Charlotte Hornets Free Agency Day 1 recap: Miles Bridges rumors + destination predictions

Charlotte Hornets Free Agency Day 1 recap: Miles Bridges rumors + destination predictions

the first day of NBA free agency it comes and goes and the Hornets they’ve done nothing they’ve done absolutely nothing so far but there’s still possibilities who knows we’ll discuss what they could do not yet a decision made on Miles Bridges Paul George he signs elsewhere so that’s the first Domino I don’t know just stay tuned we’ll break it all down don’t panic right now lockdown Hornets you are locked on Hornets your daily Charlotte Hornets podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day I in the man club we live it’s lockon hornets part of the lock on podcast Network it’s your team every day thanks for making us your first listen thank you we’re free and available anywhere you get your podcast that includes YouTube and today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel you can make every moment more playoffs wind down the sports are not sporting like we want them to but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long visit fanduel.com lockon to get started there’s Doug Branson you can find him on his substack every Hornet spox score.com Doug I believe you got a free trial going on if people want to sign up for the substack and then be able to text you whenever they want to well the sub I think both of them the sub text and the sub stack remember I have like 10 different Subs uh but if you want to try one of those I think they all include some kind of trial Now’s the Time to do it particularly on the subtext because I am texting people left and right any updates I get any depraved I’ve thrown out a few depraved Hornets thoughts all of those are going on the subtext so it is the time to to jump on and and hang out with us I’m not going to text you you can still listen to me though by tuning in to WFNZ sports radio 927 FM every single weekday from 12:00 to 3 p.m. on West and Walker so we don’t have a move to talk about today okay we don’t have that we do have a lot to discuss via what’s happened so far with other teams in free agency and what that still could mean for the Hornets let’s just give the people a quick update here Doug actually July 1st despite it only being in existence for about nine hours now July 1st has been a little more impactful in free agency in my opinion with some of the bigger names being officially signed Paul George official a agreed to a 4-year $212 million deal with Philadelphia so Paul George to Philly that is confirmed Tyrese Maxi after that signed a big extension so Tyrese Maxi locked in for $200 million Kelly UB also Philly just decides to work on July 1st Kelly UB 2-year $16.3 million deal Derrik Jones Jr going to the Clippers after having gone to the finals with Dallas he’s going to the Clippers on a three-year $30 million deal other ones real quick kcp going to Orlando that was I think the biggest move of the opening day of free agency so all of that happened there right I think the one to focus on for us as Hornets fans is Paul George we can get to that in just a moment that always felt like the first Domino that needed to fall before then maybe other teams were trying to replace just missing out on Paul or if you’re the Clippers now you don’t have Paul anymore who do you bring in to play alongside Kawai I want to know before we get to some of that how are you feeling without the Hornets having done anything so far are you worried that they’re waiting too long again here Doug well you know in the past that I’ve been very on record about wanting the Hornets to do something okay and and certainly I would love it if the Hornets had some grand plan to get this team back into contention this season because I like a lot of hornets fans are desperate to see this team win again they have the NBA’s active longest active playoff drought they haven’t won a playoff series in 22 years uh things that I will continue to repeat over and over on this show until they change uh but the fact is the new ownership group and Jeff Peterson have really strongly hinted that this was the direction that they were going going to go in in free agency which is they weren’t going to make any high-profile moves they were going to figure out what this situation with Miles Bridges how that was going to end whether it was going to be a a deal with Miles Bridges or some kind of sign in trade scenario and meanwhile they were going to look for opportunities to add assets to this team I don’t while they haven’t come out and explicitly laid all of that out I think there’s enough you could read enough into the tea leaves amongst all of these press conferences that they’ve done to understand that that was the plan it’s not a rebuild a rebuild would be all right we’re taking the core we’re ejecting it we’re getting a deal for lamelo maybe we’ll keep Brandon we’ll get a deal for Mark that’s not the plan the plan is to keep the core in place and then look for opportunities to acquire assets and maybe enhance that core in the years to come but meanwhile these are going to be as Charles Lee said lean years so I’m not surprised and I’ll add that I’m honestly glad that they’ve done nothing so far instead of what Washington has done which is like sign yonas valent chunis and be generally weird what Chicago has done for me yeah that’s right trading Caruso for no assets uh they’re trying to give away Zack LaVine for they right that’s right and Golden State said no which is hilarious on a couple different fronts but also and wave wave one of the guys in the so they were like hey you’re LaVine give us uh Chris Paul we know you need to get rid of him and they were like no and we’re going to wave Chris Paul they also Chicago just signed Jaylen Smith to a threee 9 million like this just it’s Buddy Chicago who baby what is you doing that’s the thing for Chicago yeah you’re right you could have that kind of criticism which the Hornets they’ve had that in the past but this year it doesn’t feel like they deserve any of it and also Doug it was not an overwhelmingly exciting day the opening day of free agency we opened up with Luke cornette which you could argue that’s a big move for Boston just retaining some depth but also certainly certainly for their matchups against the Hornets because that guy kills them and so that’s important for them you’re right I was looking for the GIF I was going to Tweet out Luke Cornett is blocking others from breaking free agency like when he jumps at the low post block just to guard your vision of the rim like this is what he’s doing no tweets before me so not necessarily the most exciting move to kick free agency off and after that like I said yesterday after 6 PM kcp felt like the most consequential signing because Denver couldn’t retain him he goes to Orlando for 22 million a year which is a really good deal for Orlando like that makes a lot of sense and if you’re Denver that one stings now you can’t really go out and sign a bunch of other free agents because of just how the CBA has been agreed upon so that one felt like the most consequential I’m cool with it as well one it’s when we’ve had problems with the Hornets in the past for waiting so long it’s been because of just letting other guys Roll On by and also they weren’t making decisions on their own guys whereas now yeah you have to figure out what you do with Miles Bridges at least the Paul George signing got done pretty quickly which is something we could have expected right Paul George first then where does miles go Paul is done now he’s going to Philly that was had really within the first 12 hours of free agency which is nice so now what happens is you can get to work on some miles moves and Doug when they’ve waited in the past it’s been like days okay it’s not been hours which we’re still just at the hour mark right now they’ve missed out on a couple of guys maybe people wanted them to go after but this is not anything that I’m worried about right now and the last couple of years yeah they would wait days and days and days get to tier two tier three of free agency and and really absolutely do nothing I don’t think that’s going to be the case well let me let me go one level deeper on why let me speculate on why you were frustrated and tell you why I was frustrated by them doing that and missing out on guys because one level deeper was the franchise was telling us explicitly that they wanted to win that they wanted to get back to the postseason and then they would approach free agency that is the core of do something it’s that if you tell me that you want to win if you tell me you want to compete then go out there and do the things necessary to compete that is not what Jeff Peterson and schlotkin have been doing they have been sort of strongly hinting that this thing was going to go in a different direction and so then that requires a different kind of approach I would honestly be more upset had they gone and made some win now moves while not making the big Big Win now move that would actually get them into contention so that’s you know that’s how I’m sort of making all of this come together because I know a lot of people would listen to this and go wait you’re the do something guy I’m the do something guy if you’re telling me you want to compete don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining that’s what Mitch cup did to me constantly he was constantly peeing on my leg and telling me it was raining I don’t want anyone to pee on my leg but especially don’t tell me it’s raining no yeah but that it’s an added hurt I don’t want that at all no now I got to clean now no now you’ve lied to me and I have to clean my leg both are real problems you want to move on talk a little bit more about miles Bridges and I think well that’s the central thing I think well because I’ll say this while I understand what’s happening my see my heart and my mind are different my heart my emot the emotions want this team to win and they want to do what what they want it to do whatever is necessary to get there my mind understands what’s happening now that doesn’t mean I’m not frustrated by this miles Bridges situation okay let’s do it let’s go into the next segment coming up next locked on Hornets don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet the question is is Miles Bridges holding us back from hopping on free agency early again holding us back once more we’ll get to it coming up next lockon [Music] Hornets this episode is brought to you by FanDuel and I love sports I imagine you do too if you’re listening to this podcast I love him so much I never want them to stop but as the playoffs wind down they’re over in the NBA we get fewer games and the sports areen are not sporting like I want them to but FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want and all I have to do is open up the app and dream up bets anytime I’m in the mood this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every single day all summer long so head over to fanduel.com lockon start making the most out of your summer FanDuel the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball more locked on [Music] Hornet Doug you’re not necessarily angry with the organization for not having done anything yet but you are still frustrated with the miles Bridges frustration or with the miles Bridges situation I should say what is the difference between the two okay not doing something but with Miles you’re still frustrated with this guy yeah like I understand why we’re here and what’s What’s Happening Here with Miles Bridges and that the hornets have have probably in I this is pure speculation I don’t have any kind of insight or Intel but what I think has happened um is that they’ve they’ve probably tendered an offer to Miles bridges that is well below what miles Bridges would like to make and what his team thinks that he is worth similar to what happened when he signed the qualifying offer a year ago and um now we’re waiting on miles to go out into the market and see if he can find the deal that he wants with another team or if he can’t uh organize some kind of sign and trade scenario but all the while the Hornets are stuck because they can’t go out and look at a guy like Patrick Williams who resigns with Chicago they can’t look at a guy like Naji Marshall another power forward that a lot of hornets Riders had their eye on and was linked to the Hornets he goes from New Orleans to Dallas so all these the miles Bridges replacement plan can’t happen until you settle the miles Bridges Affair and you know we talked about this when Rod Boon wrote that Miles Bridges controlled the Hornets offseason that’s only true in so far that the Hornets allowed miles Bridges to control their offseason they could have said all right I mean similar to what LA’s the Clippers did with with Paul George although the the letter was a little silly that they wrote afterwards but they did eventually say all right we’re far apart on a deal not not happening see you later good luck Paul they you know Hornets could have done the same thing for Miles uh but they obviously see some kind of advantage to either signing miles for something that’s more reasonable or getting some kind of sign and trade value back yeah and right the fact that this could happen again it’s it’s it’s a little frustrating for sure but now at least you don’t think that the Hornets are trying to compete and if they are trying to compete and they’re bringing back miles then okay but at least it’s not like you feel like they’ve missed out on so many other free agents because of their cap space situation because of what’s going on with new ownership and so okay I just wonder if the the further we get into the process as other guys start to be signed elsewhere and then the Hornets have miles or nobody you know at that point one it could work out well because now you’re talking about a little bit of a discount if other teams decided no we’re not going to give miles $30 million a year and then the Hornets and Miles if they agree to a contract then it will be something closer to what the Hornets wanted to offer in the first place that’s one way that this could work or it could just be that all right well we got to spend this cap space let’s just spend 25 on Miles whatever something closer to what miles wants and then he’s back with the Hornets and now like to me Doug if everybody’s healthy that puts you a little bit closer to No Man’s Land which I also don’t want to be either so those are a couple situations that could arise from waiting to see what happens here with Miles as long if if we’re doing it a couple more days while other players sign with different teams so let me give you some updates from Jake fishy Jake fiser Yahoo gave us a few uh lines on Miles Bridges as day one was starting to develop he said miles Bridge’s free agency for one could be delayed based on other players outcome sources said to better establish a sign and trade market for Bridges and allow him to explore his options outside of Charlotte the other thing he said miles Bridges long speculated as a possibility to join Detroit is no longer considered an option for the Pistons sources said in addition to his unlikely path to joining the Sixers now this was before the PG news but when reports were strong that Paul George was heading heading that way so so I do think that Philly’s out Detroit is out because they’re no longer looking to contend they’re looking to do the same thing that the Hornets reportedly are looking to do which is to you know add Assets Now back to your back to what you were saying there so I I think you’re right except if the Hornets are able to acquire miles bridges on a very Team friendly deal on a deal that right that could be tradable in the future right like you if you bring back miles on something that looks like you know $20 million versus 2528 and maybe it’s a three-year deal as opposed to a four-year deal then for Miles there’s still a little bit of like he’s go to he’s got to show his he’s got to show his value to the rest of the market because he could be up for be up for a new contract in three years but then if he plays well it becomes significantly more tradable for future assets that you you know want to acquire and continue your retool rebuild or whatever or if he goes off for like a MIP level you know explosion of a year Well you know then you’re then you might be in contention mode I don’t think that’s going to happen I don’t think adding miles back to this roster suddenly turns it into a contender that’s why I think the priority should be if you are going to add him back it’s got to be on something that looks Team friendly also because the market is already talking on Miles Bridges like he wasn’t a significant play for Philly or Detroit or some of these other markets San Antonio went for Chris Paul I don’t think they’re going to go for miles Bridges the question then becomes what kind of scenario is going to happen and I think it’s most likely that it’s going to be a sign and trade okay not a not a not a straight acquisition you want to go through some side and trade possibilities with Miles I love I I have some speculation I would love to speculate on where this is going do you want to do it next segment or right here let’s do it right here I’m I’m down I’m I’m glad you said that because I didn’t want to wait any longer the first one on my list here um the Clippers okay makes sense it really the goal is to try to find somebody that is willing to match salary with you unless of course you get another team involved which is very possible but if you’re just going straight up with just two team trade then you are trying to find somebody that’s looking to contend this year and if they’re trying to drop salary themselves and they’re just looking to bot him out for a higher draft pick it doesn’t necessarily make sense to bring miles bridges on like the Nets for instance cam Johnson being had out there not sure it would make sense to trade miles Bridges cam Johnson do that swap because that’s not valuable right they would want picks and at that point miles Bridges and like two first yeah I’m not doing that so that’s kind of the goal the Clippers are a team that would make sense trying to replace Paul George who’s now out in Philly their whole doomsday scenario was losing him for nothing so even if yes you might have to give up something to go replace Paul George you still got to put out a competitive team this year if you’re the clippers because it’s not like they’re bottoming out you look at their payroll like Norm pal is going to be making1 19 million next year you could get there with a Terrence man a zubot uh PJ uh Tucker is somebody interesting I think that’s actually probably who they would want to be included in the deal PJ Tucker picks up as player option you also have Russell Westbrook so you get one player that helps you Tucker Westbrook maybe that’s where the third team comes in Denver wants Russell Westbrook he’s been linked to the Nuggets a little bit PJ Tucker just bringing on his salary and the Clippers attach I don’t know what their pick scenario is looking like I know it’s pretty dry over there in asset land so the Clippers make sense to me here Doug um just trying to replace Paul George as he heads to Philly yeah for sure I think you add to that look they lose Paul George they’ve got this new Arena into it Arena and they’ve got to get some people into it and uh you know you got to find a way to continue to contend so the question really will be how serious are are the Clippers about contending this season and if they are super serious they’re going to have to get desperate and find some more help for y Leonard and that could be in the form of Miles Bridges I think that makes a lot of sense I’m actually going to go just down the street uh to the Lakers and that’s going to be my speculation that LeBron James is looking to take a pay cut he wants to compete he probably wants to see the confetti reain down um in in La alongside his Sun it would be a dream scenario a great way to um uh almost end his career I don’t know if it’s going to be his last season but almost end his career will be to get a championship with his Sun so he’s going to do whatever it takes and I think that you know losing they lost out on Paul George they I think they’re going to swing and Miss on Klay Thompson I think Klay is going to end up in Dallas and so you know that leaves them with just a few options to upgrade that roster one of them being buddy heeld which could could be you know a possibility for them but I think Miles Bridges also could be and you look at their cap situation uh D’Angelo Russell’s making 18.6 ruy is making 17 I don’t think they would part with him I don’t think they would part with Austin Reeves uh Gabe Vincent is making 11 Jared Vanderbilt’s making 10 uh they just resigned Max Christie not going to move him so there are a few vehicles to make it happen you’d probably have to get a third team involved there as well and then it’s how much do they want to offer miles but I think you know he obviously has a residence in La uh so that would make a little bit of sense maybe for Miles if he wants to go back out west and uh yeah I think those are two very viable options in in in a landscape that where the options are becoming less and less viable because I think Orlando going to get CP sort of takes them out of the running you know the options are looking thinner and thinner for for a situation that makes sense and so that’s where I am with the bridges situation either they’re going to find one of those trade scenarios which is difficult but when you have Desperate teams in La things suddenly become easier or they’re not going to be able to do that and because the Hornets have to like what they get get back and you know both the Clippers and the Lakers I think they’re thin on draft assets so they’ve got to like what’s coming back yeah the the flip of the new year is going to help them with some first so I was looking at what the Clippers had I mean they had nothing incoming but they do have their 2030 and 2031 first round picks and I think that 2031 is available as soon as the calendar year flips June 30th so it’s already here so like that helps them but you’re right it’s Barren man like they don’t have a lot last team just a real quick one Utah so the Utah is a cap space team maybe that’s just a miles Bridge’s situation destination or because now people believe that they’re willing to trade Lori Markin in I imagine a contender is more so going for Lori but if the Hornets want to get involved right we we know Mitch cup Che we know there were rumors at least two years ago that they were interested in Lori Markin and but if they trade miles I don’t know what they attach next to miles for Utah to just welcome miles Bridges and then maybe they get a first round pick or whatever right I wonder if what like Lori would probably cost three so it’ be really hard to figure it out but if the Hornets gave you two and then you felt like you could flip miles for two after whatever like is Danny Angie Danny a just in complete asset collection mode that one’s harder to work out in my head I just know Utah has been a team with cap space now they’re looking to trade lri would the Hornets want lri which feels a little win now especially with only one year left on his deal like that one’s tough but I don’t know just something to throw out there I didn’t know if Utah would be a team based off of signing trade or just straight up cap space maybe they sign miles bridges that way and then flip him six months later into some more assets with you know a being a draft pick quar yes that would to me that would be a weird diversion from the the stated plans but look they’re going to look for opportunities I’m I am prepared for the unexpected uh and and I’m prepared for this thing to drag on you know I think I I look back at that PJ Washington situ situation that was a different front office but that situation dragged on for a long time as they waited on PJ to really extinguish all options on the free agent Market before coming back and making a deal um so you let’s let’s in the next segment I think we should talk about our predictions for how this thing ends before it actually ends so we can either look smart or look really really dumb oh wait one or the other let’s do it coming up next I’ve got to update people on my wingspan um I did I measured my wingspan people have been asking me about that I said I I speculated that I had freakish long arms for my height we’ll find out if that’s true and we’ve got some other little updates from Michael Scotto and and Jake fishy yeah all right let’s do it that’ll be uh coming up next on the lock on Hornets podcast don’t go to sleep on the Hornets just yet well you just heard the te’s wingspan from Doug Michael Scot reports still plenty to talk about here on lock on Hornets how long these things are people have been waiting let’s just do the wingk span here before we give you predictions on what actually happens with Miles Bridges what are you working with Doug are you going to be an all perimeter Defender well so I had producer Katie she’s always up for these sort of grunt tasks I had her measure my wingspan because I tried to measure it myself but you can’t you can’t really get like an accurate measure it’s it’s difficult you could do the tape measure like you know like that but then just trying to look at it it’s just very difficult so I had producer Katie do the measurement and it came in I am well I lie and say that I’m 511 but I’m really probably closer to 5’10 wingspan are you ready drum roll yeah I’m ready let’s let’s he it 6’1 wingspan on a 510 guy how about that what what’s great about this is like if we were talking about how tall you are it feels like you would be selling I’m 511 a lot harder but now in order to get the big gap with freakishly long arms compared to how tall you are now we’re really selling that 510 more so than 5’11 and my driver’s license says I’m 6 feet tall yeah it’s so funny it makes it so official whatever it says on your driver’s license but in reality we know we know that they lie so 61 511 510 I play yeah you my Scouting Report would say that I play bigger than my height for sure you do for sure with that wingspan watch out I mean he’s taking your cookies all day long both figuratively and literally Doug Branson taking your cookies I love cookies that’s why we’re not talking about weight right now we’re not no um miles Bridges situation what do you predict actually happens here I think we this thing drags out there’s going to be a lot of speculation I think around both of the LA locations like we talked about I think ultimately this ends up with a shorter term Team friendly deal miles Bridges returns to Charlotte and then is ultimately moved at the next trade deadline that’s my prediction okay H yeah that makes sense I I really like that one um yeah they’re going to seek every sign and trade opportunity here I think uh ultimately with everybody I’m trying to think of all the the deals that have been been either fair or where we view the player might have been underpaid Malik monk was the first one people thought he would get more than 78 million and then leave the Kings but got 78 stayed there for four years feels like a fair deal for both sides but people anticipated he’d get paid more kyp 22 million that was one where we all expected to get crazy and him actually not get paid what we all think he’s worth but that happened good deal for Orlando totally fair for both sides sucks for Denver that they lose somebody that valuable other than that Doug at least with like the deals that get over 15 million a season approaching 20 or whatever everybody’s getting paid does that still happen the further we get into free agency if Detroit is no longer interested you lose a cap space team you don’t have Philadelphia really anymore because they just paid Paul George and Tyrese Max even though there’s some cap hold stuff there maybe they still could but we don’t anticipate that so Philly Detroit off if the Jazz are looking to trade Lori Markin in that means that they’re still in pick acquisition mode which means why would they trade for Miles unless there’s just no picks swapped there but if you’re Jeff Peterson and the Hornets you want something valuable in return right so okay now you’re thinking well clippers and la like that and the Lakers those are the two teams that you’re looking at first and foremost and if it doesn’t work out maybe he comes back on a team friendly deal you’re right and then at the deadline that’s when we’re looking to move on from him again unless they just want to roll forward which is entirely possible too like maybe it’s a Team friendly contract miles plays in a better role that that still very much could happen and by the way I don’t think any of this has to do with what happened off the floor someone on the subtext line was speculating that all of this talk that we’re hearing about character we’ve heard the word character come out uh of Jeff Peterson’s mouth for sure schlotkin you know there’s been a lot of talk Charles Lee uh have talked about like character and I think they’ve been talking about character from my read on it from the perspective of does this guy work hard does uh is is he you know committed to both ends of the floor that to me it hasn’t been about like off the court stuff although I would say I think that if you think a guy is going to work hard and wants to be great particularly a young player you’re going to also think hey this guy’s got a head on his shoulder such that it’s not going to prevent him from you know continuing the work of being a great basketball player but I don’t think that they’re thinking about it from that perspective I I don’t think the Hornets would have any problem bringing miles Bridges back it’s just about money it’s about Flex it’s about cap flexibility it’s about tradeability you know it’s this is just If This Were a situation where the Charlotte Hornets were like miles we want to bring you back no matter what I’m just telling you a deal would already be done and he would be making 115 million over four years it would have been like 28 29 $30 million and that would have been the end of it the Hornets they obviously don’t view it like that because a deal isn’t already done and and they’ve had longer to negotiate with him obviously than other teams like every team as soon as the title Was Won could negotiate with their own free agents other other deals got done like Patrick Williams took a little while that one was really tough to figure out but Chicago decided to give him a a big bag so that was kind of a miles Bridge replacement by the way he’s off of the board and at that money I wouldn’t have wanted Patrick Williams either so yeah like it’s other players were able to get deals done with their team and miles on a cap space team by the way right they could easily absorb miles at $30 million a year if they wanted to they could bring it back on that and they’re deciding not to it doesn’t mean that it’s not going to work out it just means the reports that the Hornets want him back but but but at the right price that that little pesky part it matters a lot to the point where I don’t even know if we can truly say the Hornets want him back they want him back at 20 million of course a lot of teams would take miles at 20 million but miles understandably so wants as much as he can get and you have to have the ink to paper for you to be able to truly and definitively say we always wanted him back and we just don’t have that right now well you know the Hornets this front office one of the first couple of hires that they made were in the sports analytics department and I think this is going to be a numbers focused front office and I saw you can go to my uh my ex account uh Doug Brenson looh and see one of these um tweets that I retweeted which is uh from the the folks that make the Darko stat uh which is one of these all-in-one plus minus stats it takes into account defensive plus minus and offensive plus minus and they had a list of the top 10 players that have that that increased from game one to game 82 last season and the top or bottom 10 players that decreased and Miles Bridges was on the decrease list he was 10th in terms of the the you know going from game one to game 82 where did your plus minus go and both offensively and defensively he decreased and we you know if you watch the games like he was uh certainly not a very efficient player on offense and defensively we’ve long talked about some of the struggles there and so you know I think this analytics department has probably poured over the both the tape and the number numbers and you know they I don’t think that they’re going to obviously they they have not to this point gone and tried to overpay and say look we’re desperate we have an advantage here with miles we can give them more money let’s go ahead and go do that um they’re obviously going to play this thing out and I think that’s a wise move both both honestly from an offc Court perspective because there is risk there like we you know there is risk and from an oncore perspective too you know I think that there are um some some things that would give you a little bit PA of pause before you went all in and threw the bag by the way one deal coming in just within the last 10 minutes as of this recording Isaiah hardenstein signed with OKC a threeyear a threeyear $87 million deal lots and lots of money close to 30 million a year frah hartstein so money being handed out I don’t I don’t ever yeah OKC wasn’t really miles Bridges destination despite them having cap space to work with so don’t think that affects miles all that much but just another move uh the buzzer as we close this thing out well yeah and another thing to watch for as you continue to monitor the Hornet and free agency the opportunities that they’re going to have are going to be courtesy of the CBA that the owners recently signed that introduced this like these aprons so levels at which you get penalized for certain things and repeater tax that’s been a longtime penalty and so there are going to be certain organizations that are competing but that are going to need to shed you know 5 million they’ve already done it once with the Reg Jackson deal they could go back to the well with Denver and this Zeke Nagi making $8 million to sit on the bench uh there was a report from Jake fishy saying that naagi could be an outgoing package for Vasa meic so there’s but but picks would have to come back from Denver to Charlotte to make that make sense so look for those kinds of opportunities to me this off season will be about the Hornets preparing themselves for next offseason and the offseason after that and that’s where you have to get your mind wrapped around this is this free agency is not about making this particular version of the team better and Walker I think that’s because this organization still needs to see what lamelo is and what he isn’t they’re pretty sure on what Brandon Miller is but that’s still developing Mark Williams same thing what is he what isn’t he they’ve got to figure that out they’ve got to have a healthy version of this roster to look at they haven’t had that the past two seasons so they are not ready to go all in to compete with this team yet by the way another thing here Brian wior on get up just said the Lakers are a step away from being able to bring Klay Thompson to La like I don’t know how much that means but if that’s the case then that would that ruins my entire argument it does just at least it’s at the end of the show though so people stuck around that’ll do it for lockdown Hornets thanks for making us your first listen we’ll keep you up to date all week long on what happens with the Hornets NBA free agency again we’re with you daily that’s the whole shtick of this podcast Network YouTube wherever you get your pods we’ll be with you daily and we appreciate you making us your first listen go check out Doug on his substack every Hornet boox score.com and listen to me WFNZ every weekday make it your second listen if you don’t mind that’d be cool 12:00 to 3 p.m. 927 FM sports radio WFNZ have a great rest of your day we’ll be back with you tomorrow bye bye [Music]

What happened on the first day of free agency? Walker and Doug go through the big signings and discussed how they might affect the market for Miles Bridges. Are you panicking because the Hornets haven’t done anything yet? Does this mean Miles Bridges could come back?

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