00:00Let's get more insight on this, and we are joined by Dan Devine, senior NBA writer for Yahoo Sports.
00:05Don't forget to catch his podcast, the Big Number Podcast with Tom Haberstrom,
00:10and he is on the Weisart Right. We make it right. Call Kyle Wright. Hotline. Hi, Dan. How are you?
00:16I'm doing well. That was a $273 million intro right there. Getting through all that.
00:21Yes, it was. Phenomenal work.
00:23Thank you. I've been trying. You know, I was thinking about retiring,
00:26but then I was like, you know, I can have one read after another.
00:29He's been practicing, Dan.
00:30Life was good.
00:32All right. Speaking of practice and making $273 million, that's Donovan Mitchell.
00:36What do you think of this, and what does this mean for the Cavaliers?
00:40Well, I mean, the good news is we can, I guess, we can give it, what, like another two months
00:45before everybody starts wondering if Donovan Mitchell is going to leave.
00:48Like, right, the grumbling about is Donovan Mitchell headed for someplace else,
00:52that'll go away for a minute or two.
00:54It seems like we've been hearing that rumor or those rumblings for, God, I don't know,
00:59before he ever got here from Utah, but he keeps renewing the vows.
01:05And, you know, so much the better for Cleveland.
01:08Like, I think this is, we started walking down this path at the trade deadline
01:14when the decision was finally made to, we're going to move off of this core four, right?
01:18We're going to figure out how to revamp this team.
01:21And when it was, how are we going to do that?
01:23We're going to move off Darius Garland.
01:25Yeah, the guy that we drafted and developed, and, you know, he was our guy.
01:28But this team is built around Donovan Mitchell.
01:30Donovan Mitchell is the one true blue superstar we know we have.
01:34And, yeah, jumping up 10 years in age to James Harden,
01:38that was, you know, a bitter pill for a lot of people to swallow.
01:41But it was done with the idea of how do we show Donovan Mitchell we are serious?
01:45How do we show Donovan Mitchell that we are doing everything we're doing,
01:48everything we can, turning over every rock we can,
01:51exploring every possibility available to us to build a championship-caliber team around him
01:56with the idea of we want to make sure that when we get to this summer,
01:59there's no reason for wandering eyes, that there's no doubt in his mind
02:03that we are doing everything we can to, you know, give him every shot that he can to win.
02:07And what comes with it, the first conference finals trip of his career,
02:11now obviously did not end the way anybody in Cleveland would have wanted.
02:14But I think this commitment comes as a direct result of the Cavaliers front office saying,
02:20we are going to prove to you that we're going to do everything we can
02:23to build the whole thing around you here,
02:25up to including offering you as much money as we possibly can,
02:29as soon as we possibly can.
02:31And, yeah, Donovan Mitchell could have made the decision to wait a year
02:34and put himself in position to, I believe, the deal next summer would have been $353 million.
02:39Now we're in Calvin Ball numbers.
02:41It's all wild now, but could have put himself in position to sign an even more lucrative deal.
02:47This locks him in for, I believe, it's the fourth largest contract in the NBA right now,
02:52behind only Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, and Nikola Jokic,
02:55and puts him in position to have multiple years locked in,
02:59extend this window for three years in Cleveland.
03:01You know what you're getting.
03:03You know where everything's going to be lined up.
03:05And it's going to be built around Donovan Mitchell.
03:08Should it be?
03:10Dan, is he worth that commitment?
03:12Because the names you mentioned to me sound like they're more worthy of a commitment like that
03:17if you're trying to build a championship team.
03:20Well, funny is not the right word,
03:22but it's worth noting that two of the three names I listed are Boston Celtics,
03:28that they re-signed around their championship run.
03:32And then Brad Stevens yesterday was holding a press conference explaining why you couldn't have
03:36two guys making 70% of the salary cap if you wanted to be able to contend moving forward.
03:42So it is a worthwhile question.
03:46And I think the idea of you look at what those numbers are,
03:49it's going to be, I think, a $75.5 million contract for Donovan Mitchell in four years' time.
03:54Like, if your eyes don't bulge out of your head at that number,
03:58you know, I'd like to see what kind of breathing exercises you're doing to keep yourself calm.
04:02I looked at that, and I was like, oh, my God.
04:06And Donovan Mitchell is, he occupies a really interesting spot.
04:11I think he's a pretty credible case to be made.
04:14He's a top-ten player in the NBA and has been for several years now.
04:17The advanced numbers love Donovan Mitchell in part because of his shooting efficiency,
04:20the volume and accuracy from three-point range,
04:23in part because of the way he suppresses turnovers.
04:25You know, yeah, it can be an isolation-heavy style at times,
04:28but it means you're getting a shot up rather than giving the ball to the other guys,
04:31and that's got a ton of value.
04:32We've seen that elite defenses can be built around Donovan Mitchell.
04:36Obviously, he is not himself an overwhelming and elite defensive player,
04:39but has improved his hands over the years.
04:41You know, the deflections and steals can make himself part of a high-quality defense.
04:46You can build an awesome team around Donovan Mitchell,
04:49and Utah and now Cleveland have done that for a number of years in a row.
04:53Can you build a championship team with Donovan Mitchell as your best player?
04:59To this point, we have not seen that, and I think it's a valid question.
05:03There's one potential counterargument is I think a lot of those same questions about Jalen Brunson
05:09existed before this season.
05:10Could the Knicks build a title winner around Jalen Brunson,
05:14a small guard who is a defensive liability at certain times and had never been that far?
05:19The Knicks proved that it can be done.
05:21The Knicks also proved that with Jalen Brunson on a significantly smaller salary figure
05:26than what Donovan Mitchell is going to be making moving forward.
05:29So the work does not end for Colby Altman in the front office today.
05:33If anything, it might even get a little harder or more difficult to figure out
05:38where you're finding the diamonds in the rough, you're finding the undervalued assets,
05:43and you're outperforming a salary slot on some younger cost-controlled talent,
05:48you're going to need bigger steps forward from some of the younger guys on the roster.
05:51You're going to need other places to be able to extract more value.
05:54You're going to be able to need to find hits on the minimum salary market,
05:57which I imagine we'll discuss shortly, and put yourself in position to get it there.
06:02Because if Donovan Mitchell is going to be occupying 35%, 36%, 37% of the cap,
06:07and you're putting the team around him,
06:09you're going to need to stretch every dollar elsewhere.
06:11All right, where does this fall into LeBron James to the Cavaliers' story?
06:17Speaking of the minimum salary value, right?
06:20You know, I think it's notable that in the moments after this,
06:25one of the first emails I got was from one of the many tout services saying,
06:28the Cleveland Cavaliers are now the odds-on favorite to land LeBron James,
06:33which, you know, those things are worth what they're printed on, of course.
06:36But, like, I think if you look at it and say, if you're the Cavs,
06:41where are you coming up short, right?
06:44All right, well, you could use a wing.
06:46Who's been, though, you know, especially after Dean Wade goes to Philadelphia,
06:49you know, you need some more help on the wing, another side,
06:51some more sides, some more playmaking, some more,
06:53just somebody to fill in that three-four-shaped hole on the roster.
06:56LeBron James, pretty good guy to do that.
07:00Narratively speaking, obviously, it would be a pretty clean ending point, right?
07:05You know, the hero's journey always ends with the return home.
07:08The guy has been changed by his trip away.
07:10He comes back with a literal gray beard.
07:12That would be interesting to see.
07:14And then you just look at the other spots around the NBA,
07:17like, yeah, Golden State was sort of entered as the, you know,
07:21prohibitive favorite here because of the idea of, yeah,
07:24Draymond opted out of his deal.
07:25There's the Steph connection, the Olympics with Kerr, yada, yada.
07:28Maybe.
07:29I mean, that could be.
07:30People have presented, multiple people have presented Miami
07:33as an interesting option there.
07:34I guess I see it from the perspective of the Heat could use another,
07:38you know, a ball handler playmaker.
07:40It doesn't feel quite as clean to me with them and Giannis there.
07:45Like, it feels a little duplicative in terms of, you know,
07:47big guys that mash everybody.
07:49It doesn't feel quite as neat.
07:50And then obviously the fact that the James Harden deal has not been,
07:53you know,
07:53concluded and announced and everything yet suggests that the Cavs are still
07:56figuring out what to do next.
07:58So to me, I think from a narrative perspective,
08:01from a roster management perspective,
08:02Cleveland would make a ton of sense here.
08:05You know, but that's, you know,
08:06LeBron I don't think is in any rush to make that final determination.
08:09I would imagine knowing that he's not going to have to be the,
08:13you know,
08:1335% usage guy that Donovan Mitchell's there,
08:16that James Harden is there,
08:18that you've got defensive backline help with Jared Allen and Nevin Mobley.
08:22Like there's some attractive components to that for LeBron,
08:24but my guess is he's going to take his time deciding that and let us all
08:27know about it.
08:28Dan Devine joining us,
08:29senior NBA writer for Yahoo Sports.
08:32Jonathan Kaminga has been a fascinating guy for me for a long time.
08:36Was he in the wrong spot at Golden State?
08:39Is he just not a right fit for certain things in the NBA?
08:43And a lot of buzz about the Lakers right now.
08:47Could he be a fit in Cleveland if things don't work out with LeBron?
08:51Well,
08:51as somebody who spent an inordinate amount of time writing about Jonathan
08:55Kaminga's restricted free agency saga last summer,
08:58all the rest of the NBA's business was done.
08:59And my editor was like,
09:01so what about this Kaminga thing about nine different times?
09:03I spent a lot of time thinking about Jonathan Kaminga last summer.
09:06And then seeing him at the trade deadline,
09:08he gets moved to the Atlanta Hawks.
09:10And it's a little bit trick or treat there.
09:12There are some real nice moments for him in the postseason against the Knicks in
09:15the first round.
09:15And then there's some moments to forget there.
09:17I think that's,
09:18that's been the story of Kaminga's career.
09:20Your point about that.
09:21He sort of get brought into the wrong situation is a completely valid one.
09:25Like he was considered a home run swing for the Warriors in that mid lottery
09:30when there was already the bones of a championship team there and a style of
09:34play there that required some sort of,
09:37you know,
09:37advanced feel and read and react play that asking like a 19 year old coming
09:42out of G league ignite that hadn't really played a whole lot of competitive
09:45basketball.
09:45Like that was just a big ask.
09:47And he butted heads with Steve Kerr about that.
09:50And Steve Kerr clearly didn't trust him to be able to execute in the Steph Curry
09:54motion system in the same way that some other veterans have.
09:57Would Jonathan Kaminga have developed a little bit differently and perhaps at a
10:02more advanced rate, if he was given a simpler role or more opportunities to fail,
10:07right?
10:07To say, even if you're, if you screw something up, you screw up a read,
10:10you screw up a defensive rotation.
10:12We're not going to yank you off the floor.
10:13We're going to give you the chance to play through it.
10:15I think that very well could be the realistically guys with his size,
10:19his strength, his quickness, his athleticism,
10:21that physical profile.
10:22They just don't make a ton of those that you can get in what could be a fair,
10:26at a fairly reduced rate.
10:28I know the Hawks renounced the number that he was,
10:31the kind of the team option that they had on that deal.
10:34So I don't think you're going to be getting him for $24 million in the same
10:37way that he was about to make.
10:38I imagine that the market would be a little bit cooler for him and he could be a
10:41really interesting sort of fallback plan on the wing.
10:44If you're not able to hit the home run swing for LeBron, I think.
10:48If LeBron, let me put it two ways.
10:51One, how long do you think LeBron's going to take to make his decision?
10:55What's your guess?
10:56You got a guess?
10:57Yeah, you guys ever watch Goodfellas?
10:59There was the point in Goodfellas where Paulie moved slow because Paulie
11:03didn't have to move for anybody.
11:05I think that's kind of how LeBron operates at this point.
11:08Like the main thrust of free agency is over, you know,
11:12or most of the big moves have happened or maybe not all of them been announced,
11:16but he is the top free agent on the market.
11:18He does not need to rush to lock anything in.
11:22At this point also, he's, you know, in the content game.
11:25So who knows if this turns into like a pie.
11:27We've already seen Rich Paul's whiteboard.
11:29Who knows if LeBron brings out one of his own on his podcast with Steve Nash
11:31to talk about this.
11:33My guess is it could be weeks as opposed to days.
11:37As long as he's not sitting next to Jim Gray, I'm good with it.
11:40I'm good with it.
11:40He can take his time.
11:42Should the Cavs jump like Kaminga if they could, Dan?
11:47Or should you wait it out for a 42 to be in December LeBron James?
11:52Yeah, I think I would rather wait for LeBron than jump on Kaminga.
11:57And that's not intended as a slight for Kaminga.
12:00But I think it goes back to the beginning of our conversation and what the Cavs have signaled
12:05in terms of where they are and how they see themselves with this Donovan Mitchell extension
12:09and, you know, with the move for Harden and everything else.
12:13We are not necessarily looking for like how can we build the most interesting core in five years
12:19or four years.
12:20We're talking about what gives us the best chance of winning a championship today.
12:24And, you know, you've gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals.
12:26So now you've, you know, this sort of bit by bit, step by step, the stations of the cross
12:31jumping up in the NBA hierarchy to get to that place.
12:34And then you now lavish the fourth biggest contract in NBA history on Donovan Mitchell
12:41and saying what matter with a player option in the fourth year.
12:44So we're talking about through 2030.
12:46This is how do we get ourselves as close as possible to a championship, give ourselves
12:50a chance if everything breaks right our way this year, next year, the year after that.
12:55And for me, the play, if you're talking about which of the two players on offer there give
12:59you the better chance, it's LeBron James 10 times out of 10.
13:02And in the same way that while I, you know, it was painful to move on from Garland after,
13:07you know, drafting and developing and everything that had been put into him, James Harden today
13:11is the better player than Darius Garland is today from the cloud cap perspective at that
13:15point when they made that trade.
13:16So I think this is where the Cavs are telling us they're going.
13:19I think if there's a, if they think that there's any chance to get to make that happen,
13:22they're better hold, better served, holding, holding onto it, waiting that out rather than
13:27jumping on Kaminga.
13:27Dan, thank you.
13:29We do appreciate it.
13:30Great perspective on all this stuff.
13:31And, uh, uh, we look forward to reading you and all your stuff, uh, on, and Yahoo Sports
13:36senior NBA writers, who you are.
13:37I can reintroduce yourself, but we want to make sure we check out your podcast too.
13:40So thank you.
13:42Appreciate it, Dan.
13:43Thanks so much guys.
13:43Have a great day.
13:44All right.
13:44We'll talk to you soon.
13:45Dan Devine.
13:45Nice enough to join us.
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