#thisleague UNCUT: Trade SZN

You will never see again what we saw almost a decade ago, twenty fourteen, when Lebron James didn't make his decision until July eleventh to leave the Miami Heat and go back to his home state Cleveland Cavaliers. Free agency in the modern NBA just and modern NBA it's not even a full decade later, but this stuff happens faster every single year. Chris Haynes, our friend from spot Track Keith Smith Catman Supreme, who keeps track of every single dribble of free agency. I checked with him before we

hit record. At the time of this taping, seventy nine free agents have already made commitments to new teams. Seventy nine we are two days in change into free agency. N contract extensions agreed to as well. Total spent total committed money exceeds three point three billion, and according to Keith, agreed upon trades have already included fifty two different players. And as we're recording this, we don't even have the full picture yet of the mechanism that is going to

get Dylan Brooks to the Houston Rockets. We assign and trade, and man, do we need those full details because we need some explanations on how what was initially projected to be a two year deal in the fifteen million dollar range got to be a four year deal in the eighty million dollar range for Dylan Brooks. The money spent on Fred van Vliet, I get it. The money spent

on Dylan Brooks, I got questions. But look, we've got many more trade issues to discuss because since we last visited you live from elk Grove Sacramento with Chris Haynes and kingsguard Davion Mitchell from Charlene's Beauty Supply. Since the first live show in this league uncut history, James Harden opted in and asked the Sixers to trade him. Damian Lillard has asked the Portland Trailblazers to trade him, so

we will obviously get into all of that. Kyrie Irving swiftly recommitted to go back to Dallas on a three year, one hundred and twenty six million dollar deal with a player option, not a team option in year three. Yet another surprise, another development that has people around the league asking questions and raising eyebrows. First thing we got to do, though, is check on our suffering co host, because sources say and have I only have one source on this, and

I don't think I need a second source. Air Conditioning is out at the Haynes mansion and it cannot be put back online until Thursday. I man, I feel you're living out one of my worst my worst fears, a house with no air conditioning.

of me right now. So if you're hearing a little blowing sound, you have a really good ear if you can hear that. But I'm sorry, everybody. Those fans are going to stay on while I'm doing this podcast because I'm trying to make it through. I'm trying to get through and without melting. So thank you for your support, Starn But yeah, I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna make it through.

Dame Lillard has formally lodged that trade request. It's bringing Dame some heat because people are asking why did he do it? Why is he doing this now right after the Grant move? And sorry, Ryan Music, I know I have my phone too close to the microphone. I know that postpod lecture is coming. My bad, And then I have to flip it around and say, well, the Blazers could have taken charge of their own situation a lot sooner.

They didn't want to take charge of this situation. They've had more than ample time to proactively say, Dame, we love you, but we need to make this We need to seek trades for you instead of waiting for you to tell us when to do it. So all that kind of back and forth is going to be volleyballed

until we actually get a trade. But there is no one better to discuss this with than you, because, of course, Chris Haynes or Turner Sports, you were the one who broke the news that Damian Lillard had taken this step that so many around the league had been asking and wondering when will Dame finally decide that this is the time to push for his exit? Take it wherever you want to go? Where are we? What do you see next? How did we get here? The floor is yours.

that community, he loved the city, raised his kids. There's a lot of his family from Oakland moved to Portland, so it was very It's a city and the organization that's very near and dear to his heart, and that's why it was tough for him to get to this point. But you know, just just for context, you know, when he had that meeting last Monday, I think out, I don't know if we didn't we didn't talk about that on this spot.

that they want to build around him. That and they said, Joe Cronin said it, We're going to do everything within our power to build a contended team for Dame. He said, quote, we owe him that. And so you look at it. Let's let's go back, so you look at the draft, because let's go before the draft.

That's not what he needs to win. He needs to have a player that's more on his timeline, that is ready and prepared to compete now to help them contend

for a championship. Well, I can say two days before the draft, Joe Cronin called Damian Lillart and told them that they were likely keeping the pick, and from there I know Dame didn't have any conversations with the Blazers at that point, which led to Monday's meeting, which would have been what three days later, three or four days later, voice his displeasure with the direction of the team, talked about promises that weren't made and weren't kept, and so

leaving that meeting, the Blazers understood that they had a little bit of a little bit, a little bit of time to try to improve the team via a trade, not free agency via a trade.

Dame didn't see the vision wasn't kept. It in his eyes, the promises weren't kept. And the timing of the trade requests coincides with the fact that listen, you want to make sure that these teams haven't trade away all their assets or these didn't make moves that they would have made if they known that he was available. So timing was up the essence. So that was the that was the why. That was why timing, that's why it happened

at that time, the trade request. So I'm trying to give people a little context and background of how we all got to this point.

best deal we can for the franchise. There's a fair bit of skepticism about that when you talk to other teams, because given Lillard's stature in Portland and everything he's done across his eleven years, Like you said, the leading scorer in franchise history, a proud franchise that has a championship from the Bill Walton era and two finals trips in the Clyde Drexler era, and Damian Lillard is the leading score among all Blazers, and you know, it's hard to

see them just dispatching him somewhere that he doesn't want to be but they all to me, they all waited too long. I mean, that's just this path. This was the second sorry ran if you can take out that stutter three two one. This was the second season in a row, really after the All Star Game that the Blazers basically shut it down to tank. I should have looked up the stat and I don't have it at my fingertips, so that's my bad. But I want to say I've written it before. I think they've won seven

games after the break over the last two seasons. It's really been two tank jobs in a rowan look, and that's you know, that's when Blazers fans want to point to something good. Even though they're they're in this situation now that they have to find a workable Lillard trade. They just drafted his heir apparent in Scoot Henderson. They have Shaden Sharp from a year ago. They have Simons on a very very reasonable contract to either keep or

maybe move for better roster balance. So they're they're not going to be just taken down to zero like Houston was when it traded James Harden away. The Blazers do have something to start over with, and with Scoot Henderson, something exciting to start over with. But again, the basketball romantic in me would have loved to have seen Damian Lillard go out a Blazer. I think that would have been an amazing story and a cool story. But I mean,

they're they're not getting any closer to competitive. They just continue to slip farther and farther away, And so I do understand the frustration. I'm gonna be asking many more questions about the Blazers. They why didn't they try to force his hand sooner and speed up this timetable because now you've got a situation where the whole league knows he wants to go to Miami, and that complicates the process even further.

player on the team. James Harden requests the trade and put Steven Sallace in a difficult predicament. And we've seen what he had to deal with during his time with the Rockets and he's now gone. I know for a fact that when they hired Chauncey Dame had so much respect for Chancey that even though Chauncey didn't have anything to do with the shortcomings of the Blazers in previous years, he didn't want to do to Chancey what was done to Steven Sallas. So that that played a factor in

him staying giving the team another chance. His relate to his love for Chancey and wanted to give him a chance. And so, you know, that was the first that was and so there's been multiple times, you know, where he's thought about this, and this was this was it. And then Joe Cronin came in, you know him and Joe R's you know, they're they're cool. Joe Cronan is a

good dude. Number of respect for Joe Cronin. He's been there for a long time, somebody who's earned his stripes, earned his opportunity to get this, get this chance to lead a front office. And so Dame wanted to give him a chance as well, you know, give give him some time to make to make those promises coming to Fruition. And I know it's been only two years, but Dame is looking at his timeline, he's looking at the roster

is not getting any better. There's still a team that's going to struggle to make the playoffs at best, and he wants to win, and he wants to win. He wanted to win in Portland so bad, you know. So I know the memes Tombody's running from the grind. No, he's not running from the grind. He just I believe he just doesn't feel like his goals are aligned with the organization's goal.

I mean, you mentioned the previous administration. I mean, look, I I remember writing it years ago, and I said this as a CJ McCollum fan, and I felt like, you know, I never actually kept the stats, but I felt like CJ's shooting percentage in games that I attended had to be about sixty seven percent. I feel like the man never missed a shot if I was watching him. But I said it, I mean, I wrote it years ago.

I think my first year at the New York Times, when I, you know, every at the start of every season, I always do a you know, my eight bold almost bold predictions at the start of every season. And I

think it was the first year at the Times. Maybe the second, but I do think it was the first that I thought they had to break them up then because for roster balance, CJ was closer to his peak and they could have gotten more from I think they waited too long to trade him because as much as as close as they were and as good as they were together, you could make the argument, a strong argument that they would have been better served with more roster

balance than having two guards as the two best guys on the team and neither one being a defense first guy. So I mean, there, you know, there will be you.

Philly arrival in the East. So after the Heat pulled that off, you know, I know it doesn't look great. Their best asset is Tyler Hero who Portland apparently doesn't want. But I am not betting against the Heat finding a way to get this tone, whether that needs three teams or four teams or whatever. We know that's where Dame wants to go, and I'm just I'm really struggling to come up with a scenario that prevents that.

I think the only player that can probably relate or has a similar path is Kevin Garnett, somebody who held it down in the organization for so long, did everything he could, didn't complain.

are watching. I think the Blazers. I think they should look to see how they can get him to Miami, but also figure out how they can get the best package, which meaning meaning if you know, if it involves a third team, which it would have to involve a thirty team at least, or if it involves a fourth team, like trying to go out, go out your way to make to make to appease both sides.

this is being handled. Scoot Henderson. He's the new face of the franchise the minute they complete this trait and he will be watching to see how this goes down, because you know, at some point in the future Scoot Henderson will likely be in that same position where he has to decide if he wants to stay with the Blazers or go elsewhere. So I do think there's an element of that. But you know, as I was sitting there with my long winded I can't see an alternative

to Miami. You know, there is that chatter about Utah, and I will just say, with Danny Ainge in the CEO chair in Salt Lake City, Danny will do it if there's a trait. You know, Danny won't worry about does Dame want to be here? You know, you saw what you saw how Danny Ainge responded to the playoffs last season. Utah goes out in Round one and he traded Rudy Gobert, he traded Donovan Mitchell. You know, Utah's kind of lurking here. I have to say that that has fascinated me because.

place that he doesn't want to be at. So again, that is an element of which players are watching to see the guy who had the most, the guy who held the organization down for so long, repped them, did everything he could to try to bring a winner to that that franchise, and when it's clear as day that there is no path to contending under his in his within his timeline, you go and ship him to a place he doesn't want to be at. That again, Blazers

are within their right. Danny Aings wouldn't be receiving criticism, It would be the Blazers for.

or Philly. Let's shift gears and talk about hardened a little bit, because these two stories now just dominate everything in the NBA. There are still free agents on the board. There are other trades that will certainly happen, but to have both Damian Lillard and James Harden in play so soon after the draft, so soon after free agency, these are the runaway two dominant storylines in the league. And

you know we'll both be in Vegas soon. Summer League starts later this week, and you know, Victor Weinbin Yama, Scoot Henderson, Brandon Miller on the floor. Yes, there will be a lot of buzz and attention, but in in the gym, in the hallways, in hotels up and down the strip, we're gonna be talking about Harden and Lillard. So sorry, now that's my phone ring, and I really should take this call, but I'm I'm gonna. I'm gonna call them back. Man, this is a good one too.

him on the court. It's the injury history, his age. Now he's thirty three and he can opt out at season's end. You might only have him for one year, so you're not gonna get a huge trade return. So now we're seeing the Clippers. The Clippers are you talked about pulling a wind horse. The Clippers are pulling the Suns. They went from let's explore our options with maybe what can we get from Paul George to we're trading for James Harden. No, wait, Damian Lillard's available. Let's see what's

up there. Let's I mean, hey, Phoenix has a super team. Miami wants a superteam. The Clippers want a superteam.

Boston Celtics. That, yeah, those are the teams that I off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure there were more the teams the top of my head that I know called out to reach out to see what it would take.

exactly a player that people are super familiar with. And instantly, the reaction I heard from a couple teams was Clippers just need him to throw into their next big trade something, you know, that's that's just a piece for whatever big is coming. Because we we haven't even seen Coporu Viza yet in the NBA, So I know it's frustrating for followers, for readers, for listeners that we don't have it pinpointed

yet exactly how this is going to go down. But you know, the Clippers are exploring all kinds of scenarios. But it's interesting the Sixers might be operating with even more patients than the Blazers when it comes to moving James Harden because obviously James Harden has opted in. He is now on the final year of his deal. The Sixers really have control of the timetable here. I reported earlier Sunday in My notebook. Jake Fisher of Yahoo has

reported this as well. The messaging coming out of Philly is the Sixers are not going to put Maxie on the table, so they're not trying to get into the Dame sweepstakes with Maxy. They it sounds like Wannu. They don't necessarily want to rush into a hardened trade, and they do have some controllers. It's you know, Darryl Moury arrived in Philly and basically spent the first fifteen months

of his tenure trying to acquire James Harden. James Harden more than any other player until Joel EMBII came into his life. That was Darryl Mory's guy. But you know, we are again seeing the ruthless streak that Darryl Morriy possesses because his his fondness for James Harden is well known. They were together in Houston for almost a decade. But here it is. You know, James Harden a year ago takes a two year deal worth south of seventy million.

It enables the Sixers to sign PJ. Tucker signed Daniel House, trade for DeAndre Melton. That's all thanks to the pay cut that James Harden took. And now a year later, James Harden doesn't get the big money deal that you heard a lot of wink wink, you know, wink wink. The Sixers have promised James Harden this big new contract for his sacrifice the year before. No, they are basically

they took a very hard line. Now they have him on essentially a one year deal, They're most likely going to trade him but we saw how long the Sixers. It was a very drawn out process before they traded Ben Simmons. So I mean, Darryl Morey is showing us yet again he's capable of anything. But I do still at the end of the day's I think the Clippers are a favorite here for a reason.

is Phoenix. Like I think what the Clippers are saying is, we know we're you know, we're pretty you know, we're in the tax and so let's just zoom past it and deal with the consequences and get load up on as much talent as we get because one trade can't really get them out of this cap situation. But I mean, I like the Phoenix situation better than this trio for the Clippers, because again, you know, the injury histories for Kawhi Leonard and Paul George haven't changed, so they're gonna

be carrying those same injury histories. You've got to decide if you want to extend those two guys this summer at different points this summer. But you know, by September, both of them will have become eligible Leonard and George, both of them will have become eligible for new four year extensions worth an excess of two hundred million each. And now you throw the mercurial Hardened into this mix. Yes, he would essentially be on an expiring contract, but man

Tyler will be busy. I guess I'll say it like that.

I don't want to go crazy over their minimum signings, but as it was happening, the thing I was thinking was, this is the this is the upside of having so much money spent on your four main guys, is that you can move right into the minimum market. And they were moving pretty quickly, and they got Utah Watson Abi who had a great year shooting the ball, and obviously that's that's a pretty encouraging pickup. Today on this Sunday, they were able to add Eric Gordon, so they have

had a nice little run of minimum signings. And you know, you know you reported this the Suns. After having some serious DeAndre Ayton trade talks with Dallas, the Sons are now saying they're going forward with Ayton, which I think is code for they don't like the trade off is they've been getting for Eton, but you've got Durant Booker, Beale Ayton, and now we know their bench. I still like the Denver Nuggets better than anyone in the West,

but the Sons. The Sons look much closer to an actual team as opposed to a collection of three four stars than they did a week ago. The Clippers thing will be fascinating if Harden does end up there and look that you know you've reported, You've reported a ton about the Tylo contract situation. Man extend that man if he's got to coach, he got to coach all three of those guys. Get this man a contract extension.

he had a great showing. So that's an area of the you know, the point guard position that you can you can see the Sons looking into and trying to figure out who are the best players on the market.

the road for full on winners and losers. I certainly like what the Lakers have done to get Gabe Vincent at eleven million a season, and all the other small moves they've made to just really round out their depth. I think the Lakers have been pretty unanimously praised for their free agency to this point, and we got a lot to talk about with Houston. They go to the third year to convince Fred van Vliet to leave Toronto. But then we hear the four years eighty million for

Dylan Brooks. I remember reporting within the last week or two that Dylan Brooks was seeking a above the twelve point four mid level exception, and I was hearing fourteen million, fifteen million, sixteen million a year, but twenty million a year. But again, we don't have the whole picture on the

sign and trade yet. Maybe that will emerge later tonight after we finished recording this, but we don't have it at this second, and so there are still a lot of variables that I think we need to know a lot of blanks to fill in before it's time to really get into winners and losers. So let's but let's talk about Kyrie Irving because that's a situation that both you and I have spent a lot of time covering. You reported that Kyrie Irving was lined up to take

a meeting with Phoenix. I think when free agency started on Friday night, there was a feeling in Dallas that this wouldn't be an instantaneous process that there was the likelihood that Kyrie would at least take a meeting with the Suns and maybe try to take a meeting elsewhere to put some pressure on Dallas to try to gain some leverage, because as we've been saying for weeks now, really months now, it's the end of the season. In early April that there had been no other confirmed suitor

for Kyrie Irving. But in the end that didn't really matter. He got a three year deal one hundred and twenty six million and that third year of player option, so he still got a tremendous deal. I know the Mavericks internally, they feel very good about it because it's nine ish million less than the first year max he settled for a number a little bit shy of forty million in year one. The Mavericks have their full mid level available to go after wing help. So Dallas feels good about this.

But I mean, look to me, it's at least it's a season too long, especially because it is a player option. But tell me the give me, give me, give me the perspective from Sacramento with Kyrie Irving getting this deal to stay in Dallas for three more years.

to that. So to be able to pull that off with only having one one suitor that can pay you anywhere close to your value, that was that was a pretty significant haul right there.

two game season. It's only happened once in the last six seasons, they need to see a lot more of him if you're going to give him a deal like this. But the larger issue for Dallas and where I have my questions, you have to get your star to someome right in this new CBA unless you're gonna do a Phoenix or a Clippers or a Heat and spend crazy money on three guys. But most teams are not going to do that. Most teams are going to try to get their two stars. Make sure you get the right

to and build around it. And would you build a team around two ball dominant guards like Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving? And would that would that be where you start building your team from The reality though for Dallas is they made this choice in February when they traded for Kyrie Irving. They traded a lot for them, and they didn't want to just walk away from that and see how they would do with cap space and take that chance, because cap space that's two evil words in

Dallas given their history with chasing free agents. But it's it's going to be a challenge to build a team around these two guys. It didn't go well last season in the second half they were five and eleven when both Luka Dancic and Kyrie Irving were in uniform, and you know, speaking for myself, it's not my team, and you know again this is me, it's this is not the direction I would have gone in February. And it's a big contract now. But it's on them to make

it work now. Mark Cuban, Nico Harrison, Jason Kidd, Luka Doncic and above all Kyrie Irving. They've got to They've got to make this work. You know, the MAVs are still trying to make moves to round out their team. They went into free agency beyond trying to re sign Kyrie as their number one priority they need. They wanted to get a new starting center, and they wanted to get a defense first wing. And at this point they don't really have either one of those other two pieces.

So still a lot for the Mavericks to get done. They still have their full mid level to go after wings. I reported today that you know, they're in the mix for Matisse Tible and Grant Williams, both restricted free agents. But with a restricted free agent, you can't even sign a restricted free agent to an offer sheet until July sixth, which is Thursday, and then you got to wait out the new shortened twenty four our match period for a restricted free agent. But still a lot for Dallas to

do even after getting this done. But I will say the Mavericks they're they're tuning out the noise and internally they believe that they got a good deal. They're gonna have to prove it to people, because you know you said it forty two MILLI year when you're essentially bidding against yourself, that is a cost. That's Chris Haynes money. That's a costly check.

But I realized that Kyrie Irving would have wanted no part of a deal like that, and that was the difficult challenge that the Mavericks faced her. What the Mavericks would say, The Mavericks would say, we weren't bidding against ourselves. We were trying to find the deal that was as close to team friendly as we could make it. But where Kyrie felt good about it, felt respected, and is ready to come back, hungry to make this thing flow

a lot better than it did last season after the trade. Now, in his defense, he didn't have a training camp with the Mavericks. He showed up in February with a team that was already off to a very rough start last season.

So this is not to suggest that the five and eleven record when he and Luca were in uniform was all on him, because offensively, the numbers look good with the two of them on the floor, for any of the concerns that I'm raising, but you know, it was not a team that was trending in the right direction when he got there, and the second half was even worse. But they're going to have a training camp now and they are going through a slew of roster changes. They

had a pretty productive draft night. It'll be easier to judge things when we see where the Mavericks end up at the end of free agency, rather than now when they're still in the middle of their roster assembly. But you know, to me, if it's a if it's a pricey two year deal with year three in the Mavericks control, I would have a different perspective.

Clint Capella, they tried to trade for DeAndre Ayton. Those trade talks didn't lead to a deal. They would have loved to have had a shot to use that mid level and signed nas Reed, but naz Reid did an extension with Minnesota before he even made it to free agency, So the Mavericks still have to find a center. They

have to find a wing defender. With this mid level that they created and the Draft night moves they made put them in position to have the full mid level to go out and upgrade the team, So you're right they want it. In their perfect scenario, the Kyrie Irving deal gets done quick, they don't have to mess with meetings, and then they can move on to the other business because they got a lot of other business to get done.

the substack chat even when I'm not in there. Sometimes I'm in there sometimes I like, I've done multiple live chats since all this Twitter chaos happened. But there's there's many hours that I'm not even in there, but everybody's congregating in there, posting updates because you know, people are missing so much on Twitter. And I have to say, it's been really cool to watch and I love going in there and uh and just mixing it up with everybody.

So for me, it's actually been I've actually enjoyed it. I mean, it's been disruptive, no question. I mean, you know, I'm a I'm a huge tweet deck guy and look I'm I'm looking at tweet deck as we speak, and two of my main columns are lists that are just not even working. I did see your Darren Collis and tweet. By the way, So congratulations on.

we do this. And I have to say, I cannot wait. I can't even remember the last time we were in the same place. It must have been you on assignment in Dallas, because I haven't been anywhere lately that you've been. But soon we'll both be in Vegas. You'll see Chris Haynes on the sidelines doing multiple Summer League games, and we're gonna get together and we got some special podcast plans.

That's as much as I can reveal at this point, but like I said, I think I think you guys will enjoy enjoy what we have planned for podcasting in Vegas. We will reveal more of that once it is locked in and set and nothing can derail us. But we covered a lot of ground today and we will do this again soon to discuss more free agency madness, presumably trade chaos, and Summer league goings on both of us

in Vegas for a good chunk of the Summer League. Remember, friends, please rate, review, and subscribe to this league Uncut via Apple Podcasts or Spotify, wherever you get your pods and sources say, I actually don't even need sources. Chris Haynes has left the scene to take a phone call, even after I missed two important phone calls. I'm going to go return those calls now. Chris is on the line. We'll do this again soon. We'll be back with you soon.

Thanks so much for listening to us here on this league.