Speaker 1: Welcome to this league uncut in the world.
Speaker 2: Of twenty four hour NBA news. This's you, Lou.
Speaker 1: Chris Haynes. It's so time, Park's time. It's so time.
Speaker 1: This League uncut is underway and on fire. This should
Speaker 1: be a good one.
Speaker 3: Friends, Welcome in hearty greetings from this league uncut. Half
Speaker 3: of the squad is in Vegas already. Chris Haynes made
Speaker 3: it there today. I will be arriving in a couple
Speaker 3: of days. I have to I got some Saturday radio
Speaker 3: obligations in Dallas first before I make my way to
Speaker 3: the desert. But look, the Summer League action already underway
Speaker 3: this week with a slew of games in Sacramento.
Speaker 2: And also Salt Lake City.
Speaker 3: That was just the appetizer, all thirty teams in Vegas
Speaker 3: for the annual Summer League extravaganza that just gets larger
Speaker 3: and larger and larger every year. Most of free agency
Speaker 3: is done at this point. Yes, there are a few
Speaker 3: stray names out there still. On the unrestricted side, You've
Speaker 3: got a Kelly Ubray, a Christian Wood. On the restricted
Speaker 3: free agent side, we still have PJ. Washington situation to
Speaker 3: figure out, So there are still some names on the board,
Speaker 3: and that's certainly not a comprehensive list. I'm sure we
Speaker 3: could talk more about that if we wanted to go
Speaker 3: in that direction. But let's face it, the whole league
Speaker 3: right now, the focus even beyond James Harden's future in Philadelphia,
Speaker 3: it's all about Damian Lillard and what the Trailblazers are.
Speaker 2: Going to do. This thing is moving slower.
Speaker 3: I'm sure then Damian Lillard would like it too, But
Speaker 3: you know, this is a complex trade that's probably not
Speaker 3: gonna happen in an instant. I think everybody knows at
Speaker 3: this point that Miami is where game wants to end up.
Speaker 3: The Blazers are naturally dropping hints and whispers that know
Speaker 3: they're gonna look around and do what's best for the
Speaker 3: franchise and not just gift wrap him to Miami. You know,
Speaker 3: my instinct just is a long time watcher of these things.
Speaker 3: It's hard for me to imagine a scenario where a
Speaker 3: game doesn't end up with what he wants in the end.
Speaker 3: But let's see lots of twists and turns. Chris and
Speaker 3: I recording this on Thursday night, and just within the
Speaker 3: last half hour before we finally connected to do this.
Speaker 3: Damian Lillard tweeted, I'm amazed, which I think I can
Speaker 3: assume that's his reaction to all the chatter today, all
Speaker 3: the back and forth, a lot of there's a lot
Speaker 3: of angst everywhere, honestly, all over the league. Not surprising.
Speaker 3: But I turn it now to Chris Haynes again. Fresh
Speaker 3: on the ground in Vegas are resident Damologists, the world's
Speaker 3: leading Dameologists.
Speaker 2: Where where are we?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 2: Where are we?
Speaker 3: With Dame and his desire to be sent to Miami
Speaker 3: and the Blazers desire to drag this thing out and
Speaker 3: try to broaden the field of trade options, what do
Speaker 3: you see?
Speaker 4: Well, to answer you a question about where are we,
Speaker 4: We're nowhere. That's just where. That's what That's where it
Speaker 4: is right now. We're nowhere. And honestly, this is what
Speaker 4: I really expected to happen. I know, I know Dame
Speaker 4: would probably like to have this thing done wrapped up
Speaker 4: pretty quickly, but I've always felt if he was going
Speaker 4: to go down this road that it might be an
Speaker 4: extended period. The Miami heat right now, you know there
Speaker 4: they want to get to the table with the Blazers asap.
Speaker 4: I know, the Miami Heat and the Blazers have had discussions,
Speaker 4: but it hasn't been anything to my knowledge, it hasn't
Speaker 4: been anything substantial or or should I say, the talks
Speaker 4: haven't gotten to a serious point as far as the
Speaker 4: Blazers have are concerned. And so for this, for for
Speaker 4: Damian Lillard, his agent Aaron good good When, I know
Speaker 4: they they want to speed this thing up. But spoke
Speaker 4: with Aaron good When today and you know he's hopeful
Speaker 4: he's gonna be in Vegas in a few days, but
Speaker 4: he's hopeful that the Blazers in the Miami in the
Speaker 4: Miami Heat can't get together and sit down in the
Speaker 4: room and talk talk this thing, talk this thing through.
Speaker 4: And you know, it was apparent even from day one
Speaker 4: that a deal between strictly the Blazers and the Miami
Speaker 4: Heat that was not going to get it done. It's
Speaker 4: going to require a third and most likely probably even
Speaker 4: a fourth team to get this all squared away where
Speaker 4: it everybody feels like they got equal value or somewhat
Speaker 4: equal value in return. So that's the way things are
Speaker 4: right now. You talk about Dame and that tweet, Mark Stein,
Speaker 4: I haven't spoken to Dame today. I can say that
Speaker 4: The last time I spoke with Dame was maybe yesterday,
Speaker 4: so I haven't spoken to him today, so I can't.
Speaker 4: I can't, I don't. I can't say that I know
Speaker 4: for sure what he's referring to when he say he's amazed.
Speaker 4: And then somebody asked him why. I think his response was,
Speaker 4: let me make sure I got here.
Speaker 2: I have it right here.
Speaker 3: I'm amazed was the first tweet, and then he got
Speaker 3: a question from Twitter from seven to fifty the game,
Speaker 3: which I believe is is that a Portland radio.
Speaker 5: Station or is that that's that's Portland? Yes?
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 3: And Dame's answer was his quote tweet was at how
Speaker 3: people could know so much and so little at the
Speaker 3: same time. And obviously there is tons of chatter out
Speaker 3: there today, and you know people are naturally Aaron Goodwin,
Speaker 3: his agent, is doing exactly what any agent would do.
Speaker 3: This is I mean, this is it's he's not doing anything.
Speaker 2: He wouldn't he.
Speaker 4: Would stein he wouldn't be doing his job if he
Speaker 4: wasn't calling teams. It's telling them Dame would not like,
Speaker 4: would not like to be there.
Speaker 3: And also I think teams know, you know, Dame is
Speaker 3: such a pro that there is that feeling out there
Speaker 3: that teams would be like, he's not going to come
Speaker 3: here and cause trouble because I mean, Dame is a hooper.
Speaker 3: But still that doesn't I think I think the majority
Speaker 3: of teams, the overwhelming majority of teams, I think they
Speaker 3: believe that that had if they traded for Dame, that
Speaker 3: he wouldn't go there and be a guy who stages
Speaker 3: a holdout or something. But that doesn't mean that teams
Speaker 3: out there are going to be sufficiently emboldened to actually
Speaker 3: trade for you know, someone like Danny Ainge in Utah.
Speaker 3: I put nothing past Danny Ainge. Would Danny Ainge do it? No?
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, he just traded Donovan Mitchell to
Speaker 3: Cleveland when we all thought Donovan Mitchell was going to
Speaker 3: New York. But even Danny Ainge has limits, and I
Speaker 3: think the Jazz have to say to themselves it's not
Speaker 3: a matter of Danny Ainge or Jazz management being afraid
Speaker 3: of trading for Dame. The real question is does Damian
Speaker 3: Lillard fit timeline wise with such a young team? Is
Speaker 3: that who a team like Utah would want to go
Speaker 3: all in on with the various chips David Mass But
Speaker 3: like I said, I, you know, I am not reporting
Speaker 3: this from as close advantage point as you, but it
Speaker 3: is just hard for me to believe. I just think Dame,
Speaker 3: his stature in Portland, what he's delivered to the Blazers.
Speaker 3: I just kind of feel like the Lillard Goodwin combination
Speaker 3: is gonna is gonna find a way in the end.
Speaker 3: Might take some time, but I think they're gonna get
Speaker 3: to the finish line of where they want.
Speaker 4: And again, I think we talked about this in our
Speaker 4: last episode, Steyn about somebody like Danny Ings taking that
Speaker 4: chance and trading for him. Like nobody would knock Danny
Speaker 4: Aing's for doing that. Nobody would knock Massi. You Massi
Speaker 4: in Toronto for uh making that trade for Kawhi. For
Speaker 4: Dame situation, it's a little bit different. He's played eleven
Speaker 4: years there, He's represented that town, that city, that organization
Speaker 4: like no other star player has done before.
Speaker 5: Can't even compare. And he's given.
Speaker 4: Them every opportunity to try to build the Toddle he
Speaker 4: wanted to do it there. So for him, it's a
Speaker 4: little bit it's a little bit different of a scenario
Speaker 4: for him compared to other players. So the onus so
Speaker 4: people would look at the Blazers for actually trading him
Speaker 4: to a place that he didn't want to go. Nobody
Speaker 4: would not the other team you have to look about, like,
Speaker 4: how are they treating their star player, their franchise player
Speaker 4: ar could be the greatest player in franchise history. After
Speaker 4: eleven years, he finally decides, you know, he wants to leave,
Speaker 4: and he wants to go to Miami, And how would
Speaker 4: it look for the like teams, players, excuse me, players
Speaker 4: are watching to see how this goes down, to see
Speaker 4: if this is how you're gonna treat a star player.
Speaker 4: You trade them to a team that he doesn't want
Speaker 4: to go to. And look, I see, I see Blazer
Speaker 4: fans and and you know, I don't know, and like
Speaker 4: I said, I don't want to assume what Dame is
Speaker 4: talking about. But you know, I've seen Blazer fans say, hey,
Speaker 4: we got to trade him to wherever he wants to
Speaker 4: go because Dame signed an extension. Dame signed a contract.
Speaker 4: You know, you see national reporters talking about how he
Speaker 4: signed an extension and and that's that's on him. He
Speaker 4: shouldn't request the trade, but look at it. Check this out.
Speaker 5: Starn I recall other players signing long term extensions requesting
Speaker 5: the trade the very following summer. I don't even have
Speaker 5: to name names. You can look it up. And nobody
Speaker 5: said a word. The star player was just traded. Just
Speaker 5: trade it.
Speaker 4: A year before signing an extension, trade it the very
Speaker 4: next day, and nobody said a word.
Speaker 5: Period.
Speaker 4: So why all of a sudden is this any different?
Speaker 4: And a difference that I would say in this situation
Speaker 4: is Dame signed that extension with the promise that the
Speaker 4: team was going to assemble a roster that can compete
Speaker 4: for a championship. He didn't sign an extension just to
Speaker 4: sign an extension, say I want to be here five years.
Speaker 4: He was told they're going to do everything they can
Speaker 4: in that timeframe to give him the team that he needs.
Speaker 4: It didn't happen. It did not happen. So you know,
Speaker 4: for those talking about, you know he signed extension, now
Speaker 4: we can you know, we can trade them wherever he
Speaker 4: wants to go.
Speaker 5: He has no right he has. Come on, come on,
Speaker 5: let's stop that. Let's stop that. The guy gaves a level.
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess this is what you know. I
Speaker 3: do differ with you on some of this. You know,
Speaker 3: I do understand the criticism. You know, you mentioned it,
Speaker 3: and it's been very loud. There there is that drum
Speaker 3: beat that says, if Dame wanted to pick his team,
Speaker 3: don't do a long term extension. But I think the
Speaker 3: rub here is and what we need to maybe dig
Speaker 3: into more what kind of conversations were had at the
Speaker 3: time this extension was signed. Was there any sort of
Speaker 3: promise that, hey, if we cannot get this thing moving
Speaker 3: in the direction that we hope it goes, would we
Speaker 3: then work to get you where you want to go
Speaker 3: because of everything you've done for the franchise and the community,
Speaker 3: and you know, there's no question I think I think
Speaker 3: games commitment to the Blazers doesn't really need a lot
Speaker 3: of a lot of elaboration. How popular he is. There
Speaker 3: a an absolutely beloved player. But look that that conversation
Speaker 3: is out there and there there there are gonna be
Speaker 3: There are going to be observers and fans who say
Speaker 3: the Blazers should just do whatever the heck they want.
Speaker 3: They gave him, they committed all this money, and they
Speaker 3: should do what they what they think is best.
Speaker 2: But again, to me, this.
Speaker 5: Stint and that is fine. That rhetoric.
Speaker 4: That narrative is fine, but just note this is not
Speaker 4: some scrub player. This is not an average player. This
Speaker 4: is your franchise player, arguably the greatest player in French history,
Speaker 4: who people, even fans were clamoring to request the trade
Speaker 4: four years ago, probably even further.
Speaker 5: Back than that. He gave it as all.
Speaker 4: And so now it's to a point where he's asking
Speaker 4: to be moved now and he has a specific team.
Speaker 4: So players are watching. That's all you got, That's all
Speaker 4: I'm saying. Players are watching to see how this thing
Speaker 4: is handled. I understand it's a business, but this is different.
Speaker 4: This is different, and that's why.
Speaker 3: I do think again, I do think in the end,
Speaker 3: this is the way it's going to end up, that
Speaker 3: he is somehow going to land with the team he
Speaker 3: wants to play for because of all that, because of
Speaker 3: the history and everything he's given to them. But the
Speaker 3: reality is the noise is off the charts right now.
Speaker 3: And look because this thing is moving slower than everybody
Speaker 3: wants it to. You know, the trade is requested in
Speaker 3: that and it's like everybody fans us in the media, NBA,
Speaker 3: you know, every aspect of the NBA machine everybody, well,
Speaker 3: why dosn't the trade happen yet, it's been five six days.
Speaker 3: Well it's you know, I think we do have to
Speaker 3: bear in mind that sometimes these things do take a
Speaker 3: long time to come together. And it's interesting that you
Speaker 3: brought up the Toronto situation because at the time, I remember,
Speaker 3: people looked at the Raptors like they were crazy, You're
Speaker 3: training for Kawhi Leonard when he probably doesn't want to
Speaker 3: be in Toronto and he's heading to free agency.
Speaker 2: But because Kawhi.
Speaker 3: Leonard was entering the last year of his deal, it
Speaker 3: kept the price down. So what the Raptors had to
Speaker 3: risk to do that was a lot. I mean, it
Speaker 3: was still substantial in their eyes to lose DeRozan, who
Speaker 3: you know, is a Raptors legend, and Yaka pertl who
Speaker 3: his value has only grown as a center in this league.
Speaker 3: You know, the Raptors were touting him as a top
Speaker 3: ten center in this league when they just gave him,
Speaker 3: you know, when they traded for him in February. And
Speaker 3: of course they just now resigned him to a new
Speaker 3: deal that averages twenty the annual salaries in the twenty
Speaker 3: million range. But that's all Toronto had to give up. Really,
Speaker 3: I think there was also a pick in there, but
Speaker 3: you know, the price for Kawhi with only one year
Speaker 3: left on his contract, that drove the price down, Whereas
Speaker 3: this is Dame with years left on his contract. The
Speaker 3: Blazers are going to be looking for an absolute haul
Speaker 3: in return when they finally do agree to a trade
Speaker 3: for Damian Lillard. This is not going to be a
Speaker 3: Wizard's Bradley Beal situation, where because Bradley Beal had a
Speaker 3: no trade clause, the Wizards just basically had to accept
Speaker 3: whatever deal they could get and you didn't even get
Speaker 3: a first round pick for Bradley Beal. The Blazers probably
Speaker 3: ain't getting go bear prices. I don't think they're going
Speaker 3: to get five first but you know they're going to
Speaker 3: be going for it.
Speaker 2: They're going to be going.
Speaker 3: For the most substantial return that they can come up with.
Speaker 5: So that's why they should.
Speaker 4: It'stine and they should. They should, they should. I think
Speaker 4: at the end of the day, hopefully both sides get
Speaker 4: what they want, and you know, that's what they should.
Speaker 4: I don't really have I'm trying to think. What I'm
Speaker 4: trying to think? Do I really have a problem what's
Speaker 4: going on as far as the noise and circulating within
Speaker 4: the media, not the fans.
Speaker 5: I don't, I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't care because a lot of it's posturing and
Speaker 4: all that stuff. At the end of the day, if
Speaker 4: they're able to get something done where Miami gets Dame
Speaker 4: and Portland gets from from wherever it's coming from, whether
Speaker 4: it's a few from Miami, uh, some from Brooklyn and
Speaker 4: another team possibly Detroit, if they feel like they get adequate,
Speaker 4: you know, semi adequate value going that route, then go ahead.
Speaker 5: That's fine.
Speaker 4: But they have every right to try to get as
Speaker 4: much as they can out of this, and that's I
Speaker 4: have no problem with that. I just think that again,
Speaker 4: those teams they want to take that chance, go ahead.
Speaker 4: But nobody is going to knock. Players aren't going to
Speaker 4: look at They're not gonna look at Danny Ain's wrong
Speaker 4: or any other team wrong or in a bad light
Speaker 4: because they traded for Dame. They're gonna look at Portland. Portland,
Speaker 4: the spotlight is on them. Is this the way you're
Speaker 4: going to treat your franchise player who's done everything in
Speaker 4: his power for eleven years? And Stein another thing is
Speaker 4: real cool Dame is in a as you see, Dame
Speaker 4: is not somebody that that stays quiet. He'll stay quiet
Speaker 4: for a little bit, but he's always going to weigh
Speaker 4: in say something, whether it's tweeting or going live.
Speaker 5: So he's in the unique situations. And I did some research.
Speaker 5: I did some digging. So with the Portland Trailblazers releasing
Speaker 5: that statement last week basically saying we're basically confirming, I
Speaker 5: should say that Damian Lillarle did request a trade, and
Speaker 5: we talked about this before. I've never I've never recalled
Speaker 5: a team doing that, saying a player requested a trade,
Speaker 5: and that's never been done before. And I talked to
Speaker 5: the league, it's never been done before. It's unprecedented. Talked
Speaker 5: to the player Association, They've never seen it. Never, never,
Speaker 5: It's never happened before. If a player had publicly.
Speaker 4: Mentioned a you know, mentioned that they wanted to be
Speaker 4: traded before one hundred thousand dollars fine. So what I
Speaker 4: found out is that a team can publicly announce that
Speaker 4: a player has requested a trade. Why because it's never
Speaker 4: been negotiated into the CBA that they cannot. It's only
Speaker 4: been that way for players and until now it's been
Speaker 4: one hundred thousand dollars fine for a player if he
Speaker 4: requested a trade publicly. Meanwhile, a team can. And the
Speaker 4: reason why a team can because it was negotiated to
Speaker 4: the CBA and it's never happened before. So this is unique.
Speaker 4: But I say all this to say one more point.
Speaker 4: I want to add. In the new CBA now, a
Speaker 4: player that publicly requests the trade, it has gone up
Speaker 4: to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars five. It was
Speaker 4: one hundred thousand dollars five before. Now it's one hundred
Speaker 4: and fifty thousand dollars five. But with the Blazers putting
Speaker 4: out that statement announcing that Dame requested the trade behind
Speaker 4: the scenes, Dame is allowed to talk about it. Now
Speaker 4: Dame is allowed to say what he wants on the trade.
Speaker 4: I don't know if that wy help the trade situation.
Speaker 2: Help Yeah, because he will talk about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but he lobs in a couple of tweets and
Speaker 3: everybody loses their mind again.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So he will be able to talk about it
Speaker 4: if he wanted to, and without being penalized. That would
Speaker 4: be a first, a first that a player will be
Speaker 4: able to talk about a trade request during like right
Speaker 4: in the middle of it, without being penalized. The Blazers
Speaker 4: gave him the green light. They gave him a go
Speaker 4: free card to do it. I don't think he should.
Speaker 4: I don't know that he will. But as you see,
Speaker 4: like if this thing continues to go on and then
Speaker 4: stuff just get keep getting leaked into the media, especially
Speaker 4: when it's shining a false light on Dame. He's the
Speaker 4: type of guy that might jump out there and say
Speaker 4: something and he'll and he'll will there will be no punishment.
Speaker 5: I just wanted to say that, Well.
Speaker 3: Look, it's clearly a massive moment for the Blazers because
Speaker 3: they you know, you don't see a Dame Lillard every
Speaker 3: day anywhere. He's obviously, you know, free agency is not
Speaker 3: really an option for them to replace him. Where they
Speaker 3: are fortunate is that they've drafted well here in recent times.
Speaker 3: So they do have Scoot Henderson as the heir apparent.
Speaker 3: They've got Shade and Sharp, They've got Anthony Simon's whether
Speaker 3: they want to keep him or move him for more
Speaker 3: roster balance, so they already have some very good young
Speaker 3: players no matter what happens with Dame.
Speaker 2: But you know, I can see.
Speaker 3: From Portland's perspective that they would want to take their
Speaker 3: time and try to drag this thing out to ensure
Speaker 3: that they get the largest possible return because and this
Speaker 3: is you, this is the story in the NBA. You know,
Speaker 3: we're Summer League. You know we're we're doing this Thursday night.
Speaker 3: This will probably be out, you know, early Friday morning.
Speaker 3: But Friday night is the debut of Victor wen Minyama.
Speaker 3: Summer League is going to take up the next ten
Speaker 3: days or so. We got some things in the works
Speaker 3: that we can't announce just yet, but we're hoping to
Speaker 3: have some fun of our own on the strip in
Speaker 3: Vegas here in coming days. But let's be honest, more
Speaker 3: than James Harden's future, more than any NBA story you
Speaker 3: want to name, yes, even more than this Victor webmin
Speaker 3: Yama Britney Spears headline today that you couldn't have dreamed
Speaker 3: up a day ago if you tried.
Speaker 2: Nothing is more substantial in terms.
Speaker 3: Of NBA storylines right now than Damian Lillard and his future.
Speaker 3: And something tells me we're gonna be talking about it
Speaker 3: for the next several pods. I mean, unless I don't
Speaker 3: know you know you said it. Aaron Goodwin kind of
Speaker 3: gave you the vibe that he's hopeful that Miami and
Speaker 3: Portland has some face to face discussion. When everybody's in Vegas,
Speaker 3: I mean, do we think that could spark something and
Speaker 3: make this go any faster?
Speaker 4: I don't know, but it's always good when you get
Speaker 4: in front of people. That's why I like coming to
Speaker 4: Vegas because for some oferly because everybody's here and you know,
Speaker 4: it's just something about doing business or not even business,
Speaker 4: just congregating in person. It just does something. It further
Speaker 4: accelerates things, or whether it's accelerating the relationship or accelerating
Speaker 4: the business deal, so that possibly could happen. I don't know,
Speaker 4: but stein remember KD requested the trade.
Speaker 5: Who was it?
Speaker 4: Last summer we went the whole summer, nothing happened. And
Speaker 4: then later in the summer or head into the fall,
Speaker 4: he said he's going to go into He's going to
Speaker 4: go into care.
Speaker 3: No, it took Lesson and took me. He reversed himself.
Speaker 3: It was a matter of weeks that he reversed himself.
Speaker 3: And the reason I will never forget it is because
Speaker 3: I was actually in England with my youngest. We were
Speaker 3: on the dream father son trip, my youngest his first
Speaker 3: visit to England. We got to watch our beloved Manchester
Speaker 3: City on the opening of the season. We got to
Speaker 3: see Earling Hollin score his first two of fifty plus
Speaker 3: goals in the beautiful blue of city.
Speaker 2: We saw it live. He was psyched.
Speaker 3: Then the day after a game in London, we took
Speaker 3: the train to Manchester because he wanted to see Manchester
Speaker 3: with his own eyes. He was doing all kinds of photography.
Speaker 3: We're at dinner on a Monday, a sleepy Monday in August, thinking, okay,
Speaker 3: I mean I can have a couple of days on
Speaker 3: the couple days.
Speaker 2: Of summer travel with my son.
Speaker 3: And that Monday, Durant and Joe Si were in London,
Speaker 3: so they were even in the same country I was.
Speaker 3: And all of a sudden, Durant rescinded his trade demand
Speaker 3: out of the blue, and you know, we're sitting at
Speaker 3: dinner and the you know it starts coming in that
Speaker 3: Durant had changed his position and look at you know,
Speaker 3: he wanted to go. I think he wanted to go
Speaker 3: to Phoenix. Then in the summer, when he first made
Speaker 3: the trade demand, last June or July or basically right
Speaker 3: as free agency was starting, and it took another six
Speaker 3: seven months for that to happen. It wasn't until February
Speaker 3: that it finally happened. So these things sometimes do take
Speaker 3: time to coalesce. I don't think it's going to take
Speaker 3: that long. Like I mean, it's hard for me to
Speaker 3: imagine that this doesn't get resolved before the season starts
Speaker 3: because we're so early in the summer. But that really
Speaker 3: is more just guestimations for me. I mean, we really
Speaker 3: don't have any We don't have any timetable indications yet
Speaker 3: on how long this is actually going to take. Let's
Speaker 3: pivot from there to a couple other big news items
Speaker 3: from this Thursday. A story you've been reporting on quite
Speaker 3: a bit. The Blazers matisse Tible did sign a three year,
Speaker 3: thirty three million dollar offer sheet with the Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 3: That the Blazers let it be known rather swiftly that
Speaker 3: they were and huge disappointment for the fans where I
Speaker 3: live here in Dallas. They came to terms on a
Speaker 3: trade to acquire Grant Williams from Boston on Wednesday, sign
Speaker 3: and trade, and they were just giddy frankly at the
Speaker 3: prospect of adding both Grant Williams and Matisse Tibele to
Speaker 3: the wing rotation, to guys who both know how to
Speaker 3: defend an area that Dallas sorely needs to improve on.
Speaker 3: But the Blazers again, just let it be known quickly
Speaker 3: that they're matching on that offer. And you know what,
Speaker 3: it's not a huge surprise there.
Speaker 2: There was a fair bit.
Speaker 3: Of noise in recent days in advance of the Mavericks
Speaker 3: trying to make these moves. The noise was, you know,
Speaker 3: Boston was trying to send signals that we'll match on
Speaker 3: Grant Williams even though the tax bill would have been
Speaker 3: close to forty million. So I don't know that anybody
Speaker 3: in MAVs land was really buying that. But Matisse tible
Speaker 3: that's such a tradeable contract at that number, and it's
Speaker 3: just too matchable. I mean, they're restricted free agent game.
Speaker 3: To really win, you typically have to overpay, and the
Speaker 3: MAVs only had the mid Level exception available, which only
Speaker 3: goes up to twelve point four million even if you
Speaker 3: have the full mL, and the MAVs didn't quite have
Speaker 3: access to the full mL because the sign and trade
Speaker 3: for Grant Williams hardcap them.
Speaker 2: So, I mean, even though they.
Speaker 3: Made the strongest possible offer, but not nearly strong enough
Speaker 3: to dissuade Portland for matching, the Blazers just simply did
Speaker 3: not you know, I don't know, I don't know how
Speaker 3: much Tible is really in their future plans, but they
Speaker 3: clearly just didn't want to let an asset go for nothing.
Speaker 4: Matise is one of the best peruna defenders in the league.
Speaker 4: And at that number, eleven million a year, that number,
Speaker 4: that's that's a solid number for a guy like that.
Speaker 4: It's a three year deal, player option after year or two.
Speaker 4: But you know, that's to your to your point, that's
Speaker 4: all Dallas could offer. That was the max they could
Speaker 4: offer Matise, and so the money wasn't really that big,
Speaker 4: that significant to where it caused Portland to pause. But
Speaker 4: what I will say is that Dallas Mavericks, and I
Speaker 4: reported this, the Dallas Mavericks, you know, implement a poison
Speaker 4: peel and they were hoping that would you know, kind
Speaker 4: of prevent the Blazers from from matching, and so some
Speaker 4: of the things that were in the contract, obviously the
Speaker 4: player option. Then I was told also in the contract
Speaker 4: was a fifteen trade kicker. Lastly, each year of the
Speaker 4: tenure of the deal, each year the Blazers have to
Speaker 4: pay Matise fifty of his annual salary by Alltober first,
Speaker 4: So you're talking about half of eleven million dollars by
Speaker 4: October first. So they did what they could to try
Speaker 4: to put some things into the contract that would get
Speaker 4: the Blazers off of them. But at the end of
Speaker 4: the day, the Blazers felt like this was still something
Speaker 4: they need to do for asset. Maybe maybe they've seen
Speaker 4: them in this future. I don't see them in the future.
Speaker 4: I don't know, but what I can say what it.
Speaker 2: May it looked, maybe and maybe and maybe I'm maybe I'm.
Speaker 3: Glossing over the tradeability of it, because look, it should be.
Speaker 3: We have to remind you in year one, uh, you know,
Speaker 3: Tible will have veto power over any trade in the
Speaker 3: first season and can't be traded to Dallas at all
Speaker 3: in that first season. So when you're a restricted free agent,
Speaker 3: you do at least come away with that. January fifteenth
Speaker 3: would be the soonest that he could be traded anywhere,
Speaker 3: and again the Blazers would have to get his consent
Speaker 3: and so these little wrinkles do make him slightly tougher
Speaker 3: to trade. But again, the salary number eleven mil, that
Speaker 3: is very tradable. And you know, the interesting thing here is,
Speaker 3: from everything I've heard, and you probably know better, you're
Speaker 3: closer to this than me, the vibe I've gotten is
Speaker 3: that Tyble really did want to end up with Dallas.
Speaker 3: This is something Tible's been wanting even before this summer.
Speaker 3: Dallas has been talked about as a potential destination. The
Speaker 3: Mavericks have explored in the past pathways to try to
Speaker 3: trade for Tible when he was still in Philly. In fact,
Speaker 3: I remember whispers about that because you know, the MAVs
Speaker 3: sorely need a top flight wing defender, and you know
Speaker 3: they had confidence in Dallas that had they been able
Speaker 3: to get Tible. Yes he has offensive shortcomings. Yes there
Speaker 3: are questions about his shooting ability, but when you've got
Speaker 3: Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving at the core of your offense,
Speaker 3: you know you can.
Speaker 2: Live with that.
Speaker 3: They need top flight defenders, and I think had this
Speaker 3: gone through, both Tibo and Grant Williams would have been
Speaker 3: starters for the Mavericks. But it was not to be.
Speaker 3: The Blazers have kept him and will We'll now see
Speaker 3: where it goes from here.
Speaker 4: Stile, let me add this to your point. Yes, Matisse
Speaker 4: desperately wanted to be a member of the Dallas Mavericks,
Speaker 4: and Stein I anticipated this situation getting ugly. I anticipated
Speaker 4: getting getting ugly. I thought there might be they might
Speaker 4: try to get some type of signing trade going because
Speaker 4: he did really want to be a member of the
Speaker 4: Dallas Mavericks. And another thing that people don't know about,
Speaker 4: the Blazers gave Matisse an initial offer that was well
Speaker 4: below what Dallas gave him in the offer sheet. That
Speaker 4: prompted them to go to Dallas and to get that
Speaker 4: offer sheet. So at the end of the day, it
Speaker 4: was sort of a win. I guess I wouldn't on
Speaker 4: off it's a win win. But Matisse got paid. He
Speaker 4: got paid more than what Portland was going to initially offer,
Speaker 4: and so it worked out in that regard. But he
Speaker 4: definitely wanted to be a member of the Mavericks.
Speaker 3: I guess another way you could look at this is
Speaker 3: that this is an example of the Blazers showing us
Speaker 3: that they're gonna do what they think is best. If
Speaker 3: you want to extrapolate that far. Obviously they knew that
Speaker 3: Tible would have preferred to go to Dallas. And there
Speaker 3: is a question of if Portland is about to enter
Speaker 3: a rebuild, what need do they really have for Tible?
Speaker 3: But you know they matched it. We don't know the
Speaker 3: full plan they have for him, or how how much
Speaker 3: a part of their future he really is. But the Blazers,
Speaker 3: the Blazers did not blink. This was a pretty quick
Speaker 3: matching effort.
Speaker 4: Also, Stein, I think we have to point out, for
Speaker 4: those who don't know, Matisa's agent is also Aaron Goodwin.
Speaker 5: Damiel Lili is a so uh.
Speaker 4: I don't know if what they did with Matisse is
Speaker 4: an indicator of what they would do in Dame situation.
Speaker 4: But hey, people may look at that and say, okay,
Speaker 4: Blazer's will not be they will not be they will
Speaker 4: not be challenged. I should say, you know they're gonna
Speaker 4: do what they feel is best for them in the organization.
Speaker 4: So interesting to see how this thing is going to
Speaker 4: all play out as it pertains the Dame.
Speaker 3: And let's wrap this one up with because I don't
Speaker 3: think I know you are in Vegas, but am I
Speaker 3: correct to say that you haven't yet tracked down Wemby
Speaker 3: or Britney Spears for their latest Well, Wemby did address
Speaker 3: this with the media today, so Wemby's already he's already
Speaker 3: talked about it.
Speaker 4: So you're saying I should try to track down Brittany
Speaker 4: and get her side of the story.
Speaker 3: Well, she's talked a lot too, so I guess we
Speaker 3: got their sides. I'm just trying to have some fun
Speaker 3: with you and just giving you a hard time that
Speaker 3: maybe you should have just landed, blown this pod off
Speaker 3: and just gotten right onto the Webbyama Spears beat and
Speaker 3: I don't mean Mark Spears.
Speaker 4: Well, let me tell you this, I did think about
Speaker 4: once I landed and blowing this pod off. I did
Speaker 4: think about that, but it wasn't to go check out
Speaker 4: Britney Spears and went beyond. It was gonna be some
Speaker 4: other things. I am in Vegas, after all. You know,
Speaker 4: there's a lot of nice attractions out here. I would
Speaker 4: say Vegas is probably top seven eight cities I like
Speaker 4: to visit just for a few days. You get really
Speaker 4: real bored and tired after two or three days.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that's not that I shouldn't it be higher
Speaker 3: than that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know it's not Miami.
Speaker 5: But no, I just get real.
Speaker 4: Like Miami, I can stay in Miami for a week,
Speaker 4: I can't stay in Vegas for a week.
Speaker 5: I can only do two, two days, two three days.
Speaker 5: I still I'd get a little.
Speaker 2: Vegas in July.
Speaker 3: I don't know that I love I don't know, like
Speaker 3: I said, yeah July, I'm not loving it. But look,
Speaker 3: it's so bad in Dallas weatherwise that actually going to
Speaker 3: Vegas is easier because even though the tempts are higher,
Speaker 3: the humidity is so much lower. I think that there
Speaker 3: was a story recently, like a week or so ago,
Speaker 3: that Dallas weather at this point was like hotter than
Speaker 3: ninety nine percent of the rest of the world. So
Speaker 3: it's actually gonna get easier for me when I relocate
Speaker 3: to the desert. But no, I mean, I am you know.
Speaker 3: When I was in college, Vegas was in our conference.
Speaker 3: So going to Vegas has had a mystical appeal for me.
Speaker 3: Seeing games at the Thomas and Mac. I mean, this
Speaker 3: goes back to the eighties for me, and in the
Speaker 3: early nineties, Man Vegas their team was like like a
Speaker 3: pro team.
Speaker 2: I mean when they had when they.
Speaker 3: Had Greg Anthony Stacy Augman, Anderson Hunt, Larry Johnson, George Jackals.
Speaker 3: I mean that team coming to Titan Jim was like
Speaker 3: an NBA team coming to Titan Jim. So Vegas has
Speaker 3: always been a huge part of my basketball life, and
Speaker 3: as hot as it is in July, I could do
Speaker 3: a week there easy restaurants alone.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Love. I don't know, there's just I love the place.
Speaker 5: I'm ready, well her up and gets.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 2: I'm working on it. All right.
Speaker 3: Let's let's close with your other big story today, de
Speaker 3: Jontay Murray get a contract extension with Atlanta. There had
Speaker 3: been a lot of curiosity about that. Would the Hawks
Speaker 3: actually extend to Jontay Murray? Would they be able to
Speaker 3: They obviously paid a pretty hefty trade price to get
Speaker 3: him from San Antonio last summer, but that deal kind
Speaker 3: of sneaked up on people tonight. There was some thought
Speaker 3: that it maybe wouldn't happen this offseason. So break that
Speaker 3: one down.
Speaker 2: For us if you could.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So he an extension four years, one to twenty player
Speaker 4: option on the final year last thirty million a year.
Speaker 5: If my math is correct, and I didn't, I didn't.
Speaker 5: I didn't know if this was going to happen. I
Speaker 5: could I could not have.
Speaker 4: I could not have thought this would be on my
Speaker 4: radar if you would have asked me a few months ago.
Speaker 4: The fit with him and Trey, they had some pretty
Speaker 4: good success and then it struggled in some areas. And
Speaker 4: you can definitely say it was an adapting type of
Speaker 4: a season for the Dejohntay and Trey. Both of them
Speaker 4: are used to having a ball in their hands, being
Speaker 4: the primary ball handlers, and so they had to share
Speaker 4: that responsibility and it worked to a certain point, but
Speaker 4: you know there was some struggles in it. But thing
Speaker 4: about the Johntay man, I remember, I would like to
Speaker 4: say I discovered the John Say. I got to bring
Speaker 4: the Johntay on this pod STN. The Johntay is awesome man.
Speaker 4: He came up the pod I used to do back
Speaker 4: in the day. Stein He's he's a really great He's
Speaker 4: a really great kid man and I love his story.
Speaker 4: But if de Johntay staying out, I think that's what
Speaker 4: everybody wants to know. We've been hearing how the Atlanta
Speaker 4: Hawks have been really trying to get in on the
Speaker 4: Pascal Siakam sweepstakes, and we kind of touched on that
Speaker 4: in previous pods before. Pascal would like to stay in Toronto.
Speaker 4: I believe he has a one year left on his deal,
Speaker 4: so that that's going into that that territory or the
Speaker 4: similar situation of what Kawhi Leonard went through. So I
Speaker 4: don't know what's going to happen. But the Jonte man,
Speaker 4: that's a really good deal for him. I just don't
Speaker 4: know if if his future is still there that is
Speaker 4: then know, is there anything that you've hearsed thid about that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So, I mean, look, the first the first question was
Speaker 3: could Dejonte get enough money in an extension that would
Speaker 3: make him want to sign now, because there was a
Speaker 3: school of thought that said, you know what, don't be
Speaker 3: surprised if he opts to wait until unrestricted free agency
Speaker 3: next summer when he can make more. But in this
Speaker 3: new CBA, the extension rules were changed to try to
Speaker 3: give incumbent teams more of a chance to retain their guys.
Speaker 3: And look, we just we keep seeing this more and
Speaker 3: more and more. I recently did a TV essay about
Speaker 3: this for Bally Sports Southwest about how you know so,
Speaker 3: and part of that essay was, We're seeing so many
Speaker 3: more extensions. It's just extensions, extensions, extensions, So so the
Speaker 3: number of top stars who make it to free agency anymore,
Speaker 3: it just get that group seems to get smaller and small,
Speaker 3: and that's why the trade market has kind of replaced,
Speaker 3: or one of the main reasons why the trade market
Speaker 3: has replaced free agency as the big you know, the
Speaker 3: easiest way to really change your team and change it dramatically.
Speaker 3: It's amazing when you you know, this summer in free agency,
Speaker 3: the only current All Star. Hat tip to my good
Speaker 3: friend Ben Goliver of the Washington Post. He's the one
Speaker 3: who first came up with this stat and I have
Speaker 3: gratefully borrowed it from him about seventeen times since. The
Speaker 3: only All Star, the only current All Star on this
Speaker 3: summer's free agent market was Kyrie Irving. It's the only one.
Speaker 3: The only guy who played in the All Star Game
Speaker 3: in Salt Lake City who was available in free agency.
Speaker 3: Fred van Vliet was was an All Star last season,
Speaker 3: but not this season. So it just again it just
Speaker 3: shows you that just fewer and fewer and fewer of
Speaker 3: the top guy are even making it to free agency
Speaker 3: and Dejonte was one of those guys who I think
Speaker 3: during the season, at various points the thought was that
Speaker 3: he would make it to free agency. But with the
Speaker 3: rules changing on extensions and the Hawks being able to
Speaker 3: give him a larger raise than they could have under.
Speaker 2: The previous system.
Speaker 3: And I believe the cap experts out there will correct
Speaker 3: me if I'm wrong, but I believe they were also
Speaker 3: able to give him an expert year in an extension
Speaker 3: because of changes to the CBA, So that enabled Atlanta
Speaker 3: to get this deal done. Now, as for Siakam, and
Speaker 3: I'm glad you said it because I need to clarify this.
Speaker 3: You know, I think you said it right. Pascal Siakam,
Speaker 3: that's it's on his side. The resistance to a trade
Speaker 3: to Atlanta has really been on his side, precisely where
Speaker 3: the Raptors fall in terms of trading. Pascal Siakam has
Speaker 3: been a lot harder to pinpoint, as it often is
Speaker 3: with the Raptors. At the trade deadline, there was so
Speaker 3: much curiosity, what would the Raptors do? Would Fred van
Speaker 3: Vliet be made available for trade, would Siakam be would
Speaker 3: Siakam be made available for trade? What about Ognnnobi? What
Speaker 3: about Gary Trent Junior. There were trade discussions surrounding all
Speaker 3: those guys, and in the end Toronto didn't trade any
Speaker 3: of them. They ended up making a trade to bring
Speaker 3: in Yaka pertl. Now fast forward a few months later,
Speaker 3: Fred van Vliet opts to go to Houston and the
Speaker 3: questions started new, what are the Raptors going to do?
Speaker 3: Is Pascal Siakam actually being made available by the Toronto Raptors.
Speaker 3: That's been harder to gauge. The most consistent rumbles there
Speaker 3: have been that the Hawks had been very interested in
Speaker 3: a trade for Siakam and that Siakam has been resistant
Speaker 3: to it. The message has been sent whispered, maybe even
Speaker 3: louder than whispered, that Siakam really wouldn't be interested in
Speaker 3: a contract extension if the Hawks were to move him,
Speaker 3: and you know, we'll see.
Speaker 2: Now, does you know what you know? We have to gauge.
Speaker 3: We have to nail down what impact signing Murray has
Speaker 3: on that pursuit from the Hawks on Siakam. Hopefully, with
Speaker 3: Chris and I both in Vegas getting in front of people,
Speaker 3: we will be able to get more answers to the
Speaker 3: burning questions because there are still many of course, as
Speaker 3: we said, it all starts with Damian Lillard, but we
Speaker 3: also do have James Harden's future.
Speaker 2: He's made it known in Philadelphia that he.
Speaker 3: Would like to be moved. The Sixers, it appears, are
Speaker 3: trying to slow play this much like they did when
Speaker 3: Ben Simmons requested a trade. It looks like the Sixers
Speaker 3: would love to take their.
Speaker 2: Time and maybe even lobby Damian Lillard too.
Speaker 3: Come on, man, just play out this last year and
Speaker 3: then we'll.
Speaker 2: See where it goes.
Speaker 3: You can definitely it's not hard to picture Darryl Morey
Speaker 3: taking that kind of stance. Lots of question about those Raptors.
Speaker 3: Is Siakam available, will they look to make other trades
Speaker 3: or are they going to try to stay competitive After
Speaker 3: signing Dennis Shrewder on a two year deal to step
Speaker 3: in to the Fred van Vliet void, what happens with
Speaker 3: the Raptors? How much more action do we see from
Speaker 3: the Hawks, who seem to be involved in a lot
Speaker 3: of stuff. What teams out there will have the guts
Speaker 3: to make a run at Dame not named Miami?
Speaker 2: Does a Utah?
Speaker 3: Does a New Orleans try to use their considerable trade
Speaker 3: assets to get in the mix.
Speaker 2: There so many many questions to pose.
Speaker 3: Chris and I will be in search of the answers,
Speaker 3: and again not trying to be cryptic, We're only not
Speaker 3: saying too much because we don't want to jinx anything.
Speaker 3: We are pursuing some really, really fun projects and get
Speaker 3: togethers in Vegas, shall we say. We hope to have
Speaker 3: those details nail down very very soon, and something tells
Speaker 3: me that you will get at least one and possibly
Speaker 3: more podcasts from the Haines Stein tag team that you
Speaker 3: will find lively and enjoyable, emanating from the famed Vegas strip.
Speaker 3: All right, that does it for this edition of This
Speaker 3: League Uncut. Please, friends, please, if you have it already, rate, review,
Speaker 3: and subscribe to the show via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever
Speaker 3: you get your pods, because again, if the proverbial chips,
Speaker 3: if the proverbial chips fall our way, this could be
Speaker 3: a pretty momentous week coming up in the history of
Speaker 3: this fledged podcast as we near we're almost six months old.
Speaker 3: As producer Ryan Music reminded me recently, we're nearing our
Speaker 3: six month anniversary and we will try to mark that
Speaker 3: occasion with as much good stuff as we can. Another
Speaker 3: good one in the books. Stay tuned for more.
Speaker 2: From us very soon. That does it. We will be
Speaker 2: back with you soon. Everybody be good and that'll do
Speaker 2: it for us.
Speaker 1: See you next time. This League on Cuttage and iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: production
Speaker 2: Chris Haynes and Mark Stein