Karl-Anthony Towns and Ben Stiller Talk New York Knicks Basketball and ‘Severance’

Karl-Anthony Towns and Ben Stiller Talk New York Knicks Basketball and ‘Severance’

what you guys are both looking forward to the most this season. I mean, I’m so excited. I’m um the vibes seem so good and this new, you know, this new situation seems I don’t know. I I’m curious to hear how you feel about it. Yeah. I mean, um I’m intrigued to know uh if Mr. Melchick still has both eyes. Uh Hel and Marc I don’t know how they’re ever going to be an Audi. I don’t know how the Audi’s gonna accept that one if they ever get there. And um where the hell is Irving? So I’m excited for the next season. Oh my Basketball season. I just said season. You did. That’s what I’m just You asked me. You didn’t ask me to specific. Oh, the Knicks season together. She’ll be all right. Please focus on the news. You know what’s weird for me? It’s I in the summer I’m usually way down in weight and I kind of put weight on for the season. Okay. So, it was kind of like fair enough that this year, you know, new coaching staff and not truly understanding what I’m going to be, if I’m going to be a four or five, am I going to be, you know, last year was kind of different. You know, Mitch was hurt. When I got here, I already understood that my job for most of the year would be the five, right? And then I could adjust as the season progresses, but this year was kind of different. I just knew I had to be more like a hybrid. Yeah. Now, good good thing I did cuz having me play like one through five. How did that process change with you over the years in terms of because it is it does feel counterintuitive that you’re you’re bulking up for the season rather than having to slow down? I mean, it’s just different. I mean, I that’s just how my body is, you know. My body when I play basketball, it reacts. It always reacts to what the demands are, you know, inflammation. It understands like, you know, it just tries to protect me. Put some armor on. I always call. So, I I always put the weight on because my body reacts to me knowing I’m about to play basketball and I want to stay keep healthy. Um, but I had a year too with Tibs where I came in and I was like, you know, he told me, “You’re going to be a power forward. We really want you lean and and skinny for the thing.” So, for the season and I came in at like 2:30 and it was like I was really scared and I was I I’m glad that happened though because I actually learned like you could do too much right and losing weight and I just didn’t feel like the same player. I I mean I think about that for athletes because you know for regular people when you lose weight whatever you know you want to be healthy maybe vanity whatever it is like all the different things but then to have to operate physically on a level where you’re you’re guarding you know the biggest guys in the league. I mean Jokic is to what 295 and he’s not he’s not slimming down like 295 292 so it’s like you got guys like that who and then the energy level too right. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, a lot of the times it’s it comes down to who really was working in the offseason. And I feel when you talk about those guys, um, and myself, I feel like, you know, those are guys, you know, walking in, they’ve put the work in and they’re ready for whatever the minutes are. Like, um, you know, shout out to Tibs. You know, uh, when I was playing with him, I was I was, uh, always happy. you know, he was kind of taking into account our bodies and and also for me, I actually was the one trying to push in for more minutes cuz I’m different. I I prepared for long stretches of minutes, you know, I train a certain way and work out a certain way where, you know, anytime if he needed me to play feels like it feels like you guys got a couple guys who are just a little wired a little differently in this regard. You got people who are like there’s all this outside noise about minutes and everything and then you talk to the people on the team and they’re like what do you think we want to do? No, it was definitely different for me. I I I I have been even with me playing with him in Minnesota. I’ve always talked about I loved the the amount of minutes I was getting to play cuz you know you get to go you go to work you know if we’re going to work let’s work on and top two you know I like being in control of my destiny you know so it’s always good when you get more minutes you know you get to control more of what’s happening and you know the game will kind of play itself out for you and like a rhythm when you’re out there too I’d imagine like it must be tough to have to come in as a I mean a guy who doesn’t play a lot those guys who have to come in and then all of a sudden you know Yeah, I feel it that it’s tough for them. It’s tough for them. I could imagine cuz you know if you’re not, you know, you have a good warm up, everything’s going, the energy’s crazy, and then you’re you’re sitting waiting for your opportunity and it finally comes and you only really got 2 minutes to make something happen or 3 minutes. I I know I know it could be tough for them, but I give, you know, our teammates, you know, that I’ve been fortunate to play with, especially last year talking with us right now, us three, you know, those guys, they always came in ready to play and that’s true professionalism cuz, you know, that’s a very, very tough job. Yeah, they have to perform and show. I mean there is an analogy to that I think like in just acting in a movie which is the same thing you know you you get into a rhythm if you’re a lead in a movie you’re working every day you know it’s not even a question you come in maybe the first day every you know hopefully you’re a little nervous the first day you care yeah but then you get into your flow and you know a day or two three in you’re like okay we’re doing it and it’s much harder for an actor who comes in who has like one scene in a movie you know auditions for the part and and has to show up and they don’t know anybody in the crew. they don’t know the other actors necessarily and it’s that thing where they have to just like relax and that for me is like the key like I it took me a long time to learn how to be able to relax um you know in a working environment enough as an actor and I still I still deal with it all the time but that’s like one of I think one of the most important things like to just be not be in your head and to be in the flow of what’s going on and it’s really hard sometimes when you don’t have that you know just just like with the pressure of knowing like I’m just gonna have this one day or this one scene. I feel I feel like the way he even said it is perfect because I had to learn that when I was younger when I was in Minnesota. I remember I would be playing and you know I feel like I’m doing well and stuff. Maybe I miss a shot or two and I’m like man I don’t understand why I’m missing that shot. You know the game keeps playing itself out and then KG would be like man Lord. He always says Lord Lord you got to you got to lower your shoulders. I’m like what’s going on? What you mean? He goes, “Man, your shoulders is at your ears and maybe you make a shot or two or whatever, but you’re like not relaxed. Like, just relax. You already put the work in. You better than everybody. Just like relax.” So, I always uh It’s funny. I I even brought that up to Mo in Abu Dhabi cuz you know, a rookie Mo. And I’m just like, man, I’ve seen you work. You You’re so talented. You got such a bright future. You don’t need to be feeling pressured like like you was in the best situation possible. You a rookie. you get all the you get all the um get out of jail cards when you’re a rookie, you know. Oh, he’s young. He doesn’t know better. I was like, why why be so stressed, you know? Go out there, have a bunch of fun, work on your game, see what works, see what doesn’t work, see what things you got to work on and stuff like that and and just lower your shoulders, just breathe and and have a good time. And even for me to this day, I still always remember that piece of advice from KG cuz there’s moments even for me where, you know, very rarely now after 11 years of experience going um you know that I let something rush me or speed me up. I always try to stay at my pace. Um but uh is that hard to do though when every like everything’s going on in the game and so many different things happening? It’s it is it is a hard thing to deal with with less experience. You know, I for 11 years I’ve been doing this and I’m blessed to go into my 11th year, but the game has slowed down so much that even now it slows down even more and it feels kind of like a cross, you know, a cross pace, you know? It’s just really seeing the game and just knowing what I want to do, where I want to get to. I mean, Bernard King was a master, Nick’s legend about getting to his spot. JB’s a master. I get to his spot. Um I know what I like to do on the court. Um but you kind of experience teaches you so much. I feel like you even for you it’s like you know when you have experience you it’s not about that you you do things faster or more explosive or whatever the case may be for my sports that way you just learn how to do the same exact result with way less effort. One question for for both of you to this to this point. you both, you know, number one overall pick, so much success in high school, so much success in college, go right to the pinnacle of of the league right away. We could spend five hours running through Ben’s early resume, which maybe we can do later, but basically was not the number one pick. But Ben show at 26 is a is a is so you guys both had a lot of success early, but then you have, you know, as anyone does, you have down moments, you have moments after that success where something doesn’t work, something flops, or it might work from sort of the outside looking in, but you feel like it doesn’t work. So, especially when you were younger, how did you figure out how to to manage those things both sort of internally and externally? I think that’s a great question. It really is. Um, I feel like with ball players, it seems like the clock is so different. You know, you have to be so good at a young age to know that you’re going to be able to get to that next level. And with in my world, it’s it’s open-ended. you know, you could be going I worked with actors who didn’t become successful till they were in their 40s, you know, and then they really successful. So, but that you’re always putting for me it was always putting that pressure on myself that I wanted to do well and I wanted to, you know, I really wanted to um to to be an actor and to be a director and you it’s you have to convince people to let you do it. And I was not good when I started. I was not I really when I joke about like not being number one like I was I was not really great when I started and it took me time and when I finally got success when I was like 26 27 you know that’s still I’d been doing it for about eight or nine years you know and it it so it was it was kind of like I it wasn’t like sudden success it was gradual and it also kind of came uh in different like levels to me like at first I started working as an actor and then I started working as a director and I direct a couple movies, but then I did a movie that a lot of people went to that changed, you know, how people approached me as an actor and opened up a lot. But by that time, I was like 30 something. So, I think I’d had time to adjust. But I always wonder because, you know, in your world, 17, 18 years old, you’re already you’re telling the world when you’re going into the NBA draft that I’m a grown man and I’m ready for this job. And that’s a declaration you’re making when you enter the NBA draft. And for me, you know, um you talk about the pressures of everything and stuff. And I’ve always said since day one, my biggest critic has been myself cuz I’m always wanting better. Even when I’ve done something and I’ve been very fortunate by God to do things that have never been done before, the historical feats, you know, the the the games that have happened. And I look at those games, even the ones when I had 60, 62, 56. I wish I could get back those three shots, those two shots that I missed and wish I would have made them or, you know, that one uh steel block, whatever the case may be. And um never being satisfied has pushed me to obviously be at this point in my career in life. And it’s great. I think the best way I’ve learned to deal with pressure is when you first come into the NBA, you know, basketball is everything. And I want no one to take this wrong, but you know, I life has continued to teach me new and new things um and experience. I I just realized that it wasn’t everything and I do have a life and and I I am someone outside of that court and um life has taught me the small lessons of that then taught me some big big lessons in that um with my mom. So I just kind of dealing with the pressure has been so much different now because you know I I want to be the greatest at what I do. I want to be the best for that’s been the mission since day one. I want to win rings and I want to have a tremendous amount of success. But I do understand that when I leave that court that it is not everything in my life and that has lowered the pressure of dealing with this job tremendously cuz you know there’s things outside of life and that’s not even with me adding kids yet in my life, right? I mean that’s a huge thing and it’s funny because you you do almost like you say you have to preface it by like don’t take this the wrong way to the fan because like you know fans have this is everything right all they see is you know the their players as their players on the team that are you know that they want to win but like how you actually are able to do what you do and what I mean by that is like to go on a court in front of you know 10,000 people or whatever and do at hit a free throw, let alone anything else, right? Is like how you get to the, you know, to that place in your head to be able to do that means you have to have a sense of yourself that is that you can figure out how to navigate it, which is yeah, like understanding that this there’s other things in life because if that’s everything, you know, and there’s too much eggs in one basket. There’s too many eggs in one basket and I learned that the hard way. So, right, I had to uh I had to take a step back, you know, I I did that after my mom and just be like really is this was this really, you know, as any person who goes through tragedy understands, you take a step back and say, was it really all worth it at the end? You know, the max contracts and all this and that and this and people say, “Oh, that means you’re so successful.” and do like I feel like I I didn’t feel that successful in those moments and you realize that there’s so much more than just uh putting that basket in that hoop and um when I took that step back it just opened my eyes to so such a different world and uh a different appreciation for basketball for real and like just you know I’ve always been that joyous smiling guy that fans knew and basketball fans knew and the passion turned into a realization that it could really be taken away. I think in those moments, that’s when I lost my last piece of being a kid. Yeah. Because when you’re a kid, you feel invincible to everything and nothing could hurt you, right? That was when I lost it. And when I lost that, it became an actual appreciation for what I do instead of a uh kind of a an everyday thing I am, you know? It be instead of it becoming who I am, it became what I do, right? And I that was a that was a big moment. And that was the moment that changed uh the pressure. It changed the the uh opinion of what I do. And also it made it more fun though. It’s interesting cuz there are certain players where you that might that mindset might not lead to them being more better. Yes. Yes. I I mean but I give everything I have to what I I do cuz I love what I do. I love playing basketball. I love the competition more than the basketball. I love competition. And what like in like like in what way? Like I I love the work. I love I love the journey of getting ready for a season. I love the the the the hours put in. I love feeling that I’m competing against someone before the game even starts. You know, maybe they get to the gym at 8:00 and I’m there at 7:30. I’ve won the day, right? You know, maybe maybe I made a shot or two in practice more than them that they didn’t make in their practice. I have no idea what the stats are, but I my mind am playing this mental game with this person and every day I I make sure I walk out feeling a winner against that person before the game happens. So when by the time I get to the game at 7:30 at MSG, I’ve already won. I’m now just getting to show you how I won. It’s just so interesting because it’s so to get to it’s like how you can get to that place where when it is 7:30 and all the people are there. If it if it was if you were just kind of putting it all on that Yeah. of course like anybody would like freeze up and be like, “Oh my god, how do I do this?” But you have like that’s belief that I’ve already I’ve already won the game. I’ve already won my matchup. So um I know I’ve done everything and I even sit there on the court, you know, uh self-affirmation is powerful and um I’ve been doing it for a long time, but even when I’m on the court, there’s like 2 minutes before the game. I already looked at myself when I I’m getting stretched on the court and go like, I’ve done everything possible to beat this man and this there’s no way in the world this man’s gonna come out here and show he’s better than me. I I’ve done all the work. I just got to go out here and simply just have fun showing the world that I that I put the work in. So, this might sound counterintuitive, but with how good the Knicks fans are, how how like I think it’s the greatest fan base in sports. I mean, they’re like for better, for worse, like with how good they are, is it more important to have the perspective because you basically are like it is a and you saw this and I wanted to ask your perspective in general, you know, we’re now 13 months out from the trade and Minnesota has a great fan base, too. So, it’s not like it’s night and day. It’s been 30 years, but you are you you’ve you’ve walked into a a place um that is different than I would say anywhere else in the NBA, maybe anywhere else in sports in terms of and he knows this. He’s flying all over. I was laughing. I’m remembering the moment that the trade happened. Oh god. Cuz I was with my my wife, my son. I will never forget. Where were you? I was at the house. I was at my house in Minnesota. It was crazy. I had seen everybody. I had worked out Friday morning at the practice facility and even my friend was uh Cam was there. He was there. Everyone was there. So it was with me. And then um even my friend was playing point guard for the workout at the practice facility. And we just I was just remember when we got back we got back from the practice silly and I was like man fellas you know we gota enjoy this moment. Jordan’s in Paris at fashion week and I’m like man fellas we got to enjoy this moment because it’s going to be the last calm Friday before you know the season’s over. And I was like we got to enjoy this last calm Friday calm day before you know Monday’s media day. It’s already Friday afternoon and like we got to enjoy these moments these last moments of calm. I didn’t know the last I didn’t know I didn’t I thought I would have till Sunday at least but I had about five hours before you know uh I’m getting a call that you know Tim wanted to come to the house to uh drop drop drop something off and I was just like oh we’ll just just drop it off on Sunday we have team dinner anyway and he was like very adamant that he wanted to come see me at the house and I was just like all right yeah come over I would never forget 8:30 funny enough number pick was playing Cam Ward vers uh vers Virginia Tech and he came over to the house, walked in the house with my dad and everyone there and right away first words was like, “You’re starting your modeling career in New York.” I was like, “What?” I thought it was a joke. I thought it was a joke. So I I laughed about it and he was kind of like looking at me like, “This ain’t a joke.” And I told him, “Say that again. make and say say it with your chest. I want to make sure I heard this correctly. He’s like, “Yeah, man. We traded you to New York.” And I was and I remember my dad said, “What?” My friend walks out the room like everyone’s shocked. I’m shocked. And uh Yeah. I mean, what went through your head? I was I’m still stunned. But I I was I was just, you know, you had such a career in Minnesota. We just came off making the Western Conference Finals. I’ve I’ve been blessed to be with Minnesota in the bad times and great times. And now we’re at the great times and you know, your uh your Timberwolves tenure just gets cut out of nowhere unexpectedly. No one in NBA heard a murmur, a whisper, a murmur. No one had an idea. No one had a clue. And next thing you know, it’s like we just had a whole meeting about doing workouts, me and aunt together, and assistant coaches were very much like, we were going to do this, we’re going to do this, maybe tomorrow we come in and work on Saturday. Like, no one has an idea, right? So, man, it was so wild that, you know, you’re just in shock cuz it’s like there’s just no way your tenure ends that abruptly. It just is over. It’s just done. And, um, you know, I obviously never been traded before, so I know how to like that reaction is. And I know I’ve heard so many stories and it’s like it’s crazy because I’ve been in Minnesota and I’ve had a bunch of teammates, a ton of teammates, a lot of new pe new faces I see every year and um you know and and seeing people get traded during the year and stuff. It’s always so tough and you’re just like I never want to be in that position. And then all of a sudden you’re in the position now, let alone Monday’s media day for teams. Sunday is usually your team dinner. And um it’s Friday 8:30. You’re like, I’m headed literally. Where were you? I was at home in Westchester watching a movie or something. It was like night, right? It was at night. It was like 8:30. It’s It dropped at like 8:00. Yeah. I was watching a movie with my son and my wife like in our living room, whatever. And I was like, “Oh shit.” I was I was stunned. You should um you should imagine how I I looked and at him and said there’s no way you’re you’re saying this correctly that this is true and it’s like you and that’s such a funny way for him to tell you it though. It gets there was there’s it’s a better story. It’s a great story. It gets it could get better too. And um I remember thinking like as a fan I was thinking oh god that’s got to be really like if this is something that he didn’t know about which I assumed. I’m thinking god that’s got to be weird for him. Like I’m thinking he just saw me all week. Yeah. Right. Right. Exactly. Right. And and and I’m I’m just thinking like I hope he wants to come to New York, but of course he’s not like if he doesn’t know like that must be just of course he’s going to love his team and you want somebody who wants and then so I remember the first day the media day with the Knicks or whatever it was when you came. He didn’t even mention my name. Right. Right. Right. Exactly. Right. They couldn’t talk about but then like when you first came Yeah. I remember just like literally going like I hope we and Jaylen get along. I hope he You know, I was I was I was stunned cuz I was just like even when I got to New York, I was just kind of like there’s no way this has happened, dude. And then on top of that, the trade never got finalized. So now they’re having training camp, but we can’t be in the same room. We came to be in in the site. We can’t be around each other. Nothing. So I’m just like a imag like a imaginary person that’s not there. Yeah. I’m actually So I’m really curious your perspective on this. We did an EP a couple weeks ago with Flee in LA and he and he told a story about the Luca trade and Ben told I told Flee about the Luc. Ben told Flee about Luca trade and he freaked out cuz he’s the biggest. And I by the way I hadn’t seen Flee in like 25 years. Yeah. He was like like I literally and I was at some party in LA and it had just happened and I knew he was a huge Lakers fan. So he freaks out. He’s falling on the floor all different stuff. I think my my question for you now having lived through this because there’s the there’s the player slash people who work for a team perspective and then there’s the fan perspect there’s everyone else. When these things happen, you were an example of this, that one was an example of this. There’s a few every year obviously. When these things happen, people go nuts almost to the point that it’s like a bigger deal than uh a playoff win. You know, it’s like a thing that just causes it’s news. Do you has your perspective now changed for when it happens to other people cuz you’ve lived through it or are you still just kind of like oh I I already respected the players that have to get traded and go to a new team and make it work immediately like you know especially middle of the year you know people got kids and stuff imagine having to tell your kids they can’t see their friends anymore we got to go like that’s tough you know and isn’t it crazy both both big trades the Knicks are involved yeah Nicks trade for me and shocked the world. Luca gets traded after the Lakers came here and whooped our ass. What? And um and I just uh it’s just a it’s just a different respect. Is this different respect too? Cuz you know it’s it’s different. It’s just like having like you know having a parent die or anything. It’s just a different You just don’t understand it until you’re until you experience it. Yeah. And you experienced it. Cuz experience teaches all. And you know, I I I have a beautiful house that has nine years of memories in it. It has all these amazing artifacts of my career and friends of mine throughout the years and my family. and you’re told it’s remember it’s 8:59 p.m. You’re like, “Hey, man.” You got 12 hours to go pack up and go to New York. You’re like, “Wait, what?” And then you have no place to live, right? And you’re now used to being in a big house with a lot of space and your own life to now you’re like locked in a hotel room. And it’s also New York. In New York. Like you’re like, “I don’t know what’s going on.” Next thing you know, you’re you’re trying to figure out how could I, you know, and I got I got big ass feet. So, it’s like I can’t just bring a whole closet of shoes that I have over, you know? So, now you’re trying to figure out maybe six pairs of shoes that can make it work with a bunch of outfits. Which shoes to bring? And then I’m trying to figure it all out and then you got to get a fits and then you’re like, well, you got to Oh, well, we’re going to Charleston, too. So, now you have to have it packed to go to Charleston. The climate. Yeah. just like everything was just messed up. So, I was kind of like and then I have no time after to just fly back after training camp to go get my stuff settled and then come back with more stuff cuz I don’t even have a place to live now. You know, you’re in New York, there’s no home, right? So, it’s like you got to be very selective about the amount of space you’re using with clothes and closets space. So, living in New York space is a a premium. Oh my goodness. I I I was I was just like this is wild. But And then you got to perform. Then you got to like Exactly. Oh, no trading camp for you either cuz the trade’s not finalized. So, you don’t get to learn anything, be around the players, the coaches, nothing, right? You just have to kind of live on by yourself. 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I think it was a highlight of my of my year last year. That was that was really cool. That turnaround jumper. That was wild. That was wild cuz I don’t work on that shot very often. There was a there was about a 35 second stretch where you just Oh yeah, that step back. It was incredible. Shout out to OG. He threw me the ball, man. I just I felt like Res threw the ball. I got the ball. I was like, “Oh shit.” So I was just like I just was I think that moment was cool cuz I I was hearing the talking from the crowd and No, I was there that that crowd Oh, they shut the hell up quick. Oh, it was so great. It was so great cuz and I all I thought being there real in real life was like this is crowd is so loud that the Knicks have got to get ahead early or they have to stay ahead to keep just so just to keep the crowd out of it. That step back right when I hit that three first of all in my brain that was just work. That’s the work that I talk about. You put the work in and it just it doesn’t feel like pressure. I shot the shot when the ball left my hand. Subconsciously, my brain and me are having a conversation. I’m like, “Why the hell did I just shoot that? That is not a good shot.” I’m watching the ball fly in the air and I’m like, “Man, I think it’s short and it goes swish.” And I’m like, “Oh, we’re living with this. This is a good shot now.” And I look back at everyone and I just knew how much talk the fans was the [ __ ] talking the fans was doing. And I remember it was so quiet in there and mix fans. Were the fans? Yeah. Yeah. I remember you had trouble getting the tickets, seeing the tickets. I just remember going like I just went nuclear cuz I just remember looking it felt like me in in Toronto when I hit that shot when I just started looking at all the fans I had been keeping track of in the game talking [ __ ] and I immediately went to talking [ __ ] to everyone down the line. There was like one kid I think it was like the owner’s son or something that was getting under my skin at all this Detroit games. Anyway, but shout out to Detroit though. that fans like those fans showed up and showed out for their they were great. Everybody was cool with us. It was like you were felt like you were in the belly of the beast, but everybody was all right. But that’s how you won it though. I I have a lot of respect for fans that stay dedicated to their teams and they cheer for their team as loud as possible and cheer loudly and proudly for their team. I actually got a lot of respect. It makes the games funner, makes the atmosphere funner. I think that anyone who was a Knicks fan, Detroit fan, you know, obviously Detroit fans didn’t get the result they wanted, but I feel everyone left there with such a respect for each other and and and a respect game series. Yeah, it was a really fun series. I felt that was the closest we got to like old school like basketball, like 2000s 90s basketball. Like, it was so physical. The whole the whole series was physical. And I appreciate that the refs let it play out that way, too, because they walked in with like allowing us to have that kind of series. What was your favorite moment flying all over the place? I mean, I didn’t love We went to the Ind Indiana. That wasn’t fun. We We delete that one. Yeah. Yeah. Um I think my favorite moment was when uh when we took out the Celtics game six. I was about to say I feel like the most fun I’ve had in a long long time being there. That the crowd, the energy around the building was just contagious. It was so great. It was insane. It was such a like pent up over the all these years and it was just such a great feel and of course you know it was it sucked with Jason Tat that was but you know at the very end of the game and but it really felt like we earned it and we were you know we we definitely earned it. I mean I’m saying we by the way no we we earned it. No no you you the all of New York every fan we that was a we win and won that game. Ben and Timmy board like they were getting on planes going everywhere. Like you were literally not missing anywhere. We were riding it. It was like come on. This is like the last like two three years, especially last year. It’s like come on, it’s been like nothing else, you know? And I feel like it was like But you know what? Like I told I I had talked to Timmy about this. I said, man, I’ve been very fortunate in the last two years of my career that in Minnesota they haven’t seen the Western Commerce Finals in I think 20 years. 21 and then we got there. Like you got to enjoy these moments. You never know what life has for any of us. Stay in the present. Enjoy the present because the future’s not guaranteed and the past has already been taken care of by the by the present. So yeah, you know, we can’t change it. And and when we did the when we won last year, that’s 25 years. I’m like, man, we supposed to enjoy this with the fans cuz you never know what God has for any of us in in the future. But the present’s here and this is a guaranteed that we we have a moment that 25 years New York has never seen. We should be living it up. We should be enjoying it. Everybody, every fan, every player, they should be together in this because, you know, God know, you know, we don’t know what is going to happen, but I can guarantee you that the New York Knicks are going to the Eastern Conference Finals. I guarantee. I’ll also say those those first two comebacks in the Boston series, just the just the way that the way that it happened back to back. Incredible. We did we had done that so much in our run last year that it was it was we were asking for bad juju with 20 point leads and when we got a 20point lead we decided to let Indiana play us do what we do so well. Oh that was a tough one. Game one was tough. Yeah that was tough cuz I was there for that too. And I felt like if any I felt like there’s no reason anyone should hit a shot like that at MSG. That should be like a legal. No. And like I we happened to be like right under the celebration that was h it was one time I really did not want to have the courtside seat cuz I was like making eye contact with Miles Turner and I was like this is too weird. They’re about to fall on top of us and it’s I don’t want to be here right now. I just remember I just remember coming out in overtime and I was just like, “All right, like I get a good look at a shot, I’m taking it immediately because I want to I want to put the energy back on our side and let our fans bring the momentum back to us. Get a good early make. Bring the fans back to our, you know, bring the fans back into the game. Bring the momentum back to our side.” I was fortunate to get that. I think it was baseline little jab set midi. And I thought it was good, but you could just see that in their eye that they were like, “There’s a chance and we have a chance to leave here with one.” It was a crazy night. They were It was insane. It was insane. That changed everything. Yeah, that changed everything. That was a tough one. I just can’t believe that shot went so high in the air. No way. It’s also the the the knee before all that was like, Yeah. I mean, we talked about that with Spike a couple weeks ago. I mean, at a certain point when he hits when he hits six shots like that in a row in in a 90-cond stretch that were five of them were really well defended. Yeah. Like tip your head. I can’t I I mean, yeah. But no. What do you think? What do you think now that you’ve had a year of it and are about to go into year two makes the Garden specifically so different? I mean, let me put it like this. Minnesota is was so great to me and the fans were amazing. and they showed so much love and I’m forever grateful for them. But there it’s it’s the garden. I grew up in this area and I know what it is. But now when you’re like you play at the garden and you go to the garden and you’re really part of that ecosystem of going to Knicks games or fortunate for me being part of the Knicks games, I could be even in the summer after that terrible loss like if you bring up the garden it’s like I could hear the cheers in my ear without being there. I could be on a beach and I could like literally hear the cheers in my ears, hear the fans. I get like goosebumps just thinking about the garden. Like a place that could just make goosebumps happen for you without even being there. Did you Did you go when you were a kid? No. Never. Never. Okay. Never could afford it. Wow. Never could afford it. Were you were you so like you born what 95? Yeah. So like were you were you you were a Nick fan? I was cuz they like they gave my dad his first chance at the NBA and only chance. Oh, really? Yeah. He broke his ankle. He broke his ankle. Uh I think it was like the end end of the training camp squad. Wow. Like in like summerly guys that you know the summer league they bring them in and stuff like that. He was one of those dudes and he broke his ankle and his career was over. But the Knicks gave him his chance, right? So I was always forever grateful to the Knicks cuz you know every son wants to be like their fathers. So Yep. Uh your dad seems great by the way. He’s at every game. and such a big personality. Oh, he’s a huge personality. He’s like the mayor of He really is. And you know, God forbid when the t-shirt time comes around, that’s the man right there, bro. You need a t-shirt, you need to be good friends with him. I’m trying to tell you, you know, he he put me he put me in a position to live this dream. And I think what’s even more special about this, you know, my grandmother being to see me after all these years haven’t been able to see me cuz she’s here with my mom’s side, my mom’s mom to be able to see me in New York is um and playing more is awesome cuz you know, she was going to make those flights a lot to Minnesota and stuff. But right, like I said, my dad broke his ankle when he had his chance for the NBA. Now he finally gets to see that Towns jersey. Yeah. Knicks jersey. as a parent like you know having a couple of kids who are doing their thing like the when you when your kids are happy and doing their thing Yeah. and having success it’s more than that with yours. Yeah. It just becomes it it’s it it’s like I feel like I feel like that’s how it always is though. I mean my dad I feel like I have kind of that like fatherly instinct in me. But I love when I see my teammates like being with Aunt. Yeah. just seeing aunt, you know, grow and and and and become the player that he is today and being able to help him as a big brother in this journey and always, you know, you know, doing my best to uh race him through this league. It’s it’s amazing to see where he’s at. I get so proud when I see him doing well. I I have my driver pass by a lot, the Adidas store, just so I can see the Anthony Edwards sign on the thing, cuz I’m just I feel like a proud big brother, you know, just to see him. What do you think makes him so special? his want, his mind. Uh I think his charisma and stuff is what gets people to uh lean in to hear what he has to say, but I think it’s it’s it’s his want to be great that keeps people in his ecosystem. I think, you know, it’s one thing to attract fans, it’s one thing to keep fans, and he’s doing that through his play. his play is what’s keeping fans there and and his charisma and um who he is is what makes fans give him a chance just to watch him you know do his art. It’s al he was really good in hustle. He really was but he was himself. He’s one of the most charismatic not even hyperbole he’s one of the most charismatic people you will ever meet. for sure. He He has a He has a He has a swag to him. And uh I since day one, I always told him that, you know, with while I’m there with him, I always want him to be himself. Cuz I understand how it is to have people wanting to rip away your your aura, your swag, your personality, so it can match what they think is success or what they think is cool. And I never wanted to be in that situation. Um learned from from me. So, I was always like, you know, as long as I’m here and I’m I’m stepping through these doors in Minnesota, I want you to always make sure that you’re yourself to a fault, I want you to be yourself as much as possible. And if anything goes wrong, I’ll take the blame cuz your vet should have been the one to teach you better. So, no, have no pressure on that and just be you and Yeah. and enjoy being who you are and you know, we’ll I’ll always be here for you. And uh I know he knows I’ve I’ve always kept my promise on that. With your dad um cuz I you know we’ve all seen that Rick Brunson and Jaylen video. Was that the kind of relationship you had with your dad when you was he teaching you like that and that sort of like tough love thing of like I don’t know if it was really tough love because I wanted to do the work. So I felt my dad never got to a point where it was like he had asked me I was asking him to go to the gym. I was asking him to be in the gym for long hours. Like I was asking for that kind of uh time. And from what age? Since I was young. I was young. I But like how you know? I’ve been with my dad. My dad was a high school coach. So I was with him every single day in the high school season for I mean since I could remember. But when like when you seven, eight, nine, younger, I would just be there watching. If I couldn’t play, I would just watch. And then he would have a he would have one of the freshman guys just rebound and have me throw the ball consistently at the rim and I would just keep going and throwing or just fresh rebounding for like seven literally. So I just was always that and then he always had had a way to implement me into the practice whether it was uh Avery and Charles Edwards and everyone from Pascal Tech would remember this story but like you know they would finish practice. My dad loved to run and have the hard practices and he’d be like, “All right, Carl, you go up there, you make a free throw, practice is done, everyone gets to go home, but if you miss, they run.” Oh my god. And that’s how I learned. I was like, you know, it’s okay to have the weight of the world on your should. This is what he shoots 45%. I was like, that’s crazy. That’s literally how it went. Every time I see his former players, they bring up those stories. He was like, “Them days you would miss, I’d be mad as hell.” So I that’s how I just learned it was it was good practice in pressure situations and then as I got older and older, you know, I understood the magnitude of what I was doing, but it felt so second nature to me just to go up there and make the shot because it stop being pressure just go make the shot. Go up there and make the shot. That’s simple. He So we were talking about this uh before you got here. So Ben uh shot a documentary about his parents. It’s coming out. Yes. Coming out next week on Apple. I’m curious your perspective like do you have a story like this that you kind of learned in the process of making the doc in terms of something similar? I mean it it’s such a different kind of relationship with my dad and mom cuz my dad was not the guy. That’s why cuz I remember watching that the Rick and Jaylen thing. I’m like God that was so not my dad but yet it probably so contributed to him being able to have that you know that discipline and be able to do it. My dad was much more he was very supportive but it wasn’t like you know he was like giving like actually getting into doing stuff together that he was teaching me but it was through example like I just watched his work ethic. Yeah. Um and my mom too and they would work together cuz they were a comedy team and they had to write their sketches together and they’d work together in the house and I just see it was just his whole life you I was his whole life. And you talk about being your whole life and then having the healthy sort of thing of being able to separate from that. That’s always been, you know, challenging for me honestly like in life to figure out how to like disconnect from the creative process and all that and just like and just enjoy life separately. And I think I’ve gotten to that as I gotten older. It’s amazing like at your young age that you could, you know, really figure that out and kind of probably had to figure it out. Yeah. I mean, for, you know, I think for you, you know, you have a you’re you’re in a profession that I think as time goes on, you get to continue to make amazing works like you already are. And there’s longevity. You know, I’m in a business where you better have it figured out pretty damn quick cuz you only get a certain amount of time to do this. And uh it forces you to grow up very much in in a much quicker standpoint, especially in your profession. And uh it really is totally different than anything else. Yeah. I I I talked about this on the I was on the Joe and Jada podcast and shout out to them. Um I I was I was talking to to Jordan about this and and I was and we were just having a natural nighttime conversation, speech picking my brain and I was just like, you know, I think that in a way, you know, there’s there’s three ways you make it in in sports for me. I’ve seen either you you have to have the work ethic, you have to have the talent, or you have to get lucky. I said, “Those are the three things that usually you you you you hang your hat on.” And I said, “For me, I think I was lucky cuz I had I had two. I had the God-given height and I had but I got the luck. The luck was my gift.” What was the luck though? The luck was my gift of having a dad who was a high school coach. Because of luck of luck be had, I didn’t have the money to continue to rent a gym or go work at a gym. But what I did have was a dad who had a key to a fully beautiful wooden court high school gym that I had free access to go use at all the time and work on my game and my craft, which made my talent. I did get and and then luck be at it. My mom’s 510, my dad’s 65, and I became 7footer. Like, right, I know that’s tall to everyone. I’m not saying that, but 7 feet still doesn’t kind of equate in that in that equation. So, I got lucky and I got lucky and and and always being tall. So, I never felt like I didn’t know I was going to be tall. I always knew I was going to be tall. My dad had a certain mindset for me where younger taught me how to be a guard first and then taught me how to be a big last. And uh because I had a gym, I had no time, you know, I didn’t have to book a gym, you know, I just went to the gym. I had those that time and luck to work on being a guard for two hours, take a break. All right, let’s go back and do another two hour and a half of two hours of big man work. You know, I didn’t have a time stamp. I didn’t have to not go. I could wake up on a Saturday morning and be like, “Oh, I don’t want to shoot at the park. I want to shoot in the gym. Dad, can you take me?” And I had a dad that was willing to do that and was more than happy as a basketball player to hear your son wants to play basketball. I mean, yeah, probably was the happiest thing he could hear. So, I got lucky. I think that’s, you know, I know everyone sees me now and playing and stuff and they’re like, “Wa, it’s talent or it’s like a god-given height.” And it is. I think those are two things. Talent I I I Well, the shooting ability too that you have is incredible. And I I don’t understand like what do you think that like is that how much of that is obviously the work and the repetition and this is like a question like people ask like okay, can you be funny? Like are you you know can you learn to be funny right now or like is a person can a person learn to be funny or not as a shooter is it something it’s something you either have or you don’t have I think it could be I think it’s actually it’s a it’s a double-edged sword cuz some people are just naturally high eye hand coordination and just got a knack for it but still at the end of the day it comes down to reps cuz I could you could as a basketball fan you would how many people can you tell me have beautiful shooting mechanics and and and shooting shooting strokes but can’t shoot the ball. It’s also at the at the at the scale that you do it too. I mean that’s the thing that’s that’s why I said I think the talent you get those three things. Some people are just god-given talent. Some people got a god-given like just traits that you just can’t teach. And then there’s people who are just lucky and you could be in all three of those buckets. Usually you get two if you’re like an NBA. I feel like sometimes if you go to college or NBA high school varsity team, you got one of them, right? And I I just I just I just got lucky. I got lucky. I had a gym that made the talent and I had uh a gym. I I I count myself being in the lucky bucket the most because I got the talent from having the luck of having the gym and I was able to use my god-given traits because of the gym to build my talent. So you had a desire to do it, right? you had an inner because I think that’s personally I think like that’s a huge part of it too is just the inner like your passion for whatever you do is like it’s got to come from inside you cuz cuz you know being a basketball player being an actor whatever it’s like all of it’s like challenging and you got to love doing it no matter what if you really want to do it well cuz there’s so many ups and downs to No there is and then there’s es and flows and everything and I I I was telling Jordan the same thing and this is podcast is awesome. We get to talk. So, I was uh telling Jordan, I said, you know, I I I don’t know what it was when I was younger. I don’t know what the the dream I had. I I I thought big and I decided to work in that aspect that I needed to work hard and work that big to get to the where I wanted to be today. I don’t know what it was when I was younger. You know, I had a dad that definitely was like saw the vision and was like going to push me in in any way to get to that point, but I was just willing to give my childhood up for the chance of living in this dream. And I I I did it and I I don’t regret it, you know? I don’t regret it cuz it got me here. And at the end of the day, you know, you could be mad. Maybe I wish I would have went to that party or that birthday party or this event or whatever, but right, I asked for this. I made a deal with myself young, very young. Like that’s the thing that kind of blows my mind a little too cuz when I think about my 10-year-old self, yeah, I wanted to be a director and do and I and I did like I, you know, committed myself to it, but the time frame is just totally it’s like my kid, you’re a kid. I like to have that, you know, sense of yourself to know, okay, I’m actually going to do this and go for it. And the discipline and all of it at that young age is something I I made that deal. I made that deal with God and myself as young as I can remember. I remember I remember making that deal like in first grade. Did you ever imagine that it might not work out? You know what? I think what helped me was I tempered my expectations young where I really was only thinking about getting a college scholarship to Ruckers. That was it. That was like all I wanted. I just wanted that D1. I just wanted a college scholarship. D1 is great. Like I just wanted a college scholarship. And I remember in second grade I was already like on the cover of Scholastic News. And you know back in the day that was the thing to have in the classroom. There was two things that that was the thing in my when I was in Jersey. It was like the two days that were the best was when the Scholastic News came to the school and his teacher was like, “We’re going to read this together.” And two was when they rolled the damn TV in and said, “We’re going to watch a movie.” So, I was that was the two best days. And I was crazy that I already had like a whole story, a cover of it. And then, you know, you’re in school and everyone’s reading this this Scholastic News kids. And I’m like, yo, this is like, you know, it’s a lot of pressure being young, but it was like also too, I I was fortunate, you know, it takes a village to to to have success. And I had a great family. I had great support systems. I had great friends and and when I was young, who didn’t even realize they were helping me and now we’re older. And I look back and thank them from my heart. And, you know, it was it was one of those moments. I just made a deal. I wanted to I wanted to go for it. I knew basketball was my sport. how uh people had saw the vision of me being really good at it already. And I never had the NBA expectations. They wanted to call me a prodigy and stuff like that. I never really Mhm. I didn’t even think Prodigy as in NBA player. I thought Prodigy as in, oh, I may be able to go to Ruckers, you know, I get to go D1 college basketball hometown. You know, that that’s a win. That’s a win in life. That’s especially for people in my neighborhood that you know we only really had one NBA player and that was Derek character. So for the Lakers so you know it’s not it’s not it’s not something we ever talk about. No one in the area really makes right like like even right an actual reality. It’s too bad for Ruckers. It didn’t they were in my top they were in my top my top. Do you feel like with your we we always talk about with Ben in particular it’s like he the the the phrase I get back to is like a five tool player in entertainment because he does everything I mean we think the whole world knows comedy drama right act direct it’s not like you just are like oh I’m just the best actor I’m best the best comic actor the best dramatic actor do you feel like this drive has lead you even with the doc I mean honestly even with the soda but in in the entertainment stuff in particular it leads you to push yourself in this way rather rather than just be like, I’m just going to do this thing that I know I can do really well consistently. Yeah. I mean, I think it’s been a a for me like a journey of figuring it out cuz I think I went off instinct when I was younger. I just knew I wanted to do it. I knew I loved it, but I didn’t know what I even wanted to say necessarily. And also, I grew up around around it. So, I was it was everything. That’s kind of what the documentary is about. about growing up around parents who you know lived and breathed acting and show business and all of it and it just became like part of our lives and from a very young age I had I the one thing I would say similarly I had a sense from a very young age I knew I wanted to do it but I don’t think I had enough of I would have had enough of a sense of myself to really understand like some sort of a plan or anything other than I was figuring it out as I went along and that’s something I’ve learned as I gotten older is to not really even question necessarily like what my why if it if I feel like if I have a gut feeling about something that I’m attracted to, you know, a a subject matter or an idea that something I want to see or I want to somehow express, I just kind of try to go with that. So, it’s evolved as I’ve gotten older. Um because I think also opportunities came to me that I didn’t think would come to me too in terms of acting in movies and stuff cuz I always did want to be a director. Mhm. And wow, I did not think that the acting part of it would be what sort of like, you know, was led everything and the comedy part of it too because I also had this thing where my parents were in comedy and so you didn’t want to be in comedy. Yeah. I was like, no. I feel like that’s that’s what it’s so funny cuz like growing up that’s all I known you for. No, that’s that’s the irony of it really is like and it’s in the documentary. There’s like an interview with my parents when I’m 10 years old or like 8 years old saying like I don’t want to do comedies. I just want to do serious movies. And you know, the reality is it was in my blood. It was in my, you know, it was part of who I am. But I’ve also always wanted to do a lot of different things. And that’s been for me the fun of evolving, I guess, as I’ve gotten older is like to really like get, you know, more in touch with like, well, what’s really going to make me happy? Because you do get into a system where you’re doing things where then people are expecting something of you. And I’d imagine that, you know, something you can understand, too. It’s like, you know, it’s just like people want you to be one thing. It’s like, well, you have to look and go like, what what do I really want to do? What’s going to make me happy? And what do I want to create? And I’m lucky enough to be, you know, in a position where I can explore that stuff and I can go, okay, you know, yeah, this is, you know, I can do comedy stuff, but like I really want to make this little movie here and I’m going to do that for a while. And luckily, I feel like that hasn’t ever gone away. the desire to like figure out what’s the next thing because I’m, you know, creatively I want to push myself and do things I haven’t done because that’s exciting and fun and, you know, interesting and and it’s kind of exciting to go into an area where you don’t feel sure of yourself. Um, whether it’s like a soda company or severance even, it’s like severance was like a genre I hadn’t really done before. Um, but I loved and you fooled me. Yeah, I mean as long as I keep fooling everybody, by the way, that’s how I feel like I’m fooling everybody because you like you get away with it. It’s like, oh, I did that and it’s like this is kind of what I the way I see it. Will people buy this? Oh, yeah, they will. And that’s that is a great feeling going back to what you were saying early on. Like it’s an amazing feeling for me. Severance that people love severance and to be a part of that because it’s a different thing than over the years of all the comedy and all that which has been great but then like to be you know have something else you do that people are going hey I like that too is is a great thing. Did you feel like Danora caused a lot of that as well? That for me personally that that series was a a turning point because it was the first thing I directed that I wasn’t in and it’s this drama this a prison escape story and it was like just a straight out drama and it was with Benitio Del Toro and Patricia Arette and Paul do these great actors. I was like having so much fun as a director finally not really because over the years I just directed and acted in a lot of the movies I made and it was like first time like I don’t have to get in front of the camera really and do this and and there’s a thing in drama too where you don’t have to be funny it’s like a for comedy people it’s a relief that you’re not expected to it’s like it’s felt like always the requirement for you to do something. Yeah. It’s like kind of like if you you tell people you’re going to you know you’re they’re going to go see a comedy they want to laugh. Yeah. And if they don’t laugh then they feel like they well then it wasn’t that funny and that’s not what I wanted you know. So it’s an expectation. Drama is a little bit more subjective. You can kind of like go I liked it I didn’t like it. Whatever that pulled me in. You gota you still have to maintain an audience’s interest and all that, but that’s so in a way sometimes it feels like cheating a little bit as a comedy person when you’re doing drama because you know that you don’t have that pressure of having to be funny cuz you know how hard that can be. We were talking we were talking um earlier today about the the sort of the compare and contrast about managing like a locker room versus a set. Yeah. And at the end of the day, it’s whether you’re coach, you know, player, whatever it may be, it’s like you’re managing ego, you’re managing expectations, but the the skills that you pick up along the way of doing that and being able to get the best out of your peers while also having to like, you know, not everyone’s playing 40 minutes a night. Yeah. I mean, I mean that I think even, you know, you have kids and you’re a fan of sports. It’s just sports teaches you a lot more than just wins and losses. It teaches you like ways of living, how to be a better person, how to manage expectations, how to manage, you know, relationships, and it teaches you a lot of life lessons that, you know, that are I go off the field, go off the court, off the pitch, you know, it just it teaches you a bunch. So, I naturally just learned how to navigate a room and and manage relationships, egos, personalities where that you could get the best out of everybody for the greater of the team. And and that’s just the same way for him as a director. I can imagine that over years and years of experience and having dealt with so many different people, you’ve learned this works better with people of this stature and this works with people of this stature and then this is how you mesh those people together to make amazing project and art, right? Get the best out of everybody. Like so you’re saying like with a rookie where you say like hey, you know, like you’re giving him the confidence to say like do your thing and don’t be stressed, right? There’s no reason to be stressed. But that’s huge, right? That’s huge for you to be able to give that to someone, communicate to him. Yeah. Yeah. Be you being who you are. And I think like understanding even if you don’t sometimes don’t think of yourself like you know on a set it’s like all right well I it’s my job as the director or the person who maybe has the most experience here to like really try to get the best out of everybody and make that person who’s coming in to do their one scene in the movie feel confident and feel like so that they can they can relax as much as possible and give and that’s a really important thing I think that is part of I mean I was thinking about um you’re talking about this idea of like a set and and working like on a movie set. I’m working on a movie right now and a movie set is like there’s a lot of people around and people are doing their jobs or whatever but as an actor you’re doing you’re you’re working in that moment but like you know your agent could be coming to visit you or you’re coming to visit the set or whatever and it seems like an open environment and it reminded me a little bit of like well maybe like what it’s like to be playing a game at Madison Square Garden because you’re doing your job. This is like what it comes down to. It’s like you have to perform in that game, but then you got everybody in this court and you got you’re saying hi to everybody and there’s this like relaxed vibe or whatever interaction thing, but you’re at work. You are and you are in the most important time of your day is to win that game, but yet you have to figure out how to like exist in that environment. And I’m always surprised cuz like you’re always friendly and and loose, whatever. and you’re interacting with a crazy fan or people, but it’s it’s still like an incredibly intense specific thing that you’re having to do in that environment. Yeah. No, I mean just as I I mean it’s talking to you I mean you understand it’s just like as an actor actress you know it’s like you turn it on you know it’s just it’s just like you know being able to see something oh how you doing immediately get straight face inbound the ball get ready to go score a basket like it’s it just work you know it is work and and you appreciate it but you know when you have to turn you know when you have to like go I can’t do that right now I got to do this yeah I mean and you know where my dad and Jordan sit And I I half the time my dad and Jordan will try to tell me s cheer and I have no idea what anyone has said. I have no idea. I I I’m I’m tuned out like when I’m on that court. It really feels like we have you know we have Ben Stiller, Timothy, Jordan gives me the most little Jordan my dad cuz you know I know you know those are like they give me the most pressure. You know I’ve seen of course you wanted to do well. Yeah. And then, you know, you’re seeing, you know, whoever it may be, Bonito or Denzel Washington and all these amazing people. I truly don’t see anybody. I just when I’m on the court, I really feel like there’s nobody in the crowd. And I feel like I just hear, you know, the big shot goes in and stuff. I hear the crowd. I I I tune them so out. It feels like it’s empty in there at MSG. And then, you know, I had those moments where you see me hyping up the crowd and getting the crowd involved into it. I feel like they just appear like it’s like a drape is getting opened up and I’m starting to see people’s faces and and their cheer and their excitement and the emotion they show. And it’s like I have that moment. I’m doing this and everyone’s going crazy and it’s like I walk back to the bench. I get in that huddle of our guys, they make that little wall, you know, when coach is talking and I go back to the table. I get my chalk. I get, you know, wipe my shoes and I walk back on that court. It feels like the drape’s closed and I don’t see nobody and it’s just me again with MSG with the five guys on that side and five guys on this side and we just playing. It’s like it’s like until the next moment it opens up that moment. Yeah. The moment opens up the drapes, you know, and that’s how I always felt like I just I even Jordan will tell you uh I just don’t see nobody. I don’t hear things. I don’t hear nothing. Man, you have to have to have this. You kind of lose yourself. you lose yourself in the game. But for us, it’s like we don’t understand it cuz we’re watching, you know, we’re all in the same space as open space, but yet you’re h doing that as as it happens. And you have to figure I don’t know. It’s it’s that’s it’s fascinating to me. It’s just it’s it’s it’s a true thing. I just It’s just weird cuz it’s like I even explain it to Jordan. It’s like the same way of like imagine for me and y’all know how I play basketball. I love going to the basket, jumping as high as possible, making things happen. and I fall on the floor super hard, get up, run back. And I’m telling Jordan, I said, the fact that in my mind when I put a jersey on and those basketball shoes on, I’ll jump as high as I physically can, go sideways, make a layup, land on the floor super hard. Everyone’s like, “Ooh.” And then I get up and just start running. I said, “But if I’m in this house right now and I trip and I fall on the floor, I may be hitting SOS on this iPhone right now.” Life alert. I’m always watching. I’m watching Mory and stuff early and I’m like, “Man, that Life Alert looks better and better every day to put around your neck. That looks pretty impressive.” I’m just I’m like, “There’s no way I’m doing this naturally.” And I said, “I have to take better notes of this every time I lose myself in the game.” And I Yeah, it’s something like that. I’m sure it’s the adrenaline and all of it, but it’s also like what you’re expected to do. I think of that every time I watch a player drive the basket and fall and you’re like, “What does that really feel like?” Oh, it don’t feel good. And it happens like a lot, like almost half the time. And when I talk about the, you know, boxing out, getting a rebound, the physicality to get open. Yeah. Or playing defense, but the Pistons series. Imagine how that was. you go for a layup, two hand push outside of bounce, right? You know, you’re just like, “All right, cool.” I’m like, “Man, if I get pushed right now outside this court, I’ i’d probably be like, “Yo, call a medic.” Like, I just I just couldn’t imagine. It’s just so funny to think about. Like, do you feel it after the game though? Like when you Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s crazy, you know? I think what really fans need to um see and maybe you’ll direct it, it would be fun, is like the true adrenaline wearing off after a game when it really wears off and you finally get to that dinner and you know you had that 40point game and everyone bends still. Oh, that’s crazy. And you get home and you’re like, man, that was a great game. You sit down in the chair, you know, you take your fit off and everything. You put your pajamas on, your shorts, whatever is your uh clothing of choice, and you sit down in that chair, food hits the table, and everything turns off, and you’re like, “Oh my god, why the hell did I not realize my body was hurting this much? My back is killing, man.” You’re like, and you’re just like, “Whoa, there’s no way.” And then people, I know people always say, you’ve probably heard it, “Oh, it’s hard for me to turn it off after a game, you know, to go to sleep.” I think it’s true, but I think they’re not. There’s a a more that’s a vague answer because it could be that your body is is barking so much from pain that you just can’t go to sleep and you’re just uncomfortable as anything or that’s awful. Yeah. Your brain is still running through those moments and the aggression and the and the adrenaline of the game that you just can’t turn it off. So, you know, I know a lot of us like playing video games to kind of keep the competitive, you know, competitive spirit going or the aggression going or um play cards or, you know, whatever the case is cuz it keeps you know, in the competitive mode or you have to start watching TV. For me, it’s always been, you know, me and Landry Sham always watching. We’re It’s either I we talk about severance or we’re going to run through a theory, a new theory about severance. Maybe there’s a new reason why he’s a we have goat people. He’s also a photographer, too. Yes. He’s a good one, too. I never even knew he had an Instagram page for it till this summer. He’s really good. He’s really really good. He’s really really good. Yeah. I mean, I I I can’t really Yeah. It’s It’s hard to imagine like how you then have to also get up the next day and then do it again and like the schedule the practice or get on a plane. Now you’re doing this willingly with no adrenaline. Get on a plane and play in a different city. That’s the worst. You’ve played that game. You get on a plane, you’re in a different city. How do you get it going for practice then when it’s like that when you’re mid-season? Well, really won’t. But for me, it’s weird. I’m usually the first one there. So, in the building. So, uh practice will be like 11:00. I I usually get there around like 6:45, even on a game after a game day, too. And then I’ll go there and I’ll 6:45. Yeah. Do some treatment, lift, do another round of treatment, um do vitamins on the court, which is just working out oneon one with the coach and stuff like that. And then you have that whole practice and then after that do another treatment session. So and a routine like a very steady routine. Yeah. I I mean I feel the only way to get through a season is with routine. Like it’s it’s super tough. I think anything in life you know and I was talking to coaches about this in Abu Dhabi. You know when you’re NBA coach you’re NBA player you become a routine of you become a a creature of habit. You know everything has to be this way. and you’re wondering why players get a little thrown off when their shoe, you know, doesn’t stay on or it it breaks in the game or, you know, um, oh, the game’s at 7:30, but then the game has to be at 7:45 or there’s a, um, the basket’s messed up a little bit, so it ruins 2 minutes of your time because you become such a creature of habit that things need to go this exact way. So, you feel the same. And if one little thing goes off, it messes up the whole flow of what you’re used to. And and it and it’s a real thing. So for fans, I know that they’re not getting that cuz they’re like, “Oh, it’s only 5 minutes, 10 minutes. What does that matter?” Like, and it means a lot to us when you’re so used to having your ritual be this or be that. And you know, everyone has their own thing. And even for me, it’s like, you know, those kind of 5 10 minute like delays or, you know, you’re going from Westchester to MSG and traffic’s supposed to be about an hour and 45 and ends up being 2 hours. That 15 minutes you makes you feel like your whole Right. If you if you have your thing that you need to be doing. Yeah. It feels like everything’s just off, you know, and it show pre-show routine if you’re like doing a if you’re like doing a play. Yes. It’s the same thing. I for sure. But it’s so yeah, but I wanted to kind of close with what you guys are both looking forward to the most this season. I mean, I’m so excited. I’m um the vibes seems so good and this new, you know, this new situation seems I don’t know. I I’m curious to hear how you feel about it. Yeah, I mean um I’m intrigued to know uh if Mr. Melchick still has both eyes. Uh, Hel and Mark S. I I don’t know how they’re ever going to be an Audi. I don’t know how the Audi’s going to accept that one if they ever get there. And um, where the hell is Irving? So, I’m excited for season. Oh, basketball season. I just said season. You did. That’s what I’m just You asked me. You didn’t ask me to specific. Oh, the next season for that show will be all right. Please focus on the nail. That’s a good way to put it.

An extremely special episode of YM3 this week with Karl-Anthony Towns of the New York Knicks and legendary actor and director Ben Stiller! KAT and Ben discuss so much Knicks basketball (Ben, of course, is a Knicks superfan), including the backstory of when KAT was traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves last year, and reminiscing about last year’s playoff run against the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, and Indiana Pacers. KAT shares why it’s so special to him to play on the Knicks and play in Madison Square Garden, as well as how he was dedicated and developed his basketball talent from a young age. They also dive deep into Ben’s career as Ben shares how he initially didn’t want to be involved in comedy, the challenges and thrills of now branching out of comedy, how he always wanted to direct, and, of course, ‘Severance.’ Let’s go!

00:00 Intro
1:03 KAT in the offseason & Thibs minutes
4:23 Analogy between bench players and role actors
6:13 KG’s advice to KAT
8:45 Trajectory of KAT & Ben’s careers
18:05 KAT on getting traded to the Knicks
29:08 The Knicks playoffs run last year
36:12 Year two of the Knicks for KAT, playing in MSG
38:46 KAT on Anthony Edwards
40:59 KAT’s journey from a young age in basketball
53:02 Ben’s journey from a young age in film and entertainment
58:30 Locker rooms vs film sets
1:02:10 KAT’s mindset in-game
1:07:46 KAT’s routine
1:10:13 Thoughts on the upcoming season

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Previously The Old Man and the Three w/ JJ Redick (ESPN / First Take) and Tommy Alter