How can Porzingis help the Hawks?

How can Porzingis help the Hawks?

[Applause] good morning and welcome to the Athletic NBA Daily for June 25th 2025 we have Andrew Schlech here and ladies and gentlemen we also have a bunch of trades the Celtics are shredding their championship core the Pelicans are doing stuff and the NBA draft is today good morning everybody good morning Andrew
good morning
my goodness lots of trades lots of things happening in the NBA very quickly
sheesh i think I think everybody heard Aaron Wiggins’s speech and just got scared we just got to like we got something we got to do something today
okay well let actually let’s talk about that before the trade stuff happened how was the parade
it was glorious it was absolutely glorious it was and it’s funny because when you think about Oklahoma City prior to the last few days
Oklahoma City is basically known for tragedy and like I say it in like a an in a very serious way like you think about the Oklahoma City bombing that happened in the ‘9s
think about like tornadoes like these devastating tornadoes that happened this is without a doubt the most positive impactful thing that has ever happened in the state of Oklahoma
and it’s very cool to be a part of it you know I was born and raised in Oklahoma City uh covered the Thunder for a long time and so for that team to break through uh was it was very special i think a lot of people uh will always remember you know that moment for the team and for the city and for everybody to kind of gather like that uh was really something special i will credit the championship parade broadcast because I was watching it while I was at the gym this morning and they I it’s just a credit to how knowledgeable the fans in Oklahoma are because they knew everything about everything they were like “The draft is tomorrow we’ve got two picks what are we going to do?” And they’re talking about the draft during the parade i thought that was awesome uh to your point like the Aaron Aaron Wiggins speech was incredible i’ve watched it a couple times since now it’s like the black hole to the NBA champion that’s just
It was funny because we asked him about it is actually the He was called the the black they were called the black eye of the NBA
oh the black eye right yeah
by a uh a man who remained nameless that’s on NBA radio um who may or may not have connections to Sam Prey and
the front office um but
um yeah the Wiggins thing was amazing it was hilarious cuz it
Yeah
he He’s not a guy that like the story I tell about Aaron Wiggins when we when I think about Wiggins doing that today is I was in the locker room one time and he he’s a pretty quiet guy kind of around media and I was in uh postgame or pregame availability and there wasn’t really anybody in there so I go to walk out and Aaron Wiggins crawls out from the inside of his locker i didn’t even know he was in I didn’t know he was in the room but he just kind of like creeps out of the locker and he’s like kind of just and then just kind of slithers out of the the locker room like Wigs I didn’t know you were in here what are you doing
and then he you know pulls that out so it was uh it was very fun
yeah i I loved it i I feel like everybody kind of like got out of their shell in that parade right you know we we saw everybody kind of get loose you know
it was cool it was it was very fun to see them um Yeah let loose and just enjoy it
yeah you know what uh we often obsess over the trades and we are about to obsess over some trades right now but the reason to do the trades is to get to where the Oklahoma City Thunder were just at
to win a championship uh maybe not in the case of the Boston Celtics who are taking apart a championship core and I feel like we have to break down both these traits together in a little bit we’ll start with the Drew Holiday trade so uh two nights ago Drew Holiday gets sent to the Portland Trailblazers back to the Portland Trailblazers if you remember he got traded in the Damen Lill trade uh to Portland then got rerouted to Boston won a championship there but he’s back in Portland uh Anthony Simons and two second round picks headed to the Boston Celtics what were your thoughts initially for this trade well the the first thing was am I dreaming because like why are they trading for him again
yeah yeah
I guess to keep him this time and it’s just funny how differently the Blazers are positioned after a year you know the the fact that they trade for him and this is clearly not a place for you right now Drew i guess not a year later it’s a couple years later but like this is clearly not a place for you and actually on second thought maybe it is
a little ways down the road
yes it is this is a great place for you
just a couple years away um it’s it’s very it’s a kind of a cool story in that way
i like it for the Blazers i think that it accomplishes a few different a couple different things you know I think it helps them you know clear out their cap sheet and kind of sort out their back court a little bit and it brings in a guy who has such great experience across the NBA
that can help you with you know shore up your defense on the perimeter and he can teach Scoot Henderson so I I love the deal for them for Boston I mean I what’s going to happen with Anthony Simons here in Boston uh feels like a a strange fit there and like really wow I
so I I love this trade for both teams at first I was like okay this is surprising i maybe I’m a bigger Simons guy than consensus i think that might be the case here but I just think a guy who’s as talented of a shooter as he is
um in that offensive system where it’s like hey we’re we’re still going to take 60 threes a game
yeah there is a world in which he he kind of thrives there um that that’s my idea with what Anthony Simons can do you know
yeah I get it and and I I guess whenever I think about this Boston team I think about a team that can be target like a guy that can be targeted on the other end
for sure
like offensively yes I think it’s going to be amazing but
when it comes down to it like they’re going to be trying to compete for titles whenever Tatum comes back and and you just see it in the playoffs if if there’s a mismatch that exists
yep
when you get down to the conference finals and the finals it’s just it’s hunting time like let’s hunt whoever it is
yeah and I think Anthony Simons who has no playoff experience who you know will get hunted in those moments I would just worry about him getting getting played off the court on the other end so like that that to me it’s it’s a little it’s it’s an interesting fit I would say
yeah hey look the the main goal for Boston here was to get rid of Drew Holiday’s contract and the fact that they didn’t have to attach picks actually got two second round picks in return yeah
along with Simons and were able to kind of bet on this younish guy to maybe get a little bit better i feel like that’s a huge win for them and from from Portland’s perspective I don’t hate it because we’ve seen how important vets are to teams you know in general that want to take that competitive step you think of uh you know Tobias Harris and Malik Beasley in Detroit you think of Fred Vanble Vleet and Dylan Brooks in Houston teams who want to like just take that next step with their young core make a lot of sense and also it’s kind of a testament to the confidence they have in Scoot Henderson in Shaden Sharp in Denny Abdia to eventually take those steps i’m actually really high on the Portland Trailblazers in general i tweeted this yesterday but I 44 wins next season is my lock we’re It’s a July lock or a June lock that I’m making right now
that I’m really high on them that’s not that high better than that um I just don’t also with the Simons thing like do you do you give him an extension like what that that’s the thing that’s confusing to me is like
yeah they could also trade him again you know that’s the other part to this like they could they could move him down the road uh so it adds that level of flexibility okay worth mentioning the other Celtics trade that went down and that’s Christoph’s Porzingis uh Porzingis it’s a three team trade Porzingis gets sent to the Atlanta Hawks uh the Nets receive Terrence man and the 22nd pick Nets now have five first round picks we’ll talk about that in a little bit but uh the Celtics get George Nyang and a second round pick and get out of the second apron so they’re officially under the quote unquote you know fake hard cap of the NBA thoughts on Porzingis to Atlanta
i kind of like this for Atlanta i think that they needed to add some shooting
and Porzingis provides that from a spot that’s really valuable and now you have like if if he’s healthy you have this like Jaylen Johnson Porzingis front court that’s really that’s the biggest question though if he’s healthy you know
it’s always the question it is but if you’re Atlanta like what else are you doing and how can you get a guy that has that kind of upside
right
trading what they traded you know
no for sure
it just doesn’t really exist and
so if you believe in this Trey Young le team you have to take some risks
in order to get to where you want to go and so I I like it from that angle i think it also allows you could play him next on Yako Kong Wu if you wanted to
well like there’s just a lot that you could do with those guys i I like it from that stance but yeah health-wise it is it’s absolutely terrifying but if you’re thinking about hey maybe we can maybe we can help him out maybe he can get over this illness in Atlanta like I don’t I don’t know i don’t know what to do with that but I do like the basketball fit
yeah uh the pick and pop stuff with Trey Young and Kristoff Sporzing could be very very fun and lethal i don’t think he’s really had a pick and pop threat in his career that I can think of it’s always been like that rim runner type the Clint Capellas the Inca Congo of the world
y
um that is fun i think the connection him Jaylen Jo Johnson and Christophorzingis can have like Spain pick and roll actions would be a lot of fun too
um yeah they basically gave up the 22nd pick for Christophorzingis who’s better than that but it was because the Celtics again were trying to shed salary and the question I have for you as we we kind of round out the Celtics part of this do you think that they end up trading Jaylen Brown or Derrick White i’ll add I’ll sprinkle in Derrick White in there but the real interest is Jaylen Brown
i don’t think so i think you got to hold on to those guys i think you got to do whatever you can to hold on to those guys you’ve
you’ve done your financial work here i think it’s I think it’s time to kind of ride it out listen look at the Eastern Conference
it’s wide open the East it’s not I’m not saying they’ll make a finals run but could this team win around in the playoffs
absolutely
it’s not an insane take and you also don’t underestimate giving some of these other guys more touches toward the end of games
and more ability to kind of spread their wings offensively to see what they’ve got because those experiences are extremely valuable this is not a throwaway year for Boston
this is a year to kind of explore what other guys can do as you wait for your best player to come back there can be a lot a lot of value had here and so I just don’t think you can just trade away these guys
yeah i’m also curious like what they do to round out the roster for the rest of the year because they don’t have any I mean Luke Cornet is a unrestricted free agent they got to resign him al Horford is an unrestricted free agent who knows if he wants to continue playing basketball at the age he’s at right now yeah
at this point it’s like Xavier Tilman is their starting center like what does that what does that look like yes I like the rest of their group but they still got to round out this roster and there’s there’s kind of conversation of them maybe trying to get into another first round pick or something like that in the draft we’ll see what the Celtics do but clearly going to be a very busy summer for them very busy they’re going to be active doing a lot of things and like Yeah yeah it’s it’s it’s clear a lot of times when teams make trades like this and and make several trades it’s like okay something’s not done
yeah okay Andrew quickly are you a uh Jordan Pool believer i am I am not a Jordan Pool believer okay
um I guess it’s like what what what are you asking me to believe in is my first question
are you believing in a a guy who can put some buckets up for you i honestly don’t know yeah
I believe in that
but also pelicans don’t belong in the pool all right
or the other way around i don’t know
but it’s But it’s not great i Okay look let me break down the trade break down the trade and then
Okay so the New Orleans Pelicans have received Jordan Pool Sadiq Bay the 40th pick in the draft and the Wizards take on CJ McCollum uh Kelly Olen in a future second round pick for the Wizards this is just like they take on a bunch of expiring salary they now have $100 million in cap space potentially next summer um so that’s what the Wizards are trying to do
but the Pelicans now have Jordan Pool that’s the other side of this
joe Joe Dumars listen
man
trading for Sadi Bay troy Weaver
as a Weaver guy what are we
a Weaver guy
what are we doing here what’s going on why are we doing this what’s happening to my Pelicans roster that actually looks so fun and promising not that long ago
not a believer in Jordan Pool
like I I certainly don’t believe in the DeJonte Murray Jordan Pool back court don’t like that um I don’t know i don’t know what this team is becoming you know I don’t I don’t know what is happening to this team uh I’d be very worried i was you would already should be worried if you’re a Pelicans fan but I’d be a little bit more worried if I’m dealing for Jordan Pool thinking that something’s going to happen there to help turn my franchise around you know this is two two summers in a row they’ve traded for players that um I don’t know are going to help you get to the place you want to be and so
um you know Jordan Pool’s owed 31.8 this next year 34 million this the year after that uh fully guaranteed i this this roster is kind of a mess in my opinion i don’t I don’t get I don’t honestly don’t get where they’re going
and so yeah I I don’t think
I don’t know what question they’re trying to answer but if Jordan Pool is the answer you come up with then I’m concerned
well this is the first major transaction for the Joe Dumar era New Orleans Pelicans and so I’m I’m really curious like what the thought process was behind getting Jordan Pool here maybe it was just like hey I honestly and truthfully in the Wizards games that I watched last year I thought Jay Jordan P was actually better than he was in his first year with the Wizards Bar was on the floor but he took a step at being a little bit more efficient a little bit more concise etc etc so I I don’t know maybe it’s just a bet on a guy who might get better for you and you’re giving away some of these older pieces and that’s the gist of it yeah and maybe they’re just trying to fill the salary slot because
CJ is going to expire
and all you’re trying to do is continue the salary spot as an asset right
and like if that’s the explanation if that’s the answer to the question whatever the question we’re trying to answer is I’m okay with that i’m okay with trying to do that um but if it’s a basketball solution again
yeah there’s a lot of questions there
not unless you know expansion’s happening and you’re moving to the east okay
yeah new Orleans moving to the east oh we’ve had this conversation before okay anyways coming up uh we’ll be back in a sec we’ll talk about the Mavericks contract extensions and more the NBA draft okay we are back talking about the Mavericks contract extension so Kyrie Irving got extended declined his player option extended for three years i believe it was $119 million um and then Daniel Gaffford also extended uh that was a $20 million per year deal how do you feel about the Mavs doing things extending their guys keeping their core together obviously they’re going to be taking Cooper Flag tonight
um yeah thoughts on the Mavs moves
i like the Kyrie deal i think it’s good to get him locked in when he was healthy he was sincerely one of the best guards in the NBA
i was coming off the ACL tear a little scary about his age and everything but my guess is that he’ll be just fine he’s a guy that has made it through injuries before kind of knows what it takes to get to the other side so I do love that for them uh the Gaffford deal is a really interesting one because when you look at the way this team is constructed you kind of think they needed to trade Gaffford but with the extension that they gave him he’s still tradable which I think is is very interesting because now he actually might hold a little bit more value
to some teams out there on this extension so I I like it from that standpoint it still gives them options you didn’t trap yourself for the next six months with having I mean like we all know that AD is probably a starting center in the NBA but he doesn’t want to be that he wants to get Yeah starting power forward right yeah great but you’re drafting Cooper Flag who plays what position
yeah exactly
power forward so like what are we doing here uh I like that it gives them options i like that it potentially adds a little bit more value to Gaffford i I like those things about it i don’t think there’s any problem with a $20 million contract for anybody in this league i think that’s an easy one to get out get out of i think that it’s like 10% of the cap or whatever it is it’s it’s it’s fine it’s a fine deal i think it’s good business done by the Mavs
i don’t know what else you would do and so I I like getting these things done in
I’m kind of surprised that it from Gaffford’s side though because all the reporting was he wants starter money he wants a starting role yeah and I I’m not sure that that may maybe that’s the purpose here it’s like he’s going to start ahead of Lively and Lively will be coming off the bench but that seems backwards uh in in process so I’m kind of surprised that this was the deal and also $20 million is not starting center money anymore because of the way that the cap is going up it’s like $30 million is starter starting center money so
I’m surprised from Gaffford
bench for the Mavs would be my question uh Daniel Gaffford PJ Washington maybe three
yeah I guess so yeah Naji Marshall coming off the bench they have no guards they have this Brandon Williams guy who I like but after that they have no other guards yeah
this Brandon Williams guy other than that I have no idea
i think he’s good yeah it is uh it’s tricky but that’s maybe where like I said you could trade Gaffford so maybe
eventually right yeah maybe maybe you could trade Gaffford for for somebody
yeah there’s also the PJ Washington extension so maybe maybe that’s the guy they trade to go out and like even up this roster a little bit that’s
Yeah somebody’s going to end up unhappy on this team as that’s that’s the thing about it is it’s not only you have an imbalanced roster
TJ Washington should play a lot of minutes daniel Gaffford should play a lot of minutes derek Lively should play a lot of minutes anthony Davis should play a lot of minutes cooper Flag all these guys should play a lot and so you can’t you can’t be like “Hey everybody we’re all going to play you 19 minutes a game.” Like what are you talking about like yeah yeah there has to be here
yeah there has to be a a through line here with what the plan is um okay let’s let’s talk about the NBA draft it’s happening tonight i’m so excited you You can’t even believe how excited I am for this we’re going to do a a live show as well so come and hop on with us and and react to everything that’s happening with the draft oh live during the NBA draft
live in action but yeah no I’m I’m so excited for the draft like genuinely could not be more excited for it uh I’ve really really dived deep because that’s just the way this draft has worked out for me truthfully
um very intrigued by what the Nets are doing they now have five first round picks in this draft are they moving up are they buying into another lottery are they doing something else so they trade him for a big guy i don’t know what they’re doing but it’s it’s fishy and I’m intrigued
um okay we we thought it would be cool to do a little exercise i will draft a player for your team the Oklahoma City Thunder and you will draft a player for my team the Toronto Raptors
love it
would you like to go first
uh I’ll go first
okay
okay all right
at number nine I’ve really I’ve fallen in love with this guy as a draft prospect okay give me Cedric Coward
i like it i would love it
or the Raptors i believe in his shooting upside which is something that needs to be said about whoever the Raptors draft right like
Very yeah very true yeah
should use some more shooting um I I like him a lot i think he’s a guy that could do a lot of things um off the ball on the ball i think that defensively he’s got some potential as well he’s been a draft riser
throughout the process he’s kind of a bigger guard um I don’t know i I just really like Cedric Coward i think that he could be a really fun fun player there and I think that he can play right away there’s other guys in this range that I just wonder could they play right away there’s also some Raptors players
there’s a lot of Raptors Zy players in that range
shoot it in that range that I would be a little terrified of joining them like let’s just Can we give Scotty some shooters that’s all I want like let’s let’s stop getting guys that could just that just drive the ball to oblivion like we need guys that can shoot it
yeah I I agree uh it would be great to have Cedric Coward i think he would be awesome he’s also one of those guys where it’s like um I would love for the Raptors to acquire another pick in order to get a guy like Cedric Coward uh he is a bucket he just is a professional scorer and because he’s been uh through kind of multiple places D3 then playing and he was supposed to play at Duke and decided to just declare for the NBA draft like he’s he’s kind of grown into his game so to your point experienced in what he can do too yeah okay for the Oklahoma City Thunder
mhm
uh you guys have two picks obviously so intrigued to see what you guys do there
yeah there’s there’s some trade up rumors
there’s maybe maybe even who knows look at us look at us you know it could be a possibility
you want two pics
I know somebody’s got two pics right yeah exactly we’ll talk call my people call my people
you You call Messiah i’ll call Sam we’ll We’ll get them linked up we’ll see if they know each other’s numbers
yeah yeah they They’re pretty well acquainted i will say they know each other very well um Okay i would say the guy that I’m looking at for you uh you could go a bunch of different directions i feel like Oklahoma City loves to find a guy with character but I think a dude that I would you guys would just fall in love with is Thomas Sorber uh Georgetown guy big man long arms so matches the kind of descriptors in terms of the defense you guys like to play with the activity and deflections and whatnot yeah um I I I don’t want to say a Hartinstein replacement because Hartinstein’s still a part of this team but eventually could be a Hartinstein replacement
um that to me is the intrigue of Sorber who can put the ball on the floor make plays offensively um I’ve had this comp for a little bit but he kind of reminds me of Roy Hibbert he’s a little smaller than Roy Hibbert but he’s long
he’s a lot smaller than Roy Hibbert yes Roy Hbert’s like 71 or whatever and Thomas Orbert’s like 6’9 but he’s he is a giant in terms of arms like huge length like wingspan through the roof
um
yeah Georgetown we got the slow feet we got We got everything
it kind of matches it does and And he does the vertical you know he stays vertical it’s incredible to watch
yep
thomas Sorber for the Oklahoma City Thunder i really like that pick yeah
yeah i don’t I don’t mind that one um he I I it’s it’s finding the like third center or fourth center now you know to go behind Jay Will
it’s a little boring it’s a little bit boring i would like
take your f take your fun pick and the other pick you know you know
yeah you could get I mean maybe Liam McNeely falls to me at 24 then then I could be a little happy but I think he’s going in that probably 17 to 21 range I would guess but you know uh little little boring but maybe he is maybe he is that replacement because the Thunder are going to have to make some tough decisions here and Hartinstein has a team option on his not this next year but the year after that
right
and so maybe he extends I mean the guy was wearing a a shirt with Nick Collison’s face on it today um maybe that’s signaling hey you know what nick Collison took less money to stay here he did
maybe I’ll do the same thing to stick around OKC maybe it’s a signal out there and Thomas Sorber you can stay away i have no idea i have no idea we’ll we’ll find out i don’t I don’t I don’t mind the Sorber pick
do you have a position you like cuz you’re an NBA champion i don’t know what position you really need and they also have there’s no roster spots so what position do you really want for this Thunder team
oh I don’t know i I would like a bigger wing come up that could shoot it a little bit i mean that would that would be nice i mean a lot of people draw Colin Murray Bole’s lines to the Thunder obviously not a shooter kind of
the uh the anti-shooter he was one of the Raptorsy guys I was thinking of
definitely is a Raptorsy guy
state defends passes does all the deflection stuff that you like like that
i could also see Cedric Coward for you guys to be honest with you
uh I would like that a lot i don’t know that he gets to to 15 but
fair enough fair enough
i like him i also like Nick Clifford from Colorado State i think he is a fun a fun player he’d be
he’s like JDub’s age basically though
yeah yeah I know he’s an older guy yeah he’s basically like a veteran at this point he’s a super senior i think he is legitimately four years older than Nicola Topic um so I think that I don’t The Thunder usually don’t draft guys that are that old um but I think he’s he’s interesting for sure i I just just please just don’t Sam please don’t take Jagger Demon just please don’t do it like don’t don’t do it that’s my only thing
another Topic type he’s a Listen have you ever heard this story thunder a giant point guard that can’t shoot
they love them though they’re hoping
passer they just want the one guy yeah
yeah they just want one guy i can’t wait for this draft i There are a lot of fun characters in this
yes
um also I mentioned Nick i don’t know if his name is Dominique i couldn’t find it in Samini’s draft guide it doesn’t say that it is and so I’m just sitting here holding out hope that we get the first Nick ever in the NBA his mama calls him Nick so I’m gonna call him Nick that’s go with I don’t know
i love I love welcoming brand new first names yes the NBA it’s one of my favorite things
yeah hopefully there’s an Espaniar one day in the NBA how cool would that be what a brand new first name you know
rock there hasn’t been a common has there i don’t know no maybe not i don’t think so
there there hasn’t been okay there hasn’t been and you know what we’re welcoming at least two new first names to the NBA
wonderful no no con ever either so
no con like very fun firstname guys Casperis probably not a Casper
get ready basketball reference you’re getting a Casper
anybody on 2K now who wants to create a My Player and your name is Con you’re welcome
yep you’re welcome
there has been a VJ before i don’t know i’m sorry i’m taking everybody on this weird journey of my brain right now when it comes to the league
no it’s okay it’s okay this is what the people want um okay folks again tap into our live stream talking about the NBA draft it’s going to be myself Andrew it’ll be a lot of fun we’ll talk about the draft we’ll react if anything crazy happens and I imagine something crazy will happen because that’s the world that we live in in the NBA uh folks as always thank you for tapping in do the liking subscribing and things that you guys usually do to make sure this YouTube channel um gets the support it requires appreciate you thank you Andrew appreciate you as well see you guys later take care

Es Baraheni and Andrew Schlecht break down the Celtics trading Jrue Holiday to the Blazers and Porzingis to the Hawks and how these trades affect the Hawks, Blazers and Celtics. They also discuss the Jordan Poole to New Orleans trade and the overall direction of the Pelicans. Then the guys take a break to discuss the extensions of Kyrie Irving and Daniel Gafford PLUS a quick NBA Draft Preview.

Host: Es Baraheni
With: Andrew Schlecht
Executive Producer: Andrew Schlecht