Speaker 1: If you follow my rep reports on social media, then
Speaker 1: you know the name Eric Lewis. If you don't know
Speaker 1: the name Eric Lewis, you probably don't care about the
Speaker 1: NBA because he is no stranger to the ref reports.
Speaker 1: He's one of the NBA's most respected refs. For the
Speaker 1: first time in ages now, Lewis will not be working
Speaker 1: in the NBA Finals. And the reason is not because
Speaker 1: he's missing calls. It's not because the body of work
Speaker 1: is so bad. He is being told host it down
Speaker 1: because he got caught.
Speaker 2: With a burner account on Twitter.
Speaker 1: Let me just say that again, one of the most
Speaker 1: respected refs in the NBA is not reughing the premiere
Speaker 1: event of said league because he has a account on
Speaker 1: Twitter and is spending all hours of the day defending
Speaker 1: his brethren and him on social fucking media. Yes, he
Speaker 1: seemed if you look at the receipts there, he seemed
Speaker 1: at it's tim to be spending all of his free
Speaker 1: time defending his calls against angry fans, which if you
Speaker 1: follow NBA Twitter at all, you know that's probably like
Speaker 1: seventy eight percent of NBA Twitter, So it was probably
Speaker 1: like a second full time job for mister Lewis the
Speaker 1: truth though, from what I can see is that there
Speaker 1: really wasn't a lot of stuff in there that you
Speaker 1: can get mad about, just him and his little burner
Speaker 1: account and his Twitter fingers defending himself and other refs.
Speaker 1: So why is this a big deal? I mean, it's
Speaker 1: kind of a big deal because Adam Silver knows that
Speaker 1: you don't want to mess around with the perceived propriety,
Speaker 1: the reputational integrity of NBA refs. Why because it's.
Speaker 2: Already been damaged. There was a guy and he like
Speaker 2: took money and he changed calls. His name was Tim
Speaker 2: Donnie and there was an old documentary about him, and
Speaker 2: you don't want to have a controversy, especially a controversy
Speaker 2: cloaked in secrecy like secret burner accounts, because it makes
Speaker 2: other fans wonder what other refs are using burners. If
Speaker 2: they're using burners, are they coming after players with those
Speaker 2: burners like Fred van Fleet who criticized those refs by name,
Speaker 2: and does that translate into ref retaliation? Are we gonna
Speaker 2: get a full scale KGB versus the CIA versus.
Speaker 1: Player interaction here? Are we gonna get some espionage? That's
Speaker 1: a can of worms that the NBA just can't have it,
Speaker 1: does not want to open. According to my guy, Mike Bass,
Speaker 1: he's longtime NBA spokesperson, had communications regarding Eric Lewis and
Speaker 1: the social media posts. We are continuing to review the matter.
Speaker 2: And he will not be working the finals.
Speaker 1: Shit, you are not gonna be seeing Eric Lewis this year,
Speaker 1: maybe never in the finals again, all because he couldn't
Speaker 1: stand being criticized on social media. NBA refs. They also
Speaker 1: put on their pants one at a time, NBA refs.
Speaker 1: They also defend themselves on Twitter.
Speaker 2: They're just like us.
Speaker 1: Let's move forward. I almost opened this segment by saying,
Speaker 1: now that the Lakers have been safely eliminated from the playoffs,
Speaker 1: but I thought that would be I thought that would
Speaker 1: be a little rude. I thought that might be piling
Speaker 1: on a little bit, even though I can't stand them.
Speaker 1: As you know, the Lakers, if you remember, were swept.
Speaker 1: They took no games from the Denver Nuggets in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference Finals. They as if they did not win
Speaker 1: one game at all. But really, ESPN now has stopped
Speaker 1: its week long freak out over whether Lebron James is
Speaker 1: going to retire. So I did want to take a
Speaker 1: quick moment to survey how things are going in Purple
Speaker 1: and Gold laker Land, because the Purple and Gold Kingdom
Speaker 1: is having some trouble, mostly because they're a victim of
Speaker 1: their own success. What do I mean, Roth Polinka, I've said.
Speaker 2: Some mean things about rock Plinka. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 2: Some of it's warranted.
Speaker 1: Most of it's warranted. But he also made a ton
Speaker 1: of great moves. Let's be real, what he did to
Speaker 1: get rid of Russell Westbrook at the trade deadline was
Speaker 1: nothing short of David Copperfield. Two guys that he ended
Speaker 1: up picking up at the deadline incredible Ruyachi Mura, but
Speaker 1: then picked up as an undrafted free agent two years ago,
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves. And now that they've played really well down
Speaker 1: the stretch, now that they played really well in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: it just might cripple the Lakers franchise to the point
Speaker 1: where they're deep into the luxury tags, which Genie bus
Speaker 1: does not want to be and like truthfully, they are
Speaker 1: kind of having a hard time keeping him for the
Speaker 1: long term. Let's start with ruey Hachi Mura. He was
Speaker 1: jettison largely given up on. I think he actually asked
Speaker 1: for a trade out of Washington. But he looked really
Speaker 1: good for the Lakers, like really really good. Lakers insider
Speaker 1: Jovon Bouja noted that the Lakers have stated on multiple
Speaker 1: occasions that they are going to match any offer for
Speaker 1: Ruey Hachimura, since he already turned down fifteen million dollars
Speaker 1: from the Wizards. The market for Rui is rumored to
Speaker 1: be in the fifteen to eighteen million dollar range, but
Speaker 1: could go up to twenty million dollars per year. That's
Speaker 1: Abney Simon's money. Anything over fifteen is a problem for LA.
Speaker 1: So this is what Bouja wrote. I think where it
Speaker 1: gets a little dicey is if there's a team that
Speaker 1: sells themselves on Ruey and offers three years sixty million
Speaker 1: or four years eighty million. The impact, though, of having
Speaker 1: to overpay for Rui has ripple effects and at one
Speaker 1: hundred percent impacts how the Lakers deal with what do
Speaker 1: they call him the Arkansas Bird or whatever they call
Speaker 1: him the Nashville I don't know when no one has
Speaker 1: played themselves into a bigger contract than Austin Reeves. As
Speaker 1: you know, he's from Arkansas. As I just said, He's
Speaker 1: become a real two way threat this past season, and
Speaker 1: the Lakers problem with Reeves is that you have an
Speaker 1: undrafted rookie. They signed him to a two year, two
Speaker 1: and a half million dollar contract, but unlike second round
Speaker 1: draft picks, he became a free agent after two years
Speaker 1: because they were stupid, duteo dumb about how they negotiated.
Speaker 1: And the bigger problem now is that the Lakers have
Speaker 1: his bird rights and they can technically match any offer
Speaker 1: for Reeves. But let's be real, they can only offer
Speaker 1: him four years fifty two million dollars, as mark Stein
Speaker 1: and others believe, there's gonna be multiple offers for Reeves
Speaker 1: as high as twenty million dollars again for him. Again,
Speaker 1: another problem for the Purple and Gold. So here's what
Speaker 1: could happen. A team like San Antonio could offer Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves four years eighty million dollars, certainly plausible. The Spurs
Speaker 1: would be on the hook for twenty million dollars per year,
Speaker 1: but if the Lakers choose to match, there's all kinds
Speaker 1: of ramifications here. The Lakers will get Reeves in his
Speaker 1: first two years of his extension of eleven point four
Speaker 1: million and twelve point two million. But then here's where
Speaker 1: it gets interesting. The final two years become a bomb
Speaker 1: on their cap sheet, and Reeves will make more than
Speaker 1: twenty seven million dollars per season after that. This is
Speaker 1: what the folks and the biz call a poison pill
Speaker 1: for a reason. Michael Scoto notes Orlando, Houston, and San
Speaker 1: Antonio will all have their eyes on Reeves in the offseason,
Speaker 1: and others may be watching and waiting as well. So
Speaker 1: to recap, the Lakers are in a precarious situation with
Speaker 1: Ruey and Reeves the cornerstones of the depth that Braun
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis need. Let's be real, it will cost
Speaker 1: them dearly in the first two years, probably around thirty
Speaker 1: million dollars per year, and could balloon to fifty million
Speaker 1: dollars a year for both of them the final two
Speaker 1: years of their contract, which will get make it very
Speaker 1: difficult for the Lakers to do the things that the
Speaker 1: Lakers need to do to compete. But hey, Brod'll be
Speaker 1: retired by then, right, it's only two years away. Well,
Speaker 1: they still also have to find a point guard, and
Speaker 1: now rumors are that they're either gonna have to sign
Speaker 1: d lo in a sign and trade or try to
Speaker 1: get him to take a team friendly deal, which, let
Speaker 1: me be honest with you, our guy was sitting on
Speaker 1: the bench getting straight no minutes in crucial playing time,
Speaker 1: and so do you think he's gonna want to be
Speaker 1: a team friendly to the team. No, I sincerely doubt
Speaker 1: that Delo is going to sign any deal that is
Speaker 1: not worth his market, even for the team that treated
Speaker 1: him so well AKA drafting him and then jenisitting him
Speaker 1: out of town the first time, which weave is the
Speaker 1: point guard option as Fred Vanfleet, who they will not
Speaker 1: be able to afford and to just start signed with
Speaker 1: Clutch Sports. Clutch has use the Lakers like a piggy
Speaker 1: bank for a long time, so we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1: So don't expect to be Fred van Fleet to be
Speaker 1: giving the Lakers a discount either. The Lakers are at
Speaker 1: a precarious cross. A lot of it has to do
Speaker 1: with them being victims of their own success and just
Speaker 1: mismanaging the roster. Funny how raw Polinka might lose again
Speaker 1: now for winning