Thunder's NBA Dynasty Potential, Houston's Next Move After Durant & D’Vontay Friga on 1-V-1 Future

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Unplugged, brought to you by DraftKings ooof the NBA Finals were some heat. But also on this episode we have Devonte Friga, the owner or co owner of the next chapter, which brought you the Michael Beasley Lance Stevenson one on one game. So we'll get to that, but before let's get to these finals. Man, Congratulations to the Oklahoma City Thunder their first franchise championship, only the first game seven since twenty seventeen. Congratulations. I mean you think about this Oklahoma City team twenty twenty three, they lost in the plan, they go to the second round last year, get beat by Dallas. They're the best team from start to finish this year and win a championship. SGA his accolades were incredible this year. Obviously regular season MVP, he just took the finals MVP.

00:00:53
Speaker 2: Home shot the ball. Well.

00:00:56
Speaker 1: This is arguably one of the best seasons ever for by guard scoring champ sixty eight win team, First Team All NBA Western Conference, Finals, MVP Finals, MVP Champion, MVP. Not since Shack has someone cleaned house like he was able to do the second youngest to do it, behind Kareem who did it at the age of twenty three, which is absolutely incredible. This team has a very bright future, very young team. We'll see Presse's Presty moves as the puppet master behind the scenes praises later. But if you look at this team, they're odds on favored at plus two point fifty to repeat. Sga is going to break the bank this summer, as he should, and we'll get into what that contract looks like. But you know, you got Jalen Williams who arrived on the scene and is a great young talent. You got Check after battling so many injuries, was able to you know, shake the injury and do what he did. And then the role players from lou Dort to Caruso to Wallace to Hartenstein, which was paid handsomely. I think he got an eighty seven million dollar deal this year. This team is set to be in the mix for the next two to three four years, and we'll talk about it in a little bit, what it's going to mean to be able to keep Hongrin and Jay Dubb when their contracts are up. Let's talk about Presty though in the moves he's been able to make this Oklahoma city team understanding being a small market team. I think this is a picture for the rest of the NBA on how to run your franchise. I'm always obviously a hometown guy with Sacramento, and I think ever since Jeff Petrie, they haven't been able to figure the small town, the small market, small town team situation up at Sam Presty over the years has built tremendous tremendous first and foremost in the draft, which I think you have to win, and then you have to win in the draft, and then assets the way they've been able to stockpile first round pick, second round pick exceptions. But let's just go back over and give Sam his flowers real quick. And it all started with the Paul George for SGA trade, and I can clearly remember, and I love PG, but I remember when this was going down, Doc Rivers was not sold on giving up SGA and that almost stopped the whole Kawhi even coming to the Clipper situation because Doc saw early on shout out Doc Rivers that Shay was going to be a superstar. But we all know that Kawhi said, if he doesn't get PG, he could have went down the hallway or down the Old Hallway to the Lakers, and I don't think that the Clippers wanted that to happen, so they pressed play on the SGA trade and the rest is history. He was able to get Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren in the same draft, right. I want to say Chet went number four, Jalen went number two, twelve, and that was a big Obviously, Chet had a lot of hype around him, but Jalen came from a smaller school, Santa Clara, and they really did their homework on what type of player they thought he could have been and took a chance on him. Again because Chet had a ton of hype, but Jalen Williams again very solid college career. Didn't hear a ton about him, with all due respect, but they knew that at twelve that would be their guy. They paid Hartenstein, which a lot of people said they overpaid. They gave Hartenstein eighty seven million this offseason. He was an integral piece, if you remember, and the Knicks could have definitely used him this year on that front line in New York.

00:04:37
Speaker 2: It's not the numbers.

00:04:38
Speaker 1: The numbers don't jump off the page at you, but he does a lot of the shit that everyone else doesn't want to do. He's one of those ultimate glue guys, ultimate hustle guys, strong rebounds in the right position all the time, and it just has a great basketball IQ.

00:04:52
Speaker 2: So he got paid.

00:04:54
Speaker 1: They were able to get Caruso, which was a huge, huge, huge into me if he plays more games. He's on one of all those all defensive teams too, So theoretically you could have had three guys on the All Defensive team this year with Dort and Jay Dove and you can add Caruso because to me, he's one of the best on ball defenders. We saw it in the finals, but we also saw them throw him on Jokicic for a little while and give Jokic fits. So Caruso is one of the best on ball guys in the game. So they're able to get Payson Wallace as the tenth pick in the twenty twenty twenty four draft, and then obviously trading Giddy for Caruso. Let's take a look at what they got to look forward to.

00:05:36
Speaker 2: Still, they have.

00:05:37
Speaker 1: Some late first this week in the draft and some seconds, but in twenty twenty six, they have Utah's first round pick, top eight perspective protected. They also have Phillies top first round pick top four protected in twenty six. Now on to twenty seven, they have the Nuggets top pick, first round pick top five protected in the have a twenty twenty seven Clipper pickswap. So again, as they're winning, they're still building up the so called farm system with assets and opportunities. So Check and j Dubb both payment in the twenty twenty two draft will be on the final year of their rookie contracts and to me, both those guys fall into the mac extension situation. For these younger players home are eligible to sign a five year get this two hundred and forty seven million dollar extensions. The total value could increase up to two ninety six if an MVP All NBA All Defense, Defensive Player of the Year. If any of those things jump up, those are all kickers, so that's an extra nearly fifty million dollars Stay can make if and keep in mind Jay Dub was on the second team All Defense and you gotta think Check would have been in the mix if he would have qualified and played more games. So them being able to keep their big three is likely, but they're able to keep their big three. They're gonna lose some of their role players to the casualty of the game. So top of the list for them this offseason after coming off their first championship. First of all is party your motherfucking asses off. I saw Jaden Williams on ESPN this morning said he had him into sleep yet. So they're on the right path with that. They got the parade coming up. They're gonna go hard, blackout for a whole week, Go take a vacation, get your mind and your body back together, and then get back to work. But for the front office, first order of business SGA, the MVP eligible is now able to sign a four year, two hundred and ninety three million dollars deal. And the way this will break down, according to Bobby Marks, would be sixty five zero point five million his first year, seventy point seven million his second year, seventy six million his third year, and grab your panties, eighty one point two million dollars in his final year. But he'll probably opt out that last year and jump on another big deal.

00:08:08
Speaker 2: Right, So he'll.

00:08:09
Speaker 1: Probably opt out of that eighty one and by the time in three years he'll probably start making ninety ninety five, one oh one, one oh four. So we're heading towards ladies and gentlemen one hundred million dollar deals within the next five years, one hundred million per year for these star players. So I mean, but I couldn't. I mean, if tell me someone who deserves it more. Sga has rinded, he stayed quiet, He's put the work in. He's quietly led his team in a small market to the best team in the league. He's a great leader from everything I've seen. Everybody loves him and he produces. I mean, we talked about what his numbers were this year as far as his accolades. No one's done that since Shack. So congratulations to first and foremost Shay for the championship in the tremendous season. But your reward is well worth it. And excited for you, my brother, continue with the great work. In Sadder news, Tyrese Halliburton a guy who has done everything right. He's for some reason, and I talk about this in my group child my homies like it's is he a superstar?

00:09:18
Speaker 2: Is he a star?

00:09:19
Speaker 1: There's so many different things to nitpick, but this guy is a gamer first and foremost and by the numbers, the most clutch player in NBA playoff history.

00:09:31
Speaker 2: Let that sink in.

00:09:32
Speaker 1: But also keep in mind he was voted the most overrated player in the league going into the playoffs. And although that's not and someone broke that down. I want to say only one hundred players out of the four hundred players actually voted, but still not everyone got in there. But still enough people felt that he was overrated that they had to come out and say it. And I think that shit pissed him off and he went he was on win. And keep in mind this team, this Indiana team, a lot with say overachieved, but this team within the Eastern Conference Finals last year, although they got swept by Boston, they still made it to the Eastern Conference finals, and I think no one thought they would do that last year. I guarantee no one but that team in that city thought that they would be in the finals this year. And a lot of that has to do obviously with coach Carla but their leader Halliburton, who over the playoff run average seventeen eight assists, five rebounds in the playoffs. But again, his leadership, his clutch shooting, and just his I don't give a fuck, fuck the world type mentality was a beautiful thing to see at twenty five years old. An Achilles injury again, very unfortunate, but it's not a career under This used to be an injury that would end people's careers. A lot of guys have came back from it. I'm hoping Halle is one of those guys. But has really led to the bigger debate, which has really been all over social media.

00:10:55
Speaker 2: Why is all this happening?

00:10:57
Speaker 1: There was only forty five Achilles tears from nineteen ninety to twenty twenty three, forty five over that span. Obviously Kevin Durant was one of those tears. But there's eight Achilles tears alone in the twenty twenty five season, and we've seen debates all over the place. We saw Cameron come out and say, I know I'm the last niggat to say stop being fashionable, but stop wearing these low cut shoes and three quartercut shoes, please and thank you. And not only than easy Sniper, easy money sniper. Kevin Durant said, brother, this absolutely has nothing to do with the injury. And my production team too, we're actually debating this as well. Is it low top is it three quarter cut. I don't really know where I fall in with that. I don't think I'm with KD. I don't think it has anything to do with the shoes. I think it's more the wear and tear. I think it starts with grassroots basketball if you think about it. But if you're my age, I was born in the eighties, so if you're my age, we played sports during the season.

00:12:04
Speaker 2: We never did anything year round. I was a four four.

00:12:09
Speaker 1: I played four different sports in high school, football, baseball, basketball, track, and all my friends grew up playing different sports. I'm not sure when this shifted, probably mid two thousands, early two thousands, where it started becoming at the grassroots level, almost like a specialized thing where maybe you do two sports, but you for sure do one sport year round. And you're seeing it in baseball with the Tommy John surgery, they're having more of these arms blowout. We're seeing now with these Achilles blowouts. And the reason why I say grassroots because you got to think if a kid that's just say, on average, a kid makes the league at twenty one to twenty two, with all the basketball he's played to get to that point, and he needed to play to get to that point. His body is probably closer to twenty six or twenty seven, so I'd probably say that. I probably say the grassroots basketball development, if you're lucky enough to get to the league, will probably put five years on your body. And that's just a guestimate. There's no scientific fact behind it. It's just someone who's been in the shit and seen it, someone who has kids in this space, and just seeing how many games kids play year round, I think it's way too much. I mean, you look at Dame, you look at obviously Jason Tatum, Halliburton, all these guys were hit in the playoffs. These guys have miles on their body, and again they had miles coming into the game, and then once you get here, there's miles you know with you know, you look at Tatum where they had an amazing championship run and although he didn't play a ton in the Olympics, he was in the Olympics, he didn't really get a chance to rest his body. You look at Halliburton Eastern Conference finals run last year, Olympics, didn't play a ton of the Olympics, but still no downtime for the body. It's au mileage. And let's keep in mind the game. The pace of the NBA game is higher, as high as it's been since the seventies. I think it's almost at one hundred and nine possessions per game. There's a lot less defense, so there's a more ripping and running. But to the defense of the game and the growth of the game. I also think that's why the game has grown so much, because people don't want to see an eighty two eighty three old school defensive battle no more. They want to see dunks, they want to see threes, They want to see people flying up and down the court. And the trade off for that is the wear and tear on these hotly paid athletes body. So whether people think it's the shoe, whether people think it's your diet, whether you think it's the style of play, whether it's little knickknack injuries like cash strains they possibly lead to the Achilles tear. No one really knows. But if I'm again someone who played fifteen years, someone who came up in a different era of grassroots sports, to me, it's these kids are playing way too many specialized sports at a younger age, Like I don't even think it's close how much they're playing compared to my era. And I was literally just talking about I just got back from a tournament this weekend in Arizona, and some of the dads were talking about, Yeah, I want my kid to play different sports, but if he does play different sports, he gets behind in his main sport. So if you're taking any time off your main sport, you're getting behind. So what is the answer to this. Nobody knows. I hope somebody figures it out, but very unfortunate. What happened to Halliburton, what happened to Jason Tatum, what happened to Damian Lillard and everyone else who went down with big injuries. Kyrie obviously tours ACL during the season, so I'm hoping all these stars and all these players who have gone down come back bigger and stronger. The best thing about this is, obviously, again an ACL used to be something that could possibly derail your career, but again, all these injuries now, the acls and the achilles are all unfortunately normal injuries now, and there's a certain timetable guys can do their work and get back. But it's unfortunate, and man, I hope someone finds an answer to this terrible problem we're having. Yeah, the Pacers were at the top and in speed of game, pace of play, hustle plays.

00:16:15
Speaker 2: That team played.

00:16:17
Speaker 1: Fast basketball and and and the person at the front of that chard was Halliburton. So again, to see him go down was very unfortunate. Sending you a lot of love. I sent bro text yesterday, but I'm sure he was had a lot of people texting him. But again him sending you love out to you, sending love out to Tatum, sending love out to Dame Lillard Man speedy recovery fellas, and we're looking forward to seeing you guys back on the court.

00:16:43
Speaker 2: Uh, sooner than later.

00:16:45
Speaker 1: Big news. The season just ended. But the best thing about the NBA is about to turn into a reality show now with all the off season.

00:16:56
Speaker 2: Moves and drama. Uh.

00:16:59
Speaker 1: And to kick shit off, who better than Kevin Durant, who was just traded to the Houston Rockets for Jaden Green, Dylan Brooks, the tenth pick and five second round picks. I want to know what you guys think, but this is what I think. I think it was a great move. Houston didn't have to give up a ton of young assets, Obviously, Jayden Green is a young asset and someone who they are betting on, but it just goes to show man if you don't show up in the playoffs. Playoffss were playoffs make and break people, and I have to believe that his inability to be effective this year in the playoffs led to him being a tradable. Dylan Brooks a defensive cornerstone, one of the best on ball defenders and just fuck shit up guys in the league. A big fan of Dylan Brooks, not always a fan of his antics, but I just like the way he gets down. He was in this and then the tenth pick in a deep draft, and then the second round picks, and I'm hearing a lot of people obviously this trade just happened and they gave up too many picks. But to me, if Desmond Bain gets four first round picks for him, Rudy Gobert gets six first round picks and an exception for him, I don't give a fuck how old Kevin Durant is. Kevin Durant will always demand more than those people. And the fact that they didn't have to give up any first round picks to get Kevin Durant. I think Houston did a great job, but I still think they still in your hearing, they still have some wiggle room or are they done moving. You've heard names like Giannis possibly teaming up with Kevin Durant. You've heard names like Jalen Brown can possibly head to Houston. So Houston isn't done with one of the best coaches in the league. They still have a lot of assets. I think anyone outside of Amen Thompson and Kevin Durant for the right number. I mean, we were talking, Earli, would you trade Giannis for Singoon Apps the fucking lutely?

00:18:57
Speaker 2: You know, I don't. I think that's a no brainer.

00:18:59
Speaker 1: So look out for Houston continuing to try to improve their roster. They did, they did so with Kevin Durant. But again, now we get into this to this this free agent friends, it's frenzied. Words are also that the Sons are still trying to shop Javon Green. So Javon Green's final destination may not end up being Phoenix. Some of the assets that they still have, this this this this Rockets team has it. They didn't have to get rid of this round, but who knows coming around if they'll continuing to make more moves. They still have Jabari Smith who was the second pick. Is it Rex Shepard?

00:19:34
Speaker 2: What's his name?

00:19:34
Speaker 1: I know, Reed Shepard? Okay read, I was a big fan of him, played really well in the SUMER League. Didn't get a ton of minutes this year. But someone who I think will be effective Ethan, someone who can put the ball in the basket. And then obviously Amen Thompson who him and his brother two of the young up and coming stars, two way stars in this league. And then this is what they still have as far as draft capital. Twenty twenty seven they have a situation with the Rockets and Sons whoever has the more favorable pick.

00:20:04
Speaker 2: That'll go to Houston.

00:20:06
Speaker 1: Twenty eight they have their first round pick, twenty nine they have the Mavericks first round pick, and then another situation with the Sons, whoever has the more favorable pick they get. Thirty they have their own, thirty one they have their own, and thirty two they have their own. So they have a lot of again draft capital and young talent, So keep an eye on the Rockets. They may not be done moving on to one of the greatest franchises in sports.

00:20:31
Speaker 2: History.

00:20:32
Speaker 1: The Lakers were sold last week for ten billion to the owners to the owner of the Dodgers, Mark Walter. This guy is buying up everything LA Sports. I heard there's rumors that he may not be done either. What does this mean from a historical significance, What does this mean from an emotional significance, And what does this mean moving forward for the Los Angeles Lakers To take a trip down memory lane. Doctor Bust originally bought this team for sixty seven point five million in nineteen seventy nine. If I'm not mistaken, Ramona Shelburn did a podcast on didn't he borrow some money from Donald Sterling to get the deal done? If I'm not mistaken, Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, Donald Sterling help him get this team. And not only at the time was it the team, but if I'm not mistaken, it was the form and some other shit. So back in the in seventy nine, he got this team for seven, let's say, sixty eight million dollars and in twenty twenty five they sold for ten billion. Good news is they're still going to keep Genie in charges of in her place. And if I'm not mistaken, they saw have fifteen percent of the team right, the Laker of the Bus family fifteen fifteen to seventy percent was able to keep the under the Bus Family name.

00:21:52
Speaker 2: But what I want to know moving.

00:21:55
Speaker 1: Forward is is what does this mean for the management side? The Lakers people of Austin said, it's a lot of buddy buddy in that management with you know, friends close to the family and favors being done and that's why certain people are in certain positions. I can't confirm her in any of that. It's above my pay grade. But obviously being here long enough, I've heard the same thing that everyone else hears. So does does Mark come in and flip that upside down? Let's also keep in mind who's a part of this ownership group that's coming in to the Lakers, Magic Johnson, And we all know how his tenure ended in management in his feud with Rob Palinka. So do we see Magic step back in and and you know rebirth a prominent role in this organization? Does Rob stay? Does everyone else in place stay? So this is going to be very interesting to watch. Obviously, as a new owner, you don't want to come up and come in and blow a lot of shit up, But if you have pieces that are coming with you that are very capable, which he does, it could mean a shake up for the front office of the Los Angeles Lakers. So we will see what this means. But first and foremost on the floor, what does this mean on the floor, is this new owner is not coming in that you see, they don't play with the Dodgers. They do whatever they need to do to get shited done with the Dodgers. So obviously, staying within the restrictions of the NBA, they're going to go out and make some moves, hopefully to bolster this roster. So I think outside of Luca and Lebron, anybody can possibly be packaged up and out of here. So really interesting off season for the Lakers. Started off with the boom by selling the team, but obviously you know they're going to make a wave in the off season this year, so definitely looking forward to seeing what happens with that. The draft is right here, right around the corner. June twenty fifth. The top five projected players to go in the draft, in no particular order. Cooper Flag had a great season at Dupe, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey to stud freshman at Rutgers vj Edgecomb at A Baylor and Trey Johnson at Texas rounds out the projected top five. But I want to know what's going on in Ace Bailey's camp because I don't. But I'm hearing a lot of madness. And I'm also hearing outside of him canceling workouts and allegedly, I say this, allegedly again asking for money during team interviews. I don't know if this is some nil residue, but I'm hearing that Sharif Cooper's father, Amar Cooper, is his agent, and that's dangerous. Sometimes we've seen the father son duo work. Tobias Harris's dad represents him and he's man. He's winning there and got his bread. But what I'm hearing with A Bailey, and even if some of these rumors aren't true, what we know is true is the way he's blowing off these teams. And this is a very copycat weird sports leagues.

00:25:11
Speaker 2: We plan, you know we're hearing.

00:25:12
Speaker 1: We were hearing rumbles with Shador Sanders and we saw unfortunately what happened to him. He fell to the fifth round. But now he's been the most consistent quarterback in in Browns camp and we all know should have been a top five, top ten at pick worst pick. So just my whole, my whole thing to Ace man is you know.

00:25:34
Speaker 2: You can't.

00:25:34
Speaker 1: No one's bigger than the program. You're a very talented young man and I wish you the absolute best. I know you're going to have a successful career, but you got to be tread lightly the way you're moving and the information that's being spread, whether that's you, whether that's your representation, because we just want to see you out there. We want to see you get drafted, and we want to see you have an amazing career. You're a tremendous talent and we're all wishing the best for you. But the outside bullshit is already starting to be loud, and that's never a good sign for teams. That that stuff that kind of stares scares teams away. But you are so talented that I think they're probably gonna overlook that. But once you get settled and drafted, fresh slate, spot there and hoopball, be the best hooper you can. Don't let the outside bullshit ever make more noise of what you're doing on the court. One of the biggest stories in basketball outside the NBA Finals has been the Lance Stevenson versus Michael Beasley one on one matchup where the winner took home one hundred thousand dollars put on by the Next Chapter.

00:26:37
Speaker 2: Today we have the co owner of the Next.

00:26:39
Speaker 1: Chapter, one of the biggest basketball YouTubers in the business, Devonte Friga.

00:26:43
Speaker 2: Welcome to the show, bro oh Man, I appreciate that. I appreciate you guys having me on here. It's exciting, no doubt. So.

00:26:49
Speaker 1: Obviously, recently the one on one Beasley and Lance game was a success, but what I found super interesting.

00:26:57
Speaker 2: Was the way you guys were able to build the lead up to it.

00:27:00
Speaker 1: Obviously, the game did what it was supposed to do, but I thought the lead up was very creative, especially knowing both those guys and playing with both those guys and knowing what kind of basketball minds they have and what kind of shit talkers they were. Where did the whole strategy of obviously the lead up to the game come from.

00:27:16
Speaker 3: Ultimately, you see, like with UFC and with boxing and everything, you have storylines.

00:27:23
Speaker 2: And they all make sense.

00:27:24
Speaker 3: See with Beasley and Lance outside of just their former pros and we know who they are, we don't really have that much of a storyline outside of you just want to see this matchup, so you know, the next chapter originated on YouTube. We've always been a YouTube channel where a YouTube platform, and we don't want to take away what we started in doing a game like this, So we had the idea of building a natural storyline by putting them head to head against each other as coaches with some of the guys that were brought up in the next chapter scene. So the idea was doing a twenty plus episode series on our YouTube channel that played out every Monday, Wednesday Friday with games of them coaching players on the next chapter promoting the main Marquee matchup or they are five undercards underneath of the Michael Beasley Land Stevenson game and people that have played in the season had a chance to be voted in as undercards to the matchup. So everything that was aligned through the promotion was all, you know, hand in hand and the idea of just having them in front of each other yelling at each other, you know what I mean, competing whether they were on the court or not, they're competing as coaches.

00:28:35
Speaker 2: So the idea of doing that promo just helped build a storyline.

00:28:38
Speaker 3: You see them yelling at each other and each other's faces for a three month period, and then obviously the promo when we were there the week of with the face offs, the press conferences, you know, going to the studio sessions, and just trying to do the highest quality that we can in promoting and telling the story and also creating one too. So that's kind of a little bit of the premise of the idea there.

00:29:01
Speaker 1: On the logistics sides, like so they were coaching leading up to the actual event, how did you get how did you get them to buy into that side? Because normally some of us are a little hard headed and kind of difficult to work with at time, So how did you get both those guys to buy into the whole entire process.

00:29:18
Speaker 3: I think we had a really successful proof of concept about a year and a half ago.

00:29:22
Speaker 2: We had Michael Beasley versus Mario Chalmers.

00:29:25
Speaker 3: As coaches in another season that we did with twenty plus episodes, et cetera, and it went really well. Obviously we didn't have Beasley and Chalmers face off afterwards, but we had a very successful season with that, and I think that we were able to really just show what we wanted to do. Beasley already knew what we were trying to do, and Lance, you know, Lance like he's kind of just like, I'm gonna go with it, and he really he just really liked the idea. Wasn't as hard as you think.

00:29:56
Speaker 1: Actually, okay, dope, So what are some of the some of the the thing that stood out about it? Obviously you guys are right in the midst of the NBA Playoffs slash Finals, But what was viewership like, what were some of the you know, some of the some of the feedback you got from what you guys created.

00:30:12
Speaker 3: Ultimately, it wasn't We weren't necessarily trying to do it, so people were like, yeah, we like this way better. But we really we wanted people to to compare their viewing experience because the idea of growing this UFC of one v one basketball is it's not easy, but we need basketball fans. So around this NBA Finals time was perfect for us to do it because in that viewing experience trial period is you know, some people may not be used to watching one on one basketball or whatever the case may be. So the feedback was really good. This was our second pay per view. We've been doing one v ones and we've been doing these types of live events for for years now, but the pay per view side where we're really trying to grow this, I would I would consider it a success. There's obviously like little finite details about the actual stream itself that I would change, but obviously, like going forward, there's going to be.

00:31:07
Speaker 2: Something new that we want to do better every single time. But yeah, I mean we had a lot of people.

00:31:12
Speaker 3: I mean, we had over over a million unique viewers to the to the website, and there wasn't there.

00:31:18
Speaker 2: Wasn't a million live stream viewers.

00:31:20
Speaker 3: But I think that being able to gather over a million people to come to the website to peak interest in the idea super crucial for us.

00:31:28
Speaker 2: You know, taking those numbers to wherever we want to go next.

00:31:31
Speaker 3: Or you know, pushing this to whoever else wants to be a part of something like this. We can obviously gather those numbers. But yeah, overall, really big success overall.

00:31:43
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously the goal is to grow this as a business, which which you're definitely doing. Can you share what type of like ballpark money did you guys make off this first event? Did you guys come up in the green, were you in the red? Did you break even? How did it work?

00:31:56
Speaker 3: No, we didn't make any money actually, but I think honestly the people that were part of it got paid and that was a really big part of it. You know, we want to we want to present something that is you know, like you look at the NBA contracts, right and I don't Obviously I was never in the league, so I don't know how the payment goes for that. But if you break down somebody's contract and the eighty two games that they're playing, and plus the possible playoff games and whatnot, you know, it's a it's a it's a big number, right. But for us, where we're trying to go is to be able to offer the games that you can make three to five hundred k in a night for a thirty minute game. And I feel like we were able to do that on the Beasley and Land side. But obviously for the business, like we're willing to take the hit to grow something. Now, we didn't lose a ton of money, but for us to break even and come out of an.

00:32:49
Speaker 2: Event like that basically not spending a ton of money.

00:32:51
Speaker 3: If we break even, you know what I mean, we basically put the event on for free.

00:32:56
Speaker 2: We're able to branch off do all of these types of things.

00:32:59
Speaker 3: So I think the grand scheme of things, it being the second event and us not taking a massive loss, I think I still do when I think we profit it in terms of, uh, where we're growing as a company.

00:33:14
Speaker 1: The fact that you guys got a million eyeballs to the site, I mean that's the goal. I mean, did you think in the midst of literally the NBA Finals that you guys would make so much noise?

00:33:24
Speaker 3: Honestly, yeah, Like I think, I think everything that we did was pretty strategic. Once we were able to lock in Beasley and Lance and we wanted to do this season, we knew exactly how we were going to play it out. We had the idea written up for a while. Like I said, it was really it was really key for us to try and get basketball fans, not just Next Chapter fans, not just NBA fans, but basketball fans in general to compare the viewing experience to the NBA Finals in this pay per view one on one game with former NBA players. But yeah, man, for sure, I mean, over all overall, definitely success.

00:34:02
Speaker 1: So what's next. I mean, obviously, I think Beasley's one of the coldest one on one players we've seen. I know Iso Joe I played against him. I know his name has been thrown out. One of the best one on one players in the history of the NBA, Carmelo Anthony's name has been thrown out. So obviously you're starting to ring bells and people are putting out hypotheticals. But what is next for the next chapter.

00:34:24
Speaker 2: You know, we do a lot of different things.

00:34:26
Speaker 3: Like I mentioned earlier, we are primarily like we started as a YouTube channel, We're trying to continue to not just grow the YouTube channel.

00:34:33
Speaker 2: We'll never get rid of our free content.

00:34:35
Speaker 3: It's what brings on the fans, but we want to continue to grow something outside of YouTube. In terms of the NBA Marquee matchup, we don't really know what's next. I know there's been a lot of names that are thrown in there, but ultimately we have to get people to agree to stuff before there's more conversations outside of the actual game, before we announce stuff, before we get contracts going and whatnot. We have like a lot of city events where world take like guys that represent the next chapter that came up on the next chapter that are signed to the next chapter that we'll go to a city like next We're going to New Orleans in a couple of days. Here, we'll take some of our best guys. We'll match up, we'll make some we'll make like a card out there against some of the best hoopers in New Orleans.

00:35:17
Speaker 2: And the idea of that is to go out to a city, you know, go out there.

00:35:23
Speaker 3: People that watch us, that live out there can meet the guys that hoop on next chapter, see how it really goes down. Watch all the games in person, enjoy the live experience because all of those games will be turned into YouTube videos.

00:35:34
Speaker 2: And then also it's to hopefully find more talent.

00:35:38
Speaker 3: Ideally we continue to do these series outside of the pay per view. We do these live city events or these showcases or tryouts and whatnot, and to find more talent. There's so much untapped basketball talent out there that you know, maybe didn't make it to the NBA or maybe didn't go professional overseas, something's happened.

00:36:00
Speaker 2: People have kids and they take.

00:36:01
Speaker 3: On that dynamic of life and some things just don't work out. But there's still so many basketball players out there that can compete at a high level, and I feel like now it's our job to find them, so in us kind of traveling around. That's really what's next is finding more talent and growing the free side, because as you continue to join the next chapter and be put onto the platform, it'll kind of start to You'll start to build your own momentum. You win one game, you have a viral play this and that. I mean, the next chapter's a platform that is a place for people to come hoop, be seen, grow your platform, grow your business, and become a star overnight. I mean, I know it sounds crazy, but like there's people that a couple hundred followers, and then you come perform on the next chapter, you do really well, the fan base loves you.

00:36:54
Speaker 2: You play again, and.

00:36:55
Speaker 3: Then now you have maybe twenty five thousand people that are following you in a week span.

00:37:00
Speaker 2: And it's really like.

00:37:03
Speaker 3: It seems unreal, but now that this social media wave is just so big, anything's really possible here. So in terms of what's next for the next chapter, now that's just like going around finding talent, continuing to grow our name. In terms of the next pay per view, though, that I'm not sure when that will be. I know we'll have another one this year. I know obviously we want to find Beasley another matchup that makes sense. Joe Johnson's name, like you said, has been thrown out there.

00:37:35
Speaker 2: There was. He said some stuff on the nightcap about the offer.

00:37:40
Speaker 3: You know, actually Joe was the original person that we talked to before Lance.

00:37:46
Speaker 2: It was supposed to be Lance.

00:37:48
Speaker 3: It was supposed to be Joe Johnson versus Michael Beasley, and we talked about it for a while. We went to a restaurant. We had a very respectful, honest conversation, very open conversation about where we are, how we're growing, what we're doing, and to be honest, I thought I thought everything went well. I think based off what Joe said on the nightcap, he seemed like maybe a little disrespected by the offer and everything, which honestly, I completely understand. We never were trying to diminish anybody's career or disrespect anybody because the last we heard the offer was great and whatnot.

00:38:23
Speaker 2: So at the end of the day, we got to go back to the drawing board and figure it out.

00:38:26
Speaker 1: I wouldn't take that too I mean, you guys are a startup, you know what I mean. So you guys can offer what you start you can offer right now. But I think obviously the proof of the concept has worked. And at the end of the day, I know Joe's a competitor, and I know all those guys are in the Big Three right now, and I even have think I think the drama between Lance and Bees kind of pumped up the Big Three to start their season off because they were teammates.

00:38:47
Speaker 2: And you heard that, I don't know how true it was.

00:38:49
Speaker 1: You heard BASI didn't want to play with him, So again, you know, all that drama is good drama. But I think you know, you guys are definitely on the right path. Are you old enough to remember when an One kind of went on these tours and they would find talent in these cities because they could kind of assimilar. Obviously that was the team game, but this is you know, you guys are looking for individual talent. But that was huge late nineties, early two thousands, just the Internet hadn't caught up to that, do you guys, Have you guys found a way to implement brands within what you're doing right now to get some brand partnerships yeah, it is kind.

00:39:19
Speaker 2: Of like modern Day and One in a way.

00:39:21
Speaker 3: We're working on some things to scale to the arena size and the apparel size and everything. We work closely with Prize Picks, Like Prize Picks works with us on a lot. Beasley and Lance along with the undercards, all of the matchups were just in Prize Picks. People were allowed to make lineups on the game and everything.

00:39:40
Speaker 2: So that was really.

00:39:41
Speaker 3: Cool to see the platform inside of another platform like that with you know, millions of people that have the app downloaded, so that was really cool. We are working closely with some brands, but I think that I think that we had to continue to prove that this is a legitimate place to host a real one on one basketball game. Like you said, you know, we're only our second pay per view in obviously we're years in with the YouTube side and everything. But in order to continue to like legitimize this brand and get other companies involved, I think that we have to continue to show successful streams, which, just.

00:40:24
Speaker 2: Like anything like, you do it enough, you do it enough times.

00:40:28
Speaker 3: And you produce it at a high quality, then I think that it'll make sense for more people to come along.

00:40:34
Speaker 2: We work closely with some people.

00:40:35
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, it's not like there, it's not like we have five hundred you know, companies knocking at our door.

00:40:41
Speaker 2: Not yet.

00:40:41
Speaker 1: To me, how you le legitimize it is continue to bring the former NBA players you've been able to get your hands on. I mean, you guys got Dwight Howard out to a game. You guys hat Ty Lost and Brandon Jennings, Boogie, Mario, you name it. You're starting to get these guys out there. And to me, when you get those type of people to stamp your product is where the legitimacy come from. Out of the former players you've seen play, former NBA guys, who have you been the most impressed with?

00:41:08
Speaker 3: On my personal channel, I've hooped with quite a few of the last three months. I would say I think like Lou Williams made it look the easiest, Like he was really just like he was moving so slow, like he was really at his own pace and at the park, you know, everybody wants to be all handsy and play super physical, and he was just moving so slow.

00:41:31
Speaker 2: And I was just so impressed by.

00:41:35
Speaker 3: Boogie just like it almost feels like he shouldn't shoot at such a high efficiency, Like you know what I mean, he played really well.

00:41:45
Speaker 2: I played in something called the Creator League. You may have seen it.

00:41:49
Speaker 3: They had another one actually last year, the year before this one, and Boogie played.

00:41:54
Speaker 2: In that one, and he was he was unreal in that.

00:41:57
Speaker 3: Ty Lawson dropped like forty five points when I brought him to Ohio to play in a men's league.

00:42:01
Speaker 2: Scene and I.

00:42:02
Speaker 3: Don't know if you've been seeing his his Instagram stories, like he's in really good shape right now. So I knew him coming out he was gonna be able to last. We made sure we had no subs. We actually tried to like make it a challenge inside of the YouTube video itself. And you know Joe, like same thing with Joe Johnson brought him out to Atlanta. His his pacing was unreal, like he just you can't speed these guys up.

00:42:25
Speaker 1: You know you've got a lot of game too. Where let me hear a little bit about your background. When I saw I was like, oh he could play too, So where where did your game come from?

00:42:34
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:42:34
Speaker 3: I appreciate that I fell in love with basketball at a young age. I just was never really that good at it. So I was one of those guys that was not really like born with this unnatural or crazy talent, crazy height or anything like that. I was really just like a Jim Rat kind of kid, and that's where I really like built a lot of my skill and shooting has always been like a big part of my game. Division three basketball. I played Division three college basketball in Ohio. There's a big football school by the name of University of Mount Union. They've won over twelve national championships for football, but I went there for basketball. I was right in my backyard, about forty five minutes from where I grew up. I went there, played all four years there. We were really good, won a couple championships, and just developed my game. There After college though, I really feel like that's when I started to gain more confidence. And you know in basketball, that confidence and the skill goes so hand in hand. It's unreal like, especially when you get in that flow state hit two or three, you know what I mean, not at the parks. When my college career ended, so I started my I started my personal YouTube channel in college, and I grew up from zero to one hundred K with some of my buddies in school, twenty twenty. COVID year was my senior year, and our career abruptly ended. I documented like my whole life in school after that, I really didn't know what I was going to do, so I kind of just, you know, we picked up the camera started making some random YouTube content, and my whole persona, my whole online.

00:44:09
Speaker 2: In college was just all derived around Division three.

00:44:13
Speaker 3: This Division three that when I graduated, I really didn't have this title to my name.

00:44:17
Speaker 2: I didn't know where my niche was anymore.

00:44:19
Speaker 3: So we stuck around with like the former D three thing, and we did this former D three hooper versus regular park hoopers, and I was miked up, and it just it was a really good idea because you know, the whole like the idea of Division three sports is kind of like look down upon.

00:44:34
Speaker 2: So it's like the idea of seeing the D three hooper verse.

00:44:37
Speaker 3: Like people that go play pickup, regular people that just play pickup, however you want to call it. The video did really well, and that's kind of when the whole park basketball scene started to do really well for me. So I started to just travel around the country and just play at different parks and I would post on my Instagram story, Hey, I'm going to this park at this time on this day, and we started to bring bigger and bigger crowds out and that's when, like I really started to gain my confidence. And that's that's kind of how I developed my skill as like a street ball hooper mixed with this organized professional whatever you want to call it.

00:45:11
Speaker 1: I think people are delusional at times because they think whether it be D three hooper, D three Hooper, D one hooper, last guy on the bench, like, oh he's weak. I can like, no, there's a reason why I got an opportunity to get my school paid for. There's a reason why I make money even though I sit on the bench in this league.

00:45:29
Speaker 2: And I think people think, because oh.

00:45:31
Speaker 1: You're not a big star, you're not doing like you can't play, which is crazy. So I love the fact that, like, you know your ability to kind of okay, you think D three, you think it's sweet, Come get some of this man before we get you out of here. Tough question to the cities you've been in. What city impressed you the most? But their street ballers?

00:45:48
Speaker 3: It's crazy you said tough question before asking this, because this is the question I probably get the most, and I never have an accurate answer.

00:45:59
Speaker 1: Give me two or three cities. Then that you were just like, okay, they came with it today.

00:46:03
Speaker 2: Richmond Virginia, Okay, for sure, that's like super random. And then I was in.

00:46:08
Speaker 3: The Charlotte I played at a park in Charlotte, and it was like when Rob Dylan Hamm and then we're in school and everything, and he popped out to the park and there were a bunch of c out there, just a really just a bunch of like really tough Hoopers that came out that day and they ran the park. Man.

00:46:25
Speaker 2: It was it was crazy.

00:46:26
Speaker 3: So I mean, if I really had to give you an answer, it'd probably be Charlotte, yeah, or Richmond, Virginia.

00:46:31
Speaker 2: They gave us some work.

00:46:33
Speaker 1: Give me your five dream retired NBA players to get on to the next chapter. Is your chance, They're all, hey, they're all going to see this ship.

00:46:44
Speaker 2: So here's your chance.

00:46:46
Speaker 1: But you want I'm not gonna lie.

00:46:47
Speaker 3: I feel like we have to make the Joe Johnson Michael Beasley matchup happen.

00:46:51
Speaker 2: So those are two for sure.

00:46:52
Speaker 3: Beasley's always been a dream one because you know, I'll tell you why. Beasley's always been a dream. Everybody that's ever played, ever seen him, ever said anything about him as always said that he is exactly he's cold, and for everybody to talk about his one.

00:47:09
Speaker 2: V one game specifically, it made him a myth.

00:47:12
Speaker 3: It made him a myth of like man like, is he really as good as everybody says he is? And so I'm really happy we got to see bits and parts of what he's capable of.

00:47:21
Speaker 2: But I feel like.

00:47:22
Speaker 3: There's so much more that we're going to see as he continues to grow in this one on one space.

00:47:29
Speaker 2: So yeah, for sure, Joe Johnson, for sure.

00:47:31
Speaker 3: Michael Beasley, I'd like to see I'd like to see Kyrie get in the space. I think I think we'll see Kyrie soon, just because I know he commentated the game against them, and he talked about really wanting to get involved.

00:47:44
Speaker 2: He streams a lot. He talked about trying to make his next chapter debut next year.

00:47:49
Speaker 3: Obviously like there's a bunch of legalities with the league, but he said he would play for free, which.

00:47:54
Speaker 2: Is really cool.

00:47:55
Speaker 3: Like, I know he talked about one v one to completely different mastery of the game. That is just like it's not as respected as much as five B five, which I completely understand. Five y five is the pinnacle, it's real basketball. But at the end of the day, one on one is just it's super entertaining. It's mono emano. There's nobody else to blame it to see you in that other person. And I know, obviously like there's this stigma around like bag this and bag work that. But at the end of the day, like it's really cool to see if you've mastered a certain part of your game, it's really cool to see you display it against another person that is.

00:48:30
Speaker 2: Capable master or showing what they're mastering.

00:48:32
Speaker 1: But not to put any pressure on you, but if you build this concept out how I think you will and how you think you will, your concept can possibly be adopted by the NBA All Star Game because they're trying to figure out how do we make the All Star Weekend better? And if your concept can show like, yo, these dudes really want to do this. This is something that fans really want to see. You never know you might be partnering with the NBA one day on on All Star Weekend, next chapter time the NBA for one on one Challenge.

00:49:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, I don't know. We'll see.

00:49:04
Speaker 3: I'm not sure, you know, like the NBA is super closed off to other other leagues and other.

00:49:09
Speaker 2: Companies and whatnot, so I'm just getting it out there.

00:49:11
Speaker 1: I think you could proof the concept though, like I think you invented something. Yeah, you know, not you invented I know other guys to try to do it, but your ability to get the big names has definitely like, Okay, well it's working there. Maybe we and then we know if they start going on one on one it was because of the next chapter because no one else is doing it like you.

00:49:27
Speaker 2: I think we get that.

00:49:28
Speaker 3: I think we get people to commit to some to doing some of this stuff because like you know, we keep mentioning proof of concept, but also like it's a very we're a very trustworthy place to.

00:49:38
Speaker 2: Make sure that it's done in a very legit way.

00:49:42
Speaker 3: You can't have people that have done what they've done respectfully in the vassal world come onto your platform and it's just a shit show, Like it's just not something that is not something that we want to do. We take we take a lot of pride in our production quality. We take a lot of pride in how we handle things behind the scenes. Our converse stations, the maturity, the legitimacy. So I think that's why people are stepping up to the plate with confidence that it's going to be done the right way. But fuck, man, I owe you two more people, and I can't. I can't think of anybody I would like to see John Wall at this moment. I'd like to see John Wall. I've seen him in the gym here and there. That'd be really fun to see that. And if Kyrie does step onto the police an he wants to play his next chapter debut at Mandalay Bay, I want to see it be done against Damian Lillard.

00:50:30
Speaker 1: Lillard, you guys do guys coming off of injury, Well, we'll see well.

00:50:34
Speaker 2: Man.

00:50:35
Speaker 1: Congratulations on what you've built, in what you continue to grow. We're here for a resource, man, so make sure you come back in updates on what you got going on, man, and the best of luck moving forward.

00:50:44
Speaker 2: Bro.

00:50:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, please do it next time whenever we find out our next matchup here soon in the next couple of weeks, and we can get out and talk about it, talk about who we think is going to win and why.

00:50:53
Speaker 1: Sounds good, Bro, We'll be well. Then take care. Well that was a lot, man, It's been a hell of a season. Congratulations to again to the Oklahoma City thunder h and also congratulations to the Indiana Pacers the way you guys played, the whole coaching staff, management Sending love and thoughts to the whole Halliburton family. H speedy recovery. Shout out my dog Tatum and and and Lillard who are also coming back off Achilles injuries. Man, everyone enjoyed their off season, looking forward to the Draft this week, and definitely looking forward to free agency. The end of the season has come, but have no fear, we are not going anywhere. I will see you next week. You catch this on the All the Smoke Productions YouTube and the DraftKings Network. See y'all next week.