 Good Wednesday morning. This is Running Back. We are in studio. We are professionals. We are doing our jobs this morning. We are here. I'm going to get to you in a second, Shoms. But joining us today, 17-year NBA vet Rudy Gay and Lou is in the Chandler Parsons seat, which means you have to say stupid things. Do you feel like? I'm graduating today. Yeah. You have to go viral for ridiculous reasons. For any and everything. Let's do it. I feel good about this for you. You're going to get it done. Rudy, how are you feeling? Awake yet? I think so. Yeah, we're getting there. We'll see. Coffee will kick it soon. Shoms also joining us from his palatial abode in Chicago. What's up, buddy? What's going on? How's everything? Well, we're about to get some news from you. Happy to have Rudy on. Are you good? Happy to have the San Antonio reunion. I know. The Will and the OGC today. Yeah, we got Danny Green later. It's like a whole, it's a whole thing. But last night, I don't, I don't know if there was something in the air. I don't know what was going on. But we'll start with T-wolves and warriors. And here we go. It got quick. It got real quick. The jerseys torn and Draymond steps in to do his best to de-escalate and bring the tempers down, obviously. Guys, what? Eh. Why? What? Listen, I'm going to be honest. Draymond putting Rudy Goldberg in a chicken wing had nothing and absolutely nothing to do with Clay Thompson and Jaylin McDaniels. He got pushed under that rim and he wanted his lick back. So this is, this is good. Hey, listen, you're Golden State. Well, I have soldiers if you're not going to use them. Draymond, this has always been his M.O. He's always been a security for that basketball team. He's always been a mouthpiece with that basketball team. This is on brand for Draymond Green and it was highly entertaining to watch last night. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think he held the, he held it too long though. That's the only problem. Yeah. He held that, he held that. Nah, get your money's worth. He was going to get kicked out anyways. So get your money's worth. Put them in a nice chicken wing. And just hope, just keep it right there. You know, I mean, he's one of those three. Listen, it's going to be 25,000 either way. Get your money's worth. You're right. He's one of those three. He had to come in and save them, man. Had to. Had to. I don't think this had anything to do with Clay. No. If you look at that entire play, he got pushed and he saw an opportunity to get his leg back and he ran down and he did it. Gilbert called it clown behavior. Are we good with that? Clown behaviors. I mean, it's, it's on point for Draymond, man. Fight back. That's all. Fight back. That's all that was. Here's the, here's, and I've heard a couple theories. I heard theories last week about how Steph is doing too much. And so they wanted to kind of see what they are without him. And then immediately these guys get thrown out as well. So it's like, nobody wants to play if Steph's not playing, but you played with Gobert and he said after the game that Draymond got tossed on purpose because he doesn't like to play unless Steph Curry's out there. What do you think about that? I don't remember the last time I've seen him play without the last two, but I mean, I don't know, man. They just have bad history. Remember, they went back and forth. Even when I was there, they would go back and forth about whatever it is at the time. But Draymond does it with everybody. And you know, some people in the league are just more, just a little bit more, more emotional than others, man. But that had nothing to do with basketball right there or to play that happen. That's a stretch, Rudy. Draymond Green is a four-time NBA champion. He's scared to play against anybody. That's a stretch. But again, highly, highly entertaining. Well, let me ask you this because I can think of people like if you have a person that you work with regularly and if they call in sick that day and you're just not motivated to do the job as well because you're like, no, I don't like it unless this person's here. That could be something. They both got thrown out in minutes. Yeah. But listen, it takes so much to get ready for NBA game. It's an all-day process. Rudy can attest to this. It's an all-day process. What you eat, how you warm up, you're going to hit the weight room. You're probably going to go to chapel. You're going to get straight. There's so many different things that go into play. If you're going to play, you're going to play. And so I think this was just circumstance and it happened fast and it was funny. I would say that, you know, like you said, a four-time champion and playing together for so on and so forth years. There's certain people in the team, if I'm Draymond, it's like, nah, ain't nothing happening to them. For sure. Clay was one of those guys. I think after the altercation happened, it was like, you know, let me get a little extra in. He did just chip me a little bit. But he choked the guy that wasn't choking Clay. Nah, he was looking for him. He was looking for him. He choked the guy that had nothing to do with anything. Rudy didn't even get an opportunity to kind of de-escalate anything. If you watch Draymond, he tried it out, found this guy, and put him in a nice chicken with him. I feel like, you know, Rudy Goldbear is always in the media for different reasons. And we have the same name. So whenever I hear Rudy, I'm like, man, I had nothing to do with that. And I get mixed up in that. I'm just telling y'all out there, nobody choking me. You play with Rudy Goldbear. Is his reputation on point or are we off the mark when it comes to his reputation? Well, you ask me that. I just can't. Because we don't understand. He's always in the middle of stuff. Is that indicative of Rudy Goldbear right there? Clay Thompson is nowhere to be found. This had nothing to do with protecting Clay Thompson. Whatever. So look at that. He's just... Draymond should get that frame. That picture is ridiculous on Rudy Goldbear's face. Come on, Rudy. Come on. It is weird though, Rudy, that Goldbear's in the middle of stuff all the time. All the time. Is it... What's he like? I mean, is he a drama guy? Is this just sort of... It's accidental. Why is it always... Hey, man. I mean, I don't know. That's the question you got to ask him, man. You can get that smut off his name, man. Somehow. It's a lot. A lot of people say it. I don't know, man. I just hope nobody asks him to sign that picture, man. If I'm getting a headline. You know before... Oh, it's going to happen. Yeah, it's going to happen for sure. So we have a culture of fans. When you pull up to the hotel, there's going to be a jerk that's going to ask Rudy Goldbear to sign that picture. And will he sign it? Sure. I doubt it. Okay. Guys rarely sign any way to do it. I was going to say, I feel like most of the time you just walk right back to them. Because they're at every hotel and it's weird. Look, he was considered the peacemaker. Goldbear was not punished, but all the three guys were thrown out of the game. Sean, we've got to bring you in here because the league's obviously going to do something. Any idea when we can expect punishment of some sort? Yeah, I think Rudy and Lou have been through the league process. It's going to be a bunch of interviews today. They're going to go through a thorough process. Joe Dumars is going to interview all the people involved in this. Dreymont Green, Rudy Goldbear, Jaden McDaniels, Clay Thompson. So all these guys are going to get interviewed. And then in the next 24 hours, likely today or early tomorrow before the Warriors play on Thursday against OKC, there's going to be a ruling. And I think there are people, of course, around the Warriors that would expect a suspension of some sort for Dreymont. The question is going to be how many? There's going to be a lot of interviews. A lot of conversations today before that decision. But those two guys on set have been through at least some processes. Yeah, I think this is a wine gamer. Wine? OK. Yeah, this is a wine gamer. No punches were thrown. No. A really good chicken wing. Is a punch worse than a... Punch is worse. If a punch was thrown, we're probably looking at two or more. So one. But I think no punches were thrown. This is a wine gamer for Dreymont. Everybody else, no suspensions. There will be fine. Personally, our brother gets swung at them. They're putting the chicken wing. I feel like that's worse. Absolutely. Go ahead and swing at me so I can put my dukes up opposed to you having me out of control of my body. That's a bad look, Rudy. You got to... See, that goes again. It triggered me just now. Yeah, that's weird. It's an unfortunate... I'm going to start saying go bare. Please do that. Go bare. Go bare. That's a bad look, bro. Come on, man. I'm also thinking there are going to be a lot of interviews. What is there to ask? What kind of questions do they ask you and do you answer honestly or is it like a kid getting in trouble? Who knows? Yeah, like what's this work like? Yeah, it's going to be a... It's going to be a thorough investigation. I don't know how long of an investigation. It's going to be five minutes. Yeah, but it's going to be thorough. You're going to be on the phone with some pretty heavy hitters determining whether you're going to lose money or not. Do you answer honestly or are you so annoyed that you're sarcastic? You could tell us now. Yeah, I'll tell you the truth. Once I realized I wasn't in real trouble, I was very sarcastic. But at first I was terrified. Really? Yeah, because I was on the phone with like real legal representation. So it's kind of nerve-wracking, yeah. Okay, that's kind of... I can't imagine Draymond answering any of these questions. Listen, he has more experience than I do, so... Yeah. I'm sure Draymond, this business is usual. It's like a speed dial. The proof is in the pudding. You saw what happened, so is there anything to really talk about? I don't think so. I think everyone would be fine with a one-game suspension. I can't imagine anyone being opposed. I think one-game suspension is done. At this point, by the way, there was a game. The Warriors did lose it, if you were wondering. And Minnesota continuing to do what they're doing. Again, we started the show saying something weird was in the air last night, and it also affected another game. Lakers taking on the Grizzlies. Lakers did win this one, but five technicals in the first quarter. So here's the Aldama Davis moment. He's still on the ground. Come on, fellas. There's just a little scuffle, some grabbing, some pushing. You know what? I'm gonna change my stance. What? What was your stance? Oh, no. Don't do it now. Listen, I'm gonna change my stance. Before the show, I thought that he legitimately got pushed, and that was a... Aldama got pushed. That was a genuine reaction. After watching this particular angle, he definitely flopped. Come on, man. I give you that. He flopped. Really? He flopped. Why are you saying that? Just the angle. Yeah, but listen. He flew 10 feet after that, and he... Listen, look. Watch this. Get up. Get in. Get up. Fair. You didn't get... He's holding his face. This is a sale job. Listen, his teammates have no urgency on getting them up off the ground. No. I mean, Bane's doing whatever. Yeah, that's a fly. He let go of all function after he pushed them. It's like, all right, let me just go on and fly to the stands real quick. Let me check my nose, make sure I sell the call. Yeah. And that's it. He should actually get fine, man. That looks bad. That's right. He should get fine. That should have been a take. He checked his nose. That should have been a free-throwing ball out on the side. Yeah, yeah, yeah. By the way, the AD reaction alone, the shove, what do we make of that? Was he right in doing that? I'm not even sure why the AD... Something was in the water last night. Yeah. It was... He was in the way. I was like, what do you put him into? You know, we met at the end of the day. He's in my way. Something was in the water last night. AD didn't look happy. Maybe it was the courts. We're blaming everything on the courts. They forgot the courts were there. They give us migraines. We're blaming everything on the end-season tournament courts. It's a bad vibe. They're confusing. People don't want to play on them. Well, I will say this. I mean, AD gets a bad rep, you know, soft, not available, all of those things. So if you're a Lakers fan and you saw what you saw from him last night, are you... I don't know. Does it give you some excitement, some hope? We birthed a new character last night. Shoot. It's not going to last though. AD or a Dahmer? AD. That's Afro AD. Oh, okay. The Black Knight, Afro AD. That's the new character, Afro AD. Whenever you see the Afro out, he didn't get an opportunity to get his hair done. Okay. Expect some vibes. I like it. A little bit more grit to him. Afro AD. Well, yeah, but I mean, that implies it's not going to stick around once he gets his hair done. Who knows? Maybe every once in a while, he's just going to let his hair flow and let the pushes fly. Flow it go. Flow it go. Well, we'll see what happens on that one. Those were the two games that we didn't kill you about the game as much. That we didn't talk about any basketball. No, because there was a game and things happened. And as you can see there, the Lakers took care of business easily. But this game, a lot of eyes on this one for many, many reasons. Clippers Nuggets. You know what? Look, it came down to the end, but the Nuggets did keep the Clippers winless in the Hardin era. They're now 0 and 6. Hardin did have 21, PG, 35, 73, Jokic, you know, doing Jokic things. The 0 and 5 of it all. Are there any signs at all that you can take away thinking that there is a turn coming in the future here? You know, the positives that I can take away from this last night, I found a group that really works for this team and that I think they'll use going forward. Terrence Mann, Kauai Leonard, Paul George, P.J. Tucker, and Russ. Uh-oh. That 5 right there on the floor gave them a realistic opportunity to win that basketball game. They had a lot of defensive presence. I think there was a pecan order on the offensive end, who was going to score, who they were playing through. They were obviously playing through Paul George and then Kauai right after that. T-Man, P.J. Tucker and Russ, they were doing the dirty work, getting the stops that they needed. And so I thought that was a group that worked really well. So if they can take away anything, they know that they can put those five guys on the floor to finish games that's going to give them an opportunity. That's a problem, isn't it? They missed somebody, didn't they? Yeah, you're kind of missing a dude. Yeah, well, the finish. But I thought, honestly, listen, I thought James played well throughout that basketball game. I thought they played well as a team. They didn't get over that hump. But again, they were playing against the Denver Nuggets. Denver Nuggets is a team that's not easily to, not a team to be easily beaten, especially at home, and so, listen, they ran into a brick wall, but we could take some positives away from this game. They were in it until the final. Yeah, I mean, they played against the Denver Nuggets. And let's not forget, this is a team that was just starting to gel. Like they played like certain amount of games together before the trade and they were actually starting to gel and then you throw this on there. I don't think it's really their fault. I mean, everybody knows who James Hart is. Everybody knows who Russ and everybody, they're trying to build this team, but you know, it takes chemistry. So I think it's too early to say, anything about that, but yeah, it is one of those things where they'll kind of like, had to, had to, you know, I made the statement a couple of shows ago that it's not just James Hart. I felt like the Clippers shouldn't have done anything. No, you have found a groove with the group that you had. Russell Westbrook was getting comfortable in his scan plan, plan under T. Lewin, plan with those guys. He was giving you everything that you needed for that group to, you know, kind of give themselves an opportunity to continue on one of the top teams in the West and then you throw James Hart in that mix. And it's kind of like starting over. You know what I mean? When you add a guy like that to the mix, you got to start over everything that you put in in training camp. The system that you put in going into the season, all of those things have to be rewritten. And so what we're watching is a team that's basically going through the rigors of getting to know each other, getting to know how they're going to play and what groups work, you know. And so it's early. We're about a week and a half into this. Seems like it was like, I mean, to go back to it, I thought this was their year with the team they had. Oh man, that hurts. You know what I'm saying? This was their year. And they kind of, you know, stunt their growth by adding another star caliber player who needs that attention also. So, you know, like I said, they were just working through some things that had happened. They had injuries, haven't had the whole team and everybody's healthy and then bam. Look, we're making adjustments for it and why we're sitting here, right? We're watching games and we're saying, well, now we see that this is going to work. We see what that's going to work. They get paid millions and millions of dollars to do the same thing. And so I see this team making adjustments to start having some success. Well, you mentioned the whole sort of they're starting over kind of thing. Harden said I didn't have a training camp or preseason, some kind of learning on the fly. I mean, first of all, who faulted that? But secondly, is it that simple? Like, he is the system, right? That's what he told us. Shouldn't this just plug in then? No, Michelle, this takes time. We're not plugging in a role player. We're plugging in a former MVP. We're plugging in a guy who's usually 1A, 1B on the teams that he's played on. There's going to be an adjustment period. And mind you, he's going to a team that has three guys that have been 1A and 1B. And so they're working through a lot of adversity right now. I would like to see this team get a win and start rolling so we can stop talking about it. Please, man, please. Seriously, although for what we do, this is actually, it's great. It works. Keep going. Don't win a game ever. Shoms... Unless we have another fight. Actually, yeah, we can have a fight. Oh, fight and a loss. We can talk about the fight. I know, we started with two fights. Shoms, look, you're the Clippers right now. Put yourself in their shoes. What would you do? I think you just have to rip the Band-Aid off. You're going right now with Russell Westbrook, James Harden, your starting lineup. You clearly are trying to figure out how to allow both those guys to split ball handling duties. They want to start both, but I think you have to decide who do you want your main ball handler to be to start games, to finish games. You brought in James Harden. They brought in James Harden to ultimately, after 10, 15 games, they wanted to see how this would go, but he was supposed to be their main ball handler. They wanted a point guard for the last several years. They wanted a guy like James Harden. They gave up two first round picks for him, second round picks for him. They gave up a lot to go get James Harden. He's on a $35 million deal. Russell Westbrook is on a, what, $34 million deal. So in terms of how much they gave up to get him, how much the salaries are, they're invested. There's a lot more equity in James Harden seeing him succeed. And yeah, I think James Harden is playing better. He's getting stronger. You can see he's getting some rhythm. But listen, the proof is also in the numbers. The splits between Russell Westbrook when he's on the court versus James Harden being on the court. So this is going to be a tough decision for Tai Lu. I think one thing, you know, I'm curious, Lu and Rudy's perspective on is if they do continue to try to make it work with these two, how much will this team suffer? I think it's going to be tough, man. Listen, at this point, somebody has to come off the bench. That's obvious. Even if you start all of those guys, I say you go into a system where you work on early subs. Maybe you start all four of those guys and you get one of them out of there three, four minutes into the game to kind of catty corner the minutes to give you a balance of who's going to run the second group and who's going to run those first groups going into the second quarter. You know, who's going to lead that second group going into the halftime. So I think you go into a system like that. You don't play the four guys with so many minutes at one point. You get somebody out of there early. When I was playing, when I was on that basketball team, PG was usually the first guy to be subbed. He would usually come out at the seven, eight minute mark. Kawa will play longer stretches of minutes and then top of the second quarter, PG would come in and play on the second group with myself and T-man and all of those guys. And so I can see them kind of going into something like that. Start all four of these guys with somebody's feelings. Somebody has to be self-quick though. You can't play these guys six, seven stretch six, seven minute stretches at a time. Why are you guys so sensitive? Men are so sensitive. Who cares if you start? It's how you finish. That's what we keep asking. That's what I keep hearing. Well, honestly, it's bottom line. You know, your minutes, your production, all of that reflects in your salary. And so I think... But I saw it like on the Laker side because the other day, like Austin Reeves came off the bench and then Darvin Ham made a point to sort of tell the media like we had a whole conversation. His minutes have not changed at all. James Hart. So it's all ego and resume at this point. He's not Russell Westbrook. No. We're talking about guys who've championed organizations. Right. Put organizations on their backs. Put teams on their backs. Have been the best players in the entire league. We're not talking about a guy that's maybe going to be the second or third option on the basketball team. And so the scenarios are different. The expectation levels are different. Yeah. I don't envy Tai Lu at all in this one. Shams, scoop time from you. And I kind of love where we're going last week. You reported that we could possibly see the big three in Phoenix finally all together. What do you have for us? Tonight they will finally debut. Devon Booker is cleared to play tonight. He's been missing... He's missed the last five games with a calf injury. He's over the lot. He's at ankle. He's at foot. He's at toe. Then he had the calf strain. But now he is cleared to go tonight. And that means Devon Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, their big three is finally going to be in the lineup tonight against the Timberwolves, who are going to be on a back-to-back after beating the Warriors last night. But for the Sons, this finally can start the process. They're four and six. This can finally begin. They want to see how this team looks with those three on the court. They had a game in Detroit during preseason. When those three guys played, you saw how well, how dynamic, and how lethal that offense can be. We haven't seen it yet this year, obviously. But this is going to be our first look tonight. And this is Sons team that wants to use the next 10 to 12 games to really see what they have in this build. And Brad Beal, he's been dealing with a back issue. He's been playing through it. He's been getting treatment around the clock. And so just his status, book status, and Kevin Durant has been the healthiest of all of them. But he's had a big responsibility. So all three guys in the lineup for the first time tonight. Why does it feel like this superstar lineup won't be an issue? Just seems like an issue. I mean, granted, it's only three versus four and five. Because we haven't seen them yet. So we don't know. Do you foresee anything, any drama, any lower expectations? It's going to be hard to call. I'm excited to watch this game tonight. I'm excited to see how these guys operate together on the court. You have three ball-dominated guys, three scorned guys. It's going to be tough to call before we see them play. You don't know until you know. And so I think one of the advantages that this team has had, they've been able to watch the Clippers in there. They're struggling. They've been able to sit at home and see, hey, we can't go down this road. We have to sacrifice. We got to figure this thing out. And I think you also have different personalities on that group. You know, I think you have a Bradley Bill who's played next to a John Wall, who kind of understands D-Book. And Kevin, they've had some time spent together already. And so I think the scenarios are slightly different. But we'll see what happens. Yeah, I agree. I think you have a Kevin Durant who's already, you know, had his MVPs, had his championships. You have a Devin Booker who's hungry. KDR already said this is Devin's team. And I think you have a Bradley Bill that is ready to win, you know, was stuck in Washington for a couple of years. I think it's a totally different situation. With the Clippers, you have guys that are trying to prove themselves again or rebuild their image or whatever it is on the court. But, you know, this team, I think, you know, they have other issues other than those three guys. I think you need to figure out who's going to, you know, who's going to be the playmaker, who's going to do this. And I think the game has changed. You could score enough points nowadays. But, you know, you have other issues other than, you know, just that. I mean, this is one of those teams that whoever has it, that day can just go. And I think they all understand that. It's a nice luxury to have. The news out of Chicago, it's just, it's not fun. This is not fun to watch. Nobody likes it. And the Zach Levine moving, rumors are starting pretty early this time around. Shoms, what do you have for that? Michelle, teams have started to discuss deals with the Bulls have started to probe on Zach Levine, his availability. I'm told, finally, for the first time, there's openness on both sides from Levine's perspective, the Bulls perspective on trying to find a deal. And teams that are expected to have a level of interest. The Lakers, the Sixers and the Heat from what I'm told. So there's going to be teams that are going to inquire. This is a guy that's in the second season of a five year, $215 million deal. So this is a massive contract for whatever team wants to take them on. But they're four and seven right now. They played against Orlando at home. But this is a team that has struggled the last two years. They've tried to figure out ways to make it work with DeMar DeRozan, with Zach Levine, with Nikola Busovic. The struggle for them has been not having a point guard. Lonzo Baldwin, he was in the lineup. They're fighting for the number one seed a couple of, you know, three years ago, two years ago. They're a team that's fighting for the play-in. And so there's uncertainty around Levine. There's uncertainty around DeRozan. He's in the expiring year of his deal as well. So there's likely going to be, whether it's Levine, whether it's DeRozan, I think teams around the league expect at least one guy to be moved before the deadline in February. Man, I'm old enough to remember when that logo meant something. And here we are. Okay guys, Rudy, I'm going to start with you. Which team needs him the most? You will put me on the spot. Of course I'm going to put you on the spot. I'm going to put you on the spot before, right? Lou, you join in? Okay. I mean, you mentioned the Lakers, the he and the Sixers. Yeah. Do any of those three stand out? Okay. So I'm looking from a, you know, from a different perspective. Like if I'm... Take your player hat off, man. Okay. No, no. Speak freely, man. I'm talking friends. He's the guy we both, we both know and love. DeMar, right? Do your thing. If I'm him, I'm thinking about which team, which team they... What were we talking about, Zack? Okay. What were we talking about, Zack? We don't care about that. Am I speaking... We'll just put him anywhere. Am I speaking for him or where he wants to go or where he should go? Where would he be best? Where would you like to see him? So my GM hat you want me to put on. Yeah. Put your GM hat on. I'd say Philly. GM Rudy. Really? This is him. I'd say Philly because, you know, I think you can plug both of them in. You have a big man who can protect a lot of the mess ups because we don't know as a defender, you know, not saying he can't, but, you know, he... Whatever. I like... Listen, I like... I like Zack with the Sixers, but also we got to stick to our guns, right? That team has found... That team has found good quality. That's throwing me off a little bit. Somebody's got to wake up. But I like him with the Sixers, but that team has found a groove. And so, very much like the Clippers, do you want to disrupt that? Wow. By bringing in another guy. And so, for me, my opinion would be, I like this... I like him with the Lakers. He gives them that third marquee guy that can... That can champion the group when AD takes those long stretches where he's on the bench and when LeBron is not going to play and he's taking those stretches, he's on the bench. You put... You put him out there with Austin Reeves, put him out there with Dilo. You give yourself a great opportunity to have a good balance of guys that can... That can kind of really get that team over the hump. And so, I like him with the Lakers. I mean, I think all of these teams pretty much got it figured out, though. I mean, they might not have the record to reflect it right now, but they all pretty much know who they are. You know what I'm saying? So like, whether the Sixers... All of these teams, I feel as though we'll be playing late in the postseason. Yeah. They'll be going. They'll all be better situations. They'll all be better situations than where he's at. So, I mean, like for me, I think the best fit would be the Sixers. I think, obviously, he has to understand that his role is probably going to diminish a little bit if he wants to win. But, you know, I mean, we've been through it and we've seen this. Is he ready to do less? Is that the reason why they're not the way they are now? So, you know, it's a lot that comes with that. And, you know, when trades happen, you got to do a lot of self-reflection. It's necessary at this point, man. That's a little weird. Listen, especially if he's... If he and the front office are talking about trade opportunities and trying to get him somewhere where he fits, it's time to break it up. I think you sell everything. I mean, players only meeting after the first game. I think the writing was on the wall for this. Just blow up the whole thing. Everybody get a fresh start. Not Chicago, man. It bums me out. It's not right. It should be amazing every year. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, a San Antonio reunion, it really makes the heart warm up. Danny Green joins the show. Danny! It's a shirt on early in the morning. That's right, three-time champ, 15-year vet, Danny Green joins us today. Good morning, sir. This is a nice feeling. Good morning, good morning. Look at this. Yeah. Warm and cuddly. I appreciate you guys having me. I love this. We are actually starting with a little bit of news from the night. I thought it worked part of the basketball that was played last night. But you know what? There was a headlock. A headlock from behind. You have to talk about it. The Draymond Rudy Gaubert moment. What did you think when you saw it? And how long is he getting suspended for? You're asking my thoughts? Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Because I feel like players have a different perspective of this moment. Yeah. I mean, RJ had a funny take last night saying Draymond was the peacemaker. Jokingly. But I think my reaction was the same as everybody else's watching the two of us. It was absolutely obnoxious. It was kind of crazy. You know, Rudy's not a guy that's trying to get in there and fight. He's kind of like trying to de-escalate the situation and break it up. Draymond comes in with a flying headlock. I don't know what the suspension will be. I think they're going to try to make an example. I think they're going to try to make an example. And hopefully it's not too many games, man. Because I'd rather see him on the floor than off the floor. And they need him more than, you know. This shot. They don't. But this is crazy. That's frameable. That's frameable. That's going in the game room. Oh, man. The other topic. He's just getting choked out. What do I do? It's embarrassing. It's just such a bad moment. Like it's caught forever. And it's never going away. Rudy Gobert has got a few of those. Never forget COVID. The heart and trade. But like, that's the other thing we talk about a lot. And that affected you as well. Because after the trade, you were waived by the Sixers. Do you know that's coming? How do you hear about that? I actually got the call in the middle of the night by Dow. But I think the way things were going, I could kind of see there was going to be a change. You know, first game I came in, I was in the top seven rotation, playing decent amount of minutes. Second game, very little minutes in the third game. I was, you know, rested. But I think they kind of knew some movement was going to happen. And so Dow, he, you know, respectfully called me first before it leaked out. I guess the trade got leaked, but nobody knew who it was for. And he called me. My agent was still sleeping. It was like 2 30 in the morning. And I was unpacking my things as I just moved into my new place just a few days beforehand. So yeah, I found out about it through a phone call by Darren Moran. No, Danny, you know, they always say it's business as usual when these type of things happen. And you know, if you stick around long enough, you're going to have your fair share of experiences. How hard is it for you to not take these things personally and keep moving? Now I'm used to it. So at this point, you know, as a young kid, as a young Hooper, when you're in your first, you know, five to seven years, you get attached to a city, you get attached to organization. When you get older, you know the business. You see so many guys come and go. I've been fortunate and very blessed to be a part of this league and this organization, this association for 14 years. You know, this has been year 15 for me. You guys have had long careers as well. And, you know, we take it for granted. I think this summer kind of, I wouldn't say open my eyes, but I appreciate it a lot more, you know, when the phone is not ringing as much and hopefully said, we get an opportunity, me and Rudy as well, because I know Lou, I think you're done. You think you said you were hanging it up to get another chance to slide. Yeah, hopefully. Danny, I ain't broke a sweat in months, bro. I'm done. You still in shape though. You still in shape. So hopefully, you know, things change. We get an opportunity to get back in there and show that what we can do and, you know, keep doing this thing for a couple more years. But, you know, I'm extremely blessed. I'm very fortunate. And so in my last couple of years, I know it's part of the business. I don't take it personally at all. I'm used to it at this point. Yeah, I didn't notice. I didn't see any posters or anything calling Darryl Maury a liar. So I wasn't sure how your feelings were. The whole thing. I understand Darryl. Do you have, I mean, look, I get that it's business is business, but everyone's human at the end of the day. How do you not feel animosity? So I try to stay looking at the positives. I'm a glass half full type of a guy, you know, I got an opportunity. I got a chance to play. I'm healthy. But it's that I understand Darryl. I try to look at things from every perspective, every angle. Obviously, human nature is to look at what you're not getting and how somebody did you wrong. But also, you know, so for me, I look at the opportunity, the chance he gave me and the fact that, you know, maybe I'll have a chance to circle back and play with Philly again. So we'll see, you know, the book, the story is not over. The chapter isn't done. But yeah, I understand how his mind operates and how he's built the rapport in a relationship with me over the years. But I know how GM's work. You know, if you understand that, you can't take it personally. You know how businesses, you know how numbers are, you know how the taxes and how, you know, owners are and people are trying to save money. So you can't take it personally when it comes down to those things. This kind of goes for all of you guys, by the way, when you leave a team, you get traded from a team or you're waived, whatever it might be, do you root against that team at all? Is there a period of time? Because like, I will sell that. When I leave a network, I hope it fails miserably as soon as I leave. I'll just be honest. I think it's the same for all of us, I think. Yes. And unless you feel like... You've been a real political daddy. I thought you was done. I thought you was done. I'm not afraid. I've been doing this long enough to not hurt you. I'm okay with hurting some people's feelings. But I will say this, I'm not rooting against Philly right now. I'm still watching those guys. I root for my friends on the team that I left. Right. I still want to see them do well. The team itself, you don't want to see them do well. And unless you leave on a really good note, Toronto, I left on a really good note, LA, I left on a pretty good note, but still you kind of, you watch how they play and you don't hope they do so great that you're gone. But with Philly, I said, I'm still rooting for them because I think there's an opportunity for me to end up back there hopefully in the near future. Okay, so that's why. That's okay. Smart. Smart man. Smart man. Obviously we played together. You know, three-time NBA champion, obviously. I've been lucky, man. I've been fortunate. My man, Danny, doing big things in this league, you know what I'm saying? Trying to get like you, Rudy. Like, okay. So, you know, I know what you can bring to a team. You know, what kind of situation are you looking for? Obviously, being later in your career, a lot of things are either, you know, either, you know. For sure. I think we all, me, you, Lou, when we got older in our years, we were looking for, obviously, a place where we can make an impact. A place where we can help and be a, you know, important piece of the puzzle of making a championship run. But you want to be on a contender, of course. You want to look for a situation that a team has a chance, at least a playoff team, because you want to be playing in the later months of the season and playing for something meaningful. So, I think most of the older guys in their careers have made their money, have gotten their contracts. You just want to win and you want to have an impact, and not just off the court, but on the court. And that doesn't mean you have to play 30 minutes. But if you're going to be impactful, you know, 15 to 25 minutes, you know, 20 minutes will be great. And Bill, to also coach and be a part of something special is something that most older guys are looking for. Just to add to that, man, you know, going through shoot-arounds and practices, you should get your ass whooped. That's not something we look forward to, you know what I mean? Shoot-arounds get hard, man. You know, man. They just get annoying. They just get annoying. You're doing shoot-arounds for that many years, man. It's like, man, this is pointless. We don't need to be up for this. We can go watch this through film. For us, we can watch and learn through film. The younger guys actually need to walk through it. So, yeah, we get annoyed by shoot-arounds for sure. So that's a no for a San Antonio reunion. That's what I'm saying. No, it's not a no. It's not a no. I'm open to all reunions, honestly. At this point, I think it would be great for me to have a San Antonio reunion before I leave out. But you never know where it's going to take you. Look, you had a front row seat to some of the James Harden drama. From the outside, for those of us who are just sort of watching, we think, oh my God, it must be sort of dramatic in there. What is it like? But when you're there, what does that feel like? Is it nothing? I laugh because I also went through the Ben Simmons situation. And compared to that, this was nowhere near dramatic. Oh, wow. And there was a lot more going on, media attention, a lot more attention, a lot more hostility, a lot more of drama going in the behind the scenes and in front of the cameras as well in the media. So James, he was the ultimate professional man. He did his job. He worked on himself. That's one thing about James. He's going to make sure his body is ready. He's going to make sure he's in shape, even though he may not be playing. He was doing reps in practice. He was doing walkthroughs. He may not have been in the scrimmages. He did in one scrimmage. He played very well. And I was on his team. And he's part of reason why I kind of made the team. I played well on his team. Made me look good. But he did his job. He didn't distract the team. He didn't try to do things in the media. He came in and helped the young guys, worked out with Tyrese and said the other situation with Ben was a little different. So this one was not distraction at all. And it wasn't bad in any form. The Sixers seem to be thriving. I'm not saying it's because of him not being there, but maybe it is. What do you think? Is it sort of an addition by subtraction for them? I think because they had the same group together for the last couple of years, they had a lot of communication. And also Nick Nurse, he's a breath of fresh air. He's implementing some different things. Joelle is playing very well. Tyrese has got the ball in his hands a little more. Tobias is able to get more opportunity and more shots. I think they're meshing well. And they had those three guys here for a couple of years with some other group, some of the guys you can plug in that have some familiarity with them and with Nick. Like myself, I had a good familiarity. But with those guys, they're just ahead of, in this part of the season, the teams that are winning are the teams that have more chemistry and more familiarity. Like the other teams are still trying to figure out. So they just have the advantage because they're ahead of schedule with teams of knowing each other better. And those guys are playing well. MVP caliber numbers also are obviously numbers for Tyrese and Joelle. But Tobias has been very efficient. And you've got Kelly Ubre, who's been out the last couple of games because he got hit by a car. But before that, he was out in 20. Dante Milton, last night he had 30. So they have a lot of guys that can be very impactful in many different ways on that team. On the flip side of that, the Clippers are 0-5 since the trade. Since Adam's... He's waiting for it. He's waiting for it. He could wait. He could wait. He can't wait for that. But it's not working right now. Does that surprise you? No. I know you guys, I heard you guys speaking about it earlier. You're saying it's too early to tell. It is early, but it's not too early to tell. I think any basketball head knew that this was not a great working situation. And any average fan on the outside looking in knew that this was going to be hard to fix or hard to put together. Because you have four superstars. Four superstar ego guys and four superstar guys on the court that can play very well. And that doesn't mesh too well. And they all kind of play in similar positions. And I may sound biased, but you need role players, man. You need role players on that team. You need role players that make things mesh. When you have four guys like that playing at the same time and you said split up the minutes, eventually they're going to have to share the court for a bulk of the minutes in the game. So it's going to be hard where those guys need the ball and need a rhythm. It's harder for Kawhi to get a rhythm. It's harder for PG to get a rhythm when James has the ball and Russ has the ball. And they're all splitting time with the basketball. There's only one basketball. It's harder for those guys to get a rhythm. And on the defense event, you know, those guys haven't been the lead, the charge of the defense event on the floor in some years. You know, they've had other guys like a PJ Tucker or Pat Bev to be able to lead the charge and orchestrate and quarterback the defense. Now it's like, all right, we can't get a rhythm in offense and defensively. We together have to find ways to get everybody to be on the same page and play defense. It's just a tough situation that I think most people knew was not going to work smoothly. And it's going to take a lot of time for it if it ever does. The great debate around here has been Russell Westbrook or James Harden coming off the bench. Do you think James should be a starter on this team or should he be the guy that's going to come off? I agree with you. One of them has to sit. I think because Russ has done it before, it's going to be easier for him to do it. I think James is a former six-man of the year. Yeah, that was his rookie year. That was like his first two years in the league. That was 10 years ago. You know, so for him, it's going to be tough, especially I'm not saying he has a big ego, but he definitely has the top 75. They're all top 75 players. But for them having to come off the bench, I think you may lose him. So I think it has to be Russ to do it. So mentally, you want the guys to be locked in and him to be in the rhythm. And he's still a great player, average 22 and 11 last year. And he's very capable. And last night he had a pretty good game efficiently. It's just tough with said Sharon, splitting time with the basketball in your hands with three other guys and not be able to play point guard the way he normally has in Philly. So yeah, I think it has to be the guy that's mentally ready and has done it before, which said Russ was there last year, come off the bench. You've got three rings, Spurs, Raptors, Lakers. You know it's coming. Why do you love the Spurs ring so much more than the other two? Truly. I can't say I love them so much more. I know you're a big Spurs. Come on, Danny. Because it's your first one. It's like you're first born. Not saying that there's favorites in the family, but you only have a special feeling for that first one. And I do enjoy my Toronto ring very much so. I love the city of Toronto and Canada. They show so much love. I do love LA and I love that ring, but that was a bubble ring. We didn't chance to have a parade, so it's not as special as the others. It's the toughest one mentally. Thank you for saying that, Danny. Great. Let's just get to the bubble. Thank you for saying that, Danny. Listen, with the bubble situation. DG, listen. I recently went viral. Yes, you did. And I got a lot of flag from the Laker faithful because I said pre-bubble, I felt like the Clippers we had the best opportunity when that championship we were rolling. We were starting to get our grief going. And then the bubble hit. And you guys were able to pull it off. And I also mentioned, I said, listen, a lot of people aren't going to respect this ring because it's new territory. We don't know what the bubble is. A lot of people didn't know what we went through in that bubble. I think only one team had a positive experience and it was you guys because it was only one thing to leave the bubble with. And you guys left with it. And besides that, I felt like everybody else had a shitty experience. What was your experience like? Even though we won, it was still a tough experience. Mentally, physically too. But it was a tough experience emotionally. It wasn't easy. It only made it worth it because we won. And I agree with you to that extent. I know you guys went through it rough and a lot of people can go back. And it was tougher. You have to be fully committed as a group. And if your group was not fully committed and said you had guys, I think some people had some passings in the family and some guys had to leave the bubble a couple of different times or injuries or came into the bubble late. So I already know it. So we saw it happening. It was only a matter of time because we knew you guys weren't fully in it. But you know, for everybody, I think it was as a very heavy emotional and mental experience to be in a space. Even though it was a nice experience, they made it as best they could. They gave us some of the best food they could possibly give us. But being there for 100 days. They gave us the best food they could possibly give us was what he said. They gave us the best that they could possibly give. But even if they give you the best steak to have the same steak for 100 days, you're going to get tired of it. It doesn't matter what the food is. But I completely agree with Danny though. In order for you to be successful in that environment, you have to be fully committed. And that was the only point that I was making. We weren't fully committed. I never made excuses for how I went. None of that. We just weren't. It was a struggle to get us there to begin with. So going into it with them. It was us in Miami. Miami wasn't a top seed again. That's why they made it to the finals. They were fully committed. You could tell Jimmy had his coffee, didn't shave his face or cut his hair for the whole three months that he was in there. And that's why they made it to the finals, even not being a top seed. It was us and Miami that are fully committed once we decided to go in. And I'm going to take credit from other teams, but it was tough. I knew we saw Clippers. We saw you guys kind of in and out, double dutching the bubble. Trying to find a way to commit. And it just wasn't there for you guys. First of all, we're all waiting on the Louisville dock about the bubble. It's going to be awesome winning. Listen, Danny, I've always said somebody needs to make a documentary about it. It has so many elements that people couldn't fathom. Like you wake up and LeBron is riding around on a bike. It is like Jimmy's making coffee, Kawai's making tacos. It was so many different aspects to the bubble that people didn't have. You need to tap in with the guys that made the videos. I think Javel McGee was doing like a YouTube channel. He did a lot of good footage. So I thought he would have done it at one point, but you got to tap in with the guys that actually videoed kind of daily and journal daily what they did. Because I said, I'm looking forward to this documentary because I was waiting for somebody to actually bring it to the forefront and actually talk about everybody's kind of experience of what was going on in there. And I thought somebody would have done it already, but I'm glad you're doing it. Not to be dramatic, but there was a lot of trauma and a lot of different experiences that a lot of guys in our positions never went through. I just, I genuinely think guys are just don't want to talk about it. I agree, man. And you're not being dramatic. It was, I think for the world, the traumatic experience with COVID shut down. Nobody thought that would happen. Right. But for us as athletes, we're so spoiled. We're used to being chartered, traveling charter and getting, you know, first class experience. And we still got first class experience in there. It was just, it was a different environment. And I said, people were experiencing things differently. And I spoke about this once before, not many times, but when I was in the bubble toward the end of it, you know, I started getting vertical. And I didn't know what the hell it was. But I could see a lot of people kind of going through that mentally. And it was so, so weird when you're getting out of it. You feel like you upside down? I didn't know what it was either. But yeah, when you feel like you're drunk, basically, you're livid as well. So you can throw up. You can do a lot. It's bad. Really? Yeah, it's not a fun thing. I didn't have it bad, luckily. I had it very late, but I put my sock on and actually I just fell over. I was like, what? I was just dizzy. So I kind of like being drunk, Rudy. Like, not fun. But yeah, but not fun. But it's worse than some people. I didn't have a heavy dose of it. It was very small, but I could tell like, damn, I need to get out of this bubble. And when you finally get home, it's just an awkward air. You're like, oh, I can breathe again. It's like you all did time. And then you come back out. I was like, we're so weird. We had a term. It was, it was rich guy Jill. No. Yeah. For sure. For sure. When you get home, you're not used to driving cars. It was weird. I didn't know how to drive a car. Yeah. Seen. Seen. Seen. Seen. Seen. I drove back to Atlanta. Because you couldn't wait? In my sprinter. And I really was having an out of body experience. I was like, wow, cows, wow, cars, wow, people. We had a saying too, like what our games was yard. That's when we got off the, that's always our time. It makes us. I've become the poster boy of the bubble. Yeah, you have. You're the bubble guy. Again, I've had so many different experiences. And I know a lot of guys really went through a lot. In that bubble. And again, it was only one thing you could leave with. And that was the championship. And so nobody else had a positive experience besides the Lakers because they left with a ring. And it made it worthwhile. Other than that, everybody else left with a bunch of bad memories. Wait, I got to ask you, Danny, because I have Lakers fans that are friends. And every time they'd be like, oh, we just won a championship. I'm like, man, it's the bubble. And so I mocked them. I'll get criticized for saying that. Well, yeah, but you played. I'm just me. Do your friends, dudes, anybody give you a hard time about that? No, I think they know what I was going through mentally, emotionally and physically in that bubble. And I think Lou is just new to the panel space. When you're new to the panel space, I think Michelle, you used to get in the slack from people on Twitter and Instagram. It's a different type of heat when you're playing and it's different type of heat when you're speaking on people. And you say something about somebody's favorite player and they're on your head. And on Twitter, like, damn, what's going on? Like, it's just new to us. Forgetting heat. Michelle's gotten heat for it before too. But none of my friends have given me any slack for it. They understood what I was going through and they appreciate it. And, you know, some people look at it differently, but a championship people, 20 years from now, people are not going to remember, you know, as a bubble. Lakers won a championship. 20, 70, that's all they're going to remember. And that was what's important to us. And I said, I'll take it. And I'm, you know, counts. Yeah, we would have taken it. It counts for me. It counts. Danny, this has been awesome. We appreciate the time so much. We hope to see you out on a court sometime soon. And best of luck. All right, bro. Good luck, my boy. Appreciate you, fellas. Thanks, man. It was a pleasure. Real pleasure. Thank you guys. I'm going to bother you forever to make this documentary of the dark side of the bubble. Like, get on it. Get funding. Let's go. Rudy, you're not retired. So what's the deal? I don't know. I'm in shape. I've been working out. So, you know, it's waiting for the right opportunity. I'm not retired at all. But, you know, I'm here. Are there any wrong opportunities? I don't know. I want to say anything. Now, Danny came on that set. He's open to anything. So what I look like. So I can't really speak candidly anymore. Well, if you were Chandler, you would list off all the cities that you would refuse to live in. So you've got that going for you. I've lived in some bad cities. Chandler is a small market settler. He just hates Memphis. And OKC. And OKC. He hates Memphis? He's his least favorite one. Come on, man. Memphis is his least favorite one. Yeah. We get him in trouble when he's not even here. I think that's like sign of a good teammate. Come on, Chandler. Come on, man. Yeah. So you would be open and willing. Yeah. I mean, kind of like what Danny said. I mean, I think we're in the same kind of projection. Yeah. Like, you know, obviously, you know, getting up and. No shoot around. Shoot around and doing all that stuff. No shoot around. It has to mean something at the end of the year. That's fair. You know. Well, that's it for our Wednesday. We'll be back tomorrow. I'll be back. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Run it back. Run it back. Yeah. Run it up. Run it back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.