Jamal Murray extension, fake Julius Randle trades & biggest outstanding questions | The Lowe Post

Welcome to the Lowe Post and now the low post two the low post podcast it's Monday morning at 10:30 the NBA is about to restart again a lot of players are reporting to camp for kind of informal camps this week Bobby marks there are a lot of questions to answer around the league and I wanted to go sort of around with you about the biggest I don't know if unsettled is the right word but some big questions that are that are kind of hovering around the league how are you I'm good how are you I'm I'm doing well man I'm back in the swing of things we're we're we're it's September 9th you know guys are going back in the office full blast this week players are coming in training Camp's not far away we're gonna and and I think it's shaping up to be a very fun NBA season a lot of uncertainty a lot of mystery I'm excited I I I you know it's funny just because I'm you know we're all doing different things I'm working on some training camp stuff and there's really not like the drama of the offc Court drama like last year we had Damen Lillard where's he going I think a lot of the focus this year is going to be on the court really like the competitiveness of the Western Conference which is you know we'll talk about that which is I mean loaded I mean we did the segment last week on Golden State and the Lakers and I said like listen you can count like seven teams that are probably better which is not for those two teams are like 46 win teams which is not the worst thing in the world here but I think I think the focus this year is more on the court um how good both conferences could be um less drama of course once teams start playing and losing that creates some some drama here but I'm looking forward to a to a really good year and that's a big theme as we get into some of the contractual situations here that are hovering uncertainly and and the sort of Trades that could you know we're going to make up some fake trades it's important to remember two things number one a large portion of the league is not tradable till December 15th and after that in some cases January 15th or whatever the dates are for free agents that were signing in the offseason and number two a lot of this a lot of what happens in the league is going to depend largely on how teams play over the first two or three months of the Season some teams are going to disappoint some teams are going to exceed expectations and those things are going to sort of change the way they want to navigate the season uh I'm glad we waited till today to do this because one of the hovering situations that I wanted to get to and I mentioned last week that I thought it would get done amicably and it indeed got done amicably uh Jamal Murray W tweeted it over the weekend signed a 4-year $28 Jamal Murray’s Extension million Max extension with the Denver Nuggets I haven't seen the contract I I assume there's no there's no any injury protection any options nothing it's just Ironclad I haven't seen it yet either but I would assume that it's it's a straight it's a straight four for 208 there's no kind of bells bells and whistles to it and so you know Jamal Murray had a very interesting year last year um regular season arguably the best regular season of his career and then for parts of it particularly for the second half we started to hear about shin splint and Ankle issues and then playoffs he was other than two incredible game-winning shots against the Lakers one in game two and one that effectively won the series in game five uh was not very good shot 31% on threes 44% on twos the Olympics was a disaster for Canada and for Jamal Murray specifically coming off the bench for Canada and it left a sour taste in people's mouths and it it got people wondering like is this really the ideal second banana for joic what are the Nuggets going to do here they're facing an enormous financial crunch and then bam four years 208 this is the max amount of years max amount of money um what was your reaction I I I wasn't surprised at all I mean I I I thought you know certainly how the the offseason in Denver went with you know losing cavius K Pope for for nothing in a in a financial decision kind of like what are your options here and I think I think when when Josh koni their um their um owner chairman whatever we call it there came out and said like basically you know Jamal was not healthy right like he wasn't healthy during the Olympics I think that kind of signaled as far as um it was more about that than probably his his play on the court certainly Health played a a big a big role to it I think when you get to that point with negotiations I don't think there's much I mean depends on certain teams how much wiggle room as far as what you're willing to do I mean what are you g to you going to go four for 190 and give yourself some flexibility I mean the reality is that you know they they almost had to um certainly with the the yic window open um and they've got some bigger decisions coming up with Aron Gordon who's extension eligible at the end of um at the end of September I I thought it was kind of interesting though because from Jamal Murray standpoint if if they played hard ball and there was no extension and you enter free agency next year really the only team that would have cap space to sign you outright was was Brooklyn and you know Jordy Hernandez was Team Canada's head coach and does he kind of know I always say you know you already know what kind of what's under the hood right like if you're you know as far as what's there already and as far as what his options would have been here but we never got to that so I I wasn't surprised at all I think the only thing that maybe the curiosity would be maybe if there was a little bit of injur injury protection just because of you know the whether it be the knee and the inability to play you know you know he's hasn't played more than 65 games um in in the past uh past few years here so no no surprise for me but I I I think there's I think there's some bigger questions as far as and we can talk about Denver as far as from a roster standpoint but I am intrigued as far as what the next person whether it be you know Aaron Gordon who could be listen how free agency's going right now I mean we've seen so many guys coming off the board with extensions here like Aaron Gordon at the end of the day him and Miles Turner they could be the two best free agents when we get into next summer well Miles Turner to be clear is not extension eligible going to be a free agent yeah like it's funny you go through these lists and um I put it out there over the weekend as far as all the players that have assigned extensions that could have been um free agents in 2025 I mean it was like it was a headliner and then there are guys that just they're not extension eligible they can't they you know they're going to be a free agent him and d'angel Russell are going to be free agents no matter what um Brook Lopez is another player who you know who's going to be a free agent but then there are some others like Aaron Gordon who can certainly extend I think his number is four for 140 somewhere around there so you're looking at $30 million um a year for him it's so interesting because we went through a long period of like constant cap growth and the cap is going to go up by I have it estimated at the max 10% every year which has huge for these contracts like Jamal Murray's which the the cap is going to grow faster than those annual salaries are going to grow so this contract although it's massive numbers this sticker shock as a percentage of the cap is not going to be quite as sort of damaging as it looks but we went through all this period where like getting back out into free agency was always the best thing as early as possible like get a sign a two-year deal sign a three-year deal and now for some of these like these guys would probably like to be able to sign extensions because an unrestricted free agency if your own team decide I mean we saw this with tus Jones if your own team decides hey you're not part of our future there's just not going to be much out there for some of these guys we'll talk more about that you mentioned Brooklyn by the way look I don't know if you've been on Instagram Bob Brooklyn's number one priority is they got to work out this Max extension for Ben Simmons like not like ASAP if you been so like forget Jamal Murray Brooklyn has such a random collection of players including two guys that are kind of sneaky extension candidates cam Thomas and uh Dron sharp but we're not gonna talk about that they're my next team they're in my next team to write though but that that is oh good luck with that can you just write a sad face just write a sad face or a picture of you should tweet the photo did you see that photo of the white sock stadium that was like completely empty you should just tweet that be like this is a Nets game in 2025 you know what's interesting and then um you I know Sunday was NFL Sunday but I I caught myself watching Liberty uh Aces and I'm thinking you have all these you have you got Devon Booker or you got a lot of all these guys who came over Steph Curry and Clay place is packed and I'm thinking like and I'm sure this won't make my friends in Brooklyn happy but I'm thinking are the Liberty more popular than the Nets right now like I I I I I mean I think first of all first of all lowbar um second of all uh just the greatest dichotomy in mascots in maybe the history of professional sports so the Nets had this stupid bunny rabbit in you remember the what was what was his name I don't remember his name his stupid hip hop bu well listen we paid a lot of money for that I think DC or Marvel Comics came up with the theme air and millions of dollars went down to tubes we could have just brought Slide the fox over from New Jersey then oh maybe it was Slide the that's what I'm thinking of Sly the wasn't a bunny rabbit it was Sly the fox then you had then you had the Brooklyn Knight which debuted to much fanfare and was uh and like pooie in The Simpsons was was sent to Mars after one year and now they have nothing nobody and the Liberty Ellie the Elephant is like I don't know if people are not familiar with Ellie Ellie the Elephant is like a beyon level celebrity in the mascot Community I mean everywhere she goes she's trailed by Paparazzi what she is a big story anyway Jamal Murray and the Nuggets so he is now the biggest wild card in the season to me because the Nuggets took a lot of flak somewhat deservedly somewhat a little overheated for letting kcp walk they've got Christian Brown and Julian straw they ready to sort of compete for those minutes in that starting role and pton Watson's GNA you know step into hopefully a larger role even than he played last season if I knew that I was going to get the Jamal Murray I don't even like the like 95% of the Jamal Murray from the title run in 2023 forget bubble Jamal Murray like so jam it's very interesting Jamal Murray missed two full playoffs he's been a part of four playoffs he was so so in the first one which is 2019 when they lose to the Blazers in the second round he was like so outrageously good in 2020 in the bubble remember he had two 50-point games in one series against Donovan Mitchell then he was almost as good as that in the title run and then last year was kind of a dud and he missed 21 and 22 with injury if I can get n if I knew I was getting 90 95% of 2023 playoff Jamal Murray by the way he's 27 years old this is his ninth season he's still just 27 years old I think I would pick Denver to make the finals despite all the hollow Balo about what they lost in the offseason are their owners being cheap what's going on I just you can plug guys into that kcp spot yes their bench is going to be strained after losing Bruce Brown Jeff Green and now uh kcp and then promoting Christian Brown into the starting five Etc I just what their ecosystem is very very strong and this is a vote of confidence that yeah that Jamal Murray still exists and I saw a lot of stuff about Jamal Murray when I briefly checked Twitter in the offseason as he was crapping the bed for Canada and Canada just another disappointing Olympics for Canada unlucky draw but still about you know well maybe maybe Jamal Murray has been sort of a creation of joic uh for all these years that joic is the one doing all the heavy lifting and I get that like jic is incredible Nuggets’ Season Outlook he's an all-time great player he makes literally every single player around him much better than they would be in other circumstances I don't know maybe I'm just maybe I those 50o games are still sticking in my brain maybe the big shots and even in that Miami finals every time Miami was on the verge of like kind of knocking the Nuggets sideways a little bit it was Jamal Murray who made a big shot I think he is I think he's a very very good player almost an All-Star level player and he could make an All-Star team down the line and I think his his role in that two-man game with jic is a little bit underrated the craft in the feel he has the Bob and weave change of pace style he brings to it the way he opens up a little extra pocket for jic like you know one hard hesitation dribble One Way draws the defense just enough to get yic a window for that floater I think he's a very good very crafty player and this is obviously a confidence in him and to your point like I don't like Aaron Gordon you mentioned his extension they're looking at second apron next season right around it um and then in 2627 which is the last year of Michael Porter Jr's deal and the first year of new deals for Christian Brown and pton Watson they're looking at being so far over the second apron that you're like is this even possible what does this mean for their team so I will ask you if they do extend a Aaron Gordon who is a massive part of their team what does all of this mean for the Nuggets like are we is this just Uncharted Territory for the whole league well yeah because that's the big reason why they didn't bring back cavius kwell Pope I think it was probably in hindsight as far as what what the future could look like here and I think when they they didn't sign kcp and let him go to Orlando that the the idea of giving Jamal Murray was Max extension was going to be there um listen there is this is a team that it's it's kind of interesting where they've they've traded away a lot of draft picks here they don't they can't trade anymore um they owe you know 25 2 25 to Orlando protection 27 to OKC 29 to OKC like they're limited as far as what they have as far as with picks and they're kind of in these two stages here where they're starting five and now you know whether it be Christian Brown or you know Julian stower as far as who starts you have the veterans team that's won it four minus kcp and then you've got this group of young players KP who was like not good in the playoffs last year by the way no not at all um and then you have this young group of players with certainly Russell Westbrook kind of sprinkled on top of that um as far as kind of anchoring um you're aning your second unit but no this roster is going to get extremely extremely expensive certainly when you look at um as you said a Gordan Michael Porter Jr is also extension eligible it's like you know as we've talked about like the rules set are set up where either you retain your players and you you pay a significant price as far as how you do roster building or your your pick your pick to choose as far as who you who you wanna um who you want to keep and I've beaten this drum before I I beat this drum starting in 2018 not beat it I just sort of tentatively tapped at it to see what sound it would make but you know it coincided for me with the supermax coming in and teams getting freaked out by the supermax and now we're seeing that same sort of freaking out just exponentially increased by the apron I I do continue to wonder whether there should be some tax break SL apron break when you resign your own players to contracts that are you could just make it max if it's just max contracts because you know the nuggets have put a lot of equity into Jamal Murray Michael Porter Jr and obviously yic are going to pay Forever at the highest rate possible like should they really have to shed one of those guys to keep Aaron Gordon they're already shedding kcp you could make an argument that k CP moving on is not that much of an anomaly given his age and it it hurts but his age has declined in the playoffs The Replacements waiting in the wings like you could rationalize that in non-financial terms in some ways I don't know I continue to to to wonder you know Boston is obviously going to face the same question in a year I mean there's just no way that all of these dudes are on the Celtics in 25 26 I just it's you've and Tim bontemps wrote about it it's it's a half a billion dollars to keep that team together it's not going to happen well I mean listen them Phoenix is another team that's going to blow through the roof as far as next I mean they already are but next season with when they're repeater taxs and I think going back to your point like you know it's it's funny because if you know let's say Christian Brown starts and he has a really good year like he's extension eligible next year and then and and so and so here are three players with um Brown uh Brown stower and Watson three guys not picked in the lottery right like they did a good job drafting as far as finding guys in the 20s finding we'll see I mean this is the we're going to see on on how how good of a job they did they I mean they're you're like I know last year you had Justin holiday on the roster and certainly you know Michael Malone kind of picked and choose as s you know certainly prioritized veterans like they don't have the choice this year like they're they're forced to um in in a good way you know forced to play their younger players here and I I'm I'm very high on STW this is a huge year for him I loved what I saw from him as a rookie before he got injured I know he didn't make threes I I'm not worried about that I loved all the other stuff from him his activity on defense his feel for the game and Watson it's just a matter of like do you is are they going to trust his shot when it matters because if they don't trust his shot we're going to see him yanked from the rotation like we did in the Minesota series which by the way Denver almost won the Minnesota series I I keep telling reminding people of this because it felt like such a disappointment I just as an aside I mentioned that I I might pick Denver to win the West I'm not going to make my picks till next month it's just because I have questions about almost every other team o other than Oklahoma City who I think is going to run away with the number one seed and Adam Mars uh of dnvr sports made this point on on the Pod a couple months ago and I think it's a great point the hartenstein signing for Oklahoma City is not just a sort of catchall um here for some of their weaknesses which it is rebounding size all that it is a great great stylistic match match up for the Nuggets it allows them to mimic what the wolves have done to the Nuggets which is put a rim protector on Aaron Gordon so that could be Chad holgren and put a big body like towns and now hartenstein on jic and just sort of have the Rover off of Aaron Gordon I think that was a very good point I just wanted to mention that I have nothing else to say about Jamal Murray well it was going to happen it had to happen um it's a big year for him it's a big year for the Nuggets uh and I don't know any closing thoughts on that no I mean listen I mean I think as far as the rest of the roster I mean the only one thing that would concern me a little bit and certainly we touched about shooting and and some of the younger prize players is certainly the front the front court size as far as you lost Don Holmes to an injury for the for the year and now you have you know joic plays a lot of minutes in the summer all right he goes deep you know with ear in the bronze with uh with Serbia and now you have Zeke Nagi and DeAndre Jordan as kind of your backup bigs here you sign Dario sarich also here I think that would be a little bit of a concern for me as far as you know he I mean as um jic plays a lot of minutes as far as what your your depth is as far as what your front court it's doubly going to be a concern because they are keenly aware of their three-point shooting numbers I wrote about this before the break Denver was last in three-point rate last season they lost kcp was actually just a mid volume three-point shooter but he leaves in free agency Christian Brown attempt wise not that far from kcp accuracy wise and the attention he gets from defenses not on his level not yet anyway and then you introduce Russ who is the worst high volume three-point shooter in NBA history and probably just needs to never shoot them other than Corner open Corner threes I I I wrote this I said this Kevin Pelton put stuff in the piece to back it up statistically there's a threshold somewhere where if you're X percentage below the league average and three-point rate it almost doesn't even matter all the other good stuff you do offensive rebounding your proficiency on floaters your transition efficiency your free throw weight which by the way has not been good for Denver and that's one of the reasons they're hopeful that Russ might be able to sort of engineer some free throws for them um if you're if you're too far below that threshold you just can't win you can't win for a playoff series the math is just an uphill battle every single time to a point that becomes untenable they're close to that and one of the reasons that touches on their size is one of the for that might be can we squeeze in a few extra minutes with Michael Porter Jr at the four which means no Aaron Gordon for just a few extra minutes Aon Gordon's too valuable to do anything else but just a few extra minutes but is that lineup viable is it just too small uh you mentioned sarich like one of the reasons they're going to be close to the apron next year is they gave sarich and Russ these player options where I don't really know who was competing against them for player options like SAR got a 5 point something million player and I like Dario SAR is's a good player he played well for Croatia this summer but anyway enough nuggets yeah I mean I mean listen we could I mean the player option certainly when you're when you're signing a player like Westbrook to the veteran minimum contract and then you tack on a player option there I mean teams like Phoenix and Miami they paid the price for that right I mean like that's for a team that's cost conscience it's not smart business second big hovering question and one of the more interesting ones is Julius Randall with the Knicks Julius Randall is in the last well he has a player option for 2526 the assumption is What should the Knicks do with Julius Randle? he will turn that down he in which case he's essentially an expiring contract at 28.9 million the Knicks he's a two-time all NBA player the Knicks kind of reinvented themselves last year as jayen brunson's team and then reinvented themselves twice over by acquiring ogan anobi and male Bridges and sort of beefing up on wings small ball fors in ogan and ob's case which has raised a lot of questions about what is Julius randle's fit on this team um he can kind of be a laborious holder of the ball ball dominant player pound it pound it pound it now he's quite good at that he draws help he's he became he's a he's a good passer and I think last year he actually didn't get enough credit for re-calibrating his game a little bit not like a wholesale change but to fit next to Brunson he was a more willing and faster passer he handled the ball in more pick and rolls including inverted pick and rolls with Brunson as the screener a way to sort of activate him as something other than a spot up shooter around Brunson he would even he he kind of rushed in transition he would cut he would cut in transition he activated himself and is a very good player but the fit questions still remain New York is facing apron issues even with Jaylen brunson's sort of discount extension and this is kind of one of the big looming questions in the league right now Julius Randle is extension eligible there has not been an extension I don't know about you but I don't expect there to be an extension just because the Knicks have to be very careful what they're finances and they need to figure out what is the right way to use this salary slot that jayen Brunson has gifted us Jaylen Brunson gifted us the ability to turn Julius Randall's salary slot into something maybe like part the answer may end up being just letting him walk in free agency and reconfiguring the team in other ways but I don't think an extension's coming you tell me if you disagree and then the next question is if an extension is not coming a what's his role on the team and B is a realistic trade for him that brings back stuff that can help the Knicks win this year because they're not dumping him for just rebuilding stuff they're not dumping him just for salary belief which they don't really need he's an expiring is there a realistic trade out there let me tell you Bobby marks it's not that easy but do you do do you disagree with me about the extension do you expect an extension for Julius Randle I I don't he's been eligible since uh early August 44 for 181 um he would be the um he would top the $40 million Mark which is a rarity in New York I think anobi is the only one and that's for next year um I look at the Randall situation and I I was on a podcast earli right when he was extension eligible and I said listen if New York came to him and offered three for like 100 and change I think if you were Julius Randall you should consider that and people went crazy like he's a two-time all NBA player and and for my reasoning was like the market plays a big role as far as determining like Rand is a really good player and as you said he's a two-time all NBA player but the market plays a huge role as far as what determines a player salary here um I look at it as a player that's had uh surgery the last two years the most recent a serious injury to his shoulder that cost him um the whole the whole year um since last uh since January here I look at the market of okay who is New York competing against out there there next off season Brooklyn does is Brooklyn willing to spend $40 million on Julius Randall is is the Wizards another team uh we wrote about it a month ago about the um 2025 offseason like cap space the shrinking Market of cap space um it's just not there so if it's it's either going to be in New York on an extension or maybe a new contract or maybe maybe it's you know what Josh Hart did where you're opting into that deal and you would have to do this by October October 21st you opt in and then you extend off that now that's interesting where you get a little more of breathing room next year right when some of these numbers start to go and and then the um the Randall number doesn't kick in until 2026 27 so maybe that makes a little bit more sense as far as how this um how this plays out here but I'm not anticipating um I'm not anticipating anything and and as you said like listen I went through the teams this morning like tra are hard man like I you know and we can go through different options or what different trade scenarios are here um but I do think this kind of plays out and I think certainly maybe we when we get to camp in a few weeks and when we get that October 21st date that maybe you know could be maybe more of a pressing deadline here and if not then it's you know then you're then you're you can maybe work out something during the year if you if you decline that option it's interesting the extension the optin an extended is interesting but one one of the reasons I would bet against it is I think the Knicks are just like we need to see what this team is we need to see how it all fits together and maybe in seeing that we discover we absolutely need Julius randle's offense we need his ability to create shots we missed it in the playoffs last year against Indiana and it turns out male Bridges as a secondary playmaker isn't still isn't quite enough off the dribble juice for our team and ogan anobi is a tertiary playmaker is not quite enough juice for our team and Josh Hart doing crazy stuff in transition which always seems to work out somehow the Josh Hart's the ultimate no no no no no yes player in the NBA uh including the huge three he had against Philly in that playoff series uh it turns out none of that is enough we need Julius r or it could turn out like this this construction of the team with Brunson and a bunch of wings and a center is absolutely perfect and Julius Randle would be ideal as a sixthman for us but he's too qualified for that and we need to flip him and get other stuff they could they could figure that out too um so let's do some fake trades are you ready yeah here are the challenges that so Julius R makes $ 28.9 million the Fake Randle Trades Knicks either have to take back exactly2 28.9 million or less they cannot take back more money correct correct I'm still getting familiar with the apron you it's funny like I um you go like you know the apron rules were so prevalent you know like they we talked about it at length we take and then when you take a little bit of a breather from it like even for me like it's like okay I got to get back into the rules right as far as like just like another crash course as far as understanding everything as far as whether it be dollar for dollar or aggregating or all these different things here but yeah that's the challenge as far as a New York team that's $7 million below the second apron that was triggered already um um they're over the first apron and now you're looking at Dollar for Dollar on on uh on anything that you're you're taking Tak him back so step one for me was look for teams that are in win now theoretically at least in win now mode um are kind of hurting after the events of last season or the off season have some chips to play and might use them on just like let's just take a talent play on Julius Randall the two teams that really qualified for that for me were the Clippers and the Heat and I just couldn't find any deals that made any sense given you know do you want another ball pounder next to kawhai and James Harden bam and Jimmy um and just I just didn't find anything that made sense um then I went to uh worst teams and there are some deals that make sense you want to go through some of them yeah let's go well do you have any you want to nominate why don't you go nominate like the the rules are so hard uh like I came up with like and I and I know that both these here's the thing like when you're going through this exercise you have to be like okay we can't find we can't pick an apron team because then it's like that team's taking more money back or they're taking you know or the Knicks are taking more money back or aggregating like I thought like like rules aside Dallas certainly maybe like I didn't even I didn't think about them at all so but that's but the challenges as far as H making the money work so whether it be whether it be you know PJ Washington and then making you know getting to that you know PJ's at 15 and then certainly you know putting a 14 you know Washington and Gafford is at to r i mean I'm just spit ball and throwing out numbers here like the Lakers does the lake would the Lakers make sense I know the Lakers are 45,000 Bel that's another that's another Talent play Team I didn't think of them I don't like to fit for either of those teams which is a problem we're going to get into yeah that's that and those are kind of like you know those were the two teams that maybe stood out a little bit positional wise but um but you know what what are some of the teams that you have as far as um you know out there all right so let's start with the obvious the the Knicks in their Ideal World the Knicks would get a rotation Center back in in a Randall trade I think so then you start with teams like Atlanta which has Clint Capella's expiring contract which is $7 million less than Julius randle's contract but but the Hawks are the Hawks are not far from the tax correct correct they're right right below it and so that presents a problem for the Hawks they also have Jaylen Johnson who is going to be maybe the most important player in the entire franchise and plays Julius randle's position so now you're like is this going to be a three team trade and if you're the Hawks it's like well what's what's the point of any of this for me what's in this for me well what would be in this for me is can we dump the Andre Hunter's contract on you the Knicks and the Nicks would be like wait a second Julius Randle is a good player we want value for Julius Randle we don't want to hurt our cap situation for Julius Randle so that I I couldn't find a good deal there did you find any good Atlanta deals no especially I as you said like the Johnson situation kind of looms and we'll see a lot more what happens in the next few weeks certainly when he's extension eligible and I think he's a he's certainly a priority for them look he's going to be an interesting test case of of how we'll talk about this in the extension section we'll get there um okay then I moved on to uh Portland which has a surplus of centers um and there are many iterations of deals you could make with the Blazers DeAndre Aon he makes like $5 million more than Julius Randall which is an immediate problem for the Knicks I've got to supply more salary maybe I don't want to do that um Robert Williams matis thel and Chris Murray combined to make enough salary that it's less than randle's and not so much that Portland goes over the tax that's interesting to me however is it interesting to the Blazers like why if I'm Portland yeah I get off of $25 million in salary for next season and Robert Williams and mati styal but like those aren't bad salaries those are nice midsize salaries if Time Lord can ever get healthy what's in that for me can I flip Julius Randall again I'm already having a hard time finding trade teams for Julius Randle so I don't know about that one I thought about Jeremy Grant because their salaries are almost an exact match you have to finagle a little bit more money if you're the Knicks to make it work but he's kind of redundant on the Knicks he makes a ton of money over a ton of years and again like Portland wants to trade Jeremy Grant for picks and stuff that helps them rebuild so I'm out of ideas for Portland should I move on yeah I mean po I mean listen I like I the first one when you mentioned as far as with Rob Williams and and tball and Murray like that makes yeah I get like you're basically breaking up the contract for New York but as you said like you got to think about what's what's in it for Portland right like you know then now I've got now I got Randall and Grant how it's hard enough as you said to flip one of those $30 million contracts all right I'm gonna go fast now then I thought okay Chicago can I build something around vvi who has a a a his money's on the books for 25 26 so they can look at his dumping V's salary and getting Randall um but I don't know that Vu is a great fit for how Tom tibo wants to play and what the Knicks actually need uh I think he'd be an interesting sort of change of pace for them but his shooting fell off so badly last year um and again like is that a good is that you know is that a good deal for either team like what what's the point of that for Chicago um Washington you can build some interesting deals around kozma's declining salary I I thought like kma and valent chunis but if I'm Washington a that's December 15th because valent chunis was signed in the offseason B like I like those players they're on good contracts um can you give me some draft picks and the Knicks are like well we just traded a bunch of our draft picks all of them basically for Mel Bridges we have these extra bad ones including yours which is protected in the next two years and we don't ever expect to get it because you're so bad um and so like what's the point of that for Washington and and then I I just just kind of was then I was then I gave up I'm going to be honest with you so so I don't know what what I couldn't find a good one really well yeah because it's like it's a process of elimination I mean you even go you just go through the re the rebuilding teams it's like you know you know Utah no one one more Utah I forgot Utah John Collins plus Walker Kesler combined for $600,000 more than Julius randle's salary so you can just throw kada Bates deop into that and you're fine but again if I'm Utah I'm like all right so I get to dump John Collins who has I think one more year left after this year got a player option yeah so let's let's assume he takes that so the Knicks I dumped 26 million on the Knicks Walker Kessler was third in Rookie of the Year voting two years ago and yeah he disappointed last year why like I and again if I'm the Jazz I want value give me value and if I'm the Knicks I'm saying wait I'm taking John Collins I'm not giving you draft pick and it just sort of Falls away as a concept pretty fast so they may be stuck with julus Randle and you know what that may be good because he's a very good player who does stuff that they need and if tibs distributes minutes the right way including maybe using him as a backup five at at times when matchups allow for it um it it could work out I do think their Center position is an obvious thing to monitor in the wake of Haren Stein's departure Mitchell Robinson has had a lot of injuries I think Mitchell Robinson's a great fit for them I thought he was great last year when he was healthy and maybe maybe him and aoua ends up being enough with Jericho Sims as an emergency third guy I don't know but I I do love I think T Knicks are going to be really really good and uh I'm very excited but I just this is an interesting situation and and it dovetails with uh our next interesting situation which is Brandon Ingram do you have any closing thoughts on Randall no I mean I think you hit her I mean I think the biggest thing for me is is their front Court as far as the availability of of Robinson is probably the biggest X Factor right like you know hey he's healthy that solves a lot of you know because then you have a Chua as kind of your backup and you said Randall can play some five here but I don't as we talked about it we started I don't think there you're there's a pressing need to do anything with Randall right now I think you can kind of let this play out a little bit Brandon Ingram yeah there's so many qu I think for me Brandon Ingram’s Future New Orleans is the most interesting team there's so many different ways we can go with them you know as far as but I think Ingram is certainly the that's the probably the that's probably the biggest Story one of the biggest story lines is certainly in in the league here no question um so he was eligible for an extension uh last season I believe right and they couldn't come to a deal and maybe one of the reasons they couldn't come to a deal was hey if I make all NBA and there's always this like third team forward thing where it's like oh God who am I going to pick for third four Julius Randall okay maybe Brandon inam can sneak in then he eligible for the supermax Jamal Murray by the way could have made that same bet on himself this year I think wisely decided not to um Brandon Ingram did not make all NBA now he's entering the last year of his contract he's eligible for a gigantic extension he has not received a gigantic extension and then last last week the athletic reported he did not attend um the Pelicans sort of informal mini camp I think in LA or wherever it was and posted some perhaps passive aggressive stuff on Instagram about not being around people who don't see the full value in you and I've tried like all hell to find Brandon Ingram trade teams it's very very difficult for all the same reasons I actually thought the Clippers and the heat again and he's a better Talent play for them than I think Randall would be but it's just I didn't sense a lot of I don't I don't sense any activity in those spheres a couple people mentioned Memphis is a theoretical fit to me I don't love it and I don't think the Grizzlies love it either um and you know it's interesting I was thinking about this you remember what David Faulk super agent David Faulk remember what he said about the max contract when they when they created the max contract what did he say he said it was ultimately going to be I'm paraphrasing and forgive me David Faulk if if I'm a little off paraphrasing but I I remember him essentially saying like this is going to be bad for teams now he's obviously making a pro labor argument right like when you represent the best players a Max contract is going to suppress their earnings so take that for what it's worth so is this going to be bad for teams because the best player or the second best player on every team is going to demand the Max and the teams are just going to give it to to them because that's what happens and you're going to be hamstrung with these players who are on Max contracts but are like the 28th best player in the league and I wonder as we talk about Julius Randall and as we talk about Brandon Ingram if that is one thing that the second apron is GNA self-correct is that these are the players not the midsize salary guys like everyone always worries about the middle class of the NBA every change in the CBA oh the middle class is going to get killed and there are cases like tus Jones where just it's a perfect storm of crap and their contract situation goes to and they end up taking the minimum the middle class ends up doing pretty well most of the time some of that is teams retain their own players to trade them like we saw with KJ Martin which by the way is a deal that I think the league looked at as like what what what happened with this deal valent chunis rwn Holmes midsize contracts um are valuable as trade ships maybe it's these kind of guys when teams are so scared of the second aprim the ingrams and the randles that end up having the most difficult time I just don't I have no idea what's going to happen here absolutely none well I mean I think if you're if you're Brandon Ingram you're looking at what Jamal Murray just got and you're thinking wait a minute four for 208 is that's my number right that's the most he can get in an extension here why am I not getting that number here and I think if you're if you're the Pelicans you're looking at it like okay we've committed to Zion we traded for deante Murray and we still have CJ um McCollum left on on a on a pretty good number and we've got Trey Murphy who's rookie extension eligible which is another big storyline for um so is there a compromise that we you know that we can reach here and and it's similar to Ingram like okay he he could you know and maybe in different circumstances he probably is a max player um but what's the market for him right what's the market for him in 2020 2 we talked about Brooklyn really as the only would Brooklyn come in and give him $40 million a year $45 million a year based on um based on on their timeline here and it's you're right it's like when you you create an illusion as far as when we use the word Max as far as what certain players think what what they are um and the middle class I think with this CBA benefits a lot like we saw TJ um TJ McConnell get an extension here there's those guys those like 12 to 30 you're kind of pegged like sixth man gets a certain number here your third best player is a certain number here um and it is fascinating as far as you know and then you what you mentioned what happened last week does the Ingram situation present a distraction when training camp happens in three weeks that's that's the biggest thing and certainly and that will continually hang over their heads like I thought you know Cleveland could have been a a potential fit certainly before they extended you know Jared Allen who's not um you know um you know eligible to be to be traded because he signed that extension but what does Cleveland do with with Ingram when they already got Moy on a Max and Mitchell on a Max and Garland on a Max and stuff like that so it does present a challenge as far as finding him a new home that there's no deal reached so I'm glad you brought up Cleveland because that trade fake trade trade construction of Allen for Ingram and you'd have to have other stuff around it it got it seemed to get like Traction in NBA Talking Heads and social media I never really understood why Cleveland would do that yeah even if I could sit here and make the argument that Brandon Ingram one for one is a better basketball player than Jared Allen he's gonna make he wants to make more money we'll see if he makes more money like I just don't really like what is the point of having Garland Mitchell and Ingram now if you're telling me that like well then I can go trade Darius Garland and reorient my team that way and okay but that's like three or four steps and comp it's a little bit more complicated than that but I guess that could be the argument like we trade Garland to wherever for other assets that fit better and we have Donovan Mitchell as our point guard maybe in Ingram on the wing but I never loved that one and I never sense it got it got much traction maybe you're right maybe the maybe what happens here is the most rational situation where they just come to an agreement on an extension that's south of the Max and makes sense for the Pelicans it makes sense for Ingram but um it's interesting just like Trey Murphy II third's extension feels like a bigger priority for them than Brandon ingrams which is which is strange but you know I thought about the Bulls for Brandon Ingram I I just don't know that you want to I just I mean the Bulls have lots of stuff they need to do with LaVine and vuich or need to try to do and they need to see what giddy looks like um do I want to introduce another ball dominant player after I just sort of gave Josh giddy the keys I could I don't know man like I don't know where this is going yeah I mean like finding as you said like finding it it's like the reality is Ingram struggled certainly had injuries at the end of the year um he cly I'm wiping the playoffs away him no because he was great against Phoenix in 2021 and or whatever year it was they played Pho 2022 I guess and and I think In fairness to him like I mean maybe he came back too early like he like it wasn't like he was in the Dort chamber good luck with the being in the DOR chamber and then Dort goes out you got jayen Williams on you that's like not easy so so I yeah I mean I I agree as far as giving him you know somewhat of a pass there here but as I as it's it's it's very similar to the Randall situation where maybe there as you said like maybe there's a compromise on on on an extension or or this plays out and and New Orleans kind of looks at it and says like you know you can't extend them and then trade them you know because the the Restriction there um so maybe it plays out until next off season and you know it's almost like he's almost like a quasi restricted free agency just be restricted free agen because they're so just so limited amount of uh of teams out there you brought up uh you mentioned McConnell's name which I haven't asked you about this um what did you think of Indiana um retaining toppen Pacers re-signing McConnell, Toppin, and Nembhard yeah nart yep and McConnell on these kind of midsize deals we're talking about two of them topping and nart over the mid-level Exception narts by quite a lot um and putting themselves sort of in tax position for the next couple of Seasons I I read Kevin pelton's reaction to The McConnell deal and and I read John hollinger's criticism of the nart deal and I have to say I was a little surprised at the negativity just because I think those guys are good players on fine contracts even toppen like I think toppen is pretty good like even if he's just a backup he shot threes well for them he fits how they play but they made the point corre not correctly but they made a good point about the opportunity cost of using essentially the midlevel on Obi to and what else could I have gotten for that what would fit better I'm not sure that there was anything dramatically better but I it is I I still I'm still fine with all those contracts I think NEP part's really good and is going to be a big part of their team I know he got roasted by Jaylen Brunson in the playoffs everybody got roasted by somebody in the playoffs but that was a little bit troubling how easy Jaylen Brunson found it against him um but I like all those McConnell like was awesome for them he might have been Sixth Man of the Year if he was that awesome for the whole for the if he was as awesome for the first 40 games as he was for the second 40 games I didn't mind any of that for the Pacers but I I under the criticism was interesting to me it made me rethink a little bit listen I I mean I think when McConnell came out for 4 for 45 everybody said it's a 32 year 32y old point guard that number might not look good in the back end and at the end of the day years three and four are guaranteed for $5 million each right so it 31 out of the 45 is guaranteed I'm to paying $10 million $11 million for a backup point guard a good backup point guard I'm totally fine with it I think nard that maybe the the criticism is that he had a $2 million team option for next year that you replace that with an $18 million salary but I'm I still think it's good value and I think with top in it's you know hey what about jarus Walker who you drafted you know in the lottery a few years ago you know could you have used him as the replacement waiting in the wings here and I'm I'm fine with that contract either I think the two biggest things for me with Indiana is what as we said like Miles Turner right because now Indiana I think the last time P they paid the luxury tax was an ' 056 I think they're $18 million below the tax going into next year right that doesn't include a draft pick what happens with Miles Turner are they comfortable going into the tax and for me my biggest wild card exactor and I wrote about it in in in the training camp is Benedict Maan like he's kind of like the Forgotten guy who had that torn laborum was out I think March when he got hurt with didn't play in the playoffs here like what happens with him one of the better sixthman um you know reserves you know coming off your bench has what happens if he has a good year and now he's extension eligible next year here so I think there's kind of like a there's there's more to it as far as what the what the future looks like in Indiana um I think the Miles Turner situation is one of the biggest things to monitor in the NBA because this is a good team that clearly made a statement of we're hitting the gas with the Pascal cakam trade and they made the Conference Finals you can scoff at it if you want they got injured luck in both rounds it's fine they're a good team like they're a good team they're proof of concept is they might lose in the first round they might not they're a good team they don't have a backup big that I think is ready to assume that mantle as like this is the starting center of the Indiana Pacers and Isaiah Jackson maybe can get there you know maybe he has a huge leap this year I don't know I'm a little skeptical of that um maybe that puts Miles Turner in the cat bird seat may maybe that puts him in a position where it's like hey I'm I'm in unrestricted re agency but my incumbent team can't afford to lose me uh I I think that's I think that's an interesting situation all right let's go through some of the rookie uh guys going into their fourth year yeah or or otherwise who are eligible for extensions and hit some of the spicier ones you can pick start where do you want to start you know what's interesting for me and we we talked on on a little bit is Cam Thomas in in um in Brooklyn I think cam Thomas is just based on this net team and with a rookie Extension candidates on Rookie deals head coach and they're kind of like they're they're going to be I think I I think I know what you're GNA say and I just I can't I can't wait I can't wait I I think I think they can be the they might be the wor I think he might lead the league and scoring yes I think think I think he's gonna lead a least and and shot attempts so here's with Brooklyn what do you do do you do you do you do you do something that makes sense now what does make sense mean does it in the in the low 20s is that a too rich for a that could average 28 30 points a game but he's got he's a restricted free agent next year he's got such a low cap hold you've got all this room and stuff like that I think he switched agents I think he's on his third agent since coming into it's a lot of Agents is a lot of Agents his previous agent did really great work for him by the way I think that's fascinating for me just based on the Spectrum right just based on what this year potentially could be in Brooklyn here if I'm the Nets this is a big bger to me I got to see like I I want I I think cam Thomas is actually kind of a little bit underrated by insiders in cogniz Senti because they just think he's a selfish Gunner which he generally has been uh I think he could really make shots and he passed it a little better last year defensively there's a long way to go but there's no reason for me as Brooklyn to like with nobody having cap room other than me there's just no reason for me to do anything with any of these guys uh okay pick another one um how about uh I mean can I pick two and just pick one team the two guys in Houston are pretty interesting to me jayen green and Al shenon yeah like you know it's it's funny we get into this usually how rookie extensions work is you're either a Max guy and here's the other thing too with rookie extensions man like what a what a world where like you could play two good year two out of the four good years you know show that you potentially could become a franchise guy and then get a Max contract and I think you look at Cunningham and this is this is like unnamed shaded Kate no I mean like great for Kate Cunningham and everything like that you know he gets a Max contract but we get in this period where you either you either come off the board in the first week of July on a Max extension or we wait until um the last week of um yeah right before the season starts I think there was 10 players that signed on like October like the last day of the regular offseason last year so Jaylen green who had a terrific March uh and close to the season certainly when sangon went down that changed a little bit um as far as how their offense ran um and then sangon as far as you know you know could have been probably most improved candidate as far as based off what he did um two guys that are kind of still sitting in in in the bullpen waiting for um for a deal to get done one of the things that would be fun about being an agent or working for an agency would be um using you starting with starting with my argument and then using numbers and straining the numbers to back up my argument so if I were Alper and shenon agent I could make a a total like and you can make a case that like when you actually make it it seems completely logical and totally fine even if you're straining the numbers and cherry pick a little bit I would go to Houston and say hey look prove to me prove to me that Kade Cunningham Evan obley Scotty Barnes fron Vagner Alper and shun's outperformed all those dudes and here's my dosier of numbers and my PowerPoint presentation trying to convince you that this is true and it wouldn't be like a crazy outlandish PowerPoint now I don't personally agree with it given that he's played like zero important NBA games I you know some fake playing important game well he missed most of the fake playing important games last year um but you could make it's a it's an argument that you could make like he was in All-Star talks last year he was kind of one of the last All-Star cuts for the Western Conference if I had to make a prediction and please tell me if you disagree I would say if I had to say which of these two is more likely to get an EXT I'll ask you which if you had to just predict which of these two is more likely to get an extension if either of them does before the season who would you pick sangon me too me too I just feel like I know what he is and Jaylen green has been so up and down with wildly amazing ups and wildly fr rating Downs which you would expect for a guy who I think is 22 years old playing a alpha is role on what has been mostly a bad team and last year was an okay team um and I've got so many upand cominging young players none of them are like shenon though so I think maybe neither of them will get it right yeah I mean I think if you're if if you're green like you're probably looking at you know the stretch and you know they had that 11 game winning streak in March when you're you're you're scoring 30 points you shot 50% from the field and 45% on three I mean those are Max numbers but I think if you're the Rockets you're probably looking at the first half of the Year where you were like thinking like you maybe it's best for him to come come off the bench you know maybe there's a you know maybe he's a trade candidate here so I think I think there's probably a little more stability with sangon as far as with a number compared to where green could be unless of course you're getting it on on on a pretty good value if I'm Jing agent I'm hoping that you have you Rafel Stone in this theoretical negotiations have forgotten what the team's schedule was during that 11 game winning streak um and if I'm Alper and shanon's agent I'm hoping that you remember that the winning streak started with me in the lineup there there became this narrative like oh look at how the Rockets took off without shenon and with amen Thompson who was outstanding inserted into the starting lineup is is kind of a center on offense rolling cutting not really playing the kind of position that people thought he could play but playing this other one very well and how do how amen Thompson and Alper and shenon fit together is a huge part of the Houston Rocket story this year um but the streak started with shenon playing well then he got hurt then they beat a bunch of bad teams credit do them they beat the bad teams that's what you're supposed to do then the schedule got tough again and they lost every game and fell out of the play and race um I don't know what's going to happen there but I just know I'm so beyond I mean jayen green was my most intriguing player going into last season because of how many interesting young players the Rockets have and tar e missed most of the Season he's coming back Reed Shepard's in the picture now there's just a lot of moving Parts here um for a team that justifiably I think their coaching staff and front office would but especially the coaching staff would like to take up another leap into the playoffs this year yeah I mean listen I think they put themselves in position last year I I think if if they don't make I mean I would think if they don't make the at least the if you don't make the plan I think it would be considered disappointment this year I would agree but there's going to be some dis Western Conference teams who don't just it's just math it's just like you know 13 teams are trying to do something this year and only 10 of them are going to be playing and above um all right I'm gonna take the next one um The Warriors have two guys up for extensions and Jonathan kaminga and Moses Moody and to me kaminga has the potential to be the spiciest one um just because last year there was kaminga drama and like are he and Steve Kerr gonna be okay is kaminga come come off the bench what's his role going to be then he starts and he comes off the bench again now it's like they have to figure out what their starting five is going to be is he going to be in it I've talked about this at length about can you put kaminga Draymond Wiggins and A Center on the floor if not who comes off the bench Etc I think this one Moody look Moody's either going to get done at some level around maybe a little north of the mid level I don't know what you get I don't even know what you give Moody for and I'll let you go and Comm Moody for me is really and I I text you as far as kind of like under the radar just based on like when he plays like good things happen I think I think they're like 28 and 18 when he played more than 15 minutes last year um I think he shot 40% from three on the games he started um so when he plays like but it's a matter of just kind of creating opportunity for him and now you've got you've got Melton you've got healed um you know certainly Kyle Anderson to your front here like where's the where's the opportunity going to come for him I like Moses Moody if I were another team I'd be trying to steal Moses Moody on the cheap taking advantage of that crowding that you mentioned um kaminga kaminga is the interesting one because he he was you know the kind of the Blue Chip Pick that hit right James wisman is the Blue Chip Pick that missed and that to totally sort of tilted their franchise upside down for a bit and still they're still sort of paying the price for that kaminga which they got from the Minnesota trade for DLo a home run trade um is a really interesting player who has not always fit the way the Warriors kind of want to play in the Steph Curry Steve Curry style but I think that's part of his value is that he can kind of burst outside of that system and do stuff athletically that no one else on the team can do um I think defensively he should develop into a very good I've just been a kaminga fan I if I were a betting man and I am not I would bet on this going into the offseason I I don't know that I just I don't know that's just that that would just be my bet if if I'm the Warriors I'm saying why am I going to pay you close to the max when no one has cap room and this is what restrictor free agency is for and if I'm kinga's agents I'm going to say well look here are the numbers you know he's a very important part of your future he's he's the bridge one of the bridges to the next era along with p who's years away from this discussion of extensions pay me X and why it's interesting to me is because of how much you know simmering drama there was that's it got out into the public there was articles about kaminga and his role in his unhappiness with Steve Kerr H how if there is no deal how does this go well I mean listen I think it's for me it's interesting that what did and I know the two different players and it was two two different times I think what did Golden State learn from the Jordan pool rookie extension here where they basically you know gave him a pretty nice contract right as far as where and and you know it could be determined it's probably one of the least favorable deals out there right now I mean better it's not great a little better last year towards the end in in with with the Wizards here so I think what you learned from that I think um you know with kaminga I think I think think there is a chance that what you would offer now for Kingo so let's say um if it's 30 in the 30s that he could probably outplay that based off him off this year I think there's a and I think if you're Golden State that's worth the risk like okay like fine we'll pay you earn you earned it we'll pay we'll pay you five plus million more than what we per year than what we were willing to do in October um and I think that's I think that's the the risk that you're willing to take because as we said along restricted free agency protects the team for for you know for something like that I I and I make I'm saying if I had to bet this if I had to predict this just know that some of these predictions are going to be wrong and funny things happen in the 48 hours before the extension deadline like there are some deals you don't expect to happen and then just someone moves a little bit and there's a rush to get things done like that's what makes those 48 Hours very interesting I I think what what haen you know is you know when you work with a deadline you react differently here and I think when when it somebody puts $130 million in front of you of guaranteed money over four whatever five years four years like that's hard to turn down like it really is I think that's why we saw we saw 14 Player sign extensions last year and there were certainly like uh Aon neith like you know we could say oh that's a great value deal right now but when you're putting $40 million in front of a guy or Cole Anthony or some of these other players here those are um Josh is another one it's hard I'll never forget going to a Nicks preseason game last year and just talking to people on the Baseline is during warm-ups the day Devon Vel signed his extension yeah or the news broke and I was astonished that a couple of the people I was talking with were like you know he probably could have got more if he played the season and I'm like dude this what he just signed for whatever it was 135 140 million he missed half of last season he's never played on a good team like I I get what you're saying but that's just if I'm Devon Mell I'm like where do I sign 135 million bucks I get to play with Victor now yeah I mean that's listen that's it goes back to the thing as far as what the market plays a big role and usually sometimes teams are a little bit more aggressive as TR trying to get lock up these guys before they hit restricted free agency all right I'm gonna give you two that one I'm semi one I'm very surprised hasn't happened yet and the other I'm just semi surprised hasn't happened yet I I for no I have no reporting on any of this I just logically expect both to happen uh Jaylen Suggs yeah Josh giddy um Suggs is the one where I just thought there's so much Goodwill in Orlando everyone's so thrilled with how the team is developing he seems pretty clearly to I mean this is just I don't even know who jayen sugs agent is off the top of my head but it seems like if I were jayen sugs agent I couldn't with a straight face going and be like well my guy's a max player um and yet he also seems like a very clearly very valuable player overall into the Orlando Magic a guy that I could just see settling in for some like 28 to 32 million per year like a number that you just mentioned and would be agreeable to everyone a good culture guy Etc so I'm a little surp maybe it's just a deadline thing that one surprises me a bit yeah I mean listen I think if you know different you know different positions and certainly the size isn't there but certainly what Jaden McDaniels got last year in uh in Minnesota I think was like five for like 13 3 1ish 130 somewhere so I thought that could be a fair number you know Orlando is known for their creative contracts as far as start high descend as far as how it how it goes you've got um pal bankara who's gonna get a Max contract next year if he you know certainly you know he did certainly he signed fron Vagner their books are pretty their books are in really good shape so I think um I think I would be surprised if that doesn't get done by the 21st I think the number as you mentioned and I thought maybe in that maybe in that 2728 million range is is probably fair for him Diddy I thought Hey listen I thought I thought uh Chicago was gonna after the Olympics I thought they were just going to give him a blank check right off there I thought that's when we were going to see that get done G he's you know look he's gonna put up numbers this year there's no question about that um he put up numbers in Oklahoma City he's going to put up numbers this season um he's just he's he's an interesting player because yeah he gets to be the engine of an offense now right like he gets to be the number one Creator the ball's going to be in his hands they're going to have like a decent amount of shooting around him if they start LaVine and Kobe white and Pat Williams and vuvi like that's there's going to be decent spacing around Josh giddy that's where he thrives you just like if you're the engine of an off this is the question I always come back to with some of these guys if you're the if if the only thing you can do well and I don't mean to minimize this but is be the number number one ball handler on an offense and we don't really have any evidence that Josh giddy can do anything else well other than rebound he's not a good defensive player and he could not fit an off ball role which is why he's not on the Oklahoma City Thunder anymore if that's what you can do great it's the hardest thing to do in the NBA to be the engine of a competent offense and if you're like I'm just making this up as like a Josh gaty projection if you're like the 11th best guy at that in the NBA where does that leave me as a team if you're unable to transition into a secondary role when we get a guy who's better than the 11th best guy which is ultimately what we're going to need to be a great team now it's but it's too early to Pigeon hold Josh giddy as someone who can't can't can't do anything the three-point shooting track record is discouraging the defensive track record given his size is a little discouraging but he's very very young and I think he's going to put up monster numbers this year and I if he wants to bet on himself for a team that just traded a really valuable thing for me and say hey I've kind of got you in jail the way that ogan and Obi had the Knicks in jail and the way you know Etc like maybe maybe I do that yeah I mean I think if if there is a deal that gets done um by the start of season I think that the initial reaction will be that Chicago overpaid I think that's I think that could be the initial reaction here and I think the from one end it'd be like well why you know hey if we're going to run the offense through giddy this is his first year why don't we see how it goes right let's like kind of use this year as a kind of a barometer as far as what his contract for next year as far as in in the new deal but on the other end if you're if you're if you're Chicago you're saying hey he had a really good Olympics you know there was some really good periods there um we traded uh Alex kuso for him you know there was certainly criticism there he's our guy going forward even if we have to overpay now what does overpay mean like that's that's the biggest thing are you paying $25 million you know somewhere like I don't you know I I don't know what that number is quite yet right now but um I do think when if there is a deal that's going to be done I think as I said like the reaction one might be like well that's a like who you bidding against like you know it's almost like Patrick Williams right like Patrick Williams signs for five for 90 18 and a half and it's like well who we bidd against here but well not only that you you hard then you hard cap yourselves with Jaylen Smith and yeah and you put the tax in play and you can't get back the good stuff for Demar D rozan because the Spurs come in and steal it yep um so yeah that's going to be interesting he's he's more probably he's the more intriguing one out of any of these guys just based on like there's so many different ways you can you can kind of look at it because you don't trade for him unless you're going to make your your offense is going to run through him if you so you said 25 million if you set the over under at 25 and a half million average annual value and tell me that Josh giddy is going to agree to an extension before the season I'm going over that I don't think I don't think and if I were his agent I would tell him not to agree to that too um I agree play listen average start I mean average starting point guard salary is like 28 29 million like that's the reality of it here then again this is a gigantic amount of money either way uh other names that we won't get to now Santi Alama Corey kisper Jaylen Johnson we got to and I think Terence man is a sneaky veteran extension guy for the Clippers uh I want to get two other kind of Headliners that I don't think a lot of people understand that they're eligible for an extension because they're not sort of in this universe talked about um Joel embiid yeah is eligible for an extension in Philadelphia take us through what he's eligible for and what you've heard yeah so he's got uh he's Embiid and Durant are eligible for extensions eligible for three and 3 and 190 um or he could opt into his contract and sign for three uh two for 132 um by doing that he would actually earn an extra $2 million here I would uh I would be stunned if by the start of training camp or you know or even before the start of season that there's no he can only he's eligible up until the 21st um I would expect a deal to get done um with embiid in the in the in the near future here I would and I think it will certainly be at Max at you know at Max money Kevin Durant is also eligible for an extension which seems like it it came fast but what do we what what what's the numbers there and what what do we know it's interesting with Durant who's got uh he's got two years left on his deal he can extend for another year um because of the over 38 rule um there's two ways to look at it um does he play it out not extend and then now next year he's eligible to sign for two years right so he can get another year a big more money there however and you know what the the however part is what happens if the wheels fall off this year there like and now you have Kevin Durant going into the last year of your contract what is is he a happy Kevin Durant here um so I think that's that's intriguing for me just because he can get another bite of the Apple if he waits another year but I think certainly if you're extending for you know 6263 million some you know somewhere around there I think I think if you're Phoenix you're basically it's on the T it's it would be on the table for you right here it is it's just a matter of kind of what he what he wants to do that's certainly a situation to monitor I I I liked what they did in the off season I think they'll be better this year than they were last year um I think Bud's a very good coach I think Frank vgo's a very good coach just didn't fit there last year um health is obviously going to be the question for them the big three was not healthy for most of for enough of last season and wasn't good enough frankly when they were on the court together particularly when you fold their regular season numbers and their playoff numbers together and they got demolished by the wolves in the playoffs it's very underwhelming book be Durant together but I think the point guards that they signed tyus Jones Monty Morris will help another year of Royce O'Neal will help they did some other nice Fringe moves that Mason plumbley I think is a nice backup I just do they have the ceiling that they need to have given what they invested in Kevin Durant there's a universe in which they do in which some of these Western Conference teams that are a little bit flawed or have some questions to answer some new pieces to integrate backslide or regress or whatever but it's it's a it's a tough road to hope for Phoenix all right Bobby marks it's nice to be back yeah I mean we're we're getting there we'll be ready to rock and roll in a couple weeks here but uh I it's as I said this is kind of the exciting uh kind of a little bit teams are still in that honeymoon period and still you start playing uh practice and nobody on paper looks good anymore it's like we get teams get to actually see what they what they did over the summer and what works and what doesn't work and it's going to be a really I think it's going to be a really fun season when you look at the depth of the West oh man and and the top of the East and the middle of the East you know we we all focus on the top three or four that Cleveland Indiana Orlando group is really really fun and Miami is like hey wait what what what about us Miami caught a lot of heat because they didn't do much in the offseason but at the end of the day the availability will determine where this team goes right the ability of Terry roier and Tyler hero and Jimmy Butler certainly another guy Jimmy Butler extension guy that kind of we'll see what his reaction will be we get to you know the first day of media day and training camp and and and everything like that that's one that can happen anytime during the season right it can yes uh embiid and Durant have to happen between uh the 1 uh the 21st of October um Butler can happen during the year because he got a player option all right Bobby marks what do we got coming out you got training camp guides working on what else we got training camp gu you got a draft article coming out we got an article this week I think Wednesday comes out gate The Gatekeepers of draft picks we've got five teams that can basically control the the next seven years with Brooklyn and uh Houston and San Anton Utah OKC four of those teams got 13 out of 30 picks in the first round here just based on it's kind of like a little bit of The Perfect Storm based on prior trades have kind of um resulted in those teams controlling all these picks I'll be interested to read that sort of what happens because you do run into this Oklahoma City's already run intuitive like we literally just can't make all of these we can't roster all of these players here's the big thing and and you know Brooklyn certainly has the most picks based on that that Knicks trade but at the end of the day the team that probably has the most value quality is probably San Antonio what San Antonio has been able to do with certainly those two Atlanta first un uh pick swap from the Hawks and then they got the back end you know whether it be pick swaps with Dallas sack um Minnesota Minnesota they got an unprotected first from mini from the from the Dillingham trade like they got they got a Chicago protect at first they got a nice um Kitty of of draft picks there well and look it's there's no sense repeating it you know we're going to be asked versions of like what's the most exciting storyline what's the most intriguing player who's the most intriguing like the answer to all of those questions is Victor wanyama like we don't even have to say it very often we're not going to say it enough I I don't know I just don't I I am a Gog at everything that dude does I was so impressed with how he played in the Olympics he's the biggest story in basketball if not for the championship picture this year just in terms of what the league is going to look like for the next 10 years it's it starts with him and everything else Falls below that all right Bobby marks get back to work thank you for your time I hope to see you soon bud thanks Z appreciate it