Tristan Thompson on Fatherhood, The Kardashians & The Future of the NBA | KMP Ep. 33

16:30Katie Miller:What are your thoughts on the WNBA's history and recent social justice activism? Do you think that has a place in sports or do you think that should stay on the sidelines? No, I think for the WNBA, I think, first of all, I give a lot of credit. They are, to be honest, they're the real champions in our sport, in basketball, because of what they have to go through. and obviously the controversy there. But I think the bright spot is that with the new CBA that just got passed, they're going to get paid more. And I think they deserve that because at the end of the day, the reality is some of these great athletes, whether they are mothers and they're pregnant, they're away from their family, it was definitely sad and disappointing as an NBA player knowing that a lot of these great athletes that we have in WNBA have to play year-round just to make a great enough salary to take care of their lives.

17:16So, you know, the last thing I wanted to see was like a Candace Parker playing in the L.A. Sparks finals and going to Turkey to go play just to make money for her family. So I'm glad the NBA and WNBA have made it right by paying these girls more. And I think that's the first step. I think once we take care of them financially, then the rest will follow.

17:34Katie Miller:Today, there was news since we're taping and this will air on Tuesday, just preface saying that the Olympics were banning transgender athletes in 2028. Do you think that's the right decision? Bad and transgender athletes, yeah. I think for me as a father, and I think it's more so, you know, for me as a father and I have daughters and nieces, you know, I think it's a man, Jeanette, makeup is totally different. And I understand how you identify, but me as a competitor, I wouldn't, it wouldn't be fair for me to go play in the WNBA. That wouldn't be fair because these amazing young athletes have worked blood, sweat, and tears to get to where they want to get to.

18:14and it wouldn't be fair for me to jump in their sport. So I think, you know, obviously it's very controversial, but, you know, for me as a parent, I would love for my daughter, if she wanted to be an Olympic athlete, to compete with others that were born very similar to where she was. But I understand both sides, but, you know, that's what I feel.

18:37Katie Miller:You were born in Canada, but you officially became a U.S. citizen in 2020. Congratulations. Thank you. I'm sure that was a very long road. No, it was pretty quick. Really? Yeah. Is it because you're in the NBA? I think it's just because of the pandemic, so they were just quick with it. What are your thoughts on President Trump's crackdown on illegal aliens? I mean, you know, with President Trump, what he's doing, first of all, I love what he's done so far for our country. I think he's helped our country a lot. in terms of where he stands with that. I think, you know, I'm a firm believer because I have family members and I have people that are immigrants.

19:13I think, you know, I believe, you know, for those that do the thing the right way and get their papers, I think they should be taken care of first and foremost. I think that's the right thing, right? I think that's the right way of going about it. But yes, do we have some great, brilliant minds of people that are in the process of getting their papers or in the process of they're in between states? I totally understand. I think it's all I think it should be case by case on the right people. So I understand where he's coming from. But for me, I think it's it varies depending on who the person is.

19:43Katie Miller:Bit more nuanced for you. When you look back at your career, what are you most proud about that people don't talk about? Hmm. Most proud about. Oh. Hmm. You know what? I always tell people and they probably think I'm like BSing. is like when we won a championship, the first thing I thought about was the people in Northeast Ohio because ever since being drafted there in 2011, all you heard was like the 52-year drought of no championship. You know, the Browns being there, then going to Baltimore, and then the following year winning a Super Bowl or the Guardians that used to be called the Indians, you know, getting to the World Series and the Cavs getting close enough.

20:22Like all I thought about was those people for 52 years, never seen a champion. And I literally remember going to the airport and an older gentleman, probably in his late 60s, early 70s, and he looked at me and started tearing up and saying, I'm glad before I pass away I'm able to see Cleveland be champions again. And those are the memories that I think stick with me forever, and especially after winning a championship. That was the first thing that came to mind.

20:43Katie Miller:What's the worst moment of your career? Worst moment of your career? Losing. But there's got to be one moment that sticks out, you know, where you say, I could have done this better or that wasn't great, and you take that and you learn from it and you do something different the next time. Losing, I guess that's not good enough. Nope. Too ambiguous. Okay. All right. Oh, bored. Jeez. Toughest moment of my career, having to leave Cleveland and sign with the Boston Celtics. Did you want to leave or no? I did not want to leave, but Cleveland at the time wasn't at a place of being competitive and trying to win, and they were doing like most teams.

21:21At some point, you had to hit the reset button and want to reset. So obviously Boston paid a little bit more. So yeah, you gotta go get, sometimes you gotta get your coins. Take care of your chicken, like what Marshawn Lynch says. But that was tough for me because being drafted at age of 19 and having to leave at 29 and having so many great memories and having my beautiful home, which I sold to Angie Berry, which I hope his family's loving because I miss that home each and every day. That was probably the toughest moment of my career.

21:45Katie Miller:Are you definitely now retired from the NBA? I wouldn't say definitely. I say, listen, as long as the doors open, if they call, I will show up. That's why I stay in shape, not just for, you know, playing, but I think for the mental health and just for myself, because I like to look in the mirror and, you know, if you look good, you feel good. And if they call you, you can play good. So then what's the daily workout routine even while you're traveling? Definitely around getting up around six o 'clock, working out, lifting. It's definitely tougher on the road in terms of working out. Not so much basketball on the court, but still weightlifting, conditioning, because I think as long as you keep the body pumping, I learned it from Steve Nash at an early age.

22:17He said as long as you're doing something every day, it's easy to turn on the engine and get it going. So for me, it's like daily do something, whether it's treadmill, bursa climber, lifting, keep the heart pumping and you'll feel good.

22:29Katie Miller:When you book a hotel, do you look and make sure that they have a good, decent gym? Decent gym and decent spa. I think those are, they work hand in hand, right? Because after you tear up the muscle, you might want to get a massage, get a facial. You know, I like to cater myself after I beat myself hard in the gym with the weights at 6 a.m. So for those who don't know, Hill and Valley is a big tech conference here in D.C. that happened this week. So are you now getting into tech and AI investing? What particularly sparked your interest there? And what are you doing? Yeah, I mean, I think for me, you know, when I think whenever guys are at this crossroad moment, we try to figure out what can we do to make an impact, right?

23:08And I think, and I give a lot of credit to guys that when they stop playing, they go right into, whether it's a podcast about basketball or doing sports broadcasting, which is great, right? Because it's a way to keep yourself still involved with the game. the game that's been so good to us. But also for me, it was like doing something outside the box. And I always use references like Shaq and Magic Johnson as guys that I look up to that stepped outside of just the traditional sports broadcast and podcasts. And don't get me wrong, I do the same thing. I do NBA TV, I do ESPN, All-Star Weekend, because I still have a love for the game.

23:36And the game's been so good and I've had so much knowledge.

23:38Katie Miller:Are you going to own a bunch of franchises like Shaq does? I mean, I would love to. Listen, I love pizza and I love fried chicken. So I love Papa John's and Big Shaq's chicken. So I don't mind that. But for me, it's about doing something different. I think, you know, for Shaq, he went more so on the franchise route. Magic went a lot, you know, VC and owning teams. And obviously started with the Starbucks and the Magic Johnson theaters, which was great. But for me, it was like, what is the world looking like moving forward? And definitely, if you look at now, whether you see it on your social media, whether you turn on the television, it's about technology, robotics, AI.

24:12And that's where our world is going. And I want to be part of that. I almost look at it like the early dot-com era, right? when people went from looking, getting information in the newspaper to on the internet. And it's like, how can I be part of this journey in American history?

24:26Katie Miller:How do you see AI impacting sports specifically when it comes to training, recovery, analytics? Man, I think AI is the next step for sports. I think, you know, Adam Silver and NBA have done a great job in terms of modernizing the game, making the game more social media friendly, whether it's allowing influencers and social media people to be a part of the festivities, whether it's All-Star Weekend, whether it's the NBA Finals. But I think the next step now, especially if you look at last year's NBA playoffs, a lot of guys, three players that were very marquee players had Achilles tears in the playoffs, which is bad for basketball, right?

25:02I think it's tough seeing some of your top players go down. But I think now that's the next step of how we can use AI technology, merge it with sports science to give us the best opportunity to have our best players play on the court and the most important time of the year, which is the playoffs.

25:17Katie Miller:So, for example, March Madness. Who do you think is going to win? We'll start there. Well, I mean, I'm a Texas Longhorn to death, right? So I'm going to always go as UT. We're technically the Cinderella story. 11th seed, first four in. We beat some good teams. Beat Gonzaga last Saturday. Have Purdue coming up in San Jose. So I got to pick my Longhorns. One of the legacy news publications had a bunch of different AIs. pick brackets. And they had said in the early days they weren't doing well. And now the AI brackets are performing as some of their best. Do you think AI will disrupt sports betting?

25:51Katie Miller:And I would say disturb what is just the fun of picking who your favorite team is going to be? I think with AI, I think people needed to understand why it's got better over years, I think you got to look at AI as like the brain. The more information it has, the more data it has, the smarter it gets, right? It's almost like having a child, right? When you first have your child, you know, they teach them how to walk, how to talk. You can't just put them in the kitchen and say, here, make me scramble eggs. You gotta teach someone, right? And that's how AI agents are. And I think people are fearful of AI, like, oh, it's gonna take over our job.

26:25No, it's like, no, no. Learn how to use AI to help maximize your potential in your job and your workforce, right? So I say, that's why I preach to people more times in office, like, no, learn how to make it become a buddy in a pile of yours to make you the best version of yourself.

26:39Katie Miller:But to be fair, many different AI leaders are saying, and many different financial sector leaders are saying that AI is going to come for a lot of jobs. And it will fundamentally reshape our economy and how students graduate from college. As someone who is only 35 years old, what do you say to future students, your own children, about what you would have them invest their time in, in order to be prepared for the next phase of what our global economy is going to look like? Yeah, I mean, definitely our global economy is going to change. But as a parent, what I always teach my kids is understand where things are going and how can you help implement yourself and be an asset to that.

27:16And I think, yes, things are going to become easier for labor and everyday folks. But I think there's still a room and opportunity where there's certain things that we as humans are going to be always going to be in control of. And listen, as a parent, we're both parents, the last thing we're going to have is probably not right now as having robots be our nannies and do that, right? We're still going to want humans to be the caregiver, right? Because that's the part that as of right now, the technology is not there yet where it has the empathy, has the love, has the care that we still want. But as a parent, I mean, you know, my kids, they know how to use technology better than me now.

27:49They know how to do filters and know how to do the emojis. And I'm like, I'm asking eight-year-olds how to do this, right? I'm like old man Jenkins.

27:57Katie Miller:One of the companies that you've invested in and joined was inspired by your brother's Amari's journey and medical experience. What specifically does this technology do to help people like Amari? And what are you most excited about the future looking like? Yeah, for my brother Amari having epilepsy, just to give stats, you know, one out of 100 children have epilepsy, but the type he has, LGS, is basically one out of 50 ,000 children have it. So it's one of the more rare forms of epilepsy. For Amari, he doesn't speak or walk. so I have 24-hour caregivers taking care of them. They've been guardian angels for my family since my mom's passed away, Noel and Alba.

28:35Without them, I don't know where I'd be because they've made my life so much easier where I can not only just be a father and be a big brother, but also take care of the daily life, which is being an athlete and being able to come to D.C. and be part of great moments like this. But for me, it's a decentralized tech where we put your health data on chain, which it takes it back to when we first noticed Amari having seizures when he was six months old. You know, we didn't have no one to go to. We didn't have no one to lean on. And, you know, being Canadian, you know, we have universal health care, but doesn't mean it's the greatest.

29:08Right. And, you know, like anything in life, there could be improvements, could be better. But with this technology that they built with being on chain, you allow physicians all around the world to be able to look at your health charts, look at your data. And I think, you know, anyone that knows if if I am on vacation and I'm in Greece and something bad happens to me and I need to pull up my health chart, it's the most difficult thing ever. Right. You got to call the hospital. You got to hope the doctor's not on vacation because for some reason, every time when I call the hospital, my doctors are on vacation.

29:37But I love you guys. I appreciate it.

29:39Katie Miller:Glad that happens to you, too. Yeah, it happens to all of us. And it's the most frustrating thing. So imagine now having like your health health data on chain and the palm of your hands where wherever you are, you can pull up your records and information. and you know that's something for me where it meant a lot because I know a lot of people are going through that but also the part that's interesting is that you could find you know new medicine new cure right because it wasn't until I had the means and being MBA being able to go to Cleveland Clinic or being able to go to UCLA and meet these doctors and get treatments where I could help give Amari a better life and you know the most part that was the most difficult for me to accept was that you know Dr.

30:15Hussain at UCLA he said Tristan I wish we met each other seven years earlier, because I feel like there's things we could do for Amari to give himself a better, a better life that he has now. But I take that where I want to get that message out to other families and know that you're not alone. And it's okay to go explore and try to give your family members the best life possible.

30:36Katie Miller:So for other people out there who go through what I want to say is tumultuous parts of their life experience, not near on the scale of what you do, given that you have so many cameras and people want to report on every different facet of your life. You've had to issue public apologies, fight libel suits, watch your personal life become reality TV fodder. What was the lowest moment for you personally and what helped you rebuild trust with the people who mattered most? Honestly, you know, I've never had a low moment in my life, to be honest. The way I was brought up and the things that I've seen in my life growing up as a kid, nothing in my adult life could compare to what I've seen growing up as a kid.

31:14like I've been through real life crazy stuff where anything that's happened in my adult life is like

31:24Katie Miller:peanuts compared peanuts peanuts to what I've seen so envious of men who can compartmentalize I mean a lot listen a lot of my teams are like how do you show up to work and be able to do this and I'm like because I've been through some real life this is a podcast I can say I've been through real life shit right so like yes mistakes have happened yes you don't like No one likes being perceived in a negative aspect, but for me, it's just learning lessons. So do you not read any of the legacy media? No. And how do you work that out with the person on the other side? Because presumably someone else is reading it.

31:58Katie Miller:Presumably someone else is upset. So how do you go about making it right? I think the best way to make it right is having a conversation, having a face-to-face, looking someone in the eye, and we leave it all on the table. I think that's something that we lack right now as people. we love to avoid having those tough conversations. And for me, I invite it because I think that's how, it's the quickest way to find a resolution, develop trust and respect. I think respect's the number one thing, right? What I always tell people is that you don't have to like me. You don't have to agree with what I agree with, but I'd rather respect more than anything else.

32:34And I'll actually learn that watching The Godfather. That's actually one of my favorite movies of all time. But I think that the meanings behind that movie series, It's a lot of meetings that I think could help us as people in society.

32:46Katie Miller:What do you do to stay locked in mentally when things get noisy? I think I just dive more into my family, my kids. You know, when my mom passed away, that was probably one of the toughest moments in my life. But for me, you know, my kids and my niece and my nephews were basically, you know, my everything. Dive more into that, be more involved, do more activities just to get your mind off whatever the outside noise is. If the 2016 Tristan could sit down with 2026 Tristan, what would you tell your younger self about fame, relationships, fatherhood, and money? Fame, relationship, fatherhood, and money.

33:19So money, buy Bitcoin.

33:22Katie Miller:Isn't Bitcoin on a downturn now? No, listen, I look at it as a 401k. It's doing way better numbers than your traditional Voya 401k. Shout out Voya because I have money in there as well. But okay, so money would be buy Bitcoin. Fame, I think, dive into it. I think at the end of the day, you have a platform and a voice in the ear of people where you should use it for good. And whatever your beliefs are, dive into that. As fatherhood, I think what I'm doing is just keep diving into your kids. Be there for them because every little thing matters. Even like for me as a dad, you know, I always tell my kids if I'm leaving out of town when I'm coming back, because I think kids remember that.

34:07You know, the one thing I don't like is when parents say, you know, I'll be right back. No, I like to let my kids know because they're smart. They understand days. They know when certain amount of days pass. So I would say that for fatherhood is always, always be honest with your kids. So money, fatherhood, fame. What was the other one?

34:23Katie Miller:Yeah, fame, relationships, fatherhood and money. And relationship, I think, is always treat people with respect. That's it. Do you think you've done that consistently? Yes. I think when you're honest and transparent with somebody, they might not agree, but respect's number one. So in every episode, we play a game of Would You Rather. Okay. So let's go. Do you play this game as well? No. It's only one-sided? Yes. Wow. I ask the questions here. Wow. Would you rather play in the NBA Finals wearing only one shoe or in a uniform that's three sizes too small? Oh, uniform's three sizes too small. Would you rather your entire Snapchat history get leaked, messages and all, or have AI post all your private thoughts on social media?

35:05Ooh, that's a good one. To be honest, I don't take, I don't do nothing on Snap, so.

35:09Katie Miller:Back when Snap was a thing, I'm going to process. Oh, okay, okay, okay. I'd rather Snapchat. Would you rather coach a kid's basketball team with overbearing parents constantly yelling at you or with your kids who absolutely do not listen? I'd rather older than parents because I actually like the banter. I like going back and forth. I'm the dad at the AU games that will argue with other parents. Would you rather have ketchup for toothpaste or mustard for shampoo? I despise ketchup, so I'll do mustard for shampoo. Are you really? So where are you on mayo? I only do ketchup if there's mustard or mayo mixed in with it.

35:45Katie Miller:Would you rather narrate an audio book about your personal scandals or have Netflix cast a white guy to play you in a movie about the Cavs' 2016 run? I'd rather have a white guy play me with a Netflix run. Pick Camelope, you can play me. Do you think Netflix has gone too woke? Do you let your kids watch Netflix? My kids don't care for Netflix. My kids like YouTube kids. My kids don't care for Netflix. I don't even think they know what Netflix is. What's something you're randomly good at that has nothing to do with basketball or business? What I'm randomly good at. What am I randomly good at? No one knows.

36:25Hmm. Elephant memories. Yeah, that's what I mean. So I have a memory of the elephant. I don't forget anything. Like, I remember everything. I, like, first time I meet somebody, I remember what they had on. That's how, like, especially if it's, like, a conversation worth being had or someone that was, like, end up becoming a friend or part of my life. I'll remember, like, the first outfit.

36:41Katie Miller:So what's your favorite memory? Ooh. My favorite memory would be my blind date with Chloe. I met her. I remember at a Bel Air hotel, blind date. I remember exactly what she had on. She had a leave-in conditioner in her hair. She had one of them, like, those hats that we used to wear, like the Smoky the Bear hats. Yep. Bodysuit. Good American jeans on. I remember exactly everyone that was there. How do you know what she was wearing? I mean, I paid attention. She stood out and looked at her. Like, even the tags? Like, that's pretty impressive. I was on it. Okay. Yeah. What's your favorite memory with each of your kids?

37:20Favorite memory from each of my kids?

37:22Katie Miller:Day that we're born. Like, what do we got? I think Day that we're born is like very like cliche. It's cliche. It is. I think for my son, Prince, you know, he is so intelligent in terms of like building. Like he has, of course, I would love for him to play sports, but he's like an engineer. He loves to build stuff. He likes to do a 3D printer. Like he's so, like he makes like these fidgies that I love playing with. And I was like, can you make me one, please? Like, dad, of course I'll make one for you. So him, just his creativity is off the chain. my favorite memory of my daughter was her pre-K recital singing that brought tears to my eyes because when I look at her I always see my mom because they resemble each other very much alike like if you look at me, True and my mom we all look alike I'm just like the male version of how they look so that brought tears to my eyes that was one of my greatest memories Tatum seeing him in jiu-jitsu and just like wrestling kids it's just like as a dad you just love it Like your son just like, he's like using his powers.

38:18We know that. He's like catering. Like he'll take a kid down and he'll give him a hug after. It's like, that made me proud. And then my youngest, riding a bike. See how riding a bike.

38:27Katie Miller:Is there any sport that you won't let your kids play? I don't think I'll let my kids play football. American football. I think it's just very dangerous. And I love the NFL. I love what they're about. I love everything. But I think just for my household, probably not football. What's the bedtime routine for your children? Ooh, bedtime routine is fun. Okay, what do we got? Okay, so we'll do a dance party. We'll do a dance party after dinner. Okay. But you have to eat enough of your dinner to get the dance party. Do you say one more bite? Do you offer them other food? No, no, I always do the one more bite.

39:01Okay. When I say the big bite, let them look. Because, you know, sometimes, you know, kids are like, before they go like, no, no, no, big bite.

39:06Katie Miller:But that's controversial though now. Really? To like encourage your kids to eat another bite of food. Oh, listen. There's a hot take on this. Really? That says, yes. that says, which is what we do in my house, we say you get what you get on your plate and if you go to bed hungry, go to bed hungry, see you at breakfast. I actually like that. And we don't do like snacks later in the night. It's like, sorry, you didn't eat. Do you do fruits after dinner? We do their dinner plate and then they get served a side bowl of like fruits with nuts. So if they choose to not like what's been cooked for them, they have like a safe option.

39:38Katie Miller:I don't think that fills them up necessarily, but it's something. You do the nuts for the protein. Just in case you don't eat enough on the plate. Correct. I like that. Correct. Smart. But like, we do not do the one more bite in my household because then I think you're, I don't know, in my household growing up, I don't know how it was in yours, but we did like clean plate. Like my mom gave us one meal and that was it. Yeah. Now for me, I mean, for us, it works. The kids love it. And, you know, do a dance party. Then you got to brush your teeth. We have the timer. First of all, my kids love the Phillips when we're at the timer because they want to see the stars.

40:10They want to see the stars because then they feel their star. Okay. So they'll brush their teeth. And then after, my kids love reading books before bed. My son, we tell him one or two books. He wants to read more books, which I actually love.

40:21Katie Miller:What's the books we're reading right now? Right now, he's like a good, it's like Goodnight Tiger. Another one's like Elephant Over the Moon. Like he just, he has like literally a stack of books. And I love it because for me, you know, reading was difficult for me growing up. So I love the fact that my son loves to read and loves like to be in the books, which is great. I was more the kid that would stay outside till the streetlights came on, came home and get ready for bed. So it's amazing. My daughter's the same way. So that's beautiful. I'm like, you guys definitely got that from your mom. Do you credit their mom for it?

40:49Oh, for sure. Give her the credit. I'm like, they got it from you, Chloe. So, which is great. So we'll read books before bed. And then by eight o 'clock, my kids, we sleep train them super early. So they're already tired by the time it's eight o 'clock. And we're up at seven, back at it.

41:05Katie Miller:Do they crawl into bed at night or do they stay in their rooms? Oh, my kids love to stay. My kids like to be in the room because they talk to their friends, their pretend friends, and have their conversations. So we see them on the monitor to make sure everything's okay. What's a conspiracy theory that you believe in? Ooh. We had a couple earlier today.

41:28No, did we go to the moon?

41:31Katie Miller:Kim says she does not believe we went to the moon. Did we go to the moon? I don't think we went to the moon. I think that might have been like some Photoshop, Neil Armstrong, like shout out him and his family, but I don't think he went to the moon. I think that was, might've been like, Are UFOs real? UFOs are definitely real. I definitely believe in UFOs because I remember with the Cavs preseason, we went to a Navy base or an Army base in Dane, Ohio, and there was a place that was sectioned off that said like in construction. I remember I asked the gentleman there, I said, how long has it been construction for?

42:04He said, it's been there since I've been working. I said, how long have you been working there? He said, 20 years. I said, oh no, no, no, no. There's something there. So I definitely believe in UFOs. I definitely believe in aliens.

42:12Katie Miller:Did Jeffrey Epstein commit suicide?

42:16Katie Miller:Like I can go deep on conspiracy theories. Oh, old Jeffrey, huh? Did he commit suicide? Yeah. No, I didn't commit suicide. You think it's still an unsolved murder? Yeah. Is he the one in the body bag that's eventually buried? I don't think he's alive. Okay. I think he was murdered. Okay. I'm fair. What do you think? This is a very controversial take from me. I don't believe he committed suicide. I believe he's dead. He's definitely dead, but he was murdered. I believe he was murdered. Yeah. I believe the autopsy does not match. Yes. Yeah. I believe a lot of government documents were shredded. Of course.

42:56Katie Miller:So I think we'll never know the truth. Very sad. But I think someone knows the truth. Some people out there, I think there's some FBI agents somewhere who know the truth. And those who committed the crimes know the truth. Yeah. Sometimes when someone loves himself too much, they won't kill themselves. Where do you get your news? Ooh, where do I get my news? You know what? Scrolling on Twitter, I get a lot of my news right now. I think the kids call it X these days. Old Man Jenkins, I told you guys. But see, I'm a type of person, once I get hip to a certain name, I don't like changing it. So I guess, yeah, you guys call it, I still call it Twitter.

43:29Because you know what, that's where it first started for me. And I like it. The X is just like, it's just too like, too YN for me. Do you know what YN is?

43:39Katie Miller:No. That's what they call the young people right now. YNs. The young people? Yeah. Young people call themselves YNs. Okay. So like if you have like little cousins or niece and nephews that are like in their teens. I'm not hip enough for this then. Yeah. It's okay. No, I'm putting you on. I'm putting you on game right now. Okay. The YNs. They call it. Yeah. So they'll call it X. Yeah. What's the first app you open in the morning? Ooh. Does text messages count? Yeah. Okay. Probably my text messages. Signal? Text? What are we doing? XChat? Like, what do we got? No, we'll do iMessage. But, you know, Signal's definitely a good application as well.

44:14WhatsApp?

44:15Katie Miller:Discord? WhatsApp is good. No Discord. I like WhatsApp. WhatsApp is more international because when I'm talking to my partners and people I work with internationally, they use WhatsApp a lot. Signal's for my suit and tie friends. And then regular iMessage is just for, you know, my everyday tribe. When's the last time you've been to a grocery store? Ooh. A grocery store.

44:42Probably during COVID, because I wanted to grab a bottle of Whispering Angel because we were running longer. I get Whispering Angel. It was nice. It was a Saturday. We were running. I opened up the wine cellar, and I said, oh, gee, this is going to be an issue. So, yeah.

44:59Katie Miller:So what do you eat in a typical day? My typical day? What do you eat? What do I eat? I'm a very creature of habit. So chicken, rice, and veggie is what I eat. If you ask my chef, it's like, what does Tristan like? He'll say exactly. But we just like to dress it up different, whether we do it Indian, we do it Jamaican, we do it Italian. As long as it's chicken, rice, and veggie with my Jamaican hot sauce, I'm happy. What do you eat for breakfast? I only have breakfast on the weekends. because on the weekdays I cannot have breakfast because breakfast is too comforting for me. If I have breakfast, I don't want to do anything.

45:34I want to lay on my couch. I want to watch sports. I want to watch, binge watch something.

45:40Katie Miller:So do you have coffee then? Yes. Okay. Okay, vanilla latte, extra vanilla, and I have to have extra vanilla. I'm newly transitioning from hot chocolate as a kid. I used to drink hot chocolate with a straw to college chai tea latte and now I'm doing vanilla lattes. So I'm like, I'm transitioning to like the coffee world, but it's like it's baby steps. So you went from sugar to less sugar to more sugar. Yeah, but there's like coffee in it. So I just, I don't know where to sugar is, where to coffee. I'll work off the sugar. Perfect. What's your go-to comfort food? Go, oh, Jamaican food. Curry chicken, rice and peas, macaroni salad, which I make a bomb plate of that.

46:20Katie Miller:What's something you refuse to eat? Oh, I refuse to eat? Oh, oysters, clam, seafood that's not from Nobu. You don't like Nobu? No, only Nobu. Oh, you only like Nobu. Only eat seafood from Nobu. Okay. You have incredibly white teeth. I'm just going to say this. Thank you. What is the best, I would say, health or wellness thing you've done for yourself that you want to share with other people that they should also do? Health and wellness. I don't want to say plastic surgery because that's like too broad and too critical because that's not what I mean. It's like there are so many different things you can do to improve your body.

47:01Katie Miller:What would that thing be that you've tried? I mean, I guess right now everyone's talking about these peptides. I think that's. You do peptides too? Yeah. What are you doing? I mean, you know, GHK. One thing about me and then they're going to tell you, for some reason, us professional athletes, our biggest stick is like keeping our hair growing for as much as possible. So I do whatever I can to keep this hair growing and keeping it good. Really? You don't want to go bald? No, because the reality is, I'll tell you this. I'm 99th percentile in height. Okay. 99th percentile in wingspan. Okay. But the size of my head, I think it's like the 75th percentile.

47:38So I have a peanut head. And people don't notice it until I say it. If I had a regular 6 '10 head shape, I'd probably be 7 foot. But my head size is probably, I got it's like 6 '4", 6 '5". So I want to keep hair on my head for as long as possible. So because of me bald at this height with a small head, it's not going to look right. It's going to be very hard. I'm going to have to start wearing like the neo hats and it's just going to get a little rough.

48:03Katie Miller:If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Ooh, superpower, be able to like teleport. Because I would love to like just bring all my friends, just everyone hold my arms. And let's just go on vacation wherever we want to go. Okay. What's the best place to go on vacation? Ooh, depends on what time of the year. go each season we'll go summer first summer first I love Mykonos okay fall fall fall I would say New York because it's you know the weather's changing the leaves and my kids love Central Park winter winter Corsville spring spring I've never been okay but I would love to go to like Montana and like that area for the spring I would love it's very cosmopolitan answers of you really Yeah.

48:49Katie Miller:Is your phone in light or dark mode? I don't know. What does the dark mode look like? Oh, I'm in light mode. Okay. I'll show you dark mode after. I'm such a... You're going to change your phone to dark mode. Really? Yes. Once you go to dark mode, you never go back. Really? Yes. Is it hard on the eyes though? No, it's better on the eyes. Really? Much better. Okay. Especially for when you're like laying in bed reading. So much better. Okay. Okay. What's your biggest fear? Ooh. Biggest fear is waking up with a flamingo beside me. What? That's never going to happen, though. It's actually fear. I actually hate big birds with big beaks.

49:26Okay, but another fear of mine. That's actually a real fear.

49:30Katie Miller:It's just never going to happen, though, so it can't be real. You just never know as long as I play a game with me. And guys, don't even try this at home. I feel like the next thing you know, Chloe's going to bring a flamingo and put it by your bed. I swear to you, I will scream and I'll never sleep for like a year straight. I'm telling you guys right now don't bring no bird around me like I swear to you guys please for my own sanity I already struggled sleeping I already my biggest fear would be damn that's a good one my biggest fear would probably for my kids not like having them like I would love for my kids always to see like my whole journey like I want to like when they're old enough to really understand like have this conversation of like life in general like have this sit down of like this is how it started this is how it started like where your dad's at do you regret having anything on film in that case No, because I think the beauty is what I always say to people is that whether it's good, bad, negative, I think the beauty of anything and I think the thing that people respect, I think that's why I've gained a lot of respect from other people, is that, you know, we've all go through life and we've all made mistakes, but it's more like how you've grown from it.

50:34And I think when people sit down and talk to me in the conversation, they're like, man, like, like you're so like, you're not what I expect. And I actually like that, that form of compliment, because it's just like, we all go through life shit. And I think that just makes us, it makes us better. And to be honest, America loves a great comeback story.

50:50Katie Miller:What celebrity were you starstruck to have met? Starstruck to have met. Given that you've met a lot of people. Yeah, I've met a lot. I would say maybe not starstruck, but like very excited to meet would be President Obama and First Lady Michelle. Because I think my mom was there with me. She's won the championship. Funny enough, the same day we went to the White House visit was the same day President Trump actually flew to the White House for the first time. So I remember when President Obama was coming to speak to us, I saw President Trump and his team like walking like in the back halls to go wherever they were going to have a meeting.

51:27So probably.

51:28Katie Miller:So this is after the election? Yes, after the election. So this was like late November, early December time. 2016? Yeah, 2016. Who's a celebrity that you're close with that someone wouldn't expect? I would say probably Eric Trump. Yeah, I'm very close with Eric. He's been actually great for me. He's actually been like a very like big brother, mentor, been very welcoming. So that's just someone I would say, especially from, you know, the political government world that's really put his arm around me. Maybe, you know, you know, it's kind of helped motivate me to like want to dive into this realm a little bit more.

52:07Katie Miller:The Trump family has always been very gracious. Yeah. Very open. More than you think they would be. Yeah. And so I'm, you know, I love him for that. What celebrity has most surprised you when you met them if they were the person you thought they were? Oh, it's a good one. And it's actually like one of my like good friends now. I would say Mel B, Scary Spice. Just because, you know, me growing up as a kid, you know, I'm not going to lie. I bought the Spice Girl VHS. Of course, we know the song. so meeting her a few months back on Squid Games because she's one of the VIPs like myself I didn't know what to expect but looking at her as like a legend and like we connected so good and I think it was just like it almost felt like I've known her from a past life like we connected right away I remember like during our breaks we'd be sitting outside I'm in dress pants like this sitting outside and we're just chatting about like life and people and spiritual stuff so I would say Mel B and that's my good friend and love you Mel What's your ultimate hype song?

53:07Ultimate hype song. Ooh. Future March Madness. Okay.

53:13Katie Miller:We asked this at every single close. So congratulations, we made it to the end. How come you didn't ask me about, like, do I like cheeseburgers and stuff? Okay. I think we went through your favorite food. You said it was Jamaican food. Yeah, I did. I did. I gave you the option. You did not say if you like cheeseburgers. I've been thinking about cheeseburgers since coming in here. I've been thinking about cheeseburgers. So how much do you like a cheeseburger? you know i really like a cheeseburger because i was i went to this one restaurant last night le diplomate le diplomat it's like one of the famous dc places that everybody goes to yeah and they have the burger that resembles another burger spot in paris it looks very similar because like a french cuisine restaurant it is it's a french restaurant their onion soup is very good they do a very good bread um i really like their french fries they do a really good omelet i've clearly eaten there a lot.

53:59Yeah, I loved it. I had the onion soup, which was amazing. Very good.

54:02Katie Miller:Onion soup is my favorite food. It is? Yes. Yeah, it was my first time ever having it. Really? Yeah. I ordered on every single menu. I can tell you which one has a shitty one and which one has a good one. But see, that's the problem right there because I don't want to go to a restaurant and it's not, it doesn't taste like how it just tastes last night. No, there's some that do not have good onion soups. See, I can't take a chance. It's actually accurate. Oh, wow. Okay. Bourbon steak also in D.C. It's at the Four Seasons. I say that all the time with the NBA when we were in NBA. Yeah, they always have the NBA players together.

54:30They're the best three fries platter.

54:32Katie Miller:Yes. Yeah. It's Michael Mito's restaurant. Very good. Oh, really? Okay, yeah. It's really good. Their sauces are very good. Okay, so then what do you like on a cheeseburger? We'll keep going deep on cheeseburgers for a few minutes. Cheese. Okay. Jalapenos. What kind of cheese? American. Okay. Jalapeno. Hot sauce. Lettuce, tomatoes. Where's your current favorite cheeseburger from? Mmm. The Stand, out there in Calabasas, they have a really good one. People in, like, more busy in California, they love In-N-Out. It's okay. Yeah. But it's not my favorite. Yeah. What's your favorite restaurant in California?

55:09Mmm. Favorite restaurant? Nobu Malibu. I think it's because Nobu, but also it's about the water.

55:14Katie Miller:But not all Nobus are equally as good. That's why I said Nobu Malibu, specific. Where's your favorite restaurant in the continental United States? Carbone, New York. That's pretty good. Yeah. Will you ever buy a house again in Ohio? Definitely. I love Ohio. I love Ohio. Beautiful. I mean, won a championship there. That's part of my DNA. Were you predominantly living these days? I balance, I mean, I travel a lot, but majority of my time is in L.A. Do you think it's hard to fly from L.A. to other places just because it's so far in the time change? No, not at all. I mean, even coming here, it was a four-hour flight.

55:52It's very easy. It doesn't bother me. It was rough.

55:53Katie Miller:I just did it. Really? It was hard on it? Yeah. I mean, obviously, like, you're pregnant and stuff. Yeah. You don't need to be going through all that. You know? It was rough. For me, you know, just 250 of all this, just get on the plane. So if you could host a dinner party, three people, dead or alive, who's at the table, and what are you eating? So definitely my mom. Mommy would be there. I had my mom there. I would have three outside of me. So it's a table of four. Yeah. Right? Okay, so my mom, I would have Princess Diana, because I think my mom would want that. Okay. So now the next person would be for me.

56:34Who would I want? Hmm.

56:42Maybe, because all the people that are alive, I could probably have dinner with. So I'd say it'd be someone that I can't have dinner with. So they probably have passed away. Maybe I'm okay What are you eating? We're having Jamaican food So everyone's gonna have to figure it out

56:55Katie Miller:Surprise Yeah You're gonna have jerk chicken there Curry chicken White rice Rice and peas Hot sauce Macaroni salad Yeah Thank you for doing this Of course Kate Thank you for having me Thanks for joining this episode Of the Katie Miller Podcast Don't forget we're live Every Tuesday night at 6pm Everywhere you get your podcast See you next week

57:20you