# THE LOWRY-SAURUS REX | Ep. 13

An episode of [Give Me the Ball](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6785322005), 23 Sep 2026, 59 min.

Audio: https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/0ae730cd577dc96ea1ad3bdbb9df21ef7db1431c120419d1e9b6197b81d8be6c/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiI1NzA0NDZhZS03Yjg1LTRhZjQtYmZjOS03ZGY2MWMwNGRiMGEiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiJjY2MxMDA5MS1lY2U1LTQ5OGMtYjZmYS02YTVjZDE0MDY5NjYiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2YTNiMTkzZjQ0ODM3MzdjNzVlZWQwMDAiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNmFiMzE0YjRjZTlkZjY0YzIwNzgzYTg0L2RqLWdyZWVucy1zdHVkaW8tcnl1c2EtMjAyNi05LTIyX18yMy01Mi0yMC5tcDMifQ==.mp3

Give Me the Ball | Episode 13: "THE LOWRY-SAURUS REX" In this episode, DJ and Yo open the show by reading through listener responses to their questions of the week. Question 1: "Should a player who is caught flopping have to publicly apologize? If so, why?" Question 2: "Is a players legacy more affected by 'ring chasing' or by never leaving a bad situation?" The takes come in hot. From there, they break down the Toronto Raptors' new Kyle Lowry dinosaur statue — and let's just say Lowry isn't the first legend to get immortalized in a way nobody asked for. DJ and Yo run through some of the most infamous statue disasters in sports history and debate where this one lands on the scale. Next up, Allen Iverson's recent top-5-players-of-all-time list has the internet in shambles, and DJ and Yo weigh in on who they'd swap in, who got snubbed, and whether AI just did it for the reactions. They also dig into the new deals for Keyonte George and Ausar Thompson, breaking down what the money means for both guys' futures and whether the teams got it right. They close it out with DJ putting Yo through a pop quiz on the NBA bubble — and it goes...somewhat smoothly. Lace up. Let's get into it. 📲 Follow & Subscribe: 📸 Instagram → @givemetheball.podcast 🎵 TikTok → @givemetheball.podcast ▶️ YouTube → @GiveMetheBall.Podcast

## Transcript

Yowan: I know what you're talking about!
DJ: or something. Kyle BBL
Yowan: Hahaha!
DJ: Lowry statue, boy. What? Nah, not in front of the stadium.
Yowan: No, you got me crazy, bro. Yeah, That one would have broke the internet, bro. I ain't gonna lie, bro.
DJ: What's cracking? Welcome back to the Gimme the Ball podcast. I don't think we're gonna freestyle this episode. We are not rappers.
Yowan: No. No.
DJ: Hey, every once in a while we might try it again, We're not doing that no more. Nah, man. So we wanted to try something this week. We wanted to try having a question of the week. For our audience, people on Instagram specifically. And our turnout It could be better. I'ma challenge y'all. I think our turnout could be a little bit better. But we also got a few responses. So I'm gonna read the question and then I'm gonna also read the responses. There were two questions. So the first question, sorry, I don't have my glasses on, I can't see nothing, so I'm gonna pull it close. You know what?
Yowan: You're good, buddy.
DJ: I gotta get a new mic so I don't have to hold my mic at the same time. Alright, man. So, question of the week, number one, the first question. Should a player who gets caught flopping have to publicly apologize? If so, why? So we didn't get a lot of whys, but I'm gonna go with the first answer to the poll by coach. Wade. We know who that is, Coach Wade. Shout out, Coach Wade.
Yowan: Set our culture, man.
DJ: And his response was nah, but they should be shunned. Which that's fair. I still think I personally think that they should apologize. I think that'd be funny. Second response, my boy Landon Catlett. Shout out, Landon. He said, not necessarily apologize, but flopping should be fined. Cause this shit's getting out of hand.
Yowan: Ha ha!
DJ: the fourth answer was my boy Slim. Shout out Slim. He said yes, all
Yowan: Shout out to him,
DJ: caps. exclamation point, which I agree a hundred percent. And then last but not least, our boy Reddo. And he
Yowan: Okay, Redo.
DJ: I'm gonna cover my face with the mic when I say this one. I'll make sure I edit it out too. But he said, Yeah, for being a pussy.
Yowan: You know, Redo, I would give like a, I don't think about she did it, but like, Redo is the only international guy that we gave them the pass to use the, you know
DJ: Ha ha
Yowan: what I'm saying?
DJ: He abused it bro, I'm not gonna lie, he abused it.
Yowan: And exactly he abused it like, he abused it so bad.
DJ: Nah. He abused it. Nah, Reddo, you abused it. He still I'm not gonna lie. I'm I'm gonna call he he low key still does, My thoughts on this question. I think it would be crazy. I I think they should be fined, yes, 100%. But do you know how like funny and humiliating for them at the same time it would be? Like, you know how the mic had the refs have to go up to the mic and explain the call on a challenge? They'd be like
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: So and so made contact here prior to the foul, so it's not a f like whatever, right? Like imagine
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: the player goes up to the microphone and has to be like has to explain like I'm sorry for flopping and I accept a fifty thousand dollar fine or like whatever, like that'd be stupid, bro. But at the same time it would be funny.
Yowan: That would be crazy. Yeah.
DJ: My brother's gonna be mad because he responded to that question. But he texted it to me. So what did he say? He said nah. He said no. Actually, you know what? Sorry, This is L me. L preparation. I'm gonna tell you what he said. He said, nah. That shit is dumb. They're a grown man at the end of the day. Just fine So also fair. Yohan, what do you think? You think they should be you think they should have to apologize or you think just l just let it go? Just find
Yowan: Well, like, so... You know, they're only honestly, they only play with what's like what the rules allow them to do and how the ref and the the ref is calling the game, whatever. But yeah, if you flop in too much, because at one point we watch it how they OKC where sometimes it was crazy. So I won't put the name, but but yeah, that would be that would be actually funny. That would make them think twice before doing something. But sometimes.
DJ: bro, have to.
Yowan: But look, but sometimes for some of those players, I guarantee you. For them, they're not even doing it. It's like natural angst for them to do that. Yeah. For some people.
DJ: It's habit, bro. It's a habit for SGA at this point. That's just that's literally just how he plays now. He doesn't even know how to shoot a normal jump shot anymore. I'm convinced.
Yowan: So imagine this practice in future, like some heavy movement like shots.
DJ: This man this man will pay his whole salary in fines.
Yowan: Now you'll be funny though,
DJ: Question number two Is a superstar's legacy hurt more by ring chasing or by never leaving a bad situation? So the first response I had was by underscore, underscore, underscore chems
Yowan: out.
DJ: shout out to Kims if you listening, bro. but his reply was
Yowan: out of the canes, bro.
DJ: history only cares about winners. In KD's situation, he's a champion and that's all that matters. Interesting. Second response. Shout out Coach Wade. Coach Wade with another response. He just replied ring chasing. Arias, we know Arias, shout out Arias. He replied the same thing,
Yowan: Shut up rice man, my little boy fruit.
DJ: ring chasing. And then my boy Slim replied, ring chasing is such a lame excuse to hate on someone. Everyone is chasing a ring. So I do have some thoughts on that question. So I agree more with Slim on this one. I'm gonna say, Slim, I agree with you more to an extent. I think, yes, I've said this on the pod before. Every NBA player is ring chasing at the end of the day. The everybody wants to win a ring.
Yowan: Yes.
DJ: Everybody wants to win a championship. So that that part is true. However, I do feel like how people go about getting their rings. Especially in KD's situation, maybe only in KD's situation is where I have a problem. I related it to everybody is out here trying to make money. We all work a job, most of us. We all are out here trying to get money, right? But there is a right and
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: a wrong way to make money. I think we can both agree.
Yowan: Yeah, it depends but yeah. Yes!
DJ: So it's like, nah, bro, like you can't be out here robbing people, and that's how you make money. Like, that's a wrong way to make money. I know that's there's people out here that are doing this. Yes. There's people out here selling drugs to make money because they have to. I get it. Sometimes
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: they have to, not all the time. And maybe you actually don't have to. That's another argument
Yowan: You
DJ: for another episode. But there's a right and a wrong way to make money. There's a right and a wrong way to win a ring, if you will. So while yes, everybody in the
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: NBA is ring chasing, everybody's trying to win a ring. There's certain ways you maybe should and shouldn't go about it.
Yowan: Yeah, that is true. If you're in the league and you're not really like playing, because we had this conversation before, if you're not playing to win the game, then what you're doing? And winning games is going to get you to winning the leagues. You know, you always want to be on the stage when you have to show the whole world that y'all was the best team ever that year. Just putting the work
DJ: Mm-hmm.
Yowan: that y'all working out all summer. So I don't think if an NBA player is just, and it's sometimes in reality, that's just the reality of being an athlete sometimes, because I feel like so multiple of those pros are too have two different mindset coming into the summer, for example, because we're coming to the end of the summer, all NBA teams about to get ready for training camps. almost, everybody now almost know where they're going to go on their teams, contract games, soda, whatever. So it's like, there's people that like, for example, LeBron James this off season, he's know it's coming to a season when he's trying to get a ring, right?
DJ: Exactly. Yeah.
Yowan: But I'm going to use Jonathan Kamenga, know, a native from Congo also, you know, shout out to Congo, you know, that's family. So it's like, somebody like Jonathan Kamenka is like this off season, he was probably working out to find a team. Do you get what I'm saying?
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: Working out to find a team, then now once I find a team, then I'm going to see if I'm going to win a ring with that team. Right? But honestly, I feel like if you're a basketball player and then sometimes in general, a lot of players that go into a season or whatever and they're not thinking about winning, what you doing, bro? Like honestly,
DJ: Facts.
Yowan: what you doing?
DJ: Yeah, nah. And that's like
Yowan: That's just my thought on it.
DJ: that's every I mean, they have people or teams in the past that t have been tanking and whatnot, and their objective was not to win a championship, but to win a a high draft pick, right? But the NBA has made rules that is going to prevent that from happening now. So we probably
Yowan: Yes.
DJ: won't see any more tanking, which is great. But like you said, the objective of of playing in competitive sports should be to win. Now I understand what you're saying. There's guys out here in the NBA who are just trying to make a spot on a team, trying to get a paycheck, and then worry about winning the ring. So that also makes sense.
Yowan: Yeah, yeah.
DJ: But I think in general, if you're on a team, the main reason you are there, the franchise didn't bring you in to give you a paycheck. They're paying you to win a ring.
Yowan: 100%. Yeah, I do agree.
DJ: Innocents. You feel me? also my brother my brother did respond. He said ring chasing. People argue how much KD's rings mean nothing compared to say a Giannis or even a Joker's ring. Now imagine if Wilt left and played for the Celtics with Bill. KD's legacy is tarnished pretty bad, then you have the greats who really stuck it out through thick and thin and made something good out of bad situations. So that kinda that honestly kinda relates to what I was saying a little bit. It's like K D was ring chasing bad. And I hate saying that, but I guess the way he was going about it was just not great. Considering
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: that he was up against that team three one in the finals and then lost to them. And then went and joined them to win a ring after they were the most dominant team in the NBA. They didn't win the chip the chip that year, but they won the year before. And they had the best regular
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: season record the year that he blew a 3-1 lead to them. So on paper, that was the best team that we've ever seen in the NBA besides winning the championship. And he went and joined them after he blew a 3-1 lead to them with his team.
Yowan: Hey.
DJ: So I think that's where it's just like one of those things. It was just like, why would you do that? When I believe Him and Russ would have had another opportunity to win a ring together if they would have just stayed together.
Yowan: I would say all this we can just stop and think about like, yeah, maybe he would have won with Westbrook. What if not? Like this is a possibility. What if not? What if they would, because every team get better and every team get better. Like something that we got to take in consideration is like every year teams get better. The same team that's going right now. And I know we talk about earlier teams that was tanking. Those teams, they're tanking, but they're not tanking just to lose. They're tanking because they know we're going to win a lottery. We're going to win a great pick. and we're to make something happen to win the next years. Everything end up with winning, right? Sometimes
DJ: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
Yowan: some players, okay, sometimes some players, there's two types of players. There's people, I don't know if you argue with that. There's players that play for the people and there's player, that player that play for themself. When you play for
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: the people, it's when you play for people is when you're to start thinking about, Am I good? Am I so great? What do people think about me? What do people do there? Did I perform well? And when you play for yourself, it's like you're trying to prove you're trying to prove that you can do something. You're trying to get better than you was yesterday. Do you get what I'm saying? where's
DJ: Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yowan: Katie, Katie at that moment, Katie was like, yo, like I'm going to leave because I want to ring. I ain't got nothing to prove to nobody else. I already proved who I was. Of course there
DJ: That's true.
Yowan: was a situation when there was a situation when probably things didn't went how we wanted. This didn't went how we, us the fan or the organization didn't went.
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: you get what saying? and sometimes when things don't go our way we say why you did that? but at the end of the day nobody gonna take his ring he's a ring now he have a ring do
DJ: That's true. He has two
Yowan: you get what I'm saying? has two rings so like
DJ: So
Yowan: would he be better for him to stay or KC for example and what if and say for example he did not want no rings then now what? then now it's gonna be the same conversation even worse KD don't do nothing can't even
DJ: Yeah. Actually that's a good point too.
Yowan: yeah If he didn't have no
DJ: That is a good point.
Yowan: ring, the whole conversation would be switched and everyone would be like, you know, we know the fan, we know us on internet. we can consider ourselves as a media now. We are a media platform. We're giving news and things that if we talk about basketball, if the thing was flipped and he didn't win, for example, it's going to be way more and heavier on KD. And then people now will be like, what did he even accomplish?
DJ: That's true. I mean, I feel like that
Yowan: You see what I'm saying?
DJ: that's true. That's true with the caveat that he
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: was a MVP of the NBA. So it's
Yowan: Yeah. Yeah.
DJ: kind of like the whole Russell Westbrook thing. Think about how much respect. Now we didn't see this during his career, but and we're not seeing this now with KD. And KD has rings and
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: an MVP. And we still don't see the respect for KD. That we see for other players, but with Russell Westbrook, it's taken unfortunately
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: it took him to retire for people to finally show him respect, or at least the media, mainstream fans to show him respect. But it's like you think
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: about him, bro. He thugged it out with teams. He was traded from teams. He was an MVP of the league. And he just kind of he was he played the cards he was dealt. He never, he never really was like, I'm trying to get out of here. I'm trying to get out of here. At least not to our knowledge. You know what I mean?
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: And so it's like we see the respect that people have generally for a Russell Westbrook versus a KD. I'm not taking nothing from KD because, like you said, he's a champion. Nobody could take that from him. Whether no matter how he got him,
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: I mean, the the fact of the matter is he's an NBA champion, two-time NBA champion.
Yowan: Yeah, 30%.
DJ: But it's like, with the exception of you have a player like Russell Westbrook who still has mad respect, still considered one of the GOATs, one of the greatest point guards of all time, in my opinion. top three in my opinion, but a lot of people argue top five.
Yowan: yeah. I believe that for sure.
DJ: And it's like he doesn't even have a ring. So it's just hard to say, bro. I think everybody made good points with KD. I think you made a good point with KD. I think my everybody who commented made a good point with with the ring chasing and things like that. So hey, I like
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: that. I like doing the question of the week. Hey, y'all stay tuned for the questions
Yowan: Nice.
DJ: of the week next week. We appreciate y'all What what's the word I'm looking for? contributing. Cause without you guys, obviously there would be no show. There would be no opportunity to do something like that. So appreciate y'all for a question of the week. And we gon we gonna
Yowan: Yeah. Yeah.
DJ: keep that going. I like that. I like that. That's smooth. did you say you had some questions you wanted to ask?
Yowan: Yeah, I wanted to talk about something that's so funny online. I don't know anything. I just wanted to know what you think about it. So I saw the Kyle Lowry whatever, Raptors, Tattoo, they did whatever. And I was just questioning myself, why did they do that though? Why didn't they just build?
DJ: Bruh, the one that had the one that had greatest of all time with the Raptor?
Yowan: Yeah, and then they put his name and then the number of the jersey like it's only the
DJ: Ha ha ha.
Yowan: name on it. Why did I just put the face of the player or something like this? Like, I don't know. Maybe they've been doing this for a long time. I was just so curious because for me personally, how I'm going to have my name attached to it. I mean, of course, know Toronto Raptors. I know what they mean by that. like, But I was just I just I just didn't like it for some reason. I don't like that. I wouldn't like that, me personally as a player. Do you get what I'm saying?
DJ: Bro
Yowan: As a player, like you use all your energy and everything to make that dinosaur.
DJ: Yo, hold on, listen. Hear me out. Cause I know what you're saying. I know what you're
Yowan: Like, did you get what I'm saying? Yeah.
DJ: saying. But do you remember do you remember D Wade statue?
Yowan: Look, look, I don't know if it was the way, that guy was not the way, damn.
DJ: Would you rather okay, no no no no no no real talk, real talk, real talk, real talk. Yo, would you rather have the D Wade statue or the dinosaur statue? Like, let's be real. Would you risk would you risk having your D Wade statue? Or would you rather just then make a dinosaur with your jersey? We your name's on it, like we know who it is. It's not a question of who it is. Bro,
Yowan: Yeah, but
DJ: cause I'm taking the dinosaur respectfully. That was not D Wade, bro.
Yowan: Look, that was not Dwaye. That was probably, I don't know, Drain Drain or somebody. I don't know. let me tell you something. Look,
DJ: Bro, what
Yowan: I would take the dino for sure, compared to what they did to Dwaye or
DJ: Exactly.
Yowan: whatever. But like, bro, let's have a conversation, Can they not pick a good artist to make it, bro? Like what? With all the money they make it? Stop. We got to have a real conversation.
DJ: That's that's a question That's a question that I think people been asking since they seen the D-Wade statue. Like who on earth did you pay
Yowan: Yes.
DJ: to screw this up?
Yowan: Nah, he gotta get, I gotta find him bro. I hope
DJ: 'Cause
Yowan: D-Way find him to have a conversation. Cause this is crazy.
DJ: Bro. They must have just gone to an open market and some some random person never made a statue in their life was like, I'll do it. And they were like, I bet you'll make the statue. He's like, Yeah, I'll make the statue came out looking like, I don't know, bruh.
Yowan: This is not, this is like, looks for me, it looks like an emulation, bro. It looks like a plain emulation to me. But it was just, but I, no, sure, I would take the dyno. Yeah, not when I think about it. Yeah, the dyno ain't bad. I ain't gonna lie, bro. The dyno ain't bad, you know? Make sure the dyno got my jersey, whatever.
DJ: Bro, and they might mess around and give if they made a if they made a full body Kyle Lowry statue, they might have messed around and gave him like a BBL or something.
Yowan: I know what you're talking about!
DJ: Kyle BBL
Yowan: Hahaha!
DJ: Lowry statue, boy. What? Nah, not in front of the stadium.
Yowan: No, you got me crazy, bro. Yeah, that one would be insane. That one would have broke the internet, bro. I ain't gonna lie, bro.
DJ: A cow BBL bro, and they would have put that on the statue name. Kyle BBL Lowry. Bro, what?
Yowan: It would be insane. Yeah, bro. Yeah, it would be crazy, bro. I ain't gonna lie. Nah, They gotta stop.
DJ: Hey, stick with the dinosaur. Low key. I'm good with the dinosaur. I think it's chill.
Yowan: They just sound they're chill. I got my own.
DJ: I don't even know if this is a real thing. We haven't even confirmed if this is a real like statue.
Yowan: I think it was, I think it is. We got a double check, but I think it is for sure. Because apparently they did the same to Vince Carter, right?
DJ: I don't know. We gonna have to l yeah.
Yowan: We gotta double check that, because I think they did the same to Vince Carter. So they were probably like a tradition or whatever. Man. Let
DJ: You can look it up, bro. Go ahead, go ahead, look that up.
Yowan: me look it up for her, bro, because this is crazy, bro. Nah, bro, they gotta be stopped, man.
DJ: Nah, these stat yeah, stat whoever's making statues for the NBA just needs to stop.
Yowan: gotta be stopped bro I'm not gonna lie they gotta be stopped.
DJ: Let me do it.
Yowan: for the bag yeah let me do it bro
DJ: Nah, I'm chilling, bro.
Yowan: They did that. The Toronto Raptors honor franchise legend Kyle Weaver said, unusual. Why Evan Google said, unusual golden downers are started. They're like a block party. Evan Google said, unusual. Like Evan Google knows that's not usual. But hey, you take the dynamite.
DJ: Did they make one for Vince too?
Yowan: But let me check Vince.
DJ: Wow, I thought that was fake. So maybe I mean the idea is cool, but I give I also get what you're saying. But considering how bad they've messed up statues in the past, I think I would take the dinosaur with with my jersey and my name.
Yowan: But they gotta, they gotta, they gotta fire that guy bro.
DJ: I think he got fired, bro. I think D Wade probably cooked D Wade probably killed him on site.
Yowan: Let me see.
DJ: Raptors legends.
Yowan: Yes it is true that the Interruptors of a newer franchise legend within a conventional styles dinosaur style rather than traditional human sculpture that is true they did that to wait the the the team took the exact same approach for Vince Carter yeah dedicated style
DJ: I didn't know that.
Yowan: does not feature his human likeness instead it is dinosaur muscular performing his iconic windmill like a dino they're making a windmill
DJ: Alright bro. I've got I gotta see this now. Yeah.
Yowan: Like a dino not making it. I saw it with like a number 15 on it. Because Beans Bowl 15. So it was a dino with a number 15 doing a windmill. Like bro chill.
DJ: But his little his little win
Yowan: Hey look, they cannot mess it up, they can't mess it up my face but they can't mess up the... The dino look clean though! Even the teeth look clean! Even the teeth of the dino look clean! Bro how? How is it hard to make sure?
DJ: That's fair. That's fair. I'm saying, see how I see how I changed your mind on that? 'Cause you can you you're gonna mess the face up, bro. You can't risk that. You I can't risk having something that's gonna live forever in an arena and it don't even look like me.
Yowan: I'm trying to figure out how they feel when they look just I know they want to cry at that moment but they just acting cool like they just acting cool bro like I know you can go to Africa right now bro go to Africa right now go to to Niger you go to the museum you show the face up promise to you somebody gonna make it way better job and they go
DJ: Huh.
Yowan: I guarantee you bro we can literally bet on it
DJ: Hey, I'm not going to. I believe you. They got a lot of
Yowan: same work.
DJ: they got a lot of like mud and dirt and stuff to make sculptures over there, bruh. So
Yowan: They make it up like my dad my dad my dad recently saw me some stuff like made like like hand stuff made from For for you know for my daughter
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: I know they can do it for sure. just you give him the bag, bro
DJ: NBA needs to call up Africa to make sculptures, is what I'm hearing.
Yowan: 100%. They might be cheap too. True. They might not even spend the more money they did to mess it up that one for. That's insane work, bro.
DJ: Nah, that's crazy. another thing I saw I sent it to you. I think you had it on your list to talk about too, but Allen Iverson posted his top five of all time.
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: And a lot of people it had a lot of people hot. I'm not gonna lie. It did. It had a lot of people hot. So Allen Iverson's top five, he listed Michael Jordan at number one, Kobe Bryant at number two, LeBron
Yowan: Yeah. Yeah.
DJ: James at number three, Shaq at number four, and Steph at five.
Yowan: Okay, I'm gonna think like I was at an arbor song. Yes. So I'm going to think like I'm Iverson. saw Jordan playing. I saw Kobe playing. I saw LeBron playing. I saw Shaquille playing. He hoped against all of them. And he is watching closely Stephen Curry do what he's doing right now. Right. If there is a player that can actually assess the level of all those players. He's definitely on the top 50 list or 20 of those players. Cause not only he watched them closely playing and he was on the floor against them. Like
DJ: It's true.
Yowan: when you play against somebody, get to actually like, know, say for example, if I play with you, if you're in a conversation, let's say for example, if I play with LeBron James and then I play against Kobe, whatever. will sometimes it will be a little bit biased for me to say LeBron is the best player because I only I've been playing. I play with them, right? But if I play against all of them, it's like, I know what they're of. I know how they made me feel. I know how we scout them, right? You get what saying? So when I put my top
DJ: Yeah. for sure.
Yowan: five, and then people, when they put their top five, we have to understand that that's their own opinion, right? And it's okay to be hot and have an own opinion. But me personally, I never really like, I would not say, I'm a big LeBron era. It's just me. I'm a LeBron
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: era. I'm a Lebron hero. Everything they talk about, all these players, they great, they great. But living in Africa, I watched Lebron a lot. I saw Lebron, I saw what he was doing and he was like, he's a superstar everywhere.
DJ: Mm-hmm.
Yowan: So I don't know. That one might make people a little bit hot, but I'm not mad at it. I'm not mad at it. I won't drop my
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: top five, but I'm not really mad at it for real. I'm not mad at it. Cause I
DJ: That's fair. A.
Yowan: see Steph, but Steph, Okay, this is one thing I will say in all those players we have multiple players and you can and you can tell me if I'm wrong. I see probably three that really changed the game though like that impacted the game on like changing like you have to change the game like Steph completely changed the game. He made like everybody
DJ: Steph, Shaq and and MJ, I think.
Yowan: and right this time saying like
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: so Shaquille bro, when we talk about he was breaking rims bro You get what saying? He was breaking dreams. This is kind of the cool story you can tell your kids.
DJ: Bro, and there's like sh like Sh Shaq Shaq did like obviously MJ to me like the way just to kinda specify on how they impacted the game, I think MJ made the game popular in the like around the world. Like he made people
Yowan: Yeah, for sure.
DJ: everywhere. he put basketball on the map and he was the guy who was like he was the face of basketball for so long.
Yowan: No, 100%. Yes, for sure.
DJ: Like when you thought basketball, it was MJ. And he's the one that was around the world. He globalized the game. Let's just say that.
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: I think Shaq made the game in order, obviously. MJ, Shaq, Steph. I think Shaq changed the game in a way where it's like Okay, if if we're gonna get a center, he's gotta either be able to guard this man. Or he's gonna have to, or Shaq's not gonna be able has to not be able to guard him, if that makes sense. So now
Yowan: Yes, no, that makes sense.
DJ: so now you see guys develop outside games, perimeter games at the center position. Maybe not fully developed as how we see them today, but you see guys, you know, they're not necessarily on the block as much as you saw Shaq on the block. Or they're not necessarily
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: Like they're bringing him out onto the three point line, getting him in more pick and rolls. We're seeing more of this action because they're trying to make him guard so that the guy that's guarding Shaq is not the only liability on the court. And even that
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: barely worked. And then you have the rules change for Shaq when you have a Hack of Shaq and things like that. Like there's things that they stopped allowing players to do because they took advantage of the rules with Shaq fouling him and and doing all that stuff. So Shaq changed
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: quite literally the rules of the game.
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: Right. And then you have Steph, who just made basketball a three point shooting contest. He he like Steph Steph made it to where you have
Yowan: Yes.
DJ: to everybody on your team has to be able to shoot. And you can't just like obviously,
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: yeah, Steph Curry was the leader of that movement, but his team also. Like you
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: had Clay, you had these guys all around him who are just lights out. The Warriors just became lights out shooters. And it was led by Steph Curry. And obviously he's the greatest shooter we've ever seen. But he
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: impacted the game to where Now he's impacted how we actually play the game.
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: Right? I feel like the only reason why I won't say LeBron or Kobe, I feel like Kobe influenced LA heavily, just the city of LA. Like Kobe is like
Yowan: Yeah. Allah.
DJ: the man in LA. You know what mean?
Yowan: People will kill for Kobe, bro.
DJ: exactly. And so I feel like he he is more of like an icon, yes, globally, but more so in LA. And he obviously changed how people approach the game mentally. So I guess you could say that I just think LeBron
Yowan: Yeah,
DJ: is like one of one.
Yowan: member mentality, right? True.
DJ: Yeah. I feel like like with LeBron it's like he is just I'm I don't wanna glaze, bro, I really don't, but I just feel like he's one of those people that we really truly can say probably won't ever come around again. Like you're not gonna
Yowan: I agree.
DJ: have you're probably not gonna have you're not gonna have another player for a really long time. I mean, I know medicine's getting better, people are getting finding out how to keep their bodies healthier for longer, but you're not gonna have another player who comes in, produces at the level he did, accomplished what he's accomplished for as long as he's doing it, still to this day, at the same level his whole career.
Yowan: Yeah, yeah, I agree.
DJ: Like we probably just won't ever see this again. And like when he was up, bro, it was like Like twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen LeBron. Like this man really had like two primes,
Yowan: 2016 bro
DJ: two or three primes, bro. Like you think about when he was in Miami, people were like, bro, he was scary. And then you have him 2016
Yowan: That's crazy, you may end it with a shoe.
DJ: LeBron. Like 2018. Like, bro, what are we talking about?
Yowan: Cal's brawn bro. That is true.
DJ: Like this man is
Yowan: yeah, The one thing I was about to say too is like, so now people see that that way, right? And we analyze this. We know this, we see this, right? We won't really understand until it start playing ball. Now people gonna see. And let me say something. That year coming, those two years coming, cause he signed a two years contract, right? With Philly. In those two years, one, yeah, it's a two,
DJ: Mm, one. One no, it is two years. You're right, you're right, you're right. I'm tripping.
Yowan: it's two years. If he get a ring, we're gonna have to sit and have a really great conversation. I don't care about no, chase ring, whatever. no, he left to get there. he went there.
DJ: Mm-hmm.
Yowan: No, we're gonna really, he left multiple teams. that's all the things they always talk about. he got it. he always go to the, no, no, no, no, no. We're gonna really have to sit. We're gonna really have to sit
DJ: Hey, he's won everywhere. Winning a ring with four different teams?
Yowan: and have a conversation. The fact that that man is averaged over 15 points.
DJ: twenty.
Yowan: 20, over 20 points. Yo, see.
DJ: He's never averaged less than twenty points a game in the league, bro. For twenty what's this his twenty th twenty fourth? He was drafted in O
Yowan: And I'm.
DJ: three. Twenty third season?
Yowan: but you gotta understand 20 points there was a day I don't know if I remember if I'm saying it right there was a
DJ: Thing is going twenty four.
Yowan: day he dropped like a I don't know if that's true he was over with 15 points or something and it was like my gosh LeBron James is under this do you remember that? you know how good
DJ: Yeah. Well it's like there's games where he's scoring single digits and they're like he hasn't scored single digits in X amount of time. Yeah.
Yowan: Since like what and people just scroll back to it and you scroll like you just scroll because people
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: probably doom scrolling what they see that they don't I'm just being honest they probably doom scrolling what they see that all he didn't score into
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: that's tough and they go no that's crazy
DJ: Yeah, nah. I think this is my this is where I'm at in the GOAT debate. Is I agree. You said this earlier and you said this earlier. It's people's opinions.
Yowan: True. Yeah, that point too.
DJ: So it's like I can respect if you have Michael Jordan at your your goat. I'm a debate. I love debating it though. I really do. But I respect it. I'm not gonna sit here and just be like he's trash. No, no, no, no, no. Absolutely not. Kobe,
Yowan: No, never.
DJ: I'm never gonna no, like these guys, these guys are never gonna be called trash or garbage, none of that. I'm never gonna do that. But I think it is like to me, in my head, my opinion, it's a no-brainer that LeBron James is the greatest player we've ever seen. Touch a basketball. So, but while at the same time, I have respect for this list. Like Allen Iverson, his list. I mean Kobe as two, maybe would be like the most controversial thing that I would have to say about that.
Yowan: Mm.
DJ: Kobe above Braun just doesn't it just doesn't make sense to me at all.
Yowan: and why it doesn't make sense to you.
DJ: I just feel like Kobe was a and people always say this, this is the main thing. He was a copy paste MJ. So it's like I don't think he was quite as good as MJ. Right? But I think he was like virtually the same player as Michael Jordan. Just not as good. Not as I don't wanna say elite because he was beyond that. But do you get what I'm trying to say? I'm not trying to put no disrespect
Yowan: Yeah. I know.
DJ: on Kobe by any means.
Yowan: No, we're not. We're not doing this.
DJ: I think that there's just I and this also goes with me because I just think that what LeBron's done, he's the all around player. He's the defender. He's not he's he's not only like one of your best defenders or your best defender. He is your best offensive player, he's your best leader. And he's a winner. And people want to say four, he's only four and what, four and six in the finals. Bro, I don't care. He's winning games. He's playing in the finals. Ten seasons, he's played in the finals. That's winning. Yes, you didn't win the finals, but you
Yowan: Yes.
DJ: are winning. You are a winner. You are the second best team in the league. If and if not the first best team in the league, ten seasons. Or fet best, yeah, best team in the league.
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: And you're their best player every time. Now, A D won the finals MVP when he was in LA. Cool. I disagree with that. But that's just a fact. A D won the finals MVP. That's not something we could take from A D. But LeBron was the best player on that team.
Yowan: for sure undeniable. No, I just wanted to say, we know we always talk about a winning culture. Lebron James, he's the one that bring the winning culture. Like every time
DJ: Absolutely.
Yowan: he step on the team, yeah, now we talk about winning for real. Like imagine
DJ: Mm. Mm-hmm.
Yowan: them, like the type of impact when you are the one that's bringing the win, you are the one that's bringing the culture. you bringing the team back to winning you bringing the team you an organization by himself he's LBG bro he's the brawn James and we cannot we can sit here and talk about everything he's doing on the court but when you go back outside and you you look what he's doing outside of the the court they made they made generation will never ask nothing to nobody for nothing
DJ: Mm-hmm. It's true.
Yowan: And this is crazy. But yeah, it's for real. The LBG
DJ: Hey.
Yowan: bro.
DJ: But like I said, man, no disrespect to this list. Valid list. But I think Braun at number one for me is is a no brainer. Random segue. We can we can jump off this topic, but I want to talk about two things. We can just mention them. there were two new contracts, pretty big contracts that were signed by two players.
Yowan: I know what you're going to. I know what you're going to.
DJ: I have a lot of friends that are jazz fans, and Keontae George just signed a five year, $157 million deal, I believe. 30 million a year, bro. And a Sora Thompson. Also signed a five year 155 million dollar deal. So those are two pretty big contracts, two up and coming players, I'd say, to be on the lookout for. Utah is a sleeper team. I was talking to my my brother in law about this. He's a big jazz fan. Shout out Matt if you're listening. But hey,
Yowan: Shut up, Matt, man.
DJ: the Jazz, bro, the Jazz, they got a nice roster, bro. They got Keontae George, Darren Peterson. They got Ace Bailey, Jaron Jackson Jr., and Larry Markinen. That's a solid five. I told him I said I don't see them being a top team in the West this year, but I see them in the bottom half of the playoffs. So I see them being a five through eight seed. Easy this year.
Yowan: Pretty young team too, fresh legs, ready
DJ: Yes.
Yowan: to go, you know.
DJ: The Keontae George contract is the one I'm like on the fence about. I'm not saying he's not worth that by any means. He's a hooper. He underrated. He averaged 26 this year. That man averaged 26 points per game, bro. He's got some help. He's got some help. So I'm I'm a s
Yowan: He's a bucket. He's a bucket. He's a bucket, bro. Yeah.
DJ: guessing his average points is gonna go down, but I think his assists are gonna go back up. I think he was averaging twenty-six. And four assists or maybe six assists, something like that. But Hooper. So great to lock him in. He's a great pickup to have. Great player to have. I just think maybe too soon. You don't want to let him go. So I get why they did it. And I'm not mad at them doing it. But I just think
Yowan: Mm.
DJ: maybe a tad bit too soon. Asar Thompson, on the other hand, first team all defense. I believe he was like third in the defensive player of the year. but Arsar Thompson, bro, already being recognized in you know as one of the best defenders in the NBA, I would I wouldn't be mad at dropping the bag on him, especially with what they're building over there in Detroit. I think that's that that's a valid, valid contract. So those are my that's my thoughts on those two contracts.
Yowan: And when you look at it, it's ceiling too.
DJ: So yeah.
Yowan: And first I'm going to talk about Oslo Thompson, know, the Thompson family, bro. Big proud family moment, Like their bag got in, Their
DJ: Mm-hmm.
Yowan: bag got in and the family, man, we can secure a lot of things. But yeah, there was just a side note. But let's go back to the real thing. Those two Thompson players, their ceiling is really, really high, bro. They are athletic.
DJ: Mm-hmm.
Yowan: They have everything you can ask for a player. above 6'5 they really they can move like a guard they they can block shots they and when they figure out the shot we all know that's not a surprise they can be there will be a big problem in the league so those teams giving their their money just to of course like you said secure them a great spot financially so they can just focus on you know what they got to do and improve themselves whatever that's what i gotta say on the thompson so big shout out to the thompson family man it's the big bag coming in but for keonte george I watched it real when he was practicing running with his coach. I mean, if you saw it, running with a coach, with a Utah Jazz coach and things like this.
DJ: Mm.
Yowan: It's almost training camp, but the team started working out early. And I think his contract just got, we all know his contract like about what, three, four days, five days ago? When did we, he signed kind of late, right? When was it? It was this past week, right? So.
DJ: I can't remember, but it was a couple it was this week. It was this past week. That's all I remember. It was this past week. Yep.
Yowan: So there is a lot of teams right now got together and they already start working out. They're in training camps. And when you look at what he did and they get ready to go training. When you look at what he did last season, it's like, okay, he showed his, his heat. We already know that he's a bucket and he's going, they're off course building around him also, right? They got a lot of guards. They got a lot of guards. You know what saying? When
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: you look at, they got a lot of guards and they just signed this incredible guy that's going to come and we're going to see what he's going to do. But I think they did that for a reason, bro. I'm not gonna lie. They have
DJ: Nah, for sure.
Yowan: to see something for sure during those behind and closed doors the weekend on, we will only see this upcoming season. That's why
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: I'm so excited, bro. Like after October 3, bro, it's gonna be fun, man. We're gonna see a bunch of
DJ: Bring it on.
Yowan: the round. We're gonna be a lot of things this is gonna be, man. So
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: I'm excited, man. I'm not gonna lie.
DJ: Nah, I mean I I the only reason I'm skeptical is because they did they have a really good young team. And so it's like you don't you don't want to miss out on tying up or keeping your other really good young players in the future because the Jazz not a huge market not a huge team, small market team, right?
Yowan: Mm-hmm.
DJ: Like you have got to make sure that you have enough money to be paying all the guys you have on your team when they are
Yowan: Okay.
DJ: as good as you need them to be. Because at that point, there's
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: gonna be such a big demand for them and they're gonna wanna go somewhere else if they're not getting paid what they think they're worth. Their center this past year just did that. Walker Kessler, he was like he was asking for 200 mil, and they were like, nah. And he went to LA. So they've already seen that happen. And I mean, I don't think he's a 200
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: mil guy by any means in LA. Gave him pretty close to that. But it's just like one of those things. It's like, hey, but now you're tying all your money up in in one guy, or not all your money up, but a good chunk of your money up in one guy. And
Yowan: You go check out the money,
DJ: you're not, you're like Darren Peterson is going to get better over the next couple seasons. Ace Bailey is going to get better over the next couple seasons. Jaron Jackson Jr. is on your team who's already proved himself as one of the best defenders in the league. Like
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: now you have you got to start thinking about this. You know what I mean? Larry Markinon, he's been on your team forever. One of your best players. For a while now. And so it's like keeping that team together with if money is really like a motivator for some of those guys, which in the NBA it is, as we've seen,
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: that's that's my concern, with with them tying up money in Keontae, with how much potential they have on their team. I guess is the only point I'm trying to make. So I could see them 'cause they have such such a good young core, bro. Like
Yowan: Okay. No, they do. They do for real.
DJ: They are gonna be f they're gonna be in the playoffs this year, and there's not a doubt in my mind. I I'll say that confidently, and I would even say if I had to bet on it, I would probably bet that they'd be a a sixth seed in the West. The only teams
Yowan: Okay.
DJ: that I can say are locked in the top four spots in the West right now is gonna be OKC, San Antonio, Minnesota, and Denver. Those four teams, I feel like those are pretty clear front runners in the West. As of right now. No injuries, nothing. So I have a surprise for you, bro.
Yowan: Okay.
DJ: I didn't tell you about this on purpose. But let's see how it goes. Cause I had a conversation with one of my boys earlier this week. Shout out Richard. Richard, if you're listening to this, text me right now
Yowan: Shout out, Richard, man.
DJ: that you love me. If you're listening and you made it this far, text me you love me because you told me you listen. So I want to see. We're gonna find out, yo. Anyway,
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: we were talking about the bubble. And I was just telling him facts about it, and he was like, What? What? I don't remember that. I don't remember that. And I was like, Yeah. And then I had to go home and look him up just to make sure I wasn't tripping because it was from what I remembered, right? So I'm gonna quiz you real quick. I'm gonna quiz you and let's just see how much you remember. You can just answer if if you feel like you really don't know, no matter how long you think, just be like pass or skip or I don't know, and then I'll move on to the next
Yowan: Yes. Okay.
DJ: question. Okay because so so we're
Yowan: Right. Yeah.
DJ: not spending too much time wasting or whatever, right? Okay, so the first question I'll ask will be easy. Who won the championship in the bubble?
Yowan: Makers.
DJ: Okay, you got it. All right. How many teams in the NBA were invited to the bubble? So there's thirty teams. How many teams are invited?
Yowan: To the bubble?
DJ: Yes. I gotta get my freaking glasses out.
Yowan: I would give a I would say ten I don't wanna be wrong, but I I don't I don't know the exact number, but let me okay, let me think. Let me let me think, let me think. Let me think. I I got let me
DJ: Mm-hmm.
Yowan: let me let me try and think. There was There was d it was Nuggets, Lakers, and you tell me if I'm wrong, Lakers, Nuggets, Lakers, Portland State, no, Portland, Portland, Terrabezar, I said Portland State, Terrabez.
DJ: Gimme gimme a number. Yo. Give me a number.
Yowan: Why you don't want me to count? Let me count
DJ: Okay.
Yowan: Trailblazers and then there was Milwaukee for sure. It was Bro I'ma say It's between it's like I would say s eight eight to ten or six to eight. Eight to ten.
DJ: Okay. Okay.
Yowan: I'm all?
DJ: That's incorrect. That's incorrect. There was twenty-two
Yowan: non José
DJ: teams invited to the NBA bubble. Only eight teams were not invited to the bubble. All right.
Yowan: I I respond the the high school. We learn now. Now I know it was twenty team and then eight. Okay, it's good. That's crazy.
DJ: Twenty two t twenty two teams were invited to the bubble. Twenty two out of thirty. Okay.
Yowan: That's insane, bro. Okay.
DJ: This will be another okay, I got another one. Which team went undefeated in the bubble and still didn't make the playoffs?
Yowan: And it fitted and still didn't make the playoff. Well you got me on the spot, man, dang, let me see.
DJ: You can just pass it, bro. You can just pass it. No pressure.
Yowan: Let me see let me see they let me see they we w we we were actually really killing for There was like but they still did not make the thing.
DJ: Mm.
Yowan: Well I'm just gonna say randomly. It's either between but pass, pass, pass. Yeah, give give me, yeah, give me, give me guess, give me a hing.
DJ: I'll give you yum yummy give you a hint if you really want to guess. It was a Western conference team.
Yowan: I already got the the first one so so bad I'm like man Yeah I'ma pass bro you have to tell me
DJ: All right. The Phoenix Suns went eight and and they still didn't make the playoffs. This is killing me. I didn't plan a just so
Yowan: What I see, I ain't gonna lie, I didn't I didn't know that. I didn't know that bro.
DJ: Hey, just so just so the just so everybody knows, I did not plan to ask him these questions. I just plan to talk about this, but I thought it'd be better
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: to do it this way. so I just have I just have facts written down and I'm creating the questions. This will be the second to last question, okay? how do how should ask this? Which role player went off for a fifty point game in the bubble?
Yowan: A role player for fifty points.
DJ: Yes. Eastern Conference team at the time. He was on the team. The in the Eastern Conference team.
Yowan: Fifty points. Fifty. And he's a role player, fifty.
DJ: You you may or may not even know who this is. Let me just tell you. TJ Warren scored fifty one points in a game in the bubble. Yeah. Okay.
Yowan: Yeah, I would've I would've known bro.
DJ: Last question. How long was the bubble? How long was the NBA bubble? Like time. How long were these guys playing in the NBA bubble from the time it started to the time the Lakers won the championship?
Yowan: Bro I'm trying to think about if now I gotta put a consideration that many games it took, how many four man, I really don't know. I would say spam of I'll answer because I won't say pass because I still if I got it wrong, I still gotta got it wrong. I would say maybe You can play more than if every week I'm gonna make the calculation. If every week you can play one game, one deal, one game, one deal, one deal, three, four. Probably I would say what three months? Wrong? Three months?
DJ: Hey! You got it! Right on a nailed it. Three months, bro. Hey.
Yowan: Woo! You gotta make the calculation. 'Cause I 'cause I made I made in my mind if you play one game one delf, maybe one game, one delf, maybe one game, one delf, whatever, you gotta be maybe three moments, you know what I'm saying?
DJ: Ninety three days, they said, ninety three days.
Yowan: you know what I'm saying? We we see we can see the at least we we we we got some push to write, you know what I'm saying? And we learned things. I like I actually
DJ: Hey, you got two questions right.
Yowan: like that for real.
DJ: Two questions right. Hey, That was good. I didn't think you'd get that one. But nah, bro. I just want to talk. I wanted to talk about the bubble.
Yowan: Shut up, man. I'm going to give it.
DJ: I feel like people forget, bro. Like, and I'm one of the people. I'm like, listen, I'm a LeBron. LeBron's a goat. I've already said that multiple times on the show. But I'm also one of the guys who's like, I don't know how legitimate I think that that bubble ring is. Now hear me out. Okay. Like when the bubble was just it was just the NBA improvising and saying we need to have a champion this year. We need to have something bringing in money. We need to do something about what's been going on this so far this this year, right? So already kind of like a last second thing, if you will. Right, COVID, everybody's in panic. The NBA just threw something together and said, Y'all are the best 22 teams, play it out. Let's see who makes it. Okay. There's so many things that can go wrong. Right. Like the Phoenix Suns going eight and no and still not making it into the playoffs. So why did you invite the Phoenix Suns if they could go eight and no and not make the playoffs? Right? So should they have invited everybody to see who really could have, you know, like yes, some people's records was garbage, but it's like at this point the whole season got canceled anyway. Not really. They they only had like, I want to say like twenty something games left in the season. there were just how did the Suns go 8 0 and not make the playoffs? So that's kind of weird. And then people were like, well, it's the purest form of basketball. There's no crowd, there's no fans, it's just straight hoops. True. Right? Which is true.
Yowan: Goose for yeah.
DJ: But in my opinion, in my experience playing basketball, that's part of the game. When you're in the NBA, that is part of the game.
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: Everybody else had to win a ring with the crowd, home court advantage. Everybody else had to do it. So,
Yowan: Yeah. Yeah.
DJ: yes, I'm not trying to take away like the bubbles of championship. They made the best out of the situation they were in. Won a ring, right? Like that's
Yowan: Yes.
DJ: the best they could have done that year was win the ring when they had the opportunity in the bubble. But it's
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: like, yo, there were just so many things that were different about that season that could have changed the outcome potentially if COVID didn't happen, right?
Yowan: Sure.
DJ: and then like TJ Warren scoring fifty one points. you didn't even know who that was. what are we talking about? You know what I'm saying? Like, respectfully, NBA player, fifty points in
Yowan: How do really know? Respectfully I really don't know.
DJ: the league. I don't care. Like, that's a that's a bucket. But fifty
Yowan: Yes.
DJ: one points, bro.
Yowan: Digga way off.
DJ: I don't know. But you know what I mean? Like I while I see the argument of it was pure hoops, no fans, no nothing. It was just like open gym. Who's the best? Cool. If do you want to believe that? Sure. But in my experience playing basketball games and watching the NBA finals, the the fans, the arena you're playing in, everything contributes to the game. And it's like when that's missing,
Yowan: it again, true, hundred percent.
DJ: when that's missing, something is truly missing from the game. Does that make sense?
Yowan: No, that makes sense. Hundred percent. Yeah, a lot of people don't count their year for some reason. And maybe and for sure, probably for the same arguments they can put up to. But at the end of the day, bro, you still gotta compete. You still gotta wanna to go and get that. Or
DJ: Yeah. Nah, I agree.
Yowan: like they've they've been in a situation when they don't they didn't they didn't make themselves be in this situation. They just like you say, made the best
DJ: Nah. Yeah.
Yowan: out of it, right? You still gonna go out there and compete. You was in the same situation as everybody else. You just you you will still I heard a lot of people say LeBron James got his own suit, whatever, so he was kind of like a little bit cheated, you but it's LeBron James, you ain't talk about that. But you know, like like everybody was in the same situation, they was all there, they was working out, they did what it was supposed to do. And if they call themselves they're a basketball player, that's a nine to five. You still gotta go out there and play. Either fans, no fans, if the money coming in, if you really think if you really talked about you wanna win and bring a winning culture, you can't come out there and bring excuses. Cause I call
DJ: I agree.
Yowan: excuses. If you lose and you be like, I was the bubble, bro. Why you didn't win? Because I guarantee you, all the players that that won their year and all the people that said they don't count their year was definitely for all the teams. Because I guarantee you if all the teams would would have won their their year and fans that was supporting their team, they would have said we counted it. But because we wanted to always be against LeBron sometimes, or we want to go be against things. this one didn't count. Yeah, you can pull up valid points like. A no not being invited. I'm like, yo, what's going on, bro? You get what I'm saying? Yeah, it's like what's going on,
DJ: That is suspect though. To me, that's suspect.
Yowan: bro? Like you can't be like, well really what's going on? By the end of the day, bro, it happened. Lakers won.
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: AD MVP. We can wrap it up and count it. They still got a ring though and nobody can take it away from them.
DJ: Yeah. And then one more thing too, just to play devil's advocate again. Cause like I said, I'm still on the fence. I'm not I'm not saying like this is the thing. They won the ring, like you said. This is the bottom line. That was the situation that the NBA was in. They won the ring that year. It's a ring. It counts. It's not a Disneyland ring. It's not a fake ring. It counts, right? But I'm just questioning the like the true the trueness of it. Like I guess questioning what could have happened if COVID didn't happen, which didn't not it's just not the case. But another thing, and this is what I had to tell my boy is, and I just fact checked it because I wasn't sure at the time if it was Miami who missed the playoffs or if it was LA who missed the playoffs. But following the following year, 2021,
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: LA missed the playoffs and Miami, who was runner up, they got swept in the first round by Milwaukee the next year. Granted, that's the year Milwaukee won it. But still,
Yowan: Green.
DJ: like LA champions don't make the playoffs the next year. Don't even make the playoffs. I'm not talking eight seed. I'm talking don't even make the playoffs. And then the runner up gets bounced in the round. Jimmy Butler was on some other stuff in the bubble. That's another conversation we can have another day.
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: Same with Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell. But like look, you know what I'm saying? Like it was just a lot of things just don't add up about the bubble. But at the end of the day, as you've said, that was the cards they were dealt. They just played.
Yowan: Yes, that is true. But but like look, like I agree with what you're saying, but we cannot bring next year into the equation. Why I'm saying this, because the team got better from from the offseason? Do you agree with me? The team got better from the offseason? Yes or no? Did they make movement? Did it did it
DJ: It's just hard to say.
Yowan: do you get what I'm saying? Did people got traded to different teams?
DJ: Well yeah, of course.
Yowan: Right? Of course, like every season. So we cannot bring it back and say every year people come better, new skills. They learn the system, they learn the players. And of course, when you come into the next season, what do you think all teams gonna do? They're gonna scout the last winner. Do you
DJ: I know. I get you. But to go from the but to go from the best to not even making the playoffs. Eight teams make the playoffs. Over half of each conference makes the playoffs. And now they have a a play in game. So ever more teams have a chance to make the playoffs now. And it's like to not even make the playoffs. I don't know. Like I said, I'm not d I'm not Taking the ring away from LeBron. I understand that's just the cards they were dealt. They played they played their hand, bro, and they won. Respect.
Yowan: They won't for sure.
DJ: Because if it was anybody else besides LeBron James who won, I don't think people would be even the questioning the ring.
Yowan: There wouldn't there would there would be no narrative about that one. Would be no narrative. It would be
DJ: Right. Exactly. So
Yowan: probably a narrative like, my gosh, they why okay, this is why sometimes I don't like the internet. Why they didn't why they wasn't like, my gosh, they won even two days situation. Everybody know how they everybody know how everybody was at home stressing during their year. You think those are
DJ: Mm-hmm.
Yowan: they those are humans just like us? They are families. They have families.
DJ: Straight up.
Yowan: I don't know. I don't know if they have they had the potential to have their families over there with them, but probably not. Cause it was restricted to all players. So it was like they have their families and thinking about what's going on around the world. And you asked me to hoop. Well, yeah, I'm hooping, yeah, for sure, for the limb of for the love of the game. But it's so it's so stressful. And then we can
DJ: Yeah.
Yowan: think about their impact and say, everybody, it was not their year, and we can always use because maybe some players were stressed out, they would did not play in their full potential, or some players and and and And that is true. There's some players that perform well when there's a crowd. It turns them up. Yes. Right? But but but
DJ: Facts.
Yowan: we can't not erase the fact that all teams that was there were into stress and even Lakers was dealing with the same stress and they won. So
DJ: True. I agree.
Yowan: why the narrative, why the narrative is not like, my gosh, they won during their situation, they won during their year. Like it was so stressful, but they still pull up the wind. They was there and showing up every single day and got a ring. Why the narrative's not like this? But the narrative is always like less discredited them from what they did. That's what sometimes I don't like. You can say Yeah.
DJ: Yeah. Yeah. No, I get no, I'm bro, I'm with you. I agree a hundred percent. I do. I do. I understand the bubble demanded different things in a regular NBA Finals would. But it's just there's just obviously like I said, a lot of questions, a lot of things that just don't add up. That I had questions about.
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: It was just something that was The NBA was like, we need to do something and this is what it is and we just have to go with it, which you have to do sometimes. You gotta do that sometimes.
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: And there's no fault to the NBA, there's no fault to the players who played and the players who won. Because it's just
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: like that's just what that's just what they had to do. And we can't really
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: we can't really take that away from them. So
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: nah, I just thought it was an interesting thing because I feel like that
Yowan: Yeah.
DJ: was so long ago. It was long it was almost seven years ago now and it doesn't even feel like it feels like it was feels like it was
Yowan: Which is crazy, bro.
DJ: last year, you know? So it's just a little refresher on the bubble
Yowan: Yes.
DJ: in case you didn't remember a few things from there.
Yowan: I gotta remember, man.
DJ: we'll wrap the episode up there. We appreciate y'all for listening, especially if you made it this far. go ahead and do the usual, man. Like, comment, subscribe, follow, share the show with anyone who you know. Dang, I'm spelling spinning bars. Hold on. I'm not even gonna remember that. Anyway, share the show with people you know, people who like to hear us talk about who. Man, for real. But like I said, we really appreciate y'all. Appreciate the support. And we'll see y'all next week. Peace out.
Yowan: What's up?

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