Victor Wembanyama's NBA Darling Status Is Officially OVER
All The Smoke
The Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts
4.7 • 7.6K Ratings
🗓️ 17 June 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
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Summary
The Knicks are NBA champions, Jalen Brunson silenced every doubter, and Victor Wembanyama's first Finals run has the entire basketball world talking. 🏆👀
On this episode of ALL THE SMOKE: Unplugged, Matt Barnes breaks down the biggest storylines from the 2026 NBA Finals, including the growing debate around Wemby's public perception, the Spurs' blown leads, Brunson's historic championship run, and why San Antonio's future is still brighter than ever.
Plus, Matt reacts to the latest Giannis trade rumors, weighs in on Jaylen Brown potentially being moved, and discusses one of the biggest NBA Draft storylines involving Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa.
Then, Matt sits down with projected lottery pick Kingston Flemings to discuss his rise from Houston to the NBA Draft, playing for Kelvin Sampson, competing against the nation's best prospects, and what NBA teams can expect from his game.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.0 | Welcome back to Unplugged and congratulations to the New York Knicks, |
| 0:09.0 | 2026 NBA champions. |
| 0:14.0 | But before we get into that, the internet has been buzzing, respectfully to what the NICS |
| 0:20.0 | have been able to accomplish. |
| 0:21.0 | But I don't want to call it the narrative on Wembe, but just kind of how he was an NBA darling |
| 0:27.1 | since he's been in the league heading into the playoffs. |
| 0:30.6 | And then the playoffs come. |
| 0:31.9 | And it's almost like some of the media has kind of flipped the whole persona and try to magnify all the stuff he has |
| 0:41.5 | and hasn't done. So we're going to get into that today or right now with my guy Nate. |
| 0:46.8 | Nate's in the game today. He's got his own microphone today. |
| 0:49.2 | Shit, man. So it's time for us to work. Nate, what you got for me? |
| 0:52.7 | All right. So let's just look at Wemby. It's his third year. |
| 0:55.2 | He makes his first NBA playoffs. |
| 0:57.0 | He goes to the finals, his first trip to the playoffs. And during that timeline, he's a multi-time all-star rookie the year, defensive player of the year. He made first team all-NBA and all defense. So great start for him. did him going to the finals |
| 1:09.6 | negatively impact him |
| 1:11.9 | because if he lost in the conference finals |
| 1:13.6 | would we feel this way for him. Did him going to the finals, like negatively impact him? Because if he lost in the |
| 1:12.9 | conference finals, would we feel this way about Wembe that we do now? I definitely don't think going |
| 1:18.4 | to the finals. That's what you want every year as a player. I don't give fuck what's going on. |
| 1:23.8 | But what I will say, I want to start this segment off by saying, I feel like, |
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