It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Much love and many thanks to everybody tuned in all over North America. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well.
I hope you're amazing. I hope you're all of the good things. This is when the show gets started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. Like I said, I'm in Atlanta, Georgia.
Thank you to our producer in New York City, Ryan Bodger. It's an interesting part of the sports calendar, huh? major league baseball just had its all-star game last night here in atlanta atlanta adjacent we got the espy awards i guess we'll have some jokes maybe haha funnies i have no idea we're getting ready for nfl training camps we got rookies who are already reporting some of them we got bradley bill who's found a new team no longer a member of the phoenix suns of bradley bill on his way to the Los Angeles Clippers. Kaitlin Clark is hurt again. Joel Embiid talks about his health.
Are we going to see Joel Embiid to start the season? Don't count on it, okay? We'll get an update from Joel Embiid. I'll give that to you in a little while. Bill Belichick is still out here beefing with Robert Kraft.
These guys are too old. Are they just going to beef forever? We'll get into it. We're going to talk some SEC. Of course.
Pete Futek is going to be here with us to talk some college football. That'll be fun. It is Wednesday. I'm going to share with you a new top six list because this is the time where rookies are reporting to training camp, most of them. I'm going to share with you a top six list of the rookies to watch in 2025.
So much to do, so much to get into. If you want to be a part of the show, you can. Here's the phone number, 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. You can find me online.
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oh yeah we got a stack show we got a lot to get into i told you pete futek here to talk sec football as the media day media days has continued on and now stopped get into bill belichick who's now moved over into the college ranks talk about caitlin clark but before we do anything i absolutely have to talk about the all-star game from last night because when we left the studio i don't know what inning it was it might have been the fifth it might have been the sixth inning and it was a two nothing score and i lamented the fact that there wasn't a lot of action the game was just moving along and then it became six nothing national league peter alonso comes through with a home run and i'm like okay this is this kind of sucks and then we saw brent rooker come through with a three-run home run and then we get to the bottom of the ninth and then they actually go out there and tie the game and then we enter into something that i have never seen before something that you have never seen before they had a swing off i know it sounds weird but they had a swing off at the major league baseball all-star game you pick three guys american league national league each guy gets three swings it's like penalty kicks in in soccer the guy who gets the most home runs the league that gets the most home runs ultimately wins unfortunately there were no big stars and i'm going to tell you why there was no otani there was no judge but we did get one star we got kyle schwarber who despite hitting in the regular game had zero hits he was able to come through in the clutch kyle schwarber at the end of the game in a first ever swing off when he did swing he hit home runs and he basically won not the home run derby this mini home run derby he did win the all-star game for the national league kyle schwarber let's listen to this a final well not even a final call let's listen to kyle schwarber hit his third home run in the swing off this is courtesy of espn he swings and sends one down the line and right he's on a knee and he has gone three for three to put the NL on top four to three yeah he was 0 for 2 in the game but he decided to hit home runs on all three of his swings listen to the final call from ESPN radio as well as the American leagues and Jonathan Aranda well all he did was go out there and hit pot flies he swings and that will not leave the yard even as he watches it it comes up way short kyle schwarber three homers on three swings in the home run derby to decide the all-star game yeah there you have it uh a little disappointing that you didn't have the superstars out there and we found out a lot of the superstars the judges and the otanis of the world they left they weren't sticking around why they got on their private planes at DeKalb airport and they left town I do not blame them but from a fans perspective you want to see the biggest names out there all things considered the game was okay it was good we've seen worse I mean one of the reasons that we had this swing off and I don't want to bring it up it was almost 20 years ago and we had Bud Sealy had to call a team a tie because there were no more pitchers like this is the best that you can get out of it we had a good game it looked like the anna was going to close things out the american league bounced back they tied the game boom swing off kyle schwarber ended up winning the mvp as a result and he was hitting some bombs too kyle schwarber initially said he had no interest in participating in monday's home run derby but ultimately damn it well he was the mvp of the game kyle schwarber a man of a few words he talked about winning the all-star games mvp listen to this it's interesting uh exciting fun uh there's a lot of guys who deserve this but uh i'm happy that it's going home with uh us to philly you deserve it come on now you won the game bro yeah they got you to the point and then they blew the game and then you ultimately won the game for the national league now you go into a swing off i've never seen this before never experienced before no one has ever participated in this what the hell was your thought process and plan in this damn thing oh man uh just trying to not hit a home run i guess just trying to stay short because if i would have tried to hit a home run i would probably hit my guys over there but uh just happy that it worked out for us and the national league's going home with the win listen the only thing that could have been worse and I'm glad they don't do this garbage anymore is have this game determine who gets home field in the World Series as long as we don't bring that back I can't imagine a scenario I can't imagine a scene I can't imagine anything that would have been bad yesterday was fine that's the only thing that they could do it's an all-star game it's baseball we got a couple of runs we got some action the american league was able to bounce back into it i'm content with what we saw you know people who have too much expectations all-star games i think you may be diving a little too deep into things these major league baseball players compete the nfl had to abolish its pro bowl because let's be real it's the end of the season why do i want to hit somebody in an exhibition that means nothing i've already gotten paid for it the nba we know those guys are just just jogging glorified jogging up and down the basketball court maybe they'll adjust their their thought process now that it'll be usa versus the world but major league baseball congratulations the home run derby came and went cal riley ends up winning that last night we see kyle schwarber come on through kyle schwarber wins mvp of the all-star game and the world moves on shohei otani somewhere getting a massage Aaron Judge is probably on a tropical island somewhere and the world will move on speaking Aaron Judge the other Aaron on the New York Yankees their manager Aaron Boone is what he had to say about the swing off you're running through the rules with them and it's it's just the three swings so uh first time of it a lot of pressure you know Rook got us off to a great start but um I thought it was pretty exciting it was cool it would have been better with the stars but what are you gonna do they left the all-star game early can you blame them i don't 888-710-4ISN that's 888-710-4ISN a botcher as we sat here yesterday i'm like man we need some more action in this game and we certainly got some and the game did end close to midnight on the east coast what were your thoughts on what took place after we got off air well i enjoyed it uh specifically I actually got the chance to watch it because my train was stuck in traffic for about an hour.
So that was something I could actually enjoy. And to be fair, you could critique how the game got to the swing-off and how managers misuse pitchers and whatnot, but it was fun. It was action. It was better than seeing a 1-0 game or a 2-0 game. And I think everyone who wanted to see the game saw something cool with a swing-off and people who didn't want to see the game saw something interesting.
you you took issue with how some of the pitchers were being utilized yeah dave roberts was not good in an all game yes i think he has beef with the Padres and Giants in the division Well you have to provide a little bit more detail Botcher This is the radio Go ahead Well, Robert Suarez, the closer for the Padres, got used more than he should have. They should have just started with Diaz in the ninth. You think he had a...
Well, you buried the lead there. You think he gives a damn about their usage? Oh, 100%. I also thought he was happy when Manny Machado got punched out on the ABS challenge system in the first inning. He was laughing at them because they've had these in the past too.
Yeah.
So what do you take an issue with the bias from the manager? Are you really worried about his decisions? A little bit of both. They go hand in hand. Yeah, but isn't that part of the game?
Is that not gamesmanship? We've seen this in all-star games for years. managers and coaches of uh you know rival players and opposing teams they don't give a damn how long that guy's out there they don't give a damn if he's being ran into the ground and it is an all-star game you know a player can certainly go man what are we doing out here but most times they don't i i don't got no problem with him saying let me run the other team's stars into the ground that's that's all gamesmanship next time when they play each other hit them again i mean we all know they hate each other's guts so good no need to act like everybody's all friends and buddy buddy just because we're here at the all-star game i mean we saw and heard well shaquille o'neal threatened to punch rg3 in the face justifiably so shack is like yeah nobody is friends when you're out there competing when you're balling rg3 pretty much said it as well we said it in an unsolicited way yeah don't be friends you know you can show up and do the job and you don't have to like the people that are in the room with you and so i'm cool with the game we'll have another one next year welcome to philadelphia that'll be nice and whoever ends up managing that game they're gonna be partial to their players and everybody else man the the opposition the rival teams they can go out there and get ran into the ground and so all things considered i give major league baseball in a if you had to hand out a grade hey i'm not a fan of a lot of the things that they do but the game overall watching it was in a it wasn't a failure it wasn't terrible it wasn't bad it started off a little slow even though we got some action the american league was able to catch up we got a swing off we saw the automatic ball strike system and challenge system be utilized and so in a for major league baseball now as we move on let's see what the rest of the year looks like who's gonna go on a run who's gonna fall off the face of the earth what does Cal Raleigh do to kind of end things are the Dodgers gonna be healthy enough at the end of the season to go out there and try to repeat you know who's winning AL MVP who's winning NL MVP you know is it Judge in the AL is it Raleigh in the AL what happens with the pitchers is Skeen's ever gonna get a little bit of help from the pirates the answer is probably absolutely not so there's a few things we already have answers for we'll see what happens the major league baseball all-star break is done we've got the game done we got the espies tonight we got rookies showing up for training camp in the nfl we got the wnba all-star game can't wait to see how exciting that is we got belichick and Robert Kraft they still hate each other's guts hey I got a top six list for you top six NFL rookies to watch in 2025 we got Pete Fuertek to come here to help us wrap up everything that took place at SEC media days I'm just getting warmed up 888-710-4ISN is the number when we come back we're going to talk about a transaction that took place today in Los Angeles we're going to have a chat about Bradley Beal joining the Clippers you're locked in it's the JR Sport Brief Show coast to coast on the infinity sports network 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 major league baseball had its all-star game last night finished up with a a swing off we've never seen that before ended with kyle schwarber walking away with the mvp as we approach next year who wants to think about the summer of 2026. Let's get through this one first. But next year's All-Star Game is going to take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
That'll be a fun one. Be fun. Brotherly love, a little bit.
Southern hospitality, brotherly love. Hey, Boccia, well, I think it was last week they ended the garbage strike in Philadelphia. They got a year to clean it up or keep it clean. Yeah, they got a year to keep it clean. Could you imagine if they were planning for the All-Star game.
Imagine if this were the case this time next year. They really wouldn't. They're only going to get in and out. It's not really... The fans might be worried, but the players just walk down that red carpet.
It might smell a little bit, but you keep going. Yeah, wouldn't that... That's the ultimate leverage, though, right? Like, if I'm the garbage guys, the garbage union, whatever, the garbage workers union in Pennsylvania, I'm looking at that as a jackpot. I'm using that as a negotiating tool.
Like, hey, we're getting ready to have the Major League Baseball All-Star Game out here at Citizens Bank. Ensure they would employ as many people as possible to clean up the area, keep things clean. But to have the city smelling like hot garbage in July, that'd be the best time to negotiate. They should have held off until next year. It's just my thought process from a million feet away.
We'll see. Let's see what Philly does next year. Probably be a great time there as well. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN.
Unlike here in Atlanta, you can take a SEPTA. That's the public transportation system. You can take a train down the citizens bank. You can drive down there too. Yeah, accessible for everybody.
But anyway, as someone who's moving, he doesn't have to get on a train he could afford a private jet is bradley beal after a disastrous tenure with the phoenix sons who ridiculously acquired him and he he decided to go thinking that he was going to be a point guard he is now gone contract bought out with the phoenix sons and bradley beal immediately joins the Los Angeles Clippers this guy is already 32 years old has that no trade clause that was given to him by Washington was able to direct himself to Washington or excuse me from Washington to Phoenix where he played with Kevin Durant nothing happened play with Devin Booker nothing happened all three guys were just a bunch of all-stars who were hurt and injured and it didn't amount to anything so much so that the phoenix suns wanted to trade bradley beal in the middle of last season and bradley beal said i got a no trade clause no after that phoenix suns said well we can't trade bradley beal let's try to get rid of kevin durant kevin durant said what i don't want to go as well and he doesn't have an old trade clause but who wants to acquire kevin Durant if he's going to be miserable or even more miserable than he typically is and then Devin Booker well we know this guy just got a contract extension that at the back end in 29 and 30 this dude is going to be making 70 mil per a ridiculous amount of money but Bradley Beal is gone and think about this his buyout to leave the Phoenix Suns he gave back 14 million dollars out of 110 million that's remaining what type of if that if i should only be so lucky to have a a matter of fact his contract here with the clippers is a two-year deal 11 million dollars he has a player option for the second year he's not going broke he's not losing money he's losing a couple mil and he's going somewhere that he he wants to go he's leaving arizona and he's joining the Clippers good luck with entry prone Kawhi and James Harden plays all the time but we know James Harden sucks in the postseason they just brought on John Collins who's also on an expiring contract you still have Zubach who's been a better player playing alongside James Harden and let's also keep in mind that Brooke Lopez is now a member of the Los Angeles Clippers I would tell you right now as his stance today from top to bottom the Clippers probably have a better roster than the Los Angeles Lakers here's the thing they have to stay healthy and I know what a tall task for Kawhi Leonard to actually go out there and be healthy if he's not they're cooked this is what Shams had to say about the deal earlier today on ESPN Bradley Beal gave up almost $14 million to buy out of the Phoenix Suns and join the Los Angeles Clippers. Two years, $11 million. His deal will have a player option next summer.
So he's slated to be one of the top free agents next offseason. But this is someone that had $110 million left on his contract over the next two years. Obviously, it did not work out in Phoenix. It was a failed two-year experiment with Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker. And so over the last few weeks, Bradley Beal, his representative, Mark Bartlestein, they've been talking and meeting with several teams around the league.
Aside from the Clippers, we've seen the Bucs, the Lakers, Warriors, Timberwolves, Heat, all were involved here in this process. But Bradley Beal this morning decided to sign with the Clippers and team up with Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. you can only take the clippers serious if it april and they healthy there no other reason to take a look at the Los Angeles Clippers and feel confident about them Kawhi Leonard played a whopping 37 games last season. 37 games for Kawhi Leonard. James Harden always shows up.
He was in 79 of them. Zubat showed up. He was in 80. Norman Powell well he was in 60 of them and they shipped him out to Miami the Clippers are they should be competitive they should be fun they should be able to push anybody in the Western Conference but to depend on Kawhi Leonard is like depending on that person who's habitually late that person that you always have to tell them hey we're we're gonna leave at seven and they tell you at seven that they're on their way or they tell you at seven that they're still getting ready or they tell you at seven the time that you were supposed to depart and maybe that they're just not going like that's that's Kawhi Leonard who's believing in this guy who should believe in this guy the answer is nobody let me know how the Clippers end up next season roster looks good on paper they lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round it took them seven games it took the Nuggets seven games to eliminate them and how Bradley Beal fits into this scenario and situation James Harden will pass the ball Kawhi Leonard will pass the ball and shoot the ball but if you're Bradley Beal at this point is is he starting is he coming off the bench is he a microwave? I don't know.
I think for the team, he'd be best situated to come off the bench and provide some depth. It's the end of the game. They need it closed out. Hey, you can be out there on the court. But I think Bradley Beal at 32, I think this is the time where I think it's time for a bench roll, man.
Bacha, how do you feel about the Clippers adding Bradley Beal? I think it's good. It really rounds out their entire starting lineup to me personally because before that, you would have maybe Derek Jones Jr. in there, but I think the one to five of Harden, Beal, Kawhi, Collins, and Zubak is good. It's probably, you could argue the best starting five in the West, maybe besides the Nuggets and or Thunder.
Defensively though, there are major, major, major problems there. Kawhi Leonard is still a good defender. He's not the defender that he used to be bradley beal is never these are your two guys in the backcourt bradley beal is never stopping anybody james harden notoriously has never stopped anybody he's a good post defender but how many people enter into the post anymore it's far gone john collins is not a good defender and zoo boxes he's okay he's not he's not a rim protector he's not flying to the rim their best guys defensively well pretty much is chris dunn i mean he was a defensive workhorse coming out of providence and so I'm not sold on the Clippers because of their size and their defense, especially in the backcourt. Looking at Bradley Beal and James Harden, if I'm Shea Gilgis Alexander, if I'm the Rockets, I'm looking at this and I'm going, you mean to tell me I can go out there and just cook the two of them? Bradley Beal is not a big guy.
Kind of short, all things considered. I also think that even still there's always room to develop I don't know you always have the bench guys the glue guys maybe one of them comes in as the 6th man besides Chris Dunn just to like step in there's always one person that comes into a lineup and you don't really expect it well the 6th man would be Bogdanovich but I think his scoring punch would be inconsistent now if you're Ty Lue and you have to go ahead and play the politics all things considered Bradley Beal will probably be the guy that goes out there and gets the start but I think from a defensive standpoint it's not the best I think politics aside I would go ahead and bring Bradley Beal off the bench and start Bogdanovich Bogdanovich can be good but he's he's not a microwave score Bradley Beal all things considered if they pulled him off the bench and he had a healthy season and he played all season which he did not do this past year only 52 games injuries plagued him even coming out of Washington Bradley Beal would have one job he wouldn't have to worry about fitting in with James Harden or Kawhi and you want to stagger these guys minutes because they're all older James Harden is getting older and he's been ridiculously durable his game has never been predicated on ridiculous athleticism he's going to turn 36 next month Kawhi Leonard we know the history of of all of his leg injuries his knees his quads his hamstrings he just turned 34 years old and Bradley Beal is 32 and so if I'm the Clippers I'm looking to stagger all of these guys minutes and maybe that that will also help keep some of the peace if Bradley Beal is going to be in a starting lineup I mean he's going to be looking for some buckets he's going to be looking for some shots yeah is he going to be looking for one more big contract yeah he has a player option he can opt out after this season and try to pick up some more money and bradley bill is out here living the life oh yeah i only gave back 14 million dollars i still have about 100 coming oh yeah then i just signed a two-year contract that's giving me 11 who cares about the new money i would have went and played for the Clippers for free must be nice Bradley Beal a good luck to the Clippers they're going to be interesting to watch if they're healthy enough for us to watch 888-710-4ISN is the number 888-710-4ISN we are going to take a break yeah and Bradley Beal has dealt with his share of injuries Kawhi Leonard has dealt with his share of injuries the Clippers as a team as an organization over the past few years Paul George included have dealt with their share of injuries and we come back I'm going to tell you about one of the NBA's injury kings you might call him the injury MVP no that's still Anthony Davis anyway Joel Embiid gave an update on his health yeah right after we just learned that Mr. Paul George injured himself at a workout and needed to have an arthroscopic procedure on his knee and then on the WNBA side Caitlin Clark just came back and she's hurt again what what the heck is going on with Caitlin Clark and now she's beefing with referees too I'm gonna tell you what took place on the other side of the break I don't know maybe Caitlin Clark is finally starting to break. I'll tell you in. I'll tell you about it.
I'll fill you in. It's the JR Sport Brief show on the Infinity Sports Network. And right now it is time for a news flash. 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. 888-710-4ISN is the number. That's 888-710-4ISN. I need you to thank O'Reilly Auto Parts for all of your car care needs. You're guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts.
Before we went to break, we talked about the MLB All-Star game last night that went to a swing off. We talked about Bradley Beal buying his contract out with the Suns earlier today and joining the Los Angeles Clippers. and then I said yeah well you know Clippers will be okay if they're actually healthy which is a tough thing to think about when you have Kawhi Leonard as your best player James Harden is certainly durable but continues to age and Bradley Beal hasn't necessarily been a model for health and so if Ty Lue can go ahead and kind of stagger these guys throughout the course of the season throughout games the Clippers should certainly have a chance to be competitive in the West and injuries they bite everybody in basketball and it really changes and alters who will compete and who will not and i told you harden someone who shows up to work all the damn time well i gotta tell you about his former teammate who had an article released today on espn he spoke to espn his name is joe lindby as it relates to james harden joe lindby made it very clear and why he decided to share it i have no idea i guess he wanted to now now the whole world knows he said quote no one knows this but even james harden is not talking to me that's the part i don't like about being that guy because it puts you in the middle of those situations because if you ask james he probably believes i had something to do with him not being here and i'm just like I won the scoring title you won the assist title we had a pick and roll that was unstoppable it hurts when you feel like that when you haven't done anything wrong when you think you have a relationship like that with somebody you lose a lot well it's it's basketball it's it's transactional I mean what type of relationship did you think you would have with James Harden when it was time for James Harden to leave the Houston Rockets or when he decided to leave the Houston Rockets James Harden went scorched earth the guy literally sat at a press conference and took his time and basically saying the guys in the locker room here with me they suck I need to leave the Houston Rockets had no choice in moving on from him that's it I mean James Harden felt that he was lied to by Darryl Morey in Philadelphia said that he would never work with the guy again. And so yeah did Joel Embiid pick up the phone and say yeah yeah yeah don do that I highly doubt it But hey why do you want to talk to him for What does James Harden owe him The answer is nothing. Move on, focus on yourself.
And speaking of focusing in on yourself, as it relates to this upcoming season, Joel Embiid pretty much said, yeah, I don't know if I'm going to be ready for the start of the season. He doesn't know. and i mean it did it did it take a rocket scientist to figure that out james or excuse me james arden joel mb fought in order to just go out there and play last year why he was out there i have no idea the guy played in the olympics had an issue coming out of the olympics it just he shouldn't have played and so joel mb who won an mvp has resumed basketball activities i think he'll be ready to go even if he has to go out there and limp along i think he'll give it a go the man only played 20 games last season the year before that he played 39 joel and beat in his entire nba career has never played more than 68 games that was in 2022 this is the and if he's not healthy at least at the end of the season the sixes just like everybody else are cooked they're full of talent just drafted vj edgecomb you have tyrese maxi you got mccain who's coming back from an injury and paul george has his knee well knee corrected fixed that just too many variables botcher would you roll the dice on the sixes being healthy at the end of the year i wouldn't it just doesn't make any sense but it seems that they're self-aware about it now and they're going to try their best to fix it up? Because Embiid, they're giving him time, it seems. Paul George now might need some time to start the year.
So I don't know. I've never seen a team that wants to take it slow, but being on an expiring clock, it doesn't make sense.
Well, I mean, I think they took the same approach last year. And as it relates specifically to Joel Embiid, I mean, coming in as this is the process with their old GM San Hinckley, The process was always let's lose, let's suck. And then Joel Embiid came into the league hurt. And he had to wait before he actually went out there and played. And then when he played, they still had the slow motion.
I give him all the credit in the world. He will go out there and play with Bell's palsy. He will go out there and play on a busted up knee. He will go out there and play busted up, hurting everything in between. But Joel Embiid looks like he doesn't know what the inside of a gym looks like.
I mean, has he been too hurt to actually work on his weight, his fitness, his size? I mean, and who is? But especially when he's that big, he don't look the way he did coming out of Kansas. He is just he's bloated. He's huge.
And to his benefit, he can still get up and down a court. But then he's gassed by the time you get to end the games. And so who knows what he would look like? He can throw his weight away, throw his weight around down in the post. He can go out there and knock down shots.
For whatever reason, I've watched him in person. The guy can execute off crossovers. He can play. You got to lose some weight, though, man. Let's see what the Philadelphia 76ers do.
Speaking of being hurt, last night, Caitlin Clark, who just came back from a groin injury, she got hurt in the final minute of the Indiana's fever game over the Connecticut Sun. Indiana won 85-77. kaitlin clark is a game time decision tonight as her team indiana takes on the liberty why you would play her after she tweaked her groin yesterday on a back-to-back is kind of beyond me we'll see if she does play she had 14 points eight rebounds seven assists kaitlin clark has been in a shooting slump especially from deep she's one of seven or last night she was one of seven from downtown and so now she's questionable with her groin she just had a groin issue that knocked out for about five games before that she had a quad issue maybe she just needs to sit down as much as the world would love to see caitlin clark participate in this saturday's all-star game should she caitlin clark scheduled to compete against sabrina unescu and others in a three-point contest that's friday night this is all taking place in indianapolis should she i mean we've had a lot of instances where it's like is Kate McClark going to show up is she going to be selected to the Olympic team is she going to be on this is she going to be that is she going to do big three and she's always declined I think she's going to feel the pressure to show up for the home fans even if it's too you know risky she's putting herself at risk I think that will definitely be the case so I want you to listen to this this is our head coach Stephanie White after the game yesterday giving an update on the wnba's golden child no update um just felt a little something in her groin so we'll uh get it evaluated and see what happens from there yeah just kind of follow up on that looked like she was kind of grabbing at her right groin area is it is that the concern yeah yeah if that's the one she was grabbing at i don't know which one it was but but yeah i mean that's it i like how coach just tried to casually kind of just blow it away yeah no update yep just just a little groin well well didn't she just have a groin issue coach like is this just a little issue i don't think so and let's be real caitlin clark i mean since he's coming to the league the opposition has tried to beat her to a pulp they're physical with her beating up off screens we've seen her get shoved to the ground with the hard fouls last night caitlin clark and i think we've seen more of this in college and less of this at the professional level man she was out there berating one of the officials she said i think she said stop being childish she called the referee over she did the finger wave come over here and and said i'm gonna call the league on you it's like whoa apparently that's what she said that's what it looked like she said i don't know i remember boncher do you remember there was a college game and her dad yelled at her from the stands to basically shut the hell up do you remember that that was a couple that was probably junior year right it was early she was just giving the refs the business and her father was just like yo shut the hell up what are you doing and so it we haven't had as much of that but i don't know maybe caitlin clark is is finally starting to reach her breaking point this is what head coach stephanie white had to say about the beatings that she's been taking on a night-to-night basis. Are you trying to get me fined again? I am not.
Yeah, I mean, there's a level of physicality that they're able to play with against her. You know, I knew it as an opponent, and I see it as her coach. And, you know, I'm not exactly sure why, but it just is what it is. And we've got to help her learn to adjust and use it against them in certain ways. You know, we've got to find some ways to make it a little bit easier for her.
But the level of physicality overall in our league has been at a different level than it's been for a long time. The WNBA has already been physical. We've talked about this quite a bit. When you have athletes who are not as vertically inclined as their counterparts in the NBA, when you have a ground game, when you have to set screens and you have to create space without jumping in the air and flying, yeah you're gonna have some some car crashes you're gonna have some wrecks which is why it is imperative for the wnba to address its officiating or at least the consistency in it but when you have a growing league you have a supernova of a star all of this is going to come to a head which it which it has so the indiana fever we don't know the status of caitlin clark tonight i would not go out there and play her head coach stephanie white says listen if caitlin clark is here or not there we're gonna be fine sounds like a lot of me we'll get some food and get on the plane and start talking about New York and um you know she's being evaluated we'll see where we are with that and um certainly we'll have another evaluation probably in conversation in the morning see where we are but you know this group is has played without her um you know we've got at least we've got experience in that um we know that we have a tough opponent in New York we know that um it's it's going to be a challenge no matter what and we just got to get locked in and ready to compete Bacher, even if she doesn't play tonight, she's going to be in that three-point shootout, right? I really don't think so.
Wow. It would be very dumb to try to push your second groin injury. This time it's her different side of her leg. It's just not in the best interest of your team, the future of your career, to push herself for no reason. I wouldn't be surprised if she shows up to the All-Star Game festivities and says hello to the Indiana crowd.
But there's no point in her doing the three-point contest, especially if it's just the two events we talked about. They can find us a replacement for that.
Well, we know as of now, she is going to miss tonight's game against the Liberty.
So she will be out of action tonight against the Liberty. and I think if you have to choose the lesser of two evils, you know, you can knock some shots down without running up and down the court, you know, playing in the game. And I think she may do the three-point shootout. I think she will sub in and play at the All-Star game and then sit her behind down. And I think ultimately she's probably going to have the last word.
We'll see. At least her coach is lying for her. Speaking of coaches, when we come back on the other side, we're going to talk about Bill Belichick. He's still beefing with Robert Kraft and the Pats? I'll tell you about it.
The JR Sport V show, the Infinity Sports Network.
