The Sports Emmy Award-winning series The Shop is back for Season 7. This unique barbershop experience rounds up some of the biggest names in the game for an unfiltered discussion surrounding sports, music, world events, business, and other cultural moments.
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And I was really excited because I've been a fan of him since I was, like, 14. And when I met him, he was like, she ain't even the fart by the way. And I was like, oh, shit. Period. Yeah. So And you meant Beyonce too? Yes. I'm a Beyonce. How can I forget that? Oh my god. I didn't need Beyonce. And blue and j's. Tell us about that ex the whole experience of being in beak. So I didn't really like me here too much because, you know, it was basically a to meet and greet at the Grammys. So there was a long line. So we all got a couple seconds, but I I had seen her, like, in her table and stuff, and she looked over at me and smiled. So while she was walking towards me, I already knew she was gonna come say hi, so I got up to be prepared. Some people was like, it'll ice through her so fat. Beyond say, like, relax. I'm like, no, girl. Like, she already seen me, and she was on the way. So Yeah. She's on the way. She's on the way. No, girl. She's Yeah. But as athletes, how do y'all feel about awards? It's a lot going on NBA Awards now with the logo version. Got it. Sauce. Go ahead. It's weird because the And the fellow wars, I assume, are like, and then who votes on those? So with the pro bowl, the way the pro bowl been going, I don't know if it's been like this, but I know since I got in the league, like, my brand, name's also a lot. Anytime I win a promo is a popularity contest, So it started from people saying, he going to win a promo. It's a popularity contest to the CB Win R Pro. Or a pro not a popularity contest. That's what they said. So I'm going into my 3rd year. I played 2 seasons. 2 are pros, 2 Pro Bose. Jesus. Talk that talk. What can they say now? So but they say, or a Protoner to a popularity contest now. So it's, like, anything I win is a popularity contest at this point. It's always a blessing to get those awards. In reality, like, shit, it ain't my fault that I got picked. I ain't choose
It's like a cancer rip it the fuck out of your body. Period. End of story. And it hurts fast. Fast. And it hurts fast. Yeah. And the reason for that is the opportunity cost of the messes they're gonna create Point percent. Yep. That's gonna distract you from doing what you want to do. You know the other big thing I've We dealt with that in our company. For sure. Big time, I'm sorry. Too. You could someone could be perfect for you today, and in 2 years maybe they're not. Because your life changes. You grow. Your situation changes. So you need people that can kill with you. And by the way, who you put around you is everything. Yes. Yeah. And for me, like, I'm I'm the type of person, like, I can barely feel comfortable taking a movie reference from somebody without you know what I mean? Like, because because your your standards and what you what you become accustomed to, you know, what just just what you what you think is acceptable may be different than me. So you may think that somebody does a diligent enough job, you know, in their job, whether they work for you, you know, they they help you build a business or whatever it is. What works for you may not work for me. So me, I gotta be able to see that myself. In your sport and your profession, you have to go to work every very intimate job. Right? Because you're in the locker room, you're on the bus, you're on travel. It's even different than being in a because you, like, spend more time with those people in your family. Yeah. And you don't get to really you don't get to pick any of those people. They're the people that get sent in. The difference. I guess more, what I'm thinking about is more of my management. The people that help you out there. Yeah. Run my marketing, you know, my agent and all of that. Like, you know, for me, it's it's simple. The guy you've seen in here a minute ago, Nick Yeah. That's that's what he does with most of my marketing stuff. I've been doing him since middle school, so, like, I'd like, I don't need a reference. That's somebody. I know literally every single thing about this man. Like, he needed it. Like, the way he acts day to day is what proves to me that he's the right guy. So I like to be around the people that, you know, I have those. If if you're working for me or if you're in my inner circle like that, like, you're really in my inner circle. Can I ask you a question, though? Because this this happens.
No. You know, I I think everybody just has their own personality. There's some guys that are a little bit more outgoing. There's girls that are more outgoing, and some that are just, you know, more reserved. And I think it's just getting to know the athlete. And I think at the end of the day, if you can help them win, doesn't matter male, female. They wanna win. They wanna win. And if you know what you're talking about, it could be Kermit the Frog telling them they're gonna do it. Yes. If if you've built that trust and that relationship with them. So I had a great time. The guys are never the problem. The players are never the problem. And I think women care more. Well, they're smarter for sure. They're smarter. They care more. They care more about the game. They care more about women. Guys, we'll just take our check. Yeah. Sure. After a while. You you know what I'm saying? Like, a lot of guys, we just care. We have a lot of guys that care. Yeah. But there are some who don't. That's saying where you are. And what makes women's basketball so great is that they care. They're they're they'll die. They'll bust their head. They'll do that. A guy running towards out of bounds, he's like, executive decision. Exactly. Why? You gotta go. You gotta go. You wanna go. You wanna go. You wanna go. I'm on a contract now. Yeah. Women. I love watching women's I love it too. I love it. Caitlin Clark WNBA is awesome. Caitlin Clark Outrated an NBA game. Her game Outrated NBA game. You must love that. Right? Yeah. No. It's crazy because I I think the evolution of women's basketball, like, it used to be cool to kinda bash on it. And I it always used to tick me off because it's like, alright. Come out here and get some then. You think you're so good? Like, if we had a dollar for every YMCA guy that came up and was like, who's play You're gonna say bum. I'll say for you. I'm gonna say bum. I'm hurting. Yeah. Like, stop. Stop. And I think the, obviously, the visibility. But, at the end of the day, I'll be real straightforward here. NBA guy's showing up because when the women's game and I think that's one of the greatest losses, you know, with
I mastered that so well that I almost forgot who I was. Right? So I I had to pretend all the time and wear my hair one way. I I remember when I first got an agent, they were like, listen. With your skin complexion, you're gonna need to have your hair straight. So I was like, okay. And I believe that, you know, so That was a real conversation. Oh, absolutely. I am. Absolutely. Lose weight. You know, in the last 5 or 6 years, coming from a dark space of being sick, I had to really get to a place where I said, you know what, God, if you heal me, you can have me. And I meant it. And that was almost 6 years ago. And in that in in saying that, something changed inside of me. And I no longer want to be in charge of me. I wanted to be who he created me to be. Surrender. And I completely surrendered, submitted myself to him. Insecurity is very dangerous. We all have it. Right? It's how you manage it and how you let it come and go. So you have to but you have to either channel it or control it somehow, some way. How do you use it? I can't. I did a film with Liam Neeson, my first light acting. This is what started it. And I was doing the take, and I was doing it the same every way. I didn't know switch it up. Right? So the director, he comes up to me and he goes, Damson, you are doing it the same every time. When an actor does the take the same every time, this makes me sad. And then walks away. And when we write it when we finish the movie, like, he goes, so did you have fun? And I'm like, oh, my Chris. Oh. No. You tortured me the whole time. Torture. Right? So that that trauma always stays with you. And I get it. I get it. You know, they say it doesn't matter how big you get. You're always trying to prove yourself. You're always trying to train. You're always trying to get better. I find now I kinda need to audition to not only prove to everyone that I could do the job.
If you're 35 or if you're 20, you're just gonna respect T. Lou because he played, because of the way he come at guys. But I tell you, it's so crazy because, I'm a big Jah fan. Right? Lil' Chris had it. You know him, So Jah came to my basketball camp, right, when he was in college. And he came into camp, nobody really knew who he was like that. And after camp, everybody knew who he was. That's when he blew that's that's when he blew up in all the NBA scouts. And I'm a tell you, Lil' Christians had a AAU tournament this weekend, and he was playing in Josh's shoes. So I always say, like, me, Braun, some of the older guys, we have a unique perspective in the league because we still play. Right? So we in the locker room with the younger generations, and we got kids as they age. Yeah. You know, I got teammates that's closer in age to little Chris than they are to me. Of course. You know what I mean? But it's so dope because it, like, keeps me young. And what I what I say about Ja and just me being in the league and my position as president for the union for so long is that everything that you guys just said is so real, but it happened so fast. Right? At night, I came in the league when I was 19. I had a $151 in my bank account as a college student. Wow. I declared for the draft, got a agent. The agent offered me a 100,000 upfront money. Right? Luckily, I had 2 parents who was like, that's too damn much. Right? But they said 25,000 cool. Right? So you know what happened? I was at Wake, right, in Winston. I went to the bank right up the street just so I could see what, the statement looked like. Right? Because we, we young. We don't know. We ain't never had no money like this. I went and got the statement that said 25,151. Right there though. No education came along with it. Right? First thing I did, I went to the mall. Of course. Took my girl to the mall, JGray his girl.
