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.

Dawkins is known to be on FBI wiretaps during the late spring and summer of 2017. ESPN, citing court records, previously reported that Dawkins had “at least three calls with a cellphone number belonging to LSU coach Will Wade, each of which occurred between June 19, 2017, and June 30, 2017.” Smart announced his commitment to LSU via Twitter on June 30, 2017.

“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.

Smart, a guard who is averaging 11.4 points a game for LSU this season, was not considered a one-and-done NBA prospect when he committed to the Tigers.

Will Wade’s LSU Tigers are 25-5 and ranked in the AP top 10. (Getty) More

The tape does not reference any specifics about the “offer,” if the particulars of the “offer” violated NCAA rules, if the player and/or his mother ever knew of the “offer” or if anyone accepted whatever the “offer” was.

It does not appear from this part of the call that Dawkins had any knowledge of what Wade is describing.

Dawkins declined comment Thursday through his attorney, Steve Haney. LSU athletic director Joe Alleva also declined comment Thursday to Yahoo Sports. Calls and text messages to Wade and Melinda Smart, mother of Javonte Smart, were not immediately returned.

The tape does suggest the FBI possesses additional evidence and phone conversations that could be entered into evidence in the second trial, which is slated to begin April 22 in New York.

It also speaks to the line of aggressive questioning Wade may face if he testifies at that trial – namely explaining, under oath, the specifics in recruiting conversations such as the above.

Defense attorneys are in the process of formally filing subpoenas for both Wade and Arizona coach Sean Miller to testify for the defense at the second trial. Haney said he might try to bring in other coaches to the witness stand.

“As many as I can get in the courtroom,” Haney said. “… We are going to pull back the curtains.”

The defense will try to show through wiretapped phone calls and direct testimony from college coaches that Dawkins and Merl Code, an Adidas consultant, were not attempting to bribe the coaches to gain an inside track on signing their NBA-bound talent. “The second trial will be an argument over the facts of the government’s case, which we dispute,” Haney said on Tuesday. Namely, if Dawkins and Code were attempting to bribe coaches, why wouldn’t the subject have come up on wiretap when they were discussing recruits?

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