Stefon Diggs Returns To Bills Practice! (Hour 1)

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That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. A whole lot to do today. We're rock and rollin' all the way up until 10 p.m. Eastern. 7 p.m. Pacific. Tom Curran, who covers the Patriots, is gonna stop by an hour twenty from now as DeAndre Hopkins is gonna be at one Patriot place tomorrow. We'll see how that meeting will go. And then coming up at 8.20 p.m. Eastern, 5.20 p.m. Pacific, we'll be joined by Alex Myers. He does a great job, senior writer for Golf Digest, as he's gonna preview, and we'll try to win some money through Alex, the 2023 U.S. Open, the third major championship of the major championship season.

And you do have one more still to go. So a whole lot cookin' today, but first up, producing the extravaganza is the weather then. Hot take hickey. I don't know about that hot take hickey. So yesterday we were very confused, and I don't think we got all that much clarity today other than Stefan Diggs did what his agent said he was going to do, and that was show up and participate in mandatory minicamp.

Now, I don't think you link two and two together and put two and two together. The Bills, they just announced via Adam Schefter, he was reporting that the Bills have canceled practice tomorrow. A ton of teams do that for these three, four-day sessions of mandatory minicamp since they're really monotonous and irrelevant to begin with other than you just gotta show up because they're mandatory, that if a coach likes what he's seeing so far, the coach will say, guys, I'll give you the final day off and we'll cancel them for the rest of the week. So I don't think this is, oh, everything's so crazy with Stefan Diggs and Sean McDermott and Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills that they're just going to cancel the minicamp coming up tomorrow, and that will be it, and then we'll see you the next time training camp does get underway and training camp does commence. But yesterday, you had an angry Sean McDermott, a Sean McDermott that said he was very concerned about Stefan Diggs not being there, and then, what, 30, 40 minutes later, it was the agent coming on out for Stefan Diggs and saying, I don't know what Sean McDermott's talking about pretty much. He was there Monday, did the medical testing, and then was there on Tuesday, and then you got a little clarity from the Buffalo Bills.

Well, yeah, he was here Monday, he was here Tuesday, but he left before practice did start. So did he leave practice because he was angry and didn't tell anyone, or did he storm out of the meeting between Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean, tell them, bleep you, pretty much, I'm not going to practice, I'm going home. We don't know, but when Sean McDermott addressed reporters yesterday, it made you seem like not everything was good, and then today, Stefan Diggs shows up like nothing ever happened, shaking hands, you know, a bunch of handshakes with Josh Allen and Gabe Davis, we've all seen that video, and afterwards, pretty much, Sean McDermott was like, yep, nothing to see here, a lot of misconfusion going on in the last 24 hours. Well, all I'll say, and we'll play the audio in just a bit, the Buffalo Bills created this problem because if something was happening, something clearly did happen behind the scenes, I don't think Stefan Diggs just walked out of there and said, oh yeah, I didn't know practice was happening on a Tuesday afternoon, but something happened and there's a way to diffuse situations when they happen, and how many times do things happen in an NFL locker room or an NFL facility, and we don't find out about them until after the season or years and years down the road when a player tells a story, an untold story, when he's trying to break into the media, or he's on some podcast or a radio show, but Sean McDermott, who, I'll give credit to Marco Belletti who does updates around here and does updates on the show, and is now a father of three, by the way, so congratulations to Marco. Marco was really the first one yesterday to kind of blast Sean McDermott, that regardless of what happened, don't let your emotions get the best of you, you gotta kind of keep it close to the vest, in-house, yeah, you have to say something because the reporters aren't dummies, well, some of them could be, but not all of them, they have eyes and they're looking at the players on the field and it's like, okay, this player's here, this player's here, this player's here, oh, where's the captain, where's 14, where's Stefan Diggs? So naturally it will create questions, and this was the audio from yesterday of Sean McDermott answering where the heck Stefan Diggs was.

Steph is not here, everybody else is here at the current time. How concerned are you about that? Oh, very concerned, yeah, very concerned. I'm not going to get into, and listen, I respect everyone's, everyone's questions and what they want to know about our team, right now I'm just, I'm not going to get into, into that anymore, so we'll talk about practice, happy to do that, happy to answer those questions, and we'll move forward from there. So that's Sean McDermott yesterday, I'm very concerned that Stefan Diggs is not here, and I'm not going to take any more questions. It would kind of be like, if we're going to equate it to this show, if I start the show and out of nowhere, Hickey isn't here, but I knew something happened behind the scenes, and someone called in and they were like, hey Zach, I just called in at 855-212-4CBS, where is Hot Take Hickey?

Where is the very popular and infamous Hot Take Hickey? And I go, I'm just concerned that he's not, that he's not here, but I'm not going to take any further questions. When you say he's, you're concerned that he's not there, it implies that you're worried that something is going wrong. So Sean McDermott yesterday, I don't know if he was lying, I don't know if he was frustrated, I don't know what the heck he was thinking. We'll get to his stuff from today in just a second, but first let's hear from Josh Allen, the quarterback yesterday, and what he had to say on the entire situation. I know internally we're, we're working on some things, not football related, but, you know, Steph, he's my guy. I, excuse me, I love him.

He's a brother of mine. You know, this does not work, what we're doing here without him. You know, we, we wish he was in here today and was out there on the field with us, and that's, that's not the case, but I've got his back no matter what. So the quarterback says there's some stuff going on internally, not football related. The coach said he's very concerned that Staphon Diggs isn't there. That's all yesterday. Now I have not seen Staphon Diggs speak to reporters today.

All I did see was that he showed up to practice and he looked like he was in a jovial mood. And I don't think that this just all blows over. Now I do think it's good that everyone gets away from one another right now, and you'll see what happens when they reconvene in a few weeks for training camp when you get to July. But when you look at what happened the last 24 hours, it was a good putting on a front today by the Buffalo Bills that everything's okay to try to move on from this situation and work through these things privately, not in the public eye, and not throwing gasoline on the fire. But let's hear from the coach and Sean McDermott today, because you know, they're going to run his ass right back to the podium after all this stuff is going on down. Sean McDermott now says that Staphon Diggs did nothing wrong yesterday.

Let me be clear. Staphon did everything that he was asked to do. He was here Monday and executed his physical on time. Staphon reported yesterday, Tuesday, and reported for meetings, at which time we had a good conversation, great communication. And we got to a point yesterday where we just felt like we all needed a break and some space. And so I gave Staph permission to get some space and head out and then picked up those conversations after practice. So let me make it clear it was not Staph leaving unexcused. He was excused by me. And so those conversations have got us to what I think and believe is a great spot.

So Hickey, I'm just going to ask you to interpret that. He was very concerned yesterday. And now today, it was the communication was phenomenal. He was excused from practice. Everything's great.

I love Staphon Diggs. You can't have it both ways. Now, it's clear that's the cover up today. But what the heck actually happened? This is just a bunch of nonsense.

It really is ridiculous. And you know me, I like Sean McDermott a lot. I've advocated for years when he wasn't head coach for Sean McDermott to be a coach. I thought he should have got the job in Philadelphia. Eventually, it went to Doug Peterson, ended up working.

He won a Super Bowl. For a while, Buffalo went like, what, 20 years without making the playoffs. They get there, all they've done has been be in the postseason under Sean McDermott. But McDermott had no control of the situation yesterday. And when I hear those answers, I'll take my best stab at it and my best guest at it. And I think it's only two things potentially. Either they talked about something, it got heated, and McDermott was like, bleep, you go home.

We don't even want you here. Or Staphon Diggs got annoyed at something. And then Staphon Diggs said, bleep, you guys, I'm leaving. And then today, they're just going to say, oh, yeah, it was an excuse absence for Staphon Diggs because they're trying to do some damage control here.

I think it is the, actually, I don't know who said who, but I do think that Sean McDermott got what he wanted yesterday. He wanted attention on this. He wanted Staphon Diggs because I think he knows Staphon Diggs was in the wrong. And I think he wanted to, in a way, by saying he's very concerned and now drawing attention because he's no idiot. These coaches, especially Sean McDermott, know the easiest way to make something non-story is to say right away, yesterday, oh, Staphon's not here. I excuse him.

He'll be back tomorrow, no problem. And it's really not a story. He purposely said, I'm concerned because he wanted attention on the story. And I think he wanted attention on Staphon Diggs.

And now all of a sudden, it's, well, why is Staphon Diggs not there? What's going on? What is he upset about? I think he got what he wanted yesterday.

But let me just ask you this, and I'm not saying that you're totally wrong. I have no clue what the heck is going on. No one knows what's going on besides Staphon Diggs.

I think he got what he wanted. No one knows what's going on besides Staphon Diggs, Brandon Bean, Sean McDermott. And I guess we could also throw Josh Allen into that conversation. And whoever's gossiping inside that Buffalo Bills locker room, maybe the other players as well, because you know how quickly words do travel there.

But it's just, if that is true, what you're saying, that he wanted to make this a big story, what leverage do you really have? You just gave the guy a big fat contract extension. You're not going to trade him for this upcoming year. You have to go make another run at a Super Bowl. And everyone goes home or goes back to the off-season until training camp today or tomorrow.

I don't get what you're trying to accomplish. If that was what Sean McDermott set out to do was to prove a point to Staphon Diggs and cause attention and raise attention to this situation, what leverage do you really have when the guy is the second most important player on the offense side of the ball, maybe on the team? I guess you could argue Von Miller too. We know Josh Allen is one, but a top three important player on your team and you can't move him really right now because the guy has a ridiculous contract.

That's a leverage. The Bills aren't trading him. He's not, I don't think, going to request a trade. Where is he going that's better right now situationally for him than Buffalo? He's a number one receiver on a Super Bowl contender and he's a top five paid wide receiver.

You're not getting that anywhere else. You go to Kansas City, you're not the number one receiver. It's Travis Kelce. Well, technically you're not the number one receiver. Sure, but the number one option.

I'd be thrilled if I go to Kansas City, if I was the fun. So you're not going anywhere else where you are going to get the targets you want and also compete for a Super Bowl compared to where you are right now in Buffalo with Josh Allen. But the quarterback says that this isn't football related. So I think he's covering. Who knows what's true? I don't, but no one's story is making two plus two equals four here. They're trying to tell you that, but it's not because one day it's, oh, we're concerned.

Then, oh, he did nothing wrong. And then it's the quarterback saying, yeah, it's a personal thing, not football related. We're working through some things right now. Can I call a quick audible? Can I play you a piece of sound? Number four. I think Sean McDermott kind of let the cat out of the bag a little bit in terms of what is going on in his explanation.

While also kind of not giving away too many details, but this is Sean McDermott. I feel like we're in a real good spot. So the rest of it though, the details of it, again, I want to respectfully answer your questions, but at the same time, keep those conversations in house.

No, I feel like it's resolved. I'm not going to get into what we did or didn't do. I feel overall that we take a hard, hard look at the season and review. And we come out of those meetings with some real truths about what we could have done better, whether it's getting Steph the ball in this case. And listen, getting Steph the ball is an important part of our offense.

There's no reason to say it isn't. He's the big focal point of our offense in addition to Josh. And so it's important to get him going. And the more production he has, the more production we have as an offense. So they're going to talk about getting him more targets. I guess that's what I really took away from that. Which is going back to last year, his frustration with how the game is called and not getting the ball in the playoff game. But do you take that and actually believe that that's the root of the issue here?

Yes, I do. I can't believe anyone here because McDermott was annoyed yesterday. Now he's all fine today. Josh Allen said that they're working through some things that is not football related. And then, by the way, what really changed since we got on the air yesterday until today, where he showed up when you had Staphon Diggs posting an ambiguous message on social media and then also liking these two tweets. It's past time for the Bills to show us Staphon Diggs, who's boss.

You can't have the student in charge of the school. Diggs is sabotaging the season before it starts. What's going to happen if they sign Hopkins that will get worse? He liked that tweet yesterday, then also liked how to get an entire fan base to turn on you by acting like a 14-year-old girl.

The Steph Diggs story. So he was clearly annoyed about something last night. And these are two. One person has 308 followers that tweeted that.

The other person has 80 followers. That's what he's liking last night. And he's posting an ambiguous message on Instagram. So do I think that everyone got in the room this morning and they were holding hands, singing Kumbaya, now everything is fixed as the coach just basically tried to tell you?

No, I don't buy that for a single second. I don't buy what anyone's saying here because McDermott showed his true colors yesterday. Josh Allen probably said more than he needed to say. Diggs won't talk to anybody. No one's making sense here because they're all lying about something. They're covering something up and no one wants to actually tell the truth here of this situation. And who the heck knows what's actually going on? But do I think whatever happened yesterday was just a giant miscommunication? Absolutely not, Hickey.

No, I don't know. I think that Sean McDermott got what he wanted. He wanted to call out Safan Diggs.

Safan Diggs got a lot of negative attention toward his way. And it's part of the reason why he's back today. I think he knows he's not in the right. And finally, Sean McDermott, I don't think he knows that.

If he is, I don't think he thinks that way whatsoever. You just got to show up eventually. McDermott and why he said he was concerned yesterday. This is not your first press conference with me. Whenever a player has something going on or misses, not misses, but he's not here for some reason, I am concerned. That's my sentiment with any player. In particular, a player as important to us as Steph. So when I say very concerned, I'm very concerned because it's a situation with one of our players and it was something that we needed to work through. But I thought this was an excuse absence yesterday. But what is this guy talking about?

You know what, Hickey? I didn't think this a few weeks ago. This dude's on the hot seat this year, McDermott. Because I think the guy's a really good football coach. But the last few years, they've been stuck on being a team that has been a contender but hasn't got over the hump. And now, I'll tell you this, there's no way your star wide receiver and him are on the same page. And if things don't go his way in Stephon Diggs, he'll have an outburst throughout the season.

There's no doubt about that. And I don't think Diggs is going anywhere anytime soon, unless there's something going on between him and the quarterback. Because if the quarterback then says bleep you, you're going to take the side of the side of the franchise quarterback, obviously. We got no clarity today other than yesterday looked ugly and then today the Bills are like, yep, it's fine. They tried to put lipstick on a pig today. It's still a pig.

It's still a messy situation. They have talent. They'll be a playoff team.

I know the AFC's got better, but they'll definitely be in the playoffs. But man, this is something slow to monitor. I know it's early. It's only the middle of June.

Maybe they could find a way to smooth this thing over, but right now, this is ugly. And there's no way in 24 hours it goes from we're furious to now, as you would say, Hickey, no big deal, no big deal, no big deal. Zach Gelb's show, CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show.

Zach Gelb's show, CBS Sports Radio. Hickey, I'm in a great mood today. I'm feeling really optimistic for the first time in a long time.

Any reason why that could be? But I'm pretty, pretty, pretty positive today and pretty optimistic about one specific thing going on in my life. Is it your driving skills that you'll be needing to use on Friday? I've been practicing recently now that you're a city goer who does not own a car. Have you been back on the island, maybe driving your folks' cars in preparation for parking cars for D.A.

's morning show? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, not at all.

I know you've done any preparation. Parallel parking's like riding a bike, you know? You're parallel parking? Oof. I'm imagining that you gotta.

Oof. That's tough. See, I'm not going to care. Like I won't let the pressure of the moment get to me. If that was you, you have a bunch of Long Islanders screaming at you, you'd be shaking and probably crash the car. No, no, not crash the car, but I would, I would order the cars in a way where I would pull it up or park it in front, not have to put two cars. Let me just, oh, let me just whip it around in parallel park and make it more difficult on myself. Well, to be fair, you've been the bad boy of radio here at CBS Sports Radio. I don't think it's gonna, it would be safe if you were driving a car either way. That would be actually good for the brand. Bang up some of the bang up some of the cars.

They're all bad boy of radio and also bad boy driver as well. Like, look at me dinging other people's cars. I don't care.

Maybe, you know, maybe I should make a stop by. Maybe I'll take over your duties. I got this, everyone. All right. I'm not liable though. Can't sue me.

All right. Just like a valet. Can't sue for the damage that ensues. I would assume it's more likely that you would just, if you like a car, if you're the bad boy of radio, you would just bolt off with the car like 150 miles per hour down the street on Long Island.

That's what I would. I wouldn't hijack a car. Why not?

Grand Theft Auto. I don't want to go. I would not do well in jail. Yeah, you definitely would not. I would be too afraid. I don't think anyone would do well in jail. And if you do, I don't wanna be hanging out with you, but I don't think that's not exactly the place I want to be. That is, that is for sure. Hickey would be saying hello to Big Bob, by the way. Yeah, I would not like that.

Especially for the summertime. How about the inmate who sent me a letter of this had to be like a month and a half ago now, I think that he wrote me like an eight page letter and then put it in the envelope, ripped it up though. We got to get someone around here to put that together. That could be a fun kind of activity one day. Before the show, maybe we'll put that thing together. We'll find someone to do it. Like a puzzle. Yeah. Yeah.

It's always someone looking to suck up around here. I'm sure they'd be happy to put together the ripped up letter. I have a feeling, I would guess maybe a few pieces are missing on purpose, so you can't actually put it together. And maybe you're scrambling around to find the few missing pieces.

Just like there's a reason why he ripped it up. It's a thorough note. I don't know what it says. It's a very thorough note. Now, when I used to do the weekend overnights, I would have inmates that would reach out to me.

I don't know why they would do this because I'm not a great gambler, but they would write letters to me saying, oh, talk more gambling and give more picks. So I felt compelled to do that more because I don't want to upset anyone that's in prison spending their outside time listening to me for a few hours. Jail has radio. Yeah.

I didn't know that. Jail, you could listen to the radio in jail. I've only gone to jail one time. Class field trip.

Not enjoyable whatsoever. Did they have the prisoners come up to you and try to intimidate you? Yes, they did. It was general population.

And let me tell you, there's no radios to be found. Yeah. Someone that I know did listen to the show when they were in jail for a little bit.

Interesting. So, yeah, I guess we're very popular in jail and you would be popular either way in jail. I would think Hickey as well.

Again, which is why I'm not going to hijack any cars and not commit any crimes anytime soon. Imagine Hickey sees Big Bob in jail. He goes, oh, I know your hot take Hickey of CBS Sports Radio. Those shower videos might go a little differently for a PG program. Listen, your mind went there. That's on you from shower.

No cap to shower. Oh, crap. Yeah. Pretty much.

But anyway, no, you didn't get to I'm in a good mood today. You want to keep on guessing here? I think it's pretty obvious. I have run out of guesses. Oh, wow.

That brain's really working all that so well for you today. Well, you've even said it before. I've not been very optimistic in the three long struggling years for the football team that I root for. You know, it has been tough the last three years with all the losing that they've been doing and only going to the postseason one time and going back to just an average person, an average football fan.

It hasn't been fun after my football team dominated the football world for basically 20 years. I really do believe that DeAndre Hopkins, who visits tomorrow, he may not sign a contract tomorrow because I saw you in Rapport Saturday. He may wait until the start of training camp.

So like what, you're five, six weeks away. But I really do believe that come the fall, DeAndre Hopkins is going to be catching passes from one Mark Jones. I really do believe that. And Diana Rossini put out today, DeAndre Hopkins expected a visit with the Patriots later today and tomorrow morning per sources. For those who have raised some concerns about the Pats offense, according to Bill O'Brien and Hopkins pass relationship in Houston, sources have shared there's no animosity at all. Then Mark Daniels also covers the team. Hopkins former Texans wide receiver coach, Sean Perry told him this off season that he still talks to DeAndre and he's close with O'Brien.

Perry said the pair would easily work together again. So Hickey, I'm feeling really good about DeAndre Hopkins landed at one Patriot place and being a Patriot this year. And it needs to happen. Bill Belichick needs to get this done. I'm not saying for DeAndre Hopkins is the most attractive destination and best destination, but I think he's prioritizing money. The Patriots have a ton of money to spend.

So give him whatever he wants. You get a number one wide receiver for Mac Jones and you bump down Trudy Smith Schuster and Kendrick Bourne and Thorton down the depth chart, all that. You have a solid receiving court. You got Ramondre Stevenson in the backfield. And now it's finally time to put up or shut up for Mac Jones where you have a competent offensive coordinator instead of those two clowns and Patricia and also Joe Judge. You should have been nowhere near the offensive side of the ball last year. And now you get Bill O'Brien in there and you get him a legit number one wide receiver. And I'm not telling you that Mac Jones is going to be great, but in year number one, he did a solid job, but now we could properly and fairly evaluate Mac Jones if in fact the Patriots do get DeAndre Hopkins. So I'm feeling good. I'm feeling pretty good about this.

Yeah. I mean, there's a reason why I said you can evaluate what Mac Jones is. I still don't think it's going to be a very good quarterback, but at least you get that opportunity now where at the end of 2023, you can definitively say if he's not good. Okay. He had every opportunity to succeed and now again move on.

Oh, it's okay. If you're saying that a quarterback's not going to be good, I feel pretty good about him than being good because you were the one that hit your wagon to Sam Darnold that you wanted him in Indianapolis. You're throwing a parade over Carson Wentz.

So you know what? If Hickey's saying that Mac Jones is going to be no bueno, no good, I'm feeling pretty damn good about it. Maybe I'll start at reserving my spot at his hall of fame speech in Canton, Ohio. If in fact Mac Jones would actually show up to the Pro Football Hall of Fame to accept that honor because I still can't get over the Jimmy Butler stuff.

I know CeeLo's here, but CeeLo, what did you make of that? Jimmy Butler saying, I know it's in the heat of the moment, you're in the midst of the NBA Finals and maybe your attention is focused in other places, but all he's had to overcome and like the ultimate underdog, right? Jimmy Butler persona that he puts on a lot of it is true. Him not showing up at his own hall of fame ceremony. Like give me a break. I think it was a bit of an exaggeration. I think he was just underscoring how for him, certainly in that moment, it's just all the focus and all the attention, all the efforts is being put towards hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy as he liked to say. I want to do a quick exercise here. Where's DeAndre Hopkins winding up?

Hickey, what's your guess? DeAndre Hopkins playing where next year? I will go with the Cleveland Browns. Gotcha. That's boring. Who wants to go to Cleveland? Are there any other visits lined up? Tennessee, New England. So far, that's it.

That's it? Now, Rappaport said today, don't expect him to sign this week. He may drag this out until training camp because you never know.

Someone gets hurt early. Well, first off, players don't love going to training camp to begin with, but then someone gets hurt and then that team has the money and there's a need there because Hopkins could say he wants to go to a winner and the Patriots right now aren't a winner. They're not going to go contend for a Super Bowl this season. I don't even think there's a good chance they're going to make the playoffs. But when you have Belichick there, you could talk yourself into a lesser desirable destination, ending up being a better one because they could pay you and you could be a number one wide receiver at a one year deal. I don't know how the money would work and how they would structure it because this particular team doesn't have a ton of space up against the cap. How about the Giants?

Ooh. And they do need a number one wide receiver. Now, Darren Waller is there, which is sort of a pseudo receiver, but he struggled to stay healthy.

I could see that as a possibility. Now, how would Saquon Barkley take that? Where they reportedly, the deal's back on the table, worth up to $14 million a year. I hate when something's reported like that.

And I know you were a beat reporter for a long time. Oh, they offered him a contract worth up to $14 million a year. Well, what do you have to do to get to $14 million? And what is the more realistic money if he's not a superstar this season? You have to promise the Giants you're first born in order to get to that.

That's pretty much how sometimes those things shake out. So I'm going to go with the Patriots for Hopkins. What about Dalvin Cook? Hickey, where are you going for Dalvin Cook right now? Those are the two most attractive names on the market.

I also go with the Denver Broncos. Even though reportedly they're not showing interest. Yes.

Okay. CeeLo? Jets. And I think it's the Jets as well. Especially with now the report that he's looking for what, like $10 million or something like that?

They don't have a ton of money either from the standpoint of we have to wait and see how they're going to structure the Rogers deal. But if he wants Cook there, I'd imagine they figure out how to get that done. I would agree. And also I like Breece Hall.

And I know an ACL is not the way that it was looked like now back in the eighties and the nineties without quickly guys recover. But let's see what... Take Juan Barkley a full year and change. That's true. So let's see what Breece Hall looks like. And then I like Michael Carter, a friend to show. But let's be real. Michael Carter is no Dalvin Cook.

Few are. Yeah. So I do think Rogers familiarity that NFC North now going into the AFC East, he's going to look around that back field and go, okay, I like what we got a wide receiver. Also, the Jets just so happened to have no interest in DeAndre Hopkins. I think they knew this Dalvin Cook news was coming. And they're like, okay, let's go allocate the resources there to Dalvin Cook because our president, GM, quarterback coach, offensive coordinator, head coach, and oh yeah, by the way, star quarterback Aaron Rodgers really, really wants him.

It is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We will come on back, talk about Zion Williamson. And no, it's not necessarily any inside information about what's going on away from the court, but could Zion Williamson maybe be on the move?

And I'm not talking about the someone else's bedroom. Could he be on a move to a new team? We'll talk about that on the other side. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Yo, yo, Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. The man they call windy, Brian Windhorst, was on Get Up earlier this morning. And he says that Zion Williamson could be on the trade block.

Listen up. The league is certainly wondering if the Pelicans are going to make for the first time truly Zion Williamson available ahead of next week's draft. To get up to that level in the top five, you'd have to consider a player of this caliber. He's obviously had injury history, a little bit of off season drama recently.

I'm sorry. Is the off season drama any reason why the Pelicans would be like, oh, I'm going to go trade Zion Williamson because he may or may not have been sleeping around with a lot of different women. I don't get me wrong. I'm not sitting there saying that, yeah, Zion Williamson's a hundred percent in the right. But if that's the case that they're thinking about trading that guy or it's factoring into why you would trade him because of the off season drama, then you'd have to trade like, what, half the stars in the NBA if they slept with multiple women or something like that? Like, come on.

I don't know about you, Hickey. There's no way that the off season drama is like the last straw here with the Pelicans when it comes to Zion Williamson. I mean, it's obviously definitely not what you want to see if you're the Pelicans. Not exactly a positive. But with that said, I'm with you. Yeah. Like, it doesn't help him.

But yeah, it's also not a reason why you're going to trade him. That's for sure. And also the lady that's putting everything out there, is she the most trustworthy source in the world?

Let's just say like, I don't know. She's been talking about this. She's still talking about this right now. I'm not saying she's in the wrong, but I can automatically say that everything she's saying is 100% true. Giving a lot of intimate details.

Oh, there's a lot of she's not shy evidence that's getting thrown out there. I'm not saying that Zion looks to be like the greatest person in the world, but it's not as if this is why you would get rid of a player. The reason why you would get rid of Zion Williamson is because you don't buy that he's ever going to be healthy.

It has nothing to do with that. He's like sleeping with like six or seven different women. He just made a big time financial commitment to this guy. And yeah, when he's on the court, he's a beast.

He's a force to be reckoned with. But the problem is the dude is never on the court. And then when he's out for a little bit, it's like, yeah, he'll be back. And then he never comes back.

When that guy misses any sort of time, you could just say, see you next year. Cuz that's what it turns out to be at this point. Do you think the Pelicans, who right now, they sit with the 14th pick in the draft, and Windhorst said they're trying to move up. So if they're trying to move up into the top five picks, you know when Benyama and the Spurs, they're not even taking the phone call.

I saw that report today. Charlotte at two, you're probably going to make the pick, either Miller or Henderson. You kind of start with Portland, Houston and Detroit. There would be a lot of jokes to be made if Imea Doka is coaching Zion Williamson, and the Rockets do have the fourth overall pick. Detroit, you just got Monty Williams. Do I think that's a move that you're going to make right away?

Yeah, sure. I don't know, next time you're going to have a chance to get a play with the upside of Zion Williamson. But once again, the guy's never healthy. And I don't think bringing in Zion Williamson, if I'm Dame Lillard, makes me say, oh, now I feel real great about the direction of the Portland Trail Blazers. Now, I'm not disputing the report that maybe the Pelicans would consider it, but it has nothing to do with any of the nookie time that's going on away from the basketball court. This would be more so that the Pelicans just want to be done with Zion Williamson, because even though he can be a great player, the dude is hurt all the time. That's just the way that I look at this, Hickey.

Oh, without a doubt, yeah. I mean, that's the only reason you're trading him, because he plays well. I think the most games he's played is 30-some games in a season. He's never around. He's never around, never available. And you don't really, I think part of it's also on the Pelicans for handling him too much with K gloves, but anytime he gets hurt, there's also a lot of mystery of when he's returning.

And that whole rehab process is a drama cycle in and of itself. So yeah, if you're the Pelicans, I absolutely get why at this point, you're like, you know what? The talent that he has and when he's on the court, he's great. The issue is though he's not on the court enough to justify all the drama and all of the absences that also come with it.

Can I ask you what probably should be a simple question, but it's not always. How many years do you think Zion Williamson has been in the league? Four, right?

Since 2019. So was that four seasons? It's been a league for three years. That seems like a whole lot more than just three seasons.

It really does. You look at the numbers right here for Zion Williamson, the most games he's played in a season was 61. 24-61 and then 29 games for Zion Williamson. Doesn't it seem like that's been a whole lot more or was it four? Did he miss his entirety of his first year, Hickey? He missed his entirety the 2021-2022 season. So he's played three years, but he's been in the league for four. Oh yeah, that's right.

Duh, sorry. Four years, but he's only played in three. Yes. I just skipped over that 2021-2022 season. You're right when reading that. Think about that.

That's a problem. Doesn't that seem as a guy, it feels like he's been in the league a lot longer than just four seasons because of how much time we spend talking about him not being on the court. It's kind of crazy when you think about that.

Yeah. And also too, when he's as hyped as he is, you know, we see him at Duke. So it's almost kind of a countdown of, oh, I can't wait until he's in the NBA. Then he gets there and anytime you get a little glimpse of him playing well and the excitement starts to build, it's up, there's a hamstring and up, there's a quad and up, there's a shoulder injury. And now he's out and we don't know when he's going to return. And there's some, it feels also inevitable. There's always some sort of setback as well that happens in the rehab process that pushes the timeline way further back than the Pelicans and the media and the fans were expecting. I totally get if I'm the new ones, I absolutely would follow through, assuming the package is right, of trading Zion. Enough is enough.

Now, you know what you would counter-argue just one thing here? Joel Embiid missed a lot of time early. He didn't even play like his first few years in the league. Joel Embiid got drafted in 2014. He didn't play until the 2016-2017 season.

31 games, 63-64, 51-51, 68-68 to the current date. But Joel Embiid did just win an MVP last year. Do you maybe look at it saying, you know what, you'll learn a little bit from the Sixers. They stayed patient with Joel Embiid and they eventually ended up getting a a great basketball player. And we'll see if they go win a championship.

I'm skeptical about that, but when we're sitting here right now, maybe that does factor into the decision. Because I'm not, like, what are you going to get if you trade Zion Williamson right now? I do think people look at the upside and he's what, only 22 years old, turns 23 coming up in July.

But the guy hasn't really been able to prove anything because he hasn't been healthy. So I don't think you just sell just to sell, especially when you're the Pelicans. It's like, okay, yeah, you have a nice core, a nice little young roster, but I'm not just giving away for nothing. And I don't think those teams that are sitting right at the top of the draft, like Portland, Houston, and Detroit, I don't know how much interest they would have in doing this deal right now with the financial commitment too. Well, if you can get back to number two overall pick, number three overall pick, and you get a guy like Scoot Henderson who's supposed to be this legitimate point guard, if you're in New Orleans. The other thing too about the Embiid point, yes, Philly practiced patience and it worked. Also, if you're in New Orleans, Philly was tanking at the time when Embiid was hurt, so they could afford to just keep them around and all losses don't matter. I mean, look, it was a small sample size, but when Zion was healthy on the court, the Pelicans were in first place in the West. Again, small sample size, but they're going for it. They're not in a situation where they can afford, oh, let's just wait around and get a few extra lottery picks and hopefully in three years of Zion's healthy, we'll have it work out. They're trying to win now. If you can get a point guard on your team with Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum and try to capitalize on a West where we talked about the other day, that's not exactly filled with a ton of contenders right now.

I get why if you're in New Orleans, you say, I want to go for it now. Let's get us a guy in the draft that we think could be the difference instead of hoping and waiting that two, three years from now Zion can get his health back on track. Are you really going to be contending for a championship though? Because who knows what the young player that you're going to go get and traded for is going to turn out to be. Zion was supposed to be the guy. He's supposed to be a transcendent player. One of the more hype prospects ever. And look where we are now. So who knows? It's a crap shoot either way. I still think he's going to be on the Pelicans next year. I do. And let's just hope that he could actually get his ass on the court.