The Underrated

NBA Free Agency: Klay Thompson Not A LAKERS YET

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Duration:: 14m
Broadcast on:: 01 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

So the National Basketball Association free agency period has begun North America and day one is officially behind us. Now, I don't know about you, but for me this was a lot like that movie "The Fall Guy". You know, it came out a couple months ago and actually disappointed at the box office. Now, personally, I actually really enjoyed the movie when I saw it in the theaters. Little did I know that I could have actually just rented it at home some seven days later. That being said, the first day of NBA free agency was certainly interesting. Yes, it wasn't a box office day, but some very interesting things went down. We are going to cover all of that in 10 minutes or less, at least that is the goal North America. Now, I'm going to begin with the fact that the Golden State Warriors actually turned down a offer, allegedly, to bring Zach Levine to their team, giving up Chris Paul, CV3, and Wiggins and a couple other pieces, but they decided, probably in a good move, that they didn't want the salary that Zach Levine has, considering all of the injuries that actually come with it. Speaking of Chris Paul, he had himself quite a day when the Golden State Warriors actually just flat out released him, walked out completely away from his $30 million deal. Now, that wasn't at all surprising to anybody, including Chris Paul. What happened next, though, was a little bit surprising. Chris Paul took $11 million at one-year deal to actually play with Wimby in the San Antonio Spurs. Look, if CP3 is trying to win a championship, it isn't going to happen with the San Antonio Spurs this year. Certainly a good move for the San Antonio Spurs, who needs some veteran leadership on that young team. The other way I sort of thought about this particular deal is this is really CP3's first season as a coach in the National Basketball Association. He'll get to hang out with Greg Popovich. He'll get to school, Wimby, and all the other young pieces that the San Antonio Spurs have on their roster today. I think it was a good move for everybody. I'd like to see San Antonio do a couple other things, which would actually allow them to actually have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs this coming year. I hate to see them actually waste Wimby's talent. Now, on to the Los Angeles Lakers, never a dull moment with the Lakers. LeBron James, as you all know, has opted out of his contract. He's basically waiting to see if the team actually is able to recruit any other major players. Now, there's the mid exception that the Lakers could have available, which is basically somewhere between $12 million and $13 million. They would love to actually offer that to Clay Thompson, who last year, by the way, made $43 million with the Golden State Warriors talk about a huge pay cut for Clay Thompson. Now, in order for the Lakers to actually do that, one of two things would have to happen. One of the big stories in NBA Free Agency Day 1 is LeBron is willing to take a pay cut to bring in the right players. Look, I know LeBron's willing to take a pay cut, but I don't think LeBron's willing to take a pay cut. That would allow them to actually afford Clay Thompson. I'm not sure that Clay Thompson at this point actually really wants to play for the mid exception. But we will have to see what happens and see how this all plays out. Now, D'Angelo Russell was at his camp earlier in the day and released some video of him schooling some kids in basketball. One of the great videos of the day to surface on the internet, it was for sure. In terms of a D-Lo, certainly that's another way that Los Angeles Lakers could actually make a move to bring in Clay Thompson. Now, the Dallas Mavericks already made a couple moves to free up some tab space in order to bring Clay Thompson in at a higher value than a mid-level exception. So, the Dallas Mavericks theoretically are in the lead with regards to being able to give Clay Thompson something what I think Clay probably is looking for somewhere between $25 and $35 million a year. At least, I think Clay Thompson thinks he's in that James Harden category. James Harden, who got a two-year extension today from the Los Angeles Clippers for $35 million per year, a two-year deal worth $70 million. The Clippers finally did something right didn't they? They totally screwed up this whole Paul George thing and they're going to end up losing Paul George, most likely not getting anything as a result of Paul George going to a different team. There's still a lot of things that can happen between now and then but that's really where we're at. Now, on the Laker front, the story broke a little later tonight basically saying, and I'm paraphrasing now, that LeBron James picked up a phone and called Clay Thompson as soon as he could possibly do it to avoid any of the tampering rules. Now, there's no word how long the head phone call or conversation actually went but if you receive a phone call from LeBron James and you hear the stories about LeBron James willing to take a little bit less to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers, you've got to believe that Clay Thompson would love to play with LeBron James and AD on the Los Angeles Lakers while his dad does some of the broadcasting duties for the Laker organization. Thompson grew up in LA. Thompson would absolutely love to play for the Lakers. It's just a question of is he willing to play for the Lakers for maybe 10 to 15 million dollars less than he can actually get on the open market. That is the question at hand related to Clay Thompson and the Los Angeles Lakers. Now elsewhere around your association, KCP agreed to a three year deal worth $66 million to join the Orlando Magic. I don't know. I mean, I like KCP on really good teams. I don't know how I like him on teams that are just sneaking into the playoffs. That being said, that's some good money for KCP. You know, KCP 3 is $11 million a year and is going to be playing with the Spurs and Whimby. Valentinus lands a three year deal to join the Washington Wizards. Like, how much would you have to pay somebody to actually make the decision that they wanted to play for the Washington Wizards for three years. You're locking yourself up into basketball jail for three years. Valentinus $30 million was the amount of money it took to put Valentinus in jail in Washington, D.C. Other moves that went down today, Derek Jones Jr. And we shouldn't underestimate what a big deal this actually is. Derek Jones Jr. actually moves from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Clippers. This was the second really good move as much as I give the Clippers crap. This was an excellent move by the Los Angeles Clippers. I love where Derek Jones Jr. is at this point as a basketball player. This is a deal that hurts the Mavericks and improves the Clippers. Look, Derek Jones Jr. I'm not going to say he's, you know, the reason the Mavericks made it to the NBA Finals, but he is one of the reasons the Mavericks actually turned their season around. So, a lot can happen. I mean, Clay Thompson could end up with the Dallas Mavericks. As I mentioned, that's one of the hotspots for where Clay might go. So this is just a move to continue to clear up space to bring in a player like Clay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks, which would be a very interesting fit with Luca Dontage and of course, Kyrie Irving. $30 million is what Derek Jones is getting over three years. Kevin Love agrees to stay with the Heat on a two year deal. Boy, that must have been a tough, tough thing for Kevin Love to actually agree to or come to agree and Fred just quote for you there. I mean, I'm willing to kill my one year deal that I had left with the Miami Heat, then I'm willing to assign a two year deal to remain in Miami, playing for the Miami Heat with not a ton of pressure on me. A great move for Kevin Love and certainly a good move for the Miami Heat as well. And then finally, in specific free agency news, if you will. Two last notes, Andre Drummond joins the 76ers. We're not going to talk about Eric Gordon, but he also joined the Philadelphia 76ers today. This was a great move by the Philadelphia 76ers to bring Andre Drummond in. And the reason it was such a good move is he's so good at rebounding. Is there anybody better in the National Basketball Association on the offensive side of the board when it comes to rebounds. Now, look, we all know the issues that Embiid has had. This move should actually make things a little easier for Joel during the regular season. Drummond is, he got himself $10 million over two years. So not a huge deal there. Rumors have it that Russell Westbrook is going to be shipped out of Los Angeles. He's got a $4 million contract and the rumor of the night has been that he's going to end up in Denver. Najee Marshall signed a three-year contract with the Mavs as well. So those are your big news stories from the day. Now, Kate Cunningham made himself a significant amount of money today when he signed a five-year rookie extension contract worth well over $200 million. If there was any question of who the key player is on that Detroit Pistons team, it is clearly Kate Cunningham. Now, the Detroit Pistons actually went out and hired themselves a new head coach today. Yeah, they didn't want to have a pesky head coach in place during the NBA draft, did they? So they went out and signed Vickers staff to be their new head coach, which is, you know, certainly a good move for the Detroit Pistons. I'm not sure yet how much they're paying him. I haven't seen the report on the specific dollars done in that year, but JB Bicker staff, now the head coach of the Detroit Pistons, who did not have a head coach during the NBA draft this year. Do you know, like, how bad an organization you have to be to actually go into an NBA draft without a head coach? I am. I am just saying. All right, so those are all of the things that have come down the pike that were semi major today in day one of your national basketball association free agency period. Tomorrow should be interesting. I believe Paul George is meeting with the Philadelphia 76ers, the Dallas Mavericks and the Orlando Magic. Clay Thompson is supposed to meet with the 76ers, possibly meet with the Lakers, and also possibly meet with the Dallas Mavericks as well. It is going to be an interesting day. A number two of NBA free agency. Tell me what you think North America. Let me know what your thoughts are on NBA free agency day one. All right, if you haven't had a chance, check out our big sports website at underrated dot media, and certainly subscribe to our daily newsletter. If you have a chance for the underrated, I am Dave DeBaugh, wishing you all a tremendous rest of your sports viewing day to the drum beats. We go. You've been listening to the underrated podcast with Dave DeBaugh, presented by underrated dot media. See you next time. [Music]