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Giraffe King's, the crown is yours. What

0:59

happened? My head is spinning. All

1:01

right, executive producing the hell out of

1:03

it right now where we can't get

1:05

an open off of the ground successfully

1:07

because everybody got stuck in

1:09

traffic today. Yeah, yeah, it was bad.

1:11

The open's in traffic. Yeah. Greg

1:14

Cody's not here yet. He is stuck in traffic.

1:16

Chris was in it. I was in it. It

1:19

was bad. It took me two hours, two

1:21

and a half hours. I have told people

1:23

this. I will continue to say it. Miami

1:26

is getting inundated with people from all over

1:28

who are seeking refuge here. Our infrastructure is

1:30

not built or equipped for the number of

1:32

people who have descended upon this place and

1:34

made it the number one housing market, least

1:36

affordable in all of America because everyone is

1:39

coming down here to avoid the state income tax and

1:41

we can all have guns. I

1:45

think these are all things that are independent

1:47

of each other that are all true though.

1:49

Just one giant calamity. Are you saying someone

1:51

moved down here because they can pack a

1:53

gun? Yeah, of course. Really? Of

1:56

course. Okay. house.

2:00

Well, they didn't think it was gonna

2:02

be a unaffordable But they've descended here

2:04

in such mass that it has made

2:06

the prices go through the roof and

2:08

all we do now and God bless

2:10

The hurricanes are gonna get stronger and

2:13

faster and more unexpected All

2:18

we're doing is building straight up you

2:20

realize if a hurricane blows through here

2:22

all the damage is gonna be done

2:24

is just cranes banging into each other

2:27

So rich gun owning climate

2:29

change deniers are the people who are

2:32

ruining the infrastructure I mean in this

2:34

way for years It's just rotting faster

2:36

now. It's been this way. Florida has

2:38

been like this man We had we

2:40

had such funny ideas at the start

2:42

of this that we were gonna do

2:44

shows on a boat having Seceded from

2:46

Florida maybe like just live shows Floating

2:49

somewhere between Miami and Cuba in a

2:51

safe space out there in the ocean

2:53

hahahaha we have

2:56

the NBA to talk about because the

2:58

playoffs are started and and Jimmy

3:01

Butler is on you know

3:03

He's doing slam magazine interviews where he's just

3:05

saying nobody wants to see us for seven

3:07

games and Stu gots the draft Kings odds

3:09

are Such yeah that there are a bunch

3:12

of playing teams that have better odds To

3:15

win the title than your New York

3:17

Knicks, huh? The Warriors the Lakers and

3:19

the Heat are all more favored to

3:21

win the title Benning favorites than the

3:24

New York Knicks the number two seed

3:26

in the East that's amazing They have

3:28

to play their way in the Knicks

3:30

are already in there locked in as

3:32

a two seed But no one believes

3:34

the Knicks in part because no Julius

3:36

Randall was out and the Knicks

3:38

Okay, but wait a minute Julius Randall being out. I

3:40

think it's good kind of helps him Oh my god,

3:43

he were thrilled anytime. He was on the court Thrilled

3:46

they he's just an inefficiency monster like when

3:48

Marcus Smart was there for the Celtics I

3:51

that that city only loves him out of

3:53

loyalty Because he's been

3:55

a part of building what it is now.

3:58

It's not because they're watching him play And

4:00

it's and it must be because they're forgetful that they

4:02

thought he was on vacation at the end of that

4:04

heat series They thought he had already packed his bags

4:06

because he was taking so many 23 foot jumpers and

4:09

going seven for 23 It's

4:11

it's amazing that those title odds are the way

4:13

they are with teams having to play in but

4:16

it's an understandable Situation with teams

4:18

they've seen do it before that are built

4:20

for the playoffs the Knicks obviously haven't been

4:22

able to do it I think about his

4:25

side of it West

4:27

because you have all those young teams at the

4:29

top that I understand why they would

4:31

say hey the Warriors why are you laughing? I'm

4:33

laughing at just the spot the Knicks are in

4:36

they have a great season I went 50 games

4:38

and they're like shit we get him beat or

4:40

Jimmy Butler in the first round like they're

4:42

scared Right is this just the heat fan?

4:45

Perspective on this or are you legitimately scared? No,

4:47

I'm scared But I will tell you this when

4:49

you doubt Tom Thibodeau Thibs has you're right where

4:51

he wants you and people are doubting Tom Thibodeau

4:54

and all of a sudden Thibs has you locked

4:56

up in? 78

4:58

76, you know late in the fourth quarter and you're

5:00

playing his type of game But

5:03

come on Thibs has always

5:05

been doubted and has never actually

5:07

crying Dan. Okay, I And

5:10

I understand why Knicks fans love him. I don't think

5:12

you're tactically outmatched

5:14

by Leaps and bounds

5:17

against Eric Spoltre I think everybody listening

5:19

to this even though if you don't

5:21

understand the Mechanations the technicalities and coaching

5:23

would look at Thibodeau and look at

5:26

Eric Spoltre and say those people know

5:28

how to coach the hell out Of

5:30

people always get good defensive

5:32

basketball fundamental basketball and Thibodeau isn't

5:34

gonna be outmatched too much by

5:37

anybody in the seven game series

5:39

You've got confidence with that even

5:41

if you don't know anything about

5:43

coaching Last night's story isn't that

5:45

Stu Gotts we will get

5:47

to the NBA We will cover it throughout

5:49

this hour Pablo Torre is gonna join us

5:51

here in 20 minutes to got tonight I

5:53

think you're gonna be super interested and what

5:55

he's releasing today on Pablo Torre finds out

5:58

He is basically releasing how

6:01

the Knicks recruited LeBron James in

6:03

2010 by video for in a

6:05

10-minute video that

6:10

the Knicks prepared for LeBron James like they

6:12

were gonna change the future of basketball by

6:14

getting LeBron James in New York in 2010

6:16

here LeBron here's

6:19

our pitch we've got 10 minutes Pablo has

6:21

secured the video and the audio of that

6:23

presentation. Was it JD in the straight shots

6:25

performing like I just like the idea of

6:27

playing with what that 10-minute video would be?

6:30

Well it what it is going to be

6:32

is played on Pablo Torre find out if

6:34

you want to guess what it would be

6:36

without having known what it is at the

6:38

time they did a recruiting pitch do you

6:41

remember how mad Sughats was that that

6:43

Pat Riley was doing all the

6:46

magical mystical things of pouring rings

6:48

on a table while who was

6:51

the Gia? Donny Nelson. Donny Walsh or

6:53

was it Nelson? Somebody

6:55

came into the recruitment of the Knicks

6:57

in a wheelchair but it wasn't a

7:00

wheelchair from anything other than

7:02

a recent accident. It was Donny Walsh by

7:04

the way. Donny Walsh my bad fine. Yes.

7:07

That's your general manager. How do you not?

7:09

They haven't been relevant in 10 years, 20

7:11

years. Don Nelson? Donny

7:14

Walsh, Donny Nelson you know I

7:16

gotta run Nelly. Couple

7:19

of Don's cutting it up. Okay. St.

7:21

Lunatics. Two dollars. Chris

7:24

your father how is he doing can

7:26

we call him on the phone can

7:28

we get him agitated as he drives

7:30

in do you

7:32

need to tell him that he's on the

7:34

air not just we can commit a crime

7:36

of just well no I'm scared. The YouTube

7:39

police are good for that. I'll tell him.

7:41

Probably a bad idea. This man is grumpy

7:43

he is coming off a Las Vegas trip

7:45

he's in traffic. Hey dad. Las Vegas. I

7:47

just got here. All right we're in the

7:49

air. How's your mood? In the air. I'll

7:53

be in a minute. That's

7:55

his mood. Good job Chris. We're in the air. We

7:57

are. Are we not in the air? First

8:00

day back. I'll be on a plane. He's gonna get

8:02

here in a second he's gonna run through the doors

8:04

and we have to be careful with all of this

8:07

because Sometimes Greg

8:09

Cody gets so self-involved that he will

8:11

arrive here while we're already Broadcasting

8:13

but lose sight of the fact that we're

8:15

already on the air because he doesn't think

8:17

any show starts until he gets there Do

8:19

you think he's gonna walk directly in front

8:22

of the camera? Yes, I think so. Sometimes

8:24

the wrong side of the doubt. He doesn't

8:26

lie. He's going to barrel in here. No

8:28

one's gonna be able to stop him He's

8:30

gonna run right into the studio, but he's

8:32

gonna be huffing and puffing. He's gonna be

8:35

breathless He's not gonna ask for permission of

8:37

anybody and he's gonna sit down and then not

8:39

put his headset on or do something simply Broadcasting wrong that

8:41

he could have learned at any point in the last 20

8:43

years and has simply refused it Are you trying to get

8:45

him upset when he comes in or do you want to

8:47

disarm him so that he's not upset? Cuz I have a

8:50

line you can give him that I was gonna give him

8:52

but I'll give it to you if you want All right,

8:54

if you want to show people behind the curtain as soon

8:56

as he sits down We

8:59

don't Disarm

9:01

him immediately. Okay. All right. Look. All

9:03

right. Look he's barreling in right now.

9:05

All right Let's just do show here.

9:08

The WNBA was the story from last night

9:10

Stu got it because the draft

9:12

was held and It felt

9:14

like a seismic event. It

9:16

felt like I watched it Believe

9:19

it you all did Chris Cody's

9:21

here. He's there's a free agent. He's saying I've

9:23

got to pick a team for next year I

9:25

think I'm going Chicago Two

9:27

top five. No two top six picks they

9:30

get answer Reese to get Cardosa I mean,

9:32

they probably are pretty bad to have two

9:34

high picks like that. Well, not anymore I

9:36

know that's what I'm saying. I think they're

9:38

a fun team I like I I'm thinking

9:40

where would I like to go if my

9:42

WNBA team makes like a final Chicago's

9:45

fun Billy you wandered away

9:47

from the children late at night and Marlins

9:49

baseball to sniff around the WNBA draft Yeah,

9:51

I was following it Well, I was following

9:53

it on my phone at first and then

9:55

it was only the Spanish feed which I

9:57

was really confused about And then I finally

9:59

figured that I was watching it in English.

10:01

I could understand it in Spanish, but it was a

10:03

bit of an inconvenience You know a little difficult and

10:06

I was trying to take it in I wanted to

10:08

see you know what's gonna happen I thought what what

10:10

if Kaitlyn Clark doesn't go to run be hilarious, right?

10:13

Which obviously we knew wasn't gonna happen, right? And

10:15

then I was watching it and it was unlike

10:18

any draft that I normally see because I

10:20

think you know NFL draft is coming up

10:22

pretty news on that Coming

10:24

in days, but the NFL draft is coming up and

10:27

I'm used to like teams being on the

10:29

clock I'm used to different networks being there

10:32

Broadcasting it and then I saw that this

10:34

was like in a theater in New York

10:36

It seemed like all the tables with the

10:38

players and their families were on the actual

10:40

stage And then the ESPN

10:43

broadcast was being broadcast to like

10:45

the entire Theater

10:48

so I was I was thinking wow, this is

10:50

kind of different They can all hear what you're

10:52

saying about the players before they get drafted like

10:54

they hear all of it at one point Kaitlyn

10:56

Clark smiled because she heard them talking about her

10:58

and I just thought it was a little weird

11:00

for what I was used To seeing because of

11:03

the fact there's no clock that you could follow

11:05

It's just basically when ESPN was done talking. Hey,

11:07

the pick is in and then the draft is

11:09

made So then I dared to say

11:11

that in our meeting today saying it was a

11:13

little different than you know What I'm used to

11:15

seeing and I was immediately accused of hating women.

11:18

Yeah, that's okay. Well, that is how that dangerous

11:20

game All right, let's go ahead and aggregate Billy

11:22

saying WNBA draft colon. It was a little weird

11:26

Because Billy did think the whole thing was a little

11:29

weird I just it felt it felt like a performance

11:31

felt like a show which is fine I just said

11:33

it was a little different than the drafts I watch

11:35

and it was like well you hate when I was

11:37

like, okay Well, I guess that's that

11:40

I thought the performance element of it was

11:42

really cool though Like the idea that the

11:44

broadcasters were being broadcast throughout the you know

11:46

The building that they were in and that

11:49

everybody could hear all of the analysis as

11:51

it was going on It led

11:53

it to feel like I was watching something that was

11:55

contrived for TV, which is what these are all

11:57

supposed to be I need a block of

12:00

chaos and suing. But I didn't think it could

12:02

have been way more awkward than it was. Like,

12:04

I thought that all of all of the women

12:06

who were drafted handled all of that really well.

12:09

They were great. People break down their game in

12:11

front of them. And then they were

12:14

all all the sound bites afterward with Holly row

12:16

were great. It was really funny seeing the difference

12:18

in height between Cameron Brink and Holly Rose. She

12:21

was literally cut off of the screen as she

12:23

was trying to interview Cameron Brink after the second

12:25

pick. But I thought all

12:27

of it was really, really well crafted. I

12:29

thought it was awkward at the beginning when they're

12:32

doing 10 minutes on Caitlin Clark while trying to

12:34

show other players. And they can hear it. So

12:36

you're looking at another player sitting there kind of

12:38

like, look, let's find more on Caitlin. You want

12:40

to do 10 minutes on Caitlin, but show me.

12:42

He's right. You could tell other

12:44

players were annoyed because Indiana picked a second player.

12:46

And the first question asked was, well, you're playing

12:48

with Caitlin Clark. And she was like, well, what

12:51

about me? I mean, all right.

12:53

So there are a handful of

12:55

interesting things here. If you stop

12:57

for a moment to genuflect at

13:00

the moment that we are in, people

13:03

will complain about whether Caitlin Clark is

13:05

too famous, whether she

13:07

deserves Saturday Night Live or South Carolina

13:09

should be up there. But at this

13:11

moment in history, that

13:13

woman who has acknowledged at every

13:15

turn very gracefully, all the pioneers

13:18

who came before her, all

13:21

of the pioneers, because they are many, that

13:24

woman now drags this sport

13:26

to unprecedented heights that we've

13:28

never seen where, holy shit,

13:30

we're watching on Monday night,

13:32

a made for television extravaganza

13:34

about looking good, feeling good,

13:37

presenting good, like putting on

13:39

a show for the people

13:41

because your sport has arrived.

13:44

But what it really was is, holy shit,

13:46

these women are underpaid. Let us

13:48

celebrate how we have now finally reached

13:51

male equality on. We'll celebrate

13:53

our bullshit draft events on

13:56

television. We'll turn these into national

13:58

holidays. It'll be fabulous. show

14:02

all of it off-season

14:04

bullshit where the leagues can

14:06

control the players because Caitlin Clark should be

14:08

available to go to wherever the hell she

14:10

wants to play anywhere she wants in the

14:12

world but she has to go to the

14:14

first team that drafts her in an unfair

14:16

draft that would be eradicated if sports were

14:18

truly fair. I think you choose Indiana. I

14:21

mean remember Iowa, they mark it Dan. Maybe but

14:24

here are the numbers and they are shocking. She

14:26

will make $76,000 this year.

14:30

Caitlin Clark, a rookie deal. Four

14:32

years and she's well paid. Brittany

14:34

Griner had to go to Russia

14:37

because of how poorly we pay

14:39

and have always paid in this

14:41

sport. Four years, $338,000.

14:43

So she gets in 2025,

14:46

$78,000. 2026, $85,000. 2027, $97,000. So she would qualify for low-income housing

14:58

in San Francisco. She'll

15:05

be paid less than the average salary

15:07

of a union nurse, teacher,

15:09

or cop. Pay

15:12

the teachers. They're

15:15

gonna be paying her $23,000 less than

15:18

James Harden's fine for calling Daryl Morey

15:20

a liar. It's

15:23

why that big three thing. Honestly, $5

15:25

million for like eight games. She

15:27

needs to opt out of that fourth year now,

15:29

right? She was wearing a

15:31

$17,000 Prada outfit last night.

15:35

That's about a quarter of her first.

15:37

It was the first time Prada dressed anyone for

15:39

the draft. So it was like

15:41

very, very cool moment to show that

15:43

this event had arrived and ratings were

15:45

coming. Are you tired

15:47

of snooty wines and their old world

15:49

wine culture? Confused by words like malolactic

15:51

fermentation? Yeah, we are too. So with

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15:56

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16:01

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16:03

all that stuff or don't. 19 Crimes

16:05

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16:08

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16:10

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16:12

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16:15

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16:17

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16:20

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16:22

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16:24

online at 19crimes.com. Enjoy responsibly copyright

16:26

2024, Central McCalifornia. Don

16:29

Lebatard. I heard that as a woman

16:31

faking pain. I

16:34

didn't think that sounded real. I really didn't, you

16:36

know. It was not fake. It was in no

16:38

way fake. You can spot a woman faking it.

16:41

Stu Gotts. Yes, I can. Yes, expert. I've been

16:43

married 40 years. This is the

16:45

Don Lebatard show with the Stu Gotts.

16:50

Greg Cody has arrived. Howdy,

16:53

Drifter. Hey, Drifter. We

16:55

do understand that her WNBA

16:58

salary is a fraction of what her income

17:00

will be, right? I mean, we're acting like

17:02

she's only making $70,000. No,

17:04

I'm not acting like anything. Yes, she

17:06

will make plenty of money, but not

17:08

because her sport pays her fairly. The

17:10

salaries in this sport are criminally low.

17:12

Again, look at where

17:15

Brittany Greiner ended up because

17:17

one of the biggest stars in American

17:20

basketball, look

17:22

at where she ended up in a hellhole of a

17:24

prison in the middle of a war of a world

17:26

gone mad Stu Gotts because

17:29

she couldn't play in this country.

17:32

The salaries were too low. That's

17:34

what Caitlin Clark changed last night. And whether you

17:37

want to give her the credit or

17:39

everyone who came before it, it almost

17:41

doesn't matter. Holy shit. What

17:43

a celebration of that sport arriving that

17:46

your championship was just done. And

17:48

now the fun starts. We're going to get into the

17:50

transactions. Chris Cody is going to watch it say, I

17:52

got to pick a team like to,

17:55

to watch fandom birthed

17:57

in real time because you care about the personalities in

17:59

the. stories in the time of

18:01

brand NIL independence for the athlete, it's

18:04

super cool to see it birthed. I

18:07

can't believe Angel Reese dropped all the way

18:09

to seven last night to Chicago. I can't.

18:11

That is a steal. Steal the draft. She

18:13

was the third best player I saw in

18:15

women's college basketball this year. She was. You

18:18

don't know what you're talking about. What do you mean? You

18:20

watched? Who were the other two? Well,

18:22

Kaitlyn Clark, of course, and the kid

18:24

from South Carolina. The kid. The

18:28

kid from UConn was pretty good, too. Paige

18:30

Becker. Name drop. Grown women.

18:33

Mm-hmm. I will say,

18:35

like, in that level of infancy that you're

18:37

talking about of sports fandom, Dan, like, I

18:39

remember as a kid watching the 2003 NBA

18:42

draft, which was LeBron and Wade and

18:44

Bosch and Mellow. And it was the

18:46

first time that I, as a kid,

18:49

had watched a number of those players

18:51

through college in Dwayne Wade and Carmelo

18:53

Anthony. And LeBron James had

18:55

the crazy hype that now

18:57

Kaitlyn Clark has going into

18:59

this WNBA draft. And

19:02

so as someone who's now just in

19:04

the last couple of years started to

19:06

follow college basketball a little more, seeing

19:08

these players go through their college experiences,

19:10

seeing them go to championships, winning championships,

19:12

it felt like that same level of infancy

19:14

of fandom of like, hey, this draft is

19:17

going to change a lot about this league

19:19

with all of these star players. Stu, you

19:21

mentioned it. Angel Reese all the way down

19:23

at seven. Can't believe it. A really deep

19:26

draft. It was just a, it was an

19:28

exciting time as a sports fan to watch something

19:30

that felt like the beginning of a new stage

19:32

of a league. Dad, you just mentioned Paige Becker's.

19:34

Do you believe she was drafted last night? I

19:37

think he was just naming another name that he

19:39

knew. No, she's back for another year at UConn.

19:41

You kind of let you know something I don't.

19:43

We were talking about the draft last night and

19:46

you're like, you've gone players. No, they're saying the

19:48

best players they saw last year. I wasn't interested

19:50

that Kate Martin of Iowa got

19:52

drafted. I wasn't sure whether she would or

19:54

not. And it's good because other than Caitlin,

19:57

she's like the only player who stood out

19:59

on that. Otherwise one woman do you believe

20:01

and I don't want to call you a lot you believe

20:03

that she's like I was just here for Caitlin I was

20:06

happy I got drafted, but I wasn't I wasn't

20:08

here for that I was just here for Caitlin

20:10

Billy. Tell me how else it was weird. I've

20:13

met that's that's it. That's all it was weird I know

20:15

that you're trying to take me down this path I

20:21

said is I like a clock in a draft

20:23

and I thought it was weird Yeah, the TV

20:25

broadcast is being played in the entire arena. You've

20:27

said enough. That's all I said It

20:30

was odd seeing like they would cut to Caitlin

20:32

and she was like looking up watching the broadcast

20:34

and then she'd pan back like oh This

20:36

is awkward. They're talking about me I

20:38

it just convenient that every time the analysis

20:41

stopped the pic was in just the

20:43

timing was impeccable Okay, look it takes

20:45

a minute I should show

20:47

you initial ESPN drafts on ESPN so

20:49

you can see how this stuff is

20:51

born and how these things require a

20:53

great deal of production that costs a

20:55

lot more than whatever they're paying Caitlin

20:57

Clark this year to throw these events

21:00

in a way that Is giant and

21:02

meets the moment you you

21:04

do understand they met the moment last

21:06

night, right people were watching and

21:08

they kept your Attention and it's all that

21:11

they have to do in

21:13

order for this sport to

21:15

be the oil well of revenue

21:17

and eyeballs That it's

21:19

been where we've never done

21:22

this before on a Monday or

21:24

Tuesday talking about a show

21:26

after the WNBA season and I'd

21:28

say that purposely a show because

21:31

that the next evolution of what all

21:33

of this power is going to be

21:36

in Brand

21:38

management as a league explodes in

21:41

front of your eyes Stu gots

21:44

Because it's not just it this

21:46

minor the minor league of college basketball

21:49

is now going to be this giant

21:51

pipeline The WNBA has been sponsored

21:53

fed by the NBA for years a

21:58

Money loser because it's hard to read run

22:00

a league. I mean, go look at,

22:02

read some of what it is that Ice Cube

22:04

has had to do in business dealings on trying

22:06

to just form what that league is. But

22:09

I would argue that what all of

22:12

what you're saying explains the salary situation.

22:14

If you're saying the leagues of

22:16

money lose or fall these leagues, it would

22:18

explain why it is that salaries have been

22:20

lower. But now here come the television ratings

22:22

and the thing that all of sports in

22:24

the streaming age is built on. They have

22:27

a revenue stream now that can make these

22:29

salaries explode. Yes, those salaries are what they

22:31

are for a reason. But again, Brittany Greiner

22:33

had to go to Russia. That's one of

22:35

the biggest stars in America. Like Caitlin

22:37

Clark, before Caitlin Clark, you could maybe argue, well,

22:39

no, maybe Brittany Greiner is the best there's ever

22:41

been. And she had to,

22:44

like a lot of the stars

22:46

in this country, she had to

22:48

play elsewhere in dangerous circumstances because

22:50

this country wasn't valuing that talent.

22:53

That's the history of this game funded,

22:55

supported by the NBA. And

22:58

now finally, because it's been

23:00

so much, this was hard. How many how

23:03

many years is the NBA trying

23:05

to get our look, man,

23:07

it's viewed as our most progressive

23:09

league and nobody has done this,

23:12

what I'm just presently saying. And

23:14

this is not to celebrate

23:16

the men on a woman's day. But

23:18

the NBA was dedicated

23:20

to this cause. And now it

23:23

has exploded into something

23:25

that's going to get everybody paid because

23:27

the dirty secret in sports is all

23:29

of this is made for television, all

23:31

of it. So if you get eyeballs, the

23:34

money will fall out of the sky now

23:36

more than ever, because the streaming services are

23:38

all competing against each other to see whether

23:40

they can get you behind the paywall. I

23:42

need I need to say that the WNBA

23:44

is exploding through very

23:47

little help from the NBA, the

23:49

NBA and the NBA Players Association

23:51

for years now could have taken

23:53

it upon themselves to make sure

23:55

that minimum salaries and WNBA were

23:58

decent so that Brittany grinded didn't

24:00

have to go to Russia to play. I

24:02

mean, they could have done more, could have

24:04

done a hell of a lot more. It's

24:06

embarrassing, the WNBA start, and I don't mean

24:08

to demean anyone on a living wage who's

24:11

working their ass off for $70,000, that's

24:13

a good wage, but not for pro sports,

24:15

it isn't. It's embarrassing. You mentioned the history

24:17

of drafts on ESPN. I'll tell you when

24:19

ESPN figured it out with their draft production,

24:21

and they added that. That's it. I mean,

24:23

that's all you need. And they had that

24:26

last night, it made it feel legit. That's

24:28

good. Greg, this is an easy

24:31

position for you to take, and I don't know. You're going

24:33

to have to walk me through some of the facts on some of

24:35

this. I don't

24:37

know what salaries can be. Yes, I

24:40

can complain about these salaries being too

24:42

low. But if the NBA

24:44

tells you the WNBA was running at this

24:46

kind of loss for this long, and you're

24:48

just saying pay the players more, yes, of

24:50

course. We would all argue, please, pay the

24:53

players more. But at

24:57

what continued cost to your business,

24:59

it's easy for a sportswriter to

25:01

say, I'm wondering, as a CEO

25:03

of the NBA, how much loss

25:05

am I allowed to bring to

25:08

my owners, because I can't

25:10

get salaries up. I need to get

25:12

fan attendance revenue ups in order to

25:15

get salaries up. Yeah, but some of

25:17

it is chicken and egg. If you

25:19

increase WNBA salaries, all of

25:21

a sudden, some of the women playing

25:23

overseas are playing in

25:26

the American League, which not all of them

25:28

are now. But I

25:31

think that it's long overdue for

25:33

some equity in pro

25:35

basketball salaries. You're taking an easy argument is what

25:37

you're doing. And I'm not saying it's the wrong

25:39

argument. Pay the players. You're

25:41

saying you're fair, though. And it was

25:43

fair before Caitlin Clark. It's

25:46

only fair, though, if the piles of money

25:48

are the same, which they

25:50

never are. The pile of

25:52

money for an NBA team is a mountain. It's

25:55

not a little tiny anthill

25:57

like it is in the WNBA. NBA

26:00

teams can afford to give

26:02

PCC New and unapproved Dan

26:04

Lebatard show with the Stugas

26:07

Gambelon by Draftkins Dan

26:09

Lebatard Surely every time you're watching

26:12

this you recognize that your wife

26:14

is laughing that she married She

26:16

married Larry David. I

26:18

do yeah He's one of the great characters

26:20

in the history of television in my humble

26:22

opinion and and to my

26:24

credit My personality in

26:27

my humble opinion followed by to my

26:29

credit to my credit my personality Free

26:33

date curve your enthusiasm still gots.

26:35

Oh, wow Larry

26:37

David, okay All

26:39

right, put it on the pole, please

26:42

dude. You did Greg Cody copyright being

26:44

an asshole long before Larry David This

26:46

is the Dan Lebatard show with the

26:48

Stugas Stugas We

26:54

have told you a number of different

26:56

times and you have helped make Pavlatore

26:59

finds out something that in a very

27:01

crowded field of podcasts is

27:03

standing out because Every

27:06

episode has a lot of care in

27:08

it an unusual amount of care And

27:10

so the latest Pavlatore finds out Stugas

27:12

I think will be particularly interesting to

27:15

you as I was saying before because

27:17

I don't know how Pablo got this

27:20

Video, I don't know what the story

27:22

behind it. He's figuring stuff out. He

27:24

is yeah So this is Pablo

27:26

what you've unearthed is the 10

27:28

minutes that the Knicks were presenting

27:30

as video to LeBron James

27:33

when they had the chance to run

27:35

the last 15 years in the

27:37

sport when LeBron ran the

27:39

sport for 15 years if he if they convinced

27:41

him in these 10 minutes All

27:43

of basketball is different the last 15 years.

27:46

Yes, first of all first of all, Stu. Thank

27:49

you I did this for you Stugas. Well, thank

27:51

you. I did this for you Dan

27:54

has framed this correctly. There's a crossroads in

27:56

basketball history when everybody in New York City

27:58

thought of course LeBron James, you

28:00

guys remember him, I believe. Of course

28:02

LeBron James would come to New York City.

28:04

New York City has everything. New

28:07

York City is the greatest city in the world. And

28:09

the question that James Dolan had to answer was

28:12

how do you convey this in

28:14

a room when the door closes and

28:16

you're sitting there with Mike

28:19

D'Antoni and Alan Houston and your

28:21

executives from the garden and

28:23

you have an allotted time to convince LeBron

28:25

that New York City is the only place

28:27

where you could be the best version of

28:30

yourself. And they made a video that had

28:32

been long rumored forever. It has been like

28:34

this mythological artifact that people have

28:36

talked about because there were rumors like

28:38

they got James Gandolfini three

28:41

years after the Sopranos had ended, one

28:43

of the most controversial debated endings in

28:45

television history, they got him to do

28:47

a special like bar mitzvah video basically

28:49

for LeBron James. Hold on, hold on,

28:51

hold on. Stu Gots, if I told

28:53

you right now, this isn't

28:55

just reporting, if I told you right

28:58

now, would you like to see just

29:00

that, Stu Gots, of the Sopranos is

29:02

the number one most impeccably made television

29:05

show and pop culture phenomenon on Earth

29:07

hasn't been seen in three years. And

29:09

Gandolfini is like this mystery shadow

29:11

figure, super interesting and they got him

29:14

on behalf of the Knicks to produce

29:16

a video that Pablo now has and

29:18

where who are you presenting this video

29:20

to Pablo? What's the clip we're throwing

29:22

to? I'm going to present

29:24

to you the clip that LeBron James saw

29:27

himself. No one has ever seen this. Okay.

29:29

This is the thing. No one has been

29:31

able to prove this is real. The people

29:33

have talked about it. And so the lights

29:35

go down. James Dolan is at the table

29:37

with LeBron James and Maverick Carter and

29:40

his then agent Leon Rose in

29:42

Cleveland. Lights go down. And this

29:44

is the video that begins. Yeah,

29:49

take it down. Tony,

29:51

I'm so glad we moved to New York. Light

29:53

is so much better now. Yeah, let's

29:56

go to your cars. Even if we are

29:58

in a witness protection program. Now

30:01

we just gotta find a place for your friend LeBron

30:03

to live. What's he like? He's a

30:05

modern guy. He respects

30:07

tradition. You knew something

30:09

classy on the East Side. Was it big enough? It's

30:12

gonna be entertaining a lot of people in New York. It's

30:15

very expensive. Oh, that's not gonna be

30:17

a problem. He's gotta

30:19

find something magnificent.

30:22

Something there's nothing in the world like it, one of a

30:24

kind, like he is. Well, he is

30:26

a place. It says it gets really

30:29

lousy. Take a look. Oh,

30:31

yeah. Oh,

30:33

no. Yeah, that's it. That's

30:35

gotta be perfect for him. Allow me

30:37

to reintroduce myself. Oh, my God. The

30:40

Knicks made the Sopranos bad. Oh,

30:43

my God. How did they do that? Tony's

30:46

alive. Tony was alive. The

30:48

Knicks solved it. They got James Gandolfini, a man who

30:51

refuses to do anything. He's a reclusive that alluded to,

30:53

a guy who refused to do anything like this. They

30:55

got him to do this privately for LeBron. They expected

30:57

that no one would ever see it. And

31:00

now that we see it, we have a couple

31:02

of answers as to, like, what happened at the

31:04

end of the greatest television show of all time,

31:07

and also, very crucially, what the f*** are the

31:09

Knicks doing? And

31:11

why LeBron chose Miami? Well, hold on a second, though. This

31:14

is, I'll just send you over to Pablo

31:16

Torre finds out so that you could get

31:18

the other nine minutes that were in that

31:20

video. No, much. This is a

31:23

wholesale pitch. I don't. Where

31:25

would you rank that that little clip? Where

31:27

would you rank it from among the best that you think

31:30

you have if you had to rank the best

31:32

of what this had to make fun of the

31:34

Knicks from every angle on how they were mismanaged

31:36

15 years ago? What

31:38

I need to tell you is that

31:40

this video and all of its 10

31:43

minute long glory does not

31:45

age well. And so that I

31:47

actually really enjoyed that when I first saw

31:49

it. I really did enjoy it. Where

31:51

it goes immediately, and I don't want to spoil this

31:54

because you just gotta come watch the video, guys. Support

31:56

the fact that I'm hustling to get these artifacts for

31:58

you. It's... It

32:00

gets bad immediately, like really

32:03

bad immediately. And

32:05

the thing about what this video was,

32:07

as Dan has been sort

32:09

of framing it, is how do

32:11

you convince when you

32:13

have the privacy, the presumed privacy of

32:15

this room with the closed door, how

32:18

do you as one of the most

32:20

iconic teams of all time, convince the

32:22

biggest free agent ever to come play

32:24

for you? And so it's a window

32:26

into how James Dolan thinks. Who

32:29

are the Avengers he summons to come

32:31

through the portal to convince LeBron James

32:33

that the Knicks are the place? Not

32:35

screw Pat Riley. We know what Riley

32:38

did, right? Pillowcase full

32:40

of rings. We know that story. That's how you

32:42

get them. This is the

32:44

alternate history. This is what

32:46

the Knicks tried to do. And this

32:48

is why it very obviously did not

32:51

work. One of the things that's amazing

32:53

about whatever it is that will be

32:55

unearthed in this 10 minute video is

32:57

it's not just to change the fate

32:59

of the sport and obviously

33:02

Miami sports over the next 15

33:04

years, but the fact that

33:06

now we can see the videos Stu got

33:09

that would make us better understand. It's not going

33:11

to be a complete version of, wait

33:13

a minute, LeBron to New York was the

33:16

biggest slam dunk ever. How could he have

33:18

not? He was wearing a Yankee pad. How

33:20

could he have? Like LeBron, how do they

33:23

botch LeBron to New York? The Knicks were

33:25

on the doorstep of everyone saw you. The

33:27

most obvious thing is do what the Knicks

33:29

are doing now, which is, oh, look, we've

33:33

got the agent crews running our

33:35

shows here. The Knicks management teams

33:37

to got is basically just what

33:39

LeBron's management team is now running

33:41

clutch. And Leon Rose,

33:43

the president of the next and the next, of

33:45

course, are really good now, right? To

33:48

see all of that. And the team, Leon

33:50

Rose was in the room for this. He

33:52

was LeBron's agent. He got to see this.

33:55

And so it's almost like he got a

33:57

reverse blueprint for what not to do. And

34:00

the question for the strategy here was

34:02

initially, and Stigots, you're totally right, LeBron

34:05

wore a Yankee cap to

34:07

a Cleveland Indians, New York

34:10

Yankees playoff series. Teased us.

34:13

He was wearing, he was more than teasing.

34:15

It was the surest thing. It was the

34:17

most obvious thing. And we were wondering how

34:19

do they botch this? And what you're telling

34:21

us is you've got 10 minutes of them

34:23

botching it. What I'm telling you

34:26

is that go to this video, and I

34:28

will further spoil it because there's even a

34:30

worse face than I'm going to mention. But

34:33

the first face you see, because I

34:35

can't help myself, after the Sopranos secret

34:38

ending reveal is Donald

34:40

Trump. So just

34:42

know that it gets worse from there.

34:45

It gets worse from, hey, guy

34:48

you would feud with famously over

34:50

racial issues in America, famous black,

34:53

LeBron James, athlete, iconic

34:55

figure. That guy

34:57

is the first face that you meet coming out of that

34:59

in the darkness of a pitch room. And

35:01

it is bad. Pablo, since you've

35:03

seen the entire video, how long into

35:05

the video do you think LeBron told

35:07

himself, I'm not coming here? I

35:12

would like all of us actually, Stu, to answer

35:14

that question for ourselves. I don't want to leave

35:16

the witness. I'm actually fascinated

35:18

because we held a focus group in

35:20

the episode with Jason Cepchione and worldwide

35:22

Wab, Rob Perez, because I wanted to

35:25

simulate, OK, here are guys who are

35:27

not like anti-Nicks by

35:29

nature. They want the best for

35:31

this team. And when

35:33

you watch this, pretend, it's a

35:35

great way of framing this too,

35:37

pretend you're LeBron. You're a

35:40

famous guy with access to everything. And by

35:42

the way, here's another funny bit about what

35:44

we just played through just that little bit,

35:46

right? They played Jay-Z public

35:48

service announcement, that song, as

35:50

like the outro into what becomes like

35:52

a segue into this procession of what

35:55

I call like the basically James Dolan's

35:57

recruiting hostesses, almost like college football style.

35:59

You meet everybody in order. They're

36:01

trying to convince LeBron to come to New York. The

36:04

song that they play, Jay-Z, that's

36:06

the guy who, quite literally,

36:08

it's absurd to have in this way. Jay-Z

36:11

was pulling out of the parking

36:13

lot because he was

36:15

selling LeBron on the nets as

36:18

the Knicks were coming in. So immediately you're like,

36:20

okay, I don't think the Knicks necessarily anticipated this

36:22

correctly because they're selling him on the guy who

36:25

just pitched him to

36:27

Brooklyn. That's the

36:29

first minute of it. I will

36:31

send people over there. Pablo Torre finds

36:34

out he says he is hustling for

36:36

those artifacts. It's very long weeks unearthing,

36:38

trying to unearth. Everyone's at this trough

36:40

trying to grab the interesting stuff. He

36:44

found a bit of a treasure here

36:46

that will- This is a great one. I mean- It's

36:48

a treasure for a number of reasons, especially

36:50

as the Knicks head into the playoffs now

36:52

with real loud hope for the first time

36:55

in a quarter century. Before

36:58

we go any further, where would you

37:00

like to go because there's no more

37:02

time, so you have to pick one

37:05

of these three topics. You've got the

37:07

WNBA, you've got the playoffs starting, you've

37:09

got the draft, the playoffs, the NBA

37:11

playoffs starting, and you've got a United

37:14

States president facing felony charges, first

37:16

time ever in a criminal court that's ever happened. Take

37:18

your shot. What do you want?

37:20

Weirdly, I think the episode today we've

37:22

just been discussing actually hits on the

37:25

last part, the president thing. I'm

37:27

going to punt on that for the purposes of this. Just

37:30

marvel. Just marvel. Truly,

37:32

when you say WNBA, the first

37:34

thing you think of is, wow,

37:37

that ratings monster. We

37:39

have not seen this, dad. I

37:42

had Morgan Murphy on my show on Friday to

37:44

talk about what it's like actually when you've been

37:46

rooting and watching and consuming and trying to evangelize

37:49

people on your favorite sport. She's

37:51

the biggest women's basketball fan I know in my

37:53

life. She's

37:55

been trying to convince people for 20 years, this is

37:57

worth it, and it's finally happening. comedy

38:00

right and not merely you being

38:02

proven right but also the

38:04

dynamic of what happens when

38:07

everybody starts like gentrifying the thing

38:09

you love and so I

38:11

was a bit of this with Lucy and

38:14

Iowa but the way it's happening at scale

38:16

here with Caitlin Clark women's basketball is funny

38:18

because you have to handle

38:20

this unprecedented problem a deeply

38:23

unpopular thing seemingly overnight is now

38:25

popular and now you

38:27

are both vindicated and infuriated that

38:29

everybody has takes delivered

38:31

with the confidence of people who've been there

38:34

for as long as you have and that

38:36

is both a sign that you've made it

38:38

and it's also your personal hell like a

38:40

genie cursed you with a wish that they

38:42

granted put the footnote of and by the

38:44

way now Stephen A's gonna have takes about

38:46

Caitlin Clark that are gonna make you infuriated

38:49

like that's it's an amazing thing we've just

38:51

never seen before in American sports I can't

38:53

believe the sparks took camera brink that is

38:55

not the play you take it number two

38:57

they need offense they took defense they went

38:59

offense you gotta go offense there you have

39:02

to go with Cardoso from South

39:04

Carolina exactly I mean

39:06

what are they thinking could

39:09

not be more wrong