NBA insider on Warriors break up, Lakers offseason, Timberwolves potential, and Kawhi's contract

What is a basketball fans? I am Jason Burgos for sports not and I have the pleasure of being joined by my favorite basketball guest and a man that it’s been very busy these days. Along with his work on sports Kita Sporting Tribune, he’s a part of the Lakers game coverage for Spectrum. He is a consistent guest on Fox Sports his odd Couple NBA Podcast and was recently a guest with Colin Kyle. Heard this guys doing big things these days and that is the one and only Mark Medina. Send your mark. What’s going on? Thanks for the time today. Not much going on other than NBA playoffs and a lot of questions about the Lakers and the Suns and take your pick. So it’s it’s been a lot of fun and I mean and obviously we got to go Lakers that’s you know that’s what everybody’s talking about these days and and as a person that covers them so closely you know like I mentioned where you work with spent spectrum that I wanted to get your opinion so they got a win against the Nuggets but are are done in just one round this season. What does your gut tell you about how this team will maybe look next year? Does it seem more likely LeBron leaves we on sports Not we covered maybe some of this but some Anthony Davis possible trade rumbling, stuff like that. Will there be major changes in on other place on the roster Maybe there’s a change on the bench when it comes to coaching. Or if this group kind of does stay mostly the same, what do you feel are maybe smaller changes they can do to to take this group to another level to be a contender again? Well I think the only definitive is LeBron James. Anthony Davis aren’t going anywhere. The Lakers aren’t going to trade them. Even though LeBron James did not answer the question on whether this marked his last game as a Laker, I expect that he’ll be back with the Lakers. I think the only questions going to be does he exercise the player option or does he opt out to try to get even a longer deal? But I think from both a business and basketball standpoint, the Lakers and LeBron James want to continue that partnership. But other than that, everything else is on the table. What do they do with Darvin Ham? Obviously, there’s been a lot of reports suggesting that he’s likely going to be fired. They haven’t done anything yet, But knowing how the Lakers are, they’ve gone through a lot of head coaches ever since Phil Jackson’s retirement in 2011. In professional sports and the Lakers, usually the head coach is to blame, but I think that, you know, the Lakers will also have to really take a lot harder look in the mirror and realize that a lot of the reasons for their shortcomings had to do with two things. One, the Denver Nuggets are really good. And two, their roster construction wasn’t good enough for them to build off of last year’s Western Conference Finals appearance. And I don’t fault the Lakers last season for deciding to lean on continuity instead of getting a third star. But I think that what we saw this season is that you need the right players to ensure that continuity. You also need the right head coach to make the best of that roster. And So what they do moving forward. I think that no doubt the Lakers being the Lakers, they’ll certainly explore potential big stars, and the fact that they have three draft picks available on draft night leaves them with more capital to make a big move. But I also want to be surprised that they make the philosophical decision that they want to have roster depth instead. Because when you look at the track record with Anthony Davis and LeBron James, with the 2020 championship, with the 2023 Western Conference Finals, they have shown that the best pathway for success is to surround themselves with a good supporting cast. Then trying to get a third star a la Russell Westbrook. Because there’s a lot of question marks about that third star spit. There’s a lot of question marks about, you know, how that much, how that sacrifices the rest of the roster depth. So obviously this year showed that the continuity play didn’t work. But maybe it’ll be about, you know, seeing which of those players are still good fits moving forward with more time and seeing which players aren’t, and then seeing what roster pieces they can fill to replace that so that they have a better supporting cast. But I think because of everything, it’s all subject to change. It’s all fluid. But let it be known, LeBron James isn’t going anywhere, and neither is Anthony Davis. I’m glad you brought up the fact that because there are now Longo was talking about, oh, maybe LeBron will just play another year or something like that. But now there’s oh, maybe he’ll go 2-3 years. Now there’s the idea of maybe he’ll opt out, sign it through your extension. You know you’ve covered this team for a long time. LeBron is still good, but he’s not the guy he was 5-6 years ago. They’re clearly parts away from beating the Nuggets that they don’t have the draft hall of the Knicks or maybe the 76ers. They don’t have the draft of the cap space of the the Pistons and also the 76ers. It would it. What’s your take on it? Would that be a bad decision for the Lakers to opt in 2-3 more years of LeBron if that’s what he wants to do or because you cover them so much? They’re different than most teams in that yes, it’s about winning, but there’s such a high standard as a business more than a team that having him on the roster is too important to them on a revenue level. So yeah, they’re going to try to win titles, but maybe if even moving on from him might be the best long term goal the right now and the revenue part of it is still a big decider for them on a day-to-day basis. Yeah, I’m not going to discount the revenue part and the business part because of who the what the Lakers brand is and the fact that they have star players and you know it, it means a lot to them for star players to be with them, you know, for most part of their career. But I think the thing that complicates this is he’s still playing at a high level and so it’s not like you know, they’re weighing OK, let’s just give him a nice contract so we can get a lot of revenue and give him a farewell tour. He’s still playing at a high level, but I think the ideal scenario is that they’re constructing a roster so that they don’t have to rely on him so much. No doubt he’s still going to be the number one guy. He’s still going to be the leader on the team, but that he doesn’t have to log so many minutes on a night to night basis and they can trim that back during the season. And I think, you know, there’s been a lot of instinctual analysis that oh, look what the Lakers did with Kobe Bryant and taking care of him and his at the end of his career and that’s wow, that wound up happening. But in real time, when they gave him that extension, at least from what they said publicly, it wasn’t about, oh, he’s injured, we’re just going to give him a nice contract. They made the decision also partly because they felt that that was the best basketball move. They had some optimism at the time that he was going to have a relatively successful comeback from his Achilles injury. And with the fact that they still had enough cap space to get one Max player, they thought OK, there could be a pathway that there is still a final push. Obviously that didn’t happen. Kobe kept getting hurt, the team to basically tanked after that. So that’s wound up happening. But you know, there has been some revisionist history since then where people have instinctually said, Oh yeah, the Lakers, they gave him this nice contract as a farewell tour. That’s not how they actually operate in real time. And I think with LeBron James, what’s even more complicated as he, he is still playing a high level. He’s not coming off of major injuries. And so I think from that lens, that’s where the basketball standpoint gets, I think a lot more priority. And I think, you know when you’re evaluating that, there could be this argument to be made. Well entertain the trade market. Let’s try to trade LeBron James. OK that sounds great, but I can’t think of better alternatives as far as what a trade package looks like. Maybe there is one and they have to listen to that. But I’m really skeptical on what that trade package wouldn’t look like. That would make them better as a basketball team going to the other LA team and risky contracts they Steve Ballmer gives Kawhi Leonard another extension. This just starting to cease and again playoff time he’s injured same old same old thing. Like as a person that covers it. The team the the the scene in that and in LA and all the stuff like that. Now we’re there’s this rumblings about Paul George. Maybe he’s not a lock to stay. Maybe he’s gone. He might go to a team like the 76ers, and maybe Kawhi’s injuries are part of it. He feel he can’t rely on him. Why do you feel Steve Ballmer gave Kawhi this extension based off of, you know, the previous injury history? And especially it puts them in a position where if George leaves, they don’t have a ton of cap flexibility. If they lose The Mavericks, they’re in a weird spot where there’s still clearly many parts away from breeder contender. Do you think that was? I feel like it’s one of the maybe the the worst moves the Clippers could have made. Well, what are your thoughts on that? I completely disagree here because no doubt there’s a lot of questions about Kawhi Leonard’s health during his whole time with the Clippers, but he has been an amazing player when healthy. But I think the bigger thing is contracts don’t mean anything in today’s NBA. So if and if Paul George leaves or they have a short playoff exit they can, they’ll trade that contract. It doesn’t mean anything. So I think that they wanted to secure that extension to ensure that he wouldn’t go somewhere else and have the ability to do that and that they also set themselves up so that they at least had some star player not only in the near term future but especially going into the Intuit Dome. You know there is a reason that they extended him and haven’t done it yet with James Harden and Paul George. I don’t think it was enough. It’s too strong to say that they did it because they don’t want to keep them. I think that they just from a dollars and cents perspective wanted to leave that open-ended to see how the playoffs shake out and see if from that there could be some cost savings before committed. But at least knowing hey we have Kawhi Leonard secured, like there is clarity on what the direction is. So I don’t think it was a no advised move at all. And so I think the broader point that you’re making that if if this injury is a lot more severe or if Paul George and and or James Harden leaves, they can easily trade that contract and they’ll get something in return. So if they hadn’t done it, the risk would have been they get nothing in return and he leaves. So it was a no brainer for them to commit to him for all the reasons I I outlined. Now a lot of people are going to you know, because I again you are inside this industry. You you you talk to people you’re you, you got a lot more insight than then I would and a lot of fans would. And a lot of fans would hear you say they can trade Kawhi’s contract and go wait a minute here because who’s going to want that contract? And again he it since he’s been with the team he’s played sixty, he’s only played more than 60 games once and it’s it’s pricey contract. Explain to me, display the fans that might be confused by that because they might think it’s contract. He’s he’s untradable because of all the injuries. Why do you feel that that he is a guy that actually could be tradable? Like what do you think they could get in a possible deal if they felt OK, we got to move on because a lot of people might be confused by that. Well, let’s be clear here. If they’re going to, if they wind up to sign to make this decision, this tough decision that they trade them, they’re not going to get equal value. But you have to look it through the lens that they’re getting something as opposed to nothing if they didn’t sign him and then he decides to go elsewhere as a free agent. So that’s really what it is. You want it. Everything is better than not having anything at all. But I think with that, they don’t have any intentions of trading him. They secured him, you know, with the intention that you know they want him as their cornerstone, at least in the short term, to open into a Dome, to at least have a pillar of a direction of where they’re headed so that they can fill the rest of the roster out. Ideally with James Harden and Paul George, but if not, you know they can fill in the pieces elsewhere. But again, even if the worst case scenario happens, oh, he has this injury that’s saying himself back. All contracts are tradable. You might not get equal value, but again, anything is better than nothing. And I would also clarify his injury is up, up in the air as far as his availability, but it all indications from what the Clippers say is that it’s not, it’s anywhere close to what he was dealing with the ACL and the meniscus tear. I mean if it was that case, he wouldn’t have been playing any playoff games. He would have needed surgery here. This isn’t something that he needs surgery on. It’s an injury to that he just has to manage. Now going to the to the Bucks because the Bucks are real interesting situation to get a big win the day before recording this which you know props to them stuff like that. But what’s your take on that situation. We did a story on sports not about how there’s rumored to be teams that are kind of maybe stockpiling in case Giannis wants to go somewhere else and stuff like that. If they somehow were to be eliminated by the Pacers and obviously they have a built in excuse the injuries. Your two best players aren’t playing in some of these games. Do you think they, the Bucks, would make any changes? Are they going to keep, would they keep the, you know, Doc Rivers? Did they keep going forward? Like, what’s your take on it? Because it’s such a different kind of situation. It’s messy, but how can you break it up when there’s so much talent around? Yeah, I mean, I guess you never won anything on the NBA because there’s so many changes and it happens quickly. But I think their best route to take, and the most likely route to take is they they just try to reshuffle role players and then hope that more continuity and time together in a full training camp will lead to better chemistry. You know, to your point, you know they already got Doc Rivers mid season and when we’re looking at percentage blame pies are certainly things he could do better. But I’d also argue there’s things that he’s done better than what they had with Adrian Griffin with how they played. Defensively the schemes are a lot simpler. There seems to be more of a buy in from the players from him. But you know look, they’ve under achieved. They haven’t been consistently healthy, but when they got Damien lowered, the expectation is that even with the loss of Drew Holiday, they would be so offensively dynamic that it wouldn’t really matter what they would look like defensively. But on defense, there was an expectation that with their front court depth, with Giannis and Brook Lopez as great of a perimeter defender as Drew Holiday is, they would still have defensive reinforcements. And again, they’ve shown some defensive improvement, but not enough to stay consistently elite. So I think a lot of these things can be chalked up to, hey let’s improve from within with more time and more player development. We’ve got a lot of new faces in terms of teams in this year’s playoffs, we got the Pacers, Magic, Thunder, Wolves are back, but at a much higher level. Have any of them really impressed you where it’s like their performance is better than what you thought coming in here because based on their inexperience and and answered a lot of questions for you, at least over that first round of playoffs? No, I mean, I’m surely been impressed with Minnesota, Oklahoma City, New York, but none of it’s been surprising to me. I expected that they would play at this high level. I mean, Minnesota, you know, they’ve really shown this great combination of having young players. But with the maturity and a depth, you know, Anthony Edwards continues to grow as a passer, as a defender, as a leader. He’s a great scorer, great athleticism and he, I think he’s really respected the pecking order that he didn’t want to force himself and being the number one guy because of how great Karl Anthony Towns is. But when he got hurt, Anthony Edwards had to step his game up. Same thing with Nas Reed. They had a lean on guys like Jane McDaniels and Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley and I think that they’ve shown that all they needed was more time together to really have that chemistry forged ever since the Gobert trade. So not surprised by by it at all. I mean I’m I I didn’t think that they would sweep the Suns, but I thought that they would beat them. And I would say the same thing with Oklahoma City. I didn’t think they’d sweep New Orleans but I knew that it wouldn’t be that challenging because of Zion Williamson being out. But I also think they would have. They got the number one seed for reason. Shay Giljes Alexander is a complete player as a score, as a defender, as a leader. Chet Holmgren, great rim protector, a lot of skills on the offensive end as far as his finishing and his post work and his jump shooting abilities. And Lou Dort is an all defensive first team defender. So I’m not surprised about any of that success with New York. I think it’s just been their MO all season that they’ve taken on Tom Thibodeau’s blue collar. Leave no excuses approach. So even with Julius Randall being out for the playoffs, you know, I expected that just the combination of Jalen Bronson and Josh Hart and really everyone else, Dante Devincenzo, would elevate their game and just make it work. So, you know, it’s been impressive across the board. And based of all those positives you’ve mentioned on the Thunder, the Wolves, have they done enough to for you to say, yeah, they could be a problem for the Nuggets in the conference final, or it still is. Still need to say a little more for that to believe that. Yeah, still not enough. I mean, barring any major injury to the Nuggets, You know, maybe with Jamal Murray, he’s had some injury stuff. But barring anything from that, and I still give the Nuggets the favor to get to the NBA Finals. But let me be clear, has nothing to do with the quote, UN quote, inexperience of the Thunder that Timberwolves have or being overwhelmed with the moment has everything to do with the fact that the Nuggets, they’ve had more continuity. They’re a better team, they have more talent, more depth, they have more familiarity and experience from a tactical standpoint on winning the NBA championship. So if the Nuggets, you know they’re going to face Minnesota in the second round, I expect that the Nuggets will win. And it’ll be be because of those factors I mentioned. If they face the Thunder in the West Finals, it’ll be for the same reasons. Again, assuming there’s no major injuries now. Last question. There of course has been a ton of speculation changes for the Suns and the WAR. You’ve talked about the Lakers, but these are the other teams. That big expectation, especially for the Suns, that just hasn’t panned out if. Who do you think, Which team do you think will see bigger change with? It’s been a lot of talk with the Suns or maybe that they fired the coach. Maybe Durant asked for trade. Now we got the recent stuff with Stephen A and the Knicks and Booker. With the Warriors been talking about maybe trading Andrew Wiggins. Klay Thompson was free agency. Which team do you think when we enter next season will be a lot different than they are right now? Yeah, I think the Warriors are going to make more changes, frankly, because they have more assets to work with. You know, You know, Steph Curry’s not going anywhere. I don’t think Draymond Green is either. I think the Warriors and Klay Thompson want to keep that partnership going, assuming that Clay is willing to take a substantial pay cut under the guise of he’s not the same player as he was before and that extra savings will help them build a better supporting cast. And they also have some good young talent, you know with Jonathan Kaminga and Brandon Podzinski. So you know they they do have some things going in their favour as well as some tradable contracts with the Suns. Yes, clearly what they showed this season shows that that big, that top heavy big Three Lions not going to work. But barring the Suns trading any of their big three players I don’t know how they improve the roster. I mean they can obviously try to reshuffle things with their supporting cast but that just might be rearranging chairs. But I think the the tough thing is, is that. Matt Ischbia, he spent a lot of money. He wants to win. If you’re going to, if you’re going to trade any of those three stars, you’re probably taking major steps back and basically starting a rebuilding project. Does he really want to do that? That would be a tough decision to make. Yeah. I mean, maybe they fire Frank Vogel, but in fairness to Frank, he wasn’t. The majority reason why they underachieved it was because of the injuries with not having enough continuity and experience with that big three. And also let it be clear, it’s not like they’re supporting Casper vet minimum guys. You know, Nurka, Jared Gordon, Grayson Allen, Roy Royce, O’Neill, they’re all good players. But it still wasn’t enough to overcome the fact that this is a top heavy roster without, you know, really a traditional point guard. So yeah, they have a lot of things to address, but I just don’t know how they do it unless they blow it up. But I don’t know if that’s what Mattis Peel wants to do anyway and then just came to mind. Could be covered today too. Monty Poole from NBCS Bay Area. He suggested the idea of Kevin Durant and Warriors reunion since they’re both teams and kind of interesting situations. What are your what’s your thought on that? I mean it. You know the window for the wars is is glowing close. You know closer. Durant’s windows getting smaller. UH Suns clearly are a long way away. They need a lot of depth. Like, does that make sense for both Like if the wars are sending Wiggins or a Kaminga or draft picks you know something like that. Does that work for the Suns where they got Booker Beale and a Kaminga? The the Warriors get Durant back to one time. What are your thoughts on, like, a Durant and Warriors reunion? Yeah, I think it would totally make sense for the Warriors. Now let it be clear, like Kevin Durant is a game changer, but they would also need the Warriors would also need to protect themselves so that they’re not repeating the sun’s problems where it’s so top heavy. Because when you’re looking at this season, the Warriors got by because Steph Curry’s still Steph Curry, Draymond Green, when available, was playing well. But it really had to do with their young guys and not their veterans. And so you don’t want to give up too much of that. But it is Kevin Durant. It’s just more of the idea that you want to be able to benefit from Kevin Durant’s efficiency, scoring a high level, but without, you know, having them not have a good supporting cast and depth. With the Suns, I don’t think it would make any sense. I mean, unless Kevin Durant is saying I want to be traded and all that, he wasn’t the problem with the Suns. I mean, he can be his own worst critic and say he could have done better. But when you look at his numbers, it was on par with what he’s shown in his career. He played well as a defender. It was really everywhere else. I mean, Bradley Beal wasn’t able to be healthy. They’re not a good defensive team because they didn’t have DeAndre Aiden. And that’s not to say he shouldn’t have traded DeAndre Aiden because they were concerned about his attitude. But they didn’t have elite rim protectors. And you know, they just weren’t able to have enough time together from a chemistry standpoint. So it wouldn’t make sons from the set make sons from. Makes sense from this perspective, but if that’s the only choice they have, I guess. But yeah, I would. I would be surprised if that were to happen.