FREE AGENCY BREAKDOWN 🚨 What moves can the 76ers make? 🤔 | NBA Today

FREE AGENCY BREAKDOWN 🚨 What moves can the 76ers make? 🤔 | NBA Today

Well, the 76ers, they had high hopes this time last year. In the off season, they added Paul George, four-year max deal, but PG, he didn’t have the strongest debut in Philly with his lowest numbers in over 10 years, but he struggled to find his footing. And then injuries hit the 76ers and hit them hard. Joel Embiid, Paul George, Tyresese Maxi all played in just 15 games together, and it all ended the season with injuries that sidelined that trio. But Philadelphia did get a little bit of lottery luck. They ended up with the third overall pick. They selected VJ Edgecom of Baylor. He now adds some depth to the back court with Maxi, Jared McCain coming back and then Quinton Grimes if he does return. So, it’s fair to say last season didn’t go as Philadelphia expected here. We all know their success. It centers literally around their center Joel Embiid. So, Ramona, it’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Joelle on his health. We did hear Daryl my say he expects to be good to go for training camp. Can you shed some more light on that?
Yeah, there’s optimism he’ll be back for training camp and he’s he’s been doing well. He’s actually in Philadelphia and I think that’s a difference from years past where he’s out here in Los Angeles for the summer, but this year he’s staying close to Philly where they’re watching him every day. They see him all the time and he was actually at a real Real Madrid game at Lincoln Field the the other day. So, um, you’ve seen Joel around town and I think there’s I hesitate to use even the word optimism, right, when we talk about his return timeline, but but Daryl my said it so we’re going to repeat it and uh he’s working hard at his rehab and we’ll see where he ends up and when we see him on the court again. Okay, before we talk about the expectations for the Philadelphia 76ers, I want to check in with our Bobby Mox Marks here just on where this roster stands. I sound like a New Yorker. Bobby Mox. We’re going to check in with Bobby Mox. Bobby Mox. Yeah, I’m I’m channeling the city of brotherly love here, but can you just show us what Philly’s roster looks like? Well, in the prior segment talked about Jonathan Kamingo being a restricted free agent. Philadelphia has their own restricted free agent and Quinton Grimes here. He is still on the market. Probably him and Cam Thomas the best shooting guards. He is a priority for Philadelphia because when you look at the 76ers $180 million in salary, they are they are not over they are not over under over the luxury tax yet. But when you look at you put Grimes in that puts them over the luxury tax. 195 is the number for the first apron. So they’re kind of right at that. We’ve talked about health and why it matters. Here’s why. 55, 52, and 38. This is topheavy in salary. That’s why we’ve talked about Joel Embiid health. The rest of the roster when you look at certainly if you put Quinton Grimes and BJ Edgecom, that’s your back court. Remember, you still have Jared McCain who’s coming back from that injury here. So, they’ve got the youth, but at the end of the day, it’s all going to rely on Joel Embiid and how healthy he could be. Everything, Bobby, you’re right, comes back to Joel Embiid. Particularly because I was with the 76ers at training camp last year. You and I were talking about this yesterday, Tim. And they told me, Joelle told me, Paul George told me top to bottom, this is a roster that is built knowing that that Joel Embiid isn’t going to play 82 games, knowing that he’s probably not even going to play 65. He’s won MVP already. This is a roster they’re trying to build to be able to withstand injury. And then you just saw the floodgates open. So, I am hesitant to use the eword, but I’m going to expectation. Oh, there it is.
Yeah. Well, look, first of all, I’m going to agree with what Ramona just said. We’re not allowed to use the word optimistic with this team. I understand. I’m not going to make eye contact with UD for this segment because I know he he wants to jump on me. Maybe this is the Philly connection in me coming out a little bit. But I’m looking at this and saying, “Wait a second. All three of their stars are expected to be fully healthy at the start of the year. I understand we expect it to be derailed at some point. I don’t even look at this year as having happened. I defy anybody to go to basketball reference and pull up the history of the Philadelphia 76ers and see a line next to last season. It didn’t exist. It was like the Bermuda Triangle year. It never got off the ground. You’re going into the year with that level of talent. You just had the third pick in the draft. You pick up Edgecom who athletically can play in the league immediately. Some point you get Jared McCain back. you have this incredible revelation uh in in what they got off the bench last year with their scoring. I look at this team and say, man, let’s sleep on them if you want and go ahead, expect the worst, UD, the bottom line is the talent is there and if they’re healthy, they are going to make noise in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, the talent is there. I I have no problem with the talent, but establish your leadership. Who are we going to follow in that locker room? Who is going to be the voice? Not gonna be a Joel Embiid. He’s not gonna play every game. Everybody can’t do Joel Embiid does. He’s going to sit out practices. Most guys can’t sit out practices. Is it going to be Paul George? We’ve seen that before. We’ve seen him in with the Clippers. He is not a leader. A great player, but he is not the leader. You need to establish a leader. In my opinion, that leader needs to be Tyrese Maxi. I know he’s young. I know it’s a lot to put on his shoulders. He is the guy who shows up every night. He is the guy who is in practice every day. He is the guy who is vocal. And if I’m not mistaken, he is the guy who also challenged Joel Embiid about being present when he needed to be present. So, yes, on paper it looks good. But if you don’t have leadership, if you haven’t established that leader in your locker room, I don’t know if you were successful.
Well, the last four months have actually been pretty good. The hell is that?
We didn’t hear from them and they kept their pick.
They embarked on one of the most ambitious tank jobs in the history of the NBA and it worked.
Nobody takes like the six or something.
They tanked amazingly. It was one of the most amazing tanks I’ve ever seen. Number two, they got incredible luck in the lottery to get all the way to the number three pick. And number three, I don’t want to reference this as positive, but there’s been injuries around in the East. And with their level of talent with Embiid, George, and Maxi, and I mean, a lot of people are excited about BJ Edge Cup. I don’t know what you expect from a rookie, but you got a top three pick.
Why shouldn’t this team be regarded as a contender in the Eastern Conference? Like, they like they should absolutely be up there in terms of straight talent with the Cavs and the Knicks. We can’t count on it, but there’s no reason why they can’t enter this season with huge expectations. say I said it again.
The sequel can be better than the original at times, but I’m just wondering if we’ve seen this movie before. I think that’s where my hesitancy comes.
We have and listen, I don’t want to speak for Joel Embiid on this because he’s going to have a lot to say when he does come back and he does get in front of a microphone, but there’s a reason he’s not talking and it’s because he understands what we’ve all been talking about, right? Which is that it was so bad last year. You you just I know people paid money to go to games. I know Josh Harris wrote checks to these sellers, but so but last year really it’s like it didn’t happen, right? But like people saw it, but it was it was that bad that it you you want to forget it immediately. And I think Joel Embiid has a pride about being the face of this franchise about the responsibility he took on by signing that extension and his his his role within the organization. But you can’t say anything if you can’t play. And until he comes back and until he can play, then then let’s let’s wait and say really quick. I just all my circle of friends are Philly guys and I’m telling you the vibe they’re not even talking about the Sixers at all. Maybe that’s cuz the Eagles won the Super Bowl and the Phillies are pretty damn good. Maybe that’s why. But it’s almost feels like even in the city of Philadelphia, they don’t expect anything to go right for this. That’s kind of where they’re at right now,
right? It’s a boogeyman. You don’t want to say it out loud because you don’t want to to jinx it. But if everything goes right, and with Philadelphia, that’s always such a huge huge if. Why not? Why not the 76? I promise it’s not personal UD that we keep playing these highlights.
Only highlights we got.
It’s just because Denver’s been busy lately.
The only highlights we got at ESPN.
Let’s talk about Denver currently. How’s that? They’ve made some moves. They brought back Bruce Brown. They added Yonas Valenunis. They added Tim Hardaway Jr. and then also in a huge trade yesterday brought in Cam Johnson in exchange for Michael Porter Jr. All of these moves have allowed Denver to get out of any apron situations and have allowed us to use that dun type of music. So where do you think UD that the Nuggets stap stack up in the west now?
Just a little bit behind Houston, Wendy. Just a tad bit behind Houston.
Just a little hair.
Just a I mean we bring in a guy like Valentis. Man, let’s be real. The Joker averaged 40 minutes per game in the playoff. There’s no way he can sustain that. You bring in a guy who played 18 minutes a game last year and averaged 10 points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes. You don’t need him to play 30 minutes. You just need him to give joke a little break. You also go get a guy Tim Hardway Jr. who was ignitable. Guy shot 40% from three last year. He’s the guy who you see one go through. He’s liable to hit five, six or seven. That just opened things up. Fan favorite Bruce Brown who a guy who’s killed us in the finals. Averaged 11 points a game. I hated him then, but I love him now in that position going back there. I like what Denver is doing. This is a team that was one game away from the Western Conference Finals last year and well, excuse me, one game away from beating the champions last year. So, I say they’re a little bit behind Houston with you. I I don’t I don’t know why you say they’re not that close.
I I agree. Comparable. I thought you meant for their offseason, but let me just say that Ben Tender and John Wallace, their new front office, they’ve done a remarkable job in their first few days uh running the show here. Number one, they’ve gotten coach David Adelman options. This is something that Michael Malone just didn’t believe he had last year. They have options. He can go different ways. I’m not saying Jonas Valenunis is going to play 82 games. There might be times when he doesn’t play. There might be times when we see um you know a hardway come in and out of the rotation, but now he’s got options. The second thing is with Cam Johnson, they’ve got a guy who can really help them defensively. I think he’s going to be an upgrade defensively on Michael Porter and he saved his owner tons of money. This maneuver helped save the Nuggets money and that will not only make a difference this year, but into next year as they try to keep this window for Jokic open.
This to me is like a home renovation. Like you put a fresh coat of paint on something, redo the kitchen. That’s what this feels like to me. What did they lack? They lacked depth.
Yep.
And they lacked a serviceable big when Joic is off the floor. They answered both of those and they upgraded a starting position from a championship team. To me, you’re right. Houston, to me, they clearly won the race of the offseason. Denver’s certainly trying to run them down in the home stretch. And I think more than the offseason, let’s just talk about prospects for next year. Denver is a contender. Denver is that team that potentially could give the Thunder all they can handle again and maybe even come out of the West. That’s how much I like what they’ve done to give them additional depth. That team looked completely gassed at the end of the year. This answers a lot of that.
Bobby, he could have waited a season. How would that have changed things?
Yeah, he could have added another year. So, it would have been five years, 345. It would have been a monster. The number
felt that, right? You felt that.
I think Sam Prey felt that too. UD the number in the first year still would have stayed the same. It just sort of added an extra year. The 15th player of all time to sign a supermax extension. The positive is that this extension doesn’t start for two years from now. So we’re going to focus on Jaylen Williams and Chad Homegr extension eligible that would start next year. They have staggered their contracts as far as they can afford all these players. That’s the key. Four first round picks next year. That’s another key. They will have some hard decisions next summer. When you look at Isaiah Hartinstein, Lud Dort, both players have team options here. But when we talk about this apron and the punitive restrictions here, the one team that can defeat the apron is Oklahoma City, just based on how much young talent they have on this roster.
I thought the apron was undefeated, but no, no, here comes the Oklahoma City Thunder. And if I’m not mistaken, Bobby, SGA will get to a point within this contract that he’s at a million dollars a game.
He will be his last year uh of this contract here. He’ll be right. He He’ll Hey, maybe by by then we’ll have a shortened season ready to come out of retirement ready to come back. Maybe by then stretch for a minute.
Maybe by then we’ll have a 65 game season. It’ll be a million plus more. But no, it’s it’s right on there. It’s a as the salary cap grows, the contracts grow. And when we came into this league in the 90s, what was it? 20.
Who the hell came in in the night?
I did. The hell look at you. I think you’re supposed to be looking at me. Listen, I’m talking to every team out there. It still goes in. I just can’t get open.
Yeah.
So, that’s on the coaching staff.
So, Tim may be raising his hand here if he’s hearing these numbers continuing to go up. But Brian, it’s interesting that they are going to have some decisions to make next summer. Not this summer, but next summer. I know something that makes that decision a little bit easier. Winning if they’re able to run it back.
And they’ve been preparing for this for a couple of years now. The contracts that they’ve signed to their other role players, they go down because they’ve been expecting to pay Shay and expecting to play Chad and Jaylen Williams. So they go down a little bit. Will they be able to fit all of them in? Probably not. There will probably be some sort of maneuver they will have to do, but their window is wide open. At the end of the day, if you look at the teams that have won multiple championships over the course of time, the most recent, you know, I don’t know if you want to call it a dynasty was the Warriors. The players that they won around Steph, Clay, and Draymond in 2022 were completely different than the players they won around those three guys in 2014, 2015. So, that’s what’s going to have to happen with the Thunder. And they’re equipped to do that. They’ll have to rotate the players around them a little bit, but they have these three guys. And by the end of July, there’s a good chance all three of them are going to be under long-term contract. Long-term contracts that cost a pretty penny. I was weighing this yesterday, UD, when do you go from the reigning champs to the defending champs? I think you get raining all the way through the summer and then once September hits, then you start maybe the title defense. Does that logic sound good to you? That’s about right. All right. The logic sounds good to you. I was wondering because you ride it out all summer. You ride it all summer. But
what did they say in the ‘9s about that? How did that go?
I wouldn’t know what the hell. I’m still wondering why y’all keep looking at me, but they say 90 passes right by me.
Just like ’90s, not here, not me. Uh, the 2024 2025 season officially over, though. It’s the second full day of the new league year. We’ll still give reigning champs to the Oklahoma City Thunder. defending yet, but we thought we’d take a little 365day trip into the NBA today vault to remind you how busy of a year it’s been. We’re going all the way back to last summer. LeBron James Steph Curry, they signed LeBron did a 2-year $104 million extension with a player option that he just recently picked up for this year, while Steph signed a one-year extension that helps keep him in Golden State through 2026, 2027. And then late last September, that was when the blockbuster trade that sent Cat to the Knicks, Julius Randles in Minnesota, just a month before the start of the season. That is when that trade went down. And after the offseason drama was over, the Celtics, they had a chance to raise their NBA record, 18th championship banner into the rafters at TD Garden. But the defending champs, they had their work cut out for them, chasing after the Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder. Both teams were the class of the field all season long. Both of them won at least 65 games and earned the number one seed in the East and the West Conference. And then the trade that shocked the world. We all remember where we were when this happened, right? Luca to LA, Anthony Davis to Dallas. One of the biggest moves in NBA history. The deadline also saw Jimmy Butler land in Golden State. It was a busy, busy trade deadline. And then on a much sadder note, it was announced that Greg Papovich, the winningest coast in NBA history, would be stepping down as head coach of the Spurs after 29 seasons, five NBA titles here. This was a busy year in the NBA. But back to that team in Oklahoma City, their superstar Shay Gildas Alexander, he would be named the MVP of the regular season for the first time in his career. He averaged 30 points a game once again. From the MVP of the regular season to maybe the MVP of the playoffs, Tyresese Hallebertton turned into one of the most must-see TV programs in postseason history. Four gamewinning or gametying shots in the final seconds of the fourth quarter in overtime. Something that’s never been seen before. But the drama continued on June 22nd. That’s when Kevin Durant was traded to the Houston Rockets. It happened around 12:30 p.m. Eastern time. Fast forward to just before 11:00 that very same day, the final buzzer sounded on the season and the Thunder were named the NBA champions for the first time since moving to Oklahoma City. And officially SGA won that finals MVP. And then just 3 days later, to no one’s surprise, the Mavericks, they selected Cooper Flag number one overall in the 2025 NBA draft. So, it has been a busy year. So, we thought it would be time to be Vanna Black and spin the wheel. However, uh Brian Winhorse, I’m going to tip the scales on this first wheel because I’m the host. I can do that. And we’re just going to get to some news right here on the Memphis Grizzlies. What just happened that could affect Memphis?
Oh my gosh. Never like seeing Memphis Grizzlies medical update in your email.
One just landed. Jiren Jackson Jr. who just agreed
to a $240 million contract extension this week, suffered a turf toe injury playing basketball offsite. He is going to need surgery. The Grizzlies announced tonight.
They did not announce a timeline. However, typically a turf toe injury like we just saw Darius Garland have turf toe surgery is typically a four to five month recovery window.
Four to five month recovery window for the Memphis Grizzlies. sign. Must have been an E sign cuz I know we didn’t walk in like this this morning.
You want to walk like that up to spin the wheel. Tim, it is your turn. You get to pick the conference. All right.
I’m hard to spin this thing. This isn’t easy. I don’t want to be I don’t want to be out here all day.
All right, Tim. You can give it a little something. [Music] 24 seconds on the clock. What do you got on?
Come on, man. Look what they’ve done. They go out and get D’Angelo Russell. I love it. temporarily solves the Kyrie Irvy situation and Cooper flag impact from day one. He makes you better. I’m interested in the Mavericks. See that shoot or shoot. He beat the buzzer and then some. Uh Udonis, it’s your turn, my friend.
Can I stay out east? Is it okay if I stay out east? I’m stay east. I’m an east guy. I’m going to stay out east. I’m an east coast guy. Oh, you gave it a Oh, we’re going to be going for a minute here. Wheel’s going to be fair on turn. Oh, I like that. I like that one. I said the other Florida team. I love the coaching staff. I said that the Magic were one player away. Obviously, they didn’t shoot the ball well. You go out and you bring Desmond Bane in. A lot of draft picks, but I don’t know if he is the player, but it helps you offensively. You get shooting. You have Paulo. You have Wagner. You have so many different guys. You have switchable matchups. You defend the hell out of different teams. So, I like this team in a seven game series. Defense wins. I like this team in a seven game series. Is Des the guy is our question. Is that one guy?
I didn’t mean to leave you hanging. Who we got? We are rolling with
Pells. Let’s roll. We’re rolling with the Pells.
Got two new Golden State guys. Golden State South are calling it now. Jeremiah Fears. Watch out for him. I know you got Cooper Flag and all these other folks you want to watch in summer league. Jeremiah Fears is telling me he’s the best player in this draft. Okay. Make sure you go check him out in Vegas.
I’m going to quote the uh crowd in Milwaukee. Bobby Bobby. I’m not very good at board games. Are you Are you a board Are you a board games guy?
I I am not.
I’m a board games gal.
Let’s check in on Oh, be careful. Which one? All right. Now, Bobby,
is it Patience or is it heat?
I’m going to say it’s I’m going to say it’s Miami.
Okay. I’m ruling Miami.
Miami got better this season. Miami got better this off season. DaVon Mitchell, they got Simone Fonteno today. Flexibility, optionality. Khil wear another year. Bam’s back. Tyler Hero’s back. Clean the slate. No drama in Miami this year.
Big things ahead.
Queen Shelbert.
Okay. I feel like I’ve waited my whole life to do this after I grew up watching Price is Right. Oh,
we’re going on the left.
But she put the legs into it, too.
Okay. Where are we going to land? Where are we going to land?
We’re just determined again. Roger, you just really want to talk about the new microwave.
I mean, what are we what are we doing here?
I like this.
Houston Rockets or is it Minnesota Super Bowl?
I’m going to say it’s Houston.
Okay,
we do not have a problem.
Let’s go with the Houston Rockets. Look, it started with Kevin Durant when they went out and traded for him. I think that is they were reluctant to do that, but they changed course because they knew that they were close. And I love everything that they have done since then. I think the Houston Rock is like Brian books his hotels for the finals in the Eastern the Western Conference finals like six months in advance. Could we start doing that? I feel like we have a conference finals coming in Houston. We already
at least at least the conference finals.
They’ve done a master.
I robbed you of your opportunity to spin the wheel, Brian. I will.
I’m going to go to the east.
Okay. Why not? Oh boy. That was the one I was hoping I didn’t get. Well, we don’t have any update on Josh Giddy. He is the restricted free agent. Um, they’re not coming to a to a deal anytime soon from what I understand. So, we’ll see how that plays out. Billy Donovan expected to get a contract extension after the Knicks called and asked for him. Uh, they made a trade this week trading Isaac Aoro, acquiring Isaac Aoro for Lonzo Ball, which a lot of people were a little not sure on, but um, look, I think the Bulls are good enough to finish 11th or 12th. That tends to be where they hang in this Easter conference.

On NBA Today, Ramona Shelburne, Bobby Marks, Udonis Haslem, Tim Legler, Brian Windhorst and Marc J. Spears join Malika Andrews to discuss…

0:00 The Philadelphia 76ers
7:19 Where do the Nuggets stack up?
10:17 SGA’s contract extensions
13:33 2024-25 season in review
16:16 Wheel of Franchises

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