00:00The Kawhi trade is now done for anyone that has been living under a rock.
00:06Kawhi is now a Toronto Raptor.
00:08Grady Dick and Brandon Ingram are now LA Clippers.
00:12The Clippers get a lot of draft capital back.
00:15They get a first-round pick swap, two unprotected first-round picks in 31 and 33.
00:20They get two second-round picks in the 2030s.
00:24And it was, I remember, agreed to back in June, late June, finally became official on Monday.
00:33John, I want you to hit the Clippers side of this first.
00:37They get some picks back, and this is really important for a team that just got docked five first-round
00:44picks, right?
00:46After the penalty was levied on them, it was essential that they got this trade done, regardless of what it
00:52took.
00:52Just from a standpoint of securing these picks, because if you're going, if you're talking about going forward with no
00:59picks for the next five years,
01:01that's pretty much taking the legs from underneath your future when you look at their history of signing free agents.
01:08It's not good now.
01:11If you look at every free agent they sign out, people are going to be checking under the tires.
01:16They're going to be looking under the hood.
01:17They in the glove compartment.
01:19They're like, they searching for something.
01:21So, you know, it really feels like this is the best outcome possible for them going forward after everything happened.
01:31It allows them to get in actual players who can contribute to the success of the organization.
01:37It allows them to have some draft capital going forward if they want to try to make some trades.
01:42And with Kawhi's injury history and the lack of star power on the roster, if he unfortunately does have an
01:50injury, that pick's going to be really, really good.
01:54And so now you just need for the stars to align and for something to fall into your lap again,
02:00like this year's fifth pick fell into their lap.
02:02And so if we're talking about this strictly from a basketball perspective, at the end of the day, you get
02:09the controversy out of your building.
02:12You bring in a former all-star and a serviceable NBA player, and you see where you can go with
02:19this young roster.
02:20Now, if you're talking about just being on the court, I don't like it.
02:27I don't like it, but, you know, I think this might make the Clippers the fourth best team in California.
02:36But that's my personal opinion about the moves that they've made prior to this happening.
02:44Prior to this, I was not a fan of what they had left on the roster.
02:49So, you know, like I said, there's going to need to be some very, very large seasons from Darius Garland
02:56and Brandon Ingram are going to have to have career years for this to really look like it's a competitive
03:02situation.
03:04Yeah, they're hinging a lot of their success onto a few players, right?
03:08Brandon Ingram, they're expecting him to kind of replicate what he did last season and get to the all-star
03:13game.
03:13I don't think he's going to get to the all-star game with the Clippers.
03:15But, again, they're expecting that type of productivity.
03:17Not in the Western Conference, he ain't.
03:19Yeah, not in the Western Conference.
03:20I mean, it's just such a loaded, such a tall task, even for Darius Garland to even be in the
03:25nomination and consideration for an all-star spot.
03:28So I think they just need to get to that level of production for them to be even competitive in
03:34this Western Conference.
03:35I mean, you go down the list of teams that are projected to be even better this year.
03:39The Mavericks, you go to the Trailblazers, they're still going to be good.
03:43But you go to the Phoenix Suns, I think they're going to be very competitive, too.
03:46You go to the Pelicans should, on paper, be pretty competitive with the roster that they have.
03:51But, John, like, you look at this Clippers team, and we're going to dive more into just this Clippers reset,
03:59I guess, this new era of Clippers basketball.
04:01But, you know, the draft capital that they got back, and now that they're cooperating with the NBA, and Steve
04:08Ballmer finally gave in and said,
04:10Hey, I did this, we did this, I accept it, we're moving forward.
04:15Maybe that gives the NBA some grounds to give them some picks back.
04:20We'll see.
04:20It happened in 2000 with the Timberwolves.
04:22It didn't happen immediately.
04:23It had to happen over the course of three to five years.
04:26But we'll see what happens with all that draft capital.
04:28But getting those unprotected firsts back, and where the Raptors may not even be good in 2031 and 2033, pretty
04:36relevant picks.
04:37Now, the Raptors side of this, Kawhi now goes back to Toronto.
04:41He's not being suspended.
04:43His contract is not being voided.
04:45Adam Silver said that the punishments are final.
04:48They just had the Board of Governors meeting.
04:50So that's all taken care of.
04:51Kawhi is back with the Raptors.
04:53Because now that we can talk about this basketball fit, John, where do you have this Raptors team?
04:58Because remember, they were very good defensively.
05:00They took the Cavs to seven, almost got to the second round.
05:03They were 46 and 36.
05:05Where do you see them now with Kawhi added?
05:08What if I told you I thought that this team, this current Raptor team, is going to be worse than
05:14last year's Clipper team?
05:15Oh.
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