Kings active on draft day, NBA free agency right around the corner

Kings active on draft day, NBA free agency right around the corner

welcome into the Kings Beat podcast a blue wire podcast brought to you by Underdog Fantasy i am James Ham Kings for ESPN 1320 and the Kings Beat joining me today Brendan Uz from the Kings Pulse podcast brendan how are you
oh look at that i mixed it up honored honored to be first uh to be introduced i’m doing well can’t complain just booked all my Vegas stuff today this morning so
excited for all that kings gave us a little bit more of a reason to be out there trading into the first round so I’m doing well
there we go uh and of course we are joined by KC3’s Sean Cunningham sean how are you i’m doing quite well uh I don’t know where you guys are on with this but um I actually
podcast candle podcast candle appearance what do we got
i got the I got the podcast candle going uh it’s time for probably a new one although this really does smell very good is that cold and prickly
no it’s warm and warm and welcome
cold and prickly
when All right let’s say let’s say you’re going Okay if you’re going to I’m not really much aside from being a man of larger carriage I’m not really much for sweets but what is like your favorite candy or like maybe it’s more specifically like if you go to a movie [Music] i like sour Skittles okay i have um I can’t stop from like messing with things like when in the like almost fidgeting um and so I love to eat peanut M&M’s but I crack them
store peanuts in one cheek and eat the the candy layer on the other
what is wrong with you
and if not in your cheek
it’s Reese’s uh uh pieces and I do the same thing i roll the Reese’s pieces in my teeth and crack the outer shell and then eat the inside yeah
wow
i do that while I’m watching the movie the whole time just like Sean’s face this is just a I’m actually very update i’m very uh upset that I asked this question i’m I’m asking only because um I wa I watched a movie at the at home the other night with some and a friend of mine joined me and they brought junior mints cuz they’re like “Oh I haven’t.” And I was like “I haven’t had junior mints in forever.” They left them they didn’t even I think they ate like three of them so I have this like gigantic you got to throw those in the fridge much like the thin mint cookies the Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie that is Yeah but there’s that’s a lot of ginger mints isn’t it jinger mints get stale they get stale in my head
um
Yeah my wife eats jing mints it’s her it’s her one vice
she likes jing mints
so she Okay so she does it like regularly or that’s what you know that’s
Yeah she does it regularly and she even gives like little tiny tiny bits to our corgi who like when she’s ready for bed she’ll have like a couple of jing mints and then the corgi will climb up next to her and she’ll give the corgi like little tiny pieces of the jing mint
so does she Okay my I think my the roundabout question that I was trying to get to was I think junior mints are fine by themselves i don’t ever really get them i don’t think I’ve had these since I was
Yeah
I don’t know maybe a five 10 years i don’t know um but like I think my concern is they don’t mesh well with popcorn and by the way for the record I don’t like any peanut I hate peanut butter i hate nuts i don’t like any of that garbage so I don’t partake i know I’m in the minority in that so um I feel the same way like I I understand the attraction to peanuts and M& and all that stuff like like if I’m getting M&M’s it’s plain or the pretzel ones which that isn’t I’m not even doing that to be honest i’m not doing either one of them but I’m definitely not doing any peanut ones i’m definitely not doing any peanut butter ones my concern though is typically that’s like your substitute because everyone’s going to go with popcorn right for the most part right
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
neither one in my neither one would like blend well with popcorn especially ginger mints how are you going to go from like mint to popcorn now I say that because I know that um we talked about it on a different radio station um that that James works for and the one that Brendan works for uh or owns brendan do you own that one yet
own yeah didn’t you say it was your radio station
uh anyway so we have this movie outing that we’re going to and one of the my favorite people in the world Jason Ross does something that is just one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen and I’ve witnessed it in person he puts M&M’s inside his popcorn like he mixes it up with his buttered popcorn and to me that seems like you’re like you’re getting melted chocolate all over i just don’t understand why anyone would do that so
we’re gonna have to see if Jason Ross kills people because it seems like he could be a mass murderer
yeah I’m gonna have to talk to him about this m&m’s would just fall to the bottom that’s not saying something’s wrong with Jason Ross
come on and I’m going to so in the one we always we well we haven’t done it in a while but we center it around uh really stupid comedies that we all tend to um some you know we we like step brothers back in the day we we got a big group of people and so the next one coming up is the remake of Naked Gun with Liam Niss and uh we have a group outing that we will be uh getting people together and I I I’m my uh anticipation and excitement for it is always good because of the group but I don’t feel like the movie is going to be like it’s it just Can’t be good right it should be funny i don’t know
okay your voice went up so I know you’re not on board with that
very high pitched i don’t think you ever reach that tone ever
i loved I love the Naked Gun movies like I think they’re hilarious so I don’t know brandon has no idea what we’re talking about the Naked
I know the new one coming out i am aware that it’s a remake but have not seen any of the priors
huh i I
So are you are you in the group that’s going to be going Brendan i don’t for the I only know a couple people
look at that sean’s just like telling us about this cool outing with other people that we’re not invited to
i think Sean’s asking me if he’s
Sean’s an [ __ ] sean is one of those guys
first of all
I’d love to be part of the group sean
yes
i don’t know sean we would like to be part of the group sean uh well but it’s not my So I was invited i don’t I don’t I’m not the orchestrator or the organizer of
So now he’s getting around it saying it wasn’t his idea no you know what
we did do one recently in honor of one of the PE group members birthdays uh Chris Verlad you know he’s a strange lovable character and uh he his favorite movie ever is Mcruber so it tells you a little something about him and so we went to this uh place down in Midtown in Sack where it’s like kind of I think it’s like across from Zebra Club um but I can’t remember the name of it they basically show like movies that are already out on video or DVD or whatever yeah it can be
no no like it could be Top Gun for it could but it’s just like they have a way to show in like a small private kind of room or whatever almost like a theater experience but not but not like it’s almost like you It’s hard to explain i don’t know if someone has it maybe in the chat they
I don’t want to know what Sean is trying to describe because this doesn’t seem like a place that uh it seems like a place of illreute no no definitely not no it’s it’s it’s like you can go like I I the the one thing was I was kind of expecting I was like “Oh maybe they have like a projector or something.” And I think they they actually do but I think it comes from like a DVD or a Blu-ray or something but you’re able to
see kind of like a they actually have a literal it looks like someone’s house but they literally have like a lobby and you go in it and it there’s like a theater room that’s quite sizable they have some seating yes dreamland cinnamon cinema plate of plate of shrimp one of my favorite foods is shrimp and plate of shrimp uh in the chat says it’s called Dreamland Cinema so look it up that’s it was actually kind of a cool place
all right here
all right okay we We’ve squandered enough of your time on this Saturday afternoon it’s hot uh I I don’t know about you I went for a walk uh about an hour ago and like my heart rate wasn’t like 1:30 the whole time because too too damn hot
um we’re hitting that part of the that part of the season
uh yeah Sean I’m in good shape right now i don’t know i I feel good i don’t know what you’re talking about um welcome into the Kingspeed podcast we again were well known for like just messing with everybody and and having conversations before we actually get into what’s uh the meat of the discussion uh but Sacramento Kings just went through the 2025 NBA draft uh they walked into the day without a first round pick and only the 42nd pick in the second round uh and they came out of it with a very very impressive young man in Nick Clifford out of Colorado State and came back the next day with Maxim Rol out of Stanford a seven-footer kings fans uh seem to be over the moon excited about these moves um like the the response on social media has been really really intriguing to watch um but what are your guys’ thoughts uh let’s start with Nick Clifford um and just to get the finer details of what happened here the Kings traded the 2027 uh San Antonio Spurs pick that is pro well it’s an unprotected pick when they got it from the Spurs it’s now protected 1 through 16 um if the Spurs are better than that and you know the pick relays uh the Kings lose that pick uh if it’s 17 through 30 um if it it does if they don’t uh land in the if they the Kings the Spurs land in the top 16 um then
it becomes two 2027 second round picks of course one of those is the Kings and the other one is a Charlotte Hornets uh which they got from the the De’ar Fox deal so uh they move it up to what 24 in the draft with Oklahoma City Thunder and they select Nick Clifford let’s just get your guys’ initial thoughts on Nick yeah I mean I I like him and I think also the value you just laid out what they gave up there um probably a late first worst case two seconds and it doesn’t importantly you know doesn’t um keep conveying further down in first rounders that doesn’t lock up future picks the same way that obviously Kings fans were familiar they were dealing with uh in the Kevin Herder deal but I mean it cost Memphis a future first in two seconds to move from 11 to 16 it cost New Orleans was I thought pretty crazy to trade an unprotected 26 first to move up from 23 to 13 um so I I think it’s good value just in a in a vacuum when it comes to that deal but Nate Clifford specifically a guy that’s a little bit older turns 24 in February not a little bit one of the older guys that has taken here um but you see a lot of year-by-year growth first three years at Colorado before he transfers to Colorado State a guy that has a lot of guard skills grew from 6 foot to 6’5 between his uh sophomore and junior year in high school so there’s a lot of earlier ball skills that I think still translate now as a guy that can I would say score on all three levels but I don’t know that’s at the collegiate level in the Mountain West Conference i don’t know that you’re expecting you know him to do this off the dribble mid-range creation at the NBA level but there’s a little bit of that there i think some of the connective playmaking but uh more than anything it’s probably the combination of shooting and defense a little bit of a 3 and D guy here that you’re ideally talking about um somebody that was streaky at times from three but I think very very competitive on that end and is a smart player not necessarily a primary ball handler necessarily but defensive end um at his size I think the idea is maybe one through three that he could defend i think he’s actually pretty good guarding on the ball getting through screens um being slithery in that aspect a really active defender um some of the comps that we’ve seen are like Josh Hart you asked him James about the Doug Christie comp obviously with that gonna be his new coach to me he reminds me a lot of Dante Devincenzo i think a guy that can do a little bit of everything but not really a master of none in my mind um maybe you know Dante had a little bit more blunders throughout games I would say um while Nick seems to play a little bit more within himself um but I like the potential here as a guy that um you know turning 24 in February you think maybe will be a little bit more NBA ready sooner rather than later even though I’m not expecting him to come in and uh be a rotational guy day one necessarily yeah um certainly really cool to see them move up and get a guy that they really wanted um you know it I don’t think that that list was all that long and uh I figured that if they were to move into the first round that it might come with some roster attachment meaning that they would be adding a roster player beyond uh beyond the the first round pick um and that’s one of the reasons I didn’t think really much would would necessarily happen um but to do this uh and clearly hyperfocus on one guy in the first round dra first round uh not that it was he was the only one but he was certainly the one that they were able to pull the trigger on and actually manifest a deal uh is he now goes down as Scott Perry’s firstborn uh this is his guy and uh I think this kind of tells uh a real story as the type of player that he will be looking for somebody who’s multiaceted uh who can check a lot of boxes but also in kind of talking to some people that get to know him obviously we’ve had you know a couple moments with Nick himself especially on a Zoom you really kind of get a feel for his how engaging he is what what type of personality he is i mean being an only child and just kind of still having um the journey that he’s had I think is is really uh fascinating i think the um struggles at the at the Colorado when he was at Colorado are pretty well documented but also kind of going through some of that adversity and then still having people interested in him um like pretty much set to go to loyal loyal Chicago um possibly even Stanford at one point but really having a uh an affinity and a loyalty to the coaches at um at Colorado State and that kind of coming with some opportunity and recognizing that to be able to make the most of it but all the while knowing that there’s been some NBA talent there as well so um kind of a smart route um he’s kind of been slept on i’ll be honest I didn’t know a lot about him um I’d push back a little bit on the Dante Dvenenzo because uh even even though I think it’s going to we’re going to have to see what what what transpires at the next level um his superpower right out of the gate is rebounding uh I mean this guy is an absolute go get it type of type of player um and that is obviously sorely needed for many teams but probably with Sacramento Kings about as much as anyone um to give Domomas some help in that regard um but that’s the that’s a tough part when you’re playing with somebody like Dom and you know a guy who tends to gobble rebounds having that just nose for the basketball and trying to go get the ball um that’s all effort based so that tells me that he’s going to be somebody that’s going to absolutely uh pride himself in effort and in talking to some of his coaches uh there is a real real uh fascination with the way he works um like it’s it’s I don’t want to hype him up too much but in this draft class it’s considered legendary that that the work ethic that this kid has uh that that that he’s he’s absolutely become this workhorse and somebody who who thrives off it and you know if someone’s going to idolize Kobe Bryant the way he does um I think that kind of goes hand in hand so uh yeah a lot of encouragement there i mean who knows if it’ll translate to the next level but certainly there’s a lot to like and and one of the things that I think is kind of going uh and this might actually play more to Brennan talking about you know the Dante Danchenzo comp is the fact that people sleep on his playmaking ability um like this guy has a a real good feel for the game and and as a former point guard himself um could be real interesting to see how that translates to the next level um I would also kind of just point out that like he’s he’s such everyone’s talking about what character guy this is but he goes to a dark side on the court um uh there I had a chat with Ali Farok Manesh his his assistant coach that basically uh just became head coach after um Colorado State after Nick left and he did this talked about this whole mask on mask off kind of uh thing that that that he goes through he has a tattoo of the Joker on his forearm and it really had to he really had to go there he had to had put this persona on for him to get into a mode of being a killer and so um it’s a it’s kind of fun i’m I’m interested in talking to him about that when he gets to town but yeah uh a lot of lot of fun stories a lot of fun stuff and I think I think Kings fans are really going to like him um the the personality is just completely off the charts so it kind of reminds me of Tyrese Hallebertton in that regard because um he’s very very engaging and very uh kind of checks a lot of boxes when it comes to dealing with the media and fans and and you know someone was telling me he’s like “Yeah you see like Shay Gildas Alexander going around the whole arena signing for people that’s kind of how Nick is.” So I think fans are going to love him
doesn’t Dear also have a Joker tattoo
he does yeah yeah but that one deals with more with the mental health aspect as opposed to let me let me remember to be a bad guy on the court
yeah yeah
that’s funny uh I also we had uh Ali uh what is it ali Farhoko Mesh uh on the insiders on Friday and he had some really interesting things to say like so first of all Nick went to Colorado for his first three years and really wasn’t going anywhere like as a prospect he just wasn’t like taking the step he wasn’t an NBA prospect at all uh he transferred to Colorado State and really found himself and went through the 2024 draft process uh and you know got a lot of feedback and the feedback was hey look you’re probably going to be one of the better three and D players in this draft but you know there’s still a lot of room to grow and so he decided to go back to Colorado State for another year and it was funny his coach said like really he didn’t want to come back because he’s already graduated um but he came back anyways and um if you look at his stats to me it’s really really incredible to watch because people are talking about how you know oh he’s a much better passer than than you think and you know his his freshman year he averaged point4 assists per game then 1.3 then 1.5 he gets to Colorado State it’s at three and then last year he takes a leap to 4.4 and a lot of his stats read the same exact way where he was kind of just spinning his tires in Colorado his three-point percentage was down he gets to Colorado State again it’s an easier conference like a lot less uh you know top tier talent where he’s playing but his uh his three-point percentage instantly jumped to 37.6 and 37.7 and his volume starts to go up to three to 4.9 um and so they said when they brought him back for that final year uh it was like “Hey if we’re going to do this let’s turn you into something different let’s take that that 3 and D moniker and throw it away and let’s turn you into more of a jack of all trades.” So they worked with him on you know handling the ball a lot more uh breaking guys down off the dribble creating for himself creating for others then they worked with him one of the tenants was “Okay we’re going to do this but if you’re going to be someone who creates for yourself and creates for others we really need to work with your uh your free throws you know getting to the line.” And so in his in his uh you know fourth year in the in college he averaged 2.3 free throws attempts per game in his final year he averaged five and so these are steps that he’s taken and not only that the the rebounding which he’s known for he really wasn’t all anything to talk about in his three years at Colorado as a rebounder he averaged 3.9 boards per game um you know in his uh his first year at Colorado State he jumped to 7.6 and then in his final year he jumped to 9.6 but eight defensive rebounds per game this is crazy that’s a crazy number for a 65 and a quarter inch you know guard forward so I I think the Kings are are really excited and they think that they found somebody they can you know I I think he will be a rotational player but back into the rotation type guy early on with an opportunity to earn more time and I I think the one other thing I’d add is you know the projections for him were to go around um right after the lottery like 15 16 17 in the drafts on almost every board like consensus boards had him at 16 and we can say oh there’s just mock drafts and all that stuff but when you look at
when you look at again like Tankathon and Tankathon hits like the top six picks in the draft and they hit like really close to the number with a with about you know probably 80% 90% in the top 15 outside of Portland pick um like look I I think the draft boards weren’t that far off except for with with Nick there’s him and like two other players that fall and I think the Kings were uh they had a short list of players that they wanted if they were going to move back into the draft there was a clear-cut discussion with the Oklahoma City Thunder days before we know that because Jake Fischer started talking about that but even like the day coming into draft day man there were a ton of picks available in in the 20s um Brandon you got something
no
no um no no
is sending me challenges for the middle of the podcast
oh
great
the uh the other part is uh to that point James too i think it kind of if for people who don’t know you you talked about his stats and like even in getting to Colorado State it wasn’t like he was going to start like it wasn’t like a guarantee that he was going to start and you know they they had to put it on him and and like you said kind of mix up some things that try to have him do some other things and and fill some other areas of need to the point where they’re not even running plays for him it’s just a guy who just goes out there and impacts the game and so to me that’s super encouraging because in the NBA you know especially if you’re a first round pick I mean all these guys have the highest amount of confidence and uh ego that they’re going to be a guy that’s can that can be the number one or number two on any team and that’s the way to get paid in the league and have find longevity and success like all those kind of go hand in hand and and it’s to find somebody like that who wants to put team first and and find whatever role is that equates to success for the team often times is the ones that also I mean you look at just I mean certainly stars get paid but you have to be like teams are always looking for those role players um that that ultimately someone like a Draymond Green for example I mean that guy became an absolute star in the right situation playing with the right type of people um to do the dirty work and I always joke it’s like if you expect that on another team like the time where Draymond almost went to Detroit it’s like if he goes to the Pistons he has to be a different Draymond Green and it probably won’t equate to success especially with those around him so um just a long-winded way of just saying that that the his want to do what’s right for the team and and be a plug-andplay type of type of contributor is encouraging i mean not to say that he can’t be a star i don’t want anyone to to misconstrue what I’m saying but it’s like that to me I think is is very encouraging coming out of a first round pick for sure and having the versatility to potentially be able to fill that that position being a star in your role in multiple different roles I I think is is the versatility that he kind of has here and we don’t know who’s going to be on this roster in a year or two so I I’ve kind of come into the thought of like maybe not putting as much stock into how do these guys fit with the currently rostered players and just more of looking at their own long-term projection um balancing both obviously but I I think that he’s a guy that you can fit around a lot of different players if you’re wanting to run Demar and Domas or Demar and Zack out there he can kind of play the one because you can still run your offense through those other guys and he can defend the smaller player or Scott Perry mentioned in the press conference right after they traded up for him that he thinks he can play the three so I think that you have some some versatility here of what he could fill and maybe the idea is that as he gets more developed that he could even have some responsibility as a creator maybe secondary sort of creator himself
yeah yeah i think there’s just a ton to like about him as a prospect um Sean talked about his ability to talk to speak to the media to articulate what his thoughts are i think that’s top tier um his coach also said he’s one of the greatest teammates he’s ever been around um so much so that he said that when Tristan Dilva was having his senior night and Colorado State had a day off that Tristan Dilva at Colorado is one of his best friends he drove up and sat there and was there for his senior night uh to celebrate you know one of his one of his best friends in the game and just it it he said it spoke volumes to who he is as a teammate like he doesn’t stop uh so like look the the Kings are trying to forge ahead with like a new identity and this is one of those guys that give him a couple of years before we start worrying about like how much influence he has in the locker room and stuff like that um but he does seem like a player who’s going to come in and kind of hold his own and be able to you know like be a part of the conversation lastly I want to bring up the fact he’s almost 24 right uh 23 he’ll be 24 what is it in February or something
mhm
um he he is the one of the co kids and I I’ve brought this up before um I think a lot of people out there know like I have two sons one of them um is an 03 birth year and Nick is an O2 birth year uh Nick lost the whole back end of his senior year in high school he lost the whole you know his first two years at Colorado were going to like sitting in a dorm room and watching Zooms and then maybe going and getting to work out and play basketball like the fact that he’s 23 there’s going to be this whole group of kids who have five and six years of eligibility and I don’t think we should hold anything against them you know we went through a global pandemic they lost a huge amount of the ability to go out and play a lot of kids just flat out quit playing and you know the basketball world lost a lot of talent here of guys who just don’t play basketball anymore because of the way the world went so I’m not going to ding a guy for age at this point um you know for maybe this year maybe one more year cuz these are kids that really had a tough like transition from high school to college um and so we have to see what they look like but you know watching the last couple years of development from him are just stunning and it just shows you like like he’s got the skill he probably just didn’t have the opportunity and I don’t think a lot of kids had the opportunity during that stretch where he was you know his first three years at Colorado just kind of the way the world went i think the the year-by-year growth seems to be something that Scott Perry even liked um obviously a little bit older and there’s things that come with that but uh he came on the station I won’t say our my whatever Sean um and said that he likes when guys put a resume together that you can really evaluate he still thought they were the best players available at that point but um I think there’s a little bit of a theme here you know you got 23 24 in February for Nick Clifford Maxim Reno that I’m sure we’re going to talk about is 22 years old he spent four years um at Stanford you got Dylan Cardwell who’s 23 he’s even older than Nate Clifford he’s going to be 24 in December um and you know it just makes me think of this as a team that’s trying to create an identity rather than already feeling like they have an established one and I think the latter is the teams that would maybe lean more towards let’s get this raw ball of clay of athleticism and and we can create a good player out of that or help mold him into something and I think that when you’re a team that doesn’t quite have that identity already in place it probably helps to get guys um that are a little bit older and I guess I would say more self- sustainable i mean first of all the the concern over age
especially if you’re older is complete [ __ ] i mean you’re gonna have the same rookie contractual structure as if you were if you’re 23 is the same as if you’re 18 or 19 that doesn’t matter um I I what’s crazy to me is like people who are concerned about the age don’t recognize that this is the age of NIL i mean I’ll use Coleman Hawkins as an example another one of those co kids he’s from Sacramento um you know had a nice career at Illinois has flirted with the NBA draft for three years he set an NI NIL record going back to can going back to college for a fifth year at Kansas State because he was given $2 million to do so there was a record at the time so like the notion like you didn’t have a single freshman 18-year-old whatever nobody went in the second round of the of the draft so like because of NIL these guys are going to be older because they’re going to take the money that’s right there in hand so to me being an older player it’s just like yeah that’s what NIL and that’s what that’s what they’ve created that’s the that’s because of the landscape that is now college basketball and the NBA draft so um to me there’s no concern about him being an older player in fact get get used to it that’s what’s going to probably become the norm especially for second round players yeah I think less of these like two threeyear players i think a lot of what maybe some something like the first 10 picks if not more were all freshman right it was all there you go at first eight all towards the top and obviously those are going to be the elite talents clear NBA guys but it seems like if you’re going to stay a little bit longer then keep making your money
and I think it it matters a lot less than that when you’re picking in the 20s like I I get valuing youth when you’re towards the top yeah like like look I think that the world is the NBA world is changing with the NIL it’s a good point Sean like it’s a it’s changing but also there’s just a different group of players that we’re going to see come through and it might even extend for a few more years because like look kids that were you know in eighth grade and and freshman’s and sophomores they those kids are still coming through right now and their kids that like the the AEU circuit just shut down shut down for you know almost a year straight year and a half uh so lots of uh lots of interesting stuff going on so anyways um like that’s that’s uh I think Nak is is like going to be the focus of you know a lot of what we talked about because you know that’s the guy that the Kings are banking on to actually have an impact uh at least here in year one uh the second guy that they went out and got Maxim Renol out of Stanford uh sevenfooter uh sevenfooter plus um lots of weird comps with him that don’t make any sense like I’ve heard the Brad Miller comps and like Brad Miller is an unbelievable assist guy like a feel for the game like just a a clear passing big man and Reol didn’t really do that at the college level um he is a it looks like his three-point shot is better than his shooting percentage which was around 34.7% this year um but a 20 and 10 guy a guy who I think he had 25 double doubles um really uh impressive player that again was slated to go in the late first round and dropped all the way to number 42 um what are you guys thoughts on on Renault
well first of all I want to I just want to jump in and say the disrespect for Brad Miller like it like people who are talking about Brad Miller as if he’s just some stiff i mean let’s remind people an all-star in the East and the West during the Shaq era okay so put some respect on Brad Miller first of all secondly
I especially as an undrafted player an undrafted player out of Purdue becomes an all-star in the East and the West in the Shack era
that’s Come on now supreme passing great shooting all that stuff um and I love when he went with the cornrows after he lost that bet anyway shout out Brad uh yes I think Maxim uh somebody that’s at least it’s funny because didn’t know much about uh Nick Clifford my my bad on that one uh Maxim Reno absolutely familiar with his game uh if you paid attention to Stanford the last four years uh if you’ve watched FIA if you’ve watched any kind kept up with international basketball um kind of a a familiar name and uh quite a character uh one of I mean if you get to see any of his off the court antics um day in the lives I know Stanford did one um another kind of you know great personality teammates love him you hear that all the time uh and I think what’s hilarious is you know there’s so much concern about oh even though he’s 7 foot one excuse me even though he’s 7 foot one he may not be this rim protector or defensive person in in the NBA and his coach Kyle Smith would push back on that and say um that he didn’t they didn’t put him in those opportunities because they didn’t need him foul picking up unnecessary fouls plus he plays on the perimeter a lot because of his shooting ability and stretching the floor um he translate his game to me will translate beautifully to the NBA uh I’m not saying he’s going to be a star but he checks a lot of boxes um at the next level and I think he has a lot to his dexterity alone i mean you look at WBY and I’m not saying he’s WMBBY but one of the things we just absolutely you know salivate over in terms of talent is the dexterity that that Webmanyama has and his ability to ball handle it such a huge frame such a tall person uh but yeah 7 foot one legit can bring the ball up has a quickness to him looks like he has quite a feel um it’ll be interesting to see if he’s ever put in situations like that but Kyle Smith thinks that he and Dom can play together uh like like eventually maybe not right away but he loves the fact what he’s hoping for is that um that Domas and excuse me that Doas and Maxim can absolutely be on the same team for a while so he can learn from Domas but also be able to that their games could complement each other and it’s worth pointing out like Kyle Smith also before he got to Stanford he was only at Stanford for one year he was at Washington State so he had Jaylen Wells he had Isaac Jones um he’s he’s produced some NBA talent some guys that flew under the radar and Maxine wasn’t really a guy flying under the radar it’s there was always intrigue around him and look at the jump that he took from the junior to the senior year junior year was good but senior year was was fantastic and that’s because they encouraged him to get out to the to the perimeter to become that type of player at the college level a lot of coaches won’t do that for a lot of these bigs who go to the NBA they don’t love they don’t love bigs shooting threes all the time and they let him blossom in in a role like that
yeah to be the 7-1 guy that’s the leading scorer on that Stanford team and shooting five threes a game i think you mentioned the fluidity there Sean i think it’s something that definitely stands out not just a you know stand in the corner and shoot threes but potential to attack some closeouts put the ball on the deck and try to finish around the rim i thought the finishing was pretty good but it’s more of like a slitheriness rather than a playing through contact I would say um and especially obviously there’s going to be an adjustment to NBA level size but as you mentioned I would think that having Domas and Yonas right there to go at him in practice uh however many reps he may get this year doing that that that’s a good way to warm up to NBA physicality um so I I I like the idea for sure playing alongside Domomas or Yonas i think uh we’ll have to see the defense is definitely a concern with Reo and I guess you’d have Dom guarding the other four but you need these looks like some teams are are running double big lineups if you have Minnesota if you have Cleveland coming into town those are lineups where all of a sudden it makes more sense right um but a a guy that I think gives them a different look they don’t really have a stretch five i think that’s something that’s valuable for a lot of modern NBA offenses to have that um you could say Domomas obviously shot the ball really well but he takes his time lining up the seams when he’s shooting those threes i think it’s a little bit of a different look with Reo so um I I like that he just provides something different for this team and uh fell later than I think most people expected him to go matt George said that it seemed like that was the preferred destination for him and that may have factored into him uh falling where he did a lot projected late first round early second ends up going to 42 there so I think he provides him a different look and um you know bigs in the second round I think I I like the swing because it it feels like it takes a little bit less to just have a role player back up big in the NBA
yeah and like look um you know people like to throw out names like I’m seeing Stephen Casta say that he reminds them uh Reald’s Reol’s uh ceiling is Lorie Marketin man that’s really high like in all honesty that’s really high the the Brook Lopez comp that’s not a great comp either from Ron Price in the in the chat like Brook Lopez
was like in the running for defensive player of the year two years ago he averaged over 20 a game multiple times in his career um he can’t rebound a lick uh and doesn’t leave his feet at all like when I watch U Reola play I think he’s really smooth defending the perimeter uh I think he’s really smooth in the pick and roll he might get pushed around a little bit in the post and he’s not as strong as you’d like him to be but again get him with a professional training staff and and the Kings might really work on on seeing if they can push him out to be a stretch four stretch five and I think this uh like Stephen Castetta again brings up the floor as Trey Lyles a much bigger player than Trey Lyles but I don’t expect I mean there’s a good chance Trey Lyles isn’t coming back to Sacramento and uh it not that I I think that Rainol is going to play like right away but I’m also not convinced that he won’t like this is a player that we have no idea what’s going to happen i think I think Dom is going to be back um but we don’t know what’s going to happen Valenunis uh they’re you know this team still needs depth on the front line and you know it’s not like the Kings are in a situation now like Portland is where they have like 14 centers like the Kings did maybe like four years three years ago right when they had all the centers and it was like what is happening here um you know this is a third big and for right now I think that’s probably the right spot for him he he’ll spend time uh maybe with the G-League squad and and time with the the big team um but uh definitely a prospect that that was worthwhile and I I think there’s something interesting that Brandon you mentioned the Matt George thing like Tim Connelly the the president basketball officer GM of the Minnesota uh Timberwolves he came out and said like “Look I like I don’t know what’s happening in the second round but it was like 20 players already had deals worked out for teams in the second round.” And everyone’s kind of looking around like “What?” And it seems like the NBA has like slept a little bit on this issue of teams working things out where a player will fall to them um and you know whether it’s a team you know an agent refuses to give um you know their medicals or they’re saying “Hey he only wants a first round guarantee uh you know a three-year guarantee contract or he doesn’t want a two-way.” Or a player say “I do want a two-way i’m not gonna you know just you know sign whatever with you guys so um I I think agents uh are really working hard to for their clients in the second round now and I think it’s kind of interesting that this came up uh with this specific player um touch base a little bit uh go ahead typically that works just a typically that works with with an agent will tell an agent will tell teams don’t don’t draft meaning they want their guys out of the second round a lot of people feel the path is a little bit um less rocky being undrafted as opposed to being drafted in the second round so a lot of agents will try to steer away from having something set up because they may already have a two-way understanding with with another team that two ways on the table um even even a you know maybe a multi-year deal whatever but um yeah I don’t think I don’t think teams are afraid of necessarily drafting guys in the second round and having a little bit more control over it but having draft rights but um typically I think what what what you’ll see more of is the agency saying “We don’t want my guy drafted in the second round.”
Yeah i mean this is the the classic example the Trace Jackson Davis thing that happened last year trace Jackson Davis’s people
couple years ago
uh yeah it was two years ago um which of course Trace Jackson Davis’s agent um is Mike Dunlevy’s brother who had just taken over the Warriors so at that point they said they were telling teams hey don’t draft him number one he’s he wants a full a full-fledged contract not even like I don’t think the secondyear exception I mean second round exception was available in that draft he was they were literally demanding uh that he be paid like a first round pick and you know that’s that’s kind of the way it happened you know they they pushed him all the way to the Warriors all the way down at 55 now like it was possible like the Kings had the 52nd pick trace Jackson Davis was a player that was you know projected to go between 20 and 25 you know had very similar stats to Rainol at the college level he put up 20 and 10 uh his passing numbers were better his his block shot uh his shot blocking numbers were way better um but he also he had taken three three-pointers total in his entire career um so like there is a way that these guys are are working to manipulate the second round and sometimes it works and sometime sometimes it doesn’t this is it’s not a situation like what we’re seeing in um in Utah with the Ace Bailey thing the Ace Bailey thing to me is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen happen to a top tier pick at least in the last like 20 years and you’re just hoping and praying that this kid gets away from u what is more and more looking like a guy with just an agenda who is his agent and doesn’t know what he’s doing and has literally no pull in the league when you get into the second round a lot of these guys have like big-time agents and those big-time agents have pull like “Hey you know don’t draft this guy.” And if you do want to draft this guy then you know these other two players that you you’re thinking about as undrafted free agents or maybe some guys that you’re thinking about next week uh when free agency opens we’re going to be a little less re uh a little less you know willing to work with you and that’s where the Ace Bailey thing comes in this guy has one client who already trashed his own kid’s career share Cooper lasted in the NBA for like a sniff he’s 24 years old and hasn’t played in the league in four years and partially it’s because of stuff like this so it’s just it’s kind of sad to see
partially he wasn’t very good um the other part about it is I I think it’s going to be a blip on the radar as much as I do think his agent it is not doing him favors I mean he showed up today i don’t think it’s going to be a problem going forward and I also think that they recognize as much as maybe you don’t want to be there um that the that the ability to become a star there and make a boatload of money is absolutely there the tough part is recognizing that there’s some people that would I think his agent would say you can do that anywhere and he’s probably right because Ace I think is a absolute stellar stellar uh ceiling type of player um that will likely be a very big star in this league but in Utah it’s basically table set for you for opportunity to be able to do that
yeah that’s what’s weird to me not to spend too much time on this but like Washington’s the preferred place compared to Utah because you want more run like Utah’s not going to what lori Markin’s the problem i don’t really get it unless it’s just location preference yeah well I think that’s part of it i mean they had told people that they only wanted to be like in a very specific small area on the East Coast like it it was like
the Knicks the Nets
that’s true like there’s only a couple of team Oh their preferred destination was the Washington Wizards
washington
yeah i mean that and that could be a disaster but either way um
the same reason he went to the same reason he went to Ruter they wanted to be close to home i mean those guys that was tailor made for them and let’s be honest it’s worked every step of the way high school college they’ve called their shots and they get to go wherever the hell they want to go uh I applaud the Utah Jazz and Danny A for doing what they do because it’s it’s like you can want but you know you’re not going to be holding a lot of cards do you want to throw away a career and no they don’t the answer is no no they don’t so
yeah yeah so um I I also think once he’s around the rest of the team once the actual NBA players roll in there’s going to be a couple of guys that put their arm around him and say “Hey dude you got to cut out the riff raff right now you got to get to a real agency that has somebody who has your best interest and is going to stop with all of this and you need to rebuild what your reputation is becoming out out in the NBA world.” and um you know they’ll they’ll introduce him to Rich Ball and Bill Duffy and
and like
I think players will but I think Utah might actually prefer that they have this inexperienced agent that can ultimately be taken advantage of and you know he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know to that so yeah getting him a real agent is a big deal
for sure well I think again I think he can always be involved he can always be there and yeah if you hit your wagon to quote unquote real agent but also Rich Paul wasn’t an agent until he became one so uh sometimes you stumble out of the gate
yeah um all right let’s uh we we’ve got 250 people in here if you guys don’t mind hit the thumbs up for us that would be greatly appreciated um thanks for tuning in to the Kingspeed podcast uh we’re chilling we just uh went through a whole
Done
no we’re not done yet wrapping up we just went through uh the first and second round guys uh you know the Kings also signed Dylan Cardwell out of uh out of Auburn i’m I’m kind of intrigued by him um you know I would suggest this anyone who’s out there who wants to know more about these players and more about like the draft process uh Sam Bassini from the Athletic he he always has his mock drafts and stuff like that but he builds a Bible on these guys and it’s incredible to go through and read some of the things you have to download it um there’s a password and you know again this is something that I I honestly think that that people should should look at um because it really lays out some of the things about these players that that maybe you wouldn’t know and that might make you think a little bit higher of them um and you know again like Cardwell is is another older player he’s 23 and a half years old he signed uh to a two-way contract and I think when you first look at his stats and you just go man the dude averaged five points and five rebounds a game um you’re not all that impressed um but a couple of things number one he’s a shot blocker number two crazy rim runner uh crazy leaping ability um he’s got good length and athleticism and when you watch him play at the college level he was a winner and he also played alongside uh Johnny Broom and that just made things really really difficult for him to like you know score to have any sort of role because he’s playing with another big man that’s more of a traditional like in the post back to the basket guy and there again there’s just for me there wasn’t a lot of uh a lot of leeway for him to show who he is as a player but what are you guys thoughts just quickly on him yeah I mean I like uh again it gives you another different look at the five almost feels a little Isaac Jonesish um but 610 611 as a big good athleticism 74 wingspan again older than Meek um 24 in December here but you’re going for an undrafted two-way guy um you’re just hoping that maybe there’s even a little bit of NBA production there and that’s a successful move so um I I like the athleticism and just filling a role as a rim protector rim runner athletic guy uh that dude is like textbook tough and like it’s funny because you know there’s always that player poll who would you not want to fight or you know toughest guy in the in the NBA james Johnson always kind of gets the votes mainly because he’s a little different a little crazy
like a third degree black belt yeah
black belt he’s got the MMA Krav Maga all that stuff uh Cardwell is like he like I know Demar D Rozan has the Debo nickname uh based on his name and growing up in in in Compton but uh Cardwell could be called Debo that dude’s a bully he’s an absolute bully like you just got your goon your hockey goon um and you know for being a a big dude he runs the floor pretty well um but absolute just an absolute beast um not the most skilled person everything’s a lob threat but um he is fun i mean he’s he when you talk about tone setter um and there’s a reason that team played in a national championship in college basketball you just watch any of those games i mean that dude especially when Janai Broom got hurt like he was still he’s just a he’s just a physical presence and you literally see guys as my ear pod falls out uh you really see guys kind of run away from him um so when he’s when he’s down there he’s just kind of a a difference maker so um yeah it’s I’m interested to see how he fits in because having him and Valenunis together that’s a that’s that’s too I mean Kings are small anymore that’s two big dudes so uh this guy’s on a two-way i think that you know having him on a two-way is the right way to start because he will have to develop some NBA skill i don’t think you can just completely make a career
being that kind of hockey goon as we like to call um but uh yeah just kind of looking a little bit down the line I mean that that adds some absolute size to a team that was desperate for it
yeah and the two player comps that for for Kings people out there that you should think of with him i think he’s got a little bit of Yogi Stewart uh if people can remember that and
Stewart was a bean pole though
this guy’s got girth
yeah but but the meanness and the physicality the other player is Michael the Animal Smith who people did not want to mess with at all so uh I did want to read something from uh from Sam Bassini’s draft guide on him um and it said Dylan graduated nearly two years ago with his business business degree and has long been a student leader on campus he was named Auburn student leader of the year in 2024 he has an enormous personality and endeared himself to every source I’ve spoken to uh about him in the pre-draft process um character guys
yeah high character guys and very strangely uh they just brought in three guys with college degrees which is not something that you often see so uh yeah smart kid um you know Sean called him a bully uh maybe that’s who he is on the court but it sounds like that probably who he is in isn’t in person um and uh I think he’s gonna have an opportunity at the G-League level to sort of learn and grow and become maybe something bigger and better than what he is today uh so that’s the the Kings have also signed a couple of other guys um what do we say isac No uh Nogous no guess
uh no guess uh Gonzalez uh who played for the Rip City um played up in in Portland last year um a defensive menace at the point guard position but without a lot of other skills and is going to have have to really really learn the rest of the game um but like super fun to watch defensively uh reminds me a little bit of like Dante Dante Exom like uh like in-your-face length athleticism maybe a little Matis Styel um just in a smaller frame um
Chris Dunnish he had 10 steals in one game this season
at the G-League level as like an 18year-old right or 19 year old well 19 year old cuz he’s 20 right
he’s 21 um yeah 6’5 610 wingspan really really long reach and you feel that out there a little bit of flash to like some of his passing uh but definitely a very raw prospect at this point spent some time in uh Spain before being in the G- League last year
yeah and the King signed him to an exhibit 10 so people who don’t know what that is it’s a summer contract so he can play for the the summer league team um he can go to training camp um and then you know basically they’re going to have a competition it sounds like for two-way contracts um they did sign uh uh Dylan Cardwell to a two-way contract but as of right now um they only have Dylan Cardwell on a two-way uh Isaiah Crawford from what I know is um he only had a one-year two-way deal i don’t know if he’ll be back or not um to me
he will be he will be part of summer league
okay i I would hope that um he is back because to be honest with you the Kings talk about toughness they talk about uh like the quality of human being uh the physicality the athleticism the force that someone plays with and Isaiah Crawford checks all of those boxes uh watching him play and I I would hope that maybe he gets another opportunity on a two-way but we’ll have to see what happens um plus really smart uh like introspective kid sits in his locker reads a lot of books uh quiet but respectful and to me like again another type of culture guy that you you might want to hold on to just in case um that that 6’5 you know 220 lb frame ends up being a ball player um
and the other two-way was Mason who’s no longer eligible right
say that again
the other two-way spot previously was Mason and he’s no longer eligible
yeah he’s he’s no longer eligible yep um okay uh we talked about the free agency situation um I mean the uh the draft situation but we have free agency starting on Monday um we’ll probably have podcast this week because there’s probably going to be a whole lot of stuff to talk about um the Kings have not addressed their point guard situation but again I don’t think you can address your point guard situation in a draft that you don’t have a first round pick in even if you move into said draft you’re probably still looking at a backup point guard and I would make the argument that it’s easier to find a wing um late in a draft that could actually play in year one than it is to find a point guard later in a draft um that you know just kind of become sort of a a player to to bring along and develop um I I just think it’s really tough to find a point guard um deep in a draft and expect them to perform early in their careers um but we also have the Keon Ellis situation and the Keon Ellis situation has to be figured out by tomorrow uh he is of course uh the the Kings have a two a $2 million option for him this year um if he picks up that option uh if if the Kings pick up that option he’s an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year if they don’t pick up his option um and allow him to become a free agent right now uh he becomes a restricted free agent they can match any offer for him and judging by what’s happened today um I think the Kings are in a really uh rough spot with Keon and that’s because Sam Merrill just signed a 4-year $ 38 million contract with the uh the Cleveland Cavaliers and of course Sam Merrill can shoot the lights out of the ball uh but he can’t really play defense anywhere well I mean nowhere near what we’re seeing what we’ve seen from Keon and then DaVon Mitchell just signed a two-year $24 million deal um and that’s going to be a problem for the Kings because Keon to me is probably leaguewide considered a better option than either one of those players just because of his size and athleticism three-point shooting um where are we at with this guys what do we think’s going to happen with Keon here in the next 24 hours but more like the next 48 to 72 hours yeah I mean if you do let him reach restricted I think part of the interesting aspect here is like you know is is the MLE what he’s going to get out there i think that’s probably roughly the range that we’re talking about and the Kings would have to match um but teams have to have money available to offer it i don’t know if like Brooklyn who is the one really controlling the market is going to be the one that’s going to come in and offer him some ridiculous deal i don’t think that that makes much sense from their perspective um so I’m sure from Keon’s sper from Keon’s side you would love for them to turn this down and like get closer to what your actual encore value is sooner rather than later um and you know if if the Kings do just let him play through this next year um at a lower value than what his production is then you know maybe there’s some strong feelings going into unrestricted free agency so I I kind of think that if the Kings don’t get a deal done it probably doesn’t spell very well for um next season when he eventually reaches the open market so try to get something done but yeah I guess around that MLE range is probably in my mind where we’re roughly talking about if he were to reach restricted yeah his the MLE is 14.1 million starting salary and he would get that plus an Well I mean if that’s what he’s going to get on the open market he get that and a maximum of 5% raises if somebody offered the full MLA go ahead John sorry
no I I look I I think they love Keon but I I think again I think they I I don’t know this to be true but I think keeping him outside of restricted free agency is ultimately what they want to do um that’s not it’s just not good it’s just never sets the table well um and uh feelings kind of get involved and so I don’t know what I’m sure I know i don’t think they would i don’t think either side really wants restricted free agency so um
I think he wants to get paid right now i think
100% but I also I also think there’s the pay there’s the pay aspect but there’s also recognizing that he’s got an opportunity in Sacramento uh to a degree like he he has a very active role it’s kind of been a it’s been a great story to see him go from the player he was through the G- League to a two-way to all of a sudden having a prime role and now be coveted in the way that um you you that exactly why the G-League exists for for stories like this so um I think the Kings trying to keep him a part of that storyline and rewarding it would absolutely be um would be big but realizing that you’ve you’ve got a lot of decisions that have to be made so um I don’t know if you can keep kicking the can down the road
yeah one of the issues um like the Kings can work out a tra I mean a a contract with him right now they have a window right now where they can they can negotiate a deal they could decline his option and already have a deal waiting for him that he signs on day one of free agency um or at least he commits to and then you go and sign him to that deal later i think the problem that you have is number one the only team out there like Brennan said that has actual cap space it’s not just an MLE because I think the Kings would match an MLE like I I think they’d have to um because I think that’s where Keon’s value is gone at least to that that level um but the only other team that has cap space is Brooklyn and they have a ton of cap space and Jordi Fernandez is there and there’s ties there with Keon
and so I would be slightly concerned that they do something silly just to mess with the Kings
and just give him an offer like something I I don’t again I don’t think this would happen but kind of like what Bruce Brown got like a 2-year 48 or even a 2-year 40 that just gets so rich that the Kings are like “Okay we can’t do that.” Um so yeah so it’s a tough place to be um but once if they do pick up his option and he has to play for 2 million this year they can instantly work out a contract for him a contract extension that again is much more in line with what the rest of with what his actual value is and maybe in that situation they do have to give him a little bit more um because he’s gonna have to play for less this year but I also think to be honest with you I think they can give him a signing bonus um on a on a contract extension and maybe find a way to sneak him a little bit of money this year i’d have to look it up a little bit more but um yeah losing Keon would uh would not be a a good thing at all in in my book uh Sean you look perplexed uh the signing bonus was was I I hadn’t heard that so
Well you can do you can do signing bonuses um but I don’t know it might not be available until the end of his contract um but yeah I mean players are able to get some money up front they have choices in how they want to take the money
i think that I was also trying to catch up on some of these messages in the chat which we’ve been doing a bad job of answering a lot of questions in here what do we um go
we’re not getting side derailed yet Sean we’re not derailed yet
oh not yet okay
we will get derailed we will get derailed get derailed soon
um yeah here’s the other um the other problem that the Kings have is that they did not get a point guard at all um and you know again there have been some trades for point guards we saw another uh trade today where Lonzo Ball was shipped to the Cavs for Isaac Aoro which I to be honest with you I really like Isaac Aoro still um but uh but that deal like Alonzo’s off the ball off off the board cj McC uh McCollum got traded for Jordan Pool so those are guys that are kind of off the board and Drew got traded
yeah Drew got traded what were you saying Sean
so that was a bad trade joe Dear hasn’t had a great start to his New Orleans tenure
no he has not last night was the worst trade that was unbelievable yeah yeah yeah absolutely crazy um I am hearing uh we’ve heard rumors over the last few days uh over the last like maybe week about the potential for Dennis Shrutder and um like what that might look like and at first it sounded more like an opportunity for his agent to run up the price a little bit on the Detroit Pistons
I think and uh like I I got to be honest I’m more and more I’m hearing um as we get closer to uh you know the actual stuff happening here um again teams aren’t allowed to negotiate right now um with with free agents uh but um I you know I would not be surprised to see Dennis Schruder uh land in Sacramento on something like a two-year deal um so there’s enough there’s enough smoke there uh that uh a two-year like full midle like like two-year 28 um doesn’t sound like it’s it’s far out of the realm of possibility um it’s a move i mean that’s that’s how I would describe it you have a point guard I guess um but for me I to be honest I I’ve liked uh I like Malik Monk’s age and his you know play as much or more than I do Schroeder um and I would I would keep the guy I have under contract uh but if this is what uh you know Scott Perry and those guys want to do they want to change the direction of this team um it it probably is like a stop gap that might make a little bit of sense
i’m not anti Dennis Rutder at all but paying him $14 million a year is something I’d be very anti of doing scott was on three teams last year he’s been this whatever team he’s on this year it will likely be his 10th team
and to be honest he should probably he should if he to be honest he should probably stay in Detroit
and I kind of think that might happen
he did pretty well in Detroit um I was asking Hunter about him hunter Patterson used to cover the Kings he went over there to Detroit last year and was um saying you know maybe the jumper wasn’t the cleanest looking thing ever but that he really mattered in the locker room for some of those guys like Cade credit him for a lot of things and that he was a a pretty good vet and just sort of orchestrator of all things for these guys so I think like stop gap like you mentioned James um seems like sort of what would be going on there and while Scott Perry Deonis bonus seems like everybody on the king’s pretty clear like they need a point guard if you don’t have your long-term option that you like right away like Scott Perry may be dealing with right now then don’t force the issue and wait until you find something that you do like make temporary moves to fill that position in the meantime that don’t lock up your books long term and you can still maintain flexibility and I think being opportunistic is something we’ve heard Perry talk about so um if you feel like this is the best path for you cost considered um obviously seeming to move on from Trey Young the Darius Garland conversation some of the other guys that we mentioned move around the league um I guess it it makes sense i don’t love Dennis Shruder necessarily but he does fill the hole temporarily um I think as long as it’s not too many years or a high salary um that he’s a guy that could make sense and some of the other free agents heard floated around like Taius Jones Russell Westbrook um I think I feel pretty similarly about all these guys but kind of feels like next year you know this is a process for Scott Perry to make it his team still and I think that it that might uh carry over into this next season as well
yeah i’m going to ask you guys a random one uh Messiah Yuiri parted ways with the Toronto Raptors yesterday out of nowhere after the draft to see a president of basketball op like go like two or three days before free agency starts and after the draft that was a bit jarring and I’m just wondering like how much do you think that impacts the Kings because the Kings you know again there was there’s been a lot of talk that UI really liked uh Malik Monk and thought he would fit perfectly in their system uh they’ve got Emanuel Quickley they’ve got RJ Barrett who are both draft picks from Scott Perry that might make sense in Sacramento and I’m just wondering where you guys are at with this because it does seem like there was potential for something there uh that probably well that might not be there now i don’t know i I don’t think one has to I think I think a lot of that I mean I think they’ve got their front office still pretty much in you know intact i don’t know that certainly Messiah Jiri had runs run things over there but they’ve got um they they’re going to be just fine you know in ter I love Messiah uh you know he’s taken a much more of a um operations type of role over the past couple years as a part as opposed to being the day-to-day GM but I’m with you James the the the timing is very odd very very odd
um it it to me it has all the I mean the guy made a ton of money i think it has all the inner workings of I need I need a break and
I’m I’m kind of hoping that’s the case i don’t know if there’s anything you know terrible that went on there hopefully not but um I’m not I haven’t heard anything but I I I think that just has a lot of reads of I need to take a I need to step away okay
well yeah it’s definitely weird i mean like Raptors fans are very not happy um obviously I was very front facing of all this but like you mentioned like Bobby Webster still there he’s going to fill that role um but as new I I think ownership is the proper word sort of came in for Toronto it’s interesting timing to see uh this change sort take place but I don’t know i never loved the RJ Barrett idea if we’re talking about um just like that perspective i think Emanuel Quickley is a guy that I do think would make a lot of sense for the Kings um and like you mentioned the prior Scott Perry connection so maybe something you could revisit but I yeah I guess I tend to side with Shawn a little bit a lot of the same guys are still there and you would imagine that the their philosophy on how they value what Sacramento has mainly probably thinking Malik Monk probably hasn’t changed much well and keep in mind too you’re gonna likely have expansion coming pretty soon um to a couple markets and take a step take a step out maybe kind of latch on to one of those organizations that’s kind of starting up again we’ll see how it happens but uh I think that might that you might you’ll see Messiah back in the NBA at some point
yeah well that and like the thing with Monk too like I could see a way in which they do trade Monk and then they backfill his position with a with a less expens expensive version in Dennis Shruder like if Dennis Shruder is your backup point guard I’m totally fine with that i just think that Dennis Shruder as a starting point guard is a little a little bit of a stretch um and so again can you say that again you said you said who is a starting point guard
shut sorry
yeah yeah no no it’s okay like again if you’re going to lose Monk backfilling his position with a guy like Shruder makes a ton of sense but I don’t know that there’s a way that the Kings are going to sign Shruder and backfill the position um unless they already have something worked out where you know again it have to be something like Yonas Valenunis and Malik Monk uh maybe even Devin Carter for Denn for a player like Emanuel Quickley so either way it like that’s a tough that’s a tough trade to pull off um we’ll have to see if the Kings can do something uh outside of that uh do we have any other thoughts on like what do we you think they’re going to make some trades do we think they’re going to like be active like uh where are we at here because we’re again we’re like 48 hours away from uh free agency starting
a lot of it is is happening already as you mentioned some of the transactions are already being agreed to again nothing can happen until Monday when negotiations can quote unquote begin but certainly things are those those decisions will have to be made obviously on Keelis like you mentioned uh there’s a lot of free agent um of teams own free agents like intending to resign you obviously mentioned DaVon Mitchell and Sam Merrill so um you’re you’re seeing some of those things but then nothing can become official until the sixth um what what’s a little curious to me is to see is circling back to the Kevin Durant trade because I think there’s going to be things that are attached to that deal that haven’t already been uh talked about to where that deal when it’s all said and done has some moves that have been it looks different than what we currently uh know it to be so um I think that that’s still a move that I’m not saying that Durant it’s going to fall through but I think you’re going to see some attachments to that deal um and I don’t know if that includes Sacramento or not but I think it could be interesting to see what what kind of gets uh attached to it if at all to the KD deal interesting yeah i mean I think that they’re definitely going to be active i I think that um obviously searching for a point guard on the free agent market but in through all avenues and I I’m pretty encouraged by it doesn’t feel like um Scott Perry’s trying to just figure out any way that this team can be the best possible version of themselves next year like I feel like we’ve seen um a handful of times throughout years prior and it feels like a little bit more of a long-term view on all this and again I I think that we’re going to continue to see moves for this team not only throughout the offseason but probably through most of next year and going into next offseason as well as Scott Perry really tries to fill out um create the identity that he’s talking about um that fits their principles and and try to get guys that fit into all that but you have to wait for the right opportunities in order to bring the top tier talents that fit that and in the meanwhile you try to fill in um some of the tertiary pieces like what you just did in the draft or um maybe some of these temporary fills like what you mentioned for some of these point guards so I think I’m definitely expecting a lot of change over the next year and I’m curious to see how much of that will get done um in this free agency and this offseason specifically yeah let’s uh let’s answer a couple of questions from the chat first of all it it was just breaking right now that uh legendary Pittsburgh pirate and a former Oakland A Dave Parker has passed away the age of 74 i see it in the chat here but uh shout out to the Cobra he was incredible
i used to love watching him uh warm up with a sledgehammer all the time
yeah that was cool
and he had one of the great throws in All-Star game history from right field where he gunned a dude uh like it Dave Parker was was just a beast um so RIP Dave Parker um let’s get to uh Tyler there’s some smoke with Kaminga he’s calling Ham’s boy because I personally don’t like him as a prospect or as a player but uh any seriousness with that what would the trade look like if so um it’d have to be a sign in trade and it would have to be like very complicated and to be honest with you it’d probably hard cap the Kings again for a second straight year um so uh I you know again there are some murmurss out there that the Kings are interested but there’s also a lot of other teams that are interested in Kaminga and I wouldn’t be shocked to see a team like the Nets jump up and and throw a bunch of money or um even a team like Detroit who has the ability to open up some money uh go after him there’s also the possibility of the Miami Heat that’s been a rumor out there um but I’m just again there’s so many stories we’re we’re so close to the Bay Area and there’s so many ties between you know media members and and everybody else that there’s there’s a lot that goes into my thoughts on Kaminga and I just don’t really I’m not high on him as a player i’m not high on him as someone who um you know like the development of of him uh I think a little bit of his is on the Golden State Warriors but I think also personalitywise he’s just not somebody who’s taken to being anything other than a number one like lead option and I don’t know how that would work in a place like Sacramento um yeah so that’s just my thoughts but what do you guys Kaminga it feels pretty chaotic to me um I I agree with what you said about Kuminga i think that um from just conversations but I think you can also see it on the floor i think that he thinks he’s a little bit better than he is and I I actually kind of appreciate the confidence it just depends on how you’re also going to be able to help the team in the moment and I think that’s why a Brooklyn makes a whole lot of sense there’s an old podcast clip of BJ Armstrong uh speaking very glowingly of Jonathan Kuminga so I guess if if the Kings have a great evaluation of this guy and think there’s more there than what Golden State was able to get then I guess that’s the logic because to me I I don’t really see the fit with this team um but maybe you’re just taking more of a long-term a long-term shot there i also am skeptical about like how much are we talking here you mentioned it have to be a signing trade that would hardcap them i personally am pretty out on the Kuminga idea as am I although you took the words right out of my mouth i said BJ Armstrong seems to be a fan
um I I I I kind of agree with majority of what you guys say i also just don’t think that’s a move that they’re super interested in i think there’s some there’s a there’s a maybe an intriguing way to you know kick some tires on it and maybe see what shakes out um because I do I can envision a scenario where you know they’d have interest bring them in here and then maybe you offload some pieces to totally disrupt maybe the the path that you’re going down um to to see if you bet on somebody becoming a star like Kaminga like I think there is a belief that there’s that he could be become something that he currently isn’t but I think the non-willingness to much like Nate Clifford we were talking about the start of the podcast like not being able to do what’s in the best interest of the team and try to create your own path and do things your own way um should probably scare some people off but I think there’s other people that will steer right into that and go how do you maximize that maybe he’s right maybe there is something there i mean he’s clearly a very talented talented player i don’t think any of us would dispute that but how do you how does it uh translate to success and and some people will clearly just talk about you know giving him more opportunity steve Kerr obviously has reservations about playing him with a team that’s constructed the way that the Warriors are and kind of the stuff that they are built around um people will bet on the talent so you might have a a group of people within this organization that would like to bet on the talent realizing that the Kings aren’t nearly uh with a a future future star player yet and maybe that kind of accelerates that process but I just don’t see a a a move out there or have not heard of a move out there that would actually get that to over the finish line for Sacramento and Kaminga yeah I I mean it’s tough because I mean it’s just a super complicated transaction too and it depends on how much he wants you know if we’re talking about a fouryear hundred million dollar deal that’s one thing 25 million a year I mean that’s a lot of money um but the Kings could figure out a way to come up with something like that uh as far as a sign and trade that would make it you know like a net neutral trade the one thing about Kaminga is um and this is crazy uh he’s played four years in the league and he’s still only 22 and he’s younger than anyone the Kings drafted this year and he’s younger than anyone the Kings drafted last year and he’s younger than I believe anyone they drafted the year before uh he’s considerably younger than Keegan Murray um and he’s entering his fifth NBA season where Murray’s entering entering his uh fourth NBA season
he went to college at the NBA that’s that’s basically what he did
yeah he went straight from the G-League um the G- League Ignite to the NBA uh let’s let’s just hit some of these questions uh are we hearing anything about uh Cam Whitmore and the Kings i haven’t heard anything but I love Cam Whitmore i would I would take Cam Whitmore in a second
i do i think he’s
like he’s a tough nose dude i
James gives his love away i think
he feels very Kuminga to me but with a assumed much lower price tag which does it for me
yeah you’re probably looking at like a second round pick
right
for for him at this point um and like I I don’t know maybe I I think the problem that I have with the Houston Rockets is that they have so many young players that someone was always going to get left behind and it feels like Cam is the guy that got left behind and I think Jabari got left behind too but now they’re trying to elevate him back uh to the mix but you know they’ve got so much talent that a guy like Reed Shepard can’t even get on the floor and a guy like Cam Whitmore can’t even get on the floor so um I I I think you know again when you’re competing with Aman Thompson you’re competing with Jabari and you’re competing with Alpurn Shenun and you’re Dylan Brooks was there uh and like there’s just stack of players that you’re trying to fight through and get minutes it just makes it really difficult so even you know Jaylen Green was there like for Whitmore to get minutes at the the 34 Tari Een like how many players do they have under the age of like 24 and it’s just tough so he might not develop in anything and and then again he he might not be a guy who who like what you said Brennan that kind of fits the Kaminga bill where he thinks he’s a lot better than he is um but I would take a flyer on him with uh with second round pick what do you love about him i think he plays hard i think he’s physical i think he’s an elite athlete um yeah I think he can develop into something every time he’s on the court he scores
you notice him that’s for sure you do notice him when he’s on the court yeah he’s one of those players that like the Kings just don’t usually have a player that when he gets hot and he decides to like take over a game like getting to the basket there’s not a lot of people that can stop him um but
he’s also two years younger than Kuminga he’s 20
he’s 20 yeah with two years experience in the league um let’s see um what else do we got any any other questions someone was asking about Herb Jones and the and the and the Pelicans there was a little
thing out there like how can we abuse the Pelicans
yeah well no and that’s actually that’s Brennan went exactly the way I would have if I’m a Scott Perry or whether I’m a firsttime GM or a longtime GM they might be the first call I’m making um especially given what they what they’ve been doing over the past uh several days um because especially surrounding the draft everyone’s going to want to try and take advantage or hop on and see if they can you know try and take advantage of a team and you know it’d be interesting to see how what Joe Dumar thinks of uh of of some of the pieces on his roster and your own roster and uh obviously there’s a Kings connection there so
yeah again they traded 23 and in 2026 unprotected first the more favorable of New Orleans and Milwaukee uh for 13 to move up 10 spots and then you had people around the league saying that they could have moved into the top five with that
like with an unprotected like
for next year which is Yeah and it’s Yeah it’s next year’s pick when who knows what the Bucks are going to look like like the Bucks could be just one of the worst teams in the league if especially if we get to a point where Giannis asks out i think there’s going to be a really interesting point here after free agency where things are going to get very awkward for a couple of teams and so I I think as opposed to like you know the the trades that happen around the draft the trades that happen around free agency and the buildup to free agency in the draft we’re going to see this window after all of that once the dust settles and if Milwaukee is not good they’re going to like things can get really rough really quick like
or New Orleans is just still not good
well New Orleans uh he’s already made some crazy moves i don’t even know what’s happening there
i mean I’m not I’m not taking Jordan P’s contract especially not for uh CJ McCollum
so yeah like Joe Dum but Joe Dumar’s and uh and Scott Perry are super super close like that’s where Scott Perry got a start with the Detroit Pistons and and Joe Dumar
oh that’s right
yeah yeah uh he was a college coach scott Perry was a college coach and um was just in I think he just left a college and um was going to hang out at some event and Joe Dumar and him ran into each other and he said hey what are you looking to do and he’s like I don’t know was thinking possibly getting into a NBA front office and he’s like hey come see me tomorrow and next thing you know they they had uh they they were together in in Detroit for a long time uh
got some jobs out like candy
yeah uh what are you guys thoughts on Ty Jerome there’s some people in here that would like to know about Ty Jerome
i don’t think he’s a point guard yeah I I don’t know if I mean bounced around he certainly had a great year he he filled in admirably when they were without point guard at times um but I I don’t know that I would commit a lot of money to him uh interesting player but I I don’t know i think I that’s one of those ones where if you’re in a a room full of your team and you try to pull the room and have probably some pretty lively debates about him but I think there’s a lot of I think everybody might have a different idea of what Tai is
yeah I think I’d rather go I I don’t think he’s like your long-term answer and so I think I’d rather go a little bit more stop gap like assuming that Tai Jerome um this is probably his big contract guys like Dennis Shruder Russell Westbrook Tyus Jones you would think it would be a little bit cheaper and I think I’d rather go in that route because I just don’t think like Sean mentioned I don’t think the playmaking is quite there in my mind to be a long-term option i mean even if there was a crazy amount of growth um did he end up winning sixman maybe he got second he was in the conversation um I think Pton Pritchard won actually um Pritchard won the six
yeah um but right up there but I think that you kind of already have that in your Malik Monk obviously and that’s not somebody that I’m trying to you know give a four-year MLE to necessarily
like if you were if you were I know I brought it up before um but to me if you have to pay Tai Jerome a certain amount of money it’s obviously not a max deal but to go after a guy that you hope can blossom and you have questions about whether or not he’s a point guard I mean just go trade for Tyler Herro you know
or just Monk on your team
right keep Malik Monk yeah there’s just things like that like whatever how that however that plays out i I don’t think I think honestly they would want a more solid answer in term of of a be it a long-term point guard or a stop gap point guard but I think point guard still would be the optimal phrasing
yeah and I mean let’s be honest Ty Jerome is almost 28 years old you know and like it’s not like he’s his career path has been like spectacular um I mean he averaged 12.5 points per game this season in Cleveland the year before he averaged two uh and he only played two games in the NBA the year before that he averaged 6.9 7.1 like this isn’t a player who’s really busted through until right now and sometimes that’s just opportunity but also I I it’s tough i I don’t know that I would go out again unless you move on from Malik Monk and you’re trying to backfill that position um
it makes me think of Jonathan Simmons is the first one I thought of of like you don’t sign Jonathan Simmons you go get the next one and that feels very much in the Tai Jerome territory for me
austin yelling at me about Tyler Herro saying he’s not a point guard that that was my point like neither is Tyer
i agree
so if you want to go get a guy who’s not a point guard who can fill in as a point guard I’d rather have Tyler Herro
austin Stout says trade for Reed Shepard um Houston doesn’t have a reason to trade Reed Shepard reed Shepard’s super young and he can sit there and work behind Fred Fanblele who just signed I think what a two-year deal um he opted out of a one-year or they turned they were going to turn down his deal and then they gave him like a 2-year 50 right
so uh that’s still like you’re you’re going to see those two as a tandem over the next couple years especially uh when you consider that they they moved on from Jaylen Green at least I think you’re going to see a lot of those two playing together my young guard on a crowded back court um that I really like is Anthony Black only a rookie last year but just kind of curious to uh see how that continues to develop over there in Orlando with all their guards
yeah I like look I I think the Kings need if they’re going to bring in a player like Dennis Rutder uh they really need to have a young point guard to work with him and to develop and I know somebody asked about um I don’t know where that question was uh if uh oh there we go uh if Devin Carter is a uh is just a shooting guard or do we think he can play some point like I’m not going into the season thinking that he’s he’s not your starting point guard
yeah and I don’t even know that he’s my backup point guard
you know i mean Yeah i mean you you have to I think that you’re going to see a lot in the summer you know as long as he’s not traded you know i think you’ll see him in the summer league um I think it’s
Are you sure about that because I’ve heard
I’m I’m not I’m I’m actually not certain about it but I I think that’s you’ll you’ll see him at some point in the summer league that’s
at least my guess there
i hope so yeah i mean it would be a I think it would be very alarming if you didn’t i I think the point guard thing I mean he would tell you himself coming into the year last year that he wasn’t point guard he was more of a combo guy um
and I don’t think that I we were given a reason to feel any differently but with how they’re currently constructed like sure he can be the point guard if you’re saying defense is how you’re defining these positions because you can have Deon Sabonis Zach DeMart Rozan handling the ball one or two of whoever’s on the floor and he can defend the one I guess but I don’t think he’s your primary initiator even in second units yeah yeah and like look I I think if you’re bringing back Keon Ellis if you’ve got Zack Lavine we don’t know what’s going to happen with Malik Monk you start stacking up like you add in the potential for Shruder all of a sudden Devin Carter is like your six guard and
Clifford is very Devin Carter just a little bigger
bigger
well that can play
it’s coming up in the chat a lot here like no I am not out on Devin Carter at all for the record i don’t think he’s a bust at all i don’t think any of those decisions in my mind have been made i’m not even talking from the team standpoint i’m saying from my own like no I want to see a lot of Devin Carter to be honest but um I I I don’t I I would want to see him in summer league absolutely especially if I was the Kings front office
yeah and uh Megan says uh everyone out on Carter is DaVon 2.0 um like look I I I really like DaVon Mitchell as a player and I actually really enjoy Davon Mitchell a person um I just think that the Kings don’t play his style of basketball in the Miami Heat do and I’m really happy that he found his home like because I think he has I think he’ll be I mean he signed a two-year 20 or he’s about to sign a 2-year 24 million deal um that to me like good for him i’m I’m excited to see him develop and be in a system that just fits his talents you know because that’s that’s what I I think DaVon’s just waiting for that moment where he just fit and he found it in Miami and so I’m hoping that that he sticks around there for a long time because I think he’s a very very good basketball player um
for it’s the three-point shot like that there’s obviously more layers to his game but I think that that is the biggest X factor on like okay can you stay on the floor because funky form whatever but you just have to be able to knock it down consistently um and I don’t I mean that has yet to be proven yeah um the baby daddy asked Sean James Brendo anyone of you going to be in Vegas brendan you’re going to Vegas sean are you going to Vegas it’s uh a little up in the air at the moment so this might be the first time in
Wow
is my streak 15 years
oh
might be might be 15 years something like that which to be honest would be just fine with me if I stay home uh but I No I’m not i actually do not know at the moment who am I
we are uh have to figure that out sounds like you have three of you yeah I’ll be fine i am not going to Vegas um and actually like this week we’ll we’ll do at least one maybe even two podcasts depending on what happens during the week the week after uh I’m going to be on vacation i’m going to go disappear
uh I’m going to disappear to Cabo for five days
this guy yeah I got Yeah it’s good we need to get I need to get out get stretch the legs get out a little bit uh enjoy the outside uh all right
stephen with the F1 review i have not seen it yet i would like to i need to check that out looks great
okay
i’m not even an F1 guy but it looks great
yeah yeah the Brad Pitt uh angle is interesting um do we have any other questions that are pertinent that we need to answer i know I starred one earlier um it was about this San Antonio Spurs pick and we talked about that a little bit there is a nuance to that that um I I’ll bring up um the Kings traded okay so in the draft on draft day they traded the the Spurs pick it’s it’s protected 1 through 16 and then if it’s after 16 they lose it if it’s before 16 then the Kings get the selection and uh OKC gets the Kings two second round picks um the Kings can actually trade the front side of that sorry uh the Kings can trade the other part of that that pick as well just so people understand
they can go out and say “Hey we’ll trade one through 16 to somebody of that Spurs pick.” And it doesn’t matter what the Kings do that year it it only matters what the Spurs do right so that that’s a Spurs pick so if the Spurs are good uh the Kings will lose a pick if the Spurs aren’t very good then the Kings won’t lose a pick um
got it
cool um let’s see do we have anything i
did not go to Wuen Clan oh
I did not go to Wuen Clan i would have but
I thought you were going to oh
you know what pissed me off too i almost bought uh I’ve seen Maroon 5 a lot along a lot i’ve seen them a lot over the past over the few years i think I’ve seen them like 11 times and I almost pulled the trigger uh to buy tickets for them again when they get here in October but they’re playing on a Friday and high school football is interfering our coverage at channel 3 and I’m not happy about it
oh boo okay
maroon 5 is awesome by the way nothing closes like Maroon 5 yeah I I kind of want to go see Maroon 5 again because the time that I saw them here at Golden One his wife had had a baby the night before and I thought Adam Lavine looked exhausted and and just not you know I I I thought it was a great show i didn’t think it was spec like over the top though like I I just thought he looked a little worn out
maroon 5 is like a lot of those bands that people love to hate but then if you go and check them out you’re like “Wow they perform way better than anything I’ve heard on an album.” Yeah yeah
brennan brennan
take a date five
yeah that uh it’s like going to see Timberlake timberlake’s a blast to go see in concert
that dude puts in like 30,000 steps like you’re sitting there last year yeah
look at that yeah he’s he’s all over the place um with the Sixers keeping Grimes around what does that say about McCain moneywise uh from Sawyer J um
he is
I don’t know
going into year two or three mccain
two right year two yeah not worried about the money yet right
no no yeah you got a long time to worry about that
brennan you missed this you missed our last podcast tyrese Maxi was the the topic of conversation so often when he hasn’t been brought up once a week uh couple days later so I like that because I’m like I don’t see how in the world people think Tyrese Maxi is leaving Philly but yeah we’ll see
i think the only way is if someone just overpaid and overpaid and overpaid that would be the biggest thing um Tino Lee what do you think Ken Whitmore’s value would be in a trade um like probably a second round pick for Whitmore
i would say a second round pick i’d also like if let’s say let’s say the Kings were to consider a Devin Carter for Cam Whitmore swap
no thanks
oh really
no
okay
hell no you would
first pick 21st pick in the draft versus the 13th pick in the draft
no I’m not doing it
oh I would i I just like positionally I I think it’s a better fit also I don’t see Houston having any interest in doing that trade either so
I would Yeah
I think for Houston it probably makes sense to wait like maybe the Devon deal i don’t think they would just do it for a second from for that from that perspective it probably makes more sense for them to just wait and see what they have but I don’t know something I like the upside swing of Cam but I think that Deon has somewhat of that himself too
right
okay interesting also like yeah you just talking about moving a second round pick to get Cam Whitmore i’m not moving a guy just took him in the first round last year for who you have you know to basically have them no not doing that interesting um okay i think that’s uh that’s going to wrap it up uh if you guys are still here and you don’t mind can you hit the thumbs up for us that would be amazing let’s see if I can make that
oh yeah i forgot there’s the bubbles
oh there it is yeah oh mine doesn’t do this [ __ ] how come
it’s cuz your thumb’s deformed
my Yeah my thumb doesn’t My thumb doesn’t do that thing that your guys’s do
uh I think it’s part of um your Google like I don’t know there’s a button up above uh
if you give a middle finger does it bubble up too
i don’t think so
i don’t think so um Alex C uh D Rozan for Harden that’s not going to happen um anyway yeah
just figured out the virtual backgrounds
i literally just found it for the first time actually
wow look at you
where are you at there rich guy you gonna go play some piano when we’re done here
my humble abode
yeah um let’s uh piano
let’s do final thoughts what do you guys got i’m excited for summer league i always find it fun when uh when new guys get drafted i think it’s fun to dive through old film it’s the only one of the only times that YouTube TV feels worth it for their unlimited DVR um so going through all that um yeah excited to be out in summer league see some of these guys uh see Dip as the head coach out there i’m curious to talk to him a little bit more and um it’s fun times you know I would say enjoy this we got Monday with some free agency that’ll last for a little while um but it’s going to get real quiet after summer league um as you guys know but fans might forget a little bit it It takes some time uh before what like a month and a half two months of just where it’s real quiet nothing going on so I would I would say enjoy these next couple weeks for sure okay
who’s going to be the guy you fall in love with this year
i think it’s Maxim i think I’m already there
wow lower back tattoo
i watched it happen i literally felt it happen yesterday i was like watching film and I’m like “Oh my god I’m getting way too excited right now.” Like
but I do this every year relax Sean relax Sean um but I do this every year i I think that it’s just you know you see the potential in some guys and I like to keep tabs so but I have learned you know my my Robert Woodas Ramsey love uh maybe I’m like “All right I gotta tone this down a little bit.” Yeah learn from
Well I don’t know it worked with Keon i mean you got the tattoo and everything
good
yeah yeah um when is the press conference i have no idea it it’ll be sometime this week
this week coming up this week
yeah yeah um I’m not sure why they’re they’re waiting for a press conference um typically it it would have been today um but I guess when you’re drafting 24th and 42 um you know and you didn’t know if you were going to have a draft pick uh it kind of changes things so
I have heard it’s because um a big reason why is to get is at least in Nick’s case like he’s going to remain in Sacramento we talked about the work ethic stuff like that like he will be like rema So this is
take time to get here
correct get get your get some things situated because
your summer is Sacramento your off seasonason is still Sacramento so Got it like once he’s here he’s gonna be here
correct now before it was like you had California Classic so a lot of these guys don’t go home until after that so you know when they get there it’s like you’re there for weeks and weeks and weeks so um with California Classic then summer league if you give them you know a good portion of a week to get situated and now come in it’s like all right now settle in so
okay um what let’s just speed round uh will Zack Lavine be on the team by the end of summer
yes is my guess
probably
probably
i don’t know i’ll say yes
okay uh will Malik Monk be on the team come training camp i don’t know
say no i my I I would lean no at this point but that doesn’t mean that it’s no
i mean let’s put this way like if you were to ask we we did this weeks ago with with podcasts earlier in the offseason where it was like who’s the guy that is most likely to be traded and we all said it was Demar Rozan well if you listen to what Scott Perry said on 1140 just yesterday I don’t think you gleam anything from that and think that all of a sudden like I think if you’re hearing that you’re like I think D Rozan’s going to be on the team so
which he said was that he is excited to work uh with D Rozan this year hold on i have the full thing
oh he’s finding it i mean that’s how fluid these things are you get the draft is now in the rear view and so he wasn’t moved you still have plenty of opportunity to to do so but you’ve also had over a month to set up essentially a move to get him out of town and bring in something else so if your return on your product that you’re shopping isn’t good enough to where you vision success without him versus success with him and I think you’re at that point now where you’re looking at he’s he’s a part of your he’s a part of this season so I’m not saying that that’s the case but hearing those those comments from Scott Perry certainly would make you think that
d Rozan is all in and I’m looking forward to working with him this season um and I think that as this has progressed a little bit more we’re hearing more from Scott and kind of just other things as as decisions are being made or considered and stuff i mean talk about trying to create a culture demar’s kind of the perfect guy for that to be honest um and I get the fit questions and things but like who do you want mentoring your rookies like Demar D Rozan is a prime guy for that um and so you know just also thinking about um if you’re looking for high character guys trying to build a culture set an identity while Demar has his onc court fits uh that draw some concern with some of these other guys he plays into that pretty well yeah yeah i mean I Go ahead
i’m sorry no go ahead you you first
i was gonna say just on court it didn’t work not nearly as well as you thought and to expect something different this year
i’m confused why you would think it would work differently like
I uh I also think too there was another thing that came out of that conversation was when he was asked about the point guard situation he seemed to steer into free agency and and not necessarily a trade possibility
um which was also kind of the big thing that I took away from that conversation so
yeah that’s why I think we’re hearing more and more about Shruder and potential like two-year deal um in Sacramento so would not be surprised at all if that were the case uh where again I think initially his agent was trying to pump up his value with the Pistons it’s possible that just the opportunity in Sacramento might look better i mean you know I don’t know if the team is going to be better uh but you certainly you know could see a pathway to him being a starting point guard in Sacramento where he’s not going to be that in Detroit he would be a six-man um cool um all right uh let’s see final thoughts for me um I don’t know uh be safe out there i have no idea about the Sak State moved i know people have asked about the Sax tape uh getting shut down to move to a different conference or they moved to a different conference but they didn’t get bumped up to like the real deal right uh Sean yeah they’re they’re I mean they’re they don’t get football’s not getting FBS um you’re Yeah I mean it improve your facilities good things will come
cool there we go um okay uh we did talk about uh it’s right here at the end we did talk about the Keon situation you have to go back and listen to it um they’ve got until tomorrow to decide whether they’ll pick up the uh his player option for this year uh which would make him an unrestricted free agent or decline his player option which may make him a restricted free agent right now um but yeah we’ll have to see what happens with Keon in the next uh 24 hours um cool uh I think that’s going to do it for this edition of the Kings Speed Podcast thanks for tuning in uh again hit that thumbs up if you don’t mind subscribe to the channel do all that stuff thanks for joining us on Saturday i know it’s really hot outside uh so maybe a lot of you are staying in
it’s 94 on my watch that’s beautiful beautiful
i’m going to go 110 it’s not ready for Vegas
brennon what are you doing tonight
nothing nothing actually I might I might have something going on i’ll let you know text me text me
okay
oh i’ll text you right now
maybe um all right sweet uh that’s going to do it for this edition of the Kingspeed Podcast we’ll be back a couple uh at least once maybe twice this week i expect it to be a busy week uh I think all of us expect there to be at least some movement some signings potential trades uh like I don’t think this is going to be a quiet week at all in Sacramento uh so for KC3 Sean Cunningham and Brendan Nunees from the King’s Pulse podcast I’m James Ham Kings for ESPN 1320 and the Kings Peep see you very soon

KCRA 3’s Sean Cunningham, Brenden Nunes from the Kings Pulse Podcast and The Kings Beat’s James Ham join forces for coverage of the Sacramento Kings.

Topics include the Kings’ 2025 NBA Draft haul, including the additions of Nique Clifford, Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell, a conversation about the point guard position and whether Dennis Schroder fits in Sacramento, followed by plenty of participation from fans in the chat.

Thanks for joining us on this adventure! Big shoutout to Paul Jinkerson (@paulitition) for creating a new intro and outro for the podcast and to Brenden for creating our new overlay for the podcast.

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