Spend enough time in NBA locker rooms and you’re bound to hear the same questions (and answers) over and over: “How do you feel after that win/loss?”, “What percent did you give out there?” To change it up every once in a while, we sit down with NBA players and ask the important questions. This is a sneak preview from next week’s episode of Free Association, Sportsnet’s weekly Raptors & NBA podcast.
Dave Zarum: Club sandwich or BLT?
Robin Lopez: BLT.
If you were a super villain, what would your plan for world domination be?
Lopez: It’d probably have to be something like…I’d have to model it after Dr. Doom. I’d take over a small country, become beloved, take care of my people, and expand from there.
What’d you think about Slamball? Cool or too gimmicky?
Lopez: Gimmicky.
What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
Lopez: I haven’t had any other job than the NBA.
What did your parents want you to be when you were growing up?
Lopez: My mom would have probably been happy if I was a teacher.
If you were on Dragon’s Den/Shark Tank what would your pitch be?
Lopez: My pitch!? It would probably have to be some kind of food mashup of some kind. People are always combining weird foods, I don’t know.
If you were a pro wrestler what would your entrance music be?
CM: It’s easy to say I’ll go with some hip-hop song, but I actually might go with some soundtrack from a movie… The Imperial March from Star Wars.
Then what would your character be?
Lopez: My character? I don’t know. I guess it’s easy to say I’d want to do something with mascots, because I despise them so much. But that super villain thing from earlier might be cool. What would motivate me if I was a wrestler, you know? I would definitely be a heel, I can say that.
You mention the mascot thing. On the hit list where would the Raptor rank?
Lopez: He’s high up there, man. The thing is, I always say “They have to go after me first.” He’s gone after me multiple times. He came out last year with the wig, right?
Yup.
Lopez: Exactly. So the Raptor is top 5, maybe even top 3 most despised.
Do you collect anything?
Lopez: Yeah, I collect movie memorabilia.
What’s your prized possession?
Lopez: There are two. I have an Indiana Jones outfit worn by Harrison Ford in The Last Crusade. And I have the jacket from Mary Poppins, the red-and-white one [worn by Dick Van Dyke].
Do you have anybody’s autograph?
Lopez: The two autographs that I like the most are a Walt Disney autograph I have, and a Michael Jackson autograph.
Free Association drops every Tuesday on Sportsnet.ca, iTunes, and can be heard Tuesday’s at 11 pm on SN590 The FAN.