Podbit · The Bulwark Podcast
Ja Morant was once the future of the NBA. Now Memphis had to take Jeremy Grant's bad contracts just to move him to Portland. David French uses Morant's fall — gun incidents, Instagram videos, quitting on teammates — as a warning to Wembanyama: the window between 'world is your oyster' and 'cautionary tale' is shorter than it looks.
Where this was said
At 1:07:10 · chapter starts 1:06:15
Miller mentions that Memphis had to take Jeremy Grant's bad contracts just to move Ja Morant to Portland — a fitting coda for an arc that began with so much promise. [1] — David French "Ja Morant was once the future of the NBA. Now Memphis had to take Jeremy Grant's bad contracts just to move him to Portland. David French u…" 1:07:10 Breaking news during the recording adds fuel: a Shams alert reports LeBron is leaving the Lakers but will continue playing, with the Warriors and Spurs emerging as likely destinations. French reflects on a league that produced one of the worst regular seasons in memory — a third of the league tanking for draft picks — followed by one of the best playoffs of his lifetime, and now a chaotic offseason. His main point about Morant is melancholy rather than judgmental: injuries plus immaturity led to the shine falling off fast, and someone who was 22 and the world's oyster threw it away with gun incidents, Instagram videos, quitting on teammates, and throwing his coach under the bus. Memphis still loves him. French still wants the best for him. But he uses it as a teachable moment for Wembanyama, who showed some concerning signs in the Finals — French recalls Magic Johnson losing a Finals to the Celtics and coming back from it, so Wimby has time. The key is whether he keeps making the right choices.
A breaking news alert during the conversation reported LeBron James is leaving the Lakers but will continue playing next season.
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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