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LeBron Signs with the 76ers and Joy Taylor Recaps WNBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago · The Daily Play With Joy Taylor

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  Speaker 1: Hi, guys, Welcome to The Daily Play with Joy Taylor.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining me. Make sure you had
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: subscribe and follow us on social at The Daily Play
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Joy Taylor. Lebron James is a Philadelphia seventy six er.
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  Speaker 1: I truly never thought that I would say those words,
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  Speaker 1: but he is heading to Philly. Lebron is signing a
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  Speaker 1: two year, eight million dollar deal with the player option,
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  Speaker 1: and the news broke on Friday pretty substantial. Obviously, we
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  Speaker 1: were discussing and waiting where Lebron was going to go.
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  Speaker 1: Was it going to be Miami, Was it going to
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  Speaker 1: be Philly? Was it going to be Minnesota? Was it
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  Speaker 1: going to be the Warriors? The Knicks were being thrown
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  Speaker 1: out there everywhere.
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  Speaker 2: Where was he going to go? Well, he chose Philly.
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  Speaker 2: And I have to say, and.
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  Speaker 1: I did say on this show several times, that I
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  Speaker 1: did not think Philly was truly in contention.
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  Speaker 2: Some of the reasons I didn't.
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  Speaker 1: Think he was going to choose Philly are the reasons
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  Speaker 1: why I think it's surprising. One of them is obviously
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  Speaker 1: the expectations too. Philadelphia is a place that has a
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  Speaker 1: long tradition of basketball, and I guess I just didn't
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  Speaker 1: see it as a destination that he would have a
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  Speaker 1: light landing in, and that is obviously not what he wants.
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  Speaker 1: So he is going to be playing for Philadelphia seventy
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  Speaker 1: six years and absolutely stacked roster alongside Joel Embiid, Jalen Brown, Tyree,
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  Speaker 1: Max evj Edgecomb, Contavious Callwell, Pope, the list goes on
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  Speaker 1: and on. It's a really experienced roster. It is a
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  Speaker 1: roster that already had very very high expectations with Jaylen
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  Speaker 1: Brown going there this year, and this is not a
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  Speaker 1: place where he's going to ride off into the sunset.
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  Speaker 1: The expectations for this team are to win a championship.
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  Speaker 1: This team has not been past the second round since
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  Speaker 1: Alan Iverson was there Lee It's two thousand and one.
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  Speaker 1: They already had championshipship expectations before Lebron got there, and
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  Speaker 1: now I really see this as championship or bus, and
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  Speaker 1: by bus. Obviously, it doesn't mean that he is not
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  Speaker 1: going to go down as one of the greatest players
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  Speaker 1: of all time, that it takes away from any of
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  Speaker 1: his championships, that it takes away from anything that he's
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  Speaker 1: already accomplished. But I did see some of these other destinations,
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  Speaker 1: the Calves, Miami, Golden State as places that if they
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  Speaker 1: didn't win a championship, it wasn't going to be riotous
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  Speaker 1: amongst the basketball historians and the old school players and
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  Speaker 1: fans that already don't care for him, or people that
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  Speaker 1: are Jordan Zelat's and you know, well, none of that
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  Speaker 1: really matters when you're talking about what Lebron has accomplished.
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  Speaker 1: Legacy is important, and there have been decisions that certain
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  Speaker 1: players have made to go to certain destinations that have
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  Speaker 1: affected that. I don't think that Kevin Durant should be
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  Speaker 1: held to any other kind of weird standard or that
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  Speaker 1: those or those championships didn't count or any of any
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  Speaker 1: of those things. But there are a lot of people
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  Speaker 1: that don't like that Kevin Durant chose to go to
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  Speaker 1: Golden State. I don't think there's anyone that really doesn't
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  Speaker 1: like that Lebron went to Philly or chose Philly. But
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  Speaker 1: I do think that if he doesn't win with a
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  Speaker 1: roster like that at the end of his career, there
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  Speaker 1: will be some questions about if he was ring chasing
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  Speaker 1: in this situation.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think he's ring chasing because he has Rings.
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  Speaker 2: So what the narrative I.
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  Speaker 1: Think is quickly going to turn to is that he
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  Speaker 1: is goat chasing because if he does win a championship
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  Speaker 1: in Philly with an organization that has championship expectations that
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  Speaker 1: hasn't been past the second round with Joel mb the
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  Speaker 1: league MVP in decades, with this, you know, constant trust
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  Speaker 1: the process narrative, I'm interested what people are going to
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  Speaker 1: say because I don't think it would be as ferocious.
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  Speaker 1: And I think if he did win a championship with Miami,
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  Speaker 1: if he did win a championship with the Cavs, if
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  Speaker 1: he did win a championship with Golden State, it would
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  Speaker 1: feel like he contributed to it, Whereas there's just a
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  Speaker 1: lot of things that we have to see how they
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  Speaker 1: play out basketball wise. With the Sixers, it's just a
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  Speaker 1: more complicated choice to me. Now, I was excited for
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  Speaker 1: the Sixers this year, getting Jayalen Brown, hopefully having a
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  Speaker 1: healthy Joel Embiid, which is obviously always up in the air,
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  Speaker 1: and I think Nick Nurse is a great coach, so
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  Speaker 1: this is going to be a fascinating watch. They have young,
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  Speaker 1: exciting players and Tyree Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, And yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Philly is a place that like that fan base does
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  Speaker 1: not play around. They're going to They're gonna be mad
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  Speaker 1: if you're not winning, if things don't go smoothly, and
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  Speaker 1: sometimes they don't when you assemble teams like this, and
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  Speaker 1: I think you would consider this a super team if
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  Speaker 1: you have Lebron. You have the roster they already had
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  Speaker 1: and then you add Lebron. So fascinating choice. I think
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  Speaker 1: Lebron is, you know, on any given night, one or two,
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  Speaker 1: one or to the greatest player of all time.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously I grew up watching Michael Jordan. I
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  Speaker 2: think he is the greatest of all time.
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  Speaker 1: But I think Lebron has done things that have made
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  Speaker 1: that conversation very, very difficult. And I have loved watching
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  Speaker 1: Lebron's career and I am a fan, and I obviously
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  Speaker 1: loved his time in Miami. Would have loved to have
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  Speaker 1: him back. And I'm going to be watching this with
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  Speaker 1: all of the expectations but also enjoying the end of
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  Speaker 1: Lebron's career and to see what he does. And I
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  Speaker 1: think the East is actually very competitive. I know everyone's saying,
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  Speaker 1: oh he left the West. Well, first of all, he
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  Speaker 1: won in the West, the Lakers won a championship, and
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  Speaker 1: the East just won the championship this year. For all
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  Speaker 1: this talk about how good the West is, the Knicks
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  Speaker 1: just won. You have the Calves, you have the Sixers,
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  Speaker 1: you have the Knicks, you have Orlando, you have Detroit,
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  Speaker 1: you have Miami. Kawhi is probably going to Toronto, you
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  Speaker 1: have Boston. Like, this is an incredibly, incredibly difficult and
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  Speaker 1: competitive conference. This idea that the East is not good
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  Speaker 1: is very very silly, and that it's automatic that whoever's
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  Speaker 1: going to come out of the West is going to
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  Speaker 1: be the better team and is going to win.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, I think this is a very competitive choice.
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  Speaker 1: I think this is a choice where he looked at
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  Speaker 1: the roster and said, this is my best option, looking
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  Speaker 1: at the Cabs, Miami, Golden State, Minnesota, Philly, this is
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  Speaker 1: my best option to win a championship. But I think
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  Speaker 1: this was also the team that had the highest championship
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  Speaker 1: expectations of all those teams, So.
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  Speaker 2: Highest stakes move, fascinating choice.
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  Speaker 1: I am interested to see how Philly fans, I know
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  Speaker 1: Philly fans were excited initially. I want to see how
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  Speaker 1: it develops and listen there's no shade of Philly fans.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I love Philadelphia.
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  Speaker 1: And I love Philly fans like they're they're little ticks,
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  Speaker 1: like they will try and fire everybody after the one loss.
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  Speaker 1: But that is what makes us interesting is that this
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  Speaker 1: is a This is a fairal fan base, and I
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  Speaker 1: think they have to win a championship for this to
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  Speaker 1: be considered a success. And I don't think everything is
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  Speaker 1: a zero sum game, and it wouldn't have been everywhere
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  Speaker 1: he went, but this choice, I do think aligns with that.
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  Speaker 1: So I was on the move from my Lebron instant
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  Speaker 1: reaction video that I posted because I was in Chicago
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  Speaker 1: for WNBA All Star which was so much fun. I'll
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  Speaker 1: take you behind the scenes in a second, but the
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  Speaker 1: Weekends was a lot of fun basketball. There was an
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  Speaker 1: in game dunk during the game. I went to the game.
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  Speaker 1: I wasn't at the three point Contest, unfortunately, but I
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  Speaker 1: was at the All Star Game. Hazy Fudd became the
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  Speaker 1: first rookie to win the three point Contest. Team Spoon
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  Speaker 1: beat Team Coop one twenty nine one twenty two. MVP
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  Speaker 1: junk Well Jones nearly had a double twenty two points
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  Speaker 1: thirteen rebounds eight assists.
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  Speaker 2: She's the first Liberty player in the first.
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  Speaker 1: International player to win WNBA All Star MVP, and she
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  Speaker 1: also became the first player in the league to be
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  Speaker 1: the in history to win the All Star MVP, regular
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  Speaker 1: Season MVPP Finals MVP, and Commissioner's Cup MVP as an
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  Speaker 1: incredible player.
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  Speaker 2: The dunk was really fun.
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  Speaker 1: The place went absolutely nuts dish from Angel Reese to
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  Speaker 1: Dominique Malonga, And yeah, I do feel like the game
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  Speaker 1: could have been more competitive overall. I know no one
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  Speaker 1: is trying to get injured during an All Star Game,
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  Speaker 1: but it did feel like we could have had a little.
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  Speaker 2: Bit more competition during the game for the fans.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the night before the All Star Game is
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  Speaker 1: always the best night, and that's for every single All
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  Speaker 1: Star game, whether it's the Home Run Derby, whether it's
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  Speaker 1: in the NBA, the Dunk Contest, or the Three Point
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  Speaker 1: Contest WBA, the three point contests, you know football. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: the NFL has almost completely gotten away from it with
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  Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl. It's tough, like people don't want to
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  Speaker 1: get hurt competing in this, but you know, fans want
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  Speaker 1: to see the best players, so I'd love for them
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  Speaker 1: to implement a dunk contest for the WNBA next year.
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  Speaker 1: And overall, the weekend was incredible. It was great energy
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  Speaker 1: in Chicago. There were so many events, so many parties
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  Speaker 1: going on, so many brand activations. It really felt like
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  Speaker 1: the arrival of the WNBA to the mainstream being in Chicago,
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  Speaker 1: seeing how many people were there, how many celebrities were
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  Speaker 1: in town, how much buzz there was.
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  Speaker 2: For the All Star Game being there.
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  Speaker 1: Chicago obviously is an incredible city and a great, great
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  Speaker 1: host city for these kind of events, historical basketball city,
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  Speaker 1: and yeah, it was.
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  Speaker 2: It was awesome. It was a really fun weekend. I
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  Speaker 2: am exhausted, we were outside, but yeah, I mean, if
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  Speaker 2: you get an opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: To go next year, definitely check it out. All Star
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  Speaker 1: Weekend was a lot of fun. It's such a great
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  Speaker 1: family experience. I was at WNBA Live, like it's so
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  Speaker 1: accessible for kids, so affordable for families, and if you're
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  Speaker 1: a basketball fan, it's just great. So I had an
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  Speaker 1: amazing time and I'm looking forward to next year and
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  Speaker 1: for the rest of the season, which.
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  Speaker 2: Is quickly getting interesting. So thanks for joining me.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Make sure that you had subscribed follows on social At
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: the Daily Play Joy Taylor and For more on this
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