I forget the last time I'd try to bet him something, and he said, "no, sports gambling is dumb, there's so much variance, etc."

I, of course, pointed out that I'm willing to make this bet despite the variance. AD could get hurt. Bron could get hurt. All these things can happen. There's variance in every aspect of every sport. You only use the variance excuse if you don't actually mean what you're saying.

I'm still willing to put money down on a Top 3 seed for the Lakers. Because I know, and we all know, that it's far, far more likely to happen than he's claiming it is.

But he doesn't want to put money where his mouth is. Fair enough. Maybe he doesn't have the money or is saving for something in the real world, away from a sports board. I get that, I've not gambled for those reasons before. If he doesn't want to bet money, I'd do an avatar/OKP sig bet instead. But I'm guessing he won't do that either.

Because he knows he's just talking shit and the Lakers are of course going to be a Top 3 seed this year. Maybe they dip out of the top 3 if AD, Bron, and Russ combine for, like, under 150 games. But I'd still bet on it, cuz that's, like, the only scenario in which it doesn't happen.