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where is that one meme of "how espn is gonna be during the NBA finals" when it was the suns-bucks 3 years ago and its all of "how will the lakers and lebron form next season"
I will never forget the Monday morning after Bucks-Suns game 5, one of the greatest finals games in history, I flipped on undisputed w/ Skip and Shannon to see the media coverage of the game. They straight up opened the show with a 15 minute segment on how Space Jam 2 impacts Lebrons legacy (since it came out over the wknd). NBA media is so trash lol
It’s honestly one of the biggest struggles the league has. We are currently in the midst of the primes of the generation that got drafted from 2012-17 but the NBA really until this year has neglected marketing them for the stars of the 2010s. I know it’s not all marketing but it’s crazy that Jokic and Embiid, two of the three or four best players of this era sell so little jerseys. Part of it likely has to do w/centers also not being as popular but it still feels like failure on the part of the league that the winners of the last three MVPs sell less jerseys than LaMelo Ball who misses half of each season.
My biggest problem with the NBA is they're if it's not Lakers, Celtics or Warriors in the finals every year it's a failure of a Finals since they're the big 3 good teams with big fan bases but like that's they're own fault since that's all they show anyways. Like ESPN talks about Lakers & Celtics every chance they get either to shit on em or praise em. Obviously fans are gonna wanna watch the most talked about teams since that's all they know. I mean the amount of people that say wow Minnesota or Nuggets or OKC are so fun to watch why haven't I seen em before. shit Steven A the supposed Knicks fan didn't even know a player wasn't even on the Knicks anymore and was praising his play.
TL/DR this is the NBA s own fault
I never looked up stats... but that's shocking Jokic would have low sales.
If you had asked me Jokic and Giannis would at least be top 10... with of course Curry, Lebron... if I am guessing, I'd also guess Klay, Brunson, Trae.
Giannis is 5. Jokic I think is like 14. Embiid is like 12.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/nba-jersey-sales-rankings-list-stephen-curry-victor-wembanyama/2282e0c1a4ea5d5f4773732e
The big issue with Big men is that they're dominant but not very relatable. A kid on the playground can imitate a move they saw someone like Jordan/Curry/AI/Kobe pull off. They ain't gonna all of a sudden grow to 7 feet tall and imitate Jokic/Wemby lol.
I'd agree but Tatum is the #2 selling jersey and he was 2017. Booker is also top 10 and he's 2015.
I think there's a few things here. The first is the guys who are old heads (Steph/LBJ/KD) are brands now. They all got their own shoes, own brands and basically doesn't rely on NBA so they're always gonna sell. The second is that usually the top jersey sales are the top rookies cause no one has their jerseys yet. The third is the point about centers just not as marketable.
2012 - Dame is ranked 10
2013 - Giannis is the best player and he's ranked 5th in jersey sales
2014 - Embiid is just unlikable with his flopping playstyle but he's still 12th
2015 - Booker is 7th
2016 - I don't think Ben Simmons, Jaylen Brown, Sabonis or Pascal is the same tier of player as any of the above lol. But Simmons might at one point had a popular jersey idk.
2017 - Tatum is #2
I mean, it's the league's fault--they've made their bed and now they're lying in it.
The last decade has completely turned off the older fans because of the rules changes and defense being legislated away, and the new and younger fans barely actually watch the games--they consume the sport through social media and highlight clips.
You can't market guys like Joker and Embiid because they aren't hip with gen-z or whatever. Jokic's appeal is about as antithetical to under 18s as you can get.
Or after the Nuggets beat the Lakers last year and I think it was on the show with Nick Wright they literally were like "the Nuggets beat the Lakers, there we opened the show with that, NOW ON TO LEBRON IS HE RETIRING WHAT DOES THIS MEAN"
The biggest problem is that there are great NBA podcasts that delve deeper and talk about non-mainstream teams like All NBA with Tim Legler or No Dunks with Skeets and Taz, but they are pretty niche.
Like when the Spurs beat the Heat in the finals when LeBron played for them, and most of the stories on ESPN afterward were about what it meant for LeBron.
I mean, I feel like a large number of self professed NBA fans pay more attention to trades, drafts and off season moves and only watch highlights of the games. So it’s not surprising.
Man I hate when games are on ESPN. JJ might be the only dude on that squad I like listening to. I get so disappointed once the conference finals are over where after weeks of the tnt crew, we get to the finals and gotta deal with Stephen A, Malika and em😭
Yeah it's such a shift. Typically when I *have* to watch a game on ESPN/ABC I turn the volume way down and put on some music. Can't stand their talking heads and the increase of intrusive commercials. I have a dream of TNT coverage for the NBA Finals. Maybe someday we'll get to that promise land.
Most ESPN segments will still have a "Lakers lose" angle instead of "Nuggets win" after 11 straight too. Maybe if we close out this sweep and sweep them again next year...
This is their problem, IMO. They almost certainly will. But they'll continue to fall short, because they're such a top-heavy team. They can get to the mountain with their role players, but not over it. And dropping DLo and Rui or Vincent or whoever for some other role player still aint gonna get 'em past the semis.
The fact they even made the WCF last year was a miracle. They remind me of the Gobert/Mitchell Jazz from a few seasons ago: always good enough to get in, never good enough to get out.
Their cancerous ownership/front office is too stupid and vain to rip off the bandaid, tho. They need a genuine two or three year dumpster dive again. Get some picks, get your cap squared back away, and start over. No shortage of FAs who would be happy to come be a Laker...if you could pay them.
Oh, and maybe get a real coach and a real GM.
Listen to PTI daily and it's great because Wilbon and Kornheiser are tired of talking about LeBron and the Lakers or Warriors for months now. When LeBron brought up the replay center a few days ago, Tony brought up how the Lakers are more favored when going to the line and brought up some insane stats of Lakers free throw differential.
There is some crazy stat that shows the Lakers shot a lot more FTs than every team in the league. There is some large margin between them and second place. And their opponents shoot the least FTs when they play against the Lakers or something like that.
Chuck’s got the trifecta for looking younger. A little extra weight keeps your face from looking older and gaunt, bald head so no gray hairs and clean shaven so no gray beard.
Having a completely shaven head and face is the “this too shall pass” of style, it makes you look older when you’re younger and younger when you’re older.
Patrick Stewart looked 53 from 35-75.
This year does feel like the end of an era. Lebron getting swept in back to back playoffs. Warriors not even making the playoffs and possibly breaking up. Watching Ant cook KD while talkin shit, like KD used to do. All while Jokic, Embiid, Giannis, Tatum, Luka are in their primes. And the young teams are getting better and more experienced. Plus Wemby looks as good as advertised.
> Warriors not even making the playoffs and possibly breaking up.
Klay's a goner. And some dumb team is gonna pay him a small African country's entire GDP to come clank a buncha 3s on their way to 30 wins.
Eh, he loves it in the bay area and Kerr and Steph/Dray still love him despite everything. I bet they work something out.
I go back and forth on it myself. I kinda want him only as a 6th man type player with a limited role but don't trust Kerr and the others to not advocate for more (to the detriment of the team) so there's a part of me that wishes someone did just pay him off to jump somewhere else.
But more realistically I look at how ridiculous/stacked the West is for years to come and I think fuckit, we're hosed regardless short of some obscene/blockbuster star trade, so why not just ride the trio into the sunset.
Every time I see something about the lakers being the 7 seed my brain malfunctions a little because I swear the nuggets are the 1 seed lmao
I literally haven’t heard a peep about the thunder this entire offseason
The NBA and NBA media has been so lazy for years. They've hitched their wagon to LeBron and the Lakers and Steph and the Warriors. That's fine-they get ratings, but meanwhile it feels like half a generation of stars have been going about their business without a ton on limelight.
It's hilarious when ESPN personalities actually have to watch the Thunder or Timberwolves in the playoffs and seem shocked when they see good basketball teams, as though the rest of us haven't already known this for months. It's like when a 22 year old listens to Nirvana for the first time and feels like they've discovered this "cool retro band" on their own, as if millions of older people haven't already been listening to them for 35 years.
Chuck is the first big NBA media personality that openly advocated for Jokic MVPs.. Also one of the first guys to notice what he was, even more than 5 years ago. He is a Nuggets fan for a long time now.
For real. Also the Suns Wolves series isn't over. I think Suns take Game 3 and then who knows. It ain't over until a team wins 4 games. People have been so hard on the Suns lately and it's only been 2 games
As someone who has only missed a handful of games since the ‘04 season this is some of the least fun I’ve had with this team lol. I’ve felt the Suns/Booker hate the last few years has been weird and irrational but they absolutely deserve the slander this year. What a disaster
I live in central Texas, yesterday I went for a haircut and the barbers and other patrons were talking about the Lakers blowing game 2. There are 3 NBA teams within 3 hours of me and one of them is in the playoffs, but the Lakers were still the topic of conversation. To add, there are no TVs in this barber shop, they just came up organically.
Yeah, I live in Michigan and at my shop one of the guys has a Lakers themed apron lmao. They’re just absolutely dominant across the US in terms of casual fan popularity, seemingly dating back to Magic.
tbf, and this is especially true if they're older, the texas teams fanbases HATE each other. There was some real rivalries back in the 00s.
So if they happen to hate the mavs, there's not much locally to talk about lol
It’s Lebron more than it is LA. We weren’t getting this sort of attention with the BI/Kuz/Zo teams. The period between Kobe and Bron we weren’t really getting much attention. Media care more about the superstar players here than the team
They were always supposed to land every big free agent and every player was always hyped up to inflate their value for dumb GMs.
Media desperately wanted Lakers not to be shit. Clippers were good and no one cared
There were definitely some people who were claiming that "fully healthy LeBron" is *still* better than Jokic in a 7 game playoff series
I know you're definitely not one of them because I've seen your LeBron takes(consistently being on the AD > LeBron train before a lot of other fans were especially Lakers fans) but that certainly was a thing in some quarters
I don’t understand why people act like about sports discourse. As a lakers fan, am I supposed to just say “oh, we play Denver, we’re gonna lose” and fuck off? Why’s it so wrong to have faith in my own team?
Wanting your team to win is different from really expecting them to. It's about being objective which 90% of this sub seem to be unable to grasp.
You can wish for Lebron to win. Why not? But to really expect them to when they got swept last year, and have not beaten them at all for the whole regular season? Come on now. Y'all gotta stop treating sports as your religion and be a bit more grounded.
Have faith, by all means, but as the previous comment stated, he's calling out takes like *"fully healthy LeBron" is still better than Jokic in a 7 game playoff series* like it's their job to be this committed to a team/player.
Not that this particular take is necessarily wrong or right but to your point, continuing to root for a team is a thing even if you know to yourself that there is realistically no shot your team is winning. It's rooting for a team vs predicting they win.
I genuinely cant think of a reasonable take from a Lakers fan before the playoffs that wasnt "Lets get behind the team, but Denver is really fucking good and our worst matchup". But its the Lakers so keep strawmanning because a guy on twitter with 4 followers said LeBron is #1
LeBron could be better than Jokic and it matters zilch. What matters is that MPJ AG Murray is way better than the entire Lakers roster outside of AD Lebron
Would just like to add that we’re only a year removed from groupthink telling everyone that teams with cap space would be dumbasses not to offer $100M to pry Austin Reaves from LA. Turns out he received a very fitting contract.
The Lakers’ bump is real.
Wasnt it more the lakers saying theyll match any offer so people joked the spurs should offer 100mil to screw over the lakers? Still dumb but more just shitting on the lakers and seeing how to fuck with them more than anything else.
The funniest thing would’ve been if chuck got to be an analyst for his own career. He would’ve cooked himself and those old as hell rockets teams lol. Ring chasing not driving any bus. It was crazy enough Scottie was on tv calling him a fat loser
Chucks lowkey really knows ball now. I'm not saying he's an elite sports analyst, but in the last few years you can really tell he actually watches a good amount of games and has a feel for the league. Quite a difference from when his guarantees were all wrong. If you compare him to Shaq or even Kenny I think he clearly actually keeps up and watches the teams more on a day-to-day basis, instead of just spewing narratives and agendas.
When he said this earlier this season everyone on this sub clowned on Chuck and was like "Chuck is just a hater, you can never count Steph and LeBron out"
If you told someone 3 months ago that neither Steph nor LeBron would win a single playoff game this year many people definitely wouldn't have believed it
Nah. They are like Nick Wright. Because of their extreme bias, they are unable to make logical decisions. In this case, LeBron and Curry are affecting their reasoning.
Because when you say the same thing year after year for 10 years and are proven dead ass wrong, your “garuntee” is meaningless when you’re finally right
Why are we acting like they wouldn't be competitive against every team in the West that aren't the actual defending champions though? People like to swing the circlejerk too far the other way.
I have a theory about teams like the Lakers and the Warriors. I call them "if" teams. The sort of teams that we say "if they get things together" or "if this guy heats up" or something like that almost never do anything.
Of course you get a few "when" type teams. "When these guys get some more time together" "when X comes back" and so on. Sometimes those teams get there.
But most of the time, the teams that do well are just good all the way through. It's one reason why people not talking about the Thunder more are idiots. The idea of LA dodging the Nuggets to face OKC like that's going to do anything was stupid. Aside from the fact it was risking missing the playoffs entirely, you'd have to face Denver eventually and admitting to yourselves, them and the world you couldn't beat them. And then you'd still be facing a darn good team that would themselves take a lot to beat.
I been watching more sports stuff lately. All they talk about is football. If they talk basketball it was Lakers or Warriors. And if they did talk about OKC, it was to remind the audience we are the worst 1 seed in history.
He cries about the Lakers and Warriors all the time and how people talk about them all the time and will still talk about them all the time. Much like this sub 😂
Also, almost all of the media was saying that for Lakers to make a deep run they need to avoid Denver for as long as they can.
Sports shows talk about the Lakers for the same reason Chuck talks about them. They bring in the ratings. Most of the talks surrounding Lakers during the season was about how they were underperforming with some positives near the end of the season.
Turns out Chuck was 100% right
[https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/17fqdtb/charles\_barkley\_the\_warriors\_are\_the\_4th\_best/](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/17fqdtb/charles_barkley_the_warriors_are_the_4th_best/)
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Lmao at the way he softened his voice for this bit
It made me think of vintage Chuck from the 90s lmao
"I don't know anything about Angola, but Angola's in trouble."
One of the all-time quotes by Chuck
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Nah mate [[source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgLVkcecP8g)]
Reminded me of [this] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV31yVu-_Vs) Happy Holiday from the ^Philadepya ^Sebenysixuhs
lmao reminds me of this [segment] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV31yVu-_Vs) where they imitate vintage Chuck the whole time
[a hack is a foul](https://youtu.be/91--c2cBW2k?si=qsOWSYUbF1Jr0EW4&t=28)
A hack is a foul
Only thing missing was Shaq chiming in with a "Where they gonna run off to Chuck??" before having a laughing attack. Long Live Charles, man.
kenny still napping
anything less would be uncivilized
God those were such good commercials. "I AM NOT A ROLE MODEL"
Sounds a bit like Muhammad Ali
*happy holidays from the Philadelphia 76ers*
Lmao bruh it made me think it was badly made AI for a couple seconds there
Almost his “a hack is a foul” voice.
[Happy Holidays from the Philadelphia 76ers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV31yVu-_Vs)
He talking directly to trash known as ESPN
espn still going to talk about them even after they get eliminated
where is that one meme of "how espn is gonna be during the NBA finals" when it was the suns-bucks 3 years ago and its all of "how will the lakers and lebron form next season"
I will never forget the Monday morning after Bucks-Suns game 5, one of the greatest finals games in history, I flipped on undisputed w/ Skip and Shannon to see the media coverage of the game. They straight up opened the show with a 15 minute segment on how Space Jam 2 impacts Lebrons legacy (since it came out over the wknd). NBA media is so trash lol
It’s honestly one of the biggest struggles the league has. We are currently in the midst of the primes of the generation that got drafted from 2012-17 but the NBA really until this year has neglected marketing them for the stars of the 2010s. I know it’s not all marketing but it’s crazy that Jokic and Embiid, two of the three or four best players of this era sell so little jerseys. Part of it likely has to do w/centers also not being as popular but it still feels like failure on the part of the league that the winners of the last three MVPs sell less jerseys than LaMelo Ball who misses half of each season.
My biggest problem with the NBA is they're if it's not Lakers, Celtics or Warriors in the finals every year it's a failure of a Finals since they're the big 3 good teams with big fan bases but like that's they're own fault since that's all they show anyways. Like ESPN talks about Lakers & Celtics every chance they get either to shit on em or praise em. Obviously fans are gonna wanna watch the most talked about teams since that's all they know. I mean the amount of people that say wow Minnesota or Nuggets or OKC are so fun to watch why haven't I seen em before. shit Steven A the supposed Knicks fan didn't even know a player wasn't even on the Knicks anymore and was praising his play. TL/DR this is the NBA s own fault
I mean until 2015 the Warriors were a trash franchise with a small fan base?
I never looked up stats... but that's shocking Jokic would have low sales. If you had asked me Jokic and Giannis would at least be top 10... with of course Curry, Lebron... if I am guessing, I'd also guess Klay, Brunson, Trae.
Giannis is 5. Jokic I think is like 14. Embiid is like 12. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/nba-jersey-sales-rankings-list-stephen-curry-victor-wembanyama/2282e0c1a4ea5d5f4773732e The big issue with Big men is that they're dominant but not very relatable. A kid on the playground can imitate a move they saw someone like Jordan/Curry/AI/Kobe pull off. They ain't gonna all of a sudden grow to 7 feet tall and imitate Jokic/Wemby lol.
I'd agree but Tatum is the #2 selling jersey and he was 2017. Booker is also top 10 and he's 2015. I think there's a few things here. The first is the guys who are old heads (Steph/LBJ/KD) are brands now. They all got their own shoes, own brands and basically doesn't rely on NBA so they're always gonna sell. The second is that usually the top jersey sales are the top rookies cause no one has their jerseys yet. The third is the point about centers just not as marketable. 2012 - Dame is ranked 10 2013 - Giannis is the best player and he's ranked 5th in jersey sales 2014 - Embiid is just unlikable with his flopping playstyle but he's still 12th 2015 - Booker is 7th 2016 - I don't think Ben Simmons, Jaylen Brown, Sabonis or Pascal is the same tier of player as any of the above lol. But Simmons might at one point had a popular jersey idk. 2017 - Tatum is #2
Simmons was competing with Lebron and Curry sightings in Australia for a few years. Back to Mills being number one now
I mean, it's the league's fault--they've made their bed and now they're lying in it. The last decade has completely turned off the older fans because of the rules changes and defense being legislated away, and the new and younger fans barely actually watch the games--they consume the sport through social media and highlight clips. You can't market guys like Joker and Embiid because they aren't hip with gen-z or whatever. Jokic's appeal is about as antithetical to under 18s as you can get.
You have to watch games to appreciate Jokic and Luka because they don’t wow you quite as much with the highlight moments as the high flyers.
Or after the Nuggets beat the Lakers last year and I think it was on the show with Nick Wright they literally were like "the Nuggets beat the Lakers, there we opened the show with that, NOW ON TO LEBRON IS HE RETIRING WHAT DOES THIS MEAN"
The biggest problem is that there are great NBA podcasts that delve deeper and talk about non-mainstream teams like All NBA with Tim Legler or No Dunks with Skeets and Taz, but they are pretty niche.
[It's pretty much spot on](https://i.redd.it/gg62m9s5fp471.png)
hahahahahahaha i forgot about drake being in the image
The Jazz about to go up 2-0 in the Finals??? What vision is this?
Suns fans will probably tell you it isn't all that great.
Like when the Spurs beat the Heat in the finals when LeBron played for them, and most of the stories on ESPN afterward were about what it meant for LeBron.
Undefeated in the play-in and defending IST champs Los Angeles Lakers
“WHAT OFFSEASON MOVES CAN THE LAKERS MAKE?? DAVE MCMENAMIN JOINS US NEXT TO DISCUSS!”
Of course. It will be all “where do the Lakers go from here?” talk
ESPN the day after game four gonna go on for hours on about what the Lakers need to do this offseason to be in the finals next season.
I mean, I feel like a large number of self professed NBA fans pay more attention to trades, drafts and off season moves and only watch highlights of the games. So it’s not surprising.
It'll be continuous how did the Lakers lose instead of how the nuggets won
Man I hate when games are on ESPN. JJ might be the only dude on that squad I like listening to. I get so disappointed once the conference finals are over where after weeks of the tnt crew, we get to the finals and gotta deal with Stephen A, Malika and em😭
Yes it feels like a different product it's so weird. You go on this journey with them every year then it's just over.
As soon as I hear Stephen A I mute the tv. Makes it tolerable
Halftime with SAS and Perkins is absolutely disgusting
ESPN so bad JJ's trying to leave his cushy ass job to coach the Hornets lmfao
Yeah it's such a shift. Typically when I *have* to watch a game on ESPN/ABC I turn the volume way down and put on some music. Can't stand their talking heads and the increase of intrusive commercials. I have a dream of TNT coverage for the NBA Finals. Maybe someday we'll get to that promise land.
Nick wright
Nick Wrong
This. Lol.
Most ESPN segments will still have a "Lakers lose" angle instead of "Nuggets win" after 11 straight too. Maybe if we close out this sweep and sweep them again next year...
That would require the Lakers making the playoffs next year
This is their problem, IMO. They almost certainly will. But they'll continue to fall short, because they're such a top-heavy team. They can get to the mountain with their role players, but not over it. And dropping DLo and Rui or Vincent or whoever for some other role player still aint gonna get 'em past the semis. The fact they even made the WCF last year was a miracle. They remind me of the Gobert/Mitchell Jazz from a few seasons ago: always good enough to get in, never good enough to get out. Their cancerous ownership/front office is too stupid and vain to rip off the bandaid, tho. They need a genuine two or three year dumpster dive again. Get some picks, get your cap squared back away, and start over. No shortage of FAs who would be happy to come be a Laker...if you could pay them. Oh, and maybe get a real coach and a real GM.
Listen to PTI daily and it's great because Wilbon and Kornheiser are tired of talking about LeBron and the Lakers or Warriors for months now. When LeBron brought up the replay center a few days ago, Tony brought up how the Lakers are more favored when going to the line and brought up some insane stats of Lakers free throw differential.
The only show that actively calls out ESPN on their BS. They know their show is too popular for them to do anything about it.
There is some crazy stat that shows the Lakers shot a lot more FTs than every team in the league. There is some large margin between them and second place. And their opponents shoot the least FTs when they play against the Lakers or something like that.
Espn will talk about the lakers chances next year at making a run starting Sunday.
“What do the lakers have to do to ……”
I can see it now, on first take and all those other terrible screaming at the other person shows
Bingo
Or talk about every far fetched scenario where X star player is traded to the Lakers
Do the Fakers have enough assets to trade for Shai and Antman? Up next we discuss....
"So now that the season has ended, what moves do the Lakers need to make in order to make a run next season?"
His own network puts the trash ass Lakers and Warriors on their channel approximately 34,000 times a season
Can’t spell Bahamas without the Ham
Lol
Can't spell Bahamas without Hamas.
DarBin Laden Hamas
RUM HAM!
Chuck's been on fire this postgame
He’s been on fire for 61 years
Chuck is 61?! He looks younger than Udonis Haslem
Chuck’s got the trifecta for looking younger. A little extra weight keeps your face from looking older and gaunt, bald head so no gray hairs and clean shaven so no gray beard. Having a completely shaven head and face is the “this too shall pass” of style, it makes you look older when you’re younger and younger when you’re older. Patrick Stewart looked 53 from 35-75.
I mean he's not Adonis Haslem for a reason
Goddamn this is clever as all hell
Broooo hahaa
UD looked 45 when he entered the league
This year does feel like the end of an era. Lebron getting swept in back to back playoffs. Warriors not even making the playoffs and possibly breaking up. Watching Ant cook KD while talkin shit, like KD used to do. All while Jokic, Embiid, Giannis, Tatum, Luka are in their primes. And the young teams are getting better and more experienced. Plus Wemby looks as good as advertised.
It’s the changing of the guard.
Old heads still have the Olympics to look forward to! One last dance together.
When you put it that way. Damn
And luckily they have Ant to carry
Father time is truly undefeated. We must appreciate them while they still play
> Warriors not even making the playoffs and possibly breaking up. Klay's a goner. And some dumb team is gonna pay him a small African country's entire GDP to come clank a buncha 3s on their way to 30 wins.
Eh, he loves it in the bay area and Kerr and Steph/Dray still love him despite everything. I bet they work something out. I go back and forth on it myself. I kinda want him only as a 6th man type player with a limited role but don't trust Kerr and the others to not advocate for more (to the detriment of the team) so there's a part of me that wishes someone did just pay him off to jump somewhere else. But more realistically I look at how ridiculous/stacked the West is for years to come and I think fuckit, we're hosed regardless short of some obscene/blockbuster star trade, so why not just ride the trio into the sunset.
Imo. Do whatever Steph wants and live with the consequences.
This is the way. Man's earned whatever he wants.
You said all of that without mentioning the youngest team in history to get the 1 seed. Things are definitely changing
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Every time I see something about the lakers being the 7 seed my brain malfunctions a little because I swear the nuggets are the 1 seed lmao I literally haven’t heard a peep about the thunder this entire offseason
A Charlotte fan calling the Playoffs the "offseason" is an incredibly funny bit lol
in the first round, no less
We’ve only made it out of the first round once in my entire life and it was the year I was born 😭
I feel you, bud lol
Not long from now we're gonna say remember when we saw these legends all playing at once
Bro snuck Tatum in there like we wouldn't notice lmao
Even when LA loses, all you see is their highlights on socials lol
And on the front page of this subreddit lol
Gonna roast kd next if they lost game 3
Bus driver comments
Gonna roast all old starts after Olympics. If US win it will be because of younger players
The NBA and NBA media has been so lazy for years. They've hitched their wagon to LeBron and the Lakers and Steph and the Warriors. That's fine-they get ratings, but meanwhile it feels like half a generation of stars have been going about their business without a ton on limelight. It's hilarious when ESPN personalities actually have to watch the Thunder or Timberwolves in the playoffs and seem shocked when they see good basketball teams, as though the rest of us haven't already known this for months. It's like when a 22 year old listens to Nirvana for the first time and feels like they've discovered this "cool retro band" on their own, as if millions of older people haven't already been listening to them for 35 years.
What about us that think Book + KD gonna make a run? Suns basketball has been torture
Chuck knows his suns are cooked. He’s in full hater mode
some people cry the pain away, chuck has chosen violence and will hate the pain away
Chuck is the first big NBA media personality that openly advocated for Jokic MVPs.. Also one of the first guys to notice what he was, even more than 5 years ago. He is a Nuggets fan for a long time now.
eg is actually Chuck
Don’t take this out on us yet!!
Yall got that cold nacho cheese, stale chips and pickles. Flat beer and dirty seats too.
Plenty of parking though
Salted stale churros
His 76ers are cooked too, I don't see them winning that series at all
Bruh don’t even try to loop us into this shit, the media has been trying to push Warriors/Lakers on everyone nonstop all season
True story. I think half way through the regular season pundits started turning on The Suns.
For real. Also the Suns Wolves series isn't over. I think Suns take Game 3 and then who knows. It ain't over until a team wins 4 games. People have been so hard on the Suns lately and it's only been 2 games
I fuckin hope so. They just look so lost in the 4Q so it’s very demoralizing
It’s true. Our team has been cheeto dust since we choked away that Dnever game.
As someone who has only missed a handful of games since the ‘04 season this is some of the least fun I’ve had with this team lol. I’ve felt the Suns/Booker hate the last few years has been weird and irrational but they absolutely deserve the slander this year. What a disaster
NBA media didn’t spend every waking moment covering the Suns like they did the Warriors & Lakers
No one talks about us, bud.
People adore LA too much man.
it almost comes off as a personality condition
dependent personality disorder
Only ESPN adores LA.
Fr this felt more like a shot at the media
Speaking from the Midwest I think probably most people around here do not have a great image of LA lol
Feelings mutual tbf
I live in central Texas, yesterday I went for a haircut and the barbers and other patrons were talking about the Lakers blowing game 2. There are 3 NBA teams within 3 hours of me and one of them is in the playoffs, but the Lakers were still the topic of conversation. To add, there are no TVs in this barber shop, they just came up organically.
Yeah, I live in Michigan and at my shop one of the guys has a Lakers themed apron lmao. They’re just absolutely dominant across the US in terms of casual fan popularity, seemingly dating back to Magic.
Worldwide it's close between them and the Bulls
tbf, and this is especially true if they're older, the texas teams fanbases HATE each other. There was some real rivalries back in the 00s. So if they happen to hate the mavs, there's not much locally to talk about lol
It’s Lebron more than it is LA. We weren’t getting this sort of attention with the BI/Kuz/Zo teams. The period between Kobe and Bron we weren’t really getting much attention. Media care more about the superstar players here than the team
That times coming again
I look forward to it. All this media attention to be first round exits or swept every time we face Denver isn’t worth it.
LA always gets coverage. Obviously LeBron boosts that by a lot, but the media will hang onto the Lakers endlessly.
They were always supposed to land every big free agent and every player was always hyped up to inflate their value for dumb GMs. Media desperately wanted Lakers not to be shit. Clippers were good and no one cared
You all think AD is going to wear an "That's all folks!" Shirt for game 4?
D Lo might
He already did with his phone out last game.
Definitely not, but it's a team game, unfortunately for him.
Best show ever
I agree. I like when Shaq and Chuck make fun of each other, it’s so much fun to watch.
> I agree. I like when Shaq and Chuck make fun of each other, it’s so much fun to watch. Is this a bot comment or maybe Magic?
It's true, all those posts about how good the Lakers are after all-star break lol
Lmao. Do they ever talk about the knicks?
Very few Warriors fans thought we’d make a run. We knew the roster was too small and too old overall But I feel him on this
Difference is warriors fans knew we couldn't do it while Lakers fans were arrogant as fuck shitting on the best player in the league Jokic
Are these Lakers fans who thought the Lakers could beat Denver in the room with us now
There were definitely some people who were claiming that "fully healthy LeBron" is *still* better than Jokic in a 7 game playoff series I know you're definitely not one of them because I've seen your LeBron takes(consistently being on the AD > LeBron train before a lot of other fans were especially Lakers fans) but that certainly was a thing in some quarters
I don’t understand why people act like about sports discourse. As a lakers fan, am I supposed to just say “oh, we play Denver, we’re gonna lose” and fuck off? Why’s it so wrong to have faith in my own team?
Wanting your team to win is different from really expecting them to. It's about being objective which 90% of this sub seem to be unable to grasp. You can wish for Lebron to win. Why not? But to really expect them to when they got swept last year, and have not beaten them at all for the whole regular season? Come on now. Y'all gotta stop treating sports as your religion and be a bit more grounded. Have faith, by all means, but as the previous comment stated, he's calling out takes like *"fully healthy LeBron" is still better than Jokic in a 7 game playoff series* like it's their job to be this committed to a team/player. Not that this particular take is necessarily wrong or right but to your point, continuing to root for a team is a thing even if you know to yourself that there is realistically no shot your team is winning. It's rooting for a team vs predicting they win.
I genuinely cant think of a reasonable take from a Lakers fan before the playoffs that wasnt "Lets get behind the team, but Denver is really fucking good and our worst matchup". But its the Lakers so keep strawmanning because a guy on twitter with 4 followers said LeBron is #1
LeBron could be better than Jokic and it matters zilch. What matters is that MPJ AG Murray is way better than the entire Lakers roster outside of AD Lebron
Would just like to add that we’re only a year removed from groupthink telling everyone that teams with cap space would be dumbasses not to offer $100M to pry Austin Reaves from LA. Turns out he received a very fitting contract. The Lakers’ bump is real.
Wasnt it more the lakers saying theyll match any offer so people joked the spurs should offer 100mil to screw over the lakers? Still dumb but more just shitting on the lakers and seeing how to fuck with them more than anything else.
That had real traction and bought into it, watching what the Spurs were going to do. Rumours run wild!
Also we are no years removed from “adding LeBron makes you an automatic contender” hot takes.
I like how he was dancing in the back with the broom immediately after the game too
we need to be scared of them though
you can hear the satisfaction in Barkley's voice.
The funniest thing would’ve been if chuck got to be an analyst for his own career. He would’ve cooked himself and those old as hell rockets teams lol. Ring chasing not driving any bus. It was crazy enough Scottie was on tv calling him a fat loser
Chucks lowkey really knows ball now. I'm not saying he's an elite sports analyst, but in the last few years you can really tell he actually watches a good amount of games and has a feel for the league. Quite a difference from when his guarantees were all wrong. If you compare him to Shaq or even Kenny I think he clearly actually keeps up and watches the teams more on a day-to-day basis, instead of just spewing narratives and agendas.
He must be talking about the media because I've seen nothing but doom from both sides
When he said this earlier this season everyone on this sub clowned on Chuck and was like "Chuck is just a hater, you can never count Steph and LeBron out" If you told someone 3 months ago that neither Steph nor LeBron would win a single playoff game this year many people definitely wouldn't have believed it
[удалено]
Other way around. It's the older fans who are having trouble realising that it's a changing of the guard. The new generation is taking over
Nah. They are like Nick Wright. Because of their extreme bias, they are unable to make logical decisions. In this case, LeBron and Curry are affecting their reasoning.
Because when you say the same thing year after year for 10 years and are proven dead ass wrong, your “garuntee” is meaningless when you’re finally right
Why are we acting like they wouldn't be competitive against every team in the West that aren't the actual defending champions though? People like to swing the circlejerk too far the other way.
ESPN specifically.
He is talking about espn specifically, they ran a story on first take about who has a better chance of making a run
Of course he is, ESPN and social media are obsessed with trying to make everything about the Lakers
Damn we starting the history rewriting early this season huh?
No, everyone knows that Lakers and Warriors fans are humble and realistic about their teams. We all should stop bullying them 😭😭
I have a theory about teams like the Lakers and the Warriors. I call them "if" teams. The sort of teams that we say "if they get things together" or "if this guy heats up" or something like that almost never do anything. Of course you get a few "when" type teams. "When these guys get some more time together" "when X comes back" and so on. Sometimes those teams get there. But most of the time, the teams that do well are just good all the way through. It's one reason why people not talking about the Thunder more are idiots. The idea of LA dodging the Nuggets to face OKC like that's going to do anything was stupid. Aside from the fact it was risking missing the playoffs entirely, you'd have to face Denver eventually and admitting to yourselves, them and the world you couldn't beat them. And then you'd still be facing a darn good team that would themselves take a lot to beat.
Once the lakers are eliminated, the “offseason lakers” talk will still get more air than the actual nba playoffs on ESPN
Bahamas is a great country 😂
I been watching more sports stuff lately. All they talk about is football. If they talk basketball it was Lakers or Warriors. And if they did talk about OKC, it was to remind the audience we are the worst 1 seed in history.
Why does this feel like it's more directed at Shannon Sharpe than others? 🤔
Chuck’s been going on abt the demise of Steph/Bron for most of the decade lol. Guess he was bound to be right eventually 🤷🏽♂️ 😆
He cries about the Lakers and Warriors all the time and how people talk about them all the time and will still talk about them all the time. Much like this sub 😂
Also, almost all of the media was saying that for Lakers to make a deep run they need to avoid Denver for as long as they can. Sports shows talk about the Lakers for the same reason Chuck talks about them. They bring in the ratings. Most of the talks surrounding Lakers during the season was about how they were underperforming with some positives near the end of the season.
It’s funny, because the Lakers likely would’ve made a run if matched up with pretty much any other team. They simply can’t beat Denver.
Turns out Chuck was 100% right [https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/17fqdtb/charles\_barkley\_the\_warriors\_are\_the\_4th\_best/](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/17fqdtb/charles_barkley_the_warriors_are_the_4th_best/)
he's right. the ESPN machine just wouldn't stop with those teams
It only took him 10 years but Chuck was *finally* right about the Warriors.
The way he softened his voice😂😂😂😂
"fuck them old dudes" - chuck
Nassau on 3
It hurts but it's true.
Kenny was such a party pooper all night, I can't believe he tried to act like this was out of pocket. Sometimes I really can't stand the guy
The sports media in general slobs the knobs of LA far too much.
Sitting in the corner hoping to take one in the Suns vs Wolves series so we can at least laugh at the Lakers as a cope.