NBA Trade Deadline Updates (Hour 3)

It is! The JR Sportbrief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you to everybody tuned in all over North America. I'm happy that you're here. This is exactly where I will be for the next two hours. The show gets started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific.

I am in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to our super producer and host Ryan Hickey. He is in New York City and we have already had a damn good show. Thank you to former NFL defensive back and current Sirius XM NFL radio host Solomon Wilcox for joining us in the last hour. Thank you to Pro Football Hall of Famer, Hall of Fame person and player, Hall of Fame everything.

Denver Bronco too. Thank you to Champ Bailey for joining us in the first hour of the show. If you missed any of the interviews, any of the conversations, you can go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. Go ahead, do that. You can listen live on the free Odyssey app.

You can hit rewind. Thank you to people listening live on their local Infinity Sports Network radio affiliates. Thank you to people on Sirius XM Channel 375.

And if you got a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. I'll say it again. I'm JR.

This is the JR Sport Brief Show. You want to call me, you can do that. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. You use the internet, I'm sure you do. Maybe you're scrolling through social media. Maybe you're paying bills. Maybe the bills are paying you. Maybe you're watching something. Maybe you're sending an email.

I don't know. Maybe you're shopping, right? Maybe you're on Amazon. Maybe you're in an Uber. Maybe you're in the back of an Uber. And if you're in the back of an Uber, if the driver is good, give him a tip. And if you give him a tip or her a tip, give me a percentage. Hit me up.

I'm not hard to find. Anyway, we have so much more to get into. A busy show. Champ Bailey, Solomon Wilcox, they came through and joined us. We talked about Luka Doncic being introduced to the Los Angeles Laker fan base earlier today. We took a look at some of the boring things that have been said surrounding the NFL and media day. Andy Reid says, I'll be back next year. Whoop-de-doo.

What great news that is. Travis Kelce says, I'm not retiring. I guess everybody, well, some people expect if they win. Hickey, if they won the Super Bowl and this man gets on one knee and proposes, I'm not going to go as far to say I'm going to vomit because I'm not that much of a jerk. I'll be happy for their love. But I'm going to roll my damn eyes pretty hard. I'm just going to go, Oh my God, of course. Here we go. This man just won the Super Bowl. Hickey, could you imagine he wins the Super Bowl, the Super Bowl MVP? At that point, I guess you have to propose, right?

You have to. I mean, if they've been dating, what, a year and a half? Oh, OK. How much have they actually even been dating when she's been all over the globe doing her eras tour and he's playing football like. Right, right. They don't know each other. Right. This is actually about love.

There's no shot in hell. Hollywood, Hollywood, Hollywood, Hollywood marriage. That's where I do believe that this is like they actually like each other. If what you're saying happens and that just switches to me a million percent, then it's all about the cameras, the story line.

I think it's a sham. Right. And if that if he proposes, let's just say you've got to retire at that point. Like he's not coming.

He's not proposing after a second or third straight Super Bowl and coming back. Well, here's here's something else that's interesting. Yeah.

He has to go be with his wife. Right. OK. You would think plan a wedding. You're talking kids now.

Is this real? Like, well, she's the breadwinner. I'd stop working. It's also true.

I'd be like, what city and what jet are we getting on next? I'll go do a movie every now and then so we can make a couple of hundred. But you're making a big bucks. There's another element. Would he not be selfish? Right. You are detracting and taking away from the scene. Would you not be selfish? Like, take that. I mean, I don't not necessarily Bourbon Street because it's pretty, pretty dirty of a street.

Take it to a fancy place off of Bourbon Street and then propose. I don't know. That's kind of selfish. Right. Have we ever had like a big star professional athlete? We see it in college and stuff, but have we ever seen an athlete do that? Like after the winning a championship? I can never recall. Not a big star. No. So I think you're right about that.

What's that's interesting. What's selfish? What's more selfish? Proposing at the Super Bowl or proposing at someone else's wedding? Oh, man, you can't do this at somebody else's wedding unless you can only do it at somebody's wedding. If you are now encouraged to do so. OK, I've seen that.

And it has to be at the end of the reception when most of the people have left, Hickey. Oh, I know. Interesting. I'm making up rules.

I don't know. I've never heard of people encouraging them. I mean, if you are in all in the same, you know, social circle, what have you, I don't think there's any if you are if you are encouraged to do so and everybody knows each other and, you know, because you can have weddings. Hickey, I've been to weddings. I don't know nobody. I don't know the bride. I know the groom. And I don't know nobody else. You know, I can't be there with my girlfriend going, hey, everybody, everybody who I have no idea who the hell you people are.

I got a special. You can't do that. But if you're amongst like friends and family and everybody knows each other and it is just like. Hickey, I put it this way, I've never been married, but if I was married and maybe it would change, maybe it's not my decision as a husband, I don't know. I would not pass that baton. No, no, let me say that.

Let me say let me fix this. I personally, if it was a very good friend of mine that I love him, I've known him for a long time. If I was cool with his, you know, soon to be wife and he said, hey, hey, Jay, I want to I want to propose.

And I'd be like, man, let me let me go talk to my future wife. And if we are all in agreement and if we are all in agreement that I can pass the baton to you at some point, I'm cool with that. I don't think that's it's selfish if you go rogue, you know, if nobody wants you to do it. But if you're all amongst your people, I think that's wrong. OK, OK, I mean, yeah, I guess that's fair.

So not for you never happening to you. Yeah, I don't think I'd ever ask the question at a wedding. And I don't I mean, I guess you're probably right. That's the right answer. You ask your soon to be wife. What do you think?

Because your answer is never going to be right anyway. So might as well ask the boss. Yeah. If she goes, man, this is my day, screw that other broad, then you just got to accept it.

I bet you're going back to what we talked about. Taylor Swift probably just want to get engaged to it in a market of madness at the Super Bowl. Well, she'd have more. Yeah. She wants to be on some island and sell the exclusive to people or something like that. Right. Like below the Eiffel Tower, you know, right.

Something scenic. Yeah. Make him make him rent out the whole block. You know, rent all of Paris for the day and shut the blocks down.

We need a photo shoot at night when this thing starts twinkling. OK. All right. Yep. Yep.

And sweaty. Travis is going, Taylor, will you marry me? Yeah. It's going to be an interesting Sunday. I'm looking forward to it.

And then we'll talk about this next hour. I heard someone very special is going to be making an appearance at the Super Bowl. Very, really. Yeah. Very special. Yeah.

They're going to shut the city down for real. OK. Stars are coming out, out, huh? Yeah. Yeah.

The biggest star probably on earth. Wow. I think I think we'll get into it.

We'll get into that next hour. Andy has been waiting so patiently on the line. Andy has aged like 20 years waiting for us.

Eight, five, five, two, one, two, 42, 27. Andy is here from Pittsburgh. You're on the chair, our sport brie show Coast to Coast.

What's up, Andy? Hey, I hear you talking to Solomon about the different NFL trades. I got the idea that maybe they should trade Miles Garrett for Cooper Cup, be around the same amount of money.

And if they get Travis Hunter, number two overall, they can use Cooper Cup to groom Travis Hunter. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Well, you said a lot very quickly. I think I only caught portions of what you said. Hold on a minute. Yes, sir.

Let's go back. You want to do what with Cooper Cup? Trade for him, trade Miles Garrett for him, and then use Cooper Cup to groom Travis Hunter if you get him at number two overall. I think Travis, I mean, based on the way the Tennessee Titans are talking about that number one spot, and I don't know if they're bluffing or they're going to trade out of it, it appears that they might say Travis Hunter. And I think if you're the Browns, you ain't taking no wide receiver slash cornerback. You got to find somebody to throw the ball first.

Well, I've seen Mark Drat this morning. They're saying that the Titans are drafting that guy from Penn State, Adil Carter, defensive lineman. And then that would leave Hunter available for at number two for Cleveland. So you think Cleveland shouldn't, I mean, and we don't know, but from all things being considered and all things being said by people who I would think are smarter than me and probably you, maybe us combined, they say that they say that there's no great quarterback here, that you're rolling the dice if you take a Cam Ward or Shadore Sanders. So maybe the Browns realize that we suck. Let's trade Garrett. Let's pick up picks. Let's get Hunter and try for a quarterback next year. Everybody's going to be praying for Arch Manning.

Maybe that's the goal for everybody. You can get Jackson Dart second round from what I hear too. Yeah. Well, we got to find somebody to carry some bags to Andy. Come on now. Okay. Thank you for calling from Pittsburgh. Yeah. You're welcome.

Thank you so much. Yeah. Jackson Dart. He's going to carry bags at some point.

He'll get an opportunity to start, but he got to, he's going to have to make the most of that opportunity whenever it comes. I just miles Garrett for, for Cooper cup. I don't know about that, man. If I'm Cooper cup, I ain't trying to play in Cleveland for what? No suck. They're going to send me someplace where now I got to mentor somebody. I am a super bowl MVP. You're going to send me to the team that doesn't know what a super bowl is.

No, thank you. Wild trades, man. And speaking of wild trades, I told you today, Anthony Davis spoke to the media. This man was standing around in a Dallas Mavericks sweatshirt because he can't play because his midsection is still hurting. This sucks for him.

Never had that problem before. And it just seemed, it was just, it just paled in comparison. And the hickey said, yeah, Jr, they on the road. I said, okay, you're right. You're right. But there's nothing that's going to be exciting about Anthony Davis introduction to Dallas. The fans are going to roll their eyes at him when he's introduced because they might as well be like, that's not Luca.

That's it. When he's introduced in Dallas, they should be Anthony. This is not Luca Dauntress Davis because he is not Luca and the fans are going to treat him like that.

It's pretty hilarious. He spoke to the media today. Anthony Davis said, I was getting ready to go to sleep with my wife. He says, I'm surprised. I was shocked to learn about this trade.

I was shocked everyone else. Like I said, I didn't know I was actually at home about to watch a movie with my wife. And got the phone call. So I had no idea. I just sent, you know, the team text about graduation on a, on a win against the big win.

And then, you know, looking forward to Tuesday's game against the Clippers as far as standing purposes. And then it found out like an hour later, I was no longer with the team. So I was in shock, obviously.

I had no idea that, you know, was happening. But I mean, now it's, you know, I'm kind of over it and just kind of, you know, getting ready to play with Dallas. Yeah, he's going to play with Dallas.

And today we learned that they traded Quinton, excuse me, Quinton Grimes for Caleb Martin. So one guy for another guy who shoots threes, a little bit more accurate and a little bit older. Okay, great.

All right. We'll see what happens with this man, Anthony Davis in Dallas. He's injury prone, currently hurt.

Kyrie Irving, injury prone. Anthony Davis says, I'm looking forward to catching alley-oops from this guy. I'm very excited. I mean, me and Kyle talked about this, I think in 2018, you know, when I asked for a trade from New Orleans, he was in Boston, I think at the time, and he ended up leaving one of Brooklyn. But, you know, we've been wanting to play alongside each other for a very long time. And now we got the opportunity to do something. Yeah, here we are. Both of these guys are what, like 32 years old? Yeah, there's a seven year difference. And maybe a little too late. Let's see what the Mavericks do.

If they're going to be healthy enough to do anything worth a damn. 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. Greg is calling from Michigan. Here he is. What's up, Greg? Hey, JR. Thanks for taking my call.

Mr. Positive loves you. Hey, great, real quick, great conversation with Champ Bailey.

Fantastic. And real quick, Miles Garrett is probably going to be a Detroit lion, but I'm going to cry with LeBron retiring. You brought it up earlier in the show and it will be devastating, but I think Luca and him will work great together, but we need, the Lakers need a big defensive man, like six foot 11, seven foot Durant, somebody that can get physical underneath the boards and get those rebounds. You got two LeBrons or two Lucas playing together. And I'm worried that they're going to be, are they going to be able to accept being a second role players or, you know, second, you know, Hey, who's going to be first?

Who's going to be number one. We heard, we heard from Rob Palenka earlier today. He said it may not be easy to acquire, you know, a big man that is worth a damn. Those are my words, not his, but that's basically what he said. And we just have to wait and see, I agree with you. This is something, if you got Luca and LeBron, you want to maximize every moment and every second, especially given LeBron's age. And we got to see if this is something, and I think it will, that's going to drag into the off season.

And I think that's a more realistic expectation. And so now we just have to wait. Thank you so much, Greg, for calling for Michigan.

It's the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. You know what? We're going to take a break. And when we come back on the other side, let's have a conversation with Trevor Lane from Lakers nation.

Let's get his thoughts on what big man the Lakers could potentially bring in. This is kind of crazy. Rob Palenka standing around saying that this was a gift. Who are you kidding?

This was a robbery. And so we have a lot to discuss. And basically this is Luca's team now, right? Right? We'll have that conversation with Trevor Lane on the other side. It's the JR sport brief show on the infinity sports network. You're listening to the JR sport brief. It's the JR sport re-show here with you on the infinity sports network. Man, everybody's getting ready for the super bowl and the NBA rumors and NBA trades.

People are flying and moving names like Caleb Martin. And of course, we know the biggest name that moved is a Luca Doncic. He was introduced to the media in Los Angeles earlier today. And damn, the Lakers got themselves one, huh? Pairing them up with LeBron James. What does this mean for the Lakers? What does this mean for LeBron? How does this, how do they round out the roster? How can they do so?

How can they compete for another championship? Joining us right now is someone who covers the Los Angeles Lakers for Lakers nation. His name is Trevor Lane. Hey Trevor, thank you for taking the time and joining us. Hey, no problem.

Thank you so much for having me. Today. We saw the press conference.

We, we played portions of it earlier here on the show. What was the most, I mean, between Palenka and also Doncic, what stood out to you the most from the presser? Yeah.

You know, I thought there were a number of things. I thought how hurt Luca appeared to be by what the Mavs had done by moving on from him. That stood out.

It was clearly that was still sitting with him. That's something that will be driving him and fueling him moving forward as well as, you know, Rob Palenka's comments about the trade market in general and acknowledging that they do have moves they still need to make. They need to still find a center for this team. And that tells you that they've got, you know, their work cut out for them here and now less than 48 hours ahead of the trade deadline, but also just the, the optimism moving forward about the team now being built around Luca and what that's going to look like heading into the future.

But it was a short press conference, but a very informative one. I think that was one that was, it gave us a lot of insight into what the plans are here now moving forward for this Lakers team. But you had mentioned Trevor, Rob Palenka's comments about rounding out the roster in the front court, how difficult it might be between now and Thursday, and then also heading into the off season. What do you think is the likeliest scenario or situation that, that they do between now and April? Well, priority number one has to be finding a center. They, they have to find somebody right now. They have Jackson Hayes as the only center that's on their roster on a, on a regular contract. They have a few players on two-way contracts and Trey Jemison, Christian Coloco, our, our belt priority, our guys that are going to kind of fill in here and there, but they need a starting quality center. And so that's what they have to find before Thursday's trade deadline in order to have any kind of a shot to make a run at things this year.

But Rob Palenka did note that that may not be easy to do on, on a short timeline here, and it may take waiting until the off season. Maybe they find a stop gap, somebody who can just kind of fill in at the position for the time being. There's been rumors connecting them already to Steven Adams of the Houston Rockets, Nikola Bucevic of the Chicago Bulls, Yaka Pertl of the Toronto Raptors, but specifically he said they were looking for somebody that's a vertical threat, somebody that can catch those lob passes from Lucas. So they're looking for a high flyer, a big with a lot of athleticism and finding that guy may take a little bit of time. So this may be something that bleeds into the summer, but I do think they'll make some kind of a move to find another center ahead of a Thursday's trade deadline. Trevor Lane is joining us here from Lakers Nation, knowing that it's going to take time for LeBron James and Lucas Amash and all of these new pieces that they will ultimately bring in. What is the most likeliest of outcomes that they go to the playoffs and compete hard and wait until next year and get into the off season?

What do you think is the best possible outcome realistically for this year? Well, I do think that if the right opportunities in front of them, they will surrender their 2031 pick, which is the only first round pick that they have available to trade. They have other first round picks, but because of the stepping rule, they can only trade that one pick. If the right opportunity for the right center is there, they'll make that move right now. But if that's not there, then what they'll do is they'll hold off, they'll wait until the summer when they'll have $40 million plus in expiring contracts to potentially go use on the trade market.

And Gabe Vincent, they've got a few other players, Rui Hachimura would be on one as well. Maxi Kleba, who they just acquired in trade would also be on an expiring contract. So they'll stack those salaries up and see what they can do this summer.

But LeBron James at 40 years old, I think they want to give him every shot they can to win right now. So if they can find the right move in the next day and a half here, they will make that move and then try to really go all in and win immediately. We've heard so much.

It's now the Tuesday, getting ready to roll into Wednesday. The straight went down on Saturday. And right out the gate, it was said that LeBron James didn't know, nobody knew, a couple of people knew. Do you think he had any inkling that something like this might have been on the horizon? Yeah, I mean, I know they kept it very quiet, and they kept it very quiet for a long, long time. It was Rob Palenka, it was Nico Harrison from the Mavs, a one on one conversation. They involved their ownership on each side.

So really, we're talking four people that are involved in these conversations. And that's part of why it was such a surprise, and why so many other teams right now are frustrated that they didn't get a chance to get in on the negotiation and maybe make a bid on Luca. But do I buy that LeBron really didn't know? Did he really find out when he was out at dinner in New York after the Lakers game against the Knicks?

I don't know. I mean, some of the reporting is that LeBron, that Rich Paul, his agent knew a day or two ahead of time and things of that nature. So I don't know how much I buy that really they were completely in the dark, especially with how quickly Anthony Davis waived his trade bonus.

That seemed a little strange. But regardless, the deal got done very, very secretively. They were able to keep it all quiet, which in this day and age is nearly impossible to do. I mean, this is a Herculean task by all parties involved to keep this as quiet as they did and make it such a shocking thing.

We've never seen this before. It was such a shock that everybody, all of the top media members, everyone across the industry said, this is fake. This is not real. This has to be Sean Sarania who reported it, must have been hacked. And then we found out that it was indeed real.

So it's an incredible effort by everybody involved to keep this as quiet as they did. And Trevor Lane is joining us here from Lakers Nation. You know, there are a lot of rumors that are getting thrown around specifically about Kevin Durant and what may happen as a result of what may not happen with Bradley Beal and his no trade and Jimmy Butler. And now there's Durant, maybe back to Warriors, how they want to pay and fit that in financially.

I have no idea. It's even been bandied about that. At some point, LeBron ends up in Golden State. Do you see any scenario given now that they have Luca in his cap space? I know he has a player option.

His son is on the team. Do you think he's just going to finish in the purple and gold? I do think that's still the plan for LeBron James.

And we'll see what winds up happening. I mean, they made no qualms about the fact that Luca is LeBron's replacement. He's in to take over that role. But LeBron is still around. He's still playing at an extremely high level. He has as many years left as he wants. It's not a question of his physical abilities.

It's a question of mentally. Can he continue to ramp up and prepare his body the way that he does? So as long as LeBron wants to keep going, he can keep going.

Luca is in to take over that role at some point. And he will become the star the Lakers are building around. He already really is the guy now the Lakers are building around into the future and ideally for the next decade or so.

This is who they're building around. But LeBron James doesn't necessarily have to leave the Lakers either in order to go contend somewhere else. I think the opportunity will still be there in LA for him to continue to win and find a way to move forward.

But it's going to be on the front office to round out this team with the right pieces. It's possible that he takes a look at opportunities elsewhere. He does have a player option this summer. But what we've heard is he will not waive his no trade clause in order to be moved by this Thursday's trade deadline.

So he wants to see how this all fits with Luca and then go from there. It'll be a very important summer, obviously, for the Lakers, as it always is. But up to this point, I mean, the sentiment is still that LeBron James wants to play for the Lakers and wants to finish his career here in Los Angeles. There was a full expectation, even as recently last week, he said that Anthony Davis is the best player on the team. There was an expectation that, you know, LeBron would ultimately pass the torch to him. It's another thing when Luca Doncic, as great as he is, is kind of shoehorned into the situation and coronated, something that obviously wasn't the case for Anthony Davis. Is there anything to LeBron's ego with Luca being in the building and knowing that father time ultimately is against him?

I don't think so. I mean, LeBron is an extremely smart guy. He knows exactly what's going on.

He knows exactly what's happening. And the reporting right now has been that LeBron is actually looking forward to being able to mentor Luca and to leave the Lakers in the best spot he possibly can and have that be part of his legacy. He didn't burn all the bridges in Los Angeles. He didn't force them to give up all of their future assets.

And he leaves the club in a very strong place moving forward. So Luca himself today was talking about how much he believes he can learn from LeBron playing beside him this season. So I do think that LeBron is not going to be too worried about any of this.

His spot is secured. And I don't think he needs to be worried at all about Luca taking his place or anything like that. This is, LeBron talks for years and years about how much he admires Luca's game and how much he'd love to play with him.

And Luca himself today called it a dream come true. So I think they're going to work out just fine. I think they're going to be a great pairing. You think about J.J. Reddick, not in the spotlight for a while. I think he's going to buy himself a little bit more time. What does this mean for what he has in front of him as Lakers coach? He's still in his first year. Well, I mean, what a challenge for J.J. Reddick. Not only his first time as a head coach at anything. This is his first experience as a head coach, and he's coaching the Lakers in maybe the brightest spotlight of all.

That's a difficult scenario to step into. They've had a really solid season. They're the five seed in the Western Conference. Has he made mistakes?

Yes, but that's to be expected. He's made mistakes out on the court, but he's also done a great job keeping the players bought in. We continue to hear to a man, the players are talking about how the coaching staff is preparing them for every game to execute out there on the floor.

That's a great, great sign. But what a monumental challenge this is to go from having Anthony Davis to now Luca. He's going to have to adjust all of his schemes.

Everything's going to have to change on the fly. This is going to be a big task for J.J. Reddick. So far, he's definitely been up to the challenge. He's managed to keep this team motivated, to keep them focused, keep them winning games, and keep them in the mix in the Western Conference.

And now it's a whole new task to integrate Luca into this group. So we'll see. This is a lot to put on J.J. Reddick, but so far he has met every challenge and then some with the Lakers. Hey, Trevor, as we wrap things up, we saw the reaction down in Dallas. I think it's safe to say nobody threw a fit. Nobody had any funerals for the fact that Anthony Davis is leaving, huh?

Yeah. You know, there's a lot of Lakers fans who were sad to see Anthony Davis leave, as well as Max Christie. I've had a lot of people telling me they wish they could have held on to Max Christie, who has really grown right in front of the eyes of Lakers fans. But there's an understanding that this was the move from the Lakers side that you had to make.

100 times out of 100, you have to make this trade if it's presented to you. From the Mavs side, I get it. They feel betrayed. They feel like Nico Harrison has made a huge mistake and robbed them of their franchise player. I think they're going to love Anthony Davis. He's a great player, and I think he fits great with this Mavs team.

But I understand why there's a lot of frustration right now in Dallas. And Laker fans, they feel like they got another superstar. Hey, Trevor, where can people follow you and all of your work with Lakers Nation? Yeah, you can find a lot of my work over on the Lakers Nation YouTube channel, youtube.com slash Lakers Nation. We're putting new stuff out there every single day on the team, the latest rumors, everything that they're looking at doing, the trade market, all of that can be found there, as well as the lakersnation.com podcast over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts. And then all of our written work is over at Lakers Nation dot com.

Yeah, man, I remember when Lakers Nation got started with Gary. Man, it's been a long time. It has indeed.

It has indeed. A lot of parallels here. Well, thank you so much again, Trevor. You got a lot to do. We'll catch you down the line, OK?

Hey, thanks a lot. I appreciate you. No doubt about it. That Trevor Lane from Lakers Nation, man.

Hickey, I remember when Lakers Nation got started. Just, you know, just a blog and now here we are, every on the radio now. That's crazy. Power of the Internet, right? Yeah.

Evolution, like everything, right? Just like Radio Rose. Now, Media Row. Media Row.

Yeah. What a circus. There's a lot of fun. A lot of fun, though. But a circus, nonetheless, eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven.

That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. The circus seems to be dying down with this Luca trade. But Jimmy Butler, that circus continues to go on. It's like Ringling Brothers, which happens to be back, by the way.

No animals. When we come back, we'll talk about the real circus in the NBA. The Jimmy Butler scenario. The Jimmy Butler situation.

There are so many additional stories that are coming out, which I'll tell you what's going on on the other side. But Jimmy Butler, this may not end the way that he wanted it to. We'll discuss and then we'll hear from an NBA legend who feels very strongly that Jimmy Butler is screwing things up for the future generation of players, future generations of players. The J.R. sport we show on the Infinity Sports Network.

You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief. Hey, thank you so much to Trevor Lane from Lakers Nation Dot com for coming through and giving us the Lakers perspective now that Luca Doncic has been introduced to the team.

We knew this. The Lakers got to find a center. And I think they'll be good enough to be exciting and interesting this year. But it just I think we're going to have to wait until next year until we have a full idea of, OK, we can expect them to maybe compete. They got to fill out the roster.

That's it. And every year that goes by is just another year where LeBron gets older. And I know how good he looks and triple double this and triple double that.

And it's crazy. He's still one of the best players in the league at 40. He's not and I know we keep saying this, but he's not going to be doing this at 41, right?

I mean, there has to be a decline at some point. I mean, Tom Brady still played at a decently high level at forty five. Yo, this is you know, there's a difference in the sports. We know that football is brutal. The pounding for basketball is not Khan running up and down on that wood for 20 plus years and jump in it. It does take a toll on you eventually.

But what is what is this bad? What is the down year for LeBron going to be like he's going to be playing with Luca and so what are we only going to get 20 points? Is LeBron going to be a twenty five and five guy by choice?

I just. It's amazing what he's doing. So I'm looking at it just saying, man, every year I think it's a cool story. If LeBron picks up one more championship, because I thought with Anthony Davis, it was it was highly unlikely. With Luca, you have another chance. Luca just took a whole team. No disrespect to Kyrie Irving, who they brought in and they got P.J.

Washington. But he was the guy. He was the main guy that took that team to a championship and what they can look like with LeBron James on the squad, on the floor and rounding that team out with bigs and shooters. I just it's exciting. The story is exciting.

And I just know every year that goes by where LeBron doesn't win a title or LeBron plays is closer to the end for LeBron. And I don't. Hickey, if this guy is playing until forty five, a basketball player playing at a high level until forty five. Hickey, have you seen how these guys walk around with it done retiring? I have. Yes, it's not pretty.

Oh, my God. Oh, I'm like, at least what you said about the hip replacements, there's so much easier today. OK, that's true. And you think even with someone who puts a million dollars into their body every year, that maybe he can at least get off at the end and avoid some of the limp surgeries, et cetera.

You would think so. LeBron James is six eight, LeBron James is six eight, built like a truck. I mean, one of the reasons that he's still going, it has to be how he has treated his body. We know he is athletically gifted. He is a freak of nature. We saw this when he was in high school. But athleticism wanes. And the way that he's been able to take care of himself is just is admirable.

It really is. So all the best to LeBron James. I'm just interested to see how the story continues on with the rest of his career, this new integration of Luka Doncic.

It's something that I know everybody is going to definitely keep an eye on. Now, speaking of keeping an eye on, we know Jimmy Butler, unfortunately, has been in the news for the past month, the better part of a month now because he wants out of Miami. He's been suspended three times, not showing up to work, dissing his teammates, walking out on the team. He wants a contract. He wants to be traded.

He wants to find joy. He's making about forty seven, forty eight million dollars this year. He has a player option at fifty two for next year. But that's not enough.

He wants to whine and cry until he gets what he wants. And apparently that is a trip to the Phoenix Suns. Well, Bradley Beal and his gigantic contract of about forty five plus million dollars is in the way. Bradley Beal, as far as I know, is the only player in the NBA with a no trade clause besides LeBron. And so Bradley Beal is basically blocking Jimmy Butler's chance of securing an additional multiyear contract with the Phoenix Suns, because apparently Jimmy Butler doesn't want to go anywhere else because they won't guarantee him that long contract. Only the Suns because they're going for broke. They went for broke when they brought in Kevin Durant. They went for broke when they brought in Bradley Beal.

And now they're paying for it because now they want an upgrade. And so word on the street is Jimmy Butler has been saying no to everybody because it doesn't come with the money the Suns would offer. And if Bradley Beal doesn't want to move, then Jimmy Butler is basically screwed.

I want you to take a listen to Sham Sharani. He was on ESPN earlier today. He says the Miami Heat have yet to receive a legitimate offer for Jimmy Butler. But I'm told the Heat still have not yet received the type of trade package that they want to move Jimmy Butler. They are engaged with multiple teams. Both sides have the same goal going into Thursday, and that's finding a trade out of Miami. I'm told the Suns and Warriors remain very key to watch here. Those are the two teams that it seems are the most likely right now in this situation. But from Jimmy Butler's perspective, the Suns are the only team right now that he is willing to commit long term to. That's something that is known in league circles. How do the Heat handle this going into Thursday? How are other teams handling this?

And how will it come down to Phoenix and Golden State? We'll see. Oh, man, it is.

It is hilarious. I've been saying this and I'm hoping and I know there can always be a lot of bluster and smoke and mirrors and some of this crap is true and some of it isn't. I'm really hoping that he doesn't get what he wants. And someone who thinks he's screwing things up for other people is Kevin Garnett.

He was on the All the Smoke podcast and in the most colorful way is only Kevin Garnett could share. He said that he is he's playing in the fans faces. He's playing in the owners faces like he's making all the players look bad with all this new money that's coming in. A guy like Luka can make seventy two million dollars minimum in a few years on a starting contract and an annual basis. Kevin Garnett said they may take away our guaranteed deals because a crap like this.

Listen. Non-guarantees are going to come into our league right here like this. We fought our ass off through five or six lockouts to get to a point where there's no where we protect the integrity of the talent.

And then that that talent has a responsibility to be professional. Come here and do your fucking job. We came in. We did our fucking jobs. You got paid and you went home.

You want to make a statement? Come on and get 50. If I was Jimmy Ballata came out, I had 50 and been screaming at the top of the lungs.

All these heat fans. Yeah, I ain't playing sign in next year. Came out, got another 50. I mean, hold on now. Oh, listen, were you productive? Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. No, no. Get another 50.

No matter. Just keep winning and just keep pushing it. Bro, you want some leverage? Man, go out there and show your ass. Hickey, you know, I don't get hyped up over nothing that nobody says, but Kevin Garnett got me hyped up because that's what people actually used to do.

They used to show up and work and earn their money, not try to bully people into it. I agree. I think the mindset is A plus. And I think if you're Jimmy Butler, I think you make yourself more attractive or make the sons more likely to trade for you if you're playing high level basketball instead of hiding in the shadows. Yeah, Kevin Garnett, go get 50 points. You want to get paid? Go get 50. Don't sit on the bench. Go score some points. If you actually got your ass up and worked and not try to use your leverage and what you did in the past, get up and work. You can go make that money, man.

Lazy ass. I'm glad Kevin Garnett said it. Say something to Kevin Garnett.

Get into fighting words with him. Do you hear that guy? I need Kevin Garnett and Jimmy Butler in the room. Hickey, I still think Kevin Garnett would whoop his ass.

Oh, I agree with you. Whoop his ass. He ain't that much older than, what is it? Kevin Garnett got to be 46? Let's see how old he is. Garnett age. And he's 6'11".

I mean, you know, it's still swinging. Garnett's age. No, what's Kevin? Oh, he's 48. He still whoop his ass, Hickey. Okay. He would. Oh, he would.

Yeah, whoop his ass. It's the JR Sport Bree Show. We're going to take a break. We're going to come back, take a look at all the things that took place this day, today in sports. And then, of course, at the end of the show, we're going to go back in sports history. It's the JR Sport Bree Show, the Infinity Sports Network. And I'm going to tell you, the most famous person in the world, going to the Super Bowl. Don't move.