Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective - How Steph Curry Can Decide Warriors Future + Major Questions For Pistons & FIBA Qualifiers

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN's Tim MacMahon and Anthony Slater to break down Steph Curry’s interesting future in Golden State including how his potential extension could determine the future for the Warriors. Then, the guys tackle the intriguing situation between Jalen Duren & the Pistons as his restricted free agency presses on. We discuss if Detroit will be able to manage this moving forward or if it could cause major issues for the team. Finally, we talk about the FIBA World Cup qualifiers with some epic battles taking place in Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, welcome to the Hoot Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we are doing on Monday afternoon. Joining us, or it's Monday morning, out in California, northern California is Anthony Slater. How's it going, Slate's? Home of the Kings. Hey, by popular demand, by Jackson's insistence, he's back in his backyard. I'm not doing the full NBA today shot where I literally put the little setup. You all know, the TVU setup.

I actually got it to the podcast. point I would go outside. We're actually in my, I guess, kitchen area. Yeah, you're inside at the backyard. The best was he had, he did like for like six months when he joined us. He was just, he didn't have like a home studio set up. So he just did it outside because it's a very nice backyard. And then when he moved into the home studio, we missed the backyard. So he put a picture of his backyard as his backdrop at times. It was amazing. That, joining us from some fancy Mountain Town in Colorado where he's celebrating a very big birthday. We won't say what birthday Slater.

We'll just say he's got gray in his beard and he's celebrating a special birthday. How big? How big are we talking? The celebration is over. So we're moving on. We've moved on to September here. Howdy, partners. He's moved on to an empty Marriott points account.

That's what he's moved on. This is true. We're replenishing. All right. We're in the replenishing phase. Okay, so Slater, the reason we wanted to have you, because we always appreciate your insights. But an interesting date passed this weekend, and I'm not talking about McMahon's birthday from when he was born in the 70s. Do the math.

I mean, I was born in the 70s, too. Don't get me wrong. I was just born in the 70s. Just a couple years. Anyway, Slater, over the weekend, Steph Curry became eligible to sign a contract extension. Now, Steph hasn't really had any super interesting contract moments in his career, other than probably when he signed his first extension. Four for 44. It's set up as a dynasty, really. Well, I'll tell you what, you know that number if you're a Warriors fan.

Four for 44. That enabled Kevin Durant to come. Probably enabled Sean Livingston to come. Yeah, you might know that number if you're a Thunder fan because that is what set up the Durant signing, as you said. said for sure. Set up the Duran signing, but also that enabled them to open up space to sign Andre Guadala, enabled them to have more flexibility to sign Sean Livingston. Clay Thompson did something that was interesting. He agreed to like a max contract, but it was like not really a max. It was like an extra fun Max McMahon.

He agreed to a number. And even when the max came in higher than that, like because you agree, if you have your you're signing a max, you just agree to whatever the max number is. Right, 25% or 30% whatever your max is. Right, and we just sort of guesstimate it based on projected numbers. Sometimes it's higher, sometimes it's lower. Clay, like, locked in to a number, and the understanding was it would be this number to matter what.

And then when the cab came in higher, Clay was actually slightly below the max. So all of those little pieces and parts made it possible for Durant later on. But anyway, now we're talking about stuff at age 38. with signing potentially one last contract here, Slater. And the reason we're talking about this isn't because there's drama about whether or not stuff is going to sign. It's what is on the plate of him, the warrior.

So maybe you can go over the numbers before we go over what staff's options are. Well, it's like two for one 36 is the max he can do because he can only do two years because of the over 38 rule. You could also do a one year max. Right. Let me stop you right there just real quick. Yeah. When you're over the age of 38 in the NBA, you can only be under contract for a maximum of three years.

This is an old rule from like the 90s when they would sort of give guys little going away contracts that would sort of average down their salary. And so it used to be over 36. And then Chris Paul, right? When Chris Paul and LeBron were like running the Players Association and they were getting on toward their mid-delayed 13. 30s, they pushed it to 38. There was a whole package of changes that they made to the rules. Was it self-serving? Sure, but both them were still hooping at 38. That's true. Nobody thought that they...

It did come in a time when 38 became the new 36, I feel like in the league. Fair enough. However, it was two guys who were going on in their late 30s. They were still like 34 or 35, but they were headed towards that. Anyway, Curry makes 62 million. this year. So he could add two years onto it is what Slater is saying. Or Slater, what else could he do? He could do a one year max or he could wait. And again, the Warriors have presented them these options. The one thing I will tell you from talking to people this weekend is like they're adamant. They're not like negotiating with Steph Curry right now. They are saying you can do

this, you can do this. You can do this. If you want the one your max, if you want the two year max, if you want to wait, like here's your menu. Pick off your menu. Yeah, and it's different ends of the career in different negotiations, but that's the same thing the Spurs did with Victor and Yom and Yom. It's, hey, you're going to make the decision, but here's the different options. Here's why option, you know, here's what option B can do in terms of flexibility, X, Y, and Z. So, yeah, it's like you said, there's not negotiation here. These are the options and this is what we can do with them. Yeah, and where Brian, I think it's talking about the money side of this.

is what flexibility could they have if Steph Curry either waits or agrees to take less than his max. And that's about their cap space next summer, which again can be utilized at the deadline if you absorb somebody in whatever. But I believe that if he took his max now, Bobby Marks has told me it takes them to about 45 million in cap space, which is still a ton of cap space. It just limits, you know, I guess all of what they can do. But at the same time, two other notes on their cap space next summer. The Pajemski extension. changes that if they do or don't do that, which will probably be more of a conversation for September, October, but it matters. And then Porzingis is owed 20 million next year, but only

three million guaranteed. So while you say 45, you could add 17 million to that if you cut Christoph's Porzeggis. How much cap space do you think they need to bring Jonathan Kaminga back? You know, that's a that's a negotiation with Joe Lekhov, you know, and right now, what, TPM, T.M, I leave, baby. I just wanted to get in an early comminga. reference just to get Wendy's blood boiling. Jackson, you can cut this out. This is more for like our producers, but please talk to our producers about, I want

a graphic right here that has number of days until Jonathan Cominga's next free agency. I want as we go, I don't care if it's November, January, I want a clock. Actually, a clock. Get an actual hour clock, Jackson.

Days out, months, days hours, clicking it down. God, it's going to be great. Can't wait. I just don't want to say anything about it in front of my backyard because the last time I did, Wendy went on like an NBA today viral rant about how I've been reporting on it in my backyard for a decade now. He almost burned the trees down. He signed a two-year $13 million contract because that's what his market value is.

Okay. Now, a few things on this. One little note. If Steph waits, there's a whole bunch of different things. he can do by waiting, which is what I think that he should seriously consider, which I'm sure he has been considering. So he can add two years to his contract right now. He can do two years and two, we're now 138, 137, 138. It's a humongous amount of money. Yeah, it's like 136.7, I think. And to be clear, as you said, they're not negotiating. If Steph came in today and said,

draw up the paperwork for the two, 137, they would do that and they would be happy to. But if he waits, he can sign a three-year deal and the carrier of age 41. And the reason that's interesting is that if they do that, they could guarantee him a certain amount of money, but stretch it out one more year and potentially give more cap space. It's just another reason why he would consider waiting. So you mentioned their flexibility. Steph has 62.5 million on the books this year. Jimmy Butler, 56.8 million.

Draymond Green, 27.6 million. All those guys are in the last year of their contracts, no options. Free agents. And, you know, I know there's been a whole bunch of discussion dating back to last trade deadline about Jimmy Butler, but he coming off of this ACL, could, could function as a huge expiring contract in a trade. I don't think that's what they're operating with day to day. But if a player acquisition comes to the four, they could use that.

Well, and the other thing is they could not do it and say, Jimmy Butler's our trade deadline acquisition. Oh, they're definitely going to say that, by the way. You got it. You're already doing the PR. Also, you know, if he looks pretty good. But he knows what else he could, he could serve. as look at what LeBron James expiring about that exact same number, maybe that exact same number.

I think him and Jimmy and LeBron have the same number. It expired and then they used that cap space to go rebuild their team. I mean, that is the value of the Jimmy Butler 52. Right. And maybe poor Zingles will have a great year this year and they'll be like, man, $20 million next year for him is a bargain. We're going to keep him. But if they were to cut him and even if they cut him and redid his deal, the largest salary they would potentially have on their books for next summer if Steph does not extend his Moses Moody at 13.4 million. And so, and I think our listeners know by now that you don't just look at free agents when you think about spending cap space, that there's a bunch of different ways. And, you know, the warriors tried to make, you know, some moves

using their first round draft picks. I think they've got four they can trade, right? The max four, isn't that right? Yeah, and I'll give you an example of one that it's probably talked about least in their last few years of like swings and misses, if you want to call them that. It's Jaron Jackson at the deadline. They were kind of sniffed around that. And that is the perfect example of what you're talking about,

where Utah had future flexibility. And it's not like Jaron Jackson chose them in free agency, right? They just said here we've got some assets. Let's go get Jaron Jackson, use some of our future flexibility to get a franchise center. The Warriors could have theoretically done that at the deadline and could do it at this next deadline if there's somebody they want to utilize that, you know, asset base for.

So let me just tell you, assuming opt-outs, like not all of these players will be free agents. Some of them will do extensions. Some of them will not opt out of their contracts. but just for our early look at potential free agents for next summer, including Steph, like, you know, put Steph on that list. Stephen Joker, top of the list, two fairly big names. Right.

So obviously, Nicola Yokic, and I'm not looking to sound any alarms in Denver, but the reality is he's not extending and his contract will be up. Anthony Davis. Now, it's a very big number he can opt into. It's over 60 million. I think his preferences to extend in Washington, if not in Washington, to be traded somewhere where he can extend. We're talking about potential mid-season trade candidates. He is number one on the list. But the reality is this, Anthony Davis is in position to be a free agent 27 if he wants to.

So I think put that. The other one on this list would be Carl Towns. That's right. Carl Towns, again, has a player option of over $60 million. I think it's, his preference is. to extend in New York, but he can be a free agent. So I don't want to go into a long explanation and discussion about it, but that's just the case. Kyrie Irving has a player option of over $40 million.

Again, I think it's mostly likely he's going to pick that up, but, you know. I, I, Carey's track record is that he, I believe, will try to get an extension off of that. I agree.

I'm just saying some names. But we'll see. Tyler Hero. No option. Unreflected free age. It may be extends in Milwaukee, but right now. Oh, hey.

What do you think about this one, Slater? Jordan Poole. Should we just, should we just get the welcome back? Hey, pool. Inc. Maybe two.

timelines back on. Draymond's a free agent too, and that's relevant in the pool conversation. Right. There's some other guys with opt-outs that I'll just, you know, just cycle through Rudy Gobert. He has an option for 38 million. He's probably picking that up. Michael Porter Jr.

will be a free agent. Brandon Ingram has a player option. We don't have a clarity yet on Kauai Leonard. I think if that trade to Toronto goes through, he's going to do a new extension there. But, you know, as of right now, these are guys that they could look at. But, you know, like this year, Janice Tenacompo got traded. It was a functionally a free agent move. I mean, I didn't even mention Janus.

Janice technically has a player option. He's obviously going to extend in Miami. But that's essentially was a free agent move, really. Janus picking them. And so were some of the bigger trades of the deadline. You mentioned Sharon Jackson, Jr. That was absolutely pre-agency for the jazz, basically. saying, hey, instead of doing it, having a bunch of cap space,

let's go get the guy we want now and not have to recruit. And the same thing with, at least with Tray Young in Washington. We'll see how the AD thing works out. But both of those were like, let's go get a guy we want now with the idea of that we'd rather do that than take our chances in free agency. And look, I know that if you're a Warriors fan, you don't really want to hear about the plans for 39-year-old. old Stephs later. You want to hear the plans for 38-year-old stuff, which led to some angst

this summer. But this decision that Steph has is not really about this season. This season is good is what's going to be. You see what their roster is. This is a decision that's going to get made, I assume, between now and training camp and Steph's going to say he's going to make up his mind which direction he's going. And that direction will have a big impact on how NBA free agency operates in 27. If we can all see the Warriors come, with a hundred million in cap space that will affect decisions elsewhere, I think. That has been relayed to him, this plan. Number one.

Number two, you mentioned now in training camp. I do expect him to want to make a decision, like, relatively soon, but also from what I've been told from the warrior side, no rush. And he's eligible all the way until, what, June 30th? Like, he can sign it at any point during the season, after the season. They extended Porzingis, for example, in June. So that's one thing. The other thing I think needs to get discussed with 38-year-old Steph Curry.

he's coming off a concerning physical season. He got a knee injury that was like an overuse. I mean, runners knee was the term. It limited him to 43 games played. And I mean, go to his April 4th press conference where he, you know,

Steph's always been pretty dang transparent with himself physically, you know, to the public about his ankle injuries back in the day. And, you know, the new normal he's going through with his knee. And he thought he was initially, he had a workout. Remember when they had a game canceled in Minnesota when all that, everything was going on in Minneapolis.

He had a workout. This was late January. And after the workout, his knee swelled up. And they ended up playing him like two out of the next five games and sit in him. And then right before the break, they're like, hey, let's sit you for a week. And the knee should be fine after about a week. That was the expectation. And after 10 days, like I remember he went to the All-Star break and there was a thought he was going to do the three-point contest.

He couldn't do it because he tried to do a workout and it just the pain wouldn't stop after workouts. And it was just this stop, start, stop, start. He ends up missing two something months. And again, like I said, he used the term new normal with his knee. So as we talk about all this and do you lock into money and what is the future of 38, 39, 40 year old Steph Curry looked like, he is coming off a season where his knee betrayed him. And that's pretty relevant. Especially because his second greatest weapon after his shooting is his movement. Yeah, no doubt.

And, you know, will Steph ever be award eligible again? Maybe not. You know, I don't know if he's going to play 65 plus games in any season. But a simple fact of the matter is, in these kind of deals, you're paying him based on what he's done throughout the course of his career, not necessarily what you're going to get for the next two or three years on this contract. and if the future or if the end of Steph's career in Golden State is, you know, some 36 win seasons where they don't make the playoffs, so be it. I don't hear anybody. Yeah.

And that's what happened with Kobe. And, you know, it was maybe painful over those nights. But that last year, people were celebrating Kobe. It's what happened with Dirk. I mean, Dirk, you know, Dirk couldn't move at all his last. couple years. But these guys, like, they're the rarest dudes in the NBA, which are like no-brainer, first ballot inner circle Hall of Famers who are one franchise guys.

I mean, how many of them are there, especially in like modern NBA history? Knowing what you know about Steph and the Warriors Slater, do you think it's possible for him to say that he would take less money next summer? or if he understood this is a reason why, because we're going to acquire this player or these two players? Well, one of the things in discussions I've been having with people is this idea of like, let's say he's like, you know, it's something I'd think about. I would be surprised if he locked into a number now.

Because as you just saw with Draymond Green, the warriors and their legendary, you know, figures are willing to trust each other in business. Jemond Green willingly gave up $27 million and went into unrestricted free agency where he couldn't have got $27 million back under the understanding. If business didn't work out, he would get that money back where I guess to your point, if you're Stephanie, you say, okay, you know what, I'll give you all a crack at going and trying to find some stuff. But if you don't, at the end of the day, if I come back and say, give me the full max, I get the full max. So to answer your question, he doesn't have to necessarily lock into it now because they can't really execute. Even if they could say, hey, here's a theory of what we could do. Here's another theory of what we could do.

He could just say, all right, we'll all hold off for now and see if you can do it. But at the end of the day, if I want the max, can be the max. More Hoop Collective Podcast after this. All right. One guy who could be a free agent next summer, unrestricted if he wants, is the last remaining unrestricted free agent, or at least significant restricted free agent this summer. and that's Jalen Duren. McMan, I believe you have a story that's posting when this podcast comes out on Tuesday on Jalen Durham.

Yeah, and it's basically just a staring contest that's continuing into September, which, you know, is not unprecedented or even out of the realm of the norm for a restrictive free agent. Like Josh Giddy didn't sign last year until I think like September 9th or something like that. But this is an unprecedented situation for a restricted free agent who was an All-Star, was a third-team all-MBA player. You know, for a guy who was a major driving force in a 60-win team, I mean, for a guy who has the accomplishments that Jalen Dern has, this is new ground. And, you know, and the other thing here, guys, is by being that third-team all-M-Ba selection, he qualified for the Rose Rule. eligible for a 30% max fellas that's not even like what's the opposite of fun yeah that's like that's not even part of the discussion their their offer is you know i was told in the mid 30s on an annual basis

well that's significantly south of the former fun max of 25%. And so you know it's it's a dance here where you know Slater you being in sacramento you you you, you, you, you know the Pistons were not willing to engage in, much less entertain any kind of sign and trade discussions. They've been firm on that. It was a bonus for Jalen Durenne is what you're talking about, which Scott Perry went and had dinner with Jalen Doreen in Miami, like early and free agency. And like, you know, to your point.

And I would love to hear the kind of the full update on Dorend in a second. But I will tell you, if you are Jailen Dorent and his representatives, I would look at the Sacramento Kings and know they have, they can get up to Max Capspace next. summer. Zach Levine's coming off the book. Scott Perry is completely turning the franchise over. And I will tell you, he has Jalen Doreen's name with highlighter pen looking at next year's potential, you know, free agency. If Doreen were willing to take the QO, you can tell me if that's a reality. And that's a little bit of leverage that Jalen Duren and his reps have right now. Can I call it 30 second time out?

Full time. Just because you mentioned Sabonis, the modest Sabonis. I do think it's somewhat interesting that he changed agents this offseason. He hired Aaron Mince of CAA, Steve Human, in that group, Human, one of the top executives at CAA. This last year, Mince and his group executed the trade for Tray Young away from Atlanta, executed the trade for Walker Kessler away from the Lakers. Demada Sabonis just hired him. At the risk of parodying myself. You want to say it, McMahon? Why would he do that?

Yeah. Because he wants to get the hell out of sack. Because not only did he execute the trades, this is the more important part. And I know DeMontas de Monas knows this too. He got Tray Young and Monster Extension. He got Walker Kessor the contract he wanted. That's right. Those guys just got $340-some-odd million this summer combined.

Yeah. And I'll tell you right now, DeMontas-a-Bonis is extension eligible. and the Sacramento Kings are not interested in having that conversation. Now, they've, Sabonis and Scott Perry have a very transparent, good relationship and they're, you know, I've reported it.

I mean, there's been several trade talks with Sabonis with several Eastern conference teams over the last calendar year. It hasn't come to fruition. Subonis is recommitting to the Kings now, but I think we all know where this is going. And I think part of what you were saying is, you know,

some of the representations switch might be about trying to expedite that process. Well, subonis has two years at about $93 million left on his contract. He only played 19 games last year. Now I know there was a tanking element involved with that. For a team that wants to be a contender, he's a difficult fit because he needs to listen and it's not a defensive anchor. Exactly.

Like with Trey Young, he is a player who has proven to be an All-Star who has a game that not every team is going to want. So, you know, I just thought I'd, you know, I just thought I'd, we'd, don't need to full-on breakdown to Sub-Bos right now? Charlotte had the discussions prior to trading Lamello. And Charlotte was, it sounds like I had a fork in the road. If you do commit to Lamello and try to do like a Lamello sub-bonus type situation, or boom, they trade Lamello.

It's a rebuild, no more talks about Sub-Bonis. So it depends on where you are at. Toronto, for example, you know, nearly traded for subonis at the deadline. So there are teams out there that still view him. No, no. Oh, no, don't be, I want to be clear. There are definitely teams that take Subonis. It's just about what the Kings would want.

And then there's the whole factor. Well, you've got two years on your contract. Like, do you have to get an extension now? But anyway, what the Kings would want is to sign and trade for Jalen Duren and send a bonus to Detroit, but that's not happening. Which, again, that gets us back to, okay, the qualifying offers 9.6 million. And you talk about unprecedented. So these are ballpark figures, but, you know, my understanding is the King's offer.

I'm sorry, the Pistons offer is somewhere in that five. for 180 plus range. You know, 180, 1.9. I don't have the exact numbers. These are ballpark figures. So you're going to leave 170, 180 million guaranteed dollars on the table. Obviously, that is a worst case scenario for the Pistons,

because then you're not even really getting Jalen Duren this season. You're getting this version of him that is constantly thinking about his next contract. And, you know, like everybody have talked. to a Detroit talks about that he is a great guy. Like he is a hardworking dude. You know, he's a an accountable guy. Like there's no bad mouthing of him at all. It's just, you know, praise about his character. But just this human nature, 1007, 180 guaranteed million dollars is a heavy, heavy burden to basically put on with your jersey every single night. So that's a worst case scenario. And then the math, like, you wouldn't, he would need to get that full. And, you know,

if he's leaving, it's a four-year max offer. You need to just to break even for what you left on the table. Yeah, this is a classic case with back of the envelope math that restricted free agents down the years have all done. Like, boy, to be an unrestricted free agent with a whole bunch of cast base out there, I would have, I mean, he would. If he was healthy, Jalen Duren, as an unrestricted free agent would have a deal within minutes. Well, and he just averaged 19, and 11. He's a big physical force with, you know, with some skill. Unfortunately, and this is part of the complications here, is he also just had a really disappointing playoff performance. I would say in terms of individual playoff performances coming off of that all-MBA season, Jayland Durnes might have been

the most disappointing in the league. It would be fascinating if we could listen into a conversation of Jalen Duren calling Jonathan Cominga and saying, what a year? You know, what are your thoughts? Wendy, did you just reset your clock? Yeah. Well, and let's just be clear. Jonathan Kamenga was barely third team Golden State. I understand, but he had offers that he turned down.

Look, he had 24. He had an offer on the table they didn't like, right? It was the two-year, you know, what he's 45. Same thing with Duren has an offer in the table who doesn't like. Yeah, exactly. So we say what you want about Kamiga, but last summer the idea about taking the qualifying offer was, you know, I think it was like 9. or 24 and bit the bullet didn't want to do it,

ended up taking 24. And with Durenne, we're talking about even more than that. Yeah. And so, you know, and I've talked just executives from other teams around the league, just kind of taking people's temperature.

And a lot of what I got is like, dude, you know, I can definitely see both sides of this. Because the Pistons, like, this is not an anti-jail endurance thing. This is a,

we want to keep this core together. By the way, they're also in the process of attempt to negotiate. an extension with Assar Thompson. Well, I will say this. I will say this. I've been around teams, like, where this has been the case. If you get to training camp and Duren is, like, forced into a situation and

Assar Thompson is annoyed, like, you got, like, I understand, especially in the apron era, that you got to, you can't, you got to make a, you know, the worst thing you can do is overpay a player, especially at a high dollar figure. It kneecaps you. And I'm not saying that you should just do it to make your players all nice and happy. Teams that have done that have gotten into trouble. I'm just saying I've been in training camps multiple times where there are multiple players upset about their contracts. And it absolutely poisons the whole well.

Yeah. And so, you know, you've got that situation. Obviously, you know, Kade is on a supermax deal. It's almost like him being all-N-B-A, the final year of his rookie contract. to, you know, they're being punished for that. This is, by the way, I still, the next CBA, I don't think Supermax stuff should count towards apron and tax. I don't think that's fair, but that's a.

Look, I would say this. The NBA definitely has their backup a little bit defending this CBA and, you know, trying to sort of fend off the idea that it was unfair in any way. And, you know, you got agents going after the union. And so everybody's going to sort of defend their position. okay but I think everybody under truth serum off the record

would admit that there needs to be a tweak or two there needs to be some tweak and I'm sorry you're not trying to break up teams in Detroit I think come on like give me a break you know Oklahoma City or yeah like so so it should not yeah but and so and then one other little tidbit

here is the Pistons as we speak are 36 and a half million dollars under the tax and obviously, you know, as they plan to keep this roster together, or at least this core together, you forecast future tax. So you definitely don't want to go in this year. That's a really good point I hadn't considered. That's really, I mean, if you go a few million dollars over, you could, you know, you could find ways.

I mean, they had a whole bunch of guys on their roster that they could maneuver around. But it needs to be a non-tax year because you want to push any potential repeater. Yes. Yes. Here's the other thing about the Pistons. You know, actions over words, right? If you look at the contracts that the Pistons have signed, a lot of their contracts have flexibility built into them, non-guaranteed years.

So the deal they gave John Collins this season, it was three years and 50 something, but only the first year is guaranteed. They did a three-year contract with Duncan Robinson a couple years ago. Only the first year was guaranteed. you know, big giant non-guaranteed years, 15, 17 million in stuff like that. You know, I think, you know, B-Ball Paul, who they are now sort of counting on. Counting on, especially bidding the outcome of this.

Ball Reed, that's right. He's got non-guaranteed years in his contract. You know, they go out and get Isaiah Joe. One of the reasons they liked his contract is that next year is non-guaranteed. So, you know, part of, you know, and I'm not saying that they want to sign Jalen Duren to a one-year deal with non-guaranteed years, but part of the way that Trajan Langdon has negotiated since he's got there is that he wants contracts that have maneuverability because you're trying to manage the apron in tax and stuff like that. So this one, like, look, there's not going to be like the money's going to be guaranteed. And a matter of fact, I know, but I think it's interesting, you saying that.

I didn't, I didn't even realize it was that close. That was, that was a good point. And that's just telling you like, so the starting set, there's four guys in this draft class who have been all stars. Paula Bankero, Jet Hongren, Jalen Williams, and Jalen Duren. Those three guys all agreed to extensions last summer, right? They all ended up at the 25% max, which is 41 and change, almost 42, right? So again, that he's looking at, I can't even get the 25% of the,

those guys are getting. I'm like, you're asking me to take, I don't know what it was six, seven, whatever million below that. So that's kind of a tough deal. No, I listen, I'm not arguing. I get his side. I mean, I would be sitting here. I'd be sitting in the corner too. And, you know, and then the piston side is, hey, we do value you. We value at a, you know, this number that is generational wealth and would allow us the ability to keep this core together and put a supporting cast in place to position us to win championships. Now, the other thing that was pointed out to me that I hadn't thought of is it'd be ideal if you say, hey, you know, we're a part on these numbers.

But yeah, if you're going to be the player that you think you can be, here's these incentives. So we can get you to a full 25% max if you are, you know, whatever, you know, have all-star incentives. All-M-B. One of the problems with incentives now, though, is that count towards the, aprons and the taxes and so incentives and really almost taken away as a tool for teams in negotiation because the whole you know is one GM told me the whole game now is space to the apron

you know if you want space to the apron you can make trades happen if you don't have space to the apron you have handcuffs and so trojan is trying to keep this team together without handcuffs yeah the grizzlies for example like laced the Quentin Post offer sheet with incentives because they're not worried about, you know, bumping up against the first second apron, but they did it so the war, because the warriors are like, man, if we match this, like that, you know, it's, it can be almost used as a weapon to it. Exactly. In that case, they knew incentives weren't a tool that the warriors could use. that there were a hindrance to the warriors. So they weaponized them. But in the case of a team like

the pistons right now, it's really tough to pack incentives in there. because it defeats the whole purpose of the tough negotiations that are going on. I got another funny one for you. As they flush some of these contracts out, Jordan Poole signed in the pre-Aprin era. He's got like all defensive first team and like some other stuff in there as like incentives that bumped up what the value of the contract look like. But now as you know, you may be trying to trade him, it counts against the apron, you know, if Jordan Poole makes all defensive first team or whatever it is.

A huge concern. Back when I was a kid, this was all the rage, toxic offer sheets. Over the years, they went away. I've been around a while now. This is my 24th year career in the NBA. And, you know, they used to, like, do these things where they used to put these poison pills and stuff. You remember the Jeremy Lynn, the whole Jeremy Lynn thing with the way they squeeze

the Knicks, Daryl Morey, you know, doing a poison pill offer sheet. This was just recently in the news a little bit this summer because Wesley Matthews, he was on a podcast and he was telling the story of his contract when he was with the jazz and the Blazers signed him to this like 35 million five year 35 million dollar deal which you know was an undrafted free agent who stuck with the jazz was productive and then went into restricted free agency right after his rookie year right and he was making the minimum which I think at that time was maybe 400,000 four or 500,000 and and so to toxify the offer sheet,

the Blazers positioned it in a way. These rules have all been changed. You can't do this anymore. They gave them $9.2 million at signing. At signing. Not like, oh, they front-loaded so the highest number was in the first year and then I went down.

No, no, no. They gave them all the money like at signing. Or something like that very quickly. And so he was telling the story that his agent called him and was like, yeah, it's $35 million. overall, but $9 million up front. He goes, what do you mean up front?

He goes like, you know, in 10 days. Yeah, the jazz didn't like that. Yeah. And the jazz didn't like that. The jazz was like, wait a minute, we got to come with $9 million. You know, with all due respect, he was a good play as a role player. You know, we got to come up with $9 million in two weeks or whatever. So that was toxified offer sheets back in those days.

So they're coming back a little bit now is what you're describing Slater. But no offer sheet toxified or not for, for during the summer. I do want to hit on one. You mentioned the Kings, and it's obviously like if you're Jalen Dern as reps, that's a little bit of your leverage. The threat of the qualifying offer,

and there's going to be a max market for us. It was noted to me, again, this is from an exec in the West. So I want to make it clear this wasn't people in Detroit saying it, but it's one thing to put a max offer sheet on the table when you're getting off a contract that you're trying to get off of.

You know, it's one thing to, shed Subonis's contract and put a max number on the table or, you know, shed Levines or, you know, would it cost them a pick, you know, at least, right? But it's another thing. Yeah. Just to straight up commit a max deal with no money going out the door. Agreed. I will say that like the kings are the unique situation where if I was, you know, like they,

they could like, like Scott Perry's turning this, flipping this thing over and he and he profiles as the exact. type of center to push this thing forward with ACOF. And you can say, oh, well, you're worried about his performance in the playoffs against Orlando, for example. Well, like the Kings are just trying to like build. Yeah, they're just trying to like, you know, build a consistent winner. So he makes a lot of sense for them. And I will just tell you, like the GM who is in the power seat of the Sacramento Kings

organization really likes them, and which matters. And that's his leverage then. Jackson gave us the actual to the dollar. Well done, Jackson on what the Pistons space is. 36.4 to the tax, which is probably they don't want to pay during more than that. Again, if they went over to get the deal done, they could shed some money laborer. But second apron space or first apron space, which they certainly don't want to go over, is 45.

I don't think that's going to be an issue. Well, the tax is the number to consider this year. And then in future years, we're going to be looking at the aprons with the pistons. Yeah, that's. And then they hope, and again, they hope and they plan. on Jalen Duren being there for a long time to come. And we'll see how it plays out. You guys know, I've covered two, when I say covered, like was on the team, covering the team for two restricted free agencies that went into the season.

One ended in November, one ended in December. And so actually three, if you count training camp, I covered one that went through most of training camp. Cover one last year. Al Horford, DeAnthianne Melton couldn't go to the first two practices. Yeah, it was a little different. remember that was that was fun cumminga related no i mean you know i don't know if this is i i don't want to retell a story so jackson protect me if you can't remember it didn't happen um but we'll do our little sofi get your money right so far i always comes up with these uh reasons for me to

good on memory lane when anderson verrajao not the second contract the second contract was where dan fagin the agent and Danny Ferry both hung up on me, MFing me and each other after Green did the deal. The first contract, okay, the first contract, Verjao is restricted free agent, okay? He and the Cavs are at loggerheads like this throughout July, throughout August, throughout September, into training camp, not, not misses all of training camp, all of October, all of November, okay? The calves are struggling that year. It was a year off, after the finals, LeBron got hurt early in the season. They were like at 500.

Verjezat was their starting center, or starting four, man, I guess. Like, people were like, when is, and Vergeel was a role player. It wasn't like he was holding up for a max. Into December. December, okay? My phone rings on like a Tuesday morning.

It's Danny Ferry calling, which is never good. You're never getting a call from the GM in the middle of the season, and it's good news. And they're like, hey, how's it going? How about that pre-game meal last night?

It wasn't it great? It's never good news, right? It's like, it's never a pleasure call. I read your gamer in the paper last night and it was excellent. Oh my God, beautiful job that you stitched together. The notebook has just full and had everything. Oh, man. Your stock report.

Remember you did those stock reports with bontems? All right. I answer the phone. Hello. He doesn't say hello. He just says, we're matching. Two words. We're matching.

I'm like, You're matching what? I had no idea. Well, he had, Verrajao had just signed an offer sheet with the Charlotte Bobcats. The Bobcats had given Verrajao a three-year contract, but it was like a poison offer in that only the first two years were guaranteed.

So Verrajao was going to be able to be a free agent in two years, which he was, ended up getting $50 million or $60 million, whatever it was. It all worked out. So, but. I answered the phone and like I didn't even know the offer sheet had been signed yet. This wasn't like now when a contract gets agreed to and like literally Shams reports on it 11 seconds later. Like it was going to take a while.

So Ferry has already told me that the calves are matching. He told it to me in the first 1.3 seconds of me answering the phone. So sure enough about like 20 minutes later, Dan Fagan calls me. Now Fagan had not talked to me, had not returned a text or a phone call in three or four months. maybe five months. I love those relationships. Dan is no longer with us. He was a shark agent.

Always enjoyed working with him. But, you know, he was like, I'm not talking to you during the negotiation. Okay, fine, that's your decision. So he calls me. And I'm trying to tell him that Ferry has already called me, but he launches into this long explanation. He launches into everything that happened for the last three months and this and that and that.

And he's like, and that's why Andy, he has a very deep voice. That's why Andy is ready to become a Charlotte Bobcat. and is moving on from the cavaliers. I go, okay, but they're matching. He goes, what? I go, they're matching.

He goes, what are you talking about? He goes, we just did the offer sheet a few minutes ago. They don't even have it yet. I go, I know, I'm telling you they're matching. He goes, how do you know? And I go, they told me. He's like, when did they tell you? I go, 20 minutes ago?

And he's like, well, you tell them they better wait until they see his physical because his knee is bothering him. I was like, what? So the one team matches out of the blue. The other team, now he doesn't want him to match, I guess. So he's like pretending that he's got a knee injury. Wait, you spent the last three months convincing anybody you could how valuable this guy was, and now you're telling us he's damaged good.

That's right. They'll never match. So look, that was 19 years ago. So, and I'm sure 19 years ago, me telling that story, there would have been a reporter, had been around for 20 years who would have been, who had told some story from the 90s. And there was like, oh, so while this is Jalen Duren's life and he's, you know, living and dying through this every day. And if you're a Pistons fan, you're probably very frustrated with it and everything. I mean, not fun for the front office either.

No, no. And I'm sure Trajan is not enjoying this at all. It is not a good process to go through. By the way, Varygiao ended up playing like 10 or 11 years for the Cavs and that works for the organization. Right. And for Trajan, like, listen,

the tough negotiations, that's part of the job. And also part of the job is once things are resolved, he's going to have to put some real effort, energy, empathy, all those kind of things, into relationship repair. You know, and it is on him. It's not, you know, this is not the coach, J.B. Pickerstaff, negotiating the contract. It's not the face of the franchise, Kate Cunningham.

You know, that's part of Trajan's job is going to have to be smoothing things over once the dust gets settled. And what's been, you know, a two-summer-long process of tense negotiations. To be continued, and I think to be continued for a while. All right. Before we go for the week, and McMahon goes back to celebrating his birthday. There are a bunch of NBA players who've been playing over the last seven to ten days across the globe in the FBA World Cup qualifiers. So one year from now will be the FIBA World Cup. Germany is a defending champions.

And this summer, teams have to play in regional competitions by continent to qualify. 32 teams qualify. I believe it's 32. It might be 40. I think it's 32. qualify. The U.S. just won two games. Actually, they're played tonight on Monday night, so I don't want to assume, but they're, I believe, six and one in their qualifying games over the last year. Coached by Terry Stotz. Terry Stott's just just coaching this way. They call it the window.

There's two games. There's like, I think, five two game windows over the course of like 18 months. It's maddening, but it is. But the reason the summer window is most interesting, number one, it's because this is like a key spot where you can qualify or not. Number two, this is where the NBA players play because they have them like in February and the players typically don't play obviously. So I just want to talk about some of the stuff because there's some stars who played. On Sunday night yesterday for us today, Victor Wenbenyama and France went up to Sweden and played in front of a record crowd in Stockholm.

more people than had ever watched a recorded basketball game in Stockholm to watch Wenbanyama come in there. Victor had 18 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, and the French won, although I think it was pretty close in the second half at one point. Pell Larson from the heat had 23 points for Sweden, and it was a huge game. I'm sure one of the biggest games he's ever had playing in front of 15,000 fans in Sweden. Max Rayneau, friend of the pod, I had 13 points. The French won. So let me just say, though, that the more interesting game with Wembe came last week in a friendly

because they play warm-up games before these FIBA games. I know it's hard to keep track of, I agree, and I cover international basketball. They played two games. We mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. There was a game going on while we were not a week ago. a week ago, there was a game going on while we were recording. Yokic and Victor played two incredible games against each other. And there was a game about, probably by the time you hear this,

it would be about eight days ago where the French won at the buzzer. And McMahon, it was fascinating. Luca, or I mean, Luca, Yokic had 34 points in that game. And they were, the Serbians were down. This was this game that they played in Belgrade and the Serbians won and then they played a couple of days later in Orleans. I think is how you pronounce it. France and the French were way up and the Serbians made a huge comeback. I think they were up 19 and Yokic leads this comeback down the stretch.

And at the end of the game was fascinating because frankly, like this is where you watch Wenbenyama and this is where Wembenyama was challenged, you know, during the playoffs a couple of times. And look, he overall was having really good games. In fact, earlier in that game, as the French were building the lead, there was this remarkable moment where Yokic gets the ball in the post, turns and just slams into Victor, the old Chegildos-Alexander separation with the arm bar, okay, moves them back, which the Fiba officials allowed. Victor flies backwards, and Yokic squares and shoots it. 7'5

Gets his fingertip. You know, Yokic obviously knows he's there, tries to go over that side, gets his fingertip on the shot. Yokic gets the ball back, takes a step further away to create a better angle and shoots again. Victor gets his fingertip on the shot again.

Blocks him twice in a row, brute force versus height and got him twice in a row. Having said that, down the stretch, Yokch was dominating. And at the end of the game, the French have the lead, or I think I have a small lead, and Victor tries a fall, a fadeaway 20-footer, which he airballs. They go down to the other end.

Victor, they're in a scramble. Victor does not get onto Yokic. Yokich is on a small defender. Yokic scores to take the lead. The ball goes back to the French. They call time out. Victor is trying to set up a play. makes a very sloppy throw his hip out and gets called for a moving screen on the inbound's play.

And it was a foul. It was clear foul. It wasn't shenanigans. It was absolutely foul. And so the French were in trouble. But they got a basket from one of their guards. This guy, I think this first thing was a crazy, I don't know what the hell the Serbians were doing on defense because he got a breakaway layup. Yes.

The Serbian scored. should say the yokech play got them within one the serbian scored uh this particular play after a time out when banyama was on yokic and so yokic was kind of taken out of the play a little bit and the serbian scored on a on a back cut and i don't know if the french didn't have a time out but they inbounded the ball and they allowed a fast break the serbia was up one with four seconds left and they just inbound of the ball and um this guy i think leroy i think his first name is leroy and i'm like a jerk now. They don't know.

The French name. His last name is Hoare. He played at Wig Forest. I think he played with the Thunder for a few minutes. You got to break away lay up at the, literally at the buzzer, put it in as the buzzer went off for the French to win by a point. Yeah, I got to tell you, like as much as Denver's summer was, frankly, a disaster, you can't just dismiss the nuggets.

One thing that Joker, let me say this, Victor Wenman Yamma might be the most. his dominant defense player in the history of the game. One guy he does not bother much is Nicola Yokic. Do you know what Joker's stats against Wembear and seven games in the NBA? Please. 37.3 points per game. Oh. 10.9 rebounds, 9.1 assists.

And remember the last time they played was that game in April that was like the crash. Did it go overtime, double overtime, whatever was, when Joker had 40 points and 13 assists, and he hit that unbelievable Sambor shuffle that was like the biggest shot of the game. I was disappointed we didn't get a Denver. San Antonio.

Denver was hot at the time. Remember, didn't they win like 12 out of 13? And I covered that side of the bracket. I covered the Minnesota Denver series. They go up 1-0, Aaron Gordon's Good in Game 1. And I remember that was the anticipated series. That was the one on that side of the bracket. Everyone around those series was like, oh, man, second round,

Yokits against Wemby. Gordon gets hurt, Denver falters. Rudy plays him well. Oh, my God. I feel like such an idiot. Leroy Horde was the running back for the Browns. Oh, and the kid. He was a touchdown, old job.

Jalen Horde. I'm sorry, Jaylon. Oh, my God. I was just like touting my experience a few minutes ago. Well, I've been around for 24 years. Well, now I'm showing my age. Touted his age right there. He said he had Leroy Horde in fantasy football.

What year were you playing fantasy football? Hey, you know why that was a good pick, McMahon? because he was a good pass catcher. Well, because he got a ton of touchdowns at the one yard line, was it. That's true.

Jalen Horde. I don't know if they're related. Jalen Horde was with the game winner. By the way, and to back up your point about Yokic and Wembe, the two friendly games, and I want to be clear,

I have not reviewed the film of these games. I did talk to some scouts about the first game in Belgrade, but in the first game, and look, Just the clips that I saw, they were guarding each other. So for all I know, I just, I'm just going to give the raw stats here. I'm not taking a position analyzing this.

But in the first game, which Serbia won by three, Yokic had 20 points, nine rebounds, eight assists. That sounds like a Yolkich line. And again, these are 40-minute games. Correct. Victor had 10 points and six turnovers for France. 20,000 fans at the arena in Belgrade, great arena. And then the game,

game two, 91-90, Victor, much better in that game, 18, 5, and two blocks. And I got to believe the two blocks were right there on Yokic. They were, if those weren't both called blocks, he certainly, the second one ended up as an air ball. I promise Yokic did an air ball. Yeah, it's crazy. Wimby is going to go into this season as the MVP favorite. And he is still very much a developing offensive talent.

Totally agree. And very much developing how he needs to play at the end of games. Anyway, Wembe at 18, 5, and 2 in that game, and like I told you, 34 for Yokic. And by the way, Slater, when I started playing fantasy football, I was the commissioner, and I would get the newspaper and add things up on paper. So it was the scoring system was probably crazy, too, compared to them. There's three and enough for me, I can assure you. All right.

I think Serbia wanted two games that they had this week in the window. actually one of the games is going on right now. A bunch of the European games are going on right now. Dennis Schroeder's playing for Germany, and what would you think? What do you think is could happen when Dennis Truder plays for Germany? He's the greatest point guard in international basketball. He dominates.

I think they're playing today right now while we're talking about this, but he had 18 points the other day in a win over Poland, a close win over Poland. is Franz playing? I'll go take a look. I don't think I saw him in the box score. But I know that Steinbach and Anderson,

the two Christian Anderson and how do you pronounce his first name? Is it he was, geez, it was honest. Honest Steinbach. They are, they have played for Team Germany. They are not playing for them. No, the Wagner brothers are not playing. so but um you you darn well know shrewder's playing and he had 18 he probably was going to have you in a bigger game today but that was a big win over the polls because poland had not lost they were

like uh seven or eight no um josh oji who signed with the jazz um this summer had a huge game for nigeria and their uh prep and their qualifier he had 15 8 10 assists and four steals uh for that game um Evizia Zubach, he's playing again right now, but he, you know, Zubach obviously didn't play that much, the second half of the year playing for Croatia this summer. He played, every minute he played, the pistons were gritting their teeth because he was threatening that they might win.

In talking to folks with the Pacers, now... Don't. Just don't. Don't. You're about to give some BS explanation. Go on. No, no, no, I'm not. Also, it didn't exactly result well for the Pacers. No, no, they don't want you to bring up that trade, really.

It talks to folks with the Pacers. Zubach believes that he got a little complacent in L.A. And really tried to be aggressive this summer in getting into good condition. I mean, I hate even saying it like this happens every year, but he did, they did have a baby in the winter. And so I think he's been, he and his wife. And I do think, I don't think he was, it wasn't like he was playing poorly last year, but his defense, I do think slipped a little bit. So anyway, I think it's interesting that he wanted to play for Croatia this summer and has had some, you know, already sort of a big game. Zubots

Not Jopots Zubots Yeah you always say Zubotch Zubotch No Zubots Anyway Yokic had 21 He doesn't have more things above the sea

Yeah playing against Iceland after when Banyama was a little bit easier. Yokech had 21 in that game and 13 rebounds. Yusuf Nerkich had a huge game. He's playing right now as well. He had a 25.14 point game for Bosnia against the Italians. Those Bosnian fans, oh, it's like the soccer fan feel. You know, they're all waving their flags, making noise,

painted faces. Like it's an intimidation. I saw him at Eurobasket. Listen, man. So Luca Garza plays for the, for Bosnia as well. This is a classic example of a team

that would give the Americans hell in the World Cup. Like you say, oh, you're playing Bosnia. Yeah, they got Nurkich and Garza and they'll go in there and kick your backside in the interior. I've seen it happen. Who's their gardener?

Are they still have God, I'm blanking on the kid's name. He's not a kid. He was a kid when I was covering high schools with thousands of one of news a while ago. They had a kid from Plano, Texas, who was the point guard on their national team for a long time. It's kind of like Shane Larkin plays for Turquier. John Robertson? Yes.

Yes. Okay. Good job Slater. It was the star of Plano's state championship team when Wendy is a cornhusker, by via marriage you'll appreciate this a freshman name rex burkehead was a six man on that team he's a legend and also on McMahon's fantasy team I'm sure but if I had a high school fantasy team burkehead sure as hell would have been on that one of the one of the big upsets over the last week the Portuguese Bosnia is losing as we speak to uh Lithuania by the way well Lithuania uh is uh is our man

Valenzhenius playing for Lithuania. That's the question. He is not. And he had some interesting comments. He basically blasted their leadership. Oh, that's a whole other. That's a different podcast. We're longer on Bosnia. Who is it? The old dude from Plano. We're losing control of this podcast. My dad, I was just curious. No, I'm just saying, like we're going too far afield. And I love going far afield. All right.

Anyway, the Portuguese beat the Spanish in a stunning victory. Spain's struggling these days. And the Maya's Keda, you know? Yes.

Yes. Nimi Keda with 16 points and nine rebounds, a huge game. He left the game, I believe, briefly with injury, and people were like, what happened there?

But he came back and played very well. Now, I'm going to tell you right now, the quality of the Asian games is not strong. the depth isn't there. That said, the Japanese have put together,

I believe the best team that they've ever had. The Japanese are, the Japanese qualified for the last Olympics and are to be, and almost beat, we're like this close to beating the French and knocking the French out of the Olympics, and the French obviously made the silver.

Anyway, I'm not sure the quality of the Qatari team, but Rui Hachamura has a 29 point and a 30 point game in the last two games. I don't remember who the other game was against. It might have been like against Nepal. I went to Japan. This would have been 23 training camp after the Warriors won the championship. The last one, it was Wizards Warriors in Japan. I went to a Steph Curry press conference where the Japanese media just flooded the room

and nobody left when Rui Ato Mura came in for his press conference. It was like flooded with reporters. The 29 points was against Saudi Arabia. So we put up 29 against Saudi Arabia and 30 against guitar. I don't know what kind of... Superstar there. I don't know. I'm not sure what we're going to...

What's going to happen. Can Buddy He'll get a shout out? He had 28 for Bahamas. Oh, I didn't see the Bahamas. Yes, please shout him out. Yeah, 28.7 rebounds, four assists for the... the Bahamas in a 103-94 win against Irogui. Bahamas had a coaching change.

We lost Chris DeMarco now coaching the Liberty and the WMBA. Yeah, DeMarco like got, you know, cut his head coaching teeth for the Bahamanians. That was a Clay Thompson connection, by the way. Oh, yeah. This close. I'm holding our audio audience. I'm holding my fingers close together. They were this close to qualifying for the Olympics.

Yeah, with 18-year-old Vijay Hedgecom starring and. Aiden's not playing this summer, is he? I don't believe he is, but he did play the year. You're talking about Aiton played. Clay almost played, but there was like a, you know, they had Fiba rules with the U.S. Well, yeah, he would have to, right. Once you play for a country,

it's very hard to play for another country. Although Eric Gordon did. He has some team USA experience and played for the Bahamas. Right. But here's the only time they're going to let it happen. USA to somewhere else. That's why they're going to let it happen. happen if it's helping out an emerging team.

If a player, like, for example, if Joel Embed, this is just for example, I haven't heard this, just to be clear, but like if Joel Embed said, you know, I know I played for the Americans who won a gold medal, I would love to go play for Cameroon and see if we can qualify for the Olympics or even qualify for the World Cup, I think Fibah would be inclined to let him do it. Now, the Sixers would go crazy, but that's an example of a time. if Joel and Bede said, hey, said to Fiba, I would love to go play with my fellow Frenchman, because, you know, he's got that.

I think that's denied. French are like, brother, we ought to get you a password. That's true. That's a bad example, but you get my point. So Eric Gordon's saying, I played for Team USA in the World Cup, I believe, I would love to go play for the Bahamas. That's going to get. So if Clay would want to do what I think, but there's a process. Well, the other thing is this.

I think the American fan. I just know this. I've covered three World Cups. There's just, even though it's a really big deal to the international teams, like to qualify for the World Cup is hard. And the reason the World Cup is important is that that's how you get into the Olympics. Only 12 teams get into the Olympics.

It's really hard to get in. And so it's like this process. It's a three-year process. And to qualify for the World Cup, cup and the qualified for the Olympics. Again, the Americans qualified for the last two Olympics by the skin of their teeth. We barely got in, barely got in. Next one, they don't have to worry about because we host it. That's right, which is why I'm not sure what team we're going to be able to send. You know, first off, when Mike Shoshiewski and Jerry Kalangelo took over Team

USA in 2006 coming off of the Athens bronze medal, they issued this edict, you've got to make multi-year commitment. If you don't play with us in the World Cup, you can't play with us in the Olympics. Back then, the World Cup was played in the even year in between. So the World Cup was in 06. The Olympics were in 08. By the way, the Americans didn't qualify for the Olympics coming out of that World Cup, and they had to qualify at a different tournament in 2007.

Now, because the basketball World Cup wants to try to make itself into something rivaling the soccer World Cup, they took it off that schedule. They don't want, they don't want to play it in the same year. And so now it's played the year before the Olympics. And so to ask players to do back-to-back summers with the demands of what it is, the team USA, both under Greg Popovich and Steve Kerr and now I believe under Eric Spolster. I mean, I've talked to Grant Hill about this. Grant Hill is the executive director.

Grant doesn't think it's prudent to put in a requirement that you have to promise for two years. Other teams do feel that way. The Canadians, under their coach, have said it's a three-year commitment. We've talked about this in the pod before. You've got to play this summer, next summer at the World Cup, and in the Olympics. In the case of the team USA, I think previous equity with the team is what really matters. You know, Jason Tatum, for all the stuff that went down in Paris,

Tatum has played on two Olympic teams and a World Cup team. If he were not to play... I remember when Tatum's playing time was like a comminga level irritant issue for you. Well, it is. I'm not bringing it up. But my point is if Tatum didn't play next year or if Durant didn't play next year and they wanted to play in 28, if they're healthy,

they're going to get the play because they have equity. But also, if you want to be a first-time player, it's a good idea to play in the World Cup. But what I'm saying is with no two-year requirement, and the fact the team USA is already into the 28 Olympics, and the fact that currently, although unfortunately there are still missiles being shot, in fact, last night, Sunday night, there was a missile shot from Iran at Qatar. I hope it's resolved, but right now, the World Cup is scheduled to be played in Qatar. and it's going to be right now that's scheduled for like the last week of August the first week of September. Getting American stars who don't have to play in it to play in the Olympics and who and who know that we're going to qualify either way to Qatar for two or three weeks next summer might be a challenge. So, but anyway, all right, that has been your FIBA international basketball corner.

I hope you all enjoyed it and listen. to it here on August 31st. Thank you very much to the birthday boy. Mr. McMahon, thank you very much to Mr. Slater in his backyard. We got him up early. Thank you to Mark, Miles, Jackson, and the rest of our producers. Thank you for listening and watching the Hoop Collective, and we'll talk to you later this week.

Adios megos. And McMahon, I'll see you tomorrow. Sweet.