Hour 2: LeBron’s LA Failure & Why Shohei Ohtani Needs to Play the Field

**Craig Carton** (0:00)
There you go, 888-808-1019 is the number to join. Obviously, Nick fans wait for the Mitchell Robinson decision to happen.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:10)
Tomorrow is Wednesday.

**Craig Carton** (0:11)
Tomorrow happens to be Wednesday. I don't know why Wednesday is so important to people, but it seems like Wednesday is the day that people kind of have circled, I suppose.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:17)
I mean, I wonder why.

**Craig Carton** (0:19)
Yeah, why is it that people have Wednesday circled for Mitchell Robinson?

**Chris McMonigle** (0:22)
I don't know.

**Craig Carton** (0:22)
Because the czar of basketball said, let's see what happens on Wednesday.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:27)
Let's see what happens on Wednesday.

**Craig Carton** (0:28)
Is it possible? You know, the joy I get there today, the joy I get that LeBron James is no longer a Laker and that LeBron stands like yourself, and many of the out there are like, how was that so classy of LeBron to tell the Lakers now that he wasn't going to come back and play for them? The Lakers didn't want him back.
Like, why do you think that LeBron James decided that he wasn't going to play for the Lakers, as opposed to the Lakers saying, hey LeBron, we don't care if you come back or not. We've moved on.
We're now built around Austin Reeves and Luke Adonchik. You were a failure in LA. And let's just get that right. Because no matter what you think about LeBron James, he won a fugazi championship in the bubble that no player considers a real title. He's not a top 10 Laker of all time. And beyond that, the only way to properly classify his time in LA is...

**Chris McMonigle** (1:28)
Disappointing.

**Craig Carton** (1:29)
Garbage.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:30)
Disappointing. He won a championship.

**Craig Carton** (1:32)
He did not win a championship.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:33)
He won a championship.

**Craig Carton** (1:34)
He didn't.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:35)
Google how many championships the Lakers have.

**Craig Carton** (1:37)
He didn't. That doesn't count.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:38)
Google. What does that not count?

**Craig Carton** (1:39)
Nobody counts it.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:40)
Oh, that's ridiculous.

**Craig Carton** (1:41)
Nobody in the no counts a bubble championship.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:43)
Why?

**Craig Carton** (1:44)
Because it wasn't real.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:45)
Why?

**Craig Carton** (1:45)
No road games. No fans.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:47)
So?

**Craig Carton** (1:48)
Well, it didn't count. It didn't count.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:51)
Alright, so the Dodgers didn't win in 20 either.

**Craig Carton** (1:52)
No, that's correct.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:53)
Any of them?

**Craig Carton** (1:54)
I do not.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:54)
Okay.

**Craig Carton** (1:55)
That's not just a LeBron thing. I do not count bubble championships and no other sane individual does either.

**Chris McMonigle** (2:02)
Okay.

**Craig Carton** (2:03)
The world came to a stop. Sports was a nice little reprieve from COVID, but none of it counted.

**Chris McMonigle** (2:10)
It counts.

**Craig Carton** (2:10)
That being said, what a disappointing run in LA. Now the question becomes, where does he go?

**Chris McMonigle** (2:16)
You don't think they'd want him back just to have the-

**Craig Carton** (2:18)
Absolutely not.

**Chris McMonigle** (2:19)
I mean, there's gotta be some significant payday on the goodbye tour and all that stuff.

**Craig Carton** (2:23)
Yeah, but they kind of had to this past year, the patches and all that jazz, right? And they sell out every game anyway.

**Chris McMonigle** (2:29)
That's true.

**Craig Carton** (2:29)
And oh, by the way, let's not forget, they've got, when he's healthy, one of the five best players in the sport in Luka Donsik and arguably the best undrafted player in the history of the sport in Austin Reeves, right?

**Chris McMonigle** (2:41)
Yeah.

**Craig Carton** (2:42)
LeBron James was done, done in LA. Now the question becomes, do they go, what was that movie on Golden Pond? Thanks, Big Mac. You got it. Are they doing the Golden Pond team?
In Golden State?

**Chris McMonigle** (2:54)
Oh, the Jane Fonda movie. There's all the old people.

**Craig Carton** (2:57)
All the old people. Yeah, like getting ready to die. That's what the Golden State Warriors are going to be. A bunch of old guys are about to be 40 or in their 40s.

**Chris McMonigle** (3:04)
I hope he doesn't go to Golden State. That would just be so mean. To team up with Curry, that would be so weak.

**Craig Carton** (3:09)
Because here's the sad reality.

**Chris McMonigle** (3:10)
Not that they would win, I agree with you. They wouldn't win. They can't win. I don't even know if they'd be a top. They might still be a playing team.

**Craig Carton** (3:16)