The Ringer NBA Show - The Russell Westbrook Snub Saga, Plus the Best Remaining Free Agents

Episode Date: July 21, 2022

Justin Verrier and Seerat Sohi start by discussing James Harden resigning with the Sixers before getting into the recent news around Russell Westbrook and the Lakers (7:50). Then, they look at some of the best remaining free agents, and decide whether they are washed or not (36:13). Hosts: Justin Verrier and Seerat Sohi Associate Producer: Isaiah Blakely Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's not quite the DeLorean, but we're going back in time with the new podcast feed full of all my favorite interviews in the history of the Bill Simmons podcast. We're coming up on seven years now. I've had an unbelievable collection of athletes, celebrities, showrunners, directors, Matt Damon, Denzel Washington, Adam Sandler, Kevin Garnett, Shirley's Theron, Tom Hanks, Bill Burr, Kevin Durant, Peyton Manning, The Undertaker, Eddie Vetter, Kyrie Irving. Yeah, he actually came on.

Dave Grohl, Quavo, Barack Obama. I mean, what else can I tell you? I've had Al Pacino with Barry Levinson. I've had people like Steph Curry, Jason Bateman, John C. Riley, Joe in the Hill. I could just, I could keep going and going. But wait, there's more. Whether it's your first time or you're planning on revisiting some of your favorites,

make sure you head to Bill Simmons Interviews. orgon.com for the entire archive. You can sort by genre, year, and more. to easily navigate all your favorite people. Follow the Bill Simmons podcast, the interviews on Spotify now. Welcome to this special summer crossover edition of The Ringer NBA show. I am Justin Barrier. Joining me today, someone who would never snub me in public, at least so far.

Sirot Sohey, what's up? Justin, I'm so excited to be podcasting with you. I know. Not the first, but first for us as a duo. Is it not the first? I was thinking about it today as I was driving home. Is it not the first time we've podcasted? I think I've done at least one or two episodes with you and Chris,

but clearly they were pretty memorable for you. I'm just more used to talking to you with the mic off. So I'm just excited that people get our takes now. It's true. It's true. So this is the first of what will be a couple special mix-em-up sort of ringer NBA show podcast. A lot of people are taking summer vacation.

So you'll see a bunch of different combinations happening. I believe they're all going on Thursday. You can still check out the mismatch on Tuesday, which apparently doesn't take a break. So if you wanted all of your KOC and Verno, all of their takes on random documentaries and music stuff that I had know nothing about, you can go there. But every Thursday, you can come here,

ring your NBA show still going. It's kind of the dog days in the NBA. But we have a couple of things to talk about here. We're going to get to the best remaining free agents on the board. We're going to talk about the Russ conflict, the latest chapters in the Russ conflict. But first, I wanted to start with James Hardin, who right before we recorded this on Wednesday afternoon, just officially resigned with the Philadelphia 76ers, two years, 68.6 million player option in year two. So on the one hand, he's taken 14 million less than he could have, which allowed them to add D. Anthony Milton, P.J. Tucker, yada, yada. Daniel House, basically all of the former Rockets still left in the NBA.

On the other hand, he has a player option. So he does have some leverage here. Sir, what's kind of just like your takeaway from this? It was kind of like, we knew this was coming, but I guess we have the details now. Yeah, I mean, obviously it allowed them to have a pretty great off season, so that's good. You know, shout out James Hardin for taking a little less money, being willing to sacrifice. He's apparently also going to be changing up his diet as well. He was talking about that in an interview earlier this summer.

So, you know, James Harden adapting to aging, having to adjust in order to hopefully win a title. I wonder if one of his teammates will do that as well. Interesting. You're obviously talking about Daniel House, right? One of the former teammates, rather. Okay. Yeah, no, I mean, clearly he sacrificed a little money on the front end in order to add bodies. And I think he deserves a lot of credit for that.

I think my, like, Spidey Sense is tingling, or at least my bullshit detect. when it's like, oh, this is actually just a one-year pack. So he does have the option if this were to go south to opt out and find another team. And while it seems unlikely considering what he's done this offseason and just like taking less, you know, I don't know if you could trust a guy who's changed a team what, like every year for the past two years. Yeah, let's say let's put taking less in quotes here because I don't know exactly who it was that was going to give him more after the performance that he had. This is a, I think it's a pretty fair negotiation for both sides, right? Like for Hardin, I can't imagine him being as bad next year towards the end of the season as he was in the playoffs last year.

Although, I mean, it is James Hardin, so you never really quite know. And for the Sixers, it's not like they had any other option. If they didn't resign him, then they wouldn't have anybody to replace him with. So, yeah, I think it works out pretty reasonably for both sides. Yep. How are you feeling about the Sixers just quickly here? I got to say, as I look over the roster now, it's looking pretty formidable. Yeah, I thought they had a really great offseason.

I think if you were to tell me that you were going to take the 2018 Houston Rockets and replace Chris Paul, perimeter player who, you know, kind of, I think, gotten hardens way a little bit, even though they did find a pretty interesting way to play together with Joel and B. I'd say, wow, that's a really, really great trade that team should be a championship contender. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, it's funny because right after the news got announced, I think it was a second spectrum had a tweet that was pointing out that Hardin and Bede, despite all the bad things that happened last year, as diminished as Hardin looked there,

as slow as he looked as like without his first like explosive step, they were still the best pick and real combo in the NBA, which just points to how like even a diminished James Hardin can be impactful. And so if he does change his diet, if that was actually the big thing, if the glutons were just like hitting them in ways that we can't really describe, if he needed to go full V. I don't know. Do we actually know the diet that he's taken to?

We don't. Me and Chris tried to investigate a little bit last year. And he made the very interesting point that the vegan diet, you know, for Chris Paul, has not exactly worked in the postseason. So I don't really know. Definitely doesn't prevent COVID. I'll say that. But no, I mean, they do have a lot around him.

And they're definitely more flexible than they were before. And so I almost wonder, like, is this like a sneaky trade deadline team too? is this the type of team that can dump Tobias Harris attached a bunch of picks and actually make another upgrade on top of what they already have. And what they have is already pretty good. Yeah. If you're looking at their roster right now, like what do you think they could use?

I guess it depends on if kind of a jumbo-sized front court of PJ Tucker, Tobias Harris, Joel Embed works out against some of the teams that can go a little bit smaller. I almost wonder if Tucker's best position is at the four. but they do have a lot of offense around them. I guess I'm a little worried about some of the spots that we aren't sure of. Like if Tucker has a shooting season like he had two post seasons ago when he basically had George Mikeans range, then I'm a little bit more concerned there.

And if Tyrese Maxie isn't ready for prime time, if he's more like an every three game sort of offensive contributor, then I'm a little bit more shaky on this team. But I mean, on paper, it looks pretty good. Yeah, I'm with you. I think maybe it just all comes down to backup. again for those guys, right? Like, and as we'll get to later, there are a couple of those guys available right now.

But I like their roster. I like the roster. I think you're on the right track. Kind of like go through the season, see what's working, see what's not working, and reevaluate. Yeah. So the Sixers have a lot of options. Let's flip now to a team that has, well, it has options. I don't know if any of them are particularly good.

Welcome back to the Russell Westbrook saga for the Los Angeles Lakers. most news in the NBA has slowed to a crawl, even the Kevin Duran, Donovan Mitchell's sweepstakes. We don't really get much in the way of even rumors these days. But we've gotten a lot of rust these days. So I want to go over with you the three chapters of this latest saga, just to get your take on them, because I find each of them particularly compelling. Let's start from on the ground at Las Vegas Summer League a couple weeks ago. So apparently during one of the summer league,

Lakers games, both Russell Westbrook and LeBron James were seated courtside. They were unfortunately seated on the opposite ends of the court from each other. And as this athletic story lays out, numerous players, former players, coaches, agents, and executives made their way to go say hello to LeBron James and Dap him up. This list includes Jerry Stackhouse, James Jones, Gary Payton the second, and Barry and Davis. And then among his teammates, Wenian Gabriel, Thomas Bryant, Juan Tiscano Anderson, and Tailing Horton Tucker. That's at least eight players, not counting all of the other different type of NBA people who LeBron James received almost as if this was his court side Iron Throne.

One of those people were not Russell Westbrook, unfortunately, who I believe left the halftime, didn't say what's up to LeBron. After apparently giving an impassioned speech to the Summer League roster. Yeah, he made sure to jump into a huddle for the Summer League Lakers. And by all accounts, Russ is a very good teammate. It seems like everywhere he goes, even though he wears out his welcome within his year. Everyone seems to like him. I'm not totally sure if LeBron James is feeling the same way these days.

So how are you feeling about this? snub, let's say. I think it's fair to call it a snub, right? Yeah, well, to me, like, it starts with, you know, what side of the court were they on, right? Like, was it like the full 96th that they would have to go through? Or was it just like a sideline to sideline thing? Because to me, if it's a sideline to sideline thing,

first you can see each other, you're close enough. That's a lot more unforgivable. But one thing that's interesting is we don't really know, as we get into the other chapters, we don't really actually know what order the chapters are in. Chris, yeah. So Chris Haynes reported that Russ, AD, and LeBron huddled up for a phone conversation, which I just got to start here.

In the year of 2022, when there are more than one people talking to each other, I just don't know why you're on the phone. It is confusing in the best of times. Like you're going to kind of be talking over each other. I would say, like, let's get some cameras in there. Maybe a group of FaceTime. You can use WhatsApp. Like you just get the group chat going essentially, right?

You can be on Zoom. like we are right now, that apparently happened before the Summer League snub, according to Yovann Buha, who said that on the Athletic NBA show yesterday. So if that happened before, I don't really know how well the conversation could have gone, or the conversation went so well and they talked for so long that they didn't even need to acknowledge each other the next day. They just went over everything to the point where there was just nothing left to say. So why bought it?

Right, right. There wasn't any ill will. It was more that they covered their bases. Their work friends, you know, they laid everything out as far as what was on the schedule for that week. And they just went about their ways. Right. Like if we're going to take this back to you and I, for example, right? Like I would never snub you if I saw you.

But I also think that if you were kind of, you know, on the other. side of the room and we had just had our weekly chat, I might, I might let it go. I think I would still be upset about that. Okay. Well, now that I know that, I won't do that. I'm glad we communicated about this, yes. Okay. Well, yeah, I think knowing when the conversation actually happened is important,

it does seem a little curious because they all seem to be in the same area, at least over this weekend. I don't remember seeing Anthony Davis at Summer League, but I'm sure he popped up just because every NBA type makes their way down. to Las Vegas during that period. I'm also like wondering as you are like what type of technology was at play here. I personally don't even know how to do a three way call on my phone. So did someone set this up for them?

Who's to say? But even within this Haynes report. It couldn't have been Russ's agent who set it up. Right. We'll get to that in a second. But even within the report itself, it didn't seem like the conversation whenever it happened was like very productive. So the specific text from the Haynes report is the conversation was organized to make sure all three were on the same page as long as they're joined together in their pursuit of a championship, sources said.

So as long as they're together, they're basically willing to figure this out. But that didn't say like that everyone was on the same page and ready to figure this out together. And so it's not sounding great based on the two things that would address this far. But it didn't really give us the answer to the question. Right. And we already knew that there was something lingering there because everyone is reporting that Russ is available, including, as you're now mentioning, his longtime agent, that Foucher of Wasserman, which brings us to the third bit of Russ news that we've gotten here. Russ has been with Wasserman since he was drafted. And by all accounts, he and Foucher had a very close relationship. It's worth mentioning that Foucher was also formerly Anthony Davis's agent. So, like, there's a lot of things. that are going in Russ's favor here. But unfortunately, in a bizarre twist, it seemed like Foucher broke up with Russ

before he was going to break up with him and did so in a very public and bizarre manner issuing a statement to Wojj, where he basically admits that the thing that they disagreed over was the fact that Russ isn't ready to accept a lesser role on the Lakers. And Foucher thinks that his best,

his best route would be to stay with the Lakers, figure things out in next season. But Russ does not believe that. And then as a result of that, they have severed the relationship. Is this as weird to you as it is to me? It is exceptionally strange. First of all, I've never seen anything like this happened. And second of all, like, Thad Foucher's name is not one that you would think would come up in a conversation like this.

Like, there are agents out there. Like, I think NBA fans know who he is because of his client list, but I don't I think that he overall still has a pretty low profile compared to some other agents. Like he's kind of a behind the scenes type of guy. So that was interesting to me. So you think that Foucher probably broke up with Russ and, you know, kind of wanted to get his side of the story out. My read on it was that Russ maybe fired him because of these differences. And then Foucher kind of wanted to get his side of the story out.

about it. Even that still doesn't necessarily check out that well because I think everyone kind of knows that that's that's that's Russ's value so I don't know like he really needed to do too much PR work there but like to me the thing that stands out is just how stubborn Russ has been throughout this entire thing and that's kind of just been the story of his career and we're kind of, we're now at the point where, you know, like, things can turn out really, really ugly for a player like Russ when they are on the decline and they don't exactly want to face it. Like, it's given me kind of like Alan Iverson vibes. And you see, you know, we can kind of, you know, spin the yarn and go back and like over and over again on like, you know, the double-edged sword of Russell Westbrook. But it's kind of just, to me, it's kind of hit its logical conclusion.

and I just wonder, you know, if there's ever going to be a moment now where he faces the music. Because if he can, then I look at, like, I look at what Darvin Hammond has said, you know, and he's been incredibly complimentary. He said he's wanted to start Russ, which, I mean, honestly, at this point is a little bit farther than I would go. I think, I guess, with a player like him, that has to be your logical starting point, no pun intended. But at the same time, those three guys on the court together and like the, while the Lakers got younger, they didn't add any. spacing so I don't really see the story being that much different on the court. I feel like the best on-court configuration is still going to have to be like Russ maybe starting and like playing more of a staggered role and you could figure out something that way. But right now if it looks like

Russell Westbrook just wants to continue to get triple doubles for the rest of his career, I just don't know that that's going to work work out very well for him. I don't know how many teams there are that really want to do that. Like it's not like in any deal for Russ right now, which there aren't a lot of, it's not like he is being considered as a player on the floor. It's more of like a salary dump. Like it's just his contract and Russell Westbrook is the name on it, which is like a pretty low place to be in your career, especially for him. So if you can realize that, then we can talk, but this is Russ. So I don't know. Yeah. If anything, this whole breakup with Foucher only seemed to underline the fact that he didn't want to accept any lesser version of himself, which is a bad

sign because that really seems to be the only way that this works with L.A. And I almost wonder if it works for any team. Like I was honestly trying to rack my brain. Like, which team one can even trade for Russ? It's basically like a handful. The nets obviously would be in the running for them just because they have someone who makes a lot of money in Kyrie Irving, who is also riddled with problems. But like even if he, let's say, gets traded somewhere and they work a buyout, like Russ on a minimum could be advantageous for certain teams. But again, you're kind of hoping that he buys into a less role or best case scenario that he buys into what he does, but as a second unit type of guy. And I don't know. We keep hearing that the Nets don't want to do it straight up, but there would have to be a third team involved, which is interesting.

to me because the net seemed like the only type of team where this would work. I think like if you look at a team like Utah, for example, we don't really know exactly where they're going right now. But if they are going to go in a rebuilding direction, why would you want Russ to come in and add 15 wins to your team for no reason, right? He's a big fan favorite. So I'm sure the Utah crime would embrace him. But no, it's funny that you mentioned that.

That's actually the exact type of team I could see making that if it wasn't Utah because like maybe there's a team that's tanking. Ross obviously isn't going to help them win more games, and thus he's a draw for the hometown fans, at least like win at the gate as opposed to in the record. Yeah. But I do think he unfortunately helps you win just enough. Like I think he adds like, come on. He like, look, I have not a Russell Westbrook fan. I think everybody knows this.

But I think he adds 10 wins to a 20 win team, right? Right. 10s a lot. 10 win players pretty good. I don't know. Yeah. 10 wins to like a 40 win team is pretty good. The best version of him even in the past couple years, even when he was still close to his

peak, was bringing out the best of average guys. Like that Thunder team that he won the MVP on was not great. I mean, they finished within the playoffs, but I think they were a lower seat. I can't remember. I think they were like six or seven. But everyone said how great a teammate Russell was. They loved playing with him even though he literally stole. rebounds away from Stephen Adams and then it's cantors of the world.

But I don't know. Like I'm looking at a lot of the really bad teams are also the teams that are trying to reset around a young core. And so like the Orlando's probably out. The Detroit's are probably out. The Thunder maybe as like a come home Russ sort of situation. But even they have a lot of ball handlers now. Giddy is, I don't know if.

She's got the keys there. Yeah. And Giddy. future MVP based on his summer league performance. So. There you go. Now you're talking. The Rockets.

I think the Kings are the one franchise that might be crazy enough to do that. But again, they traded away Tyree's Halliburton in order to empower Deer and Fox. Not a lot of options. Yeah. No, I did like your buddy healed note there because I had the same thought of like, yeah, you know what the Kings might do it just to just to get people through the door. But yeah, it's not. it's not looking great for our guy there.

And I thought about the Thunder too. And I think the problem there is that like, you know, for a guy like Russ to embrace a different role, I think it would be really difficult to do that in the same, you know, setting where you kind of ran the place too. I think the Thunder could actually hypothetically work

if it wasn't his former team in a weird way. Right, right. Because he would basically have to be like the guy in the mail room for that team. Right. Or he would be the wise sage passing on advice, but also like probably not playing in the fourth quarter blowout games. Like if he's willing to do what Wade did in his last year with the heat when he got traded back from the cabs, that could work. Right. Right. And then maybe there is an angle there where, okay, Russ might not play a lot on a team like the Thunder, but, you know, he's going to be respected at the same time.

So like maybe that's what he's looking for. Yeah. I think best case scenario would he would accept some sort of secondary role, some like second unit role on a contender after being bought out. I always liked the bucks as an option, a team that can use as many guys just to get them through the regular season as possible. Because there probably is a point despite all of the bad from Russ that he's probably underrated to a certain extent. Like if he is operating your second unit and like you just you start him and pull him Keith Bogan style. Like, that's actually probably a useful player on a minimum contract. Yeah, if he's willing to embrace it, I think there's a lot of things you could do. But if he's willing to embrace it,

then the Lakers are a pretty damn good option for him. Right, right. Right. So we should talk about the Lakers options here, because as I see it, there's only really four. So one, you play out the season with Russ. You're stuck with them. You're going to have to attach too many picks to any sort of deal

in order to dump him. Just play it out, keep the picks, hope that LeBron James signs an extension, which is a whole other element to this that we don't even have to get into. But that's one, right? Number two. Before we move on to that one, so Jeannie Bus has kind of said that they're pretty wary to attach those to 27 and 29 picks to that. What do you think of that? I get it from both sides. and it's kind of how I felt when LeBron was in his last year with Cleveland, on the one hand, he does completely drain your franchise of any future.

And I think that's tough, especially when it seems like there's been hurt feelings now in both destinations. I mean, I guess like all three of the teams that he's been to, both in Miami, Cleveland, and now in L.A., that he exerts so much power that you're really giving over everything to him. and even in a situation like this where based on the Lakers retelling of the situation, he was the one pushing for Russ to begin with.

And so I could see it where it's like, no, actually, I don't want to in 2027 when you're playing for the Cavs with Bronny James on your farewell tour, like having to basically be the nets from five years ago, right? And having to like have Spencer Dinwiddie or the next Spencer did we lead my franchise.

On the other hand, you're kind of pot committed when you have LeBron James. And so if you've already given over so many draft picks, is it that big of a deal to hand over one or two more? Yeah, right. And like, you do have a window. And when LeBron is on your team, you have a chance to win the championship every year.

Like I still think a team with a healthy AD and an engaged AD plus LeBron plus functional reserves could still be pretty good. So I'm kind of split. Where do you fall on that? it's tough. And it kind of brings us to the second option, which is trade, trade him to the nets for Kyrie Irving. Like, that's what you're doing essentially. Like you are attaching picks to Westbrook to get Kyrie Irving in return, which I mean, I don't know about attaching picks to get Kyrie Irving in return in a vacuum. But when you look at what that team could be hypothetically, which is like I am putting the most quotes around hypothetical there, it's pretty good. Like it's really well balanced. Like you've got Kyrie as your crunch time closer. He's like the dead eye scorer that you need when you need a bucket. LeBron is your all-around guy. Then you've got Davis defensively.

They don't really get in each other's way. They do different things. Like it's a good super team construction, which we've talked about in the past, hypothetically, right? Mm-hmm. And he adds spacing. He adds spacing. And then if you get a little lucky and Davis, you know, kind of rejuvited his shooting form,

like that's a really good team that I think is a genuine contender in the West. That's a ton of if so. Yep. Yeah, it's kind of wild that we're in this situation where the Lakers could trade for someone that basically every other franchise wants nothing to do with and yet could instantly cataple to becoming the favorites because Kyrie, LeBron, AD, even two years ago is like an NBA 2K fever dream. Like that's an incredible big three.

They all work in concert. And I would be really hard pressed not to pick them as the favorites in the West. Really? you would take them over the Warriors. If we're just assuming that Kyrie is functional, Kyrie, who's going to play throughout the regular season, yeah, because the biggest problem the Lakers have really had here is getting LeBron to the playoffs, healthy.

And I still am not sure that a team with a healthy AD, healthy LeBron, engage, A.D., engage Kyrie Irving. A lot of ifs, I know, is still not really fucking good. And I know I sound like Kendrick Perkins. now talking about like the early odds Celtics like oh they actually have never lost the series and we're all healthy but like I mean there's got to be another like era or another chapter to the AD story right yeah I don't think I think his his value is probably got to be the lowest it's ever been right and I think that's probably it's got to shoot up um I don't know if that's going to

come from like his perimeter's shooting improving again or if it's just going to be health or if it's just going to be effort. I don't know. But I keep, when I think about AD, I just go back to the bubble playoffs and what he actually look like when the stakes were really high. Like, he avoids physicality like the plague, although, you know, avoiding the plague isn't really a thing, I guess. And, you know, he, but that's a regular season.

And he's injury prone. So, like, maybe you justify that a little bit if, you know, when the playoffs come around, you're going to get that version of him because that version of him then kind of becomes the best player in almost. every series. Yep. All right. So number three option, you trade Russ, but you target somebody else here.

Now, the names that have been thrown out there, Buddy Heald, Eric Gordon, both guys who make sense. Heald is memorably the player that the Lakers almost traded for before they ended up trading a lot of their players for Russ two years ago. How do you feel about that option? I mean, the Rockets have no problem trading for an aging point guard and not playing him. Sure. I mean, if it's an option, if it's an option, I do it like immediately.

Hmm. Especially as like the Kairi one. So this is kind of the issue, right? And maybe this is where this all emanated from. It looked like, you know, like three weeks ago, it looked like Kyrie was on his way to L.A. You know, I saw a tweet where, you know, he was sitting in the stands and someone asked him like, hey, when are you going to be? in L.A., and he was like soon. Like, it looked like it was all going to happen.

And so maybe it didn't necessarily matter with the relationship with Russell Westbrook was like, now that that seems like it's not the case, everyone is kind of scrambling to patch things up. And I don't know, is it even an option anymore? Like, that's kind of my big question. If it's still an option, I do that. Like, I just kind of, I don't know,

I grab my teeth and I do it because that's the most talented player you're going to get back. But I also just don't necessarily see it right now because as long as Kevin Durant's not immediately getting traded, then I don't know that I'm in such a rush to trade Kyrie Irving. And for the nets, the calculus changes too. If they want to convince KD to stay, then they need to get talent back for Kyrie.

And you're not going to get talent back for Kyrie right now. So that just seems like it's at an impasse. Or maybe the window is just gone for that. Yep. There is a world based on like Scuttle about out there where maybe they could do both, that maybe the price for Kyrie dropped so low that it only takes one draft pick

and then you're trading Russ for Kyrie in a draft pick and you're using the other draft pick to bring in another shooter. So you're just kind of in like photoshopping people into Lakers jersey's world there. That's like a realistic outcome here. And while I actually think like more I sit on it,

the Lakers offseason wasn't half bad, like they're definitely younger. There's definitely a lot of players who are engaged and want to play basketball, which is a start, because a lot of players who they surrounded LeBron James last week is going to be in our second segment of players who have yet to be signed,

they somehow still don't have a lot of shooters. Yeah. Which is curious. LeBron is still the best shooter on the team. I'm serious. I'm serious. I guess Kendrick Nunn could come back and be a shooter,

But right now he's just a theory of a player because we haven't seen him in a year. Yeah. I mean, I like some of the guys that they got. Lonnie Walker is super young. They have athletic guys who will play defense and maybe they could be a team that runs a lot in transition. Like they remind me a lot more of the bubble Lakers than last year's team. Hold on. Did you say run in transition?

LeBron James? Maybe he's going to be Kevin in love like outlet passing to those young guys running in transition. Hey, that's two points. Yeah, sure. I'll take it. I actually think, like, those guys might fit, like, a second unit Russ pretty well, right? Like, Russ can get up and down still. That's actually his best attribute, but, like, I don't know. LeBron, at this stage in his career, since he's the best shooter on the team, LeBron as your Trail 5 is not bad, you know?

It's true. It's true. Just throw the outlet pass and just walk up the floor. Right. Yeah, I mean, if they can. get some shooting, I think it would be helpful. Which brings us to our last option, which would be to send Russ home. None of the trades work out. They're asking too much. Everyone has leverage over the Lakers.

Everyone smells the desperation on Lakers. Lakers decide, we want to keep the picks. But you still have to deal with Russ. Russ doesn't want to back down and change how he plays. And so you got to send them home. I wouldn't do that until December. So you would give it a shot first. Yeah, just to see what happens.

It's a new coach. It's a new year. Sometimes things just accidentally work themselves out, and you don't really know why. It could be that situation here. But the fact that I'm not really considering logic is actually probably a negative. Yeah, I would probably consider that if he wasn't willing to change at all, right? because at a certain point it just kind of muddies up the locker room a little bit

and it seems like, you know, in Russ's exit interview, you know, for a guy who has been considered a good teammate, it feels like maybe he's just a good teammate to players who are worse than him. Because like KD leaves and it's all the cup cake crap, right?

And he just still won't talk to him. I mean, come on, guy. Like, it's been a while. Like, let's move on. And with LeBron and AD, like in that exit interview, just as he did with Vogel, it seemed like you kind of just threw them under the bus

and he never really felt welcome to the franchise. And I don't know that that necessarily repairs itself if we have a version of Russ that's not really willing to concede a lot. So I don't know. And when you also, when you have an exit interview like that, I also wonder if what you're looking for

is for the other side to move a little bit, which I don't necessarily think that that's a really smart basketball move for the Lakers. So, yeah, I think that might be the most likely scenario. What do you think? So you're referring to the, in the exit interview, basically LeBron and AD were like, yeah, we were willing to let Russ be Russ. And he was basically like, no, they weren't. Right.

Yeah. Which contradicts also the framing going into the partnership, which was that they talked to him in advance of the trade. And they're like, actually, he was okay with playing a different role and working his way in here. So something's wrong here. Something is off. Somebody's lying. I don't know if it was Ross or if it's the LeBron AD side, but both of those things can't be true.

Yeah, I wonder if it was also just the way that the start of the season went for the Lakers. You know, it's way easier to say, hey, I'm going to try to change my game up. And then, you know, all of a sudden you lose a couple games. And all of a sudden, LeBron gets hurt and, you know, the configuration just changes. And you're going back to playing your old style. And maybe it's just a little bit harder than when the team is already kind of on the down swing to do that. to do that. So yeah.

That's a good point. So what's the most likely option here? They play out the season with Russ, the Kyrie trade, trading Russ to another team, or he becomes the new John Wall, making gobs of money by playing video games at home. I really, I,

oh, man, unfortunately, I feel like it's going to be the fourth option. Just Russell at home. Yeah, I think so. What do you think is going to happen? I think they have to come to some sort of deal here. Like, I just don't see him accepting a lesser role.

And if the options are trading away the picks or sending him home, I would hope that they would see the value in adding Kyrie to this team. And the fact that, like, just like how good that court could be. And that becomes the ultimate decision. Then what if Katie doesn't get traded? Like, are you reuniting Russell and Katie in? Brooklyn and telling him that that's how we're going to improve our basketball team? I just don't see a deal.

I would assume you'd have to come up, come to a buyout agreement with him at that point now. Yeah, fair enough. But I don't know. Maybe they can mend fences in the same way KD and James Hardin did for those couple months when everything was very good. Yeah, a few minutes there. All right.

Want to flip to the rest of the free agent's left on the board here? Yeah, let's do it. Okay. So DeAndre Aiton's situation finally settled. Our long national nightmare is over. He's back in Phoenix. Which means that the free agent board is dried up pretty quickly here. Quickly, the Aitin situation.

Are you feeling on that? You know, I mean, restricted free agency sucks. They saved about $5 million over four years, which I don't know. I don't know that that's necessarily worth. it. Also, one of the things I've heard is being an advantage in this deal is that they only had to sign Aiton for four years. The fifth year is the best part of that deal. He's in his prime. If you're going to be paying him right now when he's still trying to like develop into the guy he thinks he can be. Yeah, I get why you might not necessarily think he's like on the

level of some of the guys he got he got paid like, right? I think he's like in the same boat as like a Pascal Seacum. I think he's like in the same boat as like a Pascal Ciacum. I think he's Pascal C. Accom is better than eight. But at the same time, I'm looking at it. I'm like, oh, so when he's 27 as opposed to 28, that's when you're losing him. That's not really, that's not great. I get that the years escalate, but this is just kind of like a, you know, Sarver being sarver type of situation to me.

They can mend fences. That's great. I don't know that they have a choice, right? Like you can't trade him for Durant until January 15th now. And by then, maybe things are fine. and maybe they give him a different sort of role and he's happy. We'll see what happens,

but it just seemed like a lot of waiting and haggling for not a lot of payoff. And the thing is, it could have gone so much worse than it was than it did. Like the Pacers, it looked like the Pacers signed Ait, so the type of deal that they thought that they would actually be getting him on.

Because there weren't like a lot of ugly things in that contract. It's not like it's jammed up with player options or like a trade kicker. Yeah. All that stuff. It looked like they signed him to the type of contract that they would want to employ him on, which is not what happened. Right, right, which made it easier for the sons to match.

Yeah, it is funny that you mentioned how the fifth year should be an advantage for the teams. They literally put that into the CBA in order to help the home team there to give them an advantage, right? All right. So that's A, and he'll be back. I imagine this isn't the end of all that. They did manage to sour that relationship pretty significantly just for a couple million dollars. So the only other quality free agent left on the board also restricted. Colin Sexton seems like he might be stuck in a qualifying offer limbo.

I don't see many clear options. There aren't a lot of team of cap space, first of all. I think the pacers are probably the only one left with meaningful. cap space. I don't know. Do you see any, like, pathway there where he wouldn't just end up back in Cleveland? Not really. And I think this is kind of why restricted agency, like, sucks, right?

If I'm the Pacers, I'm looking at this Aiton situation saying, I just got burnt. So why would I go and spend or, you know, try to sign a guy like calling sex into an offer sheet when the most likely scenario is that Cleveland, like Cleveland just going to match it, right? And that makes, it makes sense for the kids. tabs too. Like Sexton is super young. He is in a very unfortunate scenario for a contract extension. He just missed like pretty much the entire year after having like the strangest 11 games to start off the season. And he's just not really got a lot of suitors right now. Like I just don't really see the market there. And I think you don't see the market because if you're the, if you're another team, you're just saying why wouldn't Cleveland bring him back? Like just because they had this season without him that was awesome doesn't mean that they're not going to need something. like him down the line. And I think they probably feel the same way.

So, you know, to me, I think the only thing I really worry about if I'm Cleveland is not extending him. And then he becomes an unrestricted free agent next year and he gets paid way more. And maybe you don't keep him or you lose him for nothing. Kind of like the situation with the Mavericks and Jalen Brunson, right? I would, as the more of this drags on, if he doesn't get an offer, if I'm Cleveland, I kind of just maybe give him what he wants or a version of what he wants. I don't know exactly what that is because if I'm also, if I'm a sexton, I'm also looking at

2023, a lot more free agents and a lot more cap space too and saying, okay, like, well, whoever misses out on the big guns will probably be interested in a player like Sexton or probably be able to drum up a better offer then. So I don't know. I was thinking about this and I just feel like, you know, two years with a third year player option around like the $19 million range

should probably do this, do it for both sides and be fair for both sides. What do you think? I can see that plan out there. I think my worry with Cleveland is if it's not just a deal to retain the asset, like do you have too many guys that need the ball? Because you brought on Caris Levert

seemingly to fill the sexton off the bench sixth man, run your second unit, close games, sort of roll, right? And so I don't know, I don't see a world and I'm not a big Lavert fan. I probably would have preferred Sexton, but I guess the calves were going for it in their own little way. Um, not to diminish, diminish them too much. Um, and cute little cavaliers. Yeah. So like I could see it to, to just like keep them around and trade them later, but I would be trying to work out this year's version of the Lori Marketing Deal where it's, hey, the Blazers got

desperate at the last minute. They wanted to work this three-way trade. They wanted to get Larry Nance in there. All of a sudden opens up an opportunity for the cats to slide in to get marketing. I think that's what we need here in order to like make this work for all parties

because he's probably better off somewhere else. I'm way more of a of a sexton person than a carous overt person too. And I almost wonder if it works because Sexton's not the playmaker that Garland is and they've got really solid playmaking on that team. They've got good spacing on that team. Sexton's a good cutter and I think he can be like your secondary score for the future. I think there's way too much on Garland right now with the way the team is constructed.

So I think there's a world where it works. I get what you're saying though where it's not necessarily perfect and we've heard some things. I think about like, you know, maybe he wants a bigger role somewhere else but I just kind of feel like it's, it's a reasonable scenario. One of the teams that's been associated with him has been the Mavericks. And he would have to kind of be in a similar scenario next to Luca Donchich, where he wouldn't be the number one guy, but the assets just don't work out.

Dallas doesn't really necessarily have anything that Cleveland would want back. There's nothing that a team like the Mavericks could give back that's better than just having Colin Sexton on a reasonable deal that you can trade him on later, or just see if it works out. I think the only mistake Cleveland can make here is if, you know, Sexton just comes back next season completely healthy, has like another like 24 point per game season and just like, you know, blast him away. And like they'd have to go deep into luxury tax to, uh, to resign him. Right. Like that's a nightmare scenario for them. But right now it's like they're kind of in a good position just waiting it out and seeing what he can get, which right now just doesn't really seem like it's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll keep an eye on that one. Um, so other. than Sexton, it gets pretty bleak pretty quickly here. And so I wanted to play a little game of what I'm

calling washed or not washed to determine whether or not some of these marquey names still left on the board still have something left in them. And I want to start with Dennis Schroeder who ties into our Lakers conversation because

he's most notably popped up in the headlines these days for replying to a LeBron James reply on Instagram. So Schroeder had an Instagram post where presumably he was like lifting weights or like doing something athletic. LeBron said

something to the effect of like, yeah, that's right. Get it. And Schroeder took this upon himself to then reply to LeBron to ask, run it back. Insinuating like maybe he would make his way back to the Lakers,

which seems pretty desperate. trip, but I guess that's where our friend Dennis is at right now. Do you still see a future for our friend who turned down memorably a lot of money with the Lakers last time he was on the team and then has been struggling to find his place in the NBA since going forward? Yeah, no, I think they could really use a score for his point guard that doesn't really understand the limits of his role. I know, that was the problem with shooting in the first place.

He had that such like a good three-point shooting season with the thunder and everyone's like, oh, maybe this is the new normal. And it definitely wasn't, as we've seen now for two years in a row with three different teams. Yeah, I mean, there's a world in when Schrooter is, you know, a more than serviceable player for even a playoff team. Like he was a big part of the Lakers, you know, content, you know, championship run in the bubble. But it just didn't really work out after that. I think like for a player like him, and I think small guards in general, if you look at this year's draft, there wasn't anybody in the draft that was drafted in the first round that was under 6-4. Like that's just kind of a position that's going out of style.

Like if you want quick buckets, there's just other ways to get it. So, you know, and we're going to talk about other small guards on this list too. And like they kind of deal with the same scenario. So you have to be in a very specific situation, I think, for this to work. And I don't really see too many of them out there. One that I thought I think could maybe work is like the nuggets on a minimum just because of his speed. I think you could get a lot of easy buckets with, you know, putting him around Yokic and, you know, give you a little bit of insurance if Jamal Murray isn't quite healthy, especially in the front end of the season. I don't hate it.

There's probably a spot somewhere for him. Yeah. You know? Like, you got anything for him? I think he could make a credible third guard on a lot of teams. but I didn't expect him to be at veteran minimum territory at 28 years old. Yeah. Especially considering what he did with the Thunder, what was it now, three years ago.

Like he seemed revitalized there and he seemed to be tapping into a player that a lot of teams could use. He was basically poor man's Kyrie Irving and that was kind of the thesis for trading for him on the Lakers to begin with, right? Yeah, he can, and he's also like a pretty useful Swiss Army knife type of player too because you can attack a lot of guys all. switches. He's just so quick that he can give a lot of teams problems. So I don't, I would, I wouldn't say he's washed. He's not on my wash list. I think it just, it has to be a specific scenario, but I'm, I still have, I still have faith. Maybe no, I don't think he'll ever get paid the same way, but he's, he's got some years ahead of him. Okay. So next person on our list, Blake Griffin, who was now 33 years old, I feel very old, seemed like he was on a

path to a revitalized career with the Nets where he was this backup center type in these small ball lineups. He could shoot a little bit. He could take a ton of charges. He was basically turning into a hustle defender and like a guy with enough stretch that he would credibly open some things up on offense. Good passer. Very cerebral. All that stuff. Unfortunately, that did not work out last year. And the Nets desperately needed someone like him and ended up just playing him spot minutes in the playoffs where he looked absolutely gas because he just wasn't playing enough. I'm not sure about this one.

I'm kind of on the wash line here, but how are you feeling about Blake? Yeah, so he was awesome that first year he was with Annette's. He was awesome in the playoffs. You know, until Janus solved him like probably game five last year, game four or five. I don't exactly remember. halfway through the series, he figured it out. But he was pretty much their best Janice defender in that series. And he actually did a really good job on him in the front end of that series.

And then the year after, he just, he had a tough start to the season. I think he just got glued to the bench a little earlier than he should have. I'm not going to say he was awesome by any means, but I think like maybe should have taken him out of the shed a couple more times. And they did, especially like the amount of rotational changes in nets were having, how much could it really have hurt them to just throw Blake back into the mix a couple of times there. And that game three he had against Boston perplexes me. I get that it looked like he was tired. Sure.

I don't know why you take a guy who just hit two threes and looks like he's about to go on a heater out because he's sweating. That's me. He's just like going outside these days. No, but really, like, it's, you, he knows it's like one of his best chances for a title. I think, like, when you're that old and it's like, you're coming to the end of your time there, you'll, you'll find a little extra in the tank. I just wish they would have kept, like, that Nash would have kept him in that game. And I think maybe, like, I don't know if it tells us, like, we really got a different story about that series, but he showed me enough in that, in that game. And then, like, the game after he didn't shoot as well.

He was definitely a lot more serviceable than the other Netspa role players were. And he was actually, you know, he was passionate. He was passionate. And, like, that was a lot for the Nets in that moment, just to have any level of energy at all. I think he's got another year, at least, in the league. I think some team should take a chance on him. I would. Just to see what would happen.

I wouldn't rely on him by any means. But I wouldn't mind having him in the mix, especially if I'm below on front court depth. And I'm a playoff team. and this guy is just looking to win a championship. Like, you know he's not going to have a problem sitting on the bench, right? Like, we've learned that much from him.

He's not going to be a locker room cancer by any means. And he seems like, you know, punching that trainer in Toronto aside that many years ago, like, has been a reasonable teammate for most of his career. So there just isn't. Besides the time he punched someone, he's been a stand-up individual.

I mean, I guess that's true, technically. No, fair point. Fair point. But yeah, I just, I would take a chance. I would take a chance, but I wouldn't be necessarily, like, reliant on him for anything. Yeah. Emergency center, like, fourth, fifth front court rotation type of guy. I think my question is, how much is the three-point shooting actually legit?

Because he really only had one season where he shot over 35 percent. And that was the all-star season in Detroit where everyone was like, oh, my God, Stretch Blake. He's new and improved. look at them, just find another gear to them. But I don't know how true that is. What do you think about a reunion back with the Clippers? Or are there too many hurt feelings over signing the extension and trading him at the first possible opportunity?

Can you go home is the question. Yeah. Can you ever go home again? That's going to be the title for this podcast. It would be hilarious. It would be, yeah, I don't know. I think on the court, it definitely works. I don't know.

Have you heard anything about that relationship, I guess? It's just not really one that I think anybody's really inquired to. It seems like it kind of fell to the back burner. They pretty much have all the same people there, so I don't think that part really changes. I think if I'm Blake, I'm like, it's L.A. He loves L.A. We know that for sure. He does love L.A.

And he is naturally obviously going to be transitioning to the next act in his life, which may, you know, being in L.A. might help him out for that. Sure. He's lived there before. There's a familiarity aspect to it. Probably has property. He has his favorite restaurants. Exactly.

Exactly. And, you know, they're a championship contender. So if I'm Blake, I probably suck up whatever feelings I have left over about it and do it. If you're the clippers, do you do it? They probably don't need any guys, is the problem. Like, they're already so deep with above average players, deeper than probably any team that I can remember in recent history. And they probably want to use their leftover spots for young guys

so they could take flyers on them or at the very least, like try to use those as trade chips later on. It probably doesn't make sense to be taking a risk on a veteran at this point. Yeah, there are front court rotation. is a little. I have questions about their their size at least. They can go small and switch

and be interesting that way, but I do wonder if anything happens to Zoo for any number of games, they're pretty much confined to playing small. Yeah, it's going to be Robert Covington at the five full time very quickly there. Very Houston Rockets. Yep. All right, next person on the list.

Carmel Anthony. 38 years young, had a pretty decent season. shooting the ball. And it definitely seems like he's flipped to the final chapter of his career where he's like, eh, I was pretty much almost run out of the league. Just like give me a couple minutes and let me shoot a couple threes and do that thing where I tap my head, my headband, and I'm good, you know? So like, I guess emotionally and like from his viewpoint, he's past the rust stage. He's ready to just be your 15th man. And so for that reason, I'm kind of thinking not

washed. Yeah. And so much of this actually comes down to your role and what you're willing to do, because that's kind of where I landed on him as well. And ironically, a team that could really use his shooting is the one that gave away his jersey number to Troy Brown Jr. in the Los Angeles Lakers. I didn't know they did that. They did. He will be wearing, that's pretty brutal. He will be wearing number seven. He will be wearing number seven. So I guess if Mello wants to come back, he'll have to change his jersey number. But I mean, I don't think he's wore – he hasn't worn seven his entire career. Wasn't he wearing 15 with the Nuggets? I think so.

So, you know, if he's willing to adapt to a new rule, I'm sure he's willing to adapt to a new number. I think it's a perfect fit. There are maybe some teams that could use a little extra scoring punch of the regular season that could use them. I actually think Cleveland could be an interesting option for him. their wing depth is not really all the way there, right? Like, if Acoro doesn't make a jump, then I think I have questions about who they're actually plugging in there unless they just want to go three guards with it,

which is totally fine as well. But that's a team that I think, you know, could use a little bit of a punch. Or maybe there's another young team that could use a veteran. What do you think? Sure. I also just like at this point, in his career, there are so many people who are big fans of him. Let them have the moment

as long as they can of watching Carmelo Anthony just like hit a really smooth three because it's fun. You know, like you're just not going to get it for that much longer. So if he's willing to do it in the capacity that is not going to be detrimental to a team, that's, that's cool. Here's my question. Can Carmel Anthony just have the back end of Vince Carter's career? Can he just be the NBA's new Vince Carter where, He goes to every arena. Everyone's happy to see him. The media asks him about his glory days and like maybe he'll like answer some some questions that you had.

It'll just be the nice guy that everybody wants to talk to. What's what's the problem with that? Yeah, no, I think that's great. And I also think that like Carter, there are a lot of young players who grew up watching him and have a lot of respect for him as well. So maybe he's somebody that they would hypothetically listen to. Now, the idea of that was Carter was nice. I don't think it actually worked out that well. Although the only team that really fizzled out with, I think, was the Hawks who, you know, that young, that young core is just, you know, I don't know that anybody can really wrangle them all together.

So there's that end of it. But that's fun. Yeah, sure. Let's do it. Carmel and Anthony going back to the thunder. There you go. All right. A couple more here.

Dwight Howard, who is 36 years old, already had that last gasp of his career where it's like thought he was being run out of the league. Then, oh, here he is on the Lakers to the point where he got like picked up by the Sixers, goes back to the Lakers. I guess like everybody needs rebounding. It seems like his shoulders are as broad as ever. So like he's in great physical shape.

So that's not a problem. but I just don't know who needs a center who doesn't provide much stretch and is getting toward the back end and getting closer to 40. The one option that I like for them for him is the Warriors. You can get a little bit of James Wiseman insurance. Okay. Just in case he's not quite ready for the big screen. I think the Warriors got a little bit lucky not having a legitimate big option in

playoffs. I think it worked out for them, but it could have gone, if the Celtics were a year older, I think it could have gone in a very different direction for them. You know, he can hypothetically still jump for lobs. Sure. And play like 10 minutes a game, like 40 times a year. I think that's not too, too much to ask for him. Yeah, I think he can work out. I think the only thing is that, like, this might be getting into just a weird territory, but he already won a ring. He did. I think like for a lot of these guys, like that's kind of the motivation to keep, keep going. It's just really hard to care and be consistent at that age.

And if you aren't really fighting for that, then what is it that you're actually fighting for? It's got very existential very quickly. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it feels like we're discounting Looney yet again. Like former Western Conference Finals MVP, Kivan Looney. but sure. Like if a team needs him in a backup role,

sure. I just don't really see a team where he fits. So I'm actually going to go washed with Howard. Okay. You're going not washed. You're an optimist. I'm on the fence. I'm a little bit on the fence.

Okay. So we'll track that one. Another one, DeMarcus Cousins, complete opposite of Dwight Howard in that he could barely jump at this point. So he won't be catching any of Labs anytime soon. Although he is just coming off a playoffs where he scored 19 points in game five

of the first round series against the Warriors, there was talk that like they might try to break off like a piece of the mid-level in order to bring him back. But the Nuggets promptly signed D'Andre Jordan center. I definitely would have put on the wash list coming into this offseason. It was one of the first reported moves. And so I was a little thrown by that. I mean, they've changed, like they had a slight adjustment in the front office with Tim Conley giving way to Calvin Booth there.

But like, it was a little surprised. I guess like they're just, they wanted more defense. They want because they did bring in KCP as well. And so maybe they thought like, yeah, we'll get a bunch of defenders, but I don't think Jordan's much as defender anyway. So I'm a little confused about what happened there. Yeah, I don't know how Jordan always ends up being like the number one option in these discussions. I think he's like, I would actually rather have Howard or DeMarcus cousins over him. I think for the Nuggets, though, I get it.

I think Cousins is in kind of a similar scenario to Carmelo where he can be entertaining and fun and score you some points. And he's like a very smooth basketball player who's fun to watch. But at the same time, like when the playoffs come around, you know that, you know, if he has like a game or two like he had, it isn't really going to matter in the long run because you can just put him in pick and roll over and over again. He's in a blender and it's just kind of over for you. Like he isn't really that playable for a contender.

So yeah, I put him in the Mello category. If there is a role where, you know, he can be a backup and kind of have fun, that's fine. I don't know that I would necessarily put him in the category of, hey, let's, you know, or not necessarily a good presence to have in your locker room necessarily the way that Anthony could be. So Anthony adjacent in a way, I would, I guess, I put him closer to washed. Yeah. Yeah. That's a tough one because he's only 31, but I agree.

He's so talented. He's so talented. And it's crazy just like even in that playoff series, just watching how nimble he is and like how magic his hands are and he's able to just like still pass as well as he always had and like he has such a like a beautiful stroke. But yeah, like you got to wonder if he's outside of the Michael Malone ecosystem. If he's not trying to make good for the Lakers with LeBron James and the Warriors like, he's the type of guy who's really going to like want to be.

playing on a Thursday night with the Orlando Magic, probably not. So it definitely is harder to work him into a lot of different teams. Last guy on the list, Rajan Rondo, 36 years old. I already seemed like he might have reached the end. He was basically the Cavaliers' last option in order to soak up the Rubio minutes. I don't see anywhere for him, so I think I might be leaning toward Wash Team. And like we mentioned with cousins, he's a bit of a prickly sort. So I don't think even like a Celtics reunion makes sense there because he'll probably want to just like take over practices.

But what do you think about Raj and Rondo? Yeah, I don't know that a Celtics reunion is necessarily an order there. Rondo's one of those weird ones where you also hear about him being an awesome teammate to younger players. So while I lean on the side of washed, I also wonder. if he could play a less on-court role than Rubio played for the Cavs, but more of like a mentorship and also just being able to see certain plays develop for younger guards. So I think that Detroit could be an interesting option for him. They have a ton of athletic players who can run up for lobs.

He is still like an incredible lob pastor. I think he's going to be able to do that pretty much until he's 50. I think it's just so intuitive for him to be able to do that. that is kind of like the only option I see on the board for him or like a type of team like that where you don't know like they just drafted jaden ivy obviously but you don't necessarily know if he's going to be ready to start right away not to say that rondo is a starter at this juncture in his career but but just somebody to hang out you know do things behind the scenes and just be like an ear right because like

the other thing you hear about rondo too is that he has some level of interest in coaching down the line. So, you know, the more experience he can pick up doing things like this while still making an NBA salary, I'm sure he'd be happy to. Right. Could someone ease him into retirement by basically saying, hey, be our 15th man, basically be our coach on the floor, and then eventually we'll give you a spot on the staff. I can see that.

Yeah. Yeah. I think what you're saying is like he kind of did a version of that with Cleveland without maybe like the idea of like him being on the staff. And I think it maybe, maybe it's, that's it. Like, maybe this is the end of the line for him. Well, we'll keep track of that. But that is it for us.

I don't think I'm back on, on the airwaves for at least a couple of weeks here. I have three weeks off here that I'm very excited for. Are you back soon? When's your next ringer NBA appearance? I hate to tell you this as my manager. I haven't checked. I don't know. Great.

We'll be having a different type of conversation later. But thank you for joining me, Siritt. And thank you, the listener, for joining us. Thank you to Isaiah Blakely on production. Hopefully he gets some time off as well. Tune in next week for a different combo. Until then, we'll see you.