Welcome in What's Driving Nick Wright Episode three forty eight. This episode, as always brought to you by our friends at boost Mobile. This episode, What's Right Nick Wright just told you brought to you by boost Mobile and straight to the voicemail, which we'll get to in a moment, is also brought to you by boost Mobile. A few programming notes. We're on today on Monday because I am doing first things first and then I'm flying to Las Vegas to
broadcast the World Series of Poker Final Table. We will talk about that on the back end of the pod. I was up until three thirty in the morning last night watching the live stream of the Final Table. I then finally had to wave the white flag, got up at seven thirty this morning, and there was still two and a half hours that I hadn't seen yet of the to get down to the final nine. So if you're a poker fan or a poker buff, we will recap some of that on the back end of today's pod.
Also demands not on today's pod, not because he was out partying for his birthday, but because as a wash twenty seven year old, he decided he just needed to do his day job today and he has Tuesday mornings off, doesn't have Monday mornings off, so he's at work at Fox right now. So I will carry us through the next forty five minutes or so. Speaking of straight to voicemail.
Brought to you by Boost Mobile. Cooper Flag after an awesome second game of Summer League, struggled a bit in his first game, shut down for the rest of Summer League. Chelsea wins the FIFA Club World Cup, and then one of the most awkward lingering trophy presentations with them in the present and something that I was unaware of, but the producers just sent me the link to Drake covered up his Lebron tattoo with an SGA tattoo. Listen, I am not going to get into the Drake Lebron relationship.
What I am going to get into is this. If I were in Drake's inner circle, which I'm not, and he's like, you know what, I gotta cover up this Bronz tattoo, I might say, Hey, maybe not another NBA player,
maybe not. Maybe let's maybe let's learn our lesson that that getting tattoos of people you loosely have relationships with because they are fellow celebrities and in this case also Canadian that might one day lead to a triple cover up, because who's to say that in six years, Drake and Lil YACHTI aren't gonna get into a beef and SGA
is gonna pick Little Yachti's side. I'm just saying, all right, reminder, like rate subscribe, review, free advice if you wanted it, Drake, Uh like rate subscribe review, to the YouTube channel, to the podcast feed on Spotify and iTunes, watch this or
like this on YouTube. All that stuff. We appreciate it. Okay, So the summer of Lebron continues a bit and there was a very seemingly interesting article written by Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst that kind of set off a lot of conversation over the weekend and it dropped I think Friday Friday morning, yet we weren't on TV, and then there was a Dave mcminnimon report, and then there was an article edit that I find the whole thing fascinating.
So I'm not going to go through every single stanza of this article, but I am going to go through it considerably because I actually in credit to Chris Broussard, who on our first Thing's first morning meeting. Just a moment ago when we were talking about doing this topic, he was like, how much of the audience do you think actually read the article? I was like, Oh, that's
a good point. Brew. So the beginning of this article is incredibly detailed about a May third meeting at Craig's Restaurant on Melrose in West Hollywood, a place I have been to I think once in my life with my buddy Colin Cowherd, and where they where Ramona and Wendy,
and this feels like Ramona's side of it. They're just because of the LA based reporting, but I don't know detail a meeting between Luca Plenka Reddick and Luca's manager Laura Lara Beth Seeger where we find out what doors they went in, what wine they drank, all of this, and it's incredibly detailed and it talks about that meeting, but that is not what people are people's takeaway or the throat of the article is because the article's headline
even Lebron James Luka Ancic inside the most delicate superstar transition in NBA history. So the reason for that scene setting it would appear is that Luca was at this meeting and Lebron was not, which I don't find odd at all personally, because the Lakers' first order of business this summer, and they treated it as such, was to cement and secure their relationship with Luca because they desperately
need him to sign a contract extension this summer. Now, whether that's a four year deal or a three year deal, he can do four for two two twenty three or three for one sixty. The reason for doing the three for one sixties, the article lays out, is it might set up better more money long term and future. But regardless, they need to make sure lucas locked in, and they need to do everything possible to get Luca locked in.
And if I were running the Lakers, I certainly wouldn't be like, well, anytime we're meeting with Luca, Lebron has to be there because these are the Lakers. Attempt to compete this season is in one bucket. The Lakers playing over the next three, five, ten years is in another bucket, And both of those buckets necessitate a locked in, dialed in,
committed Luka Doncic. So that is priority number one, and I think Lebron understands that the single most important thing for the Lakers this summer is to get Luca resigned. So I wouldn't have viewed that as scandalous. Oh, the Lakers had a meeting with Luca without Lebron there, but it was treated like it was in this article, like it was a fork in the road where the Lakers are going down the Luca path rather than the Lebron path.
And again that is it is incredibly logical, and I anybody that thinks Lebron is put off or yeah, is bothered by the fact that the Lakers priority number one is making sure Luca is a Laker long term. Doesn't know Lebron James and doesn't understand the way he views Luca and what he understands about the NBA. Now it
it is absolutely fair to say. And then I'll get back to the article that Lebron feels like, all right, while trying to get Luca locked up long term, we should try to win right now because we were the three seed last year. Because I'm still playing at a undeniable top ten level, Luca is going to go into next year as one of the three biggest favorites to win league MVP. That's a team that, if you make
the right moves, can compete for a championship. But those two things not only are they not mutually exclusive, they are not in conflict at all. There is nothing better for Luca's long term future with the Lakers than him stacking awesome seasons with the Lakers starting immediately. So then the article goes on to discuss, you know, it talks about that Lebron released the statement, and again I think the statement is worth, even though it's now a few
weeks old, worth reminding people exactly what it's said. We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future is from Rich Paul. We do want to evaluate what's best for Lebron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every decision he has left count and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and
want what's best for him. I looked at that statement as very clearly saying listen, it would seem what's best for all parties is continuing this partnership and trying to win a title right now. But if you guys, for some reason or another, think that you either can't win a title right now, or making moves to try to win a title right now while you still have Lebron James at an all NBA level, is actually going to hurt your chances of winning multiple titles down the road
with Luca. Well, if that's if that's how you feel, and that's the road you're gonna take, then we should discuss whether or not you want me to be I want to be a part of this and you want to be a part of this. That to me was very very straightforward and again not scandalous, and I think the way most people, if they were advising Lebron James would would see it as well. And then the article gets a little confusing because it it then just quotes
anonymous Western Conference executives on their opinions. One Western Conference executive chalked it up to an elaborate pout because the Lakers hadn't offered James a new contract extension. More on that in a moment. Another Western Conference executive felt it was an attempt to press the Lakers front office to go all in on building the team this season and away from its strategy to keep the cap sheet as clean as possible for the summers of twenty six and
twenty seven after James's salary comes off the books. So I care less about the Western Armage executive's feelings and more about if that is the Lakers strategy, that we are certainly out of the Lebron business after this year, and we think we are going to be better positioned to win titles by getting out of the Lebron business and using his fifty two million dollars on free agents X, Y, and Z. That's an interesting opinion. I'm very cure us what free agents they think they are going to get.
And this is an important point here because I don't know if you guys have noticed, but free agency isn't what it once was in the NBA. And I'm not talking about second Apron stuff. I'm talking about the fact that guys over the last decade have transitioned from letting contracts expire and hitting free agency to signing extensions as early as possible, and then if they want to leave, simply demanding a trade, and the Lakers plan of well, we're just going to sign. I'm curious again who it
is they think they're going to sign. Now they're the Lakers. Lebron chose to save them after six years in the Desert. Lebron then greatly helped them get Anthony Davis, and then Nico Harrison gifted them Luke ad ancicch that they were only able to get because they had Anthony Davis. But they don't have this cupboard of when they traded for a d they had multiple former number two overall picks and the number four pick of that draft they were able to include in that trade. That's not there. And
I just don't see this. Oh my goodness, Jannis is a free agent in a year and if you have your cap sheet open, he'll pick La So's It's curious to me, But a lot of the moves the Lakers have made her curious to me. And then there's this. The Lakers had made their statement in not offering James a contract beyond this season. It was abundantly clear that the twenty one time All Stars time has face. The Lakers had for the first time a planned end date,
even if James's record setting NBA career did not. And this is where the reporting gets interesting to me, because this, to me feels Ramona is incredibly plugged in with the Lakers, and for reasons I don't totally understand, and we've talked about me not understanding it. Wendy and Lebron have had something of a falling out, it would appear, and so I think it's safe to say the info on this
is Lakers info. And then Dave mcminnimon, who is pretty plugged in with Lebron and said he's you know, it was not quoting anonymous people close to him, was quoting Rich Paul directly. Dave mcminnimon then reports during Summer League two days later, oh, by the way, look, we didn't
ask for nor want a contract extension. And then there is the other reporting, which is to me interesting because the article initially said that when the Bus family agreed to sell a majority stake in the franchise Mark Walter on June eighteenth, Doncic was given a heads up and notably posted congratulations on social media. Lebron James was given
no heads up. The article was then edited and it writes now, after the publication of this article, sources said James was notified of the sale via his representation, but he did not post any public acknowledgement. And then it has the part then, of course, the coup de gras the Lakers, by not offering James extension, indicated they were comfortable having him on the roster's inspiring contract, a rare
position for a superstar player of his caliber. So I don't there is there are pretty clearly at this point it is a less than a happy marriage, and it's for reasons. And this is the part that I've spent a good deal of time thinking about. But I just can't totally understand why. And you might say, ah, Lebron is Lebron's doing this? But here is to me a like a fair and Lebron is obviously doing a lot
of this, But is there reason for it? As and is are there reasons for the Lakers doing what they're doing? So let's just go through the blow by blow of it. Is there a reason to believe that Lebron is not okay taking on a secondary role within the organization, not that I've seen. What I saw was for four years, Lebron all but begging Anthony Davis to take the car Keys, an ad god love and future Hall of Famer great player, couldn't quite do it and wasn't willing to do it.
They then trade for Luca Lebron correctly does not ask
Luca to change his game at all. Lebron changes his game massively and all of a sudden turns into maybe the Lakers' best defensive player is far and away their best defensive player and arguably their best overall player in the postseason, and greatly changes the way he's playing while doing nothing but support Luca, who famously Lebron's on the record that the only guy he ever tried or wanted to get to be a Lebron athlete, wearing like the way Jordan has Jordan athletes at Nike, A Lebron spinoff
sneaker was Luca, a guy who Luca who modeled his game after Lebron and was his childhood idol. So the idea that, well, these guys just won't fit that has not been the case at all. And then there is the well, we just don't think we can compete with
these guys. I think that is a loser mentality, and I think it is beyond optimistic that again, if you simply remove the name and the age when talking about Lebron and say, hey, what is the likelihood over the next four years if the Lakers were to move Lebron move on from Lebron and they don't. They This article talks about they don't want to trade him, They want him to just leave in the offseason, either into retirement or free agency for nothing. Who is the guy? How
are they replacing second team all NBA production? Where is that coming from? And why would they not say, right now, this moment, we have something an asset we're not going to have we're not guaranteed to have at all three years from now, which is two top ten players, So maximize this window. I think that's foolish. But I also if I were running the Lakers, wouldn't go three straight
off seasons without making a single trade. If I were running the Lakers, there are a lot of things I would not have done that Rob Blinka and the Bus and Rambis family have done. But that's what they've done, and so I do. And I know this for a lot of you guys are not gonna be surprising coming from me. But I I do understand lebron side of the frustration. I don't understand the Lakers side of the frustration. And if it's that, and if it's that, well, you know,
Lebron's a lot to a lot to deal with. Yeah, man, every all time great athlete ever is a lot to deal with in one way, shape or form, And people keep saying nothing tougher than dealing with an all time great who's not great anymore. And that's that's the part of this that I find so puzzling. It's almost as if the Lakers are frustrated that Lebron hasn't fallen off Lebron.
The Lakers post Westbrook debacle, which obviously Lebron had influence on, have treated every year as if, well, Lebron's not going to be that good and therefore it wouldn't make sense for us to leverage everything to try to win at this moment. And then each year Lebron shows up on the All NBA team. Each year Lebron comes to work and gives you twenty five, seven and seven, it's like, okay,
what do you need? And now, like I understand why Lebron might say, you know, I don't want to sign an extension because maybe I do want to hit free agency and then in my final year go back home to Cleveland or may find a way to play with staph and under the new CBA me making fifty million dollars doesn't make a lot of sense. And next year there could be teams with some cap space more than the minimum that I wouldn't mind going to play for.
I understand why Lebron might say I don't want the extension. I don't understand why the Lakers wouldn't say, hey, you want to tack one more year on this. So a lot of this is just to.
Me more.
More evidence that when the Walter family does come and take over and they do a true audit of the decisions and decision makers, that the people in charge of the Lakers should be anxious. And I understand that all the reporting is Genie bus can run the team for the next five years. Let's check back in four or in three and see who's running the Los Angeles Lakers. And let's also check back in four or three and see if this cap space of twenty twenty seven played
out the way they hoped it would. But I cannot imagine this article landed softly on Lebron's desk, where it is a lot of innuendo and a lot of Lakers pretty naked Lakers personnel whispering the ears of Ramona and Wendy about essentially how eager they are to get out of the Lebron James business. Me personally, if I'm trying to win NBA championships, I'd love having two top ten guys on my team. It doesn't seem like the Lakers
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All Right, the other piece of this is is Luca gonna sign this extension? And my answer to that question three weeks ago would have been, obviously, the Lakers have built in inherent advantages. They now have one of the richest ownership groups in the league. Luca really likes being
by the ocean, he said, as much. I would imagine for international players, big cities are always preferable because you're more likely to have a real community of Slovenians like and again I don't know how much Luca cares about that, but it's obviously easier to find a thriving you know, Slovenian or Serbian or Nigerian or any of you know, any international community in a place like New York or
LA then it might be in Milwaukee or Cleveland. And that again, that's not an indictment any of those places. That's just the reality of geographics and demographics, or not geographics, but demographics. So I would have said very and Luca's statement about being excited to win championships with the Lakers and Mark Mark Walter and all of that, I would have said, the odds of insigning since in the summer
like ninety five percent. I think the way the Lakers screwed up the Dorian Finney Smith thing is potentially troubling, and I think the way the Lakers are not so subtly dissing Lebron James, who, again as a reminder, the Lakers were in the midst of the worst six year stretch they had had in the history of their franchise in the total wilderness, a bottom two record in the entire NBA over the half decade before Lebron got there. Within two years, within one year, he delivered them Anthony Davis.
Within two years, he and AD delivered them a championship. And then because they had AD, they were able to get Luka Ancic and he's still performing at a six in the league in MVP voting level. For them to lucas not an idiot now be leaking stuff to ESPN about how excited they are to be done with Lebron,
I can't imagine Luca's happy about that. And again, the Dorian Finney Smith thing really matters because of the relationship he had with Luca and the fact that the team gets a touch worse going from Dorian Finney Smith to Jake Laurravia. So I I would have said it's ninety five percent that Luca will re sign this summer. I now will say it is seventy five percent. I still think it is overwhelmingly likely, but I would say it is not a lock, and I would have thought it
was a lock before. So I think that that is and I know that. So let me because the producers just asked me, if I don't see him signing with the Lakers, where would I see him going? So let me just take a quick look at right now, who is slated to have cap space next offseason? And the answer is, once again, not many teams. I mean, Brooklyn again is slated to def some and then everyone else
is in the negative. But you, of course, like I haven't really dove in to who has the most flexibility and the ability to create cap space or move off guys things like that. Obviously, it would Daniel be thrilled with this. There's a lot of folks that have wanted to see Luca and Joker together. I think that is probably easier said than done. And I also think it's kind of a weird fit because Joker has you know, Joker is their point guard, and Luke is the point guard.
There is the thing that I would think would utterly and thoroughly terrify the entire league, and that is Luca going to San Antonio, which san Antonio I think, if they wanted it, would have a ton of cap space next year. Wimby hadn't been paid yet, Fox is on and expiring, Barnes is on an aspiring and so they could certain like they could flat out just afford him. And so let me just sort by what would be active cap uh next year. Yeah, so that was the
better way to look at it. Chicago is not to me a likely destination, and there's the so let me look at this again. Hold on, sorry, I'm trying to figure out for the the teams that will you know, practically have cap space, and and so it again, I think Luca resigns. But the fact that we're even having this conversation, if I were the if I were the Lakers, I would be a little anxious about it. And again we're not going to find out for a while because
he can't sign the extension until August. Second, but because he's playing EuroBasket with Slovenia, you know, fat lazy Luganancich, who all he does every summer is just play basketball. He he might not uh, he's probably not going to
do anything until the Eurobasket's done. All right. I do want to talk about what Kevin Durant said last weekend, but first let me remind you, guys that this is a message that applies to ninety nine percent of you listening right now, because that's how many of you can be covered by fast and reliable service on the Boost Mobile network with ninety nine percent nationwide coverage. And if you don't think you deserve a deal, listen up. You've
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credit thirty five dollars. Device setup theme may apply requires credit qualification, ID verification and activation on a six dollars, plan taxes, extra five G speeds not available in all areas. All Right, this I meant to talk about last week, and I screwed up and I forgot. But Kevin Durant was on Mine the Game with National Lebron and he was talking about longevity and while we can just play it for you courtesy of our friends at Mind in
the game. By the way, I have not asked, and I don't know if the producers have asked if we can play this, but I know some of the people at Uninterrupted I think will be Okay, let's go ahead and roll it.
Yeah, I'm ten twelve years in, I got full MVPs of faux championships. Like, but do I still want to do this shit? You know what I'm saying. Some people say I don't want to go play baseball, yeah, and they don't want to come back. Well, some people say I'm gonna go twenty two straight.
One of the lines in there is some people say I want to go play baseball and some want to play twenty two straight. And I I don't think this is a controversial or hot take, guys, And yet somehow, and this is this is one of my and if you think about this, it really will maybe reframe how you view some of the Lebron Jordan stuff, which is so of the myths that exist in NBA history, the vast majority of them serve one of one or two purposes,
either tearing down Lebron or building up Michael. So like, in no particular order, I think here's a myth that just everyone believes. Man, the nineteen eighties were just the peak of NBA physicality and tough defense, when in reality, up until the twenty twenties, the nineteen eighties were the highest scoring decade of post sixties NBA basketball. Now, there were more flagrant type fouls, but it was running gun
high scoring era. Another one, you know, on the flip side of that is like one of the most just up is down, black is white myths is eh Lebron great player, not that clutch when he has more playoff game winners, regular season game winners, all of that at a higher efficiency than any other superstar. Ever, just on its face, incorrect facts. And the Michael Jordan quit the sport because of the tragic murder of his father and therefore it's almost a third rail to discuss him walking
away is just a myth. And the reason I know that, and the reason you guys know that is because Michael and Ahmad Rashad told us in the Last Dance if there was ever any question that I don't know which episode of the Last Dance, but where Ahmad said, you know, Michael was telling me essentially for months that he was going to walk away. And now if you believe, as I think is a totally legitimate belief, that Michael looked at it as I beat the game. I did something
no one's done since Russell's Celtics. I have nothing left to do here. I'm not enjoying this scrutiny and this and all of it. And then if he was, you know, on the edge the tragic murder of his father, was like all right, I need a fresh star on everything. And then it is even like, so wildly impressive that he came back and after half a season where they couldn't get it done, he then rips off another three pet and that is part of his absolute legend. That's
totally fair. I shouldn't even just say it's fair. That's my opinion that I think that is a remarkable feat. But the number of people that think what Durant said was a hot take rather than an objective fact. That is how we would evaluate literally anyone in any field ever, which is, you certainly don't get extra credit for quitting
the thing that we are grading you on. And Kevin Durant's point not only was it not a hot take, it is damn near tautology, which is, if we are discussing the greatest career or greatest player in the history of the NBA and we say, well, one guy after a little more than ten seasons, after a dozen seasons, said okay, this is not even a dozen seasons of my apologies, I'm gonna step away now after ten seasons, pardon me, and then quit the game and then came
back two or a year and a half later. That that year and a half certainly doesn't help his basketball career, because there was no basketball career. And that if at least in the consistent year after year after your excellence, the guy who never stepped away and played at a top one level as long as any player in the history of the league, has a top three level longer than any player in the history of the league has, and a top five level twice as long as any
player in the history of the league has that. That's at least a check mark in that guy's column. Now, is that the whole column? No? Is that the only thing that matters? Of course not, But is that obviously true? Yes? And people saw it and were like, oh my god, Lebron's brainwashed. Another one as opposed to, what are you guys talking about? If Patrick Mahomes quit this offseason to go play baseball and two years later came back and was awesome again, we certainly wouldn't say that time off
helped his quest to catch Brady. And that's all Katie was saying. But because there's been so much mythology associated with this person and this career, things that are just obvious in literally any other mad lib style, remove the proper nouns and say, in Nick Wright's quest to be an all time broadcaster, did the two years he took off to go try to be a professional poker player before returning to his broadcast career those two years did that help or hurt his quest to be an all
time broadcaster? We'd be like, well, they certainly didn't help, probably hurt. And so it's just it was very informative to me the way people got angry at that take when it's the most obvious take anyone's ever had. That being excellent at something for a span of time, with no break and no years you weren't excellent. That is a different type of accomplishment than being excellent taking a year and a half off from it, being excellent taking three years off from it, than being okay, Like, that's
just obvious. So another take of Kadi's I agree with, how about that unbelievable by the way, summer's coming in hot. Literally, there's one thing I'm not messing around with this summer. It's deodorant. Mando deodorant sweat control built for this season, blocks odor all day, controls sweat too, and that can be good. Actually, while I'm doing the pod, like we're gonna talk about all these different things you can do when you're sweating. But this room in my house actually, sometimes,
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tell them we sent you. That stuff really does help so if you're just thinking about buying or try out our friends at Mando use code right helps out a ton. Mando's got you covered perfect for your pitch. Smell grate doing it all right. I want to talk a little w NBA here, uh, and then we'll probably get to listen or some World Series of Poker and then listener questions. So Caitlin and Page played in their first pro matchup yesterday. Caitlyn has not been playing great since returning from her
quad injury. Last night, she was decent in that game and Page is spectacular. So that has been like and Page is again. Page was supposed to be Caitlin before Caitlin. Very different personalities and very different player types. But this like superstar transcendent guard talent probably for you know, doesn't hurt their white girls in the marketability piece of it for big portions as has been a huge discussion point
surrounding Kitlin. But Caitlyn's general excellent and the fact that she plays like Steph Curry's what really makes her as marked well as she is far more than her race, but sidebar to any of that. But then Paige blew her knee out and it kind of got stalled a bit. We were kind of deprived of an unbelievable final four finished a couple of years ago when they called that what was an off ball foul or whatever it was
when it was Yukon Indiana. And but Paige is going to be a superstar and Caitlin, despite this little dip, is a superstar. But I want to talk about for a moment here, the young lady who was assigned to be Caitlin's rival because of the college history between them, and because of some really bad actors on both sides of this. And I never both sides anything, but there are some really bad actors on both sides of the
Angel reies Caitlin clerk thing. And no, I'm not going to talk about the meme that no one saw until one person tweeted it. I want to talk about Angel because I said a month ago or maybe longer, that if Angel and Caitlin are going to be a rivalry, Angel's got to hold up her end and play better, and that Angel's celebrity was outpacing her productivity, and that at the time she was a very very famous rebounder.
Well for the better part of the last of the last month it's clicked in for Angel Reese June twenty fourth. I don't need to tell you the dates, but dating back to June twenty fourth, in a win against the Sparks eighteen seventeen, six and four, and this is important, on fifty percent from the field and eighty six percent from the line. The next game against the Valkyrie seventeen and eighteen on forty four percent from the field, one
hundred percent from the line. The next game against the Sparks twenty four sixteen seven, one and two on fifty three percent from the line and from the field, pardon me, and one hundred percent from the line. The next game against maybe the best team in the league, Minnesota sixteen seventeen and six on forty four percent from the field,
one hundred percent from the line. The next game against the Mystics twenty two fifteen and four on fifty six percent from the field and twelve of fifteen from the line to eighty percent. The next game against Dallas fifteen and eleven on sixth sixty percent from the field and the line, And the next game against Minnesota again nineteen eleven, four and two on fifty seven percent from the field,
seventy five percent from the line. Angel Rees is making her bunnies, and Angel Reese is playing efficient basketball, which makes Angel Reese because of her impact on the game defensively and on the glass and her underrated passing. The way she's been playing the last month, she's top fifteen
player in the league. And that's awesome because it was weird for a player who I think was number two recruit in her class two page and I think it was to page, a player who was pre Caitlin and all of that, nanimous first team All American and one
of the best players in the country. It was odd to me that her sophomore season didn't pop, and now it's popping, and now all of a sudden, it is the Skier, a team that, again the WNBA's weird is the wrong word, but it's different because there's so few teams that you really do have the ability to pull yourself to find a way into the playoffs, so to speak, that you otherwise might not be cause eight make it, and there's only fifteen teams in the league. Four are
gonna make it out of the East. Right now. The Sky are in fifth and they're listen, there are ways back there three and a half back. But if the Mystics, who are playing really well right now, trip up the sky could catch him. And I have really tried to on this show at least when we talk about basketball, to talk about basketball. And it is really nice to see Angel Reese, despite all of the noise around her, to be playing the best basketball she's played as a pro.
It's been great, all right, very quick tennis corner. I obviously was very bummed that Alcarez didn't win Wimbledon. Janick Center good for him avenging his French Open loss. The producers are asking to center Alcarez have the potential be an all time rivalry and the answer to that question is no, uh and it listens. Center is really good and I and he's also like Alcarez young. I don't
I think it is. Here's why my answer is no. I think we were spoiled by the Big Three era, and because of the Big Three era of these all time historic legends playing simultaneously, that we expect that to happen again. I think Alcarez is that all time historic legend level. I don't listen, Center's young, and he's got four majors, so maybe I'm maybe I am selling him a bit short, but I think he is a tier
beneath where Alcarez is going to be. I think he's probably closer to the Augusty tier than the Joker Federer adult tier when it's all said and done, and I think Alcarez is close to the Joker Federer and adult tier than the Augusty tier. Now again, maybe I'm being unfair to Center. He's only twenty three to twenty four. He's now in the last two years, won four Majors and final to French. That's the only reason I don't
have the career Grand Slam. But I'll still I'll still be a I just don't know that Carlos is going to have a true one for one rival. All right, before we get to the listener questions, World Series of Poker, A lot of legitimate controversies, controversies Kassouf and one Chip stalling and all this stuff. I'm going to talk about a lot of that on the broadcast, and I don't know how much this audience cares about that. And if you do care about it, you'll get it on the broadcast,
and maybe I'll do it on Thursday. A bit I do want to talk about this final table, however, because the final table is set and the story is For the first time in more than thirty years, there is a woman at the final table. She was the last woman standing at the World Series Main event sixteen years ago. She is from Spain. She is absolutely delightful. Her name
is Leo Margetz. She is dead even in chips with fifty four million, and her winning this tournament would be the greatest thing to happen to poker since Chris money Maker won the tournament and it's in play, she absolutely can win. She yesterday twice, i think twice, got her money in on coin flips, which you have to do. That's not an indictment at all. You have to do
that in this tournament multiple times. But the reason it's noteworthy is both times she got out flopped and then both times hit runner runner to win the coin flip. So it's twice she has had it in you know, pair versus two overcards or two overcards versus the pair and gotten cracked on the flop to where it looked like she was dead and then hit perfect perfect or something close to it to stay alive, which has been amazing. Theater. She would be unbelievable if she won this thing, and
it's already unbelievable that she's this far. I think she has to get to fourth to be the best finish ever for a woman in the main event. I think she already has locked up the most money any woman's ever made in the main event. The other story, obviously is Michael Msrocky, who won the most prestigious tournament of the summer, the fifty Kay Poker Players Championship, for the
fourth time. And this is an old school gambler, literally as an ace tattooed up his sleeve, has stuff tattooed on him, does not do the gto stuff, talks, gambles,
drinks at the table. It's awesome. It's also unbelievable that he four times has won the most prestigious tournament at the World Series and now is second in chips at ninety three million, when early yesterday he got it all in Ace Jack versus Ace Queen lost and was down to three big blinds, And to now have more than fifty to be in second, to build it up from there and to have a chance to go fifty KPPC
and ten thousand player injury main event. It would arguably be the single greatest summer in the history of the World Series of Poker. The other folks at the table of note John Waznak, who's just an amateur player, a family man, incredibly likable. He is the chip leader with one hundred and eight million. Watching him yesterday was unbelievable. He was just He played incredibly tight, picked his spots, kept getting it in good, kept winning. There was also
a moment where he had Ace King. It was so it was so fascinating. It was someone three bet with Ace Queen. He four bet with Ace King, pocket Jacks then folded. Ace Queen called it off. It came all low cards had pocket Jack's called Ace Queen would have folded for sure, and Wasnock would have been out like thirteenth place. And I forget who it was with Jack's I think it's the guy who came in tenth would have had huge chips instead Jack's fold, Ace Queen gets
it in, He's out. Wasnock now ends up spinning up to one hundred and eight million. There's a bunch of other great players, and then there is the guy I bet on who oddly and I found this out yesterday. There is out there in the universe producers. If you guys can buy check on eBay it might be this might be a good investment. The one of one, I think is on eBay. There is a poker trading card signed by three people. One of them is me and the other one is Adam Hendrix, who is seventh right
now in Chips. He is in my opinion, either the best or the second best player left at the in the field. And he has forty eight million, which is plenty. I think it's thirty bigs and he's he was my bet to win it. I bet yesterday going into day eight I with a friend I like, I told them they could have the chip. We just it's I ain't. People ask me because I tweeted about this, what odds I get? I didn't get odds. There's twenty five people left.
What I said was to my little gambling consortium, if anyone wants the chip leader, who at the time was Kenny Hollert, who's still in it. By the way, he's fourth in Chips with eighty million. All take Adam Hendrick's even money and I, you know, seemingly I was getting the bad side of that because Hollert was the chip leader. But I think Hendricks can win. But right now gotta be rooting for Leo and for the Grinder. So I fly out there tonight. It will be it will be
absolutely thrilling. The one you guys are putting in the chat is the one of four or the in the I think on there is a one of one autograph. Maybe it's my one of one. Whatever it is, I'm not sure. It doesn't matter, don't worry about it. But it's just I if this guy ships the main I just think you guys should maybe buy uh oh, the one of one that's up for me does not have Adam Hendrix on it. I'm just telling you I think those Adam Hendricks signed cards could be worth something. That's
all all right, the I appreciate everyone for listening. Evan asked, would I ever do a top twenty tennis players ever? Like your Top fifty basketball? Probably not quite enough of it, not Probably definitely not enough of an expert on that to really do that list. Justice Dave asked, is this actually live or pre recorded? No? This is actually live. We tell you if it's pre recorded, but this is actually live. The producers asked, who know is coming to Vegas?
Kind of which board games would you win the most money playing. I don't know about which board game, but I'll play high dollar Dominos against anybody. I'll do that. I would like to say I would play high dollar Spades, but that's so partner dependent. But the reality is I'm I'm good at those types of games if you just I just need to know the rules and watch it
played once, and I'm pretty good at that stuff. Demanse would be Demonse's great at Monopoly, and I've considered staking him in some real money, semi high stakes Monopoly games. I might do that one day. All right, like rate, subscribe review, I'm headed to Vegas. We'll be back on Thursday. Thank you de Mando, Thank you to DraftKings, thank you to the volume, Thank you guys, so many people we gotta think. Thanks my friends at Blue Duck, uh, thanks to our friends at boost Mobile. Thank you to all
of you guys. More than anything, poker. Go to watch the World Series main event Final Tale will be on the call and FS one to watch us all back on TV regular two hour show today three to five. See you guys there. We'll trade m alright, yep, alright, I'll see you guys. Alright bye,