When Matt Barnes debuted All the Smoke in 2019, he banked on one thing: unfiltered freedom. In fact, Barnes once revealed in an interview that a sense of work flexibility was what drove him and Stephen Jackson to start their own podcast. And considering where he has reached today with his show, it’s safe to assume he knows what it takes and the challenges involved. So when Barnes saw that Kai Senat came up with a learning experience for creators, he could not contain his excitement.

Kai Cenat—Twitch’s second-most-followed streamer with 17.7 million followers—amassed an estimated $14 million by age 23. This should give you a rough idea of what an independent creator, headed in the right direction, can create for himself. A financial status that even some of the most influential athletes failed to create because of their management issues. Fortunately, for the beginners in the content space, Kai Senat believes in guiding others to a similar success that he found. That vision won Barnes’s respect.

“Kai Cenat dropped $3M to launch Streamer University–a free, 3-day experience for 120 streamers chosen from over 1 million applicants. With flights, housing, and food covered, they trained, streamed nonstop, and levelled up together. This is Black excellence,” read the caption to an IG post shared by Essence of Black Culture. Re-sharing the post to his IG story was Matt Barnes, who wrote, “This is [fire emoji] salute @kaicenat [salute emoji].”

Barnes’s loud cheer reflects a shared ethos: athletes and creators forging their own paths. That’s the only explanation for turning down billion-dollar streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon. According to the reports, the 23-year-old streamer sought to maintain complete control over his Streamer University. It was quite a similar chain of thought that sparked the idea of All the Smoke for the ex-Laker.

What was the sense of purpose that guided Matt Barnes towards his podcast?

When you think of All The Smoke, it might be tempting to chalk it up as just another case of retired NBA players dipping their toes into the podcast pool. But the real story? It’s much more personal—and way more relatable. Barnes and Stephen Jackson weren’t chasing clout or headlines. What they really wanted was freedom. Not the kind you get from a contract buyout, but the kind that lets you speak your mind without a producer telling you to stick to the script. That desire lit the spark behind All The Smoke.

Barnes opened up about its origin during a sit-down on CBS Mornings. Picture this: two old teammates hanging out at Matt’s place, watching games, breaking them down in a way ESPN or FOX never allowed. That’s when the lightbulb went off. A podcast. Here’s the twist—neither of them had a clue what a podcast actually was.

But that didn’t stop Barnes from tossing the idea to Jackson. “I told him, ‘I don’t really know [what podcast is]. But I think it’s more lax and you might be able to have a drink.’ He kind of started laughing and said, ‘Hey I’m in,'” Barnes once shared with Forbes. And just like that, a simple conversation turned into a vision. So when he sees someone like Kai Senat is moving ahead with a vision for other streamers, Matt Barnes couldn’t help but cheer.