Nuggets-Nets Trade Grades, Hawks Stay Active, Waiting On Giannis | Free Agency Frenzy

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Nuggets-Nets Trade Grades, Hawks Stay Active, Waiting On Giannis | Free Agency Frenzy"

Podcast Information:

• Title: No Dunks
• Host/Author: The Athletic
• Description: No Dunks is a daily NBA podcast hosted by Skeets, Tas, Trey, and JD—the original basketball podcasters. They break down the league's biggest games and headlines, answer listeners' questions, interview guests, and more.
• Episode: Nuggets-Nets Trade Grades, Hawks Stay Active, Waiting On Giannis | Free Agency Frenzy
• Release Date: July 1, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of No Dunks, hosts Tas Melis and Trey Kirby delve into significant NBA offseason moves, focusing on the recent Nuggets-Nets trade, the Atlanta Hawks' active engagement in free agency, and developments surrounding the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo. The discussion provides in-depth analysis, player evaluations, and strategic implications for the teams involved.

1. Nuggets-Nets Trade Analysis

Trade Details: The Denver Nuggets traded Michael Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Cam Johnson and a first-round pick in 2032.

Hosts' Insights:

• Trey Kirby expresses cautious optimism:

  "I like it for the Nuggets... Cam Johnson is a bit older and a little smaller, but he's a better playmaker" ([04:47]).

• Tas Melis highlights the financial and strategic aspects:

  "They're turning a $40 million player into a $20 million player and now have room for further moves" ([07:33]).

Analysis: While the trade may not immediately elevate the Nuggets to championship contenders, it offers financial flexibility and improves their offensive dynamics. Cam Johnson's enhanced playmaking alongside Nikola Jokić could lead to better floor spacing and efficiency. However, concerns remain about rebounding capabilities and the long-term value of the unprotected first-round pick.

2. Atlanta Hawks' Active Free Agency Moves

Key Signings:

• Nikhil Alexander Walker: Signed a four-year, $62 million deal to join the Hawks' bench.
• Luke Kennard: Acquired for one year, $11 million, becoming the active leader in three-point percentage in NBA history.

Hosts' Insights:

• Trey Kirby commends the Hawks for addressing their need for secondary ball handlers:

  "They're getting a secondary ball handler and shooting specialist with Nikhil Alexander Walker" ([25:12]).

• Tas Melis praises the front office's strategic acquisitions:

  "Ansysale has done an extremely good job... building around Trae Young with versatile defenders" ([27:09]).

Analysis: The Hawks have made significant strides in strengthening their roster depth, particularly in ball handling and three-point shooting. Nikhil Alexander Walker brings both defensive prowess and offensive flexibility, complementing Trae Young's playmaking. Luke Kennard's exceptional shooting ability provides valuable spacing and scoring off the bench, enhancing the Hawks' overall offensive strategy.

3. Milwaukee Bucks' Strategic Shake-Up

Major Move:

• Miles Turner: Signed a four-year, $107 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, replacing Brook Lopez.

Trade Details: The Bucks opted to waive Damian Lillard, absorbing $113 million over five years to acquire Miles Turner.

Hosts' Insights:

• Tas Melis emphasizes the upgrade Turner represents:

  "Turner is a better player, younger, and more athletic compared to Brook Lopez" ([75:20]).

• Trey Kirby discusses the financial prudence of the move:

  "It's a savvy financial decision, freeing up cap space while upgrading key positions" ([80:07]).

Analysis: The acquisition of Miles Turner provides the Bucks with a versatile forward who can defend multiple positions and contribute significantly to their three-point shooting. This move not only strengthens their frontcourt but also offers better salary cap management by transitioning from Lopez's higher salary. Additionally, waiving Damian Lillard, despite his superstar status, indicates a strategic pivot towards balancing the roster and accommodating financial flexibility for future acquisitions.

4. Giannis Antetokounmpo's Situation

Current Status: Giannis Antetokounmpo remains a central figure for the Bucks, with the team actively seeking to build around his unparalleled talent.

Hosts' Insights:

• Tas Melis underscores Giannis's indispensable role:

  "Nobody can run a franchise like Giannis; he's the cornerstone of Milwaukee's future" ([20:45]).

• Trey Kirby reflects on the implications of potential roster changes:

  "As long as Giannis remains healthy, the Bucks have a solid foundation" ([81:19]).

Analysis: Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to be the linchpin for the Bucks, driving both their on-court performance and franchise ambitions. The team's recent moves, including acquiring Miles Turner, are aimed at maximizing Giannis's impact by surrounding him with complementing talents that enhance both offensive and defensive schemes. Ensuring Giannis's health and maintaining his support system within the team remain top priorities for Milwaukee.

5. Additional Free Agency Moves

Notable Transactions:

• D'Angelo Russell to the Dallas Mavericks: Signed a two-year, $13 million contract to provide guard depth in Luka Doncic's absence.

• Luke Kornet to the San Antonio Spurs: Agreed to a four-year, $41 million deal to bolster the Spurs' frontcourt.

• Ty Jerome to the Orlando Magic: Secured a one-year, $7 million contract to serve as a backup point guard.

Hosts' Insights:

• Trey Kirby highlights Russell's value for Dallas:

  "He's a $6 million asset that can fill the void left by Kyrie Irving" ([54:26]).

• Tas Melis evaluates Kornet's fit with the Spurs:

  "Kornet provides a reliable backup center option, enhancing their defensive schemes" ([51:43]).

Analysis: These additional moves reflect teams' strategic efforts to address specific needs during the free agency period. D'Angelo Russell's signing offers the Mavericks a capable guard who can maintain offensive flow without a hefty financial commitment. Meanwhile, Luke Kornet's addition to the Spurs provides depth and defensive versatility in their frontcourt. Ty Jerome's role with the Magic ensures stable ball handling and perimeter shooting, crucial for their postseason aspirations.

Conclusion

This episode of No Dunks offers a comprehensive analysis of key NBA free agency moves, with particular focus on the Nuggets-Nets trade, the Atlanta Hawks' strategic signings, and the Milwaukee Bucks' significant roster adjustments. Hosts Tas Melis and Trey Kirby provide insightful commentary on how these transactions impact team dynamics, financial flexibility, and championship prospects. The discussion underscores the continuous evolution of team rosters in pursuit of competitive advantage, highlighting the intricate balance between player performance, salary cap management, and long-term strategic planning.

Notable Quotes:

• Trey Kirby: "I like it for the Nuggets just because Cam Johnson is a little bit better with the ball in his hands." ([04:47])
• Tas Melis: "Ansysale has done extremely well in all facets here for Tenzer and John Wallace in this new front office." ([07:33])
• Trey Kirby: "It's a smart financial decision, freeing up cap space while upgrading key positions." ([80:07])

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Note: This summary intentionally omits advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections as per the podcast guidelines.

Transcript

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[Tas Melis]

Welcome to no Dunks here on the athletic podcast Network. Free Agency Watch continues here on July 1st. Happy Canada Day, everybody. I'm Tas Melis. With me, it's the man in the middle, Trey Kirby.

[Trey Kirby]

Hey.

[Tas Melis]

And the man making the magic happen, as always, it's super producer J.D. hello. What's up, J.D. what's up? How are we feeling?

[Trey Kirby]

How you celebrating Canada Day today?

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Corn dogs.

[Tas Melis]

Corn dogs.

[Trey Kirby]

Corn dogs dipped in maple syrup.

[Tas Melis]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Probably actually good. Actually, now that you mention it, it's pretty good. Yeah, might be. All right.

[Tas Melis]

What about a breakfast sausage, corn dog style, dipped in maple syrup? That'd be pretty good. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

That is a good pancake. A good treat.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Yeah. You guys are putting it all together. Really putting it all. Sausage dog.

[Trey Kirby]

What do they call that? I don't know. I like. I like the idea of it, though. It's like a pig in a blanket.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. In a. Like a pancake blanket. Picking a pancake.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it's going to be that. It probably is. I thought we got some good moves here. Not huge ones, not monstrous.

[Trey Kirby]

No, no, no.

[Tas Melis]

Remember what Adam Silver said at the NBA draft when he came out and he said, oh, he's celebrating the OKC Indiana final. And then he said, welcome to a new era of NBA basketball where every team has a chance. Yeah. Kind of feels like that. I think he was on to something. Like, you make these smaller moves. Well, well, let's get to.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't know if any of these moves has put a single team on the Thunders level, but every chance to finish second right now I think is at least true.

[Tas Melis]

Well, let's jump right into that first move. The Denver Nuggets, the team that took the NBA champs to seven games, they made a very important move here. Going to get a shooter. They traded away Michael Porter Jr. To the Brooklyn Nets for Cam. Cam Johnson is coming over. All they had to give up was Michael Porter Jr. And a first round pick in 2032.

[Trey Kirby]

A long time from now.

[Tas Melis]

That's unprotected. Yeah, exactly. Jokic is going to be an old man.

[Trey Kirby]

37 years old, right? Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

And here they get Cam Johnson. What do you think of this trade, Trey?

[Trey Kirby]

I like it. I like it for the Nuggets just because we saw how game seven went they were down to one armed Michael Porter Jr. For the most part. One leg Aaron Gordon and Russell Westbrook around their four guys in Jokic Murray, Christian Brown. And I mean, it was MPJ at.

[Tas Melis]

The time, but Jamal, I guess, and.

[Trey Kirby]

Jamal Murray, of course. But I think this is the Nuggets taking on a little bit of risk here. Cam Johnson is older than Michael Porter Jr. 30 years old by the playoffs to MPJ's 27, he's a little bit smaller. MPJ is a legit 6 foot 10, a pretty good rebounder, which is something that the Nuggets are going to have to address going forward because Cam Johnson, at 6 foot 8, isn't quite the same rebounder as Michael Porter Jr. But he's a little bit better with the ball in his hands. Cam Johnson is. He's a little bit better of a playmaker. Really stretched his game with the Nets last season. They're maintaining the shooting basically, you know, 40% essentially for MPJ and for Cam Johnson doesn't go by CJ. Maybe a quicker trigger on Cam Johnson. But the Nuggets, I like the move in general. I like the move. I like to see them use one of their assets to change things up. I like that it opens up a little bit of flexibility, which brings the. Because the Nuggets will now be underneath the aprons, gives them some access to their exceptions. The key is they have to go and use those exceptions, like Al Horford would be an incredible fit here. But right now they're bringing in Bruce Brown, which we'll get to in just a minute here, and they're swapping out MPJ for Cam Johnson. I don't think the Nuggets got a lot better. I think Michael Porter Jr. Is a little bit underrated at this point just because, you know, he was like a top five recruit out of high school. He was a guy who was maybe going to be the next Kevin Durant if he could ever get his off the dribble game going. That never came about in Denver, but he's still a really good player and has been more available than Cam Johnson has been for the Brooklyn Nets, for the Phoenix Suns, which, you know, you think of MPJ as an injury guy. There's definitely concerns about his back, but he. He was pretty tough last year playing through that shoulder injury. So do I think the Nuggets got a lot better trading for Cam Johnson? Not really. I think this is kind of a money move, all things considered. But I still like it for Denver because they needed something to change up I think and maybe the ball handling, the self creation that Cam Johnson brings can be good for the Nuggets because they would definitely struggle when Jokic would go to the bench and it was Murray and MPJ trying to run the show. So I think a good move for Denver, not necessarily a great changing move like challenge or title changing move. I'm not totally convinced on that one.

[Tas Melis]

I'm pretty excited this for this for the Nuggets just because Cam Johnson I believe is a better offensive player. I know Michael Porter Jr. Can shoot that thing but if you get Cameron Johnson playing with a gravity like Nicola Jokic, you'll see his numbers even go up even higher. But basically they're the same as Michael Porter Jr's He's a more solid defender. He's. And yet Michael Port Jr. Obviously a champion and played hard and was playing on one shoulder after that terrible turnover. Why would you throw the ball like that into the front court? Cam Johnson wouldn't do that. I just think Cam Johnson will be playing off Jokic a little bit better and can give it on the defensive end. And you mentioned the money part of things. I think this is the front office front office thing. They did really well. They turned a 40 million player into a $20 million player and now they have room. As you mentioned, they're going to go get Bruce Bowen which we'll talk about in a second as a veteran minimum gu and they can do some things off the bench. You basically have a new starting lineup. Cam Johnson over Michael Port Jr. And improved bench by this new front office that's taken over for Calvin Booth that has two guys who are basically the same. They have the same title. They they're like this split head type guy. Executive VP of basketball operations for Ben Tenzer and John Wallace. Ben Tenzer is more of the I know every job in the organization type of guy and John Wallace is the learn everything around the NBA, develop relationships type of guy. So the split mentality here, same title for both of those guys. So I think they did a great job in terms of the financial part and I think Cam Johnson will pay off. You, you do bring up a good point that he is older than you think. I wouldn't consider him a 30 year old. He's already going to be 30 next year. I just wouldn't think of him as that. But I do think he's a baller. He can put it on the floor a little bit better than Michael Porter Jr. In my opinion, especially with when the gravity comes he shoots the ball well he was part of a team that went to the finals with the Phoenix Suns. So I think he's got it. I think he's got it all. And yeah, there was a time that needed to change here in Denver. They just needed something new. And I think this is, this is smart in all facets here for Tenzer and John Wallace in this new front office.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, Josh Kroenke put his foot in his mouth talking about Nikola Jokic at their pre free agency press conference, right. Saying we need to get underneath the tax so we don't even have to think about trading number 15. This gets them under the tax, but if they don't actually use that money, those exceptions that are now available to go and get somebody that helps. I look at this as just a salary dump. It's a good salary dump being able to bring in Cam Johnson and essentially replace what they're sending out in Michael Porter Jr. But if trading a unprotected first round pick way down the line, something that would be pretty valuable around the NBA only brings you back kind of a like for like player and Cam Johnson, it turns into more of a business move than a basketball move for me because yeah, Bruce Brown definitely helps, but that's just one guy off the bench. The Nuggets need multiple guys and now they've opened up avenues to be able to address that to finally maybe have a backup center for Nikola Jokic, which has not been the case since he has been playing in Denver. I guess they drafted a center last year. He tore his Achilles right before the season started. Holmes should probably be coming back this year. I don't know what you can expect out of a rookie coming off a serious injury. So there'll be an opportunity at the very least. But I think the Nuggets can still get better with these financial moves that they pulled. And you know, maybe Cam Johnson is better for Michael Porter Jr. I think that we're just expecting so much more from MPJ that it makes Cam Johnson look good in return because he is kind of like hitting his potential. Whereas mpj, you think there's something more out there? Maybe there isn't, I don't know. But I would like to see the Nuggets continue to be active throughout free agency.

[Tas Melis]

I do think Cam Johnson, yeah, has gotten, he's gotten better. Frankly, if you watched a lot of the Brooklyn Nets games last year, which I'm sure a lot of people didn't, he had to take that on upon himself as the number one guy. He had to put it on the Floor he had to create for himself. And I think there will be space created by Jokic where those creations won't be that hard. He's just going to be good at it. I think he's, he's very solid. Yes. He's a 20 million dollar player versus a $40 million player in Michael Porter Jr. That they had to pay after winning the championship. And I just think you're in a good spot here. It was a good contract from the Brooklyn Nets and this is the time here for Cam Johnson to show it on, on a bigger level. I think he's that good. And for the Brooklyn Nets, yeah, they had a $20 million cap space that they had to create something. They created an unprotected first round pick. So again I just think the front office was front office very well in Denver to see that opportunity and to jump on it, to sick it because that was what they needed to do, as you said, to get better in depth and what they did to.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, let's talk about it for the Nets. I think this is actually a really good move for the Nets as well. They got a lot younger. Michael Porter Jr. Still has more upside than Cam Johnson has. Like I said, I think he's a little bit underrated. He's probably going to look worse away from Jokic as a lot of these guys have. You know, KCP has not been the same since he left. Bruce Brown has not been the same since he left. Maybe there's some self creation left in Michael Porter Jr. He'll at least get to stretch his legs. Him and Cam Thomas will be a hilarious pairing. And you know that post Jokic first round pick, that might be great. How are the Nuggets going to get a lot better after Nicola Jokic leaves, retires to Serbia to race horses. By the time he's 37, this pick is going to be looking good for the Nets. So if you're a rebuilding team, this is what you need to do. Take on big contracts and get juicy picks for it. We're also looking at the team that's going to be the worst team in the league in the Brooklyn Nets. I saw Robbie Callan tweet last night. NBA TV just put the Nets projected starting lineup on the screen and it was a full on jump scare. As of right now they would probably be starting Jaeger Demon, their rookie, Cam Thomas, Terrence Mann, MPJ and Nick Claxton. That looks like a first in lottery odds kind of team to me. So I think smart move by the Nets to get off a desired player in Cam Johnson who doesn't mean a lot for their team. Maybe they get a dice roll in the future with MPJ and then they get that big one way down the line in 2032. So I think good stuff for both teams.

[Tas Melis]

Yo, let's get to the the depth that Denver has created now by going to get not only Cam Johnson here, but also Bruce Brown. We're going back to 2023 in the championship when Bruce Brown was coming off the bench and having fun out there. They go and get him for a veteran minimum contract, which seems extremely low for Bruce Brown and a guy who helped him win a championship just a couple years ago ain't that old yet. What do you feel about Bruce Brown joining the Nugs?

[Trey Kirby]

I like it, but I swear I haven't seen Bruce Brown play basketball since he left Denver. I know he was there in Indiana. I know he was a Toronto Raptor somehow. I even know that he finished the season with the New Orleans Pelicans last season. But I feel like all I've seen from Bruce Brown since leaving Denver is him wearing cowboy suits on the sideline and then getting involved in these transactions. He's going to be 30 by the playoffs. The best season he's ever had was that year in Denver when he was on a player option and then was able to cash out at the end of the season. If he's able to shoot 36% from three like he did in Denver, awesome. If he's a 33% shooter like he was the rest of his NBA career, not quite as awesome. But I like him being able or I like I would bet on him being able to rediscover what made him great playing in Denver. And honestly, they just needed guys. Like we said, by the end of Game seven, they were scratching the bottom of the barrel. So getting anybody who's reliable and a veteran presence is going to be good. Julian Strother did have a moment in the playoffs. Maybe Jalen Pickett improves. Maybe Peyton Watson becomes something besides a defensive specialist. I don't know if I would be betting on that one, but they're getting closer and closer to the necessary seven to eight guys you need in the playoffs because as we saw last postseason, they didn't have that. So as long as they're able to get Bruce Brown back on track and as long as they're able to do something with that little bit of money that they opened up, I will be happy with the Nuggets. But does Bruce Brown on a minimum change things? I'm not totally convinced, but that's just because I haven't been totally convinced by what he's done in the NBA since he left Joic.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it's been two seasons coming off surgery where he was hurt and came back and had to start with a lot of these teams. Now he'll be off the bench. We'll see if he can get that back to 2023 when the Denver Nuggets in Calvin Booth said, well, we'll just let him go because he did get a monstrous contract from the Indiana Pacers. He got paid 22 million and 23 million over two years. And the Denver Nuggets weren't going into the tax. That's what it was about. It was about the dollars. And unfortunately, they lost some of that mojo that they had. They just lost some of that locker room that they had. We saw Nikola Jokic being that type of guy, trying to put the team on his back last season. That was Bruce Brown's kind of role. He just yelled a lot, he talked a lot. We were both at the finals in 2023. We saw him in practices. He was their MO and that's why they went and got Russell Westbrook to come off the bench, to be that type of guy. Now Bruce Brown goes back to the bench. There's no way he's going to start. I would consider him the best player on the bench immediately if he's, you know, playing well, you mentioned all the guys in Schrother and Peyton Watson and maybe Jalen Pickett, young guys who can improve. But Bruce Brown, if he can come back to that guy, and I don't think it's a big if, I think there's a good chance that he can do that. He'll be the best guy off the bench. He's still, you know, fairly young. He's going to be 29 soon. Or birthday bros, me and Bruce. And so I. As long as the injury hasn't worn him down, you know, watching him with the Toronto Raptors, he tried to do a little too much where he was a starter. And maybe this is my new role. Maybe he's flashing back to his Brooklyn net days when he started where they were trying to just run him as the sort of that swing guy in the starting lineup. He just has to be Bruce Brown again. And at least the Nuggets have that vibe back where they're trying to make that up for the. The flub. It was. Honestly, it was a flub as soon as they let him go. And now they're Trying to rectify that. So we'll see if it works. It should in theory. I think it does.

[Trey Kirby]

If Bruce Brown's the best player on their bench, they still don't really have a bench because the guy's on a veteran minimum and it means everybody else is a question mark. They need to see significant improvement from the guys that they let KCP go for, that they let Bruce Brown once upon a time go for. Because those guys still haven't been replaced. Now they're kind of just getting back to square one. Like you said, Bruce Brown left because of financials. The Michael Porter Jr. Trade was because of financials. Even though Stan Kroenke is one of the wealthiest owners in the NBA, they could be overspending into the second apron if they wanted. They could have a better bench if they wanted. It makes things tricky with team building going forward. But as long as Bruce Brown's able to get back to the form that we've seen in Denver, I'll remind you, literally only one season that we have seen this. If he's able to do that again, I think this is great for the Nuggets. And he just seems like a fun guy to have around. Like you're saying he's got a personality, he's got a little bit of attitude and he's got a lot of versatility that the Nuggets definitely need. So I, like I've been saying the entire time they still need to make another move because I don't think they have a backup big guy. It ain't Charitch, it ain't Zeke Najee. And I'm not totally sure that Sharp is going to be or Holmes is going to be the guy. But we shall see. Nonetheless, I think a good day yesterday for the Nuggets considering they didn't have a ton of avenues to get better.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I think that's exactly what Adam Silver was saying when he got to the podium in the draft. Nobody can win back to back champions, essentially. No, there aren't teams that can just say, hey, we're adding to the top of our roster. Go top heavy and be good for a long period of time.

[Trey Kirby]

But there is, there is one.

[Tas Melis]

The okc. Yes. They just created that. Yeah. So I guess he was sort of wrong in saying and not referring to OKC as this.

[Trey Kirby]

He just saw seven champions in seven years, that's all. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

But then he started talking about OKC in Indiana a lot and said we are in the heartland of America.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay. So getting Cam Johnson for mpj, adding Bruce Brown, does this put the Nuggets on the Thunders level for you?

[Tas Melis]

No, but they're super close. I do think we were talking about the bench in 2023 when they won the championship. Bruce Brown was their best player. Why can't they be that? Because they are so good.

[Trey Kirby]

That was two years ago. Yeah. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

So Bruce Burns just ain't that same guy.

[Trey Kirby]

He hasn't been.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, he hasn't been, but he's also been starting. Now he just needs to go to that bench. We just saw the Denver Nuggets take OKC to seven games. And I do think no matter what Adam Silver said, no matter how many times I refer to it, this is a league that refer or that relies on the stars. Nikola Jokic is fricking that good and he can take his team that far. Now, they do need a backup. Sure. They need more guys. Last year, running Westbrook and Charitch and Schrother and Peyton Watson did not work out. So the only thing that's really different from that 2023 championship is Christian Brown has now replaced KCP. Bruce Brown is a couple of years older and they. They do lack a tiny bit of depth on the bench.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, Jeff Green was solid for that team.

[Tas Melis]

Jeff Green was solid. Yeah. Calvin Booth couldn't bring the same two guys back. Yeah, they're paying for it now. I mean, they paid for it. And that's why you saw Jokic more mad than I've ever seen. More mad than when his horse doesn't do things for him. I don't think he gets mad at his horses. I take that back, but I've never.

[Trey Kirby]

Be mad at a horse.

[Tas Melis]

I agree, but I've never seen Jokic more mad. He just needed more guys. And that's exactly why they brought Russell. Russell Westbrook in there who could return with this team. There is that possibility of him coming back because he was good for them. Yeah, I do think they're close to okc. I mean, talent wise, depth wise. And that's what M. Silver was talking about. You go one through ten deep now in. In terms of an NBA roster, that's what we're doing here. No, they don't have that type of depth. There's no doubt they don't have that type of depth. But Jokic up top is damn good.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they've got Jokic, which is the main thing, and they're still trying to win around Jokic, but I think they can be doing more. They can certainly be spending more. And that's kind of been the story for the Nuggets since they win the championship. It's been all financial moves since then rather than basketball moves necessarily.

[Tas Melis]

And they have that opportunity now, turning a $40 million player and Michael Porter Jr. Into a $20 million player. In Cam Johnson, they have that opportunity. You only spent a vet minimum on Bruce Brown. We'll see what they do otherwise.

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[Tas Melis]

Moving on we're coming here to Atlanta, a local team Nikhil Alexander Walker signing with The Atlanta Hawks 4 years $62 million what do you think about not joining the Atlanta Hawks bench? Trey I'm benching him. I'm already benching him. I shouldn't say that immediately.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, it's hard to tell. Yeah, 15 and a half million dollars. Average annual value. He starts at 27 years old, so basically the Hawks are going to be paying him through his prime years. You got to love that.

[Tas Melis]

Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

Also they use the trade exception. Trade exceptions hardly ever get used in the NBA, but the Hawks actually found a way to use it. They're getting a secondary ball handler and to kill Alexander Walker. He's obviously a good defensive player as well and then a good three point shooter. I think he had an up and down playoffs but had some good moments for sure for the Timberwolves there. It is a question mark though. Like is he going to start? I don't really know because he's a better offensive player I think than Dyson Daniels and Zach Re Shashay. I think if you're like slotting the defenders up between those three, it would go Daniels and then Nikhil Alexander Walker and then Recessey probably he is smaller than both of them. So I think you're probably choosing between Daniels and Nikhil Alexander Walker. But Daniels just had such an awesome season, most improved player, all defense kind of guy. Perhaps Nikhil Alexander Walker starts at small forward for Zachary Shachet, but I doubt that's the case. So more than likely you're right. He's coming off the bench and this would be an awesome defensive substitution and awesome backcourt rotation because like we've been talking with the Hawks since the Porzingis trade, they need somebody else to come and handle the ball. And I think Nikhil Alexander Walker, if he ends up being the third guard for the Hawks is a big time upgrade over Caris Levert who did decent in his little stint here in his let in Atlanta. So I like the Hawks seeing Nikhil Alexander Walker actually come available after the Randle and Reid deals for Minnesota and striking while using the assets that they have available. So to be able to get him for a second round pick and pay him a pretty good contract like you're not going to. You're not breaking the bank at 16 million per season. But that's nice for Nikhil Alexander Walker. It's a nice bump for him. So I think good stuff for Atlanta and Onsysale here.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, Ansysale killing it so far with the move on draft day to get probably the more favorable draft pick next year of the Bucks or the Pelicans, whoever's worst, that's their pick. Now it's not necessarily going to be an incredible pick. We'll see about that. But to go along with Chris A.P.S. porzingis and now Nikhil Alexander Walker and another move that they made we'll get to it looks incredibly solid, especially because you know that they're building around Trae Young. These are the type of guys to pair with Trae Young to be on ball defenders and in NA and Dyson Daniels, who was awesome last year, doesn't look like Trae Young is going anywhere. They've just built so many type of guys around Trae Young. Zachary Reese Sachet and his length, Jalen Johnson and his length. I mean they could do different things. And so when I say he's coming off the bench maybe and maybe not maybe you start him alongside Dyson Daniels and Trae Young and Zachary Reese sashay can be your 4. He's only 20 years old. I see those videos of him working out.

[Trey Kirby]

He's sending Jalen Johnson to the bench.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah. Just in random situations. No, he's not going to jail. Johnson's not coming off the bench, but he's got to be able to play on the floor. I'm just saying that there's multiple things that they can do. Like Chris Stops can start at the five and there are lineups where AK and Kongwu can start beside him and Jalen Johnson can play the three. I mean there are so many things and there's so many ball handlers, as you said. Now With NA and Dyson Daniels, who got better at that as being the secondary ball handler. And Jalen Johnson is a damn good ball handler. Now they lose Karris Lavert, which we'll get to, who was a good ball handler and a decent guy. But Mikhail Alexander Walker, a very, very good player in his prime here, as you said, it's, it's a no lose situation. And for him, he gets three years guaranteed plus a player option in year number four. So it's good money for him as well. The Hawks just seem like this team that's can throw all these arms at you to go around Trey Young. Excuse me, with Trey there in your back court, you need incredible defenders around him. Every single one of these guys I mentioned can play D, so they've just got an incredibly good team beside them. They just, they go big, they go small. As I said, it's nice to see Trey Young not getting all those rumors, oh, he's going to be gone now. He's going to be there at the, at the very least for this next season. I guess things can go, things can go bad. But Trae Young by all accounts is in the, you know, the back end of things being vocal about who he wants. And Nikhil Alexander was a guy he wanted. And you could just tell if you throw Nikhil Alexander Walker out there with Trae Young and Dyson Daniels again, the other team is going to have trouble bringing up the ball up the floor. This is a very, very good couple guys to throw out there with Trae Young.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I do think Recesse is probably getting squeezed a little bit with this deal, but that's fine. The Hawks have a lot of depth and the Trey Young piece of it is interesting because this is a well built team around Trey Young, as we're seeing, they got backup ball handlers that they need. We'll get to canard in a second here, but like even that guy can run a pick and roll at in a pinch if you need. So they have addressed their backup creation, which I think is an issue for the Hawks. Their defense has gotten a lot better. So Trey Young has this season under contract. He's got, I believe, a player option for next year, so he's extension eligible. But like you're saying, if things go poorly for the Hawks this season, imagine Porzingis just isn't able to stay healthy on the court. All of these guys take a step back and the team somehow finishes, you know, like 43 wins. Not the big jump that everybody's expecting, you know, they won 40 this season, but right now it feels like this team should be a top four playoff team in the East. Let's say it all goes perfectly wrong for the Hawks and they don't really reach the heights that everybody's expecting here on July 1st. They can still trade Trey Young next season, right? And then they had Nikhil Alexander, Walker, Dyson Daniels in town, Recessey Johnson, whatever they would decide to do with Porzingis, who's on expiring deal as well. They're still outs for Atlanta, especially since they did that deal for the Pelicans slash Bucks pick, which the Bucks side of things is looking nicer and nicer as the off season goes on. The Hawks are doing a good job of going for it with Trey and probably giving him his last chance and his best built team around him. But if it goes poorly, there's still ways to pivot and have a future in Atlanta, which I don't think was the case after the first Dejounte Murray trade when they traded a bunch of first round picks and first round swaps to the Spurs. Things are looking more and more stable in Atlanta and the team looks a lot better as well.

[Tas Melis]

Oh absolutely. It didn't look good when they trade for Dejounte Murray. When you turn around for Dejounte Murray going out for Dyson Daniels and a first round pick, things are getting better and better as, as we've said, including that first round pick which may be Milwaukee's first round pick next season. So you're saying that it could be incredible for Atlanta because Milwaukee and what they've done so far this off season ain't looking all that good. Yeah, yeah, that's possible for sure.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. They're down two starters so far. Lillard out for the season, Lopez is a Clipper. If Giannis misses 40 games, the Bucs pick is going to be in the same realm as the Pelicans, I believe.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it's the other way. If Giannis is playing like because he's Giannis, that's the, the they're going to win games because he's Yannis at Akubo. So it's going to be like a, you know, a middle of the pack type of draft pick.

[Trey Kirby]

The Pelicans is more likely to be the one that conveys to the Hawks for sure. But like I think that it would be when they did the trade, I think you would say 90, 10, it's going to be the Pelicans picks going to the Hawks now maybe like 75, 25 pelicans over bucks, but we'll see.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I, I do. I'm interested to see what John Horse in the front office with the Bucks.

[Trey Kirby]

Do they got nothing they can do?

[Tas Melis]

No, no. In terms of Giannis's playing. And maybe they just say, hey, let's just get super bad. If we can manage to get a pick here and there. Just to be able to say, Janice, just sit. We just want you to sit. Now. I say that and they've given away. They can't do basically their picks.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

And they're giving up.

[Trey Kirby]

Is going to the Hawks.

[Tas Melis]

It's likely going to the Hawks. Yeah. If they, if they are super bad. Yeah. But maybe they can. That's, that's the, that's the conversation right now is let's trade Yannis out so we get our pick back to the Hawks. Yeah, well. Yes, yes. Yeah, they are.

[Trey Kirby]

They want Jalen Johnson. That might be the best player they could get back for Giannis at this point. So, I mean, that's definitely interesting. It's for the Hawks too, right? Like, they've positioned themselves to at least be in the Yana Soup sweepstakes if it ever opens up.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, they have. It would be Jalen Johnson. It would be getting their pick back. And yeah, I guess I say that back. I say sit Giannis. I take that all back because really, they, they can't at, at this point with the way the trades have gone. Yeah, they gotta go get their pick back somehow if they want to sit Giannis to be bad. But here we are here. Yanis is in. In July here. This is the exact same team that the Milwaukee Bucks are gonna run back that they had last year, minus Brook Lopez, obviously, minus Damian Lillard, but it is Giannis. They're just gonna be a. There's gonna be a fine. They're gonna be a fine team. They can't be bad, they can't be good at this point. Anyways, we'll get into the Yanis talks a little bit later. Sticking with the Hawks, they made one other deal. Signing Luke Kennard one year, $11 million for Big Luke, the active leader and three point percentage in the. In NBA history. That's pretty solid to say, hey, we've got that guy, if you're a numbers geek. 43.8 for his career. Again, active leader of anybody in the NBA. They got him off the bench. He's definitely coming off the bench. Luke to the Hawks. What do you think?

[Trey Kirby]

This is the first Hawks move that I wasn't like, oh, man, Onsi killed it. But then I thought about It I was like NC kind of killed it here. He's giving you the three point shooting. A big portion of the reason that Canard shoots so well is because he only takes wide open shots. Because it takes him forever to shoot a three. He just doesn't have a very quick release. But when he shoots it, it usually is going in. Like we mentioned earlier, he can handle the ball for a second unit. He can create for a second unit, though Nikhil Alexander Walker will do some of that as well. So I think that is a nice pairing of those two coming off the bench. Plus Luke Kennard right now is on an $11 million contract he just signed with the Hawks. Becomes expiring immediately. Teams are always interested in shooting, though that was the case last year and the Grizzlies weren't able to trade him at all. However, the Hawks, if they wanted to, could include that New Orleans/Bucks first round pick for 2026, $11 million expiring contract on a shooter who can help other teams. Plus a valuable pick that could bring back a real player for the Hawks if they decide in February they want to beef up even more. So good stuff once again from Atlanta. They turned Bogdan Bogdanovich and DeAndre Hunter into Terrence Mann, George Niang and Karis Leverton. Then they turned those guys plus the 22 pick into Porzingis. Nikhil Alexander Walker, Luke Kennard, the 23 pick, which turned into Ace and Newell. And this pick in 2026 from the Pelicans are the Bucs. So they got better players and they got better assets. And it's been one week since this guy has been on the job. A perfect start to his tenure with the Hawks. Let's see what they look like when they're actually on the court together. Yeah, it looks nice right now though. So I'm feeling optimistic for Atlanta here.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, being a local guy here, it's the most positive that you can be watching this front office do their thing in years, in a very long time, in probably a decade. I mean, they did some good things right before they went to the conference finals in 2020. That was a good year. But Ansi Soleil has done extremely well. It does matter if they can play. And so Kristaps Wording is a very good basketball player. But will we see him on the floor for a long time this year to be determined? We will. We will see if he can play. That being said, they can throw out so many different lineups. Like they do have other capable bigs now with Kongwu, Jalen Johnson and Zachary Rich sachet, who's only 20, is only going to get better. So it just seems like they've built up some depth. They do have a bunch of guys here in Atlanta. Now. Luke Canard, yes, he's. He's a shooter. And when he was drafted way, long ago with the Detroit Pistons, he was supposed to be a creator. And he. And I think he is a pretty good creator coming off the bench to some degree. You could see the assist numbers there with Memphis. And he's. He's decent at that. And so saying goodbye to Kara Slivert, I think is. Is totally okay considering all these guys that can now put the ball on the floor. I think Canard can do that a little bit, along with Nikhil Alexander Walker and Trey and Dyson Daniels. It goes on and on and on. Now, he's not an incredible defender. If there's anybody in that rotation that's not a good defender along with Trey Young, it's this guy. But they just don't have many bad defenders. So I don't think you're going to see too much Luke Canard with Trey Young. He's just going to be this guy who comes off the bench while Trey is sitting, probably. But they have a bunch of guys. He's obviously a good shooter, as we've said. So, yeah, it seems like $11 million for only one year. Why. Why does it seem a little high? I guess, But Lucanard's probably saying this is a contract year for me and he's going to try and get paid again in a year. And Ansysale does a very good job here of not saying or not paying a bunch of guys for a long term where he can still keep things flexible in 12 months.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, exactly. Right. Like we were talking about with Trey earlier, if things go bad, they're still outs here, and that includes Canard's contract being up at the end of the year. I think Canard makes more sense to this team after the Nikhil Alexander Walker move than Caris LeVert would have. So we'll see if he actually decides to shoot and if he does, cool.

[Tas Melis]

All right, let's move on to what feels like kind of the end of an era with the Milwaukee Bucks. Basically, Everybody from the 2020 championship team, besides Giannis leaving Brooke Lopez is going to 21. Did I say yes? Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

2020 was.

[Tas Melis]

That was a good Lakers. 2020. 2021. Yeah, I'll say. Both years. Are we done saying both years now? In terms of an NBA season, it feels like People are now going to the. In the 2021 year.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, they never used the first year. Like you said, the 2020 champions. If you say that, people know it's the Lakers. Yeah, but I mean, I think. Yes. I think the, the 2020 of it makes it a little confused using.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I just mean in terms of.

[Trey Kirby]

You would say that the Thunder were the 25 champions.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That's happening more than it used to happen.

[Trey Kirby]

Sure.

[Tas Melis]

And it feels better. I mean, it's just. It's easier to. To reference that. It does feel better. Brook Lopez leaving the Milwaukee Bucks agreeing with the Los Angeles clippers to a two year, $18 million deal. Chris Middleton gone. Brook Lopez gone. Drew Holiday gone. Kind of an end of the era in, in Milwaukee. But what do you think about Brook definitely coming off the bench in Los Angeles now?

[Trey Kirby]

I think this is a good get for the Clippers. They needed size off the bench. They've shuffled through guys in the past couple of seasons as Zubots has gotten better and better. They still have small ball, five options. But Brook Lopez at only $9 million a year, that's a really good price for a backup center. And he's going to be a good one. He plays defense similarly to Zubots. I think Zubots is probably a little bit more switchable, but both in general would like to play drop coverage. So not going to have to be a lot of scheme change for the Clippers. But Lopez definitely gives you different offensive style than Zubots does. Zubots is a pick and roll player, predominantly also a decent post player. Lopez can post up, but the guy's going to pop threes, which I think is a nice curveball for the Clippers to add. It's also only a 40 minute drive from the Intuit Dome to Disneyland, which surely had to factor into Brook Lope, his choices here. So I think this is a win for LA to be able to pick up Lopez on pretty decent contract for a backup center. Two years, 18 million. That's what guys are going for right now. And that was an area of need for la.

[Tas Melis]

The Disney discount.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right.

[Tas Melis]

As our man John Hollinger put it, yeah, two years, 18 is nothing. This is the first time he's coming off the bench forever. He does play a lot of games which kind of doesn't go talked about about Brook Lopez, but he's here to be that backup to guard. Jokic I think would help. He would be. He would have been big in that series. Clippers Nuggets instead of Ben Simmons or Nicola Batum just to throw out there against Jokic and to stretch him at the other end because he's, he's out there. So that would have helped a little bit. Yes. A smart move, I think, for, for the Los Angeles Clippers. Now they're old.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes. Yeah. But this is a backup center.

[Tas Melis]

That's right.

[Trey Kirby]

That's the good thing. They've got a starting center who is actually their Jokic stopper in Zubots. He's their main guy and he's one of the better Jokic defenders. Now Jokic is going to put up a 30 point triple double on him every single night, but he might have.

[Tas Melis]

To work for it.

[Trey Kirby]

So I think that Lopez, this is nice. You want him as a backup center at this point in his career. He just can't function as well if he's having to sprint up and down the court for 30 minutes a game. So if they're able to get him 20 minutes a game, playing his tempo, his style, that's good for la.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. And he still alters shots back there. But yes, the, the Clippers, again, they're just getting older and older and older. Although they do have some financial flexibility going forward because of that incredible contract they've got for Vita Zubots. It's so cheap to go along with Kawhi and James Harden. Will they bring Norman Powell back or will they go get another starting guard to. To help out in replacement of Chris Dunn potentially, because you're going to see Harden, Kawhi, Zubots. Those are your locking locked in as you're starting Big three. We'll see what they can do. They've got some depth. You got an announcement for us?

[Trey Kirby]

Shay Gilgis Alexander just signed a four year, $285 million super maximum contract extension with the Thunder through 20, 30, 31. Richest annual salary for a player in league history. You think he deserves it? I mean, he just won finals. Mvp. Mvp. The scoring title and a championship. But does he deserve it?

[Tas Melis]

Does he deserve $71 million per season? Wow. Yeah. So that would be the most ever.

[Trey Kirby]

That's the most ever?

[Tas Melis]

Yes. Yes, yes. Is it single season?

[Trey Kirby]

Yes. That's the most.

[Tas Melis]

That's the most ever. Although it could be topped soon. Apparently Devin Booker could be signed to a max contract. He was very soon earlier. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Right. So he gets a little bump, but yeah, this is awesome. At what? At some point, Shay Gilgis Alexander is going to be making a million dollars per game.

[Tas Melis]

It's very, very, pretty much. Very, very close. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Paid for how long do you think that Phone call took Sam Presti and SGA's agent negotiating his contract after just having the best season in Thunder history and one of the greatest guard seasons we've seen since Michael Jordan. Five seconds.

[Tas Melis]

About five seconds. I guess he calls his agent and says, I could make more money if I hold off until next year. Right. I think. And now if I'm doing. I'm doing the, the front office CBA thing because it's two years. He's under contract. He's signing a four year extension. If he waits till next year, can he sign a five year deal or wait two, two years to sign a five year deal? That's worth more. Whatever. I'm being a loser about numbers, about how much he's getting paid per game. Yes. It took two seconds.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[Tas Melis]

To say, hello.

[Trey Kirby]

Cool.

[Tas Melis]

Sign me.

[Trey Kirby]

Nice.

[Tas Melis]

That's a lot of money. Sign me. All right.

[Trey Kirby]

Two contract extensions since being traded to the Thunder. The first one was like, ooh, are you so sure you want to? And he told Andrew Schlecht, yeah, we're going to win and it's not going to take very long. And he was right.

[Tas Melis]

It's worked out very well. Congrats to Shay Gilders Alexander. Are we going to say congrats to the Houston Rockets for this signing? They signed Clint Capella, which was an interesting move because they have a lot of centers already. Alperin Chengun is there, Stephen Adams is there. And now they got a third one. Three years, $21.5 million for Clint Capella to be their third center.

[Trey Kirby]

I suppose sometimes second center. I would say that that's kind of the move here. Shout out to Mo Verni. It's going to be a long season. You better stock up on centers because now they've got three, basically. In Shen, who was an all star last season, Steven Adams, they did the deal for him three years. 39.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Is that what he ended up paying? That's too much now that I think about it. Especially when they signed capella to a 7 million per year deal for three years. You're talking $20 million for your backup center. Brook Lopez just went for $9 million as a backup center. So that's kind of weird. But the Rockets are definitely committed to the double big lineup, which we saw have success for them during the regular season and especially during the playoffs. And of course, they've got to go up against Nikola Jokic. So it helps to have different sets of guys to throw against him. Because when you're looking at specifically Rockets versus Nuggets, I think you would say biggest advantage is Jokic over the centers for the Rockets there. So Capella And Adams, both 31 years old, you probably want to limit how often they have to play and how many minutes they have to play. So like, literally, if they wanted, it could be Clint Capella, you're the backup center for tonight. Steven Adams, you're the backup center for tonight. And then just switch every other game if they want to get Those guys the 41 games. But Rockets are a huge team now. That's like they've got these three guys at center. Jabari Smith Jr. Can play small ball five. Kevin Durant can play small ball five. Dorian Finney, Smith can play small ball five. They've got a lot of options there. So I think it was a little weird to invest this much in Capella, but maybe he comes in handy if Adams goes down with an injury or something like that. And you still want to have that double big option.

[Tas Melis]

Totally. You're right about the, the length of a season and just being able to throw guys at Nikola jokic like those 2020 champion Lakers did when they threw out, you know, Dwight, here you go. Javale McGee, here you go. Just basically to bang Nikola Jokic now, do you have to do that to have three guys? I mean, it does sound like a lot and, and how big this team is. Shangun, Adam Scopella at your center. Jabari Smith, Dorian Finney, Smith, you can call them your power forwards. Amen Thompson, Tari Eason, Kevin Durant there at the small forward. Or maybe Kevin Durant's going to go back to his Seattle Sonics days in his rookie year where he's playing shooting guard with P.J. carlissimo. I mean, this team is huge. I guess they do lack a little bit of ball handling. Fred Van Vliet, their number one ball handler, all good there. Otherwise, his backup guards, Reed shepherd, who barely didn't play last year, and Cam Whitmore to go along with. With Kevin Durant, they have Aaron Holiday. That's who they got to be a ball handler. So maybe they go and get another one just to round out the roster in terms of rotation. But you are going to see a lot of length from Ime Udoka, that's for sure. Is Capella at three years a little bit too much money and length, I guess. I mean, he is past his best days, but at 7 million, what's strict, what's really going to be a third center? I guess it's totally fine if he's not.

[Trey Kirby]

No, that's a Lot of money for a third center.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I guess, but they can afford. How can they afford it?

[Trey Kirby]

Well, they're probably gonna, they're either gonna cut Jock Landale or find a way to trade Cam Whitmore to afford it. Really. And then they're giving these longer deals. Like three years is kind of a lot for Capella. He's kind of looked washed here in Atlanta. He's 31 years old. Four years is a long contract for Dorian Finney Smith. But you give these older players that kind of security and that's why they're on the Rockets and not on the Lakers.

[Tas Melis]

Right. Just. Just a bit of a, of a payday here. I mean, yes, depth wise, he, he probably isn't going to play a lot. He's going to play as much as Jock Landale did last year. But it is a pay savings than what Jock was getting.

[Trey Kirby]

But yeah, it was not a good contract.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, they did.

[Trey Kirby]

I was a Landale Dale for a second there. But Capela is better than Landale is.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And when you saw him go out there as a, a backup with the Atlanta Hawks, he was capable still. He still is capable when took over the starting type minutes. So they have an incredible, incredible roster. Would you throw them close to the OKC sphere of things?

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, definitely. I. As of right now, I mean, they finished number two in the west, so not a hot take, but I think Rockets are the biggest competition to the Thunder going into next season.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I totally agree.

[Trey Kirby]

The other takeaway I had for this is once Lopez went to the Clippers and Capella went to the Rockets, it's like all sights are set on deandre Ayton going to the Lakers. I guess they probably just got to figure out the contract for him. But as of right now, the Lakers don't really have a starting center and they need a starting center going forward. So I have to imagine that there are some serious conversations going on there.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, there aren't a lot of bigs that are available. Obviously Miles Turner's still available, but the Lakers can't afford that. That ain't going to happen. So it does feel like DeAndre is going to be there. We talked about him yesterday on our our free agency podcast as the time ticked down that DeAndre could be there in Los Angeles. He ain't the best fit for a Luka Doncic run offense because he wants to hang out in the mid range. He doesn't want to be a just roll to the rim and do a Derek Lively or that type of thing. So we'll see how he works out there. But we will see on on Wednesday at 5pm that's when Deandre Ayton becomes available to sign. Sure. Seems like he'll be a Laker emergency podcast. Of course not. We won't be doing an emergency for for deandre Ayton, the number one pick a mere seven years ago. We'll see what he can do. If he can, he could just rehab his career in Los Angeles. I guess there's a chance.

[Trey Kirby]

There's a chance.

[Tas Melis]

There is a chance. Moving on to centers who got paid Lou cornette got paid four years and $41 million. Sounds like a lot for Lou Cornett. Obviously going to be the backup. What's your take for Luke Cornett going to the Spurs?

[Trey Kirby]

I like it. You know, I think he's going to be a backup big for the Spurs. So $10 million a year, that's pretty fair as we're seeing with these other deals around the league. Can he play alongside Victor Wembanyama a little bit? Probably double. Big lineups are becoming more and more common. Wemby likes to shoot from outside, so the role is still there for Cornet. He has abandoned the three point shot since leaving Chicago when Jim Boylan was trying to turn him into Robert Ori. But it does feel like a this is a bit of an overpay, but I think a valid overpay for the Spurs. Cornette can play. He seems like a fun guy to have around, like a good locker room guy as well. He's not going to threaten Wemby minutes wise. Perhaps they can share the court a little bit together. So you know, they've wanted another big since doing the Zach Collins trade at the deadline last year. And I think Cornett is a better player than Collins. I don't necessarily know that I'm going to want to pay in $10 million a year when he's 34 years old. But the spurs have money. Their books are pretty clean. They don't have big contracts on their ledger right now outside of Deer and Fox. And I guess Vassell got paid as well. Maybe Calvin Johnson, but I don't know if he's a long termer there. So the spurs can afford it right now at the very least.

[Tas Melis]

Watching Luke Cornett in the playoffs with the Celtics and then seeing this contract, you'd think, oh, this is a perfect match. I mean he played well in the playoffs. He was bouncing around defensively. But it is that old question. Can the guy stay healthy? He's turning 30 in a couple weeks. Happy early birthday to Lou Cornett. But he's going to be 34 at the end of this thing. And he hasn't played a ton in his career. He played 18.6 minutes this past season, the highest of his NBA career. So it is a question of whether or not he'll be out there. But he's a very, very skilled player. And you look at the stats when he's out there. He is. He's a super efficient. And if he can bounce around defensively. Yeah. And he. He makes sense whether or not he's playing with Wemby or not. He can just be their backup center and that's it. I guess. He's the Zach Collins replacement there. And Luke Cornett has shown that he's a better player than Zach Collins when he's out there. Four years, 41 sounds kind of high. But in today's NBA, gotta have a backup center. Yeah. And a good one.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[Tas Melis]

And you also need to have a starting point guard. And that's what the Dallas mavericks got from D' Angelo Russell. Signing there two years, $13 million sounds like nothing for D' Angelo Russell. Six and a half per year. They just needed somebody with Kyrie Irving out. And they got it.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, exactly right. The price is right for D' Angelo Russell here. They're paying him basically $6 million with a player option next season. So if he has a good year, he can go into free agency next season, which is probably beneficial to the Mavericks as well. You would like to have d' Angelo Russell playing during a contract year, so I think that's kind of smart. His best run offensively was playing alongside Anthony Davis with the Lakers. Now LeBron James is also on the court there, so that definitely helps. But at the very least, there's some familiarity between AD and d' Angelo Russell. You would also, if you're a Mavericks fan, point to Russell and AD being a part of a decent defense. In 2324, they were like middle of the pack. Obviously the Mavericks have their sights set higher than middle of the pack, but maybe the rest of the defensive talent around the Mavericks can mitigate Russell's weaknesses in that area. They need him to chuck threes. The Mavericks are a low three point shooting team. After the Luka Doncic trade. Kyrie Irving is going to be out for the majority of the season. They're bringing in a rookie and Cooper flag. They're bringing in Anthony Davis for a full season. This is a team that needs some perimeter creation. So chuck threes if You're d' Angelo Russell and don't kill us until Kyrie Irving comes back. At which point Kyrie moves into the starting lineup and Russell becomes a decent guy off the bench, which is probably where he's best suited at this point in his career at only $6 million. Like the Mavericks didn't have a ton of options, I probably would have went for. Chris Paul would be the guy that I would have preferred. Maybe he didn't want to be a maverick, though. So d' Angelo Russell is a fine save after the Kyrie Irving injury, I.

[Tas Melis]

Think, and he's an improvement on what they had besides Kyrie Irving last year when they were healthy. They had Dante Axum, really, as their other guard who may not be back this season. So it is an improvement. Miko Harrison, making magic happen.

[Trey Kirby]

Fortune favors the bold task.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, they're. They're bowling it up. And hopefully Kyrie Irving comes back at some point in the regular season. He's going to be out for the calendar year of 2025. It feels like he's going to be back early 2026. So a couple, a couple months of D' Angelo Russell as your starting guard who was starting last year with the Los Angeles Lakers. Yeah, it's, it's, it's totally decent. I got the Chris Paul thing, but d' Angelo Russell can ball and can score, obviously, so if he goes to your bench afterwards, after Kyrie's back, it's all good.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[Tas Melis]

Six and a half sounds cheap.

[Trey Kirby]

That's very cheap.

[Tas Melis]

So, I mean, Russell. Yeah, he'll get paid again whether or not he wants to do it next season because he has a player option for that second year or wait for two more years. It's all up to him. I guess he may be a little upset. All I got was six and a half. I mean, I guess there just weren't many, many suitors saying, hey, we'll pay you 15 million or pay more. Or he wants to win in Dallas, go back with. I say win because I figure that they'll be decent. Or go back with Anthony Davis. I don't know what the idea there is for d' Angel Russell, but I guess he didn't have suitors.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he didn't have suitors. The Nets were the team with the most cap space. His previous team now, at this point, they drafted a million point guards, so obviously they don't want Russell as their development piece going forward. I guess he could have, like, hopped on with the Clippers in the same sort of a deal. Perhaps something cheap but probably the most opportunity for him is in Dallas and the best chance to kind of rehab his value and his image around the league. You play with this team, they make you look serviceable on defense. You help lead Dallas to, I mean they're dreaming at the 6 seed right now. I think would be a goal for Dallas and if that plays out, they get Kyrie Irving back. Maybe they get a favorable matchup in the first round, put a scare into a team. Who knows. If everything clicks right, d' Angelo Russell could perhaps get a bump on the salary next season if he decides to decline his player option. So I think Dallas and d' Angelo Russell probably making the most of a bad situation.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, you mentioned the Clippers there. That's somebody that's going to have to get a guard and whether it's Chris Paul or Malcolm Brogdon or something like that, I'm sure we'll see that happen over the next couple days. We'll be back on Thursday to talk about every single teeny tiny deal.

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[Tas Melis]

We got a decent deal here for Ty Jerome. We should get to Ty Jerome, who was balling in the playoffs, was dropping shots in for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was balling for, you know, something?

[Trey Kirby]

He wasn't balling in the playoffs.

[Tas Melis]

Well, he was scoring. He had some big scoring nights. Some big scoring nights.

[Trey Kirby]

The guy just. He was a great regular season player last year. I actually the, the playoffs left a poor taste in my mouth.

[Tas Melis]

He had bad moments. He had bad moments.

[Trey Kirby]

He was pretty bad in the second round and he was a target defensively.

[Tas Melis]

But that's the thing.

[Trey Kirby]

He's making less than $10 million, so it's hard to get upset about anything. The Grizzlies need guard depth. Ja Morant misses huge chunks of time every season. Scottie Pippen Jr. I think is a good player, but it's nice to have options. They're saying goodbye to Cole Anthony. I do think Ty Jerome can probably play alongside John Morant and some smaller lineups for the Grizzlies, but good stuff, you know, like I said, three years, $24 million. You're living with that everywhere.

[Tas Melis]

He was making some headlines in the playoffs when he was dropping. What, he dropped 21 against the Pacers in game one. He was helping out then they show that he, he just doesn't want to play defense. I mean they, they were really exploiting him through the rest of that playoff series, he had a 28 point game in round number one when they destroyed the Heat. And so he was making headlines. I had people texting me yesterday saying, Tiger Rome at 9 million a season, that's nothing. Because he was making, making those headlines. Now coming off the bench for the Memphis Grizzlies, he's going to score, but he can be exploited defensively. And that's why the Cavs were okay saying, we'll go with Lonzo Ball that they went and acquired because he's going to be solid defensively and he's going to keep moving that basketball. And Ty Jerome, you know, he wants to put it upon himself and score. So it seems like it's a cheap deal for a guy who can, can drop whatever you need him to drop. He can score.

[Trey Kirby]

He could score last year. I mean, he's got, he's had one good year in the NBA and he's getting paid off of it. So good for him. But he, I think he scored 21 in game one against that Pacer series and then 19 the rest of the series total.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

So I like, like Ty Jerome, he can be good again next year, but you got to have two good years to prove to me that you're actually going to be a reliable player.

[Tas Melis]

Well, we shall see what he does with the Memphis Grizzlies. Moving on to a guy who started the season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, ended up being trade here to Atlanta. Now he's going to Detroit. Caris Lavert, two years, $29 million for Caris LeVert. What's your take on that?

[Trey Kirby]

This is too much for Caris lebert. This is the first one that I'm kind of like, oh, I don't know if I would have done that. He's their Schroeder replacement. Schroeder is pretty solid for the Pistons after coming over midway through the season. So I think decent insurance there, like Caris Lavert is kind of like the perfect replacement level bench guy. He can handle the ball. He's not a great defensive player. Some games he'll have 20 points off the bench, some games will have four points off the bench. If I'm the Pistons, I would certainly rather have Malik Beasley on a deal like this. But that guy's underneath federal investigation right now. So I think this was kind of a scramble for the Pistons to get Karis Levert. You know, Jaden Ivey's got to be coming back. That guy's going to be a big second unit ball handler because Cade Cunningham is The number one guy you want shooting around Cade Cunningham, which is why Beasley is definitely preferable for the Pistons. Circumstances have changed, however. So nice of Charis Levert or nice for Charis Levert to get paid here. Not my favorite move for Detroit, but they needed to make a move and with the Beasley situation in flux, I guess this is the best they could do.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, the Beasley situation has changed things there and they let go Dennis Schroeder who was finishing games with Kate Cunningham beside him and was playing really, really well. I think Carol can replace that. I think he's good enough to do that. I know he doesn't. He didn't get a lot of storylines or didn't do a lot with the Atlanta Hawks, but I think he's, he's a good, solid player who can create for others. And, and you look at Kate Cunningham, you think we just want three point shooters around him and I suppose that that's true. You want Malik Beasley out there and if he's not, get another shooter. Why would you get Carousel Verd if he's not that type of guy? He's more of a. I'm going to create for myself. But I think he, he did show even when he started the season under Kenny Atkins's offense with Cleveland. He's a good playmaker. I think he's, he's developed that in his NBA career. So I think this is a fine, fine contract. And yes, it was probably an emergency. We need somebody other than the guy who's being federally investigated. Very. That is an odd scenario that was supposed to be replaced by a contract from the Detroit business. He was supposed to get a contract and this is all happening. So here we are July 1st and he has not signed. So we will keep an eye on that.

[Trey Kirby]

Who would you rather have? Caris Levert at $14 million or Jordan Clarkson at veteran minimum? Clarkson.

[Tas Melis]

Nah.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, 14 mil, I guess.

[Tas Melis]

That's a lot of money.

[Trey Kirby]

That's what they paid him.

[Tas Melis]

I know they did. They did. I mean, he's a. He's still a good player. He's still, he can still. He's not going to be a ball stopper. He's not. He, he was decent at creating for others. Jordan Clarkson can't do that.

[Trey Kirby]

Sure.

[Tas Melis]

So, yeah, I know. If you're comparing a veteran.

[Trey Kirby]

Lavert's not a ball mover.

[Tas Melis]

He can be.

[Trey Kirby]

No, he. No, he's not a ball mover. He can create off the dribble. Yeah, Others, but he's not a ball mover. This Is a weird signing to me. I don't think that the Pistons needed this type of player. They're going to have to figure out their deal for Tim Hardaway Jr. Who now has to become Malik Beasley. We'll figure, we'll see what happens with Beasley, but he was vital to their team, so I don't know. This is just unusual. I think you can find a player like LeVert anytime. There are so many of these guys. Colin Sexton just got traded to the Hornets. Same exact kind of guy. Jordan Clarkson on a way cheaper deal for the Knicks. Fourteen and a half million. It's. It's weird for Caris Levert. The guy hasn't. The guy hasn't made a difference for any team.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, that's. That's fine. I think he was good. With the Cavs off their bench, I think he's.

[Trey Kirby]

They traded. They said we need an upgrade.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, they went to a different, totally different position to say DeAndre Hunter. We need height. And that was, that was the move that they got. But I will say Carol can replace what Dennis Schroeder did. I mean, they need. They need another ball handler to make things happen. Dennis Schroeder again, was. Was a guy that they desperately needed in Detroit and he again, he was finishing games. So we'll see what he can do there with the Detroit Pistons. You want to bounce around?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, let's bounce, buddy.

[Tas Melis]

Jordan Clarkson, as you said, let's just start. We'll just get that one out of the way. Minimum deal with the New York Knicks to come off the bench. Nothing wrong with that for a guy who can score.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep. They were playing a campaign as their backup point guard in the biggest moments against the Indiana Pacers. So I think this is good.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Not that Clarkson has really proven anything recently. Like, you think back, man, this guy was a recent six man of the year winner. That was five years ago at this point that he was. But who knows? He's a decent option on a veteran. Minimum.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, you had a couple good year a couple years ago with the Jazz, but last year was incredibly bad and he was injured. We'll see if he can add anything at that. Cheap. You give it a shot. Let's go to Tyus Jones joining the Orlando Magic one year, $7 million to be their backup point guard. What do you think of that?

[Trey Kirby]

Tyus Jones as a backup. I love it. Tyus Jones as a starter, not good. So him as a backup I think is good. Like I said on yesterday's show, I would like to see Jason Richard or Jace Richardson, sorry, get the opportunity as the backup point guard. But Tyus Jones is really solid and steady, so I think a $7 million deal, that's good. He was on a veteran minimum with the Suns the last season, so a pay bump for him. And at the very least, he's a professional guy who's gonna make wide open three pointers. That guy is a ball mover. Tyus Jones, he loves to move the ball. He doesn't love to go inside. So I think if things worked out perfectly for the Magic, Tyus Jones would be their third point guard behind Suggs as the starter, and then either Anthony Black or Jace Richardson would be the backup. But more than likely it's going to be Tyus Jones with Anthony Black kind of like in the one two. And they're waiting for Jace Richardson, who's a shorty and a young guy to develop before he really has a big role, which is a bummer if you think he's the steal of the draft like I do. But you know, the Magic want to win now. If they don't want to win in three seasons, they do.

[Tas Melis]

And that's why they go and get this veteran type of guy who has some history playing with Desmond Bain in Memphis. And if you look some of those lineups, you know when John Morant was out or when Ty Jones was just playing with Desmond Bain, some really good numbers where he was just. Yeah, exactly what he, what you said, moving the ball. He's a traditional type of point guard and they want to be good and he'll be outside shooting the three ball and letting your bank arrows, your Franzes work in the mid range to give them more space than what they had last year. Yeah, he's a really good three point shooter, so that seems like a smart move. Get to quick signing here.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. New deal alert from Sham's free agent center Gershon Yabuzeli has agreed to a two year, $12 million contract with the Knicks, has a player option for season two. This is a good deal for the next $6 million for Yabu, who is pretty solid on the Sixers last year. But after they drafted Joe Ni Broom, the writing was kind of on the wall for Yabu Saleh. The Knicks are a team like we're talking about that needed depth and at the very least, I think Yabuzeli is a good depth piece. He can probably play along Carl Anthony Towns in a pinch if they need to start him for some reason. But I think a different player definitely than precious Achua But I think at least a minor upgrade probably.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. And in desperate situations where Mitch Robinson is hurt, Gershon Yabaselli can fill in. I mean, you mentioned you said the. The position backup center or you said signed center. I should say. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't think of him as a.

[Tas Melis]

Center, but I guess he will be in New York. It sure feels like at times. But yes, he'll replace precious Achu. He had a great year with the 76ers out of that minimum. Now getting a huge pay raise to 6mil per season. It's good for him. They need depth. There's no doubt. The New York Knicks need to be bigger. And Gershon isn't your backup center type of size guy. He's 6, 8 on a good day. I think, you know, he could be even a little bit smaller. But you need somebody to be able to play with Cat and I think he could help. He was really good defensively, so he'll help.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep. And as JG is mentioning here in the stream team, this will hard cap the Knicks at the second apron. So basically they've got their team going forward. Adding Jordan Clarkson and Gershon Yabu Saleh to a team. Good season, made it to the conference finals. All they need now is a coach to figure out when these guys are playing.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, Again, you never know who can play in terms of their big. So I think this guy seems like he's entirely healthy. At least he'll play again if Mitchell Robinson is hurt and he can shoot the three ball. So he'll be totally different than a precious Achu. He'll step out and shoot that thing to give Cat and others some space and something that Mitchell Robinson can't do. So a different type of offense for whoever their head coach is to scheme a little bit because we don't know who's going to coach that team.

[Trey Kirby]

Maybe Mike Brown.

[Tas Melis]

Could be Mike Brown.

[Trey Kirby]

Don Staley. We shall see.

[Tas Melis]

Yes, we shall. All right, jumping around still here in terms of the small deals that were made. Dennis Schroeder is going to the Sacramento Kings. That was surprising to see that happening.

[Trey Kirby]

The Kings have no plan. They're just like we see a guy that we know and we're going to bring him in. It happened with Zach Levine. It happened with DeMar DeRozan. It's now happening with Dennis Schroeder, which there was some talk that maybe it would be Malik Monk would be going to the Pistons in the sign and trade. I don't know if that's still going to happen. I Guess this is still a couple of days from being made official. All of these deals are so things can change. But yeah, the King said they needed a point guard and Dennis Schroeder is literally a point guard, but they don't need him. They don't need another guy who's a score first guy on this team.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. This is, yeah. Puzzling. Yeah. Team number 10 for Dennis Schroeder again, who did really good things with the Detroit business. He helped out last year, so I suppose he can help out with the Sacramento Kings. He's. He's a capable guy, but the. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Overall to be excited about.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, nothing to be excited about. And are these other contracts all that to be excited about? I'm segueing because we just saw a big deal happen. And even though we were going to talk about Luca Garza to the Celtics and Kevin Porter Jr. And Torian Prince and Gary Trent going back to Milwaukee and Trey Jones to the Bulls and Kevon Looney to the Pelicans, we got to talk about the Bucks getting Miles Turner.

[Trey Kirby]

Hello.

[Tas Melis]

Yannis ain't going nowhere. He's got Miles Turner playing beside him. What a surprise. Four years and $107 million for miles Turner to the Milwaukee Bucks. Pacers losing their longest term player in. Miles Turner just went to the finals and he is gone. He is going to play beside Giannis Zentokounmpo. What an upgrade for him beside beside him. Bucks ain't going to be bad. I guess the Atlanta Hawks got to hope the Pelicans are going to be super bad. I. I assume that Giannis and Miles Turner will have a winning record together. That is a surprise. 107 million bucks over four years. One of those years is a player option at the end and a full 15% trade kicker according to our man Sham Sharanya. So he doesn't want to go anywhere. He wants to be in Milwaukee, wants to be up in the Midwestern, sort of part of the U.S. milwaukee's the Midwest, of course. Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. You know, it feels more east. We're going east anyway.

[Trey Kirby]

It doesn't a guy not from the Midwest.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, well, I like looking at a map and I like seeing the West. When I talk about the West. I want it to be in the west anyways.

[Trey Kirby]

This is farther west than Indiana.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, yeah. I guess.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I guess. Right. Anyways.

[Trey Kirby]

And it's right in the middle. I can't believe it. I can't believe Miles Turner is actually not going to be on the Pacers. Yeah, the guys Played on the Pacers since Paul George was there. He was in trade rumors. Every season there was a trade deadline where Miles Turner was like, yeah, if I were the Lakers, I would trade for Miles Turner, which was one of the craziest things. But now, since Tyrese Halliburton got injured in game seven of the NBA Finals, Miles Turner is finally leaving. I think if Halliburton finishes that game, who knows which way it goes? Let's say OKC still wins the championship in Game 7, but Halliburton is healthy going into the season. I think Miles Turner is still a Pacer. Today would be signing a deal for the Pacers to go into the Tax. They're not a team that historically, historically likes to pay the tax. So seeing that Halliburton is going to miss the majority of next season, likely all of next season, the writing was on the wall for the Pacers. Are they actually going to pony up enough money to keep their longest tenured guy in Miles Turner? Obviously, the answer is no. They're cheaping out on keeping him and they're gonna need to replace him. Not necessarily for next season because it's going to be a down year for Indiana, but for the 26 season, we'll see where they go there. This is great for the Bucks. They're basically getting the closest thing to Brook Lopez from a defense and three point shooting standpoint. And he's what, almost 10 years younger than Brook Lopez at this point. He's so much more athletic, which is something the Bucks have been lacking the past couple of seasons. I think between Turner and Giannis, you've got a front court that both of them can defend the rim and switch out onto the perimeter. So this is a great save for the Bucks to be able to bring in Miles Turner. Still question marks about what they're going to do with their guards. They did find a way to bring back basically everybody from Ryan Rollins, Kevin Porter Jr. Tori and Prince. Those guys are coming back. So I think this is great. This is an upgrade for the Bucks to be able to turn Brook Lopez into Miles Turner. Turner's a better player at this point in his career. He's much younger. And, yeah, you're paying him for four years, which means they want to keep Giannis around for as long as they possibly can. And it just was not feasible to me for the Bucks to go into next season missing Lillard, missing Lopez and having no sort of replacement. So this is a really good scramble move for the Bucks, and I just am really shocked that Miles Turner is finally not going to be on the Pacers. This guy's been in rumors all the time, Taz, and this one came out of nowhere.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Yes, it is surprising that milestone is finally leaving because I felt like, okay, he ain't going anywhere. They just went to the finals. This guy is Indiana. He's been there for 10 seasons. And so you think when. As soon as you say that he's old, but he's not. He came into the NBA just one year in college out of Texas, so he was pretty young then. He's only 29 now, so four years. If this end up ends up happening, he'll be 33. And it feels like he's been super durable so far in his NBA career. So it's not a big deal.

[Trey Kirby]

He plays.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah, he does play. And kudos to the Milwaukee Bucks front office. Didn't seem like they were going to do anything. They just brought back Torian Prince, a guy who couldn't start for them on another two year deal. Gary Trent, who obviously got better as the season went on, brought him back. But it felt like the same team is coming back with minus Brook Lopez. And they go and get Miles Turner, who was arguably the biggest name who was available out there in terms of free agents to play beside Yan, Stan De Koopo. So that dude must be pumped. Now they still lack a ball scorer, a ball handler, and score outside on the perimeter. I mentioned the guys who, who they have. It's Gary Trent And Kemp Porter Jr. Once again, they have Kuzma. We're gonna miss. I'm gonna just skip over Kyle Kuzma because he's. He. He didn't show that he was a great ball handler in Milwaukee. He didn't show that scorer in Milwaukee. But arguably going into next season he was going to be their second best player because Damian Lillard was out. Now they've got Miles Turner.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[Tas Melis]

Which is, yes, definitely an upgrade. It just felt like he was going to be an Indiana Pacer for the rest of his career, but somebody was willing to pay him more. And it was John Horst again. Four years, 107mil. So at almost 27 per year, it isn't a crazy amount for Miles Turner. When you're looking at starting centers, he's shown that he is a very, very capable defensive player. As. As you said, because Brooke was just lacking that ability to get up to the three point line and guard that far. But Miles Turner can do that. He's that good.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Are the Bucks going to be a lot better just because they got Miles Turner. I don't really think so, but I think they would have been a lot worse if they were just saying goodbye to two starters with no sort of replacement at all. So they replaced at least one of those positions. If you're going with Kevin Porter Jr. As your starting point guard for the whole season, I think that's going to be tough. But maybe there's still a deal yet to be done for Milwaukee. The Lillard for Beal is still out there. It could still happen. I don't know if it's smart, but it could happen. And at least Bradley Beal will be playing this season. So I think a good thing for Milwaukee and a sad end to Miles Turner tenure in Indiana. He wanted to be a Pacer, he said so afterwards. He had a pretty poor Finals, if we're being completely honest. And he was the longest tenured guy there. And like I said, I think if Halliburton makes it through the series healthy, they're ready to go with Miles Turner probably there as the starting center again having to pay the tax. But the reality is that Halliburton isn't going to be there. The Pacers aren't going to be quite as good, and their ownership is deciding to take a gap year, save some money and see what Pascal Skiakam can bring him. So if you've been holding Tony Bradley stock, this is big time.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And this is big time.

[Tas Melis]

And when they went and gave Isaiah Jackson also that restricted free agency ability by giving him that contract, it sure feels like they're going to bring back Isaiah Jackson as a big center for them. It is weird to see Miles Turner go out. But yeah, you're right, it looks like a gap year. While the Milwaukee, they need a starting center.

[Trey Kirby]

They made an offer to Ayton, right?

[Tas Melis]

Like a long time ago.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they made an offer to Ayton, which the Suns then matched. So I wonder if they get back in the mix for him though that probably puts them into the tax, which is the reason Miles Turner is leaving in the first place. But they need a real starting center. Isaiah Jackson coming off an Achilles tear is not the guy, nor is Thomas Bryant, nor is Tony Bradley. So I wonder, I wonder he was even out there. Rick Smith's come back, baby.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. I wonder if they offer deandre Ayton a low number. It doesn't count necessarily against the taxes all that much because yeah, maybe they outbid the Lakers or whoever, but maybe it doesn't cost that much. So yeah, we could see DeAndre in there I am excited about the Milwaukee Bucks, and as we've said, maybe it doesn't raise their ceiling incredibly high, but it definitely raises their floor to make them a more solid team. They could be extremely bad if they didn't have Miles Turner out there. And you're just throwing out what they throw out against the Indiana Pacers in round number one. As Kevin Porter Jr. Is your starting guard, this makes them so much better, but they still need to go get some guards.

[Trey Kirby]

More news from Shams regarding this trade. The Milwaukee Bucks are waving Damian Lillard and stretching the remaining $113 million that is left on his contract in order to acquire Miles Turner. So Damian Lillard waved and stretched $113 million on the Bucs payroll, divided over the next five seasons.

[Tas Melis]

That's right.

[Trey Kirby]

So that's, what, a little less than $23 million. Still got their draft moves.

[Tas Melis]

That's.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow. I guess Damian Lillard is a free agent.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, he can't.

[Trey Kirby]

He's not going to play this season, but he's a free agent and he's going to still be making $113 million. So a team could maybe get him at a discount.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

For next year.

[Tas Melis]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow.

[Tas Melis]

Good for the Milwaukee Bucks. And saying Damian Lillard is not working for us anymore. We gave up a lot for him. We gave back so much for him, but that ain't gonna pay off anymore. It's a sunk cost thing. He has. He did not look like himself a lot this season, and obviously the continued calf injuries add up here, and he. He just wasn't the same Dame, unfortunately. So good for the Bucks to say, financially, it's time to give them up. And that is a clear sign to Yanisata Gumpo. We're going to do everything we can to keep you happy to say we're going to wave and stretch this contract. So 5 years of 113mil for Dame instead of 2 years and 113mil. So we can do as much as we can right here, right now financially, to keep you happy. That's a smart, smart move. And again, watching Dame and watching him play out there, he just wasn't the same guy, so.

[Trey Kirby]

And he's got a torn Achilles.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

That's the main thing.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Like, could he. Could he recover from it? I. I suppose, but because these calf injuries, the. The. The Achilles was a single incident, but the calf injury has been adding up for him for several years. He just hasn't looked quite the same. I did, you know, getting into the cap geekery here. I didn't know that this, the release and stretch, Wave and stretch, I should say counts with these. These player option deals are part of a contract, but I guess it does. I guess that would make sense. Yeah. So two years left turns into double that plus one. So it's five years that they will be paying Damian Lillard again. What's at 113. So yes, as you said, you know, 20.

[Trey Kirby]

Between 22 and $23 million to not play this season, which I guess is better than paying him $50 million to not play this.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, exactly. And even if you brought him back with that player option the following year again, I don't think he's going to look anything like what he did. So they got to go get a guard. Watch. I thought Kevin Porter Jr. Was going to be gone because watching him start against the Indian Pacers was not good. He wasn't getting guys involved. He is a guy comes off the bench and it's all me.

[Trey Kirby]

Score.

[Tas Melis]

I'm going to score. And now he's their guard to go along with Gary Trent Jr that's who they got. They need to go get somebody. So I guess this, this wave and Stretch frees up more money to go get. Is it going to be a bring back Malcolm Brogdon type of thing?

[Trey Kirby]

Maybe.

[Tas Melis]

Maybe. Yeah. He was solid for them. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to stay on the floor a ton. A Chris Paul possibility. If they could do that veteran, minimum.

[Trey Kirby]

Chris Paul for a year. That's a decent stopgap.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Even a few more mill. Give it to Chris Paul. But yeah, they. They're desperate. I'm sure. Can't think of any other.

[Trey Kirby]

Both Jones brothers are signed now that Tyus is going to the Magic. Tre Jones going back to the Bulls. Yeah. Rollins is coming back. Porter, I'm with you. He's not a. You don't want him as your starting point guard. He has moments and he had some decent moments in the playoffs, but I don't know. I think this is a good move for Milwaukee.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. I think Giannis has got to be super happy and that's what it's all about, making that Greek happy. He's got to be happy. Really. There's nobody else left unless you're signing. In terms of point guards, it's got to be Chris Paul, Malcolm Broughton. There's an old Kyle Lowry available. There's. Russell Westbrook is still available. Russ Yanis would love that.

[Trey Kirby]

Weird fit.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. And Dennis Trudeau's gone. Spencer Dinwiddie I guess is a possibility to bring there. That's it. Yeah. Exciting stuff. Can't believe it. Yeah. I think going anywhere. He's happy for now.

[Trey Kirby]

He's happy because they brought in Miles Turner and said goodbye to Damon Lillard there.

[Tas Melis]

He's good. They got to do what they got to do. At least they're doing something. Yes, yes.

[Trey Kirby]

They gotta do what they gotta do.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. And we got to do what we got to do. We got to go.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, you don't want to talk about Trey Jones getting more year more money per year than Tyus Jones. That's crazy.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, man, I do feel bad.

[Trey Kirby]

The other news about the Bulls. No, no, you didn't. There's no Josh Giddy deal yet.

[Tas Melis]

There isn't.

[Trey Kirby]

Are the Bulls being smart here? And so the Nets did the trade for Michael Porter Jr. Which cuts into their cap space. The Nets were the only team that really had cap space that could offer Giddy a big deal. They're obviously out of the game right now. The Bulls signed a point guard in Trey Jones who was pretty solid for Chicago. I don't really think he's a 50% three point shooter like he was for the Bulls in Mickey Mouse March, but they have a guard.

[Tas Melis]

He's a decent guard.

[Trey Kirby]

There are no suitors for Giddy. The Bulls could actually get a deal. Could get a discount. If indeed they are negotiating with him right now. Like I told you, I was worried, like I would accept $30 million as a contract per year for Giddy. They can get him for cheaper just because there's nobody else out there that can offer him the kind of contract he's probably looking for. The fact that the deal wasn't done this morning when I woke up, I was like, interesting, interesting. Might get a discount. We shall see.

[Tas Melis]

30 million be okay with that? Contract sounds.

[Trey Kirby]

That's how it is, man.

[Tas Melis]

It is how it is. But he is a restricted free agent and yeah, he would only be negotiating with him with the Bulls. It feels like. Who else is offering that? It's a good point. Trey Jones had some good minutes with the Bulls. He had some good minutes with the spurs this past season. He looked like he was capable. So, yeah, both being smarter, huh?

[Trey Kirby]

Well, yeah, let's wait until. Let's wait until the. Make the deal. Okay. Maybe they're just like, what, he's in Australia, we'll talk. We'll talk a little bit later when he's back on Central time or something like that. I'm not willing to give them credit until I see a Small deal for bit for Giddy, but a small deal could be had. And he's worth a small deal. He ain't worth a giant deal.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, that.

[Trey Kirby]

We'll see what happens.

[Tas Melis]

That Trey Jones contract, we were ready to talk about it, but then you get a Miles Turner, Milwaukee. Whoa. That is such a surprise. So we skipped that and we skipped Kevon Ludy to the Pelicans. End of an errand. Gold state there. Nigel Hayes, Davis coming from Europe to Phoenix, and Mason Plumlee to the Hornets for one year, 3.6 mil. Those are contracts we just skipped over. Yep, they are. We'll see. Mason Plumlee, they got centers, man. They're going to be so much better next year. Anyway, that's it for us here. We'll be back Thursday to wrap up everything else that's happened. As we mentioned, there's a bunch of guys available. Danger deandre Ayton still available. Yep. Duncan Robinson has to sign a contract somewhere. You got big men who can shoot out there. Your bouchers, your Trey Lyles.

[BetMGM Representative]

There's guys.

[Tas Melis]

There's guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Those are guys. There's guys out there.

[Tas Melis]

Those are guys. Just a reminder, we'll be doing a show in Vegas. It's next Friday, July 11, at 4pm in the sportsbook at Mandalay Bay. It's free, it's fun. And join us. And if you're watching on YouTube, that's where we meet. Right below that arrow. Right. Right at the back. Yeah, it's gonna be really interesting. JD now that I look at all those monitors that you sit at, wherever you're sitting, you like you have a monitor in front of you.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, I think that's going to be.

[Tas Melis]

Behind us, the way it's been described as a bar. And then there's that area. So. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. I'm sure the gamblers are going to love every second of our show.

[Trey Kirby]

They're going to love it.

[Tas Melis]

They're going to love it. All right, we will see you Thursday to talk more about free agency. But until then, Clipper Bros, you heard it here first.

[Trey Kirby]

Have a great time.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Turn up.

[Trey Kirby]

Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And I've been doing a stretch provision of my own at the house. I only had two eggs left yesterday. So when I was making a breakfast burrito, I only used one egg so I could stretch my provisions and have another breakfast burrito today.

[Tas Melis]

Can go out and buy some more.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. It was too late in the day for me. To know to go shopping. I was like, I'll do it tomorrow. I gotta get psyched up for it. So yeah, I'm buying eggs today. Free agency eggs acquired. I'd love to see somebody make a graphic for it.

[Tas Melis]

Can't wait to see how much they cost.

[Trey Kirby]

It's an MLE to get a dozen eggs these days.

[Tas Melis]

All right, we'll talk to you Thursday.

[Trey Kirby]

This is not a drill. You can get the new iPhone 16e with Apple Intelligence for just $49.99 when you switch to Boost Mobile.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Wait, that's the actual fire alarm? We need to go visit your nearest Boost Mobile store for full offer details. Apple Intelligence requires iOS 18 point restrictions apply. Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Ah, really? Thanks Capital One Bank Guy. What's in your wallet? Term supply See CapitalOne.com Bank Capital One NA Member Assessment FDIC the name of.

[Trey Kirby]

The Calgary Folk Music Festival isn't totally accurate, with headliners including Bad Bad Not Good, Michael Kiwanuka, Cake, Sierra Farrell, los lobos and 60 more awesome acts. A better name might be the Calgary Alt Rock, Hip Hop, Indie, Electro, Soul, R and B, Bluegrass, Art, Pop, Country, Blues and Folk Music Festival. But that's a mouthful, so let's just.

[BetMGM Terms Announcer]

Call it the Calgary Morgan More Than folk Music Festival.

[Trey Kirby]

July 24 to 27 tickets at CalgaryFolkFest.

[Tas Melis]

Com.