
“You progress right here and by default are simply a part of the Mexican group,” says Shea Serrano, the New York Instances bestselling creator, TV author, and NBA Twitter important character. He’s speaking about his hometown of San Antonio, and its instantaneous adoption of Victor Wembanyama, the 7’4” wunderkind rookie for his beloved Spurs. “Did you see that factor the place as quickly as he landed, any person handed him a brown paper bag with breakfast tacos? That’s the very first thing that occurs: some Mexican girl says, ‘Right here you go. Welcome to the town.’”
I’d requested Serrano what recommendation he had for a Parisian in South Texas. Now, Jason Concepcion—podcast host (Binge Mode, X-Ray Imaginative and prescient), co-writer of Serrano’s on the Amazon present Primo and the Hulu function movie referred to as Miguel Desires To Battle, and first-ballot NBA Twitter Corridor of Famer underneath the nom de Tweet @netw3rk—pipes in. “What did Tony Parker do?” he asks his longtime collaborator. “What did Boris Diaw do?”
“There’s a crepe place. One crepe place,” Serrano says, grinning. “I suppose he can go eat there daily.”
That is the kind of left-field hoops evaluation the 2 carry to their new basketball podcast Six Trophies, delivered with their distinctive model of pure pleasure and a well-earned little bit of side-eye for the oft-eccentric league. Every week, they’ll give out pop-culture-themed trophies for standout on-court and off-court performances. Lengthy-time followers is not going to be stunned that one of many recurring trophies is Quick and the Livid-themed; one other, gained on final week’s debut episode by former Warriors #2 draft choose James Wiseman, is known as for the hook of Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda’s facet challenge mini-hit “Remember the Name.”
With professional basketball tipping off on October twenty fourth, we requested Serrano and Concepcion to share their very particular solutions to our most urgent questions concerning the 2023-24 NBA season.
Okay, Query 1: This offseason, Damian Lillard tried and did not drive his solution to the Miami Warmth. James Harden, who’s already on the Mt. Rushmore of NBA chaos brokers, is at the moment attempting to get traded. Based mostly on latest NBA historical past, Zion Williamson, Luka Dončić, Joel Embiid, or one other All-Star will ask out quickly. In case you’re employed tomorrow to inventive direct the subsequent disgruntled celebrity’s exit, what concepts are you pitching?
Shea Serrano: If I used to be Luka, and I wished to get out of Dallas, I might simply begin saying how a lot I loved the meals someplace. Like, “Man, New Orleans? The meals! It’s simply the perfect.” And I might simply carry it up in each interview. It doesn’t matter what the query was requested, it could simply in some way get again to that. You by no means say you wish to get traded there. But when they’re like, “What occurred there? Y’all did not rating the final two minutes.” You simply say, “The offense fell flat. However you recognize what’s not flat? The flavors on a Cuban sandwich in Miami.” Simply do that each single time and by no means say, “I wish to get traded.” As a result of we’ve seen the bounds of a participant simply being like “I wish to go to Miami.” It didn’t work. So, I feel you gotta go the alternative manner. Now you gotta go refined. You gotta be nuanced with it.
And what about recommendation for Zion?
Jason Concepcion: Um, oh, gosh… effectively, I feel Zion’s doing an excellent job. [laughs] He can take quite a lot of the stuff he’s been iterating over the summer season and simply type of transfer it ahead. People can Google that.