REPORT: LSU Head Coach Will Wade Caught On Wiretap Discussing An 'Offer' For A Current Player

[Yahoo] - A 2017 phone conversation intercepted by the FBI between LSU coach Will Wade and basketball middleman Christian Dawkins features Wade speaking freely about a “strong-ass offer” he made in the recruitment of a prospect, Yahoo Sports has learned.

On part of the call, Wade expresses frustration that a third party affiliated with the recruitment had yet to accept Wade’s “offer.” Instead, a verbal commitment to LSU was being delayed because Wade theorized he hadn’t given the third party a big “enough piece of the pie in the deal” and instead “tilted” the offer toward the player and his mother.

“I was thinking last night on this Smart thing,” Wade said. “I’ll be honest with you, I’m [expletive] tired of dealing with the thing. Like I’m just [expletive] sick of dealing with the [expletive]. Like, this should not be that [expletive] complicated.”

There is no elaboration on what the “Smart thing” is. Javonte Smart is currently a freshman guard at LSU and formerly a top-50 recruit from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

So this story just keeps on going on. We’ve seen players and names pop up every so often linked to the FBI trial into college hoops. Will Wade’s name popped up during the trial allegedly discussing a pay for play scenario for a player currently in high school.

But, now Javonte Smart, a top-50 prospect last year and current player on LSU has now had his name come up. This is obviously still up in the air as it’s a wiretap and all alleged. That’s the key here. It’s not like Smart is all of a sudden ineligible.

I’ve said it so many times but the fact this is a federal trial still makes no sense. I still don’t understand why we care if a person got paid to play college hoops. We cheer for laundry. It doesn’t matter who is wearing Carolina blue or LSU purple or Kentucky blue. We cheer for them.

Now, obviously LSU is having one hell of a season. A win over Vanderbilt gives them an SEC regular season title. A win gives them the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament. They are fighting for a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. By all measures it’s been a great season.

As far as timing this obviously isn’t ideal. But, we heard the lawyers talk about how they want to go after as many coaches and people as possible. They want to ‘pull back the curtain.’ We’ll see what happens with Smart here. I’d be surprised if he sits considering that’s essentially admitting guilt here.

Can we please just adjust amateurism and move on from this trial?