NBA Insider Chris Sheridan returns with the latest edition of the Sports Betting Tips podcast. This week, Sheridan welcomes the voice of the Los Angeles Lakers, John Ireland, for an exclusive interview. The issue on the table? Is LeBron James guilty of tampering for publicly discussing a trade for New Orleans Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis?.
Here’s the background on the controversy if you’ve missed it.
Tuesday, a reporter working for ESPN, Dave McMenamin, asked James what it would be like to play alongside Davis if the Lakers were to make a trade with the Pelicans. James simply answered the question.
“That would be amazing,” James said. “That would be amazing, like, duh. That would be incredible.”
As tampering cases go, that’s hardly a smoking gun.
Davis is averaging 28 points and 12.4 rebounds a game along with 4.7 assists, starring on a New Orleans team that’s going nowhere.
While reporters floated out Davis’ name, the Lakers have actually been working the phones on other players, but whiffed. They were reportedly talking to the Phoenix Suns about Trevor Ariza, but the Suns sent him to the Washington Wizards for Kelly Oubre Jr. and Austin Rivers.
The flip side of the Davis kerfuffle is the Pelicans probably don’t have Davis anywhere near the block. Back in October, coach Alvin Gentry was asked about possibly trading Davis. He scoffed at the very notion.
“If you can trade him (Davis) for anybody, then he is the most valuable guy in the league,” Davis said. “Not that we would ever consider that. There’s no one in the league that we would trade him for. And there’s no one out of the league, not even Beyonce. If we wouldn’t trade him for her, he’s probably untouchable.”
I mean, Beyonce has a heck of a cross-over and fade away jumper, so that’s really saying something.
General managers for small market teams like the Pelicans have taken issue with James’ comments and, specifically, the face that the NBA hasn’t at least tried to shut the whole thing down with a reprimand at the very least.
Here’s the rule the GMs say James broke: “Any player who, directly or indirectly, entices, induces, persuades or attempts to entice, induce or persuade any Player, Coach, Trainer, General Manager, or any other person who is under contract to any other Member of the Association to enter into negotiations for or relating to his services shall, on being charged with such tampering, should be given an opportunity to answer to such chargers after due notice and Commissioner shall have the power to decide whether or not the charges have been sustained…”
Ireland and Sheridan have thoughts on the subject, needless to say. Sheridan himself asked if LeBron would want to play with Carmelo Anthony to which James answered in the affirmative as well.
Before the show wraps up, Ireland and Sheridan discuss the Lakers’ possible championship hopes and their odds. The Golden State Warriors obviously stand in their way, but there are plenty of picks that Sheridan likes outside of the Warriors in the Western Conference.
There’s plenty more that Sheridan and Ireland touch on in this episode and it’s all exclusive to GetMoreSports.com.
