Contract Extensions & Which Active NBA Players Will Have Their Numbers Retired?

00:00:06
Speaker 1: Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the No Dunks Podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026. I'm J.E. Skeets, back in the Classic Factory, and across from me at the big desk is my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby.
00:00:20
Speaker 2: Ayo!
00:00:21
Speaker 1: Ayo! That was a weird ayo. A little frog in your throat.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: A little froggy frog.
00:00:27
Speaker 1: Over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer J.D. Hello.
00:00:31
Speaker 2: There he is.
00:00:32
Speaker 1: Here we are. No tasks today. He'll be back later this week. I think he and the family are getting in a quick little road trip to Tennessee, the beautiful state of Tennessee.
00:00:40
Speaker 2: Hopefully a Bucky stop is in the cards.
00:00:43
Speaker 1: You know it. On today's show, we're going to debate which active NBA players deserve to have their jersey numbers retired. There was a good article on The Athletic recently. Got everybody talking, so we'll go through it, share our opinions on each guy and whether or not they will or should have their jerseys retired. But first, four questions. contract extensions have been reported since last week let's go through them and we'll start with the Pistons because there's some more to talk about this team as well but the Pistons and Assar Thompson Trey agreed to a five-year 155 million dollar extension your tease.
00:01:21
Speaker 2: That's good My T's?
00:01:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, thoughts.
00:01:25
Speaker 2: Oh, my thoughts. Yeah, okay. My T's on these M's?
00:01:29
Speaker 1: I think I got that from the Cheap Heat podcast. They always say that to each other.
00:01:33
Speaker 2: Your T's?
00:01:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, your T's.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, you want me to come up with a joke about Asar Thompson? I got nothing. Come back. I'll think about it. Asar's a good name for puns when I'm really thinking about it. But this is nice. Five years, $ 155 million. That comes out to be like 15% to 16% of the cap throughout the entirety of this extension for Thompson. He's going to be making less than guys like Jalen Suggs, Emmanuel Quickly, DeJounte Murray, Tyler Hero. Totally different styles of players, all of those guys. They're kind of one-way players on one side, outside of Suggs, I think you would say. And Asar Thompson is a one-way player on the other side. He's an elite defender with room to grow on the offensive end. I will say perhaps my concern for him is that I don't know what he's great at on the offensive end. Like when you compare him to the player you obviously are going to compare him to, Amin Thompson, his twin brother, who looks identical to him. Same sort of skill sets, but not as much of a handle player. for Assar, not as much playmaking for Assar, and believe it or not, an even worse shooter. Like, not a great shooter even at the free throw line where a man is able to knock him down at a decent rate. I don't know where the growth is for Assar on that end, but he's so good defensively that this makes it a worthwhile deal for the Pistons. You throw in the fact that he's not even 23 years old. Gotta do it. I think a good move for Detroit.
00:03:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, this move... Looks like it cements a Sar Thompson as like a franchise pillar, at least alongside Kane Cunningham, who he inked the rookie max contract, $ 269 plus million over five seasons. So yeah, you pair Thompson there with Cade. Finished third in Defensive Player of the Year. I think I had forgotten that because it's always Wemby, Wemby, Wemby, and then it's Chet. But, you know, he was considered the best and he probably is the best perimeter defender in the league. But yeah, low offense on this guy.
00:03:31
Speaker 2: I got it.
00:03:32
Speaker 1: A star, not a star. Okay.
00:03:37
Speaker 2: That's a decent tease.
00:03:38
Speaker 1: A sore Thompson? Maybe a sore to higher heights there on the offensive end. He's got to become a little bit more like his brother offensively. That would be a great start.
00:03:46
Speaker 2: That'd be huge.
00:03:46
Speaker 1: Who is not an incredible offensive player either on that. But, yeah, having a little floater would help around the paint to be able to have a little more confidence there. Because, like, these guys, I mean, I don't know. I don't think either of them are going to turn into, like, great three-point shooters. I just don't see that happening. I've heard some people say when it comes to, like, Asar, we'll focus on him here because we're talking about the new contract extension, like, the idea, like, maybe he can be like Sean Marion, though, who came into the league, not a three-point shooter, bad percentages, and turn into a respectable one. Yeah, sure, maybe. That would be awesome. It'd be electric if that's what happens here with this type of money because this is good work here from the Pistons front office.
00:04:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, he made six three-pointers last year.
00:04:26
Speaker 1: No, I know.
00:04:27
Speaker 2: I don't think he'll ever be. Sean Marion.
00:04:29
Speaker 1: Well, Sean Marion did not hit a lot either in his first couple years.
00:04:32
Speaker 2: I believe that, but I mean, 57% at the free throw line. I would be more concerned with the free throw shooting than the three-point shooting because you have to be willing to get fouled. We saw that was basically the end of Ben Simmons' career until he's trying to revive it now was passing up shots because he didn't want to go to the free throw line. 57% for a Sark. compared to a man he shot 78% last year. That's huge. Like, get into the 70s, and then it's a little bit less worry about where you're bringing offensively. Like I said, what's he good at? Offensive rebounding. Like, he's a great offensive rebounder for a wing. You got to do something else to really contribute on that end. But we know the defense is going to be elite, so we'll see where the growth comes, and we'll see what the Pistons even look like. Maybe it gets easier for Asar Thompson if there's more shooting out there.
00:05:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, possibly. But they get this done. They take care of this one, at least. Didn't have to take it into October. or restricted free agency. So Asar Thompson, $ 155 million there over five years. Now, an even bigger microscope on the Jalen Duren of it all, because Duren was in the same situation as Asar is or was last season, but he and the Pistons did not reach that agreement on the rookie skill extension, and now we have what's going on with him, and let's get into that, because according to multiple reports yesterday, the Pistons have recently increased their Jalen Duren offer to $ 200 million over five years. Up from the reported $ 180, $ 190 million that was out there, but that still hasn't gotten Jalen Duren and his team to budge. And now we're starting to see even like louder whispers that maybe feels disrespected here by the Pistons in this entire process. So they, again, reports say five years, $ 200 million. And they still haven't signed this thing, though they still haven't signed the qualifying offer as well.
00:06:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:06:17
Speaker 1: You know, that's obviously the threat that we've had for the last couple months here. Yeah, any more takeaways here? Any more tease on Jalen Dern? We feel like we've talked about this every week because we have.
00:06:27
Speaker 2: We have, but I will say that the number keeps going up that the Pistons are offering. The more Jalen Dern says, I swear I'm going to sign with the Kings. I will do it. I'll take that qualifying offer and get maxed out next year. The more he says that, the more the Pistons... have been upping their offer. Like you're saying, it went from $ 180 to $ 190 to $ 200. We thought $ 200 was kind of the magic number, according to reporting from The Athletic. Sam Amick was saying he's looking for at least $ 200 million. The Pistons are saying, here's what you're asking for, $ 200 million. He said, I don't know about that, which makes me think how much of it is about the money and how much of it is about the relationship. You mentioned that he didn't come to an extension with the Pistons last year. This is why teams like to give extensions, because it shows we respect you as a player. You're part of our team building going forward. We want you to be here. Obviously, that didn't happen last year. And then Dern goes out and has his best season in the NBA. He didn't have a great playoffs, but guess what? The Pistons won a playoff series. He was all NBA. He was an all-star. He did everything he was supposed to do except for have a good playoffs, and that's the last thing anybody remembers, and that's why the Pistons are trying to squeeze him here. I couldn't believe the reports that there's a weight clause included in this offer to Jalen Duren. That seems reserved to guys like Zion Williamson and Joel Embiid to me, guys who have had trouble staying on the court early in their careers, and so when the first really big deal comes around, the team wants some sort of guarantees around it. Like, Durin's a big dude, but he's also been super durable, and I feel like his weight is mostly because his muscles are gigantic.
00:08:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is very weird.
00:08:06
Speaker 2: That was sort of weird to me, but I don't know. I assume Durin will eventually take this deal. Five years, $ 200 million, but maybe he'll just say, I can wait. I've waited all summer, and you keep kicking in more money. So why would he change it up at this point?
00:08:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you're right. I guess in... In that regard, it's working for him and his agent. The longer we just keep waiting, they do keep offering more money because they do want me here. They're just trying to figure out at what it's worth. But this whole thing now is starting to get a little funny because now we've reached the magic number, like you said, the $ 200 million. He still hasn't signed it or he's still saying he won't. But then you're like, okay, so what are you going to do? Take the qualifying offer. Let's call that $ 10 million. It's like nine point something. And then the most you can do in unrestricted pre-agent is is to obviously, let's say, go to the Kings, but the max you can get there is like 187. So now it's not about the money, it's starting to feel like. So you start to get a little concerned if you're a business fan, maybe like, oh, he really is upset with the organization and the way they treated him and handled this, that he's like, it's actually not about the dollar bills now. I just want to go somewhere else. I guess I don't feel wanted here enough, whatever. So that's not great.
00:09:16
Speaker 2: Definitely not.
00:09:16
Speaker 1: Because you've reached the number now where it's like we're giving you more money than you can even make. And that's a hell of a risk, by the way, taking the QO.
00:09:23
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:09:23
Speaker 1: Because you got injured, of course.
00:09:25
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I still think a team would sign him to a big contract next summer, even if he's coming off an injury. I mean, does he get the full max from Sacramento? Maybe. Maybe not. But it's basically apples to oranges. They're both fruits. So you can compare them. 196 to 200. That's about the same. Fans are already turning on Jalen Duren for how long this is drawn out. You can also throw in the fact that the sourcing for the athletic has to be coming from Jalen Duren's camp because we're getting the details and they're being framed in a way that it's not complimentary. to Jalen Duren. And part of that report is like, we saw what you paid to Sar Thompson. He's not as good as me. How is that good for a franchise to be pocket watching your teammate? Yeah, that's terrible. Yeah. And the fans are against him. It's already a disaster.
00:10:14
Speaker 1: Oh, I 100% agree. If they could go back in time, they would have signed him. Last offseason.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: Well, they offered him. Right.
00:10:21
Speaker 1: And he turned it down. Yeah, and it was much, much lower. And so he bet on himself.
00:10:25
Speaker 2: And he won.
00:10:26
Speaker 1: And he did win.
00:10:27
Speaker 2: He had a good season, and the number went up.
00:10:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, but he won. Well, yeah, I guess he just wants it to continue to go up because there's still a lot of gap between $ 200 million and the $ 287 million that he actually could technically sign with Detroit because he made All-NBA. Yeah, we discussed this last week, this contract stalemate with Pistons fan Kofi. who was a great guest. And, you know, he made the point, like, even if Durant signs here, can this relationship, at least with Jalen Durant and the fans now of Detroit, can it be sort of salvaged? Because this is a guy who choked in the playoffs. He did. It was very, very bad to the point where like, hey, Beef Stew, you come in and help us defensively. Hey, Paul Reed, you come in and help us offensively. And I was like, all right, Jalen Durant, our what we thought was a franchise pillar, it was rough. And by the way, he wasn't all that great the year prior in a six-game series against the Knicks. It wasn't lights out either, but I was like, okay, well, he's young. Then he asked for more money, and I think fans were generally on board. All right, we'll stick with him here. But then he asked for even more money, and then fans start to waver a little bit and start going, oh, hold on, let's debate the real value here of Jalen Duren, especially now when Asar Thompson gets paid, and you got Pistons fans going like, Asar's more important than Jalen Duren. He doesn't have the accolades, but he might be more important. Now you can debate that all you want. And now he's turning down this magic number, the 40 million per year, which we thought was like the one that would do it. And it feels like so many Pistons fans have like completely turned on this guy now. So even if he comes back, like, holy crap, he would have to go to a crazy level, it feels like, for then Pistons fans to be like, oh, okay, I feel better. I feel okay about this. He got the magic number, whatever it is to him, more than 200 million, I guess. and he's turned into maybe one of the best centers in the league. But I think that's far-fetched, do you not?
00:12:19
Speaker 2: If he plays well, who cares? That's what fans will say. If he's putting up 20-10, who cares? Until the playoffs, and then he'll have to prove.
00:12:26
Speaker 1: He needs to put up 20-10 in the playoffs. Exactly, in the playoffs.
00:12:27
Speaker 2: So it'll be a whole season of just waiting and seeing. You know, Kobe Bryant was requesting a trade from the Lakers once upon a time. He's got a statue there. Fans get over it if you win, and if you play well. So I think that that can happen. And I think that, like, Durant... He's getting offered more than a star Thompson. He will be the second highest paid player on the piston. So the respect is there though. They took their time getting to that number. I wonder how things would have been if they just said, yeah, we'll give you five years for 200 right away. If they would have said that in August, does he sign it? Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's a weird situation. Uh, I think five years, 200 is about right. Like I thought five for one 90 was about right. It's like Walker Kessler money. I think during has done more in his career. than Walker Kessler does. Obviously, the Lakers overpaid to get Kessler because they were taking him away from another team. So this is right where Durant should be. This is like top 10 center money. He's probably a top 10 center, not a top five center at this point. And the Pistons would not have a great way to replace him. There's some talk about potential trade opportunities chatter they could do. It'd be like getting Miles Turner back from the Bucks. It could be DeMontis Sabonis back from the Kings. Neither of them excite me. I don't know how Caden Cunningham would feel about such a thing. And he's obviously the franchise.
00:13:41
Speaker 1: Yeah. He'd be the most important person to go and talk to that, talk to him about, yeah. Do you like the idea of Miles Turner stretching the floor or Sabonis like playmaking and all that? Like there's pros and cons to all of these guys and they all make a lot of money. And like, I think Miles Turner has fallen off a cliff, at least in my personal opinion here, as he's gotten on in age.
00:13:59
Speaker 2: But he's cheaper.
00:14:00
Speaker 1: He's cheaper, yeah. Yeah, but we're just getting out here. Does Jalen Dern even want to be in Detroit? Is it just a number he needs to see to feel great about himself, and then he's on board and right to work and lunch pail mentality? I'm a little concerned. Whatever the money is now, he's going to sign it, and then it's like, how long until it's like, get me out of here?
00:14:22
Speaker 2: I mean, everybody does that.
00:14:23
Speaker 1: I don't know, but it's not great for a team that was like, the worst team we'd seen in history when they're losing 28 straight games, turn this around. Pillars here in Cade, Jalen Duren, and Sartomson. It's like, oh man, that's just, it just sucks as... You know, I'm not a Pistons fan, but just an NBA fan. Like, oh, they were building something here. They won 60 games.
00:14:41
Speaker 2: They were building something, and then they traded away Isaiah Stewart, and now they might lose Jalen Duren. Clearly, the Pistons look at their team and say, we need a real number two guy. And it's not Duren, and it's not Asar Thompson. They're looking for that other star out there, which is why they got to keep their books clean and, like... You're saying it sucks if you're a Pistons fan right now to go from 60 wins and have them looking at the team and being like, I don't know if this team's actually any good. To get to the next level, they probably do need better players than Duren and Asar Thompson alongside Cade Cunningham. How do you get those guys? Very hard. But having a $ 40 million contract you can trade could be helpful.
00:15:16
Speaker 1: Maybe that's what it'll be. 40 plus he wants, it sounds like. So that's the latest on Jalen Duren. You know, not blinking here. even though they've slid the paper across to him and his agent. Five years, $ 200 million. Got to admit, five years, $ 200 million just sounds like way more than $ 5, 190 or $ 5, 180. It really does. Not a huge gap when you do the annual average, but it looks damn good, $ 200 million. Holy crap.
00:15:39
Speaker 2: I did see that Jalen Duren's agent is the same agent as Tari Eason, who signed his deal with the Rockets and literally was like, whatever. So this guy's killing it this summer.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: Some weird age of decisions. You get into Kaminga of it all and all this too. Yeah. All right. So that's the Pistons. We'll just wait and see as we get closer and closer to training camp here.
00:16:01
Speaker 2: Yeah. Monday is like reporting day.
00:16:03
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. And Jalen Dern hasn't been at some of these like summer things.
00:16:07
Speaker 2: He didn't go to Tom Gores' house in San Diego.
00:16:10
Speaker 1: Jeez. I mean, that's the boss man's.
00:16:13
Speaker 2: That's the boss man's.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: Boss man's party and you didn't go? I was pissed off. I mean, look what happened to Chris Pauly at a Halloween party. Nobody showed up. He was gone, I think, a couple weeks later. That's true. All right, some other extensions here to talk about. Utah Jazz and Keontae George agreed to a five-year, $ 157. 5 million extension, though it's really a 5-1-55, just like Asar Thompson. There are some incentives in there, Trey, $ 500, 000 each year on this deal. I think they're primarily based on playoff wins and availability and stuff like that, but It's very similar to Asar Thompson. What do you think about Keontae George and the Jazz here?
00:16:50
Speaker 2: Asar Thompson, but yin-yang version. Keontae George, great offensive player for one season and nothing on the defensive end. This one, I kind of had trouble judging the deal because you're basing it off one season for Keontae George. He had a chat with Will Harding. He's like, you're going to be out of the league if you don't change your game. And he completely changed his game. Had a career best season, improved everywhere. He's getting paid off that, but also the Jazz drafted Darren Peterson. Apparently they have the same agent as well, so they're kind of in on it together, but 16% of the cap as well for Keontae George. That's fair. You throw in the fact that the Jazz whiffed on a whole bunch of picks. before they got to Ace Bailey, before they got to Darren Peterson. I'm talking about guys like Taylor Hendricks, Cody Williams. They're both already gone. Bryce Sensabaugh, Isaiah Collier, Kyle Filipowski. Maybe they stick around. Who knows? Missing for a couple of years there means there's a decent gap when you can actually pay Keontae George. So right now they can afford to pay him. Either he stays, like he has to stay at this level, I think, for the Jazz, the way he played last season. Had a great shooting year, started drawing more fouls, was just a much more efficient player, a stronger player. Him staying at the same level means they can either keep him with Darren Peterson, and that's their backcourt of the future, or they trade him. Because they are going to get into some contract troubles in not too long with big deals for Lowry marking it on the books. jaron jackson jr as well then they'll have to start paying george eventually darren peterson will be eligible as well the jazz will get expensive eventually yeah they're not there yet so this is probably fine.
00:18:27
Speaker 1: Yeah it does feel sort of team friendly and in that regard 15 16 like you're saying i mean he did average 24 points per game and six assists last year like this was a real nice bounce back season um shot 71 at the rim his true shooting percentage did jump now Then he was basically replaced by Collier there in the starting lineup sort of midway through the season. Now that's part of the Jazz sort of like tank decisions as well. And they get Darren Peterson out of that. I like this overall. I think they really do like his character and his work ethic and obviously his talent. I mean, there is a lot of talent there, but it's a great point. He's like, this is just the sort of opposite type of player from a Sar Thompson. You put these two guys together, look out. That'd be an incredible superstar player because he's more offense, Keontae George, or Sar Thompson more defensively. But excited to see how it works with him and Peterson. They're obviously going to give it a go. I think the Jazz hope Peterson is the superstar. of the bunch here, but this money, this deal, you already compared the Sart-Thompson. So I'll just say the names again. It's like quickly, right? In Toronto, it's like Suggs in Orlando. And I think where Keontae George is headed or what we saw there last year, at least, weird season, I get it. Weird tanking season, you can get numbers and all that. It's comparable. And that's sort of where they're hoping he will go to and if not be better than those guys. So nothing crazy here. I thought I thought both those, uh, Thompson and Keontae George deals, uh, five years, one 55, we'll call them good work, good work. And they got paid. There's a lot of money, man. This is a hell of a lot of money.
00:19:57
Speaker 2: And all those guys, a lot of those contracts are regrettable. If we're being quite honest, quickly sucks. Yeah.
00:20:04
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:20:04
Speaker 2: All four of them. Suggs, Quickly, DeJounte, Murray, and Tyler Hero. Murray and Hero have already been traded, and I think that the Raptors and the Magic would trade both of those guys if anybody would take them, and they probably won't. So even though this looks like a good deal, you can regret it pretty quickly because those guys didn't sign all that long ago as well.
00:20:24
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:20:25
Speaker 2: Looking at the way things went down, like Keontae George hit his extension at the perfect time. Lowry Markkinen only played 42 games last season. Jaron Jackson Jr. only three games for the Jazz. There was a lot of opportunity for shots to be had. That's not going to be the case as much going forward. So he balled out when he absolutely needed to, saved his career, got paid $ 150 million. And now he's like the fourth option on the Jazz. Kind of odd the more we talk about it.
00:20:53
Speaker 1: The Heat and Pella Larson have agreed to a four-year $ 60 million extension. So much less than these other guys, though he's coming up a little earlier than those two we previously mentioned, two had played three years. The final year of Larson's new contract includes a mutual option. I always love a mutual option here, which will be picked up if either Larson or the Heat decide to. So you can really look at this as like a three-year $ 43 million extension. And then you got that fourth year where everybody has a decision in it if they want. uh what do you think about this one the heat you don't need guys here around this new squad with yannis and bam and he was one they did keep and uh seems like a connective type of guy four years 60 million is what they tell us on.
00:21:34
Speaker 2: Paper yeah people tell me pella larson's good i just got to see it to believe it because people also told me that nikola jovich was good and guess what he's not those are the two contracts that are kicking around in my head nikola jovich four years 62 mil for the Heat last year, and Zeke Najee, four years, 32 mil with the Nuggets a couple of seasons back. These are small numbers in the grand scheme of the NBA right now, and both of their teams regret giving them their contracts. Pella Larson is 25 years old. He's good at so much stuff. He's the white Najee Marshall. He's a good passer. He's good in transition. He can finish. He's a strong defender, kind of a jack-of-all-trades type. The thing he can't do is shoot, and the thing that the Heat need him to do most is shoot. So I don't I think he was.
00:22:17
Speaker 1: A decent college shooter, wasn't he? And he has not showed it in the NBA.
00:22:20
Speaker 2: Career, 33%. Not good enough. Yeah.
00:22:22
Speaker 1: So you obviously got to hope that bounces back. I mean, he's great for Sweden in international play.
00:22:27
Speaker 2: Jovic was killing it for certain.
00:22:28
Speaker 1: I know. I mean, these guys level up like 10 levels when they play for their international teams. Yeah, he's got to play his role here. But not making a ton, I guess, moving forward, like 8% of the cap in the following three years. He's only going to be making like 2 million this season. He was a second-round pick back in the day, so... Yep. He's going to get an opportunity and he's going to play. We were debating whether he would start for the Miami Heat or not, or do they go with a shooter like you're talking about in a Clay Thompson, in a Tim Hardaway Jr., or do they stick with this guy who, again, does a lot of good things, a lot of good things out there. Key contributor last year, too. Played a lot, started a lot, averaged 11.4 points per game despite not being able to really shoot the three all that well. So he gets a little deal here. You know, this is, you know, not tanking them by any means or submarining them if it doesn't work out and he'll probably be moved if it doesn't, but he's going to get a chance here. They have to obviously hope one or two of these guys, like you're saying here, pop along their front loaded front, like starting lineup.
00:23:25
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:23:25
Speaker 1: Because otherwise they get a little shallow pretty quickly.
00:23:27
Speaker 2: Oh, big time. And like right now, like the Nuggets having Zeke Najee's $ 8 million deal on the books has been terrible for them for the past couple of years. It's really messed with their second apron dancing. And that's why they're losing guys like Peyton Watson. And Christian Brown obviously is a problem as well. Like the Heat can't trade Jovich right now. The Bucs were like, no, thank you. We don't want that contract. And it's just now starting. So even though this is a small amount of money, NBA wise, like it has big consequences. It does. So he needs to prove that he can do anything because like, I don't really care about 11 points per game on a team that finished 10th.
00:24:04
Speaker 1: Like, cool. Yeah.
00:24:06
Speaker 2: The Heat had an equal opportunity offense. Points were out there to be scored. He's got to do something to prove that he's actually a player for me.
00:24:13
Speaker 1: Interested to see how these three extensions, what impact, if any, they have on the other names we're waiting for. Brandon Miller with the Charlotte Hornets. Brandon Pojemski with the Golden State Warriors. He's really fascinating, I think, even more so maybe than Brandon Miller, who's, you know, he's going to get a real opportunity to be the lead guy there in Charlotte. But Pojemski and the number, if they agree on something there. Maybe even Anthony Black in Orlando. Now that we have these numbers here, because you start getting into the comparable game of like, oh, he got how much? Oh, okay, I'm somewhere close to him or just below him. So I don't know if you have any... takeaways on any of those guys or maybe or maybe not with any of them as we get.
00:24:49
Speaker 2: Closer and closer here the only guy i really think should get paid that you mentioned is brandon miller yeah like he's a really good player for the hornets and he's become even more important now that lamella ball uh has been traded miller's got an opportunity to be the number one guy there so i assume he'll sign a 200 plus million dollar uh extension which is probably part of the reason that lamella was traded away anyways was clear in the books to build around miller So I think that deal will happen. And if I'm the magic, I'm trying to trade Jalen Suggs as hard as I can because I don't think you want to have him and Anthony Black's deal on the same thing. So maybe Black will have to be the guy that proves it during the season. Potentially.
00:25:28
Speaker 1: One more extension, and I leave it to the end because he's in a different boat than these other guys because he's a little older. The Pelicans and Sadiq Bey agreed to a three-year 55.5. million dollar extension. And I'll lay this out. I saw Ziller lay it out in his newsletter, and I think it's worth going over. Sadiq Bae's weird career path. So the Pistons were nonplussed, to use Ziller's words, enough in his year three. So they moved him in the James Wiseman deal. About a year in Atlanta, he tore his ACL right before hitting a restricted free agency. So that really sucked for him. The Hawks declined to put out a qualifying offer. So the tanking Wizards signed him to a small three-year deal, $ 19 million. Then they moved him to New Orleans in the CJ McCollum trade. And the second of those three cheap years was this past season where he fully outperformed that very minor deal, had a really good year. And now he gets this contract extension here, Trey. Three years, $ 55. 5 million. It was funny to see reactions on Twitter, at least, to this one. I think some people were like, what? They thought this was a a gross overpay for a player like Sadiq Bay. And then you had a bunch of other people come in like, Hey, actually he's pretty good. He scores a lot, but what's your takeaway?
00:26:39
Speaker 2: Uh, it's both. It's definitely an overpay. Like you could, there's a reason Sadiq Bay has been available so many times. And my guess is that the Pelicans will find the same signing him to now an $ 18 million per year. I do think he earned it, had a great season last year, but I have no idea what the plan is for new Orleans. They signed Ben Matherin this summer and, They extended Sadiq Bae, and they still have Trey Murphy and Herb Jones as well. So what are they trying to build here? I don't know. Sadiq Bae maybe is a guy that a contender would trade for if they can't get Trey Murphy or Herb Jones.
00:27:12
Speaker 1: It's funny to think that Jordan Poole came to the Pelicans in that CJ McCollum trade, and we thought, or we initially viewed Poole as the headline player coming to New Orleans. but really Sadiq Bey was like a much more crucial part. I know it was a bad year, but he did play well in the final, like, let's call it 35 games. He averaged like 20 and five. He shot the lights out 46% from the floor, 40% from three on some decent volume there. He's actually like, he's a big dude. So he's like a sneaky sort of post-up creator as well, but he gets this. And I think good work by him and his agents to like, sort of just take this right now. You know, like, yeah, yeah. Like, there was next to no chance Bay was getting this type of money and free agency, you know, even with more teams having cap space next year. So he gets this now like, and I, and I, I note that because like, even think of this last off season, like who left unrestricted free agency, who left for another team and got more than 20 million. It was like Norman Powell. Yeah. Um, who was, did have an all-star year and stuff like that. So it was very unlikely he was getting close to this. So they take it. Um, you know, it's the type of veteran extension, uh, the four years and this is not four years but like teams are just not doing those long four years now unless you're gary trent jr it's usually something like this so yeah he's there can he continue at this torrid pace of 20 being a 20 point per game score now on a team like i know everybody starts zero and zero and like there are some talent on the team if everybody can stay healthy but and a new coach there in jamal mosley we'll see if he can replicate it or not Sadiq Bae gets paid.
00:28:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. I think we're going to get a story. Isn't it Evan Turner who tells the story about getting a gigantic deal from Portland, and he's like, you're offering me that much money? Of course I'm taking it. That's going to be what we hear from Sadiq Bae eventually. $ 18 million a year for Sadiq Bae?
00:29:03
Speaker 1: Hey, look.
00:29:05
Speaker 2: This is only– NBA teams keep players to be able to trade them. You need to have an $ 18 million slot, and we know that the Pelicans have basically– duplicative players at every single position. So there's no reason to keep all of these guys around. And now they've got a $ 9 million trade chip. They've got an $ 18 million. They got a $ 25 million. So good timing for him.
00:29:29
Speaker 1: Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but we also know GMs, I should say, they love their guys that they draft.
00:29:36
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:29:37
Speaker 1: Was Sadiq Bay not selected by the Troy Weavers and Joe Dumars in Detroit back in the day? So, you know, again, they got him in that deal and he did play well and they're giving him a contract here to, to say thank you for that. Keep it up, man. But what a weird team, the New Orleans Pelicans. We just keep waiting them for them to do something and they're, they just never do. In other news, 18 year veteran Nicholas Batum announced his retirement on Monday in a social media video with his son. I thought this was a beautiful video, like really interesting announcement for retirement. It was like 10 minutes long, but it was, I thought it was really touching. Uh, Batum was drafted 25th overall in the 08 draft, started his career with the Blazers, played for three other teams, the Hornets, the Clippers. He had a cup of coffee with the Sixers. Batum, done after 18 years here, TK. Uh, We saw his entire career.
00:30:26
Speaker 2: Would have not been a guy I thought would play for 18 seasons in the NBA. Apparently only one other player has played five or more seasons with three teams. Nicholas Batum did it. Who's the other guy?
00:30:38
Speaker 1: Say that again?
00:30:39
Speaker 2: Five or more seasons with three teams.
00:30:42
Speaker 1: LeBron?
00:30:43
Speaker 2: No.
00:30:44
Speaker 1: He only played four with Heat.
00:30:49
Speaker 2: That's good. This guy's a Hall of Famer. Hall of Famer and one of the greatest what-ifs in NBA history.
00:30:55
Speaker 1: One of the greatest what-ifs. Current or no?
00:31:00
Speaker 2: No, but you might hear him on a broadcast. You've met him. He likes to tell you a joke about Canadian food.
00:31:09
Speaker 1: Grant Hill?
00:31:10
Speaker 2: Grant Hill.
00:31:10
Speaker 1: I would have never guessed him.
00:31:11
Speaker 2: Pistons, Magic, Suns.
00:31:14
Speaker 1: He played for five.
00:31:15
Speaker 2: Five or more seasons with those three teams. Wow, that's a crazy stat. And then Batum did it with the Blazers, the Hornets. and the Clippers. Crazy.
00:31:23
Speaker 1: That's, that's wild.
00:31:24
Speaker 2: Yeah. Nick Batum though, was going to retire after the 2024 Olympics. It was basically like, I'm retiring from the French national team. They played in Paris. Obviously he said, this is going to be the end of my NBA career as well. And instead he played two more seasons, made 10 more million dollars, $ 208 million over his career, 18 seasons for a guy that averaged 10, five and three. Be a good guy and you can make $ 200 million in the NBA.
00:31:48
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Versatile forward at the very least. Yeah. 10, 5, and 3, let's call it. What did he shoot? He was above average. 37, 38%? Three-point shooter? He was good, yeah. Probably had some really good years, some down years. Played in a bunch of playoff games. I think the furthest he went, though, was Western Conference Finals with the Clips, I guess.
00:32:06
Speaker 2: Was he there?
00:32:07
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think he was.
00:32:08
Speaker 2: I think he won three playoff series in his career.
00:32:10
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, definitely he is going to be known for his contributions to French basketball.
00:32:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, punching Juan Carlos Navarro in the nuts.
00:32:17
Speaker 1: Boom, in the nuts.
00:32:18
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:32:18
Speaker 1: But helped win silver medals in 2020 and then 2024. And like, yeah, would have been the perfect way to go out had they won the gold, if Steph Curry obviously didn't ruin that for them. But a couple of bronze in FIBA World Cups with the French national team. They medaled at Eurobasket a bunch of times. So that's... Look, this is an incredible NBA career, and he, again, a special international player. He said in that video that the semifinal win over Germany at the 24 Olympics, so the most recent one, was the best basketball moment he's ever experienced. And again, probably would have been even better if they had beaten Korea and the Americans there in the final in Paris to win gold, but alas, just came up short. Yep. Batum, done. Did you watch the video? Did you see any of it?
00:33:03
Speaker 2: I watched the part of him talking about how his dad passed away on the basketball court, so he wanted to retire on the same day. Yeah, 25 years to the day. Pretty special.
00:33:13
Speaker 1: I did not know this story about Batum, that his dad was like a semi-professional basketball player. But yeah, go check it out if you haven't watched it. All right, let's get into the UpDown Report.
00:33:23
Speaker 2: It's the UpDown Report. Oh, the up-down report. We got a special one today. The Athletic put out a list of players, active players, and said, will or won't they get their numbers retired? Jason Jones over there had 40 total players.
00:33:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of names. A lot of players.
00:33:45
Speaker 2: Some of them with multiple jerseys as well. The first category is definitely going to be retired. So I'll just kind of run through these names. If any of them catch you off guard or you want to chat about them, just let me know and we can stop for a second. damian lillard number zero with the trailblazers yes lock it in jason tatum number zero with the celtics yes jay gildas alexander number two with the thunder yeah no brainer kawaii leonard number two with the spur.
00:34:10
Speaker 1: Now now the kawaii of it all is fascinating here both spurs and raptors if i'm being completely honest it's a little i don't think it's an absolute guaranteed lock for both of them definitely not probably spurs.
00:34:25
Speaker 2: Is a lock for me I understand that it was poorly, but it ended poorly tension for sure. But he played seven seasons with the Spurs, got a finals MVP, two-time defensive player of the year, two-time all-star all NBA, first team twice, all defense, first team, three times, second team, once finished second and third in MVP voting. Kawhi Leonard was an awesome player for the Spurs. It ended poorly, but guess what? Tony Parker played for the Hornets. Yeah. Yeah.
00:34:53
Speaker 1: No, that to me is much, much more likely than the Raptors is where it's like, it's sort of, it oddly just feels like it depends on what happens here in this, in this next final likely stage of his career and how much team success and obviously how he plays. And like, like, like, let's be honest. Like if he comes in here and gets injured and plays 30 games and it's like, maybe it's like a brutal injury, then he's not a lock. There's no way.
00:35:18
Speaker 2: You wouldn't retire him off one season? No.
00:35:21
Speaker 1: 60 games? I, No, I don't think so.
00:35:23
Speaker 2: All-star, second-team All-NBA, second-team All-Defense, Finals MVP?
00:35:28
Speaker 1: Look, it's elite. For me, it was the greatest basketball season of all time, and I was... ecstatic to have him and have him help us win playoff games but like i don't know i gotta draw the line somewhere it's gonna be some length of time with the franchise so i think a part of that one is still up in the air tbd a little bit on that one not not a guaranteed lock.
00:35:47
Speaker 2: Yeah it's nice that he has a second stint to drive it over the top and if he plays well for these however many more seasons uh he goes i think it will.
00:35:55
Speaker 1: Be a yes probably probably.
00:35:57
Speaker 2: Uh according to my research dennis johnson is the only finals mvp who doesn't have his number retired oh okay Won finals MVP in 1979 with the Sonics. But their number 24 is already retired for Spencer Haywood. And that's the jersey that Dennis Johnson wore. And Dennis Johnson's jersey is retired by Boston. So you could say that every finals MVP has their jersey retired. In which case... Lock it in for the Raptors.
00:36:22
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't you?
00:36:22
Speaker 2: The dude won finals MVP. The biggest shot in franchise history.
00:36:26
Speaker 1: And he's beloved there, man.
00:36:27
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:36:27
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Down the road, I guess they will. But it would have been very funny if a guy just played one year.
00:36:33
Speaker 2: That's it.
00:36:33
Speaker 1: Didn't come back. That's on. But it would be weird. The best year you can have, I guess.
00:36:38
Speaker 2: All right. Continuing on with the definitely will be retired. Kyrie Irving, number two with the Cavaliers. Yeah. yeah kind of caught me off guard when i saw it but six seasons one rookie of the year four-time all-star one-time all-nba third team won the title in 2016 hit the biggest shot in franchise history.
00:36:54
Speaker 1: A huge part of this is like the franchise itself right and like who's already up there in the rafters where the bar is you know um so i i think that sort of helps kairi's case yeah i think he will be.
00:37:05
Speaker 2: All right anthony davis number three on the Lakers. We can see the second one, JD. He played five and a half seasons with the Lakers. He was a four-time all-star, one-time all-NBA first team, one-time all-NBA second team, first team all-defense twice, and won the championship in 2020.
00:37:20
Speaker 1: I mean, it's pretty damn good.
00:37:22
Speaker 2: I know. I was like Anthony Davis did more than I thought with the Lakers.
00:37:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the thing. It was during a weird time of our lives there when COVID hit.
00:37:29
Speaker 2: Exactly, yeah.
00:37:30
Speaker 1: But yeah, look, they do a great job of honoring their They're superstars. Again, I do think with a franchise like the Lakers, the bar of it all is a lot different than the Cavaliers bar.
00:37:41
Speaker 2: True.
00:37:41
Speaker 1: Right. In terms of the legends that are up there. So that that's where it's like, is he on that level of your Kobe's and your West and your Jackson's like, no, he's not. But is there room for him? amongst guys like the James Worthys and stuff like that. Like, was he a better player? Yeah, he was. But, you know, obviously James Worthy, more team success because he was on great teams. Anyway, he'll probably be retired.
00:38:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, he probably will. I also saw the Lisa Leslie statue that Sparks put up. That's pretty cool.
00:38:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's awesome.
00:38:07
Speaker 2: With a rim included. Yeah. They got two dunking statues out there outside of Staples. That's pretty sweet. Also on the definitely will be retired list, Anthony Edwards, number five. With the Timberwolves.
00:38:17
Speaker 1: I mean, we are. I guess we are just projecting here.
00:38:19
Speaker 2: That's a projector.
00:38:20
Speaker 1: Sure. I don't think it needs to be on that number tier one lock. I would maybe bump it down a little bit, but very likely.
00:38:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's like top 10 already in almost every Timberwolves stat. Wow, wow. He probably will. How many seasons did he wear number one, though? Just a couple at the beginning? Then he switched to five?
00:38:38
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. I forgot he wore one. All right.
00:38:40
Speaker 2: Also on the definitely will be retired list, Jalen Brown, number seven with the Celtics.
00:38:45
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:38:46
Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay.
00:38:46
Speaker 1: I mean, it ended poorly right now, but we'll get there.
00:38:49
Speaker 2: Yep.
00:38:49
Speaker 1: Yep. Time heals all.
00:38:50
Speaker 2: DeMar DeRozan, number 10 with the Raptors.
00:38:52
Speaker 1: No, see, guaranteed.
00:38:54
Speaker 2: People were making a stink about this.
00:38:55
Speaker 1: This is ridiculous.
00:38:56
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:38:56
Speaker 1: What are the people talking? I mean, it was just like, I'm sorry. If Vince Carter, like I understand he helped put a team on the map and a team in Canada. Yes. DeMar DeRozan, an incredible career for the Raptors. Like, I'm sorry. LeBron was there, man. LeBron was there. They couldn't get over LeBron. He's not the only one on all these names we're going to talk about where that was also an issue.
00:39:17
Speaker 2: Very true.
00:39:18
Speaker 1: So, yeah, he will be guaranteed retired by the Raptors.
00:39:22
Speaker 2: A few more Lockerooskies. Jalen Brunson, number 11 on the Knicks.
00:39:26
Speaker 1: Yep.
00:39:26
Speaker 2: They might retire his jersey before he retires. Yes.
00:39:28
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:39:30
Speaker 2: Do it now yeah just hang it uh on opening night then it'll be on snl and svu he's doing it all this guy's getting out there i don't blame him clay thompson number 11 on the warriors no brainer james harden number 13 on the rockets yeah Yeah.
00:39:44
Speaker 1: I mean, I obviously played for a lot of teams here, but his best and most, you know, best careers years were there. So yeah, I think so.
00:39:51
Speaker 2: MVP, multiple top five finishes. Number 15 on the Nuggets, Nikola Jokic. We've talked about this one.
00:39:58
Speaker 1: Well, it's weird because of the Carmelo Anthony number 15 of it all, but yes, Jokic will also have his number retired.
00:40:04
Speaker 2: Should be doubled up and it definitely will be for Jokic. Multiple MVPs, won the championship. Good guy. Joel Embiid, number 21 on the 76ers.
00:40:12
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:40:14
Speaker 2: MVP.
00:40:14
Speaker 1: He will be.
00:40:15
Speaker 2: This one was surprising to me.
00:40:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, this Jimmy Butler.
00:40:17
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler, number 22 on the Heat.
00:40:20
Speaker 1: Definitely? Likely, I guess. Went to finals.
00:40:27
Speaker 2: Yep. Five and a half seasons, two all-star appearances, made All-NBA second team once, third team twice. He made all-defense second team once, went to the two finals. I couldn't believe he's top 10 in scoring, assists, and steals for the Heat. Oh, that's... Third all-time in points per game. And he leads the franchise in triple doubles. How is that possible?
00:40:48
Speaker 1: Wow.
00:40:48
Speaker 2: They had LeBron James for four years. Wow.
00:40:50
Speaker 1: These are all shocking stats to me.
00:40:51
Speaker 2: I know. I was like, okay, Jimmy, you might be in, buddy. Yeah.
00:40:55
Speaker 1: But if any franchise would hold a grudge a little bit longer than any other, it could be the Heat. So that's, again, I guess he was at the bottom of that list, so I like that. But not a lock, lock, lock, no.
00:41:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't think he was an absolute lock, but I think he does have a strong case. All right, a few more on the definitely will be retired. Draymond Green, number 23 of the Warriors. Yep. LeBron James, number 23 with the Cavs. You think you'll get it?
00:41:21
Speaker 1: I think so.
00:41:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll lock that one in. LeBron, number 23 on the Lakers.
00:41:25
Speaker 1: Yes. Of course. If we're going Anthony Davis, definitely LeBron.
00:41:27
Speaker 2: Yeah. Steph Curry, number 30 on the Warriors. Yep. Giannis, number 34 with the Bucs. Yes. All right, here's a couple of interesting ones.
00:41:34
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:41:34
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant, number 35 with the Thunder.
00:41:38
Speaker 1: And then I see you have the Warriors there as well.
00:41:40
Speaker 2: Hey, this is all Jason Jones.
00:41:42
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yes.
00:41:45
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:41:46
Speaker 1: Honestly, probably yes and yes.
00:41:48
Speaker 2: I think absolutely for the Thunder. They'll just have to get over the hurt feelings on both sides. He's a top three Thunder of all time, led the league in scoring four times for the Thunder. And then the Warriors played three seasons, won two titles, lost one, two finals MVPs, was first team all NBA once, second team twice, and an all-star in the three seasons that he played. So, I mean, very successful.
00:42:14
Speaker 1: Right.
00:42:15
Speaker 2: And, you know, those are some of the best teams of all time.
00:42:17
Speaker 1: Right. It'll come after the Curry goes up, you know, the 30 of Curry and after Clay's 11 goes up and Draymond, hell, maybe they do them all at once. I don't know. I'm sure they'll space them out, but. I think you then get to Durant's 35 up there too.
00:42:31
Speaker 2: And Iguodala, they retired his last season, right? Nice. Final two on the definitely will be retired list. Luka Doncic, 77 with the Mavs, 77 with the Lakers. What do you think?
00:42:43
Speaker 1: Okay, well, Lakers, they got a lot to do there, but... Hasn't won a playoff series yet. Yeah, I was going to say, what have you done for me lately? But yeah, if he's there for whatever, nine, 10 years, he probably will. The Mavericks... I mean, yeah, I guess in the end, and he's still loved and it's not his fault he got traded. So yeah.
00:43:04
Speaker 2: Rookie of the year, five times All-NBA first team, five times All-Star, made the finals and led the league in scoring as a Maverick. I think he's in there.
00:43:11
Speaker 1: Got to the finals.
00:43:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, they put Brad Davis in there. Yeah, yeah.
00:43:14
Speaker 1: That's true. That's true. He's still going up. And it's still, we got to wait a little bit here with the Lakers.
00:43:21
Speaker 2: Exactly. That's why for me, for the Lakers, he would probably be an almost certain.
00:43:25
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:43:25
Speaker 2: Like he will eventually have ridiculous stats. You know, he led the league in scoring last year. Surely he will win. playoff series at some point with la will he win a title i don't know but he's going to put up numbers with the lakers and they'll probably retire him.
00:43:37
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah but to be an absolute lock means to me he doesn't play another game for the lakers but he still gets his jersey retired by the lakers no so you know so that's agree yeah.
00:43:49
Speaker 2: All right the second tier is almost certain first candidate tyrese halliburton number zero with the pacers almost certain almost certain.
00:43:59
Speaker 1: Uh, yeah, I, I, I get the reasoning. I mean, six playoff success, obviously an all-star player. Um, you're hoping he's going to be around for a long time. Maybe Reggie Miller style even at this point. Um, so yeah, yeah, I guess.
00:44:15
Speaker 2: I was a little skeptical as well, but first of all, Reggie Miller is the only NBA Jersey that the Pacers have retired. Their other ones are for ABA success for the most part. So that means you're comparing him to Reggie. Reggie is a five-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA third-teamer, made one finals. Tyrese Halliburton is already a two-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA third-teamer, and made a finals. So career accolades-wise, he's getting close to Reggie Miller. And if he sticks around for a few more seasons, I think he'll make more All-Star teams.
00:44:43
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:44:43
Speaker 2: So I think almost certain is right for him. Okay. Devin Booker, number one on the Suns.
00:44:49
Speaker 1: I would argue Devin Booker should be in the tier one locks.
00:44:51
Speaker 2: He's a lock for sure.
00:44:52
Speaker 1: He is guaranteed going to be retired by the Suns. He is the franchise's all-time leading scorer. He's going to be close to 20,000 points by the end of this coming season. He'll be flirting with that if he has a really, really good year. So, like, this is a no-brainer. Now, they're a weird franchise, though, because... They have a lot of honored numbers.
00:45:13
Speaker 2: They retire everyone.
00:45:14
Speaker 1: That are not officially retired, though. This is the weird thing. Like, Dan Marley, Steve Nash, Charles Barkley, I think there's Tom Chamberlain. I'm not familiar with your game. Their numbers are retired, but their jerseys are not. So it's a strange, like, honored.
00:45:30
Speaker 2: What's that? Tom Chambers.
00:45:32
Speaker 1: Oh, Tom Chambers. Tom Chamberlain. Yeah, yeah, Tom Chambers. Number 24, yeah. I read that somewhere, so I copied that. It was my fault. But that's weird.
00:45:43
Speaker 2: Like somebody could wear 34 for the Suns?
00:45:45
Speaker 1: I think so.
00:45:46
Speaker 2: That's messed up.
00:45:47
Speaker 1: Yeah. But anyway, Booker's going to be either honored or officially retired.
00:45:52
Speaker 2: That's crazy.
00:45:53
Speaker 1: Why do they do that? I don't know.
00:45:54
Speaker 2: I don't like that at all. I gotta look into this.
00:45:58
Speaker 1: Why do they do that? That's the weird part.
00:46:01
Speaker 2: I don't know. That's messed up to me, if that's true, that you can wear the retired jerseys. There's no way that's true. Well, it's an honored jersey. It's an honored jersey, yeah.
00:46:10
Speaker 1: They have a distinction between honored and retired.
00:46:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, they got a trainer's jersey retired up there, but they did have a sick training staff.
00:46:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, we did talk about it a lot.
00:46:18
Speaker 2: Okay, respectable. But yeah, I'm with you. I think he's definitely a lock. Devin Booker, number one, will do whatever they do in Phoenix. They will say, nice jersey. Victor Wembanyama, number one on the Spurs.
00:46:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Come on.
00:46:31
Speaker 2: Certain? Almost certain? If Victor Wambanyama doesn't play another game for the Spurs, they would retire his number?
00:46:38
Speaker 1: Well, give me, what's his accolades?
00:46:40
Speaker 2: Three seasons. He's made an All-NBA First Team once, two times All-Star, one time Defensive Player of the Year, two time All-Defense First, made one Finals.
00:46:48
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, it's basically you just gave me Halliburton accolades.
00:46:52
Speaker 2: He don't play for the Pacers.
00:46:53
Speaker 1: Well, no, it's a little different, but I mean, that's pretty damn good.
00:46:56
Speaker 2: I'm comparing him to David Robinson and Tim Duncan.
00:46:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I hear you, but.
00:47:00
Speaker 2: He's on the right track. He's going to be there, don't worry. Look, realistically, for me, he's a lock. It's going to happen. But at this point in his career, he's on the right track.
00:47:09
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. I think there's a lot of on the right tracks here, but yeah.
00:47:12
Speaker 2: Yes. Cade Cunningham, number two on the Pistons.
00:47:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, like that's more of an on the right track.
00:47:17
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:47:17
Speaker 1: Maybe an almost certain two-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA. Played five seasons now, right? One playoff series win. Yeah, exactly. He's getting into the perennial MVP conversation, just like Wemby, but more of an on the right track probably.
00:47:31
Speaker 2: Agree. Bam out of bio, number 13 on the Heat.
00:47:35
Speaker 1: Now that one's probably a little bit more, a bit of a more of a lock.
00:47:39
Speaker 2: I think he's an almost certain. Yeah. I'm with it on this one.
00:47:42
Speaker 1: Yeah. Cause he's like, he's sort of new age Haslam and better on it. Like as a player, I know.
00:47:48
Speaker 2: I'm almost like, is he new age Alonzo morning?
00:47:50
Speaker 1: Oh, sure.
00:47:51
Speaker 2: Yeah. Right. Like he does have the connection to the franchise and like Alonzo morning was one of the first heat toughness guys.
00:47:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, really.
00:47:59
Speaker 2: And he was a great player. He never like reached the summit necessarily, uh, with the heat. And that's exactly what bam out of Iowa is. He's like been to the finals a couple of times, uh, He's been all defense first team once, five times second, three times all-star, but never all NBA. He's like knocking on the door of one of the 15 best players in the league. I feel like that's kind of similar to Alonzo Mourning.
00:48:20
Speaker 1: It's a good comp. It's a very good comp. Exactly.
00:48:22
Speaker 2: And like Alonzo is synonymous with heat culture just like Bam is. So to me, that's why he's definitely an almost certain. Of course, they have already retired number 13. for Dan Marino. I don't know what they're going to do.
00:48:35
Speaker 1: Gunslinger.
00:48:36
Speaker 2: Dan Marino.
00:48:37
Speaker 1: Gotta take it down. Take it down and put up BAMs.
00:48:39
Speaker 2: That's awesome. And then they hung a banner for him. I think as well, that was like, you won two gold medals in the Olympics.
00:48:46
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. They do a lot of that.
00:48:48
Speaker 2: Yeah. They love a banner.
00:48:49
Speaker 1: They love.
00:48:50
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:48:51
Speaker 1: I forgot about that. And they got Jordan's number.
00:48:53
Speaker 2: And they got Jordan's number retired. They just love respective.
00:48:56
Speaker 1: They do.
00:48:56
Speaker 2: Out of the heat.
00:48:57
Speaker 1: Heat culture, baby.
00:48:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, the most Jersey retiring franchise in the NBA. Put that in the lane. Drew Holiday, number 21 on the Bucs. Now, this is like help them win a championship. Yes.
00:49:08
Speaker 1: In 2021. He only played three years there. But I think, I mean, this one's fascinating because you look at who they've retired. There's like Brian Winters and Giuseppe. Bridgman. Like these are good players, but not hall of fame players.
00:49:24
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:49:24
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying Drew is either. I mean, I don't think so. He's going to be a hall of very good guy, but like he, like it's, it's comparable. Like he's better than those guys. I think no offense to Brian Winters and Junior Bridgman, but I get why, even though it was a short stint, the possibility of his number going up. Almost certain, yeah, I'm close to it.
00:49:45
Speaker 2: I know, I'm like, is he an almost certain or another category we'll get to in a little bit, a local hero?
00:49:50
Speaker 1: Yeah. He's kind of like both.
00:49:51
Speaker 2: He's also beloved, right? Like Drew Holiday is like Mr. Teammate in the NBA. He came and helped the Bucs win a title. It was like the trade for him pushed them over the top, so. I think he will, but he should get retired after Giannis, and he should be retired after our last candidate in the almost certain tier, Chris Middleton, number 22 with the Bucs. He played 12 seasons with Milwaukee.
00:50:13
Speaker 1: That's what I wrote down. He played 700-plus games for Milwaukee. That is more than those two guys I said, Winters, Bridgman. So to me it goes, of course, Giannis, then Middleton, and then maybe Drew Holiday, and I think he ultimately will.
00:50:27
Speaker 2: I like it. Third tier on the right track, Chet Holmgren, number seven with the Thunder.
00:50:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure.
00:50:33
Speaker 2: He's on the right track.
00:50:34
Speaker 1: He's on the right track.
00:50:36
Speaker 2: He's right on that track. Three seasons plus that injury season, won the title. Last year was his best individual season. All-star, all-NBA third team, all-defense first team. He'll probably get retired. Jalen Williams, number eight on the Thunder. Basically the exact same stuff as Chet Holmgren, except for he played four seasons and missed half of last year with injury.
00:50:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, on the right track, no doubt, for Chet and J-Dub. But I want to say this because it's important to remember, like, we would have been doing this for Brandon Roy in the Portland Trailblazers, right? Like, unfortunately, injuries can happen and your career can get zapped from you. So, you know, I don't think the Blazers have retired Brandon Roy as number seven jersey, nor will they. I don't think they will. But he was like a rookie of the year, three-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA selections. before the injury in very short amount of time, sort of around the sort of Holmgren J-Dub sort of years we're looking at here. So I don't think he's retired. And I don't hear a lot of people going, we got to put seven up to the rafters. I'm sure some Blazers fans feel that way, but it's just so short.
00:51:39
Speaker 2: Yeah. Nobody's worn seven since Brandon Roy did in 2011. So respect, respect. Are they saving it? I bet they retire his jersey.
00:51:49
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:51:49
Speaker 2: Now that I'm seeing that they have, I mean, 15 years and that's a popular number. People love seven.
00:51:53
Speaker 1: That's a good point. Good point. I mean, yeah, that's like a local hero type guy.
00:51:57
Speaker 2: Local hero type guy.
00:51:57
Speaker 1: And was amazing, like incredible to start his career.
00:52:00
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's good that you brought up Brandon Roy because also included on the list, Cooper Flagg, number 32 with the Mavericks.
00:52:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay. On the right track. It's very early.
00:52:11
Speaker 2: 25 rookies of the year have their jerseys retired by the team that drafted them. That's like one in three.
00:52:18
Speaker 1: Wow.
00:52:18
Speaker 2: You would have thought it was higher, right?
00:52:21
Speaker 1: Uh, yeah, maybe a little bit.
00:52:23
Speaker 2: Yeah. I remember his Jersey's not retired. He won a rookie of the year. Right, right, right. Interesting. We'll see.
00:52:29
Speaker 1: He's on, he's on the right path.
00:52:31
Speaker 2: You are on the right track. If you win rookie of the year, you can't.
00:52:34
Speaker 1: Really start your career much better outside of maybe making an all-star team.
00:52:39
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Or Patrick McCaughan, who just winning titles randomly.
00:52:42
Speaker 1: That's right.
00:52:43
Speaker 2: Is he getting his jersey retired?
00:52:44
Speaker 1: No, probably not.
00:52:44
Speaker 2: Warriors or Raptors? Probably not. Donovan Mitchell, number 45 on the Cavaliers.
00:52:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, this was a fun inclusion here on the right track because all these other guys you said are all fairly young guys who are really good to start their careers. But Donovan Mitchell is getting up there in age. But the more you think about it, he's been there always longer than I think. He turned into a better player, of course, with Cleveland in terms of starting to make all NBA teams and then having like a little bit of playoff success. I was going to conference finals here recently. So, but it's a weird one. I can't wrap my head around this. Like, I guess with the Cavs, if it continues and there's maybe obviously a finals appearance or whatever, win the damn thing. Sure. But what do you feel about number 45 going up in Cleveland?
00:53:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was a little surprised because only four seasons. I feel like he played for the Jazz for like nine seasons, but it was only five. So he's getting to be more of a Cav than a Jazz eventually, assuming he sticks around until 2031, which his contract runs until in Cleveland. And at that point, he'll have a lot of accolades. He'll have a lot of counting stats. He'll be high on the top 10 list, top five list, honestly, for Cleveland. So I think it'll happen. Yeah. the Cavs also like retired a bunch of jerseys for players who didn't win championships before they finally got one in 2016. So I think Mitchell will happen. I kind of wonder if it would happen with the jazz as well. I don't know.
00:54:09
Speaker 1: Only five years, a couple of all-star appearances, all-star appearances.
00:54:12
Speaker 2: He definitely has had more success with the Cavs individually at the very least.
00:54:16
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:54:17
Speaker 2: We'll see. Yeah.
00:54:17
Speaker 1: He's made, he's made like all NBA almost every year in Cleveland. He was an all-star every year. Like every year he's been there, it's obviously produced numbers and gotten individual accolades. So, That's becoming more and more likely. Yeah, the Jazz, I thought about that too. I don't know. I don't think so. Five years.
00:54:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not that much.
00:54:36
Speaker 1: Not really. Not really, but he was a 25 point per game score for them as well.
00:54:41
Speaker 2: He was good. He was very good. They won a lot of games while he was there. Yeah. He could have maybe fit into this tier. Which team will retire this guy's jersey? First candidate is Paul George, number 13 on the Pacers or number 13 on the Clippers. he of course had his best season on the thunder. Yeah.
00:54:59
Speaker 1: That's the funniest part. He will not be retired.
00:55:01
Speaker 2: I do think.
00:55:02
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:55:02
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:55:02
Speaker 1: That's right. He was what? Top three MVP finish with the thunder.
00:55:05
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:55:06
Speaker 1: Um, if I have to pick between these two, I think I lean towards the Pacers. Mark Jackson wore number 13 true for Indiana. Now that wasn't retired. Um, Paul George is a much more impactful player than Mark Jackson. I don't think anyone would deny that. Mark Jackson went to a finals, but yeah, I just go, I lean Indiana more than, than LA.
00:55:31
Speaker 2: I would choose Indiana as well. Made three all NBA third teams as a pacer once with the Clippers. He did take the Clippers to their only conference finals in their history. No Kawhi Leonard went to two conference finals with the Pacers because Derek Rose blew out his knee. But it still happened. So I think I would choose Pacers over Clippers for Paul George. Al Horford in the mix. Number 15 with the Hawks or number 42 with the Celtics?
00:56:00
Speaker 1: I think he'll get retired here in Atlanta.
00:56:02
Speaker 2: I kind of think so, too.
00:56:02
Speaker 1: He played a decade. Almost a decade, I think. Four-time All-Star. His only All-NBA selection was here in Atlanta. Now, he made an All-Star team, I think, with Boston. He did. And, of course, helped them win a championship. Yep. that's a classic franchise difference though, too. We're talking about the legends of legends with Boston, a little different in Atlanta. I think it's more likely 15 here. Yeah.
00:56:23
Speaker 2: I'm with you. Hawks over Celtics, uh, for Al Horford, because the bar for entry is definitely tougher in Boston, but he did get like a, the Kawhi Leonard sort of deal where he had two stints with Boston. And the first one was like, fine.
00:56:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was fine.
00:56:39
Speaker 2: Eventually he went to Philadelphia, had a, short stay there had a short stay with the thunder then came back and won a championship with the celtics was like a knockdown three-point shooter and at least made a case for himself yeah that's kind of an interesting way of looking at things our final category local heroes this will come down to does the team love them enough tj mcconnell number nine with the pacers.
00:57:01
Speaker 1: These ones are fun because it's like i don't i guess i have an opinion but then i'm like what what opinion is mine matter it's really like the fan base like he is beloved by indiana I think it's a bit of a stretch, I guess, personally. Like, we're talking about, like, Mark Jackson hasn't. Obviously, Paul George is still playing, so there's that. But, like, he's way down the list.
00:57:21
Speaker 2: Danny Granger.
00:57:22
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:57:22
Speaker 2: Rick Smits.
00:57:23
Speaker 1: So, yeah, right.
00:57:24
Speaker 2: C.J. Miles.
00:57:25
Speaker 1: So, I say no on T.J. McConnell.
00:57:28
Speaker 2: Number nine. Unless he ends up playing, like, ten seasons there, which could definitely happen. Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. Another white guy, Alex Caruso, number nine on the Thunder. No. Got a title?
00:57:38
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:57:39
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:57:40
Speaker 1: If he wins another title, you add another one to the resume, then we can talk. But how long has he been in? He's been in OKC. This will be his third or fourth year? This will be his third year, I think. At a certain point, yes, he was instrumental to winning the championship, but so are other guys. So then what are you doing? Are you suddenly retiring everybody's number that helped you win the one championship? No, you're not doing that. But if he adds another or two, then of course... you start to become the Iguodala of said team. But I need more. I need more before number nine goes up in Oklahoma City.
00:58:14
Speaker 2: I need more from Caruso. Mike Conley, number 11 with the Grizzlies.
00:58:19
Speaker 1: Now that one, that's happening.
00:58:21
Speaker 2: This is a lock. This is definitely getting retired. He is the career leader in games, points, assists, steals for Memphis. And Tony Allen, Marc Gasol, and Zach Randolph all had their jerseys retired.
00:58:31
Speaker 1: Grit and grind, baby.
00:58:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. He's in the top category.
00:58:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say, he's in the wrong tier here, I guess, from the athletic.
00:58:39
Speaker 2: Yeah. Did you remember that Mike Conley is going to be on the Celtics this year?
00:58:43
Speaker 1: Well, I tweeted something the other day about that because I had forgotten. Yeah. I was thinking there could be a fun short in there of like, guys you forget are on said teams.
00:58:52
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:58:52
Speaker 1: Cause there's a handful where I'm like, Oh crap. Yeah.
00:58:55
Speaker 2: Yeah. Mike Conley is on the Celtics.
00:58:57
Speaker 1: That's cool. That's fun. Uh, so maybe there will do one of those, but he's a lock for Memphis.
00:59:02
Speaker 2: Steven Adams, number 12 on the thunder.
00:59:05
Speaker 1: Beloved. No doubt. He beloved wherever he's played.
00:59:08
Speaker 2: That's right.
00:59:09
Speaker 1: Um, I don't think so. I don't, I mean, Nick Collison is, how long did he play for?
00:59:16
Speaker 2: Uh, okay.
00:59:17
Speaker 1: Steven Adams. How long was he there? It was wild.
00:59:21
Speaker 2: He was there for seven seasons.
00:59:25
Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, I mean, I'd love to see it. It'd be a fun night.
00:59:29
Speaker 2: It would be a fun night.
00:59:30
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:59:30
Speaker 2: It would be great to see him.
00:59:31
Speaker 1: Family there. That'd be great. Barefoot.
00:59:34
Speaker 2: Exactly. Yeah. Full family. That'd be awesome.
00:59:36
Speaker 1: Yeah. But I don't know.
00:59:39
Speaker 2: Sure.
00:59:39
Speaker 1: OKC fans are probably screaming right now.
00:59:41
Speaker 2: Of course they're going to put Adam Caruso and Adam. All right.
00:59:44
Speaker 1: Go nuts, man. Go nuts.
00:59:45
Speaker 2: This one might hit more.
00:59:46
Speaker 1: This one's for you.
00:59:48
Speaker 2: Local heroes. Fred Van Vliet, number 23 on the Raptors.
00:59:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, like, there's definitely the, like, local hero for sure.
00:59:56
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:59:56
Speaker 1: My God. And the idea, like, homegrown.
01:00:00
Speaker 2: True.
01:00:00
Speaker 1: There's a G League guy, for crying out loud. Undrafted guy. And then look what he turned into. So, yeah. Now that the Raptors have ripped the Band-Aid off when it comes to retiring numbers. Obviously, it started with Vince. We got Kyle Lowry coming up. There's going to be DeRozan. We'll debate Kawhi.
01:00:15
Speaker 2: Yep. But.
01:00:17
Speaker 1: Van vliet when his career's said and done i think he'll be in the mix though there was one name missing from this entire article absolutely where's pascal siakam baby he should be ahead of fred van vliet on this i think so too so so they probably both will be honored and no one honors a legend like the toronto raptors do see what they're doing for calabria right now yeah it's not a goddamn block party.
01:00:37
Speaker 2: Yeah he's got a he's got a statue That people were like, don't worry, this isn't even the real statue. This is the stand-in statue.
01:00:44
Speaker 1: Oh, people forgot. The raptor finger. Yeah, the statue, by the way, is a dinosaur, and people thought it was his actual statue. They did this for Vince, too. They put it in the AGO, I think, or something like that.
01:00:55
Speaker 2: They put it in the AGO?
01:00:56
Speaker 1: I think so. I remember when they did that anyway.
01:00:57
Speaker 2: I didn't know that.
01:00:58
Speaker 1: But I think Van Vliet will get there, and Siakam should definitely be on the list with the raptors.
01:01:03
Speaker 2: What would Siakam's raptor pose be?
01:01:07
Speaker 1: I don't know.
01:01:09
Speaker 2: They got to put it on a carousel so it's like a spin. You can spin it around all the time.
01:01:12
Speaker 1: Oh, that'd be cool.
01:01:14
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:01:14
Speaker 1: Cool. I like that.
01:01:15
Speaker 2: They probably have to hire a whole crew of designers to figure out a way to turn human bodies into raptors. Cause it's very important.
01:01:23
Speaker 1: They actually, they did release a video. There was a short going around of like the designers coming up and doing exactly what you said. Cause they're like, what, what should the pose be? And then we got to make them, they were like talking about like, we've never taken the dinosaur logo and moved him sort of more forward facing, you know, he sort of turns his chest.
01:01:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
01:01:41
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, we didn't even know what his chest looked like.
01:01:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. So, Uh, final name on the athletics list. Jamal Murray, number 27 with the nuggets.
01:01:49
Speaker 1: He's been there. What a decade. Obviously help them win a championship. He'll be, he'll be retired.
01:01:53
Speaker 2: Yeah. He's close to being a top five nugget. He's a lock for me. Definitely getting retired. Yep. Yep. Yep.
01:01:58
Speaker 1: All right.
01:01:59
Speaker 2: We said Pascal Siakam. Is there any other names you think that should have been added?
01:02:02
Speaker 1: Well, where was Kevin Love?
01:02:04
Speaker 2: Kevin Love.
01:02:06
Speaker 1: Well, that's the question, but I was just surprised he wasn't on the list.
01:02:09
Speaker 2: He did have monster stats in Minnesota. Won a championship with the Cavs.
01:02:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just thought he could maybe be included here. And then I know you didn't include him. I guess it was local heroes, but every Knicks player not named Jalen Brunson made me laugh.
01:02:22
Speaker 2: For sure.
01:02:23
Speaker 1: Because I was like, you know what?
01:02:25
Speaker 2: Maybe.
01:02:25
Speaker 1: Yeah. Like OG's heroics.
01:02:27
Speaker 2: You got to do something for OG. Yeah.
01:02:28
Speaker 1: Cat, obviously, if he sticks around. I was like, it's possible. Josh Hart, a legend there. For sure. Uh, those were the ones that came to mind. Kevin Love and Pascal Siakam are the ones I wrote down. Notable names I thought missing.
01:02:38
Speaker 2: The others I wrote down Trey Young here with the Hawks. He's very high on like all of the all time lists and you're not judging it off championship success here in Atlanta for the most part.
01:02:50
Speaker 1: Yeah.
01:02:50
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis with the Pelicans.
01:02:52
Speaker 1: Yeah. He was amazing.
01:02:53
Speaker 2: Maybe like, it's like him or Chris Paul and Chris Paul's like kind of sort of part of the franchise history. Kind of not. Yeah. Anthony Davis definitely is.
01:03:03
Speaker 1: That's all, folks.
01:03:04
Speaker 2: Aaron Gordon for the Nuggets. I think he would be like local hero category.
01:03:08
Speaker 1: Local hero category, sure.
01:03:09
Speaker 2: And then two guys I didn't know where they would go. Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert both have had like hugely successful careers in the NBA, but I don't know which team is retiring them. Like, I guess it would be more so the Jazz for Gobert. And Towns did get a title for the Knicks, but did more for the Timberwolves individually? I don't know.
01:03:33
Speaker 1: I mean, it's almost like Kat's chances with the Knicks moving forward.
01:03:36
Speaker 2: It definitely helps.
01:03:37
Speaker 1: If the latter part of his career here is the prime of his career. Yeah, the Rudy one's fascinating. Yeah, I don't know.
01:03:44
Speaker 2: I got to see it.
01:03:45
Speaker 1: When did he win all of his.
01:03:47
Speaker 2: They retired Mark Eaton's number.
01:03:48
Speaker 1: He was a defensive player of the year for sure. He's tall. A couple times. Where did Rudy win all his... Is it split evenly, or did he win two in Minnesota and two with Utah?
01:03:58
Speaker 2: Is he at four? He's at four.
01:03:59
Speaker 1: Holy crap.
01:04:01
Speaker 2: Was it three and one? He won three of them with Utah. So probably with Utah. Sure.
01:04:07
Speaker 1: Love it.
01:04:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, nice. And then, of course, Russell Westbrook with the Thunder, Chris Paul with the Clippers. But they're technically retired, so they're not included anymore.
01:04:14
Speaker 1: Right, right, right.
01:04:15
Speaker 2: Those guys are retired. We're losing the legends, man. Man, what a list.
01:04:18
Speaker 1: Westbrook, Paul, and Batum. So many names when I first saw this. We've seen a lot of good players. I know, exactly. A lot of legends here. All right. That's a fun one. Let's hear from you guys. If you agree, disagree with some of our leans when it comes to retire, don't retire. Will they put it up? Will they not? Which squad, which franchise will retire some of these guys? Let's hear it all as you are in the stream team right now, or let us know in the comments, both on YouTube and Spotify. Thanks to The Athletic for that article. That was a blast.
01:04:47
Speaker 2: All right.
01:04:47
Speaker 1: Did you know the NBA season is starting in four weeks?
01:04:50
Speaker 2: I actually did know that.
01:04:52
Speaker 1: That's crazy.
01:04:53
Speaker 2: Finally.
01:04:53
Speaker 1: I know.
01:04:54
Speaker 2: Finally. This has been the longest summer.
01:04:56
Speaker 1: Perfect time to check out Trey Kirby's new sub stack post on his 27 players to watch in the coming season, which again is four weeks away. 26, 27 season. This was great, man. I laughed a couple of times out loud.
01:05:09
Speaker 2: Good.
01:05:09
Speaker 1: Blog boy was back in my life.
01:05:12
Speaker 2: Nice to write something.
01:05:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was nice, man. You still got it, man. Go check this out. The link is in the show notes. You'll see it's promoted as ad-free episodes. So if you want those, it's like $ 5 a month on Substack. So you never know what you're going to get over there. Sometime TK Wright in here. That's good stuff. We'll be back later this week here in the Classic Factory looking at Thursday right now. So make sure you join us. Make sure you subscribe. Hit the like button, subscribe. We'll do all that good stuff. Until then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.
01:05:41
Speaker 2: Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. Forgot one name to add.
01:05:48
Speaker 1: Who?
01:05:48
Speaker 2: Definitely getting retired. Caleb Wilson.
01:05:51
Speaker 1: I saw you. You led that post. 27 players to watch.
01:05:56
Speaker 2: I wanted to put somebody else, but I couldn't.
01:05:58
Speaker 1: Look, this is your team. You are a Chicago Bulls guy, but I've made this clear, I think, from the jump here. I'm team Caleb Wilson. I'm all in on this guy. So I don't want anybody pushing back. I'm a Raptors fan, all that. I believe I want to be right there with you.
01:06:13
Speaker 2: Good.
01:06:14
Speaker 1: But we can never watch a game together, at least a playoff game. I was thinking about this to take us back to the Derrick Rose days when we watched the playoff game. So anyway, I'm all in on Caleb Wilson, man. I love this kid. So yeah, he was leading the 27 players to watch in 26, 27. You think they're going to be putting it up? Sorry about Caleb Williams.
01:06:35
Speaker 2: Well, you know, disaster on Sunday, but apparently it's not a terrible injury for him. So, They can hang 18 in Soldier Field or wherever they end up playing in Indiana.
01:06:46
Speaker 1: I'll pull back the curtain here a little bit. I haven't even told you this. So week one happens. My bills do well, score a bunch of points against what everybody was saying was the best defense in the league, right? Troy Kirby goes, oh, well, hey, my guys, we scored 59 points. I said, okay, geez, I had to take it on the chin. All right, Kirby got me with that one. And then I saw the score before the injury. So before I knew he was injured, before I also knew there was bad weather, I was getting so ready to write. Oh, wow. Three points, eh? Something like that. And then I saw all the stuff that came out. I was like, you know what? I'm going to sit on that.
01:07:21
Speaker 2: I would have accepted it. It was still a disaster. They still sort of scored more than three points.
01:07:25
Speaker 1: Well, yeah.
01:07:25
Speaker 2: It was a goal line fumble.
01:07:26
Speaker 1: And the Bills put up 41.
01:07:27
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:07:29
Speaker 1: But I was like, oh, come on. That's when I thought he was maybe done for the season at least or something.
01:07:35
Speaker 2: I was flashing back to Derrick Rose 100%.
01:07:37
Speaker 1: A towel was over the head. But I guess they're saying hamstring injury.
01:07:41
Speaker 2: He might play this week.
01:07:42
Speaker 1: Come on, baby. Come on back, Caleb. All right, well, I'll be good.
01:07:45
Speaker 2: Oh, and also I listened to the exclusive players, and how dare you say that Patrick Williams might be the best player ever.
01:07:53
Speaker 1: How crazy is that, man? Hey, I told you to earmuffs.
01:07:56
Speaker 2: That was bad. That was disgusting.
01:07:59
Speaker 1: Hey, Kelly Dwyer came through, Tom Borowinkle or whatever his name is. He says Kelly Dwyer says he was the best passing big man in the league before Bill Walton came around. So I was like, okay.
01:08:11
Speaker 2: Sure.
01:08:12
Speaker 1: So he was good. So I think he's the answer, man.
01:08:14
Speaker 2: Good. Exclusive.
01:08:15
Speaker 1: Exclusive. But Patrick Williams, Felicio Matos Bozellas. It was amazing. It was a fun exercise.
01:08:23
Speaker 2: It's probably Bozellas after.
01:08:24
Speaker 1: I know. He's definitely better than Patrick Williams. Oh, my God.
01:08:28
Speaker 2: All right.
01:08:28
Speaker 1: Go check that out if you didn't see the weekend podcast. We'll see you later this week, though. Bryce today, people.