OverDrive - OverDrive - September 2, 2026 - Hour 2 - Law Murray/Nick Taylor

Episode Date: September 2, 2026

Join Michael DiStefano and Dave Feschuk for Hour 2 on OverDrive! NBA Writer for The Athletic Law Murray joins to discuss the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard's punishments in the cap circumvention investigation and the fines by the league. PGA Tour Golfer Nick Taylor joins to dive into his selection to represent the International Team at the Presidents Cup, Kirk Cousins starting for the Raiders and the FanDuel Best Bets.

There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellair direct.com. Hour two of Overdrive Underway, it's Mike DiStefano, billing him for Brian Hayes. Because of course, because massive news just broke in the world of sports. So of course, Hazy Bee is off when that happens. Joining me is Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star. We're reacting to the news.

If you're just tuning in, just getting into the car now. the Kauai Leonard Clippers investigation is over essentially. Clippers get fined $30 million. They're being stripped of five first round picks. Steve Ballmer suspended. And Kauai virtually nothing. He's got to pay back $700,000 in restitution, and that's about it. And by-bye to Uncle Dennis.

And he takes, and Kauai takes full responsibility for the bad behavior of those people around him. Not by him. It wasn't his behavior. It was all about the agent. I didn't know my people were doing this. It's like, if we knew, you knew. And Kauai's statement, I love this other part of Kauai's statement. There was no intent to circumvent the salary cap.

Okay, Powell. Did not intend. Okay, buddy. Did not intend. Just did it. Didn't intend to, but we just happened to do it. Funny. It's funny.

Overdrive brought to by Fanduel, bring you more ways to play your game, your way. I am looking to see how this trade impacted the Fandual odds. Okay. keep the Raptors where they sit now, plus 2,200 to win the NBA finals, which is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6th. Okay. So the 6th best odds to win the NBA finals, according to our friends over at Fanduil. It's ahead of the Pistons, ahead of the calves, ahead of the nuggets, ahead of the Timberwolves. Yeah.

So this move puts them into pretty good contention. You have the Thunder at 1, Spurs at 2, Knicks at 3, 6ers at 4, Celtics at 5. and then there is a little bit of a drop off. Celtics 14 to 1, and the Raptors coming in next up at 22 to 1. So the third Eastern team? Is that what it is? They were plus 2,500 this morning before the news came out. Now plus 2,200 after the Kauai news drops. And their third and east, is that what that says?

Fourth. Fourth. Knicks. They're fourth to win the division. Okay. Technically. Well, it's a tough division. That's a tough, tough division.

So you think about this. You think about everything that happened after the Raptors hoisted that trophy in Oakland and Kauai got the finals MVP. We all remember the summer of Kauai and Kauai Kauinen and dying, right?

And following him around and tracking his jet and all the rest of the nonsense that ensued. And we also know what happened. He went to the Klippers essentially forced the Klippers to trade for Paul George. So the Paul George trade cost the clippers, five first round picks and Shade Gilgis Alexander.

And the best player in the league. And now the Kauai shenanigans cost them another five first round picks. So the arrival cost him five first round picks and a future league MVP, finals MVP. That's 10 first round picks that essentially were lost in the procuring of Kauai Leonard. and they got two back. They got two back from the Raptors. No, I have to say about that. Pretty cool.

Pretty cool. Pretty cool. And what they do? Pretty cool. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Went to a Western final. Didn't win. No. No. They did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Like, I think obviously, I mean, we'll ask Law Murray.

He's based in L.A. writes for the athletic. He's going to join us in a couple of minutes here. I'll ask him, was it worth it? I'd imagine his answer is going to be absolutely not. Pretty cool. Pretty cool. damn cool. Yeah.

Yeah. I bet if you go in a time machine and you show him that clip and be like, do you think it's pretty cool now? I'd love to. I'd love to hear from Balmer. Do you think we hear from Balmer about all this?

I think there will have to be a statement from Balmer shortly here. You think? I would think so. I am so excited. I mean, think about taking, like, this is going to be. That's how it started.

Now I want to hear the exit. I want to hear how it ended. I want to hear it. Imagine, but imagine how tough this is going to be like for Steve Balmer. Like, like I don't know. I don't know if I've ever seen, maybe outside of Mark Cuban, I don't know if I've ever seen anybody who appeared to enjoy owning a basketball team more than this guy. Yeah.

Like, he was fired up to own this team. You know, it's funny, too, in a world now where, like, sports ownership has become so corporate, Balmer at least seemed to have a soft spot and cared about winning, cared enough enough to skirt the rules, obviously. But at least it wasn't just about the dollars and cents with him. He was willing to spend more than, uh, that. He was allotted too than everyone else to try and win. So you do got at least, you know, have an appreciation for that, but the NBA is a league clearly didn't appreciate it.

And the verdict is in. Five first round picks, $30 million fine, a suspension to Mr. Balmer and a couple other executives, and not a whole lot for Kauai Leonard. Just $700,000 in restitution. He's got to pay back for his wrongdoings. And sounds like that trade is going to go. through. He is a Toronto

Raptor, at least, will probably be made official rather soon. Let's bring in Law Murray, NBA writer for the Athletic Base at LA. Law, how's it going today? Man, I'm glad I had a very quiet afternoon, you know what I'm saying? You weren't gearing up for this? Is that what you're telling us?

You didn't expect this one to come down on September 2nd, random Wednesday afternoon at, what was it, like, 4.22? Man, I was telling people Friday news dump was going to be this Friday. I cleared my schedule for this Friday. But I also put a story up this morning, and I had a post for social media. I was like, you know, it's September.

And my boss hit me a year ago on this day to let me know that I might want to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning, specific to watch this podcast that the Appaletic had just acquired the licensing rights to. Okay, that was a year ago today. So I haven't been in this state of, I wonder if today is going to be today for quite some time, and today wound up being the day. That is how I'm feeling since you asked. So what do you make of the punishments now that we know? $30 million fine to the Clippers,

five first round picks and a suspension to Steve Ballmer and a couple other executives. What do you make of that punishment for the Clippers? Honestly, it is the kind of punishment that immediately makes you recall what happened to the Minnesota Timberwolves just over a quarter century ago. like the harshest punishments were for the executives. And now we kind of just wait and see when the dust settles and people emerge to facilitate the business that needs to be facilitated to get this season started.

And that is the trade of Kauai going back to Toronto, Brandon Ingram coming to the L.A. Klipper, Gary Dick, coming to the L.A. those first round picks. I wonder what changes, but when you look at what happened with Kauai, I feel like the National Basketball Players Association, they

were adamant that a contract won't be voided. They were adamant that nothing should happen to Kauai that compromises Kauai. And when you look and see, that is really what went down. Like, you won't

see three executives for at least half a year, two for a year, one being Steve Bomber, they took the brunt of this. The embarrassment is all on the Clippers. But for Coah Leonard, $700,000, maybe the Toronto Raptors, not suggesting they circumvent the cap, but he's got a contract extension due. I think they might take care of that. That's a good point, Law.

Hey, La, I wanted to ask you, you know, the last we heard from the Clippers, and the thing we heard from the Clippers throughout this saga of salary cap circumvention accusations was they didn't do anything wrong and all of these accusations were provably false. We haven't seen a statement from them since these penalties were doled out

by the NBA. What's your sense of the situation though? Are these penalties something they're going to sit with and potentially appeal? Or do you see them just, you know, taking it on the chin from Adam Silver gracefully and moving on with their lives? Well, it doesn't sound like, well, previously it didn't sound like the clipperies were interested

in accepting anything related to a punishment. They said for the entire time that they were innocent, that they would be, that the facts would show that they did nothing wrong specifically as an organization. I feel like they didn't defend Kauai as much, and I didn't see Uncle Dennis around the entire year after seeing Dennis around quite a bit prior to last season. Again, I'm a Clippers beat rider. I've been on the road with them, I've been at home with them,

I've been on camp with them. Things were different last year, right? I wonder, though, how, that will go because, I mean, I can see there being some pushback or something, see if you can get a first round pickback, see if you can reduce some suspensions. But I feel like this is going to stick. And I think the biggest thing is there is that story that was that that was kind of floated by another outlet a few weeks ago. and the story suggested that the clippers would be in the clear. I don't know what that looks like today because that obviously is not the case. So I wonder what the fallout will look like, but overall,

I'm looking at some pretty detailed punishments here, and I don't see how the clippers brain trust gets out of it. So, like, what do you think was negotiating? Because there was the report that a couple of weeks ago, the NBA was negotiating with Balmer and his lawyers about, you know, what the final punishment would be. I guess this is what we are to assume is what is the agreed upon punishment from both sides? Is that what you believe? Or, like, is, you know, there's something, something else that possibly could have went AWOL here? man I look at it right now as this is this is the kind of punishment where you just got to have this you just got to have to take it I mean and I really just feel like you're dealing with the you're dealing with the lead and you're dealing with the public and when you're presented these findings I just feel like what more can you can you do if you're the clippers except

to accept this. We're going to learn over, I mean, we're just getting this report this afternoon. And I imagine we'll learn more about next steps, the fallout to the fallout, if you will. But I don't get the sense that the Klippers organization was going to be in a spot where they could really, really fight this. we're at the point where this is what we see, this is what's out. And so you can go through arbitration, but I didn't really see much in this report.

I didn't see anything in the punishment to suggest that arbitration is going to be something that is on the table here. So, La, when you look at the Kauai era... And if I may, if I may, I just got a, statement from the clippers saying that they reject these um they reject this punishment and they will fight okay okay so this wasn't the negotiated settlement after all i guess is what that means uh that's exactly what that means um they are yeah they came out firing that's what we got so does that put the trade influx then i guess that would put if they're going they're going to try and

settle, settle, is it, well, is that two separate entities, the Kauai, is he his own entity to fight it

along with the clippers? Like, how does that work? Do you know? Well, Kauai is a clipper until this trade happens. Like, he's a raptor in terms of

where he's at in his heart. Oh, let me tell you, though, this is, this, this is,

this is complicated because we're going through so much right now as far as, like, who is saying, what and what sustainability does it have

I mean so when it comes to Kauai like Kauai just wants this to be done right but Kauai also just got the easiest circumstances

out everybody figure out $700,000 outgoing like this is for everybody else involved this is like you know how do you deal with this

Well, it sounds like you're going to be dealing with it for a while longer, Law, because I'm reading the statement that you just talked about, and basically the statement says what the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure its fairness and accuracy. So, law, I think there's going to be a lot more salary cap circumvention gate in your future. Keep your Saturday clear after all. Keep your Friday. Friday, clear out for all.

Friday, I don't know what y'all do north of the border. We call it Friday news dump. Yeah. We got it a day early. That does not mean there will not be future fraudulent news dumps. We couldn't have a trade Friday. Who knows? Anyway, yeah, I'm going to have a very busy night, so I appreciate you talking about it.

Absolutely. Thank you for Joni as on short notice to react to the news. I appreciate it, and we'll do it again soon. All right. Thank you. LaMurie, NBA writer for The Athletic. Okay. So it ain't over. It's not over. It's not over. But I am curious. Like, can Kauai accept his punishment and the Clippers reject theirs?

Like, is that possible? And we could still put the trade through and then have the Clippers argue their situation and that part can leak into the season. But if Kauai accepts, whatever, I'll pay my 700, no suspensions for me, we're good. We can follow through with the trade. Like, can they separate the two, or is it all one? Yeah, I don't think this affects the Raptors trade at any way, shape, or form. I mean, obviously, Kauai can, through the MBPA, you know, contest the punishment and contest the $700,000.

I don't think you will just let it go. Like, just move on, because if he does, then he's not going to get to Toronto. If you haven't noticed, Al's brother, he really likes money. That's true. Well, his uncle likes money. No, he's all his uncle. Yeah, it's his uncle. He negotiates a good fate.

That's right. It's the people within his circles. That's right. That apparently negotiated that thing. He did not intend to serve at the salary cap. No. Never did. What he told us?

Via statement online. Who knows? That's interesting, no. That's interesting. This is fighting words from Steve Ballmer and the Clippers. Basically, we will vigorously fight these penalties. That's why I was curious because that's a pretty harsh penalty. Very harsh.

For Balmer to, it's like, to me, I just didn't feel like Balmer would accept a suspension. Based on all the reporting we've heard and based on how he's come out and vehemently just rejected all wrongdoings, it seemed very odd to me that this is what was the agreed upon suspension. Considering we're taking a look right now, it's very similar to what the NBA did with the Joe Smith situation back in 2000. By first round picks, a team fine, which was obviously way more 10x, but the world is in a much different place. than it was in 2000, a one-year suspension for the owner and what, GM,

Kevin McHale was suspended for a season. So it's very similar. And there was a case that the NBA was able to look back on and levy the capser convention penalties from and they had, you know, a prior situation

to draw from. Right. That doesn't seem like a negotiation. That's why I was confused where I look at it. I'm like, I don't know if this was negotiated. And it sounds like it was not. And it was like, this is it. Yeah, now the Clippers are saying in their statement that the league told them one thing privately and is doing another thing publicly.

I'm going to tell you something. I respect Adam Silver a lot more for that, though. I've been on, like, I've been all summer, I've been doing gameplay and morning show and I've been on, and I have been coming on these shows and just talking about how Adam Silver for the integrity, the league, the integrity of the salary cap should not be negotiating when it comes to. who caps for convention. Like, that just shouldn't be the case.

I'm with you. Like, you absolutely cannot do it. And that would have been a major black mark on Adam Silver if he would have kind of bent the knee to Steve Bowmer because then what does that mean, right? The salary can't means nothing. It means nothing. And then the next thing you know, it's happening all around the league. Precedents has been said.

I've always thought right from the get-go, when I heard that report that came out from, it was the ESPN report, I believe, a couple of weeks ago. Yes. We said there was ongoing talks between the league's lawyers. and Bulmer's lawyers negotiating a settlement. I didn't like that. It made my stomach turn for what that meant for the NBA. I like the fact that he essentially

said, you know what? No, this is what we are able to do. There is precedents of it. We're going to prosecute to the fullest extent, and we'll keep going after that and see what you want to do. I actually appreciate Adam Silver for having the stones to do that. I'm with you. It had to happen. It was bizarre

to me that they were talking about negotiating a punishment. Why would you negotiate a punishment? You know, you dole out a punishment. You determine a punishment and you and you levy a punishment to use the word you threw out there, Al's brother. And so for me, you know, who cares what the NBA? Like, I don't know what the Clippers would expect of the NBA. Like, are they going to tell you everything they're going to do to you before they do it?

Well, I'm sure that they, you know, wanted to get as much information out of the Clippers as possible throughout this whole thing. Let me read this statement. Let me read this statement. We got it up here on YouTube and on TSN5. On behalf of the LA Clippers, we vehemently reject the NBA's findings, which are the result of heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative

rather than facts and evidence. What the League told us privately differs from what is announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standards Commissioner Sovers set at the start of this investigation to ensure its fairness and accuracy. For the past year, we cooperated fully and in good faith and will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence.

We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process, right from the LA Clippers media team themselves. Okay. And yet the NBA is saying that this investigation under, quote, a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organization. They've got to have the information. The NBA's got to have the information.

Pablo's got it. But they must have even more than Pablo. Yeah. Like, realistically. You would hope. If you're going to go ahead and go against the grain and make these big, bold suspensions, they've got to have the smoking gun. It's got to be there.

I mean, I don't think you need a smoking gun. There's just a mountain of evidence. You're right. It's an absolute. It is just so overwhelmingly obvious what they did here. I mean, it couldn't be more obvious if you listen to Pablo's podcast. I'm so confused, how the Clippers think they have a leg to stand on. Well, I mean, you know, everybody sees it differently, obviously.

Like, you heard Mark Cuban argue with Pablo Torre vehemently about how nothing was proven by the information that Pablo and our earth, even though the rest of those were all going, wait a second. I mean, there was money here that the Clippers sent over there, and what do you know, Kawhi was over there doing nothing at aspiration and getting that a very similar sum of money. They looked very, very odd. Well, whether or not this is, you know, in conjunction with this investigation, did you see today that the SEC is now looking into Dactronics? Yes. Who was the company that, you know, Pablo Tori suggested he couldn't physically find the link, but suggested that Dactronics paid Kauai letter through.

or that Steve Bulmer paid Kauai through Dactronics. Right. And now in the NBA's release today, they say that they are accusing the clippers of initiating off-court income opportunities between Kauai Leonard and four companies, including Daktronics. There you go.

Aspiration. L.A., no, what was it, the Rhode Island football club? Are they involved there? There's no mention of the football. That was another Pablo Tori one. That was another one. But there's Boingo Wireless and, Lockton Insurance.

Boingo Wireless. That's like the airport that's right. Company. Yeah, they see them at the airport a lot. But anyway, so that's a terrible, terrible place. Yeah, but I should get some bell, bell up in that spot. I mean, this is essentially, you know, the NBA

and its investigation by the high-priced New York law firm that had hired to handle it is basically saying, yeah, whatever, basically, if you watch the Pabletori podcast, All that stuff is true, and we're going to punish him for it. That guy must have a big grin on right now, Pablo Toro.

Well, I mean, it was a great job by him and his team over there. And Billets are winning reporting. Yeah. By him to standing stuff. And I just see Mark Cuban who had argued with Pablo kind of maddeningly in a way that kind of made Mark Cuban look a little stupid, is now congratulating Pablo on Twitter. So good on Mark for at least acknowledging that Pablo won.

Sounds like Pablo's going to be. going live, Pablo speaks on, at 6 p.m. He'll be going live. It's on YouTube. I'd imagine on, on YouTube at 6 p.m. So after overdrive, you flip over and watch Pablo Tori speaks out and see what he's got to say about this entire investigation, which we thought an hour ago may have come to a resolution, but apparently not. The Clippers, they're going to fight back. And we'll see what that means for the Clippers, for Kauai, the Raptors. I guess we probably assume that the Kauai stuff, they're probably not.

not going to contest that. Maybe that trade can go through. But what this means for Balmer and the Clippers and the NBA and Adam Silver, man, there's still a runway to this story. It's not done yet. The lawyers are still going to get paid more. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's the profession to be in right now. Litigation law. Billable hours, baby. Billable hours. Oh, yeah. All right. We got to take a break. When we come back, Nick Taylor, going to join us. Excited to watch out with Nick Taylor, fresh out being named to the President's Cup team. So he's next here on. on Overdrive. Be listening on TSN 1050 live on TSN5 and up on YouTube live.

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Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. Welcome back into Overdrive on TSN 1050, TSN5 and live up on YouTube. Mike DiStefino filling in for Brian Hayes. Got Dave Feshuck of the Toronto Star with me and joining us now on the Maple Toyota Hot line is our good friend Nick Taylor, Canadian PGA Tour Pro, and President's Cup team member. How does that sound, Nick Taylor? Sounds great.

It sounds great. It doesn't get old. Thanks for having me on, guys. Yeah, absolutely. It's a pleasure to have you on. My Partsie's partner, Nick Taylor, so I'm happy to get you on here. And just talk a little bit about, you know, the honor that it is and how you found out that you were named to the team.

It's a huge honor. It's definitely something every two years. It's on the top of the goals list. You know, I've heard so much, because of the guys in the team and players that have played in the past, how special it is in a week, getting to be so close with the players,

the captains, the spouses. It just sounds like a really special week. So now I'd be able to be a part of it. I'm really looking forward to it. You know, I found out probably 10 days ago or so, so I've had some time to kind of soak it in. aside from kind of my inner circle and team. No one else really knew.

So it was quite an interesting secret to keep. But once it was out yesterday, it's been pretty fun to travel to people and get excited for it. Yeah, and although we're pretty excited to hear about that, you and obviously Cory Conner is also named. So you've got two guys representing Canada. How cool is it to be named to the team alongside? You know, your former Olympic teammates, Corey Connors. I'm really excited. You know, it's just the time of it out.

lead on with his experience would be his third President's Cup. You know, we've gotten closer over the years. I've respect where I couldn't respect to her anymore and his golf game and who he is as a person. So I'm excited to be in the team room with him along with the 10 other guys.

So Nick, obviously, it's always a gargantuan opportunity to try and knock off the team that's always favored in this thing. Obviously, the Americans have won the vast majority of these tournaments. you know, how do you look at that challenge of the idea that the Americans are always giants

and you guys are generally underdogs? Yeah, it's definitely a tall task. I think our team has the belief and that's definitely probably the start of it. You know, getting prepared as much as possible, seeing the golf course, which we're going to do, you know, sticking to our process and our plans the week of. but I think the biggest kind of immeasurable, you know, maybe stat, if you want to call it, is going to be just our camaraderie,

how close we're going to get. We're going to lean in on that and use that to our advantage as much as possible. Jeff's going to have us ready to go, and I'm just really excited for the opportunity to be as close with these guys, but I think we're going to lean on each other. I'm certainly going to lean on a lot of guys

that have been on these teams before. From there, it's just trying to play, golf and make pups at the right time. And in previous Cups, the ones that I've watched, the scoreboard might look a little more distant than it probably actually was. There's a few moments each day

where, you know, if the international side just made a put here or there near the end, it definitely could have turned the tide. So I think we're excited for the challenge and the opportunity. In conversation with Nick Taylor, who is going to be on team international at the President's

Cup this season. And I'm just curious, Nick. What is it about your game that you think will translate well at Medina? You know, I haven't seen the golf course. But I think, you know, in the past, if it's either been a playoff or at times trying to win a golf tournament, I think I've been able to rise to the occasion and make pucks when I've needed to.

And I have something I can lean on. And I think, you know, with the experience, I guess they're lack there of on my side, playing in these team events, I'm going to lean on guys like Corey Adam Scott has been phenomenal as a leader in that team room and someone that I'll lean on as well

along with others and the vice captains and Jeff so that stuff I'll lean on but I'm just excited for the challenge you know I think it's definitely an uphill battle but for me personally I think I've been in some big moments and can lean on those and hopefully do similar things

oh yeah no doubt about it Nick you've been in a ton of big moments obviously everybody in Canada knows that, but you know, you haven't played in this event. When's the last time you played sort of a team golf event in your career? You know, probably the outside of the Zurich that I've played with Adam Hadwin, you know, it's different, right? Because we play alternate shot and basketball those days, but which has been a heck of a lot of fun.

And I hope to be in the team one day with Adam as well. But that's probably the most recent. And then Adam I actually played together at the World Cup in Australia. think in 2018. Again, I've done it on and off because I've been professional, but, you know, with a 12-man team, this is probably, obviously, my first go-around with the President's Cup team. It really fits

being professional. So, yeah, it's, the formats are exciting. You know, it's, you know, when there's only four or five matches on the golf course, there's definitely a lot of energy around and hopefully we can feed off of that. So, Nick, you, you know, obviously the, the PJ Tour season, is wrapped up and people are sort of spending some time reflecting, I'm sure, as you

get ramped up for the President's Cup later this month. But one of the questions that we were asking of a lot of golf people around the Tour Championship last weekend was the idea of the new PGA tour in 2028 and the two-track system, the championship series

and the Challenger Series, and what it's going to mean not only for the PGA Tour at large, but what it's going to mean for us here in Canada and the Canadian Open specifically, the the tournament where you are part of the logo, literally. I'm wondering what you're hearing on that front and sort of what you're expecting

the new world order in PGA Tour golf and how it might affect Canada. Yeah, I've been asked that quite a bit. I think a lot of it is up in the year. You know, both scenarios definitely have their cons in it, right? If you're a championship series, you're going to get a lot of the top players in the world come up to Cain Open, which is really exciting.

but it also loses the open feel where we're going to get a bunch of Canadians and have that feel of a home open. You know, similar with the Challenger series, there might be a few more sponsor exemptions and the chance to get some extra Canadians in there, but you're not going to have an elite field like you could with the championship series.

You know, there's rumors of it potentially being an international open down in the fall, which won't be necessarily part of the season, but I think could attract some big names and still have that open. but, you know, I feel like the third options might be the best out of the bunch. None of them are amazing options, I guess, when you look at it thoroughly, but wherever it stands, I think we'll try to make the most of it and we'll go from there. But generally, I do like the direction of the tour that it's going.

I think, you know, having built-in off weeks I'm excited about, you know, as my career has gone on and my kids have gotten older, I miss more when I'm at home. So being able to schedule a bit of a life would be really nice. And just having a little more time at home, a little more rest is definitely important too. So I think overall the product is going to be really good. But, you know, the one concerning thing, obviously being Canadian is what's going to happen with the Canadian open. And can it stay true to what it has been being an open like it has been? It's inception.

So time will tell, but, you know, I'm hoping it can have as many can as many can as possible, along with the elite field. We'll see where that takes us. Yeah, we absolutely will. And Nick really want to appreciate it for taking time to join us today. Once again, congratulations. Best of luck and go get them in a couple of weeks. Thank you for doing this.

Appreciate you, guys. Thanks for having you on. Absolutely. Nick Taylor, PGA Tour Pro and member of Team International at the President's Cup. that'll be a little later this month. A little later this month. Two caducks on Team International. So that's got to feel pretty good.

Oh, yeah, first time, hey, age 38 finally gets on the team that he's been trying to get on for all these years. You know, you need the right timing, the right, you know, playing well at the right time. And for whatever reason, I mean, Nick's won on the PJ Tour more than any of his Canadian contemporaries, as we all know. But for whatever reason, it's just never really, the stars have not aligned for him in terms of the rankings and the captain's picks. And here we are, it's a lion.

And it's really going to be fun to watch him. Because I would say, I was brother, one thing Nick Taylor, we all know Nick Taylor can do. He can drain clutch putts. Oh, he can put. He can put. We've seen that up close and personal for a lot of us here in the GTA. Yeah, certain 72-footer that changed history in Canadian golf.

Yeah, yeah, that was something. That was something. So, yeah, best of luck to Nick Taylor. Cory Connors and the rest of Team International but have taken on Team USA. I should have asked them, like, if you had a chance, like during match play, you could pick anyone from Team USA, who would you want to play?

You think he'd go for the top dog? You think you want to come out and said, Chef? I don't know if you want to say stuff like that. Remember when Stephen Ames? You don't want Bullets and Board material? Well, Stephen Ames gave Tiger Woods and Bulletin Board material once and got absolutely crushed

because of it, right? I don't think you want to be. What would the appropriate answer be? The appropriate answer is, hey, man, I'll be happy to play any of them. Because here's the thing. That's boring. It's boring, but it's smart because they're the underducks. They be quiet.

They should be quiet and humble with a chip on their shoulder and just go about their business and try and knock these guys off. Because we all know, it's going to be very difficult to win this thing. You know, it's going to be tough. But it can be done, right? You don't need to have the better team to win. win a tournament of this nature. Match play can go strange ways.

The best player doesn't always win match play. And the momentum shifts and there's spirit in the air. Who's good that day at that time? Yeah. Right. And sometimes the Americans, they're on home soil. And if it's not going well for them, the pressure can get big for them, right? They're expected to win.

They're expected to dominate. And if they're not doing that, you could definitely see a scenario where it could get to them. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, Corey Connors and Nick Taylor going to be on team international at the President's Cup. See, the Raiders announced their starting quarterback for week one. They're going with Kirkie Cousins. Speaking of guys in their late 30s.

Wow. Kirkgo Cousins gets the job for the Vegas Raiders, which means the number one overall pick for Nana Mendoza. But the first time since 2018, since Baker Mayfield went number one to the Browns. The number one overall pick who's a quarterback will not start. week one of their NFL career. Okay. Yeah, what do you make that news?

Well, I'm surprised by it. I got to say, I mean, this is a league where, you know, if you got the number one pick and you believe he's a number one pick worthy guy, I mean, wouldn't that kind of equate to a starter's job? Yeah, yeah. I'm not as surprised

by that, just because I think that's probably part of what allowed the Raiders to bring in Kirk Cousins. Yeah. Look, there's a real chance We want a slow roll with Fernando Mendoza. You know, there's been so many times where quarterbacks have been thrust into terrible organizations and situations and they're just not ready for it. The O-Line's not ready.

There's not enough weapons. And all of a sudden, it's a bust. Yeah. Right? Like, I mean, the last time the Raiders took quarterback at number one overall, known as the biggest bust in NFL history. Right. Your Markets Russell. Right.

I'm obviously not equating the two. And, oh, boy, would that ever, Mendoza would have to be just atrocious for that to be. the case. But I think you look at it and you're like, you know what, we can be patient. If there's a quarterback who is capable of playing games, they've got a pretty tough schedule this season, I don't hate that idea.

There's been a few case in the NFL, it's not necessarily the number one overall pick, but a few case in the NFL where, hey, sit him for a little bit and then get him playing at some point. I don't think it's going to be a long leash on Kirk Cousins. I think that we're looking at a short leash. If he

struggles a few weeks into the season, I think it's a good, good opportunity to get Mendoza out there. But I'm not surprised he was named the week one starter, not one. Well, that's an interesting point you make. And you could also trace this to the guy who owns 5% of the franchise, right? A little guy named Tom Brady. And, you know, you think about the story of Tom Brady. Now, he wasn't a first overall pick, but he did become the winningest, you know,

the winningest quarterback in terms of Super Bowls in the history of the league. in a way that spoke to a very gradual development, right, where he was a backup and he learned watching from the sidelines for a long time. And so obviously Tom Brady sees value in that, right? There's value in standing on the sideline. There's value in watching Coach Mahomes set for a year, watched Alex Smith, who was older in his career, but a good guy to sit behind and pick his brain and learn from.

You know, you're in the film sessions, or you're watching what to do, what not to do. I think that there's value to it. And for a team that's not going to be super competitive, I think allowing him to develop properly at his pace instead of throwing him to the wolves, I think there's value to that. Yeah.

So I actually don't mind the Raiders for slow rolling in here with Mendoza. I think he's a great kid. He's almost like the NFL's version of Matthew Schaefer. Yeah. A lot of these interviews, you're like, that seems like a guy who's got his head on his shoulders. Seems like a good kid, a good leader, and a future face of the franchise.

Don't need to rush it. not ready. You got someone who can handle the reins early on. Don't rush it. There's some big news, actually, from Sham Sharanya. The NBA rulings are final, according to Sham Sharanya. There is no formal appeal or arbitration process available to the Clippers with the league. This is, of course, in response to the ruling on the Kauai Leonard Clippers investigation, LA's only outlet to fight the punishment is in court. So they can't appeal anyway.

They got to take this as is. I'm curious where they found that loophole, because that was, like, heavily reported that there could be an appeal of some kind, and now all of a sudden they found a way to put a kibosh to that? The reporting I saw, and I could be mistaken on this, but the only reporting I saw and the things that I've heard

was that there was the only appeal would be from the NBPA, the Players Association. In the Joe Smith case back 25 years ago, the NBAA appealed. And in this case, I guess it's theoretically possible for the NBPA to appeal on behalf of Kauai Leonard. And they've certainly, you know, if you've read some of the coverage from ESPN leading up to this punishment, you know that there's been some saber rattling to that effect that the NBPA would take this thing to its logical conclusion and use every outlet at their disposal to fight what they deem an unjust punishment. But in terms of the league, yeah, like the league punishing an owner and a franchise and executives,

yeah. To their discretion. It's the commissioner's call. As the commissioner said in the lead up to this, like, as he was launching this investigation, he pointed out like he has broad powers. He can punish people. He's basically a dictatorship if he so chooses to be a dictatorship. dictatorship. And he's been empowered to be that by the 30 NBA owners. And if one of them doesn't

like it, guess what? They're essentially going to have to cry to a court because the other 29 owners have empowered Adam Silver to do exactly what he feels is right in this instance. And I think that's good for the league. Yeah, no, I agree. And for just joining us, the Clippers Kauai saga has come to a close from the NBA's perspective, they levied a $30 million fine to the Clippers. Steve Bulmer suspended for a year, along with a couple other executives, and five first round picks stripped from the L.A.

Clippers, as for Kauai-lettered, no suspension, no voided contract, has to pay $700,000 in restitution, which paves the way for this trade to go through and land him here in the city of Toronto. Yeah, I mean, let's see here. Kauai got an alleged 28-mill in payments. That was just from the tree-planting.

Just from the tree-planting. What about dectronics? Yeah, we don't even know all the details. Boy and Go hotspot. So, 28 mil and 700 in penalties. I think he's okay. How's he doing? I think he made out okay.

He did okay. So from a player perspective, and Kauai, of course, is not taking any responsibility. He's thrown his team, his inner circle under the bus in his statement, saying that he takes responsibility for the, their behavior. Right. Not for his. Well, I think, like, ultimately, like the ESPN report from a couple weeks ago kind of hinted

that this was going to be the case, where they weren't necessarily focused on what the punishment to Kauai was going to be. And if Kauai did wrongdoing, it was did the league knowingly set up situations that allowed Kauai to get paid a little extra. And did that come from Steve Ballmer and the Klipper's organization? That at the end of the day was a crux of what they're trying to find. figure out and apparently Adam Silver, he's got receipts. And they found that they were guilty of this and named four specific companies in which the Clippers used to funnel money to Kauai and

his camp. And they're getting punished for it. Now the Clippers have come out in a statement and said that they're definitely going to, I guess they can't appeal the NBA, but they could take it to court and fight it and somehow, whether they do that or not, we'll see. Maybe it falls on deaf. years. But, man, big day to wrap this up right before the summer ends. Big day for a easy to hit a miss, too. I mean, I think it's a big day for Adam Silver because, you know, we saw this the bed. It was only a few weeks ago, I was brother, where there was the ESPN report that the investigation had found no wrongdoing. Right. You know, the Clippers had done nothing wrong. Which the NBA did come out and say, uh, there's some falsities to this reporting.

Very inaccurate. I'm going to assume that it was the fact that they had. improved. Well, they just sounds like it. They've definitely enumerated some of their accusations and

conclusions in this investigation in terms of the deals that were set up to enrich Co-Ele Leonard and Steve Bomber is going to have to pay more lawyers to do more lyrly things if he wants this to continue. Yeah, all right,

we'll see where that all goes. Banduel Best Betts next here on Overdrive. There's no shortcut for saving time, but saving money is simple. Just combine your car and home insurance with Bel Air Direct and save. Get a quote at bellairdirect.com. Behind every night spent making the kids' lunches, there's a lot of suspense. Will they finally eat the veggies? Will the pastos survive the first bite?

Will the lunchbox come home empty, half full, or come home at all? And will you finish episode 8 before you're done slicing the cucumbers? Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Craved Netflix and Disney Plus from $94. a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.com.com. to check availability. Bell, connection is everything.

Today's Fanduel best bets powered by Fanduel, make your picks and assemble a same game parlay and seconds on the Fandual Sportsbook app. I like the J's on the money line tonight. Why? Dylan cease in action. He's got a streak. 19 consecutive starts. He's punched out seven or more.

So parlay that. Jays money line. C's 7 plus case tonight pays plus 187. Today's best bets, powered by Fandual. Same game parles are available for every MLB game on the Fanduals Sportsbook app. Please pay responsibly 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Need a big one from C's tonight. I'm not expecting the bats to erupt. They need a nice little pitch and performance from their race. Yes, they do. They're definitely going to need it. Yeah, yeah. So there it is. Games at 640 tonight, 640 start time for those keeping track. Hopefully the weather is better in Cleveland.

Ah, yeah, sounds like it's going to be a heck of a drive home. Is it you and I tomorrow as well? Looking forward to it. Looking forward to it. For myself, Mike DeStefano and Dave Festrück of the Toronto Star, appreciate you guys. We'll be back tomorrow at 4 p.m. We'll chat then.

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