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Brendan Haywood: Rich is talking like he’s just some regular dude.” “You have to—I've said this from the jump—you have to understand: if you're Rich Paul, when you say something, whether it's true or not, now LeBron James has to answer for it.” “Now LeBron has to make a statement that says, ‘No, Rich Paul is his own man. He speaks for himself,’ because people think you're speaking for him.” “But more importantly, my big thing is: if I could sit down with Rich Paul, I would say—what is your endgame?” “When you start anything, you should always have the end in mind. Like, do you think this podcast is going to be making $50 million a year at some point?”
Brendan Haywood: “Unless you're telling me: ‘Yeah, I'm about to quit the agency business and be a full-time podcaster.’ Then I get it. If Rich says, ‘Hey man, podcasting is my true passion, I want to get rid of my clients in the next couple of years, dissolve the agency, and be a full-time podcaster.’ Okay—then that makes sense.” “This is your rollout. If that is not the case? I don’t know what the hell Rich Paul is thinking about—throwing all these comments out there for no reason, and even starting this podcast to begin with.”
Brendan Haywood: I learned so much from watching Michael Jordan. But when we're talking about low management and the players from the past versus the players of today, I saw it firsthand. So Mike hurt his knee and he had like a MCL surgery or a cleanup, but his knee was starting to swell up down the stretch of the season. And man, I was in the training room and they were draining like this disgusting stuff out of his knee just for him to be able to play. Man, I'm watching it and I'm terrified of needles. So I'm already over there like that's why I don't have any tattoos, no piercings. I'm terrified of needles. So, I'm watching him put this needle on his knee, drain this swelling out, and he was being forced to do this every couple of games. Now, Mike, this is 40-year-old Mike. And I asked Mike, I said, "Mike, why are you doing this? You have nothing left to prove." He said, "Man, somebody gave their last dollar to come see me play and bring their kid to the game, and I feel like it's my duty to give them the Michael Jordan experience.
Brendan Haywood on the 65-game rule: I’m fine with it simply because the league and the way they do things and the way players have done things have forced us here because when there was no load management, you didn't really need this rule. It was understood. Your stars were trying to play every single night. But now, because there's load management, we do have to understand there's an advantage. And if there's one guy that played 72 games and one guy that played 52 games, the numbers might be the same, but the guy that played 52 had a little bit less wear and tear on the body. So, I'm not really opposed to the 65-game rule. I think that it's one of those things that as times have changed and teams are have these they schedule people's rest days in the summer in the offseason now. So, now that they have these type of rules in place that they're doing, the 65-game minimum seems kind of fair to me. We have to adapt with the time and that's where we at right now.
Brendan Haywood: “What he said has always been valued, and what he says, for the most part, has always been taken into consideration. And now the team is like, ‘No, we don’t really care about what you think. We don’t care what direction you think the team should go in. We don’t care about what your thought is for the game plan. It’s the Luka show. That’s it.’ And that’s going to be different for anybody. Ric Bucher: So is he adjusting? Do you think he’s adjusting? Brendan Haywood: No—it’s a bunch of little microaggressions. You can see it. We all see it. And I’m not even saying he’s wrong for doing it. I’m just saying that’s how he’s handling it. Every once in a while, he’s gonna step out there and, ‘Hey, I’m gonna take the free throw. I’m King James, damn it. Don’t forget it.’ Right? ‘Hey—what? Hey, why wouldn’t I shoot it? Like, what y’all gonna do?’”
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Ric Bucher: As a result of everybody getting these e-bikes, one of LeBron’s critics suggested that LeBron has never given gifts to his teammates. You were a teammate at one point—and obviously in the league—so I’m just wondering… I thought that can’t possibly be true at some point.” Brendan Haywood “Well, I’ll say this: I can only speak from my time with LeBron, and from some of the people that I know. Have I seen LeBron buy gifts? No. I haven’t seen him do anything like buy the e-bikes. I think Kyrie Irving bought everybody this year in Dallas, like, golf carts or something like that.” “But he has so many businesses that do business with him. He has given teammates things that were given to him by said business. So, like, it’s 2015—like, you know the Beats by Dre. It’s not regifting. It’s just like, ‘Yo.’ When the Beats by Dre headphones first came out, everybody had to have them. Yeah, dog—he was giving us different pairs every week. I had so many Beats by Dre headphones, I was giving them away as Christmas gifts. Like, I forgot whatever phone company he was sponsored by—he gave all of us phones.” “So, whatever company he’s sponsored by, yeah—he will use that company to send gifts to his teammates. But is he going to go in his own pocket and pay for it? Absolutely not. Yo, LeBron might be the cheapest goddamn billionaire you ever seen.” Rick Bucher “Really?” Brendan Haywood “Hell no. Like, no. Like, no. LeBron ain’t gonna go out there and buy everybody golf carts—nah. But he will make sure whatever company takes care of him takes care of his teammates.”
NBA TV will offer nightly studio coverage of the NBA Finals. GameTime Live at the Finals will feature analysts such as Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith of TNT’s iconic Inside the NBA, as well as Grant Hill, Isiah Thomas, Candace Parker, Steve Smith, Brendan Haywood, and Channing Frye.
Brendan Haywood: ‘Then I get the call my agent's like, 'Yo, I got good news and bad news.' He's like, the bad news is you're getting traded from Orlando. The good news is you're getting traded to the Wizards and Michael Jordan made the trade for you.' Oh, okay. Okay, all right. Yes, MJ. At this point we already knew he was coming back. Yeah, so I was like, 'Oh wow, okay,' and so it was just getting a chance to go to the Wizards. I was, like I said, disappointed it wasn't Orlando, but I'm getting a chance to play with Michael Jordan. It’s incredible.’
Brendan Haywood: ‘He didn't want to lose nothing. You can't pay for that. You get to see the best of all time and you get to see what makes him that. Just in practice he just didn't want to lose at all. Question: Was people still fearing MJ? Haywood: Yes. Because you got to realize what time it was. The young dudes in the league that were coming into the league grew up watching MJ kind of like the young guys in this league now getting in there they're stepping out there looking at LeBron like ‘oh my God I'm playing against LeBron’.
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Brendan Haywood: My favorite Bron moment? The shot he hit in Chicago. All my career, I heard people say, "He can’t hit a game-winner. He’s scared of the moment." We’re down two. David Blatt draws up the game-winner for J.R. Smith. Bron grabs the clipboard, erases the play, and draws his own. He says, "Deli, take it out. I’m going to fake this way, pop to the corner, and hit the three." He fakes out Jimmy Butler, pops to the corner, hits the three, and wins the game. I’ve never seen anyone draw up their own game-winner like that. That’s elite.
Brendan Haywood: Gil is supposed to zip her up to the top of the key. He's supposed to drive on the weak side. I'm going to come down and pin down screen on Larry because everybody's going to be looking at Gil. Larry's going to pop wide open—Larry's having a great game—but knock down the jumper. Gil catches the ball at the top of the key. Cool. I'm thinking he's going to drive through the middle of the court. Does not. Drives the ball away from Larry, goes to between the mid-post and the baseline, and pulls a jumper up. Iconic shot. A hand in his face. Bow. Game winner. We all rush him, and we’re celebrating in the locker room. I walk over to him and say, "Yo, man, how’d you know to go to the left and not give the ball to Larry?" This man, with all seriousness, looked me in my eyes and said, "Larry was supposed to get the ball?" I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "I just watched the play to the moment. I knew where I was going to get the ball, and I just started figuring out how I was going to get my shot." I said, "Dog, you weren’t even shooting well." He said, "I knew I was going to shoot that one."
Brendan Haywood: Gilbert gets cut from Team USA for someone like Kirk Hinrich. Oh, no disrespect to Kirk Hinrich, but he's not Gilbert. Gil was like, "Yo, I'm going to give all these dudes buckets when I see them." So, certain coaches were on his hit list—anybody that coached on Team USA was on his hit list. We went to Phoenix, and man, he gave them that work. He even told them, "Hey man, y'all boys are going to be doing wind sprints tonight."
Brendan Haywood: Playing with Michael Jordan was a blessing. It was wild to think he was both a player and a GM. I’d see guys go out and party with him and think, ‘Y’all realize you’re partying with the boss, right?’ When they asked me to come, I’d just stay in my room and play video games. But MJ showed me why he was the greatest. At 40 years old, he was still in the gym before everyone else, lifting with Tim Grover and getting up shots. His footwork was impeccable. He taught Bobby Simmons, a young player, how to read defenders: ‘When you jab, watch how they react. If they drop this foot, counter this way.’ Everything MJ did was calculated. He wasn’t just guessing—he read body language, anticipated rotations, and always knew his next move. Watching that up close, you realize it’s not by accident. It’s all in the preparation.
