BOBBY MARKS TOUCHSCREEN 💻 Damian Lillard’s PLACE back on the Portland Trail Blazers | NBA Today

BOBBY MARKS TOUCHSCREEN 💻 Damian Lillard’s PLACE back on the Portland Trail Blazers | NBA Today

Lord’s contract is structured so that they can try to make another push. Well, I mean, I look at it almost like pre- free agency. Okay. As far as here we are, and I think we’re going to show Portland on the touchcreen right now with them. They were going to be able They had that non- tax mid-level exception already, right? 14.1 million. Who are you going to use it on? You might as well use it on Damian Lillard even if he’s going to sit out for the whole year. So, you get probably one of the best free agents available in 2026, but you get him now. Now, here’s where your roster could certainly look like differently next year if we put him in there for Shane and Sharp. Now, that adds to the dynamic of Lillard and Holiday. Here’s some things to keep an eye on. When Damen Lillard signed that contract, the second year descends. Portland is in position next off season to go out free agent shopping to go get a max salary player. Wow. That’s keep an eye on there, right? The extensions of Shaden Sharp and Tumani Kamar certainly play a role. But here’s the other thing we forget about this. Remember Damen Lillard was traded to Milwaukee. Remember what came back? Portland has control of their 2028, 2029, and 2030 Milwaukee Bucks first round pick. You have a winner of the summer so far. Uh besides Klay Thompson and Donovan Mitchell for obvious reasons, I’m going to go with I’m wearing red. the Houston Rockets. Oh, I’m shocked. It made Wendy’s value proposition right at number one. You get KD, you retain Fred Van Vleet, you have the uh Thompson brothers, I think they’re the cover of Slam. Amen. One of my favorite upand cominging players in the NBA. Uh you are able to retain so much of your core. Albert Shang, your all-star. But yeah, Houston, we ain’t got no problems. I ain’t seen a problem all summer long. Verona, I don’t know how you could follow that. Oh. Um I’m just going to go for the nostalgia play. I I Chris Paul back with the Clippers after the way that he left and the all the history that he has here, but more so because it’s so important for him and his family. He had other offers. He had other offers in Milwaukee. He had other offers uh to go places, but he wanted to be close to home. And I think it says a lot about somebody that when you leave a place, you know, Chris Paul can be hard to deal with. He can be on your case. He can be whatever. But every single person who wanted him back had played with him before. Doc Rivers wanted him back in Milwaukee. James Harden had played with him. He wanted him with the Clippers. The Clippers wanted him back. So, I think that says a lot about his character. And he gets to stay home and watch Chris and be around all I feel like doing a mic drop right now in Oklahoma City, right? I mean, we’re not we’re not talking about the Thunder at all and stuff. If we have the touchcreen up here and we don’t right now, but here is why. 14 out of 15 players under contract from last year. Shay Cet and Jaylen Williams. Oh, here we go. And here is our mic drop. 14 out of 15. Shay, Jet, and Jaylen 26 under four, three players signed to long-term extensions. And America introducing Nola Topic, last year’s lottery picked, the rich get richer. So for me, it’s Oklahoma City because they keep this team together. And he brought notes to show us exactly why the Oklahoma City Thunder are having such an incredible offseason. Mr. Winhurst, last word on this. Since it’s July, who’s won your summer so far? I know everybody is tired of hearing the term second apron. You ain’t going to hear it in OKC. Next year, Steph Curry and he’s earned every penny. Steph Curry will make as much money by himself as SGA, Chad Homegrren, and Jaylen Williams. Well, combined. And all three, as Bobby said, get into contracts all in long term. Chad and and Jaylen with no player options in those contracts. They get away from giving the full escalators in both deals. And even in two years, they’re only going to be making 120 million only. It’s a lot, but only 120 million between the three of them. No end in sight, no financial penalties in the near term for this team. They win the summer, locking their championship team down. Who’s your winner, Malikica? I mean, they have thoroughly convinced me that it’s the Oklahoma City Thunder. I’ve never heard it put in those terms before that Chad, Jaylen, and SA all combined. One word summed up value. That’s going to do it for us here on NBA today. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon. We will see you tomorrow. That’s my twin right there. Where have you been? [Music] [Applause] Give me [Music] the feeling [Applause]

Bobby Marks, Chiney Ogwumike, Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne join Malika Andrews on NBA Today to discuss what Damian Lillard back with the Portland Trail Blazers will mean. Then, they discuss which team has “won” the summer so far.

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