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Clippers Rock Bottom 9.0, Plus Charles Barkley on the Clips, 76ers, Lakers, ESPN, and Why He Loves Josh Allen

Sep 3, 20261h 41mNBANFLClippersCharles BarkleyKawhi LeonardSteve Ballmer76ersLeBron JamesLakersCelticsThunderSpursESPNBillsSeahawks
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TL;DR

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  • Bill calls the NBA's Clippers punishment the harshest in league history: five first-round picks gone, Ballmer suspended a year and fined $30M, Lawrence Frank out six months, while Kawhi got off with a small fine and a move to Toronto. He argues the real victims are Clipper fans, including season-ticket holders like himself.
  • Charles Barkley says the Clippers are bad at cheating and got what they deserved. He still can't explain why the Celtics traded Jaylen Brown to Philly, a move he says pulled LeBron there too, and he insists the Lakers pushed LeBron out rather than LeBron leaving.
  • Barkley wants to bet that OKC and San Antonio win five of the next ten titles. He calls the Knicks a one-and-done champion, thinks the Lakers will be better than expected, and names Indiana and Utah as sleepers.
  • On football, Barkley picks Buffalo to beat Seattle 21–17 in the Super Bowl, while Bill has Seattle repeating over Houston. Barkley also explains that he and Ernie Johnson are a package deal, so next season is likely his last on TV.

Segments

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  1. 00:00

    Intro

    Bill previews the coming week: a Rewatchables on Aliens, a fantasy-football takeover, and live Netflix shows on Sunday (Guess the Lines Week 1 and NFL futures with Sal), Wednesday and Thursday. He also recaps a Fenway trip with family and explains that Barkley was booked weeks ago, before the Clippers news broke.

  2. 00:01

    The Clippers get punished

    Bill walks through the punishment from the league's investigation, the largest the NBA has ever handed out. It costs the Clippers five first-round picks (with their 2028 pick likely headed to Boston on top of that), suspends Ballmer for a year with a $30M fine, and suspends Lawrence Frank for six months. Kawhi, meanwhile, gets a $700K fine and a trade to Toronto. Bill lays out the report's sniff-test evidence: no-show endorsement deals with four companies that had never paid anyone that much, and emails about money flowing back and forth. He compares the fallout to how the Joe Smith penalty wrecked Kevin Garnett's Minnesota prime, then runs through the franchise's long history of curses and blunders. He also wonders whether Ballmer should have been forced to choose between selling the team and accepting the penalty, and argues that fans and season-ticket holders deserve a way out. His conclusion: the Clippers have found a new rock bottom.

  3. 00:21

    Charles Barkley on the Clippers, ESPN, and more!

    Barkley says the Clippers deserved the penalty and could at least have filmed a fake commercial. He tells a story about the Rockets reneging on a promise to make up his pay cut for Pippen, and he pitches two rule changes: a ban on raising ticket prices when a team is below .500, and one lottery ball per lottery team. He also argues it's impossible to be bad at sports if you know what you're doing. On the summer's moves, he calls Boston's Jaylen Brown trade to Philly one of the craziest he's seen, says the Lakers moved on from LeBron, and says Cleveland would have been his pick had LeBron gone there. He offers to bet that OKC and San Antonio win five of the next ten titles, calls the Knicks one and done, likes the Lakers, and names Indiana and Utah as sleepers. He then vents about ESPN's thin early-season schedule and explains that his retirement is tied to Ernie Johnson's. For the NFL, he backs Josh Allen and Buffalo to beat Seattle 21–17, calls Dallas a sleeper because Jerry Jones has been quiet, and says Seattle is a disrespected champion. Bill has Seattle repeating over Houston. They finish by agreeing the NBA needs a team in Seattle.

Speakers

Predictions on the record

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