Summer League Flashes, Norman Powell Traded To Heat, Best NBA Free Agents Available

Summary

Podcast Summary: No Dunks – "Summer League Flashes, Norman Powell Traded To Heat, Best NBA Free Agents Available"

Release Date: July 7, 2025
Hosted by: Skeets, Tas, Trey, and JD
Platform: The Athletic

---

1. Introduction and Host Updates

The episode begins with host Jay Skeets expressing gratitude towards listeners for their support during his recent personal loss—the passing of his father. He acknowledges his absence over the past two weeks and commends his co-hosts for keeping the show running smoothly.

Jay Skeets (03:32):
"I want to give a sincere thanks to everyone that reached out to me after my dad passed a couple weeks ago. It really meant a lot."

The hosts announce an upcoming live show in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay's Sportsbook, scheduled for Friday, July 11, 2025.

---

2. Summer League Highlights

The discussion shifts to the ongoing NBA Summer League, covering events from the California Classic and Salt Lake City Summer League. The hosts analyze notable performances and emerging talents.

• Giannis "G.G." Jackson:
  Tas Melas highlights Jackson's growth with the Memphis Grizzlies, noting his improved footwork and potential for increased playtime.

  Tas Melas (06:26):
  "G.G. Jackson has gotten bigger and his footwork was really good out there. He's one of those guys that's going to play more."

• VJ Edgecombe vs. Ace Bailey:
  A notable matchup between Edgecombe and Bailey is dissected, emphasizing Edgecombe's athleticism and Bailey's strong start.

  Jay Skeets (09:08):
  "Edgecombe was awesome, 28 points, 10 boards, 4 assists. Let it fly, kid."

• Nikola Tikok:
  The Thunder's new point guard impresses with his size, strength, and savvy play, reminiscent of seasoned players like Lloyd Christmas.

• Cam Whitmore & Others:
  Discussions include performances from A.J. Mitchell, Jameer Nelson Jr., and Cole Swider, each bringing unique skills to their respective teams.

---

3. Historic NBA Trade: Kevin Durant to Houston Rockets

One of the episode's focal points is the unprecedented seven-team trade involving Kevin Durant's move from the Phoenix Suns to the Houston Rockets. The trade also includes multiple players and second-round picks, marking it as the first in NBA history to feature seven teams.

Jay Skeets (15:18):
"So the deal involved the Rockets, the Suns, the Hawks, the Nets, the Warriors, the Lakers, and the Wolves."

Trey Kirby (16:03):
"This will make for some good trivia material. Who else was in the biggest trade ever?"

The hosts delve into the logistics of executing such a massive trade via a single conference call, highlighting the efficiency and complexity of modern NBA transactions.

---

4. Norman Powell Traded to Miami Heat

Another significant trade discussed involves Norman Powell moving to the Miami Heat in a three-team deal with the Clippers and Jazz. The trade exchanges Powell and John Collins for Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson.

Trey Kirby (19:43):
"Norm Powell to the Heat, John Collins to the Clippers, and Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson to the Jazz."

Tas Melas (20:11):
"The Heat aren't messing around. They're saying we want a player in getting Norman Powell."

The implications of this trade are analyzed, emphasizing Miami's need for additional scoring and ball-handling support.

---

5. NBA Free Agency News

The conversation transitions to various moves and signings within the NBA free agency period:

• Cam Whitmore to Washington Wizards:
  The Rockets trade Whitmore to the Wizards for two second-round picks, aiming to rebuild and reduce roster clutter.

  Trey Kirby (27:55):
  "The Wizards are taking a chance on somebody that's a local boy... hoping that Cam Whitmore can score effectively for them."

• Jonas Valanchunas & Potential Move to Greece:
  Reports indicate that the Nuggets expect Valanchunas to honor his contract, but rumors suggest a possible move to the Greek league. The hosts debate the feasibility and implications of such a transfer.

  Jay Skeets (47:22):
  "Valanchunas has two years and a little more than $20 million left on his deal. If the trade goes through, Denver would have to waive him or buy him out."

• Other Signings:

  • Ryan Rollins re-signs with the Bucks on a three-year, $12 million deal.
  • Mo Wagner joins the Magic on a one-year contract.
  • Anthony Melton expected to sign with the Lakers.

---

6. Restricted Free Agents Analysis

The hosts examine the landscape of restricted free agents, focusing on prominent names and their potential destinations:

• Jonathan Kuminga, Josh Giddey, Quentin Grimes, and Cam Thomas:
  These players are discussed regarding their current performance, contract negotiations, and team fits. Concerns about limited offers due to budget constraints and team cap spaces are highlighted.

  Tas Melas (56:58):
  "Restricted free agency remains ice cold with little action. Teams are renegotiating offers carefully."

• Chris Paul as a Top Free Agent Target:
  Chris Paul is identified as a prime target, especially for the Clippers, who may seek his veteran leadership and ball-handling prowess.

  Jay Skeets (65:39):
  "Chris Paul makes so much sense for the Clippers. They're looking for someone with experience to handle the ball."

---

7. Additional NBA News

• Jay Huff Trade to Pacers:
  The Grizzlies trade center Jay Huff to the Pacers for two second-round picks. The move is seen as a strategic acquisition to bolster the Pacers' frontcourt.

  Trey Kirby (35:24):
  "Jay Huff is a great backup center. This is a solid move by the Pacers to get some depth."

• Ryan Rollins Re-signing with the Bucks:
  Rollins is expected to serve as a backup point guard, providing the Bucks with necessary depth behind stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo.

  Tas Melas (52:16):
  "Ryan Rollins is probably going to start as the backup point guard. They need another point guard for sure."

---

8. Closing Remarks and Light Conversation

The episode concludes with the hosts sharing personal anecdotes about recent movie releases and their impressions. They discuss their plans for future episodes and encourage listeners to subscribe and leave reviews.

Jay Skeets (73:56):
"Leave a review if you're a podcast listener. We'd like that."

Trey Kirby (72:53):
"I watched 18 movies in 17 days. If you take away the time I spent chopping up an apple each day, it equals up to one movie."

---

Notable Quotes

• Jay Skeets (15:18):
  "This is a historic trade involving seven teams. It's unprecedented in NBA history."

• Tas Melas (20:11):
  "Miami Heat aren't messing around. They want Norman Powell."

• Trey Kirby (27:55):
  "The Wizards are taking a chance on somebody that's a local boy hoping Cam Whitmore can score effectively for them."

---

Conclusion

This episode of No Dunks provides an in-depth analysis of the latest NBA Summer League performances, groundbreaking trades involving major players like Kevin Durant and Norman Powell, and the dynamic landscape of NBA free agency. The hosts offer expert insights into team strategies, player potentials, and the financial implications of recent moves, making it a valuable listen for basketball enthusiasts seeking comprehensive coverage of the league's off-season developments.

Transcript

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[Jay Skeets]

Oh, I'm not switching my team to some fancy work platform that somehow knows exactly how we work and its AI features are literally saving us hours every day. We're big fans and Just like that. Teams all around the world are falling for Monday.com. with intuitive design, seamless AI capabilities, and.

[Tas Melas]

Custom workflows, it's the work platform your.

[Jay Skeets]

Team will instantly click with. Head to Monday.com, the first work platform you'll love to use. Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast on the Athletic Network. It's Monday, July 7, 2025. I'm Jay Skeets, back in the Classic Factory. And alongside me, as always, Tas Melas.

[Tas Melas]

Basketball lovers, this is for you.

[Jay Skeets]

Next to him, it's the bearded one, my top shot, hot boy, Trey. Kirby Ayo. Hey, yo. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer JD Sorry, Trey, I went.

[Tas Melas]

To the wrong camera there.

[Jay Skeets]

That's okay.

[Trey Kirby]

It's okay.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, it was a little different than just the two guys, right?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Now I'm back in the mix. Actually, J.D. i was watching a lot of the shows. You had a really artistic shot of these two guys.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, I loved it. That's Tassa's cam. Ah, that's. Yeah. So.

[Jay Skeets]

So now we don't have it because we all have our ISOs.

[Tas Melas]

That's right.

[Jay Skeets]

I can just leave and tell me to.

[Tas Melas]

No, no, no, it's better.

[Jay Skeets]

It's a.

[Tas Melas]

It's great. With the whole crew back together, I'll.

[Trey Kirby]

Just get another camera.

[Tas Melas]

No problem.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, all right. Yeah. You're clearing out things here in the Classic factory. We got room for, like, 100 more cameras.

[Tas Melas]

We're renovating.

[Jay Skeets]

Get rid of that couch. Before we get started into the NBA talk, I do want to give a sincere thanks to everyone that reached out to me after my dad passed a couple weeks ago. Friends, coworkers, bunch of other media members, and a ton. I mean, a ton of no Dunks fans. Reaching out really meant a lot. Sort of overwhelming, the amount of support, but I really appreciate it. I've missed a lot.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

In the last two weeks, you guys have done an incredible job holding down the fort. Like I said, I watched, I listened, but, man, like, this happened two weeks ago before the start of game seven. So the season wasn't even over yet. And then you guys went right into the NBA draft, and then you went right into NBA free agency, and then here we are with the start of summer league, So a lot happened. I'm sorry I missed it. But again, thanks to you guys for, of course, like, carrying the show. And thanks, everybody for reaching out.

[Trey Kirby]

Great to have you back and can't wait to hear the on the ground report from Toronto about how People are feeling about this Jakob Poeltl extension. I'm sure it was, like, one of the main topics of conversation.

[Jay Skeets]

I never even made it into downtown Toronto. And they weren't talking about it in Markham or Stratford or Kitchener. Okay. So, no, you guys did awesome. And again, thanks to everybody. We do have a live show this week. Speaking of summer, we're headed to Vegas, believe it or not, on Thursday, I guess, are our flights. Because we got a live show on Friday at Mandalay Bay in the Sportsbook. We're gonna get started at 4:00pm local time. Yeah, we are, because time doesn't matter in Vegas. It doesn't.

[Trey Kirby]

4Pm is like 4am which is like 10pm Exactly.

[Tas Melas]

Right.

[Jay Skeets]

It's like, you see that? You're like, what, 4pm That's a weird time for a show. No, it's not. Not in Vegas. Anywhere else, yes, but not there. So excited to see everyone. If you're in Vegas, if you live there, or you're coming for summer league, come on out on Friday, July 11, to the sportsbook at Mandalay Bay. You won't be able to miss us. We think probably, I don't know, maybe. Are we gonna have a sign? Do we have televisions? I don't know.

[Tas Melas]

We had.

[Trey Kirby]

We.

[Tas Melas]

Yes to both questions. Yes.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, wow.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. As you can tell, I've been gone.

[Tas Melas]

What's gonna be on the televisions?

[Trey Kirby]

Our usual graphics and stuff.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, yeah, Yeah. I thought they'd just be sports. That's the plan.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, no, no. Can we not take over the sports book? Like, odds and really upset all the.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, that would be fun.

[Jay Skeets]

But gamblers. Yeah, no, that'd be great.

[Tas Melas]

It'd be awesome. Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Anyway, we're going to have a blast. Come see us on Friday. We got a bunch of weird things to talk about here. Let's. Let's start with summer league because it has started.

[Tas Melas]

Summer leagues.

[Jay Skeets]

It started. Yeah. Other summer leagues, the California Classic and the Salt Lake City Summer League, they tipped over the weekend. So we had, like, six games played, I guess, between the two places. I can't imagine y' all were hunkered down in front of the televisions.

[Tas Melas]

I hope not.

[Jay Skeets]

Watching these games, maybe catching highlights, reading about it. Do you have any takeaways from the early stages of summer league?

[Tas Melas]

Well, a lot of my takeaways have been from guys who played last year and watching to see if they've grown or gotten better. G.G. jackson, literally, I think, has gotten bigger. I think he's grown for the Memphis Grizzlies. He looks big and I don't think we haven't talked about him a lot when we talk about the Wings and what the Grizzlies have done. Going to get Cedric Coward and obviously they're going to play some kcp. But I think Gigi Jackson is one of those guys that's going to play more. He's good. I mean his footwork was really good out there. He's listed at 6, 9 2, 15 now a 20 year old. I don't know. I think he'll be measured at even more next year. I think he just looks good. I think, you know, when you're talking about such a coward KCP and Aldama is a big wing, I think he'll be part of that. I like what the Grizzlies are doing and taking a step back from Desmond Bain and just relying more on John Moran and Triple J to do that. So that's one observation from the California Classic Summer League. I think he played in. Why is it a classic? Why is the California Classic Unforgettable stuff. Yeah, yeah, that's it.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Also Kalawe. Yeah, I mean he looks good. I could see why the Miami Heat, if they did say no, we're not getting Khalil Wear in the trade for Kevin Durant. Logical.

[Jay Skeets]

He was throwing down alley oops like every single play in this summer league game. Though he did have a nice. I think it was like a step back three.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Showing off a little handle out there. Hardaway and hit that.

[Tas Melas]

So that's turn around in a paint too. I didn't think that existed, but a lot of that.

[Jay Skeets]

Those second year guys, they better.

[Trey Kirby]

GG's a third year guy. And Gigi, if you don't dominate as a second and third year guy, you stink. Dalton connect.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, he's been struggling.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he got elbowed in the face by a guy whose last name is Danger.

[Jay Skeets]

Danger.

[Trey Kirby]

And he got called for a foul on the play. So, you know. Adding insult to injury, rookies wise. Vijay Edgecombe looks pretty good. Put up 28 points, who cares? But he looks very, very fast going end to end. Look like the best athlete on the court. Made a lot of plays on the defensive side of the ball, which is going to be his strength as a rookie when he's playing against guys who are better than summer league dudes. Did make a couple of jumpers. Missed a three pointer at the end to tie the game. But Philadelphia 76ers fans have to be happy seeing him go out there and perform the way he did in his first matchup against. He was against Ace Bailey, I think. Right. Playing. They must have been playing in the Salt Lake City.

[Jay Skeets]

They were indeed.

[Trey Kirby]

Sweetness. Salt Lake City sweetness. And look, Ace Bailey, he looks like a professional basketball player. He is tall, he moves really, really well, and he got some rebounds. So I think that's pretty cool. I saw ESPN had a write up basically of the Jazz. They're like, he played hard and we like that.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Low bar right now for Ace Bailey. You showed up and you played hard. So good start.

[Jay Skeets]

He did have a key rebound in that game. Huge board.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Off the. Edgecomb missed there at the end.

[Jay Skeets]

That's right. Edgecombe just. He was awesome, though. 28 points, 10 boards, 4 assists. This guy shot a lot.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, it's summer league. Let it fly, kid. 13 of 27 from the floor. But a lot of those that I liked. Seven of his 13 were jumpers in or around of the. The free throw line. Cause like, man, he. You give the guy a screen and then because of his athleticism, he's going to get to his spots. And now he has room to operate, too. I mean, I guess that was the whole knock at Baylor or. Yeah, Baylor. Excuse me. It was like all clogged up. Now he's with real athletes, real spacing. Geez. He looked. He just popped off the.

[Trey Kirby]

He looked like a guy that's a top five pick.

[Jay Skeets]

Absolutely. But those were the two guys that Philly was debating. Right. For a long time, maybe between Bailey and Edgecombe. It's just one game. You're not going to overreact to Bailey struggling to shoot the ball. But after one game you're like, okay, that was the right pick. Well done.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. I don't know if it was Edgecombe that share this video on TikTok because Ace Bailey was rumored to not want to be going to Utah.

[Jay Skeets]

He didn't seem to want to go anywhere.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, he didn't. Well, yeah, he wasn't trying out for anybody. But then he obviously is here in Utah playing for them. And then there was a video that somebody made on TikTok about his first press conference when he was asked, hey, you seem like you didn't want to come here. And he took a beat. Beat. So somebody made a video of him contemplating. What am I going to say here? Am I going to say that I really wanted to come here? I think VJ Edgecombe re shared it.

[Trey Kirby]

He did.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

It was like a 2K thing.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Because he was like, yeah, let's see if you really want to go There. He's obviously extremely talented. Guys look good in the summer league to start. Kyle Filipowski looks good for the second year guy.

[Trey Kirby]

If you don't look good as a second year guy, there's a problem.

[Jay Skeets]

That's.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, you better dominate, especially if you're an older guy like Filipowski. Like he didn't come out after one year in college. I don't think so. Another guy, I thought that was interesting. Nikola topic playing his first NBA game. He looks humongous for a point guard. Looks really strong, looks really savvy playing out of the pick and roll. So the Thunder, that's what they needed, is another guy who's good with the ball in his hands.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, he also looks a little bit like Lloyd Christmas with his haircut.

[Trey Kirby]

Bad haircut.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh yeah. But almost like so bad. It'. Oh, he must be really good. Who shows up with a haircut that.

[Trey Kirby]

Bad with the Mark Davis look?

[Jay Skeets]

14.6 of 11 shooting, four assists. He did have seven turnovers, you know.

[Trey Kirby]

So I don't really look at stats.

[Tas Melas]

At all in this.

[Jay Skeets]

I know, but he hit a couple threes. You see the highlights though. Yeah. Beautiful one where he spun inside. You're right, he's a lot stronger and he's really big for a point guard. This guy was like pegged to go like in the top five at one point in that draft of his a couple years ago. But then he had the partially torn ACL and then of course missed the entire season, won a championship. Not bad. But yeah, now they just maybe add him to the mix. Just another guy. I was like, holy crap, he can play.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Thunder of guys. AJ Mitchell looking good too. He's old, but he's looking good. You can see why they signed him to a multi year contract.

[Jay Skeets]

Jameer Nelson Jr playing that just always makes us feel old. You're like, whoa, okay. He looked okay. And then the final guy, I have a note on here, he brought up the Lakers. Dalton connect, not hitting shots. Cole Swider, the most baseball name of all time, but the guy can shoot and he was knocking him down right now in these two games like he's hitting an insane percentage from 3. So I think he had two back to back games of 20 points. But he's an older guy too.

[Tas Melas]

You say Cole Swider's baseball game a baseball name because it's Cole Swindle or Ken Swindle. There's Greg Swindell. That was the old Greg Swindell was an old Cleveland player.

[Jay Skeets]

Cole, I guess is a pitcher or is He a player?

[Tas Melas]

No, he's a pitcher. Cy Young.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, most guys wear sweating shorts underneath.

[Jay Skeets]

I think. I think of slider. The pitch for Swider. Yeah, Isn't it just. Doesn't he just sound like a baseball Cole? He's good on the mound last night. Any other notes?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, if he puts on a bunch of weight, he'll be Coles.

[Jay Skeets]

Wider. Okay. Pew, pew. Okay, let's get into some.

[Tas Melas]

Darius Bailey was out there.

[Trey Kirby]

Darius Bailey? Darius Bazley Basley.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Do you care more about the second or third year guys like playing?

[Tas Melas]

Well, that guy disappeared.

[Jay Skeets]

Rooks. I guess.

[Tas Melas]

But that's a unique situation where the guy came out of high school, he's supposed to play college. He said, nah, I'll chill it out. New Balance game. A few million bucks. He was a New Balance guy. And now he's back. Hopefully he can stick around. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

30 yet?

[Tas Melas]

No, no, he's not even close to it. Still a baby. Yeah. Isaiah Mobley was out there.

[Jay Skeets]

I did see that.

[Tas Melas]

Some good footwork out there.

[Jay Skeets]

There's going to be a lot more guys out there when we get the maze because all 30 teams play in that one. These again, this. These classics or these little mini tournaments. It's like a little warm up here. They play only like three days. Why don't they do that?

[Trey Kirby]

Selfish.

[Jay Skeets]

It is odd. Yeah. Now that they all like. It wasn't as odd when they all didn't go to Vegas. Right. There would sometimes be like 22 teams there. And like we had the one in Orlando and we have these ones, but I guess it's just to make a couple bucks off tickets. Yeah, right.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Keep it local. Yeah. I mean, you are getting work in against NBA players.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, sure. But anyway, we'll see.

[Tas Melas]

They have to play in every game. I think when you're. You've got these. These ones are shorter. They're only July 5th to 8th.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I know. There's like.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, it's like three days. It's not like one of these. Like the Vegas Summer League where it's almost two weeks and guys, the. The big name guys. The guys are picked really high. Play two games.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Three games.

[Jay Skeets]

Two games on the road.

[Tas Melas]

Can we get an interview? Nah. Out of here. We're done. But you mentioned all those Canadian cities off the top. Jameer Nelson Jr. I did. I did not know that he played in the Canadian Elite Basketball League.

[Jay Skeets]

I didn't know that either.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, he played for the Calgary Surge. And I thought he played for another team. Now. That's just the Austin Spurs.

[Jay Skeets]

I did see Dylan Brooks was in attendance for one of those games over the weekend.

[Trey Kirby]

Really?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, he's a big CEBL fan.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean you're a real sicko. You're going to that respect.

[Tas Melas]

Steph Curry was there too.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, it's great basketball. There's a lot more Canadians coming to the league. Let's get into some NBA free agency news. We'll start with this. Even though it's been two weeks since the the Suns traded Kevin Durant to the Rockets, the official terms of the deal were slow to come out, slow to be released. That's because there was more work to be done. So much more. In fact. The trade is historic. J.D. show the board. It's the first trade in NBA history to feature seven teams.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow.

[Jay Skeets]

So all told, the deal involved the Rockets, the Suns, the Hawks, the Nets, the warriors, the Lakers and the Wolves. Six players who were in the NBA last season. Durant, Jalen Green, Brooks Capella, David the Body, Roddy and Daequin Plowden. Yeah, a guy that we've seen up close and personal for the Skyhawks here, the G League team in Atlanta. Actually a big fan of his one first round pick. That was the number 10 pick, Malawatch. And then 12 second round picks. And in addition, Houston made a second round pick swap with the Hawks and sent him cash considerations. Should this count?

[Trey Kirby]

What do you mean?

[Jay Skeets]

As the NBA record 17 deal like.

[Trey Kirby]

You know, you think they should have all had to be negotiating with each other before just wrapping it up in one call. Cause Fred Katz literally tweeted out last night. This is basically teams trying to save time on trade calls instead of having to do a bunch of different trade calls. Now they just have to do one.

[Jay Skeets]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

And literally just hopping on a zoom together. But I guess that's what the way Klay Thompson went down last year too. So maybe gone are the days of these massive trades where every team is actually calling with each other and it's just a conference call kind of trade records.

[Jay Skeets]

A record, I guess. I mean this will make for some, you know, good trivia material right down the line. Like who else? Yeah. Who was in the biggest trade ever? At least for now. We'll probably have an 18 trade next year.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, Daquan Plowden was. He's already been released. Hawks should go get him just like that immediately. Yeah, they were. They waved them. Suns waved them.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, they got David Roddy back. The Hawks did. He was here last year for in Atlanta.

[Tas Melas]

They made the Clinka Bella part a sign and Trade as part of this instead of just letting Clint Capella go, who I think will be more of a backup with the Houston Rockets than we are letting it out to be. We, we all assume he's going to be the third center and Stephen Adams is the backup, but I think he's going to play more minutes. I think he had some good moments even last year with, with the Hawks, but also he's just a very different guy than Steven Adams. So if Ime Udoka is looking for a rim runner, a guy who can dunk and block shots, I think you can play him for several minutes. Doesn't have to be a lot for Clint Capella, so it's just a very different type of guy. I think he will be playing. He's still young, so he's not done done. So I think he'll be, he'll be out there, create some space for these guys who want to shoot. If he can dunk, that's something that Stephen Adams doesn't necessarily do. He's just a board grabber. So I think they will. We will see a decent amount for the Houston Rockets.

[Jay Skeets]

It was just funny how this all came about because my last show was with TK before game seven, we did the Durant emergency podcast and we talked about obviously, you know, the breakdown of that and Katie going to the Rockets and what the Suns got back and we broke it all down. And then weeks later here we hear this buzz, ooh, this could be a seven team trade. And I feel like the Internet got way too excited hearing that. I think they thought like, oh, who else is going to be involved? Oh, what other team's going to be sliding in here? Then you go get the results and it's really like you said, task. It's the only other real main part is the Capella part of the sign and trade. Because then all these other teams, it's like second round pick guys and cash considerations and you know, that's not all that exciting.

[Trey Kirby]

Literally you have to call a game in the G League to know who Daquan plus the guy that was added to this trade. Yes, you have to. Or you had to watch that game where he went off against the Chicago Bulls. So, you know, it works out perfectly for everybody in this room. But nobody else, I would guess, right?

[Jay Skeets]

Unless you're like a draft sicko and you know, all these second round guys that were selected and you're like, oh, that's a steal at 45, you know, and swapping teams, but pretty unlikely.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, we're gonna forget that this was a seven team deal. Like Klay Thompson already had the record of a 16 deal last year.

[Jay Skeets]

We didn't know who was before that.

[Trey Kirby]

Probably a five teamer.

[Jay Skeets]

It was. Yeah, I think it was Westbrook. Yeah. Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

So yeah, big contract player at the end of his prime. That's kind of how it goes.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, exactly. Westbrook to Clay to Katie. So call it. Call the next record breaking eight team deal. Trade. Who will be the key guy in that trade? TK don't give me all eight teams. Just give me the key guy.

[Trey Kirby]

The key guy will be Karl Anthony Towns.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow. Interesting.

[Trey Kirby]

It won't be next summer, but it'll be a little bit longer.

[Jay Skeets]

He's calling a shot like 20, 28 or something like that.

[Trey Kirby]

All right, we got ourselves a trade. A real one. Johns is reporting the Clippers, Jazz and Heat have agreed to a trade that sends Norman Powell to Miami.

[Jay Skeets]

Whoa.

[Trey Kirby]

John Collins to the LA Clippers. And Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson, 2027 Clippers. Second round pick to the Utah Jazz.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow. Great timing, Shams.

[Trey Kirby]

A real trade. Only three teams not going down in history. Norm Powell to the Heat, John Collins to the Clippers, Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson to the Jazz.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, The Heat aren't messing around. They're saying we want a player in getting Norman Powell.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, they didn't. Also didn't really have to trade much. Right. They gave up Kevin Love, who gets into their rotation when guys are injured, and then Kyle Anderson, who they got in a trade last year. And people thought he would probably fit better in Miami. But I think this is definitely an upgrade to get another ball handler and Norman Powell, because the second ball handler for Miami was probably going to be their rookie. Casperus Yakachonis hero is going to be the number one guy there handling the ball. So they need a little bit more scoring, a little bit more shooting. Makes sense for Miami because the cost is pretty low. Love and Anderson, I don't really. I assume the Clippers are throwing in their own second round pick.

[Jay Skeets]

Yes.

[Trey Kirby]

And I think that's a good get for LA as well. To get John Collins for essentially a second round pick. That's going to help their backup. Big situation. They're brought in. Who's there? They brought in Brook Lopez.

[Tas Melas]

Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

They've got John Collins as well. Like Collins can play small ball 5 if they need him to. He's better suited as a 4, I think. But he can shoot the 3. Brook Lopez can shoot the 3. Clippers are beefing up their bench a little bit. They've had a Pretty nice rotation. Once again it'll come down to the health of Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. But sure, I think this is a.

[Jay Skeets]

Fine move and John Collins, correct me if I'm wrong, he had just exercised his player option with Utah here in free agency and then of course now is on the move going to la. But yeah, Norman Powell the biggest name, best player in this three team deal here from Shams.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, Miami Heat didn't have to give up much but you can see that in the Eastern Conference teams are going for it. Miami Heat literally getting a guy who was on the borderline of being an all star last year for the first time in his career. Norman Powell a very, very good player and they just need a secondary ball handler and he can be that. There's no doubt about that from the Clipper side. It shows they are not going to go get a guard that people rumored about that maybe if Bradley Beal is bought out, as we'll talk about, maybe they were the team that were going to go get it. They are willing to spend, spend, spend because you just said he opted into his player option. This guy's getting paid. That's a good chunk of change for them to pay. They are trying to lengthen this window of Kawhi Leonard and James Harden as much as possible because Collins was good for the Utah Jazz. As a guy who will hang out in the corner and hit a three obviously is super duper athletic. He can add something to a team, I guess. Norm Powell gone. Secondary ball handler is gone as well. He provided a monstrous fourth quarter against the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs when Harden and Kawhi weren't killing it. He was, he was important. So the ball handler, are they short.

[Jay Skeets]

One in Los Angeles?

[Trey Kirby]

They're getting one short one in Los Angeles is what I would say this indicates. Chris Paul, come on down. He's already been rumored to be a Clippers target and if they're trading basically their third ball handler in Norm Powell, a guy who was a 20 point per game scorer due to injuries and spots in the rotation opening up at various times, they got to replace him in some way. Obviously Giants Collins is not his replacement. So I think this is just setting the table for Chris Paul to make his way back to the Clippers.

[Jay Skeets]

I think that makes sense because you know, looking at Norman Powell's contract, he's only under contract for one more year.

[Trey Kirby]

He's you know, 25, Kevin Collins both expiring.

[Jay Skeets]

Yes. So and then they had the decision are we going to pay Norman Powell or are we not? So they're off of that and yeah, you think they'd get some ball handling help in here? Probably Chris Paul, I guess potentially be all we got. We'll get into that and whether he's bought out and stretched and way more and all that stuff. But yeah, all right, good stuff.

[Tas Melas]

It's got to be Chris Paul because at first the talk was he's going to go back to la. Why would he do that? But this makes sense. There was even rumors I was buying into the Drew Holiday before he was dealt that he would be perfect there, put Chris Dunn to the bench, ideally in a perfect scenario and Chris Paul would make a lot of sense, he said. Told Jamel Hill. This is going to be my last year, so he's got one more year. Go back to la because as I said, they're trying to go for it as much as possible by showing, by going to get a guy who's getting paid in John Collins to join Zubots up front, Brook Lopez up front with Kawhi and James Harden. That's another team that literally is trying to maximize what they got.

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[Tas Melas]

Breaking up is never easy, but saying.

[Jay Skeets]

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[Tas Melas]

To use with stunning dashboards, customizable templates.

[Jay Skeets]

And built in AI that actually works. Switching to a new work platform has never felt this good. So move on to Monday.com. all right, fun stuff. Let's get back to some other things that happened over the weekend. We had like not a lot of action on Wednesday or Thursday, you know, even into Friday there. Right? Because I guess GMs were too busy sucking back glizzies.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right.

[Jay Skeets]

But we did then have two minor trades within like 60 minutes on Saturday night. And it started with the Rockets trading Cam Whitmore to the Wizards in exchange for two second round picks. So Houston selected Whitmore with the number 20 pick in the 23 draft. He had trouble like finding a role there. They just have too many guys so he wasn't getting significant playing time if I remember correctly. Even had some time in the G League, you know, trying to get him some opportunity there. But they move off of him and he goes to the Wizards. TK for two second round picks. Your thoughts on this blockbuster.

[Trey Kirby]

This is a buster of some sort. You have to know the Rockets pretty well to get down to Cam Whitmore. We do because we follow the league like that. But he only went for two second round picks and there's a reason, you know, he's a black hole on offense, doesn't pay a ton of attention on defense. And I think there are some chemistry questions because apparently he was pretty pouty not getting minutes in Houston and he was going to be buried in Houston, especially after they brought in Dorian Finney Smith and Kevin Durant, not to mention all the other guys who were ahead of him in the pecking order. So I think a smart rebuild acquisition here for the Wizards, there will be some opportunity for him to be a scorer for this team because he definitely can score and the price is right. They didn't even give up any of their own picks. They gave up a Bulls pick second rounder in 2026 and a Kings second rounder in 2029 while keeping their own, which should probably be at the top of the first or at the top of these second rounds. But you look at what the Wizards got on the wing right now, like Koulibaly is kind of in between a guard and a wing, but I'm throwing him in the mix. Along with their rookie from last season, Keyshawn George, Chris Middleton is there. They got a champagne. They traded for AJ Johnson, a first rounder last year. They drafted Trey Johnson, a first rounder top six. He was sixth pick this year. And they drafted Will Riley in the first round as well. Really, the Wizards are just throwing some guys at the wall and seeing who sticks. Maybe it'll be Cam Whitmore. He's been nice in some of his opportunities, but I think he might just be a Kamingo like player who he can score. Does he do anything else for your team? I don't know from the Rocket standpoint, I think they're just purifying the vibes heading into the season. They don't need any sort of drama after bringing in Kevin Durant. So if he's not going to play anyways, why not eliminate a potential distraction?

[Jay Skeets]

And by moving Whitmore, the Rockets are now approximately 1.3 million under the first apron. Always got to talk about aprons, of course, so there was that as well. Helping out the books a little bit by moving a guy that they just didn't have an opportunity to play him and maybe didn't even like what they were maybe seeing. Just the way he played. But he gets a chance in Washington.

[Tas Melas]

The Rockets getting under the apron. Has there been any memes of Tillman Fertitta? Rockets owner, owns a bunch of restaurants. It just makes sense on an apron to put. Yeah. Under the apron. I don't know. There's some stuff there. Something. Something for everybody at like a giveaway. Fertita's restaurants.

[Jay Skeets]

Maybe game one of the season. We're under the first apron. Apron you give away to the first 10, 000 fans.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Or any one of Fertita's restaurants that he. He runs.

[Jay Skeets]

We went to one of them. I can't remember. What does he have?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, a bunch of them.

[Trey Kirby]

We went to one in Houston while we were there. Remember that J.D.

[Tas Melas]

Jane chain?

[Trey Kirby]

Chains.

[Tas Melas]

They're chains. It was a steakhouse.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, it was a nice steakhouse.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

That's good.

[Trey Kirby]

It was a Fertitta joint.

[Jay Skeets]

Wasn't Ruth.

[Tas Melas]

Was it Morton?

[Jay Skeets]

Was that Ruth Morton?

[Tas Melas]

How was it going?

[Trey Kirby]

Vic and Anthony's land?

[Jay Skeets]

No.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, yes. Maybe it was Vic and Anthony.

[Tas Melas]

There was a dress code. I remember that.

[Trey Kirby]

There was.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Anyway, they're under the apron and you know, the Wizards taking a chance. Apparently they were trying to trade up in Whitmore's draft to get Whitmore because He dropped to 20 because of everything. Like Trey mentioned stuff going on outside of the basketball world or just the fact that he didn't want to give enough effort on the defensive end. He's a crazy athlete. So the Wizards are taking a chance on somebody that's a local boy. He went to school close by there.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Aldridge did say David Aldridge, hall of Famer, quote, the Wizards get a much more cap friendly offense. First young win on with young wing on which to take a gamble in Cam Whitmore. Then the rumored Jonathan Kaminga. So potentially looking at that as a sort of a cheaper version. And maybe he pops and then Sean's in his article about this, this was weird to me. He wrote, quote, the Rockets worked with Whitmore and his reps at WME Basketball over the past few weeks on a new home. Houston officials had multiple offers on the table for Whitmore, but wanted to see him go somewhere that gave him a legitimate chance to thrive in his career. That jumped out to me that Shums included that. And I know Shams has got to play like the agency game and obviously the reps within the teams, but that sounds like he's like, you know, Houston is making it sound like maybe we could have got even more for you. Cam. With more than two second round picks. Maybe, but we wanted you to thrive in Washington. I just thought that was a little odd that it was included in the ESPN article from Shops. No.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, it's also trying to make sure the Rockets front office likes this article slash move. You know, it's a pat on everyone's back.

[Jay Skeets]

And it's also the Rockets front office saying to wme, basketball and maybe other agents, hey, look, we'll work our. We'll work with our players here. Yeah. And you just remember that when we have to make a deal down the line.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, he's. I guess if he was having workouts, it's literally him and Kaminga that have been having these workouts, these auditions these last few weeks. So the comparison to Kaminga is pretty easy. We watch.

[Trey Kirby]

We watch crazy.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. We literally watch Kaminga videos of him in a gym just showing his game to show potential front offices. I got this man, like I have these skills and he was showing a skill set that I didn't know he possessed. But it's also two on two basketball. That's not really even two on two basketball.

[Jay Skeets]

The Wizards, you sort of went through the roster a little bit, Trey. They are young, but then they have a bunch of vets. Yeah, yeah. They are doing this thing. It feels like when all their vets are there, if Brogdon stays. Middleton McCollum, who they've added Kelly Olynick, Marcus Smart is still there.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

Right. So these are all vets. Are they gonna almost be like on the floor coaches? Because then you go through the roster. Whitmore, he turns 21 this week. He's already two NBA seasons. Is it tomorrow?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, so he's turning 21. Bub Carrington turns 20 in two weeks. A.J. johnson, he's still 20 when next season starts. Same with all rookie big man Alex Sar Koula Bali turns 21 at the end of the month. Keyshawn George is 21. They drafted Tre Johnson, who you set at number six, he's 19. And good old Canadian boy Will Riley from Cambridge. Now, I was close to Cambridge. I was in kitchener. He's also 19.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

Holy crap. That is a lot of youth to then pair with these. Like the old guys, they have too.

[Trey Kirby]

Many players is what it sounds like.

[Jay Skeets]

They really do.

[Trey Kirby]

Like, it literally doesn't make sense how you could possibly get minutes for these young guys. Having five old guys. That's a starting lineup at the top of the roster. So the Wizards will be active at all trade deadline sort of conversations. I do believe C.J. mcCollum. Somebody want to trade a couple of second rounders for him? Kelly. And a couple of second rounders for Him. I do believe the Wizards will be able to recoup these second round picks pretty quickly.

[Jay Skeets]

Right, right. But I mean, everybody gets what they're doing. I mean, they want some one of two of these guys to really pop, obviously, maybe to level up into a sort of a superstar if they can. Maybe they're hoping that's Trey Johnson. But I like the idea of like, at least you've got like Middleton, McCollum, even Kelly Olenning. Like, these guys are like, considered like the vets of all vets. Marcus Smart to some example, to some extent. Excuse me. Like, you gotta like teach these guys the ins and outs of the professional game too, so it makes sense. But you're right, Trey. That's a lot of young guys. Holy, man. They're gonna. They're gonna win summer league.

[Trey Kirby]

They might win summer league.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Watch out. The other trade. Oh, that was a big one, too. The Grizzlies traded center Jay Huff to the Pacers for 1 second round pick and 1 second round pick swap Tassa stretch 5. He averaged under 7 points per game, but he shot 40% from 3 in limited time for the Grizzlies last season. So the Pacers get him as sort of like to help out with the Miles Turner leaving for the Bucks.

[Tas Melas]

Pacers needed a body, simple as that, to play center for them. And now if there's any J. Huff, lovers of a national podcast, it's this one. I don't think anyone else talked about Jay Huff and shooting that three and the pump fakes and drives and block shots. A reverse alley oop if I remember correctly.

[Trey Kirby]

He's got a lot of reverse dunks. That's like his signature. Yeah, he's a real. Mason Plumlee.

[Tas Melas]

Mason Plumle. Enter him in the dunk contest.

[Trey Kirby]

He was in the dunk contest.

[Tas Melas]

Mason Plumlee.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Do not put J. Hump in the dunk contest. Don't listen to him.

[Tas Melas]

No, but, but yeah, they just. They didn't want Miles Turner as much as the Milwaukee Bucks did, and frankly, they needed somebody to play center. Now, I know that they have hopes for Isaiah Jackson after his Achilles tear, and they extended the. The qualifying offer for him. Maybe Jerus Walker plays a little small ball five next season, but they really have Tony Brant. They only had Tony Bradley and an injured Isaiah Jackson to play five, so they needed a body and capable.

[Jay Skeets]

And it's super cheap, too. He makes nothing very, very Team friendly deal. He's like a $2.3 million salary, and he's like, way better than that in this type of league. So decent move here, I think, by the Pacers to at least get a body in here. And then I guess in related news, Jock Landell is going to the Grizzlies, right? As a sort of, you know, they're replacing J. Huff with him because they've got injuries to Zach Edie, and then, who knows, with Jerry Jackson Jr. And all that.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that's. I think what you need to know about Jay Huff is that the Grizzlies are starved for centers right now, just like the Pacers are. And they're like, yeah, we can downgrade to Jock Landale. Like, I think probably a solid save by the Pacers to get a guy like Jay Huff, who's kind of a discount. Miles Turner, he runs the court. He blocks shots, he does reverse dunks. He shoots threes. Shot it great last season, 40%, like you said, Skeets, on three attempts per. That's cool. Took 200 of them last year. He had taken 23 in the three seasons prior in his career. So are you a real shooter? We shall see. You'll get some looks playing in Indiana, but seeing this as the move that the Pacers do to follow up losing Miles Turner, they should have paid Miles Turner because what are they going to do for a starting center next year when Tyrese Halliburton is back? Jay Huff is not Miles Turner. And a rotation of Huff, Bradley and Isaiah Jackson, that ain't going to cut it. No, Isaiah Jackson's listed at 6, 10, 206 pounds. That guy will get pushed around like crazy. So I think they need to target a starting center in the next one year before Tyrese comes back.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, and the Landale move beside Jaren Jackson Jr. Makes a little more sense than a J. Huff just because he likes to bruise people. It's like a Steven Adams light to help out Jaren Jackson Jr. Not play all those Senator center minutes, really, just to get Jaren Jackson Jr. Off a little bit. So Landale is going to play, I think, you know, behind Zach Edie when he's back.

[Trey Kirby]

Are they saying he was waived? I don't know if that's true, John. Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Let me.

[Trey Kirby]

Let me investigate by the Grizzlies. Yeah, we don't need to investigate. It's just Josh Landale.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. The Arizona Republic reported last week that the Phoenix Suns have been discussing a possible buyout regard Bradley Beal. So Beal has two years left on his contract totaling about 111 million, 110.8, if you want to get specific. So a buyout would obviously make Beal a free agent here, but there's this quite a debate here. Task a lot of people saying what Phoenix should do with Bradley Beal. And, you know, and it's. It's also just like his no trade clause. This is up to Beal a little bit too. If they even wanted to do this, the Suns may wave and stretch him. And his contract, though he would have to give up $14 million to make it legal under cap rules. Since Phoenix already has dead money on the books. That's from like Nasir Little and E.J. liddell or something like that Little and Liddell combo. So it would have to be Beal literally just giving back some money here, but it's a possibility. What do you think Phoenix should do or Beal and his team should do?

[Tas Melas]

Well, Bradley Beal would have to say, yeah, I'm taking $14 million less. That being said, he can go get signed by somebody else. And we're talking about all these guys. We just talked about Jock Lando. We talk about all these guys getting these small deals. He can go get a 7 per year deal or even smaller. The biannual exception is available for some teams, so he wouldn't lose all that much money. And this is a capable guy of, if you're talking about $5 million per year or something like that. When it comes to the biannual exception, like the Dallas Mavericks, if that's available. It seems like it's available, according to my research, that they could pay him under five. So, you know, the 14 million, like you're saying he loses seven per year. All that to say, does the guy want to leave Phoenix? Really? Does it come down to, I don't know, it ain't about basketball. It's just about his life. He's got this no trade clause. Maybe he just wants to stay there. I don't know his personal reasons. But if he wants to play basketball, it should be somewhere else. That's for sure.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, this would be great for Beal. I think this would be awesome for Beal. He'll be able to make back his money and he's still getting paid $100 million. Even if he gives back the 14 mil, he's still a good player. It's the contract that makes him a guy you don't want on your team. But if you're paying him $5 million versus $50 million, how does that not help a team like Milwaukee, Denver, or Golden State. People who need a perimeter creator Bradley Beal could do that. On the other side of things, the Suns absolutely should wait out Beal. There's no way they should stretch him for five years. And then you got 25 million just sitting there on your cap after you're paying Devin Booker $75 million per season on his extension. The reason it was okay for the Bucks to do it is because they are, like on the verge of losing Giannis onto tmpo and they were able to sign a guy. They brought in Miles Turner, the number one free agent target out there. That would not be the case for the Suns. All they would be doing is saying goodbye to Beal, which maybe is addition by subtraction, but this is too much subtracting to be doing from your salary cap. You'll never be able to build a winner with Devin Booker if there's 25 million on your cap for the next five years. Unable to build when you're paying like $100 million, basically between Beal and Booker and one of the guys isn't even there. It doesn't make any sense for Phoenix to do this. They got to suck it up for two more years and realistically, only one more year. He'll be able to be traded next year with one year left on his deal.

[Jay Skeets]

I think it doesn't make any sense for Phoenix to do this, says Trey Kirby, which means Phoenix will do it. Yeah, they'll do it.

[Trey Kirby]

No, 100% saves them like $230 million out of Matt Ishby's pockets, which, you know, I think that's probably attractive to him.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, you nailed it out of the park. In my opinion. They should not. They. They should, like, give. They got way too many guards. We've talked about it with Jalen Green. Now they're in the mix. Even Dylan Brooks, sort of as a, you know, two, three, four type of guy, I guess he can sort of play up. But like, I would. I would try this. At least now Katie's there. Maybe Beal has a bit of a bounce back. You can still trade him. I know he's got the no trade clause, but maybe there's a team that comes knocking that he's interested in. I would not want this dead money on Phoenix's books here. Like if you're doing the wave and stretch. Oh, no, no, no, no. That's it. That's again with Beal having to give money back, which I don't think he's going to do either. Because I mean, I mean for a lot of the times, like he's like, I don't want to be traded there. I'm not going to do it. You know, by all accounts. So he has a lot of the power still insane that he has that in his contract. The Wizards gave him that of all the players in the league. But I would like. Yeah, slow play this Phoenix. Don't rush here that you're already going into. Like, I don't want to call it a wasted year, but nobody picking the Phoenix Suns to do anything next year. No matter what the roster is in the loaded west. You'll be. We'll be shocked if they're like in play in contention. It'll be like, well, that was a good year.

[Tas Melas]

Good year.

[Jay Skeets]

Right? So I mean you got. And I know and Booker doesn't seem in any sort of rush to get out of there. He's going to get his huge extension soon here too. And I think he's earned that. Just slow play this one. They won't but slow play. But let's hear from you on the Beal situation. And yeah, and really, I mean it's. If Beal wants to like get out of there too and go play for maybe a contender.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, Ishbia sure seems like the type of owner to want to get something done now. And so if he can save some money in the short term and he can have more money to do something else with other than Bradley Beal, you know, go sign a big of some sort, then it makes sense that logically, yeah, you should be looking at the long term and be able to add more in the long term instead of having that contract on for five years. But this is Matt Ish. He goes for it and so he may go for it right here, right now.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, the hope is he did go for it and it completely blew up in his face.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

And now they're struggling to get out of that hole that he put them in by being way too aggressive with the KD and especially the Beal. Has he learned from.

[Tas Melas]

Has he learned a lesson? The general manager that they signed in, Brian Gregory didn't have NBA experience and so did he learn by going to get somebody that didn't have a lot of experience seeing what has been done in the NBA, I, I find that hard to believe.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, well, I mean we didn't hate the Durant trade from Phoenix's side of.

[Tas Melas]

Things when they did it.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Like all things considered, I don't think we were like, oh my God, they got Absolutely nothing.

[Trey Kirby]

He means this current Durant trade.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah, I'm talking about. I'm talking about the Durant trade.

[Tas Melas]

That this guy did something. Yeah, yeah. Brian Gregory has fine trade.

[Trey Kirby]

So one for one there. I think the Suns are in a better spot today than they were when the season ended.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Which is depressing because it's not much better, but it is better. Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

They were 36 and 46 last year. Same record. Probably.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Quite likely.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Quite likely.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. I think you're right.

[Trey Kirby]

Especially if they're not keeping plowed in for one win a season. Guaranteed.

[Jay Skeets]

Absolutely. All right, Some other news here. This has been making the waves. It's Jonas Ellen Shootas last 24 hours. He's been in all the headlines here. So the Nuggets have in fact informed Valentunas reps that the franchise fully expects the center to honor his contract. The Nuggets agreed to a trade with the Kings to acquire JV for Dario Saric. I don't think it's been officially, you know, called into the league yet, at least last I saw. But according to Shams, Denver informed Valanchunas that he will. That they will not let him out of the remaining two years on his contract because he's being pursued by a team in Greece. And there was a lot of rumors, tasked that, oh, maybe he wants to go to the Euroleague. And everyone's like, hold on, you know, you might just have been traded to a good team and a team that needs you as a backup center. And this is where we find ourselves right now, here on Monday morning. Again, nothing official with that trade. And we're waiting to see what happens with him maybe going to Greece.

[Tas Melas]

Apparently, that deal has been there for a while. Even going back to last year's off season, where Panathanikos in the Greek League saying, we want that guy. And there was some conversations about it. This is interesting. We don't see something like this very often. So is he gonna leave? I saw Dusty Garza, who is an NBA reporter.

[Jay Skeets]

His name's Dusty Garza.

[Tas Melas]

Goes by Dusty. Doesn't look like a Dusty. But legitimate. Legitimately. I know you chuckled Trey, but does.

[Jay Skeets]

It look like a Dusty? He's super clean.

[Tas Melas]

No.

[Jay Skeets]

If you showed me a photo of Pig Pen, I'd be like, that guy looks like a Dusty Garza. Little flies around his head.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. You're telling me this guy does not look like. It does.

[Jay Skeets]

No. That doesn't look.

[Tas Melas]

No.

[Trey Kirby]

Very slick.

[Tas Melas]

I'm. I'm. I would believe. Why I'm reporting what Dusty Garza is reporting is because he seems believable. And he went on to say Panathenic coast, yeah, was in place last year. Despite what some NBA media are reporting, he is not negotiating. He is leaving and signing there. He's going. This is how he elaborated. No, Jonas Valentunas can't just pack up and leave for Europe. He's still under contract unless the Nuggets agreed to a buy up. But if he refuses to play, they can only find or suspend him. And while it's possible FIBA won't clear him without Denver's sign off, then a long drawn out legal battle can take place. But insiders don't feel that's likely here. If Jonas wants to leave, he and his agent will find a way for him to leave. No one can force him to play where he doesn't want to.

[Jay Skeets]

There's these photos, but the NBA contract is binding. So.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, we saw, we saw something similar with Sasha Vazankov. He had. He had a contract last year. Yeah, but you lost because it's not Jonas. Well, Sacramento didn't let the guy play. Obviously Jonas is a better player. Yeah, he would be the best backup center as we're all talking that Jokic is probably ever had with him. Although him and Yusuf were. We're all right anyway. Yeah, Jonas would be great for Denver. He would be good for Greece too, I guess.

[Jay Skeets]

So Valentri has two years and a little more than 20 million left on his deal. So if the agreed upon trade with obviously Sacramento goes through, Denver would have to waive him or buy JV out of his 10.4 million for the 2526 season in order for him to exit and maybe potentially go back or go to play for Greece. Do you think that's what's your read on this dk?

[Trey Kirby]

I don't know. I assume wherever Valentunas wants to play is where he's going to end up playing, even if it is overseas. Because give back all of his money and sign for more with Panath and icos. That seems reasonable to me. If they're making this big of a push to get a current NBA player out of his contract, they must want to pay him pretty well. And from Jonas's point of view, like the guy was with the Raptors forever, then he was in Memphis for a long time, then he was in New Orleans for a few seasons, but then suddenly he's played on four teams in the past three years. New Orleans to Washington to Sacramento to Denver. Maybe he just wants some stability to be in one Place for more than six months.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, for sure. Where he will be easily the best player on the team, I assume, you know, I'm not going. Kendrick Nunn was doing some stuff for Panathronicos, I think. Pretty sure. Anyway, Jonas would be the number one guy. Yes. Stability and hey, you're the guy, man. You know, he hasn't had that.

[Jay Skeets]

What has to happen now then? The Nuggets and Jokic and Jamal Murray have to be like, jv, man. No, don't go there. Like, we need you. There's gonna be a role for you here at least, at least during the regular season to like spell Jokic a little bit and give us some great backup center minutes. And like, he is still, like, he still has a role in this league. He can be exposed because of his lack of speed. Maybe in a playoff situation, like that can be an issue. But he is an innings eater and he's like a double double machine still. And you know he's going to obviously set huge picks and rebound and sort of deter guys at the rip. So there's a role here on behind Jokic. But I guess that they just got to convince him, hey, man, stay in Denver. You're going to love it here.

[Trey Kirby]

Or they say, go ahead, we'll go after Al Horford. Who would you rather have?

[Jay Skeets]

Horford.

[Trey Kirby]

Valentin Horford.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. That's interesting. And again, this trade is not done. It's not official, this trade, the Sarich JV trade. So possible.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. I don't know the finances because the crunky was excited to get off of Sarch's deal. But Jonas Valachunas, if you release him, if he's still on the salary cap, there's that issue before going to sign Al Horford. That's dolla dollar bills and cranky, infamously said, hey, the second apron thing, I don't want to talk about it because that might mean trading number 15. So numbers wise, financially, I think there's. There's a few steps to take. But Jonas Valachunas was made for the European basketball game.

[Jay Skeets]

He's an awesome player.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he would be a great. He can still be at his age, very good Euro league big man. And Panathenikos, they're stacked. They got Kendrick, Nunn, Chetty, Osmond, Juan Hernan Gomez and Matthias Lessor from France who played alongside Lucelle. TJ Shorts is their point guard. So I don't know if Panathenikos is considered one of the great teams in the Euroleague.

[Tas Melas]

They are.

[Trey Kirby]

They're going to have four NBA players In their starting lineup. Yeah, pretty good. And Jaren Grant off the bench buying a drink.

[Jay Skeets]

All right. We'll wait to see what he decides. Okay. Maybe it's. Yeah, maybe it's his family that decides.

[Trey Kirby]

They also got Duron Holmes is coming back for Denver. Like they will recover if Valentunas decides to play in Greece. Getting off the Sarge contract is huge.

[Jay Skeets]

For them, but that might not happen, I guess.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, they can still do the trade and then release Valentinus to get the benefit of the trade.

[Tas Melas]

Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

Other minor moves. I'll just chuck them at you. Ryan Rollins this morning agreed to a three year, $12 million deal to return to the Bucks. Mo Wagner signed a one year deal with the Magic. The Anthony Melton I think is expected to sign with the Lakers. Task, I know you'll be excited about that. Lakers also resigned Jackson Hayes and Jabari Walker to sign a two way deal with 76ers. Any thoughts on any of those?

[Tas Melas]

I think Ryan Rollins is going to be the Bucks starting point guard next year unless they can go get somebody else. He started a chunk of the season and then they decided to change it up when they were desperate to go with Kevin Porter Jr. But Kembor Jr. In the playoffs wasn't working all that well. They took him off the ball and just shoved him in the corner at times. He had the assistant coach running onto the floor during a timeout trying to tell Ken Porter Jr. Where to go, what to do. You don't see that very often in the NBA. So I think he makes more sense as a backup guard. Ryan Rollins is probably going to start. They need. They need another point guard, that's for sure.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he makes more sense as a backup starting a backup point guard.

[Jay Skeets]

Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter Jr. And Kuzma still there.

[Tas Melas]

Right. And you know, to go along with Gary Trent and Torian Prince. They have guys other than the lead point guard, but the Ryan Rollins I think is their best lead point guard if I'm gonna pick one start. So very interesting point.

[Trey Kirby]

Giannis is going to be the recipe for the Bucks, I have to believe. Also Mo Wagner back to the Magic. No surprise. He did make more than Franz Wagner made last season. $8 million for Mo, 7 million per season for Franz. But starting in 25, 26 this next coming season, Franz's extension kicks in and he's going to be making twice Mo's total career earnings per season.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow. Yeah. Wow. Do they live. Do they live together?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they do.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Wow.

[Jay Skeets]

So like how does that work now? Like, like Little bro's got to pay for everything.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes. I assume he takes over way more.

[Jay Skeets]

Of the five the bills. Yeah, lawn work and all that.

[Trey Kirby]

The family plan is under your name now, Franz.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, it has to be.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, you're buying all the groceries. Magic are still paying $43 million though, to that household. Last year they only paid $15 million to that house. Three times the cost this year.

[Jay Skeets]

That house. Maybe they may be moving.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Kitchen renovations coming soon.

[Jay Skeets]

Those just got nicer for sure.

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[Tas Melas]

Breaking up is never easy. But saying goodbye to your old clunky.

[Jay Skeets]

Work tools, well, that's easy. Just repeat after me. It's not me, it's definitely you, you rigid, unfriendly software. It's time to freshen things up with Monday.com, the first work platform you'll love.

[Tas Melas]

To use with stunning dashboards, customizable templates.

[Jay Skeets]

And built in AI that actually works. Switching to a new work platform has never felt this good. So move on to Monday.com. those are the minor moves. We'll wait for more here. A lot of stuff has happened. There's not a lot of people left. Big free agents that are left and we can go through it here. We actually got a few boards for you. Let's start with the restricted free agents. These are like the four biggest names, I think, in restricted free agency that are left. Jonathan Kaminga, Josh Giddey, Quentin Grimes, and Cam Thomas. Restricted free agency. Trey. It's dead. Yeah, nobody's got money. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Good year to have restricted free agents on your team.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, this could last for a while here.

[Trey Kirby]

So yeah, there's no reason for any of these guys to sign a contract if literally, if the Brooklyn Nets aren't offering it. And there's no reason for any of their teams to give them a deal outside of offering the qualifying offer, which you have to do to put them into restrictive free agency. So good on all these teams not negotiating against themselves. That was my worry with the Bulls, is that they would just pay Giddy because he was their big free agent coming off the books and had a chance to go somewhere else. Bobby Marks of ESPN reported that there is a Gulf of Mexico between the two sides in negotiations because the Bulls are like, have to be looking at this, saying we could pay him $20 million a year going forward. Giddy's saying, I want $40 million a year Australian, which is $30 million a year American, four for your 100. That makes sense to me. And Giddy should be at the top of the list there. He's better than Kaminga.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. He was balling after the All Star break. Man, the stats like are eye open.

[Trey Kirby]

The stats are great.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean giddy average, 21.2 points per game, 11 boards, nine assists. Shot 50% from the field and he shot 46% from three. It was after the All Star break. These are, you know, I guess the Bulls were still in the mix for playing games, but hey, they've got to.

[Trey Kirby]

The play he balled out.

[Jay Skeets]

But you're right, it's whether like unless the nets to decide to extend an offer sheet to get, it's like there's no one else.

[Trey Kirby]

And at this point they cut into all of their cap space by doing the Michael Porter Jr. Trade. So they can only offer him like 17 mil a season, which is even less than what the Bulls will probably eventually sign him for. And the Kaminga thing is interesting too. There are no teams for him. Even more so it's like the Kings are trying to work out a sign and trade to be able to get him. And that's why like the Sarich thing factors into it as well because I think he's the piece of possibly coming back. So I don't know where Kuminga is going to end up. It wouldn't surprise me if he's on the warriors again and we're talking about him and trade rumors for an entire season.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, this is another indicator of free agents not going for much now under this new cba. It's obviously every free agent, but also restricted free agents seemingly going for lower than they used to go for. You saw, you would see one team just overpay, bring them on. But now we're getting a Gulf of Mexico in between the, the high ended pay guys and the lower ended pay guys. And there's, there's less of guys in the middle. And Kaminga probably gonna be one of the lower guys. Not super low, but lower than we expected.

[Jay Skeets]

But there's a reason why these guys are also restricted free agents. Right. It's like they're, it's like this is the problem. We're like Kaminga, he's sort of good, but he's got a lot of holes in his game and obviously maybe isn't a great fit with the Warriors. Giddy, I mean literally the team that went on to win the title were like, we don't want this guy. They traded him. Obviously they go on to win. He's good though. He is good.

[Tas Melas]

He had a good series.

[Jay Skeets]

Quentin Grimes Balled out. I mean, got an opportunity. He put up huge numbers. You know, Cam Thomas is a bucket, you know, gives it all back on the other. Like, that's why they're restricted for agents, though. It's like they didn't sign these big fat extensions.

[Tas Melas]

Exactly.

[Jay Skeets]

And so they're in limbo here and they. Unfortunately for them and their reps, it's like it is a year where there's just no money in a lot of these teams. Like next year there'll be a lot more cap space in theory for some of these teams and it would have maybe been better for them. So maybe there will just be like, play it out. Sort of fascinating to see, but it's. Yeah. Kaminga's. The Kaminga is like one where you're like, I don't know, I could still be convinced he turns into a star player, but then people are like, no, he's just Corey McGetty 2.0. And I'm like, wow, that is pretty. That's bang on. Like, he's great at getting to the free throw line. He's obviously an athletic freak, but is he like that good, like when it comes to shooting and he's not good at the free throw line, like actually knocking him down even when he gets there. Bad defender, sort of. Sort of lost at times. I don't know. But then maybe it's just he's in a weird team that you have to be a particular type of player to play with. The Steph Curry warriors. And you put him on a team where he could, I don't know, ball out and be. Maybe turn into a star. He's a weird one to me.

[Tas Melas]

Those audition videos of him running these things. Don't, don't. You might get a little too excited about him because he looks good. Because there's nobody on the back.

[Jay Skeets]

You're telling me they. There's just two on two clips of him operating in the pick and roll. Yeah, yeah.

[Tas Melas]

And throwing cross court passes.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melas]

They're beauties. But there's two guys on the floor.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

It doesn't. Doesn't matter. He's wearing a hat. Actually.

[Trey Kirby]

He's playing.

[Jay Skeets]

I do not like that. I feel about that.

[Tas Melas]

It's got of a cool hat though, I think.

[Trey Kirby]

It's not like I'm coming around on hats on a court.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, no, Trey.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm softening my opinions on good man Devin Booker does it, man.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. You're right.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, does he?

[Jay Skeets]

Anthony Slater, the latest on Kaminga. He said restricted free agency around the NBA remains Ice cold conversations, little action. The Kings have been the strongest pursuer of Kaminga, but nothing has come close. That's Slater I think last night or this morning keeping his eye on this. So that's where we stand with these guys. Any other thoughts on Grimes or Cam Thomas?

[Trey Kirby]

No, no, no. Cam Thomas I think stinks. He can score and he makes tough two point shots. Not a great three point shooter. He'll be back to the nets. I think they're going to get a discount on him. That's fine. And I think the Sixers are going to get a discount on Grimes as well and he actually is a good player. The problem for them is they've spent two of their last draft picks on guards in McCain last season, Edgecombe this season. Not to mention Tyrese Maxey is already on an extension as an all star player. So from the Sixers standpoint they're like, okay, you can be part of our guard rotation. Maybe you can even bump up to the three a little bit alongside Edgecombe. Like those two are probably athletic enough to be able to make it happen, but not a priority for the Sixers. So just wait it out and they'll get a good deal on it.

[Tas Melas]

Grimes balled out. I mean he was balling for the Sixers. Now reportedly wants 25 million per year. And that's the problem with these middle of the range, middle range contracts here. How much are you going to pay for a guy to add to your team? Because he will add to your team. He will be a great 3 and D type guy, secondary ball handler if you need somebody to score. But now you start getting into restricted free agents of old, I start looking at maybe Jonathan Kaminga is a Deandre Ayton when he signed one. I mean it just doesn't work out. But somebody like Quentin Grimes makes sense. I, I, he'll get, I think, yeah, he will be a good player for.

[Jay Skeets]

A team 20 to 25. Yeah, I mean Grimes probably, wow, that's.

[Trey Kirby]

A lot for a guy off the bench.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean he's, the teams are going to want 15, he's going to want 25. Like you said, it's going to probably be somewhere 18 to 20. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow. Nikhil Alexander Walker just signed for what, 17 and a half. Grimes isn't anywhere close to his level. He's like crime's like a ten million dollar player. He's a bench guy.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I mean he, well he showed out in meaningless games for Philly. That's the problem. It's like everyone's like, okay, these Meant nothing. And he scored 22 a game. 5 and 5. It was really good numbers, good efficiency.

[Tas Melas]

You're paying for the defense mostly.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Cam Thomas. Yeah, he's that guy. Scores even more than all these guys. But again, not a great defensive player. Can't hit the three. He sort of reminds me. He's like. I don't know which way I was going to say. Like, he's a souped up version of this guy. But on a bad, He's a lot of Jalen Green to his shot selection and his scoring, but giving it back. And like, he's good, but he isn't good. And like, it's sort of weird, but again, he's on a bad team. He scored 24 a game, but he missed a lot of time with hamstring issues. He only played 25 games last year. If you weren't following the Nets and.

[Trey Kirby]

They drafted like, four ball handlers.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, they kept all five guys, didn't they?

[Trey Kirby]

They got them all.

[Jay Skeets]

Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

From the Demon to the Wolf.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

All those creatures.

[Jay Skeets]

That's a good. If they're good, that'd be a great, like, nickname for them. Yeah, the Creatures. Best unrestricted free agents still available. We talked a little bit about Chris Paul. We'll put him at the top of the list, but Al Horford's there. Damian Lillard is an unrestricted free agent. After what happened with him in the box. Waved and stretched. Malcolm Brogdon, Russell Westbrook. I threw on a Chris Boucher, who, you know, these other guys are more like sort of super vets and stuff like that. But anyone you want to talk about their test when it comes to UFAs.

[Tas Melas]

We hadn't gone through Chris Paul enough. I think Chris Paul as a Laker, just. Excuse me, as a Clipper, just makes so much sense. They are looking for somebody with experience back there, especially now giving up Norman Powell. It would have made sense even before that because they were trying to move on from the Chris Dunn type of guy out there, starting with Harden and Kawhi. I think he would be a great alternative to handling the ball. That one makes a heck of a lot of sense.

[Jay Skeets]

What about you, tk?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, Chris Paul to me is either Clippers or I would love to see him play on the Bucs. I think he would be the starter for the Bucks. He's certainly better than Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter Jr. At least from a taking care of the ball veteranship standpoint. Chris Paul's never been in the Eastern Conference. He's never played that far north. That's pretty far away from his family in la. So all off court signs point to the Clippers, which then leaves the Bucks looking at like, should we be the team to try Russell Westbrook?

[Tas Melas]

Oh, boy, should they?

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, probably, right?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he was decent for the Nuggets last year until they got to the playoffs. Yeah, well, first round he was good. Second round he was Rick Fest. That's true.

[Jay Skeets]

He was really good in the first round. Yeah, they absolutely should. Come on Rollins and Porter Jr. That is ridiculous. I mean, I, I, yeah, I was.

[Tas Melas]

Surprised that they resigned Kemport Jr did he opt into his player option?

[Trey Kirby]

No, they had to resign him somehow.

[Tas Melas]

Either way. Yeah. Yeah, Russell Westbrook's an upgrade.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm not totally convinced he is over Kevin Porter Jr. At this point, but the one season Westbrook played in the Eastern Conference, he set the Wizards franchise record.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

For triple doubles in a career in one season. Even got an MVP vote that year. So he's a good innings eater. I think there's a fit there. And then the Horford thing is interesting as well because he's been mostly rumored to go to Golden State, but that deal can't really get done until they figure out what they're going to do with Kaminga because about what they can pay him, that kind of stuff. I, like I said earlier, I think he makes a ton of sense for Denver if Jonas Valanchunas ends up not being a Denver Nugget. And then you got to wonder, like, how about Al Horford in Indiana on the Pacers one year, he's definitely better than Jay Huff. He fits their system perfectly. But you look at this and it just turns out to me like the Celtics have really lost a lot this offseason because it doesn't feel like Horford will be going back to Boston at the very least. So they will have lost Jason Tatum due to injury. Horford, Drew Holiday, Luke Cornett, that's for their top eight right there. Taking a major step back next year, which was going to be the case, but I don't know if they were anticipating losing half of their rotation. Pretty weird stuff in Boston.

[Jay Skeets]

And yeah, if Horford is gone out of Boston, man, look at the Celtics big man rotation, right? Yeah, it's Keita time. It's not bad, but you know, Tillman.

[Tas Melas]

And stuff like this, they're gonna love Luca Garza. They got, they got Garza. They are going to love him.

[Jay Skeets]

Maybe they're a team that would, if Horford goes, would want Chris Boucher sort of as a, as A stretch, sort of five guy. He's like four or five. He had a, like quietly for the Raptors. He did bounce back last year because he had a really crappy year of the year before that. He shot, you know, a decent 36% from 3, 62% when it came to twos. And then he like, gives you a little capable defense on the wing in second units for the Raps. I. I mean, I think, like, if the. I think he'll make his way to the Warriors. If they don't get Horford or something like that, there, there'll be a role for him. Not probably staying with the raps. People have said the Sixers, but I'm like, I don't think so. Him and Nick Nurse. He was in the doghouse under Nick Nurse, so I don't see him going to Philly unless they reconcile.

[Tas Melas]

But we'll see. He was in the talks at the trade deadline. I think you had him on the list of potential guys. It is interesting.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, he's. I think he's totally fine. He's a fine backup sort of big guy for a team. And obviously, if you're a better team than even better, he can help you in a regular season.

[Tas Melas]

It is very interesting that Malik Beasley isn't even on the list. This was a guy who was going to get offered three years, $42 million from the Detroit Pistons. They were ready. They were talking about it. And that's when the league gave them a call and said, hey, Malik Beasley is a person of invest of interest in a gambling investigation. That was a mere few days before free agency happened. So now, three years, 42, it's poof, gone. They're very unlikely to sign him as they went and got Duncan Robinson. Just doesn't feel like that's happening. Blake Beasley, very interesting scenario going on there because he had a great year. Really, really good year for him.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, my God. He had timed it perfectly to get.

[Tas Melas]

Like, biggest contract, unfortunately.

[Trey Kirby]

You could say he bet on himself.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, exactly. And maybe he's done that too much.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, we don't right now.

[Jay Skeets]

We don't know. But we also don't know. We don't know if he'll ever play again, to be completely honest.

[Tas Melas]

It's fair point, right. Could be a John Tay Porter situation.

[Jay Skeets]

We see. We will see. All right. We'll call it there. I mean, we're getting into Chris Boucher talk.

[Trey Kirby]

That's Boucher.

[Jay Skeets]

That's where we're at here in, in free agency. But hey, we got A lot of little things in there. Appreciate you joining us. Hit the like button. Subscribe. We're gonna be back on Wednesday. All right. Obviously the schedule changes a little bit here, but we'll have a brand new show on Wednesday. We got something fun cooking for Wednesday's podcast, so make sure you join us at 10am Eastern live on YouTube or catch the podcast after. Hey, leave a review if you're a podcast listener. Would like that. I was gonna say five Star Friday would be right around the corner, but, you know, it gets a little odd. You got time to get your reviews.

[Trey Kirby]

Get them in the summer.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anything else? Anybody see any good movies over the July 4th weekend?

[Trey Kirby]

I saw F1.

[Tas Melas]

Oh.

[Trey Kirby]

And it's a movie you want to see in a theater, I would say.

[Tas Melas]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay. The recent scenes are heart pounding. I loved it when I left it. Like, when I left the theater, I loved it.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, good.

[Trey Kirby]

Graydon said we got to get it in the studio and do a podcast about it.

[Jay Skeets]

No way. That feed lies dormant.

[Trey Kirby]

And, like, as I was walking on, I was like, well, I like this as much when I get it home to watch it. And I'm watching more for the story rather than the spectacle. I don't know, but the spectacle is amazing.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. Okay, good. You see anything? Anything of note? Even kids movies? I don't even know what's out.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, Helio is a big kids movie right now.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, that's hot.

[Jay Skeets]

What's that little blue guy? Stitch. What's his name?

[Trey Kirby]

Stitch. Yeah, that's there. As is how to train a d. Train your dragon.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. Did you see any of these or not?

[Tas Melas]

My kids wouldn't.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, okay.

[Tas Melas]

But I didn't. What? Sinners was obviously awesome streaming.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. J.D. you went and saw a movie, did you not?

[Tas Melas]

I did. I saw Jurassic World, Rebirth. Oh, yeah, yeah. You can check out me Internet. Rachel, review it on.

[Jay Skeets]

Is this good?

[Tas Melas]

Is this good feed? It's now called Thumb War.

[Jay Skeets]

It's a new podcast.

[Tas Melas]

New podcast dropped. Check it out.

[Trey Kirby]

Not good. Spoiler alert.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah, Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

I saw Mission Impossible last night. Oh, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

It was a bit of a slog.

[Tas Melas]

But some spectacular stunts.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, what else did I see?

[Trey Kirby]

That's it.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, F1 is great too.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

My family was gone for 17 days, and I watched 18 movies.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, my God.

[Trey Kirby]

Hey, man, if you take. If you just take away all the time I spent chopping up an apple every day, it equals up to one movie. Apparently, I didn't have to chop any apples for 17 straight days, so I've watched movies.

[Jay Skeets]

Whoa.

[Trey Kirby]

Instead. J.D. speaking of thumb wars, I watched a clip yesterday of the only time that Siskel switched his thumb from an up to a down after Ebert convinced him. Do you want to take a guess what the movie is? I'll give you the hint that it stars John Travolta, Staying Alive, Pulp Fiction. No, no. No one will guess it. It's Broken Arrow.

[Jay Skeets]

No, he convinced them. Yeah. Siskel comes in, he's like.

[Trey Kirby]

He's like, it's fun. There's some great action pieces. And then Ebert's like, this movie sucks. I can't believe you like it.

[Jay Skeets]

He's like, you know what? You talked me into it. I'm turning my phone.

[Trey Kirby]

Ebert couldn't believe it.

[Jay Skeets]

He's like, how could you do that to the people? And that's apparently the only time it happened.

[Trey Kirby]

At least it was the only time up until that moment. I don't know if it happened after.

[Jay Skeets]

Have you filled out the New York Times top hundred movies? Like, how many you've seen and how many you have to watch? What were you at 70?

[Trey Kirby]

I don't know.

[Jay Skeets]

That's exactly what I was. 70 watch. 30 to go.

[Tas Melas]

So I haven't done that yet. I'm.

[Jay Skeets]

It's pretty cool. Like, the list is decent. You know, sure, there's a couple.

[Tas Melas]

You're like, what?

[Jay Skeets]

But that's. That's a list. 100 movies.

[Trey Kirby]

That's the list.

[Jay Skeets]

That's a list. Okay, we'll call it there. Like I said, back on Wednesday. Till then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.

[Trey Kirby]

Have a great time. Turn up.

[Jay Skeets]

Love you guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Awesome.

[Tas Melas]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, it's fun going back to see who signed contracts with another team under restricted free agency, and then your team just goes and matches it. Like, I had forgotten that Gordon Hayward, when he's with Utah Jazz, got signed to a contract by the Charlotte Hornets right before he went there. Way later. But the Jazz said, we're keeping you around. The deandre Ayton one was interesting. Maybe he's going to replace Miles Turner because he signed one with Indiana.

[Trey Kirby]

Eric Gordon, Phoenix Suns.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, he didn't want to go or he wanted.

[Trey Kirby]

He wanted to go.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right.

[Trey Kirby]

The Clippers.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Kept them.

[Tas Melas]

That's right. That was a good one. That's all.

[Jay Skeets]

All right, Race today, people.

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[Tas Melas]

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He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too.

[Tas Melas]

Ah, really? Thanks.

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[Jay Skeets]

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