Derrick Rose’s Enforcer Is Now Ja Morant’s OG
All The Smoke
The Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts
4.7 • 7.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2026
⏱️ 31 minutes
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Summary
Taj Gibson just signed a two-year deal with the Memphis Grizzlies at 40 years old, and he's pulling up to All The Smoke Unplugged with Matt Barnes to break it all down. From the emotional phone call that brought him back to the NBA, to untold stories from the Derrick Rose-era Chicago Bulls, Taj holds nothing back. He reveals what D-Rose was REALLY like in practice (spoiler: he was NOT quiet), shares wild stories about Joakim Noah, Thibs' no-rules practice wars, and Carlos Boozer's infamous shoe-dye hairline.
Taj also compares Ja Morant to Derrick Rose, breaks down the death of the power forward position, picks his 2028 Olympic big men, and shares what it was like having Wemby grab his shot out of the air. Plus, Taj's childhood friend Tameek Floyd joins to talk about GFB Development and their mission to rebuild the Brooklyn community they grew up in.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.3 | Welcome back to Unplugged. |
| 0:06.1 | Hope everybody is good. |
| 0:07.8 | We got a good one today. |
| 0:09.0 | One of my friends in NBA, Super OG, Super Unc, Vet, Tage Gibson. |
| 0:15.0 | I'm now sitting down with the former enemy. |
| 0:18.0 | Now I'm playing, although he's a Trojan. |
| 0:20.3 | I don't hold no, i don't hold no beef towards |
| 0:22.3 | him but current just signed a two-year deal with the memphis grisleys you're a triple o g now they |
| 0:30.1 | call you unc or grandpa in the locker room what they call you bro welcome to the show's taj gipson |
| 0:34.8 | unc call you unc yes sir call me aunt that's what they call me to Wacken. First of all, congratulations, man. Congratulations. So two-year deal. You're currently 40 years old, right? Yep, yep. Mm-hmm. It made me smile when I hear about this because I know you and I both came into a league that had guys your age on teams consistently. And whether they were |
| 0:55.4 | contributing on the court, they were instrumental in just bridging the gap with young players, |
| 1:01.0 | conversations with the coaching staff. I know, and you've exemplified this throughout your career, |
| 1:06.3 | you've always been a great leader, whether you're the best player on the team, such in college, |
| 1:10.7 | or a role player in the league. You've always been someone who leads by example. So tell me what it was like. Break it down when you got the phone call. What happened? Where are you now? And what's the deal? Be honest with you, I was home. I was, uh, you know, just having that, that, like, that thought just like every athlete |
| 1:29.5 | has at the end of their career, like, yo, I think I'm done. I don't know if I can do this again. |
| 1:35.7 | What can I offer to a team? And I got a phone call. And I then, my agent, when he called me, |
| 1:42.8 | I was like, you know that when that phone |
| 1:44.6 | called, that second called and that third call, I'm like, what you want, man? And I call, he's like, |
| 1:49.8 | yo, it's important. Let me holler at you. I'm like, are you serious about this? I think I got a team |
| 1:54.9 | that's that really could use your service and what you think. I said, of course. |
... |
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