Enjoy Basketball Talks To Matt Sponhour

There’s a good chance you know Matt Sponhour from somewhere, whether you recognize his voice from the Stay Hot podcast which he co-hosts with Theo Ash and Blaiden Kirk, have seen his tweets sparking discussion on NBA Twitter, or are familiar with his quick, insightful TikToks breaking down news from around the sporting world. Enjoy Basketball talked to Sponhour about the origins of the podcast, some NBA hypotheticals, and which storylines he’s enjoyed following this season.

“We’re going on about two years of making Stay Hot,” Sponhour told Enjoy Basketball. But the foundation of the podcast was laid far before that. For Matt and Blaiden, Stay Hot is the culmination of years and years of sports conversations– now, those conversations just have an audience of thousands. “I’ve known Blaiden since probably 6th grade. We’ve been good friends for a long time, and have been trying to make sports content together for a while, as well.”

And once Matt and Blaiden met Theo, the idea of Stay Hot was officially born. “As far as Theo goes, we actually met him through TikTok. We followed each other, and he needed an interview for a class he was taking at ASU. I helped him with that, and we just kept talking. Eventually, I introduced him to Blaiden and that’s how Stay Hot was formed. We decided that we were going to start a podcast together, and the very next day Blue Wire reached out to me about making one. Pretty great timing.”

Even with a large audience on multiple platforms, Sponhour isn’t slowing down anytime soon– we asked him about what goals he hopes to accomplish before the end of 2023.

“I’ve got a few. Mostly, I'm trying to learn more about the sports we cover so my analysis improves. That might not have a 1:1 correlation with getting more views, so it can be hard to see the progress. But over time it helps more than anything else.”

“Finding my footing with making YouTube videos is another goal. Constantly putting out better content for the podcast helps us reach more viewers than anything else. As far as numbers go, I'd like to have more listens than last year, and it seems we’re on the path to doing that.”

When it comes to specifically content about the NBA, Sponhour says he’s at his best when he gets into the mind of a GM. “I think my strongest videos are usually about the team building aspect of the NBA. I don’t know if that’s what draws people in, but I think it’s what I'm best at.” Those TikTok videos–like this one about the Kings, and this one about Nikola Jokic– have accumulated nearly 44 million total likes.

But long before his NBA analysis was so far reaching, Matt was drawn to the game thanks to a man who has been such a consistent presence in the sport for so long, that it doesn’t feel like he’ll ever really leave: the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, LeBron James. “I wish the answer wasn’t so basic,” Matt said when asked about who made him fall in love with the NBA, “But it’s probably LeBron. My dad is a Cavs fan, so the saga of him leaving, coming back, and then winning a title was a big deal.”

Matt has love for another all-time leading scorer as well, albeit on a smaller scale: Charlotte’s all-time points headman. “Shoutout to Kemba Walker too, though.”

And of course, we had some rapid fire NBA questions for him.

EB: If you were expanding the NBA, what city would you expand to, and what would the mascot be?

MS: If I was picking for the good of the NBA, probably Seattle so I could remake the Sonics. If I was picking for the good of Matthew Sponhour, I’m picking Cincinnati so I have an NBA team in my backyard. Maybe they could still be the Royals…”

EB: What’s been your favorite storyline to follow so far this NBA season?

MS: There have been a lot of good ones this year. The Kings, the Lakers, Kyrie’s trade to Dallas are all pretty interesting, but at this point it's gotta be the Suns. The trade deadline is always pretty cool, but rarely do you see a move that turns a team into a tier-one contenter like that in the middle of the season. Sounds hyperbolic, but it’s really one of the biggest trades ever.

EB: If you could travel back in time and experience any moment in the history of the NBA in-person, what would it be?

MS: Probably Wilt’s 100 point game. Game 7 of the 2016 Finals would be up there too, but considering that people aren't even sure if Wilt scored 100, it would be cool to see if it actually happened and how people reacted.

EB: Can you give us a bold prediction for the rest of the NBA season?

MS: I think OKC has a real shot at pulling off a run in the play-ins.

Thanks again to Matt for taking some time to chat with us! You can find him on Twitter & Tiktok @sponhour, and hosting Stay Hot wherever you get your podcasts.