Answering Your Questions // Michael Porter Jr.
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat hip hop music)
00:00:03.240 | - What's up, everybody?
00:00:10.720 | I know it's been a minute, but I'm back on Keri's mic.
00:00:14.120 | We gonna start it off just with a solo episode
00:00:16.920 | with my sister, Sierra, answering y'all's questions.
00:00:19.560 | So that's what we gonna do.
00:00:21.360 | - All right, there's a lot of good questions.
00:00:23.120 | We're just gonna start off with basketball topic.
00:00:26.160 | The first one, a lot of people wanted to know
00:00:27.720 | about the finals.
00:00:28.800 | Like, what was your mentality like
00:00:30.200 | playing in the NBA finals?
00:00:31.440 | Were you scared, excited, nervous?
00:00:33.180 | Like, just how does that feel?
00:00:35.600 | - Yeah, I think the playoffs is definitely
00:00:38.940 | like another level of intensity.
00:00:42.080 | So you feel it every round.
00:00:43.460 | So the first round, Minnesota, you know,
00:00:45.740 | we actually got a pretty long break
00:00:48.300 | between the regular season and the post season
00:00:50.200 | because we were the number one seed
00:00:52.680 | and then they had to do the playing game.
00:00:54.000 | So we had some time off.
00:00:56.640 | So the first game back in that series was super intense.
00:01:01.480 | Minnesota was a really good team,
00:01:03.560 | but you feel the increase in intensity every round.
00:01:06.920 | Yeah, that Suns series was tough.
00:01:10.740 | They got two back in Phoenix
00:01:13.200 | and then we were kind of like,
00:01:14.900 | we were kind of like not knowing
00:01:16.960 | how that was gonna go back in Denver,
00:01:19.560 | but we ended up getting those next two games.
00:01:22.480 | So that was good.
00:01:23.380 | But then, yeah, once it got to the finals,
00:01:25.880 | that definitely is a whole nother level of pressure.
00:01:28.320 | Just, you know, you're so close
00:01:30.480 | to knocking on the door of a championship
00:01:32.200 | and we felt that.
00:01:34.120 | But at the same time, it's basketball.
00:01:36.040 | It's what you do your whole life.
00:01:37.000 | Like, once you're inside those four lines,
00:01:39.600 | it's nothing but basketball.
00:01:40.600 | You just kind of feel the rise in intensity,
00:01:43.360 | the weight of every shot.
00:01:44.540 | And that definitely escalates in the finals.
00:01:46.800 | - People want to know what a game day looks like for you
00:01:50.720 | and what's your routine?
00:01:51.800 | Like, did it change in the finals
00:01:53.080 | or do you just keep it consistent?
00:01:54.360 | - A game day for me.
00:01:55.520 | So, yeah, in the NBA, you wake up
00:01:59.120 | probably around like nine-ish.
00:02:00.440 | You go to the gym, you got shoot around.
00:02:02.440 | That probably lasts about an hour.
00:02:04.800 | Then guys get some recovery, some treatment in.
00:02:07.520 | You go back home, you got the whole afternoon
00:02:09.640 | to kind of rest.
00:02:10.480 | Some guys take a three-hour nap, four-hour nap.
00:02:13.920 | My naps usually run like two hours.
00:02:16.200 | Then we go back to the gym.
00:02:18.300 | If the game is 7.30, I probably get to the gym at like 5.30.
00:02:21.960 | Have my shooting time, get some treatment,
00:02:24.200 | get some food in me, and get ready to go.
00:02:27.480 | So, yeah, it's crazy.
00:02:28.320 | It's really a full-time job.
00:02:30.440 | On a game day, we're in the gym for about eight hours
00:02:34.320 | 'cause after the game, I get my lift in,
00:02:36.600 | get my recovery in.
00:02:39.080 | So, that's a long day of being in the gym.
00:02:41.400 | - So, you lift after every game?
00:02:42.920 | - Yeah, I lift because we usually play every other day.
00:02:45.920 | I like to do my lower body lifts after we play
00:02:48.640 | so that I get the next day off of lower body
00:02:51.360 | and then I'll feel fresh going into the next game day.
00:02:54.080 | And then I'll do upper body in those gap days.
00:02:57.480 | - Is that common?
00:02:58.320 | Are you the only one that does that?
00:02:59.240 | - No, a lot of guys like to lift after games,
00:03:01.400 | but it just ends up being a lot.
00:03:02.720 | You might be tired from the game.
00:03:04.400 | You might have just lost the game.
00:03:06.120 | But the routine, the guys who can stick to a routine
00:03:11.120 | through the highs and the lows, even if you lose a game,
00:03:13.840 | I think that's how you can make steady progress.
00:03:17.160 | There's times after a game you played terrible,
00:03:19.180 | you don't want to do anything but just go home and chill.
00:03:21.840 | But if you can get yourself to go get your lift in,
00:03:24.120 | stay on that routine, you'll have a lot more good days
00:03:26.960 | than bad days, I think.
00:03:27.800 | - I don't know, I can't imagine,
00:03:29.840 | like only even playing in college,
00:03:31.080 | I can't imagine lifting after a game.
00:03:32.520 | But good job.
00:03:33.360 | - The shoot around, yeah, the games,
00:03:35.740 | the shoot around's probably a little bit longer
00:03:37.280 | in the NBA than college.
00:03:38.440 | Then you play, then you gotta lift.
00:03:41.200 | Yeah, like I just said, it's hardest
00:03:43.260 | when you have a really bad game
00:03:45.120 | and then you have to get yourself to go stick to your routine
00:03:47.640 | and go lift after.
00:03:48.760 | That's tough.
00:03:49.600 | - That is tough.
00:03:50.760 | - You just wanna go home and sleep.
00:03:53.080 | So people wanted you to expand on that article
00:03:56.160 | that kinda came out towards the end of the series
00:03:58.280 | about your back and your injuries.
00:04:00.360 | They just wanted to hear your own words,
00:04:02.480 | kind of a little bit of expansion on that.
00:04:05.280 | - On that article, yeah, I mean,
00:04:07.040 | that's one of the main articles
00:04:09.640 | that have come out kind of on my story
00:04:11.600 | leading up into the NBA.
00:04:14.680 | And then my journey through the NBA
00:04:16.840 | through all these injuries.
00:04:18.520 | But yeah, I mean, long story short,
00:04:20.440 | for people that really haven't heard my story,
00:04:22.700 | yeah, been playing basketball my whole life,
00:04:26.720 | really came really easy to me.
00:04:28.720 | I remember I first got ranked,
00:04:31.800 | I think I was ranked like 25th in the country,
00:04:33.920 | in like eighth grade.
00:04:35.440 | But ever since then I was rising, rising, rising
00:04:37.800 | 'til eventually I was the number one player in the country,
00:04:40.640 | my junior year and senior year.
00:04:44.080 | And so a lot of expectations come with that,
00:04:46.000 | like you're expected to be the number one draft pick,
00:04:48.520 | all these things.
00:04:50.360 | I remember when I committed to Mizzou,
00:04:52.480 | like season tickets sold out the same day that I committed,
00:04:55.240 | like everyone was super, super excited.
00:04:57.280 | And then I got hurt.
00:05:01.160 | I'd kind of been dealing with a few back things
00:05:04.040 | throughout high school.
00:05:05.160 | They first kind of started
00:05:07.000 | when I tried to dunk on somebody in a practice
00:05:09.000 | with a Mocam, my AU team,
00:05:11.040 | and I fell from real high up on my back.
00:05:13.600 | And then like it just wasn't feeling right,
00:05:15.380 | but I didn't give it a lot of time to rest, to recover.
00:05:17.840 | So it just kind of kept getting worse
00:05:21.240 | over the next year or two until I went to Mizzou
00:05:23.880 | and something happened.
00:05:25.600 | I think I saw a chiropractor or something
00:05:27.160 | and they messed it up worse.
00:05:28.680 | And so I ended up having to get the surgery.
00:05:31.040 | So that came with its own set of challenges,
00:05:34.120 | always thinking you were gonna go to college and dominate
00:05:38.720 | and then be number one draft pick, all these things.
00:05:41.680 | That's what really came easy to me.
00:05:43.440 | - Well, especially like you just said,
00:05:44.600 | you sold out the whole arena, that's insane.
00:05:47.360 | And then all those people,
00:05:48.400 | it's like they bought tickets to see you.
00:05:50.600 | - Yeah, they bought tickets to see me.
00:05:53.280 | And I brought some of my friends
00:05:55.040 | in the recruiting class with me.
00:05:56.760 | And all summer I'm balling,
00:05:58.440 | I'm dealing with some back pain, but I'm balling.
00:05:59.960 | I'm ready to go for the season.
00:06:01.720 | And that first game,
00:06:02.840 | I remember I'm going through layup lines
00:06:04.160 | and I just couldn't, I didn't feel right at all.
00:06:07.960 | Couldn't jump.
00:06:08.800 | And that was my first time dealing with the back stuff.
00:06:11.720 | So I didn't really know how bad it was.
00:06:14.380 | I was just trying to play through a lot of pain.
00:06:16.160 | But I remember going up to dad
00:06:18.600 | and I just told my dad, like, "I can't play.
00:06:20.120 | I can't jump off my leg."
00:06:21.600 | And then he was like,
00:06:23.800 | "Well, it's a nationally televised game.
00:06:26.600 | We need you to start,
00:06:27.640 | but you can come out after the first play."
00:06:30.520 | So I remember, yeah, one play went by.
00:06:33.600 | I actually got a bucket,
00:06:35.240 | a lucky, like a little put back little bucket.
00:06:39.120 | And then I came out
00:06:39.960 | and then my season was pretty much over.
00:06:42.160 | That was the first.
00:06:43.360 | So I ended up getting the first surgery after that,
00:06:46.000 | trying to recover.
00:06:47.280 | Probably sped up that recovery
00:06:49.240 | to try to come back for the NCAA tournament.
00:06:52.160 | Ended up trying to play in that,
00:06:54.320 | but probably messed it up again.
00:06:55.920 | So then I'm trying to,
00:06:58.000 | I think I messed it up again,
00:06:59.000 | 'cause I, again, I didn't let my body recover.
00:07:01.240 | And then I got drafted way later than I thought.
00:07:04.320 | That whole draft night was very tough for me
00:07:06.800 | just because I'm seeing all these guys
00:07:09.160 | get drafted before me
00:07:10.200 | that I'm thinking that I'm better than.
00:07:12.160 | Which actually, I feel like our draft class
00:07:15.640 | is gonna end up being one of the best.
00:07:17.400 | Like so many of those guys that got drafted
00:07:19.800 | are ending up having really, really good careers.
00:07:22.540 | But yeah, so that happened.
00:07:26.080 | So the draft night was not what I dreamed of
00:07:28.360 | and all this stuff.
00:07:29.820 | But in that article, I was just talking about
00:07:31.960 | through all these things I've been through.
00:07:34.120 | Yeah, like you look back on time sometimes
00:07:38.720 | and you can see the blessings that come out of it.
00:07:40.800 | Like I got drafted to Denver
00:07:42.640 | and it was the last place I thought I was gonna go.
00:07:45.880 | But I think I'm the first one out of my draft class
00:07:48.360 | that's won a championship, you know what I mean?
00:07:50.320 | And that wouldn't have happened
00:07:51.280 | if maybe I went to another team.
00:07:52.480 | You know, there's so many blessings
00:07:53.600 | that came out of the situation that God put me in.
00:07:57.920 | But that was what the article was about.
00:08:00.040 | Yeah, my journey has not been easy,
00:08:01.540 | but it's cool to be able to inspire people
00:08:03.920 | that maybe you wouldn't have had a chance to inspire
00:08:06.000 | if everything just went smooth.
00:08:07.560 | - For sure.
00:08:08.400 | What was one of your biggest learning moments
00:08:11.820 | when you came into the league?
00:08:13.320 | - One of my biggest learning moments.
00:08:16.240 | I think that series that Phoenix swept us,
00:08:23.520 | Jamal had gotten hurt, I think earlier that year,
00:08:29.440 | so we didn't have Jamal in that series.
00:08:31.920 | But they ended up sweeping us and that was like,
00:08:35.160 | that was an embarrassing playoff series.
00:08:38.680 | Like we knew we had to be in the gym that summer,
00:08:42.080 | we knew we didn't want to feel that again.
00:08:44.400 | I think we had beat the Trailblazers
00:08:45.760 | and then we had lost to the Suns and we had got swept.
00:08:49.300 | And that was not a good feeling,
00:08:51.460 | being swept in the playoff series.
00:08:52.720 | 'Cause I've always been a winner.
00:08:53.800 | Like ever since I was young,
00:08:54.800 | I feel like I've won at every level, you know, AAU National.
00:08:59.160 | Like every championship really feels the same.
00:09:01.040 | Of course the NBA championship is like amazing,
00:09:04.000 | but it's the same feeling you get
00:09:05.520 | when you win a high school championship.
00:09:07.160 | It's just the more people are watching,
00:09:10.120 | but anytime you win, it feels great.
00:09:12.000 | So I've always won championships since I was like young.
00:09:15.800 | So to get swept in the playoffs
00:09:18.080 | was like the most embarrassing thing to me.
00:09:21.320 | And so to be able to get Phoenix this past year
00:09:24.360 | in a great series, you know, they're a really good team,
00:09:27.600 | felt really good.
00:09:29.160 | - Okay, so how do you block out the negative comments
00:09:31.700 | that come with just being kind of in the limelight?
00:09:35.200 | - Yeah, man, one thing about our day and age
00:09:38.580 | is people, it seems like people get off on hating.
00:09:41.560 | Like it don't matter how good you're doing in life.
00:09:43.620 | Like there's so many haters.
00:09:45.800 | All these people want to have burners accounts
00:09:47.920 | and things like that and just talk negatively.
00:09:51.160 | I mean, it's really hard to block out.
00:09:53.920 | Everyone sees it.
00:09:55.040 | If you're a player, I mean, you can distance yourself.
00:09:58.120 | You can get off of social media.
00:09:59.360 | You can get off of Twitter and things,
00:10:01.360 | but you still, you know, people in the street
00:10:04.120 | or people whenever, like.
00:10:05.400 | So, I mean, it's hard to block out.
00:10:08.720 | I think you kind of got to get mentally strong enough
00:10:11.200 | to just realize that's part of it.
00:10:14.080 | And a lot of guys in the NBA struggle
00:10:16.160 | with some of the mental stuff
00:10:18.600 | just because they've been a man their whole life.
00:10:20.440 | So they always were praised and things like that.
00:10:22.960 | And then when you get to a point
00:10:24.240 | where you're playing 82 games,
00:10:25.880 | you have good games, bad games.
00:10:28.160 | So many people saying different comments about you.
00:10:30.080 | Now money's involved.
00:10:31.200 | So people are talking about your contract
00:10:35.240 | or this or that.
00:10:36.640 | It can be a lot, but I just think at the end of the day,
00:10:39.520 | we get paid a lot to play a sport.
00:10:41.320 | Like our job is not that difficult.
00:10:42.800 | The worst thing about your job is people on the outside
00:10:44.840 | just running their mouth and saying things about you.
00:10:47.920 | And that makes you want to like quit or go in a shell.
00:10:50.840 | Like you just got to, you got to check yourself
00:10:54.080 | because no one's opinion should have that big
00:10:56.760 | of an effect on you.
00:10:57.600 | And I think for me, I just realized at a young age,
00:11:00.240 | like I'm looking at all these superstars
00:11:01.680 | and there's still people talking negatively about them.
00:11:03.480 | Like growing up watching Kobe,
00:11:05.160 | people still talk crazy about him.
00:11:06.640 | You know, Russell Westbrook,
00:11:07.680 | one of the best players of all time.
00:11:10.760 | Like people talk crazy about him at times in his career.
00:11:13.640 | Like LeBron, it doesn't matter who you are.
00:11:15.640 | Giannis, if he misses a couple of free throws,
00:11:17.440 | people are bashing him.
00:11:19.280 | So it's like the higher up you get
00:11:21.840 | and the better you get,
00:11:24.400 | there's going to be more people saying things about you.
00:11:26.640 | But if there's so many people saying things about you,
00:11:29.080 | then that means you're doing something right.
00:11:30.360 | I know that's like, that's cliche, but that's true.
00:11:32.800 | - It is true.
00:11:33.640 | 'Cause I do feel like what you're saying,
00:11:34.640 | like the higher the level you get to,
00:11:36.640 | the louder the noise is.
00:11:37.520 | Like if you're like, no offense,
00:11:38.880 | but someone like on the bench,
00:11:39.920 | like there's not like much to say,
00:11:41.640 | but like the more you're doing
00:11:42.600 | and the more like people are looking at you,
00:11:45.320 | the more people are going to have opinions.
00:11:47.440 | But yeah, it's just like the juxtaposition of like,
00:11:50.440 | that just means you're doing better.
00:11:51.960 | - Yeah, a hundred percent.
00:11:53.040 | I think I was watching Paul George's podcast with Mikkel
00:11:57.520 | and Mikkel said something that stuck out to me.
00:12:00.120 | He was just like, you got to be confident enough to fail.
00:12:05.120 | Like you can't be scared of failure.
00:12:06.920 | You got to go for it, like go for your goals,
00:12:10.040 | go for your dreams.
00:12:10.880 | It might be in the middle of a game.
00:12:11.720 | You might try something,
00:12:13.400 | try something out that you've been working on all summer.
00:12:15.920 | You might miss a shot.
00:12:16.960 | Coach might take you out,
00:12:17.960 | but you got to be confident enough to actually try those things.
00:12:20.720 | So that's what I respect.
00:12:21.640 | More than like someone failing,
00:12:24.120 | it's the fact that they were confident enough
00:12:25.360 | to actually like go for it.
00:12:26.520 | You know what I mean?
00:12:27.360 | Like all the best players got to a point
00:12:29.320 | where they would just forget the naysayers,
00:12:31.960 | forget the people that say you shouldn't do this
00:12:33.480 | or shouldn't do that.
00:12:34.520 | And just, you know, work on your game.
00:12:36.720 | And if you fail, you fail.
00:12:39.040 | - But like, just be vulnerable for a second.
00:12:40.520 | 'Cause I feel like now you're talking about it
00:12:41.840 | from the perspective of like, you've kind of been a rookie.
00:12:45.720 | Like you've been in the league a few years
00:12:47.760 | and you have like more perspective on it.
00:12:49.640 | But like when you first went into the league
00:12:51.280 | and it was kind of a letdown to people
00:12:53.280 | because you weren't playing,
00:12:54.520 | was it harder for you to deal with negative comments then?
00:12:57.080 | - Yeah, but I think that's why like
00:12:59.160 | the hardest time for me was at Mizzou
00:13:01.400 | because that was the first time in my life
00:13:03.080 | where basketball didn't go how I wanted it to go.
00:13:05.360 | And so I gained that mental strength like earlier on
00:13:08.640 | because of my injury in college.
00:13:11.400 | But a lot of people don't go through the stuff
00:13:13.080 | that allows them to kind of develop that.
00:13:15.460 | But yeah, no, every time I've had a surgery,
00:13:18.600 | every time something has gone wrong,
00:13:21.520 | like you feel those thoughts.
00:13:23.200 | I've gotten better at dealing with them though.
00:13:24.640 | Like better at just setting them to the side
00:13:26.280 | and just focusing on a goal.
00:13:28.040 | But it's not easy at all.
00:13:30.000 | That's probably the hardest thing
00:13:31.040 | about being a professional athlete.
00:13:32.680 | Like I don't think being a professional athlete
00:13:34.560 | is for everyone 'cause a lot of people would...
00:13:37.560 | Yeah, that's definitely the roughest part about it, I think.
00:13:41.180 | - Someone asked, how and why did you stay away
00:13:44.880 | from social media so long during the season?
00:13:46.880 | I'm sure it like ties in.
00:13:48.420 | But I know you were kind of like on/off,
00:13:50.340 | but for most of the season you were off.
00:13:51.600 | - No, I was off.
00:13:52.520 | I only got back on I think in the finals
00:13:54.640 | 'cause my agency really wanted me to get back on.
00:13:57.140 | I just think like overall for me,
00:14:00.440 | social media and like the day and age that we live in
00:14:04.280 | is like the cons outweigh the pros for me personally.
00:14:09.280 | And probably a lot of dudes in general.
00:14:11.880 | Like it depends like what you want out of life
00:14:13.960 | and what you're trying to reach.
00:14:14.960 | For me, I'm trying to walk in my faith
00:14:18.360 | and I'm trying to be a man of integrity and like grow.
00:14:23.560 | And I just feel like social media is a hindrance to that.
00:14:26.280 | First of all, you see all this dope stuff going on.
00:14:30.560 | You can get into like the comparison game of,
00:14:32.840 | man, this person seems like they're above me
00:14:34.880 | or this person got more followers than me or whatever.
00:14:38.400 | But then it's also like as a dude,
00:14:40.200 | one of our struggles is females
00:14:42.260 | and there's unlimited baddies on Instagram.
00:14:44.000 | So like honestly, if I'm being 100%,
00:14:48.200 | if you were trying to focus and stay away from,
00:14:51.500 | like it could be a trap if that's your thing.
00:14:53.400 | So I just, you gotta be self-aware.
00:14:55.120 | If that's your thing that you could fall into,
00:14:57.540 | you can remove it for a while.
00:14:58.600 | And for me, it helped me focus.
00:15:00.480 | - Yeah, I think you talked about that
00:15:01.640 | with Lecrae on that episode.
00:15:02.920 | Like you have to know your vice
00:15:04.380 | and then set up boundaries around it.
00:15:07.480 | - And it's probably, you know,
00:15:10.640 | I'm on a podcast with my sister.
00:15:12.200 | You probably don't wanna hear that my vice would be females,
00:15:14.240 | but really that's most dudes' vice.
00:15:15.800 | Like if you don't get it in check,
00:15:18.800 | and then obviously in this day and age,
00:15:20.520 | marriage is not like a super popular, like, concept.
00:15:25.520 | But like one day I wanna have a wife, I wanna have kids.
00:15:29.560 | So if you just are always in the habit of all these girls
00:15:33.800 | and all these new girls,
00:15:34.920 | and every time you go to Instagram, there's unlimited,
00:15:38.200 | like you'll never get to a place
00:15:39.840 | where you just can value like one girl.
00:15:42.320 | I don't see how you can get to that place.
00:15:43.720 | So for me, it's just better to remove it.
00:15:45.760 | So I get on it like once in a while,
00:15:47.480 | but I don't have it on my phone.
00:15:49.080 | I don't even know my Instagram password.
00:15:50.760 | Like I got a Nicodemus, my manager, he has the password.
00:15:55.760 | So he'll let me get on it once in a while, I'll check it.
00:15:58.720 | - Good job.
00:15:59.560 | - Thanks.
00:16:00.400 | (laughing)
00:16:02.880 | - If you didn't play basketball,
00:16:04.320 | what do you think you'd be doing?
00:16:05.520 | Like if you've never touched a basketball,
00:16:07.240 | not just like you got hurt now and couldn't play,
00:16:09.040 | but like it was never a part of your life
00:16:10.720 | and you didn't have like the money from the contract.
00:16:14.040 | - If I didn't, who?
00:16:15.840 | I mean, I always tell people like,
00:16:16.920 | one thing about me is I never really had like a plan B.
00:16:19.080 | Like I never really was one of those dudes
00:16:20.720 | that had a lot of hobbies.
00:16:22.880 | Like I never really liked instruments.
00:16:25.000 | I never even really liked video games.
00:16:27.160 | It was always just like basketball.
00:16:28.800 | So if I was not playing,
00:16:31.200 | I probably would be trying to mooch off of one of y'all.
00:16:33.600 | I probably would be trying to get on board
00:16:36.480 | with what you were doing
00:16:37.940 | or one of my other siblings were doing,
00:16:40.160 | or I don't know 'cause I did not have,
00:16:44.160 | you know, I was smart in school,
00:16:45.560 | but I didn't have any like thing I wanted to major in.
00:16:48.160 | - There's no like other side passions
00:16:49.560 | that you can think of? - No, there really wasn't.
00:16:51.640 | - Yeah.
00:16:52.480 | Okay, you might not like me for including this question.
00:16:56.580 | - No, I want you to ask some of the crazy ones.
00:16:58.240 | - Someone asked, are you aware
00:16:59.680 | of the Never Swing the Rock memes about you?
00:17:01.940 | - Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
00:17:04.960 | On social media, you see what people say.
00:17:07.060 | No, I'm aware of the little Michael
00:17:11.160 | Never Swing the Rock Porter Jr.
00:17:13.160 | I don't know who came up with that.
00:17:15.320 | But to be completely honest,
00:17:18.280 | getting a lot of assists is not my role on the Nuggets.
00:17:21.520 | You know what I mean?
00:17:22.360 | Joker and Jamal, they play their two-man game.
00:17:24.800 | If it gets swung out to me by one of those guys,
00:17:27.360 | I'm expected to shoot it.
00:17:29.180 | I'm one of the best shooters in the league,
00:17:30.640 | like humbly, like I can say that,
00:17:31.940 | but like I don't see contests.
00:17:33.400 | So a lot, you might be watching on TV
00:17:35.880 | and see me shoot a contested shot,
00:17:38.300 | but it doesn't feel contested to me.
00:17:40.040 | I might watch it like after I'm filming,
00:17:41.880 | I'm like, yo, I shot that.
00:17:43.480 | But really, they don't feel contested
00:17:44.720 | and I make a lot of contested shots.
00:17:46.960 | But I definitely, I see it.
00:17:49.240 | But really, I'm not the one with the ball in my hands
00:17:51.760 | like I was in high school.
00:17:53.920 | To win a championship, every player on a team
00:17:57.160 | has to have a specific role.
00:17:59.160 | And for me, it's like when I catch the ball,
00:18:02.240 | it's let it fly, you know what I mean?
00:18:04.960 | - I also do feel like the meme just kind of took off
00:18:07.640 | because I've seen you make great passes and great assists.
00:18:11.160 | - You don't have to be nice.
00:18:13.040 | No, I mean, I've always been able to make plays and pass,
00:18:17.640 | but on the Nuggets team,
00:18:19.960 | I'm not the one with the ball in my hands
00:18:21.560 | the majority of the time.
00:18:22.560 | So, you know, maybe one day if I'm on another team
00:18:26.120 | where the ball's put in my hands to make plays more,
00:18:29.000 | there'll be more assists.
00:18:30.120 | But right now, it's like, when I catch it,
00:18:32.500 | I'm shooting or I'm driving.
00:18:34.000 | And unless I'm crowded, it's probably going up.
00:18:36.360 | And my teammates know that
00:18:37.320 | and they're going to tell me to shoot it.
00:18:39.400 | So we just want a championship.
00:18:42.200 | To win a championship,
00:18:43.280 | it's not like you can have guys playing selfishly.
00:18:45.640 | So when I shoot the ball, it's not out of a selfish motive.
00:18:49.800 | It's like, that's what my teammates want me to do.
00:18:51.880 | That's my role on the team right now.
00:18:54.440 | So let it fly.
00:18:56.160 | - You heard it here first, folks, let it fly.
00:18:58.360 | Okay, so we're going to kind of transition
00:19:01.840 | into more faith stuff.
00:19:03.080 | - Yeah.
00:19:04.320 | - Did this past season,
00:19:05.480 | I don't know if they meant season of basketball
00:19:06.960 | or just season of life,
00:19:08.320 | but did this past season challenge your faith in any way?
00:19:10.840 | And how did you keep God the center and the focus?
00:19:14.120 | - Yeah, I mean, I feel like in this day and age,
00:19:19.240 | your faith, regardless if you're a professional athlete,
00:19:22.080 | regardless of whatever,
00:19:23.800 | like your faith is challenged.
00:19:25.360 | Like there's a lot of stuff going on in the world today.
00:19:28.880 | So yeah, I mean, my faith was challenged.
00:19:31.480 | I have like an unwavering belief in God.
00:19:33.960 | Like that never goes anywhere.
00:19:35.520 | And then, you know, I did my research
00:19:38.480 | to get to the point where I believe like Jesus
00:19:40.560 | is God.
00:19:42.000 | But I think everyone should get to an age
00:19:44.920 | where they explore other religions,
00:19:47.200 | go learn for yourself what you want to believe.
00:19:50.080 | Like you may have grown up a Christian,
00:19:52.040 | but you don't know if that's what you want to believe.
00:19:53.400 | You may have grown up a Muslim.
00:19:55.640 | You may have grown up like whatever it is.
00:19:57.840 | I think we all should reach an age
00:19:59.160 | where we figure out what we want to believe for ourselves.
00:20:01.560 | So I did that, read things on other religion,
00:20:05.720 | you know, talk to people who were in other religions.
00:20:09.960 | And I kind of got to the place where I for sure believe
00:20:13.320 | like Jesus is who he says he was.
00:20:16.440 | So that's unwavering.
00:20:17.880 | But in terms of like practicing like my faith
00:20:20.920 | and like always knowing if God is there,
00:20:23.120 | if he's watching me, if he's taking care of me.
00:20:25.480 | You know, there's a verse that says like,
00:20:28.720 | everything works out for the good
00:20:30.760 | for those that love him.
00:20:32.560 | And I think that type of stuff can get kind of like,
00:20:37.640 | you know, you don't always fully believe it.
00:20:39.920 | You just got to remind yourself of it.
00:20:41.440 | And the other thing about the NBA is the schedule is so,
00:20:45.760 | like we stay up late after games
00:20:49.560 | and you got to wake up early and go to the gym and things.
00:20:51.400 | So the consistency in reading the Bible
00:20:54.600 | is kind of, it can be a hard thing,
00:20:56.840 | but I really do believe like there is power in the Bible.
00:20:59.560 | And when I am in the word,
00:21:00.600 | like when I'm reading it consistently,
00:21:02.400 | like I definitely see it come about in my life.
00:21:06.440 | - So that kind of leads right into the next question.
00:21:08.440 | Someone asked, how do you prioritize your walk
00:21:10.360 | with Jesus in the season?
00:21:11.520 | I know there's temptations on the road, they said,
00:21:14.440 | but, which is kind of funny,
00:21:15.760 | but I feel like you were just talking about
00:21:18.760 | like how hard it is kind of with the change in schedule,
00:21:21.800 | because one of the best things is consistency,
00:21:24.240 | but just gets tough.
00:21:25.280 | - I think, yeah, it's always a priority to me
00:21:29.880 | in terms of like, I always wake up
00:21:31.920 | and I listen to worship music before I listen to anything else
00:21:35.920 | but spending time in the word, it can get,
00:21:38.920 | you know, your priorities can get thrown off.
00:21:40.640 | I think no matter what your job is,
00:21:42.120 | no matter how busy you are, that should be the priority.
00:21:44.600 | I'm not going to sit here and say like,
00:21:45.800 | it always like was for me,
00:21:48.840 | but I think that it is,
00:21:53.320 | overall it is the priority in my life.
00:21:55.480 | And I think, yeah, on the road, it's tough.
00:21:59.200 | You just got to have, like,
00:22:00.160 | I sometimes travel with people, you know, accountability.
00:22:03.120 | It all depends like what you want.
00:22:04.280 | Like there's some people that aren't trying to live, right?
00:22:06.440 | You, they want to do this and do that.
00:22:08.200 | And I'm not going to sit here and say that I haven't
00:22:10.400 | like fallen into things or done things like,
00:22:13.680 | but it's, yes, I'm just be like, it's tough.
00:22:17.760 | We have so much access.
00:22:18.840 | We have so much money.
00:22:20.240 | There's, you know, when you go to hotels,
00:22:22.520 | there might be girls waiting in the lobby.
00:22:24.080 | There might be this or that.
00:22:25.480 | So really it's, you got to have accountability.
00:22:28.600 | So I got good friends, you know, Nicodemus,
00:22:31.720 | my manager, he travels with me and he's like,
00:22:35.800 | like I always say, you should have friends
00:22:37.200 | that are like on the same level as you
00:22:39.520 | in terms of just like discipline and things like that.
00:22:42.080 | And then some friends that you're kind of helping out,
00:22:43.720 | but you got to have some friends that are like
00:22:45.920 | more disciplined, more, more godly,
00:22:48.320 | more all these things than you.
00:22:50.440 | And that's kind of what Nicodemus is for me.
00:22:51.960 | So I bring him out there on the road and he helps me.
00:22:55.480 | You know, he gets on me if he knows I'm staying up late,
00:22:57.720 | if I'm kicking it with too many people, things like that.
00:23:01.280 | - Yeah, that's smart to always just have someone
00:23:04.760 | like around you that you want to live,
00:23:07.040 | like how they live and that inspires you.
00:23:09.920 | Okay, what's your favorite scripture and why?
00:23:12.280 | I'm going to test your Bible knowledge.
00:23:17.720 | - I'm about to say the first verse I can think of.
00:23:20.200 | No, I think my favorite verse.
00:23:24.480 | - It's okay if you paraphrase.
00:23:25.720 | - Yeah, no, I just think it's like,
00:23:29.600 | I mean, there's so many good verses.
00:23:32.520 | I like the...
00:23:34.120 | Hey, man.
00:23:36.400 | - How are you going to take this question?
00:23:38.920 | (laughing)
00:23:40.680 | - No, because I know some verses.
00:23:42.200 | - That's crazy.
00:23:43.360 | - I know some verses, but I can't--
00:23:45.560 | - I will say, you have verses like all over your house.
00:23:48.160 | - Yeah, I just can't think of what my favorite one is.
00:23:50.120 | I seem like I'm just...
00:23:52.200 | That's crazy.
00:23:53.040 | Yeah, yeah, go ahead and go to the next question.
00:23:54.160 | - All right, all right.
00:23:55.000 | So we're into life.
00:23:56.600 | How do you balance confidence and self-doubt?
00:24:00.080 | - Yeah, confidence and self-doubt, it's a tricky balance.
00:24:04.640 | I think any professional athlete could sit here
00:24:06.800 | and tell you that they're always confident,
00:24:08.240 | but when you're in a slump or your shot's off,
00:24:12.240 | what happened to me a couple games in the finals
00:24:14.560 | where my shot just fell off,
00:24:16.320 | now you start overcompensating to try to fix it,
00:24:19.200 | but really you always could shoot,
00:24:20.720 | so why are you trying to fix it?
00:24:21.800 | And then I was missing words once I started trying to fix it.
00:24:25.120 | So I think there's times where you get in a rhythm
00:24:28.680 | and everything just feels really good
00:24:30.240 | and you're making shots.
00:24:31.640 | There's other times where you're in little slumps
00:24:33.760 | and then you can start to think like,
00:24:35.440 | "Oh, is there something wrong with my shot?"
00:24:37.560 | And then the overthinking can make it worse.
00:24:40.240 | So yeah, you gotta be confident in the work you put in.
00:24:43.840 | That comes from just actually putting the work in,
00:24:46.000 | like being in the gym more than everyone else
00:24:47.880 | so you can go out there and feel comfortable
00:24:49.400 | with your moves and things,
00:24:50.840 | but there are times where you go through little slumps
00:24:55.640 | and you just kinda...
00:24:58.080 | I wouldn't say you doubt yourself.
00:24:59.960 | I never doubt myself,
00:25:01.200 | but you just are kinda just like
00:25:03.680 | a little bit down on yourself sometimes.
00:25:05.800 | - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
00:25:07.200 | Do you, okay, I've never actually asked you this.
00:25:09.200 | Someone asked, "How do you personally navigate anxiety
00:25:12.280 | "if you experience it?"
00:25:13.480 | Do you feel like you're an anxious person?
00:25:16.040 | - No, I used to not think I was anxious at all.
00:25:18.440 | Like when people would talk about anxiety,
00:25:21.200 | I was like, "Yeah, you're weird.
00:25:22.760 | "Why do you care so much?"
00:25:24.920 | But I think there's different type of anxiety.
00:25:28.120 | People have anxiety attacks and things like that.
00:25:30.040 | Their breathing gets short.
00:25:30.960 | I never have that, but I just think overall in life,
00:25:35.440 | sometimes I'm anxious about certain things.
00:25:38.560 | If it's not going my way,
00:25:39.800 | if I don't know if the plans that I had
00:25:42.280 | aren't gonna work out.
00:25:43.480 | Especially when you're not connected to God
00:25:47.400 | and you're not connected to your priorities.
00:25:50.840 | If those aren't in check,
00:25:52.400 | you're obviously gonna be anxious about life.
00:25:54.400 | So I have realized over the past year or two
00:25:57.920 | that there are times when I'm anxious.
00:26:00.000 | Yeah, and then that affects everything.
00:26:03.800 | That affects how you play, if you can play free.
00:26:06.280 | That affects a lot of stuff.
00:26:08.000 | So you just gotta be self-aware.
00:26:09.240 | And now I know how to kinda get out of that.
00:26:11.400 | But no, I think anxiety is a real thing for a lot of people.
00:26:16.400 | There's the scientific part behind it
00:26:20.440 | that I've kinda looked into.
00:26:21.480 | Like the dopamine, if you're too much flooded
00:26:25.320 | with the dopamine, heavy doses of dopamine,
00:26:28.480 | then you are likely to not be as,
00:26:31.680 | there's all the scientific stuff that I've looked into.
00:26:35.120 | But yeah, I would say overall, yeah,
00:26:38.840 | I have realized there are times in my life
00:26:40.360 | where I'm more anxious than others.
00:26:42.880 | - What makes you feel the most free?
00:26:44.600 | - I think what makes me feel the most free would be,
00:26:47.480 | when I'm, this is what I've realized.
00:26:51.360 | When I'm proud of the person that I am off of the court,
00:26:53.760 | like I'm doing the right stuff,
00:26:54.960 | like I'm prioritizing my faith walk,
00:26:57.640 | when I'm getting in the word,
00:26:59.760 | when I'm not doing too much stuff that I feel guilty about
00:27:02.320 | or feel bad about doing, and I'm just a solid person
00:27:06.000 | that I'm doing what I say I'm gonna do,
00:27:08.560 | I'm living with integrity.
00:27:11.040 | When I'm proud of myself,
00:27:12.280 | then even if I'm having good or bad games,
00:27:14.680 | like you can balance the highs and the lows a lot better.
00:27:17.360 | But if you are, and I was just talking to,
00:27:19.280 | I just got a therapist that I've been talking to
00:27:21.720 | a little bit, yeah, I've talked to him two times,
00:27:24.040 | and we actually were talking about this,
00:27:27.120 | but it's like when you're not proud of yourself
00:27:29.120 | and you don't think God's proud of you,
00:27:31.040 | now you gotta go out and try to perform your way
00:27:34.600 | into other people's approval
00:27:36.040 | or get your worth from other people.
00:27:38.560 | But when you are living and obeying God
00:27:41.760 | and getting your, God always loves you,
00:27:44.440 | you're always valuable to him,
00:27:46.320 | but when you actually can, for me,
00:27:48.340 | when I can feel proud of the person I am
00:27:50.800 | and I know God's proud of me as well
00:27:52.920 | 'cause I'm doing what he says to do,
00:27:55.040 | then I'm not tripping about anyone else approving of me
00:27:58.440 | because I know I'm living right, you know what I mean?
00:28:01.520 | - Yeah, there is this Bible verse I'm gonna butcher,
00:28:04.720 | but it's like, I don't do what I wanna do,
00:28:07.560 | and then I do what I don't wanna do, or whatever.
00:28:09.120 | I forget even what part of the Bible it is,
00:28:11.000 | but I feel like--
00:28:11.840 | - I think it's Paul, yeah.
00:28:12.660 | - Yeah, that literally speaks to that.
00:28:14.120 | When you are living the way that you're called to live
00:28:18.200 | and you have confidence in yourself,
00:28:20.700 | you have trust in yourself that you're gonna walk out
00:28:22.660 | what you believe, your actions aren't conflicting
00:28:24.740 | with your mind and what you want to do,
00:28:27.720 | you're just living a life of integrity,
00:28:29.780 | that is the most freeing thing.
00:28:31.300 | - Yeah, which is, it's easier said than done.
00:28:33.780 | That's one of the most, he wrote a lot of the Bible,
00:28:37.300 | but he's talking about, so he's obviously a very godly man,
00:28:40.860 | but he's also talking about, he does things
00:28:43.700 | that he doesn't necessarily wanna do,
00:28:45.540 | but we're human, we sin, we mess up,
00:28:50.100 | and that's what he's talking about.
00:28:51.300 | He's doing things that he knows he shouldn't do,
00:28:54.740 | and that's where a lot of people can get stuck
00:28:57.700 | in the place of living a double life.
00:29:01.020 | You wanna live one way, but you're living another way,
00:29:03.720 | and when you are the person that you wanna be,
00:29:07.620 | like just single-minded, the person you wanna be
00:29:09.620 | is who you are, that's when I feel the most free,
00:29:13.020 | but there's times in my life where I feel like
00:29:14.500 | I'm that person, and you kinda can get away from it,
00:29:16.340 | like that's life, that's being human.
00:29:18.660 | We're not perfect, so you gotta have grace with yourself,
00:29:21.820 | which is something I struggle with
00:29:23.020 | because I'm a perfectionist,
00:29:24.780 | but yeah, you gotta have some grace with yourself, too.
00:29:28.820 | - Okay, what is something you have been
00:29:31.380 | personally questioning or pondering lately?
00:29:33.720 | Can be silly or serious, doesn't matter.
00:29:41.700 | - One thing I have been questioning or pondering,
00:29:44.600 | well, the most lately that's happened was last night,
00:29:50.540 | I was just sitting there eating some food,
00:29:53.900 | and I just was thinking, what is really,
00:29:57.380 | deeply the purpose of why I'm here, why we're all here?
00:30:03.940 | I was just thinking about that a little bit
00:30:06.320 | because I think some people just live life very blindly
00:30:10.060 | because they don't have a deep thought
00:30:12.780 | of a purpose for themselves and a deep purpose
00:30:14.820 | for why we're all here,
00:30:16.780 | which no one really knows why we're all here,
00:30:18.940 | which is a weird thought, too.
00:30:20.300 | It's not like God needed us.
00:30:22.500 | So it's like, why are we all here,
00:30:23.960 | but then why am I here?
00:30:25.580 | That's just a thought I was having last night.
00:30:28.500 | And I've tried to figure out my purpose
00:30:32.740 | over this last while.
00:30:36.420 | I mean, I think our purpose, all of our purposes,
00:30:38.860 | pretty much the same, like inspire others,
00:30:41.100 | lead others to God, things like that.
00:30:43.740 | But then it's like, yeah, I don't know.
00:30:45.660 | I just have very, very, that's the last thing I ponder,
00:30:48.980 | but you know me, I ponder.
00:30:50.020 | That's why this is Curious Mike.
00:30:51.660 | I ponder a lot of things.
00:30:53.000 | - Yeah, you were debating that last night.
00:30:56.020 | - Yeah.
00:30:57.180 | - It's crazy that, I feel like everyone,
00:30:59.820 | that's their deepest question is purpose and meaning.
00:31:02.980 | - Purpose, yeah, it really is.
00:31:05.700 | And it's weird because you can accomplish
00:31:08.020 | so many individual goals,
00:31:09.620 | or you can do so much stuff
00:31:13.180 | to make yourself happy for a moment,
00:31:15.060 | but then beyond that, why are we really here?
00:31:18.820 | Like, what is, and yeah, it's just weird.
00:31:23.820 | It's super weird.
00:31:24.780 | And then I just think, yeah, I don't know.
00:31:28.540 | I could go on a whole rant about deep stuff,
00:31:30.500 | but we'll save some stuff for another episode.
00:31:33.260 | - Okay, let me just do one final question.
00:31:36.060 | I actually submitted this question myself.
00:31:38.420 | - Did you?
00:31:39.260 | - Yeah, I asked, when in your life
00:31:41.700 | have you been the most pure, happiest?
00:31:44.980 | And do you think the future will be even happier,
00:31:46.860 | or do you think you've experienced your happiest?
00:31:49.820 | - I think when we're kids,
00:31:54.060 | that's when we're our purest in happiness.
00:31:55.700 | And I think that's why you read books
00:31:58.740 | and you hear therapists talk about find your inner child,
00:32:02.140 | because that's when we're our most pure,
00:32:05.300 | before we're tainted by the world,
00:32:06.860 | before we have aspirations that aren't the right aspirations
00:32:11.500 | and things like that.
00:32:12.340 | So I sometimes think, can I ever get to that point
00:32:16.060 | back before I was kind of like,
00:32:17.740 | 'cause we're all, in a sense, programmed.
00:32:19.900 | Even if you're not programmed
00:32:21.700 | and you think you're outside of this,
00:32:23.580 | at the end of the day, we all have certain thoughts,
00:32:28.580 | patterns, and things that were put into us by the world.
00:32:31.420 | And so can you escape that?
00:32:33.820 | And one of my plans to escape it,
00:32:38.340 | and this is something I've wanted to do
00:32:39.660 | ever since I was little,
00:32:41.180 | I think I told Bree about this,
00:32:43.220 | is like, 'cause it's weird,
00:32:45.100 | once you have money, it's just so weird,
00:32:47.580 | because once you have money,
00:32:49.380 | things that used to be exciting to you
00:32:50.900 | may not be exciting anymore,
00:32:52.220 | because you got used to 'em.
00:32:53.540 | So it's like everyone really is on the same level
00:32:57.820 | of happiness because everyone just got used
00:32:59.620 | to what they have.
00:33:00.740 | So if you're middle class,
00:33:02.940 | you got used to eating at certain restaurants,
00:33:06.580 | and then when you get to go to maybe,
00:33:07.820 | do you remember when we were poor growing up
00:33:10.500 | and we had our birthday dinners,
00:33:11.620 | like going to Noodles & Company
00:33:13.700 | was our special birthday meal?
00:33:16.420 | That's crazy to think about,
00:33:17.380 | but now if Noodles & Company was my meal for lunch,
00:33:22.380 | I'd be like, "Yo, I'm eating bad today."
00:33:25.540 | But that used to be our special meal,
00:33:27.500 | so one of my goals to kind of detach
00:33:30.860 | from the programming of that is,
00:33:35.260 | there's gonna be a year in my life,
00:33:37.220 | once my career's over,
00:33:38.660 | where I live a very minimalistic life.
00:33:41.220 | I'm not gonna live in one of my houses here in Denver.
00:33:44.980 | I'm gonna get a super little house,
00:33:47.740 | and I'm gonna only spend maybe,
00:33:49.460 | I'm gonna try to live on $1,000 a month,
00:33:52.020 | something that the lower class would do,
00:33:54.700 | just to kind of go all the way.
00:33:57.580 | I've thought about maybe one day even trying
00:34:00.660 | to see if I could be homeless for a year.
00:34:02.940 | Not a year, maybe not a year, a month, a month.
00:34:05.100 | I think the homeless thing was a month,
00:34:06.660 | but live the minimalistic lifestyle for a year,
00:34:09.260 | 'cause then think about going back to all your blessings.
00:34:12.180 | You would appreciate them all over again.
00:34:13.820 | - It would be so new.
00:34:14.660 | Yeah, that's the thing, you just get used to it,
00:34:17.460 | and you don't see it for the blessing it is
00:34:19.380 | when it's just the everyday.
00:34:20.500 | - And then you just are always searching for more and more.
00:34:23.740 | That's why people that actually get what they,
00:34:27.500 | wanted in life as far as finances or whatever,
00:34:30.740 | sometimes they end up the most unhappy
00:34:32.380 | because they thought this thing far out
00:34:34.460 | was gonna bring them peace and bring them happiness,
00:34:36.960 | but it didn't, so I've realized that getting rich,
00:34:41.960 | even winning an NBA championship,
00:34:46.540 | maybe being one of the best players in the NBA,
00:34:48.300 | that ultimately doesn't bring ultimate happiness and peace.
00:34:52.740 | So I think that's one of my things I wanna do.
00:34:56.880 | - Well, that's probably why you can,
00:34:59.300 | like you said, those big accomplishments
00:35:02.420 | don't bring ultimate happiness and peace.
00:35:04.420 | It's appreciating the everyday blessings around you
00:35:06.780 | that we get used to,
00:35:07.620 | but the people that, the janitors that you see
00:35:10.040 | that are so happy or the people living the lifestyle
00:35:12.980 | that you're talking about that are so happy,
00:35:15.260 | they've just found the hack
00:35:16.460 | of appreciating the mundane.
00:35:19.060 | - Yeah, appreciating the process of life,
00:35:22.300 | what they do have, the blessings they do have.
00:35:24.860 | It's weird how you can have so many blessings
00:35:27.080 | and so many things good in your life,
00:35:28.880 | but we always focus on the one thing that we don't have
00:35:31.800 | or we wish we had, and so I don't know.
00:35:34.000 | I feel like that's like Western society programming,
00:35:36.900 | 'cause I don't know if people,
00:35:38.080 | I mean, you've been over there
00:35:39.400 | taking care of those little kids.
00:35:40.480 | I don't know if they really live like that.
00:35:43.120 | - I mean, I would say no from what I experienced.
00:35:46.720 | Like, I feel like they were literally so happy
00:35:48.120 | and they live in a literal dirt hut smaller than this room,
00:35:51.960 | like the whole family's in there.
00:35:53.480 | - So that's why I say no matter how far detached
00:35:56.980 | you think you are, to an extent, we're all kind of programmed
00:35:59.660 | and I'm so thankful that I was homeschooled growing up
00:36:04.220 | because I think I'm less programmed than some people
00:36:06.820 | and I can think freer than some people,
00:36:09.020 | but to an extent, we all are,
00:36:10.180 | so I wanna somehow figure out ways to detach from that
00:36:13.420 | and I think choosing to live in a way
00:36:18.420 | where I could live a certain way
00:36:22.100 | would be a cool way to do it,
00:36:23.220 | but that's just a goal of mine.
00:36:25.260 | Should I ask my curious question?
00:36:28.540 | - Oh yeah, go for it.
00:36:29.380 | Should I step out of the frame
00:36:30.620 | while you talk with the people?
00:36:32.220 | - No, you don't have to.
00:36:34.900 | So yeah, we're gonna start this new thing
00:36:36.260 | called Curious Questions
00:36:40.260 | and this is just something I'm curious
00:36:41.780 | about your guys' thoughts on, you know what I mean?
00:36:44.020 | This is called Curious Mike,
00:36:45.220 | so we talk openly about things.
00:36:47.820 | My question for y'all for this episode
00:36:50.860 | is now that we're some time removed from COVID
00:36:54.540 | and the coronavirus is not as talked about
00:36:59.660 | and things like that,
00:37:01.020 | what are your guys' thoughts on the virus, the vaccine?
00:37:06.020 | Did the vaccine help?
00:37:07.340 | Did it hurt?
00:37:08.300 | You know, you got some people that think
00:37:10.460 | the vaccine is the reason
00:37:12.540 | that we're not dealing with it as much.
00:37:14.100 | You got other people who think
00:37:16.160 | people are dying from the vaccine
00:37:19.380 | or they're having complications with the vaccine.
00:37:22.180 | So now that we're some time removed,
00:37:25.140 | I wanna know your guys' thoughts on that.
00:37:27.500 | I'm actually one of like five or six NBA players
00:37:31.180 | that didn't get vaccinated.
00:37:32.540 | - So few.
00:37:34.220 | - I don't know if it was like the best thing,
00:37:37.380 | not the best thing.
00:37:38.340 | I think I did the right thing.
00:37:39.420 | I got teammates telling me
00:37:40.260 | like they wish they didn't get vaccinated,
00:37:41.700 | things like that.
00:37:42.580 | But there was a time where it was like so pushed
00:37:45.260 | and it was trying to be forced on us.
00:37:47.220 | So I'm curious what your guys' thoughts are surrounding that
00:37:50.900 | now that we're a little bit removed from that.
00:37:53.260 | I'm excited to get back into Curious Mike.
00:37:56.580 | I know it's been over a year.
00:37:58.860 | You know, I was dealing with some injury stuff.
00:38:00.460 | I couldn't find the motivation,
00:38:01.720 | but I appreciate you guys
00:38:05.260 | and we're gonna get back into it.
00:38:06.820 | I'm gonna start recording episodes pretty often
00:38:09.020 | and just dropping them whenever I record them.
00:38:11.620 | So that's how we're gonna do it from here on out.
00:38:14.220 | If you guys have any guests that you wanna see me interview
00:38:18.340 | or any questions for me,
00:38:20.740 | I'll be doing solo episodes like this from time to time
00:38:23.920 | and we're gonna go from there.
00:38:25.900 | So I'm gonna try to get it back cracking.
00:38:27.740 | This is episode one.
00:38:29.000 | Yes, sir.
00:38:29.840 | (upbeat music)
00:38:32.820 | - Good job.
00:38:33.660 | - All right, that was good.
00:38:34.500 | - Yeah, that was good.
00:38:35.980 | - Are you sure?
00:38:36.820 | - Get it back cracking.
00:38:37.880 | - I hope.
00:38:39.780 | Sometimes I think I'm too open on these things.
00:38:42.340 | But I mean, that's a point.
00:38:43.180 | - That's the whole point, baby.
00:38:44.020 | - That is the whole point, yeah.
00:38:45.620 | It's not like I made it to try to keep like a...
00:38:48.940 | Like I made it so that I could just talk about
00:38:51.060 | spit how I wanna talk about.
00:38:52.500 | - Yeah.
00:38:53.340 | [BLANK_AUDIO]