Tyreek Has To Wait (Hour 1)

Live from the play show, you're now at overly ostentatious studios of the Infinity Sports Network here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to what is a Tuesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local Infinity Sports Network affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, the free Odyssey app, and of course, streaming live on YouTube. 855-212-4227 is the number to jump on in. 855-212-4227. You could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter X at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. I got Stuart Kovacs. I got Niko. I got Moist Mike. We are rocking and rolling all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific time. I got to start off with Tyreek Hill.

So we'll play the audio in a second. Tyreek Hill, it's not pressing, but he made it clear that he wants a new deal. Let me just say this right out of the gate. Tyreek Hill is going to have to wait because even though I believe Tyreek Hill is more valuable to the Miami Dolphins' success on offense going into the year of 2024, they have to take care of someone else first. And that is their quarterback, Tuatunga Vailoa, who is about to enter his final season on his rookie deal. Now they could still franchise tag him twice if they want, but as we sit here and we get ready for training camp, Tyreek Hill is under contract for 2024, 2025, and 2026. If you take out the franchise tag route, you do have Tuatunga Vailoa's contract coming to a close at the end of this year. So Tuat's contract is a more pressing matter right now for the Miami Dolphins than Tyreek Hill, who is now 30 years old. Just got a new deal in 2022. Still has three years left in the contract, but he's already starting because he is the best wide receiver in football right now with what he's done as of late. He's already starting to kind of get that train and get that bicycle rolling into him getting a new contract. But this is Tyreek Hill on the increasing wide receiver market, something that you could argue he did start, and look how he just so smoothly threw in there, didn't kind of make it a Tyreek Hill big quote, wasn't going on and on and on about his contract. But he just swiftly threw in there that, oh, yeah, by the way, I want a new deal as well.

Here's the cheetah. Very excited to like, you know, just be a part of, you know, the old wave, which was 30 million dollars and Justin Jefferson came and surpassed that man. So very, you know, proud of those guys, you know, happy for obviously my teammate, Waddle, you know, getting his new deal. So for guys like me, that's great. You know, I'm 30 years old, you know, also looking for a new deal. So very excited to see where, you know, I fit in to like that category.

But you fit in right at the top of the market. Now, I understand age is a thing, but Tyreek Hill is aging like he is fine wine. You know, his first 1000 yard season was in 2017, where he had 1183 yards in 2018. After that, he put up 1479 yards in 2019 860 and then listen to what he's done the last four years. 1276 yards on 87 catches his final year in Kansas City, 111 catches 1239 yards. Now, obviously, Kansas City has found the way to still win without Tyreek Hill.

And you would have thought, right? Maybe Tyreek Hill's production takes a hit even without the great Patrick Mahomes. And to be fair, Mahomes wasn't his quarterback for the entirety of his run in Kansas City. But, you know, Mahomes is the best quarterback in the game.

But with two in and out of lineup in 2022, it didn't matter. Tyreek Hill, first year away from Patrick Mahomes, 119 receptions, 1710 yards. And last year, 119 receptions again, 1799 yards. So I don't know when Tyreek Hill will slow down. And remember when Aaron Rodgers right before he won back to back MVPs and people were questioning, you know, what's the future of Aaron Rodgers? Even the Packers did so by selecting Jordan Love. Rodgers said something along the line of even when I have a down year, it's still better than like 90, 95 percent of the quarterbacks in the NFL.

And he's not wrong. So even if Tyreek Hill and I don't think, right, that slip and that falloff is close, but maybe the wear and tear, you know, maybe start to slow down a little bit. If this guy slows down from being basically a seventeen hundred, eighteen hundred yard wide receiver and goes to fourteen, fifteen hundred yards. Yeah, you still take that and they'll still be one of the more explosive, dynamic and lethal players in the league. So in a weird way, even though Tyreek Hill should have no bargaining power here because he's under contract for three years, he does have a ton of leverage because there's still that thought in Miami. Is Tua really great or is it more so the environment that he's been put into and what they've done for him ever since Mike McDaniel did take over with, right, a brainiac as your head coach, serving basically as the offensive coordinator, running that offense. And you have not only one number one wide receiver, but you have two number one wide receivers because as great as Tyreek Hill is, Jalen Waddle can go to a lot of other teams in the NFL and he could be a number one wide receiver.

So I do think and you need this right. Like, when did Jalen Hurts take off? When he got A.J. Brown and Devante Smith. When did Josh Allen take off?

It's when he got Staphon Diggs. You could go around the league and you could see guys that were fine quarterbacks that were, you know, questions about them. There were questions about hurts. There were questions about Allen. And then it's not brain surgery to figure out that if you put great wide receivers around the quarterback or a great running back around the quarterback, a great offensive line around the quarterback, it's going to help that quarterback out immensely. Now, the quarterback needs credit to like Jalen Hurts outplayed Mahomes in a Super Bowl, even though they lost.

He got credit. Josh Allen is recognized as a top three quarterback in the league by some people. He's the second. Some people think he's the third best quarterback, but no one's saying that he's like past four or five. Like everyone agrees that Josh Allen's a top three quarterback in the league. But Josh Allen did not really take off until he got Staphon Diggs. Jalen Hurts really didn't take off until he got both A.J.

Brown and Devante Smith. So if you took Tyree Kill away from Tuatunga Vailoa, can Tuas still be a good quarterback? Yeah, he could still be good, but his game is definitely going to take a hit if he just had, let's say, only Rahim Mostert, Davon A. Chan and Jalen Waddle. Like you could have success with that group, but there's going to be limitations because I think Tua is more so in the category of just being a good quarterback and not a great quarterback, even though statistically last year he did perform like a top five quarterback throughout the season.

So don't get this twisted. Absolutely, Tyree Kill is the most valuable player on the Miami Dolphins, but just because he's the most valuable player doesn't mean just because he floats out there, hey, I want a new contract. It doesn't mean he's going to get it right away because still in this league, even though I think Tyree Kill is more valuable than Tuatunga Vailoa, quarterbacks, they go first, especially when a quarterback is on the fifth year of his rookie contract. And I don't think Tuatunga Vailoa is getting a new deal by the start of the season. You know, maybe something can happen over the next few weeks before training camp.

But I would be surprised with how long this has taken. Some of the reporting by Jeff Darlington as of late, who even said they're offering a contract right now that's below market value, which I get, you know, OK, the Jaguars, they rushed to give Trevor Lawrence a new deal. Just because the Jaguars did that doesn't mean Miami has to get this deal done and pay 50 something million dollars a year, 55 million dollars a year for Tuatunga Vailoa. And usually quarterbacks, they get great money even if they're just a good player.

So I do think what Miami's doing, they kind of put their cards and showed you their cards on the table last week with the reporting. We're willing to get a deal done with Tua now if he goes below market value, because there's still a question about Tua. Because going into this past year, it was can Tua stay healthy? Can Tua stay healthy? He stays healthy, you know, this past year. But is he going to be able to sustain that for back to back years? So I don't fault Miami rushing to get a deal done now, you know, to not get a deal done right now with Tua.

I actually think it's smart. You could save now and if Tua balls out this year, then you're going to have to pay him a little bit more. But I'm willing to make that sacrifice and have to pay a little bit more per year rather than me giving him a huge deal right now, you know, at market value before the season starts.

And unfortunately, if Tua gets a concussion or if Tua gets hurt, you're back in the same boat where we were before last season. So I fully get what Miami's doing, but it is going to have a domino effect on Tyreek Hill. Because just because Tyreek snaps his fingers right now and says he wants a new deal. And I don't think he was doing it in an obnoxious way.

I don't think he was doing it in a demanding way. He's just making it known, hey, yeah, I'm going to get a new deal soon. And you have to look inside his contract, even though he's under contract through 2026, his guaranteed money. It comes to an end after this season. So Miami, they got to take care of Tua first. I think they will take care of Tua at the end of the season. And I think we'll get an extension next offseason. And once that deal does go down and once Tua gets squared away and situated, then the next domino to fall is Tyreek. And if you look inside the Tyreek contract, and I'm not usually like love when we have to break down these contracts.

But it does pertain to this argument and to this theory on how the Dolphins can wait a little bit with with Tyreek. And you go to the season final guaranteed money on the deal, even though there's two years left on the contract after that. It actually would benefit Miami to get a new deal done with Tyreek Hill a year from now. Or maybe even after the 2025 season, because the cap hit for Tyreek Hill for this upcoming season, 31 million dollars.

Nothing's going to change by that. But if you give them a new extension entering next season, you can move around and lower the cap hit for the remaining two years and spread that out however they want to do so. Because that cap in 2025 is 34 million dollars.

Once again, not the end of the world. But the cap hit in 2026 is a whopping 56.3 million dollars. So what we thought was going to happen with the Dak contract situation, remember how Dak's contract was like 60 million on the cap hit this year.

And they were able to trim like 5 million off of that. That's what the Dolphins are going to be in, in a similar boat entering the 2026 season. But let's just say they want to wait and maybe Tyreek doesn't have as many more elite years as I think he can. You know, it's very easy for them to get out of this contract because in 2025, the debt cap is 22 million dollars around there. And in 2026, it's at 11.3 million dollars. But I don't think it's likely.

Even if they did wait and wait and wait. And let's say at the end of Tyreek being 32, I still think there's an avenue and a path to give them a three year deal where bare minimum, you'll still get two great years at a Tyreek kill after that 2026 season. So kind of the way that this all works out, I look at it the next deal Tyreek gets, even though it'll be a three year extension, I do think it will kind of be viewed as a five year contract because that will factor in. Let's say they get to it done at the end of next offseason.

They also get Tyreek done. They can move around those numbers and set it up beneficial to them. That will include the pending two years on the contract, 2025, 2026.

And then you'll add on three more years, 2027, 2028, 2029. But I think the Dolphins are one of the more intriguing teams in the NFL right now because there are teams that we look at and we just view them as a good team and not a great team. And you guys listening to me for all these years, you know, I am very strict on the teams that I will allow to be referred to as great. And I can't view right now Miami as a great team. Like if you told me Miami misses the playoffs this year, I wouldn't be shocked.

I wouldn't be. They have the talent on offense just just alone to make the playoffs. But on defense, Phillips is enormous. He's coming off an injury. Chubb is enormous.

He's coming off an injury. And that defense to me is going to be the difference along with Tua. If Tua could dominate in the big games, those two things will determine how far Miami could go. But quite frankly, when I look at the Dolphins, I look at Miami as just a team this year that if you say, Zach, you know. Be as benevolent as you could possibly be in your soul with the Miami Dolphins. What do you envision Miami being this year? So if I'm going to look at this as optimistically as I can, the best I see them doing is get into divisional round weekend and win in one playoff game. I don't think Miami is about to go to a championship game. I don't think Miami is going to a Super Bowl. And it's not because I don't believe in Raheem Mostert, Devon Achan, Tyreke Hill, Jalen Waddle. Their offensive line is is a question mark.

You know, Tua. Can he be great is a question mark. And that defense with the injuries that they suffered last year and it being uncertain when those guys are coming back is a massive question mark. And I think Miami is just one of those teams that they'll be in the postseason. They could miss it, but they'll be a playoff team. But when push comes to shove, I only see them winning one playoff game at most at the absolute apex. I don't see this team stringing together a run of a wild card round victory, a divisional round, a championship, a conference championship round and then playing for a Lombardi Trophy.

I just don't see it. They're a flashy team. They're a fun team. They're a fantasy football team. But fantasy football teams in the NFL don't win Lombardi trophies.

They don't. And that's how I view Miami. They got a lot of sizzle. They got a lot of pop at times. You look at them and you'll say, oh, how did they score 70 something points in a game?

And you'll be blown away. But as it gets colder, as the season goes on, as the games get bigger, I think this team comes up small. And that's why, hey, wild card round weekend, I think they could outscore team.

I think they could go put up enough points and win wild card weekend to get the right matchup. But when you get to the more elite competition, the Miami Dolphins to me aren't in that circle. They aren't in that club yet. They look like they could be in that circle.

They look like they could walk down into that lifestyle, but they're not there yet. And the biggest limitations I think this team has are at the quarterback spot that he's just good, not great. And the defense has a lot of question marks with players coming off injuries. It is Zach Gelb showing the Infinity Sports Network. How do you view the Miami Dolphins entering this season?

8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. When we come on back, who are the best dynamic duos in the NBA? I feel like each and every year we ask who are the best, who's the best player in the NBA? I think right now most people would agree. It's Nicole Jokic. But now when we take it a step further, after seeing the Denver Nuggets go down in the postseason this year, after seeing Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum punch through and win a championship, who is considered to be the best dynamic duo in the NBA?

We'll discuss that when we return in five minutes. All right, this is Zach Gelb showing the Infinity Sports Network. I actually made an appearance earlier this morning calling in to the Maggie and Perloff show.

Right here on many of the same Infinity Sports Network affiliates, Sirius XM Channel 158, the free Odyssey app and also streaming on YouTube. And I ran by a conspiracy theory that was floated my way from a very reliable source, as it does pertain to their producer and Elijah Stewart, EJ, who we all love around here, who unfortunately was stealing third base in a charity kickball tournament, which was allowed, right? They laid out the rules and stealing was part of the rule. So EJ was going very competitively and very hard in this competition. And when he went to go steal third base, he fell down and he claims he did tear his patella tendon. Now, I was told from a very reliable source that EJ is faking the injury, is faking the surgery, is friends with a doctor, is just getting kind of a doctor to go along with this plan because EJ is trying to weasel his way out of a bet that he lost with the Maggie and Perloff show, which he's on, that requires him to run gassers. And his thought with this whole thing was if he tears his patellar tendon and he claims to tear his patellar tendon in a charity kickball tournament with all of us, a lot of us from the network watching and there and participating, that it would garner some sympathy for Maggie and Perloff. Oh, he went through the charity kickball tournament, tore his patellar tendon.

So now we won't make him run the gassers just because you don't want to see someone get hurt or the recovery time, the fugazi recovery time here for the fake surgery would actually maybe make them forget about the bet that he has to pay off. So that's what I threw by them, and I don't know if they bought it or not, but then this board came up. So yesterday, I guess they have a, they're doing a board right now, what Pete Bellotti is mad at. And I said, you probably don't have a big enough whiteboard to write everything that Pete, the body Bellotti is mad at.

But yesterday there was a list of things and I added something to it. And I added Perloff acting like he was Juju Smith-Schuster at a charity kickball tournament. And I guess they were two hours into their show. And the whiteboard is literally right behind the great Maggie Gray and right in front of the nose of Andrew Perloff.

Like it's right underneath his nose. And they were talking about the addition to the whiteboard on the air. And they're like, who added that onto the board during the break? And then I came clean and told them, hey, it was me.

So right now on the board, it's Gunnar Henderson, the suspended coach from Uruguay, Zach Wilson's engagement, Terod Taylor as a landlord, the Jets logo guy, which I have no clue about. And then my name was on the board. So I erased my name because I don't want Pete the body Bellotti mad at me. And, Samter, I threw your name under there because it's probably right that Pete's mad at you at some extent.

Yeah, ten years after the last working with him, he still fears me. But you were right, Samter, because when I told you yesterday on the air that I was going to write something on the board, you were like, I bet you they don't even realize it because you've worked with Maggie and Perloff for a while and used to write things and be a prankster and be a practical joker on the board. And they wouldn't realize it when they walk into the studio. It'd be when they examine the board and do whatever board segment they're doing. I will say this at like five o'clock in the morning, Eastern time when you're about to start a show, your eyes aren't fully focused on your surroundings. You're just trying to survive. Yeah, trying to survive. Like we're doing something crazy here. We're sitting down and we're talking sports. You ever do a morning shift?

Yes. Oh, man, that's not fun. When I used to fill in on Taz and the Moose, Taz would have the studio so dark in here. Like they didn't stream so they didn't need all the lights on. And Maggie and Perloff at least I think had the lights on so it's bright in here. But I would almost fall asleep when filling in on Taz and the Moose.

Because it's what? That show started at 6 a.m. And you have to, you know, I got in there at like 4.40, 4.30 a.m. Eastern time. So you're just naturally tired. And when you go into a setting tired and there's basically no lights on, you pretty much just want to doze off and go to sleep.

So that's how I kind of was. It's like playing like lullaby music, right? Like having the lights off when you're tired just immediately makes you want to sleep.

You got to like wake yourself up. It's coffee, bright lights and loud music. Well, when I worked for Angelo Cataldi on his show in Philadelphia, they used to bring in once a month because Del Frisco's was the sponsor, Del Frisco's.

Oh, I don't care if it was 7.30 in the morning. You put steak, lobster mac and cheese, cream spinach. They had some great dessert too.

I forget what it was. You put all that food, even asparagus at that time. You put that delicious Del Frisco's steak with all the sides. Yeah, your boy was eating like a pig. Absolutely eating like a pig. It sounds delicious.

6 o'clock in the morning. I don't know if my stomach can handle that. Craig Carden when he used to do the morning show would bring in like Wohop, which is the great Chinese food place around here. And he was also then like the next day bringing bagels like lox, white fish and all that stuff. So anytime you bring in food in a radio office or a radio station, radio network, it doesn't matter what the food is.

It doesn't matter what time of day it is. You know, as long as it's something that isn't healthy, you throw that in the newsroom, it goes away within five minutes. Five minutes may be too much time actually. It would be as if you had a wolf walking around that hasn't had something to eat in two weeks and then you just put down a big hunk of steak and boom, there's no more food left to be seen. There's people that you don't even know work here that show their faces when there's food out.

Who is this person here? Oh, they're in sales. Really? The first time they've been in the office in about two years, they knew the food was coming in.

But anyway, I want to just ask a quick question because I wonder where the praise is and somewhat in the moment, but then also maybe there's some skepticism with it as well. So Jason Tatum is getting that monster extension from the Boston Celtics, $314 million. And that was well expected that it was going to happen. You know, I don't say this disrespectfully, but if Jaylen Brown already got his contract, you do, Jason Tatum was going to get his contract as well. But Stu, if I ask you who the best dynamic duo is in the NBA, do you right away say it is Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown just because they recently won a championship? Yes, I think it is them. I think anyone else, there are other good ones, but I think you're overthinking it if you're picking someone else.

I think there's only one that wouldn't be considered overthinking, but I'll get to that in just a second. Samter, Tatum and Brown, do you think they're the best dynamic duo in the NBA? Can you argue somebody else? Oh, I definitely can argue somebody else. But can you actually believe it?

Like don't be Skip Bayless and just argue for the sake of arguing. I mean, listen, I love Tatum and Brown, but neither of them have MVPs. Jokic has three and Jamal Murray is a superstar. So you can go with that. You can go with Kat and Anthony Edwards.

They're not there yet, but maybe in a couple of years. The team that the Celtics beat, Luca and Kyrie. Yes, you can say that the Celtics were just better and maybe Tatum and Brown were better, but they also have a better supporting cast.

So if you're just looking at the two players, Luca and Kyrie versus Tatum and Brown, I'm probably taking Luca and Kyrie. It's close. It's close though.

Well, here's the thing. You called Jamal Murray a superstar. Star. I misspoke.

You're right. He's a star. Still, you called him a star and I am like the leader up until he threw the heating pad in the towel. I am like one of the leaders of the Jamal Murray fan club.

He didn't make an all star team. So it's tough for me to call him a star, but that's the one duo that I think you could argue. It is Nicole Jokic and Jamal Murray.

And if you want to look at the ones of that duo, sure, I'd rather have Nicole Jokic than Jason Tatum. But when you look at the twos, I'd rather have Jalen Brown than Jamal Murray. Jalen Brown to me. There's there's not injury concerns like there are with Jamal Murray. And he's more consistent than Jamal Murray. And we were wondering, will Jalen Brown have that clutchness? Because that's the best argument for Jamal Murray. How clutch he is and how sensational he is in these in the late in the games and what we see in the postseason. Well, Jalen Brown just won a conference finals MVP and an NBA finals MVP.

So I don't think it's sexy. It may not be the the obvious answer, but I do think it's the right answer that Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown are the best dynamic duo in the league. And after that, like I'll tell you, if I had to give you my five best dynamic duos. KD and Devin Booker aren't in it. Carl Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards aren't in it.

Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler aren't in it. You know, KD and and Devin Booker, it seems like they're about one of them is about to get traded or wants to get traded. Towns isn't a strong enough two.

Edwards is clearly a strong enough one. And Jimmy Butler, I think he has his eyes set on potentially for Miami's a play out this year and then see where it goes from there. But the five duos that I have in no order, Brown and Tatum, Nicole Jokic and Jamal Murray, LeBron James and Anthony Davis still have to be in there. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard and then Luka Doncic and Kyrie. You know, I would probably say if I had to order him, it'd probably be in that order. You know, yeah, I would probably go Brown and Tatum.

Joker and Murray won two like those are the first two. Then after that, you could order Bronte D, Giannis, Dame, Luka and Kyrie in whatever way you want. I would probably have to go Bronte and AD, though, three, because they did win a championship together.

I would then probably have to actually flop and put Luka and Kyrie in at four, even though I have great concerns about how long Kyrie is going to be mentally plugged in. But they were just in the NBA finals. And when Giannis won a championship, who Giannis is the second best player in the league, he's won a championship and has won MVPs. But the first year did not go over well with Giannis and Dame.

But I do think they're going to have a monster bounce back season here in your number two together. So I think those are the five best dynamic duos in the NBA in that order. Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, Murray and Jokic, Bronte and AD, Kyrie and Luka, and then Giannis and Dame and Lillard. Who's the best dynamic duo in the league?

8-5-5, 2-1-2, 42-27, 8-5-5, 2-1-2, 42-27. But you just had Paul George and Kawhi Leonard break up with Paul George off to the Philadelphia 76ers. And you also had Steph Curry and Klay Thompson break up with Klay Thompson is now on his way to going to the Dallas Mavericks. Which I thought was a good decision by Klay Thompson. I don't like how he's playing like the victim card here and now the Warriors screwed him over. Now the Warriors made a smart decision not bringing you back. It's not easy because you're a franchise legend and you won four championships.

I know his father will play you more of this in the news brief coming up in a bit. You know, his father wanted him to join with the Lakers and he could have done that. But you're leaving out of the realistic options. I thought his best chance to go into championship next year if you put that in front of me. Warriors if you want to stay. The Lakers or going to the Mavericks.

I think he made the right decision and put himself in a better chance to go win a ring. If I was Klay, it's not that I would be pissed about how this is playing out. But the fact that they gave Draymond money after Draymond punched out Jordan Poole.

But then they're going to turn their back on you. It's like you're choosing Draymond over me? You're choosing this guy who's a walking nightmare punching guys in the face. Hitting opponents. Hitting our own teammates. Getting suspended and not averaging more than 10 points a game when nobody was around. The guy's a glue piece but he's not a big money guy.

So you're not wrong but you know whose fault that is? It's Klay Thompson's. Because I was listening to the game this morning, 95-7 the game. And they had on one of the Warriors beat reporters who did a full deep dive into this entire thing.

Anthony Slater. And Anthony Slater reported that a big reason why Draymond was back and he got that deal. And why he will still remain on the team is because Steph went to bat for him. Klay Thompson reportedly went to Steph and said, I want them to pay me and do right by me on their own.

I don't want your help. So Steph could have gone to the front office and said, hey, keep, keep, keep, keep, keep Klay. But Klay asked him not to do so. If Klay did that, or excuse me, if Steph did that and did actually go to them and let's say Klay never did that. I think there's a chance that Klay is back. And this was something that was very obvious.

Like sometimes we look at this nationally from afar. But from people that cover the team, no one's surprised with how this has gone down the last three, four months that Klay is now off to another team. And that the Warriors didn't give him the deal that he wanted and he wanted to be taken care of with Golden State.

There were a lot of stuff that's been reported throughout the year. This is Zach Gelb's show on the Infinity Sports Network. We will come on back with the news brief. But first up with the latest Infinity Sports Network update, here he is. The coach, the act man, Rich Ackerman.

Alrighty, we talked about this a lot yesterday, but let's continue the conversation. Klay Thompson is going to find his way to a new home and that's the Dallas Mavericks. And there was a thought he may go join the Los Angeles Lakers. Here's Chris Haynes on Bleacher Report why Klay Thompson is not going to the Lakers. I was told the Lakers made a pretty compelling offer. It was around a three, four year mark.

Somewhere along the lines of 20 million per. And they didn't get their guy. It just did not happen. I was told that it would have likely involved DeAngelo Russell being a part of a deal to get Klay. And from what I was told, the Warriors weren't interested in bringing back DeAngelo Russell. So Stu, I know the Laker fan is very sensitive right now. Do you blame the Lakers for not getting this deal done with Klay Thompson? Because I saw like a lot of people in the discourse of social media yesterday, like crushing Rob Palinka, crushing the Lakers for not finding a way to get the proper pieces in the sign and trade done. They made a good offer though to Klay Thompson. I just think Klay believed that the Dallas Mavericks put him in the best position to kind of, in his mind, stick it to the Golden State Warriors and he had a better shot to go win a championship with Dallas and the Lakers. I know a lot of times, right, it's fair to blame the Lakers for things because they're a mess right now. I don't really see this one yesterday so I'll have you represent the crazy Laker fan. No, it's hard to blame.

It's not like they could have offered more money so it wasn't being cheap. He wants to go to somewhere where he feels that he can win and I don't blame him. If I was him, I would do the same thing. I would go to Dallas over to Lakers as well. Well, Lakers fans are annoyed at Klay Thompson or maybe they're annoyed at their own team. Michael Thompson, Klay Thompson's father, I guess, is annoyed at his own son. Here is Michael Thompson who is right now the longtime Lakers color analyst on the radio broadcast. He is not happy with Klay going to the Mavs and not joining him in L.A.

This is Sirius XM, NBA radio. Hold your congratulations, Frank. I'm not feeling too much of a congratulatory mood right now.

Obviously it's Klay's decision. It's his life. He's a grown man, 34 years of age. Just like we were, 34 at one time. Scal, Frank, and our father used to give us advice. You know, we would go our own path and that's fine.

That's what life is supposed to be about. I'm really disappointed. I was hoping, hoping, as you can assess, that he would be a Laker. It was close. It came down to the Lakers and the Mavs, but the Mavs won out.

You know me. I was hoping and praying he'd finish his career with the Lakers. I understand, since he's a Laker and he won two championships with them as a player, why he would prefer his son to go there, but I don't know, Santer. That's kind of a bad look for Michael Thompson to basically sound like he's miserable that his son has elected to leave the Warriors and go to the Mavericks and not go to the Lakers.

Like, can't you support your kid there? Yeah, I mean, he said I'm happy for, you know, I'm happy that he's happy. So there's that part of it. After saying he's not happy. Well, he said he's happy that he's happy, but at the end of the day, yeah. He's like, hold up on the congratulatory messages.

Yeah, he's not happy. So he played for the team. He works for the team.

Who cares? It's your son. Clay Thompson grew up idolizing the Lakers, grew up idolizing Kobe. He always dreamed of playing with the Lakers. So it was like, this is... Twenty-something years ago. Yeah, but I mean, you're still a kid in you and to say that the Mavs undisputedly are the better chance to win a title now than the Lakers, it's probably closer than you think.

No, it's not. The Lakers were in the Western Conference Finals last year. Two years ago. Two years ago and the Mavs made a surprise run. Nobody expected the five seed Mavs to make their run. So it wasn't like they were the one seed or the two seed or the three seed and they were a favorite to win. They made like a big surprise run. They got hot at the right time and they got blown out in the finals. At the end of the day, like, if the Mavs go one and done or go out into the second round this year, even with Clay, are you going to be surprised in that Western Conference?

No. No, but if you tell me the Lakers are in the NBA Finals next year, I'd be stunned. I would be stunned.

Stewart hit the floor, he wouldn't know what to do with himself. They have a genius head coach. A basketball genius as a head coach. Do me a favor. I'm not even responding.

I'm going to pretend like I didn't even hear that. I thought it was asinine that yesterday you said Jalen Brunson wasn't a top 25 player in the league. Now you're saying JJ Reddick is a genius of a coach? A whole spreadsheet of guys that were better. I said like 20 to 25. I'm looking, he's probably closer, somewhere between that 19 to 22 range.

18 to 22 range. Alrighty, let's hear one more from Michael Thompson because it's better than what others are saying right now. Michael Thompson surprised Clay didn't go to the Lakers. Obviously, I tried to sell the playing for the Lakers. Obviously, that's the right thing for me to do and the proper thing for me to do and I felt like it was the correct thing for me to do because I really believe in this franchise.

The franchise has been so good to me and my family, including Clay. He grew up a Lakers fan. He grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant like most players his age, most kids his age. So I just thought it seemed like it would be the perfect fit for him to finally come back home because we always talked about him playing for the Lakers if he was not a Golden State Warrior, where else would he want to play. And of course, being a fan of Kobe's, he would have loved to have played for the Lakers, but he had a chance and when the chance came, he chose the Mavericks instead and I lived with it.

I accepted and I'm happy for him that he is happy with his decision, but of course, I tried to sell him one of the Lakers. I forget the exact scenario, but I want to say it was like LSU in Alabama. There was a mom a few years ago who was expecting her son on decision day to make the decision.

I forget if it was LSU, Alabama, maybe it was someone else. And when the son put on the cap, she basically smacked him and walked away and she was frustrated. That's Michael Thompson basically being somewhat of an adult criticizing the decision, just not storming off and making it a big scene. Alrighty, let's hear from Bronny James. He was introduced today as a Lakers draft pick. Is there pressure playing with your father, the great LeBron James? How much more pressure is on you, playing on a team with your father and how are you going to handle that pressure? For sure, the amplified amount of pressure. I've already seen it, media and stuff on the internet and the internet and stuff talking about, I might not deserve an opportunity, but I've been dealing with stuff like this for my whole life.

So it's nothing different, but it's more amplified for sure, but I can get through it. I have no problem with the Lakers drafting Bronny. None whatsoever. My problems with LeBron, that he could have got his son drafted somewhere else and also joined his son somewhere else and actually be having a legitimate shot to go win a championship. I think LeBron should be in Philly before Paul George should be in Philly, but that's not the way that that did play out. Bronny James, did playing with his dad impact his decision to enter the draft?

For me, I always try to put that narrative of me trying to get my name out for myself, but just coming in and trying to get better, Rob has told me that there's a great development system here, so I just want to come in and get my work in and get better every day. But I never really had a thought of me going to play with my dad, but that's always there to take part of, but that wasn't the main focus of mine to do. You definitely thought about it.

I don't know if it was your preference, but you definitely thought about it. It's physically impossible to not think about it. All right, Samter, I turn the program over to you because the only time I care about soccer is when it's the Olympics or when it is the World Cup. What's the latest with Team USA? Well, I'm going to enlist Stu to help me out here, but basically, US had to either beat Uruguay to move on, or if they drew, then that meant that Panama would have to tie or lose to Bolivia. Drew means tie, I'm assuming?

Yes, correct. Now, at a certain point, it was 0-0 for the US, and Panama was up 1-0. At that point, the US was out. Then, out of nowhere, Bolivia tied the game up, which means that if the scores hold, the US moves on.

Ten seconds later, the head coach, Greg Berhalter, puts up his fingers to his team. Hey, guys, the other game is tied 1-1. Immediately after he does that, Uruguay scores a goal to go up and basically put the US out of their misery. However, that goal should have been disallowed. I don't know if you understand the offside rule in soccer, but basically... Yeah, I get it enough. Okay, it was a clear offside.

They had VAR, which is literally a camera system set up in place to be able to monitor exactly where players are when a ball is hit. The guy was offside by three feet, maybe two feet. He was way offside. There's no reason why they would have looked at the replay and not called him offside. However, the ref decided not to call him offside. They allowed the goal. It was one of many instances in the game where the ref made a blatant, disgusting decision that many people, not just American fans, around the world are saying to themselves, this guy is throwing the match. After the match, Christian Pulisic, our best player, went to go shake his hand.

The guy refused to shake his hand. This was clearly a case of... So are we eliminated? We're eliminated. All right, thank God, because I'm sick and tired of seeing all the tweets. I really am.

I'm fine. You've got to get into soccer, man. It's so exciting.

Hey, Stu, real quick. Play me the play-by-play of the goal, courtesy of Fox. Free kick for Uruguay after the rain of foul. De La Cruz sends it in! Turn to the save! The rebound's a goal! US looking at the side, hoping to see a flag come up. It's not going to come up. Should have. All righty. Well, that will delay my soccer coverage and my paying attention to soccer until the Olympics and the World Cup. Thank God.