JR SportBRief Hour 4

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That's BetterHELP.com slash positive. It's just, you just learn to deal with it, you know what I mean? That's all that matters, okay? I'm going to be hanging out here with you for one more hour. Shep and I were just talking about it.

Time flies when you're having fun. We get started every single weeknight, 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.

Shep is coming to you live from New York City. Thank you to every person who's hung in here with us for the past three hours. If you miss a minute for a second, you can tune in on the free Odyssey app. You can go ahead and hit each segment of what we discussed and what we talked about tonight for the show.

Thank you to everyone locked in on our local affiliates. Everybody on Sirius XM Channel 158. And if you got one of these, almost anything that you can talk to nowadays. A smart speaker, a phone. You can pretty much ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. And then boom, I just pop up like the Wizard of Oz.

Except for I'm not behind a curtain, I'm in front of a microphone. But anyway, we've talked about the injuries to LaMelo Ball. Fractured ankle tonight. LeBron James. We found out his foot injury from Sunday is going to have him out of action for an indefinite amount of time. Not good when the Lakers are trying to get back into the playoff hunt. We talked about Carson Wentz.

He's been given the boot. We talked about portion or a portion of the Milwaukee Bucks being sold. And there's so much more that we're going to have to probably dive into tomorrow. Damian Lillard lighting it up for 71 points.

Nikola Jokic is averaging a triple-double. And it seems like the accomplishments of both of these men are just flying under the radar. Or that they're here today and they're kind of gone tomorrow. The NFL combine is also going to be underway. We have a lot of big-time NFL prospects who are not going to be participating.

Trying to figure out whether we're seeing the end of the current combine structure or whether they're just going to really emphasize individual school pro days. And then right before we went to break, we talked about Russell Wilson. Because every day right now feels like a holiday and it's called Beat Up Russell Wilson. From the news a few days ago that he wanted Pete Carroll fired, Russell Wilson denied it.

And then there was an entire story published today about Russell Wilson just operating as an and-one for the Denver Broncos. That he had too much influence. That he had his own office. That he hired his own people. That the head coach allowed it. That he was separated from the team but had an open-door policy. Like, whoa! And then I can start going back to things last year when he was looking for a trade.

And that was almost a two-year process. Well, my client is willing to be traded here and then Russell Wilson's like, I didn't ask for a trade. It's like, Bruh, slow down. He's in damage control right now. He is. He's always in damage control. He's very meticulous about what he does and how he moves. But where there's smoke, there's fire. I can tell you from personal experience, he is very meticulous about what he says and what he does.

And everything is carefully manufactured. There's nothing wrong with that. Until you get stories like this. And that's when you have to look in the mirror and go, whoa! Am I like this?

Am I going overboard with it? And now he has to go back. He has to take a look at the mirror or look in the mirror and go, damn, am I doing the best thing when these stories are out?

Shep, what are your thoughts? Are people piling on to Russell Wilson or are these criticisms justified? So, Jay, our last time I checked, Pete Carroll was with the Seahawks two years before Russell Wilson got there. Now, you and I both remember this. How was his record before Russ got there?

Oh, man, he's crap. Two losing seasons in a row. Russ gets there, nine straight winning seasons. And listen, I know you are good friends with Richard Sherman, so this is no disrespect towards him, but the Legion of Boom, quite frankly, it was overrated. Because they gave up four touchdowns to Tom Brady at 37 years old at that. I understand he was Tom Brady, but even the next year, Jared, they gave up 31 first half points to Cam Newton in the playoffs. So if that defense lives up to the actual reputation of the Legion of Boom, Russell Wilson has two Super Bowl victories in his first three seasons. Just a quick retort, because I don't want to argue over the value of the Legion of Boom or what Russell Wilson could or could not have. But, Jay, the only reason I bring that up is because everyone says Russell Wilson got to those points because of the Legion of Boom. No, no, no, no. Well, it's not just that winning the Super Bowl isn't just that one game.

You have to go an entire season supported by 53 guys, including the defense, to get there. The performance of when you actually get there isn't an indicator of, oh, man, well, it wasn't that. But I understand what you're saying. Right. That's a different conversation.

Sure, sure. The bottom line is that there are people that want to say Russell is a product of just being at the right place at the right time, and that couldn't be further from the truth. Agreed. He contributed.

Yes, agreed. To me, he wasn't just a contributor. He was the difference maker. And this is an individual that has more career wins than Jim Kelly and Troy Aikman, and we all remember that famous 2012 draft class. We weren't talking about Russell Wilson. We were talking about two guys, RG3 and Andrew Luck. Last time I checked, since 2019, both those guys have one win combined, and whatever we want to say about Russ, JR, he's got 33 wins since then.

And he's an iron man. You know, Lamar Jackson, we love the guy. I know you talk about him all the time on the show, and rightfully so. We know the guy's talent, and he's Mr. Universe, so to speak, but he's missed five games in each of the last two seasons. Russ has five missed games for his entire 11-year career. The only time he has lost in his entire NFL professional career is this season, because he was in playing for a coach who was in way over his head, who's the antithesis of an established NFL head coach, and that's the reason why they kept losing these one-possession games, and it's so easy right now to make Russ the scapegoat. It just seems like that's a commonality in sports today, these days, JR, where you make Russell a scapegoat, because you know the other Russell in the other sport. He's going to bounce back with Sean Payton, and I hope he has the last laugh. I know he's a little bit of a cornball, but you know what?

As a New York Giants fan, JR, I would take Russell Wilson every single opportunity I could get my hands on the guy. Well, I'm not asking about who or what he is as a player. You answered the question. The hate's gone way too far.

Way too far. Okay. All right.

That's what it is. I think we can look at his resume. Right. But no one else with this resume gets this kind of hate. That's why I have to bring up the resume, because we are often forgetting this guy is going to walk into the Hall of Fame when he has careers done. And JR, I don't see anybody with this man's resume getting the same kind of criticism and disparaging remarks. Well, I don't know how disparaging the remarks are.

They happen to be true. Well, JR, he's not the only athlete that gets preferential treatment. Superstars got $240 million, $5 million to prove that.

It's not about preferential treatment. I don't know too many athletes who have the amount of attention paid to him as he does away from football. And that's well within his right.

But when you have that trickled down into your profession and what you do, where it's just like there's constantly a million people in your ear, carefully manufacturing everything. I could not. And I'd have to think about it. I can't, off the top of my head, think about someone who's operated like him.

And if I have to think about 20 years, cheater, or 15 years of thinking like this, I would I would say no, no, I would say no. Everything came out of his mouth was calculated and, you know, lip service. It's not just that. He said nothing. And he was in the locker room and he showed up to work and he was more bland and nothing. He had an image of I'm young, I'm successful, I'm having fun. I show up to work, I play.

Nobody said a crossword about him. And that's it. It's not just, well, you know, who who who is in the Hollywood and who is in the New York? What athletes are are picking up? Plenty of them do it. LeBron James does it and has it. Michael Jordan had it and does it.

Yes, star star players get treated differently. There has never been as long as I can remember from growing up in this and then working in it professionally for like 15 years. I cannot remember coming across someone or seeing it, someone like him. I can put it to you this way. Here's here's the total opposite.

And I think people would would maybe understand and appreciate it. I was introduced to David Ortiz in the locker room after a Red Sox loss in Yankee Stadium. I don't know. It has to be more than 10 years. No, it was 2008.

A matter of fact, it was 2008. I was introduced to him. David Ortiz ain't never met me a day in his damn life.

First thing David Ortiz did. He put out his hand, said, what's up, has introduced himself like I didn't know who he was. I introduced myself to him.

And it was just like, oh, nice to meet you. Everybody is different. There's not a one size fits all with personalities and and human beings and who everybody everybody's different chair. That's also the most likable athlete. But that's my professional sports like that.

But that is Russell Wilson to compare. No, no. But that's right. I'm not. I'm giving you one example. And I'm telling you, everybody is different. But that's an extreme.

I'm giving you two ends of the spectrum is what I'm doing. There's an interaction like that with David Ortiz. And then there's there's Russell Wilson, who is who when I've seen him is by himself or to the side is sheltered around people. I've seen this myself. I've I've went to speak to him or he's looking at me. And it's just like, well, man, I don't want to talk to you if you're going to talk to five, 20 other people to figure out whether you want to talk to me. No, thank you.

Everybody is different. I have not seen anybody operate like him. And so it's not a direct comparison to David Ortiz. It's saying there's a David Ortiz. And then the opposite end is a guy who we knew had his own office.

And it is separated from everybody. That's it. There's plenty of dudes in the middle.

I can go down the scale and he's at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. And so, yes, is it is he getting hit with a hammer right now? Yeah.

Does it suck? Is it not fair? Yeah, it's not fair. Life isn't fair. This isn't anything new, as one of our callers said.

Nicole from Baltimore said this is not new. But what I say is different is. We're not we're not talking about the the business of football. I'm not talking about his success or his credentials because they sucked five years before he got there, too. That I don't think people are pointing out enough. That's all of that, as far as I'm concerned, is irrelevant.

I'm talking about the dude as a teammate. That's it. And you are the star quarterback. So I agree with what you're saying.

But no matter what degree you want to split it down and go, Legion of Boom, Russell Wilson, Russell Wilson. That's irrelevant. We know that it takes a team to win. We also know the quarterback is the most important element about that. OK, we know that most people understand that. How does he operate as a teammate?

That's it. Like everybody else gets gets criticized. Well, because he's a good dude by nature. He's not outside. And God bless him. He's he's being a good person, as most people are.

He's probably getting piled on, I would agree. Thank you. But I'll say this. It's not without reason.

That is a fact. You can have one losing season is 11 year career. It's not about looking at you keep looking at the football results now that things have fallen off the cliff for one year. Now that things fell off the cliff at the end of his tenure in Seattle. And the same things that people have been saying for four years, they're being amplified. It's not about the football.

Only if he was winning. People love to kick you when you're down. That's that's life. When you're hot, you're hot. When you're not, you're not. Right now, in football terms, Russell Wilson is not hot. And one of our callers said it perfectly.

People are taking an opportunity to pile on. That doesn't mean that because he was able to have success, there isn't an adjustment to make because the same things that we heard in Seattle, we're hearing at the end of his tenure in Seattle, we're hearing about his tenure, his one year so far, one season with the Denver Broncos. Yeah. Well, you know what the great deodorizer is for all problems? That's the W. It's winning.

But that doesn't mean that the problems weren't there. And when you're 34 years old, when you're getting older, what are you going to do? I hate to borrow the phrase from that jerk, Hulk Hogan, but what you what you going to do? And he has to decide that because he's still going to be a public figure.

He's still going to get crapped on in articles. It's going to be interesting to see how things get turned around. I believe they'll have success under Sean Payton. Am I expecting some massive, magical turnaround?

No, there is no way in hell, no way in hell they could be as bad as they were this past season. And so anything on top of that will be an improvement. Eight five five two one two four CBS as eight five five two one two four CBS. We had Nicole call from Baltimore. I want her to finish her statement.

She was right before the break and we had to cut her off. Nicole, I want you to continue what you were saying. Please go quickly, though. Go ahead.

Thank you. I want to say that you have to consider the source of where these stories are coming from. You said that Russell needs to look in the mirror, that he should maybe think, well, could this be true about me?

Or he could actually do what I just said and consider the source of where it's coming from. Because when you think about Russell Wilson as a leader of a team, he gave, when he was in Seattle, he bought Rolex watches for his entire offensive line. And I don't know how many other players he bought. I don't know a quarterback who is going to spend the kind of money that wasn't just that. It was Rolex watches one year. And then I think, but Nicole, that's that's that's that's that's pretty common.

That's pretty common for the quarterback to gift his offensive line. And I think the element of sources, there were 15 people that were interviewed. Sure. Fine. It could have been Joe Schmoe, Bobby, Tom, Dick and Harry.

This doesn't change or alter the fact that this man had his own space, had his own office. This isn't the first time. Well, hold on, Nicole.

Nicole, hold on, Nicole. This isn't the first time. These are these are issues that were brought up from his time in Seattle that were brought here. And so regardless of what the source was, he was separate from the team by not just, hey, I got to I got to change the room on the other side or around the corner or the room next door.

He was placed there with the the executives. OK, well, the other thing I wanted to say was that ever since Russell got that contract, folks have been piling on and it has been relentless and disgusting, because the one thing you cannot say is that this man is not a leader, a team player, regardless of, you know, the sources that you're you're you're citing or whatever. It is just like you're saying that's been reported. It's also been reported that he is a team player.

So it's a pick and choose. What do you want to believe? Well, well, I don't think it's believing.

I think in a lot of cases there's a there's reality regardless of the source. Thank you, Nicole, for calling from from Baltimore. I'm not going to say Russell Wilson. Oh, my God, he's not a team player or Russell Wilson. He's a horrible teammate or Russell Wilson. He's no I don't find that to be the case at all. I said last hour, I think he's a good dude.

I'll make it very clear. I think he is a good teammate. That doesn't mean that you don't separate yourself. And that's the best for the team. And that's apparently what he has done at certain points throughout the course of his career. It's called camaraderie. You don't got to be a crap teammate to just not have anything. We can all stand to improve at something. I don't think the quarterback just hanging out with the coaches on their floor away from the squad.

Is the most conducive to team building. I don't. Doesn't mean a guy's a crap teammate. I just think he does too much. Like, bro, relax, you're doing too much. The hell you up there with them for? Come downstairs. You got an office. Hey, guess who else in the NFL got an office?

Nobody. What are we doing? 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS.

Get some more your calls on the other side. You're listening to the J. R. sport brief on CBS sports radio. You're listening to the J. R. sport brief on CBS sports radio. Hey, I love your show. I love you, brother. I work. I work. I work the graveyard shift and I listen to you every night.

It's a pleasure talking to you and you be well, brother. Call in now at 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. It's the J. R. sport brief show on CBS sports radio. A lot of opinions here on Russell Wilson. Is he a bad teammate? Is he a good teammate? Is he doing too much?

I'm like, whoa. I think he can come down to earth a little bit. I think he needs to separate himself from the team.

I think he is getting piled on too much. A lot of the stories this the story about him having his own office was pretty much revealed last year. I was at the Broncos facility.

I see his ass, but man, this was this was an ape. April was out there. I think it was April. I think May, April.

So around sometime I was there. Anyway, let's get your thoughts. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. It's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Richard's calling from Chicago.

You're on the J. R. sport brief show. Yeah, I want to make just a couple quick comments. I have to think that you can't quarrel with Wilson's resume. But I think the difference is when you talk to Denver fans and I have a few friends that are Denver fans. The expectations that they have with the acquisition of Wilson are bad in terms of what what the reality was in terms of the outcome.

And I think I think you got to deal with that coming up. They got five draft picks. I don't think they're going to get better. I have them last in the AFC West next year.

And here's why. They're they have no cap space. Five draft picks. The earliest ones are two in the third round.

The rest are scattered. They have a bad backup in Ripon and they gave away a first rounder to get paid as a coach. Now, I like him and maybe he can straighten them out. But I think the difference and chef now probably disagree on this is the current Wilson versus the old Wilson. And I think when you lose your mobility, he acts like an elite quarterback. And I think if you talk to anybody around the lake, they're going to tell you he's not a top 10 quarterback.

Well, let me ask you to save some time here, Rich. What are your thoughts? Do you feel he is being treated fairly unfairly?

Unfairly. But I think it's because of expectations when you pay somebody that money, you expect a lot more than you got out. Yeah, I get it. I get it.

No, absolutely. I mean, you got to pay the guy to thirty five to fifty. I understand eight five five two one two four CBS. Marvin calling from South Carolina.

You're on the J.R. sport brief show. Yeah, I love each other, man. He'll do it every night. I just think I can understand some of the circumstances where you say you've been doing it poorly. And yet you're hammering pretty hard yourself. That is always anybody else. Just because the guy's got an office.

I mean, does that make him the worst teammate? No, I think I think I said that. So here's for clarity, Marvin.

I don't know how you could kind of confuse the two. I'm not releasing or writing full stories or doing investigative journalism and just releasing articles out of the blue about Russell Wilson. What I'm talking about is what's in the news and I'm telling you about it. I actually just said and me and Marco Belletti said this about an hour ago as well.

The timing of this, the releases suck. He's being piled on. But that doesn't mean that these these issues aren't true. And one of the things that that are just very questionable. Is that we've heard these stories, we knew about his office, we heard about it. We heard about the trade request. We heard about his time in Seattle. This is not new, but it's being dredged up. What's going on right now is the fact that he has a new head coach in Sean Payton.

And these news stories are coming out. So I'm doing what I typically do every night. I talk about what the hell is is going on and I give you my perspective and I can give you a perspective of some of his former teammates. I can give you a perspective from my own personal interactions with the man. I can look at what's being written and it's just like, well, damn, this is all screwed up timing, but it's true. And so if we got to look at what has taken place, I think there's a point in time where you can go, oh, man, I have had success.

And damn it, now I've had me some failure. You know, I can do that differently. If that's the case, why is this such an what's the word? Why is this such a unique circumstance for him? Why does Sean Payton come in and say, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're not doing that anymore. There's a reason behind that.

And that's my only point there. Eight, five, five, two, one, two, four, CBS, Marty calling from Buffalo. AGR. I'm good, Marty. Go ahead. I hope I hope you can go ahead.

This is what I got for you. I have a theory and I feel as though I'm pretty spot on because I thought about this. Let me, though, say first when Russell Wilson came out, I was a fan. I love this story. I love how his father said, why not you? That is inspiring stuff right there, especially for people that have dreams and are trying to do something with their life. Now, I think he's got rock star syndrome, OK, like you win the Super Bowl, you get money.

You got a beautiful wife, a big house, all nine yards. Did it go to your head a little bit? And at the same time, maybe seeing other people get in trouble. He's got OCD trying to protect his image and his brand. And it's like made him a little bit nuts since then. I'm just, you know, theorizing, you know, but you've seen it happen before.

And with artists and where, you know, they music artists specifically, you know. Yeah, Marty, it's called being it's called being Hollywood. Right. Or just or just being complacent, you know?

Yeah. I don't know if there's so much complacency. It ain't it ain't easy to win or play or participate in the NFL.

And man, this dude, he works hard. I'm not going to take away from from anything that he does. But for what you just called it and thank you is a little bit little Hollywood. And you don't got to be a professional athlete to be Hollywood as someone who who comes back around or you see him or they they have a different circumstance now. And now they just act a little different. Like they still might be cool and still be a friend. They just acting a little different. And it's not wrong with different. We're all different. But when you operate in a team structure, how different do you want to be?

Nothing wrong with, you know, going ahead and having an inspirational story or trying to be encouraging. Ain't none of that. Sometimes you can you can dial it down a little bit. It being be in Hollywood.

That's what he just brought up to me. You be Hollywood. But when you with the football team, man, stop that. Tell me Tom Brady was as Hollywood as they come.

His circumstances aren't too much different, or at least they weren't. Red carpets, celebrity wife. Kids, multiple homes, big money, TV, movies, magazines when they mattered, photo shoots. Everything. If I have to look at the whole. Because people are always going to say something.

It's going to be dissenters and there's always be that or they'll always be that. Everything that I've ever heard about Tom Brady. From his own teammates. I know the McCordys. I can ask them. I've heard it from them.

I trust them like I would trust any of my friends. This dude just when he was at work. He was one of the guys. One of the most wealthiest, famous, the most successful quarterback that we've seen. Just one of the guys. Did not want to be treated any differently.

Just one of the guys. What we hear from Russell Wilson. That don't sound like that. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. We're going to get some more of your calls before we roll out. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. The only reason I call? You made me laugh my ass off. I nearly collapsed on the floor with laughter. When I turn you on, the first thing you said.

And I think you should start writing some of this down and compile it into a book. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio.

Damn, it's been a busy night. LeBron James out indefinitely. LaMelo Ball. We're talking about Russell Wilson right before we went to break. The Athletic dropping another article about his time, his first year in Denver, just separating himself from the team. A bunch of players feeling that he had too much power in the organization and Sean Payton is coming in and he's just like, yeah, no.

No own office. No this. No.

Just go back downstairs, bruh. And then we also mentioned that Carson Wentz, you want to talk about quarterbacks and taking a beating in the court of public opinion. Carson Wentz has been beaten down since what now? 2017?

2018? Rips up his ACL, doesn't participate in the Super Bowl, can't play. Nick Foles wins it, gets a contract, get injured, stay hurt, gets moved, sent to Indianapolis, then gets sent over now to Washington. Washington dumps him today and now he's probably going to have to reunite with Frank Reich as a backup in Carolina. Life comes at you fast. At least Russell Wilson ain't have this guy's career, ain't he?

Wow, damn. This is what Carson Wentz said last year when he was introduced to the commanders and now we know he got the boot. Listen to this from last year. I want to thank the Sniders for believing in me, making the move, excited for it. Thank Coach Rivera, his family, this entire staff, just hearing in their voices since the trade. The excitement around here and the buzz around here and just in this brief time getting to know everybody in this building. I can see a vision. I can see a clear vision of hopes and dreams and where we want to go.

And so for me, that gets me, honestly, it gives me chills, gives me goosebumps, gets me excited. At least Carson Wentz has been paid well. I mean, damn. Who wants that man as a starting quarterback? If Carson Wentz is starting for your team next year, I feel bad for your team. Unless he has some Geno Smith miraculous turnaround.

But while the things have happened, but he ain't going to be option number one for anybody. Eight five five two one two four CBS. Eight five five two one two four CBS. Ike is calling from Indy.

You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. JR, I'm sorry, but I can't agree with all the stuff they're talking about. Russell Wilson, I really ain't buying. All of a sudden out of nowhere, he gets blamed for all this stuff.

He gets blamed for it all the time. And now all of a sudden, all this stuff is coming out. I'm not buying that one scintilla. I want to hear some proof. I want to hear him saying some of it. I want to see some pictures of him setting up in his own office.

I want to see it all. And if I don't see no proof like that, then guess what? It sounds like an old bunch of hate to me. That's what it sounds like. OK. All right. Thank you, Ike, for calling from from Indy. I'll have to get some investigative journalists onto it, man.

Oh, that's that's who actually did it. Man, you hear this is the story in sports. Everything isn't always like right in front of you.

But it's like everything else where there's smoke, there's fire. This is this has been years. There's been there's been no denial from him or this.

So come on. He denied saying I wanted to fire Pete Carroll. That he denied.

Never said anything about not having an office or a space. That story been out there for a year. So hard knock life. We'll hear his side of the story. He's going to have plenty of time to tell us. And I already know he's going to sound like the speech is being written right now. Tough being a star, tough being anybody, a public figure in 2023.

Social media destroying you and. Just superstars can't catch a break. Russell Wilson has been a damn good football player. I think he's on the path to the Hall of Fame. I'm not ready to throw him in there now.

Shut up, shut up. You're ready to put him in there, right? Oh, he'd walk in there tomorrow if he retired a second after your monologue. Yes. Yeah, I think he's absolutely unequivocally getting in.

Yeah, I believe so. I bet I bet he would. I wouldn't put him in right now. It doesn't matter if you're Russell Wilson or. You're LeBron James or Tom Brady. Tom Brady was here and he was washed up that first season with the Bucks. Like criticism is for everybody.

And speaking of criticism, this is actually crazy. Giannis Atteracumpo. I guess he's he's feeling good. The Milwaukee Bucks. Where the hell are they at right now? The Milwaukee Bucks are in New York.

They're going to take on the Brooklyn Nets. And so Giannis had a little bit of a day off. He made an appearance on The Daily Show that aired a few hours ago, maybe would depend on where you live. It's getting ready to air right now. Well, Chef, who's a Trevor Noah left, right? Yes, he left a little while ago. And so they have all of these different guest hosts every night.

Yeah, let's say so. Leslie kicked it off. Who? Leslie kicked it off. Jones.

I'm surprised she's not doing it anymore. Well, a lot of people know Leslie. The guest host for tonight is a gentleman by the name of Hassan, I guess, Minaj. I think is his name.

I don't know who he is, but screw me. I talk about sports for a living. Giannis Atteracumpo was on the show. And you want to talk about piling on to somebody? Giannis had a little bit of a joke or was encouraged to read a joke about Kevin Durant. Take a listen to this.

This is courtesy of Comedy Central. Kevin Durant, let's go. You keep joining super teams to win the NBA title.

How about we work out together sometime so I can teach you how to carry your own team? Yeah, that'll be a little funny thing for the next 24 hours. Kevin Durant, by the way, he was active on Twitter. What else is new? Charles Barkley was on ESPN today calling him out and Kevin Durant can't catch a break. He can't. There's a there's like a large bucket of folks.

They just doesn't matter what's going on. And Kevin Durant is there as well. Kevin Durant, he should be playing. Shep, have we gotten word? Is he going to be back? Should be this week, right? Yes, it should be this week. I believe Wednesday is the target date. Yeah, the Phoenix Suns are set to take on, well, I know tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow. Correct. They're going to take on the Hornets without LaMelo Ball.

And a matter of fact, let's take a listen to that as well before we roll out. This is should be Bally Sports South. LaMelo Ball is literally trying to cross up his defender. He crossed up himself. He broke his ankle.

Hello there. Behind the back finds a ball and when he plants that right leg, it just gives way. Twisting himself into the ground.

No contact. That ball's down clearly in pain and he's already gone back to the locker room. And the Hornets ended up winning 117 to 106 over the Pistons. But LaMelo Ball, who's had left ankle issues all year, just broke his right one.

And in no extreme way. This wasn't a compound fracture. He didn't just twist it. He just went down and and he got up and walked off. But he also said, I heard it pop. I heard it pop.

I heard it pop. And now he's he's going to be gone. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS.

Unfortunate circumstances. Let's go to Grand Rapids and talk to April. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show.

Hey, Jr. I was just calling in because I just could not believe all of the Russell Wilson hate was going on tonight. Russell Wilson has an office. OK. He had an office all those years in Seattle.

Where were all the stories written about that then? Nothing. He goes to Denver. He has a bad year. Looks like everybody's coming out of the woodwork to pile on. I couldn't believe all the time spent talking about Russell Wilson tonight. I just had to call in a couple of things.

April, I've I've never and thank you for calling from Grand Rapids. I have never heard of Russell Wilson having an office in Seattle. Never. And a lot of the quote unquote rumblings that existed about Russell Wilson being treated differently.

Well, those were things that were were said while he was in Seattle as well, especially as his tenure started to go on and some of the defensive players were starting to be cut and moved out. And we can call it sour grapes. Why? Why?

Why is the same thing popping up again? The timing sucks. There's nothing you can do about the timing. Everybody coming to kick him while he's down is that sucks.

That doesn't mean it's not true. Not at all. Let's see what the bounce back looks like. I want to see what he can do with Sean Payton. He's 34 years old.

I think there have been times where he's indicated that he wants to play until he's into his 40s. Let's see if he can do it. I'm here for a comeback story.

Why not? Matter of fact, speaking of a comeback, I'm going to be long gone for long. Just about 24 hours, 20 hours, because I'm going to be back with you tomorrow at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. Here's the deal. In a few seconds. Hey, chef, I got to shut up soon, right?

Unfortunately, yes. Here we go. Shep is going to turn my mic off and I got to leave. Up by choice. And there it is. I'll be back tomorrow. 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. You can find me online at JR Sport Brief. Find Shep Good Shepherd Underscore. And I'm gone. But don't move here on CBS Sports Radio. Amy Lawrence is coming up next. JR Sport Brief Show is done.