Podbit · The Bill Simmons Podcast
Philadelphia was actively shopping Paul George before this deal, willing to attach a first-round pick just to shed him. Then they got the 2024 Finals MVP for essentially that same package. Even the Sixers' own ownership couldn't believe it.
Where this was said
At 14:00 · chapter starts 1:15
This chapter is the episode's most analytically ambitious. Bill Simmons draws a through-line from the '80s Celtics and Lakers staying together, to the cap-circumvention era ending, to free agency reshaping the '90s, to the second-apron hardcap now forcing teams to dump Finals MVPs to division rivals. Kirk Goldsberry lands the key stat: for the first time in NBA history, the league has had eight different champions in eight consecutive seasons. [1] — Kirk Goldsberry "For the first time ever, the NBA has had eight different champions in eight consecutive seasons. It's not a coincidence — the 2023 CBA made…" 49:40 The CBA, he argues, deliberately created this parity — but the cost is beloved players getting dumped and fan bases losing the long-term relationships that drive loyalty. His analogy that the second apron is the 3-point line of the 2020s crystallizes the structural shift. [2] — Kirk Goldsberry "The 3-point line was the dominant game-changing artifact of the 2010s. The hard cap second apron is the equivalent in the 2020s. It's chang…" 59:21 Bill Simmons then reveals a previously unreported detail: the Celtics-Giannis trade fell apart over one year and 5% of the cap in extension terms, illustrating just how consequential these financial hairsplits have become.
Jaylen Brown, a 2024 Finals MVP, was traded for a package worth less than Walker Kessler, who played just 5 games last season — a stark comparison of market values.
Before this trade, Philadelphia was willing to attach one first-round pick just to offload Paul George's contract — meaning Brown effectively cost Philly near nothing extra.
The financial logic doesn't fully explain why Boston gave away a Finals MVP. The real story is a relationship that deteriorated fast: Tatum returning from injury, Jaylen winning both the ECF and Finals MVP, a 1A-1B dynamic that turned toxic, and extension eligibility coming up. The Celtics panicked.
Advanced models rank Jaylen Brown 87th in the NBA. His on/off numbers show the Celtics were 4 points better per 100 without him. But he won Finals MVP and showed up every night — and that's the tension at the heart of this trade.
Thomas's wife deferred her CrossFit career — she's in the global top 1% of athletes — to put him through law school debt-free. He wants her to chase the dream now; she wants the emergency fund and house down payment first. On a $200K lawyer income with no debt, the opportunity cost is just a few months of slower saving.
Underground calisthenics battles are exactly like UFC meets a rap battle — 150 people crowded around a circle, fighters walking out with masks and chains, nicknames like 'Extra Money' vs 'Calisthenics the Prince,' and people throwing money and betting. The battle set: 100 burpees, 50 muscle-ups, 75 dips, 75 squats with a 65-pound dumbbell. This is the next big spectator sport.
Rico Verhoeven controlled the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion for approximately 10 rounds — and had his appeal upheld when officials admitted the fight was stopped after the bell. The result was never overturned. Rogan calls it either incompetence or corruption, and argues the money behind Usyk made an upset politically inconvenient.
Rogan lays out a blunt case: boxing's 3-judge system is structurally broken, and the judges know who the promoter wants to win. Glory's 5-judge format is the right model. Corruption doesn't have to be conscious — just knowing Usyk is the cash cow is enough to tilt the scales.
With the Usyk-Wilder fight stalling and Fury-Joshua coming too late, the real fight the world wants is the rematch. Rico is a free agent. Usyk vacated his belts. The story is unfinished and both Rogan and Rico know it. His Excellency Turki Alasheikh already called for it ringside — the question is money.
Rico texted Jason Statham during the Canelo-Crawford fight. Statham showed Rico's highlight videos to promoters. Two days later, Rico was on a call about fighting Anthony Joshua. When Joshua pulled out, Rico pitched Usyk himself — Undisputed vs. Undisputed. Usyk said yes in two weeks. The whole thing started with one text.
Every heavyweight who faced Usyk tried to move to the right — straight into his power hand. Rico and Peter Fury identified the obvious solution: move left, away from the left hand, and smother him with size. It sounds simple. Nobody had done it. That one adjustment was the foundation of 10 dominant rounds.
MMA fans boo when fights go to the ground. They love stand-up. Kickboxing is pure stand-up. Yet it barely exists in America while boxing and MMA are enormous. Rogan's diagnosis: no promotion machine. If the UFC got behind kickboxing the way they've built MMA, it would explode. The talent is there — the storytelling machine is not.
A nation of 17 million people gave the world Ramon Deckers, Peter Aerts, Badr Hari, Melvin Manhoef, Rob Kamen, Ernesto Hoost, and Rico Verhoeven. Rico's theory: the country is so small that every gym shares knowledge freely. In the US, you need a flight. In Holland, you drive 40 minutes and spar the national champion.
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