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Yahoo Sports' Kevin O'Connor joins G&D to talk Washington Wizards, as he details the options they have with the first overall pick.
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00:00Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo Sports does a great job covering the association
00:04and all of the coverage surrounding the NBA in the weeks ahead now
00:11is going to surround the Washington Wizards.
00:14It's our turn, Danny.
00:15Finally.
00:16Our turn.
00:16The center of the basketball universe, Yahoo Sports podcaster and writer
00:22Kevin O'Connor and the Rude guest, Hotline Rude,
00:24the most reliable heating and air conditioning products in the DMV.
00:28Kevin, we're still on cloud nine after yesterday in D.C.
00:31It happened.
00:32We didn't think it could or would.
00:33The Wizards have the number one pick.
00:37I bet you guys are.
00:38You're in the driver's seat.
00:40I mean, there's no better place to be.
00:41You get your plunk of the top four guys.
00:44You can trade down.
00:45You can stay.
00:47I just can't imagine how exciting it is considering all the quality young guys
00:51already on the team as is, too.
00:52Yeah, it's great.
00:53I mean, there's a running joke, and it's based on 100% reality.
00:58They've gone to commercial break.
00:59Not quite Nikola Jokic-style Taco Bell, but it's basically before Washington
01:03picks.
01:04It's like, back after this, more about the Lakers.
01:06Like, they can't be bothered to talk about us on all the telecasts, Kevin.
01:09Now they have to.
01:10And I'm going to basket it.
01:12I'm going to record it and rewind it and play it over and over again where
01:14they're forced to discuss my franchise seriously for the first time,
01:17really since John Wall went 1-1.
01:19But that impression, you know, we're still dealing with, and Stephen A.
01:24Smith did it today on his shouty show where he talked about how we're an
01:27abomination, they're pathetic, they're terrible.
01:29It wasn't his whole deal.
01:30They're still fighting that perception.
01:32Moments like this, I think, are going to go a long way to actually force people
01:34to examine and see the change that's been going on here for a couple of years.
01:38Did Stephen A. really say an abomination that Wizards got number one?
01:43Yeah.
01:44He basically did his thing where he personally is a great friend of A.J.
01:47DeBonson, he feels sorry for him now because he's going to a terrible
01:50franchise.
01:51And I'm like, dude, it ain't a handful of years ago.
01:52It's not Ernie Grunfeld getting the wrong Brooks when he's trading with
01:55Memphis.
01:56I mean, first of all, D.C. is a great city, right?
01:59And second of all, purely about basketball, yes, the Wizards won 17 games.
02:05Yes, they traded for Anthony Davis and Trae Young and put them on ice.
02:09Yes, they were tanking.
02:10But that doesn't change the fact that there's actually a foundation brewing here.
02:15It doesn't change – Alex Saar is such a bright spot on this roster with what he
02:20has shown he could be defensively, his offensive improvement.
02:23Keyshawn, George, D.Law, Kulabali, hopefully he can have a bounce back here.
02:27Will Riley, Trey Johnson, rock solid.
02:29There's not a star, but there's supporting pieces.
02:33And that's where I look at the Wizards situation now, and it's so exciting.
02:36You can make the argument for any of those top four guys and feel like, okay, they can fit
02:42into what this team is going to be in the short term as a young guy, especially with
02:46the veterans there at Trae Young and A.D. right now, but also in the long term as the
02:50face of what is a solid young group of players.
02:55So I think any of these guys – maybe A.J.
02:59D. Bonta might want to stay in Utah, right?
03:01But from a basketball standpoint, like that solely, it's a great situation for any of those
03:07guys, undeniably.
03:08I'm joined now by Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo Sports.
03:11You can hear him on the Kevin O'Connor Show and access the 2026 NBA Draft Guide available
03:15now on Yahoo Sports.
03:17How do you view 1-1?
03:19Is it the Bonta and then everybody else?
03:22Do you think there's a real decision to be made here?
03:24How do you see this?
03:26All right.
03:26So I'm from the same city as A.J.
03:30D. Bonta, Brockton, Massachusetts.
03:32I have a slight bias towards A.J.
03:34I love A.J.
03:35I think he is a deserving number one pick.
03:38So when I assess him, I also try to play a little bit of devil's advocate to myself.
03:44What is the reason to go against A.J.?
03:476'9", do it all score.
03:49You hope he becomes the defensive player that he could be with his type of body and his intensity
03:54long term.
03:55But Darren Peterson, if you just ignore what happened at Kansas this past year with the
04:00injury, the cranting and all that, if you just erase it like it never happened and you
04:04look solely at his high school stuff, I think Peterson would be number one on my board because
04:09at 6'6", in shoes, with his fluidity and flow and shooting ability, the defensive playmaking
04:16and at the high school level, he was so much better at getting into the paint and creating
04:21offense for himself and for others.
04:23Because it's just last year at Kansas, it kind of just ruined all that.
04:28He did not look nearly as athletic.
04:30He didn't have the same burst of what he was driving to the basket.
04:33He didn't really have that second year that you would see in high school and he didn't
04:37have as much explosiveness at the rim either.
04:39So I have him third.
04:41Maybe he'll end up second on my board right now.
04:44I don't think there's an argument for Boozer.
04:46I don't think there's an argument for Wilson over DeBonta or Peterson.
04:49To me, it's really one of those two guys.
04:50But like I said, if you just eliminate Peterson's fans of fear, if it never happened, I'd probably
04:57have Peterson ahead of DeBonta right now on my board.
05:00But then let's incorporate the variable.
05:02Kevin, I don't even know how to quantify it.
05:04I mean, I read the sympathetic ESPN piece doing the reporting.
05:08I'm not criticizing anybody for it, but it was basically like, you know, he called out
05:12like left 11 games early because he had creatine in September.
05:15You know what I mean?
05:15Like, I just don't know how to view it or I'm sure it's scary.
05:18Like, that moment sounded terrifying where he goes to the hospital or whatever.
05:21But I kind of go, keys to the franchise, bro.
05:24Like, I don't know how to treat that at the next level.
05:27If it's one overall, maybe the decision's made for me.
05:29You can go two or three, whatever.
05:30But how do you view that variable there for Peterson?
05:34I don't know what else to call it.
05:36I mean, look, I personally, I feel the same as you about the story on Saturday.
05:41It just feels like an excuse.
05:42It's too perfectly timed.
05:43They're just trying to steer the narrative and control it and try to minimize the noise
05:48entering the combine.
05:48We give it, but maybe it is the truth.
05:50Maybe for whatever reason, he was taking a whole tub of creatine instead of just one
05:54five gram scoop, right?
05:55That's possible.
05:56He was making a mistake and that's what caused it.
05:58I don't know all the details there.
06:00I'm sure we're going to find out more NBA teams from my conversations.
06:03They're like, this doesn't change anything.
06:06They don't care.
06:07They're just, they just want to get medical with him.
06:10They want to talk to him.
06:11I had Chad Ford on my podcast today, the longtime NBA draft analyst when he was at ESPN for many,
06:18many years, and he's very connected to Kansas.
06:22And he said on my pod today how he wonders how much this year might have been a mental
06:27element where he had this scare with a full body cramp before the season that every time
06:33he felt something, he kind of shut down, right?
06:37Maybe that was the case.
06:38So that's, I've heard NBA people say the same thing as I'm sure he has.
06:42So if it's that, that raises other questions.
06:45Is it always going to be like this?
06:46Is he always going to pull himself out of games?
06:49So I don't know the answer to that.
06:50You do have to weigh it.
06:52That's why I have him currently third on my board because you don't want another Markel Fultz situation
06:56where you think you're getting a guy who's going to be a stud and he ends up being a dud,
06:59whereas AJ's going to be a really good player, possibly a top 10 player, and Bougie's going
07:05to be really good, and Wilson will be too.
07:06So that's what the Wizards have to find out, and that's why they're in a perfect position
07:10because they're going to get time with all those guys and making the tournament whether
07:14to stay at one or, you know, haggle one of the teams and get more assets to move down
07:18a spot or two.
07:19Kevin O'Connor and Grant and Danny.
07:21Am I crazy?
07:22I brought this up a couple different times today because I really think there could be something
07:25to this.
07:26This is not normal that the owner of the team picking second is also the donor that
07:33brought a guy to a university, basically, in Ryan Smith, and they've been getting their
07:37ducks in a row for a few years, it feels like, to try to swing for DeBonse, almost certainly.
07:43And it's not, I was joking earlier, like, I remember when the Wizards were going to try
07:48to get a meeting with Kevin Durant when he was a free agent the first time, and everyone's
07:51like, but you don't understand, like, the guy that coached him at AAU is like the janitor
07:55at this place, and there's all these weird, you know, links, and of course it didn't happen,
08:00he didn't even take a meeting.
08:01This is not that.
08:02This is the owner worth three and a half billion dollars of the team picking second.
08:06It's not like they have the eighth pick, they have two.
08:09What about, like, him offering Ace Bailey, who wanted to come to D.C., and that pick to
08:13the Wizards for the first pick?
08:16I don't think the Utah Jazz would offer that much.
08:19I don't think it would be Bailey.
08:20I think it would be more like the second pick and, you know, some number of a future firsts,
08:27or, I mean, that's kind of what, think about a few years ago when the Celtics in 2017 traded
08:33down from one to three with the Sixers.
08:37The Sixers got Fultz at number one, the Celtics got Tatum at three.
08:40It ended up being one extra first round pick.
08:42So I'd say something along those lines to just change spots would be the price, not
08:47Ace Bailey.
08:47It just feels too rich to me.
08:49I mean, the top four guys, it's beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
08:53So I don't think it'd be a massive move with an Ace Bailey included.
08:57But to your point, it is unusual that Ryan Smith, the Jazz owner, is a DYU alum and a big
09:04time donor at the university, and him being a big time donor naturally played a part in
09:10AJD Bonson deciding to go there.
09:12I think they had other similar offers on the table.
09:16AJD Bonson's camp did before last season, but they chose BYU in part because of the money
09:21and in part because Kevin Young, a former NBA assistant coach, going there.
09:25So I'm sure AJD Bonson and his camp's preference probably worth a stay in Utah considering all
09:32the connections there.
09:32But I would like to turn it the other way.
09:34What if with all their BYU connections with Ryan Smith and with Danny Ainge and Austin Ainge
09:40and all the guys in that Jazz front office, what if they actually prefer the other guys?
09:46What if everything they learned and all the intel and the close-up view they got of AJD Bonson
09:51made them say, actually, we don't have him first on our board.
09:55And we actually prefer Peterson or Boozer or one of these other guys on the top four.
10:00So I think they want Devansa, but I'm just, I'm just, I wonder that aspect of it.
10:06Just because you're close with the guy doesn't mean that you aren't necessarily going to go
10:12that way.
10:13You might actually be a bit turned off.
10:15That's always possible too.
10:17Kevin O'Connor with us here on Grant and Danny.
10:19All right, a little exercise.
10:20I know it's a little bit lazy, but it just, I think, kind of helps people visualize some
10:23of this stuff.
10:24Let's go through the top of the board, Kevin, and give me the best pro comp, or you can
10:28even like make hybrids, like sort of Marvel superhero type guys for some of these guys
10:32at the top of the board.
10:32Who does Devansa remind you of the most?
10:35In my draft guide over at Yahoo, I've got Tatum and Brown, both Celtics.
10:40That's not purposeful.
10:42It's just what he reminds me of Tatum.
10:45The questions with him out of school was, well, what can he actually be defensively?
10:49He has a great frame, great body.
10:50Is he enough of a playmaker?
10:51Well, yeah, he's become a five-tool NBA player and an elite player across the board.
10:56I think Devansa has that upside, but there is a little bit of, you know, like Jalen Brown
11:02isn't the most fluid player.
11:03Granted, he's a former finals MVP.
11:05It works for him.
11:07With Devansa, I'd say that's a slightly lower ceiling on him.
11:10And Cameron Boozer, I think, is kind of like later career prime Blake Griffin, like when
11:16he wasn't jumping over cars.
11:17You remember him with the Pistons later in his career when he's handling the ball, bullying
11:22people.
11:23Peterson, last year at Kansas, looked like Ray Allen, off-ball guy, coming off a screen.
11:29In high school, like I hate even saying the name, but he looks like, you know, if you're
11:35going to compare anybody to Toby, Peterson looks a little bit like Toby with his fluidity
11:39off the dribble.
11:40It's just, I don't know, man.
11:41Like Peterson, Peterson just amazes me.
11:44When I just watched that high school stuff, I think he would be possibly the clear number
11:49one prospect this year.
11:50It's just, you can't ignore everything that happened this past year at Kansas, which is
11:54why it's possible he's, you know, more of just an off-ball guy and not a primary.
11:59But those are some of the names for those top three guys that come to mind for me.
12:04And then two more, just to indulge me.
12:06Give me Caleb Wilson and Keaton Wagler.
12:07Who do those guys remind you of?
12:10Caleb Wilson, I'd say Evan Mobley, but with like toughness, more heart, more intensity.
12:16That's the real missing piece with Evan Mobley that always has turned me off about him as
12:21a player ever since he was at USC.
12:24Caleb Wilson just is a freakish athlete, so explosive.
12:27He can bring the ball up the floor at 6'10".
12:30Sometimes you squint and it's like, oh, wait a minute, am I watching Giannis here with
12:34what he can do?
12:35He had two really impressive stretches over the course of the season against Duke and
12:40against Kansas, where he was just hitting every shot, turn around jumpers, pull up threes
12:45in those games.
12:46And it's like, oh, what if the shot develops?
12:48Could he be the best player in the draft?
12:50So I'd say Evan Mobley, but, you know, there's squints of, there's hints of someone
12:54greater than that.
12:55Yeah, and then Keith Wogler, you guys remember the name Kevin Martin?
12:59Yeah, of course.
13:00With his goofy shot, yeah.
13:02Kevin Martin.
13:02Nets.
13:03Yeah, early 2010 score.
13:05Kevin Martin is the name that comes to mind for me with Wogler, but a bit more of a playmaking
13:11ability with Wogler, and, you know, Kevin Martin is more of a mid-range guy at certain points
13:16of his career, then developed the three at midway through.
13:20I think Wogler is a more modernized version of that.
13:24I have him five on my board right now, Wogler that is, but I'm not locked in on him there.
13:29And some of these other guards this year, Darius Acuff especially, I mean, that guy could be
13:33a stud, I mean, what he did at Arkansas this year.
13:36Game S, and Stephon Marbury, like, some of these guards are pretty dynamic this year,
13:41but none of them compared to the top four prospects, in my opinion.
13:45Kevin O'Connor's got a draft guy that's available over on Yahoo, and Wizards fans are about to
13:49go elbow deep into draft prep as they get ready for pick 1-1, which they hit the lottery on
13:55yesterday.
13:56What do you make of the chances of Washington making enough strides to be a play-in-type
14:01team next year?
14:03Now, Trey Young at the point, if Anthony Davis is still around for the duration of the campaign
14:07at power forward with an unbelievably defensive-minded frontcourt with Alex Saar, then you've got
14:13Kishon George at the 2, and maybe DeBonsa at the 3, Will Riley, Bub Carrington, Bilal Kulabali
14:19off the bench.
14:20What do they look like next year if that's the roster?
14:25I think it's possible.
14:26I wouldn't rule it out.
14:27I mean, what did we just see with the Pistons these last three years?
14:31They went from 14 wins to 44 wins, and then the top of the East at 60 wins this year,
14:37up
14:372-1 with a chance to go to the Eastern Conference Finals.
14:40And the Wizards going from 17 wins to 42 wins?
14:45I don't think that's out of the question.
14:47It's going to be a totally different team.
14:49I mean, as you said, with AD there and Trey Young, they're assuming AD sticks around and
14:54all those young guys being another year older.
14:56So, no, I wouldn't rule that out at all.
14:59I do think it's a little bit challenging to kind of know how the new draft lottery rules
15:05are going to dictate the way teams are building, though.
15:08You're going to see a lot of teams trying to compete and a lot of teams not worried about
15:13tanking, whereas this year, a third of the league wasn't trying to win games.
15:18And so, if it's more competitive with the Bulls and the Nets and the Pacers and the Bucs,
15:23these teams ahead of them, well, they might be a better team, but they might not win more
15:28than 32 games.
15:30That's always possible.
15:31So, I think at the end of the day with the Wizards, it's more so than the wins and the
15:34losses.
15:35It's about how are these young guys developing?
15:37How is their chemistry developing together?
15:40And what does that mean for the years to come?
15:42And I think they've got a chance to get a really good guy to elevate that potential for the
15:46next decade here at No. 1.
15:48I can't wait to see what they do.
15:49I'm very excited.
15:51Very arguments in many different directions.
15:53Kevin, quick one, I want to sneak in.
15:55Do you speak Anthony Davis?
15:56I took Spanish in high school, so I have a tough time trying to figure out what he wants
15:59or is trying to get out of all of his comments publicly about the Wizards.
16:03I would love your interpretation as a pretty savvy basketball mind.
16:07I mean, look, first of all, I don't speak Anthony Davis.
16:11I don't want to learn to speak Anthony Davis.
16:14And I hope for you guys in Washington, you don't have to speak Anthony Davis for too long
16:18because it's going to be annoying when he plays 25 games and he jams his finger and he's
16:23out for three weeks.
16:25It's very annoying.
16:27But he's a great player when he's on the court.
16:29But, you know, it's strange.
16:31I don't have a strong sense about some of the stuff that's been said with him and his
16:38future in Washington.
16:39But the people I talk to kind of in the know, they talk as if he's going to be part
16:44of the
16:44team.
16:46So take that for what you will.
16:48I'm sure there's still a long time to go.
16:50We're only in the middle of May right now.
16:53But it seems like the indication is that he will be with the Wizards.
16:59But we're so early in the process here.
17:02Certainly are.
17:03And we look forward to catching up with you down the road as we get closer and closer
17:06to draft night.
17:08Kevin, thank you.
17:10Thank you, guys.
17:11Have a great day.
17:11Congrats on 1-1.
17:13Thank you, buddy.
17:13We're fired up.
17:14Kevin O'Connor, Yahoo, with us on GND here on the fan.
17:18Great insight from him there.
17:19I'm not sure.
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