Mark Cuban and Lil Wayne Twitter Spat + Ernestine Interview Fallout
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This is the Skip Bayless Show, episode 20. This, as always, is the Un-Undisputed. This is everything I cannot share with you during a two and a half hour go for the throat debate show known as Undisputed. In a few minutes on this show, I will provide you the outrageously wild backstory of

behind Lil Wayne versus Mark Cuban versus Luka Doncic. It's a wild one. Stay tuned for this. I've got it all. But first up today, I have a very unusual not to be skipped because today's opening salvo features your questions about what went down on last week's podcast, episode 19, and

My wife, Ernestine, as you probably know by now, joined me for the entire hour. I'm not sure I have recovered just yet, but the reactions to her opinions, not to mine, but to her opinions have been nationally nuclear. Nationally nuclear reactions to her opinions, not mine.

I finally lost a debate on television. In fact, I lost just about every debate in last week's show to Ernestine. I must admit, a star was born and it wasn't me, it was her. My better half took over the show. She dominated, she owned, and she was honestly way better than I was on last week's show. And I was honestly very happy for her.

But in the end, I think I'm in danger of becoming just Ernestine's husband, that guy who used to be Skip Bayless. So now to kick this episode 20 off, I've got to go to your follow-up questions about my wife, Ernestine. Let's start with Martin from Chicago.

"How are things in the Bayless house "following Ernestine's appearance?" Oh, that's an interesting question because they're different. I gotta tell you, I had the greatest week with my wife I've had in knowing her for 17 years. She was flying the whole week because the reaction was so shockingly positive from social media, from media, from fans, from friends.

And for me, I was blown away by Ernestine's hour that she spent with me. Pleasantly so, because she had done two short segments, live TV on Undisputed, two, I don't know, eight to ten minute segments. And she'd been very good. But I'm thinking, a whole hour? Can she sustain? Yeah. Could she? Could she ever? She took the show over for an entire hour. So, how...

The point is, as I reflect back on it, that hour for me was like couples therapy for an hour minus the shrink and the fee because I think we learned a lot about each other and all for the better. I think we got better as a couple. I think we got happier as a couple. I think we shared some things that we've never shared before right before your very eyes and ears. So,

Just to retrace the steps, we finished here. We tape around 11 a.m. L.A. time here at the Fox Studios, West L.A. But the episode, as you probably know, does not drop until the following morning, which would be Wednesday. We tape Tuesday for Wednesday. I'm sorry, Wednesday for Thursday. I'll get it right. We tape Wednesday for Thursday. And in the interim, we're

because she had driven to the Fox studios in a separate car. We drove home one behind the other. And she knows that I don't love to talk about my shows on Undisputed because I always tell her, if she says, how'd it go? I don't know. I don't have any idea. Some days I think I was pretty good. And some days, most days I don't.

But I don't watch shows back. I don't want to critique. I've told you before, I don't want to turn into an actor. Oh, I should have grimaced there. I should have chuckled. No, I should have rolled my eyes. I don't know what I do. I just do. I just be me. And if nothing else, what I love the most about my wife Ernestine, she is as real as it gets. And she and I were as real as it could get for that whole hour in episode 19.

But she didn't say much when we got home because she knew I was wiped out. Wednesday is my two-a-day day. It's Undisputed that rolls right into crazy prep for the podcast. And here I go. And when it's over, because I don't sleep much Tuesday night going into Wednesday, usually about four hours, got a game to watch, got a game to prep for, Undisputed to prep for.

I was pretty well shot and spent, so she let me be. I napped for about an hour, got up. I always lift weights on Wednesdays when I get back and get back in the saddle. And I was lifting weights as the game started that evening, and she wandered in and said, "So, how do you think it went?" And I turned the question back on her. "How do you think it went?" She said, "I thought it went pretty well." And I flat out told her, "I thought you were great because I did."

I told her that I was so proud of her and that her late great mother would have been even prouder. Evelyn, I know you're watching up there somewhere. Your daughter knocked it dead. And I'm speaking straight from my heart because I wasn't sure if she could hang with the hour. And she convinced me once again, and I'm speaking straight from the heart, she's a flat out natural on television. She has...

No background, no experience, no training, natural. And I've told her again and again before, "I think you should do your own podcast." She's got friends who have offered, and I don't know, a live podcast, pop culture podcast, something besides sports because as we made it clear, I didn't choose her for sports. I chose her because of her, because of her spark, her charisma.

At the end of the podcast, we were asked a question about describe the other in three words. I'll get to her response in just a few minutes, but mine was unsinkable, charismatic dynamo. That's her. She's a handful. Her temper can be as quick and even worse than mine. We fight, we battle, sometimes we almost end it, but I think what came across to you was

which was a thousand percent true, is how deeply we love each other. We're misfits from opposite ends of the earth. She born Jewish and Italian through her father's side, New York City, me from Oklahoma City. And we connected and we clicked and we work because we're just so opposite. But I didn't choose her for sports because I need an escape from sports every once in a while. And yet she

One thing led to another, and as the national nuclear reaction began to unfold, of course, the next question to me was, hey, maybe you could have me back on this coming week's podcast for part two. And I said, yeah, it's a great idea, except what are we going to talk about now? Because I do a sports podcast and sports.

it's not just loosely based on sports, it's all about sports. It's way deep inside sports. That's who I am. That's what I do for a living. That's what I've always done. That's my passion in life." And she said, "Well, we could just figure it out." No, we can't figure it out. So that is continuing to be negotiated going forward, which is the definition of marriage in our household. And yet,

Day two of National Nuclear Reaction brought a call from a producer in New York City who wants to do a reality show with me and Ernestine. And my reaction was, about what? We're not that interesting at home. I'm obsessed with my job. I'm too intense. She's a saint for putting up with me. She said, well, that's the point.

okay, well, I don't know if I have time to do a reality show because I barely have enough time to do Undisputed, let alone prep for this podcast. And she said, well, they're hot to trot. And I said, okay, let it fly, pursue it. So that's on the books. And as she announced last week in episode 19, a network has already bought the story of our lives together, which is detailed in a book called

called Balls that we showed again last week. It's been out for three years. The basic premise is how she figured out how to coexist with a sports-obsessed husband, made it work, and it's a pretty funny book. I do recommend it, even though I did write a chapter for it, and it got bought by a network called the GAC Network, which is now competing with

with the Hallmark Channel. So congratulations to her for that. Yet, the coup de grace for Ernestine was, after she heard so much from so many of her friends that we just ooze connection and charisma and chemistry, that all of a sudden, the New York Post, of all papers, did a big blowout on Ernestine's reaction to a question about what she thinks of LeBron James. And

It culminated with a couple days back, this big blowout story became the cover of the New York Post digital production. And it blew her away because she grew up in and around New York City reading the New York Post. And once again, she wished against all wishes that her mother could be alive to see that.

But it was something, and I'll read you a couple of quick parts from it. If you watched or listened to the podcast, you'll know them. But it starts out talking about how Ernstine says, I don't bring up LeBron at home because I'm afraid to. That's a little bit of an exaggeration because she doesn't need to be afraid to. We've never talked about LeBron at home because I don't bring sports home. And she went on to say,

I like LeBron. I'm sorry. I'm going to admit it, but I do like LeBron James. I think that he's done wonderful things for being a role model. Okay, I'm fine with that. I've said a thousand times on TV, I think he's a very nice guy. In a basketball sense, too nice of a guy. She continued on last week's episode 19. I don't have hatred. I saw him walking on Central Park South one day and I was going to say hi, but I thought,

He was going to punch me if I told him who I was. Not going to happen, but okay. It was funny. So she said, I just looked at him from afar and I was like, wow, he's very tall. Yeah, he's 6'9". Other than that, she said, I don't have a problem with him. I think he's a nice man. I would like to meet him and say hello. He could call me. He could say hello. I don't care. I like him. She's defying me to my face on my podcast.

Okay, the post goes on to say, Bayless didn't argue with his wife's opinion and said, okay, fair enough. Well, she's my wife and I was trying to be nice and not just crush her on my own show. But the post goes on to say, he did, however, interject a few times during his wife's explanation to note that James curses a lot. Well, he does curse a lot. Among other sly remarks, said the post of me. So what was happening here was,

In this story, it worked for Ernestine because she was the hero and I was the heel. I was the villain here. In fact, the second paragraph says Bayless, who has basically made a career out of bashing James as an analyst with ESPN and now Fox, well, made a career? No, I haven't made a career. I

It's like, did I make a career out of praising Michael Jordan or defending the Dallas Cowboys or rooting for the Dallas Cowboys? Or I could go on and on and on and on and on. But that wouldn't work in this story. The story is that Skip Bayless's wife has defied him and she loves LeBron James. And I'm not sure which website did the Photoshop picture, but they took the picture of me and her off the back cover of her book and

balls, and they photoshopped LeBron's face. I think you can see it behind me right now, and she's hugging LeBron. Okay, I LOL'd. I laughed out loud. So did she. We laughed about it for two full days because, again, I'm not threatened by LeBron with my wife, and yet it did lead her finally to ask me, do you think maybe

He might call me and thank me. And I thought for a second and I said, no, he's not going to call you. Trust me, he's not going to call you. You're getting a little carried away with that. Well, want to teach your kids financial literacy, but not sure where to start? Greenlight can help. With Greenlight, parents can keep an eye on kids' spending and saving, while kids and teens use a card of their own to build money confidence. As a parent, you can send instant money transfers, set up chores, automate allowance, and more. It's a convenient way

way to run your household, customized to your family's needs, and the easy way to raise financially smart kids. Get started with Greenlight today and get your first month free at greenlight.com slash Spotify. She probably got carried away with everything that happened last week, and she should have. And I want to tell you, from the very bottom of my heart,

I'm honestly not jealous of any of this. I don't resent any of this because I do think she has star quality and I'm happy she got to display it for your eyes and your ears last week. And I do hope that she goes on and I do hope that she pursues something other than joining me on my podcast unless we decide together to do a very different podcast about life or pop culture or whatever that might be.

anything but sports. In the end, I don't talk to her about sports. I'd never talk to her about LeBron at home, even though what I love the most about her, what you have to understand about how much she's sacrificed and how much she's compromised for me, that she doesn't know or like much about sports except some NBA. And yet, trust me,

She listens to, if not watches, every single minute of two and a half hours of Undisputed every single day without fail. She knows everything that happens between me and Shannon Sharp, my partner on Undisputed, without really knowing what we're talking about or caring remotely about the sports that we're deeply talking about. That's my wife. That's how committed she is. I can say, oh, Shannon and I got mad at each other today in the

D block of the show. Yeah, I saw that. I thought it went a little too far, but I'm glad you guys sort of kissed and made up in the break because it came across in the next segment that you guys were cool with each other. So she listens carefully. She watches carefully. And she's very TV savvy because her job for years and years that I knew her in New York as a PR executive was to book celebrities, guests on morning TV shows. And she is

just a savant in telling me who will and will not work on television. And yet the irony is she never said that she would work on television and she does. So I hope she can find an outlet, YouTube, social media, some other outlet to flex that considerable muscle that she has. But I'm going to drive this home and stress that she has done so much for my career

that I need and want her now to shine as her own star. Because remember, it went so far as this, I was hoping this would come up last week, but she was raised Jewish culture, Italian sort of Catholicism, more Catholic maybe than Jewish as a child. But when we met, I attended a Methodist church in New York City and

She just willingly, she chose, she said, I'll go with you. And she went every Sunday with me, the Jewish girl from New York City, going to the Methodist church. That's my wife, Ernestine. We told you the golf story last week. Every summer when I go back to play golf with my friends in Oklahoma City on the course we grew up on, Lincoln Park, East and West, she goes, she rides 18, 27 holes, whatever it is, she rides. She'll drive the cart because she doesn't want to be apart from me for those years.

four, five, six, seven hours it would take to play golf all day. She's going, she doesn't play, but she loves to be in my company. I'll drive this home one last time. In 17 years with her, never once have I been bored. Never once have I dreaded having to spend an evening with her. I look so forward to our date night, which is Friday night, because it is everything to me. We watch our movies together, we watch Jeopardy together.

We have a weird, deep connection that in the end, I was so proud to put on display for you. Another question, Melvin from Atlanta. Is LeBron now a topic of discussion between you and Ernestine? Absolutely not. We've talked only about the reaction that she's getting about her opinions of LeBron, but...

We never talk about sports at home. I only watch sports, which drives her nuts, and she has to figure out how to navigate that. But I talk sports on the phone to Lil Wayne, to Nelly, to my best friend growing up back in Oklahoma City, Craig Humphries, a radio dynamo and legend in Oklahoma City, talk radio, and to my producer, Tyler. I talk sports to them. I tweet about sports. I text about sports.

but never to her. I mean, what am I going to do? Say, can you believe how lousy LeBron is as a three-point shooter? Can you believe LeBron is shooting only 74% from the free throw line? She doesn't know. She doesn't care. And we don't talk about it. And trust me, that will not change. Next question. This is Sam from Florida. What actors...

would you want to cast in the upcoming movie about Ernestine's book called Balls? Okay, can we go pie in the sky here? Can we go, will never happen here for her? It would have to be Sarah Jessica Parker, as you know, Sex and the City fame. Wherever we go to this day, somebody inevitably says, has anyone ever told you you look just like Sarah Jessica Parker? And she's like,

Yeah, they have. Thank you. I appreciate that. And I think she loves that. And I think that would be her dream come true if Sarah Jessica would play Ernestine Sclafani Bayless. Don't see it happening, but you never know. And for me...

it would have to be Kevin Costner. Only because for 17 years, Ernestine has told me, you look just like Kevin Costner. I'm not sure I see that, but that's what she sees. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

So I will take that to my bank. But I would like to think that maybe we're talking about the pre-Yellowstone Kevin Costner, if you know the series Yellowstone. Maybe a less grizzled Kevin Costner, a less crotchety Kevin Costner, maybe a little less weathered Kevin Costner. I would accept maybe more of a tin cup Kevin Costner.

And I still say 10 Cup weirdly is one of my all-time favorite sports movies because it just gets golf and I love golf. Now, let's switch gears. Now for the wild inside story of my brother, Lil Wayne, versus a guy I don't love, Mark Cuban, and versus a guy I'm trying to love named

Luca, as I call him, Onchich, because there's no D in Donchich because he plays very little defense. So let me start this story by telling you that I've heard most of this, really all of it, directly from Lil Wayne. But if you will, I'm going to weave in my personal commentary here because I've just never cared for Mark Cuban, and I'll tell you why in just a moment. And

I still have my reservations about Luka, but that's in part because he plays for Mark Cuban's team. So maybe I'm jaded there to start with. Or maybe it's in part because my partner, Shannon Sharp, continues to insist on calling Luka Doncic baby bird as in the next Larry Bird as in pure blasphemy because I'm sorry, I don't see that.

Larry Bird? Seriously? But don't get me started on that because I digress. This story first starts when I first got to know Wayne back in the 2007 era, and he was first living in Miami. Obviously, he's from New Orleans. And Wayne loved Dwayne Wade before LeBron got there, before he left, obviously, Cleveland for Miami. And

Yet Wayne certainly did get into what became known as the Heatles when LeBron did join forces with Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh. And all through this period, Wayne had season tickets to Heat games. But what you have to understand, it wasn't because he was a Heat fan. It was just because he was an NBA fan and he could obviously afford some of the best tickets in the house and play.

He bought them for the season so he could see every NBA team that came through Miami. Wayne loves him some NBA. But what you have to understand at heart, at core, at foundation, Lil Wayne grew up a Laker fan through and through till death do him part. As you probably also know, he has always been a Green Bay Packer fan to the bottom of his heart.

He tells the story of how his father in New Orleans went to the Brett Favre Super Bowl against the New England Patriots, Drew Bledsoe, Bill Parcells, and brought home some paraphernalia, some cup holders and various things. Green, Packer Green. Wayne was four or five years old, and it just got him. I know how it goes. It just hits you right in the heart. And he fell head over heels for the Green Bay Packers.

Same for the Purple and Gold. And same, weirdly, for the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Bruins. I have watched, last summer I watched a Boston Red Sox game with Wayne at his home here in Southern California where he has now moved, relocated. And you want to talk about psycho fan? You think I'm psycho about the Dallas Cowboys? And I am.

I am not sane, not stable, completely irrational when it comes to the Cowboys. So is Wayne when it comes to the Red Sox. It's just some game in July and he's out of his mind throwing things like I would throw things at the TV about a Cowboy game that's just, you know, it's one of only 16. This is one of 82 and Wayne's losing it over the Red Sox. They were playing the Yankees that day, so that mattered obviously way more. But you have to understand that

that Wayne and I connected because of our deep passion for sports. We love who we love. We do not play when it comes to sports because we don't blow with the heat wave wind. We're not suddenly going to get caught up and switch allegiances because that team gets hot or that team gets hot. We do not jump bandwagons. We stay where we stay.

I always get accused on television of loving hard. Well, so does Wayne. He loves hard. And our only clash has come during football season when he blindly loves the Packers. I don't have a lot of respect for his man Aaron Rodgers. I think Wayne's starting to see the light there because Shannon Sharp has seen the complete light. His eyes are completely now open to the

blame-deflecting, finger-pointing diva that is Aaron Rodgers. And I think Wayne is starting to come over to that side. But you better not mess with his Packers or he will mess with you. Same for the Lakers. It's just, it runs deep. We don't front run. We run deep.

with the team who brought us here. We dance with who brung us. We stay with who we stayed with from childhood on. I'm a Cowboy fan. He's a Laker fan. He's a Packer fan. He's Boston, Red Sox, Bruins. Till death do they part. So in those years, those early years in Miami,

Along the trail, Wayne one night was out, not that he was partying, I think he was just eating dinner, and he ran into the Maverick contingent featuring Mark Cuban, Dirk Nowitzki, and they hit it off. Again, Mark Cuban, as you know from his TV appearances and show, can just charm the socks right off you. I don't trust him. I don't really believe in him. But Wayne got a kick out of Mark Cuban because he can be extremely personable,

and fun to be around in a social setting. So they clicked, but Wayne clicked even deeper with Dirk. He really loves Dirk, got a real feel for him, and they have on occasion partied together on South Beach. And that was already there underlying the season tickets that Wayne had for the Heedles games.

Okay, so that's happening independent of any connection that he has for Dwyane Wade or for LeBron. He knew them both. He got along great with them, but he thought they understood that at heart, he's not their fan. He's a Laker fan. So you know and I know what happened fatefully in 2011, that first go-round in the finals with the heels. LeBron suffered the all-time superstar meltdown.

games four, five, and six. Chosen one became frozen one. And because of the format, which was then two, three, two, the closeout game six was actually in, aha, Miami, okay? Obviously, Dallas prevailed, LeBron failed, and when it ended, Cuban and Dirk insisted that Wayne join them

at an after party, a victory party at Wayne's favorite place on South Beach, on Miami Beach, which is the nightclub called Live, L-I-V, in the Fountain Blue Hotel. And it's like a basketball court away from where Wayne lives. It's walking distance, not that he would walk, but you could if you wanted to. So Wayne spent a lot of time at Live. It was very easy for Wayne to pop over to Live

And Mark Cuban bought outlive for the whole night. So Wayne could go there and be Wayne without needing a security detail because it was only Mavericks people and personnel. And he went. And so much for the heat. But did Wayne really think he was violating his bond with Dwayne and LeBron? No. He just got a kick out of Cuban.

He liked to party with Dirk. So he went and you know what happened. Photos got taken, photos got posted, photos got distributed. And all of a sudden, Wayne was condemned by Heat Nation as a traitor. You traitor. Little Benedict Arnold. Somebody had to get blamed. Somebody had to get demonized for LeBron's collapse. And I think Wayne paid for it because he became...

the focal point of Heat Nation. How dare him blame Wayne? And to this day, Wayne believes that that night at Mark Cuban's party, it damaged his relationship with

with first LeBron and second Dwyane Wade. That it's never been quite the same after that night. And I guess you can't blame either side, but it's not that it's bad. It was just never great and it was never quite the same. They just, how could they be overjoyed about him living it up at live with Cuban, Dirk, and the team that had just vanquished them. So be it. The other thing I love about little Wayne, the other connection I have with him, he's just like me in this regard.

"We do what we do. We believe what we believe. We say what we say and we don't care. I can tell you he doesn't care about what anybody thinks about what he does or says. Neither do I." So in the end, he went and it's like hell with the rest of you if you can't take a joke. I went just because it was a fun night out and I like Cuban and I like dirt. So be it. So Wayne continued to go to the Heat games for the next couple of years.

But actually into the second year, here came the Lakers for their annual once a year, obviously, visit to Miami. That was Kobe's last year, 2013. And that night at American Airlines Arena, where Wayne has seen, had, I should say, past tense, had season tickets, Kobe scored 28 points. He had six rebounds. He actually had nine assists. But LeBron poured in 32 and Dwayne scored 30. And the Heat won by 10.

And somewhere along that trail during that game, Wayne went to root for the Lakers. I think he wore a Lakers jersey, as I recall. And predictably, he got into it with Heat fans who were prone not to like him already because of the Mark Cuban party, 2011.

And one thing led to another and it got a little bit ugly. And Wayne says he was preparing to leave on his own when American Airlines security came and escorted Wayne out into the Miami night. Not to be seen again for quite a while because pretty soon little Wayne got banned from going to heat games and lost his season tickets. And it all became because of Mark Cuban. Wow. So for Mark Cuban, he ended up sacrificing his,

his season tickets to NBA games in Miami at American Airlines. Wayne still believes to this day it all started with Mark Cuban's party. Remember that detail. But before I continue, brief aside about me and Mark Cuban. I guess I don't care for the guy because he got rich quick and he bought his way into an NBA team and then he began to travel with said NBA team

And he began to act like an assistant coach for the NBA team because he had bought his way in and owned the team and he could do whatever the hell he wanted to do. This rubbed me the wrong way because at least Jerry Jones did play college football at a very high level. He was a starter at offensive guard for the University of Arkansas, a team that that year won the national championship. You got to give Jerry that much. I can't give Mark Cuban any of that. There's just something about Mark Cuban personally

even as I watch him on TV, that I don't believe, I don't trust. He's had issues in his front office that I won't go into deeply. But lo and behold, as I was doing the show I started with on ESPN, obviously, First Take, 2012 was the first time we ever went on the road to an NBA Finals, me and Stephen A. Smith.

And in those days, we did not have the capacity to have a live audience. So we did the shows wherever we could do them by ourselves. Did the first day show from the Oklahoma City Thunders visiting locker room. And then we do one from a bar in Oklahoma City. We did one from the hotel lobby in Oklahoma City.

And we went to Miami and we would do the shows from ESPN Deportes offices. We would set up with no fans and it would just be us with our moderator, Jay Crawford. A very quiet affair, but we would have occasional guests on. And lo and behold, before game five, when it looked like LeBron was about to break through and win his first ring, I was apprised that night that

just ahead of game five that the bookers at ESPN had booked Mark Cuban for the following day's show on first take. This is pretty early in the game for me. I did not have the power I eventually had in sort of producing first take myself. And once I was told Mark Cuban had been booked, he was booked. Arrangements had been made. Nobody ran it past me. And my first reaction was, what if LeBron wins his first ring?

First take was just a two-hour show. I think it still is. We're two and a half hours here, obviously starting a half hour ahead of them here on FS1. But I'm thinking nobody's going to care about Mark Cuban tomorrow if LeBron wins his first ring. We need to go wall-to-wall LeBron James. And of course, right on cue, LeBron won his first ring and said, as you might recall, live on ABC National TV, it's about damn time. And it was.

swept by the Spurs, melted down against Dallas, and he broke through against those baby Thunder from Oklahoma City who did feature obviously Durant and Westbrook and Harden, all them babies in their first finals. And he took them to school and he was the finals MVP and it was his day and his time. And we were stuck with Mark Cuban, whom I was predisposed not to like in the first place.

So what does Mark Cuban do? Well, he comes on. He'd taken a couple shots at me already. I'd taken none at him. I didn't care. But he came on and began to detail how in the previous year's 2011 finals that the Dallas Mavericks had brilliantly defended LeBron James. And I'm like, just stop it. You know and I know that LeBron defended himself.

LeBron self-destructed. It wasn't anything that Dallas did. It was what LeBron didn't do in the 2011 finals. He just froze up. The moment was too big for him. Simple as that. So it was hard to fight back because the last thing I wanted to do on LeBron's big day, his breakthrough day, was to blast him on first take and say, "No."

He just choked. Well, I don't want to say that. So I soft pedaled with Mark Cuban. I didn't fight back the way you've seen me fight back again and again and again and again with various athletes, coaches, whoever we've had on who has issues with me. I love to fight on TV. And once again, it was somewhat similar to what I detailed for you a couple of weeks back about my Richard Sherman interview.

My hands were tied, maybe not the way the Richard Sherman hands were tied. Those were both hands tied behind my back because first take was on probation that day and we were almost to the end of our probation, only a day away from going on vacation as a successfully probated show, if you will. But in this case,

It was just out of bounds. It was over the edge for me to fight back about how LeBron had collapsed the year before. It's the wrong place, wrong time. And Mark was booked fairly early in the show. So it really seemed out of place, out of line, out of time. And Stephen A thought so also. So we sort of humored Mark and we pretty quickly whisked him on his way. And of course, I got crushed on the Internet, as I always do.

that Mark Cuban took me to school, ran over me on live national TV, and if you want to believe that, please believe that, but also know that soon after that,

I challenged Mark Cuban to come on again, any place, anywhere, anytime, under very different circumstances where it could just be me versus him with no LeBron hovering over us. No LeBron wins his first ring. Let's just go, just the two of us, where we could set it up that way because this came out of left field on a day in which it did not belong. So,

I'm sure Cuban was flying high the rest of that day, and that's fine. But the bottom line, the punchline to this for me is I never heard back from Mark Cuban. Numerous times, even here on FS1, I have challenged Mark to come on. Never heard a peep. I've asked our bookers here, as I ask those at ESPN, please connect with him. Please get him on. Let's just have a whole show dedicated just to me versus Mark Cuban.

Not a peep, not a response, not surprised. Now back to Wayne. One emotion that my man Wayne has that's even stronger than his Laker love is his very deep connection with Chris Paul, CP3. From the days that they shared together in Wayne's hometown of New Orleans, in Chris's rookie year, they lived near each other in the same complex, apartment complex,

And Wayne was just coming up in the world, as was Chris, who basically took that New Orleans team on his back and quickly carried them into the playoffs and scared the you-know-what out of my San Antonio Spurs, took them to seven games in his first playoff run. He was a pit bull of a handful for the Spurs to deal with in those days. And they really, Wayne and Chris, clicked, bonded deeply,

and they are definitely brother-brother in their connections.

Reporting live from under my blanket, I'm Susan Curtis with Dunkin' at Home. Breaking news! Pumpkin spice iced and hot coffees are back. I'll pass it to Mr. Curtis with his blanket for the full story. That is so right, Susan. You know, it's never too early to get in a spicy mood. I'm talking cinnamony goodness that's so tasty, people don't want to leave their blankets either. Back to you. No, back to you. All you. The home with Dunkin' Pumpkin Spice is where you want to be. So...

as we all know, now came recently the Mavericks versus Phoenix Suns series. And here came Luka. And there went Wayne's emotions completely over the edge. His CP3 loving emotions in the first couple of games just ran away with him. And Wayne has one benefit I don't have. I have to be very careful about don't hit send when my emotions bubble over, boil over.

Wayne can get away with things I can't get away with. So at one point, early in the Maverick Sun series, Wayne had enough of Luca and he tweeted, as you probably remember, forgive my language if you must, Luca aho, that's it. Luca aho, seven pretty simple letters. Luca aho, he is? Really? So when I saw that,

I immediately texted Wayne. I said, what's up with this? And he said, look, maybe I got a little carried away, but what I'm trying to say is I just get sick and tired of all the pouting and the flopping and the sarcastic laughing, all the extracurricular that is Luca.

just finally got Wayne and he just couldn't control himself. And he said, I just want him to play basketball. Obviously he can play, but just stop it with all the other stuff. And the simplest, most direct way to say it for Wayne in a tweet was in seven letters, Luca, ho. And I got it. I'm not sure a lot of people did. I'm not sure Mark Cuban got it. I'm definitely not sure Luca got it.

But Wayne was exactly right in his explanation of what he was trying to say in those seven letters in that one tweet. That's exactly how it comes across to me is just play basketball, man. I mean, trots up the court laughing, chuckling. I don't know. There's a lot of extracurricular going on there that he gets away with that he shouldn't be able to get away with.

But that's just me. I'm old school. Wayne is very old school in the way he views his sports. There is a way to play and there's a way not to play. Just play. Chris Paul pretty much just plays basketball. There's some extracurricular cheap shotting going on, but in the end, he just plays. So when all of a sudden Game 7 was about to happen back in Phoenix...

After Luke had lost three games in Phoenix by an average of almost 20 points, but won three games in Dallas, and all of a sudden here we went to game seven, I immediately texted Wayne. I said, your man CP3 needs you in Phoenix for game seven. He texted right back. I just texted a friend in Dallas that very same thing. I got to go. He does need me. And Wayne went for game seven. And Chris always gets him the best seats. Courtside.

And this time, Wayne decided to take his son, Cam. Cam is 12 years of age. Looks like he's 16. He's a good-looking kid. He's going to be something Cam is. And they went together for game seven. And for once, for the first time ever, Wayne didn't help Chris. He definitely helped him the previous year, you recall, last year.

The game six closeout game against the Clippers I loved that year at what was then Staples. Remember that game? Wayne was there, courtside, and Chris Paul had a rebirth. It's like he went Benjamin Button. It's like he suddenly went 23 years old, and he wasn't just point God, as he's called. He was to God that night, and in the last quarter,

Three minutes of the third quarter and all the fourth quarter, he scored 27 points, much of it from long range. He scored 41 for the whole game. 41! He made seven of eight three-point shots. He literally shot the Clippers right out of their own building. And remember my man Patrick Beverly, Pat Bev? He got so angry, so frustrated that with about five minutes left in the game, completely out of hand.

He got a running start and remember he shoved Chris right in the back, just whiplashed him, got ejected, obviously got fined, got him right up and out of the Clippers because Jerry West doesn't play that. Jerry West now overseeing the Clippers and that was the end of Pat Bev as a Clipper as we knew and loved him. And yet we saw flashes of point God to God

CP3, we'd seen it against New Orleans in the previous round, scored 33, made 14 out of 14 shots. He had a big game two at home against the Dallas Mavericks in the next round. But then I don't know what happened. Suddenly Cliff Paul turned into, I'm sorry, Chris Paul turned into Cliff Paul. Cliff Paul from the old State Farm ads.

His twin brother who can't play basketball. Suddenly, I don't know what happened. Chris couldn't play. It was Cliff playing. Chris Paul averaged nine points a game over the last five games of that series. And he was a no-show in game seven. Even Wayne couldn't save him. It wasn't that he couldn't shoot. He just wouldn't shoot. His shooting percentages were fine over those five games. He made eight out of 16 threes. That's pretty good. 50%. He just wouldn't shoot them.

He averaged only three attempts a game over the last five. He just, I don't know what happened. Couldn't, wouldn't shoot. Done deal over and out. And of course, Mark Cuban could not help himself. I think the real Mark Cuban came out. Wayne disagrees, but as you probably know, Mark Cuban the following day posted a picture of Wayne in the front row in Phoenix at game seven.

with lyrics from Wayne's song back in 2018, Uproar. Again, pardon my French, but I'm going to read it from Mark Cuban. Wayne's lyrics right back in his face. It's a shit show. Put your front row. Hashtag MFFL. Maverick fan for life, said Mark Cuban. And Wayne, trust me, was not happy. In fact, Wayne didn't know

about what Mark Cuban had posted until I texted him only to ask him, would you, Mr. Carter, like to come on Undisputed with me and Shannon tomorrow to respond to said post from Mark Cuban? Wayne said, hold the phone. Let me check this out. And he did. And he was not happy. And what really set off Wayne was the fact that

and you fathers will appreciate this, your mothers too, but the posted picture had his son Cam in the picture. And somehow that really hit Wayne the wrong way because it was almost like Cam got caught in the crossfire between him and Cuban and he got dragged into something that he didn't deserve to be in the middle of and Wayne went off.

Wayne immediately texted me, "I can't come on Undisputed because my language would not be TV friendly." And I get that and that was the truth. But then he should have slept on it, maybe observed my 24 hour rule, but Wayne couldn't help himself. And he fired back via Twitter @markcuban, pardon the language again, but I'm going to read it from Lil Wayne via Twitter. "Mark Cuban, don't make me get you smack boy.

You playing with me? I will piss in you, F-K-N, in you F-K-N mouth, hoe. It's another thing about Lil Wayne. He can be your best friend or your worst enemy. He does not play. And yet, ready for this?

Guess who called Wayne to apologize and make nice? I believe it was the next day, but it could have been two days later. I'm not exactly sure the timeframe of this, but within 48 hours, guess who? Mark Cuban called to apologize and to make nice. Mark Cuban invited Wayne to the following Saturday night's game two of the next round of the conference finals at Golden State.

One reason Wayne accepted was to appease his son, Cam, who is a huge Steph Curry fan, huge. And so it worked to say, hey, how would you like to go with me to Golden State to see Steph, where you're sort of killing two birds with one stone? You can make peace with Mark Cuban while Cam gets to see up close and personal Steph. And what a night that was for Steph to see him live. So Wayne accepted. Wayne went.

But Wayne also heard along the same trail that Luca was also trying to get in touch with him about the hoe tweet. That Luca also wanted to sort of clear the air and make nice with him, make some peace with him. And Wayne was pretty touched by that because then on top of that, Wayne's main man, Mac, his right-hand man,

happened to inform him that, hey, we had a concert scheduled a couple of months back in Dallas that got postponed. And he said, I didn't tell you this, but Luca's people reached out to me before that concert that did get postponed, winning the best seats for Luca at Wayne's concert. And then Wayne was really torn up and touched because he said, hey, is it possible he grew up in Slovenia, a Lil Wayne fan? Yeah, it's very possible. And yeah, I

I'm pretty sure that Luca did grow up a Wayne fan because all indications are he wanted to connect with Wayne. So Wayne felt terrible and he said, well, I told Mac, his right-hand man, if you just told me this before, I wouldn't have hit send on the Luca Ho tweet. Wayne was truly touched by this and hoped that

that he could connect with Wayne after Game 2 last Saturday night up in San Francisco. But of course, the Mavericks were leading by, what was it, 15 and a half, and they fell apart in the second half, and it was the wrong place, wrong time to try to connect that night with Luka. But in the end, I believe that Luka and Wayne will connect. I believe they'll become friends. I believe that Wayne and Cuban, whom he saw at Game 2, are now cool again.

So it went from ho and I will piss in your mouth to all shockingly well that ended well. And this is where Wayne is much better man than I am because I got to tell you, if that had transpired between me and Cuban, I don't think I would have been so quick to forgive and forget. Okay, hang on one second. Let's take one last quick question.

from you. This is from Shane from New York. Oh, I'm sorry. I skipped this one before. Let me let me just go back to this one. Then we'll close with this one. Is creature of habit your new nickname? Well, just so you know, harking back to Ernstine on last week's podcast, we were both asked to describe each other in three words. And she said, well, that's easy. Creature of habit. Boom. She got me. She nailed me. She skewered me in three words. Creature of habit. But no,

I'll divulge this and leave you with this. It's not my new nickname. Weird but true fact, she does have a nickname for me, but she only uses it when she really, really likes me, which isn't all that often. You ready for this? She calls me Pokey. How did that start? Well, she first moved into my apartment with me in New York, I don't know, 2007-ish. And I sleep so little during the week that...

Friday night, I usually last until maybe 10ish and then I go to sleep and I'll sleep for 12 straight hours until 10 a.m. And there are many of those Friday to Saturday nights, 12 hours where I don't even get up to pee. That's how dead asleep I get. But when I do wake up, I'm a little groggy. I'm a little slow. Takes me a while to stretch because I'm going to hit the treadmill and go.

and she started calling me slowpoke because she's revved up, ready to go because this is gonna be our day together, maybe just an afternoon 'cause I'll have a game to watch at night. She's rip roaring to go and I'm slowpoke which suddenly transformed into pokey. So when she likes me, she calls me pokey and trust me, last week, my wife called me pokey four or five times because she was having the best week of her life

Because my wife owned me on my very own podcast. I love you, Ernestine. I love you to death. That is it for episode 20. I want to thank you for listening and or watching. I want to thank Jonathan Berger and his all pro team for making this show go. I want to thank Tyler Corn for producing.

And I ask you to remember, Undisputed is every single weekday, 9.30 to noon Eastern Time. And the Skip Bayless Show is every week.