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00:00 Let's talk about the FIBA World Cup and the impact on NBA players.
00:04 What are the pros and the cons for these players who have been playing the last four?
00:09 So I think what we're reminded of, and we've talked about before, it's not really shocking
00:14 until you watch the game and see the US lose three of their last four.
00:17 And that's always shocking, right?
00:18 Not fun to watch.
00:20 No.
00:21 And what it reminded us is international basketball has not only caught up with the US, it's caught
00:27 up with 75% of the NBA.
00:30 I mean, you look at Team Canada, with their stars, they killed the US.
00:36 Of course, it was a bronze medal game, but you looked at it and you were like, "This
00:40 is not a mismatch on any level."
00:44 And what you see is the last five NBA MVPs all born outside the US, with Giannis from
00:51 Greece, with Jokic from Serbia, and last year with Joel Embiid from Cameroon.
00:56 It's an international, we've already known it's an international game, starting with
00:59 Dirk, who kind of made it a, really led the charge.
01:04 But now it's like, we got to play our best, not just, nothing against these players, Jaylon
01:12 Brunson and the like, but they're all mid-level.
01:14 Some of them are all-stars, but they're not elite superstars.
01:17 They're not Steph Curry and LeBron.
01:19 Those guys play, the US still wins.
01:21 But if we go eight deep, nine deep, all of a sudden, it's not even, I mean, then we don't
01:28 even win a medal.
01:29 So, good for the international game, good for the NBA.
01:32 David Stern had this vision back in the 80s of making it a global game, and now we're
01:36 going, "David Stern, you created a monster, we can't control it now."
01:39 But it makes the FIBA World Cup-
01:41 Competition breeds competition.
01:42 Like, I didn't know what the FIBA World Cup was 20 years ago, because the US, if they
01:46 did play, they won 100 to 20 in every game, and you're like, "Whatever."
01:50 Now it's like, must-see TV, and it's good for basketball junkies.
01:53 The US just, in the Olympics in France in 2024, let's bring in the big guys, because
01:59 otherwise, US could lose a medal in the real tournament.
02:03 Good point.
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