- 14 hours ago
Willard and Dibs debate why LeBron James is waiting to make his free agent decision. What does that mean for the Warriors?
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00:00I'm not a reporter. I'm not a journalist, so I'm not reporting anything, but I had some conversations last night
00:07with people who have, I don't know, a certain kind of standing in the league, and so that's kind of
00:16like, you know, let's toss some things around that might be happening behind the scenes, because I've told you this
00:23for a couple days, I don't get it.
00:24I don't get why Jalen Brown got traded for nothing, and I don't get why this is taking so long,
00:30and I get that everyone just thinks LeBron is an attention whore, and that's fine, maybe he is, maybe he's
00:38just a flopper and a narcissist, maybe that's all he is, but I want to try to make some sense
00:45of things,
00:46because didn't even Bob Myers go public today, he talked to Rich Paul and said, my pitch to LeBron James
00:55would be, if you want to win, we're the place where you can do that.
01:00All right, let's pull that apart for a second.
01:02We can pull all of it apart, and I think that the straight line to so many different places is
01:07so straight line that I'm kind of with you, like, why would we wait?
01:11If it's like me and Giannis and Bam, yeah, Miami, I loved it, straight line, like Cleveland, homecoming, Cleveland, this
01:19one's for you, again, straight line.
01:21Philadelphia, they have an amazing team without him, they're even better with him, straight line, but why are we still
01:28waiting?
01:28And are you even buying the concept of LeBron is waiting on pitches?
01:32Are we doing pitch meetings with LeBron, James?
01:37Probably.
01:37I don't buy it.
01:38Bob Myers did, via a podcast.
01:41Right, but see, these teams are all a slave to what they're being told, and there's no way to know
01:49the same way we don't know is what we're being told true.
01:53And then, what do we do best on this show?
01:56So, it's my favorite thing.
01:58Don't listen to what people are saying.
02:01Try to figure out why they're saying it.
02:04So, why would Shams, for example, why would he go from, well, the Warriors are in the lead, to the
02:13Warriors are at the back of the pack?
02:15And why would he be empowered to say such things publicly?
02:20And I'm not even telling you I've got the answer, but I got a lot of questions today, and I
02:26think that it's going to be very productive and fun to try to pull apart the answers to these questions.
02:35Why did Shams say the Warriors were in the lead, and then say the Warriors are in the back?
02:42Why?
02:43Now, you can't answer and just say, well, because, face value, that's the truth.
02:47Okay.
02:48That's a fair answer.
02:50And they could have been in the lead, and now they could be, like, not in the lead anymore.
02:54I don't believe any of that.
02:55I believe that $75 million runs through Kalshi.
02:59And don't forget, the last time we did this, we got to the end of the trade deadline, and we
03:05felt like we'd all been schnookered by Kalshi.
03:07Because instead of Giannis actually going somewhere, he simply came out and announced that he's part of Kalshi.
03:14Right.
03:14And we're like, oh, my God.
03:15So there's millions of dollars being traded on this.
03:19$78 million right now in the Kalshi market.
03:21And counting.
03:22Yep.
03:23So the longer this goes, there are people making money, and I am not one of those that believes that
03:30the longer this goes, LeBron is being influenced by other people.
03:37Such as even the great Bob Myers talking directly to Rich Paul.
03:44If he was here, I'd say I honestly believe this is your best chance to win.
03:49You have to decide all the other things that are equally important.
03:54Because it's his life, right?
03:55He has to play.
03:57He has to face the scrutiny of his decision.
04:00Half the people will say, you should have done this or should have done that.
04:02And they'll criticize him for whatever, which is his life.
04:06So he's been through all that.
04:08What I would just say is, if it's about winning, and that, let's talk about this team.
04:13Because you can win here in Philadelphia.
04:14If you want to talk about other stuff, about what's this guy like, what's that guy.
04:18By the way, he knows players, a lot of them better than I do.
04:21Their games.
04:22This is a guy that probably watches more basketball than anybody understands.
04:26He's not just playing, and he's probably watching the game in February that nobody's watching.
04:31So he knows, not only does he know the guys, he knows how they play.
04:34Okay, what do you make of this?
04:36And by the way, do both things.
04:38What do you think of what Bob said?
04:40And why the hell is Rich Paul doing a public conversation with Bob Myers?
04:46Because he's trying to stoke the fire, either to stoke it for Washington to then, you know, LeBron's coming to
04:53Golden State only with Anthony Davis.
04:55So you might lose out.
04:57You might be stuck with Anthony Davis, and LeBron might go to Philly.
05:01And Bob Myers is so good.
05:02He's a wonderful speaker.
05:04And the way he lays it out, he's not wrong.
05:06Like, the team that they have is really good.
05:09I don't know if they're the favorites in the East.
05:11They're probably not.
05:11I mean, Joel Embiid has to actually play, but with Jalen Brown and Edgecombe and Maxie and Embiid,
05:18and you think about, okay, LeBron as the fifth starter, oh boy, that's a monster team in the East.
05:24And so Rich Paul goes to Bob Myers and thinks, yeah, let's talk about how good Philadelphia would be for
05:30my guy.
05:31P.S., you know, we're going to go ahead and, like, stoke the flames.
05:34I'm sorry to do this.
05:35It's a quick aside, but I hate misinformation.
05:37415 Willard, you said on these ER waves a few years ago,
05:40you heard Bob Myers was staying in Golden State.
05:42No, I didn't.
05:43I never made a statement about where Bob Myers was going to go.
05:46And I'll tell you so that you're very clear on the information that we're discussing today,
05:50I am not telling you that the Warriors are in or out.
05:54I'm not telling you that Philly, Miami, Cleveland, or anyone else, they've all got, yes, yes, yes.
06:02They're all in this, as far as I know.
06:05But my belief is that they're not all in this as far as LeBron goes.
06:10I think LeBron knows exactly where he's going.
06:13And the only thing my read is these other places, whether it be Philly or Cleveland, for example,
06:20the fallback options to whatever the number one, and I don't know what the number one option is.
06:25But I think he's got his number one option, but he also wants some fallback options.
06:32But then again, the reason I refer to Cleveland or Philly or Miami as fallback options is because they are
06:41cooked items.
06:43They have come out of the oven.
06:45They are prepared and ready to eat.
06:47So if you wanted to join them, join them.
06:51Is there something more dramatic about July 13th than July 8th?
06:55Is that like, ooh, boy, those five days were fun.
06:59Right.
07:00Like, I don't get that.
07:01So why the wait?
07:03And that's what I want to explore today.
07:06Why the wait?
07:07And it is a totally fair answer to say that LeBron is just a, he's just an attention jerk.
07:14And that's what this is.
07:15And you might be right.
07:17But I currently am leaving open the door for the fact that he's waiting on something to happen.
07:24And I will tell you this, because if you want me to go back on something I said, I will
07:29do that today.
07:30But it's got nothing to do with Bob Myers.
07:32I've been saying for a week, I do not believe that the Golden State Warriors,
07:38with the way that they are philosophically looking at this,
07:41I do not believe they will give up a bunch of future draft capital for Anthony Davis.
07:45I change my mind.
07:47They might now.
07:48They might.
07:48Yep.
07:49But not that much.
07:51And I, my read is that might be what's going on.
07:55So for example, and I'm just throwing, if Washington's like, I want eight first rounders.
08:03Right.
08:04And the Warriors are like, well, we would do two.
08:06And a swap.
08:07Or two swaps.
08:08Or whatever.
08:09And the Wizards, and again, these are just cockamamie numbers.
08:12Right.
08:12And the Wizards are like, that's not enough.
08:14And the Warriors are like, well, that's too much.
08:16And the Wizards say, well, then we're not doing it.
08:18And the Warriors say, well, then we're not doing it.
08:20Great.
08:21Okay.
08:22And now we sit.
08:23And we wait.
08:24And what I think LeBron knows is both of those sitting and waiting things lead two other organizations down a
08:33road they don't want to travel.
08:35That's what I believe.
08:36And that would be Miami and Philadelphia.
08:38No.
08:38Washington and Golden State.
08:39I think Washington's chilling.
08:41I don't think they want to keep Anthony Davis.
08:43Probably not.
08:44And I think more importantly, I don't think he wants to be there.
08:46Right.
08:47And I don't think the Warriors want to do nothing this offseason.
08:50So if I'm LeBron, do I sit there and I go, you guys play your game of chicken.
08:56Figure it out.
08:57Washington, you want to get off Anthony?
08:59Great.
09:00Warriors, would you like to do something this summer?
09:02Great.
09:03And both of you can play hardball, but the card I'm going to play is I don't think the two
09:09of you are just going to sit there and stay there.
09:11Because Washington, you don't want to sign Anthony Davis to an extension.
09:14You don't want him there and he doesn't want to be there.
09:16Right.
09:17And Warriors, you don't want to hold a press conference where you got a big run it back sign behind
09:21your head.
09:22So I'm going to bet you two figure it out.
09:27So I think that might be the wait.
09:31It might be.
09:32And I mean, if you want to go ahead and make that the wait, Stiney mentioned that Anthony Davis is
09:37not extension eligible till August, which means, you know, they can trade him before that.
09:43And then the Warriors would obviously be heading for an extension.
09:46So you don't have to wait until August.
09:47But the very idea that Washington, they have no call to action right now because they're not in on LeBron.
09:53But I tell you why.
09:54What do you think of this?
09:55I'll tell you why I think that is sort of a bit of a deadline.
10:00August 6th, I think, is the date.
10:01Yep.
10:02The minute you get to August 6th and you don't sign Anthony Davis, that's a tell.
10:07The value goes down.
10:08The value goes down.
10:09But between now and then, which is I'm looking 29 days.
10:13And if you're LeBron and maybe you're thinking, you know what, if Anthony comes to the Warriors, that I'm going
10:18to be a Warriors.
10:19And if not, I'll go ahead and chill because, I mean, Cleveland and Philly and Miami and whoever else is
10:25out there.
10:26And they're trying to think that we're still in the market.
10:28And that's where Rich Paul goes on a podcast and says, yeah, Bob, tell me about your roster.
10:33And there you go.
10:35And that makes, see, they're trying to make people blink.
10:39They're trying to make people blink.
10:42And, and they've said publicly, this might take a while.
10:47And what they get to do is tell the world the reason it's taking a while is because we're taking
10:52all of these pitch meetings.
10:54I didn't even pitch meetings.
10:56Brian Windhorst, I believe him.
10:58Brian Windhorst has been following LeBron around right behind his shorts for 25 years.
11:02Since high school, yeah.
11:03I believe Brian Windhorst, when he says, of course, LeBron knows where he's going.
11:08So why is Rich Paul like this is going to, this could take weeks?
11:12And then the news goes out there to Shams that, breaking news, I don't know if this is actually breaking,
11:16but Draymond and LeBron, they're hanging out.
11:19And why did somebody send that to Shams?
11:22Because they want the Warriors in it.
11:24And then the next thing that's going to come out, remember, he went to Cleveland, right?
11:27He was seen in Cleveland.
11:28And Bob Myers talking about Philly and how good they are.
11:32Or next up, it's going to be LeBron James in South Beach.
11:35So there's so many legs to this, and we would love to talk it out.
11:39We're going to go live to Philly and our buddy Joe DiCamera with WIP.
11:45We want to try to check in on Philly and check in on Cleveland today.
11:48Philly at 315.
11:49But a lot of room for you.
11:52888-957-9570.
11:54And it's twofold.
11:54Why do you think there's the wait?
11:56Number one.
11:57And if we do bring, if this, if I'm on to something, and I don't know that I am, but
12:03if I'm on to something, let's get into the idea of in or out on Anthony Davis and for what?
12:11Because we've all been out on it, but I'm out on it at a certain price.
12:15I mean, I could wrap my head around it for cheap.
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