Max Strus isn't walking into any Barstool studio quietly these days. The former Heat sharpshooter turned Cavalier has spent this offseason as one of the more talked-about names in the league thanks to trade rumors swirling around his $63 million deal, and now he's making the media rounds instead of hiding from the noise. First stop: the Yak, where the BODYARMOR Gauntlet was waiting for him.
The Gauntlet is one of those Barstool bits that separates the truly competitive athletes from the guys who are just there for the podcast plug, and Strus apparently came to play. The show flagged the appearance was coming, and he didn't no-show the moment.
He backed it up. According to the Yak, Strus posted a top-10 all-time finish in the Gauntlet, a mark that's been tracked and ranked against every guest who's ever taken a crack at it. That's not a participation-trophy result — that's Strus, an NBA vet, going toe-to-toe with the leaderboard's best and coming out near the top of it.
The Yak's scoreboard software shows Strus's run logged and ranked against every past Gauntlet attempt, landing him in the top 10 all-time.
It wasn't just a drop-in for a bit, either. Big Cat confirmed Strus is lined up for Friday's show and PMT, calling the sit-down an awesome interview and noting Strus raved about the ice cream at PCA. It's the kind of full-circuit media tour athletes usually save for a contract year — which, notably, is exactly where Strus finds himself, with just one season left on his deal and Cleveland reportedly shopping him to clear cap space.
The studio also couldn't resist a lookalike bit once Strus settled in, with the Yak crew joking he's a dead ringer for college hockey player Patrick Farrington. It's a pure appearance gag pulled from a roster headshot, not any actual crossover between the two — just the kind of riff that happens when three guys are sitting around a podcast desk with a guest who's clearly comfortable enough to be the punchline.
The Yak hosts riff on Strus resembling a college hockey player's roster photo, a lookalike joke rather than any real news.
Whatever happens with Cleveland's roster this fall, Strus made a strong first impression on Barstool's home turf. With PMT and Friday's show still ahead, this Gauntlet finish is probably just the appetizer.