Lebron James Is A Free Agent Again, World Cup Must Win For USMNT, John Smoltz Talking Baseball Plus Our Dingers Only Fantasy Draft

Episode of Pardon My Take · July 1, 2026 · 3 h 5 min

Dan Katz, PFT Commenter, Memes and Zach discuss LeBron James's free agency and the World Cup, interview John Smoltz on pitching, and hold their Dingers Only fantasy draft.

Summary

The hosts opened with news that LeBron James had opted out of his Lakers contract. Dan Katz and PFT Commenter both argued that a return to Cleveland would be a fitting ending and that a move to Golden State would be widely disliked, comparing it to Kevin Durant's move there. They also discussed Kawhi Leonard rejoining the Toronto Raptors, Ja Morant's trade to Portland, and agents being credited in insider scoops.

On the 2026 FIFA World Cup, PFT Commenter called the U.S. match against Bosnia and Herzegovina a must-win and predicted a comfortable American victory, while Katz defended penalty shootouts. The group lamented that German fan account FreddyLA7 had been driven off social media. In Hot Seat/Cool Throne they covered Serena Williams's Wimbledon loss, Jaylen Brown's trade market, the Caitlin Clark discourse, a former teammate's knife allegation against Josh Naylor, Malik Beasley, and Nick Saban's letter for Terrion Arnold. Katz closed the segment with a note on Chris Johnson's ALS diagnosis.

John Smoltz discussed the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe and the 2026 MLB season. He argued that the league-wide chase for velocity is unsustainable and that Tommy John surgery is widely misunderstood. He proposed tying a team's designated hitter to its starting pitcher and said he would have quit rather than work as an opener. He called for a balance between analytics and observation, and recalled Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and manager Bobby Cox.

The episode ended with the pre-recorded Dingers Only draft, a midseason fantasy league scored solely on home runs. Draft order was set by a Sporcle quiz, which Memes won. The participants then made their picks, phoned players Matt Olson and Gunnar Henderson, and agreed on a cash pot.

Chapters

  1. 3:25

    LeBron James opts out

    The hosts react to LeBron James leaving the Lakers and rank possible destinations, favoring Cleveland over Golden State.

  2. 19:46

    Kawhi, Ja and NBA free agency

    Discussion of Kawhi Leonard returning to Toronto, Ja Morant going to Portland, other moves, and insiders crediting agents in scoops.

  3. 28:12

    USMNT must-win and World Cup

    PFT previews the U.S. knockout match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the hosts praise penalty shootouts, France and the Netherlands.

  4. 36:48

    FreddyLA7 bullied offline

    The group laments the German fan account being driven off social media and discusses online cynicism.

  5. 50:47

    Hot Seat/Cool Throne

    Picks include Serena Williams, Jaylen Brown, Caitlin Clark, Josh Naylor's alleged knife incident, Malik Beasley, Emmanuel Acho and Nick Saban.

  6. 1:08:52

    Chris Johnson's ALS diagnosis

    Katz and PFT discuss Chris Johnson's ALS announcement and encourage donations to research.

  7. 1:12:42

    John Smoltz on Tahoe golf

    Smoltz describes the American Century Championship, its scoring format and his run of second-place finishes.

  8. 1:17:48

    The MLB season and trade market

    Smoltz assesses National League contenders, possible buyers and sellers, and where Tarik Skubal could land.

  9. 1:23:13

    Velocity, Tommy John and rule changes

    Smoltz criticizes max-effort pitching, dispels Tommy John myths and proposes rules to restore starting pitchers.

  10. 1:37:11

    Closing, the Braves rotation and Bobby Cox

    Smoltz recalls moving to the bullpen, pitching with Maddux and Glavine, and Bobby Cox's leadership, and discusses analytics.

  11. 2:01:33

    Dingers Only setup and Sporcle

    The league rules are explained, Jerry tells a story, and a Sporcle quiz decides the draft order.

  12. Linked moment · 2:19:15Skip to 2:19:15 using a listen link in the info box.

    2:19:15

    The Dingers Only draft

    Participants draft position players for home runs only and phone Matt Olson and Gunnar Henderson.

  13. 2:54:26

    Rosters and cash pot

    Each participant reads out his roster and they agree on a cash prize and future league ideas.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

  • PFT Commenter

    PFT Commenter argues that LeBron joining Golden State would be as objectionable as Kevin Durant's move there.

    “that's such bullshit by the way like if we got mad at kevin durant for going to golden state this would be pathetic”

    Listen from 4:49 · LeBron James free agency

  • Dan Katz

    Dan Katz argues that LeBron James returning to Cleveland would be a fitting end to his career.

    “To finish it where he started it, close to Akron, everything that is involved in that, I think would be very cool”

    Listen from 5:16 · LeBron James free agency

  • Memes

    Memes says the Raptors will not be a serious threat to his team until they add a big man.

    “But until they get a big man, then they're not really that much of a threat”

    Listen from 20:49 · Toronto Raptors

  • PFT Commenter

    PFT Commenter doubts that Kawhi Leonard can stay healthy for a second straight strong season.

    “I just doubt that he's going to be able to do it back-to-back years”

    Listen from 21:04 · Toronto Raptors

  • PFT Commenter

    PFT Commenter notes the U.S. has historically almost never beaten European teams at the World Cup.

    “we don't beat European teams in the world cup. We just never have”

    Listen from 29:50 · United States men's national soccer team

  • PFT CommenterCame true

    PFT Commenter predicts the U.S. will beat Bosnia and Herzegovina comfortably in the knockout round.

    “I think we win. I think it might be like three to one, three to nothing”

    Listen from 31:01 · United States men's national soccer team

  • Dan Katz

    Dan Katz defends penalty shootouts as the right way to decide knockout matches.

    “If you can't figure it out in 120 minutes, you're goddamn right. We're going to go do penalty kicks”

    Listen from 32:11 · Penalty shootout

  • PFT Commenter

    PFT Commenter calls Kylian Mbappé the best player in the world right now.

    “And Mbappe is just – I think he's the best player in the world right now”

    Listen from 35:20 · 2026 FIFA World Cup

  • Dan Katz

    Dan Katz argues that FreddyLA7 was bullied off Twitter because people resent seeing others enjoy themselves.

    “seeing anyone have a genuine good time will just piss off the majority of the internet for no real reason”

    Listen from 38:08 · FreddyLA7

  • PFT Commenter

    PFT Commenter argues that people turned on FreddyLA7 once brands began using him for promotion.

    “they started to see that Freddie was going from a cute little story and to potentially just being like a face of public relations”

    Listen from 45:00 · FreddyLA7

  • PFT Commenter

    PFT Commenter criticizes the WNBA for failing to capitalize on Caitlin Clark commercially.

    “It's crazy that they haven't figured out how to make this work from a financial standpoint”

    Listen from 53:47 · Caitlin Clark

  • John Smoltz

    John Smoltz suggests a big-market team such as the Dodgers is best positioned to trade for Tarik Skubal.

    “I think a big market team actually could be in the play for, and it's crazy to think that the Dodgers would be one of those teams”

    Listen from 1:21:56

  • John Smoltz

    John Smoltz argues that today's widespread elite velocity is manufactured and physically unsustainable.

    “You can't even come close to saying there were five other Nolan Ryans while Nolan Ryan pitched. We have 25 Nolan Ryans now”

    Listen from 1:24:03 · Pitching velocity and arm injuries

  • John Smoltz

    John Smoltz advises that young pitchers throwing very hard should be moved off the mound to protect their arms.

    “When I see a young man at 14 throwing 92 miles an hour, I cringe”

    Listen from 1:27:04 · Tommy John surgery

  • John Smoltz

    John Smoltz says Tommy John surgery typically restores a pitcher to his prior level but does not improve him.

    “Wherever you have your surgery, wherever you were at, you got a high likelihood of going back to that, but not necessarily advancing from that”

    Listen from 1:28:03 · Tommy John surgery

  • John Smoltz

    John Smoltz proposes tying a team's designated hitter to its starting pitcher to reward deep starts and eliminate openers.

    “one of the ways, and I floated this out five years ago, and of course they thought I was crazy, was you tie your starting pitcher to the DH”

    Listen from 1:31:22 · Pitching velocity and arm injuries

  • John Smoltz

    John Smoltz says he would have quit rather than be used as an opener.

    “I would have quit. I would have flat out quit”

    Listen from 1:33:03 · Baseball analytics

  • John Smoltz

    John Smoltz says analytics are useful but teams that rely on them exclusively are making a mistake.

    “if that's all your resources and that's the only decisions you make is on analytics, I think you're missing the boat”

    Listen from 1:34:04 · Baseball analytics

  • John Smoltz

    John Smoltz says Greg Maddux deliberately gave poor interviews to deflect attention from himself.

    “he was brilliant in everything that he did because he gave horrible interviews on purpose, horrible”

    Listen from 1:43:35 · 1990s Atlanta Braves pitching staff

  • John Smoltz

    John Smoltz credits Bobby Cox as the single biggest reason for the course of his career.

    “he was the biggest reason, the single most reason why my career identified with what it did”

    Listen from 1:49:56 · 1990s Atlanta Braves pitching staff

  • John Smoltz

    John Smoltz proposes an average exit velocity stat that counts strikeouts as zero to better identify the best hitters.

    “you give me the average exit velocity of every time a ball is put in play or an out is made”

    Listen from 1:58:14 · Baseball analytics

People

In the conversation

  • Dan KatzBarstool Sports personality known as Big Cat, co-host of Pardon My Take
  • PFT CommenterBarstool Sports writer and co-host of Pardon My Take
  • ZachNewest Pardon My Take staff member, Knicks fan
  • MemesPardon My Take staffer and New York Knicks fan
  • Max DelentePardon My Take producer and Philadelphia 76ers fan whose bachelor party is referenced
  • Hank LockwoodPardon My Take contributor and Boston Celtics fan
  • John SmoltzBaseball Hall of Fame pitcher for the Atlanta Braves and Fox baseball analyst
  • Brandon WalkerBarstool Sports personality and two-time defending Dingers Only champion
  • Stephen SheaBarstool Sports personality who kept the draft record; also voiced an ad read
  • Jersey JerryBarstool Sports personality and Dingers Only participant

Discussed

Topics

More from Pardon My Take

From the publisher

Lebron has told the Lakers he doesn't work there anymore and is now a free agent. We talk about how much of a bummer Lebron going to Golden State would be plus Kawhi back to the Raptors (00:00:00-00:26:20). USMNT has a must win on Wednesday and we talk about how awesome the World Cup has been plus FreddyLA7 has been bullied offline (00:26:20-00:49:47). Hot Seat/Cool Throne including Caitlin Clark update, Josh Naylor might be a psycho, Malik Beasley and more (00:49:47-01:11:45). John Smoltz joins the show to talk baseball, golf, 90's Braves and tons more (01:11:45-02:00:33). We then do our Dingers only Fantasy baseball draft. You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Netflix. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/pardon-my-take

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 29, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: Sports·Baseball·Basketball