- 7 weeks ago
How would the Warriors balance their payroll if they acquire LeBron James?
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00:00Back to Will and Dibby on 95.7 The Game.
00:05There is a lot of commentary out there.
00:09We will be sprinkling it in along with your phone calls.
00:13The whole world is talking about this.
00:14But there's one piece today that's caught my attention more than any other.
00:19Oh, I'm intrigued.
00:20Okay, and it came from Brian Windhorse.
00:22And we're going to play it in literally a minute.
00:24But first, we want to remind everybody about golf at Silverado on Monday, July 13th.
00:32Y'all around?
00:33Who's around on July 13th?
00:34You ready to roll?
00:35Hey.
00:36You're damn right.
00:37He'll be there.
00:37Yeah.
00:38So will he?
00:40The process.
00:41Yep, he's going.
00:42You got his Spadonuts also?
00:44Yep, there he is.
00:45He's going.
00:46All right.
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01:09and give us an explanation of why you want to play.
01:12And if I were you, I'd put some good golf gear on too.
01:16You know what I mean?
01:17Because if you can play, you got to fit.
01:19Yeah.
01:19You do.
01:20Look good, feel good, play good.
01:21Yeah, put it on.
01:22Put it on.
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02:01golf at Silverado.
02:02This is only 15 seconds, but I feel like it's key to why I right now would lean.
02:09I will not use a bigger word than lean.
02:11I lean Warriors right now.
02:14Lock it in, Willard.
02:14I am.
02:15I'm locking in my lean.
02:17I lean Warriors at this hour for LeBron James.
02:20I think this is important from NBA Today on ESPN from Brian Windhorst.
02:26I'm going to say one thing.
02:28Who acted with knowledge?
02:30Did the Cavs act with knowledge?
02:33Did the Heat act with knowledge?
02:35Did the Lakers act with knowledge?
02:37No.
02:38The Warriors acted with knowledge.
02:39Draymond opted out.
02:40That's all I'm going to say.
02:42I mean, it's not all you're going to say, Brian.
02:44You've been on all the shows all day, every day.
02:48But it's a good walk off.
02:49It is.
02:50It's a good mic drop.
02:51It is.
02:51He's right.
02:52He's essentially saying the Warriors are the only team out there.
02:56Maybe the Lakers are the other one that have the knowledge, but they weren't interested
02:59in, for whatever reason, bringing him back, at least at whatever number LeBron wanted.
03:03The Warriors were the only other team out there that had at least a sense that LeBron leaving
03:08the Lakers was a possibility.
03:10And as a result, a lot of what we talked about yesterday was they encouraged Draymond to
03:15opt out.
03:16And Draymond, and we can hear from Draymond as well, who's being a team player, at least
03:21in the moment, opting out and trusting the Warriors will not stab him in the back, which
03:25they won't.
03:25They're not going to do that to Draymond.
03:28Say, hey, Draymond, opt out.
03:30Save us a bunch of money, at least in the moment, so we have the flexibility to offer
03:34LeBron James everything we possibly can.
03:36If it works out, great.
03:37We'll then take care of you.
03:38If it doesn't work out, well, we're still going to take care of you.
03:41So do this for us.
03:42Draymond did.
03:43And now they're in a position to take advantage.
03:46And no other team did anything like that.
03:48There was no pre-planning for other teams.
03:50We talk about, remember when Kevin Durant signed here a decade ago?
03:54That was planned years in advance by the Warriors.
03:57This is not like years in advance planning for this.
03:59Maybe potentially it is.
04:01I mean, they've been trying to attract somebody like this for a long time.
04:03But it's a similar idea.
04:05The Warriors are planning for this.
04:07They've been planning for it.
04:08They knew it was a possibility, or at least they hoped it was a possibility.
04:11And they learned something at some point that made them feel like, oh, it actually is a possibility.
04:16So let's set ourselves up for success.
04:18While the other teams, it seems like, are trying to play catch up.
04:21So Draymond Green on his podcast, and we'll play some of it a little bit later.
04:26You know, I know a lot of people, ooh, he's a free agent.
04:28And maybe there's something behind this.
04:30He's going to leave.
04:31Or the Warriors are going to be like, hey, that's great that you hopped it out.
04:35Waka, waka, waka.
04:36Psych.
04:36We don't want you.
04:37We got you.
04:38He sat there on the pod and referred to themselves as us and we and family throughout the entire podcast.
04:46So, look, all of us have the right to be wrong, and that could absolutely be happening here.
04:55But for anybody who wants to chat about Draymond and that side of this today, we are here, we're open,
05:01we're ready.
05:02But I can give you a little sneak preview as to what my answer is.
05:06No way, no how, no nothing surrounding Draymond right now.
05:10Draymond Green was a warrior.
05:12He is a warrior.
05:14He will be a warrior.
05:16There is no, I do not see any funny stuff going on whatsoever, any way, shape, or form with Draymond
05:24Green.
05:25That's my opinion on that.
05:26I'm with you.
05:27It would be 10 times more shocking to me, maybe 100 times more shocking to me, if the Warriors did
05:33Draymond dirty that way than if LeBron were a warrior.
05:37Like, it's way, way, way, way, way, way more likely LeBron comes here than the Warriors trick Draymond into opting
05:44out so they can say, all right, goodbye, or take this low, low offer, or you're not going to be
05:48on the Warriors anymore.
05:49That's not going to happen.
05:50Me hitting Powerball tomorrow night is more likely than Draymond playing for another team next year.
05:57Okay?
05:58Wow.
05:58Go buy yourself some lottery tickets.
06:01I will.
06:02All right.
06:03And share some if you win.
06:04Oh, for sure I will.
06:07It's like up to, it's almost $400 million.
06:09Okay.
06:10Totally share.
06:10Give me a taste.
06:11Yeah.
06:11Buy you a sandwich.
06:14Dave in Sacramento.
06:15Hi, Dave.
06:15Lead us off.
06:16What's going on?
06:18Hey, fellas.
06:19So, I think LeBron's going to be here.
06:22I'm not a big fan of it.
06:25But what I wanted to say was what I would rather do, because, like, I think the AD for $50
06:31million was absolutely stupid because he's only going to play half the season.
06:36But when it comes to LeBron, I'd rather pay somebody like a Quentin Grimes $18 million to play over, you
06:44know, and have a five-year contract for him, opposed to a guy that's going to play for one or
06:49two years and bounce and give him $30 million.
06:51It just doesn't make sense to me when, again, the Warriors are acting like we want to do both.
06:57We want to win now, and we want to build for the future.
07:01Well, you can do that right now.
07:03But you're choosing not to.
07:05Appreciate the call, Dave.
07:07They can't offer anybody $18 million.
07:09It gets so tough at this time.
07:11I don't want to come at any listener or Warrior fan for all of your ideas, but we literally, I'm
07:19just telling you, we listen to this stuff all day long.
07:22And I'm not kidding.
07:24North of 80% of the concepts and ideas that get thrown around in sports media are not even allowed.
07:32They're not even doable.
07:35The Warriors cannot offer $15 million, $18 million, quite frankly, almost anything on any form of a five-year deal
07:43right now unless they cleared other players off their roster.
07:46The mid-level exception is just that.
07:48It's an exception, and you can run it out for a short period of time.
07:54Four years is the max length of the mid-level exception.
07:57But that's probably not what Quentin Grimes is looking for right now.
08:01I don't even know what's on the table for him.
08:04I've heard his name with the Lakers now because the Lakers are a team.
08:07They have cap space.
08:08That's got money to spend.
08:10Because LeBron's money is coming off the books.
08:12There you go.
08:13Essentially, for the Warriors, and this is part of the reason why I think, and you have brought me over
08:18to your side with LeBron and the events of the last few weeks have done that as well.
08:22Nice to have you over here.
08:23I credit you because we sat here for a couple of shows a few weeks ago, and I was on
08:27the other side of the fence.
08:29But part of what my opinion, why I think they do it, is because there's not a whole lot else
08:36you can do.
08:37The $15 million, theoretically, that you would be giving LeBron, first of all, it's going to come at the expense
08:43of likely having to trade away Moses Moody.
08:45Likely to get that done.
08:47That's a good point that everybody should hear.
08:49Which is unfortunate because I'm a huge fan of Moses Moody, and he's also injured.
08:52So part of me wonders, what is it going to take to get a taker on Moses Moody, considering that's
08:57a really serious, gruesome injury that he's going to come back from.
09:00And who knows what kind of player he's going to be.
09:02But you have to give up that kind of player to be able to offer LeBron the $15 million that,
09:08theoretically, the Warriors have determined is the only way LeBron would come to the Warriors.
09:13Maybe LeBron shocks us all and says, I don't need $15 million.
09:16I'll take $6 million.
09:16And then it becomes a whole lot easier.
09:18The point is, though, the Warriors can't offer $15 million to anybody unless they clear more space.
09:23They can't offer more than $15, even if they clear Moses Moody's contract to anybody else.
09:29You're over the cap.
09:30You can't offer free agents any money unless it's through an exception or it's a sign-in trade or you
09:37have bird rights.
09:38Like they have Chris Epps Porzingis' bird rights or they're your own free agent like Al Horford.
09:43Like Draymond Green.
09:44You just can't go and say, I got $18 million for Grimes.
09:49Here it is.
09:49No, you are not allowed to do that.
09:52The $15 million that they're trying to reserve for LeBron, that's the most they could offer anybody.
09:57And why LeBron makes more sense is because how are you going to find a player better than LeBron James
10:04at $15 million?
10:05It's impossible to find one out there.
10:07Correct.
10:08So I understand the emotions around the idea of LeBron James and Steph Curry pairing up and the Golden State
10:14Warriors and yet another supposed villain joining the Bay Area a la Richard Sherman or Oral Hershiser or Randy Johnson
10:23or whatever else kind of a comp you want to make.
10:26Nothing is as big as this, this concept at least in terms of an idea.
10:30But I do wonder if this sort of helps people.
10:33One of the reasons I've been such a proponent of this idea for the last, quite frankly, two or three
10:40months since we've been talking about it.
10:42You were on it way long ago.
10:44Like the one where we had the Sharks game?
10:46Yeah, someone looked that bit up.
10:47Was that in March?
10:49It feels like it was no later than that.
10:51Yeah, it definitely was in April.
10:53It was in April.
10:54It was either late February or March.
10:56I think March.
10:57Anyway, point is, the reason I felt that way is you have to sort of ride a fence if you're
11:05the Warriors situationally based on the rules that you just detailed.
11:10And there's one of two things that you can do.
11:13You can either just sit there and be like, bummer, we're stuck.
11:17Here comes all of our same players back and let's do play in tournament again.
11:22Or you can make a big swing and ruin your future.
11:26You can do that.
11:27That's what Giannis would have represented.
11:29We can give up all the assets and try to get a big guy to come in and do right
11:35now a little bit longer.
11:37Even what Kawhi would have represented.
11:39Absolutely.
11:40The Raptors gave the Clippers decent players plus two first-round picks and a pick swap.
11:46First thought that I, when the Kawhi deal came down, I'm like, thank God the Warriors didn't do that.
11:50That's too much.
11:51I don't even know if they could have done that.
11:52So, there's one thing and one thing only that represents the opportunity for the Warriors to get better today without
12:02touching their future.
12:04There's one thing.
12:06And it's this.
12:08And that's why I've liked it so long.
12:10Like, I know it ruffles feathers.
12:13And I know it's not perfect.
12:14He's old, and I'm not saying that the Warriors are now going to be on TV in mid-June.
12:21He'll be on TV the rest of the year.
12:24I mean...
12:25They will be talked about in mid-June, no matter what.
12:27It's their only chance to get better without touching the future.
12:31Okay, let me read this from the 510 on our text line, and tell me if this is how you
12:36feel.
12:36There is no one that can come to the Warriors and make them contenders, so bring LeBron and at least
12:42make it entertaining.
12:43Well, and I push...
12:44There's a baseline that that is true?
12:46Yes, it's absolutely true.
12:48But I...
12:48If things fall perfectly for them, they could be pretty darn good.
12:51Yeah.
12:51But it's a big if.
12:52For sure.
12:52A gigantic if.
12:53For sure.
12:54As kind of all things are, and I know that some have higher percentage chances than others, I push it
13:00a little bit further than just, hey, they're entertaining.
13:04But they would be entertaining.
13:05That's the baseline.
13:06I think it can go up from there.
13:09And it's beyond fascinating that Steph Curry and LeBron James are both using the exact same phrase.
13:14Meaningful basketball.
13:16Meaningful basketball.
13:17I'm going to go get some t-shirts this year.
13:19We should.
13:20They should put those...
13:21957shop.com.
13:23Yes.
13:23Meaningful basketball.
13:24Or the Warriors should put them on all the seats.
13:27Or maybe as like, I don't know, if the Pete's coffee flies out of the sky, and it's just like
13:32meaningful coffee.
13:33Like everything can just be meaningful this year.
13:36Hang a banner.
13:372026-27.
13:38Meaningful basketball.
13:40Meaningful basketball.
13:40And this is a picture of Steph and LeBron shrugging their shoulders.
13:45Like, you know, but that's how I see it.
13:47That's why I've always liked this.
13:49Is because I...
13:51To me, it's the only way the Warriors can get significantly better without touching, you know, two, three years from
13:57now.
13:59Let's go to...
14:00I want to say this right.
14:01Is it Abid in Oakland?
14:04Hi, Abid.
14:05What's going on?
14:07Hi, man.
14:08It's Abid.
14:08Abid.
14:09And thank you, guys.
14:10Thanks for calling.
14:11First of all, I'm calling into your show.
14:13I've got to say something that I'm a...
14:15I've never been a LeBron fan.
14:17I've been...
14:18He's played in the era of Kevin Garnett and Steph Curry, so...
14:21Tutors to them.
14:22But why not bring LeBron here?
14:25To the questions that people are calling in.
14:27You've got Batman.
14:29You've got Robin.
14:31Get the Joker in.
14:33Porzingis is there.
14:35Why don't you try...
14:37There's another team out there who's cleaning house.
14:40They've got a star who's played with us before.
14:43Dallas Mavericks.
14:44Bring Klay back.
14:45Why not?
14:46He's an exciting contract.
14:48Yeah.
14:49That's not a bad idea.
14:50How do you want to get him?
14:51Abid, how do you want to get him?
14:53Like, give up what?
14:54Because, again...
14:55You have to trade Klay.
14:56Steph, I agree.
14:57You have to trade Klay.
14:58But if you've got LeBron, you've got the first heavy fight.
15:02Right?
15:02You've got the heavy fight.
15:04They are old.
15:05They are uncles.
15:06It's a Drew League coming true.
15:09Uncle Drew playing in real life.
15:11But the fact is, they're still going to be better.
15:13They're still going to sell tickets.
15:15They're going to be entertaining.
15:16And they're going to be pretty damn good doing it.
15:20I mean, they do need shooting.
15:24Abid, thank you very much.
15:26Thank you very much.
15:26I don't see it.
15:28I just don't see...
15:29And not from a conceptual standpoint.
15:33I get what Abid is saying.
15:35It's like, if you're going to do this, lean all the way in.
15:38And really do, just remove the G from Golden State.
15:42Everybody get ready.
15:43That's going to be the other t-shirt this year.
15:44The Olden State Warriors.
15:46That's happening.
15:47One thing that I think needs to be said is if LeBron comes here,
15:53and specifically if it's on the $15 million non-taxpayer mid-level,
15:58which would hard cap them at the first apron.
16:00First of all, again, to make that happen,
16:02it probably means finding a taker for Moses Moody.
16:05If they do that, they have very, very, very, very,
16:09very limited flexibility to do anything else for the rest of the season.
16:12It's going to be a lot of minimum costs.
16:14Very, very little.
16:14And that includes making a trade.
16:16And our caller's right.
16:18You'd have to trade for Klay Thompson.
16:20Klay makes over $17 million.
16:21Looking at the Warriors roster,
16:22who are you going to trade to get to $17 million
16:25and still have enough players on your roster?
16:28You'd have to trade Porzingis or Draymond.
16:30Yeah, it's not going to happen.
16:32Right.
16:32It's not going to happen.
16:33They don't have the flexibility to go after a lot of the wonderful,
16:39in theory, ideas that a lot of people bring up.
16:43I think what we're talking about here,
16:45and just so that we can all kind of form an opinion together,
16:49this roster would largely look similar to how it has looked before.
16:57Add LeBron and Yaxel.
16:59That's pretty much what the Warriors, I think, would like.
17:01You would, I believe you'd see GP2 back on a minimum.
17:05I believe, you know, there might be some other names that are new,
17:09but you're going to see.
17:11You might see Quinn Post back on a minimum.
17:13I actually think you definitely would,
17:14because your other two centers are health problems.
17:18You might see Pat Spencer back on a minimum.
17:20For sure.
17:21Yeah.
17:22For sure.
17:22Yeah.
17:22So you're going to see a lot of familiar faces,
17:25but add LeBron and Yaxel.
17:27And those are both.
17:29And potentially subtract Moody.
17:31Yeah.
17:31Yeah.
17:31Which is kind of subtracted already anyway.
17:34And then don't forget,
17:36like I don't think it's insignificant,
17:37the idea that in our minds,
17:40we always think of the Warriors the last time we saw them.
17:43Well, the last time we saw them,
17:44this is not a very good team.
17:45Jimmy Butler wasn't on it.
17:47And Kristaps was just coming back both physically
17:50and jumping into a new team.
17:53So those are other aspects.
17:54I think you'd start a year with Kristaps,
17:58and in theory,
17:59he would play the majority of the games.
18:01At some point during the year,
18:03in theory,
18:03you acquire Jimmy Butler to go with.
18:06And so the health questions,
18:08look, there's no way around.
18:09Oh, my God.
18:10They're huge.
18:11You have a potential five of Steph,
18:15Jimmy Butler,
18:16LeBron James,
18:18Draymond Green,
18:19and then pick your Al Horford or Kristaps Porzingis.
18:22That's your starting lineup at the end of the year.
18:27Exactly.
18:27It's so funny.
18:29But while being funny,
18:32I mean,
18:32those are all crazy talented players.
18:35Also entertaining,
18:35and in a weird way,
18:38if supplemented with the Yaxos and the Pods and the GP2s and the Horfords,
18:48like,
18:49if with a little bit of luck,
18:51that doesn't feel to me like a completely ineffective basketball team.
18:56Yeah.
18:56Good Lord,
18:57it's a brilliant one.
18:58I mean,
18:59if they find a way to make their way to the playoffs,
19:02and that group is healthy.
19:04It's a brilliant bunch of basketball players.
19:07No guarantee they're going to win multiple series,
19:09but they will not be an easy out.
19:11They would not be an easy out if that group was healthy.
19:13I mean,
19:13look,
19:14when the Rockets played the Warriors a little over a year ago in the playoffs,
19:17I thought it was a great snapshot of young and physically gifted versus old and mentally brilliant.
19:26And it was damn close.
19:28I remember sitting here at times.
19:30Mentally brilliant one in seven.
19:31I remember sitting with you here at times last offseason,
19:34and we had the crazy drama of what last offseason was,
19:37where the Warriors had to delay all of their offseason business until before the season,
19:41right before the season was beginning because of the drama with Kaminga.
19:45But I sat here and I told you why I'm confident on the Warriors in the coming season was because
19:50they're just going to be smarter than every other team.
19:52And that proved to be terribly wrong.
19:54Also,
19:54they were injuries,
19:55but Draymond wasn't great with the turnovers.
19:58And there was a lot of other mistakes that were made,
20:01but you had LeBron to a group that includes Steph and Jimmy and Draymond and Al.
20:05Like that's a,
20:07that's a group that has seen more than anybody else in basketball.
20:11And in crunch time is as comfortable as any more,
20:14more than any other group in basketball.
20:16And their head coach is Steve Kerr.
20:17You know,
20:18I mean,
20:18it's,
20:19it's,
20:19it's got some gravity to it.
20:22Um,
20:22Nathan in Honolulu.
20:23Aloha,
20:24Nathan.
20:25How are we doing?
20:26Aloha.
20:27Aloha.
20:27We're great.
20:28I'm,
20:28I'm just excited for these,
20:29this news.
20:30And I hope LeBron comes here.
20:32I woke up this morning.
20:33I was like,
20:33Oh my gosh,
20:33but just the fact that it's on the table,
20:35it just brings us warrior fans.
20:38Hope.
20:38What do you guys think?
20:39Are we the favorites right now to get them?
20:40Or what do you guys think?
20:41Um,
20:42I mean,
20:42I can answer that one of two ways,
20:44Nathan.
20:46Factually based on markets,
20:48the odds makers,
20:49the Warriors are the favorite.
20:50Um,
20:51do we also think just kind of behind the scenes through conversations and also looking at
20:56actions?
20:57Do I think they're the favorite?
20:59Yes.
21:00Am I pulling out a Sharpie?
21:02Hell no.
21:03But free agency starts in six minutes.
21:05Oh,
21:06six minutes.
21:08Should we break now?
21:09So we're back right when it starts.
21:11It's not the worst idea.
21:12Let's do it.
21:13Why don't I tell everybody that the Warriors are going to host the eighth annual California
21:16Classic Summer League presented by CarMax at Chase Center this week on the third,
21:20fifth,
21:20and sixth featuring three days of gameplay between the dubs,
21:24Lakers,
21:25Heat,
21:25Spurs.
21:25Buy your tickets online at ticketmaster.com.
21:28But if you want to win a pair of tickets,
21:29make sure you're with us in the 5 p.m.
21:31hour.
21:31Uh,
21:32we'll tell you all you need to know then,
21:34uh,
21:34be with us in the 5 p.m.
21:35hour.
21:35You can win your way in.
21:37We're brought to you by Fremont Bank here for you,
21:38here for good.
21:39And coming up next,
21:41in addition to your calls,
21:43free agency.
21:44News.
21:45Okay.
21:47Grandy's here for dibs.
21:48It's Willard and Dibs.
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