Chris Brockman Just Doubled Down on His LeBron as Playoffs Non-Factor Hot Take

There was an international sporting event available to lead the show with. Rich went with an internet to-do that this program created instead, and honestly, he was right to.

The reason: LeBron James has 154 million Instagram followers, and on Tuesday he pointed a small portion of them at Chris Brockman.

Here is how a Tuesday afternoon spitball becomes the next day's cold open. This show has been on the air for more than a decade. There is a rundown. There are meetings. And then there are the days when Rich comes on the air and blows the whole thing up because something Chris said to TJ, or TJ said to Chris, is more interesting than the plan.

Tuesday was one of those days. Rich decided to stir up the Jaylen Brown to the Sixers conversation again, purely because Chris is the Celtics fan and TJ is the Sixers fan and the friction is free. Chris said the Celtics will have a better record than the Sixers next year. TJ took offense. Rich, watching from the safe distance of a Knicks fan whose team is the defending champion, offered his own read: he is more concerned about the Sixers with Jaylen Brown on them than the Celtics with Jaylen Brown off them.

That is when LeBron entered the conversation, and Chris said the thing.

"LeBron is going to be a non-factor this season," Chris said. "I think everyone needs to ready themselves." Also, if LeBron goes to Miami, "enjoy the play-in tournament."

Rich pushed back in real time. How is twenty-one points a game a non-factor?

The NBA on ESPN handle clipped it. The ESPN handle clipped it. And around six o'clock Eastern, Chris sent a screen grab to the show's text chain, because LeBron had put the reel on his Instagram stories with twenty-two crying laughing emojis attached.

For anyone unclear on the meaning of that particular emoji, Rich supplied the decoder. Type L-M-A into your iPhone and see what pops up.

"Glad I can entertain the king," Chris said. Then he pictured the scene, which is genuinely funny: LeBron out on a golf course with Draymond Green and Kevin Hart, the three of them watching the clip and laughing.

But here is the part that matters, and the reason this was worth twenty minutes of a show. Chris did not walk any of it back. He came in with a chart.

His argument is structural rather than personal. The Heat were the tenth seed. Even with LeBron, who exactly are they jumping? Atlanta is presumably out. Philadelphia is going to be better, likely a top-six team. Orlando was the eighth seed and underachieved by all accounts. The Pacers get Tyrese Haliburton back after two years of finals runs. Even Washington, the worst team in the NBA last season, has Trae Young, Anthony Davis and AJ Dybantsa, who has looked like an absolute superstar in Summer League. Toronto added Kawhi Leonard. The Cavs are better. The defending champs won sixty games. The Celtics are right there in the mix.

"Who is Miami jumping?" Chris asked.

Rich's counter was to throw out the chart entirely. You cannot concern yourself with any other entity, he argued. You concern yourself with LeBron showing up in Miami alongside Giannis and Bam Adebayo, who clearly has a chip on his shoulder and who, based on the reporting, believes this group would run things in a more locked-in and professional way than last season did.

Rich conceded the premise partway. Father Time is undefeated, and the guy on the screen may no longer be King James. But last season LeBron got the Lakers to the second round without Luka and without Austin Reaves, or with half an Austin Reaves, and was still one of the best players on the floor. Oklahoma City, to a man, said he was at the top of their scouting sheet going into those games. Nobody else.

"Other teams are definitely going to get better," Rich said, "but the Heat are a hell of a lot better, too."

And then Rich made his own pick, which is the Warriors, because if you are golfing with Draymond and you would be playing with Steph, for Steve Kerr, next to Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford, with Jimmy Butler hopefully healthy at some point, why wouldn't you.

The aggregation had one more twist. Austin Rivers weighed in on Chris, essentially calling him a non-ball knower who looks like he could not tie his own shoes. Rich, who saw Rivers's father at the American Century Championship, offered a character reference. With all due respect, Austin, this man knows ball.

Chris also declined the obvious escape hatch. He would not blame the aggregators. They quoted him accurately, in context, and he owns it.

"I do believe all of that," Chris said. "I'm not just doing it for a stick."

Which is the only defensible position once the king has laughed at you. Take the twenty-two emoji salute, keep the take, and wait.