Takes

LeBron James will sign with the Lakers

LeBron's going to sign with the Lakers. Paul George is going to stay in Oklahoma. No, I think playoff P is going to L.A.

History will remember Carmelo Anthony as someone who sucked, forgetting how good he actually was

Here's what's going to happen to Melo, which kind of sucks. Because Melo, I mean, all-time scorer... He's definitely going to play for a couple more years, and everyone's going to look back and be like, Melo sucked. They will not remember that Melo was very, very good.

Luka Doncic dominated the second best league in the world and will be very good

Luka Doncic, I think, will be very good. He dominated the Spanish League. That's the second best league in the world. He's 18 years old. He won the MVP of the Spanish League in his 18. That's pretty fucking good.

The best you will ever see Mo Bamba is the first time you lay eyes on him

Our friend Matt Jones from Kentucky Sports Radio... had a great line about Mo Bamba. He said the best... The best you'll ever see Mo Bamba is the first time you lay eyes on him. Because then from that moment on, you're like, wait, he can't really play basketball?

Luka Doncic is the best NBA prospect ever

I'm officially a Luka guy. I've never seen a second of film of him... I'm going to go with best prospect ever.

Wendell Carter Jr. is better than Marvin Bagley

We actually have Wendell Carter Jr. coming on Friday. I think he is better than Bagley.

LeBron James will not sign with the Houston Rockets because he hates the city

Houston is my hot seat because the word on the street from, directly from LeBron James' lips. During the season when they were in Houston, he hates Houston as a city... The strip malls? The congestion? When you pull up Google Maps and it's just a ring of red... I believe that he hates Houston. I'm taking them off. We're officially taking them off the Pardon My Take big board for LeBron.

LeBron James is signing with the Lakers now that Bronny has enrolled in an LA school

Gary Payton, recurring guest Gary Payton, is saying that LeBron, Bronnie Jr. has enrolled at a school, private school in L.A... My two favorite things about free agency... is school updates where the kids are going to go to school and then realtor updates. Who's looking for houses where?

The Warriors can play only 15 minutes of real basketball and beat anyone in the world

The Warriors can play 15 minutes of Warriors basketball and beat anyone in the world, and they just needed to be pushed a little. And even if you saw their body language going to that game six and seven in Western Conference rounds, they didn't care. They're like, yeah, we're going to still win.

Mikal Bridges will be the 'Donovan Mitchell' of the 2018 draft who steps in and doesn't miss a beat

I would say Mikal Bridges is the best that could probably step in and he's not going to be like as good as Jason Tatum or Donovan Mitchell probably. But, uh, I don't know. He can give you something like right away and you can like see, see it right away... that guy could jump on an NBA court right this second and not miss a beat.

LeBron James will NOT sign with the New York Knicks or Miami Heat

I am officially reporting lebron james will not be going to the new york knicks... I'm going to report that LeBron James will not be returning to the Miami Heat.

LeBron James will not join the Houston Rockets in free agency

By the way, I know it's one of the odds-on favorites for LeBron James, but do we want to just get real risky with it and say LeBron James not going to the Houston Rockets?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are dead

Today is Monday, June 4th and the Cleveland Cavaliers are dead. So, so dead.

Nothing short of injuries to Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant will allow the Cavs to win the series

When I say they're dead, I mean they could win a game, maybe even two games, but there's nothing short of like Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant both getting injured that would make the Cavs win this series.

The Cavs are going to get swept after J.R. Smith's Game 1 mistake

There's no recovery from that [J.R. Smith play]. None whatsoever. They're going to get swept.

LeBron James is breaking his social media blackout by using his wife's Instagram

LeBron James, who said he's not going on social media one time the entire playoffs... decided that after the Eastern Conference Finals that he was going to do an Instagram takeover on his wife's Instagram account, which to me seems like he was on social media and not focusing on the biggest series of his life.

Both NBA Conference Finals series are going to Game 7

We're going to have two Game 7s. I'm just going to say that right now. We're going to have two Game 7s. The Rockets are not dead. I think we're going to get two game sevens. I really do.

JR Smith is the most important player on the Cavaliers

J.R. Smith, whether he's shooting his threes or not, whether he's making threes or not, that's how the Cavs go. You can basically say that J.R. Smith is the most important player on the Cavs.

Brad Stevens struggles because he's too good to understand Ty Lue's bad coaching

I also think that Brad Stevens sometimes struggles coaching against such a bad coach. Ty Lue is such a bad coach, and Brad Stevens is such a good coach, that he can't put himself in the mind of a serial killer. He needs to just smoke a bunch of bath salts before drawing up a gameplay against Lou because you can't guess the weird moves that he's going to make.

The Warriors will still win the series against the Rockets

I still think the Warriors are going to win the series, but it's not because of a lack of analytics.

Charles Barkley would get his ass kicked by Draymond Green

Charles Barkley would get his ass kicked so bad by Draymond. Oh, so bad. So bad. He's not, like, so bad.

The Cavs will win Game 4 against the Celtics

I fully expect the Cavs to win game four as well. I think this series is gonna go seven because I do really think that like Kyle Korver and J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson they just need to be... sleeping in their own bed and then they can make shots.

I'm putting money on the Cavs to win the series now

I would say that if I'm a betting man, I'm putting money on the Cavs for the series now.

No one is beating the Golden State Warriors

The Celtics aren't going to be able to beat the Warriors. No one's beating the Warriors.

The Cavaliers will blowout the Celtics in Game 3

It's going to be a blowout in Cleveland. Yeah, by the Cavs. [Confident?] Yes.

LeBron James will not sign with the Utah Jazz in free agency

You heard it here first, on Pardon My Take, we are officially reporting LeBron James will not be signing with the Utah Jazz. Not enough wine out there.

LeBron James will not sign with the Orlando Magic in free agency

LeBron James also not going to sign with the Orlando Magic. Okay? I'm telling you, he has ruled it out. So please credit us.

I would trade Ben Simmons for Kawhi Leonard right now

I'd trade Ben Simmons for Kawhi. And I know Philadelphia won't like that because Ben Simmons is amazing until he faces the Celtics in the playoffs. But if you're giving me Joel Embiid for the next 10 years, LeBron for like three or four, Kawhi Leonard for like seven or eight, you can win three or four titles during that time.

Ben Simmons is playing like a rookie because he can't shoot

It's a real problem that [Ben Simmons] can't shoot. He's playing like a rookie. So this actually... I've changed my mind now. He is a rookie based on how he's been playing.

I will not pick against LeBron James in the Eastern Conference until he actually loses

Looming is LeBron James, who I'm happy that I'm on the right side of history on this one because there was a lot of talk that he was ripe for an upset in the East this year, and I'm firmly in the I'm not picking against LeBron in the East until he loses, until I watch him lose in the East because it seems like it will never happen.

LeBron James literally owns the entire nation of Canada and the city of Toronto

LeBron owns them. He literally owns the entire state of Canada and the city of Toronto.

Terry Rozier is going to get a massive contract

Terry Rozier's going to get paid. [He]'s still got two more years left on his deal, I think. Can you pay everyone? No.

The Toronto Raptors are the softest team I've ever watched

The Raptors are the softest team I've ever watched. And having Fred VanVleet take the game-winning shot in overtime, how do you have DeRozan and Lowry and you have these guys... they shrink in every big moment. They're so soft that they made Kevin Love look like the tough guy.

Russell Westbrook's style of play keeps a franchise hostage

The style of play [Westbrook] has kept your franchise hostage. And for the most part, you weren't going to win. And now we've watched this two years in a row. You're lying to yourself if you see the same approach in Game 6 and go, 'yeah, this will work.' One team has a guy that runs isolation, the team passes it the least of any team in the NBA. Which team would you rather play? Of course they're going to pick the first team, and that's who their team is.

Nobody around the NBA thinks Kawhi Leonard is returning to the Spurs

No one around the league thinks [Kawhi] is coming back. Nobody. And the belief is that, oh, yeah, Kawhi Spurs away, team first, not having any individual brand. They're tired of this stuff. If those are the real things and the real resentment there, then the Spurs thing does sound like it's over.

The Wizards core needs to be blown up

The Wizards need to be blown up. We said this on the show. That core does not work.

The Thunder are trash and are not legitimate competitors

I'm done with anyone talking about the Thunder. I said this pre-playoffs. I called this. I said they are trash, and I do not want to hear about the Thunder being any kind of, like, even close to a competitor.

The game on Wednesday could be LeBron James' last home game in Cleveland

Is Wednesday night LeBron's last home game in Cleveland? I just love doing the last home game in Cleveland. Watch. We're going to hopefully do it all playoffs if they win this series. But it's always the best to be like, ooh, this could be the last home game for LeBron in Cleveland.

The Pelicans are getting revenge on the Blazers because they took their hurricane logo personally

New Orleans saw that the Blazers have a hurricane as their logo, and they took it personally. And they're pissed off. Yep, they took all their angst out.

Kawhi Leonard will never play another game for the San Antonio Spurs

Kawhi's never playing another game for the San Antonio Spurs. I don't know... I really don't think so... The fact that he's not even speaking to anyone, it seems like he's not speaking to anyone on the Spurs... I don't think he's ever playing another game for the Spurs.

Ben Simmons is a rookie

He didn't play one game [his first year]? Then he's a rookie. I mean, you didn't do anything on the court to gain any experience or stuff. I think he's a rookie.

The OKC Thunder are not a super team and Carmelo Anthony is trash

I do not give a fuck about the Oklahoma City Thunder. I do not care that they have three quote-unquote superstars because Melo is trash. Paul George and Russ Westbrook are still very, very good, but they are not going to beat anyone. Even if they win their first series, they're not going to do anything. It's like this thing that happens to everyone's brain where they see a couple of splashy names on a team together and they say super team. They don't let them get in a series. They could beat anyone. They could not beat anyone. They're not good.

Carmelo Anthony stinks as an NBA player

Can we, as like a society, just agree that we're not going to believe the bullshit hype with the Thunder? Melo stinks. I watched him play. All he does is run up and down. He runs three-point line to three-point line, and he doesn't play any defense, and he doesn't really move on offense, and he bricks shots. He stinks.

The Rockets and Raptors are frauds until they win a big game

These playoffs are the 'we don't actually believe in these teams' playoffs because everyone's talking about the Rockets, everyone's talking about the Raptors, and I don't believe in either of those teams until they actually win a big game, and neither of them are going to do it.

The 2018 Cavaliers have the least margin for error of any LeBron James team

I would say this year's Cavaliers have the least margin for error of any of [LeBron's] Cavaliers teams since he came back. And, you know, if Kevin Love gets hurt again somehow during this playoff run or if something bad happens like that to that team, there's no soft landing.

The Pacers will be a much harder first-round challenge for Cleveland than people think

Right now, as we have this conversation, the Pacers are matched up against the Cavaliers. I think that series is actually going to be harder for Cleveland than other people might think. The Pacers are legit tough this year.

Eastern Conference NBA teams that wear red will lose early in the playoffs

Eastern Conference teams that wear red lose early in the playoffs. So I guess this year it would just be the Raptors, the Heat, and the Wizards are all going to lose very early on.

Joel Embiid was high post-surgery based on his Villanova tweets

Joel Embiid who apparently after he broke his face he's been tweeting... oh yeah he's probably been high. Very high. Some of the tweets he had during the game was, 'Man, am I high?' I guess that's confirmed.

The Sixers are easy to guard in the playoffs because Ben Simmons can't shoot

Ben Simmons can't shoot, so if you just take them out of his hands, it's a lot easier to guard a team with four players instead of five.

The Warriors' greatness allows them to openly disrespect the rest of the league

I love any team that reaches that level of greatness where they can blatantly just spit in your face and say, you're not going to beat us... We get drunk. We can skip games. We skip practices. This is all just a formality for us because when it comes to the playoffs, we're going to kick your ass.