This is the Dan Levitard Show with the Stugotz podcast. Folks, listen up. April 7th, 6:30 p.m. Eastern on Levitard Show YouTube.
It's the Cheap seats, the 305 Equinox. Three games at once. Marlins, Panthers, Heat. We're watching all of it.
Probably poorly. Presented by NevermissyourshotGolf. So I would imagine you guys saw this earlier in the week, right? Mark Cuban.
Mark Cuban finally admitted that... Not finally. I guess admitted out loud. He's been admitted out loud nonstop over the last year.
That he regrets selling, not regrets selling the team. He regrets selling the team to Adelson and Dumont. And, I mean, since the trade was made, here I said it. I said it on ESPN.
I said it on my podcast. That Mark Cuban deserves his share of the blame for what happened with trading away Luka Doncic. At least 27% of the blame. And I remember getting hammered.
What does Mark Cuban have to do with it? But literally, Cuban is coming out now and saying what I've been saying. What have you been saying? You're saying that he should get the blame.
Yeah. That he should not have sold to these people. When you own one of these teams, you're essentially a caretaker of the franchise. You're not going to own the team forever.
You're a caretaker of the franchise. And he decided to take the highest bid, which is his right as a businessman. But he just totally. But then, people like me can say, you know what?
You can't now sit there and complain about, I wouldn't have done this. I would have traded Luka. I wouldn't have done this. You deserve your share of the blame then because you decided to take the highest bid and sell it to people who don't care about basketball and decided to do this instead of maybe it took a little bit less and you sold to people who were going to take care of the franchise you cared about.
And he's admitted that. I think it's tough to say that because he sold it to people who seem like they care about basketball. And the reality is that they do care about basketball. They just don't know much about it.
And so they had a general manager who... Who Cuban hired. Who Cuban hired, yeah. But they just take him to the finals.
And they don't know any better, but this guy seems to know what he's doing. Right? So they do what they do. Any new owner who doesn't, who's not like Matt Ishbia, who's like a hoops junkie, is probably going to fall prey to this kind of thing.
By the way, new owners every single time. You go throughout the history of the league, particularly recently, they all come in. They talk a great game. And then they learn the hard way that this ain't as easy as it looks.
Matt Ishbia had the most expensive payroll ever. The team that missed the playoffs. Right? Even the Warriors, light years ahead, ownership group.
Remember, they came in. They used the amnesty on Charlie Bell because they tried to sign DeAndre Jordan, who was already a restricted free agent. The Clippers matched easily. Then they traded Monte Ellis and the guy got booed at the thing.
Everyone has a rocky start. There's no owner who comes in and is like, yo, I've been awesome at this. Steve Ballmer? Do you want to talk about his rocky start, which may lead to freaking...
Who knows what? Cap circumvention and picks loss and all that. So none of them have any idea. And the whole thing about billionaires is these are people who their lives are built on, everyone said no, but I said yes.
Right? And it's true for many of them, especially the self-made ones. Maybe not so much the Nepo babies. But if you are a Vivek Ranadive, a guy who came here with, legend has it, like $150 in his pocket, and you became a billionaire and you bought an actual NBA team and kept it in a city where they thought the team was going to be leaving, how can anyone tell you, yo, this 4-on-5 idea you got sucks?
Like, no, you got it. I heard this a lot in the tech sector too. I love the 4-on-5 idea. You know what I'm saying?
Like, their whole lives are against incredible odds amassing an obscene amount of success. So when you get to the point where it's like, hey, we own this team now. And Mark Cuban thinks, no, but they'll still listen to me. He thought the deal was, they own it, but I call the shots.
And very quickly, they're like, no, man, we're going to listen to this guy. And he gets shoved out of the way. And to the absolute meager, meager, meager defense of Nico Harrison, prior to the Luka trade, he had made some good moves. He made some really good moves.
The P.J. Washington move was good. Drafting was good. Gafford.
They had done a couple of good things that were on the trajectory of, okay, wait a second, this is going to the right track. It wasn't, I don't think he presented, based on his track record, as someone who didn't know what he was doing. Right? Like, to have that kind of doubt in him.
Obviously, once he comes with something as drastic as that, you always say, hold up. But that goes back to the other part of this, which is the Mavericks front office. This is through all the reporting and all the people I talked to behind the scenes. Like, they had really pushed into this groupthink place where it's like, if you are someone who is an outside thinker, we don't want you.
We're not going to include you in this. And I've been part of a front office like that where it's like, hey, my job is to give you guys all the reasons why this couldn't work. And then you make an informed decision. Like, no, no, no, you're yucking already up.
That happens. Man, this happened when I was at Sloan. There was the guy who owns the Philadelphia Soul, Mike. His name escapes me.
The arena team? John Bon Jovi. The MLS team. The MLS team is the Philadelphia Union.
Union, my bad. Philadelphia Union. I believe the Soul were Ron Jaworski and John Bon Jovi. My bad.
Which, tell him I said hi. That's a great crew. It does. No, but so the guy who...
Colin Kaepernick, greatest quarterback ever. He owns the MLS team. And he was like, yo, I came in and the first thing we did is we studied all this analytics about soccer because it turns out soccer they're not as up to date as some of our American sports. And we found out, like, throw-ins are incredibly important.
And so they did all this stuff, invested into areas that they felt could be a competitive advantage. And as a result, like, all the football people, all the soccer people, told us, oh, that's crazy. That's not how you do it. But we were like, no, no, no, we're going to do it this way.
It's basically his own version of Moneyball. As a result, they've been one of the most successful by regular season terms clubs in the MLS, but they haven't won at all, right? And so the moderator asks him, hey, how do you guys get to the transition from, like, doing something so different? And the guy says, well, first thing you got to do is you got to get rid of all the soccer people, all the old world thinking people.
I said, what? You get rid of them all? Yeah, get rid of them all. Because if you have one person who's dissenting, it ruins the room.
The room has to be lockstep. And I'm like, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You want dissension. You want something.
Even if your idea is right and needs to be, and it's a drastic case, you need the voice of dissension in the room in order to protect you, in order to challenge your beliefs, in order for you to know what I'm doing is unequivocally the right thing as opposed to a hunch. Nico eliminated all dissension in that thing, including Mark Cuban, who was pushed out. That's why I don't blame him, because they purposely excluded him from the conversation because they knew if he's in it, he's going to dissent and his dissents are probably gonna have some good points in there. Last night in the NBA, the big story, the Lakers.
I walked into my family room last night. I got home from the airport and my older son was watching it. I don't know where it is right now. That's why I had free time when I walked in the house.
Didn't have luggage, didn't have to do any laundry. That's the bonus, right? And so I walk into the family room and my son is my older one who left behind. He's watching the Lakers and Thunder on Peacock and the score is 54 to 22.
Like, what the hell is that score? And it got worse. But yeah, well, it really got worse because Luka Doncic suffered a hamstring injury in the third quarter. I think they're down 90 to 58 when he suffered the injury.
And apparently he actually tweaked it in the first half and then he got halftime where you kind of get a little bit cold. And then you come out in the second half and you tweak the hamstring and now he's gonna get an MRI. Not good. Not good, Bob.
I mean, they got like five games left in the regular season and this could be a several week thing. Yeah, March was fun, wasn't it Yeah, you've been at many big-time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of Cuervo.
Oh, delicious. It's the signal that says, we're not checking the time anymore, pal. It's when small talk turns into stories. Cuervo, man.
It's that high-five a random stranger effect. That's right. The game is popping. You're hugging people you never met before.
That's the kind of energy that Cuervo brings. It's so smooth. So delicious. That's the Cuervo effect.
Keep it, Cuervo. Sports fans, all the sports are coming together. It's a great time to just sit on your couch, text your friend, hey, come over. Let's watch the games.
And when I do that to my friends, guess what they text me back. I got the Miller Lights. That's right. They pick up Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer.
Then they come over to my place. We take that first sip, and we realize, man, we just made a regular old-fashioned night into a special night. Thank you, Miller Light. And shortly thereafter, we got multiple screens on.
Everybody's dialed into something different. And the whole night just keeps building and building and building. That's why I reached for Miller Light. It can take an ordinary night and take it to an extraordinary place.
It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, proof of taste with simple ingredients. Just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs. The original light beer since 1975 and still hitting different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Light.
Great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLight.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time.
Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Dan LeBatard.
John, can you rate my Al Pacino from that billiard scene in Carlito's way if I do it for you? I think it's pretty good. Yeah. Stugatz.
You think you're big time? You're gonna die! Big time! That is on my infamous scale of 1 to 10.
That's a 7.6. Solid at the top there. That's a 7. That's assuming I'm not ready right there.
This is the Dan LeBatard Show with the Stugatz. I know in the NBA, you know, there are like these small windows, essentially, to win and things can change on a year-to-year basis. Especially with the way the CBA, you know, allows you to build your team these days. Like, things can really change.
And that's why the window's getting smaller, you know? But I look at Oklahoma City and San Antonio. How can anyone not believe that these two teams are gonna be the teams fighting for championships for, like, the next decade? You know what's funny?
Am I making it too simple by saying that? It's what you just said because of the CBA. It's almost impossible. Right, like, I understand that, but I still...
It feels like these are the two. And, like, this is gonna change. It felt... Man, all...
Like, Golden State felt like it was never gonna end. Miami felt like it was never gonna end. Golden State had, like... Golden State became really...
They won the title in 15, and they won their last title in 22. That's eight years, man. That's a long time. But, like, I'm saying, like, in 2019, right?
Or 2018, I should say. It's like, oh, they're gonna do this every year, forever. And then Durant gets hurt, and then Durant leaves. And then they go into this really dark era.
Clay's hurt, too. Clay gets hurt, yep. And then 2022, they come back and they win one. And we've kind of put them on the...
They're always gonna be on the list, but, you know, they've been in the play-in pretty much every year since that championship. So it's like, these things feel like they're gonna be permanent. Miami felt like it was never gonna end. Yeah.
Even rising teams, like Memphis. I'm like, well, they're gonna be in the conversation for a while. Memphis versus Minnesota. Remember that playoff series?
Like, these guys are gonna be running the West. Memphis eliminated Golden State. I understand, but what... Like, that's, you know, those Memphis teams, that's not what we're seeing with OKC.
No, no, no. I understand, but, like, we do work ourselves into, like, uh, these guys are next and they're gonna be around for a long time. But like the Beam Kings. Everybody thought this was the team.
They're gonna get to the next level. That's not what these two guys saw. I agree, but, like, still, it was that next team in the West. So, for San Antonio, this is actually a very interesting thing.
Because the way their checking account and their saving account is set up, is they never, or at least for the next, like, five years, they never have to pay everyone all at the same time. Because there's a stagger. Because Wemby was drafted first, and then Castle, and then Harper. And so everything is kind of staggered.
If you look at their books, it's like, ooh, they're always gonna have some guy who's on the books for his rookie scale, which helps them alleviate. Versus Oklahoma City, they've got a money crunch coming in the very near future. That Chad and, um... Why did I say Chad?
Chad and Dylan Williams both came in on the same year. So their salaries are equal. And then, obviously, SGA, he's getting paid the most. And so, at some point, they're gonna have to make a hard decision on Hartenstein.
And if they can't, they've got to find a replacement there. They're gonna have to make a hard decision on a lot of their role players. Lou Dort, Kacen Wallace. Like, all of these guys are gonna want to get paid.
That's what the picks are for. Sure. And then you go and get someone else who's cheap. That's why Jared McCain was a great pickup for them.
They burned their first-round pick for a guy who's like, is he great? Doesn't matter. He's good enough to play for us, and he's going to be cheap. But, like, make no mistake, they are now walking the tightrope.
Last year, it was like, everything's awesome. Now, they're doing this right here with the umbrella, or whatever the hell, like, on the tightrope, trying to balance... That's what Mary Poppins had, right? An umbrella or a parasol?
She had an umbrella. She lived in England, dude. It was raining all the time over there. Did they call umbrellas parasols in England?
Only... Did they call it an umbrella? No, because they call it an umbrella because they never have a sunny day. I thought when you're on the wire, though, you have, like, that long stick.
Yeah, does that really help you balance? I thought that's what you guys were talking about. I know what he's talking about. Sometimes they do it with an umbrella.
I think you're just thinking of Mary Poppins. On the tightrope, you have that really long stick for aesthetics? I don't know. I feel like if I'm trying to balance, I don't want to hold something.
Hmm. Hold on, let me ask you this. When I'm trying to balance, I absolutely want to hold something. No, no.
You want to hold on to something. I want to hold a rod. Not hold something. You want to hold on to something.
A rod. That's right. I see what you're talking about. Here we go.
I'm looking at it. Functional purpose of the umbrella. Center of gravity, much like a traditional long balancing pole. An umbrella helps the walker shift their weight.
You can get AI to tell you anything, man. I don't think it's true. Aerodynamic drag and other performance of the canopy of the umbrella can provide a slight amount of air resistance, which may help stabilize the performer against minor gusts of wind. And a visual aid.
It allows the performer to extend their lever arm, making it easier to correct small imbalances before they lead to a fall. Yeah, that's what I have questions. I got pictures. Anyway.
With that, with OKC walking the tightrope anyway. With the umbrella. It's with the umbrella. It's worth it, right?
Because if you win this year, you go back-to-back. SGA wins the MVP again. It's always worth it. It's worth it, all right.
So the Warriors lost money every year they won a championship, but you... Like now, the value of the franchise is incredible. And they still sell a bunch of shit. Everything is premium price for them.
Whether it's their tickets, their corporate sponsorships, everything because of the success. You are affiliated with that success. The Bulls for the longest time were raking in money hand over fist just off of the six titles, even as they were one of the worst teams of the 2000s. I don't know if you guys saw over the last couple days, but I've been getting peppered on Twitter with people sending me the link to this New York Post story where apparently the New York Post was just now alerted.
See this headline. American Airlines passengers shocked to learn their flights were actually bus routes. There's, quote, no plane. And it's a picture of an American Airlines, not plane, bus.
And this was the New York Post a few days ago who just now apparently discovered this story. I told everyone this like five, six months ago. See time.com slash fees info, advertise annual percentage yield with Chime Plus standing. Otherwise, 1.0% APY applies.
No minimum balance required. Chime guard on-time payment history may have a positive impact on your credit score. Results may vary. See time.com for details and applicable terms.
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Minimum odds required. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see sportsbook.draftkings.com slash promos. Limited time offer. Dan Lebitard.
John's ass low. How you love that catchphrase? Bad news for opposing teams in the AAA. Stugatz.
He's all smiles till the Browns are clutch again. Clutch again. Clutch again. This is the Dan Lebitard show with the Stugatz.
All this time travel talk makes me think of hypothetical ones. All right, so I'm making you, in this hypothetical, the richest person on earth. How far back in time would we have to go for you to say, I'm good, I'll stay here? Like, would you go back to the first century?
I'm not going back to 1682. I'd rather just be here with what I have. What's the year that you would say no to the question, I don't want to be rich, I'll just stay here? I would say, look, all right, so I gotta ask some questions.
Like, am I draft eligible, right? Because I don't want the richest man in the world. You just got sent to Vietnam. No, you're your age.
You're your age. No, no, I'm talking about... You have to live in those times. So if the richest person was draft eligible in that day, then yes, you're draft eligible.
I think you're okay being the richest man on the earth. You can pay a couple people to take your state. Yeah, yeah, but I'm Black too, though. You're the richest guy, though.
Post-18th century. You're the richest guy. Jim Crow situation. Then again, when you're rich, it doesn't matter.
I can live anywhere. I can live anywhere. You're the richest. Because you're rich, yes.
If I'm the richest man alive, I can live anywhere, then I'd go back as far as... Electricity? Good point. Gotta have electricity.
Electricity. But not like early electricity, because we still don't know. We just get air conditioning. Do I have the knowledge of what I've given back?
Because what if I'm like the richest guy, and I'm like, damn, I kind of want to... I can't play Xbox. No, you won't know that you miss it. But we know right now.
No, I think you have to know. I think you have to know that you're going to miss it. That's part of, like, getting it all is, like, going back, having the knowledge of what you know now. Like, man, I remember the iPhone.
It's like, I don't have it. So, Chris, how far would you go back then? When I was talking about this with my buddies, I was like, I feel like the 50s and 60s, like, I don't know if I'm going much further past that. And I know I'm white, so this is a money different game for me.
Does the money increase as I go further back? Inflation, but deflation. Because in that case, I would just say, no, just send me back to, like, 2005, and I'm good. Right?
Like, if there's no advantage to going further back. I'll go back to 2005. The game is how far back would you go. Yes, obviously, we'd rather have 05, but...
Right before, I'll buy all the toxic stock. We have a working knowledge of what is to come, right? Yeah. Like, we could say sports almanac.
It's in my head. But do you stay in that time in perpetuity? Or do you live the rest of your life like you would? Yeah.
So, like, you go back to 2005, you're the richest guy, but then you start to 2006, 2007. Or do you always stay in 2005? So, I have the opportunity to invest in MySpace early on, and then, like, yeah. Wait, hold on, hold on, Tony.
I was like, yeah, of course you would. Wait a second. And now you stay. I can be the richest man ever, and it's 2005 forever.
That's what I'm saying. Wow. Because it's not like you live in 1682, and you're like, all right, I live 80 years, and I'm 1731, whatever, and like, all right, I'm dead. It's like, no, you live in that state in perpetuity.
You live in that... Like, I would go back to 1985. Stay in 1985 the entire time. The internet hadn't existed yet.
You still have the landline. The phones are good. The games are good. You can watch that all the time.
You want to be right in the mid-2000s when internet is available, but it hasn't ruined our lives yet. You guys are playing a different game. Like, when would be the best time to be the richest person? I want 2009.
2009? Yeah. It's 2009 forever. Forever?
Yeah. But then you never have the new... I have an iPhone, and I got good indie rock. 03 was a great music year.
And politics, so I haven't gotten super weird. Oh, yeah. You know what? And if I see something on the internet, I could largely believe it.
2010. Then I'm taking 2010. Good year. I'm doing 2010.
I'm working for the Suns. We went to the conference finals. Yeah, but you're the richest guy in the world. We are playing a different game.
2010 is better than 09 because I got LeBron. I'm with you. Oh, I know. And a whole season of Gleezer.
Yeah. And Kanye is not that weird. Oh, yeah. No.
2009, 2010? Kanye, that's great. But think about with all that money, you might be able to invent time travel. No.
I just did it. I don't want anyone else to be able to do it. So you destroyed it then. Pretty much, yeah.
That's selfish, man. Of course I'm selfish. Why am I going to let people just time travel? You ever seen Time Cop?
I love Time Cop. You don't know about that. Great movie. Ron Silver.
Wow. As the evil senator. President wannabe guy. Well, you know, look.
I'm telling you something. Watch Time Cop now. You guys are like, that's a lot of similarities, man. You know about Mia Sarah?
Come on. Hell yeah. She was from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Hell yeah.
How about my guy Matuzak? That's his buddy. What's Matuzak's name? Scott Matuzak.
No, the actor who plays Matuzak. He's Van Damme's buddy who forgets him when he comes back in time. Yes, yes. He's got to remind him.
Dennis Rodman. No, that's a different movie. Me and you were watching the parachute that was also a basketball. Me and you were watching the Dennis Rodman 30 for 30 yesterday on the TV.
In the middle of Dan's series. And we forgot that he went to... It was like a Tiger Woods series topic and we're looking at the screen. And it's Kim Jong-un and Dennis Rodman playing basketball.
And then he cried. Yo, Kim Jong-un is playing... I mean, Dennis Rodman is playing basketball 5 on 5 on the court. Kim Jong-un is sitting courtside watching it in legit a throne.
Like I'm talking medieval throne. Robin is wearing sunglasses in the game. It's incredible. Bruce McGill is the actor.
Bruce McGill, my man Matuzak, man. Time Cop's a great movie. Time travel movies are the best. Time travel and prison.
Should I watch Time Cop? Yes. Yeah, you should watch Time Cop. I'll bet Time Cop's sold.
I thought Time Cop could have been so much better if they focused more. If he was in a prison. On the crimes. Well, the whole thing is like, it's time travel exists, but like people are using it to fund criminal activity.
So the time cops go back in time to thwart them. So like the opening scene of Time Cop is 1862 in the South, We're chasing them. We're trying to become the first Battlecore team to ever go back-to-back. No one's ever done that.
Right now, we're in second. We had to bring it in tight, some real adversity here. Back-to-back match day draws after a loss. One of those draws felt like a loss, though.
Yeah, we kind of lost ourselves a little bit, but I like what we've done in the week that we've had for this big ramp-up against the Renegades. I think we're dialed in. Now, did some of the Cyclones enjoy Miami Music Week more than I would have preferred? Maybe, but we don't need to talk about that.
My question is this. If Udonis says, hey, guys, let's all grab a drink over here at this bar over here. You guys heading out with me? If you're going to say no to UD, because if UD comes up to me and says, hey, you want to go out and grab a beer, I'm going to say no.
You think Mickey Harrison is following Peter Guber or Joe Lacob, like, down the hall? Actually, yes, because they're all billionaires, so they seem to, like, all get along great. You think Pat Riley is going to have a drink with Brad Stevens before the game? No way.
Not before the game, no. No, I think they're cordial. They'll shake hands. They'll talk about what's going on in the field of play.
And that's kind of how we are with UD. You know, we're intense when the pelota starts flying. And playoff time. We're not friends.
We are not friends there. We respect one another. All right. Sports fans, all the sports are coming together.
It's a great time to just sit on your couch, text your friend, hey, come over. Let's watch the games. And when I do that to my friends, guess what they text me back? I got the Miller Lite.
That's right. They pick up Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer, and they come over to my place. We take that first sip, and we realize, man, we just made a regular old-fashioned night into a special night. Thank you, Miller Lite.
And shortly thereafter, we got multiple screens on. Everybody's dialed into something different, and the whole night just keeps building and building and building. That's why I reach for Miller Lite. It can take an ordinary night and take it to an extraordinary place.
It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink. Brewed for taste with simple ingredients. Just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs. The original light beer since 1975 and still hitting different.
Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time.
Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories, and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.