Sports Aren't Just Games Anymore (Part 2) | Why LeBron Can't Retire Yet

Can the NBA afford for LeBron James to retire?

In Part 2 of this Beyond Normal Media conversation, Kenny Groom and Less Bless dive into one of the biggest questions facing professional basketball. As international stars continue to dominate the league and player brands become larger than ever, what happens when the NBA's biggest attraction eventually walks away?

From LeBron James' economic impact to the rise of Victor Wembanyama, player empowerment, and the future of American basketball, this episode explores the intersection of sports, business, entertainment, and global culture.

In this episode, we discuss:

🏀 Why LeBron's value extends far beyond basketball
💵 The economic impact superstar athletes have on cities and franchises
🎟️ Why entertainment may now be just as important as winning

Whether you're a sports fan, business leader, or simply curious about how entertainment drives billion-dollar industries, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on the future of professional sports.

Subscribe for more conversations exploring business, media, sports, and culture through a different lens.

#LeBronJames #NBA #SportsBusiness #SportsEntertainment #Basketball #BusinessOfSports #BeyondNormalMedia

Transcript

Kenny 0:15

Oh my gosh. All right, so, all right, let's talk about LeBron.

Bless 0:18

Come on.

Kenny 0:19

Where he's at now-

Bless 0:20

Mm-hmm

Kenny 0:21

I don't think a player of his stature should ever take less than the maximum. I think any team he goes to, they make money off of him in gobs and, and, and they're taking like garbage bags of money-

Bless 0:34

Yeah

Kenny 0:35

away.

Bless 0:35

Brings trucks.

Kenny 0:36

Yeah, brings trucks. Yeah. Like it's like some money on another level. Yeah. So if you know you're somebody-

Bless 0:41

So LeBron, LeBron is one of the few players in sports history that actually stimulates the economy or whatever market he moves to.

Kenny 0:46

Yeah, we're talking about like hundreds of millions of dollars. Yeah. Like we're not talking about- He even,

Bless 0:48

he even like gave a blip-

Kenny 0:51

Yeah

Bless 0:51

in the LA market. Hollywood's out there.

Kenny 0:53

Yeah, for real.

Bless 0:54

Yeah.

Kenny 0:54

I believe it. So it's like I don't want him to settle. But then I also like, "Get your money, man. Like get whatever you can." So it's like tough 'cause I'm like you don't need the money, but it's like, man, y- you've earned whatever you wanna, whatever you want you should be able to go for it. You've paid your dues in the league, and the league has made so much money off of you-

Bless 1:16

Yeah. Very true. Very true

Kenny 1:17

where I don't wanna say they're indebted to you, but they kinda are.

Bless 1:20

They are.

Kenny 1:20

Cause like you said, he was the villain for 10 years. Yep. He came in from day one.

Bless 1:24

He was the good guy.

Kenny 1:25

And he was the good guy. He was the kid. He was the, the Sprite, the, the Nike, all the- Yeah endorsements. He made the league so much money- Yeah and it's like you gotta give him what he wants.

Bless 1:34

See, here's the thing, and I think you speak, you spoke to this before like privately. The league is being so dominated now by international players- Oh yeah, we did

Kenny 1:43

talk about this

Bless 1:43

that nobody is, nobody's around now that they can hand the baton to. That's why LeBron... I tell you the truth, that's the real reason why LeBron can't retire.

Kenny 1:52

Yeah.

Bless 1:53

Is-

Kenny 1:53

I do remember us talking about this.

Bless 1:54

Right. This is some money, this is a, a money play. But do- LeBron would've been done

Kenny 1:58

but do you need that when you're going after global expansion? Do you need a league with 50% American stars? I don't think you, I don't think you need that.

Bless 2:14

Can I ask you a question?

Kenny 2:14

Yeah.

Bless 2:15

Isn't it in the title of the league?

Kenny 2:19

You mean national? All right, so but here's the thing. The, the whole draw was the last 30 years, "Hey, we're just gonna have the best players no matter where they're from in the league."

Bless 2:30

To come, where do those players live when they play?

Kenny 2:33

Well, they're here.

Bless 2:34

So it's still an American league?

Kenny 2:38

Correct.

Bless 2:39

So when outside players come, they say they wanna go play where?

Kenny 2:43

They just didn't wanna play here.

Bless 2:45

Right. So it's us against the world. Do you have to have-

Kenny 2:52

Which is the debate now, where it's like- You have to have- who's gonna... Who would win that?

Bless 2:56

So you... But you have to have an us.

Kenny 2:58

But now you're to the point now where you may have American players who were born here- Yeah but they may, they may recognize their nationality or their parents. They can choose anyway. They can go play, right? They can choose. They can go choose.

Bless 3:09

Hey, Joel Embiid played on the Dream Team.

Kenny 3:11

Yeah, so it's like-

Bless 3:12

Yeah, he played with Team

Kenny 3:13

USA it's, it's all over the place I feel like, and I think that's on purpose.

Bless 3:17

It is.

Kenny 3:18

It's- To blur the lines so now a kid that's on the other side of the world, they just relate to the play- their favorite player. They don't-

Bless 3:25

Still doesn't work like that.

Kenny 3:27

Why not?

Bless 3:27

Because there's a million people, there's a million people that'll be like, "Man, I love Wemby." But there's so many much more people that can't identify with him. You gotta have somebody that you can put in they shoes. Somebody that I can look at, like Steph Curry changed the ga- the, the- Mm-hmm the face of the game.

Kenny 3:45

You can, you can put Steph-

Bless 3:46

Because-

Kenny 3:47

in front of a lot

Bless 3:48

a small, tiny little Asian kid can go shoot threes from half court.

Kenny 3:52

Yeah. That's where l- more relatable. So you need that-

Bless 3:55

You gotta have somebody sort of relation. Yeah somebody you can relate to- Somebody you can relate to and somebody you can identify with.

Kenny 3:59

Yeah. And Steph- And then there's a language barrier, there's all other things- True that just, like, limits them.

Bless 4:04

But the guy that's, the guy that's from here, he's walked the streets that you've walked. Even he, even if he hadn't been in your neighborhood, he's done the things that you did. Even if he was born rich, you can still identify with the path he's walked.

Kenny 4:16

Yeah.

Bless 4:16

And the places that he has to go, and the restaurants he went to. It's a little bit different, because we don't... I don't know anything about where Victor Wembanyama grew up.

Kenny 4:24

Yeah, no, yeah, nothing.

Bless 4:25

No.

Kenny 4:25

Yeah. He's a... Like, the alien, like, fits-

Bless 4:28

In multiple

Kenny 4:29

ways perfectly. In multiple ways- That's a, that's a double and

Bless 4:30

triple entendre.

Kenny 4:31

Yeah, 'cause it's like, I don't know where you're from. I don't know anything about you. I mean, I know your country, but I was like, I don't know who you grew up with. Well, yeah. I don't know your parents, I don't know anything about your background.

Bless 4:39

What's

Kenny 4:39

Nike playing? What's Nike playing? I just know Nike, yeah, like Nike was like, "Hey, we gonna give him a shoe. We gonna put a alien on it."

Bless 4:42

Alien. And there it is.

Kenny 4:44

Yeah, and there it is.

Bless 4:45

Alien.

Kenny 4:46

Yeah.

Bless 4:46

There it is.

Kenny 4:47

So

Bless 4:47

So the business of sports plays into LeBron playing 24, 25 years because he would've retired if Ja could pick it up. He would've retired if Anthony Edwards wouldn't have had so many kids. He would've retired if, if- If- there's multiple people- Zion if Zion Williamson could've stayed healthy.

Kenny 5:02

Yeah.

Bless 5:03

It, it, he would'a, he would, he would... Like now, he had to stay around until Cooper Kupp got here.

Kenny 5:08

Yeah.

Bless 5:08

God forbid Cooper Kupp get into the, uh, uh... Isn't able to maximize his potential.

Kenny 5:14

Mm.

Bless 5:15

LeBron might play 30 year.

Kenny 5:17

That's crazy, man. That's crazy to think about. Like, he gotta play that long.

Bless 5:22

You know why Michael Jordan could play a short, a, a 13, 14-year career, truthfully? You do realize that it, because Kobe Bryant existed, Tracy McGrady existed, Vince Carter existed- Till he

Kenny 5:31

could pass the

Bless 5:32

baton there was, there was Kevin Garnett w- was in the league. There was enough people that it would be strong enough for all five, six, seven, 10, 15 guys to carry the baton. Yeah. And then you can make it more regionalized and everybody have a player that they call their own.

Kenny 5:46

I mean, but I guess now, like, more people are playing basketball than ever.

Bless 5:51

Yeah.

Kenny 5:51

So that, that's the weird part where it's like, what do y'all need to fix in order for this man to be able to sit down?

Bless 5:58

You gotta think about it in this perspective. More people are playing basketball. You just said that. You made a, a, ba- a, a, a big statement, and you ain't even realize what you said. More people are playing basketball than ever. Yeah. But less people are watching basketball than ever. See, that's the disconnect. When you say LeBron need to be able to sit down, like I just said to you, you got-

Kenny 6:15

So going back to entertainment?

Bless 6:16

Right. Going to the entertainment side. You gotta understand that the entertainment side of it is lacking.

Kenny 6:20

Yeah, it is.

Bless 6:20

So the only way to pick that up when the entertainment side is lacking is what? Grassroots.

Kenny 6:26

Yeah.

Bless 6:26

The grassroots of it is getting people to play, getting people back out into the parks. Now- It's tough the, the division of state, the division of church and state is this. The people who can really play, they don't play outside anymore.

Kenny 6:39

No

Bless 6:39

they don't. They have trainers. They have AAU.

Kenny 6:41

Yeah.

Bless 6:41

But the actual sport of it needs to be picked up by the kids who don't wanna go pro.

Kenny 6:47

Yeah.

Bless 6:47

The kids who are just doing it for fun.

Kenny 6:49

Yeah, that's fair.

Bless 6:51

And that's why I call it sports entertainment. Yeah. Thank you for letting me- 'Cause it's a business come see.

Kenny 6:54

Yeah.

Bless 6:54

You walked right into it. I, I, yeah,

Kenny 6:55

I did walk

Bless 6:56

into that. And I'm finna walk you, I'm finna walk into what you said. So here's the messed up part about it. The sports entertainment part of it is LeBron don't need the money. LeBron can't cement his legacy anymore. The people who s- who think he's- Yeah the people who don't think he's better than Jordan, or the people who think he's better than Jordan- That's it. It's done you can't change they minds anyway. So what's the only thing LeBron can do now? Have fun.

Kenny 7:19

Yeah, have fun. That's what he doing So-

Bless 7:21

I know that's what he

Kenny 7:22

doing

Bless 7:22

right. So him, so him playing two more years, if he just having fun, you know what that make the little kids do? Just go out there and have fun. And have

Kenny 7:30

fun.

Bless 7:31

Which gives you your grassroots element.

Kenny 7:33

Yeah.

Bless 7:34

Which makes it sports entertainment.

Kenny 7:37

Entertainment. That'd be leg- the, the way you just positioned that-

Bless 7:40

if he does that,

Kenny 7:41

that's legendary.

Bless 7:42

Yeah.

Kenny 7:43

Now, that's legendary. Just for fun. Right there.

Bless 7:46

Yeah.

Kenny 7:48

What else we got?

Bless 7:49

And if nobody can see it, man, from perspective, dog, that's just really how it plays out. You, you doing it for the work of it.

Kenny 7:55

But how do... I just don't think there's that many players or people in general that would have that sort of lens that he has.

Bless 8:03

And that's why he can't retire.

Kenny 8:05

That's, that's terrible, man. That's terrible.

Bless 8:09

If it was somebody for him to hand it off to.

Kenny 8:12

That's crazy. But that, that's him, like, bearing the, the weight of the game.

Bless 8:16

Yeah.

Kenny 8:17

Like, after 20-something years, that's crazy.

Bless 8:19

Still bearing the weight. Yeah. And that's why you, that's- That's

Kenny 8:21

crazy

Bless 8:21

and that's why somebody like you say, "Man, they owe him so much money." Yeah, they do. No, they owe, they owe him more than you think.

Kenny 8:26

Nah, yeah, they owe him a team. They owe him a percent. Yeah. Like a percentage for life. He gonna get- Like, I'm serious

Bless 8:31

he gonna get all of that.

Kenny 8:32

Yeah, he got to.

Bless 8:32

He gonna get the Vegas team.

Kenny 8:34

Yeah.

Bless 8:34

Uh, Seattle gonna be reinstituted, and then they gonna move Memphis and Minnesota over to the Eastern Conference.

Kenny 8:39

Yeah, I saw they were doing- Yeah they were gonna do something

Bless 8:42

like that. They gonna redraw the lines, telling you now. See it from

Kenny 8:43

here. And he should be first up. He will. Players like him. He will. Players like Steph.

Bless 8:47

You won't see his name on it. What you'll see is the... I think Steph, side note, Steph is gonna use the money from the leading deal. He gonna hold off on it and then buy into the league that way.

Kenny 8:55

Yeah, that makes sense.

Bless 8:56

Yeah. But, um, I, I believe that LeBron at this point now, when you see the money... 'Cause we keep going back to the business of sports. So when you see the money, don't follow the money trail when it come to LeBron. You gotta follow the, the, not the passion, but the purpose. The purpose of it is gonna be different. You're not gonna see his name on it.

Kenny 9:17

Yeah, for sure.

Bless 9:18

But you'll know he's involved. He may, yeah, he may seem- Like, like Magic Johnson with- He

Kenny 9:20

may making plays, yeah

Bless 9:21

with Magic Johnson with the, uh, with the Redskins. Yeah. That, that, that group, he's not the lead guy in the group, but-

Kenny 9:28

He don't care about it but you need his, but you need his name on it yeah, he don't care about being the lead. You see what I'm saying? You need that, you need his name, and he gonna take his cut. There you go. Yeah, he gonna take his cut. There you go. I like it. I, I like that you said that. Yeah. LeBron has earned it just to have the ability of his name's on it. Mm. Just go ahead and slide me my chips right now. Yeah. 'Cause you're using my brand, my, my image, my likeness to get further. I like that.

Bless 9:50

So e- when we were talking about DeMarcus, uh, you knew the Ja Morant trade was coming.

Kenny 9:57

Yeah, I did, I did know that one for sure.

Bless 9:58

So the Melo, the, the LaMelo Ball trade is what shocked you?

Kenny 10:02

Yeah, that shocked me.

Bless 10:03

Do you think it, do you think the city lost some of its identity or some of its pop?

Kenny 10:08

It lost some of its- I want, I don't wanna say swag, but just like a new energy- Okay that he brought. Okay. He's from Cali. Like, he, he just brings a different kinda element to a city that is like a mix of slow pace and fast pace. So he brings it, the energy he brings with the drive and just with everything he does, right? Everything, everything

Bless 10:31

LaMelo.

Kenny 10:31

It, it leans towards, okay, this is a faster pace that we're going in the city. Mm-hmm. And it feels that way and that, that excites people. Versus kind of probably going to slow down a little bit just like, um... We're not gonna have him driving around the city, but- Yeah like, just along those lines, like him, losing him, losing a player like that, it's... Other players are not gonna come here in my opinion.

Bless 10:57

So you gotta draft.

Kenny 10:58

So you gotta draft.

Bless 10:59

So, uh, outside of Jalen Brunson, which I feel like Jalen Brunson is the guy that identifies most with the city.

Kenny 11:06

Yeah.

Bless 11:06

Uh, what player, what player do you think in the league other than Jalen Brunson, you can even say football-

Kenny 11:13

Record, uh, Re-

Bless 11:13

what player do you think most identifies with that city or represents that city? Like, Jalen Brunson looks New York to me. So what player do you think identifies with- In the

Kenny 11:23

NFL or NBA?

Bless 11:24

E- either one.

Kenny 11:27

I don't think this is gonna sound bad, but to me, Lamar Jackson in Baltimore.

Bless 11:33

I can see that.

Kenny 11:33

I see that.

Bless 11:34

I like that.

Kenny 11:35

Um-

Bless 11:36

I like that. No self-aggrandizement, but

Kenny 11:37

I like that. Yeah. I, I think, uh, for some reason Dak in Dallas, I, I don't know. Mm. It's the image thing. I, I just think it goes.

Bless 11:44

Yeah.

Kenny 11:45

Like, he's not corny, but it, it- It's like- it just goes with the Dallas way of doing things.

Bless 11:49

He's giving me the same vibe I got from Tony Romo.

Kenny 11:52

Exactly.

Bless 11:53

It's a

Kenny 11:53

cog. But it kinda lines up with the Dallas-

Bless 11:56

Right. It's a cog in-

Kenny 11:57

market. Um-

Bless 11:58

When you think about it from that perspective, he's just a cog in a wheel.

Kenny 11:59

I think Cade Cunningham, Detroit.

Bless 12:02

Yeah.

Kenny 12:02

I think that's a good blend.

Bless 12:03

I like that. I

Kenny 12:04

like that. I like that one.

Bless 12:04

That's a good one.

Kenny 12:05

I like that one.

Bless 12:06

How do you feel about, uh, Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City?

Kenny 12:10

I think Patrick is playing a role to get paid.

Bless 12:16

I didn't know you was so controversial on your show, man. Yeah.

Kenny 12:18

I think I, I'm not mad at him.

Bless 12:20

Okay. Okay.

Kenny 12:21

I'm not mad at him. Okay. It's just I see it, but it Like, he's doing what I feel like Tom Brady waited a little bit, like waited towards the end to do to, like, do the power moves. Man, Tom Brady

Bless 12:32

was way more Tampa Bay than he ever was New England.

Kenny 12:35

Yeah, yeah, for- Yeah for sure. I hate to- But, so I think- Yeah but I think Patrick Mahomes is, like, pulling his cards-

Bless 12:42

Slow

Kenny 12:42

throughout Yeah, yeah, a little bit differently than, than, than Tom. But yeah, I just don't If he was in a different market, I think he would just still be as big and huge as he is. I don't think it's Kansas City. I think he's what makes that whole thing- Okay the way it is.

Bless 12:59

Okay.

Kenny 12:59

My dad grew Growing up, my dad was a huge Kansas City fan. Tony Gonzalez, all them boys. Tony G. All their, all their offensive linemen are essentially, like, Hall of Famers and all that stuff.

Bless 13:09

Willie Roaf.

Kenny 13:10

Yeah, those like My dad had the jerseys and everything. Okay. So I don't know why he was a Kansas City fan. Um, so I'm familiar with Kansas City Chiefs, and to me, they were never that swaggy as they are. They

Bless 13:23

still aren't.

Kenny 13:24

Yeah, they aren't, but I think he brings Like, I, he's playing a role. Yeah. But I'm just gonna leave it at that.

Bless 13:29

Okay. Okay.

Kenny 13:30

Um, I'm trying to think who else, like you said, fits. Anthony Edwards in Minnesota, no. Um-

Bless 13:38

Does it bother you that, like, a place like Baltimore has better sports culture than Charlotte?

Kenny 13:46

No, it doesn't bother me 'cause I, I- Can you identify? I've been to, I've been to Baltimore- Right and I walk down the street, and everybody gives me Baltimore.

Bless 13:54

Oh, it's go Ravens.

Kenny 13:55

Yeah, but I'm just saying- Everyone like, the tone, like the how y'all talk, like, everything- Yeah I'm like, "Oh, this is the Baltimore experience." Go Ravens. When, when you come to Charlotte, depending on where you go, you get a different experience. You do. If you go Uptown, you go to Gastonia, which is still Charlotte, I don't care what anybody says. If you go to University, if you go to South Charlotte, like, there's just different pockets. Mint Hill is not the same as Uptown. No. It's not the same as Ballantyne. I could go on forever.

Bless 14:20

You can go through the whole city, and you can see just as many other team jerseys as you

Kenny 14:25

can. You can. You go to d- bars, and there are bars for the Bills. Yeah, there's definitely bars. There's bars for the Cowboys. Yeah. I'm pretty sure there's a Redskins bar. Yeah, there's a Ravens- Like, there's other- There's a Ravens bar there's a Ravens bar. That's what I mean. Like, so depending on where you go, you get a different And then people are talking like those places when you go to the bars in Charlotte. It's not like when I go to I've only been to Baltimore twice, but when I went there, it was like everybody sounds and acts like they're- From Baltimore from here. Yeah. Like, they rep it.

Bless 14:51

Do, so do you think- Like,

Kenny 14:53

the- You

Bless 14:54

think- I can't be mad

Kenny 14:54

at that do

Bless 14:55

you think the player empowerment is what hurts the smaller markets?

Kenny 15:00

They're empowering players too much?

Bless 15:01

Yeah.

Kenny 15:02

No. I don't think that is-

Bless 15:05

Cause, I mean, football and basketball are different, but, like, for this conversation, both of them are being more empowered every day. So do you think that the player empowerment and the ability to go where you wanna go or force your trade somewhere else or force the team's hand, a la Micah Parsons or a la- No,

Kenny 15:20

I li- I like players- Jalen Brown I don't think that handicaps the team. I just think the teams need to, they need to think past, like, just managing the budget. They need to think, like, how does this strategically work? Like, how do we sync with this player who we want, who we say is a star? Like, how do we align with him so that he's not doing stuff to tamper the amount of money we can make or making the situation more successful?

Bless 15:45

But what's the most important part, to win games or make money? 'Cause those two aren't

Kenny 15:50

like- Making money, making money is the most important.

Bless 15:52

Yeah,

Kenny 15:52

for the owners. To the team. Yeah, to the owner.

Bless 15:54

Yeah.

Kenny 15:55

Winning games is not necessarily-

Bless 15:58

Primary

Kenny 15:59

primary. Even for the players, I don't think it's primary.

Bless 16:02

What? For the players too?

Kenny 16:03

Yeah, I don't think so. Not nowadays.

Bless 16:05

Man, that would sound more like sports entertainment.

Kenny 16:08

Yeah, it is. We're coming back to that. Yeah. Yeah, I don't... Yeah, I don't think... Yeah, I don't... I, I think the game, like you said, like, they're not out there just playing for the fun of it. Like, it is like a 9 to 5 almost. Mm. It is a 9 to 5 to them. Most, most players professional NFL or NBA now, it is a 9 to 5. They

Bless 16:28

like the trappings of what come along with it.

Kenny 16:30

Yeah, they just like the sh- you know, like, it makes sense. You're living a nice life. You're getting crazy checks. You're getting taxed in every state you go to. Yeah. Doing cool stuff like that. Mm-hmm. Like, it's an experience that only 1% of the people- Yeah or less than 1% probably-

Bless 16:44

One, it's only 450,000.

Kenny 16:46

Yeah, exactly. And NFL, even the NFL is, like, still a small percentage of the total people that play sport, play the, play the sport. So they're doing really cool things, but for just for some reason, like, they're doing it for so long that the drive to just play the game just goes away. Yeah.

Bless 17:05

So is that, would that lean towards... I'm, like, I'm not trying to trip on your words, but I'm sending you back to an original point. So does that lean towards finding that hunger, so you have to become more global? Like, would that make you go find the players that wanna fight it out and wanna fight to get here and everything that they went through and to come through the trenches? Wouldn't that technically force you to go to some smaller countries and pe- people are struggling to find those players? Because you can lead them a little bit more. They have a lot less access.

Kenny 17:34

Those types of players for smaller markets?

Bless 17:35

Yeah. I'm talking about in general. Like, it's easier to sell a Victor Wembanyama that you need to come to the NBA and commit, when there's a guy here that got NIL and he's made $10, $15 million while he was in college.

Kenny 17:50

You think it's easier to get Wemby?

Bless 17:52

Yeah.

Kenny 17:52

Period.

Bless 17:53

That's, uh, doesn't that force the game to become global to find the best product to put on the floor?

Kenny 17:59

Uh, I think that's a narrative.

Bless 18:03

Okay.

Kenny 18:03

I think that's a narrative. There are so many good- Okay there are so many good players here, in my opinion.

Bless 18:10

Yeah.

Kenny 18:12

Right? At, at all levels. Okay. Like, we all know somebody who could've, could've been in the league, you know, all the stories and stuff like that. See- There are so many good players here

Bless 18:19

you giving me shoulda, coulda, woulda. See, the problem with what you're saying here- There is a lot of shoulda, coulda, woulda crap here right. But you, problem what you saying is all your MVPs as of late-

Kenny 18:28

Have been international.

Bless 18:29

Right.

Kenny 18:30

But the stakes are, I think the stakes are at a point, like to your point, the players don't have, here don't have the mix of the entertainment and the basketball.

Bless 18:41

So they don't have the hunger, and the drive, and they can't make- But isn't it the hunger, though? It- I'ma tell you why it is. One, NIL. AJ Dybants have walked in... AJ Dybants' father is his agent. Mm. He's slotted for $68 million over the next four years.

Kenny 18:54

Mm-hmm.

Bless 18:55

You do realize, like, he walked in with 10 million.

Kenny 18:58

Mm.

Bless 18:58

So- Out of

Kenny 18:59

college,

Bless 18:59

so yeah right. So the hunger part of it is what? Eliminated.

Kenny 19:04

Yeah, that's true.

Bless 19:05

Like, the drive that he has to be number one is him wanting to be successful- But are

Kenny 19:08

his parents from here?

Bless 19:10

No, not really.

Kenny 19:11

Yeah, right?

Bless 19:11

Dybants.

Kenny 19:12

Yeah, and so that's why I'm thinking, like- So it's easier- he still has that, he's at least one, one step removed from- Yes his parents, or that's a dri- that could be a drive for him to be like, "Hey, I wanna be great still."

Bless 19:23

So that's international.

Kenny 19:25

That is. That-

Bless 19:26

So it's a, that's what I'm telling you

Kenny 19:27

that

Bless 19:27

is- I'm not trying to create a narrative, I'm just telling you, like, it's easier to manipulate somebody who's not on the ground here, and sees all the trappings. I can dangle the carrot a lot easier, I can dangle the carrot a lot easier on- You powerful

Kenny 19:51

But what I was gonna say was, um... Damn it, I lost my thought.

Bless 19:55

You good. I done heard it. I was going through your topics already on the-

Kenny 19:58

We went through them, right? Okay.

Bless 19:59

That was, we already in rapid fire.

Kenny 20:02

Okay, cool. Let me,

Bless 20:05

um- How much

Kenny 20:05

time has it been? Past 60 minutes. We been, we been done.

Bless 20:10

Yeah.

Kenny 20:10

In terms of the 60-minute mark.

Bless 20:11

Right, I'm finna get you out of here.

Kenny 20:13

Yeah, let's get out.

Bless 20:14

I'm finna get you out of here. You gotta trust me, I'm a professional. So this is what you do. When you get back to the shop, you make sure everybody understand that goddamn it, that Les is a professional

Kenny 20:24

No, I will. I, I, of course.

Bless 20:26

I don't do this shit for fun. This ain't for play. You've been... Your socks have been blown off in here today I love this shirt, bro. Where did this shirt come from?

Kenny 20:38

Uh, Big Crit Show.

Bless 20:40

What's the Big Crit Show, bro?

Kenny 20:42

Big Crit, the rapper.

Bless 20:43

Oh, you w- I'm saying you went and saw him, like-

Kenny 20:45

I went to see Crit, and then Kirby opened up for him.

Bless 20:48

Okay.

Kenny 20:49

She's dope. She did, uh, a couple renditions of some classic stuff.

Bless 20:53

I'm fucking with. Um. I'm fucking with it, bro You tell Kirby, Kirby hooked me We don't need it What? Your phone?

Kenny 21:13

I got this one. I think

Bless 21:20

Is it good shit?

Kenny 21:22

It look good. No, it look good. Um-

Bless 21:24

No, I mean, is the, uh, is it quality information and-

Kenny 21:29

What we talking about?

Bless 21:30

Yeah, the show. Heck yeah. I told you content

Kenny 21:34

is gold to me.

Bless 21:35

Okay.

Kenny 21:35

You was like, "Man, I'm gonna destroy you." I said, "Good. That's content."

Bless 21:39

Yeah.

Kenny 21:40

Um- Where did we leave off? I got

Bless 21:44

you. Just let me know when it's time to go.

Kenny 21:46

All right, let's go.

Bless 21:49

Ready? Are we running?

Kenny 21:51

This is thinking.

Bless 21:52

I ain't think we was running. I ain't think we was running.

Kenny 22:07

I never recorded

Bless 22:11

Yeah, I'm gonna get you out of here

Kenny 22:20

All right, we good

Bless 22:20

So to the business of sports, to the business of sports, when you in your mind understand, like, it's easier to create that narrative with a guy who is outside of the spectrum of everything that we're used to. So that's what drives the NBA now. You have to go global because you have to go global to be able to manipulate and control both sides. It's not just a faulty narrative.

Kenny 22:40

So nepotism isn't good.

Bless 22:43

Nepotism is good because it feeds the other side of the machine. Oh, okay. If I got Cam, if I got Cam Boozer, LeBron James Jr.- Yeah like if I got all of these guys, I got somebody that's old enough to teach them the game-

Kenny 22:55

Mm-hmm

Bless 22:55

and they feed the system. Mm. And then I got the other side of global guys who are just coming to America to get a slice of the, of, of the American pie- Yeah, you

Kenny 23:05

gotta balance it that's how you say it, right? That, that's the balance. That's the end game. And that's the balance. 'Cause that's where we're at, where it's like, it's literally gonna be LeBron Jr., Carlos Boozer Jr-

Bless 23:12

Right

Kenny 23:13

Matt Barnes Jr.-

Bless 23:14

There you go

Kenny 23:14

like that's what

Bless 23:15

it is Gilbert Arenas Jr.

Kenny 23:16

Yeah, it's gonna be

Bless 23:17

that. Car- Carmelo Anthony Jr.

Kenny 23:18

Yeah, Anthony Jr., yeah. Like that- Like their kids are next

Bless 23:20

right. So that's one side of the cog, and the other side of the cog used to be, because you had it before, like Joe Jellybean Bryant is Kobe Bryant daddy.

Kenny 23:27

Yeah.

Bless 23:27

So the other side of it is, and since I can't get the guys from the street that need it the most, you know what I can do? I can go global and get the guys that are poor out there. Mm. And then I can feed the system, and I keep the tribalism going, and they keep the dollars spinning.

Kenny 23:40

And then- That's- in those examples in the past, it was the dad may have been good

Bless 23:47

But the son is great

Kenny 23:48

But then the son is great. Bingo. That's usually the story- There you go that, that was the narrative. Versus now, your dad is great, your dad is a top 25 player of all time.

Bless 23:56

That's just, that's just Bron. Everybody else, Trevor Ariza, um, I, I give you Carmelo being on the other side.

Kenny 24:02

Yeah. But- You know what I mean? But your dad is really good. There you go. So it's like, where do you fall compared to him? Yeah. They, they have that benchmark by default.

Bless 24:10

And the people that'll fill the gap will be global guys.

Kenny 24:13

The global guys may be-

Bless 24:15

Way out there

Kenny 24:15

yeah, they gonna be-

Bless 24:16

Way out there. The way it is- Jayson, Jayson Tatum don't have a personality. Yeah. Jaylen Brown too outspoken. Yeah.

Kenny 24:21

Yeah.

Bless 24:22

And that-

Kenny 24:23

And, and we may have Wemby for 10 years. Bingo like just-

Bless 24:28

And that's what make... It, they gotta have Wemby, spoiler alert, you gotta have Wemby in it long enough to make him the bad guy.

Kenny 24:35

Yeah, I could see that.

Bless 24:36

Right. And- And you build him that way

Kenny 24:38

and he gotta be, he'll be here a while.

Bless 24:39

Yeah.

Kenny 24:40

You know, as long as his legs and stuff all hold up. There you go. Yeah, he'll be- He could be the

Bless 24:43

ne- he could be your next Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kenny 24:45

and then, as you say that, in those years that he's doing that, he gets some media training. Like, he- Mm like starts to speak- He'll get better a little the language, and he gonna be like- But

Bless 24:56

the more polished he become, the more, like-

Kenny 24:58

Evil he gonna be then go- Yeah, for sure. For sure

Bless 25:00

then go. And that is sports entertainment.

Kenny 25:03

Yeah, 'cause by his the, his, his, uh, his high, like, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was like-

Bless 25:09

Oh, he was-

Kenny 25:09

stoic at times. Yeah. Like, you know- He was, he

Bless 25:11

was Lew Alcindor in Milwaukee, he was great. He was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar- Yeah, and they positioned him in LA, and he was the evil empire while he was in LA.

Kenny 25:18

Yeah.

Bless 25:18

Right.

Kenny 25:19

The big, bad-

Bless 25:20

And then to make that- The big, bad

Kenny 25:21

yellow, yeah

Bless 25:21

to make that, to make that palatable, what you do? You give him Showtime. There you go, Show Time. You give him Magic, and everybody love Magic, and Kareem leading the

Kenny 25:29

way. Yeah, hook shot.

Bless 25:30

There you

Kenny 25:30

go. They made it good. They made it... Nah, that's-

Bless 25:33

Sports entertainment Yeah, you- It's been going on the whole time

Kenny 25:36

Yeah.

Bless 25:36

Hey bro, thank you for having me here today, man.

Kenny 25:38

No, I appreciate you for stopping by.

Bless 25:39

Yeah.

Kenny 25:40

Uh, you're showing me I can talk about sports and business.

Bless 25:43

Yeah. And

Kenny 25:44

so this is opening up a new lane for us. I

Bless 25:47

can't wait to come back, bro. Yeah,

Kenny 25:48

you're always welcome. We gonna do

Bless 25:48

this

Kenny 25:49

again. For sure. For sure. Um, the studio, shout out to Alchemy-

Bless 25:52

Man

Kenny 25:53

uh, for having an amazing space where we can come in person. This place is nice, bro. Yeah, so I appreciate you for coming in. Sha- shout out to you for, um-

Bless 26:00

How you gonna thank me? I just thanked you.

Kenny 26:02

Well, it's something that I always do on my show. Okay, go ahead. I'm sorry. It's your, it's your show, bro. I'm so, I'm sorry. I'm

Bless 26:07

sorry. It's your show. I was just gonna say- And I'm just not used to being thanked, bro. Thank you.

Kenny 26:10

Mr. Bless- is, uh, has definitely had some conversations with me. From our very first conversation he was like, "You got a good voice. Like, what you doing content-wise?" And so he's been pushing me- Yeah to do more and more in this space.

Bless 26:24

That's technically supposed to stay between there. But all right. No. You letting the cat out

Kenny 26:27

the bag. No, I'm letting the cat out the bag. No, let the cat out the bag. Because I, I, I give people their flowers especially.

Bless 26:32

But then people expect, expect that out of me more. Like I don't wanna

Kenny 26:34

do that. Oh yeah. He's also- Y'all are like, "Leave me" So you guys are hearing the other side of- Leave me in the bush he doesn't like, um-

Bless 26:41

I'm not here for that

Kenny 26:41

yeah, he's not here for certain stuff.

Bless 26:43

Leave me in the

Kenny 26:43

bush. But you gotta accept your flowers sometimes.

Bless 26:45

No, I'm cool on that. I understand it. Respect, you know what I'm saying? What's understood ain't gotta be said. Yeah,

Kenny 26:50

no, that's fair. It's fair. That's fair. But thank you for stopping by, sir. I

Bless 26:52

appreciate you for having me,

Kenny 26:53

bro. Um, this is the first of many p- podcasts and public conversations that we'll have, but we have, we've had several of these already in- Yeah the cigar lounge. Um-

Bless 27:02

Next we gonna talk entertainment. Dog, we gotta get these people into music and movies. The other side of me. Yeah. We went sports, now we're gonna go other side. Then we gonna finish with, like, love and life and family 'cause you a family man. You got your wedding ring on.

Kenny 27:14

Yeah.

Bless 27:14

We gotta talk about kids and all of that.

Kenny 27:16

Yeah, that's-

Bless 27:17

Yeah 'cause all of

Kenny 27:18

that's- This guy is good

Bless 27:18

all of that's a business too.

Kenny 27:19

Yeah, this guy, uh, marriage and kids are definitely a business.

Bless 27:23

Financial in- Cash flow

Kenny 27:24

financial institutions.

Bless 27:25

Cashflow

Kenny 27:26

negative-

Bless 27:27

Bingo

Kenny 27:27

on most of that. Yes, thank you all for tuning in to another great episode of Beyond Normal Media.