July 18, 2022 • 38 mins
FOX Sports Radio personalities Martin Weiss and Bernie Fratto are in for Chris and Rob, and the guys discuss whether or not we should believe the report that Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis and LeBron James are prepared to make it work together next season, and tell us why Washington Nationals slugger Juan Soto ultimately decided to turn down a massive contract. Plus, sports attorney Dan Lust swings by to share his thoughts on the latest surrounding Deshaun Watson and his impending NFL suspension.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcast. Be sure
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(00:22):
R party you're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Yeah that's right,
Martin Wise. Bernie Fratto in for the Couple. Cup of
to you live from the Fox Sports studios. That DJ
Alex on the ones and two's Rob Gez producing this message.
(00:42):
My friends out would say I was Sam still hanging
out back there, but the number one guy, I'm here
to join my man and no, Bernie, I just want
you to know, no matter what happens on this show,
no matter what happens today, we may agree, we may disagree,
but just know our differences. They will not be I
reckon Siler, they will not be irreconcilable. We'll figure it out.
(01:02):
I'm committed. I am committed to making the next three
hours of radio work with you, my friend. I cannot wait.
Let's get it popping. Well that's quite a nice segue,
and that's quite a nice tease there. I give top
credit to you and Rob Ge for being on top
of the headlines, and no sooner to Russ and his
(01:23):
age and decide they have irreconcilable differences that all of
a sudden, Chris Haynes comes out with this report. Martin,
what's the saying. We both spent a lot of years
in Michigan. What's the saying if you don't like the weather,
hang around. What happens is wait five minutes. There you go.
That's how this story continues to be. And I really
(01:45):
don't know what to believe at this point, Rob Titus
both offs or you know, titi us both up and
tee us off and teed us up and off. I
don't know. I'm having a good day though. I'm a
good day now, I was. The bottom line is it's
being reported by Chris Haynes that perhaps there's a kumbaya
(02:06):
that Ad and Lebron and Russell all get together and
they're gonna try to make this work. You don't have
to unpack what does make this work mean? And let
me start by saying, I want to start with at
thirty thousand feet and drop down. You agree that Lebron
very much wants to win a championship this year. Correct, Yes, Okay,
(02:28):
the question is can you do that with Russell Westbrook
on the roster playing thirty four minutes a game. Now,
let me give a disclaimer. I'm not a Russell Westbrook hater.
I think it's a very entertaining player, and I'm gonna
give you an analysis based on his play style and
his past results and what I believe to be future assumptions.
All Right, we could acknowledge that in his career, Russell
(02:51):
Westbrook has been one of the most explosive point guards
to ever play the game. Nine time All Star, He's
had a couple of scoring championships, assist leaders, even an MVP.
He's also proven, in my humble view, he cannot be
the Alpha or a number one to lead a team
to a championship like Lebron or Kolbe or even Dirt
(03:11):
and Whiskey for that matter. His high ball usage rate,
coupled with what I consider to be a very overinflated ego,
will never allow him to be inefficient number two, which
he proved in Houston. Now there's a reason he's been
on four teams in four years. Thunder Rockets, Wizards, Lakers,
by the way, is as good as his production was
(03:32):
last year on paper, if you want to just base
it on numbers, even that's dropped off. Two years ago,
he was averaging twenty seven with the Rockets, eighteen last
year with the Lakers twenty nine percent from behind the ark.
His rebounds are down to his sister, down everything, and
he'sn't getting any younger, and he's not as explosives as
he used to be. Do you really want to run
it back and repeat what you saw last year? Wondering
(03:58):
how is it going to be any different? But we
have to respond to Chris Haines report, And the real
question to you, Martin is what do you believe what
is going on here? Because that's really what we are
at the dry cleaners right now because the spin cycle
is in full effect right because you have the I
mean to think about this for a second before we
get to the Chris Haynes report. What have you seen
(04:19):
an agent come out and say I'm breaking from my
you know, Hall of famer, you know, multiple time all
star client from irreconcilable differences with some like four paragraphs
statement like that, I mean that, and the fact that
he released a statement is a statement in and of itself,
which is kind of that. It was a real eye
(04:41):
opening experience to me because most of the time these
moves happen in silence, and you just hear how after
the fact people signed with Clutch Sports, not that they
broke up with CIAA or Wasserman or whoever or wherever. Right,
But also you mean to tell me that. Okay, So
it was a week ago. You guys had a phone
conversation and Lebron, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook, and they
(05:03):
said they expressed their commitment to one another and vowed
to make it work as long as they're all on
the same page, as long as they're all joined together.
Let me start over commitment to one another, and vowed
to make it work as long as they were all
on the Lakers. They were going to be sure they
were all on the same page and joined in pursuit
of a championship, to which then I would have asked
(05:24):
if I was in this scenario, if I had been,
you know, maybe if I had been able to know
been another fourth line on the call, what the hell
are we all doing last year? Jo? I wasn't trying
to win a title last year. I mean, I get,
I know that it really didn't work and it really
didn't happen. And if you asked Russell Westbrook and you know,
postgame conferences around game seventy five to eighty two, he
(05:45):
would have been like, well, I didn't have any expectations.
But I call BS on that because if you go
prior to around this time last year, everybody and their
mom on Twitter's got all these you know, Russell Westbrook
photo shopped into the Lakers uniform and talking about look
at this, all these future Hall of famers, Lebron, Hey,
d Russ. You know, that's definitely a top four seed
(06:07):
on the West. That's definitely a championship contender. The idea
that now, now, Bernie, don't worry because now, just just
just seven days ago, in Las Vegas, they all decided
to talk on the phone. They're in Vegas all the way.
It's where why do they just go to the you know,
Javier's for dinner or something. I don't know, but they're
all in Vegas on the phone talking about you know what,
(06:29):
I think, now's a good time they try to make
this hey nice call on Jave years. You know, about that.
I ight there with Ben Maller once true story. Real
quickly when we signed off Friday, Martin. An hour after
we signed off, it came down that Russell Westbrook had
had fired as Asian. And there's no secret that the
(06:50):
Lakers had been pursuing a Westbrook Kyrie trade and the
deal just simply couldn't materialize because they can't really agree
on and compensation and uh and and Russ. You know,
the agent for Russ was on his side. He said
the Lakers really needed to add value to get a
team to take Westbrook's forty seven million dollar contract, but
(07:10):
he really wanted Russ to stay with the Lakers. And
it's minor standing. Russ did not want to stay with
the Lakers. And you bring up a really good point, Martin,
because when the agent issued the statement, and it was
it was actually reported on ESPN and anybody can go
in and google it and read it. This is a
very blunt statement. And when you've represented a player of
(07:34):
Westbrook's caliber who's made just under three hundred million and
he's scheduled to make forty seven million this year Bernie
his super Max contract, that's exactly right. That's exactly right,
And he put that, by the way in his in
his statement, it was kind of like a uh, you know,
(07:54):
a pat on the back for lack of a better caricature.
And he in, you have a fourteen year history. That's
a long long time. The agent's terminology was irreconcilable. Differences
asked to what you know, quote, their best pathway was forward.
So everybody's swimming in and see a confusion right now?
(08:15):
Does Westbrook want to be with the Lakers? Does he
not want to be the Lakers? If he wants to
be the Lakers, why do you fire his agent? It
doesn't appear to me that the Kyrie deal is alive.
Only an opinion. It's not something I've dug into a
lot with the moles I have because it's just not
that interesting to me anymore. Call me when you have
a deal, Wait me when you have a deal. There
(08:36):
doesn't seem to be a great market for either player.
Long and short of it is to me when I
hear what Chris Haynes says, it leads me to believe
that the Kyrie deal is dead, acknowledging that could be
completely wrong. But we agreed that we would look at
this Martin, and we would say, Okay, what's your takeaway,
what's your impression, what's your interpretation of what's really taking
place here? That's mine, what is yours? I think that
(09:00):
this is a situation in which they're trying to paint
Russ as a good soldier there and we see this
kind of rehabilitation care. Who's when you see there? Who
do you mean? Whoever? Who leaked this to Chris Haynes.
I don't think it may not be necessarily the Lakers,
but whoever leaked it to Chris Haynes. And it wouldn't
shock me if it was like a Laker's brain trustee
(09:22):
type of person, because who benefits the most from having
Russell Westbrook you know, a public change in the way
he seems to be perceiving himself, right, that the Lakers
benefit more than anybody from from that regard, the same
way as the brooklyn Nets would benefit more from Kyrie
seemingly having away. Like like if the public is seeing that, oh,
you know what, Kyrie's locked in, Russ is locked in.
(09:44):
They're willing to do whatever they want to win, right,
They're willing to do whatever it takes to get it
done and make sure that you know come come November, December, January,
that we're this is a team that we're we we
feel good about going into the summertime where we're not
looking at the trade deadline. We're not worried about trades
and situations such as that because we got our guys,
we got our core. Maybe we're adding, you know, like
(10:06):
the Boston Celtics did at this trade, adding a guy
like Derek White who's gonna come off our bench and
bothter us as we try to make this finals push.
That's where the Lakers and the Nets want to feel
around the trade deadline. However, like you said, it's not
that interesting right now because there's no impetus to make
it happen right now. That trade deadline is what's going
(10:27):
to spur some of this movement. But I do I'd
be shocked to see if if we see both of
those guys on their teams at that deadline. Fair enough,
and I would just say this, let's go back to
Friday when you and I are on the air, it
looked like that deal could happen Russ for Kyrie, and
if it doesn't, it's gonna go down in Lakers history
for the folks who wanted to see Kyrie in a
(10:48):
Laker uniform as what you would classify as quote, a
missed opportunity. Rob Polinka had a real opportunity to move Westbrook,
and Westbrook was so disinclined to return to the Lakers
that he fires his agent. This is a guy that's
been around a decade and a half. He wants to
bring an Irving and the asking price was two first
round picks half a decade from now. He says, that's
(11:11):
too steep. Okay, you better really count your blessings here,
because you whiff down this one. And that's the way
I see it. If you wanted Kyrie Irving, if Brooklyn
had ever asked for those two picks for Irving, even
if it meant the Lakers that had to take on
Joe Harris contract, take the offer. Strike while the iron's hot.
The minute it cools down, it's hard to rekindle that
(11:32):
fireback again. And Sean Marks is deathly afraid of giving
away either one of these guys for pennies on the
dollar more, you know, mostly Kevin Durant. But all of
a sudden, now this is really cool off and sinking
like an anvil. In a bugs Bunny cartoon boom. Then
Deandreaton resigns. That complicates the Durant trade. I'm looking at
(11:52):
Rob Polinka right here, with all due respect, I think
if you, if you really want Kyrie, you pick up
the phone and say, we'll figure out a way to
restructure Joe Harris contract. We'll take him. We'll give you
the two first round draft picks. You take Ross, we
take Kyrie, Bota bing Bata Boom. That's the only chance
of Lakers have and being relevant and winning a championship
next year. I don't think they're doing it with Ross
(12:14):
if they run it back. All right, Look that's my take.
I mean that's Bernie take. You heard my take. I
want to hear your take. Now, which spins job do
you believe about Russell Westbrook? Is he committed to making
him work with Lebron and a D or does he
want out of LA altogether? Eight seven seven ninety nine
on Fox eight seven seven nine nine six sixty three
(12:35):
six nine. We'll continue that conversation with you. Next, it's
The Odd Couple with Martin Wie and Bernie Frado and
for Chris and Rob on Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports
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(12:57):
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Would mean a lot to have you join us on
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Weiss and Bernie Friedo in for Chris and Rob Dealing
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(13:44):
time you're having battery trouble head to Autos on your
battery solution and America's number one battery destination. You know what, Bernie,
maybe the Lakers are gonna get a nice charge out
of bringing the old band back together, as Russell Westbrook says,
they're now committed, now committed to winning a title. If
in fact he's going to be on the Lakers in
(14:05):
the upcoming season, Well again, I want to give you
and Rob g credit. You lit the fuse. The callers
are lined up. They want to win on this. I
think the Lakers preferred scenario. To be clear, it is
still trading for Irving. But what we heard an hour
and a half ago, we have to respond to who
we are. So let's go out to the phone to
We're joining by Marty in Kentucky. Marty, you welcome to
the outcop. You're on Fox Sports Radio. What's up, fellows,
(14:29):
how y'all doing tonight? I'm Greg. I think Russ wants
out for several reasons. One, the Lakers have tried your
shopping several different ways, so he knows he's not that
wanted too. This is the first time he's played under
a spot like spotlight. Lason's college and he's with the
(14:52):
Lakers and he has to play with Lebron where everything
you do gets dissected. He's never been a great shooter.
Never he had volume, you know, he had a lot
of usage, and he would get hot in part the
games and get lots of a lot of highlights. But
he's never been a great shooter. But the year he's
with Lebron, he gets nicknamed Wedgebrick. I mean, it's kind
(15:14):
of which facts to the question, Marty, well, why does
he want to stay? Why? I was all of a
sudden there holding hands and singing Kumbayant's being reported that
they want to work it out? What's all about? Because
they because no trade offers work and nothing else is
nothing else worked, and they have no choice and they
just they're saving faith. Well, you know, hey, okay, let's
send it on that Marty that you both you would
(15:37):
button that up into a bull nicely there. That could
very well be what the situation is, Marty, you want
to respond to that. I just again, I think it's
just all the pr campaign to try to get Russell
Westbrook looking better. Right, we have to What we really
have right now is two incredibly toxic relationships and really,
the only way to solve it is the trade girlfriends,
but they do you have to sell. Hey, look, this
(16:01):
is really she's not all that bad, even though we
just watched the entire year. What happened? Yeah, I'll tell
you what. And now another possible scenario comes down the pike, if, if, if,
Donovan Mitchell does end up with the Knicks. There's a
rumor that the Knicks might be a dance partner for
the Lakers, when you might even potentially see Julius Randall
(16:23):
head back to Los Angeles. If the Lakers would take
that on, the Knicks would shut about one hundred and
four million in salary. Set that aside for now, because
every time this new chapter unfolds, my head starts to explode.
So go back out to the phone lines, joined by
a blind Seahawks fan in Olympia. Welcome to the Odd Coup.
You're on Fox Sports Radio. What's up, my man, Bernie?
(16:45):
How about you working two shows today? Respect that man,
Thank you appreciated. And Martin, what up? I hope you're
doing well. And I want to talk about, you know,
of the Russell Westbrook thing. And I think that you know,
I think with this whole Russell Westbrook and his agent
going their own separate ways. I think, you know, this
could be interesting and it could leave you know, hey,
(17:06):
maybe Westbrook doesn't want to be on the Lakers, and
I kind of want to weigh in on training for
Kyrie Irving. And because yeah, I think like a lot
of Lakers sencer hoping for it to happen. I think
basketball wise, of course, it's better than Russell Westbrook. Kyrie Irving,
I think, you know, would be a better fit on
that Lakers roster compared to Westbrook. But the issue is
off the field or off the court. I don't know
(17:28):
what Kyrie Irving's gonna do off the court. I want
a guy. If I'm the Lakers, I'm trying to go
for a championship. I want a guy who's gonna be
there most of the time and not have any drama,
and he can play the basketball well. Lebron James, he's
gonna you know, he's older, he's gonna need his rest night.
That's okay. And obviously Ad you know, you know that
nickname street Clothes. So I think the Lakers they need
(17:48):
to figure something out quick or I just don't I
just don't see it. Work in this year with Westbrook. Well,
the shit. The thing about Kyrie Irving is he has
been pretty much enigmatic in every stop right, But if
there was ever a place where it did work, where
he was available, where he was there and he was,
you know, competing for championships, it was right when he
was alongside Lebron James. It was then when he went
(18:11):
to Boston. Then and then and then as he moved
forward from there when we started to hear, are you
know where the Kyrie stuff kind of started to come out?
You know that it was towards the end of his
Cleveland thing. He's like, maybe he's having trouble with his
relationship with Lebron, but it was really along his stops
along the way after he left with left kind of
Lebron umbrella where we started to kind of pick apart
(18:31):
Kyrie Irving as as this type of enematic figure. Well,
he hits the game winning sean to beat the Golden
State Warriors. That's an epic NBA moment. Then he wants out, Now,
can you know, can you run it back a second time?
Can a divorce couple reunite? I don't know. I bring
Peaches and Herban and this one will check with him.
Let's go out to Carl in Mobile, Alabama. Carl, Welcome
(18:53):
to the Odd Couple year on Fox Sports Radio. Hey guys,
thanks checking, great day. Yeah. I don't believe that for
a minute. Ane of this stuff adds an agent releasing
a four paragraph statement. You never see. You don't see
teammates at summer League, not sitting next to each other,
nowhere near each other, and all of a sudden they're
(19:13):
supposed to be talking on the phone. I think this
is another way of saying Russ has probably agreed to
coming off the bench next year. He'll still be in
the Lakers uniform, and they said, as long as we're
in a Lakers uniform, we're gonna make it work. Hopefully
Russ has agreed to come off the bench because that's
probably where his talents are best suited for right now,
when the talent level is a little bit less and
(19:35):
the things are a little more disoriented, he can take
advantage of it with his speed and singing. All that
stuff is not as critical. But I don't find it
for a minute. Uh you know a call. I tend
to agree with you, Honestly, I thought last year one
of the biggest problems obviously with the Lakers, that dad
A Russell West were problem. But he was playing like
the most minutes in the league, Like he was playing
almost thirty five. I was like, hey man, maybe you
(19:59):
cut back seven minutes and find somebody else to run
that might do you know, you might win a few
more games. Maybe Russ isn't as tired as down the stretcher,
you know, maybe just off the fact he's taking less
bad shots. But what do I know, I'm just some
jerk talking into the radio. But Bernie, it doesn't sound
like the Deshaun Watson saga is ending anytime soon. Sports
(20:20):
attorney Dan Lust, let's plain that to us next, but
first be sure to catch live editions of The Odd
Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker week days at
seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app. It doesn't sound like the Deshaun
Watson saga is going anywhere anytime soon. It is a
(20:41):
story that will never end. And to talk about it,
We've got sports attorney and co host of the Conduct
Detrimental podcast, Dan Lust. Bernie, true story. I got a
friend who is a frat brother wh wants to get
into sports law. I sent them at sports law Lust
as a Twitter example to follow. I'm a big fan
of this guy's work. Dan, thanks for coming on the show.
(21:01):
My pleasure to join you guys, and yeah, I mean
we got hot news with the All Star Game. But
as always, DeShawn Watson finds himself in the news, always
happy to break it down with the guys. Yeah, Dan,
great to have you. A couple of things. I'm eminently
aware of the Tom Brady maneuver back in twenty fifteen,
which DeShawn may coopy. Set that aside, but let's start here.
(21:22):
This continues to mark the time on the calendar like
no weather case I can remember. There are no sensing guidelines,
there is no landmark case, no precedent. So this, to
me is turned into a kangaroo cord where both sides
are trying to thread the needles so that it can appeal.
They can appease the public in the Players Union into
Deshaun's camp and avoid an appeal. What say you, I
(21:46):
think you're right, And I'm seeing these reports today that
DeShawn Watson's team is planning to file an appeal if
he does get suspended for years, So at least from
my vantage point, right, all leaks are purposeful in some
ways she performed. So someone told that to be an
assortment of media outlets, And why would one do that,
because you are kind of saying, hey, if we get
(22:07):
it here, we're going to take this up to to
the federal court. And that's what they'd like to avoid.
I'd like to have this thing faid to the background.
So certainly a version of events where Judge Robinson might
be delaying her decision to try to give the parties
additional time to settle, that would obviously, I think be
the ideal outcome for both sides. But Scock is taking
right Brown's camps right around the corner, so I'm certainly
(22:27):
not optimistic. Come that front and help me with this.
The reason why Judge Robinson may hold off to allow
the NFL and Deshaun Watson to settle is that to
establish a precedent in cases like this going forward, if
in fact, they do a cur going forward. Is that
the rationale behind why we have not heard the judge
come down yet. I think it's more of the NFL's
(22:50):
interest in keeping this thing quiet, right, and not opening
it up to the extent that there is a federal bust.
Of those are public documents by barks, so we'd see
the arguments being made by both sides. We'd you know,
probably see portions of the record which otherwise has been
pretty much lock and feel. This disciplinary hearing that took
place two weeks ago, over the course of three days.
So the NFL wants to put this in the background.
(23:12):
It's not necessarily to create precedent. You still kind of
have the absent of Preston right because Judge would not
have put her impartial fingerprints on the case. The parties
would have negotiated it. So I do think the end
of the day that they're trying to buy time, which
the NFL has done. Remember guys, this has been going
on for a year and a half and we're only
now getting to this space. So yeah, I do think
(23:32):
it's to try to get the parties to settle. We'll
see if they can do it. Though, talking with Dan
Lust Sports Law Lust, you hear them all around the
year waves Dan. That's why I draw the parallel to
the Tom Brady situation. Back in twenty fifteen. They reached
loggerheads and you may recall then, much like Sue Robinson
has become a household name now, Judge Richard Burman was
(23:54):
the same. In the summer of twenty fifteen, tom Brady
sued Burman urged both sides to settle, but they couldn't
do it. Three weeks later it ended up going to court.
What happened was then Tom Brady got his suspension set
aside for a year, and then he ended up serving
it in twenty sixteen. Here's why I bring that preamble
here to you. That would make no sense for Deshaun
(24:16):
Watson to sue because he's due to make a million
dollars this year, and if he got a stay of
execution for lack of a better term, and it got
relegated to twenty three where he's schedule to make forty
six million, if a suspension was held up, couldn't this backfire?
Couldn't maneuver backfire? It certainly could. I mean I've seen
certain reports that if there is a year suspension that
(24:38):
his contract might be told. So you know, I think
Watson wants to get in the field, right he sat
up the entire year last year. I think he wants
to play. I think he wants to put this all
in the past. And as we've seen in NFL circles, right,
once Sunday comes right, these stories at least tend to
a little bit fade to the background. I think that's
what wants to Watson wants to do. He wants to
get in the field and play. So if he does
(24:58):
take this up to the higher court and he wants
to challenge Roger Goodell's authority, I mean power to him.
But that's a case that's going to extend further, right,
this case being in the spotlight, So you know, there's
I think three days for the NFLPA to file appeal
to Goodell. And again, you know, Bernie, as you point out,
there's no set time for him for Judge Robinson to
come to a decision here, there's nothing. Does the CHEST
(25:19):
do it within two weeks or three weeks or four
weeks and then Goodell is sitting on the other side,
and then there's an appeal to federal court, So that's
maybe another month. You're a tacking onto all of this.
So I would think that Watson wants to get this
thing in the past, right. I don't know what he
would benefit by appealing this because, as we've seen right,
Roger Goodell has given a lot of leeway in the
NFL circles to come up with this punishment. Right in
(25:40):
the system that Watson is going to be claiming he
was aggrieved by, there's a collectively bargained system between the
NFL and the NFLPA, So you know, unless a court
wants to strike that system down. Usually private institutions, private
companies are given a lot of leeway by the court.
So certainly an uphill battle from a legal matter to
win that appeal. If you're sitting right now and put
(26:02):
yourself in the Brown's front officer to Brown's ownership group,
I know it's impossible to project, but just from today, Monday,
July eighteenth, are you in the market for a quarterback?
Are you planning? Are do you do you first see
that you're gonna have Deshaun Watson take snaps at any
point this year? Or is it kind of all trending
towards whatever punishment is going to come down? It is
(26:25):
like we're looking at it. Are we looking at six
six games going forward or a year going backwards? Tough
to say, right, there's you're certainly seeing mixed signals right,
Jacobe Procett's going to be the guy if Watson's not there.
They traded Daker Mayfield while this decision was pending, so,
you know, and I saw a report, you know, within
the past week that they're in the market for a
backup quarterback to Jacoby Prisett. So musical chairs over at
(26:48):
Cleveland Brown's HQ. My my read on it just just
you know, in Bernie and I spoke on his show
a couple you know, probably a week ago. I still
tend to think that they're going to go with the
under here, right, if you set the under at ten
and a half, My gut is that they're going to
go under right, and that they're just leaking out these
reports of an appeal to kind of do some cya here.
(27:08):
I don't think it's going to be the full season.
I just maybe I could be wrong, and I'm happy
to be. But again, one of the leaks that came
up from this hearing is that the NFL didn't present
any evidence of violence or forced conduct. You know, those
are usually aggregating circumstances that would get you to maybe
a year plus and if there's no evidence being presented there,
I think that's certainly a point in Watson's favor. So
(27:29):
I think the Browns are expecting Watson to play a
portion of this year. But again, right, this case, right
now is in Robert Judge Robbinson's hand, So I'm happy
to be wrong, but that's my read on it right now.
All right, Dan, thanks so much for your time. We
really appreciated. I would I'm not going to try to
put a gun to your head. We don't know when
we're gonna get a decision what it's going to be.
(27:49):
But I think he covered a lot of good ground
here and I think we're just going to have to
wait and see what happens between now when the Browns
report to camp July twenty six. Thanks Dan, keep your
eye on the Houston Texans boys. I'll speak too soon. Yeah,
nicely done, Texans. All right, Yeah, the Houston Texans settling
with the idea that the Texans settled with the Deshaun
(28:12):
Watson defendants is pretty interesting, is pretty interesting, and not
in a good way. Right. That's a classic CYI deal.
I don't know how Germaine don't make it to this case.
As I said, Martin, I think we're past the point
of whether or not DeShawn Watson in fact violated the
Personal Conduct Policy. I believe Presiding Judge Martin Wiss on
(28:34):
Friday determined that he did, and we're in agreement. So
now the question is when did she give the you know,
when does she make her judgment? And how long is
this is the suspension going to be for? Yeah, I mean,
we'll see how it all comes down. We're coming up next.
One Soto just turned down fifteen years, four and forty million.
Could he be the next five hundred million dollars man?
(28:55):
It's The Odd Couple with Martin Wis and Burning Frida
and for Chris and Rob on Fox Sports Radio. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with
Chris Broussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern,
four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Coming to you live from the Fox Sports Studio. Just
Martin Weiss and Bernie Fratto in for Rob and Chris.
(29:16):
On The Odd Couple. We could talk about how complicated
banks other banks are make it to redeem your credit
card rewards, or we could talk about how we discover
you can redeem your rewards for cash in any amount
at anytime. I mean, talk about amazing. Learn more at
discover dot com. Slash redeem rewards terms apply. And Juan Soto,
you know what, I'm not sure what his credit history
(29:37):
is or how he saying, how he decides to spend
his money, and how he pays his mortgage or so on.
I'll tell you this, if you can get for if
you could get your rent paid on the credit card,
get the points. I'm not sure how Juan Soto gets
it done. But however he gets it done, it's gonna
have a lot more money to do it with as
soon as he gets his next contract, because it's not
gonna be with but it's probably not gonna be with
the Nationals. He's got just enough to get up in
(30:00):
this club, that's for sure, Martin. Let's give this some perspective,
and I'm gonna lay out why he turned down the contract.
Actually it wasn't want so it was his agent. Everybody
forgets he's represented by Scott Boris, so we'll ste our
best now not to kill the messenger. Scott Boris does
things a little differently. Let's go back to the year
two thousand when he signed a rod to that historic
(30:21):
ten year, two hundred and fifty two million dollar contract
with the Texas Rangers, and you talk about people's head spinning.
And there was a method to his madness about that number,
because that was exactly double. But the highest paid athlete
in the four major sports we're getting, and that at
the time happened to be Kevin Garnett, who had signed
a one hundred and twenty six million dollar contract. Boris
(30:42):
got it doubled. They even joked at the time Abrod
was going to make one hundred million dollars more than
Oprah Winfrey. True story. So Saturday, Juan de Soto declined
to four hundred and forty million dollars fifteen year offer
from the Nats. And these of the reasons I was given,
as I called my moles. One, there was apparently a
backloading of the deal that was tantamount to some deferral dollars.
(31:04):
Boris didn't like that. Secondly, the average annual value was
twenty nine million dollars. That will seem like an old
figure when you compare it to thirteen other players that
are making more, including a guy like Max Scherzer who's
making about forty four million. Another thing, came out. Is
that it appears and this was rumored Saturday. Now it's
appearing to have a lot of legs, and that is
(31:26):
the Washington Nationals are about to be sold, so they
don't want to go into one unknown. But let's deal
with the elephant in the room here, and that's Scott Boris.
You all know that Scott Boris likes to get his
clients to free agency. He believes that's where they maximize
their total value. Put him out there in the open market.
Everybody forgets the a Rod contract didn't happen in a vacuum.
(31:46):
He got bids from seven teams. I'm not going to
bother you with all the backstory now, but Boris believes
once he puts Juan Soto on the market, he'll be
twenty six at the time, one of the most exciting
players in baseball. The thought is he could get a
five hundred million dollar deal, and people that I talked to,
assuming Soto stays healthy things fall into place, Soto would
(32:08):
get a five hundred million dollars deal. That is why
he turned it down. And let's not forget just four
months ago, just before the union and management settled the lockout,
Soto turned down three hundred and fifty million dollar deal.
Just one hundred and twenty days later he got offered
ninety more a million on top of that. So they're
playing the long game here, Scott Boris doing Scott Boris things.
(32:30):
I mean, it sure sounds like it. But the thing is,
it absolutely sounds like he's gonna get this money too.
But especially when it comes to this long term. I mean,
think about signing a fifteen year contract. You're gonna want
to be somewhere that like, you're gonna want to be happy.
You're gonna want to know what type of stuff is
gonna be going on. You want to be able to
project that forward. And if you're talking about the Nationals
(32:51):
are going to be sold, well it's gonna be really
hard to project that forward. And seeing as you have
no idea who's gonna step up and buy him, right, well,
that's an issue that I was told that is a concern.
But irrespective of that, they still wouldn't turn down the deal.
And Martin you bringing up a really good point. All
these large contracts. Now, Mike Trout he got the four
twenty six, that's twelve years. Bryce Harper got the thirteen
(33:14):
years at three thirty, right, Mookie Bets his deal is
twelve years. Fernando Tatis's deal is fourteen years right on
down the line you're seeing it now is more than
norm and probably the owners put this money into an
annuity and they end up paying for it that way.
So you and I look at this and say, you
can not only have security for your kids. Your kids
kids there, they're kids. Whatever you want to do, Chris
(33:36):
Washbord's kids, everybody's kids, and all of a sudden, now
you turn it down. But again it was it was.
It was Scott Boris turning it down. He moves the needle.
This is what he does. Yeah, I mean I know
this if I was a team, if I was a
GM owner of a governor whatever whatever sport, because Scott
Boris is all someday, right, But I just I'm trying
(33:57):
to avoid that guy because and conversely, if I'm ever
in a position in which people are banting about from
my talents, Scott, come on down, baby, because I know
we're about to get paid. Because I mean, this is
a hard and but you know what though, the thing
about Whan saw those like if you had offered him
this deal maybe when after his rookie year, and then
(34:19):
he probably signs it up. At this point he's gonna
get a big time backs from and from somebody only
takes one person to ask you to the dance to
make sure you have a date. Right, So I mean
the Yankees or the I mean, I mean you see,
I mean he'll be on the Yankees or the Dodgers
or somebody like that who's not afraid to open up
that big payroll and make it happen. So it's fascinating.
(34:43):
I mean it feels like, wow, how could you turn
that much bread down? But honestly, it's like he sort
of not like he's gonna get paid regardless, it's just
a question of how much. And then also too, like
I just said here, think fifteen years is an incredible
amount of time. I'm only thirty two, that's over. It's
almost half my life. No, fifteen years is a long time,
(35:04):
and that's lifetime security. But Boris just doesn't work that way.
This is a guy who's been written about in Forbes.
He employs two hundred people in his agency. You know, look,
rich Paul. Everybody knows how powerful and successful he is.
Everybody knows how powerful it's successful, Drew Rosenhouse is. But
what's interesting is Boris hides in plain sight. He is
(35:25):
a guy who does not give interviews. He does not
really Actually no one likes the name dropper. But one
day at Comerica Park in the press box, I sat
next to him for about half an hour, and he's
kind of a mild mannered guy. You would never know
he's Scott Boris. He was a pharmacist in his previous life.
He was a lawyer in his previous life. And the
longest short of it is he's got this knack for
(35:45):
sort of outwitting you and outwaiting you. And he also
had a you know, he also is just this guy
who believes in the value of the people he represents,
and he's gonna be patient. He's gonna do whatever it takes.
What's interesting is the Washington National Mike Rizzo, he rebounded
with the statement said, Okay, well, we're gonna have to
listen to offers for Juan Soto. I'm not buying that
(36:07):
for one second. They'd have to do a Rudy Gobert
trade times ten to get Juan Soto. Why would you
do that, especially when you get ready to sell the team,
and he brings value to the team now between now
and August. Second, they could make me a liar. But
I do not believe he'll be traded. But when you're
talking about the guy who represents Juan Soto and the
guy that really turned it down, believe it or not,
he's closed over fifty billion dollars in contracts, fifty billion
(36:30):
with the b That's why they turned that down. I mean,
if I once Soto, I feel good about it. Right,
that's this is the guy who got everybody else paid.
Why would I you know, like you said that a
Rod contract. We'll probably see some of that coming in
that Jeter documentary that's supposed to come either. I think
it drops the first episode tonight. It was the first
of like thirty or whatever, and drop tonight, but we'll
see some of that. Yeah, we'll see some of that
(36:52):
A Rod contract in there, I'm sure, because Jeter was
obviously playing the same position around you know, at that period.
But it's just so hard for me to fathom. It's
like the idea that this is a good call, but
it is it, you know, especially when you look at
that the way that the deal was structured, wherein thirty
(37:13):
and ten years it's gonna be a discount. Like that's
really tough to swallow in my estimation. If I'm a
guy like, well, I'm only a twenty four, twenty three
years old. If I'm Juan Soto, like, no, if you're
gonna backload, if you're gonna frontload of my deal, let's
do it on the next one where I'm thirty five,
thirty six. So I'm like where I'm like mcguel cabret.
He's like, you brought America Park up there, you go,
well to your point. Remember Soto hired Boris. Boris works
(37:36):
for him. Now I know Juan Soto is not happy
to Scott leaked. He's a mild manner dude. He's a
hard working young kid. He's very dedicated. He really wants
to focus on baseball. So I don't think he's real
happy about the way he's been portrayed. Kind of like
the way Scottie Pippen was portrayed right now, A lot
like that, but you get you get my pictures. So
I wouldn't lay too much of this on Soto. I
put it on the show. Then, shoulders of Scott Boris
(37:56):
and We'll see Juan Soto in just a little bit
as the home run irby is quickly approaching. Pete Alonzo
trying to go three peat, which by major trademarking missed
opportunity three peat. I mean, come on that. NFL teams
go first to worst coming up next on the odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio, stick and Stay America.
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcast. Be sure
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to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd Couple
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(00:22):
R party you're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Yeah that's right,
Martin Wise. Bernie Fratto in for the Couple. Cup of
to you live from the Fox Sports studios. That DJ
Alex on the ones and two's Rob Gez producing this message.
(00:42):
My friends out would say I was Sam still hanging
out back there, but the number one guy, I'm here
to join my man and no, Bernie, I just want
you to know, no matter what happens on this show,
no matter what happens today, we may agree, we may disagree,
but just know our differences. They will not be I
reckon Siler, they will not be irreconcilable. We'll figure it out.
(01:02):
I'm committed. I am committed to making the next three
hours of radio work with you, my friend. I cannot wait.
Let's get it popping. Well that's quite a nice segue,
and that's quite a nice tease there. I give top
credit to you and Rob Ge for being on top
of the headlines, and no sooner to Russ and his
(01:23):
age and decide they have irreconcilable differences that all of
a sudden, Chris Haynes comes out with this report. Martin,
what's the saying. We both spent a lot of years
in Michigan. What's the saying if you don't like the weather,
hang around. What happens is wait five minutes. There you go.
That's how this story continues to be. And I really
(01:45):
don't know what to believe at this point, Rob Titus
both offs or you know, titi us both up and
tee us off and teed us up and off. I
don't know. I'm having a good day though. I'm a
good day now, I was. The bottom line is it's
being reported by Chris Haynes that perhaps there's a kumbaya
(02:06):
that Ad and Lebron and Russell all get together and
they're gonna try to make this work. You don't have
to unpack what does make this work mean? And let
me start by saying, I want to start with at
thirty thousand feet and drop down. You agree that Lebron
very much wants to win a championship this year. Correct, Yes, Okay,
(02:28):
the question is can you do that with Russell Westbrook
on the roster playing thirty four minutes a game. Now,
let me give a disclaimer. I'm not a Russell Westbrook hater.
I think it's a very entertaining player, and I'm gonna
give you an analysis based on his play style and
his past results and what I believe to be future assumptions.
All Right, we could acknowledge that in his career, Russell
(02:51):
Westbrook has been one of the most explosive point guards
to ever play the game. Nine time All Star, He's
had a couple of scoring championships, assist leaders, even an MVP.
He's also proven, in my humble view, he cannot be
the Alpha or a number one to lead a team
to a championship like Lebron or Kolbe or even Dirt
(03:11):
and Whiskey for that matter. His high ball usage rate,
coupled with what I consider to be a very overinflated ego,
will never allow him to be inefficient number two, which
he proved in Houston. Now there's a reason he's been
on four teams in four years. Thunder Rockets, Wizards, Lakers,
by the way, is as good as his production was
(03:32):
last year on paper, if you want to just base
it on numbers, even that's dropped off. Two years ago,
he was averaging twenty seven with the Rockets, eighteen last
year with the Lakers twenty nine percent from behind the ark.
His rebounds are down to his sister, down everything, and
he'sn't getting any younger, and he's not as explosives as
he used to be. Do you really want to run
it back and repeat what you saw last year? Wondering
(03:58):
how is it going to be any different? But we
have to respond to Chris Haines report, And the real
question to you, Martin is what do you believe what
is going on here? Because that's really what we are
at the dry cleaners right now because the spin cycle
is in full effect right because you have the I
mean to think about this for a second before we
get to the Chris Haynes report. What have you seen
(04:19):
an agent come out and say I'm breaking from my
you know, Hall of famer, you know, multiple time all
star client from irreconcilable differences with some like four paragraphs
statement like that, I mean that, and the fact that
he released a statement is a statement in and of itself,
which is kind of that. It was a real eye
(04:41):
opening experience to me because most of the time these
moves happen in silence, and you just hear how after
the fact people signed with Clutch Sports, not that they
broke up with CIAA or Wasserman or whoever or wherever. Right,
But also you mean to tell me that. Okay, So
it was a week ago. You guys had a phone
conversation and Lebron, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook, and they
(05:03):
said they expressed their commitment to one another and vowed
to make it work as long as they're all on
the same page, as long as they're all joined together.
Let me start over commitment to one another, and vowed
to make it work as long as they were all
on the Lakers. They were going to be sure they
were all on the same page and joined in pursuit
of a championship, to which then I would have asked
(05:24):
if I was in this scenario, if I had been,
you know, maybe if I had been able to know
been another fourth line on the call, what the hell
are we all doing last year? Jo? I wasn't trying
to win a title last year. I mean, I get,
I know that it really didn't work and it really
didn't happen. And if you asked Russell Westbrook and you know,
postgame conferences around game seventy five to eighty two, he
(05:45):
would have been like, well, I didn't have any expectations.
But I call BS on that because if you go
prior to around this time last year, everybody and their
mom on Twitter's got all these you know, Russell Westbrook
photo shopped into the Lakers uniform and talking about look
at this, all these future Hall of famers, Lebron, Hey,
d Russ. You know, that's definitely a top four seed
(06:07):
on the West. That's definitely a championship contender. The idea
that now, now, Bernie, don't worry because now, just just
just seven days ago, in Las Vegas, they all decided
to talk on the phone. They're in Vegas all the way.
It's where why do they just go to the you know,
Javier's for dinner or something. I don't know, but they're
all in Vegas on the phone talking about you know what,
(06:29):
I think, now's a good time they try to make
this hey nice call on Jave years. You know, about that.
I ight there with Ben Maller once true story. Real
quickly when we signed off Friday, Martin. An hour after
we signed off, it came down that Russell Westbrook had
had fired as Asian. And there's no secret that the
(06:50):
Lakers had been pursuing a Westbrook Kyrie trade and the
deal just simply couldn't materialize because they can't really agree
on and compensation and uh and and Russ. You know,
the agent for Russ was on his side. He said
the Lakers really needed to add value to get a
team to take Westbrook's forty seven million dollar contract, but
(07:10):
he really wanted Russ to stay with the Lakers. And
it's minor standing. Russ did not want to stay with
the Lakers. And you bring up a really good point, Martin,
because when the agent issued the statement, and it was
it was actually reported on ESPN and anybody can go
in and google it and read it. This is a
very blunt statement. And when you've represented a player of
(07:34):
Westbrook's caliber who's made just under three hundred million and
he's scheduled to make forty seven million this year Bernie
his super Max contract, that's exactly right. That's exactly right,
And he put that, by the way in his in
his statement, it was kind of like a uh, you know,
(07:54):
a pat on the back for lack of a better caricature.
And he in, you have a fourteen year history. That's
a long long time. The agent's terminology was irreconcilable. Differences
asked to what you know, quote, their best pathway was forward.
So everybody's swimming in and see a confusion right now?
(08:15):
Does Westbrook want to be with the Lakers? Does he
not want to be the Lakers? If he wants to
be the Lakers, why do you fire his agent? It
doesn't appear to me that the Kyrie deal is alive.
Only an opinion. It's not something I've dug into a
lot with the moles I have because it's just not
that interesting to me anymore. Call me when you have
a deal, Wait me when you have a deal. There
(08:36):
doesn't seem to be a great market for either player.
Long and short of it is to me when I
hear what Chris Haynes says, it leads me to believe
that the Kyrie deal is dead, acknowledging that could be
completely wrong. But we agreed that we would look at
this Martin, and we would say, Okay, what's your takeaway,
what's your impression, what's your interpretation of what's really taking
place here? That's mine, what is yours? I think that
(09:00):
this is a situation in which they're trying to paint
Russ as a good soldier there and we see this
kind of rehabilitation care. Who's when you see there? Who
do you mean? Whoever? Who leaked this to Chris Haynes.
I don't think it may not be necessarily the Lakers,
but whoever leaked it to Chris Haynes. And it wouldn't
shock me if it was like a Laker's brain trustee
(09:22):
type of person, because who benefits the most from having
Russell Westbrook you know, a public change in the way
he seems to be perceiving himself, right, that the Lakers
benefit more than anybody from from that regard, the same
way as the brooklyn Nets would benefit more from Kyrie
seemingly having away. Like like if the public is seeing that, oh,
you know what, Kyrie's locked in, Russ is locked in.
(09:44):
They're willing to do whatever they want to win, right,
They're willing to do whatever it takes to get it
done and make sure that you know come come November, December, January,
that we're this is a team that we're we we
feel good about going into the summertime where we're not
looking at the trade deadline. We're not worried about trades
and situations such as that because we got our guys,
we got our core. Maybe we're adding, you know, like
(10:06):
the Boston Celtics did at this trade, adding a guy
like Derek White who's gonna come off our bench and
bothter us as we try to make this finals push.
That's where the Lakers and the Nets want to feel
around the trade deadline. However, like you said, it's not
that interesting right now because there's no impetus to make
it happen right now. That trade deadline is what's going
(10:27):
to spur some of this movement. But I do I'd
be shocked to see if if we see both of
those guys on their teams at that deadline. Fair enough,
and I would just say this, let's go back to
Friday when you and I are on the air, it
looked like that deal could happen Russ for Kyrie, and
if it doesn't, it's gonna go down in Lakers history
for the folks who wanted to see Kyrie in a
(10:48):
Laker uniform as what you would classify as quote, a
missed opportunity. Rob Polinka had a real opportunity to move Westbrook,
and Westbrook was so disinclined to return to the Lakers
that he fires his agent. This is a guy that's
been around a decade and a half. He wants to
bring an Irving and the asking price was two first
round picks half a decade from now. He says, that's
(11:11):
too steep. Okay, you better really count your blessings here,
because you whiff down this one. And that's the way
I see it. If you wanted Kyrie Irving, if Brooklyn
had ever asked for those two picks for Irving, even
if it meant the Lakers that had to take on
Joe Harris contract, take the offer. Strike while the iron's hot.
The minute it cools down, it's hard to rekindle that
(11:32):
fireback again. And Sean Marks is deathly afraid of giving
away either one of these guys for pennies on the
dollar more, you know, mostly Kevin Durant. But all of
a sudden, now this is really cool off and sinking
like an anvil. In a bugs Bunny cartoon boom. Then
Deandreaton resigns. That complicates the Durant trade. I'm looking at
(11:52):
Rob Polinka right here, with all due respect, I think
if you, if you really want Kyrie, you pick up
the phone and say, we'll figure out a way to
restructure Joe Harris contract. We'll take him. We'll give you
the two first round draft picks. You take Ross, we
take Kyrie, Bota bing Bata Boom. That's the only chance
of Lakers have and being relevant and winning a championship
next year. I don't think they're doing it with Ross
(12:14):
if they run it back. All right, Look that's my take.
I mean that's Bernie take. You heard my take. I
want to hear your take. Now, which spins job do
you believe about Russell Westbrook? Is he committed to making
him work with Lebron and a D or does he
want out of LA altogether? Eight seven seven ninety nine
on Fox eight seven seven nine nine six sixty three
(12:35):
six nine. We'll continue that conversation with you. Next, it's
The Odd Couple with Martin Wie and Bernie Frado and
for Chris and Rob on Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot
com and within the iHeart Radio app search FSR to
listen live. Hey, it's Ben, host of the Fifth Hour
(12:57):
with Ben Maller along with my trustee side David Gascon.
Would mean a lot to have you join us on
our weekly auditory journey. You're asking one in God's name
is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's a spin
off of that Ben Maller show. Colt hit Overnights on
fs are Why should you listen? Picture if you will
a world will We chat with captains of industry in media,
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(13:20):
a human nature and more. Let's sen to the Fifth
Hour with Ben Mallow or the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast
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from the Fox Sports Studios. This the Odd Couple Martin
Weiss and Bernie Friedo in for Chris and Rob Dealing
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(13:44):
time you're having battery trouble head to Autos on your
battery solution and America's number one battery destination. You know what, Bernie,
maybe the Lakers are gonna get a nice charge out
of bringing the old band back together, as Russell Westbrook says,
they're now committed, now committed to winning a title. If
in fact he's going to be on the Lakers in
(14:05):
the upcoming season, Well again, I want to give you
and Rob g credit. You lit the fuse. The callers
are lined up. They want to win on this. I
think the Lakers preferred scenario. To be clear, it is
still trading for Irving. But what we heard an hour
and a half ago, we have to respond to who
we are. So let's go out to the phone to
We're joining by Marty in Kentucky. Marty, you welcome to
the outcop. You're on Fox Sports Radio. What's up, fellows,
(14:29):
how y'all doing tonight? I'm Greg. I think Russ wants
out for several reasons. One, the Lakers have tried your
shopping several different ways, so he knows he's not that
wanted too. This is the first time he's played under
a spot like spotlight. Lason's college and he's with the
(14:52):
Lakers and he has to play with Lebron where everything
you do gets dissected. He's never been a great shooter.
Never he had volume, you know, he had a lot
of usage, and he would get hot in part the
games and get lots of a lot of highlights. But
he's never been a great shooter. But the year he's
with Lebron, he gets nicknamed Wedgebrick. I mean, it's kind
(15:14):
of which facts to the question, Marty, well, why does
he want to stay? Why? I was all of a
sudden there holding hands and singing Kumbayant's being reported that
they want to work it out? What's all about? Because
they because no trade offers work and nothing else is
nothing else worked, and they have no choice and they
just they're saving faith. Well, you know, hey, okay, let's
send it on that Marty that you both you would
(15:37):
button that up into a bull nicely there. That could
very well be what the situation is, Marty, you want
to respond to that. I just again, I think it's
just all the pr campaign to try to get Russell
Westbrook looking better. Right, we have to What we really
have right now is two incredibly toxic relationships and really,
the only way to solve it is the trade girlfriends,
but they do you have to sell. Hey, look, this
(16:01):
is really she's not all that bad, even though we
just watched the entire year. What happened? Yeah, I'll tell
you what. And now another possible scenario comes down the pike, if, if, if,
Donovan Mitchell does end up with the Knicks. There's a
rumor that the Knicks might be a dance partner for
the Lakers, when you might even potentially see Julius Randall
(16:23):
head back to Los Angeles. If the Lakers would take
that on, the Knicks would shut about one hundred and
four million in salary. Set that aside for now, because
every time this new chapter unfolds, my head starts to explode.
So go back out to the phone lines, joined by
a blind Seahawks fan in Olympia. Welcome to the Odd Coup.
You're on Fox Sports Radio. What's up, my man, Bernie?
(16:45):
How about you working two shows today? Respect that man,
Thank you appreciated. And Martin, what up? I hope you're
doing well. And I want to talk about, you know,
of the Russell Westbrook thing. And I think that you know,
I think with this whole Russell Westbrook and his agent
going their own separate ways. I think, you know, this
could be interesting and it could leave you know, hey,
(17:06):
maybe Westbrook doesn't want to be on the Lakers, and
I kind of want to weigh in on training for
Kyrie Irving. And because yeah, I think like a lot
of Lakers sencer hoping for it to happen. I think
basketball wise, of course, it's better than Russell Westbrook. Kyrie Irving,
I think, you know, would be a better fit on
that Lakers roster compared to Westbrook. But the issue is
off the field or off the court. I don't know
(17:28):
what Kyrie Irving's gonna do off the court. I want
a guy. If I'm the Lakers, I'm trying to go
for a championship. I want a guy who's gonna be
there most of the time and not have any drama,
and he can play the basketball well. Lebron James, he's
gonna you know, he's older, he's gonna need his rest night.
That's okay. And obviously Ad you know, you know that
nickname street Clothes. So I think the Lakers they need
(17:48):
to figure something out quick or I just don't I
just don't see it. Work in this year with Westbrook. Well,
the shit. The thing about Kyrie Irving is he has
been pretty much enigmatic in every stop right, But if
there was ever a place where it did work, where
he was available, where he was there and he was,
you know, competing for championships, it was right when he
was alongside Lebron James. It was then when he went
(18:11):
to Boston. Then and then and then as he moved
forward from there when we started to hear, are you
know where the Kyrie stuff kind of started to come out?
You know that it was towards the end of his
Cleveland thing. He's like, maybe he's having trouble with his
relationship with Lebron, but it was really along his stops
along the way after he left with left kind of
Lebron umbrella where we started to kind of pick apart
(18:31):
Kyrie Irving as as this type of enematic figure. Well,
he hits the game winning sean to beat the Golden
State Warriors. That's an epic NBA moment. Then he wants out, Now,
can you know, can you run it back a second time?
Can a divorce couple reunite? I don't know. I bring
Peaches and Herban and this one will check with him.
Let's go out to Carl in Mobile, Alabama. Carl, Welcome
(18:53):
to the Odd Couple year on Fox Sports Radio. Hey guys,
thanks checking, great day. Yeah. I don't believe that for
a minute. Ane of this stuff adds an agent releasing
a four paragraph statement. You never see. You don't see
teammates at summer League, not sitting next to each other,
nowhere near each other, and all of a sudden they're
(19:13):
supposed to be talking on the phone. I think this
is another way of saying Russ has probably agreed to
coming off the bench next year. He'll still be in
the Lakers uniform, and they said, as long as we're
in a Lakers uniform, we're gonna make it work. Hopefully
Russ has agreed to come off the bench because that's
probably where his talents are best suited for right now,
when the talent level is a little bit less and
(19:35):
the things are a little more disoriented, he can take
advantage of it with his speed and singing. All that
stuff is not as critical. But I don't find it
for a minute. Uh you know a call. I tend
to agree with you, Honestly, I thought last year one
of the biggest problems obviously with the Lakers, that dad
A Russell West were problem. But he was playing like
the most minutes in the league, Like he was playing
almost thirty five. I was like, hey man, maybe you
(19:59):
cut back seven minutes and find somebody else to run
that might do you know, you might win a few
more games. Maybe Russ isn't as tired as down the stretcher,
you know, maybe just off the fact he's taking less
bad shots. But what do I know, I'm just some
jerk talking into the radio. But Bernie, it doesn't sound
like the Deshaun Watson saga is ending anytime soon. Sports
(20:20):
attorney Dan Lust, let's plain that to us next, but
first be sure to catch live editions of The Odd
Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker week days at
seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app. It doesn't sound like the Deshaun
Watson saga is going anywhere anytime soon. It is a
(20:41):
story that will never end. And to talk about it,
We've got sports attorney and co host of the Conduct
Detrimental podcast, Dan Lust. Bernie, true story. I got a
friend who is a frat brother wh wants to get
into sports law. I sent them at sports law Lust
as a Twitter example to follow. I'm a big fan
of this guy's work. Dan, thanks for coming on the show.
(21:01):
My pleasure to join you guys, and yeah, I mean
we got hot news with the All Star Game. But
as always, DeShawn Watson finds himself in the news, always
happy to break it down with the guys. Yeah, Dan,
great to have you. A couple of things. I'm eminently
aware of the Tom Brady maneuver back in twenty fifteen,
which DeShawn may coopy. Set that aside, but let's start here.
(21:22):
This continues to mark the time on the calendar like
no weather case I can remember. There are no sensing guidelines,
there is no landmark case, no precedent. So this, to
me is turned into a kangaroo cord where both sides
are trying to thread the needles so that it can appeal.
They can appease the public in the Players Union into
Deshaun's camp and avoid an appeal. What say you, I
(21:46):
think you're right, And I'm seeing these reports today that
DeShawn Watson's team is planning to file an appeal if
he does get suspended for years, So at least from
my vantage point, right, all leaks are purposeful in some
ways she performed. So someone told that to be an
assortment of media outlets, And why would one do that,
because you are kind of saying, hey, if we get
(22:07):
it here, we're going to take this up to to
the federal court. And that's what they'd like to avoid.
I'd like to have this thing faid to the background.
So certainly a version of events where Judge Robinson might
be delaying her decision to try to give the parties
additional time to settle, that would obviously, I think be
the ideal outcome for both sides. But Scock is taking
right Brown's camps right around the corner, so I'm certainly
(22:27):
not optimistic. Come that front and help me with this.
The reason why Judge Robinson may hold off to allow
the NFL and Deshaun Watson to settle is that to
establish a precedent in cases like this going forward, if
in fact, they do a cur going forward. Is that
the rationale behind why we have not heard the judge
come down yet. I think it's more of the NFL's
(22:50):
interest in keeping this thing quiet, right, and not opening
it up to the extent that there is a federal bust.
Of those are public documents by barks, so we'd see
the arguments being made by both sides. We'd you know,
probably see portions of the record which otherwise has been
pretty much lock and feel. This disciplinary hearing that took
place two weeks ago, over the course of three days.
So the NFL wants to put this in the background.
(23:12):
It's not necessarily to create precedent. You still kind of
have the absent of Preston right because Judge would not
have put her impartial fingerprints on the case. The parties
would have negotiated it. So I do think the end
of the day that they're trying to buy time, which
the NFL has done. Remember guys, this has been going
on for a year and a half and we're only
now getting to this space. So yeah, I do think
(23:32):
it's to try to get the parties to settle. We'll
see if they can do it. Though, talking with Dan
Lust Sports Law Lust, you hear them all around the
year waves Dan. That's why I draw the parallel to
the Tom Brady situation. Back in twenty fifteen. They reached
loggerheads and you may recall then, much like Sue Robinson
has become a household name now, Judge Richard Burman was
(23:54):
the same. In the summer of twenty fifteen, tom Brady
sued Burman urged both sides to settle, but they couldn't
do it. Three weeks later it ended up going to court.
What happened was then Tom Brady got his suspension set
aside for a year, and then he ended up serving
it in twenty sixteen. Here's why I bring that preamble
here to you. That would make no sense for Deshaun
(24:16):
Watson to sue because he's due to make a million
dollars this year, and if he got a stay of
execution for lack of a better term, and it got
relegated to twenty three where he's schedule to make forty
six million, if a suspension was held up, couldn't this backfire?
Couldn't maneuver backfire? It certainly could. I mean I've seen
certain reports that if there is a year suspension that
(24:38):
his contract might be told. So you know, I think
Watson wants to get in the field, right he sat
up the entire year last year. I think he wants
to play. I think he wants to put this all
in the past. And as we've seen in NFL circles, right,
once Sunday comes right, these stories at least tend to
a little bit fade to the background. I think that's
what wants to Watson wants to do. He wants to
get in the field and play. So if he does
(24:58):
take this up to the higher court and he wants
to challenge Roger Goodell's authority, I mean power to him.
But that's a case that's going to extend further, right,
this case being in the spotlight, So you know, there's
I think three days for the NFLPA to file appeal
to Goodell. And again, you know, Bernie, as you point out,
there's no set time for him for Judge Robinson to
come to a decision here, there's nothing. Does the CHEST
(25:19):
do it within two weeks or three weeks or four
weeks and then Goodell is sitting on the other side,
and then there's an appeal to federal court, So that's
maybe another month. You're a tacking onto all of this.
So I would think that Watson wants to get this
thing in the past, right. I don't know what he
would benefit by appealing this because, as we've seen right,
Roger Goodell has given a lot of leeway in the
NFL circles to come up with this punishment. Right in
(25:40):
the system that Watson is going to be claiming he
was aggrieved by, there's a collectively bargained system between the
NFL and the NFLPA, So you know, unless a court
wants to strike that system down. Usually private institutions, private
companies are given a lot of leeway by the court.
So certainly an uphill battle from a legal matter to
win that appeal. If you're sitting right now and put
(26:02):
yourself in the Brown's front officer to Brown's ownership group,
I know it's impossible to project, but just from today, Monday,
July eighteenth, are you in the market for a quarterback?
Are you planning? Are do you do you first see
that you're gonna have Deshaun Watson take snaps at any
point this year? Or is it kind of all trending
towards whatever punishment is going to come down? It is
(26:25):
like we're looking at it. Are we looking at six
six games going forward or a year going backwards? Tough
to say, right, there's you're certainly seeing mixed signals right,
Jacobe Procett's going to be the guy if Watson's not there.
They traded Daker Mayfield while this decision was pending, so,
you know, and I saw a report, you know, within
the past week that they're in the market for a
backup quarterback to Jacoby Prisett. So musical chairs over at
(26:48):
Cleveland Brown's HQ. My my read on it just just
you know, in Bernie and I spoke on his show
a couple you know, probably a week ago. I still
tend to think that they're going to go with the
under here, right, if you set the under at ten
and a half, My gut is that they're going to
go under right, and that they're just leaking out these
reports of an appeal to kind of do some cya here.
(27:08):
I don't think it's going to be the full season.
I just maybe I could be wrong, and I'm happy
to be. But again, one of the leaks that came
up from this hearing is that the NFL didn't present
any evidence of violence or forced conduct. You know, those
are usually aggregating circumstances that would get you to maybe
a year plus and if there's no evidence being presented there,
I think that's certainly a point in Watson's favor. So
(27:29):
I think the Browns are expecting Watson to play a
portion of this year. But again, right, this case, right
now is in Robert Judge Robbinson's hand, So I'm happy
to be wrong, but that's my read on it right now.
All right, Dan, thanks so much for your time. We
really appreciated. I would I'm not going to try to
put a gun to your head. We don't know when
we're gonna get a decision what it's going to be.
(27:49):
But I think he covered a lot of good ground
here and I think we're just going to have to
wait and see what happens between now when the Browns
report to camp July twenty six. Thanks Dan, keep your
eye on the Houston Texans boys. I'll speak too soon. Yeah,
nicely done, Texans. All right, Yeah, the Houston Texans settling
with the idea that the Texans settled with the Deshaun
(28:12):
Watson defendants is pretty interesting, is pretty interesting, and not
in a good way. Right. That's a classic CYI deal.
I don't know how Germaine don't make it to this case.
As I said, Martin, I think we're past the point
of whether or not DeShawn Watson in fact violated the
Personal Conduct Policy. I believe Presiding Judge Martin Wiss on
(28:34):
Friday determined that he did, and we're in agreement. So
now the question is when did she give the you know,
when does she make her judgment? And how long is
this is the suspension going to be for? Yeah, I mean,
we'll see how it all comes down. We're coming up next.
One Soto just turned down fifteen years, four and forty million.
Could he be the next five hundred million dollars man?
(28:55):
It's The Odd Couple with Martin Wis and Burning Frida
and for Chris and Rob on Fox Sports Radio. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple with
Chris Broussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern,
four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Coming to you live from the Fox Sports Studio. Just
Martin Weiss and Bernie Fratto in for Rob and Chris.
(29:16):
On The Odd Couple. We could talk about how complicated
banks other banks are make it to redeem your credit
card rewards, or we could talk about how we discover
you can redeem your rewards for cash in any amount
at anytime. I mean, talk about amazing. Learn more at
discover dot com. Slash redeem rewards terms apply. And Juan Soto,
you know what, I'm not sure what his credit history
(29:37):
is or how he saying, how he decides to spend
his money, and how he pays his mortgage or so on.
I'll tell you this, if you can get for if
you could get your rent paid on the credit card,
get the points. I'm not sure how Juan Soto gets
it done. But however he gets it done, it's gonna
have a lot more money to do it with as
soon as he gets his next contract, because it's not
gonna be with but it's probably not gonna be with
the Nationals. He's got just enough to get up in
(30:00):
this club, that's for sure, Martin. Let's give this some perspective,
and I'm gonna lay out why he turned down the contract.
Actually it wasn't want so it was his agent. Everybody
forgets he's represented by Scott Boris, so we'll ste our
best now not to kill the messenger. Scott Boris does
things a little differently. Let's go back to the year
two thousand when he signed a rod to that historic
(30:21):
ten year, two hundred and fifty two million dollar contract
with the Texas Rangers, and you talk about people's head spinning.
And there was a method to his madness about that number,
because that was exactly double. But the highest paid athlete
in the four major sports we're getting, and that at
the time happened to be Kevin Garnett, who had signed
a one hundred and twenty six million dollar contract. Boris
(30:42):
got it doubled. They even joked at the time Abrod
was going to make one hundred million dollars more than
Oprah Winfrey. True story. So Saturday, Juan de Soto declined
to four hundred and forty million dollars fifteen year offer
from the Nats. And these of the reasons I was given,
as I called my moles. One, there was apparently a
backloading of the deal that was tantamount to some deferral dollars.
(31:04):
Boris didn't like that. Secondly, the average annual value was
twenty nine million dollars. That will seem like an old
figure when you compare it to thirteen other players that
are making more, including a guy like Max Scherzer who's
making about forty four million. Another thing, came out. Is
that it appears and this was rumored Saturday. Now it's
appearing to have a lot of legs, and that is
(31:26):
the Washington Nationals are about to be sold, so they
don't want to go into one unknown. But let's deal
with the elephant in the room here, and that's Scott Boris.
You all know that Scott Boris likes to get his
clients to free agency. He believes that's where they maximize
their total value. Put him out there in the open market.
Everybody forgets the a Rod contract didn't happen in a vacuum.
(31:46):
He got bids from seven teams. I'm not going to
bother you with all the backstory now, but Boris believes
once he puts Juan Soto on the market, he'll be
twenty six at the time, one of the most exciting
players in baseball. The thought is he could get a
five hundred million dollar deal, and people that I talked to,
assuming Soto stays healthy things fall into place, Soto would
(32:08):
get a five hundred million dollars deal. That is why
he turned it down. And let's not forget just four
months ago, just before the union and management settled the lockout,
Soto turned down three hundred and fifty million dollar deal.
Just one hundred and twenty days later he got offered
ninety more a million on top of that. So they're
playing the long game here, Scott Boris doing Scott Boris things.
(32:30):
I mean, it sure sounds like it. But the thing is,
it absolutely sounds like he's gonna get this money too.
But especially when it comes to this long term. I mean,
think about signing a fifteen year contract. You're gonna want
to be somewhere that like, you're gonna want to be happy.
You're gonna want to know what type of stuff is
gonna be going on. You want to be able to
project that forward. And if you're talking about the Nationals
(32:51):
are going to be sold, well it's gonna be really
hard to project that forward. And seeing as you have
no idea who's gonna step up and buy him, right, well,
that's an issue that I was told that is a concern.
But irrespective of that, they still wouldn't turn down the deal.
And Martin you bringing up a really good point. All
these large contracts. Now, Mike Trout he got the four
twenty six, that's twelve years. Bryce Harper got the thirteen
(33:14):
years at three thirty, right, Mookie Bets his deal is
twelve years. Fernando Tatis's deal is fourteen years right on
down the line you're seeing it now is more than
norm and probably the owners put this money into an
annuity and they end up paying for it that way.
So you and I look at this and say, you
can not only have security for your kids. Your kids
kids there, they're kids. Whatever you want to do, Chris
(33:36):
Washbord's kids, everybody's kids, and all of a sudden, now
you turn it down. But again it was it was.
It was Scott Boris turning it down. He moves the needle.
This is what he does. Yeah, I mean I know
this if I was a team, if I was a
GM owner of a governor whatever whatever sport, because Scott
Boris is all someday, right, But I just I'm trying
(33:57):
to avoid that guy because and conversely, if I'm ever
in a position in which people are banting about from
my talents, Scott, come on down, baby, because I know
we're about to get paid. Because I mean, this is
a hard and but you know what though, the thing
about Whan saw those like if you had offered him
this deal maybe when after his rookie year, and then
(34:19):
he probably signs it up. At this point he's gonna
get a big time backs from and from somebody only
takes one person to ask you to the dance to
make sure you have a date. Right, So I mean
the Yankees or the I mean, I mean you see,
I mean he'll be on the Yankees or the Dodgers
or somebody like that who's not afraid to open up
that big payroll and make it happen. So it's fascinating.
(34:43):
I mean it feels like, wow, how could you turn
that much bread down? But honestly, it's like he sort
of not like he's gonna get paid regardless, it's just
a question of how much. And then also too, like
I just said here, think fifteen years is an incredible
amount of time. I'm only thirty two, that's over. It's
almost half my life. No, fifteen years is a long time,
(35:04):
and that's lifetime security. But Boris just doesn't work that way.
This is a guy who's been written about in Forbes.
He employs two hundred people in his agency. You know, look,
rich Paul. Everybody knows how powerful and successful he is.
Everybody knows how powerful it's successful, Drew Rosenhouse is. But
what's interesting is Boris hides in plain sight. He is
(35:25):
a guy who does not give interviews. He does not
really Actually no one likes the name dropper. But one
day at Comerica Park in the press box, I sat
next to him for about half an hour, and he's
kind of a mild mannered guy. You would never know
he's Scott Boris. He was a pharmacist in his previous life.
He was a lawyer in his previous life. And the
longest short of it is he's got this knack for
(35:45):
sort of outwitting you and outwaiting you. And he also
had a you know, he also is just this guy
who believes in the value of the people he represents,
and he's gonna be patient. He's gonna do whatever it takes.
What's interesting is the Washington National Mike Rizzo, he rebounded
with the statement said, Okay, well, we're gonna have to
listen to offers for Juan Soto. I'm not buying that
(36:07):
for one second. They'd have to do a Rudy Gobert
trade times ten to get Juan Soto. Why would you
do that, especially when you get ready to sell the team,
and he brings value to the team now between now
and August. Second, they could make me a liar. But
I do not believe he'll be traded. But when you're
talking about the guy who represents Juan Soto and the
guy that really turned it down, believe it or not,
he's closed over fifty billion dollars in contracts, fifty billion
(36:30):
with the b That's why they turned that down. I mean,
if I once Soto, I feel good about it. Right,
that's this is the guy who got everybody else paid.
Why would I you know, like you said that a
Rod contract. We'll probably see some of that coming in
that Jeter documentary that's supposed to come either. I think
it drops the first episode tonight. It was the first
of like thirty or whatever, and drop tonight, but we'll
see some of that. Yeah, we'll see some of that
(36:52):
A Rod contract in there, I'm sure, because Jeter was
obviously playing the same position around you know, at that period.
But it's just so hard for me to fathom. It's
like the idea that this is a good call, but
it is it, you know, especially when you look at
that the way that the deal was structured, wherein thirty
(37:13):
and ten years it's gonna be a discount. Like that's
really tough to swallow in my estimation. If I'm a
guy like, well, I'm only a twenty four, twenty three
years old. If I'm Juan Soto, like, no, if you're
gonna backload, if you're gonna frontload of my deal, let's
do it on the next one where I'm thirty five,
thirty six. So I'm like where I'm like mcguel cabret.
He's like, you brought America Park up there, you go,
well to your point. Remember Soto hired Boris. Boris works
(37:36):
for him. Now I know Juan Soto is not happy
to Scott leaked. He's a mild manner dude. He's a
hard working young kid. He's very dedicated. He really wants
to focus on baseball. So I don't think he's real
happy about the way he's been portrayed. Kind of like
the way Scottie Pippen was portrayed right now, A lot
like that, but you get you get my pictures. So
I wouldn't lay too much of this on Soto. I
put it on the show. Then, shoulders of Scott Boris
(37:56):
and We'll see Juan Soto in just a little bit
as the home run irby is quickly approaching. Pete Alonzo
trying to go three peat, which by major trademarking missed
opportunity three peat. I mean, come on that. NFL teams
go first to worst coming up next on the odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio, stick and Stay America.
Hosts And Creators
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Rob Parker
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