The Ringer NBA Show - LeBron to the Lakers, Paul George Stays with the Thunder, and More Free-Agency News | Heat Check (Ep. 296)

Episode Date: July 2, 2018

The Ringer’s John Gonzalez and Chris Ryan react to LeBron James signing with the Los Angeles Lakers for four years (1:44). Then, HBO and The Ringer’s Bill Simmons calls in to offer his thoughts on the LeBron signing and its ripple effect (26:56). Finally, Justin Verrier comes on to round up all the other free-agency news (48:59). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a heat check. You knew that was coming. It's heat check time. Welcome to the heat check podcast. I'm your host, John Gonzalez, joined once more. After a couple of weeks off, with the other work concerns,

he is back in the fold. Isaac Lee is here. It's good to be back, Gons. Yes, we have many, many things to discuss. We're doing an emergency podcast here from L.A. After just learning,

the LeBron James has signed a four-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers that's very exciting for the Lakers and less exciting for teams, not named the Lakers. Lakers that were hopeful to get LeBron. So we're going to get into a lot of that.

But first, content on the Ringer, KOC has a piece on LeBron signing with the Lakers. You're going to want to read that. We also have a running blog from all the free agency madness over the weekend. That's courtesy of Haley O'Shaughnessy and Justin Varyer and Palo and the whole team. So you're going to want to go and check that out on the ringer.com. I also wrote a piece about Paul George reupping with the Thunder on a three-year deal with a player option in year four. And of course we've got NBA desktop with Jason Concepcion and Bill Simmons. His podcast will be up.

You're going to want to listen to that. And Bill's going to join us later in the program to talk about all of the LeBron ripple effects, how it affects teams in the East, what he wants to see happen. And then after that, Justin Varyer will join the program to talk about everything that isn't LeBron James related. But first, of course, the big news, LeBron James. And for that, we need a big guest. Booshakalaka. He's heating up.

All right, joining me on the other line for an emergency edition of the Heat Check podcast from sources say, from The Watch, from Ringer FC. It's Chris Ryan from his house on what I believe is the last landline in all of Los Angeles. Chris Ryan, when we called you, did it go directly back to 2002? It's the LeBron Bat phone. I've added all these years just for this occasion. Thank God you still have it. You really saved me. Chris, I was getting ready to do the podcast

at a very leisurely podcast set up where we're going to discuss Paul George and Nause and parties and all this nonsense. Blown up, LeBron James signs a new deal. He's going to go to the Los Angeles Lakers as we all anticipated four years, $154 million with an opt-out clause

after three years. We were expecting this, I suppose, but there were some rumblings earlier today that his people, at least were going to take some meetings with the Sixers. obviously that was for nothing. It was what all, it was, this is what it was always going to be.

Yeah, so you say we expected this. I was a little bit surprised by the length of the contract, and I know that three years, it's for three years here, but LeBron has maintained maximum flexibility ever since you left Miami. And I think I was a little bit thrown off by the fact that this is exactly what people had sort of imagined for him,

but then as the season sort of played itself out, I think we all thought, okay, LeBron's going to keep possibility, never going to get nailed down. to one place. But maybe he saw what happened with Cleveland, which is that if you keep doing that, it makes it impossible to plan for the future. This, man, he wrote it. He has come into Los Angeles. This is going to be where he plays. He could be great until he's in his 40s. I'd love to see how he does that because I need the information. But I think that's what's jumping out of me

is to commit it. He has two homes in Brentwood. We saw this coming. I think you're right that the length of the deal maybe was somewhat surprising. But for all of us who were, hoping like, hey, you know, maybe Houston will be in the mix or maybe the Sixers will be in the mixer. Who knows? Like, maybe he'll decide that he's going to stay in Cleveland. Like, this is something that has been talked about in the NBA since, you know, before last finals last year, not this past one, but a year ago. And everybody was whispering about it and talking about it. I guess what, like, the part that made me think maybe not is because Paul George decided to stay in OKC. We're still not sure what's happening with Kauai. I thought, like,

maybe that might give him a little bit of pause, but evidently not. I guess he thinks I'm either going to figure out a way to get quiet of the Lakers. And as we're talking right now, late on a Sunday night, Woj reported that as trade talks have unfolded, Kauai Leonard's focus has changed.

He now wants to be a Laker because he saw LeBron James sign with L.A. But I thought like maybe LeBron would go, okay, well, I'm not sure that the pieces are in place yet, so perhaps I'll have to think about it, but clearly not. Well, and this is the thing. So you're talking about pieces in place.

We also have to think about the pieces that aren't on the board because... Right. ...instration's happening behind the scenes for B, right? But you have to wonder about what is the three-point plan for success here. Is it really just LeBron and the kids? Because that would go counter to what LeBron is typically done in his career. He's usually surrounded himself with veterans and at least one sidekick that can call himself an all-star. What it might be Paul George was curious about.

We knew that LeBron was probably going to go to Los Angeles. We don't need it. Yeah, I'm looking at their roster right now. Obviously, they've got to figure out what they're doing with Julius Randall, who's on the market now. In a deal, though, that you were got... Let's just say that, you know, they are obviously interested in Kauai Lennar because if you pair LeBron and Kauai, automatically you have an amazing defense, and now you're off and running, but how do you get Kauai, right?

And I think, like, in any deal without Brandon Ingram in that deal, if I'm the Spurs, I'm hanging up on them. I mean, it would have to at least start there. And then beyond that, what do you do about Lonzo? Like, because part of me thinks, you know, Lonzo, his defense came along. He's not a guy who is like super hold onto the ball. He's sort of hot potato with the ball as a passer. So that's a positive thing.

He keeps the ball moving. His shooting is suspect, though. So I wonder if he has to be moved out as well. Well, the fact that LeBron into this league, I wouldn't be supposed. surprised if LeBron, if he's making, if he's making this commitment to the Lakers, it wouldn't shock me if he was like Lonzo can stay, and we can figure

all this out. Can LeVar stay in that scenario? Well, that's the thing. I don't know if you can predict it. I don't know if you can turn down the volume on it. And it depends on, if I'm LeBron, I'm just like, the same thing for Luke Walton. I'm just like, you can't control LeVar

take care of themselves. He has to his family. It's hardly, I just don't think that LeBron arriving Is it an automatic? Brandon Ingram on the other hand, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. And I think that that's, there's so much we don't know right now

because I don't think that this is LeBron James going. Well, I couldn't get PG and I may or may not be able to get Kauai. So I'm just going to go and this is going to be a lifestyle choice for me. I want to be in L.A. because I've got these other outside basketball business concerns with uninterrupted and, you know, entertainment. And, you know, there's all these rumors about Space Jam 2 and all this stuff. I don't think it's that.

I think he still sees, especially if he's going to go to the West, I think he still thinks, okay, these are the end of my prime years. I'm going to take one more run at it. And he's always thinking ahead. I mean, when he went to Cleveland, there were a lot of, we went back to Cleveland, rather, there were still shoes to drop, right? I mean, they had to trade Wiggins, and they ended up picking up love and, you know, putting this team together on the fly.

And I'd be shocked if he hadn't thought this through and had contingency plans, where several, actually, for Paul George going, yeah, I'm good. And even if they couldn't get Kauai, I'm sure he's got contingency plans. There must be something in place here in his head where he goes, yeah, this team's probably not good enough as is even with me. So this is what we need to do to maneuver. So that was one of the interesting things I was thinking about. I was revisiting the incredibly anti-climactic way this was announced with an unvouncement, and then everybody reports the details immediately. And you remember back with that Lee Jenkins piece, part of somewhat to write

and they won one, but I don't know necessarily that he ever created to make. Like, I know he came here and fostered the next generation of team building LeBron, what we're going to get, though. I would like, if that's the scenario, then I'd love for them to figure out a way to keep Brandon Ingram. I mean, maybe the way they keep Brandon Ingram is that they don't come to some sort of accord with the Spurs in order to get Kauai. Because, again, I can't, I can't imagine a world where they somehow pry Kauai away from the

spurs without also including Brandon Ingram. in the deal. But I would love to see what Brandon Ingram looks like with LeBron because last year, especially when Lonzo was out, he looked great. I mean, like he was running a lot of point in that scenario and he had a ton of agency and Luke Walton was empowering him. And all of a sudden, like we were starting to see Brandon Ingram's game progress. And I think like obviously with LeBron on your team, that's going to help you. I mean, that's like it's going to be fantastic to play alongside a guy like that, to see his work ethic, to see how he prepares. And then also he's going to take a lot of heat off you on the court.

I would love to see what he looks like next to LeBron. Rob and Magic and LeBron B. Because right now, you can go into... And now... Well, the next season, Kauai is a free agent. And next season, Kevin Durant is... You never know what can happen to see about over the next few weeks is...

This is very interesting. I mean, it has some, like, James Dolanee Knicks with Carmelo Weths where... Of course. They, you know, like, they could have just waited, and instead they got panicking. and decided, no. Now, the flip side is, and I think, like, everything you just said makes a lot of sense. It's very intriguing, right? Where the Lakers go, okay, we're the Lakers. Like, we're going to, we just got LeBron.

It's going to be a destination. We don't need to offload some of these young guys. What we're going to do is wait. And next year, we're guaranteed to get one of those big name free agents that you just rattled off to come and play with LeBron because not only is it LeBron, but now it's LeBron in L.A. with the Lakers. This is easy. This is a layup for us. And we don't have to, we don't have to give up anything massive. either. And I'm looking at their pick a lot in right now. They don't have any extra picks coming in except for a 2019 second round pick from Chicago, and they've got a 2019 going out to Sacramento. So

they're basically even on that front. So if they were going to go and get a Kauai now, they'd have to forfeit something and handicap themselves for the future. And we know that in previous, with previous LeBron teams, he's been fine with that. But if they do just wait, now of a sudden that could really be something.

I mean... Yeah, they get into the Anthony Davis sweet. They could get into the Kyrie Irving's sweet stakes. Dude, I mean, maybe setting your sights on Kauai right now, I don't know, maybe that's exactly what the Spurs want them to do. I have no idea. I have no information about that. But when you think about it, it's like the Spurs just saying, you know, letting it out a little pretty surprising that this is the new normal, all the agency. So you can get these guys. And who actually do you need or want? Yeah, and how patient can you be is a big thing. But then, so let me play devil's advocate, though. So the flip side is

You know, a year ago, the Lakers were saying this about Paul George, right? Where they were like, well, just wait. You know, Sam Presti went and traded Sabonis and Ola Depot and picked up Paul George, and everybody figured it was going to be a one-year rental. And Paul George came through L.A. And talked about the fans chanting for him and how much he loved it. And he's from the area. And everybody just thought it was a foregone conclusion that this was going to be a team up with LeBron.

And all of a sudden he decides, nah, I'm going to go to that house party in Oklahoma City with Naz. And he stays there. so like if they really want kawai isn't it possible that all of a sudden kawai gets traded somewhere else and decides nope i'm not coming i mean yes there are a bunch of other names that you rattled off but that would be the one i think that would be the biggest boom kawai yeah yeah i mean i think kai automatically makes them the debt is in the ingredient trade so there's uh our friend k oc before the whole uh news broke about lebron put together the lakers are running out a little bit of uh options and floated the idea of of potentially signing Boogie coming off in Achilles to say a two-year max.

Boogie, obviously, previously LeBron had said, is the best big man in the game now. Circumstances have changed. Big men coming off of injuries, not good generally. Would you take them? And I also, they just re-signed KCP. So I don't really know if they have enough money to even entice Boogie. Because Boogie's probably looking at someone trying to give him. Yeah, I think that's probably good.

They don't want to be overcommitted if they're dealing with a guy who's never going to be the same after the Achilles injury. But I don't know if the Lakers actually have enough money to get boogie now. Yeah, that's, I mean, it'll be really interesting to see how they figure out a way. Like, if they decide not to offload some of these young guys and go pick up Kauai now, what they do to put some, like, pat out the team around LeBron for this year while they're waiting potentially for next year. But it's still a critical offseys. I mean, like, they landed obviously, clearly, the biggest name and free agency. They're the Lakers. They're back.

This is amazing for them. But they're not all the way there yet, right? They still have a lot of other moves to go. But it's the biggest win for them. And it's fantastic. I wonder, though, Chris, like, what do you think, like, legacy-wise for LeBron, like, joining the Lakers? What does that set him up for in terms of, like, how we think about him? Are we, like, is this, because this is the final main.

push for him. Are we going to, in the end, start thinking about him as a Laker? Does it depend on whether he wins a championship? Like, the Lakers have such a big marquee. I wonder if now all of a sudden everything else is blotted out. For as much as we think of Michael Jordan as the iconic player, and you still think about him with Phil Jackson and Scotty Pippin and everybody else, you're going to look at LeBron's team NBA. Our entities, you know, living in different parts, we drafted this guy and we just made a tenure. And in a matter of Los Angeles is like a third

three seed to get beaten in the conference semis next season. I don't think it's gonna I don't think we'll ever worry about whether LeBron was a Laker, a Cav, or a Heat player. What do you think the... And if he wins titles with all three,

that might be in and of itself. It's insane. Great accomplishments in pro sports. Yeah, that's totally true. What do you think the... Because there was this, there was this like sort of obstinate Laker fan

strain. And there were some of it in Philly too while people were like, you know, we don't want LeBron. It's a homegrown thing. And let's just keep going with the process and building with, you know, our own guys. There were some Laker fans who didn't want LeBron because, you know, it's always been Kobe's team. Before that,

it was Magic's team. And, you know, those guys were like traditional Lakers. What do you think they're thinking, like, the Kobe stands right now? How do you think they feel about this? That would be pretty interesting. I don't think that Kobe, like, you guys are never going to be as good as The Lakers have a long player before and after, well, it may not after Kobe.

I don't think it's going to be that big of an issue. I think L.A. is a star town, and they're really hungry for that team to matter. It's going to. I mean, it's going to be an absolute say. It's always a circus because it's the Lakers and people always show out and turn up for those games. I'm kind of into it this year because this feels like this is taking me back to, like, when ESPN launched the Heat Index, and the entire basketball world like turn to look at one place. When he went back to Cleveland, it felt like, this feels right, this is heartwarming, it's Kyrie, they'll probably be pretty good.

And they had the drama, and it was David, but it didn't have, this is new. You know, this feels like unsharty time to be writing and thinking about basketball and talking about basketball because it gives us something new to talk about. We were a little bit frustrated with that. You know, we kind of put all of our eggs in the Houston Rocket Basket, and it's cool to talk about the unicorns, and it's cool to talk about, like, whether or not Devin Booker and DeAndre Aiden will get to, 35 wins next year, but it's more interesting to talk about LeBron James on the friggin' Lakers. And as an addendum to that, we definitely are not headed for Warriors, Cavaliers 5. So congratulations to everybody who likes basketball.

We're finally out from under that. So obviously the Lakers are the big winners here because they sign LeBron. Who's the loser? Who's the big loser because they didn't get LeBron? Immediately in the like the 10 seats, right? Depending on what they wind up keeping, who knows. but, you know, they could just strip, but try to strip everything for parts.

I'd be curious to see whether or not Kevin Love becomes a trade piece now. Yeah. I mean, I don't think that they don't, I don't think they got jerked at all, but I think just in the long tail of the last couple of months of this franchise and star hunting and trading a bit of money

and to get the entire in this. And the Kauai chapter is not closed yet, but really not getting LeBron, even if it was a really long shot, is you still, I think of who else would be a loser here because the Lakers, because the NBA is a winner here

because the Lakers are relevant and that's just going to make more people interested in the league. I think it has to be considered a little bit of a loser. Yeah, yeah. They seem now they're kind of like we're going to go again with the guys we had last year

and hope Chris Paul stays healthy through the playoffs. And minus one because they lost a reason. And I know that he's older now and I'm sure that Morrie's got a bunch of guys that, you know, he thinks he can plug in there and be fine. but down in a reason for his defense and also three-point shooting on a team

that jacks a ton of threes like that sucks for them. That's like one fewer god that they can go and battle the warriors with. But I agree with you that I think obviously Cleveland that's the end of their run. It was fun.

You got the championship, the 52-year drought ended, good for Cleveland. The Sixers, on the one hand I go, okay, well, you know,

like they wanted to put themselves in position to take meetings with the LeBron. They took a meeting with his reps. But they do still have Simmons and Embed, so they are still in good shape. However, like, you see the power dynamics shifts so rapidly, and they didn't get Paul George and they didn't get LeBron. And now it's, like, do they go and overpay for Kauai?

Do they have to go and overpay for Kauai? Yeah. I don't know. He did that the Lakers had felt a sense of urgency this week to find a co-star for LeBron, either PG or Kauai. However, when Magic spoke to James late Saturday, he assured the maybe he's comfortable. That would be good by me because then maybe that gets Kauai to the Sixers. I would really like to see Quai of the Sixers, although then there's the caveat of,

what kind of assurances are you going to get, if any, by going and trading for him, or do you have to do sort of a Sam Presti tribe called Quest, scared money, don't make none gamble, where you're going to picking him up and just hoping for the best.

And in order to do that, you're probably going to have to get rid of some combination of Fultz and Sarge and Covington and that 2021 unprotected, and even then I'm not sure if it gets done. Yeah, outside of what the lake, do, I'm always curious to see what the next move is. He actually did for frigging Carmelo Anthony,

because he thought that that would give him a shot in the Western Conference playoffs to go along with Paul George, and it was a bad move. So I think that you see, you're going to see around the league, a bunch of competitive people being like, I'm not going to get owned by Rob Polinka. I'm going to go after it. You know what I mean? And whatever that means, whether that means putting Godfather offers on the table

stakes now, or doing whatever it is. I mean, for a Boston, you can say, hey, we like our guys, are we coming back. We'll see you in the finals, maybe. They're obviously the odds-on favorite to go to the finals from the east. What's I going to do? What's the old thing they're going to do? What's Brett Brown and the Frankenstein Sixers front office going to do? What's Pat Riley going to do? Are they all just going to sit out and wait until Kevin Durant up next year? Or is there something else brewing that we don't even know about?

It's going to be fascinating to watch. It's both exciting and a little bit of a bummer because it's exciting because, as you said, LeBron to the Lakers, the Lakers are relevant again. it's great for the league, it's great for all of us who love basketball, it's going to be fascinated to see what happens in terms of their team building. Do they wait? Do they try to go aggressively after somebody to pair with LeBron right now? And then one of the ripple effects there, but a little bitter because it would have been nice. Philadelphia would have been nice.

There was a very obviously small percentage chance, but I was holding out hope. But you're, you know, you're the LeBron of the ringer, so we have you at least. I am entering my Twilight, that's for sure. You're jumping off of cliffs in Anguilla. It's fantastic. Chris Ryan, on your landline. Thank you for doing this. You'll be on, what, group chat this week, Ringer FC, all that stuff.

Yeah, then we'll see you guys in the desert. Fantastic. Thanks, Chris. All right, that's Chris Ryan. Be sure to check him out later on in the week on a bunch of other podcasts. But now to bring in the boss man, Bill Simmons. All right, joining me on the other line. Got a text message from him immediately saying that he needed to chat about everything

that had happened. LeBron James, so we bring him in. He runs to the joint. It's Bill Simmons. It's just us down. He's gone. It's it. Everybody else is gone. And then there was two. How do you feel about this? So it was

the year to get out. He got through one last time, beat the Celtin, Boston and seven. It would not have happened next year with the team he had. assumed by one of the two teams, but I really wanted to beat him one time on the cab. Yeah. Against the calves, and then he just kind of took off. It cheated.

but he's done this stuff for a year. So I can't say I was shocked. You and KOC were talking about it at, not this past finals, but a year ago, the finals. Yeah. And never been there was last year. I've been talking about it for a year. You know, there were solo on my podcast in purple.

When they threw the life wrap for $18 for $1 for a year, the clutch client. It was like seven of those. And at some point, you know, he met with Philly. That felt like a window dressing meeting to save this and goes, what am I doing? Maybe I'll just go to the best team. It just change his mind last minute. But it was apparent that he was locked in from the get-go because

he just committed without anybody else going to him. So obviously this is something that they've wanted to do for a while. Yeah, there's a lot of other things that could happen. You know, maybe they go and move some of the young guys out and bring in a Kauai or somebody else, or maybe they do wait, and LeBron is cool with that. I'm sure he's already thought about it. But this is something that I was just thinking about.

Are you ready? because I'm not sure that I am. Are you ready for a finals without LeBron in it? I get Kauai. If they can figure out how to get him, if they can spin Lanzo into another asset or a fly. It's not inconceivable that they could make it next day. I get a couple of biop guys.

My head space is just trying to wrap my head around, now that it's actually happening in LeBron, as a way, how the fans are going to come in. They've had guys come at the tail end of their prime. Like, what does he belong? Yeah. In my 2007-2008 season. Now, those guys had won it in 9, 2010,

after we had a chance to root for that for a couple years, you know? The first year was like, we'd put together some fantasy team. It was the Royal Team. They're wearing the uniforms, but we hadn't built up any real. That thing, it's just a different experience to have. And I'm not watching these guys kind of either grow up or... I wonder how much that actually matters to, like, to, you know, and I'm doing like air quotes here, Lakers fans, because, you know,

they tend to be, like, there's a Lakers fan group. but then there's, you know, across the country, people who identify as Lakers fans, even though, like, they don't really have some sort of, like, geographical attachment to it or some familial attachment to it. They just sort of, like, pick the Lakers because the Lakers, like, with you,

and the Celtics in Boston, it's a bunch of fucking maniacs in Boston who love all their Boston teams, and similarly with Philly. So I just, like, I wonder if they just don't go, eh, this is great. It's LeBron. Of course we got him. It's fucking L.A., and it's the Lakers,

and we deserve this. I think that's how it's going to play out. I don't know how many, you know, we, it's already too high, heading into this year, had, you know, the player performance he had, I thought was probably, you know, could be two years, I think the second, five straight years of just being nothing to having this guy. I'm interested in the COVID's been very diplomatic so far, but, you know, that's going to be a fun storyline, too. The thing is, there's so many fun storylines with this.

It's fun to have them in the West. It's fun to have them in L.A. It's going to be fun to see what kind of team they build, what kind of more tampering he's been capable of. I think he's already broken from tampering checkpoints already. But, you know, the Paul George thing, I'd rather, and I think if you have LeBron and Kauai,

it's pretty easy to figure out the rest of the team after that. You're always going to have people that are going to want to play there. I agree with that. Like, I think when I said to you, are you ready to have a finals without LeBron? That was, you know, if they don't get Kauai, right? If it's just this team, I don't think LeBron plus the team that's already in place with, you know,

whatever like spare parts they might be able to cobble together is enough to get past the warriors. Now, if they go out and get Kauai, all bets are off. That's an amazing team. And now you've got a conversation that should be had. But you did text me on my way in as I was, you know, hurling down the 10 to get to work to do this emergency podcast. You texted me and said, this means the Sixers have to overpay for Kauai. And I kind of laughed because I'm like, I don't know. I mean, like, I think whatever they were going to throw at it, they were going to throw out it anyway. Why do you think they need to overpay now? Yeah, they needed the reps.

They didn't have them yet. But if MB, they can get, and then you add Kauai to all the other pieces they have. I still am a full believer. I think they're going to get something out of him next year. And then you have the East Wide Oak. You know, you can kind of snag him away from the Lakers. I think the Lakers bronze in their team,

so I don't really know what that's worth. Not like he really finished the second half for the year that that strongly. And then Lanzo is just the most polarizing trade by you got in the league. I've heard so many varying varying things with him. A perfect team for him. You know, if they, if they come free agents, ink up already

and they have all this caps, sixers, I'm a big believer, and when you have two of the best 15, 15, 17, 17 guys in the league, no matter what their ages are, you quite. You don't agree with me on this? No, no, no.

I think, like, the idea of what, I'm 1,000% behind what Brett was saying about, like, they need more, right? Because I look at the Celtics and I go, they just don't have, the Sixers don't have enough to get past the Celtics, especially when you guys are going to add

Kyrie and Gordon to your team for nothing. I mean, like, they're already behind, and then on top of that, you're adding to All-Stars. So, yes, they do absolutely need more. And I think you're right about Brandon Ingram, if the Lakers wanted to throw Brandon Ingram at the equation and trying to pry Kauai away from the Spurs,

is better than any single player that the Sixers could offer. However, you're right that the Sixers have a lot more assets and put together a better package. I wonder how much it would take. Like, in the, when you're saying overpaying, are we talking like,

an overpay to me would probably be Fultz plus Dario plus Robert Covington plus the Sixers zone pick plus the 2121 unprotected. Like maybe you could get by with like one of those picks

or take one of those players out of the equation, but if you have to, if you're going to call it overpay all of that, that's a lot. You'd have to have some assurances. Would you do it without any assurances?

the question is do you be an important guy and a contender next year? They know way better than we do, right? I think I saw, I think I saw this morning that he wasn't going to be at Summer League. He's not playing in summer league. I think that's insane. I honestly,

I think that's insane. I think that's a terrible idea about the summer league. He should absolutely be there and he should be getting reps and getting his confidence up. You know, he should be the centerpiece of a trade

if they're going to get Kauai, if they don't feel like even comfortable enough study of the Summer League, then maybe they know something we don't. But my feeling is Covington has to be in the Miami pick and then maybe Philly's pick in 2021, do you even five after? And is that enough?

Or does San Antonio say, what happens if they say, we also want folks? Then that probably tips it too much. Your team that, you know, I actually think Guanzhou, they could spin into the third team, An unprotected picks.

The picks from the Lakers actually might be a great pick. Pretty much a short thing to be competitive the next five years. Even if a breed has some injury stuff, they still have Simmons. And he's still going to be one of the best 10 to 15 guys in the league. So, you know, I would rather have the Lakers picks. But yeah, I think there's some urgency. It's too bad you don't have a GM, God, though. It would be really nice to have a GM.

I think it would probably help them. Like, part of me I'm torn. I, I, 1,000% think they need more. I would love to see Kauai as the more, but then I ask myself at what cost, and, like, do you have to pull a Sam Presti situation where you're just going to bet on yourself and your organization, and you're going to gamble on acquiring the player without any assurances? Or are you going to get some assurance?

So that's a key thing. Yeah, yeah. That's the, if they feel like there's not a guarantee he's going to stay, then I would scrap it. Because I thought that's somewhere about the Celtics. Like, the Celtics and sticks have a future and they have more assets and picks coming, I wouldn't jeopardize that with somebody who might not stay. And I really think the Paul George thing was total fluke. And rightly so, to try to convince Westbrook to re-sign an extension, right, or to sign an extension last summer. Yeah.

Paul George traded anywhere. And after a year in OKC, he might want to stay. I still don't think that makes it the model. I think that's a pretty spooky situation. think the next time that whole secrets of events happens, the guy just leaves and you're just looking at, oh, my God, what just happened. We have with five assets for a year of Kauai. And, you know, if you're desperate, like OKC was last year, that makes sense. Philly in Boston don't have to be desperate. And LeBron just left the coffee to be somewhat measured with it. I would not put

a partner piece of it with, you know, maybe two. Don't you agree? Like, at that point, it's just too risky. Well, like I said, I think they definitely need more, but my, yeah, my hesitation is when do you get the more? Because, and Chris brought this up at the top of the show, and we talked to him, where he was like, look, you know, you could just wait and roll that space over. You could bring JJ back on another fat one-year deal and, you know, roll that space over and there's going to be a bunch of really good free agents hit the market again next year. And then you take a shot at it then, because you're right. Like, my one inclination is, yes, you definitely, definitely. need more. On the other hand, you don't have to force it. And your comparison to the Celtics,

I think, is very apt because the Sixers have a lot of assets that they could throw at the Spurs to try to pry Kauai away. But nobody has more than the Celtics. And you don't see them going, yeah, we're just going to unload those four first round potentially picks in 2019 and throw them with the spurs and go, just give us Kauai and we'll figure it out because they don't have to. Right now, it's their Eastern Conference. They are the heavy, heavy favorites to get out of it next year. And for the next few years. So I think, like, you have to balance it between grabbing somebody and just being smart for the future. Dilly to make the trade, though, because the problem with the Celtics with Kauai is that they have these super-sponsor contracts or these tiny contracts. Yeah. And they don't,

something very easily put together anywhere from $16 million to $30 million to take either Kauai by himself back or to take Patty Mills or whatever. Boston can't do that. Like, it's like their options are Gordon Hayward of the King's pick, Kyrie and the King's pick. Like, got to be thinking that way. Or the problem for the Sixers is that Boston has a better team. Right. Years. Like, Boston, they're a favorite,

but definitely if you had to bet your life on one of those two teams. Yeah. If they want to compete for some of these assets and there's something, whether it's... Not a lot. You know, it's like Marygo-Round, and the Mary-Go-Rour round start at Kent Bayesmore. Kent Baylor isn't swinging the Celtics Sixers series.

No, he's not. Neither is Mario. now a new Nick. I mean, who are you going to get now? That was sad. On Twitter, like, you read the LeBron to the Lakers and then it's like the Knicks of San Bernard. It's like, the Knicks at least could look over at the Lakers and

they were kind of their partners in big market and confidence. And now the Lakers have pulled off this broad thing. That always makes me feel better when I look up and I don't, the Sixers didn't get anybody, but at least they're not the Knicks. Who is the beast right now, in your opinion? I mean, you'd have to say that it's still Toronto, right? I mean, Toronto is still, unless they start, like, moving pieces around the board,

they said it, Masai said that everybody's available, and, you know, maybe they decide to detonate their team. But for me, it's probably them. I mean, like, unless somehow the wizards go and figure out a way to sign and trade for boogie, I don't know. I mean, like, I think it's probably still the Raptors. Who do you think? maybe Indiana

maybe the bucks I don't the bucks yeah that's rough wait so when I didn't bring this up but uh

when Marco and Erson both left uh Isaac was like that's a big bummer and I'm like I don't know that's fine exactly I think when the February

about guys it's the one thing it really seems like Milwaukee chose Ily sover over to Barre Parker was my interpretation of that which I was surprised

back. I was just as an Eastern conference from the south, but even scary Eric Goet. And they just went all in. You're right though. I guess Toronto by the fall teams in the east and maybe not have it in the broad. That team just feels like damage gets to me. That sweep was so, Harry seems like he's going in the wrong direction. Lowry, by the way, is the possible Sixers.

Yeah, I've heard that too. That maybe Lowry would be a guy that they could upgrade at the point guard with if they're not sure what they're going to get out of fault. That'd be fine. That'd be fine. I wonder how much like you have to give to get him, but, you know, I, I just think like, if you're the, the Raptors and yeah, you're probably tired of the status quo, on the other hand, and I checked on this, can't get swept by LeBron if LeBron is not in your conference. So that's a positive. Yeah, because he's in the other conference. You can't do it. But if the Raptors, you know,

they have pretty bad luxury tax bill, they just want to get off lowering. Yeah. And turn that team, you know, a little bit, put the team, I like Van Vui. Corral Bob was on my podcast Friday. I was just like having an orgasm. I wasn't against it because I really thought he would have confessed it. Yeah, we'll take DJ McConnell back and we'll take

and the Bayless expiring. You can have Kyle Lowry. That would be pretty interesting. And I wonder, like, my point is, I think the Sixers are saying that you can't have a bunch of, you can't have Dyer Smith and Markle Foltz and all these things that just are really.

to be in an Eastern Conference finals game when you're as close as they are. So they've got to figure out what to do. And, you know, the goodness is you don't have a GM. Yeah. The, as of yet, unnamed GM is going to figure it all out.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Maybe they do get Kauai. As long as you guys don't get Kauai, I'm happy about it. Who do you got on the podcast? We're not getting Kauai. We're not getting Kauai. I stole Joe House for me for the Ringer MBS show,

or for the BS podcast. Joe House is coming on here and that I stole. We're going to go, we're going to go through all the free agency and I just didn't like that. Everything happened within 18 hours. It was basically done. All the good stuff is over.

Although I am jealous because you did steal house, as is you're right, but I'm jealous that you get to bust his balls about Austin Rivers, so please do that for me. I am going to do that as his balls about Austin Rivers down the earth. I'm looking up things I've heard about LeBron's house, just to get them freaked out. As they're like overjoyed and,

July 1 coming up and it's just feeling good vibes in here and I'm just going to that isn't sure to torture them. I like it. I endorse it. Go do your mischief. Thank you. Thanks for doing this. All right. All right, that was Bill Simmons. Be sure to check out his podcast with poor Joe House, who's still a Wizards fan. That'll be up on Monday. And now that we've talked about

everything under the sun, LeBron James Wise, we must discuss all of the other things, not related to LeBron that happened in free agency. And for that, we go to the man, Justin Barrier. Boom, Chakalaka. He's heated. All right, joining me in the studio. There was a lot of LeBron's stuff that happened, and it overshadowed everything else.

But to talk about everything else, we bring in one of the great editors at The Ringer here, Justin Barrier's in the studio. Hello, John. Thank you for doing this, buddy. You and I worked the first night of free agency when we thought the Paul George drama was going to be a lot. Yeah, we thought that was going to go until, what, Monday or Tuesday at the latest?

And then not only did he go, but pretty much everyone outside of LeBron signed that one night. It wasn't even 24 hours before everything. It feels like almost everything is already over. But Paul George is a good spot to start. I wrote a piece about Paul George staying with Oklahoma City. You edited it. My take was, I guess if you're Oklahoma City, it makes sense. Of course, you want Paul George to stay.

You went and traded Ola Depot and Sabonis for him. you want to try to like, you know, do better than you did last year and maybe another year together with Russell Westbrook and if you keep Carmelo and you don't buy him out, like you'll figure out a better fit. With LeBron now in the West, what's OKC, even with Paul George? Yeah, that's a good question. It's basically you're warping yourself back to last year

when you put this team together. Like, there's still no clear answers as to if they're an elite team. And if anything, they're just more hamstrung with the fact that their cap is just non-existent. They had to bring back Jeremy Grant and going way into the tax. And they were so excited about it. Yeah. I mean, I think their big issues are to come.

I think they need to figure out some guys on the fringes to really make this offense work. And more specifically, I think they need a healthy Andre Robertson. I think they assume that their defense was so good with him in there that they could just roll that back and that team will be enough to maybe get them to the Western Conference finals, but that's a huge if. They couldn't get past. And I know that they didn't have Roberson.

And you did make this point to me last night while I were putting the piece together, that they were considered, they were, I believe, 10 in offensive rating, 10 in defensive rating last year. But they were significantly better, something like five with Roberson in the mix. I look at it and go, you still need more shooting. I mean, like, Paul George was your best and most prolific three-point shooter last year. And he hit 37% off the top of my head at like seven and change per game. After that, it was Carmelo. Like, if you, if those are the guys that you have on the. the perimeter jacking up three is like is that the best way to deploy them do you have enough like

clearly russ is still going to go into russ mode in games where it counts like in the very last game against the jazz he took 43 shots and paul george took 16 like i just wonder if like they got their guy and they're happy about it and then they're like yeah we're just going to go back to playing thunder basketball yeah the two guys they sign makes sense are the guys that they can grow with are the guys that lift their ceiling up but essentially you need their two longest uh tenured NBA players and their two biggest superstars in name only to be different players. You need Russell Westbrook to get guys involved. You need Carmel Anthony to not only take a bench role, but also play a little bit more

differently. Play more like Jeremy Grant. So it really is going to have to come internally. And so if you're going to be an optimist, you could say, like perhaps they can just alter the chemistry slightly. But that's a big if considering all that we know about these guys already. Would you buy out, Mello? Yeah.

No, I would try to. keep him because if you're going to spend that money anyway, and I'm not paying the luxury tax payments, I think it makes the most sense to try to make it work within what they have, because otherwise, you're just kind of turning to who, Patrick Patterson, and we really don't know who he is after an injury last year, I believe. It's crazy that they're paying that much money for that team. It's just bananas. And I know, and Thunder fans got very angry of me on Twitter about my take so soon, and I can't

believe, like, we just got Paul Georgeers to be very excited. But my whole thing, again, is, like, what are you actually getting for this price? Especially when it was only, what, six years ago, where you could have had, like right now, you're trying to keep together this core of Mello and PG and Ross and see where it takes you, right? Fine, okay. But you had a better core six years ago, and you didn't want to pay James Hardin, and now all of a sudden you're willing to go deep, deep, deep into the tax and push a quarter billion dollars on payroll for shoulder shrug. We hope we get to the conference finals. Yeah, it's obviously weird, as many people have brought up, that they ended up with probably the worst of their MVP's from that era.

But I guess it makes sense in that Paul George also made somewhat of a baffling decision to go back there. Not only not sign a one plus one to do this weird three plus one that may work out in the long term, but he's giving the thunder essentially all of his peak. So perhaps they go well together in that regard? It's amazing. It really, as was. As was. I will say like, okay, look, I get why they did it.

and I've already made the points on why I think I'm not sure that it's great. However, I am thrilled that by him resigning, we also got this weird party in Oklahoma City where Nas was there, and Sam Presti was there, like previously quoting a tribe called Quest, and they're smoking cigars talking about that they're just about winning championships. I'm there for all of that. Yeah, I think we probably should have seen this coming, the Paul George decision, when we knew that Nas was flying in as well.

And then Russ was just coming in from Hawaii. in order to greet him. That doesn't happen if he's just going to drop the mic and walk off to L.A. right after. That would have been really fantastic, although I feel bad for the sports center person who has to produce the third part

of the three-part PG off-season story. Not very dramatic, whatever comes out next. All right, so that's all the Paul George stuff. What else happened? The Rockets. Chris Paul signs a four-year, $160 million max. He's 33 right now.

He's going to be 37 in the final year of the deal. and they lost Trevor Areza, which I know a lot of people are going to go, oh, okay, not to pick a deal. I think it is. They're a team that shoot a lot of three-pointers, and they played really good defense last year, and Trevor Arisa does both of those things,

but instead he took a one-year, $15 million deal to sign with the Phoenix Suns. How do we feel about the Rockets now? Split, I mean, obviously getting Chris Paul back is a boon for that franchise. Everything about their worldview is based around stars. I mean, Daryl Morey and Sam Hinkie worship at the same altar,

and they're going to want those max players. They're the ones that make a difference. And we saw how much of a difference Chris Ball makes from that team. Obviously, he got hurt a lot. He got hurt in those two crucial games in the West Finals. But he brought them to a new level. I think franchise record 65 wins this year. On the other hand, it felt like Trevor Arisa

isn't their most important player, but he does kind of make everything works. He's that 3-4 that really unlocks their defense, allows PJ Tucker to play the 5. And while he's not really great offensively, he doesn't do a lot of things, what he does makes all those other guys better. And now you can say maybe Mori can just find another one of these guys in NeuroLeague

or maybe there's like an underrated guy that we don't see yet. But right now it does feel like they took a big blow and lost a bit of their margin of error against the Warriors. Yeah, and I was hoping that's why I was kind of hopeful if I wanted everybody to go to the Sixers. The Sixers haven't gotten anybody yet. I was hoping Trevor Reza would land there. But if he didn't land there, I was hoping he would stay with Hughes. because we did see Houston when they were fully healthy, really pushed the Warriors. And there are people who don't think that Areza is that great.

I look at him and go, he's perfect for that team. He plays really good defense and he shoots three-pointers. Well, like, what else are you looking for? I guess they weren't looking for, you know, $15 million in the attendant luxury tax head. But they keep J.L. Green. But on that point, why couldn't they have just paid that? I don't know. Good point.

It honestly just comes down to their owner, their new owner, not willing to pay the luxury tax payment, as you said. It seems a little bit of like penny pinching from a ownership situation and a team that we assumed we're just going to go for this no matter what the price was. Gerald Green much cheaper, one year, $2.4 million. There you go. Not quite $15 million. The young guy just pushing him out of his job. Gerald Green out. KD., as we expected, commits to a two-year, $61.5 million deal to return to Golden State.

D'Andre Jordan looks like he's going to the Mavericks, verbally agreed to a one-year deal approaching the $24.1 million. that he left on the table when he opted out with the clippers according to league sources with Yahoo on that one. How do we feel about DJ to Dallas when, like on the one hand he was always trying to get to Dallas.

They had to barricade him in a house to get him to go back to L.A. He's not the same player he was. I like D'Andre Jordan. He's going to offer some room protection. He runs and he'll rim run and they'll throw him some lobs and that's fine. But the two main guys there, Dennis Smith Jr. and Luca Dantzich,

are on decidedly different timelines than DJ. Yeah, it seems like this is the closing of a story that happened in 2015, and in that regard, it makes a lot of sense, like narratively. But like you said, I'm not totally sold that DJ is the perfect player from this team. He's 30 years old, I believe, are going to be 30. He's making 24 million in a market that really there weren't many other places where he could have gone. Not a lot of centers out there, not a lot of money.

And the MAVs, yes, I think they'll have some success with him. him in there, but I think I'm more concerned about the opportunity cost that they gave up in order to give them that deal. If everyone is going to have money next year, and it looks like there are a lot of teams that are going after two max guys and find that there are none, it seems like the Mavs having money this year was a huge advantage in this marketplace. And instead of getting maybe two or three guys on very good bargain deals, they gave it all to DJ for a one-year run that ultimately won't make a difference because, like you said, their two best players are a backcourt that are like, what, 20 years old, if that?

Yeah, yeah, and that's a good point. I mean, if it's a one year, I wonder if they'll try to extend them down the line or something like that. But yeah, that's a good point, that maybe they just push off that money. Chris had mentioned earlier in the pod that, you know, with the Lakers and the Sixers being in a similar situation where they had a bunch of cap space, if things don't work out, that they could just roll it over to next year. But like you said, there's going to be a lot of teams next year who are looking around

going, we have money. Yeah, who is out there next year? If Kauai Leonard goes to a team that he likes, he's going. going to resign. Clay Thompson, maybe if that situation dissolves and KD wants to go out and follow his own destiny, whatever the hell KD is doing these days. But other than that, Jimmy Butler, you'd assume he'd get an extension. There aren't really obvious targets out there. And I think that we're going to get into a situation where there are more teams without a star to give it to than there are ones that are actually going to get one. Some other house cleaning

things that we have to run through here in the shadow of LeBron James. Aaron Gordon stays with the magic four years for 84. Good move for the magic. Aaron Gordon gets paid. They couldn't let him. I mean, there was a lot of talk about maybe Indiana would take a run at him. It always felt to me like

that it just made more sense for him to stay with the magic and the magic couldn't let him go. Sure. I mean, at this point, they have similar players in that front court in Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon.

I personally love what they're building with a lot of long athletes with Bamba, Gordon, Isaac. I think it makes sense in today. No guards. Here's the thing. The magic are also like, when is their timeline right now?

I think they're looking to be good in maybe like five years at best. That's awesome. As sad as it is to say, because they've been rebuilding for as long as the Sixers have. But I think worst case scenario, you just keep the asset. You could roll it somewhere else at the deadline or maybe going forward. I mean, Gordon is a really good player. I really like him. I want to see him in a really good situation.

But for the magic, I mean, it just makes too much sense to just pay now and maybe do something with it later. We don't generally do breaking news on a podcast. I'm going to run something past you right now. Per Shams, this is hilarious. Lance Stevenson has agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. Whoa! So we get LeBron and Lance on the same team in our backyard. I'm going to, I already go to a lot of Lakers games,

I already go to a lot of Lakers practices. I'm going to way more. It's incredible. I mean, I spent a few months, weeks with Lance Stevenson when he was a Pelican. It's amazing. He had a cup of coffee. He is everything you want him to be as a locker room presence. And by that, I mean, he'll just say things that might not make sense within the context of the discussion that's happening, but they're always entertaining.

Like, I wonder, I wonder does LeBron even bother signing off on something like that? Because, like, you know, they've had those really super weird interactions in the past. Sure. Most notably when Lance Stevenson whispered Sweet Nothings into LeBron's ear in the playoffs and LeBron's ear in the playoffs, and LeBron just sort of shook it off. This is going to be a hell of a locker room next year, no matter who ends up in it. I mean, listen, you just neutralize the threat. Lance Stevenson is the LeBron Stopper. I mean, they might as well go out and get the Sean Stevenson at this point.

It's perfect. Okay, other things that happened in free agency since it started on Saturday night slash early Sunday morning, Mario Hizonia, Danny Chow's favorite to the Knicks. Yes, love it. It's perfect landing spot for him. Sure. I mean, the Knicks, I mean, they're essentially going to punt next season. It seems like Christops will be back around New Year's at best. So at this point, just take your flyers with whomever possible.

There's a lot still in there in Mario Hizonia. He showed a lot toward the back end of that magic season. They paid a pricey sum for him. I believe it was a $6.5 million over one year. But like all of a sudden this guy is just getting paid and doing it on a big stage. And that's my point I want to make here. This guy needs a stage and there's no bigger stage in Madison Square Garden. Congratulations to Jason Concepcion, who must be very excited about it.

I will say, I was before Hizonia came to the NBA, a massive Hizonia fan. I'm still holding out hope because there are certain players who knew big stages. And Hizonia, when he was playing in Europe, when he was playing for Barsa, has always been one of those guys who was like an attention seeker, put the spotlight on me. There was a famous quote where a reporter had asked him, hey, have you gone to see Messey play yet. And he was like, yo, let Messi come see me. And I was like, what? I want this dude. So maybe he goes to New York and like becomes that, you know, outsized personality. That would be excellent. I just want to see the moment where he runs up against Tim Hardaway Jr. and there becomes a Spireman point at each other

a meme going on. Because there's going to be a lot of shots jostling going on throughout that entire season. It's going to be fantastic. Also fantastic. Tibbs just cannot quit as old guys. Derek Rose finalizing a one-year deal to return to Minnesota, according to ESPN. Sure. Sure. Okay. Will Barton stayed in Denver four years for 54 for the Nuggets according to Yahoo. He'll have a player option on that back end. That's a good move for the Nuggets. Nuggets still kind of locked into this team. Yeah, I like the move. I like Will Barton. It seemed like he was going to get interest from a few places, maybe the Indiana Pacers. I just don't know why they're in such a rush to commit to this team right now. As we saw last year, they're not a sure-fire playoff team. And as things start to pile up, here over the past couple hours. It seems like the West is going to be more deep than it is anything else. And so I do wonder if they're going to get to the end of the season and maybe they get the eighth seed or somewhere around there and they'll start to wonder, why are we paying like a quarter of a billion dollars for these guys that don't play defense?

They can have a powwow with the owners from OKC. They can all get together. There can be a summit. It'll be wonderful. What else happened? Devin Booker got pissed off because because the sons cut his buddy. Tyler Ulyss without telling him. Listen, I get it. Friendship is important. There's literally nothing that he could do about it.

He has another year on his deal before he hits restricted free agency. So the worst he could do is take the QO next summer and then play through that. And so, sorry, Devin, you kind of have to deal with it. Bummer for him.

One more for you. Rudy Gay, one year, 10 million stays with San Antonio Spurs where they're trying to figure out what's going on with Kauai. Yeah, I guess. get it, it's a good deal for Rudy Gay. I think he was more effective for that team than people realize.

On the other hand, I don't know which way the Spurs are going, and some of their signings, this one, and Marco Bellanelli, seem to indicate that they're going to still try to do the pop, like, let's go for the playoffs, this worked last year sort of thing, with or without Kauai. And I'm a little bit worried about that. I'm a little bit worried that they don't see the writing on the wall with this team. Yeah, at some point, like, on the one hand, I look at the Spurs model and go,

they're the Spurs. They're going to figure it out. They're going to, sure. they bring Marco back and Marco will be in there and Rudy's back and they'll just do their Spurs thing. On the other I go, like maybe, yeah, maybe they're sort of in denial about like we might have to hit the hard reset on this

especially because Kauai doesn't want to be there. Yeah, I mean, maybe we'll get to the end of the summer and Kauai will have signed the Supermax and this team will make more sense. Right now, they're very much in a state of flux. Before I let you go, is this it? Is free agency over? Do we get through all the fun stuff?

Basically, it's pretty much Clint Capella and Boogie Cousins. Yeah, that's right, Boogie. Okay, so you were in New Orleans for a long time. If you're the Pelicans, like, I always felt like it made more sense after what the Pelicans gave up to get him, that he just resigns there, especially because, you know, they're inclined to keep him for those reasons. But beyond that, like, if you're another team, are you willing to risk real money or years on Boogie, a big man coming off an Achilles injury? Like, what would you do if you're the Pelicans? Yeah, and his options are slowly thinning out here.

I think the Lakers, as Kevin O'Connor reported yesterday, were definitely interested, and I'd heard similar things. But then they went out and paid Contavius Caldwell Pulp, another clutch sports guy, 12 million for next year, which is going to significantly cut into their cap space. So outside of a sign-in trade, I think the Pelicans just won the LeBron James signing are among the winners of the LeBron James signing. It makes a lot of sense to bring him back if you're in New Orleans because they can't do anything else. They have a little bit of cap spaces if he doesn't come back. and you have Rajan Rondo, Darius Miller, guys you need to bring back from that team. Now, on the other hand, I do think there are some long-term issues that could arise from Boogie on a make-good deal. Not only is he recovering, but he tends to be a little bit of a sour puss in the locker room.

I don't know if you've heard in this before. And I think that has an effect. And I wonder if him basically being, let's say he signs a one plus one, which is a contract year followed by potentially another contract year. if he might start to have an effect on the team that they don't necessarily see coming. I think that's the worry. So now we just wait on buggy and then it's Summer League

and then it's off to Vegas. Right, we get to see Luca Dangesh and then all will be right. Luke and all will be right. All right, you are very busy. You have many things to add it. And you'll be back this week for group chat and all that other good stuff.

So be sure to check out Justin Barrier and everybody else. Justin, thank you. Thanks, guys. All right, that was Justin Barry. I want to thank him. I want to thank Bill Simmons. want to thank Chris Ryan.

Great to have Isaac Lee back. The NBA show will be here all week. Schedule on that is TBD, so just be on the lookout on your podcast feed. We'll have the Bill Simmons podcast, of course. He'll be busting show House's balls because the poor guy is still a Wizards fan. And we're going to have a ton of content from Summer League,

so you're going to want to check out all of that, as well as Ringer FC, which will be continuing every day while the World Cup is ongoing. NBA show will be back. It'll be back next Monday. I, however, will not be back next Monday or for the next couple of Mondays because I'm going to jump on a flight with my lovely wife. We're going to go on vacation for a little while.

But eventually I will return to the fold. But in my absence, there'll be other shows with other people and you'll enjoy those. But I just want to say thank you guys so much for listening to this particular podcast. Isaac and I are always super thankful and grateful that you do that. And we appreciate it. Bye.