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The NBA is officially off the rails. What an off-season and it's only been a couple days. We've already covered Giannis to Miami on a previous episode, so make sure you go check that out, but we can just run through some of the other stuff that's happened in the less than 1 week since then. Kawhi Leonard is a Raptor again. LeBron is we don't know yet, but he's not a Laker. The Lakers themselves look very different. Jaylen Brown is a 76er. Paul George is a Celtic. LaMelo Ball is a Timberwolf. Ja Morant is a Trail Blazer.
We can go on and on. So, let's break it down and go through every major deal, or at least the one that you guys care about. And let's start with the Kawhi Leonard trade, which I think was a no-brainer for the Toronto Raptors. And no, not just because I'm sitting here in a studio in Toronto. This is not a homer take, okay? I understand the obvious risk, okay? In the 4 years since missing an entire season recovering from a torn ACL, Kawhi has averaged just 55.5 games per year. He had a checkered injury history before that happened. And by the way, there's still a cap circumvention investigation and scandal hovering over both his head and the Clippers' heads. So, I get all that. I get the risk and I understand
that trading control of three first-round draft picks, two unprotected in the 2030s, and a swap in 2027, and potentially giving him a max extension that will likely run through his age 37 season, is obviously risky, but let me explain why it's a no-brainer anyway. You have to understand that the Raptors weren't just some young rebuilding team with a clean slate that they randomly mucked up to chase an aging star. This was a young playoff team, yes, a young playoff team, but one that already had big money commitments to veteran players. They already had a pretty complicated cap sheet going forward. Assuming Brandon Ingram eventually picked up his 2027-28 player option, the Raptors were on the hook to
pay Ingram, a one-dimensional star who by the way has missed more games than Kawhi Leonard over the last 4 years, 24% of the salary cap for the next 2 years. And they'd probably have to make a decision on either extending Ingram or trading him relatively soon anyway. Even if Kawhi commands 35% of the cap on his next extension, which he probably will, for 3 years, going from 2 years of Ingram to 3 of Leonard is worth the picks it took to get there, especially when you consider that Toronto kept the rest of its core intact. Like, the Raptors acquiring a player of Kawhi's caliber, even at this stage of his career, without trading Colin Murray-Boyles, that's worth the draft capital in its own right. And it's icing on the cake that they
also didn't have to give up a Jacobi Walter, a Jamal Shed, Allen Graves, who they just drafted. Like, again, no-brainer for the Raptors. They essentially turned Brandon Ingram and Grady Dick, a supposed shooter who couldn't shoot, and who had fallen out of the Raptors' rotation, into Kawhi freaking Leonard. That is worth some draft capital. If you don't get that, then I don't think you quite understand how massive of an upgrade Leonard is over Ingram. And that's not even a knock on BI. Like, Ingram made an All-Star game last season. He played more games than he had since his rookie year. And he really did help the Raptors figure some things out on the offensive end.
Really helped them when it came to half-court offense. But we saw what Scotty Barnes and the Raptors did without Ingram in the playoffs. And between Kawhi and Ingram, Kawhi's an even better mid-range scorer, a more efficient offensive player overall, a better and more willing three-point shooter, and we obviously know that these guys are on different planets defensively. Like Kawhi might not be his um former Defensive Player of the Year self, but he is still game-changing on that end. And yet, he's not even the best defensive player in the Raptors front court. He might not even be the second best defensive player in the Raptors front court because Scotty Barnes and Colin Murray Boyles both have all-defensive potential on that end.
Barnes literally just made an all-defensive team. That trio, Leonard, Barnes, Murray Boyles, is going to be terrifying defensively. And then you start to think about it, and it's like even the higher-priced veterans that the Raptors have and that people thought were maybe impediments to doing something better, they all of a sudden start to look like better puzzle pieces and better fits with Kawhi in the fold. RJ Barrett, who's extension-eligible himself, he can be a really important off-ball threat and kind of a release valve for Kawhi and Barnes, and his defensive shortcomings suddenly get masked a lot better on that end of the floor with Kawhi joining Barnes and Murray Boyles. Immanuel Quickley, his job just got a lot easier.
He doesn't need to necessarily justify his contract or a larger role anymore. He can literally just be a caretaking point guard and shooter around Kawhi and Barnes, especially if Scotty Barnes can kind of touch the heights he did in the playoffs as a point forward. Now, the Jakob Poeltl contract, he's owed almost $104 million over the uh next few years. Yeah, that is still a problem, but the Raptors no longer have to view that Poeltl contract as one that will impede their ability to pair Barnes with another star because again, they've now landed that big fish in Leonard, and they're still deep enough to survive regular season stretches without Kawhi. And that's another thing. It's not like
the Raptors took this massive swing and traded all these picks on Kawhi that desperately need him for 70 plus games a year because they're left with nothing after that. No, like I'm only expecting Kawhi to play 50 to 60 games per year. I'm being realistic. But the Raptors have a good team, they have good depth. Um they've got enough depth to give themselves a solid regular season floor even without Kawhi. Like let him do what he needs to be done to be good for April through June because suddenly that's what the Raptors are playing for again. That's what this trade has done for them. And remember, Raptors general manager Bobby Webster, vice president of health and performance Alex McKechnie,
the silver fox, they know how to best manage Kawhi Leonard throughout the year so that they get what they need from him in the spring. And even from an asset standpoint, the Raptors still have a bunch of young talent. They can still trade control of up to four more first-round picks. They didn't even come close to going all in for this trade. I'll leave you with this on the Kawhi front. The Raptors already boasted a top-five defense, a top-10 half-court offense, and an overall average-ish offense en route to 46 wins last season. And now they've replaced Ingram with Leonard. That is a huge boost on both ends. Very few teams can match Toronto's two-way ceiling. I know obviously a lot can still happen, whether it's Philly, Miami, whatever in
the East. Like there are teams that can still make more moves. But as of right now, I've got the Raps as the number two team in the East. I have them as the biggest threat to the Knicks, the defending champion Knicks in the East. Um all that said, we are still talking Kawhi trade. I do want to give some credit to the Clippers in this deal as well because um they could have easily just kept spinning their wheels and kind of kept subscribing to the sunk cost fallacy when it comes to Kawhi. And instead, they understood how far they still were from contention, and they moved quickly on the Kawhi trade. Like don't get me wrong. It's disappointing that after a seven-year run defined by postseason
disappointment, injuries, and scandals, and after one of the best seasons of Kawhi's career, the Clippers couldn't acquire a blue-chip prospect when they finally moved on from Kawhi? But he didn't help their cause with all his baggage, plus the fact he was entering a contract year and had reportedly telegraphed that he'd only sign an extension with the Raptors. Like essentially, and this probably doesn't help his case in the public the court of public opinion in LA, Kawhi's parting gift after all that was essentially taking all the Clippers leverage. But all that said, getting control of
three first-rounders and delaying the unprotected traded picks until well after Kawhi is gone from Toronto, that was good work by the Clippers by team president Lawrence Frank. They can actually start to turn the page now. They've got Darius Garland, they've got number five overall pick Keon Wagler, they got financial flexibility, and they're slowly replenishing their supply of draft capital. There is real light at the end of the tunnel for the Clippers. No, it's not Kawhi and Paul George, it's not Kawhi and James Harden, it's not Kawhi and whichever other veteran star has cruised through town over the last seven years, but what it is clarity.
And that is refreshing for the Clippers after the last seven years. That is worth something to them. That, I think, is all that needs to be said about the Kawhi trade from both sides. Now, usually something like the Kawhi trade's happened, I'm out of here, I'm out of the studio. We've already covered the big news of the offseason, but nope, we got to talk about a Jaylen Brown trade and then a bunch of other stuff. I'm not even the biggest Jaylen Brown guy. Some of you may recall actually couple months back, if you watch all the videos we put up, I actually called him the most overrated player in the league. I figured that if any team met what I assumed would be Boston's asking price for Jaylen Brown, I would come in
here and I'd say, "Jaylen Brown is not worth the price that whatever team gave up for him." But then, the stuck-in-limbo 76ers turned two years of Paul George and two first round picks into three years of Jaylen Brown and I can't dump on that from Philly's perspective. That is the equivalent of Philly pulling a rabbit out of its hat. I may not be the biggest Jaylen Brown believer, but even I know you should not rush to trade an All-NBA'er to a bitter rival and one that just eliminated you from the playoffs a few months ago by the way for 2026 Paul George and a couple first rounders. Like what are the Celtics doing? Even if like me and like the on-off numbers and like the big bad scary analytics, ooh. Even
if like all of us you don't think Jaylen Brown's on-court impact and value measures up to his raw stats and his contract because he's a volume scorer, because he's an inconsistent shooter, an overrated defender, he's prone to bouts of tunnel vision, all of that. Guess what? He's also significantly and unquestionably better than Paul George. Jaylen Brown's coming off a season where he averaged roughly 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists while serving as the number one option for an overachieving 56-win Celtics team. Earned All-NBA second team honors. Paul George at this point of his career is closer to a three-and-D role player.
Jaylen Brown has never played less than 76% of his team's games in a season. Paul George has cracked the 60-game mark once in the last seven years. Jaylen Brown is six years younger. Like even Brown's supermax contract which would be problematic for a lot of teams and in general is problematic it's tolerable for a Sixers team that is ditching Paul George's deal. Like yeah, Jaylen Brown's owed $183 million over the next three years. It's roughly 35% of the cap, not great. But, that doesn't seem so bad when just a few days ago Philly thought it still owed the inferior and older Paul George like $111
million over the next 2 years, roughly 33% of the cap. The Sixers got better, they got younger, they got more cost-effective without having to sacrifice a prospect like V.J. Edgecomb. That is worth a couple first-rounders, even when one of those picks is unprotected and won't convey until long after the Sixers current core is gone. Between Tyrese Maxey's shooting, Brown's bully ball, V.J. Edgecomb's dynamism, the Sixers can at least sniff the fringes of contention for the next few years. And barring a miraculous return to health for Joel Embiid, there was no world in which they could have said that with Paul George in Jaylen Brown's place. On the other side of this deal, I have no idea how Boston can possibly justify
this. Like, I really don't. The decision to trade Brown in general completely defensible. Reasonable, even. Again, given all of the things I said about Jaylen Brown and why I'm not the biggest believer in his impact. And I get that there was clearly friction between the two sides after Boston tried to trade Brown for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Um I get that the Celtics likely realized that, hey, Brown's polarizing value would never be higher than it was after an All-NBA career year. But, the only thing was this wasn't selling high. If Paul George plus control of a couple first-rounders was the best the Celtics could do, then they were better off either waiting out the market or finding a way to make it work with Brown still in the fold.
Like, even if you're skeptical of Brown's overall impact, the Celtics had proof of concept at the very least that pairing Brown with Jayson Tatum results in perennial contention. If the relationship between Brown and the Celtics was truly damaged beyond repair, fine, maybe you make a deal eventually, but like was a July 1st trade a rushed trade to a bitter rival really necessary? The Clippers acquired control of three first-round picks as we discussed earlier for a 35-year-old Kawhi Leonard. And yes, Kawhi is a better player than Jaylen Brown, but still I'm just comparing this the Brown deal to deals in the same week
here. Clippers got three first-round picks essentially, two in a swap for a 35-year-old Kawhi Leonard. The Utah Jazz, and we're going to talk about this later in the show, turned injury-prone zero-time All-Star Walker Kessler into control of four additional first-round picks. The Celtics turned career-year Jaylen Brown into Paul George and two picks. Like both of those are better those deals I mentioned are better halls than what the Celtics got for Jaylen Brown. Like a better hall would have been available at some point this summer. Or at least that's what I think. Brad Stevens, that Celtics front office, it was bulletproof for a long time. There wasn't a lot you can say about it. They are officially
on the clock. They officially have some explaining to do, or I don't know, maybe this is just a sign that new ownership in Boston is pulling the strings. All right, we've we've talked a lot about the Eastern Conference and kind of what's shaking there. Let's head out west. Let's talk about the LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers who added Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Collin Sexton after giving Austin Reaves about 185 million dollars. So, first of all, with [clears throat] or without LeBron, the Lakers' biggest priorities this summer were retaining Austin Reaves and finding a long-term solution at center. So, check and check, right? Got Austin Reaves signed long-term and they got
Walker Kessler. Job well done, right? Not so fast. 130 million dollars four years to Walker Kessler in this day and age. Actually not that bad. Could prove a bargain if we're just talking strictly financially. It's less than 18% of the salary cap. You got to remember how inflated the NBA cap is nowadays. So, you know, 30 whatever million dollars for Walker Kessler not as bad as it sounds. And I know he's missed more than 48 games the last three seasons. He missed almost the entire season last year with a shoulder injury. But Kessler is an efficient big man. He's an elite offensive rebounder. He's got all defensive potential and he's
experimented with an improved three-point shot. He could be exactly what Luka Dončić and Reeves need both as an offensive companion and to help insulate them on the defensive end. But trading control of four first-round picks for Walker Kessler is a crazy bet on all that aforementioned upside. The Lakers now they don't have any tradeable first-rounders left over the next seven years and they've basically capped themselves out for the remainder of Dončić's current contract. Which means they need to prove themselves as legitimate contenders for all of this to be worth it. But that's going to be tough.
Like Grimes runs hot and cold. He can score in bunches, but he's a streaky shooter, one-way guard on a team that needs defenders and more consistent spacing around Dončić and Reeves. There's going to be nights when it feels like the Lakers got Grimes on a bargain and there are going to be other nights when he looks like one of the worst mid-level deals in the league. Mamou is a solid floor spacing big man. He can also put the floor the ball on the floor a little bit. I watched a lot of him obviously in Toronto. Got to talk to Mamou a bunch in my time covering the league from Toronto. Good guy, good
locker room guy, good player. Fine deal for the Lakers. Sexton efficient scoring guard, very respected locker room guy. I can say that even when I was in the Charlotte room earlier this year and you know LaMelo Ball who will talk about later was being kind of a clown. Sexton seemed to be kind of this like very respected veteran locker room voice. So I think again, good pick up for the Lakers in a vacuum. He can play either backcourt position but between Grimes and Mamukelashvili and Sexton and obviously Doncic and Reeves, the Lakers are going to be asking a lot of Kessler on the back end to make up for a lot defensively. I do not like this team's defensive makeup. And even though they should be awesome offensively, they
could threaten to be the number one offense in the league, they still need a starting caliber wing. They obviously need more defense to contend and they don't really have much flexibility to find that wing or to find that much needed defense. This team is not balanced. Uh not enough defense in front of Kessler, inflexible to do anything else. Not a big fan of this uh Lakers off season. I don't think this team is good enough. Let's see if Doncic and company can prove me wrong. Quick note on the Jazz losing Kessler in the sign-and-trade. Utah still [clears throat] has number two overall pick Keyon Peterson, Ace Bailey, Keyonte George, Kyle Filipowski
and Isaiah Collier among others still on rookie scale contracts. They've got Lauri Markkanen and former defensive player of the year Jaren Jackson in the front court and they have an absolute bounty of surplus draft picks. It's very rare that a team can lose a youngster like Kessler without receiving a player in return and still come out of the deal ahead but that's exactly what the Jazz have done. They still have a very bright future. Uh big fan of what the Jazz are building even if you can't quite see the end result yet. Okay, I promised we'd talk about LaMelo Ball so let's do that.
One of the most unserious players I've ever talked to and don't get me wrong, pleasant enough conversations when I've been in the locker room when Charlotte rolls through Toronto, you know, so nothing against LaMelo personally, but as unserious as you'd expect. So, I kind of I get why Charlotte would do what they did in trading him. In fact, I think it actually took a lot of stones by Charlotte's front office, by general manager Jeff Peterson who's doing a good job there. And the reason I say that, the reason I say it took a lot of guts and I commend the Hornets for this is because there are a lot of front offices, actually there are most NBA front offices, where if they thought this was the deal they had to make, even if they
thought, man, we should probably trade LaMelo Ball, they wouldn't have the guts to do it after just having the most exciting season the franchise has had in over a decade. And so, I give Peterson and the Hornets credit that they didn't let that second half of the season, the success, the excitement of last season influence them or dissuade them from making a trade that they thought they had to make. I give them credit for that. At his absolute best, LaMelo Ball undeniably a game-breaking offensive talent, limitless range, top-tier playmaker, and he has the size to make a difference on the defensive end. Even with all his warts, and trust me, we're going to get into those warts, his impact on the Hornets' success was
consistently positive. Just one stat I'll throw out you guys. Among 77 players who logged at least 2,000 minutes last season, Ball's on-off differential, which was plus 9.9, ranked sixth, according to Cleaning the Glass. And what that on-off differential is essentially how the Hornets performed with LaMelo Ball on the court versus off the court, um sixth ranked. And Anthony Edwards has never played with a backcourt mate this good in Minnesota. So, again, I, you know, I get why some Hornets fans are upset. I get why Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves are probably excited. But I do think the Timberwolves are kind of imbalanced now in the opposite way they used to be, where they were kind of a really big team and maybe didn't have enough backcourt help for Anthony
Edwards. Now, you know, Naz Reid gone, Julius Randle gone, it seems like they're in balance the other way and they maybe need another big or whatever, but I do get the bet on LaMelo Ball's talent. It's just the Timberwolves, they feel like an incomplete team that is still maybe one big piece away from tying it all together and who knows, maybe they land that piece somehow this offseason. Maybe it's LeBron, I don't know. But they are very pot committed to this team now and to the Edwards-Ball duo in general. And I have no qualms about being pot committed to Anthony Edwards.
I do not trust being pot committed to LaMelo Ball. I just don't trust him in general as a leader of a team. The Timberwolves have one tradeable draft pick remaining over the next 7 years and it's Memphis' 2030 second-rounder. The only pick the Wolves actually control themselves during that time is their own 2032 first-rounder, but the most they can even do with that is offer it as a swap. They can't trade it outright. Um so again, kind of similar to what we were talking about the Lakers where it's like I don't think they're good enough, but I also don't think they now have the assets or the flexibility to do anything about it.
I mentioned those words with LaMelo. So, lengthy injury history, we know all about his wonky ankles. He's averaged just 47.4 appearances per 82 games over his 5-year career. And I mean, maybe there are optimists out there, LaMelo optimists, big LaMelo fans, who could point out, "Hey, Steph Curry overcame ankle injuries early in his career before exploding into superstardom." Well, let me put that in perspective for you. Steph Curry, even with all those ankle injuries and being injury-prone early in his career, still averaged 70 appearances per 82 games in his first 5 years. Again, LaMelo Ball, 47.4. And even when healthy, LaMelo comes with baggage. Like
yes, he played a smarter brand of basketball last season, made more of what a coaches would describe as winning plays, did more of the little things, the dirty work, was better defensively. But, his general demeanor remains unserious. That defensive effort is still inconsistent at best. And for all of the offensive talent he has and that he brings to the table, he's also prone to like a startling number of really bad decisions with the ball in his hands. And that wears on teams, that adds up over time, over the course of a season, over the course of a playoff series, which is what the Wolves are now hoping he's going to be part of.
Maybe you can argue like, "Hey, that stuff will be negated and limited playing beside an alpha like Ant, who will have the ball in his hands in the biggest moments." But, I don't know, man. The Hornets knew Ball better than anyone, and they decided to sell high on him rather than riding the wave of excitement last season produced, and I think that tells you something. We're about to find out how important LaMelo Ball was to everything the Hornets were doing or just how replaceable he was. And we know what the Hornets are betting on the answer being. As for the Hornets, look, Kam Knippel,
Brandon Miller are obviously the future there. And they decided they didn't want, you know, everything that came with LaMelo and low IQ empty calorie Miles Bridges around those young cornerstones. Uh by the way, what the hell was Phoenix doing? Just complete side note here. Trading an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, their only tradeable pick for Miles Bridges. Insane asset management. But anyway, back to the Hornets. Uh Knippel and Miller are their future. All the young guys they've got, Moussa Diabaté. I love Naz Reid, by the way, who is now a Hornet. And they have 11 first-round picks over the next 7 years, including that unprotected Suns pick in 2033, and control over a couple of Minnesota's
first-rounders after Ball's contract and Edwards' contract expire, the Hornets have some very, very valuable trade chips in addition to some very exciting young talent. I really, really like what Jeff Peterson is doing there. The Hornets want to be a serious franchise. That's what this is about. They want to be a serious franchise, and they didn't think they could do that with LaMelo Ball. Honestly, hard to blame them. All right. Speaking of a one-time star who became known as an unserious player, Ja Morant also got traded in the last week. Ja Morant going from Memphis to Portland for essentially a bag of donuts. No disrespect to Jerami
Grant and Kris Murray, but that is not the trade package people would have envisioned for Ja Morant years ago. We've talked ad nauseam about the off-court concerns with Ja Morant and even the on-court concerns. Like, he's a non-shooting point guard, a defensively challenged point guard, uh who has shown signs of diminishing athleticism. That is a very bad combination, even if you don't consider the off-court stuff. There's a reason why he was available for that aforementioned bag of donuts. But, also the price was low enough, you know, in Grant and Murray that I'm fine with this as a low-risk low-risk bet for Portland.
I understand taking the flyer on Ja's sheer talent. And look, we saw some encouraging signs. There was a stretch like mid-season this past year when Morant had just come back from a calf injury, and we saw some of those like drive numbers, some of those the at-rim frequency kind of start to tick up, and it was encouraging. Of course, downside is that after a couple weeks, he was then sidelined by ankle, calf, and elbow injuries again. So, yeah, it mixed bag when it comes to Ja, but again, when you look at the price paid to acquire him, I have no issue with Portland taking the flyer. Um I did think it was funny.
Portland's new head coach, uh D'Antoni, there was a story in The Athletic, Jason Quick wrote it, all about how Dunleavy, uh you know, had this great sit-down and I think a lunch or a dinner with John. They talked about things in the future, and John seemed so focused, and he wants to be a Blazer, and he's really he's just wants to win, and he wants to get back to showing who he is as a basketball player, and he seemed so genuine, and um and earnest, and all this stuff. And it's like it all sounds great. It's sounds very training camp-y, like, oh, everyone's in great shape on the first day of training camp. I just thought it was funny cuz it was like the Blazers now have to try so hard. I'm
not saying that meeting didn't happen. I'm sure Mike Dunleavy and Ja Morant had a fine sit-down, and I'm sure Ja said all the right things, and I'm sure they're both very excited about their time together in Portland, but it does kind of seem to me like the Blazers are just going to be trying really hard to be like, no, no, no, he's Ja is a changed guy. He's going to be the great Ja Morant of years past. And we can't really say no, he's not until they take the floor, and then we'll see. But, uh I wouldn't bet on him being that player, but still understand why Portland took the low-risk, uh gamble on it. The flip side is that the Grizzlies have completely turned the page on that
Morant, Bane, and Jackson era. They have a fresh slate now with Cam Boozer, and Cedric Coward, and Zach Edey, and a boatload of picks, no distractions around. So, let's see what Memphis can do with that, all right? We can get to some smaller notes now as we wrap things up here. I just want to mention that the Detroit Pistons have been maybe the most disappointing team of the offseason when it comes to their inactivity. Like, I said it going back to the trade deadline when they didn't really do anything except add Kevin Huerter that uh it was a disappointing deadline for me because while Pistons fans and the front office seemed to be leaning on the fact like, hey, we're young, we're going
to be building this thing out for years. We don't have to rush into it. And my counter was, you are a six you know, on pace to be a 60-win one seed. You have a chance this year. Make your move. They didn't. Apparently, they were going to wait till the off-season, and guess what? Now the off-season's come, and uh their off-season so far has amounted to salary dumping Isaiah Stewart, and then adding John Collins and Isaiah Joe. Don't love it. I like Joe, and I like Collins. I actually think John Collins has become underrated, but it's just that's really underwhelming as an off-season for a team that is coming off
60 wins, that is coming off being a number one seed, that is coming off an underwhelming trade deadline because they were waiting for the off-season that did salary dump Isaiah Stewart. They cannot come out of this summer having just retained Huerter and added John Collins and Isaiah Joe. They need to be make a bigger move because the Eastern Conference is passing them by. Um speaking of the Eastern Conference, guy I wanted to make a note of one of the more surprising deals of this off-season so far, Norman Powell landing in Chicago on a two-year $45-ish million deal.
Powell's coming off an All-Star season this past year. He has a track record of efficient production, three-level scorer. He's averaged more than 21 points per game in each of the last two seasons. He's topped 60% true shooting 7 years in a row. He's a career 39 points, essentially 40% three-point shooter on a high volume of attempts. Like even at 33 years old and with clear defensive issues that I've complained about in the past, I thought he could command a third year on the open market. I thought he could command a bigger overall contract, more money. Um and if he couldn't, then it seemed reasonable that he would at least land with a contender. Instead, he signs a two-year deal with the rebuilding Bulls
who are not going to figure into, you know, the playoff picture, let alone contention conversations. Um but what I think is interesting about this is that I think we're going to spend the next 2 years, or maybe the just this next season, talking about Norman Powell being like the clear number one trade target for contenders. That's how we're going to spend the 2026-27 season in Chicago. We're going to be just counting down to the deadline or till Norm is trade eligible because there's no reason contenders are not going to want to trade for this guy on a reasonable contract with his track record given how much scoring and self-creation and shooting is valued in the league. And also, he might be the number one
option on the rebuilding Bulls. That's another thing, too. So, he might be getting his numbers. That would be interesting to monitor, but yeah, that Norm to me is just all As soon as I saw that deal come through, I'm like, that is an obvious trade target for every contender next season. And if not next season, then in the second year of his deal. Um and then at that point, maybe the Bulls have a chance to turn Norm, who's a well-respected veteran, into kind of more future-oriented assets. All right, last thing before we go, we will end our conversation today with the last team that was standing that we ended the NBA season with that just passed. That's the New York Knicks, the defending champs.
They lose Mitchell Robinson. Uh Robinson goes to the Celtics, by the way. I know I ripped the Celtics for the Jaylen Brown trade. I wouldn't be shocked if the Celtics end up still having a sneaky good year with Tatum, Pritchard having a better role a bigger role. Derrick White is just a minute winner. And Mitchell Robinson, also a minute winner. I know the foul free throw issues, his health and durability concerns, but Mitchell Robinson wins minutes. He wins his minutes. A lead offensive rebounder, rim protector, does his job, helps get the other team into the penalty and your own team into the bonus earlier in quarters. But not really want to talk about the Celtics. More about the Knicks. Really disappointing that they lost him.
I know everyone's just still celebrating the first title in 53 years in Knicks land in New York. But this is a bummer to me, and it's a bummer because of why they lost him. And it's strictly financial because James Dolan, the owner, who couldn't even go like 1 minute just basking in the glow of being liked maybe in New York for a hot minute after you know, running the team, owning the team that finally broke this Knicks curse comes out and says it would be suicidal or something along those lines to go into the second apron. I'm not going to do it. I'll cut as big a check as I can, but not a second apron level check. So, essentially the Knicks treated the second apron as a hard cap and because of that they were unable to retain
Mitchell Robinson, who yeah, he's a reserve, but was so important to this team, was their longest tenured player. I just Yeah, I just think it's a bummer. I think the Knicks should have done what they had to do and James Dolan should have done what he had to do to keep a literal championship team together. And the fact that they didn't strictly for financial reasons is really, really annoying. Um so, yeah, that was my last thought. Let me quickly check my phone here to make sure that while I've been in here talking to y'all uh LeBron James didn't sign. He did not. Okay, so we can wrap it up there. That has been my take or my takes on all things NBA offseason
extravaganza. I cannot believe how much is already happened. I'm sure I will sit down here in a few days or next week and we'll be talking about where LeBron James is going and because of how crazy the NBA is, probably something else too. Um but that's why we love the league and I love what I do and I love talking to you about this league. So, thanks for sticking with me today and listening to me kind of scream into this void, an empty studio uh with you. Don't forget to download the Score app, where you can read all of my NBA content. You can find all of our sports content in general. Make sure you're liking all these videos, that you are subscribed to this channel, and I'll catch you next time.
