‘Paul George dictates free agency’ in the Clippers’ MONUMENTAL OFFSEASON 🍿 – Bobby Marks | NBA Today

‘Paul George dictates free agency’ in the Clippers’ MONUMENTAL OFFSEASON 🍿 – Bobby Marks | NBA Today

we got some breaking news courtesy of wo bombs this morning the Detroit Pistons fired head coach BTY Williams just one season into his historic six-year $78 million contract and of course after finishing with a league low 14 wins in a record 28 game losing streak with the draft one week away the Pistons will look for a new head coach while also owing Williams a 65 million plus left on his contract oh but W was not done he also reported this morning that Allstar forward Pascal seaka intend to sign a 4-year 189.5 million Max contract to stay with the Pacers who now have the duo of Tyrese halberton and cakam under contract through 2028 and 2029 respectively it is the offseason people and those are just the first dominoes to fall in what will be a crazy summer we are just 10 days away from the deadline date for LeBron James and Paul George to decide if they’re going to pick up their player options in LA or opt out to become unrestricted free agents but those aren’t the only big names that could have some decisions to make this offseason Jason Tatum Steph Curry Joel embiid Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Durant are just a few of the top players in the game that are eligible to sign massive extensions with their current teams but wait there’s more this year’s free agent class is chalk full of talent Klay Thompson OG anobi and James Harden are a few more guys that will have big decisions to make on the free agent Market we need to start with the biggest question out there UD I’m going to start with you on this one this offseason uh what decision are you looking to or you most fascinated about playing out when it comes to players in the free agency Klay Thompson I gotta see what’s gonna happen with Klay Thompson he’s the most hered guy he’s got championships he’s got history he’s got all these things going on in Golden State and there’s an opportunity I want to see if he ends up in Orlando I love what Jamal Mosley did last year with the Orlando Magic but if you look at that team you can’t fast forward and you can’t get experience you have to earn experience you have to get experience through playing who has more playoff experience than Klay Thompson also Orlando Magic struggled to shoot the ball from the perimeter 36 37% from the three-point line Klay Thompson shoot 36 37% in his sleep I know he had some tough games last year but he shoot 36 37% of his sleep so I’m looking to see what Klay gonna do and I think Orlando could be a good place for playay to go also getting out of the West you truly want to get a championship the West is only getting stronger take a chance go to the east it might get you another ring I I think Clay is intriguing just because this is the the second time he’s become a free agent in his career 2019 when he tore his ACL he really didn’t enter free agency there this this time everybody likes to be wooed everybody likes to it’s like college recruiting everybody likes to go out there and see what team fits best whether it be Golden State or maybe a team like Oklahoma City or Orlando teams that have flexibility to go out and sign shooting shooting as we’ve seen in these playoffs matter yeah for sure uh Monica what are you most looking forward to when it comes to this offseason so y’all know I roll with the Nick closely and I just can’t fathom a world where the OG and Obi thing does not become a signed deal and he’s proceeding as a nck considering how productive he was but stranger things have happened the one that intrigues me and I gotta go to you Bobby marks because I’m not sure about the real the reality on this one when it comes to Donovan Mitchell and the Lakers is there a world in which he could actually get there well I think when you look at the Lakers as far as what they would have to offer they have certainly their draft pick this year in 2024 and then when you look at 2029 and 2031 they have tradable contracts in ruy haimura in Austin Reeves here as far as trying to put a package together Monica I think realistically probably the best option for Donovan Mitchell is resigning in Cleveland whether it be a 4year $28 million contract or taking maybe a three-year deal and becoming a free agent in in two years from now I think when you look at it from Cleveland they have everything that they they offer they certainly getting to a conference semi-finals and they do not have to go out and gut their roster to get uh Donovan Mitchell they could go out and trade a player like Darius Garland or Jared Allen and add to their roster here so I think more likely Mitchell to Cleveland is probably the more likely scenario than going to a team like the Lakers okay I mean if Cleveland was healthy there are some we wonder what not that I thought they would have knocked off Boston but they obviously were a team that was a contender Loosely in the East but we’ll see uh the Lakers by the way can trade their three first round draft picks uh UD when it comes to where spider should be when it uh when with the free agency situation what are you thinking about his best fit I mean I think you stay out east and I have a question if he was going to stay in Cleveland then why doesn’t he sign the extension if you’re trying to get free agents and you’re looking to improve your team and get ready for the future then the best thing to do is have your best player already signed so when you’re pitching to these guys hey come to Cleveland this is what we trying to do we already got Donovan Mitchell this is the future so I don’t know if he’s really interested in going back to Cleveland I don’t think Cleveland is his first choice I think he might really want to get out of Cleveland if you look back when he was traded to Cleveland Cleveland wasn’t even on his radar of teams where he wanted to go it was New York it was another team down south somewhere I ain’t going to say no name but it was other it was other it was other teams that he was talking about going to so Cleveland was never on a list of teams that he really wanted to go to in the first place I will say got I’ll just add add to that like he’s a New York guy Brooklyn had been one of those things that was percolating because obviously the Knicks ship has but I as I understand it I think Brooklyn is moving into not looking for quick fixes they’re looking to start to really build again that’s exactly what I was going to say he is a New York guy also you guys remember when um LeBron was Courtside in Cleveland not at all there for any reason other than to just watch the game it was Mother’s Day Savannah was home but he was there just you know just adding a little spice to it right Bobby uh okay so Bobby what is a player that you think can shake up free agency the most I think Paul George dictates free agency I just think for a lot of different reasons here when you look at far as for Paul George as far as the ability to possibly sign with the Clippers and then certainly the scenario of what happens if he doesn’t look at uh resigning with the Clippers and here and here you’re looking at the clippers off season they’re moving into a 2 billion building their two big priorities is certainly Paul George who’s got that June 29th player option and then of course James Harden here this is a Monumental off season they’ve already extended um Kawhi Leonard for three for for 150 million but the decision of qu of of what Paul George does I think will set through a domino effect in in in free agency here and as we’ve got the we brought the touch screen up we’ve got the touch screen up here and here this is we’re looking at the Clippers right now so this is without Paul George and James Harden if both players signed elsewhere it’s not like all of a sudden a $49 million slot all of a sudden appears they would only have $22 million to go out and replace those those two players this is the wildcard team that we’re looking at right now the Philadelphia 76ers they’ve got this low Tyrese Maxi free agent hold they’ve got close to $57 million in cap space they can go out and sign Paul George outright and it wouldn’t cost them anything they don’t have to go out and dra uh trade picks they still have some money to go out and and bring back a player like Kelly UB Kyle Larry Nick Batum so Philadelphia right now is the team that’s got the cap space and they can go out and certainly sign Paul George outright here’s one more thing the Clippers have had a full year to negotiate a 4-year $220 million contract it’s not done yet and we’ve got and and the time is Tick until June 29th the Detroit Pistons have dismissed coach Monty Williams who leaves with 5 years and 65 million plus dollars left on his deal that news first reported by our senior Insider Adrian Ro Janowski in his first and only year in Detroit the Pistons went a League worst 14 and 68 so there’s now three head coaching vacancies in the NBA with the Pistons joining 2023 24 playoff teams in the Cavs and of course the Lakers with current openings in 2019 Monty Williams actually declined in offer to become the head coach for the Lakers instead Frank Vogal took the job and won the title in 2020 so Ramona shelburn now joining us here uh do you think that this could change action a little bit in La now that he is looking for a job I mean if this had happened two months ago when it should have yeah because they were interested in Monty Williams at the time they you know a couple years ago before they hired Frank Frank vogle there they actually got they offered him the job he said no because of the money and also this the issues they had with wanting to St put people on his staff Etc and he took the Phoenix Sun’s job but what I have a bigger problem here is if you if this was an ownership level decision okay if this is Tom Gores stepping in here as Adrian werki has reported why is this June 19th happening why is this happening on June 19th and not April 19th when the season was over I mean you you just went and hired Tran langon to be your new president of basketball operations you gave him the keys he went out and he’s had meetings with Monty Williams they’re building the team together they just hired Fred Vincent who is a great assistant from New Orleans to come join his staff you don’t let this drag out for two months tell the guy he’s in charge your basketball operations and then make the decision yourself two months later when Monty I mean I I checked on this I think the Lakers would have had interest um had this happened two months ago I think he might have had interest but but it this is a tough one to take this is you know this is a guy who kind of didn’t he wasn’t sure if he should coach the Pistons because his wife had cancer they just kept throwing more and more money at him said you’re our guy trust us we’re going to be a long rebuild and then so to end up here it’s that’s really an indictment of the Pistons franchise and also so I think takes some time for Monty to really recalibrate what he wants to do with his coaching career going forward I mean I understand Monty has tremendous Faith so for me this might have been a blessing in disguise for money I’m I’m looking at that that situation in Detroit I don’t know how much better that situation was going to get but what I do about mon what I do know about Monty Williams is he’s a guy who has the respect of the NBA he’s a guy who has the respect of the guys in the locker room and when you talk about the Lakers situation we understand how great JJ’s basketball mind is we understand that potential for JJ to be a coaches through the roof but the questions we have is can he control his locker room can he quiet the noise we understand that Monty Williams can’t control the locker room he can quiet the noise if you’re the Lakers you have to do your due diligence you have to put that name in the Hat and you at least have to take a look at it that’s your job to bring the best guy available to your organization and put your team in the best position to win so you have to take a look at this at least yeah you I I completely agree with you I mean I’m just looking back to 2013 when I was in Brooklyn and we had hired Jason Jason kid here and Jason had the ultimate respect of our of our players just from having played but once the season starts and now you’re 5 and 10 your your friends who you think they are are not your friends anymore it’s it’s guys in that locker room here so that’s going to be the big concern for me with this Lakers job here is that although maybe JJ and and LeBron do a podcast that doesn’t mean things change when the Lakers are maybe eight or nine games below 500 well you know I had somebody in Laker land say to me at the very beginning right after they fired dar ham that they were looking for somebody who’s experience who’d been on a championship level Monty Williams obviously had the respect of Chris Paul and got and Deon Booker and Phoenix went to the finals just a few years ago he would have been somebody they considered right at the beginning of this search and the question is now are they too far down the road with the their interview process do they take a pause with the draft coming up next week and is Monty Williams in a head space where he wants to even think about coaching again after two months of hanging out there and the experience he had in Detroit so this is all this is thrown a wrench into everyone’s plans uh but the they don’t have a coach yet and neither do the Cleveland Cavaliers and Monty Williams will be much more affordable for anybody who wants to hire him because of the all the money he still owed in Detroit yeah for sure and it was just a week ago that Dan Hurley said that he wasn’t going to take the job out there in LA Bobby when it comes to the head coaching position is that the biggest question that this team has this offseason I think the biggest question is what happens with d’angel Russell I think he’s got a player option he can opt into his cont contct and then or he can become a free agent and if he becomes a free agent he certainly I think he has he’s got a deal somewhere either with the Lakers maybe at a little bit of less money because what happens with Russell is that determines their flexibility as far as where they can go out and maybe make a trade where they can go out and maybe add a free agent Max Christie is one of their young players that they want to resign he Ops into this 19 this $19 million player option LeBron signs at $50 million we’re putting the Lakers now in this apron the apron area as far as the inability to go out and add outside of their own players yeah that makes sense certainly a lot of things to figure out there in Los Angeles [Music]

‘Paul George dictates free agency’ in the Clippers’ MONUMENTAL OFFSEASON 🍿 – Bobby Marks | NBA Today

The NBA Today crew discusses several storylines around the league, including the future for Klay Thompson and Paul George, along with the Los Angeles Lakers’ head coach vacancy.

0:00 News around the league
1:14 Notable potential free agents
5:53 Clippers’ offseason outlook
7:50 Lakers’ head coach search

#ESPN #NBA #NBAToday

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