Should Damian Lillard Stay or Go? (Hour 4)

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Visit max.com. Our number four of our radio program. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It is the Zach Yelp Show on CBS Sports Radio. Coming up, 20 minutes from now, we'll tap into the Portland Trailblazer. We'll do so with the man that's covered the team for a long time. Sean Hyken is going to join us as there's a lot to get into on the news today from Chris Haynes that the Trailblazer star Damian Lillard and his agent Aaron Goodwin are meeting with the team to discuss the franchise's direction.

That is what league sources told Chris Haynes over at NBA on TNT and also Bleacher Report. So this does spark our poll question for today. Damian Lillard, do you believe he'll get traded at some point this offseason by the Portland Trailblazers?

54.4% right now say yes, 45.6% say no. This is one of those cases where we talk about a lot on this show, Hycky. What should happen and what will happen? What should happen is Damian Lillard should go to the Portland Trailblazers and say, guys, I love you. I wanted to stay here. I still want to stay here, but you're not doing enough to put me in the best position possible to go win a championship with the three, maybe four at most prime years that I have left of my NBA career. So I need to be out, but every corner you turn, Damian Lillard keeps on opening up a door for the Portland Trailblazers.

It was just last week, right before the draft, Damian Lillard with the third overall pick has expressed to the Portland Trailblazers how he is done with the youth movement and he wants veteran pieces. Now the Portland Trailblazers made the right move and there was no one out there that was worthy of trading for the third overall pick. You're not trading for Zion Williams and the guy's never healthy. So you go draft Scoot Henderson.

Fine. I'm not telling you Scoot Henderson is going to turn into some star, but I understand what they were doing. But after making up and putting up so much of a stink to go get a veteran player, now the card by Dame is, I need you guys to still go get me veterans. And I know free agency starts coming up later on at the end of the week on Friday and trades could still happen. We've already seen Bradley Beal dealt to the Suns. Kristaps Porzingis is going to the Boston Celtics. But Chris Paul goes to the Warriors.

But what else is going to transpire from now in like the next 30, 31 days or so? That's going to make Damian Lillard say I want to stay. And I really do believe it's his loyalty that makes him want to stay. And you know how we talk about the Andre Hopkins, right? The Andre Hopkins says he wants to win, but he prioritizes other things where it's money and it's getting the number one wide receiver role. It's kind of like the same thing here where Damian Lillard says he wants to win. But then he keeps on going back to Portland and saying, no, I really want to stay.

And I saw the Sam Amick report. If that's all it takes that like his dream is what to play with Jeremy Grant is already on the team. And then I think it was Draymond Green hickey. If that's all it is, does anyone look at Portland, at Portland, even if, and we all know that Draymond Green's not going to Portland. Draymond Green's going back to the Golden State Warriors. I would love if Draymond left the Golden State Warriors because it'd be shame on, on the Golden State Warriors for giving this guy the benefit of the doubt once again. And I thought they should have picked Jordan Poole over Draymond Green.

They didn't do so. So it would be funny after trading Jordan Poole, if then Draymond says bleep you I'm out. But even if Portland got Grant back and then Draymond Green on that team, like, yeah, sure. With Damian Lillard and some of the younger pieces, Anfri Simons and, and Shaden Sharpe, and now Scoot Henderson, you should be able to go make the playoffs. But does anyone look at that team and goes, oh my goodness gracious, the Portland Trailblazers are a championship contending team. But for Dame, the priority is to stay in Portland where I think he could easily get talked into saying that they're a championship team. If they just do minuscule moves, like I really do believe Hickey, we've all been looking at this wrong this off season where it's, oh, what big move can Portland make?

And I have some guy that tweets me every day. You said you weren't advocating for Dame to leave. I don't think Dame is leaving. I think Dame is staying. I really do.

But, and I don't want to see him go, but he should go. And I keep on asking this one guy that keeps on tweeting me, you know, how about you be different and tell me the moves that Dame can make, you know, that Portland could make to keep Dame. You know what?

I'll tell you that answer. I don't think it's that much because I don't think Dame, who says he wants to win a championship, is as serious about winning a championship as he says he is. Cause if that's the case, he would have left Portland two years ago. So maybe it's just bringing back Jeremy Grant and make him one other smaller move, Hickey.

And it's that simple. Cause I don't think it's going to take much for Damian Lillard to once again, tell this organization, I want to stay with you. And I want to be a part of it because he clearly prioritizes the Portland Trailblazers and staying in Portland over winning a championship because he still has that dream that he could win a championship in Portland. And I really don't see what move they could make this off season where in three, four months, when we're previewing the NBA, we're saying, Oh, okay. Portland's a championship contender.

I just don't see it. My frustration a lot is I just don't know what he actually wants because he gives out so many different messages of wanting to stay in Portland, of giving them, you know, multiple opportunities to build a championship contender around them. He has reportedly made demands.

They were not met. And we thought that was gonna be the end of his time. And all of a sudden, now you have Chris Haynes reporting that, well, Dame's actually now looking to be on a super team. Dame actually just wants to have a chance now.

And so now it goes from winning a championship to just making the playoffs, basically. He wants to win a championship in Portland. That's what he wants to do. I mean, does he? Because then all of a sudden he's on podcast where two weeks ago saying, Oh, let's play in Miami.

I love to play with Mikel Bridges. He just gives off so many different messages of what he wants. I'm not sure he knows what he wants. So earlier in the show, I said, Damian Lillard is like the fat kid who says he wants to lose weight. But then right after saying that he rushes to a fast food store, gets a bunch of greasy food, then for dessert, has a big fat bowl of ice cream, eats 10 cookies, and then in the middle of the night makes nachos. That's what I said earlier, Damian Lillard is like, you're saying you want to win a championship.

You're saying you want to lose weight, but then your actions aren't reflecting it. I really do believe at this point, it's like Damian Lillard has put himself in a position where he's saying, I want to win a championship in Portland. And he hasn't been able to move off of winning a championship somewhere else, even though he's thrown out there, Miami and Brooklyn, which you're not winning a championship in Brooklyn. You could win a championship in Miami. It's almost at the point where I'll make another comparison. Hey, when you were growing up as a kid, you wanted to probably be a professional athlete, right?

I think everyone goes through that phase. You wanted to be a baseball player? Baseball and football. Okay. So you wanted to do both? Well, not both, but you know, there's one point baseball, then all actually I'll be a pro football player instead.

Okay. So let's just say it was baseball, right? And you held on to that dream for so long where you're like, I want to be a baseball player. And then you realize you weren't gonna be a baseball player. Then it's like, oh, I want to be a football player.

You didn't even go to something else until eventually going down the road that you did travel on. That's what Dame's doing right now. He's saying, I want to win a championship in Portland. It's like the eight-year-old that says, I want to win. When I grow up, I want to be a baseball player. But then when you can't hit a curve ball in little league, you're not going to be a damn baseball player.

If you keep on saying you want to be a baseball player, how realistic is that? And Dame keeps on saying he wants to win that championship in Portland. And the organization keeps on screwing it up. So is it just winning a championship in Portland or is it just winning a championship period?

And I think you have to alter your dreams and you have to adjust your dreams where yes, number one should absolutely be him standing on top of the world. I'm a champion with the Portland Trailblazers, but you're not getting any younger and you don't have that many more prime years left. And when you get older, is this organization going to be in a great spot? Are they going to be ready to go where you could just be not as great as you once were and still win a championship with this team?

Who knows what these youngsters turn out to be? But I don't think that's a good bet right now. And you need to adjust your dream, Damian Lillard, on what you want to be when you grow up.

All right, you may say when you were younger, you want to be a baseball player. Eventually, that's not realistic for most of us. And for him, he wants to win a championship in Portland. Right now, that's not realistic. So if you keep on making us travel down these different roads where it's OK, the dead end should be the third overall pick in the draft.

And now there's a different dead end. Even though I think he should leave and he should find his way out, I don't think the standard and it's really going to take that much for him to talk himself into this team being a championship contender, which is a very ambiguous term. And that's why, even though it does not make sense why he should want to stay, I do think he will be staying in Portland.

And game one for the Portland Trailblazers this year, Damian Lillard will be on the basketball court in a Portland Trailblazers uniform. I really do believe that at this stage. I will believe he's actually going to follow through on the threats, follow through on the maybe a threat, but follow through on the thoughts he's put out there of him leaving. I do believe the athletic report that he's seriously interested in Miami. And I just think at this point you had one last basically demand to give of use that number three pick to get a veteran player that couples win right now.

Portland rightfully did not do that, drafted Scoot Henderson. And I just think that this is now a situation where he tried, didn't work. Okay, fine, you move on and I do think- But he's still giving him a chance to go find something else out in the next month or something, that other report was saying last week. Well, you also you can talk to, okay, what's the next moves from now?

I mean, you also may not like what he hears. But what are you gonna hear that makes you say you're gonna win a championship? You gotta move now. That's what I'm saying, like he's meeting the team today. I'm sure they're talking about what's next. If I'm gonna stay, what's next? You got Scoot Henderson, what are we doing for agency wise? What are we doing trade wise?

What are we other assets we can use? If you don't like what you hear, which I'm sure he's not gonna really like what you hear in terms of having to build or how he's going to build a contender sooner than later, he doesn't have a choice. It's crazy to say this, but I really do believe this.

You know what may be the final straw here? It may end up being, and this is why I will ask Sean Huyck in this, when he joins us coming up in about 10 minutes from now. How likely is it that Jeremy Grant is back with the Portland Trail Blazers? Because if his dream team is, let's just say, Jeremy Grant and Draymond Green, according from that report from Sam Amick, if you just get one of those guys, that may be enough for Dame to talk himself into, all right, this organization is doing something that I want. And if they go get another different player, like it's not Draymond that they'll be getting, but someone else that is a solid player that Dame respects. Because he's a free agent, Jeremy Grant, and we'll see if they end up bringing him back. So I'm curious how realistic it is that he comes back.

Because even though he should not be the final straw, if they don't bring him back, that may be the straw that breaks the camel's back, Hickey. And where that's someone that he considers to be, right, his dream is him and Draymond. If you don't at least get Jeremy Grant back, if Dame is then back in Portland, you just keep on making, I don't want to say threats like you did, but threats, but they end up coming off these demands as empty. If you had back to back scenarios like that, where it's okay, I want to use that third pick to go get a proven talent. If you then bare minimum can't bring back Jeremy Grant, he's supposedly in this report, and who knows what's true and what's false, is part of the dream three for Damian Lillard, Dame, Grant, and then Draymond. If you can't even get Grant back, where else do you go then if you're Dame?

You end up running out of dead ends where you're able to find the way to back your way out of. If Jeremy Grant's future is truly what keeps Damian Lillard in Portland, I don't want to hear about him being motivated to win a championship again. I don't want to hear it. Again, no- But is it that far-fetched? Is it that far-fetched?

I don't think it is. And if that's the case, then again, don't talk about your number one motivation being winning a championship. Jeremy Crane is not the difference between the Blazers being a championship team or not.

There's a long way to go. And again, there's nothing wrong with you wanting to be in Portland your entire career. Not every player is motivated by championships, and I'm not even saying that's a flawed logic. Just don't come out and talk about you wanting to win and then saying, oh, Jeremy Grant's coming back? Actually, yeah, I'm going to stay here and I think I can win here because you're clearly not motivated to win a championship if Jeremy Grant's future is what's going to decide if you stay with Portland or go. And I really do believe Dame is telling you he wants to be Miss America, but he's sitting around stuffing his face with cake and then never working out.

You know, you're not going to win Miss America that way. I really think he's saying something, but he's not putting the action in to accomplish his goal. Because if you want to win a championship, there's nothing Portland's going to be able to do this offseason where you're going to be able to win a championship this upcoming year.

And logically, you're right. He should request a trade. But I think we're in a logical situation right now where he keeps on saying one thing, but the ultimate I want out, I'm going to be traded, never follow suit. And until I hear those words and until I see him traded, I'm going to believe that Damian Lillard is going to continue, even though it's insanity at this point, remain loyal to the Portland Trail Blazers.

It is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. I'm laughing because I know Hickey's really mad with what I just said because he just ripped off his glasses and started what? How would you describe that?

You put the earpiece of your glass, your glasses in your mouth right there, like the tail end, you know? Yeah, I think a lot of people do that. No, I'm not even mad what you're saying. I'm just more mad. Like if you truly, I'm just talking the talk and not walking the walk.

You can absolutely talk about winning a championship and going somewhere else. Do it. I'm sick and tired of you talking about it, flirting with it. Yeah, maybe I'll go here and then not doing so and push comes to shove.

Either stop talking or follow through on the words you're saying. You know when Frank the Tank goes nuts, he kind of has that necklace that turns into a chew toy? Yes. Have we reached the stage where we have to get you a chew toy when you get angry because you just tried to chew your glasses there? I don't want you to break those glasses. That was actually the first time I did that. I feel like I've seen a lot of people do that. I trust you when they're thinking of putting like the end of the glasses in the mouth. I hope this is not a habit. If I see that again, I'm gonna get you a chew toy.

I got you a very nice birthday present that I believe will be shipped here by the end of the week. I don't want to have to add on, have to expedite an Amazon delivery to go get you a chew toy because you look very angry right there. Hopefully I'm not turning into a dog.

We have a lot bigger problems than just Dame's future. Come here, Hickey. All right, sit. Roll over. Pawpaw. Sean Hyken is going to join us next.

It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Life comes with a lot of decisions and it can be hard to know the right path sometimes. A therapist can help you map out what you really want so you trust yourself to make great choices and feel excited about the future. BetterHelp offers convenient professional online therapy on your schedule however you want it by phone, chat, or video call. Let therapy be your map with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com positive today to get 10% off your first month.

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But isn't that what you'd expect from the ultimate electric driving machine? Take advantage of exceptional lease and finance offers today. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Should Dame stay or should he go? I feel like this is a yearly tradition that we have each and every year on CBS Sports Radio. Let's go out to the hotline right now. I'm welcoming a man that's covered the Portland Trailblazers for a long time. Make sure you subscribe to the Rose Garden Report. And that, of course, is Sean Hyken, kind enough to join us. Sean, appreciate the time. How are you? I'm over it.

That's how I am. Well, I kind of feel the same way where Dame keeps on saying he wants to win a championship. Portland's not his best chance to do that, but he keeps on staying loyal. I said it earlier. I'll say it again. I'll believe Damian Lillard's getting traded for the Portland Trailblazers when there's an introductory press conference.

He's getting introduced to a new team. Yeah, I mean, so so far in his career, that's where the smart money has been. It's not going to happen. I do think it's closer this time than it has ever been. Previously, the last I think the only time it was ever really close was in the summer of 2021, when they lost in the first round to a Denver team that didn't have Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr. And then the DM at the time, Neil Olshay, fired Terry Stoss as the coach and said that the first round exit was not a product of the roster. And then when the Chauncey Bill of Fire happened with all the controversy around it, Neil kind of tried to pin it on Dame when he started getting glow back for it. I think that was the only time it was ever really close before.

And then, you know, he held off. Neil Olshay got fired. Dame got this extension.

And there was really not any more talk of it until this season went sideways. And now they're just kind of in an awkward position right now because, you know, they moved up in the lottery from the fifth on to the third overall pick. And it's a lot of ways the third pick was too valuable to trade, especially once Charlotte took Brandon Miller at number two and Stu Henderson fell to them. And now Dame, you know, understandably, I think, is in a position where he feels like I just wrote this earlier today. He's Brett Favre and the Blazers just drafted Aaron Rodgers. So it's going to be real interesting to see how the next few days play out.

Yeah. And the the confusing part to me is you hear all before the draft, he wants him to trade the third overall pick and get more proven talent. And then the moment the Scoot Henderson pick is made, the reports come out. Oh, he's still going to give him some time to try to give them a championship contender this year. Like, I honestly don't know what they could do this offseason, how Dame could realistically look at this team as a championship contender moving forward.

Well, I'll tell you how you can look at it. The West is kind of a mess outside of Denver. I mean, if you want to go down the team outside of Denver, like Denver just won the title. Those guys are all in their prime. Denver's a team you feel like there's no reason they're not going to be just as good as they were. But you go down every other team that could be in that mix this year. Phoenix just did that Bradley Beal trade.

They're still very top heavy. And Kevin Durant has had some trouble staying healthy. The Clippers always kind of have injury problems. The Warriors are kind of at the end of their run. And who knows how the Chris Paul thing is going to work out.

I still think that's kind of a weird move. The Mavericks are kind of a disaster right now, even though they have Luca. New Orleans, even though they didn't trade Zion Williamson, they're kind of a mess right now.

Memphis was kind of seen as up and coming, but now John Moran is going to be suspended for the first 25 games. Like you look, you go down the list of these teams, it's not like there's a lot of superpowers in the West right now outside of Denver. So if you're Dame and you felt like, let's say they had traded for, I don't know, like Pascal Siakam or something with the third pick and you re-signed Jeremy Grant and you signed someone with the mid-level, if you're Dame, you could very easily talk yourself into, hey, we've got a shot here. I think that would have been the path there if that was the way that they were going to go. But I think they just decided that the third pick was, again, if the pick was like four or five, or if it moved down to six or seven, it would be a lot easier probably, I think, for the front office to have justified trading the pick for somebody like that. But once the pick moved up as high as it did, the list of guys that you can actually justify trading the pick for is pretty small. And the thing is, I think Dame understands that.

Like he understands the salary cap, he understands the landscape of the league. I don't think he would have wanted to make a bad deal for the pick and traded for like Zach LaVine or something. Doesn't really help just to say that they got a guy.

So it's just kind of a tough spot that they're in, you know, across the board. Were they ever close to trading for Zion Williamson? Because that was one that I was laughing about all leading up through the draft.

I think that's something they would have thought about if the medicals came back okay. My understanding is that New Orleans never actually put him on the table. I think they wanted to get the third pick for like the 14th pick and future picks and Trey Murphy or something like that. They were trying to offer other stuff, but I think the only way that would have even been a conversation for Portland is if you're getting Zion Williamson and then you would have to decide, you know, are you willing to take the risk on the medicals and the, you know, work ethic stuff and whatever else. I think that's a swing to me that would have been worth taking, but I don't think that was ever actually offered.

Sean Hyken here with us. I was saying this earlier, and I know you brought up Jeremy Grant, that in a crazy world, if they don't resign Jeremy Grant, that actually may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. How likely is it that Jeremy Grant's back with the Trailblazers? I think that depends on Dane. If Dane's back, he'll be back. If Dane's not back, then there's no reason for them to pay him what they were planning on paying him in free agency. I think they'll know one way or the other about Dane before June 30th, and if Dane is going to stick around, then the Jeremy Grant deal will get done, I think, pretty quickly.

But if Dane is gone and they're rebuilding, then I think at that point it won't make sense to give him that money anymore. Do you think Dane is leaning one way or another right now when they had this meeting today? You'd have to ask him.

I don't know. I've tried to check on it from both sides as far as how the meeting went. Obviously, I think both sides are trying to keep it quiet right now. I'm not sure if there's really clarity one way or the other about how it went, but I think we'll find out this week whether they...

I wouldn't be surprised. My assumption has been that they were going to have this meeting today, and then if it doesn't go well, we're going to get a tweet from somebody who is close to Dane and breaks a lot of news around Dane. I wonder if that won't be the case. I wonder if either way, whether they decide to move forward together, then they just let free agency play out and try to make some additions and bring in some veterans, or if Dane did in fact say today, hey, it's time for me to do something else, I wonder if they wouldn't have some agreement between the front office and his agency, Goodwin Sports, to say, just fall back.

Don't let this get out that you asked out. We'll work behind the scenes to make a deal and get you somewhere you want to go and make sure we get something decent back, but just don't make it into a public thing. I wouldn't be surprised if we get... I'm not reporting this because I don't know one way or the other how the meeting went, but I wouldn't be surprised if we get the news breaking that the trade happened and didn't actually get... He requested trade before that.

Interesting. If he does say to the team, I've had enough, I want out, where are some of the destinations that you think make not only sense for Dane, but also Portland getting at least something of significance back? See, that's the other part of it that's tough because the two that keep coming up are Brooklyn and Miami. I don't think really either one of those has that much to trade. I suppose if you have to choose between the two, Brooklyn probably has a better selection of draft picks and stuff, because they have all those Phoenix picks from the Durant trade. They have a couple of their own picks. So I guess that's something you could put together with whatever salary, but the Miami one is... You're talking about Tyler Hero, who plays the same position as a whole bunch of young guards that they already have. Plus, I think they only have two first round picks that they can offer. If Portland trades him to Miami for that package, that's not going to be good for... That's not going to be a good look for their front office.

But those are the two destinations you hear about as ones that he would be interested in going to. But the problem is there's no other team out there. And I've gone through it.

I've tried to come up with it. There is no team out there that A, is somewhere he would want to go, B, has stuff to trade that Portland wouldn't feel like they're getting pennies on the dollar, and C, would then still have enough left over to still be contenders. So it's not as easy of a thing as, oh, they should just trade him and rebuild and get a bunch of picks and young players.

I don't think that packet is out there. What about Boston? I know the reports are that he wouldn't want to go to Boston, but Jalen Brown, do you think they find a way to make a trade work that way? I haven't heard anything about that having any real traction, but I mean, I suppose you'd have to... That would be between Damon, Joe Cronin, and whoever, which teams he's willing to go to.

I don't really know anything specific about that one. So what's the official prediction here? When this is all said and done, is Damon on Portland next year? I think it's a coin flip.

I know that's a top out, but I think it's a coin flip. I don't really feel comfortable going on the record one way or the other. Gotcha. Sean Hyken, appreciate the time. Thanks so much. Yeah, thanks for having me on. There you go. Sean Hyken joining us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio, trying to tap in to the Damian Lillard situation. I thought the most interesting thing from that conversation, two things actually, Hickey. Number one, the potential reporting of this, right?

I think we all know the name he was assuming, Chris Haynes, because Chris Haynes gets all this stuff. Maybe Portland and Dame work together behind the scenes where they've already reached a conclusion, and I think he's staying. But if it goes the other way, let's not have this be ugly at the end. We'll work with you, not get this out publicly, and try to get the deal done. Because he has to have the short list of teams already that Dame would, I know he doesn't have a no trade clause, but at least be willing to go to. Yeah, I mean, look, it's on the podcast, two teams he would like to go to is the Heat and the Nets. So it's not like he has no idea, or I don't really know, I got to look around. He has a pretty good idea, at least from what he's talking publicly of, if I was to decide I'm no longer going to stay in Portland, two teams kind of quickly identified as potential places he would feel comfortable going, at least.

And that's the other part of it, too. If it's not Brooklyn, and if it's not Miami, and I think it should be Miami, who else is going to be in play? I know we talked about Boston. I don't think Boston, I think they made their move with Kristaps Berzingis, and they're running it back with Tatum and Brown. They're not going to trade Tatum. Brown would be the player that they trade. Milwaukee, you have Giannis Antetokounmpo, Drew Holiday getting older. I know Chris Middleton is a free agent. Would Portland even view Chris Middleton as attractive in a sign and trade? I don't even know. Does Milwaukee have any picks going back for that Drew Holiday trade? I know you can trade every other year.

So that's another thing that you have to figure on out. I don't think the return is going to be as rich as what we think it is, because from a player standpoint, if it's Miami, the best player in that deal is going to be Tyler Hero. And I know Pat Riley said Tyler Hero is a foundational piece. I don't think anyone looks at Tyler Hero as a foundational piece if you're trying to go win a championship. And obviously, if Dame says I want out, maybe Portland's kind of got their hands tied, but is Tyler Hero really the player that you're going to kind of build a trade around in terms of dealing your franchise player arguably, like arguably maybe the best player in franchise history?

I know what you're saying. Their hands are tied, but if I'm Portland, I'm trying to get to know. Sure, I'd rather have more picks from Brooklyn since Brooklyn got a ton of them in the Durant deal from Phoenix, but it's not as if the Nets have a player. They're not trading McHale Bridges that you're like, oh wow, that's a guy that I definitely need. So I think it's going to come down to maybe number of picks and also how much you want to help Dame out the door as well. Or do you play hardball? I don't think that's going to happen. I know that's easier said than done and it's easy for us to sit there and say play hardball. If it's between, if he really wants to go to let's say Miami over Brooklyn, I think that Portland will find a way to get the deal done with Miami.

I really do. But as you said, he's open to both. But outside of that, we just had Sean Huyck in that. Who's the other destination? That guy covers the team for a long time.

He couldn't even give us an answer on that one. Because there's not been many others that have floated out there. It feels like a deal is going to get done. They're going to work together. Also this massive salary that's, I mean, cuts over half the league out just initially. And you already had other dominoes already fall. Is there any way that Golden State gets involved?

I'm trying to figure it out. I know they did trade for Chris Paul. Have Draymond probably signed somewhere else? Or you send Chris Paul somewhere. You send Klay Thompson somewhere. And if you get, imagine you having Steph.

I know we threw that out there a few years ago. Imagine having Steph and Dame on the same team. That'd be with Draymond as well. That'd be a whole lot of fun. It would be fun. It would definitely be fun playing for his hometown team.

But fortunately, I don't think it's going to happen. I would agree. It's either going to be Brooklyn or it's going to be Miami. And if that's the case, I'm telling, if I'm Dame, if I've made that decision that I want out, I'm telling management, if you ever want me to come on back and put fans in the seats when you honor me one day, you trade me to Miami.

That's what I would be doing. But I really do believe that he's going to stay. Because think about it, that's a guy that's covered the team religiously in Sean Hyken. He said it was 50-50.

He thinks it's truly a coin flip. And it's as close as ever before. And you may be close to something, but it doesn't mean that it's actually going to happen. And I really don't think, Damian Lillard right now, if we're talking about Jeremy Grampy and the difference maker and going and getting one other player, I know you can say what you want about the Western Conference. That ain't enough to go win a championship and go compete for a championship. The Suns can't beat that team. And Denver's Denver, obviously.

Then what the heck are we doing? Seriously. And you know me, I loved him.

Absolutely loved him. But if he convinced himself, I'll just bring it back, Jeremy Granite making like one other smaller move is enough to go contend for a championship, please. I have a bridge to sell to, you know, to you, Hycky.

I do. He's not serious about winning a championship, which again is fine. Just don't tell us you're serious about winning a championship and then look at Jeremy Granite as, okay, actually in second thought, yeah, we got enough here to go win a title, please. We've noticed two things about Hycky this hour. When he rips off the glasses and starts eating the edge of the glasses, that's when he gets annoyed. And then when the voice gets really high, they're imitating someone. That's when Hycky gets really agitated as well. It is the Zach Guilbe show on CBS Sports Radio and Hycky. You can't see him.

He just put out his hand and kind of gave me. You're right. You're not wrong.

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One more time, CaliforniaPsychics.com. Do you hear that? That is the sound of BMW performance without a single piston or cylinder, a generation of all electric vehicles designed and built like no other. The BMW iX, i7, and i4 revolutionize every drive into a thrilling opportunity to feel the pure rush of BMW 100% electric.

But isn't that what you'd expect from the ultimate electric driving machine? Take advantage of exceptional lease and finance offers today. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. Another day is in the books, and we're taking stock of the sports world. It's time to find out who's up and who's down. Let's end the day right and hit the closing bell.

Only on The Zach Gelb Show. All righty, let's start things off with big poppy, David Ortiz. So over the weekend, I guess it was the first broadcast for Derek Jeter since joining the Fox family. So you got A-Rod, you got Kevin Burkhardt, you got Big Poppy, and you got Derek Jeter on set. And Big Poppy goes, I got a gift for Derek Jeter. And Derek Jeter opens up the box. And in it is a number two Red Sox Jeter Jersey.

It gave me a good chuckle this weekend. Give Big Poppy, David Ortiz, the big prankster a stock up. Let's hear Draymond Green. This is from the All The Spoke podcast back in 2020 on why Draymond Green doesn't like CP3, his new teammate. I don't like CP at all. We don't have a good relationship at all, but I respect his hustle and I respect his IQ.

He's smart as hell. And CP saw stuff coming up. And once you start to get older in this league, you start to realize like, okay, this guy is coming.

Eventually he may catch me because I'm going to start to decline at some point. And so I would kind of see CP kind of keeping stuff at bay, but yet giving him a stiff arm at the same time. You know, stuff is stuff. Like we all love stuff, right? He ain't got the street part to it.

And so he ain't computational at all. Exactly. So with me coming from where I come from and the way I grew up, I'm kind of watching like, yo, he kind of rock with you stuff, but he kind of don't, he kind of keeping you at bay. And so I took it upon myself to try to create division there.

It's weird. I have a love hate relationship with Draymond Green Hickey. I thought what he did to Jordan Poole was disgusting. And I thought the Warriors should have traded or not re-signed Draymond Green and kept Jordan Poole. And so they traded Jordan Poole and they're going to re-sign Draymond Green, or that's their intention. And then this audio comes back from 2020 and it's like, oh, you got CP3 on your team.

Oh, you hate CP3 too. I just love, but also can't stand Draymond Green, but he's the gift that keeps on giving. Anything the Warriors do, there's always drama surrounding Draymond Green. So he's going to so he's going to get paid and he's going to be back with Golden State. It'd be pretty fun if he gave a little gut punch to the Warriors out the door, they made this big trade for him to appease him. And then he goes signed to Sacramento. Maybe he does that, but for now, give Draymond Green a stock up.

Let's listen up to the Cover 3 Podcast. This is 2025 Alabama commit Ryan Williams saying Nick Saban will coach until he's no longer on this earth. I know a lot of schools try to recruit against Alabama by saying Nick Saban's getting older. He's going to retire.

You're a 25 guy and that's a couple of years off. What does he say to you about that? He said, well, we've talked about that of course, but he said he's going to be coaching until he croaks over. You could hear Saban saying that too. Don't worry, young kid, I'll be coaching until I croak.

I'm never retiring. Except Nick Saban doesn't sound like that. That guy turns what, 71, 72, as we were talking about in October. And he doesn't look like he's almost 72 years old. That's pretty impressive.

Certainly does not act like it either. And the energy is unmatched. Got to give a stock up to Nick Saban. So I don't know how this started, but now Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg want to fight. Let's listen up to Dana White on the possible Zuckerberg Musk fight. I was talking to both Elon and Mark last night. Both guys are absolutely dead serious about this. They both want to do it. Mark Zuckerberg hit me up first and said, is he serious? And I said, I don't know. Let me ask him.

I asked him and he said, yeah, I'm dead serious. This would be the biggest fight ever in the history of the world. Bigger than anything that's ever been done. It would break all pay-per-view records. These guys would raise, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars for charity and, you know, you don't have to be a fight man to be interested in this fight. You, everybody would want to see it. I saw a tweet this weekend.

Someone was hosted on CBS Sports Radio. I want to say it's Shep, but if it's not Shep, I apologize. And Shep had his tweet why no one would care about a Mark Zuckerberg Elon Musk fight. And at first I was like, yeah, no one would care.

But then I remember all the things we care about that we shouldn't care about. Heck yeah, I think it would be a mess, but I think it'd be a mess that I would enjoy watching. I'm all in. I just don't know who I'm rooting for.

That's a tough part. I count on both to lose. I think both are not my favorites.

So that would be- I guess I would go Zuckerberg over Musk. I don't know if that's a controversial opinion. I don't know. It's tough. That's my biggest frustration. I would love to watch. I want to get kicked off Twitter now, so maybe I would go Musk.

But then I get kicked off of Instagram. It's no win either way. No.

Give a stock up to the idea of that fight. So Norm Hitzkis, legendary Dallas-based talk show host, 48-year career, just wrapped up, retired on Friday. I sent him a text. I've met Norm a few times throughout the years. He first came on with me when I was in high school.

We were talking about the Dallas Cowboys. When I was doing a show out of my parents' basement on a website called Shovio on Long Island. And I sent him a text. I've seen him throughout the years at Radio Row, just congratulating him.

I'm at the pool on Saturday, and I missed the phone call. I got a voicemail from Norm Hitzkis just saying how appreciative he was that I reached out to him. And I'm sure he did that with everyone that reached out to him. There's a lot of people that reached out to him. Just one of the true great dudes in this business and an absolute icon and a legend. And just God bless Norm Hitzkis.

Give him a stock up. Let's hear Dennis Rodman saying Larry Bird, he was probably as sober as Hickey was over the weekend, saying that Larry Bird wouldn't make it in today's NBA courtesy of LADtv. Larry Bird playing this era, I thought he'd be in Europe. So I'm just letting you know, man.

Really, you know, like I said, don't you say he'd be somewhere over there. But I said, his game was fit for Boston at that time in the 80s and stuff like that, you know, but so in today's world. Oh, hell no. So Hickey, this is a game today that's based off shooting, correct Amunda? Yes, sir. So Larry Bird wouldn't be able to cut it in the NBA today.

That makes no sense to me. Wait until you get Mad Dog Russo on first take later in the week. He's going to go nuts over this.

I'm giving a stock down to Dennis Rodman. Do you think Damian Lola will get traded this offseason? Yes or no? 54.6% on the final calculation say yes.

45.4% say no. Dame met today with the Trailblazer. We have no details of the meeting, but I guess he's given him a chance to win his heart over once again to stay in Portland. I don't get why he keeps on giving this organization the benefit of the doubt. Dame, you should request a trade.

I don't think you will. And just that thought that he may not do so this offseason, I don't get what Dame's saying. He says he wants to win a championship, but do you really? So I'm giving Damian Lillard for all this mess and all this hoopla a stockdown.

And finally, a stock up to Hot Take Keke. Celebrated his birthday over the weekend. A happy birthday to my producer extraordinaire. And that will do it for the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll be back tomorrow on a busy Tuesday show at 6 p.m Eastern, 3 Pacific. Thank you all for listening and tweeting to the show. Talk manana, everybody. We out. Bye bye.

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