Free Agency Day 1 Reaction: PG To 76ers, CP3 To Spurs & More! | The Hoop Collective

Free Agency Day 1 Reaction: PG To 76ers, CP3 To Spurs & More! | The Hoop Collective

hello welcome to the hoop Collective podcast we talk about the NBA which we are doing on Sunday evening joining me from New York City is Tim BPS hello everybody and celebrating the first day of NBA free agency and the first day of the league year 20242 in Dallas Texas is B McMahon how Partners the uh the power here was out for much of the first couple hours of free agency I thought that was kind of a fitting metaphor for the way they yeah you know the new rules um slow down transactions I think you will continously transactions slowed down in the future at least for the next year or two while people get used to this I know that’s not what people want people love the hot stove this time of year but it’s not to be plus teams can now negotiate with their own free agents in uh after the finals so we had two weeks of a few deals that would have normally popped up immediately that got drawn out so it’s not the crackling system that used to be and uh that’s what it is the biggest name though is Paul George um by the time this podcast is on television and online we may have Paul George being finalized going to the 76ers as of right now all we can say is that all signs point to that um it’s not so much Paul George choosing the 76ers as it is Paul George sort of being limited to the 76ers because at the end of the day um he and the Clippers were off the were off uh they just decided they weren’t going to do business together anymore uh which we’ll talk about more in depth in a minute the Clippers put out a statement it was fortunately um very professional and not in um any sort of with any sort of Venom as we seen in the past in comic Sands not in comic Sands was in regular regular professional uh font um and but at the end of it Paul George was not going to a team like the Wizards or a team like the Pistons that had cap space he was only looking at the end of the day at the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers uh the Clippers attempted to do signning or attempted to do trades where they would where he would op into his contract um over the weekend and be traded but they really couldn’t get anywhere there because the clip one of the the biggest reason why the Clippers didn’t really want Paul George anymore was because they didn’t want him on their books because having him on their books pushed them into the so-called second apron put a whole bunch of um handcuffs on their way to build their team construct their roster and they basically decided that they were better off without Paul George that they were having him on the team and if you traded Paul George and took back salary you’d be in the same boat you’d be you’d have the same restrictions except for you wouldn’t have as good of a player so teams like the Golden State Warriors who were very interested in trading for Paul George and then extending him really couldn’t get anywhere with the Clippers at the end of the day they made from what I understand a bunch of different offers were a were willing to offer a future unprotected first round pick um but the Clippers weren’t weren’t down with it so at the end of the day I’m not so sure that it’s that the 76ers winning the sweep Stakes for Paul George bonts as much as it is Paul George was limited to the 76ers as his option especially after the magic despite having a meeting schedule with Paul George went ahead and used their salary cap space on kentavia cwell post at least a lot of it calwell Pope at least a lot of it so um obviously a big it’s going to be a big moment if the Sixers can go ahead and close the deal but in the end of the day they were sort of standing alone with Paul George as his options option I mean I think you’re pretty wildly underrating and underplaying the fact that the Sixers now have the best big three in the league by a pretty significant amount um but I best big three in the league it’s really it’s not even close uh I also would say that but you do agree that there was not like there was five options he had one option no I mean the Sixers have been planning to do this for a year they they’ve been planning to have Max cap bace to put with Tyrese M put us star with Tyrese Maxi and Joel embiid and we talked a lot about how they had to get a star and they have hit a grand slam they got Paul George on their team they have they have a chance go ahead we think they hit a grand slam the ball hadn’t cleared the fence yet all right I I feel pretty confident that by the time people are listen to this you know it’s either done or B virtually done for all the reason we just talked about he met with three teams one of them spent a ton of money at call Pope the other announced he signed with another so I again I can I you’re making my point well I am to a point I do think you are not exactly presenting the Clipper situation correctly because what I would say with what they did was they played a game with chicken with Paul George and lost they said they clearly decided their team was not good enough to win a title as constructed so they said Paul we’re going to offer you basically the same deal we offered Kawhi Leonard who from the moment he signed that deal there’s a reason why you wanted to talk about it immediately Brian back in the spring right Haw Leonard signed this extension for less than Max dollars and less than Max years that was a bombshell moment when he did that and the moment he signed that extension it put this Paul George situation into Focus because it was going to always be difficult for the Clippers to keep Paul George when they were going to Hue to hey we got kawhai to take this deal so we’re not giving you more than this and other teams like the Sixers were going to walk in and say hey man we’re going to give you everything you want we’re going to give you four years we’re going to give you $212 million we’re going to say hey come here take all the money and let’s try to win a title so the Clippers clearly didn’t believe in their team enough to go into the second apron and I think if they thought they had a championship caliber team they would say yeah we’ll we’ll spend the money we’ll do the stuff we’ll figure the rest out later they clearly didn’t so they tried sign a TR true I’m not sure that’s true because that’s 100% true because if they felt that way they done saying that’s what they’re saying in their statement but they did offer Paul George 50 million it wasn’t like they offered him you know but but if they had offered Paul George if Paul George had agreed to that extension the sixer the Clippers still wouldn’t have been in the second apron this year there were plenty of ways they could have got around being in the second apron and it could have had him on the team and then negotiated stuff around it going forward well I would argue then why they do that because Paul George didn’t want to sign a three-year deal for less than Max dollars that’s why it came to and and look who can blame him like he’s going to make whatever it is 50 some odd million in year four that’s a lot of money from the table and you know you you can say hey his options were limited at the end but the option of Philadelphia does give him a chance to go to a contender a contender that hasn’t broken through and hasn’t been to the conference final obviously the Clippers only had the the one dime but it’s not like he’s T taken some kind of step back and and you might say agree it was a good option but it was a single option yeah and but you you knew the whole time or he knew the whole time that option was out there and look Daryl Mory absolutely needed this to happen because you can’t go with hey we’re going to have all this cap space we’re going to you know swing and get another star in here and then strike out and look Joel embiid in the eye and be like uh well uh just just be patient just be patient now Daryl Mory needed this to happen and it ended up happening well that’s why we gotta that’s why we got to talk about the Sixers because to your point MC manah we go back to last summer the James Harden thing happens that’s a whole mess right looks like man what’s going on with the Sixers you all the Fallout from the mor and Harden relationship you’re on man where’s this going to land they make this trade midseason with the Clippers they get a decent return back for him but it’s all based around future draft picks and expiring money it was all geared toward making sure they could make a big splash this summer it’s why we said all year they have to make a big splash this summer and they went out and they got the number one free agent by a country mile to sign with them they do clearly have the best big three in the league I think they are clearly now the biggest Challengers to Boston in the East now you could say there’s a lot of Health question marks they’ve only got like five players well I’ll start with three Allstars who play at a lead guard okay I agree let let me ask you this why did the Clippers not work I mean I would say largely because of health and that’s gonna be obviously that’s a with an ID Paul George pairing uh there’s only been one player who one star player who’s been more injured in the playoffs last three or four years than than uh Joel embiid and it’s Kawhi Leonard or vice versa well but again like you you could sit I mean to me it’s kind of insane to sit here right now when the Sixers just landed the the one true difference making player in the market this summer and go man the Sixers are kind of screwed like this weird no I agre I agree that it’s a great fit for the Sixers and it’s a great fit for Paul George like when you consider what they were looking at there was there was only one max player that the Sixers could hope to get there’s only one place that had a Max contract offer that Paul George was would even be Remar you know would even fit at all they definitely found each other and it’s the it’s it’s it’s a good job by the two of them to find each other but I’m not sure that this is all of a sudden going to be the be the biggest contender in the east of the Celtics they haven’t built this roster out they have I mean they have three they have they have three they have one of the best five players in the league when he’s healthy they’ve got another guy who’s an all NBA forward and everybody’s looking for two-way wings and they’ve got one of the best young guards in the league who’s only getting better and they all made the All-Star team last year they’re starting to you know like an Eric Gordon Edition an Andre drum backup five they’ve still got some cap space to play with yeah um bondon what’s that what’s the number they’ll have if they’ll have around yeah they’ll basically have they basically as I mean it depends because you could do some different things with the Andre Drummond contract you could put it into space you could use the room exception but if they they have around I think the midlevel it’s not actually the mid-level but it’s like 134 million in space to potentially add another impact player to teams that’s gonna be that that’s having discussions with Clay um I don’t love their odds to land him but yeah you know with with with 14 mil or so they’ll they’ll land somebody there was there was some talk earlier in the day about them potentially pulling off a Paul George kcp double play which would have been I never yeah kentavius cwell poop pop is who you mean just in case anybody doesn’t know who you mean kcp is we need to talk about him in a little bit too because we will yeah I promise um yeah I I do agree that they are um it was actually I believe you said this to me the other day on the phone Bond tser maybe you said it on the pot I can’t remember this is actually first off part of the reason why the CBA is got the mechanisms in it is to limit heavy spending it’s also to redistribute Talent a little bit and that functionally is what happened here the Clippers were largely driven to this decision by the new CBA and talent was redistributed to the East and so if you look at this last five six days um the East was Boston and everybody else and the improvements that the Knicks and the and the Sixers have made just in this last week create a very compelling Northeast for the bontemps Zone there MC man bontemps well yeah I mean I mean look the the the CBA rules were put in place to stop the Clippers and to stop Steve Balmer that’s what they were put in place to do and they have succeeded like if the Clippers it’s Lawrence Frank Lawrence Frank himself said it the other day that under the old system it was cart launch they could do what they wanted they would not be losing Paul George over money they would not be losing anybody over money they would spend What it Took they’d probably be combining salaries to to go add other players on the market like they’d be loading up to make another run but because of the new rules that’s where they had to decide okay like yeah we could just spend this money but are we really good enough to make it worth spending that money over a longer period of time and like the results speaker themselves they’re not a championship caliber team they lost in the first round of the playoffs yes kawhai was hurt but to your point before Brian Kawai has been hurt a lot and look the Sixers obviously have some risk here but again I I think we are very much poo pooing the idea that the Sixers just landed a top 15 player in the league I don’t I don’t mean to you’re right I don’t mean to poo poo it I I definitely recognize every other word you’re saying is but well it’s it’s a huge moment for the Sixers this is not what anybody let’s be honest agre we didn’t never we didn’t think we didn’t think all season right nobody really thought all season the Sixers were Landing a Max Level player right none of us no come on no the whole did we hold on would we have bet no I’m saying I’m not saying they weren’t going to try to I’m saying did we really believe I didn’t believe they were necessarily going to get a max player like I I didn’t think that Paul George was going to wind up on this team a week ago I thought at the end of the day Paul is he’s going to want to stay in La that you know he’ll ultimately at the end of the day he’ll take this this contract yeah that’s all I’m saying like this is a like for them for them to execute this Highwire strategy where all year it was well are they gonna actually pull this off or they’re going to be stuck with a bunch of leftovers at the dinner table and they got the guy on the market you’re right I’m more reacting to the the mechanics of the moment here these two these two entities that were sort of left out in the wilderness as I am to where things are going to be in six months Wendy when the uswb is telling you to pep up and stop being I guess so I guess down my good I’m talking more about the transaction itself than the actual team that’s becoming out um but um yeah way all these all these you know hard cappings and you know this new CBA is making it tough on the Knicks too like they might lose Isaiah hardstein uh because of that now we’ll see what the final deal looks like if they are actually the final deal for Bridges looks like if they can avoid the hard cap but if they are then he sounds like he’s going Oklahoma City Orlando you know somewhere else that can give him market value which is going to be a significant chunk of change that’s exactly what they were trying to do I feel like this the way this offseason is shaping up here it’s really a story of the I95 Corridor and a story of the I5 Corridor so obviously you see the Celtics are the champ s the Knicks have powered up with Mel Bridges and Reign o anobi obviously the Sixers make the biggest move in free agency and then you look at these three teams out here where I’m at in LA on the west coast um the Lakers are trying to figure out a way to upgrade their roster the Clippers are essentially waving the White Flag isn’t accurate because they have Kawhi Leonard and they resign James Harden um and they’re still trying to add pieces just before we started the podcast it been reported that um they’re gonna take Dereck Jones out of out of Dallas which is another story but um you’ve got the Clippers sort of really letting go of the mantle of being this highs spending team and retrofitting and potentially taking a step back and then you’ve got the Warriors you know I don’t know if I would say that the warriors were the biggest loser but I definitely think that the Warriors have come to terms with a new reality kind of like the Clippers so the Warriors from what I understand I said earlier really tried hard to figure out a Paul George trade and they’re trying hard on some other things and we’ll see what they can maybe get accomplished in the next uh 24 to 48 hours but they were unable to get a Paul George deal done um Extended Chris Paul’s contract uh guarantee date from last Friday to to to Sunday even trying to find a trade that would make sense for Chris Paul and eventually let him go waved him uh with his $30 million contract lost that uh trade chip and Klay Thompson has pretty much informed them that he is moving on and as we are doing this podcast they’re negotiating possible sign and trades where they could maybe retain some sort of asset for Klay Thompson but those are three doors that they were kind of excited about that ended up closing without the team significantly improving itself and coming off of a season where they miss the playoffs um it’s not the kind of offseason that you would expect from them or that we’ve gotten used to from them they’re still trying some other stuff I think Lowry marinin from the jazz is available on the trade market they’re definitely investigating that whether or not they can make that work or not you know is to be seen um but when you look at the Clipper stepping back the Warriors stepping back and the Lakers thrashing around a little bit um McMahon it is a bit of a different story than we’re used to seeing with these teams and honestly it’s an especially depressing situation for the Warriors because it’s not just about you know losing a guy who is uh you know was a 39% three-point shootter an average 18 points game this is the end of an era with them losing Klay Thompson and it is a bitter pill to swallow when you have a guy who’s going to have a statue outside the arena but the divorce from the franchise is I don’t know uncomfortable to say the least you know there there there’s some hard feelings it’s just a such a bummer of an ending for Klay Thompson and like you said it’s not like they’ve got an easy path to replace the production it’s not and this is a team then just need to replace the production this is a team that needs to get better better and so you’re looking at like what’s the Twilight of Steph Curry who’s still playing at an elite level what’s that look like how do the Warriors you know kind of get back in a position where one of the all-time great players in the history of the game has a chance to contend for another championship or hey you know maybe that that’s just come and gone and you know enjoy step uh while last but as far as you know you got four championships out of the deal and there won’t be another one coming I think you know that’s obviously the more likely scenario I mean look this this there so many parallels to 12 years ago when Ray Allen left the Celtics and went to the Miami Heat it’s the exact same thing Ray Allen one of the great three-point Shooters of all time Hall of Fame shooting guard part of a big three frustrated on a variety of levels with what was going on with his team decides to for a rival team acrimonious circumstances that took a solid decade to clear up I don’t think the clay one will take as long but this is sort of inevitably how these things go sometimes one thing I would say though is there’s a lot more emotional equity in clay 13 years drafted and developed by the Warriors as opposed to Ray who you know came in his was more of a mercenary situation all the other parallels you’re you’re right on Monday yeah it’s it’s not exactly the same and I also think it’s why it’s a little more acrimonious even maybe because of the amount of history there but you know this is this is the kind of stuff that happens and look it’s been a rough few years for clay in general right he misses two and a half years with injuries he comes back and is playing frankly at a much higher level than I would have guessed for a guy who Tor his ACL and tours Achilles I mean he was fourth I think in the league and threes made last year he shot 38 or 39% on nine attempts a game he is not the same level Defender that he used to be but he’s still a potent offensive weapon who is going to be double team whenever he’s on the court and if he does wind up where you’re at McMan like having him catching passes from Luca donic setting him up for open shots like he’s going to be a really useful weapon for them going forward and it’s going to be a loss for Golden State and it is I think a recognition on all sides that it was probably the right time for him to move on given everything that’s gone on with the Warriors and for sort of everybody to start fresh but you know whether they try to go after Markin in or they do something else like the biggest the biggest thing I think to point to is this is a team that was ninth in the west last year has lost Chris Paul who is still a decent player though he wasn’t worth his contract has now lost likely lost Klay Thompson who was also a good player but not worth his contract and there’s not anything immediately coming in the door to replace him and like right now if you’re just looking at it the Lakers the the Warriors shouldn’t make the playoffs next year like that’s just the reality of it they’re probably gonna be on the outside looking in yeah what if they’re able to pull off Markin would you change your mind I mean obviously if they could get a guy like Markin that would help certainly quite a bit um because he Isam they’re trading for him I mean right and it depends on what the roster looks like after but certainly if you had a guy like lry Markin in who’s a a big movement shooter um who’s who’s improved on defense like that would be a really good piece but again like that’s a big swing like maybe they could pull that off but that’s that’s a really big swing there’s some other there’s some other teams that are looking at market and I think San Antonio is one of them I was gonna say that to me would be a much more intriguing situation for marke in because of the way he would perfectly complement wimy and just the the Spurs are loaded up on picks you know can still have cap space or you know they have easy ways to make the money match that would be that would be one a heck of an addition if the Spurs want to be aggressive it it will like marketing is not going to be traded for any sort of discounts just just to be clear like it’s pack yeah but the teams who are negotiating with this with the Jazz do think there’s a good chance they’re going to move him because sometimes Danny a as Bon Temps has detailed over the years when he was with the Celtics will act like he’s gonna do a trade and then then there’s no trade right and maybe that’ll happen again here but they the team’s negotiating thinks thinks so sorry go ahead well no what he’s not going to do to McMahon’s point he ain’t selling him for discount if he trades them he he doesn’t lose trades very often he’s one of the best at it for a reason now we have talked about marketing going back for a year now for a couple of reasons right one is he’s going into the final year of his deal he’s making $18 million obviously below what his production has been since going to to Utah playing under will hardy who’s turned him into an All-Star caliber player you got to decide if you’re Utah are you going to extend him and give him a huge raise or or are you going to move on from him and sort of fully pivot into this rebuild and when you look at this 2025 draft and as loaded as it is and frankly as good of a job as Will Hardy has done the last couple years where they’ve had to sort of backslide their way into the back half of the you know the back half of the top 10 down the stretch because of how well they’ve played early in the year this is the time to trade lry Markin in to cash in on him and then fully move into this rebuilding era where you’ve got konay George and Taylor Hendricks and um you know these other young guys that they’ve got um and and fully flip this thing over and marketing could give you a whole bunch more stuff to do that and he also doesn’t make sense with the timeline they’re on so yeah like it makes sense to trade him now the thing I’m curious about is in the wake of the Mel Bridges trade is there going to be a good enough price out there where Danny an feels good about making this trade because like the Knicks as we talked about really overpaid in draft capital for Mel Bridges and so marketing similar kind of player and just gonna want a similar kind of return that’s five first round picks is a lot of first round picks and San Antonio if they chose to be that aggressive has the assets to do it and you know what San Antonio did with Chris Paul they on a on a one-year basis they have solved their point guard void right and they also kept their powder dry as opposed to going out and doing like a you know a Trey young deal where you’re giving up significant draft capital and taking on a massive contract this keeps her powder dry um you know that we’ll see if Stefan Castle is a guy is ready to be a starting point guard you know as soon as next season obviously they liked him enough to Pi take him with a fourth overall pick you I think Trey Jones has a chance to be a a great great long-term backup but you know clearly he needed to be a backup but you know they still have the Atlanta picks moving forward you know they still have a Chicago pick um you know they they’ve got some uh you know some other picks plus all of their own like if they want to take a huge swing they’ve got the ammo to do it well they’ve also got a couple Minnesota picks and Utah’s already got most of the rest of Minnesota’s picks a funny thing from the Rob Dillingham trade the other day that’s true all right so we’ll see what happens with Mark and if anything at all but go back to go back to Klay Thompson real quick um look I kay bet on himself to a certain extent he was probably a little bit annoyed he had to bet on himself he turned down a two-year extension for 48 million before last season um it was the same summer that Draymond Green got four years at 100 million we don’t need to go over that old ground he then didn’t have he had a good season but not a great season and he got he lost his starting job for its stretch and didn’t finish some games and Brandon psky really there first round draft pick really blossomed and so all of those things were contributing factors what I think is interesting here is what clay choices are so he was going to meet with four teams um the the the Mavericks the 76ers the Lakers and the Clippers um I’m not putting anything past darl M it would kind of if it’s straight about money they’re going to be a little bit behind what uh the the Mavericks can offer maybe not a ton but they can be behind um but that’s obviously a very compelling team to join um I think the interesting thing is I think Clay’s going to want to start on the other side of this and well the Mavericks the Mavericks are prepared to like they’re recruiting him to start they’re not they understand like there’s an understanding hey this is an extremely proud guy who took it on the chin last year when he was asked midseason to move to the bench and so you know if if he does end up in Dallas I think the question becomes is he closing games more than is he starting games they did that’s true are we sure by the way are we sure that he’s gonna be closing games no that’s why I said I think question have no idea I I but I don’t think that you are in a uh recruiting situation trying to convince a guy like Klay Thompson to come here man I know like they’re they’re telling them hey you come here and you’re starting next to Lucan Kyrie and you know it’s a different style of basketball obviously but if you’re playing with LCA donic and he’s running pick and roll with Derek Lively and uh you know and Daniel Gafford like there will be plenty of good clean catch and shoot opportunities for Klay Thompson well the other thing too is that if you’re if you’re not it’s a lot different say coming off the bench or not closing games if you’re in Dallas than if you’re in Golden state where you’ve played your whole career and you are going to have a a statue outside the building and there is all this history right it’s a lot different when you say like Bray Allen went to Miami and came off the bench I’m not saying clay coming off the bench but it’s just a much different thing when you’re walking in with a clean slate somewhere new instead of building off of all of the history you’ve got in a place and then it feels a lot more uh dramatic to make a decision like that well place like that the pressure is drastically reduced obviously the Mavericks have aspirations to contend for a chionship but it’s not the place where he’s won four championships you know there’s as as much as Luca puts a spotlight on the Mavericks and they’re coming off final’s birth it’s not the same as the spotlights that that is on a team that has been the dynasty of this generation and frankly it’s not the same as playing in Los Angeles with LeBron James okay so Philly has an interesting they’ve they’ve they’ve got a little bit of space left assuming they close the Paul George deal they can offer Clay Dallas is in a good spot when it comes to Clay because last week they did a salary dump deal sending Tim hard away they actually haven’t done the deal yet but they agreed to send Tim hardt away to Detroit that got uh what was his salary number McMahon 16 and change $16 million off of their books and it also created a trade exception which is like a gift certificate and that that can be used to acquire Klay Thompson and ass signning trade and the reason that is attractive is that the Golden State Warriors have aspirations of doing other stuff with their roster such as Larry marinin they would not have to take any pieces back Ms would have to move a piece out very very likely to be Josh Green who why would they have to do that because of the first apron um because their hard capped at the first apron and just where they are you know giving Nai Marshall a chunk oh that’s right Nai Marshall I forgot about that they did a separate deal they signed they sign Naji Marshall three years 27 million and essentially if they move Josh Green which a rebuilding team with cap space he would be a nice addition to them as a take him for nothing type of guy um I don’t think they’ll have any issues moving them but then they can they can go ahead and use the the uh I forgot about n Marshall is essentially their replacement for Derrick Jones who went to the Clippers correct um the derck Jones signing by the way by the Clippers makes it harder for the Clippers to really get in on Klay Thompson um they could still do it but it would take a sign in trade in all likelihood and that’s just very complicated if especially after the Clippers and Warriors negotiated for days on a Paul George uh trade and couldn’t find a pairing now you have to ask them to go back over old ground to negotiate to send Klay Thompson there it could happen but it’s harder and the fact that the Clippers went ahead and used their mid-level exception which they could have offered Klay Thompson is an indication that they’re not banking all their hopes on it um but the fact that the Tim Hardaway deal has already been made is a huge factor in the Klay Thompson situation as we see here and talk about it and that’s where I want to talk about the Lakers it was very interesting we I think we talked about in the past on in the Pod um I certainly talked about it on TV last week that LeBron had indicated even before the Lakers drafted bronny James that he might be willing to take a pay cut uh from his $51 million salary that he opted out of to create the opportunity for the Lakers to use their midlevel of 12 million bucks 13 million bucks and to do that he’s going to have to reduce his salary down quite a bit now LeBron uh met LeBron and Rich Paul met with the Lakers on this topic last week and they agreed from what I am told on a short list of players that LeBron would feel good about taking less money to get on the Lakers and obviously one of them was Klay Thompson and um men reported three one James hardens agreed to go back to the Clippers yonas Valen chunis which surprised me a bit uh has agreed do a deal with the Wizards and Klay Thompson was a third I think there’s more than three I think Demar de rozan is on that list as well and there may be another one or so but um here’s point is they’re running out quick yeah they don’t they don’t have those players that many those players to sign and to to even get LeBron to take right now would would take LeBron taking a 50% pay cut 5- Z about $25 million less to get the Lakers in position to do that over the course of multiple years that would potentially be a lot of money so um the Lakers are you know under some level of pressure to make a separate deal to clear some more space and that most likely would involve D’Angelo Russell could involve a player like Gabe Vincent could involve a player like hamura but probably is Russell because he is on the final year of his contract for 18 and change almost 19 million and that’s basically kind of what the Mavericks have already done the Mavericks have already done their cash dump the Lakers haven’t yet and so I wouldn’t rule it out but I’m not sure then the Lakers did something interesting bont temps on Sunday they went ahead and signed Max Christie their you know former was he a second round pick was he a free AG second round pick second round round pick he was a restricted free agent they signed him to a four-year $32 million deal adding money to their payroll making LeBron’s pay cut for Klay Thompson much bigger and this is not not not really though because if they were gonna keep him if they were gonna they send it a qualifying offer to him and they planned to keep him and so they they always were going to have to factor that into whatever they were going to be under the heart the qualifying offer wasn’t $8 million no but I’m saying if if you it’s coming out of I guess it’s coming out of the same pool of money but it goes back to the same point where this only ever really made sense if you trade D’Angelo Russell you trade D’Angelo Russell they have the heart they have the we don’t need to go into the machinations further than that they need to trade Russell they haven’t traded Russell yet and and that’s they have to do that before they could really go for Klay Thompson and we talked about the MS have to do a second cost cutting move to to make this work now but Josh Green at you know three years I think it’s three years 41 million as a 23y old you know developing player I think is easier to dump than uh d’angel Russell with $18 million where like you know a a rebuilding team you know you don’t want to bring d’angel Russell in unless it’s incentivized where you know rebuilding team my look at Josh green and say Hey you know first round pick has shown some promise 23 years old reasonable contract great so it I think it’s a it is a more difficult dump yeah I just think the Lakers are kind of far away farther away than the Mavericks are and were we sure clay would start with the Lakers if they dumped Andel Russell and signed him well I’m yeah I think he would I would say if they don’t make him that promise then I don’t think there’ll be a very long conversation yeah they would start they would start LeBron Davis Reeves clay and I don’t know probably ruy I would guess yeah probably they starting five I think they might start Gabe Vincent I don’t know sure I mean you could I mean I would probably start Gabe Vincent if he’s healthy at the one and then the other four guys again if you’re recruiting Klay Thompson now I think you need to uh tell him hey you’re coming in the start or right honestly at this point I also think the Lakers I mean I understand because where we work there’s all this talk about LeBron taking a pay cut and therefore we are going to spend a thousand hours talking about the Lakers not doing anything while all this other stuff is happening uh however I would say at this point the Lakers are just better off residing LeBron keeping D’Angelo Russell and using their draft piics and their salary later to trade for somebody or somebody’s rather than doing a bunch of minations to sign somebody to the midlevel now anyway I would agree or if there’s a possibility that you could use Russell as basically an expiring contract where you could take on some salary um and you know acquire a piece that makes sense for you not just in a Straight Cash dump maybe that’s a way to go um and look if you’re just if you’re talking about Clay’s decision again I don’t want to totally rule out the 76ers I think they can make an attractive offer but money I think the Mavericks will be higher and certainly when you factor in the difference in no state income tax in Texas versus well that’s true um I think there’s less pressure in Dallas I mean if you talk about star power that you’re playing with you know that’s even to the edge in Dallas’s favor I think you could uh you could argue um you know how appealing would it be for clay to play for essentially his hometown team you know a place where he owns a home uh his dad played you know won championships with the Lakers his you know calls games on the radio crew you know maybe maybe that stuff does factor in but I think in terms of like I said the ability to contend uh the money the less pressure I think all those are in Dallas’s favor yeah the Mavs are a much much better team and a much better fit the Mavs just were in the finals like the Lakers lost in the first round and it wasn’t that competitive like you know it’s not even a debate like if klay’s trying to go to the best situation for him Dallas is unquestionably the better fit all the way around yeah well I just think uh the the when Rob pinka had that press conference when he hired JJ reck they didn’t even imply they FL out said we’re going to lean into development of young players we’re going to lean into trying to reformat the way we do business to help improve what we’ve got in in house and we’re really going to avoid trading our future draft picks if we can unless it’s like a home run deal and with all the respect to Klay Thompson I’m not sure that that qualifies and they may need to to use a draft pick to to with Russell if it’s a straight cash dump so I know that LeBron is trying to do his best here to help the cause but it what he what what they’re looking for what LeBron is trying to push them towards flies in the face of exactly what they stated their intention is the opposite and not trading their draft pick in the draft uh last week and drafting Dalton connect and signing Max Christie to a $32 million deal these are actions that indicate they want to stick with that plan so I would say plans are fluid I mean well also it’s also again we because we don’t have rational conversations about the Lakers at our Network let’s just be rational about the Lakers the Lakers are not very good they are not a team that’s anywhere near being a championship caliber team throwing assets after good assets after bad at this point in a rush to try to make this team championship caliber today is not very prudent like their best their best long-term bet is to have Max Christie become a starting level player is to turn Dalton Connect into a player is to not send first round picks out the door to salary dump D’Angelo Russell to sign some 35 year old player on a t on a full mid-level deal like that none of those things those are all things you do if you really have a chance to do something thing like all these things we’re talking about is for the Lakers to make the playoffs yeah no clay at this Point’s a finishing piece he’s not a foundation piece yeah they’re just and they’re just not this team is just not very good it’s just not so there was a significant trade a couple of days ago that we haven’t got a chance to talk about yet and that’s the Atlanta Hawks sending dejonte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans for two future first round picks um a Larry Nance Jr and Dyson Daniels um this is a trade that accomplishes two things one it breaks up dejonte Murray and Trey young which was inevitable and it brings in um some some perimeter talent to New Orleans that gives them a little bit more freedom to trade Brandon Ingram Ingram has not been headed in the right direction with the Pelicans for the last few last season and um he’s extension eligible and I don’t think that’s happening there so it clears the way for a trade for Ingram later um and it also gets um the Hawks who are sort of they’re not really in a full rebuild yet because they don’t control their draft San Antonio does but it returns some draft Capital that they sent out when they got to jeon Murray um the Hops aded they admitted their mistake right they got back not the full value of what they gave up to get him but they got back some of the value that they gave up to get him and like you said they kind of have chosen a a direction and it tells you like there wasn’t a great market for Trey young so they made the best deal that was available um but you know the Pelicans are the team that I think has a chance to make a a splash next season but like you said this trade sets up okay what’s your next trade and when they trade Brandon Ingram they’ve got to solve their question of hey who’s playing Center here because it had been Jonas F and junis I think they want to get a more athletic uh player at that spot better Defender yeah and and starting Zion at Center is not an acceptable option so that that’s the big question the Pelicans are working on answering well look they’ve got they’ve got him and they’ve got CJ McCollum right who they gave a not a good extension to a couple years ago that he’s still got two years at big money and they’ve got to maneuver some stuff around but look you’ve got herb Jones you’ve got Trey Murphy now you’ve got Deonte Murray you got Zion that in theory should be your one to four spots going forward you can find a center to put with them that’s a group all those guys are all in their mid 20s that’s a group that should you know be able to be together for a while it’s a pretty interesting mix um to go forward with and see and you know look Brandon Ingram is like a lot of these guys that we’ve you know we’ve sort of been talking about as potential trade guys for a while Trey young is another one Zack LaVine is another one Carl towns is another one in this current environment where everything is kind of jammed up from a salary standpoint because the um because things were flat for a few years because of covid and everything else that went on there’s a lot of salaries that outgrew where the cap was going well now going forward Cap’s start going up 10% a year that’ll start to change things will start to loosen up and we’ll see some more moves but I think that’s part of why we’re having trouble or the Pelicans are maybe having some trouble finding an easy trade to make with Ingram because if you get up 35 36 million in salary you start making trades to other teams you’re all these teams are trying to worry trying to avoid not getting hard capped if you taking more money than you send out you automatically are hard capped it just it’s all the stuff we’ve been talking about a lot I know it’s minutia I know it’s sometimes is boring but it’s the reason why we’re seeing teams struggleing to make trades is it’s there’s been a lot more limitations added you really got to mind your Ps and q’s you’re making any kind of deal especially one with a ton of money like this one would be well and plus you got to extend them on that too okay before we go uh we mentioned earlier kentavius calwell Pope signing a threeyear 66 million dollar deal with the Magic The Magic prioritized this signing they saw kcp out there and they uh they went after him even with Klay Thompson on the out there even with Paul George out there the guy they wanted was kcp they already have a very good perimeter defense they need backourt scoring that really isn’t something the kcp is going to give but if you’ve got to beat Boston and you’ve got to beat New York going for extra Wing defense isn’t the worst idea in the world um well they needed shooting too and the man can shoot the ball he you know the last couple years he was a plus 40% three-point shooter and so an elite defensive team got better defensively and improved their spacing offensively I love this signing for a young 47 win team and have more salary cap space to use we’ll see what they use it on um but uh you know kcp is an interesting arrival for the magic but the bigger maybe thing in the overall grand scheme is it’s a departure from the nuggets the Nuggets didn’t pay attention to his initials keep Championship players the Lakers learn the hard way and the nuggets are about to to so Calvin boo their general manager basically admitted this was probably coming after the draft um and basically announced without too much being unclear that Christian Brown their first round Draft pick from two years ago is probably going to just be promoted into kcp spot now they are dealing with apron issues um you know they are facing you know stay out of that second apron with the amount of money that they owe to joic and potentially Jamal Murray although I’m going to can I just point out real quick Jamal Murray is playing for Team Canada right now they’ve had three or four days of practice and he has not extended his contract um he is eligible for a four-year 207 or eight million dollar extension he obviously could wait um to see if he makes the all NBA team next year and get a supermax but for a guy who’s got a history of need injuries I don’t he’s out there playing without the contract so I don’t know if that’s his decision or what but I just want to point that out um but anyway um they they lost they won the championship they lost Bruce Brown basically couldn’t afford to pay him we talked about this in the last pod now they’ve lost kcp they could afford to pay him and elected not to essentially because of the apron problems well they they elected not to because the Kies cheaped out I mean this this is is not this is not the Clippers situation Clippers had it can be whatever they they lost him because they weren’t willing whether it was because of the second apron and all the ramifications or because the kronies cheaped out they weren’t willing to uh give the man who helped them win a championship and was a critical part of the best starting five in the league the last couple years a reasonable raise and if we want to talk about if this is a second apron thing dude the one massive mistake that Calvin booth has made as a general manager why is Zeke Nai on a four-year $32 million deal a guy who only played garbage time during the playoffs and a deal that descends so the number is higher uh in the first year that if that if they don’t have that contract in the book there’s not this second apron problem that’s causing them to let kcp go it would still be a problem but this is really the Crux of the issue which is if you go back over the past several years Denver has made in my opinion multiple mistakes on contracts they gave Michael Porter Jr a a Max when he had a bunch of injury issues everybody at the time was like that’s interesting give him a full Max he’s probably a $25 million player it’s making $40 million that $15 million matters a heck of a lot more than the Z Naji money I mean look Jamal Murray obviously won them a title he’s a great player they gave him a Max without any negotiation he’s never made an All-Star team I he is the most confounding player in the league to me we’ve talked about this before because he has these unbelievable moments in the playoffs and he’s never really come close to making an Allstar team but if they had negotiated that a little bit harder say they give him $5 million a year less now you’re at $20 million between those two guys that’s what K Davis coell Pope just left for this is the new reality that we’re living in where if you overpay somebody there are Ripple effects down the line from a team building perspective that you can’t get past but to me this is very simple the Nuggets had a team that was the favorite all last year to win they blew a game seven at home and lost they were up 20 in the second half they win that game a very good chance they win the title this is a team where if you’re not going to spend in into the second apron to keep this team together you’re never going to do it so I don’t want to hear about oh we’re challenged by the new reality of this is very simple the Kies who have rarely played the tax despite having a ton of money clearly chose not to pay the tax because this isn’t about they wouldn’t have players on their team they’ve been drafting all these young guys to fill in the gaps this is they didn’t want to spend that much money and pay the heavy luxury tax that comes with it so they didn’t and as a result they significantly took a step back in a loaded Western Conference cell Pope is 32 I don’t know how that much for you know they may not have they may sign a two-year deal with a player option it wasn’t a fiveyear contract it’s a three-year deal it’s a three-year deal you have to assume a threeyear deal and they’re right now they’ve got the arguably the best player on the planet if not still the best player probably the best player Nicole joic and they got a team that if they had resigned him would have gone into the next season as one of the two or three favorites to win the title now they’re clearly not one of the to me five best teams in the league oh come on they didn’t drop that far off they to they are they already were dead last in three-point attempts in the league and 25th in makes per game last year that’s with as McMahon points out losing a 40% three-point shooter that they’re replacing with Christian Brown supposedly gonna trade for Russell Westbrook that’ll solve that he also he’ll he’ll fill right in for kcp guarding all these elite players that you he’ll guard Anthony Edwards he’ll guard sh Alexander he’ll guard Luca donic Devin Booker we can go on down the list this is a this is a huge loss for we cannot minimize the loss of kcp and two years ago in Calin bu’s first months in this job he went out and got two finishing pieces that got them a championship got Bruce Brown got kcp because of the way they were able to get Bruce Brown there was nothing possible they could do to prevent him from leaving he just played himself into too much money this was preventable they decided that kcp wasn’t worth the money and what the money was going to mean in terms of the second apron luxury tax and and all that kind of stuff this to me takes the nuggets from being top shelf contenders in the Western Conference to the second tier of hey they still got Joker they’re going to have a chance but they’re not better than Dallas they’re not better than uh than OKC just name who you know the the two that I don’t think I don’t think they’re better in Minnesota either no like this guy’s this guy’s yes he’s 32 he’s also still a really good 3 and D player they have no replacement for him on the roster they have no shooting as it is and they lost him because they chose not to pay him and if you’re not going all out to put a contender around a three-time MVP in the middle of his prime when are you doing it who what it’s crazy it’s absolutely crazy to me this is way more inexcusable than like everybody’s freaking out about what the Clippers did with Paul George to me this is way more inexcusable than the Clippers not giving Paul George a Max way by the way I don’t think people are freaking out about it I think they just are surprised because because because it’s a new it’s a move that has not been seen I’m gonna hear a lot more people saying how why didn’t the Clippers give Paul George a Max I’m not going to hear nearly as many people say why in the Nuggets match the kcp though and this is a way bigger that is true bigger to do there are a couple one Paul George is an all-nba player so there’s going to be a different sort of Spotlight two of course what they gave up for Paul George of course to get him and still hasn’t been fully paid off so I understand that I understand that but my point is I can understand why the Clippers would look at their team like we talked about earlier and say this team isn’t good enough to win so we’re not going to give ourselves all these restrictions to get better when we can’t be good enough now are good enough now and they actively made themselves worse just to save money I agree and the thing hey Christian Brown you know he’s one of the best net rating guys in the leag plug him in the starting line and be fine okay your bench has been bad and you know you’ve had to overcome a bad bench for the last couple years now you’re taking the best player for from that bench plugging him in the starting lineup and look maybe Julian Strather a guy who showed some flashes last year as a rookie maybe he’s ready to step in to a significant role they traded they traded up in this draft to get their guy in this draft they traded up like 27 donon Holmes yeah and you know I don’t know maybe Russ comes in there and uh you know if that trade ends up happening and gives some juice to the second unit but kcp was a perfect fit with that starting five they’re losing their best perimeter Defender and a guy who spaced the floor and you know helped keep that offense humming and always played blow always always played I mean look this this is a huge bet by Calvin booth and I think as much ownership but certainly Calvin Booth who’s talked a lot about all these young guys that they’ve acrw to have on the bench of having those guys play they’re going to have to play because they don’t have a lot of other choices now and yeah like I think Christian Brown’s a solid player it’s not it’s this isn’t that saying he stinks but it’s you’re like you said McMahon in the playoffs they were playing six guys they’re playing five starters than this guy I like him as your seventh man I don’t like him and now now he’s stepping into the starting lineup and he doesn’t shoot I just and you know we probably haven’t talked about the Atlanta part of it enough because the magic did make a nice run last year make the playoffs and I do like the fit of him with them given another team that didn’t have any shooting a veteran presence who will shoot the the ball but and they’re not done yet no and they’re not they have more money to spend like you talked about earlier but it’s just it’s just really frustrating to see a team as good as Denver that had this group that fit together as well as it did that has an ownership group that can certainly afford to pay the luxury tax at whatever number it is just choose not to pay it from a spending standpoint and that’s it there’s because there’s really no other reason to justify not keeping this guy I mean are the are the Celtics in over the second apron yes you know because they’re a champ team and they know they’re a championship team so they’re willing to you know deal with that to keep a championship team together this was a proven championship team the Nuggets ownership is deeper pocketed than the Celtics ownership yes by a lot not to count other people’s money but the point is they have the money to do it and they chose not to and we maybe it’ll end up being a good bet maybe we’ll sitting here a year from now they’ll have won the title and they’ll make us all look silly but well we’ll see if what they do in the next couple of days and by the way we’ll be back with uh another pod that will record on Monday night that’ll post on Tuesday because we’re expecting some um things a lot more things to get done on Monday as well once um once so many uh so many Frontline pieces fall into place a lot more trades I think are going to be happening um as well after all these signings uh okay thank you to our producers Jackson and Adrien thank you to mcmah and bontemps thank you for listening to The Hoop Collective podcast we’ll talk to you soon adios me goes

Free Agency Day 1 Reaction: PG To 76ers, CP3 To Spurs & More! | The Hoop Collective
Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to react to the first day of NBA free agency including major developments with Paul George to Philly, Chris Paul & Klay Thompson leaving Golden State, KCP headed to Orlando and more! Plus, reaction to the Dejounte Murray trade.
#thehoopcollective #espn #nba

0:00 Intro
1:15 Why 76ers For Paul George?
17:01 State Of The Warriors
30:52 Final Spot For Klay Thompson
43:11 Dejounte Murray Trade Reaction
47:15 Orlando Steps Up, Denver Steps Back
59:43 Thanks For Watching!

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