The Annual Worst NBA Contracts Draft With Joe House and Wosny Lambre

23:18Bill Simmons:TaxAct helps you find the deductions and credits you deserve so you can get them over with. visit taxact.com to learn more conditions apply. See taxact.com for details. All right, fellas, uh, the usual disclaimer, worst contracts. First of all, we're happy for all of these human beings that they're making a ton of money. Congratulations to their agents and their families. This is not a reflection on them as people, although in maybe two or three cases, it might be. Um, and, uh, and we are talking about them as assets only. This is a league that just signed a$76.4 billion media contract, whatever that was, 80 billion.

24:00Bill Simmons:I can't even remember. News finally broke this week about the expansion, that they're going to be voting on expansion at the Board of Governors meeting, which conspiracy built out the timing of that. And that's what was pretty interesting because everybody knew that this was happening for months and they put it out and they almost put it out in a way to, in my opinion, try to shift the sentiment with the 30 owners. They need 23 votes. There's a Dolan coalition. And I think is in there too. And a couple others that, why are we doing this? I'd rather I'm a one 30th media share. So I thought the timing of that announcement was intriguing, maybe to try to bump up what the number could get to 8 million, 8 billion, 9 billion, whatever.

24:42Bill Simmons:Maybe if it gets above eight, maybe even the people who were against this would be like, all right, fuck it. but I do think I don't think this is a slam dunk and I don't know what Seattle group has 8 billion bucks ready to roll there's a bunch of Vegas groups all attached to famous players that we know like LeBron, Shaq, Curry, Magic Johnson his hat was in the ring Seattle I'm not sure where they get the money but this all seems positive. Anyway we're all happy for all these guys there's going to be 30 new jobs coming in and they'll probably be more bad contracts wise 100 % and one thing to all the things you said about the players and the contracts.

25:20We're happy for you guys and your families. Another thing that I would say is if we could see what the owners were making and revenues and franchise valuation increases, Lord, would I love to do that. Oh, my God. But we can't because those get to be opaque and secret and, you know, kind of gives you an idea about how the system works. But I did love because I'm a hoop site guy when it comes to the salary stuff. I loved looking at all of these salaries and just being reminded about how much of this stuff just changes from year to year.

25:55Bill Simmons:Yeah. And also just like, man, some of these contracts are just like still, it's way less than it used to be, like we always say. But there's still a few out there that's like, man, this is tough. You know, it's funny. I was thinking the same thing about how there's less than, I feel like we had more to work with in the 22 Ranch house. Yes. I think the apron stuff has really hurt this draft. I still think we're all going to be pleased with the results, but I don't think the ceiling is as high as it was in the 21 area. But yeah, screw the aprons. I totally agree. I came in. I'm honestly sad because there aren't as many bad contracts as we've grown accustomed to.

26:39I don't know if we can get to... We can definitely do 15. Each of us can have five guys. That's very easy. Yeah. Is it easy to get to 20? Then you have to start quibbling around the edges a little bit.

26:51Bill Simmons:I think that's the fun part of this. There's going to be some... If we each have to draft 10, there's going to be some fun names. Yeah, there's going to be some good ones as we get down the list. Some surprises. Yeah. All right. We'll give... Waz, you can have the first pick. Oh, this is a guess. I'll take this. House, you take the second pick, and I'll go third. So it was because you haven't been on in a while. It's great to have you back in the ringer circles. So you get the easy first pick here. Come on down, Philadelphia 76ers. It's Joel Embiid. Oh, I'm surprised. Are you? I thought it might be another sixer there.

27:32Bill Simmons:Okay. No, that other sixer only has two years left on his deal after this one, whereas Embiid does. After this season is over, Bill. Yeah. 60 million, 64 million, 70 million. How many games has Joel played this year? And even when he plays, he's constantly in a stage of ramping up. Yeah. And then he ramps up and then he has to sit again. So the guy's not going to play and half the time when he does play, he's ramping up to being an effective player. We know his knee is not getting better. It's getting worse. And he's got 190 million or something like that left on the deal. That started next year, yeah.

28:16Bill Simmons:Starting next year. This is the first of a four-year, 243.5 million dollar extension house. Yes. Yeah, look, I don't think his shooting coach did him any help when he played like 12 games in a row and the shooting coach was like, see? See? Hey, Ringer. It's like, all right, settle down. Let's see if he can play for two straight months. House, did you have him first or second? Yeah. Oh, he was an easy first. And part of the reason for that is because there is a player that was on the Philadelphia 76ers until the trade deadline. And then they got rid of that player who's still on a rookie effing contract because they decided that, you know, asset wise, they don't want to pay the luxury tax because they have so much of their cap committed to two guys.

29:04Yeah. And Jared mother effing McCain is expendable. Hello. I mean, this team has a pathway, right? They caught the greatest good fortune ever by the tank job they did last season when Joel couldn't play and got the third overall pick in a very good draft. And then they have role players around it. No more McCain. Expendable. We can't figure out how to get him time. We can't figure out. And we don't want to pay the luxury. You don't want to pay the luxury tax because why? Because why? Help me understand what's going on there, Philadelphia. they gambled and they lost and I respect it I do respect Darryl they got some seconds

29:46Bill Simmons:congrats Joel Embiid last three years 33 games 19 games 33 games 12 seasons he's played 485 he's missed it will be 486 tonight because I think they play I went back and I looked at all the centers that House and I have grown up with over the years and watched the injury prone list right So Joel's at 485. Bill Walton, 468 in 13 seasons. That's how many he played. Yao Ming, 486 in nine seasons. Ralph Sampson, 456 in nine seasons. Sam Bowie, 511 in 11 seasons. Andrew Bynum. How many games do you think Andrew Bynum played career? He's got to be in the 300s. What do you think, guys? Totally agree. 418 in nine seasons.

30:34Yeah, so just north.

30:36Bill Simmons:Brad Doherty, 548 in 10 seasons. So these are, that's one, I just gave you six other guys who were in this high 400s, low 500s range who had a bunch of injuries, who missed a bunch of time, and they did not get better. Bogut was at 706 for 14 seasons. So that's probably the peak. And then I looked at, I remember Elgoskis and Rick Smith being more injury prone than they actually were looking at their basketball. Those guys actually played a lot of games. I was surprised. it's not, this is not looking good. Big picture. Like, I don't, it's, Waz, is Embiid in the league three years from now? So here's the thing.

31:15That piece that came out over the summer from ESPN, and I forget the writer's name. I always forget this dude's name. He did an incredible job where he got a candid Joel Embiid feature. Yeah. It gave you a beautiful, like one of the best pieces I've read in five years. 100%. And he gave you a beautiful insight into Joel's thinking, like the sort of stages of his career and all of that stuff. And reading that piece, I came away with that from one thing. This guy's resigned to his fate. It's over. He knows his body's never going to cooperate. Yeah. He signed this big deal. He's going to play out the string.

31:56He's going to ride off into the sunset with his 600 million in earnings or something like that. And God bless him. He worked his ass for, ass off for it. But again, even like, you know, back in like January, December, when Joao was having some awesome offensive nights and it looked like the defense was coming back. And I'm like, man, this is so cool to watch. Just knowing in the back of my head, this is just not sustainable. And the sad truth is it's not going to change. None of this is going to change.

32:27Bill Simmons:And the worst contracts draft off to a somber start. I remember there was a I felt like there was a moment when World Wide West and Leon Rose took over the Knicks and Joel was still playing well but you could kind of see the finish line a little closer than maybe whatever that I feel like they could have traded him for everything they gave up for Bridges and probably more stuff right and just been like you know what we took this as far as it can go let's let's just cash in now we have Daryl let's try But they went the other way. They did the Paul George extension to make, I guess, it beat happier.

33:08Bill Simmons:And I'm guessing that's your number two pick, Joe House? It sure is. Let's just get Philly off our chest and be done with them. Let's clear them off of our cap space. That's exactly right. I mean, the Paul George signing in and of itself at the time they did it, and Daryl's just, it's how he operates, his MO. can I get three of the top 20 players in the league? You know, you can say whatever you want to say about Paul George as a top 20. But the time they signed him, the year he was coming off with the Clippers. Came off a really good year. Played 74 games. Incredible defense that year. And then he got that contract.

33:45He got the extra year that he wanted. He has a player option two years from now for almost$57 million. That's getting picked up. I bet he exercises that. I factored that into the contract. I bet he exercises that. That's still$110 million left after this season. He promptly arrived in Philadelphia and played 41 games, and he's at 27 right now working off this drug suspension. I will say, I will say, they are interesting as mother effers. If, indeed, Maxie's ankle can, you know, be ready in time for playoffs, and Embiid, they are interesting. I was with somebody last night who made this prediction to me.

34:24Bill Simmons:he was a Knicks fan worried about Knicks Sixers round one I was like please don't worry about that this is not a worry it's not a worry it's not a worry two years ago they had all their players and the Knicks beat them I know I did text House and Sal a couple and Hedge what six weeks ago I was like the Sixers had just played an awesome game and Bede was great in it and I was like Like, do the Sixers have the highest ceiling of any team in the East? And, like, the moment they played the Knicks two days later and Bede fell down 20 times, got hurt a couple games later, and the moment was over. But this is, hey, over the course of a series where you have to potentially play seven games in two weeks, I don't see it.

35:09So, Paul George is not unavailable. He's perpetually unavailable. And when he's not injured, he's getting suspended for we don't know what. I think I know what the guy's suspended for. We can pretend we don't know what the drug is that he got suspended 25 games for. Okay, cool. Well, we know what it was, I think. When he is playing, right? I saw an interview he gave. I think it was a post game where he's like, my job is to set good screens, keep the ball moving, space the floor, play defense. And I'm like, yo, he's right. And he's elite when he's doing all of that. But man, we pay guys$55 million to do that now?

35:51No, we don't. He's a role player. If he was getting$25,$30 million, you would not bat nice. It's his age 35 year, and he's got another$110 million left. That's why it's ridiculous. I blacked out. Are we talking about LeBron or Paul George?

36:09Bill Simmons:As a role player. Here we go. Why would you do that to LeBron? Here we go. Just jokes. LeBron plays. LeBron plays. I'm mad about the Lakers' presurgence. I know, LeBron plays. LeBron plays. So, Paul George has played in the 2020s, if we include the 2019-20 season. He's played 331 games. He had a 25-game suspension that cost him$11.7 million, but also saved Philly enough money that they got close to the tax that convinced them, fuck it, let's trade Jared McCain. so in a weird way the suspension which seemed like it was a gift for philly led to this trade that enrages all the sixer fans wait so suspensions doesn't count the tax you're not paying the guy yeah so it saved them it saved them all this tax money and gave them the idea oh we could reset our taxes here i shouldn't talk too much shit because my team traded antony simons for um bucevich probably could have used simons um But yeah, if you look at the Maury stuff, it's really like either really good or really awful.

37:18Bill Simmons:And there's no in between. Like the Maxi pick was really good. Even the McCain pick was good. The late tank to get Vijay at three. Vijay was a good pick. I mean, maybe you say Concanipo at three. I don't know. The Harden-Simmons deal, I think, was pretty good. The Grimes trade was good. But then not trading Simmons for Halberton. the Paul George signing, the Embiid extension, the second hardened trade to the Clippers, and the McCain trade. Just a lot of home runs and strikeouts, basically. Here's my thing about Daryl, and I've had a bunch of criticisms of him over the years, mainly about just like the propagandish ways that he approaches media, which is smart, and I get it.

38:04I understand why he has to do it. I kind of roll my eyes at it sometimes. The only thing I'll say, man. He goes for it. Yeah, he does. He's not one of these GMs that's like, in six years we're going to be incredible. It's like no. Every single year this guy is trying to find an edge and trying to make his team better that freaking year. Every year he's doing that. And I respect the hell out of Darryl for that. Honestly.

38:30Bill Simmons:I'm up with the third pick. Sadly, the two Sixers are off the board. This is an interesting, interesting couple ways to go. You know, there's a pick that seems like an easy pick, and yet the heart wants what the heart wants. At number three, I'm taking Jaron Jackson Jr. Wow. Five years,$240 million. I just don't get it. That's a garden variety extension. I just don't get it. Garden variety max. Career. You're so outraged by that. I don't understand this. career, 18 points a game, 5.6 rebounds. This is career averages. 1.9 blocks. I looked up, I went on StatHead, and I tried to figure out all these different ways to figure out, has there ever been a better player who didn't rebound?

39:22Bill Simmons:And who blocked shots and scored, but just didn't really care about getting rebounds ever? It's only eight guys ever average 17 points a game, under eight rebounds a game, and over one block a game. And all of them are forwards except for Joe Barry Carroll and Chris Stapps Porzingis. He's an unusual player in a way that I don't know makes him a winning player. And we just saw it on Memphis the last two years as the league got better. I'm fine with him if he's 25 million a year, 28 million a year. I don't want to pay him this much money. I just think he's too expensive. And the amount of years on the deal is what scares me.

40:04Bill Simmons:I just, because there's other guys that we'll go over and either the contracts are shorter or the money's not as long. This one, I just, it really jumped out to me. I thought it was too much. I didn't even really like that they traded the first-round picks for him. Wow. I'm not there with you in the sense that I didn't even have Jaron Jackson on here because I think he's... I went that rogue? Yeah, yeah. For me, I don't have him either. I think he's Clinton. You don't have him? No. $240 million? He's nobody. He won defensive player of the year. You went through a whole list of things about the attributes of his game and didn't mention the word defense one effing time.

40:47Where was the defense the last two years? I'm a rant submarine in that team. You can't try and say, give me the sample size with the Memphis team.

40:56Bill Simmons:I have to pay all this money to him, but then I have to put other players next to him to hide all the things he can't do. Why do I have to do that? Bill is right in the sense that this guy is nobody's idea of a number one player in any way, shape, or form. I'll give you an example. Like Dwight Howard in his prime. He's number one. He shows up. You have a top three defense. And most centers can't guard him, right? And so Jared Jackson is like a really good two. I wouldn't say he's a premium two. I would say he's a really good number two. I just completely disagree. number I think is fair. So here's my thinking.

41:33Bill Simmons:With this new apron now, you can afford two expensive guys, right? Sure. You're seeing this with the Lakers now where they're going to have to pay Reeves. They're going to have to get rid of LeBron or get them on a short contract. The Celtics have Tatum and Brown. You go on down the list, you get two. So there's 60 of these guys in the league that you can pay 45 to 60, 70 million a year to. I'm just, I'm not, he's not one of those guys for me because once you do that, that's your title window right there. It's like, alright, these are my best two guys. What's my ceiling? We've already kind of seen the ceiling.

42:06Bill Simmons:They made round two once in Memphis. The last couple years, they were allowed. I just don't... I think to me at that position, I don't want to pay a center more than like 15, 20 million a year. It's interesting because it's been proven that Jackson can't play center. He's just... Your defense will fall off a cliff against good teams if this guy is playing center for you because of the rebounding problems you mentioned. You're just gonna get destroyed on the boards. Yes. At the same time, I'm like... And he's not as good on defense as Evan Mobley, but like has Evan Mobley proven that he could hold down, lock up a center position yet?

42:49And we all love him and see him as a play that's worthy of that max extension is so like

43:00Bill Simmons:I'm very certain I just wonder like I'm watching the Celtics with Keita and Luka Garza who they're paying combined 3 million a year I just I value the perimeter players so much more than centers that aren't like impactful over the top like the Lakers they got DeAndre for 8 million a year right just throw him in there hey can you protect the rim a little bit I just think these guys are out there and I don't know why I have to pay 240 million dollars for Jaron Jackson why he's that big of an upgrade over 20 other guys in the league I don't think he is if the Jazz are in the top five of the West within the next two years I think his deal is more than worth it okay if you're one of the 10 best teams in the NBA I think paying Jaron Jackson that much is more than worth it.

43:54Now, if you're still nibbling on the edges of playing status, then I'm just like, I don't know. I like that we have

44:04Bill Simmons:some controversy. Number three, did we go snake fashion? I can't remember. We usually go snake. I'll take the other guy that I thought about here, Zach Levine. Two years, 96.5 million left. At least I can get out of that contract after next year, but But so he's played, this is his 12th year, and he's played four career playoff games. I went back on StatHead. I was just trying to figure out, has anyone ever had a better, more meaningless career? No offense to Zach, but... So 63 guys have played 600-plus games, made an all-star team, and averaged 20-plus a game for their career. 63 total. None of them have played less than 26 playoff games except for Zach Levine, who's played four.

44:54Bill Simmons:He's been in one round one, and I don't know if he even won a game. This guy's career is going to come and go, and then 50 years from now, somebody's going to be on Basketball Reference. Like, what's up with Zach Levine? Is he top 100? I've just never seen a career like this was. This is a one of one. It's so crazy where the talent is so obvious in the sense of, like, this guy is an elite shooter. incredible, explosive, you know, graceful athlete. He's shown ball handling ability on ball stuff. Yet he's a loser every single place that he goes and everybody gets sick of him. And the plus minus doesn't like him either.

45:37Bill Simmons:I think he's like minus 14 this year or something. He's like one of the worst ones. The defense has always been just atrocious. And the thing is, his contract for next year is a player option, guys. I'm reporting that he picked it up. Yeah. He probably already did, right? If he opted out, guys, would anybody throw the, you know, the Jordan Poole contract of four years, 120 at him, the Tyler Hero? No. Nobody would want anything to do with this guy. It's like$8 million a year. How has he not been a wizard? What did you guys do wrong? It is hilarious. It was the ultimate team for him. when you outlined that list with 63 guys, what was the attributes to average 20 points and what was the other thing?

46:25Bill Simmons:He had to play 600 games. Yeah, yeah. One all-star team in 20 points. Rex Chapman made an all-star team, didn't he? At least once. I don't know if Sexy Rexy ever made one. He didn't make it. Well, that's who I think of when I think of Zach Levine. And Sexy Rexy did get to more playoff games than Levine as well. Well, so that's our first either the Kings traded for him or drafted him. I'm going to keep a running tally because they're recurring. How many Kings? Recurring theme in this worst contracts draft. We're up to one. House, you have the fifth pick. Yeah, I'm going to take your notion as it relates to centers and, you know, the predilection of teams to overpay them and then get nothing at all out of them.

47:14and welcome Jakob Pertl to the conversation. It's up my list. It is stunning to me. Do you know? Let me just put it, I'll put it to you in the form of a question. How many times in his career has Jakob Pertl averaged 30 minutes a game over a season? Did he average that with the Warriors? I doubt it.

47:39Bill Simmons:They don't play games that much. Not Warriors, the Spurs. Spurs, yeah. You might be getting your Jakobs mixed up. I'm going to say he's never played 30. You are correct. He has never averaged 30 minutes a game in his entire career over the course of a season. He also... Well, you got to mention what he... So he is this year plus the next four for$123 million because they gave him an extension for reasons that remain unclear. No explanation whatsoever. the 25 million dollar man yeah well this was i i wanted to blame a side but it's bobby webster is the guy and bobby's still there um i they said at the time that it was he's like the anchor and the of this young core that's coming together and immediately he hasn't played 60 games since the 2022-23 season maybe it's even going further back hasn't played 60 games his highest number of games is 57.

48:40He's played, you know, whatever the number is this season, under 40. And he's had a bad back all year that

48:47Bill Simmons:they're like, his back's feeling better. It's like, is he talking about me and house or your 30-year-old center makes 25 million a year? The rookie they drafted is ready. Yeah. Why waste another minute with Pirtle? And they tried, you know, over the trade deadline to stick him into some package. The rumors were out there. There's reports about they're trying to get off of the stupid contract that they just extended him. It hasn't been a full calendar year since the extension. That's a Wizards move. Trying to trade the guy whose extension hasn't kicked in yet. That was the Andre Blatch. That was when they amnestied Andre.

49:19Bill Simmons:That was my favorite Wizards move ever. But they didn't pay him 25 million bucks a year. Waz, you remember that? We talk about this every year. The Wizards gave Andre the extension and then a year later amnestied him before the extension kicked in. The all-time best. Incredible work. And the crazy thing about hurdle is that it's just what Toronto just loves to do. They love to get a guy. They love stability. Let's extend him right away. Let's just knock this contract out right away. I think he's had moments in his career where it's like, okay, this is an above average starting center, but the guy just doesn't play that much.

49:56Bill Simmons:He was good on Monday night against Detroit or Sunday. Whatever. Sunday, they just beat Detroit. So you guys are telling me you would rather have Jaron Jackson 5 for 240 than Jaco Perdo 5 for 123? 100%. I feel like that 240 is just crippling. I have room for one more. You think the Utah Jazz are crippled as a franchise? No, I'm just saying if I'm trying to win a title and I only have two spots and I've just given one of them to Jaron Jackson, I don't know what I'm winning at that point. I have to get really, really crazy lucky like the Spurs did with all of these rookie year contract guys that I haven't had to pay you then.

50:38Bill Simmons:Let me ask you this, though, Bill. Ask yourself this. Would Utah actually allow Jakob Pertl to finish a game that they were trying to throw and tank in the middle of? Interesting. Hey, Jakob, get your minutes, buddy. Enjoy all the way through the end of this game. All right, Waz, you have the sixth pick of the draft. oh man this is yeah this is a pretty simple one for me not simple Miles Turner who another center another center 26 next year 26 the year after that 27 then a play option for 29 add in the Dame stretch so that's another like how much you know tens of millions of dollars every single year that is fair if you add the Dame stretch to the Turner thing.

51:31Bill Simmons:He's the third pick. But I don't know if we can legally do that. I think that's a leap of faith. Come on now. I'm finding the loopholes here. And you add to the fact that Giannis is gone. You did all of this shit. Yeah. Giannis ain't coming back. That's why this deal is so egregious to me. It's not just the deal in and of itself. So Turner, four for 109. Turns 30 next season. he's already played 700 plus games and they could have just kept Brooke Lopez and tried to sign a couple cross your finger guys on the scrap heap hope that they could get lucky and kept Dame and used Dame maybe they could have traded Dame in February with one year left on his deal after this for a bigger contract maybe they could have just punted on the season and taken it to the summer but instead they did this Dame stretch and I don't know.

52:28Bill Simmons:House, did you like the Turner thing when they did it? Because I remember really not liking it. I understand the move because all they have to lose is Giannis, the Greek freak. And so the notion of trying to find a chemistry that's going to work after the failure of Dame Lillard, and really that's just because of the injury to Dame, I get it, but Miles Turner's on the wrong side of so many statistical categories. He can't defend the rim any longer. He is atrocious inside the three-point line. So, Waz, I said at the time that this was the equivalent of you're about to break up with somebody, but instead you decide to have a kid to try to save the relationship.

53:12Bill Simmons:Yeah. It was the milestone. They moved. And I think that's how it played out. We are, we've gone through six. So our first six, Embiid, Paul George, controversial Jaron Jackson, Zach Levine, Pirtle, Turner. We're going to take a break, come back, finish the draft. Hey, every Wednesday, I look through the NBA slate. I try to come up with a parlay. I won the first week. Second week, I should have won. I blew it with an over-under. I'm not doing over-unders anymore. Just doing, trying to pick winners, team and stuff together. For that Wednesday slate, I'm looking at that Houston Lakers game because I think when teams play back-to-back in the same location, I like going with the team that lost the first game and the second game.

53:51Bill Simmons:So, Rockets, probably with a couple money line teams against teams that aren't trying hard anymore. And that will probably be the part that I will tweet it out on Wednesday. The bet will be live in the FanDuel Sportsbook app. Don't forget to use a profit boost token to increase your potential winnings before you join me and place your bet. FanDuel, play your game. This message is a paid partnership with AppleCard. One of the most useful things in my life lately has been my AppleCard. Great for game nights, vacations, just life in general. And applying was so easy and quick. You can apply, to your credit limit offer.

54:24Bill Simmons:And if approved, you can start using your card in minutes. Do it while watching a basketball game. You can start making purchases with Apple Pay before halftime even rolls around. I also love how I can get up to 3 % daily cash back in every purchase. That's more daily cash to use for game tickets. I feel like I scored big time when I started using Apple Card. Apply in the wallet app on your iPhone. Start using it right away with Apple Pay. Subject to credit approval, Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch, terms and more at applecard.com. This episode is brought to you by TaxAct.

54:58Bill Simmons:Like an expert coach, TaxAct offers step-by-step guidance and guaranteed accuracy when filing taxes. Get tips along the way, add expert assist to talk to tax experts and let our experts do your taxes for you with expert full service. TaxAct helps you find the deductions and credits you deserve so you can get them over with. Visit taxact.com to learn more, conditions apply, See taxact.com for details. All right, Waz, you have the seventh pick. What is it?

55:29Oh, I know where I'm going with this. Arvita Sabonis' kid. Get him out of here. Get him out of here. I've been banging this drum of this kid is overpaid and overrated for like three, four years now. And I think the league in the world has finally caught up with me. where the trade deadline, he was one of those guys in the Trey Youngs and all these other guys that teams are like, please, I beg you, get this guy off of my hands. They just straight up couldn't do it. And he's owed 45 next year, 48 the year after that. Let me repeat that. Damanis Sabonis is owed 45 next year, 48, to basically be a guy who gets rebounds and can sometimes make an open layup.

56:21That's it. Can I zag? He does nothing else.

56:23Bill Simmons:Can I zag? Actually, he's a good passer too. I shouldn't say that. He's a good passer. Wrong team, wrong organization used incorrectly. I think he might be an asset. Yeah, right. I want to see somebody else get him. I mean, the plus minus stats are awful because of the defense. I do think there's a fun version of him. It's just not a fun version of you have to pay him$48 million a year for the fun version. That's where the train gets. Your center can't have the same wingspan as your point guard. That's just not going to be helpful for your defense. And so, yeah, it's a bonus. That's just, he's a glaring, obvious case for me.

57:00Bill Simmons:I wonder if they even try to trade him. So basically it was a four-year 130, four-year or three years, 136.4, including this year. He's only played 20 playoff games. He's never made round two. He turns 30 next year. House, this is another guy I could see on the Wizards at some point. No, why? Stop that. That's the old Wizards. What the Wizards are doing now is perfectly sound. Don't you dare try and... Guys that help you tank who are really expensive? It's totally fine. Tanking this year, not next year. We'll be competitive next year. We'll try hard next year, especially when A.J. DeBansa is playing wing for the Washington Wizards.

57:39We'll be very interesting. Is there a team for you guys that you feel like

57:43Bill Simmons:Sabonis would actually be good on? You'd have to put him next to some sort of rim protector, right? Like a four who is a rim protector. He could play next to Wemby who's always outside. Yeah, Wemby. He'll do all the paint protecting and he operates on the outside so Sabonis could operate inside. But again, he has to play next to a space alien in order to make any type of sense whatsoever. So that can't be Alex star? He could have been good. I think he'd be interesting on Houston or Minnesota. I think, you know, in the right kind of rotational spot. He can be effective offensively. No, no. He can play next to Sengun because, I mean, it's insurance for the Steven Adams recurring injury that's every single season.

58:32No knock at all. I love Steven Adams, but he just can't play.

58:34Bill Simmons:I honestly can't believe that's the bonus money that's left until you remember that Vivek paid it. And yet, I still feel like on the right team. He's such a smart offensive player and he's a good rebounder. And there's stuff that he does that I do feel like he could have a moment, but I really think it would have to be. You'd really have to thread the needle on what kind of team that was. And I don't know. Off the top of my head, I can't think of one. House, you're up with the eighth pick. Yeah, this feels like the right spot to put John Morant in. Welcome. Welcome, John Morant. I mean, he's still got two years left just over$87 million.

59:14And Memphis asked the entire league, maybe the entire world, maybe they went abroad and asked, would anybody be interested in John Morant's services? The NBA said no. No team in the league was interested in John Morant's services.

59:28Bill Simmons:Miami was a classic Miami move. And they were like, we're good, thanks. Yeah. He's only 26 years old. Still can't shoot from three. And unfortunately, the thing that really sets him apart, the ability to get to the rim has diminished over the last couple of years and his free throw rate has diminished over the last couple of years. That's really the dynamic version of him that has, you know, another six years of a career to it, but he's getting paid, you know, just under 44 million over the next couple of years. And I don't have an answer as to what team he belongs on, what team would make sense for John Morant?

1:00:10Bill Simmons:327 games in seven years. Last three years, nine games, 50 games, 20 games. And was one mistake away from being suspended for a year, I would guess, which I don't know if that would help from a cap standpoint. But yeah, they put them on eBay for two months and no buyers. And they kept lowering the buy it now price and people were like, no, thank you. Also, Bill, on what planet is your age 26 season with no reportable drastic injury in sight, your worst season ever. Like this whole thing is going in a crazy bad direction for him. Yeah. Because it's like you're playing, it's not like you've hit a ceiling.

1:01:00You're playing way worse than you have three years ago. so what am I to attribute that to besides some people say change the scenery when you watch it it's like can't make a shot isn't getting to the cup anymore so that's like a lethal combination for the type of game that John Morant

1:01:21Bill Simmons:plays he reminds me of some of the guys who just went sideways in the 2000s where you'd be like why isn't Steve Francis good anymore what happened here right and he just was never good again or Marbury these guys that just kind of lost it. We'll see. I still feel like, I wonder if he could be revived. Me too. Like in the right organization system, whole thing, like almost like a plant that seems dead and you just keep watering it and take care of it. And somehow, you know, where did you fall in the great debate of fallen point guards with jaw tray and mellow ball? I thought Melo was the most redeemable of the three.

1:02:03I was a jaw guy because I've actually seen him play serious basketball before. Yeah. Like in the playoffs. Whereas like the Melo ball is all just like clown shit. You know what I mean? But again, it's tough, man.

1:02:19Bill Simmons:It's tough to hold any hope that this guy's going to come back. The only thing with the Melo is I always try to think about the situation. and the fact that he was just on bad teams with a cheap organization. And you just wonder like, well, what would happen if you just put, you know, with Ja, the questions are just different. It's like this guy failed the IQ test and then went back into the classroom and then failed it again. And that's where you're like, okay, I'll give you one, but the two makes me a little nervous. Another guy I can't believe wasn't ever on the Wizards. All right, I have two picks.

1:02:53Bill Simmons:Speaking of the Kings, we've gone long enough without mentioning Keegan Murray's name signed an extension for some reason because they're the Kings so not including this year's six years 151.1 million dollars for Keegan Murray who is basically 13 and 5 the last three years okay three point shooter there are so many wings it's almost like the same thing with center You can find wings on every team that you could just play 25 minutes. The Clippers have guys. Guys are still pulling off their warm-up jackets on the Clippers. They're like, who's that guy? It's like, ah, he scored 10 points. I just would never overpay guys that are just role players.

1:03:44Bill Simmons:And he's a role player. And I don't see any scenario where he's anything more than a role player. So six years, 151. I don't get it. I don't think this contract's tradable. and that would be my first pickhouse. I don't have any argument with it. See, I think Keegan Murray is tradable in the sense that you know what's a bonus. It's like, what's his realistic role on a team? It's like you got to find the perfect situation and surroundings and blah, blah, blah. Whereas Keegan Murray, it's like, if he's playing the way we think he's capable of playing, that fits on every team in the NBA, right? A guy who can shoot, who's a movement shooter, who's got sides.

1:04:26Bill Simmons:I'm not even sure how good he is. He's probably their best wing defender other than Keon Ellis the last two years. So to me, he still has a market, but I understand. Not in the apron era. I don't think there's really a market in the same way now that you're just constricted on what you can spend. We can just say that he hasn't lived up to the extension this season so far. I think that's fair to say. Well, I'll give you another wing. I'm upset that he hasn't been taking it. Patrick Williams on the Bulls. Four years, 72 million. Career, nine points a game. And they traded Okoro for him, who also was a lottery pick, letdown guy.

1:05:07Bill Simmons:But Okoro's contract was half as long. This Bulls GM is the worst GM in the league. He doesn't have the right PR team for the worst GM argument. We maybe need to get him some help. but did it turn down the Derek Queen trade? 12 pick was like, no, I'm good. I don't want your first run pick next year in New Orleans. It took the French kid who doesn't play. Did that Williams-O 'Coro trade? Nobody could figure out. Dumped Kobe White and Io at the trade deadline for nothing? Got like a couple second rounders? The only trade that's really worked for them was the Giddy Caruso trade, but they gave up something.

1:05:47Bill Simmons:I don't understand anything they're doing, but Patrick Williams, this is another example of like, I just don't want to pay that guy 18 million a year when I could find someone for two. He's got three years guaranteed left after this year, guys. Yeah. He's a guy who he gets the benefit of where he was drafted and they, they couldn't, the bulls had a decision to make. If we let him go and he goes off somewhere else on the extension and does, it comes back to haunt us. Right. Yeah. That's, that was the conch. he has a back to haunt us contract we had a million of these guys in the 2000s where we would have like the Ty Thomas Stroh Miles Swift these guys that was like well he was drafted fourth like he's got to be good right and then somebody else would take a chance on them and then that was it we gotta invent a new category of extension the stays to haunt you guys this is a contract that's going to stay and haunt you that's called the joel mb how's your up yeah i'm on to jante murray uh it's it's not like all his fault but do you know how much money he makes yeah well give the money god yeah he still has two years left after this season and there it's it's 63 and a half million dollars now that is that that's the issue if you want to jante murray and gay and he was getting jordan pool money if he was getting 20 whatever that's okay but he is a point guard that can't shoot the three and is a very questionable defender and i don't know what his role with this pelicans team could be now he's playing better um his defense is the thing that should have been his calling card um but you know his scoring volume uh increased the defense didn't sort of go along with it so uh the problem is the money.

1:07:38The problem is the money. I'm really surprised by this house. You can't give him over 30 million bucks. Really? 30 million dollars for him?

1:07:45Bill Simmons:Only because I kind of enjoy the Pelicans as a terrible league pass team. I thought he's looked... I was kind of shocked by how good he looked. He's talking shit, too. I get it. Seems like he's got the eye of the tiger a little bit. I actually would trade for him this summer if I was somebody. Because he looks healthy to me. 30 million dollars. I know. That's the problem. It's just the money. He had a point in time, man, early in his career where I was like, this is one of the best on-ball defenders I've ever seen. Yeah. Right? Like, in his early life. That's right. San Antonio days, he was incredible.

1:08:21He was unbelievable. But, like, now, you know, he got a little taste of becoming a scoring guard and with a lot of guys what ends up happening. It's like, all right, I don't do defense anymore. I score. That's for other people to do now. Right. and also you know he's coming off of an achilles so you got to figure some of his athleticism and quickness has been sapped i i briefly thought about him but you know it's only two years so i think teams teams would be willing to to eat that if you could convince yourself that you're going to get this guy to function within a role at an elite level i just think this is the second team now who thought he was going to come in and do something significant for them and it just hasn't panned out.

1:09:06So I actually super respect the pick.

1:09:08Bill Simmons:I would rather pay him than Jaron Jackson Jr. Waz, you're up with two in a row. Different amounts of money. I want to get, and this is not to get too controversial, but this matters. Mikael Bridges, man. Where's he been? I thought he'd be gone by now. Mikael Bridges, who is owed after this season 33, 36, 38. And again, it's not just the money. They also gave a ton of picks to get him. And then, you know, if you're paying attention to the Knicks internet, there's a lot of grumbling of like, hold on. If we never gave up all those picks to get this kid in here, we'd have Giannis by now. So you think about the opportunity cost.

1:09:59from having given away all of those picks to get Mikael Bridges, who I'll admit, I was all on board when they did this. It was like, well, you got to try to beat Boston. You got to get a bunch of great wings into your building. You pair him with OG. That's a good recipe. And in fact, they beat Boston last year in the playoffs. And Bridges was critical to a lot of the stuff that they were doing on defense. I just think when you watch him over the course of the season, he's so inconsistent. consistent his unwillingness to take layups or get filed or like and the defense kind of waxes and wanes and i don't know man he seems like a great guy and i'm sure his teammates in the wrong

1:10:41Bill Simmons:situation too where he just doesn't get the ball ever and now it seems like he's lost confidence a little bit i don't know i'm i'm out he was on my list because the key point other than that the production isn't there for somebody making mid thirties. Um, he's a walking reminder of all the picks you traded in this one chance you had with near the Knicks where you struck oil with the Brunson signing, right? You had, you were able to convince OG to stay and you got him on a pretty good trade. And then you had all this, all this, uh, draft pick capital to make one major move. And you kind of shot your wad Forrest Gump style.

1:11:24it was,

1:11:25Bill Simmons:you put your hand on Jenny's boob. Michael Bridges, well, he is a Villanova guy. He's, he's part of the club. You understand? It's like, maybe, maybe, maybe show some stamina. A bit premature. A bit premature. It was a premature trade jackulation. I, and then Brunson took a little less, I think, so they could give him the extension. Some weird vibes with that Knicks team. What's your other pick, Wes? Again, another guy that's going to be a little controversial because the dorks are obsessed with him. But for me, it's Dyson Daniels. I think that extension is looking funny in the light. It is because he's just a one-sided player, straight up.

1:12:14The guy plays one side of the ball. And on offense, I like that Quinn Snyder is putting the ball in his hands because God knows he's useless when he doesn't have the ball. Because no defense respects him. You're playing four on five. But it's not like he's showing some real dexterity there. It's just he's getting an opportunity to try to maybe see if it develops. But the shooting just isn't there. And he's not some great finisher at the cup. He's not some incredible facilitator. It's just he's a zero on offense. And to be paying a guy$100 million for the next four years, I just think it's tough, man.

1:12:54It's really tough.

1:12:56Bill Simmons:Wow. I'm shocked by that because the Hawks are red hot. Red hot. Ten in a row. And part of the reason is the lineup, they basically brought McCollum in. They stopped playing Reese O'Shea. And they just kind of got it going. And Jalen Johnson's playing his way on an all-NBA team. How's he? You were surprised by that pick. Well, because I have another guy that fits exactly the parameter of what Waz just described. And I hope he doesn't take this guy in terms of a brand new extension where you're like, you might have buyer's remorse right away. Well, you can take him right now. Go. Oh, did Waz take two?

1:13:30Bill Simmons:He took Bridges and Dyson Daniels. Oh, that's wonderful. Dyson Daniels was having a great time listening to this pod. And now he's got a gunshot on the side of his head. It's like, what happened? Here's the thing. Dyson Daniels at least has one elite skill. unfortunately Christian Brown is a very nice player. Christian Brown. Five year,$125 million extension signed in October of 2025. And unfortunately he was the wrong guy to extend because they're not going to be able to extend Peyton Watson and Peyton Watson is better than Christian Brown. And that's a tough one. That's a, you can't move off of that within a calendar year.

1:14:16Now, Brown's contribution, we'll see it come playoff time. It did take Peyton Watson longer to contribute, but does anybody here think that Christian Brown's better than Peyton Watson, that Brown has a higher upside than Watson? He is a one-trick pony.

1:14:30Bill Simmons:I've watched him guard some really good dudes, though. He's good. It's a little high. Solid. They definitely goosed it. Would have been nicer. They did not sign Brown to that extension thinking he would shoot 28.6 % from three this season. He's also been hurt. And they're open threes. That's the problem. They're joker threes. He's not going to get that anywhere else in the entire NBA. I'm a big Christian Brown supporter, but he's had a disappointed season. And he's got one extra year. He got one more year than Dyson Daniels even got. Than Dyson Daniels, yes. And so, yeah, I think it's the same kind of principle there.

1:15:07And you know what's so funny about that? it's the exact same deal that the Warriors were avoiding with Emmanuel Moody. They were just like, listen, I was like, man, you can't give this guy a Dyson Daniels deal? He doesn't deserve the Christian Brown deal?

1:15:24Bill Simmons:Right. And they said, no, fuck him. He's out. It's tough. I don't think they're wrong. That was a good one. Well, March is fully loaded with a ton of sports to watch. So much going on. Choosing what's worth your time is half the game. I'm going to be breaking down my choices for March's perfect rotation in this special segment brought to you by Domino's. Best deal ever. The deal that lets you get any rotation and toppings on any pizza for just$9.99. So this weekend coming up, we got March Madness. Just put, you know, if I have the three TV set up, I will definitely have two March Madness games on the side with probably whatever the best NBA game is might bounce around little Bruins on Saturday, see what's going on with the golf.

1:16:12Bill Simmons:But it's, I would, I would say at least three basketball games and kind of monitoring other stuff. If there's some sort of MMA or boxing thing, maybe that would be the fifth, um, all of that stuff. And it is March and there's a bunch of great stuff going on. All that stuff's great value for your time. Every rotation needs a six man. And that's where we get dominoes best deal ever. No overthinking, no benching toppings, just any pizza with any toppings for only$9.99. Get Domino's best deal ever today. Prices higher in some locations. Select this online only offer from February 23rd until April 6th.

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1:18:02Bill Simmons:Well, I can't believe this guy hasn't been taken yet. I don't know where you guys were. I thought for sure he wouldn't get back to me. Anthony Davis. This year and the next two. Three years,$175.3 million. Since the bubble title, he's played 279 games and missed 203. Because I assume he's not coming back. Since the bubble title. So 36 games, 40, 56, 76, 51, 20. He's 33 years old. He's going to be 34 next year. And they tried to trade him and there were no takers. And our friend Rich Paul, he tried to lay the ground of, if you trade him, you got to give him an extension. And that quickly became, wait, you've traded him to the Wizards?

1:18:43Bill Simmons:There was no market for him. And I actually thought House's team got kind of a steal because what do they care? They're not getting a free agent anyway, it, but just fundamentally paying this guy$120 million for two years and you have no idea if he's going to play 30 games. That seems like a bad contract. For me with AD, when he plays, I think he plays close to what that contract is worth. Whereas with a Paul George and some of these other, it's like you're just not playing a$50 million player. AD, when he's on the court, the defense gets lifted up. Yeah. He's a plus offensive player and like, he's really good, but the guy just does not play.

1:19:25Bill Simmons:And so he's his nickname is or his name is now AD when he plays. It's just like for a while. That's his while. He was every other Davis, every other day that he plays. Anthony's three clothes, Davis. Yeah. I from you, from a rational perspective, I have no quibble with the idea of Davis at this spot in this thing. I will say this. I do think his impact and meaning to this Wizards team is outsized, and it will translate into a kind of value that goes beyond. It's gigantic. If we can get, honestly, I'll take 60 games from him because what he will teach Sar, who has already got the instincts as a rim protector, what he will create for these young guys.

1:20:14That's for sure. He got, oh my God, did his lunch get just destroyed that day. How else is he going to learn? I thought it was a learning. You haven't been on the podcast since that happened. The disgrace of the 83. I don't know what you're talking about. Will Riley and Alex Sarr combined for 50 points. It was a tremendous developing game. How did your team give up?

1:20:38Bill Simmons:Legra brought this up. How did your team give up 30 points in the first quarter to bam out of bio when the heat rested everybody else? What were they doing? They couldn't get in front of him without fouling him. He set the NBA record. What do you mean to say? It was the worst moment in Wizards history. It was embarrassing. No, there's been far worse moments than that. There's definitely been far worse. Jordan Poole was on this team. The Celtics played the Wizards after and Kata had like 25 in the first half or something. And Scalabrini was announcing with our friend Drew Carter. And he just over and over again, it was almost like he was muttering to himself, like he forgot his mic was on.

1:21:23Bill Simmons:He was like, I just, I don't understand what the Wizards are doing. I don't understand. I've never seen defense like this. I don't understand why they won't guard Kata. They're just letting him get layups. I don't understand this, Drew. I don't understand what they're doing. And he just kept saying it, which is how everyone feels watching the Wizards. Wizards covered. Lino is 20 and a half. Wizards covered. Go ahead. So the coach just, he got all his money up front and they'll just send him packing. They have all of these G League guys that are bringing up. It's really fun to see Juju Reese. Maryland Terrapin's own Juju Reese.

1:21:59Angel's brother. Angel came to a game. Oh, congrats, House. Yeah, we've got things I didn't know as the season was just uplifting. It's a buzz. Why not? Sharif Cooper, internet legend, Instagram legend is getting some run. Yeah, why not?

1:22:13Bill Simmons:I'm in the camp that this is just not good for young players to be on the Washington Generals, basically. I don't see how this is helpful to anybody. I think the idea, bro, when they traded for Trey Young and AD and they're basically bragging to anybody who would listen that these guys will not play because they're going to be too competitive. Yeah. Are you fucking kidding me? Trey Young, who nobody in the NBA wanted, would make you too competitive? Well, I mean, CJ McCollum made him too competitive. CJ McCollum, they had to get him rid of him. That was the trade. It was necessary. That is nuts.

1:22:51They thought they could get away with keeping Trey on the bench for the whole season in the league. That's nuts. Behind the scenes, the league is like, that's enough. House is turning into those Philly fans

1:23:00Bill Simmons:during the mid-2010s with the process. I love what we're doing. This is great. At a certain point, House, this is professional sports. Yeah. You should be trying to win, bro. You should be trying to teach these kids winning habits. Or at least if you're broadcasting, guys, we need you to lose every day. I know. We want you to suck every day. It's one thing to game the system. It's another thing to just be completely humiliated game after game. I don't get it. House, you're just... What do you want me to say? They have a mission. They have a mission. and they're going to be very successful at achieving their goal, which is having one of the four worst records in the NBA.

1:23:41They're going to destroy the integrity of professional sports in the meantime. No, just the NBA. And the NBA doesn't have any integrity. The NBA is the league that gave the Dallas Mavericks the first overall draft pick last season. They can fuck right off. Oh, Lord have mercy.

1:23:55Bill Simmons:We're running out of picks. But that's... And this is, I think, our first one year left after this year, God, that's been taken. I don't think we've taken an expiring 27 guy yet. And I'm going to have to do it here with DeAndre Hunter. Two years, 48.2 million. This year, he was averaging 14 points a game for the Cavaliers and shooting 30.5 % from three. On threes that were wide open because nobody was guarding him because everybody was like, please shoot. We're going to guard Donovan Mitchell and the other guys of this team. Couldn't make any of them. And the Kings were like, he's available? Intriguing.

1:24:32Bill Simmons:and went and grabbed him. And I didn't understand it at all. I thought he was so bad. Second half of last year with the Cavs and then this season, I can't believe anybody would want to pay him 24 million when you could just find 10 guys who could get three. All you need to know is the Cavs had him in their building and they said, ah, we'd rather Dean Wade. That's really tough. Really tough. So our first two-year guy, House, you're up. I'm surprised this guy has fallen this far but maybe because there's only two years left one of them is a player option Jalen Green feels like a guy that should get mentioned at this point in the draft he really shouldn't jump ahead of either Colin Gillespie or Grayson Allen in the starting rotation for the Phoenix Suns this is another guy who Houston had to extend him because of where they took him in the draft The problem is...

1:25:28Well, say the money.

1:25:29Bill Simmons:Three years, 105.8, including this year. Yeah, right. So two years after this year, player option remaining at over$72 million. After this season. Over$36 million. $36 and$36. Yeah, that is the issue. He'll probably be picking up that player option. This is the thing about Jalen Green. I was one of the last people off the bandwagon. And there's times even in the Boston game where I'm like, yo, this is a useful player. Like he's puncturing the defense. He's disrupting stuff. Like he felt pesky and like good in moments against Boston. Yes, but he's just so inconsistent. The decision-making comes and goes.

1:26:08The shot is all over the place. Yeah. He definitely belongs on this list for sure.

1:26:14Bill Simmons:This was the right area to take him. I think it's a great pick. I've been impressed with how hard he's playing for Phoenix though. And I do think his heart's in the right place. I just think he was a young player who went to a bad team. I'm not sure what happens to his minutes when Brooks comes back, but he does. He has moments every once in a while. You were like, so talented. Yeah. If he's healthy this upcoming season, you know that he might end up being an asset. Cause this Phoenix thing, what they have going on there with, with, you know, coaching, there is a kind of ethic there where he might, you know, it might click in for him.

1:26:47I did a good job. Yeah.

1:26:49Bill Simmons:With, with the, with the guys who just play hard and give a shit. and you kind of either for Jalen Green who I think could go either way as a player like he it feels like he's at least embracing the right things they get the Celtics they played the Celtics really well last night that was a good game Booker Booker and Boston you can just book the 40 plus points Waz do you have two picks left oh yeah I got plenty of picks left first one absolutely Jeremy Grant 34 mil next season 36 mil player option he's just average is he even average at this point I think he's been in every draft that we've done even his old contract I think was also in this I think he's been in our last I think he's been all decade he's like the Mikel Bridges streak of worst contract draft who's my name

1:27:47Kyrie Irving Kyrie Irving 39 mil next season coming off of the ACL. Play option for 40 after that. That's getting picked up. He's a small guy. You know, obviously his mobility is going to be compromised by the career-long injuries, guys. Like, he's been having, dealing with injuries all the time. And it's like, even when he comes back, can you count on him to be on the floor? And so, yeah, Kyrie, to me, tough, tough, tough contract.

1:28:20Bill Simmons:Two different spots in his career where he basically took 18 months off. Yeah. Right? Because that net season, that first net season, he didn't really play. And then they shoved him for this one. I think this is the right spot for him. I have no idea anymore with longevity house. Because back in the day, it was like if somebody had that injury in their early 30s, their career was just over. There was no chance they'd come back. Now, watching Jason Tatum just blow by guys 10 months after an Achilles, I don't know what to think anymore. but it does feel a little pricey, I would say. Okay, what's your other pick then?

1:28:54Bill Simmons:Oh, you have Jeremy Grant and Kyrie. So how's your up? This is going to be controversial. I'm interested in the reaction of you guys. I do wonder about De 'Aaron Fox. Because I really like him. There is a ton of money left on this contract. and what does he represent to this team if Dylan Harper needs more minutes? If you need minutes, how are you going to give the minutes to the backcourt across the board here? How many more times do you think the Aaron Fox is going to be an all-star? That's what you have to kind of answer. This is a thought experiment. Like I'm looking, I'm like, wow. It's just, it's four more years and it's$223 million remaining.

1:29:44it's a very large number to me it's the right conversation to have

1:29:51Bill Simmons:I saw him in person last night and thought he looked fucking great so that's and they have the money to spend because Wemby's on a rookie deal all true if they're in the top two of the West to me he's worth the money I agree at a certain point some extensions are going to kick in way down the road for the younger guards but right now For the next two to three seasons, he seems worth the trouble. And I think he's flippable. That's the difference, right? Where we talk about guys like Embiid. The second Philly picks up that phone, click on the other end. You're talking, trading me that Embiid deal.

1:30:32I think with Fox, he's known as a hard worker, a good locker room guy, can play. You know what I'm saying? It's why I posted it as a thought experiment. I do not wrong it's very unfair to say how many times over the life of this contract is he going to be an all-star because you go through the West and you know well his redundancy is at his position with Castle and you're hoping if Dylan Harper who you drafted is what you think he's going to be this guy is completely expendable right so but Harper's not there yet not even close obviously he's just a rookie agreed so we'll see thought experiment that's the only reason I put it up

1:31:10Bill Simmons:I appreciate the spirit behind the pick I feel even better about my Jaron Jackson pick. You just wondered about five for 220 for the second best guy in a team that might win the title. I just can't believe how much you dismiss defense. He's an elite effing defender. He's already multiple first-time, first all NBA defender. Defensive player of the year. Why has this guy Kobe made some all defenses in the mid to late 2000s that we weren't sure about?

1:31:46There are elite that's for him. The fact that the statute of limitations on Kobe Snark has expired is amazing for me. It's a great feeling. I'm not going to lie. It's just for the Laker fans

1:32:00Bill Simmons:who are nuts about him.

1:32:04Bill Simmons:This name hasn't been said yet. It's been said, I think, every year we've had the draft. He only has a year left after this one. It's a two-year 42.7 Left on the deal I just can't believe how bad he is in some of the games As I watch my friend Doc Rivers Trying to save the Bucs season Kyle Kuzma I just like paying Kyle Kuzma How much does he have left? It's 42.5 for This year and the next year I just have to take him Kuz, my guy It's been a rough one He threw a pass the other night that went way into like the third day. And they cut to Doc. Doc's face was just, he couldn't believe it. It just, you're just drawing.

1:32:53I started calling him Samsonite when he was. Samsonite? I. Go ahead. I just don't think he would play. Yeah, because his bag was always packed. His luggage was sitting right there at the end of the bed. He's got a bag always packed. My boy Samsonite.

1:33:10Bill Simmons:I don't think he'd play one minute on the Celtics.

1:33:15Bill Simmons:Oh, wow. There's still some good guys left. Oh, yeah. There's a few guys on the border. And I wouldn't even say on the border. And I have a list called, I got my eye on this. Yeah.

1:33:36Bill Simmons:I got to go back to my center thing. and it's the right time to take him. Jared Allen. Five years, including this year, for 130. And I've watched Namias Kata outplay him multiple times, and I just don't want to pay that much for a center, ever. I just feel like I can find centers. It's respectable. I think on another team, he's a perfectly fine starter. Yeah, yeah. I think he's not a top eight center, but he's solid. solid center. I just don't want to pay that much for a center when I have a second apron and all luxury tax and shit like that. House, do you have any more picks? I just feel like, again, this is a thought experiment.

1:34:21You guys feel like Carl Anthony Towns, two years left, $120 million. He was on my list. Okay, okay. It's a lot of money for Carl Anthony Towns. It goes back to the Jaren Jackson thing.

1:34:34Bill Simmons:This is one of my two guys I'm paying. Two years after this one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At$120 million. Yeah. Right. It caught my attention. Waz, you have two. You want to go quick? Yeah. Finney Smith. He should have been taken sooner. He's toast. This guy is done. He's got$40 million after this year over the next three years. Jonathan Isaac, another guy who's toast to me. He's just completely toast and has$45 million after this year. Oh, so I get it. They got a quote-unquote discount because of the injuries. But three years, 45 after this season. So he's out of here. Those are, I'm out of, oh, one more front line just to throw it out there.

1:35:19Jordan Poole making 34 next year to be a scrub bench warmer. Like, goddamn. That's just horrible. That's fine. He's, yeah, he's perpetually on the list. He always deserves to be on the list.

1:35:30Bill Simmons:Do you have any more? No, no. I'm happy with where I ended here. Can you, can we each go, one guy you really wanted to take, but you didn't have the balls? Oh, that's easy. Franz Wagner. Oh, that's tremendous. Franz Wagner. Five for 220? Lord, have mercy. That is tremendous. I do like his game. It doesn't seem like he gets hurt, though. You have to play. You have to play the games. I gave Jabari Smith some consideration just because of lack of consistency but then he served me some shut the fuck up juice last night he had a very good game and so I'm just going to shut the fuck up but that would be I looked at him not an ideal time to bring this name up Bill but Bam Adebayo

1:36:3252 next year 56 the year after that player option for 60 the year after that forever in the record books the guy averages 17 points a game I had two that I really looked at

1:36:50Bill Simmons:Kevin Durant no no no no I agree no no no no no you can't even move the case he's still he's too good at age 37 three three for counting this year three for 144.7 so I have him for two more years after this year and he'll be 39 at the end of that and every time I watch him go against a good team it feels like it could go either way not to mention some of the non-basketball stuff I just wonder if that's do you want to be in the 50 million a year for Kevin Durant business at this point of his career teams are snapping them up like this you need that scoring that's why I just looked at it for a second

1:37:40Bill Simmons:are we sure Laurie Markkinen should make 200 million dollars for four years I've got my eye on this we're talking about him did I fall asleep for a minute did my internet go out we haven't talked about Zion If you're going to say Laurie Markkinen... You can get out of that contract every year, though, is the problem with Zion. You can take him year for year. He's on a year-to-year deal. Markkinen is at 46 next year, 49 the year after that, 53 and a half the year after that. We're just like... We have no idea. We have no idea what kind of play. Utah, play guys that are good on your team. Let us see if he can play.

1:38:15Bill Simmons:We didn't mention Trae Young, two for 95.3. He's going to get an extension. firing next year, which, well, if he gets an extension, we should have picked Trey Young's extension as a pick. That shouldn't be a pick. Go ahead. You guys are 100%. That should have been a pick. The extension hasn't been announced. I'm like, is this actually really happening? They're really going to extend this dude as big money? House, don't do it. It's happening. House, no. It's going to happen. No, House. I'm telling you. Well, we can just pin Trey Young to the top of next year's draft. Ice Trey and Trey Johnson. We got Trey to Trey, baby.

1:38:49It's going to be delightful.

1:38:50Bill Simmons:Did anybody take a spin around the block with Jalen Suggs' 5 for 150 contract? I love Jalen Suggs too much. I can't. I felt the same way. He means too much to that team. I'm personally attached. I'm emotionally attached to this guy. That's why I landed as well. When you compare him to Jalen Green and other guys around that 30, we were like, 30 to Jalen Suggs is fair. We respect championship quality and equity here, but Siakam, he's been really good this year. Yeah. I think it's a fair price for him, though, don't you think? He's like in the 45-a-year range. I'm just keeping my eye on it. He's getting older.

1:39:31He's getting up in age, guys. I'm just keeping my eye. And Shingun, keeping my eye on that. Your coach is dissing you every single day. He basically called your defense trash multiple times in public. Might have been right. Keep my eye on the Shingun.

1:39:46Bill Simmons:Waz, where are you standing on Emmanuel quickly for 130? Oh, my God. He's... He could have gone in the top 15. He slides under the radar because it's like at 32 ends. 32 and a half a year. If you're playing, if you're starting on the Eastern Conference's fifth best team, that's kind of fair. Yeah. But he's not playing like that, though. The problem is he's basically in the heat check spot for the Raptors, like a kind of elevated heat check where Jordan Clarkson was a couple years ago. You don't want to pay those guys$30. You want to pay them like$20. So it's$10 million too much, but Toronto just made a strategy.

1:40:32Bill Simmons:The only other one we didn't mention were Terrence Mann for$3 for$47. Malik Monk for$3 for$65. and I'd like to commend all of us for not mentioning any of the Achilles guys nobody brought him Tatum thank you guys for not bringing up Tatum kudos for nobody bringing up Tyrese Halliburton making over 200 million for the next couple years and then Dame 3 for 42 he's just getting the end of it he's getting what he got and then the last one would be Kawhi 3 for 149 which he's been so awesome this year but it's the same thing with Durant Am I going to be happy with that in 2027? Probably not, but... Next year is Kawhi's last year on the deal.

1:41:17That's why I can't even consider it. He's on an expiring in basically three months. But he's got the player option after that, though.

1:41:26Bill Simmons:I thought. Right? No, next year is it. Next year, he's done. I screwed that up. You're right. We did mention Draymond Green, two for 53.5. we didn't mention Drew Holiday three for 102.4 and then Rudy Gobert just came out on skates two for 72 everybody's cool with it so two rookie contracts house Reese O'Shea two for 27 basically you gotta pay him 13 million next year he doesn't play anymore don't care and then shout out Rob Dillingham gets like 7 million guaranteed next year and should be headed toward Europe up. And that's really it. I think if we did this two weeks ago, I think one of us would have taken DeAndre Ayton for the comedy.

1:42:14Bill Simmons:But he's actually been out there at crunch time. And I think Bam absolutely makes the list list, if not for this two-way. That's a great point. Bam would have been pretty high up there. Because he's had a tough offensive season overall. He would have been pretty high up there. Alright, so finalists. Embiid, Paul George, Jaron Jackson Jr., controversial. Levine, Pirtle, Miles Turner, Sabonis, John Morant, Keegan Murray, Patrick Williams, DeJounte Murray, still disagree with that one, Mikael Bridges, Dyson Daniels, Christian Brown, Anthony Davis, DeAndre Hunter, Jalen Green, Jeremy Grant, Kyrie Irving, De 'Aaron Fox, disagree with that one, Kyle Kuzma, Jared Allen, Carl Anthony Towns, and Dorian Finney-Smith, who who is Mr.

1:43:03Irrelevant of the worst contracts draft for 2026.

1:43:10Bill Simmons:We're going to be saying goodbye to our worst contract friends next year. I don't like Kuzma won't make it. Maybe Jeremy Grant doesn't make it next year. His streak might be over. Maybe there'll be some new guys we didn't expect. I think last year. Zach Levine's definitely gone. Last year, some of the guys that we took ended up like playing their way out of bad contract status. I'm pretty sure. Hold on. I had this. Like, didn't we have, I think somebody took Scotty Barnes last year at one point. Oh, I did. I took Scotty Barnes sometime in the last two years because of the way that Toronto was open and notorious with its tank job.

1:43:52There was no point to paying him. They were sacrificing years of the extension.

1:43:57Bill Simmons:I think Brandon Ingram got taken, but there's some guys that played themselves off the list. So the point is there's hope for anybody on this list. You control your own destiny. Next year, you might be on the best contracts list. Oh, I see a cat tail. See, Mimi's being rude. That's the end of the podcast when Waz's cat waves the tail. How's always a pleasure? Waz, a true pleasure. Great to have you back. This was fun, guys. Thanks to Gahal and Eduardo as well. Don't forget, new Rewatchables is up to live and die in LA. And I'm going to be back with a podcast. Oh, and a Rewatchables mailbag going up Wednesday night.

1:44:30Bill Simmons:and then another podcast here on Thursday. So I'll see you with a couple more pods the rest of the week. Thanks, guys.

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