Lamorne Morris On Being A Lebron James Super Fan Re Casting New Girl With Nba Players And His Experi

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I sat courtside with Ice Cube. I forget who the player was that came up to him and said something to him.

And he was like, y'all lose. You might want to keep your eye on the game.

He said it with such a serious look that I was like, oh, that's cool.

What's up, you guys? I'm Rachel Namita and welcome to the Courtside Club.

Today, I am joined by actor, comedian, my good friend, and an NBA superfan, Lamorne Morris.

Welcome to the Courtside Club.

Hello. Thank you for having me.

When you say NBA superfan, I want the folks out there to understand something very specific about this.

Okay.

Former basketball player. Let's just say it. I'm not just a dude off the street.

I'm one of the best basketball players you probably know.

Explain.

I don't think there's anything to explain.

When did you play basketball? I don't think I know this.

Let's not worry about the details.

I think that's the problem is you're trying to focus in on specifics.

I'm talking like the overall thing here. I'm highly skilled, highly trained.

Okay.

Excellent basketball player mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

Okay. 2K rating?

My 2K rating?

Honestly, I felt slighted because I was a 95.

Oh.

I thought I should have been 96 right there with Kevin Durant, LeBron, Steph, whoever else, Jokic.

But.

You know what I mean? That's Ronnie. Him and I got problems. We've always had problems.

So now we're on the fan side. We've retired from the game. 96, 95 rating.

95 rating. Yeah.

We actually met, though, through the NBA.

We did.

I had no clue you were a basketball fan.

Yeah. How did we meet? I know we met because of basketball.

So it was, I remember, it was an NBA. The NBA threw a party for the NBA finals.

It was like a viewing party, right?

Yes.

You and I were there.

There was some YouTubers there. And then also the other comedian.

The other one.

No.

It was the other comedian.

No. He's like super famous.

King Bach.

Anderson. No.

Anderson Silva.

No. No. We did talk about him on the last show, though.

Wait. Isn't that his last name?

Anthony Anderson.

Anthony Anderson.

Oh, yes. We hosted.

Yes. Okay. Now I remember.

So we were there. Got to watch the finals together.

You were going hard for Cleveland because LeBron was there.

I'm a huge LeBron fan.

Yeah.

But you're.

It's weird.

It's weird to me because you're from Chicago.

Listen, again, you get too much into specifics. I think that's the issue there.

You got to understand where greatness lies.

Okay.

Greatness lies in Chicago. Sure. Okay. Once upon a time. And they're good now.

LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of all time.

So he supersedes any logo you can put. He transcends any organization you can put on his jersey.

What does your family and friends say in Chicago?

They don't talk to me anymore.

I haven't heard or seen them.

You've been disowned.

I've been banished. Whenever I get to the airport, there's extra security for me.

No, I'm. Listen, Michael Jordan is fantastic. He's the second greatest player of all time.

I don't think there's any shame in that.

There's no shame in being the second greatest player of all time.

That's a great accomplishment.

But why. So why do you rank them like this?

You know that we're on ESPN's YouTube channel.

They love this debate. ESPN loves the MJ LeBron debate.

But I do want to hear something because I grew up.

I grew up in Akron, grew up in Ohio, like I grew up in the LeBron era.

I didn't even get to see Michael play that much.

So I want to know from your perspective.

I mean, I probably I probably attribute longevity to the conversation more than some people would like to, because in order to be that good for that long, it's it's insane.

You know what I mean?

Michael Jordan.

I would say Michael Jordan's peaks were definitely higher than LeBron.

But LeBron's peaks were right under his in certain aspects and in some aspects a lot higher than his.

But he's been doing it going on 20 years, which is which is crazy.

You know what I mean?

By the time I turned 20 years old, I had a beer belly.

You know what I mean?

I was lazy.

LeBron James is shredded.

You're still crossing people up on the court, right?

I crossed LeBron over when we were 14.

That's on ESPN.

You guys go look that up as well.

It's out there.

The clip is out there.

I definitely did.

This is a fact.

I'm not.

That's not a joke.

OK.

We were.

14 years old.

We'll take it to the archives.

Yeah.

But no, I don't know.

I think you got to look at statistics.

Some people don't.

People use the eyeball test.

And sometimes your eyes lie.

Sometimes you just there's a there's a certain romanticism to to to history where we go, man, I'm from Chicago.

Michael Jordan missed some shots.

Now we make it seem like he didn't.

You know, LeBron James got a man's good, really good.

But I feel like people will rebuttal that and say.

Michael has this many rings or he has this many defensive player of the year.

He had he had he had one defense player of the year.

Correct.

We all know LeBron should have won defensive player of the year and then gave it to Marc Gasol.

Let's be honest.

Marc Gasol didn't even make it all defensive team.

But he was the defensive player of the year.

Or maybe it was all defensive first team.

He's a defensive player.

Well, question for you, then.

Do you feel like the NBA gives defensive player of the year too often to just the biggest?

Guy?

It's always because it's easier, right?

As a bigger guy in that position to to get blocks and kind of get numbers in that regard.

I mean, maybe I just think that I know in that case, I just think during that time, Memphis had a Memphis.

Their defensive capabilities were they may have been at the top of the league.

Yeah, but I think you're forgetting the fact that Tony Allen was also on that team.

One of the all time greats defensively.

Marc Gasol.

Also.

One of the all time greats defensively.

However, that year, LeBron James is guarding one through five.

Well, that's what I'm saying.

And so he doesn't even have the opportunity to do as much like to get the stats that big men can get when they're.

Am I wrong?

No, no.

I just think defensive rebounds blocks.

But I know.

I think you're right.

I think you're right.

I just think that was a special instance.

It was because we knew LeBron was going to win MVP.

So they were like, OK, let's give it to this guy.

Probably never.

Never do anything.

You know what I mean?

No disrespect to Marc Gasol.

He's fantastic.

You heard his accent.

What a sexy beast.

You know what I mean?

Handsome fella.

I'm sure he's good with the community.

But I'm saying in that year, that was LeBron's year to win it.

Yeah.

And he still talks about it.

He's I'm pissed about it because people use that in the Jordan argument.

Right.

You know.

So the Lakers then.

So are you a fan of LeBron wherever he goes?

Yeah.

Are you a fan of whatever team he's on?

I guess.

I'm a fan of whatever team LeBron's.

I'm a I'm a I'm a player first fan.

You know, I mean, I have my players that when they go when they go move around to certain teams, I'm rooting for those teams.

I can't root for the jersey because then these owners who I don't know who they are can ship you off anywhere.

And I'm not supposed to root for, you know, Joe Schmoe because you you just brought him over to the team.

Like, no, I don't want to watch mediocre basketball all day.

That's terrible.

You know what happens to a mediocre TV show?

They cancel it.

You can't cancel a mediocre basketball.

We're forced to watch it.

Because.

That's the region we're in.

No.

But where's that like hometown pride, you know, or it's not in sports.

Do you have it in any sense of Chicago?

Yeah.

I always root for the Bulls.

But I'm just a LeBron fan.

No.

Who said you had to choose one?

When you wake up in the morning, do you always eat oatmeal?

No.

Sometimes.

That would be a boring life.

Exactly.

Sometimes I want a burrito.

You know, I'm just pressing you because I'm also the same way.

I'm not.

I don't really ride or die hard for.

One team, especially in basketball, because I've worked in it so much as well.

It's like you do start becoming player first or also you're just a fan of good basketball.

So you see certain teams like their style of play or what they're about.

Like even the Warriors, for example, like I root for them because I think it's cool what

they've done with that team and what that with that system.

You know what I mean?

I hate them kind of stuck together.

I hate them.

Why?

Because they're so good.

And they're so good.

I hate it so much.

They're so good.

Every.

I feel like every player.

On that team is a starter.

Even the bench players.

You know what I mean?

Like is coming in the lineup.

I think coming to Google play anywhere in the world as a 19 or 20 year old and start.

He's that good.

Yeah.

Jordan Poole is an all star.

You know what I mean?

I got that.

I just.

That team is so unfair.

The way they can put a team together.

That is like an organization that I'll take my hat off to.

That's.

Yeah.

You know, but, you know, if you if let's say you live in Oakland and let's say they ship

off Steph Curry.

They Thompson and Draymond, let's say all of a sudden they ship those guys off for some

sort of financial purposes.

Are you really going to sit there and be like, yeah, this is going to be the new.

I can't wait.

This is the year.

No, you're going to you're going to go and root for your guys somewhere else.

So being a player first fan, how do you feel about the players really taking control of

the league, more control over the league lately and being able to demand trades or go different

places or express when they're not happy with the team?

I think it's great.

A lot of the bullying tactics.

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure if I like that so much because there still is a fan base that does want to

see you play.

I will say that.

But when you do things, when you negotiate beforehand, then I can understand you exercising

your ability to.

To do that, you know, if you say you don't want to, if you have a no trade clause and

you don't want to be traded.

Great.

That's in your that's in your that's in your contract.

If you have a situation like like what LeBron does where he'll play.

Out his deal.

And then he has the option to leave and go somewhere else if he wants to.

And he's not he's not screwing over the fan base.

He's that's the contract I signed.

That's the deal I signed.

Yeah.

And so I'm just exercising my rights to do that.

Now, other players who are like, man, I'm gonna go gain 50 pounds and then like I'm

gonna have like lint in my beard.

Like, no disrespect to James Harden.

I'm sure he's a great guy.

I don't know what you're talking about.

James Harden.

I'm talking about.

I love James Harden.

However, I'm just saying like.

Stuff like that.

I mean, ultimately, you get what you want, I think.

But like that was for certain fans.

It probably rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way.

And it still is a fan driven sport, you know?

Yeah.

It's a tricky thing.

Loyalty in business.

You know what I mean?

It's like if they again, if an organization wanted to ship you off, then I don't.

Where's the loyalty there?

Yeah.

Where is nowhere to be found.

But finally, when when these athletes have the ability to control their own

destinies.

It becomes an issue.

Yeah.

It's like, well, you shouldn't.

Yeah.

Well, hold on now.

I would rather choose where I'm going than be shipped off somewhere like that.

I don't want to go to.

Or find out on Twitter that I'm being shipped off somewhere.

Can you imagine?

Well, there's been guys.

What was it a couple of seasons ago where one of the players found out on the bench

that he was getting traded like in the middle of the game?

That's crazy to me.

Yeah.

Which player in the league do you think has been the most disrespected by me?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Media fans.

Russell Westbrook.

Absolutely.

I would agree.

I would say overall, like throughout history, LeBron has been highly disrespected,

but he's also been highly praised in a way that unlike, you know, we're comparing

him to Michael Jordan for crying out loud.

He's become polarized for whatever reason.

Yeah.

Westbrook or LeBron?

No.

Westbrook, I feel like, has always been in that category.

But LeBron has.

And I think it not even just.

I think it's just from leaving Cleveland the initial time.

And I understand that in a sense, just being from Ohio and not, I don't understand like

the burning jerseys being like so angry with him.

Yeah.

But I do understand just like being hurt if you're an Ohio sports fan, because you're

like, dang, like this was like our star player who we've been watching since he was a kid.

I get it.

Yeah.

I get it.

So I get that.

But for some reason, he's gotten to this point where so many people hate him.

Yeah.

Why?

Because it's easy to.

It's easy to.

Why do you think that Steph Curry is so like universally loved and LeBron has become this

kind of polarized figure?

He hasn't left.

Uh-huh.

LeBron was great until he left Cleveland.

You know what I mean?

I was going to say, do you think that that was, that's what did it?

That's, that, that, that definitely doesn't hurt.

And Steph Curry didn't have expectations when he came in the league.

You know what I mean?

He didn't have expectations.

Yeah.

He was kind of like an underdog in a sense.

You know?

Yeah.

He's been an underdog.

He's undersized, you know, all that stuff.

You know?

And, you know, you put your daughter on a press conference.

You know what I mean?

Like people, that melts hearts all over the world.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Like you can't hate a guy like that when his, when his family is so adorable.

Because he, but you, because you say like when you're great, everybody like wants to

hate you.

But that is one guy who I feel like has been untouchable in a sense.

Like people do not hate Steph Curry.

When LeBron would dunk on somebody, you know, he used to like, he used to like snarl a lot

and like do the thing like, right.

Do all that.

Do all that stuff.

People started comparing him to Michael Jordan.

The old head, the old head started hating that.

So you, he's now, he's now telling you like, feel free to hate me a little bit because

he's doing kind of cocky showboat-ish type of stuff.

I guess so.

Steph Curry, very meek.

You know?

He doesn't dunk really.

He doesn't dunk really.

Either.

But he'll shoot from half court.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

And be like coy about it at times.

And just turn around.

Yeah.

Turn around and run the other way.

They call him the baby face assassin.

You can't hate somebody who's like, who's a baby face.

Last thing on the NBA front.

Do you have predictions for this upcoming season?

Before, before you, before you say that, I do also want to go back and like,

Russell Westbrook is one of the best players in the league.

Okay.

I will say that he had a bad season.

And by bad season, I mean 18, eight and eight or whatever that was.

No, I'm a big fan of Russell.

Like the thing I don't understand about him is like, you can hate him again.

If you go back to just like, I guess what some would consider cocky.

But to me, that's like.

Sports.

So it's, it's weird to like be turned off by that.

But Russell, even if he is missing every single shot, he gives a hundred percent on the court,

like literally every minute when he is in.

And I don't think you could say that about any other player in the NBA.

Literally at all times leaves everything on the court.

Absolutely.

And he also has the only time that he's ever been disrespectful to, to media or whatnot

is when somebody is disrespectful to him towards him first.

Yeah.

So it's kind of weird to me.

Like you can maybe say,

oh, I don't like his style of play or it's whatever,

but to hate him when he really is like giving all he's got is,

is bizarre to me.

I think it was.

And even from the media standpoint as well.

I think it was a media hit job on him.

It feels like that.

It really feels like conspiracy.

It really feels that way.

I mean, I listen, I love the Lakers and yeah, it wasn't a great year,

but are we forgetting the fact that AD was hurt a lot of the year?

LeBron was hurt a lot of the year.

Yeah.

They were hurt the year prior.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

And you bring a guy in and expecting to change the entire culture of your team.

Yeah.

There was some weird plays.

Sure.

The top of the backboard was touched a little bit too much with the basketball.

Sure.

That happened.

Maybe some airball layups, but guess what?

It happens throughout the course of season.

A miss is a miss.

I don't care how bad you miss it.

Yeah.

Man, average 18 points, eight rebounds, eight assists or whatever that was.

You know what I mean?

Players would kill for those stats.

Yeah.

And that's the low end of it.

That's the guy.

Yeah.

On his 14th or 15th year, whatever he's going into.

I just think we live in LA.

You know, it's a big sports town.

But the fan base, I'm sorry, is not great here at all.

Because when the Lakers were not good for a while,

you could hear a pin drop in the arena.

The fans were awful.

And you go to the games and it's a show.

You know that.

You can admit that.

Well, I won't say.

I won't say that.

I will only say it's because it's one of those sports towns that's two teams.

And when you want to see good basketball, for a while, when the Lakers were down,

the Clippers were good, even though they didn't win a championship.

So I think that has something to do with it.

No, but New York, the Knicks fans ride or die for Knicks.

Yeah, but they're also booing their own team.

What are you doing?

Like, I'd rather play in silence than that.

I don't know.

I just feel like there's passion behind it.

You know what I mean?

It's LA.

Because I just remember going to games in LA.

When they weren't good before LeBron was there.

And it just like, I was like, wow, these fans are really like.

The ticket prices were still high.

That doesn't make any sense.

I will say this, though.

It's because it's LA.

A lot of those fans on the floor, they're wearing shades.

So many diamonds.

Yeah.

They show up at halftime.

They don't even care.

Yeah, they're to be seen for a second.

They're celebrities.

You know what I mean?

They're busy.

They're off saving the world and stuff.

Doing philanthropy.

Is that what celebrities do?

Yeah.

It's philanthropy.

You know what I mean?

It's for the kids.

And then I'll come to the Laker game.

Yeah.

That's what it is.

That's what it is.

So I want to get more into kind of the entertainment celebrity side of things.

Your world a little bit more.

After we take a halftime break, if you're cool with that.

Yes.

So a lot of our fans probably recognize you from New Girl.

You were on that show for seven seasons.

Great show.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Did you enjoy your time there?

I did.

I did.

It was fun, man.

It was fun.

It was one of the, I would say, highlights of my entertainment career, which has been

great.

And it's still great.

We still communicate.

The fans, they come up to me every day.

I think it's always a positive experience.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

I think it's cool.

Okay.

So I'm going to take you out of your actor role and put you into the casting section

of production.

Yes.

What is that called?

I think you said it right.

Casting.

Okay.

I'm going to put you in casting.

I'm going to put you in casting.

I'm going to put you in casting.

I'm going to put you in casting.

I want you to recast the main five of New Girl, only using professional athletes.

Only using.

You can get super creative.

They don't have to be guys that you know act.

Okay.

Well, here's a lob.

Who's playing you?

Who's playing Winston?

Who's playing me?

My character started out slow on the show.

I was a replacement character.

But then-

Wait a second.

Yeah.

I remember that.

Yeah.

It wasn't in the pilot episode.

Yeah.

And then I came in, and I got to say, it was a little-

I didn't-

I didn't have my footing just yet.

And I didn't really find my rhythm until the second and third season.

Yeah.

So Giannis Antetokounmpo is playing me.

Okay.

I am the Giannis of New Girl.

I'll take that.

It's so good.

Giannis is the Winston of basketball.

Okay.

I hope Giannis likes cats.

Yes.

I hope so.

Shout out to Giannis Antetokounmpo.

I don't know why I said that like I know him.

I don't.

I've never met this man in my life.

Shout out to Giannis.

Hey, what's up, boy?

I hope you're good.

I've never met this man in my life.

I've never met him in my life.

Who is playing the Schmidt character?

Any Jewish basketball players in the NBA?

I mean, there has to be.

Omar Caspi?

Omar Caspi, he still play?

I don't know.

Sorry.

Who's the most fashionable, flashy, kind of, very-

When you say like flash, I thought of like Tyler Hero, but then he's like acts too cool

for school to be Schmidt, right?

Yeah.

Well, the Schmidt earlier years, that could be Tyler Hero.

I could definitely say that.

And Schmidt's earlier years on the show, you know, before character growth, he was definitely

going to take your shirt off all the time, you know, but then he, you know, Schmidt matured

over time.

You know what I'm going to go with?

Okay.

Let's hear it.

I'm going to go with Kevin Durant.

Okay.

And here's-

That's a wild card.

And here's why.

Kevin Durant is a sure bet.

No matter what.

No matter what.

He might have had one bad playoff series, and it wasn't even bad.

He just lost.

You know what I mean?

Which is his most recent one.

But Kevin Durant is a guaranteed bucket.

Schmidt is a guaranteed laugh.

It's guaranteed.

Okay.

I see where you're going with it.

No matter what.

Okay.

I see where you're going with it.

No matter what.

It's, you're going to laugh.

It's going to be, he's going to be the most entertaining person on camera.

So I'm going to go-

It's a tall cast.

Okay.

Very tall cast.

Very, very tall.

Jake Johnson.

Nick Miller.

For Nick Miller.

Bartender.

Likes to drink a lot.

Kind of lazy.

Old, old man-ish.

James Harden.

It's because of the beard.

I don't know James Harden.

I actually love James Harden.

I don't know him at all.

But I'm going to go with James Harden.

Okay.

Because James Harden is clearly one of the greatest scorers of all time.

Yeah.

But like, the Nick Caron.

The Nick Caron character was like, chilling all the time.

And James Harden seems to be like a person who's always just chilling.

Every time I see a clip of him, he's at the club.

You know what I mean?

Like, I know some stripper.

Never mind.

Anyway.

I'm going to go Nick Miller is James Harden.

Okay.

Now, I'm sure for the folks out there, I'm sure you have better answers.

But I've been put on the spot.

So I haven't.

No, I like this.

I like this.

Cece.

Yeah.

Reliable.

Okay.

You know.

The reliable.

Like, probably the rock of everything.

Because she was so stable.

I mean, she had some wobbly moments on the show.

When she was going through stuff and, you know, motherhood and all that stuff.

But for the most part, you could say the most reliable friend that you could possibly have.

And that is where I would go, Clay.

Okay.

Because Steph is great.

But Clay scored 67 points in a game once.

Right.

Didn't he drop 67 while only dribbling the ball?

11 times.

Oh, yeah.

That's pretty reliable.

His footwork is insane.

He's insane.

And Zoe LeBron.

Okay.

I'm going to go.

I see that.

Just because, like, she led our team.

She can do everything.

There's not a category in which LeBron is bad at.

Free throws?

Hey, man, you got to do a little bit better.

But, you know, if I got a 75% on a test at school, I was happy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I passed.

It means I did well.

So Zoe, I would say, there's not a category in performance that she's bad at.

She's really good.

And there are moments on that show where she's, like, she could be doing an emotional scene.

It doesn't matter the circumstance on the show.

Yeah.

She can do everything.

She can bounce in and out of comedy to drama seamlessly.

And, yeah, so I would call her the LeBron of our squad.

You dove much deeper than I was expecting.

Yeah.

You could have just been like,

Oh, a little personality change.

But I really appreciate it.

Yeah.

I was trying to compare, like, the players' attributes, what they're known for, their

history in the league, to, like, what our characters were known for.

No, it was awesome.

Yeah.

Hopefully that...

Yeah.

If you're out there, please come up with a better top five.

Yeah.

Comment below your top five.

Let me think about that, though.

If you did put them on the court, LeBron, Giannis, KD, Klay, who else did I say?

James Harden.

James Harden.

Are you kidding me?

What?

What?

What?

Which brings me to...

Wait.

Are you switching it up?

I gotta make a switch.

Oh, no.

Wait a second.

I'm sorry, James Harden.

Oh, I got it.

Oh, James Harden.

I'm sorry.

You're turning into the Skip Bayless of James Harden on this podcast.

No, I love James Harden.

But you're subbing him out?

Kyrie is Nick Miller.

Okay.

Nick Miller is a conspiracy theorist.

He is.

He's bad.

Nick Miller is...

You know, I don't trust Nick business.

He does everything himself.

He fixes everything at home himself.

Yeah, yeah.

True, true, true.

I got a feeling.

I got a feeling Kyrie is...

I got a feeling at home Kyrie don't call plumbers, okay?

Kyrie's like, no, I can fix this myself, okay?

I have a feeling Kyrie is that kind of guy.

Yeah.

And I think that that's the Nick Miller trait where he's like, no, I'm capable.

I can get this done myself.

I don't need to call somebody in my house to do this for me.

Okay.

You know, that's...

I want to say Kyrie.

Okay, we're switching it up.

We're switching it up.

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So, who's your starting five in the NBA right now?

Play-wise.

Because we just made a starting five for New Girl.

It's the same five.

I'm just taking out Klay, and I'm putting in Steph.

Okay.

It's...

Steph, Kyrie.

Yes.

Giannis, LeBron, KD.

KD.

KD.

Interesting.

You know, I want to go youthful because my second favorite player overall in the league

right now, I want to say is John Morant.

It's really fun to watch.

Oh my God, I'm obsessed with him.

But, you know, there's still some time there.

You know, I want to see something past the injury and how he balances back.

And like, I want to...

There's Luka, too.

I love Luka.

I love Luka.

I love Luka.

Luka is a youthful combination.

It's like James Harden and LeBron to me.

So if he can, like, put it together and win, like, something like big, big, big, then you're

talking about, like, an all-time great player in Luka.

So I love Luka.

I just can't put him over...

I just...

I love Kyrie so much.

I can't put him over Kyrie.

And clearly, you're not going to take out LeBron, Giannis, or KD.

Yeah.

And Steph Curry can shoot from here if he wanted to.

Like, that's just...

Well, he does before every game.

He's in the hallway.

Just, like, launching him.

And then makes him.

That's silly to me.

Okay.

See you later.

That is crazy to me.

See you at tip-off.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah.

So that would probably be my top five in the NBA, I would say.

I'm sorry.

I would say.

Yeah.

Who's your...

For goodness.

Who's your top five?

I just might take out Kyrie for Luka.

No, it's nothing against Kyrie.

It's nothing against Kyrie.

You're going to roll your eyes at me.

I've literally sat here through all your hot takes.

I switched out one player.

Yeah, right.

You had some hot takes.

LeBron better than MJ?

That's not a hot take.

We'll see.

We'll see.

The world is divided.

But no, I think, like, Steph, Luka, KD, Giannis, and LeBron.

I think that is the five.

That is the five.

I think that is the five.

And here's why.

And here's why.

To go back to why I think he's the great.

That's why.

He's in year 20, and we're still putting him in our top five.

Is he the best player right now in the league?

Probably not.

Maybe he is.

I don't know.

Probably not.

You never know.

But it's crazy to me that late in his career, we still consider him up there.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

Longevity.

Mike's peak's higher for sure, but not a hot take.

All right.

No, it's not a hot take.

It's not hot.

It's a hot take because you're from Chicago.

That's the reason.

That is true.

Who do you think is the greatest player of all time?

Well, I say LeBron because I haven't experienced MJ's era.

But it's not a knock to him.

I don't know.

I've seen more.

Of course.

I've seen more of Kobe than I have of MJ.

So, it's just really hard for me to put in that GOAT scenario.

I don't even like – I don't love that topic.

I don't either.

But I do think it's interesting as to why people think of that.

And I think in basketball, we have the GOAT conversation more than we do in any other sport.

We do because it's entertaining.

That's the reason why.

It's controversy.

That's what it is.

I can't argue like a true – I can't truly argue LeBron is better than Michael Jordan.

You can't truly argue.

I can't truly quantify that.

Yeah.

It is ultimately a feeling you have, right?

If you think Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time, which most of my life I did, then great.

You know what I mean?

I can't actually argue that.

But for the sake of argument, I will argue it.

And I'll try to ruffle feathers.

True.

Again, you're right.

I am from Chicago.

And that is one of the reasons why I like having this conversation.

People ultimately – when I do have this conversation with real, like, pure Chicago sports fans, I get smoked.

I get smoked in the argument.

Oh, yeah.

I get smoked in the argument.

But it's fun for me to have.

My friends from Chicago – shout out to The Hard Cap, which is a podcast out right now.

Sorry, I got to plug another podcast.

No, go for it.

The Hard Cap.

My friends from Chicago have this dope podcast.

They smoke me in the LeBron and MJ conversation because ultimately I'm from Chicago, so I know what Michael Jordan did.

I watched him play.

Yeah.

But as I get older, there is a – there is something.

There is something that has pulled me to the other side of the fence.

Which is the right side.

I wonder if anybody else gets in that conversation.

Because right now it's just those two.

Because it's – that's also media as well.

But you have to put certain people in that conversation.

I think over time, I think you do put Steph Curry in that conversation.

I think –

I think greatest shooter of all time.

I think he solidified that.

Yeah.

There's no question he's the greatest shooter of all time.

Right.

But he's also – now his handle is so crazy.

His ability is so strong.

His ability to get to the basket whenever he feels like it.

And shoot left hand, right hand.

Well, he just has this touch.

So he can get hit and he still has that touch.

That's insane to me.

You know what I mean?

To once think of a guy as this tiny kind of small can't –

I mean we saw what LeBron did to him in the 2016 finals.

He bullied him.

Yeah.

In 2015 as well, he bullied this man.

But now, I don't think he can do that.

He's going to hit the weight room.

But I think something else has come into play because he has changed the way the game is played.

And I do think that he – single.

He's single-handedly made – like started this shift.

Absolutely.

Like the game is a lot quicker.

It's like the bigs are coming out to the three.

It's – people are shooting from anywhere on the court.

Like you said, he will take two steps over half court on an NBA court.

Yeah.

And launch it.

And it's like you have to pick up guys now right there.

When they leave their house.

When you don't have to.

Yeah, exactly.

You have to meet them at the bus.

Think about the evolution of the game.

You start with a peach basket and people are just underneath.

Right.

Doing basic stuff.

Then the more skilled you get, the further you step out.

Then it wasn't a three-point line.

Then the three-point line is introduced.

So then cats are shooting that.

Then it was like, well, the odds of you making that shot are so low, I'm not going to guard you.

And you would be right back then.

Right.

But now, Dame, Trey, Steph, you know, these guys are pulling up the moment they reach half court.

Right.

And it's money all the time.

So kids now, that's their fascination because kids are small.

They can't dunk.

Right.

They can't.

They don't have muscle like that.

Kids are so malnourished these days.

Okay.

The cost of milk has gone through the roof.

They are becoming vegan.

So they're really thin.

So these kids, they have to shoot from half court.

Right.

Okay.

They got no muscle.

So, and for me, that's something I used to do as a kid all the time.

Me and my friends, we would just jack up shots left and right.

You weren't allowed to do that in a basketball game at all.

You get benched.

Or get cut from the team.

So, well, you are.

You were.

I was like, that was like all I was supposed to do.

I remember that.

You got the green light.

Yeah.

You got the green light.

We spoke about New Girl, your show Woke.

Yes.

We recently, we talked about it before cameras were rolling, your guest appearances on Jimmy

Kimmel guest hosting appearances, which is really cool.

Thank you.

So kind of like tapping into this hosting space a little bit.

Yeah.

You know, I used to host.

I used to host.

Back in the day, I had a few shows on BET.

I don't think I knew that.

Yeah.

I had a show called BET Now.

I had a show called Hot Wired, you know, guest host 106 in part a couple of times.

Yeah.

I mean, hosting to me, entertainment is entertainment, right?

You just got to know how to channel that ability.

Acting.

I feel like you have to tap into a different muscle because you have to develop a character.

You got to be someone totally different than yourself.

Obviously.

You want to keep.

Bits and pieces of yourself in there, I guess, to distinguish yourself from other folks.

But, you know, hosting is entertainment.

And if you have a good, if you're a good personality, if you have like, if you're funny, if you're

witty, if you're charm, whatever the case may be, if you're good in front of the camera,

if you're a great conversationist like yourself.

Thanks.

I think people, you know, I think, I think, I think that's, I think a lot of people can

do that.

You see Kevin Hart doing movies and hosting.

Yeah.

Back in the day, you weren't allowed to do that.

You had to pick.

You had to choose.

You had to choose a lane.

When I moved to L.A., I only had a hosting in my back, my background.

I'd only had a hosting agent.

It was so difficult for me to, to get back to my roots of, of acting.

Did you go to school for it?

For acting, yeah.

For acting.

For acting, yeah.

So I went to school in Chicago, College of DuPage.

Shout out to College of DuPage.

And Second City, Chicago.

Shout out to Second City, Chicago.

Also, shout out to Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Sorry, I do not know this man.

Good butt.

I'll text you later.

Yeah.

I'm just kidding.

But yeah, that's my, that's my background.

And, but hosting is definitely a part of it.

And I, and, and I want to do it all.

You know, I definitely love it and love that process of being on Kimmel.

Do you know Mark Sinas, who used to host entertainment tonight?

Yeah.

So I interned for him my like junior year of college.

I came out here.

I was in school in D.C., but I came out here.

And he told me, because everybody was saying like, when you come to L.A., you need to get a hosting.

You need to get a hosting coach and like do, because there's all these like classes for hosts.

Right.

He told me, if you ever need to go to class for hosting, then you need to quit now because it's not, you're not meant for it.

Like, basically was like, no.

You like.

Well, I mean, it is instinctual.

And I would agree because I also studied performing arts in college.

So I did a lot of acting.

I gravitated towards hosting more so.

But I do agree that it's like more acting is more of a skill.

And hosting is like, it's more of an experience.

It's more of an experience based skill.

I would say it is a skill.

Yeah.

But it's just like you have to do it a lot.

You don't need to go to a class and have somebody tell you how to host.

The more the microphone is in your hand, the more the camera is on you.

Yeah.

The more comfortable you become talking to folks.

And you're right with acting.

You know, you do need somebody to kind of sit down and critique you and, you know, tweak this and study and, you know, go back and read this book and, you know, figure out this trait.

You know, you're playing a person with.

You know, the accent.

You got to work on your dialect.

You got to work on this.

You know, there's all those things you have to take into account with hosting.

You just got to do it.

You got to do it.

You just got to do it.

Yeah.

You got to.

You just get thrown into the deep end and you just sink or swim.

And in the beginning, you sink a lot.

Oh, yeah.

If you watch like the first episode of 2K TV, I was like, bro, burn it.

What's that audio on TikTok?

Like, burn it.

Burn it.

Burn it.

I'm like waving my hands around it.

Like, it's cute.

You know?

It's like, it's cute.

Hey, guys, it's me.

Also, hi.

Welcome.

Hey, guys.

Never stop believing and always give up.

Don't give up.

Okay.

Yeah.

In conclusion.

No, sorry.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

No.

So I was just kind of agreeing with you.

But how did you and Kimmel kind of link up and did that opportunity come about?

I was promoting something.

I think the first time I was on his show, I was promoting.

It was season one of Woke.

Okay.

And I had done it over Zoom.

And it was a weird experience because I was in my house.

This was during the pandemic when we were all kind of locked up.

Second time I went on the show, we had a good time, man.

It was fun.

It was one of those things where you just, you get out there.

I'm always nervous before an interview.

I'm nervous before I'm sitting down talking to you.

Really?

Every time.

I don't know what it is.

Anxiety.

I don't know what it is.

I just get nervous.

So with Kimmel, he made it so.

It was so easy.

It was just like tossing to jokes and to, you know, like when you're a comedian like him,

he knows what he finds funny and he's been doing it for a hundred years or whatever.

So he's setting you up with jokes.

Like he's just tossing you.

It's like he knows what I'm going to talk about.

Yeah.

He's just setting it up and he's so skilled at it because again, he's been doing it for,

I want to say he's on his 73rd year of the show.

So he's been doing it for 73 years and he's so good, man.

You know, so.

Some of your jokes.

Some of your jokes.

Some of your jokes.

Like I can't even lie.

Like I feel like I'm a little bit slow or like ditzy or something because like they go

over my head for a second, but long enough for the camera to catch me like, oh, she really,

she bought that for a second.

You know what I mean?

It's just not funny jokes.

I think that's what it is.

I think I'm just like slow to process.

So how, how did you host?

How did that come about?

I did a show.

I guess he liked me enough to, you know, ask me to be one of the guest hosts, you know,

when he went on vacation.

That's cool.

And I did.

And I, and I tell you leading up to that, some of the most.

Like nervous nights of my life, because you can't really prepare for that.

It's just like this.

It's just, you get there on the day and then we, they tell you what, you know, what we

want to talk about.

And then you just workshop a bunch of stuff with each other.

Yeah.

And then at that point it becomes instinctual because if you, if you're in the comedy business,

then you, and you're around funny people, they kind of bring it out of you.

And then they definitely help you along the way.

His staff is the best.

You know what I mean?

A room full of funny, creative, talented people.

It's like the, you couldn't ask for anything better than that.

So, and it's definitely a space that I love and, you know, I admire so much.

So, you know, late night.

Hey man, what's up?

What's up, dude?

What's up late night?

We'll just upload this episode of Courtside Club at what time?

Like 10?

Yeah.

There you go.

Courtside Club.

Do it at 10.

Late night.

Late, late night.

Late night with Lamorne.

Sorry.

Oh, I like that.

Thank you very much.

That means a lot.

That has a nice ring to it.

Thank you for saying so.

That means a lot.

Is this the staff?

What else should we be on the lookout for besides like acting, anything else that you're

working on right now that you're excited about?

Um, I'm just, honestly, I'm excited about, I'm excited about being a dad.

You know what I mean?

Like I'm a father.

My, my kid just turned two.

It's, um, it's really strange.

It's a, it's a different muscle that you'd never worked out before and you're thrown

into the fire every single day.

And like, you know, my kid.

Man, my kid makes me laugh and smile and, uh, it's, it's, uh, people talk about it and

people say it, but until you have kids, you, you don't know that feeling of pure, genuine

love when your kid like runs to you when you walk in the door or when she like falls asleep

on you or she holds you or hugs you.

Like you don't want to be anywhere else in the world when that, when that is going on.

And for me, man, that's like one of the.

It's crazy, man.

It's really get me.

She's also two.

So she's also very wild.

Yeah.

Very, very wild.

I'm apologizing to all the folks at, uh, Sophie's ballet dance class.

You should take a play out of Steph Curry's book.

Yeah.

You would blow up like Steph Curry.

Oh my gosh.

You just start bringing your daughter into your interviews, you know?

Oh gosh.

Have her grab the mic.

She's popped her head in every once.

Like when I'm doing them on zoom, she'll just like.

Papa.

Aw.

I go, yes, baby.

And then she'll just come in the office and like.

Like, you know.

Yeah.

But like, my God, man, my daughter is, she's the funniest.

She's the funniest, man.

She's, I hope, hopefully she goes into entertainment.

You know, her mom's an actor.

I'm an actor.

Like, I feel like it's in her genes.

So, you know, we'll see.

Lamorne, we are reaching the end of the game.

So I have some buzzer beaters for you.

Yes.

Okay.

I'm also known for my clutch gene.

All right.

Let's see.

Let's see it.

Here we go.

What is the best game that you've ever sat courtside for?

Best game I ever sat.

Courtside for might also be the, well, there's two.

There's Tide.

I'm Tide.

I'm not so clutch.

I sat courtside at a Portland and Dallas game with Ice Cube, which was fantastic.

And we were, we were promoting barbershops.

We were on tour.

However, Ice Cube is so cool that he left at halftime or something like that.

So I had to leave, too, because the invitation was only extended really to him.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

He had to go.

So I had to go.

Who is this guy still sitting in his seat?

Yeah.

And I remember just watching how cool Ice Cube was because players kept walking up and saying

stuff to him.

And I remember one time he said, I forget who the player was.

They came up to him and tried to send something to him.

And he was like, hey, y'all lose.

You might want to keep your eye on the game.

He said it with such a serious look.

And I was like, oh, that's cold.

That's funny.

That's so cold blooded.

That's funny.

Because me, I'm still intimidated by that.

They're all younger than me, but they're like seven feet tall.

And I just go, hey, whatever you say, sir.

You know, I don't think Ice-T likes me.

You don't think Ice-T?

What's different?

I mean, Ice Cube.

Sorry.

I was like, we're talking about two different people.

I don't know.

I was at a celebrity basketball game and we were supposed to be coaching together.

But here this.

Uh-oh.

What'd you do?

My friend sat in his seat.

Making mistakes downtown.

Oh, no.

Why would she do that?

Well, we didn't know they were like seat assignments on the bench, but I guess that was his seat

and his management was like, uh-uh.

Like, that.

Wait, you were coaching with him?

Yeah, we were supposed, yeah, we were supposed to be coaching together.

Was your friend coaching?

No, she was with me.

Like, I mean, he had an entourage of like 10 people.

Yeah, that's Ice Cube.

I get that.

Well, I was allowed to bring somebody with me to the event.

Yeah, but they could have sat in another seat.

Not, okay, so.

We didn't know.

I'm just saying it just happened to be a seat that I guess was his.

But from that point on, he didn't really talk to me.

So.

I want to say I've never seen Eric Spolstra bring his homie.

To sit right next to him on the bench.

It was a celebrity game.

Like, people barely even play in those things, you know?

And they asked me to play and I said, no, but I'll coach.

And so I was coaching with, yeah, I know.

So, like, I'm on, he probably doesn't remember who I am, but he definitely, yeah, he didn't like me.

I could text him, but I don't think his number works for me.

Keep trying.

Yeah, him and Jimmy.

I don't think I got the right number for Ice Cube.

Okay, I completely sidetracked you.

No, no, no.

Second best game.

The reason I want to talk about this one is because it was.

It was Cavs Hawks in Atlanta.

Cool.

On the floor.

Only reason why I got invited to sit on the floor for that game is because they thought I was coming with Jason Bateman.

Shout out to Jamie Gertz.

She was like, oh, Jason Bateman's coming.

We're promoting game night.

We were in town filming.

Great.

Jason didn't come.

So I brought my boy with me.

And the look on their faces when I showed up, she was like, hey, where's Jason?

And I was like, I don't know.

Is he coming?

And she was like, I thought he was coming with you.

And I thought.

And I said, oh, it wasn't.

She's like, yeah, we gave him two tickets.

I looked at my boy like, oh, you got Jason's ticket.

I was like, I don't think Jason's coming.

I don't think he's coming at all.

So basically, we're not allowed to be friends.

Yeah.

But the game, the Cavs were like up by 25.

They end up losing that game.

But the game was a dope because, you know, I was on the floor and I'm sitting there arguing with Will Packer about why the Cavs are going to win this game.

Kyrie was, you know, gave me his jersey.

At the end of the game.

Oh, that's dope.

Yeah, it was dope.

He still never signed it.

So now I just got a dirty, funky jersey in my closet without a signature.

It's authentic.

Yeah.

It's good.

It's kind of yellow in certain parts.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Yeah.

And the basketball came over to me at one point and I was like shocked because Kyrie lost it out of bounds.

And he said, I said, come on now.

And he goes, I got the best handles in the game.

You know that.

And I thought, you do.

You do it.

I got that on camera, too.

That's pretty cool.

One event in history you would have loved to have been courtside for.

Could be a sporting event, could be anything in history that you would have loved to have been courtside for.

Oh, my gosh.

You get that courtside view.

One event in history I would probably say, I wanted the birth of Jesus, dare I say it.

I wanted, I wanted, I wanted.

That would have been cool.

Yeah.

If it was like they say, that would have been.

Well, we don't know.

That's what I'm saying.

Then I would be the dude who knows.

You would be the truth teller.

I was there.

It happened.

You have crazy.

You have crazy clout if you do.

Oh, my gosh.

I'd be the man.

Yeah.

I'd be the man.

Or when they walked on the moon.

Did they?

Right.

I don't know, Kyrie.

Did they?

I would love to have been there for the birth of Jesus, probably.

Yeah.

Lamorne, what should people be on the lookout for?

Or should they follow you on social?

I'm a fan of your TikTok.

You hate it.

Where can people find you?

Sure.

You can find me at home, Shelly.

You can find me on Instagram, too.

At Lamorne.

You know.

And, yeah.

Well, just, you know, pay attention.

Just be out there on the lookout.

I'm always around.

Yeah.

I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

I don't want to oversaturate you all with silliness.

But, you know, I act because I love it.

I perform because I love it.

And I don't want to just be a trend.

I just want to be here forever.

You want that longevity career like LeBron.

Like LeBron.

Like Morgan Freeman.

You guys are twins.

Thank you for saying so.

Me and Morgan Freeman.

We have matching moles.

Thank you guys so much for watching.

Make sure that you like and subscribe.

And we'll see you next time.

Thank you.