The 5 Next Faces of the NBA (Hour 2)

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It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. You know, recently we've seen some young quarterbacks when they get their opportunity, take the league by storm. And I think for a while, there was this feeling of sit a quarterback for a year and then you play him.

Now in some instances, it could work. Like Patrick Mahone sat a year, then first year as a starter through 50 passing touchdowns and loss to the great Tom Brady in an AFC Championship game. Lamar Jackson, he didn't sit the entirety of the first year because if you recall, he sat for like halfway through the first season, played a little bit at the end of the season was the starter. You had the Ravens playoff game in Baltimore up against the Chargers where he did not have a good playoff game. But but John Harbaugh stuck with them as the fans were chanting for Joe Flacco because they wanted elite Joe Flacco. They wanted him on the field. But John Harbaugh knew that Lamar is my future.

So I'm not going to pull him out of this game. And ultimately, the following season, Lamar first year as the full time starting quarterback won a Unanimous League MVP. Joe Burrow his first year he got hurt.

But then the first full season he was able to play. We saw that Cincinnati Bengals team go to a Super Bowl. And last year, CJ shroud. The turnaround the Texans made in year one was just crazy. Absolutely crazy. Where CJ shroud had probably the greatest rookie season I've ever seen.

Like you go back to I said this before, Puka Nakua. And maybe like any other year in the history of the NFL with what he did, could have won Rookie of the Year, and probably should have won Rookie of the Year. But CJ shroud was that great. Like if I would have told you a rookie wide receiver before the start of last season would have had 105 catches 1486 yards and six receiving touchdowns, you would say Rookie of the Year.

Like right now. If I told you Marvin Harrison Jr. or Roma dunes a or Malik neighbors had that production, you would think that would be the Rookie of the Year. But CJ shroud was just ridiculous and took a team that were perennial losers took a team that didn't really have much of a foundation. And they got the right quarterback and it inspired that entire locker room to not only win the division, but then to make the playoffs and win a playoff game where they ended up losing in the second round. You know, Andrew Luck.

You want to look back at his rookie season too. Took over two win team first year made the playoffs with a roster that I don't even think most people can name five players from that year one Andrew Luck roster. So there are quarterbacks that when given the opportunity where they have to wait a year or they get thrown into the fire right away.

They hit the ground running and you see an immediate change. And you look at the six first round quarterbacks from this past year. Caleb Williams has a chance to make the playoffs. You know, Jayden Daniels is in a better situation than what people think. Because you have Jahan Dotson.

More importantly, you have Terry Mclaurin. But that commanders team, I don't think they're a playoff team this year. You then take a glance at Drake May.

Drake May probably shouldn't be playing until November at the absolute earliest. And that Patriot team is not a playoff team. You get to the other three first round quarterbacks.

Okay, Michael Pennix, Jr. He'll probably be in the postseason, but as the backup quarterback barring an injury to Kirk Cousins. Or if Kirk Cousins is rusty coming off that Achilles, maybe you start to get the Michael Pennix, Jr. chance, which would be crazy. That's going to be a great storyline to follow all throughout the year. When the schedule comes out, and that's got to be soon. Like usually the schedule is released like May 11, May 12, something like that.

We don't have a schedule date. I want to see what the first four games are for the Atlanta Falcons. And if I'm scheduling the entirety of the league schedule, I'm giving the Falcons four tough games. I'm giving them four games. You'll maybe throw one cupcake in there. Maybe like one later opponent.

But I'm throwing three out of those four as really tough games. Because how fun would that be? It's crazy that we even have to have this discussion. When you just gave a guy a four year contract with $100 million. Guaranteed. But when will the, can I get a line on when the over under will be that there is a first serious push for Michael Pennix, Jr. to usurp Kirk Cousins as the starting quarterback in the ATL.

I would love to know when we are sitting here in the fall, or even in the winter. And the first time I have to get behind this microphone and do the topic of should the Falcons move off of Kirk Cousins and put Michael Pennix, Jr. in there. And here's the thing that gets lost in the shuffle. Kirk Cousins is a good quarterback. Notice what I said. Good quarterback. Not great. Not elite. Not a star. But there are a lot of teams that would like to have the production in the regular season that Kirk Cousins has had in his NFL career. And I think a lot of people believe like I was pumping up the Falcons before this draft. Oh, you know, they're going to get the eighth overall pick and they're going to add a star wide receiver like a Roma Dunes there. They're going to add a necessary defensive piece. I never, never, ever, ever, ever, ever thought that they were going to add a quarterback, let alone in the first round.

It was wild. And I was saying they're a dark horse team to get to an NFC championship game because I thought that number eight pick would have been big and instrumental in this team success. Now I'm like looking at Atlanta and there's that elephant in the room. When is Kirk Cousins, regardless of the contract, going to get called to have his ass be on the bench?

And I can't wait. You know, let me see the Falcons schedule real quickly. Falcons. So you have the Falcons opponents.

I do. Yeah. Give me the Falcons opponents this year. Go ahead. All right. Home Cowboys, Giants, chiefs, chargers, Seahawks, and Steelers.

Okay. And on the road, they have the Broncos Raiders, Eagles, commanders, Vikings. Open up that season with the Eagles going to Philly, then go home against Kansas city. Then let's go another home game against Los Angeles. Let's do the chargers. And then, okay, let's see who's the worst away team there. Do a divisional team like the Panthers, a team that could probably improve this year should improve this year, but no one's going to be intimidated by the Carolina Panthers.

Give me a schedule like that. Eagles early chiefs, early chargers, early, have them sit in at like one in three. Cause if they start the year one and three, you know, people in Atlanta are going to say, they're going to say we have this NFL ready quarterback and Michael panics Jr. He's the eighth overall pick where they would have drafted someone at eight, even though I don't think they should have, that was a year or two away. It would have been an easier sell job, but Michael Pennick Jr. Is ready. And then you get to JJ McCarthy. I think JJ McCarthy can make the playoffs in year one because of that situation in Minnesota. You know, Charles Davis telling us yesterday that he didn't believe this, but he said some have told him that they think Sam Darnold should still be, or could still be the starting quarterback day one. Oh boy.

If that's the case, Questia Dolfamensa and Kevin O'Connell, you need to come in studio. And I need to explain to you the career of Sam Darnold to remember for two things, see him ghost and get a mono. Okay. There's no reason when you take a quarterback in the top 10, that's NFL ready. Even if you don't think JJ McCarthy is going to be great, that JJ McCarthy isn't starting week one for the Minnesota Vikings. And then Bo Nix with the Broncos.

Oh, I do not like that. And it's nothing really against Bo Nix. It's more so that the Broncos thought they had to take a quarterback and they had to reach for a quarterback at 12. And Sean fell in love with Bo Nix.

I know that, right? Sean with the Panthers are with the Saints all those years. And Terry Fontenot was also with the Saints all those years. I was reading a piece. It was by Albert Breer.

It was very good. And they talked about being in that Saints war room when the Saints had Drew Brees and they were all eyeing Patrick Mahomes and they thought they were going to get the steal of the draft and Patrick Mahomes. And then the Chiefs traded up and the Chiefs got Patrick Mahomes. And I guess this is why Terry Fontenot kept it so close to the vest that there were so many people that knew, at least in the Chiefs building, that the Saints wanted Mahomes in the draft, that someone from the Chiefs war room texted someone in the Saints war room and said, hey, we got him. So how about that story, that nugget from Albert Breer?

So I think Fontenot said, I don't want to get jumped, or I don't want to lose my guy, Michael Penix Jr., who he fell in love with. And I don't want to lose him. So even though it's not going to be a popular decision because he just gave a quarterback $100 million, that had to factor into it. And Sean Payton fell in love with Bo Nix and now he's his guy. But the Broncos roster, it is ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly, at least on that offense side of the ball. Better offensive line than you think.

But everyone else, man, it is a brutal situation for a quarterback that's going to play right away to walk into. So year one, I have high expectations for Caleb Williams. Jayden Daniels, they individually will have a good season, but the team won't be great.

Drake May, see you in November. You take a look at Michael Penix Jr. in an ideal world, he shouldn't see the field in year one because Kirk Cousins should be worth the investment. But let's see how the schedule plays on out. J.J. McCarthy should hit the ground running and Bo Nix, I think it's going to be a struggle and I hope they just don't ruin him early because James Palmer joined us the other day and he said the comparison for Bo Nix that offensive coordinator told him was a more mobile Derek Carr.

That's not reaching for the stars. Derek Carr is fine, solid quarterback, but I don't think there's a lot of fan bases that are saying, yeah, I want Derek Carr being the starting quarterback of my team. OK, we will get to Trevor Lane, the host of Lakers Nation, coming up in about 10 minutes. Kevin Durant, not in the second round of the playoffs. LeBron James, not in the second rounds of the playoffs. Those have been two of the bigger faces in the NBA for well over a decade, pretty much the last 20 years. So when we look players that are 30 and under or excuse me, under 30 years old, so 29 and under, who are the five future faces of the NBA?

And I have a list of five here in no order. Luka Doncic, I don't really need to give you an explanation. Just watch him play basketball. Giannis Antetokounmpo, already a multiple time MVP. He's an NBA champion.

Nikola Jokic, still 29 or younger, multiple time MVP, NBA champion, could be a two time NBA champion champion after this postseason. Victor Wenbinyama, he's an alien. And then it's Anthony Edwards.

I look at those five guys, though. One stands out compared to the rest of the other group of people. And that's Anthony Edwards. Now, Anthony Edwards doesn't have an MVP. Anthony Edwards doesn't have an NBA championship. We know Nikola Jokic has two NBA MVPs and a championship. Giannis has two NBA MVPs and a championship.

Victor Wenbinyama is going to win Rookie of the Year. And Luka Doncic is a guy that can win an MVP in future years. Doesn't have an NBA championship or an MVP right now.

Anthony Edwards, though, has the big personality. Like, Nikola Jokic, as great as he is, his play speaks for itself. He doesn't have the personality. He doesn't want to be the star.

When the offseason ends, he just wants to go home and ride his horses. Giannis Antetokounmpo, I don't think he embraces the stardom. Victor Wenbinyama, I think we got to learn more about Victor Wenbinyama. Victor Wenbinyama seemed like a fictional character until I got to see him in New York City at the draft. It's kind of similar to Shohei Ohtani. Here's so much about someone. And then you get to see them play.

And it's like, wow, it's as good as advertised. And we know Luka Doncic, he has a little bit of a personality, but it's not an overwhelming personality. Anthony Edwards, he'll kill you on the court. And then off the court, he has such an exuberant personality, and he loves just being that star and having that killer mentality on a basketball court. And I think the future for Anthony Edwards, really the sky is the limit.

Now, some honorable mentions. I think Shea Gilgis Alexander, we know how great he is as a player. I think through this run, it's going to help increase his brand even more. Jason Tatum is someone that you've seen him a lot, right? He's a top 10 player in the league, has been to an NBA finals, we know is the face of the Celtics, you know, has the great relationship with his son, Deuce Tatum. He's someone that's lurking right there. We know he's not going anywhere, but future face of the league. We got to go see him win a championship. And here's one that I'll give credit to Bill Ryder's producer, Tom DiCelestino, because we throw this around the news room. This is a name that I think people have forgot about. But if he could figure out what's going on off the court and then also stay healthy, Ja Morant was right there on the precipice of becoming a major NBA star because you look at what he could do with his thunderous slams and his ability as a guard in the NBA.

It's really special. But the problem is he's got himself in a lot of trouble. And then when coming back from getting himself in trouble, unfortunately, he did get injured. So right now, guys, 29 are under in the NBA, the future faces of the NBA, the five that I have in the water, Joker, Greek freak, Victor, when Benyama, Anthony Edwards and Luca Doncic.

It is the Zach Gelb show eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. We will take a timeout. Did LeBron James play his last game as a Laker? Is LeBron James going to retire? Is Bronny going to be on the Lakers next year?

Darvin Ham, we all think he's gone, but is there a chance that he returns? We tap into Laker nation with the host of Lakers nation. That is a long time man that has covered the NBA in Trevor Lane. He will join us on the other side. This is Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. What up, y'all? It's your boy, Danny Green, three time NBA champ.

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

Follow Inside the Green Room on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. Alrighty, we know the Lakers are now out of the postseason after Jamal Murray said goodbye to them last night with that great game winning shot. Denver advances on to round two. The defending champions will go up against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Now it's all about the future of LeBron James. It's all about the future of Los Angeles Lakers, so we'll chat it up right now with the host of Lakers nation, and that is Trevor Lane. Always kind enough to join us on the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Trevor, appreciate the time as always. Thank you for doing this today and how you been?

Zach, thank you so much for having me. A bit better. It would have been nice if the Lakers had extended this series at least, but we've got a busy offseason ahead and that LeBron question, oh boy, that's going to be a big one. Hanging over the Lakers this summer. In the moment last night when they lose the game, did you feel like that was the final game that LeBron James has played in a Lakers uniform? No, I didn't. I think that was the final game.

No, I didn't. I think he stays. I think he likes it in LA. I think he trusts the organization. I think he's going to put pressure on them to make changes, that's for sure, especially when they've got future draft picks to trade.

But I did get the sense that it was done. We didn't even get the comments that we got last year from LeBron where it sounded like he was seriously considering retiring that offseason. I think he is going to play at least a couple more years and I don't think we've seen the last of him in purple and gold at this point. What's the plan?

Because I agree with you. I think LeBron is going to be back next season. You hear the Trey Young speculation. We've all seen the Shams piece that they're open to the idea of drafting Bronny James. How do they improve this team significantly to get them back to competing for a championship next year?

Well, there's really two paths they can go down. They do have those three first round picks. I believe LeBron will expect them to use those picks that they have available in trade to try to improve this team.

But you can either go big star hunting, right? You go after a Trey Young, somebody like that, or you go the other round. This is throughout the Lakers. Essentially went last season where they start adding on complimentary pieces, guys who maybe fit a little bit better than the ones they had this year. They hope for better help, maybe a change at the, at the head coach spot.

I'm sure we'll talk about that as well. But when we're looking at, at these two paths, the Lakers can go down historically. They've gone after the stars. I don't know that that's going to be the best path for them, but if Trey young is available, I'm sure they will be involved in those discussions.

But that's essentially what they're, what they're going to have sitting in front of them. Do you want to build completely around LeBron and AD, or do you want to go after that third star? Even though we saw it really not work out when they went and got Russell Westbrook, maybe they believe a Trey young or somebody like that could work this time. Talking to Trevor lane right now, I want to follow up on something that you said you don't think next year will be LeBron's final season. He'll come back. He'll play a few more years.

I led the show today, and this is just my opinion. I think he comes back, they draft Bronny and then he plays one more year. He'll be 40 years old come December. Why do you feel that LeBron still has a few more years and is going to be willing to want to play a few more years at the NBA? Well, you look at what he's doing out there on the floor.

I think the Bronny pieces is part of it. He's, he's talked a lot about wanting to play with Bronny and that's such an admirable goal to share the floor with his son. That would obviously be very special, but you look at what he's doing on the floor right now. Is he the LeBron of five years ago? No, he's not the LeBron of 10 years ago. Certainly there's moments where he looks his age.

There's also a lot of moments where he doesn't though. And I think right now you could still say he's one of the top players in the NBA. He's not the guy anymore. That's just going to automatically guarantee a finals birth just by him being on the team. But he is still one of the best players out there. Probably better than what, 90% of the NBA, maybe more right now at age 39. So I think he can definitely keep going.

It's a matter of the, the mental side of it. Can he gear himself up to battle through injuries, to train his body, all of that? That's more of the question for LeBron physically he could do it, but it seems like he still has the passion for the game.

He enjoys being out there and he enjoys the challenge. So I think he's got at least a year, maybe two left in him. And that's kind of the buzz that's going around right now that we're probably looking at one or two more years from LeBron.

He is playing with team USA this summer too. So that wear and tear is going to really start adding up, but I don't think we've seen the last of him this season. Let me get to the Darvin Ham part of it, Trevor Lane. Cause from afar, people will say, Darvin Ham not expected to come back.

According to Sean Sharani up here's LeBron again, killing another coach. How do you evaluate the early tenure so far of Darvin Ham and where are you at with the head coach of the Lakers? You know, I think the Darvin, I think he's a good guy.

I think he's a likable guy. I don't think he's the right coach for this team. I think moving on from him makes a lot of sense. And here's, look, there's a lot of stuff that has come out about certain moments where the players felt like they had to win the game in spite of their coach, where they had to come up with X's and O's plans and schemes and things like that. We could talk about rotation. We could talk about substitution patterns, all kinds of different things, playing favorites with guys who's coached before all kinds of stuff that's out there. But the bottom line to me with Darvin Ham is he came in with the idea that he was going to be the coach that everybody was going to want to run through a brick wall for that. The players were just going to want to give everything they had for him every single night. And it doesn't seem like that is indeed the case at this point with this Lakers team.

So if that isn't there, because we knew coming in, maybe he'd be a little bit weak on the X's and O's and everything, but if he's not getting the buy-in from the players, that's it. It's game over. They have to move on from him. And I think that's what we're going to see. He has two years left on his contract, but I think the Lakers are going to be one of the teams on the coaching search this summer. And I think we're going to hear on that probably in the next few days, maybe within a week here, that they are making that decision to move on from Darvin Ham as they kind of take a look back. I don't think they have a choice given what's going on this season. So just because you fire the coach doesn't mean he's the biggest problem.

Like I look at the roster construction, I just don't think this team is capable of winning a title with the way the roster is constructed. So where does Ham fall for you in when you kind of lay out and kind of order up the blame game here? Sure. Yeah. I think it's a, he's part of it in that one of the things this team was supposed to be able to build on was continuity and bringing back the same lineups and rotations from last season. And then he largely went away from those, not all his fault because injuries have been a factor, but I think he certainly deserves a large piece of that blame pie. But again, it's not everything they've dealt with injuries. They had a rough schedule this season. On top of that, you talk about the roster construction. Did you did your lack of a true backup big to Anthony Davis come back to haunt you? Yes, I think it definitely did in this series against the Denver Nuggets, your back court, having two guys who are offense first players and not having a defensive back court mate for either Austin Reeves or D'Angelo Russell.

That's a challenge. Not having enough two-way players in general, having a lot of guys that are all offense, all defense, and not much in between the roster construction is an issue. They've had a lot of problems. We talked about the draft pick from last year too, that not panning out yet with Jalen, who Chappino, it's been a lot of things that have come together to create what's been a disappointing season for a Lakers team that, that had very high aspirations coming in. If LeBron does leave, like if he says, I'm going to opt out, I'm going to leave the Lakers.

Who are some teams that you maybe monitor here, Trevor Lane? Well, definitely keeping an eye on the Philadelphia 76ers. They are ready-made.

They're set. They've got all the cap room. They've been hoarding that cap space forever. Come play with Joel Embiid. Come play with Tyrese Maxey. That's, that's the easy landing spot because they can give them the money. He can walk right in, be the third guy.

They can add pieces. Daryl Morey is known for being very creative and off you go. I think Philly would be a really interesting landing spot for him. I know a lot of people have thrown around Golden State. They were sniffing around LeBron at the trade deadline, seeing if the Lakers maybe would be willing to try to make that, that move. LeBron told them, no, the Lakers just referred Golden State to LeBron, said, talk to LeBron, see if he's even interested in that. And LeBron said, no, we're not interested in that.

I don't want to do that, but maybe his mind changes. I'm sure Golden State will revisit that conversation this summer too. So those are the two teams that I really be keeping an eye on because the other teams that have cap space, I don't really see as viable options. He can't step in and win. Philly has cap space. He could step in right there and win. And then Golden State could put together an interesting trade and LeBron and Steph playing together.

That would, that would certainly be a sight to see. I know you think LeBron's going to be back with the Lakers and I agree with you, but at a hundred percent, like where do you put that number on the confidence that he'll be back with the Lakers next year? I'd say 90%, 90% he'll, he'll be back.

I don't think from everything we've heard, we've heard even the stuff that's been coming out from Rich Paul today, his agent, it's sounding pretty certain that he's going to be back. It's more a matter of what will the contract look like? And from everything we've heard from the Lakers side too, they're going to give him whatever he wants. What LeBron says, I want a two year deal. Here you go. A three year deal. There it is. You want to, you want max money. You want a player option. You want us to draft Bronny?

No problem. Sounds like the Lakers are willing to do whatever it takes to bring him back. I understand their mindset there. So I think he is indeed back.

And again, I'd put it at 90%. I think he's back in LA. I don't think he wants to switch teams again, especially when he's spoken so much about family, how important family is to him and spending time with them. Tough for him to do that if he is across the country playing for another team. Assuming the ham gets put on the chopping block with Darvin Ham, who's your short list of candidates, Trevor Lane, to be the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

You know, it's tough. There's not a lot of names out there just yet that, that list will start to populate as we get further along down this path. But Mike Boonholzer is probably the most accomplished name out there, which is interesting because Darvin Ham is, is from that coaching tree.

So Boonholzer could be an interesting one. JJ Reddick's name has popped up. Lebron's podcast co-host.

Could he potentially be an option? I know Rajon Rondo's name has been floating around a little bit. There's a few different assistant coaches. I don't know if the Lakers will want to go with the first time head coach again. All we know is that if the Lakers do decide to move on from Darvin Ham, they are willing to spend in order to get somebody who is a difference maker. There isn't a name that jumps out immediately to me though, that says that's clearly the guy that it's not like Eric Spolsters out there on the market, but Mike Boonholzer is an early name.

I'd keep an eye on Terry Stotts is another one as well that popped up. But I do wonder, are they waiting to see if they can right a wrong and see if the Clippers move on from Tyloo? The Lakers probably should have just hired Tyloo four years ago or so when they didn't want to give him a four-year deal instead, limiting him to three years. If the Clippers don't get out of the first round and they decide to move on from Tyloo, I would be surprised if the Lakers weren't picking up that phone too. And you know, Lebron would love to see that happen.

I was still surprised they weren't willing to go to the years that Tyloo wanted all those years ago. But hey, the Riddick thing, he's a candidate for the Hornets job. He's a finalist now. So maybe that could be in play, but Rondo, what's the intel on that that you got?

You know, it's just a name that I've heard around with some buzz. I think most likely what happened is he would get more, get brought in more as like an assistant coach, something like that, somebody that could learn the ropes. But you know, you look at the 2020 title team and you listen to anything the guys were saying for back then, essentially the offense, Frank Vogel was great defensive coach, right? And the Lakers just said, you handle the defense, the offense. It was Rondo. It was LeBron. It was Anthony Davis.

They ran that Lakers offense. Rajan Rondo known around the NBA as one of the brightest basketball minds we've ever seen. He's going to be a coach at some point. I think it would make more sense to bring him in as, as an assistant coaching option. But I was hearing this earlier in the year that maybe he was somebody that they would consider taking a look at.

We'll see if it actually winds up, winds up happening again. I think it would be more wise to bring him in as maybe an assistant first and let them grow into that coaching role. But the guy knows basketball in a way that a lot of people do not. And I think if he wants to get involved and he's got everything all set up for himself, he's going to be on a, on a short list of, of guys to look at last thing. I'll ask you to Trevor Lane, the host of Lakers nation always has a great job jumping on board with us.

It is a Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network. Let's say that was LeBron's last game with the Lakers. What is the LeBron legacy in LA?

Well, obviously the title in 2020, setting the scoring record that sets that certainly sets the legacy. And, and we can't forget the Lakers would a very tough spot before LeBron came. They were trying to rebuild rebuilding is not familiar territory, familiar territory for them. They're praying that Brandon Ingram becomes a one egg guy or Lonzo ball or D'Angelo Russell. Right. That was, that was the team back then it was those young kids and they weren't making a whole lot of headway. LeBron comes in, puts, puts the Lakers into a whole new era and then brings them while it is just a lot of people say just one championship.

Right. But obviously put the Lakers back on the map during his tenure there. Did it go as well as we would have hoped? I know a lot of people were hoping for multiple championships between him and Anthony Davis coming into town, but still getting the one title, putting the Lakers back into relevancy after they were stuck in the dark ages for a bit there.

You got to give them a lot of credit for that. So it didn't go as well as certainly as we would have hoped, but it, I certainly don't think it could be considered a failure either when he got that championship and he met what he's meant to this franchise. So if that's it, I still think LeBron's jersey is going to be hanging in the Raptors when he does decide to, to call it quits. He is Trevor Lane. Trevor, appreciate the time as always. Good deal. Thank you. Hey, thank you so much for having me, Zach. You got it. There he is.

Trevor Lane. So 90% chance he says LeBron is back with the Lakers and maybe you monitor Philadelphia and Golden State if he's going elsewhere. I do believe LeBron's back with the Lakers next year. And as I've been saying, I do believe what Sean's is saying that they're going to try their best to go draft Bronny James, but we know the dominoes that need to fall, the drama that all goes along with LeBron too. So I don't expect any official announcement or anything crazy on the LeBron front anytime soon. I think you let the Bronny scenario play out.

You keep the intrigue there. And once Bronny gets drafted, wherever he does get drafted, assuming he stays through this process, then you start to figure out where King James is playing next. And I believe it will be back in LA where he's been the last few years. All right. He will come on back.

We'll date you. Some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. We call it the news brief update time. First on the infinity sports network with the Ackman rich Ackerman. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports.

This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial stock in a timeshare and want out contact Wesley Financial group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at Wesley financial group.com. I just saw the first mention as this weekend. It is the Kentucky Derby.

I feel like we have not heard anything about the Kentucky Derby yet. When I first got here to CBS sports radio at the time, I know it's now the infinity sports network, but at the time it was CBS sports radio. So I'm not giving anybody a quarter for that.

Let me be clear. Um, I was taking over Paul Nanos from the two to 6 a.m. Eastern time shift Nanos at night. And when I got there, they said, you have to do this segment that Paul Nanos did, which I think eventually da did. And then it was, does the horse know it's in a race? I've never seen phone lines weekend overnights where we're on 300 stations, tons of affiliates calls, calls, calls, calls, calls, calls, calls.

I've never taken more phone calls ever than that night. And then we kind of gave our analysis of it where I did think the horse knows it's in a race, especially when the horse wins, because then, you know, the horse gets a lot, a lot of nookie time. So that's why I think the horse does know, but we are coming up in the Kentucky Derby this weekend.

So very much looking forward to that. I feel like that means Friday or Thursday of this week, we do some pucks and ponies. Feels like it's an Eddie Olchek kind of guess.

That's what it feels like later in the week on Thursday and Friday. So get it all set for the Kentucky Derby. I did one time ask Moose, Mark Belousas when he was hosting here on the network, who I should pick. And he gave me a horse. It was on a, you know, my brother's bachelor party. And I went to the teller at the Vegas casino and I thought I put the money on the horse that Moose said, which the horse won.

And it was a long shot, like 50 to one. I thought I won all this money. But when I went to the teller, I said, oh, I never placed a horse bet in my life up until that point.

Oh, I want to place money in this horse. You have to give me the poll number. So at the time I went to CBS Sports Radio's website and they had the poll number. Someone from the company uploaded the wrong poll numbers.

The post numbers for the horse. So the number that was on the website through CBS Sports Radio and also CBS Sports was the wrong number of the horse. And I wasn't the only one that got screwed over that way because I did leave the show bashing the company the next week. And I had a few other people say that they got screwed over from CBS Sports as well. I ended up going to Blackjack table that night, though, and I won the most money ever won Blackjack. So I made up for what I thought was a winning that ended up being a losing that ended up winning.

So those are my my horse racing knowledge. Maybe we'll have Larry Kalmas on the voice of the Triple Crown later this week and probably better. So anyway, let's get to Michael Malone, the coach of the world champion Denver Nuggets on money. Murray Jamal Murray after he hit another game winning shot for Jamal to add to his playoff lore by having two game winners in a series is just incredible. And the conversation before the game, without getting into too much detail, was an emotional one about him playing tonight. And as he just told me, he goes, I'm glad I played because I don't know if we win.

If I don't play tonight, I said, Well, that's the understatement of the year. Kids a warrior, man. I just I can't say enough good things about Jamal Murray. The bigger the moment, the kid just continues to shine. And I'm proud of them.

One tough cookie. He's so essential to what they do. Big shot after big shot throughout the last few years. And when he's healthy, they've had a chance to win a championship.

And they did win that championship a year ago. Let's listen up. This is on TNT. You'll hear Stan Van Gundy. So Jason Tatum got fouled last night, and afterwards tried to get the shot off and then bam out of bio. I thought this was a dirty play tried to prevent the shot, but he didn't allow Jason Tatum to land. And yeah, Jason Tatum suffer a little bit of an injury, but they don't think it's a big deal in Boston. But here's Stan Van Gundy on TNT.

All right, Ernie, thank you for that. It's Boston ball here. We got a foul. As Derek White hits the deck, Jason Tatum falls down trying to pick up a foul. I think he rolled his ankle as he was going down. Well, he shot the ball after the foul was called. Hereford's upset.

He thinks there's extra curricular activity. But look, Tatum decided to shoot the ball, and then out of bio decided to contest the shot all after the foul was called. There's the foul call.

It's already over. Tatum's going to shoot it. You're not going to let the guy. Yeah, but the foul's already been called. You're not going to let the guy just get a warm-up shot to get ready for the next one.

I don't think there's anything there. So if you don't want to let the guy get the shot off, that's one thing. But you can't basically not allow him to land. And that's where I thought it was a dirty decision by bam out of bio. Let's go to Bradley Beal. We know the Suns got swept out of the postseason the other night, and Bradley Beal is going to the bench, and there's a lot of thoughts that Frank Vogel could be one and done with the Suns. And he kind of slapped Coach Vogel's hand away when Vogel is, I guess, trying to give him a fist bump.

This is Bradley Beal on the incident. Yeah, I slapped him hard. I was frustrated with fouls, and I knew I was coming out. It wasn't nothing against Coach. I'm sorry if that probably did look bad, but no, it wasn't. I was more frustrated with myself from being in foul trouble. I knew I was coming out of the game. He was doing his job. He was being smart, saving me. It wasn't nothing towards Coach.

There's nothing there. So I want to believe him, and I understand everything gets aggregated now, and sometimes doesn't look as the way that it actually appears. But there was that article after the game where multiple players in the locker room thought that Frank Vogel lost the locker room. So if Bradley Beal is one of them, I can see why he wasn't all that thrilled with the coach when he's walking past him.

And I kind of buy what he said, but you have to take it with the grain of salt. Let's go to Darvin Ham. Lakers out of the postseason.

At least they made it to the fifth game, and I guess Stu then is going to raise a banner for that because they weren't the Suns who got swept. But what does his team need to be successful next year? What would you point your finger to moving forward that this group needs to get to where it wants to be? Stay healthy. Stay healthy. You take a lot of flack for your rotations and all of that, but rotations are secondary.

The primary is health. So that was a real quote because he talked about the rotations and everything. I know he's got a lot of heat for the rotations.

I thought that was just like, oh, aha, gotcha kind of moment on social media. I'm not dismissing the health. The health is a big part, but Stu, even if they were healthy this year, this is not a championship team. No, they're not better than Denver, even if they're healthy for 82 games plus. Let's go to Tom Telesco.

This is like the stew hour here. We talk about the Lakers. Then we go to the Raiders general manager. They drafted Brock Bowers, 13th overall. A lot of people thought that they were going to take a quarterback, but at that time, the six quarterbacks that were potentially projected to go in the first round were all off the board. So did Tom Telesco consider a quarterback in the later rounds? Was there any thought about a quarterback, you know, in these last two? On the third day, no, no, really not in the second day either.

First day, you know, yes, but not after that. That just weren't the evaluation kind of? Yeah, I mean, if we felt there was a quarterback out there that was better than what we had or could potentially be better, certainly would have done something about it, but that didn't line up. Yeah, I can't really crush someone for not taking a quarterback. Like, you could low risk, high reward, but I'm not going to say, oh, wow, I can't believe that all the Raiders didn't take a quarterback because once they didn't get one in the first round, you're not just going to draft a quarterback to draft a quarterback.

Here is the new Bill Sensation. Keon Coleman has a great personality out of Florida State. I love the game that he had this past year up against Clemson. On the message that he received from his new quarterback, Josh Allen, after the draft. Yeah, he touched me, you know, the day of, it was like, you know, you're the guy I wanted. I watched a lot of receivers and, you know, I won't play with you.

And I'm like, I've been, I've been saying the same thing. I want to go play the guy that went under 17. And, you know, he a great quarterback. I think he's one of the best in the league right now. And I would love to be catching passes from him. I'm ready for that. I hope that dude's a star.

You may not heard it in that clip, but there was other clips where it's like, wow, this dude's just a great personality and he's so happy to be there. But you look at that Bill's team, you know, we got to see how they look defensively, but on offense, you got enough to contend this year on offense. You got Josh Allen, that's the biggest part.

James Cook was really good at the end of last season, throughout the entirety of last season. Dalton Kincaid was worthy of the pick that they did select him as you saw throughout the year. And now you had Keon Coleman, who I thought should have been a first round pick, and he ended up going the first pick in the second round. Travis Kelce, new extension with the Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City. Let's hear from Sampter's favorite player on his new extension. Back at it again, baby.

Whoo. I just see a little Super Bowl right there, man. Feels good to be in KC.

I remember coming here 12 years ago, man. It's a it's an honor and a pleasure and I can't wait to get after it these next two years, but no better than right now. Getting getting fired up for this year. Just got out on the field with the boys.

We're back at it, baby. Chiefs forever. So I thought there was a chance that this was going to be Travis Kelce's final season. Now this new deal locks him through 2027. Does he make it to the end of 2027 in the NFL? Does he retire before that?

So the 2024 season, 25, that would be four more seasons. I have a tough time seeing Travis Kelce play four more seasons, but you take the more money and the guaranteed money when you could get it, obviously. And even though Travis started to slow down a little bit last year, he still shined in the biggest moments for the Kansas City Chiefs. He got into the league in 2013. I would be surprised if he makes it through the rest of this contract. I think two more years. It feels like at most for Travis Kelce. You know, maybe he goes three more, but that's the thing. You keep on pumping out these championships. You keep on singing.

You gotta fight for your right to Lombard. It is addicting and you want to see how many more that you could fire off with the great Patrick Mahomes. Alrighty, that is the news brief. It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network.

We will take a time out when we do come on back. I have to play you some LeBron James audio. Also, you will hear from one of LeBron's biggest mouthpieces.

That is windy. Brian Windhorst. What does he say about LeBron James's future? Will LeBron retire? Will LeBron go to another tee? Or will LeBron be back in La La Land when the season does start in the fall of 2024? It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. LeBron, LeBron, LeBron, and more Lebron next. of your squad. It's always football season right here on the free Odyssey app.