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

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Joe House and Wosny Lambre to discuss the best player in the NBA right now and underrated subplots before diving into their annual Worst NBA Contracts Draft (3:01). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Wosny Lambre and Joe House Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo Sam’s Club | Join The Club of Yes And TaxAct makes it easy to file your taxes and get your maximum refund. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠⁠ www.rg-help.com⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Bill Simmons?

  This episode is brought to you by Sony Pictures Classics. A perfect crime film, says the Daily Beast. John Torturo gives a career best performance. Don't miss the acclaimed new thriller, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. Torturo stars as an aging master pickpocket, whose latest score puts him in the crosshairs of a ruthless crime family. It's also starring Giancarlo Esposito, Tatiana Maslany, Will Price, and our guy, Steve Buscemi. See the film that the LA Times calls instantly classic, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, now playing in theaters nationwide.

• 0:41Bill Simmons?

  The Bill Simmons Podcast, brought to you by Sam's Club. We're also brought to you by The Ringer Podcast Network, where it is still CR month. Waz, where did CR month rank for you on the happiest moments for you this decade? Is it up there?

• 0:54Speaker 01

  I mean, it's always CR month for me personally. So it's just another month, you know? Like, I'm listening to all 80 CR pods anyway. So there's no difference for me.

• 1:10Bill Simmons?

  That's fair. That's it. That seems to be the consensus, that every month is CR month. We just basically put a name on it.

• 1:16Speaker 02

  He's beloved. The thing that I will say is, you know, in my life, I've had a lot of people over the years say, how can it be that this tremendous show, Rewatchables, where there's a home base right there in Los Angeles, has not done LA Confidential?

• 1:32Bill Simmons?

  I know.

• 1:33Speaker 02

  The people have been dying.

• 1:35Bill Simmons?

  We're recording it next week. So CR month, we put up To Live and Die in L.A. today. We have The Nice Guys coming next week, and then LA Confidential finishing the month. So you can check that out. You can also check out House on The Ringer Gambling Show on February rolling. Waz left us, but he stayed with us. He stayed with us in spirit. So go plug your new thing before we get going.

• 1:57Speaker 01

  Doing a show called No Fouls Given with Paul Pierce and Danny Green. It's basically like a player-driven show, but I try to get these guys to actually say stuff, unlike a lot of different player pods. And I have a lot of fun with these guys, and they've been fun and candid and just having a good time with it. So yeah, check that out, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts.

• 2:19Bill Simmons?

  All right. Well, we're gonna pull you into a couple Ringer pods during the playoffs. This is the big one. This is- The worst contracts of 2026, the annual pod. I feel like we've been doing it all decade. I cannot wait. We're gonna take a break, bring a broil jam and then worst contracts. This episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast is presented by Sam's Club. It is that time of the year when you just gotta get in your car and go somewhere. Done that plenty of times in my life. Nowhere gets you ready to go. Quite like Sam's Club, snacks, the gear, super low prices on gas. They got a bunch of stuff that keep you and the whole crew rolling. And here's what you gotta do. You gotta join the club of yes and at sam'sclub.com/yesand. You must be 18 years or older to purchase a membership.

• 3:03Bill Simmons?

  A membership is subject to qualifications. Visit sam'sclub.com/yesand for details.

• 3:37Bill Simmons?

  All right, fellas. I don't remember when we started doing this. I just remember that I want to keep doing it for the rest of my life. When Was told us he was leaving the Ringer, I was just immediately like, but we're still gonna get to do worst contracts, right?

• 3:48Speaker 01

  That actually happened on the phone.

• 3:51Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, we had an emotional phone call. But before we do worst contracts, I went to Clippers Spurs last night.

• 4:00Bill Simmons?

  And I had really good seats. My friend Mark Semino took me. I sat courtside, I was on the wood.

• 4:06Bill Simmons?

  Wemby is the best player I've seen all season.

• 4:08Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 4:09Bill Simmons?

  And I've seen all the players. I know, I intentionally didn't text this to you, House. SGA is going to win the MVP. SGA looks like he's veering into this Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant area. I think it's already happened. He has a chance to, he's going to win MVP. His chance to be Finals MVP two years in a row. I cannot believe how good Wemby is, how hard he plays and how much he affects both ends of the floor, but especially the defense. We were just counting all the shots. He changes, alters, or makes the guy change his mind. And it was almost 30 and he just, he never lets up. He's just going hard the entire time.

• 4:50Bill Simmons?

  And the impact that he has on a game, I just thought it was the most impactful thing I've seen. I've seen a great Jokic game this year. I saw a great SGA game this year. Like, I just think he's the most impactful. I don't think that means he's going to win MVP, but, but was it did change how I'm feeling about the playoffs and whether San Antonio can really stick it to OKC and everybody else. What do you think?

• 5:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, you start the year, I'm pretty skeptical of a young team like that and their ability to dominate playoff series. But as the year progresses and they take down team after team in big matchups where, you know, we watch enough NBA games where we could tell when both teams are actually going as hard as they can.

• 5:36Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 5:36Speaker 01

  And it's been a bunch of these games, the Detroit games, the OKC games, the Denver game. Like every single game I'm watching, I'm like, man, these guys are trying their hardest. Denver, Wemby didn't even play. They, these guys had to become superheroes in the fourth quarter to even pull that game out. And yeah, you mentioned the defense, which obviously I think we all thought he would become this kind of defensive player. But to me, his offense is just way ahead of schedule.

• 6:05Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  Where, you know, It's not that he's not taking jump shots anymore. He's just taking way better kinds of jump shots where they put a, you know, they put a little 6'9 guy on him and he catches the ball at 18 feet, doesn't even put the ball on the floor, gives a fake jab step. It's just like, I'm gonna shoot over you. And it's almost like I'm placing the ball right in the basket.

• 6:27Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 6:27Speaker 01

  And that's not to mention what he's able to do at the cup. And so to me, offensively is where it just goes to another level. Cause I didn't think he would be this potent this quickly.

• 6:37Bill Simmons?

  Clippers tried Chris Dunn on him. That lasted about four minutes. They basically put everyone on their team on him. House, he had one play in the second half and it was in front of us. He was on the right block and he did this swirling spin move and did this like, Dr. J lefty flip, George Gervin, like just three foot flip shot. And the whole crowd was like, oh, fuck. Like he has five oh, fuck moments just for the crowd in person. Where you're just like, I've never seen that. And I, I think that thing that really stuck out to me yesterday, just watching the team. You know, Castle's a badass. Like Castle to me is moved into the third team all NBA conversation.

• 7:21Bill Simmons?

  I don't know if I'm gonna vote for him, but he's at least on my little bubble list. But everybody in that fox, all these dudes play really hard. But Wemby is the one, I'm shocked how hard he plays. It almost to the point where you fear for his safety. Like, yo, maybe don't play this hard, but I, I just think that's what he does, House.

• 7:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, that he's got that young guy intensity. He doesn't know any better. He's out there to break everybody down and, and collect names and put them all in the graveyard. He's, he's putting up tombstones right now. That's where the, the stage of his career. But the thing, um, I went through the mental checklist as you were saying, he's the best player you saw this year. I was like, wait a minute, SGA, the Joker.

• 8:01Bill Simmons?

  I know. I don't feel, I don't feel great about saying it. I'm just telling you how I felt watching it. I was like, I can't believe what's happening.

• 8:09Speaker 02

  I think it's a fair point. I think it's a fair point. I will still reserve judgment until we get to the playoffs because the way this the seeding in the West is lining up, it looks completely outrageous. We might get like the Spurs and the Lakers in the first round. We might get the Spurs and Minnesota in the first round like and and we know this, the OGs know this. The playoffs are a radically different animal. And I think that healthy skepticism that we OGs feel around, okay, young team, you did your thing in the regular season. We all give out the flowers because it was a thing of beauty. The way they stepped up the physicality of San Antonio. When you say castle, that that castle, Fox, they just get into you.

• 8:53Speaker 02

  They get into you. And I love that.

• 8:55Bill Simmons?

  The kid that came in, and I've been watching this last couple of weeks, but Carter Bryan came in. He's a fucking huge dude. Like if you didn't know anything, you would think he was like a center. He's, I think he's 6'9". And there was one time in the first half, he said, or maybe the second half, he said, he was just at midcourt and set a pick on somebody. I think it was Garland, who didn't see him. And he ran into him. It was like watching somebody run into a tree. Like he's huge already. And they played a tiny bit. Cornet didn't play last night, so they played a little small ball five with him. And I was like, this is, this is not nothing right now. But the, the Wemby thing, the point was made about the offense being ahead of schedule. There's a lot of jump shots with that team.

• 9:40Bill Simmons?

  I was trying to, as I was watching last night, I was trying to think like, how does this go sideways? They had, they were up 16, 18, 20. And they do have these little stretches where somebody go on an 8-0 run, 9-0 run. And I don't always love the shots San Antonio gets. And ultimately, it's probably going to come down to Fox, whether Fox can figure out a Fox Wemby thing, but. It's weird to say he's the best player I've seen because I don't think he's the best player in the league, but I also think maybe we underrate the defensive impact wise of just when somebody's that special. It's almost like we don't know how to calibrate in our heads because it's like there's two sides of basketball. There's offense and defense. And when somebody is that far ahead of everyone else in the league on defense, I wonder how

• 10:25Bill Simmons?

  we calibrate that.

• 10:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think that's the ultimate question. I think me, I personally, my favorite performance individually so far the year, outside of Bam Adebayo breaking Kobe's record, which made me super happy, is SGA, that game against Boston, in the fourth quarter, what he was doing, it was, like you said, Mike and Kobe, it felt like that watching it in real time. And I was actually watching it with Paul and he was just like, man, they gotta get the ball out of his hands because if he gets a shot off.

• 11:02Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, start tracking him.

• 11:04Speaker 01

  It's going in.

• 11:05Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 11:05Speaker 01

  And he's dictating the pace and he's getting to whatever spot he wants and he's so calm, he's so poised. And it's the second they send that extra bit of help or that extra bit of, you know, shading the defense, he's whipping it out there to his open guys. I just think his command on offense right now, especially we see it every year in the playoffs, eventually you just gotta put the ball in your best player's hands and trust that amazing things are gonna happen. And with SGA right now, to me, that's the guy that's like, that's the guy right now.

• 11:39Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, no question.

• 11:40Speaker 01

  Even with Jokic, he has to kind of get set up. You don't want Jokic starting his attack from the three-point line. But he can start his attack from wherever. It's lethal.

• 11:51Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. Well, the command he has on offense probably rivals the command Wemby has on defense.

• 11:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:57Bill Simmons?

  In the playoffs, I would trust the offense. I think there's too many ways the defense can go sideways. You get in foul trouble, you could land on somebody's leg, all that stuff. But it's interesting that Wemby's moved in that comfort. Like, we're doing Ringer 100 voting this week.

• 12:11Bill Simmons?

  SGA is probably going to get the first spot, which I think is the first time Jokic has lost it. It's not like Jokic isn't having an awesome year, but I think the end of the game stuff with Denver has to affect how you think about Jokic, at least like 1%, right, House?

• 12:25Speaker 02

  For sure. And if you look at the last 10 games where it starts to feel like Oklahoma City understands the moment and understands, we're now getting to the point in the season where let's get some of these playoff chops going. They had two wins against Denver, speaking of, both of which were close games. They have a win against Boston, they have a win against Minnesota, they have a win on the road against the Knicks. Like, they're, they're, they're understanding the moment and that's why we're seeing this version of SGA. I mean, I, I don't have any issue whatsoever with them taking that middle chunk of the season and like, yeah, we've got some injuries. Yeah, we're going to get some rest. Yeah, we're going to take some Ls along the way here. It's okay, we'll be fine. Now, look

• 13:08Speaker 02

  at the stretch that, that we're in right here now, where they're, it looks like they're kind of coming into form to me.

• 13:15Bill Simmons?

  Well, one thing with Wemby, guys, because I was really watching him carefully last night. And we, House and I are old, so I've seen basically every good center since the mid 70s. And Kareem was somebody who was really durable. Part of it was how he played. He didn't play as hard as Wemby night tonight. He did in the playoffs. But, um, but had that, really, I think Kareem was 7'4", long, skinny, but athletic. Like, when you saw him run, you weren't like, oh, man, what's that going to look like in 10 years? Like, he, Wemby, I'm not saying he's gliding, but it looks better when you watch it, where you're like, all right, I can see that guy lasting a while. The way he moves around, but the big thing

• 13:56Bill Simmons?

  with him, because he falls a lot. Like, it's, you know, he gets knocked down, he might land on somebody's foot. He knows how to fall, which is a weird thing to say about some of the best athletes in the world, but some guys don't necessarily 100% know how to fall. And he has these falls and it's, it's almost like he must practice them on a... On like a trampoline or, you know, on a big canvas thing or something. So there was like four times where I go, no. And then he just gets up and it, and the fall is never as bad as it seems like it's gonna be. So I don't know, I, I, I'm more intrigued by these playoffs than anything we've had in a long time. Just cause what House said earlier about these weird matchups. Even now, the Lakers at least being, you could talk yourself into them in a series.

• 14:40Bill Simmons?

  Maybe Luca just getting hot for four out of seven games, who knows? Then the East, watched it in the Celtics last night where there was some real, I don't know. Did you see, guys see that game last night?

• 14:50Speaker 01

  I watched it. I watched it.

• 14:51Bill Simmons?

  Some really interesting Jalen Tatum stuff in that game where Jalen's like, I got this. And just took over the last five minutes. Tatum was on the side and it was like, I didn't know for sure that was gonna happen this year, but it happened. So there's just a lot going on. What's your favorite subplot as we head into April was?

• 15:10Speaker 01

  Well, I think the East playoffs are gonna be fascinating. Like I'm on the record, I'm not this big Detroit is head and shoulders above anybody.

• 15:20Bill Simmons?

  No, that's done.

• 15:21Speaker 01

  I, I still think the Knicks, because of their sort of cohesion and continuity. I know they don't do it night to night, but they've showed me enough spurts of like, all right, man. You guys are capable of playing competent defense.

• 15:35Bill Simmons?

  Right.

• 15:36Speaker 01

  And I think they're gonna do it in the playoffs.

• 15:38Bill Simmons?

  And then the OKC game they had, I thought was a good loss for them.

• 15:42Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 15:42Bill Simmons?

  They at least showed that they could swim in those waters, you know what I mean?

• 15:45Speaker 01

  Yes, exactly. And in Boston, man, I'm, I'm just blown away by what they're doing this year. And I've said it a bunch of times, Brad Stevens doesn't have a bunch of sycophants in the media. So nobody's calling him a genius and nobody's up his ass like they do certain other GMs. Brad Stevens is GMing his ass off.

• 16:05Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 16:05Speaker 01

  This year, to put these randos together.

• 16:09Speaker 01

  And a bunch of white guys, nobody ever heard of. And these guys are getting serious minutes. And when you watch it, the level of execution and focus and attention to detail that Boston plays with, obviously Missoula deserves a lot of credit. But these are scrap heap dudes.

• 16:26Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 16:27Speaker 01

  That are just playing their tails off for Boston. I'm just intrigued by the whole Eastern Conference thing at the top. I'm, I'm kind of off Cleveland. I like the Harden thing was dope when it started and I was like, yeah, we've all come to our senses. Yeah, I got sucked in again like an idiot. And I'm now like, why did I even entertain that? I'm, I'm really intrigued by the East playoffs and I think, you know, OK.

• 16:49Bill Simmons?

  And then Miami and Orlando is like just.

• 16:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:52Bill Simmons?

  Who knows?

• 16:53Speaker 01

  Who knows?

• 16:54Bill Simmons?

  And meanwhile, Charlotte's the 10 seed. They might, they'd have to win right now two playing games just to get into the playoffs.

• 17:00Speaker 01

  Love Charlotte.

• 17:02Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, it's a. Detroit's probably the one out of the top four I feel the worst about.

• 17:08Speaker 01

  Me too.

• 17:09Bill Simmons?

  I think it's really hard for them to score and you, you.

• 17:12Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 17:12Bill Simmons?

  You know, one thing that the Celtics have house that has happened all year and it happened again in the Phoenix game last night. They, they bring in the Dragons like at near the end of the first quarter. Um, and they just flip the flow of the game. They'll bring in, you know, two of like Hugo, Shireman.

• 17:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:28Bill Simmons?

  Sometimes With Walsh. And these guys come in, they just try their ass off and they're a lot of times going against second strings or second string point guards or backup wings. And the crowd will really get into it. I, I think that's going to be an intriguing wrinkle too. Like they can kind of survive a bad six minutes and then come back and I don't know where this is going. All right.

• 17:49Speaker 02

  Celtics are the, the biggest and best wild card for sure. But I, my, my underrated subplot.

• 17:54Bill Simmons?

  Oh, yeah.

• 17:55Speaker 02

  Uh, apologies in advance. The Lakers?

• 18:00Speaker 02

  The Lakers. Bills not had. The Lakers.

• 18:03Bill Simmons?

  Did you see what JJ said last night?

• 18:06Speaker 02

  I did not.

• 18:06Bill Simmons?

  He was like, I think it's, I think it's cleared everybody now, or something like that, that LeBron is gonna be our third, our number three usage guy the rest of the way. He said something like that. He basically like,

• 18:18Speaker 01

  He's forty-eight years old.

• 18:21Bill Simmons?

  But he basically, he made a point of saying, this guy's gonna have the ball the third amount of time out of Reeves, Luca and LeBron. And we're just, this is who we are now. I don't think they knew that a month ago, Waz.

• 18:34Speaker 01

  Which is insane to me, because you just watch the games, especially Austin Reeves, the way he started the season, like a bat shot out of hell. And every single game that I watch him now, I just hear cash registers ringing.

• 18:47Bill Simmons?

  I know.

• 18:48Speaker 01

  Honestly. And you can tell he's, he's smelling it. He could feel the max contract coming his way. And I, and I loved that for him. And it's just, I don't know, you watch LeBron with the ball, he's just not a threat.

• 19:00Bill Simmons?

  No.

• 19:00Speaker 01

  Defenses don't treat him as if he's a threat. He doesn't draw help anymore. It doesn't matter who they switch on to him. Sometimes he'll beat up on a little guy, a smaller defender, and that's nice. That's what he needs to be doing. But defenses will switch anybody on to him.

• 19:15Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 19:15Speaker 01

  They don't play conventional pick and roll coverage on him anymore. Because it's just like, he's not gonna beat us one-on-one with a move when he's on the ball. So it's like, get off my ball.

• 19:25Bill Simmons?

  Right.

• 19:26Speaker 01

  Give it to the two guys who can create.

• 19:28Bill Simmons?

  And he's starting to figure that out. He, he's figured out the win for me is to actually be the third best guy on this team. House, what else were you gonna say about the Lakers? I rudely interrupted you.

• 19:35Speaker 02

  The defense, the defense. It's the defense. They, they, they held the Knicks to ninety-seven points. They held Houston ninety-two points. Now, those are slower, you know, that, that especially the Houston game. But I just keep losing money betting against the Lakers. And their defense is vastly improved. And their rebounding is vastly improved. And this stretch that we've seen them where they beat the Knicks, they beat Minnesota, they beat Denver, they beat Houston. And all those games matter to all of those teams, because all those teams are jockeying for position. Um, you know, getting ready for this, this playoff run. And those not one element of those wins was fluky. And it looks like, you know, all JJ said last night was what we were kind of watching with our

• 20:19Speaker 02

  own eyes, which is it's Luca and Reeves and then LeBron's a great, you know, sort of third

• 20:24Bill Simmons?

  option. Crazy.

• 20:24Speaker 02

  But the IQ element of it, especially on defense, if they, I'm interested in seeing, I haven't had a chance to sit down with net ratings over this six game stretch that they're on or whatever.

• 20:34Bill Simmons?

  No, it's like, it's like 12 games and they're in the top four.

• 20:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:37Bill Simmons?

  So, so a couple counters, things I'm holding my hat, hanging my hat on just because I hate the Lakers. Deandre Ayton's involved. That's, that's a positive. It's involved. Can't trust him.

• 20:50Speaker 02

  He's on a team.

• 20:51Bill Simmons?

  Marcus Smart physically has not really made it through a season in at least three years. Now, he looks like he's in the best shape. He's been a while, but he's had a bunch of different injuries and they're playing in big minutes. And I think that's alarming. And then LeBron's 40 years old and he's played.

• 21:07Speaker 02

  Forty-one.

• 21:08Bill Simmons?

  Including the 41 and including the playoffs, he's played over 70,000 minutes and you're playing in big minutes and there's going to be situations where he's going to have to guard people. All right.

• 21:17Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 21:17Bill Simmons?

  Enough foreplay.

• 21:20Bill Simmons?

  We're going to take a break. And then the worst contracts of 2026 is next. The Bill Simmons Podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. The tournament is here. FanDuel, it is time to dance. Right now FanDuel is dropping bonus bets into everyone's account for the tournament. All you have to do is opt in to claim your bonus. Got an upset role in the one seed, calling for chaos. Want to throw a little bit on A Cuff and Arkansas, maybe to advance to the final four. However, you're playing the tourney, FanDuel will give you a little extra to get in on the action from the very first tip and don't wait because bonus bets only available for a limited time. FanDuel, it's time to dance. 21 plus select states or 18 plus DC, Kentucky, Wyoming. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com.

• 22:04Bill Simmons?

  Game problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat.

• 22:11Bill Simmons?

  This episode is brought to you by TaxAct. Like an expert coach, TaxAct offers step-by-step guidance, guaranteed accuracy in your maximum refund when filing taxes. Get tips along the way, add expert assist to talk to tax experts, or let their experts do your taxes for you with expert full service. TaxAct helps you find the deductions and credits you deserve so you can get them over with. Visit TaxAct.com to learn more. Conditions apply. See TaxAct.com for details. All right, fellas. The usual disclaimer, worst contracts. First of all, we're happy for all of these human beings that they're making a ton of money. Congratulations to their agents. And their families.

• 22:53Bill Simmons?

  This is not a reflection on them as people, although in maybe two or three cases, it might be. And we are talking about them as assets only. This is a league that just signed a $76.4 billion media contract, whatever that was, 80 billion. I can't even remember. News finally broke this week about the expansion that they're going to be voting on expansion at the Board of Governors meeting, which Conspiracy Bill thought the timing of that announcement was pretty interesting because everybody knew that this was happening for months and they put it out and they almost put it out in a way to, in my opinion, try to shift the sentiment with the 30 owners. They need 23 votes.

• 23:37Bill Simmons?

  There's a dulling coalition and I think Ishbi is in there too and a couple others that, why are we doing this? I'd rather have a 1/30th media share. So I thought the timing of that announcement was intriguing, maybe to try to bump up what the number could get to? 8 billion, 9 billion, whatever? Maybe if it gets above 8, maybe even the people who were against this would be like, all right, fuck it. But I do think, I don't think this is a slam dunk. And I don't know what Seattle group has 8 billion bucks ready to roll. There's a bunch of Vegas groups, all attached to famous players that we know, like LeBron, Shaq, Curry, Magic Johnson. His hat was in the ring. Seattle, I'm not sure where they get the money, but this all seems positive.

• 24:21Bill Simmons?

  Anyway, we're all happy for all these guys. There's gonna be 30 new jobs coming in and they'll probably be more bad contracts was.

• 24:27Speaker 01

  100% and one thing to all the things you said about the players and the contracts, we're happy for you guys and your families. Another thing that I would say is if we could see what the owners were making and revenues and franchise valuation increases, Lord, would I love to do that. Oh my God, but we can't because those get to be opaque and secret and you know, kind of gives you an idea about how the system works. But I did love because I'm a hoops type guy when it comes to the salary stuff. I loved looking at all of these salaries and just being reminded about how much of this stuff just changes from year to year.

• 25:08Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 25:08Speaker 01

  And also just like, man, some of these contracts are just like still it's way less than it used to be like we always say, but there's still a few out there that's like, man, this is, this is tough.

• 25:19Bill Simmons?

  You know, it's funny. I was thinking the same thing about how there's less than, I feel like we had more to work with in the 22 ranch house. I think the apron stuff has really hurt, hurt this draft. I still think we're all going to be pleased with the results, but I don't think the ceiling is as high as it was in the 21 area. But yeah, screw the aprons.

• 25:42Speaker 02

  I totally agree. This is I came in. I'm honestly sad because there aren't as many bad contracts as as we've grown accustomed to. I don't know if we can get to, we can definitely do 15. Each of us can have five guys. That's very easy.

• 25:58Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 25:58Speaker 02

  Is it easy to get to 20? Like then you have to start quibbling around the edges a little

• 26:03Bill Simmons?

  No, but I think that's the fun part of this. There's going to be some, if we each have to draft 10, there's going to be some fun names. Yeah, there's going to be some good ones as we get down the list, some surprises. Yeah. All right. We'll give, Waz, you can have the first

• 26:22Speaker 01

  Oh, this is.

• 26:23Bill Simmons?

  I'll take this house. You take the second pick and I'll go third. So because you haven't been on in a while. It's great to have you.

• 26:30Speaker 01

  It's wonderful.

• 26:30Bill Simmons?

  Back in the Ringer circles. So you get the easy first pick here.

• 26:33Speaker 01

  Come on down, Philadelphia 76ers. It's Joel Embiid.

• 26:38Bill Simmons?

  Oh, oh, I'm surprised.

• 26:41Speaker 01

  Are you?

• 26:42Bill Simmons?

  I thought it might be another Sixer there. Okay.

• 26:45Speaker 01

  No, that other Sixer only has two years left on his deal after this one, whereas Embiid does. After this season is over, Bill.

• 26:52Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 26:53Speaker 01

  60 million, 64 million, 70 million. How many games has Joel played this year? And even when he plays, he's constantly in a stage of ramping up.

• 27:04Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 27:05Speaker 01

  And then he ramps up and then he has to sit again. So the guy's not going to play. And half the time when he does play, he's ramping up to being an effective player. We know his knee is not getting better. It's getting worse. And he's got

• 27:23Speaker 01

  190 million or something like that left on the deal.

• 27:27Bill Simmons?

  Started next year. Yeah, this is the first of a four year, 243.5 billion, million dollar extension, House.

• 27:36Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 27:37Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, look, I don't think his shooting coach did him any help when he played like 12 games in a row. And the shooting coach was like, see, see, hey, Ringer. It's like, all right, settle down. Let's see if he can play for two straight months. House, did you have him first or second?

• 27:53Speaker 01

  Oh, he was an easy first. And part of the reason for that is because there is a player that was on the Philadelphia 76ers until the trade deadline. And then they got rid of that player who's still on a rookie effing contract because they decided that, you know, asset wise, they don't want to pay the luxury tax because they have so much of their cap committed to two guys.

• 28:16Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 28:17Speaker 01

  And Jared mother effing McCain is expendable? Hello? I mean, this team has a pathway, right? They caught the greatest good fortune ever by the tank job they did last season when Joel.

• 28:31Speaker 02

  Couldn't play and got the third overall pick in a very good draft. And then they have role players around it. No more McCain. Expendable. We can't figure out how to get him time. We can't figure out and we don't want to pay the look. You don't want to pay the luxury tax because why? Because why? Help me understand what's going on there, Philadelphia. Uh, they gambled and they lost. And, and I respect it. I do respect Daryl.

• 28:54Bill Simmons?

  They got a Rockets first. They got some seconds.

• 28:58Speaker 02

  Congrats.

• 28:59Bill Simmons?

  Joel Embiid last three years. Thirty-three games, nineteen games, thirty-three games.

• 29:05Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 29:06Bill Simmons?

  Twelve seasons. He's played four hundred and eighty-five. He's missed. It will be forty-six tonight because I think they play. I went back and I looked at all the centers that House and I have grown up with over the years and watched. The, the injury prone list, right? So Joel's at forty-five. Bill Walton, four sixty-eight, thirteen seasons. That's how many he played.

• 29:26Speaker 02

  Damn.

• 29:26Bill Simmons?

  Yao Ming, forty-six in nine seasons. Ralph Sampson, four fifty-six in nine seasons. Sam Bowie, five eleven in eleven seasons. Andrew Bynum. How many games do you think Andrew Bynum played career?

• 29:41Speaker 01

  He's gotta be in the three hundreds.

• 29:43Bill Simmons?

  What do you think, House?

• 29:44Speaker 02

  Totally agree.

• 29:44Bill Simmons?

  Four hundred and eighteen in nine seasons.

• 29:46Speaker 02

  Yeah. So just, just, just north. Yeah.

• 29:48Bill Simmons?

  Brad Doherty, five forty-eight in ten seasons. So these are, that's one, I just gave you six other guys who are in this high four hundreds, low five hundreds range. Who had a bunch of injuries, who missed a bunch of time and it did not get better. Bogut was at seven oh six for fourteen seasons. So that's probably the peak. And then I looked at, I remember Algoskis and Rick Smits being more injury prone than they actually were. Looking at their basketball. Those guys actually played a lot of games. I was surprised. It's not, this is not looking good. Um, big picture. Like I, I don't, it's, was, is he, is Embiid in the league three years from now?

• 30:26Speaker 01

  So here's the thing. I, that piece that came out over the summer from ESPN, and I forget the writer's name. I always forget this dude's name. He did an incredible job. Um, where he got a candid Joel Embiid feature.

• 30:40Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 30:41Speaker 01

  It gave you a beauty, like one of the best pieces I've read in five years, 100%. And he gave you a beautiful insight into Joel's thinking, like the sort of stages of his career. And all of that stuff and reading that piece, I came away with that from one thing. This guy's resigned to his fate. It's over. He knows his body's never gonna cooperate.

• 31:05Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 31:05Speaker 01

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

• 31:40Bill Simmons?

  And the worst contracts draft off to a somber start. I remember there was a, I felt like there was a moment when worldwide West and Leon Rose took over the Knicks. And Joel was still playing well, but you could kind of see the finish line a little closer than maybe whatever. That I feel like they could have traded him for everything they, they gave up for Bridges and probably more stuff. Right? And just been like, you know what? We took this as far as we can go. Let's, let's just cash in now. We have Daryl, let's try to fit, but they went the other way. They did the Paul George extension to make, I guess it'd be happier. And I'm guessing that's your number two pick, Joe House?

• 32:24Speaker 02

  It sure is. Let's just get Philly off our chest and be done with them.

• 32:28Bill Simmons?

  Let's clear them, let's clear them off of our cap space.

• 32:30Speaker 02

  That's exactly right. I mean, the Paul George signing in and of itself at the time they did it. Uh, and Daryl's just, it's, it's how he operates. It's his MO. Can I get three?

• 32:42Bill Simmons?

  Yep.

• 32:43Speaker 02

  Uh, of the top 20 players in the league. You know, you can say whatever you want to say about Paul George as a top 20, but the time they signed him, the year he was coming off of.

• 32:51Bill Simmons?

  Really good year, played 74 games.

• 32:54Speaker 02

  Incredible defense that year. And then he got that contract. He got the extra year that he wanted. He has a player option, two years from now for almost $57 million.

• 33:03Speaker 01

  Getting picked up.

• 33:04Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. I factored that into the, to the contract.

• 33:08Speaker 02

  Exercises that. Still $110 million left after this season. He promptly arrived in Philadelphia and played 41 games, and he's at 27 right now, uh, working off this drug suspension. I will say, I will say, they are interesting as mother effers. If indeed Maxey's ankle can, can, you know, be ready in time for playoffs and then be, they are interesting.

• 33:33Bill Simmons?

  I was supposed to somebody last night who made this prediction to me. It was that he was where, he's a Knicks fan worried about Knicks Sixers round one. I was like, please don't worry about that.

• 33:42Speaker 01

  This is not a, I don't know. I don't know, man. It's not a worried house. It's not, it's not, it's not a word. Two years ago, they had all their plays and the Knicks beat them.

• 33:53Bill Simmons?

  I know. Well, I did, I did text House and Sal a couple and Hedge, what, six weeks ago? I was like, the Sixers had just played an awesome game and Bede was great in it. And I was like, do the Sixers have the highest ceiling of every, any team in the East? And like the moment, they played the Knicks two days later and Bede fell down 20 times, got hurt a couple of games later and the moment was over. But this is, hey, over the course of a series where you have to potentially play seven games in two weeks, I don't see it.

• 34:21Speaker 01

  So Paul, Paul George is not unavailable. He's perpetually unavailable. When he's not injured, he's getting suspended for we don't know what. I think I know what the guy's suspended for, but.

• 34:33Bill Simmons?

  Some guesses.

• 34:34Speaker 01

  We can pretend we don't know what the drug is that he got suspended 25 games for. Okay, cool.

• 34:41Bill Simmons?

  Well, we know what it was, I think.

• 34:42Speaker 01

  When he is playing, right? I repeat, I saw an interview he gave, I think it was a post game, where he's like, my job is to set good screens, keep the ball moving, space the floor.

• 34:55Speaker 01

  Play defense and I'm like, yo, he's right and he's when he's doing all of that. But man, we pay guys $55 million to do that now.

• 35:04Speaker 02

  No, we don't. No, that's a 25. He's a role player. If it, if, if he was getting 25, 30 million bucks, you would not bat an eye. It's his age 35 year, uh, and he's got another 110 million dollars left. That's why it's ridiculous.

• 35:19Bill Simmons?

  I blacked out. Are we talking about LeBron or Paul George?

• 35:21Speaker 01

  Oh, here we go. Here we go.

• 35:24Speaker 02

  Why would you do that to LeBron?

• 35:26Speaker 01

  Here we go.

• 35:27Bill Simmons?

  Just jokes.

• 35:28Speaker 02

  LeBron plays. LeBron plays.

• 35:31Bill Simmons?

  I'm mad about the Lakers resurgence. I know LeBron plays. So Paul George has played in the 2020s, if we include the 2019, 20 season. He's played 331 games. He had a 25 game suspension that cost him 11.7 million dollars. But also saved Philly enough money that they got close to the tax. That convinced them, fuck it, let's trade Jared McCain. So in a weird way, the suspension, which seemed like it was a gift for Philly. Led to this trade that enrages all the Sixer fans.

• 36:04Speaker 01

  Wait, so suspensions?

• 36:07Bill Simmons?

  Doesn't count in the tax. You're not paying the guy. Yeah. So it saved them, it saved them all this tax money and gave them the idea, well, we could reset our taxes here. I shouldn't talk too much shit because my team traded Anthony Simons for, um, Vucevic. Probably could have used Simons. Um, but yeah, if you look at the Maury stuff. It's really like either really good or really awful. And there's no in between, like the maxi pick was really good. The, even the McCain pick was good. The, uh, the, the late tank to get VJ at three, VJ was, was a good pick. I mean, maybe you say con can nipple at three. I don't know. Uh, the Harden Simmons deal, I think was pretty good. The Grimes trade was good, but then,

• 36:50Bill Simmons?

  um, not trading Simmons for Halliburton, the Paul George signing, the Embiid extension. The second Harden trade to the Clippers and the McCain trade. Just lot of, lot of home runs and strikeouts, basically.

• 37:03Speaker 01

  Here's my thing about Daryl, and I've, you know, I've had a bunch of criticisms of him over the years, mainly about just like the, the propagandish ways that he approaches media, which is smart and I get it. I understand why he has to do it. It just, I kind of roll my eyes at it sometimes. The only thing I'll say, man, he goes for it.

• 37:23Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, he does.

• 37:24Speaker 01

  He's not one of these GMs that's like, in six years, we're gonna be incredible. It's like, no. Every single year, this guy is trying to find an edge and trying to make his team better. That freaking year.

• 37:37Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 37:37Speaker 01

  Every year, he's doing that. And I respect the hell out of Daryl for that, honestly.

• 37:41Bill Simmons?

  All right. I'm up with the third pick. Sadly, the two Sixers are off the board.

• 37:47Speaker 01

  This is an interesting, interesting.

• 37:49Bill Simmons?

  Couple ways to go.

• 37:52Bill Simmons?

  You know, there's a pick that seems like an easy pick, and yet the heart wants what the heart wants. At number three, I'm taking Jaren Jackson Jr.

• 38:01Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 38:02Bill Simmons?

  Five years, 240 million.

• 38:07Bill Simmons?

  I just don't, I just don't get it. That's a garden variety extension. I just don't get it. Garden variety max. Career. You're so outraged by that. I don't understand that. Career. 18 points a game, 5.6 rebounds.

• 38:23Bill Simmons?

  So his career averages. 1.9 blocks. I looked up, I went on Stathead and I tried to figure out all these different ways to figure out, has there ever been a better player who didn't rebound and who got, who blocked shots and scored, but just didn't really care about getting rebounds ever? It's only eight guys ever averaged 17 points a game, under eight rebounds a game, and over one block a game. And all of them are forwards, except for Joe Barry Carroll and Kristaps Porzingis.

• 38:54Bill Simmons?

  He's an unusual player in a way that I don't know makes him a winning player. And we just saw it on Memphis the last two years, as the league got better. I'm fine with him if he's 25 million a year, 28 million a year. I don't want to pay him this much money. I just think he's too expensive and, and that the amount of years on the deal is what scares me. I just, because there's other guys that we'll go over and, and either the contracts are shorter or the money's not as long.

• 39:24Bill Simmons?

  This one, I just, it really jumped out to me. I thought it was too much. I didn't even really like that they traded the first round picks for him.

• 39:31Speaker 01

  Wow. I'm, I'm not there with you in the sense that I didn't even have Jaren Jackson on here because I think.

• 39:40Bill Simmons?

  I went that rogue?

• 39:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, for me, for me.

• 39:44Speaker 02

  I don't have him either.

• 39:45Speaker 01

  I, I think he's.

• 39:46Bill Simmons?

  You don't have him?

• 39:47Speaker 01

  No.

• 39:48Bill Simmons?

  $240 million?

• 39:50Speaker 01

  He's, he's nobody.

• 39:51Speaker 02

  He won Defensive Player of the Year.

• 39:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:53Speaker 02

  You, you went through a whole list of things about the attributes of his game and didn't mention the word defense one effing time.

• 39:59Bill Simmons?

  Where was the defense the last two years?

• 40:01Speaker 02

  So he. I'm a rant submarine that team. You can't try and say, give me the sample size with this Memphis team.

• 40:07Bill Simmons?

  I have to pay all this money to him, but then I have to put other players next to him to hide all the things he can't do.

• 40:13Speaker 01

  So.

• 40:14Bill Simmons?

  Why do I have to do that?

• 40:15Speaker 01

  Bill is right in the sense that this guy is nobody's idea of a number one player in any way, shape or form. Like I'll give you an example, like Dwight Howard in his prime, he's number one. He shows up, you have a top three defense and you know, most centers can't guard him, right? And so Jaren Jackson is like a, a really good two. I wouldn't say he's a premium two. I would say he's a really good number two.

• 40:41Bill Simmons?

  I just completely disagree.

• 40:42Speaker 01

  That number I think is fair.

• 40:44Bill Simmons?

  So here, here's my thinking. With this new apron now, you can afford two expensive guys, right?

• 40:49Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 40:50Bill Simmons?

  You're seeing this with the Lakers now where they're gonna have to pay Reeves, they're gonna have to get rid of LeBron or get him on a short contract. The Celtics have Tatum and Brown. You go on down the list, you get two. So there's 60 of these guys in the league that you can pay 45 to 60, 70 million a year to. I'm just, I'm not, he's not one of those guys for me because once you do that, that's your title window right there. It's like, all right, these, these are my best two guys. What's my ceiling? We've already kind of seen the ceiling. They made round two once in Memphis. The last couple of years they were like, I just don't, I think to me at that position, I don't want to pay a center more than like 15, 20 million a year.

• 41:31Speaker 01

  It's interesting because it's been proven that.

• 41:36Speaker 01

  Jackson can't play center. He's just, your defense will fall off a cliff against good teams if this guy is playing center for you because of the rebounding problems you mentioned.

• 41:48Bill Simmons?

  You're just gonna get destroyed on the boards.

• 41:50Speaker 01

  Yes. At the same time, I'm like, and he's not as good on defense as Evan Mobley, but like, has Evan Mobley proven that he could hold down, lock up a center position yet?

• 42:01Bill Simmons?

  Hmm.

• 42:02Speaker 01

  And we all love him and see him as a player that's worthy of that max extension is so like.

• 42:13Bill Simmons?

  I'm very discerning with these. No, I just wonder like, I'm watching the Celtics with Kada and Luca Garza, who they're paying combined three million a year. I just, I value the perimeter players so much more than centers that aren't like impactful, over the top, like the Lakers, they got Deandre Ayton for eight million a year, right? Just throw him in there. Hey, can you protect the rim a little bit? I just think these guys are out there. And I, I don't know why I have to pay $240 million for Jaren Jackson, why he's that big of an upgrade over 20 other guys in the league. I don't think he is.

• 42:50Speaker 01

  If the Jazz are in the top five of the West within the next two years, I think his deal is more than worth it.

• 42:56Bill Simmons?

  Okay.

• 42:56Speaker 01

  If you're one of the 10 best teams in the NBA, I think paying Jaren Jackson that much is more than worth it. Now, if you're still nibbling on the edges of playing status, then I'm just like, mm, I don't know.

• 43:16Bill Simmons?

  I like that we have some controversy at number three. Did we go snake fashion? I can't remember.

• 43:20Speaker 02

  We usually go snake, so.

• 43:22Bill Simmons?

  Well, I'll take, I'll take the other guy that I thought about here, Zach Levine.

• 43:26Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 43:27Bill Simmons?

  Two, two years, 96.5 million left. At least I can get out of that contract after next year, but um, so he's played twice, this is his 12th year and he's played four career playoff games. I went back on Stathead. I was just trying to figure out, has anyone ever had a better, more meaningless career? No offense to Zach, but uh, so 63 guys that played 600 plus games, made an All-Star team, and averaged 20 plus a game for their career. 63 total. None of them have played less than 26 playoff games, except for Zach Levine, who's played four. He's been in one round one, and I don't know if he even

• 44:11Bill Simmons?

  won a game. This guy's career is gonna come and go, and then 50 years from now, somebody's gonna be on Basketball Reference, like, what's up with Zach Levine? Is he, is he top 100? I just never seen a career like this, Waz. This is a one of one.

• 44:26Speaker 01

  It's, it's so crazy where the talent is so obvious in the sense of like, this guy is an elite shooter, incredible, explosive, you know, graceful athlete. He's shown ball handling ability, on-ball stuff, yet he's a loser every single place that he goes, and everybody gets sick of him, and-

• 44:47Bill Simmons?

  And the plus minus doesn't like him either. I think he's like minus 14 this year or something. He's like one of the worst ones.

• 44:53Speaker 01

  Obviously, the defense has always been just atrocious. And the thing is, his contract for next year is a player option, guys.

• 45:00Bill Simmons?

  I'm reporting that he picked it up.

• 45:02Speaker 02

  He's betting on it. He's betting. He probably already did, right?

• 45:05Speaker 01

  If he opted out, guys, would anybody throw the, you know, the Jordan Poole contract of four years, 120 at him, the Tyler Hero? No. Nobody would want anything to do with this guy.

• 45:22Bill Simmons?

  It's like 8 million a year. How has he not been a wizard? What did you guys do wrong? It just feels like it was the ultimate team for him.

• 45:31Speaker 02

  When you outline that list with 63 guys, what was the, the attributes? Average 20 points? And what was the other thing?

• 45:37Bill Simmons?

  He had to play 600 games.

• 45:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 45:39Bill Simmons?

  And won All-Star team and 20 points.

• 45:43Speaker 02

  Rex Chapman made an All-Star team, didn't he? At least once?

• 45:46Bill Simmons?

  I don't know if Sexy Rexy ever made one.

• 45:48Speaker 02

  He didn't make it. Well, that's who I think of when I think of Zach Levine. That, those are, and Sexy Rexy did get to, to more playoff games than, than Levine, uh, as well. Um.

• 45:59Bill Simmons?

  Well, so, that's our first-

• 46:02Bill Simmons?

  Either the Kings traded for him or drafted him. I'm going to keep a running tally because they're recurring.

• 46:08Speaker 02

  How many Kings?

• 46:09Bill Simmons?

  Recurring theme in this worst contracts draft. Uh, we're up to one. House, you have the fifth pick.

• 46:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm going to take your notion as it relates to, to centers and you know, the predilection of teams to overpay them and then get nothing at all out of them. And welcome, Jakob Pertl to the, to the conversation.

• 46:31Bill Simmons?

  It's on my list.

• 46:32Speaker 02

  It is stunning to me. Do you know, I mean, I'll put it to you in the form of a question. How many times in his career has Jakob Pertle averaged 30 minutes a game over a season?

• 46:48Bill Simmons?

  Did he average that with the Warriors? I'm gonna doubt it. They don't play game. Not Warriors, the Spurs.

• 46:54Speaker 02

  Spurs, yeah.

• 46:57Bill Simmons?

  You, you might be getting your Jakobs mixed up. Um, I'm going to say he, he's never played 30.

• 47:04Speaker 02

  You are correct. He has never averaged 30 minutes a game in his entire career over the course of a season. He also.

• 47:12Bill Simmons?

  Well, you gotta, you gotta mention what he, so he, he is this year plus the next four for 123 million because they gave him an extension for reasons that remain unclear. So.

• 47:22Speaker 02

  No explanation whatsoever.

• 47:24Bill Simmons?

  The Toronto loves extending people. Yeah.

• 47:27Speaker 02

  Well, this was, I, I wanted to blame Masai, but it's Bobby Webster is the guy and Bobby's still there. Um, I, they said at the time that it was, he's like the anchor and the, of this young core that's coming together. And immediately he hasn't played 60 games since the 2022, 23 season. Maybe it's even going further back. Hasn't played 60 games. His highest number of games is 57. He's played, uh, you know, whatever, whatever the number is this season, under 40.

• 47:57Bill Simmons?

  And he's had a bad back all year that they're like, his back's feeling better. It's like, is he talking about me in house or, or your 30 year old center makes 25 million a year?

• 48:05Speaker 02

  The rookie they drafted is ready.

• 48:07Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 48:08Speaker 02

  Why waste another minute with, with, with Pirtle? Uh, and they, they tried, you know, over the trade deadline to stick him into some package. There, the rumors were out there. There's reports about them trying to get off of the stupid contract that they just extended him. It hasn't been a full calendar year since the extension.

• 48:25Bill Simmons?

  Trying to trade the guy whose extension hasn't kicked in yet. That's the Andre Blatch. That was right when they amnesty'd Andre. That was my favorite Wizards move ever.

• 48:33Speaker 02

  They didn't pay him 25 million bucks a year.

• 48:35Bill Simmons?

  Was you remember that? We talk about this every year. The Wizards gave Andre the extension and then a year later amnesty'd him before the extension kicked in. The all time best.

• 48:44Speaker 01

  Incredible work and the, the crazy thing about hurdle is that it's just what Toronto just loves to do. They love to get a guy.

• 48:53Bill Simmons?

  They love stability.

• 48:54Speaker 01

  Let's extend them right away. Let's just, let's just knock this contract out right away. And he, you know, I think he's, he's had moments in his career where it's like, okay, this is an above average starting center, but the guy just doesn't play that much.

• 49:08Bill Simmons?

  He was good on Monday night against Detroit or Sunday, whatever, whatever, when they just, Sunday, they just beat Detroit. So you guys are telling me you would rather have Jaren Jackson, five for 240 than Jakob Pertle, five for 123?

• 49:23Speaker 02

  Without hesitation or reservation.

• 49:25Bill Simmons?

  Interesting.

• 49:25Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 49:26Bill Simmons?

  I feel like that 240 is just crippling.

• 49:29Speaker 02

  I mean, it, it.

• 49:30Bill Simmons?

  I have room for one more.

• 49:32Speaker 01

  You think the Utah Jazz are crippled as a franchise?

• 49:34Bill Simmons?

  No, I'm just saying for, if I'm trying to win a title and I only have two spots and I've just given one of them to Jaren Jackson. I don't know what I'm winning at that point. I have to get really, really crazy lucky like the Spurs did with all of these rookie year contract guys.

• 49:49Speaker 01

  Let me ask you this though, Bill. Ask yourself this. Would Utah actually allow Jakob Pertle to finish a game that they were trying to throw and tank in the middle of?

• 50:01Bill Simmons?

  Interesting.

• 50:03Speaker 02

  Hey, Jakob, get your minutes, buddy. Enjoy all the way through the end of this game.

• 50:10Bill Simmons?

  All right, Waz, you have the sixth pick of the draft.

• 50:14Speaker 01

  Oh, man, this is, yeah, this is a pretty simple one for me. Not simple. Myles Turner.

• 50:21Bill Simmons?

  Another center.

• 50:23Speaker 01

  Another center. 26, next year 26, the year after that 27, then a play option for 29.

• 50:32Speaker 01

  Add in the Dame stretch. So that's another like, how much, you know, tens of millions of dollars every single year.

• 50:40Bill Simmons?

  That is fair. If you add the Dame stretch to the Turner thing, he's the third pick. But I don't know if we can legally do that. I think you, that's a leap of faith.

• 50:48Speaker 01

  I'm, come on now, I'm finding the loopholes here. And you add to the fact that Giannis is gone. You did all of this shit.

• 50:57Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 50:58Speaker 01

  Giannis ain't coming back. That's why this deal is so egregious to me. It's not just the deal in and of itself.

• 51:06Bill Simmons?

  So Turner, four for 109, turns 30 next season. He's already played 700-plus games.

• 51:14Bill Simmons?

  And they could have just kept Brook Lopez and tried to sign a couple cross-your-finger guys on the scrap heap. Hope that they could get lucky and kept Dame and used Dame. Maybe they could have traded Dame in February with one year left on his deal after this for a bigger contract. Maybe they could have just punted on the season and taken it to the summer. But instead, they did this Dame stretch and, I don't know, did, House, did you like the Turner thing when they did it? Because I remember really not liking it.

• 51:45Speaker 02

  I understand the move because all they have to lose is Giannis, the Greek Freak. And so, you know, the notion of trying to find a chemistry that's going to work after the failure of Dame Lillard, and really that's just because of the injury to Dame. I get it, but you know, Myles Turner's on the wrong side of so many statistical categories. He can't defend the rim any longer. He is atrocious inside the three-point line.

• 52:14Bill Simmons?

  So, Waz, I said at the time. That this was the equivalent of you're about to break up with somebody, but instead you decide to have a kid to try to save the relationship.

• 52:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:25Bill Simmons?

  Was the milestone day move. And I, I think that's how it played out. We are, uh, we've gone through six. So our first six, Embiid, Paul George, controversial Jaren Jackson, Zach Levine, Pertle, Turner. We're gonna take a break, come back, finish the draft. Hey, every Wednesday I look through the NBA slate. I try to come up with a parlay. I won the first week. Second week I should have won. I blew it with an over under. I'm not doing over unders anymore. Just doing, trying to pick winners, teaming stuff together. For that Wednesday slate, I'm looking at that Houston Lakers game because I think when teams play back to back in the same location, I like going with the team that lost the first game in the second game. So Rockets probably with a couple money line teams against teams that aren't trying hard anymore.

• 53:10Bill Simmons?

  And that will probably be the parlay. I will tweet it out on Wednesday. The bet will be live in the Fanduel Sportsbook app. Don't forget to use a profit boost token to increase your potential winnings before you join me and place your bet. Fanduel, play your game.

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• 54:25Bill Simmons?

  All right, Waz, you're the seventh pick. What is it?

• 54:29Speaker 01

  Oh, I know where I'm going with this.

• 54:33Bill Simmons?

  Okay.

• 54:33Speaker 01

  Arvydas Sabonis is kid.

• 54:37Speaker 01

  Get him out of here.

• 54:38Bill Simmons?

  Get him out of here.

• 54:39Speaker 01

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

• 55:23Bill Simmons?

  Can I zag?

• 55:24Speaker 01

  He does nothing else.

• 55:25Bill Simmons?

  Can I zag?

• 55:25Speaker 01

  Actually, he's a good passer too. I shouldn't say that. He's a good passer.

• 55:29Bill Simmons?

  Wrong team, wrong organization, used incorrectly. I think he, I think he might be an asset.

• 55:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, right.

• 55:34Bill Simmons?

  I want to see somebody else get him. Now, I mean, the plus minus stats are awful because of the defense. I do think there's a fun version of him. It's just not a fun version of you have to pay him $48 million a year for the fun version. That's where the trade gets out.

• 55:49Speaker 01

  Your center can't have the same wingspan as your point guard.

• 55:54Speaker 01

  That's just not gonna be helpful for your defense. And so, yes, Sabonis, that's just, he's a glaring obvious case for me.

• 56:02Bill Simmons?

  I wonder if they even try to trade him. So basically it was a four year, 130, four year, or three years, 136.4, including this year. He's only played 20 playoff games. He's never made round two. He turns 30 next year. House, this is another guy I could see on the Wizards at some point.

• 56:20Speaker 02

  No, why? Stop that. That's, that's the old Wizards. What the Wizards are doing now is perfectly sound.

• 56:26Bill Simmons?

  Trading, trading for injured guys that help you tank? Who are really expensive?

• 56:30Speaker 02

  Okay. Tanking this year, not next year. We'll be competitive next year. We'll try hard next year, especially when AJ DeBansa is playing a wing for the Washington Wizards. Will be very interesting.

• 56:42Bill Simmons?

  Is there, is there a team for you guys that you feel like Sabonis would actually be good on? He, you'd have to put him next to some sort of rim protector, right? Like a, like a, like a four.

• 56:54Speaker 01

  Like a Wemby, he could play next to Wemby who's always outside.

• 56:58Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, Wemby, Wemby's a good one.

• 56:59Speaker 01

  He'll, he'll do all the paint protecting and he operates on the outside. So Sabonis could operate inside. But again, he has to play next to a space alien.

• 57:09Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 57:10Speaker 01

  In order to make any type of sense whatsoever.

• 57:12Bill Simmons?

  So that can't be Alex R.

• 57:14Speaker 02

  He could have been good. I think he'd be interesting on Houston or Minnesota. I think, you know, in the right kind of rotational spot, he, he can be effective offensively. No, no, he, he can play next to Shangoon because I mean, it's insurance for the Steven Adams recurring injury that's every single season. I, I'm no knock at all. I love Steven Adams, but he just can't play.

• 57:36Bill Simmons?

  I honestly can't believe the Sabonis money that's left until you remember that Vivek paid it. And yet I still feel like on the right team, he's such a smart offensive player and he's a good rebounder. And there's stuff that he does that I do feel like he could have a moment, but I really think it would have to be, you'd really have to thread the needle on what kind of team that was. And I don't know, I get off the top of my head, I can't think of one. House, you're up with the eighth pick.

• 58:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, this feels like the right, right spot to put, um, Ja Morant in. Welcome, welcome Ja Morant. I mean, he's still got two years left, uh, just over 87 million dollars and Memphis asked the entire league, maybe the entire world, maybe they went abroad and asked, would anybody be interested in Ja Morant services?

• 58:24Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 58:24Speaker 02

  The, the NBA said, no, no, no team in the league was interested.

• 58:28Bill Simmons?

  Even Miami said no. Miami was like, it's a classic Miami move. And they were like, we're good. Thanks.

• 58:33Speaker 02

  Yeah. Uh, he's only 26 years old. Um, still can't shoot from three. And unfortunately, the thing that really sets him apart, the ability to get to the rim, um, diminished over the last couple of years and his, uh, free throw rate has diminished.

• 58:50Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 58:50Speaker 02

  Over the last couple of, that, that's really the dynamic, uh, version of him that has, uh, you know, another six years of a career to it, but he's getting paid, uh, you know, just under 44 million over the next couple of years. And I don't have an answer as to what team he belongs on. What team would make sense for Ja Morant?

• 59:11Bill Simmons?

  327 games in seven years.

• 59:15Bill Simmons?

  Last three years, nine games, 50 games, 20 games. And was one mistake away from being suspended for a year, I would guess. Which I don't know if that would help from a cap standpoint. But yeah, they, they put him on eBay for two months and no buyers. And they kept lowering the buy it now price and people were like, no, thank you.

• 59:36Speaker 01

  Also, Bill, on what planet is your age 26 season with no reportable drastic injury in sight, your worst season ever? Like this whole thing is going in a crazy, bad direction for him.

• 59:57Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 59:58Speaker 01

  Cause it's, it's like you're playing, it's not like you've hit a ceiling. You're playing way worse than you have three years ago. So what am I to attribute that to besides, some people would say change of scenery. When you watch it, it's like can't make a shot, isn't getting to the cup anymore.

• 1:00:18Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:19Speaker 01

  So that's like a lethal combination for the type of game that Ja Morant plays.

• 1:00:23Bill Simmons?

  He reminds me of some of the guys who just went sideways in the 2000s. Where you'd be like, why isn't Steve Francis good anymore? What happened here?

• 1:00:31Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:00:32Bill Simmons?

  And he just was never good again? Or Marbury, these guys that just kind of lost it? We'll see. I still feel like, I wonder if he could be revived.

• 1:00:43Speaker 01

  Me too.

• 1:00:44Bill Simmons?

  Like in the right organization, system, whole thing. Like almost like a plant that seems dead and you just keep watering it and take care of it. And somehow, you know.

• 1:00:53Speaker 01

  Where did you fall in the great debate of fallen point guards with Ja, Trey and Mello Ball?

• 1:01:01Bill Simmons?

  I thought Mello was the most redeemable of the three.

• 1:01:05Speaker 01

  I was a Ja guy, cause I've actually seen him play serious basketball before.

• 1:01:09Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:10Speaker 01

  Like in the playoffs. Whereas like the Mello Ball is all just like clown shit. You know what I mean? But again, it's tough, man. It's tough to hold any hope that this guy's going to come back.

• 1:01:23Bill Simmons?

  The only thing with the Mello is I was trying to think about the situation. And the fact that he was just on bad teams with a cheap organization and you just wonder like, well, what would happen if you just put, you know, with Ja, the, the questions are just different. It's like this guy failed the IQ test and then went back into the classroom and then failed it again. And that's, that's where you're like, okay, I'll give you one, but the two makes me a little nervous. Another guy I can't believe wasn't ever on the Wizards. All right, I have two picks. Speaking of the Kings, um, we've gone long enough without mentioning Keegan Murray's name.

• 1:02:01Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:02:04Bill Simmons?

  Signed an extension for some reason, because they're the Kings. So not including, including this year, six years, 151.1 million dollars for Keegan Murray, who is basically 13 and five the last three years. Okay, three point shooter. There are so many wings, it's almost like the same thing with centers. Like you can, you can find wings on every team that you could just play 25 minutes against. The Clippers have guys, they're still, guys are still pulling off their warm up jackets on the Clippers. They're like, who's that guy? It's like, ah, he scored 10 points. I just would never overpay guys that are just role players.

• 1:02:46Bill Simmons?

  And he's a role player and I don't see any scenario where he's anything more than a role player. So six years, 151, I don't get it. I don't think this contract's tradable and that would be my first pick, House.

• 1:02:58Speaker 01

  I don't have any argument with it. See, I think Keegan Murray is tradable in the sense that you know what, like, what's the bonus is like, what's his realistic role on a team? It's like, you gotta find the perfect situation and surroundings and blah, blah, blah. Whereas Keegan Murray, it's like, if he's playing the way we think he's capable of playing, that fits on every team in the NBA, right? A guy who can shoot, who's a movement shooter.

• 1:03:26Bill Simmons?

  Who's long, can sweat. I'm not even sure how good he is on, he's probably their best wing defender other than Keon Ellis the last two years.

• 1:03:33Speaker 01

  So to me, he still has a market, but I, I understand he.

• 1:03:38Bill Simmons?

  Not in the apron era. I don't think there's a, really a market in the same way now that you're just constricted on what you can spend.

• 1:03:45Speaker 01

  We can just say that he hasn't lived up to the extension this season so far. I think that's fair to say.

• 1:03:52Bill Simmons?

  Well, I'll give you another wing. I'm upset that he hasn't been taken yet. Patrick Williams on the Bulls.

• 1:03:57Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:03:58Bill Simmons?

  Four years, 72 million. Career nine points a game. And they traded a Coro for him, who's also was a lottery pick, letdown guy, but Okoro's contract was half as long. This Bulls GM is the worst GM in the league. He doesn't have the right PR team for the worst GM argument. We maybe need to get him some help. But did it turn down the Derek Queen trade?

• 1:04:26Bill Simmons?

  Twelve pick was like, no, I'm good. I don't want your first round pick next year in New Orleans. It took the French kicker doesn't play. Did that Williams Okoro trade? Nobody could figure out. Dumped Kobe White and I O at the trade deadline for nothing. Got like a couple of second rounders. The only trade that's really worked for them was the Giddy Caruso trade.

• 1:04:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:04:47Bill Simmons?

  But they gave up something. I don't understand anything they're doing, but Patrick Williams, this is another example of like, I just don't want to pay that guy 18 million a year, but I could find someone for two.

• 1:04:58Speaker 01

  He's got three years guaranteed left after this year, guys.

• 1:05:03Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:03Speaker 02

  He's a guy who he gets the benefit of where he was drafted. And they couldn't, the Bulls had a decision to make. If we let him go and he goes off somewhere else on the attention and does.

• 1:05:16Bill Simmons?

  And comes back to haunt us.

• 1:05:17Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:05:18Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:18Speaker 02

  That was the contract. That's the, he has a back to haunt us contract.

• 1:05:22Bill Simmons?

  We had a million of these guys in the 2000s where we would have like the Ty Thomas, Stromile Swift. These guys that it was like, well, he was drafted fourth, like he's got to be good, right? And then somebody else would take a chance on them and then, then that was it, but it's.

• 1:05:39Speaker 01

  We gotta have been a new category of extension. The stays to haunt you, guys. This is a contract that's going to stay and haunt you.

• 1:05:47Speaker 02

  Well, that's called the Joel Embiid.

• 1:05:49Bill Simmons?

  House, you're up.

• 1:05:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm on Dejounte Murray.

• 1:05:52Bill Simmons?

  Oh.

• 1:05:54Speaker 02

  It's, it's not like all his fault, but do you know how much money he makes?

• 1:05:58Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, well, give the money. Go ahead.

• 1:06:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, he still has two years left after this season and there it's, it's 63 and a half million dollars. Now that is, that, that's the issue. If you want Dejounte Murray and he was getting Jordan Poole money, if he was getting 20, whatever, that's okay. But he is a point guard that can't shoot the three and is a very questionable defender. And I don't know what his role with this Pelicans team could be. Now, he's playing better. Um, his, his defense is the thing that should have been his calling card. Um, but you know, his, his scoring volume, uh, increased, the defense didn't sort of go along with it. So, uh, the problem is the money. The problem is the money.

• 1:06:42Bill Simmons?

  I'm really surprised by this.

• 1:06:43Speaker 02

  Thirty million bucks. Really? Thirty million dollars for him?

• 1:06:47Bill Simmons?

  I, I, I kind of enjoyed the Pelicans as a terrible league past team. I thought he's looked, I was kind of shocked by how good he looked.

• 1:06:54Speaker 02

  When he's come back, he's been better.

• 1:06:56Bill Simmons?

  Too, like he's like.

• 1:06:57Speaker 02

  I get it.

• 1:06:57Bill Simmons?

  Like, seems like he's got the eye of the tiger a little bit. I, I actually would trade for him this summer if I was, uh, somebody, cause he looks healthy to me.

• 1:07:06Speaker 02

  Thirty million dollars.

• 1:07:07Bill Simmons?

  I know.

• 1:07:07Speaker 02

  That's, that's the problem. That's just the money.

• 1:07:10Speaker 01

  He had a, he had a point in time, man, early in his career where I was like, this is one of the best on-ball defenders I've ever seen. Right? Like in his early, San Antonio days, he was, he was incredible. He was unbelievable, but like now, you know, he got a little taste of becoming a scoring guard and with a lot of guys where ends up happens like, all right, I don't do defense anymore. I score. That's for other people to do now. And also, you know, he's coming off of an Achilles, so you gotta figure some of his athleticism and quickness has been sapped. I, I, I briefly thought about him, but you know, it's only two years. So I think teams, teams would be willing to, to eat that.

• 1:07:53Speaker 01

  If you could convince yourself that you're gonna get this guy to function within a role at an elite level. I just think this is the second team now who thought he was gonna come in and do something significant for them. And it just hasn't panned out. So I actually super respect the pick.

• 1:08:10Bill Simmons?

  I would rather pay him than Jaren Jackson Jr. Waz, you're up with, you're up with two in a row.

• 1:08:18Speaker 01

  Different amounts of money. I want to get, and this is not to get too controversial, but this, this matters. Um, Mikal Bridges, man.

• 1:08:27Bill Simmons?

  Oh, where's he been? I thought he'd be gone by now.

• 1:08:30Speaker 01

  Mikal Bridges, who is old after this season, 33, 36, 38. And again, it's not just the money. They also gave a ton of picks to get him. And then, you know, if you paying attention to the Knicks internet, there's a lot of grumbling of like, hold on, if we never gave up all those picks to get this kid in here, we'd have Yanis by now. So you think about the opportunity cost from having given away all of those picks to get Mikal Bridges, who I'll admit, I was all on board when they did this. It was like, well, you gotta try to beat Boston. You gotta get a bunch of great wings into your building.

• 1:09:13Speaker 01

  You pair him with OG, that's a good recipe. And in fact, they beat Boston last year in the playoffs. And Bridges was critical to a lot of the stuff that they were doing on defense. I just think when you watch him over the course of the season, he's so inconsistent. His unwillingness to take layups or get fouled or like, and the defense kind of waxes and wanes. And I don't know, man, he seems like a great guy. And I'm sure his teammates love him.

• 1:09:43Bill Simmons?

  In the wrong situation too, where he just doesn't get the ball ever. And now it seems like he's lost confidence a little bit.

• 1:09:48Speaker 01

  I don't know. I'm, I'm out.

• 1:09:50Bill Simmons?

  He was on my list because the key point, other than that the production isn't there for somebody making mid 30s.

• 1:09:59Bill Simmons?

  He's a walking reminder of all the picks you traded in this one chance you had when you were the Knicks, where you struck oil with the Brunson signing, right? You had, you were able to convince OG to stay and you got him on a pretty good trade. And then you had all this, all this draft pick capital to make one major move. And you kind of shot your wad Forrest Gump style.

• 1:10:26Bill Simmons?

  It was, you put your hand on Jenny's boob. Back out, Bridges, bah!

• 1:10:33Speaker 02

  Well, he is a Villanova guy. He's, he's, he's part of the club. You understand?

• 1:10:38Bill Simmons?

  It's like, maybe, maybe, maybe show some stamina.

• 1:10:41Speaker 01

  A bit premature, a bit premature.

• 1:10:42Bill Simmons?

  It was a premature trade ejaculation.

• 1:10:47Bill Simmons?

  I, uh, and then Brunson took a little less, I think so they could give him the extension. Some weird vibes with that next team. Uh, what's your other pick, Wes?

• 1:10:58Speaker 01

  Again, another guy that's gonna be a little controversial because the dorks are obsessed with him. But for me is Dyson Daniels. I think that extension is looking, that extension is looking funny in the light. It is because he's just a one-sided player, straight up. The guy plays one side of the ball and on offense, I like that Quinn Snyder's putting the ball in his hands because God knows he's useless when he doesn't have the ball. Cause no defense respects him. You're playing four on five, but it's not like he's showing some real dexterity there. It's just he's getting an opportunity to try to maybe see if it develops.

• 1:11:39Speaker 01

  But the shooting just isn't there and he's not some great finisher at the cup. He's, he's not some incredible facilitator. It's just, he's a zero on offense. And to be paying a guy a hundred million for the next four years, I just think it's tough, man. It's, it's really tough.

• 1:11:57Bill Simmons?

  Wow, I'm, I'm shocked by that because the Hawks are red hot. Red hot, ten in a row. And part of the reason is the, the lineup with, they, they basically brought McCollum in. They stopped playing Reese Sache. And they just kinda got it going and Jalen Johnson's playing his way on an all NBA team. How's, you were surprised by that pick?

• 1:12:18Speaker 02

  Well, because I have another guy that fits exactly the parameter of what was just described, and I hope he doesn't take this guy in terms of a brand new extension where you're like, you might have buyer's remorse.

• 1:12:29Bill Simmons?

  Well, you can take him right now. Go.

• 1:12:31Speaker 02

  Oh, did was take two?

• 1:12:32Bill Simmons?

  He did Bridges and Dyson Daniels.

• 1:12:34Speaker 02

  Oh, that's a wonderful.

• 1:12:35Bill Simmons?

  Daniels was having a great time listening to this pod and now he's got a gunshot in the side of his head.

• 1:12:40Speaker 02

  Here's the thing, Dyson Daniels at least has one elite skill. Unfortunately, Christian Brown is a very nice player.

• 1:12:49Bill Simmons?

  Christian Brown.

• 1:12:50Speaker 02

  Five-year, $125 million extension signed in October of 2025. And unfortunately, he was the wrong guy to extend because they're not going to be able to extend Peyton Watson.

• 1:13:05Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:05Speaker 02

  And Peyton Watson is better than Christian Brown. And that, that's a just, that's a tough one. That's, that's a, you, you, you can't move off of that. Within, you know, a calendar year. Now Brown's contribution, we'll see it come playoff time. It did take Peyton Watson longer to contribute, but I don't, does anybody here think that Christian Brown's better than Peyton Watson? That Brown has a higher upside than Watson?

• 1:13:30Bill Simmons?

  He is a one-trick pony. I've watched him guard some really good dudes, though.

• 1:13:34Speaker 02

  He's good.

• 1:13:35Bill Simmons?

  It's a little high. They definitely, they, they definitely goose it. Would have been nicer.

• 1:13:39Speaker 01

  They did not sign Brown to that extension thinking he would shoot 28.6% from three this season.

• 1:13:46Bill Simmons?

  He's also been hurt.

• 1:13:47Speaker 02

  And they're, they're open threes. That's the problem. They're Joker threes. He's not going to get that anywhere else in the entire NBA.

• 1:13:54Speaker 01

  I'm a big Christian Brown supporter, but he's been, he's had a disappointed season and he's got one extra year. He got one more year than Dyson Daniels even got.

• 1:14:04Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:14:05Speaker 01

  And so, yeah, I think it's the same, it's the same kind of principle there. And you know what's so funny about that? It's the exact same deal that the Warriors were avoiding with Emmanuel Moody. They were just like, listen, I was like, eh, like you can't give this guy a Dyson Daniels deal? You can't, he doesn't deserve the Christian Brown deal?

• 1:14:26Bill Simmons?

  Right.

• 1:14:27Speaker 01

  And they said, no, fuck him. He's out. It's tough. I don't think they're wrong.

• 1:14:33Bill Simmons?

  That was a good one. Well, March is fully loaded with a ton of sports to watch. So much going on. Choosing what's worth your time is half the game. I'm going to be breaking down my choices for March's perfect rotation in this special segment brought to you by Domino's Best Deal Ever. The deal that lets you get any rotation of toppings on any pizza for just $9.99. So this weekend coming up, we got March Madness. Just put, you know, if I have the three TV setup, I will definitely have two March Madness games on the side with probably whatever the best NBA game is. Might bounce around a little Bruins on Saturday, see what's going on with the golf. But it's, I would, I would say at least three basketball games and kind of monitoring other stuff.

• 1:15:18Bill Simmons?

  If there's some sort of MMA or boxing thing, maybe that would be the fifth. All of that stuff, and it is March and there's a bunch of great stuff going on. All that stuff's great value for your time. Every rotation needs a sixth man. And that's where we get Domino's Best Deal Ever. No overthinking, no benching toppings, just any pizza with any toppings for only $9.99. Get Domino's Best Deal Ever today. Prices higher in some locations. Select this online only offer from February 23rd until April 6th. Size availability varies by crust type. Max seven toppings, six for New York style and pan crust. Stuff crust extra excludes XL and specialty pizzas. Minimum purchase required for delivery. Prices, participation, delivery area and charges may vary.

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• 1:17:02Bill Simmons?

  Well, I can't believe this guy hasn't been taken yet. I don't know where you guys were. I thought for sure he wouldn't get back to me. Anthony Davis. This year and the next two, three years, 175.3 million since the bubble title. He's played 279 games and missed 203 because I assume he's not coming back. Uh, since the bubble title, 36 games, 40, 56, 76, 51, 20. He's 33 years old. He's gonna be 34 next year and they tried to trade him and there were no takers. And, uh, our friend Rich Paul, he, he tried to lay the ground of if you traded him, you gotta give him an extension and that quickly became, wait, you've traded him to the Wizards? There was no market for him.

• 1:17:44Bill Simmons?

  And, um, I actually thought House's team got kind of a steal because what do they care? They're not getting a free agent anyway, but just fundamentally paying this guy 120 million for two years and you have no idea if he's gonna play 30 games? That seems like a bad contract.

• 1:18:00Speaker 01

  For me with AD, when he plays, I think he plays close to what that contract is worth. Whereas like with a Paul George and some of these other, it's like, you're just not playing like a $50 million player where it's like, AD, when he's on the court, the defense gets lifted up.

• 1:18:18Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:19Speaker 01

  He's a plus offensive player and like, he's really good, but the guy just does not play. And so.

• 1:18:25Bill Simmons?

  He's, his nickname is, or his name is now AD when he plays. It's just like.

• 1:18:30Speaker 02

  For a while he was.

• 1:18:31Bill Simmons?

  One together, that's his name.

• 1:18:32Speaker 02

  For a while he was every other Davis, every other Davis.

• 1:18:34Bill Simmons?

  You can't even say that.

• 1:18:36Speaker 02

  Any day that he plays, that's exactly right.

• 1:18:38Speaker 01

  Anthony Street closed Davis, yeah.

• 1:18:40Speaker 02

  See, I, from you, from, from a rational perspective, I have no quibble with the idea of Davis at this spot in this thing. I will say this, I do think his, um, impact and meaning to this Wizards team is outsized and it, it will have, you know, translate into a kind of value that goes beyond.

• 1:18:58Bill Simmons?

  If he's helping.

• 1:18:59Speaker 02

  You know, it's a gigantic, if he, if we can get, honestly, I'll take 60 games from him. Because what he will teach Sar, who has already got the instincts as a rim protector. What he will create.

• 1:19:11Speaker 01

  He didn't have it that night against Miami. That's for sure. He got, oh my God, did his lunch get just destroyed that day?

• 1:19:19Speaker 02

  He's, how else is he gonna learn? I thought it was a learning.

• 1:19:23Bill Simmons?

  You haven't been on the podcast since that happened. The disgrace, the disgrace of the 83.

• 1:19:28Speaker 02

  I don't know what you're talking about.

• 1:19:29Bill Simmons?

  That was one of the worst things ever.

• 1:19:31Speaker 02

  Combined for 50 points. It was a tremendous, the game, developing game.

• 1:19:36Bill Simmons?

  How did your team give up, Legro brought this up. How did your team give up 30 points in the first quarter to Bam Adebayo? When the, when the Heat rested everybody else? What were they doing?

• 1:19:49Speaker 02

  They, they can't get in front of him without, they couldn't get in front of him without fouling him. He set the NBA record. What do you mean to say?

• 1:19:56Bill Simmons?

  It was the worst moment in Wizards history. It was embarrassing.

• 1:19:59Speaker 02

  No, no, there's been far worse, there's been far worse moments than that. There's definitely been.

• 1:20:04Bill Simmons?

  We played, the Celtics played the Wizards.

• 1:20:06Speaker 02

  On this team.

• 1:20:07Bill Simmons?

  The Celtics played the Wizards after and Kada had like 25 in the first half or something. And Scalabrine was announcing with, with our friend Drew Carter. And he, he just over and over again, he was like, it was almost like he was muttering to himself, like he forgot his mic was on. He was like, I just, I don't understand what the Wizards are doing. I don't understand. I've never seen defense like this. I don't understand why they won't guard Kada. They're just letting him get layups. I don't understand this, Drew. I don't understand what they're doing. And he just kept saying it, which is how everyone feels watching the Wizards.

• 1:20:40Speaker 02

  Wizards covered. Line was 20 and a half Wizards covered. Go ahead.

• 1:20:44Bill Simmons?

  So the coach just, he got all his money up front? And they'll just send him packing?

• 1:20:50Speaker 02

  Like they, they, they have all of these G League guys that are bringing up, it's really fun to see Juju Reese. Maryland Terrapins own Juju Reese, Angel's brother. Angel came to a game.

• 1:21:01Bill Simmons?

  Oh, congrats, House.

• 1:21:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, we've, we've got.

• 1:21:04Bill Simmons?

  I didn't know as the season was just uplifting.

• 1:21:06Speaker 02

  It's a buzz. Why not? Sharif Cooper, internet legend, Instagram legend is getting some run. Yeah, why not?

• 1:21:12Bill Simmons?

  Well, I'm in the camp that this is just not good for young players to be on the Washington Generals, basically. I don't see how this is helpful to anybody.

• 1:21:20Speaker 01

  I think, I think the idea, bro, when they traded for Trey Young and AD and they're like basically bragging to anybody who would listen that these guys don't, will not play because they're going to be too competitive.

• 1:21:34Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:35Speaker 01

  Are you fucking kidding me? Trey Young, who nobody in the NBA wanted, would make you too competitive?

• 1:21:42Speaker 02

  Well, CJ McCollum made him too competitive. CJ McCollum, they had to get him rid of him. That was the trade. It was necessary.

• 1:21:50Speaker 01

  That is nuts.

• 1:21:51Speaker 02

  They thought they could get away with keeping Trey on the bench for the whole season in the league.

• 1:21:54Speaker 01

  That's nuts.

• 1:21:55Speaker 02

  Well, the high seas in the league is like, that's enough.

• 1:21:58Bill Simmons?

  House is turning into those Philly fans during the mid 2010s with the process. I love what we're doing. This is great.

• 1:22:04Speaker 01

  At a certain point, House, this is professional sports.

• 1:22:07Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:07Speaker 01

  You should be trying to win, bro. You should be trying to teach these kids winning habits. Or at least if you're broadcasting, guys, we need you to lose every day.

• 1:22:17Bill Simmons?

  I know. Yeah.

• 1:22:18Speaker 01

  We want you to suck every day.

• 1:22:20Bill Simmons?

  It's one thing to game the system. It's another thing to just be completely humiliated game after game. I got it. I don't get it. House, you're just, you're just.

• 1:22:30Speaker 02

  What do you want me to say? They have a mission. They have a mission and they're, they're going to be very successful at achieving their goal, which is having one of the four worst records in the NBA.

• 1:22:40Speaker 01

  Destroy the integrity of professional sports in the meantime.

• 1:22:43Speaker 02

  No, just the NBA. And the NBA doesn't have any integrity. The NBA is the league that gave the Dallas Mavericks the first overall draft pick last season. They can fuck right off.

• 1:22:52Speaker 01

  Oh, Lord have mercy.

• 1:22:55Bill Simmons?

  We're running out of picks, but that's, and this is, I think, our first one year left after this year guy that's been taken. I don't think we've taken a expiring 27 guy yet. And I'm gonna have to do it here with Deandre Hunter. Two years, 48.2 million. This year, he was averaging 14 points a game for the Cavaliers and shooting 30.5% from three. On threes that were wide open, because nobody was guarding him, because everybody was like, please shoot. We're gonna guard Donovan Mitchell and the other guys of this team. Couldn't make any of them. And the Kings were like, he's available? Intriguing. And went and grabbed him. And I didn't understand it at all. I thought he was so bad.

• 1:23:37Bill Simmons?

  Second half of last year with the Cavs and then this season, I can't believe anybody would want to pay him 24 million when you could just find 10 guys who could get three.

• 1:23:47Speaker 01

  All you need to know is the Cavs had him in their building and they said, ah, we'd rather Dean Wade. That's.

• 1:23:54Bill Simmons?

  Really tough. Really tough. So our first two-year guy. Uh, House, you're up.

• 1:23:59Speaker 02

  Um, I'm, I'm surprised this guy has fallen this far, but maybe because there's only two years left. One of them is a player option. Jalen Green feels like a guy that should get mentioned at this point in the, in the draft. Um, he really shouldn't jump ahead of either Collin Gillespie or Grayson Allen in the starting rotation for the Phoenix Suns. Um, this is another guy who Houston had to extend him because of where they took him in, in the draft. The problem is.

• 1:24:27Bill Simmons?

  Well, say the money, three years, 105.8, including this year.

• 1:24:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, right. So, so two years after this year, uh, player option remaining at over $72 million. Over 36 million.

• 1:24:41Speaker 01

  36 and 36.

• 1:24:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, that, that, that is.

• 1:24:44Speaker 01

  He'll probably be picking up that player options. Here's the thing about Jalen Green. I was one of the last people off the bandwagon and there's times even in the Boston game where I'm like, yo, this is a useful player. Like he's puncturing the defense. He's disrupting stuff. Like he felt pesky and like good in moments against Boston. Yes, but he's just so inconsistent. The decision-making comes and goes. The shot is all over the place. Yeah, he, he definitely just belongs on this list for sure.

• 1:25:13Bill Simmons?

  This was the right area to take him. I think it's a great pick. I've been impressed with how hard he's playing for Phoenix though. And I do think his heart's in the right place. I just think he was a young player who went to a bad team. Um, I'm not sure what happens to his minutes when Brooks comes back, but he does, he has moments every once in a while where you're like.

• 1:25:31Speaker 01

  He's so talented.

• 1:25:32Speaker 02

  Yeah. If he's healthy this upcoming season, you know, that he might end up being an asset. Um, cause this Phoenix thing, what they have going on here with, with, you know, coaching, there is a kind of ethic there where he might, you know, it might click in for him.

• 1:25:47Bill Simmons?

  They did a good job. Yeah. With, with the, with the guys who just play hard and give a shit. And you kind of either, for Jalen Green, who I think could go either way as a player, like he, it feels like he's at least embracing the right things. They get the Celtics, they played the Celtics really well last night.

• 1:26:03Speaker 01

  It was a good game.

• 1:26:04Bill Simmons?

  And Booker, Booker in Boston, you can just book the 40 plus points. Was, do you have two picks left?

• 1:26:10Speaker 01

  Oh yeah. I got plenty of picks left. Uh, first one, absolutely Jeremy Grant.

• 1:26:16Speaker 01

  Uh, 34 mil next season.

• 1:26:19Bill Simmons?

  Come on.

• 1:26:19Speaker 01

  36 mil player option. He's just average. Is he even average at this point?

• 1:26:26Bill Simmons?

  I think he's been in every draft that we've done.

• 1:26:29Speaker 01

  That.

• 1:26:29Bill Simmons?

  Even his old contract, I think, was also in this. I think, I think he's been in our last. I think he's been all decade. He's, he's like the, uh, the Mikal Bridges streak of, of, uh, worst contract draft.

• 1:26:40Speaker 01

  Who's my name?

• 1:26:47Speaker 01

  Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving.

• 1:26:49Bill Simmons?

  Okay.

• 1:26:49Speaker 01

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

• 1:27:20Bill Simmons?

  Two different spots in his career where he basically took 18 months off.

• 1:27:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:27:25Bill Simmons?

  Right? Cause that Nets season, that first Nets season, he didn't really play. And then they shoved him for this one. I think this is the right spot for him. I have no idea anymore with longevity house. Cause back in the day, it was like, if somebody had that injury in their early 30s, their career was just over. There was no chance they'd come back. Now, watching Jason Tatum just blow by guys 10 months after an Achilles. I don't know what to think anymore, but it does feel a little pricey, I would say. Um, okay, what's your other pick then? Oh, you have Jeremy Grant and Kyrie. So how's your?

• 1:27:56Speaker 02

  Did it.

• 1:27:58Speaker 02

  Um, this is gonna be controversial. I'm interested in, in the, the, uh, reaction of, of you guys. I do wonder about De'Aaron Fox.

• 1:28:08Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:28:09Speaker 02

  Because.

• 1:28:09Bill Simmons?

  Nah, I really like him.

• 1:28:11Speaker 02

  There is a ton of money left on this contract. And what is he represent to this team? If Dylan Harper needs more minutes? If you need minutes, how are you gonna give the minutes to the, to the backcourt? Across the board here. How many more times do you think the Aaron Fox is going to be an All-Star? That's what you have to kind of answer. This is a thought experiment. Like I'm, I'm looking, I'm like, wow. It's just, it's, it's, it's four more years and it's $223 million remaining. It's a, it's a, it's a very large number.

• 1:28:47Speaker 01

  To me.

• 1:28:48Speaker 02

  And it made sense.

• 1:28:49Bill Simmons?

  It's a, it's a rare conversation to have. I saw him in person last night and thought he was, looked fucking great. So that's, and they have the money to spend because Wemby's on a rookie deal.

• 1:29:00Speaker 02

  All true.

• 1:29:00Speaker 01

  If they're at the, if they're in the top two of the West, to me, he's worth the money.

• 1:29:05Bill Simmons?

  Me too. I agree.

• 1:29:06Speaker 01

  At a certain point, you know, some extensions are going to kick in way down the road for the younger guards. But right now.

• 1:29:13Bill Simmons?

  Then you flip.

• 1:29:13Speaker 01

  For the next two to three seasons, he seems worth the trouble. And I think he's a, I think he's flippable. That's the difference, right?

• 1:29:22Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:29:22Speaker 01

  Where we talk about guys like Embiid. There's the second Philly picks up that phone, click on the other end. You're talking trading me that Embiid deal. I think with Fox with these, you know, he's known as a hard worker, a good locker room guy, can play. You know what I'm saying? I, I think.

• 1:29:39Speaker 02

  It was, it's why I posed as a thought experiment.

• 1:29:42Speaker 01

  I do not wrong.

• 1:29:44Speaker 02

  It's very unfair to say, how many times over the, the life of this contract is he going to be an All-Star? Because you go through the West and you know.

• 1:29:50Speaker 01

  Well, his redundancies at his position with Castle and you're hoping if Dylan Harper, who you drafted is what you think he's going to be. This guy is completely expendable, right? So, but Harper's not there yet, not even close, obviously.

• 1:30:04Speaker 02

  Not even close. Agreed. Agreed.

• 1:30:06Speaker 01

  So we'll see.

• 1:30:07Speaker 02

  Thought experiment. That's the only reason I put it out.

• 1:30:09Bill Simmons?

  I appreciate the, the spirit behind the pick. I feel even better about my Jaren Jackson pick.

• 1:30:16Bill Simmons?

  You, you just wondered about five for 220 for.

• 1:30:19Speaker 01

  Does this?

• 1:30:19Bill Simmons?

  The second best guy in a team that might win the title.

• 1:30:22Speaker 02

  I just can't believe how much you dismiss defense. He's an elite effing defender. He's already multiple.

• 1:30:28Bill Simmons?

  Is he?

• 1:30:29Speaker 02

  A first time, first, first all NBA defender, defensive player of the year.

• 1:30:35Bill Simmons?

  Well, why is this guy Kobe made some all defenses in the mid to late 2000s? We weren't sure about.

• 1:30:46Speaker 02

  There are elite stats for him.

• 1:30:48Speaker 01

  The fact that the statute of limitations on Kobe snark has expired is amazing for me. It's a great feeling. I'm not gonna lie.

• 1:30:58Bill Simmons?

  It's just for the Laker fans who are nuts about him. The uh,

• 1:31:04Bill Simmons?

  this name hasn't been said yet. It's been said, I think, every year we've had the draft. He only has a year left after this one. It's a two-year, forty-two point seven left on the deal. I just can't believe how bad he is in some of the games as I watch my friend Doc Rivers trying to save the Bucks. He's in Kyle Kuzma.

• 1:31:22Speaker 01

  Oh, God.

• 1:31:22Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 1:31:23Speaker 01

  Damn.

• 1:31:23Bill Simmons?

  I just like paying Kyle Kuzma over twenty million.

• 1:31:26Speaker 02

  How much does he have left?

• 1:31:26Bill Simmons?

  He, it's forty-two point five for this year and the next year. That's just, I just have to take him.

• 1:31:32Speaker 01

  Kuz, my guy. Yeah, it's been, it's been a rough one.

• 1:31:37Bill Simmons?

  Really rough.

• 1:31:37Speaker 01

  He threw a pass the other night that went way into like the third day.

• 1:31:44Bill Simmons?

  And they cut to Doc and Doc.

• 1:31:45Speaker 01

  Doc's face was just, he couldn't believe it.

• 1:31:51Bill Simmons?

  It just, he just drawn.

• 1:31:53Speaker 02

  I started calling him Samsonite when, when he was.

• 1:31:57Bill Simmons?

  With Samsonite? I.

• 1:31:59Speaker 02

  Go ahead.

• 1:32:00Bill Simmons?

  I just don't think he would play.

• 1:32:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, because his bag was always packed. His luggage was sitting right there at the, at the end of the bed. He got the bag always packed. My boy Samsonite.

• 1:32:09Bill Simmons?

  I don't think he'd play one minute on the Celtics.

• 1:32:15Bill Simmons?

  Oh, wow. There's still some good guys left.

• 1:32:18Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. This is, there's a few, there's a few guys on the border. And I don't even, I wouldn't even say on the border, just, and I have this, I have a list called, I have, I got my eye on this.

• 1:32:34Bill Simmons?

  I uh, I gotta go back to my center, center thing. That's the right time to take him. Jared Allen.

• 1:32:44Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:32:44Bill Simmons?

  Five years, including this year for one thirty.

• 1:32:49Bill Simmons?

  And I've watched Nemez Kada outplay him multiple times. And I just like, I just don't want to pay that much for a center ever. I just feel like I can find centers.

• 1:32:58Speaker 01

  Respectable. I think on another team, he's a perfectly fine starter.

• 1:33:03Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, yeah. I think it's, he's, you know, not a top eight center, but he's solid. Solid center. I just don't want to pay that much for a center when I have second apron and all luxury tax and shit like that. House, you have any more picks?

• 1:33:17Speaker 02

  I just feel like, again, this is a thought experiment. You guys feel like Karl-Anthony Towns, two years left, $120 million?

• 1:33:26Bill Simmons?

  He was on my list.

• 1:33:27Speaker 02

  Slightly diminished. Okay, okay.

• 1:33:29Bill Simmons?

  It's a lot of money for Karl-Anthony Towns.

• 1:33:31Speaker 01

  It is.

• 1:33:31Bill Simmons?

  It goes back to the Jaren Jackson thing. This is one of my two guys I'm paying.

• 1:33:35Speaker 01

  Two years after this one.

• 1:33:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. At 120 million.

• 1:33:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:33:41Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:33:42Bill Simmons?

  It caught my attention. Waz, you have two. You want to go quick?

• 1:33:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, uh, Finney Smith.

• 1:33:47Bill Simmons?

  Hmm, sure. You should have been taken sooner.

• 1:33:50Speaker 01

  He's toast. This guy is done. He's got 40 mil after this year over the next three years. Um, Jonathan Isaac, another guy who's toast to me. He's just completely toast and has 45 mil after this year. Old. So I get it. They got a quote unquote discount because of the injuries. But three years, 45 after this season. So he's out of here. Those are, I'm out of, oh, one more frontline, just to throw it out there. Jordan Poole making 34 next year to be a scrub bench warmer. Like, goddamn. That's just horrible.

• 1:34:24Speaker 02

  That's fine. He's, yeah, he's perpetually on the list. He always deserves to be on the list.

• 1:34:29Bill Simmons?

  House, you have any more?

• 1:34:31Speaker 02

  No, no, I'm, I'm happy with where I ended here.

• 1:34:34Bill Simmons?

  Can you, can we each go, uh?

• 1:34:39Bill Simmons?

  One guy you really wanted to take, but you didn't have the balls?

• 1:34:42Speaker 01

  Oh, that's easy. Franz Wagner.

• 1:34:44Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 1:34:46Speaker 01

  Franz Wagner.

• 1:34:47Bill Simmons?

  Five for 220?

• 1:34:49Speaker 01

  Lord have mercy.

• 1:34:50Speaker 02

  That is tremendous.

• 1:34:53Bill Simmons?

  I do like his game. Doesn't seem like he gets hurt though.

• 1:34:56Speaker 01

  Play.

• 1:34:56Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:34:57Speaker 01

  You have to play the games.

• 1:35:00Speaker 02

  I gave Jabari Smith some consideration.

• 1:35:06Speaker 02

  Just because of lack of consistency, but then he served me some shut the fuck up juice last night. He had a very good game and so I'm just gonna shut the fuck up, but that that would be, that would be, you know, he, I looked at him.

• 1:35:17Speaker 01

  Not an ideal time to bring this name up, Bill, but Bam Adebayo.

• 1:35:30Speaker 02

  Waz is back.

• 1:35:31Speaker 01

  52 next year, 56 the year after that, player option for 60 the year after that.

• 1:35:39Speaker 02

  Forever in the record books.

• 1:35:40Speaker 01

  The guy averages 17 points a game.

• 1:35:42Bill Simmons?

  I had two that I really looked at.

• 1:35:50Bill Simmons?

  Kevin Durant?

• 1:35:53Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no, no.

• 1:35:55Speaker 02

  I agree. No, no, no, no, no. You can't even move the case.

• 1:36:00Speaker 02

  He's still, he's too good at age 37.

• 1:36:03Bill Simmons?

  Three, three for, counting this year, three for 144.7. So I have him for two more years after this year. And he'll be 39 at the end of that. And every time I watch him go against a good team, it feels like it could go either way. Not to mention some of the non-basketball stuff. I just wonder if that's, do you want to be in the 50 million a year for Kevin Durant business at this point in his career?

• 1:36:29Speaker 01

  What if one of the market teams is snapping him up like this?

• 1:36:32Bill Simmons?

  I, that's why.

• 1:36:33Speaker 01

  You need that scoring.

• 1:36:34Bill Simmons?

  That's why I just looked at it for a second.

• 1:36:39Bill Simmons?

  Are we sure Lauri Markkinen should make $200 million for four years?

• 1:36:42Speaker 01

  I've got my eye on this.

• 1:36:43Speaker 02

  Well, if we're talking about him. Did I, did I fall asleep for a minute? Did my internet go out? We haven't talked about Zion? If you're gonna say Lauri Markkinen.

• 1:36:52Bill Simmons?

  Zion too, you can get out of that contract every year, though. The problem is Zion.

• 1:36:56Speaker 01

  You could take him year for year.

• 1:36:58Bill Simmons?

  You're, he's on a year to, year deal.

• 1:37:00Speaker 01

  Markkinen is at 46 next year, 49 the year after that, 43, 53 and a half the year after that. Where it's like, okay.

• 1:37:08Speaker 02

  We have no idea. We have no idea what kind of play.

• 1:37:11Speaker 01

  Play guys that are good on your team. Yeah.

• 1:37:13Speaker 02

  Let us see if he can play.

• 1:37:15Bill Simmons?

  We didn't mention Trey Young, two for 95.3.

• 1:37:18Speaker 02

  He's gonna get an extension.

• 1:37:20Bill Simmons?

  Next year, which, well, if he gets an extension, we should have picked Trey Young's extension as a pick. That should have been a pick.

• 1:37:26Speaker 02

  Go ahead.

• 1:37:27Speaker 01

  You guys are 100%. That should have been a pick. It's just, the extension hasn't been announced. I'm like, is this actually really hap- like, they really gonna extend this dude?

• 1:37:36Bill Simmons?

  Please don't do that, House. House, don't do it.

• 1:37:38Speaker 02

  It's happening.

• 1:37:39Bill Simmons?

  House, no. No, House. No.

• 1:37:41Speaker 02

  I'm telling you.

• 1:37:42Speaker 01

  Well, we could just pin Trey Young to the top of next year's draft.

• 1:37:45Speaker 02

  Ice Trey and Trey Johnson. We got Trey to Trey, baby. It's gonna be delightful.

• 1:37:50Bill Simmons?

  Did anybody take a spin around the block with Jalen Suggs' 5-for-150 contract?

• 1:37:56Speaker 01

  I love Jalen Suggs too much. I can't. He's, he's.

• 1:37:58Bill Simmons?

  I felt the same way, but does he?

• 1:38:00Speaker 02

  He means too much to that team.

• 1:38:01Speaker 01

  I'm too personally attached. I'm emotionally attached to this guy.

• 1:38:06Bill Simmons?

  That's why I landed as well.

• 1:38:07Speaker 02

  When you compare him to like Jalen Green, other guys around that 30, we're like, say, like, you really wanna pay the, 30 to Jalen Suggs is fair.

• 1:38:14Speaker 01

  We respect championship quality and equity here, but Siakam?

• 1:38:20Bill Simmons?

  He's been really good this year. Yeah. I think it's a fair price for him, though, don't you think? He's like, in the 45 a year range?

• 1:38:27Speaker 01

  I just, I'm keeping my eye on it. He's getting older. He's getting up in age, guys. I'm just keeping my eye. And Shengun. Keeping my eye on that. Your, your coach is dissing you every single day. He basically called your defense trash. Multiple times in public.

• 1:38:43Speaker 02

  Might have been right.

• 1:38:44Bill Simmons?

  Was, where are you, where, Was, where are you standing on Emmanuel Quikly, four for 130?

• 1:38:49Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. He's.

• 1:38:54Speaker 02

  He could have gone in the top 15.

• 1:38:56Speaker 01

  He slides under the radar because it's like at 32.

• 1:39:01Bill Simmons?

  32 and a half a year.

• 1:39:03Speaker 01

  If you're playing, if you're starting on the Eastern Conference's fifth best team, that's kind of fair.

• 1:39:12Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:39:13Speaker 01

  But he, he's not playing like that, though.

• 1:39:17Bill Simmons?

  The problem is they, the, he's basically in the heat check spot for the Raptors, like a kind of elevated heat check where Jordan Clarkson was a couple of years ago. You don't want to pay those guys 30, you want to pay them like 20. So it's 10 million too much, but Toronto just made a strategy. The only other one we didn't mention were Terrence Mann for 3 for 47, Malik Monk for 3 for 65. And I'd like to commend all of us for not mentioning any of the Achilles guys. Nobody brought up Tatum. Thank you, guys, not bring up Tatum. Kudos for nobody bring up Tyrese Halliburton making over 200 million for next couple beers. And then Dame, Dame 3 for 42.

• 1:39:57Speaker 02

  He's just getting to the end of it. He's getting what he got.

• 1:40:00Speaker 01

  You know.

• 1:40:01Bill Simmons?

  And then the last one would be Kawhi 3 for 149, which he's been so awesome this year, but it's the same thing with Durant. Like, am I gonna be happy with that in 2027?

• 1:40:12Speaker 02

  Probably not, but.

• 1:40:14Speaker 01

  Next year is Kawhi's last year on the deal. That's why it's like, I can't even consider it. He's got, like, he's on an expiring and.

• 1:40:23Bill Simmons?

  But he's got the player option after that, though. I thought, right?

• 1:40:27Speaker 01

  No, next year is it. Next year is, he's done.

• 1:40:31Bill Simmons?

  I screwed that up, you're right. We didn't mention Draymond Green, 2 for 53.5. We didn't mention Drew Holiday, 3 for 102.4. And then Rudy Gobert just came out unscathed, 2 for 72. Everybody's cool with it.

• 1:40:49Bill Simmons?

  So two rookie contracts house. Reese Shea, two for 27, basically. You gotta pay him 13 million next year. He doesn't play anymore.

• 1:40:58Speaker 02

  Don't care.

• 1:40:58Bill Simmons?

  And then, uh, shout out, Rob Dillingham gets like 7 million guaranteed next year and is, should be headed toward, uh, Europe. And that's really it. I think if we did this two weeks ago, I think one of us would have taken Deandre Ayton for the comedy. But, but he's actually been out there in crunch time, so.

• 1:41:16Speaker 01

  And I think Bam absolutely makes listless, if not for this two.

• 1:41:21Speaker 02

  That's a great point. Bam would have been pretty high up there.

• 1:41:25Speaker 01

  He's had a tough offensive season overall.

• 1:41:28Speaker 02

  He would have been pretty high up there.

• 1:41:29Bill Simmons?

  All right, so finalist. Embiid, Paul George, Jaren Jackson Jr., controversial. Levine, Pirtle, Myles Turner, Sabonis, Ja Morant, Keegan Murray, Patrick Williams. Dejounte Murray, still disagree with that one. McCall Bridges, Dyson Daniels, Christian Brown, Anthony Davis, Deandre Hunter, Jalen Green, Jeremy Grant, Kyrie Irving, De'Aaron Fox, disagree with that one. Kyle Kuzma, Jared Allen, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Dorian Finney-Smith, who was Mr. Irrelevant of the worst contracts draft for 2026. We're gonna be saying goodbye to our worst contract friends next year.

• 1:42:13Bill Simmons?

  I don't, like, Kuzma won't make it. We, maybe Jeremy Grant doesn't make it next year. His streak might be over. Maybe there'll be some new guys we didn't expect. I think last year.

• 1:42:24Speaker 01

  Zach Levine's definitely gone.

• 1:42:26Bill Simmons?

  Last year, some of the guys that we took ended up like playing their way out of bad contract status. I'm pretty sure, hold on, I had this, like, didn't we have, I think somebody took Scottie Barnes last year at one point?

• 1:42:41Speaker 02

  Oh, I, I did. I, I took Scottie Barnes sometime in the last two years, um, because of the way that Toronto was, uh, open and notorious with its tank job. There was no point to, to paying him. They were sacrificing years of the extension.

• 1:42:57Bill Simmons?

  I think Brandon Ingram got taken, but there's some guys that played themselves off the list.

• 1:43:00Speaker 01

  It feels fair.

• 1:43:01Bill Simmons?

  The point is, there's hope for anybody on this list. You control your own destiny. Next year, you might be on the best contracts list. Oh, I see a cat tail.

• 1:43:09Speaker 01

  See, Mimi's being rude.

• 1:43:11Bill Simmons?

  That's the end of the podcast when Waz's cat waves the tail. How so is a pleasure. Waz, a true pleasure. Great to have you back.

• 1:43:19Speaker 01

  This was fun, guys.

• 1:43:20Bill Simmons?

  Thanks to Gahan Eduardo as well. Don't forget new rewatchables is up to live and die in LA. And I'm going to be back with a podcast. Oh, and a rewatchables mailbag going up Wednesday night and then another podcast here on Thursday. So I'll see you with a couple more pods for the rest of the week. Thanks, guys.

• 1:43:55Bill Simmons?

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