How Steph Curry Can Decide The Warriors' Future + Major Questions For Pistons & FIBA Qualifiers

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to the hoop collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we are doing on Monday afternoon, joining us where it's Monday morning, out in California, Northern California is Anthony Slater. How's it going, Slates? - Home of the Kings. - Hey, by popular demand, by Jackson's insistence, he's back in his backyard. - I'm not doing the full NBA today, a shot where I literally put the little setup, y'all know the TVU setup. I actually got it to the point I would go outside. We're actually in my, I guess kitchen area. - Yeah, you're inside with the backyard. The best was he did like for like six months when he joined us. He was just, he didn't have like a home studio setup. So he just did it outside because it's a very nice back yard. And then when he moved into the home studio, we missed the back yard. So he put a picture of his back yard as his backdrop at times. It was amazing. That joining us from some fancy mountain town in Colorado, where he's celebrating a very big birthday. We won't say what birthday, Slater. We'll just say he's got gray in his beard and he's celebrating a special birthday. - How big? How big are we talking? - The celebration is over. So we're moving on. We've moved on to September here. - How many partners? - He was moved on to an empty Mario points account. That's what he moved on. - This is true. We're replenishing. - Yes. - We're in the replenishing phase. Okay. So Slater, the reason we wanted to have you because we always appreciate your insights. But an interesting date passed this weekend. And I'm not talking about McMahon's birthday for when he was born in the 70s. Do the math. I mean, I was born in the 70s too. We don't get me wrong. I was born in earlier than 70s. - Just a couple of years. Anyway, Slater over the weekend, Steph Curry became eligible to sign a contract extension. Now, Steph hasn't really had any super interesting contract moments in his career, other than probably when he signed his first extension. - Four for 44. It's set up as a dynasty, really. - Well, I'll tell you what, you know that number if you're a warrior's fan four for 44, that enabled Kevin Durant to come. Probably enabled Sean Livingston to come. - Yeah, you might know that number if you're a thunder fan because that is what set up the Durant signing. As you said, for sure. - Set up the Durant signing, but also that enabled them to open up space to sign Andre Guadala, enabled them to have more flexibility to sign Sean Livingston. Clay Thompson did something that was interesting. He agreed to like a max contract, but it was like not really a max. It was like an extra fun max, McMahon. He agreed to a number and even when the max came in higher than that, like 'cause you agreed, if you're signing a max, you just agreed to whatever the max number is. - Like 25% or 30% whenever your max is. - Right, and we just sort of guesstimate it based on projected numbers. Sometimes it's higher, sometimes it's lower. Clay locked in to a number and it was the understanding was it would be this number no matter what. And then when the cap came in higher, Clay was actually slightly below the max. So all of those little pieces and parts made possible for Durant later on. But anyway, now we're talking about Steph at age 38 with signing potentially one last contract here later. And the reason we're talking about this isn't because there's drama about whether or not Steph is gonna sign. It's what is on the plate of him, the warrior. So maybe you can go over the numbers before we go over what Steph's options are. - Well, it's like two for one, 36 is the max he can do because he can only do two years 'cause of the over 38 rule. He could also do a one year max. - Right, let me stop you right there, just real quick. - Yeah. - When you're over the age of 38 in the NBA, you can only be under contract for a maximum of three years. This is an old rule from like the 90s when they would sort of give guys a little going away contracts that would sort of average down their salary. And so it used to be over 36. And then. - Chris Paul, right? - When Chris Paul and LeBron were like running the Players Association, and they were getting on toward their mid to late 30s, they pushed it to 38. There was a whole package of changes that they made to the rules, but. - Was it self-serving, sure, but both of them were still hooping at 38? - That's true. Nobody thought that they were. - It did come at a time when 38 became the new 36. I feel like in the league. - Fair enough. However, it was two guys who were going on their late 30s, or they were in there, they were still like 34 or 35, but they were headed towards that. Curry makes 62 million this year. So he could add two years on to it is what Slater is saying, or Slater, what else could he do? - He could do a one year max or he could wait. And again, the Warriors have presented them. These options are the one thing I will tell you from talking to people this weekend is they're adamant. They're not negotiating with Steph Curry right now. They are saying, you can do this, you can do this, you can do this, if you want the one year max, if you want the two year max, if you want to wait, here's your menu, pick off your menu. - Yeah, it's different ends of the career and different negotiations, but that's the same thing the Spurs did with Victor and Maniam. It's, hey, you're gonna make the decision, but here's the different options. Here's why option, here's what option B can do in terms of flexibility in X, Y, and Z. So yeah, it's like you said, there's not negotiation here. These are the options and this is what we can do with them. - Yeah, and we're Brian, I think it's talking about the money side of this, is what flexibility could they have if Steph Curry, either waits or agrees to take less than his max? And that's about their cap space. Next summer, which again, can be utilized at the deadline, if you absorb somebody in whatever, but I believe that if he took his max now, Bobby Marx has told me, it takes him to about 45 million in cap space, which is still a ton of cap space. It just limits, you know, I guess all of what they can do, but at the same time, two other notes on their cap space next summer, the Pajemski extension changes that, if they do or don't do that, which will probably be more of a conversation for September or October, but it matters. And then poor Zingas has is owed 20 million next year, but only three million guaranteed. So while you say 45, you could add 17 million to that, if you cut Chris Alps for Zingas. Right. How much cap space do you think they need to bring Jonathan Kaminga back? Um, you know, that's a, that's a negotiation with Joe Lakeham, you know, and right now, what, TPM, I'll leave, baby. I just want to get in an early Kaminga reference just to get Wendy's blood boiling. Jackson, you can cut this out. This is more for like our producers, but please talk to our producers about, I want a graphic right here that has number of days until Jonathan Kaminga's next free agency. I want, I want it as we go. I don't care if it's, you know, November, January, I want a clock, actually a clock, get an actual hour clock, Jackson, days out, months, days hours, clock, clicking it down. God, it's going to be great. Can't wait. I just don't want to say anything about it in front of my backyard because the last time I did, Wendy went on like an NBA today, viral rant about how I've been reporting on it in my backyard for a decade now. So he almost burned the trees down. He signed a two year $13 million contract because that's what his market value is. Okay, now, a few things on this, one little note, if Steph waits, there's a whole bunch of different things he can do by waiting, which is what I think that he should seriously consider, which I'm sure he has been considering. So he can add two years to his contract right now. He can do two years and two or, you know, $138, $137, $138. It's like, you mogul some out of money. Yeah, it's like $136.7, I think. Yeah. And to be clear, as you said, they're not negotiating. If Steph came in today and said, draw up the paperwork for the two, $137, they would do that. And they would be happy too. But if he waits, he can sign a three year deal. And the carrier of age 41. And the reason that's interesting is that if they do that, they could guarantee him a certain amount of money, but stretch it out one more year and potentially give more cap space. It's just another reason why he would consider waiting. So you mentioned their flexibility. Steph has 62.5 million on the books this year. Jimmy Butler, 56.8 million, Traymond Green, 27.6 million, all those guys are in the last year, their contracts, no options, free agents. And you know, I know there's been a whole bunch of discussion dating back to last trade deadline about Jimmy Butler, but he coming off of this ACL could, could function as a huge expiring contract in a trade. I don't think that's what they're operating with day to day. But if a player acquisition comes to the fore, they could use that. Well, and the other thing is they could not do it and say, Jimmy Butler's our trade deadline acquisition. Well, they're definitely going to say that by the way. You've got, you're already doing the PR. Also, you know, if he looks pretty good, but you know what else he could, he could serve as, look at what LeBron James expiring about that exact same number. Maybe that exact same number. I think him and Jimmy and LeBron have the same number. It it expired and then they use that cap space to go rebate. build their team. I mean, that is the value of the Jimmy Butler 52. Right. And maybe poor Zingles will have a great year this year, and they'll be like, man, $20 million next year for him is a bargain. We're going to keep him. But if they were to cut him, and even if they cut him and redid his deal, the largest salary they would potentially have on their books for next summer, if Steph does not extend his Moses moody at 13.4 million. And so, and I think our listeners know by now that you don't just look at free agents when you think about spending cap space, that there's a bunch of different ways. And you know, the Warriors tried to make, you know, some moves using their, using their first round graphics, I think they've got four they can trade, right? The max four, isn't that right? Yeah, and I'll give you an example of one that is probably talked about least in their last few years of like, you know, swings and misses if you want to call them that. It's Jaron Jackson at the deadline. You know, they were kind of sniffed around that. And that is the perfect example of what you're talking about where Utah had future flexibility. And it's not like Jaron Jackson shows them in free agency, right? They just said here we've got some assets. Let's go get Jaron Jackson to use some of our future flexibility to get a franchise center. The Warriors could have theoretically done that at the deadline and could do it at this next deadline. If there's somebody they want to utilize that, you know, asset base for. So let me just tell you assuming opt outs like the not all of these players will be free agents. Some of them will do extensions. Some of them will not opt out of their contracts. But just for an early look at potential free agents for next summer, including stuff like, you know, put stuff on that list and stuff and joke or top of the list. Two fairly big names. Right. So obviously, Niklai Yokech and I'm not looking to sign any alarms in Denver, but the reality is he's not extending his contract will be up. Anthony Davis. Now he's a very big number. He can opt into. It's over 60 million. I think his preference is to extend in Washington. If not in Washington to be traded somewhere where he can extend. We're talking about potential midseason trade candidates. He is number one on the list. But the reality is this. Anthony Davis is in position to be a free agent 27 if he wants to. So I think put that. The other one on this list would be Carl Towns. That's right. Carl Towns, again, has a player option of over 60 million dollars. I think it's his preference is to extend in New York. But he can be a free agent. So I don't want to go into a long explanation and discussion about it, but that's just the case. Kyrie Irving has a player option of over 40 million. Again, I think it's mostly likely he's going to pick that up, but you know. Kyrie's track record is that he, I believe, will try to get an extension off of that. I agree. I'm just saying some names. I don't hear. But we'll see. Tyler Hero. No option. I'm under stricted free agent. Maybe he extends in Milwaukee, right now. Oh, hey, what do you think about this one? Slater Jordan pool? Should we just, should we just get the welcome back? Hey, pool. I mean, 82 timelines back on Drain Monster free agent too. And that's relevant in the pool conversation. Right. Yeah. There's some other guys with opt-outs that I'll just, you know, just cycle through Rudy Gobert. He has an option for 38 million. He's probably picking that up. Michael Porter, Jr. will be a free agent. Brandon Ingram has a player option. We don't have a clarity yet on Kawaii Leonard. I think if that trade do Toronto goes through, he's going to do a new extension there. But, you know, as of right now, these are guys that they could look at. But, you know, like this year, Janus Tenacumpo got traded. He was, it was a functionally a free agent move. I mean, I didn't, I didn't even mention Janus. Janus technically has a player option. He's obviously going to extend in, in Miami. But that, that's essentially was a free, was a free agent move, really. Janus picking them. And so we're the, some of the bigger trades of the deadline here. You mentioned Aaron Jackson, Jr. That was absolutely pre-agency for the jazz based San A and instead of doing a having a bunch of cat space, let's go get the guy we want now and not have to recruit. And the same thing with, at least with Tray Young in Washington, you know, we'll see how the AD thing works out. But, you know, both of those were like, let's go get a guy we want now with a, you know, with the idea of that, we'd rather do that than take our chances of free agency. And look, I know that if you're a warrior's fan, you don't really want to hear about the plans for 39 year old stuff later. You want to hear the plans for 38 year old stuff, which led to some angst this summer. But this decision that stuff has is not really about this season. This season is good. What's going to be you see what their roster is. This is a decision that's going to get made. I assume between now and training camp and stuff's going to say he's going to make up his mind which direction he's going. And that direction will have a big impact on how MBA free agency operates in 27. If you, if though, if we can all see the warriors coming with 100 million in cat space, that will affect decisions elsewhere, I think. That has been relayed to him this plan. Number one, number two, you mentioned now in training camp. I do expect him to want to make a decision like relatively soon. But also from what I've been told from the warrior side, no rush. And he's eligible all the way until what June 30th, like he gets signed at any point during the season after the season. They extended porcelain gas, for example, in June. So that's one thing. The other thing I think needs to get discussed with 38 year old stuff. Curry, he's coming off a concerning physical season. He got a knee injury that was like an over use. I mean, runners knee was the term. It's the, it limited him to 43 games played. And I mean, go to his April 4th press conference where he, you know, Steph's always been pretty dang transparent with himself physically, you know, to the public about his ankle injuries back in the day. And, you know, the new normal he's going through with his knee and he thought he was initially, he had a workout. Remember when they had a game canceled in Minnesota when all that everything was going on in Minneapolis. He had a workout. This was late January. And after the workout, his knee swelled up. And they ended up playing him like two out of the next five games and sitting him and then right before the break, they're like, hey, let's sit you for a week. And the knee should be fine after about a week. That was the expectation. And after 10 days, he, like I remember, he went to the all start break and there was a thought he was going to do the three point contest. He couldn't do it because he tried, you know, tried to do a workout. And it just, the pain wouldn't stop after workouts. And it was just this stop, start, stop, start. He ends up missing two something months. And again, like I said, he used the term new normal with his knee. So as we talk about all this and do you lock into money and what is the future of 38, 39, 40 year old Steph Curry look like, he is coming off a season where his knee betrayed him and that that's pretty relevant. Especially because his second greatest weapon after his shooting is his movement. Yeah, no doubt. And, you know, will Steph ever be award eligible again? Maybe not. You know, I don't know if he's going to play 65 plus games in any season. But the simple fact of the matter is in these kind of deals, you're paying him based on what he's done throughout the course of his career, not necessarily what you're going to get for the next two or three years on this contract. And if the future or if the end of Steph's career in Golden State is, you know, some 36 win seasons where they don't make the playoffs, so be it. I don't hear any full arenas. Yeah. And that's what happened with, that's what happened with Kobe. And, you know, it was maybe painful under those nights, but that last year, people were celebrating Kobe. It's what happened with Dirk. I mean, Dirk, you know, Dirk couldn't move at all his last couple of years. But, but these guys, like they're the rarest dudes in the NBA, which are like no brainer, first ballot, inner circle hall of famers, who are one franchise guys. I mean, how many of them are, are there, especially in like modern NBA history? Knowing what you know about Steph and the Warriors later, do you think it's possible for him to say that he would take less money next summer? If he understood, this is a reason why because we're going to acquire this player or these two players. Well, one of the things that in discussions I've been having with people is this idea of like, let's say he's like, you know, it's something I think about. I would be surprised if he locked into a number now because as you just saw with Dremont Green, the Warriors and their legendary, you know, figures are willing to trust each other in business. Dremont Green willingly gave up 27 million and went into unrestricted free agency where he couldn't have got 27 million dollars back under the understanding if business didn't work out, he would get that money back where I guess to your point, if you're Steph and you say, okay, you know what, I'll give you all a crack at going and trying to find some stuff. But if you don't at the end of the day, if I come back and say, give me the full max, I get the full max. So to answer your question, he doesn't have to necessarily lock into it now because they can't really execute. And if they could say, hey, here's a theory of what we could do. Here's another theory of what we could do. He could just say, all right, we'll all hold off. for now and see if you can do it, but at the end of the day, if I want the max, can be the max. More Whoop Collective Podcast after this. All right. One guy who could be a free agent next summer, unrestricted if he wants, is the last remaining unrestricted free agent, or at least significant unrestricted free agent this summer. And that's Jalen Durin. Man, I believe you have a story that's posting when this podcast comes out on Tuesday on Jalen Durin. Yeah. And it's basically just a staring contest that's continuing into September, which is not unprecedented or even out of the realm of the norm for restrictive free agent, like Josh Gettie didn't sign last year until I think like September 9th or something like that. But this is an unprecedented situation for a restricted free agent who was an all-star, was a third team all MBA player. For a guy who was a major driving force in a 60-win team. I mean, for a guy who has the accomplishments that Jalen Durin has, this is new ground. And the other thing here, guys, is by being that third team all MBA selection. He qualified for the Rose Rule. He's eligible for a 30% max. Fellas, that's not even like, what's the opposite of fun? Yeah, that's like that's not even part of the discussion. Their offer is, you know, I was told in the mid-30s on an annual basis, well, that's significantly south of the former fund max of 25%. And so, you know, it's a dance here where, you know, later you being in Sacramento, you know, the pistons were not willing to engage in much less entertain any kind of sign trade discussions. They've been firm on that. It was subonus for Jalen Durin, is what you're talking about, which Scott Perry went and had dinner with Jalen Durin in Miami, like early and free agency and like, you know, to your point. And I would love to hear the kind of the full update on Durin. And second, but I will tell you, if you are Jalen Durin and his representatives, I would look at the Sacramento Kings and know they have, they can get up to max cap space next summer. Zach Levine's coming off the books. Scott Perry has completely turned in the franchise over. And I will tell you, he has Jalen Durin's name with highlighter pen, looking at next year's potential, you know, free agency. If Durin were willing to take the QO, you can tell me if that's a reaction. And that's that's the little bit of leverage that Jalen Durin and his reps have right now. Can I call a 30-second time out? Full time. Just because you mentioned subonus, the modus subonus. Yeah. I do think it's somewhat interesting that he changed agents this offseason. He hired Aaron Mintz of CAA, Steve Human, and that group, human, one of the top executives at CAA. This last year, Mintz and his group executed the trade for trade young away from Atlanta, executed the trade for Walker Kessler away from the Lakers. The modus subonus just hired him. At the risk of parodying myself. You want to say it, McMahon? Why would he do that? Yeah. Because he wants to get the hell out of sack. Because not only did he execute the trades, this is the more important part, and I know the modus subonus knows this too. He got trade young and monster extension. He got Walker Kessler the contract he wanted. I tried those guys just got 340 some odd million this summer combined. Yeah. And I'll tell you right now, the modus subonus is extension eligible and the Sacramento kings are not interested in having that conversation. Now, they've subonus and Scott Perry have a very transparent good relationship. And they're, you know, I've reported it. I mean, they've been several trade talks with subonus with several Eastern Conference teams over the last calendar year. It hasn't come to fruition. Subonus is recommitting to the kings now, but I think we all know where this is going. And I think part of what you were saying is, you know, some of the representations which might be about trying to expedite that process. Well, subonus has two years at about 93 million dollars left on his salad on his contract. He only played 19 games last year. Now, I know there was a tanking element involved with that. But for a team that wants to be a contender, he's a, he's a difficult fit because he needs to listen and it's not a defensive anchor. Exactly. Like with Trey Young, he is a player who has proven to be an all-star who has a game that not every team is going to want. So, you know, just you, you know, I just thought I, we don't need to full on break down a subonus right now. Charlotte had the discussions prior to trading Lamello and Charlotte was, it sounds like I had a fork in the road. If you do commit to Lamello and try to do like a Lamello subonus type situation or boom, they trade Lamello. It's a rebuild no more talks about subonus. So, it depends on where you are at. Toronto, for example, you know, nearly traded for subonus at the deadline. So there are teams out there that still view him. No, no, oh no, don't be, I want to be clear. There are definitely teams who take subonus. It's just about what the Kings would want and then there's the whole factor. Well, you've got two years on your contract. Like, do you have to get an extension now? But anyway, what the Kings would want is to sign and trade for Jalen Dernan since subonus to Detroit, but that's not happening. But again, that gets us back to, okay, the qualifying offer is 9.6 million. And you talk about unprecedented. So, I'm not, these are ballpark figures, but, you know, my understanding is the Kings offer. I'm sorry, the Pistons offer is somewhere in that five for 180 plus range, you know, one eighty one. I don't have the exact numbers. These are ballpark figures. So, you're going to leave 170, 180 million, guarantee dollars on the table. Obviously, that is a worst-case scenario for the Pistons. Because then you're not even really getting Jalen Dern this season. You're getting this version of him that is constantly thinking about his next contract. And, you know, like everybody I've talked to, Detroit talks about he's a great guy. Like, he is a hard work and do, you know, he's an accountable guy. Like, there's no bad mouth out of him at all. It's just, you know, praise about his character. But just this human nature, $10780 guaranteed million dollars is a heavy, heavy burden to basically put on with your jersey every single night. So, that's a worst-case scenario. And then the math, like, you wouldn't, he would need to get that full, and you know, if he's leaving, it's a four-year max offer. You need to, just to break even for what you left on the table. Yeah, this is a classic case with back of the envelope math that restricted free agents down the years have all done. Like, boy, to be an unrestrictive free agent with a bowl bunch of caspies out there, I would have, I mean, he would. If he was healthy, Jalen Durin as an unrestricted free agent would have a deal within minutes. Well, and he just averaged 19 and 11. He's a big physical force, you know, with some skill. Unfortunately, and this is part of the complications here, is he also just had a really disappointing playoff performance. I would say in terms of individual playoff performances, coming off of that all in B.A. season, Jalen Durin's might have been the most disappointing in the league. It would be fascinating if we could listen into a conversation of Jalen Durin calling Jonathan Kominga and saying, what are your, you know, what are your thoughts? When did you just reset your clock? Yeah. Well, and let's just be clear, Jonathan Kominga was barely 13 golden state learners. I understand, but he had, he had offers that he turned down. Look, he had 24, he had an offer on the table. They didn't like, right? It was, it was the two-year, you know, 45. That's the same thing with Durin. Has it often dealt with doesn't look? Yeah, exactly. So, so we say what you want about Kominga, but last summer, the idea about taking the qualifying offer was, you know, I think it was like nine ish million or 24 and bit the bullet didn't want to do it and it ended up taking 24 and with Durin, we're talking about more than that. Yeah, and so, you know, and I've talked just exactly as from other teams around the league, just kind of taking people's temperature and and a lot of what I got is like, dude, you know, I can definitely see both sides of this because the pistons like, this is not an anti-Jalen Durin thing. This is a, we want to keep this core together. By the way, they're also in the process of attempting to negotiate an extension with the Sartons. Well, I will say this, I will say this as, I've been around teams like where this has been the case. If you get to training camp and Durin is like forced into a situation and a Sartonsen is annoyed, like, like, you got, like, I understand especially in the apron era that you gotta, you can't, you gotta make a, you know, the worst you can do is overpay a player, especially at a high dollar figure, me caps you. And I'm not saying that you should just do it to make your players all nice and happy. Teams that have done that have gotten into trouble. I'm just saying, I've been in training camps multiple times where there are multiple players upset about their contracts. And it absolutely poisons the whole well. Yeah. And so, you know, you've got that situation. Obviously, you know, Kade is on a super max deal. It's almost like him being all NBA, the final year of his rookie contract, you know, they're being punished for that. This is, by the way, I still, the next CBA, I don't think super max stuff should count towards apron attacks. I don't think that's fair, but that's a tangent. Look, I would say this, the NBA definitely has their backup a little bit defending this CBA. And, you know, trying to sort of fend off the idea that it was unfair in any way, and, you know, you got agents going after the union. And so everybody's going to sort of defend their position, okay? But I think everybody under truth serum off the record would admit that there needs to be a tweaker team. It needs to be some tweaker team. I'm sorry, you're not trying to break up teams in Detroit. Come on, like give me a break. Give me a break. Yeah, like, so it shouldn't. Yeah, but. And so, and then one other little tidbit here is the pistons, as we speak, are 36 and a half million dollars under the tax. And obviously, you know, as they plan to keep this roster together, or at least this core together, you forecast future tax. So you definitely don't want to go in this year. That's a really good point I hadn't considered. That's a really, I mean, I mean, if you go a few million dollars over, you could, you know, you could find ways. I mean, they had a whole bunch of guys on their roster that they could maneuver around, but. But it needs to be a non tax year because you want to push any potential. Yes, yes. Yes. Here's the other thing about the pistons, you know, actions over words, right? If you look at the contracts that the pistons have signed. A lot of their contracts have flexibility built into them, non guaranteed years for so that the deal they gave John Collins this season. It was three years and 50 something, but only the first years guaranteed they did a three year year, three year contract with Duncan Robinson couple years ago. Only the first year was guaranteed, you know, big giant non guaranteed years, 15, 17 million and stuff like that. You know, I think, you know, B ball Paul, who they are now sort of counting on. Oh, I'm counting on, especially depending on the outcome of this. Paul Reed, that's right. He's, he's gotten non guaranteed years in his contract. You know, they go out and get Isaiah Joe. One of the reasons they liked his contract is that next year is non guaranteed. So, you know, part of, you know, I'm not saying that they want to sign Jalen Durin to a one year deal non guaranteed years, but part of the way the Trajan Langdon has negotiated. Since he's got there isn't he wants contracts that have maneuverability because you're trying to manage the apron and tax and stuff like that. So this one, like, look, there's not going to be like the money's going to be guaranteed in a matter of fact. No, but I think it's interesting you saying that they, I didn't, I didn't even realize it was that close. That was, that was, that was a good point. And that's just telling you like. So the starting set, there's four guys in this draft class who have been all stars. Paul, a bank hero, jet home, green, Jalen Williams and Jalen Durin. Those three guys all agreed to extensions last summer. Right. They all ended up at the 25% max, which is 41 and change almost 42. Right. So again, that he's looking at I can't even get the 25% that those guys are getting. I'm like, you're asking me to take, I don't know what it was 67, whatever million below that. So that's kind of a tough deal. No, I listen, I'm not arguing. I'm, I get his side. I mean, I would be sitting here. I'd be sitting in the corner too. And then the piston side is, hey, we do value you. We value you at a, you know, this number that is generational wealth. And would allow us the ability to keep this core together and put a supporting cast in place. The position is to win championships. Now, the other thing that was pointed out to me that I hadn't thought of is. It'd be ideal if you say, hey, you know, we're a part on these numbers. But, yeah, if you're going to be the player that you think you can be, here's these incentives. So we can get you to a full 25% max. If you are, you know, whatever, you know, have all star incentives, all in the A. One of the problems with incentives now though is that count towards the aprons and the taxes. And so incentives and really almost taken away as a tool for teams and negotiation. Because the whole, you know, is one GM told me, the whole game now is space to the apron. You know, if you want space to the apron, you can make trades happen. If you don't have space to the apron, you have handcuffs. And so Jordan is trying to keep this team together without handcuffs. Yeah, the Grizzlies, for example, like laced the Quentin Post offer sheet with incentives. Because they're not worried about, you know, bumping up against the first second apron. They did it. Because the warriors are like, man, if we match this, like that, you know, it's, it can be almost used as a weapon to it. Exactly. In that case, they knew incentives weren't a tool that the warriors could use that they were a hindrance to the warriors. So they weaponized them. But in the case of a team like the pistons right now, it's really tough and packing incentives in there. Because it defeats the whole purpose of the tough negotiations that are going on. I got another funny one for you. As they flushed some of these contracts out, Jordan pool signed in the pre apron era. He's got like all defensive first team and like some other stuff in there as like incentives that bumped up what the value of the contract looked like. But now as you know, you may be trying to trade him, it counts against the apron. You know, if Jordan pool makes all defensive first team or whatever it is. A huge concern. Back when I was a kid, this was all the rage toxic offer sheets. Over the years, they went away. I've been around a while now. This is my 24th year in the NBA. You know, they used to like do these things where they used to put these poison pills and stuff. You remember the Jeremy Lynn. The whole Jeremy Lynn thing with the way they squeeze the next Darryl Mori, you know, doing a poison pill offer sheet. This was just recently in the news a little bit this summer because Wesley Matthews. He was on a podcast and he was telling the story of his contract when he was with the jazz. And the blazer is signed him to this like 35. A five year 35 million dollar deal, which you know, it was an undrafted free agent who stuck with the jazz. Was productive and then went into restricted frames your after's rookie year, right? And he was making the minimum, which I think at that time was maybe 400,000 for 500,000. And. And so to toxify the offer sheet, the blazer's positioned it in a way. These rules have all been changed. You can't do this anymore. They gave them $9.2 million at signing. At signing, not like, oh, they front loaded. So the highest number was in the first year and then it went down. No, no, no. They gave them all the money like at signing and so or something like that very quickly. And so he was telling the story that like his agent called them and was like, yeah, it's 35 million overall, but $9 million up front. And he goes, what do you mean up front? He goes like, you know, in 10 days. And the jazz didn't like that. The jazz was like, wait a minute. We got to come with $9 million. You know, with all due respect, he was a good player as a role player. You know, we got to come with $9 million in two weeks or whatever. So that was toxified offer sheets back in those days. So they're coming back a little bit now is what you're describing later. But, um, no, no offer sheet toxified or not for, uh, for during the summer. I do want to hit on one. You mentioned the Kings. And it's obviously like, if you're Jalen Durnes reps, that's a little bit of your leverage. The threat of the qualifying offer and there's going to be a max market for us. It was noted to me, again, this is from an exec in the West. So I want to make it clear. It wasn't people in Detroit saying it, but it's one thing to put a max offer sheet on the table. When you're getting off a contract, that you're trying to get off of. You know, it's one thing to shed subonus's contract and put a max number on the table or shed Levines or, you know, would have cost them a pick. Oh, you know, at least, right. But it's another thing. Yeah. Just to straight up commit a max deal with no money going out the door. Agreed. I will say that like the Kings are the unique situation where if I was, you know, like they could like Scott Perry's turn in this flipping this thing over and he and he profiles as the exact type of center to push this thing forward with a cuff. And you can say, oh, well, you know, you're worried about his performance in the playoffs against Orlando, for example, like the Kings are just trying to like build. Yeah, they're just trying to like, you know, build a consistent winner. So he makes a lot of sense for them. And I will just tell you like the GM who is in the power seat of the Sacramento Kings organization really likes him, which matters. And that's his leverage then. Jackson gave us the actual to the dollar. Well done Jackson on what the pistons space is 36.4 to the tax, which is probably they don't want to pay during more than that. Again, if they if they went over to get the deal done, they could shed some money labor, but second apron space or first apron space, which they certainly don't want to go over is 45. I don't think that's going to be an issue. Well, the tax is the number to consider this year. And then in future years, we're going to be looking at the aprons with the pistons. Yeah, that's. And they hope. And again, they they hope and they plan on jail and during being there for a long time to come and we'll see always out. You guys know, I've covered to what I say covered, like was on the team covering the team for two restricted free agencies that went into the season, one ended in November, one ended in December. And so actually three, if you count training gap, I covered one that went through. most a trainee cap. So, cover one last year. Alhorfer, DeAnthei, Melton couldn't go to the first two prayers. That was a little different. Remember? That was, that was, that was fun. It could mean get related. No, I mean, you know, I don't know if this is, I don't want to retell a story. So Jackson, protect me. If you can't remember it, it didn't happen. We'll do our little SoFi. Get your money right. SoFi always comes up with these reasons for me to go down memory lane. When Anderson Verijau, not the second contract. The second contract was where Dan Fagan, the agent and Danny Ferry both hung up on me, MFing me and each other after that. The first contract, the first contract Verijau is restricted for the agent. He and the calves are at loggerheads like this throughout July, throughout August, throughout September, into training cap. Not misses all of training cap, all of October, all of November. Okay. The calves are struggling that year. It was a year off after the finals. LeBron got hurt early in the season. They were like at 500 Verijau was their starting center or starting for, man, I guess. Like people were like, when is, and Verijau was a role player, wasn't like he was holding up for a max, into December. December. Okay. My phone rings on like a Tuesday morning, it's Danny Ferry calling, which is never good. You're never getting a call from the GM in the middle of the season and it's good news. And they're like, hey, how's it going? How about that pre-gave meal last night? Wasn't it great? It's never good news, right? It's sick. You're, it's never a pleasure call. I read your gamer in the paper last night and it was excellent. Oh my God. Beautiful job that you stitched together. The notebook. It was full. It had everything. Beautiful. Oh, man. Your stock report and we did those stock reports with bontems. All right. I answer the phone. Hello. He doesn't say hello. He just says, we're matching. Two words, we're matching. I'm like, you're matching what? I had no idea. Well, the heat Verijau had just signed an offer sheet with the Charlotte Bobcats. The Bobcats had given Verijau a three-year contract, but it was like a poison offer in that only the first two years were guaranteed. So Verijau was going to be able to be a free agent in two years, which he was and ended up getting $50 million or $60 million, whatever it was, it all worked out. So, but I just answered the phone and like I didn't even know the offer sheet had been signed yet. It wasn't like now when a contract gets agreed to and like literally shoms or ports on it 11 seconds later. Like it was going to take a while. So Verijau has already told me that the calves are matching. He told it to me in the first 1.3 seconds of answering the phone. So sure enough, about like 20 minutes later, Dan Fagan calls me. Now, Fagan had not talked to me and not returned a text or a phone call in three or four months, maybe five months. I love those relationships. Dan is no longer with us. He was a shark agent. I always enjoyed working with him, but you know, he was like, I'm not talking to you during the negotiation. Okay, fine, that's your decision. So he calls me and I'm trying to tell him that Ferri has already called me, but he launches into this long explanation. He launches into everything that happened for the last three months and this and that and this and that. And he's like, and that's why Andy, he had a very deep voice. That's why Andy is ready to become a Charlotte Bobcat and is moving on from the Cavaliers. I go, okay, but they're matching. He goes, what? I go, they're matching. He goes, what are you talking about? He goes, we just did the offer sheet a few minutes ago. They don't have yet. I go, I go, I know, I'm telling you, they're matching. He goes, how do you know? And I go, they told me. He's like, when did they tell you? I go 20 minutes ago. And he's like, well, you tell them they better wait until they see his, his physical because his knee is bothering him. I was like, what? So the one team matches out of the blue. The other team now, he doesn't want him to match, I guess. So he's like pretending that he's got a knee injury. Wait, you spent the last three months convincing anybody you could have valuable. That was a night of telling us his damage. That's right. They'll never match. So look, that was 19 years ago. So, and I'm sure 19 years ago, me telling that story, there would have been a reporter, been around for 20 years, who had been, who had told some story from the 90s, and there was like, oh, so while this is Jalen Durin's life, and he's, you know, living and dying through this every day, and if your Epistons fan, you're probably very frustrated with it and everything. I mean, not fun for the front office either. No, no. I'm sure Trajan is not enjoying this at all. It is not a good process to go through. This is a, by the way, Verajau ended up playing like 10 or 11 years for the calves, and that works for the organization. So. Right. And for Trajan, like, listen, the tough negotiations, that's part of the job. And also part of the job is once things are resolved, he's going to have to put some real effort, energy, empathy, all those kind of things, into relationship repair, you know, and it is on him. It's not, you know, this is not the coach, J.B. Bigger staff negotiating the contract. It's not the face of the franchise, Kate Cunningham. That part of Trajan's job is going to have to be smoothing things over once the dust gets settled, and what's been a two-summer-long process of tense negotiations. To be continued, and I think to be continued for a while. All right. Before we go for the week, and McMahon goes back to celebrating his birthday. There are a bunch of NBA players who've been playing over the last seven to 10 days across the globe in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers. So one year from now, will be the FIBA World Cup, Germany's the defending champions, and this summer, teams have to play in regional competitions by continent to qualify. 32 teams qualify. I believe it's 32. It might be 40. It's 32. Qualified. The US just won two games. Actually, they're played tonight on Monday night. So I don't want to assume, but they're, I believe, six and one in their qualifying games over the last year. Coach, by Terry Stots. Terry Stots, just, just, just coaching this way. They call up the window. There's two games. There's like, I think five two-game windows over the course of like 18 months. It's maddening, but it is. But the reason that the summer window is most interesting. Number one, it's because this is like a key spot where you can qualify or not. Number two, this is where the NBA players play, because they have them like in February, and the players typically don't play obviously. So I just want to talk about some of the stuff, because there's some stars who who played. On Sunday night, yesterday for us today, Victor Wembenyama and France went up to Sweden and played in front of a record crowd in Stockholm. More people than I'd ever watched a recorded basketball game in Stockholm to watch Wembenyama come in there. Victor had 18 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, and the French won. Although I think it was pretty close in the second half at one point. Pell Larson from the heat had 23 points for Sweden and there was a huge game. I'm sure one of the biggest games he's ever had playing in front of 15,000 fans in Sweden. Max Reino, friend of the pod, had 13 points. The French won. So let me just say, though, that the more interesting game with Wembeny came last week in a friendly, because they play warm-up games before this Wembenyama, these FIFA games. I know it's hard to keep track of. I agree, and I cover international basketball. They played two games. We mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. There was a game going on while we were not a week ago. There was a game going on while we were recording. Yolkes and Victor played two incredible games against each other, and there was a game about, probably by the time you hear this, it'll be about eight days ago, where the French won at the buzzer. And McMahon, it was fascinating. Luca, or I mean Luca, Yolkes had 34 points in that game. And the Serbians were down. This was this game that they played in Belgrade and the Serbians won, and then they played a couple of days later in Orlean, I think is how you pronounce it. France, and the French were way up, and the Serbians made a huge comeback. I think they were up 19, and Yolkes leads this comeback down the stretch. And at the end of the game was fascinating, because frankly, like this is where you watch Wembenjama, and this is where Wembenjama was challenged during the playoffs a couple of times. And look, he overall was having really good games. In fact, earlier in that game, as the French were building the lead, there was this remarkable moment where Yolkes gets the ball in the post, turns, and just slams into Victor. The old uh, Shade Gilders, Alexander, separation with the arm bar, okay? Moves him back, which the FIBA officials allowed. Victor flies backwards, Yolkes squares and shoots it. Seven foot five. Gets his fingertip, you know, Yolkes, obviously knows he's there, tries to go that's time. Gets his This is fingertip on the shot. Yo, it gets the ball. ball back takes a step further away to create a better angle and shoots again. Victor gets his fingertip on the shot again, blocks him twice in a row, brute force versus height and got him twice in a row. Having said that, down the stretch, Yolkich was dominating. And at the end of the game, the French have the lead, or I think I have a small lead. And Victor tries a fall of fade away 20 footer, which he airballs. They go down to the other end. Victor, they're in a scramble. Victor does not get onto Yolkich. Yolkich is on a small defender. Yolkich scores to take the lead. The ball goes back to the French. They call time out. Victor is trying to set up a play, makes a very sloppy throw his hip out and gets called for a moving screen on the in bounce play. It was a foul. It was clear foul. It wasn't shenanigans. It was absolutely foul. The French were in trouble, but they got a basket from one of their guards. I think it was the first thing. It was a crazy, I don't know what the hell the Serbians were doing on defense because they got a breakaway layup. Yes, the Serbians scored. I should say the Yolkich play got them within one. The Serbians scored in this particular play after a time out when Banyama was on Yolkich. Yolkich was kind of taken out of the play a little bit. The Serbians scored on a back cut. I don't know if the French didn't have a time out, but they inbound to the ball and they allowed a fast break. The Serbians was up one with four seconds left. And they just inbound to the ball. This guy, I think Lee Roy, I think his first name is Lee Roy. I'm going to feel like a jerk. Now they don't have his name or his last name is horrid. He played at Wake Forest. I think he played with the thunder for a few minutes. You got a breakaway layup. Literally at the buzzer, put it in as the buzzer went off for the French to win by a point. Yeah, I got to tell you, like as much as Denver's summer was, frankly, it was aster. You can't just just miss the nuggets. One one thing that joker, let me say this, Victor William and Yama might be the most dominant defense player in the history of the game. One guy he does not bother much is Nicole at Yolkich. Do you know what Joker's stats against Wimby are in seven games in the NBA? Please. 37.3 points per game. 10.9 rebounds, 9.1 assists. And remember the last time they played was that game in April. That was like the crowd to go over time, double over time. Whatever was when joker had 40 points and 13 assists. And he hit that unbelievable somber shuffle. That was like the biggest shot. I was disappointed. We didn't get a Denver San Antonio. Denver was hot at the time. Remember, but didn't they win like, you know, 12 out of 13? And I covered that side of the bracket. I covered the Minnesota Denver series. They go up 1-0, Aaron Gordon's good and game 1. And I remember that was the anticipated series. That was the one on that side of the bracket. Everyone around those series was like, oh man, second round Yolkich against Wimby. Gordon gets hurt. Denver falters. Rudy plays them well. Oh my God. I feel like such an idiot. Lee Roy Horde was the running back for the Browns. Oh, he was like, he was a touchdown. Oh, try him in fantasy. Jalen Horde. I'm sorry, Jalen. Oh my God. I was just like touting my experience a few minutes ago. Well, I've been around for 24 years. Now I'm showing my age, touted his age right there. He said he had Lee Roy Horde and fantasy football with a year where you playing fantasy. Hey, you know why that was a good pick, McMahon, because he was a good pass catcher. Well, I know because I got a ton of touchdowns at the one yard line. Was was it? That's true. But Jalen Horde, I don't know if they're related. Jalen Horde was with the game winner. By the way, and to back up your point about Yolkich and Wimby, the two friendly games and I want to be clear, I have not reviewed the film of these games. I did talk to some scouts about the first game in Belgrade, but in the first game and look, just the clips that I saw they were guarding each other. So for all I know, I just, I'm just going to give the raw stats here. I'm not taking a position analyzing this. But in the first game, which Serbia won by three, Yolkich had 20 points, nine rebounds, eight assists. That sounds like a Yolkich line. And again, these are 40 minute games. Correct. Victor had 10 points and six turnovers for France, 20,000 fans at the arena in Belgrade, great arena. And then in the game, two, 91, 90, Victor, much better in that game, 18, five and two blocks. And I got to believe the two blocks were right there on Yolkich. They were, if those weren't both called blocks, he certainly, the, the second one ended up as an air ball. I promised Yolkich didn't air ball. Yeah, it's crazy. Wimby is going to go into this season as the MVP favorite. And he is still very much a developing offensive talent. Totally agree. And very much developing how he needs to play at the end of games. Anyway, Wimby had 18, five and two in that game. And I could told you 34 for Yolkich. Just. And by the way, Slater, when I started playing Fantasy Football, I was the commissioner. And I would get the newspaper and add things up on paper. So it was this scoring system was probably crazy to compare it to me. I can assure you. All right. I think Serbia wanted to games that they had this week in the window. Or actually, one of the games going on right now, a bunch of the European games are going on right now. Dennis Trudeau is playing for Germany. And what would you think? What you think is going to happen when Dennis Trudeau plays for Germany. He's the greatest point guard in international basketball. He dominates. I think they're playing today right now while while we're while we're talking about this. But he had 18 points the other day and a win over Poland, a close one over Poland. Is Franz playing? I'll go take a look. I don't think I saw him in the box score. But I know that Steinbach and Anderson, the two Christian Anderson and how you pronounce his first name is that he was Jesus. Honest Steinbach. They are had they have played for team Germany. They are not playing for them. No, the Wagner, the Wagner brothers are not playing. So, but you darn well know Schroeder's playing. And he had 18. He probably is going to have you in a bigger game today. But that was a big win over the polls because Poland had not lost. They were like seven or eight. No. Joshua Koji, who signed with the jazz this summer had a huge game for Nigeria and their prep and their qualifier. He had 15, 8, 10 assists and four steals for that game. If it's a zoo botch, he's playing again right now. But he, you know, zoo botched obviously didn't play that much second half of the year playing for Croatia this summer. He played every minute he played the pistons for gritting their teeth because he was threatened and that they might win. In talking to folks with the Pacers now just don't just don't don't die. You're about to give some BS explanation go on. No, no, no, I'm not. Also, it didn't exactly result well for the Pacers. No, no, that's they don't want you to bring up that trade really. Yeah. Talks folks with the Pacers. Zoo botch believes that he didn't that he got a little complacent in LA and really tried to be aggressive this summer in getting into good condition. I mean, I hate even saying it like this happens every year. But he did they did have a baby in the winter. And so I think he's been he and his wife. And I do think I don't think he was, I wasn't like he was playing poorly last year, but his defense. I do think slipped a little bit. So anyway, I think it's interesting that he wanted to play for Croatia this summer and his had some, you know, already sort of a big game. Zoo botch, not botz. Zoo botz. Yeah, you always say zoo botch. No, zoo bots. Anyway, Yokech had 21 things above the sea. Yeah. Play against Iceland after when Banyama was a little bit easier. Yokech had 21 in that game and 13 rebounds. You said, Nercutch had a huge game. He's playing right now as well. He had a 25 point 14 point game for Bosnia against the Italians. Those Bosnian fans, oh, it's, you know, it's like the soccer fan feel, you know, they're all waving their flags, making noise, painted faces like it's an intimidation. I saw him at Eurobasket. Listen, man. So Luca Garza plays for the for Bosnia as well. This is a classic example of a team that would give the Americans hell in the World Cup. Like you say, oh, you're playing Bosnia. Yeah, they got Nercutch and Garza and they'll go in there and kick your backside in the interior. I've seen it happen. Who's their gardener? They still have got them like on the kids name. He's not a kid. He's He was a kid who was covering high schools for thousands weren't a news a while ago. They had a kid from Plano, Texas who was the point guard on their national team for a long time. It's kind of like Shane Larrick in place for Turkey A. John Robertson. - Yes, yes. - Okay, look good, good job. - One later, you're on top of that. - There's a star of Plano's state championship team when Wendy, as a corn husk, or via marriage, you'll appreciate this. A freshman named Rex Burkhead was a six man on that team. - He's a legend. - And also on McMahon's fantasy team, I'm sure. - But if I'd had a high school fantasy team Burkhead shirt, that would have been on that. - One of the big upsets over the last week, the Portuguese. - Bosnia is losing as we speak to Lithuania, by the way. - Well, Lithuania is our man, balance shooting is playing for Lithuania. That's the question. - He is not, and he had some interesting comments. He basically blasted their leadership. - Oh, that's a whole nother. That's a different podcast. - A long Ram Bosnia. - Who isn't? - The old, new from Plano. - We're losing control of this podcast. - Not bad, I'm just kidding. - No, I'm just saying, like we're going too far afield. And I love going far afield. All right, anyway, the Portuguese beat the Spanish in a stunning victory. Spain's struggling. These days. - And the Mayas Cata, you know? - Yes, yes, Nimi Cata was 16 points at nine rebounds. A huge game. He left the game, I believe, briefly with injury and people were like, what happened there? But he came back and played very well. Now, I'm going to tell you right now, the quality of the Asian games is not strong. The depth isn't there. That said, the Japanese have put together, I believe, the best team that they've ever had. The Japanese are, the Japanese qualified for the last Olympics and are to be, and almost beat with like this close to beating the French and knocking the French out of the Olympics. And the French obviously made the silver. Anyway, I'm not sure the quality of the Atari team, but Ruiha Chimura has a 29 point and a 30 point game in the last two games. I don't remember who the other game was against. It might have been like against the Paul. - I went to Japan. This would have been 2023 training camp after the Warriors won the championship. The last one, it was Wizards Warriors in Japan. I went to a Steph Curry press conference where the Japanese media just flooded the room and they did not know we left when Ruiha Chimura came in for his press conference. It was like flooded with reporters. - The 29 points was against Saudi Arabia. So they put up 29 against Saudi Arabia and 30 against Qatar. I don't know what kind of-- - Super star there. - I don't know. I'm not sure what we're gonna, what's gonna happen. But-- - Can Buddy Hill get a shout out? He had 28 for Bahamas. - Oh, I didn't see the Bahamas. Yes, please shout him out. - Yeah, 28.7 rebounds for assists for the Bahamas and a 103-94 win against Yoragui. - Bahamas have had an OJ change. We lost Chris DeMarco now coaching the Liberty and the WNBA. - Yeah, DeMarco like got, you know, cut his head coaching teeth for the Bahamian's. - That was a Clay Thompson connection, by the way. - No, yeah. - This close, I'm holding our audio audience, my whole thing, my fingers close together. They were this close to qualifying for the Olympics. - Yeah, with 18-year-old VJ Edgecomb starring and Aiden's not playing this summer, is he? - I don't believe he is. But he did play the year you're talking about Aiden played. Clay almost played, but there was like a, you know, they had Phoeba rules with U.S. and it. - Well, yeah, you'd have to write. - Once you play for a country, it's very hard to play for another country. - Although Eric Gordon did, he had some team USA experience and played for the Bahamian. - Right, but here's the only time they're gonna let it happen. - USA to somewhere else. - That's right, they're gonna let it happen if it's helping out an emerging team. - Yeah. - If a player like, for example, if Joel and B, this is just for example, I haven't heard this just to be clear, but like if Joel and B said, you know, I know I played for the Americans and won a gold medal, I would love to go play for Cameroon and see if we can qualify for the Olympics or we even qualify for the World Cup. I think Phoeba would be inclined to let him do it. Now the six years would go crazy, but that's an example of a time. If Joel and B said, "Hey," said the Phoeba, I would love to go play with my fellow Frenchman 'cause you know, he's got. - Yeah. - I think that's the not. - Friends, rather we got to get your pass first. - Well, that's true, that's a bad example, but you get my point. So, Eric Gordon saying, "I played for Team USA in the World Cup, I believe I would love to go play for the Bahamas." That's gonna get, so if Clay would want to do it, I think, but there's a process. Well, the other thing is this, I think the American fan, like I just know this, I've covered three World Cups. There's just, even though it's a really big deal to the international teams, like to qualify for the World Cup is hard, and the reason the World Cup is important is that that's how you get into the Olympics, only 12 teams get into the Olympics. It's really hard to get in. And so it's like this process, it's a three year process, and to qualify for the World Cup and the qualify for the Olympics. Again, the Americans qualified for the last two Olympics by the skin of their teeth. We barely got in. Barely got in. - Next one we're gonna have to worry about 'cause we host them. - That's right, which is why I'm not sure what team we're gonna be able to send. First off, when Mike Shoshewski and Jerry Kalangelo took over Team USA in 2006, coming off with the Athens bronze medal, they issued the Zedic, you gotta make a multi year commitment. If you don't play with us in the World Cup, you can't play with us in the Olympics. Back then, the World Cup was played in the even year in between. So the World Cup was in '06, the Olympics were in '08. By the way, the Americans didn't qualify for the Olympics coming out of that World Cup, and they had to qualify at a different tournament in 2007. Now, because the basketball World Cup wants to try to make itself into something can rivaling the soccer World Cup, they took it off that schedule. They don't want, they don't wanna play it in the same year. And so now it's played the year before the Olympics. And so to ask players to do back-to-back summers with the demands of what it is, the Team USA both under Greg Popovich and Steve Kerr, and now I believe under Eric Spolster. I mean, I've talked to Grant Hill about this. Grant Hill is the executive director. Grant doesn't think it's prudent to put in a requirement that you have to promise for two years. Other teams do feel that way. The Canadians under their coach have said it's a three-year commitment. We've talked about this in the pod before, you had to play this summer, next summer at the World Cup, and in the Olympics. In the case of the Team USA, I think previous equity with the team is what really matters, Jason Tatum, for all the stuff that went down in Paris. Tatum has played on two Olympic teams and a World Cup team. If he were not to play-- I remember when Tatum's playing time was like a commingo-level irritant issue for you. Well, it is. I'm not bringing it up. But my point is, if Tatum didn't play next year or if Durant didn't play next year, and they wanted to play in '28, if they're healthy, they're going to get to play, because they have equity. But also, if you want to be a first-time player, it's a good idea to play in the World Cup. But what I'm saying is with no two-year requirement, and the fact the Team USA is already into the '28 Olympics, and the fact that currently, although, unfortunately, there are still missiles being shot. In fact, last night, Sunday night, there was a missile shot from Iran at Qatar. Hope it's resolved. But right now, the World Cup is scheduled to be played in Qatar. And it's going to be right now that scheduled for the last week of August, the first week of September. Getting American stars who don't have to play in it to play in the Olympics, and who know that we're going to qualify either way to Qatar for two or three weeks next summer might be a challenge. So, but anyway, all right. That has been your FIBA International Basketball corner. Help you all enjoy it and listen to it here on August 31st. Thank you very much to the birthday, boy. Mr. McMahon, thank you very much to Mr. Slater, and his backyard. We got him up early. Thank you to Mark, Miles, Jackson, and the rest of our producers. Thank you for listening and watching Who Collective. And we'll talk to you later this week. - Adios, Migos. - And MacMal, I'll see you tomorrow. - Sweet. (upbeat music)