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🏈 Trouble in Paradise

🏈 Trouble in Paradise

January 12, 2023

Good morning BTP family! We had a ton of impressive performances last night in the NBA that included 30+ point games from Saddiq Bey, Zach LaVine, CJ McCollum, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Jalen Brunson, Buddy Hield, and Ja Morant. Credit to these incredible players, however this is the first year in a long time where the scoring almost seems too easy at times. With the numbers extremely high this year, the All-Star Game voting is going to consist of some very difficult cuts.

In today's newsletter we break down, Lamar Jackson's recent turmoil with the Ravens and what his future may look like, Dewayne Dedmon's bench outburst that got him suspended by the Miami Heat, and a wild throwback Thursday story on how this former NBA player is associated with a drug-lord? You're not going to want to miss it!

Finish the week off strong!

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Lamar Jackson's Recent Turmoil Questions his Future with the Ravens

Lamar Jackson’s future in Baltimore might be one of the more under-reported stories in the NFL. The two sides failed to agree on a new contract this offseason, and it has cast a cloud over this Baltimore season ever since. Even without a deal, it was widely assumed Jackson would be back next year, but things have seemingly turned for the worst.

Here’s what we know: Deshaun Watson’s five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed deal with the Cleveland Browns screwed up everything. It was an unprecedented amount of money for a player who hadn’t played football in a year and had severe off-the-field issues. Meanwhile, Jackson is a former MVP, a fan favorite, and an all-around good dude. He’s worth the contract that Watson got, but the feeling in the building and around the league is that the Browns massively overpaid. It’s like the Rudy Gobert trade in the NBA. The people with something to gain saw that as the new standard, while everyone else viewed it as an outlier and a mistake.

It’s also worth noting that Jackson is representing himself without an agent in these negotiations. While it’d be easy to blame that as a reason no deal got done, it should be noted that the Ravens and linebacker Roquan Smith, who also didn’t have an agent, was able to ink a record-setting contract.

Where are we now? Jackson was expected to return sometime between mid and late December from his knee injury, and now we’re into mid-January with a playoff game coming up, and there’s still no word on if he’ll play. There are several reasons why this could have happened; for instance, the initial diagnosis could have been wrong, or there could have been a setback that hasn’t been made public. But it’s impossible to separate his prolonged absence from the fact that he’s a run-first QB in a violent game without the financial stability of his next contract.

The idea that Jackson could voluntarily sit out a playoff game against their division-rival Bengals seems to go in the face of everything we know about sports and competition, but it's not so cut and dry. If you're Jackson, would you risk your health and career for an organization that you believe doesn’t value you? Whether or not Jackson suits up on Sunday, this could be the end of his time in Baltimore.

BENCH OUTBURST

Dewayne Dedmon Crosses a Line

Heat culture defenders will have to answer for this one. On Tuesday night, Dewayne Dedmon lost his temper on the Heat sidelines and received a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the club. After being subbed out of the game, the reserve center had a heated discussion with Heat coaches before angrily swatting a massage gun onto the court, interrupting play.

While this wasn’t a great look by any means, context helps explain why the Heat needed to punish him further. The Heat were already short-handed during this game, and with Dedmon picking up an unnecessary ejection; it forced the Heat to play the final 33 minutes with just seven players. Thankfully for the Heat and Dedmon, they still managed to eke out a 112-111 victory.

Dedmon’s actions cost him around $32,414, based on his $4.7M contract. However, his next year’s deal is non-guaranteed, and should the Heat hold this against him, it could very well impact future earnings. Dedmon went undrafted in 2013 and has played for seven different NBA teams and two G league clubs. This year he’s averaging 5.9 points and 3.7 rebounds while playing 11.7 minutes per game. Dedmon can return to the Heat on Saturday and hopefully put this incident behind him.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

TBT: How a Former $72M NBA Center Became a Drug Lord

While there is no shortage of different career paths an athlete might embark on after their playing days end, no second career has been wilder than Nikola Peković becoming a drug lord. Nikola Peković might not be a household name today, but he was once an incredibly hyped NBA prospect. Universally considered a top-ten talent in a 2008 draft that included Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Love, Peković was ultimately taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 31st pick because he was already under contract with a Greek basketball club.

Peković struggled his rookie year but eventually became a great player for the T-Wolves, and even earned himself a $60M extension along the way. But around 2014, his injuries piled up and limited him to just 43 games over the next three years. Between his injuries and the emergence of first-overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns, Peković was waived, clearing the path for him to enter the world of crime.

Peković never really got in trouble during his playing days, but he was always known to have connections with some shady characters in Montenegro and Serbia, most notably Darko Šarić, a famous Montenegrin drug lord. Despite Šarić being held in custody since 2011, six years before Peković retired, the two have had several business investments together, and it appears things escalated after leaving the NBA. He's also incredibly close with Darko’s brother, Dusko Šarić’. Not only did he once take on his massive 1.15M euro debt for him, but he later became the godfather to his child!

Shortly after he retired, Euro Hoops reported that the Belgrade police seized a car registered to Peković, and inside the vehicle were guns and drugs. While Peković wasn’t in the car, two close associates of the Šarić brothers were. Obviously, Peković has never announced this new “career,” but he’s never hidden the fact that he’s well-connected to these dangerous men.