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, so 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 playing in the NBA finals?
00:00:31.400 | Were you scared, excited, nervous?
00:00:33.160 | Like just how does that feel?
00:00:35.600 | - Yeah, I think the playoffs is definitely
00:00:38.920 | like another level of intensity.
00:00:42.060 | So you feel it every round.
00:00:43.440 | So the first round, Minnesota, you know,
00:00:45.720 | we actually got a pretty long break
00:00:48.280 | 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
00:01:13.220 | and then we were kind of like not knowing
00:01:16.920 | how that was gonna go back in Denver,
00:01:19.560 | but we ended up getting those next two games.
00:01:22.500 | 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.
00:01:28.280 | Just, you know, you're so close
00:01:30.480 | to knocking on the door of a championship
00:01:32.240 | 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 around like two hours.
00:02:16.200 | Then we go back to the gym.
00:02:18.320 | 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,
00:02:36.620 | 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 or 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've just lost the game.
00:03:06.100 | 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 wanna do anything but just go home and chill.
00:03:21.840 | But if you can get yourself to go get your lift in,
00:03:24.160 | stay on that routine,
00:03:25.520 | you'll have a lot more good days than bad days, I think.
00:03:28.220 | - I don't know.
00:03:29.060 | I can't imagine, 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 is 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.
00:03:40.840 | And yeah, like I just said,
00:03:42.640 | it's hardest 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.
00:03:50.800 | I 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 like hear in your own words
00:04:02.460 | kind of a little bit of expansion on that.
00:04:05.280 | - On that article?
00:04:06.120 | Yeah, I mean, 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,
00:04:22.740 | 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 | till 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 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
00:05:38.680 | 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.
00:05:47.440 | 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.
00:05:53.240 | And I brought some of my friends
00:05:55.000 | in the recruiting class with me.
00:05:56.720 | And all summer I'm balling,
00:05:58.400 | I'm dealing with some back pain, but I'm balling,
00:05:59.920 | I'm ready to go for the season.
00:06:01.680 | And that first game,
00:06:02.800 | I remember I'm going through layup lines
00:06:04.120 | and I just couldn't, I didn't feel right at all,
00:06:07.920 | couldn't jump.
00:06:08.760 | And that was my first time dealing with the back stuff.
00:06:11.680 | So I didn't really know how bad it was.
00:06:14.360 | I was just trying to play through a lot of pain.
00:06:16.120 | But I remember going up to dad
00:06:18.560 | and I just told my dad like,
00:06:19.400 | "I can't play, I can't jump off my leg."
00:06:21.560 | And then he was like,
00:06:23.760 | "Well, it's a nationally televised game.
00:06:26.560 | We need you to start,
00:06:27.600 | but you can come out after the first play."
00:06:30.480 | So I remember, yeah, one play went by,
00:06:33.560 | I actually got a bucket,
00:06:35.200 | a lucky, like a little put back little bucket.
00:06:39.080 | And then I came out
00:06:39.920 | and then my season was pretty much over.
00:06:42.120 | That was the first.
00:06:43.320 | So I ended up getting the first surgery after that,
00:06:45.960 | trying to recover,
00:06:47.240 | probably sped up that recovery
00:06:49.200 | to try to come back for the NCAA tournament.
00:06:52.120 | Ended up trying to play in that,
00:06:54.280 | but probably messed it up again.
00:06:55.880 | So then I'm trying to,
00:06:57.960 | I think I messed it up again,
00:06:58.960 | 'cause I, again, I didn't let my body recover.
00:07:01.200 | And then I got drafted way later than I thought.
00:07:04.280 | That whole draft night was very tough for me
00:07:06.760 | just because I'm seeing all these guys
00:07:09.120 | get drafted before me
00:07:10.160 | that I'm thinking that I'm better than.
00:07:12.120 | Which actually, I feel like our draft class
00:07:15.600 | 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,
00:07:30.660 | I was just talking about like,
00:07:31.920 | through all these things I've been through,
00:07:34.080 | 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.
00:08:34.120 | And that was like, that was an embarrassing playoff series.
00:08:38.680 | Like we knew we had to be in the gym that summer.
00:08:42.060 | We knew we didn't want to feel that again.
00:08:44.380 | I think we had beat the Trailblazers
00:08:45.740 | and then we had lost to the Suns and we 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.
00:08:53.780 | Like ever since I was young,
00:08:54.780 | I feel like I've won at every level, you know, AAU National.
00:08:59.140 | Like every championship really feels the same.
00:09:01.020 | Of course the NBA championship is like amazing,
00:09:04.020 | but it's the same feeling you get
00:09:05.540 | when you win a high school championship.
00:09:07.160 | It's just the more people are watching,
00:09:10.100 | but anytime you win, it feels great.
00:09:12.020 | So I've always won championships since I was like young.
00:09:15.800 | So to get swept in the playoffs
00:09:18.060 | was like the most embarrassing thing to me.
00:09:21.300 | And so to be able to get Phoenix this past year
00:09:24.380 | in a great series, you know, they're a really good team,
00:09:27.620 | felt really good.
00:09:29.180 | - Okay, so how do you block out the negative comments
00:09:31.700 | that come with just being kind of in the limelight?
00:09:35.180 | - Yeah, man, one thing about our day and age
00:09:38.580 | is people, it seems like people get off on hating.
00:09:41.580 | Like it don't matter how good you're doing in life.
00:09:43.620 | Like there's so many haters.
00:09:45.780 | All these people want to have burners accounts
00:09:48.140 | and things like that and just talk negatively.
00:09:51.180 | I mean, it's really hard to block out.
00:09:53.920 | Everyone sees it.
00:09:55.020 | If you're a player, I mean, you can distance yourself.
00:09:58.120 | You can get off of social media.
00:09:59.340 | You can get off of Twitter and things,
00:10:01.380 | but you still, you know, people in the street
00:10:04.140 | or people whenever, like.
00:10:05.400 | So I mean, it's hard to block out.
00:10:08.740 | I think you kind of got to get mentally strong enough
00:10:11.220 | to just realize that's part of it.
00:10:14.120 | And a lot of guys in the NBA struggle
00:10:16.180 | with some of the mental stuff
00:10:18.660 | just because they've been a man their whole life.
00:10:20.460 | So they always were praised and things like that.
00:10:22.980 | And then when you get to a point
00:10:24.260 | where you're playing 82 games,
00:10:25.900 | you have good games, bad games.
00:10:28.180 | So many people saying different comments about you.
00:10:30.100 | Now money's involved.
00:10:31.240 | So people are talking about your contract
00:10:35.300 | or this or that.
00:10:36.720 | It can be a lot, but I just think at the end of the day,
00:10:39.580 | we get paid a lot to play a sport.
00:10:41.380 | Like our job is not that difficult.
00:10:42.860 | The worst thing about your job is people on the outside
00:10:44.900 | just running their mouth and saying things about you.
00:10:48.000 | And that makes you want to like quit or go in a shell.
00:10:50.900 | Like you just got to, you got to check yourself
00:10:54.140 | because no one's opinion should have that big
00:10:56.820 | of an effect on you.
00:10:57.660 | And I think for me, I just realized at a young age,
00:11:00.300 | like I'm looking at all these superstars
00:11:01.740 | and there's still people talking negatively about them.
00:11:03.560 | Like growing up watching Kobe,
00:11:05.240 | people still talk crazy about him.
00:11:06.720 | You know, Russell Westbrook,
00:11:07.740 | one of the best players of all time.
00:11:10.820 | Like people talk crazy about him at times in his career.
00:11:13.700 | Like LeBron, it doesn't matter who you are.
00:11:15.700 | Giannis, if he misses a couple of free throws,
00:11:17.520 | people are bashing him.
00:11:19.340 | So it's like the higher up you get
00:11:21.940 | and the better you get,
00:11:24.480 | there's going to be more people saying things about you.
00:11:26.700 | But if there's so many people saying things about you,
00:11:29.180 | that means you're doing something right.
00:11:30.380 | I know that's like, that's cliche, but that's true.
00:11:32.780 | - It is true.
00:11:33.620 | 'Cause I do feel like what you're saying,
00:11:34.640 | like the higher the level you get to,
00:11:36.660 | the louder the noise is.
00:11:37.500 | Like if you're like, no offense,
00:11:38.900 | but someone like on the bench,
00:11:39.900 | like there's not like much to say,
00:11:41.660 | but like the more you're doing
00:11:42.620 | and the more like people are looking at you,
00:11:45.340 | the more people are going to have opinions.
00:11:47.460 | But yeah, it's just like the juxtaposition of like you're,
00:11:50.460 | that just means you're doing better.
00:11:51.980 | - Yeah, a hundred percent.
00:11:53.060 | I think I was watching Paul George's podcast with Mikkel
00:11:57.540 | and he, Mikkel said something that stuck out to me.
00:12:00.140 | He was just like, you got to have the,
00:12:02.740 | you got to be confident enough to fail.
00:12:05.220 | Like you can't be scared of failure.
00:12:06.940 | You got to go for it.
00:12:07.900 | Like go for your goals, go for your dreams.
00:12:10.660 | It might be in the middle of a game.
00:12:11.660 | You might try something,
00:12:13.400 | try something out that you've been working on all summer.
00:12:15.900 | You might miss a shot.
00:12:16.940 | Coach might take you out,
00:12:17.980 | but you got to be confident enough
00:12:19.180 | to actually try those things.
00:12:20.740 | So that's what I respect.
00:12:21.620 | More than like someone failing,
00:12:24.100 | it's the fact that they were confident enough
00:12:25.380 | to actually like go for it.
00:12:26.500 | You know what I mean?
00:12:27.340 | Like all the best players got to a point
00:12:29.340 | where they would just forget the naysayers,
00:12:31.980 | forget the people that say you shouldn't do this
00:12:33.460 | or shouldn't do that.
00:12:34.540 | And just, you know, work on your game.
00:12:36.700 | And then if you fail, you fail.
00:12:39.060 | - But like, just be vulnerable for a second.
00:12:40.540 | 'Cause I feel like now you're talking about it
00:12:41.860 | from the perspective of like,
00:12:43.700 | you've kind of been a rookie,
00:12:45.700 | like you've been in the league a few years
00:12:47.780 | and you have like more perspective on it.
00:12:49.660 | But like when you first went into the league
00:12:51.300 | and it was kind of a letdown to people
00:12:53.300 | because you weren't playing,
00:12:54.540 | was it harder for you to deal with negative comments then?
00:12:57.060 | - Yeah, but I think that's why like
00:12:59.180 | the hardest time for me was at Mizzou
00:13:01.420 | because that was the first time in my life
00:13:03.100 | where basketball didn't go how I wanted it to go.
00:13:05.340 | And so I gained that mental strength like earlier on
00:13:08.620 | because of my injury in college.
00:13:11.420 | But a lot of people don't go through the stuff
00:13:13.100 | that allows them to kind of develop that.
00:13:15.460 | But yeah, no, every time I've had a surgery,
00:13:18.620 | every time something has gone wrong,
00:13:21.540 | like you feel those thoughts.
00:13:23.220 | I've gotten better at dealing with them though.
00:13:24.660 | Like better at just setting them to the side
00:13:26.300 | and just focusing on a goal.
00:13:28.060 | But it's not easy at all.
00:13:29.980 | That's probably the hardest thing
00:13:31.100 | about being a professional athlete.
00:13:32.700 | Like, I don't think being a professional athlete
00:13:34.540 | is for everyone 'cause a lot of people would...
00:13:36.940 | That's definitely the roughest part about it, I think.
00:13:41.220 | - Someone asked, how and why did you stay away
00:13:44.860 | from social media so long during the season?
00:13:46.860 | 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.
00:13:51.620 | - No, I was off.
00:13:52.540 | I only got back on I think in the finals
00:13:54.660 | 'cause my agency really wanted me to get back on.
00:13:57.140 | I just think like overall for me,
00:14:00.460 | social media and like the day and age that we live in
00:14:04.300 | is like the cons outweigh the pros for me personally.
00:14:09.300 | And probably a lot of dudes in general.
00:14:11.940 | Like it depends like what you want out of life
00:14:14.020 | and what you're trying to reach.
00:14:14.980 | For me, I'm trying to walk in my faith
00:14:18.380 | and I'm trying to be a man of integrity and like grow.
00:14:23.580 | And I just feel like social media is a hindrance to that.
00:14:26.300 | First of all, you see all of this dope stuff going on.
00:14:30.580 | You can get into like the comparison game of,
00:14:32.860 | man, this person seems like they're above me
00:14:34.900 | or this person got more followers than me or whatever.
00:14:38.420 | But then it's also like as a dude,
00:14:40.220 | one of our struggles is females
00:14:42.260 | and there's unlimited baddies on Instagram.
00:14:44.020 | So like honestly, if I'm being a hundred percent like,
00:14:47.340 | 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.
00:14:53.420 | So I just, you gotta be self-aware.
00:14:55.140 | If that's your thing that you could fall into,
00:14:57.540 | you can remove it for a while.
00:14:58.620 | And for me, it helped me focus.
00:15:00.500 | - Yeah, I think you talked about that
00:15:01.660 | with LeCray on that episode.
00:15:02.940 | Like you have to know your vice
00:15:04.380 | and then set up boundaries like around it.
00:15:07.500 | - And it's probably, you know,
00:15:10.660 | I'm on a podcast with my sister.
00:15:12.180 | You probably don't wanna hear that my vice would be females,
00:15:14.260 | but really that's most dudes' vice.
00:15:15.820 | Like if you don't get it in check.
00:15:18.820 | And then obviously in this day and age,
00:15:20.540 | marriage is not like a super popular, like concept,
00:15:25.540 | but like one day I wanna have a wife, I wanna have kids.
00:15:29.580 | So if you just are always in the habit of all these girls
00:15:33.780 | and all these new girls,
00:15:34.940 | and every time you go to Instagram, there's unlimited,
00:15:38.220 | like you'll never get to a place
00:15:39.860 | where you just can value like one girl.
00:15:42.340 | I don't see how you can get to that place.
00:15:43.700 | So for me, it's just better to remove it.
00:15:45.740 | So I get on it like once in a while,
00:15:47.500 | but I don't have it on my phone.
00:15:49.100 | I don't even know my Instagram password.
00:15:50.740 | Like I got a Nicodemus, my manager, he has the password.
00:15:55.740 | So he'll let me get on once in a while, I'll check it.
00:15:58.740 | - Good job.
00:15:59.580 | - Thanks.
00:16:00.420 | - If you didn't play basketball,
00:16:04.300 | what do you think you would be doing?
00:16:05.540 | Like if you've never touched a basketball,
00:16:07.260 | not just like you got hurt now and couldn't play,
00:16:09.020 | but like it was never a part of your life
00:16:10.700 | and you didn't have like the money from the contract.
00:16:14.060 | - If I didn't, who?
00:16:15.820 | I mean, I always tell people like one thing about me
00:16:17.420 | is I never really had like a plan B.
00:16:19.100 | Like I never really was one of those dudes
00:16:20.740 | that had a lot of hobbies.
00:16:22.860 | Like I never really liked instruments.
00:16:25.020 | I never even really liked video games.
00:16:27.180 | It was always just like basketball.
00:16:28.820 | So if I was not playing,
00:16:31.220 | I probably would be trying to mooch off of one of y'all.
00:16:33.580 | I probably would be trying to get on board
00:16:36.500 | with what you were doing
00:16:37.940 | or one of my other siblings were doing,
00:16:40.180 | or I don't know 'cause I did not have,
00:16:44.180 | you know, I was smart in school,
00:16:45.540 | but I didn't have any like thing I wanted to major in.
00:16:47.900 | - There's no like other side passions
00:16:49.580 | that you can think of? - No, there really wasn't.
00:16:51.620 | - Yeah.
00:16:52.460 | Okay, you might not like me for including this question.
00:16:56.540 | - No, I want you to ask some of the crazy ones.
00:16:58.260 | - Someone asked, are you aware
00:16:59.660 | of the Never Swing the Rock memes about you?
00:17:01.940 | - Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
00:17:04.940 | On social media, you see what people say.
00:17:07.060 | No, I'm aware of the little Michael
00:17:11.140 | Never Swing the Rock Porter Jr.
00:17:13.140 | I don't know who came up with that.
00:17:15.300 | But to be completely honest,
00:17:18.260 | getting a lot of assists is not my role on the Nuggets.
00:17:21.460 | You know what I mean?
00:17:22.300 | Joker and Jamal, they play their two-man game.
00:17:24.740 | If it gets swung out to me by one of those guys,
00:17:27.300 | I'm expected to shoot it.
00:17:29.140 | I'm one of the best shooters in the league,
00:17:30.620 | like humbly, like I can say that,
00:17:31.900 | but like I don't see contests.
00:17:33.340 | So a lot, you might be watching on TV
00:17:35.820 | and see me shoot a contested shot,
00:17:38.260 | but it doesn't feel contested to me.
00:17:39.980 | I might watch it, like after I'm filming,
00:17:41.860 | I'm like, yo, I shot that.
00:17:43.460 | But really, they don't feel contested.
00:17:44.700 | And I make a lot of contested shots,
00:17:46.900 | but I definitely, I see it.
00:17:49.220 | But really, I'm not the one with the ball in my hands
00:17:51.740 | like I was in high school, you know?
00:17:53.900 | To win a championship, every player on a team
00:17:57.100 | has to have a specific role.
00:17:59.100 | And for me, it's like, when I catch the ball,
00:18:02.020 | it's let it fly, you know what I mean?
00:18:04.900 | - I also do feel like the meme just kind of like took off
00:18:07.620 | because I've seen you make great passes and great assists.
00:18:11.060 | - You don't have to be nice.
00:18:12.980 | - No, I mean, I've always been able to make plays and pass,
00:18:17.620 | but on the Nuggets team, I'm not the one with the ball
00:18:21.100 | in my hands the majority of the time.
00:18:22.540 | So, you know, maybe one day, if I'm on another team
00:18:26.060 | where the ball's put in my hands to make plays more,
00:18:28.980 | there'll be more assists.
00:18:30.100 | But right now, it's like, when I catch it,
00:18:32.460 | I'm shooting or I'm driving.
00:18:33.940 | And unless I'm crowded, it's probably going up.
00:18:36.340 | And my teammates know that,
00:18:37.300 | and they're going to tell me to shoot it.
00:18:39.340 | So we just want a championship.
00:18:42.180 | To win a championship,
00:18:43.300 | it's not like you can have guys playing selfishly.
00:18:45.660 | So when I shoot the ball, it's not out of a selfish motive.
00:18:49.820 | It's like, that's what my teammates want me to do.
00:18:51.900 | That's my role on the team right now.
00:18:54.420 | So let it fly.
00:18:56.180 | - You heard it here first, folks, let it fly.
00:18:58.380 | Okay, so we're going to kind of transition
00:19:01.860 | into more faith stuff.
00:19:03.060 | - Yeah.
00:19:04.300 | - Did this past season,
00:19:05.460 | I don't know if they meant season of basketball
00:19:06.980 | or just season of life,
00:19:08.340 | but did this past season challenge your faith in any way?
00:19:10.820 | And how did you keep God the center and the focus?
00:19:14.060 | - Yeah, I mean, I feel like in this day and age,
00:19:19.220 | your faith, regardless if you're a professional athlete,
00:19:22.020 | regardless of whatever, like your faith is challenged.
00:19:25.340 | Like there's a lot of stuff going on in the world today.
00:19:28.860 | So yeah, I mean, my faith was challenged.
00:19:31.460 | I have like an unwavering belief in God.
00:19:33.900 | Like that never goes anywhere.
00:19:35.500 | And then, you know, I did my research
00:19:38.460 | to get to the point where I believe like Jesus
00:19:40.540 | is God.
00:19:41.980 | But I think everyone should get to an age
00:19:44.900 | where they explore other religions,
00:19:47.140 | go learn for yourself what you want to believe.
00:19:50.060 | Like you may have grown up a Christian,
00:19:52.020 | but you don't know if that's what you want to believe.
00:19:53.380 | You may have grown up a Muslim.
00:19:55.620 | You may have grown up like whatever it is.
00:19:57.780 | I think we all should reach an age
00:19:59.100 | where we figure out what we want to believe for ourselves.
00:20:01.500 | So I did that, read things on other religion,
00:20:05.660 | you know, talk to people who were in other religions.
00:20:09.940 | And I kind of got to the place
00:20:11.060 | where I for sure believe like Jesus is who he says he was.
00:20:16.060 | So that's unwavering.
00:20:17.820 | But in terms of like practicing like my faith
00:20:20.900 | and like always knowing if God is there,
00:20:23.100 | if he's watching me, if he's taking care of me.
00:20:25.460 | You know, there's a verse that says
00:20:28.260 | like everything works out for the good
00:20:30.700 | for those that love him.
00:20:32.540 | And I think that type of stuff can get kind of like,
00:20:37.580 | you know, you don't always fully believe it.
00:20:39.940 | You just got to remind yourself of it.
00:20:41.460 | And the other thing about the NBA is the schedule is so,
00:20:45.780 | like we stay up late after games
00:20:49.620 | and you got to wake up early and go to the gym and things.
00:20:51.460 | So the consistency in reading the Bible
00:20:54.660 | is kind of, it can be a hard thing.
00:20:56.860 | But I really do believe like there is power in the Bible.
00:20:59.620 | And when I am in the word,
00:21:00.620 | like when I'm reading it consistently,
00:21:02.460 | like I definitely see it come about in my life.
00:21:06.460 | - So that kind of leads right into the next question.
00:21:08.460 | Someone asked, how do you prioritize your walk
00:21:10.380 | with Jesus in the season?
00:21:11.540 | I know there's temptations on the road, they said,
00:21:14.420 | but it was just kind of funny,
00:21:15.740 | but I feel like you were just talking about
00:21:18.740 | like how hard it is kind of with the change in schedule
00:21:21.820 | because one of the best things is consistency,
00:21:24.220 | but just gets tough.
00:21:25.300 | - I think, yeah, it's always a priority to me
00:21:29.860 | in terms of like, I always wake up
00:21:31.940 | and I listen to worship music before I listen to anything else
00:21:35.900 | but spending time in the word, it can get,
00:21:38.900 | you know, your priorities can get thrown off.
00:21:40.620 | I think no matter what your job is,
00:21:42.100 | no matter how busy you are, that should be the priority.
00:21:44.580 | I'm not gonna sit here and say like,
00:21:45.780 | it always like was for me,
00:21:48.860 | but I think that it is,
00:21:53.300 | overall it is the priority in my life.
00:21:55.460 | And I think, yeah, on the road, it's tough.
00:21:59.180 | You just gotta have, like I sometimes travel with people,
00:22:01.780 | you know, accountability.
00:22:03.100 | It all depends like what you want.
00:22:04.300 | Like there's some people that aren't trying to live, right?
00:22:06.700 | They wanna do this and do that.
00:22:08.220 | And I'm not gonna sit here and say
00:22:09.420 | that I haven't like fallen into things or done things.
00:22:13.140 | Like, but it's, yeah, I'm just be like, it's tough.
00:22:17.780 | We have so much access.
00:22:18.860 | We have so much money.
00:22:20.260 | There's, you know, when you go to hotels,
00:22:22.580 | there might be girls waiting in the lobby.
00:22:24.100 | There might be this or that.
00:22:25.500 | So really it's, you gotta have accountability.
00:22:28.620 | So I got good friends, you know, Nicodemus,
00:22:31.740 | my manager, he travels with me
00:22:34.020 | and he's like, like I always say,
00:22:36.500 | you should have friends that are like
00:22:37.780 | on the same level as you
00:22:39.540 | in terms of just like discipline and things like that.
00:22:42.100 | And then some friends that you're kind of helping out,
00:22:43.780 | but you gotta have some friends that are like
00:22:45.940 | more disciplined, more godly,
00:22:48.380 | more all these things than you.
00:22:50.460 | And that's kind of what Nicodemus is for me.
00:22:51.980 | So I bring him out there on the road and he helps me.
00:22:55.500 | You know, he gets on me if he knows I'm staying up late,
00:22:57.740 | if I'm kicking it with too many people, things like that.
00:23:01.340 | - Yeah, that's smart to always just have someone
00:23:04.820 | like around you that you want to live,
00:23:07.120 | like how they live and that inspires you.
00:23:09.980 | Okay, what's your favorite scripture and why?
00:23:12.360 | I test your Bible knowledge.
00:23:16.740 | - Yeah, I'm about to say the first verse I can think of.
00:23:20.140 | No, I think my favorite verse.
00:23:24.540 | - It's okay if you paraphrase.
00:23:25.740 | - Yeah, no, I just think it's like,
00:23:29.660 | I mean, there's so many good verses.
00:23:32.580 | I like the...
00:23:34.140 | Hey, man.
00:23:36.460 | - How are you gonna take this question?
00:23:38.960 | (both laughing)
00:23:40.840 | - No, because I know some verses.
00:23:42.520 | - You're crazy.
00:23:43.360 | - I know some verses, but I can't--
00:23:45.580 | - I will say, you have verses like all over your house.
00:23:48.180 | - Yeah, I just can't think of what my favorite one is.
00:23:50.420 | I seem like I'm just...
00:23:52.260 | That's crazy.
00:23:53.100 | Yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead and go to the next question.
00:23:54.260 | - All right, all right.
00:23:55.080 | So we're into life.
00:23:56.660 | How do you balance confidence and self-doubt?
00:24:00.160 | - 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,
00:24:12.080 | like 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 worse 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,
00:24:35.520 | oh, is there something wrong with my shot?
00:24:37.560 | And then the overthinking can make it worse.
00:24:40.220 | 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, I wouldn't say you doubt yourself.
00:25:00.000 | I never doubt myself, but you just are kinda just like
00:25:03.680 | a little bit down on yourself sometimes.
00:25:05.680 | - Do you, okay, I've never actually asked you this.
00:25:09.200 | Someone asked, how do you personally navigate anxiety
00:25:12.360 | if you experience it?
00:25:13.480 | Do you feel like you're an anxious person?
00:25:16.040 | - Not, I used to not think I was anxious at all.
00:25:18.400 | Like when people would talk about anxiety,
00:25:21.200 | I was like, yeah, you're weird.
00:25:22.320 | Like, why do you care so much?
00:25:24.920 | But like there's, 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, if I don't know,
00:25:41.040 | if the plans that I had aren't gonna work out,
00:25:43.320 | or like you just, especially when you're not connected
00:25:46.960 | to God and you're not connected to like 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 like 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 you, 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 kind of 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 like the scientific part behind it
00:26:20.440 | that I've kind of looked into.
00:26:21.480 | Like the dopamine, you know,
00:26:23.960 | if you're too much flooded with like the dopamine,
00:26:27.320 | 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,
00:26:51.280 | like 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.
00:27:03.920 | And I'm just, you know, 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
00:27:20.840 | that I've been talking to a little bit.
00:27:22.120 | 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 like living and obeying God
00:27:41.760 | and getting your, God always loves you.
00:27:44.440 | You're always like valuable to him.
00:27:46.320 | But when you actually can, for me,
00:27:48.320 | when I can feel proud of the person I am
00:27:50.040 | 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.
00:28:00.880 | You know what I mean?
00:28:01.720 | - 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.
00:28:12.680 | - 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're really, you have confidence in yourself,
00:28:20.720 | you have trust in yourself
00:28:21.640 | that you're gonna walk out what you believe.
00:28:23.520 | Your actions aren't conflicting with your mind
00:28:25.920 | and what you want to do.
00:28:27.720 | You're just living a life of integrity.
00:28:29.800 | That is the most freeing thing.
00:28:31.320 | - Yeah, which is like, it's easier said than done.
00:28:33.800 | 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,
00:28:40.880 | but he's also talking about he does things
00:28:43.720 | that he doesn't necessarily wanna do,
00:28:45.520 | but we're human, we sin, we mess up,
00:28:50.100 | and that's what he's talking about.
00:28:51.280 | He's doing things that he knows he shouldn't do,
00:28:54.760 | and that's where a lot of people can get stuck
00:28:57.720 | in the place of living a double life.
00:29:01.040 | 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,
00:29:07.760 | just single-minded, the person you wanna be is who you are,
00:29:10.720 | that's when I feel the most free,
00:29:13.020 | but there's times in my life
00:29:14.080 | where I feel like I'm that person
00:29:15.120 | and you can get away from it, that's life,
00:29:17.000 | that's being human, we're not perfect,
00:29:19.480 | so you gotta have grace with yourself,
00:29:21.840 | which is something I struggle with
00:29:23.020 | because I'm a perfectionist,
00:29:24.760 | but yeah, you gotta have some grace with yourself too.
00:29:28.680 | - Yeah.
00:29:29.720 | Okay, what is something you have been personally questioning
00:29:32.480 | or pondering lately?
00:29:33.720 | - Hmm.
00:29:36.960 | - Can be silly or serious, doesn't matter.
00:29:39.580 | - One thing I have been questioning or pondering,
00:29:45.540 | well, the most lately that's happened was last night,
00:29:50.540 | I was just sitting there eating some food,
00:29:53.860 | 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?
00:30:03.920 | I was just thinking about that a little bit
00:30:06.280 | because I think some people just live life very blindly
00:30:10.020 | because they don't have a deep thought
00:30:12.740 | of a purpose for themselves
00:30:14.020 | and a deep purpose 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,
00:30:23.980 | 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, inspire others, lead others to God,
00:30:42.540 | things like that.
00:30:43.780 | But then it's like, yeah, I don't know.
00:30:45.700 | I just have very, very, that's the last thing I ponder,
00:30:49.020 | but you know me, I ponder.
00:30:50.060 | That's why this is Curious Mike,
00:30:51.500 | like I ponder a lot of things.
00:30:53.020 | - Yeah, you were debating that last night.
00:30:56.040 | - Yeah.
00:30:57.220 | - It's crazy that, I feel like everyone,
00:30:59.860 | that's their deepest question is purpose and meaning.
00:31:03.020 | - Purpose, yeah, it really is.
00:31:05.740 | And it's weird because you can accomplish
00:31:08.060 | so many individual goals,
00:31:09.660 | or you can do so much stuff to make yourself happy
00:31:14.540 | for a moment, but then beyond that,
00:31:16.540 | why are we really here?
00:31:19.020 | What's, what is?
00:31:21.700 | And yeah, it's just weird.
00:31:23.980 | It's super weird.
00:31:24.820 | And then I just think, yeah, I don't know.
00:31:28.540 | I could go on a whole rant about deep stuff.
00:31:30.540 | We'll save some stuff for other episodes.
00:31:33.300 | - Okay, let me just do one final question.
00:31:36.100 | I actually submitted this question myself.
00:31:38.460 | - Did you?
00:31:39.300 | - Yeah.
00:31:40.340 | - I asked when in your life have you been
00:31:42.420 | like the most pure happiest?
00:31:44.980 | And do you think the future will be even happier?
00:31:46.900 | Or do you think you've experienced your happiest?
00:31:49.820 | - I think, like 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 like,
00:32:00.220 | like find your inner child,
00:32:02.140 | because that's when we're our most pure
00:32:05.300 | before we're like tainted by the world,
00:32:06.900 | before we have aspirations that aren't,
00:32:10.060 | that aren't the right aspirations and things like that.
00:32:12.300 | So I sometimes think like,
00:32:14.860 | can I ever get to that point back before I was kind of like,
00:32:17.820 | 'cause we're all in a sense like programmed,
00:32:19.820 | like even if you're not programmed
00:32:21.860 | and you think you're outside of this,
00:32:23.660 | at the end of the day, like we all,
00:32:25.580 | like we all have certain thoughts,
00:32:28.660 | patterns and things that were put into us by the world.
00:32:31.500 | And so like, can you escape that?
00:32:33.900 | And one of my, one of my plans to escape it,
00:32:38.380 | and this is something I've wanted to do
00:32:39.700 | ever since I was little.
00:32:41.220 | I think I told Bree about this.
00:32:43.260 | It's like, 'cause it's weird.
00:32:45.140 | Once you have money, it's just so weird
00:32:47.620 | because once you have like money,
00:32:49.420 | things that used to be exciting to you
00:32:50.940 | may not be exciting anymore because you got used to them.
00:32:53.580 | So it's like everyone really is on the same level
00:32:57.860 | of happiness because everyone just got used
00:32:59.660 | to what they have.
00:33:00.740 | So if you're, if you're like middle class,
00:33:02.980 | you got used to eating at, eating at certain restaurants.
00:33:06.620 | And then when you get to go to maybe,
00:33:07.860 | do you remember like when we were poor growing up,
00:33:10.300 | like, and we had our birthday dinners,
00:33:11.660 | like going to Noodles and Company
00:33:13.740 | was like our special birthday meal?
00:33:16.300 | Like that's crazy to think about.
00:33:17.420 | But now if Noodles and Company was my,
00:33:21.420 | was my like meal for lunch, I'd be like,
00:33:23.820 | "Yo, I'm eating bad today."
00:33:25.580 | But that used to be like our special meal.
00:33:27.540 | So like one of my goals to kind of detach
00:33:30.900 | from the programming of that is
00:33:35.260 | there's gonna be like a year in my life,
00:33:37.020 | like once my career is over,
00:33:38.660 | where I live like a very minimalistic life.
00:33:41.100 | Like I'm not gonna live in, in one of my houses,
00:33:43.940 | like here in Denver.
00:33:44.980 | I'm gonna get like a, like a super little house
00:33:47.740 | and I'm gonna only spend maybe,
00:33:49.460 | I'm gonna try to like live on like $1,000 a month.
00:33:51.900 | Like something that like the lower class would do
00:33:54.700 | just to kind of like go all the way.
00:33:57.580 | I've thought about like maybe one day
00:33:59.900 | even like trying to see if I could be homeless for a year.
00:34:02.540 | Like, not a year, maybe not a year, a month, a month.
00:34:05.140 | I think the homeless thing was a month,
00:34:06.700 | but live the minimalistic lifestyle for like a year.
00:34:09.300 | 'Cause then thinking about going back to all your blessings,
00:34:12.220 | you would appreciate them all over again.
00:34:13.860 | - It would be so new.
00:34:14.700 | Yeah, that's the thing, you just get like,
00:34:16.460 | you just get used to it and you don't see it
00:34:18.380 | for like the blessing it is when it's just the everyday.
00:34:20.580 | - And then you just are always searching for more and more.
00:34:23.780 | That's why people that actually get
00:34:26.300 | what they like wanted in life
00:34:28.540 | as far as you know, finances or whatever,
00:34:30.780 | sometimes they end up the most unhappy
00:34:32.440 | because they thought this thing far out
00:34:34.500 | was gonna bring them peace and bring them happiness,
00:34:37.000 | but it didn't.
00:34:38.380 | So I've realized that, you know, getting rich,
00:34:43.140 | you know, even winning an NBA championship,
00:34:46.580 | maybe being one of the best players in the NBA,
00:34:48.340 | that ultimately doesn't bring
00:34:50.380 | like ultimate happiness and peace.
00:34:54.400 | So I think that's one of my things I wanna do.
00:34:56.920 | - Well, that's probably why like you can,
00:34:59.360 | he said that those big like accomplishments
00:35:02.440 | don't bring ultimate happiness and peace.
00:35:04.440 | It's like appreciating like the everyday blessings
00:35:06.360 | around you that we get used to,
00:35:07.640 | but the people that like the janitors
00:35:09.720 | that you see that are so happy
00:35:10.920 | or the people like living the lifestyle
00:35:13.000 | that you're talking about that are so happy,
00:35:15.080 | like they've just found the hack
00:35:16.480 | of like appreciating like the mundane.
00:35:19.080 | - Yeah, appreciating the process of life,
00:35:22.300 | what they do have, the blessings they do have.
00:35:24.880 | It's weird how you can have so many blessings
00:35:27.040 | and so many things good in your life,
00:35:28.840 | but we always focus on the one thing that we don't have
00:35:31.760 | or we wish we had.
00:35:33.280 | And so I don't know.
00:35:34.120 | I feel like that's like Western society programming
00:35:36.880 | 'cause I don't know if people,
00:35:38.040 | I mean, you've been over there, you know,
00:35:39.360 | taking care of those little kids.
00:35:40.440 | I don't know if they really live like that.
00:35:43.080 | - I mean, I would say no from what I experienced.
00:35:46.680 | Like I feel like they were literally so happy
00:35:48.100 | and they live in a literal dirt hut smaller than this room.
00:35:51.920 | Like the whole family's in there.
00:35:53.440 | - So that's why I say like no matter how far detached
00:35:56.960 | you think you are, like to an extent,
00:35:58.720 | we're all kind of programmed.
00:35:59.640 | And I'm so thankful that I was homeschooled growing up
00:36:04.180 | because I think I'm less programmed than some people
00:36:06.760 | and I can think freer than some people.
00:36:09.000 | But to an extent, we all are.
00:36:10.160 | So I wanna somehow figure out ways to detach from that.
00:36:13.400 | And I think, you know, choosing to live
00:36:17.840 | in a way where I could live a certain way
00:36:21.280 | would be a cool way to do it,
00:36:23.200 | but that's just a goal of mine.
00:36:25.260 | Should I ask my curious question?
00:36:28.520 | - Oh yeah, go for it.
00:36:29.520 | Should I step out of the frame
00:36:30.600 | while you talk with the people?
00:36:32.200 | - No, you don't have to.
00:36:34.880 | So yeah, we're gonna start this new thing
00:36:36.240 | called Curious Questions.
00:36:40.280 | And this is just something I'm curious
00:36:41.800 | about your guys' thoughts on, you know what I mean?
00:36:44.040 | This is called Curious Mike,
00:36:45.240 | so we talk openly about things.
00:36:47.840 | My question for y'all for this episode
00:36:50.860 | is now that we're some time removed from COVID,
00:36:54.640 | and the coronavirus is not as talked about
00:36:59.680 | and things like that,
00:37:01.000 | what are your guys' thoughts on the virus, the vaccine?
00:37:06.000 | Did the vaccine help?
00:37:07.360 | Did it hurt?
00:37:08.280 | You know, you got some people that think the vaccine
00:37:11.320 | is the reason 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
00:37:19.400 | or they're having complications with the vaccine.
00:37:22.220 | So now that we're some time removed,
00:37:25.180 | I wanna know your guys' thoughts on that.
00:37:27.540 | I'm actually one of like five or six NBA players
00:37:31.220 | that didn't get vaccinated.
00:37:32.580 | - So few.
00:37:34.300 | - I don't know if it was like the best thing,
00:37:37.420 | not the best thing.
00:37:38.380 | I think I did the right thing.
00:37:39.460 | I got teammates telling me
00:37:40.300 | like they wish they didn't get vaccinated,
00:37:41.740 | things like that.
00:37:42.620 | But there was a time where it was like so pushed
00:37:45.300 | and it was trying to be forced on us.
00:37:47.260 | So I'm curious what your guys' thoughts are surrounding that
00:37:50.920 | now that we're a little bit removed from that.
00:37:53.260 | I'm excited to get back into Curious Mike.
00:37:56.600 | I know it's been over a year.
00:37:58.880 | You know, I was dealing with some injury stuff.
00:38:00.520 | I couldn't find the motivation,
00:38:01.760 | but I appreciate you guys
00:38:05.280 | and we're gonna get back into it.
00:38:06.860 | I'm gonna start recording episodes pretty often
00:38:09.040 | and just dropping them whenever I record them.
00:38:11.640 | So that's how we're gonna do it from here on out.
00:38:14.240 | If you guys have any guests
00:38:15.500 | that you wanna see me interview or any questions for me,
00:38:20.500 | I'll be doing solo episodes like this from time to time.
00:38:23.940 | 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 that cracking.
00:38:37.740 | - I hope.
00:38:39.780 | Sometimes I think I'm too open on these things.
00:38:42.340 | - But that's the whole point.
00:38:43.720 | - That is the whole point, yeah.
00:38:45.600 | It's not like I made it to try to keep like a...
00:38:48.920 | Like I made it so that I could just talk about
00:38:51.000 | how I wanna talk about.
00:38:52.480 | - Yeah.
00:38:53.320 | you
00:38:55.380 | you