It is the JR Sportbrief Show here on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in locked in all over North America. I hope you had a tremendous Thursday. I'll be hanging out with you for the next four hours. This is when the show gets 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 Botcher. We're heading into day two. You heard me. Yeah, day two of the NBA draft. We don't need two days, but why the hell not just stretch it out? What the hell else is there to watch?
I love baseball, but hey, you got to give people the options, right? We saw what took place last night. Cooper Flagg selected number one by the Dallas Mavericks. Ace Bailey selected by the Utah Jazz. Is he going to show up and play for the Utah Jazz?
We will certainly get into it. As somebody who will not show up in the NFL this season, maybe at all, at minimum for 10 games, Justin Tucker has been suspended. I'm going to tell you what he got and how long he's expected to be out for a team that he doesn't play for, by the way. The NHL says you want more hockey? We're going to give you more hockey. Of course, at the end of the show, we'll talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history.
How about this? Later on in the show, we're going to have a chat with the CEO and president of Rock Nation Sports. Michael, your mark is going to come through and join us to talk about everything that is taking place, is taking place with the NBA draft. Ben Anderson will join us. Utah radio, KSL sports zone in Salt Lake City, Utah. You want to be a part of the show? You can. Here's the number 888-710-4-ISN.
That's 888-710-4-ISN. You can find me online everywhere at JR Sport Brief. It's good to be here another day. Man, they running this draft.
I get it. NBA has to have more inventory on television. Most of these guys that are going to get selected here in the second round of the draft, I can basically just kind of go, OK, all right, this is fun and interesting. And while I'm sitting here on the air, I can't hear all the commentary.
All I do is see the names and go, oh, yeah, yeah, I remember that guy from college, but I won't be hearing the expert opinions. But anyway, I'll be sitting here with you. Here's the number again, 888-710-4-ISN. Thank you for listening on your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate. Thank you for being tuned in on the Odyssey app. A U D A C Y. Thank you.
Really, for listening on Sirius XM375 and a smart speaker, if you have one. Ryan Boccia, how are you on this Thursday, June 26th, 2025? I've had better days.
OK, I don't know. I still might hold on. Slow down. Slow down.
Wait a minute. You just it sounds like you had a bad day. You just rushing into everything before I forget even ask you. So you stubbed your toe. Take your time, Boccia. Take your time.
Go ahead. Stubbed my toe. The Brooklyn Nets have no future.
They traded their second round pick for more useless picks. It's a dark day. All right. Well, thank you for coming on and sharing your misery.
We certainly appreciate it. Do you need anything? You need a Tylenol, a Motrin? What do you need?
A new GM for my favorite team. OK, that's not physically going to help your body. You worry more about the Nets than your body. Yes. Well, I'm physically I'm fine.
My toes fine is a little little bump. All right. Great.
North America is is happy that you are OK. Listen, folks, we're going to get into this Ace Bailey situation in a few minutes. But before we get into Ace Bailey and where he'll go, where he won't go, what he won't do, all of these things. Let's talk about the guy who was actually drafted last night. Congratulations to Cooper Flag, the selected number one overall by the Dallas Mavericks.
No, there was no funny business here. How we expected it to go, or at least the most likely of scenarios actually took place. And because Cooper Flag was there and Niko Harrison also spoke to the media, we actually got a little bit of a meeting of the minds. Niko Harrison, this guy's talking to the media. He sounded like someone who was vindicated or someone who's just too smart for his own damn good. Like he had this master plan all of a sudden that he would trade away Luka Doncic and then Cooper Flag would fall into his lap. He got lucky. OK, this is one of those. This is that guy who sits in the back of class and just by accident, he fills out the test wrong.
Well, he just randomly fills it out and he ends up with an A anyway. Niko Harrison, he spoke to the media and he said, of course, he is thrilled now that Cooper Flag is a Mav. Exciting night for for the Dallas Mavericks franchise, for the fans, for the city of Dallas. We're we're just super excited, you know, to get Cooper. It's it's it's it's a you know, it's generational talent once in a lifetime chance.
And so, you know, we're just top to bottom. We're excited. Silly, silly man. You already had a generational talent in Luka Doncic. You didn't feel that he played enough defense, so you moved them. Still, what I find to be a dumb ass move, a ridiculous move.
Cooper Flag, on the other hand. This man has been projected to be the number one overall pick for the past several years before he even got to Duke. He was on the pathway to being selected number one overall, regardless of where he went. And by going to the Final Four last year, he didn't do a damn thing. But change and up his stock more. A little bit unusual of a draft process, right?
Not everybody knows that they're going to be selected number one overall. But throughout this process, Cooper Flag had a good idea. Listen to this. I tried to enjoy it as best I could. Obviously, I'm antsy. I'm anxious. You know, I wanted to get going. I was working out the whole time and I was excited to, you know, get this process over with. But at the same time, it's a dream come true to go through this whole process, you know, be here, enjoy it.
And I think I try to do the best of my ability. Oh, yeah. Well, now it's just about getting to work. Showing up in Dallas. I'm sure he's already scoped out a house or two, maybe not. Have a little bit more thorough conversation with head coach Jason Kidd outside of just a quick chit chat.
Nice to meet you. I mean, Jason Kidd was sitting around a couple of weeks ago telling everybody that he likes that guy from Duke. That he's been watching that dude play. Don't be surprised if Jason Kidd throws Cooper Flag out there to help initiate the offense from time to time. Jason Kidd, a maestro, when it comes down to the point guard position, Jason Kidd, the man who put the ball and Giannis Attenacumpo's hands.
Let's see what Cooper Flag can do. And speaking of Jason Kidd, his name has been bandied around and bandied about quite a bit over the past, I don't know, couple of weeks. He's been bandied a couple of weeks since the Knicks have been eliminated because the Knicks are just asking everybody and their mother. If they can interview their head coach, it's like walking up to somebody's wife and saying, hey, can I borrow your wife? I think most people are going to say no.
Some people are into that. I digress. Anyway, Jason Kidd, he's sticking around with the Dallas Mavericks. That's what Nico Harrison says. He was asked yesterday. Listen up.
Are there rumors still out J Kidd? Apparently. Oh, OK.
I thought I shut him down. Yes, he will be the he will be the coach next year. OK, you'll be the coach.
OK. It's getting kind of late in the game for that. I mean, Jason Kidd just going to wake up and say, I want to get out of here. I don't know. I've always thought from the get go, why would Jason Kidd want to go ahead and coach the New York Knicks outside of adding an additional headache? I don't know. Maybe I know he lives in New York. He has a place in New York. Why he would want to work for Dolan.
I have no idea. I know Dolan treats you nice while you're there. Then he just gives you the boot because he's a well, he's not the smartest owner in the world. And so for now, we can go ahead and put this to bed outside of money and being in New York.
And I don't know how exciting that is. Jason Kidd has lived there a good portion of his life. What why coach for the Knicks might as well stick around with the Dallas Mavericks. Cooper Flag, a matter of fact, he was asked about this. You know, did you get a phone call where you tapped on the shoulder? Was it whispered through the grapevine that Jason Kidd would be your head coach?
I guess Cooper Flag is already media trained. Listen to his response. No, I haven't had those conversations yet at all. But I think talking with you know, Coach Kidd, you know, my workout and even after I got picked, I was on the phone for a minute. I think he's just excited. He has a good vision for me and what I can do and how I can impact the game. So I'm excited to just talk to him more. Okay. Excited to talk to okay.
Like, why would he why would he get any inside information? Dallas Mavericks want to draft him anyway. And keep things are moving. And so now finally, and I know we got another round here. We can just move on ahead. I'm ready for free agency.
Okay. I don't know if can we get any bigger trades? Ain't nobody else to move around except for I guess Giannis Atteracumpo and how likely is that? Is Giannis going to wake up and take a look at the NBA draft and decide, you know what, what the hell are the Bucks doing? I want out of here.
I'm not so sure. I think the biggest trades have taken place already. Come on. We have Kevin Durant move. He's a Houston Rocket. Desmond Bain is now in Orlando. I mean, even last night, the Phoenix Suns are getting their hands on Mark Williams. Hopefully he is healthy enough to go out there and play basketball. But the rookies are in. You know, we'll see what happens with Edge Comb now that he's in Philadelphia.
Malawak out there as well. Phoenix is like, hey, why not just get two big men? Derek Queen, as we were here on the air last night, ends up in Atlanta, moved to New Orleans. We're just in a wild, wild world right now. Let's get tonight over with. Let's get into the off season. I think the best of anything that was going to happen in the NBA.
We've seen it. Cooper Flagowitz drafted number one. Let's get to summer league. Let's get to free agency and see what happens next.
The NBA, almost like the NFL, just tries to stay relevant all damn year long. That's why we're sitting around right now with two rounds of the NBA draft that are wholly unnecessary. As we sat here yesterday, the draft, it was done after this show completed. That's one hour. That's two hours. That's three hours. The damn NBA draft round one was just about three and a half hours.
We don't need all of that. And then tonight we're going to find out more guys coming over from Europe and Asia that we have never heard of. And who knows, maybe there's a Nikola Jokic in there. I doubt it, but it'd be worthwhile to check out. People think that the NBA is just, you know, following a script, follows certainly a schedule.
And in hilarious fashion, Cooper Flag, last night as well, he was asked if the NBA draft lottery was rigged. Come on. No. I don't know what to say about that.
I have no insider information, if that's what you're looking for. But, you know, I just feel blessed for the way it all worked out. Okay. Yeah. Well, he ain't got nothing to do with that. Everybody thinks everything is scripted.
Come on now. Everybody wants to be selective about what's scripted. Everybody is so, you know, pessimistic about how things go. People worry about the games and the refs. And there's a script for the games. There's rigged draft lottery. Man, go. Go Google with an accounting firm. Go Google KPMG. Okay.
Look that up. At the same time, people are so comfortable making gambling and sports betting a billion dollar, billion dollar business. People are so comfortable with something that's rigged and they're throwing money at it, hand over fist. There's a reason why the WWE is not something that you could just wake up and gamble on because it's scripted. The leagues wouldn't mess up their money with a script just by going out here and writing things behind the scene. Gambling and taking gambler's money is big business. That's nothing that anybody is going to risk or play around with.
You can save your scripts. Okay. Cooper flag number one overall to the Dallas Mavericks who got lucky. And now we got to see how lucky Nico Harrison is going to get as they continue to move forward. I'm not gambling on a Kyrie Irving or an Anthony Davis. Good luck to Nico Harrison. And more importantly, good luck to the Dallas Maverick fans. You got one. Hopefully the other guys around him don't poison the situation. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. We got so much to get into. I told you next hour, we're going to be joined by Ben Anderson. Come on. Come on. Come on.
Come on. He comes to us from Salt Lake City, a sports zone radio. We'll talk to him about Ace Bailey. Austin Reeves. He said, no, I don't want to contract extension from the Los Angeles Lakers. Why? This is going to be an interesting one. Justin Tucker, formerly suspended by the NFL.
Oh yeah. You know why he had that Deshaun Watson type stuff going on. Deontay Johnson explains why he decided to quit. Kevin Durant plans on quitting as a Houston Rocket. We're going to have a chat with the CEO of Roc Nation Sports. Michael, your mark will come through and join us. You can join us too.
888-710-4ISN. When we come back on the other side, let's talk about Ace Bailey, because the news continues to roll in now that he has been selected by the Utah Jazz. We'll talk some Ace Bailey, get into some Austin Reeves, get into Justin Tucker as well.
You're locked in. It's the JR Sport Brief show coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You are listening to the JR Sport Brief.
Pray for our future. It is the JR Sport Brief show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. We're heading into day two of the NBA Draft. We just talked about Cooper Flagg on his way to the Dallas Mavericks. I'm going to have a chat about Ace Bailey and where he's going, the Utah Jazz and a report that just came out about his pre-draft process. If you want to give me a holler, 888-710-4ISN is the number.
That's 888-710-4ISN. Let's go to Cleveland, Ohio. Let's talk to Simon. You're on the JR Sport Brief show. Simon, what's up? How you doing, JR?
I'm excellent. What's on your mind? So I have three takeaways from last night's draft. I think it's a shame that Kaachi Nipple went to such a garbage dump of a team.
I was hoping he would go somewhere that he could actually do something in the near future. Yeah, well that's what happens in the NBA draft. These are a bunch of bum-ass teams that get the first crack at a bunch of good players.
That's how it works. Yeah, then what were the Spurs doing by drafting another guard? They already have Fox and Castle.
What were they thinking? Are you really going to question the San Antonio Spurs? They're not playing three guards. Well at this point, the San Antonio Spurs are looking to acquire talent. They are acquiring young talent.
Here's the thing. Do you think the San Antonio Spurs are going to win a championship next year? Would you just out the box peg them as championship contenders? If they don't get Giannis, no. Okay, correct.
So as it stands today, the answer is no. The San Antonio Spurs also understand that. The best thing that they can do right now is accumulate talent. Because even if you can't play all three guys, what you can do is you can evaluate them, you can develop them, you can improve their stock if they are to be traded. And so it's not so much about, oh my god, why did they go out here and pick up Dylan Harper? How does he fit in? The idea is, let's go ahead and bring him in. And if we keep him, great.
Or maybe we advance and are able to trade him for a future, maybe it's a veteran player. Maybe it's somebody, oh my goodness, what are you doing? What was that? A bell? A cow?
What's that? That was the bell. Damn, are you on a farm? No, that's my doorbell. Oh, that's your doorbell. You got food coming? No, someone came, it's not for me. Okay, all right. Well, did I answer your question about the Spurs? Yeah, and then I think everyone should be thankful that Cooper Flagg went to Dallas, because that means in two years when he's a top five player in the league, hopefully my Cavs can swoop in and give him a bag of junk if Nikko Harrison's still there and get him.
Okay, yeah, maybe if everybody should be so lucky. Thank you, Simon, for calling from Cleveland. Damn, that was, I didn't know if that was a ghost, a bell, a whistle.
I don't know what the heck's going on with Simon. That was not DoorDash, and it sounded like DoorDash to me. That was not a doorbell. There was no way.
That was like a scream. I don't know. Maybe his door hinges need some oil. What am I going to end up in?
Maybe those are the door hinges. What am I going to end up? I'm going to have to be a part of a, I'm witness to an investigation now? Paranormal?
That's what I said. Hey, I don't know. He's apparition or something in the back.
I don't know. Casper the friendly ghost. And good luck to Simon, whatever the hell he got going on. Anyway, he's ordered in DoorDash for whoever's locked in his closet. Anyway, as somebody who might feel locked in a closet, certainly maybe, possibly not happy with his current situation, was just drafted number five overall yesterday.
That's Ace Bailey. We heard up and down and round and round for weeks about how this six foot eight offensive freak decided not to work out with anybody. I'm not going to say he pulled the old okey-doke, but he said, I'm not working out for nobody, no individual workouts. He had a workout set up specifically with the Philadelphia 76 is that he then canceled.
And so nobody got a chance to see him. And now we have a report from Jonathan Gavone, who basically said throughout the draft process that there was one team in particular that reportedly his agent told, Hey, if you select Ace Bailey, he ain't coming. That's a report. It hasn't been refuted. His agent has said as recently as last night. And I agree with this. This isn't the first time that we've had an athlete who's entered into the NBA draft who has not participated or has declined or canceled workouts.
I remember this vividly. Now that I got this, Alex Tsar, he wanted to go to the Washington Wizards. He did not want to work out or have anything to do with the Atlanta Hawks or the Denver Broncos. He did not want to work out honks who were selecting at number one overall last year. And they took another Frenchman in Zachary research. And so it's not wholly unusual to have a guy declined to work out for anybody or say, I don't want to go to you.
I think the only difference is, especially for recent memory, one guy was coming over from France that we never seen this guy before. And it's real easy to beat up on a guy from Rutgers who just played for a bad team with another star teammate and who's dictating what he wants and what he doesn't want to do. I still, for the life of me, can't understand the fake outrage about him not playing or trying to jump the process and trying to be different. He could do what the hell he wants.
Now, whether he sinks or swim is certainly his business after the fact. Ace Bailey, a man of very few words, selected at number five by the Utah Jazz. He said, man, I know Utah like me. Had you had any idea they had any interest in you? No idea.
There you go. How would he know if you don't work out for anybody? How would you know if you don't establish those relationships? Obviously, everything that he did on paper, or excuse me, his measurements on paper, combine stats on paper, the tape when he played at Rutgers, there was enough for the Utah Jazz to grab him. And by the way, Danny Ainge does not care. Danny Ainge's son does not care.
If they think you're going to work or they can bring you in and then flip you for additional assets, that is exactly what they are going to do. But let's take it a step further. Danny Ainge is buddies with the owner of the Utah Jazz, Ryan Smith. Ryan Smith was on Pat McAfee today. And basically, Ryan Smith gave an explanation as to why they took Ace Bailey. I mean, look, I think our philosophy and where we're at as a team is we want to take the best player on the board. And we love Ace.
I got a chance to talk to Ace and Walter last night. And, you know, all I saw was a kid who was humble. He was grateful. He was excited to be in the NBA. And I think that's all you can ask for from our standpoint. I mean, naturally, probably doesn't have a lot of experience out west here with Utah. That's our job to go make him love it. I just, I'm confident in our state. I know that, you know, he'll feel love like he's never felt before.
People are fired up to have him. And reality is, there's nothing that that Ace and others can't accomplish here. Yeah, I feel confident and comfortable if they gave me money too. That's how it goes.
I feel real good if they were paying me. Listen, Ace Bailey is from here in Atlanta. He was born up in Chattanooga, right up the road in Atlanta. He went and played basketball in New Jersey, right outside of New York City.
Okay. This man don't know nothing about Salt Lake City, Utah. He knows how to play basketball and how he fits in with the Lori marketing and Colin Sexton, right? He knows how to play Colin Sexton. Bruh, just knock down the open shots. Okay. Dive to the basket.
Get your buckets that way. And then if you're good enough, Danny Angel just trade some of the other guys like Lori marketing. And I'm surprised he ain't going to be sticking around with the Utah Jazz for long. He's not going to keep paying that guy. He just has to buy his time. Hey, this is a part of the draft. And all this news, is he going to show?
Is he not going to show? Come on. I think we would have heard that already. He would have had that one. And by the way, I think that team, I think it would have been the Sixers.
Easy. He would have been catching alley-oops down in Charlotte, or maybe not. Ball would have been just jacking that thing up the whole damn time. Botcher, have you had an issue with Ace Bailey and how he's handled this process? I think I'm growing to the idea that it's okay to skip the workouts because a lot of things happen at these workouts. Maybe an injury happens. I'm okay with him skipping it. Him straight up saying he's not going to show up to play for a team. I don't like that at all. You're basically cutting off millions of dollars from your potential income. If the report is true, did it? I mean, it's a risk.
There's no guarantee. Apparently it didn't. It didn't hurt him at all.
He was selected number five. I think he is going into a good situation. Is he going to get the whole pie? Is he going to be able to jack up every shot that he wants? No, there's a lot of dudes who are going to need shots out in Utah, but I think it's temporary. For the Utah Jazz, I think it's great because he's just another asset.
It's like the gentleman, Simon, who called from Cleveland and asked about the San Antonio Spurs. Well, why would they go ahead and add another guard? Why not?
I mean, for capital. If I don't want to keep you, if I can't grow you, then I can trade you and get more for you if you don't fit. There's always, I'm not going to say there's a sucker born every day. There is, but these guys are assets for these teams.
It's just a matter of how much you believe in a guy, how much you can develop a guy, how much you can grow with a guy to get the most out of them. We'll see what Ace Bailey does with the Utah Jazz. Well, anyway, Ace Bailey, this man didn't know that Utah wanted him.
And this is what he has to say about people kind of insinuating, or maybe judging by his body language, that he doesn't like Utah. I mean, I control what I control. So how they feel, how they feel.
But to my team and me, just me focusing on the basketball and them doing what they're doing. So it happens. What? That's not an answer to nothing. He's been saying that for like three days.
I can control what I can, man, what? Good luck to that guy. Okay. Good luck to Ace Bailey heading out to Salt Lake City. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. I'm not mad at anything that he's done. I just hope it works out because it could still bite him in the ass and he could still end up at some point on another team. It's all possible, folks.
It's all possible. At the top of the hour, we're going to talk about Justin Tucker. That's a guy that you will not be seeing for a good portion of the 2025 NFL season. When we come back from break, speaking of drafts, I want to talk about a draft steal.
He plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. And apparently he said no to a contract extension. We're going to talk about Austin Reeves on the other side of the break. We're going to get into Justin Tucker.
We got Ben Anderson. We'll have that chat with him next hour. He's going to be here with us from Salt Lake City, Utah. He covers the Jazz. He's on the radio out in Salt Lake. And so we'll get his thoughts on what's going on with Ace Bailey.
And we have so much to do. But right now, let's get into a newsflash. Here he is. It's Rich Ackerman.
You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief. Well, thank you. He's out here cutting a commercial for me. Thank you. Shout outs to Toronto, Canada. Appreciate you having this portion of the show is sponsored by Hyundai's 2025 hybrid vehicle lineup.
Advanced safety and technology meets hybrid efficiency. It's the best of both worlds. And best of both worlds was in an album that Jay-Z doesn't want to talk about.
Okay. Jay-Z and R. Kelly. Anyway, no more R. Kelly references, I guess for the rest of the year. Anyway, 888-710-4ISN.
888-710-4ISN. Hey, we talked about Ace Bailey. We don't know if this guy's going to show up. We don't know if this guy's going to work. We don't know if he wants to be a part of the Jazz. I think he will. I think he'll report.
I mean, what leverage does he have at this point in time? I think he's going to be a part of the Utah Jazz without a shadow of a doubt. We talked about Cooper Flagg. Ain't no worries about that guy. He's going to be balling for the Dallas Mavericks.
But I do want to talk to you about an individual. He wasn't drafted into the NBA. He didn't have the luxury of saying, I'm not working out for you. This man has made some cash in the league. And now apparently he's making a little bit of a power play with the Los Angeles Lakers. His name?
Austin Reeves. You might recall he was undrafted in 2021. The Lakers have had him for the past several seasons, the past four years. His scoring average has gone up and up and up and up from seven points his first year. 13 points his sophomore season. 16 his third year. All the way up to 20 this past season. We know the Los Angeles Lakers, they acquired Luka Doncic. Thank you very much to Nico Harrison. And then they went to the playoffs and they lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
What are you going to do? Austin Reeves was a big part of that success. Well, the ultimate success of the team. We know this guy can go out there and get buckets.
He's not necessarily going to defend anybody. And the Los Angeles Lakers are going to be a part of the team. They're going to be a part of the team. And the Los Angeles Lakers have already blessed him a couple of years ago. They said, hey, man, here's $54 million.
Take this money and shut up. We want to keep you. They gave him a four year contract.
Well, the time is currently up. We're heading into his third season of the deal. And he can opt out and become a free agent next off season. I'm not going to say 2026 is going to be the year of Austin Reeves, but he could be one of the best scoring options that will be available because he apparently turned down a four year, $90 million contract from the Los Angeles Lakers. Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers, who were just sold for $10 billion. Now, the situation of the team doesn't have squat to do with what they offered him. But if he becomes an unrestricted free agent next year, Austin Reeves can make much more than the $90 million that the Lakers apparently offered him.
And so he has choices. I mean, barring this guy going breaking his leg and his career ending forever. I mean, this is a risk worth taking. Also, mind you, there are a lot of professional athletes who have insurance for such a thing. So I think it's very easy in a lot of cases for fans to go, Oh, my God, he turned down this money. Oh, my God, what's going to happen if he does this?
Oh, my God. I think he might feel comfortable with the amount of money that will come in should such a terrible thing happen. And so just like Ace Bailey, we all got choices.
We all got options. Austin Reeves didn't have the option of not working out, but he's had success in the NBA thus far. And he does have the option of telling the Los Angeles Lakers just not right now. I want to get paid more money into the future. And if you're Austin Reeves, do you want to leave L.A.?
I mean, are you going to be chasing a bigger check? You know, at the conclusion of this past season, Austin Reeves spoke to the media, like most teams and players do, except for the New York Knicks. And he was asked, how can you continue to grow? How do you get better?
And this is what he had to say. Just continuing to grow together. Obviously, they're unbelievable basketball players. And the more time you spend, not with just them, but the whole unit, you're just going to become more cohesive, more together, know exactly what you're going to do, every possession, when things get tough, when you're rolling, how you want to play the game. I thought we did a really good job of that in regular season. And just like I said, we just didn't play good enough in the series.
Well, they didn't play good enough in the series. So he's running around with a bad foot. Not that that was going to change how he plays defense, of which does not exist. But in the NBA, when you need scoring, why the hell not? He was a good third option right there with LeBron James and Luka Doncic and Luka Doncic, as far as we know. But right now he has he has slimmed down. The hope is for Luka to stay slim throughout the course of the season so he can limit his injuries. Austin Reeves in Los Angeles in a dream scenario playing with the first legend LeBron James and a legendary talent and Luka Doncic. That's what Austin Reeves had to say about playing with both of these guys.
Just play better. I feel like I'm, you know, talented enough to do that as I feel like I'm over and over again throughout my whole life. And there's millions of people that wouldn't, you know, never know me if I was never in this position because, you know, quite frankly, nobody thought I was ever going to be in this position. Yeah, who was looking at that guy coming out of Oklahoma?
Nobody. There's a reason that he went undrafted. Nobody in the NBA thought enough of him to draft him.
Well, now he has some leverage here. You can tell the Los Angeles Lakers, hey, guys, I want to stay. But we have to see what else is offered from other teams, and he doesn't even necessarily have to solicit. All he has to do is have have offers, have interest, and the price goes up if the Lakers really want to keep him. And at that point, he can then also decide whether or not he wants to stick around with the Lakers or move on. It's nice to have options.
It's nice to have choices. He could take the money and stick with the Lakers. But for a guy who was undrafted, yeah, fifty four million dollars is a lot. Go ahead and split that, giving half of that to Uncle Sam, give three percent to the agent. Yeah, he still made a lot of money.
There's nothing wrong with making more at all. Hey, good for Austin Reeves. Undrafted proof is worth. Yeah, make the Los Angeles Lakers payout. And by the way, with the new owner, Mark Walter, I don't think they're going to be penny pension. There's a smart decision by him. I mean, the way that Mark Walter spends money with Guggenheim Partners and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yeah, there's going to be money. And he'd be dumb at this point in time to just go, let me just sign this deal.
Oh, you know, we just leave another 30, 40 on the table. I don't think so. Hey, Bacha, how you feel about Austin Reeves as a player? He's a good scorer. I don't know if he is a true number two on a championship team, but he's a very, very good three. Yeah, well, whoever looked at him as a number two on a title team? Well, you could say, I don't know, the Lakers maybe thought he'd develop to a point where he could be there, too.
And no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The Lakers never looked at Austin Reeves and said this is going to be to be the he'd have to develop into Larry Bird. OK, now he'd have to grow a bunch of inches, also rebound and play some defense. Larry Bird, underrated defender.
No, they never looked at him as a as a number two. It's nice to see that he developed into a score. He's in an ideal situation now, which is even more important right now for the Los Angeles Lakers to somehow, some way get their hands on on a center, because that was the missing piece for them last year. I think they would have had a better shot against the Minnesota Timberwolves if they at least had somebody out there who could clean up the boards. I mean, Rudy Gobert going out there and cosplaying as Shaquille O'Neal is is not a method to go out there and win a basketball game. And so I'm happy for for Austin Reeves.
He's in an ideal situation. And now he gets to stick up the Los Angeles Lakers. This is no different than a guy playing for the New York Yankees. Aaron Judge.
He said, oh, you don't want to give me my money? Fine. I'm going to play out the year. The guy had an MVP caliber season and the Yankees had to go out there and pay up. You know, you take a look at Dak Prescott. The Dallas Cowboys are probably the most valuable NFL franchise, but certainly are.
Come on. Their dumb ass owner is not that smart when it comes to handing out contracts. He wants to make you sweat until the end and he ends up paying more than he needs to.
Dak Prescott has taken advantage of that. And so sometimes you got to know who you in bed with. And I got to be careful. I say this.
You got to know who you in bed with so you can know what to do and what not to do. Let's put it that way. And when it comes down to the negotiating table, if you're trying to get money out of the Lakers, the Yankees or the Dallas Cowboys, shake the tree, shake it, get that money because they have it. It's just a matter of who they want to spend it on.
You might as well utilize where you're at as leverage. Good luck to Austin Reeves. Undrafted out of Oklahoma.
Good for him. It's the J.R. Sportbreeze Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. When we come back from break. I got to tell you about a man who you will not be seeing for the majority of this upcoming NFL season. Justin Tucker has been suspended, not by the Ravens because they gave him the boot, but by the NFL. I think he might be booted already from the NFL. Okay, we'll talk about Justin Tucker. I give you an update on the news that broke this afternoon. We'll have a chat with Ben Anderson from Salt Lake City about Ace Bailey. Hey, we'll talk about Deontay Johnson. I mean, he got booted from the football team for not wanting to play.
Hey, we got a lot to do. The J.R. Sportbreeze Show, the Infinity Sports Network.
