't know what they
19:16do.
19:17Yeah.
19:17I mean, they're just going to, we're kind of screwed at this point.
19:19If it's not LeBron, if it's not LeBron, your answer pretty much goes to, oh, maybe it'll
19:23be Jonathan Kaminga.
19:24Like, and that doesn't feel good.
19:26That's not LeBron.
19:26It's going to be, oh, we're the, we're the four of the five seed.
19:29Yep.
19:29And this is going to be a struggle and watching regular season basketball.
19:32No one's going to care because all we'll be worried about is the post season.
19:36And even at that point, we won't be sure that this thing's going to be any different.
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