00:00Like restricted free agency. And this goes back to my point, which I wanted to ask you about, is with
00:04restricted free agency, because this this offseason, right, we had Peyton Watson hold out until basically the end of August
00:12or September, whatever it was, and finally get a deal to go to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
00:16We had Benedict Matherin hold out for way longer than it should have been anybody cared about. Yeah. And again,
00:24he only got he basically got a minimum contract, maybe a little bit over a minimum contract. And now you
00:30have Jalen Duren, who obviously got the most of the restricted players. But all of these really ended with a
00:36womp womp. Okay, you got your money anyways. So it didn't even matter. And this goes back to like what,
00:41like restricted free agency just seems like an issue. And yes, sure.
00:45Like, he got his money. Jalen Duren got his money. So he basically used restricted free agency to the best
00:51of his abilities. But I mean, it's not like restricted free agency was the reason they gave him this money.
00:56They were probably going to give him that money anyways, if he was unrestricted.
00:59There is no middle class in the NBA. It's feast or famine with the contracts. And that's the what it's
01:07structured like that because of the second apron. It's structured like that because you need to be able to move
01:12these guys who aren't these big ticket items.
01:15And because of that, the middle class in the NBA has absolutely gone away. Either you're a guy on a
01:20one or two year deal, or you're a guy on a five year deal.
01:23There's no there's little to no in between of this of, you know, a Jared Dudley type player who, who,
01:32you know, played it played a decade long 15 year career, knew where to be and got paid to do
01:39so.
01:39Those guys, those guys, the Josh hearts of the world, those guys are few and far between now. And we
01:45make fun of Josh heart contract a lot on this show. But that contract, that's a middle that's a that's
01:52a middle age contract, or a middle a middle contract in the NBA that really seems to be gone now.
01:59Yeah, you know, we used to have, like you said, before this, this CBA was enacted, were that we knew
02:06the tears, like we knew there's minimum guys, we knew there were role players, and we knew there were superstars.
02:12Now you have guys like yeah, his he had an all NBA season and Jalen Duren, but I guarantee you
02:17if Jalen Duren would have had that type of playoff season.
02:21Eight years ago, I don't think he would have got he wouldn't even have gotten $40 million a year. Are
02:25you kidding me? $40 million a year was reserved for the Kevin Durant's for LeBron James, for the Steph Curry's
02:30for the Kawhi Leonard's even back then. That's who was reserved for. Now they're giving it out to this guy
02:35who yeah, he averaged 10.2 points in a playoff run that ended in the second round, john. And yes,
02:41he is young, he has time to grow. I'm not saying his career is over because he had a bad
02:44playoff run. But they put $200 million on the table in September. And he was declining it.
02:50I just believe that some of these organizations are handcuffed. The Pistons are now in the room of the handcuffed
02:59teams. The Rockets are in the room of handcuffed teams. There are the Lakers are ahead of the class in
03:06handcuffed teams. Now it just it depends on the nuggets are in there as well. It nobody even wants to
03:13take the Warriors money, which is hilarious in itself.
03:15The way that the second apron has really laid the hammer on a lot of these moves that you could
03:22have Jonathan coming out there a guy who normally would have got a big fat contract. Nobody's gambling on that
03:28Peyton Watson would have got a huge contract. Nobody's gambling on that. You're seeing guys like LaMelo get moved.
03:36Because of this situation. Because the Charlotte Hornets have to look out on the horizon and go, okay, Conca Nipple
03:42is going to be real. Miller's going to be real. We're building around that. And we really feel like we
03:47need a facilitator. We don't need a third scorer.
03:49And we got Kobe White. Kobe White is another guy. Back in the day, he is in the middle class
03:55of NBA players. He would have got a nice fat middle class check and he won't. So the NBA is
04:04changing as we know it.
