Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective - The Key Factors In LeBron’s Free Agency + Some EARLY Standout Stars In Summer League

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN's Tim MacMahon and Bobby Marks to break down the latest on LeBron’s free agency including the key deciding factors, what squads make the most sense and what his internal team may be suggesting. Finally, we talk about a few key standouts from the NBA Summer League so far before diving into some major extension conversations to watch out for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello, welcome to the Hoot Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we're doing on Sunday evening at the end of the 2025-26 NBA league year. A new league year begins on Monday. Aren't you excited? Talking about it all with us from Fort Myers. I shouldn't say Fort Myers. It's Naples, right? Our front office inside are Bobby Marks.

Fort Myers is the airport that I landed in at 9.30. on Friday morning after taking a quasi-red eye through Charlotte, one of those beauties. Nothing more fun than a quasi-red eye at the end of the first week of free agency. Nothing more fun than waking up and realize and you get that notification on your phone. There's a chance you're going to miss your connector. Here's your, you know, like, because we landed and I had boarding was, gate was closed and in 10 minutes when we landed. So that was a little bit of a.

And you made it? I made it. God bless America. Joining us from Salt Lake City, where he's there for the Salt Lake Summer League, one of his favorite weeks of the year is Band McMahon. Howdy, partners. Wendy,

you look refreshed. A little chipper, strong wee. I like that one. I also enjoyed the Bobby Marks quasi-sleepe slash travel update. I mean, I feel like we're off to a strong start here. Bobby and I were...

I got a quasi. So, Fourth of July is usually one of my favorite days of the year because I like to blow up fireworks. I go to a party and me and two dads, we get all the fireworks out and we just blow them up, right? And I had to tap out. Tim, I had to tap out last night because of a lack of, I was not, I would not have been how to hurt myself because of a lack of sleep. I needed to leave the party and go home because I was so tired from free agency. I am not going to lie. I heard there was a big fireworks thing here in.

Salt Lake City. I'm staying right on the other side of the arena. And there's like this new place to hang out. Like they've done a lot of stuff with downtown here. And they had a big fireworks display. And I thought I was going to, I had dinner, came back, called the wife and thought I might head back out. I heard the fireworks. I didn't see any of them. I have gotten some sleep. And I'm very appreciative of it. I'll just leave it at that. Okay, so we have a Monday dawning and we don't know yet where LeBron James is playing. And I think that even in a career filled with league changing free agent decisions where the balance of power has shifted, the championship has shifted with where LeBron goes three different times, I think we have truly a unique moment in NBA history, Bobby. because LeBron remains a difference-making player.

The difference that he's able to make is not as great as it was. He took three different teams to the finals nine times over the course of a 10-year span, changing teams three times in there. I mean, he's not able to wield that as much influence as he used to. But the idea of a player being willing to not worry about money and because so many teams who are interested in him really can't improve their team significantly that he could be this kind of difference maker. It's truly a unique, I don't think we've ever really seen it.

And then the fact that he has declared that his, or I should say his agent, Rich Paul has declared that this decision will be based on happiness, which is impossible to quantify. LeBron could say pretty much anything and say, yes, that's because that's what I want to make me happy. Some of them, we could guess in a reasonable, some of them we may not even be able to possibly forecast. And so while I know this has been something that's going on for now 15, 16 years, I still think that LeBron has done it again. He has once again got the league on the edge of their seats. And what he decides, whether it's in 24 hours or 96 or whenever, is going to determine a lot about the next upcoming NBA season in a way that we've never seen before.

And I don't know how else to say it. I just think that's what I see. Well, you know, what's crazy too is that we don't see, especially nowadays in this click, we don't see Mark high level free and switch teams. Right. Like I was talking with Tim about it. I went on a little bit of a research study this afternoon. based on our friend Kyle Kuzman's comments about CBA. And I said, let me dive into,

see if he can justify it. And Brian, I went through every roster and I looked at who's returning, who's, we only have, there's 415 players under contract. There's only been 25 that have switched teams in free agency. Like that is, you know, like when you look at that. They switch for a trade now. Yeah. it's trades or or they're extending or they're staying home and to be in a position where

as we've talked about the the playing field is flattened right it's like financially like you know when rich did his podcast with max kellerman and he put that big the graphic up which i love like for a guy who loves whiteboards you know i was like that is yeah i mean your life is whiteboards but to have an agent doing this for the world to see. But he was not doing it as an agent. He was doing it as a podcaster because he knows there's not 10 teams for LeBron. But he's got to fill the podcast.

Hold on. We can relate to that. It said, it said Dallas plus Maasai. And then the reasons were oil, golf, Macau, Africa. People flag didn't come up in the conversation. Carrier didn't come up in the conversation. Well, he, you know, it's like, it was like, he was like pitching a, it's like pitching a show to Taylor Sheridan to write.

I've told you, I want this to be a reality show. Like LeBron could, he could totally do the two or 29, I've suggested. And at the end of each visit, you have advanced to the next round or you're, you're done. Listen, this is, what do you think the Bontem's MVP poll was? It's podcast content. Like, what do you think we're talking about here? and hey rich rich paul's going to milk this thing he'll get a few podcasts out of this now well right well i think the announcement if it's going to come on a podcast has to be on

the bronze pod like think about it he first announced his decision on television right then he announced his decision on the written world with the letter sports illustrated it was you know the internet basically then he used old-fashioned press release why not a podcast in 26 why not why not um i was you know Maybe JJ Redick will come back and do one last podcast appearance for him. Oh my God, that would be amazing. That would be amazing. So anyway, you referenced Kyle Kuzma's ex post.

It was a very long ex post, but I think the most important thing that he said was this paragraph. He was talking about his feelings watching NBA Free Agency operate over the first two, three days. teams are no longer making purely basketball decisions. They're making fear-based apron decisions. That means good players get squeezed, homegrown cores get broken up, fan-favorite teams lose their identity, and the overall product loses some of the nostalgia

and continuity that made people fall in love with the NBA in the first place. And he goes on and on basically saying that, you know, the next CBA, we better do a better job that's basically what he was saying. And even though I think that this realization was actually two years old. Better late than never, Bobby, than what Kuse was saying there.

Yeah, I mean, listen, when the CBA came in, the reality is that the commissioner put rules into curb spending and retain players, like retention. Like free agency is like the, I mean, we were done with free agency by like July 2nd, July 3rd. There's 50, I think I looked at it, there's 59 players that finished on a roster that are still free agents. And the reality is that they're going to,

some of those are going to get squeezed out because you get 35 guys who get drafted or 40 players, you know, they just fill the role. But I think the one thing is that, you know, and I looked at this also, there's been $10 billion in contracts given out in the last three years in extensions. Like the ability to extend and stay with your own team was a priority for the league. And it's not just supermax or max guys. there's a there's a there's been 64 veterans and 34 rookies that have extended in the last three years it's almost you know 100, almost 100 players and that's why the money is squeezed out. Yeah, there's, you know, the apron rules have certainly curbed it as far as basically hard cap teams as far as

as how much they can spend. I mean, I don't know about breaking up teams like, you know, like Oklahoma City, you know, went through and they traded two rotational players. Well, he's talking about breaking up the Celtics. I mean, that's what his reference was. But again, the Celtics decision wasn't based on saving money now because they didn't save money now. That's how we know that. That's the problem is I try to tell people that the Celtics decision was based on the fact that they didn't think in part that Jalen Brown was a $57 million player. And the retort is, well, is Paul George? No, he's not. So no, but they got enough of a draft pick compensation and Paul George doesn't come in with the tug of war situation that was going on.

Like the Celtics decided they wanted to move on from Jalen Brown and they took what they can get for them. And you can blast it. And I would probably, shit, I'll agree with you. But it wasn't like, let's save money now because they didn't save money now. Correct. That's correct. But yeah, I mean, what it comes back to is. If you are, you know, in an era where there is no player-free agency,

you have a gigantic impact-free agent. And unlike in previous times, and not just for LeBron, but also for Durant or hell, teams were competing. And, you mean, there was a summer where Gordon Hayward, no offense to Gordon, Gordon Hayward is not a different, was not a difference-making player. Brother, but he was being- for Snapchat to track Hassan White Sides' max salary for you and see. and never figured out Snapchat, by the way.

Exactly. Like, people were waiting with baited breath. I mean, Gordon Hayward put out a letter or, you know, an essay on the Players Tribune to announce his decision. And they acted like the scoop that he was going to Boston. Oh, he hadn't made his decision yet because it was going through the editing process. Right. More Hoop Collective Podcast after this. Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair.

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So I'm just saying that, like, you know, that doesn't happen anymore. And the fact that there is somebody in this, in this moment where the team didn't have to clear cap space. And that's like, I guess the one thing where I guess I'm watching, Bobby, is, you know, obviously, you know, if you're paying attention to LeBron on social media, you know, you're seeing all this Cleveland nostalgia. He's with the Cavs overseas with his old teammates. Then he's been in Akron for the last few days doing events. I will just say he goes to Akron and does events with his foundation every summer. True, but he was hanging out with his high school teammates. I know, but he sees those guys. I understand. But you're right. It was posted on social media, hanging out with Brandon Weems.

Yes. His high school teammate, a close friend who just happens to, and by the way, earned his way to being an executive for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Let me just say something about Brandon Weems. As a quick aside here,

because there's going to be, you know, his name, people may not know that much. By the way, just everybody calls him Weems. I don't know if I've ever seen anybody called him. Brandon. I mean, maybe his teachers would call him Brandon. Everyone calls him Weans. Just like the guy who left Cleveland to go to the Sixers and made this trade for Paul, for Jalen Brown, Mike Gansy. Nobody called him Mike. Everybody, I mean, maybe his wife does. Everybody calls him Gansy. Okay. But anyway, Weems, he was LeBron's high school teammate. Yes. But he went on to, he coached at Oakland University.

And then he was a coach at Kentucky for a while. And then he, I mean, I say a coach, he was like director of basketball operations, like, you know, or, you know, down the line. Like, you know, I don't know if he did the laundry, but it wouldn't surprise. Probably not at Kentucky. He didn't do the laundry, but whatever. And, you know, came to the calves and, like, was like scouting the mid-American conference and the Horizon League and stuff like that. and has really been in the Cavs front office for a decade plus, slowly moving up, slowly moving up, slowly moving up.

So, you know, and was in Cleveland before LeBron got there, was there while LeBron was there, he left. He didn't go with him to the Lakers or anything like that. Before LeBron got back. What's that? Before LeBron got back to Cleveland. He was in Cleveland before LeBron got back. Right.

And he was there after he left and he's still there. It wasn't like he got hired when LeBron came to Cleveland. You know, this guy never got, you know, anyway, he's probably going to get promoted to GM or something of those into Gansy's into footsteps. But whatever, yes, he was at an event with LeBron over the weekend, but he has attended events of LeBron's routinely for decades when LeBron wasn't a free agent, is all I'm saying.

But yes, you can create a. case. And it is true. Like, I don't know if you've heard Bobby or you've heard McMahon, but like, and we're in the holiday weekend. So there hasn't been a lot that has happened in the league in the last 36 hours. It's kind of been a little bit. It's a little blissful to break. But the last I heard that the teams had not heard anything. The teams were interested in the Bronn. Like they had they had made contact and whatever and they hadn't heard anything. And they're like, well, we don't know what to make of it. And like, this is what happens. with the previous LeBron free agency

as we switched teams. They didn't know. Like LeBron called in and was basically like, yep, I'm coming. And they're like, oh, okay. Like it wasn't, like maybe they felt good like they said, oh, I think the vibe is good.

But like, the heat didn't know he was coming. The calves didn't know he was coming back. You want to know how I know they didn't know? because they were about 10 minutes away from offering Gordon Hayward a max contract offer sheet. He was in the building in Cleveland. And when Mark Termini, one of the Prontagents, found out that Golden Hayward was in Cleveland, he called them up and he was like, what are you doing? Why are you spending your cap space? And they were like, oh, and then Gordon was like, what?

Like, I'm not getting an offer sheet today? Like, you know, like they, you think they would have hired David Blatt? No offense to David Blatt if they knew they were getting LeBron. You know, Magic Johnson showed up at LeBron's house at like 6 p.m. or whenever, 9 p.m. whenever he was allowed to, like, you know, to like pitch it. Like he didn't, they didn't know they were kidding him. So like these teams are kind of in, last I heard Bobby, the teams are kind of in the dark, all kind of waiting. And they hadn't, they weren't hearing anything.

And so they were just like, well, maybe it's Cleveland. but I don't know if anybody is hearing anything. Well, and that goes back to your point, and it's not like they're all sitting up with a $40 million slot, right? Like really the only- And they don't have to. Yeah, they don't have to. I mean, really the only thing that, you know, Hardin remains unsigned in, you know,

and that will be done as far as whatever the number will be with him. And Draymond and Golden State and, you know, Payton Watson, we'll probably talk about him in a minute in Denver. You know, there's not money. there's not, you know, much heavy lifting that some of these teams. Philly's basically done with their roster for the most part. Miami's got some openings. They've got to figure out.

But there's, yeah, it's not like, you know, I remember, was it 15, Brian, when he went back to Cleveland? Yeah. Like 15. 14. 14. In the summer of 14, like, I didn't like know, but I had an idea that he was going back because we did a trade with the Cavs where we took Jared Jack and Serga Karasov because they needed to clear the money out to get them. So you're thinking like, do we do we do it just to do it?

And even though LeBron is going there or do we need a backup point guard. Who cares? You know, like, and we wind up doing it and the money wind up, they want to clearing out enough. I think they traded Tyler also to the Celtics as far as that deal. And they want to clearing out the money here. But in this case, totally, totally different ballgame. here in Salt Lake City Summer League and, you know, obviously there's a lot of scouts and executives and whatever. And I can't tell you how many times I either heard or asked, like, where do you think he's going?

It's one of the first things that comes up in conversations. And the majority opinion is he'll head back to Cleveland. Right, but no one is operating with knowledge. Exactly. I was going to say, everybody is guessing. I wish I could tell you my sources are saying X. but the sources I talk to aren't speaking with knowledge and the people who have knowledge are not speaking.

So look, I'm not saying that Shams doesn't have a good idea. I'm just saying I don't. I wish I could tell you for sure. I don't. Well, and look, there's the three teams that were kind of the initial frontrunners. And I'll just say in the order, I think, Cleveland, Golden State, Miami. Again, it's guesswork, but whatever. I know Denver is optimistic.

Minnesota is optimistic. Philadelphia is optimistic. I mean, you know, there's these teams that think they have a case and think they have some hope. I wouldn't say optimistic. I would say hopeful. Okay, hopeful. Right. Optimistic.

They don't think, they're not like confident, like, oh, he's coming here. But they're like, hey, we've got a chance. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. I will say that in the past, like, so in the last week or two, you know, there's been a lot of people who we all know who have been hanging out with LeBron. We've asked all of them. Trust me, we've asked all of them.

They don't know. Now, here's what I think from Rich Paul and Max Kellerman's podcast the other day. Rich said that 27 teams had checked in with LeBron, reached out, whatever, expressed interest in signing him. I wish I could tell you I knew the three teams that did not. Well,

one is the Lakers. Well, I need Rich to clarify that because technically the Lakers did show interest in resigning him. Not since he announced he was leaving them, but like, is Rich counting that in the 27 or not? I would love to know the three,

teams that didn't reach out to them. I wish I could tell you who. But let's talk about the teams we think are legitimately in the hunt here. You know, and look, I think we've, we've kind of hit on, we've discussed Cavs, Warriors, Heat. Let's talk about Nuggets, Sixers, and Timberwolves, because I think they're all interesting for different reasons. So like, when it was the Mavericks, it was oil, Maasai, Africa. No, it was Mavericks plus Messiah. It was oil golf, Macau, Africa. So what would it like, so what would they be for like Philly?

Cheese steaks, Eagles fans. Oh, his cap was fans. Golf in the fall, not in the winter. But here's the thing. And here's the thing. The Sixers, the Nuggets, and the wolves were all like LeBron in the middle and here's their lineups, right? So it's like, oh, it's about basketball, you know.

Like the thing like golf, listen, man, they'll be on the road enough. He'll be able to play some golf. He can get a little golf. He has access to a jet, okay? Like, I'm not super worried about that. Now, the one thing, I will say, Memphis didn't make the list of like the 10 teams on the whiteboard, but one thing that Memphis has to offer is LeBron. You'll never have to stay in a hotel here. We'll get your place.

Great point. And listen, LeBron clarified he wasn't talking about the city of Memphis. He was talking about the hotel. Yeah. So one thing I will say is that I'm really not going to spend a lot of time analyzing the fit with the roster. LeBron can fit on any team, even now. He can still play multiple positions. I mean, he showed last year he can play.

I do think that he would be preferred to be on the ball. I don't think he probably enjoyed, you know, standing at the corner, waiting for a spot of three, but he can do it. Yeah, but if it's about basketball happiness, I think that includes touching the ball on most, if not every possession. Yeah, but I'm just going to tell you, I'm not, I'm not, I mean, I'm not ruling just about any team out. I hear you.

To me, the Denver possibility is really fascinating because him and Joe, are they the two most brilliant basketball brains walk in the face of the earth right now? I mean, they're in competition for it. I would say that watching LeBron play with Steph, watching LeBron play with Yokic, I suspect would be incredibly enjoyable. And I would love to see it.

Yeah. And the other thing that's fascinating about the whole Denver thing, again, we can slot them in the lineup. Okay, you got Jamal Murray, Christian Brown, Aaron Gordon, and Nicole Yokic. That's a hell of the lineup.

Can't you add him to any of these teams and go, wow. Yeah, but I think that one's, it's a champion, a proven championship. Yes, you guys know I've been talking about this a lot. But the other thing that's fascinating to me about that

is there's this dance that the Denver Nuggets right now are playing with the premier restricted free agent who's still unsigned, Peyton Watson, who, do you guys know who represents Peyton Watson? Have you checked on? Quite a well-aware that it's rich ball and clutch. Oh, well, that's interesting. That's interesting. But real talk, is LeBron deciding basketball happiness based on getting a clutch guy paid?

Also, Peyton Watson has done enough to get paid. It's not like he needs, you know, LeBron's help to get paid. Real talk. Is Rich Paul leveraging the bronze free agency to get other clients paid? Well, if it drags out 10 more days until we see Denver, you could argue maybe that's the case. But no, I mean, Peyton Watson's going to get paid. It's a matter of how much.

It sure is hell going to be a lot more than he would have taken last year when he wanted about 15 a year. You can add eight figures of that. The Clippers, like there's a three-way dance right now going on between Denver, Rich Paul, and the Clippers. That's the dance there. And then there's Benedict Mathron is kind of like, you know. Also, the Nets have space, right, Bobby?

They do. They've got like 20 to 22 before they do all their deals and everything like that. The clips are the most interesting team just because I was telling Brian this last week that so you could put an offer, you could, you can, you can, you could, you could, you could you could renounce Benedict Matherin, put an offer sheet down. I think they get like $26, $27 million. And then if they match it, you can unrenounce them. So you don't totally lose them in the process there along the way.

I mean, you could if a team. One of the many reasons that Bobby is so valuable in the NBA is because he can talk about the procedure for unrenouncing a player, which I have never heard before. I didn't know that was possible. You know, because I feel like we're going to, we possibly could see one or two because you can, you can start putting offer sheets down as soon as July 1st, but really it's not worth it because then you're basically just stalling time. But like I went, I even went back guys to when, because you, you, if so if there's an offer sheet by noon on July 6th, you have until 1159 on July 7 to match it. But I went back and because remember when Otto Porter got that offer sheet by Brooklyn and the Wizards basically took like four days because it's like two days to match, two days to pass the physical. Like basically if they wanted to, if it is the clips or something, they can just basically say, you know what?

We're just going to tie your cap space up for the next whatever, three or four days and everything like that because there's a little bit of a process there. When I was a kid, Bobby, I think it was 10 days. Yeah. Wasn't it 10 days? Yeah. Oh, it was. And then it got to 48 hours, I think. And then it feels like it gets shrunk, shrunk every time.

Back when I was a kid, you know, free agency literally didn't start until July 1st. And nobody signed on July 1st. You signed on July like 6th or 8th at Summer League. The summer, that's where you would do stuff. Now Summer League, everything's done or most of it's done. Back then, like, that's where the, you know, you would call them on July 1st. And then you'd say, hey, let's meet in Las Vegas. Like in three days, sure, sounds good.

And then you do an offer sheet. And like, you would be like, oh, the FedEx didn't get to them on Tuesday. They didn't actually get the FedEx with the offer sheet until Wednesday. So the clock doesn't start. Now they have 10 days. And like you're waiting until July 25th to see whether you're getting an offer matched. The first, the first con. So when I was with the Nets, we had an outside law firm and we got tired of paying them.

So they brought Thorne and said to me, and I didn't go to law. school. He says, hey, why don't you learn how to draw the contracts, drop UPC contracts? So my first contract I ever drew up was summer of 2001, Todd McCullough, offer sheet. And I took the train down to Philly. I remember this offer sheet. I took the train down to Philly. And back then it's like serving, like you're like serving papers. And I knocked down Billy King's door. I go, hey Billy. Hey, Bob, what do you down here? Oh, here you go. Here you go. You been served. But the beauty.

Yeah, you used to do it in person, right? Yeah, you do it in person. The beauty of it was, I took when I was come back on the train and we had filed it with the league that, I don't know if it was Dan Rubin in the league office, he called me, this, Bobby, you missed something on the offer sheet. You got to redo it. And I said, oh, my, holy gal. Go back on the training. But back then, the best one is when Nenet. Wait a minute, you had to go back on the train again, a second time.

This reminds me there's a there's an agent who hadn't been involved in the NBA in a while who is part of the representation for one of the premier guys in this draft class. And somebody with a team said, yeah, you know, if you need this agent, just send him a fax. He'll get back to you. I know that guy. He's a nice guy. How dare you? Yeah. Nowadays it's different.

I think to Jeremy, the Jeremy Lynn offer sheet with Houston. in with, I think that changed where they were basically, I think Daryl was trying to serve the Knicks, the papers, and they were like looking behind the door. They wouldn't open up to like the hotel door. Now it's all electronic. Oh my God. Yes. I was, uh, Jeremy was just talking about that crazy offer sheet, you know, but yeah, I remember, um, you know, Michael Winger, who's the president of the of the, of the wizards. Like, I remember the calves were going to sign Jamario Moon, uh, to an offer sheet, restricted free agent in Miami Heat. And he flew down to Miami with the offer sheet. And he met with Andy Ellesberg, who's now the general manager of the heat. And they went to a

Chinese restaurant and, and when you're delivering, who pays for that dinner? If you're delivering an offer sheet, who pays for dinner? If you bring the offer sheet, you got to pay. I think you're right. I think that's absolutely the way it goes. We had one, we had one time real quick, we had a Christmas. I think it was right after a lockout. We had a Christmas party. And I was there. And I saw, I don't know who it was from the Thunder. God damn, showed up.

Like, I look up and I'm like, oh, and they were delivering an offer sheet on Named Christic. You know what? I was talking to, you know, one of these old school scouts who's out here last night. And, God, I don't remember who the free agent was. But their organization put together like this big, elaborate like let's host this guy's he's coming in and like you know like this big elaborate party is like a $20,000 setup and all that and the guy didn't make his flight never touch base

with him never let him know and so it ended up just being like well okay hey basketball staff have a good time yeah the food's care the caterings paid for oh my god there's a million of those types of stories. Anyway, all of us to say is, so you think there's, so the two outstanding, restricted free agents out there, Bobby, are Jalen Duren and

Peyton Watson. And Benedict Matherin. Oh, Matherin, yes, that's right. Quentin post on a lower end to me, he had a decent year in Golden State, but he's a, it's funny. We got the list when there was like 18 guys on the restricted list, and a lot of those guys are like overseas, you know,

like you just tender them, the qualifying offer just to keep their rights and everything. Yeah, so that could happen. We could see an offer sheet or two starting on Monday, but I'm not sure we're going to hear about LeBron's Monday. The nuggets are at least bluffing, if not serious, about saying we don't have to shed cap, we don't have to shed salary to keep Peyton Watson. Like the belief was they were going to have to trade either Christian Brown, which I don't

think there's any market for him or Cam Johnson, which like that wouldn't be hard to do. He's on expiring. can knock down shots and he's a human trade exception. But the nuggets are at least putting out there like, no, we're fine paying a bunch of attacks, which would be very unnugget-like. Do you believe that? Well, again, I got a feeling to bluff, but whatever. But part of the whole LeBron to Denver thing, obviously, Joker is reason number one,

two, three, four, five, six, seven. but Josh Cronkey, who I believe his official title's chairman, but he's the day-to-day ownership presence, has a relationship with LeBron. Like they do stuff like hang out on yachts together, as friends tend to do. I've never actually done that, but with you. Well, if you did, you'd probably wipe out

and have a rib contusion. That is true. He's actually cracked rib cartilage. Sorry. Concussion makes it sound like I was making a big deal about a bruise. Can you crack? cartilage anyway you can i learned that and the like another tie is jared dudley is on the you know the front of the nuggets bench as an assistant coach his guy who's got a good relationship with lebron you know

was a vet on that uh lakers championship team so there's you know there's some ties there j j bray is also on the nuggets uh coaching staff he he he famous he was part of the mavericks pulling off an upset over lebron in his first year in miami i just i just figured out math on Denver. All right. So Denver is a repeater team, repeater tax team. So they will pay a significant more penalty.

I just factored in if they waived Valencianus and signed Payton Watson for like a $25, $26 million contract, their tax penalty will be $177 million. Yeah. That is a big number. They are putting it out there that they're willing to go like into that territory. I'll believe it when I see it. They ain't in Missouri, but Josh Cronk is a Missouri alum, and I'm in the show me state on that.

Well, I'll, you know, Yokic hasn't extended yet, and LeBron hasn't made up his mind, so I think it's probably a good idea to not make major money cut moves, right? Like, that doesn't take next level strategy, does it? But, you know, I think you talked about Minnesota. I would love to see LeBron play with Ann Edwards, too, aunt, Steph, or Yokich. I think all three of those are fascinating.

And I think if you're LeBron, you know, whiteboarder, no, you probably are having those conversations. I just don't know if there are serious conversations. Only LeBron knows. The other thing, Bobby, is... How's the golf in Minnesota in the winter? The golf in Minnesota and the winter exists inside. But it's great in the summer.

It's great in the summer. I forgot I was going to ask Bob. Oh, Bobby, is there any clarity? Do you think, because I've talked to teams, and they don't have clarity that I know, does playing for less mean the mid-level, the taxpayer mid-level, or the minimum? Well, for some of these teams, it's only the minimum, 3.8.

Okay, so that's true. So, but Rich draws out 10 teams there. 3.9. Rich certainly knows that some of those teams can only have the minimum, right? Philly, Philly, the minimum. Minnesota, minimum. Golden State's kind of in between.

They'll figure that out, whatever. Denver's the minimum. You know, we can go down the list. Hey, Dallas has the mid-level. And if you invests for a high-level exception, then do the casinos in Macau, who knows what you can make. If you buy some oil futures.

Exactly. You know, going back to the rich with LeBron, what I found the most interesting was the Nick's comment, he mentioned. Well, there's no cost to making that comment. Right. I assume what you're saying is, if the Knicks, you know, Rich said if the Knicks hadn't won, he definitely would have gone to New York.

Yeah. But then he did win. So, like, there's. Was Jalen Brunson the last free agent who changed teams and shifted the balance of power in league? Yeah. I mean, Fred did. And he went to Houston. I said shift the balance of power.

I'm looking at the big, Tobias Harris in Detroit. I know. I'm just mentioned names. None of these meet the criteria. William Brunson, who everybody called an overpay at 104 over four years. I thought it was an overpay, quite clearly. I was quite clearly wrong. Well, Bon Tim's thought the Sixers were the favorites in the East.

I thought the Sixers were the favorites in that series. It was close. Anyway, all right, so the league is going to look a lot different when the problem makes up his mind. I just don't know when he is. And I honestly, you know, we're obviously paid to give insight information. and I have to just be responsible here. Trust me, I'm having the conversations.

A lot of people are saying what they think is going to happen. And I can tell you what people think is going to happen all night. But I'd rather tell you what's going to happen. And I'm just not in position to, I'm not in position to do that. I wish I was. Bobby LeBron is the fill in the blank best player in the league. I don't know. I don't want to give an answer because it will probably get in trouble.

I think he's a top 25 type of player. Oh, yeah. Oh, definitely. I thought he was the best free agent. I thought he was the best free agent available, right? I mean, I think he can make it hard. Certainly unrestricted. And, you know, look, if he goes to Cleveland, okay,

I agree that there will be some challenges with, you know, figuring out who's going to have the ball when. because I never ever thought about LeBron playing with James Harden. It's just not something I ever envisioned. Although Hardin is much more of a table setter now than a dominant score. True. And I have no, but they would figure it out. I mean, you don't think James Hardin and LeBron James can figure out how to play together? Absolutely, I think they could.

Donovan Mitchell wants to win. you know i i don't think lebron's going to like um make donovan mitchell like render him like you know ineffective come on like i i absolutely think that that that makes a ton of sounds just like i think it you know it would work in philly too like they they could figure out how to do it i honestly have more questions about philly as far as a fit because of imbid because of imbid because of Embed because of Brown, who clearly wants to be the man on a team, and because of Maxie, where I think Maxie's the best of those three guys is an offensive number one right now. I think Embedd's got, you know, like the most equity in Philly.

And Brown, the whole, one of the big reasons he's on the block is, or was on the block, is because he wanted to be 1A. Well, I do think that one of the big questions, no matter what happens in Philly, is what they do if Jalen would like a contract extension. Like that's... If? Well, I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how that plays out.

Bobby, if you were eligible to make like $140 million over two years, would you be interested in that? Yes. Well, the beauty... Where Philadelphia catches a little bit of a break here is because he was traded, they can only extend them for a year. So they don't have to offer him. It's like one year, like 60...

It's like $68 million, $69 million. It's a big number, man. I was going to say this regarding LeBron. That's a nice contract. The beauty of if LeBron goes back to Cleveland or Miami, you can get that no trade clause back. Oh, wow. That's true.

That's what Dame Lillard did last year. He's the last thing. Dave Ler's like. Dave's the last man standing. With the no trade clause because LeBron's expired. Yeah. Yeah. Wouldn't be a bad idea.

All right, well, to be continued with LeBron. More Hoop Collective podcast after this. All right, McMahon, you are watching Summer League. So a couple of days in, what have you learned? So I got to see Cam Boozer's summer debut and Darren Peterson's summer debut. Cam Booser, the first play, his first official play in Grizz's uniform, he dunked on Mara, the 7-foot-3 Thunder lottery pick. And then Peterson's first official playing a jazz uniform,

he went pick and roll and attacked Ace of Newell off a switch and had a little crafty layup. And look, both those, they'll play Monday night. So looking forward to that. Both those guys were as advertised in the first game. You know, seeing Boozer up close, like this guy, like the legs look like tree trunks. Like he measured it 6, 8 and a quarter, but his legs are, like I said, I mean, they're massive.

Like he's got these just absolute oak trees for legs, strong as hell, and has guard skills at 6,8 and change in 253. His vision is incredible. Like he had 4 assists, but like that does not even come close to explaining how great of a passing performance he had. like his ability to create advantages, whether it's off the dribble or with power, you know, in the post, whatever combination thereof,

see the floor like three steps ahead, like, you know, play the chess game, seeing the floor. And then at that size, just make any pass he wants. He has like,

he's an incredible PowerPoint forward. Fun to watch. And then Peterson, he committed eight turnovers. He's playing a lot of point guard. He's not going to, going to be on the ball nearly as much once it comes regular season. He's sharing the back court with Keontay George. By the way, he's been in every practice. He's going to be on their bench for

their Vegas debut. Like as an assistant coach, he's been very involved in like coaching up, Darren Peterson and establishing that relationship. But the thing that stands out about Peterson is, man, this dude, you know, a scout, I was sitting next to you last night, is like, this all looks easy for him and talking about just like the ability to get to his spots to create space off dribble to you know to rise up over a guy how many different ways did he score in that game and like look summer league you know the long story is it's much more um predictive of you're bad in summer league than if you're good like on the whole right he scored in transition he scored off the dribble he scored out of pick and roll

He scored step back threes. Yes. He hit a three in overtime where it's coming off a screen, going left, just stop and pop, you know, mid-range pull-ups. I had another scout tell me, and I think this is an aggressive statement, but it was said to me, he'll be a top 10 player in the league within two years. That's aggressive. But there's a pretty strong consensus that this guy has, like, the ceiling. of leading league and scoring, like that type of potential.

I think the jazz are potentially one of the more fascinating teams going into the season. I totally get the decision on Walker Kessler. Yeah. The pick package was enough. It was robust. Yeah, good job. Well, good word. I get it.

Also, you know, they have so much invested in their front court that if you aren't like totally pleased with that, I get it. But that, you know, that does set them a little bit back in terms of their roster build. But they could be really competitive really quickly here. Before Kessler went to L.A., there's like people talking about 50 wins. Well, I can't say that. They're not going to double their win total. But they can be a competitive team, and they've got a young core.

You know, Ace Bailey did something that was back. and so he came out of that game early, but like, Ace is an impressive-looking player. By the way, Cody Williams, like, let's not give up on him yet.

Now he's a third-year guy, third-year lottery pick playing in Summer League, which means things ain't been ideal, but he's starting to fill out. But the Kianti... Listen, Bryce Sensible was one of the best players in the NBA last month of the season. I'm not ignoring that.

There's some circumstances. Well, I'm not saying he's going to be an all-star, but like, you know, as long as you're talking about the jazz, like, I can't ignore it. They've definitely put together a team, and like they're actually going to have the goal of winning games.

They'll be interesting this year. But the core they put together, there's not a face of the franchise. And that's what they need Darren Peterson to be. And maybe Ace Bailey can pop to become that guy. But Peterson's obviously their best hope of that. And it's pretty widely, you know, the consensus among scouts that I've talked to or an executive is he has that type of. potential. You know, and it's interesting because like, Boozer would have been the safer pick. I don't think there's any question about that. And it was, you know, like I'm sitting there

and right in front of me sitting court side is Carlos Boozer. Jazz Scout, Carlos Boozer, former Jazz All-Star Carlos Boozer watching his son, who the Jazz passed on and Boos was wearing a gris hat. I respect it. I mean, he's a dad. He's a dad before he's a scout. But they, they like Peterson enough to where they passed on a kid who was born here. You know, his dad's part of the franchise, who they think is going to be a really damn good player. Like they think Carlos Boozer was worthy of being a number one pick in the draft. They thought there was three number one picks.

But they thought Darren Peterson had the highest ceiling. And that's the guy they took. I think they're in a good spot. I mean, I think the biggest thing, before they went out and got Josh Okoji and Jackson Hayes and free agency. I think Jaron and John Contrers were the only two guys that ever played in the postseason before. So you could show the youth of that group.

But going, you know, going back today, Cody Williams playing, I give him credit, man. Like, you know, because you know this, like, once you, once you see the lights of the end of your rookie contract coming and you hadn't really done as much as you thought, you know, getting drafted in a lottery, it's like now or never for him. and then Ace is kind of a little bit of a wild card as far as what you can get from him but watching Darren and that was the big thing is like this is the pace

just like how very like easy he makes it look when he's out there. And is there anything else that you've seen in the first couple days there that you think is notable? So honestly it was just one day of games. Today was an off day for games.

Today was an off day. My bad. Yeah, Monday and Tuesday this game like tomorrow is the Jazz Grizz's game, which is that'll be Peterson versus Boozer. Mara is a really interesting player. I mean, obviously, seven foot three. He's got some Hartnstein in them as far as like the passing ability.

Now, the Grizzes blew the thunder out. But Marr's a really fascinating player. He's going to have to improve his body. A bit dumpy was the description that somebody used for him. but I think he landed in an ideal situation in Oklahoma City where they're going to be able to, like, I think he'll play this year, but they don't even play 25 or 30 minutes. They didn't even play 10 or 15. I think, you know, he's going to develop his body.

And he's a pretty intriguing guy at 7 foot 3 with some feel and like I said, the passing ability and just the length. your guy help me out with the 16th pick and blanking on the name Sturts Ben Sturts Yeah he's got a chance He's going to be interesting And then you know Kingston Fleming's

Was his shot is a funky shot It goes in That's right Yeah but it's a funky looking shot I think the thing for Fleming's That's going to determine how good he is in the NBA Is he's got to figure out How to be able to finish against NBA side

you know, he's not the biggest guy in the world, height or like, you know, in terms of just like stoutness. So he's going to have, you know, he's going to have to figure out how to be able to finish at the rim. But if that pops, he's got a chance to be awfully good. He's a hell of a passer. He's a competitor. The shot's funky, but it goes in. So, I mean, it's a, you know, there's only four teams here, but there's four of the top 12 and five of the top 16 picks.

So it's a fun little summer league. And I mentioned Cody Williams. He came in the league as a string bean, and he's really worked hard on his physique. He had a couple of dunks. And again, you don't want to overreact to a third-year lottery pick playing in summer league. I get it.

Right. But he had a couple of dunks where it's just like, okay, that's what they saw to make them decide that he was worth, I think, the ninth overall picking a draft. By the way, there's been some summer league games out in San Francisco, where there's, I think, is it four teams playing there? The California Classic. Cameron Carr for the Lakers has had two very good games so far.

He's a bucket getter. I mean, he played in, he had the one game in the combine. He put up some big-time numbers in that game. Yaxel Lindenborg with the Warriors had a pretty good first game, 11 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists. Darrys Acuff went 9 of 29 in like 20-some-odd minutes. I respect the 29 shots, though. You would.

Go get it, kid. Yeah, you would. I'm not surprised. So we'll keep an eye on that start of Summer League. Before we go, Bobby, so beginning with the new league year, obviously all the contracts get signed, one of the busiest days of the year in the league office. We haven't seen any extensions for the 2023.

draft class. Yep. So this is when that window open. So obviously at some point here, I assume you're going to see Victor Wimbunyama sign a five-year $300 million extension. It'll be five for $252. And then they'll have the whole 30% rule that will bump it over 300, which if he, you know, he'll get, unless he doesn't.

Oh, he hasn't qualified yet. He has to qualify. He hasn't qualified. He hasn't qualified yet. So he'll, he'll, he'll, he'll, he'll, he'll get a. all the bells and whistles on there. It'd be interesting. They put a player option in there, which is rare. Paolo got one last year. I'm sure.

Listen, whatever Victor wants he'll get. I mean, that's the reality. There's not a negotiation. There really isn't. This is as easy, easy as easy as it gets and everything. But yeah, he's the headliner. And then we've got the Thompson twins, which will be interesting. men in Houston and us are in Detroit

which would be where you know are they Max guys are they not I mean like I always say like non-max guys we just this thing just drags out till like October I mean that's the reality and and both of those franchises

have shown recently that they're going to negotiate with their own guys you know Houston did it with with Alpey Shungoon Jaylen Green, but he wasn't a max guy. But like with Alpieshingo, Houston did it. Detroit's still in the process of doing it with Jalen Duren.

So I would be surprised if there's just like a full boat max offer put on the table. Yes, we talk about this in the pod. You know, Bobby, I used to refer to the first max, the 25% of the cat max is the fun max. You know, in a different era, not that long ago, I think Brandon Miller you know, Amen and Osar would have been strong candidates for the fun Max, but there's no such thing as fun Maxes anymore. You've got to negotiate.

Yeah, and I would honestly be, despite Houston's recent history, I would be less surprised if Houston gets somewhere near there, just because I'm telling you, as high as you think they might be on a men Thompson, they're higher. Like, I literally don't know that they would trade a man for anybody but Wimby. But Rafael Stone, their GM, has consistently held the line on negotiations, whether it was Alperin Shingoon. He just signed a deal with Tari Isson, a five-year deal, Bobby that was basically at the mid-level, right?

It's below. It's below the mid-level. Hey, listen, he took guarantee money. When was last time you saw a five-year contract that was below the mid-level? Did you see Tari-Eason's tweet about an hour before that news came out? There was a three-word tweet. You guys didn't see it? No.

I can't. I saw it, but I can't remember what it was. I quote. I guess, bro. $80 million, I guess. He turned down more money, but less guaranteed last, you know, during extension season last year. Well, part of the reason was less guarantee is this is five years. So the guarantee is going to be higher because it's more years, right?

Last year, I believe it was four for a hundred with like 65 guaranteed. So, well, I wouldn't, you know, he's had some injury history. I wouldn't feel bad about getting that much guaranteed. But I would just say that they negotiate, like even the contract that they gave Jalen Green. You know, there were, was short and not fully guaranteed. And so, yeah, I expect to do that. So you've got Brandon Miller. Jabari Smith Jr. too, like that happened right in the middle.

I remember being in Vegas when that happened. The rare non-max extension that have, you know, four for a little over 100, I think. think like that was like you know that was kind of where they saw him as and and he took it because it was a lot of money for him I want to say it was five was it five let's see I know it was a hundred I'm pretty sure it was it was yeah I'm pretty sure it was a five for uh let's see we got here yeah five for 122 it's a good deal there you know so some of the other guys um scoot henderson had a really good second half I mean, it was an All-Star second half, it was good.

Well, and they just traded for Jha. They have Dame. They still have Shaden Sharp. They have Drew Holiday still. I would think that one might play out a little bit longer, but, you know, we'll see. Anthony Black's interested in Orlando. Yeah, that's just based on where their salaries are, right, with the other guys. You know, Case and Wallace is a really fascinating deal.

in OKC. And I would say Ksen Wallace and is A.J. Mitchell with the deal he signed last summer Bobby's next year. Okay. You can extend. My point.

My point is I think you have to kind of lump those two together because I think it's going to be awfully difficult to pay them both because they're both really, really, really good young guards. And I don't think Neither of them are going to want to take a team-friendly discount when neither of them is made big-time NBA money yet.

Well, I agree. So Anthony Black coming off a really good year in Orlando. Brandon Pajemski. You skipped over Kianti George in Utah. Oh, Kianti George, yeah. I would be very surprised if there's an extension there. And it's not because they don't like Kianti George. And it's not because Kianti George.

So I just, you know, I mentioned like he's been in Salt Lake City. He's been very involved. He's at the facility every day doing everything they could possibly want. want to be here. Like I think he wants to be here. I think they'll want to keep him. But if you're Keonté George and you just averaged, you know, 23 and change and six plus assists, had a breakout year. Like, you know, if you're going to extend, you want to be near the, the fund max or the former fun max. And if you're Utah and if you want to pay that much money, you want to be awfully sure that that wasn't a weird aberration of a year and that he is who you hope he is and who he showed

flashes of being in a competitive situation this year. So I think Keonti George will have a future here in Utah. I just don't think there's going to be an extension before next season. Interesting take there. Interesting. Jaime Hawkes just traded to Milwaukee. You'd think that they'd want to lock him up. But Pajemski and Hawkes are both guys that those could be October extensions. Yeah, we see a rash in October. We always see it Monday before the season starts the deadline. We always see that weekend. We just a flurry of six or seven guys go right up to the deck.

Because there's, you know, like there's not on a, yeah, you're not negotiating really again. It's anything except clock with these, with these non-max guys. We'll see. I think, you know, there should be, I'm sure of the spurs prioritize getting Victor taken care of. So I see if that comes down. recommend it. 24 hours. All right.

Well, we wait for LeBron yet again. Thank you so much to all of our producers, Tucker, Mark Jackson, at all. Thank you so much to Bobby for putting in more hours. There's still some fireworks out there. You can light off, Bobby, I'm sure. I feel bad for the dogs, you know? I know. I've got a 10-month-old puppy, and he is 1st, July 4th.

Thank you to McMahon for his reports from Summer League. Keep him coming. You get two more days of maybe than I'm going home. All right. Thank you for watching listening to the Hoop Collective. We'll talk to you later this week or when LeBron signs, whichever happens first. Adios amigos.