00:00All right. Will Dawkins, the general manager of your Washington Wizards, along with A.J. DeBonsa, they held the A
00:09.J. DeBonsa introductory presser today. Tomorrow is going to be the second round pick.
00:14I liked the pick of Akpara from Tennessee. Really, really interesting defensive big man, for sure. Super raw and not
00:26necessarily anywhere near polished offensively. But 6'10 with a 9'4 inch reach. He was a shot blocker, he
00:36was a rebounder, and he was a lob threat offensively. That's pretty much how he scored either that or on
00:42offensive putbacks.
00:44But they traded two picks to get him at 46 because their picks were at 51 and 60.
00:53So Dawkins was asked about Anthony Davis and what the status of Anthony Davis playing this year, potentially getting a
01:04contract extension in August. Here's what the general manager, Will Dawkins, said.
01:11You mentioned Anthony Davis. Before we let you go here, we just saw a big extension for Trey Young be
01:17reported. Are you expecting to reach a contract extension with Anthony Davis here, Will?
01:23Yeah, can't comment on the Trey one just yet, but we feel pretty good about where that's headed. And with
01:28A.D. again, he wants to be here. We want him here. We'll have that conversation in the middle of
01:32August when we can officially have that.
01:33But again, I think we're building something here in D.C. where people want to be here and want to
01:38be a part of the turnaround.
01:39And our fans are behind the guys that are here and excited to add A.J. and everyone that we
01:43added tonight in the draft and our par as well.
01:45So we'll see what happens in Summer League and kind of go from there.
01:50So, I mean, I like to hear because I think the only way that they can be truly competitive next
01:56year is if Anthony Davis is here and he plays a lot of games.
02:01It's, you know, A.J. DeBonce is not going to turn them from a 17 win team into a 45
02:07win team, but Anthony Davis could, along with everybody else.
02:11But he is the guy that would be in position if he's healthy and can play like Anthony Davis has
02:17played in the past to really turn around the fortunes in one season.
02:21Go from literally terrible losing 25 of the team's last 26 games to potentially a 42, 43, 44 win team
02:29in the postseason.
02:31But you got to have A.D. because it's not going to be Trey Young and Trey Johnson and A
02:36.J. DeBonce and Bilal Koulibaly and Alex Saar.
02:40They're not going to turn 17 into 40 plus, but with Anthony Davis, they could do that.
02:45Now, you have to say as the general manager at this point, he wants to be here.
02:51We want him to be here.
02:52We'll have those conversations officially because if you are considering, if a trade is a possibility, you don't want to
03:01lose leverage by looking like you're interested in trading him.
03:05There have been reports, you know, over the last few weeks that it's very possible that Washington could, if they
03:12do not and are unable to sign him to a contract extension, would be interested in trading him even before
03:19the season begins.
03:21I wonder really what the value is for Anthony Davis at this point, because you didn't have to give up
03:28a hell of a lot to get him.
03:30I thought that that was a good deal for Washington.
03:32And until he plays again and shows that he's Anthony Davis, you know, I could certainly see a scenario where
03:40he plays enough games in the first half of the season to show that he's healthy and he's Anthony Davis
03:47again.
03:47And Washington's trending is maybe a play in team and they decide to leverage it at that point, you know,
03:56with still the rest of this upcoming season's contract left at fifty eight point five million.
04:03And then him holding the player option that he holds for twenty seven, twenty eight for nearly sixty.
04:09I think it's sixty two and a half million.
04:12That would be the time where the where the organization could actually get legitimate value back for him.
04:19They're not going to get that now.
04:21They're not going to get that before the season begins.
04:24He hasn't played since they traded for him.
04:27And that was considered to be very light in terms of the compensation that they gave up to get Anthony
04:34Davis.
04:34I really hope that Will Dawkins, Michael Winger and company are serious about Anthony Davis in this program for, you
04:46know, a few years.
04:47That's I don't want to wait four or five years for A.J.
04:51DeBonsa and all the other young players to really develop.
04:54And because right now, like, OK, Cade Cunningham got it done sort of quickly in Detroit, along with everything else
05:02they had.
05:03But, you know, Oklahoma City had to trade for Shea Gilgis Alexander to accelerate it.
05:09Is that comparable to trading for Trey Young and Anthony Davis?
05:12I don't know.
05:13Shea obviously a bigger upside than and much younger than Trey Young or, you know, at the time that they
05:22acquired him.
05:23I want to see them compete now.
05:26I want to see them compete now.
05:28I don't want to wait for.
05:30All right, let's see what A.J. DeBonsa is.
05:32Let's see what these young guys do.
05:33We're going to try to win, but we're going to stay young.
05:36We're going to play all these guys.
05:37We'll make a big move if we think a big move is there.
05:40In many ways, Anthony Davis could prove to be the big move.
05:43I mean, in combination with Trey Young, but Anthony Davis is the is the, you know, the guy that turns
05:51the fortunes around quickly because he's a legitimate top 10 player when he plays and he's healthy.
05:59Like he he's a difference maker.
06:02He's the difference between them winning 44 or 45 next year and 25 or 26 next year.
06:09It's not Trey Young.
06:11It's not DeBonsa in his rookie year.
06:13I pointed this out multiple times yesterday.
06:16Cooper Flagg had a phenomenal rookie season.
06:19They won 26 games.
06:21So it's about Anthony Davis playing and playing a lot and being a healthy player and playing to that level
06:31that we've seen him when he's been at his best.
06:33That makes them a formidable team in the East if Anthony Davis is healthy and playing like he's played in
06:42the past.
06:42And I would love to see that because, again, call it him at this point, but I don't want to
06:51wait three, four years because that's what it is.
06:54If you go young and you stay young or the only veteran that really is a big part of what
07:00you're doing is Trey Young.
07:01And, yeah, you're you're you're in a you know, we're looking twenty nine, thirty, twenty eight, twenty nine at the
07:08earliest before, you know, you hope they end up looking like Detroit looks in the East.
07:15But that's if DeBonsa ends up being what Cade Cunningham turned into as the number one player in the draft
07:23a few years ago.
07:25You said what did the caps do?
07:28I was going to let you talk about the caps after trading, making the trade with St.
07:32Louis for Cairo.
07:34They did something else yesterday that really helped them that they did.
07:37So they engaged in a sign and trade with the Buffalo Savers for one Alex Tuck.
07:42Now, you may remember him from the Stanley Cup final in 2018 when the caps played the Vegas Golden Knights.
07:48He played for the Golden Knights.
07:50And if you remember Braden Holpe's the save, he was on the losing end of that.
07:56So he's had a great career so far.
07:58He really found himself over these last couple of years, especially in Buffalo.
08:01He's been just lighting it up with like 60 points per year, a really good goal scorer, a really strong
08:08top line guy.
08:08But one thing that he and Jordan Cairo have in common is they're really good at scoring off the rush.
08:16And the caps were not, I think they finished bottom in the league or something like that in that category
08:22last year.
08:23So this is kind of this is another big addition for them that's going to be on the top line.
08:28He's a big guy.
08:29He's 6'4", 220.
08:30So pairing him with guys like Tom Wilson, Ilio and Alexi Protis, it's going to be a massive amount of
08:38size that teams are going to have a lot of trouble to deal with.
08:41So this is a big deal for them.
08:43An eight-year contract at $10.5 million.
08:46So it's a long one that's worth a lot of money.
08:49I'm not 100% sure if he will last the full term.
08:53So we will kind of see as time goes on.
08:56But they're getting better.
08:58They're doing a lot of things.
08:59They're making a lot of moves.
09:00And there could be more moves in the future, especially with the draft coming up and things like that.
09:04We still have a first-round pick despite trading 16 to St. Louis for Kairu.
09:10So we still have that Anaheim pick and have some options there.
09:14So I'm excited.
09:15Excited about the Caps.
09:16Excited to see where they're going to go.
09:18But yeah, they're adding a lot of beef to this top end of the line.
09:23All right.
09:24They are busy here.
09:25And the draft is tomorrow, correct?
09:28Believe that is correct.
09:30I think it is.
09:31I think that's what I read yesterday.
09:33Is there anything less visible in terms of drafts than the NHL draft?
09:38Or is that just because I don't care about it?
09:40I think it's probably because you don't care about it as much.
09:42They did have it at the Sphere last year.
09:44So that was kind of an interesting draw.
09:46But this year, it's going to be at Key Bank Center in Buffalo.
09:51Okay.
09:53No, I think in terms of the drafts, NFL 1, NBA 2.
09:57Count a few spots before you get to the baseball draft 3.
10:01And then it's the hockey draft 4.
10:03In terms of overall sort of exposure.
10:08Exposure and excitement.
10:08But then again, that's sort of the lineup of the sports in general.
10:11In terms of popularity.
10:13I mean, baseball and the NBA are close.
10:15I guess.
10:16I mean, baseball and the NBA are close.
10:16I mean, baseball and the NBA are close.
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