LeBron's Ankle Injury, Cade Cunningham's Draft Stock & March Madness Takeaways

On today's episode, Jason kicks things off with some thoughts on LeBron James' high ankle sprain that should sideline him for several weeks. It could be a catastrophic injury for the Los Angeles Lakers in the short-term. It wouldn't be shocking at all to see the Lakers go winless during this stretch and tumble down the standings in the Western Conference, and if LeBron is out more than 2-3 weeks, that could be enough to eliminate him from the MVP race altogether. The only silver lining here is that if both LeBron and Anthony Davis return within the month, they should be well-rested for the playoffs. With King James presumably out of the mix for the MVP, the door is wide open now for James Harden to step in and steal the award. While Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and Nikola Jokic all have decent cases of their own, Harden should be considered the favorite now that LeBron and Joel Embiid are shelved. The Beard has carried the Nets to the top of the Eastern Conference since his arrival, and the MVP should be his to lose at this point. By the way, has anyone checked in on the big wigs at the NCAA this morning? The opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament was littered with upsets, setting up a series of ugly Sweet 16 matchups next week. With the bluebloods like Duke and Kentucky missing the Tournament, the NCAA needed brand names like Ohio State and Texas to make a deep run; Instead, they got stuck with Loyola Chicago and Oral Roberts. It also didn't help that presumptive #1 overall NBA Draft pick Cade Cunningham flamed out in the Round of 32. Cunningham was dreadful in his 2 tournament games, but was he bad enough to fall down NBA draft boards? Only time will tell. Finally, Jason closes the show with a very special March Madness Monday edition of the Best Bet.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.