- 5 weeks ago
LeBron finally made a decision, and he's heading to Philly. How will this impact the Wizards?
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00:00Nationally, Danny, because finally, LeBron James has allowed the NBA to leave his basement
00:06where he had it tied up, no longer being held hostage.
00:10He is headed to Philadelphia to play for the 76ers.
00:13I am pretty stunned by this.
00:15Not that it was one of the final four teams that we all thought it could be, Jeeps, but
00:18that when people say it's not about the money, you know what it's usually about, to a degree,
00:24the money.
00:24Yeah.
00:25This really wasn't.
00:26And I actually give LeBron a ton of credit here.
00:28It's not something I love doing.
00:30I mean, basketball-wise, I give him a ton of credit.
00:32He's incredible.
00:33But from the off-the-court type stuff, this really wasn't lip service.
00:37This was a, you know, sort of a genuine, this is about happiness, it ain't about money kind
00:42of a thing.
00:42And, you know, the proof is in the pudding there.
00:44He took a fraction.
00:45He left $50 million a year, probably, on the table to go to Philadelphia for a chance to
00:50win his fifth championship.
00:51It is a fascinating thing, but what an offseason for the 76ers, man.
00:55Can you believe it?
00:57Absolutely amazing.
00:58From a Wizards standpoint, it's frustrating, because as they ascend, the East is getting
01:02really, really good.
01:03And this does not help their quest to try to climb up the standings any, which we can get
01:08into in a minute.
01:09But, yeah, I think that I'm with you.
01:12First, I want to commend LeBron James, because I think it's super admirable to play for, it's
01:17going to be funny to say this, at $8 million over a couple years, so little money.
01:21But he left a ton, to your point, on the table.
01:25And so when he says this isn't about money, proof's in the pudding, man.
01:29A lot of people have said this isn't about money, and then they've signed significant
01:33contracts, right?
01:34I think about Miles Garrett and others.
01:37Ovechkin did the same thing, by the way.
01:39He said this isn't about money, and then he took an actual discount.
01:42So he put his money where his mouth was, so to speak.
01:45LeBron did that.
01:45So admirable and impressive, I give him credit for that.
01:49I don't necessarily think he was ever actually going to step away or retire.
01:53I guess we'll take him at his word that he was thinking that he was going to for a few
01:57days.
01:57But he certainly enjoyed this process.
01:59I mean, he made it pretty clear in his statement that this was the first time he ever really
02:04had no real true feel on where he was going to go.
02:07And he liked that about the last few weeks, and that's one of the reasons that it dragged
02:12on, I guess.
02:12But yeah, Philadelphia is absolutely loaded.
02:15You look at what the 76ers have now.
02:18Tyrese Maxey is a young superstar.
02:21Vijay Edgecombe looks like one of the great young players in the association.
02:25Absolute stud.
02:26Jalen Brown comes over from Boston this offseason in a deal.
02:30He was so angry about being the second fiddle in Boston that now he'll be the third or the
02:34fourth fiddle in Philadelphia.
02:36You've got LeBron James, who I think the money he took or didn't take is an indicator of
02:42how his role might also play out.
02:45This is a little bit of an Ovi thing where by taking the lesser money, it's indicative
02:49maybe of him being willing to take a step back.
02:52So I think there's some of that with LeBron.
02:53And then for now, I guess this could still change because I think he could be shopped.
02:57But they still have Joel Embiid.
02:59So how about that for a five?
03:01Yeah.
03:01And remember, they got LeBron Phylon, who a lot of people thought was a top 10 pick.
03:06And it was a guy that was flying up boards at 22.
03:08Maybe the steal of the draft.
03:09We didn't care.
03:10We didn't talk much about the draft other than A.J.
03:12DeBonce is here.
03:13Please and thank you.
03:14And he and Peterson are going to make every headline.
03:17But you add that to Tyrese Maxey, an ascending star in this game, kind of to your point.
03:21Vijay Edgecombe, an underrated player that is a terrific kind of two-way two-guard in this league.
03:27And this is a Philadelphia team that I would not want to play on any given night.
03:31They could beat you in a number of different ways.
03:33Now, how do you distribute the basketball to your point about Brown, who was, I think,
03:36probably annoyed about being a second fiddle in Boston?
03:39I don't know what fiddle you are, to be honest with you.
03:40I don't know how often you're going to get the basketball.
03:42But if he buys in, that's a really, really formidable five, even if Embiid misses a bunch of time.
03:49You don't have that weapon in the middle who can stretch the floor and do so many good things per
03:53minute.
03:54But even without him, that's a team that would probably be a tough matchup.
03:57Most nights, they can run and gun a little bit.
03:59They can beat you a lot of different ways.
04:00The East just got better, man.
04:02Yeah.
04:03LeBron is still really good, right?
04:05Yes.
04:05That's obvious.
04:06He is not what he was five years ago or ten years ago, and that's also obvious.
04:12Where do we slot them in with this addition?
04:14And the gravity that he sucks up and takes.
04:20I mean, the oxygen in the room whenever he walks in just changes, right?
04:24And that's not even his fault.
04:26It's just we talked about this back in the day here in D.C. with Bryce Harper.
04:29Yeah.
04:29He couldn't just be one of the guys as much as he wanted to be.
04:32It was the guys in Bryce Harper.
04:32Exactly.
04:33It was always going to be that way, and that's what it's going to be for LeBron.
04:36Now, the difference is I think he wants it that way, and we'll make sure that it's always that way.
04:40He gets off on that, in my opinion.
04:41But having said that, I do wonder, where are they in the pecking order here?
04:48As I look at it just from afar, I think the Thunder and the Spurs out west are still the
04:53two best teams on paper
04:54and the most likely teams to win a championship going into the season.
04:58I don't think anything has necessarily changed there.
05:01By the way, sportsbooks agree the Thunder right now at plus 260 and the Spurs at plus 270 far and
05:07away
05:08considered the most likely teams to win a title at FanDuel.
05:11So then you look at the East, and they've got the Knicks, the Sixers, the Celtics, and the Raptors kind
05:17of in order
05:18as the next four.
05:19There's not another team in the West breaking them up.
05:22And it's New York at 9-1, Philly at 10-1 now, so almost even with the Knicks as the
05:27best team in the East.
05:29Then Boston at 14-1, Toronto at 20-1.
05:32I think that makes sense to me, that I would drop Philly in probably as being certainly better than Toronto,
05:38better than Boston, but maybe not quite even with the Knicks, but close.
05:42I mean, are they the best team in the East right now, in your opinion?
05:46Not for 82.
05:47So, you know what I mean?
05:48Like, I think there's a distinction.
05:49Think of that veteran group that Boston had with their big three in Ray Allen and Paul Pierce and Kevin
05:53Garnett.
05:54You knew those guys had to limit their minutes.
05:56You knew some of those guys were going to miss some games.
05:58They'll be rest.
05:59I mean, you know, LeBron's in his 40s.
06:00Embiid has his health history.
06:02So, you know, Detroit's probably going to end up with one of the better records.
06:05I think Cleveland, for the regular season, might end up with a better record.
06:08But that's one of those, oh, crap, Philly's the four seed.
06:12Now, if I'm the one seed, I win my first-round matchup, I got them.
06:15And then you're in trouble.
06:16But this is the way to look at it, though.
06:18You're right.
06:19Over 82, like, where they'll be seeded, I agree with you.
06:22I also don't think that matters at all in the NBA.
06:25Agreed.
06:26Basically, look at the Lakers when they were at their peak a few years ago,
06:29or some of the other teams like Oklahoma City.
06:31You basically harvest your nuts for a few months, kick everybody's ass,
06:36you get where you want to in the standings,
06:37and then you position yourself like the L.A. Dodgers do in the NL West
06:41to line up your pitchers and get ready for October.
06:43And there's a lot of that that goes on in basketball.
06:46So I'm with you.
06:46I don't think over the full regular season they'll be the top team.
06:50It might even be one of the clubs like Detroit or Cleveland that we're not talking about.
06:54Right.
06:54You know, that could end up being a one seed that are scratching and clawing every single night.
06:58But I feel like when you get to the playoffs, maybe the better question to ask is,
07:02in a playoff series, who's the most dangerous?
07:05That's probably the way to word it.
07:06And I think it's them on paper.
07:07You do, over the Knicks.
07:09Yeah, that is the team I would not want to see.
07:11I think the Knicks' run was incredible and deserves credit.
07:14That is a, what happened was remarkable.
07:17I don't know if that's, if you can go on that charmed run again.
07:20And maybe I'm underestimating.
07:21Maybe I'm probably writing them off too soon.
07:22I just think that's too hard to be that perfect, to trail in every one of those games,
07:27to win a combined, what was it, what was it, four games by 12 points or whatever the heck
07:31it was, as they trailed late in the second half in each one of those games.
07:34I just think that's hard to do.
07:36You saw Denver kind of work their magic a couple of seasons ago or, you know, some of
07:40those other teams.
07:40I think everybody's too deep.
07:42All it takes is that one, you know, nagging sore knee for Brunson or, you know, any of the
07:47million things that happen that can happen that never did for the Knicks.
07:51And it just feels like, again, on paper, that Philadelphia team's a little bit more
07:55dangerous.
07:55But again, it's a matter of putting the recipe together.
07:58And maybe I'm crazy.
07:59Maybe I'm overrating the new thing and underrating the thing we just saw.
08:02I was looking for the next Lillipad.
08:03But again, it's not to write off the Knicks at all.
08:05They're still very capable and very dangerous.
08:07But I wonder how much they'll miss Mitchell Robinson.
08:09And I wonder how much, you know, again, it's going to count on that group of five being
08:14healthy all the time.
08:15And that's just so hard to have happen, luck-wise.
08:17Yeah, I guess it depends on how you view the Knicks, because I'm more inclined with you
08:22where it feels like last year was an everything-that-needed-to-happen-happen kind of run, and not like
08:28that's
08:28a repeat, two-time, defending champion, does-it-again kind of team.
08:33It's really hard to do.
08:35But at the same time, they have been in the conference finals a couple years in a row,
08:39and they're battle-tested.
08:40And I think Brunson is the most disrespected, probably underappreciated superstar in sports.
08:47I don't even think it's a basketball point anymore.
08:49I think that guy is constantly underappreciated and undervalued just from a big-picture sports
08:54standpoint.
08:55But the conference is now loaded.
08:57There is no doubt about that.
08:59Between New York coming off of a title, the Sixers adding Brown and LeBron, the Celtics are
09:06still kind of considered in that conversation.
09:07I'll be honest, I'm a little lower on Boston, I think.
09:10You're not buying it?
09:11Not really.
09:12I mean, Tatum being back healthy, ideally for a full season, is huge.
09:16But the case for them is a lot harder to make.
09:19I'm more interested in some of the ascending younger teams that might put some things together,
09:23like the Pistons.
09:24Like, what if they find another gear?
09:26The Cleveland Cavaliers, I didn't love the fit for LeBron at all, but I do think they're
09:30going to be really good again.
09:32I think that's a top-three seed, maybe, in a team that can win a playoff series or two.
09:37I say all this to say, if you're a Wizards fan, as fun as what is about to happen in
09:41Washington is going to be, this is all kind of annoying.
09:45The timing of this does provide a little bit of a fly in the ointment, and no one said this
09:51was ever going to be easy.
09:53You know, Philadelphia executes their process.
09:55It took a lot of time, and it took until 2026 here that they're going to go into a season
10:00with people really believing they might win the championship.
10:03And by the way, I still think this is one of the tentacles from positioning themselves
10:07well from the process.
10:09I continue to think that they did the right thing, even though they're the butt of jokes.
10:12I think years later, they're still benefiting from good decision-making.
10:16But for the Wizards, I think that the road just continues to get more difficult and bring
10:23it on.
10:23They're going to have to do this thing the right way and build this thing up, and can't
10:27wait to see A.J.
10:27DeBonsa go toe-to-toe with LeBron and the rest of this conference.
10:31Yeah, as you said, the conference is deeper.
10:33You maybe have the royalty out west where the roads still go through Oklahoma City and
10:37the Spurs, and Denver will probably be heard from again, and maybe a couple others will
10:41emerge.
10:41But yeah, the East is deeper.
10:43We haven't even talked about a young, fun team like Chicago that's on the way up, or
10:48a couple of others.
10:49Charlotte, what they've done to clear the deck, give themselves a chance.
10:51And Detroit was the number one seed this past year.
10:54They got dismissed in the playoffs because I don't think they were quite ready, but maybe they
10:57are ready next year with another year of experience for Cunningham and Thompson and company.
11:02So yeah, the East got deeper, and it's one of those, you never know, when you stick your
11:06head up and go, I'm prepared to compete now, what's the landscape look like when you do
11:10that?
11:11And two years ago, it would have been great if that was the timetable.
11:14Right now, it doesn't look as promising.
11:16But maybe in two seasons, with how rapidly this game changes and how rapidly guys change
11:20teams, it might be a different landscape.
11:23But yeah, it certainly got more complicated in the short-term future to be one of the
11:28playoff teams in the East, that's for sure.
11:29Here's the other Wizards angle, I think, to what happened today.
11:32And if you're just joining us on 106.7, the fan run, Grant and Danny, 22-time All-Star
11:37and 21-time All-NBA player.
11:40That's just a funny thing to say.
11:41I just like saying that out loud.
11:43Well, four-time finals MVP LeBron James has chosen Philadelphia to play for the 76ers.
11:49So we're starting the show there.
11:51We are going to get into rookies reporting for the Commanders in just a few minutes.
11:55Huge day out in Ashburn.
11:56And the Nationals are playing their biggest game of the season tonight to kick off their
12:00biggest series since they won a World Series in 2019, as they try to, at four and two since
12:06the break, continue to win to try to force the hand of the front office to bring in some
12:11reinforcements at the trade deadline, which is coming up on August 3rd.
12:15But as far as the Wizards go, this was just a thought I was having.
12:18I immediately saw some national people saying, oh, what about Anthony Davis now being traded
12:23to Philly for Joel Embiid or, you know, other kind of ridiculous ideas.
12:27And I don't think any of that is likely.
12:29By the way, I would hate that.
12:30But I don't think it's happening.
12:32What I do think is starting to look like it's more and more a possibility.
12:37And our guy Strobes, who does his Locked On Wiz show, has talked a lot about this on his
12:41programming.
12:42You know, other folks covering the Wizards closely are talking more and more about this.
12:45It feels to me like we're headed toward an Anthony Davis extension for some reason.
12:49That's like what the winds are blowing right now.
12:51And I got to tell you, I've been very consistent about this, for what it's worth, since the moment
12:56they traded for him.
12:57And I'm going to hate that.
12:58Like, you can explain away the Trey Young one, and we did, and we talked about it, and
13:03the team had a great argument for why they did it.
13:06To me, there's no good explanation for doing that with Anthony Davis on August 6th, which
13:11is when he can get the eligible deal he's up for would be four years and $285 million.
13:17That's an extension for the Wizards as a guy who just doesn't play a lot of basketball.
13:20So I will despise that.
13:22But I don't know if you feel the same way.
13:24Now that LeBron's found a home, now that Anthony Davis wasn't traded before the start
13:27of the season, I'm kind of saying, let's play this thing out.
13:30Let's make him earn it.
13:31Let's flip him at the deadline.
13:32But all of a sudden, the places that I get my basketball information, people are talking
13:37a lot about Anthony Davis getting $285 million from the Wizards.
13:40Well, the alarm went off when Brian Windhorse did his, and I'm paraphrasing, the Wizards need
13:47to be careful to not, basically, I'm paraphrasing, as I said, need to be careful to not piss off
13:51Rich Paul.
13:53When I heard that, I went, oh my God.
13:57That's what we're headed towards.
13:58Such a bad reason to make a terrible decision.
14:01Yeah.
14:01And that's where we are.
14:03And I think that's coming to some degree.
14:05Now, the latest rumor is that it's not a max.
14:07But again, I don't know where that's coming from, or I don't know who's floating what,
14:11or pushing back on what, or whose agenda, or whose word is getting out.
14:14That's kind of what they said with Trae Young, was like, they could have paid him $4 and $285,
14:17and they didn't, so now like it.
14:19Like the $260, or whatever it is.
14:21Yeah, whatever it ends up being.
14:22No.
14:23How about no to that?
14:24I'm not going to like it.
14:25I know.
14:27So, I continue to try to beat this drum.
14:30Your points are correct.
14:31I am not refuting any of them.
14:33I also, though, would sort of, the only thing I would add is, a long, terrible contract is
14:38not the death sentence in basketball it is in other sports, right?
14:42Like, these become, you know, there's nothing finite.
14:45Again, I always point to the original Anthony Davis contract with New Orleans,
14:48where he was like, yep, I'm a Pelican.
14:50I love it here.
14:51I can't wait.
14:51Cannot wait to bring this team a championship.
14:53Five months later, Trae Mead LA, please.
14:55And that was the only thing he would accept.
14:57So, there's still, you know, it's not the, he's here, we're just waiting for him to be healthy
15:02from the latest thing.
15:03He's playing 27 games for you, and it never materializes, and you're paying him a trillion dollars
15:08to, you know, produce 50 games over four years.
15:11I don't think it's the death sentence we think of it.
15:14That doesn't mean I'm going to be excited about it, though.
15:17You know what I mean?
15:17I think the truth is somewhere in the middle, but the truth is way closer to the, I'm going
15:22to call it the Grant School of Things, where I'm just going, oh, please don't do that.
15:25Well, I still hold out hope that there's no extension and he just plays basketball.
15:31What a novel concept, by the way.
15:32Yeah, at some point, earn what I'm about to give you.
15:35Like, you have not taken the floor for a second.
15:38I'm not just going to hand you this contract that you want.
15:41You're going to earn your next contract by playing and playing at a high level, at which
15:46point, either I give it to you or somebody else does, but that's where I would prefer
15:50them to flip him at the deadline.
15:52Just to read LeBron James' statement today on social, because I actually found what he
15:59said pretty likable and decent here.
16:01He said, I thought I was done when the season ended.
16:03I wasn't ready to announce it and I knew I needed some time to really decide, but I
16:07was pretty sure I played my last game.
16:10He went on to say, I still truly love the game and I have more to give.
16:13The last few weeks have been really special.
16:15I've never been able to have no clue what to do and to take real time just to think.
16:20I've had an incredible few months with all the people I love trying to figure it all
16:24out.
16:24This is my last decision, which I thought was a good line.
16:27I'm not going for money.
16:29I'm not going for family.
16:30What am I really playing for at this point?
16:32I want to sacrifice.
16:33I want to work.
16:35I want to grind.
16:36I still want to compete to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning.
16:40Now, am I super bummed that this is Philadelphia because they are just an exhausting bunch?
16:46Absolutely.
16:47Am I furious that the same fans that like the Phillies and the Eagles are getting LeBron
16:52James and the good that comes from that?
16:55I certainly am.
16:56But I think it's cool for basketball that it wasn't the Lakers, I know he just came
17:02from there, or the Warriors with two Hall of Famers, or even the Heat, something new,
17:07something fresh, another market.
17:08I actually think it's really, really good for the game in that way.
17:12It's a smart point.
17:14Yeah, because it's not one of the royalty cities, right?
17:18Where it's basically, this is the thing I've objected to for so many years with the NBA,
17:21is that it's one of three places, as you said, New York, LA, or Boston.
17:25And then eventually Miami got cool because guys could rent cabanas at Nicky Beach or whatever
17:30the hell, right?
17:30So every once in a while, a city becomes fairly cool.
17:34Jordan made Chicago cool.
17:35Oklahoma City is now cool somehow.
17:37Everybody's had brief flare-ups.
17:38Sacramento was cool with Chris Weber.
17:39But for the rest of the league, most of the time, it's you're just cannon fodder for one
17:43of the cool cities, and you can never really compete on the same playing field.
17:46So Philadelphia hasn't won a championship in decades.
17:50I can't remember exactly when it was.
17:51I think it was early 80s with kind of the end of Dr. J or Moses Malone and company.
17:55But it's not as if they're a traditional power.
17:57You know what I mean?
17:58Like, they've been good, of course, don't get me wrong, but they haven't been in the finals
18:02a whole bunch and knocking on the door.
18:04So this is actually, for a basketball thing, kind of cool.
18:07And again, it annoys me to have to admit it, but I'm giving him a lot of credit today.
18:12It really wasn't about the money, and it was about doing something cool.
18:15Grant and Danny on the fan, live from Nationals Park today.
18:20I'll be out here grabbing some interviews and grabbing conversations throughout the show
18:25live during batting practice with some of the Nats staff and players ahead of their
18:29biggest game of the year.
18:30Danny is holding down the fort back in our Navy Yard, Half Street Studios.
18:35Next, I want to get into the rookies that are reporting for the Commanders and take a dive
18:39in to their rookie class.
18:41This is a major mile marker in kicking off training camp today.
18:44And at 3 o'clock, we will get into the Nats and the D-backs, the massive game tonight,
18:49the biggest game of the series from Nationals Park.
18:52That's all coming up on the fan.
18:5408.5.0.0.15.
18:5408.5.0.16.
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