June 30, 2025 • 34 mins
Jason reacts to the weekend's NBA free agency and trade news including De'Andre Ayton getting bought out of his contract by the Portland Trail Blazers, LeBron James opting in for his player option for the Los Angeles Lakers, Rich Paul's interesting statement, Dorian Finney-Smith rumored to be a Houston Rockets target, Lonzo Ball getting traded from the Chicago Bulls to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Utah Jazz and Charlotte Hornets swapping Collin Sexton and Jusuf Nurkic, the Minnesota Timberwolves re-signing Julius Randle and Naz Reid, the Houston Rockets preparing for contention, James Harden re-signing with the Los Angeles Clippers, Bobby Portis re-signing with the Milwaukee Bucks, and more.
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co slash. All right, old groups, to night here at
the ball. You have your Monday. Everybody hope all you
guys are having a great start to your week. Well,
(01:56):
we had tons of free agency news from around the NBA.
A last night headline by DeAndre Aiden working out a
buyout with the Portland Trailblazers. We're gonna bounce around the
league and hit all of the news from the last
couple of days We also had a bizarre report or
bizarre quote I should say, for Rich Paul about Lebron
(02:16):
James in his future with the Lakers. Now, I think
most of that is just noise and kind of plastic
Lebron manipulation. But for fun, we're going to talk through
my top four Lebron James potential trade destinations this summer.
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We can keep hitting our mail bags throughout the remainder
of the summer. All right, let's talk some basketball. So
we'renna start with the DeAndre Aton buyout. So Sham's reported
(03:00):
last night that Deandreton is finalizing a buy out with
the Portland Trailblazers that would make him an unrestricted free agent,
and now it feels like an inevitability when you kind
of look at the landscape of the league, that he's
going to be a Los Angeles Laker. And this, of
course led to everyone pointing out the reality fairly that
Ayton is a dude that comes with a lot of downsides.
(03:24):
Remember that conversation that me and Sam Bessini had right
at the beginning of our draft preview. We talked a
lot about the idea of competitiveness as a trait that
NBA teams are trying to hunt. We talked about how
it was an important part of playoff translatability. You get
into the playoffs and it's nasty, right like you get
on the It's like a fight or flight response. The
(03:46):
league is full of these competitive dudes, guys who will
punch you in the mouth figuratively obviously in a basketball sense.
And there are guys that have the competitive fire to
step to that type of confrontation, and then there are
guys that will kind of will away from it. And
you know, I'd argue it's one of the most important
traits for any basketball player to have. It's not something
(04:07):
that can be developed. It's intrinsic into who you are
as a human being, right, And I want to be
clear up front, de Andrea Ayton is not that type
of competitor, and he's basically openly admitted this. He said
in his first press conference in the NBA when he
was asked what his goal was in the NBA, he said,
to get to his second contract. He's skipped work over
(04:30):
icy road conditions. He shows general apathy when he's on
the court much of the time. DeAndre Ayton is not
going to join a team and attack every day with
a ton of intensity and a ton of you know,
give a shit. That's not who he is. But this
is also the same reason why Ayton makes so much
sense for the Lakers. In order for a team to
(04:52):
make sense for DeAndre Ayton, they basically have to be desperate,
and the Lakers are desperate. A dis engaged, unfocused Deandrayton
is still several orders of magnitude better than any center
the Lakers currently have in house. And when it comes
to the options out in the open market, whether it
(05:12):
be through free agency with you know, potential free agent
guys like Clint Capella or Brook Lopez, or having to
ship out assets for a guy like Nick Claxton. He
still represents a much better option than any of those guys.
There is also a natural basketball fit here that we'll
discuss in a minute, but I want to focus on
the desperation for both sides. The Lakers desperately need a
(05:35):
starting caliber center that is a good athlete and that
can score off of the attention drawn by Luka doncicin
pick and roll. Deandreton is a way, way, way better
option on that front than any free agent option the
Lakers have available to them or anybody they have in house. Right,
and Ayton would now be in a situation where he's
(05:56):
on a mid level exception type of contract, probably a
one plus one the player option, where he's gonna want
to kick ass this year so that he can potentially
secure another long term deal in the NBA. Right, Luka
Doncitz represents Aton's best chance to have that type of
season because of the advantages that he can set him
up with. So with that being the case, let's talk
(06:18):
about the basketball for a minute. The optimism surrounding a
potential Deandreton moved to the Lakers centers around his ability
to score in pick and roll. The last time Deandreton
played with real high level ball handling was in Phoenix,
and he was consistently one of the best pick and
roll scoring bigs in the league. In twenty twenty one,
(06:41):
pretty low volume, but he shot over seventy percent on
role man possessions fueld goals. In twenty twenty two, he
may he scored three hundred and sixteen points on the
role with which ranked fourth in the entire NBA, despite
him only playing in fifty eight games that season. He
shot sixty five percent in those situations. And then in
(07:04):
twenty twenty three, obviously with Kevin Durant mixed in there
in the late portion of the season, three hundred and
eighty seven points on the roll, which ranked third in
the NBA, and he shot sixty two percent. He is
great at scoring off of the attention drawn by ball handlers.
How he's just a really talented player. He brings a
legitimate vertical spacing threat. He had multiple season where he
had over one hundred dunks. He's good at making layups,
(07:26):
which is something that many big struggle with. He's got
a good floater and a good hook shot. In that
twenty twenty three season, the one where Kevin Durant participated
with the team, the last season he played with high
level ball handling, he shot fifty five percent on floaters
and hooks on super high volume. He made one hundred
and nineteen of them in that season. Now, his percentages
(07:47):
in his efficiency have dropped in the years since then,
but again, role men in pick and roll are very
dependent on the ball handler setting them up with those
types of advantages in the middle of the floor and
at the rip. There's no doubt that Luca is going
to be able to make good use of Deandretan there
on the defensive end of the floor. Ayton has been
(08:08):
a very frustrating player in his career right. There's been
some super high highs. He had some moments in the
twenty twenty one finals where you were like, man, he's
battling Yannis on an island. Similar moments against Nikole Jokic
in the twenty twenty three second round series. But none
of it is amounted to the potential that he demonstrated
coming into the draft. Pick and roll defense, same sort
(08:29):
of thing you'll have moments where he's moving around and
he's active with his hands and he's successful, and then
moments where he's not. It just hasn't come to fruition
in terms of his potential. All that amounts to this,
would I want to trade legitimate assets for Deandrayton if
I was any team? No? Would I want him occupying
a real salary slot, like a big salary slot that
(08:51):
affects my ability to surround him with additional talent? No,
I don't want to do that. But would I want
Deandreyton on a mid level exception in a year where
he's basically in a contract year where he's highly motivated
to play as at least as well as he can
to try to secure that type of long term deal.
If I was also a team that is literally the
most desperate team in the league with respect to the
(09:13):
center position, you bet your ass I'd want him there,
and hopefully a team led by Luka Doncic and Lebron
James keep him on the straight and narrow and help
both sides reach their ultimate goals. DeAndre in a big payday,
Lebron and Luca chance to win the title. To be clear,
I also wouldn't put it past DeAndre Ayton to like
completely avoid the competitive spirit of Lebron and Luca by
(09:36):
choosing a different team, because those guys would be all
over him from day one about his commitment. But if
he ends up in Los Angeles, it's just better than
the available options, even though it's a flawed option, and
if nothing else, it would be entertaining for Lakers fans.
If it goes down, be ready to be incredibly frustrated
(09:57):
with DeAndre Aytons sometimes, but just remember it could have
been Jackson hates. It could have been substantially worse. Right now,
before we move on to some other free agency topics,
we actually have another bit of Lakers news from yesterday
involving Lebron James. We had a first of all, he
picks up his player option just over fifty million. That
was an interesting move there in the sense that he
could have opted out and tried to sign another one
(10:18):
plus one to protect him in case he wanted to
play an additional season. We had a quote from Rich
Paul though, surrounding the picking up of the option that
was really fascinating. I'm going to read the quote first
and then we'll go from there. Lebron wants to compete
for a championship. He knows the Lakers are building for
the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic
(10:39):
chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of
the partnership that we've had for eight years with Genie
and Rob considering the consider the Lakers as a critical
part of his career. We understand the difficulty in winning
now while preparing for the future. We do want to
evaluate what's best for Lebron at this stage in his
life and career. He wants to make every season he
(11:00):
has left count and the Lakers understand that and are
supportive and want what's best for him. So what the
hell does all that mean? First of all, Lebron is
famous in his career for applying pressure on organizations, applying
pressure on front offices to try to force them to
be aggressive in the windows of time that he's with
(11:22):
that particular franchise. I saw many folks yesterday interpreting that
quote to basically be a soft trade request. I wouldn't
go that far. This could just as easily be Lebron
knowing full well that he has no trade clause and
that he has no intention of leaving Los Angeles for
his twenty third season, and that he's just applying some
token pressure to the team to try to get them
(11:45):
to trade that last first round pick, potentially spend additional
money to make certain things happen and to maximize this window.
I think it's far more likely than that that Lebron
is a Laker next year. I want to be very
clear about that before we move forward. But just for
fun today, let's have a serious talk about potential Lebron
(12:05):
James trade destinations. What would the surrounding circumstances need to
be for a team to make sense for Lebron. I
think it would need to be a pretty unique set
of circumstances for a forty one year old, right They
need to have some urgency, like a shorter window to compete,
like we've got this year or two to try to
(12:28):
jump on. They need to have large expendable salaries to
match Lebron's salary. If you're gonna send out fifty million,
it's got to be fifty million in guys that you
can afford to lose. They need to be obviously not
good enough to win the title right now, meaning they
need to have a little bit of that desperation, right,
So several recent examples of them just not being able
(12:50):
to get over the hump with no obvious thing internally
that can fix that problem, and a Lebron trade needs
to feel like suddenly positions that team right with the
top contenders in the league. You're gonna send out fifty
million dollars in salary and potentially maybe a tiny bit
of draft compensation for an asset that becomes worthless when
(13:13):
he retires. Then you need to feel really good about
your chances to win the trophy in that short window.
I looked over the NBA landscape and I came up
with four teams that makes sense, some sense, I should say,
the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks, the Denver Nuggets
(13:34):
in the Dallas Mavericks. Start with the Calves. The case
for a move with the Calves would be self awareness.
You just got your butts kicked by the Knicks your
first trip to the playoffs. Then you struggled with an
Orlando team just to lose to Boston. Then you have
the greatest season of the post Lebron era, and you
get your butt kicked by the Pacers in a series
(13:54):
where you looked outclassed, and a lot of the same
issues from previous years popped up. Scarland's health became an issue,
his ability to perform in the playoffs came to the
surface again. Jared Allen suddenly becoming way less effective in
the postseason, role players suddenly not making shots they made
in the regular season. The Calves just aren't a championship
(14:14):
team yet, and Donovan Mitchell is an athletic guard who
turns twenty nine before the start of next season. There's
a little bit of urgency there. Lebron also fits a
very specific position of need. The Calves did not have
a reliable secondary shot creator after Donovan Mitchell because Darius
Garland struggled throughout the series and was unhealthy and Ty
(14:35):
Jerome completely decomposed, like in kind of dramatic fashion, completely decomposed.
So Lebron is a reliable secondary shot creator. He's not
a guy that I want to be leaning on at
age forty one to be running my offense in super
large doses. But that's a Calves team that degraded down
to Donovan Mitchell heliocentric ball over the course of that series.
(15:00):
James could help you alleviate that specific problem. He's a big,
strong forward that compliments Evan Mobley on the defensive end
of the floor, and he's a proven postseason performer. They
could pull off the deal by basically shipping out the
guys who have been their weak points in previous seasons,
Guys like Darius Garland, guys like Jared Allen. Again, I
know it's difficult to wrap your brain around those guys
(15:22):
who have been such monsters over the years. Darris Garland
such an incredible player this season. Jared Allen really vaulted
himself into that second tier of centers with the way
that he played this season. There's a lot that there's
a lot that goes into, you know, letting guys like
that go, But it's about self awareness and looking at
the situation and being like, we've done this three times now.
(15:43):
We just did it with the best version of this
team that we've had in the post Lebron era, and
the same guys got their butt kicked and we went
out in the same disappointing fashion. And finally, the Eastern
Conference is wide open. If Lebron went to a Cleveland,
that team immediately feels like the runaway favorite to win
the Eastern Conference, if they could get through the Knicks,
(16:03):
if they could get through the Orlando Magic, or whatever
the Atlanta Hawks end up pulling off this summer, that
they could be right there in the finals because of
the open Eastern Conference, because of the Achilles tear for
Damian Lillard, the Achilles tear for Jason Tatum in the
Achilles tear for Tyree Salliburn. So Cleveland Cavaliers are the
first team to the New York Knicks. Now, I'm gonna
(16:26):
go briefer on this one because the reporting says that
they're waiting around for Giannis, so I view this as
particularly unlikely, but it's the same set of circumstances, right.
Obviously not good enough to win the title after a
very disappointing year last year, A clear trade swap in
terms of Karl Anthony Towns for salary, who could come
in and fit a specific need for the Lakers and
need a starting center. Lebron fits a specific need, which
(16:47):
is that reliable shot creation off of Jalen Brunson, a
very similar kind of dynamic to what he would do
in Cleveland, and substantially better front court defensive player than
Karl Anthony Towns, especially in the postseason context, but again
most likely going to wait for a better long term option,
So I viewed that one as as relatively unlikely. The
Denver Nuggets, That's what I've been thinking about a lot
(17:08):
over the last couple of days. It's a really interesting fit.
They are also in this like super urgent short term
window trying to capitalize on Nikole Jokic's prime. They're light
on assets, so they can't ship out much. They have
an aging group of role players. There's a real urgency,
(17:29):
but even they're already staring down the barrel of potentially
needing to trade nicolea Jokitchen a couple of years if
things don't turn around. They have a big salary in
Michael Porter Junior that they're looking to get rid of,
and he also fits a position of need for the Lakers.
In terms of Michael Porter Junior, the Lakers don't have
a starting caliber three, but they have another starting caliber
(17:51):
four and Ruby Hachimura that could step into the four spot.
Michael Porter Junior is a guy who could step in there.
Aaron Gordon's shooting has unlocked the for them to space
the floor in a Lebron James build, and I think
Lebron would be a great fit with his ability to
play in transition and off the ball as a cutter
and as a roller. I think they immediately become the
most physically imposing team in the league with him next
(18:13):
to Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. That presents a very
specific matchup problem for Oklahoma City, where you can talk
yourself into Denver just mauling those guys underneath the basket.
The only real hang up is just the idea of
Lebron leaving Los Angeles at age forty one to go
to a smaller market like Denver. But I that's an
interesting one, a combination of like Denver's desperation with like
(18:35):
kind of the natural basketball fit, and Lebron going into
a situation where he could play for a legitimate championship threat. Lastly,
the Dallas Mavericks similarly, due to that Anthony Davis contract
and the Kyrie Irving contract that he just signed, they're
in a weird situation where even though they have Cooper
Flag and House, they're facing some real urgency to compete
(18:57):
right now. They're super light on balling and Lincoln shot creation,
which is something that Lebron can step right in and do,
and they can actually benefit I think from consolidating some
of these salaries they have down the payroll, Guys like
Daniel Gafford, who it's hard to see how he's going
to get minutes. Guys like PJ. Washington, it's hard to
see how he's going to get minutes. You know. Klay Thompson,
I think is a player that has some utility for
(19:20):
this team, but then with Max Christie in house, you
could see him potentially taking the starting spot. Now you're
paying a considerable a considerable amount of money for a
bench player in that regard, I think they could benefit
from consolidating a little bit. The hilarious thing is I
was reading this morning from Mark Stein in his reporting
that they are going to sign D'Angelo Russell today in
all likelihood for two years at about twelve million dollars.
(19:43):
So they'd have Delo and Max Christy and Lebron James
and Anthony Davis and basically be the Lakers from a
few years ago, just with better depth and the prospect
of Kyrie Irving returning at some point in the year
depending on how his ACL repair and rehab goes. Again,
I think it's more likely than not that Lebron just
(20:03):
stays in LA as a Laker this year. But these
are the only Lebron destinations I see that make any sense.
All Right, We're gonna start going rapid fire through a
bunch of small pieces of news from around the NBA
over the week. First one, the Chicago Bulls traded Lonzo
Ball to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Isaac Accorro. I have
(20:25):
no earthly idea what the Bulls are trying to accomplish
at all, but I do love the theoretical Lonzo fit
with the Calves. The Calves are preparing to lose Hi
Jerome and free agency. Probably not much in the way
of hard feelings there, considering how bad he was in
the Pacers series. But Lonzo is theoretically a fantastic fit
with the Calves. I say theoretically because he's had health
(20:46):
issues over the course of the years, right, But he's
a defensive playmaker that is coming off of a career
best season and steel rate. He averaged three stocks per
thirty six minutes last year. And this is a Calves
team that thrives in transition, and that added this whole
turnover to transition element under Kenny Atkinson last year. I
think that's a fantastic fit. He's an excellent hit ahead passer.
(21:09):
That's what he was known for during the healthier phase
of his career when he was on ball more he's
an excellent hit ahead passer, an excellent connective playmaker. I
think that makes him kind of a unique, higher floor,
lower ceiling option as that bench guard, and I think
he has more utility playing alongside the starters when they
need to. He had a rough shooting season last year,
but he was thirty nine percent from three on seven
(21:30):
attempts per game in the previous three seasons, so I
do think he'll shoot better. And so you can see
as like a almost like a three and D guard
option that they can go to in a universe where
he's playing alongside the starters. But then he also brings
you just kind of like a higher floor, lower ceiling
option than ty Jerome in the sense that he's not
going to do the surgical pick and roll scoring that
(21:52):
ty Jerome can do, and you know, hit five or
six floaters in an early fourth quarter stretch that just
drives a dagger into the heart of the opponent not
going to do that, but he is going to bring
a higher floor, more defensive focus, more ball movement focused
approach to that backup guard spot, and again that hit
ahead passing. This is a Cavs team that really changed
(22:12):
into a transition monster last year, and Lonzo is just
such a natural fit there. I think it's a really
nice pivot from the Calves under the circumstances.
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Speaker 2 (22:56):
The Jazz traded Colin Sexton in a second round pick
to the Charlotte Hornets for use of nrkis. This is
a weird one from yesterday. The first thing that stood
out to me was the fact that Danny Ainge actually
had to attach draft compensation and not the other way around.
Both of these guys are on very similar contracts expiring
after this season this coming season at just under twenty million.
(23:19):
That's what made it work in terms of a straight
across swap. And I think Colin Sexton is just a
better player than use of Nurkics. That's not to say
that Colin Sexon is a perfect player. He's got his
issues and he's kind of a clunky fit where he goes.
But I think Colin Sexton still brings some pretty high
level NBA traits to the table, and use of Nurkics
just doesn't. So I thought that that valuation was strange
(23:40):
to have that second round pick attached. Take a step further,
I don't understand the basketball fit really. I would assume
for the Hornets he's going to be the Trey Man replacement.
Trey Man had a back issue. His agent came out
and was like, Trey's good to go. I'm sure they're
just looking for a free agent deal elsewhere, but I
don't love the fit there on that kind of weird Hornets,
and then for Nurkics, like in Utah, it doesn't make
(24:02):
a ton of sense at all unless they're looking to
trade Walker Kessler. Like if I like, if Danny Ainge
was trying to trade Walker Kessler and he's trying to
fleece a team like the Lakers or something like that,
then it makes some sense you're bringing in use of
Nurkice to get you a guy that can play some
center minutes. But I mean, at this point, at like
now the DeAndre eight and buy out becomes super interesting
(24:25):
because if like, let's say that Danny Ainge, because all
the intel was like Danny Ainge is not looking to
trade Walker Kessler, like he's just not gonna do it.
It's like, okay, well if that's the case, and you
got Kyle Philipowski, like, what is the purpose for going
after a use of nurkics? Right, Well, let's just imagine
for a second that Danny Ainge is like, I'm eventually
gonna trade Walker Kessler to the Lakers, but I'm just
gonna string these dudes along as long as i can
(24:47):
and then jump in and get the best possible deal. Well,
now DeAndre Ayton's available potentially for a mid level exception
where they wouldn't have to include, uh, you know, potentially
adult and Connect or a first round pick, and it's like,
would you rather have Connect a first round pick you
can trade later and DeAndre Ayton or would you rather
have Walker Kessler? Like that's going to get in the
way of that sort of deal getting done. So I
(25:09):
don't really know what the Jazz are trying to accomplish here.
Either the Timberwolves did some business yesterday or over the weekend,
I should say Julius Randall resigns on a three year,
one hundred million dollar deal. I'm not a big Julius
Randall fan, and I thought it was rather embarrassing some
of the stuff that he did in the Oklahoma City series,
(25:29):
particularly when things weren't going his way. But one thing
I'll say in his defense, Oklahoma City embarrassed a lot
of guys in the postseason this year, And under any circumstances,
a player with the ceiling that Julius Randall has, getting
thirty three million per year in this NBA is a
massive discount under any circumstances for a player of his caliber.
(25:52):
The salary cap is going to be undergoing massive jumps
every year. With the new TV deal and that deal
at Julius deal is going to be very appealing as
a trade asset in a year or two, especially as
the cap continues to go up. And I mean like
in terms of the discount, Like look at James Harden,
another kind of middling, underachieving star who you know is
(26:16):
known for playoff flameouts, and he just got forty million
annual from from the Clippers. So to get Julius Randall
at thirty three million, I think is a very good
deal for Minnesota. They also resigned Nas Reed five years,
one hundred and twenty five million, basically the same deal
that Jabari Smith Junior just got a little bit more,
but mostly symbolically. At that point, I would imagine I
(26:38):
do think nas is the better player, so to get
him for three million total more over five years feels
like a great deal from a value standpoint. The Wolves
are betting on internal improvement and continuity, which I think
is a completely reasonable direction for a team that has
made the Conference finals two years in a row and
is led by a star that has struggled on that
(26:58):
stage both times. Ant wasn't good against the MAVs, ANT
wasn't good against Oklahoma City. There's reason to believe that
an improved Anthony Edwards could lead this team to a championship.
As currently constructed. The Wolves are betting on him making
that lead. They may have to make some pivots, but
I think nas Reid at that number, that's a tradeable deal.
(27:22):
Julius Randall on that number, that's a tradeable deal. They
won't be as deep. They're gonna lose to kill Alexander Walker.
Mike Conley is gonna be a year older, but they're
maintaining the core of what makes the Wolves the Wolves
while maintaining some trade flexibility. Even that Go Bear deal.
I know he's older, but I mean that right around
thirty million is kind of just what a starting center,
a good starting center, goes for in the modern NBA.
(27:43):
It just kind of is what it is at this point.
Houston a lot of interesting stuff from them retaining some
of their lower level role players. They re upped with
Jabari Smith, Like we mentioned, five years, one hundred and
twenty two million, Dorian Finney Smith. They're trying to poach
him away from the Lakers. Mark Stein reported that they're
going to try to put together a four year offer
that it might be around that like sixty million, dollars range.
(28:05):
I really like the idea of Dorian Phinney Smith in
a Houston context where he's surrounded at by just a
ton of athleticism and physicality. That's a team that desperately
needs shooting. You bring in a Kevin Durant and a
Dorian Finney Smith, it just gives you so much more
lineup flexibility with you way to with the ability to
put different types of shooters in different spots on the floor.
Houston's going for it, man, and you know, I am
(28:27):
always going to I'm always going to to advocate for
teams that make these types of decisions, especially when you're
self aware. This was a Houston team that has an
Amend Thompson that is a super exciting young player that
I think has the potential to become an All NBA
level type of two way talent, but his offensive development
puts him in a situation where he's years away. He's
(28:50):
years away from being that type of player, and in
the short term, he's still a super useful role player
as this point of attack defender who is a vertical
spacing threat who can I think you're going to see
a lot more four on three like short Roll stuff
from him this year playing off of Kevin Durant, Like
you have a short term utility with the Men Thompson.
But you look at it and it was like Jalen
Green wasn't a star level ball handler in any sort
(29:11):
of like dependable sense. Neither was Fred Shanggoon, you know,
has his certain limitations. This was a Houston team that
looked in the mirror and went, we're not good enough,
but we have a really strong foundation in one specific
weakness in terms of a high level ball handling. I'll
give you two well, high level ball handling and off
ball shooting. They're making aggressive moves to try to address
(29:33):
those specific needs. They're shortening their window obviously, but they
still have tons of assets in terms of first round
draft compensation for a pivot. So you go after Dorian
Finney Smith, you get a Kevin Durant, You make an
attempt to try to win the title over the next
year or two. But then you still have Shangoon, you
still have a Men Thompson, you still have Reed Shepherd
and it can wit more and all these young athletes.
(29:55):
You still have a future that you can pivot to
while also having a short term window try to make
something happen. I think it makes a ton of sense.
And you know, Houston, I checked this morning on DraftKings.
They have the second best championship ods at this point
in the entire NBA. They're putting themselves in a really,
really strong position on that front. James Harden new deal
(30:17):
two years, eighty two million. Now do I think Clippers
are going to win the title next year? No, But
I did find this to be really fascinating just in
terms of a proof of concept of something I've believed
for a long time. Surrounding James Harden, I've talked a
lot about this concept. When we were talking with Sam
Vessini in that pre draft episode. If you guys remember
the idea of like read and react talent being super important.
(30:41):
Guys that can catch and shoot threes, drive closeouts, make
decisions when they're driving close outs basically play with an advantage,
And if you remember, there was another part of that conversation,
and one of the things I talked about was like
most of the good teams in the NBA have a
guy who specializes in generating advantages first temates and James
(31:02):
Harden still to this day, is one of the very
best guys in the league at generating those advantages. His
ability to play out a high pick and roll and
score from all three levels and playmate out of pick
and roll, generating tons of short role opportunities and catch
and shoot opportunities and close out attack opportunities. It makes
(31:25):
it so that all of your players on the roster
have advantages the majority of the time. I said before
the season last year, even with the Paul George loss,
I was like, this is an athletic team. It's got
a lot of perimeter defenders, and James Harden just gives
you such a high floor on the defense on the
offensive end of the floor that it just gives you
(31:47):
just a very strong foundation for offense during the NBA
regular season. And I think him getting a two year,
eighty two million dollar deal, even with his playoffs shortcomings,
even though he's not the same guy that he used
to be, is just a strong reminder that the ability
to create open shots and closeouts and advantages four year
(32:11):
role players is one of the most valuable things in
the NBA. And James is going to keep cashing out
until he can't do that. And another eighty million for
James Harden over the course of two years. Lastly, some
Milwaukee Bucks Bobby Portis signs a three year, forty four
million dollar deal. This is a really favorable number for
(32:33):
Milwaukee and opens up a lot more options for them
this summer. I've been kind of a Bobby Portis defender
for a while. There are a lot of Bucks fans
that are not a big fan of his. I understand
the shortcomings. I have seen some of the worst defensive
tape that I see around the NBA from a big
when I'm watching Bobby Portis. At times, he can be
frustratingly inconsistent on that end of the floor. But he
(32:56):
is a backup power forward center hybrid, and when it
comes the backups, there's always going to be that level
of inconsistency and you know, just more of a of
a like an up and down type of approach. Right, Like, guys,
if Bobby Portis was a good defender, he's a thirty
five million dollar player, like because he can shoot threes
(33:17):
at a high rate, because he can beat switches on
the block, because he's a pretty solid read and react player.
Bobby Is a his defensive shortcomings or would allow you
to get him at a number like three years and
forty four million. Now the Bucks needs some perimeter athleticism.
I'd be calling on guys like Bruce Brown and Karris
Lavert and doing whatever I could to try to bring
(33:40):
in some guys. I think Harris would be great for
them as a guy who can handle the ball and
can guard on the perimeter. Bruce, it's a little bit
more clunky with the spacing fit, but they just need
to bring in some guys that can really dribbleshoot, pass
and defend on the perimeter, but actually run the floor
and cover ground and transition. Bring just more of that
athletic pop on the perimeter. Bobby taking that discounted deal
(34:03):
just gives them a little bit more flexibility on that front.
All right, guys, That's all I have for today is
always a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and
supporting the show. We will be back. I'm not sure
if we're going to go tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm
on the road in Denver house hunting. I've mentioned this
a couple weeks ago, but my wife and I are
moving up here this summer, so kind of depending on
just how shocking the news is, will either go tonight
(34:24):
or will go tomorrow morning. I'll let you guys know
just an eye on my Twitter feed, but we will
have a video reacting to all of the Free Agency
news from today no later than tomorrow morning. Again, I
appreciate you guys for rocking with me and for supporting
the show, and I'll see you guys next time. What's
up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to
and supporting OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful
(34:45):
for us if you guys would take a second and
leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate
you guys supporting us, but if you could take a
minute to do that, I've really appreciated
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For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkang dot
co slash. All right, old groups, to night here at
the ball. You have your Monday. Everybody hope all you
guys are having a great start to your week. Well,
(01:56):
we had tons of free agency news from around the NBA.
A last night headline by DeAndre Aiden working out a
buyout with the Portland Trailblazers. We're gonna bounce around the
league and hit all of the news from the last
couple of days We also had a bizarre report or
bizarre quote I should say, for Rich Paul about Lebron
(02:16):
James in his future with the Lakers. Now, I think
most of that is just noise and kind of plastic
Lebron manipulation. But for fun, we're going to talk through
my top four Lebron James potential trade destinations this summer.
You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe
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(02:38):
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Make sure you guys follow us there and the last
but not out least, keep dropping mailbag questions and YouTube comments.
We can keep hitting our mail bags throughout the remainder
of the summer. All right, let's talk some basketball. So
we'renna start with the DeAndre Aton buyout. So Sham's reported
(03:00):
last night that Deandreton is finalizing a buy out with
the Portland Trailblazers that would make him an unrestricted free agent,
and now it feels like an inevitability when you kind
of look at the landscape of the league, that he's
going to be a Los Angeles Laker. And this, of
course led to everyone pointing out the reality fairly that
Ayton is a dude that comes with a lot of downsides.
(03:24):
Remember that conversation that me and Sam Bessini had right
at the beginning of our draft preview. We talked a
lot about the idea of competitiveness as a trait that
NBA teams are trying to hunt. We talked about how
it was an important part of playoff translatability. You get
into the playoffs and it's nasty, right like you get
on the It's like a fight or flight response. The
(03:46):
league is full of these competitive dudes, guys who will
punch you in the mouth figuratively obviously in a basketball sense.
And there are guys that have the competitive fire to
step to that type of confrontation, and then there are
guys that will kind of will away from it. And
you know, I'd argue it's one of the most important
traits for any basketball player to have. It's not something
(04:07):
that can be developed. It's intrinsic into who you are
as a human being, right, And I want to be
clear up front, de Andrea Ayton is not that type
of competitor, and he's basically openly admitted this. He said
in his first press conference in the NBA when he
was asked what his goal was in the NBA, he said,
to get to his second contract. He's skipped work over
(04:30):
icy road conditions. He shows general apathy when he's on
the court much of the time. DeAndre Ayton is not
going to join a team and attack every day with
a ton of intensity and a ton of you know,
give a shit. That's not who he is. But this
is also the same reason why Ayton makes so much
sense for the Lakers. In order for a team to
(04:52):
make sense for DeAndre Ayton, they basically have to be desperate,
and the Lakers are desperate. A dis engaged, unfocused Deandrayton
is still several orders of magnitude better than any center
the Lakers currently have in house. And when it comes
to the options out in the open market, whether it
(05:12):
be through free agency with you know, potential free agent
guys like Clint Capella or Brook Lopez, or having to
ship out assets for a guy like Nick Claxton. He
still represents a much better option than any of those guys.
There is also a natural basketball fit here that we'll
discuss in a minute, but I want to focus on
the desperation for both sides. The Lakers desperately need a
(05:35):
starting caliber center that is a good athlete and that
can score off of the attention drawn by Luka doncicin
pick and roll. Deandreton is a way, way, way better
option on that front than any free agent option the
Lakers have available to them or anybody they have in house. Right,
and Ayton would now be in a situation where he's
(05:56):
on a mid level exception type of contract, probably a
one plus one the player option, where he's gonna want
to kick ass this year so that he can potentially
secure another long term deal in the NBA. Right, Luka
Doncitz represents Aton's best chance to have that type of
season because of the advantages that he can set him
up with. So with that being the case, let's talk
(06:18):
about the basketball for a minute. The optimism surrounding a
potential Deandreton moved to the Lakers centers around his ability
to score in pick and roll. The last time Deandreton
played with real high level ball handling was in Phoenix,
and he was consistently one of the best pick and
roll scoring bigs in the league. In twenty twenty one,
(06:41):
pretty low volume, but he shot over seventy percent on
role man possessions fueld goals. In twenty twenty two, he
may he scored three hundred and sixteen points on the
role with which ranked fourth in the entire NBA, despite
him only playing in fifty eight games that season. He
shot sixty five percent in those situations. And then in
(07:04):
twenty twenty three, obviously with Kevin Durant mixed in there
in the late portion of the season, three hundred and
eighty seven points on the roll, which ranked third in
the NBA, and he shot sixty two percent. He is
great at scoring off of the attention drawn by ball handlers.
How he's just a really talented player. He brings a
legitimate vertical spacing threat. He had multiple season where he
had over one hundred dunks. He's good at making layups,
(07:26):
which is something that many big struggle with. He's got
a good floater and a good hook shot. In that
twenty twenty three season, the one where Kevin Durant participated
with the team, the last season he played with high
level ball handling, he shot fifty five percent on floaters
and hooks on super high volume. He made one hundred
and nineteen of them in that season. Now, his percentages
(07:47):
in his efficiency have dropped in the years since then,
but again, role men in pick and roll are very
dependent on the ball handler setting them up with those
types of advantages in the middle of the floor and
at the rip. There's no doubt that Luca is going
to be able to make good use of Deandretan there
on the defensive end of the floor. Ayton has been
(08:08):
a very frustrating player in his career right. There's been
some super high highs. He had some moments in the
twenty twenty one finals where you were like, man, he's
battling Yannis on an island. Similar moments against Nikole Jokic
in the twenty twenty three second round series. But none
of it is amounted to the potential that he demonstrated
coming into the draft. Pick and roll defense, same sort
(08:29):
of thing you'll have moments where he's moving around and
he's active with his hands and he's successful, and then
moments where he's not. It just hasn't come to fruition
in terms of his potential. All that amounts to this,
would I want to trade legitimate assets for Deandrayton if
I was any team? No? Would I want him occupying
a real salary slot, like a big salary slot that
(08:51):
affects my ability to surround him with additional talent? No,
I don't want to do that. But would I want
Deandreyton on a mid level exception in a year where
he's basically in a contract year where he's highly motivated
to play as at least as well as he can
to try to secure that type of long term deal.
If I was also a team that is literally the
most desperate team in the league with respect to the
(09:13):
center position, you bet your ass I'd want him there,
and hopefully a team led by Luka Doncic and Lebron
James keep him on the straight and narrow and help
both sides reach their ultimate goals. DeAndre in a big payday,
Lebron and Luca chance to win the title. To be clear,
I also wouldn't put it past DeAndre Ayton to like
completely avoid the competitive spirit of Lebron and Luca by
(09:36):
choosing a different team, because those guys would be all
over him from day one about his commitment. But if
he ends up in Los Angeles, it's just better than
the available options, even though it's a flawed option, and
if nothing else, it would be entertaining for Lakers fans.
If it goes down, be ready to be incredibly frustrated
(09:57):
with DeAndre Aytons sometimes, but just remember it could have
been Jackson hates. It could have been substantially worse. Right now,
before we move on to some other free agency topics,
we actually have another bit of Lakers news from yesterday
involving Lebron James. We had a first of all, he
picks up his player option just over fifty million. That
was an interesting move there in the sense that he
could have opted out and tried to sign another one
(10:18):
plus one to protect him in case he wanted to
play an additional season. We had a quote from Rich
Paul though, surrounding the picking up of the option that
was really fascinating. I'm going to read the quote first
and then we'll go from there. Lebron wants to compete
for a championship. He knows the Lakers are building for
the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic
(10:39):
chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of
the partnership that we've had for eight years with Genie
and Rob considering the consider the Lakers as a critical
part of his career. We understand the difficulty in winning
now while preparing for the future. We do want to
evaluate what's best for Lebron at this stage in his
life and career. He wants to make every season he
(11:00):
has left count and the Lakers understand that and are
supportive and want what's best for him. So what the
hell does all that mean? First of all, Lebron is
famous in his career for applying pressure on organizations, applying
pressure on front offices to try to force them to
be aggressive in the windows of time that he's with
(11:22):
that particular franchise. I saw many folks yesterday interpreting that
quote to basically be a soft trade request. I wouldn't
go that far. This could just as easily be Lebron
knowing full well that he has no trade clause and
that he has no intention of leaving Los Angeles for
his twenty third season, and that he's just applying some
token pressure to the team to try to get them
(11:45):
to trade that last first round pick, potentially spend additional
money to make certain things happen and to maximize this window.
I think it's far more likely than that that Lebron
is a Laker next year. I want to be very
clear about that before we move forward. But just for
fun today, let's have a serious talk about potential Lebron
(12:05):
James trade destinations. What would the surrounding circumstances need to
be for a team to make sense for Lebron. I
think it would need to be a pretty unique set
of circumstances for a forty one year old, right They
need to have some urgency, like a shorter window to compete,
like we've got this year or two to try to
(12:28):
jump on. They need to have large expendable salaries to
match Lebron's salary. If you're gonna send out fifty million,
it's got to be fifty million in guys that you
can afford to lose. They need to be obviously not
good enough to win the title right now, meaning they
need to have a little bit of that desperation, right,
So several recent examples of them just not being able
(12:50):
to get over the hump with no obvious thing internally
that can fix that problem, and a Lebron trade needs
to feel like suddenly positions that team right with the
top contenders in the league. You're gonna send out fifty
million dollars in salary and potentially maybe a tiny bit
of draft compensation for an asset that becomes worthless when
(13:13):
he retires. Then you need to feel really good about
your chances to win the trophy in that short window.
I looked over the NBA landscape and I came up
with four teams that makes sense, some sense, I should say,
the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks, the Denver Nuggets
(13:34):
in the Dallas Mavericks. Start with the Calves. The case
for a move with the Calves would be self awareness.
You just got your butts kicked by the Knicks your
first trip to the playoffs. Then you struggled with an
Orlando team just to lose to Boston. Then you have
the greatest season of the post Lebron era, and you
get your butt kicked by the Pacers in a series
(13:54):
where you looked outclassed, and a lot of the same
issues from previous years popped up. Scarland's health became an issue,
his ability to perform in the playoffs came to the
surface again. Jared Allen suddenly becoming way less effective in
the postseason, role players suddenly not making shots they made
in the regular season. The Calves just aren't a championship
(14:14):
team yet, and Donovan Mitchell is an athletic guard who
turns twenty nine before the start of next season. There's
a little bit of urgency there. Lebron also fits a
very specific position of need. The Calves did not have
a reliable secondary shot creator after Donovan Mitchell because Darius
Garland struggled throughout the series and was unhealthy and Ty
(14:35):
Jerome completely decomposed, like in kind of dramatic fashion, completely decomposed.
So Lebron is a reliable secondary shot creator. He's not
a guy that I want to be leaning on at
age forty one to be running my offense in super
large doses. But that's a Calves team that degraded down
to Donovan Mitchell heliocentric ball over the course of that series.
(15:00):
James could help you alleviate that specific problem. He's a big,
strong forward that compliments Evan Mobley on the defensive end
of the floor, and he's a proven postseason performer. They
could pull off the deal by basically shipping out the
guys who have been their weak points in previous seasons,
Guys like Darius Garland, guys like Jared Allen. Again, I
know it's difficult to wrap your brain around those guys
(15:22):
who have been such monsters over the years. Darris Garland
such an incredible player this season. Jared Allen really vaulted
himself into that second tier of centers with the way
that he played this season. There's a lot that there's
a lot that goes into, you know, letting guys like
that go, But it's about self awareness and looking at
the situation and being like, we've done this three times now.
(15:43):
We just did it with the best version of this
team that we've had in the post Lebron era, and
the same guys got their butt kicked and we went
out in the same disappointing fashion. And finally, the Eastern
Conference is wide open. If Lebron went to a Cleveland,
that team immediately feels like the runaway favorite to win
the Eastern Conference, if they could get through the Knicks,
(16:03):
if they could get through the Orlando Magic, or whatever
the Atlanta Hawks end up pulling off this summer, that
they could be right there in the finals because of
the open Eastern Conference, because of the Achilles tear for
Damian Lillard, the Achilles tear for Jason Tatum in the
Achilles tear for Tyree Salliburn. So Cleveland Cavaliers are the
first team to the New York Knicks. Now, I'm gonna
(16:26):
go briefer on this one because the reporting says that
they're waiting around for Giannis, so I view this as
particularly unlikely, but it's the same set of circumstances, right.
Obviously not good enough to win the title after a
very disappointing year last year, A clear trade swap in
terms of Karl Anthony Towns for salary, who could come
in and fit a specific need for the Lakers and
need a starting center. Lebron fits a specific need, which
(16:47):
is that reliable shot creation off of Jalen Brunson, a
very similar kind of dynamic to what he would do
in Cleveland, and substantially better front court defensive player than
Karl Anthony Towns, especially in the postseason context, but again
most likely going to wait for a better long term option,
So I viewed that one as as relatively unlikely. The
Denver Nuggets, That's what I've been thinking about a lot
(17:08):
over the last couple of days. It's a really interesting fit.
They are also in this like super urgent short term
window trying to capitalize on Nikole Jokic's prime. They're light
on assets, so they can't ship out much. They have
an aging group of role players. There's a real urgency,
(17:29):
but even they're already staring down the barrel of potentially
needing to trade nicolea Jokitchen a couple of years if
things don't turn around. They have a big salary in
Michael Porter Junior that they're looking to get rid of,
and he also fits a position of need for the Lakers.
In terms of Michael Porter Junior, the Lakers don't have
a starting caliber three, but they have another starting caliber
(17:51):
four and Ruby Hachimura that could step into the four spot.
Michael Porter Junior is a guy who could step in there.
Aaron Gordon's shooting has unlocked the for them to space
the floor in a Lebron James build, and I think
Lebron would be a great fit with his ability to
play in transition and off the ball as a cutter
and as a roller. I think they immediately become the
most physically imposing team in the league with him next
(18:13):
to Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. That presents a very
specific matchup problem for Oklahoma City, where you can talk
yourself into Denver just mauling those guys underneath the basket.
The only real hang up is just the idea of
Lebron leaving Los Angeles at age forty one to go
to a smaller market like Denver. But I that's an
interesting one, a combination of like Denver's desperation with like
(18:35):
kind of the natural basketball fit, and Lebron going into
a situation where he could play for a legitimate championship threat. Lastly,
the Dallas Mavericks similarly, due to that Anthony Davis contract
and the Kyrie Irving contract that he just signed, they're
in a weird situation where even though they have Cooper
Flag and House, they're facing some real urgency to compete
(18:57):
right now. They're super light on balling and Lincoln shot creation,
which is something that Lebron can step right in and do,
and they can actually benefit I think from consolidating some
of these salaries they have down the payroll, Guys like
Daniel Gafford, who it's hard to see how he's going
to get minutes. Guys like PJ. Washington, it's hard to
see how he's going to get minutes. You know. Klay Thompson,
I think is a player that has some utility for
(19:20):
this team, but then with Max Christie in house, you
could see him potentially taking the starting spot. Now you're
paying a considerable a considerable amount of money for a
bench player in that regard, I think they could benefit
from consolidating a little bit. The hilarious thing is I
was reading this morning from Mark Stein in his reporting
that they are going to sign D'Angelo Russell today in
all likelihood for two years at about twelve million dollars.
(19:43):
So they'd have Delo and Max Christy and Lebron James
and Anthony Davis and basically be the Lakers from a
few years ago, just with better depth and the prospect
of Kyrie Irving returning at some point in the year
depending on how his ACL repair and rehab goes. Again,
I think it's more likely than not that Lebron just
(20:03):
stays in LA as a Laker this year. But these
are the only Lebron destinations I see that make any sense.
All Right, We're gonna start going rapid fire through a
bunch of small pieces of news from around the NBA
over the week. First one, the Chicago Bulls traded Lonzo
Ball to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Isaac Accorro. I have
(20:25):
no earthly idea what the Bulls are trying to accomplish
at all, but I do love the theoretical Lonzo fit
with the Calves. The Calves are preparing to lose Hi
Jerome and free agency. Probably not much in the way
of hard feelings there, considering how bad he was in
the Pacers series. But Lonzo is theoretically a fantastic fit
with the Calves. I say theoretically because he's had health
(20:46):
issues over the course of the years, right, But he's
a defensive playmaker that is coming off of a career
best season and steel rate. He averaged three stocks per
thirty six minutes last year. And this is a Calves
team that thrives in transition, and that added this whole
turnover to transition element under Kenny Atkinson last year. I
think that's a fantastic fit. He's an excellent hit ahead passer.
(21:09):
That's what he was known for during the healthier phase
of his career when he was on ball more he's
an excellent hit ahead passer, an excellent connective playmaker. I
think that makes him kind of a unique, higher floor,
lower ceiling option as that bench guard, and I think
he has more utility playing alongside the starters when they
need to. He had a rough shooting season last year,
but he was thirty nine percent from three on seven
(21:30):
attempts per game in the previous three seasons, so I
do think he'll shoot better. And so you can see
as like a almost like a three and D guard
option that they can go to in a universe where
he's playing alongside the starters. But then he also brings
you just kind of like a higher floor, lower ceiling
option than ty Jerome in the sense that he's not
going to do the surgical pick and roll scoring that
(21:52):
ty Jerome can do, and you know, hit five or
six floaters in an early fourth quarter stretch that just
drives a dagger into the heart of the opponent not
going to do that, but he is going to bring
a higher floor, more defensive focus, more ball movement focused
approach to that backup guard spot, and again that hit
ahead passing. This is a Cavs team that really changed
(22:12):
into a transition monster last year, and Lonzo is just
such a natural fit there. I think it's a really
nice pivot from the Calves under the circumstances.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
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Speaker 2 (22:56):
The Jazz traded Colin Sexton in a second round pick
to the Charlotte Hornets for use of nrkis. This is
a weird one from yesterday. The first thing that stood
out to me was the fact that Danny Ainge actually
had to attach draft compensation and not the other way around.
Both of these guys are on very similar contracts expiring
after this season this coming season at just under twenty million.
(23:19):
That's what made it work in terms of a straight
across swap. And I think Colin Sexton is just a
better player than use of Nurkics. That's not to say
that Colin Sexon is a perfect player. He's got his
issues and he's kind of a clunky fit where he goes.
But I think Colin Sexton still brings some pretty high
level NBA traits to the table, and use of Nurkics
just doesn't. So I thought that that valuation was strange
(23:40):
to have that second round pick attached. Take a step further,
I don't understand the basketball fit really. I would assume
for the Hornets he's going to be the Trey Man replacement.
Trey Man had a back issue. His agent came out
and was like, Trey's good to go. I'm sure they're
just looking for a free agent deal elsewhere, but I
don't love the fit there on that kind of weird Hornets,
and then for Nurkics, like in Utah, it doesn't make
(24:02):
a ton of sense at all unless they're looking to
trade Walker Kessler. Like if I like, if Danny Ainge
was trying to trade Walker Kessler and he's trying to
fleece a team like the Lakers or something like that,
then it makes some sense you're bringing in use of
Nurkice to get you a guy that can play some
center minutes. But I mean, at this point, at like
now the DeAndre eight and buy out becomes super interesting
(24:25):
because if like, let's say that Danny Ainge, because all
the intel was like Danny Ainge is not looking to
trade Walker Kessler, like he's just not gonna do it.
It's like, okay, well if that's the case, and you
got Kyle Philipowski, like, what is the purpose for going
after a use of nurkics? Right, Well, let's just imagine
for a second that Danny Ainge is like, I'm eventually
gonna trade Walker Kessler to the Lakers, but I'm just
gonna string these dudes along as long as i can
(24:47):
and then jump in and get the best possible deal. Well,
now DeAndre Ayton's available potentially for a mid level exception
where they wouldn't have to include, uh, you know, potentially
adult and Connect or a first round pick, and it's like,
would you rather have Connect a first round pick you
can trade later and DeAndre Ayton or would you rather
have Walker Kessler? Like that's going to get in the
way of that sort of deal getting done. So I
(25:09):
don't really know what the Jazz are trying to accomplish here.
Either the Timberwolves did some business yesterday or over the weekend,
I should say Julius Randall resigns on a three year,
one hundred million dollar deal. I'm not a big Julius
Randall fan, and I thought it was rather embarrassing some
of the stuff that he did in the Oklahoma City series,
(25:29):
particularly when things weren't going his way. But one thing
I'll say in his defense, Oklahoma City embarrassed a lot
of guys in the postseason this year, And under any circumstances,
a player with the ceiling that Julius Randall has, getting
thirty three million per year in this NBA is a
massive discount under any circumstances for a player of his caliber.
(25:52):
The salary cap is going to be undergoing massive jumps
every year. With the new TV deal and that deal
at Julius deal is going to be very appealing as
a trade asset in a year or two, especially as
the cap continues to go up. And I mean like
in terms of the discount, Like look at James Harden,
another kind of middling, underachieving star who you know is
(26:16):
known for playoff flameouts, and he just got forty million
annual from from the Clippers. So to get Julius Randall
at thirty three million, I think is a very good
deal for Minnesota. They also resigned Nas Reed five years,
one hundred and twenty five million, basically the same deal
that Jabari Smith Junior just got a little bit more,
but mostly symbolically. At that point, I would imagine I
(26:38):
do think nas is the better player, so to get
him for three million total more over five years feels
like a great deal from a value standpoint. The Wolves
are betting on internal improvement and continuity, which I think
is a completely reasonable direction for a team that has
made the Conference finals two years in a row and
is led by a star that has struggled on that
(26:58):
stage both times. Ant wasn't good against the MAVs, ANT
wasn't good against Oklahoma City. There's reason to believe that
an improved Anthony Edwards could lead this team to a championship.
As currently constructed. The Wolves are betting on him making
that lead. They may have to make some pivots, but
I think nas Reid at that number, that's a tradeable deal.
(27:22):
Julius Randall on that number, that's a tradeable deal. They
won't be as deep. They're gonna lose to kill Alexander Walker.
Mike Conley is gonna be a year older, but they're
maintaining the core of what makes the Wolves the Wolves
while maintaining some trade flexibility. Even that Go Bear deal.
I know he's older, but I mean that right around
thirty million is kind of just what a starting center,
a good starting center, goes for in the modern NBA.
(27:43):
It just kind of is what it is at this point.
Houston a lot of interesting stuff from them retaining some
of their lower level role players. They re upped with
Jabari Smith, Like we mentioned, five years, one hundred and
twenty two million, Dorian Finney Smith. They're trying to poach
him away from the Lakers. Mark Stein reported that they're
going to try to put together a four year offer
that it might be around that like sixty million, dollars range.
(28:05):
I really like the idea of Dorian Phinney Smith in
a Houston context where he's surrounded at by just a
ton of athleticism and physicality. That's a team that desperately
needs shooting. You bring in a Kevin Durant and a
Dorian Finney Smith, it just gives you so much more
lineup flexibility with you way to with the ability to
put different types of shooters in different spots on the floor.
Houston's going for it, man, and you know, I am
(28:27):
always going to I'm always going to to advocate for
teams that make these types of decisions, especially when you're
self aware. This was a Houston team that has an
Amend Thompson that is a super exciting young player that
I think has the potential to become an All NBA
level type of two way talent, but his offensive development
puts him in a situation where he's years away. He's
(28:50):
years away from being that type of player, and in
the short term, he's still a super useful role player
as this point of attack defender who is a vertical
spacing threat who can I think you're going to see
a lot more four on three like short Roll stuff
from him this year playing off of Kevin Durant, Like
you have a short term utility with the Men Thompson.
But you look at it and it was like Jalen
Green wasn't a star level ball handler in any sort
(29:11):
of like dependable sense. Neither was Fred Shanggoon, you know,
has his certain limitations. This was a Houston team that
looked in the mirror and went, we're not good enough,
but we have a really strong foundation in one specific
weakness in terms of a high level ball handling. I'll
give you two well, high level ball handling and off
ball shooting. They're making aggressive moves to try to address
(29:33):
those specific needs. They're shortening their window obviously, but they
still have tons of assets in terms of first round
draft compensation for a pivot. So you go after Dorian
Finney Smith, you get a Kevin Durant, You make an
attempt to try to win the title over the next
year or two. But then you still have Shangoon, you
still have a Men Thompson, you still have Reed Shepherd
and it can wit more and all these young athletes.
(29:55):
You still have a future that you can pivot to
while also having a short term window try to make
something happen. I think it makes a ton of sense.
And you know, Houston, I checked this morning on DraftKings.
They have the second best championship ods at this point
in the entire NBA. They're putting themselves in a really,
really strong position on that front. James Harden new deal
(30:17):
two years, eighty two million. Now do I think Clippers
are going to win the title next year? No, But
I did find this to be really fascinating just in
terms of a proof of concept of something I've believed
for a long time. Surrounding James Harden, I've talked a
lot about this concept. When we were talking with Sam
Vessini in that pre draft episode. If you guys remember
the idea of like read and react talent being super important.
(30:41):
Guys that can catch and shoot threes, drive closeouts, make
decisions when they're driving close outs basically play with an advantage,
And if you remember, there was another part of that conversation,
and one of the things I talked about was like
most of the good teams in the NBA have a
guy who specializes in generating advantages first temates and James
(31:02):
Harden still to this day, is one of the very
best guys in the league at generating those advantages. His
ability to play out a high pick and roll and
score from all three levels and playmate out of pick
and roll, generating tons of short role opportunities and catch
and shoot opportunities and close out attack opportunities. It makes
(31:25):
it so that all of your players on the roster
have advantages the majority of the time. I said before
the season last year, even with the Paul George loss,
I was like, this is an athletic team. It's got
a lot of perimeter defenders, and James Harden just gives
you such a high floor on the defense on the
offensive end of the floor that it just gives you
(31:47):
just a very strong foundation for offense during the NBA
regular season. And I think him getting a two year,
eighty two million dollar deal, even with his playoffs shortcomings,
even though he's not the same guy that he used
to be, is just a strong reminder that the ability
to create open shots and closeouts and advantages four year
(32:11):
role players is one of the most valuable things in
the NBA. And James is going to keep cashing out
until he can't do that. And another eighty million for
James Harden over the course of two years. Lastly, some
Milwaukee Bucks Bobby Portis signs a three year, forty four
million dollar deal. This is a really favorable number for
(32:33):
Milwaukee and opens up a lot more options for them
this summer. I've been kind of a Bobby Portis defender
for a while. There are a lot of Bucks fans
that are not a big fan of his. I understand
the shortcomings. I have seen some of the worst defensive
tape that I see around the NBA from a big
when I'm watching Bobby Portis. At times, he can be
frustratingly inconsistent on that end of the floor. But he
(32:56):
is a backup power forward center hybrid, and when it
comes the backups, there's always going to be that level
of inconsistency and you know, just more of a of
a like an up and down type of approach. Right, Like, guys,
if Bobby Portis was a good defender, he's a thirty
five million dollar player, like because he can shoot threes
(33:17):
at a high rate, because he can beat switches on
the block, because he's a pretty solid read and react player.
Bobby Is a his defensive shortcomings or would allow you
to get him at a number like three years and
forty four million. Now the Bucks needs some perimeter athleticism.
I'd be calling on guys like Bruce Brown and Karris
Lavert and doing whatever I could to try to bring
(33:40):
in some guys. I think Harris would be great for
them as a guy who can handle the ball and
can guard on the perimeter. Bruce, it's a little bit
more clunky with the spacing fit, but they just need
to bring in some guys that can really dribbleshoot, pass
and defend on the perimeter, but actually run the floor
and cover ground and transition. Bring just more of that
athletic pop on the perimeter. Bobby taking that discounted deal
(34:03):
just gives them a little bit more flexibility on that front.
All right, guys, That's all I have for today is
always a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and
supporting the show. We will be back. I'm not sure
if we're going to go tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm
on the road in Denver house hunting. I've mentioned this
a couple weeks ago, but my wife and I are
moving up here this summer, so kind of depending on
just how shocking the news is, will either go tonight
(34:24):
or will go tomorrow morning. I'll let you guys know
just an eye on my Twitter feed, but we will
have a video reacting to all of the Free Agency
news from today no later than tomorrow morning. Again, I
appreciate you guys for rocking with me and for supporting
the show, and I'll see you guys next time. What's
up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to
and supporting OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful
(34:45):
for us if you guys would take a second and
leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate
you guys supporting us, but if you could take a
minute to do that, I've really appreciated
Speaker 1 (34:55):
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