It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody for being locked in all over North America. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well.
I hope you have had a tremendous Thursday. I'll be hanging out with you for the next two hours. It's a four hour show. I get started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific.
I'm in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to our producer in New York City, Ryan Bottcher, for holding things down on the board. And thank you to you for listening. Because if you're not here, there is no show. So if nobody told you thank you today, I appreciate you. Yeah, JR loves you.
Yeah, this is not an episode of Sesame Street, but I love you. Anyway, we've already had a busy show. We talked about Aaron Rodgers getting ready to show up for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It is official. He will be signing a one year contract. We talked about Anthony Richardson of the Indianapolis Colts. He's already dealing with an injury and it's June. OK, I guess Daniel Jones. I'm pretty sure he's already warmed up.
It's a bad situation out there. I'm on Ross St. Brown had a little bit of a clean up in his knee. We talked about the NBA finals game one, which is ready to tip off in about 40 minutes. We talked about game one of the Stanley Cup finals took place last night. Edmondson comes out on top over Florida for goals to three. Thank you to our guests, David Paknoda, NHL analyst. Thank you as well to James Herbert from CBS Sports dot com for coming through to have a chat with us about the finals, which I guess at this point we can say we're minutes away from tipping off in Oklahoma City.
We have so much more to do as the show continues on. If you want to give me a holler, you can. Here's the number 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. You can find me online at JR Sport Brief and you can always tune in on the free Odyssey app. Your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate is Sirius XM Channel 375. And if you have yourself a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network.
So much to do. I love how NBA is like, hey, the game starts at 830. Realistically, we know that they won't get going until about 40 minutes past this hour. Botcher, I mean, outside that overtime last night, we had a good idea of when things would wrap with the Stanley Cup finals. When the hell is this game ended? Are they going to end at midnight? The question is when they're going to start. They could start at midnight at this point. We got it about another 40, 40 minutes, 40 or 45. Which one you going with? I'm going to say they have 42 minutes.
They start at 845. Draw out the anthem, extra commercials in there. Do we even know who the hell is doing the national anthem? Do we have any idea? I have no idea. I'm going to Google it, but it hasn't been made known? I don't know. I guess. Yeah, they always tell you at a time.
Maybe most times. It's not like Beyonce is going to show up and sing the national anthem in Oklahoma City at the same time. I have no I couldn't tell you a singer out of Oklahoma. I don't know any.
No disrespect to anybody in Oklahoma City. I just don't know. I don't. I know Trey Young's from Oklahoma. I don't. I don't.
Am I missing any? Shout out to my man Jim Ross, the real J.R., the good J.R. I know Jim Ross is from Oklahoma. God bless him and his his current cancer fight.
Am I missing anybody else out of Oklahoma? Do you know local pastor and singer Rob Clay? Not as big Rob Clay. He's a what? A pastor? A local pastor and singer.
Rob Clay. And so he's more famous for being a singer than her. I guess so.
But he's singing the national anthem. Oh, no, I don't know that guy. Yeah.
Supposedly done it numerous times in Oklahoma City. So I guess he's like one of their usuals. Yeah. Why not? Yeah, I have no idea. Does that mean I'm going to I'm going to burn to pieces because I don't know this pastor?
No. Now I don't know him. And now you get to remember his name in the future. And, you know, a big Rob Clay. Big Rob Clay. All right.
OK. To each his own. Never heard of him, but he's from Oklahoma City. He's from Oklahoma. I guess he's going to do a bang up job with the national anthem.
I don't know. This is not the Super Bowl. I mean, I don't think we're going to see head coaches crying on the sidelines.
Shout outs to Nick Sirianni. I don't know if we're going to we're going to go ahead and see that. Of course, once this game gets started and we'll keep you up to date on everything that's going on. Hey, they got a little clock. It says 33 minutes from now. And so that would be 37 past the hour.
OK. I don't know if I want to bank on that one. That might be when they start all the pageantry and and whatnot. So, yeah, they say 33 is 33 minutes away from tip off. But I believe that when I see it. Eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN.
That's eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN. And we're minutes away from the tip. And there's a lot of respect that's going both ways between both of these teams. The Thunder trying to play it humble, knowing that they are the favorites. And the Indiana Pacers trying to also be humble, knowing that they are the underdogs. We have to wait and see what happens when they finally get out onto that court. And speaking of humble, Tyrese Halliburton, man, he got a little killer in him.
You got a killer instinct. He can turn it on. We've seen some big shots. We've also seen some performances where he has ultimately fallen flat or dare I say quiet.
This is what Tyrese Halliburton had to say about Shay Gilgus Alexander. You have to watch him and understand you're in the same league. So, of course, you're gonna have to compete against him at some point. You know, what he's been able to do this year has been amazing. He's an amazing player.
The MVP of our league, rightfully so for a reason. And I think we're looking forward to the challenge of competing against him. Of course, everybody.
Everybody's throwing flowers at each other. Nobody wants to inflame a situation. And let's be real. There's no beef here with these teams. There's no history between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Ain't nobody giving them a second look. I mean, Adam Silver was on television yesterday telling everybody, who cares about the small market teams? It's about the talent.
Like, I'm not concerned about the television ratings. I'm looking at the talent. Who's on the court? Who's lagging it up? Did anybody care about Kevin Durant and Westbrook and Harden? Did anybody care that they were from Oklahoma City?
The answer is no. And so here we have another young squad with a chance to grow. And damn it, in another week or so, the opportunity to walk away with an NBA championship. J. Gilgas Alexander. He talked about what he needs to do. He's the reigning NBA MVP.
What can we expect from him besides, I don't know, 30 to 40 points and a lot of free throws? This. I figured out how to, like, navigate through all the emotions and the nerves and the waiting process, which is just plugging into my loved ones.
Try to not think about it so much, dress about it so much, and just enjoy life and stay in the moment. Well, that sounds like a winner. Hey, Botch, only a winner is going to come out and say something like that. He's like, man, I'm not even thinking about the basketball. I'm just trying to enjoy my life. He's dropping 30 tonight. Yeah, he's a little overconfident, which is, for him, a good thing. Oh, I mean, he makes it sound like it's like a walk on the beach.
It's like, yeah, I'm just going to show up and play basketball like I normally do. I saw a video that went viral. I mean, we saw Shay Gilgas Alexander, this man, one MVP. And then he cried. I didn't know the guy was married. I didn't know he had a child. And he thanked his wife and he talked about his kid and went about his day and cried about him. God bless him. Did you see the video of him hanging out with his kid at, like, some play place that might have been in school or some type of playground thing? Did you see that? I didn't see him at the play place. I saw him crying over his wife after winning.
Yeah, this, just like a couple of days ago, because, of course, the Thunder, what do they have better to do than just sit around and wait for the Pacers, just another series to end? Apparently, he was hanging out with his family and some kid ran up to him and the kid called another friend to say, hey, I'm at the same place as Shay Gilgas Alexander. And he was nice enough to exchange pleasantries over FaceTime with the other kid.
And of course, this was all recorded and it went viral. Oh, Shay Gilgas Alexander, such a nice guy. And so he's had so much time on his hands.
I mean, life doesn't stop. You're going to hang out with his family. But hey, he's hanging out with other people's families, too.
What a nice guy. What else are you supposed to do at what, 26, 27? What do you mean, what else are you supposed to do?
What are you supposed to do, FaceTime other random people on the streets? Oh, wow. Could you imagine somebody running up and not even today? I'll tell you this. Charles Barkley obviously is here in Atlanta a lot. NBA, inside the NBA is here. He's been here a lot. He has a place to stay. He's out in the neighborhood a lot. Charles Barkley is a very, very nice and accommodating man. Now, he also has a guy that will beat your ass that is pretty close by if you decide to get stupid. But most people leave Charles Barkley the hell alone. He's very, very nice. If we had the technology 25 years ago, could you see somebody rolling up to Charles Barkley and saying, hey, would you mind if I FaceTime my friends? Batra, how do you think that would work out for that person? Not good at all, considering how much, how quick Charles Barkley is to roast someone. I think he would get into a verbal argument very easily.
He threw a guy through some glass because he was being an ass. You mean to tell me that, A, you see me here in person, saying hello and taking a photo isn't nice enough? Now you have to FaceTime call a friend?
And you see it a lot of times, too. People will put somebody on the phone and I feel like you do that in more of an intimate setting. But to find somebody out on the street and go, hey, hello, do you mind if I FaceTime my friends? No, I ain't got time for your friends. Just leave me alone. I don't know.
People do too much. We have athletes and celebrities who are accosted at airports and restaurants. People want to have a conversation with a guy in the bathroom and it's like, can I urinate in peace? You know, do I need to be bothered? Why do you want to give me a fist bump? Can I, you know, just in the bathroom? I don't know. I think people want to get so much Internet fame that they'll do a lot of stupid things, including invade personal space in very awkward situations. Well, we talked about it last night.
The guy at the Philadelphia track meet. And he's recording himself insulting all of the stars and then had the nerve to go, oh, they're just being sensitive. Like, I don't know. I thought people I thought you learned manners when you were a kid, but I guess not everybody does. Money makes people do strange things.
And I guess running up on somebody in the airport or maybe even the bathroom isn't even about money. It's just it's just weird. It's just weird. I don't know. Everybody is we've moved into the weird era of things. Yeah. So I'd pay to see somebody get thrown through a window by Charles Barkley, though, that that might just be me.
But I'd pay to see it. Eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN. That's eight, eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN. I told you money will make people do some strange, strange things. And speaking of money. We're going to take a break.
We come back on the other side. I want to tell you about a quarterback. He's one of the best in the league. He is looking for more, more money because even though he's widely recognized as one of the best, he is now the 10th highest paid QB in the entire NFL.
That's not going to cut it. I'm going to tell you who this player is on the other side of the break, what he might be looking for, especially knowing that one of his teammates just got paid as well. I'm going to tell you what this quarterback is. Is he happy? Is he unhappy? Does he just want money?
I think he has plenty. I'll fill you in. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief Show coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief. It is the J.R. Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.
8-8-8, 7-10, 4-I-S-N. That's 8-8-8, 7-10, 4-I-S-N. It appears that we're now 20 minutes away or less, I guess less than that now. About 15, 16 minutes away from tip-off, game one of the NBA Finals between the Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. We'll see when they actually get going. The NBA takes forever to launch their games and their games just, man, they go on forever. Let's see if we get a close one.
We'll be lucky if the game looks anything like what we got last night in game one of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Edmonds and Oilers who won over the Panthers four games, two, three. Before we went to break, we talked about some of these just crazy fans pulling up on athletes, saying hello, saying what's up. Somebody recently decided to give a holler to Shay Gilgus-Alexander. It was a kid and he wanted to call another one of his friends on FaceTime. So Shay Gilgus-Alexander, a nice guy. He wasn't going to tell the kid, get the hell out my face with your cell phone. He was nice enough to just say hello to this kid's friend. And I guess what's the worst that you could do?
Nothing. So, hey, shout outs to him in that regard. Shay Gilgus-Alexander is certainly a busy man making a lot, a lot of money. And I told you before we went to break, knowing that there are NFL OTAs going on right now, many of them voluntary. We have mandatory minicamp for a lot of teams starting next week. We got some players who are not at work.
We have some players who are not happy. We got guys like Trey Hendrickson looking for a deal. We got Michael Parsons who told everybody, hey, I will be to work next week even though I'm looking for a new contract.
And then earlier today, and we knew this was ultimately coming, it was going to happen. We got confirmation that Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens have already started to think about his next deal, his next contract. It was only about three years ago that Lamar Jackson signed that five-year, $260 million deal paying him $52 million a season. I remember it vividly.
There were so many conversations about how stupid he was and he wasn't smart. Lamar Jackson doesn't have an agent. He won't get the best deal. This man got paid big time. But we know like everything else in the NFL, the price doesn't do anything year after year but go up. And so over time, Lamar Jackson just over the past three years, he's been jumped by nine other quarterbacks when it comes down to how much he's paid on an annual basis. Lamar Jackson's making $52 a year. Justin Herbert's making $52.5. Brock Purdy with his new contract is making $53. Jared Goff is making $53. Tua Tungabaloa is making $53.1 million. He's the sixth highest-paid QB in the game.
Why? So Tua can play football in Miami and then get cold when the playoffs come around? Trevor Lawrence, what has he won? He's making $55. Josh Allen making $55. He just won MVP.
Jordan Love, what has he won? He's making $55. Joe Burrow took a team to the Super Bowl.
Well, correction, he didn't just take any team. He took the Bengals to the Super Bowl, has brought them out of the doldrums. He's making $55. And then you got Dak Prescott, who wears a star on his helmet.
He's making $60. So every quarterback that I just named, Justin Herbert, Brock Purdy, Jared Goff, Tua, Trevor Lawrence, Jordan Love, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Dak. They're all making more money than Lamar Jackson, who has won himself an MVP or two.
Could have won three last season. Listen to Eric DaCosta. This is the GM for the Baltimore Ravens. He talks about Lamar Jackson.
He was on the B-more baseball podcast. And he basically said, yeah, we're in the early parts of getting the deal together. Well, we've had some conversations before the draft, after the draft in person last week.
They were in the introductory sort of stage of looking at what an extension might look like. We've got a lot of business that we're conducting with different players, and we're in a situation where we're blessed to have most of the team coming back. But as we look out over the next two, three, four, five years, we're trying to keep as many good players as we can. So we've got some guys that we feel like have the chance to really be prolific players for us that can be here a long time.
We're trying to get as many of those guys signed up as possible. That's a big challenge, and Lamar is certainly a big part of that, but there are other players as well. Well, I mean, Lamar Jackson is the biggest part of it.
They have built the entire team around this man. I remember Coach Harbaugh at one point saying, listen, Lamar Jackson, we don't just have this guy here to be a good quarterback. We don't just have this man here to be a great quarterback. We believe Lamar Jackson can be the greatest quarterback ever. That's what Coach Harbaugh said, and everybody had to go, excuse me, what? He's a two-time NFL MVP.
It's kind of crazy to even think about this. Lamar Jackson is still only 28 years old. He just turned 28 years old. I remember when he got drafted.
I remember for the past several years, people were calling me up. He can't throw the ball. He's not efficient. He can't do this.
He can't do that. The man is turned into an MVP. I remember people calling me up, telling me that Lamar Jackson is not a QB, that he just needs to be a running back.
You don't hear that anymore. This guy already is one of the most accomplished quarterbacks that the NFL has ever seen. And last year, in another MVP caliber season, you tell me what type of quarterback does this. A guy who throws 4,000 yards or 41 touchdowns to only four interceptions.
You're not signing up for your quarterback to do that year after year? Forget what he does with his legs. I mean, what he does with his legs bolsters what he's able to do with his arms because he's a dual threat. He had 915 yards rushing for four touchdowns. He was able to spare a good part of his body because you heard GM Eric DaCosta talk about it. Some of the dynamic players that they have around him. Derrick Henry got paid.
And how about this? Even someone who just had a career year at wide receiver, Rashad Bateman, just got paid. He had a career high nine touchdowns last season. His career high before that was only two.
He had a career high in yards, 750. And now he can just count a few more million dollars in his bank account. Today, the Ravens decided to give this man $37 million on a new three-year deal.
Listen to Rashad Bateman talk about his extension timeline. You know, it's just two parties kind of met. We've kind of been negotiating since the end of the season. And, you know, it was something that both parties wanted to do. And it just made sense for both of us. And we worked it out.
So I'm happy to be here, blessed and fortunate. So keep chasing the Super Bowl. Just keep chasing that Super Bowl. Yeah, there's nothing else for the Ravens to do at this point in time. I mean, we saw the disappointment last year.
My apologies to Mark Andrews. God only knows what he's going to look like this upcoming season. We saw what took place last year. The same old, same old with the Ravens. And dare I say, the same old, same old for the Buffalo Bills. We know the Kansas City Chiefs didn't end up on top.
They didn't beat the Eagles in the Super Bowl. But I'm like, dammit, when are the Ravens, one of the Buffalo Bills, going to break through? Like, it's inevitable.
It has to eventually happen. One day one of these teams, led by Josh Allen or led by Lamar Jackson, somebody is going to have to knock off Patrick Mahomes. Or maybe Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, maybe they don't even get to another AFC Championship game. But I'm tired of the 10 win, 11 win, 12 win, 13 win seasons. The Ravens last year went 12-5 until the Bills beat them 27-25 because Mark Andrews, well, couldn't catch a pass at the end of the game, dropped that conversion.
But he lost for other reasons. Who cares? Like, we'll go into this season later on this year. And there will be people who call up and go, hey, why are you not talking about the Ravens? Hey, why are you not talking about the Buffalo Bills?
And it's pretty simple. Because they're winners. Like, the expectation and the surprise isn't in the regular season.
It's what they do in the postseason. And we get plenty of callers from Western New York. Shout-outs to everybody in Buffalo and Rochester. We get plenty of callers from Baltimore.
Shout-outs to everybody. Just in the entire Baltimore DMV area. Come on, man. Who cares if the Ravens go 12-5 again? Let me know if they beat Josh Allen.
Let me know if they beat Mahomes. Let me know if we can finally see Lamar Jackson in the Super Bowl. Damn it, I saw Lamar Jackson in an episode of... I think it was an episode of Power.
Whenever 50 Cent was young. Do you see that? You don't watch Power Botcher, do you? I don't watch it, but I saw the clip. Yeah, he killed the guy in the bathroom. Yeah, that's him and Stephen A become actors.
It's crazy. Oh my God. Stephen A. Smith plays an agent now on some show, right? He's like an assassin on General Hospital, I think it is. Yeah, no, he's in something else, too. Oh, he's in multiple things? Yeah, he's in General Hospital, which I can't believe is... Was he in Law and Order as a sports agent that was dirty? I don't know if it was Law and Order, I don't know. I don't know. I know he was in General Hospital, which I can't believe is still on TV, but I guess somebody has to watch it. And then I also know, yeah, he was a sports agent.
I don't know if it was in Law and Order. Good for him, I guess? I don't know. He found time to do this outside of his morning show, his YouTube show, his new show coming up on Sirius. Doesn't he have another show? How many shows does this guy have?
Too many, to say the least. He's everywhere. He's making a lot of money, but how does he spend it? What does he do besides yell on TV?
It's like he enjoys the ego trip more than the money. Maybe buy some special suits. I don't know. Oh, yeah.
Well, good. The money can go to his family. I hope he has money for his bloodline, but I don't see this guy taking vacations. He was just on TV two minutes ago. Wherever he can get his spots in, he'll be there.
I guess. Good for Stephen A. We know that this man is making 20 mil at minimum a season just to be everywhere and say a whole lot of stuff. I don't know what the hell he says. But anyway, Lamar Jackson on TV as well. We saw Lamar Jackson be an actor. I don't even know if he got a word in.
He just showed up in the bathroom and shot a guy. Yeah, not a lot of words for Lamar Jackson. I want to see this guy in a Super Bowl. He's going to get paid. And by the way, if Dak Prescott is now getting 60, you don't think Lamar Jackson wants more than that? Whenever they come to terms with the contract, Lamar Jackson is going to jump everybody. Josh Allen gave him a little bit of a discount. He said, hey, I'll take 55.
Fine, whatever. Dak got 60. Lamar Jackson has a singular talent? This man is better than every quarterback that I just mentioned outside of Josh Allen and Joe Burrow. And I would say that they're all contemporaries.
I mean, dammit, if Joe Burrow, who has been to a Super Bowl, if he actually played on not a cheapskate-ass team, and Joe Burrow would have won MVP last year. He was already in the conversation and the bangles, it took them all the way until the end to even get to anything worth a damn for him to be in a conversation. It's a crazy thing. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. Rashawn is calling from Baltimore. You're on the JR Sportbreeze show. What's up, Rashawn? What's going on, JR?
Thanks for taking my call, man. I'm all right, man. I'm just feeling good, man. You know, my Orioles are the hottest team in baseball right now on a six-game winning streak. I just swept the Mariners out in Seattle. So, you know, everything's looking good, looking up for us.
When you start like crap and then you fire the managers, is that all that much to be excited about? Hey, man, we had a lot of injuries, though. You know, I think I talked to you last week, man. Told you, you know, I'm optimistic and we're going to turn this day around. And things are looking up from here, man. We're seven and a half back from the last wildcard with a lot of baseball to play.
Good luck. We still haven't got our ace back, Kyle Braddis, who should be back sometime in August. So look out for the Orioles, man. You know, it might be out here along with the Ravens.
You know, Ravens are going to get over that hump this year, man. You know, I heard you hating on my boy Lamar. He's starring in movies. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Help me out here.
In what world? Tell me what I said, hating on your guy, Lamar. What did I say? Oh, you just were saying, man, it was something like you was like, oh, he's starring in movies, all this other stuff, and you don't care about he going 12 and 5 in the regular season, what he's going to do in the playoffs, you know. Yeah, don't tell me specifically what I said, that hating on Lamar Jackson. It was something like a little bit of, a little bit of raving Lamar Jackson, hey, maybe I tuned in towards the end, I just tuned in, and when I tuned in, it hurt, you know.
No, it's factual. I talked about how the man has won MVPs. I talked about how the man should be the highest paid quarterback in the game, making more money than Dak Prescott, and I've said that we've seen this man be an actor on TV before I've seen him in the Super Bowl. I said that I want to see him in the Super Bowl.
I said that I'm not interested in any more 10, 11, 12 win seasons. I want to see him beat Patrick Mahomes. I want to see him beat a Josh Allen.
I want to see one of the two of these guys advance to a Super Bowl. There's no hating that, it's just a matter of fact. Okay. Oh yeah, I agree, I agree. On that note, then I agree with that. He just called me to tell me about how I hated this and hated that, and I'm just telling you the facts, I don't care.
I'm not getting nobody's money. I want to see the guy succeed. I want to see him do well.
He's one of the most exciting football players I've ever seen in my life. Like what? I agree, I agree. We just got to stop choking. I mean, yeah, these guys stop choking in the playoffs when they count. Now, if I said that, then I would have been the hater, huh?
Yeah, come on. You know, we're a little sensitive down here in Baltimore, man, you know, about our Ravens, man. You know, especially our guy Lamar, you know, who already received a lot of criticism and hate, you know, sometimes throughout the national media and getting Duke for the MVP this year. You know they should have went to Lamar, you know, but they gave it to Josh Allen. Well, yeah, they weren't going to give, the writers weren't going to give him the award three times.
So yeah, I don't think it's any different than Nikola Jokic not getting the award in additional time over Joel Embiid. So, yeah, I certainly understand that, Rashawn. Well, like you, I'm going to be paying close attention between September and January, but I want to really know what takes place between January and February, because when you are one of the best quarterbacks in the game and you're walking around with multiple MVPs, yeah, there are expectations that we have of you in the regular season, but the largest expectation is for you to win, not in the fall, but in the winter. We'll see, Rashawn. Yeah, we shall see, man. All right, man. I'll talk to you.
No doubt. Shout-outs to Rashawn for calling from Baltimore. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. If you want to call me, you can. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. We are going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, you want to talk about quarterbacks being criticized? You know what?
Let's stay in the AFC North. I want to tell you about a quarterback who's been heavily criticized because of his last name primarily, and his behavior, and his play, who might start sooner than later. I'm going to tell you who that is on the other side of the break. I'm going to tell you about a quarterback.
Well, damn it, he ain't starting anything because he retired. And then, of course, well, we're getting ready for tip-off. Game one of the NBA Finals. We got a lot to do before we roll out, but right now it's time to roll into a newsflash.
Here he is, Rich Ackerman. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Hey, game one of the NBA Finals already underway. About five minutes have gone by here in the first quarter. Oklahoma City and the Pacers, they are tied up at ten points apiece. The Thunder did get off to a hot start here. Tough to say hot start is still only the first quarter. But the game started off with like them winning seven to one right out of the gate. Shay Gilgus-Alexander already has five points, and the Pacers are spreading around the ball. You see Ackerman with four, Nembhard Turner with three, Halliburton has yet to score points. So we'll keep you up to date on this game as it continues on still early here in the first quarter. Oklahoma City and the Pacers tied at ten points apiece.
Man, if it's a track meet the whole way through, I think a lot of people will be, I don't want to say disappointed, but a lot of people will be surprised, including myself. Let's see if and when OKC goes on a run and then also goes out and puts the clamps on the Indiana Pacers. 888-710-4ISN, that's 888-710-4ISN. Right before we went to break, we did talk about Lamar Jackson. His general manager, Eric DaCosta, pretty much said, yeah, we've already started to have contract negotiations with Lamar Jackson, who's now only making the tenth highest salary for a quarterback in the entire NFL.
Tenth highest at 52, sign me up. I take that money. At the same time, he wants to be paid commensurate to what he produces. Multiple MVPs and seemingly every season that he is healthy, he's going to go out there and get you double digit wins. And also as an aside, you know, a couple of weeks ago we learned of the retirement of Derek Carr due to his shoulder issue. He left a lot of money on the table when he decided to walk away from the New Orleans Saints. Well, Derek Carr, who initially had signed a four year one hundred and fifty million dollar deal with the New Orleans Saints, had two years left on his contract, only played 10 games last year, retired due to the busted shoulder.
I guess this is honorable. I mean, he's made two hundred million dollars in his career. Derek Carr said, I want to steal no money.
I don't want to take no free money. Good for him, I guess. He didn't want to take the Saints money.
Honorable? I mean, there comes a point in time, I think if you look at anybody, professional athletes, you go, how much is enough? Derek Carr has certainly had enough. He said, and he told front office sports, that part was tough because I didn't want to have surgery and just sit there. And it sounds crazy, but just take the Saints money.
It does sound crazy. I would have taken the Saints money and had surgery, but I haven't made two hundred million dollars throwing around a football. Botcher, would you take the money?
Would you just take another 70 mil? To sit down and just rehab? Yeah, I'll do that.
Thirty five. Just to just to work out my shoulder on the offseason? Yeah, do that. Yeah, that's kind of what Zion does, right? No, the opposite. He intentionally gets hurt, it seems like. Well, he gets paid to eat.
Is that the same one and the same? I think Zion's more like soft injury, like hamstrings. Derek Carr just like breaks everything in his body each year. Well, I think Zion has soft injury because his body is just soft. I mean, he's pudgy, fat.
And if you're fat and out of shape, you're going to just go out there and pull everything. Yeah, but I would have one hundred percent. There's not a single bone in my body I wouldn't break to get what Derek Carr got paid. Yeah, Derek Carr would have made thirty million dollars this year just to just to sit around. He is making ten million dollars on a roster bonus. Good for him. And so all things in his career. He's made about 200 mil. I think he's fine.
I don't think anybody's going to go ahead and cry broke for Derek Carr. And so, hey, that's one guy who won't be playing in New Orleans this time and the NFL is done. God only knows what's going on with Zion, who. Yeah. Last I looked, Zion is staring at allegations of rape. Founded, unfounded.
I have no idea. He has certainly lived a crazy public life over these past several years. So there you have it. There is your Louisiana news. Shout outs to all my people down in Louisiana tuned in on W W L. Speaking of quarterbacks, this guy is not done.
He's trying to start his career. Shador Sanders. I've been saying this for weeks now, like Shador Sanders taken in the fifth round. We heard from Dion earlier this week.
Pretty much said that they were lying on my son's name about how prepared he was or not prepared. Dion certainly was a dad and trying to go out there and defend Shador. And I've always thought with all the quarterbacks that the Browns have on the roster, Shador Sanders, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and Dylan Gabriel, that Shador would eventually get his chance to start after they pretty much, I don't want to say mold down through the quarterback depth chart, but I do believe there's a pecking order. I think it starts and stops with Joe Flacco and then eventually he'll get benched or is not playing. And maybe Kenny Pickett will relieve him and Kenny Pickett will suck. And then I think it comes down to Shador or Dylan Gabriel. And I think at that point, even though you selected Dylan Gabriel before him, you put Shador out there. I think what they do over these next several months over training camp and mini camp will certainly speak as to what that pecking order looks like.
But it's kind of crazy. Apparently, I don't want to say that Shador Sanders might skip the line because he might actually actually go out there and earn it. I want you to listen to Tony Rizzo and Aaron Goldhammer. This was on ESPN Cleveland. They talked about how Shador has looked so far here in OTAs. I got a text from an ESPN Cleveland employee not named Tony Grossi. Big surprise there. That said, quote, Shador looked like the best quarterback in camp.
I have come to a realization. By the time we get to September, I think Tony Grossi is wrong. I think there's a way Shador Sanders starts the first game. Wow. Now that I've seen some videos and talked to a bunch of people and multiple practices, I think Shador Sanders was the best quarterback out there yesterday. I think now Shador is putting the draft slide behind him and showing why Mel Kiper thought he was the best quarterback in this draft. Oh, my God.
Yeah. I mean, we sat here and gave you the draft live on the Infinity Sports Network. And so I didn't have a chance to sit down and listen to Mel Kiper boast about Shador Sanders.
But everything on social media for two, I forget, two days, for three days, Mel Kiper told everybody this is the man that you should take. And he fell all the way to the fifth. And I give credit to Shador because there's nothing left for him to do but actually go out onto the field and prove it. Because his dad can't help him start as quarterback.
His dad can't get him a job. He has to go out there and earn it. And let me tell you something, if he earns the starting quarterback job for the Browns, then kudos to him. I mean, he got knocked down. He got put down via where he was drafted and he went out there and he bounced back. Let's listen to Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Reese, because he said all four Browns quarterbacks.
Deshaun Deshaun Watson doesn't exist. He said that everybody else, they could be the starter. I mean, yeah, you can see them all winning the job, I think.
Right. And so in terms of the competition, we're so early in the process, we're so early in evaluating that. Yeah, I think, you know, we have a good group of guys that continue to push one another. And by the time September rolls around, we'll be ready to go.
Man, I think that's that's pretty cool. I thought that they were just going to go through the list. I still believe just based off principle and seniority, I think Joe Flacco will get the first chance and the first opportunity. But maybe, maybe Chidora Sanders has an opportunity to climb the depth chart and be that number two. Who cares about Kenny Pickett's feelings?
And Dylan Gabriel, he'll be all right. It's the JR Sportbree show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We come back on the other side. I'm going to give you an update on what's going on in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. And then I'll give you a recap on everything that took place today. The JR Sportbree Show don't move.
