Lamar Jackson and His Contract Status
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Here we go. This is the Skip Bayless Show, episode 39.

This is the Un-Undisputed, everything I cannot share with you during the two and a half hour go for the throat debate show that is Undisputed. Today, I will give you a very inside look at what Lamar Jackson is going through in Baltimore right now. Today, I will take you way behind the scenes of the new Micah Parsons song created by our man DJ Steve Porter.

who also once upon a time created a similar and award-winning mashup remix featuring Tim Tebow and me. Today I will tell you what I have been told from the inside about Russell Westbrook and Darvin Ham, the new Laker coach. And as always, I will answer your questions

about number one, my undisputed wardrobe, number two, what celebrity numbers I have in my phone as we speak, and number three, why I did not tweet, how about them Cowboys, after last Sunday's victory over the Detroit Lions. But first up, as always, it is not to be skipped. Let me start by going deep on two guys I root for.

Two extremely different quarterbacks who are both going through extremely different issues off the field. You might remember when Tom Brady at first decided to retire early last February, he posted a picture of him shaking hands with Lamar Jackson. This was before a game back in 2019, and the caption said, remember, Tom had just retired, "You're next."

Yep, he blessed Lamar Jackson over Mahomes and Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, on and on and on. He blessed Lamar because I believe Tom Brady believes in what Lamar is made of. That's why I was so disturbed over what I'm about to report to you. Lamar, to me, is a baller.

with a strong football backbone, high football character, big clutch gene, and of course Tom Brady has the biggest clutch gene. Obviously Tom Brady and Lamar Jackson are from opposite ends of the quote unquote earth. Brady obviously from white middle class San Mateo, California, just south of San Francisco. Lamar from inner city Miami. Brady's obsession with football, it's his life, is obviously affecting his family life.

but I'm here to tell you that I believe that Lamar's off-field distraction seems to be bothering him at least as much as Brady's is bothering him. Now, what I'm about to say is being recorded here on a Wednesday, Wednesday afternoon, to be made available early Thursday morning. Brady and Lamar will play each other on Thursday night. Much could happen in that crucial game for, obviously, both teams.

Some of what happens might impact what I'm about to say, but the big picture will remain the big picture. Lamar Jackson is not happy that the Baltimore Ravens have refused to pay him the way the Browns paid Deshaun Watson. So this is what I heard from what I consider a credible source inside the Ravens' locker room.

I don't want to blow this way, way, way out of proportion, but I do believe what I've heard is significant. Lamar Jackson is so upset over his contract that he's effectively quote unquote holding out without actually holding out. Lamar is no longer as engaged or as responsive during meetings.

you might say he's sometimes withdrawn during meetings. That's not at all like the Lamar we used to know and love. Occasionally, Lamar has been a little late for a meeting, a little late for a practice, something he never would have been before. Again, these aren't end of the world developments, but

Obviously, Lamar Jackson is not the all-in, intensely dedicated, just ultra-disciplined Lamar that the Ravens had come to know and trust over his first four seasons. I do not love the way Lamar is handling this. I cannot endorse it, but I certainly do understand it. And I do have much compassion for Lamar's plight in Baltimore.

but I do want to be clear when it is time to play football, Lamar is playing football 1000%. I have no doubt about that. I don't think for one second, I'm not here to even remotely suggest that he's giving less than his best during football games. That's definitely not who he is. But during the week, yeah, I believe he sometimes loses heart for dedicating himself to a team

that so far has not returned his commitment. Now, I've said this from the start. My debate partner, Shannon Sharp, who's in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, echoes this. Lamar's first mistake was trying to represent himself in these negotiations with some help from his mother. No, no, no, no, no, Lamar. It's just not healthy. Yeah, I get it, Lamar, that you're potentially saving, I don't know, seven, eight million bucks in agent fees.

but if I could use the old British cliche, penny wise, pound foolish. This is big picture foolish because by very definition, negotiations breed negativity. The Ravens are forced to tell Lamar to his face why they believe he isn't a great risk for them. They have to tell him to his face what's wrong with him. They have to tell him why he's not worth $230 million

that Deshaun got guaranteed. Obviously, the team has some concern over the way Lamar plays football, his style. He runs as well as he throws. He can really throw it. I'll get to that in a second. But his running makes him a little more susceptible to some career-threatening injury and, hence, a little more threatening to a long-term investment by the Baltimore Ravens. I still believe Lamar is an underrated thrower of the football.

All he did was win MVP unanimously. I see him as a dart thrower with underrated deep ball range. It's not always the prettiest throwing motion, but does it ever work? And like Brady, I just believe in what Lamar is made of on the football field. Of course, if in fact he's occasionally protesting his lack of a contract by becoming a little distant in meetings, being a little late here and there,

That's obviously not the football character I so admired in Lamar Jackson. But you know what? Maybe that bridge between him and the Ravens isn't just on fire. Maybe it's just about burned all the way to the ground. Maybe both sides during negotiations have basically decided that a trade just might be the best in the end for both parties. That I don't know. But Lamar is

having to fight through increasingly contentious negotiations. And I just believe that it's taking at least as much out of Lamar as Brady's off the field situation is taking out of him. Remember, Tom Brady has been all time great at compartmentalizing, in focusing, if not escaping into football when it's time to play or prepare for just football.

Lamar's problem is that his off-the-field distraction directly impacts his on-the-field focus because they're part and parcel of each other. Lamar clearly believes with all his heart and soul that he's not being paid what he's worth, what he's earned, that the very organization that he's been willing to live and die for is disrespecting him as a football player, as a football player. I actually believe that Brady...

has a little better chance of tuning out and rising above his off the field problem than Lamar does. And I'm here to say and to conclude, I feel for Lamar Jackson and what he's going through. Next up, let's take a question from the audience from fittingly from another Lamar, this one in Texas, who asks,

Does Drip Bayless have a stylist at FS1 that helps pick out your outfits? I do. Her name is Autumn, whose personality is always as welcome as spring for me every morning. Autumn knows what I like, what I prefer. She picks out my quote-unquote ensembles from some of my suits and some that Fox has provided for us.

but Autumn knows full well that I have one psycho pet peeve. I obviously do not wear a tie on air, nor do I ever play for a tie on Undisputed, but without a tie, my collar must be starched enough to stand up. I cannot stand to see one side or the other or both sides of my collar drooping down into my suit coat. To me, that looks so tacky,

so amateurish, so classless, so unprofessional that it makes me almost, almost feel susceptible to losing a debate to Shannon Sharpe. Some shirts that we've tried, they just repel starch. They refuse to do anything but lay down like losers. Those shirts are immediately trashed. Other shirts just drink starch and they wind up tougher than a bulletproof vest.

Those I love until on deadline as I'm about to run, literally run up the stairs to the studio for the show. I try to get the buttons through the over starch buttonholes, especially on the sleeves, and they just won't go. So I often go running up the stairs with my sleeves unbuttoned, both sleeves unbuttoned. It's hard to get your coat on because they get pulled up into the sleeve of your suit coat.

It's a horrible feeling, but you might notice some days on air, both my sleeves, if I ever get them down through my suit coat, both are unbuttoned because they are unbuttonable. So I'm winning but still losing because I can't button my sleeves. But in the end, unbuttoned sleeves beat drooping collars any morning at 6.30 a.m. Pacific time when we kick off Undisputed.

And yes, I do have my psycho quirks. We're driven by the search for better. But when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't a search at all. Don't search, match with Indeed. If you need to hire, you need Indeed. Indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors, according to Indeed data, and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast.

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and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash Bayless. Just go to Indeed.com slash Bayless right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash Bayless. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. Next question from Samuel from New York. Did you help produce the new Micah Parsons song? Good question.

I did not, but I know all the behind the scenes, all the deep backstory, which I'm about to share with you now. This new song, if you will, is called 11 From Heaven. And if you haven't seen it yet on Undisputed, on one of our many social platforms or just randomly on the internet, where it has gone like a viral wildfire,

Please take a minute and a half, that's all it requires, to absorb it. A moment after we dropped it last Friday live on Undisputed, my man Lil Wayne immediately texted me and I quote said, "That was unforgettable!" with five exclamation points. "Simply genius!" with five more exclamation points.

A-effin'-mazing! With just two exclamation points, but I think he was just running out of exclamation points at that point. He had made his point. My wife, Ernestine, says that she and her sister Joyce and her two closest friends have watched Eleven from Heaven over and over and over again. That they find it fun, but also very funny. And that it's so addictive that it gets stuck in their heads.

I know the feeling. It gets stuck in mind. Eleven for Heaven was created by the great DJ Steve Porter. I first got to know DJ Steve in 2011 when I got to walk on stage with him in New York City and get a big hug from Spike Lee as DJ Steve and I received a Webby Award for the best mashup remix, that one called "All He Does Is Win."

Maybe you remember all he does is win. I'm sure you remember Tim Tebow's impossible run during that 2011 NFL season. Lord have mercy, do I remember it. And maybe you remember how I came to defend Tim Tebow on air, all but to the death, my death, on ESPN. For me, it all started on the fateful night of January the 8th, 2009.

when the Oklahoma Sooners I grew up loving and living for played Tebow's Florida Gators for the national championship. This at Dolphin Stadium in Miami. Oklahoma should have been ahead at halftime, but it was still 7-7. Only later

Did I see the halftime locker room video of Tebow all but hyperventilating, leaping into the middle of his teammates and yelling over and over again, "We got 30 minutes for the rest of our lives! 30 minutes for the rest of our lives!" It was scary amazing. If I'd seen that at halftime, I would have known that Sam Bradford and my Oklahoma Sooners had no chance in the second half.

Tebow took the game over with his legs as well as his arm. So as that NFL draft approached, I said on air, on first take, very simply, on national TV, I would take Tim Tebow near the bottom of the first round and I would let him run his college offense and he will win you a lot of games in the National Football League. He won't make any Pro Bowls, but he will win you a lot of games.

I said on live national TV. Josh McDaniels, then the head coach of the Denver Broncos, did take Tim Tebow with the 25th overall pick in the first round of that NFL draft. And unfortunately, Josh did not last long enough for us to see what he could have done with the quarterback he chose in that draft. Josh got fired in the middle of Tebow's rookie season.

Tebow did finally get a shot late in that season started the last three games and Glory be who knew he started making a lot of things happen with his legs and his arms He threw for 308 yards and a big comeback win over Matt Schaub and the Houston Texans in Denver but the next year the new regime John Elway and new coach John Fox had no use for Tim Tebow so

Kyle Orton started the first five games of the 2011 season, and the Broncos fell, predictably to me, to 1-4. And, of course, many of the Bronco fans began chanting, T-Bow! T-Bow! T-Bow! So Elway threw up his hands, if not threw up a little bit in his mouth, and basically said, let's get this over with.

Let's start Tebow at Miami, and he'll get exposed, and he'll fail, and that will be that. And on that same field, upon which he blew away my Oklahoma Sooners, Tebow rallied the Broncos to an overtime win. And so began the most miraculous run I have ever witnessed in my career. Most miraculous run ever witnessed. Again and again and again, Tebow pulled out

pulled out of the fire, victory after victory after victory with late game heroics. He could stink it up for 55 minutes, but during that run, he led the NFL in QBR over the last five minutes of those games. From one and four, Tebow all but willed the Denver Broncos to the AFC West title, thanks to Tebow running his college option.

Broncos wound up leading the NFL in rushing. Meanwhile, Tim Tebow also detonated the most amazing ratings run I have ever personally been a part of. Stephen A. Smith hadn't quite yet joined me full-time on First Take.

So, day after day on First Take, a parade of ex-player commentators came swaggering into the studio to tell me how wrong I was about Tim Tebow, how Tim Tebow would soon get exposed. Stephen A. would join us each Wednesday for a segment to tell me exactly the same thing, except much more vehemently. Again and again, I looked across the debate desk at those commentators or at Stephen A., and I said,

All he does is win. Did he ever. Sunday after Sunday, he made all of my antagonists look more and more foolish. But the passion and the venom just spilled all over our debate desk as we did battle Monday after Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. We set studio show ratings records on ESPN2 that I doubt will ever be approached, certainly not broken.

So it was that two very close friends of mine who then oversaw First Take had a brilliant idea. Jamie Horowitz, Charlie Dixon commissioned DJ Steve Porter to do a Tebow video. I knew very little about DJ Steve at that point, but for 10 years he had toured the world as a DJ. North America, Europe, Asia. He'd been at Lollapalooza, Coachella.

He'd released several progressive house albums. 2009, he was ranked the number two DJ in America. DJ knows his stuff, but DJ also knows and loves sports. He'd done a remix you might remember called Press Hop featuring Allen Iverson and Denny Green, Jim Mora, Mike Gundy, all firing back at the media and press conferences. So Jamie Horowitz and Charlie Dixon

asked DJ Steve to create a mashup remix built around me against the world defending Tim Tebow. If you haven't seen All He Does Is Win, please take just a moment. I think it's not much more than a minute to experience it. If I start singing it in my head, it will stick in my head for the next several days. I got Tebow. He shattered the mold. And All He Does Is Win, All He Does Is Win, I even got auto-tuned.

I can't sing, but DJ Steve Porter turned me into a songbird in this Tebow song. Unleashed him, Tebow. Let him go. It's time. Let him play. He's a gamer. He's a baller. Playmaker. Shot caller. I can't sing, but boy was I singing in this video. Okay, I never used the phrase shot caller. I'm not even sure what it means, but I don't care because that's the genius of DJ Steve.

He's even invented software that he calls Rhyme Pooler that allows him to search out words by vowel sounds that rhyme. If he needs a rhyme or if he just needs a rhythm word, he can search it out from the miles and miles of video he sifts through. And he can piece it together with such genius that he can literally put words in your mouth, which in this case didn't bother me a bit.

He created a song and a video that perfectly captured the daily battles that were taking place on First Take. All he does is just explode it onto the internet. If you watch it, you'll see Elway pop up with what looked like marionette teeth, even vampire teeth. Let him go! I don't know what it is, it's just funny. It's genius. Stephen A's facial reacts to me are just perfectly hilarious.

It got so crazy that a week later after it dropped on first take, I went to Denver to do a show ahead of the Tom Brady at Tebow game that Sunday at Mile High. Did the show live. Must have started about 8 a.m. Denver time at a bar. 8 a.m. in the morning, it was packed. People hanging from the rafters. But my flight was late. I had to go from Hartford, Connecticut through Denver.

Minneapolis to Denver is snowing. I got in at one o'clock in the morning I was gonna sleep for two hours drag my bags in nobody's around I walk up to the front desk I think it was the downtown Marriott in Denver woman came out of the office looks up at me and says you're the all he does is win guy I'm like I'm what I

The all he does is win guy, I couldn't even process what she was saying. I know I'm on first take I'm on this. No, no, you're the all he does is win guy. Oh, you mean the video? That's how it caught fire. That's all anybody in Denver was talking about. Tebow had actually obviously become bigger than Pike's Peak in Denver and all he does is win was

Right place, right time, right issue. Tim Tebow had become the biggest lightning rod in sports. Many people thought he couldn't throw. Many said, who cares? He just wins. Many people were offended because he wore his religion all over his sleeves that he Tebowed or prayed too much after scoring touchdowns. And of course, many loved Tebow for so openly believing in what they believed.

I'm sure some, if not many, thought that I believed in Thiebaud because I do believe in God. But trust me, that had zero to do with it. I had zero spiritual connection or conversation with Tim Thiebaud. I don't believe in exactly what Thiebaud believes in or preaches. In the times that I was around him, did interview him once at length at that year's Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

Never once asked me anything about my faith. And the truth was, I actually thought that sometimes Tebow came off as a little too holier than thou. It even offended me. But that's all beside the point, which was, I found myself in the middle of the hottest issue in sports, and DJ Steve poured magical rocket fuel on that fire. That spring, together, DJ and I,

went to, so fittingly, a theater right next door, 34th and 8th, to the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, where my TV career had taken off. We did a show called Cold Pizza live in the basement where we'd put in a studio in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel. And that show obviously morphed into First Take. So in that theater next door,

I got to walk up on stage. I got that hug from Spike. I wound up shortly thereafter in a big interview room after receiving the award. I'm looking to my left and there's Jason Sudeikis, who was just on Saturday Night Live then, Juliette Lewis, the other actor, is to my left. And it was one of the great nights of my career, thanks to DJ Steve. By the way, acceptance speeches,

at those Webby Awards couldn't be more than five words, end of story. Five words, period. So I looked at DJ Steve up on stage and I said into the microphone, "All he does is win." True. But at this point, I would be remiss not to mention the greatest song anyone has ever done for me, the greatest theme song ever written and recorded. You know it. It's called "No Mercy."

It's the undisputed theme song that you hear every morning to open our show, created by my brother, Lil Wayne. It perfectly captures the go-for-the-throat spirit of our debate show. Wayne just gets it. And did he ever nail it with no mercy. Even Snoop Dogg told me,

It's all time. One of the best things Wayne has ever done. I have been so blessed, which brings me back to DJ Steve and to Micah Parsons. To Shannon Sharpe's credit, he saw Micah coming before I did. This was ahead of that 2021 draft. I'd watched Micah quite a bit at Penn State and he had flashed for me. He jumped off my TV screen several times.

But I saw nothing of Micah in 2020 because Micah opted out during the pandemic. But to Shannon's credit, he said ahead of the draft, Micah Parsons will be the best defensive player in this draft. But understand, I was fixated on Patrick Sertan because I am lifelong diehard Dallas Cowboy fan, and I needed a bookend Pro Bowl cornerback opposite of Trevon Diggs.

I needed a more trustable Trevon Diggs, maybe a surer pro bowler than Trevon Diggs. I needed Patrick Sertan, and the Denver Broncos, darn them, I almost said another word. They snaked him at nine right ahead of Dallas, picking 10th in that draft. Yet Jerry Jones was so confident

that Philadelphia would take Devontae Smith with the next pick and that Chicago would take Justin Fields with the next pick. The 11th overall, I'm sorry, that'd be the, yeah, the 11th overall, that he traded with Philadelphia, Jerry did, and moved all the way back to 12, where 11 from heaven fell right out of heaven into Jerry's lap. As soon as I saw him in the preseason, I said, oh my God.

And of course, I became Micah's biggest fan. My oh Micah, 11 from heaven. And of course, I started driving his bandwagon to the stars. I pushed him last year as rookie year for defensive player of the year. And heading into this year, I said over and over again, my Cowboys will go only as far as Micah and this defense carry this team. And Charlie Dixon, who runs FS1,

had another brilliant idea, DJ Steve. And of course, we're now hoping history repeats. But this time, it's very different. This isn't me against the world. Nobody hates Micah Parsons. They might hate the Dallas Cowboys, but not him. DJ Steve tells me he tried to create something more upbeat, something that was escalating with positivity.

First he tried choir music in the background, but that was a little too understated, a little too reverent. Maybe it slowed it down a little too much, so he gave up on the choir music. DJ Steve told me he actually came up with the bass line for "Eleven From Heaven" while he was shopping at Whole Foods. Then he dropped in a Lil Wayne, and then he dropped in a Snoop, a little Kevin Hart, a little Nelly. Nelly actually got the last word. "All in favor raise your hands."

My oh my god, 11 from heaven. And here we go. It just gets in your head and it won't let go. Of course, we had numerous Shannon drop-ins in 11 from heaven. His victory dancing in his seat, swigging from a bottle of Diet Mountain Dew. And of course, there's me howling in front of a camera. I think that was actually a shot from back in 2018. Had something to do with Leighton Van Der Esch, known as the Wolf Hunter.

But who's counting? It's just funny. It just works. It's just brilliant. DJ Steve has me auto-tuning Terminator, Terminator, Terminator. I'm not sure I've ever used that word to describe Micah, but I wish I had. It works! By the way, quick aside, the reason this shakes me up deep down in my psyche is that once upon a time, back in my days of

living in Dallas, covering the Dallas Cowboys. Number 11 on those Cowboy teams through the '80s turned number 11 into a jinx number. Remember Danny White? I called him the master of disaster. Now number 11 obviously has turned back into a good luck charm. Now number 11 is heavenly. But back in those days, the last thing you wanted to wear as a Cowboy good luck jersey was Danny White's number 11.

But I'm making peace with that as we speak. Now I'm hoping that Micah not only lives up to DJ Steed's creation, I'm hoping he transcends it. I'm hoping he explodes into hyperspace while our video just sort of drafts along behind him, gets pulled along, gets pulled up behind Micah's rise. And hey, if nothing else, I'm hoping that 11 from Heaven at least made you chuckle.

Thank you, DJ Steve, once again. Back to your questions. Jackson from Birmingham, Alabama asks, who's the most famous person that you have their phone number in your phone? This question gives me some pause because it strikes at the very heart of why and how I do what I do. Trust me on this, from bottom of heart, I did not get into this business to see how many famous people

I could befriend, how many phone numbers I could collect. The truth is none of these star athletes are truly ever your quote-unquote friend. Trust me on that. They want to become quote-unquote friends with me or anybody else in this business only because we can protect and promote them. And I know that if I do become quote-unquote friends with them, if I actually think I am their friend,

then I'm risking having to pull punches on the air even when criticism of said quote-unquote friend is deserved. I'm doing a debate show. I cannot sell out to a quote-unquote friend. I cannot, will not let you down. And I know that comes across as some Boy Scout platitude, but that is truly the way I am built. I am beholden to no body.

Every day you get real raw me. I protect no quote-unquote friends on air. So obviously I have Lil Wayne's number, talk to him often, just talked to him a couple days ago. He's my brother. Close friends with Nelly, definitely have his number, talk to him fairly regularly, just randomly. I'm good friends with the actor Billy Bob Thornton.

we came from similar backgrounds and similar part of the country me from oklahoma and from arkansas i think he's a genius see sling blade but he wants nothing from me he doesn't need me to protect or promote him all he wants is true friendship and i believe i have that from him because he definitely has it from me so as i rack my brain i i guess the most famous person i ever had on so to speak speed dial

was, believe it or not, George W. Bush. Back in my Dallas days when he was the owner and the operator of the Texas Rangers, the baseball team, the Texas Rangers. When George W. did become president, I got to tell you, I was always amazed, sort of astounded that he was being portrayed as this buffoonish fool. I'm not political. I'm not into politics. I don't want to get into his politics versus mine. It just doesn't matter.

I'm just telling you that I talked a whole lot of baseball and quite a bit of life with George W. And I found the man to be smart and funny, honestly, smart and funny. That's just me. I've had Michael Jordan's number. I've had Muhammad Ali's number back in the day. Just the other night, a very prominent NBA coach got my number and called me and I called him right back.

He wasn't happy with me. That happens fairly regularly. But again, he initiated contact, not me. That happens quite a bit. Another of your questions. This is Miller from Ohio who asks, "If you had a 25th hour in the day, what would you spend it doing?" Now that's an intriguing question for me. I would spend that 25th hour, day after day after day, writing my screenplay.

I know everybody out here in Hollywood has a screenplay. They've either written it or they're about to write it. But trust me on this, I have a screenplay. I have a bombshell idea that I believe could win a couple of actors Oscars. My bombshell idea revolves around real-life clashes I've had with a superstar athlete. And it's about how far that athlete would go, fictionally,

to protect his church-going, family-first image and reputation. His actually phony reputation. The themes of my screenplay would involve religion and race and adultery and steroids and bloods and crips. I could go on and on. I stay angry with myself because right now I don't have the time or more important the energy to write my screenplay. But I will.

When it comes to towing, seeing is believing. That's why Chevy Trucks Advanced Camera Technology offers up to eight available cameras for 14 unique views, so you can focus on the view that really matters. Chevrolet, together let's drive. Learn more about Chevy Trucks at Chevy.com. Safety or driver assistance features are no substitute for the driver's responsibility to operate the vehicle in a safe manner. Read the vehicle owner's manual for important feature limitations and information. Speaking of phone calls...

The other night, I heard from someone deep inside the Los Angeles Laker organization who answered a question I had asked on air on Undisputed. That question was, did Jeannie Buss or Rob Palenka step in and overrule their new head coach, Darvin Hamm? When he announced just before the season started, he was demoting Russell Westbrook to the second unit, a move I gave a standing ovation to.

I was told unequivocally, very emphatically, no. Nobody from upstairs told Darvin Ham to reinsert Russell Westbrook into the starting lineup. That on opening night at Golden State. That, I was told, was strictly Darvin Ham's decision. An extremely disappointing decision as far as I saw it. Now, the reason I'd wondered out loud

about all this was that I thought maybe Genie or Polinka intervened to say, "Hey, Darwin, we're still trying our damnedest to trade Russell Westbrook. So, Darwin, if you demote him, you'll destroy whatever value he might still have left on the trade market." Nope, I was told, not the case. The truth is, Russell Westbrook has completely destroyed whatever trade value he's had.

Nobody wants him, unless, of course, maybe Genie will pay another team to take Russ and his $47 million he's owed for this year off the Lakers' hands and off the Lakers' books by throwing in the two unprotected first-round picks that the Lakers still own in 2027 and 2029. Two potential future stars in the NBA to get rid of the Russ that LeBron campaigned for, not over Genie Buss' dead body.

Her attitude has been all along, you wanted him, Braun, you're stuck with him. Genie's attitude is, I'm not throwing good money or great picks after bad. I definitely can't blame Genie for that, even though I know Laker Nation screaming, get rid of him! At what price? Nobody will give you anything of value for us. Another team might

only help you get rid of them if you'll pay them with those picks. And unlike the LA Rams, the LA Lakers are not going to say F them picks. So for the record, I advocated throughout the offseason, just pay the man his $47 million. Just bite the bullet and send him home. Addition by subtraction. Lift the rust cloud off this poor team.

Rid the locker room and the bench and the three-point line of Russ's toxicity. One reason this team can't shoot is because Russ is so contagious bad. His all-time dreadful shooting just infects the shooting psyche of the entire team. No! We hear all the fans at the crypt as Russ lines up a shot. No! They gasp.

and they utter in unison, please no Russ, please not again. You know the facts and the stats. Last year he was the worst three-point shooter in the entire league. He was the fourth worst free throw shooter in the entire league. He led the league in turnovers until the last three games when he sat out. Russ has the worst hands of any point guard I've ever seen, including high school basketball. He's the worst decision maker I've ever seen as a point guard. You know and I know that

The turnovers get to be so comically bad that we've often said is Westbrook blooper reels to clown music on Undisputed. I mean, how many times can you drive the basketball into the lane as a point guard and leave your feet without a plan? In my career, I have never seen a player so widely acknowledged as a great, as an all-time great player, get so shockingly exposed.

So quickly on the biggest stage he's ever played on the stage that he grew up dreaming of playing on out here in LA as a Laker fan to me Russell Westbrook has already disqualified himself from being that slam dunk first ballot Hall of Famer that everybody thinks he is even disqualified himself as a top 75 player that he is but obviously

Darvin Ham doesn't see it that way. Darvin Ham has fallen right into the same trap that LeBron fell into. You know what LeBron's initial reaction was at the thought of being able to acquire Russ? Wait, we can get Russell Westbrook, first ballot Hall of Famer, top 75? It can be me and AD and Russ? Do it! That was LeBron's attitude going in. So Darvin Ham did make Russ come off the bench in that final preseason game.

He lasted five minutes, he missed two threes, he had two turnovers. And I look up and suddenly he's walking up the tunnel with, I think maybe a slight gimpy little limp. I think, maybe I'm imagining because I think he was imagining. It was reported that he had a quote unquote hamstring injury. I didn't see it happen during the game.

Russ told the media that he pulled it because he didn't know how to stay loose and get warm when he got thrust into the game mid-first quarter off the bench. Never done that in his life, he said. What? A couple nights later, I watched Kawhi Leonard come off the bench in the middle of the second quarter, cold, made his first two shots. Who knew? Darvin Ham met with Russ.

The next thing I knew, Darvin Ham was apologizing publicly to Russ for putting him in harm's way. I could not believe it. I said on Undisputed, Darvin Ham, the strong, tough man's man of a man that he is, crumbled at the feet of Russell Westbrook. He let Russ pout his way right back into the starting lineup, and I could not swallow it. I could not fathom it. Darvin Ham, like LeBron,

Still has way too much respect for what Russ did not what he's doing for what he did Yes, he did something. I thought we'd never see he averaged a triple-double for an entire season as Oscar Robertson once did way back when back in the dark ages, but Russ went on and averaged triple doubles for four out of five years it was Unfathomable it was unprecedented. It was unbelievable and

But the truth is, Russ is nothing but a solo act of a stat machine, far more interested in starring than winning. So yes, he's played incredibly hard on the offensive end, fighting for rebounds at six feet, three inches tall. How could he average 10 a game, four out of five years?

Russ is playing hard for stats, his stats, his triple doubles, most overrated stat in all of sports, a triple double. It has exactly what impact on the scoreboard? I don't know. I think it has negative impact in some cases. Yet LeBron fell for it, and now Darvin Ham has fallen for it. Darvin Ham's an NBA lifer. He respects Hall of Fame greatness. Darvin Ham was a tough guy when he played, an enforcer.

but he keeps reaching for what Russ used to be. As I reported in 2016, Kevin Durant saw through Russ. Kevin Durant left Russ high and dry and joined forces with the Golden State Warriors that he and Russ had down three games to one in the conference finals because Kevin Durant finally decided he'd never win a championship with Russ as his primary decision maker.

I'm told that privately, James Harden, when he was a teammate of Russ's in Oklahoma City, used to laugh at what low basketball IQ Russ had as a basketball player, as a point guard. Used to laugh at it. Now, you can question James Harden's heart or his mental, physical toughness. You can question all that. But hey, with a basketball in his hands, genius, savant, genius.

So if I'm told that James Harden laughed at Russ, I get it. I can see it. I believe it. West Brick sometimes seems to have bricks for basketball brains. So what happened in that debacle? Portland came back from eight down, 442 left last Sunday at the crypt. Darvenham reinserted Russ at the 442 mark, and it was a bad idea. And yet, after Russ took that—

Talk about ill-advised, quote-unquote, two-for-one shot with 27 seconds left that left LeBron just shaking his head, AD also. 12 seconds left, Darvin Ham did yank him, and Russ pouted. All of a sudden, his hamstring was bothering him again. But I've seen enough, and I'm hoping, I'm thinking, I'm believing now that Darvin Ham has seen enough. He has to be man enough to stand up to Russ, and I believe he is.

You just have to reduce his minutes. If Genie won't send him home, you have to send him to the end of the bench. More and more to the end of the bench. If you have to start him, fine. I don't even think he deserves to start. He can't finish games. He can't play in the fourth quarter. He's just too much of a liability on the floor. You have to keep him on the bench. Shannon always says to me, well, he's going to pout. He's going to make waves. I don't care. Make waves. Pout. Sulk.

grouse, make negative comments to the media. Who cares? I'm here to tell you, after this year, I'm not sure anybody is going to want Russell Westbrook to play basketball. Anybody at any price. Veteran minimum. I'm just not sure anybody's going to want that headache on their team, no matter how cheaply he might come. It's just time, Darvin. I love you, man. I want to see you succeed. I think you have a great chance to succeed.

But the only way to succeed is to say no to Russell Westbrook, slam dunk first ballot Hall of Famer that he might still be. Say no, keep him out of harm's way and out of LeBron's hair, what's left of it. Final question goes to Jerry from Michigan. Is this the first time that you didn't tweet, how about them Cowboys after they won? Good question.

No, Jerry, in years past when the Cowboys cratered and fell out of contention late in seasons, I couldn't muster up a how about them. But Sunday was significant because, as I've told you in previous podcasts, I really want to see Dak Prescott take it up a whole other level from Cooper Rush, who, of course, won a game last year at Minnesota on Sunday night football. Then this year he beat both of last year's Super Bowl teams, the Bengals and the Rams.

at Rams. He won a Monday night game, did Cooper Rush at Giants. That's looking bigger and bigger. And by the way, Cooper Rush did beat our arch rival, Washington. Game's starting to look a little bigger. And of course, in the end, he did bring my Cowboys back, did Cooper Rush all the way to 20-17 at Philadelphia on Sunday night football early in the fourth quarter. He did all that.

Dak was back in the saddle against by far the worst defensive team in the National Football League, the Lions. Back in the saddle. And those Lions were one yard away early in the fourth quarter, last Sunday at Jerry World, of taking a 13-10 lead. A 13-10 lead. One yard away. For me, that was scarier than any Halloween movie you can show me. Any. Any.

The defense obviously rose up and took that game over. The defense gave Dak two easy short field touchdowns that made the final score a very misleading 24-6. Very misleading. Man, I was disappointed in Dak, rusty as he might have been. And somehow, it just didn't seem right to tweet gloat about that. Here's hoping I get to tweet, how about them?

14 more times before this season ends. That is it for episode 39. Thank you for listening and or watching. Thanks to Jonathan Berger and his All Pro team for making this show go. Thanks to Tyler Korn for producing. Remember, Undisputed every weekday, 9.30 to noon Eastern, the Skip Bayless Show, every week.