The Zach Lowe Show
Inside the Drawing Room, Lottery Reactions, and Heartbreak for Boston With Bill Simmons
13 May 2025
Zach is in Chicago to give a first-hand account of last night’s NBA draft lottery, but first he’s joined by Bill Simmons to discuss the unfortunate injury to Jayson Tatum (0:46). Then, Zach gives a behind-the-scenes look at what went down in the drawing room (20:28) and what comes next for the top teams, before the two close with some final thoughts on where the playoffs stand (49:00). Host: Zach Lowe Guest: Bill Simmons Producers: Jesse Aron, Jonathan Frias, Brian Waters The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Full Episode
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All right, welcome to a semi-emergency edition of the Zach Lowe Show, an all-time emotional swings wild night in the NBA Monday night. I'm in Chicago. I was in the lottery room, rushed back after schmoozing with people to watch Celtics-Knicks. Obviously, that ended horribly for the Celtics. There's a lot to go through.
Bill Simmons, I listened to a good chunk of your live reaction with Kyle Mann and Joe House last night, and then I had to tap out to watch the basketball games. We don't know yet. It's 10.30 Central Time, 11.30 Eastern Time. There's been no official word. It doesn't look good. It doesn't sound good. I fear the worst-case scenario, which not only would end this season, but
would probably torpedo next season. Obviously, it ends their repeat goals. I think that was a big motivator for them to break this no-repeat streak that will now continue, presumably, in the NBA. And raises a lot of questions about how would the Celtics, who were already looking at a financial crunch and whatever, handle... Something of a gap year?
I mean, are you even ready for these kind of discussions? This is obviously like JT is he plays every game. He's he is an Ironman. And last night, look, the Celtics were already down seven and kind of teetering when he got hurt. But he was having one of the greatest games of his career, pretty much on par with game six in Milwaukee to save their season in 2022.
Game 750, whatever, against Philly in a blowout. That's how good he was. And it's just What can you say? The guy plays every game. He plays hard. He plays both ends. He's a beloved player. If this is what it is, it really sucks. This sucks.
Yeah, that was the best two-way game I think I'd ever seen him play up until the point he got hurt. Yeah, I woke up at 5.30 this morning, checked the phone to see if there was any news. We still don't know, but I think we're like 99.9% sure it was a torn Achilles. That's definitely the vibes coming out. They lost the game before it happened. I mean, that's a whole separate conversation.
But the big picture Tatum thing to me, I was looking, like he had to be one of the three most durable stars of this century, right? LeBron, Giannis, and Tatum. And when you think about how he looked athletically and physically just yesterday, he was all over the place and really at the peak of his powers. Now the question with an Achilles is, You know, a lot of times it happens to older players.
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