5.3.24 - JR SportBrief Hour 3

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too with the name your price tool from Progressive.

It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates.

Price and coverage match limited by state law. Odyssey app. And if you have a smart speaker, all you have to do is ask that speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Super producer and host Ryan Hickey is holding down for us in New York City on the boards. And I hope you're good on a Friday night. Hope you're all getting ready and set for the weekend. I am going to be hanging out with you for the next two hours.

This show gets started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, three Pacific. Let me get you through rush hour. Let me get you through work. Let me get you to just chilling out and relax and let me get you into whatever. What do people do on Friday nights? Hickey stuff?

What do I call it? Stuff, stuff. Yeah, activities, whatever the hell you want to do.

It's your time now, right? People do stuff on Fridays that they are not supposed to do. It's not good. Hmm. Well, we don't want that. We don't want to advocate for that. Somebody, listen, there are people listening right now.

They're doing something they got no business doing. But hey, we thank you anyway for listening. Yeah, just keep it to yourself. None of my business. Just don't, don't tell me about it. I just, I know what people are, people are doing. I'm not going to name the things, but if you're doing something you're not supposed to, I won't tell. Just don't hurt nobody in the process. Okay.

That's, that's not nice. Anyway, if you need some therapy and you want to call me while you are doing things you're not supposed to, I'm here. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. You could find me online. I am at JR Sport Brief. I'm at JR Sport Brief on, on Twitter X and Facebook and just all of these things.

This is where the hell I am. I do want to tell you because people are so great with the internet. Thank you so much to a Big Wilk letting us know that dolphins are the apex ocean predators.

Okay. I don't know if they are the apex predator. They are one of the apex predators. We've learned this over the break.

Thank you so much for sharing. Maybe that's why the dolphins are called the dolphins. Hickey, we were wrong.

The dolphins fit in with all the dangerous animals, the lions and the bears and all that other stuff. You can do that. I'm not. Oh, damn.

They are not in the apex category. Not for me. Colorado avalanche. More, more threatening of a name than the dolphins. A hundred percent. How many people have died from a dolphin attack versus an avalanche? What are you more fearful of? Are you running away if you see a dolphin in the water?

Probably not. I think if I see an avalanche, I'm done. I would agree. I would agree. The avalanche is way worse. Is it? Even the devil rays.

You see a ray in the water? I'm getting the hell out of there. I hate how they've rebranded. What has it now been?

Ten years? They're now the rays? The rays. But then they wear the devil ray throwback. They still put that?

What is that stupid thing? They still put that devil ray on their hat? Their shirt? They're wearing actually special throwbacks tonight that honor the devil ray. They have a devil ray on their shirt? Yes. Now that's a dumb team name.

We can chalk that up there. The devil rays? That's pretty cool. You don't like it?

No, I don't like it. Is there a crap ton of them in Tampa? They couldn't do nothing better? I'm assuming so. And they're venomous.

That's no joke. The Tampa Bay devil ray. Ooh. Hey, again, if you're in the water, you see a devil, I guess a ray, excuse me, will be correct here, politically correct, or a dolphin. Which one are you more scared of? The devil ray.

I would agree. Isn't that what killed Steve Irwin? Stingray, right? Yes. Is it the same thing? Yeah, they're basically the same category. They skate, there's a ray, it's the same.

They shoot barbs and they killed Steve Irwin. He stepped on one at the end of the guy. R.I.P. Put it right in his chest. That's, oof, what a way to go. Oh my God. Hey, what happened to him?

Oh, well, you know, he was in the water and he spooked the stingray and he got jabbed in the chest. Oh my God. Whoa. Whoa. Not good.

Hey, Hickey, you know what I do? I stay my ass right on land. All right. Land only, huh? Hey, land only. I am on, I'm on the, what floor am I on? Eight, nine floors.

This building is surrounded by, by concrete. Earth here in Atlanta really doesn't move. You know, would you get on a boat? Oh, I get on up. Yeah, I've been on boats plenty of time. I get on a boat. Your body in the water is where you draw the line. Oh, I get in the water, but I, if you're going to say, hey, Stingray's out there, I'm done. I'm cooked. I'm finished.

No. Some people run towards the danger. You run away from it. Listen, man, I'm, I'm an even keeled person. I don't need drama. I don't need excitement. People ask me about rollercoaster. I'm like, yo, I don't need to get on another rollercoaster in my life. If I want to, if I want to seek a thrill, you know, I'll go out at three o'clock in the morning. For me, that's, I don't, I don't need to get on a rollercoaster. And what's this other stuff? ATVs?

Like, I don't give me, give me a glass of Jack. That's exciting for me. Okay. You're not going to go mountain biking?

What am I, a goat? No, no. Skiing. Skiing? No. Wow. My knees are not built for skiing.

Days are over now. So you really are just, you're just going to sit at home and just hang out. Relax. I have no cartilage in my right knee.

You can get, you know, injections for that. Live life again. I'm not Joel Embiid. What do I look like?

I'm not trying to, you know, I'm not trying to play out my 100 and whatever million dollar contract. I'm good. I can walk. I can ride a bike. I can jog a little bit.

Just skiing? Nah. If it has to deal with impact on my knees, I'm not doing it. No thanks. All right.

Unfortunately, that's a lot of things, but hey. I just walk, man. I'm good on that. I can walk.

I do that perfectly fine. Hey, speaking of Joel Embiid, he's done folks. He's cooked. He's finished. No, he didn't quit. He didn't retire. He just finished another season as an absolute loser.

Sorry about that. Last year, he was an MVP. And then the team loses because he gets hurt this year. He's also hurt. You can't, you can't make things up with this dude.

You really can't. And a matter of fact, speaking of losers in about 15 minutes, we're going to have a chat and a conversation, not a loser with Kobe Price from the Southern California news covers the Lakers. The Lakers are the losers because they, well, they just lost. They only picked up one game, one victory against the Denver Nuggets. And then also Darvin Ham, he got the boot today. It is official. Darvin Ham has been fired as the head coach of the Lakers. So we have Kobe Price who covers the team who will join us in about 15 minutes. But Joel Embiid, the biggest loser.

We talked about this. The New York Knicks eliminate the Philadelphia 76ers last night. Hell of a game.

1 18 to 1 15. There was no comeback for these Sixers. Joel Embiid finished with 39 points fouled out at the end of the game.

But this is where, this is where the issues come in at in the playoffs, in these six games. And I don't give a damn if Joel Embiid is like, here's 50 points. He is 39 points in the fourth quarter of these games against the New York Knicks. Joel Embiid shot 23% from the field in the fourth quarter.

Let me say that again because it doesn't even make sense to me. Joel Embiid shot 23% from the field in the fourth quarter. This is your MVP? Him?

That guy? And oh, this is the same dude who had the nerve to say, hey, I'm disappointed in the fans for not showing up to the game. How about you show up in the fourth quarter and I get it. Your knee hurts. Oh, you got a boo boo. But you're out there. Do something, man.

It's disappointing. You know, I said that Patrick Beverley is a jackass and he needs to grow up and be an adult. You know, Joel Embiid has grown.

He's no longer trolling people on Twitter. And now he's an MVP and he's going to be a great big man. But the next stage is to actually show up to work, man, when the games matter. I'm sick of the story. If you're good enough to be MVP, you got hiring chefs and eating good, lose a couple of LBs. And then you're going to show up and represent Team USA.

You need to stay at home and get in shape, lose some weight, maybe to help you stick around a little bit longer. Tyrese Maxey, not able to carry the entire load last night. He had 17 points. Tobias Harris had a whopping zero points in 29 minutes. Only took two shots. Pathetic. He'll be done.

I don't know how the hell he got the contract that he got. And so the dust is settling in Philadelphia with these Sixers. Time is up. And Joel Embiid, I'm not going to imitate his voice because it'd be disrespectful. I think Joel Embiid says he's not going to feel sorry for himself. Man, I could have taken more time to heal and get back to myself, but I just felt like, man, I think mentioning him, the fact that he's on the team, obviously I've known him for a long time. And I just felt like I didn't want to give that up. I wanted to get that opportunity to be on this stage and be part of it. And I didn't want to let him down and the whole team too. So I think that's, yeah, that's always been my mindset. I've always played through stuff.

It's never been an excuse. He's just going to play through stuff his whole damn career, isn't he? This man was busting the ass of the NBA. He was. Before he went down permanently with that torn meniscus, he was dropping 35 points a game, 11 rebounds, six assists. He was shooting almost 40% from three. This is a center. He only played 39 games before he was done.

And you know what this means? This is Maxie's team. This is especially this guy is eligible for an extension. He just saved the team at two games ago. Seven points in 25 seconds is an all-star. Now you got to build the team around Maxie.

You got to find that star. We had a caller from Philadelphia who hit us up earlier in the show. You can call 2 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. This guy called up and said, Hey, well, what do we do?

And I said, yo, there's, if there's one thing, the sixes have two things. You have Maxie, you have cap space. You know, if LeBron James wanted to be a sixer, he could, if he wanted to. Paul George is looking for an extension from the Clippers. The Clippers haven't given it to him yet.

They could sign him. The Sixers got some things going on here. You got Maxie, you got the big, you, you maybe try to lighten the load for Joel and B. This is Maxie's team.

Now you relax, take a back seat. Maybe play Joel Embiid, I don't know, 25 to 30 minutes a game. Let this man get into shape. Play him when necessary to run the score up. Play him in crunch time, stagger his minutes, get another star in.

Let Joel Embiid take a back seat. MVP, what did that do? Did it get him a title?

No. Didn't do a damn thing, but get him a title. Didn't do a damn thing, but get him paid. Philadelphia 76ers, they lose to the New York Knicks, but at least they, they can be optimistic about a future, right? And Joel Embiid, he's like me. He believes in the future of the Sixers, not because of him and his busted up body, but because of Tyrese Maxie. When you look at it, it kind of looks exciting. Don't know what they're going to do, but they do have a lot of cast space and picks, so they have the opportunity to do something good. Young superstar coming in, you know, face of the franchise, you know, for the next, you know, for the whole, for his whole career, really in Philly. Coming in and, you know, that's exciting. And, you know, myself and, you know, trying to build something great here. So, and then, you know, based on what they do, like I said, I love our guys. I love the guys that we have.

And, but, you know, we just, we just got to make sure we work on ourselves and come back better. He's not stupid. He knows that this is, this is going to be Maxie's squad. He knows that, right?

Has to, I, that answer sounds like he does. And in that case, I'll give him credit for recognizing that because you have to six is one to win a title. They did max to be the number one player in the team. It can't be in beat anymore. It's been that way for too long. And we've talked about it and seen it now for the last decade, not got out of the second round, only constant and beat.

Yeah. You know, there was a point in time where it's all my God, is it Ben Simmons or is it Embiid? And we saw what happened with Ben Simmons.

He, he gone. Then it was Embiid. And then we see, you know, Maxie and, and he's young. And then you get James Harden thrown into the mix and James Harden and aging player. And now Harden is gone. Ben Simmons is gone. Maxie is there as an all-star emerging, not having to share the the back court with anybody. And then Joel Embiid, he's just big, almost 30 years old and hurt. This is Maxie's time. Joel Embiid, he got to take a back seat.

It's simple. This is a good game right now in Orlando, 52 to 46, the magic lead, the Cavs, 30 seconds or so away from halftime. One of these teams is going to win.

Magic trying to stay alive. It's the JR sport re-show here with you on the infinity sports network. We come back to you with the JR sport re-show here with you on the infinity sports network.

We come back from break. We're going to talk about another team that's unfortunately losers. We're going to talk about the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe Price is going to join us from the Southern California news group. We're going to talk about the firing today of Darvin Ham, who might replace Darvin Ham or what might happen with LeBron James and the future of that team. Oh yeah, we're getting the losers out the way.

It's the JR sport re-show, the infinity sports network. Hey, Rob Bradford here. I have set out on a mission with my good friends at FanDuel to prove what I have known for some time. Baseball isn't boring. Now I have a daily podcast to prove it with some of the most notable people in the baseball world screaming baseball isn't boring for the mountain tops, or at least agreeing to come on our show. Players, managers, GMs, and yes, even the commissioner of baseball, Rob Manfred. It has been a constant wave of baseball, both powerful voices. So join the revolution, subscribe and soak in baseball has been boring. Listen on your Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll be glad you did. You're listening to the JR sport brief. Shout outs to everybody in the hospitals, all the healthcare people making people better.

Yeah, I hope that's what you're doing. This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley financial stuck in a time sharing one out contact Wesley financial group now and get a free time share exit information kit at Wesley financial group.com. It is the JR sport brief show here on the infinity sports network coast to coast. And we've done a lot of basketball talk tonight and with good reason. And one of the biggest news that dropped today came from the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the premier franchises in the national basketball association, because they dumped Darvin Ham. After two years, two playoff appearances, two years left on his contract, he lost the locker room and now he's gone. What does this mean for the Los Angeles Lakers?

What does it mean for their off season to talk about it all? It's time to have a conversation with Kobe price, who covers this Lakers squad for the soul cow news group. Kobe, how are you? I'm good, man.

I'm good. Well, not, not too much of a breaking news with Darvin Ham getting the boot. I guess the next question is how long do you think it's going to take to get a coach? And we've already heard of some of the candidates fill us in.

Yeah. I mean, I mean, I wouldn't expect this. I would not expect for this to be a search. I think it could definitely take weeks for, you know, for the Lakers to nail the right candidate, if not for anything, just to do their due diligence. So, you know, interviews, you know, maybe have multiple rounds of interviews to find the right person for the job.

And obviously the names of potential candidates have been out there, have been put out there already. You know, Mike Boonenholzer, you know, Charles Lee, Kenny Atkinson, uh, particularly J.J. Reddick going on this. There's a couple of names I'm blanking on right now, but then there's going to be an abundance of names and a bunch of people, a bunch of coaches will be interviewed for this job.

So the process has to play out and I guess we'll also see how it plays out and who else could possibly be interviewed for the job as well. Kobe Bryce is here with us from the SoCal news group. Darvin Ham, it was pretty apparent from anyone who watched the game, his interactions on the sideline with the players. And I mean, even a couple of games ago, LeBron James imploring, jumping up and down for him to, to challenge a call.

Was Darvin Ham in over his head? No, I wouldn't go that far. In over his head I think would be hit a little bit too far, but I just don't think he, I think at a certain point, you know, the locker room, there was, there was a disconnect.

There was a disconnect that's been going on for months and it just continued to rise. Um, even regardless of the Lakers success to end this 2023, 2024 regular season. And once you, once that disconnect happens and it isn't repaired and the confidence within the locker room, even within some, you know, outside of the locker room, but within the organization, they don't have that belief or confidence that the coaches, the current coach that being Darvin Ham, former coach, isn't the right person to lead them. Then it's just hard to bring that coach back even if, you know, set players like them as a person or like having morale and what have you.

And they don't believe that or have the confidence that that person, that that coach is the right person to lead them. Especially when you have the stars that the Lakers have, it's hard to bring that person back regardless of who they are. Kobe, when you think about the impending and potential free agency of LeBron James, how does this coaching hire affect that? Are they just going to hire the guy that they know LeBron James wants and hope for the best?

Or how does this affect things? No, I wouldn't expect that because essentially last time, or maybe not last time, but a couple of coaching cycles ago when, you know, when they let go of Luke Walton and Ty Lue, I mean, obviously it's going to be a name that gets brought up as Clippers coach Ty Lue. He was an option.

He was a front runner. They had interviews. Obviously he's, you know, LeBron's at the time his preference and he didn't get hired because of, you know, disputes within the contract negotiations or disputes in the terms or of, you know, the hiring. So even if LeBron says, you know, this is my preference, it doesn't mean that that's what's going to get done. Obviously LeBron's preference will have influence on the process more than likely, but just because LeBron says, you know, this is the guy or plainly says, this is the guy I want, or, you know, this is who I want, doesn't mean exactly who's going to get hired. But I would imagine that, you know, LeBron will have influence on this process.

Even if, you know, with the player option that he has, I think it's June 29th to figure out. So this could play a factor into it, but I would also expect for them to have a coach hired well before LeBron makes that decision for his player option, or the deadline for that decision rather. Kobe Price is here with us from the SoCal News Group. Yeah, I mean, it'd be one hell of a scenario where LeBron James puts in his two cents and doesn't stick around. I would think this would be indicative already of what most people assume is that he's going to stay a Los Angeles Laker.

Are you feeling good about that fact? Yeah, I mean, at least as of right now, and, you know, the season just ended on Monday officially after they got knocked out by the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs. But even after Monday, the feeling was that, you know, LeBron will be back on the Lakers. Now, how that looks, whether it's opting into the last year of his deal, or opting out and signing the brand new, you know, two or three year deal, or maybe even a one and one, whatever it may be, there's still a feeling around the team that he will be back with the Lakers. It's just more so a matter of how, not so much if, but, you know, it is also, you know, we have another month and a half until he has to officially make that decision.

And I would imagine that, you know, the head coach hiring potentially could have an impact on his decision, or maybe how long it takes that decision to be made. When you think about the Lakers outside of obviously looking for a head coach, how can they quote unquote retool the roster? What are some options that they have available to them to improve as a team?

They have a few different options. Even, you know, this is, let's assume that LeBron does come back and he's going to be one of the higher, you know, one of the highest paid players, not just on the team, but in the league. That does limit you from a cap flexibility standpoint, but there are still other options, you know, come, you know, the NBA draft, they'll have three first round picks at their disposal to trade. So that opens up different avenues in terms of chasing star players or even high caliber players, potential all star caliber players rather. So those sorts of players can be on the table for the Lakers. You know, getting guys like Gabe Benson and Jerry Vanderbilt back after, you know, injury, injury riddles, 2023, 2024 seasons will definitely help as well. There's also the D'Angelo Russell factor. What is he going to do with his player option?

There are a few other players with player options as well. So there are a few different avenues, you know, especially through trades and, you know, chasing after maybe star caliber players or even just high level role players who may not be the biggest names, but who impact winning at a high level, which we've seen that every championship continuing team needs. I mean, just look at the Denver Nuggets. It wasn't just Nicola Jokic and Jamal Murray hurting the Lakers in that series.

It was also Aaron Gordon from Michael Porter Jr., you know, really doing damage in that series. Look around the league, a lot of times it's high level role players. And to me, I think that should be more of the Lakers focus, not so much the star players, but the Lakers do have a potential, rather potentially have the, what's needed or necessary to acquire star players, or even like I said, high level role players, which I think that they're probably more in demand or should be more demanding rather than maybe like another star player. Regardless of where LeBron James ends up, you bring up an interesting point. Do you take LeBron James as someone who will, you know, leave some money on the table to help out the team or is he going to go for every dollar and cent that he could get? I would, I mean, based off of the previous, I guess his previous few contracts, he's definitely maximized the financial already that he can make. So I would not expect for that to change, at least not significantly, at least not significantly, like maybe if you're talking about like a million or two, but I would definitely expect for him, you know, just my opinion and my view on things to him to maximize whatever financial position he can be in, especially in what's expected to be his last couple or few years as an active player in the NBA. Man, go out and get the 50 plus while you can. Who cares if you're worth a bill?

It can always go out there and get some more cash. Well, Kobe, thank you so much for taking the time to hop on and join us. We know that things are always going to be interesting with the Los Angeles Lakers, so I know you're going to be busy, OK? No, I appreciate it. And thank you so much so much for having me on. No problem, that Kobe Price from the SoCal News Group.

I didn't think of that. You know, we we get that a lot. When it comes down to the NFL, it's become cliche a little bit over the past, I'd say five, six, seven years with somebody like Tom Brady. He got an aging star, a quarterback, someone who's had a lot of success.

He's one of the greatest players to ever play the game. And people started going, oh, look at Tom Brady's giving all the money back. Oh, everybody needs to be like Tom Brady's like everybody is not married to a Brazilian supermodel making more money than everybody else.

She was making his wife at the time was making more money than him. Like, come on. Like, literally.

Let's show. Hickey, nobody says that on basketball. You know, you don't hear that. LeBron James could he could realistically sign for the minimum, but why would he write if he wants to win? I mean, that should be the move. I mean, you said the guy's worth a billion dollars. I don't see the point of honestly going for 50 million dollars a year. I mean, when you got 50, 50 can get you a new house.

I mean, it could pay for the kids. It could pay for the the 50th generation of the James family after he's gone. I mean, 50 mil is still 50 mil. Realistically, let's also remember it's going to get taxed, so it could be 50 mil. And realistically, he might take home, I don't know what 20 ish of it.

He got bills like everybody else. What do you think LeBron would rather do, set up his 50th generation or win another championship? And no, Gary, I think you could get the 50 and win a championship.

You can't. I don't know what he's going to get in 50 dollar, 50 million dollars a year and win the championship. It's not going to Philly on that. You know, he's not going to a contender on that price.

LeBron takes less from the Lakers to bring in, I don't know what a Trae Young, but does he want that? I don't know. Well, that's that's a good point. I mean, you know, it's a safe, you know, so if it's if it comes down to a championship or 50 mil, what's what's the safest bet? I mean, the 50 million dollars, but when you're a billionaire, what is that?

It's pocket change, like you said. OK, another house. Would you rather a house in, I don't know, the Alps or would you rather a ring from LeBron? I think I'd rather have a ring. That's tough, man.

Really? Yeah, I just it's it's money. It's money. But he has a billion dollars.

He doesn't literally need anymore. It's not it's not liquid. You know, it's it's it's tied up into things. It's value.

So I don't know. Look, however much money he actually has in cash, he still is not going broke. And so the point remains that, yes, he is he is wealthy beyond our our wildest dreams. So he doesn't have to worry about money. So whether he got, I don't know, 300, 400 in the bank or, you know, with a billion dollar net worth or whether he got 800 in the bank and a billion dollar that we don't know. He doesn't need money.

If LeBron James career stopped tomorrow, LeBron James would be good. He'd be set for life as generations would. So I don't know. But we don't know what he wants to do with that money. He could say, hey, I want to take this money and open up another school or I want to take this money and I need this 52 to add to my net worth for when I buy a team in a few. You know, just you don't know. You don't know. It'd be interesting to know if he does leave money on the table.

I just like Kobe. I was very interested in what he was going to say. I didn't think he was going to do that either. I didn't think he's going to leave money. That's a good point. In four or five years, is LeBron James going to wake up and just know that, hey, I play basketball. I automatically got 50 million a year.

That's some days are about to be over, Hickey. I mean, what does he do? Sure. There's going to be other business ventures. You know, this is tough. It's hard to say.

I don't care who you are. It's tough to say no to 50 mil. It just is. Oh, I'm not saying it's easy, right? I mean, again, you put five dollars in front of my face. I'll say yes to something.

Don't don't don't cheapen yourself now. OK, I'm just saying, like, right. We all want money.

And so you're right. Like, you'd be a fool to think that 50 million dollars would not at least make someone think about a decision. But if you're like if LeBron actually cares about a championship, which he makes it seem like he still does, I don't know where he's going to go, get 50 million dollars a year and actually compete for a championship. Yeah, he may he may take it from the Lakers and stay and just say, hey, y'all fix it.

You do fix it. This is very interesting. The Lakers seemingly want to give them, you know, a farewell tour. So I'm sure they're well, well, OK with that. Why wouldn't they want to monetize it?

It's not it's not the same. And look, the Lakers are already probably between them and then the Celtics. I'd say the Knicks. These are the hottest tickets in the NBA across the country. You do not go into an arena anywhere in the country with the Los Angeles Lakers and don't pack the place out. The Lakers, the Lakers jerseys are all over the place. The Lakers, they want to monetize whenever the hell LeBron James decides to retire. And I don't think he's just going to disappear into the wind. I most certainly believe he's going to go on a tour and he's going to show up and show out and they're going to print T-shirts and commemorative this. They want to monetize that. And there's no better team for him to do that with.

I'm sorry. Then the Los Angeles Lakers. So I think at this stage of his career, Hickey, there are a few things for him to consider. One is, yes, money, monetary. You know, what's that going to look like?

I think legacy and championship is there. And I think about actually enjoying the ride and, you know, maybe also saying I don't want to change no more. I want to keep things the same. I think he's going to stay a lake. You think he's going to stay a Laker? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I don't think he's leaving. Yeah.

Now it's just going to matter. What's that contract look like? I'm interested on that. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on the Infinity Sports Network. Speaking of contracts, I want to talk some NFL contracts on the other side of the break because we're staring at the face of players having their fifth year options picked up and not. And some of these decisions are rather interesting. It tells you about the draft and we just had it last week.

Some of these guys, about half of them almost ain't going to work out. You are listening to the JR Sport Brief. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on the Infinity Sports Network. I want you to think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all of your car care needs.

Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Right before we went to break, we talked about the Lakers. Thank you so much for Kobe Price for joining us here from the SoCal News Group.

And then one of the things that popped up was about LeBron James. We know he has an option, has a player option, can play next year for about 50 mil, can opt out of that contract and he could sign a three-year deal. Not sure he wants to do that. Wants to maybe keep pressure on the team, maybe one year plus one at the end. And then also LeBron James, nobody's putting a gun to his head and saying you have to sign for 50. He can take less money and leave some more cash available for the Lakers to fill out the roster. Now, does LeBron feel that he can make 50 and they can't fill out the roster?

I don't know. The more money he takes, the more difficult things will be. Or he might say, well, look, look at the amount of money I made this year and the coach screwed us up. So it's real interesting to see what he does. Money is money.

Even if you're a billionaire. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. Stephen is calling from Wisconsin. You're on the JR sport re-show. What's up, Stephen? Hey, man. Hey, man.

How are you guys doing? How are you doing, Shep? It's not Shep. That's Hickey. It's Hickey. Oh, oh, Hickey.

Hickey. Sorry. Yeah. Hickey, you want to punch him through the radio? Damn.

We just talked. My bad. My bad. My bad.

My bad. So one thing I think that, you know, is really that we should keep in our consideration is that in terms of the union, for a star player in the NBA to take less money would be bad. Also, I think that one thing I heard Rory say, the golfer, was that, you know, he's like, you get so much money at one point. You're like, well, I have the best couch. You know, I have the best, you know, house.

I have the best dog. Like, the money's not going to change my life. So I'm not sure if it's a European thing, but the U.S. thing in terms of we're not going to as a culture, we're not going to leave any money on the table. What do you think? Let's let's this.

OK, let me let me address the first part. LeBron James is a special case, very special. This is not this is not a superstar in his prime. This is not a twenty eight year old guy who can reset the financial market for the players after him.

This is a 40 year old anomaly, soon to be 40 year old anomaly. And LeBron James, who is also an active billionaire. This man is the only active athlete on planet Earth. If you want to throw Tiger Woods in there recently, you can.

This is the only two. Yeah, the only dude who's worth a billion dollars running around playing basketball or playing a sport. OK, so I don't think from a union perspective, oh, my God, LeBron James took less money. And so next year, when I don't know, the other guy is up now, this that the standard is pretty much set.

NBA contracts are pretty, pretty straightforward with what the players can get. This is what you do. This is what you can get out of it. So I don't think there's going to be a walking back of the dog. I think that that does not apply because this is LeBron James.

So I think the union argument, I don't believe that. And second, not to defend the United States of America, there are people all over the damn world who are taking money. We got a guy, one of the most famous athletes on planet Earth. This man surpasses LeBron in popularity and probably multiples. His name is Ronaldo. You want to know where he's playing right now? Do you know?

Yes, in the U.S. No, no, no. Oh, no, Steve, this is you hurt me. Messi is playing in the United for my name. Yeah, that's messy. Ronaldo is playing for a team named Al Nassar. You want to know where Al Nassar is based? I do not.

I mean, I want to know, but I do not know where it is. Saudi Arabia. OK, so we can talk about English golfers saying, you know, I don't I want less money.

I got the nicest this. But everybody's taking money. There's not a damn reason in the world for Ronaldo still got some gas left in the tank.

There's no reason for him to leave the European leagues and say, oh, I'm just going to go play in Saudi Arabia. Come on. So let me ask you this. What do you think we're going to do then? I don't know.

But I know what you just said. I don't agree with that much. I don't know. We don't know. LeBron James probably doesn't know what he exactly wants to do. I know 50 mil is 50 mil that much I know, so we'll find out just just like you. I just think it's I just cannot see him leaving any money on the table, period, unless for some reason he decides, you know, I want to get another ring. Well, there's I see I think it's twofold.

And Steve, thank you for calling from Wisconsin. I think it's twofold because LeBron James, it's not just basketball. LeBron James basketball is what he does for a living right now, knowing that he's at the end of the line. I think there are other financial considerations.

This man has a portfolio. It's not like this is a player who says, I need to squeeze every every contract out the money that he gets from the NBA. I have no idea how he plans to allocate and use that money. Maybe he needs to put more money away for future ownership.

Let's put it this way. As much as LeBron James wants to be an owner of an NBA franchise, says that I want to own the team in Las Vegas. The reality is, if LeBron James stopped playing tomorrow, although he has the net worth of being a billionaire, he don't got that money liquid in cash. This is no different than what's going on with Alex Rodriguez in the Minnesota Timberwolves.

And Alex Rodriguez is certainly not a billionaire. He found one and then they in turn had to go find people with more money to help support the purchase of the team. So LeBron James, nobody's going to ask him, hey, LeBron, you want to buy the Vegas team? LeBron doesn't have, you know, six billion dollars to lay on the table and say, give me the team. He's going to need partners. He's going to have to show that he's liquid. He's going to have to show that he has cash. So I think there's some bigger elements to put in place. And that comes in. Hey, listen, look at how much success I've already had. Can I take this money?

Can I still compete for a championship? It's like, hey, how can I check every box that I have in front of me? And at least he has leverage and he has options. And that's something that a lot of people always look for.

It's going to be real interesting to see what he does. But is it an American thing to take money? What? It is a global thing to take money. Forget sports. But my example, come on, one of the greatest footballers ever decided to end his career, or at least temporarily go play in Saudi Arabia for what? Because he likes the weather?

No. He wants the money. It's the J.R. Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to keep talking about money on the other side of the break. We're going to look at some of these NFL NFL fifth year options that were not picked up. We'll give you an update on Cleveland and Orlando. We'll talk about this amazing superstar. He's not getting paid what he's worth. His name is Jalen Brunson.

Don't move. The J.R. Sport Reshow. Hey, Rob Bradford here. I have set out on a mission with my good friend at FanDuel to prove what I have known for some time. Baseball isn't boring. Now I have a daily podcast to prove it with some of the most notable people in the baseball world screaming baseball isn't boring for the mountaintops or at least agreeing to come on our show. Players, managers, GMs, and yes, even the commissioner of baseball, Rob Manfred. It has been a constant wave of baseball, both powerful voices. So join the revolution, subscribe and soak in. Baseball has been boring.

Listen on your Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll be glad you did. After the end of a good fight, you deserve an ice cold reward. Medella is the mark of a fighter. You've earned this rich golden lager with a crisp, refreshing taste because you know the bigger the fight, the better the reward. You put in the hours, the energy, the tough labor. You are a fighter and Medella is your reward. Medella, the mark of a fighter. Prick responsibly. Beer imported by Crown Import, Chicago, Illinois.