The Mismatch - Understanding the Jaylen Brown Trade, Early Summer League Impressions, and the Origins of Rich Paul’s Whiteboard

Episode Date: July 7, 2026

Verno and Jacoby return to discuss the Celtics trading Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers and debate Brad Stevens's reasoning for trading him away at this point in time. Next, they discuss Giannis Antetokounmpo’s comments since being traded to the Miami Heat, their latest ideas on where LeBron James will end up, and the most recent free agency news. Also, a brief conversation about Cameron Boozer, Darryn Peterson, and the early slate of NBA summer league games. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (4:01) Brad Stevens and the Celtics front office speak on trading Jaylen Brown to the 76ers (22:13) Giannis Antetokounmpo speaks on leaving Milwaukee (30:08) Origins of the LeBron James whiteboard and dissecting where he could possibly go (39:57) Recent free agent news: DeMar DeRozan waived, Rui Hachimura signs with the Clippers, and Quinten Post’s Grizzlies offer sheet (46:57) Early summer league reactions Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez, Stefan Anderson, and Jeff Shearin Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify.

Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Varnan and joining us every week from The Ringer.com is Dave Djokovychobi. We had to move the time of the pod recording. We had to move it up a few hours. Producer Jesse got a little freaked out about it, sent some panic texts like it was going to be so hard to move and got it done because after we rap, it's time.

We are all Flo Balagan. It has been crazy. And I know. that you have had the same experience. Over the last couple of weeks, those of us who, I mean, you and I have spent the, like, literally every waking minute

for the last nine months caring and dissecting every bit of NBA news and game that happens. And then the NBA ends, you look for something to fill the sports void and this World Cup

has done it a thousand thousandfold. A thousand. Right there. It just went right from Nick's championship into the end of the group stage. And here we are. Yes.

Here we are. England Mexico last night. England Mexico last night. I went to a Mexican restaurant. I'm in Los Angeles. God. It just kept going and going and going. The rep would blow the whistle.

It's just like crazy. It's been so tense. Well, and the other thing is, so just on my, on my end, my experience was, so last night, I knew I had watched Erling Holland at that game earlier in the day. Because, of course, now I'm like a soccer expert. And then we all are. And then we get to Mexico, England at night.

And I'm like, all right, I'm going to walk the dog. I'm going to eat. I'm going to settle in Mexico, England. And I was like, and I've been talking to my son about it. My son has like started watching it. And his buddies are into it, whatever. So I walk downstairs and I'm like, yeah, I tell my wife, I say, hey, where's William?

His car's gone. She's like, he went over to Michael's house. There's a big group of them. They're going to watch the World Cup tonight. And I was like, what? What do you mean? What do you mean they're going to watch the World Cup today? Just like they did during the NBA finals, I was like, all right, if a bunch of teenagers

are getting together to watch the World Cup, I was like, I know this thing is taken on. It really has. I thought, I was like, man, oh man. So sure enough. And then it got delayed. He was over at his buddies, but he's us. I was producing a game over episode

that was recording during the game. So the second they wrapped, just ran out of the studio. I bet. All right. So, anyway, so look, Team USA is going to be playing tonight.

There's also Summer League action that is going on tonight in Utah and California, including the first, it'll be the first batchup of Cam Boozer and Darren Peterson tonight on the same court, wearing NBA uniforms. So there is some stuff that is going on tonight in regards to the NBA, but there was NBA news that happened today.

By virtue of the moratorium being lifted, now everybody can talk about all this news that we had seen over the course of the past week. And with that, we knew that the most awaited press conference in the NBA by a wide margin was going to be the one. was going to be the one held by Brad Stevens and Bill Chisholm and the Boston Celtics, explaining themselves for the Jalen Brown trade, a trade that you and I have not particularly commented on yet, because that happened after we had done last week's show. But first, let's just cover the Jaila Brown trade. I thought it was fake.

You thought it was fake. You saw me in the group chat. I was like, Zach Lowe, is this real? That was honestly, maybe my favorite moment of the group chat was you asking Zach Lowe if it was real and then him confirming indeed this did. And then he texts me on the side. He's like, I think Bill's getting a colonoscopy right now. All right. That whole thing with Simmons getting the colonoscopy the day of the trade is like, honestly.

It's just perfect. It really is. It was perfect. It was everything you want. Bill Simmons. It was everything you wanted. We are now several days removed,

several conversations removed, several justifications removed from this all happening, and frankly, I still cannot believe it happened, but I am

willing to listen to what Brad Stevens had to say today with open ears, and I did. We'll let you hear a little bit of Brad Stevens here. From a basketball perspective, you know, I think that there are a lot of different angles that we have to consider in every move we make, and there's all the information that we have access to that will ultimately inform each of those moves. when I looked at our team and I looked at where the league was heading,

looked at the way that we've finished the last couple years and also looked at the unbelievable way we've played in the regular season in the last couple years. You know, the path looked a little bit more challenging to me. I might be wrong. I'm not going to stand up here and be defensive about that. But the path looked a little bit more challenging with 70% of our cap and such a high percent of our usage tied into it.

the two players. The reality in this era and in this day and age at the NBA, and you could see it obviously with the last couple of champions and some of the teams that were at the very top of the league when it was all said and done at the end of this year is that, you know, you have to do a great job and you have to have the optionality to do a great job of building out depth that can hopefully replace the irreplaceable individual. That's absolutely nothing against Jalen. If you have Jalen Brown on your team, you should feature him,

you should use all those possessions, and you should approach things that way. But I think the importance of depth, and then obviously we have to continue to work on ways to diversify our attack overall. All that being said, still would not have made a move unless we thought the right opportunity presented itself.

So Brad Stevens spoke about this, and I thought, I thought honestly he came off, and he always does. It's like very, from a place of humility about all of this. Almost like hard decisions. These are very hard decisions. We understand.

that there's going to be decisions we make that are not popular at all, right? We got a rabid fan base and we understand how much he meant to this organization. And so, like, he tried to couch it all. I do want to say. And he did say all the right things. And there were mountains and mountains and mountains of praise for Jalen Brown, his impact on the organization, the 10 years he spent there. What an honor it was to have a front row seat to his era as a Boston Celtics.

No one's going to talk about that part because it's not like the headline. but he definitely checked all those boxes. And I think that the thing I was most persuaded by. So if we're separating the Jalen Brown trade, and again, we didn't get to do the immediate reaction, but it was, if you would have told me they are trading Jalen Brown, I would have 100% believed you. You and I had many conversations about this.

You were always on the side of, why? Why do you have to trade him? I just figured that after, you know, the Janus thing and him being the number one guy last year and a contract extension possibility not far off on the horizon, that it would not be shocking at all if Jalen Brown were to move and they were about to trade him. The second part of this is the return. and that is the part that we could not fathom, and still nobody could fathom. And so let's just separate those two things, that you could convince me that this is the wise basketball move.

And I feel like there was a large percentage of the press conference that was used in order to validate that line of thinking, of which is a totally reasonable team building concept. The idea that we have 70% of the money tied up into two players. If you look now at who you have to compete with at the highest level, it's basically just making an argument that that is not the way. we don't think that's the way. And the way is by having the available depth.

You are able to withstand injury. You are able to have a bigger group of good, the more good players you have. And we can't have more good players doing it this way because basically your hard cap at the top with that second apron. And so with these two players taking up 70% of the cap, we don't think that that's the best vote of operation. All right.

We'll stop there and I will ask you, I actually agree with that, don't you? I think it is damn near impossible. I suppose there is a, I suppose there's a scenario. We could look up one day and maybe if it's Dylan Harper and Victor Wenbenyama and they're taking up 70% of your case. It's possible, but you would have to have the absolute perfect combination. Murray-Ochid comes to mind. Yeah.

So it's impossible to separate the trade from the return because in the return, they still have 70% of the cap with two players. So explain that part to me. Because one of the things that Brad Stevens can do, he's a very smart, articulate person. And I sort of could get lost in the sauce sometimes listening to these people, that he can convince me that the sky is green just because he, like, is good at talking. But he's silly.

He's like, well, we didn't want to build the 70% of our cap on two players. Okay. What are you doing now? Okay. So his answer was, because they said the money's not that different. Like that, I mean, Boston Media wasn't letting this guy off the hook. And he basically said, it's the year. Yeah.

It's the year. It is one less year. And we felt like we were getting two really great assets. and two other assets that we think we could either use to facilitate other deals we need to make or draft guys like Dylan Mitchell and Jordan Walsh, which are two second round picks that we have had recently that we really believed in. And again, I got it. We can't separate, and that's the issue, right, with trades.

You can't separate the return. I actually thought the case he made for the way they want to build their team. I just refused to accept, and he did say this was, we felt like this was our best deal. Well, then, then Shams Sharania, there's no way that Sharm Sharania, who put out, the Celtics are engaged with and are fielding offers from eight to 10 teams. He put that out. that is impossible. There's no way they fielded offers from eight to ten teams,

and that was the best possible return that they could get for Jalen Brown. I understand the way this all works, trying to build up leverage and whatever else. And Walker-Kessler deal. It's just like, you just can't square, but I'm saying you can't square that. You can't square that they, there's no way they talked to eight to ten teams, and that was the best. You know, and so that's the big mystery is when Brad Steven says we felt like this was the best package,

I think that's the thing that I and everyone else gets hung up on, which is how is that the best package? It's not just the best package. It's not just the best package. It's the timing, right? Just doing it now. And he was asked about that. And another thing that he was good on in the press conference, he was like, listen, if it was a West Coast team with the same package, I would have happily traded Jalen Brown there,

but like this is Philly, we're going to play them six times before the playoffs because they play twice in the preseason. So there's going to be six games this year where Jalen Brown is in a different uniform. I'm assuming four or two of those are in Boston. Yeah. It's crazy.

So it's not just the package, it's the timing and the destination team. This is a true rival. They've lost to them in the playoffs. And maybe, look, as time goes on, maybe it will start to leak out. And maybe we'll get like the real story with all of this. I'm sure that there's a bunch of intrepid reporters that are attempting to find out. I got a little something right here, Verno.

I got a little something right here. Let me hear. All right, let me hear. This is from Amick and Jay King at the Athletic. Now again, just like the Bobby Marks thing. Well, by the way, Jay King. I know J. King. Jay King has covered the Celtics for a long, long time.

So that's boots on the ground. Sam has always been a West Coast guy, but J. King is boots on the ground. I'm not a J. King guy. I'm a J. Kang guy. Jay Kang does not cover the Celtics. I get them confused. Understood. Here's the quote.

And again, I just want to say, these people get this information and then distribute it. These aren't their thoughts. And they're not lying, right? But this is the quote. Quote, contributing to concerns about the situation, the Celtics believed that Brown went off script too often during playoff games as Boston blew a three-one first round lead to Philadelphia, according to a league source.

Hmm. Hmm. Well, and look, there were quotes you could possibly find if you wanted to dig for him. Because I remember this like it was yesterday. We talked about it during the playoffs where he was like, basically, I wish we would have played just like we played throughout, the year, which was a way of saying, like, give me the ball. The script was, the script was give me the ball and then I cook. Yeah. That's the script.

Right. If we would, like, you know, like how we just won 56 games? Like, why are we trying to do this, like, you know, pop the ball around, start Ron Harper Jr. and all this baloney. Like, I mean, and, and like, we're trying to get, you know, Jason back worked into the mix and everything. Like, we had something good going here. And so I understand, like, you know, he was, obviously there was some frustrated quotes at the end of the year. Again, we're this far removed. We have now listened to the Celtics try to talk about it. And we still are perplexed as to why that was the return.

Like it's still, we everybody just, Paul George's contract is a punchline. Like, it is one less year. It's one less year. So I'm thinking he plays next year and then he's expiring the following year that they moved. Right? I mean, look, Bill Simmons' podcast, they rank the worst contracts in the league. It's a very popular episode every single year.

He was drafted second. Literally second. And no one argued. It was almost like, damn, you took my dad. It's like when you used to have the second pick and you were like, oh, my God, he took Tomlinson. You know what I mean? Like, I wanted LaDadian. So for sure I get LaDadian Tomlinson. No, he's off the board. Paul George's contract was off the board by two in the worst in the worst contracts draft. So, I mean, even if I like there's two different, I feel like this entire time there's been like two tracks, right?

which is like we're trading Jaila Brown and I totally get it, right? I understand. You can convince me that that's the right thing to do. And then there's the whole return portion of it. And then even today, there's that team building side of it, which is actually very persuasive to me, right? You know, you and I had this discussion during the year watching Oklahoma City to San Antonio and I was saying,

you know, young teams and having a bunch of guys that can just wildly outperform their contract, That's the way to have the best teams right now. And those are rookie deals. Those are rookie deals. Yeah. I also think that there is a very good discussion to be had as this gets broken up. And again, this was probably getting broken up anyway, that once they introduce the second apron,

that one of the things is you never want to have to feel like, let's just say that that is the major reason behind it, that the team building idea. Forget the return of it, but the reason you are moving off of J. LaBron is because of that you think that building a team in 2026, the best way to do that is by not having two players to take up 70% of your cap. I am in wholehearted agreement with something that Bill floated,

and I hope this really takes hold that the second apron, I don't think is a bad thing, but everybody gets mad that you have to, You have to break up these teams. And so, like, you don't get to keep the guys that you drafted and you nurtured if they become super awesome because you can't afford them because you end up having to pay. Like, I was, you know, somebody today was saying that if you pay Peyton Watson, like his $22 million or whatever, like the Nuggets tax number could be well over $150 million. It's like crazy. Right.

Yeah. So I, what I wanted to say was that. that I am in wholehearted agreement, they should put in, in the next CBA, a structure where you do get discounts for your hometown players. You, they do not count as much against the cap. I think that is what's best for fans.

I think that is what's best for basketball. I think that's what's best for team building. That if you draft and have a player, that that should be the reward that when that player gets so good that you don't have to make a decision whether or not that player can stay with your franchise forever. Castle Harper and Wemby.

It's like the same thing with the Thunder. It's like it's inevitable. It's like well there's only two or three year window with this because they're going to have to break the seam up. It's like because we drafted good players, developed the good chemistry between them, and now we can't retain them because we developed them.

And that's the way, that's the way you do that, is you say you get a break on your cap if it's your players, right? You do not get a break on a cap if it's other teams players, but you get a break on the cap. They count whatever, let's say 10% less against your cap, which could be very, very significant, right? Like, I mean, now all of a sudden, that makes a big difference.

you can offer them more. Right. Then that, but they don't, you don't get a discount there. You know what I mean? But you don't, you don't want these homegrown teams

having to break up. No. That's wrong. Like I don't like watching the Spurs and watching Dylan Harper in the playoffs be excellent and thinking to myself, at some point they're going to have to break this team up. And they, Dr. Harper just got drafted last year.

I know. It's ridiculous. And so that, that's the thing that they have got to fix, right? The second apron is basically hard. tapping the lead. But on the other hand,

you have to put in some kind of infrastructure where you can keep your own guys. All right. Or you can have your best player sign at a major discount even though his father's on the team. He's represented by the same organization

that runs the organization. You could do that. You could do that. That's one way to get this done. Or you could get an unbelievable tree players. Sponsorship. Yeah, yeah.

And that would enable you to do it. Not that anyone's ever done that. No. This episode is brought to you by Activia. You might already be eating yogurt, but not all yogurts are created equal. Activia contains over one billion probiotics per serving to survive and reach the gut alive. When it comes to gut health, Activia is the number one family doctor-recommended probiotic yogurt brand. Choose Activia.

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for people under 30 worldwide and 54% of leading positions held by women, diversity is a strength that helps L'Oreal Group create the best beauty products for all people. Visit laurel.com to learn more. Janus spoke today. So this is the first time that we could do the whole Janus Milwaukee thing. And he sat down and had a conversation in Milwaukee at the Bucks Court.

And, you know, I mean, we felt like covering that saga over the course of the last 18 months was like, has anybody ever not wanted to be disliked? liked by the place that they have called home for over a decade and delivered a championship. And you and I kept saying, like, bro, don't worry. They're never going to hate you. But he just all the way to the end. He can't help himself. Milwaukee, I love you.

I love you, Milwaukee. And Milwaukee's always going to be home and just no. And so it, but he did get, uh, He did get very introspective when he said, but there's something when I wake up every day and take my showers at night, I think, man, maybe I've waited too long to leave. And I see guys playing deep in the playoffs. And I think I'm like, okay, maybe if I switch teams and go somewhere else

and have a better opportunity, I can play deep in the playoffs. I can go try and chase another championship because that's what I really want. I'm scared that maybe if I don't make that decision, that when I'm going to be 37, 38 years old, hopefully when I'm retiring, I'm going to say, why didn't you take that risk? And so he kind of like laid it out there as the,

you know, as nice a way as you can. Nobody thinks that's wrong. Nobody thinks that's goofy. Nobody thinks that he's doing Milwaukee dirty. Like he pulled this off where he was finally able to get out. Nobody's ever going to hate you, bro. But I can't help but think about this. And somebody actually tweeted me about a story I told years ago

where Jerry West was always like this, you know, he'd be these consultant for these teams, you know, with different teams, the Warriors. He consulted with them, the Clippers. And all these guys say the same thing when you talk to them. about Jerry West, he would basically get these guys every time. And he would sit them down. And I mean, he's the logo, right?

And he, I'm paraphrasing, but this was basically the message. Don't be me. Don't be me. I stuck it out. And I ended up going one in eight in the NBA finals. and I go to bed every single night thinking about if it would have been different. I wake up every single day

thinking about if it would have been different. It tortures me, and it will torture me until the day I die, that I wonder if it would have been different, but I stuck it out, and then I, now I've lived the rest of my life wondering what would have happened. Don't be me.

Don't be the guy. that wonders what would have happened. Take the leap, go and do it. And it's like, I mean, and of course, every, and every time the guy ends up going to the Warriors, the Clippers, the Lakers, wherever, right? And it's

like, Jesus, man, like the guy who's the logo on the basketball sitting there telling me, you know, don't be me. Like, I'm the logo. I, but I went eight and one in the finals, and there's not a day that goes by

that I don't wonder how my life would have been different if I would have been brave enough to take the leap. Don't have the regrets I do. Because I'm going to go to my deathbed with those regrets. You don't have to. Well, don't you feel that Janus and the Bucks, don't you feel like Janus and the Bucks do have regrets over the timeline? Probably.

A state a year or two. Once they wave and stretch dame, it's like, what are we doing? I mean, to go get Miles Turner to try to, I got it. It's like, what are we doing now, guys? Kyle Coosma, Miles Turner, Ryan Rollins. There's certainly a lot. There's probably a lot of things that would have been done differently.

Yeah. And the last year, he's like, I want to play. And they're like, you're not going to play. He's like, well, I want to play. Why can't I play? It was like, it was weird. Right. And now, look, he's going to go be playing in Miami.

I don't think anybody from Milwaukee is going to have any hard feelings towards him. No. He delivered him a title. You know what I mean? Delivered him a title. I remember one time I met this family from Milwaukee. This is years ago now. And I met this family from Milwaukee.

And I was just talking to them about sports. I was like, and the brewers were really good at the time, whatever. And the Packers were really good. It had Aaron Rogers. And I was like, so you remember when I would ask you like, and now it's without question? Remember when I'd ask you like, Jaylorne Brunson and Aaron Judge walk into a restaurant who gets the table? and you're like, I mean, now it's not even close. It's like, it's not even close, right?

But I remember asking them at the time. And I was like, so who is the biggest athlete in Milwaukee? And they were like, it's not even close. It's the nascent. It's, it's. But I was like, I was like, Janus, bigger than Aaron Rogers, they're like, absolutely. Like, Janus is the most beloved.

Like, I mean, they loved his ass. That's why he's hard for him. I think that's why he, yes, I think that's why. I think it's why it was so heartbreaking. They loved that. And also don't forget when he was drafted, I was at Grantland, and he was like skinny. He was a total project.

He like grew like four inches in his rookie year. He's like, and now he's got a family and kids. And like that all happened in Milwaukee for him. Yeah. Um, one other thing before we get into some of the transactions of the day, um,

that I do want to mention is there was a viral clip that went out after we recorded the show last week. And at the end of the viral clip, I said, whoever signs Walker Kessler to over $30 million a year is stupider than, or crazier than hell. And of course, our social team made a clip of it

and then put Rob Polenka's face at the end because we at that point did not know the results of this. It was headed that way. It was headed that. Number one, super funny social clip. Number two, I stand by what I said completely. That's an asinine contract that they will regret massively.

I read that it is the biggest contract ever given to a non-all-star big. Okay. It's not just that, Berno, is that they gave away their draft capital to sign that contract. They didn't just sign it. They gave away all future flexibility to bringing Walker Kessler and say, oh, well, we need a big for Luca. Okay. Is he the right guy for Luca? Right.

Is Walker Kessler the right guy for Luca? I mean, to listen to people on the inside say it, like this is a non-negotiable with Luca, get me a big, get me a good big. So I've got to believe that that was one he fancied to be a pick and roll partner slash screener. He'll be a rebounder of rent protector. And he'll set some screens.

But like, I like the sort of bounciness of Gafford and lively. and also lively's passing ability, which he didn't get to feature because he got hurt. I agree. We'll see. I agree. All right. I need,

this is where the floor is yours. So, as you have mentioned many times on the show, and you are out in Los Angeles, California right now, you help produce Max and Riches Pod. Game over. Did you have... Any idea that the whiteboard would become so iconic?

I'll give you a little origin story of the whiteboard. When we first started the show, they would use the whiteboard to put the rundown on the board, and they'd be like, this is the plan for today. All right, let's do the show. And then they would go on the, that would be the cold open, and then they would do it. It was clunky.

It took a long time. The writing slows everything down. It just sort of like didn't, it didn't really work the way it was supposed to function. It was a really good idea, sort of like before you shoot it. And then when you shoot it, just like the words don't come out fast enough,

it just moves too slow. And, you know, one thing I'm working with Rich during like a LeBron James summer like this is I refuse to just like directly ask him inside information because it just seemed a little rude, a little like, I don't know, just like outside of my thing.

But he offers up a lot of information. You know what I mean? And the day of the whiteboard shoot, he was like, do we have the whiteboard? And we're shooting here at the Sycamore Studios in L.A. And I started texting the people that work here. I was like, do we still have that whiteboard?

They're like, yes. And Rich is smart. He's like, I'm going to pre-write the stuff down so it doesn't like slow everything down. So he put LeBron in the middle and then like all these rosters on the outside and like all these reasons and all these random nouns like oil and golf and stuff. And it was just like it was a super fun show to do. And I had a feeling that it was going to be discussed. Were you surprised that he wrote oil? Yeah, yeah.

There's a lot of surprising things on the whiteboard. but that's sort of like the genius of rich. It's kind of like that like that Christian Bale meme or like that like the Western name. Julia with lips, pretty woman. Julia Roberts. Roberts. Yeah. Julia Roberts.

It was just like it was the random stuff made it fun. You know what I mean? It wasn't like all serious, all business. But I'm not going to violate his privacy by saying this because he said it on a subsequent show. He's like in my office, we have tons of whiteboards and we do this all day for all their players. That's sort of like sort of one of their like brainstorming methods. is to use the whiteboards like this. And it was, I thought it was really well done by both Max and Rich,

and people just ate it up, ate it up. Okay. So you watch the whiteboard come to life. You watch them talk about said whiteboard that includes golf and oil. And then people are like, ooh, Minnesota's on there. And ooh, did you ask them why Memphis was not involved or no? I did not. That didn't come up.

Okay. Because that was an obvious omission to his whiteboard. Yes. No, as you are watching it and you're seeing, you know, and then he's explaining this. And then everybody's like, they're like, ooh, Philly, ooh, Minnesota. Ooh, Denver, Dallas. Yeah, yeah.

Like all of these teams that are all of a sudden now, you know, fan bases that are given hope. We made the white. We made the white. Let me make this point. I think this is where you're going with this is what I learned while I was on the Zoom, I was in New York at that point there in Los Angeles.

While I was watching it is if you take money out of the equation and assume he'll play for whatever's left or like the men or whatever, when you add him at a small number to basically any team that already has a roster, they like 10x themselves up. You know what I mean? Like if you look at the Timberwolves, you're like, man, they could use a power forward. like, well, what about LeBron James?

If you're looking at the nuggets, like, Aaron Gordon has not been reliably. Like, well, guess what? What if we put in LeBron James? Like, he's just like the perfect hot sauce for any roster if you don't have to give him $60 million or whatever. You know what I mean? Like, it really is.

When you add a player of his caliber at under market value, like you were talking about earlier, it really just sort of like solves all of your roster problems. So LeBron James is going to become, like, much like these rookies in someone that wildly outperforms their contract. Like if you're going to do best contracts in the NBA, he's A1 with a bullet.

Maybe Wembeenna. Yes. Wemby. Yeah, probably. But still, top five. Like,

I mean, that's the thing. Oh, yeah. You'll be up there. At 42 years old, it's going to be on the list. Because I'm looking at the Timberwolves.

And I'm like, I don't know. I don't think they can really going to compete for a championship this year with all, you know, there's new pieces and all this stuff. You're like, well, have LeBron James.

I don't know. Gobert, James, McDaniels, Ball, Edwards. You saw the board and listened to them talk about it. Did your opinion of where he will end up change at all? I think you and I were both kind of like Warriors or Cleveland. And let me just lay this out. I thought Warriors, and my case was the Curry thing, the Draymond thing,

but most importantly, that Steve Kerr had the Sombard. had the somber goodbye, and then it was like, oh, actually, wait, let's run it back. And I was like, okay. Like, if Steve Kerr had to know, and Bill has been talking about this for months, months, which made me think there's something out there that has made Bill believe that LeBron's going to end up with the Warriors. And then there's been a bunch of subsequent things that have happened. Draymond not doing the contract yet.

Peyton Watson not doing a contract yet. Payton Brown trade. There's been a lot of movement. Yonnas trade. And then most importantly, Steve Kerr coming back, right? The other thing was Cleveland, and that would just be not my thought on that. And this was not, I believe, on the whiteboard. But, you know, there's already been the story that he's going to document the thing, right?

Didn't he do that last year? that there's going to be a he's going to document the year right and if you were ever bookending a movie right it would all start here

it would all end here right that would be the way to do this his whatever it's going to be farewell to the king or whatever I remember James Harder hasn't signed yet

so we don't know where that number's coming in at right so that's just what I was thinking is like if you're if this is made for TV if that's what you're doing, right? Because the wars would be fine with that. They, like, you know what I mean? Make your movie and do whatever, right? Like, they've dealt with distraction for forever.

Like, that's not a, it's all a bunch of vets. Okay. Wait a second. Farno, let me just meet, let me, so now you're talking my language as a former producer, right? Current producer as well. Counterpoint. At the peak of his powers. After returning to Cleveland.

every year in the finals, he matched up against Steph Curry. Reuniting those two is also a good final chapter to the book or the movie or whatever you're doing. Okay. Yep. And the Team USA thing.

And he's obviously, and he loves to play golf and they have access to every golf course in California. The amount of golf that Rich Paul and LeBron James play, I think it's getting ridiculous. It's ridiculous. Yeah.

Oh, and Steph Curry's big golf guy too. Oh, we talked about this. that they would be booking two times. And Steve Kirk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, Steve Kirk. I mean, I know this from just in Memphis.

They would cancel shooter rounds and just be out at courses. Worry about his back. They just go play. They just go play golf. There's a bunch of guys. Like, they had a bunch of guys on their team that traveled with their clubs. I've got a good behind-the-scenes story about this timeline. Here.

So Shams has information that LeBron James is not returning. to the neighbors. Rich is in London at Wimbledon. We're like, Rich, you got to, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you've got to come on the show. He tapes a 15 minute to hit, explains the whole thing, right? I'm watching on my phone, walking around New York City. They tell me they call afterwards.

We got to do it again. Why don't we have to do it again? Rich has a huge bugger, and the camera's pointing right up his nose. No. Yes. Oh, come on. He's very image conscious. No way.

So we have to start over and do the whole thing again. Oh, it's amazing. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't do it too. I'd make you redo it. Yeah. I mean, why not? It's only 10 minutes.

It's not like an hour show. Yeah, you can't do that. Because you know, that clip is important, too. It's going to get around. You mean, Rich Paul talking about LeBron and then it's just the booger. When Rich said that if the Knicks wouldn't have won the tie. he'd be in New York. Now, look, you could say that no matter what, right?

They won the title, so, but what do you think? Oh, it's heartbreaking. I mean, I would rather have the title. But, man, LeBron in the Garden 41 times, the regular season, in the orange and blue, like. Also, why would it rule it out? That's what I'm saying. I don't know.

I can't explain it. I guess they would have made moves. I think it is, yeah. The Knicks would have made moves. depending. Who knows? Who knows? All right.

A couple other things. DeMarter Rosen gets waived. And DeMarter Rose is still got... DeMarterosa feels like the kind of guy that's going to be... Like, could go get buckets until he's 90 years old, right? Like, it just... I feel the same thing like Jamal Crawford.

You watch him in Seattle. Just like, why is he not on the team? So I actually... I actually think DeMarter Rose it would be a good vet old addition to somebody wherever he ends up. Do you average 18.4 points last year? I know.

He shot basically 50% from the field. You know, he doesn't really shoot three. He still get buckets. Yeah, shot 32% from three. Like, I mean, again, the Kings were not a very serious team last year, but he's good. He's good for you. Rui Ahtamura signed with the Clippers. Rui had a good year last year.

The other thing is, Rui has proven year over a year to be able to perform in the playoffs. Dude. I got to make shots of the playoffs, bro. I'm doing because, you know, I take this show very seriously. I don't even, I had to read this sentence four times. He's the all-time playoff leader in three-point accuracy. That can't be real. That's got to be qualifications on that.

Oh, it's real. Half of them were hit in Memphis. Yeah, he's 81 for 157, 51.6% from downtown in his playoff career. Like, there's no shooter out there who shot 52%. He goes, there's got to be minimum attempts, 100 attempts or something like that. he's also the guy you don't guard. Like I literally covered this series. And I remember.

Memphis basically said, we're going to make LeBron's life hell. We're going to make 80s life hell. And they did a good job on them for the first several games. And then Reeves killed them. But more importantly, Hachamura turned into freaking 96 Jordan. And it was like, that is the game plan. This is the, you know, we saw this during the year.

It's like it's the Julian Champany, right? Where it's like, all right, like, all right, we did a good job on Fox. We did a good job on Wendy. Here, this bastard's going to knock down seven. No, he shot like, he hit like 10 threes in one of the next track of the season games. Champany. Well, look at, what's his name? Shamet.

Oh, yeah. I mean, no better example. What's 13 from 15 or something? 13 for 14 in the Philly series. And then completely disappeared in the finals, but whatever. Yeah. Well, I mean, the book gets out. The book gets out on you.

Yeah, yeah. Right? Like, where it's like, hey, man, just face guard this guy. Like, what we're not going to do is just let him shoot fish in a barrel. But, like, really after more like year over year, that happens to him. And it's like, he's the- He's the kick-out guy. He's the kick-it to him in the corner.

But he'll also, he'll also cut the baseline and get you a little dunk or lob or something. Like, he's a valuable player. He's a valuable NBA basketball player. He really is. Yeah, I thought that was a good reasonable and good time. are morphing. You know what I mean? Because they're, like,

if you were to ask me about the future of the Clippers franchise, like, I don't know, 18 months ago, I'd be like, it's a disaster. You know what I mean? It's like,

it's an absolute disaster. And now it's starting to come into form a little bit. They're still going to suck. Yeah. Quentin Post, three years, $30 million offer sheet

to the Memphis Grizzlies. I can't imagine I don't know. Warriors are going to match this. I don't know why he has always bothered me as a basketball player. The scrunched face. I don't know what it is. It's like something about him.

Quentin perimeter. Something about him just bothers me. He's just like, he's like a sharp shooting big that doesn't play defense. He's like seven foot two. It's weird. He does play defense. He does.

Okay. Someone got an offer sheet from the Grizzlies because, oh, it looks like Chris Vernon is back him up already. Okay. Got it. Can you convince yourself that he is, worth $10 million a year for three years. So here's what I'm going to say here.

My first reaction when I saw it was, oh, God, is Edy not okay? And obviously... Well, Santi Aldama's gone, right? Yeah, but he doesn't play center. I know, but I'm trying to think of like Biggs. No, no, but EDI is your center, and you already got Isaiah Stewart. Right.

And so now here's another, here's a third guy, theoretically, that plays the five, right? there's twofold. Number one, that was my first concern is, and they're going to have to nurse Edy anyway. You're not going to be playing him. He's not a 30-something minute big. And honestly, like most all these big guys get hurt now. Like, if you even go look in like Hartenstein's game log over the last couple of years, it's like, you know, as long as they're healthy by the playoffs, nobody cares. Mitchell Robinson. And look at the way they slow played women, Yama, it was not really, really hurt except for that one stretch in the middle of the regular season.

Like that's what you're going to have to do with Edie. Right. And so that was part of it was, and then the second part of it was, is this just also beyond having like, you know, everybody gathering bigs because, you know, as soon as one of your centers goes down, now your third string center isn't any good. You know, so you're now your backup.

I mean, look, and I've gone to games over the course of the last couple of years where it's been like, you know, Stephen Adams goes down and now it's Xavier Tillman. And then it's Jock Landau has to start because Zach Edie's out, whatever else. And so the other thing more importantly is, wouldn't you just sign him and go, if there's one thing we learn during this offseason, it's a these guys, like it's a real asset. Because if you've got a seven-foot guy, even if it's $10 million, that is, that has value all over the league. We just saw the aforementioned Jack Landell signed for $14 million. Walker Kessler got $150 million.

Time Lord got another deal. Mitchell Robinson. You don't even have to have good knees or have a track record of extensive availability, yes, to get money. And so. Quintipot, Zach Edie isn't exactly going to stretch the floor for you. You know what I mean? No. Quinn Post can shoot.

He can shoot. Well, and the other thing, but it also leads us back to the, Warriors thing, which is you can't really sign this Quentin Post thing when you're sitting here waiting on the LeBron thing because you haven't signed Dremont Green either, and you know they want to make the LeBron thing happen in Golden State. That's been reported everywhere. So this will just be a casualty of it. And maybe Quentin Post will be okay. I don't know. But if nothing else, he's an asset because when the best player of the NBA for the next 15 years is 7 foot 5, there's now become a premium on being tall.

Even if you're not good. Whether you're good or not, it doesn't matter. Are you tall? There's a bunch of summer league stuff that has gone on. I'm just going to, real quick, I'll tell you, I actually dove into this this weekend

and watch California and Utah summer leagues. I'm going out to Vegas later this week. So I'll be there watching the players later this week. but a couple of them. And we're recording this earlier on Monday. So Boozer and Peterson will play tonight. But I watched both of them play over the weekend. They look good.

Oh, my God. All right, number one. Boozer looks like you put a 10-year veteran out on the court. It's like you took a 10-year NBA veteran and just said, hey, go play in the summer league with all these guys running around. Like, it's unbelievable how good he is at seeing the floor passing and like just feels like an adult out on the floor. It's so crazy.

And the first five minutes of that game, this dude dunked, hit a fade away from the elbow, and then stepped into a three, scored it all three levels in like the first three possessions. And I was like, oh, my God, this guy is going to be awesome. Oh, passing too. Processing and passing, it's like, oh, he's unathletical. Guess what? So is Yokin.

So is Larry Bird. It'll be okay. I'll take that guy. And then the Peterson thing, I was like, okay. This guy really just didn't give a crap about college. You couldn't ever figure it out. Like, what the hell went on with it? Bro, he is so talented and looks so smooth doing everything.

It's unbelievable. Like, no one ever questioned his talent. It was all the other weird stuff, you know, throughout Kansas. But my God was the talent on display. You watch him and you're like, how is this guy? Like, who is he not going to be able to score on? This guy, I mean, he looked unbelievable. A-Cuff shot it 100,000 times in the game, had 25 points, but he shot it every time.

Watched him. How many except like 30s? Oh, yeah. Kingston Fleming's was four for 16 in their game. The guy that the Lakers drafted, super interesting. Yeah, because he popped off at the combine, right? So none of the big prospects really, like, play at the combine, like in the games.

Those are like guys trying to get a look and trying to, you know, up their stock. And Camer Carr was like, no, no, I'll play. And he went and he played. And that's a risk because you better show that you're better than everybody. And, I mean, he busted everybody's ass when he played at the combine. And everybody's like, oh, shit, we got a draft him in the top 20. And they did. And he looked awesome immediately out the gate for the Lakers.

So they may have found one. I don't know. Again, it's Summer League. Does the prospector watch Summer League? Is he there? He's in the mountains of Utah, mining for gold? No, he is in Utah. He is in Utah.

Does he live there, though? Isn't that? Yes. Yes. In the morning, he prospects. Okay. And then at night, he switches to basketball. I understand.

Yes. And then who else did I watch? What is it? Oh, you know what? I was watching that A-Cuff game. I thought Deadman looked pretty damn good for Brooklyn. I know everything about them is so annoying, and I know your got from sports campus.

Yeah, Igor. Yeager Jormon. Yeah. Yeah, I kind of liked him. I kind of liked him last year, too. I can't lie. I got elected last year too. Like the whole thing was he can't shoot,

but he shot it pretty good. He shot it pretty good. It was one game. But I will say, like, look, Summer League is for overreactions, and I will have a million of them after I spend this next week in Vegas, watch these guys.

But my first impression of both Boozer and Peterson was like, oh, God, this is exactly what everybody said. Like, it wasn't like, oh, I don't know. Like, they both look like they're ready to be. I think DeBanson and Wilson are going to be the same thing. I think so, too. I think these guys are going to be awesome this year.

And you know what, Bruno? That's how it felt. I rarely compliment you. But I thought over the past two seasons, you've done a really good job just pointing out how NBA ready these prospects are now in comparison to just like five years ago. It's crazy. They're so good.

And they're so, they're also so polished. like they're you know they've grown up on cameras you know I guess it shouldn't be surprising you know you're like they're not playing the blacktop in Brooklyn you're not they're playing in gyms they're traveling and well but also that's every kid I am always just

so impressed at like I when I started covering the NBA there was always guys that as soon as those TV lights would come on or whatever I mean they just clam up you know they get real shy or whatever yeah kids the yeah, these guys just like our kids, they grow up on camera.

Literally grew up on camera. So like, it's nothing to them. They just, and they are, I mean, they're so good talking and they're so good at protecting their brands. I know sometimes that can be, but they are, they certainly come off way more, way more ready to compete at the highest level than they used to be able to.

And I think the basketball, sophistication is equally much better than previously was, not just like life sophistication and maturity. Yeah, I think my immediate reaction from watching both of those players was, because I watch them every year, right? Like I watched Ace Faley last year and I watched, you know, a bunch of the players. But like the same way that we just watched Dylan Harper is like, oh my God, he's already awesome.

I think these two are going to be, you're going to watch them this year be like, oh my God, they're already awesome. Like, they're already awesome. I felt the same way about Edgecombe in those first two games in the, in the Southwix series. Like, don't forget. It's so forgettable now because, like, the Knicks championship and they moved on and they got swept by the Knicks. But, like, Edgecombe, and I don't think it was game one and game three was really,

really good in that Celtic series. Really good. Some guys, some guys, it's still, you know, some guy, and it makes it hard on the other rookies, right? Like the developmental ones, right? When I was watching that Utah game, what's his name looked pretty good? Jalen Williams' little brother.

And it's like, bro, I'm giving up on your head. Everybody gave up on him. And it's like, he's still way young. And he's still like, you know, he might become, I mean, nobody was looking at Peyton Watson three years ago and thinking he's going to get $25 million. No. Then it happened.

So, like, you know, everybody's development is different. But some of these guys just, they develop so early. They both. There was so much Chalynne Brown discussion that, like, he was a number three pick, but his rookie year was not the most impressive thing in the world. Like, he developed over time. Of course. Most everybody does.

Yes. No. Look, we just watched a guy carry somebody to a championship that five years into his career, much like Steph Curry, five years into his career, you would have never fathomed them being the best player on a title team. and then you look up 10 years and they are. Yeah. It happens.

USA game. USA game. I'm going to be cheering on the USA tonight. I'm going to be out at Summer League this week and the prospector is actually going to beat me in Vegas. In Vegas? I don't know about that. He seems like a Utah, Colorado, outdoorsy. No.

Like, like, build a fire, put some meat over that thing, some venison, buffalo. The prospector is meeting me out of Vegas and we'll be joining us and then we'll be joining us. Do you know I played golf with a guy about three weeks ago the one guy starts yelling at the other. I said I was going to Vegas

and they were like, Dave, do you remember when you got kicked out of the top of pool? There's a lot of topas pools now. I will say this about the top of pool. No. And I said this.

I said, why did you get kicked out? They said he wouldn't put his phone away. Dave. I was like, Dave. You got to put your phone away, Dave. Unbelievable. I will say this.

Much like fireworks on July 4th, the Topless Pool has strong diminishing returns. Your first 10 minutes at the Topless Pool, you just can't believe it. You're like, this shouldn't be legal. This is going to be crazy. This is the greatest day. After about an hour and a half,

you're like, okay, more nipples. You know what I mean? Like, all right. I've never been to one. Well, you're going to Vegas later this week. Go to the Aria. Yeah. All right.

All right. Maybe I'll stop. Maybe I'll stop. Maybe I'll stop. Maybe I'll stop by. Oh, he'll love that. All right. He can give you a review on those two.

That'll be fun. All right. Thank you to Jeff and Jesse as always. Thanks to Steph as always. And Jacoby, I'll talk to you soon. Thank you.