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00:00is Bobby Marks of ESPN. He is our favorite capologist, front office insider, and so in
00:07a year like this, and Bobby you know this, a day does not go by where we don't hear the phrases
00:14golden state warriors and big game hunting constantly, absolutely constantly. So can you
00:22characterize sort of the the why and the where that stands right now? Well I mean I think the
00:30why is because you're trying to maximize the window of probably one of the greatest players
00:36of all time, which is Stephen Curry. I mean that's I think that's probably the big reason,
00:41the why. Certainly you've kind of fallen into the back of the pack or maybe the middle of the pack
00:47right now as far as from a roster standpoint. I mean from a playing standpoint and where you are
00:53in the standings and I think you know the you know to go big game hunting you have to have
01:00you know the contracts, the young asset, which would certainly be Johnson coming to the draft
01:06picks, which they certainly do. And then you try to you add all that up and you try to
01:13you know figure it out in a complex set of rules where a lot of teams are impacted by. So
01:19although some players might be available now and some players might be available in a month or two,
01:25they're not easy to be you know attainable. And if you look at some of the big game they
01:31might be hunting, I know you had previously mentioned Zion Williamson as a possible target
01:36and I can see why New Orleans would want to do that. They're having a really down year,
01:40they're struggling. What would it take in your opinion for the Warriors to give up that would
01:45be amenable to New Orleans in a trade for Zion? Yeah I mean I mentioned Zion just as a, listen
01:51there's not many superstar players out there. You know certainly Jimmy Butler's name has been out
01:56there, Brandon Ingram's out there. I think why I talked about Zion and I think the only reason
02:02for Golden State if you go down that path is if you're not giving them much to do that.
02:07And it's because it's you know based on his injury history and the contract. His contract
02:13is one of the great contracts out there because there's no guarantees after this year. It's
02:18non-guaranteed for the next three years after here. So if you're going out and pursuing him
02:24then you know then you know that's the there's less of a risk taking him on. Then you're saying
02:29well why would New Orleans do that and that's right like why would the Pelicans do that where
02:33they're not maximizing his value here. So I think Zion would make sense if you're not if you're
02:38giving up a first round pick and you know maybe one or two players that match. Not giving up
02:42Jonathan Kaminga. Not giving up probably not even maybe Brandon Podemski as far as kind of like
02:48you know if it's Wiggins and an expiring contract then that maybe makes a little bit more sense
02:53because the risk is not there for you if you're the Warriors. Okay I want you to circle back and
03:01say that slower for our audience. You're saying that Zion Williamson might be attainable without
03:08touching Jonathan Kaminga. I didn't know. I'm not I'm not going there. I'm saying that if you're
03:13going to pursue him in the risks that come with it then you're not going to put a guy like Jonathan
03:19Kaminga in a trade. Got it. That that's that's kind of yeah that's that's you know we you know
03:24listen you know Golden State's been linked you know Sean said it a week or two ago that
03:29they're targeting an all-star right. Who's an all-star? There's no all-stars out there unless
03:33it's you know Butler and Ingram right now and I don't know if that makes sense for them.
03:37But an all-star that has franchise type ability when he's on the court. Now the butt comes with
03:43when he's on the court of course and that's why I don't see teams willing to give up the farm for
03:49him because there's no certainty when he will be on the court. There's no certainty that he'll hold
03:54up for a 60 game season. That's why it's I said it's kind of a low risk if you're not willing to
04:00give up much for him. Got it. Okay and so while you talk about maybe they aren't all-stars maybe
04:06they're just the level below but you you've mentioned Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson,
04:11Jimmy Butler. Who else might be available that that could potentially be interesting to the
04:17Warriors? Yeah I mean those are the you know as you mentioned those are the three that's you know
04:22when you read the TV's right now that's it right now. I mean that that's kind of what you know if
04:26you're looking at you know I guess all-star level talent I'm sure there'll be one or two guys that
04:32will shake free in the next in the next month or you know two and stuff like that but that's
04:39that's kind of the landscape. You know Zach Levine's a name certainly that's been talked
04:43about. That's that's a lot of money to take back. All these guys is a lot of money to take back.
04:48You know Jimmy Butler's making 49 million dollars to go out and trade Jimmy Butler and we've got a
04:53piece going tomorrow you're gonna have to trade four players. You know that's the reality. Maybe
04:58even five players here to go out and get Zach Levine the same thing here. The economics of the
05:03CBA does not allow you to go out and try to acquire all-stars. It makes it extremely extremely
05:10difficult especially where Golden State is financially. And where they are financially
05:14is out of the second apron but are they in a spot where they have to take back dollar for dollar?
05:18Yeah yeah they're not well I mean they're not in the first apron but they're they're technically in
05:23a dollar for dollar position because they're only three hundred you know three hundred thirty
05:27thousand dollars below the first apron. So you can't exceed it no matter what. You can't exceed
05:32that threshold no matter what. So that's why it makes it you know listen if you want to go out
05:37and say you want to go ahead get Jimmy Butler okay we're going to probably trade four players.
05:42So you know you can you know well whether it be Wiggins or Payton or Looney or Kaminga
05:48and we've got to have enough space to replace those players and take Jimmy Butler back.
05:54So that's that's that's the challenge that comes with you know trying to go after one of those
05:59those players. When you think about Jonathan Kaminga and we here have a mixed bag of opinion
06:05among diehard warrior fans what does the league think about Jonathan Kaminga and where his game
06:12might go and what the open market might command next year when he is a restricted free agent?
06:18Yeah I mean listen I think Jalen Johnson in Atlanta got five for 150. I think that would
06:25be a number I would be fine with for Jonathan Kaminga maybe even a little bit less. I don't
06:30think he's at I don't think he's as consistent where where where Jalen Johnson is right now.
06:35Where the market is going to be next summer or this upcoming summer there's really one team that
06:41has significant cap space and it's the Brooklyn Mets. Everyone else is kind of in a tier two
06:4620 to 25. Brooklyn's got a ton of room to go out if they wanted to go out and put a
06:53whopper of an offer sheet here. So I'm curious and I'm interested to see
06:57necessarily more you know you kind of want more body of work. You know I think we'll see that
07:01here with Kaminga over the next four or five months. Bobby and Bobby Marks ESPN is with us
07:07here on Weatherden Dibs. Bobby is it your understanding that because Brooklyn is an
07:12interesting name here is it your understanding that maybe in conversations for Dennis Schroeder
07:18there might have been some larger deals that where at least ideas were swapped
07:23and and that Brooklyn is interested in Jonathan Kaminga but that that's kind of what held it up.
07:29No I think what probably what was talked about and I think it's been reported there as far as
07:35what's the availability of Dorian Finney-Smith and Cam Johnson. I think that's and I don't think
07:41I you know you're not you're not trading Jonathan Kaminga for for Cam Johnson. No offense. I think
07:46that's kind of you know I think those were the if you're looking at you know maybe two potential
07:51targets that maybe you could have tried to make the deal a little bit bigger it just didn't work
07:56out. Those were probably the two names. I haven't heard Kaminga at all linked to you know to Brooklyn
08:03as far as the trade. When you think about other selling teams is it too early to put Chicago
08:09in that bucket because a lot of fans out here have their eyes on Vucevic as a nice stretch five
08:15that Golden State would be covetous of. Are we still too early in the process to really start
08:20to tab some of these teams as sellers? Yeah I mean Chicago is in an interesting spot just because
08:25they owe their first to San Antonio. It falls out of the top out of the top 10 and if you look at
08:34the track record of them over the last three years it's always been there's been an incentive to
08:39make the plan. I don't see that changing much here as far as I know they've kind of got a
08:45little bit younger here with certainly with making a Josh Giddey trade and you know how
08:51they've added in the draft here but it's hard for me to you know even if they get a first round pick
08:56and you're taking two expiring contracts back to kind of move off Vucevic who's really having
09:00one of his better years. Bobby back to Jimmy Butler you said this would be complex maybe
09:07would take a lot of players let's let's say the Warriors were interested in Jimmy Butler how
09:12how would that deal look and work? Yeah I mean you're you're basically probably you're looking
09:17at you know certainly Wiggins because it's the big number at you know 26 million you've got some
09:23expirings with Peyton and Looney. I think they get you to another 18 17 18 million dollars so
09:31you're getting close to that 48 million dollars probably another another player involved you know
09:38as far as I don't know would it be Kaminga would it be Podzemski maybe you've got up to three first
09:45round picks you could trade you've got you probably got a third team that you'd have to
09:49move one of those players to you've got to be comfortable paying Jimmy Butler when he's going
09:54to be 36 years old in September on a 50 million dollar per year contract. I think that's the
10:01biggest too that's a big question mark are you willing to do that is Miami willing to take back
10:06Wiggins so there's a lot of kind of but that's that's kind of what the what a structure.
10:10Cruder could be traded February 5th if you want to go down that road probably don't I think Dennis
10:15would be really good for them but that's kind of what the what what a structure would look like.
10:20You know what I'm hearing Bobby that I think would be surprising the Warrior fans is a lot of your
10:24and I'm not going to call them proposals but just these ideas that we're sitting here swapping
10:29sound like they don't include Kaminga and I think Warrior fans are at least cruising around today
10:34thinking to themselves that's the that's what the other teams are going to want do you believe the
10:40Warriors can maneuver at the deadline make big swings and keep Jonathan. I think with the players
10:46that we're talking about right now whether it be you know Butler and I think you know certainly
10:52Ingram and I haven't heard anything with Golden State linked to Ingram I think you can you can
10:58keep coming in and potentially you know if you're willing to basically give up I think that the
11:03draft equity certainly is important here I think I think it's all it's a matter of what's important
11:08to Miami you know what's important you know they're not they're not a team that takes a step
11:13back and builds through the draft so what's important to them from a from a from a player
11:18standpoint here but I think that would be the end goal as far as if you're trying to do a deal and
11:22and try to keep Kaminga from being involved in it. Have things become so untenable between
11:28Butler and Miami that him being traded is almost a fait accompli? I don't I don't think so I listen
11:36I think I think once they didn't extend him this offseason and you know he's still extension
11:42eligible for two for 113 I think they knew there was going to be some noise you know certainly we
11:48get to mid-December they've been playing pretty well before they lost to Detroit it's not a
11:53distraction if you look at it I think the Butler rumors were going to be here the whole year just
11:58just kind of pops in the last week here he hasn't asked to be traded you know the report that Sean
12:04said that if he were traded these were the four teams that he would prefer to go to I think it's
12:10certainly it's definitely something to monitor if they do lose some games here but he was great
12:17the other night in Detroit I think he was probably his best game of the year so that doesn't signal
12:21the guy who wants out and more signals a guy that wants to get paid in you know and who's going to
12:27be as I said 36 years old in September. Bobby what what's your sense on just kind of the timing of
12:33of the deadline as a whole and and in any large moves the Warriors were so active right away when
12:38they could to go get Schroeder so is your thought that that something could be more imminent or is
12:44this more a late January early February thing? I think the Dennis Schroeder thing was unique in a
12:50sense that you know the Anthony Mellon trade restriction expired on Sunday Brooklyn was in
12:57a position where let's face it the more games they won with Dennis Schroeder the worst it was for them
13:03because you don't trade to reacquire your first round pick in 2025 to be the ninth the last
13:10playing team here and I think moving off him I think there was more of a priority to move off
13:15Dennis Schroeder in mid-December than early early February here just based on how competitive they
13:21they've been here I don't see that as much in other situations here I do think we've we last
13:27year there was 20 out of 27 trades that happened the week of the deadline week I still think I'm
13:31leaning more towards that that you see more action once we get to mid mid January and then closer to
13:38February 6. Tough to have a trade conversation without the requisite pie in the sky LeBron James
13:45portion of the conversation do you think there's any any possibility that LeBron decides that he's
13:50had it and he'll take not only his talents but his son as well to a different destination such as
13:56Golden State? Yeah listen I I never see I've seen crazier no maybe not that crazy but I've seen
14:02crazy things in this league happen and I wrote it in our we have a trade primary out today and
14:08the last thing for the for for the Lakers was listen if they they don't play well and I know
14:14they won a couple games here and things really fall off the tracks probably not would he wave
14:20his no trade clause and ask to be moved I mean I think it's a fair question if they are in the
14:26outside of the playing here so I think like last year right let's kind of monitor it let's see
14:31where it is I think if they're if they're winning then and no maybe even if they're not winning
14:38he still is content as far as being there. Bobby what would you say is the likelihood of a sizable
14:45Warriors deal what would you do what do you think makes sense for them? Oh yeah listen I I think
14:53David Griffin said it the best like the now Pelicans GM this is when he was in Cleveland
14:59is that when you have the you know Babe Ruth of basketball and he was talking about LeBron
15:05at the time you do everything possible to maximize the window I think the same what Denver is trying
15:11to do with Nicola Jokic who's a little you know certainly younger than than Steph Curry but I think
15:16you're trying you're you're and I think the West is probably a little bit more wide wide open than
15:21people thought but I think I'm trying to do as much as I can but I always say kind of take it
15:26takes two to tango to get a deal done and then if you get then it's you know the rule as I said
15:31the rules of the CBA are extremely extremely challenging here so I think Mike will be
15:37extremely aggressive if the opportunity presents itself because I think the goal is to try to
15:42upgrade this roster you know if you're willing to give up for some things that you know could
15:46impact you in the future. Bobby this is great stuff man we really appreciate you coming on.
15:51Thanks guys appreciate it. Okay Bobby Marks ESPN.