June 23, 2025 5 mins
“Is Oklahoma City the most unlikable champion in NBA history?” That’s the spicy question that kicks off this no-holds-barred episode of The Ben and Skin Show, where Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray—serve up a hot plate of sports with a side of savage takes.From Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s foul-hunting antics to Lu Dort’s “dirty player” reputation, Ben doesn’t hold back on why OKC’s championship run left a bad taste in his mouth. But the real gut-punch? Tyrese Haliburton’s heartbreaking Achilles tear in Game 7, just as the Pacers were poised to make history.
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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Reach down and grab a couple of plump tomatoes.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's time for sports ketchup. Catchup on on sports, sports, catchup,
ketchup sports.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
That's great, man, you guys watched the game last night,
which one man, I love sports this weekend.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
I think Oklahoma City is quite possibly the least likable
champion ever. I was thinking about this earlier. I just
dislike them so much. I just, you know, Shay is brilliant, obviously,
but man, he's such a foul hunter. They're such floppers,
They're flop gods. I hate lou Dort. I think he's
a dirty player, the Shenanigans and stuff he does, and

(00:46):
they're so corny and cheesy with the way they all
do their interviews together. I'm just not a fan. And
maybe it's just because they're so good and so young,
and they're gonna be good for so long and they're
a MAVs rival, but I find them to be wildly unlikable.
And I was thinking of about it. I think the
the old Miami team with Lebron and d Wade and Bosh,
that's probably more dislikable. Oh yeah, for sure, more unlikable.

(01:08):
The cheating Astros probably more unlikable any Laker team ever,
and the and the I was thinking probably Brady just
because they won so much, and he was just the
He's so Brady. But man, I think they're one of
the least likable champions.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Ever.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
How do you feel about him? Tizzle?

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Ummm, I won't know that I would take it that
far back. I can tell you that I was actively
pulling for the Pacers, and then I ramped that up
times ten. When Haliburton got hurt.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
That was just so gutting, It really was. It's just
so gutting for him to tear his achilles in Game
seven when the score is still close, there's still drama,
and you wanted to see what was going to happen
late in the game when the team that's supposed to win,

(01:55):
which is aren't they the second youngest NBA champion ever?
Think so, Yeah, they're the second youngest NBA champion ever.
I wanted to see how they were going to handle it.
And not only do you have, first of all, the
really horrible, sad part of what's gonna happen to Tyrese
Haliburton over the next year, but then also I mean,
it's like everything undercut game seven. The huge Kevin Durant trade. Yeh,

(02:20):
Sean Sweeney announcement. Oh, by the way, there's a Game
seven going on. The NBA is the most transactional league ever.
A team that was in the finals made a trade
while the finals were going on.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
That shouldn't be happening.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
That's insane. The Pacers made a trade with the Pelicans
over one of their first round picks during the finals.
It's so weird, but that is what fuels the league.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Man, It's old transactions.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, but it wouldn't have hurt the league if Kevin
the Kevin Durant trade news came out on Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
I agree with Thursday, and I agree that no reason
for that yesterday.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
But dude, I think about the achilles injury is my
biggest concern just as a human. Yeah, I just don't
want you know, I played pickaball today and I was
so scared of my achilles. How anytime I played basketball,
I beat my son. So you know, it's good, kind
of kind of a bad. Yeah, But you know, I
think about you know, Haliburton now ripping tearing his achilles,

(03:15):
Dame Tatum and or all these guys fighting through strained
calves too, where they're like trying to play through because
KD back in the day, rightight, but Luca had three
strained calves in two years, and I'm like, okay, man,
I get some of that concern over that, but you know,
it just seems like it's happening more and more often
right now.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, And it's, uh, I don't know enough about this,
but I saw one. Uh.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
You know, there's a lot.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Of people on the Internet that claim to know stuff
about medicine, like sports storm Chasers. Now yeah, yeah, they're Yeah,
they're the medical guy, sports medicine version of storm Chasers.
They're like, if you look at all of these injuries,
they happen when a guy over extends the length of
his push off. Okay, okay, And I'm looking at this

(04:00):
video going, okay, I guess I don't know.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
I don't know anything about it.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
And he was rushed back from a calf's brain so
he could play. That's what happened to Kevin Durant. This
is where at all, that's that's the common thing that
I see. What dude just here, he was like one
game away, came down to one game game step, one
game away from the NBA championship, you got to go
for it. Yeah, but now and he played well in
Game six.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah, not only does he not you know, not only
do they not win, but he's going to miss all
of next season.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Dude.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
So what do they do now? As a team?

Speaker 2 (04:31):
They should blow it up?

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Now, they're not with that, not with the age they're at.
They've got one free agent that matters, and Miles Turner.
He's thirty. But you know, by the way, that deal
that they made last week was to get their first
round pick back next year.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
Okay, so yeah, so crazy is that?

Speaker 1 (04:51):
So they so the Pelicans are going, oh crap, right,
I would have much rather had their pick next year
when they don't have Haliburton for the year.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
So man, I mean that's they were way over match
just in terms of history. I mean, Oklahoma City was
a historically good basketball team this year and all these
there's all these stats that came out that said if
Indiana had won, they would have been the least impressive
champion of all time statistically speaking. So the team that

(05:23):
was supposed to win one. And they're also like the
youngest team in the league. Oh my god, They're gonna
be good forever.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, we're gonna have to deal with that team.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Yeah, all right, coming up next in the big finish,
We're just three minutes away from this. The New York
Times Top movies the twenty first century demands our attention.

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