Takes

Arturas Karnisovas was definitively the worst General Manager in the NBA during his Bulls tenure.

AK [Arturas Karnisovas] was one of, if not no, he was definitely the worst GM right now in the NBA. That's, I think that's actually, you can't dispute that fact. The moves that were made... absolute disaster of a front office. Terrible at scouting, terrible at trades, terrible at timing.

The Chicago Bulls should offer Sam Presti ownership stakes to get him to run the team.

The Bulls should go out and try to say, Sam Presti, here's any amount of money. You name the number. Give him ownership. Just spend it and make a team good. I just cannot understand if I owned a team, I would spend all my money in hiring the smartest guys to do everything.

Geno Auriemma is the biggest baby ever for his reaction to the 2026 Final Four loss

I don't think there's ever been a bigger baby ever than Geno. Everything he tried to say in the press conference was just immediately refuted to be false — Dawn Staley didn't shake my hand at the beginning of the game. Yes, she did. Sarah Strong got her jersey ripped. No, she ripped it herself.

The NBA regular season is currently the worst product in sports

Can I say about the NBA... I think that the NBA has never been worse in terms of regular season. It's an absolute joke. Friday, every single team was playing like a tanking team was playing a playoff team and none of the games were close. The regular season NBA is like the worst product. It just sucks.

Dawn Staley's post-loss quote — 'I can swallow the loss because we lost to a really good human being' — is the biggest loser quote ever heard

That is maybe the biggest loser quote that I've ever heard. And she's a great coach. 'I can swallow the loss because we lost to a really good human being and a good team.' She's still thinking about Geno.

Danny Hurley will be the best bald coach in sports history if he wins a third championship

I think that would make Danny Hurley the best bald coach in sports history. The only other option could be Red Auerbach, but he wasn't bald for his entire career. I think right now he's already on the Mount Rushmore of bald head coaches. But if he wins a third, that puts you in rarefied air.

Referee Roger Ayers is one of the greatest officials of all time

Roger's like very playful. I mean, listen, the guy is, he's one of the greatest refs ever. You know, like the guy don't, he don't mess up a lot of calls.

Dennis Rodman is a role player because anyone who isn't a 30-point-per-game scorer is a role player

I would say [Dennis Rodman] is. But like, it's like, I think anybody who's not a 30 point a game scorer, you know, like the 20 to 30 like takes most of the shots is pretty much a role player.

The NBA Cup would be better if the higher-seeded teams hosted home games throughout the bracket instead of playing at a neutral site in Vegas

I think it would be much better if they just did it like playoff series where they just had whatever the tiebreakers are and just have the better team, whatever team is ranked higher, host the game all the way. Maybe the championship you do neutral site... but like leading up to it, the best games in the cup are the games that lead up to Vegas.

If an NBA player knows they are getting ejected, they should go all in and get their money's worth of shouting at the ref

Lou [Dort] would've, but he thought he wasn't gonna get ejected and then he got ejected so he didn't get his money's worth. That's like, that's like NBA rule number one. Like if you know you're gonna get ejected or you know you're gonna get like a second tech, you just, yeah, you go all in. You make it worth it.

Winning a Thunder NBA championship and appearing on the Pardon My Take book cover are more significant than winning the NBA Cup or the 2020 Bubble title

I think it goes: Thunder championship, book cover, NBA Cup second place, NBA Cup third place, and then the bubble championship. [74 in Tahoe] is up above the cup games. People gotta talk about it more.

The Sixers are a bad team that loses every game Joel Embiid doesn't play

The Sixers suck. The Sixers are a bad team. Embiid's not playing. They lose—the Sixers are back to losing every game that Embiid doesn't play.

Triple Double Cocaine Bear is the greatest nickname in sports history

The best part, in my opinion, was the nickname that [Kevin Durant] gave to Westbrook. Called him Triple Double Cocaine Bear, which is the best nickname that I've ever heard.

NBA owners should be forced to sell their team if they win fewer than 20 games for three straight years

What they need to do for all sports is if you don't reach a certain level of win percentage in consecutive years, you have to sell the team. Which that would be awesome too. If you win less than 20 games in the NBA for three years straight, you should have to sell the team.

Basketball should be moved to the Winter Olympics to give fans something to care about

I feel like the basketball should be a winter Olympic sport. It should just to get us another gold. It should give us something to care about during the Winter Olympics.

LeBron James is the face of the NBA until the day he retires

As long as LeBron's in the league, LeBron is not only the face of the league, but definitely has a weighted opinion on basketball... LeBron is the face of the league until he is no longer in the league.

Getting mad at the NBA All-Star Game is as boring as the game itself

I hate the All Star game a lot... It's just, I don't get mad at it though. Like, it's for kids, it's kind of fun... Why would you get mad about I wish the Allstar game were competitive... I actually think getting mad at the Allstar game is, is as boring as the game itself.

The Bulls mistimed every single trade during their rebuild

The Bulls traded everyone when the players were at their worst value. Like they, they mistimed every single trade. And this is going back to [Alex] Caruso, [Zach] LaVine, [Nikola] Vucevic... They basically were like, Hey, what would be the smartest time to trade 'em? Let's wait a year and then trade 'em.

James Harden is a first-ballot 'I gotta take care of me first' Hall of Famer.

James Harden is, I'll say this about James Harden. He is maybe first ballot hall of fame. I gotta take care of me first guy, wouldn't you say? He's always like, Hey, what can I do for James Harden?

Matthew Dellavedova stinks and has zero athleticism

I have a ton of respect for Deli. 'cause he's so, so hard-nosed, but like both things can be true. Like I can have a ton of respect for him and he stink... The man was like guarding the hell outta Steph Curry... He has zero athleticism.

I have a top-five basketball IQ in the NBA

I definitely 1000% have a top five basketball IQ in the NBA for sure... Myself, [LeBron], Joker... Chris Paul... and Luca.

There will never be another player in NBA history who is guarded as heavily or uniquely as Steph Curry.

There will never be a player guarded like that again. The NBA has never seen it and will never see it again. That's why when everybody's complaining about yo, like why are they grabbing him like that? ... But this is the first time they've ever seen that. It's not as easy to referee as people think it is.

Steve Kerr's offensive system, not just the individual talent, is primarily responsible for changing how the game is played.

He's the one that brought the offensive style that changed the way the game is played... he then came in and brought a system that created that. No one speaks about that. It's always like, oh man, like Steph's the greatest shooter ever... but how did Steph end up in that offense? So who, who, who did that?

The 'know-how' of winning a championship is the most underrated factor in NBA success, and it's why the Warriors won in 2022.

One of the most underrated things about winning a championship... is the knowhow. In 2022 We won because we just knew how. We knew how to do it. That is one of the most underrated things... it is the most underrated thing when coming to winning a championship.

The best basketball game plan for a team that can't shoot is to stop shooting and hunt for the double bonus

The point of me saying to the guys don't shoot is we needed to get in the double bonus because we suck at shooting. Nicki Smokes just decided to take the game into his own hands... If we had double bonus, we probably would've won the game. We'd had two shots at every single one of them.

Anthony Edwards is already the face of the NBA, not just the 'future' face

Anthony Edwards is awesome. At what point is Anthony Edwards—can we just say he's the face of the league? I mean, he dropped a 55 piece... dropping 26 in the fourth. Future face, future face—no, at what point is he just it?

The Trae Young trade to the Wizards is the ultimate 'NBA trade' because it has nothing to do with winning basketball games

It was the most NBA trade of all time. Oh yeah. Because neither team is doing this trade to win a title. No, they're not even really doing it to get better at basketball. They're just shuffling guys. They're like, here you take this guy because your spreadsheet could use a guy with that number next to it... nothing happens the whole time.

Jalen Brown was snubbed from Eastern Conference Player of the Month

My who's back is Jalen Brown. He was snubbed from Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December. He was statistically better than Jalen Brunson. We don't need to get into [it]... but what I loved about it is that he was vocal about it. He was like, 'this is bullshit.'

It is hypocritical for LeBron James to complain about playing on Christmas after doing it for 20 years

LeBron's been playing on Christmas for 20 years. Like, what are you talking about? Now, you're upset? I should [mention] though... Christmas Day [games] are ruined now because they don't play defense in the league.

Steve Kerr is failing to properly develop young Warriors talent like Quentin Post and Quinten Post

I really don't know even that much about the Warriors, but I'm a big fan... I would understand that developing young talent is the thing... Quentin Post is a really good center and he's beginning to show it. I hope he's showing it enough that we don't just put him out for a trade.

The Warriors should trade for Domantas Sabonis because his 'nasty' style would benefit the team

We could get [Domantas] Sabonis. And Sabonis would be, he would be a nasty piece of business because I hate watching that guy play basketball. I can't stand it. He's always just poking and picking at people. I want him poking and picking on our team.

The NBA Cup means nothing to me

I'm excited to watch the game. I just don't care who the NBA cup means nothing to me. ... There's no way you'll be able to be like, oh yeah, 2025. That was the year the Spurs won the NBA cup.

The future of the NBA is in Victor Wembanyama and Sam Presti's hands

I would say the future of basketball's in [Wembanyama] and Sam Presti's hands. ... The Thunder are also in Dodger land. They are in Dodger land. ... Which is insane 'cause they're doing it with a cat.

Victor Wembanyama is an unsolvable problem because you cannot design a system to stop him

Wemby is a problem. You can't design a system to keep the ball away from Wemby. You can't design a system to effectively attack the paint when Wemby's standing there. He's so, so fun to watch.

Chris Paul being a dickhead in his 20th season is actually a credit to his accountability

In his 20th year in the league at his age, he was still being like, 'Hey guys, we gotta be accountable.' Because I would think that if you're doing a farewell tour... I'm gonna chill with the boys. He was still being dickhead Chris Paul. It's more of a credit to Chris Paul.

I do not believe Giannis Antetokounmpo faked his calf injury to force a trade.

I don't think that [Giannis Antetokounmpo] faked the injury. ... I think he actually hurt himself. I do too. I don't think that he looked bummed when he got hurt. ... It's unfortunate timing, but yeah, the report came out yesterday that he was actively exploring other options.

LeBron James is officially in his stat-padding era

My Cool Throne is LeBron because congratulations to LeBron. He kept his streak alive of scoring 10 games, which is a totally made up streak... Can we just admit that LeBron's in his stat padding time, like it's fine. It's fine.

Chemistry is the most underrated aspect of sports

Something very underrated about sports in general. People always underestimate chemistry. You know, we could talk about stats and the star player and this and that, but when you enjoy playing with somebody, I think those guys look, there's eight guys scoring 10 points on the bulls.

Zion Williamson looks fantastic after completing the 'Luca diet' and losing significant weight

Zion Williamson has completed the Luca diet and looks like he lost an entire Zion. He looks fantastic.

LeBron James is only playing another season to avoid retiring in the same year as Chris Paul

I think the only reason he is not gonna play, or he is gonna play another year is 'cause Chris Paul's gonna retire. He doesn't wanna retire the same year as Chris Paul because Chris Paul would overshadow his retirement.

Paige Bueckers will be better than Caitlin Clark in the WNBA

I said when she was a senior or her last year at UConn. She's gonna be better than Caitlin Clark... I think she's a better team player than Caitlin Clark. I think that she's a better winner than Caitlin Clark.

Obama calls 'bullshit fouls' in pickup basketball

I heard from someone that's hooped with him [Obama]... I heard that He calls bullshit fouls... In pickup. It is Mark against his person. No, absolutely... Weak ass fouls and pick up basketball.

LeBron winning in the bubble didn't feel the same as a real title

When we won, won in the bubble. I've said this before, but like, I like looked into my heart like 30 seconds later I was like, it doesn't feel the same with him [LeBron]. Yeah. It really doesn't feel the same with him.

LeBron James is the undisputed GOAT and the only person on my NBA Mount Rushmore

Oh, well it's LeBron, LeBron, LeBron and LeBron.

The Celtics should give Joe Mazzulla a job for life

Signed a multi-year extension back with the Celtics. They should just give him a job for life.

Nikola Jokic cares more about his horses winning than winning NBA championships

It was abundantly clear that [Jokic] cares more about his horse winning races than he does about winning NBA championships.

TJ McConnell is the literal definition of grit

When I see grit, I think about TJ McConnell, like, just like that dude gives you everything he's got. And that's all you can ask for any player.

Moses Malone is the most important person in my career

Moses Malone's the most important person in my career. 'cause he made me lose 50 pounds. I didn't realize I was fat and lazy until he told me... if it wasn't for him constructively criticizing me... I wouldn't have had the career I had.

WNBA team salary caps should be increased to $3 million

I happen to agree with the shirt because I went gut check 1.5 million feels too low. It does feel like we've been talking about them more in the past 18 months. I feel like that should be like 3 million. I don't know that, that sounds like a good deal.

Alex Caruso officially has two championships because the NBA Bubble title counts

One's the lowest. That's the baseline one's the lowest. Yeah. He's got two. Oh yeah. Bubble two is two. Hell yeah. I count the bubble.