Speaker
Zach Lowe
Appearances over time
3 episodes
Episodes
3
England Survives, the Jaylen Trade Fallout, and an All-NBA Mailbag With Zach Lowe
A Crazy NBA Month With Zach Lowe, Plus Taylor Sheridan on Building a TV Empire and the Problems With Hollywood
The Giannis Never-Trade and a Mega-Mailbag With Zach Lowe, Plus Wyndham Clark’s Second U.S. Open Title With Joe House
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
The 2026 Knicks went 16-3 in the playoffs, posting the greatest point differential in playoff history and ending a 53-year title drought.
Zach Lowe argued the main driver of the Jaylen Brown trade was his escalating salary — $57M, $62M, $66M — which made him nearly impossible to build around alongside Tatum's even larger deal.
The New York Knicks won their first NBA championship in 53 years in 2026, ending one of the longest title droughts for a major-market franchise.
Zach Lowe argued Jaylen Brown's salary was at least 50% of the reason for his trade, while Bill Simmons attributed 45% to the contract and 40% to self-awareness issues.
In the 2026 playoffs, OKC needed 7 games to beat a Denver team missing Michael Porter Jr. (one arm) and Aaron Gordon (one leg), raising questions about their postseason dominance.
Zach Lowe recalled a period where the NBA salary cap stayed flat at roughly $58 million for three or four consecutive years, a similar dynamic to current second-apron pressures.
A high-level executive from another team told Zach Lowe that only 3-4 NBA front offices have enough credibility to make the Jaylen Brown trade without facing immediate, catastrophic fan backlash.
Despite finishing 6th in MVP voting and earning All-NBA honors, Jaylen Brown's trade value was depressed primarily by his massive salary and analytical skepticism within the league.
Zach Lowe estimated Jamal Murray's salary at approximately $50-57 million per year, raising the question of whether Denver would face similar trade-value concerns as Boston did with Jaylen Brown.
San Antonio was a Finals contender last year and was missing one veteran leader. LeBron in the Keldon Johnson and Luke Kornet minutes changes everything — and at 41, nobody calls it a ring chase. It's just the old gunslinger riding with a great young team.
Once the Celtics put Jaylen Brown in the Giannis sweepstakes, there was no going back. Simmons argues the mistake was not immediately opening Brown to all bidders at once, because now that teams know he must be traded, the market has already soured.
The Celtics went 56-23 without Tatum, with Brown as their only reliable scorer. His 29-point nights, elite durability, and willingness to take on every tough defensive assignment make him a top-15 player — and yet teams won't give up a prospect for him.
This is a jersey-selling, Twitch-moment trade for fans under 25. LaMelo has played just 9,400 minutes in 6 seasons with zero playoff appearances. Minnesota just bet Anthony Edwards' prime on a guy who might never play a full season.
San Antonio solves real roster needs and LeBron could be the missing piece from their Finals run. But Golden State offers the sunset ride with Curry and the chance to sell out every arena on a farewell tour. Either way, nobody's calling it a ring chase at 41.
Sheridan met a tattooed ex-con at a West Hollywood gym who became a friend, a trainer, and eventually a single father in financial crisis. Rather than give a loan, Sheridan pitched a book — a travel guide for prison — and Simon & Schuster immediately said yes.
Most movies follow a predictable three-act rhythm. Sheridan wrote Sicario in five acts and hid the film's central goal until the end of act three. The tunnel shootout — placed where act two normally ends — was engineered to make audiences feel like anyone could die at any moment.
Every Minnesota problem traces back to the Gobert trade. It robbed them of assets, made the Towns deal inevitable, and led to a chain of moves chasing their own tail. Two conference finals later, it's still not clear they didn't overpay.
Sons of Anarchy offered Sheridan garbage money, making the decision to walk away easy. He realized that 15 years of acting had taught him exactly what not to do as a writer, and that the only way he'd ever tell a story worth telling was to write it himself.
In 2015, Sheridan pitched Yellowstone to HBO and explicitly told them it would be the biggest show on television. HBO passed. Paramount was shocked it was still available. The rest is TV history.
Critics roasted Sheridan for making Demi Moore an extra for seven episodes. That was the plan. By the time her husband dies and she must run the oil company, the audience — already predisposed to underestimate her — is set up for the most powerful possible reversal.
Hauser isn't a pretty-boy leading man — he's a wordsmith who understands which syllable changes meaning, with a physical presence that felt like a throwback to '70s cinema. Hollywood didn't want that for two decades. Sheridan did.
Both Giannis and Bam want to operate in the middle of the floor. That's not a problem until you need spacing — and then you have a traffic jam. For Miami to be a true contender, Bam needs to become a legitimate 3-point threat. He's not there yet.
Studio executives are mostly marketing and legal professionals terrified they won't understand the story — so they demand rewrites, backstory documents, and consensus. Sheridan demanded the opposite: pay him, stay out of his way, and he'll deliver. His track record proves it.
Phoenix gave up an unprotected first-round pick in 2033 to get Miles Bridges — a rental who'll need to be re-signed. No protections, no ceiling on the pick, and Charlotte walks away with what could be a lottery pick a decade from now.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Sports 86%
- Business 7%
- Society & Culture 7%
Connections
Shows they appear on and people they share episodes with. Drag to explore.
