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About this Episode
Nick Kostos reacts to the Los Angeles Lakers latest winning streak and why LeBron James might be the reason for this run.
Hosts & Guests
Transcript
Has the news been getting you down?
I'm Megan McCartle, and I'm here to help.
I'm the host of a news show from Washington Post Opinion,
called Reasonably Optimistic.
And it's an antidote to the pessimism
that's riddling America right now.
Every Wednesday, I'm going to talk to people
who see a path forward.
It does seem to me that there is some awakening
of a desire to act together to solve problems where they are.
No, I am a believer in America, and that's worth fighting for.
Join me Wednesdays on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Right now, the NBA is heating up,
March Manus is here, and MLB is almost back.
Every day there's a new headline,
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Now, back to you better, you bet with Nick Costos and the crew,
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Final hour.
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We will take a break from the college basketball about 20 minutes from now
and we will talk some NFL draft with Land Zero Line of NFL Media
very much looking forward to that.
A lot of NFL stories right now,
percolating as we enter the NCAA tournament.
Land Zero Line will join us 20 minutes from now.
We'll talk some NFL draft with Lance.
The final segments of the show at the end of the hour,
myself, Tyler and Kenny,
all our bets for today and the reason behind it.
Plus the trivia question of the day,
that's coming up later this hour.
A couple news stories to get into the show here.
The Cade Cunningham breaking news obviously earlier,
kind of like took over a large swath of the show,
I had to hit that.
And in case you missed it,
Cade Cunningham,
diagnosed with a mild,
I don't know what that means.
It's like,
are you pregnant or are you not?
Is your lung collapsed or is it not?
I'm not a doctor.
Cade Cunningham collapsed lung,
per ESPN's,
Sham Sharanya,
out quote, extended period of time.
The Detroit Pistons announced at the end of the hour,
last hour,
that Cade would be re-evaluated in two weeks.
Our executive producer, Bill Zimmerman,
came on last hour and gave us a quote from an injury analyst
on social media saying the average amount of time
for players in the NBA will have missed time
with the collapse lung,
including most notably,
CJ McCollum,
who has this happened to twice in CJ McCollum's career.
By the way,
March Madness first round legend, CJ McCollum,
who will be high beat Duke once upon a time.
I was wasted for that game,
wasted in Manhattan watching that game
in the NCAA tournament,
26 days on average,
player will miss with the collapsed lung.
The NBA playoff start on April 18th.
Today is March 19th.
My guess is,
and I'm guessing,
Cade Cunningham is back for the first game of the postseason
for the Detroit Pistons.
But the questions that I think have to be asked,
number one,
can the Pistons hold off the Celtics for the one seed?
They're three and a half games up on Boston right now.
And number two,
if Cade's out for the first round playoff series,
if he's not a hundred percent,
and it's Detroit against Orlando.
Detroit against Miami.
Detroit against Atlanta,
who's won 11 straight.
Detroit against Philly,
who has a high upside,
also a low floor.
Detroit against Charlotte.
Are the Pistons on upset alert in those games?
The answer has to be yes.
If Cade doesn't play,
or if he is not, fully healthy.
So that's what's happening
with the Detroit Pistons and Cade Cunningham.
For the remainder of this segment here,
to kick off the final hour on this NCAA tournament Thursday,
this segment will be sponsored by the color purple.
And we'll start with the purple and gold,
the Los Angeles Lakers,
who are absolutely rolling right now.
And look like the tournament is taking up a lot of oxygen
and it should.
It's great.
So I would understand
if this was kind of going under the radar for you
in our audience.
But you know, it's my job hosting the show
to tell you about the things that matter.
And I do the work so you don't have to.
You can focus on your bracket.
You can focus on your bets.
You can focus on the NFL draft.
I'm focused on everything.
So I can tell you what's happening.
And what's happening right now
with the Los Angeles Lakers
is they are on a seven-game win streak
and they ain't beaten the drags of the NBA on this win streak.
They beat the Rockets again last night in Houston
for the second time this week.
On the seven-game win streak,
they have also beaten the Knicks,
the Wolves, and the Nuggets.
They are playing their best basketball of the season.
Now one and a half games up on the Wolves
for the three seed in the West.
Like one two is going to be OKC San Antonio.
Now it's just who's going to be the three,
the four, the five, and the six.
And we think we know how this is going to go.
Like in some way, shape or form,
three through six in the West is going to be the Lakers.
It's going to be the Wolves.
It's going to be the Rockets.
And it's going to be the Nuggets.
And what order is it going to be?
We will see those two, those teams play each other.
In the NBA playoffs, we just don't know
which it's going to be in the four, five,
and in the three, six.
Now the thing that's setting the Lakers apart right now
and what's making them way more interesting
than they've been, frankly, at any point this season
is the evolution of their oldest player, LeBron James.
So last night, Luca scores 40,
and he's magnificence, right?
Also, LeBron goes 13 to 14 from the field.
Six dunks, he's 41 years old.
Like, I'm never going to be a LeBron over Jordan guy,
but I mean, he's the second best player of all time
with a bullet, not even close.
30 points, 13 to 14 from the field,
he is absolutely tremendous.
And the fascinating thing right now about LeBron James,
and this kind of, I think we can take this beyond basketball.
And this becomes not just an interesting basketball story,
but a really interesting life,
and like human being story also.
Is that LeBron, who is unquestionably the best player
of this generation, and you can throw out Steph Curry,
and you can throw out others, I'm taking LeBron.
And I don't think that's an insult to Steph Curry
or anyone else to say that, right?
LeBron is not only accepting his role
on the Lakers as not being the number one option.
He's also his accepting his role
of not even being the number two option.
And not only is he accepting this role,
he is embracing this role.
Saying last night after the game,
that AR Austin Reeves and Luca are the two closers on the team,
and he is there as the third option.
Now, could you ever imagine,
and this is not meant to be an insult towards these great players?
It's not.
It's just, I think it's fascinating that LeBron is saying in doing this.
Could you imagine Michael Jordan ever saying that?
And this is not like LeBron, Michael's better than LeBron is.
That's not the point of this.
It's a personality thing.
And I think it's interesting.
Could you imagine Michael Jordan ever accepting that role?
The late great Kobe Bryant's accepting that role ever
and embracing that role.
In essence, LeBron James is now the greatest role player
in human history since Peter North.
It's unbelievable.
Someone that's accomplished what he's accomplished,
holding all the records that he holds.
If he wanted to, could have the biggest ego of all time.
And that's kind of what we all expected, right, coming into this year.
Was this is a disaster, right?
The first time ever LeBron James is on a team,
and it's not his team anymore.
It's Luca's team.
How's this going to go?
We have our answer.
LeBron is rolling out the red carpet for Luca
and rolling out the red carpet for Austin Reeves.
This is like the equivalent of Daniel Dayloo
is stepping aside for Timothy Chalamade,
a star in a movie, and Daniel Dayloo
is going to be the best supporting actor.
Could you imagine that happening?
Imagine that happening.
That's what this is with LeBron James.
And you have to acknowledge now.
And when I say you, I mostly mean me.
I think we have to acknowledge that the ceiling
of the Lakers has been raised as a result of this.
Now, if you're a Laker fan or you're a Laker better,
you want to see Houston in the first round.
Like you'd much rather see the Rockets
than Minnesota with Anthony Edwards.
And we think Anthony Evans will be healthy for playoff time.
You would much rather see the Rockets
than Nicole Yokich and the Denver Nuggets, right?
We can all say that.
I've said for quite some time now,
the Lakers are going to be a one and done in the playoffs.
I might have to walk that back
if this is what it's going to be.
Their defense has been great.
They're playing the best basketball they've played all season.
And there is now a clearly defined pecking order.
And the guy in the third role is the second best player ever.
And it's now kind of like the most praised player on the team
as a result.
And it works because it's LeBron.
Like, could you imagine if we're talking about the Miami Heat,
the Heatals, be like, man, Chris Bosch, best player on the team,
when LeBron James and Dwayne waiter there.
Or if we're talking about the Tim Duncan's person,
like, man, like, you know, Duncan and Tony Parker are great,
but what about Manu Genobili?
Or the Warriors, yeah, like Clay and Steph,
but also Drey Montgomery might be the best player.
Man, Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippin,
really instrumental for the Bulls.
But can I interest you in this Horace Grant puff piece?
It's LeBron James.
That's why it works.
And I know a lot of people hate LeBron.
A lot of people hate a lot of different things.
I get it.
I like him, but I understand it.
You have to respect what's currently happening now in L.A.
with the Lakers and LeBron James.
3108404910 YouTube.com backslash at the Costos.
And now, so the NFL news that we've been teasing the entire show
that Kate Cunningham and that injury pushed back to this hour.
So about 10 minutes before we came on the air,
about 8.50 a.m. Eastern time on this Thursday morning,
March 19th year of our Lord, 2026.
The Minnesota Vikings resigned Carson Wentz.
Carson Wentz is back in Minnesota with the Vikings.
There are two takeaways as a result of this signing,
Carson Wentz in Minnesota.
Number one.
J.J. McCarthy, I don't think is going to be a Viking this season.
And if he is, he's the third quarterback.
Like, let's be, I want to be crystal clear on this.
Kyler Murray is the Minnesota Viking starting quarterback.
Carson Wentz is going to be the back up.
And J.J. McCarthy is going to be the three.
Now, like Wentz can get hurt or McCarthy can all of a sudden be someone he hasn't been
and like really outshine Wentz.
We watched the games last year.
Who is better?
Wentz before his shoulder fell off or J.J. McCarthy.
Be honest.
Carson Wentz is not signing with Minnesota to be the third string quarterback.
He's the back up.
McCarthy is the three.
My guess is J.J. McCarthy is on another roster.
Come week one.
And he's not even going to be on the Vikings roster.
Come week one of this season.
I don't, like, how can you even make an argument?
Well, I guess you can say like maybe they hold on to McCarthy.
If Kyler Murray got hurt, you think J.J. McCarthy is the next guy up or you think it's Carson Wentz?
Be honest with yourself.
That's the first takeaway.
The second takeaway.
It had been expected that the New York Jets will have hired Frank Reich as their OC.
Frank Reich who coached Carson Wentz in Indianapolis for a season.
That Carson Wentz was going to be signed by the New York Jets.
Either to be the starter or to back up after the Jets make the trade for Geno Smith to back up Geno Smith.
So the fact that Carson Wentz is signed in Minnesota tells you Geno's obviously the guy with the Jets, which we know.
So who's going to be the back up quarterback for the Jets this season?
And we talked about this last week, right?
After the Jets traded for Geno.
What is the likelihood whether it's due to performance or whether it's due to injury?
And no one is rooting for injury, right?
That's not the point of this.
What do you think the chance is Geno Smith starts all 17 games this year for the Jets?
Like what's the odds that any quarterback starts all 17 games?
Like not great, right?
It's usually not what happens.
Obviously there are outliers.
But usually teams have quarterback issues at some point during the season.
So the Jets backup quarterback is going to play.
It cannot be Brady Cook, who would currently be the backup quarterback.
He was the third stringer last year, started a bunch of games at the end of the year when the Jets are tanking and Justin Fields isn't healthy.
And Tyra Taylor is not healthy, right?
I said last week and I will really, really stick to that with conviction.
The New York Jets and it doesn't have to be with their second pick in the first round.
It doesn't have to be that the Jets currently pick second and 16th.
The 16th pick coming from the Colts in the Saw Scardor trade.
It doesn't have to be at 16, although we did just see Melkhyper Jr.
and his last mock draft for ESPN had Ty Simpson going to the Jets at 16th overall the quarterback from Alabama.
So whether it's at 16, whether it's a trade down or whether it's one of their picks in the second round.
The Jets have to take a quarterback.
And that quarterback, whether it's Ty Simpson, whether it's Carson Beck, whether it's Garrett Nussmeyer, whomever it is.
That quarterback needs to be the backup because that quarterback will play this season.
And what the Jets need to figure out heading into next year, which is the big quarterback draft,
where the Jets have three first ground picks in next year's NFL draft.
They need to know, do we have the answer right now?
We get a couple games of back of Simpson, of Nussmeyer, of somebody else.
And we feel good enough about this that we can really fill out the roster with the three first round picks next year.
Or you know that this guy is not the guy.
We know Gina was in and you're all in on a quarterback in 27.
When you don't have the guy, you take as many swings as possible to get the guy.
And now that Carson Wentz is in Minnesota back with the bike.
Maybe they should trade for J.J. McCarthy, honestly.
Let McCarthy be the backup. Let him play a couple games if need be.
Figure out if you can salvage J.J. That's really what they should do.
And then use the picks on to replenish the rest of the roster.
You're welcome Jets. Go trade for J.J. McCarthy.
But they need a young quarterback backing up Gino to figure out if that quarterback is the guy.
3108404910, 3108404910.
Ladies and gentlemen, a public service announcement before we hit the break.
We are less than one hour away from tip off opening Thursday of the NCAA tournament.
You are welcome.
Landseer line of NFL media joins us next talking NFL draft on Westwood One Sports on a Thursday.
Nick Costos and you presented by badmgm.
The Broncos created their first round pick to the dolphins for J.L.N.Waddle.
Does the star receiver give bonus the weapon he needs to put Denver to the Super Bowl?
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Has the news been getting you down?
I'm Megan McCartle, and I'm here to help.
I'm the host of a news show from Washington Post Opinion,
called Reasonably Optimistic.
And it's an antidote to the pessimism that's riddling America right now.
Every Wednesday, I'm going to talk to people who see a path forward.
It does seem to me that there is some awakening of a desire to act together
to solve problems where they are.
No, I am a believer in America and it's worth fighting for.
Join me Wednesdays on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports.
Right now, the NBA is heating up, March Manus is here,
and MLB is almost back.
Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself.
That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app.
For me, it's about staying connected to my sports.
I can follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news,
and highlights all in one place.
Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment.
Bring incredible sound into every corner of your home
with the new WIM sound smart speaker.
Get high resolution audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen,
smart control, and modern design in one powerful speaker for just $299.
From quiet mornings to lively family gatherings,
WIM sound makes every moment sound better and feel better too.
Create a home filled with sound you love.
Ready to upgrade your sound?
Shop now at Amazon and search WIM sound.
That's W-I-M-S-O-U-N-D.
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