**LOS ANGELES** — Podcast host Bill Simmons assured listeners he had "one last thing" to cover before launching into an 83-minute closing thought involving the Boston Celtics, four hypothetical trades, and a detailed reassessment of the 1998 NBA Draft.
The phrase, delivered nearly two hours into the recording, initially caused his producer to begin saving the episode. Several guests removed their headphones. One reportedly checked whether his children still recognized him.
But Simmons quickly clarified that the last thing required some context, beginning with the 1986 Celtics and ending, theoretically, with the NBA's second apron.
"Just really quickly," he added, opening a spreadsheet containing 37 tabs.
What began as a simple observation about one team's bench rotation soon became an emergency re-ranking of the 27 most underrated players of the last 40 years, followed by a debate over whether a backup center from 2008 would average 22 points in today's NBA.
At one point, Simmons declared he had finished his point, only to remember a related theory involving the Knicks, a 2003 playoff series, and "the one thing people don't understand about the Celtics."
His guest offered a respectful "Yeah," a response Simmons reportedly interpreted as a request for another 26 minutes.
The producer eventually replaced the show's outro music with a looping recording of a car trying to start.
The episode finally ended when Simmons announced they would have to save the rest for next week.
"There's so much more to get to," he said.
The podcast's official runtime was three hours and 47 minutes.
The final thought is expected to continue Thursday.
