Hoops Tonight - Durant & Suns trade rumors, Grizzlies moving Ja? + Bane to Magic, Giannis & Bucks

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a great week. Well, we're gonna take a break from our NBA Finals coverage today. There are several stories going on around the league. We're poised to have an insanely busy summer, and we already got our first big trade of the summer this weekend, as Desmond Bain was moved to the Orlando Magic. I talked briefly about it with

Colin Coward on Tuesday on Monday night. But what I want to do today is I want to give more of, like a detailed breakdown of my take on the Desmond Bain trade, what it means for John Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies moving forward. After that, we're going to talk a little bit about the big picture of the of the summer. On late on Monday night, Sam Amock and John Krazinski of The Athletic reported that Kevin Durant's preferred trade destination as the San Antonio Spurs. We're gonna briefly

talk about that, and then after that. It's been widely reported there's no trade market for Yannis because Jannis has not requested a trade. So I wanted to take an honest look at the Milwaukee situation and really just talk about what in the world makes sense for both of these parties, for Giannis and for Milwaukee moving forward. You guys know the job before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops and I YouTube channels. You don't miss any

more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS. You guys don't miss show announcements. So forget about a podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. We also have social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok where Jackson's doing great work. Make sure you guys follow us there. And then, last but not least, keep dropping mail bag questions and

the YouTube comments. Will be doing our next mail bag on Thursday night after the final buzzer of Game six of the NBA Finals. All you gotta do is show up to that stream, drop your questions in the chat, and then we'll get to our questions there. And then once we get out of the finals, we'll go back to taking our mail bag questions out of the YouTube comments. All right, let's talk some basketball. So obviously, the highlight of the Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic trade was

the draft compensation. That was the story, and it's really complicated. I The thing with draft compensation is it's always a little bit more complicated than meets the eye. It's very easy to just throw it out throughout a number of draft picks like oh, three first, four first, you know, two first two first, in a swap, whatever it is.

But protections matter. It makes a huge difference. The difference between a top ten protected first round pick in value compared to an unprotected first round pick is pretty massive. Those are substantial swings in value, right, and so to

give up four unprotected first round picks feels steep. But before we even go any further into that, the value only matters in the context of what a team is trying to accomplish, Like how much does Desmond Bane fit specifically with Orlando That makes a big difference in what the price tag should be. Right, was Memphis even considering trading Desmond Bane? For all we know Memphis didn't want to, and this is literally what it took to pry him away.

Desmond Bane has a very unique skill set. I've seen a lot of people hung up on, like what level of player Desmond Bain is? How does he relate to a McHale bridges like, well, is Kevin Durant gonna go for four unprotected first round picks? Like these kinds of things and take that away for a second and focus on the fact that what Desmond Bain does is a

very rare skill set in the NBA. There were only five players in the entire NBA last year to attempt at least fifty shots coming off of off ball screens and to make at least half of them. Five in the entire NBA ultra efficient movement shooting. It's an extremely rare trait.

he was over seventy percent. His sixty percent field goal percentage was number one in the NBA among the fifty six players who attempted at least fifty shots coming off of screens. He shot fifty two percent on threes coming off of off ball screens, thirty eight percent on off the dribble threes coming off of high ball screens. He brings a mid range element. He's a great short range jump shooter. He shot fifty percent last year on jump

shots inside the three point line. This is a very unique skill set in that he brings movement shooting off the dribble, shooting going both directions right and left, and at both the three point line and inside the three point line. It's a very rare skill set, and over the course of the last couple of years, this has been an advantage of John Morant's you know, off court shenanigans and his injuries. Bain has had to do so much work on ball that he's figured out how to

weaponize that attention for easy opportunities over the top. He became a substantially better playmaker out of these screening actions in the last couple of years compared to the player that he was in the past. These shots are so difficult, these off screen shots, that most teams guard them with what is effectively an off ball version of a drop coverage.

So let's just take a wide pin down for example, if Desmond Baying comes off of the left corner off of a wide screen from a big most players, if it's not Desmond Bane, if it's like just a regular kind of like a shooter in the NBA, like say Dalton Connect from the Lakers, for instance, what they're gonna do is they're gonna put a lock and trail defender on that player on Dalton Connect, and then they're gonna have the big man basically sag back in the paint

in case Dalton curls the screen so you could take away lay and they're gonna be like, let's see if you can hit this shot with a side view. Contests with the rear view. Contest with this guy chasing over

the top of the screen and knocking it down. Desmond Bayne, because he shoots sixty damn percent on those shots coming off of off ball screens, and because he shoots such a high percentage on threes coming off of those screens, because he shoots such a high percentage on pull up threes in ball screens, he consistently brings the big out to the level. This is why it's such a valuable

skill set. A guy who can effectively knock down shots coming off of screening actions can consistently pull two defenders out twenty five twenty feet from the basket that opens up the four on three spacing that opens up all the opportunities for playmaking on the interior, and Desmond Baane over the last couple of years figured out how to pass out of those actions pocket passes, over the top, passes to beat, blitzes to beat shows. He had a

lot of success playmaking out of those actions. So I think if it's like, there are so many easy ways to see how Desmond Bank can help the Magic like right away. So let's take off ball action for example.

Off ball action occupies help defenders. If you're gonna run a let's say you're running a two man game with Palo Bancaro and Jalen Suggs off of the top of the key like a ghost screen action with Sugs coming out of the the you know, off the right wing screening for Palo and then slipping off to the left wing.

You can run you know, Baine coming off from underneath the basket is like a pin and flare towards the corner or some sort of wide pin down out towards the wing, and you're gonna have defenders help defenders occupied guarding that action to clear out space for Paalow to drive. This has been a Magic team that has really really struggled to generate space. Even in just static standstill situations. Having Sugs and Baine out there is going to create

sustained more space. But if you can utilize them in off ball action, that is where you can open up space for more of those post ups, for more of those ISOs to be towards the basket rather than some of those tougher fifteen foot seventeen foot fadeaways that Palo runs. And again we've talked about it on the show before. Palo's efficiency skyrockets when he gets inside of seventeen feet, when he's further away from the rim. That's where his

jump shot becomes super unreliable. You've got to create space for him. You can create space through off ball action. The second piece of it is two man game. There's been guard screens in terms of running two man game as a big part of this Orlando offense for a long time. It was a big part of their playoff

offense two years ago against the Caves. They will run inverted screens or Palo or Fronds or stand at the top of the key and they'll have you know KCP this year, you know Jalen Suggs last year, come up and screen the ball and then slip out of it in base that's ending in a hedge and recover in many cases, or they're hoping to get some kind of switch.

So Paalo can attack a small right, but you can get away with hedging and recovering when the shooter isn't that good that you can get away with gapping out of that action or lingering in that action when the

shooter's not that good. What comes into the equation with Desmond Baane is you actually have to account for his jump shooting in a real way or he's going to burn you to the tune of fifty two percent on threes coming off of off ball screen, sixty percent overall hitting damn near forty percent a pull up threes in ball screens. So what makes a two man game work and function is two guys need to be guarded by

very different types of defenders. Right, So Palo and Franz they require big, strong forwards to match up with them. That is what they demand in terms of the physical matchup. Right, what kind of player does Desmond Bane require? He requires a good lock and trail defender. With a Jalen Suggs, with a KCP, you could get away with hiding a week defender. You could get away with hiding a week defender and be like hedge and recover. All you gotta do is throw a hedge and get back into the action.

You won't be able to do that with Desmond Bane. You're going to have to have a quality guard defender that can guard in a lock and trail context, that can chase him around screens and stay attached. So I have a smaller, lower center of gravity lock and trail defender, and then I have a big, strong forward matched up

with Palo and Franz. Now I'm going to pretty consistently put the defense into a predicament where if they hedge, Bain is slipping out and he's gonna hit that three damn near fifty percent of the time, you can't.

Franz's role men. Same exact concept. He's being guarded by a big by, a strong physical guard that can get through screens, right, That's the type of defender he's gonna draw. And Palo and Franz are gonna be guarded by these big forwards. They're gonna be able to screen for Bain, and same thing. Bain's gonna come off the screen and you better be up there at the level. If you're not up there at the level, he hits almost forty

percent of his pull up threes. You show at the level boom pocket pass to Pallo rolling downhill to the rim in a four on three, Right, There's gonna be a lot of opportunities for them to unlock openings in traditional coverages. When teams are unwilling to switch, and when they are willing to switch, you're going to be regularly able to get favorable matchups for both guys because they

get guarded by such different types of defenders. And in both cases, like if Palo or Franz gets a matchup that he wants off of an inverted ball screen or off of a Bain ball screen, Bain will be able to to pull that bigger forward away from the basket and create more space.

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shooter last year. Obviously, I wasn't able to finish the season with that injury. Jalen's got to get healthy. Jays got a knocked down shots. But like, I keep thinking about Desmond Bane in the context of this new look for the Orlando Magic, and I think it makes a ton of basketball sense. And I'm really really excited to watch that group. And my initial instinct is they're right there in that top tier with Indiana, with Cleveland, with New York, in that Eastern Conference, and I think they

absolutely will contend with that group. The other side of this deal is the Ja Morant piece. I talked about this a little bit last night with Colin, But John Rant's going to be twenty six before the start of next season. Twenty six is typically the age when stars figure it out. That's typically the stage when the insane talent of their athleticism meets the growing experience in basketball. Like you piece from that point forward in your career,

it's more sore knees, more sore feet. Your athleticism slowly declines, but your experience and skill improves, And so you can plateau from twenty six, twenty seven to thirty three to thirty four, maybe sometimes thirty five thirty six with how these guys are aging so well in the league these days. But like this is the age where teams start, where players start to figure it out, and Jaw is just not the same player he was back in that twenty twenty two season took his team to win two wins

of the conference finals. Was this dominant, high volume score and playmaker. His scoring volume has dropped every season since that year. He's on two consecutive seasons of his scoring efficiency going down. He just posted his two lowest games played totals of his career in the last two seasons.

It doesn't look good. And so I think Memphis just looked at the situation and was like, Okay, we just got four unprotected first for Baine, I think it's time to start looking at what you could get for joh It's time to start looking at what you could get for Jaron Jackson.

going to talk about that in a second. I think he's an underrated shot maker because of his ability to get to the short range and to pop up off the ground and make easy little floaters in short jump shots. I believe in John Moran, and I think that there is a chance for him to turn this story around. But he's got to start taking care of his body. He's got to start improving on the margins. His peers are passing him, and it's very possible that his franchise

bails on him this summer. Somebody's gonna take a chance. I don't know who it is, Like I talked about with Colin last night, Like I like, if Houston misses out on KD, they'd be an interesting team as a guy that could just be their supreme offensive talent, surrounded by physical defense and a ballscreen partner in Shangun.

destination is the San Antonio Spurs. First thing this suck out over the last week is judging by the locations.

really fun place to end his career. I've been thinking a lot about this concept with KD ever since he went to Golden State and straight up told us that he did it because he wanted to play a fun brand of basketball. I've been thinking a lot since last night about my desire for him to go to a place like Houston potentially or Minnesota. Those are my two favorite destinations, and just opposing it with like Oklahoma City

in twenty sixteen. Oklahoma City in twenty sixteen would be the closest thing to what going to Houston would look like.

would be ugly offense. It would be a lot of like twenty seven to twenty eight field goal attempt nights where he makes eleven twelve shots and has four or five turnovers because it's ugly because it's difficult because they're depending on him to carry them over the top with his offense. Based on a defense and physicality model, I

think KD wants to play fun basketball. I think KD wants to play free flowing basketball, and so I think that's why he looks at these teams like Houston and goes, eh, maybe not my jam And I think that that's fascinating. Even just looking at like why he might have been so interested in Miami, I kept thinking, like, man, like Miami doesn't seem close. I like, I don't understand what

he'd be looking for there. But then you look at it and it's like Eric spoelsher one of the best, you know, offensive organization coaches in the NBA, bam Adebayo one of the best five out like passing, screening, Folkrum's in the NBA, Tyler Harrow a really good screenshooter that kind of unlocks a lot of those five out concept Duncan Robinson that unlocks a lot of those five five

out concepts. I think Kevin Durant looked at Miami is like a place to play some really fun basketball, and I can understand it, Like I'm starting to like kind of feel what he's looking for in this journey. I think he wants to go play a fun brand of basketball for the rest of his career. There are a lot of ways KDE can help the Spurs. Just because this wasn't my favorite KD fit doesn't mean it won't still be a huge upgrade for this team and that

it won't still be a good fit. He'll be a excellent low man behind Victor Wemennyama, meaning when Victor Wemenyama goes up to the level of ball screens, KD can fill in from behind as another rim protection private presence. I talked with Colin on Monday night about how Victor wenman Yama's skill development should take a massive upgrade with

Kevin Durank. Kevin Urant to me, is like like the JJ Reddick of the current NBA in terms of shooting workout, a legend, like the guy that will put Wemby into situations in the gym by themselves where he's gonna make substantial improvements. I think if Dearon Fox's dribble penetration like KD at this phase in his career post Achilles, if there's one weakness he doesn't pressure the rim a ton compared to the way he used to. That's Deeron Fox's superpower.

I talk about the idea of the weak side scoring forward. If Dearon Fox and Victor wemen Yama are running ball screens and you want to defend them three on two, that's gonna be Kevin freaking Durant on the backside, hitting catch and shoot threes, driving closeouts like the mother of all weak sides scoring forwards. He was the best ISO player in the league last year, albeit at a lower volume. He was the best jump shooter in the league last year.

He's still so so good at basketball, and I do think that he would be able to help the Spurs. It's not a guarantee he'd go there, Obviously, a Phoenix has a certain obligation to try to drive the market for high asset return, especially considering their situation.

makes sense at least within that context. Lastly, before we get out of here today, I wanted to talk about Yiannis potentially staying in Milwauk. It has been widely reported that there's no trademarket for Yannis because Yiannis hasn't requested a trade. I was looking at their payroll this morning, the Bucks trying to give it like an honest like, is there a real pathway here to pivot and try to contend around Gianis? Again, you have Damian Lillard on

the books for fifty four million next year. They can try to apply for a disabled player exception, but from what I can tell, it looks like it probably wouldn't get approved. Kyle Kuzma makes twenty two million. He's been pretty disappointing. I will say this, I think who's has been a winning player before. I'm like fifteen percent open to the idea that he could work his ass off this summer and come into camp as a more useful player.

I'm not ready to write off Kyle Kuzma in the context of the Bucks, but Kyle Kuzma is your next biggest salary after Dame. Bobby Portis has a player option. I would imagine he'll opt out and resign. He's pretty strongly indicated in interviews that he wants to raise So I like Bobby Portis, but I'm not sure I like him in the twenty million dollar territory. Pat Connaton is

on the books for nine point four million. It's a player option, but I would imagine he'll pick it up because he's a veteran minimum guy in the open market. Kevin Porter Junior is on a player option. I think he'll opt out, but I think he has a good chance to re sign with the Bucks on a minimum. I like his fit with Giannis, so I think he's worth keeping under those circumstances. Aj Green is locked up next year on a non guaranteed two point three million

dollar deal. That's one of the best value deals in the league. So that's good for a very good three and D player Andre Jackson Junior similarly on a non guaranteed rookie deal. And then you have your deep bench guys, guys a Chris Livingston and Tyler Smith.

Say you want to resign Gary Trent Junior. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes over the minimum after some of his shooting percentages in the postseason, if his agent can drum up some market for him as a shooter, and they have very little in the way of draft compensation to make changes. The point being, even if we acknowledge that the Eastern Conference is wide open, the roster is going to be operating at a substantial talent disadvantage

in almost every major Eastern Conference matchup. I admire the loyalty, I really do. I'll always remember the Janis era and Milwaukee fondly. Even after the chip, Even in those disappointing years, it's been so fun watching Giannis develop and improve and carry some of these limited rosters. His twenty twenty two playoff series against the Boston Celtics is one of my favorite playoff series. I've watched the star play. He backpacked those guys to a game seven. But the bottom line

is this team isn't close to contending. Jannis deserves to go play meaningful basketball, and his value as an asset is still the best vehicle to help Milwaukee pivot and bring in the asset return they need to start fresh. It's still just the best and most sensical outcome for both sides of this deal. Again, I get it. I understand the sentimentality. I understand the optics of requesting a trade.

I was talking with Shane before we got on the show, like there's been this trend where it kind of feels like some of these international guys are really hesitant to do some of the more aggressive behind the scene manipulating of their contract in terms of demanding trades. We haven't really seen an example of it, and we've seen guys like Yiannis and even Jokic throughout the past few years,

although obviously it paid off in twenty twenty three. We've seen Yokic, you know, stick around through some injured rosters, through some limited rosters, without any sign of complaining or wavering. And like, Giannis has made some comments in the press about like maybe he would look elsewhere, but here he is, and he still hasn't requested a trade.

you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We will be back on Thursday night after the final buzzer of Game six of the NBA Finals, barring a KD trade. Obviously, if KD gets traded, will move quicker than that. But I'll see you guys after the final buzzer of Game six on Thursday.