LeBron James CONDEMNS ‘ring culture’ 💍 ‘What matters if YOU DON’T WIN?’ – P.K. Subban | Get Up

Brian Windhorst, Dan Graziano, P.K. Subban, Louis Riddick and Mike Tannenbaum join Mike Greenberg on Get Up to react to LeBron James’ comments on NBA “ring culture” and how the media puts such pressure on individual players to win a championship. Then, Monica McNutt and Alan Hahn join to discuss news and notes around the NBA ahead of Game 6 of the 2025 NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

0:00 LeBron’s comments on “ring culture”
1:32 Windy agrees
3:13 What if Connor McDavid never wins a Stanley Cup?
4:54 Baseball’s examples
7:12 Football’s examples
9:03 Wayback Wednesday
10:28 Fact or Fiction
13:30 Could Kevin Durant be a championship player?

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have done an interesting set of soundoffs this morning Again interesting people saying interesting things None perhaps more interesting than LeBron James who was on his mind the game podcast discussing the shift in ring culture and how it has been amplified in the NBA A ring is a team accomplishment I don’t know where it started It’s just it’s a long conversation especially when it comes to like you know
me individually I don’t know why it’s discussed so much in our sport You tell me you know Allan Iverson and Charles Barkley and Steve Nash you know you know our wasn’t unbelievable Like oh they can’t be talked about or discussed with these guys is because this guy won one ring or won two rings or one like it’s just it’s just weird to me It’s like saying Pton Manning can’t be in the same room with Brady
or Mahomes because he only has one ring Barry Bonds never won a World Series You can’t sit here and tell me that he’s not the greatest baseball player to ever touch a bat Okay So very interesting Obviously and a part of the sports conversation that has been going on certainly as long as I’ve been here which goes back to the late 90s to clean up just one quick thing thing he said there Pton Manning won two Super Bowls the one at the very end but that’s not really the most important part of course Winman let’s start with you as as you hear LeBron James someone that you’ve been covering since he was a teenager in that conversation What’s your reaction i happen to agree with him Um and right now I’m at the end of a two-month run where I’ve been on the front line in the playoffs Um and I know what it takes to win an NBA championship because I’ve watched team after team after team after the last 20 over the last 20 years talking to players even just in the last couple of days about how exhausting it is And it’s why I never believe in ever under any circumstance circumstances pulling down or denigrating a champion by attaching an asterisk or something But I will just say is the only other thing LeBron contributed to this with his movement in his career to join super teams and his famous infamous comments not five not six not seven In that situation he sort of set a standard to change the conversation
Yeah that it is fascinating that it is LeBron James making these statements And I can’t pretend I want everyone to chime in on this because this applies in all sports across the board I can’t pretend that I know what it’s like to have my every move dissected the way he does We We all get some of that but LeBron James literally everything he’s done every decision both the big ones and all the others are dissected constantly So I don’t know what that’s like and I don’t know what it is he hears on a day-to-day basis But let’s just dive into that Is it a reasonable way to frame players careers and to judge athletes pk I want to start with you As of last night Conor McDavid continues to be without a ring People will tell me people who know I don’t I don’t pretend to know nearly as much about hockey as most people who follow it ardently will tell me he’s as good as any player that ever lived Is it reasonable to hold against him the fact that he doesn’t have a cup and the Gretzkies and all the other guys at the very top of the list do
well for me I I I don’t think there’s any point in playing sports if it’s not about winning a championship You you play to win I dreamt about winning a Stanley Cup even though I didn’t get one My dream was to win a cup It wasn’t to drive around in an Escalade It wasn’t to wear nice tailored suits It wasn’t to nice have the nicest watch It wasn’t to score a bunch of points It was to win a championship Now whether you win one or not we know it all It doesn’t always happen But to consider yourself the greatest to me you got to win a championship And it doesn’t matter what sport you’re in Some sports it’s more difficult than others But we can’t sit here and say that “Oh I want to be the greatest even though I didn’t win.” No no no no no no no As hockey players in our sport it’s all about winning Nothing’s more important Listen last night I sat there and had to watch guys win the cup I can’t stand watching guys hoist that thing because all of us want to do it
but not everybody can So you got to respect the game The game no one is bigger than the game in hockey No one is bigger than that trophy Nothing matters more than that trophy That’s in our sport I can’t speak to everything else In our sport nothing’s more important
I get it But the question is is it a reasonable way to judge the greatness of a player
no No Because there’s a difference between saying the championship is the most important thing and the championship is the only thing that matters That that is the problem right that’s what LeBron James is talking about is is the perception that all that matters is the championship Like that there’s no other way of accomplishing greatness And and I think that’s I when I covered the Yankees the Joe Tory Derek Jeter Yankees you every year in spring training you know you’d ask Jeter “What do you think of last season the year you had last year.” Well did we win the World Series no Then it wasn’t a good year And I used to think what a terrible way to live Like like it was like you play for six months you two months of spring training a six-month season a month of playoffs and you come up short you lose game seven of the World Series You had a great year right and that Right But that that that drove him I understand that That makes sense right but that’s it right there Gra That’s what team sports about is it’s the psychotic dive to win a championship and nothing else really matters And look if we’re talking about Roger Federer and Tiger Woods those individual sports like that’s one thing but in a team sport like greatness is about impacting others So I could tell you I’ve been to three championship games and fallen short And to this day like I could tell you the exact moment I knew we were gonna lose and how much it hurt to this day like to what PK’s saying like that’s what you signed up for like to win championships
Understood Stay where I I get what you’re saying What you’re saying every person in sports feels that way But the question is LeBron is saying Charles Barkley Alan Iverson Steve Nash Barry Bonds are they not great because they didn’t win the whole thing what’s the answer to that
no Look they they are great despite not winning the whole thing Okay look and it’s two different conversations really that we’re having here And the one I can the one I can draw the parallel to is this
Is anybody going to sit here and tell me in their right mind that Barry Sanders is not one of the greatest athletes to ever walk the face of the Spurs regardless of just being a football player came close I mean they came close to maybe you know advancing through the playoffs
Not that close Exactly But my my but but but my point being but my point being you wouldn’t have a discussion about great players in the NFL without including Barry Sanders But this is a different discussion This this is a very you know when you’re talking about winning that’s a different kind of discussion right and and that’s where that’s where the conversation always kind of gets a little bit sideways when we talk about Tom Brady you know in uh when we’re referencing guys like Dan Marino when we’re referencing you know guys like a Joe Burrow or even you know like right now a guy like Lamar Jackson who hasn’t won a championship but who’s one of the most talented players ever played a position It’s two totally different conversations I get it And and go ahead Dan
The championship so much goes into it Is Tom Brady that much better because Russell Wilson threw an interception on a one-yd line in the Super Bowl Brady wasn’t even on the field That’s a Brady ring right if that if that pass is completed or if they score some other way Brady has six championships not seven Like that Like and I get that’s an extreme example Brady But the point is there’s so you can do everything You can you can it can be the defining aspect of your life I need to win a championship I do everything right and then the ball or the puck bounces the wrong way and all of a sudden you don’t and that doesn’t make you any less of a player
But that’s you just gave the description of why it’s so precious when you do win it like what Wendy said like when he’s seen these guys special right and it’s really hard to achieve
But let’s just to put it back into what LeBron said He almost framed it himself
Was Charles Barkley an all-time great player was Carl Malone an alltime great was Patrick great yes
Was Michael Jordan better why well because he beat them every damn year That’s why because he won the championships and they did It takes the conversation to a whole new level Yes When you win which is really the whole purpose as PK is saying of playing sports That’s why they have scoreboards That’s why they count But it’s also the way that he won
He made his teammates better He went through We watched it happen Like that as an athlete that’s part of me That means more than anything If you want to compare Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers look at Tom Bray in Tampa Bay and look at Aaron Rogers since he left Green Bay Like one had success past New England the other didn’t have success past Green Bay
Even that difference doesn’t guarantee one’s going to win a title and the other
How you win How you win one matters to me
And we tend to only hold certain people to this standard because they have to be the greatest of the great And to your point it doesn’t apply to running backs It applies to quarterbacks It applies to NBA stars And I think it applies to the greatest of the all That’s exactly why it’s never going to be an apples to apples comparison It never will
All right we’ll leave it here It’s such an interesting discussion We thank LeBron for bringing it up in the hour Get up It is a way back Wednesday Mike Breen do the honors James catches puts up a three Long go rebound Bosch back out to Allen His three-pointer Tie game with five seconds remaining Spurs do not have a timeout Ray Allen on this day in 2003 one of the most clutch shots in NBA history We were there They were already bringing out the trophy to give it to the San Antonio Spurs They had cordoned off the area the ropes there in that corner
I just remember the fans leaving
Well that Yeah that and they couldn’t get back in the building Ray Allen told me though like the biggest part of that whole play is Chris Bosch’s rebound That ball if you look at it almost tipped out of his hands right there And he grabs it with two hands And that is that saved everything That rebound
It’s very unselfish of Ray to put it that way I think the most incredible thing about this is him keeping his heels from touching the ground If you’ve seen the the legendary photo his heels would have been out of bounds but he never touches his heels He shoots that ball just off the tips of his toes It it’s one of the great moments in basketball history Let’s see if we have any of those in store for game six and maybe seven of these finals So with that thought in mind let’s play fact or fiction Monica McNut
Okay
If I said the Pacers are going to force a game seven is that fact or fiction
this one’s fiction for me Greeny mostly I just cuz I have a ton of respect for the Pacers and they could But for me this is fiction because I picked this series to go six out of understanding who this Thunder team excuse me could be and who they could elevate to be And I think the difference from game five to game one for them is a team that’s going to close out in six Let’s go around the league Allan if I said the Grizzlies should trade John Morant is that fact or fiction
you mean right now it’s fiction because there’s a lot of questions about John Morant around the league One of them is actually a curiosity that who got Taylor Jenkins fired Were you part of this decision i think there right now there’s too much off the court going on with John Morant You want to get him back on the court You want to get him playing get his value up so you can get the most form if you want to move
And then Monica back to you If I said Kevin Durant would make the Timberwolves title favorites is that fact or fiction
this one’s fiction for me because as we worked on this segment yesterday favorite meant the favorite the single favorite I can’t give them that that quickly I personally I think it takes a minute for stars to kind of gel And then you can’t throw the thunder if they go on to close out tonight or in seven games You can’t throw the thunder out of the um equation Well let’s talk more about Kevin Durant shall we jay Williams was on this show yesterday He had this assessment about KD’s impact It’s going to sound harsh but it’s just reality of it Like he’s not going to be the guy you’re going to build around for the next five years He’s a he’s a high-end ancillary piece that could be additive to a championship team So I did an essay earlier this morning that is currently blowing up on Twitter X and and I I ran through all of the things I can’t argue that Kevin Durant isn’t someone you build around for five more years He’s going to be 37 I cannot sit here and tell you that 5 years from now he’s going to be the key to a championship puzzle I can however tell you that his numbers suggest he is playing every bit as well right now on both ends of the floor as he ever has in his career So to me the answer to the question on the screen can Durant be the best player on a championship team is yes Now if there’s one thing we’ve learned in the modern NBA Brian Winhorse it’s that no one player can win a championship the the sport has become more about the bench and the others and the depth But can KD be the best the single best player on a championship team to me the answer is definitively yes What do you think Winman well let’s look at the teams that are on his list I I I think he’s got Miami on there because he is attracted by the city and Pat Riley It’s certainly not the team So let’s put them aside Let’s look at Houston and San Antonio He would be the number one offensive option on those two teams Now I don’t know about best player Greeny I don’t I don’t know if that’s what he’s looking for at age 37 but he certainly would join those two teams and make them way more dynamic offensively particularly Houston who is an elite defensive team that had difficulty getting isolation and individual scoring Um and so he certainly believes by looking at those two teams that he can be a very high level member uh of a of a of a contending team And so I’m going to listen to what he says there And that’s why I think Houston especially has got their eyebrow up I’m not sure they’re willing to pay a massive price for a 37y old when the rest of their team is in its early to mid20s But I think Houston should definitely be considered still in this race especially if Minnesota doesn’t close
I I think depending on what they have to give up and if teams believe they are renting him meaning he only has one year left on his deal that price might be lower All other things being equal if you just add Kevin Durant to what Houston had this year to me they do become one and one A with OKC for next year
Oo Uh I don’t know about 1A and one
They were the two seed this year They had a great finish
They did have a great finish Here’s here’s the offense for them at times was at at best anemic right and Katie obviously would immediately solve that Um I just the idea of dropping him in yes but the idea of doing a trade I think you’re going to take a little bit of a hit on one of one end and that would probably be on the defensive side of the basketball I I don’t think anybody is disillusioned about who KD is Again it’s how well is it going to fit what is sort of the immediate plan versus the long-term plan and then what do you have to give up you’re asking the question can he be the best player on a championship team the answer is yes Definitively yes But does he have to be
the lead player well does he have to be the leader of that team does he have to be the most important figure on that team no He can be the most talented best player in the moments and you saw like the Rockets stuff there That that was great numbers there Clutch time with the Rockets They struggled in it He’s the perfect guy for clutch time He could bring you home But you you don’t need him to be the face of your franchise right that’s the part If you have the right build already and then you drop him in he just has to be Kevin Durant You’re not asking him to now change the locker room culture be the face of the franchise talk to the media No just do what you do best We’ve already got other stuff taken care of Which is why the Knicks part was so intriguing and why Minnesota is so intriguing
right i think as we were talking through this some last night the idea that he would be sort of the lone multi-time all-star That to me is what you’re getting into now right like he could be number one but the guy next to him has also been a fringe all NBA guy Like is an all-star caliber guy the distance between him and the rest of the squad He’s not at a place where I think he could just drag a bunch of Joe’s What I said earlier his contemporaries are LeBron James and Steph Curry’s a little younger than Steph He’s much younger than LeBron Their games haven’t fallen off that substantially and neither has his And we never we somehow view him very differently And I get there are a lot of reasons why I think someone might be making a great great move if they find a way to get Kevin Durant Meanwhile we still have this season to finish up Game six NBA finals tomorrow night