BREAKING: Grizzliers, Ty Jerome agree to 3-yr, $28M deal – Luke Kornet, Spurs agree to $41M contract

BREAKING: Grizzliers, Ty Jerome agree to 3-yr, $28M deal – Luke Kornet, Spurs agree to $41M contract

Spurs. So, the Spurs getting even more help there with Luke Cornet. Back here with Sam Quinn, John Gonzalez, and Tim Doyle. Sam, what of those deals that you just heard jumps off the page? You go, hm, significant. Oh, I really like Ty Jerome. If you ask any analytics person, they’re going to tell you he was one of the best permitt guards in the NBA last year. Obviously, only plays around 20 minutes a game. He has injury issues, so there are some concerns. As Memphis tries to recreate Desmond Bane in the aggregate, they’re not going to get another $40 million player, right? Not in that market unless they draft him. But you add Ty Jerome, you hope that Jaylen Wells takes a step forward. You draft Cedric Coward, you trade for Contavius Caldwell Pope. They’re not gonna have one highlevel shooting guard, but they’re gonna have a lot of depth in that back court. They’re be a going to be able to mix and match based on the matchups. I really like the value of that contract if he stays healthy. He is not a $9 million player when he’s on the floor. He’s more like a 20-$25 million player to me. John, when you look at those moves there, and we’ve got a lot of moves that are funneling in, but those three specifically, do you also like this Tai Jerome move here for Memphis who continues to wheel and deal? I do. Sam’s absolutely right. And and uh my condolences to you and your Cleveland Cavaliers because they lost Lonzo Ball. He’s on a resuscitation uh roller coaster. I’m ready for that. I’m here for it.
I wish good things upon Lonzo Ball and your Cleveland Cavaliers. But Sam’s right. He nailed this one. Ty Jerome was a good one. He had a a really really good season last year and I think that the Cavs are probably pretty bummed out to lose him. And we talked about the Grizzlies a little bit earlier. This is just like a continuation of the way that Zack Kimman thinks about team building, right? I mean, they’re going to be one of the deepest teams in the NBA. Again, their topline talent obviously really comes down to now that Desmond Bane has moved on Triple J and John Morant, but that bench up and down. I mean, you just have a ton of really useful pieces and if Tai Jerome can stay healthy, you have to love that for the Grizzlies. Now, I don’t know that that necessarily makes them Western Conference contenders. We’ve already gone through that. Who knows if they decide to move on from John Moran, how many games is even going to be out there, but just in a vacuum. Yeah. Three for 28 for Ty Jerome. You’re thrilled. That is very tidy business for the Grizzlies.
You know, as I get older and I belong to a country club now, not sure if you know that.
I do. I’m very impressed.
Talk to a lot of guys shirt on.
If I was just 4 in taller, okay. and they’re like, “Yeah, if I was 4 in taller, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you guys. I’d probably be very, very wealthy, not working.” But instead, here we are. Okay. My point to the story is Luke Cornette got $41 million. Oh my. Like, that’s like, yes, you’re very tall. How does he make four years, 41 million? What world do we live in where Luke Cornett averages six points a game in the NBA, and now he’s getting $10 million? How is Luke Cornett getting more money than D’Angelo Russell? Like I I I I have a hard time like wpping. Good for him. Congratul. Um I don’t know. It seems like they overpaid for him and he’s 29 years old. Like he’s about to hit the cliff that you fall off when you’re 31 years old. Is this John? Is this insurance policy for for Webyama? I mean, that’s what it is. Maybe had to pay a premium. I guess I will say for Tim saying that uh he doesn’t want to rain on Luke Cornett’s parade. It sounded a little bit like he was raining on the parade, but you know, you’re not going to you’re not going to rain on a parade of a guy who’s making $41 million, John. That’s official. That’s already been that’s out there. Fair enough. And I will say that my Boston friends are really broken up about the Green Cornet moving on to San Antonio. They’re a big fan of him in Boston. Uh I look, I mean, I think if you’re the Spurs, this is a fine move, right? I mean, like they’re basically just sitting around waiting number one to see what’s going on with one and the blood clots and hoping that everything is good. They’ve got their back court shored up and they’ve got a bushel of draft picks and a whole bunch of young players that they could potentially package if and when Giannis finally looks around and goes, “Oh yeah, this Milwaukee situation is a disaster. Get me out of here.” At which point the Spurs will put their hand up and go, “Ah, we’ve got a whole bunch of things that you might be interested in Milwaukee and John Horse.” So yeah, I I’m fine with Luke Cornet, but this is Tim. This is the world we live in now. He’s a $41 million player. Sam, is this uh this is a little little excessive here? A according to Tim, four years, 41 million. It’s a lot.
I do want to remind you the salary cap is going to increase by 10% every year. These numbers, the raw numbers are not going to be quite as scary as they look in this moment as that cap continues to go up. I’ll say this, I really like it when teams have backups that can stylistically conform to the way that the starters play. Right? Denver’s been at their best when they’ve had a center that can pass. Luke Cornett bottom bargain basement version of Victor Wemyama. He can’t do any of the stuff on the ball, right? I want to be absolutely clear about that. Not as athletic, but he is a great low rim protector. Boston loved him on defense. Great, you know, long long arms, great catch radius on those lob passes. I think he’s a very good backup for them and they want to have a high-end backup because you do worry about Victor Webbyama’s health. Not only with the blood clot, just because of how big he is and how skinny he is. You want to have a good high-end backup center in that system. And they got a really good one here with Luke Cornet. Good for Luke Cornet. 10 million a year. Tim Doyle gives him a golf clap. He can join him at his country club. Still ahead, Houston is continuing to wheel and deal. Memphis continues to make and Tim Doyle. And Sam, you like this trade for the Nuggets and the Brooklyn Nets here. Why? Yeah, this accomplishes a few things for Denver, right? I think this is a slight upgrade as a player. I think Michael Porter Jr. given his inability to create his own shot and that salary was just really tough to keep with Jamal Murray and Nicole Joic making the max. So, I do think they got a slightly better player. Michael Porter Jr. has struggled in the playoffs in the past. But the real thing that Denver has accomplished here is that they’ve saved around $18 million this season. What is that going to do for them? It’s going to open up the non-t taxpayer mid-level exception. That’s around $14.1 million. They can now use that in free agency to sign somebody. They could split it among multiple players, try to totally revitalize their horrible bench, or they could use that in a trade to absorb somebody. So, I think we’re going to hear more from the Nuggets tonight or in the coming days. I think they’re taking a real swing here to really reconfigure the roster around Nicole Joic Murray moving forward.
John, you can get some help here for the two stars in Denver. This is a huge move.
Yeah, I I thought that if they were going to unplug anybody, it was going to be Michael Porter Jr., Right? Because look, for all of his abilities and he has all the tools when you look at him, he’s he’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s physical, he can shoot the ball. Never became anywhere close to an all-star. He was the guy that you were constantly looking to for, okay, when is he going to take his next step, raise his game to the next level, and he never really did that. So, moving on from Michael Porter Jr. to Cam Johnson makes a ton of sense. Now, you slide him into that starting unit with Joker and Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon and Christian Brown. As Sam mentioned, this opens up some opportunities for them to fix that bench, which, you know, who knows if they’re going to lose Russell Westbrook. When they were relying on Russell Westbrook last year, you knew that things got a little dicey. I mean, Joker can do a lot of different things, including make making Russell Westbrook really relevant for your team. But beyond that, they’ve got Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson. Not great, right? So, right before we came on air, Sam was mentioning some players like Luke Canard and Bruce Brown who might be good fits. Bruce Brown to return to the Denver Nuggets. It looks like there’s a report that Bruce Brown has in fact signed a one-year deal to go back to Denver. So, that makes it pretty interesting, right? I mean, he’s a seamless fit for them. He already knows the organization. He knows Joker and Jamal Murray. And he’s immediately a boost for that bench, which was disastrous for them last year beyond Russell Westbrook.
Denver’s a mess. I mean, there’s no other way to say it. I mean, the general manager and the head coach were not speaking. They’re out of there. Um, you know, now Michael Porter Jr. went to Missouri. The Kroni family. Josh played basketball at Missouri. They loved this guy. Like he was like almost untouchable. But if you watched him against OKC in seven games, he averaged seven points and shot 25% from three. He ended up being like a terrible weak link for Denver. Great in the regular season, 18 points a game, 50% from the field, 40% from three. But this is about like playing in the playoffs and being actually a really valuable player. Now, Cam Johnson has playoff experience, albeit a short run with Brooklyn, more so with his time before in Phoenix. He seems like he fits. Let’s not forget Denver gave OKC all they could handle in a sevengame series. They are still a threat out west. They just need to kind of find their identity. Like, who’s Jamal Murray? Is he f 15 points a game? Is he 18 points a game or is he 22 points a game? He rides that roller coaster a lot. Joker needs consistency from his teammates. He’s being consistent. But how many more years a game going to keep doing this? I don’t know, two more, three more. I mean, the numbers here are putting up is actually like it’s insane how good he is. He just doesn’t have a whole lot of help around them.
Well, that’s a that’s sort of a theme around the NBA. You have a star or two stars, but they need some more help. We saw that didn’t work in Phoenix and of course they moved Kevin Durant. Uh look, you have a similar situation um right now in terms of what you’re doing in Dallas. Like what are you going to do there? We’ve heard Tim kind of question what they’re going to be doing. Of course, they’re dealing with injury. Uh but you look, as you heard John Sam mention that they are agreeing to a deal with Bruce Brown who comes back. He was part of that championship team. That is a nice piece for your bench.
Yeah, that’s a huge get for them, right? He checks so many boxes. He can be your backup ball handler, do a little bit of point guard stuff. Great corner three-point shooter, not so much around the rest of the arc. Very good on ball defender. At least he was when he was in Denver. The last few years have been tough. There have been injuries, but I think he’s going to fit in seamlessly and they should be able to add more talent around him if they can totally revitalize this bench, right? Every year we say it’s the same story with the Nuggets. They’re great when Nicole Joic is on the floor. They’re terrible when he rests. If they can just get up to competent on the bench, you feel pretty good about where they are considering they already pushed the Thunder to seven games. I’m curious what you think about Josh Kronkey’s comments a week ago about having to be forced to trade Nicola Joic because of the second apron restrictions. And a lot of NBA fans go, “Okay, I don’t want to hear about the second apron. That’s your problem. Figure it out.” But was Kroni perhaps sending a message to the NBA about the restrictions as why he might have to trade away his superstar?
Now remember, they did duck the second apron last year, right? They trade or they let Contavius Caldwell Pope sign with the Magic. They’re not going to be a second apron team this year. If you use that non-t tax mid-level, you’re hardcapped at the first apron. So, their luxury tax bill is going to go down as a result of this trade. I don’t think they’re thinking that the the cap is going to force them to trade Nicole Joic. I think what they’re worried about is that they’re so they were so topheavy before this trade that they if they couldn’t build a bench and they kept losing in the first or the second round of the playoffs, Nicole Joic was going to force a trade, right? He’s two years away from free agency. He’s extension eligible this off season. They had to figure out the roster around him to make sure that he signed that extension. I think what they’ve done today is a good start. John, I think those uh comments were outrageous though. Yeah, I mean there were I I have a hard time believing that they’d move on from Nicola Yokic, but I do think that his underlying point about the new CBA and the different aprons. Number one, it’s difficult for the casual fan to access all the things that it’s hyper complicated. Sam, who’s sitting right next to you, is really good with this stuff. I think that the rest of us who pay attention to all of it are pretty good at it, right? The casual NBA fan, it can be awfully inaccessible to go, “Oh god, I got to dick in dig into all of these things and the minutia of what the NBA has created here.” The underlying point though, I think, of what um Adam Silver and the league have tried to create though is I think on net pretty good because we’re looking at now our seventh straight new NBA champion without a repeat, right? We’ll see whether or not Oklahoma City can change that next year. But even they are setting up their future for a year where they’re going to have to pay Chad Homegrren and Jaylen Williams and probably they only have one year left of Isaiah Hardenstein which is why they drafted a big in this past draft because they’re anticipating having to say goodbye to him which he was a critical point and a piece of them winning the NBA championship this year and they’re already planning for a future without him. I like the parody personally. I like the fact that when we were talking about all the teams in the Western Conference, you got two at the very top with Oklahoma City and Houston, but a whole bunch of others that could be in the mix and could could potentially spoil the party for them. So, while I understand why Kunky is a little bit frustrated for the league as a whole, I think it’s pretty healthy. Yeah. And if you look at the Eastern Conference, um, you know, with Hal [Music] Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. [Music] [Music] [Music]

BREAKING: Grizzliers, Ty Jerome agree to 3-yr, $28M deal – Luke Kornet, Spurs agree to $41M contract