Isaiah Austin - Former basketball star at Baylor U

Mark Cuban. How you do anything is how you do everything. If you're not, you don't pay attention to detail on the little things, you're not going to be in the habit of paying attention to details for the big things. Ken Griffey Jr. Hey, where's his hat back? First, well, where my hat back is because my dad had a fro and I wonder where his hat and

if I put his hat on at 86 and you know, he's got a eight and a half and I got like a low five. It's not going to really stay on my head. Geneiba, thank you for having me. What a nice turnout. It's good to see everybody. John Smoltz. If you don't have the imagination and the willingness to fail or not being afraid to fail, I

don't think you can be truly great. Candace Parker. I have so much hope for this generation coming up that I've grown up with women in sports, in leadership roles, on television, speaking about sports, speaking knowledgeably about sports. To me, all the work that I've done, I'll look at Mediterranean work that I've done. It has always given me great perspective. It's allowed me to keep my feet

on the ground and has really put and reminded me what's truly important. That was for Seattle. Just to name a few. Welcome to sports business radio. Now, here's Brian Burgers. Well, thanks for joining us on this edition of sports business radio. Another great guest for you lined up this week. Isaiah, he's a Boston. He's currently working for the NBA League office as a player development league

director, former basketball star at Baylor University. He played pro basketball abroad for five years starting in 2016. He was taking his physical for the 2014 NBA draft. They discovered he had more fan syndrome. An NBA doctors restricted him from playing in the NBA. His NBA dream was dashed, but he is pivoted beautifully after receiving that diet. He's now using his basketball acumen on and off the

court in a different way after NBA commissioner Adam Silver befriended him and offered him a job at the NBA League office. I actually met Isaiah in person. I was doing a project for USA basketball. Colorado Springs at their headquarters. And I had the pleasure of meeting Isaiah. I wanted to have him on to share his inspiring story and kind of update everyone on what he's doing

now and what the future of what he's doing now. I think he'll be inspired. You know, a lot of us get tough news over the course of our life. Isaiah honestly was one of the closest things we've seen to this victor. Wemba Nia kid out of France who is taking the world by storm and is expected to be the number one pick in the NBA draft.

He is a skilled big man. Had it all. And, you know, got that tough diagnosis. So I think you'll enjoy hearing from him and you'll be inspired by this conversation. This week's edition of sports business radio is presented by Isaiah. Inside tracker is the ultra personalized performance system that analyzes bio marker data from your blood DNA lifestyle and fitness tracker to help you optimize your body

and reach your health and wellness goals. Inside trackers mission is to improve the health span of people everywhere. So they can enjoy longer healthier lives. Adding life to their years and years to their life for a limited time. You can get 20% off the entire inside tracker store. Just go to inside trackers. I'm joined by executive producer Brian Griggs. Griggs. How are you doing? Good. And

I mean, talk about inspiring listening through that interview. He really is. I mean, talk about a guy that literally gets that diagnosis. I think he's going to be at the top of his game playing NBA for the rest of his, you know, 10 years or whatever. And then boom, like that life changes. And, you know, you said the word pivot and talk about big time pivot.

I mean, instantly he goes from not being able to play to how do I change this and make this something positive. And man, he has some great stories and what he's done and is doing in the NBA is awesome. Yeah. And what I saw him do with USA basketball is it really interesting. You've got these elite junior basketball players anywhere from 14 to 18 years old.

Isaiah has been in their shoes. And by the way, he was the best of the best. He was the number one ranked high school player. So if anyone is well suited to give them advice on what's coming and what lies ahead on and off the court. It's Isaiah. So I think it's brilliant that this is what he's pivoted to. As you'll hear, you know, he does

have aspirations to work for an NBA team and be in the front office. And I think he would be great. And would add a lot to a team. Again, he's got that player perspective, but he's super bright as well. And knows the business of a basketball. And I mean, who better to learn from than Adam silver, right? And the league office. So I mean, you want

to talk about an apprenticeship. That will prepare for the team. I mean, I'm going to prepare you. And give a lot of credit to Adam silver. You know, I know Adam a little bit. And you know, what a great gesture from him after Isaiah receives this really crushing news to, you know, allow him not only to come on stage and, you know, take a wave and

shake commission or silver's hand at the 2014 NBA draft. But then, you know, he basically says to Isaiah, look, go finish your degree. You want to have your degree come see me and we've got a job at the league office for you. So good story. And again, I think you'll enjoy hearing from Isaiah Austin. If you've missed our last two shows, God, what great guests. We

had Ryan Leif on two weeks ago, Carly Lloyd on last week. So I would invite our listeners to go and listen to those interviews. Those are really candid conversations as well with both of them. And, you know, we've had some great guests lately. So if you're not subscribing to the sports business radio podcast, please do so on iTunes or Spotify. We've also got a YouTube channel.

So you can subscribe to our YouTube channel as well. Find all of that at sportsbusinessradio.com. All right. Greg some headlines before we get to the interview with Isaiah Austin. What an epic weekend of college football last weekend. I mean, it was one of the rare weekends where I was able to sit and watch some games. You know, usually I'm running around doing something or traveling. I

post it up and watch that Alabama Tennessee game. You're not going to see a better college football game. And the ratings just came in the numbers. CBS average 11.6 million viewers for that thriller. That was the most watched college football game this season to date. So, you know, there was a lot of buildup. A lot of people wanted to see is trying to see if a

real can they play with Alabama and they did. One of the funny things afterwards is the students took down the goalposts and literally took them off campus and threw them in the river. So Tennessee, which has like over a billion dollar endowment, sends out a posting on social media saying we're doing go fun. We need 150,000 dollars to replace the goalposts before next week. And part

of it is funny because like the goalpost just disappeared. I mean, if you've seen the pictures, it's like a see of orange and the goalposts just disappeared. The other part that's funny is here you've got this university with literally over a billion dollar endowment and they're asking people to pay for the 150,000 dollar goalposts. I mean, come on. That victory was worth 150,000 dollars if you

lose a goalpost or two as part of the victory celebration, you just factor that in. Yeah. No, that game was just epic. And you knew it was going to be that way. I mean, Neelan Stadium is unbelievable. The colors are great. Tennessee fans are awesome. There's always a good showing there. And just I mean, everybody wants to be Bama. So you've got that rivalry in the

SEC. You got the crowd jam and you got, you know, prime time broadcast with the crew from CBS. Everything was great. Look great. And what a way to finish. I mean, that game was so back and forth in that fourth quarter to a Bama took the lead. I'm like, oh, here we go. Bama is going to figure out a way and then Tennessee Bama right back

at it. That was fun. Well, then we're on the West Coast. If you stay up late, you watch Pac-12 After Dark and you see USC and Utah. And that was a great game. And that came down to the end. And USC suffered their first loss of the year, lose by 1.4342. But, you know, at the end of the day, you go to sleep and you say,

these are two of the best college football games that I'll see. If the national championship at the end of the year is any better than either one of those two games, I'd be surprised. I mean, totally. I just, it was as good as it gets. And, you know, the TV audience was great. And I got to tell you, watching college football this year has been more

exciting and more compelling to me than watching the NFL. There have been some bad games in the NFL. How about this? I saw this at the other day. If you're betting the over under in the NFL so far this season, there have been more unders than any year since the end of the year. In 1994. Wow. And it tells you there's not a lot of points

being scored. There's a lot of sloppy play. There's a lot of turnovers. You look at like Russell Wilson and Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers, who have always been MVP caliber quarterbacks. And they're all having off years. And, you know, it's just been interesting. But I find myself being very compelled by these college football matchups, especially last weekend. So, you know, we got a long way to

go. Wow. Those were two of the best college football games you'll ever see. And to have them happen on the same day was pretty amazing. Yeah. It was pretty fun. I agree. I'm been more into college this year too. It's been more compelling. There've been great matchups and just down the wire. Lots of points scored. Lots of parity back and forth. I was that Monday night

game last night. Broncos had 125 yards and penalties at halftime. I mean, like, come on, guys. We're in the NFL here. Well, and I saw the stat Justin Herbert 57 passes he through. It's the most ever in a game without throwing a touchdown. So you throw 57 passes. She's and it doesn't include touchdown. So just crazy stats is here with the NFL. Alright, let's talk majorly

baseball playoffs. Griggs. As I said last week, I think majorly baseball did a really poor job of kind of alerting everyone. Hey, we have a new format for the playoffs starting this year. We don't have that play in game. You know, the first round I think was best of first one to three. Yeah. Second round, first one to three, then the, you know, NLCS and ALCS

World Series are best of seven, but, you know, kind of confusing. Where are we finding the games? Are they on FS1? Are they on regular Fox? Are they on TBS? Are they on TNT? Where the heck are the games? So if you find the games, they've been pretty compelling. If we went by last year's format, the Philadelphia Phillies don't even get in. They're the number six

seed. And it's really interesting. You've got the Phillies and the Padres in the NLCS, the number five and six seeds. And out are the Dodgers, the Braves and the Matt's who all won over 100 games. So it shows you this format is almost kind of like March madness where, you know, Cinderella can come in and knock off Godzilla and all of a sudden you find Phillies

and Padres five and six seeds in the NLCS. And, you know, in the AL as we record this, the Astros are in. So they're the number one seed in the AL. But they could face Cleveland and Cleveland is also, you know, a Cinderella story. I really want and I tweeted this out there. You know, I'm partial or impartial. I don't really care about matchups much. I

really want to see Yankees Astros because of the bad blood between those two franchises and, you know, the Yankees feeling a few years ago. Like the Astros were cheating. And I just want to see that matchup. I think it would be great theater. And, you know, it's in New York, guaranteed you Major League Baseball would prefer to have Yankees Astros than Guardians Astros. Even the Guardians

play a great quality of baseball. But we'll see. And, you know, so that's kind of like if that matchup takes place in the AL, you've got the two heavyweights, the number one and two seed. But then over in the NL, you've got the five and six seed. So it's just been interesting to see how the new format has impacted things because like we said, if this

was last year's format, the Phillies aren't even in. And, you know, you look at Bryce Harper. All it takes is one or two players to get hot. And Bryce Harper hasn't been healthy all year long. Now he's healthy. That dude can carry a team through three series or four series and, you know, win a championship for you. And, you know, you see San Diego and Philadelphia

building this confidence. And then I love to see those fan bases. Those are starving fan bases. They have not had playoff baseball in a long, long time. What's the status all with the Padres. They hadn't had a home playoff win in front of fans since 1998. Yeah. That's 24 years. So anytime you get to see these fan bases who don't typically have success and host playoff

games, get to host these games, it's fun to watch. Yeah, 100%. I think it's, I love that the Padres ran because like you said, we haven't seen that forever. And, you know, it's kind of fun. Look, if you're, you know, I mean, obviously if you're Dodgers or Braves fan, you're hurting right now, but it's kind of nice to not have the Dodgers and the Braves in.

I'm like, I'm liking that Houston is damn good. I mean, they are, they are firing on all cylinders. They took my mariners to, you know, kill them in three of that 18 inning game was nuts, but Houston has so many, so many weapons. So that Yankees Houston would be fun. Yankees got to stop. It's raining in New York. It's like flooding. I mean, they can't play.

They can't play a game. They keep getting them canceled. So hopefully the rain stops in New York. And I can't actually finish the series. By the way, let's tip our cap to Mariners fans in Seattle. So again, a starving fan base. They hadn't hosted a playoff game since 2001. A lot of times during an 18 inning game, you're going to see the stands start to empty

out. By the time the game's over, you look in the crowd, half the crowd is gone. Right. Griggs, I didn't see anyone leaving. Like those fans stayed for all 18 innings. They were loud. They were engaged. And I mean, I don't know too many like the Dodgers fan base or maybe even the Yankees fan base. I don't think they're sticking around for 18 innings. No, no,

it was crazy. And they said they were lining up like three hours before. I think they stood the whole game. I watched the whole game. There was people standing behind home plate the entire game. Like 18 innings just standing there. They were loving it. So too bad they lost it. But it was fun to see in Seattle show up. Yeah. So we'll see. What do you

think from here on out? By the way, our predictions, especially mine. I think I missed every prediction. I think I got the Astros, right? Yeah. I think I missed every other prediction. I picked the braves. I picked the mats. I picked the Dodgers. So, you know, I sock when it comes to the MLB predictions. But for the rest of the way. Well, let's start with NLCS.

We know who's in that matchup. Philly's Padres. Who do you like? I got to go Padres. I mean, I like that it's West Coast for me. I've always loved the Padres organization. I love that. I love their uniforms. I just love their vibes. So I'm taking Padres there. I think it'll be close series because they're both pretty equal and they're both kind of planned for, you

know, they haven't been there for a while. So it's good. So I got Padres there. And then if the Yankees get through and it's Houston Yankees, great series. But I still think Houston has more power. I think Houston wins that one. Okay. I'm going to go Padres as well in seven. I think that goes the full length. The only reason I'm picking the Padres is because

I think their bullpen is better. You know, they get Suarez and the eight. They get Hater and then nine. True. And yeah, their bullpen is pretty locked down. I think they've allowed one run in the postseason. And, you know, they beat the mets and the Dodgers to get to the Philly's. I mean, that's pretty amazing. Yeah. So, you know, the Philly's are playing great. And the

wild card, again, is Bryce Harper. Like that guy is from another planet. So if he decides he's going to hit a home run every game, he can literally carry the Philly's through this thing. And, you know, he's probably the best player in that series. So if he decides he's going to flex his muscles and be the best player in that series, then the Philly's probably win.

But I'm going to go Padres in seven. And then if it is Astros Yankees, I'm going to go Yankees. I think the Yankees are fired up. And I think they've got some bad blood there with Houston. So I'm going to go Yankees. And then if it's Astros Guardians, I'm going to go Astros. I think the Guardians are great. But they're not ready to beat the Astros.

So, you know, it'd be interesting. I mean, you could have a rematch of the Yankees Padres World Series from I think 2001 or 2000, 1998. I don't know. It was a long time ago. Somewhere in there. Yeah. You know, you could have a Yankees Philly's, which would be, you know, the people on East Coast would be going nuts. You could have a Padres Guardians. I mean,

like there's all kinds of matchups. But, you know, I think if you're asking me, I'm asking the TV execs at Fox. They want the Yankees in there. So we'll see what happens. Okay. The NBA season starts tonight, Griggs. And for the first time ever, the NBA brought in over $10 billion in revenues in 2022. So they're expected to hit double digits again. This is after declining

the two previous seasons because of the pandemic. So they came back with the NBA season. The Vengeance last year, they're expected to hit double digits in revenue again this season. So, you know, the other news I saw this week is that Turner signed the NBA on TNT crew to 10 year deals. So Ernie, Charles, Shaq, Kenny, 10 year deals. And it's pretty bold because the NBA

is still negotiating its meteorites. So there's a certain amount of money. There's a scenario, probably very unlikely, but there is a scenario where TNT isn't carrying NBA games because they get out bid. And then what do you do with that contract? Did they have a clause in there that says, Hey, if we don't have the NBA, the contract is no one void. But I think they

feel confident. Obviously, if they're doing these 10 year deals, but I love it because I love that show. It's the best studio show on TV and any sport. I love that they're keeping those guys together. And, you know, we're kicking off the season tonight with a double header on TNT. So I'm happy to see those guys. And, you know, I think the NBA season is going

to be really interesting because you've got some stars coming back, Kauai is coming back, Dame Lillard's coming back. Jamal Murray is coming back. Chris Middleton is coming back who was out for the playoffs. You know, what's Ben Simmons going to look like on the nets? How's James Harden going to do in a full season? With the sixers, by the way, I'll throw out my two NBA

bets of the season. And I think these are like, unless there's injuries, which could always happen. I just think they're like no brainers. But if you look at the over under win total prop bets, you've got the nuggets and the sixers sitting at 50 and a half games. I would bet the over on both. So I think the sixers are going to have a great regular

season. I think the nuggets who have, you know, the back to back MVP and Yoke, they've got Michael Porter Jr. coming back. They've got Jamal Murray coming back. I think they'll easily win over 50.5 games. So, you know, I'm not here to give out betting advice. But when I saw those two, I was like, wow, like, if I was going to bet, I would bet on

the over on the nuggets and the sixers regular season over 50 and a half. What do you think? Yeah, I agree with you on that. And I think I was, we were talking a little before we jumped on about, you know, NBA predictions for the year. I kind of, you know, I think the NBA is going to be a great deal. I'm going to think out

of the West. I think if Jamal Murray stays healthy, I think it's down to the nuggets warriors in that Western conference. And I'd be fun to see the nuggets get in because they've been so close. They've been hitting at it, you know, getting almost there. And then Jamal got hurt and all that. So I think in the West, it's nuggets warriors. And then in the east,

I think, yeah, Joellen B in the 76ers, if they can stay healthy with hard and going all year and Tobias, I think they're going to be right there with Brooklyn. If Brooklyn can can put that big three together and they can play all season with Ben Simmons back. I mean, how do they not, you know, compete? So those are my two. My four top teams for

the NBA. All right, who's your finals? Finals will go, I'll go with nuggets versus Brooklyn. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Why you really have faith in Brooklyn? How do you really think that they're going to? I think I'm not going to have any meltdowns Katie to stay healthy. It's a risk. Ben Simmons is going to. I just think there's too many variables there. I'm going to go Milwaukee

versus Denver. And the NBA finals, I think this is the year that Denver breaks through. I think they stay healthy. I love the Clippers, but I don't have faith that PG and Kauai are going to stay healthy. Yeah. And, you know, you just look at like, what are the variables involved? And I think Milwaukee and Denver are great teams. And I think Milwaukee probably should have

been in the finals last year again, but Middleton got hurt so they lost Boston. I think if he doesn't get hurt, they're in the finals. And boy, Yannis versus the Warriors would have been. Yeah. A really good matchup. Drew holiday taken on staff and trying to lock him down. Like that would have been a great matchup. I like Golden State this year, but again, I think

they have too many variables. You know, Dremond Dream is in his free agent season. So that could either be he's going to play great after punching Jordan pool or he's going to go in the tank and they're going to have to trade him and he's going to be a disruption. By the way, the Warriors resigned Jordan pool and Andrew Wiggins this last week. Yeah. Priggs, they're

going to pay more and luxury tax. Then the combined payrolls of the New York Knicks and the Memphis Grizzlies. Wow. So, you know, some people may look at that and go, that's irresponsible. That's crazy. What are they doing? I look at it and go from my favorite team. If my owner or owners are all in like that, God bless. They see the window here with staff

and play, right? And they know, all right, we've probably got three more years here with those guys in prime playing condition. We're bringing up young guys like pool and moody and Kamehna. So I think what they're doing is good, but it also shows you like they open that chase center a few years ago. The Warriors are making a lot of money. Yeah. So if your owners

are willing to pay 250 to 300 million dollars, that's just in luxury tax. So the whole bill is going to come in at about half a billion dollars for the payroll, for the Warriors. You're all in. And again, you know, some people may look at it like they did with George Steinbrenner back in the days with the Yankees. Oh my God, that's irresponsible. And how could

you pay that much money if it's resulting in championships? You're going to get those revenues from other places. And the other thing it tells you is the media rights that are going to happen in the next area. The NBA negotiation are going to be enormous. And I mean, let's prepare ourselves here, Griggs. We're going to see in the next five to six years an NBA player

making 70 to 80 million dollars a year. A year. I mean, I saw stat earlier this week, Jordan pool. Great young player for the Warriors just signed. I think it's 125 million dollar deal. And then it had the other Jordan Michael Jordan. $93 million in this career on court. So obviously Michael Jordan's made a lot of money with the Jordan brand and as the owner of

the hornets. But if you just look at on court earnings, Jordan pool has already almost doubled what Michael Jordan made in his career. So the money. In the next decade. I mean, I remember when we started sports business radio in 2004. And if a player was making $5 million a year, that was a lot of money. Yeah. Now we, we've got this. You may see the

player who makes $80 million in a season. I mean, we're going to see that. It's a four year deal. It $320 million. I mean, you look at someone like a Zion. A few stays healthier. You know, jaw or Luka. Some of these young players, the amount of money they're going to make over the course of their career. They may approach a billion dollars just on court

by the time they're done. If they play a 15 to 20 year career. Well, it's crazy. Even during the season. You see somebody upset and extension or a trade deadline signing. It'll go up even from the beginning of the season. Like it's crazy. How much these players making. We were talking about the NFL NFL too. Some of these, you know, right. White receivers that are getting

these extensions and stuff and every season. It's another 20 million. Another 30 million. The last year. I mean, every single season. It's just quadrupling. It's amazing. How much this money goes up. Yeah. All right. I'm going to make another wild NBA prediction. Russell Westbrook will be talking about the season. They're going to be traded in month one of the season. And Kyrie Irving will not finish

the season with the net. Those are my two wild predictions. I distinct. They're both way too flammable for their organizations. I don't trust that they're going to be on best behavior. You know, already saw the other night. Russell Westbrook. You know, they had the Huttle and Russell Westbrook is outside the Huttle and he's sitting on the bench by himself. Like I always tell people body language

sends messages. Yeah. And his body language right now around the Lakers, like, you know, you can see the pictures on media day with he and AD and LeBron. But if you look at what's going on on the bench and in a game situation and the regular season or the preseason, like, it just doesn't look good. So I don't think he's going to be with the team

much longer. Because I think they know we can't have this guy in our locker room. Yeah. Because he's going to be a cancer. Everyone else. And I think that's what's going to happen with the nets too. I really do. I think Kyrie is going to pull something like he has the last few years. And it's just going to be the final straw. And they're going to

make a move there, whether it's by the deadline or I just don't think you finish is the season. By the way, I'm going to throw this out there. This is NFL related. It's from a source I trust. I can't. I kind of like did a double take when this person told me this, but this is a person who is in the now. This person told me

that Tom Brady would not finish this NFL season. He will not finish this NFL season. And it won't be because of injury. He will retire before the season. And if you look at their start so far, three and three, you look at what's going on in his personal life. Right. It's crazy. But it's not that crazy. So again, I don't want to turn into page six

of the New York Post here. But I was I did a double take when this person who I trust and is in the know told me that from what they've heard, they don't think that Tom Brady is going to finish this NFL season. So it's something to keep an eye on. And you know, you look at like Aaron Rogers. It's hard when you see the greats.

I know it's early in the season. And there's a long way to go. But like, you know, father time catches up with everyone. Yeah. And father time is catching up with Rogers and Brady. You know, they don't have weapons around them like they have in the past. He's got more touchdown passes than three quarters of the teams and the NFL have right now. I think it's

17 touchdown passes. His hurdle over that player. I mean, this is a guy who's like six six. And he has a cannon arm. He runs like a gazelle. He jumps over players on the other team. I mean, I love watching Josh Allen. And I love watching Patrick the home. So that was a fun game to watch. It wasn't as compelling as the playoff thriller from La

Last year, but it was still, you know, a down to the end game. But boy, you know, it's another fan base. We talked about the Phillies and the Padres. I would love to see the bills fan base. Finally get a Super Bowl. And I love Josh Allen. I like that team. You know, Vaughn Miller. Boy, I mean, you sign a Vaughn Miller for a game like

that. I mean, he was in Patrick, my home's a shirt for the fourth quarter. And, you know, had some big sacks. The guy's been there before. So that was a fun game to watch. Dude, I think if we could just have bills KC every Sunday, I'd be tuning in. I mean, those games are both fan bases are insane. I love games in the bill stadium because

they're just their rampant. They're nuts. I love it. It's always cold. It just feels football. And Josh Allen. I mean, yeah, six six, two 50 with pads on hurdles. The guy way over him cleared them like you couldn't believe it. Wasn't even touched. The guy he's so fun to watch. And his arm is insane. And he can run and he takes hits. Yeah, put those two

guys on every Sunday. I'm good. And by the way, I retweeted a clip of Josh Allen post game. He's running off the field. There's a young man holding a sign up who was obviously a big Josh Allen fan. How does Jersey gone? Josh Allen not only runs over to him to say hi to the kid, but the parents were having a hard time figuring out how

to unlock the phone and how to take the picture and like so many athletes would have just been like, Hey, hi, five, see you. I don't have time to stick around here while you figure out how to unlock your camera. Or your phone to take a picture. He was so patient with the family and took a picture with the kid. And the kids face after Josh

Allen ran off like that kid will remember that moment the rest of his life. Obviously he's got the picture. Yeah. But the little moments like that where you take a minute or two minutes to impact someone's life. It was a really cool clip. So Josh Allen isn't just a great football player. He's a really good person too from, you know, all reports. I don't know him

personally, but from everyone I know who knows him. He said he's a really special guy. He does a lot with, you know, charity and kids off the field. So, you know, you look at who are going to become the faces of the NFL when Brady and Rogers move on. Russell Wilson, those types of players. It's Josh Allen. It's Patrick Mahon. It's Lamar Jackson. It's, you know,

those are the players who are going to become the face of the NFL. And the league is in good hands. I think we're going to be able to do that. With those players as the faces. Oh, yeah. I mean, Kyler to come back. I mean, yeah, you got some fun electric players. The game has changed. These quarterbacks can run now. They can move. They can spin.

They can, they're just fun to watch. Yeah. I think the future of quarterback playing the NFL is is not lacking. I'm excited for that. By the way, troll of the week tweet. And I retweeted this too at SB radio. After the Seahawks beat the Cardinals on Sunday, there's that legendary picture of Cliff Kingsbury. The Cardinals sitting in his, you know, modern looking Arizona house. And he's

got his feet up. And, you know, you're just like, wow, this guy is ready to be in GQ. Yeah. The Seahawks took that picture. They were placed Kingsbury with Pete Carroll. They put this little, you know, the thing in Chicago. I can't remember the name of it, but it's the silver thing. It's the bean. The bean. Yeah. They put that in the picture. Because the Cardinals.

The Cattle Seahawks had included that in a tweet earlier in the season. So the trolling level for the social media team for the Seattle Seahawks gets an A plus that that was that was clean trolling. The picture spoke a thousand words. It didn't need any words. And it was very, very funny to those who had paid attention to that picture in the past and the bean

picture from earlier in the season. Well done. Seattle Seahawks social media team. I love watching some of the trolling. That's fun with the social media when it's society. Like you said, clean, fun, you know, shooting pictures back and forth after a game. It's fun to see that. I think it's a it's good engagement and some of those social media teams on the NBA and NFL. They

have their their dialed in. They know what to do. I love it. All right. Coming up next. Isaiah Austin. He's currently working in the NBA league office in York. Just a great story. If you need an inspirational story tune in and listen to Isaiah. He's doing great things now after getting some tough news in 2014. You're listening to sports business radio. We'll be right back. When

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nutritionist in your pocket for a limited time. You can get 20% off the entire day. And you can get 20% off the entire entire inside track or store. Just go to inside tracker.com forward slash SBR. That's inside tracker.com forward slash SBR. He's got an amazing story and I wanted to bring him on sports business radio. I had the pleasure of meeting Isaiah in person in Colorado

Springs at USA basketball headquarters about a week ago. Isaiah, thanks for joining me on sports business radio. How are you? I'm doing awesome. I appreciate you asking me to come join and be able to share a little bit with your audience. I'm excited. Yeah. I just love people who are able to pivot in life and overcome things. Your life, you know, you have been an amazing

basketball player. You've worked really hard. But then in 2014, the story I heard is you were taking your physicals, getting ready for the NBA draft. And it was discovered that you have more fans syndrome. And then doctor said, you shouldn't be playing in the NBA. So I can't imagine going from the high of, oh my gosh, I'm going to be a first round pick to a

few weeks later. Finding this out, but you've pivoted beautifully. What was it like when you found out this diagnosis? Because that had to have been shocking to you. Yeah. I mean, um, when I found out it was obviously devastating, just because of the fact that, you know, you go. Your whole life playing basketball and, you know, you're healthy. You have no, no hiccups in the road,

health wise. Let that they're describing like, you know, shortness of breath. Fating after workout. You know, I was, I was, I was just I've never experienced any of that in any part of my career, even growing up playing sports as a, as a, as a youngster. You know, so, um, when I got hit with the news, it was actually five days before the draft was 21st,

2014, you know, it was just a moment that I will just linger with me for the rest of my life. You know, it's like losing a loved one. You know, you, you're kind of always going to grieve about it, but it's never going to actually leave you. Yeah. Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA invited you to come to the draft. You, you took the stage.

You're now working for the NBA. As I understand it, he invited you a few years ago. Hey, you have an open invitation. As long as you get your college degree to come to work for the NBA. What kind of relationship of you developed with Adam Silver? Um, I'm very personal. You know, he cares about me as a person more than anybody is cared about me as

a basketball player. He's got that relationship with him and know that I can rely on him, you know, for anything. Uh, it's actually something almost like a safe haven for me. Um, it's been a rocky road, you know, going up to ups and downs, left and right, but through it all, you know, he's, he's kept his promise and, you know, he promised me that I would

have an opportunity available for me in the, in the league, if I got my degree. So I graduated in July 2021. And then I started working with the NBA and I'll sober. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a fantastic. So okay, player development league director. What's your job in tail? Uh, a little bit of everything. You know, when people say player development, they immediately think that we're on

court with guys, you know, and developing guys on the court, but we, we really specialize in trying to help players develop, um, off the court. So, me, I, I specialize in youth development. That's why you saw me as the USA basketball Colorado spring. Um, last weekend, but also, you know, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we,

we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we resource you are to these young kids. Right? Like you've been in their shoes. You were, uh, a, a star at Baylor University. Um, you, you've excelled in every area of basketball. And for them to

be able to pick your brain, I would imagine is, is, is, is, is, you know, you know, you don't have to. pretty, uh, fruitful for them. Yeah. I think it's just important, you know, um, for me to give back to the game. Cause it's given me so much, you know, I mean, throughout my whole high school career, I was, you know, a highly talented player and

everybody was just, you know, coming out me left the right giving me advice, you know, some advice was wrong. Some advice was right. But it always touches home when you're hearing from somebody who was actually in your shoes. And, um, you know, all the, all the young fellows that I were, that was speaking with this past weekend in Colorado Springs, you know, I think it was

like 60 of them that came from all over the country. I was in their shoes, you know, I was in the girls, all American and Jordan, man, classic, all American, uh, Elite 24. Uh, by the time I graduated high school, no more playing the country. So, um, you know, for them to be able to hear with me, I feel like they can connect with me on

a personal level and they, they're actually listening, you know, it's not going in one ear and out the other. Was there a question that someone asked you last weekend that kind of stuck with you? Yeah, I think one of the kids, he actually reached out and he just asked me like, how, how did I face adversity? Like, how, how did I keep myself going? Because those

players, they were 14, 15, 16 years old, you know, they're, they're just starting life stuff. Right. You know, they, they might just now be encountering, um, a little bit of adversity in their life that they're actually aware of, you know, and I just, you know, just try to tell them that I just had to keep a level head. You know, you, you, you gotta know that

basketball is a privilege, first and foremost, and that everything that comes with it after, after that, you know, it is a gift. So, um, I just tried to remind those guys to let them know that, you know, as they're going through this journey, there's going to be highs and lows. It's the same thing with everybody's life. I mean, I haven't met one person who hasn't gone

through any type of hardship in their life. You know, everybody is, we all have that one connectivity is that, you know, we just don't know how life is going to go. You never know if it's going to be fair or not. So I just tried to tell them that, you know, as they're going through this journey, just remain calm, remain even killed, you know, never too

high, never too low. Um, you know, don't look down on themselves. They are going through adversity because just know that everybody else in the room is facing some sort of adversity with them. And then I just, you know, try to tell them that you can employ yourself out of the darkness, you know, reach out to somebody, speak with somebody. Um, I feel like as basketball players,

you know, especially African American basketball, players minority, we're looked at as a different, you know, different type of being, you know, people just think that we're just supposed to be this amazing, strong rock foundation, you know, and now we're not supposed to hurt. And a lot of us go through a lot of hurt at our early age. And we don't know how to deal with it.

So I just tell them to reach out to somebody, speak with somebody, surround themselves with people who love them for who they are. And they'll be able to pull themselves out of any any type of adversity that they make face and life. What amazing advice and like I said, I told you and I met you in person, you're such an inspiration. You know, a lot of

people would have gone a different direction. And then you've gone after receiving the news that you received in 2014. And, you know, the way that you have handled this is, is to be admired. So I can't think of too many people better to be speaking to those young man last weekend, then someone like yourself, who like you said, has been an elite player, who has faced

adversity, who has done all that you've done. I want to ask you about even after 2014, the diagnosis came, you still went and played, I think it was five years of basketball abroad. You played in 11 countries. It looks like it was an amazing experience for you. Did you ever have concern about your health? And how did you arrive at the decision to continue to play

basketball, even though, you know, the NBA had kind of said, we're not going to allow you to play. Yeah. No, I don't think I'm going to be able to do that. I never actually had any concern about my health. One thing about being an athlete is, you know, your body. You know, you know, that if a doctor is telling you that, you know, you're not going

to be able to do this, but you feel something else, and you're going to be able to do it. So when they told me that I was never going to be able to play basketball again, you know, I kind of looked at it a little bit weird because one, I've never experienced shortness of breath. Two, I've never patched out of pain. It after any extreme was

workout. And I was, you know, the type of kid to be number one in the country. Yeah. So, you know, anyone has much much alone you prefer you get surgery right the shot, you know, I would, I would have. So, I actually went to see my specialist, Dr. David Leigh, after the diagnosis, after the draft and everything and he monitored me for two and a half

years before he actually cleared me to play all this season again. So I returned to the game until 2017. And then, you know, just with his specialties with him being a part of theologist and a specialist in Marfense. And you know, I had the utmost respect and belief that what he said was true. So, I never had any concerns from my health plan. I knew that

if I ever felt any time of shortness of breath, or if I did, you know, get lightheaded or pass out or think that I would step away from the game because I have a son and I knew that basketball, you know, isn't it? And I'll be all for me. You know, I knew that I had more important things in my life that mean more to me

than the game with basketball. So, if I ever would have felt that way, I never would have stepped away from it. I never would have continued to play the game. What an incredible perspective. You killed it in China. I mean, 34 points a game. I think 16 rebounds. I saw you played more recently in the big three. And you did really well there. You were the

number one overall pick. What was it like getting back into competitive basketball? I imagine I got the juices flowing. Yeah, it was exciting. It was fun. I mean, you know, I grow, you grow up a competitor. You grow up competing at such a young age that it just becomes a part of you. It becomes a part of your nature. You know, you want to get out

there and play against the best talent you want to get out there and dominate the best talent. You know, so for me to be able to go out there and play competitively again, it was amazing. That's awesome. So is that behind you now? Is there any more competitive basketball or your full time? You know, I'm working for the NBA. I know you have visions of potentially

being a front office executive. Is that the path that you're on now? Yeah. So I'm actually full time with the league now. So I don't, I don't think I'll play competitively anymore. I've gotten everything out of the game that I wanted to get out of it. You know, just being able to play overseas and be able to experience all I've experienced in the five years is

like, you know, I got what I wanted from the game. And, you know, I don't want to kind of like keep pushing into the point that, you know, I keep each and every year. I want to play competitively. You know, and then I can never walk away from the game. You know, I feel like I'm in a happy place in my life right now. So I

feel like it's perfect for me. Cool. Well, who worked, you're listening to sports business radio will be right back after this. Hey everyone, Brian burger here. Ron is the new Official Men's Wear Partner of sports business radio. I love their product. I've been a fan for a long time. Did you know, David Stern was one of their first investors. Ron makes the absolute highest quality, best

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H O N E dot com and enter promo code S B R 15 at checkout. Now back to sports business radio with Brian burger. All right. If I'm an NBA team owner, a coach, a GM. And I'm thinking about hiring you to work for my team. Give me the. The reasons why I should hire you. Like what do you bring into the table? You've already mentioned

some of it in this conversation. Again, such an inspiration. And you've, you know, walked in these players shoes. But what would you want to do specifically? And what would you bring to the table? I don't know exactly what I was going to do specifically on the team side, but just knowing my background and seeing how basketball is now. It's like I just I just relate to

it so perfectly. I mean, I was the youth. Unicorn before actual unicorn started drafting into the NBA. You know, I mean, I have guys who are here, who are on ESPN. Commentating my games, who are talking about me when I was in the in the era of play. Because you know, most people wanted those big, big to play back to the basket and shock hooks soft

d, an only state in the paint. You know, I, I was called soft, a lot reshooting fade away. And then I was called, you know, almost like I wasn't, they were calling me a soft, a soft big because I wasn't playing how normal big is playing. And now you look at the kid Victor who's been the number one drastic, you know, and everybody is loving him.

So I'm loving the recognition that he's actually getting because, you know, I fought so hard my whole career for that to be respected and to see it respected now in the game, you know, it just brings me a lot of joy because the game is going to continue to make these drives and people are going to start to differentiate themselves from other players. And I feel

like, you know, you've never seen 7-4 who's put the ball on the ground and played us fluent at P.S. But you have seen 7-1 do it before with me. So I know that I have an eye for talent. I know that I bring just a genuine personality that'll, that'll be around that just always shoots people straight. You know, I'm not a yes man. I've always, you

begin at any of my college coaches. I'm always been the person who's got to be the best. I just tell people how it is, you know, and I feel like a lot of teams do need that on the team side. But if somebody is to want to bring me in eventually as a GM or an assistant, you know, I feel like they'll be getting the right

person. That's for sure. Yeah. I definitely agree. And it is so interesting that you mentioned Victor Wembenaya, I think, as his last name from France. And, you know, a lot of people until recently had never seen him play other than on maybe some YouTube videos or social media, but he was on ESPN and, you know, everyone's saying, wow, what a discovery. But you're right. I mean,

you're three inches shorter than him, but you were kind of Victor Wembenaya before there was a Victor Wembenaya. Yeah. And, you know, I owe a lot of that Kevin Durant, you know, because I grew up watching Kevin Durant play. And, you know, even when he was still playing, you know, they liked it, but he was a one-of-one. Right. When I was playing, I felt like I

was a one-of-one. I mean, I was, you know, number one in the country. For a reason, but a lot of scouters and a lot of teams actually didn't like how I played for some reason. But it's just funny how you see the game change from years to years to now. And I actually love it. Because I feel like that will just have unlimited ability for growth.

Yeah. It's almost like you were a few years ahead of your time, right? Like if you had been playing in this era, people would be gushing over you and it's like they are Victor. But, you know, when you were playing the five didn't go out and shoot threes as much as they might now. So it's interesting. I want to talk to you about Baylor. You played

for Scott Drew, who's been there for many years and very successful Baylor won the title a few years ago. What was it like playing for Scott Drew and playing at Baylor? It was amazing. You know, he was one of the coaches who really just let me be me on the court. You know, he doesn't challenge his players to be something that they're not. He lets them,

he lets his players be what they are. And that's why he said such a great coach because most coaches try to get players to fit who they are as a coach. And he lets the players dictate how he coaches. You know, if he has a smaller, smaller group, and he'll coach different, but if he has a bigger group, he'll coach a certain way. So I just

feel like, you know, I was blessed to be able to plan underneath somebody who's just as special as a person as he is a coach. So, you know, I owe coach Drew a lot on that coach and staff that have me there. So, you know, in the trees with a lot of team, you know, I would tell you because I had some players and I was

kind of like dried and deepened in theutta. You know, I was like a species of riffin to match me, I was that i, right? So, you know, and all of a sudden I was like, I could be more than just a basketball player, you know, that I could be a man who was respected off outside of the court of basketball. And I could be somebody who,

you know, people look up to outside of just being, you know, a top center in the country. And, you know, just that family environment, that Christian environment just helped me grow so much. I owe them a lot to, you know, be the man that I am today. Wow. I want to ask you about name image and likeness because I've had some athletes on recently that were

just mega stars in college. And name image and likeness wasn't around when they played it wasn't around when you played. I look at this and I go, man, Isaiah could have made some money off of a name image, you likeness, if it had been around. When you would play, do you ever think about that? What do you think about NIL now? Yes, crazy. Um, I was

actually, you know, when we heard about the NIL, you know, my mom had the hardest time getting one of my college surgeons because every time they put my number in the bookstore, you know, they don't put your last name on it, but they put your number up there. Okay. You know, so the players and the students, they all know who the player is, you know, for

me, it was 55 and 21. That was in the store out. It was Pierre Jackson and Isaiah Austin. And it was crazy because the first game of the season, my mom didn't have a jersey to work with a game. So she was mad. She was barking at close drew like, how can I get my son jersey? How can I get my son jersey? And close drew

just finally was just like, you know what? He told me he was like, just give your mom your game jersey. I'll get you another game. We'll be for the next game because it was just selling out so fast every time it hits the bookstore. So, you know, I feel like I could have made a lot of money off of name image and likeness, especially coming out

high school. Yeah. Do you think it's a good thing for college athletes to be able to profit off of their NIL and their brand? Personally, you know, just my personal opinion, you know, just watching it. I think it could be a good thing. And I also feel like, you know, I think it could be a bad thing. You know, you don't want these players to think

that everything is supposed to just be given to them. You know, there still have to be some point where, you know, these guys are working up to a certain point where they're, where they're able to get everything that they want and deserve. But as far as like paying players, I feel like the NCAA should have did a long time ago. Obviously, just for all the money

that the players bring to the universities and everything. But, you know, I don't want guys to get a little bit too comfortable with the money that they're making and then they stop trying to get better. Well, like you said, and, you know, the guys we're with last weekend in Colorado Springs, they're so young. So now you start saying, Hey, you got a clothing deal or, you

know, you got a big social media following. So we're going to pay you for your NIL. I look back to like when I was 14, 15, 16 or someone was doing that for me, I might have gotten a big head. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's some universities, you know, the players might be bringing in more money than some of the coaches, you know, so it

gets down to those things, like, you know, just that respect factor. But I actually love that the players are able to get paid for their talents because you've made it this far. I feel like you should be able to take care of your family if you need to. Okay. My research tells me. You're not on social media. Are you, are you on social media anywhere? Um,

different on Instagram. Oh, you're on Instagram. Okay. Yeah. All right. What do you think of social media? I mean, obviously when you saw me speak last week, we talked a lot about the pros and cons of social media. You know, this is really not going to say a newer thing, but you know, 20 years ago, players weren't worried about what people were saying to them on

social media. They weren't checking constantly. What do you think about social media? I think it's a good thing. I like the exposure that it gives the kids, but also at the same time, it opens up the kids that, you know, crowds of people that they might not have to interact with, that they shouldn't have to interact with that. Such a young age. I mean, you have

grown then behind the screen. From bad about these young 14, 15, 16 year old kids, you know, and it's like, you know, these kids see these comments and of course they're young, so they're going to want to bark back, you know, and they might end up putting them in a bad position at the end of the day if they say something wrong or, you know, things

to get taken a little bit too far. But I love that the exposure that it brings them though. Yeah. Just like that was just such an exciting sport that like, you know, everybody in the world is almost a bad sport. You know, so like the exposure that it brings is great, but you know, there are cons to it as well. Yeah. Did you have any of

the parents ask you questions? I mean, obviously you saw I got some questions during my sessions from the parents who are trying to keep tabs on their kids on social media. Just over the course of the couple days, I thought it was great that parents were there. Did you have any parents ask you questions or ask you for advice? Yeah, I had a few parents that

actually asked for my parents contact information. It's kind of like what I said, you know, they want to they want to speak with some of my who's been in their shoes, you know, who's walking their shoes. And, you know, my mom and dad, they helped me with my recruiting process, even though I did commit early in the 10th grade. I feel like a lot of these

parents are going through that with their kids. And they just want to get the best advice they can they can have to be able to help their kid be as successful as possible. Well, tell you what your parents raised a fine young man in you. And I'm sure they could be really resourceful for these other parents who like you said are going through the same thing.

So we'll end on the next one. On this speaking of being a parent, your dad do a five year old. How has that changed your perspective on life? Because I know, you know, I'm a dad and it certainly changed my perspective on life. That's my that's my number one job in the world, you know, it's the makes of that. I show him the right way. I

show him the right path to grow up and be a respectful young gentleman, you know, my son just brings so much light and shining and, you know, happy aura to everybody who who we meet. And I just want him to continue that all the way throughout his life. That's fantastic. Well, I hope that you guys have a great holiday season. I know the pumpkin patch is

always fun for the the young ones. Is he going to dress up for Halloween? Are you guys going to be going door to door and doing some trick or treating? Yeah, we are this year. He's going to be Raphael. So I think I'm going to dress up as an inditorial. I love it. You'll be the tallest inditorial in the neighborhood for sure. Right. Isaiah Austin currently

working for the NBA League office player development lead director. If people want to follow you on Instagram, do you know what your handle is? Yeah. The at Isaiah often I say I ate I ate a US P.I. is excellent. Like I said before, it was a pleasure meeting you in person last week in Colorado Springs. I've been admiring you from afar for a long time. I

just think how you've handled all this is so graceful and so wonderful. Not nearly as many people would have handled it as well as you have. So continued success to you. And thanks for joining me on sports business radio. I appreciate you having me. This episode of sports business radio has brought to you by underdog fantasy. The fastest growing fantasy app ever released. I'm going to

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away with a free match on your first deposit up to $100. Well, that's it for this edition of sports business radio. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks to our team at sports business radio. Brian Griggs, Josh Blank, Ryan Nakajima and our friends at CG Sports who power sports. See you young Matt Amarlin, Nicole Wardle and Calvin Works. I'm Brian Burger. Have a great week and we'll talk

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