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