ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne Talks LeBron, Giannis, 76ers, WNBA & More with Rich

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne joined Rich for the full NBA-and-WNBA tour. The Giannis Antetokounmpo trade market. The Daryl Morey firing in Philadelphia. AJ Dybantsa and the lottery. Whether LeBron has ever fully been embraced in LA. And the WNBA's messaging problem in week one.

The Giannis market came first. Shelburne's reporting around the Bucks ownership group set the table.

She had written in March that owners Wes Edens and Jimmy Haslam told her the framework was simple. Sign the extension or get traded. The wrinkle is the extension cannot be signed until October.

Then Haslam went public.

"He's either got to signal to us that he'll sign that extension, or we're going to trade him," Shelburne said. "And I don't think you're actually allowed to do that."

The bigger story for Shelburne is that the Bucks finally have organizational clarity.

"When you went through all this stuff back at the trade deadline, I got to the point where I was like, oh, they're not ready to trade him," Shelburne said. "When you're going to trade your franchise player, when you're going to trade the guy who brought you a championship, the most important player in franchise history, you can argue it might have been Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but probably Giannis now at this point, everyone has to be on the same page."

The Memphis-Utah trade for Jaren Jackson Jr. was the structural comp.

"That's how you trade a guy like Giannis," Shelburne said. "And I think the Bucks are finally to that point."

The Haslam piece, in Shelburne's framing, was meaningful because of his other ownership role.

"Look at what he's done as owner of the Cleveland Browns," Shelburne said. "Baker Mayfield didn't want to be there, traded him. Myles Garrett, gave him the largest contract in history. So you either sign it, or they trade you."

The Morey conversation followed. Shelburne walked through why Philadelphia made the move now.

"When you look back at the totality of this run that they've been on, somebody has to pay the price," Shelburne said. "They have not broken through."

The Embiid contract is locked in. The Paul George contract might be movable.

"They're somewhat stuck," Shelburne said. "And that's why you bring in somebody new to look at it with fresh eyes."

Bob Myers is helping with the search but is not the answer.

"I don't think Bob Myers is going to be their GM," Shelburne said. "Bob Myers has graduated."

The Dybantsa lottery question opened a door to a real prospect debate.

"There's a lot of people think Darryn Peterson is the best player in this draft," Shelburne said. "Because he had such a weird year at Kansas with the cramps, AJ's projected as the number one. But you could very credibly make a case that Darryn should be the number one pick."

Her trust in Michael Winger and his use of the pick was unambiguous.

"Michael Winger's waited his whole life for a moment like this," Shelburne said. "He's really smart. So I think it's going to be fun to watch and see how this plays out."

The Anthony Davis lottery comp was the bit that landed.

"He's not lucky on the court in terms of injuries," Shelburne said. "And he's not even in the draft room. He's not even getting the ping pong balls. If it was just once, I would say, okay, that's coincidence. This is three times now."

The LeBron-LA conversation followed McMenamin's reporting. Shelburne added the radio-host perspective.

"I host radio here in LA," Shelburne said. "You wouldn't believe the amount of people who come who call in all the time, let's get rid of LeBron. You're like, do you not recognize that this is one of the greatest players of all time that came to LA after this franchise had been in the wilderness forever?"

The case for LeBron's connection to LA, in her framing, runs through context.

"He came of his own volition," Shelburne said. "They barely had to recruit him. He just wanted to be a Laker. And turned the whole franchise around."

The Kobe comparison is the one that cuts.

"He's never been embraced the way Kobe was," Shelburne said. "He's never really been appreciated. Even the championship he won, it was in the bubble. So there was no parade here."

The Luka pivot made the contrast personal.

"Luka's probably done more in two years or a year and a half than LeBron has maybe done in eight to be out in the community, to connect with people, to feel like this is my town," Shelburne said. "Like, Luka, remember when he was paying for people's parking in the playoffs?"

Shelburne caught herself.

"That's just personal style," Shelburne said. "I think that you have to evaluate on the court. LeBron James turned the franchise around. He restored them to glory. And I don't think he's quite felt appreciated."

She flagged what changed during the year.

"There had been a real repairing of the relationship that went on this year," Shelburne said. "The path back to the Lakers is probably there if he wants to still be in LA. The question is how much money and how do they go about it?"

The bigger ask, in her framing, is unfakeable.

"I think LeBron wants to be appreciated and he wants to be respected for the fact that he did sacrifice," Shelburne said. "You can't fake. You feel it when someone respects you or you don't feel it."

The WNBA segment closed the conversation. Shelburne came in hot on the messaging issue around Paige Bueckers.

"This is now a new environment," Shelburne said. "You guys are legit. We're talking about you every day on the show. That's everything you want for the WNBA. You're part of the daily conversation."

The bar she wanted the W to clear was the NBA's.

"This has got to happen in the W," Shelburne said. "They've got to start enforcing injury reporting policies."

The Cam Brink and Golden State Valkyries roster moves she flagged were the same pattern.

"It's hard to make the Valkyries' roster," Shelburne said. "The press conference afterwards was not messaged correctly. It became more of a story than it needed to be."

The thread Shelburne ended on was the same one she ran through every topic.

"This is good for the league," Shelburne said. "Having more talent, having more teams, having more scrutiny. That's good. You're part of the daily conversation now."