July 2, 2024 • 35 mins
Doug Gottlieb fills in for Colin discussing Klay Thompson's decision to leave the Warriors for the Mavericks and why this is bad news for the Lakers who missed out on their chance to land the 4-time champion. He talks to Marc Stein about Thompson and why the Mavericks were the better fit over Los Angeles and how Paul George ended up with the 76ers. Plus, Doug can't understand how Jayson Tatum ended up with the largest contract in the history of the NBA after his teammate Jaylen Brown was the better player in their run to winning the championship this year
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
What Up. Welcome in. This is the Herd. Wherever you
may be and however you may be making this part
of your day. Thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlieb in
for Colin Cowherd, and for the next couple of hours,
I want to talk sports with you wherever you may
be listening. From Green Bay to Sheboygan all the way
(00:49):
to Poway, we all ot to get to the NBA
off season drama continues on Oh Yeah, by the way,
our US men's sat national soccer team lost to Day.
I just love saying I think it's so great. I
just it's an amazing word. It's an amazing annunciation or alliteration,
(01:12):
and it is one country that we actually do pronounce
it in the If you pronounce it that way, you're
actually pronouncing it in the proper way. We don't. We
don't do that for everyone. Right. We don't say France,
we say France. Right, we don't say Israel. We say Israel.
But forever reason, instead of Uruguay, we say way because
(01:35):
it sounds really cool. Unfortunately, they beat us last night
in soccer. We'll get to the age old thing that
always happens. Literally, every time soccer guy loses with the
US men's national team, the same thing happens. And again,
I know this because soccer has been sport of the
sport of the future for my entire life, and so
(01:55):
for my entire life, every time they lose, this one
thing happens. We'll get to that later on the hour,
but let's start with the news of the day continues
to be the reaction of Klay Thompson, splash brother leaving
these Splash Brothers, leaving San Francisco, leaving the Golden State
Warriors and moving on to the Dallas Mavericks. The reality
(02:19):
of it is, while the while Golden State put out
an incredible post you know about how amazing he is,
this was something that had to happen, right, You can't
have an all time great suddenly take a tertiary or
lesser role with the same franchise. He's been an all
time great. Just it's human psychology more than anything. And
(02:42):
there is the cold callous world of business with the
Golden State Warriors. Look, they left Oakland behind in the dust.
Why you can't make money in Oakland like you can
in San Francisco as a franchise, just like they now
are leaving. You know, are allowing Clay Thompson to leave
because it keeps them below the second tier. They're not
paying at tax this year. It does save them money.
(03:02):
But that I think we're burying all the leads of
or the lead of the day, with all these other
ancillary stories, right the breakup of the Splash Brothers where
Golden State is what Klay Thompson's proper expectations are, Will
they be better if he replaces Derek Jones Junior right,
who is a lockdown defender, great athlete, but not a
(03:23):
particularly good shooter with the elite shooting even if he's there,
you know, second best shooter, or you know PJ. Washington
one corner and Klay Thompson the other. Good luck guarding
Luca and guarding Kyrie Irving. It's a great plan, and
he's still a two way player. Not in the conversation
the best two way players in the league. Right He
and Kawhi were the best two way players in the
(03:45):
league along with Lebron James on some level going back
years ago. But injuries, age, that's depleted it. That's not
the story. Here's the story. He chose the Mavericks over
the Lakers. And it wasn't just that he chose the
Mavericks of the Lakers. The Lakers, by all reports, we're
willing to pay him more money now. For any other player,
(04:08):
it's a big thing to choose Kyrie and Luca over
Lebron and Ad. But for Clay Thompson, who grew up
in Orange County, who grew up with his dad as
a former Laker, a world champion with the Lakers, a
broadcaster for the Lakers, it's always been thought that if
Clay ever left, the one place he'd go would be
(04:29):
the Lakers. And you can give me the whole you know,
state income tax in California's stop it, stop it when
you got one hundred and fifty million in the bank, right,
you know, there's a reason that some of the brightest
and best. If you have money and you want to
and you want to live anywhere on Earth, the answer
(04:52):
is Manhattan Beach or Newport Beach. Right, I'm just being
honest with you. Don't believe me. There's roll down there
where Kobe lived. There's billionaires and you know what they
don't do. They don't go, you know, the Texas, They
just don't. So it's where he's gonna end up anyway.
It's where he trains anyway, So please stop with the
(05:12):
state income tax thing. He chose Kyrie and Luca, and
probably Luca then Kyrie over Lebron Anthony Davis. And do
I think old rivalries die hard? Sure? Sure, Like Chris
Paul being with the Warriors this year, like that was weird.
(05:35):
There's always been this weird thing where the Clippers were
close and then the Warriors surpassed them, and they always
hate each other. Now a sudden, you know, the king
of the Clippers of the Lob City it was Chris
Paul and now he's a Warrior. It was weird. So
maybe there's some of that, like, hey, we've never really
liked the Lakers. The Lakers dust this off last year
and now of a sudden, we don't want to join them.
But you get the same thing with a little bit
(05:57):
with the Mavericks and with Kyrie. I don't know then, Like, look,
the thing is, it's pretty obvious that Clay believes is
a better chance of winning with Dallas than there is
with la And don't you think that at least a
portion of it is if you look historically, that third
(06:19):
guy who joins Lebron James, that guy always gets pooped on.
Chris Bosh he said it as much. Kevin Love numerous
guys with the Lakers, and then you add in the
Broni factor and does it affect the team? Not really,
(06:41):
but it does show that the Lakers will do anything
in everything Lebron wants. I mean literally. They hired JJ Reddick,
that's Lebron's hand picked choice because Tylo wasn't available. They
drafted Bronnie James. They didn't need to draft Ronnie James.
You could take him as an unrestricted free agent. Undrafted
(07:03):
free agent. Nobody was drafting him. And even if we
believe the stories of Rich Paul telling other teams not
to draft him, to tell other teams not drafting that's fine.
You don't have to draft him either, and then he's
available three picks later, and then you you know, without
any picks, they have acquiesced to everything and anything Lebron wants.
(07:25):
I mean, how did Russell Westbrook work out Kevin Love Eh,
he caught all the flack when they didn't win, Chris Boss,
same thing. So you're sitting there going like, I don't
know if I want to be that guy. I don't
know if I want to be in that circus. I
don't want to go down with another aging ship because
I was just on an aging ship in Golden State,
(07:47):
Dallas over LA and not just LA, not the Clippers,
the Lakers, and not just the Lakers, the Lakers who
his dad works for, played for, he grew up watching
them win championships. If if you think that this has
(08:10):
nothing to do with the perception and maybe some of
the reality, but the perception league wide of the Lakers
and playing with Lebron, you're you're missing it. You're missing it,
you know. And and look, I think there's also a
reasonable even if you take the Lebron and how you
(08:32):
be treated as that third wheel sort of factor out
of it, there's also the you probably didn't think they're
that close, nor should he. Yes, they got to the
Western Conference finals two years ago, but Memphis was banged up.
They met, they didn't they matched up well with Golden
State Goldens. They didn't match up well with them, Right,
(08:52):
Clippers were never healthy. Go back to that year. They
weren't really competitive with with Dallas. We'd seen they're not
really on the same plane as Minnesota, and clearly Dallas
as what most people consider to be the best or
second best player in the league with Luka Danjik. Both
(09:12):
things go counter to what the Lakers want you to believe.
That people want to play with Lebron they don't, and
that they have a chance at winning a championship. Clay
clearly doesn't believe that, because the best thing Clay Thompson
can do when leaving Golden State for his legacy is
to go somewhere and win and tell Golden State, see,
(09:36):
could have won with me. So yeah, I mean, it's
very reasonable to say this is a great story, right,
that Clay chooses Dallas, and that Dallas takes yet another
step and Golden State handled it perfectly, like, hey, it's
just not going to work. I don't know if people
(09:58):
know this, but I was told that when Clay was
initially brought off the bench, and he was told this
next year he'd be brought off the bench as well.
But when he was brought off the bench, I think
it was going back earlier this year. He didn't when
Steve Kerr met with him told him he was bringing
him out the bench. He didn't talk to Steve Kerr
for a month, all right, Ian Duck, And look, it's
(10:19):
a it's a pride thing. It's an ego thing we
all have. We all have egos. We all have pride,
especially all time great players at a franchise when you're
mister Game six. But Golden State made a calculated business decision,
(10:40):
and Clay Thompson made a decision based upon who he
thinks he has a chance to win a championship with
and who he wants to play with most and neither
of those decisions led him to the LA Lakers. That's
the story coming up next in the heard. I'm Doug
gotlip feeling in for why did Clay choose the MAVs
(11:02):
over his hometown Lakers. I'm gonna ask Mark Stein, he's
really close to the MAVs. He'll tell us next in
the Hurd.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon Eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Doug GotY bin for calling. This is the Herd Fox
Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Welcome in. By the way,
that Doug Gottlieb Show airs daily, Hey three to five
Eastern time, plus we have an hour podcast. And yes,
I'm also at basketball coach at Green Bay which is
in beautiful Wisconsin, getting ready for fourth July weekend a
(11:40):
week and hope you're having a great week. I'm sure
many of you, many of you, like people around here,
head to dor County, which is the Cape Cod the Midwest,
or up to the upper Peninsula of Michigan. Little cabins,
all bout lat lakes, some ponds, some on the Big Lake. Okay,
I don't know. The more I'm in the Midwest, the
(12:01):
more it's really it's a fascinating thing. Right, Like you
saddle up to a bar and guy asked you what
you do? Like, I'm a radio host and a basketballker,
So what do you do? It's like, well, I own
such and such, Like Damn where am I kind of
an amazing thing. So yesterday was a big day on
a bunch of different levels. Right, the Paul George moved
(12:22):
to the Sixers, and that's a lot about the Clippers
and decision they made to stick with Kawhi and not
with Paul George. Some of it comes down to second
Apron and the new collective Bardon agreement and all those issues,
the Golden State Warriors allowing Klay Thompson to walk out
the door in part on some level amicably, and the
(12:43):
decision he made to shun the Lakers where his dad works.
And like, look, I don't know. I know Clay pretty well.
I know he trains in Orange County with Jordan Lawley.
Every off season, Trent, one of my players, was training
with him. I mean, like, look, Clay is a guy.
(13:04):
He actually played for my dad some in AAU basketball
So I don't know for a fact that he always
wanted to be a Laker. Like I grew up in
southern California, same area, and it was in the eighties,
and I was kind of more of a Celtics guy
than a Laker guy. But that was just because everybody
loved the Lakers. Everybody and I was a little bit
of a contrarian, duh, so I got this job. But
(13:26):
the guess is, you watch the Lakers, Kobe and Shack
and your dad being so beloved that you're probably like,
that'd be a good place to end it, and you're
dealing with Lebron Anthony Davis. But the fact that he
shunned them and they were willing to offer him more money,
I tell you all you need to know. Maybe it does.
Let's ask Mark Stein he would know. Of course, he
(13:49):
has on substack, he has the Stein Line, and then
he has this League Uncut, which is a fantastic, fantastic podcast.
Mark Joins is here in the Herd on Fox Sports Radio.
What do you think Stanny was the deciding factor that
put the MAVs over the top of the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
My sense of it is, I just think Clay deemed
this the better situation to stay in the title mix.
I think, Look, I don't want to speak for him
because I haven't spoken directly to him, but I heard
his father, Michael, who of course played for the Lakers,
played on Laker you know, he was part of the
(14:32):
Showtime era. He still does radio for the Lakers. You know,
he gave an interview this morning where he acknowledged that
he was disappointed that Play didn't choose the Lakers, And
I think you described it well. That was the team
he loved growing up in southern California and obviously a
huge Kobe fan. But I think it's important to Clay
(14:54):
Thompson after the last couple seasons. You know, he wants
to everyone that he can still be a key contributor
to a good team. And I think the MAVs sold
him on. There was a huge role for him in Dallas,
playing off of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, and I
(15:17):
just think that's really what swayed him. Now, when you
hear the talk of the Lakers were offering him more money,
you know, we're going to need to learn more and
hear more about exactly how that was going to work
and how that was going to happen, because the Lakers
would have to put trades together to make that happen,
and it's not clear, certainly not clear to me what
(15:38):
those trades would have been to be able to put
themselves in position to offer Play more. I know that's
the chatter right now, you know, I'm sure we will
hear more about it as time goes on. But you know,
I've been reporting this story since last Friday, That's when
I first heard that there was going to be strong
mutual interests between the Mavericks and Clay, and the Mavericks
(16:05):
got it done. And look, this is a franchise. The
MAVs have had just a dreadful free agent history. They
never get the guys in free agency. So to be
able to win a faiths off with the Lakers, to
get a commitment from Clay Thompson, you can imagine how
happy people are in Dallas right now, how happy MAVs
fans are so now for the Lakers, their options are
(16:29):
so limited, and they've also got a clock kicking because
you know, Lebron James Team USA camp is starting just
in a few days this weekend, and Lebron's gonna want
to have his deal done by then. He's not gonna
want to practice with Team USA and start getting ready
for the Olympics without assigned contracts. You know, there's been
(16:51):
all to talk about Lebron's willingness to take a pay cut,
but that was only if they were getting a James
Harden a Klay Thompson and now I think DeMar DeRozan
still lands in that group. And DeMar DeRozan is still
out there, but I think there is a question of
how Damar would fit. Is Damar really willing to take
(17:15):
you know, he would have to take a significant pay
cut from where he is where he's been with the
Bulls for the last few seasons. But look, Tomar Derozen
is also a Southern Californian. The options for him appear
to be somewhat limited in free agency. You know, would
he be willing to join the Lakers for a lot
less than he's been making with the Bulls. I'm not
(17:38):
so sure on that. You know, he could still opt
to maybe do a short term deal with the Bulls
and then come back to free agency next summer. But
if it's not DeRozan, really, all the Lakers can do is,
you know, try to make trade. You know, the Nets.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Obviously the Nets.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Would trade you know, just about anyone in terms of
their veterans because they're obviously now in full rebuild mode
after agreeing to the McHale Bridges trade with the Knicks.
So can you get Cam Johnson or Dori and Finney
Smith in a trade with the net, you know, those
kind of targets because the Lakers obviously still need shooting.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah, but that doesn't that that does not feel like
a championship caliber team if that's the addition that you
that you make to that roster, not.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
After what Oklahoma City has done. I mean, you know,
obviously they're happy in Dallas right now getting play and
the mass have had a pretty good start to free
agency with getting this commitment from Klay Thompson, being able
to agree to a deal with Naji Marshall to replace
Derrick Jones junior. And they're also getting Quinton Grimes and
the Tim Hardaway junior trade that will be finalized this weekend.
(18:47):
So the mass have had a nice little run here.
But I mean Oklahoma City has added Alex Caruso and
Hart signed. We're talking about two of two elite role
players to a team that was at be really good.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yeah, and and it's reasonable to think that chet Holmgren
in year two, in season two of him playing, you know,
he'll take another step. You know, Shay has already boardline
MVP caliber. Chet Holmgren takes that next step. Now you
solidified the bench. That's that's it's crazy what they've been
(19:24):
able to do.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
I'd say the only good news for the Lakers right
now is that the West is suddenly in a lot
of flucks. I mean, this past season the West, I mean,
how many times have we talked about it? Every week
I talk to you and we just talk about what
a daunting monster the West is as a conference. But Lakers, Clippers, Warriors,
even the Nuggets to a degree. Second straight offseason, the
(19:47):
Nuggets have lost a key perimeter player without compensation. First
Bruce Brown last summer. Now they lost Tavious Fallwell, Pope,
you know, they might they might bring in Russell Westbrooks,
but I mean, I don't think Russell westbrook at this point.
You you know, he's not bringing to the table all
the stuff that maybe it's called. Well, Pope is is
a two way player. So I mean that's I guess
(20:10):
the only consolation. But you can look at it the
other way too. Memphis is going to bounce back. Yeah,
Houston is so ambitious. Their young team's going to get
New Orleans. New Orleans has a lot of optionality. They're
probably going to trade Brandon Ingram and they just made
a big trade for de Jontay Murray. That we're not
really talking about because there's so much going on. And
(20:31):
then San Antonio they're going to be better. You know,
Wemby's going to take a major step and we've seen
this with Chris Paul before in Oklahoma City, that team
will between Wemby's inevitable improvements and just the steadiness know
how organizations they're going to get out of Chris Paul,
the Spurs are going to be a much tougher route
(20:52):
next season. So I guess there's two ways to look
at it. But there are a lot of established you
know again, Lakers, Clippers, Warriors.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Nugget, you didn't mention Minnesota. You didn't mention the Phoenix, right.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
I would put Phoenix in the in the in flux category.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, they're they're there with the Warriors and with the Lakers.
But again, like that, that group is a really talented,
but aging kind of group, you know, and not incomplete team,
whereas you have Minnesota in that young team Oklahoma City
on the rise group. Right, So while it may not
have the name power being on the coast the way
it was in previous years, it's still a very daunting,
(21:32):
uphill battle on a on a daily basis. Let's let's
get to the Paul George thing. What's the league's reaction
been to Paul George moving moving from west to east.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Well, look for the for the Sixers, obviously, it's a
home run. I mean from their execution, it couldn't have
gone better because a year ago, at this time, they
had to convince Tyree s Maxley, Listen, we know you
deserve a huge, huge contract extension. We're asking you to
wait and trust us, and if you give us until
(22:06):
next summer, you'll see you'll get your deal. And we're
going to put an incredible team together. And look, they
saw several roster spots they are going to have to
fill and they're gonna have to do it all pretty
much with minimums. But they pulled it off. I mean,
they got Paul George, which you know, I think is
(22:27):
just as surprising to a lot of people around the
league as the thought of Klay Thompson's leaving the Warriors.
It's a surprise on that level. You never thought the
Clippers were going. And again in both cases, I think
now when we have hindsight, the signs have been there.
I Mean, the reality is Kawhi Leonard did his extension
in January. The Clippers have had five months to get
(22:50):
a deal done with Paul George and they couldn't do it,
which tells you now how far apart they were. The
Clippers were simply and they've now said it publicly, the
Clippers were not going to to go past three years
and they were not going to give Paul George a
richer deal than they gave Kawhi. Leonard and Paul George
had the leverage and the landing spot to say, I'm
(23:10):
going to get my max deal, Philly will give it
to me. I am willing to move across the country,
which again a lot of people didn't think would happen.
A lot of people thought there's no way Paul George
is willing to leave southern California and the West Coast.
And he's He's done it. And now the Sixers have.
You know, they maxed out Maxy as they as you
(23:32):
knew they would once they did all the off season business.
And now I'm in the top of the East. It's
I mean, it's going to be so interesting with Boston
and defending champions. Philly now has emb and Maxie and
Paul George as a superstar trio, and they're putting a
lot of veterans around them to round out the depths.
And then you have the Knicks, who made their major
(23:54):
trade for Michale Bridges, and you know they're doing it
more with Guth than you know, Jalen Brunson is their
star player. But that's the top of the East, you know, Boston, Philly,
New York, fascinating race. And then what does Milwaukee do?
And where is Miami? Miami hasn't been able to muster
(24:15):
any kind of answer, So there's there's so much most
of the free agency has done, but now we're looking
at a lot of questions and how are these teams
going to resolve them?
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Well, you mentioned Miami. Where's Jimmy Butler played next year?
Speaker 4 (24:29):
I think at this point all indications are that he
will stay with the Heat. The Heat have basically said,
you know, but the messaging from Butler is that he
doesn't want to seek a trade and he just wants
to play this thing out. Now. That doesn't stop teams
from potentially inquiring if he's available. But I always kind
of thought that had Billy missed on Paul George, it
(24:52):
would have been more natural for them to turn around
and try to reacquire Jimmy Butler in a trade. But
now the Sixers don't need to do that. So Miami
with very little limited flexibility in the short term, like
I will never put anything past them because as I
always say, hey, they found a way to sign and
(25:12):
trade for Jimmy Butler with a two or three million
in cap space, and they still manage to get Jimmy Butler.
And they've had a great run with Jimmy Butler. So
they have to they have to find answers. And look,
Donovan Mitchell has been the guy that it's been widely
believed that that who Miami was going to target in
(25:33):
trade talk. But now the Cavs, after enduring months and
months and months of uncomfortable speculations, Donovan Mitchell has signed
that contract extension. So they have Donovan Mitchell now under
contract and they can put all that speculation to bed,
and you know, another presumed Miami target, at least for
(25:53):
the short term, is off the table.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Doug Allibin forcalinnis the her of fogh Or Trade to
iHeartRadio app. Mark Stein is our guest. Check out his
steinline on substack and of course this League Uncut, which
is an outstanding podcast. Okay, so then we go to Boston,
the defending champions, and Jason Tatum is the highest paid
player in the history of the league. And look, I
(26:20):
do understand how this all works, right, There's a calculation
that goes in with being being all NBA et cetera,
et cetera, and the timing of it. But we did
see him in a second straight NBA Finals not be
the best player on his team. And I get that
they want a championship, and I get that it's his time,
his time being up, but they're really gonna be the
(26:41):
highest paid player making seventy plus million dollars in the
last year of this deal.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
Well, he's only gonna have that status for one year
because this is just the state of things with the
TV money coming in and the cap raises that are forthcoming.
Next summer, Luka Doncic is going to be eligible for
US three and fifty million dollars deal, and then after that,
I think day Guildeth Alexander will be eligible for a
contract that's even richer, and it's just going to continue
(27:09):
to go like that. So yet the numbers are staggering.
We've never seen numbers like this, But like I said,
it will there will be a new someone new will
wear the crown of Rich's contract in the NBA basically
every summer going forward for their for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Steiny, You're the best man. Can't wait to listen to
the next This league un cut and of course the
substack is called the Steinline. Check it out. Mark. Thanks
for joining us in the hurt.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
You got it. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays and noon Eastern non a em Pacific.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Hey, it's Ben, host of the Fifth Hour with Ben Maller.
Would mean a lot to have you joined us on
our weekly auditory journey. Dress What in God's name is
the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's a spin off
of it. Ben Maler show a Colt hit overnights on
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a world will We chat with captains of industry in media,
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(28:09):
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Speaker 3 (28:15):
Doug Gottliebin for calling this the Herd on Fox Sports
Radio the iHeartRadio app. Welcome in. I hope you're having
yourself a great day. We got rhyme music up coming
with the news. I don't know if you saw this news, uh,
but last night, I mean, I guess who knows when
it was actually agreed to, But last night it was
announced that Jason Tatum has reached an agreement to become
(28:38):
the highest paid player in the history of the NBA
with a five year, three hundred and fourteen million dollar deal.
Five year, three hundred and fourteen million dollar deal. Should
be pointing out that the highest valued contract previously was
Jalen Brown. So the two of them, the two of
them will make a combined was it six hundred million
(29:04):
dollars combined over the next to a next contract. In
a not so shocking, not so shocking unrelated news with Grossbeck,
who is part of the ownership group that owns the Celtics,
They're like, hey, we're giving what a championship and we're
giving out new contracts and oh yeah, hey, by the way,
(29:24):
if anybody wants to buy the Celtics, there for sale
for like five or six billion dollars, right, which, look,
could we say, it's about sell high sure franchise values,
and there's only thirty of them. And the Celtics are
historically great, arguably the greatest franchise ever, inarguably one of
(29:48):
the two greatest franchises ever. So I do understand. But
what has changed between you know, two years ago and
now they won a championship? But oh yeah, these these
deals are ridiculous. But have we have we stopped to
like take our breath and go, like like when Pat
Mahomes signed his contract, there has been and will never
(30:12):
be a person's like whatever you can pay him, it's
not enough. It's just like the guy's the best, and
the guy's literally the best. You know, we do this
thing in all of sports. We're like, well, you know,
how many more Pat Mahomes? How many more years is
you have to play? He doesn't have to play another
second to be a first ballot Hall of Famer and
to be arguably or inarguably the greatest of all the time. Like, no,
(30:34):
well he's got to play. No, he doesn't like what
He's done it with great talent. He's done it with
below average wide receivers. Like talk about pulling a rabbit
out of your out of your wreck him that that's
what he did. He's amazing. So when Pat Mahomes was
the highest paid player in the history of professional football,
there's no argument. Show Heyo Tani. I don't. Even though
(30:58):
he's injured and he can't pitch, there's no real argument. Right,
even without pitching, he's still arguably the best hitter in baseball.
And it's fairly obvious to anyone who pays attention like
he brings. He he has a financial funnel that no
one else has with how popular he is internationally, especially
in Japan, showing him Tonny signs for SEVN or money
(31:20):
like I don't really know what the number is. That's enough,
you know, and so much of it's deferred, but no
one's argued Jason Tatum really uh? And how it will
be relayed? Is Utliebs hating on Jason Tatum? Okay? Or
if you name the five best players in the NBA,
(31:44):
five best players in the NBA, would anybody put Jason
Tatum on that list? And look, I could say the
same thing when Jalen Brown signed his contract. I understand
there's a timing element to it. I then you know,
it's just like Compson real estate, but Compson real estate, Like,
you're not getting above what Vinnie down the street got
(32:07):
for his house when your house isn't as nice. Yeah,
it may go up, you know, three, four or five,
ten eleven percent per year, but the reality is like
that house went for more because it's worth more. It
has more value. It's a better home, it's on a
better lot, it has a better floor plan. Like I'm
(32:30):
willing to give Jason Tatum a pass for the NBA Finals.
They played two years ago and against the Warriors. It's
the first time young didn't play well. They loaded up
on him defensively. The roster wasn't good this year. Their
roster was unbelievable, literally perfect roster only flawed to the
roster is Christosperzingis is basically held together by Scotch tape.
(32:52):
You're just hoping that he can make it through a series,
and he couldn't even make it through a series. They
still won. No, they benefit the fact that Dallas wasn't
the best team in the West. That was a step
ahead of where even Dallas thought they would be, and
so there was a talent disparity there. It was a
mismatch and it was a tough matchup when you know
you have two bigs that defend the rim and both
(33:14):
of the centers for the Boston Celtics play outside the
three point line. So some it was matchups. Some was
I mean, like, look, the Mavericks were, what were they like,
the five seed in the West, one of the top
four teams in the NBA, let alone the best team
in the West. So you play against an inferior opponent,
(33:35):
you win the series in hand in fairly handily and
for the second straight NBA finals. Jason Tatum not great,
not your best player. So we can we can go
round and round about what the number actually should have been.
But just this the way which it works, which is
(33:55):
just spitfire, which is whatever the most we can pay him.
That's how manuch we had to pay him. That's just
a weird way of doing business. I'm like a round
number guy, why don't you both pay both him and
jayaln Brown two hundred fifty million dollars and be done
with it. But the numbers are absolutely obscene, absolutely obscene.
(34:18):
Five years, three hundred and fourteen million dollars and the
last year, the fifth year of that deal, he'll make
what seventy four million dollars. Good to be the King,
although not the best player on his team in two
different NBA finals, and while a very very good score
(34:40):
and a very very good player. And by the way,
he has a camp going on right now in Vegas,
which I've heard is really good where they bring in
pro guys, college guys, high school guys, and they work
with some of the laite high school players, many of
these guys who weren't selected for USA Basketball. Like, again,
this is no knock on who he is and what
he's doing, but like, he he's not Jokic, you know,
(35:02):
he's not Luca, He's not indeed not Yiannis. Right, he's not.
He's that whatever, that next year great scorer on a
great team. We're gonna pay him seventy four million dollars
year five. Okay,
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
What Up. Welcome in. This is the Herd. Wherever you
may be and however you may be making this part
of your day. Thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlieb in
for Colin Cowherd, and for the next couple of hours,
I want to talk sports with you wherever you may
be listening. From Green Bay to Sheboygan all the way
(00:49):
to Poway, we all ot to get to the NBA
off season drama continues on Oh Yeah, by the way,
our US men's sat national soccer team lost to Day.
I just love saying I think it's so great. I
just it's an amazing word. It's an amazing annunciation or alliteration,
(01:12):
and it is one country that we actually do pronounce
it in the If you pronounce it that way, you're
actually pronouncing it in the proper way. We don't. We
don't do that for everyone. Right. We don't say France,
we say France. Right, we don't say Israel. We say Israel.
But forever reason, instead of Uruguay, we say way because
(01:35):
it sounds really cool. Unfortunately, they beat us last night
in soccer. We'll get to the age old thing that
always happens. Literally, every time soccer guy loses with the
US men's national team, the same thing happens. And again,
I know this because soccer has been sport of the
sport of the future for my entire life, and so
(01:55):
for my entire life, every time they lose, this one
thing happens. We'll get to that later on the hour,
but let's start with the news of the day continues
to be the reaction of Klay Thompson, splash brother leaving
these Splash Brothers, leaving San Francisco, leaving the Golden State
Warriors and moving on to the Dallas Mavericks. The reality
(02:19):
of it is, while the while Golden State put out
an incredible post you know about how amazing he is,
this was something that had to happen, right, You can't
have an all time great suddenly take a tertiary or
lesser role with the same franchise. He's been an all
time great. Just it's human psychology more than anything. And
(02:42):
there is the cold callous world of business with the
Golden State Warriors. Look, they left Oakland behind in the dust.
Why you can't make money in Oakland like you can
in San Francisco as a franchise, just like they now
are leaving. You know, are allowing Clay Thompson to leave
because it keeps them below the second tier. They're not
paying at tax this year. It does save them money.
(03:02):
But that I think we're burying all the leads of
or the lead of the day, with all these other
ancillary stories, right the breakup of the Splash Brothers where
Golden State is what Klay Thompson's proper expectations are, Will
they be better if he replaces Derek Jones Junior right,
who is a lockdown defender, great athlete, but not a
(03:23):
particularly good shooter with the elite shooting even if he's there,
you know, second best shooter, or you know PJ. Washington
one corner and Klay Thompson the other. Good luck guarding
Luca and guarding Kyrie Irving. It's a great plan, and
he's still a two way player. Not in the conversation
the best two way players in the league. Right He
and Kawhi were the best two way players in the
(03:45):
league along with Lebron James on some level going back
years ago. But injuries, age, that's depleted it. That's not
the story. Here's the story. He chose the Mavericks over
the Lakers. And it wasn't just that he chose the
Mavericks of the Lakers. The Lakers, by all reports, we're
willing to pay him more money now. For any other player,
(04:08):
it's a big thing to choose Kyrie and Luca over
Lebron and Ad. But for Clay Thompson, who grew up
in Orange County, who grew up with his dad as
a former Laker, a world champion with the Lakers, a
broadcaster for the Lakers, it's always been thought that if
Clay ever left, the one place he'd go would be
(04:29):
the Lakers. And you can give me the whole you know,
state income tax in California's stop it, stop it when
you got one hundred and fifty million in the bank, right,
you know, there's a reason that some of the brightest
and best. If you have money and you want to
and you want to live anywhere on Earth, the answer
(04:52):
is Manhattan Beach or Newport Beach. Right, I'm just being
honest with you. Don't believe me. There's roll down there
where Kobe lived. There's billionaires and you know what they
don't do. They don't go, you know, the Texas, They
just don't. So it's where he's gonna end up anyway.
It's where he trains anyway, So please stop with the
(05:12):
state income tax thing. He chose Kyrie and Luca, and
probably Luca then Kyrie over Lebron Anthony Davis. And do
I think old rivalries die hard? Sure? Sure, Like Chris
Paul being with the Warriors this year, like that was weird.
(05:35):
There's always been this weird thing where the Clippers were
close and then the Warriors surpassed them, and they always
hate each other. Now a sudden, you know, the king
of the Clippers of the Lob City it was Chris
Paul and now he's a Warrior. It was weird. So
maybe there's some of that, like, hey, we've never really
liked the Lakers. The Lakers dust this off last year
and now of a sudden, we don't want to join them.
But you get the same thing with a little bit
(05:57):
with the Mavericks and with Kyrie. I don't know then, Like, look,
the thing is, it's pretty obvious that Clay believes is
a better chance of winning with Dallas than there is
with la And don't you think that at least a
portion of it is if you look historically, that third
(06:19):
guy who joins Lebron James, that guy always gets pooped on.
Chris Bosh he said it as much. Kevin Love numerous
guys with the Lakers, and then you add in the
Broni factor and does it affect the team? Not really,
(06:41):
but it does show that the Lakers will do anything
in everything Lebron wants. I mean literally. They hired JJ Reddick,
that's Lebron's hand picked choice because Tylo wasn't available. They
drafted Bronnie James. They didn't need to draft Ronnie James.
You could take him as an unrestricted free agent. Undrafted
(07:03):
free agent. Nobody was drafting him. And even if we
believe the stories of Rich Paul telling other teams not
to draft him, to tell other teams not drafting that's fine.
You don't have to draft him either, and then he's
available three picks later, and then you you know, without
any picks, they have acquiesced to everything and anything Lebron wants.
(07:25):
I mean, how did Russell Westbrook work out Kevin Love Eh,
he caught all the flack when they didn't win, Chris Boss,
same thing. So you're sitting there going like, I don't
know if I want to be that guy. I don't
know if I want to be in that circus. I
don't want to go down with another aging ship because
I was just on an aging ship in Golden State,
(07:47):
Dallas over LA and not just LA, not the Clippers,
the Lakers, and not just the Lakers, the Lakers who
his dad works for, played for, he grew up watching
them win championships. If if you think that this has
(08:10):
nothing to do with the perception and maybe some of
the reality, but the perception league wide of the Lakers
and playing with Lebron, you're you're missing it. You're missing it,
you know. And and look, I think there's also a
reasonable even if you take the Lebron and how you
(08:32):
be treated as that third wheel sort of factor out
of it, there's also the you probably didn't think they're
that close, nor should he. Yes, they got to the
Western Conference finals two years ago, but Memphis was banged up.
They met, they didn't they matched up well with Golden
State Goldens. They didn't match up well with them, Right,
(08:52):
Clippers were never healthy. Go back to that year. They
weren't really competitive with with Dallas. We'd seen they're not
really on the same plane as Minnesota, and clearly Dallas
as what most people consider to be the best or
second best player in the league with Luka Danjik. Both
(09:12):
things go counter to what the Lakers want you to believe.
That people want to play with Lebron they don't, and
that they have a chance at winning a championship. Clay
clearly doesn't believe that, because the best thing Clay Thompson
can do when leaving Golden State for his legacy is
to go somewhere and win and tell Golden State, see,
(09:36):
could have won with me. So yeah, I mean, it's
very reasonable to say this is a great story, right,
that Clay chooses Dallas, and that Dallas takes yet another
step and Golden State handled it perfectly, like, hey, it's
just not going to work. I don't know if people
(09:58):
know this, but I was told that when Clay was
initially brought off the bench, and he was told this
next year he'd be brought off the bench as well.
But when he was brought off the bench, I think
it was going back earlier this year. He didn't when
Steve Kerr met with him told him he was bringing
him out the bench. He didn't talk to Steve Kerr
for a month, all right, Ian Duck, And look, it's
(10:19):
a it's a pride thing. It's an ego thing we
all have. We all have egos. We all have pride,
especially all time great players at a franchise when you're
mister Game six. But Golden State made a calculated business decision,
(10:40):
and Clay Thompson made a decision based upon who he
thinks he has a chance to win a championship with
and who he wants to play with most and neither
of those decisions led him to the LA Lakers. That's
the story coming up next in the heard. I'm Doug
gotlip feeling in for why did Clay choose the MAVs
(11:02):
over his hometown Lakers. I'm gonna ask Mark Stein, he's
really close to the MAVs. He'll tell us next in
the Hurd.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon Eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Doug GotY bin for calling. This is the Herd Fox
Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Welcome in. By the way,
that Doug Gottlieb Show airs daily, Hey three to five
Eastern time, plus we have an hour podcast. And yes,
I'm also at basketball coach at Green Bay which is
in beautiful Wisconsin, getting ready for fourth July weekend a
(11:40):
week and hope you're having a great week. I'm sure
many of you, many of you, like people around here,
head to dor County, which is the Cape Cod the Midwest,
or up to the upper Peninsula of Michigan. Little cabins,
all bout lat lakes, some ponds, some on the Big Lake. Okay,
I don't know. The more I'm in the Midwest, the
(12:01):
more it's really it's a fascinating thing. Right, Like you
saddle up to a bar and guy asked you what
you do? Like, I'm a radio host and a basketballker,
So what do you do? It's like, well, I own
such and such, Like Damn where am I kind of
an amazing thing. So yesterday was a big day on
a bunch of different levels. Right, the Paul George moved
(12:22):
to the Sixers, and that's a lot about the Clippers
and decision they made to stick with Kawhi and not
with Paul George. Some of it comes down to second
Apron and the new collective Bardon agreement and all those issues,
the Golden State Warriors allowing Klay Thompson to walk out
the door in part on some level amicably, and the
(12:43):
decision he made to shun the Lakers where his dad works.
And like, look, I don't know. I know Clay pretty well.
I know he trains in Orange County with Jordan Lawley.
Every off season, Trent, one of my players, was training
with him. I mean, like, look, Clay is a guy.
(13:04):
He actually played for my dad some in AAU basketball
So I don't know for a fact that he always
wanted to be a Laker. Like I grew up in
southern California, same area, and it was in the eighties,
and I was kind of more of a Celtics guy
than a Laker guy. But that was just because everybody
loved the Lakers. Everybody and I was a little bit
of a contrarian, duh, so I got this job. But
(13:26):
the guess is, you watch the Lakers, Kobe and Shack
and your dad being so beloved that you're probably like,
that'd be a good place to end it, and you're
dealing with Lebron Anthony Davis. But the fact that he
shunned them and they were willing to offer him more money,
I tell you all you need to know. Maybe it does.
Let's ask Mark Stein he would know. Of course, he
(13:49):
has on substack, he has the Stein Line, and then
he has this League Uncut, which is a fantastic, fantastic podcast.
Mark Joins is here in the Herd on Fox Sports Radio.
What do you think Stanny was the deciding factor that
put the MAVs over the top of the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
My sense of it is, I just think Clay deemed
this the better situation to stay in the title mix.
I think, Look, I don't want to speak for him
because I haven't spoken directly to him, but I heard
his father, Michael, who of course played for the Lakers,
played on Laker you know, he was part of the
(14:32):
Showtime era. He still does radio for the Lakers. You know,
he gave an interview this morning where he acknowledged that
he was disappointed that Play didn't choose the Lakers, And
I think you described it well. That was the team
he loved growing up in southern California and obviously a
huge Kobe fan. But I think it's important to Clay
(14:54):
Thompson after the last couple seasons. You know, he wants
to everyone that he can still be a key contributor
to a good team. And I think the MAVs sold
him on. There was a huge role for him in Dallas,
playing off of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, and I
(15:17):
just think that's really what swayed him. Now, when you
hear the talk of the Lakers were offering him more money,
you know, we're going to need to learn more and
hear more about exactly how that was going to work
and how that was going to happen, because the Lakers
would have to put trades together to make that happen,
and it's not clear, certainly not clear to me what
(15:38):
those trades would have been to be able to put
themselves in position to offer Play more. I know that's
the chatter right now, you know, I'm sure we will
hear more about it as time goes on. But you know,
I've been reporting this story since last Friday, That's when
I first heard that there was going to be strong
mutual interests between the Mavericks and Clay, and the Mavericks
(16:05):
got it done. And look, this is a franchise. The
MAVs have had just a dreadful free agent history. They
never get the guys in free agency. So to be
able to win a faiths off with the Lakers, to
get a commitment from Clay Thompson, you can imagine how
happy people are in Dallas right now, how happy MAVs
fans are so now for the Lakers, their options are
(16:29):
so limited, and they've also got a clock kicking because
you know, Lebron James Team USA camp is starting just
in a few days this weekend, and Lebron's gonna want
to have his deal done by then. He's not gonna
want to practice with Team USA and start getting ready
for the Olympics without assigned contracts. You know, there's been
(16:51):
all to talk about Lebron's willingness to take a pay cut,
but that was only if they were getting a James
Harden a Klay Thompson and now I think DeMar DeRozan
still lands in that group. And DeMar DeRozan is still
out there, but I think there is a question of
how Damar would fit. Is Damar really willing to take
(17:15):
you know, he would have to take a significant pay
cut from where he is where he's been with the
Bulls for the last few seasons. But look, Tomar Derozen
is also a Southern Californian. The options for him appear
to be somewhat limited in free agency. You know, would
he be willing to join the Lakers for a lot
less than he's been making with the Bulls. I'm not
(17:38):
so sure on that. You know, he could still opt
to maybe do a short term deal with the Bulls
and then come back to free agency next summer. But
if it's not DeRozan, really, all the Lakers can do is,
you know, try to make trade. You know, the Nets.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Obviously the Nets.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Would trade you know, just about anyone in terms of
their veterans because they're obviously now in full rebuild mode
after agreeing to the McHale Bridges trade with the Knicks.
So can you get Cam Johnson or Dori and Finney
Smith in a trade with the net, you know, those
kind of targets because the Lakers obviously still need shooting.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah, but that doesn't that that does not feel like
a championship caliber team if that's the addition that you
that you make to that roster, not.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
After what Oklahoma City has done. I mean, you know,
obviously they're happy in Dallas right now getting play and
the mass have had a pretty good start to free
agency with getting this commitment from Klay Thompson, being able
to agree to a deal with Naji Marshall to replace
Derrick Jones junior. And they're also getting Quinton Grimes and
the Tim Hardaway junior trade that will be finalized this weekend.
(18:47):
So the mass have had a nice little run here.
But I mean Oklahoma City has added Alex Caruso and
Hart signed. We're talking about two of two elite role
players to a team that was at be really good.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yeah, and and it's reasonable to think that chet Holmgren
in year two, in season two of him playing, you know,
he'll take another step. You know, Shay has already boardline
MVP caliber. Chet Holmgren takes that next step. Now you
solidified the bench. That's that's it's crazy what they've been
(19:24):
able to do.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
I'd say the only good news for the Lakers right
now is that the West is suddenly in a lot
of flucks. I mean, this past season the West, I mean,
how many times have we talked about it? Every week
I talk to you and we just talk about what
a daunting monster the West is as a conference. But Lakers, Clippers, Warriors,
even the Nuggets to a degree. Second straight offseason, the
(19:47):
Nuggets have lost a key perimeter player without compensation. First
Bruce Brown last summer. Now they lost Tavious Fallwell, Pope,
you know, they might they might bring in Russell Westbrooks,
but I mean, I don't think Russell westbrook at this point.
You you know, he's not bringing to the table all
the stuff that maybe it's called. Well, Pope is is
a two way player. So I mean that's I guess
(20:10):
the only consolation. But you can look at it the
other way too. Memphis is going to bounce back. Yeah,
Houston is so ambitious. Their young team's going to get
New Orleans. New Orleans has a lot of optionality. They're
probably going to trade Brandon Ingram and they just made
a big trade for de Jontay Murray. That we're not
really talking about because there's so much going on. And
(20:31):
then San Antonio they're going to be better. You know,
Wemby's going to take a major step and we've seen
this with Chris Paul before in Oklahoma City, that team
will between Wemby's inevitable improvements and just the steadiness know
how organizations they're going to get out of Chris Paul,
the Spurs are going to be a much tougher route
(20:52):
next season. So I guess there's two ways to look
at it. But there are a lot of established you
know again, Lakers, Clippers, Warriors.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Nugget, you didn't mention Minnesota. You didn't mention the Phoenix, right.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
I would put Phoenix in the in the in flux category.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, they're they're there with the Warriors and with the Lakers.
But again, like that, that group is a really talented,
but aging kind of group, you know, and not incomplete team,
whereas you have Minnesota in that young team Oklahoma City
on the rise group. Right, So while it may not
have the name power being on the coast the way
it was in previous years, it's still a very daunting,
(21:32):
uphill battle on a on a daily basis. Let's let's
get to the Paul George thing. What's the league's reaction
been to Paul George moving moving from west to east.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Well, look for the for the Sixers, obviously, it's a
home run. I mean from their execution, it couldn't have
gone better because a year ago, at this time, they
had to convince Tyree s Maxley, Listen, we know you
deserve a huge, huge contract extension. We're asking you to
wait and trust us, and if you give us until
(22:06):
next summer, you'll see you'll get your deal. And we're
going to put an incredible team together. And look, they
saw several roster spots they are going to have to
fill and they're gonna have to do it all pretty
much with minimums. But they pulled it off. I mean,
they got Paul George, which you know, I think is
(22:27):
just as surprising to a lot of people around the
league as the thought of Klay Thompson's leaving the Warriors.
It's a surprise on that level. You never thought the
Clippers were going. And again in both cases, I think
now when we have hindsight, the signs have been there.
I Mean, the reality is Kawhi Leonard did his extension
in January. The Clippers have had five months to get
(22:50):
a deal done with Paul George and they couldn't do it,
which tells you now how far apart they were. The
Clippers were simply and they've now said it publicly, the
Clippers were not going to to go past three years
and they were not going to give Paul George a
richer deal than they gave Kawhi. Leonard and Paul George
had the leverage and the landing spot to say, I'm
(23:10):
going to get my max deal, Philly will give it
to me. I am willing to move across the country,
which again a lot of people didn't think would happen.
A lot of people thought there's no way Paul George
is willing to leave southern California and the West Coast.
And he's He's done it. And now the Sixers have.
You know, they maxed out Maxy as they as you
(23:32):
knew they would once they did all the off season business.
And now I'm in the top of the East. It's
I mean, it's going to be so interesting with Boston
and defending champions. Philly now has emb and Maxie and
Paul George as a superstar trio, and they're putting a
lot of veterans around them to round out the depths.
And then you have the Knicks, who made their major
(23:54):
trade for Michale Bridges, and you know they're doing it
more with Guth than you know, Jalen Brunson is their
star player. But that's the top of the East, you know, Boston, Philly,
New York, fascinating race. And then what does Milwaukee do?
And where is Miami? Miami hasn't been able to muster
(24:15):
any kind of answer, So there's there's so much most
of the free agency has done, but now we're looking
at a lot of questions and how are these teams
going to resolve them?
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Well, you mentioned Miami. Where's Jimmy Butler played next year?
Speaker 4 (24:29):
I think at this point all indications are that he
will stay with the Heat. The Heat have basically said,
you know, but the messaging from Butler is that he
doesn't want to seek a trade and he just wants
to play this thing out. Now. That doesn't stop teams
from potentially inquiring if he's available. But I always kind
of thought that had Billy missed on Paul George, it
(24:52):
would have been more natural for them to turn around
and try to reacquire Jimmy Butler in a trade. But
now the Sixers don't need to do that. So Miami
with very little limited flexibility in the short term, like
I will never put anything past them because as I
always say, hey, they found a way to sign and
(25:12):
trade for Jimmy Butler with a two or three million
in cap space, and they still manage to get Jimmy Butler.
And they've had a great run with Jimmy Butler. So
they have to they have to find answers. And look,
Donovan Mitchell has been the guy that it's been widely
believed that that who Miami was going to target in
(25:33):
trade talk. But now the Cavs, after enduring months and
months and months of uncomfortable speculations, Donovan Mitchell has signed
that contract extension. So they have Donovan Mitchell now under
contract and they can put all that speculation to bed,
and you know, another presumed Miami target, at least for
(25:53):
the short term, is off the table.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Doug Allibin forcalinnis the her of fogh Or Trade to
iHeartRadio app. Mark Stein is our guest. Check out his
steinline on substack and of course this League Uncut, which
is an outstanding podcast. Okay, so then we go to Boston,
the defending champions, and Jason Tatum is the highest paid
player in the history of the league. And look, I
(26:20):
do understand how this all works, right, There's a calculation
that goes in with being being all NBA et cetera,
et cetera, and the timing of it. But we did
see him in a second straight NBA Finals not be
the best player on his team. And I get that
they want a championship, and I get that it's his time,
his time being up, but they're really gonna be the
(26:41):
highest paid player making seventy plus million dollars in the
last year of this deal.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
Well, he's only gonna have that status for one year
because this is just the state of things with the
TV money coming in and the cap raises that are forthcoming.
Next summer, Luka Doncic is going to be eligible for
US three and fifty million dollars deal, and then after that,
I think day Guildeth Alexander will be eligible for a
contract that's even richer, and it's just going to continue
(27:09):
to go like that. So yet the numbers are staggering.
We've never seen numbers like this, But like I said,
it will there will be a new someone new will
wear the crown of Rich's contract in the NBA basically
every summer going forward for their for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Steiny, You're the best man. Can't wait to listen to
the next This league un cut and of course the
substack is called the Steinline. Check it out. Mark. Thanks
for joining us in the hurt.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
You got it. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays and noon Eastern non a em Pacific.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Hey, it's Ben, host of the Fifth Hour with Ben Maller.
Would mean a lot to have you joined us on
our weekly auditory journey. Dress What in God's name is
the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's a spin off
of it. Ben Maler show a Colt hit overnights on
fs are Why should you listen? Picture if you will
a world will We chat with captains of industry in media,
sports and more every week explore some amazing facts about
(28:09):
human nature and more. Listen to the Fifth Hour with
Ben Maler or the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever
you get your podcast.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Doug Gottliebin for calling this the Herd on Fox Sports
Radio the iHeartRadio app. Welcome in. I hope you're having
yourself a great day. We got rhyme music up coming
with the news. I don't know if you saw this news, uh,
but last night, I mean, I guess who knows when
it was actually agreed to, But last night it was
announced that Jason Tatum has reached an agreement to become
(28:38):
the highest paid player in the history of the NBA
with a five year, three hundred and fourteen million dollar deal.
Five year, three hundred and fourteen million dollar deal. Should
be pointing out that the highest valued contract previously was
Jalen Brown. So the two of them, the two of
them will make a combined was it six hundred million
(29:04):
dollars combined over the next to a next contract. In
a not so shocking, not so shocking unrelated news with Grossbeck,
who is part of the ownership group that owns the Celtics,
They're like, hey, we're giving what a championship and we're
giving out new contracts and oh yeah, hey, by the way,
(29:24):
if anybody wants to buy the Celtics, there for sale
for like five or six billion dollars, right, which, look,
could we say, it's about sell high sure franchise values,
and there's only thirty of them. And the Celtics are
historically great, arguably the greatest franchise ever, inarguably one of
(29:48):
the two greatest franchises ever. So I do understand. But
what has changed between you know, two years ago and
now they won a championship? But oh yeah, these these
deals are ridiculous. But have we have we stopped to
like take our breath and go, like like when Pat
Mahomes signed his contract, there has been and will never
(30:12):
be a person's like whatever you can pay him, it's
not enough. It's just like the guy's the best, and
the guy's literally the best. You know, we do this
thing in all of sports. We're like, well, you know,
how many more Pat Mahomes? How many more years is
you have to play? He doesn't have to play another
second to be a first ballot Hall of Famer and
to be arguably or inarguably the greatest of all the time. Like, no,
(30:34):
well he's got to play. No, he doesn't like what
He's done it with great talent. He's done it with
below average wide receivers. Like talk about pulling a rabbit
out of your out of your wreck him that that's
what he did. He's amazing. So when Pat Mahomes was
the highest paid player in the history of professional football,
there's no argument. Show Heyo Tani. I don't. Even though
(30:58):
he's injured and he can't pitch, there's no real argument. Right,
even without pitching, he's still arguably the best hitter in baseball.
And it's fairly obvious to anyone who pays attention like
he brings. He he has a financial funnel that no
one else has with how popular he is internationally, especially
in Japan, showing him Tonny signs for SEVN or money
(31:20):
like I don't really know what the number is. That's enough,
you know, and so much of it's deferred, but no
one's argued Jason Tatum really uh? And how it will
be relayed? Is Utliebs hating on Jason Tatum? Okay? Or
if you name the five best players in the NBA,
(31:44):
five best players in the NBA, would anybody put Jason
Tatum on that list? And look, I could say the
same thing when Jalen Brown signed his contract. I understand
there's a timing element to it. I then you know,
it's just like Compson real estate, but Compson real estate, Like,
you're not getting above what Vinnie down the street got
(32:07):
for his house when your house isn't as nice. Yeah,
it may go up, you know, three, four or five,
ten eleven percent per year, but the reality is like
that house went for more because it's worth more. It
has more value. It's a better home, it's on a
better lot, it has a better floor plan. Like I'm
(32:30):
willing to give Jason Tatum a pass for the NBA Finals.
They played two years ago and against the Warriors. It's
the first time young didn't play well. They loaded up
on him defensively. The roster wasn't good this year. Their
roster was unbelievable, literally perfect roster only flawed to the
roster is Christosperzingis is basically held together by Scotch tape.
(32:52):
You're just hoping that he can make it through a series,
and he couldn't even make it through a series. They
still won. No, they benefit the fact that Dallas wasn't
the best team in the West. That was a step
ahead of where even Dallas thought they would be, and
so there was a talent disparity there. It was a
mismatch and it was a tough matchup when you know
you have two bigs that defend the rim and both
(33:14):
of the centers for the Boston Celtics play outside the
three point line. So some it was matchups. Some was
I mean, like, look, the Mavericks were, what were they like,
the five seed in the West, one of the top
four teams in the NBA, let alone the best team
in the West. So you play against an inferior opponent,
(33:35):
you win the series in hand in fairly handily and
for the second straight NBA finals. Jason Tatum not great,
not your best player. So we can we can go
round and round about what the number actually should have been.
But just this the way which it works, which is
(33:55):
just spitfire, which is whatever the most we can pay him.
That's how manuch we had to pay him. That's just
a weird way of doing business. I'm like a round
number guy, why don't you both pay both him and
jayaln Brown two hundred fifty million dollars and be done
with it. But the numbers are absolutely obscene, absolutely obscene.
(34:18):
Five years, three hundred and fourteen million dollars and the
last year, the fifth year of that deal, he'll make
what seventy four million dollars. Good to be the King,
although not the best player on his team in two
different NBA finals, and while a very very good score
(34:40):
and a very very good player. And by the way,
he has a camp going on right now in Vegas,
which I've heard is really good where they bring in
pro guys, college guys, high school guys, and they work
with some of the laite high school players, many of
these guys who weren't selected for USA Basketball. Like, again,
this is no knock on who he is and what
he's doing, but like, he he's not Jokic, you know,
(35:02):
he's not Luca, He's not indeed not Yiannis. Right, he's not.
He's that whatever, that next year great scorer on a
great team. We're gonna pay him seventy four million dollars
year five. Okay,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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