The Kawhi Gamble, Top Remaining Free Agents & Is LeBron On LinkedIn?

Summary

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No Dunks – "The Kawhi Gamble, Top Remaining Free Agents & Is LeBron On LinkedIn?"

Date: July 1, 2026
Hosts: Jay Skeets, Tas Melas, Trey Kirby, JD

Episode Overview

In this jam-packed post-free agency episode, the No Dunks crew recaps a wild 24 hours of NBA transactions, including the ripple effects of the Kawhi Leonard trade to Toronto, under-the-radar free agent moves, odd contract structures, and the league's shifting balance of power. They debate risky team-building gambles, discuss the ongoing LeBron James sweepstakes, and poke fun at NBA news dropping on LinkedIn. The show wraps up with analysis of the NBA Cup’s new home and other quirky NBA headlines.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Major Free Agency Deals & Team Strategies

Segment Start: 03:56

• John Collins to the Pistons (3 yrs, $51M)

  • Tas Melas: Skeptical about the fit: "John Collins is not a scorer. Of course, he's a really good rim runner. But...for spacing out there, a lot on Cade's shoulders now." (06:28)
  • Trey Kirby: Sees it as a lateral move: "At the very least, it feels like a lateral move to me...a little disappointing for Detroit, I think." (07:30)

• Norman Powell to the Bulls (2 yrs, $45M)

  • Trey Kirby: Likes the "balloon payment" concept: "He fills a hole for the team. They gave him the Bruce Ben Brown balloon payment with a one plus one so they maintain flexibility." (09:48)
  • Skeets/Tas: This is all about tradable contracts and flexibility. Bulls positioned as a "fun, fast, bad team...the fifth worst team in the league." (10:35)

• Other Moves Noted

  • Marcus Smart to the Rockets (insurance for Fred VanVleet)
  • Bogdan Bogdanović (veteran minimum, Rockets)
  • Dean Wade to Sixers (signals Kelly Oubre’s likely exit)
  • Keon Ellis to Nets (unique mutual option contract)
  • Luke Kennard, Brandon Carlson, Kobe Sanders landing with new clubs

Notable Contract Stories, Odd New Options

Segment Start: 17:17

• Keon Ellis to Nets:

  • Skeets: "It has both a team and a player option for year two. This is fairly rare." (18:09)
  • Hosts agree: Neither side has seen something like this—true “mutual option.”

• Spencer Jones on LinkedIn:

  • Tas: Amused by contract news emerging via LinkedIn rather than an agent or a reporter. (18:44)

• Robert Williams to Blazers:

  • Noted for creative partial guarantees (year 2 only fully guaranteed if he hits games played threshold).

The Kawhi Leonard Gamble: Raptors vs. Clippers

Segment Start: 26:20

• Details: Kawhi Leonard traded to Raptors for Brandon Ingram, Grady Dick, two unprotected firsts (2031, 2033), a 2027 swap, and two seconds.

• Tass (on the picks): "Good job by the Clippers here to push them way down the line...Maybe they'll be bad by then. Kawhi probably won't be playing by then." (27:01)

• Trey Kirby (on Raptor’s risk): "This is like potential expiration date for the Scottie Barnes era in Toronto...It became a lot riskier once they said it's going to be far away picks that are unprotected." (28:12)

• Skeets: Notes this is the rare star trade that’s a true gamble: “They actually cashed in some of these first round picks for elite talent...You had no chance without him...It just gives you the smallest chance to actually win playoff series.” (29:03)

• On fit with Scottie Barnes:

  • Noted link to a high school video where Scottie named Kawhi as a dream teammate—now reality. (27:51)
  • Kawhi signed because he wanted to come, possibly to retire as a Raptor.

• Future Outlook:

  • Tas: "This means the Raptors now have a three-year window...the unprotected picks come after the window." (33:34)
  • Trey: “They're in the mix now. When they weren't in the mix prior.” (38:42)
  • Debate over whether another big move is coming for Raptors.

• Clippers’ POV:

  • Trey: "If I'm talking about winners of the trade, it's probably the Clippers...making some future-forward moves...that’s pretty smart." (39:35)

LeBron James Free Agency Saga

Segment Start: 41:47

• LeBron Declines Lakers Return:
  Already meeting with teams. Several contenders cited: Cleveland, Miami, Golden State. Timberwolves register interest, but seen as unlikely.

• Decision Factors:

  • Ring chasing (Spurs, Wolves, Thunder, Knicks as best spots)
  • Trey: "If he wants a fifth ring, then you go to [a contender]...But it does feel like it's Cleveland, Golden State or Miami." (43:30)

• Will LeBron Drag Out His Decision?

  • Skeets: Wonders if this is another “Decision,” maybe even a “Shark Tank”–style televised spectacle (46:15)
  • Trey (joking): “The Cavs can offer him $4 million right now... If they move off Max Struss, they're closing in on $15 million..." (42:47)

Top Remaining Free Agents

Segment Start: 47:38

• Peyton Watson – high ceiling, linked to both LA teams and the Nuggets, who desperately want to keep him.
• Tobias Harris, Rui Hachimura, Bennedict Mathurin, Mitchell Robinson also highlighted as potential impact signings.

Wild Contract Mechanisms & LinkedIn Signings

Segment Start: 18:44

• Keon Ellis and Mo Wagner both get deals with a “mutual option,” meaning either team or player can opt into year two independently.
• Hosts perplexed: “Not since Daryl Morey invented the poison pill contract...have we seen innovation like this.” (67:06)
• Free agent Spencer Jones’s contract negotiations revealed on LinkedIn, prompting speculation if LeBron will do the same. (18:44)

NBA Cup Moves to Hinkle Fieldhouse

Segment Start: 62:22

• Midseason NBA Cup Final will be held at iconic college arena in Indiana, not Vegas.
  • Trey: "They told us they were maybe going to be moving the cup finals and they moved the cup finals...Worth a shot." (62:22)
  • All agree it's a chance for the NBA to try something different and historic.

Other Noteworthy Moments & Quotes

• Memorable Quote:

  • Skeets: "I want to be the fifth worst team in the league. The Bulls could definitely do that." (10:35)
  • On Nash/Tim Hardaway Sr.: “Tim Hardaway Sr. played for the Warriors, the Heat, the Mavericks, the Nuggets, the Pacers. Now Tim Hardaway Jr. will have played for the Heat, the Nuggets and the Mavericks.” (13:23)
  • Trey (on Ben Simmons): “He bought the team, put himself on the team, and then won the championship.” (68:45)

• New Agent Shout-outs:

  • Both Norman Powell and Mo Wagner have new, lesser-known agents. (75:04)

Quirky NBA News

Segment Start: 67:38

• Ben Simmons Comeback Article:

  • Laughs about Ben focusing on fishing, training for possible NBA return, and some skepticism about the validity of “Men’s Health”–driven comeback narratives.
  • Trey: “He hates shirts.”

• NY Knicks Stop OG Anunoby Finals Game Ball Auction:

  • Hosts agree it’s right for the iconic Game 4 ball to stay with the Knicks rather than a private collector. (72:45)
  • “Indiana Jones mode: That belongs in a museum.” (72:52)

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Structured Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment / Highlight | |-----------|--------------------| | 03:56 | Rundown of free agency deals, Bulls, Pistons deep dive | | 06:28 | John Collins to Pistons commentary | | 09:48 | Norman Powell to Bulls analysis | | 17:17 | Rockets, Lakers, unique contracts discussion | | 18:44 | LinkedIn contracts & strange free agent situations | | 26:20 | Kawhi Leonard trade deep dive | | 33:34 | Raptors' window, Clippers’ strategy, Ingram & Grady Dick | | 41:47 | LeBron James rumors & the Decision 2.0 speculation | | 47:38 | Top free agent targets remaining, including Peyton Watson | | 62:22 | NBA Cup moving to Hinkle Fieldhouse | | 67:38 | Ben Simmons comeback via Men's Health and finals memorabilia | | 72:45 | Knicks keep OG Anunoby’s Finals ball, memorabilia ethics |

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Conclusion—Tone & Takeaways

The No Dunks crew deliver their classic high-energy, humorous, and sometimes irreverent NBA analysis. They blend real basketball insight with lighthearted takes and deep familiarity with team histories, contract oddities, and NBA culture. If you missed the chaos of early July free agency and the unique flavor of the 2026 NBA summer, this episode’s banter-filled breakdown and speculation-filled discussions have you covered.

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For Full No Dunks Experience

Catch future episodes on YouTube or wherever you get podcasts, and keep refreshing for emergency pods during the ongoing offseason shake-up.

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Notable Quotes At-a-Glance:

• "At the very least, it feels like a lateral move to me...a little disappointing for Detroit, I think." – Trey Kirby on John Collins to Pistons (07:30)
• "He's going to obviously score 20 plus points per game. I wouldn't see why he wouldn't do it here on this team..." – Jay Skeets on Norman Powell’s Chicago fit (12:05)
• "This is like potential expiration date for the Scottie Barnes era in Toronto." – Trey Kirby on the Kawhi gamble (28:12)
• "Decision 2.0? Shark Tank for LeBron? I'm here for it." – (paraphrased) Jay Skeets, LeBron speculation (46:15)

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For NBA die-hards and casuals alike, No Dunks brings analysis, hot takes, and laughs from the summer rumor mill.

Transcript

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Good morning sweet world and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Happy birthday, Canada. Happy birthday, Nora. I'm Jay Skeets here in the classic factory and alongside me, as always, it's Tas Melas.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Happy Canada Day. Happy Canaan Day. I love me a waving flag.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, very nice. Next to him, it's my top shot, hot boy Trey Kirby.

[Tas Melas]

Hey, hey, yo.

[Jay Skeets]

He's looking like a flag here today. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer jd Hello. There he is. Here we are. Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners, five star ratings and reviews. On today's show, the NBA cup groups have been announced. Yes, the weirdest timing ever with these. But we'll get into them. We'll play a little. Is this news as well? But first, we got more NBA free agency moves to address here. Since we logged off from our special last night, a number of things have happened in no particular order. Okay, I want to hit you with a few. And then we got some free agency questions to address. Norman Powell. Storm and Norman go into your Chicago Bulls. TREY.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right.

[Jay Skeets]

Two years, $45 million deal. Zach Collins also agreeing to a two year, $17 million contract extension with Chicago. John Collins, the Baptist, he agreed to a three year, $51 million deal with the Pistons.

[Tas Melas]

Don't like that one.

[Jay Skeets]

We got Marcus Smart agreeing to a two year, $13 million deal with the Rockets. Bogdan Bogdanovich is going to also join him there in Houston on a one year deal. Dean Wade, he agreed to a four year, $39 million deal with the Sixers. And we just learned Ariel Hakporti will join him on a one year, $3.4 million deal in Philly. What else? Keone Ellis going to the nets. Two years, 18 million. Funny deal, that one. We'll get into it. Maybe. Luke Kennard going to the Suns. Two year, 13 million. Brandon Carlson going to the Blazers on a cheap deal. Kobe Sanders agreeing to a four year, $11.2 million deal with the Clippers. I think that's about it.

[Trey Kirby]

So I mean, Brandon Carlson. So we're pretty deep here.

[Jay Skeets]

There was a lot of white guys getting paid last night. We had like a white guy run.

[Trey Kirby]

It was incredible. They knew it was Canada Day coming up.

[Jay Skeets]

So I want you to tell me from all of those, what's the most interesting signing again since we logged off of our NBA free agency special?

[Tas Melas]

I'll start with John Collins going to the Detroit Pistons because this means he's their starting power forward as Shams reported, taking the role of Tobias Harris who was their second best scorer in the playoffs. They needed him. They needed Tobias in the mid range. Just give it to him and score. John Collins is not a score. Of course he's a really good rim runner. But I do find this odd and I find this not positive for the Detroit business. Again, they need a second score. And so you can look at John Collins number and say oh, he shoots the three, but really he's a corner three shooter. About two thirds of his threes come from the corners. And when you saw the Pistons play, they needed to space it out and so they gave it to Tobias above the break for threes. That didn't always work out. It's not really going to work out with John Collins. They need more space down there. You look at this team now, what are they? They don't have their two centers currently. They traded away Isaiah Stewart who's kind of their heart and and soul. They don't know what's going on with Jaylen Duran. Really their team is Cade, then Duncan Robinson beside him. I'm sure they're going to bring USAR Thompson back on a new deal and then John Collins and who's their center. I mean they got Tolu Smith coming back and then their benches. Caris Lavert, Danis Jenkins, Kevin Herder, Paul Reed. So I think this is bad news for the Detroit Pistons.

[Jay Skeets]

It's not great.

[Tas Melas]

Good news for John Collins getting a big contract. Good news probably for the Toronto Raptors who are looking up at the Eastern Conference standings and seeing the 60 win team look totally different than last year in Detroit business. Don't like it at all. Really for spacing out there a lot on Cade's shoulders now.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I'm with you. I actually like the fit. Okay. With John Collins. Like you're saying he can make a wide open three, he can play small ball five and rim run if they need. But the lack of self creation compared to Tobias Harris is an absolute downgrade for Detroit. And like Tobias Harris isn't that great of shakes. You're talking about a guy who's never been an All Star getting replaced by another guy who's never been an All Star, never will be an All Star. So I think that the Pistons have just kind of moved sideways so far. I mean there were the one seed last year. They did win a playoff series for the first time in more than a decade. So you're still at least on the right trajectory. But this seemed like A season or the way the playoffs went. We all talked at the trade deadline like you didn't make a move. Fine. You figured out what you needed after losing in the playoffs and thus far they haven't addressed it at all.

[Tab Ramos]

No.

[Trey Kirby]

And at the very least, it feels like a lateral move to me. So I thought Jon Collins was going to be in demand this off season because there are a bunch of teams that need a four like Detroit obviously did. But the Lakers could have used John Collins, the Spurs, the Timberwolves. There are a lot of teams out there. I guess this is the best he could do. $17 million average annual value, which is pretty solid for a guy that's still somehow not even 30 years old. Like, we've talked about John Collins at every transaction period for at least six seasons straight, and he's not even 30 yet. It doesn't make sense to me, but this is just kind of a sideways move and a little disappointing for Detroit, I think.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, still big TBD on the Jalen during contract and whether, you know, they're going to be matching what that looks like. But I'm looking ahead here either to Friday's drop podcast or next week when everybody starts doing winners and losers from free agency or grades for all the teams in free agency. It's not looking good for the Pistons right now. They're going to be on a lot of losers list. They're going to get a lot of C minuses and Ds as currently constructed. Again, waiting on Durham, but this, I'm with you guys. He's just not another creator really. I mean, yeah, he can hit a three, but. And maybe the rim run, but they need more than that. What we saw in the playoffs, they need way more alongside Kane Cunningham and so far, not great here.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, even if they resigned during. It's a step back. I mean, Tobias Harris is. Is a better score as a secondary option. And so yes, no matter what happens, even getting, as I mentioned, getting rid of Isaiah Stewart, maybe that move was in hopes of getting Kawhi Leonard or getting some other huge name, but that has not happened. And so, yeah, this is. This is negative for the Pistons overall.

[Jay Skeets]

All right, what else was interesting to you? Do you want to talk about your Chicago Bulls?

[Trey Kirby]

How about the Bulls?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

The only team that's going to sign an all Star during free agency.

[Jay Skeets]

Fantastic. That is true, actually.

[Trey Kirby]

True.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Norm Powell, the best player that's going to change who's going to sign LeBron via free agency.

[Jay Skeets]

True.

[Trey Kirby]

Somebody is going to sign LeBron.

[Tas Melas]

I forgot about that.

[Trey Kirby]

But he's not signed yet.

[Jay Skeets]

No. Maybe he'll go to the Bulls down. Maybe he will.

[Trey Kirby]

The Bulls needed three point shooting. They needed veteranship. Norm Powell apparently has to play for a team that wears red and black. He will now check off all four in the NBA. Toronto, Portland, Miami, Chicago. That's all red and black teams right there.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow. Well done, Norm.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he never has to change his shoe color ever. Just send them all down from the Raptors days. And look, he fills a hole for the team. They gave him the Bruce Ben Brown balloon payment with a one plus one so they maintain flexibility going into next offseason. Not to mention at the trade deadline if somebody's interested in Norm Powell who's not going to be a long term piece for this Bulls team at 33 years old. So I think the Bulls are doing a weird job. Like, I wasn't super impressed with bringing back Zach Collins, but he's a tradable salary as well. He's on the same one plus one deal that Norman Powell is. And I think the Bulls are looking good to be one of the worst teams in the league while not being the absolute worst team in the league. And that's where you want to be. You want to be the fifth worst team in the league. I think the Bulls could definitely do that as a fun, fast, bad team.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, you hope for that and then hope you get the number one pick because of that. The Bruce Brown contract in comparison when he signed with The Pacers in 23 is the perfect comparison. It's the exact same money, two years and $45 million. And I think the Bulls are expecting and hoping for the exact same thing. Bruce Brown was traded that season in part for Pascal Siakam. To the Pace or to the Raptors, it was Bruce Brown and picks. And I'm sure the Bulls are going to try and sweeten a pot with some picks to get another star like Pascal Siakamos to come back. That's exactly what this, this move is for.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, I hope they don't, I hope they don't trade picks along Norm Powell. They're not close. I mean, we'll see what the player would be, but unless it's like Ant deciding who wants out.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, I hear what you're saying.

[Jay Skeets]

This is bringing a pro here to, you know, who's obviously well established and has blossomed into an all star later in his career to help out the young guys and to see who is the building blocks of the future here because their lineup and their depth chart, it is Josh Giddey. It's Norman Powell, it's Boozelis. Caleb Wilson, obviously their high draft pick here, Nick Claxton, who they acquired here over the last couple weeks. And then my guy Leonard Miller, of course on the bench, Patrick Williams is still there. Their other pick in Swain, I guess it's a Jalen Smith.

[Trey Kirby]

I saw him at the airport. You just saw at the airport?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. How'd he look?

[Trey Kirby]

The same.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

I like, I saw, I saw him from a distance. I said, oh, that's an NBA player. And then I saw his glasses and I got a little closer. I said, oh, that's Jalen Smith.

[Jay Skeets]

Definitely Jalen Smith.

[Trey Kirby]

So I guess he's going to come back.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

And then, well, Anthony Simons, right. I guess he is still on the. Well, not technically still in the Chicago Bulls, but they could go after him if they wanted. But it's a funny thing. I think they will, but I'm with a bad team. Like not a great team in the Eastern Conference. But again, they had the space. This is not a long term deal. He's going to obviously score 20 plus points per game. I wouldn't see why he wouldn't do it here on this team many, you know, they needed a guard that could score alongside some of these guys because they're guys they're hoping that pop off are forwards here in Bouzelis growing and then of Caleb Wilson.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, it's a little surprising he doesn't go back to Miami because they're shallow and they could use his scoring.

[Jay Skeets]

I just didn't have the money.

[Tas Melas]

They didn't have the money.

[Jay Skeets]

Again, we talked about that on last night's show. It's like he's at this point of his career. Come on, man. This is a big, big deal for him.

[Tas Melas]

Oh yeah, for sure.

[Jay Skeets]

And they could not even come close really to it.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. In Miami, you know, he'll be replaced by Tim Hardaway who they signed yesterday to that $6.4 million. Good for Timmy. Going where daddy played there in Miami.

[Jay Skeets]

His dad said he's not wearing his jersey.

[Tas Melas]

He wouldn't allow that.

[Jay Skeets]

I saw a clip going around, I don't know when it was from, but he was asked about it once upon a time and he's like, no, he's not wearing 10. So this will not be a Larry Nance situation. Didn't Larry Nance Sr. Give Larry Nance Jr. His jersey?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, Larry Nance Jr. Got traded to the Cavs. He's like, I'm not wearing my dad's jersey. And then everybody's like, you better wear your dad's jersey. It is crazy though, because Tim Hardaway senior played for the warriors, the Heat, the Mavericks, the Nuggets, the Pacers. And Now Tim Hardaway Jr. Will have played for the Heat, the Nuggets and the Mavericks.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, so he's got a couple of.

[Trey Kirby]

He has actually played for a lot of his dad's teams. I think he's worn his jersey basically everywhere except for apparently here in Miami

[Jay Skeets]

where it is retired, I guess.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, I guess that's the reason. You know.

[Trey Kirby]

So it was Larry Nicholson. They could get out of it if they wanted, right?

[Tas Melas]

You can always bring it on down.

[Jay Skeets]

What about any of these other moves that interest you either Marcus Smart, Dean

[Tas Melas]

Wade, I mean Marcus Smart going to the team that he just stuck the dagger in their back in game three of that first round series where he was awesome for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Houston Rockets. That steal at the end of the game three and at the end of regulation. He was great. So a little insurance for the Houston Rockets in case Fred Van Vliet is an awesome coming back from injury. So there's that part. Good for them overall, you know, reuniting with him A Udoka cool. And them getting bogged down. But I also interesting. I thought he would be going to Denver, team up with Nikola Jokic, who is busy singing Serbian music right now in Europe as he gets prepared to play world championship qualifiers. Just a veteran minimum for Bogdanbagnanovich.

[Jay Skeets]

Pretty cheap.

[Tas Melas]

But the Nuggets is a huge question overall, what they're doing. We'll get to Peyton Watson a little bit later. But the biggest rumor that I've seen is basically David Adelman, their head coach, is going to get an experienced assistant coach beside him. That's it. What else is there? There's. There's. Oh, we might trade this guy. Oh, we might trade this guy.

[Jay Skeets]

Jalen Brown. Trade rumors, I guess.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Yeah. Some of their players were with Michael Porter Jr. For his 28th birthday party yesterday. That's something. But nothing with the player. Nothing real established with the players like who they're trading so they could retain Peyton Watson. Other than that. Yeah, that's. That's an interesting scenario there. But the Rockets get a little stronger. Yeah, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Keonellis. I think.

[Trey Kirby]

Hold on. I think the Rockets moves are kind of weird. I don't think that they needed more veterans at all. And definitely not like in Smart. A streaky shooter. This just seems like IME Oduk is picking one of his favorite guys in the league and spending their very little assets to go after him. Bogdanovich, I have zero faith in being able to get healthy enough to really contribute. He's even a worse signing than Smart to me. I just think this is a weird choice from Houston, completely not addressing what they need going forward. They're getting Fred Van Vliet back. They've drafted Reed shepherd, number three. We just went through a whole season of will he play? Won't he play? Now we know Fred's coming back. Reed should still be somewhat in the mix for this team. And now they're bringing Smart in. I think this is weird, and I actually think it's even worse for the Lakers. Smart gone, Canard gone. They're going to lose LeBron. They're probably going to lose Rui Hachimura. They have been linked to Mamu, Kelly Oubre, Quentin Grimes, and then one of either Kessler or Duran. That's just not enough for a team that's allegedly trying to win around Luka Doncic.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, they also. They need to, like, pray at this point that they get at least Kessler or Jalen Duran or. It's an atrocious offseason, I would say.

[Trey Kirby]

Exactly.

[Jay Skeets]

And I'm not even saying it's like a game changer. Even if they land one.

[Trey Kirby]

No, it's almost worse. I think, like, if they were going to get Kessler, they're going to have to pay him 35 to 40 million dollars, and that's instantly going to be a bad deal.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, yeah. Quentin Grimes is hot on the rumors for Mark Stein that he's going to be there to replace your canards, to be out there and score the Walker Kessler memo. Kalashvili is also hot in the rumors along with Jalen Duran, who has met with them apparently here to start. Yeah, the Rockets, definitely. It's a thing like, hey, we're getting older one more time. It's just. I think it's insurance, Freddie. We don't know how you're going to be out there.

[Jay Skeets]

And I guess Bobby Marks, you know, broke it down. This is a good thing for the Rockets. The contract to Marcus Smart does not hard cap Houston at the so it gives them flexibility to bring back restricted forward Tari Eason as a part here still in free agency. Houston is $28.5 million below the second apron hard cap. So will Tari Eason stick around there in Houston, in addition to Bogdanovich and now Marcus Smart? Keone Ellis, I just wanted to touch on this. He goes to the Brooklyn Nets going to get an opportunity there. Just a funny deal. Contract situation. Two years, $18 million. It has both a team and a player option for year two. This is fairly rare. So either side can choose to opt in to the second season. And if neither side elects to opt in, he would become a free agent next summer. Again, this is very unique here. Both the player and the team have the option on the second year of

[Trey Kirby]

this deal, but they both have to agree.

[Jay Skeets]

I, I don't know. Or is it just one or the other?

[Trey Kirby]

Like whoever claims it first?

[Jay Skeets]

I sort of thought it was one or the other.

[Trey Kirby]

That's pretty weird.

[Jay Skeets]

My interpretation.

[Tas Melas]

Never heard of this before.

[Tab Ramos]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

So you know, look, he gets an opportunity here. You love Keon Ellis.

[Tas Melas]

Give him a shot. Give him a shot there. It's interesting that Cleveland let him go. They've got a bunch of guys, so it's understandable. But yeah, give, give him a shot. I think some other odd contract stuff going on. Now this is odd because it's announced on LinkedIn. Spencer Jones went on LinkedIn.

[Jay Skeets]

Apparently I thought LeBron was going to be on LinkedIn.

[Tas Melas]

Now he didn't announce his contract but what he, but what he announced was he said earlier this season I could have had multi year guaranteed contract signed and done. He said he didn't take it and now he's going to get apparently double. That is what he said on LinkedIn. Said I'm negotiating now for double. That just came out on LinkedIn. Said, hey, okay, this is my story from this year. I thought was very funny. One other time.

[Jay Skeets]

Is he his own agent or does he have nothing?

[Tas Melas]

He has an agent.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. I'm just curious. I can't wait to see their names in Sean's tweet.

[Tas Melas]

It's so, so fun. I think yesterday we announced Robert Williams, 3:44 with the Portland Trailblazers. What's interesting is there's. There's a Tom Dundon. God. Yeah, baby.

[Jay Skeets]

You love Tom Dundon.

[Tas Melas]

I love talking about him.

[Jay Skeets]

You talk about him all the time.

[Tas Melas]

This was a deal. We said three years 44 for a guy who's always injured, guaranteed money, it's a surprise. But year two, right? Right. Not guaranteed. Five million guaranteed in, in year two. If he plays 50 games then it's guaranteed. So there's, there's a deal. Smart stuff there.

[Trey Kirby]

They gave him the mike and Nori, they said, we got you for one year. We'll see what happens.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Not guaranteed, my friend. So Jake Fisher shout out to you for mentioning that Dundon is Going to

[Trey Kirby]

love that Keon Ellis contract, huh?

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

He's like, look at all the ways you can get out.

[Jay Skeets]

We can do this with every guy.

[Tas Melas]

The Dean Wade one sounds like a lot, right? Four years, 39 for Dean. He's a fine player.

[Jay Skeets]

Sounds like it.

[Tas Melas]

But that's. That kind of. That means that Kelly Oubre likely gone. Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

We're just relying on Dean. And it looks like Quentin Grimes could be going to the Los Angeles Lakers from the Philadelphia 76ers. So Dean Wade is going to be their starting small forward. It feels like go guard a guy. Would you rather have Dean Wade or Kelly Oubrey? You know, Dean Wade, slightly younger, slightly taller, but apparently not as long wingspan is Kelly Oubre.

[Trey Kirby]

Kelly Oubre is older than Dean Wade.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. It's surprising.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I guess he's been around a long time.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. At this point, just one year. I think it's 30 compared to Dean Wade's 29.

[Jay Skeets]

I would rather have. They both have their pros and cons to their game for sure.

[Trey Kirby]

Dean Wade, is he steadier?

[Tas Melas]

Like, you know, he's gonna be around playing well in year three and year four.

[Jay Skeets]

He's actually been not bad over the last little bit here, I think, like later in his career.

[Tas Melas]

Higher ceiling. I think a little higher ceiling than Dean Wade, but okay. Lower floor. That's a little surprising.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. I'm not a big Dean Wade guy. Not really either, but I guess it would be. It depends on what Kelly Oubre makes, but if he makes less than 9 million, I would be in on him. But I think Dean Wade is fine. Like he'll be 30 at the start of next season. He can defend in particular, like picking up the ball. He's a better perimeter guy, even though he's kind of tall. He can make a wide open three pointer, but it's got to be wide open or ain't going to shoot it. He fills out their starting lineup and maybe by the end of his contract when they're kind of out of jail with regards to Embiid and Paul George, then they can actually start trying to really build around their team. Because they're kind of stuck right now until those contracts come up. They're just. They're just a team. That's going to happen.

[Jay Skeets]

I agree.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Yeah, the Embiid one. As we talk about the, you know, the worst contracts in the NBA, we talked about Trey Young after receiving his max. Embiid's got to be in that conversation. I know he played in the playoffs and so that's different. He was he earns every dollar, but not all that great. I was surprised to see Dean Wade get four years, although the last year is partially guaranteed.

[Jay Skeets]

Guaranteed. Okay, that makes a little more sense.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, and Uber is going to get money from somewhere. There's Pacers rumors.

[Jay Skeets]

I think he'll I said yesterday I think he'll end up on the Pacers. But yeah, you brought up the Lakers and they need guys now as everybody just keeps leaving. So that's a possibility. All right, well, let's, let's move off of the transactions there. I just refreshed Sham's Twitter page and nothing else popped up. The last thing Huck party going to the Sixers too, there as a backup big Introducing Taco Bell's new Jalapeno Citrus

[Trey Kirby]

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[Jay Skeets]

but when the sauce is this good,

[Trey Kirby]

the food is just there to get

[Jay Skeets]

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[Trey Kirby]

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[Jay Skeets]

Now it's a sauce shovel.

[Trey Kirby]

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[Jay Skeets]

Get it with any item on the

[Trey Kirby]

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[Jay Skeets]

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[Trey Kirby]

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[Jay Skeets]

what it do Baby let's talk a little bit more about this. We now have all the details about yesterday's Fun Guy trade, right? The Clippers traded all NBA forward Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors for Brandon Ingram Grady Dick and then we have the specifics when it comes to the picks. Two unprotected first round picks in 20, 31 and 33. So future unprotected first round picks, a 27 first round swap and then two second round picks also sort of down the line. Tass, has this changed your opinion at all about the Kawhi trade? Because I think you were thinking a lot of people were maybe thinking they were more immediate draft picks, but instead I think good job by the Clippers here to push them way down the line.

[Tas Melas]

Absolutely. Good job by the Clippers. I was wrong. I thought they'd be coming up very, very soon. Thought they'd be at 27 and 29. Although, you know, along with the 31 and 33, it's a good move for the Clippers. Maybe they'll be bad by then. Kawhi probably won't be playing by then. But the 27 pick swap. Yeah, you're not using that. The Raptors aren't gonna have a worse record than the Los Angeles Clippers this next year. Come on. But either way, I don't think it changes anything. You know what changes things is that there was a video unearthed of Scotty Barnes when he was in high school. He was asked, hey, Scotty, if you had to pick one NBA player that you could be the teammate or be a teammate with, who would it be and why? And he said, in high school, he said, kawhi Leonard, so we could play defense together. So long ago. Now they're going to be playing defense together. I don't care about these draft picks. I just care about these two guys playing hard.

[Trey Kirby]

Famous last words.

[Tas Melas]

That was on earth from. From your boy Brian.

[Tab Ramos]

Great.

[Tas Melas]

Our. Our boy Brian, Yes.

[Trey Kirby]

Then he immediately cut to another high school clip of a different player.

[Tas Melas]

Very good. Dj. I mean, that's pretty cool. You get a guy talking about Kawhi Leonard and then he ends up being his teammate.

[Trey Kirby]

It just means Qui Leonard was really good in high. When Scotty Barnes was in high school. He's been in the NBA for years at this point. This is risky for the Raptors. The unprotected picks literally change everything here. Kawhi will be gone by the time 31 and 33 come around. You also have to pay him this gigantic extension. If this guy wasn't a franchise hero, people would be like, you traded two unprotected picks and you're going to pay a 35 year old. It would be looked back as a crazy move. Scotty, you also have to add him with 30 years old by the time 2031 comes around. So to me, this is like potential expiration date for the Scotty Barnes era in Toronto. Still, I think it's worth it. They had zero championship window as constructed. Now they got a tiny little one. And the east sends a different team to the finals every single year. So I think this is still a worthy gamble for the Raptors, but it became a lot riskier once they said it's going to be far away. Picks that are unprotected.

[Jay Skeets]

I would agree with that. Look, okay, the Raptors stopped Trading away first round picks for just above average or average players, which they've done a lot over the last couple of years. Purdle comes to mind. Brandon Ingram, of course, Thaddeus Young, Kelly Olenek Abagi. They actually cashed in some of these first round picks for elite talent. Now he's older, there's the injury risk and all that with Kawhi Leonard, but when he played last year, he's like, I don't know where you put him. Probably he looked like a top five player for a stretch, but more likely like a top 10 as he finished second all NBA. The Raptors had seven of their first round picks, right? And now they have, well, basically half with three sort of going out, at least control of first round picks. It's a gamble, man. And they're going to pay him. And that's a huge part of the reason he's even there, because he's like, I'll go there, I'll sign there. Weird. Why didn't you stick around when we won the championship? But okay, you wanted to go to LA, but he's back seven or eight years later and he's going to get $120 million after the $50 million deal that he'll play on next year. But it's like, I think you're right. Trey just gives you the smallest chance to actually win playoff series and maybe flirt with a conference finals, finals, championship. It's small, but you had no chance without him. And yeah, also probably one of those picks was getting off of Brandon Ingram's deal.

[Trey Kirby]

Absolutely.

[Jay Skeets]

So if you look at it that way, then it's a little more manageable or easier to stomach, I guess if you're a Raps fan.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, he wasn't playable in the postseason. We've seen him, Brandon Ingram in the playoffs before he gets bodied. And he's just not the same player as as good as he was in the regular season. He wasn't in the postseason. And he's a guy who played 77 games last year. Maybe Kawhi will hook up with Alex McKechnie again and play a lot of games. I mean, Brandon Ingram playing 77 games, he hadn't played more than 64 in the eight seasons before that. So things were going well. Things were going for well for Emmanuel Quickley until the playoffs. So I'm interested to see how much pressure that takes off Emmanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett just having Kawhi Leonard out there to see how they fly around him. Because, you know, we all worry that maybe they're too much of a mid range team. But Kawhi solves all that. He picked the Raptors, he picked us. Somebody else would have given him money. The Pistons probably would have given him a couple years. Look at them now. I, I would, I would rather look at this Raptors team right now. Obviously you got to think, oh, are they going to be healthy than the Detroit Pistons right now.

[Jay Skeets]

He definitely picked the Raptors by all reporting because I think Pistons interested enough, maybe the Timberwolves interested enough. And again reporting says he's like, well I'm not signing a contract extension there. I actually want to go to Toronto. And from again, the way Shamsa is saying it, retire as a Toronto Raptor, like sort of play out these final three years I guess let's call it as he gets up into 37 and 38 years old. Over the past four seasons, Kawhi has played in 52, 68, 37 and 65 games. He's played in approximately 2, 2/3 of the Clippers games here and he missed numerous playoffs, hasn't won a series since 21. Exactly. So that's the risk here that especially as he gets older, that the injury history catches up to him. But you know, they're just rolling the dice. How's it much different than now? I know he's older, but hear me out. All these other big trades that have happened over the last couple of weeks are guys that have been injured. And there's a huge part of the equation of why they're being moved. The Giannis, the Lamelo, the Ja Morant. Now add Kawhi here, it's like these are why these superstars are being moved because teams get a little bit tired of like we can't depend on you. So let's switch it up here. And then the team says, okay, well we'll take the risk. It's just a risk. But it's a fun ass risk because guess what, the Raptors are relevant again. It's the biggest thing. They are. Yeah, they weren't for a long time when Kawhi left. They sort of were. Nobody talked about him down here.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, for sure. And I think in part he picks Scotty Barnes being beside him. And he knows that Scotty Barnes is going to play in every single playoff game. In part why he didn't have success in the playoffs for years, as you said, since 21 was because other guys are injured too. Paul George was injured. And so I think he looks at Scotty Barnes and he knows that he's going to be playing every single game. Will Scotty Barnes be still be playing in 2031 when that first round pick comes around? That's year 10 for Scotty Barnes in his career. Man, it feels like that's a long career that we're talking about.

[Trey Kirby]

Ten years is nothing.

[Tas Melas]

I know. Well, that's why I think the 31 and 33 pick are fine.

[Tab Ramos]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

But to me this means the Raptors adding Kawhi now have a three year window next season. The two seasons they're going to pay him for the extension to make the conference finals. And honestly to make the finals, like that's going to be the ceiling and the goal for this team. Unfortunately for them, the unprotected picks come after the three year window.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, but, but the counter to that is, I mean it's almost like doubling down on this risk because they still have draft capital, immediate draft capital to use to make the team better around Kawhi, Scottie and whoever's there. So I mean that's probably what they'll do. Right? Whether it's upgrade the center position, whether it's a point guard like I assume. I would think there will be one more biggish move here. If you're really going all in, you're pushing the chips all in.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Which it feels like they're doing here when you make this move.

[Tas Melas]

When they traded for Kawhi in 18, it was that season that they were able to trade for Marc Gasol. Months later they were able to get a center and it was instrumental in

[Jay Skeets]

the championship, of course.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, but yeah, there's a lot of vets on that team that they don't have right now.

[Jay Skeets]

And we talked about it yesterday. You can go check our, you know, again our special out when the news broke. But this was a really good defensive team last year. Fifth in the league behind the two top two regular season teams in both conferences. It's okc, Detroit, San Antonio and Boston. Those were your defensive teams. Raptors were fifth. So that's not nothing here. And you add Kawhi. Now Kawhi is not the lockdown scary ass defender he was in his prime, but he's still 80% Kawhi or 35 year old Kawhi. Still better than, I don't know, Brandon Ingram. A lot of guys definitely better than Brandon Ingram and better than a lot of guys still in this league. And now you put him in this great defensive unit here and he's the go to scorer which they desperately need in half court sets when you get into the playoffs. So maybe it works out. I can't believe he's back. Still can't. Still seems fake to me. Nostalgia, baby.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes, this is, this is partially a nostalgia move, I do believe.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, well, let me read, let me read this from Kelly Dwyer because I want your opinion on it. He wrote, pretend Kawhi Leonard never played in Toronto, never won a chip, pretend he's new to the Raptors, he's Kawhi Leonard, wrote Kelly Dwyer. Yeah, he's 35, but wouldn't Raptors fans understandably go gaga over dealing for a 35 year old Kevin Durant in 23 or a 35 year old LeBron in 2019? You think that's fair? So pretend he never played. Yes, he's 35, but he was elite last year. Raptors fans would still be going. Now it's up another level because he brought him a championship. They'd still be going nuts again because it makes this franchise relevant, I think more than anything.

[Tas Melas]

I don't disagree. Yeah, I'm starting to think like LeBron, you know, is going to be playing at 35 with that comparison. LeBron's going to be healthy. True. Yeah. There's a difference there. And Kevin Durant, you know, he didn't bring a title on his own to a new team. So. Yeah, I guess if taking that out

[Jay Skeets]

of the road to make a move for him.

[Tas Melas]

No. Would it be.

[Tab Ramos]

What?

[Jay Skeets]

As a Raptors fan, would you have been excited?

[Tas Melas]

Oh, of course.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Well, yes. Just like you would have been pumped if Giannis was going to the Raptors.

[Tas Melas]

Sure.

[Jay Skeets]

And, you know, that's why I think their name was linked to all these. They're always like kicking the tires, like, hey, what can we get with some of this draft capital that we've saved up now and one or two of these bad picks or, excuse me, contracts that we've signed because we have a couple albatross contracts.

[Tas Melas]

It's a great question. Now I'm starting to think, would I rather have Kawhi or Giannis on the Toronto Raptors? As in, would I rather have every fan walk into the arena be handed a gyro? Or it would just be a kawaii. It's a Euro. But anyway, this is exciting times, especially with the Pistons and what they are. I don't start to look at the Eastern Conference standings. We'll see what the Celtics are. But I mean, you mentioned the defense. It's, it's odd because the, the Pistons now without Isaiah Stewart, where we'll see what happens with Jalen Duran, like This I feel like they're vaulting up the standings right now just because they are going to be a good defensive team. I know they don't have the vets, but they do have the Jamal Sheds and the Jacoby Walters to fill in and play hard defense even when Kawhi does sit some games.

[Jay Skeets]

What's an ideal season here for the Toronto Raptors then? Realistic don't. They're not winning the championship.

[Trey Kirby]

Kawhi plays 60 plus games in the Maker Conference finals.

[Tas Melas]

There you go.

[Jay Skeets]

I think that's right. And then that sets up maybe the one more big move that they try and like to catapult.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, exactly. Paying to get off quickly or Portal and bringing in somebody who can help on a shorter deal so you can actually make some moves further down the line because if they end up having to do these deals for Pertle and quickly it's going to cost them picks to get off it. And then you're talking about having a paucity of assets to make any sort of improvements and then you are looking like the Bucks with a player who's at the end of his contract without any way to add to him. Except for he's, you know, much older than Giannis was. But yeah, I don't know. It feels like the Raptors are in the second tier in the Eastern Conference. It feels like the top tier of the Eastern Conference is just the Knicks and everybody else trying to get on their level and scrambling to see what their team looks like. We'll see how it all plays out by the end of the off season. But the Raptors to me are definitely in the mix now. When they weren't in the mix prior.

[Tas Melas]

I would say you're doing the the tiers as far as the Raptors go. I think there's tears for the players you mentioned too. I think Yaka Purdle is definitely not on the same type of tier as Emmanuel Quickley. To me, Pearl, you definitely need to attach a pick too, but quickly. Three years left on his contract. He played pretty well. Not excellent basketball, but three years left I think is a little bit more palatable for teams and we'll see how he works with the number one beside him.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

So TBD on that. But excited for this roster, baby. You gotta be excited, right?

[Jay Skeets]

Absolutely. It's way more exciting because I believe

[Trey Kirby]

same team except for now, Kawhi Leonard is taking the game winning shots.

[Jay Skeets]

Exactly. It's just called belief. It's like, oh, we actually could.

[Tab Ramos]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

So there's a lot more hope for sure. But you know, hell of a gamble, hell of a risk. And that's what Bobby's doing here. He's like, all right, it's my turn as the GM here. Let's, let's try. It worked once before, let's do it again.

[Trey Kirby]

I think it's a great trade for the Clippers, though. If I'm talking about winners of the trade, it's probably the Clippers. I think they've done a great job of pivoting once they realized they weren't going anywhere specifically with the James Harden trade. But they're going to basically have to eat two years of Brandon Ingram's salary and they're getting two great picks out of it. So between Harden, Zubots and the Kawhi trade, they got Darius Garland, Keaton, Wagler, six first round picks, four seconds. And then whatever happens with these role players, they could even potentially flip Ingram, though I don't really think that that's likely, but maybe they get a player in on a shorter contract or something like that. But the Clippers are making some future forward moves and I think that's pretty smart.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

They've also got Grady Dick. I haven't heard a single word about Grady Dick involved. Yeah, because he's young.

[Jay Skeets]

He's not.

[Martha (Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador)]

I know.

[Trey Kirby]

I think he sucks.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, he was, he was extremely disappointing.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

And they tell you you're a shooter, but you can't shoot. That's an issue. And you're not out there for any other reason. So he's just a, you know, watch. He'll, you know, maybe rehabilitate his career here and there'll be. Not like there was much attention as it was, but definitely none. Now the Clippers, man, they did a good job. I'm with you. But also they were just like, this was embarrassing, the Kawhi Leonard experiment. I mean, it was like brutal. Didn't work at all. You were like, what? I guess in Clippers history it was maybe one of their better runs. But overall, you said they hadn't won a playoff series since 2021.

[Tab Ramos]

Right.

[Jay Skeets]

You know, a lot of time Kawhi was injured and all that, they're just stuck in the middle. They're always like a good team, winning record, but having to go in through the play in or get in the first round, just get bounced. It's like, feels like it was a waste of seven years, but they've re changed their team now. And Gwent Young, and now it's all picks and young guys. Yeah, of course. I mean, better than just being on the Treadmill of mediocrity, which they were. But they took a stab at it way back in the day too.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I mean, Kawhi probably is like a top five Clipper of all time. And they had more success during this period than they had at any other period in Clippers history. They were relevant. A huge thing for a Clippers team that's always in the spotlight or always in the shadow of the Los Angeles Lakers.

[Jay Skeets]

We never even saw the Lakers play the Clippers. That's crazy. With the LeBron versus Kawhi. Surprising.

[Tas Melas]

That is weird.

[Jay Skeets]

Let's go to the lakers. Let's talk LeBron. He informed the Lakers that he would not be returning yesterday. Already rampant speculation where this guy's going to land and how long is it going to take to decide what's next for LeBron James?

[Tas Melas]

It's got to meet with the Clippers. Stay in la. You don't want to do that. Although, you know, there's some talk that Peyton Watson's going to the Clippers for Mark Stein. Then they get become a better team. But yeah, just go meet with every single team. As Rich Paul said, that's going to happen. Go hang with Giannis. I think the Heat is a possibility. Really? Yeah. It comes down to Cleveland, Miami or Golden State. So it's whatever he picks, man. It's whatever he's got.

[Jay Skeets]

High on the priority list, dark horse team that could get in the mix here. You think it's Golden State, Cleveland or Miami?

[Trey Kirby]

The Timberwolves have registered interest.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, they're trying.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, I know. I find that one hard to believe.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melas]

That's all.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I guess he's got a lot of meetings. He's got a ton of meetings. The Cavs can offer him $4 million right now. That's the veteran minimum. But they let Dean Wade walk if they move off of Max Stru. They're closing in on $15 million, which is apparently the competitive range for LeBron right now. So to me, Streuss is the tell. If he gets traded in the next couple hours, maybe Cleveland is the place. The warriors offer golf, wine, friends and business. They've already had Draymond Green, a franchise cornerstone, opt out of his contract and he shares an agent with LeBron James. So what does he know? I think the Timberwolves, the Spurs and The Nuggets give LeBron a better chance of competing for a championship. And if that's what he wants, he would choose one of those teams. But they don't seem to be in the mix at all.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I can't push back on any of that. It's really what he wants. You talked about this fifth ring idea. If he wants a fifth ring, then you go to the spurs, the Thunder, the Knicks, basically, maybe even the Wolves, like you said. I mean, he's flirted with the Knicks before, way back 2010, before deciding on the Heat. I, I don't think it's likely. Obviously the Wolves are put making a push here because they're like, we traded our power forwards. There's a slot for you, man. Nas Reed, Julius Randall, they're gone. Also, we put you in there and we can hide you on the defensive end. Don't worry. We got Rudy Gobert and then we got McDaniels. So you'd be good, man. You could chill on that end. We got the young guys in Lamelo and Ant pushing it on paper, I mean it does make a lot of sense, but can't see them in Minnesota. I really, really can't. It does feel like it's one of those three teams. Either the homecoming to Cleveland, Golden State or Miami. Now, I hadn't thought about this. I guess I was looking at like this as like LeBron's final season. You're 24. Does it have to be like, could he go? Could he do the old one year song and dance golf trip, wine trip with Golden State? Try it. Pair up with Steph, you know, give it a go and then go home to Cleveland for the retirement tour in year 25? I guess he could, yeah, sure. I thought he was going to retire after this year, sort of in the mid season. I was like, I don't know, he might be done, but I guess it's a possibility.

[Tas Melas]

I think so. Hey, Tom Brady did it. I mean, keep playing until you want to end it. I could see multiple years with Cleveland and I know they're an outsider right now, but beside Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley mainly, you know. And you get to play with Dennis Schroeder again. I'm sure he loved that. Yeah, I think Cleveland, they have an outside chance.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, LeBron, do you want to play with Steph again or do you want to play with Dennis Schroeder again? Is that how it's going?

[Tas Melas]

Well, the team around Cleveland, that it's got a higher ceiling, so that's. Yeah, it's all, it's all what he wants. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

You think the Cavs, because they play in the East.

[Tas Melas]

Play in the east, yeah. And the group around, they're deeper than the Warriors. What are the warriors banged up? Porzingis Draymond Green.

[Trey Kirby]

Porzingis is tradable, though.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. They got the grayest beards. I mean, him and Draymond Green got the grayest beards. Like, Draymond Green's not getting better. So it's a question, who's around them with the Cavs, at least you know. You know you're deeper. I know they're old, too. Harden's old. But there's some young parts.

[Jay Skeets]

How do you think this gets announced? Well, like, will it just be a sham's tweet, or will it be a LeBron IG? Another decision. Yeah. Fold.

[Trey Kirby]

Another decision.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. I mean, I can't. Like, we mocked the decision, but this we could have had some fun with or could still. Like, this is like. You can make a show out of this.

[Trey Kirby]

Like the decision.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, but more fun because every team would show up and pitch their case to LeBron like that. You could.

[Trey Kirby]

Shark Tank.

[Jay Skeets]

Exactly. It'd be amazing.

[Tas Melas]

Or Rich Paul and Max Kellerman on their podcast or, like, team up with

[Jay Skeets]

the golf network and have, like, the executive from each team battle it out 18 holes. LeBron watches their golf game. Okay, I'll go there. You can get creative with this.

[Trey Kirby]

Bucks are going to regret firing Doc

[Jay Skeets]

Rivers if that's the case. Like, that's why I put in that $90,000 golf simulator. I was. I was playing 40 chess, man. Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. All right, who's. Who's. Vince Chini can do the broadcasting on the Golf Channel. He's from Cleveland, is he not?

[Jay Skeets]

He's from Ohio. Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay.

[Tas Melas]

It's the Vince Chellini. Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

All right. Besides LeBron and now Norman Powell off the list here, too.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, and Vuch. Vuch signed.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, did he?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he's going the. Back to the Magic.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melas]

Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

Really?

[Trey Kirby]

Vuch. Back to the Magic, baby.

[Jay Skeets]

I guess Mo Wagner is gone for sure. I would assume, then. All right. And Jonathan Isaac, I guess they're saying, might resign with the Magic, too. Well, who's the top remaining free agent, then? Who's left?

[Tas Melas]

You mean other than D. Anthony Melton? Peyton Watson is the guy. Okay, Very high ceiling, super young player ready to jump into a bigger role. Apparently the Clippers apparently are in on it. According to Mark Stein and so are the Lakers. So two LA teams. But I think Denver is wanting him to come back, but depending, you know, he's. He's. There is a little clog there with Cam Johnson and Christian Brown if this guy's going to take a bigger role. So Payton Watson, to me, is the. You Know the highest ceiling of all the guys left.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. And they let a hardaway walk to Miami. So clearly they're trying to at least get their books a little bit in order to be able to match Peyton Watson. Because the Nuggets absolutely cannot lose that guy for nothing. That would be a terrible result, I think for Denver. So I understand that Peyton Watson is linked to both LA teams. He's an LA guy as well, played at UCLA if I'm not mistaken. And somebody's got to give this guy money. He had that nice 15, 20 games when the Nuggets needed him be the leading scorer and he was able to do it efficiently while still giving the defensive side. So he's a guy that's going to get paid. But I really hope the Nuggets are willing to pony up for him. So I wonder if they'll be trying to move off of Christian Brown, move off of Cam Johnson in the next couple of days. We shall see. In the non restricted free agency realm, best remaining guys are not that interesting. I guess it's Tobias Harris. He was pretty solid in the playoffs.

[Tas Melas]

He was. Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

Other than that it's like Rui Hachimura, Benedict Matheran we haven't heard hardly anything about. Seems like he's going to get a squeezed like Quentin Grimes did last year. And then Mitchell Robinson, I guess. Kind of curious where he ends up.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, there's rumors if he leaves that Kevon Looney could be going to New York to be their backup guard, but other than that. Excuse me. Yeah, yeah, Kevon Looney. But yeah, there's you know, the Mamu Kalashvili hot rumor out there just to see where he ends up. Tari Eason, is he going back to Houston? Not Bradley Beal. That's not a hot rumor. It's not. Shouldn't be a hot free agent at this point of his career.

[Jay Skeets]

I keep thinking Bradley Beal's retired right here. Yeah, it's not.

[Tas Melas]

You're right, he's not. He's opted out of guaranteed money this year. Weird.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, but he, he's still getting part of his giant deal for the Suns, right? He can take any sort of deal and still make $20 million.

[Tas Melas]

He can still make money. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

But he, he's got passive income right now. Pretty good.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Very smart.

[Tas Melas]

I think every NBA player has got passive income. I mean, in a different way. LeBron's making bucks.

[Trey Kirby]

Indeed he is another guy who's making bucks. Free agent guard Mike Conley Jr. Has agreed to sign a one year deal with the Boston Celtics.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, okay.

[Tas Melas]

Conley.

[Trey Kirby]

Michael Conley.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Steve Heumann and Jessica Holtz of CAA got this one done. Conley becomes only the 14th player in NBA history to reach 20 seasons.

[Jay Skeets]

I said that the other day when we were talking. Al Horford. I don't think you were here, T.K. i was like, once Conley signs, he'll be joining that list of guys to play 20 years. All right, no Conley to the Heat.

[Tab Ramos]

Mm.

[Jay Skeets]

That's probably good news for maybe your Beals and your Middletons. All right, now might be a spot for me.

[Tas Melas]

Good luck to Michael Conley.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, that. That news there spins nicely into my final question. Really? With free agency, and maybe you're tired of me asking this, but what's going to happen here with Jalen Brown in the Celtics? What do you think? Because if the Celtics can't find a deal that they like enough on the market, are both sides going to be able to let bygones be bygones and get Jaylen Brown back to camp and iron things out and move forward with the Two Jays and the squad? Or has all this noise just gotten too loud for everyone to quiet down? And now the Celtics may be thinking, oh, we make it known that Jalen Brown was available in the honest trade that falls through, but we're going to have the entire league reaching out to us for Jalen Brown deals, and maybe that didn't happen, and now they have to be the ones to be like, oh, oh, boy. Well, are we trading them now? We're the ones that have to actively call teams. But what do you think?

[Tas Melas]

I think Jaylen Brown is totally comfortable with what's going on within the Boston Celtics and that organization. And outside, we hear the noise, and we hear him hit the streams and talk about his scenario and talk about mainly referees and talk about analytics and guys putting him down on the list of good players because his analytics aren't good. I think it's more so that that bothers him and more so all of that becomes what we hear about. So I think he can make it happen. I believe in these two parties getting together, you know, meeting across the aisle, even though they're in the same aisle. Really, it's the same team, same organization. I think they're fine. Yeah, the couple rumors over the years, you know, maybe that irked him a bit, but I think they can work through it. And I don't think the Celtics have a good enough package where they say, oh, we're going to be better without Jalen Brown. If we decide for that. So I, you know, maybe I'm wrong, but I think they go back and play again.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, you nailed it. The Celtics aren't getting a package that they like for Jalen Brown. The rumors, Miller's basically stopped running. Like, we hear no buzz about Jaylen Brown. Sam Amick reported over at the Athletic that the Celtics will have to significantly lower their asking price if they plan on trading him anytime soon. That is not how the Celtics have operated since Danny Ainge was there. And then after Brad Stevens took over. If you don't meet their price, they don't do the trade. How many times have we heard them trying to split up Brown and Tatum? AMEC and the guys ran through a bunch of the teams that are potentially interested in Jaylen Brown. Portland has moderate interest. Seems like less interest from the Boston side of things. No surprise. Denver has no picks to throw in. Brooklyn doesn't make sense to me. They don't really have much interest. Houston is out. I have to wonder, are the Hawks going to get in the mix here?

[Jay Skeets]

I know, I know we've been talking

[Trey Kirby]

about their like flexibility type moves that they've been doing, the ability to save their picks and throw them in the mix here. So I wonder if they're like the surprise team. But seeing the way this has gone down with Jalen Brown and the Celtics and it looking like the relationship may be frayed but they don't have a way to replace him the way they wanted. They really should have done that Giannis deal. You're going to tell me that you're going to jeopardize the relationship with Jaylen Brown, Miss out on the trade because of Baylor, Shireman, Hugo Gonzalez, you blew it. But these big time trades for a player with a contract like Jalen Brown, like the Dude's a top five salary and probably like a top 10 to 15 player, you know, it's a little bit out of whack. They can take a little bit more time. Carl Anthony Towns was in the same situation with the Timberwolves. He didn't get traded until September. The Donovan Mitchell trade was pretty late in the off season as well. So maybe a team gets desperate in a couple of months and wants Jalen Brown, but I kind of think he's a Celtics, though.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. How desperate the teams get, I think is a good way to put it here. Especially with all these moves being made and all these other big trades like Kawhi obviously going in the wraps. That's a, you know, that's competition to the Celtics here and maybe to another team in, in the Eastern Conference. Maybe it is like the Hawks or something like, whoa, whoa, we got to keep up here too and go get the hometown boy and him. I was, I was like been playing around on the old trade machine with the Hawks as maybe more back interested in Jalen Brown and what it would take.

[Tas Melas]

Who's the part? Who's is it, is it all about the picks with the Hawks or are they actually given a. I think it's

[Jay Skeets]

a lot, I think it's a lot of picks here with the, with the Celtics. I believe those reports because it's like you guys have already said it basically whoever you're going to trade, I mean, maybe outside of the honest factor, but whoever you're going to trade and get back is not going to be as good as Jalen Brown, but it's going to set you up maybe for the next play with Tatum as your, as your cornerstone because you'll have picks and obviously much, much more draft capital or contracts to work with and stuff like that. So that's how I think they'll be looking at it if they're moving off of Jalen Brown so the Hawks could get there and it makes you go like, oh, that's why they're picking up Buddy Hields 10 million and you know, you know, Reese Sachet obviously look a number one pick recently. Still they have pieces and players. They could be aggressive and get jelly Brown, I think, or at least put an enticing offer together. We'll just see. It'll take all summer, won't it?

[Trey Kirby]

Yes, probably. Yes, it will.

[Jay Skeets]

Probably. All right, let's take a break. When we come back is this news.

[Martha (Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador)]

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[Tab Ramos]

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[Tas Melas]

ten dollar bucket of the day just for you.

[Jay Skeets]

Monday, 24 nuggets for ten dollars Tuesday,

[Tas Melas]

eight piece fried chicken for ten dollars Wednesday, ten wings for ten dollars Thursday,

[Jay Skeets]

eight tenders for ten dollars Friday, 24

[Tas Melas]

nuggets for oh you guessed it, didn't you? Ten dollars the ten dollars bucket of

[Jay Skeets]

the day deal every weekday only at KFC.

[Tas Melas]

It's finger licking.

[Trey Kirby]

Good prices and participation. Variable supplies last not available on third party ordering platforms. Tax extra.

[Jay Skeets]

All right. Feels a little sacrilegious to do this on Canada day, but. Usa. Usa. Usa.

[Trey Kirby]

Let's go.

[Jay Skeets]

Big match tonight.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

With USA versus Bosnia. And on the biggest stage in the world. Every goal changes everything. You all know the drill. FanDuel has given you a reason to root for every single goal. Introducing every goal pays. Bet on a big match like tonight and get bonus bets for every goal scored in that match. More goals means more bonus bets. And all you gotta do is turn on the token. Visit FanDuel.com to get started now. Let there be goals on FanDuel. France looking good yesterday.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

They looked at the favorites for sure. Right now, 30 on Sweden. If Canada or. Excuse me. Once Canada beats Morocco, shocks the world once again, they'll be taking on France.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, man.

[Tab Ramos]

No, they.

[Jay Skeets]

They look awesome.

[Trey Kirby]

If they lose, it'll be a shock.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I'm with you. But USA feeling good tonight.

[Trey Kirby]

Of course.

[Jay Skeets]

Of course.

[Trey Kirby]

Bosnia. I don't know anything about Bosnia, but Bosnia is in trouble. Flo Baligan scoring a goal tonight. That's a plus 100 on FanDuel.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow. Sees it going in the back of the net. He can picture it.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right. Hopefully he's not rusty. Sat that last game a little rusty rust for the Norway team last night. I guess that was the afternoon. I don't know. Even the announcers were confused about what time it was they were calling the game. They're like, it's noon here in Dallas.

[Jay Skeets]

I will say every day the start time is different for these games. It's not like a set schedule. It's like bouncing around.

[Tas Melas]

Totally.

[Jay Skeets]

But three more on today. There's one here in Atlanta.

[Tas Melas]

The early one.

[Jay Skeets]

It's England.

[Trey Kirby]

Congo.

[Jay Skeets]

It's England. Congo. That's right. Yeah. It's 12 o'. Clock.

[Tas Melas]

Nooner start soon here.

[Jay Skeets]

Let's get off.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, that Mexico game was pretty sweet.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, they look good.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, USA better not blow this tonight. That's all I'm saying. North American teams are through.

[Tab Ramos]

That's right.

[Jay Skeets]

Canada, Mexico. And now America's got to complete the trifecta here. All right. Is this news, J.D. let's do it. Headlines for the boys. Not really related to free agency. Something different. Now, we did slip this in on last night's show, but let's talk about it a little bit more. Because the indie star has the headline NBA cup final to be held at Butler's Hinkle Field house. Trey Kirby, is this news?

[Trey Kirby]

Yes, this Is news. They told us they were maybe going to be moving the cup finals and they moved the cup finals.

[Tab Ramos]

How about that?

[Trey Kirby]

I think it's worth a shot. Vegas didn't work the way the NBA was hoping it was going to work. But I wonder if that's more so a function of this being a mid season tournament than it is where it's located.

[Tab Ramos]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

Like, I mean people travel for the super bowl despite it being in a different city every year. That's for the championship. This is for the second championship. That doesn't have nearly the respect that the super bowl or the NBA championship has. But yeah, cool. Go to places where it's going to be something unusual, historic or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Like basketball.

[Trey Kirby]

Does Indiana and Indianapolis have an NBA team? Yeah, they do. So I would prefer like Louisville, Cameron or stadium, something like that. A team that or a place that doesn't actually have an NBA team. I'm sure they'll get there eventually, but sure.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. This is going to be a part of the NBA's like multi year vision here to move this around and I think this makes a ton of sense. I like this a lot.

[Tas Melas]

Me too. Yeah, I think it's emulating like what Major League Baseball does with the Field of Dreams game or the outdoor classic for the NHL. Like you know, something bigger that celebrates the game in the middle of the season. Yep, simple as that. And so we'll see the finals in Indiana. Exciting stuff. If the Pacers get there. I mean it's. That's a home court advantage.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, for sure.

[Tas Melas]

I mean Gordon Hayward will be there. Butler, you know, they're just going to hire him, do stuff. I mean Braden Smith is now on the Indiana Pacers from local Lafayette. That'll be fun for story writes itself.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, but it's a good point that the semifinals are not of course in Vegas like they were these last couple of years as well. It's. They are in the. The NBA team. Home markets. Yeah, exactly. Whoever has that home court advantage. So that's. That'll be more exciting too. For sure. I think those semifinal games and then we have this final here at least at the Hinkle Field house. Do we have a photo of the hinkle field house? J.D. i mean it looks cool. Oh, oh, lights on. There we go.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, turn the lights on. Yeah, I love the watch.

[Jay Skeets]

Like it's going to look great on tv. That's the thing.

[Tas Melas]

Thing.

[Jay Skeets]

And that's like the move here. Even if like, I don't know how were ticket sales anyway in Vegas they didn't seem all that amazing. And it's just a generic T mobile arena. It's like, whatever, who cares? Do cool things like this, especially with the NBA Cup. This is exactly what you use to try things like this and move around.

[Tas Melas]

And you announce it during NBA free agencies when people still care about basketball.

[Jay Skeets]

This was weird.

[Tas Melas]

Instead of doing it in August or September when no one's watching, like, get. Get prepared for next season if you're going to go like Trey mentioned, you know, people go to the super bowl, get your tickets now. I think that's the idea. Instead of in the off season when no one cares about basketball, fewer people care about basketball. Or in October, November, it's too late.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, the new. The news of where they're going to have the NBA cup championship is one thing. I still think that's a little strange to drop it right when free agency started. But then we got the group draw results last night too.

[Tas Melas]

Also weird.

[Jay Skeets]

Very weird. Just timing. Just like, why are we dropping this right now? Anyway, here they are. I'm not gonna read it for all the podcast listeners. Just know that everybody call is calling the group of death East B. Oh, yeah, Nick's Cavs, Sixers, Heat and Pacers. And that's a pretty stacked east group there.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, Sixers got screwed pretty hard.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

So, yeah, you think that is the group of deaths.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. I mean, if you squint, that could be the top five teams in the Eastern Conference. I mean, no disrespect to the Celtics or the Raptors or the Pistons, who are also going to be in the mix, but it could happen that the Knicks, Cavs, Sixers, Pacers and Heat somehow formulate the top five. I think West Group A is also pretty interesting. I assume the Jazz will be better this year. Hard to tell what the Mavericks are going to be, but year two for Cooper Flag Kyrie Irving allegedly coming back. You know, we know the Suns are at least trying to win now and then the Nuggets and the Rockets are kind of on par with each other. I think the Nuggets are better, but you know, they're in the same contention tier. Should be interesting.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Will we ever care about the groups?

[Trey Kirby]

That's the thing. They can reveal the groups right now. Everybody will forget by the time the season comes around. And then they put out the same graphic. I'm like, what?

[Jay Skeets]

This is awesome.

[Trey Kirby]

Is this news? No, we talked about it in June.

[Jay Skeets]

Can't wait to do it again, though.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep, me neither.

[Jay Skeets]

JD Just saved that graphic. Okay, so I Don't have to grab it again.

[Trey Kirby]

Mo Wagner to the Nets.

[Jay Skeets]

Huge.

[Trey Kirby]

It's official.

[Jay Skeets]

Two years.

[Trey Kirby]

19 milli. Mutual option. That's the double option. I love it.

[Tas Melas]

Sean Marks reinventing the wheel. Man, that's new.

[Trey Kirby]

Not since Daryl Morey invented the poison pill contract for Omer Ashik have we seen innovation like this.

[Jay Skeets]

Amazing team and player. Mutual option, Same deal. Mutual.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes or no?

[Jay Skeets]

Fascinating. Fascinating stuff. All right, I got some other news here. Oh, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this one. Headline from espn, but you've seen it around everywhere. It's actually from a Men's Health magazine, I guess. Ben Simmons training for comeback after season on the sidelines. Tas. Is this news?

[Tas Melas]

Not so much. I wouldn't call this news. Listen, Ben Simmons. Cool to hear him say he needed to find himself again, take some time off, do the fishing thing.

[Jay Skeets]

Yep.

[Tas Melas]

But I, I, I think the most important thing is it's not where he chooses to play, it's what team chooses him. So when he says, maybe I'll go back to Philly, Miami would be nice. It ain't about that. It's about the team that wants him. And so that almost makes it seem like I gotta pick where I want. That's not how it works. At this point of your career.

[Jay Skeets]

Right. The last time we saw you play, you were averaging three, three and four or something. Whatever he was averaging, those are all right.

[Tas Melas]

Numbers. Are they through three and four?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Triple double.

[Jay Skeets]

Actually, they were. I have them in front of me. 2.9 points per game, 3.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 18 games with the Clippers.

[Tas Melas]

In 24, 25, he was the backup center. Go hit Jokic in that playoff series. Essentially, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Ben Simmons, you know, you're the big fisherman here of the group. Are you sad to see him leave the fishing world? I guess the better way to spin

[Trey Kirby]

this, he'd really found his place.

[Jay Skeets]

Wasn't he On a championship team?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

That he owned.

[Jay Skeets]

That he owned.

[Trey Kirby]

That's awesome.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow.

[Tas Melas]

I didn't know that.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. He bought the team, put himself on the team, and then won the championship.

[Jay Skeets]

Jesus, man.

[Trey Kirby]

It's like, imagine he did that in the NBA, But I don't know. I read this whole Men's Health magazine piece. One of our best news breakers out there, Men's Health. Remember we got the Luka Doncic feature last year?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

It was a Men's Health. That was a lie. He was in the exact same shape that he was. So I assume this is a little bit of A lie as well. But he seems happy. Ben Simmons does. He seems optimistic. He seems like he's kind of found himself a little bit, I would say. It didn't seem to me like he was taking a ton of accountability for the way things went down at the end of his Philadelphia tenure. He's blaming everything on the injuries. What's. Is certainly a part of it, but he won't admit to any sort of shortcomings on the mental side of things, which, you know, is probably a defense mechanism that he has to keep in his mind to try and make some sort of a comeback here. But I just wonder if he has anything to offer a team. Like, I assume he'll still be a physical presence, being 6, 10 and fast. He'll be a good defender. Like, he can pass the ball, he can rebound. I don't think he's going to have a ton of confidence on offense. Seems like a bench player to me. So if he's willing to accept eight minutes a game and a veteran minimum contract, I could see Ben Simmons playing in the NBA again.

[Tas Melas]

He did go a little further on him liking Miami, that he likes Eric Spoltra. He just likes the Heat culture. So does that mean he likes to play hard all of a sudden? That's.

[Jay Skeets]

That's what.

[Tas Melas]

That's what he implies.

[Jay Skeets]

Like, that's all I need. I just need to be in the Heat culture.

[Tas Melas]

I get that. You need a coach that really rails you, essentially.

[Jay Skeets]

I'll tell you where he's not going. I don't think he's going back to the Philadelphia 76ers.

[Tas Melas]

Unlikely.

[Jay Skeets]

I think that's smart for all parties. I don't think that should happen. Whether there's a spot for him and they need them, they know. Just let's not do that. Miami. Yeah. Maybe another team. Sure. And I'd like to see him back in the league again. I wouldn't be expecting a whole lot, but like you said, his physical attributes alone. Yeah, there's a spot for you, I guess. You were good when you started your career. You were actually very, very good. But.

[Tas Melas]

And it wasn't that article where he talks about the pass when he was with Philadelphia right. In the 2021 playoffs, where he passed it to Ms. T. Style. And he essentially blames him for missing free throws, Right?

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

No, no. Cool. He's basically said, I passed him at the stable. He was a better free throw shooter than me, so that's why I passed it to him. It's too bad he didn't hit Him.

[Trey Kirby]

I'll always joke with him. Why didn't you make those free throws? Come on, man.

[Tas Melas]

Come on. Yeah, just dunk it, dude.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, it was crazy to see at least Ben Simmons not in a basketball gym taking three point shots without his shirt on, but instead in men's health on a fishing boat without a shirt on.

[Trey Kirby]

Hates shirts.

[Jay Skeets]

He hates shirts.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

I don't blame him.

[Trey Kirby]

He looked ripped.

[Jay Skeets]

He did.

[Trey Kirby]

And he was catching some funky looking fish. I'm not like, even you didn't know. Well, they put stripes on fish like that.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah, I did see that one.

[Trey Kirby]

I guess he caught one that looked like a pair of Ja Morant's shoes. I was like, that's cool, Ben. Where are you getting these? Ben?

[Jay Skeets]

Is there a video of him chucking it back like he did in the bubble? Life changing moment for him.

[Trey Kirby]

Like, was he a fisherman before the bubble? He just caught the bug.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't know.

[Tas Melas]

That's a good point. Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't know.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I'll have to read the in fisherman next season.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Final headline here from the athletic hand of OG NBA Finals game ball pulled from auction to remain with the Knicks. Let me explain this for those that are like, what the hell is that headline? So the ball all that OG Anunoby tipped in to seal the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history and win game four against the spurs was actually returned to the Knicks shortly before it was scheduled to hit the auction block on Tuesday. Darren Revelle was all over this because it was going to go up there and there's a bunch of other NBA Finals related items. But then it was pulled and the NBA said through a spokesman in a statement, the game ball from game four, the Finals holds significant importance to the Knicks, their fans, the city. It will remain with the team as a lasting piece of franchise history. Trey, is this newsworthy at all here?

[Trey Kirby]

I don't know if it's newsworthy, but I think it's good that it happened because when I read the headline, I was like, indiana Jones mode.

[Jay Skeets]

That belongs in a museum.

[Trey Kirby]

Some rich guy should not be buying. The hand of OG Ball should belong with the Knicks. And I think that that's kind of like a weird thing that's happened as collectibles have really boomed is that everything becomes a collectible. It's like every ball from every game, it's a fight over who gets to keep it and who gets to sell it and who gets to design display it. Every single jersey. Like it's weird that the NBA has this partnership where they're like instantly shipping out stuff that should be staying with teams. So I think it's really good that the Knicks went and got the ball from their historic win, their first championship in 53 years. That was the pinnacle of their comebacks, being able to pull that off. So the ball belongs with them, and I'm glad they got it back.

[Tas Melas]

Trey said it perfectly. That's who values it. I didn't like the idea of James Dolan or the Knicks making some extra money off some auction or whoever ends up keeping that money. Yeah, we heard about this tech bro

[Jay Skeets]

in Silicon Valley having that ball in his house. How dare you?

[Tas Melas]

We heard enough about folding chairs at Cavs games. And who was buying those? Taylor Swift was sitting on one. And who was. Who are the other ones? I'm literally looking up the rapper's name.

[Jay Skeets]

Who was Machine Gun Kelly.

[Tas Melas]

Machine Gun Kelly? Yeah. Nobody wanted Machine Gun Kelly.

[Jay Skeets]

Anybody buy that one?

[Tas Melas]

I guess not.

[Trey Kirby]

Check my auctions.

[Jay Skeets]

There's a bunch of still items. Like you said, Trey, they quickly turned this stuff around because they have this deal with Sotheby's. But I guess the standout piece maybe now is Jalen Brunson's jersey from game one. It's one of the pieces that you can bid on. I'm sure that would go for a lot of money in a good game one. He came on, he caught on fire in the fourth quarter. It's got the cool little finals logo on the back. Like you're a Knicks fan. You're going to be. And you got a lot of money. You're gonna be trying for that, I assume. But not the ball, baby.

[Trey Kirby]

Not the ball baby.

[Jay Skeets]

Like how they call it the hand of OG ball. That's a guy just so, so good. All right, that's all I got for you. It's all the news. So we'll call it there. We'll see what else comes in over the next couple days. Because we're. Take a break.

[Trey Kirby]

No, no, nothing, man. I'm refreshing.

[Jay Skeets]

Mo Vogner, the last.

[Trey Kirby]

Gonna get one last little bit of slop for you.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, no, that's okay.

[Trey Kirby]

But Steve Human's busy right now.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, we had new agents in the Norman Powell.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

I was like, who the hell are these people? It was like.

[Trey Kirby]

Follow a new Twitter account. Yeah, Shams was linking to the agent's Twitter account.

[Commercial Announcer]

Okay.

[Tas Melas]

Not that anybody really cares, but I guess with these two sided opt ins, Shams makes it clear if either ops in.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, so I was right.

[Tas Melas]

You're good.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, it doesn't have to be both.

[Tas Melas]

Team says, hey, we want you back, Mo Wagner. You're coming back.

[Jay Skeets]

That's how I thought it was. Wasn't 100% sure. So good to know.

[Trey Kirby]

But even if the team is like, we don't want you back and Mo Wagner says I'm coming. Yeah, they got to clear him a spot. Yeah, that is a funny option.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, that is very interesting. Now, two guys you said and Keon Ellis and Mo Wagner.

[Tas Melas]

Well, this is how Shams put it. The deal contains a mutual option guaranteeing the $19 million for Mo Wagner while allowing either side to opt in bracket, not not opt out. Along with having a conversation about doing a new contract next summer. So what?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, leave it to Shams to make it clear. You've just made it more confusing.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I can't wait to play. Who says yes? Yeah, next off season. Who says yes? Keon Ellis. Mo Wagner. Hopefully they do another one.

[Tas Melas]

Mo says yes. I'll guarantee that. I think Keon might not. He might go get some more money. Javon Carter.

[Jay Skeets]

But then the team.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, Javon Carter. He could sign a double deal for sure.

[Tas Melas]

Javon Carter's sticking with Orlando. $3.5 million on Orlando.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I did forget about that.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, that's a Bartleston. That's a Bartle.

[Jay Skeets]

Way to go, Mark.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, slept in tonight.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, it was a late night last night. All right, we'll wait to see. The biggest thing here is really the restricted free agency of Jalen Duran and like you said, the Peyton Watson maybe the target eason there. There are things here. The plan is for us to take a break just tomorrow. We're gonna be back here on Friday. The drop podcast, 10am Eastern live on YouTube. So hit the like button. Subscribe. You know you can hit the little notify thing there when we're going live. So yeah, we'll be back on Friday unless there's a emergency newsworthy items dropping. So otherwise we'll see you then. Clover Rose, you heard it here first.

[Trey Kirby]

Have a great time turn up.

[Jay Skeets]

Love you guys.

[Tab Ramos]

Awesome.

[Tas Melas]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, the only NBA free agency that is actually free is watching or listening to no dunks.

[Jay Skeets]

Brace the day people.

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It's a lot.

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