Atlanta Hawks: Nikola Đurišić injury details, Vit Krejci contract deep dive, NBA Summer League

Atlanta Hawks: Nikola Đurišić injury details, Vit Krejci contract deep dive, NBA Summer League

on today’s show the Hawks lose one of their rookies to an injury that might cost him quite a bit of time plus the latest on beat C’s contract which is by the way spoiler alert very very good for the Hawks and much more we’ll get into all that coming up you are locked on Hawks your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day Hello friends welcome to episode 1766 of the lot on Hawks podcast I am your host Brad Roland coming to you on a Tuesday evening out here in the desert in Las Vegas and today’s podcast spons by the folks at FanDuel Sportsbook this summer they’re hooking you all up yes all customers with a boost or bonus daily at FanDuel that’s right something for everyone every day all summer long and the place to go is fanduel.com to get started also want to encourage you at the top of the podcast to make us your first listen each and every day please go ahead and check us out anywhere you might find podcasts on the audio side and subscribe on Apple on Spotify on overcast Etc we’re also on YouTube if you’re watching this there now please like this episode on YouTube plus subscribing and enabling your notifications so you know that when we go semi live on the podcast on that platform and if you missed it in the recent past I did breakdowns from Las Vegas on the first two Summer League games from Friday night and Sunday evening took Monday kind of off because there wasn’t a whole lot of news to get to but there is some stuff going on here and I promised you a podcast between the two games the Hawks do play again on Wednesday even evening so I’ll be live on the scene for that one but in the meantime two big pillars of today’s podcast the first of which is unfortunate when it comes to the Hawks and an injury and then later on in the podcast we’ll kind of dive into V C’s contract a little bit with some details that are very very favorable and I want to stress very favorable for the Hawks and not so favorable for V honestly but first I sort of tease it already but Nicole jurisich the Hawks second round pick who they traded for on draft night pick number 43 in this last draft who the Hawks are excited about and I know fans are excited about as well he left the game on Sunday as we discussed on this podcast with a left foot injury he was seen by me and others in a walking boot after the game Ronald nored the hawk summer league coach didn’t really give a huge update on him after the game just kind of you know Good Vibes and stuff like that but the news broke on Monday evening he’s gonna be out for a while an x-ray showed a left foot fracture of some kind for jerich um that is all we know as far as the severity and the specifics right now um as of this recording again a big part of that the hwks are in are in Vegas they don’t their normal infrastructure here their whole medical team is not here necessarily so I’m sure he’ll have an MRI I’m sure they’ll be releasing more information at some point um about an update on what kind of fracture it is ETC but the fracture is definitely going to keep him out for all of Summer League no surprise there as the hwks are going to be done within the next few days in Las Vegas but and that’s the short-term breakdown but the long-term is unclear at this point in asking around and researching and you know Googling all those fun things a foot fracture could be from like six weeks on on the white side to well longer than that several months if it’s a Jones fracture however however you want to put that I’m not an expert on those things but it could be a while it is mid July of course as I’m recording this podcast we don’t know what what it’s going to be but training Camp’s going to begin in like nine or t weeks for the Hawks and there is a decent chance if you go by kind of just what history has been on relatively all foot fractures that he could not be ready for the beginning of Camp he could be by then um the hawk other injuries that have happened so far this summer Seth Lundy Kobe buffkin are on track for camp but TBD is kind of where I’d be right now I don’t want to tell you a positive or negative either way because we just don’t know as of this recording on Tuesday early evening the Hawks have had some tough look with injuries in recent days to their young players of course buffin and Lundy two of the more recent draft picks the the two guys well two of the three guys from last year are gonna be ready for camp but they’re both hurt right now and missing Summer League moay last year who everybody’s really excited about top 40 pick missed the vast majority of last season despite showing the flash that he did because of a couple different injuries and now jurus Stitch so obviously that is unfortunate for the young man regardless because you know the timing of this he played basically one game in one quarter in summer league and I always stress this the only time that people can see these guys play is in summer league games but a lot of the development in the summer happens away from the court with rookies a little bit different he just got here he was playing professional basketball deep into like May so a little bit of a shorter offseason generally speaking for him than it would be for a college player but you know there were there was development that happened between when he was drafted and when he was done playing in summer league it reminds when he when he’s uh when he’s actually going to be seen again but it’s not like a totally lost summer but still definitely unfortunate on that level and then there is the question about his contractual status with the Hawks so in short he was playing summer league without a contract which is not out of the ordinary I got questions about this like kind of what the impact’s going to be whether this was normal or not it’s worth noting that his contract is not it’s not settled I like I talk about this a little bit on a recent podcast but there’s basically three paths for jerich contract wise and all three paths are still very much available to the Hawks right now despite the injury um number one is that he could sign a two-way contract right now the Hawks have two players on two-ways Seth Lundy and the newly signed Keaton Wallace but there are now as of last year three two-way slots so the Hawks have one a two-way slot available um keep that in mind one of the past one of the questions there is that you know if you’re jurist’s agent a lot of guys don’t want to sign two-ways in the second round um I’ve not heard that for jurich but that’s kind of out there for different prospects they’re very Team friendly in general if you have other options you don’t want want want to be on a two-way if you could help it but maybe he be open to that I just don’t know right now option number two is that he could sign a full contract that is perhaps Team friendly like some of the second round deals happen across the league a year ago the Hawks signed Muhammad gay to a multi-year team-friendly contract with the 39th pick in the draft not far away from he went at 43 did jurisich the trouble there of course the Hawks have a roster crunch already before you even include anything for jerisich it’s still quiet right now around the entire league it’s been like a lot of the talk the last few days by the way in Las Vegas even beyond the Hawks it’s just how quiet the league is there’s not been a major trade in like more than a week week and a half something like that it’s not like other teams are doing tons of stuff and the Hawks aren’t it’s very quiet like the whole league is kind of on a at a stand right now that could change any minute but that’s kind of this but given that the Hawks have this roster Crunch and I don’t know what their urgency level is about all of that stuff but they got 14 guys right now on guaranteed contracts plus Bruno Fernando who has two two more weeks left on his non- guarantee and then Garrison Matthews who the Hawks want to keep but he’s still technically non- guaranteed as of right now so that’s 16 guys in the mix before you even get to jerich so that’s why that not like more of a logical option it still could be the Hawks might move other guys away and sign him but that’s option number two and then option number three is they could stash which I’ve seen some people having a negative connotation to draft and stash but it’s a very normal thing that happens a lot in the second round with players who are coming from overseas and he was already playing professionally over there they could leave him over there in some way either with the club he was on last year or a different Club the Hawks would retain his rights if they did that but he could obviously make some money overseas and still develop with the Hawks kind of having um contact with him not being under contract at this point I asked Landry Fields you know we plus ago at the intro press conference about that option he was non-committal as you would expect but I did ask and and he didn’t rule it out which is what I said on that podcast I was like it’s notable to me that they did not rule stat him out which means that they could still do that um it wouldn’t be weird at all let me just say this one more time it would not be weird for the for a pick in the 40s to be stashed that is a very normal thing that happens so if that happens that’s not a negative thing at all if I in my opinion as far as how the injury impacts things I’ve asked I’ve been asked that question a few times in the last day or so I don’t think it’s a huge Factor um maybe it decreases the likelihood of a full contract by a little bit but no matter what a second round pick like this who’s much more of a long-term bet he was not likely to be in the rotation this year really at any point without some serious injuries in front of him so while he’s an intriguing Prospect the injury consideration for a guy like this is not going to change the course of action I don’t think like in comparison to to sadique Bay for instance where sadique Bay number one has a Tor it’s a much longer injury and he’s not a developmental guy anymore he’s he’s a guy that’s going to help you now whereas that his injury obviously hurt his prospects as a contract with jurich yeah it sucks that he’s gonna be hurt for a while but he’ll be back in relatively short order it’s a rookie season in which he’s not going to play a lot anyway that shouldn’t that shouldn’t change too too much but no matter what it’s brutal for him we’ll see how the Hawks proceed here and how they actually uh you know describe the fracture what kind it is I’m sure then once they announce that we’ll get some more information from people like Jeff stots Ed in Street close who’s a legitimate injury expert on how long this might be the Hawks don’t always give Crystal Clear timelines especially in the summer but if they sort of reveal what kind of fracture it is people kind of re between the lines there get some more information but right now it’s a big TBD on his contract on when he’s gonna be back and the only thing that we know for sure right now is that it’s a foot fracture and he’s not going to play at all in Las Vegas so the at the earliest time we’ll see him playing in a game setting will be in October all right that’s all I have on that topic we have more coming up in a second though about v c and his contract because again details are available now and it is very Team friendly to say the least but first we’re from our partners on today’s podcast Today’s Show is brought to you by eBay motors and passion drive and patience with the formula for winning championships it’s also what keeps your ride or die alive they have all the stuff you need to maintain your vehicle eBay motors and also level it up to its Peak Performance they have superchargers they have exhaust kits they have LED headlights they have roof racks and many more things honestly anything you could possibly need they have at eBay 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summer with FanDuel official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball all right before we get out of here on a relatively Short episode of this podcast given that I am traveling and recording from hotel rooms and fighting poor internet connections across Las Vegas but this was an interesting topic that was certainly worthy of examination when the details came to light so I got questions about V about V’s contract when it happened I touched on the news when it when it kind of broke from W and four years $10 million was reported um that was the approximate value of the contract at the time I described it as a clear win for the Hawks no matter what the rest of the details actually were for cree and I stand by that it was always going to be a win even if it was the most friendly possible setup legally under NBA rules for V at four years 10 million it was always going to be a good contract for the Hawks but I did acknowledge that just how Team friendly it was going to be was going to depend on the final structure of the deal and now we know the details and quite frankly it is even more Team friendly than I imagine that it could be in the first place overall it is four years for V at about 10.18 million in total but only about $3.6 million of that is guaranteed for V at this moment in time so the first season is this coming year 2425 it’s guaranteed at the minimum salary for V credit which is just over $2.1 million there you go that’s easy the second season is the contracts for about 2.3 a little bit more over the two 2.3 but only 1.5 million of that is guaranteed now granted it would be a fairly big surprise if they cut him when they would owe him nearly two-thirds of his salary if no matter what but it’s still only guaranteed at 1.5 compared to 2.3 in year two which is the 2526 season his third season in 2026 2027 is totally non-guaranteed right now it would be guaranteed for $250,000 if he’s still on the team on August 1st of 2026 which is two years from now then it would become fully guaranteed for about 2.66 million if he’s still on the team on opening night in October of 2026 so that’s a lot of words I understand that but it’s non- guaranteed as of right now and then with some escalators beyond that then the fourth season which is 2027 2028 I it’s a long time from now is a team option which is already friendly for the Hawks and it’s also non- guaranteed so the most friendly structure possible for Atlanta the the HW have to decide about the option by June 29th of 2027 which I know was a long time from now but it’s a team option with a non- guarantee so extremely friendly on that so that’s a lot of numbers I know but what does it all mean so I’ll say this respectfully and I do mean it respectfully this is not a good deal for V Cree on or his a or his agents slash reps on the player side now to be very clear $3.6 million guaranteed is a lot of money in real life terms I’m not saying otherwise that’s life-changing money for anyone including me by the way but him only getting that much guarantee right now is pretty brutal through the lens of the current NBA salary cap environment and he also at the same time has the low guarantee and he can’t get to free agency for four years if things go well so for example let’s just say for a second that last year’s late season breakout for V becomes real and he’s actually going to be a firmly rotation level player because in that 18 20 game sample at the end of last year he was playing firmly at like a top six or seven player level on a team again I’m not saying that’s definitely going to happen but let’s just say that happens he be he’d be worth at least $10 million a year with the way he was playing and that might be aggressive but even if you wanted to say six seven eight million a year over four years that’s a a huge Far Cry from what he actually signed for and again that’s not a lot to happen let’s just say that it does right now if the Hawks keep him around they have him under contract for the minimum for four years and they have all the control on the deal V can’t be a free agent again un unless he’s cut by the Hawks which which which case it hasn’t gone very well for him until he’s 28 years old so that’s not his whole Prime but it’s a lot of his prime years for very very cheap so the other question is of course why would this have happened the short answer is that restricted free agency is extremely favorable for the team a lot of the time not always but a lot of the time I tried to caution people back in April when he was kind of having that breakout that I didn’t think V was going to suddenly be in line for some huge payday because it comes down to what your Market actually is available for you and the market didn’t value him the same way that Hawks fans were necessarily seeing granted the Hawks wanted him back the whole time Landrew was very open about that in a way that you wouldn’t always see and I think part of that was because they knew he was restricted and they could squeeze him a little bit all those things plus they like him but the way that free agency works in the restricted environment is that basically unless there’s another team that is ready and willing to give you a real offer sheet for for a player on V’s level coming off of two-way all those things not super proven the incumbent team so unless that happens the incumbent team has to player kind of over a barrel in the in the negotiation once it became clear like 10 12 13 days into J into July that that offer sheet was not going to come for V it was pretty clear by that point in time from from another team V had essentially two options either sign the qualifying offer which was a two-way contract and no one thought he was going to do that because it’s just so that’s not what he’s worth or try to negotiate a multi-year deal with the Hawks knowing that again the team had all of the leverage and obviously the second option happened there so I talked to people around the league about this not Hawks people I mean Hawks people to but like people around the league they’re objective about this Asian side team side people were still surprised about how Team friendly this actually is like not even getting two fully guaranteed years is pretty crazy plus giving the option on the fourth year like if they were to sign a deal that was this that was this non- guaranteed at least getting out of it after three years of your V would be good or if you get you know all that stuff but having the the very few guarantees and the team option and four years is like the combination of brutal stuff on the team side sorry on the player side and look but this is a hawks podcast people listening to Hawks that are fans I want to be always clear that like players are people too and I want guys to get paid and I like V quite a bit so all that said you’re listening for the team side right for the Hawks this is what they’re supposed to do in a lot of ways they did what teams are supposed to do when they have leverage and they exerted it over the years the Hawks have not always done this I can think of a bunch of examples right now with Travis schank even with Landry in recent years where the Hawks probably could have squeezed harder uh number one example may be John Collins right they signed John Collins who I was always hire on than most people were but he got the free agency in restricted environment he didn’t sign for a while into July and the Hawks still gave him a contract that was like not a crazy overpay at the time but they could have squeezed him more and kind of everybody in the league kind of knew that but they didn’t want to like make it uncomfortable I don’t think DeAndre Hunter different situation but they gave him a deal that I don’t think a lot of teams in fact I don’t know any teams that I’ve talked to that would have given him that deal a year ahead but they did it and you can debate on how that how that happened why that happened I’ve always heard different things about that but they didn’t squeeze him really at all in recent days the sad Bay negotiation a year ago they didn’t just give and give Sid an extension they offered him real money to be fair but they didn’t they they drew a line of the say and they didn’t give and they didn’t give him past that contract with v it was even crazier and they they did it they really did squeeze him really hard in the way that teams should do it’s it’s ruthless but that’s kind of the way this has to work so anyway if and it’s a big if if last year’s breakout is real when it comes to the defense and the shooting for v c if that’s real this contract is an absolute and utter Grand Slam for the Hawks even if V is an eighth man ninth man 10th man in the NBA this is a fantastic contract I’m not exaggerating fantastic contract even if he doesn’t if it’s not real and V becomes the guy he was two years ago who got cut and was signed by the Hawks to a two-way in the middle of the season because he was available in the middle of the Season even if that player comes back this Deal’s still fine because there’s no risk at all this year the only thing that’s guaranteed at full at full scale is this year’s minimum contct contct which even if you’re not a big V fan signing him to the minimum would have been totally fine this year even if you’re not a Believer at all so it’s basically a no risk move for the Hawks with this structure and on the team side of things there is no reason to think anything but extremely positive things about this contract most deals most trades most signings there’s like some sort of downside even if I like the deal I’ll always try to give you the full picture on this podcast like hey here’s the positive side here’s where it could go wrong in this deal there I cannot a downside on the on the team side that’s rare but it’s true um so there you go that’s a lot of details I know kind of nerdy things it’s July things have slowed down I’m gonna get to some mailback stuff in the near future when summer league is over kind of like reassessing where the team actually is I’ve been trying to wait to see if there was other shoes that were going to drop on the center spot with capella with Nance Etc on the wing but this might just be the team for the Hawks we’ll see in the near future how that all changes it’s as we get later in later in July most of the league just kind of stops for a while and we’ll see how that happens but that’s where we are I’ll do a reset in the near future but that’s uh the two big topics that were happening as of Tuesday evening one more thing before we get out of here the Hawks play again on Wednesday in Las Vegas a 9:30 pm Eastern Time start against the Lakers TBD on who’s going to play for the Hawks I will always say it’s not until you don’t find out till like an hour before the game if that who’s gonna play um but I know Lauren Williams of the AJC talked to Reay and nored today um it seemed like is going to play on Wednesday um that’s obviously very interesting for Hawks fans to see jurus s is out buffkin is out everybody else could be available for the Hawks we will see on the Lakers side and they’re playing the Lakers Brony James is probably the biggest story in Las Vegas he’s not playing all that well but that’s a big draw getting a lot of attention I will just warn Hawks fans now this is a national TV broadcast they’re gonna talk about bronnie a lot keep that in mind I won’t be watching I’ll be in the I’ll be in the building watching in person I’m not the broadcast but that’ll happen if he’s if he’s playing and then also the Lakers have dton connect who is a lottery level talent in this year’s this year’s draft as well so there you go and then after that the Hawks play on Friday and then they’ll play again in the fifth game either on Saturday or Sunday in Las Vegas this last one actually Wednesday will be the last that I’m actually in the building I have to go home after this to uh tend to some day job things and travel some more actually but I will be on the scene Wednesday night and we’ll have full coverage after the game so please stay tuned for that please subscribe to this podcast anywhere you might find podcasts Apple Spotify overcast Etc please like this show on YouTube if you’re watching this episode right now just like it it’s one button click do that for me please subscribe to the show as well and tell your friends if you know any Hawks fans in your life who are part of your family part of your friend groups acquaintances co-workers share this podcast with them hopefully they will enjoy it as well F star ratings and reviews follow the show on Twitter lock on Hawks follow me on Twitter as well at BTR roll and also write about the Hawks share some extra stuff at patreon.com BTR Roland thanks for listening everybody i’ very much appre appreciate it enjoy the rest of your Tuesday into Wednesday and we’ll see you after the game on Wednesday

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts episode No. 1766 of the Locked on Hawks podcast. The show focuses on the injury to Atlanta Hawks second round pick Nikola Đurišić injury and a deep dive into Vit Krejci’s new contract with the team.

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