- 20 hours ago
The Sports Junkies react to Trae Young’s new deal with the Washington Wizards
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00:00four years, $212 million deal to stay with the Wizards.
00:05So this answers the question that some people have,
00:08like, why is he declining his player option?
00:10And the answer is always because these guys are always going to get
00:14bigger bags of money and more years tacked onto their deal.
00:18That's why they declined their player option.
00:20The expectation was by most of them reporting it for the last three,
00:23four months was three years, 120.
00:25They didn't think there'd be a market for them.
00:27But apparently, I guess when they changed the lottery rules,
00:31bottoming out is now not cool.
00:33What's cool is middling.
00:34Can you imagine, like, how Tommy Shepard would do in this era?
00:37Oh, he would just thrive.
00:39And now teams need to be more competitive.
00:42And there was a market suddenly for Trey Young.
00:44There was other teams that were interested.
00:46I was shocked by that number.
00:48I think everybody was shocked.
00:49I think it's an awful deal.
00:50Feels like the Bradley Beal deal again.
00:54Look, I think he's going to put up numbers.
00:57I don't feel like he's a winning player.
00:59And I think the league kind of decided that.
01:01Now, there might be a couple of teams out there that wanted him.
01:04But I think that is a massive overpay.
01:08And he still might be moved.
01:10That's the thing about it.
01:11I'm not convinced that he's going to be here a year from now.
01:16I think it's a massive overpay.
01:18Listen, I think everyone agrees it's probably an overpay.
01:20But I think it's what you had to do if you wanted to keep this deal going.
01:23If you let him go, you're going to lose AD probably either way.
01:27Then you're just kind of back to square one.
01:29They're ready to start winning.
01:30I think they are super impressed with everything about him when he showed up.
01:35I think they love what he's going to bring to this team.
01:37I know I do.
01:38I love what he's going to bring to the team.
01:39I probably wouldn't want to pay him $50-something million a year.
01:42$53 million.
01:43It is what it is.
01:44It's crazy.
01:45The Wizards have been so bad for so long.
01:47They're forced to overpay.
01:49If they want a player of his caliber.
01:51And look, I know he's not a top five or top ten player in the league.
01:54But he's a pretty big get for the Washington Wizards.
01:57And to keep him here, you have to pay that guy.
02:00They haven't had a point guard in years.
02:02They've been playing guys like Spencer Dimwitty and Raul Netto.
02:06And as much as we like Bub, Bub's not.
02:09An elite point guard.
02:11They have an elite point guard.
02:13An all-NBA player.
02:16And he'll be entering his prime years.
02:18Imagine getting Chris Paul from 28 to 32.
02:22Well, Chris Paul's a totally different player than Trae Young.
02:25I'm just saying, getting somebody in the prime of his career.
02:27Chris Paul's a winning player.
02:29And I know Trae Young early in his career has led him to it.
02:33I think Michael Winger thinks he's a winning player.
02:33I think Will Dawkins thinks he can be a winning player.
02:35Will Dawkins apparently has had a relationship since Trae Young was 12 years old.
02:39So there's some bias there.
02:41I was watching a bunch of guys.
02:43I think maybe it was Kendrick Perkins.
02:45Not exactly sure who it was.
02:47It said they've known him since he was 12 years old.
02:52So we're going to have Andrew Sharp on the show later.
02:54And we've had Andrew Sharp on the show to talk football a lot.
02:58He's an analytics guy.
02:59He's great when he comes on the show.
03:01You're thinking of Warren Sharp.
03:02Oh, you know what?
03:03I am thinking of Warren Sharp.
03:04We're going to get Sharps mixed up.
03:04I don't think they're related.
03:06I don't think they are.
03:07I am getting them mixed up.
03:08They're two different people.
03:09And you know what?
03:09At first I was like, I thought it wasn't the right guy.
03:12But then I kept, I was like, okay, this is the analytics guy too.
03:14All right.
03:15So Warren Sharp, football analytics.
03:17Andrew Sharp, basketball analytics.
03:19Warren Sharp, he may dabble in NBA analytics.
03:22But he's an NFL guy.
03:24Yeah.
03:24Yeah.
03:25But he's not a big fan of it.
03:27Not a big fan.
03:28Yeah.
03:28I mean, his tweet, I mean, I'll read a couple that came out.
03:34He goes, I hated the Trey trade from the beginning and would have hated any deal they signed.
03:38But credit to the Wiz, I never expected it could be that insane.
03:42Yeah.
03:43This one from Michael Pena from The Ringer.
03:46I think if you didn't like the deal to begin with, like JP, you're not going to like any
03:51resigning.
03:52Oh, you're certainly not going to like it at this point.
03:53Yeah.
03:53You wouldn't like it if it was a two-year deal.
03:55Well, it could be more reasonable if it was, you know, guys getting paid, I know this
04:00sounds insane, $25 million to $30 million a year would be more reasonable.
04:05$53 million a year is a lot of money.
04:07But like Cake said in the break.
04:08They would have lost him.
04:09You would have lost him, but you also have to spend a certain amount of money.
04:13Didn't want to go back to just having all rookies.
04:15You know what it's like?
04:16It's like, remember when the Nationals had a huge overpay for Jason Moore?
04:21Yeah.
04:21And they had to do that because they were the Nationals and they weren't really a legitimate,
04:27serious organization yet.
04:29But to show you're a player.
04:30Yes.
04:30And they had to spend all of that money to kind of make the announcement to Major League,
04:36hey, we're trying, we're open for business, we're ready.
04:42And I also think it shows that they were committed to Trey and guys like JP never believed it
04:47for a second.
04:48Yeah.
04:49That he was just an asset.
04:50He wasn't...
04:51They didn't really want to build around him, and they did.
04:54And look, if he's off...
04:55I'm still not convinced that they want to build around him.
04:58If he's off the injured...
04:59I think they want him to lead all the young guys.
05:02You give a guy four years at $53 million, I mean, you're expecting...
05:06It's a pretty big commitment.
05:07They didn't do that to move him at that trade deadline.
05:09You're expecting to have him for at least two to three years.
05:11I'll make a bet that he's not here on the roster in three years.
05:15I'll make a bet he's here in two years.
05:17Maybe he'll be here for two seasons, but I don't see a third.
05:20I don't know if that's a third year.
05:21I don't know.
05:21Well, he's got his player option in his fourth year.
05:23I would say at that age, at age 31, he's probably going to take that 53 million.
05:28And look, if he becomes Bradley Beal and he's off the injured and can't play for 35, 40% of
05:34the season,
05:35then it's going to be blowing up in their face.
05:37I think that's the deciding factor.
05:38But if he stays relatively healthy and scores, I don't know, 23 to 25 points per game and
05:43gives you 11 assists per game and helps bring this young core along, I think it's going
05:48to be worth the money.
05:50I'm not going to pretend to know about the aprons.
05:53Yeah, I don't know.
05:53I don't know how that works.
05:54I'm not going to pretend to be some salary cap expert.
05:56I read that his salary could eat 30% of the salary cap.
06:01So that may be a limited move down the road.
06:04This is from a basketball guy from The Ringer.
06:07He said, if I was a team about to add the number one pick, I'd probably not go out of
06:10my way to create one of the worst contracts in the league 24 hours before the draft.
06:15That's just me.
06:16And that is a, it's not just a JP opinion.
06:20There's a lot of basketball insiders who think this is a terrible move.
06:25This is what this signals.
06:27Dawkins and that front office, they love Trae Young.
06:30They love Trae Young.
06:31They love him.
06:32And they feel like he's a good fit.
06:33JP doesn't love him?
06:33Will Dawkins loves him.
06:35Pena might not like him.
06:36Andrew slash Warren Sharp may not like the deal.
06:39But Dawkins and Winger and the brain trust here, they really like Trae Young.
06:44And that's what this deal signals.
06:46I agree with that 100%.
06:47They're not infallible.
06:48Oh, I understand.
06:49But they love him.
06:50They're walking down the road with Trae Young.
06:52You're wrong that they didn't love him.
06:53I still don't know that they love him.
06:55They love him.
06:56I don't know if they love him.
06:56That's why they gave him 200 million.
06:57They love him.
06:58They gave him the minimum max, right?
07:01The max that other teams could give him.
07:04Yes.
07:04Which to me is a weird rationale.
07:06Like, let's pay him just to keep him.
07:10And they traded for him.
07:12It was relatively cheap, right?
07:13They gave up Corey Kisper.
07:14And CJ.
07:15Yeah.
07:16And CJ McCollum, who was another pit stop guy.
07:18They've had a lot of pit stop guys.
07:20Yeah.
07:20I feel like Trae Young is a pit stop guy.
07:22Now, we'll see what happens tonight.
07:24That's where you're wrong.
07:24I think he's a few notches at least above, like, a CJ McCollum.
07:29You're putting those guys in the same category?
07:32Now, what are you talking about?
07:32In terms of a player?
07:34Or are you talking about a pit stop?
07:35In terms of you're just going to treat him like a trade chip.
07:39He's not like a baby.
07:39No, no.
07:40I think that he likely will be here longer than CJ McCollum.
07:44In terms of quality of player, I think they're about the same.
07:46Right.
07:47I think Trae Young is better than CJ McCollum.
07:49But I think Trae Young has major deficiencies.
07:52Trae Young can do a little bit more than CJ just in terms of being a point guard.
07:57Right.
07:57Sure.
07:57Of course.
07:57He's done things that only like two other guys have ever done.
08:00Trae Young's just – his deficiency is he's not a good defensive player.
08:04Yeah.
08:04And that's been the knock on him for seven, eight years.
08:08I'm not going to worry about that because almost all of the Wizards players over 25 or
08:1130 years have been deficient defensively.
08:13But here's the thing about the salary cap.
08:17There's a floor that you've got to spend at least $140 million.
08:20Right.
08:21I think it's like $150 million.
08:23Did it go up?
08:24$149, $150.
08:25Okay.
08:25So say it's $150.
08:26So I don't know what their salaries added up to without signing Trae Young.
08:32Right.
08:32But with all those young guys, it can't be close to that.
08:35Their third highest salary is SAR at 12.
08:37Right.
08:37So they had to go out and spend something.
08:39Now they could have gone out in free agency and signed a couple guys to get over that.
08:42Or they could have given SAR a bag early and extended him, giving him big fat money.
08:46Okay.
08:47Which events they're going to have to do.
08:49Sure.
08:50Yeah.
08:50And this third and fourth year, it's out there.
08:53But like you said, maybe Trey is on his way out or gone or traded by that time.
08:58They just had to spend money somewhere.
09:00They decided this was the guy to do it.
09:02I think Anthony Davis might be moved today.
09:04He could be.
09:05He could be.
09:06There are rumors about the Blazers having interest in Anthony Davis.
09:09I agree 100% with Cakes.
09:11I think ultimately this will come down to health.
09:14If he proves to be unhealthy over the next three or four years, it'll be a disaster.
09:20If he is healthy, I think it'll be just fine.
09:23I think there's a middle.
09:24I don't think it has to be a disaster.
09:26I just don't think he's.
09:28I don't envision him as a player on a championship team.
09:32Yeah.
09:32And that's the whole goal of this is to turn them into a championship team.
09:36Yeah, but maybe he's not a chip on a championship team.
09:39And to explain kind of the aprons.
09:42So you've got the salary cap floor.
09:44You've got the salary cap limit.
09:46And then you've got that luxury tax number, which is, I think, about $190 million.
09:51All right.
09:51So they're not there yet.
09:53That first apron is $196 million.
09:56That's when you get a penalty.
09:57Then there's a second apron.
09:59This is about $207 million, which is a stiffer penalty.
10:02So they're not going to get to that apron level.
10:04No, not until like $28, $29.
10:05And, by the way, you've got to remember that the cap goes up every year.
10:08I think it's going up 5% every year.
10:10So they had to be at a certain number, which we just explained, which was the salary cap floor.
10:14So they had to go out and sign somebody, and they decided Trey was the guy.
10:17$53 million is a lot of money to give the dude.
10:19A lot of money.
10:20But they decided he was worth it.
10:22I hope he balls out.
10:23I like him.
10:24I hope he crosses it.
10:25I'd rather have him than not have him.
10:26It's a lot of money.
10:28In a perfect world, you give him less.
10:29But it's not a perfect world.
10:31I hope.
10:32I'm a Peterson guy.
10:34I hope it doesn't affect their draft.
10:38And I suspect it probably does a little bit.
10:41John Wall thinks it helps Peterson's case.
10:43I know.
10:44I watched John Wall say it because Peterson can play off the ball.
10:47Absolutely.
10:47And he doesn't think DeBonta can, which was surprising.
10:50Well, DeBonta is more of a dribble create on his own than coming off screens and that sort
10:57of thing, catch and shoot, which Peterson proved he could do at a very high level.
11:02Yeah.
11:02I just, I would have liked to have seen.
11:04I think AJ can work on that and get better.
11:05I would have liked to have seen AJ as a guy who's got the ball in his hands as a
11:10primary
11:10guy versus a two guard, essentially.
11:13The guy who's going to have the ball in his hands is going to be Trey Young and he's going
11:16to distribute it.
11:17Yeah.
11:18And he's going to get 11 or 12 assists per game when he's out there.
11:22Yeah.
11:23He's the third league assist guy all time in the league.
11:25I could see Peterson being a guy, you know, I saw Seth Greenberg talk about this yesterday
11:32and he's like, I was a Peterson guy.
11:34He goes, then I wasn't.
11:35And he's like, but I'm back.
11:37He's like, he's, he's, he's Devin Booker or, uh, who else did he compare him to?
11:43And those are guys that can create with the ball in their hands, but Hey, they're going
11:47to go Trey Young.
11:47Trey Young's going to be a big time score, probably be the leading scorer on the team.
11:52Uh, he'll be the leading assist guy.
11:54He's really good on pick and roll.
11:56I just don't know if he's a winner anymore in the league.
11:59The Atlanta Hawks decided he wasn't.
12:01Yeah.
12:02But I don't think the Hawks did a whole hell of a lot in the playoffs today.
12:06Uh, no.
12:07No.
12:07Yeah.
12:08They did not.
12:09They're an up and coming team.
12:11Yeah.
12:11I think they decided to hand the reins to the other Jalen Johnson.
12:15Yeah.
12:15Helped in a regular season.
12:16Didn't help them in the playoffs.
12:19I don't know.
12:20I think that Trey could be a winning player, especially if you put, if you surround them
12:24with what could be four very excellent defensive players.
12:27I think you can, you can overcome some of the shortcomings.
12:30You're going to mask his deficiencies.
12:31Yep.
12:32Jalen Brunson has the same knock to be fair in terms of being a defensive player.
12:37A defensive liability.
12:38And they just won the championship.
12:40Exactly.
12:41The, the wizards still have 75 million in cap space for 26, 27, even after the deal.
12:47Right.
12:48That's what, that's where their payroll was.
12:50They had the money.
12:51Yeah.
12:51So they're just, they got a big cushion.
12:53Yeah.
12:54So you had to spend it on somebody.
12:55They might, you know, it might hurt a guy like Koulibaly who'll be up sooner than the
12:58other guys.
12:59Yeah.
13:00But they could still go out.
13:01I'm going to hit Bilal.
13:04It could be, it could be bad news.
13:06All right.
13:06Lots of NBA draft talk on the show.
13:09Obviously wizards hold the number one overall pick.
13:11We're just about 13 and a half hours away from the start of the NBA draft.
13:16Later on today's show, Ben Anderson, Utah jazz insider for KSL sports and Salt Lake.
13:22He'll join us.
13:22Coming up at eight o'clock, the jazz hold the number two pick.
13:26Of course, the wiz hold the number one pick.
13:28It's coming up later where the junks will be right back.
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