10 Biggest Questions For The 2027 NBA Offseason

(upbeat music) Hello, welcome to the Who Collective Podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we are doing at a time I'm not gonna reveal about that. Joining us from Naples, Florida, where it's football season, thank God is our front office man, Bobby Marks. Gentlemen, it sure is, a little night practice, three days, three or four days in, and a little steamy any afternoon, in the five thirty nine o'clock at night for night practices down here. Love it. Joining us from someplace in the Western Hemisphere is Bambic Man. Howdy partners, actually spent this afternoon just floating down the truck you river. Tough day, you know, and then went to the beach. You sunscreen, I hope? I did, although I don't think I did it real well in the knees. I've got really red knees right now, so. Did you actually go into the truck you river, or did you stay successfully on the float? No, I hopped in there. I mean, you know, got in the water and, you know, and then up onto the beach and hopped in the lake. You know, if you get in there, it's not bad. It's, you know, if you kind of half way, I think it's pretty chilly. I see. Is that glacier fed? I once went whitewater rafting on a glacier fed river in British Columbia in the middle of summer. And you had to wear a wetsuit. Oh, wow. They didn't tell me that when we signed up for it. They sort of sprung that on me. No wetsuit necessary. And I'll be honest with you. I couldn't tell you if it's glacier fed or not. I just know the water is clear. I'm sure it's not. If it was, you'd know. Let's put it that way. Okay, okay. Anyway, I'm glad you having a good time. Okay, so Bob, you have a piece out today. We're not quite at the, if there was like a status bar for the 2006 offseason, 2026 offseason. We would probably be in the 90% range, right, Bobbi? Yeah. I mean, there's some. We just got a couple free agents trick on out there, right? We're still still waiting on aspiration. I was going to say a couple of, you know, some free agents, just a little investigation that's holding up a blockbuster trade. You know, just a little bit of unfinished business. For sure. All right, well, Bobbi, you have a speaking of 2026 trying to a close or sort of so we think you have your annual piece that you have in August, which is a look at the next year. That's right. Remember to really start planning for next Christmas. And so you have a piece out about looking at the 2027 offseason, the 10 biggest questions for 2027. And right out of the gate, you give us an update on cap space because that's always the big barometer. And why don't you do it for us here and now? You know, it's fun. A year ago, we wrote the same article. I think I wrote, there was a third of a teams that were projected to have cap space and guess how many teams had cap space? Three. We go through the, it's so fluid. Extensions like Portland could have been a team in a extended Camaro and Shane Sharpe, Utah and then the Wizards go and get Tray Young and AD and Jared Jackson stuff. But yeah, I mean, we're kind of in the same boat we were a year ago. There's still, there's nine to 10 teams that are sitting in a position to have money to go out and spend. Brooklyn, of course, Chicago teams that were in there already. I mean, there's some wild cards. The Hawks are one of those teams that have flexibility and they don't have extendable guys. Basically, CJ is on an expire. But of course, the big one's gonna be Golden State. I mean, Golden State, when we're looking at marquee level, I know Lakers for this year, marquee level teams to go out and have spending power. It's gonna be Golden State out there. And a lot of it's gonna be dependent on what happens with Curry. You know, the Curry, listen, if Curry extends for that number, which is a Whopper, I think it's like two for 135, 136, something like that, that's gonna take away, like, you know, they're not gonna be, they're not gonna have as much as they potentially could, even with Butler or Green coming off the book. So nine to 10 teams right now. But of course, Golden State is gonna be the team. We're gonna circle here. Well, I think it's instructive that this summer, you know, and I know it's not quite apples to apples, but this summer, you know, the Warriors came to Dream on Green and said, hey, why don't you opt out? Well, I don't know who came to who. Let me not say that. But at some point, there was an understanding between Dream on Green and the Warriors. Hey, opt out of this contract just to give us some optionality, you know, with LeBron and whatever else. And, you know, they ended up not getting anybody and they resigned Raymond right into the contract that he was already in. I know it's not the same because, you know, one is signed right away and one is a year from now. But, you know, if Curry and the Warriors can't trust each other, you can trust anybody. So, I do think, you know, look, Steph has earned the right, obviously, to ask for the 135 on August 29th. I think that's the day when he can stand. Yep. I think these two years is the max he can extend 'cause of his age. Yeah, the over 38 rule, yep. And over 38, Steph Curry's over 38. You know, like you say, if the Warriors and Steph can't trust each other, who can, you know, Raymond's been there in awfully long time too. Those are the two longest tenure players with their current teams. And, Raymond obviously worked with them. They worked with each other to sort of kind of, after the fact, opt into the last year of his contract. You know, he declined it then basically opt in. But, interesting little tip bit from Slater, where, Raymond waved what would have been an implicit no trade cause because it was a one year deal, you know, staying with the same team. But would receive a 15% trade kicker. So I guess Raymond's basically saying, hey, if you want to move me, that's fine. Give me the 15% kicker because for him, what's the use of holding up a trade if they're looking to get off him and he's going to be expiring anyway. Right. He could have gotten a, not even an implied trade, no trade. He could have gotten an actual no trade in there. The big one. You know, how many no trades we have out there in the league right now? We have one, Dame. Yeah, Dame is, Dame's the last man standing. Yeah, we, we had, we had, at one time, we had Biel. We know how that went and, and, you know, certainly they could try to get rid of, trade him in Phoenix and that was hard. Biel, LeBron, Dame. Yeah, Dame eventually. But there's, they don't exist anymore. Teams don't give them, give those out. You know, why chew real quick? Why you did, they're not, they don't, because you can't have them in an extension. You can only have them in a real, in whom gets to free agency anymore. Right, so the rules for a no trade clause, or you have to have at least eight years experience in the league, and you have to have at least four with the team that you're signing with. They don't have to be consecutive. So like when LeBron went back to the, actually, he didn't, did he get a no trade when he was put back to Cleveland? I can't remember if he did or not. I think he did. To your point, he could have gotten one if he went to Cleveland or Miami, but not going really. That's right. And Dame, you know, signed with the Blazers, obviously had been gone for a couple of years, but because he had those two first two checkmarks, he was able to get it. Yeah, he did not get a no relocation clause, though. We can't, he would have. Yeah, well, that would be interesting. Brad Beale didn't get a no relocation clause either. He was relocated several times. All right, so let's take a look at, well, before I get into that, if Steph Curry is willing not to extend, Bobby, and if the Warriors don't do a new deal for Brandon Pajemski, and look, I'm not saying it either makes sense. I mean, if Steph wants to extend, you're going to give it to him, and maybe you'd rather sign Pajemski now as opposed to next year. But if those two things happen, which are reasonable, and you've got Jimmy Butler on the last year of his contract, you'd have Steph on the last year of his contract. Chris Hapspore-Zingus is only guaranteed three million next year of the 20 that he signed for. He has a player option, but just three million guaranteed. Al Horfrid has a player option. I'm not sure how much of that's guaranteed. Seven one. The whole thing's guaranteed. Yeah, okay. Drainman last year, his deal. Right, Drainman last year, his deal. What are we talking about in possible cap space for the Warriors? Well, I mean, you've got 39 million salary, cap set 174. You know what I mean? You gotta, yeah, I mean, look at it. It could be, it could be a monster. It could be 100 million dollars. It could be a monster number. I mean, it really can be. Especially if you take poor Zingus off. I mean, as you said. Well, yeah, I mean, obviously they might want to keep something that has to fill out the roster. Who are the other teams cap wise that were Q and I? So clips are going to be up there again. They've got a bunch of expiring, especially if they, even with Ingram, if that trade eventually comes through. You're looking at Atlanta, Brooklyn, Chicago, Golden State, Clips, Memphis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Sacramento, not really marquee teams out there, but Golden State is the clips would be interesting. I think Clippers will be, you know, 'cause that was always their big thing with the Clippers. That's why they structured some of those contracts where they were basically going to try to get two swings at it in 26 this summer, which they didn't because of the quiet things still in limbo. And then 27 when, I mean, we'll talk about it in a minute, like 27 free. aging class. And a lot of it's based on who extends 27 free aging classes, like pretty loaded. Okay, let's do it right now. So it's only worth a hundred millions, only worth having, unless you can use it on somebody's. Let's look at the guys who as we're recording this can be free agents. So we'll say, Yannis is one, but the likelihood is he extends in Miami, right? So we could probably take that to the fall. But yes. Yep. So you got curry, yoke, it's well, let me just go down your list. So you have, you have Yannis likely extension in Miami, Kauai Leonard, last year of a $50 million deal, the crafters, if they get him, I believe, considering what they're giving up multiple first round picks, plus branded Ingram, they intend to extend his contract. I'm, yeah, the plan is for him to go to Toronto and be extended, but it might not be up to Kauai. We'll see. Yannis is off the board. Kauai, we just generally don't know. I would suspect he eventually gets to Toronto and eventually extends, but he hasn't yet more hoop collective podcast after this. All right, Nikola, Yoke, now Bobby, this is a, this is a complicated one. Explain the, what Yoke is doing. Yeah. So he's basically, this is the second summer in a row. He's done it. He was, it was eligible last year for three years. He decided not to do it. And he said he, he, he wanted to wait until the summer of 26, because he can get a fourth, he can get a fourth year, basically an extra $70, $80 million. We get to this summer now, and he's, he's saying, well, I'm going to wait until the summer of 27, because now I can get a, do a five year deal, where $360 million. So it's an extra $80 million. That's a, it's a big number. The, the, the, and I, listen, I trust when he's talks, and he says, this is where he wants to be. But man, you go, this, I, this could be a rocky year in Denver, just based on where they are right now. They didn't do really do much in the off season ad, Peyton Watson's kind of, you know, still, you know, out there and everything. But, um, but I would not, if I was an ad ownership group, I would not want that over my head. Well, the concept here real quick. So he's, he's going to be 31 this year. Okay. So the idea is that if he doesn't sign now, and he signs when he's 32, that he can sign all the way out to his 37, right? Or 36, 37. And so the idea is why not guarantee yourself whatever 70, whatever million in age 36. Why not do that? And if you're a nuggets fan, your sand sounds good. I'm going to go to sleep and sleep well. But if that's the case, he's got a player option for next year. So why not just pick up the player option and sign at age 33 till you're 39, or 38 or whatever, whatever it is. I mean, like, if, if we're to, first off, do we honestly believe that the, that the nuggets wouldn't sign Yokech to a contract that he wanted number one? Number two, if that's truly the, if that's truly what he's doing, he's waiting to make sure that he gets paid the maximum amount of money when he's in his late 30s. If that is the case, and he did that last summer and he's doing it again this summer, air go, what do you do it again next year? He's got a player option. I'm not expecting you guys to have the answer. I'm just letting him just putting it out there. I'm impressed by the use of air go in a sentence. Um, look, it's, it's not a coincidence that the nuggets are diving deep, deep, deeper than they ever have into the luxury tax right now that they basically just paid. What was it, Bobby? It's like $38 million dollars this year, $38 million to keep Spencer Jones, you know, six million pounds. All that now, for now, for now, for now, and all that tax they are at least bluffing that they're not going to be looking to dump Cam Johnson or Christian Brown, which the widespread belief was that they would in order to be positioned to keep, uh, Peyton Watson. Um, and look, Nikoli Oakage, a no brainer, Hall of Famer, if you never played another second, a basketball, a champion, you know, multi time MVP. He's obviously earning right to sign the largest contract, the NBA history and not have anybody question it one bit. But he is doing the exact opposite of what Jayden Brunson did and the opposite of what, um, Victor women, you know, I'm a did not in the years, but at least in the money, where those guys Brunson signed his earlier taking significant less money because his max extension at a time wasn't nearly as much because the sad one nearly as much. In order to give him the flexibility to build out the roster, Wimbee just took the, you know, we reinvent in the fun, Max Wimbee. I know. Right after I buried it. Yeah. The fun max come back because he wants to make sure they've got the flexibility to build out that roster. And Joker's got a championship ring. He's not prioritizing flexibility and being able to build out the roster. And I'm not saying that to criticize. I'm just staying to play in fact, there's probably been no lower stress superstar in the modern era than Nikoli Oakage. And yeah, people in Denver saying to me, I know this guy as well as anybody, he ain't going anywhere. And I'm not saying he is. I'm just saying, I don't know how you can sleep well. I would say the lower, the two lower stress superstars we can debate modern era, but Tim Duncan and Dirk Bitsky, you know, both, no, they're modern era. Okay. So they're lower stress, both no drama, one franchise, legends. Duncan was the foundation of a dynasty. Dirk was part of the team. A franchise that won 50 straight or 50 games and 11 straight years and won a championship. And when they're at this point in their career where Joker is, they were taking drastic hometown discounts. So that's a lot lower stress than the guy who's taking every penny he can get. And there's a whole lot of pennies. Fair point. All right. Speaking of the fun, Max, Carl Towns is a possible free agent next year as well as a player option, extension eligible this summer. Haven't heard a peep about that. There was just a very long Q&A in the New York Times slash athletic with Carl Towns covered many, many topics. The word contract was, I don't know, several thousand words I searched it. The word contract did not appear. So, you know, it's imperative for the next to keep them. But the nicks have apron issues, Bobby. And, you know, I don't know where this is going to land. I would bet the towns eventually signs, but he has not yet. I agree. I mean, I think it's a, it's in it's really the. So he's got another year with a player option around 60. It's the year after that's the, that's the one to circle because you've got Brunson. I ain't taking a discount. Hell no. I mean, he already did this time. So you got that. You've got OG, you've got bridges, heart, Josh, heart extension is eligible too. He's got a team option next year. Yeah. I mean, that's the, as you said, Brian's like, you know, the hard thing is to win it in the heart of the part part is to keep it together. And that's, that's it. You know, you basically are going to have to have guys continually to take to take the sacrifice here. But he's one of, you know, AD in Washington, you know, same thing. He's got a player out. Yeah. So there's another one. So Anthony Davis. So Anthony Davis has two years and 120 million left 58 this year, 62 and changed next year, can opt out of next year. I don't know how likely it is he's opting out of 62. I could see him opting out of 62 and getting a new deal that lowered that number. Question is, is that going to be in Washington or is that going to be elsewhere? So I mean, the wizards right now don't intend to, don't intend to trade off. Say, all the wizards moves are of a team that is very serious about trying to make the playoff this year. In fact, Shams caused me to stutter a couple days ago when he reported that the wizards were knocking on to Marda Rosen's door just to check in there. I don't know how likely that is. Their roster is full. But, you know, I think he's been knocking on to Marda Rosen's door trying to, I mean, I just, again, how many guys do you want to have on your roster who need the ball in their hands? Well, I think the point, I'd like the number one overall pick to be able to touch it every once in a while. Well, that's fine. I mean, you could analyze that. I'm just saying it's more, you know, they went out and traded for DeAndre Aiden. They went out and signed Chris Middleton paid, you know, significantly more than the minimum to get Chris Middleton. And I don't know how much he's going to contribute, but they just want him there as an option. You know what I'm there because he's a great presence around the young players on the run. I agree. But I mean, I'm just saying like Washington, you know, obviously resigned Trey Young, I don't know if you heard. They are not, they are not easing into this, this AJ DeBonza area era. So, okay, a couple of guys on this list, Jimmy Butler, he's eligible in February. We talked about the Warriors, potentially one in flexibility. It's kind of hard to extend a guy coming off an ACLs in his mid 30s. But he's out there. A couple of situations in Phoenix, Miles Bridges was traded to Phoenix in the off season, has not extended. And it's my understanding that he's not going to extend immediately, that that may be something they look at over medium term. So we'll see. And then Dylan Brooks, who was the, you know, he's been such an optimal for a while, right? Bobby. He was extension eligible. I believe a year ago. And then he couldn't once the season started. He couldn't. And he's been, yes, since the season, since the finals ended, he's been eligible. Keep an eye on those two. I mean, they obviously, I think, had interest in keeping bridges long term when they traded for him. And then, you know, Dylan had such a great year, a great influence on them last year. I'm sure there's interest there. But the rest of the guys, you know, I guess, I guess, also, when this list would be Lou Dort, the Thunder, we're not going to extend them. I never say never. I think the Hawks are intending to play that one out a little bit. As Bobby mentioned, the Hawks are in position to have a, you know, be front of the line in terms of shoppers. And, you know, a lot of, you can talk about Golden State, but I would say the teams that you listed tell me if you guys feel otherwise. But I think the Hawks are the best position teams among the potential cap space teams to put together a potential container right away. They're in position. They're in position. Yeah. One more interesting name, Tyler Hero. On the last year of a $33 million a year deal, or 33 million this year, going back home to Milwaukee, Tyler was a good player. He's been an all star. Not sure, you know, this is one of those situations where you may want to watch a play out a little bit, but he could extend into the season, right, Bobby? Yeah. He's got in a lot. He's eligible now. And he can go up to June 30th. Not making your list was Kyle Kuzma, also extension eligible Milwaukee. Just point that out. My students last week, it's, or two weeks ago, I had sports business classroom, told me that they believe I don't want to, I don't want to cast judgments on people that the, the Kuzma, what are the memos he's been sending out are AI generated. I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to say the memos. He's been memos has a lot of different things, a lot of different things, cap related, of course, right? There's been some things out there. So he's not on my list. I question the eye part of it. A couple of the other guys who can be free ages next summer, I'm not including for right now the rookies who will likely extend or have a chance to extend, we'll just like, you know, the Amen and also our Thompson's of the world. Brandon Miller, let's just wait on that a little bit. But some other names out there who have options to become free agents or contracts are up. Michael Porter, Jr. Keeping an eye on that one in Brooklyn. Julius Randall has a player option. Fred Van Vleet. Is it going to be a free agent? Woody Go Bear has a player option. RJ Barrett will be a free agent. You forgot the former Brooklyn teammates. Kyrie and Durant. Those are big names. I forgot. I missed that line. Yes. That would be fascinating. Kyrie Irving is just sort of like he's like this big giant unknown. Like, you know, how that's all going to play out in Dallas. He's been laying under the radar. And the Mavericks don't have any interest in trading him at this point. Kyrie does not have any interest in being traded at this point. You know, I just think that's a situation that teams will monitor as the season goes and kind of transaction cycle, transaction cycle. Yeah. So, all right. That's sort of the the broad top landscape. One of the things that you are tracking here, Bobby, is the players who can make all NBA or win MVP or defensive player of the year this upcoming year and become super max eligible. One of those guys that I thought was going to be on the list was Victor Rumbanyama, but he has passed on the super max. So. Wimby will still care about the 65 game limit, although there's no financial incentive. He'll still care about awards. I can promise you that. Well, Bobby, here's who are some of the guys who could have a big year this year and knock themselves into position. They really get giant paydays. Tyrie's maxi. Oh, what happens on him? Fill it out. Yeah. Right. A little bit different now with the LeBron and there you go, Tim. And and Jim Brown on that roster. He's certainly won four for three. Oh, one, I believe would be the number for him. Yeah. I mean, these numbers. We are not far away from 100 million a year for somebody. I mean, the Yokeish numbers, you know, if Yokeish does that deal, he'll be, he'll make seven hundred and thirty million in his career. Yeah. Well, yeah, we're also not far away from the first billion dollar player by career. I thought it was going to be Luca. I did too. And that would be Webby. I just saw that Maclin Celebrini, who is Rick Celebrini, the long time. I don't know what his exact title is, but he's the head medical guy for the four years. His son, Maclin, just signed a deal with the San Jose sharks that made him the highest paid player in the NHL. And the average annual salary is 19 million a year. Wow. One of my, you know, I always take on like summer homework, some study in the NHL CBA. So the crazy thing. So when talk about something I'm not doing this summer, I'm not allowed to. When they say that the annual average is 19 million, that's important because that's how they calculated for cat purposes. So they don't take like, so they could pay this guy and he's really good. I mean, they could pay him 30 million in the first year and you can pay him like seven million in a second year. But as long as what the average is, that's what counts against the cat. Yeah. Well, my point is is that, you know, the NBA guys, you know, are sniffing 80 million a year on some of the back end of some of these deals. And the NHL, it's the highest annual AAV is 19. Who else? Bobby, besides Maxi. Edwards, he would have been eligible. He would have been eligible this all season, or he would have been eligible next year. He would have met the criteria to sign in next year because he would have earned all NBA back, back years, but he didn't hit that 65 game clause and arbitration went, you know, hey, wire. Do the wolves want him to get that or not, because this is this is specifically designed. They do because the move they made to go get Lamella Ball was to kind of tell the vultures go somewhere else. But the vultures can you turn real quick and they don't want vultures circling around Ann Edwards. And one way to prevent that is to be able to pay him significantly more than anybody else. So I see another one here. Tyree's Haliburden would require a pretty big bounce back year, but you know, it could happen. It could. I mean, we went through this is the first time we haven't had any. We want to think we went three years in a row. I think we went Jalen Tatum and then Shay, right, 24 25 23 24 25, right? Yeah, we had we had no, we had no, no, no supermaxes this year. Yeah, you know, I mean, Jalen McDaniels of somehow yearns all on be it. I mean, he's defense player of the year somehow. I don't see that happening, but he will be on the list. Die on, how about Zion? Imagine that. He puts Zion on that. Hey, listen, what do I know? Maybe Zion will have a great year, but even if he does, I can't see them giving him supermax. Well, especially considering next year's non-guaranteed. Okay. Never know. You never know. Alright, so you also have on here the list of first round picks and what's moved around. Yeah. This has got to be the most confusing batch of picks ever. I just want to read. Wait till we like really decipher it down the road and stuff like that. I want to read you. McMahon, I have no hope of understanding this. I'm just going to read the words as Bobby has them written. Okay. This is for Utah. This is Utah's first, I've never seen anything more complicated. Okay. And just so we see this, there's potentially two or three firsts here, Bobby. I can't even tell. I think it's just the second most. Oh, no, no, let me read it. No, let me read it. Okay. Utah has the second most favorable of their own Cleveland or Minnesota. Semi colon. Most favorable to Memphis and least favorable to Phoenix. Okay. You follow that, McMan? And that most favorable one can't be in the top five because they finished because of the new lottery rules. That's right. That's why Memphis voted against the rules. My God. So honestly, you know, there's capologists. We're at the point. We need swap ologists. Oh, my God. You're not kidding. Some of these swaps are like, we read them. And I just, I'm like, oh, my God, somebody please put this on a chart and like have the arrows explaining things to me. Just tell me the draft order after the loss. And the dynamics of the swap that's filling negotiated with Boston as part of the, yeah, that's a lot for that's next year. I mean, that is a lot for itself. These for offices are getting more and more and more creative with the language on the traded picks or, you know, that one is it a, is it just a traded pick? Is it a swap that depends on where it falls? And yeah, well, let me read you Oklahoma City because you know Oklahoma City's got multiple first. Oh my goodness. Oklahoma City has the two most favorable. Do you hear that? The two most favorable of their own denvers, but only if it falls outside the top five and the clippers. Semi colon and San and I'm not my fifth finger and San Antonio's if it falls between 17 and 30. Did you hear all that? Pretty good bet it will now. And by the way, just touching back on the nuggets, the thunder had the nuggets picked next year and assuming it conveys again in 29. So I mean, geez. One other thing, we know that Atlanta made that deal with New Orleans and they ended up getting the eighth pick in this year's draft, which they drafted Kingston Flamings. So they have another interesting, they owe their pick to San Antonio, but they have another interesting situation in this draft. Okay. They have the least favorable of Milwaukee and New Orleans. I mean, I still got a chance to be a Brit UCP only if it's five to 30. So if they're both top five in the box, get hosed, huh? Or top four. Yeah. Top four. Yeah. So basically protected it a little bit on that's from the Dejante Murray. This is also interesting. After offloading their, if you remember a couple of years ago, Brooklyn made the move to reacquire control of their, of their pick, both in 25 and 26. And now, and they Houston had control of those two years and Houston pushed it back. So Houston now has the nets in a vice going forward. So they have swap rights with the nets this year. And that was the big bontems would always defend the nets. I always said it was crazy to me that the nets gave up what they did. They gave up dalsas 29 in that. And the sons, I think was it three picks, Bobby? I think it was a swap on two. It's almost like if you took out like a home equity loan, Brooklyn did, like they basically like Houston loaned them the money. And now there's time to pay up based on, you know, the trade, the conditions of that trade would have been reached or met already. But it's yeah, the swap and this, that's upcoming year. And then there's two other futures down like there's a Dallas one. There's a Phoenix one. There's like some other things. I think that might be two things is left. But regardless, based what they did was they gave the nets permission to bottom out for two years, permission to do logical permission to do the, the bridge is straight where they got the hall of first round picks. But the nets didn't didn't, you know, the ping-pong balls didn't bounce their way in those drafts. They didn't get, like, you know, they didn't get a Jay DeBonza or their, you know, or Cooper flag or, you know, one of those type of players in these last couple years. And now they're sitting there staring at a season when it's going to be tough for them to be real competitive. And they're going to have to swap picks with the rockets. As far as the 2027 draft itself, the players, Jeremy Wu gave a little assessment for us. Several of the big names in this draft are big names in college, you know, new players to college in 27, 26, 27 are guys who have to play two years because of the age limit guys who we talked about this a few weeks ago. Marcus Jr. and the serving kid is going to UCLA. Yeah, I think there's three of them. Boom, boom, Jay, boom, Jay, boom, Jay, boom, Jay. Yes. We want to do coverly. Well, boom, Jay, boom, Jay. Wu has Tyran Stokes, who's at Kansas has his projected number one overall pick. But, but, and, you know, it's Fools Gold to try to project the draft way out. But it's, it's just not quite the same excitement as the class of 26. So, um, and then the lottery is going to be all wonky. I have no, I have no idea how that's going to go. It's going to be live, right in front of everyone. I don't know how, I don't know how Malika's going to do it because it's already hard. I know. Well, I think it goes through like, well, let's just make this a story time presented by SoFi. Get your money right. More hoop collective podcast after this. I was at the lottery this year. And it's the first time I'd actually physically been at the lottery in 20 years. And I was there in the afternoon. And Malika was running through practices. Like she was, you know, she was basically in the, I mean, there was a few, there was a dozen people or so in the room, but she was running through the lottery over and over and over so that she could, you know, there were certain things that happened, so she could practice them. So, if this happened, that happened. And, you know, she did a great job with it. But yeah, maybe she should just hand that one off. There's there's some tennis event that she French. What is a French? We don't have the front. We don't have the French. Oh, we don't. That's right. We have the other three, three out of the other four, right? Yeah. I don't know. We cover all 10 of your questions, Bobby. I can't. I don't know. Well, the apron, you know, listen, the apron's going to give you, you know, the apron's coming back. We don't thank God. I was going anywhere. It's going away. Let me ask this, Bobby, how much do you think the apron impacts the possibility of using restricted free agency to poach players? Yeah. Because I think, for example, I think there's a team like, like Memphis, that is a cap space team. You know, maybe now that we're going to be a primary free agency destination. I mean, they did manage to pull off sign and chain the parsons to a max deal. But if a team's in a bind and they can throw significantly more money than a team wants to, or can't feel like they can afford to pay to keep a player, I think it's going to be an interesting strategy that we see emerging over the next few years. I mean, it's like, what happens? Like if Oklahoma City and Case and Lost don't get a deal done, right? Like, would you just go in there and plop down and all, you know, something on him, you know, the Thompson Twins in Detroit and Houston? I mean, they're both those teams are pretty decent shape financially. We'll see what happens with Jan Dern. But yeah, I mean, I think that's, that's going to be a strategy. It's almost like a bigger version of what, which it's funny because, okay, see, it was an eight second apron team, then they got under and then they go basically through the Spencer Jones offers cheat, right? Like, say, hey, you know, it was a, it was a smaller number. But hey, you know, hey, if you're going to do, if you're going to match it, you're going to go, you're going to go right into the, uh, in pay penalty. It's clear. I know Sam Prestee's got on the record with the, the Oklahoma and said the moves they may now are made, uh, to create the financial flexibility to, to keep this roster intact. But if they're giving case and wall is a big raise, if they're given AJ Mitchell, uh, a big raise, who, you know, who might be available from their roster? I mean, they traded three quality role players this summer, because there, because there'll be more opportunities like that for teams. We will be talking about it. Um, at great length over the next 10 months. I like the story that our, our colleague, Zach Kram came out with a couple of days ago, taking a look at what players may be improving their position to be on the 28 Olympic team in LA. This is an interesting time because typically the US would have to go through the qualifying cycle in the 27 World Cup, which in that sort of like the, uh, the stick and carrot, you tell some, some young players who maybe haven't had, uh, had a chance to make the big team yet come play in the World Cup. You play well enough, you're going to qualify. And this is what happened with Ann Edwards, for example, he played in 2023 in the World Cup was the best part of the team. He's on the 24 Olympic team, same with Tyree Salabarton. Um, and so Kram's looking at that. But the US does not have to qualify for the World Cup in 27 because the US is hosting. Um, the World Cup in 27 is actually supposed to take place in Doha. Um, you know, the NBA was, um, was planning on having games in Doha this fall. I believe the wizards and nets were planning on going there and possibly even the calves and the calves and, the calves and heat were looking at going to Abu Dhabi and then I think going to Doha. Um, but the wizards and nets were going to Doha. Those were, they never were, they never were announced. And a few days ago, the NBA decided to just move on from that obviously because of the situation in the Middle East. Um, I have, I hope that we're not at war any longer a year from now. But if the World Cup is still in Qatar, I don't know how attractive it's going to be for players to go try to play there when um, the US doesn't have to qualify. But um, he named some players to keep an eye on and a couple of them, I thought were very interesting. One, Scotty Barnes, McMahon, absolutely. Two-way player, great size, can't get the outside shot, defends. Definitely a guy I think we'll get invited to the World Cup team. I agree with everything you said except for the outside shot part. But he can play one through five, um, phenomenal athlete and, you know, uh, a playmaker, a finisher, an elite defensive player. Yeah, he would make a lot of sense. Another guy, uh, Jaden McDaniels. Now, the big problem, and now- - Yeah, I don't care so much about the World Cup in '27. I mean, it's a good event that you learn a lot at. I've covered three World Cups. Trust me, I care. But I don't care so much about the US's performance. But when you look at the 28 Olympics, you're looking at the French who have played the US in the final last two of the Olympics. And you're looking at Victor. And you're wondering about Victor and how you're going to handle that. Well, Jayden McDaniels had some moments against Victor in the playoffs this year. Kram mentioned him, and I think he's a candidate too, Bobby. - Well, and I think he's a candidate too, 'cause I think he's going to be spotlighted probably more this year with no Julius and no Nas Reed and Minnesota. And I think he saw offensively, he can, you know, carry a little bit there and add up that Denver series. Certainly when they had all those injuries. - I'm going to play my goodness. - Oh, yeah. I mean, and they're probably playing with the four. Right? I think he's probably got something to have a choice. - Yeah. - I don't think they have a choice. But no, he's a, he's an interesting guy. You know, you see him in maybe next summer and Billy did maybe try to get one of those final spots. - Well, and you also, you have to have guys who are capable, willing, and proven role players, you know? Like, you can't have everybody who thinks they're going to score 28 points a game. - That's why Derek White, you know, there was a lot of, you know, there was, you know, there was some, obviously, people had things that they thought about. And Derek White was one of the last guys picked. Well, Derek White has no problem being a role player. - Right. - And that was part of the reason why he was on their roster in Paris. Cram has con Knippel on here. And obviously a guy who can shoot like that is valuable in any league in the world. Is Knippel under the stock falling? - Yeah, he doesn't have Cooper Flagg, who absolutely I think will be, he was tremendous on the select team. They have a team that goes to camp that started a play against the senior team. Flagg was headed into his freshman year at Duke, his only year at Duke. And he was one of the best players on the court. Everybody walked away, just blown away and pressed not that they didn't know already, but that was like the highest level competition and never seen play against him. - In this story, he's got a handful of guys who stock is rising, a handful of guys who stock is falling. It's not necessarily a roster projection. - Right, right. - I think everybody would be pretty shocked if Cooper Flagg's not on the 28 Olympic roster for team years. - He has Jalen Brunson on here as well as a stock rising. And of course, Jalen Brunson played on the 2023 World Cup team and was not particularly effective. Players that are undersized and defensively challenged are not something team USA typically looks to. Having said that, he's undersized and defensively challenged in the NBA and just won the finals MVP. - I hope it's going 45 in the quarter game. - I seem to remember that performance of him managing Victor quite well in that situation. But also, you know, Chris Paul was that way too. And Chris Paul won multiple gold medals. So it's not an ironclad rule. I would agree that if Jalen Brunson wants to play that that'll be the case. So obviously, there's some legacy guys. If LeBron wants to play, he'll get a roster spot. - Now that one's interesting because LeBron has said it, you know, he's got the quote in here. LeBron has said in November on his podcast, don't even ask, I'll be watching it from Cabo. - But he just made it very clear. He plans to play at least two years for Philly. And if he's going to have his career end with the 27-28 NBA season, why not go out with the fifth Olympics? He's got a place in LA. He doesn't even have to stay in a hotel, you know? - It's quite a place in LA. I've heard. - Durant is not on exact list here, but if Durant wants the greatest US Olympian in basketball ever, I would think Durant, if he wants to play in the next Olympics, I'd have a chance to be the flag bearer quite frankly. - Yeah. - So unless it's LeBron. - LeBron's already done it. In the driving rain on the Senn in Paris. So, hey, well, check out Zack's article. It's got a lot of good stuff in it. - Thank you so much to our producers. Thank you to Jackson for limping through some technical difficulties on this one. Thank you to Bobby and McMahon. Thank you for listening and watching "Whoop Collective." We'll talk to you in the next couple of days. - Adios, Migos. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)