The Ringer NBA Show - Examining the Current State of the Lakers and Issues of Domestic Violence Surrounding the NBA With Sabreena Merchant | Weekends With Wos

Episode Date: November 4, 2022

This week Wos sits down with WNBA and NBA writer and podcaster Sabreena Merchant to discuss the state of the Los Angeles Lakers (4:01), and how the NBA will handle issues of domestic violence in the future following Miles Bridges's domestic violence charge (26:29). Host: Wosny Lambre Guest: Sabreena Merchant Producer: Jade Whaley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone, it's Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, aka Kevin O'Connor. Wait a minute, you're not Chris Vernon. No, Kevin, sadly, I'm not as cherubic or as raspy as Verno, but it is I, Jay Kyle, man. And folks, basketball has been and continues to be so very good. That's exactly why Kyle and I are hosting a brand new basketball show on a brand new podcast feed, the ringers NBA draft show. We're going to have you covered every week as we go in-depth and deep dive in hopes of answering an ever-important question in the NBA. Who's got next?

Whether it's an international phenom like Victor Wimbenyama or the G-League Scoot Henderson. Or stars from Overtime Elite like A. Men Thompson, as well as a full-blown swarm of talented prospects from the promising 2023 NBA draft class. For sure, Kyle. And we're also going to get into players from the college ranks because this is a loaded class. for us to discuss prospects rising and falling, and we're going to revisit and redraft recent draft classes and get into how the league's evolution could help inform what's valuable in a prospect of the future.

This is a podcast for a fan of every team, whether you're losing and have high draft lottery odds or you're looking for sleepers later in the draft. We're going to be covering everything in the months to come, so please make sure you follow and subscribe to the Ringer NBA Draft Show. And hit us with those five-star ratings. Hey guys, this was. In the last couple of days, some past tweets of mine have resurfaced online and I wanted to address them on the pod today because I really pride myself on being truthful and honest up here with you guys. To be clear, those tweets are offensive and completely out of line with the person who I am today. But I wanted to speak about it anyway. As the years went on from when I first got on social, I came to see these online spaces as more than just, just vehicles by which you popped a bunch of shit on, right, about this or that.

I came to understand that you could really make people feel really terrible about what you put online. And I made a concerted effort to adjust my online behavior accordingly. And more than just that, just from my own life experiences, I came to have a better understanding of how traditionally marginalized groups have to move through our world. and it taught me a more three-dimensional viewpoint of the folks I come across both online and obviously in real life. And candidly, as a young black person from the neighborhoods that I'm from, it's like really easy

or especially when I was younger to get really navel-gazy about the shit that afflicts us in our community and basically ignore everything else. However, I think my current work reflects a level of gained wisdom on this stuff. And that's the kind of work that I want to do. And I think that's what I try to do every day up here. And anyway, just to reiterate, I used to be a kind of a piece of work online. But in the 10 to 13 years since, I've evolved as a person and gained some wisdom and enlightenment about a lot of things.

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the latest edition of Weekends with Waz. I'm your co-host, Chris Ryan, I'm just kidding. It's Big Waz, and I'm here with my dear friend, one of the best basketball minds on the planet, in my opinion. Sabrina Merchant of SB Nation was going on, Sabrina. I'm flattered by the introduction. Thanks for having me back on. Listen, man, you know, whenever you come up here, we have to talk Lakers.

And these last two games have been way more fun than they should be, right? Like the Lakers beating a team at home by three should not be like, you know, Virginia Tech beating Duke at home. But yet here we are. That's how it is. It's kind of crazy. Yeah, man, it's so many interesting. things where, you know, Matt Ryan is getting more minutes. And, you know, as my homies would say, they're letting the white boys live finally.

And I think it's working. Newsflash, you put shooting around the LeBron James and AD pick and roll. You might have something. Am I crazy, Sabrina? I thought I was so funny in the post game on Wednesday when AD was asked, like, how did you guys get good offense in the overtime? And he's like, me and Braun's pick and roll is really good. And I was like, of course.

Like, why don't we just do this all the time? It's so simple. And yet we have to overcomplicate these things all the time. Like take the ball out of LeBron's hands, you know? It's so good. Watching them do it. And they, like, the way that they can execute it at so many different parts of the court. Mm-hmm.

And they don't even just have to do it in space. They're good in like tight, close quarters, making it work like they're so good at it. And it's like, yeah, the way teams stop it is by bringing extra help. And how you mitigate that is by punishing it with shooting. It seems really simple. And like when you have a ball handler who's LeBron size, like it just inherently creates so many mismatches because because of what he can do

physically, like just the passes that he can make. I mean, we see this with Luca. and like, what do they do in Dallas? They just get him a lot of screens. Yes. And wouldn't you know, Dallas has a supremely efficient offense. Like, what are the odds? At the same time, the New Orleans game,

I think what was cool to see, was to see Russ in more than just small blips be the best version of himself that he's capable of being in 2022. You know, like attacking transition, when there is space, you know, blowing by a big man that switches on you? Like, these are things that this guy can do very well attacking his short role. Like, these things are like, yeah, Russell, you can do this and you can be good at it.

And it's just like, wow. The short roll thing is very funny because how long have we talked about if only Russell Westbrook would just set some screens and then he could operate in the middle of the floor? Like there was, you know, could Russell Westbrook be the Lakers, Draymond Green type thing at the start of the 2021 season, which inherently has so many problems with it? Because first of all, I don't want Russell Westbrook punching anybody on the Lakers. But the idea that like he has to, I mean, like, that he could set screens. Just he's never done that in his NBA career. And like every so often he'll pop in and just like, I'm going to set three today and like get everybody really excited and then just never do it again because that's what happened the third game of the season last year when he set, I think seven or.

eight screens in the Memphis game. And that was his total, literally over the next 20 games of the season, was those seven or eight screens. He's just so stubbornly committed to Russ being Russ. Yeah. And finally, Darwin's just like, well, you can be Russ in 20 minutes off the bench. Like, we'll just let you do that. Like, you can run up and down the core with Trubon Jr. and Austin Reeves and, you know,

Lonnie Walker. And they're like three kind of wings who just are fast. and we'll keep the pace up with you. And Russ and Troy Brown Jr. are already kind of like an amazing chemistry duo, which is, I don't know where that happened. Like I think they played half a season together in Washington. So kudos to Scott Brooks, you know, for encouraging that and helping the Lakers out in

the year of our Lord 2022. But yeah, it's really not that complicated. Like you don't play Russ and LeBron together. Those are your two point cards. Russ gets to play point card against backups because he's not as good as LeBron James. And the fact that he's. he can't finish as well at this point in his career is just not as big of a deal when he's playing against backup bigs.

Like, it's all so obvious. The way the Laker should play is so obvious. And yet they just want to make things as difficult as possible because, I don't know, like Rich Paul needs to get some people signed. Yeah, it's weird. You know, shouts to Darvin Ham and I think it's one of those things where it does take a certain ex-player to come in and be like, bro, I'm not. scared of you. I don't care what you have to say. I understand that you used to be a really big deal

in this league. But like, I'm here. We're here to win basketball games. And there's, I feel like a lot of the ex-players have a better sort of, I guess, standing to communicate that to guys. It just feels that way. And Darvaham, God bless him. It's just like, we're going to, we play to win the game. And to be fair, they've only won two games. Like, let's not get over ahead of ourselves. It's two games, one of which they won because poor little dice and Daniels missed two free throws with 1.4 seconds left. Like, it's just two wins. They still had to, like, bench Russ down the stretch of this game, which, like, thank goodness nobody is talking about.

Host game, self-awareness, Russ. What are you crying about? Because he didn't get to play the last eight minutes. You guys won the game. but it's just like it's poor form. I'm sorry, like, I get it, but it's poor form, bro. Like, y'all won. And you contributed.

I'm willing to forgive Russ any of the antics he has at this point because his team is openly shopping him and saying that the best version of ourselves does not exist with you. So if you don't want to be pleasant, that's okay. I get it. What do you think about 80s play this season? Okay, so I'm going to preface this by saying

that I have watched very little of the Eastern Conference. but I think 80's defensive player over the year. Wow. Him at center. I mean, they have the second best defense in the league, and you look at everybody else in the Lakers roster and think of all of the messes that Anthony Davis has to clean up by the time they get to him at the rim.

He's not playing with any other bigs. The tallest guy that he's playing with is LeBron, who, you know, let's face it, is an uneven defender at this point in his career. Like, I'm going to give Bronn credit. He's not consistent. He threw out the kitchen sink trying to front Yokic and Zion, like a couple of these possessions,

but like it's not an every down. kind of situation, right? What AD has to do for all of these little guards who are playing around him, like he plays in lineups where it's literally like Lonnie Walker, Russell Westbrook, Austin Reeves, and Troy Brown Jr. And like, who is the heft here? Like, who is doing the dirty work while 80 is manning the middle? Because the beauty of the title leagers was that you could put Javelle or Dwight in the middle and have AD as like your best wing defender, honestly. Like he's guarding Jimmy Butler, right? You know, he's guarding Kauai Leonard. And he can't do that anymore. Right? Somebody has to guard the wings and essentially what that means is, oh, the wings get to the basket and then AD takes

care of them. Like the way he swallowed up Zion Williamson on a couple of those possessions against New Orleans, that's insane. Zion is a physical freak who, I don't understand how he spins so fast at his size and just like consistently gets to the spots that he wants to. But regardless, I'm so impressed with the way Anthony Davis is playing defense, even like every other time that you see him, you know, land and like grab his back and like the entire staples, sorry, the entire crypto.com marina crowd like holds its breath. And it's, he's clearly playing through some very visible pain. And for him to just keep going out there because Lord knows he's heard the data Davis

and all the other stuff. Like it's got to suck. And he's playing through it. And Darvinham is, I don't want to say that he's bullying him to play through it. But like, he's clearly encouraging him to play through it. Yeah. And that's good because the Lakers. cannot succeed without Anthony Davis.

You can squint and see a game where LeBron sits and Russ starts and they still get enough playmaking and they just go up and down really fast and throw up a lot of threes and maybe those go in. There's a vision of a game that the Lakers could win on a night that LeBron sits. I don't even know how they win the minutes when Anthony Davis is not playing when the backups are Damien Jones. And I like Winnie and Gabriel just fine. But like this is not a 48 minute center rotation, right? So he has to be there on the court. When he said that he wanted to play 82 games, I think he meant like,

oh, I've looked at the roster and we're not winning unless I play all 82 games. And I mean, defensive player with the year, like they have the second-ranked defense. And the only player, I would say, with a bullet plus defender is Anthony Davis. Austin Reeves isn't a plus defender?

They target him so much. I know. It's so funny. There was like 10 years ago when ESPN wrote this article about how the Lakers were bringing back the American white boy. Like, it was like Josh McRoberts.

and Luke Walton and Troy Murphy. I'm so happy for Austin Reeves and Matt Ryan to have this opportunity here. Oh, man. Look, that's hilarious for like 12 different reasons. But I think these guys legitimately make what they're trying to do work. Like, that's just a fact. And again, I will say this till I'm blue in the face. Like, a lot of the NBA during an, if we're going to have this 80s,

game season. This is just going to be the facts. The teams that are willing to play really hard are going to have a leg up. And like the Lakers are trying their asses off, you know. And I think I think you see it a lot, especially with the transition stuff. Because traditionally, you know, LeBron, even though he's been one of the greatest transition players, he's in the top three ever in the prime of his life. As the years have gone on, he's walk it up, walk it up. walk it up, you know, pointing people in directions and all of that.

But the Lakers are like, now, we have to get out and run because this is how we're going to generate offense. And yeah, guys are scrambling on defense doing what they can. The effort, and we shouldn't have to say this about a veteran-laden team and like people with legitimate championship pedigree on here. But they're playing really hard. And, you know, I think there's something to be said for that when the group is losing all these games to start the season. And everybody looked at the roster and knew this was going to be the case. Ace. Yeah, I don't want to give Rob Polinka too much credit because it's just not really my style.

No, we're not doing that. I do think that the idea of getting more youth on the roster, like, definitely helps because all of those guys who are like in the same draft class as LeBron and just chummy with him, and like it makes for a nice locker room chemistry or whatever. The same job. Like you said, they needed to play faster. That is the nicest way I've ever heard somebody call a person washed. you were in the same draft class as LeBron.

I'm stealing that one. Just mention their draft class. Don't even say, oh, no, these people are washed up. Just say, bro, you got drafted in 05, Dwight Howard. That was clearly a bad idea. And the fact that they just needed to inject some pace because, like, for whatever reason, they're just not going to have enough shooting, right?

Like, because you have three max players, you just don't have enough cap tools to, like, actually get two-way players. So if you invest in defense, then you're not going to get shooting and that's fine. I think it makes more sense to invest in defense than shooting, just given how much easier it is, I think, to coach defense than it is to coach better offense. So you can inspire the defense out of those guys. Like Lonnie Walker, I've never seen him play defense like this. Troy Brown Jr., he couldn't get on the court for the Bulls

last year when, like, Levine and, you know, Caruso were hurt. Like I didn't see this coming, right? Yeah. So I think it's smart to invest on the defense versus the offense. Like, you just, it's so finicky with the shooting. You just never know what's going to happen. And I do believe that like if the Lakers could just shoot 30%, like maybe we're talking about a 500 team. Who knows? But that's, that seems like a pipe dream, honestly. Okay. So I think we've gotten enough out of the rosters presently constituted.

But, you know, the thing that's looming out there is the potential for a trade, right? It's like give up more future traffic, you know. Has anyone been talking about this on national airwaves recently? Nah, I don't think so. The 2027 and 29 picks is completely... Has anyone started a podcast by asking if they should trade the two first for a certain player? Yeah, it's completely foreign that people would talk about draft picks five and seven years into the future. But here we are.

It's legitimately the only way to improve the roster. We won't be the first people to mention this. But Miles Turner shooting his shots in the media is the most insane. Saint, he literally was doing, he made a hinge profile. Yeah. Essentially, this is why you should date me. You know, he's hiking. He's, he's got the cute little dog next to him.

He's got the dog, of course. He's at a cool restaurant. He's literally like, yo, this is why you should date me in the, I've never, have you ever seen that before? I mean, players have made public trade demands and I don't think there is thirsty as wildster. That was wild. The NBA season is underway and it's the perfect time to download Fandul, America's number one sports book, because right now new customers get a no sweat first bet up to $1,000. Plus, Fan Duel is the only sports book that's giving all customers

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18777-770 stop in Louisiana, 18778, Hope N. or text, Hope N-Y in New York. Redline 1-800-889-9-9-7-89 in Tennessee, 1-800-2-2-4-7-00 in Wyoming, or visit www.1-800-gambler.net in West Virginia. Anyway, what do you think about things that are on the table? Like, obviously, to me, it's like, yeah, go get KD. Sure, sure. Go get some great players.

obviously that's not on the table. Like as far as things that are on the table for these guys, where are you at with, how do you feel about trading 27 and 29? Okay, so I don't know if you remember why I was, but during the entire 21, 22 regular season, it was, what can we get for Taylor-Horton Tucker, Kendrick Nunn, the 27-first?

So I have basically said goodbye to the 27-first for like 10 months now. It's gone. It's gone. I've come to terms of the fact that it's not going to happen. Okay. 29 is a bit more tricky because like everyone's saying oh, you know,

LeBron's not going to be in the league at that point. But like Anthony Davis is not going to be good by 2029. Let's be real. So. But by then they probably will have signed Jason Tatum and, you know, some other new superstars, Sabrina. We know that. Ronnie James will have worked his way here.

And it'll be fine. The 29 is really far out. And I think that Indiana or whoever is, you know, asking for the two firsts, is kind of overvaluing how bad of a contract Russ is. Like, it's expiring. It comes off your books this year. Like, Utah literally made a trade to get off of Boyan Bogdanovich

so that they could take no salary back. Like, that was their criteria for moving him. They didn't get any future assets. They just got, oh, Kelly Lennox who is a light guarantee next year and this other dude we can wait. So expiring contracts mean something. And the closer we get to the trade deadline, the less you have to pay Russ,

like the more of the contract that the Lakers will have already taken care of, I just think two firsts is a really heavy ask for a guy who's not resigning with the Pacers. Let's be clear. Miles Turner has said, trade me now because I am not coming back. And then Buddy Heald's, like,

I like Buddy Heald do for this team. He was wrapped by Rob Polinka. And if you think that they run good actions for Matt Ryan, imagine what Buddy Heald, a guy who can actually dribble could do with that space. It's something. It really is something. Yeah.

Okay. Like we've made it clear. You just need one knockdown shooter around LeBron. And buddy is that guy. So you think it will make a world of difference. Yeah. If you could get it for the 27 first and like, I don't know, a second or like a protected first or something, I would do it. The two is too much.

Got you. Yeah, two first for Miles Turner who everybody knows I'm Miles Turner hive. I'm in the tank for the guy. I have been for years now. The podcast kind of turned me off. I'm not going to lie. Which podcast? The WojPot.

Oh, is... For him to do that and then go out and play the way he did that night and then do like another damage control podcast where he said, you know, I didn't really say that I wanted to be traded to the Lakers. Like, he's doing a lot. He's really doing a lot. So you're out on Miles Turner. Again, for one first, I'm in on Miles Turner because like I said,

I like the idea of Anthony Davis being deployed as that wing defender. So if he can toggle between the center and, you know, the four, I think that makes the Lakers so much more defensively versatile. If you just take away, you know, the Damien Jones minutes, the Matt Ryan minutes, unfortunately, like the Wendy and Gabriel minutes. The value over replacement player is just so high there for the Lakers. And then again, to put in a guy who can shoot, who can actually shoot. Again, it's not that challenging.

We're not asking him to like be a defensive stopper. You just have to go out there and make some threes. Yeah, I think, yeah, if I'm the, you know the funny thing about the framework of that deal? Is that Rob Polinka can't make the pitch to the paces that we're poorly managed. This 2007 pick is like super valuable. Like, he can't actually make that pitch, but that's the truth of the matter. Yeah. I mean, look what the Pelicans just got from the Lakers.

They got the eighth pick in last year's draft. and they're going to get, you know, I mean, unfortunately, I, you know, missed two free throws at the end of the game for the Pelicans, so what are you going to do? But,

and they're going to get a good pick this year, right? They're going to give Victor Wembeñama. Right. Right. Yeah, trading with the Lakers for picks is a good idea. If you could get one, Indiana, don't be too greedy. Please, just let us watch some relevant LeBron basketball.

My God, man, the guy. You think you should come back and play for the Olympics so you can play for one more, relevant. I mean, seriously, dude, like the guy so desperately wants it. But do you know the cool thing about LeBron too? I think he's resigned to his decisions. He's just like, yeah, this is kind of what I signed up for.

And this is just what it's going to be. But yeah, I'd like to see them, I'd like to see them do something, make a move. One first should be able to do it. And I think, and I think the reason why they haven't done the two first and all of that, from what I've heard anyway is that they read the papers and this idea that they've been getting crushed in trades is pervasive within management and they're just like, we're not loop,

we're not getting scraped, we're not getting freaking ran over in another trade. It's so funny to me that like, Polinka has his, you know, oh, I'm going to win the negotiation face on like selectively. So like when it came time to get Kyle Lowry in the 2021 season, it's like, oh no, a pick and tail and Horton Tucker, that's too much.

But when it's time to trade for Westwickets, oh, no, every useful 3-&D player we have, take them plus the first. Just. He just like develops his spine selectively. I don't understand the rationale. Crazy. Anyway, Lake is a trying hard. AD and LeBron are really trying to do put this thing on their back and it's cool to watch. But, you know, before I get you out of here, I did want to talk about Miles Bridges because it came out that he's pled no contest.

to domestic battery. He's not going to serve any jail time. However, he is going to be on probation for three years. This happened here in L.A. County. Man, talk about ugly and bad. That's not to even mention booknight with four DUIs in a year. Did I read that right? It's definitely multiple.

I can't remember if it's four or not. I think it's four DUIs this year. I feel like Bridges is de facto suspended for the year. So I wonder how the league's going to handle this coming back. Like, he's going to be allowed to play.

What will the official punishment would be? I think there's an understanding that the guy's not playing this year, which obviously is the right thing to do. Like, if you haven't encountered this case and this situation, the stuff that came out online

directly after from the mother of his children, like this is heinous stuff, pretty much as bad as it gets when it comes to this domestic violence stuff. And now he's been, you know, he's been convicted. Like this guy pled no contest, which is a technicality of like, oh, I didn't plead guilty. But like, bro, you did this shit. They got you dead to rights. And your lawyer worked out something that everybody could live with.

So, you know, I'm wondering what the league's going to do. The only player I can remember getting suspended for domestic violence is like Jeffrey Taylor. back in the day, who I believe was also on the Charlotte Hornets. MJ really needs to clean up that operation over there. But, I mean, I feel like we get multiple reports of domestic violence every summer, and the guys just come back and they sign with a new team, and it's like nothing happened. Like, there was a time when the Lakers had, I want to say, like, four or five guys under contract who at one point had been, you know, alleged, like, offenders of domestic violence.

we're looking at a situation in San Antonio where, you know, there was sexual misconduct on Joshua Primo's part and the Spurs, like, failing to disclose it. There was some rumor of a assistant GM in Detroit who's like, you know, getting looked into for something like that. I don't even want to get into like whatever happened in Boston with EMEA. I'm not exactly sure that specifics there, but like coming off of Robert Sarver, like being forced to sell the team because of creating an, at the very least, uncomfortable environment for his female employees. Like, it just seems like there's a general disregard for how the NBA, like, views its female fans. There's just not a whole lot of concern for the, there's really strong dissonance that exists for women who enjoy the league, support the league,

and then also have to deal with the fact that, like, a lot of its individuals don't seem to care about women. And I am not going to be remotely surprised if and when Miles Porteus comes back into the league. Like, there are some bad things that have happened, you know, with players in league. I think about Kendrick Nunn and the stuff that happened with him when he was in college. And, like, he was this, like, rehabilitation story. Like, look at this undrafted gem that the Miami Heat found. And, like, the reason he was undrafted. I didn't even know Kendrick Nunn had a thing from college.

Yeah. That's not even something that I know about. Like, Sam Vasini refused to put him on his draft board because he thought, like, he was morally repugnant. And then he's just like, oh, this, like, incredible G-League find another undrafted gem for the Miami Heed. It's like, no, that's not what happened. He went and drafted for a reason. Exactly. So, I would be genuinely surprised if Miles Burgess did not end up back in the league. Like, if he somehow has, like, done that much to work his way out, I just, there doesn't seem

to be a line at this point. And maybe it's like the year that he's going to have to sit out and, like, yeah, he was, he was due a pretty big paycheck this off season. Like, that is definitely clear. And so he's definitely cost himself some serious cash just based on the timing of this. But it's literally the day before free agency. Right, right. And I mean, there's no good time for domestic violence was. Like, let's be clear. It just sucks.

It all sucks. Like all of it together, too, is just very overwhelming the week that this league has had. Hard to process. Yeah. I mean, Miles Bridges is not a fringe NBA player. Like, he was a borderline all-star kind of player last year in his contract year. those kind of guys don't just get shunned from the league. You know, I'm somebody who does think if you serve your time for a crime,

like I don't think you should be barred from employment from the career path that you've chosen for the rest of your life. However, I mean, there needs to be some recompense. Like, the league has to, like, there's what the county of Los Angeles is giving this guy as a punishment. But to me, and I was thinking about this yesterday, like, I think the league, should have some level of, bro, you do some shit. You know, what you just did counts for two strikes, three strikes you're out. Right.

I think the league should officially put something like that on Miles Bridges. Yeah, I think the league relies too much on the judicial system. And to a certain extent, like, I think some of that is fair, you know. I don't know that Adam Silver has it in them to adjudicate. the law. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know that he's equipped for that. I don't, I don't know.

To a certain extent, I think it's fair to be like, well, shit, man. Like, we got laws on the books to... Sure. To punish this stuff. But I do think, like, when you're, you know, issuing a suspension to, like, Kyrie Irving for all that has happened with Kyrie Irving, I do think that there's, like, an implicit understanding that they're trying to create a standard of, like, what kind of behavior they want to encourage, right?

And you are aware that, like, these players have incredible. incredibly wide influence. Like even a guy like Miles Bridges who fringe All-Star plays in Charlotte, like still very wide influence. And there's just, there has to just be a certain level of what the NBA is willing to tolerate. And like, yeah, it's not legal or whatever. And they're not adjudicating what kind of punishment. But like, there's just, like, you have to be able to, like, set a standard and be like, we're not going to be okay with our guys just getting four DUIs when you make millions of dollars and could just get a cab. Like, I don't understand. there's a certain level of behavior that you can expect from these players. And I don't know that the league, I don't know if they care enough to execute that or if they don't feel like it's within their purview or they don't know how they would do it.

But like, they issue suspensions and fines for all sorts of things. I just don't understand why this, they, you know, let other people handle. Yeah, you know, like I said, he's not going to play this year. So essentially the league has a year to come up with

how they're going to deal with this dude. You know, I'm really hoping that they set a precedent here. Like, especially with something like, this shit is just so clear as day as to be like, this is behavior that needs to be reprimanded in an official capacity. Because look, I think the punishment that's happening right now where it's like, you cost yourself all this money. You're not playing this year. I think that is punishment.

But it's not official. it's not put on pen to paper. It's not in black and white this punishment. This is unofficial. Right. And would he have been punished like this had he not been in a contract year? Exactly. Exactly.

And so you guys got a year to figure out something that makes sense. And that is on equal footing with the transgression here, man. Like this is just so obvious y'all got to get this right. And so yeah, I'll be watching that. But yeah, that came across a news ticker yesterday. And I was just reading that shit just blown away. Like, Jesus Christ, dude, like this is so crazy. And it hasn't gotten a lot of airspace in the media.

And I think, you know, not to be like whatever to other outlets. You know, when this shit is still working itself in the courts, there's only but so much you can say about it. Right. But now that this is out there and this guy's pleaded no contest, you know, I'm interested to see what kind of news we get. out of Charlotte and if anybody's, you know, following this story. Because, again, I can't, I don't want to be laborless, but it's like, bro, they got to get

this right. You really don't think that any team is going to sign him to a minimum this year? I don't think so. I don't think so. I talked to somebody out there who's pretty close to the situation. It's like, dude's not playing this year. Okay. I don't think so.

That's what I've heard, you know, not it, but this was before this no contest thing came out. So definitely going to want to circle back on that. and sort of see what the temperature is. But from what I heard, dudes not playing this year. Which, you know, onus can collude to be like, all right, guys,

we cannot do this, right? We can all agree to not do this one, right? As, you know, hairbrained collectively as that group of people can be. So, like I said, man, definitely interested,

really watching this thing closely. That was our show for today. Today, of course, I want to thank you again, Sabrina. And just so you know, it took everything in me not to call you by your nickname. You can't do this on public. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it.

I'm respecting your privacy. I'm not doing it. But thank you for coming on today. SB Nation. Tell people they can find you, your work and all of that good stuff. Yeah, so technically this is actually my last day at SB Nation. and I can't officially announce what the new job is going to be. And I would say follow me on Twitter,

but I don't know if that's going to work. So just Google Sabrina Merchant and good things will happen. Salute, salute. Shouts to Jade Whaley on the ones and twos. Our producer, obviously killing it every day. We'll see you guys next Friday. Peace.