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The Bill Simmons Podcast
The Annual Worst NBA Contracts Draft With Joe House and Wosny Lambre
01:45:07
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- [00:00]
Bill Simmons
This episode is brought to you by Netflix. All right, baseball fans, get ready. For the first time in history, the major league season kicks off with one exclusive opening night game live on Netflix. The New York Yankees, led by seven time all star Aaron Judge, roll into the San Francisco Bay to battle Rafael Devers and the San Francisco Giants. The wait is over. It's time to play ball. Watch MLB Opening Night the New York Yankees versus the San Francisco Giants live on Netflix. Wednesday, March 25th at 8:00pm Eastern Time, 5:00pm Pacific Time. The Bill Simmons Podcast brought to you by Sam's Club. We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast network where it is still CR Month. Woz, where did CR Month rank for you on the happiest moments for you this decade? Is it up there?
- [00:50]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I mean, it's always CR Month for me personally. So it's just another month, you know, like I'm listening to all the all 80 cr pods anyway, so there's no difference for me, that's fair.
- [01:06]
Bill Simmons
That's it, House. That seems to be the consensus that every month is CR Month. We just basically put a name on it.
- [01:11]
House (Chris Ryan)
He's beloved. The thing that I will say is, you know, in my life, I've had a lot of people over the years say, how can it be that this tremendous show, rewatchables, where there's a home base right there in Los Angeles, has not done LA Confidential. I know people.
- [01:29]
Bill Simmons
It's going to be next week. We're recording next week. So CR Month we put up to live and die in LA today. We have the nice guys coming next week and then LA Confidential finishing the month. So you can check that out. You can also check out House on the Ringer gambling show in February. Rolling. Well, Waz left us, but he stayed with us. He stayed with us in spirit. Go do plug your new thing before we get going.
- [01:54]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Doing a show called no Fouls Given with Paul Pierce and Danny Green. It's basically like a player driven show, but I try to get these guys to actually say stuff unlike a lot of different player pods. And I have a lot of fun with these guys and they've been fun and candid and just having a good time with it. So yeah, check that out, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts.
- [02:15]
Bill Simmons
All right, well, we're going to pull you into a couple Ringer pods during the playoffs. This is the big one. This is the worst contracts of 2026, the annual pod. I feel like we've been doing it all decade. I cannot wait. We're going to take a break, bring in Burl Jam. And then Worst Contracts. This episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast is presented by Sam's Club. It is that time of the year when you just gotta get in your car and go somewhere. I've done that plenty of times in my life. Nowhere gets you ready to go quite like Sam's Club. Snacks, the gear, super low prices on gas. They got a bunch of stuff that keep you and the whole crew rolling. And here's what you got to do. You got to join the club of yesn@samsclub.com yes. And you must be 18 years or older to purchase membership, and membership is subject to qualifications. Visit samclub.com yes. And for details. All right, fellas. I don't remember when we started doing this. I just remember that I want to keep doing it for the rest of my life. When was told us he was leaving the ringer, I was just immediately like, but we're still going to get to do worst contracts, right?
- [03:44]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
That actually happened on the phone.
- [03:47]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, we had an emotional phone call. But before we do worst contracts, I went to Clippers spurs last night
- [03:56]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
and
- [03:56]
Bill Simmons
I had really good seats. My friend Mark Cimino took me. I sat courtside. I was on the wood. Wemby is the best player I've seen all season.
- [04:04]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Wow.
- [04:05]
Bill Simmons
And I've seen all the players. I know I intentionally didn't text this to you. House. SGA is going to win the mvp. SGA looks like he's veering into this Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant area. I think it's already happened. He has a chance to. He's going to win mvp. His chance to be Finals MVP two years in a row. I cannot believe how good Wemby is, how hard he plays, and how much he affects both ends of the floor. But especially the defense. We were just counting all the shots. He changes alters or makes the guy change his mind. And it was almost 30, and he just. He never lets up. He's just going hard the entire time. And the impact that he has on a game, I just thought it was the most impactful thing I've seen. I've seen a great Jokic game this year. I saw a great SGA game this year. Like, I just think he's the most impactful. I don't think that means he's going to win mvp, but. But wise, it did change how I'm feeling about the playoffs and whether San Antonio can really stick it to OKC and everybody else. What do you think?
- [05:10]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Yeah, you start the year. I'M pretty skeptical of a young team like that and their ability to dominate playoff series. But as the year progresses and they take down team after team in big matchups where, you know, we watch enough NBA games where we could tell when both teams are actually going as hard as they can. And it's been a bunch of these games. The Detroit games, the OKC games, the Denver game. Like every single game I'm watching, I'm like, man, these guys are trying their hardest. Denver Wemby didn't even play. These guys had to become superheroes in the fourth quarter to even pull that game out. And yeah, you mentioned the defense, which obviously I think we all thought he would become this kind of defensive player. But to me, his offense is just way ahead of schedule where, you know, it's not that he's not taking jump shots anymore, he's just taking way better kinds of jump shots where they put a, you know, they put a little 69 guy on him and he catches the ball at 18ft, doesn't even put the ball on the floor, gives a fake jab step. It's just like, I'm going to shoot over you and it's almost like I'm placing the ball right in the basket. And that's not to mention what he's able to do at the cup. And so to me offensively is where it just goes to another level because I didn't think he would be this potent this quickly.
- [06:33]
Bill Simmons
Clippers tried Chris Dunn on him. That lasted about four minutes. They basically put everyone on their team on him. House. He had one play in the second half and it was in front of us. He was on the right block and he did this swirling spin move and did this like Dr. J lefty flip. George Gervin, like just three foot flip shot. And the whole crowd was like, oh, fuck. Like he has five oh, fuck moments just for the crowd in person where you're just like, I've never seen that. And I think that thing that really stuck out to me yesterday, just watching the team, you know, Castle's a badass. Like, Castle to me, is moved into the 13 mile NBA conversation. I don't know if I'm going to vote for him, but he's at least on my little bubble list. But everybody in that fox, all these dudes play really hard, but Wemby is the one. I'm shocked how hard he plays. Almost to the point where you fear for his safety. Like, yo, maybe don't play this hard. But I just think that's what he Does House.
- [07:34]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah, that he's got that young guy intensity. He doesn't know any better. He's out there to break everybody down and collect names, put them all in the graveyard. He's. He's putting up tombstones right now. That's where the stage of his career. But the thing I went through the mental checklist as you were saying, he's the best player you saw this year. I was like, wait a minute. Sga. The joker.
- [07:57]
Bill Simmons
I know. I don't feel paid. I don't feel good about saying it. I'm just telling you how I felt watching it. I was like, I can't believe what's happening.
- [08:05]
House (Chris Ryan)
I think it's a fair point. I think it's a fair point. I will still reserve judgment until we get to the playoffs because. Yeah, the way this. The seating in the west is lining up, it looks completely outrageous. We might get like, the spurs and the Lakers in the first round. We might get the spurs in Minnesota in the first round. Like. And. And we know this. The OGs know this. The playoffs are a radically different animal. And I think that healthy skepticism that we OGs feel around. Okay, young team, you did your thing in the regular season.
- [08:37]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
We.
- [08:38]
House (Chris Ryan)
We all give out the flowers because it was a thing of beauty, the way they stepped up the physicality of San Antonio. When you say Castle, that, Castle Fox, they just get into you. They get into you. I love that.
- [08:51]
Bill Simmons
The kid that came in and I've been watching this last couple weeks, but Carter Bryant came in. He's a fucking huge dude. If you didn't know anything, you would think he was a center. I think he's 6, 9. And there was one time in the first half he said. Or maybe the second half he said he was just at mid court and set a pick on somebody. I think it was Garland, who didn't see him. And he ran into him. It was like watching somebody run into a tree. Like, he's huge already. And they played a tiny bit. Cornette didn't play last night, so they played a little small ball five with him. And I was like, this is. This is not nothing right now. But the, the Wemby thing, the point Woz made about the offense being ahead of schedule. There's a lot of jump shots with that team. I was trying to, as I was watching last night, I was trying to think, like, how does this go sideways? They were up 16, 18, 20. And they do have these little stretches where somebody will go on an 8, 0 run, 9, 0 run. And I don't always love the shots San Antonio gets. And ultimately it's probably going to come down to Fox whether Fox can figure out a Fox Wemby thing. But I. It's weird to say he's the best player I've seen. Cause I don't think he's the best player in the league. But I also think maybe we underrate the defensive impact wise of just when somebody's that special, it's almost like we don't know how to calibrate in our heads. Cause it's like there's two sides of basketball. There's offense and defense. And when somebody is that far ahead of everyone else in the league on defense, I wonder how we calibrate that.
- [10:23]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Yeah, I think that's the ultimate question. I think me, I personally, my favorite performance individually so far the year outside of Bam Adebayo breaking Kobe's record, which made me super happy, is sga that game against Boston in the fourth quarter, what he was doing, it was like you said Mike and Koben, it felt like that watching it in real time. And I was actually watching it with Paul and he was just like, man, they gotta get the ball out of his hands. Cause if he gets a shot off, start trapping him, it's going in and he's dictating the pace and he's getting to whatever spot he wants. And he's so calm, he's so poised. And it's the second they send that extra bit of help or that extra bit of, you know, shading the defense, he's whipping it out there to his open guys. I just think his command on offense right now especially we see it every year in the playoffs, eventually you just got to put the ball in your best player's hands and trust that amazing things are going to happen. And with SGA right now, to me, that's the guy that's like, that's the guy right now.
- [11:35]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [11:35]
House (Chris Ryan)
No facts because even.
- [11:36]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Even with Jokic, he has to kind of get set up. You don't want Jokic starting his attack from the three point line. He can start his attack from wherever. It's lethal.
- [11:47]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, well, the command he has on offense probably rivals the command Wemby has on defense. Yeah, in the playoffs I would trust the offense. I think there's too many ways the defense can go sideways. You get a foul trouble, you could land on somebody's leg, all that stuff. But it's interesting that Wembley's moved in that conversation. Like we're doing Ringer 100 voting this week. SGA is probably going to get the first spot, which I think is the first time Jokic has lost it. It's not like Jokic isn't having an awesome year, but I think the end of the game stuff with Denver has to affect how you think about Jokic. At least, like, 1%. Right.
- [12:20]
House (Chris Ryan)
House for sure. And you look at the last 10 games where it starts to feel like Oklahoma City understands the moment and understands we're now getting to the point in the season where let's get some of these playoff chops going. They have two wins against Denver. Speaking of. Both of which were close games, good wins. They have a win against Boston. They have a win against Minnesota. They have a win on the road against the Knicks. Like, they're.
- [12:47]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
They're.
- [12:47]
House (Chris Ryan)
They're understanding the moment, and that's why we're seeing this version of sga. I mean, I don't have any issue whatsoever with them taking that middle chunk of the season and like, yeah, we've got some injuries. Yeah, we're going to get some rest. Yeah, we're going to take some Ls along the way here. It's okay. We'll be fine. Now look at the stretch that. That we're in right here now, where they're. It looks like they're kind of coming into form to me.
- [13:11]
Bill Simmons
Well, one thing with Wemby guys. Cause I was really watching him carefully last night, and House and I are old, so I've seen basically every good center since the mid-70s. And Kareem was somebody who was really durable. Part of it was how he played. He didn't play as hard as Wemby night to night. He did in the playoffs, but had that really. I think Kareem was 7 4, long, skinny, but athletic. When you saw him run, you weren't like, oh, man, what's that gonna look like in 10 years? Wemby? I'm not saying he's gliding, but it looks better when you watch it where you're like, all right, I can see that guy lasting a while, the way he moves around. But the big thing with him, because he falls a lot. Like, it's. You know, he gets knocked down, he might land on somebody's foot. He knows how to fall, which is a weird thing to say about some of the best athletes in the world. But some guys don't necessarily 100% know how to fall. And he has these falls, and it's almost like he must practice them on, like, a trampoline or, you know, on a big canvas thing or something. There was like four times where I go, no. And then he just gets up and the fall is never as bad as it seems like it's going to be. So I don't know. I'm more intrigued by these playoffs than anything we've had in a long time. Just because what House said earlier about these weird matchups. Even now, the Lakers at least being you could talk yourself into them in a series, maybe Luka just getting hot for four out of seven games. Who knows? Then the east watched in the Celtics last night where there was some real, I don't know. Did you see guys see that game last night?
- [14:45]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I watched it. I watched it.
- [14:47]
Bill Simmons
Some really interesting Jalen Tatum stuff in that game where Jalen's like, I got this and just took over the last five minutes and Tatum was on the side and it was like, I didn't know for sure that was going to happen this year, but it happened. So there's just a lot going on. What's your favorite subplot as we head
- [15:03]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
into April was, well, I think the east playoffs are going to be fascinating. Like, I'm on the record, I'm not this big. Detroit is head and shoulders above anybody.
- [15:16]
Bill Simmons
No, that's dumb.
- [15:18]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I still think the Knicks, because of their sort of cohesion and continuity, I know they don't do it night to night, but they've showed me enough spurts of like, all right, man, you guys are capable of playing competent defense.
- [15:31]
Bill Simmons
Right.
- [15:32]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
And I think they're going to do it in the playoffs.
- [15:34]
Bill Simmons
And then the OKC game they had, I thought was a good loss for them.
- [15:37]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Yes.
- [15:38]
Bill Simmons
They at least showed that they could same swim in those waters. You know what I mean?
- [15:41]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Yes, exactly. And in Boston, man, I'm just blown away by what they're doing this year. And I've said it a bunch of times, Brad Stevens doesn't have a bunch of sycophants in the media. So nobody's calling him a genius and nobody's up his ass like they do certain other GMs. Brad Stevens is GMing his ass off this year to put these randos together and a bunch of white guys nobody ever heard of, and these guys are getting serious minutes. And when you watch it, the level of execution and focus and attention to detail that Boston plays with, obviously Missoula deserves a lot of credit, but these are scrap heap dudes that are just playing their tails off. For Boston, I'm just intrigued by the whole Eastern Conference thing at the top. I'm kind of off Cleveland. The Harden thing was dope. When it started and I was like, yeah, we walked to our senses. Yeah, something again like an idiot. And I'm now like, why did I even entertain that? I'm. I'm really intrigued by the east playoffs and I think, you know, okay.
- [16:45]
Bill Simmons
And then Miami and Orlando is like just. Yeah. Who knows?
- [16:49]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Who knows?
- [16:50]
Bill Simmons
And Charlotte, 10 seed, they might. They'd have to win right now, two playing games just to get into the playoffs.
- [16:56]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Love, Charlotte.
- [16:58]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, it's. Detroit's probably the one out of the top four. I feel the worst about Me too. I think it's really hard for them to score. And you, you, you know one thing that the Celtics have house that has happened all year and it happened again in the Phoenix game last night. They, they bring in the Dragons like at near the end of the first quarter and they just flip the flow of the game. They'll bring in, you know, two of like Hugo Shireman sometimes with Walsh and these guys come in, they just try their ass off and they're a lot of times going against second strings or second string point guards or backup wings and the crowd will really get into it. I think that's going to be an intriguing wrinkle too. Like they can kind of survive a bad six minutes and then come back and I don't know where this is going. All right.
- [17:45]
House (Chris Ryan)
Celtics are the biggest and best wild card for sure. My underrated subplot.
- [17:50]
Bill Simmons
Oh yeah.
- [17:51]
House (Chris Ryan)
Apologies in advance. The Lakers.
- [17:55]
Bill Simmons
I know the Lakers.
- [17:57]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Bill's not bad.
- [17:58]
House (Chris Ryan)
The Lakers.
- [17:59]
Bill Simmons
Did you see what JJ said last night?
- [18:02]
House (Chris Ryan)
I did not.
- [18:02]
Bill Simmons
He was like, I think it's clear to everybody now or something like that that LeBron is going to be our third. Our number three usage guy the rest of the way. He said something like that. He basically, like he's 48 years old, but he basically, he made a point of saying this guy's going to have the ball. The third amount of time out of Reaves, Luka and LeBron and we're just. This is who we are now. I don't think they knew that a month ago was.
- [18:30]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Which is insane to me because you just watch the games, especially Austin Reaves, the way he started the season like a bat shot out of hell. And every single game that I watch him now I just hear cash registers ringing, honestly. And you could tell he's, he's smelling it. He can feel the max contract coming his way and I, and I love that for him. And it's just, I don't know, you watch LeBron with the ball, he's just Not a threat. Defenses don't treat him as if he's a threat. He doesn't draw help anymore. It doesn't matter who they switch on to him. Sometimes he'll beat up on a little guy, a smaller defender, and that's nice, that's what he needs to be doing. But defenses will switch anybody onto him. They don't play conventional pick and roll coverage on him anymore because just like he's not going to beat us one on one with a move when he's on the ball. So it's like, get off my ball, right? Give it to the two guys who can create.
- [19:23]
Bill Simmons
And he's starting to figure that out. He's figured out the win for me is to actually be the third best guy in this team. What else were you going to say about the Lakers? I rude. They interrupted the defense.
- [19:32]
House (Chris Ryan)
The defense. It's the defense. They held the Knicks to 97 points. They held Houston 92 points. Now, those are slower. You know that, especially the Houston game. But I just keep losing money betting against the Lakers. And their defense is vastly improved and their rebounding is vastly improved. And this stretch that we've seen them where they beat the Knicks, they beat Minnesota, they beat Denver, they beat Houston, and all those games matter to all of those teams because all those teams are jockeying for position, you know, getting ready for this, this playoff run. And those. Not one element of those wins was fluky. And it looks like, you know, all JJ said last night was what we were kind of watching with our own eyes, which is it's Luca and reaves. And then LeBron's a great, you know, sort of third option, but the IQ element of it, especially on defense, if they. I'm interested in seeing. I haven't had a chance to sit down with net ratings over this six game stretch that they're on or whatever.
- [20:30]
Bill Simmons
No, it's like, it's like 12 games and they're in the top four. Yeah, so. So couple counters. Things I'm holding my hat, hanging my hat on just because I hate the Lakers. Deandre Ayton's involved. That's dominated. Positive. It's involved. Can't trust him.
- [20:46]
House (Chris Ryan)
He's on a team.
- [20:47]
Bill Simmons
Marcus Smart, physically, has not really made it through a season in at least three years now he looks like he's in the best shape he's been in a while, but he's had a bunch of different injuries and they're playing in big minutes and I think that's alarming. And then LeBron's 40 years old and he's played 41. Including the 41 and including the playoffs, he's played over 70,000 minutes and you're playing big minutes and there's going to be situations where he's going to have to guard people. All right, okay, enough foreplay. We're going to take a break and then the worst contracts of 2026 is next. The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. The tournament is here. FanDuel it is time to dance. Right now, FanDuel is dropping bonus bets into everyone's account for the tournament. All you have to do is opt in to claim your bonus. Got an upset rolling the one seed. Calling for chaos. Want to throw a little bit on Acuff and Arkansas maybe to advance to the Final Four. However, you're playing the tourney fanduel giving you a little extra to get in on the action from the very first tip. And don't wait because bonus bets only available for a limited time. FanDuel it's time to dance. 21 select states are 18/DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Restrictions apply. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com, game problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chatconnecticut this episode is brought to you by TaxAct. Like an expert coach, TaxAct offers step by step guidance, guaranteed accuracy and your maximum refund when filing taxes. Get tips along the way. Add expert assist to talk to tax experts or let their experts do your taxes for you. With Expert full service, TaxAct helps you find the deductions and credits you deserve so you can get them over with. Visit taxact.com to learn more. Conditions apply. See taxact.com for details. All right fellas, the usual disclaimer. Worst contracts. First of all, we're happy for all of these human beings that they're making a ton of money. Congratulations to their agents and their families. This is not a reflection on them as people, although in maybe two or three cases it might be. And we are talking about them as assets only. This is a league that just signed a 76.4 billion DOL media contract, whatever that was. 80 billion. I can't even remember. News finally broke this week about the expansion that they're going to be voting on expansion at the board of Governors meeting which conspiracy built off. The timing of that announcement was pretty interesting because everybody knew that this was happening for months and they put it out. And they almost put it out in a way to, in my opinion, try to shift the sentiment with the 30 owners. They need 23 votes. There's a Dolan coalition and I think Ishmael is in there too, and a couple others that why are we doing this? I'd rather have my 1/30 media share. So I thought the timing of that announcement was intriguing. Maybe to try to bump up what the number could get to 8 million, 8 billion, 9 billion, whatever. Maybe if it gets above 8, maybe even the people who were against this will be like, all right, fuck it. But I do think, I don't think this is a slam dunk and I don't know what Seattle group has 8 billion bucks ready to roll. There's a bunch of Vegas groups all attached to famous players that we know like LeBron, Shaq Curry, Magic Johnson, his hat was in the ring. Seattle, I'm not sure where they get the money, but this all seems positive. Anyway, we're all happy for all these guys. There's going to be 30 new jobs coming in and there'll probably be more bad contracts.
- [24:23]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Wise, 100%. And one thing to all the things you said about the players and the contracts, we're happy for you guys and your families. Another thing that I would say is if we could see what the owners were making and revenues and franchise valuation increases, Lord, would I love to do that. Oh my God. But we can't because those get to be opaque and secret and, you know, kind of gives you an idea about how the system works. But I did love, because I'm a hoop type guy when it comes to the salary stuff, I loved looking at all of these salaries and just being reminded about how much of this stuff just changes from year to year. And also just like, man, some of these contracts are just like, still, it's way less than it used to be, like we always say. But there's still a few out there that's like, man, this is tough.
- [25:15]
Bill Simmons
You know, it's funny, I was thinking the same thing about how there's less than I feel like we had more to work with in the 22 range house. I think the apron stuff has really hurt, hurt this draft. I still think we're all going to be pleased with the results, but I don't think the ceiling is as high as it was in the 21 area. But yeah, screw the aprons.
- [25:38]
House (Chris Ryan)
I totally agree.
- [25:39]
Bill Simmons
This is.
- [25:39]
House (Chris Ryan)
I came in. I'm honestly sad because there aren't as many bad contracts as we've grown accustomed to. I don't know if we can get to. We can definitely do 15. Each of us can have five guys. That's very easy.
- [25:53]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [25:54]
House (Chris Ryan)
Is it easy to get to 20? Like, then you have to start quibbling around the edges a little bit.
- [25:59]
Bill Simmons
No, but I think that's the fun part of this. There's going to be some. If we each have to draft 10, there's going to be some fun names. Yeah. There's going to be some good ones as we get down the list. Some surprises. Yeah. All right, we'll give Wise. You can have the first pick.
- [26:18]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Oh, this is.
- [26:19]
Bill Simmons
I'll take this. House, you take the second pick, and I'll go third. So, w. Because you haven't been on in a while, it's great to have you. Have you back in the ringer circles. So you get the easy first pick here.
- [26:29]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Come on down. Philadelphia 76ers, it's Joel Embiid.
- [26:34]
Bill Simmons
Oh. Oh, I'm surprised.
- [26:37]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Are you?
- [26:38]
Bill Simmons
I thought it might be another Sixer there. Okay.
- [26:41]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
No, that other Sixer only has two years left on his deal after this one, whereas Embiid does after this season is over.
- [26:48]
House (Chris Ryan)
Bill.
- [26:48]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [26:49]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
60 million. 64 million. 70 million. How many games has Joel played this year? And even when he plays, he's constantly in a stage of ramping up.
- [27:00]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [27:01]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
And then he ramps up, and then he has to sit again, so the guy's not going to play. And half the time when he does play, he's ramping up to being an effective player. We know his knee is not getting better. It's getting worse. And he's got 190 million or something
- [27:21]
Bill Simmons
like that left on the deal that started next year. Yeah. This is the first of a four year, $243.5 million extension. House.
- [27:32]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yes.
- [27:33]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. Look, I don't think his shooting coach did him any help when he played, like 12 games in a row and the shooting coach was like, see? See? Hey, ringer. It's like, all right, settle down. Let's see if he can play for two straight months. House, did you have him first or second?
- [27:48]
House (Chris Ryan)
Oh, he was an easy first. And part of the reason for that is because there is a player that was on the Philadelphia 76ers until the trade deadline. And then they got rid of that player who's still on a rookie effing contract because they decided that, you know, asset wise, they don't want to pay the luxury tax because they have so much of their cap committed to two guys. And Jared Mother effing McCain is expendable. Hello. I mean, this Team has a pathway. Right. They caught the greatest good fortune ever by the tank job they did last season when Joel couldn't play and got the third overall pick in a very good draft. And then they have role players around it. No more McCain expendable. We can't figure out how to get him time. We can't figure out. And we don't want to pay the luxury. You don't want to pay the luxury tax. Because why? Because why? Help me understand what's going on there. Philadelphia, they gambled and they lost. And I respect it. I do respect Darrell to get a rocket.
- [28:52]
Bill Simmons
They got some seconds. Congrats. Joel Embiid, last three years, 33 games. 19 games. 33 games.
- [29:01]
House (Chris Ryan)
Wow.
- [29:02]
Bill Simmons
12 seasons he's played. 485 he's missed. It will be 486 tonight. Cause I think they play. I went back and I looked at all the centers that House and I have grown up with over the years and watched the injury prone list. Right. So Joel's at 485. Bill Walton, 468 in 13 seasons. That's how many he played.
- [29:22]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Damn.
- [29:22]
Bill Simmons
Yao Ming. 486 in nine seasons. Ralph Samson, 4:56 in nine seasons. Sam Bowie, 5:11 and 11 seasons. Andrew Bynum. How many games do you think Andrew Bynum played career?
- [29:37]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
He's gotta be in the three hundreds.
- [29:38]
Bill Simmons
What do you think, House?
- [29:40]
House (Chris Ryan)
Totally agree.
- [29:40]
Bill Simmons
418 in nine seasons.
- [29:42]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah. So just, just, just north. Yeah.
- [29:44]
Bill Simmons
Brad Dougherty. 548 and 10 seasons. So these are. That's one. I just gave you six other guys who are in this high four hundreds, low five hundreds range, who had a bunch of injuries, who missed a bunch of time and it did not get better. Bogut was at 7:06 for 14 seasons. So that's probably the peak. And then I looked at. I remember Ogoskis and Rick Smiths being more injury prone than they actually were looking at their basketball. Those guys actually played a lot of games. I was surprised. It's not. This is not looking good. Big picture. Like I don't. It's wise to see is Embiid in the league three years from now.
- [30:22]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
So here's the thing. That piece that came out over the summer from ESPN and I forget the writer's name. I always forget this dude's name. He did an incredible job where he got a candid Joel Embiid feature.
- [30:36]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [30:36]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
It gave you a beautiful like one of the best pieces I've read in five years. 100%. And he gave you a beautiful insight Into Joel's thinking, like the sort of stages of his career and all of that stuff. And reading that piece, I came away with that from one thing. This guy's resigned to his fate. It's over. He knows his body's never gonna cooperate. Yeah, he signed this big deal. He's gonna play out the string. He's gonna ride off into the sunset with his 600 million in earnings or something like that. And God bless him, he worked his ass off for it. But again, even like, you know, back in January, December, when Joel was having some. Some awesome offensive nights and it looked like the defense was coming back, and I'm like, man, this is so cool to watch, just knowing in the back of my head, this is just not sustainable. And the sad truth is it's not going to change. None of this is going to change.
- [31:36]
Bill Simmons
In the worst contracts Draft off to a somber start. I remember there was a. I felt like there was a moment when World Wide west and Leon Rose took over the Knicks and Joel was still playing well, but you could kind of see the finish line a little closer than maybe whatever that. I feel like they could have traded him for everything. They. They gave up for Bridges and probably more stuff. Right. And just been like, you know what? We took this as far as it can go. Let's. Let's just cash in now. We have Darrell. Let's try to fit. But they went the other way. They did the Paul George extension to make, I guess it be happier. And I'm guessing that's your number two pick, Joe House.
- [32:20]
House (Chris Ryan)
It sure is. Let's just get Philly off our chest and be done with that.
- [32:23]
Bill Simmons
Let's clear them. Let's clear them off of our cap space.
- [32:26]
House (Chris Ryan)
That's exactly right. I mean, the Paul George signing in and of itself at the time they did it and Daryl's just.
- [32:34]
Bill Simmons
It's.
- [32:34]
House (Chris Ryan)
It's how he operates. It's his MO. Can I get three of the top 20 players in the league? You know, you can say whatever you want to say about Paul George as a top 20, but the time they signed him, the year he was coming
- [32:46]
Bill Simmons
off came off really good year.
- [32:48]
House (Chris Ryan)
Played 74 games, incredible defense that year. And then he got that contract. He got the extra year that he wanted. He has a player option two years from now for almost $57 million getting picked up. Yeah, I bet he exercises.
- [33:02]
Bill Simmons
I factored that into the exercises.
- [33:05]
House (Chris Ryan)
That still $110 million left after this season. He promptly arrived in Philadelphia and played 41 games, and he's at 27 right now, working off this drug suspension. I. I will say they are interesting as mother efforts. If indeed Maxi's ankle can. Can, you know, be ready in time for playoffs and then be.
- [33:28]
Bill Simmons
They are interesting. I was with somebody last night who made this prediction. To me, it was about. He was where. He was a Knicks fan worried about Knick Sixers round one. I was like, please don't worry about that.
- [33:38]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
This is not a worry. It's not a worry. House. It's not a. It's not a. It's not a word. Two years ago, they had all their players and the Knicks beat them.
- [33:49]
Bill Simmons
I know. Well, I did. I did text House and Sal a couple and hench, what, six weeks ago, I was like, the Sixers had just played an awesome game and Bead was great in it. And I was like, do the Sixers have the highest ceiling of every any team in the East? And like the moment they played the Knicks two days later and bead fell down 20 times, got hurt a couple games later, and the moment was over. But this is. Hey, over the course of a series where you have to potentially play seven games in two weeks, I don't see it.
- [34:17]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
So Paul. Paul George is not unavailable. He's perpetually unavailable when he's not injured. He's getting suspended for. We don't know what. I think I know what the guy's suspended for, but we can pretend we don't know what the drug is that he got suspended 25 games for. Okay, cool.
- [34:36]
Bill Simmons
Well, we know what it was.
- [34:38]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I think when he is playing, right? I saw an interview he gave. I think it was a post game where he's like, my job is to set good screens, keep the ball moving, space the floor, play defense. And I'm like, yo, he's right. And he's easy when he's doing all of that. But, man, we pay guys $55 million to do that now.
- [35:00]
House (Chris Ryan)
No, we don't. That's a 25. He's a role player. If he was getting 25, 30 million bucks, you would not bet it's his age. 35 year and he's got another 110 million. That's why it's ridiculous.
- [35:14]
Bill Simmons
I backed out. Are we talking about LeBron or Paul George?
- [35:17]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Oh, here we go. Here we go.
- [35:20]
House (Chris Ryan)
Why would you do that to LeBron?
- [35:22]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Here we go.
- [35:24]
House (Chris Ryan)
LeBron plays. LeBron plays.
- [35:26]
Bill Simmons
I'm mad about the Lakers. I know. LeBron plays.
- [35:29]
House (Chris Ryan)
LeBron plays.
- [35:30]
Bill Simmons
So Paul George has played in the 2000s. If we include the 2019, 20 season, he's played 331 games. He had a 25 game suspension that cost him $11.7 million, but also saved Philly enough money that they got close to the tax that convinced them, fuck it, let's trade Jared McCain. So in a weird way, the suspension, which seemed like it was a gift for Philly, led to this trade that enrages all the Sixer fans.
- [36:00]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Wait, so suspensions doesn't count in the
- [36:04]
Bill Simmons
tax you're not paying the guy? Yeah, so it saved them. It saved them all this tax money and gave them the idea, oh, we could reset our tax this year. I shouldn't talk too much shit because my team traded Anthony Simons for Vucevich. Probably could have used Simons, but yeah, if you look at the Maury stuff, it's really like either really good or really awful. And there's no in between. Like, the Maxi pick was really good. Even the McCain pick was good. The late tank to get VJ at 3. VJ was a good pick. Maybe say, con Cannipple at 3. I don't know. The Harden Simmons deal, I think was pretty good. The Grimes trade was good. But then not trading Simmons for Hal Burton, the Paul George signing, the embiid extension, the second hardened trade to the Clippers, and the McCain trade. Just a lot of home runs and strikeouts, basically.
- [36:59]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Here's my thing about Darryl, and I've. I've had a bunch of criticisms of him over the years, mainly about just the propaganda ish ways that he approaches media, which is smart. And I get it. I understand why he has to do it. I kind of roll my eyes at it sometimes. The only thing I'll say, man, he goes for it.
- [37:19]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, he does.
- [37:20]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
He's not one of these GMs. That's like, in six years, we're gonna be incredible. It's like, no. Every single year this guy is trying to find an edge and trying to make his team better. That freaking year. Yeah, every year he's doing that. And I respect the hell out of Daryl for that, honestly.
- [37:37]
Bill Simmons
All right, I'm up with the third pick. Sadly, the two Sixers are off the board.
- [37:43]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
This is an interesting, interesting couple ways to go.
- [37:48]
Bill Simmons
You know, there's a pick that seems like an easy pick, and yet the heart wants what the heart wants. At number three, I'm taking Jaren Jackson Jr. Wow, five years, 240 million. I just don't. I just don't get it.
- [38:06]
House (Chris Ryan)
That's a garden variety extension.
- [38:08]
Bill Simmons
I just get variety. Max career.
- [38:10]
House (Chris Ryan)
I'm so outraged by That I don't understand this career.
- [38:13]
Bill Simmons
18 points a game, 5.6 rebounds. This is career averages 1.9 blocks. I looked up, I went on stat head and I tried to figure out all these different ways to figure out has there ever been a better player who didn't rebound and who got, who blocked shots and scored, but just didn't really care about getting rebounds ever. It's only eight guys ever average 17 points a game, under eight rebounds a game and over one block a game. And all of them are forwards except for Joe Barricaro and Kristaps Porzingis. He's an unusual player in a way that I don't know, makes him a winning player. And we just saw it on Memphis the last two years as the league got better. I'm fine with him if he's 25 million a year, 28 million a year. I don't want to pay him this much money. I just think he's too expensive. And the amount of years on the deal is what scares me because there's other guys that will go over and either the contracts are shorter or the money's not as long. This one, I just. It really jumped out to me. I thought it was too much. I didn't even really like that they traded the first round picks for him.
- [39:27]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Wow, I'm. I'm not there with you in the sense that I didn't even have Jaren Jackson on here. Cause I think I went that rogue. Yeah, yeah. For me, for me.
- [39:40]
House (Chris Ryan)
I don't have him either.
- [39:41]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I think he's clear. You don't have him? No.
- [39:44]
Bill Simmons
$240 million.
- [39:46]
House (Chris Ryan)
He's one defensive player of the year. You went through a whole list of things about the attributes of his game and didn't mention the word defense one effing time.
- [39:55]
Bill Simmons
Where was the defense the last two years?
- [39:57]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
So he.
- [39:58]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah, I'm a rant submarine, that team. You can't try and say where. Give me the sample size. With this Memphis team, I have to
- [40:04]
Bill Simmons
pay all this money to him, but then I have to put other players next to him to hide all the things he can't do. So why do I have to do that?
- [40:12]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Right? In the sense that this guy is nobody's idea of a number one player in any way, shape or form. Like, I'll give you an example, like Dwight Howard in his prime, he's number one. He shows up, you have a top three defense and you know, most centers can't guard him right. And so Jared Jackson is like a really good two. I wouldn't say he's a premium two. I would say he's a really good number two.
- [40:37]
Bill Simmons
I just completely disagree with a number
- [40:39]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I think is fair.
- [40:40]
Bill Simmons
So here, here's my thinking. With this new apron now, you can afford two expensive guys, right? Sure. You're seeing this with the Lakers now, where they're going to have to pay Reeves. They're going to have to get rid of LeBron or get him on a short contract. The Celtics have Tatum and Brown. You go on down the list, you get two. So there's 60 of these guys in the league that you can pay 45 to 60, 70 million a year to. I'm just. I'm not. He's not one of those guys for me. Because once you do that, that's your title window right there. It's like, all right, these are my best two guys. What's my ceiling? We've already kind of seen the ceiling. They made round two once in Memphis. The last couple years, they were a lot. I just don't. I think, to me at that position, I don't want to pay a center more than like, 15, 20 million a year.
- [41:26]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
It's interesting because it's been proven that Jackson can't play center. He's just. Your defense will fall off a cliff against good teams if this guy is playing center for you because of the rebounding problems you mentioned in the.
- [41:44]
Bill Simmons
You're just going to get destroyed on the boards.
- [41:46]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Yes. At the same time, I'm like, and he's not as good on defense as Evan Mobley, but, like, has Evan Mobley proven that he could hold down, lock up a center position yet? And we all love him and see him as a play that's worthy of that. Max extension is so, like,
- [42:08]
Bill Simmons
I'm very concerned with this. No, I just wonder, like, I'm watching the Celtics with Keita and Luca Garza, who they're paying combined 3 million a year. I just. I value the perimeter players so much more than centers that aren't, like, impactful, over the top. Like the lakers, they got DeAndre Ayton for 8 million a year. Right. Just throw him in there. Hey, can you protect the rim a little bit? I just think these guys are out there, and I don't know why I have to pay $240 million for Jaren Jackson. Why he's that big of an upgrade over 20 other guys in the league. I don't think he is.
- [42:46]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
If the Jazz are in the top five of the west within the next two years, I think his deal is More than worth it.
- [42:52]
Bill Simmons
Okay.
- [42:52]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
If you're one of the 10 best teams in the NBA, I think paying Jaren Jackson that much is more than worth it. Now if you're still nibbling on the edges of playing status, then I'm just like, I don't know guys.
- [43:12]
Bill Simmons
I like that we have some controversy at number three. Did we go Snake fashion? I can't remember.
- [43:16]
House (Chris Ryan)
We usually go Snake. So you get to go again.
- [43:19]
Bill Simmons
I'll take the other guy that I thought about here. Zach Levine. Oh yeah. Two years, 96.5 million left. At least I can get out of that contract after next year. But so he's played, this is his 12th year and he's played four career playoff games. I went back on stat head. I was just trying to figure out has anyone ever had a better, more meaningless career. No offense to Zach, but. So 63 guys have played 600 plus games, made an all star team and averaged 20 plus a game for their career. 63 total. None of them have played less than 26 playoff games. Except for Zach Levine who's played four. He's been in one round one and I don't know if he even won a game. This guy's career is going to come and go and then 50 years from now somebody's going to be on basketball reference, like what's up with Zach Levine? Is he top 100? I just never seen a career like this wise. This is a 1 of 1.
- [44:22]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
It's so crazy where the talent is so obvious in the sense of like this guy is an elite shooter, incredible, explosive, graceful athlete. He's shown ball handling ability on ball stuff yet he's a loser every single place that he goes and everybody gets sick of him.
- [44:43]
Bill Simmons
And, and the plus minus doesn't like him either. I think he's like minus 14 this year or something. He's like one of the.
- [44:48]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Obviously the defense has always been just atrocious. And the thing is his contract for next year is a player option. Guys.
- [44:55]
Bill Simmons
I, I'm, I'm reporting that he picked it up.
- [44:58]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Yeah, he's betting on him.
- [44:59]
House (Chris Ryan)
He's betting. He probably already did.
- [45:01]
Bill Simmons
Right?
- [45:01]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
If he opted out, guys, would anybody throw the, you know, the Jordan pool contract of 4 years, 120 at him? The Tyler hero.
- [45:14]
Bill Simmons
No, no, it's not.
- [45:15]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Nobody would want anything to do with this guy.
- [45:17]
Bill Simmons
It's like 8 million a year. 8 million a year. How has he not been a wizard? What did you guys do wrong? It just feels like it was the ultimate team for him.
- [45:27]
House (Chris Ryan)
When you outline that list with 63 guys. What was the attributes average? 20 points. And what was the other thing?
- [45:33]
Bill Simmons
He'd play 600 games.
- [45:34]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah. Yeah.
- [45:35]
Bill Simmons
You know who won all star team in 20 points?
- [45:39]
House (Chris Ryan)
Rex Chapman made an all star team, didn't he? At least once.
- [45:42]
Bill Simmons
I don't think sexy Rexy ever made one.
- [45:44]
House (Chris Ryan)
He didn't make it. Well, that's who I think of when I think of Zach Levine that those are. And sexy Rexy did get to more playoff games than. Than Levine as well.
- [45:54]
Bill Simmons
Well, so that's our first either the Kings traded for him or drafted him. I'm going to keep a running tally because they're recurring how many Kings recurring theme in this worst contracts draft. We are up to one. House, you have the fifth pick.
- [46:11]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah. I'm going to take your notion as it relates to centers and the predilection of teams to overpay them and then get nothing at all out of them and welcome Jakob Poeltl to the conversation set my list. It is stunning to me.
- [46:30]
Bill Simmons
Do you know.
- [46:31]
House (Chris Ryan)
Let me just put it. I'll put it to you in the form of a question. How many times in his career has Jakob Poeltl averaged 30 minutes a game over a season?
- [46:44]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Did he average that with the Warriors? I doubt it. They don't play game.
- [46:48]
Bill Simmons
Not warriors. The Spurs.
- [46:50]
House (Chris Ryan)
Spurs.
- [46:51]
Bill Simmons
Yeah. You might be getting your Jacobs mixed up. I'm going to say he. He's never played 30.
- [47:00]
House (Chris Ryan)
You are correct. He has never averaged 30 minutes a game in his entire career over the course of a season. He also.
- [47:08]
Bill Simmons
Well, you gotta. You gotta mention what he. So he, he has this year plus the next four for 123 million because they gave him an extension for reasons that remain unclear. So $123 million.
- [47:20]
House (Chris Ryan)
The trillion dollar man.
- [47:22]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [47:23]
House (Chris Ryan)
Well, this was. I. I wanted to blame Messiah, but it's Bobby Webster is the guy and, and Bobby's still there. I. They said at the time that it was. He's like the anchor and the of this young core that's coming together and immediately. He hasn't played 60 games since the 2022, 23 season. Maybe it's even going further back. Hasn't played 60 games. His highest number of games is 57. He's played, you know what whatever the number is this season under 40.
- [47:53]
Bill Simmons
And he's had a bad back all year that they're like his back's feeling better. It's like is he talking about me and house or your 30 year old makes 25 billion a year.
- [48:01]
House (Chris Ryan)
The rookie they drafted is Ready?
- [48:03]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [48:04]
House (Chris Ryan)
Why waste another minute with. With. With Pel. And they, they tried, you know, over the trade deadline to stick him into some package. The, the rumors were out there. There's reports about them trying to get off of the stupid contract that they just extended him. It hasn't been a full count.
- [48:19]
Bill Simmons
That's a Wizards move. Trying to trade the guy whose extension hasn't kicked it yet. That was the Andre Blatch. That was my. When they end the state, Andre, that was my favorite Wizards movement.
- [48:29]
House (Chris Ryan)
They didn't pay him 25 million bucks a year wise.
- [48:31]
Bill Simmons
You remember about this every year the Wizards gave Andre the extension and then a year later amnestied him before the extension kicked in the all time best.
- [48:40]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Incredible work. And the crazy thing about hurdle is that it's just what Toronto just loves to do. They love to get a guy. They love stability. Let's extend him right away. Let's just knock this contract out right away. And I think he's had moments in his career where it's like, okay, this is an above average starting center, but the guy just doesn't play that much.
- [49:04]
Bill Simmons
He was good on Monday night against Detroit or Sunday, whatever, when they just. Sunday they just beat Detroit. So you guys are telling me you would rather have Jaren Jackson 5 for 240 than Jacob Perto 5 for 123 without. Interesting.
- [49:21]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yes.
- [49:22]
Bill Simmons
I feel like that 240 is just crippling. I mean, I have room for one more.
- [49:28]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
You think the Utah Jazz are crippled as a franchise?
- [49:30]
Bill Simmons
No, I'm just saying for. If I'm trying to win a title and I only have two spots and I've just given one of them to Jaren Jackson, I don't know what I'm winning at that point. I have to get really, really crazy lucky like the spurs did with all of these rookie year contract guys.
- [49:45]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Let me ask you this though, Bill. Ask yourself this. Would Utah actually allow Jakob Pertle to finish a game that they were trying to throw and tank in the middle of?
- [49:57]
Bill Simmons
Interesting.
- [50:00]
House (Chris Ryan)
Hey, Yakob, get your minutes, buddy. Enjoy all the way through the at the end of this game.
- [50:05]
Bill Simmons
All right, watch. You have this. The sixth pick of the draft.
- [50:10]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Oh man, this is. Yeah, this is a pretty simple one for me. Not simple. Miles Turner. Who?
- [50:17]
Bill Simmons
Another center.
- [50:18]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Another center. 26. Next year, 26. The year after that 27. Then a play option for 29. Add in the Dame stretch. So that's another like how much? You know, tens of millions of dollars every single year.
- [50:36]
Bill Simmons
That is fair. If you add the Dame stretch to the Turner thing. He's the third pick, but I don't know if we can legally do that. I think you. That's a leap of faith.
- [50:44]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Come on now. I'm finding the loopholes here. And you add to the fact that Giannis is gone. You did all of this shit. Giannis ain't coming back. That's why this deal is so egregious to me. So it's not just the deal in and of itself.
- [51:01]
Bill Simmons
So Turner 4 for 1. Oh, 9 turns 30 next season. Zardi played 700 plus games and they could have just kept Brook Lopez and tried to sign a couple cross your finger guys on the scrap heap. Hope that they could get lucky and kept Dame and used Dame. Maybe they could have traded Dame in February with one year left on his deal after this for a bigger contract. Maybe they could have just punted on the season and taken it to the summer, but instead they did this Dame stretch and I don't know, House. Did you like the Turner thing when they did it? Cause I remember really not liking it.
- [51:41]
House (Chris Ryan)
I understand the move because all they have to lose is Giannis, the Greek freak. And so, you know, the, the, the notion of trying to find a chemistry that's going to work after the failure of Dame Lillard and really that's just because of the injury to Dame. I get it. But you know, Miles Turner's on the wrong side of so many statistical categories, he can't defend the rim any longer. He is atrocious inside the three point line.
- [52:10]
Bill Simmons
So wise. I said at the time that this was the equivalent of you're about to break up with somebody, but instead you decide to have a kid to try to save the relationship.
- [52:20]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Yeah, was the Miles turn.
- [52:22]
Bill Simmons
They move. And I, I think that's how it played out. We are, we've gone through six, so our first six. Embiid, Paul George, controversial. Jaren Jackson, Zach Levine, Purdle Turner. We're gonna take a break, come back, finish the draft. Hey, every Wednesday I look through the NBA slate, I try to come up with a parlay. I won the first week, second week I should have won. I blew it with an over under. I'm not doing over unders anymore. Just doing, trying to pick winners, teaming stuff together. For that Wednesday slate, I'm looking at that Houston Lakers game because I think when teams play back to back in the same location, I like going with the team that lost the first game and the second game. So Rockets probably with a couple moneyline teams against teams that aren't trying hard anymore. And that will probably be the parlay. I will tweet it out on Wednesday. The bet will be live in the FanDuel Sportsbook app. Don't forget to use a profit boost token to increase your potential winnings before you join me and place your bet. FanDuel play your game.
- [53:21]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Get in the game with the college
- [53:22]
Bill Simmons
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Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Venmo Stash, a new rewards program from Venmo. No monthly fee, no minimum balance. Just school pride and spending power. Get in the game and sign up
- [53:38]
Bill Simmons
for the Venmo debit card@venmo.com collegecard the Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp
- [53:43]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Bank NA Select Schools available Venmo Stash
- [53:45]
Bill Simmons
terms and and exclusions apply at Venmo me terms max $100 cash back per month.
- [53:51]
House (Chris Ryan)
Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster, Zero Ultra. That's the OG it kicked off this
- [53:57]
Bill Simmons
whole zero sugar energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise, and Vice Guava.
- [54:07]
House (Chris Ryan)
And they all bring the Monster Energy punch.
- [54:10]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
So if you've been living in the
- [54:11]
House (Chris Ryan)
White can branch out.
- [54:12]
Bill Simmons
Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe
- [54:15]
House (Chris Ryan)
and every single one is Zero Sugar
- [54:17]
Bill Simmons
Tap the banner to learn more. All right, Wise, you have the seventh pick. What is it?
- [54:24]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Ooh. Oh, I know where I'm going with this. Okay, Arvidus the bonuses kid. Get him out of here.
- [54:34]
House (Chris Ryan)
Get him out of here.
- [54:35]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I've been banging this drum of this kid is overpaid and overrated for like three, four years now. And I think the league in the world has finally caught up with me where the trade deadline. He was one of those guys in the Trae Youngs and all these other guys that teams are like, please, I beg you, get this guy off of my hands. They just straight up couldn't do it. And he's owed 45 next year, 48 the year after that. Let me repeat that. Demonic Sabonis is owed 45 next year. 48 to basically be a guy who gets rebounds and can sometimes make an open layup. That's it.
- [55:19]
Bill Simmons
Can I Zach?
- [55:19]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
He does nothing else.
- [55:20]
Bill Simmons
Can I Zach?
- [55:21]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Actually, he's a good passer, too. I shouldn't say that he's a good passer.
- [55:24]
Bill Simmons
Wrong team, wrong organization. Used incorrectly. I think he might be an asset.
- [55:29]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Yeah, right.
- [55:30]
Bill Simmons
I want to see somebody else get him now. I mean, the plus minus stats are awful because of the defense I do think there's a fun version of him. It's just not a fun version of. You have to pay him $48 million a year for the fun version. That's where the trade is.
- [55:45]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Your center can't have the same wingspan as your point guard. That's just not going to be helpful for your defense. And so, yeah, it's a bonus. That's just. He's a glaring, obvious case for me.
- [55:57]
Bill Simmons
I wonder if they even try to trade him. So basically it was a four year, 134 year one or three years, 136.4. Including this year. He's only played 20 playoff games. He's never made round two. He turns 30 next year. House. This is another guy I could see on the Wizards at some point.
- [56:16]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
No.
- [56:16]
House (Chris Ryan)
Why stop that. That's the old Wizards. What the Wizards are doing now is perfectly sound.
- [56:22]
Bill Simmons
Trading for injured guys that help you tank, who are really, totally fine. Okay.
- [56:26]
House (Chris Ryan)
Tanking this year. Not next year.
- [56:28]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Year.
- [56:28]
House (Chris Ryan)
We'll be competitive next year. We'll try hard next year. Especially when AJ Debenza is playing wing for the Washington Wizards will be very interesting.
- [56:38]
Bill Simmons
Is there. Is there a team for you guys that you feel like Sabonis would actually be good on?
- [56:43]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
He.
- [56:43]
Bill Simmons
You'd have to put him next to some sort of rim protector. Right. Like a. Like a. Like a four. Who.
- [56:50]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Like a wimy. He could play next to Wemby, who's always outside. Yeah, Wemby, he'll do all the paint protecting and he operates on the outside. So Sabon is going to operate inside. But again, he has to play next to a space alien.
- [57:05]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah.
- [57:05]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
In order to make any type of sense whatsoever.
- [57:08]
Bill Simmons
So that can't be Alex Starr.
- [57:10]
House (Chris Ryan)
He could have been good. I think he'd be interesting on Houston or Minnesota. I think, you know, in the right kind of rotational spot. He being a worse offensively. No, no, he can play next to Sengoon because, I mean, it's insurance for the Steven Adams recurring injury. That's every single season. No knock at all. I love Steven Adams, but he just can't play.
- [57:32]
Bill Simmons
I honestly can't believe the Sabonis money that's left until you remember that Vivek paid it. And yet I still feel like on the right team he's such a smart offensive player and he's a good rebounder and there's stuff that he does that I do feel like he could have a moment, but I really think it would have to be. You'd really have to thread the needle on what kind of team that was. And I don't know. I get off top of my head, I can't think of one. House, you're up with the eighth pick.
- [57:59]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah, this feels like the rot. Right spot to put John Morant in. Welcome, welcome John Morant. I mean, he's still got two years left. Just over $87 million. And Memphis asked the entire league, maybe the entire world, maybe, they went abroad and asked, would anybody be interested in John Moran services? The NBA said no. No. No team in the league was interested. Even Miami said no.
- [58:25]
Bill Simmons
Miami was a classic Miami move. And good. Thanks.
- [58:29]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah, he's only 26 years old, still can't shoot from three. And unfortunately, the thing that really sets him apart, the ability to get to the rim is diminished over the last couple of years. And his free throw rate has diminished over the last couple. That's really the dynamic version of him that has another six years of a career to it. But he's getting paid, you know, just under 44 million over the next couple of years. And I don't have an answer as to what team he belongs on. What team would make sense for John Morant.
- [59:06]
Bill Simmons
327 games in seven years. Last three years, nine games. 50 games. 20 games. And was one mistake away from being suspended for a year, I would guess. Which I don't know if that would help from a cap standpoint. But yeah, they put them on eBay for two months and no buyers. And they kept lowering the buy it now price. And people are like, no, thank you.
- [59:31]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Also, Bill, on what planet is your age 26 season with no reportable drastic injury in sight? Your worst season ever? Like, this whole thing is going in a crazy bad direction for him.
- [59:53]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [59:53]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Cause it's. It's like you're playing. It's not like you've hit a ceiling. You're playing way worse than you have three years ago. So what am I to attribute that to? Besides, some people would say change of scenery. When you watch it, it's like, can't make a shot. Isn't getting to the cup anymore.
- [60:14]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah.
- [60:15]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
So that's like a lethal combination for the type of game that John Morant plays.
- [60:19]
Bill Simmons
He reminds me of some of the guys who just went sideways in the 2000s where you'd be like, why isn't Steve Francis good anymore? What happened here? And he just was never good again. Or Marbury, these guys that just kind of lost it. We'll see. I still feel like I wonder if he could be revived.
- [60:39]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Me too.
- [60:40]
Bill Simmons
Like in the right organization. System, whole thing. Like, almost like a plant that seems dead and you just keep watering it and take care of it and somehow, you know.
- [60:49]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Where did you fall in the great debate of fallen point guards with Ja? Tre and Melo ball?
- [60:57]
Bill Simmons
I thought Melo was the most redeemable of the three.
- [61:01]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I was a Ja guy. Cause I've actually seen him play serious basketball before, like in the playoffs. Whereas, like, Lamelo Ball is all just like, clown shit. You know what I mean? But again, it's tough, man. It's tough to hold any hope that this guy's going to come back.
- [61:19]
Bill Simmons
The only thing with Lamelo is I always try to think about the situation and the fact that he was just on bad teams with a cheap organization. And you just wonder like, well, what would happen if you just put, you know, with Ja, the questions are just different. It's like this guy failed the IQ test and then went back into the classroom and then failed it again. And that's where you're like, okay, I'll give you one. But the two makes me a little nervous. Another guy I can't believe wasn't ever on the Wizards. All right, I have two picks. Speaking of the Kings, we've gone long enough without mentioning Keegan Murray's name.
- [61:57]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Mm.
- [61:59]
Bill Simmons
Signed an extension for some reason because they're the Kings. So not including. Including this year, six years, $151.1 million for Keegan Murray, who is basically 13 and five the last three years. Okay. Three point shooter. There are so many wings. It's almost like the same thing with centers. Like, you could. You can find wings on every team that you could just play 25 minutes a game. The Clippers have guys. They're still. Guys are still pulling off their warmup jackets. On the Clippers, they're like, who's that guy? It's like, ah, he scored 10 points. I just would never overpay guys that are just role players. And he's a role player. And I don't see any scenario where he's anything more than a role player. So six years, 151. I don't get it. I don't think this contract's tradable. And that would be my first pick. House.
- [62:53]
House (Chris Ryan)
I don't have any argument with it.
- [62:55]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
See, I think Keegan Murray is tradable in the sense that, you know what, like, what's a bonus is like, what's his realistic role on a team. It's like, you got to find the perfect situation and surroundings and blah, blah, blah. Whereas Keegan Murray, it's like if he's playing the way we think he's capable of playing, that that fits on every team in the NBA, right? A guy who can shoot, who's a movement shoot, who's got size.
- [63:23]
Bill Simmons
I'm not even sure how good he is on. He is probably their best wing defender other than Keon Ellis the last two years.
- [63:29]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
So to me he still has a market. But I understand he not in the apron era.
- [63:35]
Bill Simmons
I don't think there's really a market in the same way now that you're just constricted on what you can spend.
- [63:41]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
We can just say that he hasn't lived up to the extension this season so far. I think that's fair to say.
- [63:47]
Bill Simmons
Well, I'll give you another wing. I'm upset that he hasn't been taken yet. Patrick Williams on the Bulls four years, 72 million career, nine points a game. And they traded Okoro for him who's also was a lottery pick let down guy. But Okoros contract was half as long that this Bulls GM is the worst GM in the league. He doesn't have the right PR team for the worst GM argument. We maybe need to get him some help. But did it turn down the Derek Queen trade? 12 pick was like no, I'm good. I don't want your first run pick next year in New Orleans. And took the French kid who doesn't play. Did that Williams Okoro trade nobody could figure out. Dumped Kobe, White and IO at the trade deadline for nothing. Got like a couple second rounders. The only trade that's really worked for them was the giddy Caruso trademark. But they gave up something. I don't understand anything they're doing. But Patrick Williams, this is another example of I just don't want to pay that guy 18 million a year when I could find someone for two.
- [64:54]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
He's got three years guaranteed left after this year, guys.
- [64:58]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah, he's a guy who. He gets the benefit of where he was drafted and they couldn't. The Bulls had a decision to make. If we let him go and he goes off somewhere else on the extension
- [65:11]
Bill Simmons
and does and comes back to haunt us.
- [65:13]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Right?
- [65:13]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah, that's. That was the conch. That's the. That he has a back to harmless contract.
- [65:18]
Bill Simmons
We had a million of these guys in the 2000s where we would have like the Ty Thomas, Stromile Swift these guys that it was like well he was drafted fourth like he's got to be good, right? And then somebody else would take a chance on them and then, then that Was it.
- [65:34]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
But it's, we gotta have in a new category of extension, the stays, the haunt strike, you guys, this is a contract that's going to stay and haunt you.
- [65:43]
House (Chris Ryan)
Well, that's called the Joel Embiid. Yeah, I'm on dejounte. Murray, it's not like, all his fault, but do you know how much money he makes? You know how much.
- [65:54]
Bill Simmons
Well, give the money. Go ahead.
- [65:55]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah, he still has two years left after this season, and there it's, it's 63 and a half million dollars. Now, that is that, that's the issue. If you want Dejante Murray and Gay and he was getting Jordan Poole money. If he was getting 20, whatever, that's okay. But he is a point guard that can't shoot the three and is a very questionable defender. And I don't know what his role with this Pelicans team could be now. He's playing better. His, his defense is the thing that should have been his calling card, but, you know, his, his scoring volume increased. The defense didn't sort of go along with it. So. The problem is the money. The problem is the money.
- [66:37]
Bill Simmons
I'm really surprised you can give him
- [66:38]
House (Chris Ryan)
over 30 million bucks.
- [66:39]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Bucks.
- [66:40]
House (Chris Ryan)
Really? $30 million.
- [66:42]
Bill Simmons
I, I, I kind of enjoy the Pelicans as a terrible league past him. I thought he's looked, I was kind of shocked by how good he looked. And he's like, he's too, like, he's
- [66:52]
House (Chris Ryan)
like, I get it.
- [66:53]
Bill Simmons
Like, seems like he's got the eye of the Tiger a little bit. I, I actually would trade for him this summer if I was somebody, because he looks healthy.
- [67:01]
House (Chris Ryan)
$30 million.
- [67:03]
Bill Simmons
I know. That's a, I know that's the problem
- [67:04]
House (Chris Ryan)
that just the money.
- [67:06]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
He had a, he had a point in time, man, early in his career where I was like, this is one of the defenders I've ever seen, right. Like, in his early San Antonio days, he was, he was incredible. He was unbelievable. But, like, now, you know, he got a little taste of becoming a scoring garden with a lot of guys, but ends up happening is like, all right, I don't do defense anymore. I score. That's for other people to do now.
- [67:31]
Bill Simmons
Right?
- [67:32]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
And also, you know, he's coming off of an Achilles, so you got to figure some of his athleticism and quickness has been sapped. I briefly thought about him, but, you know, it's only two years, so I think teams would be willing to eat that. If you could convince yourself that you're going to get this guy to function within a role at an elite level. I just think this is the second team now who thought he was going to come in and do something significant for them, and it just hasn't panned out. So I actually super respect the pitch.
- [68:06]
Bill Simmons
I would rather pay him than Jaren Jackson Jr. Wise, you're up with two in a
- [68:13]
House (Chris Ryan)
row, different amounts of money I want
- [68:15]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
to get, and this is not to get too controversial, but this matters. Mikel Bridges, man.
- [68:23]
Bill Simmons
Oh, where's he been? I thought he'd be gone by now.
- [68:26]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Mikel Bridges, who is old after this season. 33, 36, 38. And again, it's not just the money. They also gave a ton of picks to get him. And then, you know, if you paying attention to the Knicks Internet, there's a lot of grumbling of like, hold on, if we never gave up all those picks to get this kid in here, we'd have Giannis by now. So you think about the opportunity costs from having given away all of those picks to get Mikel Bridges, who. I'll admit, I was all on board when they did this. It was like, well, you got to try to be Boston. You got to get a bunch of great wings into your building. You pair him with OG That's a good recipe. And in fact, they beat Boston last year in the playoffs, and Bridges was critical to a lot of the stuff that they were doing on defense. I just think when you watch him over the course of the season, he's so inconsistent. His unwillingness to take layups or get fouled or like. And the defense kind of waxes and wanes and I don't know, man, he seems like a great guy. And I'm sure his teammates in the
- [69:38]
Bill Simmons
wrong situation, too, where he just doesn't get the ball ever. And now it seems like he's lost confidence a little bit. I don't know.
- [69:44]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I'm. I'm out on the base.
- [69:46]
Bill Simmons
He. He was on my list because the key point, other than that the production isn't there for somebody making mid-30s. And he's a walking reminder of all the picks you traded in. This one chance you had when you were the Knicks, where you struck oil with the Brunson signing, right? You were able to convince OG to stay, and you got him on a pretty good trade. And then you had all this draft pick capital to make one major move, and you kind of shot your wad, Forrest Gump style.
- [70:22]
House (Chris Ryan)
It was.
- [70:23]
Bill Simmons
You put your hand on Jenny's boob.
- [70:28]
House (Chris Ryan)
Well, he is a Villanova guy. He's part of the club.
- [70:32]
Bill Simmons
You understand it's like, baby, maybe show some stamina.
- [70:36]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Premature. A bit premature.
- [70:38]
Bill Simmons
It was a premature trade. Jackulation. And then Brunson took a little that I think so they could give him the extension. Some weird vibes with that Knicks team. What's your other pick?
- [70:51]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Wes again? Another guy that's going to be a little controversial because the dorks are obsessed with him. But for me it's Dyson Daniels. I think that extension is looking. That extension is looking funny in the light. It is because he's just a one sided player. Straight up. The guy plays one side of the ball and on offense I like that Quinn Snyder's putting the ball in his hands because God knows he's useless when he doesn't have the ball because no defense respects him. You're playing 4 on 5, but it's not like he's showing some real dexterity there. It's just he's getting an opportunity to try to maybe see if it develops, but the shooting just isn't there. And he's not some great finisher at the Cup. He's not some incredible facilitator. It's just he's a zero on offense. And to be paying a guy 100 million for the next four years, I just think it's tough, man. It's really tough.
- [71:53]
Bill Simmons
Wow. I'm shocked by that because the Hawks are red hot, red hot. Ten in a row. And part of the reason is the lineup with. They basically brought McCollum in. They stopped playing Reesache and they just. And Jalen Johnson's playing his way on an all NBA team. How so? You were surprised by that pick?
- [72:13]
House (Chris Ryan)
Well, because I have another guy that fits exactly the parameter of what Woz just described. And I hope he doesn't take this guy in terms of a brand new extension where you're like, you might have buyer's remorse.
- [72:24]
Bill Simmons
Well, you can take them right now. Go.
- [72:26]
House (Chris Ryan)
Oh, did Woz take two?
- [72:28]
Bill Simmons
He took Bridges and Dyson Daniels.
- [72:30]
House (Chris Ryan)
Oh, that's a wonderful.
- [72:31]
Bill Simmons
Dyson Daniels was having a great time listening to this pot and now he's got a gunshot in the side of his head. It's like, what happened?
- [72:36]
House (Chris Ryan)
Well, here's the thing. Dice Daniels at least has one elite skill. Unfortunately, Christian Brown is a very nice player. Christian Brown, five year, $125 million extension signed in October of 2025. And unfortunately he was the wrong guy to extend because they're not going to be able to extend Peyton Watson. And Peyton Watson is better than Christian Brown. And that, that's a just that's a tough one. That's. That's a.
- [73:08]
Bill Simmons
You, you, you.
- [73:08]
House (Chris Ryan)
You can't move off of that within, you know, a calendar year. Now, Brown's contribution, we'll see it come playoff time. It did take Peyton Watson longer to contribute, but I don't. Does anybody here think that Christian Brown's better than Peyton Watson, that. That Brown has a higher upside than Watson? He, he is A1.
- [73:27]
Bill Simmons
I've watched some guard, some really good dudes, though, though. It's a little high. They definitely, they, they, they definitely goosed. It would have been nice to have.
- [73:35]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
They did not sign Brown to that extension, thinking he would shoot 28.6% from three this season.
- [73:41]
Bill Simmons
He's also been hurt.
- [73:43]
House (Chris Ryan)
And they're, they're open threes. That's the problem. They're joker threes. He's not going to get that anywhere else in the entire NBA.
- [73:49]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I'm a big Christian Brown supporter, but he's been, he's had a disappointed season and he's got one extra year. He got one more year than Dyson Daniels. Than Daniels.
- [74:00]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah.
- [74:00]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
And so, yeah, I think it's the same kind of principle there. And you know what's so funny about that? It's the exact same deal that the warriors were avoiding with Emmanuel Moody. They were just like, listen, I was like, man, you can't give this guy that Dyson Daniels deal. He doesn't deserve the Christian Brown deal.
- [74:22]
Bill Simmons
Right?
- [74:22]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
And they said, no, fuck him, he's out.
- [74:25]
Bill Simmons
It's tough.
- [74:26]
House (Chris Ryan)
I don't think they're wrong.
- [74:29]
Bill Simmons
That was a good one. Well, March is fully loaded with a ton of sports to watch. So much going on. Choosing what's worth your time is half the game. I'm going to be breaking down my choices for March's perfect rotation in this special segment brought to you by Domino's Best deal ever. The deal that lets you get any rotation of toppings on any pizza for just 9.99. So this weekend, coming up, we got March Madness. Just put, you know, if I have the three TV set up, I will definitely have two March Madness games on this side with probably whatever the best NBA game is. Might bounce around little Bruins on Saturday, see what's going on with the golf. But it's. I would, I would say at least three basketball games and kind of monitoring other stuff. If there's some sort of MMA or boxing thing, maybe that would be the fifth. All of that stuff. And it is March and there's a bunch of great stuff going on. All that stuff's Great value for your time. Every rotation needs a six, man. And that's where we get Domino's Best deal ever. No overthinking, no benching toppings. Just any pizza with any toppings for only 9.99. Get Domino's best deal ever today. Prices higher in some locations. Select this online only offer from February 23rd until April 6th. Size availability varies by crust type match 7 toppings, 6 for New York style and pan crust. Stuffed crust extra excludes XL and specialty pizzas. Minimum purchase required for delivery prices, participation, delivery area and charges may vary. Well, I can't believe this guy hasn't been taken yet. I don't know where you guys were. I thought for sure he wouldn't get back to me. Anthony Davis this year. In the next two, three years. 1.75.3 million since the bubble title. He's played 279 games and missed 203. Cause I assume he's not coming back. Since the bubble title. 36 games. 40. 56. 76. 51. 20. He's 33 years old. He's gonna be 34 next year. And they tried to trade him and there were no takers. And our friend Rich Paul, he tried to lay the ground of if you trade him, you gotta give him an extension. And that quickly became. Wait, you've traded the Wizards? There was no market for him. And I actually thought House's team got kind of a steal because what do they care? They're not getting a free agent anyway. But just fundamentally paying this guy 120 million for two years and you have no idea if he's going to play 30 games, that seems like a bad contract for me.
- [76:57]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
With AD when he plays, I think he plays close to what that contract is worth. Whereas like with a Paul George and some of these other. It's like you're just not playing like a $50 million player. Whereas like AD when he's on the court, the defense gets lifted up. Yeah, he's a plus offensive player and like he's really good, but the guy just does not play. And so he's.
- [77:22]
Bill Simmons
His nickname is. Or his name is now AD when he plays, it's just like for a while together that's his.
- [77:29]
House (Chris Ryan)
For a while he was every other Davis. Every other Davis that he plays.
- [77:34]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
That Anthony street closed Davis.
- [77:36]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [77:37]
House (Chris Ryan)
I.
- [77:37]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
From you.
- [77:38]
House (Chris Ryan)
From. From a rational perspective, I have no quibble with the idea of Davis at this spot in this thing. I will say this. I do think his impact and meaning to this Wizards team is outsized and It. It will have, you know, translate into a kind of value that goes beyond. You know, it's a gigantic. If he. If we can get. I honestly, I'll take 60 games from him. Because what he will teach Sar, who has already got the instincts as a rim protector, what he will create for.
- [78:08]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
He didn't have it that night against Miami, that's for sure. He got. Oh, my God. Did his lunch get just destroyed that day?
- [78:16]
House (Chris Ryan)
He's. How else is he gonna learn? I thought it was a learning experience.
- [78:19]
Bill Simmons
You haven't been on the podcast since that happened. The disgrace. The disgrace of the 83.
- [78:24]
House (Chris Ryan)
I don't know what you're talking about. Will Riley and Alex sar combined for 50 points. It was a tremendous game. Developing game.
- [78:32]
Bill Simmons
How did your team give up? Lego brought this up. How did your team give up 30 points in the first quarter to bam out of bio when the Heat rested? Everybody else. Have you.
- [78:44]
House (Chris Ryan)
Have you watched? They can't get in front of him without. They couldn't get in front of him without fouling him. He set the NBA record. What do you mean to say it
- [78:53]
Bill Simmons
was the worst moment in Wizards history? It was embarrassing.
- [78:56]
House (Chris Ryan)
No, no, there's been far worse. That's been far worse moments than that. There's definitely been. The Celtics joined the Wizards on this team.
- [79:03]
Bill Simmons
The Celtics played the Wizards after. And Kada had like 25 in the first half or something. And Scalabrini was announcing with. With our friend Drew Carter, and he. He just over and over again, he was like. It was almost like he was muttering to himself, like he forgot his mic was on. He was like, I just. I don't understand what the Wizards are doing. I don't understand. I've never seen defense like this. I don't understand why they won't guard Keda. They're just letting him get layups. I don't understand this, Drew. I don't understand what they're doing. And he just kept saying it, which is how everyone feels watching the Wizards.
- [79:37]
House (Chris Ryan)
Is it Wizards covered? Is this line was 20 and a half Wizards covered? Go ahead.
- [79:41]
Bill Simmons
So the coach just. He got all his money up front
- [79:44]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
and he's a developer.
- [79:47]
House (Chris Ryan)
Like, they have all of these G League guys that are bringing up. It's really fun to see juju Reed Reese, Marilyn Terrapin's own juju Reese, Angel's brother. Angel came to a game.
- [79:58]
Bill Simmons
Congrats, House. Yes. I didn't realize the season was just uplifting.
- [80:02]
House (Chris Ryan)
It's a buzz. Why not? Sharif Cooper, Internet legend, Instagram legend, is getting some run yeah, why not? Wow.
- [80:10]
Bill Simmons
I'm in the camp that this is just not good for young players to be on the Washington Generals, basically. I don't see how this is helpful to anybody.
- [80:17]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I think the idea broke when they traded for Trae Young and AD and they're like, basically bragging to anybody who would listen that these guys don't. Will not play because they're going to be too competitive.
- [80:30]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah.
- [80:31]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Are you fucking kidding me? Trey Young, who nobody in the NBA wanted, would make you too competitive?
- [80:39]
House (Chris Ryan)
Well, C.J. mcCall made him too competitive. C.J. mcCallum, they had to get him rid of him. That was the trade. It was. That's the necessary.
- [80:46]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
That is.
- [80:47]
House (Chris Ryan)
They thought they could get away with keeping Trey on the bench for the whole season.
- [80:50]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
The league nuts.
- [80:52]
House (Chris Ryan)
Well, behind the scenes, the league is
- [80:53]
Bill Simmons
like, that's enough Philly fans during the mid 2010s with the process.
- [80:59]
House (Chris Ryan)
I love what we're doing. This is great.
- [81:00]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
At a certain point, House, this is professional sports.
- [81:03]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [81:04]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
You should be trying to win, bro. You should be trying to teach these kids winning habits, broadcasting. Guys, we need you to lose every day.
- [81:14]
House (Chris Ryan)
I know it's stuck every day.
- [81:17]
Bill Simmons
It's one thing to game the system. It's another thing to just be completely humiliated game after game. I don't get it, House. You're just. You're just.
- [81:27]
House (Chris Ryan)
What do you want me to say? They have a mission. They have a mission and they're. They're going to be very successful at achieving their goal, which is having one
- [81:35]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
of the four destroy the integrity of. Of professional sports.
- [81:39]
House (Chris Ryan)
No, just the NBA. And the NBA doesn't have any integrity. The NBA is the league that gave the Dallas Mavericks the first overall draft pick last season. They can fuck right off.
- [81:49]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Oh, Lord have mercy.
- [81:51]
Bill Simmons
We're running out of picks, but that's. And this is, I think, our first one year left after this year, guy that's been taken. I don't think we've taken a expiring 27 guy yet. And I'm gonna have to do it here with DeAndre Hunter. Two years, 48.2 million. This year he was averaging 14 points a game for the Cavaliers and shooting 30.5% from three on threes that were wide open. Cause nobody was guarding him because everybody was like, please shoot. We're going to guard Donovan Mitchell. And the other guys of this team couldn't make any of them. And the Kings were like, he's available, intriguing. And went and grabbed him. And I didn't understand it at all. I thought he was so Bad second half of last year with the Cavs and then this season. I can't believe anybody would want to pay him 24 million when you could just find 10 guys who could get three.
- [82:44]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
All you need to know is the Cavs had him in their building and they said, ah, we'd rather Dean Wade.
- [82:50]
Bill Simmons
That's really tough. Really tough. So our first two year guy. House, you're up.
- [82:57]
House (Chris Ryan)
I'm surprised this guy has fallen this far, but maybe because there's only two years left, one of them is a player option. Jalen Green feels like a guy that mentioned at this point in the, in the draft, he really shouldn't jump ahead of either Colin Gillespie or Grace now. And in the starting rotation for the Phoenix Suns, this is another guy who. Houston had to extend him because of where they took him in the draft. The problem is, well, save the money.
- [83:25]
Bill Simmons
Three years, 105.8 including the year.
- [83:29]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah, right.
- [83:29]
Bill Simmons
So.
- [83:29]
House (Chris Ryan)
So two years after this year, player option remaining at over $72 million after this season. 36 million, 6 and 36. Yeah, that, that, that is the issue.
- [83:41]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Probably be picking up that play options. This is the thing about Jalen Green. I was one of the last people off the bandwagon and there's times even in the Boston game where I'm like, yo, this is a useful player. Like, he's puncturing the defense, he's disrupting stuff. Like he, he felt pesky and like good in moments Against Boston yesterday, he's just so inconsistent. The decision making comes and goes. The shot is all over the place. Yeah, he, he definitely belongs on this list for sure.
- [84:10]
Bill Simmons
This was the right area to take him. I think it's a great pick. I've been impressed with how hard he's playing for Phoenix though. Sure. And I do think his heart's in the right place. I just think he was a young player who went to a bad team. I'm not sure what happens to his minutes when Brooks comes back, but he does his moments every once in a while. You were like, so talented.
- [84:29]
House (Chris Ryan)
If he's healthy this upcoming season, you know that he might end up being an asset. Because this Phoenix thing, what they have going on there with, with, you know, coaching, there is a kind of ethic there where he might, you know, it might click in for him.
- [84:43]
Bill Simmons
They did a good job.
- [84:45]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah.
- [84:45]
Bill Simmons
With, with the, with the guys that just play hard and give a shit and you kind of either. For Jalen Green, who I think could go either way as a player like, he, it feels like he's at least embracing the right things. They get the Celtics. They played the Celtics really well last night.
- [85:00]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
That was a good game.
- [85:00]
Bill Simmons
And Booker. Booker and Boston, you can just book the 40 plus points wise. Do you have two picks left?
- [85:06]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Oh yeah, I got plenty of picks left. First one, absolutely. Jeremy Grant, 34 mil next season. 36 mil player option. He's just average. Is he even average at this point?
- [85:23]
Bill Simmons
I think he's been in every draft that we've done. Even his old contract, I think was also in this. I think, I think he's been in our last. I think he's been all decade. He's like the, the Mikhail Bridges streak of, of worst contract draft.
- [85:37]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Who's my name? Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving. Okay, 39 mil next season coming off of the ACL play option for 40 after that. That's getting picked up. He's a small guy. You know, obviously his mobility is going to be compromised by the career long injuries. Guys like he's been having, dealing with injuries all the time. And it's like even when he comes back, can you count on him to be on the floor? And so yeah, Kyrie, to me, tough, tough, tough contract.
- [86:16]
Bill Simmons
Two different spots in his career where he basically took 18 months off. Yeah, right. Cause that net season, that first net season he didn't really play and then they shelved him for this one. I think this is the right spot for him. I have no idea anymore with longevity House because back in the day it was like if somebody had that injury in their early 30s, their career was just over. There was no chance they come back. Now watching Jason Tatum just blow by guys, 10 months after an Achilles, I don't know what to think anymore. But it does feel a little pricey, I would say. Okay, what's your other pick then? Oh, you have Jeremy Grant and Kyrie. So how's your up?
- [86:55]
House (Chris Ryan)
This is going to be controversial. I'm interested in, in the, the reaction of you guys. I do wonder about de' Aaron Fox because I really like them. There is a ton of money left on this contract and what is he represent to this team? If Dylan Harper needs more minutes, if you need minutes, how are you going to give the minutes to the, to the backcourt across the board here? How many more times do you think the Aaron Fox is going to be an all star? That's what you have to kind of answer. This is a thought experiment. Like I, I'm, I'm looking, I'm like, wow. It's just it, it's, it's over. It's four more years and it's $223 million remaining.
- [87:41]
Bill Simmons
It's a. It's a.
- [87:42]
House (Chris Ryan)
It's a very large number to me
- [87:44]
Bill Simmons
and it made sense. It's the right. It's the right conversation to have. I saw him in person last night and thought he was. Looked fucking great. So that's. And they have the money to spend because Wemby's on a rookie deal.
- [87:56]
House (Chris Ryan)
Ultra.
- [87:57]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
If they're at the. If they're in the top two of the west. To me he's worth the money.
- [88:02]
Bill Simmons
Me too. I agree.
- [88:03]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
At a certain point, you know some extensions are going to kick in way down the road for the younger guards. But right now, then you flip him for the next two to three seasons, he seems worth the trouble. And I think he's a. I think he's flippable. That's the difference. Right. Where we talk about guys like Embiid, there's the second Philly picks up that phone click on the other end. You talking trading me that Embiid deal. I think with Fox, with. He's, you know, he's known as a hard worker, a good locker room guy can play. You know what I'm saying? I think it was.
- [88:37]
House (Chris Ryan)
It's why I posted as a thought experiment. It's very unfair to say how many times over the life of this contract is he going to be an all Star because you go through the west
- [88:47]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
and well his redundancies at his position with Castle and you're hoping if Dylan Harper, who you drafted is. Is what you think he's going to be, this guy is completely expendable.
- [88:57]
House (Chris Ryan)
Right.
- [88:58]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
So. But Harper's not there yet. Not even close. Obviously he's just a rookie. Agreed.
- [89:02]
House (Chris Ryan)
Agreed.
- [89:02]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Agreed. So we'll see.
- [89:04]
House (Chris Ryan)
Thought experiment. That's the only reason I put it out.
- [89:06]
Bill Simmons
I appreciate the spirit behind the pick. I feel even better about my Jaren Jackson pick. You just wondered about 5 for 220 for just this guy in a team that might win the title.
- [89:19]
House (Chris Ryan)
I just can't believe how much you dismiss defense. He's an elite effing defender. He's already multiple. Is he first time, first. First all NBA defender, defensive player of the year.
- [89:31]
Bill Simmons
Like why is this guy. Kobe made small defenses in the mid to late 2000s that we weren't sure about.
- [89:43]
House (Chris Ryan)
There are elite stats for him.
- [89:44]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
The fact that the statute of limitations on Kobe snark has expired is amazing for me. It's. It's a great feeling. I'm not going to lie.
- [89:55]
Bill Simmons
It's just for The Laker fans who are nuts about him. The. This name hasn't been said yet. It's been said, I think every year we've had the draft. He only has a year left after this one. It's a two year, 42.7 left on the deal. I just can't believe how bad he is in some of the games. As I watch my friend Doc Rivers trying to save the Bucks season. Kyle Kuzma.
- [90:18]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Oh, God damn.
- [90:20]
Bill Simmons
I just like paint Kyle Kuzma. Over 20 million. He. It's 42.5 for this year and the next year. That's just. I. I just have to take him.
- [90:29]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Cools my guy. Yeah, it's been. It's been a rough one.
- [90:33]
House (Chris Ryan)
Really rough.
- [90:34]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
He threw a pass the other night that went way into like the third deck.
- [90:41]
Bill Simmons
And they cut to Doc and Doc.
- [90:42]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Doc's face was just. He couldn't believe.
- [90:48]
Bill Simmons
Just.
- [90:48]
House (Chris Ryan)
He just.
- [90:49]
Bill Simmons
John.
- [90:50]
House (Chris Ryan)
I started calling him Samsonite when he was with Samsonite.
- [90:54]
Bill Simmons
I.
- [90:56]
House (Chris Ryan)
Go ahead.
- [90:56]
Bill Simmons
I just don't think he would play. Yeah.
- [90:59]
House (Chris Ryan)
Because his bag was always packed. His luggage was sitting right there at the end of the bed. He's got a bag always packed. My boy Samsonite.
- [91:06]
Bill Simmons
I don't think he'd play one minute on the Celtics. Oh, wow. There's still some good guys left.
- [91:15]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Oh, yeah. This is. There's a few. There's a few guys on the border. And I don't even. I wouldn't even say on the border. Just. And I have this. I have a list called. I have. I got my eye on this.
- [91:31]
Bill Simmons
I. I gotta go back to my center. Center thing. It's the right time to take them. Jared Allen, five years, including this year for 130. And I've watched Namias Ka to outplay him multiple times. And I'm just like. I just don't want to pay that much for a center ever. I just feel like I can find centers.
- [91:55]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
It's respectable. I think on another team. He's a perfectly fine starter.
- [91:59]
Bill Simmons
Yeah.
- [92:00]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah.
- [92:00]
Bill Simmons
I think it's. He's, you know, not a top eight center, but he's solid. Solid center. I just don't want to pay that much for a center when I have a second apron and all. Luxury tax and shit like that. That house. You have any more picks?
- [92:14]
House (Chris Ryan)
I just feel like, again, this is a thought experiment. You guys feel like Carl Anthony Towns. Two years left, $120 million.
- [92:23]
Bill Simmons
He was on my list. Diminished.
- [92:25]
House (Chris Ryan)
Okay. Okay.
- [92:26]
Bill Simmons
It's a lot of money for Carl Anthony Towns. It is. It goes back to the Jaren Jackson thing. This is one of my two guys.
- [92:31]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I'm two years after this one.
- [92:34]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 120 million. Yeah, right.
- [92:39]
Bill Simmons
It caught my attention. W. You have two. You want to go quick?
- [92:42]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Yeah.
- [92:43]
Bill Simmons
Finnie Smith, he should have been taken sooner.
- [92:47]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
He's toast. This guy is done. He's got 40 mil after this year. Over the next three years. Jonathan Isaac, another guy who's toast to me. He's just completely toast and has 45mil after this year old. So I get it. They got a. A quote unquote discount because of the injuries. But three years, 45 after this season. So he's out of here. Those are. I'm out of. Oh, one more front line just to throw it out there. Jordan poole, make it 34 next year. To be a scrub bench warmer like. God damn, that's just horrible.
- [93:21]
House (Chris Ryan)
That's fine. He's. Yeah, he's perpetually on the list. He always deserves being on the list. No, no, I'm. I'm happy with where I ended.
- [93:30]
Bill Simmons
Here, here. Can you. Can we each go one guy you really wanted to take but you didn't have the balls?
- [93:39]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Oh, that's easy. Franz Wagner. Oh, that's Franz Vogner.
- [93:44]
Bill Simmons
Five for 220.
- [93:46]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Lord have mercy.
- [93:48]
House (Chris Ryan)
Tremendous.
- [93:50]
Bill Simmons
I do like his game. Does seem like he gets hurt though.
- [93:53]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Yeah, you have to play the game.
- [93:57]
House (Chris Ryan)
I gave Jabari Smith some consideration
- [94:03]
Bill Simmons
just
- [94:03]
House (Chris Ryan)
because of the lack of consistency, but then he served me some shut the fuck up juice last night. He had a very good game and so I'm just going to shut the fuck up. But that would be. You know, I looked at him.
- [94:14]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Not an ideal time to bring this name up, Bill, but bam. Out of bio. Back 52 next year. 56 the year after that. Player option for 60. The year after that.
- [94:36]
House (Chris Ryan)
Forever in the record books.
- [94:37]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
The guy averages 17 points a game.
- [94:39]
Bill Simmons
I had two that I really looked at. Kevin Durant.
- [94:49]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
No, no, no, no, no.
- [94:51]
House (Chris Ryan)
I agree. No, no, no, no, no. He's still. He's too good at age 37,
- [95:02]
Bill Simmons
counting this year, three for 144.7. So I have him for two more years after this year and he'll be 39 at the end of that. And every time I watch him go against a good team, it feels like it could go either way. Not to mention some of the non basketball stuff. I just wonder if that's. Do you want to be in the 50 million a year for Kevin Durant business at this point? I'm on the market.
- [95:27]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Teams are snapping them up like this. You need that scoring.
- [95:31]
Bill Simmons
That's why I just looked at it for a second. Are we sure Laurie market should make $200 million for four years?
- [95:40]
House (Chris Ryan)
We're talking about him. Did I, did I fall asleep for a minute? Did my Internet go out? We haven't talked about Zion. If you're going to say Laurie Marketing
- [95:49]
Bill Simmons
Zion, you can get out of that contract every year though. Though there's no problem with.
- [95:53]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
You could take him year from year.
- [95:55]
Bill Simmons
He's on a year to year deal.
- [95:57]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Marketing is at 46. Next year, 49. The year after that, 43. 53 and a half. The year after that where it's like
- [96:05]
House (Chris Ryan)
we have no idea. We have no idea how to play.
- [96:07]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I know Utah play guys that are good on the team.
- [96:10]
House (Chris Ryan)
Let us, let us see if he can play.
- [96:11]
Bill Simmons
We didn't mention Trey Young 2 for 95.3. He's going to get expiring next year, which. Well, if he gets an extension. We should have picked Trey Young's extension as a pick.
- [96:21]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
That should be a pick. You guys are 100%. That should have been a pick. The extension hasn't been announced. And I'm like, is this actually really happening? Like they really going to extend this?
- [96:33]
House (Chris Ryan)
Dude, please don't do that.
- [96:34]
Bill Simmons
Big money House, don't do it. It's happening.
- [96:36]
House (Chris Ryan)
House, no, no.
- [96:37]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
House.
- [96:37]
Bill Simmons
No. I'm telling you.
- [96:38]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Well, we could just pin Trey Young to the top of next year's.
- [96:41]
House (Chris Ryan)
Yeah, Ice Trey and Trey Johnson. We got Trey to Trey, baby. It's going to be delightful.
- [96:46]
Bill Simmons
Did anybody take a spin around the block with Jalen Suggs's 5 for 150 contract?
- [96:53]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I love Jalen Suggs too much. I can't. He's, he's.
- [96:55]
Bill Simmons
I felt the same way. Does he.
- [96:57]
House (Chris Ryan)
He means too much to that team.
- [96:58]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Personally attached, emotionally attached to this guy.
- [97:02]
Bill Simmons
That's why I landed his.
- [97:04]
House (Chris Ryan)
Compare him to like Jalen Green. Other guys around that 30, we were like, say, like, you really want to pay the 30 to Jalen Soggs is fair.
- [97:11]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
We respect championship quality and equity here.
- [97:14]
Bill Simmons
But Siakam, he's been really good this year. Yeah, I think it's a fair price for him though, don't you think? He's like, like in the 45 a year range.
- [97:24]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
I just, I'm keeping my eye on it.
- [97:26]
Bill Simmons
Okay.
- [97:26]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Keep. He's getting older. He's getting up in age. Guys. I'm just keeping my eye and Shangu keeping my eye on that. Your coach is dissing you every single day. He basically called your defense trash multiple Times in public might have been right.
- [97:42]
Bill Simmons
Where was. Where are you standing on Emmanuel Quickley four for one, 30.
- [97:46]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Oh, my God. He's.
- [97:51]
House (Chris Ryan)
He could have gone in the top 15.
- [97:53]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
He slides under the radar because it's
- [97:55]
Bill Simmons
like at 32 and 32 and a half a year. Yeah.
- [98:00]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
If you're playing. If you're starting on the Eastern Conference's fifth best team, that's kind of fair.
- [98:09]
Bill Simmons
Yeah, but he.
- [98:11]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
He's not playing like that, though.
- [98:13]
Bill Simmons
The problem is they. Though he's basically in the heat check spot for the Raptors, like, kind of elevated heat check where Jordan Clarkson was a couple years ago. You don't want to pay those guys 30. You want to pay him like 20. So it's 10 million too much. But Toronto just made a strategy. The only other one we didn't mention were Terrence Mann for 3 for 47, Malik Monk for 3 for 65. And I'd like to commend all of us for not mentioning any of the Achilles guys.
- [98:41]
House (Chris Ryan)
Nobody brought up Tatum.
- [98:42]
Bill Simmons
Thank you, guys. Not bring up Tatum. Kudos for nobody bringing up Tyrese Halliburton making over 200 million for the next couple years. And then Dame Dame 3 for 42.
- [98:53]
House (Chris Ryan)
He's just getting. At the end of it, he's getting what he got.
- [98:57]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
No.
- [98:57]
Bill Simmons
And then the last one would be Kawhi, 3 for 1, 49, which he's been so awesome this year. But it's the same thing with Durant. Like, am I gonna be happy with that? That in 2027?
- [99:09]
House (Chris Ryan)
Probably not.
- [99:09]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
But next year is Kawhi's last year on the deal. That's why it's like, I can't even consider it. He's got, like. He's on an expiring and.
- [99:19]
Bill Simmons
But he's got the player option after that, though, I thought, right, no, next year is it.
- [99:25]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Next year is. He's done.
- [99:28]
Bill Simmons
I screwed that up. You're right. We did mention Draymond Green 2 for 53.5. We didn't mention Drew Holiday 3 for 102.4. And then Rudy Gobert just came out on skates 2 for 72. Everybody's cool with it. So two rookie contracts. House, Reese Sachet, 2 for 27. Basically got pay him 13 million next year. He doesn't play anymore.
- [99:54]
House (Chris Ryan)
Don't care.
- [99:55]
Bill Simmons
And then shout out, Rob Dillingham gets like 7 million guaranteed next year and should be headed toward Europe. And that's really it. I think if we did this two weeks ago, I think one of us would have taken Deandre Ayton for the comedy.
- [100:10]
House (Chris Ryan)
But.
- [100:10]
Bill Simmons
But he's actually been out there in crunch time, so.
- [100:13]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
And I think Bam absolutely makes list lists. If not for this two weeks, Bam
- [100:20]
House (Chris Ryan)
would have been pretty high up there.
- [100:22]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Tough offensive season overall.
- [100:24]
House (Chris Ryan)
He would have been pretty high up there.
- [100:26]
Bill Simmons
All right, so finalist Embiid Paul George, Jaren Jackson Jr. Controversial Levine Purtl, Miles Turner, Sabonis John Morant, Keegan Murray, Patrick Williams, Dejounte Murray. Still disagree with that one. Mikel Bridges, Dyson Daniels, Christian Brown, Anthony Davis, DeAndre Hunter, Jalen Green, Jeremy Grant, Kyrie Irving, De' Aaron Fox. Disagree with that one. Kyle Kuzma, Jaredown Karl Anthony Town and Dorian Finney Smith, who was Mr. Irrelevant of the worst contracts draft for 2026. We're going to be saying goodbye to our worst contract friends next year. I don't like Kuzma won't make it. Maybe Jeremy Grant doesn't make it next year. His streak might be over. Maybe there'll be some new guys we didn't expect. I think last year.
- [101:20]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Zach Levine's definitely gone.
- [101:23]
Bill Simmons
Last year some of the guys that we took ended up like playing their way out of bad contract status, I'm pretty sure. Hold on, I had this. Didn't we have. I think somebody took Scotty Barnes last year at one point.
- [101:38]
House (Chris Ryan)
Oh, I did. I took Scotty Barnes sometime in the last two years because of the way that Toronto was open and notorious with its tank job. There was no point to paying him. They were sacrificing years of the extension.
- [101:53]
Bill Simmons
I think Brandon Ingram got taken. But there are some guys that played themselves off the list. So the point is there's hope for anybody on this list. You control your own destiny. Next year you might be on the best contracts list. Oh, I see a cat tail.
- [102:06]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
See, Mimi's being rude.
- [102:08]
Bill Simmons
That's the end of the podcast when wise cat waves the tail. How so Is a pleasure. Why a true pleasure. Great to have you back.
- [102:16]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
This was fun, guys.
- [102:17]
Bill Simmons
Thanks to Gahal and Eduardo as well. Don't forget, new Rewatchables is up to live and die in la and I'm going to be back with a podcast. Oh, and a Rewatchables mailbag going up Wednesday night and then another podcast here on Thursday. So I'll see you with a couple more pods rest of the week. Thanks, guys. I don't have a few years with him
- [102:46]
House (Chris Ryan)
on the west side.
- [102:52]
Bill Simmons
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- [103:40]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
is set for the TGL, presented by SoFi.
- [103:42]
Bill Simmons
Finals Los Angeles Golf Club vs Tigers
- [103:44]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
Jupiter Links Keep up It's playoffs Tune
- [103:46]
Bill Simmons
in Monday, March 23, 9pm Eastern on
- [103:49]
Wojnarowski (Woz/Wise)
ESPN2 and Tuesday, March 24, 7pm Eastern on ESPN and on the ESPN app.