Russell Westbrook's Tweet to Skip
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Here we go. This is the Skip Bayless Show, episode 25. This is everything I cannot share with you during a two and a half hour go for the throat debate show called Undisputed. On today's show,

I will fire back at Russell Westbrook and at his wife. I will fire back at all those LeBron lovers, those LeBron lunatics out there who are now trying to destroy my guy Kevin Durant. I will fire back at Draymond Green again. I will also give you

the weird backstory to a spontaneous sports debate that broke out between me and my wife, Ernestine, the other night at Lil Wayne's house. Stay tuned for that. And per a request from one of our dedicated listeners/viewers, I will review all the non-sports that Ernestine and I watched over our recent vacation week from movies to streaming series.

But first up, as always, it is not to be skipped. This time punctuated by a flashback involving me and Chris Bosh. Here we go. I'm sorry, but enough is finally enough. This time, I'm not just going to sit back and shrug and roll my eyes and confine my reaction to another private vent with my wife Ernestine. Not this time. Enough.

This time, I'm not going to let Russell Westbrook and his wife turn Russ back into a victim and me back into a villain. This time, I'm not going to let Russ and his wife achieve some unwarranted sympathy at my expense. The first time Nina Westbrook took me to task on Twitter for using the nickname that I think I originated, Westbrick,

I just took it. I tweeted that I appreciated her defending her man and her family name, but I'm sorry, Mrs. Westbrook, not this time. So, the night of the NBA draft recently, after the Lakers acquired a second-round pick and took Max Christie out of Michigan State, I checked and I realized that Max Christie shot 32% from three last year, and I tweeted, great, he'll fit right in with LeBron and Westbrook. Hmm.

I could have gone Lubrick and Westbrook, but I've been giving LeBron a little bit of a break because his free throw shooting percentages have risen over the last four years from 67%, all-time pathetic, to 69%, to 70%, and last season to 76%, which is still pretty pathetic.

for the quote unquote "goat" for any sort of superstar. But because of that free throw percentage that night as I tweeted, I laid off LeBron being LeBrick. Yeah, the next day, Russell Westbrook responded to me on Twitter, "Yo," with about, I don't know, 12 O's, "Watch your mouth," he tweeted at me. "Don't say anything here you wouldn't say to my face." Okay, I'll get to that in a moment.

Then here came Mrs. Westbrook again tweeting at me and I quote, it is very disheartening that you would continue to shame my family name. Today was a really sad day for my daughters and me. The fact that you can't respect a simple request not to try to tarnish my family name is saddening and such a pile on. It's extremely hurtful.

tweeted Mrs. Westbrook at me. This time, I did not respond to Mrs. Westbrook, but I did to Mr. Westbrook. I tweeted back at Russ. Hey, Russell Westbrook, happy to talk face-to-face about the nickname I believe I originated in 2012. All caps, I tweeted. Join me on TV slash podcast.

Let's talk about how you'll make $47 million next year after being, all caps, the worst three-point shooter in the NBA. By the way, parenthetically, Russ finished at 29.6% from three. The statistically worst three-point shooter in all of basketball last season. Now I continue in my tweet. Most overpaid player ever?

Please join me, all caps, period, end of tweet. That tweet detonated by far the most reaction of any tweet ever. And I've been on Twitter since May of 2009. Any of my tweets ever, the most reaction. That tweet did 14.3 million impressions. That pretty much doubled my previous record for impressions.

So I'm pretty sure that tweet hit a nerve, though I can't be sure whether it was a positive or a negative nerve or a combination of both. My wife Ernestine monitors all my reaction on social media and she said that for once, just about everyone seems to be on your side for once. The truth is, I don't care who's on my side, pro or con, as long as I believe I am speaking the truth.

And in this case, I was so convinced I was speaking the truth that I can't really, to this moment, see how anyone couldn't be on my side about what I tweeted at Russell Westbrook. I am pretty sure I was the first to call him West Brick. I've told this story before, but I started criticizing Russell Westbrook back in 2012, in his days in Oklahoma City, my hometown,

because I love me some Kevin Durant. Loved him back to his days at a school I despise, Texas, when I predicted Kevin Durant would win multiple NBA scoring titles, which he has. But the more I criticized Westbrook, the more I set off, weirdly, my man KD, who finally called over a reporter from the Daily Oklahoman, now called just the Oklahoman, paper I grew up reading,

And he blasted me to the reporter, wanting the reporter to write that I don't know shit about basketball. Said the guy I was defending against a Russell Westbrook who was actually starting to take more shots per game than my guy Kevin Durant. Tore me up. He's just wrong.

I think I know a lot about basketball, and I think that was just flat out wrong. And Kevin knew it was wrong because Kevin eventually left Oklahoma City because he decided or finally realized that after eight years, he would never win a championship with Russell Westbrook as his primary decision maker and point guard. Your turn or my turn, Kevin? I think it's my turn again. He's a 30% three-point shooter. How could it be his turn?

He's Russell Westbrook. Look, the point here is, if I had a penny, just a penny, for every time Russell Westbrook has been called Westbrook by fans, media critics, or I'll even bet fellow players and coaches and executives behind closed doors away from Russell Westbrook, if I had a penny for every time, I just might have more money right now than LeBron James does. You know and I know that is the truth.

And look, in the end, bottom line, Russell Westbrook is an extremely highly paid entertainer and criticism is obviously an occasional occupational hazard. Singers, actors, entertainers, they get blasted by critics right and left. Yet the term Westbrook isn't a personal shot. It's not a cheap shot.

of any kind. It's not an insult. It's not a slur. It's just a bullseye of a shot at Westbrook's jump shot, which all too often, as we all know, hits the rim or the backboard like a brick. Westbrook, the worst three-point shooter in basketball last year, the fourth worst free throw shooter in basketball last year, had to lead the league in air balls last year. I don't know if anybody keeps that stat. I don't have it.

Had to lead the league in bunnies missed at the rim. He could even shoot air balls from six inches away. I've never seen anything like it. Worst hands in basketball. Russell Westbrooks led the league in turnovers most of the year until the last three games when he finally sacked. Westbrooks were everywhere. It got so bad that every day on Undisputed, I'd come in and have them make up a Russell Westbrook

turnover or miss shot blooper reel. And they put clown music underneath it because it was just flat out, sadly comical. Westbrook fit. It's fit since 2012. I don't know anybody in all my years of covering the NBA who shoots more bricks than Westbrook. So in my many years in this business, and I'm in the entertainment business also,

I've used, I've created, I've come up with lots of nicknames to more cleverly and succinctly criticize athletes. A nickname can be worth a thousand words. You can say so much with so little with a nickname. Some of my favorites off the top of my head. Back in, what was it, 2003, the Ravens drafted a quarterback in the first round, 19th overall, Kyle Bowler.

who just flat out couldn't play. I started calling him, Kyle, I should have been a bowler because he should have been a bowler. Another quarterback I had little to no use for, Joe Flacco became Joe Fluco. He was great in the postseason, but regular season, Fluco. I'll hark back to my days covering Barry Bonds in the Bay Area. He was supposed to be protected in the lineup by a cleanup hitter named Jeff Kent.

who became, to me, Jeff Kant. There was me, myself, and Iverson wrote a piece about Allen for GQ recently, making peace, coming to grips with just how great he was. I don't know, maybe my all-time favorite is my friend Terrell Owens, who became team obliterator because he obliterated three teams that I covered or knew about, was carefully connected, closely connected with.

the 49ers, then the Eagles, then my Dallas Cowboys. And then there was Bosh Spice. This one occurred on March the 8th of 2011, as I flash back. This was LeBron's first year in Miami, and that night at home, the Heedles, as they were called, as opposed to the Beatles, the Heedles lost for the sixth time in seven games.

This was a Tuesday night. They lost by nine at home to Portland, despite 38 from Dwayne Wade and 31 and 11 rebounds from LeBron James. That night, the focal point, the flashpoint of that loss, and really of the entire Kedles tailspin that they were experiencing, was one Chris Bosh. The third wheel of that big three would come from Toronto,

where he'd made five straight All-Star teams. Previous year had averaged 24 points and 11 rebounds. And that night, Chris Bosh played 40 minutes for the Heetals, and he wound up with a grand total of seven points and four rebounds. Seven and four for a guy who had just averaged the year before 24 and 11. Four rebounds at six feet, 11 inches tall.

Chris Bosh obviously was not carrying his third of the weight and he Twitter was merciless on him that night. Merciless because he was just playing so soft and that's when the nickname hit me out of the blue. I'm sitting at my keyboard watching and typing and I thought this man is playing like Bosh Spice. Boom! I just decided to type it. Bosh Spice. Send.

And that nickname caught fire and that nickname caught on because in the moment it really worked. It really fit. It was spot on as in dead on. Was it a little too personal? A little bit over the edge? A little bit out of bounds? Maybe? A little too cruel? Probably. But did it fit? Yep. In the moment it fit.

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So, the Heat, as you know, did make it to the finals that first year together. And they went up two games to one on Dallas, in Dallas. And they proceeded to lose three in a row. And it was not Chris Bosh's fault.

It was LeBron's epic meltdown. Chris Bosh actually played pretty well in that finals, averaged 19-7. I'm pretty sure not once during that finals did I use Bosh Spice as a Twitter nickname or on the air on Ben's first take. Not sure about that, but I don't remember that I did because the truth was he wouldn't let me. He didn't deserve it.

He played too well. Heck, in the first round that year against Philadelphia, it was a five-gamer. Chris Bosh averaged 20-9. Okay? If you perform, I'm out. You certainly don't deserve any Bosh Spice reference, right? When you're averaging 20-9? 7-4? Yes. 20-9? No. So, the Heat did lose, but the next fall came a request into first take.

that Chris Bosh wanted to come to Bristol, Connecticut. And he wanted to face me and join me on air on First Take to talk about the nickname and other things. But he wanted to first talk about my use of that nickname. And I welcomed that. I gained a lot of respect for Chris Bosh that day. On air, he was very passionate in talking about how much his family deeply resented the use of that nickname.

But as we went back and forth, Chris Bosh was ever the gentleman at heart, at backbone. He is a gentle man and a gentleman. He stood strong for himself, but he did so with class, with dignity, and with a quiet inner strength. And I basically told him, "Hey, if you've left your potential, I'll never use that nickname again."

And Chris continued to play up to his potential. And obviously, the next year, that year, 2012, the Heedles broke through, LeBron broke through, and they won the championship. And the point is, I never used Bosh Spice again. And the point is, I came to know Chris Bosh a little better. I think he came to know me a lot better. And now we are cool. And we have had him, Shannon Sharp and I have had him,

sit with us a couple of times on Undisputed in studio here at FS1 in LA where he now resides, I believe, and where we enjoy having him on the air. And we don't talk about Bosh Spice or nicknames. We just talk hoops because we are cool. I'm sorry, but it got so bad last year at Staples slash The Crypt. It got so bad at Laker home games.

that fans were screaming, "No!" as Russ thought about shooting. "No!" The worst shooter, the turnover blooper reels, the airball blooper reels, the worst hands, all-time embarrassment. Has there ever been a more fitting nickname than Westbrook? And what really gets me is I've been using that nickname, as has so many other people have other people,

since 2012, since 2012, that why seize upon one second round Twitter reference now? Where did that come from? Well, I'll give you my two cents. It's another desperate reach for sympathy. It worked the first time they reached for it. I think they got it. Poor Russ. How can Skip Bayless do that to Westbrook?

I've been doing it to him just the way everybody's been doing it to him for what seems like forever, except it's escalated through the years. He hasn't gotten better at shooting threes or free throws. He's gotten worse and worse and worse. And again, you can call Bosh Spice a little bit of a personal shot, but you can't call Westbrook a personal shot. I'm not shaming anybody's family.

It's not about an intangible, about not being a tough guy. It's about the most basic basketball component, shooting the basketball. He shoots, he bricks, he's Westbrook. I'm sorry, but Russell Westbrook has become untradeable. He's going to make $47 million because LeBron screwed up. LeBron campaigned along with AD, Anthony Davis campaigned.

to bring him aboard for $44 million and $47 million. You got to commit to it. I'm sorry, Mrs. Westbrook, but your husband has become the single most overpaid player in the history of the National Basketball Association. Anybody who carefully watched him last year knows that at $47 million, he's laughably, sadly overpaid. All-time overpaid.

as a creation of the most misleading stat in the history of basketball, the triple-double. Russ obviously figured out, going back six years ago, "Hey, if I start dropping off balls at the rim, I bring two defenders, I drop balls off for Steven Adams, he dunks it, I get an assist."

Nobody plays harder on the offensive end than Russ, so boy, he will scramble, he will scratch, he will claw for rebounds, and he gets them, and he averaged more than 10 rebounds. That's phenomenal, but it doesn't contribute to W's or L's, the one loss record, if you're turning it over five times a game. If you're shooting 29.7% from three, and all of a sudden you're shooting under 15%,

70% from the free throw line, you're going to lose. You're canceling out all those misleading triple-double stats with all the ones that really matter. $47 million? Who would want that except maybe what's left of my Spurs? I think they're going to tank next year. They got rid of DeJounte Murray, their best player at age 25. Obviously, they traded him for draft picks and an expiring contract for them and

The Gallinari's probably wind up in Boston. Yeah, maybe they would take on $47 million, use Russ as some kind of weird sideshow, AT&T Center next year, and then dump him. Is Russell Westbrook even going to have a job in this league after next season? I don't know because I can't see it.

This man's childhood dream, he lived and died for his Lakers out here in Southern California as a kid. It became his worst nightmare. He got exposed on the biggest stage he's ever played on with the biggest expectations. I actually feel sorry for Russell Westbrook. I do. Think about what happened to him. LeBron vouched for him. LeBron campaigned for him. And then he arrives in L.A., back home in L.A.,

to the opening of a documentary by gotham chopra nothing but respect for gotham he's all over the local commercials on the laker broadcast and he's got some national commercials and he makes the top 75 all time the nba's top 75 and he clearly does not belong yet he still believes he's a superstar and the world has deluded him into believing that he still is and now genie bus

has hired Darvin Ham, mandated, commissioned Darvin Ham to fix Russ. I'm stuck with paying him $47 million. Fix him! By God. Russ proudly showed up at Darvin Ham's opening media session, strutting his stuff in the background. There's no LeBron there. There's no AD there. But Russ was there thinking, "I'm back. I'm back to being Russ."

And I do know that Russ gives back to the community and I respect that, but I know it one way because he constantly posts about it. He does have one TV commercial I see often about giving back to the community and it ends up being a Hennessy ad. A Hennessy ad. What? So do I trust Russ's character the way I came to trust what Chris Bosh is made of? I don't know. I'm a little dubious.

Am I going to allow Russ and his wife to create more sympathy that they don't deserve? No, I'm not. I'm sorry. But hey, would I ever love to go face-to-face with Russell Westbrook right here on this podcast or on Undisputed if it came to that on live TV? I would discuss every last thing I have discussed over the last few minutes on this podcast face-to-face with you, Russell Westbrook.

You can bring your wife if you like. We can go man to man, man to woman, however you want to do it. I'm great with it. We can do it just the way Chris Bosh and I did it once upon a time in Bristol, Connecticut. Am I shaming your family name, Russell Westbrook, or are you? Let's take a question from you out in the audience. How about Mateo from Chicago? Question is, how did you ever call Kevin Durant the best player on the planet? Hmm.

Mateo, because he was. He was for the last five years, whether you liked it or not. And if you look about what appears to be happening to next year's NBA odds to win it all, the odds makers are telling you that Kevin Durant is still the best player on the planet because if he stays in Brooklyn, which I would prefer to see happen with Kyrie and with Ben Simmons, just watch.

Brooklyn will once again be favored to win it all. And if Kevin gets his wish and goes to Phoenix, just watch, Mateo. The Phoenix Suns will immediately vault to the top as the favorites to win it all. They're already vaulting with the news that Kevin's wish list has Phoenix at the top. You know why? Because he's still a nuclear weapon. And there's nobody else like him, even still, in basketball.

Mateo, methinks that you are a LeBron lover, maybe a LeBron lunatic. You're one of the billions of blind witnesses out there who have now seized upon Kevin Durant's failure against Boston in the first round of the playoffs and have now seized upon his get-me-out-of-here trade request to say, see, he's not the best player on the planet. Parentheses, he's not LeBron James.

I'm not going to allow this to happen either. I'm not going to allow Russ to do that to me. I'm not going to allow you, billions of blind witnesses, to do this to my man Kevin Durant. I criticized him for what didn't happen against Boston in the first round of the playoffs. I blasted him as Kevin DuCant. But I'm not going to let you get away with this, with destroying Kevin Durant's legacy

to try to re-elevate and re-credit LeBron as somehow the best player on the planet. He hasn't been for five long years. You know it and I know it. But you've had to sit there and quietly swallow it to wallow in it because you knew what had happened. Kevin Durant went to LeBron's house in 2017 and 2018 in the finals in Game 3s and destroyed LeBron.

in the Kings Castle in Cleveland, Ohio. Destroyed him and became the MVP of back-to-back finals and became the best player on the planet. And now, you think you have your opening and you don't. I got hit right between the eyes with this phenomenon.

this past Monday, my first day back from vacation on Undisputed, and I really wasn't quite ready for it. I got it right between the eyes from my debate partner across the table, Les Shannon Sharp. He was out of his mind to open the show. He reads Twitter, I don't. I'm sure he was being encouraged by billions of blind witnesses out there to get him, as in get me, as in get KD. I mean, Shannon, in our opening block, our A block as we call it,

He lost his mind. He was all but flop sweating. Sweating, as he says, like a Baptist minister. He was raising his voice to such levels that pretty soon he was losing his voice. And by the end of the show, it was just about gone, as mine might be by the end of this topic. He was driving home the point, was LaShannon Sharp, that Kevin Durant is running, running, running, running from another challenge. Baloney. But then I get it with both barrels because I get it

from my brother Lil Wayne, who will not hesitate to blast me when he thinks it's apropos. And he thought that morning it was a bullseye. I got a text right after our A block from Lil Wayne saying that Unk, as he calls Shannon, Unk was right. And he tweeted a new nickname for my guy KD. He called him

Kevin Durant, as in Roberto Durant, if you go back far enough, boxing lore, as in no moss, as in Roberto Durant quit against Sugar Ray Leonard. And he's saying, Lil Wayne was to me, that Kevin Durant, with no T, was quitting again on yet another team. Then I heard after the show,

from my wife Ernestine that she got a voice text from Lil Wayne at the end of our A Block just going on and on about how "Unc is running over Skip. You got to go save him. You got to drive over to Fox. Pick Skip up off the floor." Voice text from Lil Wayne to my wife at home also watching the show.

I'm sorry, no, Wayne. I wasn't getting run over. It was quite the opposite. But remember, Lil Wayne is a Laker fan, which forces him to be a LeBron fan, which forces him to be anti-Kevin Durant. Again, the only reason Kevin Durant left OKC was Russell Westbrook.

And I think we all agree, Russell Westbrook got exposed last year on the Lakers stage. And I think you could all appreciate then why Kevin Durant left that nightmare in Oklahoma City. Kevin Durant camouflaged Russell Westbrook all those years in OKC. He made him look a lot better than he actually was. And then Kevin Durant took on the biggest challenge of his career, one of the biggest challenges in NBA history. He said, OK, OK.

They're begging me to come to Golden State and save them. I will. Steph Curry folded in games 5, 6, and 7 against LeBron in the 2016 Finals. You know it and I know it. I don't have time or the energy left to go over the stats again. He shrank and played even smaller than he actually is, did Steph Curry. He melted down the way LeBron did 2011 Finals against Dallas.

And then it was Steph who led that contingent all the way across country, all the way out to the tip of Long Island to recruit Kevin Durant to beg him to come save them. Now Shannon Sharp has the audacity to say that Steph has earned top 10 billing and ranking as in the 10th greatest player ever. Really? What top 10 player would ever go recruit somebody else to come save them? Well, he did. And Draymond Green says now,

there's no way we win the championship in 2017 or 2018 without kevin durant they wouldn't have and kevin knew exactly what loomed on the horizon lebron lebron was going to cakewalk through the east again and again with kyrie and kevin love and then obviously there was no kairi the second time but still cakewalk to the finals yet again and kevin said i want that i want lebron james i want to take him on

And I want to beat him in his house. And that's what Kevin Durant did. You want to talk about a challenge? You want to talk about guts? You want to talk about courage? Everybody was waiting for Kevin to fall on his face in the 2017 finals. He had to be the difference maker in that finals. And he was. He rose above Steph and Draymond and Clay. And then he rose above LeBron and Kyrie and Kevin Love. And Kevin, as you know, MVP back-to-back.

He did that. He was the difference maker. He had the clutch gene. He made the big late shots. He wrecked LeBron's legacy back to back. LeBron could be six and four in the finals. He's four and six because of Kevin Durant. Don't tell me he ran from a challenge. Stop it. He, Kevin Durant, saved Steph's legacy twice in a row. And he, Kevin Durant, got tired of Steph being the golden child of

of Dub Nation being far more beloved than Kevin knew he could ever be. And then Kevin Durant made a decision that threatened to derail his career. Couldn't have made a worse one. He followed his quote-unquote best friend Kyrie, who said, I grew up a New Jersey Nets fan. Let's go to Brooklyn. Not the Knicks. Let's not play in New York. Let's go across the bridge over to Brooklyn. Let's play for the Brooklyn Nets. KD shrugged and said, okay.

Kevin Durant is the most baffling mix of dominant and weak I have ever closely observed or encountered. He is a follower at heart, not a leader. Yet he led Golden State to back-to-back championships they would not have won without him. He led our Olympic team just last summer. He led them to the gold. There's no way they win without him.

His mere presence. When in doubt, when in trouble, get the ball to Kevin. You watched the games, didn't you? France and Australia. You saw it. You saw the gold medal game. Damian Lillard goes to the free throw line to clinch it. Brick, brick. Kevin says, no, give me the ball. Next time down the floor, give me the ball. Just inbounds it to me. I got this. You're not a good free throw shooter. He's all-time great. He did what LeBron could never do. Call for the ball.

Get fouled, obviously. March to the other end. Swish, swish, gold, gold. Kevin Durant. Remember, in 2019, it looked like he was about to lead Golden State to another championship over Kawhi and company, and he tore his Achilles. Yet he, Kevin Durant, has hidden behind burner accounts on Twitter. I don't get it. Kevin bleeping Durant does that? Kevin Durant, thin-skinned superstar I have ever closely observed. So dominant.

yet so weak. He folded against the Celtics defense. It was the best defense in basketball, but he folded in the first round, those four games. They got swept in. I blasted him, Kevin Duquette, but let's be honest, Kyrie Irving had already wrecked that team. James Harden had already quit as he did on Houston to get to Brooklyn. Then he quit on Brooklyn to get to Philadelphia. And it came clear to me

that by playoff time, Kevin Durant's heart just wasn't in it. He tweeted about this the other day. Anybody who was actually in the gym with me knows what was going on. Anybody else, go figure it out. He wasn't himself. They played football, basketball defense on him. They went at him in waves of football-style defenders, and he folded. I give you that. I said that. But the truth is,

I have only one issue with Kevin Durant right here, right now, wanting out of Brooklyn. It's clear to me, he and Kyrie have quote unquote broken up. They're not best friends anymore. So he has a reason to flee Kyrie. I don't blame him for that. But my problem is, and I'm going to say, you can call me whatever you want to call me. Grumpy old man, stick in the mud, whatever. But I just believe in contracts. Contracts are contracts. I have a contract.

A couple of years back, Stephen A wanted me to return, reunite with him at ESPN. ESPN made an offer. In my contract was a matching clause and Fox matched and I'm still here. And I go to work with all my heart and soul every day. I love working with Shannon Sharpe. It was different with Stephen A. I was open to returning if they didn't match, but I'm here and I give you every last ounce to earn the money that they pay me. It's called a contract.

Kevin Durant has four years left on a contract. Brooklyn entered into that deal with good faith. You have to observe, you have to honor contracts, you have to have a structure, you have to have some rules or you don't even have a league. The league I love, the National Basketball Association, is crumbling right before your very eyes. I don't like what I'm seeing.

James Harden, he quits his way out of one town and quits his way out of another. Back to back, bang, bang. It's terrible. It's going to kill the golden goose that has been the NBA. It's killing me. I don't like it. I don't like Kyrie saying, I don't feel like playing. I'm going to take some time off because I'm an artist.

I don't want to get vaccinated. I know everybody's getting vaccinated, but I got my reasons. I'm not going to share my reasons, but I just don't. No, hey, we all got vaccinated here because we have to, because we're on a team. And that was the best way to survive as a team and stay on the air. Kyrie wrecked that team. He tore its heart out with the decisions he kept making that were so anti-team.

It's just hard to watch. It's good soap opera fodder from day to day on Undisputed, but I'm just spilling my guts to you here. I despise it. And I think a lot of people are starting to despise it. And it's why I think the NFL is starting to separate itself again in popularity from the NBA. This stuff doesn't happen in the National Football League. America, free market economy, contracts.

Got to have them or it's chaos and it's anarchy. And I fear that's where we're heading with the NBA. And I just don't like it. School is back and Dick's Sporting Goods has what you need to win your year. We've got everything from cleats to sambas, dunks and more. Plus the hottest looks from Nike, Jordan and Adidas. Find your first day fits in store or online at Dick's.com. So I know what you're thinking. Here's Kevin Durant running from another challenge.

But what's possibly left in Brooklyn, again, if I owned and operated the team, I'd say, I'm sorry, you're going to play for us next year. And you, Kyrie, you opted in for your whatever it is, $36.7 million. You're going to play here, whether you like it or not. What's Kevin going to do? He's going on 34 years of age. He's played 15 NBA seasons, 16 total if you count the one missed with the Achilles. He's not going to sit out next year. It's too late in the game for him.

Make him stay there. Make him play. And they'll be the favorite again. Just watch. I still believe in Ben Simmons. I don't know if he believes in himself, but if he gets right physically and psychologically, you want to talk about play? He can play. He'd be the perfect fit for these guys. But here's Kevin. So he's looking around saying, what's my next challenge? Oh, I'll go to Phoenix. We saw what happened to Chris Paul. He disappeared.

Against Dallas, they're up two games to love, man. And all of a sudden, Chris Paul, over the next five games, averages nine points a game. Nine points a game? What happened? It wasn't that he missed shots. He just wouldn't shoot. So I know what Kevin's thinking. I'll go win a ring for Chris Paul. He loves Book, as in Devin Booker. I'll go help him win a ring. It's a nuclear weapon.

If he does wind up in Phoenix, they will vault right to the top. Oddsmakers will say, "Oh, you're the favorite going into next year." You know why? Because in the end, whether you blind witnesses like it or not, Kevin Durant is still the best player on the planet. You, Matteo, know it, and I certainly do. Let's take another question from the audience, shall we? How about Mickey from Woodland Hills out here in Southern California?

Were you debating yourself while on vacation last week or debating Ernestine? Funny you should ask. Weirdly, my wife and I did have one completely unplanned, spontaneous, out of the blue sports debate that got even more heated than some of the ones that I find myself in the middle of with Shannon on Undisputed. The other night, she and I went out to visit

our man Lil Wayne at his house. This time he had a lady friend there with him, so it was the four of us just talking about any and everything. We started out talking about Wayne's experience at the BET Awards, performing with Jack Harlow and then with Brandy. With Brandy? Wow! How amazing she looked, how amazing she sounded. Then somehow, I don't even know how, but we started talking about college kids

and how they're finally getting paid on top of the table as opposed to under it. And Ernestine Free Associated, as she is wont to do, she started thinking about Johnny Manziel and how he always flashed the money sign after he scored touchdowns. And he scored many at Texas A&M. And she wondered out loud, was he actually getting paid while he was at Texas A&M? She wouldn't know the school, just in college.

And I said, "Sure he was. Come on." And he was worth every penny, however much he got, because that 100,000 seat stadium that they now play in, that's the house that Johnny built. And my wife shook her head and said, "Whatever he was paid, he wasn't worth it." And then she said, "You know, I could never understand what you liked about him or Tebow." And then she tossed out, "Neither one of them was really any good. I got heated."

"What? They weren't any good? What are you talking about?" And all of a sudden Lil Wayne and Lady Friend are like, "Whoa, what just happened?" And she stood her ground and I fought back. And I said, "You realize Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy when he was a freshman." And I went into quick detail about, "You realize Tebow won the Heisman Trophy?" And then he went on to take a one and four Denver team

to the division title and a first round playoff win at home over the Pittsburgh Steelers with an overtime 80 yard touchdown pass to the late great Demarius Thomas. And she's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, okay. She couldn't fight me on the literal sportsness of the debate topic. But then she made a point that I didn't see coming. She blindsided me and she said, you know,

Neither one of them was ever nice to you. For all the support you gave both of them, neither of them was ever nice to you. And that stopped me in my tracks because on that point, my wife was actually defending me and my wife was actually right. Thibault did do two big sit-down interviews with me, one at his request, one at ours at ESPN. I was his biggest public defender.

But it was weird because even though he and I share the same faith, not once off camera did he ever ask me about my faith or about anything about my personal life, my background or nothing about me. He knew absolutely nothing about me and I would have been open to getting to know him a little bit, but I don't know. I guess he'd been taught that the media was the enemy. Now, ironically, he's in the media. But it was a little surprising to me

that he never opened up to me whatsoever. Biggest defender never opened up to me. On his side, never opened up to me. And I tried to explain, this is at Lil Wayne's house, to Ernestine, how proud I am that I remained completely objective about it because it's not like we were close personal friends. I wasn't selling out to Tim Tebow in any way, shape, or form. In fact, he was giving me the Heisman pose. He was stiff-arming me. I didn't care.

I didn't lose any sleep over it. I guess I thought it was a little weird, but I didn't dwell on it. And in the end, I guess I realized that Tebow was just like KD or Kyrie or James Harden, entitled, empowered, egomaniac. Yeah, all the above. Yeah, all that going. A lot of good to him, but all that was going on also. And then Ernstine said, you just have to realize that

Tebow ultimately was just a snot to you and so was Manziel. And she got me again because I hark back to the one time we were in San Antonio at the finals and I believe 2014, I was on first take with Stephen A. Stephen A ran into Johnny Manziel somewhere, I forget, and talked him into being a surprise guest to surprise me on a crowd show.

a show with a huge, you know, literal, not a studio, but an outside audience on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, up popped Johnny Manziel. I did not know what was coming and I got a kick out of it, but Johnny didn't seem to get any kick out of it because he was a little cool to me. He certainly wasn't warm to me and he certainly wasn't open to me. And here we went again. Yeah, I'd been his biggest public defender. That kid could...

You want to talk about a set of wheels? You want to talk about a gifted, charismatic playmaker with arm and legs? Whew! Beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa, nearly beat Alabama in a shootout back in College Station, wiped out my Sooners in the Cotton Bowl. You was something.

But I said on ESPN, they wouldn't let me go the extra distance on this one, but I said if he has alcohol problems, I want to say drug or alcohol problems, I'm out. I made that very clear before he was drafted. Any alcohol problems, I'm out. Trust me, he had both. And I was way out, way quick on Johnny Manziel after he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns. But here we went again. My wife actually got me.

She actually won the sports debate because she was right, they were snots to me. And Johnny Manziel came across as entitled, empowered, egomaniacal, spoiled brat. That's what I got, both barrels right between the eyes. Yep, you got me. She was right. But inadvertently, on vacation, my wife provided me

with the debate fix that I needed to get me to the following Monday. Thank you for that, my love. Let's try another question from you. This one from Harry from Indiana. Each week on the podcast, would you be willing to offer up what else you're watching on TV that isn't sports? Speaking of Ernestine, obviously we were off for a week.

So, yeah, let me walk back through a few of the things that we did watch movie-wise or streaming-wise. Much of it geared to my wife, who is a saint when it comes to sitting through sports events with me at the expense of many movies and streaming series on TV during my sports seasons. This was mostly for her. Would you believe that while on vacation...

I actually got my wife Ernestine, who's still extremely COVID conscious, to go to the movies here on the west side of LA. We went twice. Now, we picked out top row, far left, last two seats in the corner so that we could feel like we were as away from humans as we could get. And I will say we did wear masks, but we went to two movies.

We saw Top Gun, and we saw the latest Jurassic Park. Now, you have to understand before I give you a quick review that I liked the original Jurassic Park, which I thought was all-time great. I liked it quite a bit more than I liked the original Top Gun, which was just okay to me because I'm not that into being a fighter pilot. I know some people are. I'm into racing cars more than flying planes. I don't have any of that in me.

and I've never been the biggest Tom Cruise fan, so I like the original Steven Spielberg Jurassic Park was all time for me. So that's the mindset I took into both of these latest. But what got me, the greatest irony was that the structure of both of these movies is the same. You've got original cast members returning to save the day,

For the new cast, right? Both of them, same structure. So I'm going to give Top Gun, the latest one, Maverick, I'm going to give it an A-, mainly just because the aerial sequences, the dogfights, were just all-time next-level spectacular to the point you feel like you're in the cockpit. You get dizzy. You feel the G-force. It's a phenomenal phenomenon to experience in the theater on the big screen.

I give you that. And I'll also give you this. Tom Cruise is still just a flat-out movie star, even though I can take only so much Tom Cruise, and he just flat-out takes over this movie once again, which is why I give it the minus on the A. I can just take so much of him. But I did appreciate seeing Val Kilmer. I'm a big fan from many other movies, including The Doors, even though it was hard to watch him

on screen in his current condition. So, in the end, Top Gun, for me, came much closer in greatness to the original than this latest Jurassic Park does to its original, which again, for me, all-time great. In fact, for me, this current Top Gun, Maverick, is even better than the original, now the Jurassic Park. It's a thousand years from the original in greatness, a thousand years.

I still enjoyed it as just a popcorn, a summer popcorn movie. I do eat popcorn at the movies, even though I don't think it's the greatest for you. It's got too much oil on it, but I eat a few pieces. I took my mask off. I had to eat the popcorn, sip my Diet Coke. It's what you do when you go to the movies. And I did enjoy seeing Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum back in action as they were in the original. But in the end,

this latest Jurassic Park, it just dinosaurs you to death. I mean, every species known to man again and again and again. And I know this one's geared probably more for kids, but I just wish I would have enjoyed it a little more. Forgive me for saying this. If just one of the people I was rooting for in the movie, that everybody roots for in the movie, if just one of those people

had been eaten by a dinosaur. Just one. I just needed one because then it creates some real tension toward the conclusion because I think, is somebody else going to die? You got to give me one eaten by a T-Rex or a raptor. I don't know. One crushed by a brontosaurus. Somebody needs to die. They died in the original, not in this one. There's no real tension. The ending is

predictable, and so is the grade I give this movie a B. Streaming series. Ernestine and I finished one that she loved and I liked, but only liked. The Offer, about the making of The Godfather. For me, this series, from start to finish, felt like a TV movie about one of the greatest films ever. A TV movie. It's like Mario and Francis make a movie. Yippee!

I'm talking about Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola. I'm talking about The Godfather, and it feels like there are two kids making a movie. I'm sorry, I'm not quite there with it. I liked it, but I did not love it. My wife really loves, she is way into Only Murders in the Building. I'll give it, it has grown on me some, but if not for Ernestine, I would not be watching it. I do think Steve Martin is a genius.

But for me, silly and murder don't belong in the same sentence. And that's what you get here. It's silly with the occasional murder. I mean, when I was a kid, I read every Nancy Drew and every Hardy Boys, and those books had more tension and more edge to them than only Murders in the Building has. A quick thought on the Batman. I've seen every Batman movie. I love Batman movies.

I especially wanted to see this one because Matt Reeves made one of my favorite all-time sort of off-radar movies called Let Me In, a vampire movie featuring a young Chloe Grace Barrette. And my first takeaway was I thought Robert Pattinson was pretty good as Batman. I bought him as Batman. I bought him in the physicality that the part demands, the mood, the power, the charisma. I bought him.

I did not buy the plot. It wasn't clever enough. It wasn't creative enough for me to sustain three hours. I lost Ernestine about halfway through. It was a little too dark for her. I think she got bored and I know she fell asleep because I lost her for the last hour and a half. I stuck with it hoping it would get a little twistier and turnier and cleverer. In the end, it did not. So I would give it a B-, which brings me...

to a movie you might or might not have seen because it came and went quickly in the theaters called Ambulance. The latest from Michael Bay, Jake Gyllenhaal. It was sensational. It got not nearly enough acclaim. I don't know why it didn't catch fire in the movies. Maybe it did and I missed it but it seemed like it came and it was gone. It is edge of seat from start to perfectly shocking finish.

Great chase, great shootouts, great character development, great moral choices, life and death choices forced upon each of the main characters. Just sensational. I watched it at home on a fairly big screen television. I wish I could have seen it in the movies, but I give it an A for Ambulance. Highly recommended. I close today with a shout out, or let's call it a call out,

Draymond Green. Draymond took a few more shots at me on his podcast last week and I thought about responding here on mine specifically to those shots that he took but then I thought why show my cards? Why telegraph the counter punches with which I would knock Draymond out if he would have the guts to face me on this podcast or on his? I would knock him out.

if he would face me and verbally spar with me on either podcast. Just the two of us, battle royal, new media versus real media. Draymond, we can go deep on my LeBron criticism, on my Steph criticism, on my Draymond criticism. We can go deep as you want. I'm ready. You play basketball, Draymond. I did not play past high school, though I'm pretty sure I'm a better three-point shooter than you are, even now.

Let's talk some hardcore hoops. How about it, Draymond? Or at your new media, let's talk National Football League. I'm game. Let's talk whatever, whenever, however. You call it. I'll be there. Talking about real talk, Draymond. Not this fake tough guy bluster of yours. I'm not running. I'm daring. Draymond, I honestly think you're afraid to face me. So prove me wrong.

That's it for episode 25. Thanks to you for listening and or watching. Thanks to Jonathan Berger and his All Pro team for making this show go. Thanks to Tyler Korn for producing. Remember, Undisputed, every weekday, 9.30 to noon Eastern. The Skip Bayless Show, every week.