We Answered Your Questions About The NBA (& Other Things) | Ep. 200

TL;DR

The T3 podcast celebrates episode 200 with a Q&A covering the show's origin, the team's Chicago move, NBA defender matchups, and personal stories.

Key Points

• 1.T3 started in July 2022 as a shorts-only channel called 'Two Main Game.' Isaac launched it with Donovan from college, then brought in Mo from House of Highlights after two months, rebranding to Deep Three once the trio was set.
• 2.Mo initially turned down joining the pod due to his senior year workload and existing projects. Isaac sent him a detailed message convincing him to join, promising the internship and solo content wouldn't be sacrificed.
• 3.The channel gained roughly 250–300K subscribers in its first year, hitting 50K new subs per month at peak. This was fueled by a YouTube Shorts gold rush that Isaac says no longer exists at that scale.
• 4.The team deliberately avoided Riverside or Zoom while recording remotely, instead using Sony 4K cameras and editing footage locally in Premiere Pro. Each host uploaded 4K files nightly, which Isaac downloaded and synced — a process he called 'hell' on bad internet nights.
• 5.Chicago was chosen over LA and New York primarily for space and affordability. Their current apartment/studio setup would cost roughly $12,000/month in New York City.
• 6.Donovan's dislike of LA is described as a pre-formed bias he later confirmed. Isaac compared it to Donovan refusing food before trying it — an irrational but consistent pattern Donovan himself admits is 'stupid.'
• 7.B Souls joined the team after Isaac approached him before opening a formal hiring search. The timing was perfect — B Souls' employer Playback was being sold, his role was uncertain, and Isaac's DM arrived during that exact decision week.
• 8.B Souls relocated from Boston to Chicago within two weeks of accepting the offer. He and his wife had agreed they wouldn't leave New England 'unless there's a bag involved,' and the offer met that threshold.
• 9.The show's growth secret is obsessive effort at every level, not surface-level copying. Competitors replicate visual aesthetics like yellow text and pop-up images but miss why it works — exhaustive planning of content pacing, hook delivery, and framing details.
• 10.Isaac re-records TikTok hooks multiple times after each episode with cameras still rolling. He also coached Donovan and Mo on camera headroom, tripod placement, and lighting consistency even when they were recording on iPhones in separate cities.
• 11.For NBA defender matchups, the crew cited Andrew Nembhard on Shai, Wyc on Jett, and Stefan Castle on Jaylen Brunson. Castle was highlighted for 'putting Brunson in a torch chamber' in a January game.
• 12.On the Mo-Jaylen Johnson MVP vs. ending racism hypothetical, Mo chose three MVPs for Jaylen Johnson. He acknowledged the trade-off humorously, saying racism is 'already embedded' and he'd rather see JJ win the award.
• 13.Basketball player comparisons: Mo likened himself to Eric Bledso and Paulo Banchero, Donovan to Andre Miller and Joe Johnson, Isaac to Bruce Brown or PJ Tucker. B Souls doesn't hoop but was praised for having good shooting form despite growing up playing football.
• 14.Mo owns approximately 12 head accessories including 5 do-rags, 2 rotating beanies, hats, and headphones. He also bought rings from Chinatown, though those technically don't qualify as head accessories.
• 15.The best content creator advice given was to understand the 'why' behind successful formats, not just copy aesthetics. For T3 specifically, the 20-questions segment works because viewers watch 60 seconds to follow along — not because of visual style alone.