1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - NBA Trades Pandemonium! - July 2nd, 11:00am

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

NBA Trades Pandemonium! - July 2nd, 11:00amAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation on 93-7 the ticket. Welcome in. It is one-on-one with no DP. We got Harrison and Austin Orman filling in for this hour. If you guys want to join in, 402, 464-5-68. We got an hour and then we'll, of course, get to the Adam Carrier show later as well. Austin Norman, man. How's it going?

Usually I talk to you in the afternoon. Talk to you in the afternoon. morning. It's a little weird. I'm still getting used to seeing you before, you know, the sun starts to set. But it's been nice. It's good to be on one-on-one with you. That's great to be here. I would love to go back to our senior years of high school and actually play one-on-one. I think I got you coming. I don't think you do for a second. How would like the, well, would you play guard? I played, I played everything but center, essentially. You mean, you know the Class C grind, the Class C struggle. Oh, yeah,

Class C, too, baby. Yeah, I played center. I played center for a whopping one summer league game. I think it was against Pious and it went really well on offense. It went not so well on defense as you can you can about imagine. But yeah, no, I consider myself, I grew up being a point guard. I was a shrimp. I was a runt and that I finally grew into something resembling height. Certainly not the tallest player on the team,

certainly not the smallest, right there in the middle. so I was kind of the secondary point guard, but I think I consider myself a point guard by trade, but a wing by position. Okay. What was the, well, give me the Austin Norman,

like give me the player comp, NBA player cop. Obviously you're not an NBA player, but what game are we talking here? Okay. Think like Steph Curry's shot with LeBron's brain with, with,

I'm trying to think, trying to think. What Kyrie Irving's handle? Yeah, Kyrieving's handle that's in there. Maybe like, like, Rosen's mid-range game with Kevin Durant's positional versatility.

I think that's probably the best way I can describe myself. Okay, nice. I was going to say Patty Mills, but you know, you can think. So I didn't actually fly off screens like that. That wasn't in our offense a bunch. More spot-up guy. It was kind of more like Warriors-ish system, a lot of five out. John Livingston, maybe?

Where was Sean Livingston going to go to college before he busted his knee completely? Oh, I got no idea. Yeah, that's good trivia, though. I think you know. If I'm asking you the question, you should probably know. Where? He's going to go to Nebraska? He's going to go to Duke.

Duke? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was going to say, I was like, I don't remember him singing in Nebraska ever. Yeah, Duke, that makes sense. Yeah, no, but I would say, honestly, a pretty good, good comp for me would be a guy. I know what we'll talk about here in second was, was Paul George, right? If I was the best player on your team, things probably, you'd be fine, but I was probably best served in a secondary kind of role where, you know, I'd shoot it pretty well.

play defense pretty well, positional versatility sort of thing. Not injured like Paul George. We had much less interest in podcasting in high school than Paul George does now as well. Had my moments where I could take over and look like the best player on the court, but more often than not,

I was just going to fill whatever whole the team needed me to that night. Okay, if we laced them up right now? Oh, I got you. In a heart. For how much chatter we have? Farley thinks he could beat me. Yeah, no, Farley's got no shot.

Well, I'm just going to take you down to the block. I'm just going to post you up. Farley, I can just reach up. like this. Go, doink. I don't think probably play basketball growing up, did he? He was a track guy. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't.

Track is going to help him in the half court. No, basketball is one of those things where, like, you don't have to be a great athlete. You just have to have enough experience playing the game of basketball. Yeah. And then if you want to go to college, pro, you need to be a great athlete. But for our case in purpose, all right, we can get out of our glory days. We do have to set that up, though. I take a tournament.

I do want to see the lads play a game of basketball. And we can put a lot of this chatter to the side, finally. But let's talk about the NBA. Jalen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers. A lot of stink on it. Some people are screaming fleece that the 76ers fleeced these Celtics for a guy like Janeline Brown. Despite giving up, let me pull up all the picks they gave away here.

It was two first and then two seconds. One of them was a swap, I think. I want to hear your thoughts on it. Me and AD, we kind of touched on it shortly there. But a blockbuster trade like this, they've been dangling Jalen Brown over the bridge a little bit, waiting for some consumers, some buyers. and they finally put a deal together. Where do you land on this,

winners, losers, however you want to break it down? So this is where I need to both let my nerd freak flag fly and also rolled up and put it away at the end of the day because on the surface, I think it's pretty dumb. You have a championship core. You have these two guys,

one of whom's a finals MVP, that still led you to a really successful season last year with one of the guys coming off injury. I think it's pretty clear that right now, Now, Jalen Brown helps more teams more consistently than Paul George does. You know, Jalen Brown would, now that it comes down to this necessarily, Jalen Brown would probably beat Paul George, you know, one on one. You know, just pure skill for skill, there's probably more in the tank for Jalen Brown right now.

But this is where I'm going to go to some of the underlying numbers and storylines to where, even if I don't know if I would have made the trade, even if I don't think Boston had to make the trade, and more reporting is saying there was no mandate, there was no directive to get Jalen Brown out of there. This sounds like it was a Brad Stevens decision. But the last three seasons, Boston was 36 and 6 when Jalen Brown didn't play. Over the course of Jalen Brown's whole time in Boston, 90 and 36 without him. Jalen Brown in his game essentially is Zach Levine with better PR in a lot of ways.

more winning, right? There's been more talent around him. Boston's point differential has been worse with Jalen Brown on the floor in each of the last four seasons and six of the last eight. His assist to turnover ratio, relatively low, high volume shooter with a below average true shooting percentage. And now he'll make up for that. And this is mostly what Andy Bailey is saying, who writes for Bleacher Report. But pretending like he was going to be worth a superstar trade package, especially when leverage was killed by what seemed like a public campaign to be traded, was just setting up fans. to be angry. A little bit more on this. Josh Eberley, who I follow,

he's a Cavs guy that follows basketball rights for a few different outlets, including supporting news. I think a key subplot may be lurking in the background. Here was the USA national team saga. Jalen Brown got Maddie to make the team. Nike pushed back and multiple teammates of his. You know, Derek White and Jason Tatum get a gold medal that apparently Jalen Brown really wanted.

The other thing I'll say, about this is this is from the guy that created the Darko projections. And that's a really catch-all. Basketball's equivalent of wins above replacement in a lot of ways, but even a little bit more advanced. This guy, Acostio says, at the time of Jaylon's contract, it was one of those things you need to do,

but essentially nobody was thrilled at paying him 57 million a year. Meanwhile, Paul George has never had a season with a negative on-off split. He's always been a positive player when he's on the court, including the last two seasons in Philadelphia. Yes, you lose an age and health here, but you're getting paid for it. What you're not getting paid for is Jalen Brown MVP candidate, but we just saw over the last three weeks that actual decision makers didn't value him any differently than the analytical models. And what the analytical models are saying is that, yeah, Brown is a better player than George right now from the same guy. But the gap is so small on a per possession base.

So it's, of course, health notwithstanding. they're both negative value contracts. George has one fewer year, but is older and less healthy. So the Celtics get one good pick and one mystery box picks for their troubles. The issue with the trade is perceived value. Jalen Brown is a top 50-ish player who's widely viewed after this last year as a top 15 player. And the Celtics traded him without collecting any of the premium from that perception gap. They lost a lot of perceived trade value.

But as we learned the last week, that value probably didn't exist among real actual operating team front offices. I mean, all that tracks. And I think they kind of said it right there. The perception of it. Like Jaylen Brown just came off of one of his best seasons, you know, where he had to carry a lot of the water for the Celtics, obviously, Caden being out. And then he's been one of those guys in the playoffs that they've been able to lean on.

He's been the opposite. What was the nickname? Way off P. I think that was the Mickey Mouse tournament. That's funny. Yeah. So, you know, Paul George, he's gotten some criticism for some playoff woes. But to your point, when he's healthy, like even last year,

the injuries don't help, right? he played 37 games last year, two years ago. He played 41 games. But when he was playing, I mean, he was shot the ball at just about 40% from three. And the year before that, he was hovering around 36% from three. He avered 17.3 points per game last year. Like, to your point, when he's on the court, he's definitely productive. It's just how long is he going to be on the court for?

Because I pointed out to those two last years. And I'm still thinking, I'm way higher on Jaylon Brown. I think maybe I'm leaning into the perception of the people, but I really do think like this last year was a good sign that he's starting to enter that prime and you're letting go of that perception. To your point, like you're missing out on the premium of perception. When we talk NBA trades,

perception greases the wheels a lot for a lot of these blockbuster trades. Maybe for dumb front offices, but I think Philly's front office is pretty good and I think Boston has a pretty good track record. And so that's where, again, the fan perception is going to be what it is. And the PR isn't everything. but it is something. You have to keep it in account a little bit.

But I think what Costia, the Darko creator was saying, is that Boston didn't just talk to Philly. You know, this wasn't, you know, Luca for AD in terms of package and conversations and secrecy. It was out there that Jalen Brown wanted to be traded.

And you still had that few takers. You had fewer takers for Jalen Brown than Yannis did. Yeah. Which, okay, makes sense. Yonis is a better player. But Jailen Bray. Brown had a better season, was more available, you know, than Janus this year. And obviously, Janus is a better player in terms of the length of their careers, I would say, than Jalen Brown.

But there just wasn't the interest that fans thought there would be or should be because I think so many NBA front offices, obviously not all of them, right? I mean, the Kings exist, among others, just have their models. And their models say, yeah, Jalen Brown's good. He could help us. But he's maybe not the superstar that the public seems to think he is with the underlying numbers that bear out over the long run. Fair enough. I'm reading into entering into the prime and him building off of those numbers. So I think you're right.

I think it's absolutely accurate to say that, you know, there is a gap, but it is not as significant as maybe the public perception and like it to think it to be. With the injuries, I do think that gap is wider than if you just take numbers, because I know you're looking at those numbers and it's like, well, on the court, those are all great. if you're looking at just like the last time there was one blip here in 23, 24, where Paul George played 70 plus games, he played 74. Otherwise, until that point, the last time he was able to play 70 plus games was 2018. And then it went from 77 games, 2018, 2019, 48, 20, 20, 54, 31 games and 21, just 56 games in 22.

I mentioned it to 74, three years ago, and then 41, 37. that is not a great track record of injury woes. And how old is he, 36? He's old, but the thing about this, he's got one year left on his deal with a player option. For Boston, they view that as essentially an expiring contract. They can flip for something.

You know, and who's going to want 37-year-old Paul George, probably a crappy team that wants to get him off the books. Yeah. The year after that, to clear up some cap space and have something fresh to work with. And so, no, I don't love it.

for Boston in that reason. It's a risk. There's always a risk. But by that same time, I think Boston going out and getting Mitchell Robinson, you have to keep that move in mind here as well. Boston was one of the highest three-point volume teams in the NBA last year. When the shots weren't falling, they weren't good, excuse me, because they didn't have another avenue. With Paul George, with Mitchell Robinson, now it's not all three-pointers are bust for Boston.

They can be a little bit more athletic defensively. They can pursue offensive rebounds at a little bit higher rate than they did last year. So they're really leaning into, excuse me, the possessions. And they're also leaning into, hey, we'll give it a look with Paul George. If it doesn't work, we believe in our ability to trade him for something, anything. And then for Philly, you can't say that they're the slam dunk winners because this is a risk too. They give away some future picks as well. I like old Paul George.

I'm more concerned about the Tyree's maxi angle. Oh, okay. Fair. After the year Jalen Brown just had, is he going to walk in there and think that, hey, they drafted me, they traded for me, this is my team. When what did they do? They cleared the runway for Tyrese Maxie, who is probably a better offensive player. He's significantly underrated too.

Right now. Tyrese Maxie's really flipping good. Yeah, he's probably got all the same gripes that Brown has. In a lot of ways. Yeah. Now, what Philly will do is they'll run a lot in transition. Maxi and Brown were two, like the top five players in terms of transition opportunities and efficiency per game last year.

So Philly's going to want to run. what does that do, kicks Joel Embed even further to the curb. I'm more concerned about Joelle M. Bede's health than I am Paul George's. Oh, for sure. Right. Well, that's why those, to be fair, those two never worked together for those reasons. One was healthy and felt like the other one was hurt. Yeah.

The Sixers, though, were much more built around Mbed for the last, you know, let's say, you know, five-ish years. Yeah, for sure. Then the Celtics will be around. George, Paul George. He gets Jason Tatum's back. And yes, the best way to think a guy won't get injured is that he hasn't been injured. before, the more injuries you have, obviously, the more likely they are to pile up just with the way

the body works in some ways. So, sure, there's a risk. So Paul George is either short-term Tatum redundancy or he's overkill because you have the better version of Paul George right now in Jason Tatum that can play. In Philly's running the risk of, hey, why was Boston so willing to give this guy away? When they weren't told it was the luxury tax thing, why were they so willing to give him to us? I don't think Jalen Brown's a headache. I think he's got, you know, that normal athlete ego. You know, athletic confidence, arrogance, I think is what Jayforman would call it. Not in a bad way. I think Jalen Brown's generally a good dude. But I think he had a taste of running his own team, being the go-to guy. And I'm just fascinated to see how that's going to work. If he's asked to take a backseat, if this is, you know, Luca Kyrie 2.0. But guess what? Neither Maxie or Jalen Brown is the playmaker that Luca Donchich is. They're both score first guards or maybe a wing in Jalen Brown's case. So there's enough risk both ways. Yeah. And sometimes, you know, it could work out too. I remember Luca Kyrie. I hated that. They actually played pretty well together.

Like all things considering, once they started to jail and actually turned into a really great one-two punch and then of course, the Nico Harrison saga and we'll never get the full details and hold that one. One first round pick is just insane for that trade. But all that to say, I don't know if you like giving a litter grades on these trades at all, but

you're not saying this is a fleece whatsoever. No. My first thought was wow Boston didn't get that much back. Wow, it's a risk for them. But the more I've thought about it and the more I've dug into the numbers, I think there's enough risk both ways. I think it's a move that neither team had to make. I think that there's certainly ways that it works out for both teams.

I would guess it benefits Philly more in the next three years, potentially. But I think Boston could set itself up for the next handful. Do you think this moves the needle more for the 76ers to be a championship contender or the Boston Celtics? Um, since Boston was already closer, I think it, it helps them. You know, I think there's, they lose the 76ers. Yeah, but that was Tatum just coming back. True. And that was Brown at the end of a long season, this first time being a first option.

And that was without really any front court help. Philly was unconscious that series as well. And I want to give them credit for that. And they got swept by the next after once they cooled on. Right. But what seed were the 76ers? They were the 70s. Yeah.

Yeah. What would seed was Boston? Yeah. And now I think that Boston with the DNA, that Missoula has with the blueprint for how they want to play, they're still going to play the same ways. I'm worried about what it looks like if Derek White

is asked to shift up and roll. I'm worried about what it looks like if Peyton Pritchard is asked to step up and roll. I think both those guys found a nice home for what they were asked to do. And I think relying on Paul George is dangerous. I think anything you get from him at this point is pretty gravy.

Even though when he came back from his injury and suspension, whatever, he was actually better. EPM than Jalen Brown was over the same stretch of games. And okay, so, that's a small sample size. But I think this gives Boston more versatility and more ways to beat you for a team that's already closer to championship contention, whereas Philly is really going all in on offense. Yeah. And I think, you know, one thing for the Celtics, I think it was kind of getting to that point to where Brown wanted out.

At that locker room, I don't know what is going to look like if you were training him and trying to find all these different options for him. then ultimately you don't find a deal and you keep him in that locker room for another year. Maybe that blows up in your face if you don't find a new home form. And this is the best deal that you're going to get. I think you're 100% right with the perception. The injuries of Paul George is what is putting the sour taste in everybody's mouth for this trade in particular. You know, I'm excited to see what it looks like for the 76ers. I do think if Paul George can just stay healthy, that Celtics team becomes really dangerous.

now I liked Brown a lot he carried a lot of the water for him but again if you get a healthy you can look at a stat small sample size to your point but he was awesome when he was healthy you just got to hope that he stays healthy but then you do get a little of flexibility with his contract that he currently has on the record do you see Craig's text Craig hands down better than Jalen Brown J. J.B is easily top 15 in the league what are you doing Boston fireball offense forever pulled the trigger can you name 15 teams who their best player is better than Jalen Brown number one, I don't think that's the way you calculate top 15 players because I think there might be some teams with multiple top 15 players on them. But let's go through, let's go through this exercise. Okay. Okay. Oklahoma City's best player. Yeah, veteran Jalenbrose. Denver, Denver, San Antonio. San Antonio, Lakers, Luca. I'm going to give Minnesota with Anthony Edwards, the nod. Yeah, I think that's fair. You could definitely do that. I would. I'd give the Knicks, the nod with Janele Brunson. Or is that too much? I think I'd give it to Brunson. I think I'd give it to Brunson. I think I'd give it to Brunson.

Johnson. It's a lot on this last year. I'm trying to go through conference by conference here. Okay. Let me pull up the NBA. We just go. So in my head, it's OKC with with Shea, San Antonio with Wembe, Lakers with Luca. If you're factoring in age and contract, I might take Jalen Brown, but I think just pure player, even just year over year. I'm taking Kevin Durant over Jalen Brown. Yeah, no, for sure. This day. Yeah. Obviously, Yokic in Denver, like you said, Anthony Edwards in Minnesota.

and there's six right there. Again, it gets interesting with the contract and the role they're asked to play. And I'm going to try to filter my bias out of here. Who's a better player right now, Steph Curry or Jalen Brown? Steph Curry still. I'd probably rather have Steph.

Yeah, I think most people are you lying to yourself a little bit. He said Brown. Jalen is probably better than anyone on Portland. Probably better than anyone in Sacramento. Jalen Brown or Devin Booker? Probably Jalen? I'm going Jalen Brown. Devin Booker, he's kind of lost.

Maybe it's more fit for Booker, and he hasn't always been served well by his team. But I'm going Brown and today. Yeah, it's so, those are just two different players. I think it's close. You can have an argument either way. And I think he's pretty clearly better than anyone on the Pelicans. Yes.

Zion, unless Zion has that breakout. Well, Trey Murphy, I think I take Jalen Brown over. Yeah, for sure. Pretty clearly. Are we missing anyone from the, oh, from the Clipper? well quite a lot of he's a raptor now and so yeah

I'll probably take Jalen Brown over anyone individually on the Clippers um I think would you take Jalen Brown over anyone on

the Mavericks he might be a better player right now than Cooper Flag but is it that far off I think so you mean you watch a lot more Cooper Flag than I did but I'm taking Brown

it's not I'm not thinking too hard on it Jalen Brown or Kyrie Irving then Let me pull up Kyrie Irving stats. Cairo didn't play last year. Oh, true, right. To factor in. Give me, Brown.

That's fair. And this stage in his career, give me Brown. That's fair. I don't think it's that far off between Cooper and Jalen Brown. Again, but they're different guys, different roles for last play.

Okay, so now we can go to the east. We'll go team by team. Jalen Brown or Cade Cunningham. I'm taking Cade. I'm taking Cade as well. I'm not having a problem with that. Cleveland,

is it Spider-Mitchell or Jalen Brown? And then is it Evan Mobley? or Jalen Brown. Which discussion do you think? Give me Mitchell. Okay, I'll take Spita over. Yeah, give me Donovan Mitchell every time. I like Jalen's size a little bit more than Donovan Mitchell's. But again, it's close.

You know, I can't say that Jalen Brown is slamedunk better than Donovan Mitchell. I take Jalen Brunson right now over Jalen Brown. I think pretty clearly trying to scroll through the rest of the east. Obviously, you're taking Tatum over Brown, Boston, made that choice, and I would tend to agree. Would you take Jalen Brown over Kauai Leonard? I wouldn't. Really?

No, Kauai actually played a fair share of minutes last year, and I think he's a better, more rounded, more versatile player. You're taking Kauai over? I'm taking Kauai Ler. Okay, good. I thought you had that backwards. Like, Kaui Lennard just put together, like one of his better seasons. Yeah, 100%. You're taking quiet letter.

Okay. In that case, we're moving on. Be better than anyone on Brooklyn, clearly. Sorry, Julius Randall. Unnecessary shout taken Is he better or worse than Norm Powell? Ooh, he's worse. I mean, he's better.

Yeah, I think he's slightly better than Powell. Yeah, but Powell's a good player. Powell is a good player. But down, I'm taking a brown. Let's see. We're over 15 at this point. I think already, but we can keep going. Better worse than Tyreys Halliburton.

I was just going to say, give me, ooh, it's a good question with Halliburton. With all his injury, assuming he's healthy? I take Halle. I think I take Tyrese Hallibon, too. he got to a game seven versus the O KC Thunder. Pascal Seaccom was a big part of that too, but Tyrese Halliburton was unconscious. If he's healthy,

we're assuming that he's healthy. I'm taking Hallie Burton as well. Now, to be fair, Jalen Brown does have the finals MVP in his back pocket. He does for sure. I'll take Halliburton. I'm trying to think, obviously better than anyone currently on Milwaukee at this point.

Chicago, he's got us beat. That's what I'm saying with Norm Powell. I take Janice. I'd rather have Janice than Jalen Brown. Yeah, that's not a stretch. would think. Not a stretch whatsoever. I'd probably rather have Jalen Brown right now than

Paulo Bancaro, but I think Pollo can make that an interesting conversation. Anthony Davis? Jalen Brown. Jalen Brown. In a heartbeat. I think. He said Bencaro already? Yeah.

Okay. Better than anyone on the Hawks, Jalen Brown or Jalen Johnson? Probably Jalen Brown. Yeah, I'm going to Brown. But I think again, Jalen Johnson can make it interesting. I think Brown's a better lead score, but I think Johnson is a more well-rounded player. And certainly Jailn Brown's accomplished more than Jail and Johnson. and don't give me wrong on that.

Anyone else were looking through missing? Right now. Do we touch on the Kings? I don't think. De Martin Rosen, Zach Levine. Whatever. Yeah.

Better than anyone on Charlotte? There's even all. Caneple? Yeah. Is that who you're looking at? Probably walk in and be the highest profile best player on Charlotte's roster.

Yeah. Probably going Brown. Yeah. Yeah. So teams that I would say, no doubt, have a better player than Jalen Brown to me.

I have, I think this goes to the point. I have seven teams and six teams across the west and the east. So I got to 13. We got to 13. Okay. So that's fair. If I spent more time on this,

I can probably find a couple more players and break down the stats. But I think it does still illustrate the point. How many suitors were they really out there for Janele Brown? It was kind of similar to Joe Morant and how I think they might have gotten surprised when Portland said, sent a deal in and then they came back like, yeah, we'll take it.

It just kind of went out there. Like obviously there's back with John Moran, but you look at that and make it's like a bag of peanuts for a couple of players there but there was any of the baggage and not a lot of suitors that were looking for a guy of his contract who's going to have that type of drama around him because i think Portland got like 12 guards now i'll have to do a lot but it was like such a i mean we'll do it for that that's not much to it so well jalen brown at 57 million is better than zach Levine at 49 yeah but how much better to be argued you got anything else that before we go to break and then i do want to talk

LeBron James destinations. Yeah. All right. We'll do that next. Don't go anywhere. We'll get to the text line as well. You guys are welcome to join in. 402, 4664, 5685.

This is one on one. We got Austin Norman, myself, Harrison Arons on the boards. We'll talk to you in a bit.