Ryen Russillo Went After Dan Le Batard Over Lillard Trade Accusations

Ryen Russillo Went After Dan Le Batard Over Lillard Trade Accusations

The media has gone crazy over the Damian Lillard trade and this continued on Wednesday. Ryen Russillo shared his thoughts about Dan Le Batard’s take on the situation.

“The part that I love is that there was this massive, tribal disconnect,” Russillo said of Le Batard, who hosts The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz out of Miami. “The people in Miami couldn’t understand why people outside of Miami didn’t like this.”

Over the past few months, Le Batard has been very vocal about his beliefs that Damian Lillard would end up in Miami. He was so confident that he even created a character called the “Sports Walrus” where he would put a Miami Heat mouthpiece in his mouth while talking about the team.

“The disconnect was Miami guy going, ‘why doesn’t everybody else get it? Those idiots,’” Russillo said. “And the idiots on the outside were kind of like, so wait you’re right because it benefits the thing you like?”

On Wednesday after Lillard was traded to Milwaukee, Ryan Ruiz, the executive producer of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz made serious accusations. He accused ESPN and The Ringer (the company that Russillo works for) of using their platforms to intentionally keep Lillard out of Miami.

These accusations prompted a response from Russillo and he mentioned that Le Batard had been saying that Lillard to the Heat was a done deal despite Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN claiming otherwise. Le Batard claimed that Wojarnowski was “bought and paid for” by the Portland Trail Blazers.

“I’m sorry I have to do it because I didn’t believe it when it happened,” Russillo said. “But Woj came on and said very simply Portland doesn’t like the offers and they’re going to see what happens.”

‘Dan Le Batard Show’ Claimed ESPN Colluded to Keep Lillard out of Miami

This along with the other claims made by Le Batard and his crew are just ridiculous. Why would one of the best NBA insiders take bribes from an organization? This would completely ruin his career and any credibility moving forward if it were true. It just doesn’t make sense and it is clear that Le Batard and Ryan Ruiz are sore losers who are extremely biased.

Ironically for Le Batard, Wojnarowski’s report about Lillard to Miami not being a done deal was correct, like he usually is. This prompted Russillo to defend Wojnarowski.

“I’m like man, if you’re going to pick a fight, pick a fight with someone who gets **** wrong, not Woj,” Russillo said. “And here we are weeks, months later, and it wasn’t Miami.”

After these comments were aired, Ryan Ruiz went on X, formerly known as Twitter, to express his thoughts.

Happy @ryenarussillo found the balls to finally name check. Refreshing change of pace.

— Mike Ryan (Ruiz) 🙌🏽 (@MichaelRyanRuiz) September 28, 2023

Just minutes after this post, Russillo came back with his response.

Is this Show EP? https://t.co/dKdUOL0LBd

— Russillo (@ryenarussillo) September 28, 2023

This isn’t the first time that these two have butted heads before, but now the beef is more public.

This entire situation makes Le Batard and Ruiz look rather childish. Russillo’s response to their accusations seemed to be done to defend the credibility of The Ringer, but to also call out this foolishness. Le Batard and Ruiz don’t have any concrete evidence to support their claims and their true colors are shown here. Their overly bias coverage crossed the line and took shots at NBA insiders who have been succeeding in this game for a long time.

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