NBA Teams We Already Know Will Define The Offseason

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2:03wherever your day takes you. Plus, it actually tastes delicious. No fillers, no nonsense. Just the good stuff, your body craves. And for the times you feel like switching it up, you've got seven flavors to choose from, all with the highest quality ingredients. Treat yourself to the flavor and nutrition for your body craves. Go to kachava.com and use code news. New customers get 15% off their first order. That's kacha.com code news. What is up, fel sickos? I am Dan Favalli coming at you with the one, the only the certified, fantastic, the list, Mr. Grant Hughes. Hardware knocks has gathered you all here today. To talk about, the off season. There's enough not so interesting basketball happening for us to start taking some macro stances or macro looks at what's to come. So we're gonna do MBA teams that we already know are gonna define the off season. Not that we're,

3:03oh, if this happens, depending on what goes on in the playoffs, we're predicting right now that they're gonna do some seismic stuff over the summer or we expect them to. Before we get started, though, Grant, how the heck are you doing? Doing very well. I'm glad to pivot from a very like, let's talk about the basketball part of the basketball, which we just recorded, not sure when you'll be hearing this, to some off season stuff. Because for a lot of the league, the season doesn't matter anymore. That's unfortunate. Listen to our tanking discussion released last week, or earlier this week, if you want our take on that. But yeah, gotta start talking off season, man. Like that's what a lot of these teams are thinking about and have been for a while. So we might as well do it too. So how did you, before we get started for real, how did you approach, what are you looking for when the playoffs haven't happened yet? And you want to know, oh, this team is really gonna shape what goes down in the off season. It's a combo of just, you know, some of the where there's smoke,

4:03there's fire stuff, right? Where if there's been some, I'm just gonna telegraph it. But if there's been some unrequited trade chatter with a certain team, that's probably gonna come up in the off season again. That's a good chance you're gonna get included here. Capspace picks big time for agent decisions that might affect other teams and might affect the market. All that kind of stuff, just teams that have flexibility. There's a special category I have. I don't know if we'll get to these teams necessarily, but that could undergo some fairly significant changes. Maybe if they disappoint in the playoffs or have already disappointed before getting to the playoffs, for example. So a lot of factors went in there, anything to add that went into your calculus for these teams. Just vibes vibes the vibe is just off. And you think that if we didn't even get to the playoffs, we know that something this is just weird. The vibes matter to me. I mean, you're not wrong. Well, we'll give you the first pick as per usual. Where do you where do you want to take us? I we have to just start with the books.

5:06No, as Yannis is gonna be extension eligible. Not sure if you're aware of that because Yannis wants to stay in Milwaukee forever or never right now dot, dot, dot. I've already made that joke, but like, come on, that's where we are. We're in we're in the ellipses territory of the books and Yannis's relationship. So it's going to be just like the trade deadline. I imagine where, although I now wish I looked up as extension date or when he talked over, but okay. So this is a real problem because it's going to linger. However, if the books and Yannis don't get to a point this offseason where he's either gonna definitely sign it or not, and then we can act subsequent to that. Man, that's going to be rough if we just have to all summer talk about this. But that's the next kind of fork in the road, potential moment, which is to say, if he doesn't say I want to sign it, I'm gonna sign it, then you have, then there's just another element

6:07in the we got to trade this guy equation. So I don't really, it's not like the books suddenly, well, if they lose Yannis, they're gonna go out and get X, Y and Z and for agent, it's just like, that's just the domino, that's the first domino. I think are the biggest one anyway, as far as what else happens this summer. I agree they need to be on this list. What's gonna be fascinating is because you mentioned the extension date, you have to have the answer well before then and I believe it will come organically because they'll know where they end up in the draft. They'll have three first round picks to trade. You have to kind of see what you can do. Go to him and say, is this enough? And if he doesn't give the absolute cosine, yeah, I'll sign the extension if X, Y and Z happens, you can't do X, Y or Z at that point. You've exhausted enough trying to keep him, I respect it. I wouldn't be, you could reasonably make the case because of just how important he is to the fabric of the franchise. You just roll with him until he leaves in free agency

7:08in 2020. You shouldn't do that. But he is that, he is that type of player to where if he still is being ambiguous about it, you go until the wheels fall off. That said, it doesn't mean we trade everything just because we know we have him for another. You need some type of control where it'd be the commitment of him signing the extension. I don't think he's gonna sign the extension. I don't know what the bucks path, but I don't know what level of player they would need to acquire with their draft equity and whatever salaries they can send out. For me to look at them and say, they have a real chance in an Eastern conference that next year is gonna have a full season's worth of Jason Tatum plus Tyree's Halibur, none of each of Zubats in Indiana. Yeah. Why, I haven't really thought about that the will he won't be of the extension. I was just thinking about like, well, that's the crossroads. Why do you think he won't sign it or won't commit to signing it? I mean, he even was, maybe it was mis-translated from the interview. I think it might have come from Euro Hoops or something, but that he said he was gonna have the right to decide

8:11in 2027, which makes me think that was he not planning on signing the extension or was I just feels, look at what's happened when he signed extensions in the past. They needed to make this big move. And so, do you make the big move without the promise of Yannis saying he'll sign me? Like, because if it's even, well, we'll see. Well, like, we'll see. If that's just what the answer he gives you, the responsible decision would be to trade him. I understand why you wouldn't, but you certainly can't turn around and then trade two first round picks anyway without knowing whether Yannis is gonna sign me extension. Man, I mean, that's kind of how the bucks have operated. They did get the extension commitment the most recent time, but yeah, you can't do that, right? If it were any other situation, I would say, there's no chance that they trade these picks and go get some wind now help without an assurance from Yannis. But it's kind of like, they've operated in a way that's almost saying, we'll go do all this and then we'll present it to you and please, sir, favor us.

9:13You know, there's holding out all these things they've done for him. That's really scary. I do think if he does not commit to signing the extension way before the deadline, if I, I mean, if I'm the bucks, I've traded them already. But at that point, you can at least go to your fans and be like, fellas, like he was gonna leave. We can't just let you want them to just walk. At least that I think that gives the bucks like just another, just another like fingernail on the scale that excuses them from being the ones to do. Who initiates this? In what we believe is an inevitable. Oh, or I don't know what's the, who's the, is there a player that you could say that bucks traded for him? That's enough to get Yannis to stay. How high up the food chain are we going? Who's out there that could even, so like if it's Trey Murphy, not enough, if it's, I mean, like someone, who? Limello?

10:14Limello? He's not going anywhere, bro. Guys, guys, guys getting his statue built right now. Are you kidding me? I knew it all along, by the way. No, he, I mean, what a sad Brunson. Markinin would have been interesting, but now he's not moving. Brunson? Yeah, I think if you get Brunson, that's probably, that's certainly good enough. What if you get Austin Reeves, some type of sign and trade? I don't know why the Lakers help you do that, but that's borderline, I think. Cause I'm not for you. No, goize, goize, goize, interesting. Yeah, you can't trust the health, or that he's going to be allowed to play basketball, potentially. Paolo Bannero. Yannis is out. He's, that's enough to get him. Okay, that's what you do. If you want to just rip the bandaid off, go get Paolo, and then Yannis will believe. I mean, so I think if he doesn't say, I'm signing it, now please go make moves. Then the bucks are the ones that come to him and say, like, you can't expect us to go forward

11:15without a commitment, right? We're going to trade you. Are you cool with that? And he's going to say, you'll be the ones to say that the franchise decided to trade me, right? It's not, it's not that I finally won and gotten what I wanted without asking for it, then, then you're good. Do you think that he, because he's not going to give them, and it would have to be the perfect trade I'm assuming. I don't envision him giving them a definitive answer before his extension date, because that allowed, that gives him plausible deniability. Well, at least it won't be public, I guess. I, I think he's, I think he has to commit. If I'm the bucks, I say, it's, it's, uh, it's July 1st. I know there's three months until you have to decide, tell us today right now. And because we can't go make, like you said, they can't go do X, Y, and Z until they know, do we have Yannis or not or do we have Yannis or whatever else we're going to get for him? Because then you just, like, then you keep all the picks, you trade them, you get a bunch more, you get, like, the two,

12:17the two paths are so divergent based on his answer that you one need the answer way before October 1st. And you can't, there's no like in between to road to go, either you're trading all this stuff or you're trading none of it and you're trading him. So if he doesn't give you an answer, then to me, that's a no, I'm not signing it. And we're starting trade, we're restarting trade to get negotiations immediately. To wrap, they, because they belong on this list, whether they trade Yannis or keep him, because if they keep him it's because they've done something that's not going to make sense. I'm going to ask you for a prediction, is Yannis on the Bucks to start next season? No, I think, I think we finally have reached the last possible off ramp. And I think the Bucks are going to take it. What do you think? I agree with you. I think, I just think that's where, if I thought Milwaukee has currently constructed was closer to being in an Eastern conference threat than it currently is.

13:18Playoff, play in team. If you thought they were a play in team, maybe, which they aren't, come on. My pick, I'm going to go with the small market Los Angeles Lakers. And this writes itself for a couple of reasons. Austin Reeves has the player option. And there have been questions about is he going to get the 25% max. He could, with that being said, there's also the LeBron James of all, he's going to be a free agent. Seems like he's good as gone. That would be my prediction. I don't think LeBron's on the Lakers next year. But the Lakers can also, while carrying Austin Reeves' cap hold carve out close to $50 million in cap space, they are now one of only three teams that project to have cap space. I don't, like cap space can be used for more than free agency, because this free agency class isn't any great shakes, unless you think that they're going to go poach Jalenderin from Detroit. The Lakers just having cap space plus, by the way, the three first round picks to trade. So whoever they take this year, plus 2031 and 2033,

14:19they have Luca, they're going to do something. I don't know what it's going to be. I'm assuming they hope it's multiple, some things. But this feels like an inflection point type of offseason for them, because what, if you just kind of run this back paper over the margins, and then what, now you're selling fans on, well, in 2027 is going to be the year. When it's not like Luca's younger, but he's not getting any younger. So I think LeBron James leaves, that's its own sort of separate. I'd be shocked if he's back on a discount with the Lakers. I think they'll keep Austin Reeves, and I think the goal will be, they're trading multiple first round picks while also hoping that they sign, at least one in. But like this is a team that I think adds, I'll put it this way, two players that should be a part of their closing lineup next year. Oh, yeah. I think that was my next pick, by the way. So it just has to be them, because like you said, Luca's not young, but you kind of, I mean, this is a pretty successful, like, transition year,

15:20or gap year, if that's what you want to call it, as those go, you only get one. If you have a player like Luca, if you're not trying to win the championship, and you have Luca, what are you doing? Like, what if the call in the open doesn't sign his extension? Well, then we're going to get two. We're in real interesting. So yeah, I would echo everything you said. I think in addition to all that, like everything has been gearing towards this. Like the fact that LeBron's going to leave is a result of him not getting an extension, which the Lakers could have done, and that would have eaten up the caps, like they've been signaling by not making a trade involving one of their picks at the deadline to preserve the ability to trade a bunch more over the off season. All their moves, over the last, really post Luca have suggested that we're just going to kind of figure it out until we get to the 26 off season, and then we'll make this team, because they've kind of just messed around and not done anything that's going to prevent them

16:20from doing big things since then. So yeah, they're a great pick. They need to get some wings and a center in there. I did want to ask you though, is cap hold will still be smaller so they can get to around close to $50 million in cap room. Of course, open up more if they find, let's say a taker for Jared Vanderbilt's deal, or if we assume that a Aitens picking up his player option, Austin Reeves' maxes from the Lakers could be four years, 185.9 million, or five years, 240.7. Yeah. Do you think, and if he was to go signed with a separate team, it's four and 178.5. That's the one. I don't know that there are enough teams with other cap space. I think he's going to, unless he gives them a disc, I think he won't get the five year max, would be my prediction. But if he's signing a five year deal, it's he gave them like a haircut off the 240. If it's only a four year contract, I think it's going to be 95% if not 100% of the max. I think it's the Pascal Siacum situation with Indiana,

17:23where it was basically this exact thing. They could do five and more than anybody else. I thought from the jump that you just need to be able, you just offer him a dollar more than any other team can offer on a four year deal and say, you can't beat this and you're going to be in LA and you move up the pecking order at least one spot with LeBron gone. Come on, man. This is, you're taking this. I think it's going to be four for 179 or whatever the max is from another team. That's what it'll be. And I'm pretty comfortable with that number. I think if you get the, I don't know, it's probably like a rational, but the five year max, max, max number, I don't love it. And just knowing that if I'm the Lakers, just knowing that I didn't pay him anything more than another team could have. So therefore, it was like a market rate. I'm okay. I'm comfortable. The final question I have for them is, would you take this would eat up most of your cap space?

18:26Basically, basically all of it, because it's the same, maybe the same max deal that Austin Reeves can sign. Are you taking, or close if Austin Reeves was to leave? Are you taking your cap space and offering a four year max offer sheet to Jalen Durman if you're the Los Angeles Lakers? Man, daring the pistons to see whether they're going to pay him a match. 40 plus million a year. I don't think Jalen Durman's worth that. I think if I'm the, now I'm scared because I'm the Lakers and I decided that Deandre Aiden at this rate was like, that's good enough for, you know, so you got to find something in the middle there. You're not, I don't think you can pay Durman 40 a year. Am I crazy? So you think if you went, so instead of let's say the four for 180 ish, if you went four for 160, do you think that's still 40 a year? Like what is the not, you have to go to a number that makes the pistons hesitant to match. I don't know what that number is. I, I don't think I'm doing that

19:28because I think the Lakers won much other stuff. I think then you're not going to get your defensive wing that can make threes. Then it's just Durans your guy, Reeves is your guy, Luke is your guy and you're playing minimums and the mid-level for the rest of the roster. I don't think that's good enough. So I don't, from a team building perspective, I just don't think you can commit all that to, to Duran. And then especially if the pistons might just match it anyway, because who knows? Well, at that point that it's hey, we messed with the pistons books. You might almost appreciate that type of gamesmanship. You ain't heard about Moto Casino. Moto has real Vegas slots. Any game you can find on the floor in Vegas, you can play it on Moto. I like my slots hot. Moto's free to play like food stamps, in line at the grocery store, at a funeral, in traffic. Keep rise on the road, hop on Moto Casino. Moto Casino got jackpots out of bigger than my belly. Moto, America's hottest, free to play social casino. Download the Moto Casino app today. Moto Casinos is a social casino board we're prohibited to purchase this story visit Moto Doppi West for more details. Moto Casino, a map of social casino. Craving the coffee flavor you love.

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21:30I think we should talk about the thunder just because they're about 90 million over the cap in their projections. They're going to be into the second apron unless they, Isaiah Hardenstein makes 28 and a half on a team option, Ludor 18.2 on a team option. This just is going to be the off season where some trimming probably needs to happen. And that might be especially interesting because they might be coming off a second straight title. But if you've got Shay making 41 million, Chet and Jada both making 41 and a half million next year, Alex Cruz was making 19.6. This is when it's going to have to happen, I think. And maybe what happens is those team options get to climb longer-term deals get signed for lower annual value. You move the Joe's and Wiggins of the world or something else. But the thunder just feel like a team that will look different coming in. And that's relevant because if they're losing players from their rotation, that means there are very good players

22:31that are going to be either traded or moved elsewhere and a potential two-time champion looks very different. Trickle down wise, it's not like they've got 60 million in cap space and they're going to control the market or anything like that. It's a different kind of control of the offseason, but they sort of have to be a team that is at least focused on, don't you think? Yeah, I'm just curious. So they're, they project to be about $28 million into the second apron. And that's before factoring in, what are they down to? They have one first round pick in this draft. So it's, but it's before accounting for any of that. They have, like you mentioned, the team options on Heart and Stein, the door and Ken which Williams as well. You're not making up though, but you can, but you can't just, man, shaving $30 million or whatever in salary, that's going to cost you one of Heart and Stein or door and then a Joe and an Ordanne Wiggins. Is that like, do you see them going there?

23:32Like, yeah, it feels, I'm wondering if this could be a season. I agree with the pick. They're fasting. I just wonder if we're a season. Do they trim their bill a little bit by saying, oh, we're going to decline these options on door at the Heart and Stein, but they're coming back cheaper. And then I don't know, does that leave them within? If you get those two to take a haircut over the span of a longer term deal or you, uh, Alex Caruso dump, or Isaiah Joe dump away then from ducking to something different. I mean, that, that presupposes that there's not going to be, I mean, maybe you put, you work this out in advance. So it's not like Heart and Stein will be surprised when his team option is declined and he goes on the market. But like, I think that there, there will be, those guys agents are talking to other teams or how, like, so I would imagine there's an understanding of like, what's out there on the open market. Should the, I think the only thing I feel confident in is that, um, of the three, certainly at least two of those are going to be declined those team options. And so three agency will become a thing

24:33for a couple of those guys. Maybe all of them. Are they willing to take a haircut to come back? If, and how big a one, and if you're another team, are you like, yeah, we'll pay Heart and Stein 25 million a year. That makes sense. I know, or, or door, like door could be the missing piece for us whoever trying to think of the team. I know that the hornets are just like, we're, we need them. He's a speaker on James with the Lakers. Decent fit got the cap space. I mean, Heart and Stein don't hate that on the Lakers as you started. They just signed, they signed the whole door to Heart and Stein. Yeah, they do it. They worked out pretty well over there. Why not us? It's just, I think, I don't know what I think's going to happen, but it does feel like there's room here for some of these guys to get away or the thunder to have to trim elsewhere in order to bring them back at deals that'll keep them from signing elsewhere. It's not, it's not just like Heart and Stein's ecstatic to get $28.5 million taken away. And yes, sir, I will come back for 10 million a year. No problem. Like that's, that's not happening.

25:34So there's, there's going to be some tensions, not the right word, but things could happen here. I'm not rolling it out. Most likely player that you think wouldn't be back then. If it's me, it's a door. Just because you've got Case and Wallace, you've got Alex Caruso, and you've got Jalen Williams, your perimeter defense is good. Like it just, he's the most expendable to me. Alex Caruso is a little bit older than Lou Dort. And yeah, I'm going to go, I think it's Heart and Stein. I think they're just might be like, because if you decline, I think someone would be willing to give him the balloon payment again for at least two years. And so if you decline his team option, I don't know that he's just going to come back for 16 or 17 million. If, and if that's the way it goes, then suddenly, the thunder need another center, unless you think sorbers ready to just step in, because they don't like, they say L injury, yeah, they don't like shed at the five full time. And I, I don't think that's the best use for him anyway. So there's another, the now they're on the market for a guy who maybe they need to start.

26:36That would be wild. A two time champions is like, whoa, shit. We need a starter now. We have no way to pay one. That'd be interesting. My turn. Let's go with the Brooklyn Nets. One of the other three teams that are projected to have cap space this coming summer. Here's something I clocked. Everyone clocked this. They don't own their own first round pick last year. But we just went through a trade deadline where not only did they keep Michael Porter, Jr. but they didn't add any salary for next season. And so you start to look at the space they could carve out where they're below the Lakers. I think the Lakers are gonna have league best cap space now, but the Nets can pretty easily get to 45 plus million themselves. Grant, are they, they're either gonna use that to facilitate other teams as big swings or they're gonna be looking to be players themselves. They've already been cited as, oh, could they be a dark horse? Yannis destination. If they just decide to go, though, well, we're flexible

27:37and we'll give you draft equity route. I do wonder if part of the reason they held on the Michael Porter, Jr. was we're gonna try and be good pretty quickly. Again, we're gonna have another high draft pick. We have other draft picks if we need to make trades plus all this financial flexibility. I just kind of looked at the fact that they didn't take on. It wasn't that they didn't make a bigger swing or trade Michael Porter, Jr. specifically. It's that they didn't impact their cap space really in any way, shape or form. And they could get incredibly, like, if, let's say your, if a team is willing to take back Terence Mann's contract, they can just take back $60 million in money. That is not nothing when you're looking at like, what trade proposals could be out there. So I think the Nets are going to be active and not necessarily in the way that everyone would expect a team in their position to be. No, they were, we've gone in order now. They were my next pick. It just, they might have the number one overall pick. That in itself puts them in some pretty interesting conversations when you add in the cap space,

28:38you add in the like, they could, I think everything's pointing to, we're gonna try to do some stuff and like actually be fairly successful next year. You could still trade Michael Porter, Jr. for some stuff if you wanted to. If you wanted to maybe go the other way. So I think most signs point to them trying to get good. And they have the resources to do that. I don't know what that looks like. The honest of it all is a possibility. But yeah, they're, they're going to do something and whether that's the cap space play, putting that number one pick on the table, probably that would be crazy. But that would be like, what is the player? A, a, a Yannis is too old for me to do that. I don't know, I'm not, as the Nets, there might be a, a team in the Hawks, let's say, I still probably wouldn't do it, but that, that's a team's timeline where you could envision it. The Nets if they have the number one pick can not just, can not trade for Yannis, right? I guess if that's the only thing you're sending in conversation, we're having a conversation right now. It's a conversation. By the way, they could also do what they did

29:38with Camp Johnson to get Michael Porter, Jr. to wear it. They trade him to Portland for Jeremy Grant and then Bucks picks or something along those lines. They absolutely could do something like that. Yeah, that's a good team. So the next one is going to rub up against this a little bit. I guess this is my last pick. I have the Hawks. They have that Pelican's pick. They have this Jonathan Caminga, $24 million free ride if they want to use it. They, I, to me, are a sneaky Yannis suitor potentially. I do think they have, if I'm looking at it right, they've got like 24-ish million in cap space. So I could see them, that Pelican's pick is interesting because it's probably not going to be number one, might be, but it's a high enough where you think it probably won't be. It probably won't be, but it's high enough to wear. That's a real asset. They could put that on the table with Caminga and another matching salary. And now you're really like, all right, well, that's a Yannis. That's a starting point for Yannis package. If you, you might even be able to keep

30:39Jalen Johnson out of it if you can put all that together. So they're kind of like Nets light in terms of the cap space, the value of that pick, and the Caminga versus the MPJ salary slot as a trade piece. But I do think they're obviously far better than Brooklyn. So it wouldn't take the size of move you would need to make Brooklyn relevant, to make Atlanta more relevant. So I just, they just feel like a team too, to me, that is kind of nosing its way into the Houston tier of non-coastal glamour markets that keeps getting brought up in superstar trade possibilities, to where it's like, I think it's time to start thinking of Atlanta as like a second tier. They're gonna attract somebody big, whether it's like he's on my, they're on my list of trade demand, like acceptable teams, or they just have the stuff to go get somebody. And a player is a high end guy is good with that, because Atlanta's like a pretty good place to be

31:40if you can't be in LA or New York. They're just tough, and I think I'm scarred because I was so high on them coming into this season, and they just under delivered yet again, that I'm sort of like, what are you doing here if you're really gonna, if you trade a high draft pick, for who? Yannis and Jalen Johnson is that, and then you're playing with a big, as well as that, that the plan there? I don't, I don't love that. Well, then maybe flip it. Do you think they just come into next season? Well, Kaminga's coming back. We like what we have with Johnson and Akangu and Nah. I'll give you one further. What if you just trade Jalen Johnson and build around Jonathan and Kaminga? If you only play the Wizards, you will have a dominant team, and he'll win MVP. But yeah, I don't know. You don't like my Hawks pick. I can feel it. It's something I don't like it. They were not, that's a fascinating, because I think it troubles me that they're a team that would consider trading wherever that Pelican's pick

32:42is gonna land. Because what is the, what's the player you look at? It's, well, that was it, because Yannis, even, it could happen one of two ways. Well, okay, we got Yannis and kept Jalen Johnson. What are we kind of, like is Jalen Johnson a three now, or are we going without a big, or did we just trade Jalen Johnson to age ourselves up? You don't feel great about that. And so if it's not Yannis, who is the player that you want to identify at? Oh, we're happy that the Hawks made this big splash. Probably Jomerant. Don't you think? Is that exactly that? I don't think I feel that way about any team. That's the question I don't think any team should be answering. Do you think we should have just picked the Grizzlies because the Jomerant sweepstakes will be such a hotly contested affair? I think they are bound to drum up more interest in like a Zach Eadie or Jalen Wilson if they become available at this point. Tough times. My final pick before we'll each have a dark horse. I thought about making this thing. I'm surprised you didn't pick them. The Warriors.

33:42I thought about making them my dark horse. They have, unless you just believe that they're content to spin their wheels for what's left of the Steph Curry era, they're gonna have five first round picks to trade that monster Jimmy Butler expiring contract and he's not gonna play until probably before 2027, right? Coming off that ACL injury. Yeah, he's got to be a full year of things. They also could have a Dremont Green on an expiring set as he picking up that $28 million player option or whatever it is. And then if he doesn't or if the Warriors decide because it's not just that I'm assuming the Warriors will be aggressive in searching for trades which they will have. I apparently are discord called me out for saying the Warriors Yannis offer was trash. I don't know that it moved like not being able to send out a blue chip youngster to Milwaukee. I think should be a deal breaker from Milwaukee. If you're putting any just combination of five first round picks on the table like when you get the equivalent of it, that's a real offer for some one. Do the Warriors feel beholden to the Steph Curry

34:42wanted to go do that? And if they're not, does Dremont want to be like, is he okay going out? Like this can even get value for him and his Steph. Okay, going out like this. I assume that he will be. I don't expect other Warriors are trading Steph Curry report or news break. But I just do they just want to be in mediocrity then until Steph ages out of the NBA, that feels off to me as well. And so forced to choose, I think they're going to commit to a path. And I'm assuming that path is going to be, even if it's not the Yannis level type offer, we're going to look back and say, oh, the Warriors traded two plus first round picks and did X. I don't necessarily know what X is, but it's going to be something. No, that's a good pick. I think, I mean, you've got, you've got the assets to go. I mean, I guess what I'm kind of like hesitating is, they keep, they keep being a team that's involved in high level trade talks,

35:42at least. Do you remember that commercial? I think it was for car insurance, where the guy has the fishing pole and there's like a dollar on it and he's like holding it out for the people. Oh, I'm going to get you. You're going to get you. That's what the Warriors are like in trade though. So you would assume then you're right that this off season, it's like, well, they, we will know that they, if they've got a very competitive offer for Yannis and it's just, okay, we knew that this time or this last time around, what's that get you? Yeah, you're right. I think that just because they're at a point where it's, are we, what are we doing with all these picks if we're not, you know, shopping them basically? So I think that's right. I'm on board with that. I don't know. I'm just so, the Warriors have just, since Stefan Butler have been out, it's just like they're not even on my radar right now. I'm just not paying attention to them. They slipped my mind. Moorow, casino, American social casino. Welcome to Moto Casino, where the excitement never ends with thousands of the hottest free-to-play social casino games, fastest payouts and the best promotions in the industry.

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37:46It's all the cool stuff you didn't know you needed to know. Join us for cool stuff daily as we take a quick look at science, tech, and the wait, what stories that make you sound way smarter at dinner. Subscribe to cool stuff daily now because the future's happening fast and it's way too fun to miss. All right, Dark Horse time. Yeah, who's your Dark Horse pick? So I got a couple. I hope you'll just take the other one. I think the magic based on the way this season is gone, they're gonna have decisions to make. And I think it's very, very likely that Jamal Mosley is gone. The question is how, if it goes beyond that at all, because if it's just that, which everybody's kind of like, that was almost like a, before this season even started, it was like, if this doesn't go great, like that's the obvious next move. So that won't be a seismic thing,

38:47but we've talked before about like, they're getting very expensive. Some of these extensions are kicking in. You've got, and we mentioned like, Anthony Black, that's a keeper, you're gonna have to start thinking about what to do with him. But like, maybe there's a Jalen Suggs trade. Maybe there's a Franz trade. Maybe you joked about a Palo trade, but like, I don't know, it just seems like there's a potential for post-Mosley firing to be something else here. Yeah, I don't know if that's why they're a dark horse, because it's like, it might just be they fire the coach and then go into next season saying, we fixed it. Like, we started, you know, we did the easy thing, but there could be more. And they're not, they don't fall into the, if you were talking about, let's say, the calves or the nicks or maybe the rockets, it's very much what we need to see. This is predicated on what happens in the playoffs. The magic might not get that opportunity. This is where push is gonna be predicated on, okay, so how does the regular season end or they even going to be in the playoffs? So that's what makes them a more fascinating.

39:47So I'm with you on that one. It's, because they don't have picks to trade, really, after this year, they could trade some, but I wouldn't advise it. You could trade as much as being for four or five, though. Could you? Yeah, the market says. Could you? That's always worth. You saw it. I bet you we get a bunch of Palo for a honest hypothetical trade proposals. That's gonna be the trendy top. Once his max extension kicks in, that's gonna be sort of the trendy topic that people are gonna discuss. I could see that. I also wonder, not even just the coach stuff, but the lack of health, do the magic sit there and say, we just don't have the sample size to say, this isn't gonna work. At the same time, Andy Black is gonna be extension eligible. So he's not, he doesn't get expensive next year, but after the season he's had, why would you accept anything less than what Jalen Suggs got, which was five and 150? And so that's gonna have to be in the back of your mind, too. Is it, well, we're not gonna move, Franz or Palo, that's too nuclear, but we're gonna move Jalen Suggs.

40:48Yeah, who arguably has been more integral to their success when he's been available than either of those two bigger names, but just the unavailability is, you just can't pay a guy that much that you don't know if he's gonna play. My dark horse here, I thought I had the bulls, just because they're the only other team that's projected to have cap space, but that just doesn't seem fun. So I'm gonna go with the Charlotte Hornets where they are other team that you wanna be the picker. No. I thought you might, I also had Cleveland, just because of the Mitchell extension stuff, and who knows what James Harden's gonna do. They were in the playoff category for me to wear it. It feels like we're getting ahead of our season if we pick them now. Oh, no, yeah, they're totally dependent on what happens in those season. Go ahead. I'm gonna go with the Hornets because they're so fucking good as we're, and it's not as we're, forget that as we record this, for more than a quarter of the season, they have been basically a top, let's say top seven offense and defense. They've been stretches with their top five in both, but like the defense is, I don't know how great it is. I don't know that I trusted to win a playoff series right now.

41:49I'd like to see them, you might even want them to get better than a Musa Diabate at the five. I still certainly think the Miles Bridges minutes are just even T-Johnson long, like the four spot is low hanging fruit for them, or even just another perimeter guy with size. If you say, well, we bred a Miller, it could be the four, and we have Konkhanipal, whatever. They're itching. If they finish the season as they are now, especially if they get into the playoffs, they have those Miami and Dallas picks in 27. They have an extra first round pick in 2009 as well. They have all their own first round picks. They have some, I think if you're making a move, you don't want to touch the Konkhanipal Miller or Lamello Ball trio, but you have enough matching salary elsewhere, none of which is toxic financially. It's no deal that you're looking at and say, oh, no, no, no. It's that there's no Jeremy Grant contractor, Carl Anthony Towns type deal on the books. What if they just decide that we're gonna go for Yannis? What if they're the team that's, if Yannis said he wants to go to a East Coast,

42:50because it's apparently a closer flight to Greece, and he wants to be with a guard who's not ball dominant. Now, Lamello Ball is pretty ball dominant, but he doesn't need to be. He takes more catches you at three this year, but it doesn't have to be Yannis. What if they're the Trey Murphy team? What if they decide to go after two doubles, and it's, oh, like, we're the Lou Dorit team, and we did, like, we traded for I say a heart and decided to Lou Dorit from the Thunder, or something like, so this team, I think that you could have made the case, they were gonna be looking to get good after this year regardless. The fact that they've been able to be this good for such an extended period of time, add some, I would say, pleasant variance to what they might do over the offseason. There is any big name that's in the front corner. I honestly, short of it being a small ball dominant guard, is there someone that can amelon to the trademark of note they use it? They don't make any sense in Charlotte. That's also the type of malleability this core provides them with too.

43:51The thing I am now obsessed with, because I just was looking at the cap sheet 10 seconds ago is like, could you use your picks to clear the salaries of bridges, green, and Williams, which is like 50-ish, 50-plus, closer to 52, I guess. And then you get in the restricted free agent, offer sheet game. And it's like, it doesn't have to be durin' because that would take almost all of it. But it's like, what if this is just, you make an offer to Tari Esen that the Rockets can't match? And now Tari Esen is in there at the four. And you still have the obate at the five. Or you just, some of the restricted free agents are really tantalizing. And maybe the way that's there, if he's healthy, there's a lot, right? Like, you could, I mean, you still have, you have Kobe White that you're gonna need to pay to bring back. I do think he's kind of a luxury, but I'm interested in continuing that relationship if I'm a hornet's just because you don't, your bench offense is awesome now too.

44:53But it would take a lot of precursor moves, but to get in the restricted cap space free agency game would be, because there's a handful of guys that make a lot of sense, that would be really exciting for them. And then like, even if you're trading your own picks, who cares, because you're awesome? And you can just go now, and you're gonna be conveying the 24th pick in the draft a couple of times or whatever. Do you think, would they be, let's just say, I'm assuming maybe if Milwaukee was acquiring this player, while giving up Yannis, they wanna keep him. But what if he's extension knowledgeable? So maybe if they're thinking about the next iteration of their team, it's do they wanna pay him? I'm in Thompson, if they latch on to just sort of, like if he gets sent out in a Yannis deal, that's the, I don't think Houston wants to give up. I'm in Thompson, I don't, so I bet against it, but that would be, do they just come in, you throw more picks, the bucks is way, and you swoop in and come get, like, imagine him on this team. I mean, because then he's your four, right? And that's a more sensible role, I think, for him.

45:53They, yeah, that's a good, dark horse. I guess a Kung-Woo, just even like, just throw like a lower level, but still really good name out there. What do the hawks wanna do with a Kung-Woo? Like, could you get him? There's a lot of injuries. What's interesting here is we've praised the hornets and for behavior that has gotten them to this point, which is like, they've been very measured. They've, they've just picked up little incremental wins. They've been opportunistic and going and getting someone like white, and they were opportunists to go get sexed in before, which allowed them to go get, what, then to then say, time to swing. Like, that would be just so out of character, but like the timing feels right. And the other thing too is, could they have their de-Aaron Fox moment with San Antonio to where it's, oh, they got that guy, but the price was just reasonable. Let's not, we gave up four first round picks for Desmond Bain. It's we gave up, and more so like, the Utah deal didn't feel like they did anything outlandish, even though they gave up three first round picks, and Taylor Hendrix and Walter McNeely, to get, to Jaren Jackson Jr.

46:55excuse me, Plankton, who, by the way, would have been a fun horned horned horned trait. That's what you said earlier, Stan's like, they have their one, two, and three set. And so just four and five is easy, because any player type is going to make sense as long as you're a credible defender. So just the, the, like the runways clear. Just this, the problem is they're over the cap. Like, right now it's just, it would have to be a big trade. It can't, you know, veterans, can you get Peyton watching from Dent, because Dentver will match the mid-level exception, like the 15 million a year. If Dentver doesn't match the mid-level exception, some investigations need to happen. That's, yeah, that, I wish they had cap space, and they could get it, they would just cost them those picks trading these guys away. I will say you just can't, you need to know you're getting those, well, I can't do it to get, go after a restricted free agent, because I need to know that. Right, because then what you're doing then is clearing the decks to just, and then phase two of that plan is,

47:55we're definitely overpaying for this restricted guy, because we can't risk a match having done all this stuff leading up to it. So yeah, that's, that's my pie in the sky plane. It's not going to happen. I wish they'd do it. Here's the better pie in this guy plane. They don't even need to get him. I just want the hornets to make Yannis's list of preferred trade destinations. I need some, I want to, will they have a banner for that? Just, yeah, I would, I just want to play to identify an up-and-coming team and say, you know what? I want, I want to be the, he'll be the focal point now for the most part, but then they're like built to just let him age gracefully, you would think. Yannis puts them on the list, Steph sees it, says, you know what? Like to end my career back home. Yannis and Steph come in, and that's just the rest of them. They become the 20, whatever Brooklyn Nets was at the 2018 Brooklyn Nets, when they blew up their promising, like team, that was, that's where nearly as plucky as the situation of the hornets, but they're, I think there's a chance that

48:56their all season isn't compelling, which is just because that's how they've operated over the past few years. I do expect them to do, even on a, not this player specifically, but on a Peyton Watson level move. I think they'll do something like that. I hope so. I mean, just, it's sitting right there. We're rooting for you guys. Upgrade the, listen, sorry, but this is gonna be the first in a series of episodes where we find a way to shoehorn the hornets in and have a 10 minute conversation about them, because this is the most fun young team that's emerged in it. I mean, I don't even know what the list is in a long time. I just, I would love to fast, but I don't necessarily need to fast, but if they for some reason make the playoffs and give, let's say the, the pistons or the Celtics or the Nick's Hell in a first round series, the number of inflammatory things that I'm gonna demand that they do over the offseason is going to be out of control. You could take your huge victory lap too on the Lamello of it all, because, well, I mean, maybe they need to do that playoff noise thing to really just give it a full W. This is the, still,

49:57let's hope he stays healthy for the rest of this season and then he needs to continue being on the court. And this needs like another season of I, I was before I take my victory lap. Okay. All right. I got my stamina to get to that amount of cardio that I'm prepared this time next year. Well, I will force the victory lap out of you. Anything else? All the hornets are third in the Eastern Conference or something flirting with 50 victories. Yannis and Mobello have formed one of the best one, two, five, him, Kanipal. Dreams. I don't have anything else. Those, I think those were good dark horse teams. I mean, Charlotte sure was. Put my Orlando pick the shenanigans. Thanks everybody for watching, for listening. Rate, review, and subscribe. Tell your friends, tell your enemies. Let us know if we missed anybody. There's 30 teams we only talked about like eight of them. So I'm sure there's a, there's an actual other dark horse of big offseason move and shaker that is worth discussing. And you can do that in a discord as well. Links for that and YouTube podcast description. Shout out to Franklin Latina. Apologies, Jared Allen. Moro Casino, American social casino.

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