Why LeBron Gets Disrespected More Than Jordan Ever Did

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0:31and culture with comedy, clarity, and conversations that shake the status quo. The Crown Act in New York was signed in July of 2019, and that is a bill that was passed to prohibit discrimination based on hairstyles associated with race. To hear this and more, listen to Selective Ignorance with Mandy B from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can scroll the headlines all day and still feel empty. I'm Ben Higgins, and If You Can Hear Me is where culture meets the soul. Honest conversations about identity, loss, purpose, peace, faith, and everything in between.

1:06Celebrities, thinkers, everyday people, some have answers. Most are still figuring it out. And if you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bowen Yang. And I'm Matt Rogers. During this season of the Two Guys Five Rings podcast, in the lead up to the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, we've been joined by some of our friends. Hi, Bowen. Hi, Matt. Hey, Elmo. Hey, Matt. Hey, Bowen. Hi, Cookie. Hi. Now, the Winter Olympic Games are underway and we are in Italy to give you experiences from our hearts to your ears.

1:48Listen to Two Guys Five Rings on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So I want to start, you know, we're sports fans, so I want to have a sports conversation if we can. Sure. Where you're at right now, L.A., it's interesting. You know, what I noticed is that the level of disrespect that LeBron has received is pretty historic. When you really think about it, right, from Dylan Brooks saying he's the most overrated player in the league, the dude in Cleveland saying that it's Donovan Mitchell City now. I don't know. I just feel like this is Michael Jordan. When he was at the tail end of his career playing with the Washington Wizards, he was, they had so much reverence for Michael Jordan.

2:37Or even Kobe's last season. I feel like it's just, why are the, why are people so disrespectful to somebody that's in the tail end of his career and has only done great things in the league? Asking for a friend. Asking for a friend. You know what's weird? This happened. Well, you got to think about how the history of the league and Magic and Bird and Michael, they kind of made it mainstream. So I can't be, I can't make anyone on there villains just yet. I have to have people fall in love with the story. So Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, East vs. West, white boy, black guy, this that then michael flies in the air so it was marketing more entertainment for so so to speak and then now that they got you hooked and they got good versus evil kind of thing and whatever city you're from i believe that now kind of like reality show kardashianists and all the housewives and all this other stuff they like drama so i think advertisers said scratch their It's an entertainment drama sells better than just the good old keeping everything cool.

3:58So when you go on these talk shows, as far as the sports ones, I can bash, bash, bash. Oh, that's more ratings. OK, cool. Bash, bash. Oh, that's more ratings. OK, cool. Because if everybody say all good stuff, it's boring to the entertainment world. That's just my, you know, my thing. And I think that started kind of like late 2000s. Right. So you didn't hear it about Mike or Charles or Robin kind of thing where it was like everybody's a villain. Someone's always saying something negative about only 5 ,000 of us that ever played this game. And then another thing, too, is you go to any park. There's no other sport in the world where everyone thinks, even when they just know basketball, that they can play to the level that we played at.

4:43There's no other sport like that. No baseball, no tennis, no nothing. Everything is, man, I get beat five or ten on him. This guy's trash. You know what I mean? And you're looking like, yo, come on, dog. That's how it works. You know what I mean? Like, guys are pretty good over here. Okay, are we in a scary time for the NBA? Because I look at the ratings and they're saying, like, yes, you know, Christmas was an all-time high and the ratings are up. I'm a fan, a diehard fan. You see I'm in my Bulls Derrick Rose retirement jacket tonight. And I'm thinking to myself, I can't tell you where the games are, right?

5:21Like they're streaming everywhere all over the place, which makes it tough. The other part of it is that, and we got to be careful with LeBron because he's a megastar in this space. Curry's a megastar. I put Durant right on that level. But if we're not careful, we won't be able to have another megastar. Who's the next megastar that they can build that story around? That's a great question.

5:48I would say who's my favorite, who can be the mega, mega, mega star is Anthony Edwards. His, his character, the way he play, he's a dog. All of that is just like phenomenal to me. What about Wimby? What about Wimby? I, I don't know if he's a mega star because see Wimby, listen, I love Wimby and please, I don't want him to know one to take me to the side of the contest. He's kind of like, he's very French. He's very, it's very like snooty kind of thing. So it's like, he, he's moody. You know what I mean? Like he's a moody individual. Now I love him. Right. The guy is on point, especially at such a young age, but Anthony Edwards has a lot more character at the moment to be that.

6:29Right. Because, you know, he's from the hood and he can joke, but he'll come back at you. And it's, I mean, it's just, it's just a little something different. Now I would, I would say Wimby. Yeah. But I haven't seen his personality. We've seen Anthony Edwards, every phase of him. I think the interesting part with Ant, because I would agree with you with Ant, is just that we live in a world of social media, so it's not just the on-the-court things. Like, the marketing is great, but then we got the off-the-court things. I feel like when the league thought Zion was going to be that guy, now we hear the off-the-court things.

7:00When Jal was supposed to be the guy, then we see the off-the-court things. It becomes a little tricky, right, to say, like, here, go support. This is going to be the face of the league. That show-the-court face. Right. So now think about it. Mike, Charles, Dennis, everybody. There was no social media. So they couldn't gauge it of what the fans wanted to see more of. Drama, cleanness, this, that. And then the league is just starting, so I can't put all your business out there in the streets because we need the fans. Now, NBA is solidified. So I can, because of social media, I can put that out there if I really want to because the polls are showing that drama sells.

7:44So Anthony Edwards with the baby mamas or this person with this and this person with that. Oh yeah, but he's still playing hard. It's like, it's a lot of fluff. So, I mean, I think that's why they promote it like that because that's what the world want to see more. As much as they don't want to see it, they want to see drama. They want to see noise. They want to see reality show type of stuff also at the same time. But, you know, me personally, between Wemby and Anthony Edwards, I would pick Anthony Edwards because he's maturing slowly, but he's still that mega star. So you was a hell of a player in your day, and you came up traditionally, right?

8:26Like as far as high school, college, NBA. We're seeing a change in that happen now where NIL has really changed the dynamic where like Rick Pitino said, he's no longer recruiting high school players. Yeah. and you got kids that's 25 years old playing in college and kids some kids in college are making more money than professional athletes. I couldn't have did it. I couldn't have did it. I couldn't. 20 years old bro I'm getting six, seven figures. I'm out of control. You out of your mind. You're going to be the governor of Rhode Island. Man listen you hear me? I'm telling you right now I have both all types of stuff in Rhode Island.

9:06But do you think that it's ruining? Do you think that it's ruining basketball? I don't. Let me tell you why I don't, fam, is because this transition happened in the 80s with NBA players. Okay? There was guys that were drinking still at halftime or smoking cigarettes and, you know, maybe doing drugs, whatever it is. That's every sport. That wasn't just no basketball. But my point is it was like it was new money and it was new environment. It was new situations. So it's going to be an ugly little situation that's going on for these college guys getting that bulk of money and their families and everything like that.

9:38I think it's a blessing, the silver lining behind it. Kind of like the Trump thing, right? The silver lining behind it is someone has to sacrifice for us for us to see what we should not do. You understand? So as bad as it may look, it's not going to stop NIL deals. It's not going to stop kids getting paid now. It's already started. So now the kids in the future will say, okay, you know what? I'm going to do this. I'm going to get an IRA. hey, I'm going to do this. I'm going to live off of$2 ,000 a month. They're going to see it, the Russell Westbrooks of the world, the Chris Pauls, the Carmelo Anthonys, LeBron James.

10:13You see it become – it's not just Michael and Larry Bird and Isaiah Thomas and Magic Johnson. It's a whole bunch of guys that are businessmen now. So it's going to be ugly for a second until it gets to that point where guys are a lot more – money is money, and let's figure out how we can make it last. You can scroll the headlines all day and still feel empty. I'm Ben Higgins and If You Can Hear Me is where culture meets the soul. Honest conversations about identity, loss, purpose, peace, faith and everything in between. Celebrities, thinkers, everyday people, some have answers, most are still figuring it out.

10:54And if you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Over the last couple years, didn't we learn that the folding chair was invented by black people because of what happened in Alabama? This black history month, the podcast selective ignorance with Mandy B unpacks black history and culture with comedy, clarity and conversations that shake the status quo. The crown act in New York was signed in July of 2019. And that is a bill that was passed to prohibit discrimination based on hairstyles associated with race to hear this and more.

11:30Listen to Selective Ignorance with Mandy B from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bowen Yang. And I'm Matt Rogers. During this season of the Two Guys Five Rings podcast, in the lead up to the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, we've been joined by some of our friends. Hi, Bowen. Hi, Matt. Hey, Elmo. Hey, Matt. Hey, Bowen. Hi, Cookie. Hi. Now, the Winter Olympic Games are underway, and we are in Italy to give you experiences from our hearts to your ears. Listen to Two Guys, Five Rings on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

12:121969, Malcolm and Martin are gone. America is in crisis. At a Morehouse College, the students make their move. These students, including a young Samuel L. Jackson, locked up the members of the Board of Trustees, including Martin Luther King Sr. It's the true story of protest and rebellion in Black American history that you'll never forget. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Menelik Lumumba. Listen to The A-Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.