NBA Scandal: Damon Jones Pleads Not Guilty Amid Drama

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00:00Remember the NBA scandal from a couple weeks ago?

00:02Remember Damon Jones, who is one of LeBron James' closest friends?

00:07I remember that.

00:07Who obviously has been snarled in this whole thing.

00:10I saw something yesterday, and to be honest, it saddened me.

00:14And it showed that you really never know who your friends are.

00:17Damon Jones was arraigned yesterday, and he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him,

00:22both in regards to trading on private information about LeBron James' health for games,

00:29to help gamblers win money on prop bets, et cetera,

00:32and on being involved in the illegal or allegedly rigged poker games.

00:36There's a video right there of him, I think, entering the court.

00:38He did plead not guilty, and now the system grinds to a halt.

00:42Now it's going to be at least a year before he actually goes to court.

00:46In that time, there will be plea bargains, conversations, et cetera,

00:50and we're not done with this story.

00:52But here's what's saddened me about it.

00:54Because when they talked about Damon Jones,

00:56and many of you never heard the name Damon Jones, that's all good.

01:00He was not a household name.

01:01Damon Jones was a bit of a journeyman basketball player,

01:04made about $20 million as a player,

01:06and then for the last decade or so has been a variety of different coaching staffs, right?

01:11So he's a well-thought-of guy.

01:12And one of his claims to fame is that he and LeBron James are really, really close,

01:19to the point that even when he was not an employee of the Lakers,

01:22he had carte blanche at the Lakers facility because he's LeBron's guy.

01:27Yeah.

01:27Okay?

01:28Good friends, a legend.

01:29So when he went in there, he had to post bond so that he could live his life in the community

01:35while waiting for trial.

01:37If you can't post bond, then you sit in prison and you wait for your trial date to come up.

01:43So here's a guy that's made over $20 million, sadly.

01:46He did file for bankruptcy earlier this year.

01:48We know that he's involved in gambling at some level,

01:51so maybe he squandered away his fortune.

01:53Clearly, it looks like he did because he did file for bankruptcy.

01:56But he needed a $200,000 bond.

01:59His mom and dad had to put their home up to secure his bond.

02:07And I want you to let that sink in.

02:08And here's why.

02:09His mom and dad are not implicated in this at all.

02:11They just love their son.

02:12And they're willing to put their home up.

02:15And that's just to guarantee that he shows up to court.

02:17Right.

02:18He doesn't flee the country.

02:19He's already forfeited his passport.

02:21I'm sure Damon Jones is not running to Mexico or something like that.

02:24But it saddened me because LeBron James is a billionaire.

02:30The other men that he's clearly friends with are multimillionaires.

02:35And not a single person in Damon Jones' life stepped up to the plate and said,

02:42I'll secure the bond.

02:44I'll make sure that you can live in the community and be free up until your trial

02:49and a potential jail sentence.

02:51Not a single person, not a former teammate, not a coach, not LeBron, not Maverick Carter.

02:59There's all these guys in Damon Jones' life that are beyond wealthy,

03:05that have more money than they could spend in multiple lifetimes.

03:09And not a single person came forward and said, I got your bond covered.

03:15I don't want you to have to worry about it.

03:17I don't want you sitting in jail until your trial, which at a minimum is going to be a year from now,

03:23probably longer, okay?

03:24Okay.

03:25And it just, once again, proved to me that all these guys that are involved in Damon Jones' life,

03:32professional athletes worth a lot of money, who pretended to be his friend,

03:37weren't friends at all.

03:39And this is a guy that thought LeBron James was the best friend he had on the planet,

03:44as the story goes, right?

03:46Okay.

03:47And you're telling me that when you're in a bad spot, having already filed bankruptcy,

03:52with no money in the bank, apparently, and you need $200,000 bond,

03:57that sometimes that works with, if you have 10% of that in cash, you can do that.

04:02So 20 grand cash.

04:03Yeah.

04:03Or my mom and dad have to put their house up, that they've lived in for 30 years,

04:08to secure the bond, and LeBron James didn't?

04:13And Maverick Carter didn't?

04:15And other guys that he's friendly with, for sure, who are worth millions and millions

04:20and millions of dollars, and not a single dude put up 20 grand so that he wouldn't have

04:27to sit in jail?

04:28Not only is LeBron a bad teammate, LeBron's a bad friend.

04:33With friends like that, you don't need enemies.

04:37Not a single dude stepped up?

04:39So wait a minute.

04:39He knows guys with generational wealth, and all he needed was $20,000 to stay out of jail,

04:48and no one said, I got the $20,000?

04:51That's crazy.

04:53Is it crazy, though?

04:54Crazy.

04:54It's not crazy.

04:55Crazy.

04:55Because if he pays the bail, you're now ripping him and talking about how he's implicated.

04:59No, no, no, no, no, no.

05:01LeBron can't win in that case if he pays the guy's bail.

05:03I would respect the fact, and I've lived it, I've walked in his shoes, I would respect

05:09the fact that a friend is a friend, and has loyalty, and is there at your lowest moments

05:16in life.

05:17And Damon Jones learned a valuable lesson yesterday.

05:20All these guys that he thought were his buddies, not a single one of them gives a rat's ass if

05:26he rots in jail for the rest of his life.

05:29Shame on all of you who used to call Damon Jones a friend.

05:33You all suck.

05:35Not a single one of you is a solid friend.

05:38Yuck.

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