Jay Williams was the No. 2 overall pick of the Chicago Bulls out of Duke in the 2002 NBA Draft, but saw his career come to an end in 2003 when he suffered severe injuries from a motorcycle crash that also violated the terms of his contract with the Bulls, becoming one of the all-time cautionary tales to young athletes in the process.
On Thursday morning, Williams, now the host of ESPN’s drive-time radio show with Max Kellerman and Keyshawn Johnson, was discussing Kyrie Irving’s situation and the fear that the Nets and other teams have that he might retire at some point or sit out games again. Williams noted that if he was Irving, he wouldn’t sign a contract that had a trigger for a minimum number of games because what happens if you get hurt on the court and can’t play.
At that point, Kellerman jumped in with an absolutely wild one-liner directed at Williams that had everyone on set — including Jay — rolling.
“If it was Jay and they didn’t guarantee the final two years, he’d get on his motorcycle and drive away! He’d be outta there!”
Max Kellerman
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— pick swap p (@Clippers_IQ) June 23, 2022
If there were ever a doubt of how much Max and Jay like each other, this should confirm they’re pretty close because this isn’t a joke you can just throw out there if you aren’t boys and get that kind of reaction. That was the low point of Jay’s life and Max is out here dropping zingers about it on live radio — I must say, Jay did set himself up for it, I just don’t think anyone expected Max to go for it. It’s good that Jay can laugh about it now and salute to Max for providing the one-liner of the year on sports radio.