It is! The JR Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much for tuning in wherever you might be here. in North America. Me, I'm in Atlanta, Georgia.
Our producer, he's holding things down in New York City. His name is Chris Percian, and I thank you again for hanging out with us. The show gets started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern 3 Pacific. You can always listen on the free Odyssey app.
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There's so much going on in the world of baseball. And just last hour, we talked about the return. of Shohei Otani to the mound tonight for the Los Angeles Dodgers. John Carlos Stanton, mister Muscleman, mister Muscleman is back from double tennis elbow. John Carlos Stanton will be in action for the New York Yankees.
Speaking of muscles, Desmond Bain, he's going to be traded or Is traded from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Magic. We talked about the return of Caitlin Clark. Raphael Devers moved from the Boston Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants. And we talked about all of that. An hour number one.
If you've missed a second, you want to hit rewind, you can do that. On the free Odyssey app. If you want to call me, you can do that too. Here's the phone number. It works.
Trust me, the phone lines work. 888-710-487. 4ISN is the number. That's 888-710-487. For ISN, if you want to give me a holler, you can also find me on the internet.
I am at JR Sport Brief. I just told you about a lot of the news in the baseball world. In about 20 minutes, we're going to be joined by Keith Law. Who covers all things Major League Baseball for the Athletics?
So, Keith Law will be here with us in about 20 minutes. We'll talk some more baseball. And then even before we uh We get there. We got to chat some more about something else. going on tonight.
We're about an hour away. Excuse me, not an hour, because they always lie. We're about 90 minutes away. From Game Five of the NBA Finals. This series is currently tied at two all between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers.
We saw what OKC did on the road in game four Friday night. one eleven one hundred four victory and by doing so, congratulations to the Pacers They avoid A three-one series. Deficit.
Now, if they would have been down 3-1 to the Indiana Pacers, it would have just been about curtains. For them to go out there to win an NBA championship. I don't care how many games they won throughout the course of the regular season. 68 wins, 69 wins, 70 wins, 70. It doesn't matter how many they won in the regular season.
If they don't walk away. With the championship. Period. And losing to the Pacers is uh well, They'd get chopped down. about it.
And so the answer is it's a night. trying to pick up a victory. and be one step closer away, from winning the championship. And the fact that they get to play at home All those crazy fans in the colorful T-shirts, I don't know what color they're wearing tonight. Everybody will be screaming.
at the top of their lungs at the Paycom Center down in Oklahoma, Hawaii. Yeah. City. This is going to be a wild one. Tyrese Halliburton Trying to show up in enemy territory, walk out with another victory.
He says, you know what? When you lose, You just can't forget about it. It's impossible. Listen to what he said.
Well, we'll get to Tyrese Halliburton. in a minute momentarily. You talk about Flushing playoff losses or fixing things. Last game. Eighteen points.
is seven assists. in that loss. You think about Sheikh Gilgis Alexander. What he's been able to do, this guy's the MVP for a reason. Friday Game on the line?
You need to figure out whether or not you're going to go into a hole. thirty five points. He had fifteen of em. in the fourth quarter. In the NBA Finals, and this is where people start talking about whether or not a guy is a star or he's not a star or who's a star.
He has averaged almost thirty three points. in the NBA Finals. Like everybody knows Shea Gilgis Alexander. is going to have the ball. Everybody knows that he has the rock.
and they can't do anything to stop him. And Tyrese Halliburton, he could dish the ball, he could shoot the ball and knock down clutch shots. Let's try again. Listen to Tyrese Halliburton talk to you about that loss that they just had on Friday, and that it really doesn't matter. Listen to this.
Once you get to the playoffs, I don't think it's so much about flushing things, 'cause you really gotta Take every game, see where you did well, see where you could do better, and learn from that.
So, I don't. I think in the regular season, it's different. You play 82 games, play a team in game 10 that you probably don't see again until game 60.
So, it's just like, all right, flush shaded, move on to the next. In the playoffs, it's a little different. Yeah, you're just staring at the same team. Over. and over And over and over and over again.
And I know it may be something that. you know, from a a fan's perspective, a viewer's perspective, we we we take it for granted. It's just like okay. for what he just said. You play a game in a regular season, And then you move on, and then there's another team, and another team, and another team, and then you run through the whole gamut of everybody, all 30 plus, you're just running through it.
In the postseason. It has to be a pain in the backside. to look at the same team, the same players, the same guys, over and over and over again for a minimum four games. And so I guess it's like an X It's hard to just get away. It's hard to avoid them.
I don't know when they. They work the same place as you. When they go to the same church or the same school or they live, they are a next-door neighbor. It's hard to just escape things. when they are right there in front of you.
And so what they're now trying to do, as the momentum has swung back towards Oklahoma City, the pacers are trying to stay alive. Like, I've looked at this series as a. A six-game series? I didn't think it was going to go seven. Pacers certainly got their two games.
Halliburton knocking down that game winner. Halliburton helping him come back in the last victory as well. But now I think they're staring into the face of reality. And I told you about just facing the same teams over and over and over and over again. I want you to listen to Shea Gilgas Alexander, because you would think At this stage of the series, the season, the finals, You'd be tired.
Not him, I guess, dropping 33 a game. Listen to Shea Gilgas Alexander. It's tiring for sure, but uh every game's tiring. Every When you're giving your all, every possession, you're going to be tired. I don't think I'm the only one out there that's tired.
But yeah, it's something new, something new for a lot of us. A lot of us haven't been this late into this season.
Well, listen. You talk about being tired? Man, if he's tired dropping thirty three a game It shows how it doesn't look like it. There doesn't seem to be no fatigue factor. He seems more tired of actually, I guess, talking to the media.
He sounded bored as hell answering questions about being tired. And that's something else. I know these guys are sick. of having to talk to the media after every win, after every victory, every loss, every day off is a camera as the NBA goes out and pretty much promotes the game. Also, something to pay attention to tonight.
The NBA is going to be promoting the game in another way. for the first time in more than a decade. and why they stopped I have no idea. The NBA is actually going to televise Player Introductions. I mean, there was a whole hubbub about whether or not they were going to do it, why they don't do it.
This NBA final seems kind of bland. There's no decal on the court. There's no introductions. It doesn't have a big game feel between OKC and the Indiana Pacers. And so I guess the NBA.
I guess they've listened. And now we're going to have player introductions. Whoopty, whoopty freakin' do. I guess I I'll watch it here in the studio. Obviously I can't hear it.
Um and we'll see if that d does that change anything? No. No unless you're a viewer at home. But I think inside the basketball arena, it's just Business as As usual. Really?
So much. as we continue on looking towards this Ceres. Mark Dayno? He started talking about what we've seen so far. I think it was pretty ridiculous of him earlier on to have Isaiah Hartenstein on the bench.
We saw him start, and let's see if that continues on. This is what Mark Daynault had to say about what we've seen so far here in this series. It's challenging. We're playing against a great team that's pushing us to the limit. Hopefully we're pushing them to the limit in the same way.
But there's nothing comfortable about these games. It's a challenging opponent that's really testing us. Yeah, listen. I think the thunder win to night. I think the thunder go up three to two.
I think the Thunder will close them out in the next game. I think they've seen the best of what Indiana has. Certainly, we know that Tyrese Halliburton can show up big. We know that the Pacers can go on these gigantic runs where it's just they make deficits disappear. Uh but the fact is they've spent a lot of time.
Chasing. The Oklahoma City Thunder. They've spent a lot of time being in deficits. And so I think it's one thing to be able to kind of bounce back. I think it's another thing to actually just try your best to command and lead the game.
every single game. For the most part, we know who's in command. It's Oklahoma City. And we see that the Pacers are out there. They're the ones just trying to tryna play keep up.
And I think tonight being back at home. I think OKC is not going to take it for granted. I don't think we want to see a slow start or a bad start. I think they're gonna get to business. Right.
Uh Way. Hey, Chris, how much longer do you think this series goes on? And who do you favorite? I favored the Oklahoma City Thunder. The length of the series, JR, I've got no read.
I want to say seven. I'm tempted to say seven just because it started off with some craziness. It might end with some craziness. If we should be so lucky, I mean, if this series is going to go towards a Game 7, we're going to have that Game 7 this upcoming Sunday. NBA certainly knows how to stretch things out.
We'll talk about this a little bit more as well. It's just kind of crazy to me. how much attention has been taken away. From the NBA finals with trades like Desmond Bain, with trade rumors like what's going on with Kevin Durant, firings. We had a team that just was eliminated in the playoffs, the New York Knicks.
I mean, there's so much talk about their coach and where Thibodeau is going, as opposed to what's going on in the finals. And I think the NBA might want to go ahead and make some adjustments to the calendar. you know, into the future, just just wild. That these things can go on, can be announced. I mean, business is going to go on as usual.
But you want the focus uh during your championship season. To be on the championship series. And not who's getting hired and who's getting fired. But we'll get into that in a little while. If we get seven games, Congratulations to all of us.
I'll say this I think the thunder is still gonna win. I want you to take a listen to what Jalen Williams had to say. The series is tied up to all. They'll be in action, and a little more than an hour ago, this is what he had to say about hopefully trying to. To close this down and shut it down.
You can't really focus on what happened in the past or what you could have changed on game one. You know, you're just looking at the fact that it's tied up now. And I feel like that's the most clean slate attitude you can have with it. And that's the approach that I think both teams are taking. That's definitely the one we're taking.
Two out of three. I mean, this is really basically what it boils down to. And if you're Oklahoma City, and you've played sixty eight games this season. We've seen the ha-has, the hee-hees, and the post-game interviews. The team is all together.
Everybody's having fun. And why not when you're winning, everything is great? But this is why you play the regular season.
So you can have Home Court advantage.
So you can go to the playoffs and and play. at your home arena. We got the thunder. At home tonight. Then They have a chance to close things out.
In Indiana, On Thursday. And if we should get a game seven, if we should get a game seven. That is going to take place on Sunday. Back in OKC. Look, nobody wants to be crisscrossing and flying all around between Indianapolis and OKC.
The Thunder? They want to close this out as much as they want to win at home in front of their fans, I think on Thursday. I think they're going to go into Indiana. think they're gonna hoist the Larry O'Brien and I think the season will be over. And at that point, Let them have their parade in Oklahoma City.
You know, let everybody, you know, jump around and be happy and thrilled. But let's get on to the drafting of Cooper Flag. Let's see where Kevin Durant is going to go. Let's see if Giannis ends up staying in Milwaukee. Let's see what other craziness happens.
Let's see who the heck the Knicks. actually decide the hire. as a new head coach. But right now, let's try our best to keep all the focus here. on the NBA Finals.
Game five kicking off in a little more Than an hour from now. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side.
Well We're going to talk about something else going on. Speaking of trades, we saw Raphael Devers get moved from Boston to San Francisco. Shohei Otani is back on the mound tonight. Giancarlo Stanton is back for the New York Yankees. The Rockies, well, they're not back.
They're just down. I want to know how bad they can actually just stay down. We're going to have a chat on the other side of the break with Keith Law. Keith, he covers everything baseball for the Athletic. I'm going to ask him about everybody I just mentioned and more.
We're going to do that in a few minutes. You are locked in. To the JR Sport Re-Show, coast to coast, here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Don't move. It is the JR Sport Re Show here with you coast to coast on the Infiniti Sports Network.
888-710-4ISN is the number. That's 888-710-4ISN. And we're looking to check in and see where Keith Law is, covers all things Major League Baseball from the Athletic. And it appears that we have found him and we got him.
So much going on from the trades to deals and there's a lot. Players returning. Here we have Keith Law, covers all things MLB for the Athletic. Keith, how are you? I'm good.
How are you? Excellent. Thank you for taking the time to come through and join us. I was shocked last night. I mean, I know we live in a new world financially, but seeing that Raphael Devers can get moved with his ten year, $300 plus million dollar contract, were you surprised that the Red Sox did this or that somebody acquired that contract?
I'm not surprised somebody acquired the contract because he's a great player. I was surprised that the Red Sox, who ostensibly are trying to contend this year, traded away one of their best players. Probably their best pure power threat. And That kind of a modest return is not a bad return. But they treated it a bit more as a salary dump.
It's pretty clear that the new regime didn't like the contract and they were willing to take less of a return. Just to get rid of the financial obligation. Except, you're the Red Sox. They're one of the most profitable teams in baseball. They should not be pinching pennies to the extent that they seem to be lately.
So, and honestly, I had no idea this was even a possibility. until it happened. I was at a Father's Day dinner. I got in the car and I saw texts, and I was like, the hell is going on here? And at first I thought it was a joke.
You're not the only one who will be joined by Keith Law from the Athletic.
So, what next for the Boston Red Sox? I mean, if you're a Red Sox fan, you got to be looking at this just going, Oh my God, again, we lost Mookie. What are they doing? Yeah. So I don't know what they're doing, right?
I do not know what the plan is. I've not talked to anyone in the front office. I don't know Craig Greslow at all. This seems to be his direction, his philosophy. You know, I can.
Yes, based just on what we saw, this was about getting rid of a player they seemed to think was a problem. I don't agree with that, and to move a large financial obligation. They could turn this around in a couple of ways. One is all this money that they've cleared off the books for this year and the future, they could try to lock up some of their best young players to long-term contracts, particularly Roman Anthony, the prospect they just called, number one prospect in baseball, just called him up a week or so ago. The other thing is, They did get something in return.
Kyle Harrison, left-handed starter, not a prospect anymore, but not established in the big leagues yet, still young. James Tibbs, who was the Giants' first-round pick last year, last July. He's only been in Pro Ball for 11 months. Red Sox could use them and some of the players already in their very strong farm system. And go get pitching.
The one argument I can make for them doing this is: the Red Sox offense is going to be fine without Debbers. But they are having a real problem just with run prevention. And so go out and take these resources. to go get some arms and show the fans that you are still trying to contend this year.
Well, Keith, when you think about the team that's receiving him, the Giants, obviously, he's going to add major pop to their lineup. They can barely get guys to hit it on out the park. What can we expect for from the Giants kind of fitting in that stacked NOS?
So I'm assuming he's just going to go in and be the DH, which is what he was doing for the Red Sox. They have Matt Chapman at third, which is really the only other position Devers has played significantly in his pro career. People talk about him going to first base. He's never played it, not even in the minors. That's not happening, at least not now.
What he brings is power, as you said, but also the ability to get on base. And the Giants. Actually, need both of those things. It's a below-average offense that they have the opposite problem, right? They have a really good pitching staff, particularly with Robbie Ray coming back to looking like his old cy young self again.
They needed guys on base and they needed power beyond Matt Chapman. Endeavors gives them both of those things. And it's, I do think there's something to be said for him, just being clear of any of the controversy. Just come in, BRDH, do the things you do. Get on base, hit bombs, everyone will be happy.
Ah, well, it certainly hopes so. We're being joined by Keith Law, MOB rider for the athletics. Speaking of the National League West, we do see that Shohei Otani is going to be returning. on the mount tonight. Of course they got a kinda Put him on the shallow end before you can go out there and swim.
When do you expect to see him potentially back to a full workload? Are we talking a month here? Are they going to do this opener thing for a while? What are you thinking? I'd be surprised if he was making false starts before the very end of the year for two reasons.
One is you just, this is his second elbow operation. And so you've got to take it easy. We do have a lot of two-time Tanijan guys, but the general consensus is you got to go a little more cautiously the second time back to avoid re-injuring the ligament or injuring the new ligament. But also, the problem they face is anytime Otani has to miss time, he has to go on the injured list because of. anything going on with his arm.
He loses bat.
So it is an argument, even though we all know he's a great pitcher. It is an argument to be ultra conservative with how you're using him on the mound to make sure you do not lose any of the impact he provides as a hitter. And so I'm glad he's doing the two way thing again. He's just great for baseball. He's super fun to watch.
Absolutely. But if I'm in that Dodger's front office, I'm thinking, just please don't get hurt. What do we do to get you to pitch a little bit? Really, we want your 600 at bats every year.
Well, we know that the Dodgers certainly went for broken and acquiring talent. That's what they've done the past several years. And the depth of it has certainly worked out for them throughout some of these injuries. How does him being back in the lineup, at least slowly but surely creeping up, help them out when you think about some of the injuries they've dealt with?
Well, that's the the big problem they've had for all that they've spent. They've had a really hard time finding five. regularly healthy. Capable starters. Only Yamamoto has really been a consistently above-average starter for them this year.
They've gotten decent work from Clayton Kershaw. He's also been, I think, a little bit lucky. If you kind of dig under the hood and look at what his actual results are batter to batter, they've talked about moving Ben Kasparius, who's been a reliever for who got very, very good as a reliever.
Now they've got him, they're trying him in the rotation. He's got all kinds of issues. We're not super optimistic about that either.
So I do think there is Otani's return. Does help them. Even if he's giving them, say, three innings a start, that's not nothing. I understand that's not what we typically think of from a starting pitcher. He's not your typical starting pitcher.
And if he can give them three innings, every five times through the rotation every five days through the rotation That is going to help. They can probably pair him up with a Casparius or a Landon Nak, one of these long man types. To make them basically cobble together one starter out of two guys, still be able to get value out of Otani without over-taxing him as he's coming back from the. from the Tommy John surgery. We'll see.
We expect the Dodgers, regardless, to just be hanging tough here at the end of the season.
Well, Keith, you talk about cobbling anything together. I feel like the body of Giancarlo Stanton, I don't know if it's popsicle sticks and duct tape, but he's going to be making his debut for the New York Yankees tonight. Is he someone that they can or should count on in any way or capacity for the rest of the season? I wouldn't. I wouldn't.
He's really got no track record of staying healthy. And the reality is they've gotten pretty good production actually from any place he could help them. I think the player, right, he's not replacing Aaron Judge, obviously. Trent Christian plays really good defense in center field and is actually having kind of a career year, so he's not going anywhere. And left, they've got Jason Dominguez, who's their top prospect coming into the season, having a perfectly solid rookie year, and he needs the playing time.
You don't want to move him to DH either.
So maybe Stanton takes away some of the at-bats from Ben Rice, who had a huge April for the team. He put on a lot of good weight this offseason, was hitting the ball harder. But pitchers are starting to adjust and you're starting to see his numbers come back to earth. Maybe he's the one who loses the playing time here. Also, DHing Stan, I don't want him running around the outfield.
That seems like a just generally a bad idea here.
So maybe Rice moves to the bench. Dan takes over as the primary DH. But I'm not expecting a whole lot. He just hasn't been healthy and effective at the same time very much over the last couple of years. And I anything they get from him is found money at this point.
But Keith Laws here with us covers all things baseball for the athletic. Keith, as we start to wrap things up, when you take a look at the leagues, it's crazy to think we're not even in July yet, and we have teams that have already played almost 60, 70 games. Are there teams that you think will go on a run? We always know teams go on runs. Is there a team that isn't at their best right now that we may blink and go, oh my God, they're really streaking right now?
I mean, if we're looking at teams that aren't currently in position to go to the playoffs, but say who I think are better than what they've shown so far this year. Mm. You know, I do think that Atlanta, despite some of the injuries they've had, so they don't sell players off. They're definitely better. They're eight games under 500 right now.
Yeah, they are, I think on paper, that's much better than a 500 team. I would definitely look at them to do that. I think the Reds are kind of sleepers and they play in a weaker division, too. I think there's some opportunity maybe to see them. Make a little run here.
The other one I would say is Kansas City after what they did last year. And they sort of stayed in, they went for it again this offseason. They continue to build the major league club as if they're contenders. They're hoping they'll get a spark from at least Jack Haglino and has power. I don't know how much he'll hit, but he does have real power right now.
I could see them picking it up a little bit and I could see them also saying we're On the outside, looking in, but let's go get someone at the trade deadline because last year was just so good for them and for the fan base. I could see them saying, let's try to keep it going for a second year. Keith, final question for you. We know the Dodgers, despite their injuries, are still sitting at the top of the NLS, overwhelmingly favorites, favorites with all the money that they spend. Are you still looking at them as the team to beat?
I know last year's World Series is in the rear view, but would you still favor them to go out there and do so? I mean, they are probably the best team in baseball on paper. And last year, the best team in baseball on paper actually won the World Series. That's not usually how it goes, though. We have so many teams in the playoffs right now, and so much randomness that I always argue: I'll tell you who I think is the best team on paper, but I wouldn't put a lot of money on whoever that is.
To end up winning the World Series, you got to be healthy when you get to October, and the Dodgers aren't, they're certainly not very healthy right now. And you got to be lucky.
So, to me, it's just punch your ticket, get in. Hopefully, you have the healthiest pitching staff, especially that you can possibly have when the playoffs start. You know, could the Cubs, the Tigers, The Mariners have such a good pitching staff. The Mariners could get in and then just roll right through October if they have Gilbert and Kirby, especially healthy and ready to go when the postseason starts.
Well we'll see. We got a lot more baseball to go. We have yet to even hit the All-Star break here.
Well, Keith, thank you so much for the time. Please tell everybody where they can follow you and all of your work with the Athletic.
So, yeah, obviously, if you go to the athletic and just look for a search on my name, you'll see all my work there. I am most active on Blue Sky at this point. It's just keithlaw.bsky.social. I have an account on Twitter. I don't use it other than just to post links.
You can find me on all the threads and Instagram and all those other ridiculous places. But if you want to interact with me, find me on the athletic in the comments or come talk to me on Blue Sky. That is really where I spend most of my time online. Hey Keith, great conversation. Thank you for the time.
We'll catch you on down the line, okay? My pleasure. And thank you so much. That Keith Law, you heard, of course, from the Athletic. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.
I need you to know this: this portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial. Stuck in a timeshare and one out. Contact the Wesley Financial Group now and get a free Tom Share exit information kit at Wesley Financial Group.org. Calm. We're going to take a break.
Speaking of all these trades, Dovers getting moved, Bing getting moved. There's an NBA player. He's supposed to be the biggest piece that we know is almost certainly going to be moved. It's Kevin Durant. There's talk about where he wants to go, where he will not go.
And I think there's even a team that doesn't want Kevin Durant. I'm going to fill you in on that on the other side of the break. And then it looks like Trey Hendrickson and the Cincinnati Bengal, it looks like they might be kissing. and making up. We'll talk about that.
We got a lot to do. But when we come back on the other side, I got you covered. But right now, it's time for a news flat. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much to Keith Law for joining us from the Athletic Ryder.
It covers all things Major League Baseball. I mean, it's kind of crazy. You still take a look at the Dodgers and a lot of the injuries that they've suffered to their pitching staff. They have Shohei Otani returning tonight, and they are still one of the best teams in baseball. Flattened, period.
43 wins, and they just. Keep on chugging along.
So, God only knows what they're going to look like if and when they can get back to full health later on this season. If you missed the conversation with Keith Law as we had this chat. about Rafael Devers, Giancarlo Stanton, the Atlanta Braves potentially bouncing back. There's a lot going on. You can go ahead and hit Rewind on the Free Odyssey app.
Thank you again to Keith Law for joining us. Covers all things baseball. for the athletic. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN.
We're about an hour away from tip off in the NBA Finals, Game 5, between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana. Pacers.
Now, That's active basketball. We talked about this trade situation with Desmond Bain moving on from the Memphis Grizzlies, now a member of the Orlando Magic. And There's there's still a lot going on in the NBA. Outside of the NBA finals, I mentioned This. Bain gets moved.
You got the issue with Tom Thibodeau being fired from the Knicks, and now the Knicks are on the coaching hunt. you know, bringing in Taylor Jenkins, looking at Mike Brown, It's just a lot. going On And here's this. this rumour. Or plenty of rumors about where Kevin Durant is going to go next.
He's not going to be in Phoenix. We know that much. Where is he going to take his 26, 27 points per game? imply his trade. It's kinda crazy to think about it.
Apparently Kevin Durant wanted to go to the New York Knicks. And the New York Knicks said, we don't want Kevin Durant, which is kind of nuts to think about. It was years ago in 2019. They wanted him. He didn't want them.
I don't know if it's sour grapes. I don't know if the New York Knicks don't want to give him a contract extension. But being back in New York with the Knicks, I think that'd be a great thing. I think the basketball would certainly move a whole lot more. Kevin Durant is not someone who's a ball hog.
He would certainly add scoring. But you think if you bring him on, you'd probably have to send Carl Anthony Towns out to Phoenix. And would he like to be hooked up with his old Kentucky buddy, Devin Booker? I'm sure. I have Kevin Durant, New York Knicks.
Not a match. Apparently Kevin Durant also does not want to go. to Minnesota.
Now, why? I don't know. I mean, I'm not sitting around in a guy's house and we're not having conversations about his future, but this man. doesn't want to be at Cerber Wolf. Apparently he has interest in the Miami Heat.
Okay, in exchange for who and what? And if you go to the Miami Heat, are you going for the beach? Are you going for the weather? Because I would think Bam Atabayo or Talehero. What would have to get moved?
Houston makes plenty of sense. They have a lot of young assets if he wants to go there. I would like Kevin Durant. With the Pistons, that doesn't appear to be realistic. A matter of fact, hey, let's listen to Sean Shirania because he talked about Kevin Durant in his three-team wish list on ESPN.
Listen to this. The focus of the Sun's conversation has been on a few of the teams, and here they are: the Houston Rockets. The Miami Heat and the Minnesota Timberwolves. I'm told those are the three teams right now where a lot of the focus for Durant lies. Yeah.
That's where it stops and where it finishes. But here's the crux of the situation: the Phoenix Suns don't have to send this guy. Anywhere. They don't have to send him anywhere. They don't have to wake up.
and put him anywhere. It's that they don't have to just bend over backwards. if they wanted to, and uh obviously an exaggeration, they could send this guy. to Siberia.
Okay. Like they don't have to send him to the teams that he wants to go to.
Now If you're an acquiring team, if you're bringing in Kevin Durant, do you want a guy that doesn't want to be there? The answer is no. Do you want a guy, do you want to give up assets for a dude who's just going to be a rental? No. Kevin Durant is eligible for a two-year contract extension, and you could bet your backside.
that he's he's gonna go somewhere and commit to a place where he can get it, because w why not? Why not? If you can go ahead and guarantee yourself more cash, uh Why the hell not? I'd love to see him in Houston. I'd love to see him with the Pistons.
I would have loved to see Kevin Durant running around with the New York Knicks. But apparently, that does not appear to be in the cards. And we'll see when the trade takes place. Do we have to wait for the conclusion of the NBA Finals? Or?
Is this guy going to get traded between now and Sunday? We'll wait and see. Chris Persianen, where do you think the best spot is for Kevin Durant to end up in? I like the Houston shout that you had there because, you know, it seems like. Ime Yudoka is so good at getting defense out of the whole roster.
Like, if they have a superstar like KD giving them offense, that could be a good balance. But in terms of where he's actually going to go, I feel like. I feel like the heat just have this way of finagling stars out of nowhere. Do you think he goes what would the Miami Heat have to give up? I would I'd imagine Adebayo.
I would certainly pr if I were the Heat, I would want to keep the scoring of of Tyler Hero over Adebayo, but wouldn't they have to give up one of the two of them dudes? I don't know about that, JR, especially considering K D's age. You know, yes, it's very cool that he's very good at 36 still, but he's 36. Like, how many years does he have left playing at a tip-top level in the NBA?
So, I don't know that the Suns are big fans of Andrew Wiggins. A report came out today from John Gambadoro that they don't want Wiggins, but that could complicate things. But I would think the Heat have what it takes just because I'm not expecting it to take too much. Yeah. Yeah, wow.
Well, so in that case Would that not have? He'd be a rental. But at the same time, if I'm the Phoenix Sons. Like, I want to get a return. If that's the case, I'm not sending him to Miami.
I mean, does Kevin Durant have that much leverage with the extension? I think you have to be pretty honest with yourself if you're Kevin Durant and say, okay, How what do I value more? Getting this last golden parachute or having a real chance to win? Because I bet the Heat have the golden parachute, but I don't know if they give him the chance to win. Like you were saying before.
But after what they trade for him, what are they even going to have left? Yeah, yeah. It's just uh Yeah Thinking about Kevin Durant, it's what? What do you want? Do you want to win a championship at this point?
Do you just want You just want the extra cash and security? Are you good on that end? Is it like, hey, I got championship, I got MVPs. I'm just. And we know Kevin Durant is someone who's just been very clear about.
Hey, I just play ball. I want to show up. I want to play ball. I want to leave. He got himself a championship?
What else comes after that? It's not like he's chasing a ring. We have a guy right now in Russell Westbrook who is just, I don't want to say he's floating around out here right now, but Russell Westbrook just declined his player option with the Denver Nuggets a little more than $3 million. And I'm like, what is he going to do? Is he going to wait for some of the dust to settle to figure out where he wants to go?
It's probably the best thing to do, see how the landscape shapes out. Maybe he returns to Denver. No idea. But it's not like Durant is in his case where Westbrook has an MVP. He has success.
He has triple-double titles and whatnot. But Russell Westbrook is still. He's still chasing the ring. I mean, we got another contemporary, James Harden, he's still out here. I'm not saying he's chasing her in because he's pretty much entrenched now with the Los Angeles Clippers, but Kevin Durant always an enigma.
It's kind of wild in the first place if we go back to 2019 in the summer and it's just like, oh, Durant. And in Cairee They both decide to, well, Leave and then say, hey, screw the Knicks. We're just going to make our way out to Brooklyn.
So with Durant. You just never Ever. No. And then Kevin Durant, we don't know what he's going to do. But apparently.
The ice may have been broken in the NFL with Trey Hendrickson. The Cincinnati Bengals. Obviously, they're in their own contract dispute and situation. Hendrickson is refusing to play on the last year of his contract with the Bengals. 17.5 sacks the past two seasons.
He's not old as Kevin Durant, but he's a little bit older on the other side of 30 for an edge rusher. And you got guys getting paid 35.5 mil. You got Miles Garrett making 40. And now Trey Hendrickson, he's looking at cash out as well. Apparently, Him or his representatives in the Bengals, they haven't talked in probably months now, and now they're having a chat.
Uh listen to Tom Pellisaro talk about this on Rich Isen Show. I always say this, Rich. There is no close. There is only done or not done. There are a lot of people that in the Trey Hendrickson situation would argue they're not that far apart.
This is a deal that could get done, but the Bengals are, you know. Pretty committed at times to the way that they want to get contracts done. Trey Hendrickson is very much dug in on his position, which is he does not want another one-year extension like the one he signed a couple of years ago, which put him in the position that he's in right now. He wants a multi-year commitment. He wants guaranteed money.
There's a bunch of different ways that they can get there, but they're not seeing eye to eye on this right away. Oh, well, look. Trey Hendrickson pitched a whole fit about having no communication. you know, for a certain amount of time. And now they're having a chat.
Let's see where they they line up. We know the Bengals like to take their sweet time. We also know the Bengals, when it comes down to being cheap skates, they are absolutely, absolutely at the top of the heap. Like, they are cheap as hell. We talked about this last week in a top six list.
Just uh. Absolutely crazy. Absolutely. Wild, wild, wild situation. The Bengals, well, They're just gonna bangle.
It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN is the number that's 888-710-4ISN. You talk about crazy organizations, I'm still scratching my head about the Red Sox moving on from Devers, how they treated their fans, or how Devers treated them. And then Man, NBA finals is tonight. And there's so many conversations about so many other things.
We'll get into that on the other side. Talk about the Panthers. There's a lot going on. It's the JR Sport Reeshow coast to coast, the Infinity Sports Network.
