00:00So you don't find it interesting?
00:02You keep saying you're out of things to say.
00:04You didn't find the overnight stuff interesting about Kyrie and Anthony Davis?
00:09Of course it's interesting.
00:09And whether or not LeBron could be also and Clutch could be dictating?
00:13That's interesting.
00:14I like that.
00:15That does bring a new wrinkle.
00:16I'm thankful for that.
00:17But everything else, it's like, well, we'll find out whether or not it's true.
00:19And if he's waiting for Kyrie and I'm going, because my first blush is, I swear to you,
00:24when I saw that yesterday, who's reporting it?
00:27Well, Kevin O'Connor.
00:28It was Yahoo, right?
00:29Kevin O'Connor.
00:29Yes.
00:30And now we're getting to something of substance here.
00:32I'm going to get to the Baskin comments here coming up at 6.43, okay?
00:36I'm glad you brought this up.
00:37Because my first blush is like, oh my God, are we going to move heaven and earth for 41-year
00:41-old LeBron James?
00:42And that's what goes through my head for about 0.3 seconds.
00:44I go, yeah, of course.
00:46Of course.
00:47We got swept in the Eastern Conference Finals.
00:48We are a very good team.
00:51But it's not worth not trying to do everything.
00:54You gave up.
00:55We have no picks.
00:56If you want to go ahead and make those trades for Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving,
01:00away we go.
01:01Either or, more than likely.
01:03If you want to make those trades for either or, away we go.
01:06I'm down.
01:07Make it happen.
01:08But my first, for 0.3 seconds, my first thought was,
01:12are we really going to do that?
01:13Yeah, we are going to do that for LeBron James.
01:15Because he's not the average 41-year-old player.
01:18Because I do, in so many ways, go back to Aaron Rodgers with this.
01:27Like, I get stuck in football mode with this.
01:29Like, man, we're really going to do this?
01:30Like, isn't there a law in diminishing returns here?
01:32No.
01:33No.
01:34He's still, he's not at the peak of his powers, but he can still be a great player.
01:38And it's not like, not all the time, but he can still do tremendous things for us
01:43and still increase our chances to win a championship together.
01:47And if that includes Anthony Davis, give me a pen.
01:51I'll sign off on it.
01:52If that includes Kyrie Irving, as nutty as Kyrie Irving can be,
01:56give me a pen.
01:57I'll sign off on it, Tone.
01:58Now, Anthony Davis, $120 million over the next two years,
02:00and also a player option in that second year for $62.7 million.
02:06Kyrie, on the other hand, has $81 million over the next two years.
02:10That second year is a player option.
02:11I know the Mavericks have repeatedly stated they will not be trading Kyrie.
02:17And then, recently, Rich Paul.
02:19Can we get Nico Harrison back into that front office?
02:21Let's get talking here.
02:22Well, even Rich Paul had said over the last week, and he's done like 30 podcasts,
02:29including yesterday with Bill Simmons, who was begging for him to play in Golden State.
02:33Can we bring back Sports by Brooks and have Rich Paul bring him back?
02:36Yeah, let's get everybody involved.
02:38But, you know, he has said that, no, Anthony Davis is going to be in Washington, D.C.
02:44over the next year.
02:44We'll see.
02:45I don't think anybody's really buying that.
02:47But it is interesting when you start to break down the fits, but also the ages.
02:52You know, we've just kind of seen, you know,
02:56teams that have the older players, you know, in their 30s,
03:01that's normally not a great recipe for the finals.
03:04But then, what does everybody say about the Cavs right now is they're just not flat out not good enough.
03:08They don't have guys that can take their game to another level.
03:11Kyrie has been known to take his game to another level in the playoffs.
03:14And so, too, is Anthony Davis when he's healthy.
03:17Anthony Davis, when he's healthy in the playoffs,
03:20has been a top five player in the NBA.
03:23But it's just been so infrequent because he can't stay healthy.
03:26So, what kind of a chance do the Cavs have to take here?
03:30I thought about that when that got reported yesterday.
03:32And I go, well, we don't have to play him night one.
03:34But we can load manage.
03:36There's always so many things that I can do.
03:39I mean, if we can get through a season not playing a quarterback,
03:42we can do so many things in the NBA not playing Anthony Davis.
03:45Or working on Anthony Davis and making sure he's healthy for when it really matters.
03:50Because this is where it really works out.
03:52Seriously.
03:52I know that they have to gel.
03:54So, there will be times where they've got to hit the gas and not hit the gas.
03:57But, frankly, I think you can make the playoffs as a seven seed or a six seed.
04:02I don't want to be seven or eight.
04:03A six seed, a five seed, somewhere in there.
04:06And certainly, you can go to the NBA Finals.
04:07The league is so different than what it was when LeBron first came back in 2014.
04:13And so, I'm open to all of it.
04:14A personality that we've had for 15 years, Andy Baskin.
04:17And I saw what some of the NBA fans were saying about this.
04:21So, let me knock it down right now.
04:24Now, there has been many, many a radio man accused of telling tall tales.
04:29Baskin has never, ever, ever been one of them.
04:33Ever been one of them.
04:35He's not a person that's going to be a flamethrower.
04:37He's not a person that's going to rock the boat.
04:39He is a very respected man.
04:41He's a very respected.
04:42He is a journalist.
04:43I am not a journalist.
04:44Anthony has been, but he isn't right now.
04:47Part-time.
04:48Part-time journalism.
04:50Journalists.
04:51Baskin is.
04:53All right?
04:54And it's not like every day he's trying to say, I got sources.
04:57He doesn't do that.
04:59And so, when Baskin says what he says, guys, we got to listen.
05:04Hit it.
05:07Here's what I was told yesterday about the whole LeBron situation.
05:10You and I.
05:11You've been told by a reliable.
05:12A reliable source.
05:13Somebody who I trust.
05:14Last week, LeBron's crew was probably ready to make an announcement.
05:18They were in New York, and the world had their eyes on New York because of the World Cup.
05:23They were probably comfortable making an announcement as early as last week that they were there.
05:27And then, people were, like, telling them what to do.
05:31There's a little bit of irritation.
05:33Irritated by the commissioner.
05:34Pushing them to say...
05:35The commissioner irritating LeBron James.
05:38Because we want to get this stuff out there.
05:39We want to get the schedule finished.
05:41Yeah.
05:42And it may not just be LeBron, but it's more about LeBron's group together.
05:46So, that the irritation got to the point, they were like, well, you know what?
05:49We'll decide when LeBron is going to tell everyone where he's going.
05:53So, they decided to hold back on making their next decision, their next move on where they
05:58want to play, or where LeBron wants to play.
06:01Andy is the stickler of sticklers.
06:03This show's been on nearly a decade, and there have been several times where Andy has texted.
06:08He usually texts you.
06:09He very rarely texts me during a show.
06:12And he wants to correct something or something like that.
06:15Which is perfectly fine, by the way.
06:17I'm telling you right now.
06:19As God is my witness.
06:21If Andy Baskin is saying it.
06:23Somebody in that building.
06:25Somebody very, very, very, very, very well connected within the Cavs.
06:29Somebody high up has told him that.
06:32And that's why I have to believe him.
06:33Which probably is good for a Cavs fan.
06:35Or bad, whichever way you want to say it.
06:37Because I could take it good and go, oh, it seemed like he had his decision made.
06:40And maybe it was going for the Cavs.
06:43Or it does give more time to kind of kick around other ideas, right?
06:49That's how I took it.
06:50Maybe you took it a little bit different.
06:51Listen.
06:52Does he say LeBron has made his decision for the Cavs in there?
06:55Or does he just say that he was going to make his decision and then Adam Silver opened up his
07:00mouth.
07:00And he was like, well, I'm not going to do it now out of spite.
07:03Yeah, and this totally is believable.
07:09Especially coming from Andy, who's been pretty plugged in with some higher ups.
07:14I've seen Andy Baskin sit in courtside at some of those Cavs games.
07:17So he's rubbed shoulders with some of the luminaries down there.
07:22And look, Clutch also has boots on the ground still here in Northeast Ohio.
07:28I know that firsthand, you know, every summer, Kenny, when there are some of those basketball workouts that, remember, I
07:34used to attend.
07:35They are still very plugged in here in the community.
07:38In fact, he has brought in people in the orbit of the basketball community locally.
07:46Those people have ascended within Clutch.
07:49So, look, all of this is 100% believable.
07:54And I do believe it to be true.
07:56Yes.
07:57And, you know, the other part of this is guys like LeBron.
08:01And people are going to roll their eyes at this given the amount of money and opportunity LeBron has been
08:07able to amass over time.
08:11But LeBron, and he's not alone.
08:13There are other superstars in that league that feel like operating in a capped situation with maximum contracts.
08:21Like the amount of money that LeBron has generated for the teams he's played for, the league, the shoe companies,
08:31local commerce, the local economy.
08:35There's still, I bet you, somebody could go in front of Harvard Business School, maybe Maverick Carter,
08:39and demonstrate and prove that he's actually been taken advantage of.
08:43That he has not been paid his actual value.
08:47The value that he has brought to the teams that he has been on.
08:50Oh, I totally agree.
08:52I totally, totally, totally agree.
08:55And somebody even commented on my Facebook about it.
08:57Because, again, I made the joke with Matthew McConaughey and stuff.
09:01Like, hey, I'm off next week.
09:02And I start drinking at noon and no one's going to get in the way of that.
09:06And somebody said, like, this is ridiculous.
09:08I go, guys, I got to tell you.
09:10Yeah, I'm annoyed that it's taken a little bit long.
09:12But I'm also incredibly impressed.
09:15Because he is the, I tried to think about it.
09:19I'm sure there's other guys in history.
09:22I think he's the last man.
09:24Woman, maybe not.
09:26Maybe somebody else can hold up the WNBA.
09:29But I think he is the last male American athlete that can hold up a league.
09:35That can, that wields that much power.
09:39I think he's the, playing in the, I should say, the four major American sports that we discuss daily in
09:45this country on, in podcast content, everything like that.
09:48I think he's the last guy who's able to do it.
09:50I think other leagues will look at this and go, we can never allow this.
09:54I think the NFL has meetings and go, this is why we do what we do.
09:57We can never allow this.
09:59And by the way, he deserves it.
10:01He does.
10:01Because he's made that league a lot of money.
10:03All right?
10:04See, this is what makes it tough.
10:06Is I could sit here and pout and moan and go, and I have.
10:09I pouted and moaned that it's taking a long time.
10:12But I have to understand and tell the truth about this.
10:14It is very impressive.
10:16It's very impressive that you can hold up a league like this and know that, hey, you do what you
10:20do.
10:20If you want to put Victor on a billboard, you go right on ahead.
10:24But we know who stirs the drink around here.
10:26And it's still me.
10:27And I'm 41 years old.
10:28And I know you guys have been trying to pass the torch.
10:30But the guys you've been trying to pass the torch, they ain't got it like I got it.
10:34And they ain't been able to handle their fame like I've been able to handle my fame.
10:37And you guys need me more than I need you.
10:40And he's holding it down.
10:42And I got to tell you, as much as I can go, well, it's been 24 days and I'm tired
10:46of waiting around.
10:47I got to tell you, I'm really impressed by it.
10:49I'm really impressed.
10:50I'll tell you, I'll throw all three of them in.
10:53Mav, Rich, LeBron.
10:55You know, look, they're all looking at what is life going to be like for all three of them for
11:01the next 20 years.
11:02All right.
11:03Rich Paul, if you listen to his podcast yesterday with Bill Simmons and Max Kellerman,
11:08then, like, I have been floating, like, is Rich going to be a GM of a basketball team?
11:13Is that what's next?
11:14And they talked about it.
11:15And he said it's actually being used against him.
11:18Other agencies are going after Rich's players and saying he's not even going to be doing this in a year
11:24or two.
11:25If I were Rich, Paul, he's going to be a GM.
11:26I would think being a GM is too low.
11:28Yeah, I mean.
11:29I would want something higher.
11:30I'd want a stake in a team.
11:32I think that he could do something like that.
11:34Now, that might be a conflict of interest that I don't know about.
11:36Legalese is different.
11:37But he's got a genuine book of business.
11:40He's got the respect.
11:42And then Maverick Carter.
11:43Maverick Carter, whether it was LeBron's personal manager to running Spring Hill Entertainment
11:49and dictating things in Hollywood to LRMR, like, all three of these guys have become titans in what they do.
11:58And then what is the next phase of that?
12:00And how is that being impacted by LeBron's next decision?
12:04Because from what I continue to see, it's not what I've heard, but what I continue to see is I
12:09think that could be part of the holdup is this group kind of trying to figure out what's best for
12:17their clients, what's best for their partners.
12:19And, you know, we're only talking the basketball side of things, but that basketball side of things could be over
12:24in the next year or two.
12:26Well, there's also, he knows he's not going to play for the most amount of money.
12:29And I know I've got to wrap this up here.
12:30So there is a bit of, how are you going to make this even out in the long run?
12:35You know, what can we do without, without getting ourselves into trouble, you know, allegedly Kawhi Leonard style or any
12:42of the other things, what can we do to make this even out in the long run here?
12:46That it's going to be beneficial and he gets paid what I'm worth.
12:48Like that, what might be what, what he's thinking about.
Comments