You know, I've got a new goal in twenty twenty five, and that's just to say yes to more things and just find joy in things that bring joy to others. So I don't care anymore that you guys like Pitbull and I don't. I'm just going to embrace the bit and welcome in. Zach Harper on a Wednesday afternoon. I'm over a man. You win, I give up.
Here's the thing is with that song, you have no choice but to give up because that is a bank. That's an all time bank.
Right, Okay, Like I said, if it brings you joy, it brings me joy.
Zach.
That's my new goal for twenty twenty five. Where do we find you today? It sounds like you might be on a sailboat somewhere.
Oh god, I'm in Los Angeles trying to find a parking spot anywhere in the city, and you, yeah, it's what everyone wants to hear, LA traffic. But yeah, it's terrible. Look.
I never knew how real it was until I spent a year working there, and I'm like, screw this. I'm like, it's it's enough to make me not ever want to live there. And then you land and it's seventy five degrees and like, maybe I'll deal with it.
Yeah, it's like it's it's kind of over cast a little bit. It's seventy six. You know, we're in the middle of February, late February. I guess I don't know what the cutoff is there, and so there are worse places to be. But if you, like I made the mistake of going out at one thirty, that's on me.
All right.
Philosophical question for you, Zach, right off the top, Are you ready? Yeah, So at some point the asteroid's gonna hit and we're cooked. Okay, it's it's it's just going to happen. And you have talked about it before. And ultimately what we've learned now, according to scientists that are smarter than you were, you and I, the asteroid y are four has risen to a record level to hit the Earth in twenty thirty two.
Here is my question to you, Do you want to know when it's coming?
If you had the opportunity, if whoever's in charge, whoever is really behind the Wizard of Oz controls, whoever's in charge of this whole thing, hit you up? Was like, Zach, I can tell you the day this is happening if you'd like to know and nobody else will know, or you just blissfully live your life until you don't anymore.
Which avenue would you take?
That's a great question because like, at this point, do I have knowledge that this might happen in twenty thirty two? You do not. It's gonna happen in all right, it's just gonna it's gonna happen in your lifetime, but you don't know when, correct, Yes, man, I think I kind of gotta know. I'd like to think I'm a bigger person, Like, no, just live my life and every day is the best there, I think I gotta know.
See I this is you know for listeners, it's a peak beyond a curtain.
I'm a Weirdoh.
I sat up and thought about this for like thirty minutes last night when I read the article, I'm like, would I want to know? Or would I just rather live my life until I wouldn't know? And the thought Zach, of what you could accomplish, like the last day revenge wise on people who have wronged you over the years, is enough to be like, I gotta know, man, because the last day before the world ends. Can you imagine how many boxes you could check on your list?
I would be an absolute menace. Oh yes, like't use this for like, oh I'm gonna like you know, I'm gonna make all the wrongs right and everything. No, this would be like revenge week leading up and be like, wow, you're really like kind of crashing out here, which I think is a you know, turn. Kids are still saying like you're kind of crashing out here, And I said, just you wait, I know what I'm doing.
Yep, Now I'm one percent with you.
That I was debating and then when I realized what I could do the final day before the world ended, and I'm like, I'm I'm on board.
I want to know.
Yeah, all right, real quick, let me let me ask that you know what, like what I would feel like I would feel like Magic Johnson when he had quit and only the media knew, like the Lakers didn't know, like what an incredible feeling where when he has this whole thing of like they're talking about, you know, free agents in the summer and I'm just thinking I'm not gonna be here, like people will be like, oh yeah, we're going to like santrape next summer and everything, and
I just think, like, you're not. Yep, i'd promise you're not.
Keep keep keep up with those plans. Hopefully it makes you happy.
I thought you'd be a good one ask that question, and maybe we'll get back to it at some point.
But here's, uh, here's where I'll pivot.
Now.
How much of the All Star weekend did you consume? I mean, I don't know if you went, I don't know if you were watching. How much of it did you consume?
I didn't. I didn't. I didn't watch the Celebrity game because I don't hate myself. And then I watched the second half of the Rising Stars games because I kind of forgot they were on. So like I caught like the second half of the second game, and then the entirety of the of the Championship game or whatever I guess it's called. Watched all of Saturday night, watched all of Sunday. You know, it was fine, which I guess is an upgrade over last year. But like it was just it was fine.
Yeah, yeah, I guess it was fine if you enjoy the weekend. And so ultimately, because you and I are members of the media to cover the NBA, we are obligated to do the topic how do we fix this thing right? And when when anybody asks me, what's your preferred format, I say, well, it's the all star game comprised of players who care about playing.
That's my preferred format.
What we saw for like thirty or forty years that, for the most part, was very awesome. Now I'm not a revisionist historian. Not every game was greats up and down the entire time when I was growing up watching in the nineties, but more often than not, it was the greatest pickup game in the world because the greatest players in the world showed up and more often than not tried to play. So my preferred format is the all star game, comprised of two teams with the best
players in the world they care about playing. But I think, Zach, I'm resigned to the fact now there's no format that will motivate these guys to care.
So I don't really know what you do.
Yeah, I mean, it's just there's you know, they make so much money. And I'm not using that as a complaint. I'm just like, that's a that's just a fact of life, right, Like you get to a certain point, and these things regardless of like your job or whatever like thing, there's
certain things that just become less and less meaningful. And I've heard some players, you know, try to explain the reason the competitiveness isn't there, and you know it's some validorie like oh, you're supposed to be about making sure you're okay for the second half the season and so if I get injured there you know, blah blah blah.
Like yeah, like I get all that, and you know there we had something Joe Varden published something for us today, I think it was today, either today or yesterday, able a player poll from people who participating in All Star Weekend. I think Darius Garland. I don't know if it was tongue in cheek, but like his suggestion for making players care was like a million dollars per player, like if I guess, I guess if you win, or maybe if
you play. I don't know what it was, but like it just said a million dollars per player would get it. I'm like, I don't know, man, like you kind of already make a lot of money and that seems like a gross way of doing it. But if that's what it takes and it's worth it, and the league has it, sure,
I guess, like I ultimately it's on the players. You know, Draymond's complaining and whining the other night, And I'm not anti Draymond, but I'm anti Draymond when he when he tries to like pretend he's inventing an idea and it's just stuff that's been thrown around. Like I get it, like Rising Stars on Sunday is not hallowed sacred ground. Well, you guys shouldn't have messed around for the last eight years with All Star Games, and then maybe you wouldn't
be in this position. And ultimately, like I think it's gonna be on the players. I think maybe someone like like Wemby seemed to take it pretty seriously and not one guy can change it. But I've heard stories in the past from guys like Dwyane Wade who are like, yeah, Kobe set the tone for a lot of those All Star Games, and I think that like it matters. It matters when the good players decide to care and decide to set the tone. In almost shame. I'm into shaming.
I'm into bullying. I don't know how you bully someone who makes two hundred million dollars, but there are ways to shame them into it, and I guess throwing rising stars into the mix on a Sunday, like, yeah, you don't want that, then you better bring it next year.
Yeah do you? Well said?
I mean, it is on any player who's complaining about, hey, the sanctity of being able to earn your way to play on Sunday, Well, yeah, you guys had the chance and you didn't deliver the performance. And look, ultimately, I understand that when I complain about what I perceive to be a problem for the league, they always just talk about the amount of eyes and attention and the international revenue streams that they generate will completely offset any compromised
domestic revenue streams due to lack of interest. And I get it, I understand, but ultimately it really is I think something you take away from basketball fans and something that you have kind of tried to put on that's only harming the consumer of somebody that tries to watch this thing that once upon a time was really good. Now we're probably never going back to what it was once upon a time. Maybe it is just one of those things that generationally has changed and now it's just
time to accept it for what it is now. Yiannis came out with a whole like European or international players versus domestic players. We've done that before. But there was also a mention of maybe playing this game overseas. But I land on the same issue, like I don't care where you play it, whether it's Salt Lake two years ago, the Bay Area this year, or Paris in two years.
I just don't know that any sort of format or any sort of matchup is going to make the majority of these guys show up and play hard.
It just don't. I don't know that exists, man, I really don't.
Yeah. I mean remember like the first year of the elam ending where you had to hit a certain marker after the fourth quarter, Like that was a great all Star game and everyone was like it got fixed, they figured it out, and then like a year later, maybe two years later, it sucked again, right like it like I just the toothpastes out of the tube and I don't know how you get it back in there. And I think it's like you can make all these tweaks,
you can make all these changes. I think USA versus the World would be great for a year or two, and then it would kind of go back to, Yeah, my hamstrings a little little tight. I'm not going all out. I'm not rotating over you know, I'm like, I'm not jeopardizing this and jeopardizing that. Like I I it's just a culture thing. It's a culture thing. And the culture in the NBA when it comes to this stuff is
I'm gonna I'm gonna try. I'm gonna give my you know, my my best effort for the things that matter the most, and an exhibition game just doesn't matter as much as it's supposed to be a celebration. I mean, man, we went from from years of all the league is in good hands, the league's in good hands after every All Star game to now this conversation every year and it's and it sucks, like it's it's annoying, but that's what like,
that's just what it is. And I don't know, I don't I don't think there's a way to outright fix it. You can tweak it and improve here and there, but you know, it's human nature, like regression is going to happen.
Okay, excuse me.
So the Lebron portion of this and I'm not a Lebron hater at all. I mean, if anything, I've always been a guy that's like, I'm stunned that this dude lived up to everything that we placed on him when he was seventeen years old, and then some I mean, I I am in awe of this career and always will be. And that's there's a period at the end
of that sentence. No matter what, but to show up and not really tell anybody that you're not going to play initially, and then as the players are being introduced and you're the last guy they introduced, it's just this grand, self absorbed approach and you're in street clothes and everyone's like, wait what, because look, man, the fact of the matter is. And I've never been like even back in the day when players played hard in the All Star Game and
they cared about the acknowledgment. I was never a fan of putting clauses in contracts that activate bonuses if you make the team. And I'm not a huge fan of clauses in player contracts that activate bonuses if you win postseason awards, because the process at times can be so arbitrary. But Lebron actually, in my opinion, made a very selfish
move over the weekend to not ignowge. If you're not going to play, speak up, because then a replacement will step in for you, and then that activates a clause in that player's contract to get a little cash, Like he took money out of somebody's pocket by just wanting to have this moment be about him as opposed to being just I honestly don't know how his.
Peers feel about him.
I really don't, because I think there are two sides of the coin, right. I think there are probably plenty of players that appreciate the path that he paved for simply more player empowerment, and that's not necessarily even a bad thing. But then there's the over exaggeration of his own story, the outright lies that are very easy to
pull receipts up for. And if I'm like Porter brought up the name Norman Powell, if I'm one of the players that was on the outside looking in and realizing that I had a chance to be an All Star and make a little cash and I'm watching that, I'm probably pretty upset.
Man.
So give me your thoughts.
Well, I'm with you, Like I think all that is fair if that's the case. Now, our friend Amine al Haffen had a theory today on the pot of the podcast Basketball Illuminati. Maybe it was a quiet protest. Maybe it was a quiet protest of rising stars being allowed to play on the Sunday game. And like, I don't know if I completely buy that theory, but I'm interested because when you think about it, all right, he doesn't
tell anybody, He just goes out there. He doesn't even dress, he just wears his normal clothes and everything, the photo ops. Doesn't even dressed for the photo ops and everything. And then multiple times on the weekend, multiple times in the in the broadcast, Draymond Green, his friend, a clutch athlete, starts openly saying, how trash this is that rising stars get to play on this day. Lebron doesn't have to
be the bad guy in that sense. But if that's the case, if that theory holds any weight, holds any water, I like, I'm I'm very intrigued by it. I don't Again, I don't know if I believe it. I've been processing it since I heard it this morning, but I like, I'm not outright rejecting it as a possibility.
All Right, hmm. I'll have to digest that. And look, I mean like I've been thinking about it all day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it means my guy. Tom's my guy.
At times I listen to that podcast, I'm like, how much ayahuasca did you do this morning prior to the record, because they go into places and look, it's why it's a good product, because they do think outside of the box. Yeah, man, I don't know. Let me just followup with this since I alluded to it. How do you think, like if you had a room fall of the majority of the league and they had to tell the truth, how do you think his peers view him?
How do you think the other players in the league view Lebron James.
It's a great question because you do have you know, you have so many different eras of people who are like, you know, hey MJ's the greatest, right, or hey, Kobe's actually the greatest. Why isn't he considered for this? Like I saw a video, an older video, but it was Alan Igerson recently enough talking about I can't believe Kobe gets you know, skipped over for these conversations and he's like, no disrespect to Lebron, but you know, Kobe was the next guy. And then you get to like, I mean, look,
it's Brandon Miller. But there are players in the league that are like, hey, Paul George is the guy, right, I'm like, that's crazy, Like what a crazy jump there to be like, hey, you know the best players? To me, it's Paul George. You know, Ant's favorite player. I don't think he's say the best, his favorite player Kevin Durant. I don't know how many current players look at Lebron
that way. I think they appreciate the longevity. I think they know, especially once they've been in this for a few years, to recognize that we're on year twenty two. He's still this good. He's got all these check marks on his resume. To your point, like he had the most insane expectations for everything and he exceeded them. Like
he's flat out exceeded them. He hasn't really had Like his biggest scandal is is that he you know, he signed with a team on television in twenty ten, right, Like that's the biggest thing that people really like can hold against him still, I guess, but don't I don't know that he holds you know, across the League in a way that MJ did, or a way that Kobe did for a while, because even Kobe was getting that as Shaq was still an MVP and a great player,
and people were still like, yo, Kobe's kind of the guy. I don't I don't know how many players would be like I think they they're appreciative of the player empowerment. I think they're appreciative of how this stuff is gone. But maybe it was always going to go that way and he was just the person to do it rather than he's the reason. You know, if that makes sense.
It does.
And my best guess is most players would land on, you know, ultimate respect with a side of eye roll right from time to time where you're like, dude, come on, like you know you've already proven it's in a way. And I was at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony when Michael Jordan gave his famous speech when he just eviscerated everybody, and everybody there was like, Mike, like, we know that none of those people could guard you, Like we watched the whole thing, like why are you reminding us?
Right? And I kind of that's why he's the greatest to me, Oh.
No, look it was, and that's probably one of the things that he used every single night to motivate, uh, you know, to play at the top of his game. But I think in a different way, I feel the same about a lot a lot of the Lebron stuff where he's not as outwardly like I want to kill you and slash your throat, But like the comments about having a high basketball ATQ and the comments about like you don't understand what it is to play on the level that I do.
And like it's the same thing. I'm like, I know, man, I watch you. It's amazing.
You don't have to remind us how great you are because we can see it. Like that's the stuff with him that kind of falls on deaf ears for me.
Yeah, I mean, like I'll push back on one thing. I love the line, the line that we can like outright prove immediately to be wrong. I think is such a bold move by him and such a funny move and such a funny part of his legacy is that he will just outright fay stuff that isn't true and we're like, hold on a second, like, no, none of that,
Like we've got receipts here. As he said, like we got these receipts, like I don't know, and he just kind of like just tries stuff with that in terms of narratives his whole like I'm not even a score. It's like, you've averaged twenty four points of games since you were in the NBA. Like I don't think he's I think the lowest he's ever averaged is like twenty two or something like that, right, Like, like, no, you're
a score. Like I get you were supposed to be Maggie Johnson, but you you're just like twenty seven a game your career like that, like you're a score. No one says you're not a scorer. And so his control of the narrative can get tiresome at times. But I do ultimately think like when you're trying to live up to Michael Jordan, right, like he's mentioned before, he's chasing that ghost, when you're trying to live up for that
and you and you can't. In terms of like the ways that Mike was accepted versus the ways that lebron is judged, you know, he was always going to be this crazy uphill battle, but when you can't match that, when you have lost in the finals right, you do kind of have to pivot a little bit. And I guess I understand that attempt by him to rise above that standard with focusing on the other stuff, but ultimately it's ultimately I just find it funny. But I can't take anything seriously, you know.
Well, yeah, I mean the entertainment values through the roof. There have been more than a few times where I'm watching him in real time say something. I'm like, dude, what that's like? Not even close?
Even just walking into an arena on page one of a book is so funny.
Yeah right, it's so funny.
Yeah, yeah, no, And and I just I always wonder how other players digest it because it seems so fake and so corny for a guy that's so awesome. It's so many things that he does. But one more thing here, because have you ever done any anything with its Van Lathan? Have you ever worked with him at all? I like him, I don't know, I don't know him, but whenever he's on a pod, I try to catch it because I like his insight and I had forgotten this story, so I wanted to see if you had any insight to it.
Where Lebron in his third or fourth year in the league thereabouts, had a camp during the summer where high school players showed up and they were in a run and Jordan Crawford dunked on him, and according to Van Lathan, right after that dunk, he stopped the game and went over to everybody who had a phone and said, kill that video. I don't want that going online anywhere. And you know, I had heard that, but I had forgotten
about it. And when I listened to Van Lathan unpacked out yesterday, I was like, dude, that is kind of like a anecdote.
There might be a microcosm.
Of exactly why we are where we are with some of this stuff, because players are so terrified to have one clip go viral and then exist on the internet forever. And Jordan Crawford was a good player, I mean, he played pro basketball. So do you have any insight into how that went down? And what does that kind of snapshot say to you?
Yeah, I don't, like, I definitely remember that, and I remember the rumors and then I like the footage got out at some point it did. Yes, it's had it, and it's like it's not even like it's not like Anthony Edwards on John Collins, Like it's like it's it's like he dunked on him, but it wasn't. It wasn't
this like biblical thing. And so it's funny to me because I do think, like I do think there is a real level of insecurity with Lebron, whereas I like, I think Kobe was insecure and how he was trying to catch Mike. I think Mike was just and I'd say this lovingly, like a psychopath, right that. Like even in the Last Dance documentary, there's a point where he's in a hotel room and he's like, I no one
would want this life. And you're like, that's crazy. You're the highest paid player, you're the most popular, and he's like, this is miserable, right Like he was just outright, this is miserable, but he has to do it this way, and trying to replicate that when that's the standard, I think leads to a lot of insecurity in a game
where you are harshly judged. And so I think any little bit as you were growing up, you know more and more in an Internet era where you know, Mike didn't have to deal with that, Kobe early on didn't have to deal with that. Lebron, He's just old enough to like to be kind of aware of that stuff, you know, at a young enough age. And I remember it not as him stopping the practice or stopping the
run and everyone's got a story. I remember that as like Nike officials went and this is probably at the behest of Lebron, if this is true, But Nike officials went and like took all the footage they could get and to eliminate that, right, And so I don't know if that's like a team thing controlling the narrative, but he is so worried about his narrative and being misjudged or underappreciated, and it's like, man, we appreciate you. It's just eventually you move on to the next era.
Right.
It's like the kid in school who tried the hardest to be cool is the one that was least cool. It's like, you know you either are you you aren't? You know, like stop trying so hard. Would you trade a life that is thought to be miserable in exchange for being Michael Jordan?
I should say, would you agree to a life.
That is not to be miserable if that meant you could be Michael Jordan. I, man, I like I have a lot of irrational confidence in my life.
I can't be I can't imagine being a litle to back it up that way like that would be. That's a level of power that I don't I mean, of course I would like that like that. My answer is ultimately yes, but I think it's way more complicated than people think.
And I also do not trust myself with that type of ability. I mean, I would score twenty in a high school game and almost get shot in a venue because I just couldn't stop talking to the other players or the other crowd. So if I was the best player in the world, I probably would be murdered if I'm honest.
Here's the thing. I don't think you could be that type of player, that type of person. I don't think you could be that today. As much as it's like sort of revered that level of like And again I don't say this as like a disparager remark. I think it's I think it's ultimately a positive for his career, but that level of like competitive psychosis, like I don't think that I don't think that would be accepted today, like as a culture.
Yeah, You're probably right, I would, you know, And I guess it's a good point to bring up because, in fairness to Lebron, like, I wonder what the Michael Jordan narrative would be if everywhere he went there were cameras following him. Man, because I know some of the sausage that was maybe on the scenes, I certainly don't know all of it.
And you know, like, I'm sure it's rough.
Oh we knew.
If we knew all the details about Michael Jordan, and I mean all the details about Michael Jordan when he wasn't playing basketball, there's no way he's remembered the way he is today. So in fairness to Lebron, our guy was raised under a microscope the way that Mike wasn't.
Yeah, absolutely he was. And I think, man, like you have any kind of eyes on it, it's like it's the whole thing of you might like feel like you're wearing something that doesn't fit right or looks stupid, and you're in your mind, you're in a grocery store and you're like everyone is staring at me, everyone is judging me, everyone's looking at me, and in reality, like no one cares.
Maybe one person cares right, So to have that about your like professional life, that you've essentially sacrificed the childhood and an adulthood on some level in order to become the best at it or to maximize whatever potential you had to do all that and then it's still scrutinized. Like I always think about this of like think about how good, how historically good Chris Paul is at basketball, right, and how easily dismissed he is. That's got to be mad being.
Yeah, yeah, you know, and and a lot of the criticisms are fair. I've always been a Chris Ball guy. But your point, your point is well taken. All right, man, good stuff today, and I'm glad we agree. And I'm gonna have this asteroid topic with the rest of my guest because I could not stop thinking about it last night. But yes, the thought of what you could do the final couple of days, be where everything ends is just it's too intoxicating.
I'm not gonna lie if you remember. Let's revisit it again next week because I want to. I really want to think about this and like what that would entail for me.
Fair enough, We'll do that, buddy.
I have a good week with Chatso I'm Zach Harper from the Athletic also hosts the Cinapho podcast. He's got a podcast called Count the Dings. He does work on serious XM. He's a busy boy at tak Hoops is where you find him on social media.