Speaker 1: What is uh Fellasikos, I am Dan Felly coming at
you with a little solo thingamabob here to talk about
the NBA trade deadline. Hopefully we'll streamline with brand and
I have planned for post trade deadline either Thursday night
or sometimes that Friday, depending on how our schedules at
we are wind up shaking out. But the NBA teams,
they've lost their minds. It seems we have Lugadncic on
the Lakers, Anthony Davis on the MAVs, Zach Lavine and
DeMar DeRozan are on the Kings reunited again because Sacramento
wants to run back the you know, maybe a better
version of the twenty twenty two Chicago Bulls, but with
worse perimeter defenders around them. Apparently who knows we have
the Bulls actually making moves. You have their question the
Aaron Fox and San Antonio. This first trade of future picks,
lots of happening people are expecting, and we'll talk about
this at the end once we go through all the
deals that we've get to talk about about. Go check
out our reactions if you've not already to the Luca trade,
as well as the darn Fox trade. But people around
the league, my sense is they are now expecting Kevin
drant to get traded as the Warriors are desperate. That
is the favorite to land him. But the Warriors have
gone from we're not going to do anything too. They've
tried to trade for every single All Star who might
possibly potentially be available, and that might include every single
All Star in the history of time since Luka Doncic
was just traded. So this NBA trade deadline is already bonkers.
A lot of people were worried it might be quiet,
as it was last year, even though we had some
major business the you know, like leading into it. We
had hardened at the beginning of the season and Og
and Siakam get moved beforehand. It was people were wondering, though, oh,
are Dorian Phinney, Smith and Dennis Shooter are going to
be like the biggest names to be moved. Hell fucking no, apparently. This. Honestly,
I'm bracing now for one of the most chaotic deadlines
since I've started covering the league in twenty eleven. But
let's talk about some of the trades that have just happened,
including oh my god, Kyle Kuzma to the Milwaukee Bucks
and Chris Middleton to the Washington Wizards. Details of this
Bucks Wizard's trade that there are rumblings about it leading
up to it, but you kind of thought there'd be
more moving parts involved, because with the Bucks really trade
Chris Middleton to get Kyle Kuzma, Jimmy Butler one thing,
maybe even Zach Lavine another thing, but Kyle Kuzma full
trade details though. The Bucks are getting Kyle Kuzma, who
lowered his trade bonus for the Bucks to duck the
second Apron as part of that. This is important because
now Milwaukee won their twenty thirty two first round pick,
is not gonna become frozen after this season, and two,
they can now aggregate salaries in subsequent trades. They still
cannot take back more money than they're sending out, but aggregation,
you could stack Bobby Portus on top of pack content
if you wanted to do that. Chris Middleton, though, unless
this deal is gonna somehow excuse me, Kyle Kuzma, unless
this deal is going to somehow be expanded if the
Bucks wanted to like reroute him, he cannot be aggregated.
Waukee's also getting Patrick Baldwin Junior, and they are getting
a twenty five second round pick. The Wizards have like
weird commitments, but Milwaukee's essentially gonna end up with the
second most favorable of those commitments to Washington. Also notable
with this trade before we get to what the Wizards
are getting, the Bucks do have a chance now of
ducking the luxury tax entirely next season. Fans should not
necessarily care about that, especially when Giannis attend to Compo
is still in his prime, but depending on what happens
with brook Lopez, Pat Conaton and Bobby Portis both have
player options and could be moved, there is a pathway
now to Milwaukee ducking the luxury tax next year while
actually keeping brook Lopez. The Wizards are getting Chris Middleton,
who has a player option for twenty five. Twenty six
Bucks rookie A. J. Johnson, who they took number twenty
four overall, is coming off. I don't know is that
would put it over the hump. The other night he
goes off relative to what he was doing this year,
and they're also getting a twenty twenty eight first round swap.
It is basically going to be because Milwaukee's already swapping
picks with Portland. It'll be the second most favorable of
the Wizard's own pick, Portland's pick, and Milwaukee's pick. I
want to start with the Bucks because the fallout here
is clearly the biggest per Jake Fisher. This trade apparently
had the support of Giannice Attendacoumpo, or I should phrase it,
Yiannis supported getting Kyle Kuzma. I wonder if he knew
that it was going to cost Chris Middleton. It's not
his job to figure out the salary cap math. But
Giannis and Chris Middleton are tight. I believe Chris Middleton
was in Jannis's wedding party, so like that's not an
insignificant thing. And when you're trying to look at this
from Milwaukee's perspective, I get I think, as of right now,
like Chris Middleton is not played a ton like he's
gonna be I guess day to day forever moving forward
with ankle stuff. Not the level of defender that he
once was, but he is still a driver at minimum
of offense. The Bucks have been good with him on
the court this year. His efficiency is through the roof
for this season. This seas seems like a combination of Okay,
Kyle Kuzma has two years and forty point nine million
dollars left on his deal and it's declining, so there's
flexibility there for the Bucks. And then I think they
were trying to optimize the minutes that Yannis is playing
without Brook Lopez essentially, so this makes Bobby Portis more
expendable because you're not going to play Yanis, Bobby Portis
and Kuzma together, and they're probably kind of hoping that
they can get away for stretches with Kyle Kuzma, Brook
and Yannis on the floor. I would assume otherwise you
don't make this trade. There's a lot of risk there.
I don't think Kyle Kuzma is as bad as the
data says that he is. This season. We've seen him
on a good team defend really well. Even last year
he shot forty eight percent on drives over thirty nine
percent on wide open threes. My concern here is kind
of like, even looking at the most ideal version of
Kyle Kuzma, is he's hitting spot up threes, he can
attack guys off the dribble, get going downhill. Thirty percent
of his shots this year are coming at the rim
versus twelve percent for Chris Middleton. You don't necessarily need
that additional on ball rim pressure when you already have
Giannis Attende Kupo. Still that can help you, maybe help
you play at a faster pace too, against certain defenses,
not just in transition but in the half court. And
I do think take it or leave it, but I
think I would say that Kyle Kuzma is gonna give
you a better chance on the defensive end, especially if
you're playing him and Giannis together as just the front
court for those stretches. Now, with that said, would I
have done this trade as the Bucks. I don't know.
We have to see what else they do because I'm
assuming this makes Bobby Portis more expendable. So let's see
what else they're gonna have going leading into the trade deadline.
But there's there's a huge risk here. Even if you
think that Kuzma is a better player than Middleton in
a vacuum right now, he's not guaranteed to be the
better offensive fit by any means. He's always just been
like a so so at best shooter he is shooting,
and look, he'll get different quality of looks in maway.
But as of right now, he's shooting under thirty three
percent on semi open and wide open threes combined, and
even last year, okay, thirty nine point four percent. I
believe on wide open when you factor in the semi
wide open threes, you're looking at just over thirty five percent.
That's not a great combined number. And so you need
him to make those shots. And again he is not
played since leaving with the Lakers. Certainly someone with the
type of gravity that Giannis has going downhill and then
just the you know, the on and off ball gravity
of a Damian Lillard as well, So I would expect
his efficiency to climb. But it is a gamble. I also,
and I don't know that this is being talked about
enough because I've obviously seen instant reactions on you know,
Blue sky Twitter. You're losing like a ball handling deficit here,
or at least a secondary playmaking element with Chris Middleton.
Who is anybody on the Bucks as good at getting
the ball to Giannis as Chris Middleton when those two
are running their two man game. Probably not. And so
now you're comp that and even if you believe that
Kyle Kuzman can attack guys off the dribble and maybe
we'll have more space to work in Milwaukee, or at
least less overall defensive attention. He's just never been the
same secondary type of playmaker as Chris Middleton, and so
that's a big gamble. If I'm the Bucks, I would
really have to believe that one there's a huge defensive
drop off between Kuzma and and Middleton, and that Middleton
was essentially just not going to be reliable moving forward
for myself to have done this deal just because now
you're looking at this roster, it's okay, where is that
secondary playmaking coming from? It's you know, Yannis can do
some of it, but like he's not that Like we
know what Yannis is trying to do with the ball
when he's getting going downhill. Like Chris Middleton obviously has
the mid range game, but he is someone that you
can and should trust to like run the more methodical Okay,
here's a ball screen, You're gonna go different directions. Maybe
not as fast a clip as Kyle Kuzma, but Kyle
Kusma was playmaking those situations has never been as good
as even what the most modest version of Chris Middleton,
like at the best way to frame it. So that's
something the Bucks are going to have to grapple with,
and maybe it doesn't matter too much when you're looking
at okay, our best five man unit is always going
to include Kyle Kuzma, Giannis Brook Lopez, Damian Lillard and
then they will fill it out from there depending on
matchups or if you just believe it's Gary Trent Junior,
if you just just believe it's Torny and Prints whatever.
If you believe it's Aj Green, fine. Aj Green can
maybe provide some of like the secondary playmaking to offset that,
but you need to feel minutes elsewhere, including in the playoffs.
And you've gotten I guess more bankable in terms of
durability by swapping out Chris Middleton to Kyle Kuzma. But
we can't just sit here and say the bucks Is
top five unit is like the Bucks's top five man
unit is the only thing that matters, and so they're
taking a risk here. There's the emotional component as well
of just not only Chris Middleton winning a title with Milwaukee,
but he's been there since twenty thirteen. So we're talking
about twelve almost well like twelve of his thirteen year
career thus far, and this would have been I think
this would have been season number thirteen for him, if
I'm not gonna say it regardless, been there for over
a decade, been really good, made three All Stars with them,
and was just like he's been this second option on
a championship team. And while you could say we don't
think he's that anymore, he doesn't need to be. Because
you have Jannis and Dame, you needed him to be
your third option. I believe if he is healthy, he
is overqualified for that role. Now, if you don't believe
that he is healthy, can't play a ton of minutes,
this becomes a different story, and it's worth of discussion.
It's a fascinating gamble by the Bucks. And I would
say if Yannis, if this is Yannis sort of co
signing or nudging the Bucks in the direction of, yeah,
we gotta get someoneho's gonna play more minuts than Chris Middleton.
I like, I don't know, man, I just Jannis was
in favor of hiring like we already saw Giannis. Maybe
make like a poor endorsement of a head coaching decision.
Do we really want to trust his input on trades here.
I'm not laying this at the feet of Jannest This
is ultimately at the hands of the front office. I
don't love it. For Milwaukee. I can see the upside,
but for what you needed to give up to do it,
I don't love it. And maybe I'm too pilled on
nostalgia from what Chris Middleton has done there. But Kuzma,
I don't think he's let's say, I don't think he's
as easy of a fit on the offensive end, and
I don't think he's guaranteed to be this demonstrative upgrade
on the defensive end. And it feels like he's more
likely to be the latter than the former. And I
guess maybe that's what the Bucks are sort of banking
on here. There was again, there was the elements of
look at how his contract is structured moving forward. Chris
Middleton had the player option, but Kyle Kuzma under team
control for the next two years and his salaries declining,
so they just gives you a little bit more wiggle
room there. I just didn't expect the first trade that
Milwaukee would make or the trade that got them, like
initially out of the second aprin would include Chris Middleton
unless it was this monster deal that brought them back
to me Butler or maybe Zach Lavine until he was
traded to Sacramento. So this is one that I still
haven't totally wrapped my head around. And I think I
understand the upside for Milwaukee more than a lot of
the initial reactions I've seen. That does not make it
a good deal. It makes it a gamble, and the
fact that the swap is whatever, Like you didn't have
to give up when I saw draft compensation, until I
saw like what picks were going out, I was worried.
I was like, they didn't give up the twenty thirty
one first round pick for this, did they? Because that
would have been a disaster. And so it's a little
bit more the word's not even palatable. It's a little
bit more justifiable. But you need the peak like you
are betting, because this isn't okay. Kusman's a little older,
so you have to worry about no if he's not
there hitting wide open threes and defending at minimum and
then giving you at me some on ball juice offensively.
But I'll even toss that out of the equation. Let's
just say, between Yannis Dame and everyone else, you don't
even want him to do a ton of on ball stuff. Again,
he did shoot close to fifty percent on drives last year,
so that is that is in him, especially in lineups
that are gonna afford him a ton of space. But
they need Kyle Kuzma to defend his ass off and
to hit a bunch of threes, which will presumably be
high quality threes. But he needs to play within that
context more than anything, and not not to say to
deviate it. And I'm not even saying that he's a
male content. We all kind of latched onto his comments
that he made about Washington and no longer trying to
fit in or like guys develop I throw those I
actually kind of found that mostly funny, but I throw
that out the window. Let's see what he looks like
on a good team. So I understand it from Milwaukee's perspective.
That does not mean I would have done it, And
it was a curious gamble to make unless you have
some other stuff lined up where maybe you're offsetting some
of the concerns I have about the shooting, the secondary passing.
And that's why we kind of have to wait and
see what happens next. Let's talk a little Washington Wizards
flyer on AJ Johnson, fine, especially like at those positions,
they don't necessarily like more of a guard. They don't
have a ton of flyers outside of bub Carrington right now.
Of course, Jordan Poole we know is there, but you
have like more just wing types and Koulabali and Keishaan George.
So I am like, that's fine getting the swap okay, cool,
awesome the Chris Middleton. What this comes down to me
is Washington fucked up at last year's trade deadline. By
I haven't been able to determine the level of truth
about Kyle Kuzma rejecting a trade to the Mavericks, but
you could have gotten at least one first round pick.
I know some people are saying it was two for
Kyle Kuzma last trade deadline. Now you're coming out of
this with a shorter contract. So Chris Middleton, AJ Johnson
and a swap, that's not great business by them. They
signed him to a deal that looked so good and
it just deteriorated in value this season. It's not a
terrible deal. To be short, and I think there's value
of well, they didn't try and sit on this and
reboot his value if they thought he was going to
become not a detriment but an obstacle to letting other
guys develop. You appreciate that moving him now it's other
younger guys and the strouss are going to benefit. To me,
I would assume Chris Middleton goes somewhere. I mean we're
talking about there's a Memphis Grizzlies player ever, like as
a wing, if like Chris Middleton feels like a Memphis
Grizzlies player, So I would keep an eye on that,
and then depending on the compensation they get for Chris
Middleton overall, we can reevaluate the trade. But to not
so far get an outright first round pick for Kyle
Kuzmo when you could have done that, I would not
just at the trade deadline last year. But my guess
is my educated guess. Let's say it that way. You
also could have gotten at least one first round pick
for him over the summer. So that's at least a
little bit of a loss. But you understand it from
their perspective here, it's not I would be fairly surprised
if Chris Middleton's starting next season in Washington, and so
it's not even look at the money they have on
his books, like we're taking on his money for next year.
She even exercise that player option they keep him past
the trade deadline, he might just leave opt out and
leave for another team in free agency. No super strong
thoughts for them other than I think A. J. Johnson's
gonna get more run for sure than we saw Milwaukee,
so we'll have a better grasp of what he could
be as a player. And they just they held Kyle
Kuzma for too long and potentially gave him too much
agency over his future because we know we wanted to
leave now, but I guess he wanted to stay in
Washington or at least not go to Dallas through last season.
That's the headlining trade, But we do have a couple
other ones, and I'll kind of tackle the sixers here
in tandem when it looks at both these deals. But
we'll start with Dallas receiving Caleb Martin, who has three
years and twenty nine million dollars left on his contract
player option in twenty seven to twenty eight. They received
him from the Sixers in exchange for Philly's own twenty
five second round pick and Quentin Grimes, who will be
a restricted free agent this summer. This is a continuation
of Niko Harrison not wanting to pay younger dudes, or
like I don't it's interesting, Like I guess he's valuing
the certainty of having contracts on the books over dice
rolls or these could be price points. Just because Grimes
is headed into restricted free agency, they couldn't work out
an extension after after acquiring him over the summer. I
will also say that I had multiple people text me
and claim that teams are just waiting for Quenton Grimes's
knees to blow out. That's like, if that's part of
the calculus. I mean, sure, we know there had to
be a reason why the Nick's roka moving off from
him and he missed time last year, whatever happens in Detroit,
and then narrowk moving off from him, So there might
be a level of there's merit to that thought, But
I don't know. I think for Dallas, I like this
less just because I think Caleb Martin gives you more
positional flexibility on defense. But you really now that you've
gotten rid of Luca, I would think want to maximize
your shooting. And I know Quenton Grimes can be touch
and go there, and he's a little smaller. He's only
really gonna guard ones and twos. And I guess, look,
if you have Anthony Davis and Derek Lively and or
Gafford behind you, you could get Quentin Grimes to guard
threes as well. So I don't necessarily love it for them,
but I like Kayla Martin as a player, and I
think that he'll bring a lot to their defense. It's
they're gonna need him. They might need him to do
some ball handling, They're gonna need him to shoot a
better e clip from three in a vacuum. For the Sixers,
I do kind of I like this gamble from them.
They shave some money off their tax bill, which they're
now completely out of. As we'll get to in a second.
They get their own second round pick back, which has
more value than anyone could have thought leading into this season,
or at least forecasted. And Grimes is I don't think
he's gonna cost a ton of restricted free agency. I
don't see him as someone that teams that have or
might have cap space, will come in with an offer
sheet for maybe you risk a team coming in with
an offer sheet for the non tax payer mid level.
That's not even something we've really seen in mass over
the past few years. And if that's what you end
up paying him, I think, Look, he's younger than Kayla Martin.
He's he's slightly smaller at six or four versus six
y five. And I think the big drop off here
is like the positional flexibility on defense, and so like
you're just you have Jared McCain, and you have Quentin Grimes,
and you have Tyrese Maxey moving forward that you're putting
a lot of You're putting a lot on let's say
Justin Edwards, Paul George and I guess Gershon Yabuseli. As
you look ahead, and if Joel Embiid's healthy, maybe that
just makes you feel a little bit better about everything.
And Keller Brady Junior has had some really good defensive
moments for the Sixers this year, so that might have
factored into this calculus. I like it in a nutshell
for Phil even though I love like Caleb Martin, feels
like the more important player if they were going to
contend this season, but they're clearly not going to, and
so to get kind of a flyer on Grimes, who's
going to improve the shooting around the sixers, and they've
just had trouble hitting wide open threes in general for
much of this year. I think that's it's not just defensible.
I think you could say that this is a pretty
good trade by them, or at least that I like
it a little bit more for them. Their next trade
is less like you know, just kJ Martin. Let's Philly.
Let's go through it first. The Pistons are sending kJ
Martin to the Pistons. His eight million dollar salary for
next year is non guaranteed. The Pistons are also getting
Milwaukee's twenty twenty seven second round pick and Dallas is
twenty thirty one second round pick from Philly. So Philly,
what they're doing here, they're getting out of the luxury tax.
They will have a traded player exception as well for
sending out kJ Martin. They are now if anyone cares
about this, they save thirty one million dollars when you
look at just payroll and luxury tax savings. And now
they're going to get the luxury tax distribution, which I
imagine his declining as teams continue to duct the tax.
But that's an additional ten million dollars in revenue ten
plus twelve. Maybe it was initially at fourteen. I think
for the Sixers fans, it's not your job. I want
to make it clear. As fans, that's stuff. I don't
even care about it. I think that the Sixers are
just mega cheaping out here. Maybe getting rid of one
of those second round picks feels okay now that you
have your own back, but Milwaukee and Dallas have incredibly
fragile futures looking beyond that in the twenty six. So
to give up the Milwaukee twenty twenty seven first and
then Dallas is twenty thirty one. First second, excuse me
when there's no Luca there? I mean, awkward, Wow, that's
just you couldn't figured out another way to do it.
And look, you signed. I understand circumstances has changed, but
you signed kJ Martin to this contract that he could
be traded attached to value that gets you players who
help you now, and what you ended up doing is
signing re signing him and then using two second round
picks to just dump his salary. That's like, that's uninspiring
and super cheap. And I don't know what it says
about the Sixers plans for the rest of this season.
It'd be different to me if they had leaned all
the way into the tank and it looked like they
were going to keep their pick this year. But Joel
and Bee comes back for a game and has a
triple double, and so the Sixers don't seem like they're
traveling that route. And even if they are, it's too late.
It's just too late to We've said that there might
be who were you out tanking right now as Philly
you are in front of you are currently behind in
the standing Portland Trailblazers have more wins than you can't
guarantee that you're gonna out tank them in Chicago for
the rest of this year, both of whom are in
front of you. Right now, you have reached the peak
of the bottom. I would say, like this is as
low as you're gonna be in the standings, because let's
just say the Blazers keep winning hottest team in the
NBA right now shoutouts Scoot Henderson making the leap in
real time, but let's just say the bulls and the
blazers stay in front of them. And that's again not
a guarantee. You're not out tanking the nets. You're not
out tanking the raptors. You're not out tanking the hornets
or the pelicans or the jats, and certainly not the wizards.
So this is uninspiring. I get the principle of wanting
to duck the tax when you're not even coming close
to your pinnacle as a team. The cost of doing
business here to do it was just astronomical, and so
shout out to the Detroit Pistons. A very good piece
of business by them. And you get those second round
picks now, which can be valuable if you just want
to make a trade without giving up a first, which
they're still not at the point they should be conceive
giving up their own first. And I know they have
twenty twenty five O to Minnesota with top thirteen protection
that can These those picks are interesting seconds that can
help you get other deals over the hump. The other
thing here is too kJ Martin. Everyone's pointed out, Okay,
you're shooting uh thirty eight point one percent from three here,
all right, that's she just doesn't do it in high volume.
I don't know how much use he has them as
a player, probably more with their spacing, especially if they
wind up making a trade like Tobias Harris for CJ. McCollum,
kJ Martin becomes more intriguing for them. But what they
also did here is if they can they can take
kJ Martin in to an exception and then they can
still use their cap space here. Uh, that's that's a
big deal for them because he fits into their room
exception I believe, or did they have an outstanding trade
exception that I'm that I'm missing, But they have the
ability to still turn around and then use cap space,
which is like they or you could just take him
in to cap space and then you still just have
six million dollars in cap space remaining. So there's a
lot of different avenues that they can explore for this deal,
and to do it without really compromising. I guess if
you want them to buy and kind of maximize what's
going to happen this year, you can certainly say, all right,
we would have liked to have seen them be a
little bit more aggressive, but just getting the seconds for
taking in someone who doesn't like impact your rotation or
cost you anyone of value, and it doesn't obliterate your
entire flexibility. I think that at like, I think that
they they made out really well here. I don't like,
I don't know what else to say there other than that,
But they could also like, let's see if they can
expand this deal and then that's how they could increase
their return Like that, that's a pretty big deal there too.
And look, the other upside here too, if you're gonna
acquire him into like the way that they acquired him
is he could just be turned around and be reaggregated
if they want to. So that's like they could also
just view him as an extension of that cap space
since he can be aggregated. I'd like that for them,
not like a game changing one, but them kind of
just stockpiling these assets will either help with future deals
or just sort of these these flyers that they can
take as their roster gets more expensive. And again, like
Milwaukee Dallas, is we over romanticize second round picks, but
those are there's I would say at least one of
those is gonna end up being in the thirties, and
that's that just makes this deal even better for Detroit.
Quite frankly, Now we're getting in the real massive stuff. People.
Let's talk about the Clippers trade that we haven't gotten
to on this podcast yet. So the Clippers sent, the
Clippers received Drew Eubanks and Patty Mills while also ducking
the luxury tax. So they're now four point eight million
dollars almost under the luxury tax. And then the Jazz
received from the Clippers Mobamba, PJ. Tucker and a twenty
thirty second round pick. Mobama's already been waived by Utah.
We'll see if from Utah just yeah take on, like
just get another distant second as well as cash considerations.
By the way, I totally understand that. And Tucker he
will eventually be waived if he's not moved. And so
just having expiring salary if they want to make another
deal that's going to help another team get because they
still have wiggle room under the luxury tax that wants
to help another team shed payroll, that's something that they
could still do. And so they have their sixteen point
seven million dollars a little bit more than that beneath
the tax. So there's a lot of stuff that they
could still do. Is I'd be surprised if he's waved
before the trade deadline is over, is all I'm saying.
So solid for them with the Clippers, Drew Eubanks might
play some minutes for them, just to give them a
different look as at like the backup five minutes behind
of eats the Zubos and so that they don't, you know,
kill Nicholas Patoum before you get to the playoffs. But
they just also might have more moves to make here
with the flexibility beneath the luxury tax. And I would say,
I really want them to make a move like they
could use at like Drew Eubanks wouldn't necessarily be it
for me, So I'd still like sort of a different
look in the front court, but also just some more
secondary ball handling here would be good for them. But
they set themselves up really nicely to do that, and
I think, you know, I don't we don't need to
look at it and say, oh, great that Steve Bomber
saved money by getting out of the tax. Just for
where the Clippers are at, and since they have the
ability to do so, if you want them to continue
being aggressive moving forward and you're not compromising your chances
as a contender right now. Like your chance to be
a contender just boils down to how healthy is Kauhid,
how many minutes is he playing. Tyler was talking about
getting him up to thirty six minutes by the playoffs
the other day. If he's doing that and stays healthy,
you're a contender. You duck the tax. Yeah, it cost
you a second round pick here, but I doubt that's
really going to screw you over in terms of opportunities.
This one's okay when you get to Philly and it's
all right. Like that one's way more uninspiring from the
Sixers' perspective, at least in my opinion. I'm still interesting
with both of these teams. Do that being the Clippers
in jazz ahead of Thursday's three pm deadline, because I
don't think either of them ken or should be done.
Here's the real banger. So everyone just sit down, brace yourselves.
We have to get to this. Deep breaths everybody. The
Charlotte hold are receiving Phoenix's twenty twenty nine second round
pick from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for the
Denver Nuggets's twenty thirty second round pick. This is a
right for the next thirty to five to minutes to
six hours we're going to talk about this trade. This
is the Sam Presty has Fomo trade. Essentially, he saw
all these deals going down and he decided, I need
to be in on this. How could I not? There
is there is a logic here what you're saying. As
Oklahoma City, they initially had six second round picks in
twenty twenty nine, including their own. Now you balance that
out with commitments. You had three seconds in two thousand
and thirty, including your own, now you have four. Now
you only have five seconds including your own in twenty
twenty nine. And for Charlotte, you're getting in more immediate
They actually have another twenty twenty nine second round pick
on their books, I believe. But now you're getting in
a more imminent first round pick from a team that is,
like you short their future just as much, especially with
the Kevin Durant noys headed around being betty about right now.
And it's a more just imminent asset, so you understand
it from their perspective. This is just though I like
the ultimate Sam Presty trade, Like, yeah, we need to
balance this out a little bit. We had a few
too many seconds in twenty twenty nine, so now we
got we got four seconds in twenty thirty and five
in twenty twenty nine. There's a nice symmetry to that.
We know, like the thunder are going to be the
first team to acquire a two thousand and thirty two
second round pick as soon as they become like eligible
to be moved. Like that's just a fact at this point.
So this is still even though there's a logic to it.
It's the ultimate Sam Presty Fomo trade. And you know what,
I favor it. I favor stuff like that. We have
another sort of bookkeeping trade to go through here too
as well. The Boston Celtics sent Jaden Springer to the
Houston Rockets along with their twenty thirty second round pick,
and Boston is receiving there's gonna be heavily protected second
sent out they will probably never convey. But Boston cut
like their tax payroll by about fifteen point four million.
I think the number is. They now have two open
roster so something to monitor as we get into buyout season.
Look again, that's fine for a team as good as
the Celtics are You could look at that second round
pick and say, so far away into the future, what
will become the reality? Is this team spending into the
second apron like it has if it's gonna shave money
and we already know that they're gonna finish the season
in the second apron, I think it's mostly okay. And look,
let's see what they do with at least even one
of Like, let's look at it this way, by having
those two open roster spots, like, does it make it
more likely that they're a little bit more aggressive for
one of those roster spots on the buyout market, I
would say yes, And so there's utility in there. We'll
see what it turns into. Nothing obviously super groundbreaking there.
But they are a team into the second apron twenty
thirty two first round picks about to be frozen for them.
I just don't like, I really think, And the rest
of the trade deadline might reflect this, but like the
second apron real and just the threat of just not
even the tax penalties here and the tax bans, but
the restrictions on the way you go about transactions, specifically
in terms of salary aggregation. And then just the idea that, Okay,
your twenty thirty two first round pick is frozen, and
then you have to worry about ducking the separate second
apron like in subsequent years so that it doesn't remain
that way or get moved to the bottom of the draft.
I think it's really going to change the way teams
operate moving forward, and it'll be interesting to see how
it impacts what Boston does not this season, because it's
just too far gone, but kind of this offseason and beyond,
and so we'll have to monitor that. The stuff other
stuff to just talk about. I think the big one,
I'm not going to get into it just because it'll
be so dated. I want to hear your trade deadline predictions.
If you're on YouTube, hit the comments or join our
discord the links in the podcast and YouTube descriptions. Get
in there. Tell me what you're like an actual prediction
you believe will happen at the trade deadline. But as
of now, if I'm offering one that's like semi spicy,
I would be fairly surprised if Kevin Durant is still
on the Phoenix Ons past the trade deadline. Like the
level of chatter here is just the charts, and I
like it's gotten to the point where it's almost awkward.
And if the Suns had any inkling that they might
move him and then traded their twenty thirty one first
round pick. Anyway, that, my friends, is franchise mel practice
some other things I would expect to happen or I'm monitoring.
There's been, like in the past thirty six to forty
eight hours, just bizarre noise coming out of Atlanta of
are they just gonna try to get off the bogged
down Bygdanovich money? Do they even care? Like do they
just want to get off the DeAndre Hunter money? I
don't If they get rid of DeAndre Hunter with the
season he's having, they better be getting some type of
first round pick. But they're just another team I'm watching
and I'm preparing for them to do something that I
heavily dislike. And so those are just my Again, I
don't want to get too into it just because this
stuff's all gonna become dated. Let me know your biggest
boldest prediction, or doesn't even have to be Super Bowl,
but one prediction that you actually actually believe that Jimmy
Butler's gonna stay with the heat through the trade deadline
might be the boldest of all. And the other one
I would throw in there, I think Chris Middleton gets
moved again. I would pay Memphis is a favorite to
get him because of their salary structures in the way
that some of those salary structures don't like they're not
gonna FaZe Washington like they would be with other teams.
And I'm not gonna lie. I would love Chris Middleton
in Memphis like that. I really feel like that's a
great fit if you think he's any semblance of healthy.
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As always, I think get the shoutouts to the one,
the only, the indelible, would never be traded if he
is in the NBA right now, Frank you