Do you think Kaitlyn Clark is enjoying her WNBA career?

Ooh, enjoying.

I think mostly, yes.

I think in general, I think yes.

She's one of the more marketable, most marketable athletes in the league.

She's playing on a team with teammates that absolutely love her.

They're scoring 100 points a night.

But, but it feels, it feels like she doesn't really understand why it's getting the attention that it's getting, you know?

different.

It's different.

It's building the ecosystem.

And so you need to cover teams in a way that allows fans to understand what's going on.

And accountability comes through criticism.

Through, hey, like...

By the way, did the Chicago Sky know that they just gave away maybe Juju Watkins for J.C. Sheldon, who is no longer playing? And, like, you could have had Sonia Citron, but instead you wanted Ariel Atkins.

coaches i mean we saw dallas's coaching situation last year i was like dog that was brutal and so this is not an organization that is exactly known for having their shit together and so For

Mm-hmm.

That changes a lot.

I don't know if it makes the Celtics the favorite by any means.

I don't know necessarily.

I would have to see how that changes just how they play basketball, because Jayson Tatum is a very ball-dominant player, as is Giannis.

We've seen Jaylen Brown not need the ball all the time.

Just an interesting...

But, like, the Shamets and the-

[laughs]

But game one, y'all, so the Spurs lost to the Knicks 105 to 95, and the Knicks keep their playoff winning streak, winning 12 games.

So Trista, what are your takeaways from game one? Just a gritty fucking performance, really.

Like, this is the kind of basketball that I was hoping I would see after game one of the Western Conference Finals.

Just, uh, it wasn't the best offensive game, but it had all the, the things that we want in an exciting series.

You had the battle between Wemby and Brunson.

Brunson wasn't playing well for most of the game.

So Trista, what was your initial thoughts to hearing this news? And then do you think NBA stars are at the point where they can start making more from endorsements than from playing contracts?

Predictions and who's gonna be, like, um, the dark horse, and is it gonna go to game seven or how many games we think?

I think it's Spurs in six, and I think ...

Ooh, I think we get a really good Devin Vassell game.

Devin Vassell has changed everything about himself.

You know, he's always been a bucket, but defensively he's become really, like, a lockdown on ball defender.

He's changed a lot about the way that he takes care of his body.

Um, and so I think you're gonna get one of those role players.

She's nasty.

[laughs]

... like, different things that he has to say, and then, like, is he on drugs? Has he recovered from drugs? Like, 'cause he sounds kinda nuts.

But once you're the man on the tippy, tippy top, we don't really want weirdos that much.

I feel like coordinators can be weirdos.

Head coaches...

Like, Harbaugh's the only weirdo head coach that I think is acceptable right now.

But you know what? I can't, I can't attribute everything we don't like about someone to maybe he has the thing that we cannot prove until if we study his brain after he dies.

But his personality changed.

So he does that, and my, my wife is horrified.

Can I, can I make just one comment that I feel every time I hear that I get kind of annoyed by, is that his like s- whatever he said about getting the Joker, it really does overshadow the full-throated joke that I think you guys heard in your ears, but the rest of the audience doesn't, doesn't hear now.

Good job being born, Trista.

Thank you.

Well, I don't make it a big deal, and, uh, but we did have a, a whole conversation about what 40 means for women.

What did 40 mean for y- for you three when you guys turned 40?

Mm-hmm

...

when there was a jump ball in the fourth quarter, and I thought that was the moment everything changed.

Shai got the ball.

Alex Caruso misses the shot.

It looked like the Spurs were gonna get that rebound.

Somehow OKC ends up getting the offensive rebound.

And even though I never played in the NBA, I know the, I know the position of point guard.

Trish, so what are the things we're liking and not liking from this game, and then this matchup that we're seeing overall?

You know, I think the biggest thing that we like is one of those pieces that Mace is talking about, uh, that Detroit lost.

Dennis Schröder over there in Cleveland now, such an important piece for what Cleveland wants to do.

Scores 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, puts them on their back.

And when you've got Donovan Mitchell and you've got James Harden there, and then you have that third piece that was supposed to be Ty Jerome last year, and Ty Jerome was kind of like a fourth quarter demon for Cleveland, and then they let go of him.

Dennis Schröder has been doing this in international play for a very long time, and he was on that Detroit Pistons team and was an excellent scorer, uh, against that Knicks, uh, team in the first round.

So I like what he's doing.

So Austin Reaves actually returned for his first game since April 2nd, and with an Austin Reaves return and still a Lakers loss, Trista, what happens next? What are we thinking? What's going wrong for the Lakers?

Mm, mm, mm

... disgusting, abysmal, just depleted, embarrassing third quarters I've ever seen.

At one point it was a 27 to three run, and I think it actually got worse.

'Cause I was, like, taking notes as I was watching the game.

They had six points scored in total with, like, three minutes left to go.

Uh, I thought in general that's a big piece of Orlando's offense failing them.

And they were not getting strapped up, pause.

Real-

Trista, what do you see happening, and then what are your thoughts on his impact on the Lakers?

Well, I was looking at, uh, before the show started, on the free agents, whether they're restricted or unrestricted, and it is a, it is a dry market.

It is very desert-like.

There's not that many players that you really want to add to this Lakers team.

If you're gonna do a sign and trade, you're gonna have to obviously find somebody who's also under contract.

But for me, it's like you have to pay him something, and you certainly should pay him more than 15 million.

But I think the Lakers can offer five years$241 million for Austin Reaves.

There's always been backlash on his coaching style, but Trista, do you think that there is such thing as too tough coaching, and then when do you think it does cross a line?

And when you get to 49 and have to do this, what do you imagine 60's gonna look like for Floyd if he, if he cannot, uh, if he cannot get his spending in order because he's gotten used to a lifestyle that's asinine?

I don't know if it is that hard to spend as much money as he's spent, given all of the handlers that always take percentages of entertainers', ah, gross figures.

You've got publicists, you've got managers, you've got promoters.

They all want a percentage, and then you have a, a fiscally irresponsible life, and all of a sudden you're broke.

So I, I think it's all of the people that suck at the teat of, uh, an entertainer, an athlete, et cetera, that makes it really easy to blow through that.

Plus taxes.

... and, for another big payday, uh, because they've gone through all of that money.

I think Mickelson did.

Trista, you know about those Milwaukee Bucks-Zach LaVine rumors?

Yeah.

Apparently, the Milwaukee Bucks think that they can entice Giannis to stay.

Giannis also is very shaky in terms of whether he's 10 toes down or on his way out.

Zach LaVine, though, is the bucket-getter that the Milwaukee Bucks need.

This is what the Chicago Bulls thought, Zas.

This is what the Sacramento Kings thought, Zas.

You know about that?

You're saying he's always gonna lose this game this time, too.

Yeah, I mean, the only reason that you guys are saying this is very clearly because of Miami and Florida bias.

Nobody in the world thinks that Miami can win it all.

What?

No real national media is like, "You know who has a real shot against Ohio State if you end up winning this Texas A&M game? (blows raspberry) Miami really has a shot." Like, no one, no one believes that.

Mick Fole-

Do you re- do you remember who went, uh, to Rob Reiner's house, uh, just the other day?

No, I, I would say this means they are not going to have a banner up there.

Didn't, didn't Knicks fans pooh-pooh? Didn't they, uh, downplay the Lakers Cup victory?