What is up a fellow siko's I am Danvalley coming at you with another solo
podcast on a Sunday. Though I don't feel bad about it being so I
normally feel bad. Still hate doing these, but loves the talk hoops and
we have some stuff that I wanted to hit for a while, and we're
gonna have to talk about the jail and bruns. An extension is basically what
I want to spend a lot of time on. Of course, very quickly
though, just want to announce that thank you for everyone who helped us hit
five k subscribers on YouTube recently. We are going to have a merch drop
in celebration, and if you're watching this, I'm giving you a preview of
it. One of the designs right now, I think we have four.
I wanted to have five, but there's one that there's been a hold up
and I can't necessarily do it myself, so there will be four in the
drop. This is the first one. Oh man, you can't see my
MIC's here? Hold on, hold on. That was better on YouTube if
you didn't see the pause. Nice little Sicko mode shirt for the siccos it
is going to be called the Siico collection, so I won't spoil all of
it. Grant has seen it, he did approve it. I wanted to
get some test merch to make sure that everything, like the material is good.
The place very quickly. It's a little bit more expensive than when we
were using Tea Public, but the quality seems to be a lot better.
And I think we'll run a promo when we launched, like maybe fifteen percent
off of a certain amount of purchaser something, So if you want to support
the show, be on the lookout for that. I'm really happy with how
all the stuff turned out and excited to share it with you guys, and
hopefully everyone sends me a bunch of pictures in screenshots and them wearing it because
we might have well, definitely have magnets I will send you. If you
send me the screen shop for free. You don't have to pay for the
magnets. I know, very generous of us with all these magnets. I'm
trying to get stickers. Those might take a while though, so that's exciting.
But let's come on, let's talk about John Brunson did the thing.
Son of a brun He did it. I was I'm not surprised that he
did it, because a lot of people I trust and who know things believe
that he was going to but it was still one of those things where it
was I'll believe it when I see it. And so I want to get
into the framing of this because their woe was reported that he's basically leaving an
unprecedented amount of money on the table. It's an unprecedented concession. I even
made a joke that we saw Lebron take almost a three million dollar pay cut
and then Jalen Brunson said watch this and took way more or sacrificed way more.
But then I also saw the pushback like, well, this is a
three plus one. He's going to opt out. Afterwards, he'll be able
to sign a thirty five percent max. He'll recoup x amount and all these
numbers being around, or maybe he'll extend off this current one. There's been
a bunch of different ways to frame it, and so look, Jalen Brunson
could have entered. So I want to start here. There's just a few
points I want to make about this. About we know how important he is
to the Knicks, but that's why this is important. But about what this
means for their future. But like, let's look at the framing. Jalen
Brunson could have opted out next summer and would have been eligible for a max
of five years and about two hundred and sixty nine million dollars is what the
cat projects to be at. He is so important to the Knicks. If
you want to get into whether you actually think when you kind of saw that,
well, there wasn't a market for James Harden and yeah there was a
market for Paul George, but it was like kind of Philly and that was
it. It was weird. John Brunson younger jet to nat but again small
guard. Maybe there's not people tripping over themselves to give him a four year
max compete with the Knicks. He's so important to the Knicks, and they
have built their team in the image of him, of believing that he is
going to be there, that he is there north Star because he is.
He was before they made the mcaal Bridge's trade, before they made the Aniobe
trade. But my point is they've continued to lean in to that. You
were going to give him the five years in two hundred and sixty nine million
if he wanted it. That is my point, So that is actually something
that he opted against doing. He could have if there was a catastrophic injury
and Achilles or something. Okay, maybe we have this debate. Does he
have enough equity that kind of Clay Thompson did with the Warriors, were gonna
pay him anyway? I guess would be yeah, because they don't have a
choice like this is just he is everything to the Knicks, so he waited.
He would have signed, he could work. I should say he could
have signed for five to sixty nine. So that is something he actively passed
on. So I don't think it's fair to say that he didn't really make
a sacrifice or that he's planning on recouping this towards the end of the deal,
because or not the end of the deal, but on his next deal.
And yeah, okay, you can look at it that way and think,
oh, I mean, Rick Brunson's on the coaching So that was one
of the better jokes, by the way, to someone quote to me that
it was like an unrelated news though. Rick Brunson got a fifteen million dollars
per year race, which was great, and I think I saw it might
have been a dunked on subscriber made the joke to them that that they were
that the rights to the like the Roommate's podcast was being purchased for like a
half a billion dollars or something. So that was funny. But if you
believe that Leon Rose and that the Knicks brass have his thing set up where
they're agreeing to paying Brunson when he can opt out the full boat, which
that deal right now, So he opts out on his current deal, which
he can do, that would be the twenty twenty twenty nine season. His
max salary at that point, I believe at thirty five percent seventy two million
dollars over, so a five year, four hundred and seventeen point eight four
hundred and seventeen point nine million dollar deal. Yeah, I mean there's a
chance that there's I won't rule out anything because of just the way that he
got here. Yeah, there's a chance that they've told him that they'll take
care of him in some form. That's still a risk on his part.
We're talking about someone who when he hits free agency again, that will be
he will be thirty two years old, and so we know what we know
about small guards. He's listed at sixty one six foot In some places,
it's probably on a good day that he's hitting six' to one, so
there's a risk of leaving that money on the table. What he did was
as close to like this is. It was a real concession. I don't
understand people framing it a different way now if you want to frame it in
a different capacity, because he's going to hit free agency sooner. So even
had he waited to sign that five year deal, it's not the same thing.
That's fair. So let's break this down in the terms of this is
let's look at it as a three year deal like following this, so he's
under contract for this season play and then his player option beginning in twenty five
twenty six was declined, so there are three seasons before the next player option.
So we know that he's going to be on this number, never gonna
make more than forty point five forty point six million dollars I believe per year
under this contract. So let's just look at those three years. In the
first year of the contract he is he is taking an eleven point four million
dollar pay cut, the second year of that contract a twelve point four million
dollar pay cut, and then the final year. Even though the before the
player option thirteen point three million dollar pay cut, that adds up to thirty
seven point one million about over three years. And so when you do the
math on that, like, just thirty seven million dollars over three years is
not nothing for someone who is not coming off a mega deal. Remember when
he signed this contract with the Knicks. Then I continue to own this.
I was wrong about his fit, wrong about how aggressive they were to I
was just wrong. I mean, even people who are optimistic about you to
be fair about jam Brunton were wrong. He just turned into a top five,
top six MVP candidate. But there were people who were uncomfortable with the
money. I wasn't uncomfortable with the money, but there are people whore uncomfortable
with the money. So this isn't someone who is signed. Yeah, at
the end of all these these two deals, like yet he's still gonna be
like, wow, man, this dude made over a quarter of a million
dollars or whatever it ends up being. Okay, I get that, but
like, this isn't someone like, this isn't Lebron And I'm not we'll get
into the pay cut situation itself, but he is taking over the next three
years, not the upcoming season, but the three after that. An average
of twelve point four million dollars per year is what he conceded. So even
if you want to just isolate that down to a three year window, that's
a lot of fucking money. That's not quote, that's Dante DiVincenzo every year
basically, or because Mitchell Robinson is declining Mitchell Robinson every year. That is
what he basically conceded, one of the Knicks's top six player salaries per year.
But over the next three seasons, that's that Just like I don't want
to I'm not saying you need to commend him for it, but let's not
try and for this is John Brunson is not making a sacrifice, and let
Knicks fans kind of have this. Everyone knows Knicks fans hate me, which
is honestly hysterical, but like people making fun of their reactions saying it looks
like they just you know, won, like formed a dynasty or something,
And that's what that's the positive side of fandom. Where a player does something
where it feels like they care about the jersey, the city name on their
back, and the fans where it's not just a job and you're going to
react in that way. It's the toxic bullshit that's annoying to or should be
annoying everyone. Like those reactions. Okay, troll them, that's fine,
but like to actively make fun of them in a like a means bearded way
to just I find that so like, let Knicks fans have this like this
is a big deal, and I don't think John Brunson was obligated to do
it by any stretch. That kind of makes it even that much sweeter.
And now there are another two there are three points I want to make after
this, and so this is let's start with the mcl bridges strait. This
podcast is right every once in a while, this is one of those times
once in a you know, every years. We had mentioned that one of
the reasons I came around on Jaln Brunson sign and the extension was because of
the mcale bridges trade. And you now need to fold what Jalen Brunson just
did, and even if you want to frame it in a three year window.
So the twelve point four million dollars per year in extra wiggle room beneath
an aprin because it's not just it's not necessarily a cap space situation. We
will get to that, I promise, but you need to fold that into
the cost they paid for McHale Bridges. And so it was already justifiable in
the sense that if you believe he is a missing link to you becoming a
championship contender, go ahead and make the trade in all likelihood the first two
first round picks that you have to convey in twenty five and twenty seven whatever,
it's the other two on the back end of that, and of course
you want to see what Milwaukee's turns into. But there you can make a
case that three of the five picks they gave up are going to be bottom
ten and that's not an astronomical price. Now, when you get to the
swap and then the two picks in twenty twenty twenty nine, pick twenty and
thirty one pick, shit gets uneasy because you don't know what Brunson again,
he's like, this core is young enough to where it could still be together.
But we know windows closes all the time players leave they get too expensive,
and so there's a chance the Knicks could be in a rough spot if
they don't meticulously kind of balance the future with the president and whatever move they
make next be for someone who can help be the bridge with Jalen Brunson,
because you look at even if they're on the younger side, like to you
view Dante DiVincenzo and Josh Hart and even McHale Bridges and of course Julius Randald,
just all these guys are not John Brunson is the guy. The fact
that he'll only be only be thirty two when he set to hit free agency
next that's twenty twenty nine, Like, yeah, he could still have even
what we know, like what Kyle Lowry was able to do, like you
could still have two three years left of his prime even if he's not at
this level. And I think it's a fair bet to say, Okay,
you know, when he's up for his next deal, maybe he's not at
this level. This level, this level's fucking top ten territory or better.
He was just six in MVP voting. I think I erroneously said fifth the
other day in a podcast, So I apologize to anyone who was a me
getting that wrong. I like those picks again, just to justifiable costs.
It was a lot, and it was an overpay, but you know you're
gonna have to overpay mchal Bridges because he's on a below market deal with two
years left, no options to get out of that. Brunton coming back on
this below market deal that basically within that same span is saving you twelve point
four million dollars just that three year. It's more. He could have signed
for way more. But I'm using the I guess I'll call it the least
favorable interpretation of this, or maybe you just want to call it the most
realistic one, whatever you want to use it. But Brunton signing this deal
to have him at three years and never just coming like he's never going to
make he would if he opted in, but I'm assuming he'll decline his player
option in twenty twenty eight, like forty point six million dollars he's gonna top
out at Like that is just that is wild when you look at the percentage
of what the salary cap is. I mean, we're talking about someone who
finishes this is now his third contract, and under it, he is never
going to account for more than twenty two twenty three percent of the salary cap
if projections, So hold, that's absurd and it's it's a big deal,
and you folded into Michel Bridges trade because Michel Bridges is his friend, is
buddy, the same way with Done Evincenzo and Josh Hart. The other thing
you fold into the Michel Bridge trade is what does this mean about Michael Bridges's
future? Because in six months he can sign an extension. I think it's
like three years, one under thirteen million. Given the archetype of player he
is and the fact that he's also on a deal that aged into an extremely
team friendly contract, he shouldn't sign that extension. He should probably wait because
there will be a team that will pay him more. Even I it's just
a matter of getting more years and slightly more money per year. Like I
don't know if he's going to be a max contract guy when he hits free
agency in twenty twenty six, but like, there are a lot of people
who probably prefer him as a player to og Annobi and look at what og
just got over five years, five and two twelve. Does this mean,
though, that he's just going to sign an extension, because then that needs
to be factored into the cost of these players are willing to make those sacrifices
to keep, to help you keep the core together, to help you keep
improving. Now, this is a big deal in the sense of let's actually
look at the Knicks' finances in that first year, and so you have Jalen
Brunson now is going to be penciled in at which is just I still can't
It's thirty four about thirty five million dollars, We'll round up a little bit.
That's I still can't like that. That's what I'll have to wrap my
head around. So if you pencil him in for that, which again substantially
less than he would have gotten in that season, So you're gonna pencil him
in for the thirty five million dollar number. With Julius Randalls cap Hold who
has a player option, and Julius Reynolds cap Holds, I think like forty
three point four million. The Knicks are like, this is we're scaling so
far out. Their books could change just pressures that you will come back.
But I'm talking about right now, right here, right now, the Knicks
are like three million, four million, maybe two million if they don't do
anything else, which they obviously will outside of the second ape or they have
excuse me, they have about ten they they're about three million into the first
apron, and so yeah, they'll be into the tax comfortably. But the
second apron room is like they're closer to now because of this bruntson deal.
That's with Julius Randall's cap hold ten million dollars beneath the second apron. Let's
just say it might be rounding up a little bit. I don't think Julius
Randall's maybe he signs an extension. Maybe A doesn't. I'm not paying Julius
Randall forty million dollars a year in his next deal, maybe if it's super
short term, so there's a chance that number comes down. And now all
of a sudden, you're talking about okay, like we have the meat and
potatoes of our let's just call it the top what seven players on this roster.
I'll just we'll assume Julius Randall will come back if you want to throw
Reduced mc bride in there, like that's your eight man core is under contract,
and that's where we're at. And we've got fifteen million dollars beneath the
second apron. Right, we're rounding out of rotation with a bunch of cheap
guys. But if we have to make a trade move one of these Villanova
guys, or make a trade with Julius Randall, it just becomes more feasible
to do that. So John Brunson has increased the Knicks's ability to stay out
of the second apron where the tax penalties. One are going to get more
punitive starting next season. But two we know about the trade restrictions, then
those are like legitimate where you're talking about frozen draft picks when you're about not
being able to take back more money into trade in addition to a litany of
other limitations. That's to a team like New York, at least when they're
not already paying an absurd amount of luxury tax. That's important because they might
be willing to fork over. Yeah, we don't care about the tax bill's
let's just say you're thinking that way. It still limits your maneuverability. And
so in this way they might have who knows who comes to play for the
minim level exception, there are pathways if Julius Randall leaves or if he takes
a lot less like could they open the non tax payerment level? Probably,
I mean maybe maybe, but it'll have to be like a pretty substantial pay
cut. This is a big deal that Jalen Brunton did that because I would
say, like, there's now a pathway for instead of the Knicks just being
and they still might be, I want to make that clear, but instead
of the Knicks being a second Apron team in twenty twenty five or by twenty
twenty six, maybe it's by twenty twenty seven, maybe it's even after that.
At this point that matters when we're looking at the limitations applied to what
happens to you on the trade market and your ability to sign free agents.
And this is nothing about the finances of having to pay a more punitive luxury
tax bill. That's a big deal. It also what it does, and
this is gonna lead me into I think, what might be the larger point
here, but or one of the most interesting ones I should say, is
it kind of set an example. And maybe it's you could say, oh,
Jannoby took less than his max to stay over five years. I don't
know if he took a pay cut relative to his market. Yes, there
were four year maxes holding around there, but he couldn't get a fifty year
from any one other than the Knicks. If you're Julius Randall specifically, and
you're seeing Jalen Brunson on the books for thirty five million dollars next season,
there that has to like, there has to be a little bit of light
bulb. Yes, that's gonna be less than I don't mean next season twenty
five to twenty six, that's the year I'm talking about. That's less than
O Jannoby, who is gonna be about thirty nine point six million. So
maybe don't factor it in that way. Maybe you think you're the more valuable
player than Jalen Brunson. But it kind of sets the tone for negotiations with
his extension, which is good for the Knicks. I don't know if it's
good for Julius Randall, but it it does kind of create a trickle down
effect of well, if Julius Randall sees brunts and doing this to help keep
the team together, help give them flexibility, everyone could believe that they're just
gonna take care of Brunson in the next deal. That's fine, He's still
taking a risk here and giving them immediate flexibility. Not in the vein if
they're gonna have all this cap space to spend, although if Julius Randold is
left, but in the vein of we're not going to be as kneecapped when
it comes to making other transactions free agency signings and trades specifically, but it
does. It could also like do you get Julius Randl for I don't know
what the number is that I'd be comfortable with extending Julius Randall ad he has
more leverage I think actually than he did before the mcal bridges trade because the
specter of well, they might just go out and get a better second best
player, that's not happening anymore, like Julius Randall is if you want to,
if you think anonobe and and mckal bridges are better on balance or more
valuable and balance, I will listen to cases for that. But Julius Randall's
shot creation is now more important following the mchaal bridges trade than before it,
because I don't want to call it a threat, but like the possibility of
a Knicks acquiring a second best player who's a better shot creator than Julius Randall
is now off the table, so that gives him an additional amount of leverage
I would think. Still, I think It sets an organizational tone, especially
for someone like Julius Randall. It was in a similar situation where he was
already good. We knew it like we saw it with the Lakers, we
saw it with the Pelicans. But the Knicks played host. I won't say
they're responsible for they gave Hi an opportunity if they played host to John Runson's
superstar ascension. They did the same for Julius Randall. Regardless of where you
classify him relative to the rest of the league. He has made two l
NBA teams, which is something that's most likely not happening if he had stayed
in New Orleans. So or like nor doesdn't even want him think about the
context under which Julius Randall came to New York in the first place. So
the fact that Jalen Brunson does this, I'm not advocating for Julius Randall to
do it. I'm not saying he should do it, but it does set
a precedent that probably cost him a little bit of leverage and extension talks,
or maybe makes him more open to like, well, I'll just give me
the JB deal or something like would he do that? I don't I don't
know if he would do that, but that even the fact that that possibility
is on the table is a big deal for the Knicks. And so I
don't know where it's gonna head, but like this, and maybe it sets
an example of for Michale Bridges too, where he just ends up signing his
extension. Again, I'm I am always just the players should get paid as
much as they like. We've I trolled Lebron for taking it was such like
a negligible pay cut. I think the you know, the PR tour that
it went on like good job by his people. But it's just if the
Lakers could have just made trades and finished further beneath the second apron uh if
they wanted to. But again, I he took less, and it's millions
of dollars less, that's not his obligation to do so. Like so the
fact that Jale Brunson did this is a big deal, but like, let's
not we don't need to troll Lebron. I guess you control again the PR
tour of it all. But this gets into a fascinating question of and I
did see some people ask this is the players union going to be mad about
this or should they be mad about this? Is this going to become a
norm where stars are taking less to help facilitate their team's existence. Under that
second aprin I think it's a fair question, but we need to see more
instances of stars doing something this dramatic, even if you're viewed as this temporary
three year window that's costing them a total of thirty seven million dollars. And
we just haven't seen that yet. And there are two other things here,
and with Brunton specifically, I don't I don't think the players Union is going
to be mad because I outlaid the risks at the top of this segment.
We're talking about a smaller guard. There's no you could you could believe whatever
you want. The Knicks have worked out under the table. There's a risk
here if he's not the same player in three years, the Knicks are not
going to give him that four hundred plus million like this, that's just not
going to happen. I mean, and so like you could look at what
happened with James Harr and Philly So and at that point, yeah, Brunton
will be like around the same age Jame, like close to it that James
Harden was when the whole Philly stuff went down. He'll be a little bit
younger and clearly has a better relationship and longer standing ties with the organization.
But like he there's a real risk here and no guarantee that he recoups it,
And I get that element of it. But he also could look at
it as, Okay, I've had two years of hitting the stardom ceiling,
and what if I do suffer an injury, I am a smaller guard,
Or what if he's looking at the free agency market this year, where yeah,
non stars are getting hit more than any thing, but mostly because stars
weren't hitting free agency in the first place. Like you can kind of look
at James Harden and say, well, there just wasn't a market out there
for him. Again, James Harden's older Paul George, had a market of
one team, maybe two if you want to include Orlando, and there might
have been other team. Golden State tried to get him in a sign and
trade. But if you're trying to use the threat of not needing to not
needing your team's help to get to where you want to go and get paid,
he might have just said I want to lock this down like this is
I go through my the first part of my career as sort of undervalued in
Dallas until we get to that final playoff run that he had, where that
was we always knew that, or Sikos knew that he was really good,
really valuable, But that was sort of his introduction to the national stage.
Maybe the more the more casual fan, maybe maybe a postseason push that his
name had been linked to the Knicks for a while, but that makes Knicks
fans excited about not when they got him, but like actively pursuing him.
There's still he could look at that and say, though, like I didn't
make a ton of money in my first contract, I'm I can set myself
up now it's still in the scene amount of money and I'm going to be
fine. And then yeah, maybe there's a chance I get paid more at
the end of this. But I wouldn't even rule out if he does.
He's let's say he gets another deal from a Knicks. I just I think
we're taking in the assumption that he's just going to get the five years and
four hundred plus million dollars, Like that's just I I honestly, personally,
I would be kind of surprised if that's the route they go, but that
probably also means that he had a hell of a three years if that just
becomes like a no brainer option for the Knicks. So because it's Jalen Brunson
and there's his unique path here, I do I don't know that the players
Union should take exception to this, and then also the team circumstances of he's
just reuniting with all the Nova Knicks, so he's he has all those guys.
If you want, if you're happy somewhere, this is your team.
And that's the other part of this is that he's doing this for a franchise
on which he is the guy, and that no one officially, no one
currently on the roster and know one that they could feasibly acquire with the assets
they have, is ever going to usurp him in status or importance. And
so as the face of the franchise to do this, I do think it's
a little bit different. And again, as I mentioned before and didn't really
get in the numbers, he might have just seen. Free agency is so
weird where you see Somni Fontakio go for two years and sixteen million. It's
like okay as a heart and got paid, but only on two guaranteed years.
Jalen Brunson is a different caliber of player than all of those guys.
But free agency has changed, particularly even when cash bases floating around out there,
particularly as teams try to figure out how to navigate these new rules.
So this is not a case where I would say the players' Union should be
upset now if it continues to happen that that's the question. Is this what
star players are going to have to do to ensure that their teams can remain
under the second apron in flexible enough to make moves on a whim, just
to hustle to make adjustments to where you're not locked in for specifically, never
mind even frozen draft picks and the tax bill, but the dollar for dollar
matching in trades just becomes a huge conundrum along with not being able to aggregate
salaries. Could it happen, Yeah, for sure, I think it could
become a trend. We need to see it first, be for you're overly
concerned about it. But this is I think this would be an unintended consequence
because I really don't think the league or the players union kind of understood the
impact that the second apron was going to have on excuses if you're the Clippers,
but really transactionally on what teams are going to be doing. So the
thing you need to look at though, and this everyone I think cadency coming,
is we might just get to a point where the money is so absurd
that these guys are saying, well, I'm just going to be super rich
and put myself into what I think is a better sitchu noise. Yeah,
I'm making a little less, but I'm in a better situation to win,
and so I'm going to take less and still make in Jaln Brunson's case,
still guarantee myself one hundred and fifty million dollars. But I think about what
a pay cut could look like for Jalen Brunson's next contract, where you know,
we're talking about the five year, four hundred and seventeen point eight million
dollar number. What if he's just like, you know, like, yeah,
I'll take he's gonna be five and three hundred or something. So because
it still such a ridiculous number, we need to be I'm not advocating for
it. There's a mac salary and if players are able to get it.
They should get it if they want it, but we now kind of need
to I don't think, and it should never be. This would be the
thing I would take his exception to is that if you think Brunson should have
done this, was obligated to do this. If you now think that Julius
Randall should be taking less just because of what John Brunson is making, yeah,
John Brunson is the better player, but he's now making less than Ojan
and Obi, like he's locked that down like during the life of his deal.
That that expectation that is cringy, That is toxic. We're not there
yet, and the money's just getting so upsene. Yes, it's it's relative
to the salary cap to basketball related income, like all this stuff is connected
to what the NBA is doing, but like the number itself, like that
is outpacing the percentage of the NBA's business. Okay, great, fine,
that is way out pacing reality when you look at what is happening with wages,
like that's just I mean it, And it's always even if you're taking
a pay cut, you're still a millionaire. But we're getting to a point
where the contracts are growing it feels like exponentially, and it is important to
look at them as a percentage of a salary cap. But the raw dollars
what they mean when you're looking at them, and then what they mean to
a player's an individual's generational wealth to where they can set up the next ten
generations of their family or whatever. The money's getting so ridiculous that it would
not surprise me if something like this would be abnormal because Brunton hasn't had that
mega deal, But if someone in a Paul George's situation at the end of
his career could have gotten a MAX and if there was some way with the
Clippers and the negotiations weren't totally fucked, it sounded like we're just like,
I'll take I mean again, the number is so different because now we're only
dealing with like in the two hundred millions and rather than the four hundred millions.
But we need to probably be prepared for maybe this to become more common.
I just don't think it should ever be the expectation of a player if
a team is going to if there are teams that are willing to pay you
that money and you want that money, that is totally your right and you've
earned it, and then it's on the team to flesh out a competent roster
or make the most of the core around you. With the resources and financial
spending power they are still left with. Brunton did something here that is extraordinary
to me, and it's you can look at it however what you want.
I don't think really any framing is disingenuous. I think you can look at
it and say, Okay, he always had a player option even at the
end of that five year one, and just like it's fair to say,
look, we broke it down to that three year window. I think that's
the worst way to view this the whole Oh, he's just gonna get the
four hundred and seventeen point eight million when he's a free agent next time because
Nix in relationship with Leon Rose and YadA YadA. I don't want to hear
it. I think that that's bullshit. And you can let Knicks fans have
this victory because it's an actual victory from a team building perspective and just what
it means for the vibes of just well, this feels like a roster that
might be or core that might be together a little bit longer than some others,
just because there's like this top down alignment between not just front office and
coaching, it seems like, but front office coaching and players that you don't
always have with even the top tier organizations. With the Knicks or Frank,
I mean, they're turning into one, and they are one at this point
with the way that they've operated on the margins and the Jalen Brunton extension is
like he has once again changed literally everything for the Knicks. And the fact
that he's now done it a second time in less than half a decade,
it's a big deal. He should be commended for it. It should not
be something that was considered an obligation of his. It should also just not
be something that we're kind of poop pooming. Is just like, well,
he's gonna recruit this, but now he sacrificed immediate guaranteed money a lot per
year, like almost admit that he sacrificed that Dante DiVincenzo per year. I'm
just gonna frame it that way. So huge for the Knicks, obviously,
and it increases the chances that this core is able to stay together way longer
than maybe some others, and it'll be interesting to see what they do with
this in the years moving forward. Doesn't impact how much they're giving Julius Randall.
Does it increase the chances of mckel bridges, just extends that. That'll
it'll be fascinating to watch from that perspective. The next thing I wanted to
talk about might surprise a few people, but I did. I had s
Brahemy on and we talked about rebuilding teams. We've had extensive talks about the
nets, so I don't feel bad that we kind of had to blow through
them. But Charlotte Hornet's hands were upset that we didn't get to them.
We got to every other quote unquote rebuilding team. We ran out of time.
I am sorry, but let's talk about the state of the Charlotte Hornets
rebuild, which we said on this podcast, which, by the way,
this is why Grant and I go through those even though they seem basic and
some of them are, you know, they're obvious ideas, But that's why
we do the every team or break up per conference things that it gives us
a chance to talk and analyze every team and try to appeal to every single
fan base. But for the Hornets specifically, I've liked basically everything they've done,
like since the trade deadline. Now the quibble. There are two things
you could quibble over, and let's start with the biggest one. So you
give Miles Bridges. It ends up being a three year, seventy five million
dollar deal. I believe, yes, three year, seventy five million dollar
deal. And from a human perspective, it makes me uneasy because it doesn't
seem like and publicly, it doesn't seem like he has done or said anything
that demands the benefit of the doubt or a chance at redemption. Maybe stuff
has happened behind the scenes. I'm not saying you need to publicize if you've
done something good, but just the initial domestic violence incident, followed by the
allegations thereafter, credible allegations. By the way, it makes me from a
human element, it makes me uneasy and not thrilled. However, and I
really hate doing this. But however he did, the punishment that was bestowed
upon him was argued according to the NBA's rules, like he ends up missing
an entire season, which is not what he was actually suspended for, so
he served the suspension or the punishment that they leaved, and it seems like
the league has moved on and this is someone they're going to take talent over
morality in any given point. I don't I and this isn't to I'm not
trying to give the NBA cover from an individual perspectives that we can't look at
a corporation and this massive entity as an arbiter or a billboard for It'd be
great if we could, but it's just not. It's just not going to
happen. And so there could be just this disproportionate views of Okay, well,
why didn't he Like he's out here getting this huge contract with John tay
Porter's band from life after betting on games. You don't want to get into
comparing the two just too much because it in some way then ends up diluting
the severity of both, or at least one of them, and that's just
not something you want to do, especially when there are other people involved.
The mother of Bridges' children, his children, specifically from a basketball perspective,
this roster now though with him, when you look at them drafting t John
Salon, when you look at them having Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball and having
Mark Williams. That's like a like a deceptively big lineup there where it's a
mellow ball. I think he's your smallest player at six' five, and
so that's an interesting core off which to work. Now. Would I have
taken Salon in the hornet spot, No, I would have went with Cody
Williams with that's because of Cody Williams at the top of my board. I
still think he's interesting from the the perspective of I don't agree with a lot
of the draft comps I've seen. I guess Obie Toppins is the one that
I've seen a lot. Maybe you can make a case offensively for the way
he moves without the ball and his ability to finish above the rim and having
the three point shot, which percentage wise does not look good. Free throw
percentage was encouraging, and I was watching some of his jumpers that are mostly
coming off the catch. There's nothing that stands out. There's sometimes where the
form looks a little wonky. It feels like where he's kind of off to
his like his right or his elbows out too much. But like just from
a comfort perspective, it seems like he will be an above average shooter in
the NBA. Now, in the situations where he's taking off the dribble,
looks needs to tighten his handle one for that, but there are sometimes where
it looks smooth and the floor is really open. I don't know if he's
ever gonna become that type of an offensive player. And this team doesn't need
him if you're gonna keep Lamello, when you have Brandon Miller and you do
have Miles Bridges, you don't need him to be that. Where I diverge
from the comps is like Solan has the chance to be really good defensively,
and I don't know if he's gonna hold up on the ball right away,
but this seems like someone who when you look at players and you kind of
wonder, right, we don't know if they're good defenders out of the gate,
but they can be disruptive away from the ball, or they can force
turnovers a bunch, or you can put them on really difficult assignments. And
I think this is someone who could incredibly guard both the three and the four,
And then if you really wanted to get like funky, let's just roll
them out as a small ball five and see what happens. So I like
purely talent on the court perspective. I kind of like the base off which
they're working and I think that we've I don't know if it's because the Hornets
have been so bad and look incompetent for so long that we've lost the plot
a little bit on how to kind of view the context of their rebuild.
But they're now a net plus in the first round pick department. I think
the deal they made for PJ. Washington was good for them, and it
turns out it worked out for Dallas quite well too. They also have the
that pick that they got from Miami and the Terry Rozier trade. A lot
are protected in twenty twenty seven, but then unprotected thereafter. That's like you're
again your net plus in the first round pick department. You technically owe one
to the Spurs, but it's only taught. It's now I think we're entering
the final year. If it's lottery protection, that turns into two seconds.
So you have all your own picks, and you have some extra first here,
and you have like actually intriguing young players. And I mean you look
at Josh Green, maybe some people throwing him in here. He's only twenty
three. I don't love him. I think he's become kind of like the
idea of Josh one of those players the idea of Josh Green is better than
Josh Green. This might be a team that can put him on the ball
more so. I think that he could be more interesting offensively. I've just
never really seen it from him. Defensively, you can call him a wing
defender, but I don't know if he ends is really a net positive in
that department. And if you're asking wolves he more, is he better than
Miles Bridges on that end might be a good barometer because Miles Bridges is defensive
body. I would say Josh Green is probably a better individual defender than Miles
Bridges. Miles Bridges, because of his size and frame, is going to
be more malleable when you look at if you want to move assignments around and
kind of tailor if you're trying to insulate LaMelo or just do different things with
your lineups. They're in a really good spot here and it might take some
time, and I think that, like even the Grant Williams acquisition ended up
panning out really well for them, And you look at just what he's getting
paid basically less than mid level exception money at this point moving forward, that's
a good value deal and you could do some interesting stuff with your front court
lineup now. And the other thing, too, is just you have guys
that could have value in the trade market if you want more pick equity.
And I'm saying guys in the sense of message is a team that could help
out a lot of other squads, Like where if I was the Nuggets,
I'd have been trying to figure out how to get him instead of waiting on
this Russell Westbrook thing, Like, is there a way to get message for
the Zeke Nagy deal? Can you compensate enough without including second round equity?
That's someone who because he has a team option too in twenty five to twenty
six, could be viewed as an inspiring contract. Cody Martin not been healthy
in two years, but you look at that as someone who's on the books
at eight point one million and he's non guaranteed the year after. Okay,
salary matching for sure, but do you remember the like, we're not that
far removed from the version of Cody Martin that was hitting some threes, giving
you some connective passing on the offensive and then just really defending his ass off,
like the just the breadth of assignments he was covering that would be twenty
twenty one, twenty two. I think, yeah, was incredible, And
like he's twenty eight going on twenty nine. If he's it's not about him
getting better, but you can't rule out that he's going to be good.
You have Nick Richards really solid backup big, you have Trig Mann. There's
just some way like there's the word that you use a lot with him is
wiggle, Like there's just he's slippery on the offensive with the ball in his
hands. So just a lot of these, even if you want to throw
Grant Williams in there, a lot of these Josh Green, include a lot
of these sort of intriguing flyers that I don't think it's gonna make the team
a lot better than expected. But I think you look at because you have
bridges, because you have a mellow, because you've Brett Brenlaer was good as
a rookie. If get good health from Mark Williams and Cody Martin, and
if you're playing me stit's like, yeah, there's a chance of everyone might
pencil this team in for just another like Bob last season. I don't think
they'll contend for a playing spot, and if they end up doing so,
I do believe they'll trade out of it. But this team has a promising
base and I've seen more discussions. We'll get to the cliche. Part of
this now is trying to not be the typical should they trade LaMelo? Like
Tony Jones, the athletic respect the hell out of that guy was the one
who kind of introduced the idea that I'm not putting this at his feet.
A lot of people believe this, think that you should move LaMelo and just
rebuild around Brandon Miller if there's something in LaMelo's medicals and he's had all these
lower bodies, specifically ankle issues over the years. Entertainment, but like that
Max contract is not a big We're talking about a twenty three year old who's
already been an All Star. As I would call him, transcendent vision if
you want to say he's a transcendent player, he has transcendent vision and his
ability to make full court passes in the open floor, his ability to see
things, you know, just the live people playmaking aspect. The shooting both
on the both away from the ball, like as someone who could play off
Brandon Miller who can play off Bridges who can playoffs a lot if you want
to give them on ball reps, could playoff Josh Green Apparently it's important to
get him on ball reps. But also the pull up shooting like that is
there, And yeah, there are things you'd like him to work on.
He's like, could be stiff and inattentive defensively, and he can be disruptive
too because he's a great size, but it waxes in wings. Yeah,
you'd like to see that get better. He's twenty three. He might get
better, especially if he's healthier on that end. You'd also like to see
him get if he's not going to get stronger. And so we're getting to
the point where's okay, can we expect him to get a lot stronger?
Is there a way he got to the basket a lot more last year?
And encouraging sign the finishing numbers are still not great. He's twenty three,
we're talking about it. Okay, you finally increased is at the basket frequency?
I should have had that exact number pulled up of how much he increased
it by but like the La Mellow ball drives were a thing, and they
were anarchic to some extent. But like the fact that he was doing it,
maybe I view that is step one and then and the finishing should come
after that. So his rim frequency thirty two percent of his shots came at
the rim last year, compared to twenty three the year before and twenty eight
the year before that. He had a ton as a rookie, but like
that just played in only fifty one games, and like the sample size all
is all weird, and we're basing it off of the two seasons, where
like he was a more seasoned pro. He increases and still, you know,
fifty six percent at the rim. No, that's bad, that's terrible
shot percentage, twenty three percentile inefficiency. But he could get better, and
like he he can he can score from at least two levels right now,
like when you're looking at you know, getting to the mid range and having
the counters there. He shot forty four percent again twenty one game, twenty
two games, sample size, sorry, forty percent from mid range. Like
that's an that's an active counter now that you can kind of stash him.
Oh not stash him, but you can use him off the ball. This
is like a unique building block that I don't think people it's almost what's the
saying about absence making the heart grow fonder and almost feels like LaMelo Ball's injuries.
And I think this tends to happen in sports, is people forget or
they then just automatically lower his rating or his value. I can't get there
yet. I mean, like we've seen look at Steph Curry what he turned
into after dealing with some mankel problems early in his career. Like, I'm
still really high on LaMelo Ball and I would not move him. And I
think if you weren't happy with the way the demeanor with which he was playing
offense last year, there's more like if you're healthy talent or coherence on this
roster, because you could say, well, I mean it's talent, but
it's it's probably a drop off from Terry Rozier because they're younger and less experienced,
Like there's a clear vision in place and so and look you have a
coach and Charles Lee who come in there's like a fresh voice in there for
him. I think that could help as well. There's off court stuff that
we know that that's public. There's those off court stuff that's not public.
Yeah, that could be a concern, but this is when you're looking at
the talent on the basketball court. I hate framing things this way to dismiss
any concerns you might have about anything off the court. Looking at it from
like a basketball view. This team is in a pretty good spot right now,
and it changes if you don't believe that LaMelo or Brandon Miller are capable
of being the guiding light for a rebuild. But one of the single toughest
thing to do in a rebuild is to not just get the guy around whom
you base everything, but it's to get two guys around whom you base everything.
Those Hornets, I firmly believe have those two guys, and there's health
that needs to be caked in for there with Lamel of thecaveat, But to
be at that point when you're still kind of early in this iteration of the
rebuild, we know that they've been all over the place for a while now.
That's also a big deal, and I we're kind of also forgetting I
wouldn't call him, I'd call him part of the corps, but I'm not
re going to call him a building block. Mark Williams dealt a lot of
back stuff last year. That's a red flag slightly alarming. Let's see how
he heals. I believe he said recently that he's feeling pretty good. When
you watch this guy, and I don't know if he's ever going to expand
his range to include kind of like, oh, does that floater go down
a high raiders? Is he gonna take them in? Jumper shot seven of
sixteen on jumpers last year, and they were hints of it as his rookie
season. Don't think he's ever gonna scale out to three. But that's like
he is still an extremely tantalizing developmental piece. And I think his rim protection
slipped a little bit last year. I don't know how much of that had
to do with like the initial injury, the fact that he just didn't play
a ton, and he looked pretty good at parts during early of the year,
especially with some of those Lamello minutes, But when you watch him,
there's like, I don't even know who I compare him to, and I'm
very interested to see if they can get more out of him. Coming in
I was kind of higher on him as a passer. Can they do stuff
with more stuff with him in the short role. I don't think we've seen
enough of that just yet. They could experiment with that, but like the
ability to play four out around him basically at all times. Now if you
want to, maybe that's something you can unlock. But when you watch him
play, he kind of has like I don't know he We'll have to see
how it is with all this back stuff now in the rear view. But
I don't have a great comp But the two players that immediately that came to
mind is what if Hassan Whiteside was also in Yeka Kungu And it's so those
those are imperfect players. You might not like any of those players, but
he seems like those two rolled into one. That's a really good player,
especially when you think about what Hassan Whiteside was at his peak. But like
having the additional mobility and offensive range and vision of an n Yaka kung Wu.
I don't know, when you're looking defensively specifically, he might be.
It feels like he's probably closer to a white Side than a kung Wu.
I don't think we've seen enough from him looking at the sort of lateral stuff
on the perimeter. There's there's definitely been moments. I don't know if he
can be that all over the place. Let's just cite Ages again. This
is someone who is going into his third year and he is gonna be that.
This will be his age twenty three season. He's twenty two right now.
I think the Hornets are in a good spot. I think him a
vibrating on their rebuild. They're still like, okay, well, how does
Miles Bridges fit in long term? Is he a part of the corps here?
What is your intent to do with Josh Green? How are you gonna
use Salon right out of the gate? I can't give them the ten of
ten, eleven of ten, no notes, but just based off if,
like if they wanted to get assets via trade for Nick Richards, for Mesitch,
for fucking Bridges at some point that like, even I think a team
would give you some You're not I doubt you get a first round pick for
Williams at this point. Maybe he has a hell of a year and by
the trade deadline, but he's only twenty six years old. This is he's
twenty five. This will be his age twenty six season. That's like they
have a lot of movable parts that you could consider not in. You can
consider them dispensable. They're valuable, but they're they're not mission critical to what
you're doing over the long term. So they're like they can be light on
their feet in terms of roster building. And so I think we have to
kind of cake in. This is a new regime, so you don't have
to bake it in too much, but you do have to account for right
well they short circuit this at all. Look at the years of the track
record. We still don't know enough about really any of these guys. And
that includes a Melos. There's the wild card aspect I'm gonna go seven point
three out of ten. Is the vibes that I'm getting for the for the
Charlotte Hornets rebuild. You guys know what time it has to give you a
third extra one there? It is single person stat padding time, which means
that I will be reacting to a clip that I find interesting until we might
have some like more memeable stuff. Maybe we'll get some from the Olympics,
but I want to deal with uh footage stuff with that to be honest with
you. But maybe during the end of the season when there's kind of viral
moments, we'll be able to do. So. You're free to submit clips
to me via Discord email whatever. I wanted to tackle this. Paul George
explaining how he left the Clippers and what sort of led to it. There's
been a lot of stuff talked about it with already, but I found it
to be a I watched it the clip already. Of course, I'm not
a listener of the what is it the pe podcast? What is it?
I don't even know what the name of his podcast is right now, a
podcast p with Paul George, So I haven't listened it. I've heard people
talked in pretty long terms about it, including his co hosts. So let's
get into it. Paul George explains and exposes why exposed to the Los Angeles
clip theres Los Angeles Clippers on why he left, What was the negotiations like
with the Clippers to let you know yet, Hey, I'm leaving, y'all,
and I'm calling to Philly. Just okay, I'm gonna stop it here
because I love that he already just has his Philly jersey on in this.
I think that's cool. I loved the If anyone didn't read that, I
think it was a Ramona Shelburne piece at ESPN when the recruiting team from Philly
finally showed up at Paul George's house, I believe in California, and the
fact that he was wearing an Alan Irison T shirt for it, I still
want that to be real. I hope that that's like a real, legitimate
anecdote that he was just like, hey, yeah, I kind of already
made my decision and we haven't had like the nuts and bolts of this discussion
yet, and I'm just gonna wear this AI shirt that I have laying around
for some reason. I'm sure he could have acquired it pretty quickly, but
I thought that was a fun detail, potentially performative detail. But I so
bad. They just want it to be true. Put it out there,
like I never wanted to leave La La is home. This is where I
wanted to finish at. I wanted to work as hard as possible to win
one in La like that was the goal. I will say, that's that's
all fine, and we know I mean the way him and Kawhi got there,
Like that's that's accurate. He has a better chance of This is just
objectively speaking, had he just resigned to the Clippers, there's a better chance
of him winning a title with this version of the Philadelphia seventy six ers than
that version of the Los Angeles Clippers. If anyone thinks that's a spicy take,
we have years worth of evidence, since roughly two thousand and one,
that it's just objectively true to be here and be committed to la as it
played out, though, like the first initial deal was, I thought kind
of disrespectful. I love it. I love this type of candor. That's
you know, that's how you are. Again, I haven't seen aside from
clips of the podcast be with Paul George. I love this type of cannon,
and it's why I probably need to get back on I've listened to a
lot of JJ Reddick, this old podcast now it's JJ Rex's former podcast.
But I guess I'm inherently hesitant to listen to player podcasts because I find a
lot of them to be empty. It's also why, like I, I've
interviewed agents and we've had we've talked to players in the past. I don't
maybe that's now I'm older. I could ask better questions than trying to get
better answers. I love the camp like this is just right off the bat,
him framing it as he's not even like fuck these guys. It's I
view the offer is disrespectful. So I fave this right. And again,
no in all of this, no horror feelings. So the first initial deal
was like two years sixty Wow, they offered him Isaiah Hartenstein money. Folks,
congratulations to the Clippers for offering Paul George Isaiah Hartenstein money. I've seen
the framing of this whereas well, they were gonna have them opted in for
about fifty million, and so if you view it that way, it was
three years and one ten. That's still fucking disrespectful relative to what the market
would have been for Paul George and relative to what you gave. I'm assuming
this is before Kawhi signed his extension. It sounds like, but you ended
up at three and one fifty. Basically, I'm just gonna use round numbers
here for Kawhi. What are what are we doing here? And even just
as a I understand and the way that negotiations are supposed to work, and
I've been critical of teams, maybe not negotiating harder, but like, what
are you okay? So opt in and like we're gonna cut your salary by
twenty million. It's gonna be nowhere near your max. It's almost like half
of what your max salary could have been. I find it a very even
bizarre starting point. And it's like coming with a real offer, or like
even let them make the first offer so then you could count, like let
Paul George and his team say like, no, we want the max or
whatever. Uh So even if you want to frame it as three for one
ten, still terrible. That is a is like a putrid offer. I'm
like, hey, that's crazy, bro, that's Great's so I want to
make I agree, but I'm just it would be really funny if just one
of I don't know their names either, so someone kid me in the chat
or discord whatever with them if they want it, just be really funny if
one of them was like, bro, you didn't sign out like that was
fun you see what you did went out to do in the playoffs that was
like fifteen million dollar money. You were playing like a player on the mid
level. I would just be funny if one of his co hosts went like
what else. I'm curious, like, what else are you supposed to do
in this if you did disagree? This offer is so egregious that the reaction
is fine, but it'd be funny whereas you know, and they offer me
like like the three and one fifty and are they like are you gonna be
like what it's that big deal? Like yeah, you probably should take me.
But so I'd just been curious, like would there be a good strong
counter opinion here? So I'm like, wow, no, I'm not signing
that. This is maybe like October ishgo, So there we go. That's
where so I must have when I watched this clip realized I was October.
That's again, even as the starting point, even not knowing what's gonna happen
with Kawi, that's a bullshit offer. Associations first started and it was two
sixty and as we kept going, it was like, you know, they
would go up you know, inches inches inches to where it was like forty
four forty five. Right, Yeah, I hate if you're negotiating a salary
in real life, which believe it or not, I have done. I
don't understand it and it sucks that it works this way. So like you
ended up at thirty million at first, and then you came up to forty
five, so you just increase your offer by fifty percent? Is do they?
What is the when you know these players have agents? Are you just
hoping that these players or these agents are gonna feel pressured or stupid? I
don't like where where these are. Everyone has to value. I'm not trying
to say that, but like, if I try to go and negotiate my
salary, there are people who are younger than me who will I don't.
I think I work pretty hard and then I'm pretty incredible what I do.
But there are people younger than me, maybe we'll do more quantity than me,
who will work for substantially less than I will. It just and it
undercuts in a way what I do to a point of Okay, like I
can negotiate as hard as I want, my leverage is always going to be
capped in this instance, Like Paul George is a not too dehumanize him,
but he's like this commodity and so I don't understand that. Okay, if
it's just a and I'm not saying this is right, but if this is
someone who's a lesser player, if this is like a regular negotiation where you're
just hoping that it's maybe they're not familiar with the way negotiations work or what
they're actually like. You're just you know, you're working for a corporation and
that's what they're giving you. I almost understand it more than this perspective where
it's you know what the market for PG is going to be next summer,
You like, you understand how important he just is objectively to your team.
Is no worse even if you think James Harden trade is happening or did it
happen, or it happened already at that point, no worse than your third
most important player. I just find that mind bogglingly numbingly stupid to start there.
But this was like a couple months in between before we got it to
forty something. I'm still like, I'd like to know what the breakdown is.
It's like, all right, they offered thirty and then the day like,
what is Paul George's team count with no, you know, we want
the max. And then they're like, all right, what about like two
years and sixty four and they're just going up at like million and two million
dollars increments like over the course of months. I hope, honestly hope that's
what happened, because that's so objectively Still, ah, I'm not doing that.
Then I hear wind of like, you know what they're going to give
Kauwhi. So I'm like, just give me what Kawhi got, Like right,
I'm with I'm with the other guy on the podcast. Why not,
Like that's just they came together. We know Kawhi his peak is the better
player. Paul George, if you're trying to project forward, is probably going
to be the more available player. Just give him what Kawai got. I
totally agree with that reaction. That doesn't seem like a big deal. And
I also I think you we'll go on and dispel this, but like that
was the I do wonder if the Kauhi extension ended up costing him leverage when
he came to getting the max, which we know Kawhi took slightly less,
but like to get a fourth year specifically, if you didn't give that to
Kawhi. Did the Clippers do that hoping it would pressure Paul George into taking
a three year extension, and clearly, like I don't know if he felt
pressure but he saw Kawhi do it, and he was like, oh,
all right, Like I'll do it too, and let's see what they said,
folks. He was the same, like, you know, we came
here together, we want to finish it together. I'll take what Kawhi got.
Let's normalize. Not bleeping out expectives on podcasts. It really fucking aggrevates
me. It's a family show. We don't bleep it out, like,
no problem. I was cool with that. Like, and we were still
taking less. We were taking less. Kawhi took less. I was like,
if why gonna take less? I'm not gonna say I want more than
why, Like I'm a that's like a pretty rational response that he's under no
obligation to have. By the way, like his market is the market,
and yeah, you would have to leave to get it, and he did.
But to look at it that way is just Paul George gets meaned a
lot. And there are a lot of people who I respect, cover the
Clippers, follow the Clippers, and they just didn't like his attitude and some
of the stuff that I guess he preferred to happen on the court or didn't
want to do on the court, and so I get all of that,
but like right here, relative to what his market is, and also the
importance to his team to just say I'll take what Kawhi got, which was,
Look, if this was Lebron James taking that less right out of the
gate, he probably would have went on before the seasons started, like a
full scale press tour about it and done signings and had these extended interviews about
yeah, like it took like one point five million less, like, and
it's gonna allow the Lakers to set up the next dynasty long after I'm gone,
and I'm just I'm just here to I'm just here to make sure that
I'm preserving the Lakers flagship flagship name, and I'll figure out a way to
make up the money somewhere. It's gonna be tough, but uh, maybe
I'll have to stop getting maybe Brownie James, I'll start paying rent. It's
even still live in there. So uh but seriously, like this Paul George
bit in the fact that like the stuff like this didn't come out more uh
a little bit surprising, But his response of I'll just take what Kawhi got
is an appropriate response, and I still I remained flabbergasted that things ended up
the way that they did. I'm not gonna like, it's not about me
being paid more to him, Like, I'm gonna take what he got.
Y'all give him that, give me that. They didn't want to do that.
Why, oh wait, the second apron, right, so let's offer
him a deal that's less but still gonna keep us in the second apron,
I know. And at this point, so maybe he'll clarify the time on
I can't remember, Like, are we at the point where Kawha was like
he might be an MVP candidate And that's kind of the you know, when
Kuhi got his extension, like he was at that level, which is why
it was seen as such a big deal. And so they were looking at
Paul George and saying, well, you're clearly a notch below that. Look
what you know. I talked about this with Jalen Brunton earlier in the episode.
If you're watching you didn't watch the philipsod, go check it out.
But like they were hoping, oh you saw, let's use Jalen Brunton with
Julius Randall. Knicks are hoping, lookude, how much Jahn Brunston took last
a year about thirty twelve and a half million bucks. You have to do
the same. Look at what Kawhi did. The saying is to Paul George
and the next saying, that's that Julius Randall. I mean, I guess
you could say that, but you're like, do you actually well, you're
the worst player and he took this much less, so you should take even
less than that. That's just that logic is kind of funny. So this
was before the All Star breaks, so I'm like, you know what,
I don't want, like, don't even let's not even have no more conversation,
Like let me let's just play this year out, because it was starting
to get into like my like my move now, I'm you know what I
mean, Like we also need to for that too. If you thought Paul
George was particularly unbearable off the court or with his demeanor this year, okay,
fair, but like if this is going on and he's in a different
situation where it's fucking with his livelihood, but he knows that he can replicate
or in this case, succeed, what they're offering elsewhere, and so it's
not but it still takes that mental toll again as someone who's negotiated like contracts
year to year at points in my career, it's super stressful and like I
almost I respect him kind of saying. And by the way, why I'm
going through this in part is because Zach Lowe is reported and he's just one
of the especially because he doesn't report a ton, but he had heard that
pretty much everything Paul George said was accurate, and when you're kind of going
through this timeline, it sounds like it would be accurate, and so it's
feasible, and so it's not like you know, Patrick Beverley coming up and
just embellishing and high perberalizing everything. So that's also why I'm going through this
is because from what we know and what I understand personally that his version of
events is the most accurate that we've seen, and probably more accurate than the
statement that the Clippers ended up releasing when before he even officially left, I
didn't want to have that energy carry over into the team season in I finished
healthy seventy four games play and had one of my most efficient seasons. I
mean, so Paul George was good when I was doing my l NBA teams
again Regular Season Award he did receive some like splash consideration. He was never
really a serious threat for me to win, to win to make my third
team up twenty two point six points. He ends up averaging three point five
assists, shoots fifty two point three percent on threes on two and forty one
point three percent on threes over ninety percent from the foul line. Yeah,
heck of an efficient season. There's is there going to be any mentioned about
what he did in the playoffs? TI, I mean you still had like
twenty points five assists he shot. Yeah, he dipped on two forty five
percent and then thirty seven percent. Like even those numbers are not I know,
people were mad about his defense by the end of that series. And
you look at you know, especially when sometimes Kawhi is not on the floor,
it feels like he's just not like that Paul George isn't there all the
time. And so you turn in in the final two games of that Dallas
series or four thirteam from the floor, you're six of eighteen and in that
game was I game six, in game six, so leaving a bad taste
of the mouth. And then you had the seven point game that the Clippers
lost in Game three where you totally took eleven shots and went three to eleven.
So again that stuff matters, But he's not wrong about what he did
during the regular season. That was I have not checked. I'll check now
as i'm looking. That was probably yeah, And it was the highest true
shooting percentage of his career at the age of thirty three, and his role
got a little bit more stream behind after the acquisition of James Harden. But
just like he had a really he had maybe not his best regular season overall,
but he had a really good regular season. So now we're going to
negotiations. Now they now they bring it to three years, where we at
one fifty. All right, okay, so he got to the Kawhi number
and shit still went sideways. Let's find out why. That's cool. It
sucks that it had to get to this point like that. They couldn't we
couldn't get this figured out a lot sooner. But now we at the end
of the year, three years, one fifty. So I'm like, all
right, like, now we're in we're in a ballpark, you know what
I mean. So it does seem like if you had to be critical,
if he said, just give me what Kauhi got, and they did.
But now you're saying, all right, we're close to in the ballpark and
we know that he's gonna end up asking for something different, and I am
wondering, what's see, let's see what he had asked for first. See,
Now now we can have conversation here. I presented the three one fifty
no trade because in the meaning, they're like, you know, we want
you here long term, we want to you know, when you're retired,
we want you to be a Clippers for a lifetime, like all of this
stuff. So I'm like, cool, always there for a player if they're
eligible for to ask for the no trade. I do think it hamstrings you
in ways where they're probably like right now, if everyone was a free agent,
maybe there's five players I would give it to, so as well within
the Clippers' rights to say no. But I don't think it's egregious that Paul
George asked for one, especially when anyone like getting Blake Griffin vibes if we
want you to be a Clipper for a lifetime. They pitched Blake Griffin on
that, and then they shipped him out the following season, and again that
was their right according to the contract. But I understand why you would ask
for the no trade, especially with this team. Cool, give me the
three years one point fifty no trade then like no trade club, then I
not like I'm taking less, but least I know I'm here, like I'm
committed to y'all. Like they didn't want to hear the no trade wow,
So then now I'm actually so I get why the Clippers don't want to do
that ask I would not have given. I would not have given Paul Georgian
no trade clause if that was the I mean for three years and you click
at it right like there's at the end, like we can tough this out,
and there's also just an element of where are you gonna try and send
him that he wouldn't approve. I wouldn't have given it to him, however,
and if they would have given it to him over the three years,
whatever, But I understand why he asked for it. I do find the
reaction of the other two people on this podcast like, WHOA, they really
didn't give you a no trade clause? Like there are two people in the
NBA able to have a no trade clause right now, But that that's the
reaction where it's like, wow, they wouldn't even give you a no trade
clause. Well, like, that's not a small thing. Teams just don't
include that, asked. Ask the Wizards how Bradly Beale's no trade clause worked
out for them? Ask the Suns how inheriting that no trade clause is working
out for them currently? I'm like, all right, would then it only
makes sense for me to do four years, two twelve. Yeah, that's
that's fair saying if you're gonna move me in whenever, like I want to
guarantee myself like this, because here go somewhere. This isn't just about injury.
If you just trade him, which this team is implosive when you especially
now without him, they just trade him somewhere. What if he's just not
as good a fit or used to acchelming himself and like his game begins to
the climb because they were using him differently and he doesn't get to go through
a training camp initially, or the chemistry is just always off, or it
isn't the perfect fit. It's a team that made a stupid move and wanted
a big name. This is and again it's what he ends up getting anyway,
So that's not a big ask at all. And by the way,
the Clippers, you can't like this. This gives you flexibility to work underneath
the aprons, but it does not give you the cap space to replace Paul
George if you do not go to four years, right, like, at
least pay me my money. If y'all gonna trade me, then y'all gonna
trade me, But at least like now, I'm not in a situation where
I could have got more had I just gone to free agency. Then take
this deal and y'all could just shit me wherever I want. And now I'm
on this deal that I didn't want. That's really fair too, when you're
looking at it from the perspective of a no trade clause of just for the
three year asks, where it's okay, I could just I'm sacrificed a year
and guaranteed money here, So it's not just you might be able to recoup
that when you sign your next deal, like to extend your career as a
max Ish player, let's say, but maybe not. So you're taking your
risk. And so for him to frame it as yeah, I am like
we're cutting down, like I want the extra year but if you do the
no trade clause, I don't need it. So if he came in four
years, no trade like this is just what it needs to be, okay.
But when he frames it like this, it makes the ask of the
no trade clause a little bit. Not that it wasn't understandable in the first
place, but it's okay, Like I could see why thin clippers might have
considered it. The fact that they said no, I'm perfectly fine with so
they didn't want to do that stupid again, and they release the statement that
sighted the second apron and the limitations Those limitations are real when you're looking at
I doubt And first of all, the tax penalties aren't going to be as
punitive until twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six. I really don't think this
is about Steve Bomber specifically caring about the money. It's but I mean sure,
caring about the money, But these teams are only worried about the restrictions
it poses on transactions and your ability to make them. That is the bigger
thing here. The issue is they offered him a contract that would have put
him in put them in the second apron. If they were planning on keeping
James Harden, which they obviously were Otherwise why I give up the pick equity
that you did, and so it doesn't square. And if you thought,
well, like next year, fine, but like what about these, you
know, the two years after that? Figure it out, like these are
all guys that you could move if you need to duck to separate second Apron
or you want to hit the reboot button and to let someone walk away for
absolutely nothing. Who's a talented as Paul George, especially when you gave up
the moon to get him that we don't need to religate that trade. Yes,
it's a failure when you look at their success in the moment, there's
not. Sam Presty might be the only GM that wouldn't have been on the
other side of that trade at the time. And I would argue that if
you rewind time and he had he was in the Clippers spot like and he
was negotiating with Okay, like he makes that trade. So maybe making the
trade was totally justifiable. But to now end up at this point where he
just left for nothing is inexcuseable when you had the opportunity to keep him on
just something that was out there for him. This isn't astronomical really just brain
bendingly dumb stuff from the Clippers. So now I was like, now like,
now I'm open to entertaining what's out there. And then I mean,
you know, through the negotiations, they they wasn't budgeting, they ain't work
on budge. I wasn't going budge. I thought I played. I played
well enough. By the way this is, I don't like the other side
of this, where we're talking about Lebron taking the biggest pay cut anyone's ever
taken, followed by Jayalen brunts and basically not even taking a pay cut because
he was promised money after the life of his deal or however people want to
frame that. This is the other side of that, like sort of the
brunts and things where so, yeah, first of all, he was willing
to take less than the max anyway. But yeah, don't budge. If
you think you had a good year or get like you are elsible to make
this money, that money is out there for you, like that is your
market value. Even if people think that's a bad deal, it's well within
the Clippers' rights to also think that's a bad deal. But you knew an
offer like that would be out there and if you didn't want to pay Paul
George that that fourth year in a vacuum. This sounds outrageous to say,
especially when you look at where they were at the trade deadline. But then
you should have moved him. And so I will never believe that this was
part of their plan, that they let Paul George walk because of the secret
they fucked this up, I think is really what happened for them to,
you know, be like, you know what, he's a part of our
future, Like I thought I did that. I thought I earned that.
You know, granted we didn't win while I was there. You think,
buddy, just stay in the obvious. But look, granted we didn't win
really much of anything, and we haven't won a playoff series in two thousand
and one, but just a small, tiny caveat So again I get the
Clipper's trepidation to perpetuate this, but like, then, why give kawhiity extension
and keep James Harden type deal? Be all in or like hit the reboot
button. I don't do this sort of half baked bullshit that's going on here.
Don't we should remember to answer that? Because it's a family the show
oh wait, we don't censor that, because censoring the expletives is stupid.
But luck has a lot to do with that. You know, we could
remain healthy as a unit. But I thought I did enough to earn that.
I love Steve, I love Lawrence. Uh the platitudes, I don't
even know if we need to watch those. He doesn't seem like he has
any genuine hard feelings for it. So I commend Paul George for the way
that he ended up handling all this. And I look this, the timeline
all lines up, and the I think the most ridiculous, the most ridiculous
thing that's not even really ridiculous at all, is I think it's just how
shocked Goose fellow co hosts were it that he didn't get the no trade clause.
And it's like, come on, nobody gets a no trade clause unless
you play for the Wizards, obviously, or you're Lebron James. So uh
this. I still think the Clippers fumbled the back. We'll see what they
look like next season, but they're like teetering somewhere in the sub middle of
the Western Conference. It feels like now and then Kawhi being pulled out of
Team USA for concerns about his knees like that, it's just really and Kauhi
is a dominant force when he is healthy, but it's we're now. We
just have so many year's worth of proof that he's probably not going to be
available when you need him, and that I don't know what the best way
to handle that is is it don't play him during the regular season, lower
magic gambers. They let him play so that he's like, doesn't have to
ramp up, does it? He did that last year. Neither one of
its work so far. So it sucks that his body's betraying him. And
I wonder if that factored into Los Angeles' decision. But even if it did,
Paul George would have been movable on the like if one you could just
offered him at the same time as Kawhi. It sounds like you could just
offered him the same deal and he would have taken it, and then you
could have just moved him whatever. You still could have moved him on the
four year deal, And so I don't buy, and that's why you buy.
More of what Paul George is saying is that what the Clippers have said.
Frankly, just doesn't add up. I hope you enjoyed this. This
was this was a fun episode for a for a solo podcast. I enjoy
doing it. Please rem a rate review and subscribe. You ready for the
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