The Bernie Fratto Show talks Luka & AD Blockbuster Trade, NFL Rigged Rumors & Ryan Day!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You don't listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Well that's right, you heard the man that time of week.
My name is Bernie Frattle. We are coming your line
from the tyrac dot com studios here in Las Vegas,
Fox Sports Radio. Tyrat dot com will help you get
there at unmatched selection, fast free shipping for your road
hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tyrat dot
com the way tire buying should be. Well, you've heard

(00:26):
me say a thousand times. Sports has and always will
be the greatest reality show going. And you can script everything,
but the ending. The news you heard break about ninety
minutes ago is just the beginning. Now the Hollywood script begins.

(00:49):
But here's why. The trade that was announced about ninety
minutes ago has really got my scratch from my head.
Excuse me? Got me scratching my head and wondering where
does this all lead? What's the endgame here? And I'll
draw on a historical perspective in just a minute, and
in about an hour, of course, Mark Medina will join

(01:12):
us for our weekly Medina Magic Midnight segment and we
close every segment with let's see what the new cycle
brings us next week? Market It never fails to deliver. Look,
superstars get traded. That that part is nothing new, but

(01:35):
traded for each other in a fashion that's this unexpected
during mid season, right before the trade deadline, so it
raises questions. And again in about an hour, Mark Medina
and I will take a much deeper dive into this,
the impetus behind the trade. What I don't want to

(01:56):
do for the next four hours because I have a
lot of great stuff tonight and now have three great
guess and listen, I'm not an idiot. You play the hits.
People want to know right now, there's not a hell
of a lot much more to report, and I want
to sit here for four hours and say, Wow, this
is crazy man, No one saw it's coming. Wow, this
is kookie. What do you think? Okay, we don't want
to sound like two guys at the game of the bar,

(02:18):
so let's try to add some texture in some context.
And by the way, not for nothing. The irony here
is if you look at the offensive production between these
two players, Luca averages two more points a game. Anthony
Davis averages three more rebounds a game. Luca has three

(02:39):
more assists per game. Davis Moore block shots and Davis
shoots at about fifty two percent and Luke at about
forty six. But this is so much more than that
because the Lakers will they're they're an organization of eras.
All right, you go back to Wilt Baylor, West, Kareem
and Magic or when I was an intern at before.

(03:02):
I'm Kobe Shack, not Brownie. Okay, I'm just kidding, Lebron.
Now is are the Lakers playing the long game here?
What's really happening. Look, I've been covering sports a long time,
and I've talked to general managers who have made trades
in all sports. And I had a general manager in
Major League Baseball many many years ago. This is back

(03:23):
in the nineties. Tell me, before he makes the trade,
he understands he wants to get value for that trade.
But the one thing he checks is he checks is
subconscious with before making the trade. Is this all right,
Here's a player I'm going to move and I want
to get value for him. But the way, I still

(03:43):
have to worry about playing against him. So there are questions.
And by the way, make no mistake, Luca needs the
ball to be impactful, and so it does, Lebron. Luca
really doesn't play a hell of a lot of defense
has to be written. This has to play itself out,

(04:05):
otherwise we don't really have a whole hell of a
lot of context. I mean, this is what we know.
It's a jarring trade. It seems to have come out
of nowhere. And I know that the Mavericks general manager
issued sort of the first salvo in saying, quote, I
believe the defense wins championships. Sneiko Harrison, by the way,
and that was his motivation to trade Luke. Apparently Dallas

(04:29):
made the first overture toward the Lakers. All right, Anthony
Davis turns thirty two next month. His role with the
Mavericks will be to take over Don Low. He'll be
surrounded by Kyrie, Klay Thompson, PJ. Washington. This is a
team that got to the NBA Finals last year. But
on the other side of the trade, the deal completely
alters the Lakers' long term I think just swapping out

(04:52):
your most important defensive player for one of the most
talented offensive players in the league. But again, he eats
the ball all in his hands to be impactful. So
what do we know about this? We don't know a
lot about this and will this trade be impactful and
how and over what period of time? And is there

(05:14):
anything is there any precedent here? Is there any reference
point here that we can offer some some perspective on
And of course there is and you know it habit coincidentally,
fifty years ago, it's actually June. In nineteen seventy five,
the Lakers made one of the more impactful trades in

(05:34):
the history of the NBA. They acquired a guy by
the name of Kareem ab Dul Jabbar from Milwaukee Bucks.
And you want to find some parallels, well, at that time,
kream ab Dul Jabbar was you know, was known for
his statement that he said, I only have one year
left on my contract, and I told Milwaukee I really

(05:55):
was an interested in signing up again. He wanted to
leave Milwaukee. It was quiet though no one saw it coming.
It was a situation way ahead of its time because
it's reminiscent of some of the player movement today seen
in today's game. Jabbar quietly told the Bucks behind the scenes,
I'd like to go, and the Bucks kept looking and
looking and looking and looking, and you know, eventually, eventually

(06:20):
it happened out. Jabbar joined the Bucks, he was cream
or he was Louel Sinder did win one championship with
the Bucks seventy one. Four years later it felt like
he'd run his course. Got to the Lakers in seventy five,
and one of the reasons this trade is so memorable
to me is that the Bucks got the Lakers got

(06:41):
Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and the Bucks got Brian Winners, Elmore Smith, Junior,
Bridgeman Cash and a guy by the name of Dave
Myers who was part of John Wooden's two championship teams,
including his final drafted third overall. Dave Myers was a
personal friend of mine. We worked together for many years.
Rest his soul. He passed a couple of years ago,
and the Lakers were giddy that they got this magnificent player.

(07:03):
Came Abdul Jabbar, but it took years. It took years
before it manifested itself in any kind of success. I
became an intern at the Forum in the fall of
seventy nine, at coincaday with Magic Johnson's rookie year, and
prior to that Magic johnson arrival, Jabar had had four

(07:23):
more abund years in Los Angeles. He was a punchline
in the Airplane movie tell your old man to drag
Lanier and Walton up and down the court for forty minutes.
I mean here in that crap. Since I was the UCLA,
I was there, I know I heard the cat calls,
and then it became showtime. And Magic not only revived
Jabbar's career, but they were in the finals nine of

(07:45):
the next twelve years, won five championships. Labar won actually,
Jaborro actually won two championships north of the age of forty. Well,
Lebron went two championships north of the age of forty. No,
I don't think Luca is the missing link to help
the Lakers win a championship. I do not at all
going to sell tickets to And maybe this is a
torch passing and it's going to be fun to watch,

(08:06):
and that's the whole idea. You root for the story.
This is just a situation now where that's what I
want to do. I want to watch the story. Where
does this go again? What makes this so unique? There
have been superstars traded before. Hell, just two years ago,
Kevin Durant was moved in a blockbuster deal. But here's

(08:28):
the deal. This is mid season involving two superstars completely unexpected.
Right before the trade deadline, James Harden requested a trade
in twenty twenty two. That's Ben Simmons as part of that. Okay,
you get the point, but two superstars traded for each other. Now,

(08:50):
I also want to look at the other end of
the trade, because everybody's kind of focused on the Lakers
side of the trade. Where does Dallas go from here?
Don't say a home dinner, maybe a show. Don't say
that because as you go back to history, people will
say that Bucks lost the trade. Well, you can say
they did, but was it completely without value for them? No,
it was not, because anytime an organization trades a superstar player,

(09:13):
which is what Jabar was in nineteen seventy nine, it's
very rare when they receive equal value in return, especially
when the player is someone with the historical stature that
Kareem has. Now, Anthony Davis does not have the historical
statue that Kareem has and needed as Luka Doncic Lebron
probably does. But I bet you didn't know this. The
Milwaukee Bucks actually received two players in that trade whose

(09:37):
jerseys are actually retired. Milwaukee junior Bridgeman and Brian Winners
both pretty good defensive players. Brian Winners is probably the
best part of the return package. He blossed him into
a multiple time All Star and his number thirty two
is hanging up in the rafters. I bet Dan Byer
knows this. Junior Bridgeman's the other player whom the Bucks
they ended up receiving. He had a strong career in Milwaukee.

(10:00):
Jersey also also hangs up there. When you trade away
one of the best players in the league, it's never easy,
but it's going to take time for this to flesh out.
Lucas never want anything, I really and when I talked
to Mark Mendina here in about forty nine minutes, I

(10:20):
want to dive into what really happened here. I understand
we're being told that it was Dallas who made the
overture towards the Lakers. Didn't look like Luca was going
to resign. Figure out your own, you know, Colombo narrative.
But the truth of the matter is is that Dallas

(10:41):
felt that, you know, they were done with Luca. Fair enough.
Anthony Davis bit of a head scratcher, but it's one
of those situations where we think we know, we just
don't know. We're stunned and the only thing we can
do is sketch our heads and say wow. So in
time we'll hear a little bit more about how this materialized.

(11:06):
We've heard of the thousand times. You don't need to
need me to repeat it. We know that there was
concerns about Luca's conditioning issues. He was also eligible to
sign a five year super Max contract this offseason, worth
about three hundred and forty five million, but that was
too rich for the Maverick's blood. They weren't going to
do it. And apparently the mass have been working behind
the scenes to make this trade work, and they didn't

(11:28):
even approach Luca Dancis about it until Saturday night. So
more tidbits, more factoids will come out, and if they do,
I will tell you that I will share them as
the show goes on. But what I don't want to
do is just say, wow, this is crazy. I can't
believe it. Can you believe it? I'm not bringing you

(11:49):
any value if I do that. But you hang with
me as you always do, because in about forty seven minutes,
Mark Mandine is going to join us and we'll dive
into this just a little more. But for me, and
this is where I stand, it's not what happened, it's
what happens next. Will this be impactful when they write
the history books? Will Dallas win a championship with Anthony Davis?

(12:11):
With the Lakers win one with Luca? How are Luca
and Lebron going to share the ball? By the way,
the ultimate Irony Lucas hurt right now, he's got a
calf injury. And what was the knock on Anthony Davis,
even though in the last couple years he's been pretty solid,
didn't exactly wasn't exactly an iron man? So hang with me.
We will be talking about this story throughout the show.
But I got a lot of other stuff happening too.

(12:33):
Remember this story about the Oakland A's coming to Vegas
with pictures and catchers report in ten days. We got
to talk about that because I'm going to bring in
a gentleman. You follow him on Twitter at vital Las
Vegas or vital Vegas. His name is Scott Robin. I
don't know of a gentleman. I've lived here for a
long time and I've been coming here for a long
time that's got his finger more on the pulse than

(12:54):
this guy. We're going to talk about that because it's
gone radio silent and my research shows is January seventeenth
deadline we just missed. So yes, hang with me. We
will be talking Luca, and we'll be talking Lakers and
Antony Davis throughout the night, and we'll have mark we
did at midnight. But for now, we've all been hit

(13:17):
by the truck. Let's assess the damage and see where
we go from here. As historian folds, I'm Bernie fraddlewer
Kemedy Line from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio Tarrack
dot Com studios. Keep it locker listening to the Bernie
Frattle Show on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
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listen live.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Oh right, back to the Bernie Fraddle Show Fox Sports Radio,
coming live from the Tarak dot Com studios here in
Las Vegas. Just getting started. In case you missed it,
Luca's coming to the Lakers, Anthony Davis is going to
the Mavericks. By the way, this didn't get past me.
Suddenly the Lakers' title odds have gone from forty to
one down to eighteen to one. Are we taking back

(14:04):
out to Vegas? Another story that's brewing. We got out
ahead of it in April twenty twenty three. You want
to introduce you to a gentleman. He's a legend here
in Las Vegas. Follow him here on Twitter at vital Vegas.
His name is Scott Robin. I know of nobody better
who's got their finger on the pulse on all things Vegas. Scott,
it's great to have you. Good evening.

Speaker 4 (14:22):
That is very kind. Thank you, Good evening to you.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
So. I know the sports world is overshadowed by the
big trade, but we have other things we want to
get to and this is one of them, Scott. And
the reason is is because you're connected very well. And
unless I've not been paying attention in the last sixty days,
it's been my observation that you never truly believed that

(14:48):
the Oakland A's are actually going to end up playing
in Vegas when Major League Baseball opens up in twenty
twenty eight. Where do you stand right now?

Speaker 4 (15:00):
There was about a week or two after the move
was announced that I did believe it and then I
started talking to my folks here in Vegas, and the
first bit of feedback that I got about the very
first meeting with the A's by a very high level
casino executive, it stuck with me ever since, and he said,

(15:21):
right out of the gate, these are not serious people.
So in that moment I started learning much more about
the team, the ownership, the history, and I do for
some time have stated very passionately that I don't believe

(15:41):
the A's under the current ownership are going to play
in Las Vegas. And there's a lot of reasons for that,
mainly financial. But any enthusiasm that there was for me
or anyone else in Vegas to have this particular team
is now gone. But yeah, I'm very skeptical. I spend

(16:01):
a lot of time on Twitter talking about this. Even
though the sports is not really my area of expertise,
I do consider myself a Lots Vegas expert, So I absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 5 (16:13):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
I talked to the folks that are in the meetings.
One degree of separation, you know, there's so many there's
a legislative component to this because of the public money.
There's a you know, obviously, the casino industry is part
of everything that happens on this on this trip, and
so this this casino is demolished with the promise that

(16:37):
this team is coming. But there's just been a lot
of things that I think support the idea that this
is just not going to come together.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
So well. Talked with Scott Robin Vital Vegas on Twitter,
very connected here a local Vegas icon. Scott, let's fast
forward to the here now, because we're getting down to
the real short strokes. They raise the Tropic Anna, which
was the alleged site supposedly. Now here's the question I have.
My sources tell me, and it could be wrong that

(17:08):
there was a January seventeenth deadline that for once and
for all, the A's had to put forth real artist
renderings of a real stadium, not that Michiganshi saw nine
months ago, and financial financial obligations needed to be more
firmly in place in black and white on paper. That
deadline is coming gone. It's been early silent, it's been

(17:31):
radio silent. And here's the question I have for you.
I believe they had set a date in April to
break ground at the site to start to build the stadium.
Because they don't. It's gonna take thirty months. How they're
going to play an opening day in twenty twenty eight.
So there's a few things to unpack for you on
that ticket wherever you need to take it.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
Yeah, no, I think those are great points. I was
not aware of that day, but there was a meeting
with the folks that oversee this process where the a's
were obligated to present there of what the information that
you're talking about, which is mainly the financial commitments and

(18:14):
the but as you said, more kind of realistic renderings
because they've they've used all kinds of terms for the
renderings up to this point, like we're doing you know,
we're trying to do this rendering to show the density
of the site that we could do a resort and
a ballpark on the site like that. It's not real rendering.

(18:34):
We apologize that it's not still, but we want you
to it looks like it could be real.

Speaker 5 (18:40):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (18:40):
And the and the financial part was laughable because they
basically and I did a spoof because I communicate my
news uh in as snarky way as possible. So it
was basically John Chisher's family going, we're good for it,
and and that was literally the only substantialation or the

(19:01):
idea that they can contribute whatever that number is going
to be a billion one point five, Nobody really knows
because the costs of the ballpark kind of keeps going
up because it's reality time pass Who's inflation all this stuff.
So it was just like one document after another saying
he's good for it, They're good for it. You know,

(19:22):
he's got all this wealth, all this stock. And what
they didn't say is that just there're no rich person
who's going to cash in a billion dollars in the
stock because they're going to owe the government two hundred
million right off the top if they do a billion,
and no wealthy person is ever going to do that.
So I think it's been a lot of it's been
based on hope and uh, you know. And this doesn't

(19:46):
just include the team and John Fishers.

Speaker 6 (19:48):
This includes the resort.

Speaker 4 (19:50):
Company that has involved as well, Valley's Corps, another company
that is has been making all these high folut and
promises based on nothing vapor. They don't have the financial
resources to build a resort. They are hopeful they will
get the funds, just as John Fisher is hopeful he
will get an investor who's going to pony up hundreds

(20:14):
of millions of dollars to support his efforts here. But
you know, all indications are there's no concrete proof that
any of this is moving forward there, I don't think realistically.
I mean, they mi break ground. They've gotten three hundred
million in actual financing, construction financing. There's obviously a big

(20:37):
gap between now and what they need.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
They need but they need a billion, two of which
Las Vegas taxpayers are on the hook for a lot
of that, and they're not real happy about that.

Speaker 4 (20:47):
Yeah, three hundreds it was three hundred and eighty million,
but the team generously said they're only going to need
three hundred and fifty billions. But the catches they've got
to put in one hundred million of their own. So
in theory they can use their loans to spend one
hundred million, then they get the taxpayer money. But now
you've still got a billion dollar gap because of this

(21:09):
ballpart costs two billion dollars. There's a big, big financial
gap that John Fisher is saying he's good for. But
that's the only evidence there is of anything real that's
going into making this happen.

Speaker 6 (21:25):
And if Bally's Corp.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
Cannot build a resort. That means Fisher is also on
the hook for all this infrastructure, or the taxpayers are
going to be it's just a mess. They're going to
play in Sacramento. I think they're going to stay in Sacramento.
That they've had meetings up there, you know, with the
head of the league and some local folks and people

(21:48):
who have made offers in the past by the team.
John Fisher has turned it down because he thinks it's worth,
you know, much more than it actually is. So it
feels like he's living in this little dream work. The
renderings are kind of wins the call. The financial part
is wins the call. But there's nothing that's pointing to
a hug freak effort to actually happen.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
This happens Todder with Scott Robin Vital Vegas, and you've
mentioned the name John Fisher a couple of times. John Fishers,
of course, the owner of the Oakladays. I've never met
the man, but I've talked to plenty of media folks
up in Oakland and some mensiders up there who don't
necessarily have the highest opinion of John Fisher. You alluded

(22:32):
to something I was also told that this may just
be and again I have no proof of this a
dress rehearsal for Sacramento to prove to you, the Commissioner
of Baseball over the next three years twenty five, forty six,
twenty seven, that they can in fact be a Major
League Baseball city. And they have funding for the citium

(22:54):
and oh, by the way, they're allowing the Aims to
play there rent free for the next three years. So
is this whole thing just a big forgazy And thereby,
as you said, do you think the A's end up
staying in Sacramento?

Speaker 4 (23:09):
Yeah, And I think a big factor of this that
hasn't really been reported too much is I think the
Seminole tribe. They have a hard rock in Sacramento. I
had heard very early on that they were kind of
talking about financially subsidizing the ballpark, and I think that
would be very appealing to John Fisher. I don't know

(23:31):
that the league is convinced that this is the path,
because publicly they're saying Vegas is the destination for the team,
But there's also been a lot of talk about expansion
teams in the future. So they had a recent meeting
and it was kind of like, well, you know, we
want to see what Sacramento can do. So it's basically
what you're talking about is can we sell out the

(23:53):
first game of the A's playing in Sacramento, And they did.
I think it was fourteen thousand fans. Well that's a
lot more than they had it in stowing up to
games in Oakland. But it's only about half of what
they're saying is going to show up in Vegas. So again,
a lot of the numbers are kind of fluffed up
to make Las Vegas sound like something magical is going

(24:15):
to happen. The team is magically going to get better,
the seats are going to fill up, They're going to
contribute to the economy of all this stuff. But yeah,
I think there are very passionate people in Sacramento, very
much invested in having a team, and I think they're
trying to find partners. You know, if the Seminoles got involved,

(24:37):
it would probably being being naming right steal and so
rather than kind of trying and upgrade this minor league field,
I think they're just going to build them, and they're
going to build them a field. If it goes in
that direction, I would say if if the current owner
of the a cels, the new owner could still want
to come to Vegas. Like, we don't know what other

(24:59):
players are involved. It seems really unlikely they would go
back to Oakland now, but there are multiple options now
Sacramento one of them, Vegas would be one. I've even
heard these folks in Philadelphia saying come back to Philadelphia. Goodness,
So I think, yeah, things really open up, But I
think Vegas has stuck for a while with even if

(25:20):
they put shovels in the ground, it's really unclear how
this thing gets built here. There's no real enthusiasm from
the casinos. There's the only enthusiasm is coming from the
tourist agency that was they were one of the prime movers,
and they obviously want credit for bringing a major League
baseball to town. But I don't think it's going to

(25:43):
happen with the A's to be.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Honest, all right, So you I just got about a
minute left, but you answered my question. I know that
they set some sort of April date for breaking ground
there at the old Tropicana site on the corner of
Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana where mol Green is out Tropicana.
But you bring up a great point, and again I
think you just answered my question, Scott, So I probably

(26:06):
want to get you back on in the summer. When
this We'll see where this sits. But if I put
a gun to your head figuratively speaking, would it be
your prediction, would it be your prediction that when opening
day twenty twenty eight rulls around that the A's are
in Vegas or not in Vegas.

Speaker 4 (26:25):
I believe that there may be the foundation may have
been laid for a ball parks, but the team will
not be playing in Las Vegas from twenty twenty. Interesting,
through their credit, they did a contract for all the
port of partties for the construction site. That's the only
thing I've the only thing I've heard that's a concrete

(26:47):
movement forward, literal movement forwards. But that's it.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
I as you know the general contractor, I believe it's
Martinson out of Minneapolis. They built a Legion Stadium and
they got the contract to build this stadium. But again,
when so much time goes by and it's radio silent
and you can't point to the financing and they miss deadlines,
you have to raise your eyebrow don't you, Scott.

Speaker 4 (27:10):
Yep, they could probably afford some gold shovels, but it's
all just going to be smoking theirs because they're kicking
us down the road.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
That's all right, Bud, thanks so much for everything. I
want to get you on again a couple months down
the road as the story continues continued success with Vital Vegas.

Speaker 4 (27:27):
Scott, thank you, thank you appreciate having me on.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
Now. For locals who live here in Vegas, they see
the story, Scott breaks and I mean, I don't care
if it's restaurants, hotels, casinos, big names. The open thing
came about because he's been steadfast. He never thinks. He
didn't think they're coming coming up. We're going to circle
back to the blockbuster trade. Let's have a little fun
and try to grade the trade. Opinions are actually starting

(27:53):
to fly now a little more fast and furious. And
there seems to be one of these franchises that's definitive
winner of this trade. And oh, by the way, guests
who quote had no idea that this was happening. He
happened to be out to dinner. You get two guesses
in the first one doesn't count. I'll give you the
answer coming up. By the way, football fans, be sure

(28:15):
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Radio and the iHeart Radio app. Hi Bernie Friderlewick come

(28:38):
to your line from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio
Tirac dot Com Studios. Plenty of trade coverage coming up.
We're gonna grade it. You're gonna be surprised. Who the
hell was most shocked about this? And in twenty three
minutes Mark Padina Magic, We're gonna get through all our
stuff tonight too. But I promised as things seep out,

(28:58):
we're gonna bring it to you. Keep it locked. We're
listening to the Bernie Frattle Show on Fox Sports Radio.
All right, back on the Bernie Frattle Show Fox Sports Radio.
We are company line from the Tirac dot Com studios
here in Las Vegas. Take you up to three am Pacific,
six am Eastern, just getting started. In sixteen minutes, Mark
Medina will join us for his weekly segment, And it's

(29:20):
exactly why we do this fifty two weeks out of
the year. There's always news and of course, coincidentally, one
of the things we were going to be talking about
tonight would be the trade deadline and some speculation. The
trade deadline in the NBA is actually Thursday. And as
I said at the top of the show, the thing
that sticks out to me about this trade because superstars
get traded, but when have you seen a superstar get

(29:42):
traded for a superstar? And it was this unexpected, this
sudden in the middle of the season, mid season, right
before the trade deadline, and before I get to grading
the trade, and who was shocked at this happened? And
he's pretty close to the situation. Trades we were talking
to would have talked about tonight's Deer and Fox and

(30:03):
I know that you know, the Sacramento is probably gonna
move him. He wants superstar level money and the Spurs
might be able to provide that. So they were one
potential trade partner, and at that point, the King said, well,
if we're going to trade it, we wants to find
Castle a lot of yukon the number four pick in
the recent NBA draft. And look, they value Castle, they

(30:25):
don't want to trade him. But according to Brian Windhorst,
you know, the Spurs value Castle so greatly, he's basically
untouchable unless somebody like Luka Doncitz was offered. Well, the
irony is, as of yesterday, there was no reason to
believe that the Mavericks were ever going to trade do
Luka Donchez. But things change, and look what was happening

(30:48):
behind the scenes. And guess who didn't know. And you know,
there was a time that Rob Polinka he consulted with
Anthony Davis and Lebron on free agent moves, trades. They
were liking the front office damn near And of course
Lebron infamously has his signature all over the Russell Westbrook acquisition,

(31:12):
which you'll have to wear the rest of his life.
That went over like a lead balloon. And the truth
of the matter is, I don't think they've taken Lebron
seriously since then when it comes to personnel decisions. So
guests who had no idea that the Anthony Davis Luka
doncons trade was in the works. Apparently Lebron was just
as shocked about the Lakers getting Luca as the rest

(31:34):
of us were, especially you know, trading Anthony Davis, who
he believed was the heir apparent to Lebron. Believe was
the heir apparent to Lebron when he retires twenty years
from now. This trade actolutely sent shockwaves. All right, Lebron
was apparently a dinner and you might, you know, raise
an eyebrow because Lebron had a lack of knowledge about

(31:54):
this deal. But keep in mind, I don't know if
anybody knew, I mean, who hinted it the possibility of
either Luka Doncicz or Anthony Davis for that matter, being
on the move. The rumors were the possibility of the
Lakers maybe adding a center, and Anthony Davis himself suggested
it just a week ago. This is the beauty of
his business, This is the beauty of sports. And again

(32:17):
considering how closely Vice President of Basketball Operations Rob Polinka
has worked with Lebron and Anthony Davis for that matter,
going all the way back to twenty nineteen, on Rotter
decisions leaving them both in the dark hair is his surprise.
So if neither Lebron ad or Luca knew the trade happening,
it really lends further credence to the fact that this deal,

(32:40):
whenever they started considering it, came to fruition very fast.
You know the old joke three people could keep a
secret of two of them are dead. Well, this was
very kept secretive. And Sean's chernning. When he broke the story,
everybody thought he was hacked, right, that's why you wait
and see, all right, what's clear is As have done
it again. They've made a splash. They've given Lebron a

(33:04):
new toy to play with, and the shiny new toy
as he I see this in air quotes, pushes for
another title at the age of forty, which I do
not believe he'll get. But what the hell? That's grade
the trade, because this is what we do. What's the
consensus among NBA insiders that are more connected than I am.

(33:25):
They are giving the Los Angeles Lakers an A grade,
A resounding A grade. Okay, he traded kid Anthony Davis,
who's no longer a kid. He's about to turn thirty two.
Last couple of years have been pretty good, but he's
been injured a lot for a soon to be twenty
six year old perennial MVP candidate who, oh, by the way,

(33:48):
very much helped carry his team to the NBA Finals
just what seven eight months ago. Here's the kicker, the Lakers.
This is why this grade's an a. They did it
for a trade package that you really have a hard
time getting your mind around. Think about it. They basically
got Luka Donchetz and gave up one first round pick.
Let's also draw some perspective about this in much the

(34:09):
same way I did the Kareem Abdul Jabbar trade back
in nineteen seventy five, fifty years ago. Just five years ago,
the Clippers gave up Shay Gilgis, five first round picks
and two pick swaps for Paul George. How that work out.
Two years ago, the Phoenix Suns gave up a bunch
of rotation players, including Cam Johnson and McHale Bridges, and

(34:31):
four first rounders for Kevin Durant, who at the time
was thirty four. Not long after that, the Milwaukee Bucks
got Damian Lillard for a package that included three first
round picks. How many titles of the Clippers and the
Suns and the Bucks won in the last five years.

(34:53):
You can answer later, oh, did I mention? LA got
Luca in his prime for one first round pick. My look,
Anthony Davis is a great player, but you get a
collection of assets. It feels like pennies on the dollar
while other are several teams could have offered. Now, look,
think about how many future picks the Oklahoma City Thunder,

(35:14):
the San Antonio Spurs, and the Utah Jazz have. There
was just no open viting on this. They weren't going
to give up that kind of capital. And of course
that's not the Lakers problem. They're dancing I guarantee the
Lakers are dancing in the aisle on this deal. Luca's
been in the league six years, He's first team All
NBA five times. He's already in the top fifty all
time in career VEPCE years. When you get a player

(35:38):
of this caliber in his twenties for a gentlemen, is
it fair that to say that Anthony Davis has passed
his prime. He might be. He's a good player, he's
a non playmaker. Okay, you get a young player, you've
already declined a team option on Okay, right, you get
the picture. The Lakers are dancing in the aisle. The

(36:00):
truth of the matter is what they got and what
their hopes aren't for the future, they'd have to spend
a lot on Well, guess what. The NBA pundits again,
I say that in the non pejorative sense, have given
the Dallas Mavericks a great f. They gave the Lakers
an A and the Mavericks an F. All right, there's

(36:20):
a lot of media personalities and fans in Dallas that
are going to wake up on Sunday morning and say,
does this really make any sense? You know? Yeah, They're
going to talk about Luca's conditioning and his commitment to
the organization. They felt it wasn't strong in a lot
of ways. The lack of commitment was mutual. But you know,

(36:45):
and if you really were to give Luca a Supermax deal,
would that be a wise investment? And again, the general
manager for the Mavericks has already weighed in, Nico Harrison
and said, quote, I believe the defense wins championships. I
believe in getting an all defensive center and an all
NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance.

(37:06):
We're built to win now and in the future. With
all due respect, I'm not sure I'm buying it. Sounds
like a real vote of confidence to Kyrie Irving. Maybe
he's all the offense they believe they need. Good luck
with that. He's been a good boy Scott the last
couple of years. But to me, Kyrie Irving will always
have the credibility of a dermatologist with acne. By the way,

(37:27):
NBA superstar is notoriously difficult to deal with for decades.
The Lakers once had their rebuff a pretty serious trade
request from Kobe Bryant. Obviously, Anthony Davis is a better
defender than Luca, but the defense wins championships is an
old Hackney cliched. Okay, the MAVs are allowing one hundred
and ten points per one hundred processions with Luca on

(37:47):
the floor, I get it. Defensive anchors are easier to find.
You can find them, but how do you find it
once in a generation offensive hub. From a basketball perspective,
I don't think anybody in the NBA world is selling
this is a positive for Dallas. And on top of that,
if the MAVs were gonna consider moving talent to this level,
totally unforeseen, middle of the night deal right before the

(38:09):
trade deadline. It just seems like the date of their
offering is a little questionable. There's still four and a
half days to the trade deadline. If the MAVs even
you have a handful of potential suitors that Luca might
have been available, then they could have had a massive
bidding war. Okay, no possible way. This was the best
deal the team could have gotten between nod men Thursday.

(38:29):
Just my take. By the way, the Utah Jazz are
also involved. They were given a grade as to a
D plus. Utah is one of those teams that's got
a mountain of draft picks. They got some young talent,
they got some veterans, They were movable. If they knew
Luca was available, why didn't they offer some of that?
For all we know, maybe they did, We don't know.
The Jazz have been searching for a bona fide number

(38:49):
one starter since they started their own rebuild. They got
rid of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell three years ago.
They got Lori marketIn, who appears to be decent. But look,
if you're to put a one to two punch donss
and marketing on the floor. Utah would probably win back
in the playoff hunt. So Utah gets a D, the
Mavericks get an F, and the Lakers get an A.

(39:11):
Coming up, don't miss this, Mark Medina Medina Magic, our
Fox Sports Radio NBA guru. Keep it locked. Listen to
the Bernie Fraddles Show on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
Well, that's right, you heard the man. Bernie Fratles Show
keeps rolling right along. My name is Bernie fratterle Wick.
Come to your line from the tarret dot com studios
here in Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio, tyrec dot com.
We'll help you get there, an unmatched selection, fast free
shipping for you, roganizer protection and over ten thousand recommend
an installers tyret dot com the way tire buying should be. Well.

(39:44):
I close our segment every Saturday night by saying, Mark,
we'll see what the news cycle brings us this week.
Without further ado, It's that time. Mark Medina Medina Magic
comes to us every Saturday night, twelve midnight Pacific on
the Burn Frattle Show, and Mark, I actually have plenty
of meat on the boat inside of the besides the

(40:05):
lead story, but let's dive right into it without any cajuling.
I would like to know at this point, do you
have any information on the chronology of this. It appears
that the impetus was an overture made by Dallas to
the Lakers. But can you take us back, do we
this seminal event? How did this whole thing start?

Speaker 5 (40:28):
Yeah, well that's a very good question, and we'll know
more and more. But here's what I do. No one
this did come out of nowhere. Prior to tonight. The
Lakers kind of initial expectations before this upcoming tradeline on
February sixth was that, you know, they would be aggressive
and see what they could make moves, but they weren't
expecting anything significant. You know, they would be on the margins.

(40:53):
They'd be willing to trade draft picks, but only if
it you know, made the roster better, you know, significant only.
But they weren't expecting blockbuster trades. So this is a
move that was initiated by Dallas. Now, Dallas will push
back and say, you know, Luca didn't demand a trade,
He didn't give any indication that he didn't want to

(41:13):
re sign with an extension. But I do feel like
unless you feel like he is their long term fit,
that you don't do this kind of move. Now, you know,
since the move has happened, you know, there's been a
lot of concerns expressed about Luca Dontrisch's conditioning and deserve ability.
But I'm not going to discount those things. But those

(41:34):
things have been prevalent throughout his career and that hasn't
prevented him from being a generational talent. So I think
for Dallas, it's more about the calculus that, uh, he
is a generational talent. But they're kind of moving in
mud right now. They're in eighth place. You know, there's

(41:55):
some thought around the league, you know that I from
an executive that I talked to before the season did
that they're kind of seen as a one hit wonder
with being the NBA Finals last season, so they feel like,
you know, here they can get a bigger defensive identity.
The chemistry with Kyrie Irving is going to be great.
I think with the Lakers, what they've really done is
no doubt they have addressed the long term. Luca is

(42:18):
the face of their franchise. Whenever Lebron James retires. But
you know, in fairness, Anthony Davis and Lebron, they've been
playing pretty good basketball up until this past week at
eightiest and pretty healthy, but the best has been there.
A second tier team in the West, they're not a
championship contender. So short term there's gonna be questions about
Luca's conditioning his injury. He hasn't played since, you know,

(42:41):
near Christmas. How who do the players the Lakers even
play at center right now? I think long term, you know,
Luca Dotris is Luca Docics. So this is going to
be a good thing, and it does give them a
fighters chance actually contend the season.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
And of course, ironically Luca currently out with the calf injury,
I might understand he slated to return Saturday, February eighth,
conveniently the Lakers at home in an afternoon game against
the Indiana Pacers. Do you expect Luca to be on
the floor that day with the Lakers.

Speaker 5 (43:10):
I would expect so, But I think, to be completely
honest with you, Bernie, the fact that he hasn't been
in LA and you don't know the ins and outs
of day to day progress and when evaluation period, it's
going to happen, but I would expect that it would
be next Saturday. You know, I would be surprised that
his debut was against the Clippers Tuesday, because he's got

(43:32):
to come in and get situated and do all the
physical stuff. So this gives him a little bit of
a ramp up time.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
So for years, Rob Palinka leaned on Lebron for console.
I think the Russell Westbrook debacle kind of kibosh that
Lebron claims he was shocked, he was at dinner, didn't
know about this. To you buy that, I do buy it.

Speaker 5 (43:52):
Yeah. I mean, let's look at the Corowady year. The
Wakers play the Knicks on the East Coast. They had
a pretty good win, and I don't think anyone saw
this coming. Even though Lebron will always say yeah, he
wants the Lakers to win, make moves before the trade deadline,
doesn't care about the draft picks. He liked playing with
Anthony Davis. They have a really good partnership.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
You know.

Speaker 5 (44:15):
Obviously they only have one championship to show for it,
and they've had some playoff shortcomings. A lot of it
had to do with their own injuries, and I think
in fairness ad again, he's technically been out with an
abdominal injury, but he's been pretty injury free since January
twenty twenty three, So I don't get any sense that
Lebron was pushing for Ady to be out. I don't

(44:38):
get any sense that he was behind the scenes maneuver
or anything. But that being said, I think once he
gets over the shock of lose Anthony Davis, he's going
to embrace Luka Doncics for probably obvious reasons. Luca is
a really good player. He's been a fan of him,
you know. Funny enough, I think four years ago he
was talking a few of us, including myself, about how
he was hoping to try to recor route Luca to

(45:01):
be a part of his shoe company, and he wound
up doing his own thing. But there's a lot of
mutual respect, you know. I know Luca's rookie season, Lebron
gave him his jersey here. So there's going to be
some x's and o's adjustments because lucas so ball dominant,
obviously so is Lebron. But I think the fit, you know,
after the initial hiccups, is going to be pretty good

(45:23):
because they're both really talented players, and this season is
Lebron's workload quite a bit.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
You just read my mind. That was my next question.
They're going to get on the floor. Eventually, this is
going to manifest itself into practical matter. At ninety four feet,
they're both ball dominant. Luca needs the ball to be impactful.
That's not debatable. Will they coexist? I think you just
answered it.

Speaker 5 (45:45):
Yeah, I think they'll coexist fine. And look, we've had
these discussions before with Lebron James a new star. You
mentioned Russell Westbrook, but Luka Doncris is on a completely
different stratosphere than Russ. You know, he has been playing
really good basketball before he got hurt. He's a great score.
He knows how to create his own shot. Doesn't mean

(46:07):
he's a complete player. We talked about the conditioning his defense.
You know, it's improved relatively, but no one's going to
put him on an All NBA defensive team. But when
it comes to making plays and being a consistent score,
Luca does that. He is a great outside shooter, knows
how to create a shot, knows how to use that
deadly floater. Or with Russ, you know, he's just you

(46:30):
know he's on speed and that's it. Like he makes
a lot of reckless decisions, and I think that's where
the tension was pulled, because even though he gets a
lot of assists numbers, he doesn't always make the right
basketball play and often leaves the turnovers.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
All right, So, someone who had the pleasure of interning
at the Forums, it's some very pivotal years. I was
there a court side for damn near every one of
Magic's games is rookie year. I've always said the Lakers
are a franchise defined by Aris Will Baylor, Jerry West,
Kareem and Magic Scheck and Kobe. Now Lebron is part

(47:06):
of the decision here based on the fact that Lakers
are playing the long game, that Luca is part of that.
It's going to could potentially be for a twenty six
year old offensive, prolific guy, could be Luca aer Be beginning.

Speaker 5 (47:20):
Yeah, I think that's a huge part of this calculus.
That Lebron James is forty, He's still playing also are
caliber level, but his days are numbered, his years are numbered.
So yeah, the Lakers are really trying to prepare for
that long term play. Now, I think, in fairness to this.
When they got Anthony Davis, they were trying to make
him that guy. Lebron James was trying to make him

(47:42):
that guy said it as much he would say, yeah,
the offense runs through a D. And there were some
hiccups his first few years. Again, I think eighty really
turned a corner in the twenty twenty two to twenty
three season when they got to the Western Conference Finals.
But I think what became clear here is that even
with Lebron and ad mostly being healthy and playing a

(48:06):
consistently high level with some roster depth of decent role players,
they seem that's just not good enough. Their best, you know,
ceiling is you know, being a playoff team that can
make some noise, but nothing more than that. And so
I think that that was part of the calculus too,
that we saw that the best version of what this

(48:27):
Lakers team could be with those two players, and the
idea of trying to replicate that twenty nineteen twenty season
just wasn't going to happen because it's hard to really
bottle up that kind of supporting cast with all the
spending restrictions and just need to have continuity and right
roster pieces that they decide, you know what, let's get

(48:47):
another star player that's also a lot younger and frankly
a lot better. So all that being said, I think
the bigger thing is the long term play about the
base of the franchise. But as long as Lebron's on
your team, and it is the Lakers, they do have this. Okay,
let's give him another shot to win a title, as
long as this doesn't sacrifice our long term future. So

(49:11):
that's part of it as well.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
By the way, as part of the Mavericks calculus, I
am sufficiently convinced they did not want to give Luca
a five year super Max contract for three hundred and
forty five million. And just to set the record for
the people that are listening, now that Luke has been traded,
he's no longer eligible for that. He's slated to make
I think forty six million next year and forty nine million.

(49:34):
Do you expect the Lakers to lock up Luca long term?
Are they going to take this year by year and
see what happens.

Speaker 5 (49:40):
No. I think the Lakers they want to make this
trade if it was just a rental, and that's a
I think that even though technically, you know, it's against
the rules, and I don't think they even try to
go down that path of getting assurances on what his
future would be. I think that they made the calculus
that it kind of speaks for himself. Were the Lakers
or a perduced franchise, Lucer gets to play with Lebron,

(50:02):
Luca gets to be the face of the franchise once
Lebron retires. It's all kind of self explanatory.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
Mark, let's have a little fun. The NBA pundits, and
I don't say that in the pejorative all right, these
are people who get paid to cover the league for
a living have sort of weighed in with grades. They
gave the Mavericks a resounding f and apparently they're not
necessarily buying Nico Harrison's the general manager for the Mavericks,

(50:31):
statement that defense wins championships and now that they got
an all defensive center, the defensive mindset they think to
get a better chance to win a championship. People don't
seem to be buying that.

Speaker 5 (50:41):
Let's say you, yeah, I'm surprised that they didn't try
to get even more out of this deal. Now, it's
not like the Lakers had a lot more to offer,
and I think that they know it's not like they
want to strip down the roster. But I am surprised
that they didn't get another team involved.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
I could get well, it wasn't involved. But on the periphery,
what's that. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Yes, yes, yes,
As a matter of let me let me jump ahead
real quickly, because one of the reasons these same folks
gave the Lakers an a is because on the trade
for the grade is essentially they got Luca and gave
up one first round draft pick. And when you juxtaposed

(51:19):
what the Clippers had to give up for, you know,
a few years ago for Paul George, and what the
Sons had to give up for Kevin Durant and the
Bucks had to give up for Damian Lillard, some people
are feeling like they might have picked Dallas's pocket.

Speaker 5 (51:34):
Yeah, I think that there's definitely I thought of that.
You know, Look, obviously, Anthony Davis is a great player.
First round pick I gave up Max Christie. He was
an intriguing young player. But yeah, I was surprised that
they didn't get more out of the steal. But I
do think that when you're looking at Dallas's end. I
do give the Lakers a better grade out of this,

(51:56):
but I think you can make the case short term
that Dallas will benefit it from it more. Here's a
few reasons. One, when it comes to availability, Anthony Davis's
injury isn't considered that series. He's going to be reevaluated
later this week. I want to be surprised he starts
seeing up and playing pretty soon. Chemistry with him and
Kyrie Irving is going to be great. It's very natural

(52:18):
as a one two punch, and Anthony Davis can be
that defensive anchor. And to Anthony Davis's credit, like he
has been a defensive Player of the Year kind of
candidate because he's been all over the place, great room protector.
But you know, Dallas does have a lot of good
defensive depths. Now they don't have Derek Lively because of injury,

(52:38):
but they still have, you know, some other good players. PJ.
Washington comes to mind as far as the perimeter goes.
You know, Clay is not a lockdown defender Klay Thompson,
but he's a good catch and shoot player. So what
I'm gaining at is Dallas is still a team that
can be reckoned with They do have good roster depth,
they have star power. I wouldn't put them in, you know,

(53:00):
a championship contender in the Western Conference, but I want
to put the Lakers out that either or because Oklahoma
City has just been that dominant. I think both teams
made the calculus that they've had almost a half a
season to see what they're likely seeing is and they
figure they better make a better deal because there's more

(53:21):
upside of them.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
So coming from a Vegas perspective. Interestingly enough, Mark, four
hours ago, the Lakers odds to win an NBA title
were forty to one. After the trade, they're down to
eighteen to one. Oh, so here's a question for you. Now,
that's a betting market deal. The books are always going
to try to try to maximize profit, minimize risk. The

(53:43):
don't want to be exposed. Just in case, because the
season ended today, I believe the Lakers would play the
Denver Nuggets. Is that fair that I think they would
open up if it ended today? Who gives the Lakers
a better chance to win that series? Anthony Davis or
Luka Dungeics.

Speaker 5 (53:57):
As far as the Denver Nuggets go, Well, it's interesting
because when you look at the history, the Lakers have
not been able to figure out the Denver Nuggets, you know,
these past few years, and that was even with Anthony
Davis playing really well. There just hasn't been an answer
to Nikola Jokic. So I would actually argue that the

(54:18):
Lakers that have a better shot with Luca because one
any short term hiccups I would think would be ironed
out before the playoffs start. Number two, You're not going
to be able to do anything this Nicole Joki. She's
an MVP cannon for a reason. So why not beat
them in a different way with having great perimeters, scoring,
great playmaking. So yeah, it would be a tough haul regardless,

(54:43):
but I do give them having a better shot now
they have Luke on their team.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Interestingly enough, on the other side of the coin, the
Daalax Mavericks odds got slightly worse to win the NBA title.
If you if you're looking at this, but you know,
do you believe you know they you know they got
Max Christy, a couple other guys. The point is you

(55:08):
believe Dallas believes they have a better chance because they're
better defensively.

Speaker 5 (55:12):
Now, well that's certainly what they believe, and I think
that they can be a better team. It's just here's
through reality, Bernie. If they're going to play the Oklahoma
City Thunder in the playoffs, because that's how it's cedar
right now, there's no way they would have beat the
Thunder anyway with Luca or now ads. So they'll get
a little bit better, but I don't think significantly. I

(55:33):
do think that some of the people I was talking
to were onto something before the season as far as
executives from other team where they viewed Dallas as a
one hit wonder. But it had nothing to do with Luca.
It just had to do with the fact that even
when you add Kyrie and some of the roster depth,
there is a feeling that this is just not enough.

(55:55):
And also the Western Conference landscape has just gotten insanely
competitive because Oklahoma City has such a great young team.
Same thing with the Houston Rocket. Sea Moran is back
with the Memphis Grizzlies, that was just going to be
a haul for them to repeat that.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
Talking with Mark Medina and Medina Magic Fox Sports Radio,
a Fox Sports Radio NBA guru, we are all reacting
to what has been a shocking development in the NBA.
What I said Mark in my opening monologue was, look,
superstars get traded, but I don't recall a superstar getting
traded for another superstar in the NBA mid season right

(56:34):
before the trade deadline in this unexpected fashion. So I
think at this point we fleshed out about everything we
can on that subject, we're just going to sound like
two guys in the bar saying wow, can you believe it?
And that's not the kind of radio I want to do.
But this has been really good with what we know
so far, So I want to get to some of
the other subjects I had prepared for us tonight because

(56:55):
there's a lot of meat on the bone. As the
trade deadline is this Thursday. Bring us up to date.
The Jimmy Butler saga continues to be even more of
a soap opera. It's hard for me to believe he
gets traded by Thursday, but stranger things have happened. Look
what just happened two hours ago. What are your thoughts
on Jimmy Butler?

Speaker 5 (57:16):
Expect the unexpected because he's been suspended three times already.
No laid us after walking out of practice because he
was upset that he wasn't going to be starting, So
with that, I think his trade value is diminished. I
think Miami has started to lower the bar as far
as what their expectations are, but it's still complicated. I mean,

(57:37):
I don't see any scenario how he gets to the
Phoenix Suns because of Bradley Beal's no trade clause and
the fact that I don't think either party is interested
in that kind of partnership. But the fact that Jimmy
Butler has just been so volatile and he once again
extension even though he's thirty seven years old and has
been coming off of injuries from last season. It's just
not realistic. So I know that there's talk about the

(58:02):
Warriors potentially being interested, but I'd be very surprised, you know.
It's I've been given the impression that they have no
interest and they just feel like that would be a
waste of time. And even though you know, they would
have a better I think culture around Jimmy Butler because
of the respect for Steph Curry and Draymond Green, they

(58:23):
feel like they're better off, you know, investing in some
of their young guys, with Jonathan Kaminga and Brandon Podzemski,
even though you know, they shown flashes of good potential
and also flashes of inconsistency. So I don't know where
he goes to be frank And with Miami, they do
have some pressure to trade him because he has a

(58:47):
fifty two million dollar player option, and you know, you
can say all you want, Okay, well, if Jimmy doesn't
really want to be here, we can let him walk
in the off season. But I'm Jimmy Butler, you really
turning down fifty two million dollars because you're UPSat again
an extension? It's uh, you know, it wouldn't make any
financial sense to do that.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
How about Deer and Fox?

Speaker 5 (59:09):
Yeah, I think that that's more likely of a trade
happening because he's playing at a really high level. He
hasn't been demonstrative with Sacramento. He's just let it be
known that he doesn't have any intentions to sign extension.
So here's an opportunity to get something in return. You know,
I've been told as well as others have been that
you know, he has a wish list and the Lakers

(59:31):
aren't part of it. Now in light of today's trade,
that that might be irrelevant, and the Lakers might think, well,
who cares? But you know, it does make sense that
there are reports out there that he is eyeing the
San Antonio Spurs because you combine him with Victor one Banama,
with how great of the player he's grown, you know,
they can really do wonders in the playoffs. But I

(59:53):
think that the thing that teams are going to be
calculating is that they don't have to trade for him now.
Maybe they just wait until it becomes a free agent
this summer, because then that way they can just sign
them out right. So did the Spurs make that kind
of gamble? We'll have to wait and see.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
Titler Mark Adda Adida magic Mark another subject we have
to broach tonight if we maintain our journalistic integrity. Another
player for the Miami Heat Terry Rosier, an eleven year veteran.
He's in the news for a decidedly different reason. He's
on the heels of John tay Porter's lifetime ban and
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, through US Attorney's Office, is

(01:00:33):
looking into multiple inquiries involving a situation at Temple University.
Let's go back to Terryett Rosier, there's a federal probe.
Can you tell us what you know? And where is
Adam Silver weighing in on this if he has well,
the NBA.

Speaker 5 (01:00:49):
Has said in a statement that they've investigated all this,
but they have determined there's absolutely no wrongdoing.

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
Now really, okay, now.

Speaker 5 (01:00:59):
Here's some veat here. The US Attorney's Office is still investigating,
and the NBA doesn't have the kind of jurisdiction that
they would have, right So Dave determined things, but they
can't probe that deeply. They can probe deeply, but they
don't have access to what the government would have as
far as like phone logs and records and things like that. Yeah, exactly.

(01:01:23):
They don't have subpoena power either. So Terry Rogieri, you
mentioned that he's with the Miami here right now, which
is true. But the question in play is when he
was with the Charlotte Hornets, because you know, there were
a games specifically against the New Orland r Yeah, where
he was. There were some parlays about how he would play,

(01:01:43):
and he only played nine minutes and allout of not
returning because the team mentioned a foot issue. He didn't
play the rest of the season. Now that might raise
some red flags for you know, certain vetting places, but
it does make sense here because he was with the Hornets.
They're tanking at the end of the year, so it
is plausible that happens. But I think when you look

(01:02:06):
at a bird, you know, a big picture with this.
This is something that the NBA is obviously aware about
and always concerned about because it's not just about monitoring,
you know how, making sure that there's no gambling indiscretions
when it comes to outcomes when you're looking at parlay bets,
it really dives into so much minutia with the game,

(01:02:28):
with player performances and different trends in the first, second, third,
fourth quarter, whether a player gets a triple double or
not that you know, the NBA stands obviously money drives
a lot of things, but their feeling was in the
modern society that they are, they may as well, you know,
embrace this as opposed to have the prohibition tactic and

(01:02:51):
say gambling is not allowed and then allow the underground
to take care of that. But because of the times
that we're in where every little thing into a parlay bet,
that becomes a huge concern for the NBA. But at
least for now. I do give them the beth out
that Terry Rozier wasn't a part of it, and I'm
not going to be naive to think that this is

(01:03:13):
the end of it. But just using logic, it makes
sense that Johntay Porter was the player that was found
guilty of doing this because he was an end of
a rotation player. He essentially didn't have as much to
lose as it would be a star player. And I
think for a star player, or even a rotation player,
I think they would make the calculation that's not worth

(01:03:37):
sacrificing a career as well as significant earnings just to
manipulate some of these bests.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
So, Mark, because of tonight's breaking news, a couple of
other topics that I think are important, we'll push to
the back. Any chance you could hang with us from
one more quick segment, Sure, love to do it, great,
Mark Medina, Medina Magic, Keep it locked. You listened to
the Bernie Fraddle Show on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (01:04:01):
listen live.

Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
All Right back at the Bernie Frattle Show, Fox Sports Radio,
wrap it up with Mark Madeena nice enough to stay
with us for a second segment. This happens every few
months where there's so much we got to get to
it all. Mark. Two more things I had on the
DOCTA that I think are important. Look, the NBA just
you know, landed a massive eleven year, seventy six billion

(01:04:34):
dollars billion with the b Metea writes to you, But
the vibe to me feels different for no other reason
that why would Adam Silver even intimate possibly ten minute quarters.
What's going on here?

Speaker 5 (01:04:49):
Well, I think that he's mindful that there has been
some ratings decrease. There is a society that has add
and he's flowed in a trial balloon because when you're
looking at you know, he often invokes, you know, the
European soccer model and those time of games is not
as long. But yeah, I don't like the idea either

(01:05:12):
because it completely changes the tenor of the game. And
now the easier retort is why not just start the
games on time? The reason why it doesn't start on
time is because of TV and commercials and when you
sign a new lucrative deal. You just live with that.
But I think this is a trial balloon. Michael Malone
has already said he's not a fan of it. JJ

(01:05:34):
Reriddick same thing. I don't think this is going to
go anywhere, and it'll give us content to talk about.
But I think everyone's any namous agreement that shortening the
game from twelve to ten minutes isn't good because it
completely changes the complexion on how the game is actually played.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
I think it's ridiculous. Look, one of the great things
about sports is rivalry. The NBA truly lacks thoes right now.
I believe the best players and teams in the current
NBA iteration are less captivating than previous eras. I think
the pace in space era isn't always very exciting basketball.
The NBA stars aren't on the court often enough. I'm

(01:06:11):
gonna go I can go on and on, but ten
minutes that's not going to solve anything. Finally, a gentleman
got fifteen minutes. We have to talk about Bronni Now, Okay,
I'm not gonna make fun of him. I'm not going
to reach for any silly laugh lines in this quick conversation.
All I know is something changed and somebody somewhere decided,

(01:06:34):
why don't we put Brownie on the floor with starters,
and why don't we have them guard Tyrese Maxi And
then after the game, it's pretty clear they've got a
muzzle on JJ Reddick. What's going on is this is
all part of this new development program, because as I've
been on record forever saying, look, you want to have
the father son taster's choice moment, Fine, you did it,

(01:06:56):
manufactured history. No one else will probably ever get this again.
You're going to continue to try to sell us that
he's a future NBA player. I'm not there yet. And
what I saw Wednesday night and then what morphed into
what happened a couple nights later in Philadelphia where they
were channing MVP making fun of him. It felt like
the manager of the basketball team getting on the floor

(01:07:17):
at the end of the year and banking in a
thirty foot three pointer and the crowd goes nuts. They're
turning us into a circus. You've got the floor.

Speaker 5 (01:07:27):
Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, I was totally fine
with Browny James being on the team because he's a
late draft pick. He was mostly playing with the g League,
he had that father son moment, but it didn't last
that long. Here he played consequential moments in a game
that was still close at that point. Anthony Davis hadn't
gotten hurt. At that point, the game was still close,

(01:07:49):
and you know, they'll say that the idea was, well,
they're trying to find some replacements because Kate Vincent was
out and it was hurt. They're trying to inject some
energy because they're on along road trips, second night of
a back to back. But Brownie was just not ready
for that moment, and it kind of puts him in
a tough spot where he's not in a position to succeed.
He's in a position to fail. You know, I think

(01:08:11):
that when he does get minutes, it's supposed to be
like what we saw the previous night when the Lakers
blew out the Washington Wizards on Thursday. He can get
all the fun mop up duty he wants and feel
good moments there because he's not going to determine how
much worse a game could be because of a few
bad passes that lead a turnover. So I'm with you

(01:08:33):
one hundred percent that I'm just not with it on
how they used him in that Philadelphia game.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
Marco, we'll pick this up next week. It's an ongoing story.
And I'm of the belief that mop up duty does
not develop an NBA player. He's played lots of basketball,
and I think he's only played a ten games that
we're in the G League.

Speaker 5 (01:08:52):
Well, I'll clarify. I mean mop up duty when you
combine it with taxual G League games is fine, and
that's what he's been doing. So I've been fine with
everything with how they've handled it from that, and then
he's on around the team occasionally on road trips because
you can, you know, practice with the team, be a
part of film sessions. All that's fine. Where they lost

(01:09:13):
me was throwing him in a close game of consequence
where he was asked to have, you know, meeting full assignments,
and he's not ready for those.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
Mark, great stuff. Thanks so much for going over time
with us tonight. And as I say, every week, we'll
see what the new second next week as the trade
deadline will be in the books, and we'll talk a.

Speaker 5 (01:09:34):
Lot about Luca's debut.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
I'm sure, Oh yes, that's right. She'd be next Saturday
afternoon against Indiana. I'm sure you'll be there. Thanks a lot, Mark,
all right, take care, Mark Medina Medina Magic. You hear
him every Saturday night at midnight Pacific time on the
Bernie Frauder Show. All right, let's have a little fun
here and a relatively serious topic. Are you an NBA heter?

(01:09:57):
They're out there, they're out there, and apparently in a
recent survey, there are four or five key facets to
the NBA game that have essentially resurrected a new cadre
of NBA haters. Are you one of those haters? I'll

(01:10:18):
bring into categories and why they feel this way? On
Bernie Fraddlework comedy line from Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio,
tyrec dot Com Studios. Keep it locked right here. You're
listening to the Bernie Frattles Show on Fox Sports Radio.
H right back on the Bernie Frautles Show, Fox Sports
Radio Comedy Live from the tirerack dot Com Studios here

(01:10:40):
in Las Vegas, heavily dominant tonight on the Luca Anthony
Davis Trade. We've fleshed out as much as we humanly can.
We'll continue to reference it as it becomes pertinent, but
I want to stay on the NBA somewhat very simply
for this reason that, in spite of recently receiving a

(01:11:03):
massive eleven year, seventy six billion dollar media rights deal,
hater's abound, and a recent survey was done, a fan
survey was done, and it sort of gave us a
focus as to the haters. I say this in air quotes.
I'm not a hater. Do I think the NBA product

(01:11:25):
is as good as it used to be? No, And
I'll get to my thoughts in a minute. But I'm
not a hater. But what are the problems really people
have in the NBA right now? One of them? And
I don't buy this one at all. The fans claim
that the you know, the season, the eighty two regular
game season is too long. Not buying it. They've been

(01:11:47):
playing playing it for over fifty years. Travels better, everything's
better now. And when you get a new media rights package,
the idea is that you've got an inventory sport all right,
and it provides value on a nightly basis to networks
eighty two games throughout the year. I get it. It's
far from appointment viewing every night, but there are enough

(01:12:09):
mini events. Starting in the first month of the season,
and now even with the tournament in season, and like
Mark Mdina and I just talked about Saturday, Luka, Doncic
is cleared, is allegedly being cleared to play from his
calf injury, so he'll make his debut in Los Angeles

(01:12:29):
at home at one o'clock against the Indiana Pacers. That's
an event you might want to see. And that's the
same dynamic that attracts people of the NBA. Why but
not every single night. Every night is not a highlight reel.
And that's why the NBA season bores the average fan
because oftentimes it's kind of a mech product that just

(01:12:51):
simply is the criticism is valid. Okay. Now you can
argue that an eighty two game season packs less punch.
Then say the NFL and they're seventeen games slate. But
that's comparing apples dorges. Don't don't, don't ever do that.
That's silly. Okay. I would bet a finger. The NBA
owners will never shorten the season, well, nor will they

(01:13:13):
shorten to ten minute quarters. They're trying to manufacturing set
and you don't do it by shortening it. It doesn't work.
The storylines and narratives and draw fans. It's built over
six months. It takes time to build a season story,
so when the playoffs start they have meaning. So thumbs

(01:13:34):
down on the stupid idea to, you know, shorten the
season the eighty two game season, although fans list that
as is one of their reasons why they're NBA haters.
Now we're going to get more into the met The
second reason is part of this conversation, was NBA stars.

(01:13:54):
I see that near quotes, stars are not on the
court often enough. That's an undeniable thing. NBA athletes are
just simply not on the court as much as they
used to be, between minute limits, load management, and of
course there are legitimate injuries. It's all too often to
hear stories all fans buying tickets only to show up

(01:14:16):
to the arena and miss out on seeing their favorite players.
And that's not to mention all the nationally televised games.
I mean, you had Christmas Day games where stars were out. Now,
I'm not going to call the NBA players soft. Well,
maybe compared to hockey players or rugby players, but they're
still not soft. All right. You've got huge behemoth men, tall,

(01:14:43):
freakish running on hard and floors ninety four feet, You've
got a lot of soft tissue injuries. Athletics athletes are
more dynamic now than they ever have been. They got
a change direction of speed more, but they did that
back in the day as well. The league has tried
to solve this issue by mandating that's sixty five games
played for end of season awards, as well as instituting

(01:15:04):
fines for improper improper injury management might solve the problem,
but when does that helped Joel Embiid or Kawhi Leonard
or Zion Williamson, and they all struggle with actual injuries.
There's no more showtime Lakers anymore. There's no surprise that
a lot of the NBA haters have landed on the

(01:15:27):
fact they don't really care for the pace and space era.
All Right, last season and Boston won the championship, more
than half of their shots for the entire season were
from behind the yark. Okay, that's become sort of the
group think echo chamber narrative that people quote unquote missed

(01:15:48):
the old NBA. I don't know how you solve that,
all right. In the mid two thousand Z era, there
were a lot more highlight reel type of stuff, and
people think they want the Kobe style ISO basketball back,
But those viewing habits two decades ago people somewhat complained

(01:16:10):
about that as well. Look, whether it's Giannis or Joli
Embiid or Nicola, they're all sort of individual in their
own right. There are too many threes, but if you
look closer, Jannis and Joel Embiid, they don't take a
lot of threes. Nicole Jokich's a basketball purest dream Shay Gilgess.

(01:16:33):
He plays like Penny Hardaway used to play. Luka Doncic,
He's got his own style. Lebron still is popular, one
of the greatest players ever, and he has multiple different styles.
Not to mention Steph Curry. He still actually might be
the most popular NBA player in the last ten years,
and he's been at the forefront of the NBA three

(01:16:54):
point revolution. But let's get to some other meat that
I think is real meat. The best players and best
teams are less captivating than in previous eras. Let's face it,
I truly believe that one of the great things about
sports is rivalry. You know, where's your bird and magic
where is it? And I know that maybe a hackneyed

(01:17:15):
old cliche, but it's apropos. Do you know that every
in the decade of the eighties, every single year, either
Bird or Magic was in the finals. Okay, who are
the likable, charismatic players with panache, who are athletic and
skillful and can help lead their team do a championship

(01:17:36):
and cause you to want to go pay to see them.
I think the NBA yearns for a post Curry era
that they can latch their you know, hitch their wagon
to all right, they hoped it would be Ja Morant,
They hoped it would be Zion Williamson. They hoped it
would be Anthony Edwards, perhaps Victor web I don't think

(01:18:01):
he's ready to play, ready to take over that torch
and carry that torch. And Wemby plays in a small city,
and so does Anthony. One of the fortunate things the
NBA has had the passes their superstar is played in
major markets. Right La is the number two market. New
York is the number one market. Boston's right after, Golden

(01:18:22):
State's right after. So when you add it all up,
the haters are starting to line up again. Didn't stop
the NBA from getting a seventy six billion dollar deal.
That's billing with a B. But you consider the long
season load management at times of boring style, no real rivalries,
no real box office straws that have that sort of

(01:18:43):
Matt and I idel love that magic bird Kobe to
a degree at Jabbar, and I don't want to leave
anybody out right on down the line. These players had
they don't exist anymore. So the NBA maybe has to
do a better job of promoting or finding their new stars.
And they're trying to do that. All right, So we'll
see what's what coming up. I want to circle back.

(01:19:06):
I want to I want to dive in on a
narrative I'm sick of hearing about, and that is is
the NFL rigged? No, But let's give you a historical
perspective when I come back. Keep it locks to the
Bernie Fraddle Show on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:19:20):
Do're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:19:24):
Well that's rich you heard themand Bernie Frattle Show keeps
rolling right along. What a night it's been. My name
is Bernie Frattlewe are come to your line from the
tarret dot Com studios here at Las Vegas, Fox Sports
Radio Tyret dot com will help you get there, an
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over ten thousand recommend installers. Tyreck dot com the way

(01:19:47):
tire buying should be. I want to remind you, folks,
shortly after the show, our podcast will be going up.
If you missed any of tonight's show, be sure to
check out the podcast. Just search Fox Sports The Bernie
Frattles Show wherever you get your podcasts. To be sure
to also follow, rate and review the podcast. Again, just sir,

(01:20:08):
it's Fox Sports Radio The Bernie Fraddles Show, wherever you
get your podcasts, and to see the show posted right
after we get off the air. Well, obviously, there was
big news tonight, and we've fleshed out as much as
we humanly can without repeating ourselves and starting to sound
like we're stattering. But I promise you I've got you

(01:20:29):
my finger on the pulse. Should anything else emerge, there'll
be more, I believe coming as the you know, in
the coming days. And we expect Luca to make his
Lakers debut next Saturday, February eighth, one pm. The Lakers
host the Indiana Pacers, but it is Sunday and Super

(01:20:54):
Bowl week is officially here. People are descending upon New
Orleans as we speak. The teams will both arrive today.
And what has been the narrative this past week that's
become so incredibly nauseating is the NFL rigged? Do they
favor the Chiefs? And I got to tell you what
I hear these comments, with all due respect to make

(01:21:15):
my teeth itch. Let me give you what I think
is some perspective, okay, because the reality of it is,
there have been other dynasties and when history repeats itself,
for it to repeat itself, there always has to be
a convergence of factors. They can involve leadership, decision making,

(01:21:36):
consistency and execution, situational awareness, preparedness, confidence, and as Joe
Montana would say, icy cold precision. I'm looking at you
Buffalo Bills. You're zero to four in playoff games against
the Chiefs in January. Meanwhile the Chiefs are four and
oh but you want to fall back on maybe you Buffalo,

(01:22:00):
but fans want to fall back on these what I
believe a false narratives. Let's look at the Bills and
I'll tell you what. I have a lot of respect
for the franchise and Sean McDermott and the city of Buffalo.
So I won't mention James Cook and the fact his
non usage when it mattered most, even though he's having
a great game, or on the fourth down a quarterback

(01:22:24):
sneak the whole damn world knew was coming. That's all
you got. Why are you chasing points throughout the game?
You missed two two pointers. The Chiefs made their only chance.
Maybe if you kick those two extra points, the complexion
of the game might have looked different, or for whatever reason,
every time the Bills get to these high leverage moments
in January, especially in Arrowhead, Sean McDermott just simply looks

(01:22:49):
very unsure of himself. Make no mistake, the Bills had
plenty of chances to win that game. So please miss
me with this loser's lament about the ref and conspiracy theories.
But that said, let's take another historical perspective. How special

(01:23:09):
is this Kansas City's Chiefs team that a lot of
people don't want to give a hell of a lot
of credit to For some reason, they've been trying to
diminish him now for the better part of six months. Well,
first of all. The Chiefs are the fourth team to
reach three straight Super Bowls in the first to make
the game after winning back to back Super Bowls. Follow me.

(01:23:30):
As hard as it is to win two titles or
one title in any sport, a three peat is fairly
well non existent. If you go back one hundred years
in the NBA, Major League Baseball, the NHL, certainly the
NFL has never been done. In the WNBA. In all

(01:23:51):
those years, there have been a grand total, over the
thousands of teams, enfranchises and opportunities, there have been fourteen
instances team has won three straight titles. It hasn't been
done in twenty three years the last time. The last
team to do it were the aforementioned Los Angeles Lakers,
who've been all over the news Saturday night. They did
it from two thousand to two thousand and two. They

(01:24:13):
were the last team to complete quote a three peat.
So you want to say the Chiefs are having success
because the refs love them so much. What if I
told you the Chiefs had gone eight straight games without
a single turnover, the longest streak of the Super Bowl era. Well,
of course, Pat Mahomes conveniently lost the fauvel against the

(01:24:35):
Bills last week. They couldn't take advantage. That's the same
Patrick mahomeso winers this Super Bowl on a nine to
zero run and an eight to one run against the spread.
And then there's a d Reid, the winning as coach
in both Kansas City and Philadelphia and their franchise histories

(01:24:55):
both franchises. Yes, and the Chiefs have won a remarkable
twelve one score games this season and dating back to
last season, seventeen in a row. Oh and by the way,
the Chiefs are also twenty three and two straight up
on their last twenty five overall games. One of those
losses was at Denver when they played with their JV
team in the season's final game. The starters were glued

(01:25:17):
to the bench. They didn't care. It's a pretty good
body at work, wouldn't you say? But the group think
echo chamber won't quit. Forget the fact you got a
Hall of Fame head coach, a Hall of Fame quarterback,
a Hall of fame tight end championship DNA. You've heard
me say it a thousand times. Casey Stegel once said
teams can't beat the Yankees. To get stuck staring at
the pen strikes same situation. I think the Chiefs have

(01:25:41):
teams sighted, and yes, have they been the beneficiary of
certain calls that looked like it might have been a
little questionable. Well maybe only because they were good enough
to take advantage of it. Look, there's most saying in
life beat the right place at the right time. But
to me, that's a sentence that doesn't end in a period.

(01:26:01):
That's the sentence that showed in in a comma. Be
in the right place at the right time, Comma and
do something about it. But even though the sports news
cycle changes on a dime, look what happened tonight about
nine to thirty pm Pacific time, twelve thirty Eastern. The
whole world got turned on. It's here because of the
l Luca Anthony Davis trade. Nobody saw coming. That new

(01:26:23):
cycle changed, But one story lingers. It's rare for a
story to linger more than twenty four hours, and you
can bet your butt the next week you're gonna hear
the NonStop anger over the Chief's history of controversial calls,
recently fueled by what just happened last week and their
thirty two to twenty nine went over Buffalo. But I said,

(01:26:46):
historical perspective. So work with me here. Is this really new?
Is this a phenomenon? It's really new? Wasn't it? A
similar story for the New England Patriots and their dynasty
that actually Kansas City exceeded after New England and their
twenty eighteen AFC championship went over the Jacksonville Jaguars. They

(01:27:07):
were screaming from the rafters about a very controversial pass
interference penalty, among other flags. It got so serious that
day that Forbes Magazine, Forbes Magazine of all publications, decided
they would weigh in with some damning cartoons. Yes, but historically, overall,
if we're being honest, this is actually how it goes

(01:27:30):
with Juggernauts. They play, they beat your team, you don't
like it. They win more games than anyone else, anybody else,
and they keep doing it, and all of a sudden,
people quote get tired of that, are jealous of it,
and then they start looking for signs that they must
have some advantage that we don't have, like you know,

(01:27:55):
officials favoring the dynasty, and then you start to look
for them in every play, maybe the rest field drawn
to give some calls to this team. But oh, by
the way neatly ignoring that giving favorable calls to veteran
stars like in basketball or certainly in baseball, if you
didn't at the strike zone for Ken Griffey Jr. Was

(01:28:16):
the same for Eddie Gazinski, You're wrong. Certain NBA players
get certain foul calls that others don't. So I'm not
going to use the word preferential treatment. But what I
will say is that certain stars, certain veterans, are the
beneficiary of certain calls given their contributions to the league

(01:28:38):
over time. The refs are human, the umps are human.
So today you can remove the name Tom Brady, which
is the last guy who was the subject in the Patriots,
the last entity as the target for this type of vitriol,
and replace it now with Patrick Mahomes. One unnamed NFL

(01:29:00):
coach said quote, with regards to Patrick Mahomes, I think
quote he's a great manipulator. As a matter of fact,
his coach went on to say, Mahomes offers a master
class in leveraging rules designed to protect quarterbacks. That's true.
Do I believe that's true? Yes? I do. Then why

(01:29:22):
don't you have your quarterback do it? Well, maybe he's
not as good as Patrick Mahomes. Like deal, Steve Martin joke,
you want to be a millionaire, first get a million dollars. Well,
you don't have Patrick Mahomes, do you? Actually? You could
actually imply that a couple of major calls that could
have gone to Buffalo had nothing to do with Patrick Mahomes. Okay.

(01:29:47):
In a poll, it was asked just this last Monday,
did Josh Allen gain the first down on that fourth
and one sneak? Eighty percent said yes, the ball touched
the line. Do I agree with that? Yes? Is it
the reason Buffalo lost the game? No? But were the

(01:30:10):
Chiefs the beneficiary of that call? Yes? How important were
the controversial calls from say, Xavier Worthies catch to Josh
Allen's sneak? Well, the poll actually went on to say
only forty five percent considered those calls quote game changing.
They were just pissed off and needed time to cool down.

(01:30:33):
Fifty percent think a other factors in the game played
a larger role, some of the ones I mentioned earlier
b the Bills have to share some blame from finding
themselves in these positions, or some of the respondents said no,
it was actually an evenly called game. Did you know
that this season? By the way, the Philadelphia Eagles, the

(01:30:53):
Chief's opponent this week, was called for the fourth most
unnecessary roughness penalties in the league. I will bet you though,
that when they kick off the balls in the air
this coming Sunday, February ninth, three thirty Pacific, six thirty Eastern,
the rest are not going to let the game come
down to subjective calls like that. All right? And oh,

(01:31:16):
by the way, there are some folks if you look
hard enough, you can find them who are griping that
the Chiefs are checked at. The Eagles lost the matchup
to the Chiefs two years ago. I believe it was
thirty five thirty three because of a holding penalty. Let's
go back to Patrick Mahomes. Here's your unicorn. The truth

(01:31:37):
of the matter is, when you want to win, we
all come down to these high leverage moments where it's
hard to breathe and the heat is hot and you
need someone to step up. Patrick Mahomes simply shines brightest
when the stage is brightest period, when the situation the
man's greatness. Patrick Mahomes defines greatness. He stands now on

(01:32:02):
the brink of NFL history. If he can make the
Chiefs the first team ever to win three straight Super Bowls.
And now that this does come to pass, berieve it.
If it doesn't, Mahomes has already etched his name among
the superstars that are lucky enough to even just get
to a Super Bowl. Let's just take a look at

(01:32:24):
a couple of them. Okay, these are iconic guys who
were dreaming soul crushers. If you play it against him,
he's the guy you'd most want on the field with
the game on the line, like Patrick Mahome, paulms. These
are guys that got there often like Patrick Mahomes, and
they won. I'm gonna start with Tom Brady. Ten super

(01:32:46):
Bowl appearances, seven wins. This is what Mahomes is aiming for,
knowing full well he went on two against Brady in
the playoffs. Now Brady's first super Bowl, I get it.
He only threw fo one hundred and forty five yards.
What a key game winning drive. But in the remaining
Super Bowls, did you know Brady average better than three
hundred and three yards through the year every time he

(01:33:07):
took center stage. And what's the biggest game in all
the sport, most likely six of Brady's Super Bowl wins
the result of game winning drives after being tied or
trailing in the fourth quarter. Do you want to blame
the refs blame him for all six of those? Sure,
knock yourself out when the situation the man's greatness? Are

(01:33:28):
you great? How about? Joe Montana went to four Super Bowls,
won four Super Bowls four to oz through for two
hundred and eighty seven yards a game, through for eleven
touchdown passes, never through his single interception, sixty eight percent
completion rate, completed his passes at almost nine point four

(01:33:48):
yards per pass. By the way, just for fun, Joe
Montana also ran for two touchdowns in the Super Bowl
and had a cumulative passer rating of seven point eight.
Were winning super bowls there was no social media. But
look at what John Montana did. He had played in
a Super Bowl since nineteen ninety But those are twenty

(01:34:11):
twenty five numbers for a player who hadn't taken the
field in four decades. I do know a lot of
those games were blowouts, and he only needed one game
winning drive, the legendary one in nineteen eighty eight against Cincinnati,
the Bengals with a minute thirty eight to Gold when
Joe Montana directed the team down the field with icy
cole precision. I believe that was Super Bowl twenty three.

(01:34:35):
And oh, by the way, that was the game where
Montana got in the huddle and they had to go
eighty some yards and he says that John Candy. Yeah,
when the situation demands greatness, he's great. He was way
ahead of his time. Joe Montana, Pat Tom Brady, Now
Patrick Mahomes, you want to blame the refs, knock yourself out. Finally,

(01:34:57):
I want to I want to throw some some love
to Josh Allen because people will line up to point
out that Josh Allen is now zero to four versus
Kansas City in the playoffs. What if I told you
in those four games, Josh Allen and the Bills averaged
twenty nine points a game. In those four games, Josh
Allen threw for fourteen hundred yards, eleven touchdowns and only

(01:35:20):
one interception. But see, Josh Allen doesn't play defense, Maybe
he should. The Bills in those four losses to Kansas
City have given up thirty eight points, forty two points,
twenty seven points, and thirty two points chronologically for an
average of allowing thirty four points per game. You want

(01:35:41):
Josh Allen to play defense? Hell, maybe he should? Coming
up more fun super Bowl stuff meant Okay, we are
now officially into Super Bowl Sunday or Super Bowl Week.
Teams are converging, people are converging in radio road, New Orleans.
It all starts up on Monday, and here you go.
You better get ready to durned through a fire hose.
By the way, football fans, I'll be sure to tune

(01:36:03):
into Fox Sports Radio every Sunday morning beginning at ten
am Eastern seven am Pacific for Countdown to Kickoff presented
by bet MGM, Brian No, Jeff Schwartz, and professional better
Bill Krackenberger. They're gonna have you covered three hours before
kickoff every Sunday morning. Listen to Contdown to Kickoff presented
by bet MGM right here on Fox Sports Radio and

(01:36:26):
the iHeart Radio app coming up. You know, the Super
Bowl is basically a two week convention for the NFL
and it culminates in the little football game for all
the Marbles on the final Sunday of the season. Well,
what's great about the Super Bowl and what makes it
such an iconic part of the American cultural landscape. I'm

(01:36:48):
gonna tell you coming up, you already know it, but
I'm gonna remind you. I'm Bernie Fradder, who comes you
live from the Las Vegas Foxsports Radio Tiret dot com studios.
Keep it locked. You're listening to the Bernie Frattle Show
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (01:37:00):
listen live.

Speaker 2 (01:37:13):
We're back on the Bernie Frattle Show Fox Sports Radio.
Come to your life from the Tarak dot com studios
here in a Las Vegas. Coming up in a bit,
I'm gonna have some additional perspective on the Los Angeles
Lakers and what their strategy might have been. I drew
a parallel. I'm the opening monologue. I try to look

(01:37:34):
for historical perspective. I try to look for context, subtext.
And it was fifty years ago. It'd be fifty years
in June that the Lakers traded for Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
And if you look throughout those fifty years, only seven
of those fifty years did the Lakers not have a
roster without a headliner like a Kareem, a Magic, a Shaq,

(01:37:57):
a Kobe or Lebron. And I have to feel that
part of their motivation was doing just that at bringing
in Luca as the successor of Lebron. The Lakers are
a franchise of eras, which I've said many, many times.
But back to what's going to be another huge story
as the sun rises on Sunday as teams, as the

(01:38:21):
teams descend upon New Orleans for Super Bowl fifty nine
and all the storylines that go with it. You know,
the truth of the matter is the Super Bowl is
basically a two week convention for the National Football League.
It then culminates a little football game a week from today.

(01:38:43):
We're about, let's see where one hundred and sixty, about
one hundred and seventy hours from kickoff if you're scoring
a home for super Bowl fifty nine. But it's basically
a two week convention, the Super Bowl, and then it
culminates this little football game for all the marbles. It'll
be the final Sunday of the season, and then you know,
people will be marking their time for the draft and

(01:39:05):
the OTAs and all that. But let's stay on point here.
So you know what's really great about the Super Bowl.
I think what makes it such an iconic part of
the American culture landscape is that you don't need to
be a football addict to even have any interest in
the Super Bowl, because when it comes to the game,
there's something for everybody, whether it's the parties, the food,

(01:39:31):
the commercials showing, the celebrities, the halftime show. Even the
national anthem performers are big deal. Who can forget what
Whitney Houston did in nineteen ninety one right after the
Gulf War started to this day one of the most
iconic national anthem performances in history of any sport. All right,

(01:39:54):
but guess what else? People get a kick out of betting.
And you can bet not just on the game and
the outcome of the game, but prop bets. Okay, proposition
bets having to do with individual or team performance is
not related to the outcome of the game. And there'll
be over one thousand this year. But in addition to those,

(01:40:15):
there is a bunch of what we call waistside wagers.
And I'm gonna tell you right now, some of these
goofy things you can bet on you can't do here
in Vegas. Just a rule of thumb. Okay, in Las Vegas.
If you're going to bet on the game, or you're
gonna bet any event, it's basically got to be something

(01:40:36):
that's decided on the field and shows up in a
box score the next day. Because if it involves information
that some can get their hands on where the outcome
might already be decided, well, the sportsbooks don't like that
too much. So there are regulatory standards in North American
sports books. But there are offshore books and people, and
they put up these crazy props primarily for entertainment purposes.

(01:40:57):
But you'd be amazed how popular they are. I'm gonna
give you an example of a few of them here.
And the truth of the matter is that, again, you
can't bet these in Vegas, but you can bet them
if you look hard enough. Will a player or coach
cry during the national anthem? Yes? Minus four thirty, which

(01:41:19):
means you would wager if you wanted to win one
hundred dollars, you'd wage your four hundred and thirty dollars.
You don't think they will you wage you one hundred dollars.
It'll bring back two hundred and eighty five. Now. National
anthem prop bets are nothing new, but they usually revolve
around how long the performance will take or whether their
performer will forget a word or mess up the song.

(01:41:40):
But you can also bet on the length of the performances,
which this year I think I'll be done by a
guy named John Batiste. The over under is one hundred
and twenty point five seconds. It's just like a half
a second over two minutes, and the spread is minus
one twenty two, which means, if you want to if
you think John Batist's performance will go over two minutes,

(01:42:03):
one hundred and twenty two dollars wins one hundred. Or
if you think it's gonna be under one hundred and
twenty point five seconds, one hundred dollars brings you back
a hundred. Believe it or not. Here's how goofy this gets.
Will he use a piano to perform? Yes? His minus
six fifty, so this guy must be a piano player.
He bet six hundred and fifty to one one hundred,
one one hundred to win four to twenty. Now, just

(01:42:24):
so you know, if you find these over if you
find these prop bets, and you can not that hard,
just not here in Vegas. He over has hit six
of the past ten years, and there's actually been one performer.
This happened, actually happened in Super Bowl fifty six, Kelly Clarkson.
She hit the number right on the mark. It was

(01:42:45):
a tie in terms of whether or not it would
go over or under the length. But here's where it
also gets goofy okay again, Like I said, will the
player or coach cried during the national anthe and you
can also bet on whether or not Batisse perform and
so of the moment is so moving that the player
or coach is moved to tears. Now two years ago,

(01:43:07):
don't don't poop poo this, okay. Nick Siriani in his
first appearance in the Super Bowl stood on the sidelines
and he shed a tear. And perhaps his prior experience
and focus on unfinished business, maybe he won't shed a
tear this time. But will somebody, well you can bet
that they will, just not here in Vegas. Here's another

(01:43:29):
goofy one. Okay. Well, Travis Kelsey proposed to Taylor Swift.
Now this is pretty heavily weighted to the null. You
have to bet nine hundred and fifty dollars to one hundred. Yes,
you win one. You bet one hundred dollars, you win
five hundred, and there'll be all kinds of Taylor Swift
prop bets whether or not she's shown during the national anthem,

(01:43:51):
or how many times she's shown during the anthem more
than one and a half, less than one and a half, YadA,
YadA yah. You can also bet on whether or not
Travis Kelsey and that you Thiefs will win the Super
Bowl in the same year that Swift wins the Grammy
Award for Album of the Year. That's plus nine hundred.

Speaker 4 (01:44:08):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:44:08):
The most notable bet from a pop culture standpoint is
whether or not Kelsey proposes to her after the game.
This one likely relies on the fact that the Chiefs
probably would need to win to have that happen. It
would be a little hard to imagine the Chiefs lose
and then Kelsey does the deal and Eagles Vams swarm
in the field. But see, people love tibet this kind
of stuff. Even the halftime show, which will be performed

(01:44:32):
by Kendrick Lamar. All right, you can bet whether or
not Kendrick Lamar brings out a guest to perform with
him for at least one song, and there's odds on
every one of them. Future plus one twenty five Metro
Boomin plus one twenty five, Lil Wayne plus one sixty
four Baby Game plus one seventy. Now Lil Wayne seems

(01:44:53):
like he might be a lot for a guest appearance
prediction because he's from New Orleans and some people were
act kind of shocked he wasn't chosen to perform in
his own hometown, and during an appearance on the Skip
Bayless Show, Little Wayne mentioned that he had spoken to
Kenna Lamar and after he was chosen the headline I
wished him luck, but asked if he would be making
against appearance. He said he would not even be in

(01:45:15):
the same country for the game, So careful if you
bet that one. Remember what happened the last time there
was a Super Bowl at the Caesar Supernome between the
Harbaugh brothers. The game was interrupted by a power power
outage that lasts for thirty four minutes. Now, there are
no odds currently listed for this year's contest. Last year

(01:45:38):
here at Allegiance Stadium one hundred dollars if there'd have
been a power outage would have brought you back sixteen
hundred dollars. But if you said no, you don't think
there's gonna be a power outage, you'd have to bet
fifteen thousand dollars to one hundred dollars if you did that.
There was no power outage here at Allegiance State. Now

(01:46:01):
there's some other interesting props, and these things almost never
happen in a Super Bowl, but these are on the field. Now,
these are things you might be able to bet in Vegas.
All the sportsbooks are putting out their pumpets now, and
some will have these. Will a quarterback, either quarterback or
anybody at quarterback, whether it be Jalen Hurts or Patrick

(01:46:24):
Mahomes your quarter reception, it's unlikely that means you have
to bet six thousand, six hundred dollars. Do one hundred
someone will do it, or one hundred dollars will bring
you back sixteen hundred someone will do that. Will any
non quarterback throw a touchdown? Now? I covered Super Bowl
forty Detroit two thousand and six when Pittsburgh played Seattle

(01:46:46):
and Antoine randall El took a pitch out for Ben
Roethlisberger and threw a touchdown pass. If any kind of
gimmick trick play like that happens this year, well, one
hundred dollars will bring you back fourteen hundred. But no,
minus four thousand. You have bet four hundred, which makes
sense to me. If I'm the Chiefs and I'm throwing

(01:47:08):
a pass, I want Patrick Mahomes throwing it. You get it.
I mean, you saw what happened when Ben Johnson the
Lions got cute against Washington. When Jamison Williams threw that pass.
It was very ill advised. Here's another one that's a beauty.
Will any offensive lineman score a touchdown? It's unlikely, but
if you feel in saucy, one hundred dollars brings you

(01:47:29):
back twenty eight hundred. Meanwhile, this is ridiculous. The no,
you gotta bet forty to win one hundred dollars. I'm
not making this up. I'm not sure if a sports
book here has got that. But look, there's a possibility
there could be a play that goes beyond the normal
job description quarterback catching a pass, an offensive lineman scoring

(01:47:51):
a touchdown, a trick play involving a non quarterback throwing
a touchdown pass. Anything is possible. I suppose it is
a Super Bowl. The two week convention will be over.
People look forward to the game. What makes it great
not just the food, the commercials, the celebrities, the national anthem,
the halftime show. There's betting and plenty of it, and
some of it is actually a little bit goofy, as

(01:48:14):
you can see. By the way. A little later, I'll
get into some interesting fun with numbers. This is the
fifth appearance. Five is a magic number the Chiefs have
made in the Super Bowl since twenty twenty. How about
New Orleans? The number is eleven. It's the number of

(01:48:35):
times the New Orleans Saints. Check that out. The New
Orleans City of New Orleans has hosted the Super Bowl.
The game has been played at the Superdome eight times,
and believe it or not, at Two Lane Stadium three times.
But I digress. Coming up, I got some additional thoughts
on the shocking trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers.

(01:48:59):
Four Anthony Davis, and oh, by the way, again, shortly
after the show, our podcast will be going up. If
you missed any tonight's show, be sure to check out
the podcast. Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever get your podcast.
Be sure to follow, rate and review the podcast again.
Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever get your podcast. You
see the show going up right after we get off

(01:49:20):
the air, coming up Luca Anthony Davis. So the additional
thoughts that just popped into my head. I'm Bernie Friddle.
We're comedy line from Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio diirect
dot com studios. Keep it locked or listening to the
Bernie Fridle Show on Fox Sports Radio. How We're back
on the Bernie Friddle Show, Fox Sports Radio Comedy Live
from the tirect dot com studios here and Las Vegas.

(01:49:41):
The huge news that hit around nine to thirty Pacific
time twelve thirty Eastern times we head into Sunday, of course,
was Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis. And as you've heard
me say, the Lakers are a There are franchise of
errors going back to will Baylor West all the way
through Magic Kareem, Kobe Shack, now Lebron and I have

(01:50:07):
been up close and personal to this. I was an
intern at the Forum for three years and was right
there basically courtside for all the Magic's games his rookie
year and the incredibly beat Philadelphia in the in the
NBA Finals in May of nineteen eighty, Magic started at center,

(01:50:27):
played all three positions. He's twenty years old when he
should have been a junior at Michigan State. He's in
the NBA winning championships. I'll never forget the star power
he brought to the Lakers. I will never forget that
he resurrected Kareem Abdul Jabbar's career completely. The Lakers had
acquired Jabbar in seventy five, but by the time nineteen

(01:50:49):
eighty ruled around nineteen seventy nine rolled around, Jabbar had
become a punchline. He was a punchline in the Airplane
movie for crying out about he becomes surly. He'd become,
you know, uncommunicative, and he was, you know, Kareem's an
interesting guy, but he's his own guy. Even after the
very first game, when the Lakers beat the San Diego

(01:51:11):
Clippers on a last second shot and Magic Johnson ran
and jumped into the arms of Kareem Abdul Jabbar with
a big smile on his face, and everybody said, you
know what, something feels really different. After the game, a
reporter asked Jabbar how'd you feel about that tonight? You know,

(01:51:33):
I don't think I can take eighty one more of these.
He was set up with a straight face, but Magic
got it out of him. Magic learned from his parents
at an early age the value of hard work and
doing it with a smile on your face. Jabar never
had a smile on his face. But if you think
about the incredibly important role that Jabbar played in Lakers
history with Magic and Worthy showtime get him to the

(01:51:57):
finals nine out of twelve years before Magic retired in
ninety one, winning five, creating the great rivalries with the
Celtics and then later the Pistons. In those fifty years
since Kream Abdul Jabbar was acquired by the Lakers, only
in seven years of those fifty have the Lakers had

(01:52:21):
not had that marquee star headliner, you know, like Lebron,
like Magic, like Kareem, like Shaquille O'Neal, like Kobe Bryant.
And so what's interesting is is it starts to settle.
And in addition to assuming Lucas stays healthy, Okay, because

(01:52:42):
I know that the Dallas Mavericks are on record is
saying they have serious concerns about Donchik and his conditioning.
But assuming he says healthy, the Lakers are getting a
twenty five year old star that they ca and build
around along the same lines that they did with the
Magic and check and Kobe's et cetera, et cetera. And

(01:53:04):
it's canny how the Lakers managed to find a way
to get this done. They've done it for fifty years.
Sometimes you draft him, you draft him like Magic Johnson,
and I will tell you a story. God rest his soul.
Chick her And, the legendary play by play announcer of
the Lakers, was livid when the Lakers drafted Magic. Johnson

(01:53:26):
didn't like him. He wanted Sidney Moncrief. He thought at best,
Magic lumbered gracefully. I remember when Magic came into the league.
Even though he just led Michigan State to a national
championship in that famous game when they beat Larry Byrd
Indiana State in March in nineteen seventy nine, he wasn't
shooting the three. Then he had invented the baby hook.
Then there was a lot of things Magic didn't do,

(01:53:48):
but the Lakers identified him. Jerry West stuck to his guns,
and of course, very quickly early on the end of
the season, chick her and changed his mind. Of course
you did. So It's uncanny how the Lakers come upon
these guys. They traded for Jabbar and seventy five for
boatload of guys and draft picks. They draft him like

(01:54:09):
Magic Johnson. Jerry Buss wasted no time in saying, this
is showtime. People who want to come see a show
Magic Johnson, and my god, did he deliver. And then
you get into the mid nineties, you find a young
seventeen year old, eighteen year old talent like Kobe Bryant,
and somehow the Jerry West once again identified that and

(01:54:31):
all of a sudden, he he morphs into a full
grown man. The franchise was moribund, ill equipped to handle everything,
and it's another future superstar comes along, and you know,
how did they get a seventeen eighteen year old Kobe
Bryant for Vallati Devac and you know, and a collection

(01:54:52):
of other players that didn't make a major impact. And
it should be noted when the Lakers acquired Kream Abduli Jabar,
the most notable player the Lakers gave up was Elmore Smith,
although I will say they had just drafted Dave, my friend,
Dave Myers third overall from Milwaukee Bucks. He was a
key part of that trade. The Lakers acquired Pau Gasol

(01:55:16):
to help along a Kobe Bryant who had become a
little concern and was talking about being traded. Kwame Brown
was a centerpiece. So what made the trade Friday Saturday
night so unusual and exciting and unexpected was that you're

(01:55:36):
seeing two superstars traded for each other. You don't just
simply see a superstar traded front of the superstar every day.
You never see it. You see superstars traded, but not
for each other in the middle of the night, in
the middle of the season, in this unexpected fashion, right
before the trade deadline. But back to my earlier point,

(01:55:57):
the Lakers might now have found their Mark Heat talent
to succeed Lebron no matter how much longer he plays,
as long as Luca stays healthy for the next ten years,
this is where he comes in. In his first five
years in the league, the lowest he's finished in MVP
poding is eighth. He was third last year. Even still,

(01:56:17):
for whatever reason, the MAVs didn't feel confident in Donsic's future,
and we know that he was eligible while with Dallas
for a five year contract extension worth more than three
hundred and fifty million. Now he's no longer eligible for
that because he has been traded, so he can you know,
Lakers will have him for what forty eight million next year,

(01:56:41):
forty five million the following year, and we'll see where
they go. And as Mark Medina pointed out, I don't
think they got him just to rent him, right. I
think they got him they're going to keep him for
a while. And I realized they're talking about his conditioning
as a constant concern despite the fact his plays been stellar.
He was a chieved more moivator in Dallas. The truth

(01:57:01):
of the matter is he has only played more than
seventy games, and he's got a caffe injury, and he'll
be ineligible for postseason awards this year because he won't
meet the sixty five game threshold. But if the Lakers
get him under their wing and fix him with his conditioning,
it's not like he's Zion, it's not like he's Joli Embiid.

(01:57:21):
And it's one of those situations. If you were to
make a list of players right now in the national
Basketball Association that you could wake any GM up in
the middle of the night and say you can get
this guy tomorrow. He's on the market. Well, obviously Victor
webbin Yama would be on the list, Nicole Joki could
be on the list. Shay Gilgess is on that list.

(01:57:44):
Giannis is on that list. But guess who else is
on that list? Luka Doncic And now the Lakers got him,
and I think Dallas on their own right, maybe they
feel a little relieved they're avoiding the potential drama by
doing this in the mid the night in voting, having
to pay a max contract. And Anthony Davis is a pro,

(01:58:05):
he'll be okay going to Dallas. He'll team up with
Kyrie Irving and I think he'll provide the defense they
say they want. But what's the story here? It looks
like the Lakers, as they've done for fifty years, our
found a new marquee player that's gonna sell tickets and
maybe bring a national champ or bringing an NBA championship,
and of course, of course be the successor to Lebron.

(01:58:28):
Coming up, we take you to Columbus, Ohio with the
Ohio State Insider. We'll talk about Ryan Day. Keep it
locked to Bernie Frales Show, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:58:36):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:58:39):
Well, that's right, you heard the man. Bernie Frales Show
keeps rolling right along. My name is Bernie Fratto. We
are coming to your line from the tarract dot Com
studios here in Las Vegas, Foxsports Radio, tirerat dot Com.
We'll help you get there. An unmatched selection fans, free shipping,
free road as protection, and over ten thousand recommended to installers.

(01:58:59):
Tyreck dot com the way tire buying should be. I'm
gonna switch gears. We're gonna take you out to Columbus,
Ohio as a gentleman. I was gonna have on earlier
in the year, but we couldn't really do it until
the final Hollywood Scripts story had been written, of course,
talking about Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes. What

(01:59:20):
a roller coaster ride. Say hello to Ohio State Insider
coming to us from Columbus, Ohio, Don gessig Don, Thanks
for getting up early this morning. Appreciate you man, Thanks
for having me on. Bertie So we talked many times
before during throughout the season, and given the roller coaster
ride we decided let's see what finally happens, and then

(01:59:45):
we can unpack this because I still hear rumors. So
let's start with this. I'm gonna ask you a question
that may sound goofy to our audience, But if you
live in Columbus or you've been in ann Arbor and
I covered ten of these rivals, you'll get the question
right away. All right, Let's say you go back to

(02:00:06):
August before the season starts, and Ohio State fans can
pick one or the other. You can beat Michigan or
you can win a national championship, but you can't have
both with what would the Ohio State fans have picked
in August?

Speaker 6 (02:00:25):
You know, almost universally, Ohio State fans would be more
prone to wanting the Buckeyes to beat Michigan versus in
the national championship.

Speaker 2 (02:00:39):
No, it's very It's very true. And unpack that just
a little bit so people can understand this because I
get it having covered ten of those games and lived
back there. But explain it to the people outside of
the area why they feel this way.

Speaker 6 (02:00:53):
Sure, Ohio State Michigan. I don't know if it's the
greatest rivalry in but it certainly has to be up there.
The whole season for Ohio State revolves on the Michigan game.
It's crazy how passionate the Ohio State fans are. Even

(02:01:15):
signs in and around Columbus that start with the letter
and they put x's on it because they're dislike for Michigan.
The whole season is such that Ohio State fans just
want to beat Michigan. If they goo one and nine
in a year, then as long as that one win

(02:01:35):
is Michigan, they're good.

Speaker 2 (02:01:38):
Well, it's very true, Don, And having lived outside Ann
Arbor for seventeen years and covered that game, it's the
same thing there. So it begs the second question, sort
of part B of that same question. Now that the
history books have been written for the twenty twenty five season,
in the first twelve team playoffs in the books, Ohio
State lost to Michigan won the National Championship. Take us

(02:02:03):
inside the belly of the Beast in Columbus. Does winning
the National Championship for Ohio State soften the blow of
losing to Michigan or filled in the blank.

Speaker 6 (02:02:16):
I suspect that winning the national championship certainly helps Ryan
Dave's position as the head coach at Ohio State. It also,
at the same time doesn't really stoppen the blow of
losing the game every year to Michigan. But it helps
Ryan Day, it helps his recruiting on a national scale.

(02:02:36):
But the people and around Columbus and maybe even Ohio
are still disappointed that they lost to Michigan. And it
gives bragging rights every year to either the state of
Ohio or the state of Michigan, dependent upon who wins
that particular game every year. And I'm sure that the
people in the state of Michigan are going to continue

(02:02:57):
to remind the people in.

Speaker 2 (02:02:59):
The state of ble No that that's very true. So
the bottom line is, even though you got a legitimate
national championship as a sixth seed, you beat Oregon, you
beat Tennessee, you want Notre Dame, you did everything you
needed to do, You beat Texas convincingly, all these games,

(02:03:21):
all by double digits. Still, the fact that Ohio State
lost to Michigan and they have now what is it,
four years.

Speaker 6 (02:03:28):
In a row, now, don yes, four years in a row.

Speaker 2 (02:03:31):
That they're just not going to let Ryan Day forget that?
Is that fair? I don't want to put words in
your mouth but is that fair?

Speaker 6 (02:03:38):
That absolutely is all right.

Speaker 2 (02:03:40):
So let's go back to the day after the Michigan
Ohio State game, and it was armageddon, I'm supposing in
Columbus after losing to this Michigan team, which you know
was a five lost team. What was the narrative around
Ohio State? How serious was it that Ryan Day was

(02:04:02):
was in trouble? Because depending on who you talk to,
whether it's the nil collective, whether it's the athletic director,
whether it was even Urban Meyer, you get varying opinions.
What's the reality? How seriously in trouble was Ryan Day
After the Michigan game.

Speaker 1 (02:04:18):
You know, all of.

Speaker 6 (02:04:19):
These sports talk radio stations and the local media were
all over Ryan Day, and I don't know many that
were supportive of him continuing on as the head coach.
All of the locals were upset again flashing back to

(02:04:39):
the one and nine season where that one win is
a Michigan win. The people were very, very disappointed, and
you know, they didn't look into the account that you know,
Ryan Day has the highest winning percentage among the active coaches,
and you know that he's won seventy games, and they
didn't look at any of that they just hated the
fact that he lost Michigan and nothing else matters, and

(02:05:03):
the only positive reinforcing thoughts along Keep and Ryan Day
were once by more reasonable season sports analysts and I
suspect the athletic director and so forth that were far
more rational and not reactive. So it was it was

(02:05:23):
very I'm sure it was very tough times for Ryan
and I'm sure for a family and so forth. It
was brew for a couple of days after that.

Speaker 2 (02:05:33):
Game well, and they had about three weeks to stew
before they hosted Tennessee in the first round of the playoffs.
I remember distinctly urban Meyer going on national TV and
being pretty vehement about the fact that even if Ryan
Day loses to Tennessee, he's not getting fired because they

(02:05:55):
spent twenty million dollars keeping this roster together and bringing
in new players. He's got a big recruiting class coming
in next year, and if Ryan Day were to go,
some players would leave and they might disrupt this future
recruiting class. So I know it's not real entertaining to
do a lot of hypotheticals, but had Ryan Day lost

(02:06:16):
to Tennessee, would urban Meyer been proven correct? He was
going nowhere based on the reasons just given, or might
Ryan Day have been in serious trouble based on the
people you talked to from the collective.

Speaker 6 (02:06:27):
You know, it was two schools of thought. One would
be the fact that the athletic director had been in
his position for less than a year, and I'm sure
that he would have wanted to keep things in place
to keep the recruiting class coming along. They've got a
wonderful recruiting class coming in and so forth. The flip

(02:06:48):
side of that would be the NIL folks, and the
NIL folks, as we all know, are driving a lot
of college sports, and I'm fortunate enough to know significant
numbers of business owners and so forth that are active
participants in NIO. And they were adamant about leading a

(02:07:08):
new coach and moving on. And so it was quite
an interesting time with those two different schools of thoughts.

Speaker 2 (02:07:17):
All Right, that's interesting to know because in this era
of college football, we're talking with Don Gess Ohio State
inside who joins us from Columbus Ohio. Don, obviously there
are factions that wield power within the framework of a
college football campus. How much power does the NIL collective

(02:07:37):
have at Ohio state month they have swayed the ad if,
for instance, again another hypothetical had after losing the Michigan
Ryan Day lost to Tennessee, Mitt the collector says, hey,
you either get a new coach or we pull our money.
Could it have ever gone that far?

Speaker 6 (02:07:56):
I would have to think one would have to think
that there were significant numbers of those donators that would
have had that opinion that if they kept a Day around,
that they would have been far more hesitant to write
that check. So I'm sure that you know that Bork,

(02:08:17):
the athletic director, was getting phone calls from them too.
So it's a it's a tough position for Grid that
been in that position for less than a year, and
that was a good thing for him, for the University
of and for Day in his family for sure that
they continued on and won the national championship.

Speaker 2 (02:08:36):
So let's continue on down this path ever so quickly.
It just feels to me still that some fans have
issues with Ryan Day. And I'll give you an example.
There's a story that leaked just this past week that
Ryan Day participated with the softball team and played and

(02:08:57):
he had it at bat and he didn't really make
contact and he looked kind of hit a weak ground
ball or something didn't look real good run in the
first base and fans lopped onto that. Just as another
thing is Ryan Day's still a bit of a mark man.
Even though he's actually won an ASTROM championship, it just
doesn't feel like the warm and fuzzies this guy's getting well.

Speaker 6 (02:09:18):
Part of the reason that Ryan Day is as a
bit of an interesting coach in that he's not from
Ohio and he doesn't have a lot of those Ohio
roots that a couple of the previous coaches, whether it
be Tressel or Urban or whoever, that had Ohio roots
that got the Michigan Ohio State rivalry that felt the

(02:09:42):
passion of the Ohio fans.

Speaker 5 (02:09:45):
And even though.

Speaker 6 (02:09:45):
Ryan da has done a wonderful job and again had
vent each of active coaches that you know, he still
has not the feel or a lot of fans believe
that he just doesn't have a feel for the rivalry.
So if there was an Ohio person maybe in that position,
that they would be far less motivated to remind him

(02:10:11):
of where they came from.

Speaker 2 (02:10:13):
Time with Don Gessic Ohio State insider from Columbus Ohio,
putting the final chapter on Ryan Dave's topsy Turvy Ohio
State's twenty twenty five season. Another thing that emerged this
week don Ohio State went all in, pushed all their
chips to the middle to win the Natty. They did it.
But now I'm hearing stories that a financial statement submitted
to the NCAA, the school's athletic department is in a

(02:10:35):
deficit of thirty eight million dollars and they're wondering if
it was worth it? Now is that true? Can you
speak to that? Were you aware of that? Well?

Speaker 6 (02:10:44):
I saw the budget was two hundred and ninety two million.
Then they claimed that they lost thirty eight millions. Is
that true?

Speaker 2 (02:10:51):
I don't know. Yeah, that's a reporter, that's a report
I read exact same thing. Yes, yep, And so is
that true?

Speaker 6 (02:10:59):
I don't But what is winning a national championship worth
in terms of publicity and recruiting and donation dollars not
only to the university athletic program, but to the medical.

Speaker 4 (02:11:13):
Center and to endowments.

Speaker 6 (02:11:17):
What is winning a national championship? If you go anywhere
in the world and tell them you went to Ohio State,
the national champ what is that worth in advertising and
money's coming in overall?

Speaker 2 (02:11:30):
Well, you bring up an excellent point, and some of
the message boards in Ohio they're starting to wonder what's
with all the negative articles on Ohio States International title.
You know, mission there were crickets last year Michigan won
the title and they were accused of science stealing and
legally recruiting and all that kind of stuff. So I

(02:11:50):
just for whatever reason, it just feels like even though
Ryan Day silenced his critics, they won the national championship,
they overcame. There's just something this Paul cast over Ryan
Day one final thing don great stuff. There's another rumor
that Ryan Day is not ruling out a return to

(02:12:12):
the NFL. I know nothing about any of the immediacy
where that might happen, or if it's really in the cards.
But also that's footing around in the ether as well.
Could you see that happening in the next year or two.

Speaker 6 (02:12:27):
Well, as you know, he was in a podcast earlier
this week and he was posed with that exact question,
and you know, he's an NFL guy, and these days
being a college coach isn't what being a college coach
was twenty years ago when you didn't have nil stuff
in national contracts and things like that. You're right he

(02:12:50):
did not just wait, and most college coaches probably these days,
would not rule out the possibility of returning to the
NFL just because you know the hoops that you have
to jump through in college football these states.

Speaker 2 (02:13:05):
Don, great stuff. What a crazy topsy turvy story. We
would have had you on either way, whether or not
Ohio State would have won the National Championship or not.
But it's incredible. You know, we're living in different times, Don,
When you can lose to Michigan and still win the
National Championship, we're living in different times.

Speaker 6 (02:13:25):
Yes, yes, yes, it certainly was an interesting year to
for Ohio State and it's an interesting time for college football.

Speaker 2 (02:13:34):
It is all right, great stuff. That's Donsick. Don, thanks
so much for joining us this morning, and we'll talk soon, buddy.
That is the Don Gessick Ohio State insider. We stay
in touch quite a bit. We've followed this story for
the last couple of years. It just really isn't pretty.
I saw it from the Michigan side. When you lose

(02:13:54):
to Ohio State and vice versa, even though you win
the Natty the you know, the bad taste of losing
to Michigan is still in their mouths. So it'll be
interesting to see what the future holes is coming season
at Ohio State. They're going to be loaded again and
this year they got to play Michigan at Michigan, and
I gotta tell you, we'll see what the group think

(02:14:15):
echo Chamber narrative involves this year. Hey, football fans, be
sure to tune into Fox Sports Radio every Sunday morning,
beginning at ten am Eastern seven am Pacific for Countdown
to Kickoff presented by BETMGM, Brian no, Jeff Schwartz, Professional Better,
my buddy, Bill Krackenberger. Have you covered three hours before kickoff?
Every Sunday morning, listen to Countdown to Kickoff presented by

(02:14:35):
BETMGM right here on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio
app coming up around the bottom of the arm. We'll
have the world of soccer. But in the meantime, you're
not gonna believe what Cam Newton said when Brian Schottenheimer
got hired as the new coach of the Cowboys. You
talk about a wild theory. Cam is out there, but
she already knew that. I'm Bernie Frider, were coming to

(02:14:57):
your line from Las Vegas, Fox Sports Radio Tyrec dot
com studios. Keep it locked. You're listening to the Bernie
Frale Show on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (02:15:03):
listen live.

Speaker 2 (02:15:15):
Back on the Bernie Frattle Show Fox Sports Radio. Coming
you lie from the tarret dot com studios here in
Las Vegas. A few minutes, we'll bring you a world
of soccer. I promised, I promised a little funnel numbers
in the Super Bowl. It's knock out a few of those.
How about the number seven. That's the number of game
winning drives that Patrick Mahomes had in the fourth quarter,

(02:15:36):
just this last seas alone. That's why they were fifteen
to two, really fifteen and one in games they wanted
to win. Because the dude performs in the clutch. Blame
the refs, sure, but this guy performs in the clutch.
Eleven that's the number of times the city New Orleans
is host of the Super Bowl. How about the number
fifteen Egles defensive end Brandon Graham out of Michigan, fifteen

(02:15:58):
years in the league, thirty six years old. He's the
longest tenured player in the Super Bowl. How about the
number seventeen? That's the number of playoff wins Patrick Mahomes
already has in his young career, ranked second only to
Tom Brady, whose number is thirty five. Got a waste
to go? You may catch him, you never know. Twenty

(02:16:20):
three that's the number of straight up wins the Chiefs
have won in their last twenty five games. Really twenty
three out of twenty four. They didn't care if they
won the Denver game. How About how about fifty five?
That's the number of players on Philadelphia's roster. They were
not even in the National Football League when the Eagles

(02:16:41):
won their last Super Bowl championship during the twenty seventeen season.
By the way, they beat Tom Brady's New England Patriots. Finally,
sixty eight sixty eight is in sixty eight million. That's
the number of Americans who are expected the place at
least one wager on the Super Bowl. Super Bowl fifty nine,

(02:17:06):
sixty eight million people will place at least one wager.
That's expected to be about thirty five percent jump from
two years ago. Now I mentioned Cam Newton, fresh off
his statement the other day that he'd rather win an
MVP than win a Super Bowl. And by the way,

(02:17:27):
let's make no mistake, Cam has been making outrageous statements
for a long time. I'm kind of okay with it
because he's so wacky and funny and mildly entertaining. Let's
just go back a year ago to the day he
dissed brock Party and then doubled down on brock Party
on the eve of the Super Bowl. He has a

(02:17:49):
podcast I think called fourth and One. He said he
never called Purty trash, but rather just a game manager.
And he doesn't elevate players. He said. He reserves the
right to say this. He's not recanning ish. He said,
brock Perty is the tenth best player. Even though pretty
got to the same number of Super Bowls, you know

(02:18:12):
that Cam got to in his career. I think Cam
only made the playoffs three times in eleven seasons, so
or check that not make the playoffs three winning seasons
in eleven seasons, but he did get to one super Bowl.
But you got to hear this wild theory. Okay, Jerry
Jones didn't exactly set the world on fire when he

(02:18:32):
decided to hire Brian Schottenheimer, and so that merely opened
the door that for Cam Newton, who kind of dresses
funny a little. But again, it's all part of the
stick people are watching. I'm talking about it. We're doing
something right. Cam Newton continued, showing his earlier wild theories
about the NFL or no Fluke, but this latest one

(02:18:56):
he is frankly going to have you saying, Okay, Cam,
you need to maybe down with the cool compress, get
yourself some more milk and soft music and hope it
goes away. Just this last Thursday, Cam Newton predicted on
first take that the Cowboys new coach Brian Schottenheimer will

(02:19:17):
be a one and done coach and he's merely being
hired by Jerry do being. You know, he's going to
be set up to take the fall because according to Cam,
the team is just simply going to try to tank
this year to draft Texas quarterback Arch Manning next year.
And interestingly enough, Cam proving that that take was no

(02:19:41):
fluke and wild, his next prediction might have been even
more off the wall. He said, quote, I think they're
tanking for Arch Manning. Make it makes sense. Coach Schottenheimer
has one and done written all over him. You get
the first pick of the draft. Not only that, I'm
going to go to my godfather back and say, Okay,
Jerry Jones is a businessman. He's going to to get
into this Don corleone Mentality's going to give you a

(02:20:02):
deal that he can't refuse. Who's he going to give
that deal to? Wait for it? Cam Newton not only
believes they're going to tank on purpose and Brian Schottenhamer
will be a sacrificial lamb so they can tank and
get arch Manning number one. Who does he want Jerry
Jones to hire Nick Saban? Yeah? So Cam Newton believes

(02:20:22):
Jerry Jones and the Cowboys are purposely tanking so they
can draft arch Manning and hire Nick Saban as their
head coach. Don't know if there was alcohol involved, but
that's Cam. By the way. One last thing, Cam's plan,
his master plan doesn't exactly resonate. Okay, First of all,
arch Manning, who by all accounts has a great future

(02:20:45):
and projects very well, he hasn't really played over the
whole of a lot in college. He's got to prove
himself with Texas this upcoming season as a hand in
the keys of the car. And what makes Cam think
that you could lure Nick Saban out of retirement for money?
I don't think Saban's driven by money. He's going to
turn seventy four in October. That in and out of

(02:21:05):
itself doesn't mean anything. But the guy's been coaching for
forty five years. He's retired from Alabama. He didn't exactly
have great success in his loan NFL stint wasn't his fault.
He wanted Drew Brees. Drew Brees couldn't pass the physical,
so he left Miami and went to Alabama, and he
openly said he regretted leaving college for the NFL in
the first place in retrospect. So, even if Brian Schottenheimer

(02:21:26):
turns out to be a one and done coach, no
amount of money is likely to convince Nick Saban to
come back and coach the Cowboys. But give it up
to Cam Newton. This is probably why he's on ESPN
to begin with. He's got nothing but one bull take
after another, and he is the type of guy who

(02:21:46):
doubles down and he makes you peek. It's almost like
a train wreck. Every time he talks. But you're listening.
You're listening, and hell, I'm talking about it right now,
so I'm guilty too.

Speaker 6 (02:21:57):
Right.

Speaker 2 (02:21:57):
We try to cover it all on the Bernie Frotter Show.
We even cover the sport football spelled fut b o
l played internationally and in the MLS, where they have
found some hard times. Here with the World of Soccer
Christopher Fetz World of Soccer, the.

Speaker 3 (02:22:15):
Greatest goals, the thrilling finishes, the international drama. It's all
here in this report from the World of Soccer.

Speaker 7 (02:22:34):
Neimar da Silva Santos Junior is going to be turning
thirty three on the fifth of February. Here it's three
days after you hear this World of Soccer Bernie, and
he's joining a new club and it is the old
club for him. After a long time out in the world,
Neymar announces that he will join the Brazilian club Santos Santos,

(02:22:59):
where he began and his career six years of his
junior of his youth career and the first four years
of his senior career, which saw him met one hundred
and seven goals and one hundred and seventy seven appearances
before obviously going to Barcelona and becoming the star that
we know. Santos is a club that is near and
dear to the heart of Neymar. It's near and dear

(02:23:21):
to the heart to the sport. After all, Santos is
also the club from pele It is one of the
royalty of the Brasi Lei Roux, the top flight of
Brazilian soccer, and of course Brazil being a country that
produces an incredible amount of soccer talent, and Neymar himself,
even though he will be turning thirty three at injury

(02:23:42):
has plagued him throughout the years, will be returning home
in triumphant He was in tears discussing the matter. He
called it a rescue for him and says he wants
to regain his confidence. This is, of course, coming after
his departure from Paris a Germain, where he was part
of a burgeoning crew of European players joining the Saudi
Arabian Pro League, and joined Al Helal a year and

(02:24:05):
a half campaign that only saw him with seven appearances
for the club one goal, as injuries plagued Naymar as
they have plagued.

Speaker 8 (02:24:12):
Him for the last part of his career.

Speaker 7 (02:24:15):
It's a rescue for me of happiness of football, said Neymar.
It's been a long time since I've played, since I've
done the thing I love most in the world, which
is playing football, So today it's more of a rescue
for me.

Speaker 8 (02:24:26):
I'm seeing it in a personal sense.

Speaker 7 (02:24:28):
I'm happy that everyone is saying it's a rescue of
Brazilian soccer. I don't know about that, but it is
much so a homecoming for the player who has needed
a shot in the arm for himself. However, for other
clubs it might be a point of consternation. His departure
from the Saudi Arabian Pro League was something of an
opportunity for Major League Soccer in North America, where Neymar

(02:24:50):
has been the subject of rumors for quite some time
about his potential transfer to the American side.

Speaker 8 (02:24:58):
It did not seem like it would appear.

Speaker 7 (02:25:00):
Was going to work with Inter Miami, that they weren't
going to be one of the teams bidding for Naymar.
Miami manager Javier Mascherano said that it was going to
be impossible to add Namar given that the MLS currently
has multiple restrictions on roster salaries, and of course, the
salary cap remains a uniquely American thing that prevents clubs

(02:25:23):
like from Miami from being stars on the biggest stage
in the world. Well, the salary cap remains something that
can make things equal in America. The rest of the
world doesn't see it that way, and it remains a
weird American artifact that holds down MLS. But three other
clubs were also involved, including at least one according to ESPN,

(02:25:45):
which would have included the Chicago Fire, which would have
been fantastic. Naymar in a major market like Chicago would
have been wonderful, even though he's been plagued with injury,
even though it's been quite some time since we've really
seen the peak of Naymar, even though he was still
you know, productive at Paris Saint Germain eighty two goals
and one hundred and twelve appearances. It's usually been seen

(02:26:06):
that he's on the wrong side of his career, but
that's never stopped signings in MLS before, So once again
MLS does have to hold that a great player has
once again decided to shun the American side. Did not
follow the example of Lionel Messi, but instead goes home
to Brazil, which is still, in my mind, the correct response.

(02:26:29):
Naymar needs this for himself. Namar needs to play in
some place that is still very fun for him. And
let's not forget at the end of the day, the
Brazilian domestic league is still incredibly good.

Speaker 8 (02:26:42):
It is separated, of course from Europe because.

Speaker 7 (02:26:45):
It's not part of YUEFA, and that's not part of
our larger imagination of what we consider the top pro soccer.
Nor is it MLS, which is right here in our hearts,
in our country, nor is it even Lega MX. But
I think it's on a level of those, if not better.
And for Neymar to return to Santos, to return to
the club of his youth, to return to the club
of Pele and all of this history, it is a

(02:27:07):
way for him to also go and mentor the next
great stars, because who knows what will come out of Santos,
of one of the four clubs that I consider the
royalty of Brazilian soccer, along with Corinthians, Paul Maris and Salpaulo.
As for MLS, and I know I have a habit
to be very harsh on MLS because I want to
see it be one of the best leagues of the world.
This is once again a little more egg on the face.

(02:27:29):
It is a little less egg because it is a
thirty three year old player soon to be thirty threes,
but it is still a name that once again MLS
had within their grasp and let go. And it once
again begs, especially in the question of innenter Miami, what
the hell the salary cap is for other than to
hamstring teams from being the best things they can possibly be.

(02:27:50):
That's going to do it for us in the world
of soccer, Bernie will see you next time, see you
star side.

Speaker 2 (02:27:56):
Yeah, MLS is having some rough times here we have
with the world of soccer. Well coming up and wrap
up the show. Obviously, a major bombshell dropped Saturday night
around nine to thirty Pacific time. Has really turned the
sports world on its ear and it's just now barely
being digested. Have some final thoughts because the more I

(02:28:19):
think about it, the more I'm wondering how this deal
would be judged from the standpoint of the Dallas Mavericks
in future years, and We're never going to really know
what their real motivation was. They've listed several reasons which
we've already chronicled throughout the show. But keep this in mind.

(02:28:43):
The opposite Cowboys, the Mavericks are trading a guy who
isn't just the face of a franchise. He is, perhaps
at least in his first five years, the most accomplished
young player in NBA history. He's the only player had
five First Team All NBA Awards by the age of

(02:29:06):
twenty four. Kevin Durant didn't do that. Tim Duncan didn't
do that. Dwight Howard, Lebron, James Isiah Thomas, Oscar Robertson,
none of them did that. We're going to unpack this
just a little bit more and the shock value of
trading a player his age in the middle of the
season with this much ability. I'm Bernie fraddle Wood coming

(02:29:28):
to you line from the Las Vegas Fox Sports Radio
tyrack dot Com studios. Keep it locked. You're listening to
the Bernie fraddle Show on Fox Sports Radio. I'll wrapping
it up on The Bernie fraddle Show Comedy Live from
the tyrack dot Com studios here Fox Sports Radio. By
the way, I want to remind everybody shortly after the show,
our podcasts will be going up. If you missed theudio

(02:29:51):
of tonight's show, be sure to check out the podcast.
Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts.
Be sure to follow, rate and review the podcast again.
Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts.
You'll see the show posted right after we get off
the air. I'm racking my brain. I was on the

(02:30:12):
air August eight, nineteen ninety nine, when Barry Sanders unceremoniously
left the Detroit Lions without any warning. We must have
taken calls for three hours at night. It was on
the air November nineteen, two thousand and four, during the
Mouse at the Palace. Who can forget that? We just
had the twenty year anniversary of that. I'm gonna have
to rank this up there with both of those, in

(02:30:34):
case you missed it. A bomb show report drafts dropped
Saturday night, confirming that the Lakers and their big man
Anthony Davis were being traded to Dallas for guard Luka Doncic.
No one could believe it. It's a stunner. It's gonna
go down as a stunner. It took everybody completely by surprise, executives, fans, media.

(02:30:55):
When it was first posted by Sean Taranty, people saying
this has to be a hacked. Then all of a sudden,
other reputable news agencies started to validate the report, and
here we are. It turned everything upside down. But this
is going to be my lasting prevailing thought right now

(02:31:18):
as the as the future approaches and time marches on,
what is this going to look like? What is this
going to look like to Dallas Mavericks fans lucas the
face of their franchise. But you heard me say before
the break, he's maybe the most accomplished player in the
first five years, someone who has only had five years

(02:31:39):
in the league. He was All NBA all five times
three age twenty four. No one's ever done that before,
even his new teammate Lebron James, he was only All
NBA three times. I say, had Thomas three times, Oscar Roberts,
He's are Hall of famers. Tim Duncan did it for, Durant,
did it for Luca's done it five and only that.
Luca in his young career, has already proved to be

(02:32:00):
an incredible playoff performer. They got to the finals Dallas
did last year, losing to Boston. Luca has a thirty
one points per game scoring average in the postseason. You know,
the only player who has a higher career postseason I
know is more games scoring average, A got by the
name of Michael Jordan. So Luca's already been the best

(02:32:21):
player at twenty four years old on a finals team
and another one that reached the conference finals. And if
you recall Game two the Conference finals last year, this
was a highlight film. You can see it at highlight
reel play. He crossed up Rudy Gobert, then sank a
game winning three pointer and screamed, you can see his
moth wide open. You can't effing guard me. And this

(02:32:44):
wasn't just anybody. This is Rudy Gobert, a four times
Defensive Player of the Year, who's got about you know,
seven inches of height on him. Now, not even a
year later, after the highlight reel plays, averaging thirty one
points a game, getting to the conference finals, playing the
game with emotion, He's not perfect. The Dallas Mavericks have
said goodbye to Luka Dancik. This is a guy that

(02:33:08):
doesn't grow on trees. I'm telling you, the more you
think about this, you're talking about a twenty five year
old megastar. The fact that he was available is a
head scratcher. I don't know that we're ever going to
really know the real reason Dallas did this, why they
reached out to the Lakers. You can talk about the

(02:33:30):
concerns on defense. You can talk about the concerns in
Luca's constant conditioning issues and the looming possibility of another
Super Max contract extension this summer, which the Mavericks weren't
too keen on. Right and again GM their general manager,
Nico Harrison, said quote, I believe defense wins championships. I

(02:33:53):
believe getting an All defensive center and an All NBA
player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance.
We're building win now, we're in the future. But what
I don't understand is they already had that with Luca
and an hour number two. I started to talk about
the grades that NFL pundits or checked that NBA, and

(02:34:13):
I don't say that in the majority of these are
people who cover the league. He get are paid to
cover the league. This is what they do. Okay, they
graded the trade already. They gave the Lakers an a
because of what they really didn't have to give up
for what they got for Luca and Anthony Davis is
thirty two. You didn't get any younger Luca's twenty five,
and they gave the Mavericks an f all right, So

(02:34:35):
here's the Mavericks coming off the finals in twenty twenty four,
and in the first thirty games of the season, the
MAVs were nineteen to ten. Luca got injured on Christmas.
But the truth of the matter is when Doncik and
Kyrie Irving are on the floor, they really couldn't defend
him in terms of possible basketball reasons. And perhaps Niko

(02:34:57):
Harrison was truly worried about Luca's defense and Luca's injuries
and conditioning. But now it's maybe coming out that the
center that Dallas had Derek Lively the second he had
a foot fracture, and now they wanted the second center,
and Davis was the best one he could have traded for.
Obviously they were going to get Nicole Okik, they weren't

(02:35:17):
going to get Victor Wenbyama. But it's had enough to
let a transcended, a transcendent player go the second that
Lucas stepped foot in Dallas. He's been making a mark
for himself. I guess what I'm trying to say here
is I can't remember a player. Well, I can't remember

(02:35:40):
any time when two superstars were traded for each other
in the middle of the night, in the middle of
the season, just before the trade deadline. And now we wait.
Now we wait to see what is the impact of this.
It was so unexpected. You know, when gms trade a player,
they'll often say, we're going to get back value and

(02:36:01):
the player we're trading, we believe we can get equal
or better value. And the player we're trading, his time
is done here. But I had a you know, a
baseball general manager tell them many years ago, when you
trade a player, the one thing you ask yourself is
you may say, Okay, I don't know that we need
this guy anymore, but do we want to have to
play against him? So now Luka Doncik becomes the latest

(02:36:22):
in a long line of Laker iconic stars who get
the glitz and glamour. They go to Los Angeles, they
go to Hollywood, and this may be one of those situations,
like we talked about with Mark Medina, as the Lakers
are a team of eras, they're a franchise defined by
their ras right, Wilt Baylor, West, Kareem Magic, Kobe Shack,

(02:36:47):
Mel Lebron and yes, the Lakers are getting, you know,
losing essentially a top ten player to facilitate the trade. Well,
you know, and by the way, it's they've had the
blockbuster trade they five years ago when they got Anthony
Davis that actually helped them get to a title, even
though it was a title in the bubble. The truth

(02:37:08):
of the matter is the magnitude of this is like
you throw a pebble in the water and you watch
the ripples. Lucas proved he's a special player, and the
Lakers somehow managed to pull this off by surrounding only
a single first round pick in the deal, meaning they
still have their twenty thirty one first deal before the
trade deadline, even if they want to try to upgrade
their roster one more tame time between now and Thursday. Okay,

(02:37:33):
So if you'd have told us twenty four hours ago,
welcome to the Luca and Lebron show this Saturday at
one o'clock against Indiana. People say, what have you been smoking? Look,
the bottom line is this sports are the greatest reality
show and you can script everything, but the ending now,
they're just starting to write the script. What will be

(02:37:55):
the ending? What will be the inding in Dallas? What
will be the ending in Los Angeles? You're gonna have
Luca to kick around. I'd think another ten years. And
as far as the eras go, every one of those
eras I mentioned those players won championships. We'll see if
Luke can do the same thing. It's gonna do it
for the Bernie Fridle Show. Keep it locked up next
to the great Andy Furman, a Foxforts Radio

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