Let the Lakers Live, Charles Barkley is a Hater & It's Time to Trade Damian Lillard

Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre

On today's episode, Jason kicks things off with lengthy discussion on the heels of the Los Angeles Lakers' primetime win over the Boston Celtics. Coming in to the game, the running narrative in basketball circles was that the Lakers' Big 3 of LeBron-AD-Westbrook was a bust and it would lead to Frank Vogel getting fired. Wait, what?! Did they forget that almost the entire Lakers roster is new? Or that we still haven't even seen a fully healthy roster? Or that LeBron has already missed half the games? Let them build a little continuity before you have an opinion. This rush to judgment about the Purple and Gold is laughable, and there may not be a bigger culprit in the national media than Charles Barkley. Chuck openly admits that he doesn't really watch the games or follow today's players, but even still he has no problem firing off wildly inaccurate hot takes on a weekly basis. Barkley is a hater, and he's only embarrassing himself here. Later, Jason does a deep dive into the ongoing soap opera between Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers. Earlier this summer the prevailing thought was that Lillard would force a trade out of town at some point this season. Now? According to reports, not only does Dame want to stay in Portland, he wants a massive contract extension and for the team to trade for Ben Simmons. Look, Lillard is a fantastic player, but the reality is that he's on the wrong side of 30 and he's shown nothing in his NBA career that would make you think he's capable of leading a team to a championship. It's why the Trail Blazers need to bite the bullet and explore trading Dame right now. Portland probably won't get a James Harden-level deal for Lillard, but they can absolutely get a collection of young talent and draft picks to start their rebuild. Finally, Jason closes the show with a few thoughts on the impending sale of the Denver Broncos. Rumor has it they'll fetch around $4 billion a sale; Not bad for a team who still doesn't have a quarterback!

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