Hour 1 – Peacocking in the PAC-12

Mike Harmon and Rich Ohrnberger talk about the PAC-12 response to UCLA and USC leaving for the Big Ten, the latest on Kevin Durant’s trade request, and Zion Williamson gets a massive extension!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Greetings. Thanks for letting
us interrupt your viewing of Stranger Things or whatever you're
streaming on a Friday night. Maybe you've gotten in the
car and you gotta go to Grandma's house, or on
the highways and by ways of life, because I certainly
sat in traffic today. Whatever you're doing, do it safely

(00:45):
and thanks for bringing us along being part of your
our extended family as we go, team has assembled once again,
Jason Smith. He worked a little earlier this morning, so
tonight once again, rich orin Burger, my guy, former NFL lineman,
our teammate here at Sports Radio. He steps up and
he's ready to step in and lay the SmackDown on
the Pack twelve, Kevin Durant and all the chaos that's

(01:08):
going on some three billion dollars are there about spent
in the NBA today, will break down that as the
night goes on, talk about some betting odds, uh and
what is on richest plate? Because they do food blogs
down there in San Diego. So I'll start right now.
I mean, are we still working towards you know, Dodgers
Padres kind of fair here or or or we already

(01:33):
appetite stating Friday night is going to be an order
in night at the Ramburgers. Yeah, so I think we're
either gonna do tacos or sushi. I mean, you can't
get really further apart in terms of cuisine, but you know,
occasionally they'll slip a holla, pin you on a on
a sushi role, I suppose. So that's what's happening. It's

(01:56):
it's one or the other. Who knows. Maybe if we
get really crazy, it's gonna be ball around here. But no,
that's that's what you talk about right there, just to
set up the entire lineup. Another great day in sports
talk y because it's all rumor, conjecture, speculation, and what
do we do better for three for two hours, whatever
the show length is at a time than speculate on
whereabouts and trades being forced and all that stuff. So

(02:19):
we've got plenty of that on the horizon, rich and
and people are trying to figure out the next dominoes
to fall in the giant college football landscape. And I
wanted to bring attention to the PAC twelve statement from
earlier today, but to back it out a little further
to the statement that Cal released and get your reaction

(02:40):
to this ready, Yeah, I haven't heard this yet. Here
you go. This is a significant development for our university
in the Pact twelve, and we're engaging in constant communication
with the leadership and our conference partners. Regardless of what
the future holds. We maintain our steadfast commitment to the
athletic and academic success of our student athletes. With three
national championships during the past year, I mean, this is

(03:03):
the Rick flair, you know, wooing and strutting walk right here.
With three national championships during the past year, excellent a
PR scores and an unwavering commitment to our D E. I. B.
J efforts, Cal Athletics is well positioned for a strong
and successful future because Cal is one of those wild

(03:23):
cards in this whole thing, as is Stanford, right, been
some speculation related to independence perhaps for them, or a
realignment reshuffling that puts them with other academic powerhouses. Not
to go deep into what else is in the pack twelve,
but suffice to say here in southern California, when you

(03:45):
say Arizona State, folks, kinda you know now they're had
got a fine academic institution. Sorry for any of you
listening in Arizona or are graduates of Arizona State, but
that's the reality that we're looking at. So for cal
they issue that non I mean, there's nothing to that
statement other than peacocking over three titles, which I thought

(04:06):
was brilliant. Right. It doesn't address the losses, doesn't address
what the what they're part of anything is like now
we we trust our leaders now it is new leadership.
So Larry Scott, who is the punching bag to all
of what is transpired, he's no longer in power. This
is just what he wrought with decisions made and the

(04:27):
trust placed in him long ago. I h I look
at a situation for Cal or Stanford or Oregon, or
like you mentioned, Arizona State, even or Arizona for that matter,
even though they've both been struggling as of late. I mean,

(04:47):
you look at a lot of these programs in the
PAC twelve, and I mean, okay, let's be very honest
with each other. There are a couple of programs in
the PAC twelve who I really do think move the
knee old nationally. I think that they've played in enough
big games lately that people will be interested when you hear,

(05:08):
you know, uh an Ohio State Washington matchup, the Huskies
take on the buck Eyes on a big New Saturday Fox.
You know, Okay, yeah, you got my interest that, you know,
assuming both teams are trending in the right direction during
the season, or a Stanford against Penn State or against
an Old Miss or something like that. Yeah, sure, sure, okay,

(05:30):
but USC in u c l A leaving and u
c l A playing terrible football, it's a basketball school
at this point. Well, and everything else, right that. That's
the big thing you get with u c l A
is all of the Olympic sports. Yeah, it's everything else.
It's the Rose Bowl, the facilities, the history, the uniforms,
the market. Like, there's a lot that makes you love

(05:54):
U c l A. The Tier one research facility, that
it is. I mean there's a ton about it you love,
but um, you know, athletics probably comes in a close
third or fourth or fifth to a lot of the
other things that U. C l A offers. But USC
has got a lot of those boxes checked. The way
I look at it is this all of these schools
should be putting on their Sunday best and trotten out

(06:16):
and getting onto all the dating apps and and swiping
right with as many of these conference as they say
possibly can, because you're hoping for a match at this point.
Because the PAC twelve and I read that statement, I
mean that is that's a conference who is really hurting.
I mean they've been wounded as a conference and very

(06:38):
curious if they survive it. Yeah, I was reading John Kinzano.
He's one of my favorites to get the inside on
the PAC twelve, right. He and our guy Petris Papa
Dick is probably two guys I trust in terms of
their reporting because they will be uh harsh as necessary
and and throw the flowers, you know when the conference
deserves it. Not a lot of that of late uh

(07:00):
but John Kenzano uh b f T is the Twitter account.
He's got his own website, and he's there in Oregon
each and every afternoon, his heisman vote all of those things.
Uh and and he's tweeting out about these things. Right.
That USC, through a source, u USC and U C
l A had been talking about this as of last summer,

(07:21):
so it's out there yet. It's that anything you've read,
anything you've heard to me, it it keeps coming back to.
It seems that the Pack twelve leadership got caught with
their pants down, which is embarrassing at a whole other level.
Right because as a new leadership body, as you get,
said Larry Scott leaving, you should be reaching out to

(07:43):
all your member organizations and at least doing me You're
doing okay, right, it's the thing the boss does. Right.
You've got to have your your employee checkups each year, right,
it's performance reviews. But a lot of it is just
a you know, maybe you give me a little inside
of what's going on in your division, your department with
your co workers and your little cohort or whatever, and

(08:05):
maybe gleamed some insights. Maybe they've got an idea of
how to streamline production whatever. This sounds like there was
no check in and it took the job, and I
was like, all right, I'm full ahead to this. Like meanwhile,
the other you got everybody looking around going all right,
we're in this vacuum. Now we have this alliance, but
you know, nobody's holding us to any of that. That's
all theoretical. So USC and u c l a realizing, Wow,

(08:28):
look at the money over there. Look at the opportunities
that this would represent for our universities to play on
this bigger stage. Two. Gather all of those funds that
would then be disseminated and distributed to help in the
you know, with the athletes and with our programs, and

(08:48):
continue to build. I just derrel like dereliction of duties
is what it comes down to. Kenzara. Also, this was
from earlier today, and this is the one I think
was a bigger deal that really stood out to me.
Spoke the lawmakers in Washington and Oregon today. There's a
movement of foot to emphasize that the public and taxpayers
do not want public pack twelve university split from each other.

(09:12):
So the effort in theory would keep them all them
them together in Oregon and Washington, because obviously you want
Oregon and Washington no disrespect to the good people at
Oregon State got friends that went there, or those at
Washington State. But let's call it what it is. As
you said, you know, if there's a Washington game against

(09:33):
Ohio State or whatever in one of these kickoff classics,
generally folks are going to tune in. Now it's more
Ohio State than other, but you know, it's one of
those tests, litmus tests of where your conferences stack up. Right,
Let's do a bowl game in September, and so this
with lawmakers getting involved, I think it would be a
very curious process to see how that would play out.

(09:55):
I just think it's gonna move too fast. This is
what I see happening. Look, I don't get me wrong.
I agree that lawmakers will and want to get involved,
because when it comes to sports, if a politician can
make a connection to a sports team that is somehow
aiming to wrong a city or or you know, do
something that may not be in the best interest of

(10:18):
um of another you know, companion school in that state,
well they'll jump at the opportunity to you know, serve
their constituents, especially when it comes to something that doesn't
really matter, you know, in the grand scheme of things,
whether Oregon and Oregon State play in the same conference.
I mean, is is that saving any lives or is
that hurting anybody? Really? The answers no. But it's an

(10:41):
easy thing to curry favor amongst the general public that
may or may not vote you back into the office
you serve in the upcoming election. So yeah, why not
throw your hat into that ring. But I just think
it's gonna move too fast for the government and and
the the the warship, the aircraft carrier that it is
to get turned around and and get moving in the

(11:03):
right direction before decisions are made. I mean, we would
say this rich just not have to you know, stop
you there. But the the idea I think for paring
them to make the argument for lawmakers is if they
are public institutions. Now you've got in theory it should
all be pooled money, shouldn't it. Well, U C l

(11:25):
A is a public institution. It's a u C school,
So you see system, it's a University of California. You know,
it doesn't matter, Mike, I just don't. I just don't
think that any Don't get me wrong. If they hustle
legislation through and they find a way to get something
done expeditiously, and that might be the first time, you know,

(11:47):
we've ever said that about governmental practice. Then then then yeah,
I mean, maybe there's a chance to stop something before
it occurs. But I think we're gonna see fast action here.
I don't think Oregon or Washington, or shoot Colorado or
Arizona State or Arizona or any of these Pack twelve
schools that have an opportunity to jump ship for a

(12:08):
better opportunity are going to be slowed down by the
threat of of legalise. They're they're going to do what
they think is best for their coffers, for their alumni base, which,
by the way, many of their alumnis, if they have
enough money, can sway certain things politically. You know. It's like, yeah,

(12:29):
and look, obviously U c l A Is public. I
wasn't even including them in the mix because that's done. No. No,
I know, in California, lawmakers are are what they are,
uh and and you and I are both subject to
their their whims. But if you are in another state
where something hasn't happened yet, perhaps you can rally Now
that you know this came out of the blue on

(12:51):
them evidently, because that's the thing that just baffles me. Really,
nobody was wise to this happening. They're all they all
looked like they were ending around like a bunch of dopes.
And I don't mean to politicians. I'm talking about the
other member units of the Pack twelve. This was all
done under cover of night, billions of dollars over the
next ten years, and everybody was clueless this was happening. Yeah,

(13:16):
and and it's going to keep happening. And that's what
that's my point is. And also I'm not I'm not
completely convinced that either a lawmakers really want to test
those waters and make strong action to preclude an Oregon,
for example, from joining a big ten should they want to,
because that will be unpopular amongst a lot a lot

(13:38):
of voters as well. You know. For as many people
are like, oh good, we're keeping Oregon State and Oregon together,
there half the crowd is gonna say that was the
wrong thing you just did. Maybe more than half the crowd.
Who knows. I don't know how huge the alumni base is,
but I guess my point is this is going to be,
or this has been and is going to continue to
be and ask for forgiveness, not for permission. Situation. Oh sure,

(14:04):
next day team to twenty four months are going to
be insane. Yeah, we're gonna see a lot of teams
were sorry we're now an SEC team. It's like, wait, what,
what what's going on here? You know it's hawais in
the SEC. Yeah, she's sorry. As we talked about yesterday, right,
and I think Pete Futeck had the perfect summary statement
to it, is like once the football gets kicked off,

(14:25):
who cares? Right? And that's that's Karen the larger sense
from the all right, does this make it harder for
my team to get to a bowl game? Or if
we're in and even if you care about bowl games
because maybe you make those trips, maybe you're in a
lum that decides wherever my team goes. That's where I'm headed,
whether it's a great destination or it's a bowl game

(14:46):
you've been do four times in the last six years.
Maybe maybe that's it. And I'm talking about certainly in
the Big ten folks that find themselves in Texas with
great regularity. No disrespect to those bowl games, but hey,
we got our bid and where again? So if I'm
gonna lum am I going there for the fourth time.
Maybe maybe not, but it's trying beyond that, you know,

(15:07):
and if there is a team that might have eyes
on a playoff birth because eventually that probably expands. But
in the interim, you know, you're saying, all right, does
this make the path that much harder? And how do
we schedule as many cupcakes on the early part of
the schedule as we can? But outside of that, it
all goes out in the wash pretty fast. Yeah, yeah,

(15:29):
you know what here, here's the hypothetical that's been pining
around in my head. I was tweeting about it earlier today.
You know, so the Big Ten continues to absorb other
big brands around college football. You know, maybe they do
get a deal done with Oregon and Stanford, you know,
maybe they do want to expand into the Colorado market
and they grabbed the Buffaloes, you know, who knows where

(15:52):
else and how many other teams and say the SEC,
you know, turnabouts, fair play, they continue to expand. At
some point, it feels like we're heading towards is the SEC.
They're branching off on its own, the Big Ten branching
off on its own and playing against each other or
potentially forming an alliance amongst the two mega conferences and

(16:15):
then really just telling everybody else to butt out, because
if you have the Big ten, which you know turns
into the Big twenty or the Big you know twenty
four whatever, however long the expansion uh goes until it
stops or the SEC has something equivalent in terms of
numbers of participant schools, you know, you get a deal done,

(16:37):
maybe they could even find a way to pay players.
Maybe they can't even find a way to fracture from
the n C Double A as we know it. And
college football is going to be played between these two
mega conferences UH, and and players are gonna get salaries.
And you know, again, like we were talking last night, Mike,
you know, we're gonna we're not gonna be able to

(16:59):
call them student app eats anymore. We'll we'll be able
to still call them collegiate athletes, but we're gonna be
talking about semi professional football on minor leagues where you're
actually going to be able to make a killing because
of the popularity of the contests. I'm really curious, like
what what the effect is going to be in the

(17:20):
long run, and what college football looks like five years
from now or even ten years from now, if it's
gonna look even anything like it looks right now, be
sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show
with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific. Oh,
fun topics all about here, all around us, and not

(17:41):
just what type of potato salad do you like, because
you'll have other shows do that for your top five
Coming up Mike Carman alongside rich orin Berger The Jason
Smith Show with Mike Harmen here Fox Sports Radio with
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(18:01):
the up to dollars and purchases when you activate learnmore
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Rich as we roll through us is as a three
olde on Honduras, I saw one of the worst goals
ever and it would be where if this happened on
my daughter's team and and other teams I've watched. Uh,

(18:23):
you'd probably have a full on brawl between the other
members of the defensive backfield. It was right before halftime. Uh,
nifty move. Goalie goes to make a play. Defender does
the right thing, coming in thinking he's gonna sweep, but
he withs on the ball tapped in by the US
to make a three nil. Uh. And then they went
to half second half just underway, we've got Dodgers Padres

(18:44):
Park two. I'm sure you were on air all all
morning talking about the sky falling. Yeah, you know, or
at least spartment was. It was subdued because of the
news out of college football. You know, there's there is
definite interest in the Padres in San Diego. It's only
professional sports team. Laugh. But there was a lot of
excitement about what what all these moves um that involved

(19:07):
Southern California with U C, l A and USC leaving
UH to go to the Big ten means for San
Diego State. You know, we talked about it yesterday. New
stadium on board, guy like Rich Ornberger in the booth
calling games. I mean, there's a team that has been
very exciting and has climbed the rankings the last few years, right, Uh,

(19:28):
including some big, big names and guys that broke through,
particularly punter Uh. That you've got to celebrate a bunch.
So yeah, it's it's got to be exciting times, no
question about it. But I know your your co host, Mr.
Hartman was lamenting legacies, histories and a hundred seven years
of tradition. That's just the guy he is. Yeah, Well,

(19:50):
all of a sudden, we find ourselves, uh conference rivals.
You know U c l A. The Bruins and Nittney Lions,
a rivalry that has spanned the ages. So here we are,
you know, his alma mater against mine with whatever they
make it on the schedule, against each other, battle lines
drawn within the studio. Well, you know it's funny is

(20:13):
that I did go back in Northwestern back in April
on the do with that what you will? Uh, they
had actually announced the home and home with u c
l A forty three and oh some people were pointing
that out going on the conference conference game. Now, yeah, no,
obviously that'll that'll shuffle up and we'll see how quickly
they play and what the scheduling actually looks like. Rich,

(20:36):
I mean the other clearly folks were waiting out a
late Friday news dump. By the way, here's four more
teams that joined Good night, everybody go and join your
holiday weekend hasn't happened yet, and I keep refreshing to see,
but you certainly are are wondering what the other dominoes
to fall are and as we talked about a little
bit last night, what that scheduling algorithm becomes on the

(20:57):
other side, right in terms of rivalry is like we've
seen with the other conferences, to shift away from divisions
of Hey, here's three quote rivals that you play each week,
each each year, I should say, and then you you
shift in and rotate the rest of the schedule. Interesting conceptually,
would be curious to see how that would play, and

(21:18):
certainly wondering where USC and u c l A fit
within the current divisions if they stay intact, and how
things get shuffled about. Yeah, you know what's interesting is
West Coast teams in general kind of get the raw
deal in terms of travel even in the NFL, and um,
you know that it's just a reality, right, you know,

(21:40):
you travel a lot more if you're the Seahawks, the Chargers,
the Rams, the Raiders. When they were in Oakland, they're
a little bit closer to center now, you know a
little bit in Nevada. But you get you get the drift.
Like West Coast teams, they they're up against it a
little bit, especially when they're playing out of the Vision.
For the most part, it's there's there's not short flights.

(22:03):
So the way it's gonna work out for U C,
l A, and UC is there's gonna be a lot
of three day trips or two day trips where they're
gonna go out a day early, they're gonna try to
charter back right after the game ends on game day,
and it's just gonna be what it is, you know,
it's it's it's gonna be interesting how they set up
the other sports though, because I know obviously with Title

(22:26):
nine with Olympic Sports, if all sports joined the same conference,
you're going to have to accommodate. You're gonna find you're
gonna find out how to make all those pieces fit though,
because at the end of the day, the paycheck that
you're receiving from these broadcasting rights deals that the big
ten HASH has consummated with UH with Fox, I mean,

(22:50):
you're you're getting a tremendous paycheck just being a part
of this, you know, So they'll figure it out, um.
I I I I can promise you that. And also
the athletes. Yeah, you're talking about name, image and likeness.
You got U c l A players who are going
to be playing in primetime games on the East Coast
against teams that have you know, appeared recently in the

(23:13):
UH the College Football Playoff. I mean that that stuff
helps sell also, So you have a big game against
the buck Eyes, you have a big game against the
Nitney Lines. You have a big game against Michigan. Should
they be on top of this season? You know, should
Notre Dame join the Big Tent? Should Oregon join the
Big Ten? Like, if you have UH participant list, that

(23:36):
gets you even more views, more likes, more hits on
your social media profile. If you're one of these guys
who's chasing the name, image and likeness dream, it's going
to only help. Yeah, money starts to flow. I mean,
think about the money to be made now with those
extra eyeballs off the Big ten network. Think of U
c l A. Gymnastics, some of the stars that have

(23:56):
made viral videos and crazy for performances routine. I mean
it's called the routine, but I mean there they look
effortless watching them bandy about uh and bounce across a
mat and just leave me marveling that I barely get
out of bed each morning. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays

(24:17):
at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Hey, this is
Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning on my podcast,
Straight Fired with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports
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Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest

(24:40):
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a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever
you get your podcasts. Kevin Durant, I was having this
conversation with our executive, who's Bou Benson in for Justin

(25:02):
Frostburg tonight with Kevin Durant, I'm starting to treat him
a little bit like I I did the entire situation
with Aaron Rodgers and uh Russell Wilson before he eventually
got dealt that you put it out with your media
minions of uh no, I'm not satisfied. I want out,
Like get in front of a microphone, you get you
find your way into a lot of scenarios where you're

(25:23):
chirping or you're on Twitter. So just say, just say it,
Just say what you want, uh and be done with it.
But it's curiosity of all the reporting that we'd had
of all right, he wants to make sure that Kyrie
is there. Well, Gyrie is back, right, opts into his deal,
didn't get an extension, but he's he's there for this year.
So the old all right, can't you just get through

(25:44):
at least a training camp and maybe there's still hope
that you can get a long term deal into play
or maybe I don't know, the nets want to see
that Kyrie actually wants to play basketball again, don't figure well,
And and and you know, the one thing I will
say and add to the equation here is the fact
that they didn't extend Kyrie might have been a signal

(26:07):
also to Kevin Durant, now that you think about it, right,
that makes him easier to trade. Then if he has
a long term extension, you know, because that can be
worked out with the new team, whereas if it's already
hammered out, you know, in assign and trade scenario with
the Nets, or or really if they make a commitment,

(26:27):
chances are it's because they want to keep them, you know,
so that that turns off trade candidates as well. You know,
that's the reason why this was such a surprise because
as we outlined yesterday, Mikey, I mean, Kevin Durant hasn't
even started game one on a four year contract extension
he signed with the Nets, So it is strange. And

(26:47):
I do agree with you though, the back channeling that
has to occur when it comes to athletes asking out
of a situation. I guess the only thing you could
say if they if if they never said it in
their own words, and say all the trades go sideways
and Kevin Durant somehow ends up playing for the Brooklyn Nets.

(27:09):
I guess he could come back and say, yeah, look,
there were frustrations on both sides, but um, we we
figured it out, as opposed to then having to answer
questions for his exact words. You know, remember Kevin, when
you said I can't play here anymore? Why is it
that you can now play here, you know, Whereas if

(27:29):
it's some agent talking or if it's just a sourced
report that was leaked, it's a lot easier to handle
the public backlash on the other side of a failed,
uh failed trade attempt. Well, if you listen to him
and believe him at his words, he doesn't care what
you think. That he floats on, which we all know
is um well nonsense, um. But look, it's his world.

(27:51):
We're just living in and trying to read the tea
leaves currently. You know, I again would hold my stance
on part two of this, just like the Packers did
with Aaron Rodgers. You're either here or you're not. You know,
we're not trading you just because you're you're throwing a
hissy fit and getting far less assets back, and we're

(28:13):
gonna lose lose anyway, right where if you want, if
we trade you, what are we getting back in return?
I actually have a thought and it's based on one
of the names that Steve brought up in his update.
We'll do that in about five minutes from now, that
maybe uh it carries risk but might give you the
rewards you're seeking. But being able to just say you
signed a four year extension with us, you play in Brooklyn,

(28:35):
or you're hanging out on Twitter, or you co host
a show with David Letterman and move on right and
and really put it to the wall in terms of
what he wants to do in terms of extending his career.
And he's deal. But but but here's the problem. Here's
the problem. You know, we we know this is a
player run league at this point, and we know that

(28:58):
you're not only trading on actual capital, uh, you're trading
on draft capital. And you're also trading on social capital.
You're trading on whether or not a free agent can
trust you. And how you treat stars is very important
in this league. It's very important in all leagues. You know,

(29:18):
if all of a sudden, you know, and Aaron Donald
was suddenly traded to Detroit for four first round picks
because overnight the Los Angeles Rams, you know, decided to
do in and about face and begin their rebuild. Yeah,
I mean, it would give star players a little reticence

(29:41):
to do business with the Rams for a little while.
It's like whoa, whoa, whoa. You just took a corner
stone piece of your franchise and you just you just
spun them off like that. Now, I'm not saying Kevin
Durant has been in Brooklyn for an extended cup of
coffee like this isn't like he's been there like Steph
Curry and Golden State. But but the fact remains. If

(30:03):
if you're trying to build a social rapport and a
trust with other free agents, right now, Kevin Durant looks
like the villain. If you're the nets, you do not
want that narrative to flip. You do not want to now,
don't get me wrong. I I you don't want to
get hosed on draft capital you can receive back from him,
But you also want to make sure that Kevin's happy

(30:24):
when he leaves. Even as mad as you are at him,
and as frustrated as you are with the situation that
he's now created for you this offseason, you have to
find a way to to appease him, because otherwise you
can miss out on who knows, you know, maybe Lebron
decides to finish his career in Brooklyn. Maybe you know,
you name it, Johan Moran at some point gets upset

(30:46):
with Memphis. But oh geez, remember the way they his
agent will know his You mean that they tried to
hold him up to his end of a contract that
he signed. Oh the horrors, it doesn't matter. I I know. Look,
I'm with you, and I understand everybody who is hearing
the sound of my voice like like these spoiled athletes
and Rich is just now, look Rich is doing doing what? What?

(31:08):
The only thing I know to do, which is telling
you the truth. And it's a hard truth. Oh I
I look, I completely recognized where certainly in the NBA
and the NFL guys have tried owing to Aaron Rodgers.
And doesn't mean that behind the scenes they didn't wield
some cloud. And for Aaron Rodgers, he certainly got his
giant pot of gold to stick around, so you know,

(31:29):
it all worked out his favor. And if you can
argue about whether he needed to get all that cash
or not, I'm not gonna tell and run a guy's wallet.
But generally, you signed a deal and before the ink
in this case is really even dry because you haven't
played a minute on the contract that to allegedly want out. Now,

(31:49):
you could always say, hey, they didn't give me what
we had agreed to in principle, and I guess That's
where this would lie in in terms of how Kyrie
was handled because to hear kay Re say it, he
mean he was part of the brain trust going forward,
so that always that always rolls through. But what it
does is right now, it cloggs the systems and as

(32:11):
and as Adrian Wosnerowski said, it could take a couple
of days to flush this out. What a great metaphor
and analogy, Uh and visual because perhaps you're having dinner
right now. He's rich Or Burger in for Jason Smith
on Mike Armen The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmen
here Fox Sports Radio. I'll tell you one player whose
name came up and Steve's update that might solve some
of the issues. But again there's risk involved. Hey, if

(32:34):
you're a valued costumer, you deserve a simple gesture of
appreciation from your credit card company. That's why I discover
matches all the cash back you've earned at the end
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discovered dot com slash match limitations do apply. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific. Hey,

(32:56):
welcome in Fox Sports Radio James Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at yourn Burger Invitation tonight. If your valued customer,
you deserve a simple gesture of appreciation from your credit
card company. That's why I discovered matches all the cash
back you've earned at the end of your first year.
Discover exceptionally common sense. Learn more discovered dot com slash
match limitations they do apply now. As the NBA silly

(33:20):
season is upon us, a lot of us just sit
around with bated breath waiting for what happens with Kevin Durant, right,
because nothing's happening with Kyrie Irving until that's settled, right,
particularly if the only real destination for Kyrie is Los Angeles.
Because in order to make the money work, either Anthony
Davis or Russell Westbrook has to come back in the deal.

(33:40):
And from all reports, there's no chance that Anthony Davis
is that guy. But what about this in terms of
facilitating a deal to get Kevin Durant moved Rich In
his update, Steve mentioned it seen it reported that it's
closing in five years two hundred thirty one mill billion dollars.

(34:00):
I and Williamson with the Belicans, who so you shuffle
him out to Brooklyn. Now, it's obviously got a lot
of risk associated given the fact that he's played in
eighty five games in his three years in the NBA.
Health and wait and all of those things. But we've
seen some great videos of him with his windmill dunks
and stuff. And obviously you wish and hope that it's

(34:22):
not Greg Odin and and rather some version of a
Joel and Bead story, right where you have injuries and
issues that beset your career at the start and then
eventually you find your way. Now, will you miss some
time now and again? Sure? But and Bead is now
annually an m VP candidate, right and the guy that

(34:43):
we talked about and now he fights about it. Uh,
congratulations in Nicole Ki. By the way, on that deal,
we'll get into that in about ten minutes because I
saw a lot of handwringing over that. Like, again, if
they're paying that kind of money, they can afford to
pay that kind of money. It's not hard. But do
that rant later. But if Zion's get into Max and

(35:03):
that was that was a question for a while Rich
as to weather that would happen. But at least get you,
uh in the ballpark to where maybe you can have
a conversation. Here's a young guy. You could try to
build a little bit of a lottery ticket. But the
money left on Katie's deal not horribly out of range. Right,
you gotta get within a certain percentage based on their

(35:26):
idiotic rules. Uh, and we moved forward from there. How's
that for us? I solve problems? Yeah? I look, I
think the Pelicans in terms of Zion Williamson um at
least from what we heard from Mark Medina last night,
or they're pretty set on building around him, like you
pointed out, uh, the idea of Joel embiid. There are

(35:50):
stories like that where a guy is kind of a
slow simmer first couple of years for whatever reasons. Injuries
are playing time. I mean James Harden. You look at
the first three years of his career and okay, see
it was relatively pedestrian. He was a really good six man,
and then he became a superstar when he left for Houston.
It's just it's just one of those things where you

(36:11):
really you don't know until you know. In this league,
it sounds like the Pelicans are interested in keeping Zion
Williamson around long term, but who knows. It also sounded
like Kade was interested in building a super team in
Brooklyn and now that that team could be without Harden, Kyrie,
Katie and left with Ben Simmons by the end of

(36:34):
this offseason. They the last guy who again has n't
played a game in time, right, So go all on
based on potential. Here's Simmons and here Zion, let's go
and I mean it's it's anything's possible, unlikely, but anything's possible.
USC and U c l A left after over a

(36:55):
hundred years. Don't be sad that it's over. At it happened.
We talked more NBA Silly Season, Big business next Rich
And for Jason, I'm Mike. Thanks for hanging out with
us here on Fox Sports Radio.