The 2026 NBA Trade Value List. Plus, Harden, JJJ, and Giannis Trade News With Joe House

25:21And I call you and I say, what about Trey Murphy for Lori Markkinen? Straight up. Which side deliberates longer, has a longer meeting? If somebody's like, no way we're doing that and it hangs up, that means that side probably has more trade value. So you just have to think about it in that context. degrees of, obviously, you know, Wemby's not getting traded for Jokic, but if San Antonio and Denver had that phone call, how does it unfold? Who's more likely to say, that's ridiculous, we're not doing that? Or Denver going, we can't do that, Jokic is our guy. But Wemby's available? And they're going to actually trade him?

26:03Probably a longer meeting on the Denver side, right? Yeah. Joker's older. So anyway, that's the thing. Okay. We have a top 80 this year house. It's the biggest list we've ever had, I think. You remember the days in the late 2000s when we had 40 guys? We could barely get to 40. We had to pad it with like Chris Kamen. Guys that missed the cut just quickly. Zachary Risa Shea, Josh Hart, Tyler Hero, Naz Reed, Michael Porter Jr., Cam Johnson. Any of those names surprise you so far? Kind of Michael Porter Jr. because he seems fit to be traded and he seems to be in a position where he could actually fetch decent assets.

26:45$40 million this year,$37 next year, and has not played defense, I don't think, since 11th grade. Right team, right situation. Okay. All right. So that's your first. He's going to stay there. Cam Johnson. Demantis Sabonis really surprised me. He didn't even make the toughest omissions list, but just had this huge extension kicked in. that advanced metrics are terrible for him and his team seems to lose when he plays and he's older. I don't, I don't see a case for him. I would say free, free Sabonis. I'd love to see him play on a, on a decent team where we could, I mean, remember the double, double machine he was as recently as like last year.

27:24I mean, he can, he can definitely play and he can definitely be a winning basketball player in the right circumstance. This is unfortunately is not it. Jared Allen, who would have made the list last year and probably did. but has this big 30 million a year extension kicking in next year. And I think Cleveland would probably be delighted to get off of that and get a cheaper big man. Agor Demmon. You did it. I screwed that up. No, I know it's Agor. I can't remember. Demmon, I always call him Agor. You could call him Demmon. I'm actually, I like him a little more than I did when I saw him in person.

27:56But there's maybe something there. We'll see. Herb Jones, Aaron Neesmith. Khalil Ware, who doesn't really play anymore. And I also think could have been on this list a month ago so what is weird is you know he and kaminga two guys who came in with all of the like oh wow there's there could be something here they these guys could grow into into players um where drafted much further back than kaminga right no where was in the middle of the lottery basically right yeah so what's your point um just the the weird falling out of favor with coaches is that we trust. We tend to trust Spolstra and we tend to trust...

28:42Right. Maybe it's a tough love approach. Didn't really work with Kaminga. No. I think it's going to work with Blair. I'm going to say it did not work with Kaminga. I'm going to say it decidedly did not work. Isaiah Hartenstein's on here. He's paid a lot. He's like 29 million and I think it's a team option next year so they can grab it. Worth every penny. I like them, but I'm just saying like that's... They won the title because of them. But the center position, I think teams are usually looking for that 15 to 20 million range, not 30. Miles Bridges, Christian Braun, Shaden Sharp. My guy, Scoot Henderson.

29:17I'll still buy all your stock. I know the stock for Scoot is lower, but it is what it is. Kobe White. He's on his last year of his deal and probably getting paid next year. So that's why he's not in there. Okay. Toughest omissions. so we have 12 guys for this list the first one is a wizard let me tell you Keyshawn George Keyshawn George Keyshawn George I call him Keyshawn George Keyshawn George I don't think I've watched the Wizards game with the announcers I just see them on the bottom left TV and I have no idea how to pronounce any of their names respectfully it's hit or miss with the local broadcast group but I will say this this dude can flat out play he can absolutely he could be a scorer.

30:02Hit some threes. He could definitely hit threes. He's tough. He's super young and he's not yet reached the full potential of how strong he can be. And when that comes in, he's going to be a force. He absolutely, when they want to win games, he's on the floor in the fourth quarter and he makes good decisions. Nikhil Alexander-Walker. Sure. Who has been a great signing for Atlanta and is averaging almost 20 a game. Devin Vassell on San Antonio. A little pricey. He's like around 27. Alex Caruso, great glue guy. A little older, 32. He's got a new deal. It's like$20 million a year for a few more years.

30:40But I found it hard to believe he couldn't crack the list. Jalen Suggs, who I really like and so do you, but a fatter contract now and doesn't seem to be able to play more than 10 straight games. That's a bad idea. We don't like that. First rando, Colin Murray Boyles. you wear his work in Toronto yeah he's an elemental part of their success he's part of the overall depth that that team has that makes this version of them successful he can play they wouldn't really really elite elite elite defensive shit going on with him yeah and just the kind of guy you need and he's on a rookie contract I put Luke Cornett on the list that's just you you did that He's$10 million a year.

31:29Would you rather pay Luke Cornett$10 million a year or Jared Allen$30? You had the chance. That's no contest. I mean, I guess you couldn't figure it out in Boston how to keep him. Well, they didn't want to spend the money. Jabari Smith, I'm just going to go down on the ship with. I just like him. I think he's kind of criminally misused on this team because they have so many assets and they just kind of tell him to stand in the corner. I think there's so much more there. If I was a GM, I'd be trying to trade for him constantly. If they don't do anything by the end of the day Thursday, I am jumping into their regular wins market, the season total.

32:10It's 53 and a half right now, and I am hammering the under. I am going to buy so much under on the Rockets at 53 and a half if they don't do anything on the trade deadline. I watched them play Indiana last night. there wasn't a lot of basketball on last night. It just feels like everything's a grind with them now that they don't have that. They had that Steven Adams offensive rebounding wrinkle that made them invincible sometimes. And now they don't have it and they feel gettable every game. Their fourth quarters are not good. So their regular season wins now. It's still, oh, it's 53 and a half now.

32:49That's what I mean. Yeah. If it stays there at the trade deadline, I am buying a big chunk of under. Can I interest you at all in Utah at 24 and a half or an over under? I think they're going to go over. Right now they are. Well, it's not. Can you still? They're 15 and 35 now. There's 32 games left. So they'd have to go nine and 10 and 22 to hit it. How many games is Triple J going to play? I don't know. Do they ice them? they are they will ice somebody in a heartbeat that's a fun team for him to go to by the way well I love him getting when Kessler comes back with Markkinen if they get anything from Ace Bailey they have a point guard they have cap space and draft picks to get more stuff like I don't mind that I'm talking about something in that trade we'll see if the picks are unprotected because I want to see if the picks are unprotected if they're unprotected that would make me a little more nervous okay Moussa Diabade on the Hornets.

33:52I don't know if you're familiar with his work lately, but there's like some of the most insane plus minus stats of five-man lineups and eye test too. Yes, that's right. Just exactly kind of what they needed. Hugo Gonzalez, who has the best plus minus, I think, of any rookie in the last five years and is only like six months older than my son and comes in and swings games and is an absolute man and a maniac. And I love him. And if they ended up somehow out of nowhere doing Giannis trade and he was in it, I'd be bummed out. And then I'd be like, Giannis is on the team. I'll get over it. Tamani Kamara and Trey Johnson is our last, toughest omission.

34:31I put him on there for you. Thank you. Do you think Trey Johnson had a case to be in the top 80? No, not yet. He might get there. He can shoot. He works super hard. Perfect character guy. let's see this rising stars thing I want to see how he is playing with his peers that's the first time that sentence has ever been said I'm still learning my team top 80 we separate them into tiers going from 80 to 1 and group O it's going by letters I don't remember us getting to O before O's a lot group O is called grab your stock now and it's all cheap guys it's number 80, Anthony Black, 79, Ace Bailey. Number 78, Peyton Watson.

35:20Look at you. Jumping in out of nowhere and is an RFA. So they're actually going to have to pay him this summer. Tari Eason, who I'm never going to give up on and has actually been playing. Modest, Bazellas, and Donovan Klingon at 75. So Black, Bailey, Watson, Eason, Bazellas, and Klingon. Who's your favorite out of all those guys? It's Eason. And I tried to come up with a case to push him further up, that he would fetch more in value than where he is right now. I couldn't get there. And the league's too deep. And, you know, again, he is one of the guys on Houston when there's, you know, seven minutes left and their opponent is closing the gap, closing the gap, closing the gap.

36:06Yeah. On the offensive end, he's not doing anything to help stave that off. Yeah, I think that's a good point. I will say all six of these guys I really like for different reasons. Oh, yeah. I don't know what Bailey is, but he's clearly, there's something there. I have no idea what's there, but something's there. Black's been playing really well recently, like the last five weeks. Watson's been a revelation since Jerker went out. And I'm still in. I'm zealous. I like him. I like his game. He's so young. Why do you say it that way? Still in? Why would you be out? Sometimes it seems like the Bulls aren't in on him.

36:41There's games where he'll just disappear from the game. I don't think we can draw any inferences from anything the Bulls do. That's very fair. And then Klingon is just a badass. He really is. He killed the Celtics last month. Really kind of destroyed them and took the game over. So Portland and Washington played. And there is definitely, last week, there is some kind of rivalry thing between him and Saar. And they were talking and Keyshawn George was really the animating force. They were talking so much shit to Klingen the whole game. And they was physical. I couldn't have enjoyed it more. And Denny, you know, Denny Abdi is motivated.

37:23Former Wiz. Former Wiz. Yeah, it was a really fun game. Washington and Portland, super underrated. Klingen's really competitive and kind of talks his shit a little bit. Sure does. And tries to intimidate. I really like him. I think he's good. I almost wanted to put him like 15 spots higher next to Alex Sar and that group, but I couldn't quite get there because I'm not sure about the health of them. Okay, next group. So those are all rookie contract guys, which are the easiest, you know, best commodities, especially in the apron area. Next group is group end valuable assets on okay contracts. These aren't bad contracts.

38:02They're not great. Number 74, Dyson Daniels. he just signed an extension for four for a hundred. I liked him more last year and I've watched a lot of Hawks. I have some overs with them and there's just, they've never been able to put their shit together and it doesn't feel like he's better than he was last year, which I would have assumed he would be better than he was last year, but he's not. We've been on the wrong side of the Hawks. Every year. What feels like. They're like the Steelers for us in NFL for basketball. Anyway, I can't give up on him because he's too good of a, to his hands on defense are just unlike anything.

38:38James Harden, number 73. $39 million this year, $42 million player option. And I got to be honest, he wasn't on this list until two days ago when the Garland stuff started because that, I think, made both of us realize, oh yeah, I guess he still has the value because of the stats. So he's there. Brandon Ingram, number 72. He's on a three for 120 deal. Still can't believe my guy, Rich Paul pulled that one off. He helped stabilize Toronto. Unbelievable contract, though. Toronto's going to get, you know, like a five seed, six seed in the East. Yeah, we'll see. They're competitive. Mikael Bridges, number 71.

39:21He is$24 million this year, and then it kicks into a$4 million,$150 million extension. I mean, he's kind of taking the hits on this team. Doesn't have the ball a ton. Their defense has been really good for the last two weeks. And all the Knicks fans I know are like, shit's happening. Mike Brown finally figured it out. They're not playing Clarkson. And he's a piece of that. But this feels the right range for him, right? Yeah, I mean, he's tough to know what exactly to do with. Because there is still... Because like on the Wizards, he'd probably have the ball a lot more and be more fun to watch.

39:57He also really could be... He's so tough. he could be you know that enforcer kind of role for a team that wants to play physical like if he was on houston um i think he could be an absolute force for them norm powell is number 70 interesting one because he's 20 million this year and then he's a free agent and i i don't know whether that helps or hurts trade by i feel like it probably hurts how old is norm powell now this is the the i'm gonna say he's like 33 or 34 okay 33 why do you ask. Well, because he, um, by the numbers is having a better shooting season for the heat than he did last year for the Clippers.

40:40And the Clippers really missed him at the beginning of the season. I think that was the one ingredient more than any other ingredient that led to them only winning four games. John Collins has been, yeah, John Collins has been okay now, but now like in the first 25 games, the Clippers were a disaster. And I think a big part of that was because they missed Norm Powell. And Norm Powell has been good. He scored well. You're right. He's 33 next year. Josh Giddey's number 69. He's four for 100. Right contract for him. Right team. I'm not sure if you're trying to win a title. I'm not sure what number in the pecking order he is, but he's probably fourth, I would say.

41:16You probably have to have three guys better than him on the team to win a title. Yeah, two or three guys, yeah. Desmond Bay, number 68. he's five year,$197 million deal. So I'm dinging him for that. That's pretty pricey. Rudy Gobert, number 67. Redid his deal. It's now three for 109. There's just not a lot of him. And I'd rather have him than Jared Allen if we're paying roughly around the same money. Jaden McDaniels, four for 108. He's number 66. Darius Garland, number 65. Three for 126. Interesting that he's 65. Harden is 73, and yet they're being traded straight up. Obviously, I can't tell teams what to do, but that's how I have them ranked.

42:01And then Lou Dort is number 64. He's 18 this year, 18 next year, and House just signed with Clutch. Oh. So OKC is the team option for him next year at 18, but now he's with Clutch. I think Lou Dort is a... I'm not saying they're going to trade him in the next two days, but you have to think about it if you're Presti. You're not going to pay him. You're paying three max guys, basically. You're not going to pay Lou Dort 30 million a year. You have Kaysom Wallace who can probably take some of his minutes. So I'm just, if OKC did something, I think he's involved, right? Makes perfect sense. And this is exactly, it was either this trade deadline or this coming summer when folks anticipated that he would have to go.

42:41I mean, that's the sacrifice the team's going to have to make. And it's fair. He helped them win a ring. That was awesome. Yeah, they won a ring. He did his job. He did his job. Everything else is gravy. So group N, Daniels, Harden, Ingram, Bridges, Powell, Giddy, Bain, Gobert, McDaniels, Garland, and Lou Dort. That's from 74 to 64. I'll do, we're going to take a break, but I got one more quick group. Ah, no, let's save it. The group's called Valuable Assets on Horrific Contracts, and we're going to do it right after this break. The Bill Simmons Podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Last call for football.

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44:39You can save up to$20 ends February 28th. Terms apply. See app for details. All right, before we next is Get Group, we have some Jaron Jackson stuff that we found out about the trade, thanks to the reporter, Shams Sharania, and Bobby Marks as well. Two things I want to point out. One, Shams says the Grizzlies now have a$28.8 million trade exception that they've created in this deal.

45:12Oh, interesting. Yeah. Interesting. You know who makes$27.5 million? Who? Anfernee Simons.

45:26Congrats. If the Celts just wanted to get under the tax and punt on this year, I have a chance. You have no chance. A bunch of other players, too, that could fit into that. So they become... So if Cleveland wanted to... I don't know. will you take Lonzo Ball and Max Drews from us and we'll do two swaps with you and whatever and then they can get under the, and go for Giannis. So the Grizzlies, who we didn't even know were going to factor into this trade deadline, now a huge factor. Bobby Marks also says Memphis now has 13 firsts over the next seven years. Yes, they do. And we still don't know exactly what the firsts are, unfortunately.

46:07But I assume they're unprotected. They're not in the Giannis market, right? Utah? No, Memphis. Memphis. No, why would he want to go there? Well, does he really have a choice? He doesn't have a no trade. You follow the NBA. What do you mean? Teams just don't send people to teams. That's just why. I understand. They would offer him the extension. He's not going to Memphis. Stop at house. You know where else he's not going? Washington. I never thought about it. Group M, valuable assets on horrific contracts. There's three people here. Carl Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis, and Joel Embiid from 63, 62 to 61.

46:49Embiid is four for 243. Davis is a max guy with an extension possibly coming. And then Towns gets into the 60s after a couple of years. Kudos to Embiid for working his way back in the trade value list. I think the odds were like 30 to one five weeks ago, right? It is bizarre the kind of luck that Philadelphia has fallen into here. Because going into this season, you know, and I won't express it purely in terms of win totals, but they were just throw up your hands. What the hell could they possibly be, team? Yeah, we said they had no ceiling and no floor. What's the best case scenario? Well, it turns out BJ Edgecombe can immediately come in and form a backcourt with Maxi that looks like one of the best backcourts in the entire NBA, you know, in the mix, top five backcourt and make them competitive in an East that's up for grabs so that all they need out of Embiid is like 15 to 20 minutes.

47:52And then it turns out that that 15 to 20 minutes that they're asking for from him coincides with him. He's in great shape. Like his body is in, you know, in terms of the overall size, he's not carrying around the extra weight. Now he moves crazy slow. And, you know, the lateral movement. And he has one leg. Don't forget about how he has one leg that works. But holy shit, is he an efficient shooter. Holy mother of God. That's what Leg said last week. 22 minutes. I have 40 points. He's one of the best pure shooters in recent league history now. Every shot just goes in. When it hits the rim and goes out, you're shocked.

48:30You know, obviously it's a 20-game sample size where he's been healthy. I hope it stays. I'd rather have more good basketball players than less. I just, you know, anytime he falls down, you think the worst, right? He's just, I guess that's just who he's going to be for the rest of his career. But I thought at the start of the season that this was inconceivable. He does have Drew Hanlon talking a lot of shit on Twitter, which he should squash. Drew Hanlon is shooting coach. He's doing a lot of chirping. It's like, let's see Embiid play 50 games in a year before the chirping starts. We're not doing the victory lap yet.

49:06It's like talking to Aaron, the no-hitter, Drew Hanlon. He's like yelling at the ringer. We had him 31st in the ringer 100. Drew Hanlon's like, oh my God. It's like, the dude hasn't played 40 games since 2023. Where do you want us to rank him? So let's see him get to 50 games. Drew Hanlon should mute himself. I wondered if we were going to get a combo deal with the Paul George that Joel Embiid and Paul George together shared whatever substance so that we get them 25 games closer to the playoffs so that they're both healthy coming into the playoffs. Oh, that's interesting. A fake jet and then they just pay him under the table?

49:44He could just take whatever the thing is. He could have taken it. He's like, what is that? Paul George did not make the trade value list. So Towns 63, Davis 62, Embiid 61. If the Knicks offered Carl Anthony Towns to the Sixers for Joel Embiid, I think the Sixers would say no, right? Wow. I think the Sixers would say no. Official trade value. Yeah, I think they say no, right? I don't know. How many years are left on that Embiid extension? He's four for 243 right now. What's left on Towns? This is year one. towns has three left and it's like over over 180 i can't even remember it's it's not great

50:27no he's he's really not i'll read you the numbers last years no it's not because it goes oh yeah it's one last year but it's 53 57 61 okay yeah what's joel last year so you think town should be above joel because i can this is why you're the conciliary they're in the group i I mean, I think all three makes sense. It's funny because we have tons of trade rumors about Carl Anthony Towns and Anthony Davis. You know, those two teams trying to find, this is the reporting that's out there. And it's been out there for a while. You know, the weird chemistry of Towns with this Knicks team, with Mike Brown's offense, you know, trying to find his place.

51:08And Davis was going to go to Atlanta by all indications. Yeah, then he had his 14th injury in the last nine years. Yes, exactly. Defense wins championships. All right, now we're hitting a really fun stretch here. This is Group L. We're not even in the top 10 letters yet. Group L, valuable assets on great contracts. Number 60, your guy, Alex Sarr. Could definitely play. The Wiz did not miss with that number two pick overall. So in a redraft, is he above Castle or no? it depends on the team drafting if it's is i still have castle above him but i think i like sar i think sar is a legit guy yeah if atlanta's drafting number one i think that they might have taken it would have accelerated what they had to do with trey young if they took castle right you i don't know if that's uh a thing that they they could have coexisted so you're in so out of like All right, let's say since we graduated college, young guys the Wizards have had.

52:16So I'm going to say 22 and under guys the Wizards have had. Has anyone been better than him? Because you got to read this a little bit later. Was John Wall better than him? He was pretty effing good. Was Beal better than him? Young Beal? Young Beal was great. Yeah, Young Beal was on an arc where the thing is, both those guys arrived in the NBA, I think a little bit older than Saar. I think Sar is still a little bit younger. I thought he was 20. So he has three things that are just home runs. You know they're going to translate to the next 15 years. He can already shoot threes for real. Yes. Right?

52:53He's a really, really good three-point shooter for his size. For sure. He's a rim protector already. I think he's over two blocks a game. But he's at least is aware, hey, that's the rim. The other team's trying to score on it. Let me try to stop them. also like he's a pretty good one-on-one defender like when he gets i can't believe i've watched the whiz enough to even have an opinion on this but if they switch and he has to guard a smaller player i feel like he can guard the smaller player like if he's in space one-on-one he can actually like defend he moves great i like him he moves great his feet are great for a seven footer he might be too he might should be lower than 60 maybe I don't know we'll go through the rest number 59 Andrew Nembhard who is 3 for 59 as a contract and is just a proven I've seen him in the finals you can win a title if he's one of the guys that's out there and you and I value that the most same for this next guy Kaysan Wallace he's number 58 still on a rookie contract they're gonna have to pay him soon I'm sure the Lou Dort money goes to him I want to see when he's playing 32, 33 minutes a game.

54:04What do we got? Is there a little more offense there? Can you run offense through him? Is he just a dork Caruso? I'm going to be over here and I'm going to be a pit bull on defense and that's who I am. But I obviously, I'm a huge fan. Huge fan. Okay. This is a good battle here. Number 57 and number 56. Reed Shepard and Keontae George. I wanted to have Reed Shepard higher and you threw your body in front of it. because I think I like him the most because he reminds me of Mark Price so much. I almost, I can't. Mark Price, you and I, one of our most beloved 90s players. We love Mark Price. He came to Washington and then had a foot injury that he never recovered from, but I was so excited when he came to Washington.

54:45Yeah, he was so excited to have his jersey. And then he never played. We signed him, he broke his foot, and that was it. God damn it. I love Reed Shepard. He does so many things I like. I want him to be considered for the 28 Olympic team. This is ludicrous. This is outrageous. It's an outrage. What's an outrage? He shouldn't be on the list. He should have been a tough omission at best. He could have easily not made the cut. He's definitely a tough omission. He has no business. How's he? He's like 20. No business whatsoever. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. He can't play 25 minutes a game on the team that drafted him.

55:24And he couldn't play last year. So you think I should move him into the 70s? I think he should be a tough omission. I don't think he's ahead of any of these guys. Thank God. How is he ahead of Anthony Black? How is he ahead of Tari Eason? Those guys are about to get paid, though. Tari Eason's on his team. Those guys are about to all get paid, though. He's on year two of a rookie deal. Playing real minutes at crunch time and stuff. All I'm suggesting is the tapping of the brakes. He does play real minutes at crunch time sometimes. Not all the time. I mean, it could be the case that Emei is the most limiting factor on what he's capable of.

56:05Yeah. I'm going to embrace that. I might just have, so he's shooting 38 % from three already this year. He's averaging 12 and three. I think maybe Kyle Mann, we just text too much about him and that might be messing with my brain on it. I'm all in on Reed Shepard. Kyle Mann can text me and I want to have the case made. He's not in my top 80. Would you have... So you wouldn't trade Saar for him ever? Oh my God. What? What? All right. You know what? I'm going to move Saar above him. That's fine. I'm going to give you that. I'll move Saar above these next two guys. All these guys should be above.

56:44Andrew Nembhard played important minutes in the effing finals. I'm projecting five years from now for Shepard. I think he's going to... It's a real projection. Go look at Mark Price's. early stats. That is some kind of rose-colored projection. John Stockton barely played as a rookie. I'm just listing white guys. Number 56, Chianti George, who I guess is now number 57. Chianti George is averaging 24 a game for Utah and has been so good that they just mortgaged some of the future for Jaron Jackson because I don't think they were expecting his timetable to advance like this. It's interesting. I'm not positive I'd want to play with him.

57:22I've said this on earlier pods. I'm not Sure, it would be the most fun experience ever to be like a swing or a big on his team. But I also like in a close game in the last minute, I feel like he's going to get to the basket or get a good shot. Like he's just really tough to defend. And I think he's a gamer too. And I don't know if this is too high or too low. When they stop messing around and start playing serious and like actually try and win games in Utah, he's going to be an effing revelation. The league is, he's going to put the league on notice. he might he's capable of you know 28 to 30 points a night no two ways about it so you want to move Reed Shepard all the way up into the into the group with Tarius and Bozellus and Klingon that's your conciliary recommendation I push him I'm going to do this I'm going to give you this one no I'm not making the toughest omission I'll make him number 74 fine and we'll figure out when I we're going to run this on the ring you want to put him in the same place as Donovan Klingon then I can't argue with that that's fine that's fine That's fine.

58:24That's fine. You got a W. Congrats. Now, Reed Shepard, anytime he does well, I can text you about it. I love him. I think he's amazing. Obviously not. You don't love him enough to fight for him in the top 60. It's outrageous. Number 55, Osar Thompson. Yeah. Kind of the... The best record in the East. A very important player on that team. Interesting. Not as good as his brother, but still really valuable. Super valuable. It's funny that the limitations that we see out of both of those guys were exactly the limitations. If, like, read their draft profile coming in, you know, incredible athletes, super dynamic, capable.

59:07They're like the Nader sisters. Like, you just, you can't tell them apart. They'll have the same weaknesses and strengths. They can guard one through five. It's really amazing. Neither one can shoot. Who do you think will be able to shoot first? I mean, Amon has the green light. So Amon is ahead of Oscar. I think he, I think Amon has the, he is more of a bag already. Like you can actually give him the ball. Like Lego was talking last week about how he wished he posted up more. Oh, it was such a great point. I loved hearing that. I like when they spread the floor for him and he just goes one-on-one.

59:39I don't think his brother can do some of that stuff. Yep. Also, Houston's Thompson, probably the best defensive non-center in the league right now. would you say he's number one who's better than him non oh no no for sure i have him uh i have a ticket for for defensive player of the year on him number 54 Isaiah Stewart three for 45. Eye test, great. The advanced metrics are unbelievable with him. He's the best rim protection guy in the league. Like he's better than Wembenyama and people like that. He's by far the best rim protection guy. And Peyton Pritchard at number 53, who I think has the single best contract in the league that's a non-rookie contract other than Denny.

1:00:29Peyton Pritchard is basically making$7 million a year. his contract is three years for 23.3 million dollars it's it's just nuts i want america to know i seriously considered trying to mount a vigorous case for not having pritchard here yeah because you know america well be careful you're going to assault the game on friday night the boston fans are watching you to have him here america expects you to have him you know damn near the top 50 in the entire league. The problem is this Celtics team is surpassing all expectations. And he is so important to them. And the money is insane. Three years for 23 million is crazy.

1:01:20My, I didn't do this on the pod, but I'm going to do it in my final list, the ringer. I have a 13th guy for toughest admissions, but I didn't want to put him in on the podcast because you were going to laugh, but I have Kata as the toughest omission. I just was hiding it from you until Thursday. I'm glad you did. Kata's been a revelation too. He's been unbelievable. But yeah, Pritchard, he's the third best guy in a team that's basically the two seed, or two or three seed, and has the second rated offense in the league. He's a crazy one-on-one player. There's also good stats on this too, but eye test-wise, can beat guys off the dribble and then has this this new T.J.

1:02:01McConnell, this new revolution of these guards under the rim that can do these herky-jerky double up fakes. So T.J. McConnell doesn't appear anywhere in any of this. No. Because he's not playing. Yeah, I think his body is finally one too many charges. So that's the group. So we moved Shepard into the 70s, which leaves us with Nembhard Wallace, Chianti George, Alex Saar, Thompson, Stewart, and Peyton Pritchard. That's a really good group of basketball players. Like really good. That group is called Valuable Assets on Great Contracts. Okay, Group K. This is called, if you tell Shams, I'll deny it to the death, but I am absolutely unequivocally 100 % listening.

1:02:46Number 52, LeBron James. Number 51, Zion Williamson. Number 50, Jaron Jackson Jr. We did it. Look at that. He got traded. And they probably said, like, dude, you can't tell Shams until we agree on the deal. He can't find out. Not for anybody behind him, curiously. No. Not for anybody. What was the... Who were the other players? LeBron, Zion. No, no, no. LeBron is like, oh, in the Utah trade. Yeah. Yeah, it was like Clayton and expiring space. Fine. Here's my issue. I wanted to argue about Zion. Okay. Like, all they're doing is listening. I think he is in the same position as Ja Morant. No, they're doing the, we don't want to trade him.

1:03:39He's finally healthy. That's what they're floating, but nobody believes it. It's because it's not credible. I mean, I think that they would trade him if they got one legit offer with one player or one set of draft picks. that would be interesting to them. Is there a more fun trade on the planet than Zion Williamson for LeBron James? And New Orleans agrees to immediately buy LeBron out? Why would New Orleans do that? If they got a first-round pick. Oh, okay. What are you talking? They're basically paying like$30 million for a first-round pick and to get out of Zion. I don't think this trade will happen.

1:04:21I'm just trying to figure out how to get LeBron out. The problem I'm having, how can we have Zion there? You just, that's a bag of chips trade. You just traded Zion for a bag of Lays. Where's Zion supposed to go? In the 70s? Kind of not on the list. Would you trade for him in the Wizards? Fuck no. You wouldn't? For what? How does he help this young team get better? How does he help the chemistry of this young team? What's the food situation in Washington for him? When he plays, there's great food in Washington. in Washington in the last 15 years. But is it food that would make him put on weight?

1:04:54Or is it food that... You can do it all. There is definitely food here that would be not good. It is Chocolate City. Mambo sauce on the chicken wings is not a low-calorie sauce, but the half-smokes from Ben's. I can't put Zion... I can't move him out of this group. I just think he's too talented because I think every team has meetings about whether they should trade for him or not. He's too talented. And he's young still. But what teams... what are they thinking that they have to give up is, is the hard question. And, and you know, the question for this group. Yeah. I don't think you're saying it's very much.

1:05:32Yeah. I don't know the answer. Would he, he would not have fetched as much as Jaron Jackson just did. I don't think so. Yeah. I don't think so either. I would have him in the same category as Carl Anthony towns and Anthony Davis and Joe and Joel Embiid. All right. I can do that. I'll move him back. I'll move him with the next trade towns for Zion oh we have a trade another one this is unbelievable it's like the league was waiting for us to do this this is the trade deadline pod from now on remember this go on Tuesdays you need Zach on Tuesdays huh

1:06:17Sean says Jaden Ivey and Mike Conley Jr. to the Bulls Kevin Herter and Dario Sarge to the Pistons and Detroit receives a 2026 first round protected swap from Minnesota so that's basically just Minnesota dumping Mike Conley and not getting anything back and cutting 10 million dollars out of freeing money for, oh, look at this. Oh boy. I see when, he's doing it. So why is Minnesota freeing up$10 million? So why is Minnesota? Why would they trade a beloved teammate, Mike Conley? This is great. Live on Netflix. This is amazing. Wow. Who is it? house. Who are the candidates? Let's go through the potential candidates to play point guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

1:07:18Here's my number one. Oh, you're going that way. Could it be James Harden? No. Although that would be really interesting. Wow. The rerouting from Cleveland to Minnesota or the Cleveland deal, the Cleveland Clippers deal isn't done, right? John Morant. That you, you, you cocksucker. I just was going to say it. I said that was, that's the best one. That would be effing amazing. So for that one to work, let me look at Minnesota's SpotTrack. For that one to work, come on. SpotTrack, SpotTrack going slow. A lot of people on SpotTrack right now. Busy. So Memphis did that 28 million trade exception thing.

1:08:08And I wonder if that factors into anything. They could also be a receptacle for an extra contract in the honest trade. If spot traction is not working, we're never going to know who's in Minnesota. They don't have Randall's making money. They have Jaden McDaniels making money. They have DeFincenzo making a little less money. Rob Dillingham, they could stick somewhere and spot track doesn't work. They need a bunch of those guys to make the run, to keep up the momentum, to be where they are in that upper echelon in the West. They can't really, who's the most expendable of that group? It's gotta be DiVincenzo.

1:08:45Does that create enough room? The 10 million bucks plus DiVincenzo. And I think Randall's good. Like I wouldn't trade Randall. I wouldn't either. How would they do that? I don't think Randall or Nas Reed or, I don't think any of them. So the picks in the Utah trade, they're trading their most favorable 2027 pick, Cleveland, Minnesota, or Utah. So Memphis gets that. They're trading the Lakers 20-27 first and Phoenix's 20-31 first to Memphis. How do they have the Lakers 20-27 first? Because I think it was one of the, I think that was the, what's the guy? Vanderbilt trade. Oh, okay. From two years ago.

1:09:30Okay. That's not, those picks aren't that good. So Memphis gets some half-decent picks, but then they get the trade exception. and they get out of that contract. And that's the best they could do. So we might have been in the right range with Jaren Jackson, right? Yeah. Okay, back to trade value. Wow. Keep those trades coming, NBA. This is great. What a great idea to go live. Group J, sorry. We're pot committed here. Darren Fox, number 49. Five for 260 is his contract situation. That's a lot of money. OG and an OB. He's 48. Next two I'll put together. Pascal Siakam, number 47. He's three years, 146.

1:10:22Or Julius Randle, three for 100. I think Randle has more trade value because of the contract. I like both players. I loved what Siakam did last year. But if I'm trying to build a team as cheap as possible, I'd rather have Randle. I, this is true for live TV. I have to run downstairs for 15 seconds to let my child into my house. I'll do it. This is great for live TV. You locked your kid out. I locked him out. So you weren't even listening to my Siakam Randall thing. They're in the perfect spot. I just realized though, panic moment. If we can throw to a break, we'll throw to a break. Otherwise I'll filibuster.

1:11:03Go, go, go. Do your thing. Okay. I'll keep going. So Minnesota, by shedding 10 million, trying to find, is there more? This is hilarious. I wonder if this has happened. Does this ever happen on ESPN where somebody just had to solo? This happened once I did a rewatchables and I forgot. I brought the wrong iPad out and the iPad ran out of batteries and I had to leave the stage and run back and get the of their iPad while, uh, while Van Lathan and Chris Ryan filibustered, but house, uh, locking out his own kid. This is borderline child abuse by house. Honestly, I'm glad you guys got to witness this.

1:11:43This is kind of father Joe houses. Um, I can't find any more information about this trade. There's house. I couldn't find any more information in America. Just decided you're a terrible father. Okay. We're back. Are you back? He wasn't really locked out. Parent corner. Pascal Siakam, 3 for 146 or Rando, 3 for 100? What do you got? Those are both very fair contracts and both those guys. I mean, really, let's take 10 seconds to commend Pascal Siakam on the season. Really? This season, playing really hard. Exactly. I watched Indiana last night. I know they're tanking, but they're not tanking. Like that team was trying to win and was super competitive and was really upset that they didn't beat Houston.

1:12:34One of the hardest teams to gamble on. Yeah, it's a stay away. It's a stay away. Number 45, another guy who's played himself back onto the list, LaMelo Ball. Four years,$168 million. The Hornets have won seven in a row. And he has gone from maybe being in the vicinity of Trae Young and John Moran as a trade asset to, I think, playing, maybe shedding that. And is a big part of what Charlotte does. And I just think when you combine with how popular he is in Charlotte, I just don't. I think he's moved himself in the top 50 house. I was prepared to fight this one as well. But there is a nucleus there.

1:13:13Those four guys that really play well together. And those lineups, the five man. Diabate. He's an important part of it, Ball. Yeah. You really got to go with it. You're rattled from being screamed at by your son, I can tell. Everything's good. Next three, 44, 43, 42. Dylan Brooks, Zubats, Austin Reeves, all with really good deals. Brooks is 21 and 19 for the next two years. Zubats is in the 18 to 21 range, and Reeves just has 14 this year and is getting paid next year. Would that be the order for you? Brooks, then Zubats, then Reeves. Reeves is going to get paid this summer is the problem. I don't think it's a problem.

1:13:58I mean, this seems super fair to me. I feel like Zubats is going to fetch something meaningful, potentially in this upcoming trade deadline. You hear his name? Yeah, the new Garland for Harden. Yeah. Dylan Brooks being number 44 in a trade value list, I think would have been 501 odds two years ago. And five years from now, we might look back and say, holy cow, that was insane. I'm still watching Phoenix games being unable to comprehend how they're this good like Jalen Green Jalen Green's done nothing this year right they basically have two guys that you would have counted on and then a bunch of awesome role players who played really hard and it works and I don't really understand it we only have two sons on the list number 41 is Aaron Gordon who is apologize to Ishbia yet I'm not going to apologize to Ishbia did he He apologized to me last year for killing our son's over bet.

1:14:56When we bet on them to win 50 plus games, it's a year to year thing. The league goes up and down. He apologized to me last year. I had them as over this year. Did you go over with them? Of course. Yeah. I just thought that. Oh, you're Mr. Over. No, I'm going to get killed on a couple. Aaron Gordon, number 41. He's three for 103. Good contract. I wish we knew he was playing all the time, but I also think he's so essential to Denver. It's not like they'd be like, oh, we'll trade him. Number 40, Kevin Durant. Or number 39, Kawhi Leonard are the last two in this group. Durant is three for 144. Kawhi is two for 100.

1:15:34Plus, you get to learn about planting trees if you have Kawhi on your team. Carbon. Cares about the carbon footprint. Big tree guy. Really cares about the environment. My question for you, do you think Houston, knowing what they know now, do you think they wish they hadn't done anything and instead would be doing the godfather offer for Giannis right now versus going in last June for KD? Do you think they would want to mull get on that deep down if you got Raphael Stone drunk at a hotel bar at 2 in the morning and be like, come on, be honest. Now we know what you know. Would you rather just kept the assets and made a Giannis win?

1:16:12So this season, they would still had Dylan Brooks and Jalen Green Did they give up cap flexibility? They gave up the number 10 pick too. Oh. Your center that you wanted who's in the G League. Tough one for your scouting. Malawak. Malawak. But it's interesting because now it'd be harder for them to pull the trade off. They'd have to put, like they could have had green as the contract in it. Now they'd have to put one of their good guys. So I don't really know the answer and it doesn't seem like you do either. I don't know the answer. Well, if you were a Houston fan, would you be happy with this current outcome?

1:16:56Only if Steven Adams wasn't hurt. That's the problem. But he gets hurt every year. Is it like a shocker? Steven Adams got hurt? Well, okay. FVV and Steven Adams. Yeah, that combo's tough. When it was this, you know. Right, they had FVV before that trade. Yeah. Are you okay with Kawhi at number 39? Yeah. I mean, you know. Yes, he says sadly. Well, what are you going to do? He's on pace to, he's only played 60 games once in the last, you know, six years. And he's on pace to play less than 60 games again this year. And when he plays. He's probably been one of the three best guys in the league for the last seven weeks.

1:17:37Right. So I can't not have him in the top 40. I'm with you. I'm not even arguing it. All right. Group I is called. That last group was, sorry, we're pot committed here. Fox, Ananobi, Siakam, Randall, Ball, Brooks, Subatz, Reeves, Gordon, Durant, and Kawhi. Big group. Next group, group I. If you're dangling a reckless Bain Bridges type overpay, sure, we'd love to talk. Number 38, Franz Wagner. Number 37, Bam Adebayo. This is the highest he's ever been on one of these lists. He's usually in the 20s. Number 36, Trey Murphy. Number 35, Laurie Markkinen. And number 34, Derek White, who is going to make four years, $118 million over this year and the next three.

1:18:22So he's under 30 a year. Trey Murphy also has a good contract, 4-4-1-12. Bam is at 37 this year. And then three years,$161 million. For a guy who's shooting under 50 % field goal and feels like he's worse than he was two years ago offensively. And then Franz and Laurie Markkinen are on big kind of basically max deals. So any of those names jump out to you? Well, here's my proposal to you. I would take this entire group and put them either in J or K. Like, I don't, I don't, I look at LaMelo Ball and Trey Murphy. I don't, Charlotte's not doing that. They hang up the phone immediately. Trey Murphy making$20 million less, though?

1:19:13Trey Murphy at$25 million and LaMelo Ball at$45 million. They're getting what they pay for with LaMelo. I bet them to make the playoffs. I think we're going to see if he stays healthy. He's been hurt all the time. I know. Well, that's right. That was a bad example. No, but I think that's why he's in that group. Let's do Franz and LaMelo Ball, then. Speaking of guys who can't stay healthy. Franz has been hurt twice. Right. Right. You could argue that Fran should be in the previous group. I think that's fair. I can move him. And bam, you can move two groups back as far as I'm concerned. I understand the immeasurable impact defense-wise.

1:19:53And they did this experiment of playing at the fastest pace in the NBA, Miami, with the way they started the season. But where the hell are they now? and he's diminished his own trade value. So here would be the counter on Bam. He's playing on a team that doesn't really have a single player in their roster who would be like, tonight I'm going to make Bam out of Bayou better. Right? Agreed. What would he be like on a team? What would it be like with a real guard? What if he was with Donovan Mitchell? You know, somebody like an explosive guard that could create space for him. I just think he's on a weird team.

1:20:35Cleveland would be a great team for him. Yeah. So we'll go for that group. I'll move Franz back, Adebayo, Murphy, Markkinen, Derek White. And the Derek White case is just, there's just nobody in the league like him right now. When he's out there, and this has been the case for years and years, the lineups are just better and more favorable. He just knows where to go, what to do, how to play. He's an unbelievable defensive player. I think he's in the running for top two all-defense teams this year. And he's just additive. He can't be one of the best two guys on your team, but he can be the third best guy.

1:21:11I'm not going to say one bad thing about him. He delivered a chip to you guys. He was the most important player. We're hitting a really fun part of the trade value pod now. 33 guys left. Group H, two guys. Let me save you some time. Fuck no. My word. We can swear on Netflix. They just ran the rip. Those guys are swearing at each other for two hours. Number 33, Cedric Coward. Number 32, Brandon Miller, who this is a rare type of player, Brandon Miller. We've had these guys throughout the years. These guys that they're not as good as you want them to be, but you don't care. Like you watch them and like that guy might be Ray Allen was like this for a while.

1:21:57Ray Allen ended up having a great career. Yeah. But these guys that you just watch them, you're like, man, I'd fucking kill someone for that jump shot. Man, that guy could have 50 tonight. Oh my God, it's so effortless, everything that dude does. He's just so talented. And I love his jump shot. I think that might be my favorite jump shot right now. Wow. Is anybody you'd have above him? Your favorite jump shot? Yeah, I think it is. It's really great. It's like an old school, awesome, awesome, awesome fucking jump shot. every time he shoots, I think it's going in. If he's open, I just think, I assume it's going in.

1:22:35And it's surprising when it doesn't. Yeah, I really like him. It's pretty good. And Coward, Coward is just, wow. So that's also part of the Memphis calculus. Have you seen him in person? I have not. I did not go to Wizards Memphis. Well, he's, I mean, now he's probably the best player on the roster. It's, it's now a team with, with that. It's Jalen Wells and, and, and Coward, right? Yeah, and Jalen Wells is a role player. I mean, they... He'd be good. Yeah, maybe. But they're in the full tank. They're now... They have their eyes on the prize now. So they're... That would be a good over-under for us.

1:23:13What do they have? Oh, I already bet it. I bet it under this week. 32 and a half. Thank God. Off the board now. Fando's like, that over-under is gone. We don't trust whatever that team's up to. Okay. I think Coward is incredible. He's very dynamic. You could argue both of those guys could be higher, by the way. You mean inside the top 30? On this list. Yeah, I'm just saying. You could argue it. I think they're in the right spots. Next group is a one-man group. It's called Group G. Thank God he's on a poison pill and we can't seriously discuss this. Paolo Banqueiro. Yeah. There's no way for them to trade him until the summer.

1:23:57you know everything has been said yeah I think he's taken more shit than any good player this season there's signs of life with the magic and sometimes taking shit can be good for a basketball part as we've witnessed with Jalen Brown right they need an overhaul in the approach in their concept in their scheme I tried to say that to Legs last week Legs doesn't like coach stuff I know. I understand. Moses has not done a good job this season. They also never get their three best players healthy at the same time to play 50 games. Never. I will say with Paolo, he dropped. He was in the top 10 last year when we did this.

1:24:40So now he's 31. So that tells you all you need to know. Seems fair to me. Still feel like he could pull it back and be a top 10 guy again. But the question for me is, if that's the guy that's taken most of your shots, where you're going. Right? Yeah. I watched it. Went to a Wizards Magic game. Wizards beat the Magic. He didn't play very much in the fourth quarter. He might not have played at all. He shoots when he touches the ball. Yeah. And it doesn't matter where he is. Group F. This is a unique situation and I'm hanging up. Number 30, Tyrese Halbert. Number 29, Jason Tatum. I have no idea where to put these guys.

1:25:23obviously they're not getting traded obviously nobody's trading for them right we can keep moving group B budding but expensive almost franchise guys almost ooh really interesting category here with the almost franchise guys the not quite franchise guys you and I both have the same definition of a franchise guy you need to guarantee me 45 to 50 wins if you're on my team to be a true franchise guy in my opinion or at least have the potential to do that I don't think any of these three guys do it. Number 28, Jalen Williams, another guy that's dropped. Number 27, Scotty Barnes, having a great year in Toronto.

1:26:01And number 26, Evan Mobley, who has also dropped. It's a great category and absolutely perfect grouping to have the three of them together. All of them inside the top 30. All making big money. Deserve it, too. All making salaries in the mid-40s. So you're not getting deals anymore. They're second contract guys. and they're probably the second best guy on an awesome team. In Jalen Williams' case, we know for a fact. In Moby's case, we know for a fact. In Barnes, we'll see. He might be the top guy. He might be. Who? Barnes. But top guy on a finals team? Yeah, probably not. No, he's the number two guy on a finals team.

1:26:44Okay. Group D. Some good either-ors in this group. We're down to the top 25. Group D. Number 25, Dylan Harper. Number 24, Vijay Edgecombe. Who hangs up faster? The Sixers. The Sixers or the Spurs? The Sixers. The Sixers. I think the Spurs hang up faster. Wow. But I still had Edgecombe ahead of them. Yeah, Harper fits more with where they're going. That's fine. I mean, I think he gets the benefit, Harper. Actually, the Sixers hang up faster because they already have Maxie. That's what I just said. Yeah, I think they hang up simultaneously. It's almost like a 24 A and B. Nope, we both hang up. They were not interested.

1:27:22No, thank you. So we had a conversation about whether this was too high for Harper. I'm not sold that this is the right spot for him. You want to make the case or you're just going to be a wuss? Well, only in the sense that I think Vijay Edgecombe is way ahead of Harper. like not even close in terms of the value and impact. And the proof of concept comes in the form of all of the clutch minutes that Vijay Edgecombe has played and propelling that team to the wins that they have. There was no concept of that Sixers team coming into the season that he was going to be playing the crunch time minutes with the big S on his chest and taking very confident shots, shots that make sense of the offense, the last four-minute shots.

1:28:23He's in a class of his own. Honestly, I understand why Cooper Flagg's going to win Rookie of the Year if he doesn't get hurt again. But I have EJ Edgecomb in the conversation for sure. Wow, I think that was your audition for being on an ESPN show. What are you talking about? Cooper Flagg and Knipple have been better than Edgecombe. In what situations? The Hornet sucked for the first 30 games. It wasn't Knipple's fault. Edgecombe elevated the situation. I love Edgecombe. I'm not going to argue the other side of Edgecombe. He elevated the situation. I think he's in an unbelievable spot where offensively he literally doesn't have to worry about doing anything because he has a right now healthy Joel Embiid with Tyrese Maxey on his team, averaging 60 points a game.

1:29:15He didn't have... Anything he does is a bonus. He didn't have Embiid at the very beginning and they weren't playing Embiid at the very beginning. You made the key point. He seems to really show up in the last three, four minutes. You can feel him in the game. And he's great at like, I'm not really involved in this play, but I'm going to figure out how to get involved. I'm going to run to the basket from the blind side and try to see if I can tip the ball, anything. Totally agree. And then defensively can do whatever he wants. I love Edgecombe. I love Dylan Harper. And my only regret with Dylan Harper was I just wish he had more minutes.

1:29:48I know why the minutes aren't there, but he's just, the team's almost too good for him. But I think ultimately it would benefit him because he's going to be in these playoff series in a couple months. I would have him behind a whole ton of guys that you have him ahead of. He still remembered me finally on my Dylan Harper number 25. I would push him 20 places back. 2026 Harper is not wowing anybody. Okay. You're going against the guy who told everyone in July that Con Canipple was going to be in the 2028 Olympic team. Just warning you. Number 23 in the apron-friendly untouchables, Jalen Johnson.

1:30:27Five years, 150 million. One of the better bargains in the league and has been really good. I wish his team was more consistent. You're the best guy on the team. I need you to win a couple games in a row and then not do the thing where you win two or three in a row and you start getting excited and then you stink the next game. There might be a coaching situation there too. We just... With red glasses Quinn? Why are they so inconsistent? Why are they so underwhelming? They killed the Celtics last week and it was like, here they go. And then I think they lost two games later to somebody terrible.

1:30:59They just can't get healthy at the same time and go on a run. One thing with Jalen Johnson, unbelievable that he wasn't a lottery pick. had a, remember he had that weird Duke season and he left early and it kind of, he got the stink on him a little bit. But that guy not being in the lottery is nuts. Worked out for him. Ooh, another either or. Number 22, Jalen Duren. Or number 21, Alperin Sengun. Sengun makes five for 185 is his contract because he already maxed up. Duren has not been maxed up yet. So Duren's on a rookie deal. And that could be the argument if you want to have Duren ahead of Sengun.

1:31:36sure that he's cheap but I'm I love shangun I every game he almost gets in a fight with somebody now like the the the UFC turkey side's really starting to come out um see I I have shangun up in the like the the next group the group the group c like I would have him you would have him next to chet yeah I sure would yes I would yes yes I think so you'd have on number 17 Yeah, that class. Well, let me read the next four guys and you tell me if you still feel that way. Number 20, former wizard, Denny Avdia, who has the best contract in the entire league. Three years,$40 million for an all-NBA player potentially.

1:32:19I'm not going to say a single bad thing about Denny. I'm just going to make the observation. His best use is high use. He needs the ball to be this version of himself. so how many situations can he have the ball at least that that this revelation of him being on a 500 team makes sense for him to have the ball all the time but if it's a time and he's constantly going downhill he's a downhill player so he's a specific type again love him love him and look at us you know look at washington's explanation for why they had to trade him when they did a little side-eye. I will confess, I'm not 100 % persuaded.

1:32:59I do think, ultimately, this group of kids, the timeline that Washington has, but, man, this version of Denny is really something. People seem to be relatively surprised he was an all-star. I mean, to me, it was like, Denny Adia made it. It was like, yeah, do you watch fucking basketball? To me, he's still in the All-NBA conversation. He did get hurt last week, so he's had some back issues. Number 19, Stefan Castle. Number 18, Con Canipple. Number 17, Amen Thompson. This is probably my favorite grouping of the entire list. I think Thompson has to be first out of those three. Canipple versus Castle is a great argument.

1:33:45Canipple, you get an extra year of him on the rookie contract. I honestly can't believe how good Canipple is. I can't believe it. I can't believe the shit he's doing in these games. Like he's getting like hard baskets and, and, you know, four minutes left tie game. He's getting like physical, takes a guy into, into the paint up fake, puts his shoulder against them, gets a 15 footer, like professional baskets that 29 year olds make. Right. And then castle, what he did to Durant last week was one of the great things anyone's done all year. Like just absolutely gotten his shit and shut down one of the greatest scores in the history of the league.

1:34:21Just shut them down. I don't care he's 37. Literally a joy to watch. Could not care more game to game. Maybe cares the most. Maybe, I wouldn't say cares the most, but if you rate guys one to a hundred for how much you care about each game, he's probably a hundred. It's not time for us to do this, but it's going to be really fascinating as the playoffs approach when we try and forecast how San Antonio is going to perform in the playoffs. Because the conundrum is as hard as they play, Can they go up another level? Can they go up another level against a team that plays them over a seven-game series?

1:34:58Do they have the ability to change? Right. So it's the old football thing. Are you the regular season really good team, or do you have the other? Can you up at one level for the playoffs? The way that they came back against Houston last week and just took that game away and bullied Houston in the fourth quarter. Yeah. the history of the league says bet on the team that's a year too soon than a year too late and that if there's signs of what like what they did last week against houston bet on that because in the playoffs that tends to blossom in an even bigger way castle knipple thompson that's about as i really fun like 20 years ago that but all three of those guys probably been the top 10 group c the not apron friendly untouchables and there's one argument to have but let me read all the guys.

1:35:46All these guys have big contracts. Number 16, Chad Holmgren, Jamal Murray, Jalen Brown, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, Jalen Brunson, number 11. And the reason he's number 11 is because by far he has the best contract. He is four years for 156. You're basically saving 10 million a year by having Jalen Brunson on your team. And I think that swings it. I have all these guys near each other. Does that order look right to you or would you raise your hand? The only player that I'd like to have a conversation about is Chet. Because this group of players right here are all guys that could absolutely we have proof of concept.

1:36:33Jamal Murray helped Denver win a championship. Crucial, crucial player to Denver winning a championship. Jalen Brown, crucial player to the Celtics winning a championship. Devin Booker, crucial player in the NBA. To make the finals. Finals, right? Jalen Brunson, sacrifice however you want to characterize whatever happened with this deal, that whatever accommodations were made accommodated a situation where the Knicks have a genuine chance to once again be in the Eastern Conference Finals and make a push to get into the... That would be one thing why he would be more untradeable because obviously things were said and things were promised.

1:37:11Not a knock. I think he's a perfect place. You can't trade him. He's like, but wait a second. What about that meeting I taped? I don't have Chet Holmgren in this class is all I'm saying. So it sounds like you want to... It sounds like you want to put Chet Holmgren and Shingun together. Yeah, like, honestly, I'd rather have Shingun over at Holmgren. Wow. I think over the course of their entire careers, Shingun has, I'm going to knock on wood, I don't want to jinx him, has the capacity to avoid injuries that have him out for extended stretches. Right. And he plays a very physical brand of basketball that makes him very special in this.

1:37:58I mean, again, Holmgren's different. Chet's had a couple injuries already. I guess with Holmgren, the defense and then the metrics that back up his defense. It's way, way up there. And you also feel it when Hartenstein goes out. And all that, like they've been on, they were on a little bit of a slide into the Denver game. But on paper, threes and rim protection, that's what you're looking for. All right, we can move. So I can move Holmgren back right after. So it goes Thompson, Knipple, Castle, then Schengen, Holmgren. then Avdia, then Jalen Dern. I'll do that. Let me ask this. So I'd make group C would be Jamal Murray, Jalen Brown, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, Jalen Brunson.

1:38:45You like that? Yeah. Yes, that's very fair. Okay. We're now in the top 10. And we have two groups left. Group B. Only if they made us do it. Number 10, Steph Curry. Number 9, Giannis and Tedokounmpo. So Giannis is making him do it, and Steph, I guess, won't. I wish he would. The Steph thing's hard because nobody... Would it make sense for San Antonio to trade Steph and Castle for Steph Curry? Of course. What kind of question is that? Right. Of course it would. But they can't do it with the cap because one guy makes$7 million a year and the other guy makes$50. So that's where... He makes so much money.

1:39:33that it kind of throws off. It's like no trade is realistic for him, is my point. For Steph Curry? Because Golden State's not trading him for Brunson, Mitchell, Booker, Brown, or Murray. Why would you at that point? You're just going sideways. Right. You're not really trading him for one of these younger assets like Castle, Knipple, Thompson, just because what does that do for those teams? I don't know. Steph Curry on Houston? Yeah. For Thompson, FVV? I would consider it. Like, Amon is untouchable to me, nearly. You just said you would consider it, though. Fucking Steph Curry. Poor Durant would be so bummed out.

1:40:17It'd be like, what the fuck? Now I get to hear that. Couldn't win a title without Steph. I'm trying to fix this, guys. I'm trying to fix this Steph thing. And then Giannis, if he had a contract that everyone felt good about and a situation that everybody felt like he was staying in, he'd be higher than number nine. Sure, right. He's going to get traded, so he can't be... He will not be traded for any of these next eight guys. This is Group A, completely and utterly untouchable. Number eight, Tyrese Maxey, and number seven, Cade Cunningham.

1:40:52Two really impressive seasons. Hang-ups. Way to go. Hey, I'm calling about Cade. I'm just hanging up. Hey, what's the deal with Maxie? I hung up. Here, I need to do it with both hands. We need both those guys healthy for the NBA playoffs. We need those guys in the Eastern Conference finals. Or, you know, wherever the Sixers end up. Maxie's hit a point where I'm not even sure who he reminds me of in NBA history. Oh, wow. He's almost like... I was almost thinking of other sports. like he reminds me of Jameer Gibbs it's the speed it's the speed but it's like these little stretches these four minute stretches he has where he just completely takes over the game and the other team's helpless and you know he's doing it he's making everybody it reminds me of those Lions drives where Gibbs is like here's Gibbs again for 12 here's Gibbs on the wheel route for 25 and the other team's like we can't stop this or B.

1:41:57John Robinson when he gets like that That's what he reminds me of. These crazy athletes just taking over a drive. He takes over drives, even though NBA games are obviously different than football. But he'll take over these six-minute stretches. He's done it over and over again. They'll be down 10. And then all of a sudden, Maxi will just hit two threes. He gets a fast break layup and he gets a floater and it's a tie game. And the Philly fans are going nuts. We're like, what just happened? They were down 10. I can't think of any other players like him. in history. Yeah, and I'm not saying like, I'm not putting him up in the pantheon.

1:42:36I'm just saying, I don't know what kind of guard was like him that I've watched. What's artificial intelligence say? That's what we have to ask. You're going to like Gemini? I'm in one right now. The historical comp that comes up, speaking of AI, is AI. Oh, that's interesting. AI wasn't the shooter that Max was. No, I agree. I loved AI, and you and I were both, we were on the fucking wall with AI. Yeah, we were deep, deep defenders of AI. But yeah, he was streaky, but not like Maxie. Maxie's getting the ball off rebounds and you know he's going to go 80 feet and he just does it. And the team seems like they were completely surprised by it each time.

1:43:15And then Cade, I mean, the stuff he's doing where he's really the only option, they just traded Jade and Ivy today. They finally punted on that.

1:43:27Playmaker, playmaker. Tough. He leads with his chest. I mean, can't say enough good things about that dude. And all the losing, that Monty Williams year, just getting kicked in the nuts and kicked in the teeth for four months feels like made him and a couple other guys in those teams. So they have Herter now. That solves one of their shooting open questions. Maybe. Or maybe you flip Herter into... something else. I still think that Michael Porter Jr. He doesn't play defense though. Do you need defense on that team? I think that team has enough team defense. They're strong. That's what Jalen Dern is for.

1:44:10After Porter fucked up that Celtics play a couple weeks ago when we just got a wide open three to tie the game, I was like, I don't know. All right. Here we go. Most controversial moment of the column. Of the podcast. I don't even know. Am I doing a column or a podcast? The next two guys are number six and number five. Number six, Luka Doncic. Number five, Cooper Flagg. Yeah, I mean, obviously. Obviously what? Say it. Obviously what? All you can do, I think there are many, many teams in the league that would value many of the players that we've already gone through. higher than Cooper flag on a rookie deal, making like$11 million a year at age 19, that's doing things.

1:45:07That's the argument. Doing things at his age that nobody's done in the history of the league. That's the argument. Not even Kobe Bryant. Right. No, I get it. Not even Kevin Gardner. It is the evolutionary, you know, this is the version. This is how we've gotten so lucky as we've gotten older, the way that the league has developed, the way these kids come in more and more and more ready. Like we lived through a whole history of kids that jumped straight from high school into the pros. And now you have to go through one year of college, but they're very young in their first year of college because of the way that the...

1:45:44Yeah, and he skipped a year of high school. So he was even a year younger. They're all that reclass. I was kind of trying to think about it. Isn't that what it's called? Reclassifying or whatever? Well, he reclassed during the season because he went from being a really good rookie to a fucking animal in the last two months. I cannot believe what I watched. I watched the two Mavs games, the 49-pointer against Charlotte. And then I watched that other game the next morning. It was Houston, wasn't it? Yeah, 37, whatever he did. I cannot believe. I honestly cannot believe how much better he is than he was at the start of the year.

1:46:18I can't believe it. he has I was texting with Legler about it because Legler did the Houston game I was texting the next day I was like I don't understand this guy now has a finishing move where he goes left full speed and does this craning lefty layup off the glass that he makes which by the way it took five years for Jason Tatum to even have that shot and he misses it like half the time or he missed it before he got hurt so he's got that as a finishing move he has this hesitation move where it seems like he's going to the basket. He stops and then he keeps going that I haven't seen anyone stop yet.

1:46:53He's got this move where he goes into the paint, spins around and does a little one handed like 12 footer. He has that. He has a pull up jumper already and he's running the team. He's playing point forward for them. Jason Tatum couldn't do this until like year five. I'm dumbfounded by this. This guy was supposed to be this awesome two way glue guy, had some offense, but was just impactful all over. This guy's an elite offensive player already. Like, if you actually watch those games, the shit he was doing was like impossible. They couldn't defend him. So that's my Cooper flag case. Houston couldn't defend him.

1:47:28Houston had a men Thompson on him and he was going by him. Because he can start and stop in a way. That pull up jumper makes him, you have to respect it. Now he's by you. And he's by you with both hands. And the full speed lefty. He can fake the full speed. He's by you with both hands. He can go back, come up. He can do the lefty, and then he can spin into the right hand. I just can't believe what I'm watching. On top of, he's a really good defensive player already. Like, really good. I think he's, like, fine defensively. That's the part of it that makes me. Well, I think he should be a stretch four, but they're playing him.

1:48:01He's guarding, like, guards half the time. He should be guarding, like, Pascal Siakam and Jalen Brown and people like that. I agree. that's the only that would be the portion of it where you know so what's interesting about this is Cooper Flagg is 5 and Luka is 6 on this list Luka makes 5 times as much money and he's 8 years older right they don't get Cooper Flagg unless they fuck up this Luka thing I was texting with our friend Jason Galgar about this diehard Mavs fan and I was like dude you just have to admit this worked out it was horrible. It traumatized the city. It almost ruined basketball in Dallas until you ended up with Flag.

1:48:46I would just rather have Flag. I think in a weird way, but he was like, that's fine, but we built this team. He was like, I see the case, but we built this team for Luka and we made the finals and we had a chance to win with Luka. And he was saying, what bums out the Mast fans because they love Luka is that now Luka's on a mediocre team again and now he's two years away from being where he was two years ago, and he just lost all this time. So I think they just really wanted Luka to win a title like they wanted Dirk. So I get it. All that's super fair. I agree with every single word that he said, especially the part about the Lakers still being two years away from having the right players around him for him to be the best version of himself.

1:49:28And I will say, having the good fortune of having great seats to see him, he's in shape. He looks good. Yeah. He looks, he moves, he's moving good. He was motivated because he knew he was going to get that triple-double in the first half against Washington. But. Flag. Yeah. Holy shit. He was 18 for the first two months of the year. I just can't believe what we're watching. Yeah. You should not be able to do this for your 20. You should not be able to run NBA teams playing out of position and getting every shot you want and doing all the things that he does. Anyway, he's fifth. With the brain is the thing.

1:50:07That's why you have to live with it. I also like that in two years, he's made himself so much better in all of these different ways. Clearly, he just works his ass off on his game. And he's added all of these different things that I just don't even think he had at Duke. But what do I know? Number four, Anthony Edwards. Number three, Shea Gilgis-Alexander. Number two, Nikoli Jokic. Number one, Victor Womedyama. anything off on that final four for you? No. Stealth, you could make, if we were on first take and you wanted to just zag, you could do the, all right, you have Victor Wambanyama first. Is he going to play 20 games in a row?

1:50:49Am I going to get that? Am I going to get nine months out of this guy? Is he going to stay healthy? Is he going to be healthy four years from now? You would do that thing. I'm cool betting on the seven foot seven guy who's the generational freak. I'm still going to bet on that. Who's like 22. Well, and part of what should be encouraging for Spurs fans and for Wemby fans is you can see him putting on weight this season. He has, you know, developed a little bit. But not in the Yao Ming, this actually feels like it might be hurting you. He's still moving awesome. Yeah. Like it's making sense. So if that's, you know, the path that he's on at his height and his body can hold up and he can just grow in, you know, to becoming the version of the tough guy that I mean, he's already pretty tough.

1:51:41He's he he is showing us that he's up for, you know, guys getting into him, getting into his shit. I love, you know, how Oklahoma City, you know, he just enjoys torturing Chet. he's made it a pet project of his. That's really why you wanted to drop Chet into the 20s. Wemby's declared war on Chet. And he's made him his bitch. I mean, I think Wemby pretty clearly has done it successfully. Chet is the defending champion.

1:52:17Well, that's it. Not a lot of drama for the end unless you wanted to have a Jokic versus Alexander debate. for what no yeah no no not doing that um okay and before we go because i've had you for two hours i had a great time by the way thank you i've enjoyed it did we somehow manage to not uh you don't have to have any british tabloids chasing you because that was like what was two years ago we did the yeah that's true value column talked about i'd also like to shout out Cooper Flag's mom, long time diehard Celtics fan. I would encourage you to read in the CBA agreement that you don't have to sign a second deal with the team that drafted you.

1:53:00You can just take it to free agency and bet on yourself. And I don't think anything would be more meaningful to the Flag family and to the region of New England for him to play on the Boston Celtics with his second contract. So I'd like to shout out her. I hope she's doing great. Hopefully she'll come to All-Star Weekend. I can maybe get a meal with her and talk to her and maybe become friends with her. I don't want to prolong this show, but I am interested in how does Dallas kind of has to move up his timeline a little bit, doesn't it? With how he looks now? Yeah. Yeah. You have Lively and you have Cooper Flagg.

1:53:34Right. What else? Well, Lively's out for the whole year. No, I understand. But like you're talking about timeline. You're talking about what are the assets? How are you going to build around this kid? what's the team can I ask you one question that I was looking at for the play-in bets I'm listening Dallas is 33 to 1 to make the play-in

1:53:59right now hold on let me find out right now they are the 12 seed they're 19 and 30 they're three games behind Portland who has 27 losses and four games behind the Clippers and watching Dallas they're in all these games right they barely lost to the Lakers Minnesota beat them they barely lost to Charlotte they barely lost to Houston they beat the Knicks Gold State they beat Utah twice like they're a 500 team with a guy who's getting better and maybe Davis comes back I just thought 33 to 1 I thought was crazy what if Portland tanks is Davis coming back I don't know When's Kyrie coming back? Hopefully soon.

1:54:46Unless they're tanking. They can't score at the end of games. He's trying. He. Singularly. Here's the other thing. And since the start of this podcast where we've had multiple trades and we sorted out the 80 best trade value guys and even moved some of the list around a little bit, But it seems like the Timberwolves have moved all of their forces into Giannis Island and they're trying to invade. Oh, wow. Yeah. For this season? Yeah. That seems to be what's happening here. Okay. Where we have, they cut money there by getting rid of Conley. They have a little more flexibility and they seem to be rounding up.

1:55:36Now, what they would have to do to get Giannis, it would involve Randall. It would involve Nas Reed and DiFincenzo, probably, to make the contracts work. They'd probably have to be a third team where somebody gets one of those guys. And you basically just try to end up with Giannis and Ant and Gobert, right? And just patch around, maybe get some buyout guys. But I would think that would be their plan. They have that Behringer, who I really like, too, that rookie. the French guy. Maybe he could be in the trade. They have some swaps I guess they can do. My question is if Giannis says to the Bucs, I want a title for you.

1:56:21I'd like to play with Anthony Edwards and try to win another title. I've paid my dues here. I've been here 13 years. I've been great for the community. I've been an awesome guy. Can you trade me to Minnesota? Does Milwaukee then have an obligation to do that? No. And that's how I feel too. No. They could say, we'll try to do it. Yes. But they have to, the offer has to be solid enough. Yeah. I mean, do we think that Portland, in their deal with Milwaukee, got back enough for Dame? What do you mean? When they traded Dame to Milwaukee. Portland got enough back. They got some kick-ass Milwaukee picks for the end of the decade that they were kind of banking on.

1:57:12Hey, maybe this Giannis thing won't be working out five years from now. We'll have some picks. So that trade, remember that big argument about their offer versus the Miami offer? That was never an argument. That was just Miami people. Well, it was an argument for a lot of people who didn't follow basketball. Right. Yeah, so Minnesota. And then I'd never have thought Golden State has enough and I don't know where he'd want to go there. Like if he's getting traded, it's got to be to a place that wins the title. Cleveland, as we mentioned earlier, especially now that Memphis has this trade exception, maybe they can stake salary there and figure out Mobley.

1:57:45And I still think it'll never come out if Boston's involved, but I'm still watching what Boston does. The East makes more sense to me than the West still because the West is so loaded and by my forecasting is going to remain loaded for a while yet. Right. So that's what you put yourself into. too. Boston can go really stealth if they wanted to put Jalen on the table. Which, as I'm on the record as saying, Jalen and Tatum, I hope they retire as Celtics together. But I'm just saying, the Celtics could get the organizations, basically Chisholm and Brad and nobody else would know. And if they really wanted to kick the tires on Jalen and Giannis as part of a package with some picks and then Milwaukee could send Jalen somewhere else, like, you're at least having lunch about that and talking about that.

1:58:33If you and I were running the Celtics, we would probably have lunch. You would probably overeat. I would definitely overeat. And then that's what happened. By the way, chicken parm last night was great. Kind of broke my carbs thing a little bit. Yeah. Because you knew we're going to be together at the end of this week. You better get ready. No, I'm prepared to be disappointing. Anywhere that we go to eat. To eat healthy as you look at me and discuss. We'll see. Wait till we see what comes to the table. Yeah. Whether or not you can resist it. we'll be at Celtics heat Friday. And then, uh, Bob Cousy, the ceremony on, uh, on Saturday for our school, Holy cross.

1:59:09We get to, uh, watch them dedicate the court and meet the coups. I'm so excited. And apparently maybe Jalen Coker. Hey, love that guy. Our guy, Jalen Coker. Um, the other thing is we're going to do our Superbowl pick at the end of Thursday's episode. So it'll be like a 20 minute segment. You have fairway rolling coming this week. Yeah. Uh, you're recording to get, get some coffee. I'll be good to go. unlock your kid out of the closet. I have... We can golf. I have rewatchables just went up, Wild Things, so you can find on Spotify, on Netflix, wherever you get your podcasts. Next week's episode, Ace Ventura.

1:59:44Oh, a great one. Pet Detective. That is our next episode on Monday. Iconic. That is on Netflix, by the way. Both of the Ace Ventura movies are on Netflix. You don't say. We have not done that one yet, so we... That's amazing. ...band that one out. Anyway, thanks to Gahau and Eduardo and everybody at The Ringer as well. Don't forget to read the ringer.com for all the updated stuff. Enjoy the 48 hours leading to the trade deadline. House, thank you. See you in a couple of days. We did it. See you, buddy.

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