A scathing report from Yahoo Sports on Thursday cited a wiretap containing Will Wade discussing an unknown “offer” for a potential recruit, they may have involved LSU freshman guard Javonte Smart.
Wade has been subpoenaed for the second college basketball fraud trial scheduled for April 22, and the defense will “try to show through wiretapped phone calls and direct testimony from college coaches that Dawkins and Code were not attempting to bribe the coaches to gain an inside track on signing their NBA-bound talent,” according to the report.
“I haven’t read it,” Wade said after his monthly Tip-Off Luncheon at L’Auberge Casino. “I don’t have any comment on that. … I’ll have to read it and look at it. We’ll move forward as we need to.”
Wade said he had learned of the report around 20 minute before it published, but he had no knowledge of what was in the report.
The alleged conversation caught on the wiretap between Wade and handler Christian Dawkins — who pled guilty to fraud in the first trial in October — includes the following:
“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.”
The report also contains the following dialogue between Wade and Dawkins discussing Wade’s frustration with a third-party affiliated with Smart’s recruitment and a “strong-ass offer” he felt should have been taken already.
“Dude,” Wade continued to Dawkins, referring to the third party involved in the recruitment. “I went to him with a [expletive] strong-ass offer about a month ago. [Expletive] strong.
“The problem was, I know why he didn’t take it now, it was [expletive] tilted toward the family a little bit,” Wade continued. “It was tilted toward taking care of the mom, taking care of the kid. Like it was tilted towards that. Now I know for a fact he didn’t explain everything to the mom. I know now, he didn’t get enough of the piece of the pie in the deal.”
Dawkins responded by saying, “Hmmmm.”
“It was a [expletive] hell of a [expletive] offer,” Wade continued. “Hell of an offer.”
“OK,” Dawkins said.
“Especially for a kid who is going to be a two- or three-year kid,” Wade said.
It is not clear whether the “Smart” in the conversation refers to freshman guard Javonte Smart who is averaging 11.4 points per game and the Southeastern Conference’s most recent Player of the Week.
The tape also reportedly doesn’t make any direct reference to what the “deal” or “offer” may have referred to.
Wade said he would have to wait until he read the report before saying how he would address his players.
“I don’t know what there is to address at this point,” Wade said. “… We’ve handled everything very well so far. We’ve talked about the bigger the game or the more noise that’s out there, the more you have to narrow your focus. We’ve been very good at keeping a narrow focus thus far.”
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