Hornets Hit Huge Cultural Reset + Huge Factors To Watch For Jaylen Brown, LeBron & Kawhi

>> Hello, welcome to the Who-Collective Podcast.

“We talk about the NBA, which we're doing on Sunday afternoon.”

Here in Akron, Ohio, why not? Why not? Joining me from New York City, Vince Goodwill. >> What up, though, Wendy? >> What up, though?

Joining us from Dallas, Texas, is Bad McMan. >> Howdy, partners. Now, Vinnie, you see how I say partners? It's plural, it's not like an exclusive greeting. I'm very inclusive with it, maybe you want to learn from that.

>> What up, don't make man. >> Thank you. >> Good job, good job all the way around.

“All right, so look, we're recording this in the mid afternoon on Sunday.”

I expect there to be a rev up of NBA transactions tonight into tomorrow. Monday is the last day of the league year. Freightens the open Monday afternoon, a whole bunch of options and things are due. We're going to be a little bit behind maybe on this because I've got to travel out to LA tonight. So we've got a full week to go, so we're sort of time stamping this for those reasons.

We have some bigger topics to go over, but there was just a trade in the NBA. I thought we should hit that first. Even though it involved North Carolina, a team in North Carolina and a team in Arizona events, this is very much of a Michigan trade. >> Michigan State, let's be more specifically, that cool when green and white.

>> You know, I always say that nobody loves people from Michigan State, more than people

from Michigan State, and within the NBA, they call Phoenix West Lansing as long as it is. Michigan State product, Miles Bridges being traded from the Charlotte Hornets to Phoenix

“for Grayson Allen, who has some North Carolina ties if I remember correctly.”

And Roy Soniel, poor Royce keeps getting traded. Everybody wants them. >> The checks clear. >> Yeah, and so this interesting thing about this, you know, the sons don't even technically have the first round pick yet.

They don't have the first round pick until July 6th, but they've already traded it. They don't like to hold on to their first round pick to the ground. On July 6th, the sons get, I guess maybe even July 1st, I guess maybe it's July 5th. The sons get access to their 233 pick, and they have already traded it, unprotected to Charlotte.

And Charlotte is sending back a protected first round pick in this deal.

So there's a swap of first round picks, but the more valuable one goes to Charlotte. And my understanding and expectation is that Miles Bridges will get a contract extension. He's on the last year of his deal. My expectation is that Bridges will get a contract extension as part of this deal and become the son's starting foreman going forward.

So McMahon, obviously the sons make a move here to power up their team with an offensive minded fore. But more interestingly, in the course of a few days, the Charlotte Hornets who just had their most successful season in a decade made it into the play in tournament, all those positive vibes from winning in the play and winning in the play and kind of backed up by trading

on the mellow ball in Miles Bridges. Charlotte does not feel like actions over word. Charlotte does not feel like they're good enough to compete. And we'll see they have lots of cap flexibility. They can make, they can make more moves. But at the moment, it looks like they're taking a little bit of a retro fit step backwards.

Yeah. And this is a cultural reset for the Charlotte Hornets. And they're building around Brandon Miller who's going to be 24 this next season and con can reproduce 21. So they're taking a long-term view to build around a couple of top five picks who have

already been very productive and they feel like can be cornerstones of that franchise move forward. They didn't believe in the mellow ball as a cornerstone. They passed on his value as soon as he had some if they could have traded in last summer. They wouldn't say this out loud, but they would have.

They did it as soon as they could. And then, you know, with Miles Bridges, a town to guy, you know, he's had some major major off court issues, you know, last year, you know, really, he's, he's had, he's been productive these last couple of years. But as soon as they could have, they could get off them.

They did. They were, they were discussing trades, regarding him last season before the deadline. And again, they took two of their best four players from last year's roster are gone.

the league pass darlings for the second half of the season.

“Two pieces from that lineup, that statistically was the best lineup in the NBA during”

the regular season or out the door, but this is Jeff Peterson and the hornist management looking at this through a long-term view and saying what kind of culture do we want as we build around conknipple and Brandon Miller and that did not include the milliball, it did not include Miles Bridges, I agree it's a step back. And then for the sons, it's just, it's a swing, it is at a significant talent.

You know what? I give Jeff Peterson in the Charlotte Hornets a lot of credit because, you know, how many people would have taken that sample size of how we finished the season and going into the play in. And, you know, of course, they got waxed by Orlando in Orlando to get them knocked out of

the playoffs, they would have taken that, especially in the basketball market like Charlotte and said, look at all the progress, we're going to build on that. We're going to keep the milliball, we're going to keep all these guys and build on it. And he said, you know what, this ain't it, it takes a sober executive, it takes someone who's got some real life sobriety to say like, you know what, this ain't it, this isn't

sustainable or, you know what, maybe it is sustainable, but the return I'm going to get on this, how high I'm going to go with these guys as our cornerstones and this Eastern Conference ain't high enough for me to just go all in on these guys. And like you, you talked about shining up the milliball, we don't even mention the nonsense that Miles Bridges was involved in a couple of years, like having to sit out the entire

year because of the nonsense that he was involved in. And now you can ship him off to Michigan State Southwest and tell him, hey, maybe he's reformed, maybe he's not, not our problem anymore. That's a, that's a huge, huge thing.

“I think Miles is, you know, not had any issues in the last couple of years.”

So his value was, let's just stop the answer out though, like in case anybody's not aware, he was suspended for full season because of some heinous domestic violence incidents. Right. Right. I'm not saying that he still has those demons, I am saying, especially in the basketball

market that Charlotte is where, when do you remember, it's Charlotte used to be the number

one basketball market before everything happened with George Shin and then it just basically

went to the tank. So they have a very high sort of threshold of what they consider to be, you know, athletic character and they don't want the questions and everything else. So not saying that Miles Bridges is involved with anything now. I'm merely saying that that organization said, you know what, let's get out from under

this while we can't write now. I repeatedly see moves that Charlotte makes and I have for two or three years now and thought, all right, I get it, I get it. We haven't seen, you know, their home run has been, you know, getting in the lottery and getting canipple.

I mean, that's their home run move. But they've repeatedly have made smart smart moves, they're in great, they're in great position draft capital-wise, which I'm going to talk about in a, you know, going forward here in this podcast. But they, they just have a lot of flexibility now.

So we'll see. It wouldn't fix, in this case, they've now just traded two of their best perimeter shooters. Bridges is a score, but he's not a perimeter shooter, he's a great dunker. Biggs is, you know, signed some of their young guys, Gillespie, and who else are they signed?

Jordan Goodwin, who's a really nice reclamation project, Othammer.

“They signed two of their guards that they had on the roster to, both contracts, I think”

were believed to be a good value.

Gillespie got, no, Gillespie got 12 million a year and people thought he might get more

than that if he got to the open market. And so now I wonder, McMahon, if Phoenix is setting themselves up for another move, because I think they need some shooting. And I think this trade acquiring this 2029 first might give them some flexibility with some other other firsts, because they're, they're, you know, they got to check into that.

I'm not quite ready for the podcast, I'm not ready for you for my homework on that. But, I did, you say no, Gillespie's Colin Gillespie, anyone? Colin Gillespie. Say no, Colin, he looks like he could be a null. Easily.

Anyway, okay, so I would keep an eye on, on Phoenix to see if they do anything further here. They've already moved off the tiny little morsel of draft capital that they had. You know, just from a player perspective, Miles Bridges is pretty similar to Jalen Green,

I think, I don't know, I don't know if you'd say one of those guys, more talented.

Yeah, those are their second and third most talented players around Devon Booker, you know,

it's, they were a pesky team that made the playoffs last year, but you know, like the hornets are, they are a three point happy team. The mellow generated, they ton of those threes, but Roy So Neal is a, is a three and D guy, almost 80, some percent of his shots for three pointers. They just added a grace now, and who obviously is a volume three point shooter, like they

will have a very clear playing style, and they will have a very clear culture. Their ceiling is just not that high, but they've got the flexibility to try to raise that over the years. I forgot about Mark Williams, they also extended Mark Williams, like three years on like 36 million.

“So Mark Williams, Conglas, being Jordan Goodman, extended, I think extension is coming from”

Miles Bridges, and Dylan Brooks is going to the last year of his contract to 21 million,

and I believe they are motivated to extend him, and I think they're, you know, I don't know if they'll get me good on the same page, but they're going to try. I mean, they could be in a situation where they extend five players in the same offseason. So, you know, you don't see that every day. And this funny, you said that a Jailman Green is the second best player.

I'm like, Dylan Brooks is that team second best player, like he's most impactful for sure. Perhaps. Sorry, let me get split hairs here, Bigman, you've been a, it's Sunday, you are in a scratchy kind of mood.

Do you miss the other term? Do you just want to get into arguments here on Sunday?

“I think this is, you want to split hairs?”

Yeah, and I also feel like we've lacked interruptions here in recent times. So, no, it's going so swimming way. I feel like I'm trying to get him in early in the morning. Yeah, we need more conflicts. What's been going on?

Where's he anyway, my heart from him? More coming on that as he is coming in and he kind of draft compensation, that deal. Stay tuned. I'm not at liberty to say more.

All I can say is, if you have protected second rounder, just stay tuned.

Is all I can say about that. Cash. How about cash? We can call you out. Thank you.

Jackson's gonna share it, man. Deal. Anyway, okay, let's move on to some other stuff going on.

“I think we have to start at the Jalen Brown situation.”

So, as you can imagine, the Jalen Brown situation is very heavily on the minds of a lot of teams. There's a lot of discussion. Jackson is actively making calls. Okay, so I have been told that not maybe not everything, everyone that they're trying,

but Boston, in some talks with some teams, has been seeking heavy draft capital from teams as they discussed Jalen Brown trades. I heard of one team where they asked for five future first round picks. The team said no, and I don't think is going that direction. It's not not even going to name the teams, I'm not looking for that.

But the reason I bring this up is that if they're, and obviously, they have to get back players with somewhat matching salaries. It's not just straight, but what people in the league are discussing and what I'm starting to wonder is if the Celtics are looking for trades that are heavy and draft capital, and to be clear, because I know this will get aggregated, it doesn't mean every trade they're

looking at is draft capital, just all draft capital. But I have heard that they're looking for heavy draft capital in return for Jalen Brown. And so what that makes me wonder is whether or not they're, what their plan for next season is. Now certainly, you can take a lot of draft capital and turn around and try to trade that

for another piece. But if you're trying, if you're at least making offers that include Jalen Brown, and you're asking for this, it's implying that the Celtics are thinking about going a certain

Now, to, again, to underscore, they were trying to get Yana so we could go.

Okay. So it's not like they've punted or anything, but it just, it's as these things are to filter through the league. It makes people wonder what Brad Stevens is thinking about with his team right now. And we're seeing teams take step backs, takes step backs, I mean, obviously Milwaukee is taking

a step back. It's kind of decision been made for them. I don't know, Milwaukee can step back too far from last season. We go on. Right.

But they could have traded for Jalen Brown. Yes. Okay.

“They traded for controllable players on rookie deals and better draft capital, right?”

We got Charlotte for the moment, you know, we're in the middle of it, looking to take

a step back. We got Boston having conversations about draft picks, centric trades. What am I supposed to make in this McMahon? So Charlotte, you get it, because again, they're building around two guys who are in their earlier Brandon Miller's nearest mid mid 20s, but two guys, you know, two high

picks on still on their rookie deal, Jason Tadam's 28 years old. So, you know, to me, just like when the wolves traded Julius Randall, it's like, okay, what was next? And what next was obviously they're swing at the mellow ball. And so to me, if they make a deal with Jalen Brown, that's primarily based on the draft

picks, I don't think we can draw a conclusion until we see what happens for those draft picks in this transaction cycle, even, you know, is there, is there, do they already have something else set up or option A, B and C set up, and will there be another deal?

That's essentially an extension of that in the very near future.

But this is a case where it is extremely difficult to trade a perennial all NBA player in his prime and immediately get better. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

Look, if you trade them for Janice, didn't, yeah, you just did it. But by dangling, Jalen Brown in that deal for Janice, they essentially got themselves out over the cliff and now they just got to figure out how to land. They got to stick a land. Because I don't think there's any, oh, hey, Jalen, no, no, no, no.

Listen, let me just rub your back a little bit and tell you how much we love you.

“I don't, I think they're beyond that point.”

Well, I wouldn't say anything's impossible, but I, I'm picking up what you're laying down. I think it's going to be extremely difficult. My point is they tried, they took a swing and trying to trade Jalen Brown to get better immediately. And now I think they've just got to find the best deal for Jalen Brown and it's going

to be extremely difficult for that to be a trade that allows him to improve immediately while they have a superstar in his prime. Right. I think, and this is goes back to my theory that windy shut down, because you said Miami would do it.

I don't know Boston would do it. When I told windy, did my, did Boston put this Jalen Brown thing out there? Just so they could suck all of the capital from the Miami heat. So Miami would be left with nothing other than Janice. The back end of that is, what if they already made the decision to trade Jalen Brown anyway?

Right?

“I think, knowing Jalen Brown plus two first round picks, maybe they knew it wasn't”

going to get it done. Especially if, you know, Baylor Shiamen is the lynch pin and you're like, no, we just can't part with Baylor Shiamen. We're going to pass up on. Hey, watch that.

That's a crinkle. That's almost. Guy. Yeah, oh, there we go. We're going to pass up on Janice for Baylor Shiamen.

Forgive me for saying I was born last night, but I stayed up all night. So, so follow me here, y'all. The boss, the look of the boss and Celtics, Jason Taylor, who knows what's going to happen with, like, we assume that he's going to be back and he's going to be himself. Derek White hit a horrible year last year.

You have a new ownership that is taking over and Jalen Brown is a very, very expensive player. The players that they have on the contract now aside from Jason Taylor and Derek White are on the inexpensive side. I want if they're looking at another gap year to take a step back, to figure out some stuff, cut salary, and then maybe we figure out the rest.

You can go from going all land to not really, really quickly. If they made the decision that with this current roster, they can't beat the New York mix. Who's the sailor through this roster that had all these holes in it in its front line on the wings, at point guard, that they were going to be good enough to even get past the Detroit

pistons or Cleveland or whomever else may emerge, and the Eastern Conference, so maybe

go like Janice, and then if not, we're going to strip this whole thing down to the studs. Maybe, or maybe they, maybe they trade for two or three good places. I don't know.

“I just, some of the talks have indicated to me, maybe that's what they're thinking.”

By the way, let me say, let's, let's let's ask this. I think Andrew Wiggins is going to pick up his option. I don't think they're going to do a new deal. We talked about that could change, but I think Wiggins, by Monday, maybe even by the having this podcast comes out, Andrew Wiggins from what I understand is going to pick up

his option, 30 million dollars.

That's going to leave the heat with $18 million to spend on five players. Now, they could trade another player away, but they won 43 games last year, and like there are some role players that they can add for certainly, you know, you know, they've made an offer for Tim Hardaway, for example, you know, that they could try to get Gabe Vincent back, for example.

Let's just say they do really, really well with role players. They'll do well the minimum market because they've got stars that are in Miami. Right. Right. How many wins do you think?

I mean, it's June 28th. I'm not holding you to it.

“I, you know, again, I think they can be like the six best team in the East.”

Okay. Yeah. But like there are a few transaction cycles away from having a real chance of putting a supporting cast in place, good enough to make a deep play off run. Now, when you say a few, what's a few, make man, transaction cycles, by that, I mean,

all season, trade deadline all season. I say, they need a year. Yeah. I say the first and then a deadline and then another all season. Yeah.

I say, here's my point. Janis got traded to a team that I, at this moment, at this moment. Now, they may pull something because they're the heat. At this moment, I don't think the heat or championship contenders. So Janis got traded to a team that's not a championship contender, right?

We're not sure what's going on with Boston. Okay. We're not sure what's, the Charlottes to this point taken a step back.

Now, they, they've got 50 million out of the tax.

They've got extra first round picks. They could go swinging for a major player the next 10 minutes. Like I, I don't know, but Charlottes, like it's coming backwards a little bit. I'm not sure Philly is going to do any more spending. Philly has taken steps repeatedly over the last few years to dodge the luxury tax.

So I'm not sure they're a resigning Quentin Grimes and Kelly Ubrae. Not the Quentin Grimes and Kelly Ubrae are the, are the pathways to the title. But I'm not sure Philly's bringing back the team that they had last year that got late season run. Okay.

The calves look like they could, they might lose a player or two. I'm not sure they're going to be able to keep Dean Wade. They may have to trade another piece, you know, Max Drew's has been sort of a little bit available. They may be trying to do an upgrade with the trade there.

“I think the calves might have been involved a little bit.”

I heard in the Miles Bridges discussions, so maybe, you know, but I'm not, I don't think you're seeing a major addition to the calves. It could be wrong. I'm not seeing a super duper arms race in the east here. I think Atlanta and Orlando will both be better this year.

Yeah. And, you know, Atlanta really changed their roster a lot last year, then played well toward the end of the season. Orlando, I think, you know, they brought in Bane. I think his second year will be better, obviously, to make a coach and change.

But, you know what? I hear what you're saying. I am having this conversation on Sunday, June 28th, and the afternoon, things are going to change significantly in the next 36 hours. By the way, I had to ask a cap guy to go back a few minutes ago.

The sun's now get their 208 first round pet that they could trade, so the sun's traded a first, but they, because they, they now have a, one more tradeable first that they didn't before, just for housekeeping purposes. Obviously, this could change. We could see moves in the next 36 to 48 hours that change.

I'm just saying here, as I'm watching and having conversations is what I'm feeling. When, and Toronto's Toronto's trying to make major, uh-huh. It's done, now it's where I want to go next. Now, Toronto, significant discussion out there in the league that they are in conversations with the, with the clippers about co-i-laner.

Now, this is obviously a fascinating storyline because, you left Toronto, Vinnie, do you remember when they were trying to keep co-i-in 2019, all those restaurants in Toronto, uh, pledged that they would give co-i-free food, and they slept, these logos on all these restaurants, co-i, co-i-in, Dine, uh, do you think that's, offer still, say, yeah, that's, that's my question.

Uh-huh. Hey, depending on what we want to do to extension-wise, it might not be necessary. Correct.

I mean, we all know that extra stuff can always be a good selling point, and depends

Botems could never make such a depth, uh, play on words there, you know, he was more

of a fastball guy. Wasn't what I was talking about here. That's what we need. Botems through heat, um, you know, a man from Detroit, who wears the Hennessy Specs, he has, you know, an ability to, uh, you know, that's to be, he's got a lot of, uh, if he's got

a breaking ball, you know, or ball, he's got a slider, maybe even like a, you know, not cool. I got some heat too, but, you know, the sarcasm has got to me and get me in trouble. I've heard about that. Yeah.

Botems would throw chin music now. I mean, you know, uh, and sometimes he, sometimes he, uh, sometimes that fastball would hit the strike zone. Sometimes it would come time to go have with the backstop, uh, we love a, we love a, see, there's a situation with Toronto.

Okay. They've got a lot of expensive players.

So in the subcoming season, Scotty Barnes is a 42 million untouchable one of the best

two way players in the East had an awesome playoff run last year. Playoff series last year that Validated himself Brandon Ingram is at 40 million. And then he's got a player option. I'm not sure his value is great.

“I think he's a good regular season player and will be a continue to be a good”

regular season player. I'm not sure they should be counting on him in the post season. He could prove me wrong, but um, I was just a little bit worried what I saw in the last post season. Okay.

Uh, they got a manual quickly who's got three years and about 96 million dollars left. That is a candidate to be traded, although they would need a point guard to replace them. Um, what are you, but you said, I think you said Brandon Miller, you meant to say Brandon Ingram. I'm sorry.

Jackson. I'm sorry. Brandon. Ingram. Not Brandon Miller.

No well. Thank you. I just, I got a lot of stuff on my mind on my mind, and I'm also getting a lot of text messages like nonstop, and I'm just, you know, monitoring what's developing.

“I'm just constantly worried about we're going to be outdated.”

Um, RJ Barrett's in the last year of his contract pays in just under 30 million. That's a straight candidate because again, he's an expiring contract. You know, it's a situation where if you're not going to extend the news to trade it no matter what. Y'all could perit old makes 20 million this year.

He's got three more years left. Um, it's in the neighborhood of, it's over 80 million. He's got left. Um, or, you know, it's over 70 million. He's got left.

It's a negative contract in terms of trade value. Right. Uh, and they got greedy dick, who's in the last year of his rookie deal. He's extension eligible. I do not think that that he will be getting extended.

Stranger Things have happened, but he's an expiring contract. So they are, they are primed to do stuff with their picks or with their players. They have, they have assets. They have players with money. They can move.

They own all of their first round picks going forward. All of them. There's only a couple of teams where you can say that. Um, a few teams. There's a few that have more than that.

But they've got all their first round picks. They've got, you know, none coming in, none going out all seven. And they've got five of their second round picks. They've traded away two second round picks in the distant future. So they have like their entire pickport folio and tradable contracts.

And they were in on Janus to a certain extent. Not so much this time around, but certainly during the season, they were in on the Mellow Ball to a certain extent. And so the co-wife is popped up. I'm here in more co-wife right now than anything.

More who collected podcast after this. Now the skepticism out there is whether or not the clippers would actually trade them.

The Steve Balmer has never been a guy who's accepted a real full rebuild.

“And, you know, they've pivoted, uh, I think they're going to release some of their veterans”

in the next 24 hours that's going to open up some cat flexibilities so that they could make a lot of sided trade if they wanted or they could sign a player. They could certainly, if they do a deal with co-wife at offload salary, they would have enough money to go after one of these restricted free agents if they want to. The clippers are a team to watch in terms of their transactions.

Then there's also the aspirations scandal which we don't know what's going on. And I have questioned whether the league would allow his contract to be extended if it's being investigated for being illegal in some terms. And I have questioned whether the league would allow him to be traded if he's, if there's some spectra of him being suspended, the league has to protect its other teams.

But considering these trade talks are going on at some level, it seems to, it indicates to me that the clippers think that they could trade him theoretically or will they trade him? I don't know. So that's where I'm at, Vinnie.

And again, where's he on an extension? Because it ain't going to be at 50 mil per. He took a pay cut in the last one. It depends on what you aspire for. Uh, honestly, when you look at where coi is at 35 years old, right?

it or it's going to be, it's going to come out tomorrow on ESPN.com.

The clippers are one of those teams that have been sniffing around, J.L. and Brown. I bet one executive told me that the clippers want him bad. Now what does that mean?

“Does that mean that coi, Leonard's going to Boston?”

Does that mean that you're shipping coi off somewhere else and you're going to start and J.L. Brown is, you know, considerably younger and everything else who knows. But I thought that was really fascinating and I think I'm with you, Wendy. Most executives around the league think that something is coming down with the clippers.

Or at least the decent amount of executive, I haven't pulled everybody. But the executives that I've talked to, they feel like something is coming down with the clippers. They don't know what, they don't know to what extent if it's just going to involve, you know, ownership executives or how it extends to coi, Leonard. But if teams are actively looking at trading for coi, Leonard, they have to be getting

some type of instruction from the league. Like you can't let this get to the two yard line and Shams puts out the tweet and then all of a sudden the league comes in and says, no, you can't do that because we're probably going to suspend him for a considerable amount of time. That's his bad business on the part of the league.

Adam Suber said during the finals, it's time for this investigation to end. Well, Adam, you can't control that. That's four weeks ago.

“I think that was June 1st or June 2nd now.”

That's four weeks ago. And we have a Board of Governors meeting on July 15th, where clearly that's going to be a question that we're going to ask him because it'll be seven weeks from that point, like something has to have? But that's after this transaction cycle.

That's after all this business is going to be done. Something has to, something has to give here, either it's something or it's not there. You cannot put a team, whether it's Toronto or any other team, in a position to where they're trading for quiet Leonard with no certainty, about whether he's going to be available for them. So I cannot imagine if quiet Leonard is traded that he would then be suspended.

The league's got to stop. They've got to put the brakes to it before you can't do that after. The clippers are in a really interesting situation though.

They don't have control their first round picks in X3 years.

It's a swapped OKC next year. It's unprotected to Philly in 28 and it's a swap to Philly the year after that. Now, they've, like the Paul George thing, they made a decision like, hey, we would rather take a step back in terms of talent right now, despite the fact that they obviously were out of picks moving forward, then to make an investment mistake, let's say, right now.

So we will see, but regardless of the new lottery rules and all that, there is zero benefit to the clippers in terms of the draft to take a step back. By the way, that's another thing when you're talking about anybody who wants to trade for three or four picks or more for any player right now. It's a hard time to trade picks because teams are more uncertain about the new lottery rules.

If the team, if a team thinks it's trading for a player, like, you know, there's going to carry them for the next four or five years, because there's, because there are a lot

“of relabs or flat, I think it's, it's just a harder sell to get that done by the way.”

This is a side comment. And these lottery, these new lottery odds only exist for what the next three years. You have no idea what the iteration is going to look like, don't like, I don't think it be more punitive or more lopsided, but there's no way to predict that if you're talking about trading draft capital beyond three years.

Right. I just think that, look, if you have a superstar player that you want, you're probably going to do it. I'm just saying now is not, it's not picks are not trading hands easily. I mean, if you looked at the draft, there were no trades, maybe at the draft for future

picks. You didn't see, you saw swaps of, in this year's draft, you didn't see teams moving up offering future first. And even today, we saw a pick move with, with, with Phoenix moving a pick, but they

got a first back, protected first, and an unlock to pick, you know, in the shorter term.

So it has a little bit of an asterisk on it and Phoenix of all the teams, Phoenix to show them they value the draft the least. I mean, true. But Matt is true. As Lomeray said, I can't believe people like root for future picks, you're excited

about a draft pick in 233. Well, listen, that's his, that's his prerogative. Um, all right, so now I want to move on to the Lebron file here. Right. Oh.

So, uh, the Lakers are involved in trade talks to use their space. I think they're starting on Monday, you're going to see the Lakers try to sign a center. There's a couple of options out there, you know, Robert Williams is out there from the

If the nicks aren't going to go to the second apron to keep them, um, use Seth Nercich

has unrestricted, um, you know, these are guys who can be your starting center. Um, all of them have questions attached. But the Lakers are out there.

“I think, you know, can be active in free agency in that regard.”

They've been active in looking to use their space to acquire specifically wing defenders, um, last few days. And it just made me wonder, like, um, you know, if they're out there, like, trying to use space and they don't have the, like, you know, the bronze cap hole is is, like, like, $60 million.

And that's, you know, functioning the Lakers don't have space. There's space. Time to get him to agree to a significantly reduced salary. Right. So just typically what you would do is you would have LeBron, like, I felt six weeks ago,

I felt that we would know what LeBron was doing by June 28th or 29th, because I figured the Lakers had to have an idea of where LeBron was to conduct their offseason business. So here we are. So I checked on it. And the Lakers, as soon as the finals ended, like, you know, they had a meeting with

Austin Reeves and began the contract negotiations and ended up leading to him, uh,

“signed to stay a pat by past reagency and stay.”

And they, you know, having some other talks, they reached out to LeBron to LeBron's representative to Rich Paul and said, we'd like to have LeBron back. Okay. Um, but there have been no further talks. And for what I understand, like, the Lakers have not made an offer, but LeBron, for what

I understand as of today, when I got this update, LeBron has not, you know, made himself available to meet with the Lakers. Yeah. Ten year reign and when he was busy. Well, what I've been saying for quite some time now is the first step in this is that

LeBron has to decide his playing next year. LeBron has his own process. So, you know, like, he's, he's, he's not, you know, he may be he gets in front of the Lakers and there's a formal contract offer in the next 24 hours. Maybe it doesn't happen, um, but naturally the Lakers, if they, if they can't get, you know,

if they can't get some sort of commitment from the Bronner, they don't make an, whatever, they're going to have to move on with business. And that might mean that LeBron is limiting the money that he can make. Well, why, why, why wouldn't the Lakers just say LeBron, this is what we have for you. And as respectfully as possible, like, this is where we're going to end up being, um, because

we've got to use this cap space, which is the one time we will have it during the Luka Austin, Rezaira to upgrade the rest of the rotation. And the simple fact is, because he won't meet, he's not, he's not made himself available to meet with them yet. Okay.

We'll tell Rich Paul them. But are there any realistic scenarios where the Bronner would have an offer more than the mid level from another team? I don't know that right now. I would just tell you that it's been communicated to me that the number one thing for

LeBron next season is happiness, not money. So this is obviously we knew that he's going to take a pay cut from 50 million. So that has been communicated to me. And what does that mean? I don't know.

Does that mean he's willing to take the mid level? Does that mean he's willing to take the tax payer, you know, the mid level is about 15. The tax payer mid levels, like six and a half or seven is something like that. The minimum is three, nine or four, something like that. I don't know what that means.

“But that's what I have to offer as we hit as around June 28th.”

LeBron's for the agency with the like all LeBron's contract negotiations with the

legers have always been pretty quiet.

And they've always been, well, not quite drama lists. If you go back to when he signed with the legers and what is it 2018 or whatever was, that was pretty quiet. It was announced on Twitter and everything else. And every extension, every two year extension since then has been pretty quiet, pretty

drama lists, this feels a little weird, this feels a little different last year wasn't because right after he picked up the player option. It was rich Paul, basically saying, hey, he wants to contend and kind of like, then we're on like, hold on. Is LeBron asking for trade?

What does this mean? You know, but that was what I was leading to. It seems like things have gotten a little more contentious since the Anthony Davis for

Luke Adantis trade, LeBron has always been in the driver's seat, like he's always been

the number one free agent in the league and now he's not even the number one free agent in his own league in his own team. Let me speak to this. I have clearance to use this quote attributed to rich Paul. Okay.

The legers are not and will not annoy us.

In other words, in other words, reason I'm saying that now, Vinnie is like, what you, like,

“what he's saying is we're not, you know, we're not annoyed, we're not annoyed.”

The Bron last year came to an understanding and even an acceptance of where he was on the Lakers Packing Order, correct?

And when he accepted that, hey, on the third option, you know, I call it the

lesson's moral, he played phenomenal basketball and they had that run and large for what were they like, 15 and two, 16 and two, you know, Luke and Austin Reeves ended up getting hurt. I don't think they were going to beat Oklahoma City regardless of what happened. But they played great basketball, the Bron played phenomenal basketball, now it's one

thing to be to accept that in terms of the touches and the shots and all that, you know, kind of your pecking order in the offense, it's another thing to accept that when it's the financial pecking order. And right now, Luke is in the driver's seat, Austin Reeves is shotgun. That ain't no change.

Is the Bron, is he like, got a little leg room in the, you know, in the back seat on the right side, you know, can Austin Reeves, or is he like sitting in the middle seat, like, where is he? No. Where is he in the, in that, in that of now, it's not just a pecking order, but it's a style

play. Like if he is going to, if he is going to go out there and like be the ghost stand in the corner guy and then, you know, be the secondary playmaker when those guys are resting or whatever, does that change, you know, the way he wants to play, like, would he, would he say, listen, if I'm going to be the third playmaker, would I, or, you know, if I'm

not going to be the main guy, would I rather go be the, the support to Steph Curry as opposed to look up.

“It all depends on what matters most of the projects, because here's the thing with the”

Lakers, the Lakers, once they historically, but most recently, the Lakers have taken care of their franchise player when we think about Kobe Bryant getting that balloon payment after sharing his Achilles and nobody blinking twice about it. Granted where Lake where Kobe stands with the Lakers and Lake or Lord and where Lebron stands and Lake or Lord, totally different things, but it comes down to what Lebron James views

as respect from the Lakers. The one thing that Lebron will not stand for, no matter whether he's annoyed by the Lakers or not annoyed by the Lakers, he will probably not stand for disrespect that 42 years old. All right.

So if it does respect for quite some time, that's what I'm saying.

So it all depends on like, if the Lakers ask him to take 30 million and the Warriors

ask him to take 15 million, because that's all we got, would, would that 15 mean more to that 30 because you're giving me all that you have compared to not making me a priority in my own building. If the Lakers pay Lebron James 30 million dollars next year, they are absolute fools. This is the one time they can use financial flexibility to make long-term upgrades.

That's the difference that even between now and when Kobe was there, because when Kobe was there, they didn't have, they were not in a cap space team. I mean, they could have been obviously, and they didn't have Austin Reeves. I know it's not Apple's apples, also we didn't live in an apron system where you had other things that happened.

The point is reasonable, but there's lots of nuance. Okay. I'm going to say two things. One, on Monday and maybe again, just to be clear, maybe this happens today before this podcast posts.

Let me just say tomorrow, Brani James has a guaranteed date in his contract, his contract is partially guaranteed. Now, it is guaranteed for 1.2 million right now, and if they pick up the option, it's 2.2 million.

“I think it is very likely that they're going to pick up that option, because Brani had”

an increased role going down the stretch of the season. Having said that, I do think that's something that at least is worth keeping an eye on about whether they're about picking up Brani or not.

The second thing is that on Monday, Dreyman Green has a 27 million dollar player option

in his contract. It is likely that Dreyman will pick that contract option up. And listen, if he doesn't pick it up, it doesn't necessarily mean that Brani will be going to the Warriors. However, if Dreyman, who is represented by Rich Paul, and is a close to LeBron, if Dreyman

passes on that contract option, the possibility exists of him taking less money and him taking

Now, Dreyman is going to want more money on the back end doing it.

He ain't going to do it for free, but, again, I want to be crystal clear. I am not saying if Dreyman does not pick up that option, that it means the Brani is going there. But if Dreyman does not pick up that option as a clutch client close to LeBron, it opens just a window for more things to happen with their salary books.

So those are two things that could happen. I don't, I'm not sure we're going to get an answer from LeBron on Monday or Tuesday, but we may get, and we know what happens with Brani. Like, there's no way the leaders are not picking that up. But if they, if for some reason they don't, I just think it's worth noting, and if Dreyman

“to opt out, I think it's worth noting, those are just two things I'm going to say.”

That concludes my commentary. So Wendy is not speaking from an uninformed place. That's what I will say. I don't think Wendy is speaking, it's just talking out of his behind here, I think. I think LeBron has made himself the number one story in free agency, even if he is not

the number one player in free agency, and that is masterful.

He's one of the most important players in free agency though.

I'm not, I'm not knocking that at all. I am saying that the Lakers are in this position where, like McMann is saying, we've got this franchise player in Luka Dauchich at some point we have to start building around him before his clock and his body starts ticking. You did that with Austin Reeves taking care of Austin Reeves.

I wonder, like LeBron being as good as he still is, did the Lakers bank on that? Did the Lakers bank on him being at 42 years old, a guy who was going to be as available

“as he was throughout the season, and the players when Reeves and Luka were not, and that”

this somehow could not wind up being a clean break. Like they're just, it's just two different tracks, and they're kind of caught because Luka fell into their left, that they did not predict. And the building around Luka thing, it's not at some point. It is now.

It is this summer, and that is what they promised Luka as they're talking to him and mapping out their plans before he signed the extension of his on, and this realistically is their best opportunity because again, it's not like if they don't spend it now, they'll have it later. No, because Austin Reeves contract is going to be the last piece of major business for

the officially this summer. Once he signs that contract, any future financial flexibility is gone. This is a, the future flexibility to sign players. They can certainly trade things. Okay.

“So this, this, the cap space they have is a gift card with an expiration date and the”

expiration date is this summer. Correct. The thing about it is just like when you trade a star player, because if you look at this and you think about the teams that have traded for a star player, if you look about the teams that have traded for a star player, frequently, they're not ready to go right

away. I know that there are circumstances for that's not true, whether you know where there's, you know, a lot in place, and that's sort of some of that happen around the cap spike. But the same thing often happens when you clear out cap space. The consequence of clearing out cap space is that you deplete your team.

So just like we say that the heat are probably a year away maybe from complete, you know, from re-covering from everything they gave away in this deal. The lakeers clearing down their cap space, you know, would require a summer cover. So I mean, yes, they promised Luca, you know, new, new bodies, new help, but that comes with consequences.

The teams that are competing to win the championship are the teams that are either dodging the second apron barely or, you know, messing with the luxury tax because they've built out their rosters and they have completed more depth teams. You don't really want to be a team that's got a bunch of salary cap space, because it means you're not keeping your players, means you're not, you means you don't love your roster.

I mean, you don't have guys that you pay a lot of money to with it or good.

It's not a, it's not always a good place to be.

So as much as we talk about the lakeers cap space being tied to the bronze James, it's also tied to Rui Hachimura who, unlike LeBron, can be a piece of the long term outlook for the lakeers alongside Luca in Austin,ries and look, man, there's going to be competition for Rui. He's got some leverage, I mean, you know, like Mike Wright reported, he's high on the list

of a potential full mid level targets for the San Antonio spurs, you know, there's other teams that are going to be interested in a six foot eight, 230 pound guy who is three point percentage in the last three years is 42, 41 and 44 and his, you know, just early in his prime. And so it's going to be fascinating to me to see how Rui is prioritized by the lakeers

at center.

“All I'm going to say is, I don't think LeBron James is to type the hurry up and wait.”

Well, one thing I'll say about LeBron, he's not desperate, okay, he, he, he has, he's

going to have, he's going to have options. He, especially if he's not worried about every dollar, what's it sounds like he's not right. And look, if the bronze weights and all that's left is like the minimum market, okay, I mean, it'll be able to make his mortgage payments and whether that, you're like, look, if he goes to Cleveland, if he goes to Miami, you know, the, the warriors will be in up like he will have plenty of options regardless.

It'll be the most coveted 42 year old in the NBA history. I can assure you that. He don't say off that lip. By the way, Rui had to murder the last three years. He's made 319 three pointers. It's a lot. Especially for a guy that's, you know, not even been a full-time starter. He started a lot of those games. He's not even a full-time starter. And he'll joke. He does that and I get a touch ball whole lot. 43%. Like, you know, real

talk. Like, as you said, a guy with size who can hit the three like that. Like, yeah. That's, that ain't, that ain't nothing, boys. No. And he's every playoff team can use a guy like that. And like, if the lake is one of the playoff team, you know, they got to replace that. So, um, all right. Well, which people problem, Wendy. That's, uh, that's enough

“to chew on for three, third in the afternoon on a Sunday. I think. Um, I want to like,”

Jackson, I want to swear off doing emergency pods this week, but I don't think I can

problem a problem. You can't, you can't. No, not this week. Make man is always Vinnie.

Make man is always about these emergency pods. He's like, always wants. What is it? What is it with you in this existential feeling of doom? Isn't that a bottom saying, why do you feel like there's an existential feeling of doom with these podcasts? No, Wendy just wants to sleep. And I don't blame him. What's your get up schedule this week, Wendy? It's heavy. Yeah. So, I don't blame him. I get it. I've got to do a few shifts of, uh,

get up this week. There, you know, they're, they're dipping into the, uh, I'm, uh, people ask me like, what's my role on TV on these studio shows? And I, I say I'm the Aaron Wiggins. Uh, I don't know that. Now, now he's gotten more clearly to find role with the hoax, but I was like Aaron Wiggins with a thunder like I feel like I'm pretty productive when I get a shot, but I'm not, sometimes I fall in and out of the rotation. You guys are, uh, with all due respect Aaron Wiggins,

“we've got to find a better comp for you. Wow. I know, I think it's, I mean, it's good because”

sometimes I'm an eighth man. Sometimes I'm a 12th man. It just, you know, it's the way it is. You know, you, you're, you're Shay and I tell you what. Yeah. Okay. I tell you what Vinnie, you've got, uh, you, you've got some chat home tendencies about you. Whoa. Whoa. I show up, baby. I don't disappear. Let's get that straight. And I have to go. Hey, chat was 13 mulling be a this year, buddy. Yeah, but he didn't. But when it comes to the playoffs, when it

came to a phantom showing up, he didn't play like a phantom. I'll play like a phantom every time, baby. Don't, don't, don't let the nicks fool you into thinking that I don't show up.

I may show up sarcastically, but I show up. First and second round,

chat home and was great. West Finals. I don't know. Would you give him a participation trophy for the West Finals? I mean, he was, if everybody gets one, he got one. McMahon. That was glorious. I love you guys. I don't know if I'm going to love you by Thursday, but I love you today. All right. We'll be with you all week. Lots of stuff happened, and this is one of the busiest weeks in the NBA calendar. And then hopefully we can

hand it off to Malikia, Wimbledon, and go away for a while. Actually, we got some really good after that. All right. Thank you to Mark Miles Tucker and our man, Jackson. Thank you to Vinnie Mickman. Thank you for watching and listening to the hoop collective. We'll talk to you. Probably sooner than later. How do you explain those?