The Lead

On Sunday night, after 10 hours of sports TV nostalgia, The Last Dance — the documentary series about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls — reached its conclusion. Today, we’re joined by The Athletic’s David Aldridge — who was featured throughout the series — to look at what set Jordan apart from other all-time greats, and to explore what the series showed us about MJ’s human side.

Follow David Aldridge’s coverage of The Last Dance and the NBA: https://theathletic.com/author/david-aldridge/?source=theleadpodcast

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The Bundesliga became the first major sports league to return to play this weekend. Lucky for soccer fans, it has also been arguably the most exciting league in Europe this season. The Athletic’s Raphael Honigstein joins us to explain how a well-organized pandemic response helped Germany become the first European nation to bring back major sports, the strange spectacle of games with no fans and social-distancing during celebrations, and whether or not anyone will unseat perennial champions Bayern Munich.

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At the start of the NFL offseason, the Houston Texans made a stunning trade, sending All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for a return headlined by running back David Johnson. The man behind that decision, and all of Houston's moves, is their coach and general manager, Bill O'Brien. Today, we're joined by Aaron Reiss of The Athletic to look at O'Brien's erratic tenure with the team, how he ended up with both jobs, and whether one person should ever have this much power over a team.

Follow Aaron Reiss's coverage of the Houston Texans: https://theathletic.com/author/aaron-reiss/?source=theleadpodcast

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Major League Baseball owners have a proposal for the 2020 baseball season that includes empty stadiums, regional competition, and more teams making the playoffs. But it hasn't exactly been welcomed with open arms by the players. The Athletic’s Jayson Stark joins us to talk about what exactly this shortened season would look like, how a debate over players’ salaries is playing out in the court of public opinion, and why some players are less than enthusiastic about the lack of details about health and safety.

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The NCAA recently accepted new recommendations involving college athletes' NIL (name, image and likeness) rights. That means some athletes will soon be making significant money for things that have long been banned, including promoting products on social media. The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach joins us talk about what exactly will and won’t be allowed, when college athletes could start making money, and just how much some stars could make.

Read Nicole Auerbach's story about college athletes' social media brands:

https://theathletic.com/1796999/2020/05/07/college-athlete-name-image-likeness-value/

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Last week, the NBA took a tiny step toward returning to play, as some teams opened the doors to their practice facilities and began allowing individual player workouts. Today, the Athletic’s Sam Amick joins us to talk about how the NBA is slowly but surely trying to resume the season, where and how a completion of the 2019-2020 season might work, and what's at stake for the league as it navigates through these uncharted waters.

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Last night on The Last Dance, we got the chance to re-live Michael Jordan’s time as a minor league baseball player, for the Double-A Birmingham Barons, in 1994. Today, we’re joined by James Fegan — who covers the White Sox for The Athletic — to hear some behind the scenes stories from Jordan’s time in Birmingham, including a wave of celebrity appearances, and a local pickup basketball game featuring MJ himself.

Read James Fegan’s stories about Michael Jordan playing for the Barons: https://theathletic.com/1803492/2020/05/10/thanks-to-1994-michael-jordan-will-always-be-the-most-famous-birmingham-baron/?source=theleadpodcast

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UFC 249 is going down on Saturday in Florida, a state where stay-at-home restrictions have been eased and sports like professional wrestling and MMA have been deemed essential. The Athletic’s Shaheen Al-Shatti joins us to discuss how this fight came to be, the extreme measures being taken to ensure that the fighters do not contract coronavirus, and what to expect from up-and-comer Justin Gaethje and the always entertaining Tony Ferguson.

Follow Shaheen Al-Shaati's MMA coverage:

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The Athletic has named Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne as its Premier League player of the year. Before the season was suspended, the Belgian star was closing in on Thierry Henry's record for assists in a season and had been directly involved in more goals than any other player. The Athletic’s Sam Lee joins us to talk about what makes De Bruyne so special as a player, his future with Manchester City given their Champions League ban, and what drives the fiery Belgian star.

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After the notorious "helmet hit" against Myles Rudolph last November and an ESPN interview gone awry a few months later, Myles Garrett took off for a while. Specifically, he went to Tanzania to spend time with a water charity that he has worked with for quite some time. The Athletic's Tom Reed went to the East African nation and joins us to talk about his conversation with the Cleveland Browns star, what he's been up to in the aftermath of the incident, and how the trip impacted Garrett.

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https://theathletic.com/author/tom-reed/

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