Kings stuck in limbo with Jonathan Kuminga, what does that mean for the 2025-26 season?

Kings stuck in limbo with Jonathan Kuminga, what does that mean for the 2025-26 season?

Welcome into the Kings Beat podcast. I’m James Ham, Kings insider for ESPN 1320 and the Kings Beat. We are of course a Blue Wire podcast. Joining me today, KC83, Sean Cunningham. Sean, how are you? I am doing peachy James. How are you? How are you and Brendan this fine summer day? I’m good. Let’s introduce Brendan. Of course, we have Brendan Unes from the King’s Pulse podcast. Brendan, how are you? I am doing well. Just got back from a trip down to Southern California. I crossed off two more baseball stadiums. I don’t know that like getting to all of them is necessarily bucket list for me, but if I’m in the area, I’m going to go. And Petco, phenomenal. I know everybody says that, but oh my god, beautiful. Also sold out on a Tuesday and it was like Juan Sto’s return and they were booing them. So maybe that added to it, but my impression is that they love their Padres’s down there and it was a great time. Can’t complain. They had they had an incredible owner who got sick and decided like to go for broke and like win a championship before he was gone and spent a ton of money and then of he of course did not make it. Uh so that’s unfortunate. But that team is really really good. This all recent, right? Uh just absolutely crazy baseball. It’s developed into a crazy baseball town. Yeah. You got Mason Miller down there talking about the difference in playing games there walking out compared to here in Sacramento. And yeah, can only imagine the difference. Yeah. Yeah. I think I would probably rather play for a sold soldout crowd than a sold out 35 or 40,000 person crowd than a uh sold out or partially sold like 11,000 square 11,000 seat uh baseball field. Oh, and it’s also San Diego. I mean, that’s that’s let’s that’s not that’s that’s hard to compete with. But also, like look at the trade deadline that they had. I mean, they’re they’re going for it, man. They pushed all the chips in. Like, having that aggressive owner alive or not, like whoever’s in charge now. They they they just pushed everything in. They’re they’re ready to give those Dodgers, those dirty Dodgers a run. Meanwhile, my Giants are just sitting there twiddling thumbs. They suck. Yeah, they got to learn how to run on the bases first. You know, it’s like little league right now. Yeah. The A’s have had a lot of little league moments this year. A ton of little league moments. Nick Herz running into Shay the other day. Oh yeah, that was a fun one. Yeah, they they’ve had like a bunch between third base and left field where the ball just drops because the third baseman had never played third base and the left fielder had never played left field. Uh yeah, tough stuff. Tough. Um, the Mason Miller trade, that was crazy because I mean, anytime you’re able to land like a top three or top five prospect in Major League Baseball, that’s pretty good. You guys got podcast candles going? I do. The official podcast. Mine were already rolling, so Oh, it is rather hot though. I didn’t pick that up. Yeah. Getting down to the end here. That’s all right. All right. I went all three wicks. Do you like all three or do you I have a single wick. Single wick guy. Yeah, I I do have a three-wick one except this one is more citrus and I don’t like citrus uh candles. It doesn’t do it for me. That’s weird. The smell of citrus in the morning. Brendan doesn’t The smell of the smell of Napal in the morning. Um know what movie that was either. No, unfortunately. Wouldn’t have known reference. He doesn’t even know what Napal is. Probably not. Don’t ask me to explain, but vague idea. Okay. Yeah. Uh, it’s basically the equivalent. Well, you can make napal. Um, styrofoam and gasoline make napal. Jesus. When’s the last time you did that, James? Yeah. He’s he lives in his hills. I never have, but one of my buddies when he was young, he was showing his sister and thought it would be a bright idea to show his sister how gasoline eats through a styrofoam cup. And then it got down to the very end and he’s like, “Oh, I’m gonna light it on fire just because I think that’s cool.” And all the fumes had uh settled around his legs. So when he lit a match, it caught his pants on fire and he got second degree burns all over his legs. Yeah. Not good. Yeah. So don’t do that. All right. The more you know. PSA. PSA for everyone out there. His pants were on fire. Or was he uh telling telling his tales out of out of you know fire? Might have even in certain spots it was third degree burns and melted his pants to his legs. Yeah, it wasn’t good. Yeah. Good morning. That’ll teach you. Yeah, it will. Um so what’s going on everybody? Opening we’ve had in a while. You want to talk about your stomach issues, James? Just to get it out the way. I’ve had stomach issues the last like four days. Like that’s why we didn’t uh we didn’t pod on what Saturday. I just wasn’t feeling good. Uh, so yeah. Did you ever drink drink drink the water in Mexico kind of thing? Something like that. I don’t know. No, I I think it was like my protein shakes that I’ve been eating like drinking. I got just one with a weird ingredient that didn’t sit well with me. So yeah, weird stuff. Uh, that’s, you know, that’s what happens when you get old. Sean. Yeah, I wouldn’t know. James, uh, I noticed Brennan has a new Angel’s hat. Brennan, so when you go to a new stadium, is did you get a new like Padre’s hat as well? Is that we just basic with the Padres? Well, the podcast works when you speak into the Yeah. Yeah. I realized after basic with the Padres. Old school Padres. All right. Yeah, that’s pretty. I will. Yeah, I’m down for any team except the Dodgers hat. How many uh stadiums have you been to now? Six. All the California ones. And then we got Seattle, I think. Is that six? What am I missing? Did you ever go to Oakland? I did do Oakland. Okay. So, that at least puts you at seven cuz you got to count Sutter Health. If we’re counting both, then yeah, I guess seven. Yeah. All right. There we go. Yeah. Big difference between the Angel Stadium and Petco. I will say attendance stadium itself did see Trout get his thousandth RBI, which was pretty cool. Took my little brother to that game and walking in he’s like, “How many home runs do you think Trout’s going to hit today?” I’m like trying to temper his expectations and we got one. So, What did you think of Angel Stadium? It was nice. I mean, like the stadium itself is not as bad as I feel like people everybody just craps on that stadium and I thought it was fine. Um, but I mean big comparison, big difference between like Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco obviously. Um, but I mean the biggest standout is that I paid $5 for tickets at Angels Stadium and 50 bucks for way worse seats at PCO. So, wow. Um, okay. That that’s crazy. Um, well, let’s let’s get into this. Uh, number one, thanks for tuning in to the Kingspeed podcast. Uh, jump on board with the Kingspeed.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e to the Kingspeed.com if you don’t mind. Give us a thumbs up. Uh, subscribe to the channel here on YouTube. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Uh, give us ratings and reviews and all that stuff. All of that helps in the grand scheme of the interweb. Um it we’re in the dog days of summer. Um but the Kings are stuck in this this merrygoround and I don’t know how much we’ve discussed it because it didn’t really seem all that real and then all of a sudden it was real and then all of a sudden it’s not real again. But where are we at with the Jonathan Kaminga chase a and this complicated transaction that the Sacramento Kings uh are still trying to pull off, but it just keeps having more turns and twists and all that stuff. In fairness, I don’t think it was ever in fairness, I don’t think it was ever close. Like I think that is that’s the overarching theme. Like sure, there’s been a ton of reports and there’s been a lot of chatter and there’s been people getting their hopes up, but the reality is I feel like at least from my understanding of things, it’s all it just all is what it is. Like like yes, has has offers, you know, have they changed being close? I don’t think I’ that’s never been anything illustrated to me in any way, shape, or form. um despite some reporting out there. But um that’s at least just my look on this thing. But um yeah, I don’t think Jonathan Kaminga will be a member of the Sacramento Kings. H Brandon. Yeah, I mean to me, and this is more reading tea leaves than any sort of reporting, but it feels like the Kings are just trying to jump on what they think could be an opportunistic scenario. um where if Golden State were to be looking to move on from him um that this is a guy where the Kings don’t have much internal growth and upside when it comes to young players. Jonathan Kuming is still 22. He’s younger than anybody they drafted. And so I I think that there’s it almost feels like more hypothetical upside like the athleticism is there but there’s a reason Golden State’s not was not playing this guy four times throughout the season. You know, people will point to the big game he had against Minnesota in the playoffs. But while he can score, there were inefficiencies for most of the times he did get on the floor and not playing is four stretches like that, I think, is the biggest tell about how they feel about how he how he is as a player and his level of production. But right now, they do kind of hold all the cards. um they can, you know, essentially force him to say, “Hey, you’re going to either accept this crappy deal that that they have on the table for him or he’s going to sign the qualifying offer and try to bet on himself, which obviously comes with a lot of risk because what if it’s the exact same scenario where he’s not playing that much, how much money is going to be out there in the open market and he would get a no trade clause if he were to accept that qualifying offer, which lets him control that a little bit. But for the most part, to me, it feels like the Kings are just attempting to jump on a situation where they think they could get a little bit of upside on their roster. Even if, you know, to me, the fit and how he goes with the current roster more so goes out the window. It kind of feels like you’re attempting to jump on again just a guy that has some upside that could be something down the line while not committing all that much in the immediate while you’re still trying to move off of a Demar Rose and Zack Lavine. Uh whether that’s this year, next year, but it feels like they are more so trying to jump on a situation where hey, this is a 22 year old there’s potential, there’s upside and so maybe we should take a swing. But again, if Golden State is not happy with that offer, which seems to be the case at this point, I don’t think there’s any reason for the Kings to be like, “Oh, we need to get this guy. Let’s go put that unprotected first on the table.” In my mind, that doesn’t make much sense from the Kings perspective just for the right to sign a guy. Um, so again, feels like they’re trying to just look at where they can find potential upside on this roster, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a desperation from the Kings to go and get this guy. Yeah, I’m gonna like I disagree a little bit with who holds the like the power in this situation. I I don’t think anyone has any leverage at all. Anyone I don’t think the Kings have any leverage. I don’t think the Warriors have any leverage and I don’t think Kaminga has any leverage. The the Warriors are in the in the short term the Warriors have the leverage. Not not really. in the long term in the long term it’s it’s Kuminga because and the reason I say that is the Warriors have the leverage because they can just essentially keep they can basically say bet Jonathan Kuminga go find a deal right and that hasn’t happened yet so as these days get closer to training camp and and you know the pressure mounts like the ultimate resolve is for him to go back and bet on himself and and choose that that pathway if you will because he’s a restricted free agent and this is what we talk about this is with with people not having money like restricted free agency is not ideal. But in the long run, it’s Jonathan Kaminga because the Warriors could be left not getting a damn thing for him. And so to your point, they don’t have leverage, but they do in the short term to where he comes back and they can maybe figure it out in mid-season. But in the short term, but they don’t because if he just says, “Fine, I’m going to play for the qualifying offer. Kiss my ass.” No one’s going to Right. All right. And no one’s going to and no one’s going to like give up, you know, they’re still not going to get it much for him at that point. So, well, no, if if he signs a qualifying offer, he has zero he has a no trade clause and he can tell them to kick rocks all season long. And it might be a if they know he’s going to sign the qualifying, like they’re waiting on that. And if they know he’s going to do that, then okay, prior to you doing that, we’re going to take one of these deals. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that and I mean the Warriors um like the other offer that they’re giving him right now is like the biggest BS offer of all time. They’re they’re offering him a two-year deal, but part of the two-year deal is a team option for year two. And what a team option for year two means is that it’s not a guaranteed two-year contract. So again, he gets a no trade clause because if he’s traded in the first year when he doesn’t have a guaranteed second year, his Larry Bird rights dissolve. And that’s the same exact thing with qualifying offer. He can’t be traded without his consent because if he is traded, then his Larry Bird rights dissolve instantly when he’s traded. So that means if he goes to another team, let’s say the Kings, and this is why mid-season trade for him is not going to happen. Um, if he goes to the let’s say the Kings trade for him mid-season, they say finally the Warriors go, “Okay, let’s just do this thing.” and he’s either playing for the qualifying offer or he’s playing on the one-year deal. Um, his bird rights don’t transfer. So, the Kings would get to the summer and not be able to sign him. All they would be able to sign him to is a 14 or 15 million mid-level exception for next year. And they’d be totally like, “Okay, we got a player for like five minutes and now he’s gone because, you know, we helped him build up his value and and away he goes without without offloading contracts on your current roster to free up more room.” Yeah. And none of the appeal of Kaminga is shortterm. No. No. Well, I mean, like maybe not none. Like they they lack depth at the four and sure, but like he’s not I don’t Kaminga’s I don’t think Kaminga is helping you win more games this year. Well, I mean future. Sorry. Yeah. If Kaminga walks in the door, you’re expecting him to be like a 20 point per game score year one. Like he’s a fifth year NBA player. We’re not we’re not expecting I mean or 18 points per game. I mean he averages 16. It’s just you’re playing with you’re playing with D Rozan and Lavine and guys like I mean I don’t think so. He’s he’s starting. He’s he’s absolutely gonna he’s absolutely gonna start and I think to me to your point earlier it’s a it’s a move to your future and I think he he would become a piece like that but year one I don’t think you’re looking at him as a 20 point scorer. If that happens I mean whatever. But I mean I I just don’t I don’t they they want him to address a need on the roster. They want to see star potential out of him. and they want to give him all the opportunity that you can get in day one, but I don’t think that the expectation of being a first really a first year starter and then becoming this 20 point sensation like whatever I I just don’t think that would happen with with the and that has more to do with the pieces that would surround him than it would that can of his ability. Yeah, that’s the interesting part to me here is the whole, oh, Kuminga’s interested in what’s the role that Sacramento is offering. But like you’re just talking about, I mean, there’s so many other guys that are going to have the ball in their hands and even if they’re not part of the long-term plan and Kuminga is, that doesn’t mean that just because you’re planning to trade Demar doesn’t mean that Demar’s not getting his touches in the meantime, you know. Um, and so I don’t know. To me, I we’re past this point probably and maybe it gets revisited, but I always thought like a Utah or a Brooklyn would have made sense where like really get to go spread your wings and see what sort of number one option you can become because like the playmaking is not really there to to keep an offense within a flow, you know, as a secondary option. Like I see the potential of okay, you’re playing with Domas, there’s cutting involved and Domas can set you up, but like the spacing is really bad with that lineup and you add Dennis Shruder into that, the spacing is even worse. Um, and so I don’t know, like to me the fit in the short term on the Kings is is pretty messy there. Well, in term And also I mean he’s not like a guy who just gets downhill takes someone off the dribble like someone like D Rozan and someone like Lavine can. these guys can just up the court, ball handle, get into the paint and score. Like Kaminga doesn’t really do that. So, you know, there’s other ways for him to score. Kaminga can score. I mean, no, he can score, but but not like not like 15 points a game and in 24 minutes. His per 36 is like 22 23 points per game. And again, if you’re going to take his 24 minutes on a team that he did not fit on at all last year and equate that to what he would do in 32 minutes as a starting power forward, it’s tough to think that he wouldn’t be around 20 points per game. I mean, like look, I I don’t I don’t think that he’s like a high efficiency guy. I think you’re going to have I totally agree with Brendan’s uh you know, with the spacing issue. That’s going to be huge issue. Um, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a talent upgrade from what you’re going to walk into the season now. And I think maybe the biggest piece to all of that is if you were able to land Kaminga, it pushes Keegan Murray to the three, which I think is more of his natural position anyways. And, you know, then you would have some switchable defending forwards, plus a lot more athleticism in your starting lineup. Like, I’m not a Kaminga guy at all. like I haven’t been throughout his career, but I I still see a pathway where, you know, given the appropriate minutes and the appropriate role where he wouldn’t thrive in year one and as a 23-year-old, but a fifth year NBA player with tons of tons of experience where he wouldn’t excel at least a little bit. That would at least be your hope that that’s what you’re getting. Yeah, I I definitely see that. I think the other part of the Keegan thing though while you know having that forward core of Keegan and Kuminga is fairly appealing even if you don’t have a star necessarily between the two unless Kuminga becomes one is that Keegan also moves down the pecking order offensively you would assume um as we lose James a little bit here but like it we’re talking about Kuminga being one of the few guys that would give them some internal growth options like Keegan is your other primary one and you’re probably leading to even less touches for Keegan. in that in that scenario. Yeah, I would think so. It’s kind of funny, man. Like I know the the desire to see Keegan as a three and I can’t for the YouTube listener. We’re still here. James will be back. Um but you know, it’s almost it’s it’s funny because there’s so there’s a there there is people who have this um a divide, right? I don’t think if if you pull 50 people, I think you might be be a complete split into whether people see Keegan as a three or a four. And obviously the desires there to want to see him as a three and pair him with somebody like Kaminga who is strictly a four. But um you know this is what I would call a little bit of uh of of untapped territory to strictly see him as a three if they were to go in that way. Yeah. I mean, look, I I think the fit question is going to be there, especially if tomorrow’s still around. Um, if you’re not moving on from tomorrow, but I also like it’s just a complicated transaction. Like I think, you know, a lottery protected or a top 10 or top eight protected pick probably makes sense for a Kaminga, a future, you know, protected pick. Um, but also just the way the the salary structure works out. Like if you’re trading Malik Monk, that’s one thing. And it puts a lot of onus on the Golden State Warriors to go and trade either Buddy Heield or to trade Moses Moody because they’re going to have to clear up space and be part of, you know, and to to make the deal work. I also think there’s a way that that deal could be flipped around where the Kings go back to what they were originally offering, which is, you know, Devin Carter and Dario Sarich. And in that situation, the Kings are the ones who have to find a place for 10 million bucks to go to. And either way, whoever gets stuck with that gap, that $10 million gap, whether it’s the Warriors or to the Kings, um there there’s going to have to be something of value that goes to that team to take on whatever it is you’re trying to pedal. And you know, I think again, Moses Moody would be super simple. You could probably not even take anything back from a team like Brooklyn to give them Moses Moody. They’d probably just accept his his salary. Buddy Heel, I don’t think that would be the case. you’re probably going to have to give up a second round pick, maybe even two, because Buddy’s got two year, well, I think he’s got three years left on his contract. So, like again, it’s going to be a little weird like what they have to do here. But, um, yeah, I don’t think it’s dead. I think this will literally provide content for the next week or two. I don’t believe the Warriors uh people that that talked to Tim Kawakami yesterday and said, “Hey, look uh Jonathan Kaminga is going to open the season on the roster and everything else because like if I’m Kaminga, I know this sounds crazy, but I’m just playing for the qualifying offer and getting the hell out of there. I’m not giving them any leverage at all.” And I know that’s flushing some money down the toilet, but I’d rather do that than to be stuck in the position where they control your fate for another season even after this year. Because by the time you get done with that, you might not have any value at all. No, his future is unrestricted free agency if he’s not dealt that that beyond this season. I I have zero so there’s zero faith in seeing him in a Warriors uniform barring something crazy beyond this off beyond this season. Like I fully anticipate him being an unrestricted free agent and I think that’s where he ultimately wants to be. It’s a shitty spot for be for him to be in. Like for sure he could have helped himself out better if he was just more productive. Um but right now like yeah you take that qualifying offer bet on yourself it’s not it it’s not all within your control still. It’s still how much opportunity are you going to be given on this team and from what you saw last year probably not going to be much. And if you have another year like that then like is 20 million still on the table for him annually? I don’t know. Probably not. Well, well, and what I what I would argue is like I think the best thing for him and the Kings is like when I say I don’t think Kaminga will be on the I mean for this year. I do think like the Kings have set the table well for something in the future. But I just don’t see a pathway right now. And from people I’ve talked to, it just never has ever seemed close at any point. And that’s not from a desire from Kuminga. It’s not from a desire from the Kings. It’s just the Warriors hold so many of the cards when it comes to the pathway to Sacramento this season, this upcoming season. And that’s why there’s really nothing close. But if you’ve set the table and you’ve put a solid foundation of a desire to to attract that player, get to restricted free agency as James laid out, if you do offload some contracts, which is very foreseeable because um you know, we go we’ll talk about the 27 cliff for for this team like this roster could look dramatically different at that point. Um, so my whole thing is if if there’s a big Jonathan Kaminga fan who wants to see him in, you know, purple and black in Sacramento, like I just don’t see it this season, but certainly it could be an option for the future. To the to the Malik Monk piece of all this, like Malik Monk is a more productive player right now than Jonathan Kamingo, right? 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I don’t know like who has the most talent, who’s a the biggest upside. Uh the biggest ceiling would be Jonathan Kaminga because he’s he’s you know so much younger, right? I I just find it interesting from the Warriors perspective. Like I I think Malik Monk would really help them out. I think that they need another playmaker. There’s a lot of reliance right now on like obviously Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler, but then you need Brandon Pacheki this year to be able to facilitate in offense a little bit and sort of run things. And obviously we’ve seen Malik be able to do that. I think he’s a pretty underrated playmaker. Um, and it’s just an interesting aspect of all this to me because I think Malik would help that team out a good bit, but they’d have to do some maneuvering like you laid out, James. Yeah, I think Malik would be their third best player. I mean, I I don’t think it’d be that far off. I mean, like Malik brings a ton to the table and that’s one thing that like I don’t I get it because they’re going to have to make a move to clear up more space, right? But acquiring Malik Monk takes care of two things. Number one, it gets you a better player than what you have right now. It gets you a player who fits what you’re trying to do and not a player who doesn’t want to be there, right? So that’s the first thing. But the other thing it does is it preserves that $20 million salary that they’re looking for, right? Because that’s part of this deal. That’s why they’re offering a two-year $45 million deal. It’s not because they want Kaminga around for 22 and a half million or 20 million plus raises. It’s very specific. It’s because if there’s a bigger trade, a bigger fish that becomes available, they want to package a player and then add that to, you know, again, Moody or healed and go get someone else. And as of right now, they can’t really do that. And so like it’s really kind of unfair for Kaminga because they’re just looking at him as a trade ship. They’re not looking at him as a as a basketball player. And I mean that’s the way the the NBA works. But um I I also look at Malik Monk and go man if you could get your hands on Malik. Like let’s say Giannis becomes available. And I’m not saying that Giannis is going to become available or the Warriors can get that. But the fact that you have $20 million in Malik Monk to offer as part of the deal that goes there. That’s not prohibitive. Like his contract isn’t bad for what he brings. And to be honest with you, he would start right now for Milwaukee. and he certainly would start if you traded Giannis Anttobo and and were, you know, trying to find scores to to throw in the starting lineup. Um, but it’s it’s the combination of that $20 million salary and then on top of that, whatever pick you’re getting from the Kings that would actually help you to acquire one of those players. And that’s what it it feels like. the the Warriors are trying to acquire some big giant fish by using Kaminga as like just like again a discount coupon that they have hiding on their bench that they’re they want to trade mid-season. And he’s like, “Well, what does that help me?” Because if again they trade mid-season, he doesn’t get his bird rights and that means that like what do you do it for? like there’s no reason for him to turn down um Ed to to accept a trade somewhere else at all. Complicated. Yeah. I mean Yeah. I mean I don’t really have much to add to that. I just I I would just point out that you know it it this is more reflective of the situation financially than it is of him as a player. Because if you made him a hey remove the restricted free agency thing, if he wasn’t restricted free agency free agent and he was merely a player who had two years remaining on his deal or even a year remaining on his deal, I think that the things would look considerably different. If he was like a dear Fox type player who was going into an extension uh scenario, things would look dramatically different in terms of interest for him throughout the league. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that and I mean what you talked about earlier, Sean, there’s no way for the Kings to clear enough gap space to sign him outright as a free agent. Not Well, you mean for next year? Yeah. Yeah. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. Jamar Falls off the books like anything. No, because Keegan Murray’s contract kicks in for next season. Sure. But if you move, let’s say you move Zack Lavine. Okay. But you’re going to take back, you know, you’ve got just just to move, Zach, you’re gonna have to take between like 38 and like 42 million bucks back in salary. I feel like Sean, you’re doing the anything is possible here. Yes. I mean, yeah, it’s nothing is finite. And again, how many times we say it, things change dramatically very quickly. So, yeah. Yeah. Um, let’s uh let’s and there’s the thing is sign and trade just like Demar De Rozan, you know, there’s possibility of sign and trade as an unrestricted free agent. So that’s becoming more and more likely now than it was even before the aprons and the collective bargaining agreement. You’re seeing more and more signing trades where we went from a point where you’d see a slew of signing trades in an offseason to where you saw none. And now you’re starting to see it again because no one has any room. Yeah. No, no. The the salary cap situation is is absolutely horrific. And the salary cap is only going up 7% next year instead of 10. That’s what they’re projecting right now. And that’s a mess. Yeah, like I don’t know. Somebody needs to do some creative accounting here because that doesn’t none of that makes any sense with the new television deal that they’ve worked out and I’m wondering where all this money’s going. Um, so yeah, really really interesting situation. James himself. Look at that. Yons are Yans are contagious. Look, Brendan just got hit. Yeah. Let’s uh let’s discuss what like the unrestricted free agent like what this this whole entire off season. It’s really been held up by the aprons if I mean this is the strangest like outcome that I think any of us no one expected this summer to look like this right. Well, I did. I’ll be honest. I did from a restricted free agency standpoint because I didn’t look I didn’t think we’d be August 5th to where you haven’t really seen um much mo any movement as opposed to not much movement. But I think I was anticipating a slew of activity, but the restricted free agencies would be at a at a stare off, which was basically what’s happening. The one I didn’t anticipate was Josh Giddy. I thought that would be um wrapped up very very quickly. And so, but I did that. I mean, I people I talked to like nobody wants to have restricted free agency. It’s just a awful awful situation for both the team and the player, but most of the player and especially with nobody having room to go sign offer sheets and no one’s going to clear the books to try to sign an offer sheet only to see it get matched, you know. So, it’s just it’s just not it’s just not desirable. And if you can avoid it, you do your you do all parties. um in my opinion uh the the biggest complement to what what their future can hold. And I that’s why you know when we talk about somebody like Keon Ellis and the path that he took, you know, Keon Ellis wasn’t a lottery pick. Keon Ellis wasn’t a highly soughtafter lottery pick. I mean his path to the league is, you know, overcoming all sorts of hurdles and obstacles and swamps and monsters and all that kind of stuff only for him to be able to come out and and shine. and having somebody like that within your organization, like both sides want want to make sure that they that they stay together, but they also realize what the roster looks like and they also realize that ones are, you know, the restricted free agency is staring them dead in the face. So, it just kind of an is what it is situation right now. And you just have to get beyond that year for things to happen. And unfortunately for Keon, a lot can happen in one year. I mean, GMs get fired, coaches get fired, you’re you’re the whole, you know, the whole out the whole path of the franchise can be steered off course. So, um, that looks like it probably won’t happen from this year to next summer, but um, this summer, I mean, I this is something I I expected a whole slew of movement, which wasn’t I wouldn’t call it a slew. I think it was probably more of a two and a half out of five stars if you want to talk about uh movement around free agency and and just the offseason in general. But as it pertain to those restrictive reagents, I didn’t I thought this would be pretty similar to what we had. I just didn’t think it would be this bad to where you have essentially nothing. Yeah, I think the the Giddy one stands out like Cam Thomas is obviously a little bit of a weird one. I think the guys in his archetype in general see their value seem to be going down a little bit where it’s this hyperscoreer six-man sort of I mean Malik Monk the way that his value is being talked about. I think Jordan Clarkson is a good example of that as well. Um, but one of the weird ones to me is is Quinton Grimes, too. I feel like is kind of an undertalked about one in all of this, uh, a ro three Andy role player and while on the other end of the Cam Thomas thing, like that archetype seems to be gaining value. Um, and they’ve yet to settle on something there in a Philadelphia spot that needs some depth. So, you know, Kaminga is definitely not the only one going through these struggles, even if his situation is definitely the loudest and most present when it comes to like relevancy to the Kings as well. Yeah, I think it’s the loudest for one specific reason. Um, all the other guys uh like play a guard position. Um, and and to be honest with you, there isn’t a team that’s going after them outside of their own team. And so it just leaves this weird situation where again like a team doesn’t have to match, right, Sean? you brought it up like if Brooklyn was out there like just trying to mess with everybody, but I mean they could sign Josh Giddy to a monster offer sheet and then just wait and see if the the Bulls match and if they match then go to Quinton Grimes and then go sign him off. And and to be honest, as it pertains to Giddy, they probably should. Yeah, maybe. I mean, 22 years old. I mean, of all, with respect of all the those restricted free agents, like Gideon Kaminga have the highest ceiling for sure of any of those players, they’re the youngest. They’re the I mean, they’re super most talented ones. And they both address the we talked about it, I think, in the last podcast, just the importance of finding a stretch for, the importance of finding a point guard. Like those are the two most desirable positions in all of basketball. and you know, especially a rim protecting four, which not really what Kaminga is, but certainly a a scoring four. Um, yeah, they’re they’re highly soughtafter pieces. So, um, if you’re if you’re Brooklyn, I mean, you probably should. You should at least, but I think that that’s the thing is I think Giddy realizes that he has a pretty good opportunity in Chicago. I just don’t know how I don’t I don’t I don’t know what that looks like, but they need to they need to get the standoff done. And I I mean he because he’s perfect for them. I I said that last year when they went and when they traded Caruso as much as you know Caruso is incredible and that led to a championship and all these things like Giddy is the absolute type of player that they should be going after um to put with a rebuilding team. Well, okay. So I I guess this leads us to a different topic of discussion because if we’re looking at what restricted free agent looks like today and then I’m just going to throw this in like if there’s four major restricted free agents right now and there’s there’s no money this year and there’s not going to be a ton of money next year with the salary cap not going up a full 10%. So, like I don’t know exactly how many teams have lined up and cleared enough space where they think that next summer they can be a player. Uh, but we’re already going to look at a free agent class that will have more restricted free agents like this class, right? But then there might be two or three or even four of these guys that are left over from this restricted free agent class that will be unrestricted next season. and then your standard unrestricted free agents like it is looking more and more like next summer isn’t going to be helpful for some of these guys either. Um, and that’s where I it kind of brings me to the Keon Ellis conversation. Like this might be the point that you strike with Keon Ellis and work out a deal for next summer because I mean they can they can start negotiating with Keon right away. uh they already could could have offers on the table to Keon. And I know he wasn’t particularly happy that he’s playing for 2.2 million bucks, whatever it is this season, because he thought he could have got more out on the open market. Maybe he’s wrong. Maybe that he would be in the same exact category that everybody else is. Um especially, you know, if if he was going to go out on the open market and say someone was going to give him offer at a mid-level exception, maybe the Kings would have matched. But now we get into this this point now where it’s like do you start exchanging numbers right now and try to get Keon just locked up and say hey look this is what the market looks like this is uncomfortable for everybody and we’d really like to see you you know kind of jump on board with something different you take advantage of it this is yeah you’re you’re you’re pointing to them going this we do not want this for you this is not what we this is not what we want we want you in a king’s uniform tough part is you have a glut at the position though and that makes makes it very very difficult. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he’s a player that would look phenomenal on a championship team, you know, and also just for him like the opportunity cost of what somewhere else could look like. I I think it it’d be hard to not gauge that a little bit of maybe, you know, the market obviously looking bad, but if he got a feel for a team really liking him, then I don’t know. I think there’s also a scenario where it is in his best interest to try to look somewhere else depending on obviously what Sacramento’s willing to offer right now. Yeah, I I think it’s going to be intriguing because I I think you know again we have no idea um what exactly you know the the landscape is for for Keegan Murray either. Like I think the Kings are, you know, you don’t want to go out there and set you set your whole value right now for what it’s going to look like for next season, but I also think that it’s very possible this is a good time to like get into really deep negotiations and and try to come up with some solutions for long-term, you know, players who you look at that 2027 cliff that that uh Sean mentioned, but that cliff, there are going to be players that are are going with you over that cliff because that’s the way it works. Yep. You know, you need to, you know, determine who is part of your core moving forward right now. Um and and Keon and Keegan both seem like guys that are going to be part of that or at least they should be part of it if the Kings are building something um the right way, it seems like. So, um yeah, I I just thought it it it’s interesting that the way that this has all worked out where again the money is drying up so quick and nobody really knows what to do. like it’s like the strangest free agency period I’ve ever seen. Um but I think it’s also like there’s a bunch of changes and um it kind of leads me to the next question. Where are you guys at with this team if this is it? If Kaminga is still on this is not on this roster. Um you know we see Vegas putting their win total at like 35 and a half right now. Um that’s not great. Uh where are you guys at with you know if this is a team they’re walking into the season with um you know without a a minor tweak here or there um what are your expectations? It feels fairly high floor low ceiling like and high floor meaning like 11th seed. So maybe that’s not fair to even say high but like I don’t I don’t think they’re in the gutter of the Western Conference. Um I messed up my microphone. you broke your microphone. I think that they’re just going to be extremely mediocre, like good enough and talented enough that on the right nights, they’re going to be able to beat some good teams, but they’re also going to have their blunders against Charlotte and Washington like we saw last year. You know, um I I don’t think again the cohesiveness of this group is where I get lost a little bit. the the Zack and Demar experience. We’ve seen this play out a couple times. And if you want to point to their good first half of a season in in Chicago and Dennis Shruder is not Lonzo Ball, I I don’t think that there’s that many similarities between that. Um I think Dom is a more like while he can enable Zack and Dear in certain aspects that he has more spacing concerns than what they had while they were dealing with Vuch. Um, and like I just struggle to see how this functions as a cohesive group that is going to have a reliable identity. I know Scott, that’s the big thing Scott Perry keeps saying. They want to have an identity. A lot of what he points to is off the court stuff, but obviously you hope that translates to on the court, but I don’t know what we can confidently say that this team is going to be good at night in and night out. And to me, it’s hard to not be just pretty dang mediocre when that’s the case. Sean. Yeah. I mean, it it’s it’s a type of team that you that that honestly someone like Tom Tibido and uh Mike Brown would love in the sense that you have this imbalance, but in order for them to be good, you’re going to run your good guys into the ground. Um, in order for this team to be good, you have to rely on a lot of older pieces, scoring options, and capitalize on the regular season night in night out. Um, and then hope maybe something goes your way in mid-season go, you know, maybe there’s a mid-season trade, but beyond that, I don’t have a lot of confidence in this roster right now. Um, and and the other part of saying that is having to run some of these guys in the ground and having to play some of these big minutes in order for this team to conceptually be good to to to build up the equity to get into the um to get into the postseason and possibly avoid the playin tournament. um injuries like that just kind of is the first thing that pops to mind where you’re relying on some older pieces that you might have to rely big minutes on in order for this team to be successful. And that’s a scary that’s a scary thought. The the issue like the top of the roster, sorry James, the top of the roster has to be reworked and it is going to take time before you’re going to get offers that you’re willing to accept for a Zack Lavine and Demard Rozen. So, in the meantime, you try to rekindle their value. And that might mean as simple as just waiting out a year to where there’s less uh there’s less on their current deal. Um or it means they play a little bit better and then some team is encouraged like Denver previously interested in him and and Zack Lavine and maybe that goes out the window now Cam Johnson conversation. But like maybe you find a team that is desperate enough of, hey, we just think this piece makes sense at a deadline, but it feels like we’re just going to be waiting until they can rework the top of this roster. Yeah, it it’s really a tough spot to be in for Scott Perry and it’s a it’s a you know, a situation he inherited, which sucks. Um, but he knew full well coming in this is what the team looked like and that moving pieces wasn’t going to be easy. I I actually like the detour that we’ve taken here with Kaminga because, you know, at least it shows you some sort of pathway that they’re looking at and a way for them to get younger. Even if, you know, again, if if I’m the Kings, it wouldn’t have been um you know, like the way that they’ve sort of developed this trade, it wouldn’t have been Malik Monk in my mind. But for whatever reason, Malik Monk does just doesn’t seem to have the value to them that he had to the previous regime. And it it’s kind of a weird situation to see. But, you know, again, if I have a choice between trading Malik Monk or trading Demard Rosen, I’m trading I’m trading Demard Rosen every day of the week just because he’s, you know, 35 going on 36. Be 36. Yeah. I I’ll say this too, James, like I think the look, nobody in the walls of that organization will say this. Um, and I don’t think any of them believe this, but from a grand picture, from the 50,000 foot view, if you will, like this season doesn’t matter. You know what I mean? Like, like you’re Scott Perry, you’ve taken over, you have Doug Christie as a first- time head coach. There are plenty of things to evaluate, don’t get me wrong, but nobody’s going out there thinking they’re contending for a championship this year. You just have to get to a certain point. I think they’ve identified what that point is, but there is a lot of decisions that have to be you have to come to a lot of conclusions before you get to that point and you’re going to try any way possible to better situate your roster to get to that point. Um, but so be it if it’s you get to this season and you have to compete and you that you just put together a competitive roster. You know, there’s nothing wrong with that. Um, especially when you’re a first-time GM with a first- time head coach. Um, all those things, right? like you’ve got talent, you have plenty of talent. You can see a pathway to where this can be a competitive team. Um that being said, like a lot has to go right. A lot has to go right. And you know, that’s why I talk about, you know, in talking to Scott and Brennan was able to do that and as well, it’s like being able to see that group with a point guard, which they weren’t able to see last year, is a genuine curiosity with this team. But the 50,000 f foot foot view for this team doesn’t look promising in terms of being able to compete. It’s also like what else are you supposed to be curious about this year to be honest, you know? Well, I would say Keegan Marie again. I think that comes into it, especially if you do extend him. Um, how does Keon Ellis respond with a crowded uh situation? I mean, you almost you’ve got two aging pieces in in D Rozan and a considerably less aging piece in in Lavine, but also has a very bloated contract. Like there’s you identify I think you have ideas of pieces you would like to move, but how do you move those and get better? And that I think is the is the rub and that’s why their path that they’ve chosen is a frustrating one, but it’s a I don’t think it’s necessarily a difficult one. And I think it’s just difficult within this moment because you know the market value on so many of your pieces and you’re thinking to yourself, you know, can you get better within this year if you move some of those pieces? And I just don’t think they like the the answers that they’re getting with that. You get you get into the season, maybe things change, you get into next season, things certainly change, but um I think they’d rather see this through than do anything that makes them conceivably worse from a competitive standpoint in the season. Okay. So, we had this discussion earlier uh on ESPN 1320. Um, and like we it was all four of us. So, it was me, Dame, uh, Kenny, and, uh, and Kyle. If you guys get and like I think everybody had like such a like all over the board opinion. Vegas has set the overunder at 35 and a half games. it. And I think we all kind of see that as like, okay, that’s very possible, at least in my mind. I actually I don’t even know if I would take the over because I I do see a pathway this season where this team starts to sputter and, you know, maybe they’re able to dump one contract, but just take a backwards step. And to me, like there’s a much higher percentage of this team kind of going backwards because they want to see what Nick Clifford is. They want to see what Reo is. They want to see if Keegan Murray can develop as that bigger piece. And if Keon Ellis can, I could very well see the last 20 games of this season being a throwaway and looking forward to whatever comes in the in the 2026 NBA draft as opposed to pushing for a playin spot one more time just to get your ass kicked once you get there. Uh or to get your ass kicked in the first round of the playoffs. Uh do you guys see what I’m talking about there? I mean, again, where are you at with this? The projected Vegas win total of 35 and a half. Is it fair? Is it unfair? and and where would you guys go with this? Yeah, I think it’s fair. Um I I think that your idea of, you know, towards the end of the year embracing your youth and and leaning into that a little bit, valuing more of your draft position rather than making the playin makes sense to me. I think that there’s a handful of times uh since I’ve been covering this team that I thought they should have done that and I’ve never really felt like I’ve seen them do it. So, I’m a little hesitant um to believe that that’s going to be the way they go. I think back to I forget which draft it is, but uh when they lost a coin flip with Chicago and ended up with DaVon Mitchell instead of France Vagner and if you would have just not taken those last few games as seriously that maybe that’s a different scenario that you’re talking about here. Um so what was it 35 Kaminga? You could have had Kaminga then. Could have had Kuminga and they’d be dealing with this situation. Um I I would take the over. I I think narrowly. Um, but you know, 30, it was 35 you said, right? 35 and a half. Yeah. I I think I would take the over. You know, they haven’t been under that since since Mike Brown had taken over. It was really that Luke Walton year where they won 30 games in 2122. I think they’re just a little bit more talented than that. Um, not to say that I couldn’t see them being under, but I I think we’re probably talking about more of like a, you know, 38 to 42 win team, maybe. Sean. Yeah. I mean, I’m not trying to predict wins. I I they’re just not gonna be I think that Yeah, that’s that’s a that’s a we’re in August, you know, like I feel like we talked about it. This team as is a lot has to go right for them. I do think, you know, seeing somebody like Nate Clifford, I don’t know, you know, I don’t see really a pathway for for Reo to get in there this season. Um but to the point of like, oh, they should just get to a point if you’re not going to be competitive and just play the young guys, well, I think that’s what they’ll do. Um, but the problem is half the league’s teams make the playoffs and then you open that up with more teams that can make the play in tournament. So if you’re in that mix, it’s you you have to see that through. So can you do both? I think that’s the main thing. I think for Nick Clifford, I think yes. I think you can do both with someone like Maxim right now. See you in Stockton. We’ll see. We’ll we’ll see you next year or whatever. I just don’t think harder, right? Yeah. I mean, you need some you need some decisions that have to be made. you have some um you obviously you’re going to go into this situation with a roster imbalance with a lot of talent, but how do you mesh it? How do you get people to play defense? And like with respect, you’ve got two of your best defensive players possibly not even being in the rotation. And so what does that look like? Right? Like if you have someone like obviously you’ve got someone like Keon Ellis and you have someone like Keegan Murray, they’re in the rotation. But if you’re adding someone like Devin Carter and you’re adding somebody like Maxim Renault, who does that come at the expense of? So I think there’s I think there’s some interesting decisions that have to be made. But I think you can do both. I think it’s possible. I don’t think you can I think a year in Stockton for Maxim Renault um is going to do him a lot of uh I think will do him well um to get developed and be able to play at an NBA level, be able to block shots, especially if you weren’t that type of player in college. um, use your length, use your athleticism, you know, all those things. But with Nick Clifford, he he he comes off as plug and play to me right out of the gate. And finding rotations, I think moments for him in the rotation and rookie walls and all that kind of stuff, it’s going to be different than college. But if all things go well, um, he should be able to be a guy that is a plug-and-play player. How many minutes is that? I don’t know. especially if you’re trying to compete because if you’re trying to compete and I’m I think he can help them compete, he’s not getting 25 minutes a game. No, I’m with you. Uh I’m not I’m not ready to write Reo’s rookie season off. Um I do know, you know, they went out and they they brought in Drew Eubanks and Drew Eubanks is not a player that should block another player. If Reo is ready to play, um, you know, maybe a month into the season, maybe two months into the season, and you’re not, your team’s not all that successful, I think we could start to see him filter into the lineup more and more. Um, I I think Clifford, like you said, is going to play minutes from the jump. You know, like whether it’s 16 or it’s 18 or 14 minutes per game, I think we’re going to see a considerable amount of him early on in his career and he’s going to get an opportunity to play. At least that’s what it looked like coming out of summer league. But also like that’s it. They’re really high on him and rightfully so. I mean, he played really well and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him play quite a bit. I I Who would you How would you I don’t I don’t see the Maxim Reno thing necessarily boiling to the surface that quickly. Um certainly a nice player. I I just don’t I don’t see it, especially with the way the team is built. But like what would you think that would look like? Let’s say you’re two months into the season. Best case scenario, like how does that play out to me? It’s my backup. Yeah. Like if Eubanks in my mind, it’s hey, Eubanks is being very like whatever, not giving us that much. Uh maybe we’re just gonna try like you know the moments where you see Mike Brown and other coaches searching where you give Max an opportunity or maybe Eubanks goes down or Dom goes down and you just see him get a little bit of opportunity a chance essentially to to prove it and if you know he’s giving you if he’s shooting threes at a high level and all of a sudden you have a five outlook that you can go to um then to me it’s giving him like a brief opportunity probably because of a specific um scenario that may be going on and if he were to capitalize on it, I tend to lean a little bit more towards you where I think it’ll take time. Um but also to James’ point like Drew Eubanks isn’t going to stop you. If Maxim is impressing, then you’re going to insert him over Drew. Yeah. And and the other thing is I just don’t see them going so deep into the roster like that. Um I I just don’t see this team relying on two first year players that way, you know, and I think he’s so much more circumst um uh well, take take Yeah, I was say circumstantial. Careful opportunistic like depending upon what your your opposition looks like. I just see them going smaller uh than bigger more often than not, especially in this first year for Reo. I’m not trying to take away from the kid’s talent and his future with this team. I think I think, you know, they’re high on him. I’m not trying to say that they’re not. I just think that there’s definitely going to be an evolution period to him and his game uh to the NBA level. Um and I, you know, I just don’t see someone like him. So, for example, if Sar is on the on the on the roster and he’s healthy, he he does address a need. You know, he can if he can be the what he did with the Warriors, fantastic. But that’s going to be asking a lot. Like, I’m not betting on that, right? But I would bet on that before seeing Maxim Reno necessarily right out of the gate getting rotational minutes. And I just don’t think they’re gonna I think more times than not because of the way the roster set up that they’re going to go smaller. Are you talking about Max at the four? No, not not necessarily. I’m just saying I don’t think that they’re going to go with so much size, especially with a first year player like that as he adapts to the NBA level. Like I just I think they’ll they’ll bet on their vets. you know, someone like Eubanks, who was a terrific rebounder and screener, someone like Sich who could stretch the floor. Um, like Dario Sarich, if you look back like with the Warriors, like I I’ve talked about, he’s been really good. Denver, he couldn’t get off the bench and it puzzled some people, but he’s also again availability is just never it’s just never there. Like it’s it’s tough. Never always the d the durability of Dario charge is not huge. I might I might tone down the really good with Golden State, but I definitely get what you’re saying. Uh there’s there’s a value somewhere in there potentially. And I think on the Max end like there definitely is growing pains because this guy was a primary scorer at Stanford and like there’s just no world where that’s happening at the NBA. Like not at all. you know, coach coach Smith is talking about like, oh, I think he’s more Lori Markin than a um I’m forgetting the name, but like even more like Kelly Oolenish, but I I just think that defensively there needs to be a lot of growth. And now he gets to put his primary focus on that end. Um or at least a lot of his focus on that end. And it’s probably best obviously to get those reps in Stockton and slowly work your way up. But for how much he’s touted as an extremely intelligent guy, works super hard, takes a lot of pride on both ends of the floor, like I have faith in that defense improving. U but that definitely like his NBA role is so much different than his collegiate role that I do think there will be that growing period. Yeah, I I think that there there’s going to be growing pains, but I also like look, he does a couple of things that like are intriguing. And to be honest, Eubanks really doesn’t like Eubanks is just a placeholder until you have anything better. And that could be ready. Yeah. Yeah. It could be Isaac Jones that steps in and says, “Hey, I I want those minutes.” It could be someone else. I’m not banking on Dario Sarich playing at at all. And and I don’t think they acquired him to play him. They acquired him to save five million bucks. And I would actually be pretty surprised if he was on this roster. I I think there’s a higher likelihood of of waving him and stretch provisioning stretch provisioning him. Um because the Kings are going to need that like three and a half million bucks to stay under the luxury tax because they’re already right there at the luxury tax. And that’s a problem especially like they’re I think they’re at or like maybe 100,000 over the luxury tax right now and that’s with like Terrence Davis’s contract counting in there. So that probably won’t happen. Like Terren probably won’t be on this the squad, right? Um but they’re actually over the luxury tax when you factor in the Demar De Rozan and Deonta Sabonis bonuses. And so for like luxury tax purposes today, it gets calculated at the end of the year, but as of today, they’re over and they’re not going to be over the luxury tax for a team that that projects to win between 35 and 42 games, right? So, all right. Uh we’re not going to keep this one we’re not going to keep going today. We’re not going to make this a super long podcast. Let’s uh let’s get to uh some final thoughts. What do you guys got for final thoughts? Go ahead, Sean. Well, the whole thing was a was a business of basketball, right? So, it was today was kind of a whole entire business of basketball. Yeah. Yeah. Um, final thoughts would be I had a cool moment to catch up with Jaylen Wells and after seeing him take that spill in in what was it, March? March, April, when he broke his wrist and looked like he hit his head and had to get stretchered off the floor. the fact that he played summer league after just a stellar rookie season and um being able to uh like the wrist is not an issue anymore. Like it it’s just it’s crazy that that’s all that came of that. But um yeah, just a young man from Sacramento who is had an un unbelievable impact with the Memphis Grizzlies in their future and uh yeah, how does someone like that get to the second round? Um, but it shows the ability or it shows just how how crazy the draft can be with, you know, time and place and circumstance and making the most of opportunities to where he can come in as a second round pick and start right away. Um, really really is uh really impressive and you know the the the Sacramento connection is there, but also you mentioned you know his Maxim Reno’s coach at Stanford was his coach and Washington State with him and Isaac Jones. So, um, maybe that bodess well for maybe somebody like Maxim Reno as he hopes to make the most of opportunity that might be provided for him with Sacramento. So, uh, yeah, it was just really cool to kind of get caught up with him. He had his first camp in Sacramento with some kids and trust me, we’ve all been to plenty of camps where a guy might be there for an hour. Um, might take some pictures, might do whatever. Jaylen was very, very involved. Um, so it was kind of cool. He’s over at Sack High, which, uh, he didn’t go to. He was a Falsome High School product, but um to see uh to see him just the other day was uh was pretty good. And we got NFL right around the corner. It’s been a lot of football coming up. Oh yeah. Kind of been what I’ve been doing the most I think right lately. That and shout out Anthony Fluffy Hernandez from Woodland Dunigan Sacramento area. He’s going to be a headliner at UFC next weekend on Saturday. So um that’ll be fun to see if he can he’s only he’s on a big fight streak right now. He’s he might get it if he wins this fight. I think uh he might have a title shot in maybe later this year, early next year. Nice. Brennan, what do you got? Final thoughts? Yeah. Um I will also be doing more Niner stuff coming up. Are you going to be out there Saturday, Sean? I might see you. Um but looking forward to doing that a little bit more through as this season comes up. But I don’t really have too much shocker shocker. Cool to see De’aran uh get paid by San Antonio. It’s also really funny when we’re having this whole conversation like we just did the whole pod talking about Scott inheriting a a not great scenario. I feel like this would look a lot differently if he also had uh De’aran sitting there as a piece to work with rather than Zack Lavine who we’re talking about needing to wait before you can figure out a deal there. So, you know, that always brings back that reminder a little bit there. Um, also for what it’s worth, there’s a bunch of speculation on like his injury thing going on. Um it it’s not going into next season like everybody’s all um concerned about like it being a seasonl long thing. It’s it it it’s not going to be it’s not a season long injury. Uh is the case there. But San Antonio is an interesting situation for him all all around I will say. So cool to see him get paid. Um and yeah excited to get some some tacos with Shawn tonight. So, what you’re saying is a Spurs reporter isn’t accurate, saying that De’arren Fox could be out for most of the season hamstring for the hamstring injury. The Well, the only thing I’ll add because I thought it was kind of a weird way that it it seemed to all play out is that pretty much at summer league um because you saw De’aran out there and everybody on the Spurs, they did a team building exercise and during the team building exercise is where Dearon got hurt. uh which you know adds to some of the complications when like in the middle of negotiating a contract. And what was said came in exercise? I believe it was some sort of Navy Seal training. Then they went into playing football and uh while they were playing football is where the injury happened. A lot of non basketball uh things. So Wow. Do we know what it is? Hamstring. hamstring. It is a hamstring. Yeah. I mean, that’s what I had heard it was hamstring, but I don’t know how bad it was. I do think it will mess up. It will take him out for most of the off season, potentially into training camp, but not into this. I think they’ll be, especially for a guy who’s who’s completely reliant on speed. I think training camp is going to be a very delicate one for him. Uh I don’t think it’s going to be what he’s been used to in previous seasons. I think they’re going to And look, they they can afford it. They can take their time with him. I think to be honest, I think he does ramp slowly into the season, but is it a concern? Is it a something that they’re going to, oh no, like all hope is lost. No, the season will be fine. There we go. Uh, okay. Final thoughts from James. Um, here we go. I am I am hanging out with John Santiago this evening. He just came in uh and joined me here at the house. John Santiago was my partner at Cowbell Kingdom for five years. Uh he is a an all-time character. Sean knows knows John well. Uh for those of you who remember the first five years of this podcast, it was me and John Santiago. Uh so I’m excited to see him. He’s actually just came in. Uh he’s on the other side. Let me see if I can get Is he staring at you right now? No, he’s not. I I’m going to see if I can get him to come in and wave at the camera. Uh hang on one sec. We don’t need that. The audio listener doesn’t care. Oh, look. Look, James is He went off mic, too. I’m back. He’s back. Let’s see. He’s coming. He’s coming in. Here is the great Why don’t you Why don’t you have Why don’t you get up and let him sit down so I can say hello? Stepping into the studio. Yeah. I can Yeah. What’s up, guys? I haven’t been on this podcast in like Let me see if you can hear. 10 years I think it was when it was still the Cowbell Kingdom podcast presented by the True Hoop Network. Yeah. What happened there? What happened there, Sean? Oh, you know what happened? I I moved to Las Vegas and you know, moved on to other endeavors, you know. Huh. So, other things we You remember those days, Sean, back? I do. I do. We won’t speak of what we did during summer league during those days. We No. No, no, no. Come on, man. Don’t Don’t just put it all on me. But, um, yeah. No, it was all on John. It was all on John. That I have I have grown a lot since then. That’s un that is unfortunate. Of course, Brendan. I don’t think you’ve ever met I’ve never met, but of course I know your work, man. So, I’ve heard a lot about you. Yeah. There we go. Hopefully, good things, but say goodbye, John. All right. Take care, everybody. I hope you guys uh I mean Kings fans, I know that um it’s it’s it’s kind of bleak right now, but this is what I was always accustomed to when I was covering the team for more than a decade. So, you know, if if you just came on board a couple years ago when the Kings were, you know, making the playoffs for the first time in many years, this is this is kind of part for the course, unfortunately. Yeah. Brennan’s going to get a new lesson in in craziness. All right. Uh well, hey, that’s going to do it for this edition of the Kings Speed Podcast. Uh thanks everybody for hanging out. Uh hit the thumbs up if you don’t mind on the way out the door. Subscribe to the channel, all that stuff. Um are we good? I think so. Sean’s taking a drink. You guys have fun at Taco Taco Tuesday. Uh and we’ll be back next week with another episode of the Kings Beat podcast. for KC3, Sean Cunningham and Brendan Nunes from the Kings podcast. I’m James Ham Kings and inside for ESPN 1320 and the Kings meet. See you soon.

KCRA 3’s Sean Cunningham, Brenden Nunes from the Kings Pulse Podcast and The Kings Beat’s James Ham join forces for coverage of the Sacramento Kings.

Topics include the continued chase for Jonathan Kuminga, is it time to accept a gap season or two, restricted free agency is a mess and how that might help the Kings retain Keon Ellis, a look at Vegas’ Kings win prediction and whether that total seems fair.

Thanks for joining us on this adventure! Big shoutout to Paul Jinkerson (@paulitition) for creating a new intro and outro for the podcast and to Brenden for creating our new overlay for the podcast.

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