‘SEVERE IMPLICATIONS’ 😳 – Bobby Marks breaks down Bucks’ finances waiving Damian Lillard | Get Up

‘SEVERE IMPLICATIONS’ 😳 – Bobby Marks breaks down Bucks’ finances waiving Damian Lillard | Get Up

SGAA now locked up long term. Is Oklahoma City in position to keep its big three together this time? They are. They’ve got a surplus of potentially four first round picks next year. They’ve done a terrific job of staggering the contracts over the next few years here. Certainly keep an eye on Jaylen Williams and Chad Homegrren. But yes, they are in control to keep this team together. All right, Tim Bontmps and Nuggets added Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valenunis to their offseason hall yesterday. Should Nicole Joic be happy with Denver’s moves?
Yeah, I mean the Nuggets got some additional death pieces. They have uh Cam, they added Cam Johnson to trade the Michael Porter Jr. the other day. They get Yonas Valenunis to give them a backup center. You know, they add Tim Hardaway Jr. on a minimum. These are some veteran death pieces. We’ll see how much it can help, but for a team that had no depth, they at least have some now.
And Brian Windhorse, the Bucks, and Miles Turner have agreed to a deal. And Milwaukeey’s getting rid of Damen Lillard. Do you like the surprising moves Milwaukee made yesterday?
I mean, I like the audacity. I like the creativity. It’s pretty remarkable. I don’t think anybody saw this coming. Miles Turner is an excellent player, but I’m not sure it moves the needle on the balance of power in the Eastern Conference. And now, instead of a stop gap to replace Damen Lillard, they need a full-time point guard to replace Damen Lillard. And right now, they don’t have it. So le let’s let’s take a little bit of a deeper look at what Milwaukee did. Obviously Wendy, right, it’s a win now move, but because of what they did with Lillard, can you take us through just sort of the impact it has moving forward?
So they have been contenders for about seven or or six or seven years now with Giannis and they’ve had really unfortunate luck with injuries over the last few years. Giannis has been injured in some playoff series and then this last year tragically Dame Lillard tore his Achilles in the playoff series and they have exhausted all of their resources during that time. They have traded away all their draft picks. They have used up all their cap space and yet there was still some concern that Giannis might want to ask out of the franchise. And so their reaction to that was to start borrowing from Peter to pay Paul in 2028, 29, and 30 by putting Dame Lillard uh on a wave and stretch where they will now pay the remaining $113 million of his salary $23 million at a time over the next three years. This was never envisioned at this way. when um this provision was put into the collective bargaining agreement, it was meant to help shorter term situations and now this is going to be like an albatross around their neck. They don’t think it today, but I promise you in 2030 the Bucks fans are going to have a party when this is off their books because this is going to end up being a problem for years into the future. And let me tell you where they had a party yesterday, Dan. They had a party in Portland because the Portland Trailblazers own the Bucks first round draft pick in 28, 29, and 30. And their long ago franchise player Dame Lillard is going to help pull that team down and make those picks even better. A
lot of layers to these moves that happened basically right after we went off the air yesterday. I know all you guys were calling around the league to get reaction. Bonds, what kind of stuff were you hearing?
Yeah, I mean, look, I I think Brian summed this up pretty well in talking to one executive yesterday. They said, “This is the kind of thing you come up with when you’re sitting in a boardroom in July trying to figure out what to do with your team to dig out of the hole you’re in.” But that in a couple years, you’re going to look back on it and say, “What did we do?” Right? And as Brian said, when you have a $22 million dead cap hit on your books for the next 5 years, that’s not something you can get away from. You can’t trade it. You can’t buy it down later. That’s just stuck there. So, this team is going to be stuck with limited flexibility going into, you know, all the way through the rest of the decade. Now, if he keeps Jiannis Tennakoupo in Milwaukee for this year and beyond, then you look at it and say, “Well, it’s the cost of doing business. He is the greatest player to play in this franchise’s history.” The longer you can keep him around, the better. But if somehow it doesn’t keep him around, or if it’s only a short-term fix, this is going to be something that’s going to linger for a very long time. And while Miles Turner is a good player and a guy who fits very well with Yianis Tenkoupo as a as a rim protecting center who can also shoot threes, it’s a rare commodity. He also doesn’t replace the 24 points a game Damen Lillard scored last year for the Bucks. That is a hole they still have even after this move.
Yeah, you say short-term fix. Tim McMahon, Damen Lillard was not supposed to be that and he ended up only being there uh two years. So, what did yesterday’s moves tell you about the state of the Milwaukee Bucks franchise? Yeah, this is a desperation move and it’s an admission that the Damen Lillard trade was a complete disaster. And obviously there’s unfortunate circumstances with Dame Taran his Achilles but even before that you go all in on a superstar like that you know to to keep Yiannis happy to try to reopen that championship window it doesn’t produce a single playoff series win and look they haven’t paid off the picks on the Drew Holiday trade which by the way did help deliver a championship they flipped Drew Holiday for Damen Lillard now they owe Dame $22.5 million for the next 5 years By the way, that’s the point five years from now when they’ll finally pay off the picks from the dame deal. So, they’re out money. They’re out picks. Miles Turner is a nice fit. He’s a nice player. He’s a moderate upgrade over Brook Lopez, but this does not vault the Bucks back into the championship contention picture.
Yeah. Yeah, and I want to get to that certainly, Bobby, but I I also want to ask you, you know, as somebody with with so much front office experience, what do these next few years now look like if you’re the Milwaukee Bucks front office as a result of the financial impact of this move yesterday and and the draft pick situation that Tim was just talking about?
Well, well, usually you look at it in in a three-year window, Dan. I think Milwaukee is looking at it right now in a in a one-year window here as far as trying to get Giannis as far as to commit long term. All indications are is that yes, he is still on board here. It’s it’s kind of like trading future draft picks, but the financial version basically by doing this wave in in stretch provision and there are severe implications similar to trading future picks when you have a $23 million dead cap hit. That thing is not going away forever for the next 5 years. But for Milwaukee, it’s all about the now. We’ll worry about 2029, 2030 later. So, do you think, Bobby, that they’ve done enough to convince Giannis to stay?
Well, they’ve been aggressive. You know, they didn’t take the the last couple days off here. They brought back some of the old and some of the new. When you look at how the roster was brought back with Gary Trent Jr. and Bobby Poris, and they do this Miles Turner and uh signing and Gary Harris here. Um I I do think they’re in a similar position than they were a year ago here. Kind of in that middle of the uh the Eastern Conference. The big question, Dan, is who’s running point guard? Like that’s for me that’s going to be the biggest question moving forward as far as who how do they go out and address the point guard position? The Bucks currently have the eighth best odds to win the East. That sums up where Milwaukee sits. They have a ton of work to do to just get into contention in the East, let alone contention to win a title, which is what Giannis Tenacoup has said. He wants to win multiple titles in his career. Even after this move, they’re very far away from doing that.
Yeah. McMahon, I know obviously what you said earlier about, you know, the the the moves Milwaukee made and and what the impact is of the of the Lillard trade and and how damaging that is, but when you look at Milwaukee right now, they’re making win now moves. Are they do they look to you like a win now team? I think they’re a playoff team. I don’t think they’re a second round playoff team, which puts them exactly in for the last for the last, you know, you ask, hey, is this enough to keep Giannis happy? We’ve been kind of waiting for Giannis to ask out for you. I mean, even going back before the Drew Holiday trade, that kept him around. Then Dame kept him around. But at this point, I don’t think it is it’s the I don’t think the question is, is this enough to keep Giannis happy? I think it’s how bleak do things have to be for Giannis to ask out of Milwaukee. Clearly, he doesn’t want to do that. He wants to be there. If he was looking for reasons to leave, he’d have been gone a week after the season. Say, “Hey, um, make something happen. get me out of here. That hasn’t happened yet. So, I don’t think they’re contenders, but I also I don’t think that Giannis is going to go pound on the door and say, “Get me out of here.” Yeah, generally in the NBA, it seems if a player wants out, we know about it. Uh Wendy, how about the Indiana end of this? Miles Turner was somebody that I think a lot of people thought they might bring back, right? Is this a What does this mean for the Pacers? Well, he’s been their franchise center for a decade, and while there’s been times where they’ve looked to trade him, he is coming off of a very strong year. And look, they have two star players on the Pacers. That’s Tyresese Hallebert and Pascal Siakum. They’re going to make $90 million next year. And the Pacers are an organization that has not paid the luxury tax in 20 years. It appeared that they were getting ready to do that by uh retaining Miles Turner. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, they traded their first round draft pick in last week’s draft to help just clear off a couple extra million dollars to make sure that they could afford him. Uh, but in the wake of the Tigers Hallebertton injury, it seems like they just opted out of that. Now, they were offering him a contract that would have put them in the luxury tax. They were prepared to go deeper than they had, but they clearly had a line they were not going to pass. And if I was a Pacers fan, I would be pretty really pretty really crestf falling right now because my team a couple of weeks ago was in game seven of the finals and ahead early in that game. And now they are facing no Hallebertton for the next year and your franchise center has walked away for nothing. And you have no feasible means to replace him. So when Hallebertton comes back, the Bucks are not going to have a franchise center sitting there for him to play with.
Star studded NBA crew. Let’s begin in Dallas. Wendy, would you believe the Dallas Mavericks are title contenders once Kyrie is healthy?
Yeah, if he gets back to the way he was playing last year, absolutely. I mean, look, Oklahoma City is the favor is the favorite. Let’s be honest. But if you’re going to beat Oklahoma City, you have to have size and depth and star power, and the Mavericks will have that. And I can’t wait to watch Cooper Flag play in this with this team and how he might impact them. Absolutely. the Mavericks could could consider themselves that if Kyrie gets healthy.
Bobby, you agree? I do. I mean, certainly Kyrie is the big X factor here, but I I look at their depth. I mean, when you go PJ Washington or Naji Marshall or Caleb Martin and either Daniel Gaford or Derek Lively off the bench, that is a strong depth. And as we saw in in the playoffs in the finals, depth matters. Bonds, would you believe it if I said the Nuggets have regressed this off season? I don’t know if I’d go as far as to say as they’ve regressed, but I also not sure they have progressed. You know, they there was a lot of talk about them getting Cam Johnson. Obviously, he has been with the Brooklyn Nets the last couple years. He basically is the same player though as Michael Porter Jr., the player they traded him for. However, he makes a ton less money. So, the Cronis saved a lot of luxury tax payments, but that doesn’t really help on the court. Then the B then the Nuggets went out and got several bench players yesterday. Got Yonas Valenunis, Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown. Those guys are all okay. I just don’t know if they’re doing enough to close the gap of the Thunder. McMahon, you agree about the Nuggets? I’d never agree with Bon Temps on hardly anything. Listen,
this is the best bench of the Joker era. Now, that’s faint praise. It’s kind of like saying, “I’m the most charming member of the Hoop Collective, but it’s a fact. The Nuggets needed depth. We all hammered on. You got to get deeper. You got to get deeper. You got to get deeper.” Valenunis is by far the best backup they’ve had for Joker. They’re no hopefully will no longer just bleed points when Joker’s resting. Tim Hardaway Jr. just had a really good year in Detroit. He’s a he’s a you know a shooter off the bench. Bruce Brown was a huge piece of their championship puzzle. Now Denver Bruce Brown is a different beast than Bruce Brown anywhere else. But again, a team that desperately needed depth managed to go out and do that. And Cam Johnson is at least a lateral move for Michael Porter Jr. if not an upgrade. He’s more versatile on both ends of the floor. The Nuggets pushed the Thunder to seven games and definitely got better this off season. Wendy, what do you think about Denver’s off season?
Well, they took to their new front office, Ben Tender and John Wallace, who’ve been on the job just a few days, and they said, “Here’s what you need to do. You got to get Jokic a backup. You got to get David Adam, the new head coach, a couple more options than you gave Michael Malone. And by the way, we don’t really want to pay the luxury tax cuz you cut a bunch of money. All right, we’ll see you in the fall.” And they’ve done that. They have gotten some options. They have reduced their payroll and they’ve gotten Yoka back up. Now, am I am I waking up as the Oklahoma City Thunder today going, “Oh my god, we’re we’re in trouble.” I am not. But they have addressed some needs while reducing payroll. That is not simple. And I think Jokic will be happy to have any new new set of eyes, a new set of bodies to help him out this season.
All right, one more Western Conference team to hit here. Bobby, would you believe the Rockets are now the biggest threat to Oklahoma City in the West?
I would. And I believe that after they traded for Kevin Durant and then what you look what they’ve also done here is they’ve added Dorian Finny Smith to try to replace Dylan Brooks and they’re they added a third center in in Clint Capella. They already have Steven Adams and Alpurn Sangon. So yes, Houston certainly is I would say the threat to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference. Durant trade is another thing that happened within the last 10 days in the NBA. It’s been a pretty significant week and a half. Thunder still clear favorites to win the West, but there are nine teams uh within 20 to1 odds of them as you can see here. Teams like Houston and Denver have completely revamped their rosters while other teams like the Timberwolves, Clippers, Mavericks have all uh made changes as well. So, the West uh is jumbled. McMahon, I know you said you you like you think the Nuggets have improved a ton this off seasonason. Who else has impressed you out west with their moves uh since the season ended? I mean, I definitely agree with Bobby on the Rockets. They went from a hopefully to a Hall of Famer as far as their go-to guy, moving Jaylen Green, getting in Kevin Durant, who is still scoring at an elite level. And then they really did that while also leaning even further into their big nasty tough physical bully ball type of play with Capella. If they want to play two bigs, whether Steven Adams needs to rest or not, they can do that. That’s something that was very effective for them down the stretch. Durant’s bigger than Green. Dorian Finny Smith’s bigger than Dylan Brooks. This is going to be one of the toughest teams, one of the best defensive teams, one of the best rebounding teams. They had a glaring lack of a go-to guy inner Kevin Durant. The Rockets absolutely to me are the biggest threats for the Thunder in the West.
They’re obviously going forward. A lot of teams are chasing Oklahoma City. So Bontemps, if I if I said looking at everything that’s changed so far next year in the West, are you taking Oklahoma City or the field to win it? I’m taking the Thunder. I I’d like I still like the Thunder to be the champions next year. They have the youngest team, second youngest team to win the title in the last 50 years. They’ve got Sigas Alexander who they locked up to a massive contract extension yesterday. They’re going to get Jaylen Williams and Chad Homegrren locked up to contract extensions almost certainly in the coming weeks. They are a young deep team that’s only going to get better coming through this championship experience this year. Jaylen Williams had a great run through the playoffs and he was dealing with a wrist injury he had surgery on while scoring 40 points in NBA Finals game. So yes, these other teams are really good. Yes, there’s going to be a lot of challenges to Oklahoma City, but for the foreseeable future, I’m taking the thunder and feeling pretty good about it.
Bobby, uh, two teams, as we’ve discussed, West contenders that I have not heard anybody say, Lakers and Warriors, both teams with huge Hall of Fame caliber stars nearing the ends of their careers. Is is either one of them anywhere near title contention right now?
I don’t. And how I look at both teams is if you were a marathon runner and you had Luca Donic and Jimmy Butler on your roster, you got to the mile marker number six in the lead and then all of a sudden here comes Denver and here comes Oklahoma City and Dallas and the Clippers and Minnesota and they’ve basically lapped the field and it’s no fault to themselves. They just didn’t have any big moves this off season because they already made those big moves here. So, I look at those other teams that we just mentioned here kind of lapping where the Lakers and the Warriors are right now.
Yeah, that’s rough. As somebody who ran marathons when he was younger, I know you got to get used to the concept of people running past you, but it still doesn’t always feel great.
Yeah, the Lakers don’t have a starting center yet. In fact, while we’re at they don’t have a backup center. Now, there’s a couple of free agents on the market like DeAndre Aton and Al Horford. They’re in on them. the the Lakers are having conversations about trading for a backup center, but they don’t even have their starting lineup together yet. And I’m looking at Houston and I’m looking at Dallas and I’m looking at Oklahoma City and I’m seeing a 10-man rotations built out totally uh ready to go. So, I I would say this, the big X factor is Luca Donuch. If Luca Donuch reports to the Lakers and plays an MVP season, which frankly we’ve been expecting him to win the MVP for two or three years now, then that’s a game-changing situation because you still have LeBron James who at the moment is ready to go for the Lakers. I don’t know if he’s excited about it, but he’s ready to go. And you’re going to have two AllNBA players. So, the thing about it is is that the Lakers need that. They’re going to need Luca to be awesome and at the top of his game. And if he does that, we’re going to be talking about the Lakers a lot. Let’s be honest, we’re going to talk about the Lakers a lot either way, but they’re going to they are they are there’s some things going for them. They finished third in the West last year. This is not a team that is bar of talent. They have stuff going for them and they have options for the future and that’s one of the things that Luca is going to want to think about one month from today, August 2nd, when he becomes eligible to extend his contract with the Lakers. Yeah, Bon Temps, I know we’ve talked a lot about uh the situation in LA being one where they’re maybe building for the future around Luca. If that’s the case and they’re not contenders this year, does that mean LeBron and Steph are are done winning championships in this league? Well, we’ll see what they what it means for LeBron and Steph in terms of the Lakers and Warriors winning in the future. But the the biggest question about the Lakers this summer is not can they win a title because as it sits right now, they can’t. As Brian said, they don’t even have a center on the roster. The question for the Lakers this summer is what we’ve been talking about and talking around, which is, will Luca Donic commit his future to the Los Angeles Lakers? When they traded Anthony Davis for Luka Donuch, the franchise moved away from LeBron James and to Luca. And going forward, everything the Lakers do is going to be geared towards trying to have Luca Donic be the center of this franchise’s universe for the next 5 years and beyond. And that begins with on August 2nd, will he agree to extend his contract by a couple years and stay in in Los Angeles uniform through the rest of the decade. If he doesn’t do that, if he goes into next season and says, I’m going to see how this goes and then test free agency next summer and already tense situation in LA. I mean, right now we’re talking about, you know, can the Lakers get a center? Can they be a competitor in the West? If Luca Dodic is going to be a free agent next summer, the questions in LA are going to be far different and far bigger than just will they get a center to play with them.

Brian Windhorst, Tim MacMahon, Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks join Dan Graziano on Get Up to discuss NBA offseason storylines after a massive first few days of free agency.

0:00 Run The Floor
1:32 Milwaukee Bucks waiving Damian Lillard to get Myles Turner
5:20 Financial impact for Milwaukee
7:08 Will Giannis Antetokounmpo stay?
8:42 How do the Indiana Pacers feel?
9:48 Would You Believe?
14:10 Most impressive team in the West?
15:15 Oklahoma City Thunder or the field?
16:24 Los Angeles Lakers or the Golden State Warriors closer?

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