JR SportBrief Hour 3

What up, y'all? It's your boy, Danny Green. Three-time NBA champ.

You either rooted for me or rooted against me. Join myself and my co-host, Harrison Sanford, on the Inside the Green Room Podcast. It's a podcast that brings you never-before-told tales from the locker room to candid interviews with basketball legends to breakdowns of what's happening in the NBA right now. Whether you're a die-hard fan or casual about your hoops, this podcast brings you the game like never before. Follow Inside the Green Room on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

It is the JR Sport Brief Show here on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. And you could be listening wherever.

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I am at JR Sport Brief. And how about this? In about 20 minutes from now, yeah, we're going to get back to the Lakers. We're going to go to Los Angeles. We're going to have a conversation with Alan Sliwa. Covers the Lakers for ESPN LA and also the Lakers Radio Network. What the hell can this team do to get better?

That's it. I think LeBron James is staying. I think we all believe that LeBron James is going to stay. But what do they do around him? When does Darvin Ham get fired? Who do they replace him with?

What can they do with draft picks? There's a lot of questions and we'll certainly run them all by Alan Sliwa as he comes through and joins us in about 20 minutes. Right now in New York City, the New York Knicks lead the Philadelphia 76ers 37-31. In a few minutes from now, the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers, they're going to be underway as well.

That series is tied up at 2-all. And then in about 90 minutes from now, we're going to have the Indiana Pacers. They're going to try to wipe out the Milwaukee Bucks. Indiana leads Milwaukee in their series 3-1. And these Pacers, they're taking on a team that doesn't have Giannis Atetokounmpo. Also taking on a team that's just wounded all over the place with Damian Lillard who is also out with that Achilles injury. And so the Milwaukee Bucks are unfortunately lame right now.

And the Pacers may want to take advantage of that fact and continue on here in the postseason. So we've discussed a lot. I told you that we're going to have Alan Sliwa who's going to join us in about 20 minutes. And then next hour, this entire month of April has been Autism Awareness Month.

And I did not want to let this month go by without just trying to raise a little bit of awareness. And so in about an hour and a half, we're going to have a conversation with NASCAR's first artistic driver. His name is Armani Williams. He's from Michigan. He's a big Lions fan. And he just ain't nobody that just showed up and is a charity case.

He has raced at Daytona. He's on his way up to the Cup Series. And so we'll have that chat with him as he lets everybody know that, listen, man, he might be on the spectrum.

He has not stopped that or he hasn't allowed that to stop him from reaching or achieving any of his goals. So Armani Williams is going to join us next hour in a great story. Excellent story.

Now, before we move on and before we talk to Alan in the next break, I wanted to bring this to everybody's attention. We know that the Los Angeles Lakers, they got the boot last night. OK, they were able to pick up one game against the defending champion, the Nuggets, and everybody has a thought and opinion on what's going to happen next for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Well, Magic Johnson, who's never been shy to go on Twitter or X and share his thoughts, he pretty much did the same. Magic Johnson said on X, Laker Nation, we have a problem. All the good teams in the West are young and talented. The Nuggets, the Timberwolves, the Thunder and the Mavs. And the biggest elephant in the room is the Spurs, who with Victor Wenbanyama will definitely be a playoff team next season.

For the Lakers to compete with all of these teams, the roster must improve. Thank you, Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson, whoever writes his tweets, they're amazing.

I think Magic dictates to whoever to write them and they post them. Very obvious. Yes, the Lakers need more talent. Magic Johnson never shy to share his opinion.

Somebody else who's not shy, and we'll talk to Alan about this in a few minutes. A couple of hours ago, the Internet was really moving. Deion Sanders is in more crosshairs when it comes to some of his former players in Colorado. And we all know Colorado, the Buffaloes and Deion after year one.

They came right out of the gate and then all of a sudden they fell flat towards the end. And now that we are in the portal period, players are leaving. And players are talking trash. I remember when Deion Sanders arrived last season and he looked the old players in the face and said that I'm bringing in my own players and my players are going to be Louis. He says, I'm bringing in my own luggage and I'm bringing in high quality players who are going to basically put you guys out of work.

And so following this past season, we've had some some names that have decided to just up and leave. OK, we can go ahead and now go on social media. Where Deion Sanders is being hickey, would you say slandered is the word? Is that appropriate? Is what would you say these guys are saying or doing? Um, slant, criticizing? Maybe like, yeah, I would say criticizing. How about this from last week? Yeah, criticizing. But it seems a little much.

It's like put a little too much sauce on it. Last week, Cormani McClain is a defensive back. He decided to enter into the transfer portal and he went off and created an entire social media video, put it online and he criticized Colorado. He criticized the program.

Take a listen to what he had to say. Change the narrative of everyone's thinking on my name. Be a part of a real and a great program. That's going to impact me at my best ability. And yeah, ready to get to a new place and get to work. Yeah, I feel like I just don't want to play for the class. I actually want to be involved with a great leading program that's going to develop players. So where there's smoke, there's fire, right?

Or when when one person speaks, somebody else tries to pick things up. That was Cormani McClain last week. Just over the past several hours, we have another defensive back, Xavier Smith. He's no longer at Colorado. He has moved on.

He transferred to UTEP. He spoke to the athletic and he basically said that Deion Sanders told him, man, you need to go out and basically pack your bags. And Xavier Smith says, you never even tried to get to know me. And Xavier Smith says when it came down to Deion Sanders, that he was trying. He was destroying guys confidence. Now, do I think Deion Sanders told it like it is? I mean, if I just got to base it on that video when he arrived, I certainly believe he told some of the players you need to pack it up and just leave. And so Xavier Smith is gone out of the program, decided to air out some of the dirty business and laundry in the public, in the media. And do you want to know who responded? No one other than Deion Sanders' own son, Chador. He went on X and he says, I don't even remember him, to be honest.

The brother had to be very mid at best. Hickey, can we can we put people on my social media timeout? That's impossible, right? I would love that if we can create some sort of invention or have some sort of rule or that determines that I'm in for it. It's needed.

But yes, you said it's never going to happen. So does Deion tell Chador delete the post or does Chador just leave this up defending his dad? I would say he leaves it up. I'm not sure if he was directed by his dad to do it or this was just himself tweeting it.

But I think that post stays up for, I guess, as long as the app is alive. Does everybody got to be so petty? Well, first of all, I think there's something to be said when you have prospects. Are these are these just angry players that want to take a shot at Deion because it's Deion? I can't think of any other player leaving any other team and wanting to badmouth the coach on the way out the door. I think that sets a bad example for the team that you're going to be joining. Like, you don't want to be known as the mound content who just joined the squad.

I have no hickey. Have you ever heard of a player trashing a former coach in college? You ever heard of this? Not to this extent, not this publicly and directly. I feel like there's always like grumblings, like in players, maybe like a smaller media session or just make hints to like, oh, it wasn't used right. Or, you know, et cetera, like they can make some sort of complaint, but do it in a way that's not going to be made public like this. We're now two players, basically one on his own social media and the other one to a national outlet and air their dirty laundry. In that aspect, we have, at least that I can remember, never seen it.

Never. Yeah, that's overkill. Yeah. People always going to complain in press conferences and we'll get leaks out to the media. But to have someone make an entire video crapping on a coach in his program, that's that's only something that could happen to Deion Sanders. And then I have another player, as you mentioned, go to the athletic and be quoted about how the coach is destroying people's confidence. Why that this is only because it's Deion Sanders. But you know what?

This is the program that he runs. And when you put the cameras on, you are now giving everybody open access and carte blanche to then criticize you. I mean, when you arrive in Boulder, Colorado, and one of your first order of businesses to go out and record yourself, telling a bunch of players that they probably aren't good enough and that they need to enter the transfer portal, otherwise they're not going to play. Like that, that seems a little much like that's, quote unquote, made for TV. It's made for social media. And so for a year later to have a player come through and say, I don't want to play for clicks. Is that a route that I would go down? No, it's not.

But when you behave in such a way as a program, you open yourself up for criticism. And so Deion has now been there for a year. He's had one season under his belt. We all know that his son should door and then also Travis Hunter, a wide receiver slash defensive back. They're expected to go into the draft next year. And Deion has had to already clean up a couple of points as to whether or not he's going to help dictate, you know, where they play into the future. Just Deion Sanders. I'm just really trying to figure out a how much longer he's going to want to coach at the program now that he's being criticized by young men.

OK, this is not normal. I couldn't imagine a world. And I know he's sitting down on TV right now and he's done a good job. Nobody's talking crap to Nick Saban.

It's not happening. Nobody is saying anything about, you know, Kirby Smart. Like these guys just coach. They don't produce shows. They don't have these gigantic, you know, media, multimedia personalities.

They're not eccentric. But Deion Sanders is. And I don't know if it takes one more year before all of this just blows up in his face. I mean, Deion at Colorado, who thought that he was going to be there coaching for the next 10, 15 years?

I think the answer is is nobody. But Hickey, when you have this story and then next year it's the draft and then over the next several weeks and months, Deion has to answer these questions and then he has to actually go through the season. You know, he may throw up his hands sooner than later and just go. I ain't got time for this.

I'm leaving. Absolutely. And it's he has no one to blame about himself. A lot of this, like you said, from the opening press conference coming in, videoing himself, basically telling everyone you suck it out of here, even though I would probably argue maybe not as directly.

But any time a new head coach comes to takes over a team like that, I'm sure a similar message is said. The difference is no one puts it on video and then no one puts it out there for everyone to see. And that's why I think also part of the reason why now you're seeing that more hatred towards Deion is he makes everything public. I think that, you know, makes more enemies compared to a lot of the coaches doing maybe similar things, but keeping it private.

So there's a lot less that we see and know about compared to Colorado. Yeah, he has set himself up for a target. I mean, Deion could have showed up and he could have done what everybody else does.

Hey, this is my media availability. I'm not going to produce more of this, but it's it's a moneymaker for Deion. And I assume it's a moneymaker for the university, maybe potentially.

This is just a case of what you put out is what you get back. I don't think this is smart for a prospect to do so as somebody entering into the transfer portal, going to a new team, trashing the old coach publicly on the way out. If I'm the new coach, I'm going to say, hey, why did you do that?

OK, but let's let's pipe down over here on this side. I don't know how much patience Deion is going to have to do this before he says, you know what? I've helped out my share of students, student athletes. That's what he said he wanted to do this for. He wanted to help encourage and help push the next level of young men.

He was at Jackson State, he's at Boulder, and I think the next person that he's going to try to help and improve is probably himself. Damn it, to be real, to be honest, I wouldn't be shocked if Deion was gone next season when his son left, especially if he's going to have more young men that he's trying to help and coach just trashing him in the public. Deion Sanders to me doesn't come across as someone who has a lot of patience, especially for young men who don't want to listen. The reason why he said he won't go into coaching the NFL is because those are grown men who don't listen. Why does he want to get trashed by kids?

Or should I say younger men? I don't know. It's always open for criticism. Sometimes you've got to be quiet. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We are going to take a break, and when we come back on the other side, it's time for a conversation with Alan Sliwa. He covers the Los Angeles Lakers for ESPN LA and also contributes to the Lakers radio network. We're going to take a deep dive into the Lakers and to Mr. Magic Johnson's point.

How can they get better? Go ask Alan on the other side. It's the JR Sport Reshow on the Infinity Sports Network. What up, y'all? It's your boy, Danny Green, three time NBA champ.

You either rooted for me or rooted against me. Join myself and my close Harrison Sanford on the Inside the Green Room podcast. It's a podcast that brings you never before told tales from the locker room to candid interviews of basketball legends, to breakdowns of what's happening in the NBA right now. Whether you're a diehard fan or casual about your hoops, this podcast brings you the game like never before.

Follow Inside the Green Room on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. No matter what you're a fan of, Texas has the trip for you. There's the trip to Texas and the trip. Or maybe you're the kind of fan who'd prefer a trip to Texas or a trip.

Either way, go to TravelTexas.com slash get your own for the only trip to Texas that matters. Yours. You are listening to the JR Sport Brief. It's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. The Los Angeles Lakers, they are eliminated from the postseason again by the Denver Nuggets. No Western Conference finals this time.

Just in the first round. And so the questions have already started. The press conference of press conferences have already been had. Is LeBron James returning? Is Darvin Ham going to get fired? How do the Lakers improve the roster? We've even gotten the message in the tweets from Magic Johnson to talk about it all right now. We're being joined by Alan Sliwa, who covers the Lakers for ESPN Los Angeles.

Lakers' radio broadcast. Alan, how are you, man? I'm good, brother.

Thank you for reaching out and having me come on. No doubt about that. I guess the first question. I guess general consensus is that LeBron James is going to return. What say you and potentially under what circumstances or what could he do? Well, I think what he'll do no matter what is opt out of that contract. And he'll continue to have a tremendous amount of leverage on the organization. It's kind of something that he's done a number of different times in his career.

And why not play that leverage if you can? And you've got obviously the power. He's somebody that fills up the arena. Lots of nationally televised games are had because of LeBron James. And he's good for business.

And here's another thing. He's also still a really, really, really good basketball player, even at age 39. He was one of the best players in the series that included Nicola Yocas, Jamal Murray, LeBron James or Anthony Davis. So I think the Lakers got to obviously try to figure out what they need to do to make sure Braun stays. And hopefully it's a partnership that includes a chance at competing for an NBA championship. Because ultimately that's what Laker fans want and that's what the brand's about.

So the goal is that they could accomplish both. Allen Sliwa is here with us, the chair of Sportbreeze Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Well, Allen, LeBron likely staying. Darvin, him, I feel like he's pretty much on the clock right now. Is it a foregone conclusion that he's going to be out as head coach?

Yeah, I think it is. I mean, there's a couple of things. First off, any time this just comes with the territory, but there's always a fall guy. And usually it's the coach that's the fall guy in most sports. And I don't think that's going to be much different with Darvin, him.

And listen, I get it. To be frank with you, I think there were opportunities or moments during the season where Darvin, him, I think you were looking at the coach and saying, well, that's an interesting decision. Or Torian Prince starting 50 games in the regular season. Or if you want to go to the playoffs, you can look at game two specifically Lakers up 20. They look completely disjointed towards the end of that game. Jamal Murray hits that buzzer beater on Anthony Davis. Lakers lose the game by two and they, I thought, lost their chances of making this a series against the Nuggets in game two. After the game, Anthony Davis talks to the media and basically tells them, look, we go through stretches. We don't know what we're doing on both sides of the floor. I don't really hear players or I didn't see players advocating for him.

That's obviously not a good sign. And I do think it's just a matter of time before the Lakers fire Darvin, him. Oh, Allen Slee was here with us. Lakers radio broadcaster also covers them for ESPN L.A. Who could they potentially replace him with? It's a good question that that part's not clear. And I think it's hard to answer that question, especially right now, because who knows if there's a coach that's currently coaching in the playoffs that's going to be out of a job by the time the dust settles.

So it's funny, I don't have an answer for you. And I think I would be making just complete guesses. There was some chatter a little bit about Juwan Howard, potentially. I know he just signed as an assistant. I can't remember even the team that he signed, but I saw that news. That's right.

That's exactly where it was. So I don't know if there's you know, I hope the Lakers, if they're going to fire Darvin and have three, four names in mind and have their top list. But I also wouldn't be surprised that there's somebody coaching right now in the playoffs that's not going to have a job that could potentially be of interest.

So we'll find out who it's going to be. But I think you can definitely I think there's going to be and I that's probably the bigger issue with the Lakers right now is they can't find a sustainable coach. I mean, since Phil Jackson has left, how many different coaches have they had? Nobody really lasts longer than three years is the maximum that you'll have.

That was Frank Vogel. But for the most part, everyone's around two years. So they're also having a difficult time letting anything marinate. Alan, we know, as you said, coaches, they get the blame.

They're also easiest to move. When you talk about roster flexibility, how can the Lakers legitimately improve? What draft capital do they have, not have? You know, who's a valuable asset that they could move on?

Would it have to be Reeves? What do you hear? So I remember I'm going to go back to the NBA trade deadline and NBA trade deadline was on a Thursday and the deadline was at noon. That night, Lakers had a game at Crypto.com. Rob Palenka was there and he basically addressed the media talking about how the Lakers didn't end up making a deal.

And I remember some of the things that he said. He said, look, draft capital right now, we have one first rounder that we were able to give away in the summer. We're going to have three first rounders that we have the ability to move. Went on to say that, you know, you can't buy a house that's not for sale. Even if the Lakers wanted to make a move, which I'm sure they did, there were some players that they were identifying.

They didn't have the opportunity to do it. So this summer, I'm going to take him for his word that he will. And we don't have to take him for his word. LeBron has a player option and LeBron's not kicking back and paying attention to what the Lakers are going to do with their 20, 29 pick.

He doesn't care. So I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on the Lakers to use those three first rounders. I know they would love to keep Austin Reeves, but if I'm a team out there and I'm making a deal and I'm getting some first rounders back, I also want to make sure Reeves is a part of a deal as well.

So those are the assets that you have. Ruiz another one. Jared Vanderbilt is another one. So you got Gabe Vincent is another one.

They got tradable contracts. I just don't know who the player is that the Lakers are going to try to identify. We've heard the name Trey Young a couple different times. Maybe it's Trey Young who's a clutch client as well, but we'll have to wait and see.

Allen Slee was here with us from ESPN LA. Do you think Trey Young would fit in with a LeBron James and Anthony Davis? Is there another player that you think would be an ideal fit to help this squad just really be consenters again? So listen, I think in the short term can Trey Young be a player that is an upgrade from the point guard spot can be a true threat from the outside.

I don't think is too concerned about the you know, the big moment where I think we'll kind of actually could potentially thrive in a big moment. But here's a problem with Trey Young if you're trading all the assets that you have for Trey Young and you think Trey Young and Anthony Davis are going to be the two guys that once LeBron is gone you want to build around. I don't like that duo, you know, I that doesn't sound like a duo to me that's going to be competing with the Oklahoma City Thunder with the Minnesota Timberwolves with the Denver Nuggets some of these other up-and-coming teams, you know, the Spurs are only going to get better. Ja Morant, once he comes back to the Memphis Grizzlies, I go down the Zion if he's healthy with the Pelicans. There's a lot of good teams in the Western Conference. So Trey Young might be a more short-term solution, but trading every asset you have for Trey Young and eventually when the dust settles, it's Trey Young and Anthony Davis. That one doesn't sound like a winning proposition to me. Allen, when you think about what the future might hold, is it more likely that LeBron James is going on a retirement tour as a Lake or is it legitimate championship contention?

What's more likely? I think it better be championship contention because, listen, if it's a retirement tour, why am I giving up all these assets? Why am I, you know, if it's a retirement tour that's a completely different game plan than I'm trying to win and I want to win. So I don't think it's going to be a retirement tour. I think LeBron, by the way, I think he believes he's going to be in the league for a couple more years. So I don't think this upcoming year would be his last year anyways.

So with that in mind, I think the goal is going to be to compete. So Allen, we've heard so much about his son, Bronny, and certainly the words around it have changed from I want to play with my son to I just would love to play in the league with him. And then obviously due to his health issues, it's his choice. And then we get word after the elimination that the Lakers would be willing to absolutely bring on Bronny even as a later round pick. Is that a foregone conclusion that that's that's bait to try to keep LeBron in town? Yeah, I think so.

Right. I mean, if you look at if Bronny James wasn't the son of LeBron James, and you were looking at him purely from a basketball perspective, I think you would be encouraging Bronny to stay in college, continue to develop. You know, obviously he had the heart issue, didn't get a chance to play a full season. I'm sure that he would like to improve his draft class and everything else. But maybe this is being fast forwarded now because you don't know how many years Bron has. I think that what he said in the past about wanting to play with Bronny is what he actually wants. Maybe now he's downplaying it more because there's other teams that may say, hey, if we draft Bronny, maybe we could get LeBron James.

So I think maybe that's more strategic. But ultimately, at the end of the day, I think if you're asking the Los Angeles Lakers to use and I'm going to just assume this is a second round pick because I don't think they would ever use a first round pick for this. But if you're asking them to use their number 55 pick, I want to say in the second round on Bronny James, I don't think they would hesitate to do that if they're accommodating to LeBron.

OK, Alan, final question for you. So if I wanted to get drafted into the NBA, all I'd have to do is be real close to LeBron and foregone conclusion, right? You're a second rounder. Yeah, you're a second rounder, no doubt about it.

You might, they might pick you up to maybe you don't go, maybe you don't get drafted, but you're on the G League team. I'll take it. A two-way.

Nothing wrong with a two-way contract. Hey, Alan, I will take it. Hey, Alan, thank you so much for joining us. I know you're quite busy, ESPN LA, all your radio work with the Lakers. Where can people follow you in everything that you do?

Twitter at Alan Sliwa, and if you want to follow me on YouTube, YouTube Hoops Talk with Alan Sliwa. Hey, we know everything with the Lakers is always busy. Can't wait for the storylines to continue to unravel over the next couple of weeks.

A final question. When would Darvin Ham really get the boot? Are we thinking next several days, next several weeks? What do you think they would let him go? I'd be surprised if he's, you know, the coach in the next week or so, or it has not been announced.

I just don't really know what the purpose would be if this season, your season ended, you fly back to Los Angeles like they did last night. You got probably the rest of this week to meet with management, ownership. I don't know what you'd wait for, and that would just be my, I don't know. I don't have an inside info on that, but I would assume within a week.

I really wouldn't understand why you would wait on that. Okay. Hey, Alan, thank you again. Look forward to catching you all down the line. Enjoy the drama, okay? Thank you, man. I appreciate it. That Alan Sliwa, Lakers radio broadcaster, also host of Travis and Sliwa on ESPN LA. Knows all things Lakers, so thank you, Alan.

And Hickey, man, you were right. Why would they should just give him the boot now? What the hell are they waiting for? What's the holdup?

That's it, right? Why delay the inevitable? If you know you're going to fire him, let's get it done. I mean, honestly, I mean, I feel like they had that in their head when Shams put that article out, what, minutes after the Lakers lose on their season's over that there's a lack of belief in Darvin Ham.

It sounds like they've already made up their mind, even at this point, 24 hours later, feels like they've waited too long. You know what's bad? And this is, this is, I can feel from a human level, not that I feel bad or sad or I'm losing sleep at night. But when you have someone who happens to be a grown adult who is being just kicked around by other grown adults, it's just bad. Like the way that the Lakers have basically treated him, and he's the head coach, they treated him like the redheaded stepchild, you know, who lives in the attic all season long. From the huddles have been embarrassing, the timeouts have been embarrassing, how the players react to him and don't react is embarrassing. It just, it makes you feel uncomfortable. You know what I'm saying?

Have you seen some of these images? Oh, it's like you said, you have secondhand embarrassment just because this is supposed to be a guy that's in a power position. And like you said, he's like, you know, they treat him like the village idiot. There's one clip where they're in the timeout and the camera is dead smack in the timeout and he's trying to draw something up on a whiteboard. And you can actually see the tension and see the players that just basically ignored him like anything on the whiteboard. It was just, it was just very, very uncomfortable, especially when you think about this being the highest level of basketball on planet Earth. And these superstar players are tuning out what is supposed to be their leader.

It was just very uncomfortable. And so I think Darvin Ham won't have to worry about that. I mean, all his years in the NBA as a role player, as an assistant coach, to become the head coach of the Lakers, he's probably going to have to be an assistant coach somewhere else and hope that he gets his second chance and opportunity.

And that doesn't always work on the first go round. It's the J.R. Sportbree show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Again, thank you so much to Alan Sliwa from joining us. Covers the Lakers, Lakers Radio Broadcast Network, et cetera. When we come back, we might have a different version of an NBA broadcast coming back in the future. I'm going to share with you what that might be. We'll talk more Lakers. We'll talk next hour with the first autistic NASCAR driver just in the world. This is unbelievable.

We got a lot to do. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbree. It's the J.R. Sportbree show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network.

Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Thank you so much to Alan Sliwa for joining us in the last break. Covers the Los Angeles Lakers for ESPN L.A. as well as for the Lakers Radio Network. And he said that Darvin Ham is likely on borrow time over the next several days, maybe the next week before he gets canned by the Lakers. And then it's a matter of what they decide to do in the off season. And what type of contract is LeBron James going to look for? I mean, at his age, he can't take anything longer than a three year deal. He does have a one year option to opt in, but he's likely to probably add.

Hickey, what do you think? LeBron will do a one plus one just to keep the the foot on the neck of the Lakers. That's it. Always maintain leverage. I like that one. I think you're right about that.

Yeah. LeBron James will say, hey, I'll come back for one more year and then I may leave again at the end of next season. And that way, LeBron James with the ultimate leverage. And to Alan's point, I have no idea what they can do, who they can add to switch things around.

I don't want to say that they look like a lost cause, but I think they're going to have to add different players in different teams. This might have to be one of those mega deals. I know this much. DeAngelo Russell sucks. And so what we'll do is we'll save all the Laker talk for the top of the hour. And then we'll talk to my main man, Armani Williams, the first driver in NASCAR who's on the autism spectrum. And then we'll give you an update on these New York Knicks and these Philadelphia 76ers. Right now, they're playing it close. The Knicks lead fifty nine to fifty eight, about five and a half minutes to go in the third. Meanwhile, Cleveland in Orlando, they're tied in their series two to Cleveland leads right now. Forty one to thirty seven is a lot of basketball on. And we actually got a little bit of news.

And this isn't necessarily what the public reads or sees or hears about. But how you watch and consume the NBA, it might change. Amazon is in the running to pick up some NBA games as the NBA looks to renegotiate its next television deals. And it's not just Amazon who might want to get in on the action. There is a classic here.

OK. In the 90s, when Michael Jordan was running the league at his prime at his peak, the NBA was on NBC from 1990 to 2002. And it's been reported that NBC is ready to offer the NBA two and a half billion dollars a year to broadcast some of their games. Right now, TNT is paying about one point two billion dollars a year.

We see that Turner with Barkley, et cetera, they have the games and the NBA on NBC would be nostalgic. I mean, I'm about to play some music. And when I hear this music, I get excited. It makes me feel like I'm watching Michael Jordan again on my 13 inch television in my bedroom.

Listen to this. This is one of the most iconic sports themes of all time. It's the NBA on NBC.

This is from like 98. This is the NBA on NBC. The 1998 NBA final. Tonight, it's Game 6, the Chicago Bulls versus the Utah Jazz. Oh, man.

Oh, my God. That and that that that theme in the logo transcended so much it wasn't just the NBA on NBC theme. That was almost the the icon for video games with NBA Jam. And when they played that music, you knew something was about to go down. And typically it was Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan helped set the stage for that music. This was no different than the Michael Jordan intro introduction music for the Chicago Bulls from North Carolina with the lasers in the background. If the NBA is back on NBC, there's going to be a lot of people who hear that theme song and they absolutely lose their minds. Hickey, did that did that would that song come after you? Do you remember that? Did it hit the same button for me? It came after me. So like in terms of nostalgia does not hit.

But overall, oh, my goodness, it's still one of the best things out there. Oh, my God. If it comes back, fire me up.

Oh, man. I just I remember it was like when you heard that theme song, it was like in my head. I'm going, where is Michael Jordan and who is he going to beat up on?

That's what that theme song basically meant. Was Michael Jordan going to beat up on Gary Payton or was Michael Jordan going to beat up on Karl Malone in the jazz? Was he going to beat up on Reggie Miller? Was he going to dunk on the New York Knicks?

That theme is is amazing. And actually, today, this minute, the NBA has some has some voices on NBC that people are familiar with. I mean, Mike Torrico, formerly of ESPN, is now with NBC.

And then Ian Eagle is also a part of NBC. And so if the NBA is back on NBC, there's going to be a lot of folks who are going for a little bit of a of an nostalgia trip. And I guess the one thing that we can, I guess, wet our appetites on is that NBC is the distributor for the Olympics. Now, does that mean we're going to get that theme song?

I doubt it. I mean, the Olympics typically has its own music. I don't know if they're going to tap into that song when it's time to watch Joel Embiid suit up for Team USA Basketball.

But while the things have happened, the NBA on NBC, certainly just one of the most iconic theme songs of all time. And speaking of Joel Embiid, right now, this minute, this second, the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden, they lead the Philadelphia 76ers 65 to 61. There's three minutes to go here in the third quarter. Joel Embiid, who woke up within a migraine. He has 13 points, five of 14 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds. Joel Embiid has not kicked anybody in the nuts yet.

He hasn't stepped on anybody's head and he hasn't stepped on anybody's leg or dragged anybody from the air as of yet. Jalen Brunson has 22 points. I will remind you, this is a closeout game for the New York Knicks. They can send the Sixers packing or the Sixers can bring this up to three and two. New York Knicks with a chance to get Joel Embiid a dirty, dirty player the hell up on out of here. It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. If you want to holler at me, it is oh so simple. The phone number 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. I'm going to give you my thoughts on the Los Angeles Lakers, especially as it relates to Bronny. Because, yeah, Bronny might be bait to keep LeBron James in town. We're going to talk about the Lakers on the other side. We're also going to have a conversation with my main man, Armani Williams, NASCAR driver.

We got a lot to do. I'm not going anywhere. It's the J.R. sport re-show, the Infinity Sports Network. Hey everyone, Boomer Esiason here. The NFL draft is behind us and your favorite team is now gearing up for week number one. The free Odyssey app puts you right in the middle of the pro football conversation with the biggest sports radio stations from across the country. The local voices who know your team the best, giving you their unfiltered takes on the current state of your squad. It's always football season right here on the free Odyssey app.