Are Big Changes Brewing In Portland? Gary Trent Jr. Investigation + Latest LeBron Updates

Why? Last call for a steuer.

Oh, no. I don't know where I'm supposed to go.

Why do you mean steuer?

“Because how steuer is a key to an honest stress?”

Is that simple? Of course, everything is automatic. Do you have that long? No, just a few times. No, then.

Hold it now, then. With this steuer. It's about the 31st Newly. Hello and welcome to the Hoocative Podcast. We talk about the NBA,

which we're going to Thursday afternoon. Joining me from Dallas. He's back from Los Angeles. He's been McMan. Howdy, Barners.

McMan, I was scrambled back from Las Vegas early. Because I had to be in place in the studio for Lebron's big podcast on Thursday where he was going to make many announcements. Sure.

How'd that go? Yeah, we'll get in that later. But we're not leading with it. So I think that tells you. That's right.

All right, so I went to Adam Silver's press conference on Tuesday night in Las Vegas. You know, I did McMan the room though. They had the presser in Vegas. It was like a room that they used

for multiple things, not just press conferences. So they had like in the back of the room. They had like these big giant leather oversized chairs. And I was like, I don't mind if I do. I mean, how many board of governors press conferences have I been to

in my career, 37, 11, 11, whatever? Like, why don't you sit back here? You stayed in it for the whole presser? Yeah. What's the difference?

Did you take an app? No, it was totally comfortable to sit back and pay-- I was paying attention. Like, Vinnie Goodwill and Ben Golliver, our Ariaspin colleagues, they were up there

like in the folding chairs, on the edge of their seat. But I was just back in the back. What's the difference? Did you order a dot coat? No, I would love to.

I think they cleared the catering out. But I definitely looked around. See, if it was available. Anyway, he said a lot of stuff in that press conference. I actually don't think any of it was super duper newsworthy,

except for one thing. OK. And that one thing is what I'm going to talk about right now.

And outside of one MBA city, I have seen basically nobody

“talk about it despite how I think it was the most important thing.”

In fact, I don't even think we've covered it almost at all on ESPN. And that is the situation that is developing in Portland. And I know we've got LeBron. I know we've got contract extensions. And all these things.

I mean, I know there's a lot of newsworthy things that people care about. But there's a whole lot of stuff on hold. LeBron's decision, the collide trade, and the aspiration rule, and the Gary Trin investigation.

We got a lot of extensions, you know, what's going up with Carl Towns, extension, is he going to extend or not? Is Michael Porter Jr, that's something that Sean Marks from the next general manager was talking about. If Michael Porter Jr, for example,

doesn't come to a contract extension, would they trade him? You know, stuff like there's stuff going on. But this, to me, is the most interesting. So let me just start right here, McMahon. Let me take you down the Primrose Path, OK?

You remember, was that a rose joke? What's that? That was a rose reference, like-- No, but, you know, when you're good at the game, you can throw roses in there.

I don't even know what the Primrose Path is. But you remember back when the Seattle Supersonic's left Seattle? I do. Howard Schultz, who was the owner of the team,

the CEO of Starbucks. He sold the team. He's from Seattle, you know, has family there. Well, these vestments there, Starbucks had quarters there. He got tired of owning the team.

And he sold its a business bench, local homocity. And those guys led by Clay Bennett, moved a team to Oklahoma City, big surprise, OK? And Howard Schultz's name was dragged through the mud there. He tried to sue and pretend like he didn't

know the other movement to Oklahoma City. OK, so, but his name was mud there. In fact, a couple of years later, he tried to run for president. And his bid went nowhere in part, because he couldn't even win his block in Seattle,

because they all hated him there, OK? And so subsequently, McMahon, when teams in markets, you know, when the Dallas Maverick sold, nobody thought they were moving, the Las Vegas stuff is laughable.

“When the Phoenix sun sold, nobody thought they were moving, OK?”

When the Lakers sold, nobody thought they were moving. But subsequently, when teams that are in markets that are not 100% solidified sold, the owners who were outgoing went to pains to make sure that they did not become Howard Schultz, OK?

And they put Howard Schultz clauses basically into their sales

contracts. Let me give you some examples. Cole, herb Cole, who owned the bucks. One of his past away since one of Wisconsin's favorite

was the senator for Wisconsin for many years.

“And he was just known basically as the senator.”

When he sold the team, they badly needed an arena. And he didn't want to sell it to somebody. He was selling to some New York guys, some New York hedge fund guys. And he didn't-- so he put it in the contract that they couldn't sell.

In fact, there was even a clause in there that if-- That they couldn't move it, you mean. They couldn't move it. In fact, they would-- if they did anything, they would have to sell it back to the NBA.

They couldn't move it. He-- no, he can't do anything 20 years after he's dead. But gosh, darn it. Herb Cole was not going to be criticized or his name ruin drag through the mud because he sold to people who moved it.

Minnesota, Glenn Taylor, when he sold it, he took a bath. Not a bath. He sold it for a billion, five. But he could have sold it for so much more money to somebody who wanted to move it.

It took him years to sell the team in part

“because he was determined to sell it to somebody”

who would not move it. Because he didn't want his name. He was-- again, he's one of Minnesota's favorite sons. He did not want his name drag through the mud and ruined after he's spent a lifetime building it up as doing that.

OK, the New Orleans pelicans-- Gayle Benson, when she inherited the team from Tom Benson, her late husband, she has been adamant.

This team is never leaving New Orleans, OK?

And she is announced a plan to donate the teams after she dies to the city of New Orleans so that it-- you know, I don't know what happened for that. But if New Orleans city wants to sell to somebody and they can move it, they'll blame it on the city.

They ain't going to blame it on her, all right? Then New Orleans might be like, yeah, we'll take the sands. But the pelicans, we don't need them. Well, then they can drag whoever the mayor is, then-- OK, so this is where I'm taking you.

Now, let me bring you to the Portland Trailblazers. Paul Allen died 2017, OK? His family foundation, home to team, it had to sell the team. A couple of years ago, Phil Knight, one of Oregon's most famous sons. And again, another man in his 80s, like Herb Cole,

like I'm having a brain art. Win Taylor. Glent Taylor. Wanted to have, make sure legacy was OK, offered to buy the blazers from the Paul Allen estate to make sure

that they would stay in Portland. The offer was rejected. Now, there are some shenanigans that went into that. Apparently, the way he approached was it wasn't good.

And then there was some stuff that got leaked to the media. The point is, the Allen foundation could have sold the Herb to Phil Knight did not, OK? When they sold it, they sold it to Tom Dunton, who we've now all heard, Dallas Business Man.

And there was nothing in there that would keep the team from moving. In fact, and he's wielding that nothing as a weapon. In fact, you could argue the opposite happened. A year or so, don't hold me to all these dates.

They're a bit of some reporters in Portland, who have reported on this extensively. Bill Oren, the columnist of the Oregonian, Sean Hikin, who has a sub-staff arose, guard, and reportedly what's called John Kenzano as his own media network.

I'm not trying to steal anything from them. They have reported on this exclusively Brian Berger, who's a podcaster from Portland. They, but around a year before the Blazers sold, they did a new lease in Portland.

How long are our leases with arenas, usually? I believe, like, OK, seas, for example, is they're built in their new arenas 25 years.

Yes. So, you know, always least double digit years,

“often a generation, five years, five-year lease, OK?”

And that's a rookie extension. And not only that, the Blazers, the Allen Foundation, owned the arena. Outright, Paul Allen owned that arena, the Motor Center, actually is Motor Center.

Motor Center now, yeah. What's called the Rose Guard Motor Center? The Blazers owned the arena. They sold it to the city for $1. OK. Why would they do that?

Make a man. Why would they sell it to them for $1? There's now some cities problem. That's right. OK. So, what I'm saying to you is this is the-- and I know that, you know, and this is a July conversation,

I wouldn't talk about this at the trade deadline. But I think it's the most interesting thing happening in the league right now. Well, because you have a team that's been there for a couple of generations for 50 some odd years,

that is very possibly going to rip up the roots in rip city and move somewhere else. And this is different than when Clay Bennett bought the-- and his group bought the Sonics. Because there, it was like very transparent.

Oklahoma City people are going to want to move that team

That's what happened.

“Tom Dunn is not moving the book trailblazers to Dallas, obviously.”

He's just going to-- he's going to go wherever he can profit most. If that's important, he'll stay. If it's somewhere else, he'll lead. But it's not like there is-- he's not trying to take that team.

Matt Franch hasn't moved his home town. He's just trying to go where he can make the most money. So Tom Dunn and bought the team came out. And I'm summarizing here. Please don't take these as drug quotes.

Drug quotes. But Tom Dunn and came out and basically said, I bought this team because it was one first. It was for sale.

He didn't say I've always wanted to be in Portland.

And he said basically that he's not intending to donate or give any money to the renovation that mode a center needs. Apparently for the Blazers to extend their lease. He basically said, him buying the team was his donation. Correct.

I mean, and hey, if y'all want us to stay, you better spend some money, like 600 million, to renovate the arena. And I'm not going to get into the blow by blow here because I can't summarize it.

But the city, state and county are all trying to come together. And to get one entity to agree to give money to a billionaire is a challenge to get three entities to all the agree. Long story short, it has not happened. Well, in accordance to the reporting coming out of Portland,

the Blazers aren't really cooperating.

They aren't being specific with their request. They're not participating in the process. It's enough to, there's been like Bill Orm,

“basically, wrote, hey, are they attempting to sabotage this?”

Right. So here's the sequence of events. Adam Silver goes to Portland in March. There's a press conference. He says, we're going to get a deal here.

We want to be in Portland long term. OK. Nothing's happened since March. Adam Silver comes out. And this is the most relevant statements

that he makes this week.

Or he basically said that the negotiations have gone off track.

And he said, he said, what we're most focused on right now at the league office is the deal we discussed when we were in Portland in March. I was hoping more progress would have been made by now on that agreement.

It seems they have gone off track in various ways. We're working with both sides to ensure that the trailblazers are going to have a long-term future in Portland. But there are several open issues that still need to be resolved. This is Adam Sandler.

Adam Sandler, my god, Adam Silver rattling the Saber. Even though it's not like Adam Silver is making threats. But this is basically saying that there's open issues here. And I will just say that there was no votes on expansion taken to move the expansion process along in at the owner's

meetings in Vegas as summer. There was a possibility that expansion would move forward that they would formally announce that they were expanding. That did not happen. I'm not saying that those two are related.

I'm just saying it did not happen. But if you wanted one of your owners to have leverage to move a team, you wouldn't necessarily have expansion all lined up in an ounce, because it takes away some of the leverage.

“So McMahon, I think beyond the basketball court,”

the future of the Blazers in Portland is the most relevant thing. And it matters more than just Portland, because it matters to potentially Seattle Las Vegas, who maybe the NBA slows down its expansion plans, because they want to make sure that all their 30 teams

are currently going to stay in place before they expand to another market. Yeah. And, listen, Portland's a small market. And it's a small market that has one major pro sports team.

They don't have a football team there. They don't have a baseball team there. They don't have a hockey team there. This is it for them. And it's a small market that, like a lot of small markets,

has natural challenges in terms of revenue generation. And so I get why a guy who has no roots there, who has no emotional attachment there, who frankly doesn't care about the fans whatsoever. He doesn't care one eye out about Blazers fans.

It's just a simple matter of fact. I get why he's looking at that and taking the approach of pay up or piece out. But that's the approach he's taking. He's not trying to like be slick.

He's not trying to pilot that. I mean, he's just being-- Is he acting like a Texan? Is that how a Texan normally operates? I wouldn't say there's some politicians here

in Texas for better or worse. But there's nothing like, this is not like, he's not going there and like smooth. He's doing the exact opposite. That's right.

He's basically just being an arrogant, rude.

Like, you know, just not-- he's not-- there's nothing Portland about it. Well, that's well said. I agree with that. I mean, Andrew-- so basically Tom Dunden, he's like,

he's going to do what he wants, you know, like this week. So he obviously owns the Carolina Hurricanes. They just won the Stanley Cup and the Stanley Cup. I was just Jackson. I was just this week that it came out

that the engraver and the engrave on there was that just this week. So they showed pictures of the Stanley Cup. And I guess-- and I'm ignorant to a lot of this stuff. So I want to apologize-- I'm not trying to overlook anything. I'm not trying to be rude or get aggregated or insult anybody.

I just just say in how I think it goes.

“But I think you can have 55 names on the Stanley Cup every year.”

You engrave on the Stanley Cup. And then for some period of years, your names-- the names are on. So they put the players on and there's room for more names. And you have coaches, you have executives, you have owners.

And he used eight of the-- I said seven, I think, of the spots for his family. Tom Dundon, including his wife and five children.

Now, it's not the first time that someone has put other names

of family members on the Stanley Cup. But usually it isn't like children. If it is children, it's children who work for the team. And so they had to admit some people who work for the team to make the room for the children.

He just doesn't care. It's like it's my team. I get to choose the 55 names I've put in my kids' names on there. He doesn't care about people. And we've talked about this before.

Well, it's going away. I say it doesn't care about people. He's just certain people he cares about. Yeah, it's a family. And he cares about Elk's been on players because that's the product.

But the whole way that he approached the coaching search, we've talked about the whole way of like not traveling too way guys during the playoffs, they've had massive layoffs. I mean, they gutted that franchise like in terms of behind-the-scenes people. Look, if Adam's over really cared about Portland Trailblazer staying in Portland,

he would have not allowed Tom Dunn to be approved as the owner. So if the Trailblazer leave Portland, that is on Adam's silk. Well, a couple of things. So one, it's been reported that the family that owns a couple of the teams there,

“I believe the women's soccer team and the WNV-18 made a bid to buy the blazers,”

which would have assured their staying there. But they didn't have the highest bid. Dunn Dunn had a higher bid. And so they went with the highest bid. The second thing that's interesting.

So the Allen Foundation, they owned the blazers and sold them to Dunn Dunn.

They just last week agreed to sell the Seahawks for $9.6 billion.

Huge amount of money, obviously all-time record for American sports. And according to reports, and it's not a Dunn deal. And I'm not saying this for sure. I'm just recording to reports. They are selling 100% of the Seahawks.

They're selling all over their shares to the Seahawks. In the case of Dunn, they only sold 80%. And they kept 80%. And some media in Portland is speculating that one of the reasons they kept the 80%. And I am not saying this.

Wait, they sold 80 and kept 20. I'm sorry, they kept 20. Okay. I'm not saying this. I'm just saying what's being reported.

Okay. That speculated by media that one of the reasons you would keep the 20% is if the team moves, the team's value would increase. And your 20% that equity would increase too. I'm a little surprised that Paul Allen didn't have language in his will that would prevent

something like this from happening as investors he was in the blazers. They also took eight years to sell the teams. I don't understand. I'm not a state attorney, so I can't really say.

“But I think other than the underlying reasons of this, just the palace intrigue of it all,”

the reason I think it's interesting, and I've spent 20 minutes you're talking about, and we'll move on is that I think it's going to potentially affect the expansion. Because if you look at the markets that you could expand to, or that you could move to, there's not a lot of options here, like man, because outside of Las Vegas and Seattle, where are places that could legitimately take an NBA team that would be an upgrade on Portland,

I mean, you're starting fresh as far as a fan base wherever you go as well.

“Like you would probably be part of an Omaha ownership group with you.”

Well, Omaha is not an upgrade from Portland with all due respect. Yeah, I mean, we can talk about like Kansas City, Louisville, like. All right, so Kansas City, that's in front of me. Okay, well, that, okay, like for example, Austin could host an NBA team, but Austin's down. Not let that happen correct because NBA teams have a perimeter that they can, that they control and defend.

For example, when the kings were uncertain as to what was going to happen with them, you know, they obviously almost moved to Seattle. They had another plan where they were going to move to Orange County. They were going to play in Anaheim. It was announced, much sure if they like ever like had, you know, Anaheim kings gear or whatever,

but it was announced and the clippers, Sterling and Jerry Bus blocked it. They said, no, you can't move into Orange County. We control that that territory.

“And I believe now, and now the owners could vote on anything, you know, they could,”

they could change their mind tomorrow. But I believe the Grizzlies, that's the nationals within their perimeter. So you could say, you know, you, you know, if you're looking on, try to move the Grizzlies to Nashville. Who did? Well, brawn.

That's right. I remember that. So you know, seriously, if you, please correct me if I'm wrong. Las Vegas, Seattle, Nashville, and Austin would probably be the most attractive cities. Jackson, do you think I'm on?

We can talk Kansas City, Louisville, I don't think Kansas City, Louisville are upgrades on Portland. I agree. Listen, it's, it would be tremendously unfortunate if the trailblazers weren't in Portland.

It's a very passionate and unique fan base. I get the revenue challenges, but it would be a shame. All right, so this will just monitor that and keep an eye on that. I will say it was interesting, you know, when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl in February, it was very much taken note, both in Seattle and in Portland, that when Jody Allen, his

sister who would become the head of the estate, she became the governor of both teams. She didn't thank, or she didn't reference her late brother when she took the trophy.

And I would never thought about it, but people felt a certain way about it.

In other words, she doesn't have that connection. And so the concept here is that, you know, Paul Allen loved the blazers, you know, loved having the Portland. He probably would have preferred to own the Sonics because he's from Seattle, based in Seattle, but after he bought the blazers, like invested in them immensely, made sure

that they always had everything, they were one of the best taking care of teams and that the concept is that, you know, that he would never have stood for the team being sold as somebody would move them or whatever. Well, and just the way that they're being run now, the way that they're being operated, it's polar opposite to the way that he ran page.

It sure is. It doesn't look. I was just in Vegas at Summer League and the outlet, I mean, the NBA is operates in a world of excess. We at ESPN certainly do not go hungry, I'm not casting a stone from a glass house.

Some of the expenditures that are going on at Summer League for these teams are a little a little wild, McMahon.

These teams are spending a million dollars each on some of these Summer League operations.

And apparently the most interesting thing happening is XT makes, you know, throw on punches at each other. More whoop collective podcast after this. So, that's it. So, I'll tell you what, though, I was thinking about this.

“Now I know why bond-times avoided the Salt Lake City Summary with a hawk's word, right?”

He knew I was going to be there and he was right, because it's on site next time I see bond-times. Why? Why? Just, you know, bad, bad blood, XT mates, I mean, it's a good way to get some attention.

I see a lot of punch in my face. Let me think about that.

one for you. There is a YouTube video that I believe is still floating around the interwebs. Oh, my God. Don't say it. Of a college freshman bond-times, I think it was on the Cross-Hillman boxing gloves.

He does one crazy spin backhand thing that I, he did win the flesh for about the technique.

“You should know that he did win the fight.”

Yeah, but he was fighting, guys. Not tall enough to referee an NBA? Yeah. Jackson, who would win between bond-times the McMahon? I got McMahon.

I think it goes more than one round though. Bond-times a little. No. I think Bond-times would be scrappy enough to keep it going. It'd go longer than the McGregor foot.

Hey, one thing we know about bond-times, you can take a punch. All right. I'm not here to defend himself, so I'll just leave it with that. All right, so before we get to the non-laborant information, the NBA has, wouldn't say they have announced it, but they have acknowledged McMahon that they are investigating the Gary

Trent contract that we talked about earlier this week. The contract went official.

It is four years, 64 million, all 64 million guaranteed.

And so, by the way, that is, in addition to the $16 million a year, there weren't that many four plus year guaranteed contracts given out this summer. And they were given out to people like Donovan Mitchell, Victor Wimbanyama, Austin Reeves. I mean, the lake has gave out a couple, Quentin Grimes, and Mammoo, but yeah, no, it's a short list.

Tarys in, yeah, it's a pretty short list. Not, it's a little bit, it's a little unusual for a role player, but you know, you're right. There was a couple. It certainly is unusual for a role player to come off the worst year of his career.

“So that's what the issue is, is that, so I heard Rich Paul, he was on his podcast with”

Kendrick Perkins, and he's the agent of Gary Trent. He referenced Quentin Grimes, Quentin Grimes got four years and 60 million from the lakeers coming over from the 76ers, and you know, as a comparable contract to Gary Trent. That's certainly something you could, you could present as a defense to the lake. Gary Trent had, like you said, up one of the worst years of his career, and the difference

is that the lakeers didn't pay, you know, Quentin Grimes, you know, below market money, the previous two years. Right, Grimes was an honor minimum on their roster. Grimes was playing pretty well for the Philadelphia 76ers last year and a half. And I'll just say this, that whatever happened last summer, the bucks had sort of lost their

moral, not moral, but they had lost their north star. I think a little bit last summer, McMahon. Like, well, he's now losing out of the south beach star. Right, you're exactly right. They waved and stretched, I mean, listen, we'll just say it.

They were, they were desperately scrambling, and they were mortgaging left and right. Yeah, to try, they're flailing to try to keep you on us around.

So they waved and stretched, yeah, and put $20 million a year.

Whatever it is, $17 million a year on their books for five years. I think it's $22 a year. Oh, my God, they signed Miles Turner to an overpay, which is a double air, you know, they can't get rid of the, the, the, the number on the books for Dame. And it's next to impossible to move Turner right now, if they had to, at least to get off

the money. And so I don't know, the idea here would be that there would have been some circumvention.

“There was a quid pro quo, a wink, wink, what have you?”

And let's be honest, that would have happened last summer. Wink wink deals happen in the NBA. This is what was being investigated here is essentially what Joe Smith was busted for. You've seen the Joe Smith thing talked about a lot in reference to Khawai. This is, this is much more comparable to what happened with Joe Smith.

When you sign, if you're out of money, and you can't sign anybody, and you could always

sign to minimum contracts, you know, how do you get good talent? That's where the, the temperal rules were in 2000, they had garnet on the roster. They were trying like crazy to get more money. And so they created, it wasn't just a wink, wink, it was a sign sign. Yeah.

They came to a, to an agreement that they would pay Joe Smith, you know, a couple of million dollars for a few years. I can't remember if it was the minimum, it was some small amount. They would pay him for three years, they would establish his bird rights. And then they would enable them to pay him more money.

And then they would pay him a max contract, whatever it was. Basically it was like, I will pay you tomorrow for your work today. And they signed an agreement. And the reason that why they signed the agreement, I don't know.

deal, the two agents that were partners got into a feud, sued each other.

“And that document was in the freaking lawsuit, McMahon.”

And the smoking gun popped up in the lawsuit.

And they hit, and they avoided the contract, and they hit them for five first round picks,

blah, blah, blah, blah. I would, and wink wink deals happen. And I mean, I, I know of several situations I could compare this to. I have not going to compare it to, but it's not unheard of. It's just that this one is pushing the envelope.

This not, that I'm saying it is a wink wink. It is. Listen. It's one thing if you, if the buck say, hey, we want you back. We can only do the minimum.

We'll have your bird rights next year, and we'll be willing to pay you, you know, at or even a little above market value. I think that's one thing. It's like, this is an market value. And don't know, there was sign and trade interest.

I mean, come on now. That's what thing we should point out. Shams has said that there was a team that was interested in signing and trading him for a comparable number. And by the way, if that is indeed the case, the lead would probably like to know what

that team was, and they would ask. Sure. And if that is true, that would kind of get the bucks out of trouble. So this contract is just so far out of line in terms of his production and the comps and in this market, it doesn't make any sense unless it was wink winked a year ago.

But what, like, what's the worst punishment for the bucks that to pay the contract?

“Honestly, like, do you think, are there, have you heard a lot of other teams complaining?”

Well, I had an MBA executive tell me this week in Vegas that the penalty shouldn't be that the contract we get avoided. The penalty should if the bucks are found to have done this and it's a big if and I'm not accusing them, do not want that in my life. This executive said to me, hey, if they are found guilty of this, the contract should

be doubled on their books. So that would be investigated and we'll have to see. Okay. Now that that's put to bed, we are joined from New York City, from the Javits Center. I believe right, Dave McMahon.

That is right. Music just started playing right at the start of this taping. So we're going to have to roll with that. No, we hear you fine. I don't know if you can hear us.

We hear him fine. Okay. I can hear you guys perfect. So you were there, you flew all the way there from LA and this was I heard you're doing it.

I was like, I can't believe you're going all the way back to New York for this. For LeBron's various appearances, the fanatics fest on Thursday and you slash we learned what, Dave. Okay.

We did learn his first thoughts on his exit from the Lakers and he took the high road.

Which is not necessarily surprising based on his initial tweet after several hours after Rich Paul told G.D. Blust and Rob Pelink that LeBron would be moving on. But it's still notable. Also notable, I was trying to find a way to get in there.

“This is a way bigger sprawling event than I think I realized.”

I go through a curtain, fortunately one of the security guys recognized me for being an MBA fan. So I get spit out right in front of the stage and they're getting ready to start the program. And so I just go try to find the first open seat right next to JJ Reneck. What's he happy to see? Yeah, I was gonna say I'm sure he was the real one.

He was friendly. He was friendly. And listen, I think the sum degree Brian, you can speak to this even better than I can. The bronze of showman and this was part of the program to continue to hype up the last major basketball decision of his career. And there have already been two events on Thursday.

There's a third one on Thursday, a time 100 Dallas.

And there's a fourth event Friday where he has a live taping of the shop with Novak Yokevich as the special guest. I don't anticipate us learning his decision on either of those. Wouldn't it be great if he was explaining it to the Joker? Like in the what if joke of it's like tries to talk him into playing with Yokevich, his buddy. That would be fun.

Yeah. I guess what if that happens, people like myself will be writing and tweeting and going on television. I guess talk about it. Which again, feel like it's part of the apparatus this week. Well, yeah, if it doesn't happen, you'll still be talking about it and we're still going to need it.

Like in the day today, we'll be led with a bra on until LeBron actually for several days after he makes his decision probably. Yeah, how about date? How about he was like, well, this is my third phrase and see I was like, whoa, Mr. James, it's your fourth buddy.

And this one's gone on longer than the other three put together. I just not that we're getting tired of waiting here.

He didn't correct the record in his second appearance some day.

Okay. He got his counting right. Great. He got it up to number four. So, yeah, I mean, listen, that this is a legitimate process to some degree, of course,

because all the factors he has the way, trying to land the plane correctly, what's been a Hall of Fame career, it's not a top three or two or one, best career in NBA history. Family style of play. What host do you want to live on, what teammates he could fit with, what business opportunities you can have in that market, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

But Ryan, as you have kind of reported on over the last week or so, and it is my gut instinct. If he's not 100% where he's going yet, he's got to be darn close to 99% at this point. Yeah, I think you leave the door open to see if things change. But that's one of the things is that in the past day, teams that wanted LeBron did moves to sort of tell the earth, seed the ground to try to get him there.

And that's not happening this time. I mean, the sixers worked trade for Jalen Brown no matter what. It wasn't like they did that to get LeBron. And now the teams are kind of like, well, we might make some changes to our roster after

“you have to say you could, you would come.”

And we'd appreciate you'd say you'd come, so we have time to do that because, you know, options are more limited. But that's one of the things that I was hoping to hear from him today, not just me day, but the other teams, they wanted to hear what his priorities were. Because like, for example, as you reported on and talked about throughout the season,

this last year playing with LeBron and Austin Reeves, LeBron became a third option. And he had to generate often sometimes by just running people up and down the court. And he had to stand on the side.

He had never played that way before.

So, you know, I don't know how much of that contributed to him leaving the Lakers. But, you know, it had to be on the decision pie. So, does he want to go to need to cleave on, for example, where it's, you know, I know that James tard and Donovan Mitchell are not the same as Reeves and Donchitch, but it's comparable and play the same style.

Does he, you know, that would be the case in Philadelphia. Like, what's his, you know, that's the thing that, you know, we don't know. I, I have no doubt he would fit anywhere. He can play all five positions even now. I have no doubt he can play different ways.

“But what does he want to do? That day, if I think is what teams are interested in finding out.”

And he didn't give clues to that other than the fact that he popped out his chest a little bit when he asked or answered a fan's question about his

freedom to decision. And basically said, I know all the insides are basketball.

I'm going to fit in by also going to pour into whatever teammates I play with and I'm a natural born leader. And again, maybe that, I mean, maybe I'm just sifting through the comments to try to figure out the Laker exit because that's part of my job. But maybe that was hinting at some of the, the reason he left beyond his taking the high road comments that he started off with. Well, you mentioned earlier, landing the plane. You've been

working. Did you hear about Pat Riley's comments today at Yannis's press conference? I actually have not. I'd love to hear it. So Pat Riley made sure he was on stage for Yannis's arrival. And I did a big press conference today. They, they didn't just do it in the media room, whether it's the constant buzz. Any, any interview you ever see in the heat's, any of your room, you just listen, you hear a buzz in the background. It's still you are right.

It's only been there for 20 years. I would know that buzz in my sleep. They were out in the court. And Pat Riley said, we landed one plane. Now, we got to land the other. And I don't think he was talking about

“contemporary people. Well, Pope. I think, I think they landed flight seven today. That's Yannis's new”

number. And I think they'd like to put number six back into circulation. Did Yannis count up to five six seven and Greek? We learned that. That would have been nice. That would have been cool. It would have been good for for content. But, you know, Riley, like, came out and, like, let it be known. Like, we're not done. We want them. And, well, and that's a little, you know, that's a little pitch to the brawn. You know, he knows the brawn's a showman.

And that's Riley's a showman as well. You know, Kenny Ackett's in trying to do his little recruiting pitch when he ever got a microphone or fun of him in Vegas. Apparently, Tyre's Halbert in trying to do a little recruiting pitch. And that didn't last for me. I want to get a couple of laughing emojis in response. And that was, yeah, it was rebuffed. And Tyre's, I mean, that was a notable moment, right? Tyre said that even before LeBron informed the Lakers that he would be leaving and moving on,

Tyre's made a play for him was returned to laughing emojis. I do think that helps me try to answer

he's been in contact with or they've contacted him about LeBron. And we know the Lakers aren't,

I don't know because the Lakers did like want to meet with them. Right. So they did. So let's say the Lakers still count. So one of the three teams that didn't in the end, I was like, I don't know if that would be one, but I guess in the end is we think Memphis did. We got a great air.

“So I have to believe that I should find a find out of Boston did. I think Boston would rank 30”

a th on his list. I really honestly do. He hates Boston. I wonder if okay, C did. I wonder if the spurs did. I don't know. I understand there was some sort of spurs dialogue. I don't know when there was pitching, but it was some sort of dialogue. There's a premium clutch client on the

team. They probably did, which in the case of San Antonio. And by the way, the thunder might

do it just because they would be like, well, the spurs are probably going to reach out because a fox, we should reach out to. I wouldn't be surprised if they did. If nothing else, just play defense. But I would guess Memphis might not have. And I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, Boston would have to, right? They would have to. You think, right? I think, I think, but Boston would rank 30 at Dave, do you agree? I do agree. Last year, Lebron came back,

yeah, decided to that cost him the missed time. And the Lakers loan trip, the Boston was in that window before he was playing back the backs and he missed the game. He was not sad about missing. Right. I do not think he enjoys. He's had some great games at Boston. I don't. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I want to address something that he said, I forgot the exact context. But he mentioned something about it. He's going to decide where he's going to spend the last few. Yeah. Or two, or one

year of his career. I thought that was, that made Dave's a fair group of further gray. Oh, yeah,

well, Brian, what did what did you text me, Brian, which was not always a very astute. Well, one thing

that I noticed, McMahon, as I was watching this today, was that Lebron's beard, which was very gray on the golf course last week was very dark today. Yeah. Well, kept and nice and dark, which means that this isn't going to be one year. He did bring them. It's actually three years today. That seems like a lot. But I could very well see it being two years in part of that is the success he's had joining new teams, where the example that he's had is year two. We went

into the championship. Dave, look, I'm just going to say, I have no insight. I have no information. You know that I'm from Cleveland. You know my ties there. But more I've looked at this and the more I've had conversations, the more Miami makes sense to me. And now when I hear

“I'm thinking about a couple of years, it makes even more sense to me. Well, why, why, why, why Miami?”

Because I think that's where he goes and fits. He can go there and have the ball. He also can go there and it be protected on defense. I can clearly when he can be prepped it on defense for sure. But he wouldn't have the ball. I mean, I, I, I, I, I want to be clear. He can play with anybody. You think I don't think he can play with anybody. He can do anything. But like, I don't see him playing with Donovan and Harden as being a clean fit. Of course, he can do it. I just don't see

that clean fit in Miami. I see the, the fit in Miami makes more sense to me. And I, I've come to that as I've watched his unfold for the last three weeks and had a bunch of conversations. And I'm not trying to cause any problems. I'm not trying to report anything. I'm just telling you the my perception. I do think the points, so I interrupt to him. But I do think the point about the ball in his hands. That is the undisputed basketball fit in terms of the way we've seen him

and joy playing basketball is entire career. And there's a major need for it. Obviously, Yannas has expanded his game playing some points. Sorry, but that fell as if got a call from our esteemed producer Brian Franny. I need to get my butt out on the 11th and 35th to do sports center hit. But I appreciate joining and talk to you soon. All right. Thanks to McManiman. McMan. Well, you think of all that? Well, the only point I would make about the fit in my

amy is what's the one thing if LeBron's going to have the ball in his hands that he most needs around him shooting. And that's the one biggest flaw in that Miami roster. Now, they've gotten some, you know, Tim Hardaway, Fontechio, like they've got some shooting. But playing with Bam at a bio

“and Yannas, there's going to be some, I think Yannas, honestly, needs to have the ball in his hands”

as well. I think there's some, there will be some fit things that would have to be figured out there. Those are absolutely reasonable points. I don't dispute any of that. You would have to build

would be an acknowledgement that, you know, I'm not necessarily done and maybe this is something that is a two-year project. Also, you'd be wagering on Pat Riley and Andy Ellisburg figuring out how to build out the team, you know. And that's, yeah, but you'd regard us, though, he'd be playing with two, I'm not sure, non-shooters is strong for Bam, but two guys who, you don't fear as perimeter shooters. Because like the figure now, like those two guys, Bam at a bio and Yannas

are going to be in the starting line up and on the floor for the vast majority of minutes at there, especially come playoff time. So I just, you know, I do think there'd be some pretty significant

fit challenges with Miami as well. He would just be very clearly, you know, second or one B on the

pecking order in terms of having the ball in his hands. Where I, he would just say in about Cleveland, it, I just don't think it would be as strong. Like Luke was the very clear number one and then they got to a point where it was defined one, two, three. I'm not sure it would be that clearly defined if he's playing with Jonathan Mitchell and in the specialty James Hard. What do you think,

“if he chose Miami, do you think that they would have cookies for him at his, when he arrived?”

Do you, you know, the cookie thing, right? I don't know the cookie thing. I guess, I guess this will be our so-fi. Get your money right, throw, throw back a little week. More who collect it podcast after this. So you don't, you're not aware of the story about how Pat Riley pulled the cookies? No. Well, first off, the, the interesting thing about this is that when LeBron came to Miami, so the night of the decision, one of the people that actually, the people who kind of knew first

were the pilots, they actually had two planes at the, I know, I assume it was a Westchester County airport in New York. They had two planes and the pilots had to know where to fly the plane. So the pilot's actually knew he was going to Miami because they said, hey, we're going to Miami. So they, they remembered, the night after the decision was when they had that big, shindig down there. Yeah, where they,

“where they all, which by the way, was, you have to admit, it was pretty, it gets remembered”

not five, not six, not seven. But it was pretty badass. The, the stage. I mean, it was the show. It was, yeah, I mean, let's do our introductory press conferences go, it was definitely the most

memorable I've ever seen. Absolutely, it was amazing. And I mean, it was arrogant and regretful,

but you know, in the moment, incredible. So anyway, they get in the planes for some reason, they need to two planes. They had nestled many people. They fly down. And the side story on that is that their, like sort of reading Twitter and they're seeing the decision is being destroyed. And that was in the infid days of Twitter. It wasn't like use ubiquitous for like the, the way it would become later on. But like, let's just say that the mood from what was described to me was

somber, despite that flying down to Miami through their new place and whatever, like, it was somber. And like there was even this thought, like, oh my gosh, did we make a mistake? And then they landed in Miami and the letter came out. The comic songs font, not that I think that they would have changed their mind. But whatever, you know, you know, this is the way it was described to me by somebody involved years later. And, you know, maybe LeBron would say you're dead wrong. I mean,

I'm not trying to get inside his head. But when the letter came out, the bridges were burned. The miracles that they're able to reconstruct the bridge for years later. And potentially again,

yet again, eight years later will be amazing. But the funny thing is is that they didn't know

what to bring to the airport because the heat, like, they were, they were confident, but they, like, I'm telling you, like, this is the thing that, as I'm talking to teams, like, I remember Dan Gilbert, you know, saying to me one time, he's like, we didn't know the Browse coming back until after he announced it. Like, the Lakers had some heads up, but like, it wasn't like the Lakers had 12 hour notice he was signing there. Like, the Browse is going to say it and

then inform the team or very close to it. The Browse wants to make a splash when he makes it,

“when he changes teams. He wants the announcement, and that's what, that's what this whole thing is”

about right now. The Browse wants to make a splash. Okay. And so, like, but yet, like, it was a viral thing on Thursday that Steve Kerr, like, you know, I don't know if he was in Vegas or California where

his car and he said, yeah, we got the Browse and like, yeah, somebody's like, hey, we got to get

the Browse and say, oh, we got him. Yeah. Okay. People were like, the Warriors have like, yeah,

“that's how it would be announced. Steve Kerr, yelling out the side of his car. Anyway, so they,”

the heat didn't have anything really prepared, at least at that night. So Eric's Bolstra brought a plate of cookies. He didn't know what else to like, you know, what do you, what do you bring to your superstar when you have like two hours notice you're going to see him at the airport? I'm surprised the heat evolved. Like, I thought cookies might be banned from their facilities. You've now got the other half of the story. So when the heat would fly, they, the catering, you know,

everything of Miami is different. McMahon, like you know this, the heat, the culture, baby.

Jackson's asked about kind of cookies. Apparently, it was somebody's homemade cookies. Like, there was whoever took care of the catering for the plane, made these homemade cookies, or there were these special cookies for the Browse and the Browse and love these cookies. Well, the heat are fanatical about weight. I mean, they, like, typically players are weighed two or three times during the season. Like, once at the beginning, once at the end,

the heat players are weighed like every day. I remember Shane Baddie, who told me once, if you have a big lunch, they know it, which is part of the reason that one of the most fascinating stories of LeBron's career was that he gained, like, seven pounds during a game. Um, I have to one where I'm just not sure about the science behind that. Okay. So I don't know what to say about it. Mike Miller told me the story that LeBron, because because of Miami,

they weigh these guys all the time and LeBron started weighing himself. And I know it doesn't make sense, McMahon. I'm not, I'm not saying that it actually, I don't have to tell you. All I know is this, Mike Miller told me that LeBron weighed himself before, I guess he used to weigh himself before and after every game when he was in Miami. Maybe he still does. I don't know. And somehow he weighed like 261 before the game and 268 after the game or something like that. Maybe put

both feet on the scale the second time, McMahon. I am not denying anything you could just say here.

You could say that he was holding a basket, what do you want me to say? Okay. The change shoes they were heavier. But I said, Mike Miller told me this story and I was like, it cannot be true. I asked Mike, man, CS. Mike did LeBron have a game. It was apparently during the conference files. This is LeBron's longtime personal trainer, I guess, would be the first one. I said, Mike did LeBron really gain seven pounds during a game. He goes, yes, it was a playoff game.

I still didn't believe it. So then I went and asked LeBron. And LeBron said, yes, it was very strange. I don't know to make it that I don't know whether I had like drank a lot of

“a gatorade or seven pounds. McMahon, what do you want me to say?”

All right, let's get back to the cookie. The trainer, I asked LeBron. I hear you. Anyway, what does the scale malfunction be going? The point is that the heat were and are fanatical about all of that stuff. Look, the point about all of this is is that the heat will very, very fanatical about food and weight and stuff like that. And so at some point near either the last year of LeBron's time there, whatever, Riley ordered the cookies off the plane.

Oh, and so LeBron, like they're taking their flight. And LeBron goes to the, because what they typically do, they put in the overhead bins, they fill the overhead bins with like, I mean, there's food and stuff, but they also would fill the overhead bins with like gum and, you know, fruit and snacks, which is, you know, the overhead bins like I line for an MBA player. They just, and LeBron went to go get his cookies and the cookies had been banned by Riley from the plane,

which, you know, angered LeBron and, you know, some people have been like, that's why you left. That's obviously not why you left. But the point is that Pat Riley was like, he, so my, so Riley makes this joke today about land the plane. I'm thinking like, if LeBron comes back to Miami, they have got to have a cookie bar. By the way, like, as if LeBron was ever not in odd shape, like the fifth of those cookies were causing him. He wanted to envy these, but the

four finals, but look, this is how Riley rolls, you know, and Riley is probably at or below his

“playing weight in his mid 70s. Now, I think he's in his 80s now, isn't he? Is he in his 80s?”

I believe so. Well, anyway, so Jackson wants to know what kind of cookies Jackson. I don't know.

just restart the, uh, chocolate chip cookies. It says Jackson. Oh, and he must have been one

number of a recipe. Mario Chalmers told the story on a podcast. That's where it came from. So Mario told it, it can't be wrong. Absolutely not. 81 Pat Riley is Jackson says. Yeah. So I'll throw I know the brand doesn't eat cookies anymore. I mean, he's, you know, he's pretty fanatical about, uh, about everything. So look, maybe he signs and filly, maybe he signs and golden state, maybe he goes back to Cleveland. Are you kind of the, the tin walls without

you're doing? I'm not counting at anybody. I don't have, I, you know, it's, it's not a comfortable thing to say that you don't know in our jobs, but it's, it's the responsible thing.

And when I, when I played golf, I had the wonderful, um, be event earlier this week with Scott Morrison's

foundation to the max. And, um, one of the teams, head coaches, who's one of the teams recruiting the bronze head coach played in front of me. And one of the teams general managers who's recruited with LeBron played behind me. And it's various times during the day. I was with each of them. And sometimes they're with each other. And they, they didn't know that they were asking me. The next day I was at a hotel. Another one of the head coaches who was recruiting LeBron, he asks me.

“And then I see another, um, with the team president for one of them, it's like, what do you think?”

I'm like, I don't know, man, I wish I could tell you. And he's like, I think he's going to Cleveland. I'm like, what do you want me to say? Like, like, people, I, I assume at some level, maybe the ownership level that there has been some conversations, you know, that maybe like, maybe there is a very few set of people that know that it's moving in one direction or another. Do you think LeBron has made his decision? And, and is now just plotting how it announced?

Knowing LeBron, like I know him. And I'm certainly not in his circle. And I'm certainly not saying that I'm, have special insight. But no one has just formed the high school teammate. Yeah, knowing his psychology, the high school team of 3 and 17 when I was a senior, knowing his psychology, I would suspect that he has known for some time, the direction he's

“heading. But obviously, the decision is not finalized yet. I mean, that's what I could be wrong.”

I could be wrong with man. He could announce and say that he came to it to at the night before. Yeah. Well, and maybe the decision is finalized and maybe he just want, like, again, like he has a showman. And I think part of this is he wants to be very calculated on when, where and how he releases this information to the world. And he's got the entire league. Kind of, you know, he's got the attention of the entire league. There's still a few

crazy things like, you know, paid in watts and a bit of the math or and there's some restricted free agents out there. But like, for the most part, the business of the league is, is, is, done, not done. But, you know, it's, it's a very slow time in the year. As far as, as far as players changing teams, like there's, there's extension business to go on. Right. Right. And that could lead to things. But in terms of player movement, we're probably in the high 90% of player movement.

Yeah. It's, it's a very slow time to the end. This is, it's stretch. This is further than it's ever stretched in terms of the time of July. It's, it's on the verge of being longer than all three put the all three free agents together. So in, I believe July 9th, July 8th, July 9th, and July 1st for the three times he traded. So that's 17 days. The difference is, on all three

previous occasions, because you had to have max caps base or, you know, the first time in the

Miami, at least close to max cap space to be able to land him, he did hold up business around the lead. That's not the case here. He's not holding up this. True. I'm just saying that like, what I believe, one was July 8th, one was July 9th, and one was July 1st. That's 17. I'll call it 18 days and we're July 16th. Yeah. So, all right, thank you to Dave McManiman. Thank you to all of our producers on here, Tucker Mark Jackson at all. Thank you to McMan. Thank you for

listening and watching the hook collective. Will we get until Monday? I guess Tuesday for our next podcast, or will we have to emergency pod before that? I guess we'll wait and find out.

“World Cup finals on Sunday. I think the Bronis planning on being there. Who's playing?”

Argentina and Spain. Who are you rooting for? I was rooting for England, but I was mesmerized by messy and so, you know, they were correctly the correct team one, Argentina. So, I don't have

after that. All right, we'll wait. I'm Pennsylvania's. I also make us.