 Ready to say words, all of which will be, none of it will be controversial. I know this for a fact. With that buddy, we'll be back. What's up? Comfy, I see you, huh? I know, I like this. How you doing? Good, you? I like this little vibe. I like this little vibe. Our guest today played 14 seasons in the NBA, won a title in 17, and of course, one of the hosts of All the Smoke. Matt Barnes is here, and can we just? The podcast world is crazy, right? Yeah. You guys have one of the biggest ones. Did you have any idea All the Smoke would be like this? No clue. We didn't even know what a podcast was, to be honest with you. When we started, we were just both doing Fox and ESPN, and we knew that we can kind of get away with a little bit more from an extracurricular standpoint on a podcast. And it was kind of a struck lightning in the bottom when someone from Showtime happened to connect the dots, and I pitched them our idea, and they didn't really know we had. I didn't know we had, but they took a chance. And our first year out, we won sports podcast of the year and kind of cemented us in this space, and we've been enjoying it and learning ever since. All those years of you guys being outspoken and saying whatever you wanted. Who knew it paid off? It paid off after basketball, not during. It cost me during basketball. Yeah, we'll get to that at some point. Want to start with a guy who I think he thinks he can get away with a little more than he probably can, but Jaumarant. We had the Adam Silver announcement that he's not going to make an announcement until after the finals about what's going to happen. Was it a good move the way Adam handled it? And what kind of a suspension are you thinking? I think they should have just kept the information to themselves because they knew they weren't going to announce it, and they had the world buzzing because they said they didn't want to distract the finals, but now we're still buzzing because we're like, what's the deal? If he's going to hold off in announcing, it's got to be a huge suspension. So I think they should have kept it to themselves. On the flip side with Marant, I mean, image is everything, you know what I mean? I think these young kids, we can't really speak to what it's like feeling like you have to show every moment of your life on social media so people can validate you, stamp you and give you likes. My whole thing is I'm not for playing with guns, but if you know you guys like to play with guns, stop filming yourself. Like they're telling on themselves every single time. So I don't get like, why you keep telling on yourself? So I think the reason why this punishment has to be so harsh with Ja is because he's the next guy to kind of carry the NBA from American standpoint. You know what I mean? The European international players have dominated the MVPs and they got a handful of those guys in the top five right now, but Ja is along with Tatum and Booker and some of these younger guys that are supposed to carry the torch after Katie, Steph and LeBron leave. So I think he has to understand the bigger picture of what is being asked of him. And then also, once you start getting these shoe deals and these big drink deals, like you have to just walk a little different. So I wish the best for him because we all know he's such a tremendous talent and he must see basketball, but I also think he needs to learn a lesson and unfortunately this time, I think it's gonna be harsh, but I think he'll learn this time around. It's like Matt said, he's built up as one of the marquee athletes in this league. He has the Nike deals. The Powerade doesn't have the Powerade deal anymore. Did they take it? Yeah, they took that away. He's one of the, you know, NBA's putting him on their marquee. They're marketing that team, a small market team for primetime games and on network games. He has that responsibility. I know he's only 23 years old, but he has to understand what that is. And like you said, we only know about this stuff because he showed us. We wouldn't have known about any of this unless he showed us. The only thing we got to see that we weren't supposed to see was when the strip club leaked the picture of doing, and that's what strip clubs look like. And that was kind of cool. Yeah, that was like kind of fly. He made it rain in there, what else out of that? Like we should have never, like you said, we should have never known anything else. Yeah. So we only know what they showed us and whether on accident or purpose or however you want to say it. So he could have prevented all this. He had plenty of reasons to do it and he chose not to. So that's what he's going to do as he's got. The problem is it's the second time, right? Like you do it once, and I thought the suspension was a little lenient in the beginning. Like eight games wasn't that big of a deal. And with everything, how sensitive the world is to this. Again, it's all self-inflicted. And so I'm hoping he's taking this time to kind of find himself and get a smaller circle and find people he can actually trust and rock with and enjoy this life. People would do unimaginable things to be in the position you're in. Don't ruin that. Like, you know what I mean? By the way, I worry too though, if he is suspended an entire season and he doesn't truly get it, that's a lot of idle time for a guy who doesn't seem to handle idle time. As sad as it is, it could be the worst thing for him just to spend him for the whole year to give him all that time on his hands with the people that he's surrounding himself with. So I think it's going to be extreme. I think it's going to be close to 50 games. I don't think it's going to be a whole season. I don't think so either. I think it too, it goes back to something that I've talked about for a while. It's just there's no veterans in the locker room anymore. You know, when we came in the league, I had vets that were 38, 39, 40. Some played, but most of them just contributed to the culture and learning and teaching. And although Stephen Adams is a veteran, I guess he wasn't enough to kind of get through these guys, but there were guys when I came in the league that would put you in a headlock or do some other stuff to you, like, yo, you got it. You know, you have a tremendous opportunity right now, but go ahead. Yeah, yeah, Stephen Adams, I mean you make a good point. He spoke up a couple of weeks before the Denver Nuggets situation, the situation in Denver happened. So if you were a teammate of John Moran, what's your, like, direct message to him? Headlock. I would probably sit him down and roll a little joint and, like, let's talk about this. You know, because, like, honestly, sometimes it really just takes to show that you care. Sometimes you can't just talk down and talk at people. You have to go down to their level and bring them up with you. So I think it's just really showing them that you care sitting down, having a conversation with them. And almost, if it doesn't get through initially, just staying on him because making him understand how important he is to this team and to this game. You have a good point about the Vets, too, because nowadays it's who makes the most money and who scores the most points. But it wasn't like that back in the day. Like, if I would do this back in the day or James Harden did this in Houston, like, Marcus Canby, Sam Dump, these guys were on your head to fix it and to address it right away. Stephen Adams, as much as a good leader and a good dude he is, he is no juice. He has no say over John Moran's actions. So it's different now. It's a different time. It's a different era. And the best player does what he wants. So, Matt, you want to ring with the Warriors? Yes. Bob Myers just stepped down as President GM. How do you think that's going to impact them as we're going to be in this game? That's going to be huge. I mean, Bob's been one of the most impactful front office guys for the last 10 years. And I think sometimes stuff just runs its course. I mean, being on a championship team, but then being on a part of a dynasty where every year the expectations are championship or nothing, and he helped build that. So I just think he needed some time off. I heard some and I can't confirm this stuff. And it wasn't from him that just the ownership was kind of overstepping their bounds. And I don't know if ownership actually has bounds because it is their team. But I heard that. So I think it's a standpoint where Bob's going to take a step back. I honestly thought that if Polinka didn't make the moves he made and the Lakers didn't make a run, it was going to be a smooth transition for Bob to come back home and move into the Lakers front office. But I think to credit Bob to come back and move into the Lakers front office. But to credit Rob, he did a great job at the trade deadline. The Lakers made this Western Conference final run. So I think he kind of secured the situation. So I see Bob sitting back and waiting for a great opportunity. And someone's going to throw a ton of money at him. And once he's rested and back home with the kids all the time and be like, I think I need to get back on the road. I think Bob is going to make a move. And wherever he ends up going, there's going to be a huge plus to that organization. I'll say this. As good of a job that is, I don't want to replace Bob Myers, right? Like everything he's done. And he's kind of getting out at the right moment. They're kind of on the decline. Is the era over? Is the dynasty over? Not only are those the questions, but whoever replaces him has huge decisions to make that impact kind of the future of this whole organization. So whether it's Mike Dunleavy or whoever it is, that they're really, really, really big shoes to fill. And this guy did an unbelievable job. I feel like half the show is Chandler telling us jobs he doesn't want to do. Well, the way these coaches are getting paid now, I might start down one. That's serious. Start digging about it. I think the one thing that Bob, I'm guessing, got through to ownership before he left was the importance of keeping this core intact. I think understanding that it's important to re-sign Draymond. Again, he's a guy that doesn't have his numbers drop off the page, but playing with him and playing against him for so long, he is a heart and soul of that team. And I think everybody knows that. Steph Clay know that. And I know they've been advocating for him. So to be able to keep that core together, I think was Bob's last goal. And then now he's chilling. Well, I mean, from the outside looking in, it looks like they're almost forced to pick Draymond, Jordan Poole. Like, what do you think they should do going forward? You said you want them to keep Draymond. You set them down. You try to work it out. I don't know if that can be, you know, I actually had a, I was doing the Kings Warrior series in Sacramento. And I got a chance to sit down and fellowship with Draymond after one of the games since you liked that word, right? That could mean a lot of different things. And he told me he's just like, you know, I lost my voice almost until February in that locker room. And he said, I saw a lot of slippage, but I wasn't really in a position to kind of put my foot down and be myself and kind of organize things. And he said, by the time he felt comfortable to do that, it was February. So that was a lot of bad habits that kind of went awry for almost a, you know, three quarters of the season. And it was a little too late to, you know, kind of fix it once, you know, stuff hit the fan come playoff time. I wasn't worried. Obviously you would like to see Jordan Poole play better. He was given a lot of money and he was great in last year's playoffs. You would like to see him better, but I wasn't necessarily watching that. And I think Chandler can attest to that. We watch body language. And the way he blew off Draymond and the way he wouldn't look at Steph when Steph was talking, I mean, you're dealing with Hall of Famers. And although, like I said, I don't know what their relationship is and if it can ever be repaired with Draymond, but at least pretend you're listening at some point. And I just think he's one of those younger players that, you know, he got a lot of money, played very well for that money, but the next year he didn't come on and perform. So I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, they could possibly be shopping him, which is crazy because I think because two years ago you were thinking, hey, this is the guy we're gonna hand the torch to, to run with. I just look at it like, too, like if you're Jordan Poole, is that something you can get over? Like you do punching you in the face in the whole world. It wasn't as bad, right? Hearing it, but when you see the video, you're embarrassed. And, and Chandler, you know, like stuff like this happens all the time. But again, like the strip club thing, like this should have never got leaked. Like to me, they need to find out whoever leaked that and out that person because this should have never got leaked. And I think what, man, obviously getting punched in the face and knocked out is messed up. I don't know what that's like. I don't ever wanna know what that's like. But I think just having to deal with that every single day, your family sees it, your friends see that, and then you have to go to work and try to mend this because now there's means and all this other BS that comes with it. I think if it were to stay under wraps, it possibly, and then this again, this is a speculation, could have been a little bit easier to deal with, but I don't know if there is any mending that, but to me, you just have to have a line of respect from a standpoint and we're on that court. It's a common goal. That's crazy. You're right. He's with these guys, I think he would at least, I mean, Steph was not happy in that moment. Well, even him, he needs to be aware that there's cameras everywhere. Even if this was something that wasn't his fault or whatever, you gotta know what this looks like. And at this moment, this magnitude of the game, you can't be doing this. In fairness though, there was the moment where Anthony Davis sort of looked like he wasn't into the LeBron James celebration game. Like sometimes you just forget, even in this day and age. Well, yeah, we film everybody all day. All the time. We're gonna see some funny stuff. It's crazy for Jordan Poole because if you're him, you're sitting there like the organization leaked it. They seemingly took Trayvon's side. They're thinking about what they're doing. He's gotta fill the walls closing in. So it has to be a frustrating situation. Maybe it is something they can sit down and iron out, but I don't know. It looks worse by the day. Steve Kerr's doing Trayvon's pot. I know. He looks like an outsider. Sides have been chosen. He looks like an outsider. For sure. So Shams is reporting that Kyrie trying to recruit LeBron to Dallas. Thoughts on that, the validity of it, the idea of them playing together again. What are his intentions here? I just don't see it happening. I think LeBron has set up stake in California with several houses. And you know, his son going to USC now. His kid's getting a little bit older. I don't see him uprooting the family for one year because you gotta think, Brani's all intentions to be in two years for Brani to be in the league. And Brons goal was to play with his son. So I think it's wishful thinking by Kyrie. I think the Lakers came out and kind of said, hey, if we're sending our big dog your way, you're sending back Luca. And we all know that's absolutely not happening. Amazing. And then from the flip side, if you're the Lakers, you saw what happened with Phoenix and it's kind of unfair to kind of judge Phoenix because they only had a handful of games together. But they were very top heavy team with zero depth. And that just doesn't work anymore. So if the Lakers were to go all in on Kyrie, you're giving away a lot of young core pieces that came in and really complimented your two stars really well. So as much as I would love to see LeBron and Kyrie get back together because I think LeBron is the one vet that can kind of get Kyrie just to focus on basketball. And if that does happen and Kyrie is able to get with him and because stuff happens so much, we'll forget about all the BS. He pulled the last five or six years if he's able to get with LeBron and somehow win something. And I don't know where that would be, but because we're in such a, what have you done for me lately? So I mean, I think he understands getting with LeBron will kind of help fix his trajectory and his legacy because it's been a little checkered when it comes to playing basketball to say the least. So again, I think wishful thinking, but I just don't see it happening. It's crazy that these clips they're showing the seven years ago. It's been like a lifetime since we saw that Kyrie. Yeah. And I mean, there's no doubting is an unbelievable talent, a top five talent. And arguably one of the greatest ball handlers, one of the greatest finishers. I mean, when this guy is just focused on basketball, you can't name five guys better than him. Yeah. I also think it's a chess move, right? It's like Dallas fans, look at me, I'm trying to recruit the best player of all times. I'm changed, I'm ready to fully buy in, but you've gone from a basketball player to a basketball dad. And as a new father myself with my first boy coming in October, how has that been coaching? It's awesome. Watching your twins. You know, they're 14 now, headed into high school. And it was, to be honest with you, it was the reason why I retired. I signed a three year deal a year. I happened to get to go in the state and won a championship and I stepped away because I was just, felt like I was missing too much time. And as a father traveling, missing birthdays, play, sporting events, it started wearing on me. So that was the main reason why I retired. And from the second I retired, it was taking pride in our and 20 minute round trip school drop offs and coaching them in every sport they play. But it was just like those things you miss as a dad. So fast forward, you know, I coach them now. We have a top five AU team in the country. Shout out my little guys, we're 14 years old. So it's just been a blast to be able to pour into them from a father standpoint, but then also being able to coach them. And again, being able to coach there, we could be able to keep our core together for like the last five years. So just kind of raising their friends as well. So fatherhood is the best job in the world. And it's why I've turned down other jobs that have been nice, but they wanted me to travel too much. And I just, nothing comes before my kids anymore. So if I'm able to fit in, you know, media, which I am now, it kind of has to go around my children. So there's nothing like fatherhood and congratulations on the little man coming because it's a blast and it's a journey. Chandler, what if he hates basketball? Always going to. Okay, fair enough. I just want to make sure we were mentally prepared for that. We're taking a really quick break. We'll be right back. Matt Barnes not going anywhere. We have a lot more questions. He's going to hang back. Running back, running back, running back, yeah. We'll go back. We were talking basketball in the break there. Matt Barnes still here. I know we want to talk finals, Chandler. Yeah, Maddie, let's talk finals. Who right now is in control of this series? I don't know if anybody's necessarily in control. It's 1-1. I think Miami went in and did their job, but I've been impressed with their confidence. You know, when they lost game one and you saw Jimmy in the podium, it's just like, you know, everyone's smiling, you know, having a good time, understanding we just need four games. So a confident team is a very dangerous team. For them to go in to Denver and make that fourth quarter run and pull that one out, just showed me a lot. But it shouldn't surprise me because they've been doing this since the beginning of the playoffs. You know, they played possum all season, nearly get eliminated in the play-in, and then you run through Milwaukee, Boston, and now you're 1-1 in the finals versus Denver. So they feel confident with that being said. I just love the chess move between Spolster and Malone, two of the best coaches in the game. And I know that Denver will be ready to do what they need to do tonight, to, I think, take game three. But I think there's going to be a great series. So Matt, you had some legendary battles in your day. So you're matched up against Jimmy Butler. How are you guarding him right now? You know, I was the lucky guy that, you know, got to take the best score every single night. So it's multiple looks. The one thing I don't like about the game right now is I feel like the primary defender gets switched off too easy. Like, they set these fake screens to me if you're the guy that's supposed to guard the best player. You're fighting through screens. You're going over. You're going under. You're being physical with them. You're giving them different looks. And Chandler will tell you, you know, any time you get cooking, I have to give you a hard foul. And I got five more strategically hard fouls coming at you. But you want to make these guys work, you know what I mean? I mean, one thing, you know, guarding Kobe was, you know, great score is always going to be good defense. But you just want to make them work. If Kobe or Jimmy or KD were going to score 30 on me, I want you to take 30 shots. I want you to know that I'm going to put you on the ground a couple times with some hard fouls. If you shot, make me too much, I'm going to hard foul you. So it's just kind of sending a message knowing that it's going to be a long night. But you know, great offensive players are going to get what they want. You just want to make them earn it. So that's what I would do with Jimmy. So you were fined 14 times in your career. That's it? I know, right? I feel like that's like... That's actually surprisingly low. It was for like a half a million, though. OK, so that's good. Because now I want to know which one of those was the one that was money best spent? Do you remember? Man, I used to get fined for like pushing people. I remember I used to spend the two games to push them. Yeah, you can't do that, man. Right, like at least let me throw a punch. Like, I remember I pushed Sergey Bakka one time with that clipper, and during that clipper thing when he used to try to bully Blake. And I think I got like two or three game suspensions. So I think my suspensions and fines were more reputation. I don't really think I got any really like, oh, I got him good. I'm going to take that fine. Like, mine was talking back. Like, you appealed all of them? Oh, absolutely. And Kiki, you still, yeah, I'm thinking either you see like guys going to have some leniency. Kiki didn't mess with me at all. Kiki, I'm sorry, Matt, but yes, you know what I mean? So I can't say that any of them are my money well spent. I wouldn't take any of them back because, again, it was who I was. I was just a competitor and was really into doing anything to win. But I wish I would have got to earn more. Like, at least let me throw a couple punches if you want to suspend me two or three games. Did you do any that you regret, like trash talking anyone's mom or anything like that maybe? Were you on that team then? Hey, that was crazy, man. And sending my best to that family and Mrs. Harden, but she was talking reckless to me. Like, she said some things that I was just like, there's no way that's a woman's voice that's saying this to me. And I didn't know who she was. So, you know, me and it was so loud, it was during the playoffs, I mouthed something that I probably shouldn't have mouthed. If I would have known it was his mom, I probably wouldn't have said what I said. But that was a big one. That was like 50 or 65,000. Wow. That was a big fine. That's so much for words. That was a heavy hitter. Those words were. You were there? Those were some darts. Yeah, it was, yeah. What did this guy say? It was so intense. Not for TV. Let's go imagine so, 50 breaths. Not for TV. That's expensive. It's someone's mom. Harden's mom, shout out. She's like in it. No, she got me. She got me. But you know, after, again, I'm someone who lost my mom, I don't have the utmost respect for moms and what they go through. I just didn't know who she was. And I was thinking after I said, I'm like, she has to be someone's mom. Because she's sitting court side, right underneath the hoop. So I'm just like, she has to be someone important. But after, you know, it would like I said, yeah, Michelle, it was definitely too late. But I was able to find her and try to apologize. And it took two or three times for her to actually at least shake her head to accept my apology. And I think Mother's Day was right around that time. So I gave her some flowers. Oh, that's nice. But yeah, it was in the heat of the battle, man. I'm trying to go to war every time. And if some people get in the way, sometimes they might catch a strike. That's crazy. That complete side topic. People think they just because they buy a court side ticket to say whatever you believe in. Unbelievable. And it's getting further, not necessarily on the court side, but just fans in general throwing stuff at players. And when they're walking in the tunnel, I don't like that. And my whole thing is, don't say nothing to me, you wouldn't say to my face on the street. If you have enough balls to say that in my face, I'll respect you. But I know 99% of the time it's because they know that we're kind of in a cage and we can't really do anything. All right, so your championship season, the 17 Warriors. I've talked with Kevin about this before. I think it's really tough to see any team beating them. We go all the 96 balls, everybody. Is that got to be the most dominant team you've played on, right? Yeah, I mean, I think what stood out to me the most about that team was how egoless it was. I mean, if you think you're bringing in a rock star coach, you have Steph Curry, you have Clay Thompson, you have Dre Montgomery, you have Andre Guadala, you have Sean Livingston, you have David West. And then you bring in arguably the best score, pure score of our generation, or one of them, and to think that they fit seamlessly. And I think that's a credit to obviously the Warriors welcoming Katie, but just Katie in general. Because Katie's been able to go to Brooklyn, fit in seamlessly, go to Phoenix, fit in seamlessly. And it's rare to see someone who can score the ball that well, seamlessly, fit in. But to answer your question, that was a hell of a team, man. And I think it's hard to compare errors from a standpoint of Shaq. Shaq was a whole another. And as much as I love Dre Montgomery, there was no guard. No, there was no other. A Shaq, you know what I mean? So it's just kind of different kind of comparing who would have did this and could they have beat Michael. But this team had guys, three or four guys, they can give you 30 to 40 points any night. And there weren't too many teams in NBA history that can say that. And their chemistry was crucial. And I think that's what's most important, you know, fighting up these up and down battles and the ebbs and flows of the season. And that team was on one page the entire time. And it's almost why you see, you know, Steve Kerr, not necessarily naming no names, but that locker room is not used to people pouting and kind of brushing people off. Like it's always been for the betterment of the team. And if these superstars can do it, how do you not do it? So that was a hell of a team. I just wish, you know, I came in that season when Katie went down and, you know, played a handful of games. And literally the game he came back, I had like the worst ankle sprain in my life going into the playoffs. So I really didn't get a chance to play. And that's what kind of broke my heart was because I was in the mix. I came right in playing, you know, 20 to 23 minutes a game. And I was in that rotation. I'm just like, oh, I'm finally here. Like this is, it's going to be a take off. And, you know, really literally the game. So I never, I played 10 minutes with Katie. Katie came back, I got hurt that game and that was kind of it. But that team overall was incredible. Yeah, speaking of that, you brought that up. You once said that you didn't count that as a championship because you got hurt the week before. Yeah, I mean, yeah, my whole thing is like, you know, Chandler, I've always been someone that never had anything handed to me. I had to grind the entire time. And I wouldn't want it any other way because I had such an appreciation for the journey. And I finally get to a point where I'm on a team, where I have a perfect role and I got hurt. You know, I would have been the guy out there guarding Kawhi. I would have been the guy out there guarding LeBron in the finals and the fact that I couldn't do that because of his bum ankle really hurt me. So it wasn't that I didn't appreciate the ring. I just didn't, it doesn't, like it sat in its little jar or excuse me, it's scatting its case on the bookshelf. I was gonna ask that because you didn't even want it. I don't wear it. It wasn't that I didn't want it. It's just I just don't count it. And the reason why I got, it's been some crazy story that I didn't want it. What happened was they did a special ring ceremony for me and I came back and my kid, the twins got rings too. And it was in this big old box and I went back and watched the game. So the PR guy Raven Ritter was like, hey, let me put this in this office for you till the game's over. We bounced early, the office was locked and I'm just like, damn. So it went like almost a year and a half with this poor, like they delivered it to me somehow on ESPN one day while we were filming. Like they brought the ring and I hadn't seen it. Wasn't really thinking about it. But again, I appreciate just the opportunity and the organization, my favorite organization and the people there are great. But yeah, I'm someone who needed to earn everything and I just didn't feel like I earned that. So nonchalant year and a half later. I just got the ring back, I got the ring. I feel like I need it today. I'm gonna need my 85 diamonds. Yeah, I need it now. You mentioned that you would want to run for political office maybe at some point. So Senator Barnes, first thing you do is what? What struck my eye in this was I'm from Sacramento and Kevin Johnson was the mayor. And to me, at first it wasn't so much on the political side, it was more just I saw what he did to his former neighborhood and his former neighborhood murders were happening. My aunt got killed, throat slashed and left in the gutter in that same neighborhood. So to see what he was able to do in that neighborhood and in the businesses he was able to bring and kind of the life he brought back into that neighborhood really is just like, yo, if you can do this to Oak Park, I want to do this. So fast forward, I kind of got on the political side a little bit more just understanding process and policy and have helped push bills for the capitals. So it's something that I get at like 34 or 35, I said at 50, I want to do it. But I'm like 43 now and it's getting closer and closer. So it's just like, if I'm gonna do this, I need, you know, I need to kind of start. So it is something I'm interested in. I mean, if all the cards are laid how they should be by the time I'm 50, it'll definitely be something that I, you know, I check out. That would be awesome. We'll help you. I don't know how much good we can do. You guys can all be in my cabinet. Maybe. We'll help you make it. Matt, never a disappointment. Always great to catch up. Thank you guys for having me. Love that you're here. We will take a break. We will be back. Matt Barnes. Run it back. Run it up. You run it back. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back.