00:00I want to get your takeaway and how and how the WNBA is handling their business right now and how
00:06they're handling all these storylines coming out of that sport.
00:10Well, first of all, I just want to say thanks for having me.
00:13It's always a pleasure.
00:14You're more than just a great, great, awesome friend.
00:18You're a fantastic and important voice.
00:20And I want people to know whether they're just checking in today or if they are used to hearing you.
00:25I've known this guy a long time.
00:26He's a smart one.
00:27Yeah, you can be a knucklehead.
00:28We all admit that, but he's a smart guy.
00:31And I just love being on your show.
00:33Listen, real quick, I just want to say this about the WNBA.
00:37My sister, Dano, you know this, was an outstanding high school and collegiate basketball player.
00:43So I've been around the sport for a long time, going all the way back to when she was 12
00:47and she was AAU and very, very accomplished.
00:51I respect greatly the athletes.
00:55I played basketball with a couple of them and they can shoot.
00:58They're legit, like they really do love the sport.
01:00But here's the problem I'm having.
01:01Number one, they're not defending the goose, the golden goose, if you will.
01:08They're not defending Caitlin Clark.
01:10They're not doing enough to defend and protect Sophie Cunningham.
01:13And when you don't do that, you alienate the casual fan.
01:18People like me who would just, yeah, I wouldn't mind checking out a game once in a while.
01:21You've got to do a better job of that.
01:23But there's something else that's missing here.
01:25Whenever the league refuses to acknowledge the obvious, like, for example, there are differences between biological men and biological women.
01:36Even if you refuse to at least acknowledge what people know to be so, even if you do so in
01:41a very respectful and, I think, generous way, you tarnish the long-term health of the league.
01:48And that's something people really have to take seriously.
01:50By the way, I think the NBA should do a much better job in collaborating with the WNBA on messaging.
01:58You know and I know, if you want to really own the news cycle, get out in front of big
02:03stories, get out ahead of difficult messaging by being proactive, by being humble, by acknowledging when you make mistakes, and
02:13promising to do better.
02:14People are very forgiving in this country, and I'd like to see the league do a lot better job at
02:19managing their image than they're doing right now.
02:22Kevin, and let's go down this lane here.
02:25It's almost like this, and you tell me if you disagree or agree here.
02:29Look, the African-American women that came before and built that league into what the league is today, there's no
02:37doubt.
02:37Caitlin Clark is not the greatest player in the history of that league.
02:41However, she's an important part, like Larry Bird was in 1980 when he came into the league.
02:47You had white viewers coming to the league.
02:50So I make that comparison.
02:52I'm not saying Bird's the greatest, one of the greatest, but he was important on getting white viewers to want
02:59to go and watch that sport.
03:01So at the end of the day here, you know, you've got to sit and you've got to go down
03:07the lane of, okay, look, it's almost like they are so in a position right now where they're almost not
03:16wanting to insult the players of the past.
03:19And I get that, but when you have a golden goose like that, like Kevin was just talking, hopefully we
03:25can get them back here.
03:27You've got to promote that.
03:30Look, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were one of the most and two of the most important people in the
03:37evolution of the NBA.
03:39People did not watch the NBA.
03:42They were calling it a two black league until those two men.
03:46This is what you had with Bird and Magic.
03:48You had greatness.
03:49You had Celtics.
03:51You had Lakers.
03:53And, Kev, my point is I think they're so, they're so, like, worried about insulting the women that came before
04:03that they're going almost to an extreme.
04:06Am I wrong when I say that?
04:08Well, first of all, I just love that you made the Bird-Magic comparison.
04:13The truth is I thought that was fantastic for the league.
04:16And you and I are, let's just call it for what it is, gentlemen of a certain age.
04:20So we remember those days.
04:23It was glorious for the league to have a star like Larry Bird who had come out of the hit
04:30from French Lick, you know, had come out of Indiana State.
04:33That was really good.
04:34That was great for the league.
04:35I think having a Caitlin Clark or even a Sophie Cunningham is good for the casual fan.
04:40I think it invites more people who otherwise may not have consumed the product, the league itself.
04:47If that gets butts in the seats, or as we used to say when I worked at ESPN and I
04:52was down at Disney for a while, they'd say, how do you get heads in beds?
04:55You know, how do you fill the resorts?
04:56That's all this is.
04:57It's great marketing.
04:58They're great players, by the way.
05:00They're not slouches.
05:01Are they the best ever in the case of Caitlin Clark?
05:03No.
05:04But you know what?
05:05She's awfully good.
05:06And I'm just disappointed that more players aren't savvy enough to understand that she really helps everybody.
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