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Where will Giannis land? Is Anthony Davis going to be traded? Will Trae Young resign with Washington? Brian Geltzeiler joins the show to answer all the questions around the NBA.
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00:00Right now, we're going to the Rude Guest Hotline to talk to our guy, Brian Geltzeiler, SiriusXM NBA radio host.
00:07Brian, things are heating up in the association. Where does Giannis land? Let's start there.
00:14I'm thinking Boston, guys. I really am. I think if it was going to be in Miami, it would probably
00:21be done already.
00:22They know what the Heat has to offer, and I know that Detroit wants to get involved as a third
00:27team
00:27and see if Kyle the Hero can be redirected there. But Milwaukee's being piggish here, and I don't see that
00:33in a negative way.
00:34Listen, this is your only move that you have. Outside the Giannis, they got nothing else they can really do
00:39here.
00:40They got the Lillard dead money on the books the next four years. It's going to be a miserable time
00:44for them.
00:44They have to get, A, lots of draft picks. They need extra and more draft picks because they gutted themselves
00:51with draft picks
00:52to go get Damian Lillard. The second thing that they need to do is get a really good young talent
00:58to build around.
00:59So, like, Miami's offering Khalil Ware, who is a talented guy, but he's had motivation issues,
01:04very inconsistent as a young player. And I don't know that I want him to be a building block or
01:08a piece
01:09that I'm going to build around. So, when you look at the packages that are out there,
01:14teams are very interested in Jalen Brown.
01:17Now, Jalen Brown, in many ways, has almost as much value as Giannis does on the open market
01:23just because of, A, you know, he is a Finals MVP as well.
01:27B, just showed you he can carry his own team to above a 50-win season.
01:32And C, although he's been hurt at times, he's a heck of a lot more durable than Giannis
01:36and a little bit younger. So, I know Milwaukee's not going to necessarily want to keep Jalen Brown in a
01:42package,
01:42but it is possible we see a deal now in the next 24 hours where Giannis goes to Boston
01:49and Jalen Brown goes to Milwaukee with Milwaukee having the intent to spin him out.
01:54And they'll take him for now, but they're going to look to do something with him
01:59over the course of the next two weeks to get that kind of, you know, young player and pick package
02:04that they so badly crave.
02:07But again, they keep asking teams to throw extra stuff in at the end,
02:10and I know there's a lot of frustration in the GM world right now
02:14about how Milwaukee's handling their business.
02:17Once again, they continue to do what they did around the trade deadline,
02:19which is, you know, walk up to the altar with teams, but not necessarily say, I do.
02:24And so, at some point here, sooner rather than later,
02:27that act's going to wear pretty thin with certain teams.
02:29It's starting to already. It's come down to a two-team market.
02:32Everybody else has walked away from this nonsense.
02:33So, we'll see what Milwaukee does here.
02:36But again, they have waited way to.
02:37They've waited two years too long to deal with this player,
02:39and now they're trying to hold the value out for him that he had two years ago
02:43that after not appearing in the playoffs two years in a row and all these injuries,
02:46he just doesn't have now.
02:48All right. On the LeBron front, Brian, is this story going to be yet again,
02:53yeah, okay, fine, of course we're going to pay you.
02:55We're not going to let you leave as a Laker, what's reasonable.
02:58Or could he actually be going somewhere else?
03:02I think there's talking just because, in the end,
03:05LeBron does not want to leave Los Angeles if he doesn't have to.
03:10Now, do I think it would be a decent consolation prize if he ended up in Golden State?
03:13I think it's something he could probably handle.
03:15But LeBron's in a unique position in his career with the Lakers right now,
03:19and the fact that LeBron was always the center of the universe.
03:22Right now, the Lakers got to figure out what to do with Austin Reeves.
03:24And before they can turn around and say, hey, we're going to go give some meaningful money to somebody,
03:30even if it's only one or two years, the guy's about to turn 42 years old,
03:34we have to deal with our 26-year-old second star who has teams banging on their door about him
03:40offering big packages.
03:42So do they want to sign Reeves themselves?
03:45Do they want to do a sign-and-trade there?
03:47That's the first decision.
03:48And once that first decision's made, the Lakers can do what they want to do.
03:52The question becomes, does LeBron James want to wait for the Lakers?
03:55Does LeBron James want to kind of be second fit in Austin Reeves right now
03:59when they're making a decision about what they're going to do with him?
04:03Or does he want to say, hey, you know what?
04:04I can go talk to the Warriors.
04:06I can go talk to the Clippers.
04:08And I would not rule the Clippers out of all this.
04:11I'd rule everybody else out.
04:12I think a Cleveland return is, I wouldn't say impossible, highly, highly unlikely.
04:17LeBron's entire base of operations is in California.
04:20And his family's there, and it's a comfortable place for him.
04:24I think ultimately the Lakers are the least complicated option,
04:27even though the relationships aren't one of the rules, because his son's there too.
04:30And I know there's a lot of value in that for LeBron as well.
04:33So I would still think it's likely to be the Lakers.
04:36It's just a question of, you know, if LeBron wants to check his ego at the door during this process.
04:41And I don't know if he will or he won't,
04:44because historically the track record is that he never checks his ego at the door.
04:48So we'll see where this goes.
04:49Certainly.
04:50Talking with Brian Geltziler from NBA Radio on SiriusXM.
04:54You can give him a follow at bgeltnba.
04:57Let's turn this thing a little closer to home for us,
04:59because obviously the LeBron situation is world news.
05:02The Giannis trade is the biggest thing that's going to happen in the NBA,
05:06probably over the next 36 hours.
05:08But in Washington, we saw Trey Young opt out of his contract.
05:12Everybody says, no big deal.
05:13He's probably coming back to Washington.
05:15Do you think there's a scenario if the Heat don't get Giannis,
05:20that the Heat start big game hunting for possibly some of the folks in Washington,
05:24whether it's Trey or AD?
05:27So, listen, I think there's two different pieces to this.
05:30The Trey Young piece is that, you know, the Wizards, to my knowledge,
05:33have an offer, a three-year offer to him,
05:35at less money a year than what he opted out of.
05:38And, you know, I think he's looking to shop that offer.
05:41Now, who's going to pay that money?
05:43There's only one team I could see doing it, and it would be Brooklyn.
05:48Keeping in mind that Brooklyn does not have their own first round pick next year.
05:53With all that said, if, you know, Brooklyn, I also know,
05:56would love to draft Darius Acuff at Arkansas.
06:00And if Acuff's the guy they're going to go with,
06:02then they're not going to be all that interested in Trey Young.
06:04I think the likely scenario is Trey Young's back in Washington
06:07at some kind of deal looking like three years at 124.
06:11Just less money per, but extended out.
06:14The bigger question is Anthony Davis,
06:16because, you know, the reason Anthony Davis got traded out of Dallas
06:19is because he asked for a contract extension.
06:21They said no, and he passed.
06:23That's it.
06:24So they kind of said, you know what, let's get what we can get for you now
06:28before this becomes a bad situation.
06:30Well, guess what? Anthony Davis is in Washington right now,
06:32and what does Anthony Davis want from the Wizards?
06:35Contract extension.
06:36What are the Wizards not getting him right now?
06:38Contract extension.
06:39So if this is not going to go well with Anthony Davis right now,
06:44the Wizards, regardless of Trey Young's status,
06:47may be smarter to say, you know what, let's say goodbye here.
06:50Let's move on.
06:51We'll get what we can get.
06:52I know we give him a couple of first-round picks
06:54that weren't the highest-level first-round picks.
06:55We'll recoup what we can recoup, and let's move forward here.
06:59Because Anthony Davis has got to prove he can stay on a basketball court
07:03for more than 30 games before you want to turn around.
07:06and start committing $40 million to $45 million a year for him over the course of the next three years.
07:11And by the way, I'm saying $40 million to $45 million, guys, that may not be enough for him.
07:15He may be looking into the 60s to get a big, huge deal.
07:18And you know what?
07:19If I'm the Wizards, I do not do that.
07:22Listen, I thought it was a little confounding in the first place why the Wizards traded for him.
07:27I didn't love that.
07:28I understood Trey Young a heck of a lot more.
07:30Got you off the Kispert deal.
07:32Came with a little bit of risk, but in the end, not a big deal.
07:34Guys you weren't necessarily looking to retain long-term is who left.
07:38So it was fine.
07:39And I know, again, they weren't the highest-level picks for Anthony Davis.
07:43They were still picks.
07:44And I did first-round picks.
07:46I just didn't necessarily kind of see the sense in that deal.
07:48And you're starting to see what my leading skeptical was all about here.
07:53Because they don't want to extend him.
07:55They got to get him healthy.
07:57And who knows what's going to happen.
07:58And you may have a situation here where Anthony Davis never really plays a game for the Wizards.
08:01And they just move him out this year.
08:03Because I do know this.
08:04The number one pick has changed the calculus for the Wizards.
08:06They feel like they can be pretty good pretty soon.
08:09And I don't know they necessarily need Davis to do it.
08:11But you have a chance to add in a historic kind of draft a major, major building block.
08:17And a guy that within three to four years can be an all-NBA caliber talent.
08:21Whoever they decide to draft in this spot.
08:23So I think for the Wizards now, I don't know if you focus as much on Anthony Davis.
08:29If you don't want to be here, don't want the door hitching the backside on the way out.
08:32We'll just move on from you.
08:33Yeah, I just chucked Brian a follow on Twitter.
08:36At BGeltz, with a Z, NBA, on Twitter.
08:40Because I hope we're going to become best friends, Geltz.
08:42Because you were saying all the things I was saying when the Davis deal went down on the radio.
08:47And I was like being booed out of the room when I said, I don't get it.
08:51And I said, they are still first-round picks, even though you're counting them as low first-round picks.
08:57So I'm glad there's at least someone else that sort of saw it the way that I saw it.
09:02Is it fair to say that there's only one new contract from the Wizards between Davis and Trae Young?
09:11Yeah, I do.
09:13I think that's fair to say.
09:15They're not paying both.
09:16They shouldn't.
09:17No, and why would you?
09:19No, I agree.
09:20I'm just saying.
09:21So we've got a two-for-one situation in both guys and their agents.
09:25They're smart.
09:25They can read the room.
09:27They're gunning for the most money.
09:28And so I think that's partly why maybe Trae Young said, I'm out first.
09:33Because if you're out first, maybe you've got the best chance of getting that cheese.
09:37I don't know.
09:38I think it's something that I think it's also.
09:40I think Trae Young doesn't necessarily want to go into a, you know, he can exercise his player option,
09:45go into a contract year, be hurt again, and all of a sudden next year he's looking at a mid
09:50-level exception money.
09:51Like that could happen for Trae Young.
09:53And I think Trae is well aware of that.
09:54So with where he is right now, let me sign a deal, even if it's lesser money, guarantee myself three
10:00years and give myself a little more of a runway to prove myself as a max player.
10:03And I think for the Wizards and the way their salary structure is going to be, that works.
10:08The Wizards look at Trae Young as a long-term part of this.
10:11They felt like they got him in value.
10:14They think they can build a winning team around him.
10:16It's hard because I've never seen a player in my life die on every screen in the way he dies
10:21on every screen.
10:22But, you know, you're going to have to figure out.
10:24But with all that said, if you have enough good defensive players around them, you can do something.
10:30Davis is, you know, St. Davis is now his last two stops had what I have to call TPS syndrome.
10:35This place sucks.
10:36He ain't happy to be in Washington, guys.
10:38And the thing is for the Wizards, what they're trying to build, and he's not going to be happy to
10:42be there, there's a mindset here that this is addition by subtraction.
10:47And here's the thing about Davis right now that's interesting.
10:50There would be contenders that would give you something to get him.
10:54Something.
10:55Won't be a lot, but something to bring him in.
10:57And the thing for Davis is also this.
11:00If I'm not going to have a contract extension, I want to go somewhere and be able to compete for
11:04a championship.
11:04And, listen, I think the Wizards are turning this thing in the right direction.
11:08I think Michael Winger's doing a very good job, and I've been incredibly impressed with their level of secrecy over
11:13the course of the last couple weeks.
11:15Because we're within, you know, we're bearing down on, what, 30 hours until the draft?
11:19We still have no idea what they're going to do.
11:20And I give them all the credit in the world for that.
11:22They're not going to be a title contender this year.
11:24And I think for Anthony Davis right now, he'd like to go somewhere and compete if he's not going to
11:28get all his money.
11:29All right, so you tell me if I'm crazy.
11:32I agree with you with Anthony Davis.
11:34And you look at some of these teams that are title contenders, or at least pretend they are.
11:39Could Davis get 11 or 12, the Warriors pick or OKC's pick?
11:46It's a great question.
11:48I think it's possible you could get the Warriors pick.
11:52It's not in the Thunder's DNA.
11:53The Thunder don't make trades for, you know, 33-year-old players that can't stay on the floor no matter
12:00how talented they are.
12:01You're talking about Chet.
12:03They do.
12:04And listen, the Chet thing is very interesting because if Chet's big money kicks in this year,
12:09and if Chet has another playoff like he just had where he looks like he's frankly scared,
12:14if they have that, all of a sudden that contract is going to be valueless.
12:18And I'd be very curious to see if there's a proactive nature of what Sam Presti might do here with
12:23Chet.
12:24Listen, the negotiating posture is we're not trading him, right?
12:27Because that way if a team wants to come after him, they're going to have to make a meaningful offer.
12:30Just because Sam Presti says he's not trading him doesn't mean that he's not trading him.
12:34But getting back to your question, I just, I don't see the Thunder being willing to do that.
12:39I do see a scenario with the Warriors, especially if there's a dalliance with LeBron,
12:43where if they get LeBron to come in at less money and they can turn around and figure out some
12:48kind of package
12:49where they're sending Jimmy Butler's money out, who's going to miss half this year,
12:53and bring in Anthony Davis and maybe attach that pick to that last year of Butler to bring in Davis,
12:58I could potentially see a scenario where maybe that happens.
13:02But again, I think that might be kind of remote.
13:05Listen, if the Wizards can get Jimmy Butler's expiring and the number 11 pick for Anthony Davis in this draft,
13:12you better run to sign up.
13:14Don't you let them hang up that phone before you get that.
13:17You conference the league in on that call right there and get your trade call done.
13:21Okay?
13:22Because if you can get that for Anthony Davis right now, you jump all over it.
13:26But I do think for the Warriors, there's a mentality coming out of there where we have a,
13:30Curry's still playing at a high level.
13:32We have a very short window with him here,
13:34and we have Butler missing the first half of the year with a knee injury.
13:38We might make a future sacrifice trade to be able to see if we can give this one more shot
13:44with an expendable type of group, a bunch of old guys who may still have it.
13:48So there is some, that's the one that I think you can hold that a little bit of hope for.
13:53Not a probability, but a possibility.
13:55All right.
13:55Are the Knicks going to be the Cubs, Brian,
13:59or are they going to be nimble and hungry enough to stick around and be a force?
14:04So I think, listen, I think they're going to be nimble and hungry enough to stick around and be a
14:08force.
14:09I just, I worry a little bit about what you heard from Jim Dolan earlier,
14:14or last week, the day before the parade,
14:16which was an oddly timed announcement to say we will not go into the second apron.
14:21It's suicidal.
14:22And the reason it's an oddly timed announcement is because it's not really rocket science.
14:27The Knicks are not going to take away one of their five starters who are all pretty well paid.
14:33And Mitchell Robinson is the contract that is up.
14:36They're not bringing back Landry Shaman.
14:37And frankly, they'll use the 23 pick in this draft to replace Landry Shaman.
14:40This comes down to Mitchell Robinson.
14:43And you saw what the Celtics did when they went into the second apron after winning in 2024.
14:50And they ended up having to unwind the whole thing in the 24-25 season when, you know,
14:56Tatum went down in the 25 playoffs and they tried to run it back once.
15:00But because they got out of the second apron when they did and they only spent one year there,
15:05they weren't subject to a lot of the same roster restrictions.
15:08Now, some of the second apron restrictions, as you get deeper into the CBA,
15:11are way more significant than they've been.
15:13So it's not apples to apples at the comparison.
15:16With all that said, I would think Jim Dolan for one year,
15:20and you can trust Leon Rose and William Wesley and Brock Aller and their decision makers in their front office,
15:26to say, let's go into the second apron right now.
15:29We'll live with the handcuffs for one year, and then we're going to make a decision after that,
15:34and let's see if we can run this thing back.
15:36Because one thing I'll tell you about the Knicks over the last couple of years,
15:38they've been blessed in a way with health that many teams have not been in the playoffs.
15:44And when you play this deep and you come back the next year,
15:48the health stuff starts to wear on you.
15:50Long-term fatigue happens, and this is where you end up with guys getting hurt.
15:54So, again, if I'm the Knicks, I run it back.
15:56But I don't think they're going to.
15:57All indications is that they're going to say goodbye to Mitchell Robinson
16:00and kind of promote Ariel Huckporty and see what they can do to fill in
16:04with a little bit of a younger, more nimble bench.
16:07I would not do that.
16:08I would question that decision, but we'll see what happens.
16:12Talking with Brian Geltzeiler here on the Rude Guest Hotline.
16:14You can hear Brian on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
16:17You can give him a follow at bgeltnba.
16:20Brian, it's kind of crazy.
16:21It's the day before the NBA draft.
16:22But the Wizards have the number one pick,
16:24and we've spent 20 minutes talking about everything but the number one pick.
16:28What do you think happens tomorrow night in Brooklyn?
16:32I think it's going to be AJ Devonta, and I think it's a great pick.
16:36I would tell you that if they took Darren Peterson,
16:39I would tip my cap to them as well.
16:41I would think it's a little riskier to take Darren Peterson
16:43because of some of the things that happened last year.
16:45But this is the smoothest guy I've seen coming into the league,
16:49maybe since Kobe Bryant.
16:50I mean, you watch this guy play, you watch him work out.
16:54There's not a wasted movement.
16:56He is incredibly talented.
16:58But you look at, you know, to me the scary part would not be,
17:02hey, missing games and creatine and all the BS they tried to shovel our way.
17:06The thing that would scare me was you had an agent pulling his strings in the background
17:09that was devaluing the significant money that Kansas University paid him
17:14for him to preserve himself for the NBA.
17:17So you want to make sure that you have an audience with him to that extent.
17:21Doesn't want to work out for the Jazz?
17:23Okay.
17:23That doesn't necessarily mean anything Ace Bailey did in the last year.
17:26Ace Bailey ended up firing his agent.
17:28He's there as a productive player for them with a very nice future.
17:31So I wouldn't worry so much about that when it comes to Peterson.
17:33But I do think for the Wizards, because of what the organization has been through,
17:38I think you take the safest player.
17:41And I think the safest player is the Bonsa.
17:44Now, you will get an argument from a lot of people around the league
17:47that the safest player is Cam Boozer.
17:50I don't agree.
17:51I like Cam Boozer a lot.
17:52But I kind of feel like you have to manage, you know, safety and comfort with upside.
17:58And the Bonsa is that combination to me.
18:00I think Boozer is going to be a very good player in this league.
18:03But the reality is this.
18:04The other three players at the top of this draft are superior athletes to him.
18:07And when you look at that superior level of athleticism,
18:11that's where the upside comes in to be a top ten player in the league,
18:14a top five player in the league.
18:16Cam Boozer may end up being an all-NBA guy at some point in his career.
18:19This is not a guy that I project to be an MVP candidate type of player.
18:23I actually think any of the other three, the Bonsa, Peterson, and Caleb Wilson,
18:27could all be MVP candidate type of players.
18:29So I would lock in on one of those.
18:32The Bonsa would be the one.
18:33If I were making the pick, I would pick the Bonsa.
18:35He'd be the one I'd be most comfortable with.
18:37And I think if I'm the Washington Wizards,
18:39I want to make sure that the guy I'm bringing in is as close to a sure thing as possible.
18:43And I kind of will, you know, straddle that line between upside and a sure thing.
18:48And I think the Bonsa becomes that answer.
18:50I can't wait to find out.
18:52Gelt, you're always great, man.
18:53Thank you for making time for us, dude.
18:56I always will, guys.
18:57Thanks so much.
18:57It's my pleasure to be with you.
18:59We'll talk soon.
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