Matt Barnes Opens Up About Kobe Bryant, Facing Racism, His Family & Life After the NBA

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Speaker 1: You know why I got this shirt on today, right?
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Speaker 2: You just like white. You like UCLA. No, no. And it's LA.
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Speaker 3: He said you like UCLA.
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Speaker 2: I mean, there's a lot of schools here.
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Speaker 1: Our guest is also a Bruin. Okay, you're going to be this excited when we get some of them Chattanooga dudes up here.
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Speaker 2: You're right, Jackie. You're right, you're right. Ain't nobody rocking no UT Chattanooga around here, though.
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Speaker 1: Come on.
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Speaker 2: But me.
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Speaker 1: Who's the second most famous person from UT Chattanooga?
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Speaker 2: A lot of people don't know this. Huh? Dominique's brother went to UT Chattanooga.
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Speaker 1: Dominique Wilkins?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Dominique Wilkins' brother. Yep. He went to Chattanooga.
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Speaker 1: I didn't know that.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, see, fun fact.
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Speaker 1: Fun fact. Well, yo, Chris Spencer, T.O., please like, follow, and subscribe. G-T-T-P. I feel like I always say three or four T's. G-T-T-P pod. Anywhere you watch and listen to podcasts. Our guest is a Bruin. He's right over there. He's the second best looking Bruin in UCLA history. It's me, then him.
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Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, Matt Barnes.
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Speaker 3: Appreciate it, fellas.
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Speaker 2: Man, man. Congratulations, man.
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Speaker 1: This is dope, man.
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Speaker 3: This is dope. I'm happy for both of y'all. Extremely talented. I'm going to need to steal y'all for some other show ideas I have, but congratulations on this, man.
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Speaker 2: You and I got something.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, we cooking.
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Speaker 1: We cooking.
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Speaker 3: And I just hit T a couple weeks ago. We about to have something cooking, too.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
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Speaker 2: This is dope, man.
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Speaker 3: When you guys told me you guys were doing something together, I was like, that makes perfect sense.
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Speaker 2: So, congrats. I'm just waiting for it. Sorry about that. I'm just waiting for it. it to come to fruition. Because I had a couple other people that's doing some stuff like, oh, I got something for you.
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Speaker 3: I really got something for you.
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Speaker 2: Let me just tell you something right now, Matt.
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Speaker 1: Please follow through because if you don't, he will not talk to you for the rest of your life. I'm like, man, why you don't talk to the dude? Man, we had a meeting.
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Speaker 2: Bro.
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Speaker 1: 03, I ain't talked to him since because he didn't show up.
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Speaker 2: Bro, I'm all about integrity, bro. No, I know. People's word means a lot. And I think, honestly, I think a lot of that has to do with how I was raised and how I grew up and what I didn't have. It was a lot of traumatic things that happened. Being a child, like growing up with your grandmama, your mom, you didn't have your dad there. And then you have your dad, you know, say you're going to do things, certain things, and then it just doesn't happen. Got you. As a kid, very disappointing.
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Speaker 3: PTSD.
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Speaker 2: And for me as a dad, I always made sure, especially with my kids, mom's like, yo, especially as it relates to supporting my kids and being there for them. Like, yo, if I say that I'm going to be there, let me tell them. Don't you just casually, oh, your dad's supposed to. And then if something comes up and I don't show up, then that's a reflection on me. Their kids are going to be like, they're going to be disappointed. They ain't even caring about why it happened. They just know I didn't show up. So I'm always just big on people following through on their word. That's great. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's important.
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Speaker 1: And that's what's great about him. We asked him to do the show. He said yes before I think they hung up.
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Speaker 2: Right.
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Speaker 1: So thanks for being here, man.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. We've known each other for a long time. Yeah. We both admire and you, I mean, you giving us kudos, but what you guys are doing with all the smoke, y'all bringing the smoke, you and your sidekick stack. I mean, you guys are amazing. I mean, we're trying to get on y'all level. I love it.
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Speaker 3: I love it.
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Speaker 1: How did that come to fruition?
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: To be honest with you, man, we were smoking one day in my house in the Bay and I was working ESPN, he was working Fox and, you know, those are straight lines. entities you have to work for you know what i mean and we've kind of been habitual line steppers our entire life and particularly professional careers i'm just like hey let's try a podcast although i really didn't know what it was at the time i knew it'd give us a little bit more freedom and flexibility to be more of us um you know we're big cannabis advocates and we wanted to kind of see if we could be the first former athletes smoking on a show and um that turned into We're about to launch our eighth season next week.
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Speaker 2: We're big plant advocates, too. You ain't the only one.
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Speaker 3: Y'all didn't see T.O. was watering these plants before the show started and getting their perfect angles, their camera angles.
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Speaker 1: We didn't just bring these on because you was here. We've been at these plants.
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Speaker 3: That happened. Luckily, Showtime was doing a DeMarcus Cousins doc. They asked me to speak on its behalf. One of the producers after was like, hey, I heard you're starting a podcast. How do you know that? They flew a guy out from New York who ended up being Brian Daly, who's now my COO of All The Smoke Productions. But he was second in charge of Showtime Sports and kind of, hey, we're starting a new digital platform for Showtime, basketball in particular. What do you have? And I pitched the idea. And, you know, eight years later, we're here.
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Speaker 1: You had the name?
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Speaker 3: No, my sister. The funny part about it is we put it like we wanted to have the crowd involved in it. So I put it out on social media, you know, person to come up with the best name we'll give him five thousand dollars and my sister came up with the name but i give her so much money that she didn't get coming up with the name but yeah with my sister came up with the name and uh man we're here we're here now.
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Speaker 1: Yeah name one of your funnest guests oh funnest funnest funnest i.
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Speaker 3: Know you had 44 on that yeah man we just yeah we just had a brock not too long ago that was amazing we had michelle last year that was amazing um funniest guest man we just had danny devito and and we just had will ferrell both them dudes Oh man, from the time Dan, because he's so fucking little. He's like this big. And from the time he walked in, he was cracking jokes and talking shit about himself and just kind of loosening the room up. So he was really fun. Will Ferrell was just funny without even trying. So those are two of the guys that just kind of came to mind. Did y'all have to get like a little chair for him?
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Speaker 2: A booster seat. How was the seat?
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Speaker 3: We had to set some pillows up in his chair just to make sure he was comfortable and good.
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Speaker 2: Right, right, right.
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Speaker 1: What's the hardest part about doing the show?
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Speaker 3: I think everyone thinks it's easy. You know, I mean, but I'm a kind of hands on everything type guy. So just kind of hardest part is getting the guests. You know, we paid talent. We're in year eight and we were paying talent producers 10,000, 15,000 a month to book people. And I ended up booking everybody. So I just think booking people is the hardest thing. So now I'm the talent booker for. Our show.
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Speaker 2: Pay yourself.
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Speaker 3: That's it. And I don't get no extra money, but I just think it's easier for me to hit you or hit you to come on the show than having to go through. Everyone's got somebody now. Let me go through their team.
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Speaker 1: And you get the no's and the yes's quicker.
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Speaker 2: That's it.
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Speaker 3: If you can't do it, you can't do it. We'll find another time to circle back around, but I feel like just going straight to the pipeline is much easier than, or excuse me, it's straight to the source instead of having to go through these pipelines is the easiest way to do it.
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Speaker 1: Let me ask you something. Now, were you and Stack close? Because I'm sure you have friends that you were closer with that was like, Yeah, no.
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Speaker 3: So me and Stack really got close an interesting way. So obviously he got traded to that We Believe team in 2007, the Golden State team that we made a little bit of history.
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Speaker 2: BD was on that.
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Speaker 3: Although the whole organization was great, Stack was the one daily, you know, coming to smoke with me, bring me food, sometimes sit in silence, come and watch movies, try to make me smile. So I just think we went from teammates and super tight to brothers at that point. And our moms had bonded in our brief time playing together. They were always in the little lounge at the old arena drinking and ready to start the party right after the game started.
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Speaker 2: So.
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Speaker 3: He and I bonded from that and just always had that vibe. If we hadn't seen each other in months or talked in a while, it was like we never missed a beat. So, again, we were both doing our Fox and ESPN gigs, and we had some chemistry and some vibe doing that, and then that's how it came about.
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Speaker 2: So with both of you two, like I said, kind of like a rebel in your sports. I was kind of labeled the same.
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Speaker 1: Me too.
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Speaker 2: Was it? When you first started, were you uncomfortable? Did you kind of almost kind of want to censor like, you know, certain topics or what you had to say? Because now everybody has podcasts. Everybody feels like they have a voice now. What was it that really just put you guys in a comfort zone or a safe space? Not really safe space, but on a comfort zone to be able to kind of speak freely without anything. dealing with a lot of the backlash.
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Speaker 3: Well, I think that was the point of doing it was because in our other jobs, we had to be so reserved or PG or whatever you want to call it. You know, working for Disney is different. You know, there would be times where I'd slip cuss words in and everyone would laugh, but after the show, like, Matt, can you please not?
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Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
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Speaker 2: Right.
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Speaker 3: And it was just, and I, even when I'm a parent, I'll cuss, get your ass downstairs. And when, you know, being a stepdad now, my stepkid used to be like... is he mad at me? Like, no, that just means hurry up. Get your ass downstairs means hurry. You know what I mean? So I just think stepping into this space, I knew we didn't have to be as censored and I knew we could be a little bit more or a lot more ourselves. So we never really frayed away or tiptoed around anything or kind of be like, we can't say that. Obviously there are things that we've said and done over the years that kind of be like, oh, maybe we shouldn't have said that. But You know, we kind of once we became our own bosses, we just had to kind of really worry about, you know, the sponsors.
00:09:13
Speaker 1: And I think they know what they get with us. What are those things that you said that you're like?
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Speaker 3: I didn't say I haven't necessarily said anything like that, but I know Jack got into some hot water a little bit with I think it was. I don't want to miss miss.
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Speaker 2: The sponsor or brand or something.
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Speaker 3: No, just it was. Was it Deshaun Jackson that said that quoted something some years back?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was something.
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Speaker 3: He reposted something.
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Speaker 2: Right.
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Speaker 3: And Jack reposted some political something. And Jack reposted, and I think they both kind of got into a little bit of hot water. And, you know, we had to kind of do some mowing over. It was about the anti-Semitic. Some anti-Semitic stuff a while back. You know what I mean? And it kind of got us in a little bit of hot water. And it just kind of said like hey you know as free as we think we are or we want to be there are some topics you just have to be respectful around I think and I just think it was a misunderstanding on both their parts and luckily we were able to clear that up but I just think again for the most part you know it's in our title you know we're bringing we're coming with all the smoke and so we're a little bit different to T.O. 's point we've always kind of been outside the lines and kind of wild cards in our spaces and You know, luckily in this space, we didn't really know what we were doing to begin with. But what I love the most about, you know, launching season eight soon is we inspired a lot of people, you know, to me. And we've been on ESPN together. Like there's always been a bunch of people. And not that they've all done a bad job. There's always been a bunch of people talking about us. We never got to really kind of talk about ourselves, you know. So to create a platform to be able to bring my brothers and sisters in to tell their own stories and own narratives, but also inspiring other people to do it. Because when we jumped in this space, we were one of the only few. You know what I mean? I think Knucklehead started a few months before us, but after that it was us. But I really feel like we kicked the door in and inspired everyone to be like, hey, shit, if they could do it, we could do it. And now you look at the space and it's the new form of news. That's how people consume their information is this podcast now.
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Speaker 2: With that, should athletes speak on politics and culture?
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Speaker 3: If they're comfortable with it. I don't think it's a have to or a must. You know, I think sometimes we always put our biggest athletes up there like, hey, you need to say this. You don't have to say shit if you're not comfortable. And I think Especially, too, because, you know, we're judged on everything that comes out of our mouth. So if you're not educated, the worst thing you could do is speak on something you don't know just because people are saying you need to do it. I always start talking.
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Speaker 1: About Stephen A. Smith like that.
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Speaker 2: Oh, man.
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Speaker 3: That's T.O.
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Speaker 2: 's guy.
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Speaker 3: T.O.
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Speaker 2: 's boy.
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Speaker 1: They're going to eat after this.
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Speaker 2: Man, that's your guy. I mean, remember, I went on your show, and I was like, yo, I told you. I told you way back when.
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Speaker 3: You know what's funny is every time, because obviously he's had a shitstorm lately, and T.O., I told y'all.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I tried to tell him six years ago. Bro, he ain't what everybody thinks he is. And then I love when y'all talk and y'all have a guest on and his name comes up. And it's always like, yeah, our boy. He used to be our boy or something like that. We're friends with him. It's always like, yeah.
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Speaker 3: I always try to give a disclaimer, a little disclaimer before we kind of go in. But it's just it's got to the point now where I can't even. I can't even stand for you. I can't stand for you. You've dug yourself in this hole. You got to get yourself out.
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Speaker 2: And that's the thing. When I was on the show, I was disputing. I was disputing everything that they mentioned about it. And they were trying to show him love and trying to lift him up at all costs. But I kept on like, bro, look, this is how I feel. That's y'all boy. But he ain't my boy.
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Speaker 3: But then Stack, he ain't my boy. Stack would say that shit.
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Speaker 2: He ain't my boy.
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Speaker 1: Was that pre-Kellerman when you said he's blacker than you?
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Speaker 2: No, this was after that. This was after that. Yeah, this was after that.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: But I already knew it then. But even when I did that interview on ESPN, I said it tongue in cheek. But like I said, I told him, even on that show, I told him, dude, I'm in the streets. I'm hearing what people are saying. I'm hearing what people are saying about him. And then he gets on the show and he spews all his vocabulary, his in-depth vocabulary, screaming to the top of his lungs. His vernacular.
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Speaker 3: And I used to be in my group chats like, nah, y'all don't know him.
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Speaker 2: In person, he's cool.
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Speaker 3: He did?
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Speaker 2: I did, I'm right. Yeah, he was with me. Nah, bro, he's cool. I'm like, nah, I'm like, Matt, nah. He ain't.
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Speaker 1: The problem I have, and the way he's defending himself is like, i don't think that's a good who's helping you.
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Speaker 3: But how do you how do you you're mad about a black body giving you a thumbs down but then you run to sean hannity who's an outward bigot on fox who's known to spew nothing but race and racism and bullshit and try to justify what you i think his biggest issue is he just he stopped being able to read the room and i think some people that's a big issue with a lot of people is man read the room right you know or self-awareness both those two things self-awareness and read the room man he's.
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Speaker 2: Just not really just aware and not apologetic either like no no accountability if he can have some accountability he'll get at.
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Speaker 3: Least six black people back stupid it goes so far especially today because we live in such a clickbait type say wild shit with no repercussions I've said stuff I was completely wrong about, and I'll be the first one to tell you, like, man, I was wrong about this.
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Speaker 1: And we love that.
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Speaker 2: I've seen you make posts. We love posts. Yeah, he'll make a post. I was wrong about X, Y, Z. You know what I mean? Him, he doubles down.
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Speaker 3: I know.
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Speaker 2: Doubles down on it. And then, again, just the women that he's degraded, like your Jasmine Crockett's, Michelle Obama. Like, bro, these are esteemed, distinguished black women. Yes. And he still doesn't get it. Does not get it. I don't understand, bro. I'm at a loss.
00:14:52
Speaker 1: You think there's a paycheck behind some of these guys?
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Speaker 3: Nothing. Here we go. 1,000%.
00:14:56
Speaker 2: Because....
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Speaker 1: And I do not want to put him in this category, right? But, like, the Officer Tatums of the world.
00:15:04
Speaker 2: He's a bitch.
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Speaker 3: Excuse my language. I don't know for a lot of cuts on this show.
00:15:07
Speaker 1: You good.
00:15:07
Speaker 2: You want all the smoke.
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Speaker 1: I don't fuck with him at all.
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Speaker 3: You want all the smoke. Yeah, I don't fuck with him at all, but yeah.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:15:12
Speaker 1: But are these people, like.
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Speaker 1: And him and DL are going at it right now.
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Speaker 3: Constantly. DL's so slick.
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Speaker 2: With the mouth.
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Speaker 3: Oh, he's so slick.
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Speaker 2: He's so slick, bro.
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Speaker 1: DL walk by you and go, you go, did he cut me?
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Speaker 3: And all of a sudden, you're leaking like motherfucking DL.
00:15:28
Speaker 1: And so this thing came up with wives because this, talk bad about Michelle Obama. And then he ended up showing a picture of his wife.
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Speaker 2: I was like, what?
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Speaker 3: And now he's mad, and his wife is mad that people are talking about it.
00:15:43
Speaker 2: Bro, you threw your wife in traffic.
00:15:44
Speaker 1: But at least a picture with some makeup could have helped you.
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Speaker 3: With gasoline drawers on. Oh, it was bad, because she's not a looker, respectfully.
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Speaker 2: She's not a looker. Right. Beauty is obviously in the eye of the beholder. Yeah, she's not like that. Right. You know what I mean? And now already people are going to come to her and say, T, you like white girls anyway.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: I know you probably do.
00:16:03
Speaker 2: I know you like that white girl anyway. Stop it.
00:16:09
Speaker 1: T's white girls are pretty.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, mine are cute, except for one of my baby mamas.
00:16:13
Speaker 3: Oh, here you go.
00:16:14
Speaker 2: It's all good, it's all good.
00:16:16
Speaker 1: But yeah, so I always wonder when I see us doing a disservice to our people, I wonder if A, they're being threatened by the powers that be to go, listen, you need to go do this. or we gonna do this, you know what I mean? Like if you don't go do this concert or if you don't go speak to these people or if you don't talk bad about us, we're gonna show everybody that little third strike. You know what I mean?
00:16:37
Speaker 2: So I'm wondering that.
00:16:37
Speaker 3: Is it money or is it low self-esteem or insecurities from the black people who are doing it that are looking for acceptance or, oh, good job, you know, kind of like that.
00:16:47
Speaker 1: But acceptance from who?
00:16:48
Speaker 3: White people.
00:16:49
Speaker 2: Fuck. It's painful.
00:16:53
Speaker 3: It's embarrassing.
00:16:54
Speaker 2: It's embarrassing.
00:16:55
Speaker 3: Really, it's like that. I get, like, even when it's people I don't like or just, like, I get that, like, that secondhand embarrassment. Like, bro, do you realize what you just said or what you just did? Like, for what?
00:17:04
Speaker 1: And it goes to that saying, all skinfolk ain't kinfolk.
00:17:08
Speaker 3: But, I mean, it's just like, you know, and again, I don't even like to dwell on Stephen A. because I just don't, but.
00:17:14
Speaker 2: I know, because it's always like, we don't want to give the dude more ammunition or more platform than he already had.
00:17:20
Speaker 3: But it's like that, it's like that double-edged, like... you make a ton of money now. And is all that money worth your credibility in society or in public? You know, I'm, I do this for the HBCUs and I'm, that means nothing. You don't understand how people talk about you day to day. And like I said, it used to like, T.L. just told you, I used to be like, nah, y'all know, bro.
00:17:40
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
00:17:41
Speaker 3: Cause he definitely looked out for me when I was at ESPN and enrolled the red carpet out to help me with shit. But it was just like, it became harder and harder to be like, damn bro. Like I'm looking like an asshole now defending you. So.
00:17:53
Speaker 2: And like, yeah, I mean, when I was on the show, like, that's literally how it was. They were defending me. They didn't change my stance whatsoever. I'm like, I get it. They had a relationship with him. They worked together, this and that and the other. And again, like I said, it's different. When you have a different encounter with somebody, your feelings aren't my feelings.
00:18:12
Speaker 3: Right.
00:18:12
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? But then at some point. Your true colors are going to start the show. Like I said, I didn't say anything.
00:18:18
Speaker 3: My favorite shit that you see T.O. under all this shit was, I told y'all. That's all I told y'all.
00:18:24
Speaker 2: Exactly. I told you so. You know what I mean? But I saw it early on. Even like I said, that clip that keeps going viral when I'm like, yo, because I'm listening. I'm on the show. We're talking about Colin Kaepernick. I'm listening at his commentary. I'm listening at Max's commentary. I was almost, I couldn't get all my words out because I saw it. And I'm like, bro, I'm like, Max almost seems a little bit more educated and in the know about what's going on than you. And I'm like, yo, Max almost seems blacker than you.
00:18:52
Speaker 3: Max loved that shit too.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: Yo, if you see Steven's face, now hold on.
00:18:56
Speaker 2: Right. I'm going to check you right there. Yeah, I'm going to check you right there. I'm like, bro. I'm like, I said it tongue in cheek, but literally that's what it was. I called it what it was.
00:19:04
Speaker 1: So you're probably one of the biggest podcasters in the world right now.
00:19:07
Speaker 2: Right.
00:19:07
Speaker 1: You have the number one podcast, number two.
00:19:10
Speaker 3: At least, definitely. We do well.
00:19:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, you do well.
00:19:13
Speaker 2: I mean, bro, we're going to give you your flowers, bro, if you want. Thank you. Absolutely.
00:19:15
Speaker 1: All of these plants.
00:19:16
Speaker 2: Exactly, bro.
00:19:17
Speaker 3: I appreciate it.
00:19:17
Speaker 2: Exactly what you want. You want these flowers or these plants? You know what I mean? We got the greenery so you can feel comfortable. There you go. Because we ain't smoking up in here. Right, right. But it's about to be some smoke. Yeah. But, man, we want to give you guys your flowers.
00:19:28
Speaker 1: Did you know this is what you wanted after retirement?
00:19:31
Speaker 3: You know, we came and TU was in the same era where social media didn't really hit until the end of our careers. You know what I mean? So we looked at media a lot different, especially you went through a lot of shit where you would say stuff and they would twist it. So as athletes, we kind of looked at media like the cops. You know what I mean? Like we were cops you know i mean so when i got out i'm like oh you should you're well spoken i'm like oh fuck with them you know i'm not saying and i'm not throwing a blanket on everyone because there was always those people who were really good and really worked at their job and really represented our voice the best way because it used to be whatever was on espn or fox and whatever was in the newspaper was the gospel and we never had a voice to speak our opinion you know what i mean so when i got out i'm like nah i'm cool And they're like, just give it a try. And then I gave it a try and I liked it. So, you know, I went the corporate route and learned and saw the behind the scenes. But when we broke free and kind of jumped in our own lane, it was like, let's be a small part of changing. And no, he said this, but that's not true. This is what really happened, you know, to really get the real side of the story. Because for so many years, I'm finding so much success in this baseball space because I'm talking to guys that came up in the 80s and 90s that never had a chance to, we just had Kevin Mitchell, never had a chance to dispel, you know, he was, He was the scapegoat for Doc and Daryl's issues. They traded him because, you know what I mean? And he's just, and I asked him, I was like, was it hard having to just live with the BS that wasn't really you? He was like, man, it was, you know what I mean? And then people would meet me in person. Like, man, you're not like that.
00:20:52
Speaker 2: Right.
00:20:52
Speaker 3: Similar to y'all similar to me same thing you know people saw me cuss a ref out or do some shit and they're like oh he's a thug he's this and then they hear me talk like oh you're not who we thought you were.
00:21:02
Speaker 2: 15 20 minutes with you you know being at certain events or what have you they see how personable we are like we still gonna be who we are we get in that competitive space or whatever we're competitors right but to his point like bro i get it all the time i'm When you're on the court, on the field, we're two different animals.
00:21:21
Speaker 3: Competitors, yeah. You got to be.
00:21:22
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:21:23
Speaker 3: Got to be a dog.
00:21:24
Speaker 2: We're not living with that aggression as soon as we go home to our families and our parents and around our friends.
00:21:30
Speaker 3: I'm high most of the time anyway, so I'm cool.
00:21:33
Speaker 2: I wasn't high. I probably should have started smoking, bro.
00:21:36
Speaker 1: But you don't smoke much on the air anymore.
00:21:38
Speaker 3: With certain guests.
00:21:39
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
00:21:40
Speaker 3: Because we just have to realize what current athletes, we would look dumb and put them in a bad spot. So when we have Snoop, when we have Wiz, when there's guys that come in. We actually asked him. But yeah, we kind of pick and choose now.
00:21:56
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
00:21:56
Speaker 2: How about an edible?
00:21:58
Speaker 3: Those are always flowing.
00:21:59
Speaker 1: No, I'm saying that's what he said to you guys. I don't smoke.
00:22:01
Speaker 2: How about an edible? How about an edible? Yes. I didn't know you were just kind of like just right over with Sacramento. Like, Played in San Francisco. I used to go up there and watch the Sacramento Kings play all the time when the Maloofs owned it. Yeah.
00:22:15
Speaker 3: That was a fun time, man. The Maloofs were dope.
00:22:17
Speaker 2: Man, what?
00:22:17
Speaker 3: And then their hotels, they kicked ass. That was a dope time, bro.
00:22:21
Speaker 2: Oh, man. Bro, they showed me so much love. Even my son, they welcomed me because I would drive like.
00:22:29
Speaker 3: Hour and a half, two hours, yeah.
00:22:30
Speaker 2: Just to go to the Kings games.
00:22:33
Speaker 3: Yeah That's back when they were good I see Webb And Mike Bibby And all that Sacramento was jumping At that time All of.
00:22:40
Speaker 2: Them Doug Christie Bobby Jackson Bobby Jackson Yeah All of them Bro I used to They used to have me Courtside Courtside Yeah Courtside Yeah Bro I used to be Pushing my little Yukon Denali in that traffic, bro. Pushing it, trying to make sure I got there on time.
00:22:56
Speaker 1: It was about an hour away?
00:22:57
Speaker 2: Hour and a half. Yeah, bro. Man, I had so much fun. What was it like growing up out there? Yeah, that's what I was.
00:23:03
Speaker 3: Going to do. So I was born in San Jose, so right outside the Bay Area.
00:23:06
Speaker 1: Say that again, because San Jose people think they from the Bay.
00:23:10
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:23:11
Speaker 2: I mean, it's funny.
00:23:12
Speaker 3: Some people from the Bay give it Bay love. I know it's San Jose. It's its own little thing. So I was born and lived there pops in the streets at about at like 89 we had to bust a move to sack to kind of get out of some shit so i went from like diversified asian filipino black mexican majority that was the majority to moved into a similar neighborhood but my parents always like starting third grade they put me in white schools consistently put me in white schools and i never understood why like why am i always in these schools i can't go to school with my friends but then once i started doing the school work i realized how far behind the educational system was where i came from so i'm a big old third grader. And when my kid, my, my, my classmates get to go out to recess, I got to go back to the first grade pod. I'm in there like Billy Madison with little kids trying to write my letters and shit. I'm like, what is going on here? You know what I mean? So it's just like, that was a culture shock to me. You know, even though I'm biracial, I was just never really around a ton of white kids when I first grew up. So then, you know, being thrown in that kind of thing. And then from there, I faced a lot of racism, a ton of racism. Cause I'd never really knew, you know what I mean? So my mom's Italian, my dad's black. So I, you know, I would be sad. I'm nine years old. I don't know why these kids won't play me just cause I'm darker. And I, you know, cry and she would console me. And my dad was like, nah, F that. If they call you a nigga, you have my permission to fight them. I'm like, what? So I got the green light in third grade. Like, if they call you that.
00:24:32
Speaker 1: So I started.
00:24:32
Speaker 2: That's where it started.
00:24:34
Speaker 3: Literally, that's where it started. Like, people don't understand. Like, I've always kind of been stereotyped. And it started with racism in, like, third grade. So I started fighting so much, man, that my mom was a stay-at-home mom, that she had to kind of start coming to me in the yard duty at break. So our little small recesses, lunchtime, and then the, after lunch break, like my mom was there so much that she, she became a teacher, but it was because my dad said, you know, so I had to fight to respect, you know, I had to fight my way to respect as a child in elementary school. And then once they accepted me, I was, you know, I played every athlete, you know, I've lettered in four sports, all American in two sports. Like it was kind of a smooth sailing after that, but faced a lot of racism growing up and it kind of hardened me and shaped me to be kind of just more outspoken and speaking for those that don't have a voice or a platform to speak, you know, whether it be racism, whether it just be right and wrong. You know what I mean? I feel like there's so many people that just do nasty shit to people that don't have a means to express their selves. So I've always been someone that kind of took that upon myself to not be afraid to speak out against the bullshit.
00:25:37
Speaker 1: Were you one to bomb on somebody? Like, would you take the first hit?
00:25:42
Speaker 3: It just depends on what happened. right like there was yeah there was a kid that so the the culmination of my racism i don't even remember his name to be honest with you but it was my senior year so i'm about two months from going to ucla and my sister i'm a senior my sister's a sophomore and this kid kept messing with her and i didn't really know what he was doing but he was kept messing with her and then she finally told me like he's been calling me a nigger and today he's spitting my hair and i had open fourth because i was a senior so i was gonna go home i was actually gonna go smoke before basketball practice but i was gonna go chill before basketball practice and this kid happened to um for his uh unfortunately for him he walked it's like there he is or his homegirl said there he is so i just went and did what any brother would do you know i had to put paws on him and and whooped him and then we got taken to the principal's office and our parents got called in and the school didn't believe me like again i brought so many accolades dusty baker went to our school i broke like all dusty baker's records and and every sport but baseball that was that was his i wouldn't mind um But they just, you know, his dad's a prominent lawyer in this town. He wasn't raised that way. So they basically called me a liar. Although there's spit in my sister's hair. Oh, you know, he didn't say that. He might have spit on her. But long story short, I get suspended for like a week. While I'm suspended, the KKK comes to my high school and burns down a bathroom, hangs a mannequin with my football jersey on it with a noose around the mannequin's neck. Die, niggers. Swastikas everywhere. It made like national news. The NAACP came up there. What?
00:27:05
Speaker 1: In Sacramento?
00:27:06
Speaker 3: And I actually found out they tried to put a hit on me. So we had to move. We moved my senior year to just a neighboring city to kind of get out the heat. We had people watching our house for like the first month and a half after it happened. Like, it got hot. You know what I mean? So it was kind of like, unfortunately, I had racism in third grade. And then it was third and fourth. And it was smooth sailing. And what year was this?
00:27:25
Speaker 2: 98.
00:27:25
Speaker 3: It was my senior year of high school.
00:27:26
Speaker 2: That's crazy, bro. Yeah.
00:27:29
Speaker 1: California. People don't think we got it out here.
00:27:31
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:27:31
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, Sacramento is kind of like known as... i'm you know cow town you know i mean now they used to have the cowbells at the king's game like it's it's a lot of just rural land out there you know what i mean and there are some ghettos and some hoods out there but you know there's definitely a lot of people that at the time i don't know about now because i haven't lived there in such a long time that just wasn't fucking with black people so and you know what's crazy was i came to la after that and really kind of started to be able to spread my wings. And I was always very proud of my heritage. You know, my mom being Italian, my dad being black, you know, I've always been proud of that. But I realized that, you know, 17, just turning 18, that like, I'm looked at as a black man.
00:28:07
Speaker 1: All day. Yeah. The clan ain't gonna be like, get him, get him.
00:28:11
Speaker 3: No, he's half Italian. No, leave him alone. Have him cook. No, they were, yeah, I'd be in the house, but.
00:28:20
Speaker 3: But, no, that's how they kind of looked at me, and that's what I kind of realized at that point. Like, I'm still very, to this day, I'm 46. I'm very proud of who I am and what I am. But I realized at 17 years old, like, no, you're a nigger. People look at you as a black man.
00:28:34
Speaker 2: So, yeah, and that brings me to my point. Like, I've been around your two boys, Carter and Isaiah. Like, how is those moments? Like, honestly, bro, that's crazy. I'm shocked to hear that story. Mm-hmm. I'm sure they know. Have you told them that story?
00:28:52
Speaker 3: I actually sat all of our kids down. It was interesting because I did a little documentary on it that we never ended up releasing that I probably should release now that I have my own company. You just reminded me of it, but I kind of just broke down what happened. There you go. But, you know, thankfully, you know, The twins are Italian, black and Mexican. Their mom's black and Mexican. So you can't really tell what the twins are because they're light skinned, too. And then obviously I have three stepkids that are full black. And then, you know, I have my two youngest with my wife now that are, you know, they're just a quarter Italian. The rest are black. You know, the rest of them is black. So they're just different. But thankfully, you know, we've come a long way. And again, this is 80s, early 90s. Like biracial kids are more the norm now.
00:29:33
Speaker 2: Sure.
00:29:34
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? So it's just like it's not as hard. But it used to be. I was never white enough and I was never black enough. You know what I mean? So when I ran into some shit, who do I run to? You know what I mean? And I ran to my, my parents and my mom would console me. My dad was like, no, fuck that. Stand on them, you know, stand on your 10 toes and do what you got to do. So that was just like, in that time, I really didn't have a side to run to, but thankfully I'm so thankful now that You know, it's just more the norm. And my kids haven't ran into too much.
00:29:59
Speaker 2: Right. How do you manage or, you know, what is your fatherly advice for if they encounter?
00:30:06
Speaker 3: We've had the conversations, you know, obviously, you know, when Stephon Clark, rest in peace, in Sacramento died, I think the twins were like seven years old. And then they saw the George Floyd stuff. So we've had conversations around police brutality and how, especially now they're 17, like You get pulled over, hands on the wheel, turn the music down, roll your windows down. No bullshit. No, my dad is this or none of that flies. Just listen to what they have going on. If they give you a ticket, pay for it.
00:30:32
Speaker 1: Your goal is to get home.
00:30:33
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? So it's just like we've had those type of conversations. And then also conversations like, listen, all your friends aren't going to where you're trying to get to. So you can't be doing some of the same stuff. So I've had normal fatherly conversations that have evolved, you know, that have a little bit of you're African-American, but again– Not thankfully, but just luckily you just can't really tell what the twins are and their light, fair skin, so they don't really get too much.
00:30:59
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00:31:26
Speaker 4: We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.
00:32:10
Speaker 2: And they're charismatic, got a lot of personality.
00:32:13
Speaker 1: Very mannerly, too. Like, you guys have done an incredible job. I remember we were watching the Super Bowl at our favorite friend's house, the Pumps.
00:32:21
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
00:32:22
Speaker 1: And you came over and I was like. You know your kids are great. But it's great to see your kids interact with other people. And so to watch them and see how mannerly they were and polite and respectful.
00:32:34
Speaker 3: I definitely got to give their mom some love for that. She doesn't play with, she's very high on manners and very high on schoolwork. She didn't play in those two areas. So yeah, we definitely, it was a village to raise them two little boys.
00:32:46
Speaker 2: Because they were doing like little clips. They had like a little podcast.
00:32:48
Speaker 3: They had a show for a minute.
00:32:49
Speaker 2: For a second.
00:32:50
Speaker 3: And their mom was a hater on it. But it was rolling.
00:32:54
Speaker 2: Right. I know.
00:32:55
Speaker 1: And I was.
00:32:56
Speaker 2: it was just good to see like they were just open. And I mean, I was kind of cleaning up like they were cursing a little bit. You gave them a little bit of freedom to say little things.
00:33:05
Speaker 3: Oh man, I mean, my kids are my biggest joy, my biggest success, the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. And I told someone, you know, to play a long time in the NBA and be fortunate enough to be a part of a championship team, like I never got the excitement. That excitement doesn't match seeing my kids just excel in things they love and be good at stuff they love to do. Just Being a father is the greatest thing in the world, you know what I mean? And I'm thankful to have four sons and then three bonus kids, you know what I mean? So it's constant, you know, just, it's a lot. Don't get me wrong, seven kids is a lot. But, you know, just seeing, I mean, the twins used to be able to, both of them used to be able to fit in my lap laying down. And now these dudes are 6'4, 200 pounds, like questioning everything. I'll still smack the shit out of you, you know what I mean? Questioning everything I say, but it's just been great.
00:33:51
Speaker 1: Are the youngest ones athletic too?
00:33:53
Speaker 3: So the youngest one is going to be the monster. So Ashton is seven. So he's seven. He won't be eight until December. This kid is five foot two, 120 pounds, and wears a size 10 in men's.
00:34:10
Speaker 2: No way. What?
00:34:11
Speaker 3: Bro, he's probably the biggest seven-year-old in the country. He's a monster. But he's a baby, like he's really, and he's just kind of getting out of his clumsy baby colt, giraffe, tripping over my own feet. And then the baby, Austin, who's going to be two tomorrow. Happy birthday to my baby boy.
00:34:29
Speaker 2: Happy birthday, Austin.
00:34:31
Speaker 3: He's just as big as Ash at every checkup. So my two youngest are probably going to be six tenors, six eleven, maybe seven footers. Yeah, so they're going to be monsters.
00:34:39
Speaker 1: And not just how tall?
00:34:40
Speaker 3: Not just five ten, but she's tall. Thick side, 200 pounds, you know what I mean? And then I'm 6'8, 240, so our babies are going to be big old boys.
00:34:47
Speaker 1: Did y'all do this on purpose?
00:34:49
Speaker 3: I saw her one time in a red dress with all that ass, and I was just like, who is that? She was with Shea. That was it. That's funny. So we went to UCLA together. And then she ended up going to another school after our freshman year, and I hadn't seen her, bro, in 20-something years. And then All-Star LA.
00:35:04
Speaker 2: Did you guys date then?
00:35:05
Speaker 1: No.
00:35:06
Speaker 2: I need to hang out with Matt hanging out at it.
00:35:08
Speaker 3: I need to go with you. So 20 years later, or 20-plus years later, we're at All-Star in LA, and I'm about to get out to Kenny Smith's event. And I'm in my car, and I see Shaya. So I call Shaya Bryant.
00:35:18
Speaker 1: Shaya, what up?
00:35:19
Speaker 2: Kobe's sister.
00:35:19
Speaker 3: What's going on? Yeah, so we're talking. I'm like, damn, who's that girl in the maroon dress right there? She's like, oh, you remember her? That's Anansa. And all I saw was that. So I'm just like, damn. And she turned around and smiled like, damn, we've been together ever since, bro.
00:35:32
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:35:32
Speaker 1: You mentioned Kobe.
00:35:33
Speaker 3: That's my dog.
00:35:34
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:35:34
Speaker 1: I see the tattoo. I don't know if we can get a close up.
00:35:36
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:35:37
Speaker 1: Tell us about y'all's relationship.
00:35:39
Speaker 3: Man, our relationship was interesting. It was, it started, well, I, you know, we kind of met each other. He came to, I want to say he came to Lakers in 96, I don't know, I was thinking I went to UC in 98. And there was always kind of a, you know, him and He was just a little young for that team, and there was some shit going on. So he was always at UCLA.
00:35:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, cutting a man's gym, right?
00:35:56
Speaker 3: Eating, no, chilling.
00:35:58
Speaker 2: Oh, just not to play?
00:35:59
Speaker 3: Nah, he would be walking around campus like he was a student.
00:36:01
Speaker 2: He wasn't cold. Yeah, yeah.
00:36:03
Speaker 3: So he was, you know, low-key.
00:36:04
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, I guess because he didn't get a chance to have a college experience.
00:36:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, so he would be on our campus all the time. I see him eating, hanging out, obviously playing, working out. So, you know, getting a chance to play against him in the summer. So, you know, I wouldn't even call it a friendship then. It was just we knew each other and, you know, got to play with each other a little bit. He would come practice after our UCLA team, and I'd come back in there and just watch him. I'd sit up there, and I'm like, damn, this dude's only two years older than me. There ain't no way I'm making the NBA. I would just see how good he was, and he was only a couple years older than me. So it's just kind of always an admiration for him. And then, you know, I missed MJ by a year. So Kobe was the bar, you know what I mean? So every time I got a chance to match up with him and we'd lock horns, like I would take pride. I mean, I always had to guard the best player. Kobe, Melo, D-Wade, Kevin Durant, LeBron, you name him. That was my job every night. But Kobe was the one. So it kind of just kind of culminated. Obviously, there was always a mutual respect for each other. But it culminated in that Orlando ball fake situation where, you know, we almost fought. And then we were supposed to go see them in the finals again. And then Boston beat us in the Eastern finals. And then they ended up getting their payback against Boston in the finals. But right after that, I'm a free agent. The money kind of starts drying up in Orlando. They were telling me something during the season. And then once it kind of came down to what they were going to give me, it wasn't really what it was supposed to be. So then. I'm thinking I'm going to go to Miami right up the freeway, and I'm talking to D-Wade and Pat Riley, and this is on the way where LeBron and Chris Bosh are coming to, and he's telling me what the lineups are and what the plan is. So I'm like, cool, I'm just going to go to Miami. And then I get a phone call one day from a number I don't know, and I don't even pick up numbers I do know. But for some reason, God had me pick up the phone, and it was him. I didn't even believe it. I was like, who's this? Kobe look at the fuck this ain't Kobe and it ended up being Kobe and we kind of you know I congratulated him on the championship and you know he kind of back and forth what are you going to do this next season and I told him you like it's like I'm not really sure I might go to Miami just like man like anyone crazy enough to fuck with me is crazy enough to play with me do you want to be a Laker I'm like hell yeah I grew up in California Showtime Lakers magic fan hell yeah bro three days later I was on a plane flying to LA and signed on my contract to become a Laker and then from there we went from teammates to like this like people used to tell me like how did you get Kobe to come out like he asked me if I wanted to go out you know what I mean like we used to just move together like pretty much every road trip we'd either go eat something or go do something and you know it was always my I know I mentioned smoking three or four times but when I used to land I would go in my bathroom and burn one real quick and then I'm off what's the play LO would always have a bus you know LA would have the cars for us wherever you're doing but if no one was doing nothing let's go get some food. I'm like, all right, I'm going to smoke first. And then I used to go, when are you going to smoke with me? He's like, oh, when we win the championship together, I'll smoke with you. Never got that done. But we just went from, you know, competitors to teammates to like brothers. And what I love most about Kobe was being able to see the other side. I got to know Kobe, you know, everyone got to know the Mamba and the killer on the court. And I have my, he got me plenty of times on the court, but just getting to see him off the court and The love you have for the twins, you know, the twins are four or five years old when we come to Lakers and he's Uncle Kobe's wrestling with them in the locker room. Every shoe drop, they get shoes. I mean, they're four years old with their first pair of Kobe's and literally and it didn't even stop. You know, obviously he passed. And but since then, Vanessa has picked up the torch. where co left vanessa just sent the twins like 20 pair of kobe's yo i was like what the fuck are all these boxes and it says their names on them and i local them and they're just all kobe's i'm like damn i couldn't get one pair like she's sending them when i kid you not 20 30 pair of kobe's you know what i mean so it's just always that right seeing that other side seeing the father he used to coach gg gg was two years older than the twins out in Orange County and you know, we'd be playing early games and you know, we would talk the night before like, hey, what time you play? What time you play? Sometimes, cause she was a little bit older. We'd play 8 a.m. games and these kids were eight or nine years old. Kobe would come to an eight o'clock game on a Saturday and come watch the twins play. And then, you know, we'd chill for a little bit. Then we'd go watch Gigi play and watch him coach. So it was just kind of that bond that, you know, that not too many people got to see cause he didn't let a lot of people in. So it was- Did you guys ever talk about the flinch? We did on our show. You know, we were the last. I told him I wanted to fuck him up. Like, I wanted to fight him.
00:40:19
Speaker 2: So what went into that? Because a lot of people don't really know. Everybody just sees the highlight.
00:40:24
Speaker 3: Well, you know, T, I mean, you were a great player yourself. There's tricks to the trade. And Kobe was someone who would try to mentally attack you, too. So, you know. elbowing you, grabbing you, doing all that little shit that they're not going to call on him, but they're going to call on the person that reacts to it. So he had elbowed me in my sternum that game and like knocked the wind out of me. And I'm like, all right, motherfucker, this is what we on. And then later in the game, I think this is, they show this a lot. He tried to, he was guarding me on the baseline, but he tried to come from the backside and block the white shot and it just bounced on the rim perfect where I went up and caught a dunk tip and I pushed myself to him. So when I came off the rim, I'm like in his face and this motherfucker elbowed me from like and like maybe bite my tongue and everything. And the rest just standing there and doesn't say shit. So I'm like, fuck it. Like we're about to have to get down. Like, you know what I mean? So luckily I didn't, you know, me, I'm a little unhinged on the court. Like I could have just really threw the ball in his face, but that wasn't even a pre premeditated move to like, you know, if you look at me, I'm not even looking at, I'm looking at Vince Carter cause it's a backdoor lob for the play for Vince. So I'm looking at him, but something in my body just said, throw the ball in this fucker's face. So that's what I did. And it, you know, it, it's, His eyelashes touched it, but didn't move. And I'm just like, I didn't realize in the moment what it was, what was going on. Obviously, after I saw how close it was, I'm just like, yeah, he's a killer. I thought he was. You know what I mean? But to be honest with you, that... altercation in that game is what ended up, you know, he always, he respected dogs.
00:41:53
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
00:41:54
Speaker 3: And that's what brought us together.
00:41:56
Speaker 2: And that's what I've heard and noticed about Kobe. He respects guys that really don't back down.
00:42:03
Speaker 3: Because he's going to try, if you let him, he'll mentally take you over and disrespect you.
00:42:07
Speaker 2: Destroy you.
00:42:08
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? And when you, because you got to think the year before, he could win and got Ron. Because Ron, remember Ron grabbed him in the playoffs by his neck and not that Kobe was scared or anything, but he, like if you bow down or you show any sign of weakness, he's going to attack like a shark, like a shark in the water. He sees blood. But, you know, the fact that, you know, some people don't play them games, he just, he respects that.
00:42:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, because just think about, Artest ended up playing on the Lakers too. Yeah.
00:42:31
Speaker 3: So he went there the year before and then I came. So it was the funny thing with us three, like three of the better defenders in the league, like, Kobe used to get mad because we would say, okay, now that we're here, bro, you don't have to guard the best player. We just kill on offense. But let a motherfucker get two, four, six on. I got him. Like, nah, bro, I fucking got him. You know, he would argue with me and Ron to guard the best player. Like, even though we told him, like, let us handle this. You just score 40. You go score 40. So it was such a cool competitive nature within us three because you got three dogs out there.
00:43:01
Speaker 2: And that me hearing you say that, that's you respecting the game but understanding your role too. Yeah, that's it. for the better of the team. Like, you ain't got to tire yourself out on both ends. You know what I mean? You got two defenders right here. Let us do the dirty work.
00:43:16
Speaker 1: Who's harder to guard, LeBron or Kobe?
00:43:18
Speaker 3: Kobe. And this is no knock on LeBron. LeBron is strong, fast, incredible. There's not much you can do with him, but Kobe's just so skilled. Kobe attacks mistakes. If you have the wrong foot leaning forward, if you have the wrong hand, if you go for the shot, the skill– work of kobe was like there's like there's even if you even if you thought you had him stop he'll pump fake you so many times until he gets you in the air and you foul him oh man just three four like all right this is the fifth fake he's got to shoot this shit he'll pump fake three more times then he go up and i have to foul him just because i'm off balance so i just think the detail and the skill of kobe was on i think he's the most i think you know him and kairi are right there but i think kobe being six six just the most skilled player we've ever seen.
00:44:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, just from the ability to score like at every level.
00:44:11
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:44:12
Speaker 2: And do it like with, like you said, with detail, like counters. Like, yeah, LeBron's big. He ain't got the bag that Kyrie or Kobe has.
00:44:23
Speaker 3: But don't get me wrong. Bron was a motherfucker, bro.
00:44:25
Speaker 2: No, that's what I'm saying. I'm not saying that he's not that. But he ain't that. You know what I mean?
00:44:31
Speaker 1: But the fact that he can do all that without the bag is fucking fascinating.
00:44:34
Speaker 3: And still do it.
00:44:35
Speaker 2: Right.
00:44:35
Speaker 3: Still do it. And they did 58 years old. I said, such a cool, like my job, like obviously offense is what gets the accolades and what gets you recognized. But my job every night was to guard the best players in the world. The Carmelo Anthony's, the Kobe's, the D-Wade's, the Ginobili's, the Michael Redd's. Like, Every night, like, that was the matchup. The T-Max, the Paul Pierce's, it's just like that was every night I was zoned in to, all right, I know I'm not going to stop them, but I got to make them work for this 30. If they're going to get 30 points, they got to take 30 shots.
00:45:04
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? So in high school, were you like an offensive player?
00:45:07
Speaker 3: No, I was an offensive guy.
00:45:09
Speaker 2: So you were a similar guy.
00:45:09
Speaker 3: I was a point guard. I was a 6'8, triple-double point guard. I was, you know, 30, 11, and 10 in high school.
00:45:16
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Not comparing you two, but Patrick Beverly, like he was a scorer in Chicago. Like he was like– Like one of the top two scorers, like averaging 30-something points a game. But then in the NBA, that offensive game didn't transition.
00:45:29
Speaker 3: Find your role.
00:45:30
Speaker 2: So was that hard? That's what I was getting to. Was that hard for you to do?
00:45:34
Speaker 1: That started happening at UCLA, though, right?
00:45:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's slow because I went into two. I came into Baron Davis' class. It was the class before me. They were number one in the country. And then my class came in number one in the country. So it just kind of had, yeah, I was solid on offense and I could still score. And could I? Did I want to score more? But I had to kind of start, okay, my versatility is what helped me. I was able to play one through four. And in the league, I played one through five because we had to transition to small ball at that time. So I think to your point, what keeps people from not maximizing potential or having the long runs they have outside of not being mentally strong is not being able to adapt, not being able to read the room, not being able to fall into your role. I remember Doc Rivers said, be a star in your role. So whatever that role may be, you may not be the superstar, But you could be a star. My role was I was one of those early 3 and D guys. You know, play defense, shoot the threes at the corners, and when you get to the moment, rebound, half foul, you know, dive on the flood. That was my role. 50-50 balls, rebound.
00:46:30
Speaker 2: And trust me, Matt will spray you now.
00:46:33
Speaker 4: He'll spray you for it.
00:46:35
Speaker 1: Trust me.
00:46:35
Speaker 2: He will spray you from the perimeter.
00:46:38
Speaker 3: But just understanding what the team needs. And, again, I think a lot of guys couldn't understand, hey, I need to– move my game a little bit to last.
00:46:48
Speaker 1: Let's talk about our guy. Another Bruin. Sorry.
00:46:51
Speaker 3: It's a little Bruin talk.
00:46:53
Speaker 1: Westbrook's retired this year.
00:46:54
Speaker 2: Let me just sit back. Yeah. Just hang on.
00:46:58
Speaker 1: Everybody else is going to be your friend.
00:47:00
Speaker 2: Right. Yeah. I'm just sitting back going along for the ride.
00:47:03
Speaker 1: Um, how proud are you of him?
00:47:05
Speaker 3: First of all, incredible. I don't necessarily have a, a real personal risk. I don't know Russ like that, but I've always been, I've played every summer.
00:47:12
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:47:12
Speaker 3: I've always been a fan from afar. Um, and really just his motor is what captivated me. The fact that you could play that hard all the time, consistently. Special player, we may never see another player like Russ Westbrook.
00:47:27
Speaker 1: Did you see the videos of him and Chris Paul on the ship?
00:47:28
Speaker 3: All I put was like flying money signs. Fuck what they were doing. You see how big the boat was they were on?
00:47:34
Speaker 1: It was a giant boat. Unbelievable, bro.
00:47:37
Speaker 3: Like what are we talking about? But no, I mean, Russ, I mean, You know what's crazy about my era, like there's only four or five guys that I played with that are still, you know, you look at LeBron, Steph, KD, Klay, Draymond. There's maybe 10 guys left in the league that I played with. You know what I mean? Like our era is coming to an end. And to see two of the greatest point guards we've ever seen.
00:47:57
Speaker 1: Chris Paul.
00:47:58
Speaker 3: Guys that have taken so much negative. Bullshit talk from the media and social media, but I really just want to give both those dudes their flowers, man. Two of the greatest point guards we've ever seen. The game is definitely going to miss both of them. Both of them were first about Hall of Fame. I had to get on Skip Bayless' ass because... The day Russ retires, you want to come out and talk about, he wouldn't be in my, man, if you don't shut your motherfucking mouth, he wouldn't be in my Hall of Fame.
00:48:25
Speaker 2: Bro, but how?
00:48:26
Speaker 3: And I don't mind, before you say what you say, I don't mind you having that feeling about Russ.
00:48:30
Speaker 1: Sure, that's his job as an analyst.
00:48:31
Speaker 3: But not on the, like, let him have his day. This man just put in, what, 18 years. He's a first, no matter what you say, he's a first. Allow him to have his day. You know, maybe the day after, the day after that. Go into your little rant for your clicks and your attention. But the fact that you feel like you need to steal his day, the day he retired, that should bother me, bro.
00:48:50
Speaker 2: I'm with you. It bothers me too, bro. It's just like we can never really enjoy the fruits of our labor. And the flowers that we deserve, then you come on your platform to try to demean him, destroy him. For what?
00:49:07
Speaker 3: Why?
00:49:07
Speaker 2: For what? Like, why are you skip? Are you doing that bad now? Like, you don't have first take. You don't have your sidekick, Shannon. Like, you don't really have really. a lot of shows. Like, I mean, what's going on?
00:49:23
Speaker 3: I don't wish bad on nobody, but I feel like that hot take bullshit is on its way out.
00:49:28
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
00:49:29
Speaker 3: Because there are so many more of these situations where you can like, nah, bro, it ain't.
00:49:33
Speaker 1: How it goes. And people don't want to hear it told like that anymore.
00:49:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just such, I mean, we live in such a negative time. time but particularly in sports like do you realize how good he had to be to do what he did or you how good you had to be to do it so it's just like yeah.
00:49:46
Speaker 2: It's crazy 42 what is 42 I don't know straight season.
00:49:49
Speaker 3: Like it was like average incredible he averaged one the whole time but I mean just to but just to even be a pro athlete man I think I think we we live in such a society now where everything well I can do that you know Jake Paul some I could be a foot no no bro you.
00:50:03
Speaker 2: Can't I'm killing him every time he starts saying What about that 1.5 you tried to pay the lady to, you got a wife. What about that 1.5 you tried to slip to the, was it a hairstylist or whoever it was?
00:50:13
Speaker 3: Skip.
00:50:14
Speaker 2: I'm going to start bringing up that. Why are you on us? Worry about that. And it makes no sense. I mean, that's how ridiculous it is for him to really, like I said, ruined this guy's retirement.
00:50:27
Speaker 3: I just wish they had more appreciation for, whether you like him or not, just have some respect and appreciation for what these guys have accomplished.
00:50:35
Speaker 2: It's none.
00:50:35
Speaker 3: No, zero.
00:50:36
Speaker 2: But they feel like.
00:50:36
Speaker 1: Well, he needed some clicks because ain't nobody talking about him anymore.
00:50:39
Speaker 3: That's exactly why.
00:50:40
Speaker 1: He's on Gilbert's old show trying to, you know.
00:50:44
Speaker 2: And speaking of, you mentioned how quick Russ was. I've always had hoop dreams. We've hooped together. But I remember my first glimpse of Russ... You remember they had the hacks. They had hacks.
00:50:59
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
00:51:00
Speaker 2: Everybody was going out. They had the hanger. Yep. And they had this little program like every summer where everybody was going. And they had the different courts everybody was running. And then the main, the big court, like if you win, you stay on. Man, I was on the team, ended up playing on one of the courts. And then he came over. Bro. Different. Blinding. Bro, it was blinding speed. He was like... A blur. Beep, beep, roadrunner. And then next thing you know, he's in the air.
00:51:26
Speaker 3: In the rim, though.
00:51:27
Speaker 2: Like, I'm talking about.
00:51:29
Speaker 1: And he's only 6'3, right?
00:51:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, he big.
00:51:30
Speaker 3: He can bite the rim off. I'm talking about... The combination of speed, athleticism, and strength.
00:51:36
Speaker 2: Yes. It was unbelievable. And then, obviously, that injury... What was that injury? Somebody bumped him at the— Patrick Beverly.
00:51:43
Speaker 3: Remember? They were calling a timeout, and he tried to go for a steal and hit his knee.
00:51:46
Speaker 2: He got toys, meniscus, or something like that. Or something. Yeah, and he really wasn't all the way the same, but still like— Scary. I mean, dude.
00:51:54
Speaker 3: Scary, scary.
00:51:55
Speaker 1: He had that mamba kind of thing, too, as well.
00:51:58
Speaker 3: He was a killer. A lot of people don't— He had that Westbrook thing. I think it was something of his own.
00:52:02
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
00:52:02
Speaker 3: I don't think anyone was ever able to play with that kind of tenacity and energy consistently.
00:52:07
Speaker 2: And why do people like Russ?
00:52:11
Speaker 3: Because I just think he marches to his own beat. He don't give a fuck about what people say, what they do, what they have to say about him. He doesn't jump on shows and justify or clarify if that's what you think. How you feel about me is your issue, not mine. Again, I don't really know him like that, but I'm guessing that's what he thinks. He just doesn't care.
00:52:29
Speaker 2: And the stigma of you can't win with that type of style. You can't win with this kind of play, this guy.
00:52:35
Speaker 3: He just happened not to win. I mean, there's plenty of great players that just didn't happen to win. You know, it takes so much luck to win a championship, man.
00:52:41
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
00:52:42
Speaker 3: So much. It takes more luck to me than anything.
00:52:44
Speaker 2: Right.
00:52:45
Speaker 1: And I hate that they judge people by their championships.
00:52:47
Speaker 3: He just wasn't lucky.
00:52:48
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Ben, you mentioned championship. That jogged my memory for a second. In the intro, we should have introduced you as NBA champion. Yes.
00:53:01
Speaker 3: I don't mind that, though, to be honest with you.
00:53:02
Speaker 2: And that's what that's where I'm going. That's exactly where I'm going. A lot of people don't know that you won a championship. Yeah. You're an NBA champion. Does that I know you don't care, but does that bother you?
00:53:16
Speaker 3: No, because I didn't accept it.
00:53:18
Speaker 2: Right.
00:53:19
Speaker 3: Because I got hurt. So, you know, I've always turned down more money. And now being done, I want to kick myself in my own ass. But I've always turned down more money to go to better teams to try to win. That's always been my whole thing. Like, obviously we play and the money's great, but I wanted to win a championship. You know what I mean? So I came close in a few spots, but that Golden State situation where I was able to actually win, I came in. So I signed a three-year deal with SAC. I figured I was going to finish in my hometown. They had just built a new arena, trying to make the playoffs for the first time in a long time. They trade DeMarcus Cousins at the trade deadline. And me and Vladi have a conversation. Like, Vladi, I'm 37 bro I can't be a part of rebuild like what is going on he's like what do you want to do I'm just like should I want to try to win so unfortunately but fortunately Kevin Durant hyper extends his knee and Golden State needs a three man so I come in you know for Kevin Durant to kind of just stop the bleeding for a little bit but that's just such a great team but I'm in the mix playing 20 plus minutes a game and the game KD comes back it's maybe like a week before the playoff start or a few weeks before the playoff start I had the worst brain ache on my life so I had such a bad sprained ankle that I didn't really play in the playoffs. And when I did, it was kind of messed up. It was scrub minute type things. So it just, I've always been someone that had to earn and scratch and claw every step of my career. So I just kind of felt like I was a, a spectator, you know, for, to, to, to be on the side. I didn't, I wasn't out there because if I was healthy, I would have been out there helping guard Kawhi and all these guys on each level that we would have went through through the playoffs. And I just didn't get that opportunity. I mean, obviously I was a, I understood the situation. By the time I felt good, we're in the Western Conference Finals and we're undefeated. So I know that you don't really mess up a rotation for a rotational player, which I was at that time. You know what I mean? So I'm just kind of OG and helping. You know, Clay had his head down a little bit and some stuff and just talking to guys and staying ready, but just not really necessarily getting the opportunity. So, you know, when you're able to win the championship, my best part about that is obviously. steve kerr and them guys are giving me a chance but the twins were there every step of the way and steve talked about it when i had him on my pod the twins were at practice the twins were on the plane with us the twins are in the hotel with us the twins are kicking it and hanging out with the guys and shooting with steph and kd and if you watch it was funny like during the championship ceremony when we're all on the stage at the arena after we won like the twins are in there trying to get the championship trophy from steph and the mvp trophy from kd and take pictures with the shit so they're like seven or eight years old just Living a dream, bro. So that was my favorite part. I got them championship rings and everything. So my favorite part of that journey was that my sons got to experience it.
00:55:51
Speaker 2: But give yourself grace, man.
00:55:52
Speaker 1: Yes. They wouldn't have had that record without you, sir.
00:55:55
Speaker 2: I mean, too. And then just like you said, your journey, what you. Yeah. Giving to the game. Absolutely. Give yourself grace, man.
00:56:01
Speaker 3: I appreciate that.
00:56:02
Speaker 2: Because, man, you've earned it.
00:56:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely think my journey and my body of work would speak to, okay, yeah, you definitely earned it. But, you know, we're competitors.
00:56:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, exactly.
00:56:10
Speaker 3: And the fact that I wasn't out there, I was hurt and I couldn't contribute. It was funny. So I got a championship ring later because I wasn't playing no more. So they had me come back. And I got the ring and me and the twins were at the game. But it was a big, huge box. So I had it put in a room and then I left and the room was locked. So I didn't have my ring for almost over like a year and some change. And then the Warriors, I was working on ESPN and like Raymond Ritter, my guy, head PR guy there, found out what day I was working and had someone drive it from the Bay and present it to me on, um, on air.
00:56:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:56:42
Speaker 4: On air.
00:56:43
Speaker 1: So that was, I know you got to go. You have a hard out. You just got to give me two seconds of the 44 interview.
00:56:50
Speaker 3: Obama, man. That's a, You know, that's someone that I feel like our community has. He's at the top of the totem pole. He's at the top of the mountain. And, you know, obviously being someone who's, you know, politically engaged and, you know, understanding how much his hands were tied during his time in office and kind of understanding all the nuances and being the first, you know, Just so much admiration and respect. And shout out to my guys, Chris and Jerron, who used to work for his administration. They're the ones that plugged the Michelle interview and the Barack interview. But it was cool, man. We got the chance to go out to Chicago and go to his center before they opened it. So we were actually the first. He took the first jump shot in that gym with us. You know, it took him about they only showed the shot he made. It took him about eight to 10 shots to make. I was I was rebounding for him, but it was so cool just to see him in his element. And he had all the guys that he used to play pickup with. We played some shooting games the day before on Saturday and shot with them. And then he sat down with us on Sunday and just and just talked, man. And just to see how cool and down to earth and just the way he presents himself and holds itself. It's just like, how did we go from this to this? piece of shit in the gutter that we got going on, right? You know what I mean? He just raised the bar. Him and his wife raised the bar so much, man. So it was just really cool. First of all, to be able to sit down with her before that, but be able to sit down with him and see the museum that they've built and the library and just that whole complex where he grew up at, where he and Michelle kind of first got together at. It was just a really cool experience, man. Really cool.
00:58:26
Speaker 2: Okay, before we let you go, man, we have a segment here called Four Downs.
00:58:29
Speaker 1: You know he was a football player, too.
00:58:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know. We played a lot. I played a number of his.
00:58:35
Speaker 3: Flag football games. Those games used to be so popular, bro.
00:58:39
Speaker 2: Bro, I just sat on the plane with some guy that used to be in a lot of... Adam Sandler's movie he kept bringing up that game he was so annoying bro you know when I get on the plane I'm just like chill I want to go to sleep yeah and I don't even want to talk to everybody bro and I'm just I ain't the climate that we in I ain't really trying to talk to nobody you know what I mean to be honest and he I just knew as soon as I sat he sat down I know this is I was like I tried to put my headphones on bro even with my headphones he kept tapping me telling me about like he's like are you who I think you are and then when people tell me that I'm like no I don't know who you think I am so I'm like no so he kept tapping me again and he started got on his phone and then he said are you T.O. and I'm like yeah and then then he started to like oh I remember you from Matt Barnes. Athletes vs.
00:59:31
Speaker 3: Cancer.
00:59:32
Speaker 2: Me and Snoop. Yeah, the flag football game. Yeah, my kid was there, man. He's like, you had an experience with him, blah, blah, blah. He told me. He was really cool, blah, blah, blah. Bro, he told me about the... So, yeah, I know Matt plays a little bit of everything. Softball, too. Right. Anything competitive, we damn near, we're going to be there.
00:59:48
Speaker 1: That's great.
00:59:48
Speaker 2: Basketball, softball. Softball, yeah. Golf now? No, I don't golf. But you starting to do golf?
00:59:57
Speaker 3: I do bowling.
00:59:58
Speaker 2: I've been seeing you on the bowling, on the lanes. But yeah, this guy. So we're going to get to our fourth. We have a segment called Four Downs, man. The first question is, what has fatherhood taught you? That's first down. What has fatherhood taught you?
01:00:13
Speaker 3: Patience and not being afraid to love out loud. I think I came from a tough love environment from my dad. Obviously, my mom was very loving until she passed. But my dad was a tough love. And I have toughness in me, but I love my boys. I kiss my boys until they tell me, Dad, you can't kiss me no more. We're not cool. So I just think loving out loud is what parenthood has taught me.
01:00:33
Speaker 2: Gotcha. Speaking of sports, youth sports, what are parents getting wrong? All of it.
01:00:39
Speaker 3: They believe the hype. Parents are the worst part of kids' sports. They believe the hype, the bullshits. You know, your kid faced some adversity. He's going to a new team. You're starting your own team. Everyone thinks their kid's going. So they're going to these academies that specialize in sports but don't care about school. Pay rent and they got them trainers. Yeah, don't get me started with that shit. Parents fuck up their child. And they don't know it, though, because they don't know any better. And everyone thinks they're going pro.
01:01:03
Speaker 1: And the worst one is the parent that didn't make it or thought he should have it.
01:01:05
Speaker 3: Didn't vicariously live through their kids. Parents are the worst part of youth sports by far.
01:01:10
Speaker 2: Third down, man. You ain't in the end zone yet. You're almost in there. Third down. What is the nature of Matt Barnes, the business of Matt Barnes today? Oh, man.
01:01:23
Speaker 3: Just being able to provide platforms for my brothers and sisters to tell real, authentic stories and be one of the leaders in this digital space. We're building a digital network over there at All The Smoke Productions.
01:01:36
Speaker 1: You got All The Smoke. Boxing now?
01:01:39
Speaker 3: Boxing, MMA, baseball, football, basketball, about to be politics, about to be music.
01:01:45
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, with all of that, man, you're at fourth down. That really was my my fourth down question is like, what's what's the next version of Matt?
01:01:54
Speaker 3: Yeah. Just continuing to build out. You know, again, we're building out a network where we're working on a few documentaries right now. We're standing up some new verticals. Chris has helped me stand up the golf space. So just continuing to empower my people, give people opportunities and again to tell. Great stories. I think, unfortunately, I'm still a huge linear TV, but that's dying out. So digital is what it is and being kind of one of the forefronts in this space of sports storytelling.
01:02:22
Speaker 2: Matt? There you have it. Tell them where we can.
01:02:25
Speaker 3: Find you besides your 26 TV shows. Matt underscore Barnes 9. That's where I'm active on Instagram. I really don't do too much. I may have other accounts, but other people run those. I run my Instagram most of the time. And then just all the Smoke Productions, man. I'm really happy about what we're doing with the baseball, so follow all the Smoke Baseball, ATS.Baseball on Instagram. And, man, I'm living my dream interviewing guys that I grew up. you know, idolizing. So that's what I'm most proud of right now in that space. Until we launch our golf space. Woo!
01:02:56
Speaker 1: We finna kill them.
01:02:57
Speaker 2: There you have it. Matt Bowens on Get to the Point.
01:03:00
Speaker 1: Follow, like, and subscribe us at GTTP Pod.
01:03:07
Speaker 2: Yep. And on YouTube, GTTP Podcast.