Like how, how does that, how does ramping up to the season actually work mentally?

I honestly, I don't know.

I always, I feel like we always had the mindset.

Like you want to come out of the gate hot.

But then like, you always have that conversation where it's like, all right, we don't get too high.

Don't get too low.

Like, you know, a two game losing streak.

It's just they're going to be good together.

know what?

Not that the guys don't talk that much.

They don't.

It's not like you got to be careful because you can't say anything too bad or you're going to have to you'll have to face each other.

You know, it's like it's going to it's going to come to blows.

Right.

Right.

And I would like to know, what was the most surprising celebrity encounter you ever had where you found yourself starstruck?

That team was on a mission.

Dude, that's why I also feel like that year was so good for us because going into that San Antonio series, I'll never forget the last game of the season.

We weren't playing the final night, and we had dinner as a team together.

We're watching games, and San Antonio loses, I think, to Memphis.

I remember.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And they dropped from—we were the three seed.

hesitation with football?

Blake, what's more masculine, Tucker Carlson's nicotine pouch holder that he wears on his belt or fucking

a guy? Man, it seems like the second option is usually fucking

a guy in a lot of these scenarios.

Yeah.

I guess Tucker Carlson's nicotine pouch is probably more masculine.

What

So what's our next hangout? What's our first actual outing going to be? Are we going to pick up chicks? Are we going to kidnap somebody? What's going on?

Oh, I don't know.

So how does this, how does this originate?

Uh, to be honest, r-r-this was all Ryan.

Ryan came to me, and, and I think he-- Like, we had both been sort of looking for different opportunities to, uh, invest and, and own teams in various leagues.

I looked at the English Premier League and everything else.

The pickleball craze came through for a while, and neither of us invested in that.

Uh, and so Ryan called me one day, and I'll let him tell you the story about how he came across LFA.

But calls me one day, and he's like, "What do you think about owning a football team in Mexico?" I'm like, "Oh, yeah, I love soccer, [chuckles] football." And as I dug into it and as he shared more about it, I was like, "This is really awesome." I had no idea the amount of American football fans in Mexico.

[laughs]

So how does this, how does this originate?

Uh, to be honest, r-r-this was all Ryan.

Ryan came to me, and, and I think he-- Like, we had both been sort of looking for different opportunities to, uh, invest and, and own teams in various leagues.

I looked at the English Premier League and everything else.

The pickleball craze came through for a while, and neither of us invested in that.

Uh, and so Ryan called me one day, and I'll let him tell you the story about how he came across LFA.

But calls me one day, and he's like, "What do you think about owning a football team in Mexico?" I'm like, "Oh, yeah, I love soccer, uh, football." And as I dug into it, and as he shared more about it, I was like, "This is really awesome." I had no idea the amount of American football fans in Mexico.

[laughs]

Yeah

... or at least I haven't found one that, like, I don't, yeah, yeah, it's, it's like the, the moment is so big and you, like, you, you don't know what's gonna happen.

Like, you kinda have your play, but things go out the window, and you have to improvise, and you kinda, like- Yeah ... and, like, I, it never went through my mind what if I miss.

It was always the what if I make it.

And, like, I don't know why, but, like, that's, like, the one moment...

Like, even my, after my rookie year, I, I remember the, the off season, I, like, had this, like, lingering insecurity of, like, what if I can't do that again, you know? Like, what if I can't have a good year? What if I'm not good enough? Like, what-

Yeah

... has, um...

Is there an art with like the fouls to like, one, not get called, but two, just really get in the other person's head? Especially if they're like a shooter, like what do you do to like take a team out of three-point shooting by getting maybe their best players rattled?

Yeah, I think it's like very player dependent.

Um, like some guys don't like contact.

Some guys do like contact.

The guys that don't like contact, it's about like from the tip, like making sure you get a hand on or they feel you at every moment.

You know, like really like making them realize, hey, it's gonna, you're gonna be in for a long night.

Like physically, I'm gonna like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna rough you up a little bit.

Dun, dun

[laughsSure Right Yeah And the Wizards... W- go back to the, um, the, the, that list that you had of the teams Now, you do know that list was by teams and, and place that they're in in the league [laughs]

[laughsSure Right Yeah And the Wizards... W- go back to the, um, the, the, that list that you had of the teams Now, you do know that list was by teams and, and place that they're in in the league [laughs] So go Wizards

Okay.

So I'm assuming they get back, they have, like, a little workout Tuesday.What's today? Yeah, they're probably back, 'cause it's All-Star break.

They're probably back doing a little workout tonight, practice tomorrow, fly to Golden State.

Uh, I'm wondering why you think it is that a lot of NBA players end up, like, gravitating towards the game of golf.

I think it's sort of that thing of just the mental side of, like, you know, I always kinda tell this story, a very important lesson in my career.

Uh, my rookie year, we played the In- Indiana Pacers, and I just had a really bad game the night before against, or the previous game against the Lakers.

Like, just m- I feel like I missed everything.

Um, and started the India- the game against the Pacers, I think I air balled my first two shots and then missed another one, and I went, like, one for five from the free throw line to start the game.

And I think I finished the game, like, 18 for 24 and had 47.

And [laughs] I don't tell that to, like, try to hype up this game, but, like, the lesson that I remember vividly sitting in my locker thinking, like, oh, it doesn't matter how you start.

Yeah

(laughs)

Keep y-... exactly.

Keep it very, very simple.

That was another thing I was watching Wimby warm up last night, and they were working a lot on kind of like, obviously him getting position and people just like being as physical as possible, um, is the new- is not the new game plan, it's the game plan.

Um, and I was watching him kind of like work on that with an assistant coach.

I couldn't tell if it was kind of part of like him like, not rehab, but you know, him just... a new thing that he's working on.

Um, but I do think in like those situations, uh, you always see younger guys, uh, walk to their spot that they wanna catch at, and then turn and try to catch the ball there.

(laughs)

How hard is that for you to balance in your head?

Yeah, I think early on I, I sort of made a conscious effort to, to really, like, look at it from, like, a true basketball perspective.

Like we, we understand that people are gonna miss shots.

We understand that you're gonna have bad days or bad games.

Um, lack of effort is, is always, like, one that I think needs to be talked about.

And I, like I said it, but I- I love watching Ja Morant play.

Yeah.

Like, I, I think, um, I think when I look back at, at my career, I, I, I look back and I'm like, "Man, I'm, I'm at least proud that, like, I, when I was out there, like, I, I gave as much as I possibly could." You know, injuries or whatever, you know, things that are out of your control happen, but, um, you know, you, you, you, you try to, um, try to, try to represent yourself to the- in the best manner.

you mentioned you mentioned all the young talent right because it's so easy to obviously point out like you said the steps and the bronze but i'm thinking about the young talent as a former number one pick i mean all of us right here right all of us right here former number one picks and then thinking about the most recent and cooper flag like you know what excites you about his game coming into the league and like what advice do you have for him

i mean i think he's the most complete player that we've seen come into the NBA in recent memory.

I mean, and not saying he doesn't have room to grow.

He still has a ton of room to grow, but I mean, he passes, he shoots, he defends, he rebounds.

He seems like a great teammate.

It seems like a great kid.

Um, there's like, what's, what's like the, what's the red flag, um, which is like really exciting for, for basketball to have like these young guys.

Like, was that a goal of yours or were you just a hopper?

Is this the hardest one that you've had to win, being in Hawaii and all?

Yeah.

I think just, just Blake...

You know, you can become complacent sometimes, and I think...

Um, I don't know.

I, I just...

Uh, every year I know Bortles is bringing it.

Blake Griffin, have you thought about legacy yet?

Yeah.

And I was doing rehab, uh, with this PT, this really great PT, and that was, like, Kobe's lady.

Her name was, uh, Judy Sato.

And, uh, I would be in there every day, and I remember the first day that I, I really, like, truly met Kobe and sat and talked with him for a while.

I'm in the, I'm in the PT clinic sitting there and I'm, you know, you got a heat and ice on your knee to start and do all this stuff.

And I'm sitting there and I, I kinda, like, look up and, like, the place got, like, eerily quiet.

Yeah.

Definitely.

So, from your perspective, like what changed? What have the Pacers done?

I thought they, well, I just thought they ramped up the pressure.

They, first of all, they have unbelievable individual def- defenders.

Uh, they have a unbelievable rim protector.

Their schemes on SGA last night seemed like they were taking opportunistic times to double.

Um, you could kind of see anytime SGA kind of had it and he turned his back, I, I'm assuming that like when you can see the back of his numbers, guys had the green light to just run and double and then scramble around.

But what we're also seeing in the NBA right now, which is exciting to me, is like the days of like two superstars and a really good player and then kind of peppering in some guys who can just maybe shoot or do this, those are kind of over.

Yep, mm-hmm.

Yeah, I feel like they get

Emmy.

We're in trouble.

So definitely not like that.

That's just not that's not going to be us.

But I do think like.

you know, moving into like the streaming world of sports, it's like, there's a unique opportunity and such an age of like technology.

If you look at

that's the-

Then, then you have a talk, and you're like, "Hey, w- w- like, like, we think you need to be... we need, we need to have you do this," or, "We need to...

You need to be in better shape," or, "You need to get more work in here," like tha- like that.

And so that's what I mean.

When you're a GM, like, you use kinda all those, all those services the, uh, the teams provide.

And, you know, if they, if Luka comes to the Lakers and they're like, "All right, we'd, we'd like to get him at this body fat percentage," or, "We'd like to get him... his, his cardio a little bit better," then, you know, they could, they could try.

But guys that are playing that many minutes, like, you can't work them that much in season.

(laughs)

Yeah, one of my

best friends since we were seven.

Yeah, she was just ahead of her time.

And for me, it was just early on, like, during the season, I was so strict.

And then I realized that I had to, like, sort of pick and choose my spots.

Like, if I come home after a game and I'm just, like, tired and I want to eat pizza, like, I'll eat pizza.

I never say, like, oh, I don't eat any dairy or I don't eat any gluten.

I know, it's a pretty remarkable story.

Do you do you agree with that? Disagree with that? What's your take on that?

I, listen, I see, I understand what JJ's saying.

I'll say this.

The TNT show is unbelievable, right? It might be the best sports show on TV just because you turn it on and, like, you're going to watch some highlights, you're going to get some info, but you're also just, like, going to laugh for however long they're on TV.

And it's a joy.

It's definitely a lot more fun to watch when you're not playing than it is when you are.

And that component is like, yeah, because they're just kind of like, you know, they're going at guys.

So how excited are you to jump into that next phase of your career?

You know what I'm saying? So what was that like? Was that like a mental thing? Was that like a, yo, I'm getting in the gym with so-and-so? I'm doing the mellow, yo, two dribbles, phone move drills?

I mean... that was like when i talked earlier about like you know hearing criticism early on in my career the thing that ate at me the most was like i i love basketball and i worked as hard as i possibly could right like i hired a shooting coach after my my first season completely retooled my shot it took time it took time but i put that time in right And it ate at me that people just labeled me as this and this and I care.

We all know there's certain guys that they're talented.

They don't really work.

And it's fine.

they're able to go out and contribute and be a good player.

But to me, I was always sort of envious of that mindset because I feel like I cared too much and it crippled me sometimes.

about him? Is he a vocal leader? Is he a lead by example guy? Is he all