Live Reactions To EVERY Signing, Trade & Rumor | 2025 NBA Free Agency Special

Summary

Podcast Summary: "No Dunks" - Live Reactions To EVERY Signing, Trade & Rumor | 2025 NBA Free Agency Special

Hosted by: Tess Melis and J.D.
Release Date: June 30, 2025
Platform: The Athletic Podcast Network

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Introduction

In this special free agency episode of "No Dunks," hosts Tess Melis and J.D. dive deep into the whirlwind of NBA signings, trades, and rumors shaping the 2025 season. With approximately 20 transactions discussed, the duo provides insightful analysis, expert opinions, and engaging banter to keep fans informed and entertained.

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LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers

LeBron Re-Signs with the Lakers

The episode kicks off with the monumental news of LeBron James opting into his player option, re-signing with the Los Angeles Lakers for $52.6 million.

• Tess Melis [03:30]:
  "LeBron undoubtedly will be playing with the Los Angeles Lakers this year. There's no question."

• J.D. [05:29]:
  "We've been watching LeBron James play his NBA career for two decades now. This ain't nothing new."

Rich Paul's Statement and Potential Trade Rumors

Rich Paul released a statement emphasizing LeBron's desire to win, sparking rumors about LeBron possibly seeking a trade to another contending team. However, both hosts agree that a trade is unlikely within the current season.

• J.D. [03:31]:
  "This is LeBron applying pressure. The only way he has at this point is through the press saying, 'I want to win.'"

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Deandre Ayton's Buyout and Future with the Lakers

Ayton Buys Out with the Portland Trailblazers

Deandre Ayton has opted out of his contract with the Portland Trailblazers, leading to speculations about his next destination. The Lakers emerge as the front-runner to acquire Ayton.

• J.D. [08:41]:
  "I don't think he [Ayton] can bring the intensity, the physicality, the rebounding, the defense that you need for a Lakers team."

• Tess Melis [10:05]:
  "I think Deandre Ayton would be the guy to go to. I think LeBron has the confidence and the experience to try and elevate players to a different level."

Despite some reservations about Ayton's fit, especially concerning his defensive capabilities, the consensus leans towards him joining the Lakers to strengthen their frontcourt.

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Julius Randle's Move to the Timberwolves

Randle Signs a Three-Year, $100 Million Deal

Julius Randle has declined his player option and signed a lucrative three-year contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves, a move seen as highly beneficial for the franchise.

• J.D. [16:36]:
  "This is a great deal for the Timberwolves. They're getting Julius Randle and Dante DiVincenzo for $10 million less than they got Carl Anthony Towns."

• Tess Melis [16:36]:
  "The chemistry was a question for everybody before this season, but now they look like a different team going to the playoffs."

Randle's addition is credited with significantly enhancing the Timberwolves' performance, leading to a strong playoff push.

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Cleveland Cavaliers Acquire Lonzo Ball

Trade Details: Bulls to Cavs for Isaac Okoro

The Chicago Bulls traded Lonzo Ball to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Isaac Okoro, addressing the Cavs' need for a reliable defender and playmaker.

• J.D. [39:00]:
  "The Bulls are just racking up my least favorite players in the league, man. Giddy first and now a Coro."

• Tess Melis [41:10]:
  "Isaac Okoro is a better story for the Cleveland Cavaliers on that side of things."

This trade is viewed as a strategic move for Cleveland, potentially bolstering their defensive lineup and playmaking abilities.

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Nikhil Alexander Walker's Free Agency Speculation

Potential Landings: Hornets and Rockets in Pursuit

Nikhil Alexander Walker's free agency status has garnered significant attention, with the Charlotte Hornets and Houston Rockets among the teams showing interest.

• Tess Melis [05:29]:
  "Everyone needs to let us know in the stream team if you see anything out there."

• J.D. [28:26]:
  "They're in the mix for [Nikhil Alexander] Walker for sure."

The discussions revolve around how Walker could fit into these teams' existing rosters, emphasizing his potential impact as a guard.

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Other Notable Signings and Trades

Sam Merrill Signs with the Cavaliers

Sam Merrill has agreed to a four-year, $38 million deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers, expected to complement Donovan Mitchell's playstyle.

• Tess Melis [45:24]:
  "Sam Merrill was a great addition for Cleveland, complementing Donovan Mitchell's game perfectly."

Devin Hunter and Bulldog Players

The Lakers face decisions regarding key players like Devin Hunter and others, balancing between veteran presence and roster flexibility.

• J.D. [15:30]:
  "The Lakers really need a center, so it's about balancing veteran presence with future potential."

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CBA Implications and Future Outlook

The conversation also touches upon the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and its impact on contract structures, player movements, and team strategies moving forward. Tess and J.D. analyze how teams are navigating the salary cap, player options, and strategic signings to build competitive rosters under the new regulations.

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Concluding Thoughts

As the free agency period intensifies, "No Dunks" provides listeners with comprehensive coverage of every significant move in the NBA. Tess Melis and J.D. offer expert analysis, ensuring fans stay informed about how these transactions could shape the upcoming season.

Notable Quotes:

• Tess Melis [03:30]:
  "LeBron undoubtedly will be playing with the Los Angeles Lakers this year. There's no question."

• J.D. [05:29]:
  "We've been watching LeBron James play his NBA career for two decades now. This ain't nothing new."

• J.D. [16:36]:
  "This is a great deal for the Timberwolves. They're getting Julius Randle and Dante DiVincenzo for $10 million less than they got Carl Anthony Towns."

• Tess Melis [16:36]:
  "The chemistry was a question for everybody before this season, but now they look like a different team going to the playoffs."

---

Stay Updated: For real-time updates and live reactions to ongoing free agency moves, tune into "No Dunks" on The Athletic Podcast Network.

Transcript

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[J.D.]

Yeah.

[Tess Melis]

Welcome to no Dunks here on the Athletic Podcast Network. It's a free agency special today. Special intro special music. I'm Tess Melis. With me it's the man in the middle, Trey Kirby.

[J.D.]

Hey.

[Tess Melis]

Oh hey. Oh and of course the man making all that magic happen. He ain't a free agent today. He's not being sold as of right now. I'm still signed. Yes, that's right.

[J.D.]

Still under contract.

[Tess Melis]

It's still under contract. It's J.D.

[J.D.]

Hello?

[AllTrails Ad Voice]

Hello.

[Tess Melis]

All right, we are 27 minutes away from when players can begin negotiating.

[J.D.]

No talking until now. Keep it quiet. Everybody negotiate. Everybody even send each other opening salvos to say, hey, are you interested in maybe joining forces? They can't even possibly think to chatter behind scenes.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. So there's nothing to talk about.

[J.D.]

Way.

[Tess Melis]

So we're going to sit here for 27 minutes in silence.

[J.D.]

Yep. We're going to talk about our favorite things we did this weekend. We're going to talk about new menus at fast food places. We got a lot of things on the topic bar, but hopefully something goes.

[Tess Melis]

Down at 6pm yeah, we will keep an eye out. Make sure you let us know in the stream team if you see anything out there. But we do have fakes Please, no fakes. Please make sure you know where you're getting your stuff from. Journalism exists. We are going to have approximately 20 transactions to get to from yesterday and this morning. So let's start it off with the big guy, LeBron James, deciding, yeah, I'll take that player option, $52.6 million. And Rich Paul released a statement.

[J.D.]

Yes, he did.

[Tess Melis]

He said, hey, my man wants to win. What did you get from that statement from Rich Paul? And is there any chance that LeBron James wants out of Los Angeles and will play for another basketball team other than the Lakers this season? This season?

[J.D.]

I don't think it's happening this season. There was reporting after the news about LeBron, after Rich Paul released the statement, there's reporting that $52 million on the table. You're going to pick that up every single time. There has also been reporting from Brian Windhorst that, like this news, caught all the teams in the NBA by surprise. Nobody had a plan. And it's actually kind of hard to get LeBron to a contending team without giving away six players or something like that to equal his $52 million salary. So my takeaway was, we've been watching LeBron James play his NBA career for two decades now. This ain't nothing new. Yeah, maybe he will make a trade request at some point, but really, this is LeBron applying pressure. The only way he has at this point and the only way he really knows how to through the press saying, look, I know I'm not necessarily the focus of this team. This is a Luka Doncic Lakers team going forward. We all knew that was going to be the case at the trade deadline. Still a little weird to see LeBron not be the center of an organization, but he's still trying to assert his sort of influence that he has there. We want to still win while I'm in LA, is what LeBron is saying to Rob Pelinka and the new ownership of the Lakers. I do think it's interesting that, that the reporting over at the Athletic is that there was never any talk about additional years for LeBron after this season. So I think this could be his last season in la, but I do think he'll play for the lakers in the 25, 26 season. But look, they're going to build a team around Luka doncic. I think LeBron James still fits on that team with Luca. It's just not necessarily picking out the guys the LeBron would necessarily go for, I think.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, you. You said it all. Well, I do think that LeBron undoubtedly will be playing with the Los Angeles Lakers this year. There's no question. I don't know if it's just because there haven't been huge names that have moved the last two days that every single media outlet needs to say LeBron may go to this team or this team or this team or this team. And there are odds out there to see where LeBron would land. You can bet on it. He ain't going anywhere. I do think it is odd that yes, here we're entering year 23 and LeBron isn't the center of everything in Los Angeles basketball. So that is strange. He is going into year 23. As soon as he steps on the floor next season, he will have the all time lead in seasons played in basketball history. That's very cool. And I do, I do agree. I don't think he ends at 23. At first I thought earlier in his career he doesn't want a Jordan number to end with 23 years, but I don't think he really cares whether it's 23 or 24. I don't know about the number. You know, I don't know if interesting. Like he wears 23.

[J.D.]

23 is pretty nice. That's a LeBron number as well. Obviously it dates back prior to that. I don't know. It has always felt to me like his career would end in Los Angeles. But I guess you could make a pitch that I would believe that he could want to play one last year in Cleveland. That's literally the only other team I can think of that makes sense for LeBron as it's his hometown team. He came back after he left with Miami, won the championship there. Maybe he wants to go out as a Cleveland cavalier as well. The thing that makes that interesting is that the Cavs are like pretty close to title contention, right? And they have moves that they could do to make it happen. Whether it be like A Jared Allen, DeAndre Hunter kind of move, which kind of feels like a win win for both teams. I don't think it's going to happen, but if it were, I guess Cleveland would be the place. But I just assumed he was going to retire a Laker like a lot of the greats do.

[Tess Melis]

I still do think he will retire a Laker. Cleveland seems to be the one that fits because he's there. But he's already done that. He's already decided, I'm going to go back and he won the championship. So yes, I think this move through Rich Paul is what he's done before. This is just a pressure play. Get some guys here to help me out as much as you can. Moving on to guys that could be there to help him out. Yeah, how about deandre Ayton getting bought out by the Portland Trailblazers? Didn't see that coming. Although we have talked a lot about their draft and what they went after when they got young Hansen and decided to go big. They have decided, well we're moving on from Deandre Ayton. They couldn't trade it I suppose. That's $35.55 million contract. He has one year remaining, so there will be a buyout. Now Jake Fisher of the Steinline reported that ayton gave back $10 million. We'll find out once he clears waivers in a couple days. 5pm on Wednesday is when he can sign with somebody. Where do you think he ends up? Is he going to be a Los Angeles Laker? Cause I know the media and myself automatically think well he fits. They need somebody big. He is going to clog the lane to some degree. Anyway, we can get to the basketball part. Do you think he will be there as a 27 year old, still sort of in his prime even though he's deandre Ayton, you know he didn't have a good year.

[J.D.]

The question is what is his prime? You know when he was playing with the Suns with Chris Paul, a veteran to set him up, he had an awesome season. Of course it was a contract year as well.

[Tess Melis]

So that's a good point.

[J.D.]

This is now technically not going to be a contract year. I guess for Deandre Ayton he'll probably get like the MLE which is like $14 million. I guess he can get a part of that from the Lakers. If you're over 6 foot 10, you're getting photoshopped into a Los Angeles Lakers jersey today. There's no doubt about that. They need a big guy but man to see him bought out of a like his first real NBA contract is pretty crazy. Even with the writing on the wall there in Portland drafting centers in back to back years. Not to mention Robert Williams is still around. Dwap Reith is a guy that has had some moments for the Blazers as well. You just thought it would be a trade but the money number for Ayton was just too high for teams to really take a risk. So yeah, I guess he could be a Laker. It feels like it's coming down to him. Brooke Lopez and Clint Capella, I don't know if you have a feel for which of those three guys, you would want, I think. I don't know. I mean, I think I would go Lopez, I think he's the most impactful of those guys. But the Lakers don't need to get older and slower, I don't think. And that's what Brooke Lopez would be like. Ayton's talented. He definitely is. But if you're expecting him to come in and have an impact for the Lakers team and take them to title contention, that ain't happening.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

So I don't know. What do you think? Capella, Ayton or Lopez for the Lakers?

[Tess Melis]

They're rumored to be after all three, but I think deandre Ayton would be the guy to go to. I think LeBron has the confidence and. And the experience to try and elevate players to a different level. We've seen it with like a JR Smith or for talking centers. He did a great job with Tristan Thompson once upon a time. Now, DeAndre ain't a different type of player, but as Tristan Thompson would say, just star in your role and we'll see if deandre Ayton can do that. You mentioned he has last good year. It was a contract year. This was going to emulate that. It will be a contract year. He'll have beds to sleep in. Unlike what he said at the beginning of last year where he went to Portland and there was a bad scenario where. Yeah, he was literally sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Right. Or something.

[J.D.]

Yeah, he did. He couldn't get his bed immediately from Phoenix or something like that. So maybe he was like, I'm a cot.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. Yeah. So he did have a bad season. I mean, reading these reports today from the Athletics, Jason Quick, who's been around the Blazers forever, on the court, he was sometimes benched because of effort, which led to sideline and locker room tantrums. And off the court, he was fined multiple times for being tardy to practices. Like me being tardy now. But Jason goes on to say deandre Ayton was a joy around the team. So I don't know. I would just say LeBron probably thinks I can get the most out of this guy. I'm guessing.

[J.D.]

I'm sure that would be the case. He has the most potential upside still. I mean, you said he's 27 years old. The guy was a number one draft draft with Luka Doncic, 2018.

[Tess Melis]

Right.

[J.D.]

Funnily enough, I don't actually think the things that Ayton is good at is what the Lakers need from a center. The Lakers need a rim runner, they need a rim protector. Ayton's not terrible on defense. Like he can block shots, he can move his feet on the perimeter. But in a pick and roll, he wants to stay at the 15 foot at the free throw line and take a 15 footer for sure. You know, he's Mr. Never take a free throw. It took less than two free throw attempts I think per game last year. At 7ft tall, he doesn't bring the intensity, the physicality, the rebounding, the defense that you need for a Lakers team. Like the ideal center next to Luka Doncic specifically is a guy like Daniel Gafford or Derek Lively who's going to set a screen, roll to the rim hard and have verticality for alley. Oops. Ayton's not that kind of an athlete. He's more of a smooth, finesse guy. So I don't think he's the perfect fit. But when you're talking about mle sort of centers, none of these guys are a perfect fit. Like young Clint Capella would be awesome. Yes, for the Lakers, if it was Houston Rockets Clint Capell, that'd be great. But if they're getting post Atlanta Hawks Clint Capella, it's not the same.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, or Brooke, as you mentioned, just a little too slow on the defensive end now, can block some shots and he's doing that last year. But we could see with the Milwaukee Bucks just lack some athleticism. So it would be an odd signing, I do believe. Just a note on the Blazers who moved on from deandre Ayton. They're going with Donovan Clingan to start and young Hansen who was drafted last week will play next year. Chauncey Billups saying he will play. It doesn't matter. This is, this is me ad libbing here. Phillips didn't say that, but he said he doesn't care if Quindery Weatherspoon and Jordan Mickey were playing more than him on his Chinese basketball team last year. It doesn't matter. John Hollinger noted that he went in. Why? John Hollinger noted that Weatherspoon and Jordan Mickey Quindery Weatherspoon and Jordan Mickey were playing more than him. So I just want to mention those.

[J.D.]

I do remember both of those guys.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

Nice.

[Tess Melis]

Good name.

[J.D.]

Jordan Mickey I hadn't thought about for a long.

[Tess Melis]

No, sir. Yep, he's in China all right. Moving to one other guy with the Los Angeles Lakers who probably won't be there next year. He was there this year. They went and traded a decent amount for him. And d' Angelo Russell picks Maxwell Lewis. But they did try and go get him. Now the Lakers are probably going to lose him. They're bracing for him to be gone. According to our Dan Wokey, now He declined his 15.3 player option, 15.3 million player option. He's becoming an unrestricted free agent. The Rockets are rumored to want him real bad. What do you make of this, Trey?

[J.D.]

Yeah, the Lakers were in a tough spot. It was basically keep Dorian Finney Smith on this nice contract. Like that's a pretty team friendly deal. They did give up some assets to get them. I thought he was super helpful the second half of the season after the Luka Doncic trade specifically with the Lakers seemed to figure out their defense at least in the regular season. And a big part of that was DFS being able to guard small guys a lot more effectively than I thought he would and then also being kind of like a small ball center. But the Lakers really need a center. So it came down to do we keep him as a big part of our wing rotation but still just a part of our wing rotation or do we get a center who we can realistically go forward with? The Lakers kind of had to get a center. I think Jared Vanderbilt coming back late in the season is good for the Lakers because he'll theoretically take some more of these minutes that DFS has given up. They drafted Terrio Thero in the second round, so supposedly he could get a chance as well.

[Tess Melis]

Gotta kiss that rim.

[J.D.]

Gotta kiss the rim at the very least. So it was just a. Once he opted out of the deal and he saw four years is allegedly what he's gonna be getting from Houston. Like you gotta take that. Dorian Finney Smith, an older player. I think he's like 32, 33. So they'll be paying him for quite some time. I don't think you want to pay him necessarily for four years at the end, but that makes more sense for a team like the Rockets rather than the Lakers who just needed. Really needed a big guy.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, the Rockets going hard. I didn't see that matchup. The, the, the match, the chemistry or, or just them going after Dorian Finney Smith considering how many wing defenders they have. They're doing that. Reportedly going after Nikhil Alexander Walker a little bit as well. We'll get to that a little bit later. But yes, I thought that Luca and Dorian Finney Smith who were buddies, he would just. He would stick around there. But yeah, looks to be gone security again. Yeah, probably. Probably a Rocket deal to be had There as we get closer to 6pm when the negotiations can officially begin. Nothing has happened since we've started.

[J.D.]

Nothing.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, nothing new. So let's keep on going with signings that have happened. Julius Randle declared his player option and he signed a three year, hundred million dollar deal with the Timberwolves. We all wondered whether this would happen after the season, whether he would not just sign that player option, but this season just worked out so perfectly for Julius Reynolds, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Trey, what do you make of this deal?

[J.D.]

I think this is a great deal for the Timberwolves specifically. I think if you could go back in time to when the Carl Anthony Towns Randall trade happened, if the the Knicks knew that Randall was going to be signing a three year, hundred million dollars deal, maybe they don't do the trade for Carl Anthony Towns because this is kind of a steal, I think for the Timberwolves with how well Randle fit in alongside ant Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Gobert specifically in the starting lineup. He played his best team ball. I thought Randall did this season. He was a big part of their streak to end the regular season where they go 265 into the playoffs. Once Randle came back, he was great the first two rounds. Took it to LeBron, took it to Draymond, and then like a lot of teams, he got thundered for her for sure, which, you know, is definitely a concern. There's a team you're chasing and it's the team that your guy you just signed played the worst against. But I think this is so nice for Minnesota because they're getting Julius Randle and they're getting Dante DiVincenzo for $10 million less than they get Karl Anthony Towns. I'm assuming Randle will have a similar impact for the Timberwolves next season, but if he starts to show his warts, they don't like the fit. This is still a pretty movable salary, $33 million average annual value. That's kind of just starter money at this point in the NBA, especially A plus starter like Julius Randle. So I think this worked out for everybody. Him coming and playing so well, kind of thrown into the fire in Minnesota. The trade was like the day before training. Took him a little bit to really get settled, but once he did, the Timberwolves took off.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, that March, as you said, was awesome. They ended the season 17 and four after he came back missing February. Here he comes in March and they look like a different team going to the playoffs. And they rolled and it's A good point about him being dealt just before training camp. Unlike this season, they go into next season after a conference finals appearance and they have all that camaraderie. They've got everybody and Randle just loves it. He's going to be in Minnesota this summer. He said, well, quote. So it was cool, man. I, I enjoyed it and I'll probably spend my summer there. Okay. So, you know, I'm assuming that probably means he'll be there, but the chemistry was a question for everybody before this season. You trade Carl Anthony Towns and it works out for them to go to a conference finals, it's phenomenal for them. Now, again, the player that they won't have the camaraderie with, probably Nikhil Alexander Walker. Hawks are rumored to want Nikhil Alexander Walker would have to be a sign and trade there. The Rockets also want Nikhil Alexander Walker. So they're going to rely a lot on their young guards, Rob Dillingham, Taran Shannon and just Anthony Edwards taking an even bigger step. So there is that lack. We saw them in the postseason where Mike Conley just couldn't be the old Mike Conley. And so they do need help at the guard spot. Nikhil Alexander Walker, you know, he helped out there, but they're just hoping, I think on Dillingham, Shannon and Anthony Edwards to be those, those slasher types that Mike Conley was not this past season.

[J.D.]

Totally. They traded a future first round pick unprotected to be able to draft Rob Dillingham. So I think he's the guy that they're really having their eyes on to step forward with Nikhil Alexander Walker having to go somewhere else. Dillingham wasn't as good as Terence Shannon Jr. Was their rookie year. I think Terence Shannon Jr. Is somehow older than Anthony Edwards though, just because of how long he stayed in college. So able to have more of an instant impact. But I think both of those guys will get opportunity. With Nikhil Alexander Walker kind of being forced to move on here, the Timberwolves are basically going to have to choose right between their three free agents. They had Randall coming up on free agency, they had Nas Reid coming up on free agency, and they had nah coming up on free agency. They chose the two big guys, which I guess kind of fits the ethos of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Built around a big guy and Rudy Gobert, and they used to be built around two of them with Karl Anthony Towns, but still like a bruiser type of matchup. So I think, you know, nods makes a little bit more sense over Nikhil Alexander Walker. But not a surprise. As soon as that deal went through, it was like, all right, this guy becomes the most highly sought after free agent in Nikhil Alexander Walker. So, yeah, we'll see what Dillingham has. That dude looks so skinny his rookie year. He's got a great handle. He can get to his shot. I think at the very least, we'll see what he turns into as a player. But definitely the Timberwolves are looking for him to kind of make up the slack for Mike Conley taking a step back. And then now that they're losing their second point guard in Tokyo, Alexander Walker, there's a lot of responsibility for Dillingham.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, he showed good flashes last year, showing that handle. As you mentioned, he has that confidence. He's got. He's a kid, but he's. He shows it feels like he's older because he's confident out there when he plays and so does this guy. This guy feels confident. Nas Reed, what a story he's become. Now signing a five year, $125 million deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves, declining a $15 million player option and getting and being. Becoming able to sign a monster. It feels, it feels really big. Looking at it, we'll get to Jabari Smith signing a similar deal with the Houston Rockets, maybe because it's five years. So the number, just the total number is bigger, but really it's 25 per year. Trade doesn't seem like. It doesn't seem like a problem in today's NBA. It shouldn't be an issue. Now, Naz Reed is the question whether he can start or play, come off the bench. But it doesn't seem like a lot.

[J.D.]

25 million is not a lot right now, which is pretty weird because when I look at it, I do kind of think this is a lot of money for a guy who's going to be coming off the bench. He can't start. He can start in an emergency. Like Randall missed time last year, no problem. Naz Reed stuck up in the end of the lineup. If Gobert misses time, he can step in and be the center. But if he's your starting center, then you're in. It's a problem because really he's like a 6 foot 8 guard. He's got crazy handles, shoots threes. He gets matched up with big guys because that's how things play out. But I don't know. Still a lot of money, but he's also a part of the core. Like, I think when you're looking at the Young core of the Timberwolves. It's Edwards first, it's McDaniel second, and then it's probably Nas Reed third, partially because he's such a huge cultural icon for the Timberwolves, but also they need his three point shooting. They need his creation. He's one of the guys on the Timberwolves at this point that can go and get his own shot, just like Edwards can, just like Randall can. He's maybe number three on that list. The only unfortunate thing is that it costs him Nikhil Alexander Walker. But that's what the second apron was designed to do, make teams make tough choices on their role players for the most part. So, yeah, five years, 125 million, they're getting him through the prime of his career. Everybody who got a Nas Reed tattoo has to be very happy about this because if you're getting seven years out of that tattoo, that's awesome for a guy who's a sixth man.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, that dude made the minimum for four years out of lsu. Then he signed two years and a player option, but then they just scrapped that last year of the option, and now he's getting paid five years and $125 million. So he could be there for 11 years of his career. If he's there the entire time. And like you said, he's a cultural icon, it's nice to keep him around. You know, you're. You're Naz Reed, your hello, goodbye greeting. You see people you know on the street. It's pretty cool to be part of it. And the question is, as you said, there's a new cba, new second neighbor, and you got to say goodbye to somebody. It's Nikhil Alexander Walker. But they did pay a lot. Tim Connolly did pay a lot for Rob Dillingham last year to get there. And so he's got to be the guy. Even though he's super young to take that next step.

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[Tess Melis]

Get to a guy who had a similar contract Jabari smith Surprise people. Five years, $122 million considering everything else that they had going on and considering that Jabari Smith similar to Nas Reed in that he was a starter and went to the bench, but Naz Reed was just the bench guy. Jabari Smith did start the season as a starter on their team. And you mentioned last week when we were talking about Kevin Durant, you think Jabari Smith was will be part of their five starting with Fred, Kevin Durant, Amen Thompson, Alpern Chengun, and then this guy Jabari Smith.

[J.D.]

I have to imagine he's going to be. I don't know who who's technically the three and who's the four when it's Kevin Durant starting alongside him, but that makes sense to me. I think Nas Reed is currently worth $25 million per year. I don't know if Jabari Smith is, but I think he can work his way there. And I think the fact that he's part of this core of the Rockets is huge. Outside of Tar Eason, basically the they're all locked up. He is going to be a starter again. I thought he was pretty good in the playoffs. Then I go back and look at his game logs. He's scoring like 10 points a game, but like it felt like a nice 10 points. I don't know that he can take a Nas Reed like step and be a ball handler, get his own baskets. But he's got Sengun as a playmaker. He's got Fred Van Vliet as a playmaker. Thompson's a pretty good passer. Kevin Durant will have a lot of gravity in the starting lineup, which makes things easier for Jabari Smith. So I think with the current CBA it makes sense to pay your own guys. This is what he's worth at the high end of his value, I think for Jabari Smith. But he does still have a lot of upside as a young guy who kind of impressed in the playoffs. At the very least, I think you would say he's not scared come playoff time. So I think this is good. We're just going to have to see if he has anything more to his game rather than being a versatile defender and a guy who pops threes from the corner.

[Tess Melis]

Yes, he, he was skillful. There's no doubt missed some time with an injury. And we basically mentioned a bunch of the guys that are going to be a part of the rotation. They obviously made a deal with Fred Van Vliet to lower his income, his salary next year. They also signed Jayshawn Tate, Aaron Holiday, Jeff Green, all those guys back. So feels like they're rolling the same core back obviously without Jaylon Jalen Green, but that's what they got going forward. And they have access to their non tax mid level exception which is 14.1 mil which they're using to go after guys that we mentioned like, you know, your Nikhil Alexander, Walkers or somebody.

[J.D.]

Infinity Smith. They're in the mix for. For sure.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

Which I think he would be helpful for them just as a more veteran guy. They'll still need a like somebody that handles the ball outside of Fred Van Fleet, I do believe. I mean Thompson's a decent ball handler. I don't know if he's necessarily a playoff ball handler at all times, but I think that's another area for them to address. But the Rockets are absolutely cooking to start off the off season here. I mean we're one week in and they've done the Kevin Durant trade, which is great. They locked up their own free agent in Fred, in Fred. They brought back all of their veteran guys like Jason Tate is a decent dude to have on a minimum. People like having Jeff Green, Green around. It's cool to see him and Kevin Durant reunited after being teammates on the Sonics back in the day. So I think the Rockets have had an awesome eight days of the off season here. So we'll see how it turns out come playoff time, come regular season time even. But I do like what the Rockets have going on.

[Tess Melis]

Yes. Tari Eason elevated to more minutes as far as ball handlers go. You're right, they do need more. Cam Whitmore will be there. It seems like Reed shepherd is going to get more of a push next season as well, so there are definitely options on that team. They are only getting stronger and stronger. Looking forward to watching them.

[J.D.]

I was hearing Cam Whitmore might be a Chicago Ball task. There was some Cam Whitmore news. They're like if Anybody can score 20 points per game, we are interested. Polls are saying right now someone who can score.

[Tess Melis]

Please come on. Reed shepherd can drop it too. Trade for him.

[J.D.]

They ain't giving him up. Unfortunately.

[Tess Melis]

No they're not.

[J.D.]

One minute remains.

[Tess Melis]

One minute.

[J.D.]

Who will be signed? Do you think Shams has a bunch of like tweets scheduled to go out? Specifically 601 Eastern schedulers sitting in the drafts?

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. So yeah. Adam Silver says you can't send that at 5:59.

[J.D.]

Don't even think about it.

[Tess Melis]

It's a rule. Should we wait here? Nah, let's.

[J.D.]

Let's get one more in here.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, we can fire this one off. James Harden declined 36.3 million and said I'll sign a longer deal. Two years 81. Is that, is that a big chunk? I see your eyes opening up at seller.

[J.D.]

Two years, $81 million. I haven't done the math yet to go back and see if he netted out ahead from when Daryl Morey allegedly lied to him and told him he was going to give him the max contract and then never did. Harden just signs a deal every year. Somehow it seems he signs these two year deals. There's always an option on the second one and then he outplays the deal by enough to get a little bit of a raise. So I'm excited. Just another two years of. Do you believe in the Clippers? Because this lines up with Kawhi Leonard's contract perfectly through the end of the 2027 season. So they got this year, they got next year. Harden at this point in his career, always good in the regular season. He was All NBA this last year. He always plays playing over 70 plus games regularly including last season. That's beneficial to the Clippers and he always makes the playoffs. His team has never missed throughout his career. Clippers still have access to their non tax mid level exception. They still got needs. I think they need a backup ball handler. Chris Dunn is a good backup guard is Norm Powell. But they need somebody else who can get them into their offense I think and another big guy behind Zubots I think would be helpful for this team because the Clippers finally got their health right task. They had all their guys ready in the first round of the playoffs and they went home after seven games. It was against the Nuggets who looked good at times in the playoffs and some of that was, you know, some last second stuff by Denver, but still I think a disappointing end to the year for the Clippers. So they can't just run back the team exactly how it was last year because clearly it wasn't good enough.

[Tess Melis]

It was not. They have that $14 million, as you said. That should be for an additional ball handler. Now there's the old guys that are still around, although I think d' Angelo Russell was just taken off the book. Now, it's not official yet, so I shouldn't say it, but it seems like Dangel Russell is signing somewhere else. We'll get to that a little bit later, I'm sure, but there's some oldies.

[J.D.]

Okay.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, you know, the old guards. There's a Chris Paul out there.

[J.D.]

Back to the Clippers.

[Tess Melis]

Back to the Clippers. One more time. They were close. I thought they were going to beat the Denver Nuggets after watching them take a 21 lead there. Obviously did not happen. They need. They need a ball handler. It's basically the same team without Ben Simmons. Miracofee, I think, is gone. Patty Mills was around. He may be gone, but they need it. They need a ball handler off the bench. So it's got to be. It's got to be one of those old guys. It feels like Malcolm Brogdon, also available for. For that kind of thing, has problems staying on the floor, but that's about it. I think that's where they'll end up. The same team, basically, with one more same team.

[J.D.]

I mean, when you bring back harden for a $40 million a year contract, you already got Kawhi signed, that's your team just tinkering around the edges. I like the name of their rookie, Yannick Conan Niederhauser. I don't know how big of a help he's going to be behind Zubots, but it looks like he plays a similar style. Just a giant dude who can run and dunk, which is good. So, yeah, the Clippers, they're going to be the team we try and talk ourselves into once again. As long as they're healthy, they got a chance. That's the Clippers motto right now.

[Tess Melis]

Need a house of. I don't know. It's just a fun name to say a few times. All right, moving on here. You want to get to some trades? We had some trades.

[J.D.]

You're telling me we got ourselves a trade?

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. I didn't know if I was gonna ask you for a Southern lawyer, because these are teeny tiny.

[J.D.]

Well, for you, teeny tiny for you. This is life and death for me, Tess.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. Well, do you want to start with the death or the life or which one?

[J.D.]

I don't know that I'm finding a lot of life. The Bulls trading Lonzo Ball.

[Tess Melis]

Let's start with the Jazz one. The Jazz trading Colin Sex into the Hornets for Yusuf Nurkic. I was shocked.

[J.D.]

It's a weird one.

[Tess Melis]

I was shocked that the Utah Jazz would want Yusuf Nurkic on their team. I can understand why they'd want to move on from Colin Sexton being who they have now with Ace Bailey, all their young guys at the guard spot. But they're also pretty loaded up front. So I understand why you want to get off Colin Sexton, but what do you make of Colin Sexton for Yusuf Nurkic? The Jazz also throwing in a second rounder to the Charlotte Hornets.

[J.D.]

The Jazz drafted a guard during the draft. We said this kind of signals that Austin an doesn't care about anybody that's already on the roster. Anybody can be traded and that includes Colin Sexton. But from the Hornets perspective, you got to have a Lamelo backup, somebody that can handle the ball when he goes down with an injury, which has been the case the past couple of seasons. I think the the Hornets last year were 29th in offense for the season and only 21st with LaMelo on the court. So a lot of improvement to be had. Sexton can put up numbers at the very least. I do kind of think the better his individual season, the worst the team season is is kind of how things have gone throughout his career. Obviously a team didn't really want to trade anything for him. So getting off use of Nurkic I think is good for the Hornets as well. He plays hard, Sexton does, which I think is good for a Hornets team that needs a little bit of veteranship. But this is weird trade. Like I don't know why the Jazz wanted Nurkic. There's not any takers for Colin Sexton so they have to pay up a pick to get off him. So that makes sense to me. But just. Just weird.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, Colin Sexton, efficient. Couple years here with Utah, it kind of flies under the radar. He was good. He is a bucket getter. There are going to be lots of games where Lamelo ball just doesn't play. That's just the way it goes. So he is going to be effective. He is going to help out. I'm starting to get excited. It's almost that time of year you're.

[J.D.]

Getting excited about the Hornets. Yeah, because they got Colin Sexton.

[Tess Melis]

It's a sickness, man. Not only. Not only gone Sexton, I was there last year. I picked you Over. I thought those braces that he was wearing on his ankles for the first time in his career would help him stay on the floor. That obviously didn't happen, but I'm starting to get excited just for him. Brandon Miller, Colin Sexton and their center. They've got a center and that's the most exciting thing that was easy to get off Yusuf Nurkic because I think their number 34 pick that could have gone in the first round, Ryan Calc Brenner, a Creighton blue jay who's a five year center, five year college player. He's 23, so he's old but he's a great shot blocker and finisher. He's the NABC defensive player of the year this year. He gets after it.

[J.D.]

He wanted the nabc.

[Tess Melis]

He won the nabc. He gets after. Plus your con can nipple. I mean it's easy to get excited with a bunch of names, but at least I think after watching them last year they didn't want to play defense and their offense was even worse. They were 29th in offense last year. So who. I think all Sexton can score, but I'm more excited about the defensive end in all honesty. Excited.

[J.D.]

So you think the defense will be better because they got Colin Sexton?

[Tess Melis]

No.

[J.D.]

You know the defense will be better because they drafted a rookie center in the second round.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, they have no. I know, I know it's a second round pick but they, they've got, they had no passion last year.

[J.D.]

That's true.

[Tess Melis]

I do think Charles Lee and they know where they're going. You draft the NABC defensive player of the year, they know which direction they're going. It ain't going to be too high because it's unlikely that Lamello ball is going to play again. Is it? It's an odd mishmash of guys. There's no doubt.

[J.D.]

So this team stinks. They're going to be bad this season and they're going to be one of the worst defensive teams in the league if their best defensive player is a starting center who's a rookie.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, but they're going to be terrible. Yeah, but they're. Well, it's him and Moussa Diabate. But last year they were bad too. Yeah.

[J.D.]

Yeah, that's also true.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, and they had a guy hasn't.

[J.D.]

Been a good center to play for the Hornets since Alonzo Morning.

[Tess Melis]

Probably it's been a minute, but it is weird to see that they're. They're 24th in defense and 29th in offense. You think that they're would be decent with Lamello Ball on their team. But obviously he does.

[J.D.]

Holly does this shoot.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, he does do that.

[J.D.]

There's a cool pass every now and then. They're fun to watch.

[Tess Melis]

Colin Sexton is going to be a solid player for them, full stop. Okay.

[J.D.]

Yeah. We have different opinions, but I will say Kyle the the Hornets were at least a respectable team when they had Terry Rosier hitting clutch shots and scoring 20 a game. So that's what they're looking for. Colin Sexton, come take up some possessions and don't be a knucklehead.

[Tess Melis]

All right, moving on to your your trade. This is yours. This is for you. The Bulls traded Lonzo Ball to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Isaac Coro.

[J.D.]

The Bulls are just racking up my least favorite players in the league, man. Giddy first and now a Coro. This is wild stuff. I don't obviously the Bulls lost this trade. They lose every single one of their trade. But if you're spinning it the right way, alonzo Ball played 35 games in three years. However, the Bulls got the worst player on the longer contract and didn't get a pick back. Once again, you never see one for one deals happen in the NBA. Of the last four, two of them are the Bulls. They did the Caruso for Giddy deal last season. It seems to me Arturis Kanishevas gets on the phone and says, hey, you want to do a trade? The other team says, sure, assuming there's going to be additional negotiating back and forth on the accompanying pieces. And there's never accompanying pieces. It's just the deal straight up one for one for Isaac Okoro. So I don't know. I think this is good for the Cavs. When Lonzo plays, he's a really good player. He moves the ball, he pushes the pace, he makes plays defensively, he shoots threes. He's a really helpful player, even if he's not able to play 20 minutes a game or probably more than 50 games in a season. He has cadaver knees, literally. Ligaments from a dead person were put into his knee because he didn't have his own ligaments and cartilage left. Crazy stuff.

[Tess Melis]

But it worked.

[J.D.]

It got him back on the court. It was a great story for Chicago last season and a lot of people are comparing this to the Thunder trade. Like, is this the move that puts the Cavs over the top, adding a guy who plays on both ends of the ball? Whereas last season they had tied Jerome awesome offensive player didn't really bring on the defensive end. And Okoro is a good defender. No score on the other side of things, though. So I think a good get here for the Cavs to roll the dice a little bit with Lonzo. His reliability is a huge question mark. But they know where they stood with a Coro. He has decent regular seasons and then isn't really a part of the team come playoff time.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, it'll work out well for them because they have so many small four as so many wings to replace Isaac Coro. They've got enough guys.

[J.D.]

They got guys.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. To play defense. I will say though, it's an upgrade for the Bulls on the wing.

[J.D.]

I mean, over who?

[Tess Melis]

Over a Pat Williams.

[J.D.]

He's no different.

[Tess Melis]

He's going to play hard. He's going to. He's going to defend better than Pat and shoot a three when he's asked, but he's not a score. Oh, you're right. I mean, he'll hit a few threes. I.

[J.D.]

It's not much better than Dale and Terry and Julian Phillips, I'll give you that much.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. Yeah.

[J.D.]

Is he better than Patrick Williams? I don't know. They both stink. Put them together and they don't average 20 points a game.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, it is. Yeah. He's not a scorer. I guess this is basically saying, Josh Giddey, you're coming back to shoot all you want. Okara, you got to defend, shoot some threes. But this is a better story for the Cleveland Cavaliers on that side of things. You're right. Will he play? Big question. But I think he will start. Even now with Darius Garland likely out to start the season. That toe surgery that he's had keeping him out four to five months so he'll get those reps. He's a Kenny Atkinson type of player. Like you said, he moves the ball, he's going to defend. Ty Jerome likely gone with the Cleveland Cavaliers because somebody's going to offer him a decent amount and this is a good fit for them now with a three guard sort of rotation of him, Darius Scarlet when he gets back and Donovan Mitchell. So looking forward to seeing what he can do if he plays. You know, there's comparisons out there of Sean Livingston later in his career where Livingston got hurt wasn't the same athletically whatsoever, but he can still ball, he can still play and still contribute. So he could contribute off the bench to a team in the Cleveland Cavaliers that are clearly going for it these next couple years here where they got to pay everybody. They're a second apron team. They see that weakness in The Eastern Conference and they're going for it. So fun from that perspective.

[J.D.]

Yeah, I think it's good. Like, I think for sure player to player, Lonzo is an upgrade over a Coro. And I personally think Lonzo is an upgrade over Ty Jerome. The question is, how many games is Lonzo going to give you? He missed almost three full seasons for Chicago, but that is very similar to Sean Livingston. Like he was out of the league for a while. It was kind of a miracle that he even got back on the court. Next thing you know, he's sticking mid range jumpers for the warriors in the final. So I love this for Cleveland. And just like I was happy to see Caruso playing for a team that's actually playing meaningful basketball, it'll be cool to see Londo playing in games that actually matter as well.

[Tess Melis]

That's this.

[J.D.]

Yeah, I'm happy. And look, look, I'll get excited when Isaac Okoro is running the break with Josh Giddey. Okoro on one side, Giddey bringing the ball up the middle, Boozelis on the left wing, Noah Essenge bringing up the rear. And then my Guy Vuce just hanging back to pop a three from the top of the key. I love what they are building in Chicago. It's perfect task. That's perfect.

[Tess Melis]

Well, I would say Josh Hart isn't happy. That's, that's just a random. Okay, but Josh Hart. Josh Hart tweeted, It's 601 and I ain't seen one deal. What happened to the game?

[J.D.]

Where are the deals at?

[Tess Melis]

What happened to the game? I love. And yeah, we're here 613 Eastern. Still no deals.

[J.D.]

I'm doing shift refreshes here, just seeing if I need to clear my cookies to make sure I'm getting the proper pages. We got no deals and we're 13 minutes in.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. Surprising.

[J.D.]

C.J. mcCollum. What did you do to us?

[Tess Melis]

It looks like this isn't official quite yet, but it looks like Daniel Russell will be going to the Dallas Mavericks. Not official. Not official, but there's that. And we still got a bunch of deals to get through here. And when we see a bunch of deals happen overnight here Monday night, we'll be back Tuesday morning July 1st to talk about all those that happened. That being said, let's get back to the ones that we can fly through a few of these here. Sam Merrill.

[J.D.]

Yeah.

[Tess Melis]

Signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Get him out there. Four years, $38 million. And that's what definitely makes it clear. Ty drawing come back if you're going to sign Sam Merrill for 4 for 38. Now. He's a great buddy for Donovan Mitchell. Talking about getting on the fly with the Chicago Bulls. Donovan Mitchell loves to get on the fly. The casual have to get on the fly and find Sam merrill for some Js. And he will hit those things. I mean, he, he works on the defensive end too. He seems like a guy in their rotation that they really, really like. And it makes sense if you can.

[J.D.]

Shoot 40% from three and not be a liability against benches defensively, you can make $10 million per season in the NBA right now. Sam Merrill, I'm kind of shocked to see this. 29 years old at this point. I guess he had a later start after doing some Mormon missionary work. But yeah, he can hang on defense, which means you can get him on the court offensively. And the guy just chucks threes. He shoots it every single time he gets it. Which, you know, sometimes sounds like you're calling a guy a ball hog. But that's why LeBron loved playing with J.R. smith. A guy that has the confidence to take a three pointer even when he's not open, I think is huge. And that's a big part of the reason the Cavs had such an awesome season, is that everybody was empowered to be a threat offensively, including Sam Merrill. So, yeah, keep him around, let him chuck his three pointers up. Still a tradable deal going forward. Having these little like $8 to $12 million contracts are going to be big for trading in the new CBA environment. And we just saw between the Thunder and the Pacers, you want to have eight guys that can play on your team in the playoffs. And I think Merrill was at least sturdy enough in the playoffs to bring him back for Cleveland.

[Tess Melis]

But you're right about the numbers wise. They traded George Niang as part of a deal in that sort of, that sort of sphere of dollar figures. And they were able to get DeAndre Hunter because of it last year. So if they need to get somebody, they got the contracts to get it. Moving on, quick one. Davion Mitchell signing with the Miami Heat for two years and $24 million. Now that guy came out to play in the. Play in tournament, in the playoffs. That guy was just banging shots. Yep. Coming off the bench, seems like he's a big game type of performer, you know, based on.

[J.D.]

Based on playing in the first round of the playoffs and getting swept in an 81 series.

[Tess Melis]

Well, and two straight play in tournament.

[J.D.]

Wins lift the Bulls up in the play in tournament that's absolutely true.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. And he was efficient and yeah, he's got gets after defensively. He's coming off the wrench. That's. That's for sure. But two years, 24. I don't know. I thought that was high initially, but.

[J.D.]

For deal nowadays, yeah, it's the deal.

[Tess Melis]

If you're going to be their backup point guard, which feels like that's the Miami Heat now he's the, he is a Heat type of player. Maybe they bring back those City Edition jerseys to say, you know, that's us.

[J.D.]

Man, that's us, man. Yeah, I guess I think he's a bench player for the Heat, but I could see him starting the mix with Hero. Kind of makes sense as Mitchell is a defense first player and Hero is offense first. So I think good money for Davion Mitchell. This is the most he's made per season in his NBA career. 12 million Average annual value. Good deal for the Heat. Like I just said, these eight to $12 million contracts are good to have around as tradable Legos going forward. And I think with the way he signed everything this summer, if somebody or if the Heat are still able to get into a deal, I mean, Giannis isn't really coming available, but you know, theoretically, if there was a deal out there for somebody to be made and they wanted Mitchell, they can put him in there as well. Now it's just on him to prove that his improvements that he showed shooting the ball for Miami are real. Because he didn't shoot the ball incredibly well for the Raptors or the Kings earlier in its career, but really took off like you're saying for Miami there after the trade. So as long as he shoots it well, he'll easily be worth $12 million because he brings it on the defensive end.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. The Miami Heat also having Duncan Robinson opt out of his nearly $20 million contract for next season, which is something I was surprised to see it. He supposedly wants a longer deal, but I mentioned that because this leaves them all the room to trade for Yanis Denegampo if it happens. And the $12 million initially kept them below the first apron, which ensures their hands aren't tied if, if, if there's a Greek superstar who is available. Our man John Hollinger pointing that out. Also everyone pointing out that Jaren Jackson Jr. Just signed a monster big boy with The Memphis Grizzlies. 240 million dollars over five years. 240 million maximum renegotiation and extension deal. As Sham Sharanya is saying here and it includes a player option in the final year. So they did all these moves to get rid of Desmond Bain to ensure that in part that Jaren Jackson Jr. Was going to sign. They got it done.

[J.D.]

Yeah, this was the summer plan for the Grizzlies, clearing enough cap space so that then they could use it to bring back their franchise cornerstone. Like I think at this point you have to consider Jaren Jackson Jr. As that guy for Memphis rather than John Morant with Jaws availability being a concern. He had a down season last year. Now maybe that was just because disagreements with the new offense and didn't exactly like the direction of the team. Perhaps Jaw is better, but I think that this proves that Jaren Jackson Jr. No surprise, is a building block for the Grizzlies. The Guy will be 26 at the start of this coming season so you're getting him through his prime when he's already produced and been a really good player for the Grizzlies. Winning a defensive player of the year. He got close to it this year. Got close to all NBA this season. Really took a step forward from a self creation standpoint. During the year when John Morant missed time with a suspension and then an injury as well. The Grizzlies needed a lot from Jaren Jackson Jr. And he kind of increased his ISO scoring. The guy plays as if he's a left handed player even though he's a right handed shooter. Crazy to me. Came in as a shoot like as a three point shooter. I don't think he's scary but he does still shoot it well. 38% from outside but some down seasons before that. So I don't maybe you would call them inconsistent at this point but it makes sense to me that the Grizzlies would do this. They're built around Jaren Jackson Jr. Right now. They're built around Jaw and Triple J in the future is that going to be the case? I don't know. But the Grizzlies at least have five years to figure out exactly how they want to build this team because they're going to look different next season now that they did the Bane deal right.

[Tess Melis]

And this deal confirmed by Austin Brown. Jaren Jackson Jr's agent needed to confirm that because you never know these numbers getting thrown around Shams. Obviously you can rely on Sham Shrani but you never know if I messed up looking at a sham Shranya tweet. It was a fakey but JD threw it in there as well. So we're all good. We're all good. On that number, I am looking forward to seeing jaw Jaron Jackson Jr. The center's experiment that they've got in Memphis and the Cedric Coward draft on the wing, they've been looking for him. And then you move Jalen Wells to the 2 spot, it is going to be fun. In general, they've had a really just.

[J.D.]

Joint, just a very disjointed last three seasons. This year was firing Taylor Jenkins midseason. The year prior was just almost a gap year for Memphis with Ja missing the start of the season, coming back and then hurting his shoulder. And then the year prior, it fell apart at the end due to the Ja Morant extension. So it was weird that they fired Taylor Jenkins at the end of last season, but maybe this gives the Grizzlies more stability than they've had in the past couple of years to kind of be like, all right, let's actually do something here. Because they were a team that was on the rise. They were building up. It was cool to see him go against the Lakers that season when they were a young team, but really just one playoff series win for Memphis in the Jaw Triple J era. So they're going to want more from that. If you're paying a guy almost $50 million per season, I will say I.

[Tess Melis]

Am looking forward again to seeing him with a center and Zach Edie. Cause Jerry Jackson Jr. At the center spot doesn't work at all time. I was looking to see what they're going to do with Santee Aldama because somebody is going to pay him and I'm seeing that Santee Aldama may have just signed. We'll get to that in a second.

[J.D.]

Okay? Okay.

[Tess Melis]

But he will. He will sign. We just need to confirm on that one.

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[J.D.]

Hi, I'm Kristen Bell, and if you know my husband, Dax, then you also know he loves shopping for a car. Selling a car, not so much.

[Tess Melis]

We're really doing this, huh?

[J.D.]

Thankfully, Carvana makes it easy. Answer a few questions, put in your VIN or license, and done. We sold ours in minutes this morning and they'll come pick it up and pay us this afternoon.

[Tess Melis]

Goodbye Truckee.

[J.D.]

Of course we kept the favorite.

[Tess Melis]

Hello other Truckee.

[J.D.]

Sell your car with Carvana today. Terms and conditions apply.

[Tess Melis]

This is Car Tracks with Turtle Wax. Your car says a lot about you. So if we asked your car what it would say about you, what would it say?

[J.D.]

Listen, you dropped one of those tiny.

[Tess Melis]

Cheeseburgers under the seat like last week.

[J.D.]

And now we're both dry heaving at the stench. Do us a favor, grab some Turtle.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Turtle Wax and let's get to work.

[Tess Melis]

This has been Car Tracks with Turtle Wax. You are how you car now Getting to the Milwaukee Bucks on the on the other side, the Eastern Conference talked about a disjointed few years from Memphis Grizzlies. Some disjointed stuff happening for the Milwaukee Bucks this year they decided to bring Bobby Portis back. He declined a $13.4 million option. Didn't matter if he suspended 25 games last year for Tramadol or paying him three years, $44 million coming on back two years plus an option. There's only six guaranteed deals now for the Milwaukee Bucks. Kind of surprising Janice Dame obviously making a lot of that, a lot of money there between those two. Then it's Cal Kuzma. Bobby Port is now Pat Connaughton and Tyler Smith, so they've got some money to work with otherwise. But I bring it up because this is all about Giannis and keeping that guy happy. And Bobby is not quite Nas Reed, but I guess he is sort of Nas. Read in that he's that cultural. He is a cultural block. He's a champion there and they're keeping him around for another three years.

[J.D.]

Yeah, I think this, that was my takeaway is that it means Giannis is staying for this season at the very least, or at least until the trade deadline. We'll see what happens. This is a good price for Bobby. Like we're saying, role players are getting $11 million a year. Bobby Portis can be a plus role player at times. They don't have a lot of guys under contract right now, but there's also barely any ways for the Bucks to get any better. More than likely they're bringing back A.J. green, Kevin Porter Jr. Torian Prince. Maybe they're getting them for less than they made last season. Maybe they're slight raises. I think is kind of the case for kpj, but they're kind of rolling back the same team they had last year minus Damian Lillard. And with this deal, it's almost as if they had to choose between paying Bobby Portis and paying Brook Lopez. I guess it's smarter to pay Portis just because he's on the younger side of things. He was pretty good for the Bucks in the playoffs, even though they didn't perform all that well against the Pacers this season. But I kind of think Lopez has passed his point of maximum efficiency. And upgrading the center spot is going to be tough for the Bucks, but that's just how it's got to be when they lost Damian Lillard. So I do wonder what's going to end up happening with Brook Lopez. A team can make it impossible for Milwaukee to really be able to afford him, but Bobby Portis is a guy you can throw into a starting lineup if you absolutely need to. He's better off the bench. He is a Nas Reed in that sort of way. But yeah, I don't know. Guys like Nas, guys like Bobby Portis, you probably will err on the side of resigning him just because it would be so sad to lose them. You know, you got to keep the fan favorite sometimes.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. NASA's giving his heart, giving it to LeBron in round number one. Bobby's always given his heart. There's no doubt about it. Well, let's fly through some other minor deals. We'll stick with Milwaukee Real quick. Stop me whenever you want to talk about one of these guys because we got.

[J.D.]

We got one deal in 25 minutes.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

And it's a guy going back to.

[Tess Melis]

His team, the Triple J. I mean, there's some Santi Aldama rumors. There's a d' Angelo Russell going to Dallas. It's not official, but that's going to happen.

[J.D.]

Those are big names.

[Tess Melis]

Huge. The opposite of big names. Or Ryan Rollins getting a qualifying offer from the Milwaukee Bucks may look to keep him around. He's a Damian Lilly replacement. Kevin Porter declined his player option. That part's interesting. We'll see where he may go.

[J.D.]

He's probably back to Milwaukee maybe. But I think he declines his player option because he can make more as an exception guy. And the Bucks. The Bucks can't lose any other players like they have to bring back. They have to bring back Rollins and Kevin Porter. Especially with Dame going to miss the season. Who else is handling the ball?

[Tess Melis]

Yes, well, there's no doubt they need to find guys moving on to the champs. Jalen Williams. J will the guy off the bench. He declined his team option. He signed a three year, 24 million deal per ESPN. Keeps them under the tax line for eight per season. Here, that eight again. Important to keep them below the tax line. Just another note on another Jalen Williams, the J Dub, he's having wrist surgery this off season, right? I was surprised by that. OKC's GM Sam Presti said it today in his press conference. It happened late in the season versus Phoenix. They knew it was going to happen in the off season and it's going to happen. Didn't matter, still won a championship. They also signed AJ Mitchell to a three year $8.7 million deal. Teeny tiny one. As they watch the books and keep it low, keep everything low to eventually have to pay the guys. I just mentioned Jalen Williams specifically and others, but they're just managing the books there.

[J.D.]

Yeah, we talked about it with the Thomas Sorbert draft pick. This is the way for the Thunder is pay the big three a whole bunch of money because they are going to be worth it and they're going to demand it and you're going to have to find guys through the draft and with all of these surfeit of picks that they have left over. So guys that have any sort of potential are going to stay in Oklahoma City. Like $8 million is kind of a lot for per year for Jalen Williams when he's at best your third big guy right now. You also factor in how often the Thunder go small. There's just not a lot of minutes for J Will to play. But then towards the end of the season when he does get a bit of an opportunity, the guy has three triple doubles in like 10 games or something like that. Even the guys who are the 9th and 10th man on Oklahoma City have potential. So I think he's a beloved guy around the Thunder locker room as well. Gotta keep him around. And then they must love AJ Mitchell. This is a tiny deal for him. 8.7 million over the course of three years. But Mark Dalt was playing this guy in the finals. Some of that seemed a little fishy. Why is he necessarily playing in the finals? But you know, dag not trust him if he's going to throw him out there for high leverage situations. So to keep him on a deal like this is just smart moves for the Thunder. And that's all they do is make smart moves. It feels like.

[Tess Melis]

Speaking of a smart move, I know this is a guy you love trusting. Sean Sharan's official tweet here that the Grizzlies have re signed Santiago. There was some rumors that he was going to be able to get got by somebody else, but here they are three years, $52.5 million again, CAA's Austin Brown that a little. These guys, all the agents got to get in here. They have officially signed that for him to come back was fantastic. Off the bench last year showed so many of his skills. The most so far of his NBA career. His best season of his NBA career. And some talk about him being six man of the year because he's that good.

[J.D.]

This is awesome for the grizzlies.

[Tess Melis]

Cheap, right?

[J.D.]

Three year 52 million. So that's what, 14 per year basically we just saw.

[Tess Melis]

Come on, come on, math man. 3 times 17 and a half.

[J.D.]

Oh yeah. 4 times 13 is 52. Even better for Santee Aldon. Still, I think pretty good it is for the Grizzlies. Nas Reed, a similar style player, a guy who comes off the bench. He was a sixth man of the year but you know he's almost a six starter for the Timberwolves. I think Aldama is sometimes that he got 16 starts last year with Ed missing time, with Jaren Jackson Jr. Missing time. So to get him for 17 and a half million dollars, not 13 million dollars is nice for Memphis especially. They didn't have a team like the Brooklyn Nets bid him up in the free agency portion of things. Like Brooklyn could have easily done that. Memphis would have had to really think if, you know, Brooklyn offers him 20 million per season, maybe that changes the math for Memphis. But getting him right away, 17 and a half million dollars. He'll be there through the prime of his career. He'll be 25 in the middle of next season. So 25 to 28. Those are good years to have a guy. I'm an Aldama fan. I just like the way he plays. He runs the court, he hits threes. I don't think he's a great defender, but he can block some shots. Just a skinny dude. So he kind of limits what he can give you on that end of the court. But a good player for the Grizzlies, they need his three point shooting. All three point shooting is helpful for Memphis. So they're getting their their business done right away. It seems. So thank you to them for adhering to the 6pm start. It's not actually a deadline. The deals don't have to be done at six, but it feels like they.

[Tess Melis]

Should be other teams getting things done. According to Sham Sharanya Dorian, Finney Smith has gone to the Houston Rockets for a mere $53 million. Now we can use that fourth year max.

[J.D.]

Four years.

[Tess Melis]

Four years.

[J.D.]

17 and a half million.

[Tess Melis]

That's him. A nice 13 per, right? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[J.D.]

Now I get it.

[Tess Melis]

13.25. So under the non taxpayer mid level exception because that's a 14 million dollar amount. So that's a deal. And frankly, yeah, it's pretty cheap really. I mean the, the Lakers, it's the.

[J.D.]

Years, it's the years that lured him away. Four years at 32 years old is a big bite to take I think for Dorian Finney Smith. But if you're him and you're looking at the money being a little bit less than the 14mil that the Lakers would have now or would have been able to offer him, and we'll probably go to a center here, he can take a little bit less money if it's going to be stretched out over the course of four additional seasons. You might be looking sideways at the end of that time when he's 35, 36 years old, but a great fit for the Rockets. Like we talked about a little bit earlier, he's not the same style of player as Dillon Brooks. Like I think one of the good things Brooks brought to Houston outside of all the tude and the defense is that he did have a quick trigger where he'll shoot it every time. Like I said earlier, that is beneficial. Dorian50Smith isn't necessarily like that, but he is a good three point shooter and he does the defensive things that Brooks does as well. So I still think they probably want like one more perimeter specifically guy like DFS can really play up and down the lineup, but he's more of a 3 4. I think they might want a 1, 2 somewhere on the roster as well, but Houston, they're just doing a good job. I think this one will look a little, a little off when he's at the end of his career, but they've got money to spend right now before all of their guys start getting these extensions and they're the ones that are having to choose who actually sticks around.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, I don't know if 13mil will mean all that much or seem all that like all that much if the salary cap keeps going up. 13 for Dorian Finney Smith when he's. Yeah, at the end of his contract he'll be 36. But they've got so many guys. As you said, the difference is Dylan Brooks. He wants to shoot. He wants to even get into the mid range sometimes and it hap. It worked sometimes against the Gold State Warriors. He was feeling it. I guess they'll be asking the opposite of Dorian Finney Smith. As you said, corners get ready to shoot and be ready for that. But you're right, they're going to continue to go for Nikhil Alexander Walker. Man, Luke Canard, that team is going to be loaded. I know we're. I'm projecting here that they're going to get a Nikhil Alexander Walker, but they have done extremely well here. Seems like a team that's in that second tier below OKC. No doubt about that.

[J.D.]

Oh yeah. I mean OKC, they're the champions. They won 68 games last season. They've got the MVP. They're bringing everybody back. Everybody will be pretty happy because they're either getting surgeries to get healed or they're getting paid a lot of money. So things are good in Oklahoma City. They're in a tear by themselves, but at least, you know, 34 minutes into the first day of free agency, I got the Rockets as number two in the Western Conference, right?

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Nothing wrong.

[J.D.]

Another deal for the Grizzlies. They're busy. The Grizzlies and Cam Spencer have agreed to a two year, $4.5 million fully guaranteed contract. That one is a Bartlestein. Joint big shouts to Mark Bartlestein getting the deal done. Cam Spencer came in as a two way rookie. So to get a guaranteed deal, four and a half million, that's pretty cool.

[Tess Melis]

Cam Spencer brings the tude. Yeah.

[J.D.]

These are just bringing their guys back. Outside of Desmond Bay.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. When you get guaranteed for the first time, it's. It is an honor. Like Colin Gillespie is signing a one year guarantee deal with the Phoenix Suns. That's his first guaranteed money. Also been a two way guy since he entered the league as an undrafted player with the Denver Nuggets and was on the championship team. Didn't play a minute for that team but won a championship. So he's played three years. He's going back to Phoenix where he had a good little run to end his season. Let's keep flying. I know our man Ash threw in Paul Reed resigning with Detroit for two years and $11 million. Great stuff there. Let's keep it going here in the Eastern Conference. The Orlando Magic, they declined the team option for Mo Wagner. A little surprised by that at $11 million because Mo is kind of the heart of that team to some degree, you know, and his brother's on the team. But I think they do value going to and getting a guard, full stop. That's what they need. They need somebody. And those guys that we talked about earlier, like a Chris Paul, there's a Dennis Schroeder out there. Malcolm Brogdon a Spencer Dinwiddie. Tyus Jones is an interesting one. He was noted by Josh Robbins of the Athletic that he could be there as a backup guard to join Suggs, Anthony Black and Desmond Bain. Just to be that guy that he was supposed to be in Phoenix last year, but having a lesser role here in Orlando, coming off the bench. I think that one makes sense. If that happens.

[J.D.]

Yeah, I would rather them go with Jace Richardson. They just drafted him. They got Anthony Black there. They traded Cole Anthony away. So I think they should let the young guys try and make something happen as the backup point guard. But yeah, Tyus Jones wouldn't hurt the team. No, that's for sure. And I assume Mo Wagner is going to come back. Just $11 million is too much to pay for that guy. He's injured. So I'm sure they're going to want to, you know, they just paid Franz Wagner. Those guys live together.

[Tess Melis]

That's a good point.

[J.D.]

Saying he makes 200 million. Do you really need to make $11 million? What if we pay you the veterans minimum, but there's still $215 million in your household. Is that okay with you? I think it will be okay.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. They. It seems like there. There's a relationship there. He could come back. Also, they declined the team option for Caleb Houston. You probably don't want to get too into that. Next. I'm just. We're going to fly here Jonathan Kuminga. The warriors have extended a qualifying offer for him so they can obviously match as a restrictive free agent. If he signs a big contract somewhere else, they can resign. Although there is no traction on a deal with the Warriors. According to Anthony Slater.

[J.D.]

They don't want him.

[Tess Melis]

Doesn't feel like, no, no, no.

[J.D.]

He's going to be assigned and trade guy. And the teams most interested currently are the Pelicans, the Kings and the Bulls, who I think are often argued as the three worst front offices in the league. But they're going after Jonathan Kaminga if the deal presents itself. Vuch for Kaminga. Send it in. Yeah, send it in.

[Tess Melis]

If it is a sign and trade, it would be half of the dollars that Kaminga signs for. Would have to come back in the trade. They can't trade dollar for dollar. It's a base year compensation rule in the new cba. You can take back half the dollars of what Kaminga signs for. Zach Lowe pointing that out. Thank you for that info. To our man Zach Lowe. Fly in the 76ers. Basically the same thing. Have extended a qualifying offer to make Quentin Grimes restricted free agent. Grimes is looking apparently for a contract that averages $25 million per season. League sources tell the Athletic that's some big money for Quentin Grimes.

[J.D.]

Do you think that the Brooklyn Nets would offer Quentin Grimes $25 million a year? Because that's really the only team that would be making that sort of a deal for him as just a free agent to bring in. And they just drafted three point guards.

[Tess Melis]

And a point center, depending if they have. They're nowhere near the salary floor. They have to pay guys. Yeah, it would make sense. 25 is still a lot even for the Brooklyn Nets, who have ton of room. That would be the team, though. That's a good point. I mean, he played really, really well after being traded from Dallas to Philly. He was balling.

[J.D.]

Philly just also drafted a guard in Vijay Edgecombe. McCain will be back and obviously Tyrese Maxey is an all star and their lead guard. So I wonder if Grimes is gettable and. But I mean if they extend the qualifying offer to him, I guess he could play on that next season. But if a team is only going to offer him like $15 million, Philadelphia could also also match that, I think. So my guess would be Grimes back in Philly.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, they got the Bird, right. So they can pay him. Gershon Yabuzeli, they don't have the Bird rights to. He's an unrestricted free agent. They can only offer him 120% raise on what they paid him this past season, which was the minimum deal. Andre Drummond sticking with Philly, picking up a player option.

[J.D.]

Oh, yeah.

[Tess Melis]

Which is a little odd because they just drafted Janai Broom, so they don't necessarily need Andre Drummond. I wouldn't say, but maybe he comes their choice is not their choice.

[J.D.]

Gave him the player option. That's the problem.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, they can deal them though and say, hey, sure, you take them. Yeah, because they. Yeah, they're looking for players to. To sign because they don't have a lot of guys signed. Kelly Oubre will be back though, picking up his player option. Eric Gordon declined his player option, although he may want to come back. 76ers want him with VJ edge come, I assume 2 Bahamian bros playing on the national team together. We'll see. And they declined Lonnie Walker's team option. Flying through some more. Nick Batum going back to the Clippers. Two years and eleven and a half million dollars. The warriors exercise team options on Quentin Post and Geese Santos.

[J.D.]

Okay.

[Tess Melis]

The Pacers extended a qualifying offer to Isaiah Jackson found a little interesting considering not only is he recovering from an Achilles injury, but they got a shore up Miles Turner in the center spot ahead of Isaiah Jackson in the center spot. So it ties up a little bit of money there. But Isaiah Jackson is a, is a very, very talented guy to keep around.

[J.D.]

Yeah, I mean he's a backup.

[Tess Melis]

He's a backup.

[J.D.]

Yeah, but they need a backup. Well, I mean they had Thomas Bryant and Tony Bradley as their backups. They need a starter. So they got to sign Miles Turner and he will be. People will be offering him at least the $14.1 million mid level exception like the. The Lakers should obviously offer Miles Turner that. I don't think he would take it. But it's going to actually be expensive for the Pacers next season, especially without Halliburton. They're going to have to pay the tax, which isn't something that Indiana does all that often. But to have a good backup in Isaiah Jackson is good. So yeah, they pay him the qualifying offer if he doesn't get hurt. He's playing ahead of Thomas Bryant. He's playing ahead of Thomas Bradley who were like bargain bin fines for Indiana halfway through the season. So yeah, as long as he's healthy and healed. Good stuff.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. And Thomas Bryant won't be back next year, but Tony Bradley will. So they need another guy. Garrett Temple is going back to the Raptors. Who would have thunk it 1 year 3.6 mil. Zire Williamson going back to the Nets 2 years 12 mil.

[J.D.]

Williams.

[Tess Melis]

Oops. Williamson. I see a Z. It's gotta be a Zion Williamson. Zaire Williams back to the Nets two years 12. They signed for another guy for two years and 12 million. Dahron Sharpe going back to the Nets for that same deal and some just more so rumor type stuff. Kelly Eco saying that the Rockets are going to go after Luke Kennard in addition to Nikhil Alexander Walker. Hey, they're looking for some shooters. They have got Dorian Finney Smith here now officially, but Luke and are expected to draw interest from a lot of players. A lot of teams. Excuse me. Pistons, Pacers, Magic Nuggets, Clippers and Knicks. Who would have thunk it?

[J.D.]

The Rockets are in on everybody right now, huh? Yeah, literally every free agent. Who would make a list of top 10 free agents. It sounds like the Rockets are interested in.

[Tess Melis]

Last one here. Jordan Clarkson and the Jazz have agreed to a buyout.

[J.D.]

Rockets interested? They need a ball handler.

[Tess Melis]

Nah, they're good.

[J.D.]

Just watch.

[Tess Melis]

Really? Well, that would be wild. Okay, let's move on to Looks like.

[J.D.]

Cole Anthony is going to be released by the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies and his reps at XL Sports are working towards a resolution that allows Memphis to create cap space to renegotiate and extend Jaren Jackson Jr. While giving Anthony the opportunity to find his next destination. That's a Shams bomb for you.

[Tess Melis]

So thank you, Shams.

[J.D.]

Call Anthony. He's gettable.

[Tess Melis]

He's gettable.

[J.D.]

Yep. Makes sense. They got Scottie Pippen Jr. All right.

[Tess Melis]

Moving on to some news which was a little bit of shocking news. Sham Sharanya breaking this here reporting that Michael Beasley is being investigated by the US District Attorney Malik Beasley.

[J.D.]

Did I who Did I say Michael.

[Tess Melis]

Beasley, man, I. I've been watching too many Michael Beasley clips. Malik Beasley on allegations of gambling related to NB games and prop bets. According to Shams, the investigation season isn't last year. It's when he was with the bucks in the 2324 season. And according to a source who told Choms the heavy betting was on a game in January it was Bucks Blazers betting was on a prop for Beasley to be under the two and a half rebounds prop bet. But he had like six rebounds. So that part is strange. But there's also other things that they are investigating that Malik, not Michael Beasley did as far as betting goes in the 23 and 24 season. It was kind of shocking to see this because the Pistons and Beasley were talking about a contract bringing them back three year. The talks were three years and 42 according to Shams, 14 per. But now. Exactly. But now that's pushed back a little bit while this I suppose is happening. But I guess I say it's pushed back. But they're not going to wait for this to be done, are they?

[J.D.]

That would take a while because the reporting was that the negotiations were on hold. Right. So maybe they would get back together because Malik Beasley was really good for the Pistons last year. Finished second in the league in total, made threes second in the league, if I'm not mistaken, in six man of the year voting and was instrumental to the second half run that the Pistons went on. So we'll see how the investigation plays out. Like I think just today Shams was reporting on Terry Rosier and he was under investigation similarly for gambling and prop bets. And that was like after the trade deadline, probably in March or something like that. You know, that was a big story at the time. And three months later, not him being cleared isn't the isn't as big of a story, I would say. So I doubt the Pistons are going to want to wait to keep building around Cade Cunningham and figuring out their backcourt rotation. But it's also hard to sign a guy when the next headline underneath his name is that he's being investigated for gambling and prop bets. But we're just like working our way up the levels of NBA players here, going from John Porter to Terry Rozier to Malik Beasley. It ain't going to be too long before we're talking about a star that's at least being investigated for something like this. And that's scary, I think for the NBA.

[Tess Melis]

Absolutely. Yeah. There wasn't any evidence here after our man Tom Haberstro did some investigation, posted about everything that Malik Beasley was doing on the floor out there for the Bucks and didn't seem like when it comes to prop bets that there would be any sort of evidence. But again, we don't really know all the details and that's what the US District Attorney is doing.

[J.D.]

That's their job.

[Tess Melis]

That's their job. Yes. Any other deals here before we deal alert?

[J.D.]

Shams is reporting that Jake Laravia has agreed to a two year $12 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers.

[Tess Melis]

Aha. The Lake Jake will play hard defensively, there's no doubt. And I guess they're feel like he's kind of replacing Dorian Finney Smith. He gets after again defensively, again shoot the ball. So doesn't have the range of Dorian Finney Smith in terms of how many guys he can guard, but he's definitely.

[J.D.]

A Dorian Finney Smith style player. Yeah, like I agree with you, I would take DFS ahead of Jake LaRavia, but I think for $6 million that's a pretty good deal.

[Tess Melis]

That's a good point for the Lakers.

[J.D.]

To be able to get a wing replacement in Jake Laravia who like his best skill is maybe rebounding, which is kind of odd for a wing, but he's a good defensive rebounding guy and like you're saying, he plays hard. The Lakers will also be able to get a center. So I think center plus wing greater than just wing.

[Tess Melis]

Well, we broke down what we could here. We got a Triple J.

[J.D.]

A lot of Memphis.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, the Jake, we got the Dorian Finney Smith going to Houston. We got Paul Reed going back to Detroit.

[J.D.]

Cole Anthony's available. Cole Anthony, Speaker 2 New Deal alert. Santee Aldama, New deal alert.

[Tess Melis]

That's what we got. Are there any underrated fragrance to watch for us between now and when the clock is at 10am Eastern and we're back here tomorrow.

[J.D.]

Great question. Who will be leading the show tomorrow morning? Will we have a Nikhil Alexander Walker deal done? He seems to be the hottest name available. Assuming Miles Turner is headed back to Indiana. I mean, it'll be a question of do we want to pay for a team that doesn't have the same ceiling that it had this season. So Miles Turner is a name to watch. I think Nikhil Alexander Walker is the team that people will be most excited to see. Where he goes like would be a really cool fit in Atlanta. People are talking him up as the perfect backcourt partner with Trey Young. I'm like, hey, they just traded for Dyson Daniels last year. You're sending this guy back to the bench. He could grow up to be Nikhil Alexander Walker. I actually don't know who I think is better there. Nah. Or Dyson Daniels. But I think we should be talking about him and what sort of return would go back to Minnesota if they're able to do a sign in trade. Ty Jerome is a guy we need to keep tabs on because I think he probably slots in right after Alexander Walker. If you're talking about perimeter options, we'll figure out. You said the Mavs are going to be going with d' Angelo Russell?

[Tess Melis]

It sure seems that way. Not confirmed, but almost there.

[J.D.]

Not confirmed but almost there. So I guess we'll probably talk about the Mavs point guard spot then. Wherever Chris Paul goes, wherever the Jones brothers go. Tyus and Trey are both free agents, though it seems like Trey will probably stick in Chicago. And then I'm personally dreading the Josh Giddy number. So we'll see where that comes in. If there's a two in it. No, thank you. But a 150, I can accept.

[Tess Melis]

150 as in like five years.

[J.D.]

One.

[Tess Melis]

Okay.

[J.D.]

I don't want it task but I can accept it.

[Tess Melis]

When I heard that first, I am.

[J.D.]

Waiting to see where that number comes in for sure.

[Tess Melis]

When I heard that first two, I thought you didn't want it. You didn't want to hear 20 but you don't want to hear. Well, Yeah, I mean 20 and another and a zero and Aiden.

[J.D.]

Yeah. I mean wherever Ayton decides to go.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah, yeah, that's a guy.

[J.D.]

The guy was a number one draft pick.

[Tess Melis]

Yes.

[J.D.]

Biggest name out there now.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. I had a slight worry there that I wanted to say d' Angelo Russell not confirmed yet because you just never know as we're here live. I don't Want to be the guy who says something that didn't happen because Shams said that the Lakers were getting at Jake Laravia. Chris Haynes said the Kinks, but then he fixed that. So we're all good. Yeah, yeah. So he said he's signing with the Kings. All good. We're all good. We're all good. I will say Al Horford is an interesting one. The warriors may go after Al Horford. I could see him doing that. I don't.

[J.D.]

Just Al Horford to the Warriors.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

I love the fit, but I don't love the age.

[Tess Melis]

No, no, no. The age is not ideal.

[J.D.]

That team. That's an elder millennial team.

[Tess Melis]

Yes, it sure is. That's why it kind of fits.

[J.D.]

It kind of does fit.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah.

[J.D.]

I was trying to win, and the Celtics aren't the best chance of it next season. So definitely he's going to be a guy that contenders are after. Like, I saw Philadelphia fans were even like, should we do it now? Horford reunion.

[Tess Melis]

Bring it back.

[J.D.]

Do you remember how it went the first time?

[Tess Melis]

Not so good. Great.

[J.D.]

Things have changed.

[Tess Melis]

Things have changed. Like, when we do shows in Vegas, are they always great? Nah. What do you think? What do you think, Jenny? This one's gonna be even better.

[J.D.]

Hey, we're one for two.

[Tess Melis]

You're so bad at selling things, man. No, I know. I don't. I just want. No, it's always great. It's always great.

[J.D.]

This one's gonna be an absolute banger.

[Tess Melis]

It's gonna be an absolute banger. We're in the middle of a spin.

[J.D.]

Sports book.

[Tess Melis]

Well, that's why it's going to be a deal. It's going to be a. Well, last year's was good. It was just in a. More of an. We had a laser tag happening right behind us. There was an escalator. It was like a mall. It was like the Backstreet Boys appear at the. You know, a Milwaukee mall. You know what I mean?

[J.D.]

That's what it felt like a little bit.

[Tess Melis]

It was fun. It was good.

[J.D.]

Y.

[Tess Melis]

It's always great to see the fans, you know? Yeah. But it was this. This time we're in a sports book, so.

[J.D.]

Yeah.

[Tess Melis]

Fitzma.

[J.D.]

Yeah. Best venue yet at Vegas. You think it could be.

[Tess Melis]

We'll find out. We'll find out.

[J.D.]

No one knows Exactly.

[Tess Melis]

Friday, July 11th. We will be there. 4pm at the sportsbook at Mandalay Bay. It is free to get in. So come on and join us and join us tomorrow. We'll be back tomorrow. It's July 1st, so a lot of stuff has happened.

[J.D.]

We'll be back tomorrow. Even if it's just Nikhil Alexander Walker who signs. Do you think you could go 15 minutes on Jake LaRavia?

[Tess Melis]

No.

[J.D.]

Yeah. Five minutes.

[Tess Melis]

I'm confident.

[J.D.]

No, I. Jack of all trades, master of none. I would love to say that about Jake.

[Tess Melis]

You think he does it all or you just want to say that saying?

[J.D.]

I don't know if he does it all, man. He's not a ball handler. You're right.

[Tess Melis]

All right, you got me. All right. Well, I don't know. You want to talk about five minutes for Jake? We will do it tomorrow.

[J.D.]

Like tap dancing here just to see if we can maybe squeeze one.

[Tess Melis]

Squeeze now. We're gonna do it tomorrow. Join us 10 Eastern YouTube live, of course. Or we'll turn into a podcast afterwards. Had some fun here today, but for now, Clipper Bros, you heard it here first.

[J.D.]

Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And remember, if you need a as, we'll just be monitoring deals all night.

[Tess Melis]

Yeah. See you on the stream.

[J.D.]

Yeah. Monitoring these deals.

[Tess Melis]

See you then. We'll see you tomorrow and on the streams.

[J.D.]

Yeah.

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