Breaking: Utah Jazz trade Collin Sexton to Charlotte Hornets for Jusuf Nurkic and future draft pick

Breaking: Utah Jazz trade Collin Sexton to Charlotte Hornets for Jusuf Nurkic and future draft pick

we’ve got breaking news out of the association where the Jazz are trading Colin Ston in a 2030 second round pick to the Hornets for Yousef Nerkage That’s according to ESPN Both players had one season remaining on a four-year $70 million deal Ston averaged just under 18.5 points last season for Sacramento Leaves one rebuild in Utah for another in Charlotte Nerkish meanwhile coming off his lowest scoring and rebounding averages in nearly a decade Let’s bring in Sam Quinn to talk about this trade here So Sam where does this sort of sit with you How does it resonate with you about what we’re learning today
Yeah this is an interesting trade for Charlotte right They’ve been linked to a lot of the guards on the free agent market Ty Jerome was a name that was getting thrown around They clearly wanted to get another ball handler behind LaMelo Ball and I think they’ve done very well here Colin Ston is a good player He hasn’t grown into the defender that we would have hoped when he got drafted but he’s gotten over a lot of the ball hog tendencies from his early years in Cleveland He can shoot He can get to the basket He’s a valuable player right I’m surprised that they could get him at this price because it was just a few months ago that Phoenix had to give up a first round pick just to dump Yousef Nerkage right Like I’m surprised that they’re not only are they making this swap they’re getting a draft pick to do this So for Charlotte this is a great trade for Utah I have some questions right Um first things first Colin Ston they probably could have gotten pretty good value for him at the deadline He’s been available at multiple trade deadlines in the past At the very least you figure you wouldn’t have had to attach a draft pick to get off of him Now they do I think this is indicative of Danny A’s trend as a GM He tends to hold on to players and wait for the big package right He never trades players unless he thinks he’s getting a huge return Well the downside of acting that way strategically is that sometimes you’re just never going to get that package And when you want to move a guy you kind of have to settle for less which is what they did here
So just to piggyback off of that then because I’ve been hearing about them trying to move on from Colin Ston John Collins Jordan Clarkson Sam So what’s the likelihood you think that Danny A has yet to be done yet dealing Oh I assume there’s more to come here So interestingly Austin A who’s now new president of basketball operations Danny’s son he takes over last month he as at his press conference he gets asked if Utah is going to continue to manipulate minutes with their veteran players you know in an effort to lose games down the stretch And he was pretty emphatic We’re not going to do that this year right Well the Jazz also own a top eight or owe a top eight protected first round pick to the Thunder that they really don’t want to give away this year right Especially to the Thunder of all teams So I almost wonder if this is a backdoor way of ensuring that you keep that pick You can’t manipulate minutes on good players if you don’t have good players So I do think they’re going to continue to try to trade their veterans They do want to keep that pick regardless of what they’re saying at press conferences And this is a way to do that because Ysef Nerkich is not the player he was in Portland anymore The Suns had to give up a first round pick to just to get off of him There’s not a contractual disparity here at play right They’re both on expiring deals To me this very much just strikes me as we needed to clear a guard off of our roster a veteran We want to lose games and we want to find more minutes for our young guys Yeah it’ll be interesting to see if Nerkish can get back to the Portland days of his consistent productivity uh that we saw him do double digit scoring for for many seasons By the way before I let you go here Sam looks like you’re very bullish on what Charlotte was able to do in this deal But if we asked to for a grade maybe on each side what would they be for each team
I’m going to give it an A for Charlotte This is kind of a no-brainer right You’ve basically turned an identical contract in a player that you weren’t going to use into one that you are going to use and you get a pick to do it So it makes perfect sense for me It opens up minutes for their young big men right Musa Diabate was good for them last year They took Kaulk Brener from Kraton in the draft I assume they’re going to get a lot of opportunity to show what they can do So I’m going to give them a straight A For Utah I guess I’m not going to give it an F I’m going to give it a D just because they have so many young guards on that team that need minutes They took Walter Clayton in the draft They have Isaiah Collier They have Kee George They have a lot of guards that they needed to find minutes for that they weren’t going to be able to do with Saxon on the team And I would assume Jordan Clarkson’s neck’s out the door But to give up value just to get rid of the player like I’m almost compelled to ask why wouldn’t you just cut him right Are you really that bullish on Yousef Nerkage after everything that you saw from him in Phoenix and Charlotte last year I wouldn’t be So I’m confused why they’re giving away the pick This seems like a very strange trade for them So I’m going to give him a D
Okay An A and a D from Sham Quinn here with the trade between Utah and Charlotte And in case you missed it again the trade details Interesting enough all the stuff surrounding the Jazz was Ace Bailey this week And yet all of the rumblings behind the scenes leads to a Sunday trade in the NBA Breaking news from the NBA LeBron James has picked up his player option that will pay him $52.6 million next season That’s according to ESPN It’s a widely expected move for the Lakers superstar who will receive just below the maximum salary and retain the no trade clause he negotiated last summer This fall LeBron is set to play his eighth season in LA and 23rd in the NBA which would surpass Vince Carter for most all time NBA host and analyst for CBS Sports John Gonzalez joining us now Talk about a good day to beat LeBron These are the types of problems and decisions I want to be making in my life but we’ll leave that alone right now John what does this decision mean for not only LeBron but for the near future for the Lakers
Yeah it makes a lot of sense I think we are always barreling towards this conclusion here Mike because as you mentioned LeBron’s going to be 41 in December He has that 52.6 million player option It allows him to retain his no trade clause The other option was he could opt out and then uh they could sign him maybe to another one and one But from the Lakers perspective that made less sense I mean I’m sure LeBron probably wanted that but from the Lakers perspective if you wait LeBron’s money comes off the books next off seasonason and all of a sudden that’s a nice chunk of change that you could allocate to more and younger resources as you try to build around Luca long term because Luca is also extension eligible And then if you also wait then you open up that 2033 first round draft pick that you could package along with your 2031 Now they could still trade the 2031 before then but as you’re looking at this whole thing taking a step back seeing the 30,000 foot view it just makes a lot of sense for the team to go okay we were the third seed last year in the Western Conference If we just keep our powder dry a little bit here we bring LeBron back Obviously he opts in but we don’t do much else aside from like on the margins and we wait to make 2026 our big off season Well now you can make wholesale changes and really potentially uh rebuild this thing on the fly around Luca as LeBron ages out
Now you mentioned the 30,000 ft view as a fan If I’m sitting here I’m looking at LeBron James 22 23 years going into the league You’re you’re talking about company with Vince Carter It’s got good company to keep obviously but it’s a longevity thing How many more years do you think LeBron has left I know it’s a tough question because you still see him at this age perform at a high level
Yeah I mean like think about last year He won a gold medal in the summer where he I mean Steph Curry had the most memorable shot of that tournament but if we’re talking about who was the best player on that team in its entirety it was probably LeBron And then he goes into the Lakers season where the Lakers got off to kind of like a little bit of a rocky start And then all of a sudden Anthony Davis went down and the Lakers got better just with LeBron James out there and then they traded for Luke and then end up as the third seed So how many more games or how many more seasons does he have left in him I think more than just one actually I mean I know he’s going to be 41 in December And as you mentioned he’s it’s he’s going to break a tie with Vince Carter for the most seasons ever He’s also 50 games away from playing in the most games ever That that record is held by Robert Parish the former Celtics great LeBron’s going to take that over too It wouldn’t surprise me at all if LeBron plays another year after this Now whether or not it’s with the Lakers that’s to be determined I suspect if he stays with the Lakers he’s going to have to take a pretty significant pay cut But the guy’s done everything you could possibly ask And to be 41 in December and to be playing at this level is just so remarkable He’s done so many things in his career that defy belief So it would not surprise me at all if he had another year beyond this He’s made more than 500 million in his career already on the court but I imagine he wouldn’t mind another ring Is are they are the Lakers going to be competit enough to compete with OKC now in the West uh with this move Yeah I mean potentially they were the three seed last year Oklahoma City no doubt about it is the heavy favorite in the Western Conference But if you Mike if you look up and down the Western Conference standings there are at a minimum possibly more 13 teams that have designs on just making the playoffs And then of those how many could potentially be contenders Well okay we saw Oklahoma City win in seven games in the finals but hey they had to go to seven games against the Denver Nuggets Now that has a lot to do with Nicola Joic being the best player in the world Apologies to SGA is the MVP but he took them to the brink So Oklahoma City is not completely unbeatable The Pacers took them to seven games The Pacers had an incredible season and who knows what happens if Tyrese Hallebertton doesn’t go down So to answer your question in a long way yes the Lakers could potentially be contenders in the Western Conference Again LeBron is playing at a really high level You got a full season of him and Luca now They have a lot of moves to make still Dorian Finny Smith he could potentially opt out There’s been some rumblings about whether or not he was going to stick around Kind of surprising to be honest with you because I’m not sure that there’s money for uh Dorian Finny Smith to get a raise a bump in salary Uh also they need a center as everybody knows right They were running Jackson Hayes out there They were starting him and then once they got into the actual games they’d yank him out and they’d go small ball center with LeBron and Dorian Fenny Smith And of course everybody can use shooters including the Lakers So still some moves to be made on the margins but yeah the Lakers are in the mix along with six eight 10 other teams to potentially win the Western Conference
All right John Gonzalez is a big domino to fall but as we mentioned an expected one So we’ll see what it means in fact for the Lakers moving forward but thanks for your help here Okay let’s take a look at some of the contract stuff for both LeBron James and Luca Donic LeBron opting in that 52.6 million player option as ESPN reported for next season would be an NBA record 23rd NBA season next year Luca meanwhile 46 million coming his way 49 million player option in 2026 2027 He’s eligible to sign up for a 4-year extension for an estimated 229 million on August 2nd [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] There we go It’s easy I don’t know Do it again Heat Heat Nothing Thank you for being Hello Are you tired man McDonald is there Get right now

ESPN Breaking: Utah Jazz trade Collin Sexton to Charlotte Hornets for Jusuf Nurkic and future draft pick