Hour 3: Aaron Rodgers’ Retirement News, plus ESPN’s Shams Charania and O’Shea Jackson Jr.

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1:06Rich Eisen:Your summer starts now with Memorial Day deals at The Home Depot. It's time to fire up summer cookouts with the Nex Grill 4-Burner Gas Grill on special buy for only$199. And entertain all season with the Hampton Bay West Grove 7-Piece Outdoor Dining Set for only$499. This Memorial Day, get low prices guaranteed at the Home Depot. While supplies last, price invalid May 14th through May 27th. U.S. only exclusions apply. See homedepot.com slash price match for details. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere.

1:45Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. So please, welcome the greatest performer ever to have graced this earth. Rich Eisen. We are back, baby. We are back! Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show. ESPN NBA Insider, Sham Sharania ESPN NBA Analyst, Tim Ligler Coming up, your phone calls, latest news, and more And now, it's Rich Eisen

2:37Rich Eisen:Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air Right here on Disney +, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM, Channel 80 O'Shea Jackson Jr. is going to be joining us in studio in just a matter of moments No contest wrestling with TJ Jefferson and O'Shea. And Booker T is the guest coming up later on for your viewing and listening pleasure. Five time, five time, five time, five time, five time. WCW champion. Ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, Booker T is going to be joining those two gents. By Zoom. He won't be in studio. Oh, very good. Thank you for that information. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial here on the program.

3:13Rich Eisen:Joining us now to talk about everything going on in the NBA is a man who's reporting is so good. Amazon refuses to deliver anything to his house.

3:27Could you imagine?

3:29Rich Eisen:Are they boycotting you now, Shams? I don't know if that would be wise, but you never know. You never know. Your reporting is just too damn good, man. um what what are you hearing from uh from the spurs about you know anything to put more meat on the bones of victor wemba and yana's response about feeling snubbed like this is that's real right that's real right yeah that's real that's why you know you think about how big of a of a deal a big of a story on its face just she goes alexander winning back-to-back mvp awards on on in space alone that's a massive story 14th player ever to do so you look at his numbers over the course of the last uh year uh especially this season um i mean he's in a rarefied area he's in the same category as michael jordan uh back-to-back mvp's first guard since steph curry first back-to-back mvp since nicola yokich but just what he's done year after year since he's been in oklahoma city is rise it's a massive story in and of itself but i think the other dual component to it is the competitive motivation factor that it has undoubtedly for a guy like Victor Romanyama.

4:44Anyone that knows Victor Romanyama, he's as focused, as driven of a young star as we've seen come into the league. I think Cooper Flagg is very similar in that mold as far as just genuine focus on basketball, being great and hating to lose and trying to be great and amazing at all costs. And there's a few other players in the league we can go on. Anthony Edwards I think you can put right up there you know Luka Doncic is someone that's been a high level competitor as well but Vigoro Nyama is just a different type of specimen and force and you know when I heard confirmed you know hard old that Shea Giles Alexander was MVP it's a story and it's an even bigger story going into this Western Conference Finals because you know on the other side and it's been confirmed in the aftermath of game one how to heart start Wemby took not getting MVP and Shea winning it yeah you could see it right and he's not even

5:44Rich Eisen:voicing it but I to me this is a fascinating part of the story Shams is this burning desire that this guy has um just to repeat what I've been saying over the last two hours here we knew coming in hey you've never seen anybody like him when he started you know when he came to America and we writ large as Basketball America were introduced to him. You've never seen anybody handle it like him at his size. You've never seen anybody shoot it like him at this size. Defensively, he's going to be potentially lights out. It's the burning stuff inside. Do you have any good story that you've heard about that could, you know, bring more to light about that part of Victor Wambanyama?

6:26Rich Eisen:Shams? That's how everyone around him has known him, is just how focused and how driven he is. I mean, but he's also like he's not like he's not interested necessarily in some of the lifestyle components that come with being in the NBA or making a ton of money or being famous. Right. Like his interest. Ramona Shelburne put up a great story today on ESPN. Very well researched. Well reported. I need to read the whole thing. I've seen different parts of it. But this is a dude that is fascinated by, obviously, we know his lifestyle with the Monks last summer and training with Hakeem Olajuwon and spending time with Kevin Garnett and picking Kevin Garnett's mind.

7:03He had weeks of just self-growth last offseason. There was no bones to pick with how he wanted to handle this summer. It's like, a few weeks I'm going to spend in Asia. One week I'm going to spend in LA with Kevin Garnett. Another four or five days I'm going to spend with Hakeem Olajuwon in Houston. Then I'm going to go back to San Antonio and do XYZ. He has everything so mapped out and it's all very productive to the final task. But he's someone that will geek out, nerd out, enjoy, have fun with stuff like NASA and outer space. And legitimately, maybe he is researching aliens. He might be researching himself.

7:46I don't know. But he is, you know, he's as unique and as different. And, you know, I have been around that orbit with him a little bit since, I mean, he was like 16, 17 years old in the back of a car of one of his agents driving him around in France. And I remember his agent at one point was like, hey, this kid Victor sitting in the back, he's going to be the best player in the world one day. And at the time he was like 16 years old, you know, so this is someone who people that have known him have scouted him have felt like he's going to be that next thing. The only thing a player of that size, that height is is just the health.

8:29Right. And obviously it was unfortunate. He had the blood clot last year, but he's been for the most. He missed a few weeks with with a calf strain in December. But for the most part, he hit the 65 game quota. first unanimous defensive player of the year award winner and that organization in san antonio i don't know if there's a better organization for him to just pop into his you know as a number one overall pick they're going to be as guarded and as as sharp and as focused on his development and

8:56Rich Eisen:his health as any organization in the league well in that respect before we move on shams charani here we're on the rich eisen show any insight on what the pop wambanyama summit on the tarmac after his ejection in the previous series was about do you have any insight any reporting on what what was said here at all rich that to me looks like a very classic pop wendy moment we have to remember greg popovich is still uh very much a part of spurs operations he is the like i when i broke last summer that he was no longer the head coach it was like yeah he's no longer that coach but he's the president of basketball operations of this team.

9:35Like he is the decision maker, Brian, right? Their general manager, he does everything on a day-to-day level. He's been the one making the draft picks. He's the one that's been making the trades and the acquisitions, but you know, RC Buford, the CEO, Greg Popovich, uh, as head coach for all those years. Now he's the president. Those guys are the hierarchy of this organization. Those guys are the, the godfathers of this organization. and honestly the way I look at the Spurs right now is like you have the pop RC relationship to me but the Spurs what the Spurs are trying to emulate now is the same thing with the next people up and that's Brian Wright as general manager and Mitch Johnson as the head coach where this is not just for a two three four year shelf life like they want to have the same grandfathered uh dual partnership for years and years to come and that obviously starts from pop and then rc buford and

10:31Rich Eisen:then trickles down yeah i i'm not going to rest until i find out the exact conversation that they had i'm so fascinated by it man if i if you don't mind me tasking you to do something i'm you know what next time i'm on with you rich uh i'm on that i'd love to know because again um the the uh the performances that uh victor wimbanyama's had since that conversation um have resulted in this exact conversation that you and I are having. Well, I'll say him even, you know, having to elbow Nas Reed, I think a lot of it was like he really feels like, you know, and I think there's a gripe around the Spurs is like people really are physical with him or increasingly physical with him.

11:11And, you know, him being able to, you know, on that play, he probably got fouled a couple of times. Then he just obviously swung his elbow and then got ejected. And so, you know, a lot of, I think that Johnson even said,

11:23Rich Eisen:like standing up for himself yeah i mean you could see um him being fouled in that photograph we just showed you know as he's the one throwing the elbow shamsharani are here on the rich eisen show so uh by the way i'm writing it down right now thank you find out when we come there you go making notes from our conversation i greatly appreciate that so um is it true oklahoma city's trying to trade up i mean because i i understand we're in the crucible of the playoffs right now but drafts right around the corner. In the same way that you're saying the Spurs seem to be set forever with their command and control structure, you could say the same thing about Oklahoma City, which is another fascinating part about this series that's playing out right now.

12:02Rich Eisen:But what do you got on that front, Shams? Yeah, I mean, the Thunder yearly have multiple first-round picks, multiple second-round picks in every draft. I mean, knowing how the Thunder have operated, talking to other teams about how they operate, they keep all options open. something like trading up or trading like these things don't necessarily really happen until we're on draft night you have to see who's available on the board i mean it this the thunder have routinely you know every year every couple years they'll make a move where they move up because they like someone you know at at you know let's say you know they have the number 12th pick i think in this year's draft like if they like someone at 10 or 9 or 8 and they can move up like they'll look at doing that or even 11 even moving up one spot so um i think the thunder sam prestey his his front office they they've kept their their optionality um you know as we get closer to draft night okay and um there's no question who's number one overall and that he wants to play for the wizards any any questions there shams on that front i think there's a lot of questions about the top of this draft and from Washington, Utah, Memphis, Chicago.

13:12I think there's a feel of who is generally in that mix. AJ DeBaza, Darren Peterson, Caleb Wilson, Cam Boozer. But I think the order is still very much up in the air. I think that Washington at number one, knowing that for an office, they're going to consider three, four, five players for that spot. I think Utah at number two is going to consider four or five people for that number two spot. So this is a draft where I think we could see, I don't know if surprise is the right word, but if Darren Peterson goes number one, is that going to surprise people?

13:47Rich Eisen:I don't think so either. I don't think so either. And that would be obviously for a few weeks down the road and then comes free agency. If you had a list, let's just say LeBron has a list of where he'd like to play next year and Giannis has a list of where he'd like to play next year and we put one on top of the other would they overlap do you think completely Shams what do you think I I don't necessarily think that the Giannis and LeBron uh situations are are intertwined okay you know Giannis's situation has been playing out for now we're at 12 months by the time you know assuming he is traded and right now this is so rich this is where everything is at the milwaukee bucks are officially open for business they are engaging with teams they're talking to teams they're getting teams best offers between now and the nba draft and they will make a decision the biggest point that you need to know in all this rich is janice for a period of months has made it clear to the bucks to the parties that need to know that he is ready he believes the time has come for both sides to part ways to move on from each other and what i've learned since jimmy asem came out and said listen it's going to be either he's going to commit to an extension in june or we're going to trade him in june is that nothing has changed about his stance and so that would lead you to believe that the bucks will then obviously seriously consider these offers that they are officially open for business for and you know you're going to see teams like miami Minnesota, Boston.

15:28The Lakers will be, you know, the Lakers express interest in Giannis at the deadline. Right now, what they'll be able to offer is three first-round picks in cap space and essentially absorb Giannis' contract. Now, if you're the Bucs, are you just going to trade Giannis to the Lakers for cap space for three first-round picks? Like, my sense is they're going to get better in the marketplace than that. I think there's a bigger appetite than that. And so time will tell. We'll know in the next six weeks. But LeBron's future is a little bit different because LeBron is 41 years old, just finished his 23rd season.

16:07He's going to take the next few weeks to figure out exactly how he wants potentially his final year to play out. All the indications I've gotten over the course of years that he's going to play one more season. The where, the how much of it all, that's all obviously going to be a factor. Is it going to be LA? That's got to be probably his preference if he wants to be home. And, you know, as far as where his home base is now, and the Lakers have made it clear that they want him back. And so we'll see how that mutual potential interest culminates over the next month or so. But the one thing I do know is that multiple contenders are already kind of circling here.

16:43Like if LeBron is really going to hit the open market and decide and have a true free agency, he's not going to have a shortage of teams that feel like, listen, we'll go get LeBron. will plug him in as they're starting power forward or small forward and like let's go try to win a

16:57Rich Eisen:ring and when you say the lakers are interested in yannis and have indicated their interest in yannis prior um and it would require just draft choices in their mind and cap space does that mean lebron is on the team too because that would overlap the yannis and lebron situations would overlap then maybe not the list of where they want to go but yeah right theoretically theoretically But again, I do think when you look at the best of the options that Milwaukee could get, you know, I think there's there's other other avenues potentially there. But certainly, I mean, if in the world that he would end up there, yeah, their worlds would be intertwined in a way.

17:38Rich Eisen:OK. And last one for you. Why did Jason Kidd get fired or not renewed or mutual parting? Sorry. Yeah, I saw the mutual part. Jason Kidd was let go as the head coach. He was fired as head coach. He's on the hook for four years,$45 million. The Mavs will pay him out on that unless he gets a coaching job somewhere else and that there will be some kind of an offset. But this is Masai Ujiri, the new team president and alternate governor, coming in and implementing a totally fresh start. And all the residue of the Luka Doncic trade over the last seven months, Nico Harrison fired. Anthony Davis traded for salaries and a few draft picks.

18:24Jason Kidd fired. And conversations that Masai Ujiri's had, ownerships had, the research and the information gathering that they've done in the lead up to this, it's unquestionably a part of it that Jason Kidd had a level of support for the Luka Doncic trade. But even beyond that, my understanding is, is, you know, the environment, the culture that's been developed over the last year. So Masai Ujiri just wanted a clean slate from it. And that's what he did. That's what he started his implementation for. And everyone now knows there's a new sheriff in town. It's Masai Ujiri. And I think moving forward, you're going to see a comprehensive coaching search.

19:04and Masai Ujiri will find who he feels will be his best long-term coach and partner for him.

19:11Rich Eisen:Shams, I really appreciate it, man. It's been too long. So just to recap, you have some homework from me, right? Find out what Pop was saying to Victor Wambanyama on the tarmac. Yep, yep, yep. All right? And in response, if you do that, you come on here and you tell us what he said. You can have my Prime Video password. and you know fair trade you know for for what for for like a week something like that you get whatever you want a couple of weeks man weeks you know i'm there for you so i'm drinking this down was actually i actually did go to brunch that day that's that's you know that's the crazy part you know it's like you can't you can't break news and go to brunch like i'm a man of many many talents you know i can i can go to brunch and they're dogging you for even going to brunch Brunch is fantastic.

20:01Brunch and breaking. You're great. You can't break news on an empty stomach. Come on. You're brunch and news breaking. Let's see Schefter try that. Well, what people know about me is I love lunch. So, you know, by going to brunch, I kind of cheated on lunch. Okay. But, you know. Okay, understood. Yeah. Shams, are you writing this down, though? You remember? No, he's got it. He's got it. It's okay. It's still trapped. It's very easy. It's up there. It's still trapped. The man can brunch and break.

20:22Rich Eisen:You think he can't listen and remember? Thanks, Shams. Appreciate it. Shams. We'll have you back on soon as thank you. It's nice of an offer. I mean, I'm there for him. One week, though. He's there for me. How are you only giving up for a week? Although, if he does get that information and he goes on another show to break it, then I'm like Amazon. Yeah. Then I got to turn my back. Turn your back. Like, he's supposed to. He works for ESPN covering the NBA. he finds out this information he's supposed to sit on it because Amazon is going to break it? Yeah. Okay. That's not how this works. And I love the Amazon people.

21:09Rich Eisen:Of course. Am I reading it right? Exactly. You know what I mean? And I get, you know, there are some times where I'll just throw caution to the wind and get it sooner to me for an extra dollar. You know? Gotta have a day early. That's big baller style right there. Yeah, I appreciate you noticing that. I mean, you've got your name on mugs. Ladies and gentlemen, coming up next, O'Shea Jackson Jr. Oh, yeah. We actually got him out of his house. He's over here. He's here. Oh, he's right there. Ladies and gentlemen. When did that happen? He walked in behind you. Come on over, sit down while I tell you about the Hyundai Palisade, the all-new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid.

21:47Rich Eisen:You can make every day feel epic in that all-new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid with up to an EPA estimated 619 miles of range on select trims, advanced tech, and class-leading interior space. Because when you're hauling kids, gears, snacks, and backpacks, space matters. And so does comfort. Just make sure they keep their cleats off the seats. The all-new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for details. I'm not a liar. Oche Jackson Jr. is literally sitting in the seat. Oh, he's put on his... That was very Caruso-like. You put on the classic. Yeah! Very CSI Miami. Except I'm a win.

22:25Rich Eisen:Okay. We take a break. We're back with O'Shea Jackson Jr. The rest of the way here on this fun Wednesday.

22:34Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

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