There’s growing belief that free agent Gary Trent Jr. would consider a below market one-year deal to reraise his value this season. The Nuggets, Bucks, Sixers, and Knicks are teams worth monitoring for the two-way guard as his camp mulls over appealing options.
Yeah, those poor guys are going to struggle to make ends meet. Why, the vet minimum is starvation wages, and those maxes and super maxes — who can live off a measly $50M a year?
Record breaking numbers in Phoenix. The Suns are the first $400M team in payroll
Salaries: $223M
Projected tax: $198M
The Okogie signing is smart and gives Phoenix a $8M trade asset to use during the season. Because of the rules of the 2nd apron, his salary cannot be aggregate with other players on the Phoenix roster. The contract had to be 2 years because he was signed with early bird rights.
Let's assume LM re-signs with Utah on August 7th and we're left out in the cold. Who do we pivot to?
Kuzma? Are the Wizards firm on 2 1st rounders or will a package of Moses Moody plus the expiring contracts of GP2, Looney and some draft capital (Maybe a Top 8 protected 1st?) be enough
Brook Lopez is my guess. We need someone who can stretch the floor. I suggest the following trade: Wiggins + Looney + two 2nd round picks -> Lopez + Connaughton
Brook makes little sense on our team, to me. He's really similar in play style to Post. Granted one is a proven veteran and one is a rookie, but why have four centers, two of them very similar in style? We need a scorer like LM, but I get that that's hard
yah and we probably don’t need Steph cause he has a very similar play style to Lindy Waters
edit: sorry my first reaction is always snark. Why Brook? Because he’s way better than all of our centers.
Of course, i don’t think he makes us a contender and he would use up our matching contracts and some trade assets, so doesn’t make much sense from that perspective… probably best to “keep our powder dry” as hammystyle says
I'm not sure Brook is in fact better than our centers. By history, of course he is. But he's a 36 year old center who was never athletic in the first place. He's becoming a liability in a switching defense. I went to the Bucks game last year and he was surprisingly slow and got benched for Bobby Portis and Giannis at the 5.
Post is, as you say, a rookie and on a two-way deal. He might be more of an investment for the future than a contributor this season. That said, if the Dubs traded for Brook Lopez, I would expect the team also would seek to trade Looney.
The last I checked the Bucks are $4M over the 2nd tax apron, and if so, they can't aggregate. We'd have to deal for just Lopez. Wiggins makes about $1M more than Lopez, I believe, so that won't work. So what would the Bucks want, sans Wiggs, that we would be willing to offer?
I'm leaning this way increasingly because the right deal just doesn't seem to be ready to be made now. Plus if Hield or Slo Mo don't work out, we can trade them in January, which I think we can't do now.
Wiggs at the 2? Steph, Wiggins, JK (assuming he comes into camp and proves he's ready to play the SF position full time) , Kuzma and TJD starting with Podz, Melton, Hield, Dray and SloMo off the bench
I don't know yall. I feel like Kuz is one of those players that would thrive here
I rather trade for Jerami Grant over Kuz, seems a better fit for our team. Better 3pt shot and better defender, but does not have the shot creation of Kuzma.
Kuz might fit in some ways, and he can score, but he can't shoot from distance. So then we have Dray, TJD, Slo Mo, and Kuz in the front court, none of whom space the floor. That is, unless you believe Slo Mo's 2022-23 season. And if Loon doesn't go in the deal for Kuz, we have another non-shooter up front. So does that really make us significantly more competitive? (Real question, I'm on the fence.)
Kuz can't shoot from distance? .337 3pt%. Not deadeye, but midrange he is killer. 22ppg scorer. We could use that plus the mentoring he would get from Dray. I'm in if it's for Wiggins.
I feel like Kuz would get a similar boost in 3pt FG% like Wiggins if he comes here. His shot looks fine to me. He's probably just taking awful shots out there in DC
Kuz is a career 33% shooter from 3. His career high is 36.6% his rookie year, then he sucked badly from 3 for two seasons, then managed 36.1% his last year in L.A. He shot 34.1% his first season in DC and has been below that since. So I dunno. Maybe he'll get better shots here. I'm just not seeing the fit while we have both JK and Wiggs. If we traded one of those two, then I can see it. I may be totally wrong about that.
So then the question becomes how much better Kuzma makes us vs Wiggins. That of course depends on which Wiggins we get. Wiggs is a much better defender however.
Dray will start (I mean, you know, assuming Steph does) so if you were predicting, you should revise. If you were just expressing your preference then ignore me (I do like the idea of Steph, Wiggs, JK, Dray, TJD but it depends on Wiggs being back and JK making some strides towards being the player we all hope. Fingers crossed)
I'm just not a fan of Draymond starting at the 5 full time in the regular season at his age. If he starts at the 4 then that means one of Wiggins or JK will have to come off the bench and I'm not too confident either of those guys would willingly accept that role. Unless Wiggs starts at the 2 and JK at the 3 but that would be a spacing NIGHTMARE
Oh. your lineup had TJD in for Dray, not Kuzma? I agree about not having Dray play the 5 much in the regular season. I think Wiggs and JK attacking the basket and being able to pass to each other attacking the basket would mitigate the spacing problem a fair amount, though it would take some clever scheming to make it work. This is exactly why they want a stretch 5, though, cause then you could replace TJD with a shooter ...
Yeah, I would have Kuzma at the 4 and TJD at the 5 in that scenario. I believe Kuz has what it takes to play the Draymond lite role offensively but in short spurts but maybe I just have too much confidence in him. LM is ideal for this team but I'm getting the feel he's going to re-sign with Utah. I'm getting the feeling Ainge will send the ultimate middle finger and give him an extension on August 7th
After some thought, I think we already signed Anderson and have Dray, JK, and Wiggs who can all play 4. Even if the plan is to play JK/Wiggs mostly mostly at the 3, I just don't see them trying for Kuzma. I guess I'll worry about lineups with him if they prove me wrong about that.
Both of them should be willing to play whatever minutes they get and do the best they can. I do think that they are both more small forwards than power forwards but could play as large scoring guards... basically "wings" for whatever that may mean. That will help this team.
Whomever does the best in any given game against whichever defenses are thrown at the Ws should get the closing minutes. If it seems necessary or works out that way they both can play with Draymond or whomever else is doing well.
Free agent F Josh Okogie has agreed on a two-year, $16 million deal to stay with the Phoenix Suns. Okogie's deal is non-guaranteed in the second season, giving the Suns optionality, sources said. The 6-foot-4 defender had multiple teams interested and reached new Suns deal on Thursday.
Some excellent chatter on the topic “What Are the Warriors?” from Zach and Tim McMahon in the latest Lowe Post podcast. A bit of a shaggy dog to listen to, since they start with a quasi-post-mortem on the Clips, end with a reminder that the Grizz are gonna be good, and take a long break in the Warriors convo to discuss the Jazz and other stuff. But it was all good, cos traffic on the way home was terrible, and mixed in there was a good 30-35 minutes of in-depth Warriors talk.
No major bombshells — though I always get the sense listening to Zach that he has least one actual, candid source inside the Warriors FO — which is more than I can say for, say, TK of Monte Poole. One thing he said that surprised me a bit is that the Ws are still high on Wiggs and that there’s a hope for a return to form.
They also of course batted around potential Lauri trades. Both love him as a player and think he’s a perfect fit — but Zach stopped short of believing they’re a title contender with him, and neither was sure how much Utah would ask for, and how much was too much to give up. Final answer …. “Outlook cloudy, ask again later.”
Slater: "Steph is on these conversations. He knows the Lauri situation better than we know currently. He knows what is & isn't out there better than we do. Partly he's feeling comfortable right now cause they are willing to trade picks. He knows they're willing to mortgage some of the future"
Washington has expressed interest in signing free agent guard Evan Fournier.
The Atlanta big man drawing the most external interest is newly acquired Larry Nance Jr.. Word is Nance, who came to the Hawks in the recent Dejounte Murray trade, is being chased by multiple teams in need of proven size.
The Los Angeles Lakers are one of only three teams at this point of the offseason, along with Boston and Cleveland, that have brought in no players from other teams via free agency or trade this offseason (H/T to my pal Keith Smith for that tidbit.)
All that adds up to make Trent-to-the-Lakers just too obvious ... right?
One source close to the process cautioned this week that the Lakers, until they can move farther away from the second luxury tax apron, can't even make a run at Gary Trent Jr. ... no matter how available he appears to be. The Lakers, remember, are only marginally distanced from the second apron after LeBron James signed a new two-year deal that was less than $3 million shy of the $104 million maximum he could have received.
The Lakers are known to be exploring pathways to shed some additional salary via trades to create sufficient wiggle room needed under the second apron to make use of their $5.2 million taxpayer midlevel exception. Yet even those kinds of moves likely require some form of second-round draft capital attached and taking in a player via sign-and-trade, as a first apron team, is not permitted under the league's new rules.
Gary Trent Jr. is a feast-or-famine type of player. While he sometimes has nights where he can't miss, he will look awful in those other nights. Plus, he can't defend, pass, or rebound very well.
Free agent G Bryce McGowens has agreed on a two-way deal with the Portland Trail Blazers, Kyle McAlarney and Mark Bartelstein of @PrioritySports tell ESPN. McGowens, 21, spent his first two seasons with Charlotte.
"The deals, which set NBA records for both length and total value, go into effect for the 2025-26 season. Games will continue being aired on ESPN and ABC, and now some will be going to NBC and Amazon Prime. TNT Sports, which has been part of the league's broadcasting family since the 1980s, could be on its way out but has five days to match one of the deals."
Crazy... $76B over 11 years. So that's roughly $7B per year. I was curious about the two prior deals:
> From 2002 to 2016, the league partnered with the Disney-owned ABC and ESPN as well as Turner Sports for a deal that was worth $766 million a year for its first seven years and $930 million a year for its last eight. That deal was nearly tripled in 2016 when Disney and Turner Sports signed a nine-year extension with a $24 billion payout.
So we went from $2.6B per year to $7B per year... nearly 3x, on average. This totally explains those recent contract extensions. They're going to look like great deals pretty soon.
And the expected cap jump should happen for the '25-26 season, right?
$233M per year per team. Plus latest estimates of a LV and a SEA team will bring in another ~$9B split 30 ways or $300M per team. With smoothing, the cap won't even reach $230M until 2029. Every team in the league can easily pay deep into the luxury tax for the next few years if they desire. Or the owners can take a huge chunk of profit.
I think player salaries get adjusted each year to ensure they get paid 50% of revenue. So does this mean that for the next several years, players will all make *significantly* more than their contract numbers without the owners having to go deep into the luxury tax?!
After 15-16, they decided that the maximum cap jump would be 10% a year to spread it out, rather than have it all happen in one year, since the unfair Warriors unfairly and unprecedentedly and scoundrel-y cheatingly unfairly signed Durant due to the unprecedented cap spike. Did I mention "unprecedented" and "unfair"?
> If the cap goes up 10% annually from 2025-26 onward, a player can sign a five-year contract worth more than $400 million by 2028-29. If it goes up 10% again in 2029-30, a five-year 35% max deal would be worth more than $450 million. (Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards may be the early front-runner for such a contract.)
It’s been great to read people’s takes from Wednesday, since I couldn’t attend the game.
One thing to keep in mind is that Podz and TJD just spent Jul 6 - 8 having the experience of a lifetime, being key players on the USA Select team that almost beat the Olympics team (losing by 6 and then 1). Podz was reportedly the best Select player in the first game.
Then they fly out straight from that to Summer League. (The emotional letdown alone must be jarring, leaving behind the thrill of going punch for punch with the best players in the world.) They have one or maybe even zero practices with a bunch of strangers, then go into the game, where Podz works on parts of his game that he’s less comfortable with, and also tries to get everyone else going, including force feeding Knox.
So while I’d feel better if they instantly outclassed everyone on the court, I do think it’s hasty to declare they are scrubs who are worse than players who haven’t made the NBA.
I think that is what bugs me about Podz. It almost looks like he doesn’t have a jump shot. It seems like 3 point set shot or go to the hoop for his hand away.
I know I am mistaken but I can barely picture seeing him do a pull up jumper off the dribble. I must have a mental block 🤯
Let’s hope at 21 he still has time! What is this world coming to!
Sorry for the following honest but pretty negative points.
Ellis by far the best player on the court. He defended Steph extremely well in the play in game.I think he starts for Sac with a very potent lineup of Fox, him, DD, KM and Sabonis. He is the defender but he can shoot and pass as well.
A full level above Podz. Way better defender. Better shooter. More athletic.
I was unimpressed by Podz to be honest. He comes off as a guy who thinks he is the guy on the SL team but is not talented enough to do what the guy does. Sorry sorry sorry 😊
TJD was totally unimpressive.Looked small and no sign of any improvement offensively.
A casual observer watching this game would say Bolden is a better player based on that game.
Now this was one game with little or no practice but it was disappointing for the two “stars”.
Knox looked good after looking bad the last game.
I kind of like the young left handed euro that shot 43 or 44 % from 3 in the NBL. He actually looked pretty athletic on a couple plays but the Warriors already have too many guys at his spot. He is better than Jessup though.
Bolden is interesting. If he plays great in Vegas, hmmmmmm.
Trying to be positive here and we will see what happens in Vegas.
There’s growing belief that free agent Gary Trent Jr. would consider a below market one-year deal to reraise his value this season. The Nuggets, Bucks, Sixers, and Knicks are teams worth monitoring for the two-way guard as his camp mulls over appealing options.
https://x.com/JWeinbachNBA/status/1811544183250804990
Um, GTJ is NOT a two-way player....
So with all the teams running out of cap space, who are the free agents (hoping for a bigger pay day) left without spot?
Covingtons still out there, but we’re pretty jammed up at the 4 already
Gary Trent Jr is the first name that comes to mind
Yep. Unfortunately for him, teams don't want him because of his setbacks and because of the new CBA.
Going to be really interesting to see players sign for numbers much much smaller than anticipated because of the new CBA.
Players really hamstrung themselves agreeing to a hard cap and cap smoothing and not getting the super max extra $$ to not count against the cap.
Yeah, those poor guys are going to struggle to make ends meet. Why, the vet minimum is starvation wages, and those maxes and super maxes — who can live off a measly $50M a year?
Spending power each NBA functionally has left (room under hard-caps or hard-caps that could be incurred factored in):
ATL: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
BOS: $2.1M Veteran Minimum
BKN: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
CHA: $7.9M Room Exception
CHI: $4.7M Bi-Annual Exception
CLE: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
DAL: $2.1M Veteran Minimum
DEN: $2.1M Veteran Minimum
DET: $13.9M Cap Space
GSW: None (can't fit even a Rookie Minimum under the first apron hard-cap)
HOU: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
IND: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
LAC: $3.3M left of Non-Taxpayer MLE
LAL: $2.1M Veteran Minimum
MEM: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
MIA: $2.1M Veteran Minimum
MIL: $2.1M Veteran Minimum
MIN: $2.1M Veteran Minimum
NOP: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
NYK: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
OKC: $7.9M Room Exception
ORL: $7.9M Room Exception
PHI: $2.1M Veteran Minimum
PHX: $2.1M Veteran Minimum
POR: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
SAC: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
SAS: $7.9M Room Exception
TOR: $5.2M Taxpayer MLE
UTA: $37.7M Cap Space
WAS: $12.8M Non-Taxpayer MLE
*Reported, but not official signings are factored in
**Additional room under the first or second apron could be created by shedding salary via trades
https://x.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1811549764757893164
Let me give a little more clarity here... The following teams could spend some of the NTMLE before running into the first-apron:
BKN: $11.2M
HOU: $11.6M
IND: $8.0M
MEM: $11.5M
POR: $9.5M
SAC: $7.9M
Not sure if any would use that much, as it would push them into the tax.
https://x.com/KeithSmithNBA/status/1811580222770233809
Record breaking numbers in Phoenix. The Suns are the first $400M team in payroll
Salaries: $223M
Projected tax: $198M
The Okogie signing is smart and gives Phoenix a $8M trade asset to use during the season. Because of the rules of the 2nd apron, his salary cannot be aggregate with other players on the Phoenix roster. The contract had to be 2 years because he was signed with early bird rights.
https://x.com/BobbyMarks42/status/1811577648646410262
Let's assume LM re-signs with Utah on August 7th and we're left out in the cold. Who do we pivot to?
Kuzma? Are the Wizards firm on 2 1st rounders or will a package of Moses Moody plus the expiring contracts of GP2, Looney and some draft capital (Maybe a Top 8 protected 1st?) be enough
Brook Lopez is my guess. We need someone who can stretch the floor. I suggest the following trade: Wiggins + Looney + two 2nd round picks -> Lopez + Connaughton
Brook makes little sense on our team, to me. He's really similar in play style to Post. Granted one is a proven veteran and one is a rookie, but why have four centers, two of them very similar in style? We need a scorer like LM, but I get that that's hard
We also need a rim protector like Bolden.
yah and we probably don’t need Steph cause he has a very similar play style to Lindy Waters
edit: sorry my first reaction is always snark. Why Brook? Because he’s way better than all of our centers.
Of course, i don’t think he makes us a contender and he would use up our matching contracts and some trade assets, so doesn’t make much sense from that perspective… probably best to “keep our powder dry” as hammystyle says
I'm not sure Brook is in fact better than our centers. By history, of course he is. But he's a 36 year old center who was never athletic in the first place. He's becoming a liability in a switching defense. I went to the Bucks game last year and he was surprisingly slow and got benched for Bobby Portis and Giannis at the 5.
MDJ doesn't roll Brook's way.
Post is, as you say, a rookie and on a two-way deal. He might be more of an investment for the future than a contributor this season. That said, if the Dubs traded for Brook Lopez, I would expect the team also would seek to trade Looney.
The last I checked the Bucks are $4M over the 2nd tax apron, and if so, they can't aggregate. We'd have to deal for just Lopez. Wiggins makes about $1M more than Lopez, I believe, so that won't work. So what would the Bucks want, sans Wiggs, that we would be willing to offer?
We probably stand pat till jan and see what’s available
I'm leaning this way increasingly because the right deal just doesn't seem to be ready to be made now. Plus if Hield or Slo Mo don't work out, we can trade them in January, which I think we can't do now.
Wiggs at the 2? Steph, Wiggins, JK (assuming he comes into camp and proves he's ready to play the SF position full time) , Kuzma and TJD starting with Podz, Melton, Hield, Dray and SloMo off the bench
I don't know yall. I feel like Kuz is one of those players that would thrive here
Yep.
I rather trade for Jerami Grant over Kuz, seems a better fit for our team. Better 3pt shot and better defender, but does not have the shot creation of Kuzma.
Grant is currently in the Lakers wish list. But I don't know what the Lakers can trade in order to get him.
You just benched Draymond without a conscience. Wait till he hears
He's probably done in the next 2 years and he can take a vet min if we get Kuz.
Kuz might fit in some ways, and he can score, but he can't shoot from distance. So then we have Dray, TJD, Slo Mo, and Kuz in the front court, none of whom space the floor. That is, unless you believe Slo Mo's 2022-23 season. And if Loon doesn't go in the deal for Kuz, we have another non-shooter up front. So does that really make us significantly more competitive? (Real question, I'm on the fence.)
Kuz can't shoot from distance? .337 3pt%. Not deadeye, but midrange he is killer. 22ppg scorer. We could use that plus the mentoring he would get from Dray. I'm in if it's for Wiggins.
I feel like Kuz would get a similar boost in 3pt FG% like Wiggins if he comes here. His shot looks fine to me. He's probably just taking awful shots out there in DC
Kuz is a career 33% shooter from 3. His career high is 36.6% his rookie year, then he sucked badly from 3 for two seasons, then managed 36.1% his last year in L.A. He shot 34.1% his first season in DC and has been below that since. So I dunno. Maybe he'll get better shots here. I'm just not seeing the fit while we have both JK and Wiggs. If we traded one of those two, then I can see it. I may be totally wrong about that.
In an ideal world we're trading Wiggs and hopefully one 1st round pick for him but I think they want 2 1st rounders and I'm not sure about all that
So then the question becomes how much better Kuzma makes us vs Wiggins. That of course depends on which Wiggins we get. Wiggs is a much better defender however.
Dray will start (I mean, you know, assuming Steph does) so if you were predicting, you should revise. If you were just expressing your preference then ignore me (I do like the idea of Steph, Wiggs, JK, Dray, TJD but it depends on Wiggs being back and JK making some strides towards being the player we all hope. Fingers crossed)
I'm just not a fan of Draymond starting at the 5 full time in the regular season at his age. If he starts at the 4 then that means one of Wiggins or JK will have to come off the bench and I'm not too confident either of those guys would willingly accept that role. Unless Wiggs starts at the 2 and JK at the 3 but that would be a spacing NIGHTMARE
Oh. your lineup had TJD in for Dray, not Kuzma? I agree about not having Dray play the 5 much in the regular season. I think Wiggs and JK attacking the basket and being able to pass to each other attacking the basket would mitigate the spacing problem a fair amount, though it would take some clever scheming to make it work. This is exactly why they want a stretch 5, though, cause then you could replace TJD with a shooter ...
Yeah, I would have Kuzma at the 4 and TJD at the 5 in that scenario. I believe Kuz has what it takes to play the Draymond lite role offensively but in short spurts but maybe I just have too much confidence in him. LM is ideal for this team but I'm getting the feel he's going to re-sign with Utah. I'm getting the feeling Ainge will send the ultimate middle finger and give him an extension on August 7th
After some thought, I think we already signed Anderson and have Dray, JK, and Wiggs who can all play 4. Even if the plan is to play JK/Wiggs mostly mostly at the 3, I just don't see them trying for Kuzma. I guess I'll worry about lineups with him if they prove me wrong about that.
Both of them should be willing to play whatever minutes they get and do the best they can. I do think that they are both more small forwards than power forwards but could play as large scoring guards... basically "wings" for whatever that may mean. That will help this team.
Whomever does the best in any given game against whichever defenses are thrown at the Ws should get the closing minutes. If it seems necessary or works out that way they both can play with Draymond or whomever else is doing well.
Free agent F Josh Okogie has agreed on a two-year, $16 million deal to stay with the Phoenix Suns. Okogie's deal is non-guaranteed in the second season, giving the Suns optionality, sources said. The 6-foot-4 defender had multiple teams interested and reached new Suns deal on Thursday.
https://x.com/ShamsCharania/status/1811570376864071900
Some excellent chatter on the topic “What Are the Warriors?” from Zach and Tim McMahon in the latest Lowe Post podcast. A bit of a shaggy dog to listen to, since they start with a quasi-post-mortem on the Clips, end with a reminder that the Grizz are gonna be good, and take a long break in the Warriors convo to discuss the Jazz and other stuff. But it was all good, cos traffic on the way home was terrible, and mixed in there was a good 30-35 minutes of in-depth Warriors talk.
No major bombshells — though I always get the sense listening to Zach that he has least one actual, candid source inside the Warriors FO — which is more than I can say for, say, TK of Monte Poole. One thing he said that surprised me a bit is that the Ws are still high on Wiggs and that there’s a hope for a return to form.
They also of course batted around potential Lauri trades. Both love him as a player and think he’s a perfect fit — but Zach stopped short of believing they’re a title contender with him, and neither was sure how much Utah would ask for, and how much was too much to give up. Final answer …. “Outlook cloudy, ask again later.”
Slater: "Steph is on these conversations. He knows the Lauri situation better than we know currently. He knows what is & isn't out there better than we do. Partly he's feeling comfortable right now cause they are willing to trade picks. He knows they're willing to mortgage some of the future"
https://old.reddit.com/r/warriors/comments/1e13fmn/slater_steph_is_on_these_conversations_he_knows/
Dillon Brooks tripping Lebron
https://x.com/_JasonLT/status/1811461336465048025
Brooks sticks his foot out briefly against Curry
https://x.com/JoshReynolds24/status/1811471371081248938
What an a**hole
He also accidentally on purpose pushed LeBron from behind, on one of the early plays, and LeBron went down to the floor.
I was glad to hear the fans booing him, although I’m not sure he cares.
Washington has expressed interest in signing free agent guard Evan Fournier.
The Atlanta big man drawing the most external interest is newly acquired Larry Nance Jr.. Word is Nance, who came to the Hawks in the recent Dejounte Murray trade, is being chased by multiple teams in need of proven size.
https://marcstein.substack.com/p/my-nba-trade-talk-and-free-agency?utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true
Free agent guard Kyle Lowry has agreed to a deal to return to the Philadelphia 76ers
https://x.com/shamscharania/status/1811520408165965971
BREAKING NEWS ON LAURI !!!!
Oh wait…
Don’t worry. That Woj Bomb is going to hit at the most random time this month after DNHQ has moved on from him
The Los Angeles Lakers are one of only three teams at this point of the offseason, along with Boston and Cleveland, that have brought in no players from other teams via free agency or trade this offseason (H/T to my pal Keith Smith for that tidbit.)
All that adds up to make Trent-to-the-Lakers just too obvious ... right?
One source close to the process cautioned this week that the Lakers, until they can move farther away from the second luxury tax apron, can't even make a run at Gary Trent Jr. ... no matter how available he appears to be. The Lakers, remember, are only marginally distanced from the second apron after LeBron James signed a new two-year deal that was less than $3 million shy of the $104 million maximum he could have received.
The Lakers are known to be exploring pathways to shed some additional salary via trades to create sufficient wiggle room needed under the second apron to make use of their $5.2 million taxpayer midlevel exception. Yet even those kinds of moves likely require some form of second-round draft capital attached and taking in a player via sign-and-trade, as a first apron team, is not permitted under the league's new rules.
https://marcstein.substack.com/p/my-nba-trade-talk-and-free-agency
Wiggins for Trent (+Veznekov?) sign & trade could make sense if the Dubs deal Podz + Moody for Markkanen
Gary Trent Jr. is a feast-or-famine type of player. While he sometimes has nights where he can't miss, he will look awful in those other nights. Plus, he can't defend, pass, or rebound very well.
Free agent G Bryce McGowens has agreed on a two-way deal with the Portland Trail Blazers, Kyle McAlarney and Mark Bartelstein of @PrioritySports tell ESPN. McGowens, 21, spent his first two seasons with Charlotte.
https://x.com/wojespn/status/1811479420860821533
Reports: NBA agrees to terms on $76B media rights deals: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40535771/reports-nba-agrees-terms-76-billion-media-rights-deal
"The deals, which set NBA records for both length and total value, go into effect for the 2025-26 season. Games will continue being aired on ESPN and ABC, and now some will be going to NBC and Amazon Prime. TNT Sports, which has been part of the league's broadcasting family since the 1980s, could be on its way out but has five days to match one of the deals."
More at the link.
I hope TNT matches.
Asking people to sign up for Prime and Peacock just to get all the games is pretty screwed up.
Crazy... $76B over 11 years. So that's roughly $7B per year. I was curious about the two prior deals:
> From 2002 to 2016, the league partnered with the Disney-owned ABC and ESPN as well as Turner Sports for a deal that was worth $766 million a year for its first seven years and $930 million a year for its last eight. That deal was nearly tripled in 2016 when Disney and Turner Sports signed a nine-year extension with a $24 billion payout.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nba-76-billion-tv-rights-130000887.html
So we went from $2.6B per year to $7B per year... nearly 3x, on average. This totally explains those recent contract extensions. They're going to look like great deals pretty soon.
And the expected cap jump should happen for the '25-26 season, right?
$233M per year per team. Plus latest estimates of a LV and a SEA team will bring in another ~$9B split 30 ways or $300M per team. With smoothing, the cap won't even reach $230M until 2029. Every team in the league can easily pay deep into the luxury tax for the next few years if they desire. Or the owners can take a huge chunk of profit.
Boo I want the Celtics deep in tax
I think player salaries get adjusted each year to ensure they get paid 50% of revenue. So does this mean that for the next several years, players will all make *significantly* more than their contract numbers without the owners having to go deep into the luxury tax?!
Expansion fees are exempt from that per Bill Simmons. The TV revenue obviously can't be, so who knows how that gets split.
After 15-16, they decided that the maximum cap jump would be 10% a year to spread it out, rather than have it all happen in one year, since the unfair Warriors unfairly and unprecedentedly and scoundrel-y cheatingly unfairly signed Durant due to the unprecedented cap spike. Did I mention "unprecedented" and "unfair"?
Also 2016 FAs got a windfall, while other players did not. But, yeah, @#$@%ing Warriors and their cheating.
Ahhh right. I forgot about that.
> If the cap goes up 10% annually from 2025-26 onward, a player can sign a five-year contract worth more than $400 million by 2028-29. If it goes up 10% again in 2029-30, a five-year 35% max deal would be worth more than $450 million. (Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards may be the early front-runner for such a contract.)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryantoporek/2024/05/30/the-nbas-new-tv-deals-are-poised-to-send-the-salary-cap-skyrocketing/
It’s been great to read people’s takes from Wednesday, since I couldn’t attend the game.
One thing to keep in mind is that Podz and TJD just spent Jul 6 - 8 having the experience of a lifetime, being key players on the USA Select team that almost beat the Olympics team (losing by 6 and then 1). Podz was reportedly the best Select player in the first game.
Then they fly out straight from that to Summer League. (The emotional letdown alone must be jarring, leaving behind the thrill of going punch for punch with the best players in the world.) They have one or maybe even zero practices with a bunch of strangers, then go into the game, where Podz works on parts of his game that he’s less comfortable with, and also tries to get everyone else going, including force feeding Knox.
So while I’d feel better if they instantly outclassed everyone on the court, I do think it’s hasty to declare they are scrubs who are worse than players who haven’t made the NBA.
Very true.
Easy to overreact when bored and sitting around the house😊
I personally would take Ellis over Podz and not because of one meaningless SL game.
It will be fun watching both guys develop into NBA players.
Podz plays like an old guy at the park who keeps winning games and pisses off the young guys.
I thought Ellis was pretty electric last season. He's 24 yo and a two year NBA pro. He's -- wait for it -- too old to be playing Summer League.
Podz is 21 and may still have room to grow his game... I would be happier if he settled on one way to shoot a midrange shot and got good at it...
Thanks.
I think that is what bugs me about Podz. It almost looks like he doesn’t have a jump shot. It seems like 3 point set shot or go to the hoop for his hand away.
I know I am mistaken but I can barely picture seeing him do a pull up jumper off the dribble. I must have a mental block 🤯
Let’s hope at 21 he still has time! What is this world coming to!
> One thing to keep in mind [...]
Was literally just about to write that exact thing. Thanks :)
Great minds think alike. So do weird minds!
Fools seldom differ
My take from the SL game.
Sorry for the following honest but pretty negative points.
Ellis by far the best player on the court. He defended Steph extremely well in the play in game.I think he starts for Sac with a very potent lineup of Fox, him, DD, KM and Sabonis. He is the defender but he can shoot and pass as well.
A full level above Podz. Way better defender. Better shooter. More athletic.
I was unimpressed by Podz to be honest. He comes off as a guy who thinks he is the guy on the SL team but is not talented enough to do what the guy does. Sorry sorry sorry 😊
TJD was totally unimpressive.Looked small and no sign of any improvement offensively.
A casual observer watching this game would say Bolden is a better player based on that game.
Now this was one game with little or no practice but it was disappointing for the two “stars”.
Knox looked good after looking bad the last game.
I kind of like the young left handed euro that shot 43 or 44 % from 3 in the NBL. He actually looked pretty athletic on a couple plays but the Warriors already have too many guys at his spot. He is better than Jessup though.
Bolden is interesting. If he plays great in Vegas, hmmmmmm.
Trying to be positive here and we will see what happens in Vegas.
Podz also sucked last summer so I wouldn't read much into it