June 30, 2025 • 46 mins
Dan Woike joins us to talk about Lebron opting into his contract and top Laker targets with free agency beginning this afternoon. We discuss Bill Plaschke's recent article on Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick needing a longer leash under the new ownership group. Former Laker, Malik Beasley, is the subject of an NBA investigation into gambling.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
And we continue on. Fred Rogan Jonas knocks in today
for Rodney on a five seventy LA Sports. Before the break,
we were talking about the Lakers and Rich Paul's statement
about you know, we understand, but we need to win. Now,
let's bring on a guy that always wins. He's got
some stuff that nobody else has. Today. It's our buddy,
(00:24):
Dan Woiki from the Athletic Dan. Thanks for jumping on here.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Guys, thank you for having me on a quiet day
on my end, I'm not doing anything else. This is great.
I was bored.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Wait a minute, You've got some breaking news, don't.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It's so weird to be on the phone today, guys. Yes,
I do. I do have some news. In the last
ten to fifteen minutes or so, I've had kind of
intel people from three different rival teams from the Lakers
that have linked them to the Anthony Meltin point of
attack defender coming off a knee injury could be a
(00:58):
real upside play, definitely the type of thing for a
team that is probably going to lose a defender here
in Dorian Phinney Smith almost certainly going to lose a
defender in Dorrian Phinney Smith and so you know, I
think that to me is is uh gives you a
little hint here as we had a little crumb as
we enter into free agency.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Did he go to cry? I can't remember.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, he's from I mean, he's from there. He's a
North thought I would play let's see.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay, Yeah, so the Anthony Melton, that's the guy right
now they're kind of taking a peek at.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yep. That's I mean, like I think, you know, it
seems like that's a guy that that would be one
of their targets here early in free agency. So yeah, look, look,
I mean I think good that he's defensive minded. You know,
there's a lot of the Lakers guys have been and
this gonna be my piece I think tomorrow, but the
Lakers have been really the main character in a lot
(01:56):
of ways in their early free free agency sort of
push in terms of you know, who's gonna play center,
the rich Paul Lebron, James statement, all of that stuff.
And I think, you know, there's a lot of talk
about let's get to it. Why do you guys ask me,
I'll tell you what I can share, all right, we'll
(02:17):
work from there.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
What did you make of Rich Paul's statement, with Lebron
picking up the fifty two point six million dollar player option,
is this sort of a kind of laying the groundwork
for a this is the final run, and we'll make
the most of it this year, and then we've got
to go in a different direction if need be, maybe
get out in front of it early.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, I mean, I think there's an element of that. Jonas,
I mean I think, you know, I had big questions
sort of how you know, life would sort of play
out with Lebron James as sort of a secondary figure
in team building. You know, the Lakers are are not
building this basketball team around Lebron James. You know, there's
(03:00):
a lot of consideration for like, we have Lebron, we
have to do stuff now to win now, because the
hope is that they'll have Luka Doctis for ten years,
you know, and that's that is clearly the priority. And
there are you know, this is the reaction in some
(03:20):
ways to that news. Whether that means it's you know,
Lebron is the Laker, Whether that means you somewhere else
obviously still like really remains to be seen. I think
if it reads a little murky, if it reads a
little vague. I think that's because it's supposed.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
To trade deadline. Let's say the Lakers are not good
to win it by the trade deadline, you think Lebron
would wave his no trade and go try to get
a ring.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I mean he that had He hasn't shown a hasn't
shown an interest to do that now, you know, as
of yet. But I think, like, sorry, guys, phone is,
phone is going off here. Nothing nothing new by the
you know, I think like, sorry, ask again, I'm sorry, Oh,
(04:07):
the trade deadline. Look, I think it's a possibility, certainly. Sorry,
I think it's a possibility, guys. But I'm gonna tell
I'm gonna tell you this. I think this, if you
wanted to be traded, I think you would requested the
trade right right. And also the trades for him are tricky.
He makes a ton of money. He makes a ton
(04:30):
of money, and there are rules that limit who can
and can't trade for him. And you know, a very
particular team or type of team would be wanting to
trade for Lebron. James. I think, like, I haven't like
really thought about this, but you could probably like we
could probably go through the league right now. And I
could probably we could probably say twenty teams that would
(04:52):
just can't do it, that just have a minimum, and
it's probably closer to twenty five where it just doesn't
make any sense. But doesn't make sense for the Pacers
to trade for Lebronjacs. It doesn't make sense for the
Chicago Bulls to trade for Lebron Jacks. Like you know,
and if you start going through the league like that,
you know, the list gets smaller and then the mechanisms
to do it get even tighter than that. You know,
if you want to win a championship, and if the
(05:13):
goal is that, I don't think I can win a
championship in LA under these circumstances. I want to go
somewhere else, Like I mean, you might cross off fifteen
teams because the Western Conference is are juggernaut and everybody's
hurt in the East. You know that the truly the
one goal is to go try to win a title
somewhere the best pathway might be in the East.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Do you think that the changing ownership just happens to
coincide with this being his final, you know, potentially his
final you're with the Lakers, or do you think that
they maybe understand what the changing ownership, maybe their power
has diminished a little bit or their say in the
organization is.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I don't think that has any real play here, you know,
I mean as far as I know, like you know,
and when it comes to decision making right now, like
the new ownership isn't really that involved, you know, I
shouldn't say that. It's still like kind of the sense
has always been business as usual. Is like a phrase
I've heard a lot when I talk to people within
the Lakers, and you know, my tremendous new colleague Sam
(06:12):
Amic reported today, you know, in his column yesterday, I mean,
like the Lakers didn't talk extra years with Lebron. You know,
theo's the guy who opts out and signs one plus
one and then ops out and signs another one plus
one of then ops out and signs another one plus one, right,
Like that's been the playbook. Like that that wasn't discussed,
you know, and that's old ownership.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So well, do you think it wasn't discussed or do
you think Lebron's folks, Rich Paul didn't bring it up.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I mean, that's a good question. I don't have an
answer to that, And would hesitate to try and explain
one for fear of the aggregation that would come from it.
I think I think, I think what's clearest to say,
right is that, like, you know, if there were we
(07:02):
you know, I reported this at the time, other people
have to Lebron James didn't know about the Lucadnji trade.
He didn't know, right, And part of that trade, one
of the things that trade fully signaled was kind of
what the future of the franchise was going to look like. Right,
And while it shouldn't be breaking news that you're, you know,
forty plus year old superstar entering year twenty three is
(07:24):
not really the future of your franchise? Did this This
is the type of stuff that sort of solidifies it
if that you know, you know, and look, credit to
Lebron James for being good enough and he is still
good enough to be like even in this conversation, right,
but like they are their trips are behind Lukadancic. That's
(07:47):
that's who the Lakers are going to be.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, I think that kind of gets lost in all
of this. He's still an All NBA player, Like, he's
fantastic totally.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
And the framework, Yeah, I want to send the framework
on a lot of this stuff, right, It's sort of like,
you know, how does Austin Reeves fit with Luca, Luca
and Lebron James, And you know, how does this work
with Luca and Lebron James and us? Like, I mean,
as of today, Lebron James says one year left on
this contract, you know, like it's it's an expiring deal
(08:19):
right as of today. So are you making significant if
you're the Lakers? Are you making significant decisions on a
contract that's going to be over in twelve months? You know?
And I think I think the way that they're moving
is they're not you know, that's just that's just how
(08:41):
how it reads right now. We'll see, like these things
can change and we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Are you surprised Austin Reeves didn't jump on that extension?
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Not at all, not even a little. I think the
you know, the market for a player like Austin Reeves
the time when players his age don't hit free agency.
He's on one of the best contracts in the NBA,
and the way that league rules sort of work, you
can't just sort of offer him what he's worth and
(09:12):
an extension you can only offer him, you know, a
set raise. I think it's like, you know, like twenty
percent or something like that. I'm it's not a met
question as much as it probably I probably should have
that answer. But you know, they were only able to
offer him about you know, a little less than twenty
four million dollars, around twenty four million dollars per year.
I'm sorry, this is a guy who's going to get
(09:33):
I think it was a four year, ninety ninety four
million dollars extension was the max ticket offer him. He's
looking for more than that, right, and players of his
ilk in the NBA are making more than that. And
that's why I turned on the extension, you know. And
and it's it is a risk, right if he had to,
If he had to, he has a player option for
(09:55):
next season, you know, if for some reason that money's
out out there and he needs to extend there, if
there's an injury, you know, he's not going to be
living in an RV if it doesn't work out. Like
that's sort of the bet I think from the from
the Reefs perspective is that there's more money out there.
That being said, like, uh, he loves being a Laker,
(10:15):
I think prefers being a Laker, would like to remain
a Laker, and if there's a deal that makes sense,
you know, next summer, I think he would take a
deal that helps the Lakers win, you know. But like
you know, and there's there's significant interest out there in
him as a free agent.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Dan from your sources, what's the realistic plan or what
are the options that could be the answer to the
center position?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, I mean I think in free agency it's pretty
clear cut, you know. I think brook lope has is
at the top of that list, and I think he's
been there for a little while. The DeAndre Ayton kind
of surprise an emergence and free agency yesterday is certainly
something the Lakers are considering.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And uh sorry, I mean I get god, I.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Mean I get that. I get that. I think, like
I get it, there's risk involved in this. But I mean,
this is a guy who's town enough to be the
number run overall pick in a draft in which Lucadocs
was picked.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
I saw him playing college, man, that was my problem.
I actually saw him play in college, and I thought,
I know, this guy's got a bad attitude. I could
tell him college well.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
All that stuff. Look, you know, I think you need
to get a very motivated version of the outer eightent,
and that hasn't totally been on display the last few years.
I think, like, if you're talking about who the better
Luka Doocich fit is between Brook Lopez and say, like,
you know the Dotter Eighten Ayton, you know, is more
(11:51):
of a rim runner. He'll he'll run for lobs, he'll
do that stuff for Klobez is going to go the
opposite direction. He's going to pop out to the three
point line and create space that way, not just generally
played with you know, more vertical spacing bigs. That's kind
of an interesting sort of dynamic on that front. But
(12:11):
you know, I think he's there. Clin Capella is more
of that rim roller. But guys, and I've said this before.
I've caught hell for it on the internet, set it
on TV, caught health for it there, I've said it
on your show. They're not gonna They're not going to
push Chips in for a center because the fan base
likes him, you know, and then they don't believe he's
the long term answer. They're not trading like that just
(12:33):
isn't how they're moving right, now, you know, like they're
not going to sacrifice, you know, Austin reeves for a
center that they don't think is like the forever answer.
They're not going to sacrifice. You know, they're limited capital
in trades for you know, a center who's only marginally
better or might be a marginal better fit than what
(12:55):
they can do in free agency, and that that's smart.
It's a long term smart and it's short term. It's
kind of feels sort of underwhelming.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Well because it's almost as if trading for Luca extended
the opportunity for the championship window to be open longer,
and so they don't need to if now it's not
a like if Luca and Lebron were both in their
twenty third year or whatever it was, I can understand, hey,
let's go for it now. But it almost gives them
the flexibility to be like, no, we're not going to
(13:25):
just empty the chamber to try and bring in a
center on a one or a two year deal if
it doesn't make sense for our future. And I think,
you know, maybe that's maybe Lebron looks at it differently
obviously because his timeline is winding down, but maybe the
timelines just aren't adding up right now. But for the Lakers,
they feel like, wait, we're in a better position long
term than we would have been, so we can be
(13:45):
a little more patient.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yeah, I mean, I think there's something there to how
they're operating. I mean I think for me, like the
thing I would push back on and i'd push back
with both, you know, the way what was in Ris
Paul's statement and kind of the way that this stuff
is being talked about. You know, I would say that
the Lakers won a lot of games last year, like
(14:08):
they were really good, and they were really good going
into the playoffs, and in addition to catching a bad matchup,
had some bad luck and burning the house down, you know,
for instance, like this was a team that when Ruy Hotchimura, Lebron,
James Austin, reason Lucadachell started, they were ten and three.
That's a team that won a game in Oklahoma City,
(14:31):
won a game in Indiana, might have won a second
game in Oklahoma City if lucadagers doesn't get ejected. Uh So,
And I know these are like maybees and ohms and
maybe you know, and you shouldn't, like you can't you
can't buy a house with that type of stuff. That's
not take it to the bank evidence. But I mean,
like this idea that like this Lakers team is far
(14:51):
off from competing for a championship, even if it stays,
you know, sort of similar, I think is a little misguided.
They're certainly going to be better with Luca in year two.
They're shurelying be better with JJ Redick with a year
of experience under his belt as a head coach. There's
gonna be internal growth.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Look, you know, like does that slide in a different
direction for a player like Lebron James Eventually? It hasn't yet,
you know, So that's I think is important to like
sort of reset when we talk about the Lakers. Is like, like,
we all remember the five games against Minnesota, and we
should those are the five that matter most right and
(15:29):
why it went wrong. But there's a team that went
fifteen thirty two last year, two games out of second
in the West.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I mean, Dan, and let me ask you, just out
of curiosity, not Lakers related, but what's the juiciest rumor
you've heard of a potential big time move in the
NBA that could that could be that has a realistic
shot of happening from people you've talked to.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Oh my gosh, that's a really good question. I mean,
like like all of the like really juicy ms noun
substantiated stuff is mostly about the Lakers right now, you know.
But but like that's like, you know, like obviously, like
the Lebron stuff is like kicked off a firestorm around
the league. None of it feels actually all that real,
(16:15):
but people are wondering. You know, there's a lot of
that right now, you know. I think everything else is
sort of like we're in this weird sort of space.
That's a really good question. I wish I had a
better answer. I don't know, five point line next year,
let's do that one. No, I don't know. I'm just
getting that up. It's it's it's weird. Like I mean,
(16:41):
I've been pretty hyper focused on the Lakers. I mean,
like the Phinney Smith stuff is interesting from a Lakers perspective,
just because it does sort of speak to like, you know,
what they're trying to accomplish and how they're trying to
accomplish it. You know, He's like, we'll see what happens
that maybe there's some other teams that enter the fray
as this morning, it seemed like it was going to be,
(17:03):
you know, around a four year deal with the Houston Rockets,
which like that's just not a deal the Lakers are
going to make. They're not going to sign a four
year contract, you know, for that kind of player. And
the reason is is because like you know, they're thinking
beyond Lebron and they're thinking about who they can put
with Lukadacic, right and and so. And I think that
(17:26):
is you know that that is sort of like if
that's the driver behind the decisions the Lakers are making now,
and it's you know, if that doesn't sit well with fans,
I get it. You know, you've got to play the
games that are right in front of you, and you're
gonna have an at game schedule, and you want to
be competitive and you want to be good in that.
I think that, you know, they're cautious, They're moving cautiously
when it comes to that because they want to build
(17:47):
the best possible roster around the player that's going to
be the future their franchise.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Dan, did you were you aware that when you made
the career choice to cover the NBA that it was
going to basically a byproduct of that was it was
going to ruin your Fourth of July for the rest
of your christ of your life. Were you aware of that?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
You know, it became pretty clear early in it that
it was gonna stink on the fourth of July. I
like and one way, like the League has made it
better by like kind of putting in this like we're
gonna start on July first. Well we're not actually gonna
start on July first, because everybody was just doing it
at midnight and no one wants to stay up that late.
So now we're gonna do it at June, you know,
June thirtieth, at three pm on the West coast. So
(18:28):
it gets better. Like a lot of times business is
done by the fourth for a team, which is great. No,
but I mean it's horrible ceremony. Now I'll here here though,
I've got a hot take. I have a hot take. Guys, Guys,
I love America. This is a non America take. The
Fourth of July to me is uh, it's just a
(18:52):
it's it's a high variance holiday. Like there's a lot
of it that's incredible, right, Like the grielling, the fireworks
are well, the fireworks depending on like what your home
situation is, Like we have a dog, So like the
Fourth of July is fireworks, and like the fifth of
July is like cleaning up like vomit everywhere because he's
just having like a pull on panic attack, right the uh.
(19:13):
But like, guys, like it's a sweaty holiday, Like it
can be hot, yeah, you know, and it's during the day.
It's not really like as much of like a nighttime
hang it's always it's just a very sweaty. It can
be a very uncomfortable day for a holiday. Like I
really wish like the fourth of July was more on
like you know, like like in October the tenth in California,
(19:38):
that'd be a much better day to celebrate the fourth.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
So the heat, the heat is a real issue when
it comes to us.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, Fourth of July, all right, I mean I'm kind
of pasty, guys, Like you know, I put on suntan
lotion all the time. Yeah, but on suntan lotion all
the time, Like we all don't. We're not all blessed
like that. Just like like that gorgeous like bronze television
skin that Fred has, like you know, like I'm like
this is like you know, it's so weird because like
I'm not pale enough to be pale pale, but like
(20:07):
it's just you don't you're just like I'm just like
a constant shade of pink. I look like strawberry ice cream.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I get sunburned in the grocery store.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
It's uncooked chicken. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's not attractive. It's
not attractive, Hugh.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Well, here's the deal, Dan, It's called KT two. You'll
always look bronze if you use that makeup. KT too
is that success. Never never leave home without it. I'll
tell you that. My god, your skin looks fantastic. Thank you.
Your arms are so white though, right, well that's why
we're long sleeve shirts. All right, Dan, thanks for coming
(20:44):
on today. Uh, we'll probably talk to you again before
the fourth I.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Would think, right, we're in it. We'll see, we'll see
what's gonna happen. I mean, look, the Lakers are the
Lakers are very involved and stuff and how that all
plays out TVD.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
All right, Dan, we'll talk to you all right, tack
care guys.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Thanks Dan.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
You know Bill Plaski wrote something about the Lakers don't
make a move with Rob Polenka and JJ Reddick. Yet
we should talk about that, and then there is news
involving another NBA player in gambling.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
We've made it even easier to take LA Sports with
you this summer. Make AM five to seventy or your
favorite AM five seventy LA Sports podcast, a preset on
the iHeartRadio app, using Apple Car Play or Android Auto
road Trip all summer with LA Sports.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Jonas Knatsen today for Rodney, Bill Plaski wrote in The Times,
give JJ Reddick and Rob Polinka a chance. Give him
a chance with the new ownership and maybe more resources,
give them an opportunity to show what they can do.
He said that Polenka has done as well as he
(21:59):
can do. You have to give him credit for lebron coming,
but really that was magic.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
And JJ Reddick he thought was okay in his first year,
but admitted that he melted down at times and made
some decisions that were costly in the playoffs. You think,
but he said, don't don't rush here, don't don't pull
the trigger. Yet, give these guys a chance. So my
question is, will this upcoming season be do or die
for them? Do you think, Jonas?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I mean if it's a disaster, Yeah, I would. I
would think there could be some changes, but I don't.
I don't anticipate it being a disaster. And I would
agree Reddick did, I think a pretty good job. And
we can question, you know, the minutes he gave out
to certain players in the postseason.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Now he handled that.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
It did appear like later in the year he did
start to melt down somewhat and get a little bit
more frustrated. But I would imagine they're back, not only
for this year, but if they if they perform like
Dan was saying, and they're you know, D plus win
team again, and I'm making any changes. I can't imagine
unless it's a total meltdown, why would you give him
a chance, because then it feels like now we're back
(23:11):
to instability again. Like now it's back to constant turnover.
You know, like a coach coaches here a short time.
Even if they do good, they have one down year
and they're gone. I can't imagine that they want to
set up, especially under new ownership, start to lay the
groundwork of everybody's on the chopping block at all times.
Cause look, if this is about the Dodger regime and
(23:35):
what they did in LA and they have been pretty
patient with Dave Roberts, Like they were pretty patient with
Dave Roberts throughout the entire course of his struggles in
the postseason and look where it got him.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah, and also they had Don Mattingly as the manager
that gave him a couple of years. So I don't
anticipate anything happening, but I will say this, Mark Walter
and his group, they will put money into the franchise.
They'll invest because they're not built. They don't build things
that don't have sustained success or always on the cusp
(24:11):
or you're close. And they will bring analytics people and
they'll just increase the staff. They'll have more money to spend.
And then I think you'll see what they can do,
what Rob Polinka can do with more information, what JJ
Reddick can do when he has more information, And I
think that's how they'll judge it. But here's the thing.
They also don't want to hire somebody and get rid
(24:33):
of them that I do know about them. So if
they make a move, if they were to go out
and hire somebody to be the GM or president of
basketball operations, that guy's going to be there. Forever because
they want him to build this thing, build it for
sustained success. Always kind of there if you don't win it.
Now it's different in the NBA obviously, but they'll do that.
(24:57):
They'll figure out a way to do that. So yeah,
I just think this will be an interesting year for
both of them.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
How long was Ned Coletti working with the Dodgers before
the new owners decided to move on?
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Was it two or four years? Somewhere in there.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah, like there may be a similar situation to where
you know, they gave them in, you know, a little
bit of rope, a little bit of leeway, and then
they ultimately wanted to make a move. I just, yeah,
I think that. I think they're going to want to
put their fingerprints on the organization. And so whenever there's
(25:37):
a change in ownership at any company, people start to
get a little restless because you do wonder what's this
going to look like? Because no new owner wants to
just inherit something and not have any input on how
the thing that they purchased or the thing that they
bought into or took over is going to operate in
the short term or the long term. But if for
(26:00):
whatever reason, there's some struggles next year, and it doesn't
look like they're in the right direction. I do wonder
if new ownership has got their eyes and ears out
towards who could be a potential run the front office,
president of basketball ops, GM, etc.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Etc.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Whether it's Sam Presty or somebody like that. I do
think they probably are keeping an eye on what possibly
could happen in the future if there's any question about
whether or not Rob Plink is a guy especially to
run the team.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
So to go back to the Friedman versus ned topic,
so Yugunheim bought the team in twenty twelve and Freedman
was hired in the winter of twenty fourteen, so a
couple of years.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
So two years, yeah, makes sense. I'm just saying this
will be a year of observation. Also, it will be
the end of Lebron, so then they will be able
to move in a different direction and Lebron can't hold
anybody hostage anymore. I mean, this is the best time
for him to wrap it up after this year, it
(27:06):
really is. New guys will take over, I can assure you,
and they're not going to put up with what Jeanie
put up with with him, So it'll be a good
time to make a move.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I mean, can I can we go back to something
that you did during the interview with Dan Wiki, which
oh yeah, I thought was disrespectful.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Sure, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
What's your issue with DeAndre Ayton?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
The issue with him?
Speaker 3 (27:33):
The name got brought up and you got like audibly
sick on the air, like you almost you gave a
gagging sound on the air when DeAndre Ayton's name got
brought up. What is your your problem with DeAndre Ayton?
What's going on here?
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Pretty simple, Kevin, I think you'll back me up. When
he was playing in Arizona for Arizona, I saw, I
watched him. Jack was at Arizona State, so I I
got to see him play in person what it is?
And I thought, this guy's got just a terrible attitude.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
This is what it is.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
He really has a bad ad. I could see it
in college.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
This is what it is.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
He goes to the pros same thing, yeah, exact same thing,
and now he'd be a good fit. Really, he's been
a problem wherever he's going.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
So this is an Arizona thing because you've got Arizona
State ties, and because it was a very heated rivalry.
I think they call it the cactus cup. If I'm
not mistaken, You've got very, very heated rivals. And so
because of that, that is now bled over into his
NBA career, so much so that in the midst of
an interview with Dan Wiki, whose phone is going off
(28:41):
left and right like he's working at the DMB after
a three day weekend, you get physically sick on the
air when just the name DeAndre Aiden gets brought up.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Kevin, if I always had a problem with DeAndre eight.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
From day one, yes, I will back you up on
that as your take. I don't know if I'd necessarily
saying all of the exact same feelings, especially if he's
gonna have a smaller role, which he would if you
were here in this current iteration of the Lakers. But yes,
Fred as always from day one, had an issue of DeAndre.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Okay, what percentage of that issue with DeAndre Ayton is
his attitude, his style of play, or the fact that
he did go to Arizona not Arizona State.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
It had nothing to do with Arizona. I can hear
you trying to make it something, but it had nothing
to do with that.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Like you want. You told me on the side that
the New York Giants should be forgiven in how they
handled Saquon Barkley because they drafted camp Scataboo. You told
me that on the side. Then why did you bring
it up because he's from Arizona State. Now I was
I stopped. You said why because he's white. You're like, no,
(29:42):
there's nothing to do with it. He went to Arizona State.
They'll be fine. So it feels like you stored a
ten towards if they're an Arizona State guy, everything should
be okay.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
No, that's not true.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
You didn't see the fist pump that Fred had once
Indiana lost in the NBA finals. Say yeah, TJ McCall
didn't win. That's another one in the wildcam wild casts
not winning the championship with my watch, I watch that
makes sense.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Now it all makes sense.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
No, I'm just saying I am a big guy. It's
kind of like the D'Angelo Russell effect. I don't care
what you want to tell me. The guy came here,
he was entitled, he's been around the league, he came back.
Everybody wanted to believe he's a different guy. And what happened.
(30:31):
Maybe right, maybe he's more refined than his approach, but
it was like they don't change, can people don't change?
Tread No?
Speaker 5 (30:40):
See the issue with the Ashla Russell the second time
around was the kind of player that he was on
the court and the fit. No one had any issues
with his attitude. Ever, no one said anything about that. Yeah,
no second time around.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
But the second time around, his play on the court
and the fit that he wasn't happy. He wasn't happy Kevin.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
Yeah, that happens is sometimes and he wasn't happy. They
weren't happy, and they moved on. But okay, so we're
in the corner and have a bad, bad attitude.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Happy Was he happy? Was he happy in Brooklyn? Was
he happy in Minnesota?
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Well?
Speaker 5 (31:15):
He had his run as with Darvin Ham, which mini
players did, so that wasn't even exclusive to him. All
I'm saying is your an issue issue with D'anngela Russell
was the fact that he had a bad attitude when
he first came here, which is true. Okay, that was
not the issue the second time around?
Speaker 1 (31:27):
All right, So what what? Why does everybody keep moving them?
What is the problem? He's not a good fit?
Speaker 5 (31:34):
He just hasn't been a good fit.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
He won in the entire NBA, but a handful of
he did.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
I mean, Fred, he's a champion.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Though.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Look, I don't understand like the guy. The guy's a champion.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
I don't know why you have an issue with with
d'angela Russell. I mean he he helped win the nd
season tournament. Like why, why why do you have to
be so dismissive and why can't you just let bygones be by?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I should have let Yeah, you're right that you want
to NC tournament. What else needs to be said?
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Not just saying I got an I T tattoo on
his bicep, you know, with a with a trophy underneath.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I think DeAndre Ayton will be very much like D'angela Russell. There,
That's what I think. That's why I made that sound.
So do you want I don't understand why it's I
understand guys get frustrated. I understand that they may not
be happy. I got it. I understand that's life, and
it doesn't matter how much money you make. If you're
(32:32):
in a situation where you're unhappy, that's a tough spot
to be in. Got that too, But you gotta find
guys that are happy, that want to be there, that
want to compete. I mean when D'Angelo Russell was drafted,
that was a disaster in the early years. Do you
know Kevin.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Never deny that.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
I said that a second ago?
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Was he also the one who? Uh god, Okay, because
there's been so much of this that's gone on, who's
the one it like shared the TikTok video or the
ig post of Nick Young? Yeah, cheating on that?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Was?
Speaker 5 (33:10):
That was D'Angelo Russell.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Yes, you know, it's a learning moment. I mean, nobody
likes a rat, but you.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Know, a learning moment that's listen.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
I mean, you know he probably learned. He's probably very
careful now he's got burner phones. I mean, there, you
don't that's fair. He probably knows what he's doing now.
Who is your of all the people you worked with
in broadcasting, who would be your DeAndre Ayton comp somebody
was just a real pain in the ass.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Very good question. Yeah, And honestly, I don't know. I
really don't know. But here's why, because even when I
was at Channel four, we were kind of in our
own world. You know that when you came in. Yeah,
we let you in, but I was kind of we
were kind of in our own world, so we really
(33:57):
didn't deal with anybody. I mean, when I would do
the sports you know, Colleen Chuck, Paul John Beard back
in the day, whoever was anchoring, I would see them
for four minutes and then I'd leave, So I really
didn't have any interaction with him. I'd see him in
a hall. Hey, but not like everybody hung out together.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
And those of you guys are a family. Fred, That's
sounds like I'll have a family to me.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
You know what's funny about that? Can I tell you
what's really funny? And just from my personal feeling on it.
You know, the news team, the news team back in
the day, we're the news team. Really, we sat next
to each other for a half an hour. We're the tape.
(34:44):
It's four people that sat down with each other at
the same time.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
That was like my high school reunion. Yeah, you've got
all these people who all share this thing in common,
with literally nothing in common. Especially now, I couldn't wait
to leave. I got to get out of here, Like
there's a reason why I don't talk to any of
you people. Still there's a reason why we have zero
in common. We just happened to be in the same
room together.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
You know, the last reunion I went to and it
was maybe ten years I think it was, Yeah, my
ten year reunion. I go and I walk in and
maybe this is common and if it is, I'm sorry
I didn't realize it. I walk in. There are the
two people sitting there. They give you your name tag,
and there's a table. There's a table right in the front,
(35:30):
and it's a glass table, so you can look through
the glass and there are pictures of people there. And
it's probably like, I don't know twelve people, but you
don't know what that is. So you know, you walk in,
you get your name tag, and here's this table. So
(35:50):
I go up and I'm looking at the pictures of
the people. Now what would run through your mind? My
mind was these people must have done something exceptional or
these people are going to be spotlighted tonight at the reunion.
Yeah right, So I said, wow, what why are all
these pictures under this class? What happened? Oh they all died?
(36:14):
Oh Jesus, I really that's how we start the reunion.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
And you went out to your car and grabbed a shovel.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Well, let's I mean, I thought, what this is not?
This is not give you a warm feeling, right right?
You just walk in, you get your little high I'm
you stick it on your.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Which is just ridiculous. The whole the whole name tag
thing is so ridiculous. I switched name tags with somebody
like yeah, I walked in with my buddy. I was like, hey,
give me your name tag. And we just walked around
with the wrong name on. And then some I remember
some some girl got upset. I mean, now woman, but
you know, we were going to high school together.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
She was.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
But some woman got upset because she saw me. Look,
we were having a conversation and she saw me look
down at her name tag. She did you just try
and you just double check to see what my name was.
I was like, yes, wow, that's She's like, wow, that's rude.
What do you want me to lie and pretend I
know who you are?
Speaker 1 (37:08):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
I have no idea. What am I supposed to fake
it here?
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Again?
Speaker 3 (37:13):
I don't even want to be here, Like, there's a
reason why we don't talk. And I don't know who
you are and you don't know who I am, and
I've got the wrong name on anyways.
Speaker 5 (37:23):
By the way, sorry, I don't mean to cut you
off going back to your story because the in memoriam part,
my wife just had her reunion two weeks ago. Sure enough,
name tag walk in in Memoriam is the first thing
you see when you walk in the door.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
But this is clearly a thing.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
That gets done with memoriam. Kevin, uh No, it didn't.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
At least I don't recall it saying that. But there
there are photos and there are a couple of little
fake candles on the You kind of knew what it was.
It was a nebulous you knew exactly what the vibe
was supposed to be in that particular section, and it
was right when you walked in by the front door.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
And by the way, why should they get first treatment?
Like why why shoulould they be the opener? You know,
like like like shouldn't like we're the ones that are
there having to sit in traffic to try and get there.
I mean, there should be stuff rolled out for there
should be a picture of Fred when you walk into uh.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
No, you should not have that.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Yeah, like a picture. You don't need to Hey, hey,
where are they now? A TV star.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Well, no, that's what I thought. Those pictures were, like
where are they now? That's exactly what I thought.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
And you got competitive, Oh yeah, what channel are you on?
Speaker 1 (38:24):
I didn't do that. You know.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
The guy died two years ago, right.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
I think the thing that really finished me after that
at the reunion. Then you go when you start walking
around and talking to people. When I talked to a guy,
now he's ten years out of high school. I talked
to a guy ten years out of high school and
he had two teeth. There's like two teeth? What happened
to your teeth?
Speaker 3 (38:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:48):
What happened to you?
Speaker 2 (38:50):
You know?
Speaker 1 (38:50):
What happened to his teeth? Why don't you have any teeth?
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:54):
And I went no. Then a guy came up to
him and he's talk talking about welding. He's a welder.
I think, oh, this is interesting thing. The guy talking
to me for forty minutes about welding. I mean, how
many questions could I ask about welding? And I asked
a lot of them because I wanted to be really interested.
That was the reunion.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
The guy with two teeth, Yeah, did he say where
he went to college? Was it meth State?
Speaker 4 (39:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Fred went to high school with junkies and corpses. That's
what we've learned.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
All right, when we come back, we have to talk
about this NBA player in the gambling.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
Hello, Rogan and Rodney listener, did you know Am five
seventy LA Sports has a wide range of LA Sports podcasts.
Shows like Petros in Money. We are streaming Matt Dodger
Talk with David Vasse.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
The Dodger Podcast of Record.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
Clipper Talk Without a Musk, follow us all and many more.
Just go to AM five to seventy LA Sports on
the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
All Right, Jonas Noxen today for Rodney, enjoy your high
school reunion everybody, you know, I'd like to hear next
hour just came to me. Anybody got any reunion stories?
I think those would be great. Your old high school reunion.
How many have you gone to? What year? Let's do
(40:22):
that next hour, all right?
Speaker 3 (40:23):
And how many you walked in expecting to see that
three that annoyed you in class and instead she turned
out to be a rocket ship and you just had
no scouting ability back in the day. How about that?
Speaker 1 (40:37):
All right, let's do that next stories. Yeah, let's open
the phone lines here, Your reunion stories next hour. I
don't know if they can top ours, but you know
we'll find.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
Out, especially yours.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
You know mine was great. Where's that? Where's that guy's teeth?
Uh So? Sham Seraani reporting Malik Beasley under investigation for
gambling related to NBA games and prop bets during the
twenty three twenty four season when he played for the Bucks.
His attorney said an investigation is not a charge. He's
(41:10):
afforded the same right of presumption of innocence as anyone
else under the US Constitution. Right now, he's not been
charged with anything, but he's under investigation. It's not the
first athlete to be connected with gambling. Players in multiple
sports have been investigated or charged with betting. Here's the
thing with betting legal. Now, First of all, you can't,
(41:31):
by the way, you cannot bet on a sport you
play in period. I don't care if it's legal or not.
There's always a question of impropriety. There's always a question
of the integrity of the game. So you really can't
do that. You just can't. But now with gambling legal, Jonas,
(41:54):
should these rules be relaxed for other sports? You just
shouldn't be doing it.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah, I just think because I've heard some people say, well,
what do you expect when you gambling companies sponsor all
these leagues now? And there's so what? And I made
this point earlier this morning, Like I got a kitchen
full of knives downstairs. It doesn't mean I'm gonna use
them on my family, you know what I mean? Like,
just because it's there doesn't mean you have to partake
(42:22):
in doing anything that's corrupt or illegal or etce. Like
I look at this Malik Beasley situation, and look, the
only detail we got on the initial report was that
this is kind of in the weeds, but I do
think it's important. The only detail we got on the
initial report was that a game when he was playing
(42:44):
with Milwaukee January thirty first, twenty twenty four, there was
this significant amount of money that came in on a
prop bet. The prop bet was Malik Beasley's total rebounds
in the game, and a ton of money came in
on undertowo and a half rebounds, so much so that
the line jumped to minus money because of all the
(43:06):
money that poured in. Well, all of those bets lost
because he had hit over two and a half rebounds
by the second quarter, and so I'm looking at it
that going, well, that seems kind of counterproductive, like that
doesn't seem like it would back up the argument or
back up the investigation here. But the fact that that
was in the initial report, the fact that his attorney
(43:26):
already has a statement, the fact that there's an investigation
going on, tells me there's way more evidence than this.
And then all of a sudden, you've got all of
these video clips popping up on social media where it's like,
Malik Beasley's playing for the Timberwolves, the Timberwolves are trailing
by nine, there's a free throw at the end of
(43:49):
the game, the game is over. He takes the inbound
pass and goes court to court and dunks it at
the buzzer and they lose by seven. Well, okay, whatever,
I guess he's just trying to get a good couple
extra points. The spread was eight and a half, So
now people wonder did he have some sort of an
(44:09):
interest in the Timberwolves covering that plus eight and a
half because they were down nine. He took it end
to end, dunked it, and they lost by seven. So
you start to look at all these other examples throughout
the course of his career. He's had off the court
issues before. I just find it hard to believe this
becomes a story on the brink of free agent, like
(44:30):
on the eve of free agency, with him looking to
get a new deal. Reportedly was in discussions to get
a new, big money deal, and it's just over a
prop bet that didn't even hit. And I wonder if
this was the NBA letting players know a friendly reminder. Hey,
just so you're aware, we can find out who's doing
(44:51):
the funny stuff. This guy's about to sign a big
money deal and now potentially his careers in jeopardy because
he was fooling around with the wrong people when it
comes to betting on prop bets or gambling or anything
like that. I just I can't imagine that this is
the only detail from this report that would lead to
this being covered and talked about the way that it is.
I'm sorry, yeah to me.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
And you said it pretty quick to have a statement
like that, wouldn't you say this pretty quick? Hi, we
need to let you know we're investigating Malik Beasley. Boom.
Here's the statement.
Speaker 3 (45:25):
That's just it's just an investigation. It doesn't mean he's
guilty of anything. Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on,
what's going on here? Like I'm telling you, I would
be willing this is appropriate. I'd be willing to bet
that there's more to this story than just a rebound
prop bet from January and twenty twenty four. I think
(45:47):
there's going to be more examples and more evidence that
comes out of this, and it's worse than they're letting on.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
Next door. Let's hear your reunion stories. Are they better
than ours? Let's do that next hour, not right right
off the top, We'll do it next hour, and when
we come back, James Harden is back
And we continue on. Fred Rogan Jonas knocks in today
for Rodney on a five seventy LA Sports. Before the break,
we were talking about the Lakers and Rich Paul's statement
about you know, we understand, but we need to win. Now,
let's bring on a guy that always wins. He's got
some stuff that nobody else has. Today. It's our buddy,
(00:24):
Dan Woiki from the Athletic Dan. Thanks for jumping on here.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Guys, thank you for having me on a quiet day
on my end, I'm not doing anything else. This is great.
I was bored.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Wait a minute, You've got some breaking news, don't.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It's so weird to be on the phone today, guys. Yes,
I do. I do have some news. In the last
ten to fifteen minutes or so, I've had kind of
intel people from three different rival teams from the Lakers
that have linked them to the Anthony Meltin point of
attack defender coming off a knee injury could be a
(00:58):
real upside play, definitely the type of thing for a
team that is probably going to lose a defender here
in Dorian Phinney Smith almost certainly going to lose a
defender in Dorrian Phinney Smith and so you know, I
think that to me is is uh gives you a
little hint here as we had a little crumb as
we enter into free agency.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Did he go to cry? I can't remember.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, he's from I mean, he's from there. He's a
North thought I would play let's see.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay, Yeah, so the Anthony Melton, that's the guy right
now they're kind of taking a peek at.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yep. That's I mean, like I think, you know, it
seems like that's a guy that that would be one
of their targets here early in free agency. So yeah, look, look,
I mean I think good that he's defensive minded. You know,
there's a lot of the Lakers guys have been and
this gonna be my piece I think tomorrow, but the
Lakers have been really the main character in a lot
(01:56):
of ways in their early free free agency sort of
push in terms of you know, who's gonna play center,
the rich Paul Lebron, James statement, all of that stuff.
And I think, you know, there's a lot of talk
about let's get to it. Why do you guys ask me,
I'll tell you what I can share, all right, we'll
(02:17):
work from there.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
What did you make of Rich Paul's statement, with Lebron
picking up the fifty two point six million dollar player option,
is this sort of a kind of laying the groundwork
for a this is the final run, and we'll make
the most of it this year, and then we've got
to go in a different direction if need be, maybe
get out in front of it early.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, I mean, I think there's an element of that. Jonas,
I mean I think, you know, I had big questions
sort of how you know, life would sort of play
out with Lebron James as sort of a secondary figure
in team building. You know, the Lakers are are not
building this basketball team around Lebron James. You know, there's
(03:00):
a lot of consideration for like, we have Lebron, we
have to do stuff now to win now, because the
hope is that they'll have Luka Doctis for ten years,
you know, and that's that is clearly the priority. And
there are you know, this is the reaction in some
(03:20):
ways to that news. Whether that means it's you know,
Lebron is the Laker, Whether that means you somewhere else
obviously still like really remains to be seen. I think
if it reads a little murky, if it reads a
little vague. I think that's because it's supposed.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
To trade deadline. Let's say the Lakers are not good
to win it by the trade deadline, you think Lebron
would wave his no trade and go try to get
a ring.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I mean he that had He hasn't shown a hasn't
shown an interest to do that now, you know, as
of yet. But I think, like, sorry, guys, phone is,
phone is going off here. Nothing nothing new by the
you know, I think like, sorry, ask again, I'm sorry, Oh,
(04:07):
the trade deadline. Look, I think it's a possibility, certainly. Sorry,
I think it's a possibility, guys. But I'm gonna tell
I'm gonna tell you this. I think this, if you
wanted to be traded, I think you would requested the
trade right right. And also the trades for him are tricky.
He makes a ton of money. He makes a ton
(04:30):
of money, and there are rules that limit who can
and can't trade for him. And you know, a very
particular team or type of team would be wanting to
trade for Lebron. James. I think, like, I haven't like
really thought about this, but you could probably like we
could probably go through the league right now. And I
could probably we could probably say twenty teams that would
(04:52):
just can't do it, that just have a minimum, and
it's probably closer to twenty five where it just doesn't
make any sense. But doesn't make sense for the Pacers
to trade for Lebronjacs. It doesn't make sense for the
Chicago Bulls to trade for Lebron Jacks. Like you know,
and if you start going through the league like that,
you know, the list gets smaller and then the mechanisms
to do it get even tighter than that. You know,
if you want to win a championship, and if the
(05:13):
goal is that, I don't think I can win a
championship in LA under these circumstances. I want to go
somewhere else, Like I mean, you might cross off fifteen
teams because the Western Conference is are juggernaut and everybody's
hurt in the East. You know that the truly the
one goal is to go try to win a title
somewhere the best pathway might be in the East.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Do you think that the changing ownership just happens to
coincide with this being his final, you know, potentially his
final you're with the Lakers, or do you think that
they maybe understand what the changing ownership, maybe their power
has diminished a little bit or their say in the
organization is.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I don't think that has any real play here, you know,
I mean as far as I know, like you know,
and when it comes to decision making right now, like
the new ownership isn't really that involved, you know, I
shouldn't say that. It's still like kind of the sense
has always been business as usual. Is like a phrase
I've heard a lot when I talk to people within
the Lakers, and you know, my tremendous new colleague Sam
(06:12):
Amic reported today, you know, in his column yesterday, I mean,
like the Lakers didn't talk extra years with Lebron. You know,
theo's the guy who opts out and signs one plus
one and then ops out and signs another one plus
one of then ops out and signs another one plus one, right,
Like that's been the playbook. Like that that wasn't discussed,
you know, and that's old ownership.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So well, do you think it wasn't discussed or do
you think Lebron's folks, Rich Paul didn't bring it up.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I mean, that's a good question. I don't have an
answer to that, And would hesitate to try and explain
one for fear of the aggregation that would come from it.
I think I think, I think what's clearest to say,
right is that, like, you know, if there were we
(07:02):
you know, I reported this at the time, other people
have to Lebron James didn't know about the Lucadnji trade.
He didn't know, right, And part of that trade, one
of the things that trade fully signaled was kind of
what the future of the franchise was going to look like. Right,
And while it shouldn't be breaking news that you're, you know,
forty plus year old superstar entering year twenty three is
(07:24):
not really the future of your franchise? Did this This
is the type of stuff that sort of solidifies it
if that you know, you know, and look, credit to
Lebron James for being good enough and he is still
good enough to be like even in this conversation, right,
but like they are their trips are behind Lukadancic. That's
(07:47):
that's who the Lakers are going to be.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, I think that kind of gets lost in all
of this. He's still an All NBA player, Like, he's
fantastic totally.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
And the framework, Yeah, I want to send the framework
on a lot of this stuff, right, It's sort of like,
you know, how does Austin Reeves fit with Luca, Luca
and Lebron James, And you know, how does this work
with Luca and Lebron James and us? Like, I mean,
as of today, Lebron James says one year left on
this contract, you know, like it's it's an expiring deal
(08:19):
right as of today. So are you making significant if
you're the Lakers? Are you making significant decisions on a
contract that's going to be over in twelve months? You know?
And I think I think the way that they're moving
is they're not you know, that's just that's just how
(08:41):
how it reads right now. We'll see, like these things
can change and we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Are you surprised Austin Reeves didn't jump on that extension?
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Not at all, not even a little. I think the
you know, the market for a player like Austin Reeves
the time when players his age don't hit free agency.
He's on one of the best contracts in the NBA,
and the way that league rules sort of work, you
can't just sort of offer him what he's worth and
(09:12):
an extension you can only offer him, you know, a
set raise. I think it's like, you know, like twenty
percent or something like that. I'm it's not a met
question as much as it probably I probably should have
that answer. But you know, they were only able to
offer him about you know, a little less than twenty
four million dollars, around twenty four million dollars per year.
I'm sorry, this is a guy who's going to get
(09:33):
I think it was a four year, ninety ninety four
million dollars extension was the max ticket offer him. He's
looking for more than that, right, and players of his
ilk in the NBA are making more than that. And
that's why I turned on the extension, you know. And
and it's it is a risk, right if he had to,
If he had to, he has a player option for
(09:55):
next season, you know, if for some reason that money's
out out there and he needs to extend there, if
there's an injury, you know, he's not going to be
living in an RV if it doesn't work out. Like
that's sort of the bet I think from the from
the Reefs perspective is that there's more money out there.
That being said, like, uh, he loves being a Laker,
(10:15):
I think prefers being a Laker, would like to remain
a Laker, and if there's a deal that makes sense,
you know, next summer, I think he would take a
deal that helps the Lakers win, you know. But like
you know, and there's there's significant interest out there in
him as a free agent.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Dan from your sources, what's the realistic plan or what
are the options that could be the answer to the
center position?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, I mean I think in free agency it's pretty
clear cut, you know. I think brook lope has is
at the top of that list, and I think he's
been there for a little while. The DeAndre Ayton kind
of surprise an emergence and free agency yesterday is certainly
something the Lakers are considering.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And uh sorry, I mean I get god, I.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Mean I get that. I get that. I think, like
I get it, there's risk involved in this. But I mean,
this is a guy who's town enough to be the
number run overall pick in a draft in which Lucadocs
was picked.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
I saw him playing college, man, that was my problem.
I actually saw him play in college, and I thought,
I know, this guy's got a bad attitude. I could
tell him college well.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
All that stuff. Look, you know, I think you need
to get a very motivated version of the outer eightent,
and that hasn't totally been on display the last few years.
I think, like, if you're talking about who the better
Luka Doocich fit is between Brook Lopez and say, like,
you know the Dotter Eighten Ayton, you know, is more
(11:51):
of a rim runner. He'll he'll run for lobs, he'll
do that stuff for Klobez is going to go the
opposite direction. He's going to pop out to the three
point line and create space that way, not just generally
played with you know, more vertical spacing bigs. That's kind
of an interesting sort of dynamic on that front. But
(12:11):
you know, I think he's there. Clin Capella is more
of that rim roller. But guys, and I've said this before.
I've caught hell for it on the internet, set it
on TV, caught health for it there, I've said it
on your show. They're not gonna They're not going to
push Chips in for a center because the fan base
likes him, you know, and then they don't believe he's
the long term answer. They're not trading like that just
(12:33):
isn't how they're moving right, now, you know, like they're
not going to sacrifice, you know, Austin reeves for a
center that they don't think is like the forever answer.
They're not going to sacrifice. You know, they're limited capital
in trades for you know, a center who's only marginally
better or might be a marginal better fit than what
(12:55):
they can do in free agency, and that that's smart.
It's a long term smart and it's short term. It's
kind of feels sort of underwhelming.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Well because it's almost as if trading for Luca extended
the opportunity for the championship window to be open longer,
and so they don't need to if now it's not
a like if Luca and Lebron were both in their
twenty third year or whatever it was, I can understand, hey,
let's go for it now. But it almost gives them
the flexibility to be like, no, we're not going to
(13:25):
just empty the chamber to try and bring in a
center on a one or a two year deal if
it doesn't make sense for our future. And I think,
you know, maybe that's maybe Lebron looks at it differently
obviously because his timeline is winding down, but maybe the
timelines just aren't adding up right now. But for the Lakers,
they feel like, wait, we're in a better position long
term than we would have been, so we can be
(13:45):
a little more patient.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yeah, I mean, I think there's something there to how
they're operating. I mean I think for me, like the
thing I would push back on and i'd push back
with both, you know, the way what was in Ris
Paul's statement and kind of the way that this stuff
is being talked about. You know, I would say that
the Lakers won a lot of games last year, like
(14:08):
they were really good, and they were really good going
into the playoffs, and in addition to catching a bad matchup,
had some bad luck and burning the house down, you know,
for instance, like this was a team that when Ruy Hotchimura, Lebron,
James Austin, reason Lucadachell started, they were ten and three.
That's a team that won a game in Oklahoma City,
(14:31):
won a game in Indiana, might have won a second
game in Oklahoma City if lucadagers doesn't get ejected. Uh So,
And I know these are like maybees and ohms and
maybe you know, and you shouldn't, like you can't you
can't buy a house with that type of stuff. That's
not take it to the bank evidence. But I mean,
like this idea that like this Lakers team is far
(14:51):
off from competing for a championship, even if it stays,
you know, sort of similar, I think is a little misguided.
They're certainly going to be better with Luca in year two.
They're shurelying be better with JJ Redick with a year
of experience under his belt as a head coach. There's
gonna be internal growth.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Look, you know, like does that slide in a different
direction for a player like Lebron James Eventually? It hasn't yet,
you know, So that's I think is important to like
sort of reset when we talk about the Lakers. Is like, like,
we all remember the five games against Minnesota, and we
should those are the five that matter most right and
(15:29):
why it went wrong. But there's a team that went
fifteen thirty two last year, two games out of second
in the West.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I mean, Dan, and let me ask you, just out
of curiosity, not Lakers related, but what's the juiciest rumor
you've heard of a potential big time move in the
NBA that could that could be that has a realistic
shot of happening from people you've talked to.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Oh my gosh, that's a really good question. I mean,
like like all of the like really juicy ms noun
substantiated stuff is mostly about the Lakers right now, you know.
But but like that's like, you know, like obviously, like
the Lebron stuff is like kicked off a firestorm around
the league. None of it feels actually all that real,
(16:15):
but people are wondering. You know, there's a lot of
that right now, you know. I think everything else is
sort of like we're in this weird sort of space.
That's a really good question. I wish I had a
better answer. I don't know, five point line next year,
let's do that one. No, I don't know. I'm just
getting that up. It's it's it's weird. Like I mean,
(16:41):
I've been pretty hyper focused on the Lakers. I mean,
like the Phinney Smith stuff is interesting from a Lakers perspective,
just because it does sort of speak to like, you know,
what they're trying to accomplish and how they're trying to
accomplish it. You know, He's like, we'll see what happens
that maybe there's some other teams that enter the fray
as this morning, it seemed like it was going to be,
(17:03):
you know, around a four year deal with the Houston Rockets,
which like that's just not a deal the Lakers are
going to make. They're not going to sign a four
year contract, you know, for that kind of player. And
the reason is is because like you know, they're thinking
beyond Lebron and they're thinking about who they can put
with Lukadacic, right and and so. And I think that
(17:26):
is you know that that is sort of like if
that's the driver behind the decisions the Lakers are making now,
and it's you know, if that doesn't sit well with fans,
I get it. You know, you've got to play the
games that are right in front of you, and you're
gonna have an at game schedule, and you want to
be competitive and you want to be good in that.
I think that, you know, they're cautious, They're moving cautiously
when it comes to that because they want to build
(17:47):
the best possible roster around the player that's going to
be the future their franchise.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Dan, did you were you aware that when you made
the career choice to cover the NBA that it was
going to basically a byproduct of that was it was
going to ruin your Fourth of July for the rest
of your christ of your life. Were you aware of that?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
You know, it became pretty clear early in it that
it was gonna stink on the fourth of July. I
like and one way, like the League has made it
better by like kind of putting in this like we're
gonna start on July first. Well we're not actually gonna
start on July first, because everybody was just doing it
at midnight and no one wants to stay up that late.
So now we're gonna do it at June, you know,
June thirtieth, at three pm on the West coast. So
(18:28):
it gets better. Like a lot of times business is
done by the fourth for a team, which is great. No,
but I mean it's horrible ceremony. Now I'll here here though,
I've got a hot take. I have a hot take. Guys, Guys,
I love America. This is a non America take. The
Fourth of July to me is uh, it's just a
(18:52):
it's it's a high variance holiday. Like there's a lot
of it that's incredible, right, Like the grielling, the fireworks
are well, the fireworks depending on like what your home
situation is, Like we have a dog, So like the
Fourth of July is fireworks, and like the fifth of
July is like cleaning up like vomit everywhere because he's
just having like a pull on panic attack, right the uh.
(19:13):
But like, guys, like it's a sweaty holiday, Like it
can be hot, yeah, you know, and it's during the day.
It's not really like as much of like a nighttime
hang it's always it's just a very sweaty. It can
be a very uncomfortable day for a holiday. Like I
really wish like the fourth of July was more on
like you know, like like in October the tenth in California,
(19:38):
that'd be a much better day to celebrate the fourth.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
So the heat, the heat is a real issue when
it comes to us.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, Fourth of July, all right, I mean I'm kind
of pasty, guys, Like you know, I put on suntan
lotion all the time. Yeah, but on suntan lotion all
the time, Like we all don't. We're not all blessed
like that. Just like like that gorgeous like bronze television
skin that Fred has, like you know, like I'm like
this is like you know, it's so weird because like
I'm not pale enough to be pale pale, but like
(20:07):
it's just you don't you're just like I'm just like
a constant shade of pink. I look like strawberry ice cream.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I get sunburned in the grocery store.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
It's uncooked chicken. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's not attractive. It's
not attractive, Hugh.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Well, here's the deal, Dan, It's called KT two. You'll
always look bronze if you use that makeup. KT too
is that success. Never never leave home without it. I'll
tell you that. My god, your skin looks fantastic. Thank you.
Your arms are so white though, right, well that's why
we're long sleeve shirts. All right, Dan, thanks for coming
(20:44):
on today. Uh, we'll probably talk to you again before
the fourth I.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Would think, right, we're in it. We'll see, we'll see
what's gonna happen. I mean, look, the Lakers are the
Lakers are very involved and stuff and how that all
plays out TVD.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
All right, Dan, we'll talk to you all right, tack
care guys.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Thanks Dan.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
You know Bill Plaski wrote something about the Lakers don't
make a move with Rob Polenka and JJ Reddick. Yet
we should talk about that, and then there is news
involving another NBA player in gambling.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
We've made it even easier to take LA Sports with
you this summer. Make AM five to seventy or your
favorite AM five seventy LA Sports podcast, a preset on
the iHeartRadio app, using Apple Car Play or Android Auto
road Trip all summer with LA Sports.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Jonas Knatsen today for Rodney, Bill Plaski wrote in The Times,
give JJ Reddick and Rob Polinka a chance. Give him
a chance with the new ownership and maybe more resources,
give them an opportunity to show what they can do.
He said that Polenka has done as well as he
(21:59):
can do. You have to give him credit for lebron coming,
but really that was magic.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
And JJ Reddick he thought was okay in his first year,
but admitted that he melted down at times and made
some decisions that were costly in the playoffs. You think,
but he said, don't don't rush here, don't don't pull
the trigger. Yet, give these guys a chance. So my
question is, will this upcoming season be do or die
for them? Do you think, Jonas?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I mean if it's a disaster, Yeah, I would. I
would think there could be some changes, but I don't.
I don't anticipate it being a disaster. And I would
agree Reddick did, I think a pretty good job. And
we can question, you know, the minutes he gave out
to certain players in the postseason.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Now he handled that.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
It did appear like later in the year he did
start to melt down somewhat and get a little bit
more frustrated. But I would imagine they're back, not only
for this year, but if they if they perform like
Dan was saying, and they're you know, D plus win
team again, and I'm making any changes. I can't imagine
unless it's a total meltdown, why would you give him
a chance, because then it feels like now we're back
(23:11):
to instability again. Like now it's back to constant turnover.
You know, like a coach coaches here a short time.
Even if they do good, they have one down year
and they're gone. I can't imagine that they want to
set up, especially under new ownership, start to lay the
groundwork of everybody's on the chopping block at all times.
Cause look, if this is about the Dodger regime and
(23:35):
what they did in LA and they have been pretty
patient with Dave Roberts, Like they were pretty patient with
Dave Roberts throughout the entire course of his struggles in
the postseason and look where it got him.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah, and also they had Don Mattingly as the manager
that gave him a couple of years. So I don't
anticipate anything happening, but I will say this, Mark Walter
and his group, they will put money into the franchise.
They'll invest because they're not built. They don't build things
that don't have sustained success or always on the cusp
(24:11):
or you're close. And they will bring analytics people and
they'll just increase the staff. They'll have more money to spend.
And then I think you'll see what they can do,
what Rob Polinka can do with more information, what JJ
Reddick can do when he has more information, And I
think that's how they'll judge it. But here's the thing.
They also don't want to hire somebody and get rid
(24:33):
of them that I do know about them. So if
they make a move, if they were to go out
and hire somebody to be the GM or president of
basketball operations, that guy's going to be there. Forever because
they want him to build this thing, build it for
sustained success. Always kind of there if you don't win it.
Now it's different in the NBA obviously, but they'll do that.
(24:57):
They'll figure out a way to do that. So yeah,
I just think this will be an interesting year for
both of them.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
How long was Ned Coletti working with the Dodgers before
the new owners decided to move on?
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Was it two or four years? Somewhere in there.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah, like there may be a similar situation to where
you know, they gave them in, you know, a little
bit of rope, a little bit of leeway, and then
they ultimately wanted to make a move. I just, yeah,
I think that. I think they're going to want to
put their fingerprints on the organization. And so whenever there's
(25:37):
a change in ownership at any company, people start to
get a little restless because you do wonder what's this
going to look like? Because no new owner wants to
just inherit something and not have any input on how
the thing that they purchased or the thing that they
bought into or took over is going to operate in
the short term or the long term. But if for
(26:00):
whatever reason, there's some struggles next year, and it doesn't
look like they're in the right direction. I do wonder
if new ownership has got their eyes and ears out
towards who could be a potential run the front office,
president of basketball ops, GM, etc.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Etc.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Whether it's Sam Presty or somebody like that. I do
think they probably are keeping an eye on what possibly
could happen in the future if there's any question about
whether or not Rob Plink is a guy especially to
run the team.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
So to go back to the Friedman versus ned topic,
so Yugunheim bought the team in twenty twelve and Freedman
was hired in the winter of twenty fourteen, so a
couple of years.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
So two years, yeah, makes sense. I'm just saying this
will be a year of observation. Also, it will be
the end of Lebron, so then they will be able
to move in a different direction and Lebron can't hold
anybody hostage anymore. I mean, this is the best time
for him to wrap it up after this year, it
(27:06):
really is. New guys will take over, I can assure you,
and they're not going to put up with what Jeanie
put up with with him, So it'll be a good
time to make a move.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I mean, can I can we go back to something
that you did during the interview with Dan Wiki, which
oh yeah, I thought was disrespectful.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Sure, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
What's your issue with DeAndre Ayton?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
The issue with him?
Speaker 3 (27:33):
The name got brought up and you got like audibly
sick on the air, like you almost you gave a
gagging sound on the air when DeAndre Ayton's name got
brought up. What is your your problem with DeAndre Ayton?
What's going on here?
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Pretty simple, Kevin, I think you'll back me up. When
he was playing in Arizona for Arizona, I saw, I
watched him. Jack was at Arizona State, so I I
got to see him play in person what it is?
And I thought, this guy's got just a terrible attitude.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
This is what it is.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
He really has a bad ad. I could see it
in college.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
This is what it is.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
He goes to the pros same thing, yeah, exact same thing,
and now he'd be a good fit. Really, he's been
a problem wherever he's going.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
So this is an Arizona thing because you've got Arizona
State ties, and because it was a very heated rivalry.
I think they call it the cactus cup. If I'm
not mistaken, You've got very, very heated rivals. And so
because of that, that is now bled over into his
NBA career, so much so that in the midst of
an interview with Dan Wiki, whose phone is going off
(28:41):
left and right like he's working at the DMB after
a three day weekend, you get physically sick on the
air when just the name DeAndre Aiden gets brought up.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Kevin, if I always had a problem with DeAndre eight.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
From day one, yes, I will back you up on
that as your take. I don't know if I'd necessarily
saying all of the exact same feelings, especially if he's
gonna have a smaller role, which he would if you
were here in this current iteration of the Lakers. But yes,
Fred as always from day one, had an issue of DeAndre.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Okay, what percentage of that issue with DeAndre Ayton is
his attitude, his style of play, or the fact that
he did go to Arizona not Arizona State.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
It had nothing to do with Arizona. I can hear
you trying to make it something, but it had nothing
to do with that.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Like you want. You told me on the side that
the New York Giants should be forgiven in how they
handled Saquon Barkley because they drafted camp Scataboo. You told
me that on the side. Then why did you bring
it up because he's from Arizona State. Now I was
I stopped. You said why because he's white. You're like, no,
(29:42):
there's nothing to do with it. He went to Arizona State.
They'll be fine. So it feels like you stored a
ten towards if they're an Arizona State guy, everything should
be okay.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
No, that's not true.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
You didn't see the fist pump that Fred had once
Indiana lost in the NBA finals. Say yeah, TJ McCall
didn't win. That's another one in the wildcam wild casts
not winning the championship with my watch, I watch that
makes sense.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Now it all makes sense.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
No, I'm just saying I am a big guy. It's
kind of like the D'Angelo Russell effect. I don't care
what you want to tell me. The guy came here,
he was entitled, he's been around the league, he came back.
Everybody wanted to believe he's a different guy. And what happened.
(30:31):
Maybe right, maybe he's more refined than his approach, but
it was like they don't change, can people don't change?
Tread No?
Speaker 5 (30:40):
See the issue with the Ashla Russell the second time
around was the kind of player that he was on
the court and the fit. No one had any issues
with his attitude. Ever, no one said anything about that. Yeah,
no second time around.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
But the second time around, his play on the court
and the fit that he wasn't happy. He wasn't happy Kevin.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
Yeah, that happens is sometimes and he wasn't happy. They
weren't happy, and they moved on. But okay, so we're
in the corner and have a bad, bad attitude.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Happy Was he happy? Was he happy in Brooklyn? Was
he happy in Minnesota?
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Well?
Speaker 5 (31:15):
He had his run as with Darvin Ham, which mini
players did, so that wasn't even exclusive to him. All
I'm saying is your an issue issue with D'anngela Russell
was the fact that he had a bad attitude when
he first came here, which is true. Okay, that was
not the issue the second time around?
Speaker 1 (31:27):
All right, So what what? Why does everybody keep moving them?
What is the problem? He's not a good fit?
Speaker 5 (31:34):
He just hasn't been a good fit.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
He won in the entire NBA, but a handful of
he did.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
I mean, Fred, he's a champion.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Though.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Look, I don't understand like the guy. The guy's a champion.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
I don't know why you have an issue with with
d'angela Russell. I mean he he helped win the nd
season tournament. Like why, why why do you have to
be so dismissive and why can't you just let bygones be by?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I should have let Yeah, you're right that you want
to NC tournament. What else needs to be said?
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Not just saying I got an I T tattoo on
his bicep, you know, with a with a trophy underneath.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I think DeAndre Ayton will be very much like D'angela Russell. There,
That's what I think. That's why I made that sound.
So do you want I don't understand why it's I
understand guys get frustrated. I understand that they may not
be happy. I got it. I understand that's life, and
it doesn't matter how much money you make. If you're
(32:32):
in a situation where you're unhappy, that's a tough spot
to be in. Got that too, But you gotta find
guys that are happy, that want to be there, that
want to compete. I mean when D'Angelo Russell was drafted,
that was a disaster in the early years. Do you
know Kevin.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Never deny that.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
I said that a second ago?
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Was he also the one who? Uh god, Okay, because
there's been so much of this that's gone on, who's
the one it like shared the TikTok video or the
ig post of Nick Young? Yeah, cheating on that?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Was?
Speaker 5 (33:10):
That was D'Angelo Russell.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Yes, you know, it's a learning moment. I mean, nobody
likes a rat, but you.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Know, a learning moment that's listen.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
I mean, you know he probably learned. He's probably very
careful now he's got burner phones. I mean, there, you
don't that's fair. He probably knows what he's doing now.
Who is your of all the people you worked with
in broadcasting, who would be your DeAndre Ayton comp somebody
was just a real pain in the ass.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Very good question. Yeah, And honestly, I don't know. I
really don't know. But here's why, because even when I
was at Channel four, we were kind of in our
own world. You know that when you came in. Yeah,
we let you in, but I was kind of we
were kind of in our own world, so we really
(33:57):
didn't deal with anybody. I mean, when I would do
the sports you know, Colleen Chuck, Paul John Beard back
in the day, whoever was anchoring, I would see them
for four minutes and then I'd leave, So I really
didn't have any interaction with him. I'd see him in
a hall. Hey, but not like everybody hung out together.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
And those of you guys are a family. Fred, That's
sounds like I'll have a family to me.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
You know what's funny about that? Can I tell you
what's really funny? And just from my personal feeling on it.
You know, the news team, the news team back in
the day, we're the news team. Really, we sat next
to each other for a half an hour. We're the tape.
(34:44):
It's four people that sat down with each other at
the same time.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
That was like my high school reunion. Yeah, you've got
all these people who all share this thing in common,
with literally nothing in common. Especially now, I couldn't wait
to leave. I got to get out of here, Like
there's a reason why I don't talk to any of
you people. Still there's a reason why we have zero
in common. We just happened to be in the same
room together.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
You know, the last reunion I went to and it
was maybe ten years I think it was, Yeah, my
ten year reunion. I go and I walk in and
maybe this is common and if it is, I'm sorry
I didn't realize it. I walk in. There are the
two people sitting there. They give you your name tag,
and there's a table. There's a table right in the front,
(35:30):
and it's a glass table, so you can look through
the glass and there are pictures of people there. And
it's probably like, I don't know twelve people, but you
don't know what that is. So you know, you walk in,
you get your name tag, and here's this table. So
(35:50):
I go up and I'm looking at the pictures of
the people. Now what would run through your mind? My
mind was these people must have done something exceptional or
these people are going to be spotlighted tonight at the reunion.
Yeah right, So I said, wow, what why are all
these pictures under this class? What happened? Oh they all died?
(36:14):
Oh Jesus, I really that's how we start the reunion.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
And you went out to your car and grabbed a shovel.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Well, let's I mean, I thought, what this is not?
This is not give you a warm feeling, right right?
You just walk in, you get your little high I'm
you stick it on your.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Which is just ridiculous. The whole the whole name tag
thing is so ridiculous. I switched name tags with somebody
like yeah, I walked in with my buddy. I was like, hey,
give me your name tag. And we just walked around
with the wrong name on. And then some I remember
some some girl got upset. I mean, now woman, but
you know, we were going to high school together.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
She was.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
But some woman got upset because she saw me. Look,
we were having a conversation and she saw me look
down at her name tag. She did you just try
and you just double check to see what my name was.
I was like, yes, wow, that's She's like, wow, that's rude.
What do you want me to lie and pretend I
know who you are?
Speaker 1 (37:08):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
I have no idea. What am I supposed to fake
it here?
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Again?
Speaker 3 (37:13):
I don't even want to be here, Like, there's a
reason why we don't talk. And I don't know who
you are and you don't know who I am, and
I've got the wrong name on anyways.
Speaker 5 (37:23):
By the way, sorry, I don't mean to cut you
off going back to your story because the in memoriam part,
my wife just had her reunion two weeks ago. Sure enough,
name tag walk in in Memoriam is the first thing
you see when you walk in the door.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
But this is clearly a thing.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
That gets done with memoriam. Kevin, uh No, it didn't.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
At least I don't recall it saying that. But there
there are photos and there are a couple of little
fake candles on the You kind of knew what it was.
It was a nebulous you knew exactly what the vibe
was supposed to be in that particular section, and it
was right when you walked in by the front door.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
And by the way, why should they get first treatment?
Like why why shoulould they be the opener? You know,
like like like shouldn't like we're the ones that are
there having to sit in traffic to try and get there.
I mean, there should be stuff rolled out for there
should be a picture of Fred when you walk into uh.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
No, you should not have that.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Yeah, like a picture. You don't need to Hey, hey,
where are they now? A TV star.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Well, no, that's what I thought. Those pictures were, like
where are they now? That's exactly what I thought.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
And you got competitive, Oh yeah, what channel are you on?
Speaker 1 (38:24):
I didn't do that. You know.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
The guy died two years ago, right.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
I think the thing that really finished me after that
at the reunion. Then you go when you start walking
around and talking to people. When I talked to a guy,
now he's ten years out of high school. I talked
to a guy ten years out of high school and
he had two teeth. There's like two teeth? What happened
to your teeth?
Speaker 3 (38:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:48):
What happened to you?
Speaker 2 (38:50):
You know?
Speaker 1 (38:50):
What happened to his teeth? Why don't you have any teeth?
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:54):
And I went no. Then a guy came up to
him and he's talk talking about welding. He's a welder.
I think, oh, this is interesting thing. The guy talking
to me for forty minutes about welding. I mean, how
many questions could I ask about welding? And I asked
a lot of them because I wanted to be really interested.
That was the reunion.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
The guy with two teeth, Yeah, did he say where
he went to college? Was it meth State?
Speaker 4 (39:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Fred went to high school with junkies and corpses. That's
what we've learned.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
All right, when we come back, we have to talk
about this NBA player in the gambling.
Speaker 4 (39:38):
Hello, Rogan and Rodney listener, did you know Am five
seventy LA Sports has a wide range of LA Sports podcasts.
Shows like Petros in Money. We are streaming Matt Dodger
Talk with David Vasse.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
The Dodger Podcast of Record.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
Clipper Talk Without a Musk, follow us all and many more.
Just go to AM five to seventy LA Sports on
the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
All Right, Jonas Noxen today for Rodney, enjoy your high
school reunion everybody, you know, I'd like to hear next
hour just came to me. Anybody got any reunion stories?
I think those would be great. Your old high school reunion.
How many have you gone to? What year? Let's do
(40:22):
that next hour, all right?
Speaker 3 (40:23):
And how many you walked in expecting to see that
three that annoyed you in class and instead she turned
out to be a rocket ship and you just had
no scouting ability back in the day. How about that?
Speaker 1 (40:37):
All right, let's do that next stories. Yeah, let's open
the phone lines here, Your reunion stories next hour. I
don't know if they can top ours, but you know
we'll find.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
Out, especially yours.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
You know mine was great. Where's that? Where's that guy's teeth?
Uh So? Sham Seraani reporting Malik Beasley under investigation for
gambling related to NBA games and prop bets during the
twenty three twenty four season when he played for the Bucks.
His attorney said an investigation is not a charge. He's
(41:10):
afforded the same right of presumption of innocence as anyone
else under the US Constitution. Right now, he's not been
charged with anything, but he's under investigation. It's not the
first athlete to be connected with gambling. Players in multiple
sports have been investigated or charged with betting. Here's the
thing with betting legal. Now, First of all, you can't,
(41:31):
by the way, you cannot bet on a sport you
play in period. I don't care if it's legal or not.
There's always a question of impropriety. There's always a question
of the integrity of the game. So you really can't
do that. You just can't. But now with gambling legal, Jonas,
(41:54):
should these rules be relaxed for other sports? You just
shouldn't be doing it.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah, I just think because I've heard some people say, well,
what do you expect when you gambling companies sponsor all
these leagues now? And there's so what? And I made
this point earlier this morning, Like I got a kitchen
full of knives downstairs. It doesn't mean I'm gonna use
them on my family, you know what I mean? Like,
just because it's there doesn't mean you have to partake
(42:22):
in doing anything that's corrupt or illegal or etce. Like
I look at this Malik Beasley situation, and look, the
only detail we got on the initial report was that
this is kind of in the weeds, but I do
think it's important. The only detail we got on the
initial report was that a game when he was playing
(42:44):
with Milwaukee January thirty first, twenty twenty four, there was
this significant amount of money that came in on a
prop bet. The prop bet was Malik Beasley's total rebounds
in the game, and a ton of money came in
on undertowo and a half rebounds, so much so that
the line jumped to minus money because of all the
(43:06):
money that poured in. Well, all of those bets lost
because he had hit over two and a half rebounds
by the second quarter, and so I'm looking at it
that going, well, that seems kind of counterproductive, like that
doesn't seem like it would back up the argument or
back up the investigation here. But the fact that that
was in the initial report, the fact that his attorney
(43:26):
already has a statement, the fact that there's an investigation
going on, tells me there's way more evidence than this.
And then all of a sudden, you've got all of
these video clips popping up on social media where it's like,
Malik Beasley's playing for the Timberwolves, the Timberwolves are trailing
by nine, there's a free throw at the end of
(43:49):
the game, the game is over. He takes the inbound
pass and goes court to court and dunks it at
the buzzer and they lose by seven. Well, okay, whatever,
I guess he's just trying to get a good couple
extra points. The spread was eight and a half, So
now people wonder did he have some sort of an
(44:09):
interest in the Timberwolves covering that plus eight and a
half because they were down nine. He took it end
to end, dunked it, and they lost by seven. So
you start to look at all these other examples throughout
the course of his career. He's had off the court
issues before. I just find it hard to believe this
becomes a story on the brink of free agent, like
(44:30):
on the eve of free agency, with him looking to
get a new deal. Reportedly was in discussions to get
a new, big money deal, and it's just over a
prop bet that didn't even hit. And I wonder if
this was the NBA letting players know a friendly reminder. Hey,
just so you're aware, we can find out who's doing
(44:51):
the funny stuff. This guy's about to sign a big
money deal and now potentially his careers in jeopardy because
he was fooling around with the wrong people when it
comes to betting on prop bets or gambling or anything
like that. I just I can't imagine that this is
the only detail from this report that would lead to
this being covered and talked about the way that it is.
I'm sorry, yeah to me.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
And you said it pretty quick to have a statement
like that, wouldn't you say this pretty quick? Hi, we
need to let you know we're investigating Malik Beasley. Boom.
Here's the statement.
Speaker 3 (45:25):
That's just it's just an investigation. It doesn't mean he's
guilty of anything. Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on,
what's going on here? Like I'm telling you, I would
be willing this is appropriate. I'd be willing to bet
that there's more to this story than just a rebound
prop bet from January and twenty twenty four. I think
(45:47):
there's going to be more examples and more evidence that
comes out of this, and it's worse than they're letting on.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
Next door. Let's hear your reunion stories. Are they better
than ours? Let's do that next hour, not right right
off the top, We'll do it next hour, and when
we come back, James Harden is back
Roggin And Rodney News
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.