FIRST TAKE | “Rockets are a strong contender with KD” – Stephen A.: HOU will win title next season

FIRST TAKE | “Rockets are a strong contender with KD” – Stephen A.: HOU will win title next season

ing Cooper Flag and Dylan Harper first and second in the draft respectively. Keith, which is the more intriguing team next season, Mavs, Spurs, or Rockets? It’s definitely going to be the Mavs because they’re in prime position to win, right? They are a backup point guard away once Kyrie Irving gets healthy, right? They have a lot of guys, right? You go down the line, that’s why I’m saying adding a Cooper flag to this team. Like I said, you have still haven’t been mentioned, Klay Thomas. you Klay Thompson, you have a Caleb Martin, you have a Nai Marshall, PJ Washington, Derek Lobby, like they’re top 10 players all can be starters on other teams. So that’s why they’re most intriguing to me cuz once Kyrie get back and these guys are molded and and they know what they need to do to win, the sky’s is the limit for the for the Mavericks. I mean, the Mavericks certainly have a lot of talent. We’ll see if Kyrie Irving can play next year on this torn ACL. And I don’t like the fact that they currently have no guards basically on the roster at all. I say they need a backup guard. I think they need multiple guys to handle the ball. I mean, Cooper Flag might be serving as the team’s point guard next year. So, to me, the answer to this question for next year is very simple. It’s the Houston Rockets. I think they got a very good chance to be the second best team in the Western Conference. Kevin Durant couldn’t be a better fit for what they need. He essentially replaces Jaylen Green on their team. It’s a dramatic upgrade there. They’ve got Amen Thompson, Tar Een, Jabari Smith. They can all easily take on the minutes that Dylan Brooks played on the wing. And look, the Spurs obviously Victor Wemanyama hopefully has no issues coming back from his deep vein thrombosis. They have a very interesting future with Dylan Harper with him with the Aaron Fox they just traded for back in February. But the Rockets next year have a chance to be a true championship contender. Too many questions in Dallas for that to be the case. Same thing with San Antonio.
Big man. Yeah, look, the Spurs might be third on the list here in terms of the standings next season, but to me, they are the most intriguing. That’s simply because we’ve not seen a talent really like Victor Wimbeyama when you talk about that kind of height, that kind of athleticism, that kind of skill set, that kind of competitiveness, and they’re just beginning to build out the roster around him. Unfortunately, we really didn’t get a feel for what the fit is with him and De’aran Fox. uh we, you know, we get to see that partnership really try to develop some chemistry and unfold this year. You add Dylan Harper, a a rookie guard with big-time potential to the mix. And I’m I’m very curious to see, can the Spurs make a pretty significant leap past the playin into the playoff mix in the Western Conference? And can Wimy make a leap into being an MVP type of player?
Keith, do you have concerns about the point guard position in Dallas? Uh, I don’t I I think they’ll resign Dante Exom. Um, he he was injured the entire year. He had some familiarity with some of them guys. And then it’s a veteran le team. They don’t don’t really have too many younger players. So, you can plug in a player uh with those guys they got. What are you going to be doing coming off the pick and roll, hitting AD in the pocket all game, hitting Klay Thompson all pin downs. We don’t really need you to do much, right? Because they have guys in position to be able to take on both the bulk of the scoring. we just need you to hold down the fort until Kyrie Irv comes back. So when there’s a lot of questions, I think the questions more so lean on the injuries like are they going to be healthy because they have the players to be able to compete? Von, talk to me about WBY. What do you feel like we can expect from him?
I mean, look, it’s hard to put any se Brian Winhurst likes to say, you don’t want to put a ceiling on Victor Wmanyama, right? He has the ability to do things we’ve arguably never seen on a basketball court. But I mean, look, for me next year, what I want to see is Victor to take the next step in terms of being, assuming he’s healthy, a guy who’s contending to be first team all NBA in the NBA. Last year, he was a runaway pick to win defensive player of the year before he got hurt. He still at times is an inconsistent offensive player. He likes to float around at the three-point line. I’d like to see him get to the paint more. As McMahon said, fascinated to see this fit with De’aran Fox. They didn’t hardly get to play together at all. The early numbers weren’t great. The Spurs have to figure out what they want to do with these two young guards, Stefan Castle and Dylan Harper with the Aaron Fox. But look, Victor obviously in his second year took a big step forward again. If he can do that again next year, you’re talking about a guy who’s a first team NBA player and maybe San Antonio can surprise people simply because he is just undeniably good and lifts them to a level they shouldn’t get to.
McMahon, what are you looking forward to see from WB? Just really continue to send more so on the offensive end. Defensively, he’s already the most dominant player in the NBA. Just not only the rim protection. I mean, the guy is swatting three-point shots coming from the lane. He He’s a force that we haven’t seen in a while on that end. But, you know, can he become a consistent 25 30 point per game scorer? What’s What can he be on the offensive end? Right now, it’s more of a concept in terms of a superstar on that end of the floor. We need for it to go from concept to consistency on that end. If that happens, I think he’s in the MVP conversation.
Keith, what is the talk about a player like him around the league? It
it’s it’s funny cuz it’d be unbelievable just watching him just like, man, the guy, you know, so tall that can move the way he does and do multiple things on the court, right? The main thing about me for him is just being able to to make it through a season. I want him to be healthy and to get the to get that that uh that beat up that get beat down and know what your body is going to do in an 82 game season, right? That’s the most important thing to him because he has that slender build. You know, he he missed a couple games this year. I just want him to be able to get through a year and just to see what it’s like, you know, on his body and see what he has to do to keep improving.
Yeah. All I know is it’s a good time to be a Hoops fan in Texas. Taking a little pressure off those D. The agency has certainly been fun to this point. We’ve already seen some old faces move to new places with some more moves expected to be made in the coming weeks. Taking a look here at the top 10 NBA free agents according to cbsports.com and some of the moves that have been made to that point. Of course, everyone’s still trying to figure out uh Miles Turner and the Bucks, what they’ve got going on up there. Uh we’re also got our eyes on Jonathan Kuminga. He has yet to find a destination, but we’ve seen some moves made already. So, let’s break down what we’ve seen to this point. And to do so, we welcome in CBS Sports basketball analyst Sam Quinn. And Sam, we’re going to start the conversation at number 10 with the Suns, who of course set the tone in free agency trading Kevin Durant to the Rockets. We’ll get to that in just a little bit, but uh we want to start the count here when Phoenix traded for Mark Williams during the draft. How did that move help set Phoenix up for success in 25 or did it? Yeah, I really like that move. Right. You look at the price that the Lakers paid to get Mark Williams at the deadline. It was a King’s ransom, right? an unprotected pick, unprotected swap, Daltton Connect. The Suns got him for like half of that price, maybe even less. It’s a 29 pick and a deeply protected future pick. When you’re a team that’s in as deep as the Suns are that have given up as as many assets, hasn’t as many tax problems, you have to take upside swings on riskier players like this. Mark Williams might just be too injuryprone to be a long-term starter. But they paid so little to get him in the grand scheme of things that the talent upside here is so considerable. I really like the move. And worst case scenario, if the injuries do prove to be too problematic, you also drafted common Malawatch at number 10. So you’re set at center either way. I just really like high upside, high-risk swings like this. If it works, that’s the sort of thing that can help dig Phoenix out of the hole that it’s dug for itself. Yeah, looking at that starting five, it definitely is a little jarring because it looks so different than what it has in years past. But hey, the Suns were one of the worst teams in the NBA last year, just 36 and 46. So, something clearly had to change. Let’s go over to the West, Sam, where the Cavs are trying to hold on to that top spot in the conference. They did a swap with the Bulls to acquire Isaac Aoro. They sent Lonzo Ball on his way. What do you think? Who won this trade in your opinion?
I love this trade for Cleveland. Look, another case of a health risk, right? Lonzo Ball has not played much over the last several years. When healthy, he brings a dimension to the Cavs that they just didn’t really have, right? They didn’t really have a really good guard defender. Aoro, more of a wing. He had proven so unplayable in the playoffs because nobody guarded him from deep, right? Aoro would make his shots in the regular season and then disappear when the games counted. Lonzo Ball, a very good shooter in his own right. I also love the playmaking element that he’s going to bring to Cleveland in transition. That’s a team that wasn’t great in transition last year. It’s a different look for them offensively. Introduced a little bit more ball movement to an offense that ranked 28th per game in passes. I just really like the fit and especially at the cost.
I remember covering Isaac Aoro when he was playing college ball at Auburn and when he got drafted to Cleveland, everyone was so excited about the potential there. Um so we’ll have to see how he fits. Um but either way, good trade there. Let’s go to number eight where we find the unicorn. and Chris Abs Porzingis part of a three-team trade that saw him landing in ATL. We know Porzingis is a proven winner, Sam, but does come with some injury concerns. That’s kind of been a theme we’ve seen to this point. But you got to think Trey Young is happy with how free agency has gone to this point.
Yeah, absolutely right. And I think the Hawks have found a formula around Trey Young where they surround him with these big athletic wings who can protect him defensively. But the downside to having so many players like that is that it gets harder to space the floor. So what do you do when you need to space the floor? You bring in a high an elite shooting big man like Chris’s Porzingis who will fit really well with their existing center in Yaka Kongu. Two different looks that you couldn’t put in there. You throw in Kil Alexander Walker. They’ve really really improved over the last few weeks. Now, are they a championship contender? I mean, I think that’s going to take some time, right? But they’ve gotten the sort of players they’ve needed to around Trey Young. He’s extension eligible this off season. He’s out there actively recruiting free agents for them. You have to feel very good about his place on the team, how committed he is to them moving forward, and Porzinga should be a great fit.
All right, we’ll talk more about the Hawks. I just got paid $60,000 for my car crash from using this app on my phone. And I don’t know if you could see this, but it’s called the Case Connect compensation calculator right here. And it’s for $60,000. And I’m about to go cash it. For those of you that don’t know what Case Connect is, it’s one of the largest settlement payoff
and what they’ve done this off season.
Moving forward, Porzinga should be a great fit.
All right, we’ll talk more about the Hawks and what they’ve done this offseason in just a minute. that also came with a second round pick swap there or they get the second round pick in 2026. Let’s talk about the Lakers. Sam, um unclear about what’s going on in LA right now. Everyone said we need a center. So, they go out and get DeAndre Eaton. It’s a two-year deal and he fills the hole. They also give Jackson Hayes the extension just to be safe. When we talked to Ashley Nicole Moss when this uh all went down, she said it still doesn’t make LA a contender, but what do you think?
I have a lot of questions about everything else going on in Los Angeles. I just want to point out that they went into a playoff series last year basically without a center, right? JJ Reick doesn’t trust Jackson Hayes to play real minutes in the playoffs. For all of the questions people have about DeAndre Aton, and there are a lot of them, right? They got a 16-10 center for $8 million. That’s very, very good value. Now, are you going to run into a lot of the same issues that Portland did and Phoenix did with the effort, the commitment, the willingness to do the dirty work? Sure. I have I’m totally fine with the concept that DeAndre Aton just might not be the player that the NBA hoped he would be, but for $8 million, I’m happy to get a look at that talent, bring him into a culture where we’re going to have great playmaking with Luca and let’s say hopefully LeBron. You know, there’s a lot of pressure on him. He’s in a contract here. Basically, if he wants to get another big contract, he’s going to have to recommmit to the things that he did when the Suns made the finals in 2021. I love the risk versus reward factor here. If it doesn’t work out, it’s $8 million. Whatever. If it does, you have a chance to get a ton of surplus value.
Yeah. You mentioned LeBron James and his future. We have seen some reports this morning, and this makes me sick, about him potentially being interested in going to Dallas, linking back up with Kyrie and AD. We have seen that Dallas is only interested if it’s a buyout situation. That would mean that James is a free agent. I’m good on it, Sam. We’re going to move on and leave it there because it is just reports, but certainly something to monitor as the season goes on. Let’s talk about number six. The Pacers of course dealt a tough hand when their star Tyresese Hallebertton tore his Achilles in the NBA finals. Then they lost Miles Turner. We talked about that at the top. Uh he is now a buck. But there is some hope in Indie. They got their 2026 picks back pickback in this year’s draft. So kind of sets them up for success in the future, Sam, but I don’t know. What do you think about Indie right now?
This was a very sneaky but very beneficial trade. It happened during the NBA finals when Tyrese Hallebertton had not torn his Achilles yet, but was playing through the calf injury. In Indie looked ahead and thought, “Let’s maybe hedge our bets here a little bit. Let’s prepare for the worst.” They swapped the number 23 overall pick in this year’s draft, which they didn’t have minutes for anyway, right? The Pacers are so deep, or at least were at the time, that they weren’t going to bring in a rookie and use him. So, they turned that pick into next year’s pick back, which they traded to get Pascal Stakum. And then after that, in the weeks that follow, you lose Tyrese Hallebertton to the Achilles, you lose Miles Turner in free agency. Suddenly, they look like geniuses, right? They get control of their pick back. If they’re bad next year, and look, there is a chance that they are, given everything they’ve gone through since the end of the finals, they can at least benefit from that by getting their pick back. You know, look, we’ve seen over the last two years, teams who’ve won the lottery were in the playin tournament, right? You don’t have to be the worst team in the league to really benefit from having your own pick. The Pacers have set themselves up potentially to take advantage of this bad year that they’re going to have reload and come back with Hallebertton for the 2026 27 season in stronger shape.
Yeah, we’ve really just seen the impact of the injury bug over in the East. You got Tyrese Hallebertton. We also saw Boston make some moves as well. They’ve offloaded a lot of their roster in order to manage the financial situation they’ve got with Jason Tatum who also uh tore his Achilles there. They have made some moves. We talked about Porzingis earlier. They also shipped Drew Holiday out to Portland in exchange for Anthony Simmons. How do you think that move set Boston up for success?
I can’t believe the Celtics managed to get off of the last three years at a 100 plus million dollars on Drew Holiday’s contract without giving up a first round pick. Right? We’re in the most costconcious era in NBA history. Teams are shedding money left and right. They’re terrified of long-term deals. And Boston moves a 35year-old on the decline. Not only do they not have to give up picks to get rid of that contract, they bring in Freddy Simons who’s like a good player, right? Is he a star? No. He’s a very good offensive player who’s going to give them a different look. He’s a little bit better at getting to the paint, you know, operating off the dribble than most of their guards had been in the past. It’s going to be a new look for them on offense. Now, this is a bit of a gap year for Boston, right? Jason Tatum presumably is going to miss the season. They’re probably not contending for the championship, and that’s fine. They’re going to get the year to look at Simon Se. Can he be a long-term piece for us? If so, great. We’ve turned a 30 a 35-year-old into a 27y old. If not, he’s a free agent. You let him walk. You saved all that money on the contract. Great bit of business for Boston in either direction.
No surprise the Celtics went out and got a three-point shooter to add to their game plan that we’ve seen out of Boston for so many years now. All right, let’s go to the Magic, Sam, because the number one complaint about Orlando last year was that they couldn’t shoot. So, they went out, they got Desmond Bane, who is a proven three-point shooter. He also is a proven scorer. Where do you see the Magic competing next year with Bane in the mix?
Yeah, I think they’re one of the best teams in the East, right behind New York and Cleveland. So, this was a very tricky trade for Orlando to make, and they certainly paid a heavy price to get Desmond Bane. But if you looked at all the players they had been linked to, Simons had been a name that was linked to them for a long time, Darius Garland as well. The problem with those guys was that they really would have compromised the defensive culture that Orlando’s built. You know, they were a top three defense the last two years. The Magic really wanted to improve their offense, improve their scoring without sacrificing that on defense. The number of guys who could have done that for them. It’s a very, very short list, right? How many really highscoring guards are there that aren’t also traffic cones on defense? It’s a short list. They get one of the few guys out there that fit what they were doing. He fits their balance sheet as well. That team’s about to get expensive. Paulo Bancerero is going to get a max contract. Fron Vagner starts his max contract this year. So, they’ve jumped in a way where they’re not only going to be maybe the third best team in the Eastern Conference. They’ve done it in a way that’s probably sustainable, that they should have several bites at the apple here with a relatively young roster. I think there’s a very good chance that Orlando makes the finals at some point in the next several years. And if they do so, this trade is going to be one of the catalysts.
All right, music to our Jaclyn Diagustinino’s ears. We also saw they uh resign Mo Vagner on a one-year deal worth five million. So the the Magic trying to stay in contention out in the East. Let’s go over to Denver where we saw a swap for Michael Porter Jr. He’s now a Net. Cam Johnson, you are now a Nugget. I’m just curious though, Sam, with what Denver has going on and what we saw from them a year ago. Is that enough to help the Joker get another title? I think the Nuggets did very very well this off seasonason, right? Purely as a basketball proposition, I think Cam Johnson is a better player than Michael Porter Jr. He’s better off the dribble. They’re similar shooters. He’s a better defender. But the other benefit of this trade is that they shed around $18 million in the deal. That not only gets them below the luxury tax, gives them some more room to maneuver. You know, they’ve added a lot of good players this offseason, right? Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., we’re still waiting for the Jonas Valenuna situation to, you know, figure itself out. Either he comes and they have a very good backup center or he doesn’t and you have almost the full mid-level exception to work with to bring in more talent. The starting lineup had never been a problem in Denver, right? No matter who you put around Nola Joic, he’s going to be fine. They’re going to win those minutes. They needed to revamp the supporting cast and the bench so they could survive if he sat four or five minutes in the first or second half. They’ve done that. They’ve really improved the bench and they’ve done it in a way without compromising their starters. I’m very bullish on what the Nuggets have done this off seasonason.
They are always a contender when number 15 is in the mix. Let’s go to number two. We go back to Atlanta as I mentioned earlier, Sam. So, they secured Porzingis, but they also traded their 13th overall pick in this year’s draft to New Orleans in exchange for an unprotected 26 firstrounder. What does this tell you about what the Hawks are trying to do going forward? This was like one of the most stunning draft night trades I remember in a long time, right? They moved down 10 spots and okay, Derek Queen probably a better draft prospect than Ace Newell was, but this pick that they got from New Orleans, I think that’s one of the most valuable first round picks that’s ever been traded, right? It’s an unprotected pick in the next season from the team that just had the fourth worst record in the NBA. And if that wasn’t enough, it comes attached to swap rights from the Milwaukee Bucks. Now, the Bucks did just add Miles Turner. Sure, but there’s a lot of downside risk there, right? If Giannis ever gets hurt, if he decides to ask for a trade, the Bucks could be a disaster. So, this pick is among the most valuable picks I ever remember getting traded, especially during the draft. If this goes south for either New Orleans or Milwaukee, Atlanta has not only added all of these valuable players this offseason between Porzingis and Alexander Walker and Luke Canard, they’ve set themselves up to maybe get a star next off season. And look, I know the talk around Atlanta this offseason has been, “Oh, that’s very cute. You know, they’re going to be a four or five seed. Good work. They need another star around Trey Young if they’re going to really leap into championship contention.” This pick could be their path to getting that star. So, this was one of my favorite moves of the entire off seasonason. The Hawks got better now, but they also got a lot better later.
All right, so we’re giving the Hawks an A for their offseason moves to this point. But listen, Sam, we all knew what the number one play so far through the offseason has been. It is that KD trade. Kevin Durant going to the Rockets. He leaks up with a young core. Um, but they went toe-to-toe with the Warriors squad that’s battle tested a year ago. Now, you insert Kevin Durant into that mix. How much better do you think the Rockets got with this move? Yeah, the Rockets were good at basically everything last year, right? Number one in rebounding, number five in defense, number seven in fast break points. The one thing they really needed was that halfcourt scorer, somebody who could get them tough buckets late in games. Well, they got the guy for that, right? That’s Kevin Durant. You’re not even getting, you know, the Demar Drosa knockoff or something. You’re getting the absolute best possible player for the need that you had. And you look at what they gave up, right? Kevin Durant is essentially replacing Jaylen Green, who had one good game against Golden State and did very little else in that series. You give up Dylan Brooks. Okay, let’s just go sign Dorian Finny Smith to replace him, so his loss isn’t really going to be felt. You give up the number 10 pick, they didn’t have minutes for that player anyway, right? Last year, they took Reed Shepard, number three, and he barely played. So, I was pretty dubious they were going to keep the number 10 pick anyway, and they just casually turned it into Kevin Durant. So look, right now I think Houston is probably the second, if not the third best team in the Western Conference. They have a very real chance to win the championship this season with Kevin Durant. But even if they don’t, they didn’t give up any of their premium assets to get him, right? They didn’t give up those future Phoenix picks that look so valuable. They didn’t give up Alpin Shenon or Amen Thompson. If they wanted to make another significant trade in the somewhat near future, say for that Greek guy who lives in Milwaukee, I think that’s still on the table for them.
I can’t even imagine KD and Giannis on the same team in Houston. Being a Dallas girly, it’s too much to think about, so we’re not going to. Sam Quinn breaking down the latest in free agency. Everyone chasing the thunder, but uh Houston might have a good chance there. Taking a look at the upcoming dates in the NBA schedule. Of course, all eyes on the summer league set to kick off on the West Coast later this summer. Actually, tomorrow, July 5th, is when that gets started. And you got the free agent signing periods opening up on the 6th. And then that summer league in Vegas. Okay. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Okay. Come on. Where’s the daughter? Yellow. Okay. We’re eating All right. Thank you. Yeah. Ah. Ah. Don’t do that. Don’t Come on. Hi. Sorry. foreign. Okay. Good job. I don’t know foreign. Let it go. Let you know. Thank you.

FIRST TAKE | Rockets are a strong contender with Kevin Durant – Stephen A.: HOUSTON will win the title next season